Celebrating Independent Authors
I’d heard rumors he wanted to see me; I knew they’d come, sooner or later.
There was a bang on the door just as I was turning in for the night. I pulled on my jacket and a large bearded man wearing glasses waved me into the passenger side of an old pickup. Before I could ask where we were going he slammed the vehicle into gear and started talking into his cell phone, ignoring me. Continue reading “The Recruit”
Back in April, author James Bruno suggested in these pages what he believes are the two essential ingredients for a successful novel. One of these is knowledge of the subject matter. His point is that successful works of fiction utilize characters and story lines that closely resemble reality; in other words, they achieve verisimilitude.
The other critical ingredient lies in crafting a good story. Attorneys have a label for something this obvious: sine qua non; which means the thing speaks for itself. Readers of fiction invariably are in search of a good story. They want to be entertained by the written word. Shallow characters, inadequate descriptive passages, choppy or overly verbose dialog, and weak plots won’t attract large numbers of readers or build a fan base.
With regard to the first point, unless the novel falls into the genres of fantasy, horror, or science fiction, the writer has to create a scenario that could be real. Verisimilitude is achieved when the reader suspends disbelief. This means the writer has to fully understand the subject matter about which he or she is writing. There are a limited number of ways to accomplish this. Continue reading “How “Real” Should A Novel Be? by John Wayne Falbey”
Today we’re pleased to announce Dick Waters as the winner of the Indies Unlimited weekly Flash Fiction competition.
The winning entry is rewarded with a special feature here today and a place in our collection of winners which will be published as an e-book at year end.
Congratulations to Dick, and thanks to everyone who participated – excellent entries! Now, without further ado, here’s the winning entry: Continue reading “Congrats to our Weekly Flash Fiction Winner, Dick Waters”
A while back, Indies Unlimited ran a post asking readers if there were topics they would like to see discussed here. The one I chose to address comes from Melody Stiles, who asks:
“Why is there still such a stigma, even among writers, about self-publishing?”
I’d figured I would take a stab at this one, as I can admit “self-publishing” does carry a bit of a stigma for me, or at least it does under that name. Continue reading “You Asked for It: Melody Stiles”