Category: Guest Posts

Getting it Right: Places and Settings

Birch Creek Valley, Idaho

by Jacqueline Hopkins

Since I love to travel, geography, studying maps and taking pictures go hand in hand with my traveling. I like to study the topography of an area, see its natural features, and get to know its characteristics. I take lots of pictures and make lots of notes in case I want to put the place or setting into one of my books.

My book, Wilderness Heart, was set along Highway 14 in Idaho. Highway 14 goes east of Grangeville, Idaho, to Elk City, Idaho. As a teenager growing up in Lewiston, Idaho, we drove Highway 14 to Red River Road, then on to Red River Ranger Station in the wintertime, where we would grab the entire contents of our truck and pile them onto sleds to be pulled behind snowmobiles. We would ride about 15 miles all the way into Dixie, Idaho, where my parents had a cabin. Continue reading “Getting it Right: Places and Settings”

Story Time: Homophones

Author Shaun McLaughlin

Homophones

by Shaun J. McLaughlin

“Hey, Ninja Nerd. Where’s my homework?”

Cathy ignored the interruption and continued reading her e-book. She savoured every second of time on the single tree-shaded bench in the barren schoolyard, a rare oasis in their industrial neighborhood. And, she had no need to visually identify the speaker. Everyone at school recognized big Kathy’s snarl.

“Yah, Ninja Nerd. Where’s our homework?”

Cathy shuddered at the ensemble growl of the Swarm, the cabal of tough girls that shadowed Kathy. She had no fear of Kathy one-on-one, despite her reputation for pummelling other students of either gender. Cathy’s black belt gave her the edge she needed—and the first part of her hated nickname. However, she couldn’t take on the Swarm too. She rose as the gang encircled her. Continue reading “Story Time: Homophones”

Self Publishing Is Not Out of Control by Richard Brawer

Author RIchard Brawer
Author Richard Brawer

I recently read a blog titled: “9 Reasons Self Publishing Is Out of Control.”

I responded with the following:

The same thing can be said about blogs. You have to take into consideration that people like to express themselves, and self publishing and blogging has given them a voice.

I am an avid reader. Before small presses and self publishing the only books we could read were the ones the big publishers “chose” for us to read. I’m sure you’ll agree that some of them were pretty bad, just like the author of the article says that some self published books are bad. Continue reading “Self Publishing Is Not Out of Control by Richard Brawer”

Successful Fiction Writing by Phillip Duke Ph.D.

Sherlock Holmes and the Alien AbductionThe author of this article has never had a “best seller.” However, at one time he was book review editor for a Chicago newspaper, and after intensively studying writing and publishing for over 60 years, believes he has learned something about it. There is a saying, “those that can’t do, teach.”

Fiction writing is story telling with written, not spoken words. A good story like a good read entertains, and a great story like a great book entertains, and also improves by educating.

The spoken story has a number of advantages over the written story. The spoken word’s emphasis and the sentence word flow are immediately evident in the storyteller’s voice. The written word uses punctuation and rules of grammar to convey in writing what the storyteller does by speaking. That is why correct punctuation, spelling and grammar are important.

Words tell the story, and it is how the words are selected and strung together, that makes or breaks the story. Every word has its meaning, and also its accompanying emotion, or feeling. As the story is read its words create thoughts and feelings in the reader’s mind. The measure of a story’s success lies in this one thing; its ability to transport the reader to its place, time and action. When the reader is made to feel as if he or she is actually there, is in the story and part of it, the story is successful. How is this accomplished? Continue reading “Successful Fiction Writing by Phillip Duke Ph.D.”