Meet the Author: Barbara Ebel

Author Barbara Ebel

Physician and author Barbara Ebel has had multiple careers and multiple tragedies in her life. She weaves those themes into her fiction writing as well as characters she renders  from people she’s known, ranging from the gentle-hearted and the downright despicable. However, what makes her fiction writing unusual is the palpably credible medical knowledge with which she infuses her stories. She wants readers to enjoy her book, but also to learn something.

She says, “Since I am a physician and practiced anesthesia, my surgical, anesthesia, and OR scenes shine with accurateness. For instance, an Amazon UK customer commented on his review that he thought he could perform a liver transplant after reading Outcome, A Novel: There’s more than a hurricane coming. And after reading Operation Neurosurgeon: You never know…who’s in the OR, a reader can understand the pressure dynamics inside the skull and why that’s important. At the same time, the reader will be involved with a cunning interplay of characters during a brain surgery.” Continue reading “Meet the Author: Barbara Ebel”

Meet the Author: Marcia Quinn Noren

Author Marcia Quinn Noren

Marcia Quinn Noren is the author of Joan of Arc: The Mystic Legacy. This  is a nonfiction biography that began as a series of essays. Two of those were published by a Berkeley anthropologist who required a scholarly format and academic style; including references, quotations and endnotes.

Marcia says, “That set the tone for the book, but my intention is to engage the reader’s emotions, while stimulating their interest in Joan’s history within the broader framework of Late Medieval France. Eventually, a consistent, less formal voice emerged. Another challenge was organizing the placement of thirty-seven color photographs from my three field trips to France and direct quotations from Joan’s trial records, without interrupting the book’s momentum and flow.” Continue reading “Meet the Author: Marcia Quinn Noren”

Meet the Author: Ressa Empbra

Author Ressa Empbra

Ressa Empbra says of her writing, “I have to have coffee, peace, quiet, and my MacBook. It sounds weird but I lay my head back in my leather-chair, close my eyes and let the words flow from my mind, down my arms, out of my fingertips, and onto my keyboard. It’s like having a movie playing inside my head and I don’t know what will happen until it does. Some writers make a story-board, outlines, stuff like that, and I’m sure it works well for them. But, I can’t work that way, not when I haven’t ‘seen’ what will happen next.”

She says her characters feel like they truly are a part of her from the beginning, so she gives them free reign to do as they please. “They do get into trouble from time to time,” she adds.

Ressa has some health issues which, along with medications, scramble and wipe out her memory, so her biggest writing challenge is in remembering small details.  She deals with this by making lots of notes. I do that as well, but then I forget where I put the notes. Continue reading “Meet the Author: Ressa Empbra”

Meet the Author: T.J. Perkins

Author T.J. Perkins

T.J. says her writing style is fun and imaginative. She says, “I write with such vivid imagery that the reader can’t help but to see the scenes unfold in their minds. You can’t help but put yourself in the main character’s shoes.”

She finds her inspiration in bits and pieces from every day happenings in her life or from others. She then twists them, shapes them and bends them into something so unreal that she says it could be real. That sounds like a typical Saturday night for me.

T.J. says the hardest part of writing is starting a story and ending a story. She says she will go walk and exercise to work out a situation and find a resolution. Continue reading “Meet the Author: T.J. Perkins”