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Published on July 09, 2014 04:00

Monday Musings: Writing help—Revision Funk

Lately I have been in a revision funk. What’s a revision funk? For you non-writers, a revision funk is when a writer has trouble revising, or making improvements, to the story they are trying to finish. You’d think after writing and revising 7 books, the 8th book would be a piece of cake. But no. It seems I’ve hit a wall for some reason. It may be that I’ve become too lackadaisical, or I’ve become complacent and not taking the process seriously, thinking I can just breeze through revisions without much thought. Not a good attitude to have if you want to put out a good book.

Looking for inspiration, I bought a book on revision to help me refresh my memory. Even experienced writers need to keep learning and exercising the writing muscle. And my writing muscle has been in need of some toning. This book has some really helpful tips and techniques for doing revisions and self-edits. I’m glad I decided to do something about my funk rather than just sit around and complain about it. Or even worse, turn out a crappy book. This doesn’t mean I can skip the editor, but it’s given me some inspiring ideas and helped me turn revisions into something fun instead of a tedious chore.

The book I’m reading is called Revision and Self-Editing for Publication (2nd edition) by James Scott Bell.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

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Published on July 07, 2014 04:00

Favorite Friday

Favorite Movie

Let Me In

This is a fantastic vampire movie. The vampire appears as a young, innocent girl, but she is anything but innocent. She is a dangerous predator—to everyone except the young bullied boy who is ignored by his troubled mother and father who abandoned him. To him, she is a savior, a guardian angel. The two form a unique bond, one based on need but also affection. She needs him to protect her during the day and help her find prey. He needs her because he is alone. A compelling look at what I think is a true relationship with a vampire. This is not a sparkly, beautiful love story. The wintry New Mexico setting also helps set the bleak mood of this haunting tale. Highly recommended for fans of horror and vampire lore.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

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Published on July 04, 2014 04:00

Weird Word Wednesday

Afebrile afe·brile

adjective \(ˌ)ā-ˈfe-ˌbrī(-ə)l also -ˈfē-\

Definition of AFEBRILE

: not marked by or having a fever

First Known Use of AFEBRILE

1875

Rhymes with AFEBRILE

Anglophile, country mile, cyclostyle, domicile, family style,Francophile, Gallophile, hypostyle, in denial, juvenile,projectile, rat-tail file, rank and file, single file, statute mile

afe·brile

adjective \(ˈ)ā-ˈfeb-ˌrīl also -ˈfēb-\ (Medical Dictionary)

Medical Definition of AFEBRILE

: free from fever : not marked by fever

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

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Published on July 02, 2014 04:00

Monday Musings: Wildlife in my backyard—Godzilla vs. Cactus Wrens

I don’t even have to leave my house to see a variety of wildlife. We don’t live on the edge of town, but we have a side yard outside our wall filled with nasty cactus that protects small animals from larger predators. I know for sure that rabbits, lizards and kangaroo rats live in there. I’m not sure I want to know what else might be residing in our side yard.

Since we moved here, we have had an injured hawk in the front yard, a sick or injured vulture in our backyard that I had to herd out of the yard because my husband was afraid of it, and we’ve opened our front door in the morning to find pieces of rabbits leftover from marauding coyotes. That thankfully stopped once we started leaving our porch light on at night. One morning, I opened the sliding back door because I heard a bunch of shrieking bird noises to find the yard covered in gray feathers and one bird foot. Ick. I think a raven killed a mourning dove.

Today I heard some loud, scolding bird noises and went outside with my camera to find two cactus wrens beneath our palo verde tree. I took a picture of the birds and then saw Godzilla, the large white lizard that inhabits the side yard, confronting the birds. He scared the hell out of me one day when he got stranded in our garage. I had to call my dad over to help me get him out of the garage because I was afraid of him. I didn’t want him to die in the garage though. Besides, he eats bugs and I hate bugs in my house. Usually Godzilla is elusive, but I was able to get some good pictures of him this time. I’m not sure what was happening, but I think the lizard and the birds were fighting over the grub worms in the soil beneath the tree.

That’s a popular spot in our backyard. The area beneath our palo verde tree is like a popular animal bar or restaurant. I get mad because birds and other unknown nocturnal creatures dig and mess up my rocks. But it is kind of cool to see all the wildlife in my backyard. I just wish they could put the rocks back after they dig up their worms.

I took this picture and didn’t even see Godzilla.

I think he’s posing for me. lol

He’s looking at me!

This was taken a few days ago. How would you like to walk outside

and see this on your wall? This is the first time I saw this lizard.

I haven’t named him yet. The pattern on his back reminds me of tiger

stripes. I might call him Tigger.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

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Published on June 30, 2014 04:00

Favorite Friday

Favorite Book

The Shapeshifters’ Library, Released by Amber Polo

Liberty Cutter is the librarian of the Shipsfeather, Ohio library where a curse has imprisoned an ancient race of dog-shifters in the basement. The dog-shifting scholars protect the world’s libraries from the evil, book-burning werewolves.

This light fantasy shifter series is a refreshing change from all of the same shifter books I’ve come across. I haven’t seen a dog-shifter series before. The concept of dog-shifters saving books from evil werewolves is also a new, clever idea. Witty dialogue and a quick pace will keep readers compelled to keep turning the pages. With likeable heroes and heroines and snooty villains, this light fantasy was a fun, entertaining read. I think this book is geared toward a young adult audience, but adults will enjoy it too—I did. This is a wonderful first book in this series. Highly recommended to fantasy readers of all ages.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

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Published on June 27, 2014 04:00

Weird Word Wednesday

Afeardafeard adjective \ə-ˈfird\
Definition of AFEARDchiefly dialect
: afraid
Variants of AFEARDafeard or afeared
Origin of AFEARDMiddle English afered, from Old English āfǣred, past participle of āfǣran to frighten, from ā-, perfective prefix +fǣran to frighten — more at abide, fear
First Known Use: before 12th century

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
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Published on June 25, 2014 04:00

Monday Musings: Writing fiction--Can there ever be too much action?

I’ve been pondering this lately after agonizing over my own stories, rewriting and deciding what kind of scenes I want in my books. And after hearing different opinions about writing and adding more action, I started thinking about what I like in a book. I like to write the kind of books I like to read, so it makes sense to me to look deeper into how much action I like in a book.

Action can improve the pacing, but too much action can also overshadow the growing relationships in a story, especially in a romance novel where the relationship is very important. I like those interactive scenes between characters, witty dialogue and moments pondering those raging emotions. I realize some readers and editors like the pacing to move quickly, but others like slower moments in a story as long as these scenes still move the story forward.

I’ve read books with more action than interaction between the two main characters, and I didn’t feel like I was able to know the characters, to feel what they were feeling. Too much action gave the book a fast pace, but I was left disappointed, like I missed something. I think maybe I like character driven novels and that’s what I like to write, too. Pacing is important in a story. You don’t want to bore the reader, but you don’t want to set the pacing so high, you leave the reader wondering what happened. I like to think of pacing in a book like a roller coaster. You have your wild turns and gut clenching drops, but you also have those moments where the roller coast just glides along the rails.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

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Published on June 23, 2014 04:00

Favorite Friday

Favorite TV Show

Salem

Okay, another witch show. I know. But this one is different. It’s really dark, way darker than Charmed (which really wasn’t a true witch show but still fun) and even darker than Witches of East End, which I also like for different reasons. I like the premise of how the witches are trying to gain control of Salem by using the witch trials to get the Puritans to kill each other—sort of like the wolf hiding among the sheep.

What I like about Salem—anytime Puritans get what they deserve, I’m right there cheering it on. I mean, how hypocritical can you get? They fornicate all over the place, even the preacher who condemns all the fun stuff, yet the people caught fornicating get an F branded on their foreheads. Geez. This is one of the darkest times in history—because of superstition, fear and ignorance, innocent people died in terrible ways.

What I don’t like about Salem—the witches are portrayed as evil demons consorting with the Devil. That bothers me because I don’t think of all witches as evil, and witches have been around for centuries, so how can they sell their soul to the Devil when the Devil is a Christian invention? Yet I am compelled to keep watching this show. I love the main witch character, Mary Sibley. The actress does a great job in this role, making all the Puritans think she is innocent. Mary wants to be evil but her love for Captain John Alden, played by the hunky Shane West, keeps her soul pure.

If you want to be entertained by powerful witches getting revenge on the oppressive, hypocritical Puritans, then I recommend this show.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

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