Raven Bower's Blog, page 11

Music & Writing at Constance Phillips Blog!

Fellow author Constance Phillips, Fairyproof – Crescent Moon Press, is hosting me on her blog today – topic being Music and Writing!

Join us and let us know how music inspires you!

Primal is Out!! Enter to Win a Free Kindle Edition!

 

Primal Lives!!! In honor of its release and it being Lain’s debut novel – Go Lain! We’re giving away three Kindle copies of Primal!

To enter to win – ‘Like’ the Announcement Post Here then ‘Share’ it. Winners will be announced here and on Facebook tomorrow morning!

Primal’s Theme Songs!

As you can see…errr…hear – there’s no wimpy, simpering puppies in this urban fantasy  >:)

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Pursued by a ruthless crime lord after witnessing the murder of an FBI agent, Wrey must rebuild the life they stole from her. When she meets mysterious Arvon Night, her precious new life unravels as she’s thrust into a web of betrayal, lust and violence.

Arvon knows he must slay Wrey to keep his secret safe from those who hunt him. Each hour his enemies stalk closer, ready to kill.

Can Wrey’s powers of nature and spirit help her survive the yearning and dangerous Arvon and the tide of peril he brings with him? Or will an opportunistic hitman take advantage of them both?

Book Review – Hooked by Les Edgerton

 

 

Title: Hooked

Author: Les Edgerton

Genre: Non-Fiction, Writing

Publisher: Writer’s Digest Books

Series: No

Rating: 5 bats

Heat Level: n/a

Besides loving Les Edgerton’s style and voice in general – the information in this book is a must have for anyone and everyone in the realm of fiction writing.

An unfortunate but true fact is that most editors and agents won’t read past the first page – or five if they’re feeling generous – if the story hasn’t hooked them. There’s exceptions to this, obviously, but best not count on hitting that rare editor/agent that’ll read past that without a darn good reason to. Gone are the days where writers could leisurely set the scene and go over a character’s history (and good thing too I say! How dull!).

Les takes the art of writing stellar, gripping beginnings and breaks them down – complete with examples. He’s easy to understand and his advice is, as usual, spot on.

The chapters:

1. Story Structure and the Scene

2. Opening Scenes: An Overview

3. The Inciting Incident, the Initial Surface Problem, and the Story-Worthy Problem

4. The Setup and Backstory

5. Combining the Inciting Incident, Story-Worthy Problem, Initial Surface Problem, Setup, and Backstory

6. Introducing Your Characters

7. Foreshadowing, Language, and Setting

8. Great Opening Lines

9. Red Flag Openers to Avoid

10. Opening Scene Length and the Use of Transitions

11. The View From the Agent’s and Editor’s Chair

This is a book I plan on keeping and re-reading each year to keep his advice engrained!

Book Review ~ Medusa, A Love Story

 

 

Title: Medusa, A Love Story

Author: Sasha Summers

Genre: Mythological Fantasy

Publisher: Crescent Moon

Rating: 5 Bats

“It’s said love can change a person. Medusa wasn’t always a monster…

Medusa is ruled by duty, to her Titan father and the Goddess Athena. She’s no room for the tenderness her warrior guard, Ariston, stirs. When Olympus frees her from service, her heart leads her into the arms of the guard she loves… and curses her as the creature with serpent locks.

Ariston goes to war with a full heart… and dreadful foreboding. He learns too late of the danger Medusa faces, alone, and a Persian blade sends him into the Underworld. But death, curses, nor the wrath of the Gods will keep him from returning to her.

Poseidon will use Greece’s war to get what he wants: Medusa. He does not care that she belongs to another. He does not care that she will be damned. He is a God, an Olympian, and she will be his.”

A very interesting twist on the Medusa mythology – really enjoyed it. The characters were well fleshed out and seemed to breath on the page. The story itself is beautiful and tugs on the heartstrings.  *is partial to Poseidon out of all the Greek gods* hehe

 

Interview at That Book Place!

If any of you want the scoop on what spurred me into writing my first novel and some of the challenges Lain and I faced in writing Primal, drop on by That Book Place and look into the crystal ball…er…well, the answers are in the interview 

Check it out here!

Recipe ~ Alien Pods

 

 

Ah spring, (so the calendar says) and we’ve wandered across a clutch of three alien pods. After astute scientific analysis we’ve finally broke their genetic code!

3 cantaloupes

2 ripe bananas

1 bag frozen blackberries

Green grapes (for seeds)

Each pod consists of one cantaloupe-ian shell, cut in half in a jagged way so it seems like the outer shell was hard to open, like a coconut or pod.

To make the innards take three ripe or frozen bananas and one package frozen blackberries and stuff into a blender. Puree and pour into the cantaloupe halves.

Slice three grapes in half per pod and place sliced side up into the innards.

This can be made ahead and chilled. Serves six.

Mutations:

During our experiments, we discovered several delicious mutations!

Some had higher protein content within their innards:

1 banana

1 pkg. soft tofu

½ bag frozen berries

Handful of mulberries

Another had higher anti-oxidant content:

2 bananas

1 pkg. frozen blueberries

Sliced strawberries

However, you enjoy your pods, do be careful and watch them closely! They’re an alien delicacy and once prepared have a way of…disappearing.

 

Desiree Finkbeiner on The Beginning of Ethos: Morning Star

 

Please welcome Desiree Finkbeiner author of the fantasy novel Ethos: Morning Star and Graphic Designer, who willingly subjected herself to being my first torture subject…errr…guest 

Keeping with the Theme of Beginnings – here’s what Desiree has to say about writing the Beginning of Ethos.

Raven:  Did you have issues with it? How do you handle writing your openings? What importance do you put on the first line etc.

Desiree: The first few lines of a novel are the most important. It took me a while to ‘get it’. With so many books on the market, it’s getting harder and harder to impress readers right off the bat. Readers are smart, and they’ve seen a LOT of beginnings. So how will yours stand out?

Some would argue that you’ve got to grab a reader’s attention within the first few pages, but I disagree. You need to grab them in the first few sentences. A reader can gather the entire feel for your pacing from those first few lines.

When writing Ethos, I spent the most time on the beginning. As a reader myself, I don’t want to be bored with background details that mean nothing to me, nor do I want to read a long laborious description about how some unknown character is waking up from a bad dream and what their mother ate for breakfast two days ago… I want to be mystified, hooked and compelled to read on!

My original opening was weak, so I spent several days going through the free excerpts of other top rated books on Amazon, trying to find discover the formula for what grabbed me right away, and what repelled me. The lines that hooked me instantly were the once that engaged me with action immediately; the ones that forced me to ask questions that needed answers.

So my opening line, “Am I going to die?” forces the reader to wonder who, what, when, where and why. Who is this character and why is she so concerned about death? Where did she get hurt and how? What happened?

Sometimes, it takes some creative plotting for your book to have a hook opening. Maybe start in the middle of the action to reel the reader in, then backtrack the plot to important ‘setting up’ once you have their attention.

Each genre may need a different kind of opening to grab the reader. A horror story may need to start out with something like, “…Blood dripped from his chin as he scrambled to get to the open doorway…” Or for a romance, “His breath was hot against my neck, sending chills down my spine, goose bumps forming on my arms and thighs…” You get the picture. Engage the reader immediately, and they won’t be able to stop reading.

Raven: Thanks Desiree! Ethos: Morning Star is available in Kindle form at Amazon.com, with print coming soon – Desiree is working on more art for it!

 

Writing Beginnings – Opening Sentence

Gone are the days of slowly oozing out a beginning with frilly descriptions of the skyline, weather (unless it’s dramatic weather!) or lazily droning about a character’s description and backstory. And thankfully so! How very dull.

In today’s world of fiction authors must hook their reader (remember, editors are readers too!) with the first sentence. Some fine examples:

“Quinn had found a box of paperclips in his bottom desk drawer and was just straightening up when the dead woman walked into his office.” – John Lutz, Mr. X

“At the very beginning, she had seen his face and knew he would not let her live.” – Allison Brennan, Speak No Evil

“The demon howled its outrage.” – Raymond Feist, Rides a Dread Legion

“I heard this scary story about you one time,” Marty said, “and I didn’t know whether it was true or not.” – Jeffery Deaver, Shallow Graves

“Laura Adderley leaned a hand against the bathroom stall, clutching the home pregnancy test in her other fist, unable to look.” – Lisa Jackson, Wicked Lies

“If she didn’t have sex with something soon, she would burst out of her skin.” Virginia Kantra, Sea Witch

Each one of these writers opened with a bang, no ABC Nightly Weather Reports here. These opening sentences cause the reader to ask questions, to wonder, to want to know and that is precisely what causes them to pick up your book – or manuscript.

The second thing each of these authors does with their opening sentence is to show that something is definitely awry – none of these are every day events.

It’s an unfortunate fact that most editors and agents won’t read past the first few pages if they’re not already hooked. Some read only the first paragraph. Some only the first line. Yes. So your opening sentence is the most crucial sentence in your entire story. It’s worth every moment you polish and turn it, every bead of sweat and every drop of blood you pour into it, for without a great opening –

“Unless you grab our attention immediately, your book has no chance.” – Jodie Rhodes, Jodie Rhodes Literary Agency

“Never ever start with weather, dreams, setup, or a passive scene that takes the reader nowhere.” – Julie Castiglia, Castiglia Literary Agency

Thankfully, this doesn’t mean we as writers need to have the perfect beginning when we start our rough drafts. Lain and I have learned to write the story through entirely in rough draft and only then, once the ending is solidified, can we be certain that not only does our story start at the right spot but that our opening line fits.

That said, a good 80% of our time is spent on the Beginning and one would think that it would even out after it’s gone through publisher edits but not so. Even in the final editing process before release most of our edits are in the first through third chapters.

When honing your opening it helps to keep these questions in mind:

Does it open with an interesting situation?

Does it open with character?

Does it give the reader a sense that something is wrong? Amiss? About to rock the character’s world?

Does it raise questions?

What questions? – note here, the questions ought to relate directly to the character and story and meld with your ending (more on that later), not will he eat his pizza – unless, the pizza is poisoned then go for it!

Does my story follow through on the promises I make to the reader with this opening?

Write on!

More on Beginnings throughout this week and May!

New Fantasy Series! Weeping Dark: Bleeding Edge Contracted!

Lain and I are excited to announce that book one of our Weeping Dark epic fantasy series, Bleeding Edge, has been contracted by Crescent Moon Press!! The doom spreads! Muahahah *cough*

We don’t have an exact release date yet but they’re estimating a late 2012/early 2013 release. For up-to-date info posted whenever we get it please ‘like’ our FB Fan page