Amy L. Bernstein's Blog, page 5
February 10, 2022
Revealing Character Through Dialogue
Having almost too much fun researching sources for my upcoming workshop, ���Revealing Character Through Dialogue,��� sponsored by Yellow Arrow Publishing. Leafing through stage plays as well as novels for prime examples of t...
January 29, 2022
Adventures in Audiobook Land
I may as well be traveling through a series of countries where I don't know the language. But I'm carrying guidebooks and a magical translation app, so I expect to find my bearings soon.
January 20, 2022
"Fran" gets a voice!
As a former radio reporter and executive speechwriter, and as a playwright, nothing's more exciting than hearing your words read or performed out loud for the first time.
If a book falls in the forest...
What happens to a finished novel that sits quietly in your digital drawer? The koans come to mind. If a tree falls in the forest with no one around, does it make a sound? And what is the sound of one hand clapping?
November 10, 2021
Writing into the Pandemic
The shock to the system we've lived through during the time of covid affects artists in such different ways. Some artists I know were so saturated with jangly, existential dread for months on end (during peak lockdown months, pre-vaccine), they had nothing left in the tank, physically and emotionally, to create new work.
I shared the existential dread, but my way of coping was to channel my thoughts into building fictional worlds and wrestling with the knotty problems that come with trying to shape a novel. By placing my mind in other worlds, I could temporarily ignore the frightening developments in the real one.
"The Potrero Complex" grew out of a kind of dual existence: living through the pandemic in real time (is there any other way?), while trying to write new worlds into existence. It turns out I married those preoccupations, and ended up writing about a fictional post-pandemic world.
I could have made the story scarier, more apocalyptic, but I wanted to hold onto a sense of reality. What might actually happen if we were to emerge as a society from a pandemic even worse than the one we've lived in? This led me down some dark paths...toward despair, trauma, and fascism in a world where people grew willing to sacrifice freedom for safety.
I shared the existential dread, but my way of coping was to channel my thoughts into building fictional worlds and wrestling with the knotty problems that come with trying to shape a novel. By placing my mind in other worlds, I could temporarily ignore the frightening developments in the real one.
"The Potrero Complex" grew out of a kind of dual existence: living through the pandemic in real time (is there any other way?), while trying to write new worlds into existence. It turns out I married those preoccupations, and ended up writing about a fictional post-pandemic world.
I could have made the story scarier, more apocalyptic, but I wanted to hold onto a sense of reality. What might actually happen if we were to emerge as a society from a pandemic even worse than the one we've lived in? This led me down some dark paths...toward despair, trauma, and fascism in a world where people grew willing to sacrifice freedom for safety.
November 8, 2021
Writing Into the Pandemic
The shock to the system we've lived through during the time of covid affects artists in such different ways. Some artists I know were so saturated with jangly, existential dread for months on end (during peak lockdown mo...
January 29, 2021
Bringing Romance Into Everything
I love writing romance fiction because, despite all the supposed rules in place, it can be very freeing. Moving characters around on the chessboard of life to ensure they fall in love (and maybe out of love) is great fun.
And every love story I write teaches me not only how to get better at this craft, but also about the variety of motivations that exist in the arsenal of human emotion.
Unexpected Gifts is a short novella in which the protagonists don’t have a lot of time to fall in love and overcome an assortment of obstacles.
I love the compressed time that a short work of fiction imposes. There’s little time for dallying; my two lovebirds have to get down to business pretty quickly. Of course, I did throw a mystery and a ghost in their way, but it all works out in the end…though the magic and the mystery linger on.
I have three full-length novels coming out in 2021 and 2022. They are not all romances but I weave romance into everything I write, although some of what I aim for is, admittedly, anti-romance or the end of romance.
My fantasy novel, Ell, will be published in June. It’s about a highly unconventional mermaid who does indeed fall in love, but the stakes are complicated because she’s not human (but falls for one) and because it turns out that her love interest does not have the mermaid’s best interests at heart. I love a juicy betrayal.
My other novels, Tent City and The Potrero Complex, feature more from the broken-romance category. Both follow couples who start out strong and ultimately grow apart, for various reasons and with many consequences.
Maybe I’m not an HEA romance writer, but my current work-in-progress, The Nighthawkers, does feature a love story that turns into a betrayal, yet the heroine ends up with the right, uh, spirit in the end. It’s paranormal; not every love match is between humans.
And every love story I write teaches me not only how to get better at this craft, but also about the variety of motivations that exist in the arsenal of human emotion.
Unexpected Gifts is a short novella in which the protagonists don’t have a lot of time to fall in love and overcome an assortment of obstacles.
I love the compressed time that a short work of fiction imposes. There’s little time for dallying; my two lovebirds have to get down to business pretty quickly. Of course, I did throw a mystery and a ghost in their way, but it all works out in the end…though the magic and the mystery linger on.
I have three full-length novels coming out in 2021 and 2022. They are not all romances but I weave romance into everything I write, although some of what I aim for is, admittedly, anti-romance or the end of romance.
My fantasy novel, Ell, will be published in June. It’s about a highly unconventional mermaid who does indeed fall in love, but the stakes are complicated because she’s not human (but falls for one) and because it turns out that her love interest does not have the mermaid’s best interests at heart. I love a juicy betrayal.
My other novels, Tent City and The Potrero Complex, feature more from the broken-romance category. Both follow couples who start out strong and ultimately grow apart, for various reasons and with many consequences.
Maybe I’m not an HEA romance writer, but my current work-in-progress, The Nighthawkers, does feature a love story that turns into a betrayal, yet the heroine ends up with the right, uh, spirit in the end. It’s paranormal; not every love match is between humans.
January 4, 2021
Publishing and Patience
One of the hardest lessons I've learned as an author is how long it takes for a traditionally published book to come to market. I'm not complaining--but it did come as a shock when I learned I'd have to wait 18 months from signing a contract to the actual book appearing. I thought the time would never pass!
But here we are in 2021 and my fantasy book, Ell, about an unconventional mermaid, will become a physical object in June...which now doesn't feel so far away!
I just have to remain patient for 6 more months. Maybe my novel and the near-end of Covid will arrive together! That would be nice.
But here we are in 2021 and my fantasy book, Ell, about an unconventional mermaid, will become a physical object in June...which now doesn't feel so far away!
I just have to remain patient for 6 more months. Maybe my novel and the near-end of Covid will arrive together! That would be nice.
December 15, 2020
Reading Your Own Work
I just read a novel I wrote about 12 years ago, Fran, the Second Time Around, for the first time since I self-published it in 2008. (I reissued it this year.)
What a weird experience--to read your own work as a stranger to it. I actually didn't remember 98% of it. I knew how it ended, of course. But most pages between the covers were a mystery to me.
So, it's an OK book. It was my very first, written during a very busy period in my life. I like to think that the three novels I've written since are better crafted--that I've gotten better as a novelist.
I'm not embarrassed by "Fran." I guess that's something. It does move along and on the whole, it hangs together. I think you also feel something at the end--which of course I was going for.
But it is sobering to read your work as if someone else had written it.
Readers and reviewers are welcome! It's on Amazon (free on KU) and the ebook is also on Kobo.
What a weird experience--to read your own work as a stranger to it. I actually didn't remember 98% of it. I knew how it ended, of course. But most pages between the covers were a mystery to me.
So, it's an OK book. It was my very first, written during a very busy period in my life. I like to think that the three novels I've written since are better crafted--that I've gotten better as a novelist.
I'm not embarrassed by "Fran." I guess that's something. It does move along and on the whole, it hangs together. I think you also feel something at the end--which of course I was going for.
But it is sobering to read your work as if someone else had written it.
Readers and reviewers are welcome! It's on Amazon (free on KU) and the ebook is also on Kobo.
December 3, 2020
Meeting New Writer Friends
Meeting new authors, even online, is such a thrill. I'm excited to be doing a bit of author promo business with the talented British romance novelist, Leonie Mack. Her newest is My Christmas Number One. I'm half-way through it now.
We're doing a Facebook takeover at Bookalicious Romance on Sat., Dec. 5. (She's got the morning, I've got the afternoon.) If you love romance fiction, do stop by.
I'm grateful for her sweet review of my Unexpected Gifts on Amazon UK:
"This short novella is a great introduction to the author's lovely writing style, with lots of spookiness and a sweet romance. Charlie was a great character who grabbed me, despite the short nature of the story."
We're doing a Facebook takeover at Bookalicious Romance on Sat., Dec. 5. (She's got the morning, I've got the afternoon.) If you love romance fiction, do stop by.
I'm grateful for her sweet review of my Unexpected Gifts on Amazon UK:
"This short novella is a great introduction to the author's lovely writing style, with lots of spookiness and a sweet romance. Charlie was a great character who grabbed me, despite the short nature of the story."
