Gail Z. Martin's Blog: Disquieting Visions, page 30

Paranormally Speaking

By Tina R. McSwain

The Traveling Psychic Fair — Coming May 6th!

Until recently, I did not know just how big the metaphysical community was here in Charlotte.  If you’re in the area on Sunday, come and check it out.

The Traveling Psychic Fair is Back! Join a growing community of talented Healers and Intuitives for a day of food, fun and fortune! Introductory 15 minute readings are being offered by several of Charlotte’s most talented individuals for only $25!! It is the perfect way to “try on” several psychics to see who most resonates with YOU! Date: Sunday May 6th Time: 12:00 – 5:00 Place: Amelie’s French Bakery 2424 N Davidson St Charlotte, NC 28205 There will be: •Aura Readings •Animal Communication •Rune Readings •Psychometry •Intuitive Tarot •Life Purpose Readings •Holistic Energy Readings •Spirit Communicators….and much more! CAPS will be there too with an Information Table. Stop by and Say Hi!!

There will be:

Messages From Spirit – Jonathan Harris Intuitive

Life Readings – Linda Thunberg

OverSoul Readings – Lynn Durbin

Aura Readings – Jennifer Vivian

Scrabble Tarot – Karen Yoder

Animal Communication – Tina Marie Heckman

Rune Readings – Jennifer Halls

Intuitive Body Work: John Mcbride

Psychometry – Sherry Avitan Intuitive

Tarot – Gina Spriggs

Life Purpose Readings – Marcela McBride

Holistic Energy Readings – Jennifer Thompson

Somatic Intuitive readings – Kimberly Beroset

EMF Balancing – Aleksandra Shumaker

How to Make Your Own Pendulum – Shari Claire

Learn More About CAPS – The Charlotte Area Paranormal Society – Tina R. McSwain

Date: Sunday May 6th

Time: 12:00 – 5:00

Place: Amelie’s French Bakery 2424 N Davidson St Charlotte, NC 28205

What Authors Really Want

by Gail Z. Martin

Of course, authors want people to buy and read their books. Authors also want readers and reviewers to say nice things about the book to others, encouraging more sales. Authors would like to be featured in the media as an expert and as the writer of a successful book. Some authors want to use a book to encourage readers to become clients of their business. Many authors see the value in being invited as a speaker to events, conferences and conventions. They want to use the book as a platform; and they also want to use speaking engagements to connect with more readers.

For authors who plan to write more than one book, they’ll want to keep readers fired up about how much they liked Book One so that they will run out and buy Book Two. Authors who have written a book about making personal, social or political change may also want to keep readers engaged so that readers will put what they’ve read into action. Most authors want to be seen as experts and as successful and credible professionals.

Whether or not your website is successful depends on how well is gives readers what they want and helps you get what you want as the author.

Stuck In the Mental Mud with Muses Screaming

by

Crymsyn Hart

Have you ever gotten to that point in a book where you’ve gotten stuck?

I’m not really talking about Writer’s Block, but just to that point within the flow of the story where you know what direction you want to go, but you just can’t get there. A wall comes down and for some reason you either lose interest in the storyline or your muses are screaming for you to start something else. I’m at that point right now in a novel. As much as I try to force myself from the mental mud I have gotten myself stuck in, I can’t get out of it and keep sinking deeper into the mire. So what am I doing to get out of it?

The muses are screaming at me to start another book, well four new books to be exact. I’ve ignored them so far on three of those new novels. I have outlined the remainder of the book I am stuck on and that has helped some. But it isn’t the complete answer. The cacophony of voices in my head makes me feel like I’m drowning because I can’t muzzle the muses and the one who is talking to me on the book I’m caught on seems to be losing interest. I guess I’m still trapped and there isn’t a quick and easy way out of the situation.

I’m sure all authors get to this point.

If there are any authors out there who are just picking up their pens or keyboards, don’t get discouraged. It happens and even though I can’t find an easy way out of it, doesn’t mean you can’t.

Anyone have any ideas to muzzle the muses or get me out of the mud?

 

Building Your Website: Building Relationships with the Reader

by Gail Z. Martin

As an author, you have a vested interest in turning the transaction of buying a book into an ongoing and longstanding relationship between you and the reader. Your website is one of the most important ways you can develop and nurture this relationship, but you need to understand what makes readers reach out to authors so that you can keep them coming back for more.

What Readers Really Want

When a reader finds a book that is really special, the reader wants to continue the experience. A non-fiction book may be so helpful that readers want more tips, more information, or help in applying the book’s content to their own situation. A fiction book might build such a pleasant or interesting make-believe world with characters that have become real to the reader that readers don’t want to leave. They want more details, inside information, and hints about what happens next.

Readers also want to feel that they have gotten to know you better as a person. Maybe they are interested in knowing why you chose to write about your topic, or how you came to be an expert. Often, they want to know what kinds of books you read, who you look up to as experts, and what you’ll be doing next.

To the extent that your website can meet these needs and answer these questions, you’ll be building a relationship with the people who keep you in business as an author.

Paranormally Speaking

By Tina R. McSwain

On the Road Again

This time to Birmingham, AL to investigate the Sloss Furnace Works.  There’s supposed to be a rather nasty fellow down there nicknamed, “Slag”.  He tends to push and slap folks.  Under his supervision, 47 workers died.  He was a cruel overseer.  Some say, he slipped and fell to his death.  Others, have a more sinister explanation.  He was pushed into the furnace by the men he treated so badly.

He’s supposedly there now, taking his revenge on all who dare to roam the furnace works at night.  My team and I are off tomorrow to fine out.

Let’s Hear it for the NPCs

by Gail Z. Martin

At Lunacon, I was on a panel called “The Magical Middle Class” where the topic was secondary characters (or as gamers refer to them, Non-Player Characters—NPC) in fiction who possess magic but don’t have awesome jobs.  It got me thinking about how important background characters are, and how poor our fiction would be without them.

There are a lot of magical middle classers in the Harry Potter series.  Mr. Weasley is a perfect example.  He has magic powerful enough to be among the Order of the Phoenix, yet he has a job as a mid-level government bureaucrat.  Think about the series, and you find a number of people with jobs as shop keepers, bus drivers, and even Hagrid, the grounds keeper, who have very ordinary jobs despite magic that would make them extraordinary in our world.

In any book, but especially in a series, those background characters add life and texture when they’re done well.  They may never have a heroic role, but they make the world feel more real.  They are, as Mr. Rogers put it, “The people that you meet each day.”

Often, these characters serve as a source of information, an unlikely intelligence network, or an unofficial Greek chorus.  They’re the bartender, the cop or night guard, the janitor, the barrista, the waiter, the neighbor.  They’re the casual acquaintances, the people you see often enough to have a conversation with, and yet don’t know quite well enough to invite them to dinner.  Yet their conversations and interactions can reveal a lot about characterization, and can provide important, even essential clues to action.

So the next time you’re reading, pay attention to the NPCs.  They’re not the hero or the villain, but they are an essential support team, and play a role far more important than is often acknowledged.  Hooray for the magical middle class!

Paranormally Speaking

By Tina R. McSwain

Random Thoughts

…Did you have bad luck on Friday the 13th?  My bad luck seemed to hit on the 12th.

…Did you travel on Friday the 13th?  Many do not for fear of being in an accident.

…Has the lure of ghost hunting a famously haunted location with known celebrities in the paranormal field diminished?

…And finally, the Titantic struck an iceberg and went down to her watery grave 100 years ago today.  Are there ghosts on board?  Do they still roam the lavish halls as they did on that fateful night in 1912?

Come see me at a signing!

by Gail Z. Martin

Come see me at a signing!

In-store signing at Books-A-Million at Carolina Mall in Concord, NC  on Mar. 30, 5 – 7 p.m.
Ravencon, Richmond, VA April 14 – 15
In-store signing at the Barnes & Noble at Birkdale Village, Huntersville,  NC on April 21, 2-4 p.m.
In-store signing at Park Road Books in Charlotte, NC on Apr. 27, 7 – 8:30 p.m.
Watch for more in-store and con signings to come!

I’d love to hear from you—please comment on my blog or on Facebook, and of course, I always really appreciate it when you forward my posts to your friends.

I hope to meet you at a convention or signing this year.  Enjoy!

Shiny & Polished….now what do I do?

by

Crymsyn Hart

So you’ve put the finishing polish on the manuscript and it’s all bright, shiny, and ready to be shipped off…somewhere. But where do you go and what do you do with it? Well, there are several options these days unlike fifteen years ago when I first started searching around for places to go.

You can self-publish. You can send your work to an agent, or you can go directly to a publisher or an e-publisher. If you choose the agent, publisher or e-publisher route, make sure you read the submission requirements for that particular place you are sending it to. Everyone is different.

Some agents say to just email them a synopsis and not to mail anything. Or if you do mail them something make sure you include a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope so you can get a reply back.  Or others will let you know that they are not taking any unsolicited manuscripts.

The same with the publishers. Only very few will actually accept any manuscripts. This is talking major publishing houses. Now if you are looking at e-publishers, make sure to also look at their  submission’s page because they too have a specific format they want, whether it is a synopsis and the first three chapters of your book, or just the synopsis.

Then there is the self-publishing route which many authors I know are taking these days, but please make sure you have edited your book or have some edited for you. That is the most important thing.

No matter which road you choose, there is always the anticipation and the butterflies in the stomach of the waiting for when you hear back. But the good thing about that is, while you’re waiting, you can be writing another book.

Who Are Your Favorite Villains?

by Gail Z. Martin

OK, so I’ve talked about favorite heroes, but what about favorite villaians?  Who are the people I love to hate?

I don’t buy into the idea that a villain needs to be sympathetic. Understandable, but not sympathetic.  While a good villain needs a back story, I don’t think it’s essential to identify with them.  Sure, no villian believes he or she is bad.  Yes, many villains had terrible childhoods or endured some kind of trauma.  But so do many other people who don’t become villains.  In fact, the split in the path between hero and villain lies in the choice of what to do after the trauma.  Do you identify with the victim, and vow to keep terrible things from happening again, becoming the hero, or do you identify with the perpetrator, choosing to make others suffer as you have suffered?

I have a fondness for comic book villains, maybe because they’re just so  cool.  So  yes, all of Batman’s foes make my favorite’s list.  Ditto for Spiderman and the Fantastic Four and the X Men.  I liked the nuances that were so much a part of Voldemort, but I found the “banality of evil” of Cornelius Fudge and Delores Umbridge to be equally scary because they are so real and I have met their real-life counterparts.  For sheer stage presence, you gotta love Malificent (great costume), and the Shadows of Babylon 5.  Angelique from Dark Shadows had a single-minded stalker quality that made her pretty scary.  I never really bought into Anakin Skywalker–perhaps he should have been fed to Louis from Anne Rice’s books and they could have been angsty together.  But I think one of my very favorite villains is Belle Morte from the Anita Blake series and

So who are your favorite villains and why do they rock?