Nicole Zoltack's Blog, page 29

Question of the Week - Least Favorite Things

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What is your least favorite book? Movie? Restaurant?



 Ethan Frome. I had to read it for school. Took me countess times to get past the first page. Then it took me countless times to get past the first chapter. I just could not get into this story.



Slapstick comedies. Any of them. I just don't find them funny.



Denny's. After an awful experience when the food was just awful for not just me but my entire family. Just about everyone in the restaurant complained to the manager that night and everyone got dessert for free. Still didn't make up for the disgusting food though and I haven't gone back to Denny's since.

Weekly Progress Report - Superhero romance and A Land without Zombies

This past week, I've been editing and proofreading as always. I've always been working hard on my superhero romance - it's now over 10K! He's just about to figure out that he's not quite human anymore - he's superhuman - but what exactly that entails, I still have to figure out myself.



But as great as the word count is, that's not my big news. Yesterday I received an acceptance email - my short story "A Land without Zombies" is going to be included in Spencer Hill's Holiday Magick anthology! I'm so excited! The anthology won't be available until next year.



How goes your writing? Your reading? Have you submitted anything lately? What have you been up to?












Check out some other great progress reports this week:



http://www.writersally.blogspot.com/

http://jc-martin.com/fighterwriter/

http://waibelworld.blogspot.com

http://susanfieldswriter.blogspot.com

http://skmayhew.blogspot.com/p/tuesday-wip-status.html

http://margoberendsen.blogspot.com

http://www.sherryauger.blogspot.com

http://www.susanoloier.blogspot.com

http://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.com/

http://lynneawest.blogspot.com

Creature of the Week - Quetzalcoatl

It's been far to long sincce I've done a creature post! Time to bring back this feature.



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Today's creature is the Quetzalcoatl, which means feathered serpent. Quetzalcoatl dates back to 200 BCE. In human form, he looks like a warrior adorned with feathers. He was the god of vegetation, rain, and wind and is linked to the morning star (Venus). He was also the patron god of the Aztec priesthood, of learning and knowledge.


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In addition to being the name of a god, the founder of the city of Tula, the capital of the Toltec culture, appointed himself as king and called himself Quetzalcoatl. There were two fractions within the city: those who followed Quetzalcoatl (who sacrificed serpents, birds, and butterflies) and those who followed Tercatlipoca (a Jaguar shaman who sacrificed humans). Tercatlipoca tricked Quetzalcoatl into getting drunk on fermented cactus juice. While drunk, Quetzalcoatl committed incest. Once he realized what he had done, Quetzalcoatl exiled himself from Tula with some of his followers.


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 Accounts differ as to what happens next. Quetzalcoatl journeyed to the Gulf of Mexico. He wore feather garments and a turquoise mask, set himself on fire, and rose from the funeral pyre as the morning star. Another version has him sailing on a raft of woven serpents. Yet another says that Quetzalcoatl thought his face ugly so he grew a beard and wore a white mask. This made people think that the Aztec king Moctezumas open his city to the Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes because he thought him (a bearded white man) was Quetzalcoatl coming back from the raft, but this theory has now been discredited.

Interivew with Mallory Kane, Author of No Hero

Everyone, please welcome Mallory Kane! We have a fun Q&A session for you all to enjoy.




So, Mallory, what inspired you to write No Hero?

When I wrote my first
book for Harlequin Intrigue, The Lawman
Who Loved Her,  Devereux Gautier
showed up as the hero, Cody Maxwell's partner. He was a wise-cracking Cajun who
very nearly took over the book. Ever since then, Dev has been one of my
favorite characters. Now he finally gets his own book.



I love it when it when side characters get highlighted in their own stories!




When did you first consider yourself a writer? I've always been a writer. I wrote my first piece when I was 8 or 9
years old. It was called Miss Mousie Had
A Tea Party. I wrote my first romance when I was around 13. It had the requisite
bad boy, the innocent girl who knew
there was a good guy inside the bad boy, and of course a mystery.



Now that sounds like a fun story! Who doesn't like a bad boy? My first story was just awful but I'll never forget it.




What book are you reading now? I'm
reading a historical romance called From
This Day Forward, by Deborah Cox, available on Kindle Direct. It's very
good.





Oh, I've heard good things about that book!




Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your
readers? Sure. I'd love to say thank you
for reading my books. Thanks for writing me and telling me you enjoyed a
particular book, or asking me a question about what's going to happen to some
secondary character. Thanks for thinking about me when you enjoy one of my
books. I'm pretty sure readers know that writers don't write to make money or
to become famous. We write because we have to write. The fact that readers
enjoy our books and get excited just like we do when a new book comes out, is a
thrill beyond imagining.




Hear, hear! Well said.




What would you do if you didn’t have to work? Well, I don't really have to work. I retired from my career as a
pharmacist several years ago. I was already writing and I've continued to write
since then. The little bit of extra money the writing brings is very helpful
for household expenses. But as I said above, I don't write because I need to. I
write because I'm a writer.





Writing because you're a writer makes the best kind of writers. At least I think so. Then again, I might be a teensy bit biased because I write because I'm a writer too... lol




What did you want to be when you were 10 years old? This is going to sound really shallow, but
I think I might have wanted to be Miss America.





Not shallow at all! At one point, I wanted to be an actress and a model. How's that for shallow?




If someone wrote a biography about
you, what do you think the title should be?
I'd absolutely love to call my biography Me.
That's the title of Kathryn Hepburn's autobiography and I think it's the
perfect title for mine too. J




Now that is a good title!




If you won $20 million in the
lottery, what would you do with the money?
I've actually talked about this with my husband and a couple of friends. I
don't think our lives would be substantially different. I don't want servants
hanging around my house. I would hire a gardener, because I'm no good with
plants. I'd provide for my nieces and nephews and their children. Probably the
biggest change we'd make is to have a house in either France or Italy. We spent
two weeks this summer in the South of France and in the Rome and Naples area of
Italy. We're already saving to go back next year.




I am so so so jealous! I really want to go to Europe. Will you take me with you? A house in France or Italy sounds amazing! And I agree about the servants. I also have no green thumb. I tend to kill plants. Not that I mean to.




Thanks so much for the opportunity to be interviewed. These
questions were really great. What fun!




Glad to have you!




mallory@mallorykane.com 

http://www.mallorykane.com

http://www.facebook.com/mallorykane 

https://twitter.com/#!/mallorykane
http://www.entangledpublishing.com/no-hero/




Mallory Kane



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A darkly handsome New Orleans detective who insists he’s no hero is blindsided by his one‐time lover, a sexy investigative TV reporter who exposes his secret troubled past to the whole world...and nearly costs him his job.


When the at‐risk teens he mentors start turning up dead, his vow to protect the other kids hits a major
snag...his only clue to finding the determined killer is held by the one woman he never wants to see again.


Compelled to work together to solve the vicious murders before another child dies, their passion reluctantly reignites, and their mutual mistrust slowly turns to respect as she realizes there’s much more to being a hero than outward appearances, and his deeply wounded heart gradually opens to the possibility of love.

 

Question of the Week - Fourth of July Edition

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How are you celebrating the fourth today?



We're going over to a relatives' for a picnic. Should be fun!

Weekly Progress Report - Started a New Story and News about Woman of Honor

As always, I'm editing for various client's. Hubby watched the boys on Sunday again so I went to B&N and wrote the first two chapters of a new story - a superhero romance! I figured out his superhero name. Now to figure out which superpowers he'll acquire....



And I've seen pictures of the proof copy of Woman of Honor in print!! I should be receiving my author copies soon!! Can't wait to have hubby take a picture of my holding a copy! And I've already have some requests to autograph copies!!!! *swoons*



Sorry, it appears I can't stop using exclamation points today! (<--- case in point! Argh, I can't stop! LOL There, that's better.)



How goes your writing? Your reading? Seen any good movies lately? Are you going on vacation this summer? Where to?











Check out some other great progress reports this week:



http://www.writersally.blogspot.com/

http://jc-martin.com/fighterwriter/

http://waibelworld.blogspot.com

http://susanfieldswriter.blogspot.com

http://skmayhew.blogspot.com/p/tuesday-wip-status.html

http://margoberendsen.blogspot.com

http://www.sherryauger.blogspot.com

http://www.susanoloier.blogspot.com

http://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.com/

http://lynneawest.blogspot.com

Checklist for Dialogue

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1. Read it out loud. Does it sound natural? Silted?

2. Be careful not to overuse character's names.

3. Especially in conversations with more than two people, is it always clear who is saying what?

4. Do your characters speak their thoughts? Most people don't. And not all people mean what they say or say what they mean.

5. Keep dialogue tags simple and don't overuse them. Use said or asked. Limit the use of explained, demanded, complained, yelled, etc. If someone is explaining something, it should be obvious they are. The reader won't need to be told that so-and-so explained it. Use the words of your dialogue to show that they are demanding or complaining or yelling. Make your dialogue strong enough to stand on its own.

6. When possible, use an action tag instead of a dialogue tag. For example: "I'm going to walk the dog," he said, picking up the leash. becomes "I'm going to walk the dog." He picked up the leash. (Simple example, I know, but hopefully you know what I mean.)

7. Eliminate small talk and filler words such as how are you? so, like, um, well...

Question of the Week - Favorite Superheroes

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Follow-up question from last week: Who is your favorite superhero and why? Can be from movies or books or comics.



Mine would probably be Thor. Loved the movie. It really exceeded my expectations. Why? Because he started out as an antihero and developed into a kick ass hero.

Weekly Progress Report

 Last wee, hubby and I and the boys went to Atlantic City because hubby had a conference to go to. Boy was that tiring to watch the boys all by myself in a hotel room and on the boardwalk during the day! But it was fun too, and I even managed to get some writing done too.



On Sunday, hubby watched the boys for several hours so I went to B&N and wrote until I finished my zombie fairy tale novella and I even had enough time to start and finish a 3K short story. After receiving feedback from a CP, I sent out the short story for possible inclusion in an anthology. *crosses fingers*



How goes your writing? Your reading? Seen any good movies lately? Are you going on vacation this summer? Where to?










Check out some other great progress reports this week:



http://www.writersally.blogspot.com/

http://jc-martin.com/fighterwriter/

http://waibelworld.blogspot.com

http://susanfieldswriter.blogspot.com

http://skmayhew.blogspot.com/p/tuesday-wip-status.html

http://margoberendsen.blogspot.com

http://www.sherryauger.blogspot.com

http://www.susanoloier.blogspot.com

http://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.com/

http://lynneawest.blogspot.com

Checklist for Minor Characters

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I'm finally getting back to my normal blogging schedule which means a creature post on Monday, a progress report on Tuesday, a Question on Wednesday, a Checklist on Thursday, and a review on Friday (although I might have guest blogs or interviews or other book news on Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday)



So it's back to a checklist. Today's checklist is specifically for minor characters.



1. Are your minor characters well developed?

2. Are your minor characters essential to the plot?

3. Would the story work if the minor character was deleted? (Note: you should then delete said character or change the story so that this is not the case.)

4. Does the minor character have an important (albeit small) role to play?

5. Does the minor character show up in more than one scene?

6. Is your minor character flat or 2-dimensional?

7. Is your minor character a caricature?

8. Does your minor character steal the scene away from the main characters? (This is not good, although it can help to create spin offs or sequels.)

9. Is your minor character's action and speech consistent throughout the story?