Marian Allen's Blog, page 405
March 23, 2013
Owl + Pussycat = Tru Luv 4EvR
Did anybody else grow up reading The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear? I had a wonderful poetry book when I was a child with all sorts of fabulous poems and illustrations in it. This poem was one of many, but it was a standout.
Here’s how it goes:
The Owl and the Pussycat poem
The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are, you are,
What a beautiful Pussy you are.”
Pussy said to the Owl “You elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing.
O let us be married, too long we have tarried;
But what shall we do for a ring?”
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows,
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling your ring?”
Said the Piggy, “I will”
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon.
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand.
They danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
Now here’s a YouTube video that puts the strange to it. I especially like the Owl looking like Peter Lorre and the good-natured punk pig.
Don’t you love it? Peter Lorre Owl and Barbie Cat? YOU’RE WELCOME!
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: What’s a nursery rhyme you remember from your childhood?
MA

March 22, 2013
How This and How That
My friend Gwen Mayo did a super post yesterday at the Florida Chapter of the Historical Novel Society blog on Writing a “Good” Story. Is good. Check it out.
ALSO, I’ve had more than one person tell me, now that my Kickstarter campaign for SAGE is over, that they would have contributed, had they known how Kickstarter worked. So, for the benefit of others, because that’s just how I roll, here is a post on HowStuffWorks about … wait for it … how Kickstarter works.
I did say “more than one person,” so “they” is appropriate, because it’s referring to “more than one” and not “one,” but here is a lovely post explaining why Singular They is, in fact, a correct usage.
Finally, courtesy of Denise Verrico, here is an article on odd book titles. And I thought EEL’S REVERENCE was odd.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Think up odd titles for books without odd titles. Like Jane Eyre: I Must Keep In Good Health and Not Die
MA

March 21, 2013
Dragonthology Is In Print!
Do you like dragons? I like dragons. Well, I like stories about dragons. Dragons, themselves, I would be pretty particular about. You wouldn’t want a mean one hanging around breathing fire all over everything, right? But I love reading stories about dragons, and I love writing stories about dragons.
So here I come with a dragon story! DRAGONTHOLOGY is an anthology of dragon stories from Untold Press. It’s been out in electronic form for a few months, but now it’s in print, as well.
Seven authors were invited to write dragon stories. I was asked to make mine humorous, but modesty forbids my claiming success. If you read my story in the final issue of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s FANTASY Magazine, “The Dragon of North 24th Street,” you’ll have some idea of what to expect. That’s because my story in Dragonthology is “The Dragon of Sullivan Hall,” in which the granddaughter of the heroine of North 24th Street goes to college, staying in Sullivan Hall dormitory, which is infested by a dragon. Yes, it only takes one dragon to constitute an infestation.
Oh, you want some buy links? I gotcher buy links right here:
Dragonthology Edited by Untold Press
Anthology
Published Jan 1 2013
Price: 3.99 Available at [Amazon]
Now in Print for 12.99 at [Amazon][Createspace][Barnes & Noble][The Book Depository]
From the Department of I Get Around:
I’m the featured Indie writer today at Damyati Biswass’ The Daily (w)Rite.
I’m posting today at The Write Type on my new term for most writers’ true method of writing.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Write a story with a dragon in it.
MA

March 20, 2013
Barenaked Breakfast
How many times do I have to tell you people to GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER?
Okay, here’s the thing: The Southern Indiana Writers Group and I went to the Authors’ Fair in Madison, Indiana. Remember, I told you that? Remember? Okay, so we got up on Saturday morning and went to fall upon the hotel’s free breakfast like the ravening horde we are, and what do you think we found in the little tiny fridge?
PRE-WRAPPED BACON! I was like, “Ermagerd! Pre-wrapped bacon!” Here are the Barenaked Ladies to tell you all about it:
The staff have to peel the bacon out of a box and wrap them, three slices to a packet. They had pre-wrapped sausages and pre-wrapped cooked eggs, pre-wrapped biscuits, bagels … I don’t know what all.
Don’t believe me, eh? Well, I took a picture! OF THE BACON!
So, if you’re ever in Madison, Indiana, stay at The Country Hearth Inn. The rooms are clean and nice, the beds are comfortable, the staff are great, and the free breakfast is awesome! Tell ‘em the lady who takes pictures of pre-wrapped bacon sent you. Chances are, they’ll know who you mean.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: What would you do if you had a million dollars? What would your main character do? What would your villain do?
MA

March 19, 2013
Fun Was Had. Books Were Bought.
We had SUCH a good time at the 3rd Annual Author’s Fair in Madison! You just can’t get that many book lovers together at a book sale without having a good time.
I bought a copy of SIDEKICKS, edited by Sarah Hans. I submitted a story to this anthology but it was turned down. And I still bought the book. That’s the kind of good sport I am. Actually, I bought the book because the writers who did make the cut are favorites of mine.
I also bought a paperback copy of TROLL OR DERBY by Red Tash. I already had an electronic copy, but I had to have it in solid format! For one thing, look at this cover! This is the most beautiful cover! So I had to have it!
I also bought a chainmaille bracelet with a plaque saying Serenity on it. There were other plaques saying other touchy-feely things but Serenity doesn’t mean, you know, serenity to me. It means, you know, SERENITY!
So now I’m home and back to work, editing SIDESHOW IN THE CENTER RING and awaiting pre-submission proofs of SAGE books 2 and 3. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to be “working” on stuff I love doing.
Today is Tuesday, meaning I’m posting at Fatal Foodies on the topic of ladoo. What’s ladoo? Read Fatal Foodies and see!
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: If your main character could choose to be in the midst of a bunch of people with one thing in common, what would it be?
MA

March 18, 2013
A Recipe for Better Writing
My guest today is S. M. Harding, author of twenty-four published short stories, photographer, and editor of Writing Murder, a collection of essays by Midwest crime and mystery authors. The handy primer on the art of crime fiction is based on a successful lecture program held at Jim Huang’s The Mystery Company.
~ * ~
I’m a “seat of the pants” cook, always adjusting a recipe for my own taste. So please make what adjustments you will of what follows.
My recipe for better writing begins with full cups of the three Ps: patience, persistence, and practice.
Patience isn’t passive – it doesn’t mean sitting back and waiting for something wonderful to happen. Finished your first draft of a story or novel? Don’t fire it off to an agent or magazine; let it sit a bit on the back burner. Wait until it’s out of a fresh writing mind and cooled a bit.
After you’ve left it awhile, go back with an editor’s eye. Look for spelling, grammar, syntactical errors; look for how well the story hangs together; look at setting, characters, suspense, dialogue, plot, and pacing.
In the interim, look for a writing group, either locally or on-line. Take a writing course at a local college or find a writing workshop. Go to a conference. Join Sisters in Crime or Mystery Writers of America (there’s also organizations for writers who concentrate on thrillers, PIs, etc.) Find some good writing books like Writing Murder (OK, I’m biased, but this is the book I wish I’d had when I began writing fiction). Another I always recommend is Steering the Craft by Ursula K. LeGuin. The section on POV is worth the purchase price alone. Magazines like The Writer, Writer’s Digest, and Poets and Writers give craft tips that you can take back to your manuscript.
Persistence means you keep writing, no matter what. Not everyone is going to like your plots, your characters, or your voice. Listen to what the rejection letters say, use those suggestions to improve your writing. Love what you’re writing enough to keep on, no matter what. And that includes what life hands us.
Practice, practice, practice. Make time for your writing, do it every day. A great way to practice is the short story. Think of the investment of time in comparison to a novel! Writing in the short form also forces you to think about every word – if I don’t need it, out it goes. Short stories also makes you increase your plotting capability – crime and solution in 5,000 words, please. They also allow you to try out different characters, a different voice, or a familiar character in a completely different world. Short stories give you publishing cred – and may even result in a query from an agent (honest!).
So, whatever the word that starts with “P,” the bottom line is write, learn to self-edit, get feedback from readers who write well.
Then add big dollops of creative juices, a sense of achievement, and desire to get better.
And above all, enjoy every moment!
Purchase Writing Murder from the Indiana Writers Center.Purchase Writing Murder from Barnes & Noble.
Purchase Writing Murder from Amazon.com.
~ * ~
Great advice, S. M. and thank you for visiting. Anybody have any questions for her?
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Look in the dictionary under the letter “P”. Pick a word at random and build a short story outline around it.
MA

March 17, 2013
#SampleSunday – Meet Connie Phelan
I got my first edits on SIDESHOW IN THE CENTER RING from my editor at Hydra, so it seems appropriate for me to share a bit of that book.
From Hell Alley to TerraNet comedy stardom. Connie Phelan’s goal is to be top dog in a high-status social group calling itself The Good Society. When the Society invites her to a planet where slavery is legal, Connie is faced with choices: Accept ownership of slaves who throw themselves on her mercy or refuse, leaving them free for an unscrupulous Socialite to abuse? Abandon Honey, an alcoholic hanger-on, or risk her own status in the group to support her? And who SHOULD go into that cannibal pot?
This is the beginning of the book, where Connie introduces herself. I know “they” tell you to begin with action, so I guess you could say I begin with Connie flapping her lip.
SIDESHOW IN THE CENTER RING – excerpt
by Marian Allen
It started with parties and ended in blood. I’m not a violent woman–who would have thought it would end in blood? Maybe it started on Helena Street. If you go back that far, maybe the blood makes sense.
Helena Street was where I was born and raised: a thousand feet of narrow, broken, asphalt that we called Hell Alley; it ran from Market Street to the service entrance of 63 Andriot, a block of condominiums, overpriced for the upper class. We were a century into the New World Order, and a quick flip through a history book showed a pretty familiar picture. The Haves did, do, and always will; the Have-Nots didn’t, don’t, and won’t. Helena Street was for Have-Nots.
“Connie!” my mother would call me in that fingernails-on-chalkboard voice: part panic and part rage. “Cornelia Phelan! You get home!”
I would grin and roll my eyes at my grade-school cronies and give them a slow wave. I’d stroll across the street and up the three feet of “walk” between the pavement and our front porch. When I got into the house, Mom would pinch my shoulder between her thumb and her fingers and shake me hard enough to make my head whip back and forth on my neck.
“Your Daddy will be here any minute and just look at the mess you left me. You expect me to do it all myself? I count on you, girl, and you let me down!”
It didn’t do any good asking Mom what she’d been doing all day when I’d been at school–she didn’t have a job–not one listed on the National Register, anyway–or why she counted on an eight-year-old to do her work for her. That just would have made her wild, and Daddy would have asked where I’d gotten a split lip, and I’d have had to dodge to keep from getting another one from him. One thing you had to say for my folks–they had the spirit of stick-together, those two.
So, we’d get the house picked up in time, and Mom would open a couple of cans of stew and put a plate of bread and a tub of margarine on the table and a six-pack of beer for them and a Big Red for me. Daddy would come home with beer already on his breath and kiss us both and drop his shirt on the floor and we’d partake of our gracious family meal. Afterwards, I’d go out back and play on my rusty swing-set, left over from the last family who’d lived in our particular rat-hole, and I’d kick the back fence as I swung forward and try not to kick the wall of the house as I swung back. Low profile–that was the ticket.
We shared the Alley with rats and other assorted vermin. We dodged pimps, pushers, and gangs. When we got old enough, some of us entered one or more of these bands. I never did. Just wasn’t a joiner, I guess.
Hell Alley consumed most of the kids I grew up with, but it was the making of me.
~ * ~
So there’s that. The SAGE trilogy is still moving up the publishing queue; this is in addition to it.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Read the childhood part of the biography of a well-known person and imagine an alternative life beginning with the same childhood.

March 16, 2013
#Caturday – Nine Emotional Lives
My mother listens to a lot of books on CD. The one she’s listening to — and enjoying — now is Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson’s THE NINE EMOTIONAL LIVES OF CATS – A JOURNEY INTO THE FELINE HEART.
Masson’s web site says:
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson is dedicated to the emotional lives of animals, vegetarianism, veganism (the ethics of food), animal rights, and human-animal interactions.
He was trained as a Freudian analyst, but got de-shrunk for saying, out loud, that Freud was full of the soft, smelly, brown stuff. I like him already, don’t you?
Masson, who lives in New Zealand, has written nine books on the emotional lives of animals, including one that proposes that humans may have developed our best emotional qualities through our association with dogs.
Again, from his web site:
“We need cats to need us,” notes Masson, “It unnerves us that they do not. However, if they do not need us, they nonetheless seem to love us.”
The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats will captivate readers with its surprises and insights, offering a new perspective on the deep connection shared by humans and their feline friends. This is the book that Masson’s many fans and cat lovers everywhere have been waiting for.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A cat enters a solitary person’s life, but neither interacts directly with the other.
MA

March 15, 2013
Where Am I?
I’m in Madison, Indiana, that’s where! That Book Place is holding its 3rd Annual Author’s Fair and Book Sale, and I’m one of the authors who’ll be there. We’ll have a few panels on Friday evening after a day-long book sale, and another sale with over 60 authors signing their books on Saturday.
Here is the book I’ll be signing, just so you know:

The Fall of Onagros
Book 1 of SAGE
Frank Hall, owner of That Book Place, is also owner of Hydra Publications, the publisher of the SAGE series. I recently signed a contract with Hydra to republish my wiseass science fiction novel SIDESHOW IN THE CENTER RING. So yay for me!
Madison, Indiana is awesomely awesome! Or so I’ve been told. I’ve only been there on business, so I’ve never seen any of it except That Book Place! Of course, a bookstore is all I really care about, BUT I’m told there are some must-see yarn shops, now that I’m knitting.
Who told me? Why, Jessica Nunemaker of little Indiana, of course! She’s the go-to gal for anything small-town Indiana. If she hasn’t covered it, it’s because there’s only one of her, and she can only do so much. I’m hoping I can lure her down thisaway some time.
Meanwhile, I’ll have a Caturday post tomorrow and a SampleSunday excerpt on Sunday. If you’re in Madison today or tomorrow, come to That Book Place for some astounding bargains on used books, and rub elbows with Real Live Writers.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Use blogs or Google maps or something to find a small town. See how much of it you can discover on the web. Think of five possible plots based on what you find.
MA

March 14, 2013
The Adventure of the Windshield Wipers
Okay, so I drove to New Albany, about a half-hour away. It was raining. Now, I like driving in the rain a little bit less than Bruce Willis likes walking barefoot on broken glass, so the adventure begins.
ME: It is raining harder. I will turn the windshield wipers onto the gofastest setting.
WINDSHIELD WIPERS: We hate each other and now we are going to fight!
DRIVER’S SIDE WIPER: Have at thee!
PASSENGER SIDE WIPER: Eat cold steel, thou dastardly poltroon!
DRIVER’S SIDE WIPER: Aha!
PASSENGER SIDE WIPER: Touché!
DRIVER’S SIDE WIPER: Take that! and that! and that!
PASSENGER SIDE WIPER: ‘Tis but a scratch!
DRIVER’S SIDE WIPER: Well, yipee-ki-yay, then, and DIE!!!!
PASSENGER SIDE WIPER: AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!! What a world! What a world!
Okay, so, yeah, the passenger side wiper was all like busted and shredded and bits hanging off and stuff.
Happily, there was a Big O Tire place on my route, so I pulled in there and they retrieved all the body parts from the passenger side wiper, and I just had them replace both. I mean, the driver’s side wiper had already killed once; who was to say it wouldn’t kill again?
Ran my errand (the rain had stopped by then, of course) and got back on the expressway. Started to rain. Turned on my wipers.
WINDSHIELD WIPERS: We hate each other and now we are going to fight!
DRIVER’S SIDE WIPER: No! No! Help me!
PASSENGER SIDE WIPER: I’ll be Darth Vader and you be Obi Wan Kenobi!
DRIVER’S SIDE WIPER: No! I don’t wanna fight after all! Help! [flops off the side of the windshield and sticks there]

BFF
Have you ever driven down the expressway in the rain looking out of the passenger side of the windshield because the driver’s side is totally obscured by rain? Well, I have.
I made it to our car repair place, Merritt’s, and they fiddled the diplomacy knob and made my wipers work and play well with one another again.
It was all very exciting.
I’m posting at Echelon Explorations today on the subject of Why Reviews Matter.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Something a character takes for granted suddenly goes terribly wrong.
MA
