Ned Hayes's Blog, page 103
May 6, 2014
Book Deal - Coeur d'Alene Waters - 1 week only
Coeur d'Alene WatersIf you read mysteries, my first novel Coeur d'Alene Waters , is on sale thru EBookSoda.com for only $0.99.
There's also a great new audiobook by Kevin Harper just released on Audible.com.
ENJOY -- HAPPY READING!
Here's a review from a few months ago:
REVIEW
What is it about the Pacific Northwest that leads some into dark worlds of violence and despair? Had one-time north Idaho journalist Ned Hayes made this tantalizing question the centerpiece of his debut novel, he might have only created a derivative retelling of an all-too-familiar serial killer plot. Instead, he takes the plot for this well-written literary thriller from the historical facts of the still-unsolved Sunshine Mine disaster in 1972, and winds it tight around the troubled central figure of Matt Worthson, a one time candidate for Sheriff in Coeur d’Alene.
Worthson, suffering from a broken marriage and a suspect car accident, is pulled into a tangled history of corrupt politics, separatist plots, and powerful interests who control the lucrative Idaho mining industry. The novel opens with the discovery of the mutilated body of a chaplain who works with the police department, and seems to point towards a local serial killer who is again on the loose. But this tried and true plot soon moves in a more complicated direction, as Worthson’s own motivations and past crimes are brought under the microscope.
The story of the Sunshine Mine disaster itself is told in a flashback that is both compelling and heart-rending, as Worthson struggles with his father’s impending death, and the secrets his father still refuses to reveal about the mine disaster–the truth of which has important implications for Worthson’s investigation.
Coeur d'Alene Waters is a solidly written murder mystery with a haunting finish, reminiscent of the best of Ridley Pearson or the early work of fellow Washington writer Jess Walter.
– Book Note, Featured Review
fuckyeahsassylucifer:
ultimagus:
buzzfeed:
The only way to...
The only way to respond when someone asks you “why do you write strong female characters.”
The last one.
May 5, 2014
SINFUL FOLK book quote:
"Nell’s secret thyme beds and her mint...
SINFUL FOLK book quote:
"Nell’s secret thyme beds and her mint were deep in the woods, out by the chuckling stream that disappeared underground. She gathered plants she needed every day, but it was as a child who gathers flowers in May, setting them in bundles, choosing with caprice, singing to them, naming each plant and leaf with fondness. She danced in the sunlight and the shade. Even watching her a moment, my spirits lifted."
— from the novel Sinful Folk
PHOTO: emptystretch
May 4, 2014
"In the end, I listen to my fear. It keeps me awake, resounding...
"In the end, I listen to my fear. It keeps me awake, resounding through the frantic beating in my breast. It is there in the dry terror in my throat, in the pricking of the rats’ nervous feet in the darkness. Christian has not come home all the night long. I know, for I have lain in this darkness for hours now with my eyes stretched wide, yearning for my son’s return."
— from the novel Sinful Folk
May 3, 2014
"People come to me on waves of memory, but all of them are...
"People come to me on waves of memory, but all of them are ghosts. The sound of a distant ocean covers me with surf, that tide that bears me back eternally into the past, back to the place where I was born. My mother took me out in our little fishing boat, out on the open water of the sea. The thrum and hiss of surf upon the shore behind us, the breaking rhythm never ceasing. My mother waited until we were out of sight of land. She waited to tell me the secret."
amandaonwriting:
IRELAND’S NEWEST STAMP features an entire...
IRELAND’S NEWEST STAMP features an entire short story written by a talented Dublin teenager.
May 2, 2014
"Stars steam away as a pale sun rises, hot coal dropped in a...
"Stars steam away as a pale sun rises, hot coal dropped in a watery sky. Light seeps across the forest as the reedy shrieks of wood fowl echo in the trees. The path from our village to the King’s Highway is no road at all. To the east, that faint track leads up through the forest until it reaches, finally, the open country and paths that lead to other places. Hob is taking us beyond the bounds of the known world.”
— from the novel SINFUL FOLK
10 Top Tips For Moving A Plot Forward
1. Complete a detailed biography of your protagonist and antagonist.
2. List the changes you’re going to inflict on these two characters.
3. Start your book when something meaningful happens. This is called the inciting moment. It should be shocking, exciting, and interesting.
4. Never start with back story.
5. Create conflict from page one. Your characters need problems and reasons to solve them.
6. Show motivation. Great characters want to achieve their goals more than anything and will pursue them at any cost. What are your characters most afraid of losing? Make them fight for it. Desperately. Irrationally.
7. Tell a story in scenes. Scenes hold a story together. The number of scenes depends on your chosen genre, and your novel’s length.
8. You should have one plot, and one subplot.
9. Fiction needs a Dark Night of the Soul. Move your story to the moment when things look impossibly bleak for your protagonist. This is usually a few pages before the end of your book.
10. Create an outline. It doesn’t have to be detailed but everything in life works better when you have a plan.
from Writers Write by Amanda Patterson.
