K.C. Sprayberry's Blog, page 107
April 22, 2018
Non-Custodial Parental Abduction
Good morning and welcome to Sunday Blog Share. Today, we’re going to be discussing non-custodial parental abduction. Families being torn apart is bad enough. Those parents who work hard to get past their own issues and not involve the children in the anger are rare. Far too often, the children are made to feel like they have to support one parent over another, or they turn against a parent that always rages about their lousy mother/father. These angry non-custodial parents have been taking the court’s decision poorly and have taken their children from their custodial parent, many times gaining cooperation by threatening physical harm or even death if the child doesn’t cooperate. The children caught up in these situations have to make a horrific choice, one they should have never been presented.
Get Lost & Scared on Amazon
Blurb
When their younger twin siblings were murdered by their cold-blooded father, Shane and Keri’s own twin connection deepened. Their father shamed Shane and Keri into silence, and then went on to bring four more children into a house shuddering under the weight of his unpredictable temper.
Ten years later, what should have been a regular visitation turns into a horrific nightmare. Trapped in the Superstition Mountains with an addicted and dangerous father, Keri’s faith and determination wavers, but she knows she must save her brothers and sisters and return all of them to the home they love.
She now faces one insurmountable obstacle. He can’t afford to let her go.
Excerpt
The window in my bedroom that I share with my two younger brothers overlooks Main Street. I angle my head, so I can attempt to see where my twin is.
“See Keri?” Axe, my best bud, asks.
“Nope. But I do see a bunch of cars leaving.” I face him and grin. “That means she’s on her way back.”
“Great. We can leave now.”
“Looks that way.”
He and I race down the stairs. The normal noise of a large family during winter holiday break greets me, along with what can only be described as evil snickering. We come around the corner, shoving and pushing to see which one of us gets to the bottom first, with me gaining an inch on my bud.
“Yes!” I pump a fist and hop down the last three steps, the satisfaction of proving once and for all that I’m the best pass receiver on our team.
“I am so going to beat you one of these days,” he says.
We knuckle bump and clown around.
“Ready when you are, honey,” a strange female voice says.
“Huh?” I turn around.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 21, 2018
Description Overkill
Good morning and welcome to Sharing Saturday. Today, we’re going to discuss how some authors use a lot of overkill in their descriptions.
What is description overkill? It’s when the author takes a simple chapter and instead of moving the story along, they focus entirely on describing every little thing, whether it be the location or the emotions of the people involved. By the time the reader finishes the chapter, their head is so full of this overkill, they are ready to stop reading.
This is another instance of telling rather than showing. The author may have shown the events as they were happening. They didn’t analyze the purpose of anything at all. In fact, according to all rules of writing, they have crafted the perfect chapter.
Except for one thing…
Their descriptions have taken away from the story. All the reader can see is what they so graphically presented. Even the horror of the situation, or the happiness, or whatever emotion you were supposed to feel, is shadowed by the level of description.
One important thing we must learn as authors is to know when to stop describing. We need to know when it’s time to return to the plot and allow the reader to put together in their head what’s going on with the scene. Otherwise, you won’t find your fans enjoying your work.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 20, 2018
Don't Get Predictable
Good morning and welcome to Friday Feelings. Today, we’re discussing remaining unpredictable in your writing.
Just what does that mean?
Far too many authors settle on a type of story and stick with it. The names and locations will change, but the reader can predict when things will happen in the exact sequence they’ve happened in the last three, four, five, ten books. In other words, the author has developed a basic outline of a book and they simply insert the correct information in the right places. The title will have changed. The cover will be different, but the reader will soon be scratching their head and thinking that they’ve already read this story… many times.
How does a multi-published author avoid this problem?
First of all, they have to be aware of their books. Intimately aware. They need to understand that while this worked in one book, it won’t in another. Your characters must be individuals with different hopes and dreams. Sure, their basic dreams can be the same, but let their expanded dreams shoot in all directions. Don’t have them always going into a building to do the same thing in the same way Character A did in book 4 that was published a few years ago. Give your books individuality.
Some might argue when you’ve published a large number of books that it’s hard not to duplicate some things, especially if the setting is the same or very similar. Here’s where you as an author come into play. Instead of using a full setting in every book, only use the relevant points of interest. Say, you have a team playing a championship game. They’re on a football field. Instead of focusing on the whole field and what’s going on, concentrate on the action where your main character is. Show the story from their limited field of vision.
It’s all good and well for today’s author to produce books more quickly than authors have done in the past. We do have to keep up with all the other books being published daily, but we also have to produce original stories, not a rehash of what we’ve already done.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 19, 2018
The Reviewer's Job
Good morning and welcome to Thursday Thoughts. Today, we’re going to talk about what you should expect from a reviewer.
Authors work for their reviews. We need them to garner interest in our books. There is a rumor going around that you need at least fifty reviews to get into Amazon’s newsletters and added to the “if you like this book, try these” areas. Having seen my books in those newsletters and on the little listing of other interesting books, I can attest that even now, when Amazon is changing, the fifty reviews rumor is false. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need reviews.
Now, I have at times requested people review my book. I am adamant that I won’t pay for a review of any kind, even from Chanticleer and Kirkus. To me, paid reviews aren’t as important as a fan coming to your page on Amazon and writing simply, “I loved this book!” Those organic reviews not only make my day, the push me to write more books.
If you do happen to have a blogger or professional reviewer agree to review your book, you need to find out before you agree exactly what they will be doing. Why? It has become the style lately for these people to review the cover, editing, and formatting in addition to the content of the book. Many an author has found out, to their horror, they are getting a less than five star review because the individual providing the review didn’t like their cover art, the editing wasn’t up to their standards, or the formatting wasn’t what they use.
This is not a review of a book. A review should simply cover the content of the story. Did the reader enjoy the book? Were there places they were lost or confused? Did the author complete the story or did they leave dangling plot points. That is all a review should ever be. If you run into a reviewer who will blithely say, “Oh, everyone does it this way. You might as well get ready to make some changes, because I can tell you no publisher’s cover artist or editor does their job well enough to suit me.” you should thank the person for their time and move onto another reviewer. Yes, finding people willing to review your book are getting harder and harder to find, but it’s better to have a true review instead of someone who is knocking off points because in their opinion, your book isn’t publication ready.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 18, 2018
Dear Older Authors
Good morning and welcome to wwwblogs. Today, I’m speaking directly to the older authors. You know who you are. It’s not just an age thing that keeps you from publishing or promoting your book. You hate social media. It can be downright difficult to understand. And there are all those people griping about their problems or sharing very embarrassing pictures—embarrassing to you I might add.First of all, I fall right into that “old people” demographic you swear would never go to social media. Yup, I sure do. And I’ve embraced Facebook, Twitter, Google +, a blog, and many other social media sites because to fulfill my dream of being an author, I need to do that in the twenty-first century. Even better, I actually understand those sites, although that did take some time.
So, let me remind those griping they’re too old to embrace social media of some important facts. My generation are the ones that have done more than our share to bring the world to this level of technology. We were challenged and rose up to meet that challenge of finding new and better ways to communicate.
Our generation was the one who worked to bring computers into both the home and the workplace. Some of us were lucky enough to be part of the world’s largest WAN (wide area network) with the Air Force’s F-16 program in the eighties. This was a precursor of the World Wide Web. While other people were swearing up and down that these desktop computers were a fad that would soon disappear, we were chatting on bulletin boards with people all around the world. We embraced the new tech and welcomed additions to it with ease.
Even the cell phone phenomena didn’t catch us short. We quickly learned how to text and visit social media sites with these devices. So, for teens today to think their parents/grandparents are out of the loop and don’t belong with social media, for older authors to moan and groan they don’t understand this wonderful way of getting your books out to a wider audience, I say this.
Learn the tech. Enjoy the time on social media. Let everyone see your wonderful books and stop griping. We really did bring all this about. Just because there’s gray in our hair and our step is a bit slower doesn’t make us dinosaurs!
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 17, 2018
Toxic Friends
Good morning and welcome to Tuesday Blog Share. Today, we’re talking about toxic friendships. All teens can point to the one person in their group of friends who brings down the others. That individual is only part of the group because another member is trying to make their life a little better. Yet, what most teens don’t realize is that these toxic friends don’t want better. They want everyone to be as miserable as they imagine they are. Is there a solution for this type of person?
Get The Lie on Amazon
Blurb
For high school siblings, Amy and Bryce, the night began with a football game. Bryce was stuck at home with a cold, brought on by an uncaring coach. Amy was in the stands, playing with the band whose funding had been taken away and given to the football team.
Her best friend, Jane, brought the band together to play a prank on the team in protest.
The prank went wrong. Horribly, tragically wrong.
And the lie that started it all would not stop.
Excerpt
I hear Amy coming home. She doesn’t know that I’ve been awake all night, waiting on her. Not that she sneaks out much—she never does stuff like this, unless it’s a Jane plan. I pretty much figured that from what I caught of the muffled phone conversations going on until eight last night. That’s when I heard the window going up, a box being hidden behind the bush, and Amy sneaking away.
She’s lucky that Mom and Dad didn’t catch her. Thanks to me. If I hadn’t gone into the kitchen, faking that cough, Amy would have been in major trouble.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Goodreads
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 16, 2018
Telling Dialogue Tags
Good morning and welcome to Monday Blogs. Today, we’re talking about dialogue tags. These are often overlooked words by the reader, because we are only showing them if this is a statement or the character is doing an action while they’re speaking. The rule of thumb is that you use say/said or ask/asked for dialogue tags. It’s a proven fact that readers don’t really see these words. They’re only in the place they’re in to indicate a person is speaking. However, in recent months, I’ve seen a trend where authors are “telling” the reader what’s happening with their vocal tags.
“What in the world are you talking about?” you ask.
“Simple this,” I say. “Authors are telling the reader what’s happening with their vocal tags.”
As an example, in a long discourse, I’ve seen authors using he began to indicate this is the start of the conversation. They’ll go on with the dialogue, sometimes nearly half a page long and end with he added or he finished. All three of those words, began, added, and finished are telling the reader what the speaker was doing.
There are also other words that are used to tell the reader what’s happening. She emphasized tells your reader how to view the dialogue. He spoke in a stern tone indicates the man is upset or angry.
As authors, our biggest thought should always be to always show, never tell. Telling is author intrusion into the story, where we are leading the reader in the direction where we want them to go. We’re assuming our readers aren’t smart enough to get what we’re showing them and have decided to give them a “road map” in order for them to understand our story better.
Yet, that’s not happening. Instead of understanding what we mean, we’re angering our readers. We’re not considering they’re smart enough to understand our story without us telling them what they should see or feel. Once you set down that path, it’s very easy to tell in other places, where we think we haven’t been clear about our characters intentions.
This is laziness in our writing. Instead of taking the time to insure our intent is clear, we’re explaining what a passage is about. Readers have a wonderful way of showing us they’re not happy with our actions. They simply close the book and find another author, one who isn’t telling them every little step, and enjoy their work.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
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April 15, 2018
False Accusations
Good morning and welcome to Sunday Blog Share. Today, we’re going to be talking about a growing trend among teens. Being a teenager isn’t easy. You’re not a child but you’re not an adult either. You’re in the middle of a fast moving, lots of changes time of your life. You want people to treat you differently, as if you are already a grown up, but you also yearn for a time when everyone paid you a lot of attention.
In Thunder & Lightning, two young adults, Taren and Tarit, live up to what their names mean. Tarit is a player on the Georgia Bulldogs football team, called lightning for his speed on the field. Taren, on the other hand, is quiet. She’s devoted to her twin and loves gaming, but if you upset her, be ready for her to demonstrate that her name truly means thunder.
Get Thunder & Lightning on Amazon
Blurb
The gridiron rivalry between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Auburn Tigers runs deep. Auburn has a knack of ruining Georgia’s perfect season at the worst possible moment…
The same can be said about Tarit ‘Lightning’ Berenson and his twin, Taren ‘Thunder’ Berenson. Tarit’s a running back for the Dawgs; his speed is legendary. Taren prefers online gaming; her skills are awesome.
Brad Weaver seeks justice for those falsely accused. He’s attempting to make up for his brother’s false arrest and subsequent “suicide” that evidence points to being a murder. Yet, proof of someone else’s involvement is hard to come by and he’s soon running at full speed to rescue Tarit from the same fate.
It all begins at a game, a win and revenge against a tough rival for University of Georgia Bulldogs.
“Dawgs, this is for you!”
Tarit’s words set up a mighty cheer on the night of the SEC Championship football game. His rejection of a girl’s advances at a party later that night turns the last half of his senior year of college into a nightmare without end.
Taren does her best to help her twin despite a lack of support from everyone, even their own parents. Her allegiance to him never wavers, nor does she stop searching for answers no matter what she has to do. Time is running out…
Evidence mounts against him…
Until Taren makes a startling discovery…
Is it too late to save Tarit?
Excerpt
“We’re in the last quarter of the SEC final game of this season.” The announcer’s voice is barely audible over the roar of the crowd. “Tarit ‘Lightning’ Berenson prepares to receive the ball. Auburn’s Tigers are all over this talented running back, ready to stop him. But nothing has stopped Tarit all season. Will tonight be when ‘Lightning’ learns he’s not invincible?”
The voices echo in my head, reminding me the night that should have been my greatest triumph. The memory is the only thing I have left of what was once a stellar college career. Since the after-game party, when I turned down her advances and walked away alone, I’ve had to justify my every action. Juliana Mullins has been treated like a queen, given all kinds of sympathy and brought horror to my family.
“What can I do to stop this?”
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 14, 2018
Depart Gracefully
Good morning and welcome to Sharing Saturday. We’re going to discuss how to deal with an angry post or message.
We’ve all had these types of posts or messages. Someone doesn’t like our work, us, or the fact that we’re authors. They attack, call us lazy, say we steal money from people when we sell our books, or that we’re nothing but a hack and we should quit since we’re so dumb.
Your first reaction when seeing one of these posts is to fling their words right back at them. Stop! Back away from the computer. Take many deep breaths.
Rule 1 when dealing with internet trolls, and that is what you’ve just run across, never engage. They are waiting for that angry response. It feeds them. They are now empowered.
Once you are calm, read the message again. Take more deep breaths when your anger rises. Compose a response in your head that’s calm, benign. Write it out in a new document if need be, so you can ensure you haven’t done anything to feed the troll.
Your response should look something like this: Hi! I’m so glad you took the time to contact me. It’s unfortunate you don’t like my books. Perhaps you haven’t given them much of a chance. May I offer you a free copy, insert book title here, so you have a chance to enjoy it without having to purchase a copy? Have a nice day.
This might elicit an even angrier response or they might thank you and accept your offer. Or, the best response of all, they may go away and leave you alone. Internet trolls are out for only one thing, an angry response. That feeds their desire to feel strong and in charge. They are the ultimate bully. This is why you never feed their anger, but deflect it with kindness.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 13, 2018
Women Authors
Good morning and welcome to Friday Feelings. Today, we’re getting into the subject of women authors and what kind of books they write.
For many years, it was accepted that women could only write certain types of fiction. Yet, the female gender was branching out into books that were thought of as “difficult” or “male oriented” without letting on that they were women.
In our home, we all know the story of Alice Mary North. We’re fans of her works and have been for years. Her books take up a good five shelves on our book case. Ms. North was best known to her fans as Andre Norton, but she also wrote under the pseudonyms of Andrew North and Allen Weston.
I was very much amazed when I learned the Brönte sisters wrote their most famous works under male pseudonyms. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne were first received in the literary world as Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Emily’s Wuthering Heights was described as being “brutal” and “wicked” and would have probably never been published if those in charge of the industry at that time had known a women wrote it.
With the exception of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott wrote under the name of A. M. Barnard for all of her career. Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin is better known as George Sand, Mary Ann Evens was famous as George Sand, and Violet Pagit was Vernon Lee.
There was also Karen Blixen as Isak Dinesen, Katharine Burdeken as Murray Constatine for her novel Swastika Night. June Tarpé Mills created comics during the 1930s using the pseudonym of Tarpé Mills, Robyn Thurman let people believe she was a man until much later in her career, and Christine Lynch & Meg Howrey wrote as Marquis Flyte.
All of these women faced one problem when opting for a career as an author. During the time they were alive, women were not accepted as authors. It was thought that a woman’s brain was too delicate to read much, let alone pen novels. History has proven otherwise.
So, ladies, if you are not writing a book in the genre you prefer, because it’s male oriented, take a shot. Many women ahead of you paved the path for you dive into the books you want to write. Oh, as a side note, it’s perfectly fine for men to write in what are considered traditionally female genres, such as romance.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
