Vanessa A. Ryan's Blog, page 10
August 10, 2013
August 7, 2013
Guest Author: Simon Okill Writes Vampire Fiction With A Parisian Slant
Today, as part of my New Guest Artist Series I am highlighting the work of Simon Okill:
LUNA SANGUIS BY SIMON OKILL
Release Date: 15th July
LUNA SANGUIS BLURB:
Paris 1925. A young woman is nearing her Eternal Vampire state as her birthday approaches. She is held captive by the hybrid vampire she created and slowly drained of her pure blood to keep his addiction in check. She outwits him and escapes to a chateau in the hope of reaching maturity. But he follows her unmistakable scent and massacres all that dare protect his supply of Eternal blood.
She awakens in a tiny room trapped and defenceless with amnesia, but something deep in her subconscious yearns to be set free by the next full moon – the date of her Eternal Birthday.
Her true self, Eternal, emerges in brief flashes of awareness to protect her from the horrors of this terrifying prison. Desperate, she forges an alliance with her true love, a gorgeous young doctor treating her.
But her nemesis is out there somewhere, relishing the hunt for her blood – and nothing will stop him from becoming Eternal.
Author Simon Okill
MY BIO:
I live with my wife, Shirlee Anne in a pretty coastal town in South Wales, UK. We both love Stephen King and had read many of his books and enjoyed their transition to the screen. Due to our love of books, my wife and I dabbled in writing for some years as a hobby. We were approached by a film company to write a paranormal TV series. We struggled most nights and all through weekends to come up with 22 episodes only for the company to go bust. Then after an accident at work, I was forced into early retirement due to disability. I used my newfound skills as a writer to help with my depression. We decided to use our TV series episodes as templates for film scripts and novels. My writing became more serious as certain A-list actors expressed interest in my scripts and my debut novel Nobody Loves a Bigfoot Like a Bigfoot Babe was accepted by Christopher Matthews Publishing after so many British publishers turned it down.
Bigfoot Episode 2 – it’s a secret!
Luna Aeturnus is the sequel to Luna Sanguis and will be ready for release September. All will be explained.
SS-steppenwolf is a supernatural retelling of WWII involving the Occult Warfare department run by Himmler. Think Indiana Jones searching for a werewolf.
Scripts:
‘Flip Side’ is one of my most exciting screenplays to date with its unusual slant on a supernatural gangster story that encompasses music and dynamic dance sequences to portray the action. The script has been optioned by Tasha Bertram of Brodie Films and Stuart St Paul has come on board to direct and co produce this fascinating piece of work.
‘Nightmare Circus’ is a supernatural revenge mystery script set in the Australian outback.
‘Dark House’ is set in Massachusetts, US, where a lonely female artist must overcome her agoraphobia to escape from three kidnappers holed up in a house haunted by a witch finder’s hanging tree.
‘Circus of Blood’ is a horror script set in Rome AD79 where two citizens go on a dangerous quest to kill a brutal serial killer. Their adventures end in Pompeii.
‘Hunter’s Moon’ is a contemporary supernatural western script set on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall.
The Last Warlord is set during WWII and tells of Major Stewart of MI6 who must find the Nazi’s secret Atlantis base in Antarctica or the entire world will be doomed
SYNOPSIS:
Luna Sanguis is set in Paris and the French countryside June 1925.
Delicate Rose is a young woman nearing her Eternal Vampire state as her 19th birthday approaches. She was born on June 6th, 1906 at precisely 6am during the zenith of the Eternal Moon. And in 4 days time the Eternal Moon shall shine once more to bring forth Eternal, a vampire so powerful, nothing can stop her. But, she is held captive by the brutal hybrid vampire, Lucien. He is a Suckling due to his heightened addiction to an Eternal’s blood and only by taking all her blood after the eternal making will he be set free.
All his young life Lucien has enjoyed inflicting pain on his Delicate Rose. It’s his way of showing his twisted love for her. He really can’t help himself for on the night he read his vampire’s bible - Dracula, Lucien became possessed by the devious demon, The Count, hiding amongst the book’s pages. And The Count needs to become Eternal so he may cause chaos and destruction.
With just 36 hours to go, Delicate Rose escapes her garret prison in Paris. Now the blood hunt is on. The Count Lucien and his two other Suckling Vampires track down her unmistakeable scent, but each time she escapes with the help of a stranger who will become her true love.
The Count leaves a trail of corpses as his rage boils over. Where is his Delicate Rose? Having slaughtered all her friends at a chateau, his former home of all places, Lucien is left confused. He can no longer sense her fear. She has vanished.
Eternal wakes up in a tiny prison-style room with no name, no memory at all. Something stirs in her subconscious. Something otherworldly yearns to be set free by the next full moon – the date of her Eternal Birthday, just 24 hours away. Can she survive long enough for the final transformation? Her only hope is Edouard, her designated true love and psychiatrist treating her. But the more memories that surface the stronger Eternal becomes and yet she must depend on her true love for her very existence for out there somewhere, He is relishing the hunt for her blood – and nothing will stop him from becoming Eternal.
Excerpts:
The Evil Count Lucien and Eternal:
Lucien approached with his sword, smiling as she backed away in fear. Her eyes widened as he slashed his forearm with the blade and offered his blood to her.
“Come on ... this is what you’ve been waiting for.”
The effect of his blood was immediate. Even Lucien jumped with shock as she pounced and sucked on the wound with wild abandon. She sighed and moaned as she drank her first human blood. Lucien’s eyes rolled up in their sockets as he felt the tingle of an orgasm. The dark music he had grown to love was so sweet, so mesmerising, he felt at home. He had finally allowed her to fulfil her birthright and it was wonderful. It was better than sex.
Eternal’s True-Love:
Edouard was transfixed by her large lustrous eyes of burnt umber. It was a colour that radiated an allure both enticing and at the same time something dark and foreboding. He gasped, as the feeble light cascading from the window caused her eyes to change colour to pitch-black, like a cat as it sensed the kill.
Edouard shuddered as she spoke to him with her mind – “we are eternal, my true love.” His mind went numb with shock at hearing that word from his dreams. He began to tremble with excitement.
“I am for you,” he whispered, barely able to breathe.
The Vampire Sucklings:
Over the next few weeks Claudette had become insatiable for blood and sex, the two usually going together like strawberries and cream. Jacques couldn’t risk any more exsanguinations at the rampant hands of Claudette or he’d end up at the morgue. He showed her how to entice the wandering adventurers who clambered for action at the city’s roughest areas and spike their drinks with the voodoo white stolen from a Bokor who had the misfortune to cross Jacques’ path. When they had enough, both booked passage to Marseilles. The only luggage was Jacques’ duffle bag containing his voodoo white - Forbidden Kiss. For reviews and more info:
https://www.facebook.com/lunaeternal
Personal Media Links:
http://facebook.com/simondokillwriter
http://twitter.com/simonokill
https://www.amazon.com/author/simondokillwriter
http://goodreads.com/tassyoneill
http://tassyoneill.wix.com/the-phantom-bigfoot
LUNA SANGUIS BY SIMON OKILL
Release Date: 15th July
LUNA SANGUIS BLURB:
Paris 1925. A young woman is nearing her Eternal Vampire state as her birthday approaches. She is held captive by the hybrid vampire she created and slowly drained of her pure blood to keep his addiction in check. She outwits him and escapes to a chateau in the hope of reaching maturity. But he follows her unmistakable scent and massacres all that dare protect his supply of Eternal blood.
She awakens in a tiny room trapped and defenceless with amnesia, but something deep in her subconscious yearns to be set free by the next full moon – the date of her Eternal Birthday.
Her true self, Eternal, emerges in brief flashes of awareness to protect her from the horrors of this terrifying prison. Desperate, she forges an alliance with her true love, a gorgeous young doctor treating her.
But her nemesis is out there somewhere, relishing the hunt for her blood – and nothing will stop him from becoming Eternal.
Author Simon Okill
MY BIO:
I live with my wife, Shirlee Anne in a pretty coastal town in South Wales, UK. We both love Stephen King and had read many of his books and enjoyed their transition to the screen. Due to our love of books, my wife and I dabbled in writing for some years as a hobby. We were approached by a film company to write a paranormal TV series. We struggled most nights and all through weekends to come up with 22 episodes only for the company to go bust. Then after an accident at work, I was forced into early retirement due to disability. I used my newfound skills as a writer to help with my depression. We decided to use our TV series episodes as templates for film scripts and novels. My writing became more serious as certain A-list actors expressed interest in my scripts and my debut novel Nobody Loves a Bigfoot Like a Bigfoot Babe was accepted by Christopher Matthews Publishing after so many British publishers turned it down.
Bigfoot Episode 2 – it’s a secret!
Luna Aeturnus is the sequel to Luna Sanguis and will be ready for release September. All will be explained.
SS-steppenwolf is a supernatural retelling of WWII involving the Occult Warfare department run by Himmler. Think Indiana Jones searching for a werewolf.
Scripts:
‘Flip Side’ is one of my most exciting screenplays to date with its unusual slant on a supernatural gangster story that encompasses music and dynamic dance sequences to portray the action. The script has been optioned by Tasha Bertram of Brodie Films and Stuart St Paul has come on board to direct and co produce this fascinating piece of work.
‘Nightmare Circus’ is a supernatural revenge mystery script set in the Australian outback.
‘Dark House’ is set in Massachusetts, US, where a lonely female artist must overcome her agoraphobia to escape from three kidnappers holed up in a house haunted by a witch finder’s hanging tree.
‘Circus of Blood’ is a horror script set in Rome AD79 where two citizens go on a dangerous quest to kill a brutal serial killer. Their adventures end in Pompeii.
‘Hunter’s Moon’ is a contemporary supernatural western script set on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall.
The Last Warlord is set during WWII and tells of Major Stewart of MI6 who must find the Nazi’s secret Atlantis base in Antarctica or the entire world will be doomed
SYNOPSIS:
Luna Sanguis is set in Paris and the French countryside June 1925.
Delicate Rose is a young woman nearing her Eternal Vampire state as her 19th birthday approaches. She was born on June 6th, 1906 at precisely 6am during the zenith of the Eternal Moon. And in 4 days time the Eternal Moon shall shine once more to bring forth Eternal, a vampire so powerful, nothing can stop her. But, she is held captive by the brutal hybrid vampire, Lucien. He is a Suckling due to his heightened addiction to an Eternal’s blood and only by taking all her blood after the eternal making will he be set free.
All his young life Lucien has enjoyed inflicting pain on his Delicate Rose. It’s his way of showing his twisted love for her. He really can’t help himself for on the night he read his vampire’s bible - Dracula, Lucien became possessed by the devious demon, The Count, hiding amongst the book’s pages. And The Count needs to become Eternal so he may cause chaos and destruction.
With just 36 hours to go, Delicate Rose escapes her garret prison in Paris. Now the blood hunt is on. The Count Lucien and his two other Suckling Vampires track down her unmistakeable scent, but each time she escapes with the help of a stranger who will become her true love.
The Count leaves a trail of corpses as his rage boils over. Where is his Delicate Rose? Having slaughtered all her friends at a chateau, his former home of all places, Lucien is left confused. He can no longer sense her fear. She has vanished.
Eternal wakes up in a tiny prison-style room with no name, no memory at all. Something stirs in her subconscious. Something otherworldly yearns to be set free by the next full moon – the date of her Eternal Birthday, just 24 hours away. Can she survive long enough for the final transformation? Her only hope is Edouard, her designated true love and psychiatrist treating her. But the more memories that surface the stronger Eternal becomes and yet she must depend on her true love for her very existence for out there somewhere, He is relishing the hunt for her blood – and nothing will stop him from becoming Eternal.
Excerpts:
The Evil Count Lucien and Eternal:
Lucien approached with his sword, smiling as she backed away in fear. Her eyes widened as he slashed his forearm with the blade and offered his blood to her.
“Come on ... this is what you’ve been waiting for.”
The effect of his blood was immediate. Even Lucien jumped with shock as she pounced and sucked on the wound with wild abandon. She sighed and moaned as she drank her first human blood. Lucien’s eyes rolled up in their sockets as he felt the tingle of an orgasm. The dark music he had grown to love was so sweet, so mesmerising, he felt at home. He had finally allowed her to fulfil her birthright and it was wonderful. It was better than sex.
Eternal’s True-Love:
Edouard was transfixed by her large lustrous eyes of burnt umber. It was a colour that radiated an allure both enticing and at the same time something dark and foreboding. He gasped, as the feeble light cascading from the window caused her eyes to change colour to pitch-black, like a cat as it sensed the kill.
Edouard shuddered as she spoke to him with her mind – “we are eternal, my true love.” His mind went numb with shock at hearing that word from his dreams. He began to tremble with excitement.
“I am for you,” he whispered, barely able to breathe.
The Vampire Sucklings:
Over the next few weeks Claudette had become insatiable for blood and sex, the two usually going together like strawberries and cream. Jacques couldn’t risk any more exsanguinations at the rampant hands of Claudette or he’d end up at the morgue. He showed her how to entice the wandering adventurers who clambered for action at the city’s roughest areas and spike their drinks with the voodoo white stolen from a Bokor who had the misfortune to cross Jacques’ path. When they had enough, both booked passage to Marseilles. The only luggage was Jacques’ duffle bag containing his voodoo white - Forbidden Kiss. For reviews and more info:
https://www.facebook.com/lunaeternal
Personal Media Links:
http://facebook.com/simondokillwriter
http://twitter.com/simonokill
https://www.amazon.com/author/simondokillwriter
http://goodreads.com/tassyoneill
http://tassyoneill.wix.com/the-phantom-bigfoot
August 1, 2013
Guest Author: Kyra Dune Writes About Elves And Their Fight Against A Terrible Evil
Today, as part of my new Guest Author Series I am highlighting the work of Kyra Dune:
City Of Magic by Kyra Dune Blurb:
Charlie has finally reached the City Of Magic, where waits the lost elven magic he has been searching for. But the city is a ruin, his friends are missing, and there is a darkness known only as the Void slowly creeping over everything.
When Charlie comes across a group of elves, he hopes they will be able to help him locate the Silver Catacombs. But everything is not as it seems. There are two groups of elves in the city, one who resists the Void and one who worships it. It'll be up to Charlie to figure out who his true allies are. Danger lurks around every crumbling ruin and betrayal always comes from within. Bio:Kyra Dune was born in Oklahoma, but spent most of her life travelling with her family. She is the author of more than half a dozen novels, including: Shadow of the Dragon, Elfblood, and Shadow Born. As a little girl, her favorite books were those that told of ordinary children who traveled to magical worlds. She's yet to find her own magic wardrobe or rabbit hole, but she hasn't given up the search. You never know what might be waiting over the next rainbow. Connect With Kyra Dune: Facebook Twitter Blog Website Goodreads Pinterest Watch Her Book Trailers: YouTube
Buy Her Books: Amazon Barnes & Noble
City Of Magic by Kyra Dune Blurb:
Charlie has finally reached the City Of Magic, where waits the lost elven magic he has been searching for. But the city is a ruin, his friends are missing, and there is a darkness known only as the Void slowly creeping over everything.
When Charlie comes across a group of elves, he hopes they will be able to help him locate the Silver Catacombs. But everything is not as it seems. There are two groups of elves in the city, one who resists the Void and one who worships it. It'll be up to Charlie to figure out who his true allies are. Danger lurks around every crumbling ruin and betrayal always comes from within. Bio:Kyra Dune was born in Oklahoma, but spent most of her life travelling with her family. She is the author of more than half a dozen novels, including: Shadow of the Dragon, Elfblood, and Shadow Born. As a little girl, her favorite books were those that told of ordinary children who traveled to magical worlds. She's yet to find her own magic wardrobe or rabbit hole, but she hasn't given up the search. You never know what might be waiting over the next rainbow. Connect With Kyra Dune: Facebook Twitter Blog Website Goodreads Pinterest Watch Her Book Trailers: YouTube
Buy Her Books: Amazon Barnes & Noble
July 26, 2013
Guest Author: Olga Nunez Miret Lets Readers Choose The Ending Of Her Novella
Today, as part of my new Guest Author Series I am highlighting the work of Olga Nunez Miret:
Click Me Happy! by Olga Nunez Miret
Vanessa has been so kind as to offer me a spot in her blog to talk about my new novel (well, novella) Click Me Happy! It’s a romantic novella, but as I say in the subtitle, it’s a romantic novella with Three Endings. Three endings? Yes, but first let me tell you something about the novella, and then I offer you the preface where I explain a bit why the three endings thing. I also bring you some links so you can contact me and get to know more about me, and in case you’re still a bit curious, I also offer my official (Amazon) biography. Ah, and before I forget, as I think it’s a very good read for the summer, at the moment it’s on special promotion for only $0.99.
Do you believe in love at first sight or first click? Do you think your life should be a romantic novel? Would you like to be able to choose the ending? If you’ve answered YES to any of these questions or feel intrigued by them, this novel offers you a unique opportunity. You can choose what kind of ending you want: unhappy, happy or neutral.
Lilith, the protagonist, does not believe in all that ‘romantic nonsense’. When her boss and friend, Debbie, asks her to create a digital books section for the library where they both work she triggers a series of events that shake all of Lilith’s strongly held beliefs.
Her dislike for social networking is put to the test and despite her love for privacy and technological naïveté she manages to make a number of virtual connections. The most interesting one, without a question, is Zane, a talented and attractive author and painter. Their friendship quickly develops into something else. But, what exactly? Lilith doesn’t have a clue.
A bet with Rowena, her childhood best-friend, offers her an opportunity to test her feelings for Zane and their relationship and a meeting, ‘real’ this time, is organized in the gorgeous setting of Bermuda.
At that point, you, the reader, have the choice. Do you want the story to end up happy ever after? Do you think there’s no chance for them? Or maybe you believe that there has to be more to life than romantic stories and a neutral ending or new beginning is more true to life? You can pick and choose your ending, or you can read all of them and choose your favorite, or even create your own and let me know. I’d love to hear from you! (I leave you links to contact me at the end.) Don’t be strangers! And remember to CLICK!
http://viewBook.at/B00DK02JT2 Preface
Dear readers:
You’ll probably be wondering: what’s this thing about A Romantic Novella with Three Endings? I had some comments about the ending of one of my novels The Man Who Never Was. It seemed people would have preferred a happy ending. I don’t think it’s unhappy, it’s open but…I had to admit happy endings are not my strongest point, and that got me thinking.
When the idea for a romantic story forged itself in my brain, I thought: Most people would probably expect a happy ending. I’m not really much of a romance writer (or I didn’t think so anyway), so I’m bound to think things will end up badly. Or at least not necessarily in romantic bliss. The more I thought about, the more it bothered me. And I decided to offer the readers the choice. I started thinking of writing two endings: one happy and one unhappy. Eventually I realized I would probably had chosen a neutral ending as my preferred option (I love extremes but don’t tend to adopt them myself) and I thought, why not three?
Basically I’ve written the story of the characters and at a certain point I’ll give you the option to choose one of the endings. Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from reading the three, or even inventing a different one. I give you the situation, see what you think!
At the end of the book I offer you some links where you can get in contact with me, and get information about my writing. Feel free to post your opinion, share with others, make comments…And, especially if you like it, I’d be very grateful if you could write a review. Of course if you don’t like it you can also write a review, but I won’t be so grateful.
Thanks and I hope you enjoy!
Olga
Biography
Olga Núñez Miret is from Barcelona but has lived in the UK for over 20 years.
She is a doctor and her day job is as a Forensic Psychiatrist (not exactly like the profilers in the movies, or anything to do with CSI either), but she has also completed a degree in American Literature at the University of Sussex (including a year abroad at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts) and a PhD on the Films of David Mamet. She was also teaching assistant whilst completing the PhD, mostly on Film courses. Always a learner, she has recently finished a Distance Learning MSc on Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Leicester.
Olga has loved reading and writing since she was a child. Her father always says that even before she could read she'd always ask what any signs or writing meant. She has written a variety of things over the years: short stories (some now disappeared), novels, novellas and plays, in English, Spanish and Catalan. Some have been edited into the trash bin, but a few are still available and sitting quietly waiting for their moment in the sun. (Or an e-reader, most likely). Due to the many distractions (studies and jobs) she has never fully dedicated herself to the business of writing, but after a minor health scare she decided that there is no time like now. Carpe diem!
Her main love is fiction; she has written in a variety of genres (crime, family saga, paranormal, science fiction...) and she is currently working on a series for young adults.
Apart from reading and writing, she loves the cinema, the theater (modern, classic, musicals...), fitness classes (and more recently also yoga), walking, crochet, and owls. Her main aim is not to be boring and to entertain.
The first of her books to be published as e-book (October 2012) is The Man Who Wasn't There also available in Spanish version: El hombre que nunca existió.
In December 2012 she published 3 novellas in the series Escaping Psychiatry, Cannon Fodder (Escaping Psychiatry Part 1), Teamwork (Escaping Psychiatry Part 2), and Memory (Escaping Psychiatry Part 3). The author has used her experience and insights in these three works of fiction that follow Mary, psychiatrist and writer, and her adventures.
In February 2013 she published a Young Adult novella in English,Twin Evils,and Spanish, Gemela Maldad. This story talks about sibling rivalry taken to extremes, friendship, romance and has a touch of the paranormal.
In June 20013 she published her first foray in romantic fiction: Click Me Happy! a novella where readers can choose between three endings, an unhappy, a neutral and an unhappy one.
She is working on further adventures on the series Escaping Psychiatry and...many other things.
Links:
My website is: http://www.OlgaNM.com My Amazon author page is: http://www.amazon.com/Olga-Núñez-Miret/e/B009UC58G0
My Twitter account: https://twitter.com/OlgaNM7
My blog is: www.OlgaNM.wordpress.com My Facebook author page: www.facebook.com/OlgaNunezMiret My Goodreads author page is: Http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6562510.Olga_N_ez_Miret
Wattpad: http://wattpad.com/OlgaNM
Thanks you Vanessa for having me and specially thank you to all your readers. Happy reading!
Click Me Happy! by Olga Nunez Miret
Vanessa has been so kind as to offer me a spot in her blog to talk about my new novel (well, novella) Click Me Happy! It’s a romantic novella, but as I say in the subtitle, it’s a romantic novella with Three Endings. Three endings? Yes, but first let me tell you something about the novella, and then I offer you the preface where I explain a bit why the three endings thing. I also bring you some links so you can contact me and get to know more about me, and in case you’re still a bit curious, I also offer my official (Amazon) biography. Ah, and before I forget, as I think it’s a very good read for the summer, at the moment it’s on special promotion for only $0.99.
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Do you believe in love at first sight or first click? Do you think your life should be a romantic novel? Would you like to be able to choose the ending? If you’ve answered YES to any of these questions or feel intrigued by them, this novel offers you a unique opportunity. You can choose what kind of ending you want: unhappy, happy or neutral.
Lilith, the protagonist, does not believe in all that ‘romantic nonsense’. When her boss and friend, Debbie, asks her to create a digital books section for the library where they both work she triggers a series of events that shake all of Lilith’s strongly held beliefs.
Her dislike for social networking is put to the test and despite her love for privacy and technological naïveté she manages to make a number of virtual connections. The most interesting one, without a question, is Zane, a talented and attractive author and painter. Their friendship quickly develops into something else. But, what exactly? Lilith doesn’t have a clue.
A bet with Rowena, her childhood best-friend, offers her an opportunity to test her feelings for Zane and their relationship and a meeting, ‘real’ this time, is organized in the gorgeous setting of Bermuda.
At that point, you, the reader, have the choice. Do you want the story to end up happy ever after? Do you think there’s no chance for them? Or maybe you believe that there has to be more to life than romantic stories and a neutral ending or new beginning is more true to life? You can pick and choose your ending, or you can read all of them and choose your favorite, or even create your own and let me know. I’d love to hear from you! (I leave you links to contact me at the end.) Don’t be strangers! And remember to CLICK!
http://viewBook.at/B00DK02JT2 Preface
Dear readers:
You’ll probably be wondering: what’s this thing about A Romantic Novella with Three Endings? I had some comments about the ending of one of my novels The Man Who Never Was. It seemed people would have preferred a happy ending. I don’t think it’s unhappy, it’s open but…I had to admit happy endings are not my strongest point, and that got me thinking.
When the idea for a romantic story forged itself in my brain, I thought: Most people would probably expect a happy ending. I’m not really much of a romance writer (or I didn’t think so anyway), so I’m bound to think things will end up badly. Or at least not necessarily in romantic bliss. The more I thought about, the more it bothered me. And I decided to offer the readers the choice. I started thinking of writing two endings: one happy and one unhappy. Eventually I realized I would probably had chosen a neutral ending as my preferred option (I love extremes but don’t tend to adopt them myself) and I thought, why not three?
Basically I’ve written the story of the characters and at a certain point I’ll give you the option to choose one of the endings. Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from reading the three, or even inventing a different one. I give you the situation, see what you think!
At the end of the book I offer you some links where you can get in contact with me, and get information about my writing. Feel free to post your opinion, share with others, make comments…And, especially if you like it, I’d be very grateful if you could write a review. Of course if you don’t like it you can also write a review, but I won’t be so grateful.
Thanks and I hope you enjoy!
Olga
Biography
Olga Núñez Miret is from Barcelona but has lived in the UK for over 20 years.
She is a doctor and her day job is as a Forensic Psychiatrist (not exactly like the profilers in the movies, or anything to do with CSI either), but she has also completed a degree in American Literature at the University of Sussex (including a year abroad at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts) and a PhD on the Films of David Mamet. She was also teaching assistant whilst completing the PhD, mostly on Film courses. Always a learner, she has recently finished a Distance Learning MSc on Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Leicester.
Olga has loved reading and writing since she was a child. Her father always says that even before she could read she'd always ask what any signs or writing meant. She has written a variety of things over the years: short stories (some now disappeared), novels, novellas and plays, in English, Spanish and Catalan. Some have been edited into the trash bin, but a few are still available and sitting quietly waiting for their moment in the sun. (Or an e-reader, most likely). Due to the many distractions (studies and jobs) she has never fully dedicated herself to the business of writing, but after a minor health scare she decided that there is no time like now. Carpe diem!
Her main love is fiction; she has written in a variety of genres (crime, family saga, paranormal, science fiction...) and she is currently working on a series for young adults.
Apart from reading and writing, she loves the cinema, the theater (modern, classic, musicals...), fitness classes (and more recently also yoga), walking, crochet, and owls. Her main aim is not to be boring and to entertain.
The first of her books to be published as e-book (October 2012) is The Man Who Wasn't There also available in Spanish version: El hombre que nunca existió.
In December 2012 she published 3 novellas in the series Escaping Psychiatry, Cannon Fodder (Escaping Psychiatry Part 1), Teamwork (Escaping Psychiatry Part 2), and Memory (Escaping Psychiatry Part 3). The author has used her experience and insights in these three works of fiction that follow Mary, psychiatrist and writer, and her adventures.
In February 2013 she published a Young Adult novella in English,Twin Evils,and Spanish, Gemela Maldad. This story talks about sibling rivalry taken to extremes, friendship, romance and has a touch of the paranormal.
In June 20013 she published her first foray in romantic fiction: Click Me Happy! a novella where readers can choose between three endings, an unhappy, a neutral and an unhappy one.
She is working on further adventures on the series Escaping Psychiatry and...many other things.
Links:
My website is: http://www.OlgaNM.com My Amazon author page is: http://www.amazon.com/Olga-Núñez-Miret/e/B009UC58G0
My Twitter account: https://twitter.com/OlgaNM7
My blog is: www.OlgaNM.wordpress.com My Facebook author page: www.facebook.com/OlgaNunezMiret My Goodreads author page is: Http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6562510.Olga_N_ez_Miret
Wattpad: http://wattpad.com/OlgaNM
Thanks you Vanessa for having me and specially thank you to all your readers. Happy reading!
July 23, 2013
Guest Author: Jenna Brooks And The Empty Nest Syndrome
Today, as part of my new Guest Author Series, I am highlighting the work of Jenna Brooks: Grow Where You're PlantedBy Jenna Brooks
It’s been several years since my last child moved out on her own, and it was an unexpected sink-or-swim moment in my life. I knew it was coming, of course; however, much like we tend to shy away from the doctor until the pain is unbearable, I avoided it.
I was unnerved by the fast pace with which the moving truck was packed. At the door for the last time, I kissed my daughter quick - between her eyes, the same place where I had kissed her for the first time, nineteen years before.
“Be good,” I said. My voice sounded reedy, plaintive in my ears, like an old woman calling out to a strange sound in the middle of the night. I felt panicked: I wanted to say more. I wanted to be wise, to say something that would endure - or sustain her, perhaps, when the real world pressed in on her, and I wasn’t immediately accessible. I thought, at least I could make sure that I didn’t cry, that I didn’t make it too difficult for her to leave.
I knew that she would look back for her two kisses as she drove away. I had always done that, blown two kisses off of my hand whenever my kids left the house. So I blew the kisses, and the truck rounded the corner, and our time was up. She was gone.
I stood there, lingering on the front stoop for a while, trying to prepare myself to go back into my home and feel all of the things that I knew I would feel in a life that now, officially, would be lived alone.
I put my hand on the doorknob, and my cell phone beeped. It was a text from my son. I love you, Mom, it said. Hating the desperate gratitude I felt at that moment, I went into my house, shutting the door slowly.
The days which followed were merely gray, I suppose. My emotions were a static hum, as opposed to a flatline, and life was a quiet progression of events for a while. I got up in the morning, I went to work. I did my laundry, and I shopped for myself. I turned on the porch light every evening and said a prayer for her, as I’d done for her brother every night for the three years since he had moved out.
It would be a while yet before I started thinking about my own life - the future, I mean - and at some point, I began a marathon of projects around my house. I painted the garage door, and repaired the living room window. Made a bit of a mess of it, but that was okay. I tore down the rotting wood that made up my front railing. A few good back-kicks felled those.
I planted a hydrangea for her - she loves hydrangeas - in front of where the railing had been. A few days later, it didn’t look like it would make it. I kept watering the little brown twig, hoping I was wrong, but it appeared to be dead.
August came, with the days getting perceptibly shorter and the evenings a little colder, and four months had passed since that day the moving truck had appeared in the driveway. I was fully settled in to a still, quiet life, one of hiding. After twenty-plus years of being Mom, I felt the sting of a dismissal that I had always known was inevitable, but somehow didn’t anticipate. My children were grown. They were up and out, as they say.
Empty Nest Syndrome…? I wondered. Is this what it‘s like?
My birthday was coming soon, and my children were planning an evening at my favorite restaurant. They wanted to celebrate, so I agreed - because that’s what we mothers do, I decided. I told myself that much of what we do is all about going through the familiar rituals, even in the years after they’ve been emptied of their ability to reassure us, because our children still find comfort there.
I wouldn’t tell myself the truth, not yet, but something was stirring. Whether it was frustration with my own state of inertia, or merely boredom with my self-imposed martyrdom, something was in motion.
My birthday arrived, and it was a beautiful day. I took my coffee out to the porch, taking in the light breeze and the chorale of singing birds. I realized, as I sat in the old blue Adirondack chair, that I was smiling. And that my stomach felt strange. I wondered if the stirring, fluttery, almost painful feeling was something like… Joy…? I didn’t think I could feel that anymore. The past few years had been so painful: the end of a disastrous twenty-year marriage; the departure of my two children; and most of all, the confusion of trying to build a life that was mine, after all the years I had lived locked away, enmeshed in the needs of those around me. The most daunting task, it seemed, was in rising above my own harsh opinions of the world - and of myself - that came as a result.
But this day was my birthday, and it was a beautiful morning that belonged to me; and then, I realized that although I questioned my entire life at that moment, I had the space to do so only because I was, finally, free. In my mind’s eye, I regarded my former life as a homemaker as one I had lived in a cage.
Now, the cage door was open, and perhaps that was the real problem: there was freedom out there… and what now?
It suddenly came clear that my gloomy perspective was more about how timid I had become, than it was about being alone. I knew that much of the anger that was choking off my joy was due to my own resentments. I was sulking over the years spent holding everything and everyone together, and I believed I had nothing to show for it.
Or did I?
Then a thought occurred to me: Is this all there is to you? There has to be more than this.
Then another: I f there isn’t, then that’s on you.
Yes, it was. Because the door was open, and I was free. Free to keep wallowing in fear, shrouded within the gloom of self-pity - or to walk out into a perfect day, and make it whatever I wanted it to be.
The cage, at that point, was one of my own making.
I looked regretfully at my empty coffee cup, and decided I’d better get going. Instead, I went into the kitchen and poured another cup. I didn’t want to get going, not yet. I returned to the blue chair, and the beauty of the day made my stomach turn over again, twisting with the joy I thought was lost to me. I cried a little, but it wasn’t from sadness. Not at all.
Later that morning, on my way out to buy myself a birthday gift, I checked on the brown twig that was supposed to be her hydrangea. It was time to pull the dead plant out. The sadness I felt surprised me: I didn’t realize, until then, how deeply it mattered that the hydrangea would grow; but as always, my legendary black thumb won that battle, and I smiled at the thought. I smiled at myself.
All that work for nothing. Oh, well. I pulled the hydrangea twig, and caught my breath as I held it up. It had living roots.
It was still alive, just beneath the surface.
I replanted it near the breezeway, where there was more room for it to grow, and I spent the morning tending to it.
Dinner with my children that evening was wonderful. I basked in the glow of the bond which flows among the three of us - the innate surety that I suspect was always there, but was briefly hidden from my heart by my own bitterness and fears. Our paths may branch out, breaking free of the others as we all grow older... But our lives are forever intertwined, and we’ll meet at the same place one day.
By the way, for my birthday gift to myself, I bought a peony plant. I love peonies. It was a little sprout of a thing, when I planted it where the hydrangea once was.
Both are thriving. Jenna Brooks is an author, columnist, and coach, living in Southern New Hampshire. She welcomes your comments through her website, The Senior Contentious Woman. Her new novel October Snow is available here on Amazon.
July 19, 2013
Guest Author: Dianne Harman Mixes Romance And Politics In Her Latest Novel
Today, as part of my new Guest Author Series, I am highlighting the work of Dianne Harman. Here is the scoop on Tea Party Teddy by Dianne Harman:
THE MAKING OF TEA PARTY TEDDY
My husband was a California State Senator and I spent the majority of twelve years living in Sacramento, California, the capital of the state. Every night there were numerous receptions and fundraisers. I remember a lobbyist telling me she had fifteen fundraisers to attend that evening alone! The lobbyists well knew the perils of eating and drinking too much at events. The food is generally appetizers that are salty and fried – they play well against alcohol. But the interesting thing is that while the lobbyists were very careful about what they ate and drank; to new Legislators it was like a candy store. They could have about anything they wanted and no one would tell them they couldn’t. Many a Legislator was known for imbibing a little too freely at these events. Tea Party Teddy came about because of two dinners my husband and I attended. Serendipitously, I was seated next to the most biased, bigoted person I had ever met. He was a Legislator and he was my seatmate two nights in a row. I kept wondering how a man like that could be elected, and then became even more interested in the story about him that began to form in my mind. What caused him to be so biased? What was his wife like? What was his home life like? Did he have children? I’d heard rumors that he was succumbing to the powers of the office – the thinking in Sacramentois “I didn’t make the rules, but I can play by them.” Divorces were pretty common among Legislators. It may be a simplistic answer as to why there were so many divorces, but I knew a lot of legislators who came to the capitoWant to know more about Dianne Harman and her work? Check out her links below:
Blue Coyote Motel: http://amzn.to/SO8uIj Tea Party Teddy: http://amzn.to/ZgKwIBWebsite: www.DianneHarman.com Blog: http://dianneharman.com/blog/
THE MAKING OF TEA PARTY TEDDY
My husband was a California State Senator and I spent the majority of twelve years living in Sacramento, California, the capital of the state. Every night there were numerous receptions and fundraisers. I remember a lobbyist telling me she had fifteen fundraisers to attend that evening alone! The lobbyists well knew the perils of eating and drinking too much at events. The food is generally appetizers that are salty and fried – they play well against alcohol. But the interesting thing is that while the lobbyists were very careful about what they ate and drank; to new Legislators it was like a candy store. They could have about anything they wanted and no one would tell them they couldn’t. Many a Legislator was known for imbibing a little too freely at these events. Tea Party Teddy came about because of two dinners my husband and I attended. Serendipitously, I was seated next to the most biased, bigoted person I had ever met. He was a Legislator and he was my seatmate two nights in a row. I kept wondering how a man like that could be elected, and then became even more interested in the story about him that began to form in my mind. What caused him to be so biased? What was his wife like? What was his home life like? Did he have children? I’d heard rumors that he was succumbing to the powers of the office – the thinking in Sacramentois “I didn’t make the rules, but I can play by them.” Divorces were pretty common among Legislators. It may be a simplistic answer as to why there were so many divorces, but I knew a lot of legislators who came to the capitoWant to know more about Dianne Harman and her work? Check out her links below:
Blue Coyote Motel: http://amzn.to/SO8uIj Tea Party Teddy: http://amzn.to/ZgKwIBWebsite: www.DianneHarman.com Blog: http://dianneharman.com/blog/
July 16, 2013
Guest Author: Drew Avera Writes Sci-Fi and Dystopian Fiction
Today, as part of my new Guest Author Series, I am highlighting the work of Drew Avera. Here is the blurb on the debut novel, Dead Planet: Exodus by Drew Avera:
For twenty five hundred years the civilization on Mars has been ruled by the Syndicate, an organization run by the top one percent. Every need and desire of the average citizen has been fed by the machine in return for a lifetime of obedience. What happens when the profit margins fall and the people become a burden to the pockets of the Syndicate? What happens when their plans to exile their citizens to a certain death is revealed? This is the story of a man named Serus Blackwell who has a job to do. Serus is a policeman who works for the Agency, but it isn’t what you think. Can he protect his sister, Kara, before the Agency kills her, or will the programming he received from the Agency override his emotions and condemn Kara to the same fate as the rest of the planet? Here's the blurb on the sci-fi novella, Reich, by Drew Avera:
In the 158 years after Hitler’s death (AH158), Germany has become the utopian state that he had originally envisioned. The Aryan Dynasty has conquered the free world at the cost of billions of lives. Hitler has become the patriarch of a new religious fervor, one that even he did not see coming. The wastelands that surround Germany are the only threat awaiting the German citizens. That is at least what everyone is taught. This is a story of how misplaced power can lead to tyranny, but it could be Germany that falls victim to a new Reich. Want to know more about Drew Avera and his work? Check out his links below: Blog: www.drewavera.wordpress.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authordrewavera
Twitter: www.twitter.com/DrewAvera Check out Drew Avera's debut novel, Dead Planet: Exodus here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C1KP6SSCheck out Drew Avera's dystopian, sci fi novella, Reich, here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPUYLOI
Drew Avera
For twenty five hundred years the civilization on Mars has been ruled by the Syndicate, an organization run by the top one percent. Every need and desire of the average citizen has been fed by the machine in return for a lifetime of obedience. What happens when the profit margins fall and the people become a burden to the pockets of the Syndicate? What happens when their plans to exile their citizens to a certain death is revealed? This is the story of a man named Serus Blackwell who has a job to do. Serus is a policeman who works for the Agency, but it isn’t what you think. Can he protect his sister, Kara, before the Agency kills her, or will the programming he received from the Agency override his emotions and condemn Kara to the same fate as the rest of the planet? Here's the blurb on the sci-fi novella, Reich, by Drew Avera:
In the 158 years after Hitler’s death (AH158), Germany has become the utopian state that he had originally envisioned. The Aryan Dynasty has conquered the free world at the cost of billions of lives. Hitler has become the patriarch of a new religious fervor, one that even he did not see coming. The wastelands that surround Germany are the only threat awaiting the German citizens. That is at least what everyone is taught. This is a story of how misplaced power can lead to tyranny, but it could be Germany that falls victim to a new Reich. Want to know more about Drew Avera and his work? Check out his links below: Blog: www.drewavera.wordpress.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authordrewavera
Twitter: www.twitter.com/DrewAvera Check out Drew Avera's debut novel, Dead Planet: Exodus here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C1KP6SSCheck out Drew Avera's dystopian, sci fi novella, Reich, here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPUYLOI
Drew Avera
July 6, 2013
Here's Some Tips Earnest Hemingway Gave On Writing Fiction
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway is one of my favorite books. This article, reprinted from
Open Culture gives his advice on writing fiction:
Seven Tips From Ernest Hemingway on How to Write Fiction
Before he was a big game hunter, before he was a deep-sea fisherman, Ernest Hemingway was a craftsman who would rise very early in the morning and write. His best stories are masterpieces of the modern era, and his prose style is one of the most influential of the 20th century.
Hemingway never wrote a treatise on the art of writing fiction. He did, however, leave behind a great many passages in letters, articles and books with opinions and advice on writing. Some of the best of those were assembled in 1984 by Larry W. Phillips into a book, Ernest Hemingway on Writing . We’ve selected seven of our favorite quotations from the book and placed them, along with our own commentary, on this page. We hope you will all–writers and readers alike–find them fascinating.
1: To get started, write one true sentence.
Hemingway had a simple trick for overcoming writer’s block. In a memorable passage in A Moveable Feast , he writes:
Sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, “Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say. If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written.2: Always stop for the day while you still know what will happen next.
There is a difference between stopping and foundering. To make steady progress, having a daily word-count quota was far less important to Hemingway than making sure he never emptied the well of his imagination. In an October 1935 article in Esquire ( “Monologue to the Maestro: A High Seas Letter”) Hemingway offers this advice to a young writer:
The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck. That is the most valuable thing I can tell you so try to remember it.3: Never think about the story when you’re not working.
Building on his previous advice, Hemingway says never to think about a story you are working on before you begin again the next day. “That way your subconscious will work on it all the time,” he writes in the Esquire piece. “But if you think about it consciously or worry about it you will kill it and your brain will be tired before you start.” He goes into more detail in A Moveable Feast:
When I was writing, it was necessary for me to read after I had written. If you kept thinking about it, you would lose the thing you were writing before you could go on with it the next day. It was necessary to get exercise, to be tired in the body, and it was very good to make love with whom you loved. That was better than anything. But afterwards, when you were empty, it was necessary to read in order not to think or worry about your work until you could do it again. I had learned already never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.4: When it’s time to work again, always start by reading what you’ve written so far.
T0 maintain continuity, Hemingway made a habit of reading over what he had already written before going further. In the 1935 Esquire article, he writes:
The best way is to read it all every day from the start, correcting as you go along, then go on from where you stopped the day before. When it gets so long that you can’t do this every day read back two or three chapters each day; then each week read it all from the start. That’s how you make it all of one piece.5: Don’t describe an emotion–make it.
Close observation of life is critical to good writing, said Hemingway. The key is to not only watch and listen closely to external events, but to also notice any emotion stirred in you by the events and then trace back and identify precisely what it was that caused the emotion. If you can identify the concrete action or sensation that caused the emotion and present it accurately and fully rounded in your story, your readers should feel the same emotion. In Death in the Afternoon , Hemingway writes about his early struggle to master this:
I was trying to write then and I found the greatest difficulty, aside from knowing truly what you really felt, rather than what you were supposed to feel, and had been taught to feel, was to put down what really happened in action; what the actual things were which produced the emotion that you experienced. In writing for a newspaper you told what happened and, with one trick and another, you communicated the emotion aided by the element of timeliness which gives a certain emotion to any account of something that has happened on that day; but the real thing, the sequence of motion and fact which made the emotion and which would be as valid in a year or in ten years or, with luck and if you stated it purely enough, always, was beyond me and I was working very hard to get it.6: Use a pencil.
Hemingway often used a typewriter when composing letters or magazine pieces, but for serious work he preferred a pencil. In the Esquire article (which shows signs of having been written on a typewriter) Hemingway says:
When you start to write you get all the kick and the reader gets none. So you might as well use a typewriter because it is that much easier and you enjoy it that much more. After you learn to write your whole object is to convey everything, every sensation, sight, feeling, place and emotion to the reader. To do this you have to work over what you write. If you write with a pencil you get three different sights at it to see if the reader is getting what you want him to. First when you read it over; then when it is typed you get another chance to improve it, and again in the proof. Writing it first in pencil gives you one-third more chance to improve it. That is .333 which is a damned good average for a hitter. It also keeps it fluid longer so you can better it easier.7: Be Brief.
Hemingway was contemptuous of writers who, as he put it, “never learned how to say no to a typewriter.” In a 1945 letter to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, Hemingway writes:
It wasn’t by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short. The laws of prose writing are as immutable as those of flight, of mathematics, of physics.
Open Culture gives his advice on writing fiction:
Seven Tips From Ernest Hemingway on How to Write Fiction
Before he was a big game hunter, before he was a deep-sea fisherman, Ernest Hemingway was a craftsman who would rise very early in the morning and write. His best stories are masterpieces of the modern era, and his prose style is one of the most influential of the 20th century.
Hemingway never wrote a treatise on the art of writing fiction. He did, however, leave behind a great many passages in letters, articles and books with opinions and advice on writing. Some of the best of those were assembled in 1984 by Larry W. Phillips into a book, Ernest Hemingway on Writing . We’ve selected seven of our favorite quotations from the book and placed them, along with our own commentary, on this page. We hope you will all–writers and readers alike–find them fascinating.
1: To get started, write one true sentence.
Hemingway had a simple trick for overcoming writer’s block. In a memorable passage in A Moveable Feast , he writes:
Sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, “Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say. If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written.2: Always stop for the day while you still know what will happen next.
There is a difference between stopping and foundering. To make steady progress, having a daily word-count quota was far less important to Hemingway than making sure he never emptied the well of his imagination. In an October 1935 article in Esquire ( “Monologue to the Maestro: A High Seas Letter”) Hemingway offers this advice to a young writer:
The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck. That is the most valuable thing I can tell you so try to remember it.3: Never think about the story when you’re not working.
Building on his previous advice, Hemingway says never to think about a story you are working on before you begin again the next day. “That way your subconscious will work on it all the time,” he writes in the Esquire piece. “But if you think about it consciously or worry about it you will kill it and your brain will be tired before you start.” He goes into more detail in A Moveable Feast:
When I was writing, it was necessary for me to read after I had written. If you kept thinking about it, you would lose the thing you were writing before you could go on with it the next day. It was necessary to get exercise, to be tired in the body, and it was very good to make love with whom you loved. That was better than anything. But afterwards, when you were empty, it was necessary to read in order not to think or worry about your work until you could do it again. I had learned already never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.4: When it’s time to work again, always start by reading what you’ve written so far.
T0 maintain continuity, Hemingway made a habit of reading over what he had already written before going further. In the 1935 Esquire article, he writes:
The best way is to read it all every day from the start, correcting as you go along, then go on from where you stopped the day before. When it gets so long that you can’t do this every day read back two or three chapters each day; then each week read it all from the start. That’s how you make it all of one piece.5: Don’t describe an emotion–make it.
Close observation of life is critical to good writing, said Hemingway. The key is to not only watch and listen closely to external events, but to also notice any emotion stirred in you by the events and then trace back and identify precisely what it was that caused the emotion. If you can identify the concrete action or sensation that caused the emotion and present it accurately and fully rounded in your story, your readers should feel the same emotion. In Death in the Afternoon , Hemingway writes about his early struggle to master this:
I was trying to write then and I found the greatest difficulty, aside from knowing truly what you really felt, rather than what you were supposed to feel, and had been taught to feel, was to put down what really happened in action; what the actual things were which produced the emotion that you experienced. In writing for a newspaper you told what happened and, with one trick and another, you communicated the emotion aided by the element of timeliness which gives a certain emotion to any account of something that has happened on that day; but the real thing, the sequence of motion and fact which made the emotion and which would be as valid in a year or in ten years or, with luck and if you stated it purely enough, always, was beyond me and I was working very hard to get it.6: Use a pencil.
Hemingway often used a typewriter when composing letters or magazine pieces, but for serious work he preferred a pencil. In the Esquire article (which shows signs of having been written on a typewriter) Hemingway says:
When you start to write you get all the kick and the reader gets none. So you might as well use a typewriter because it is that much easier and you enjoy it that much more. After you learn to write your whole object is to convey everything, every sensation, sight, feeling, place and emotion to the reader. To do this you have to work over what you write. If you write with a pencil you get three different sights at it to see if the reader is getting what you want him to. First when you read it over; then when it is typed you get another chance to improve it, and again in the proof. Writing it first in pencil gives you one-third more chance to improve it. That is .333 which is a damned good average for a hitter. It also keeps it fluid longer so you can better it easier.7: Be Brief.
Hemingway was contemptuous of writers who, as he put it, “never learned how to say no to a typewriter.” In a 1945 letter to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, Hemingway writes:
It wasn’t by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short. The laws of prose writing are as immutable as those of flight, of mathematics, of physics.
Tasha Gwartney's Blog Reviews A Blue Moon -- Check It Out
It's always great when another author reviews a book you've written. Read what author Tasha Gwartney wrote about A Blue Moon:
Author Tasha Gwartney Reviews A Blue Moon
Author Tasha Gwartney Reviews A Blue Moon
June 17, 2013
The New Cover Art for My Upcoming Novel, A Talent For Evil
Kristy Charbonneau designed an AMAZING cover for my upcoming release, A Talent For Evil, to be published soon by Midnight Hour Publishing.I'll post more about A Talent For Evil, a collection of paranormal stories, in the weeks to come. In the meantime check out the cover:
A Talent For Evil ByVanessa A. Ryan
A Talent For Evil ByVanessa A. Ryan
