R.M. Ridley's Blog, page 31

The Evolution of a Novel

So I had been referring to the Jonathan Alvey series as ‘Esoteric Eye’  but I wanted to talk to my team at Xchyler Publishing about it to get their opinion. It was decided that, for various reasons, this probably wasn’t the best ‘title’ . So I   let the issue simmer in my mind to see what percolated up.

My Muse presented me with something that I wasn’t sure what to do with. But, trusting her, I went and started playing around on Google and Wikipedia with the concept. As often happens, one link lead to another, and one kernel of an idea blossomed into a number of other thoughts.

I spend quite a bit of time researching on-line and decided I could really work with what my Muse had given me. The issue was that to make this new series title work, I would have to go into the novel itself and add references and terms . I had to weave in a whole concept which would connect to the title.

I admit – the concept of doing this intrigued me. I guess I’m a sucker for a challenge. I presented the concept to my team at Xchyler and it was well received – so I took the next step.

Going back to the very first chapter, I started to put in the tidbits of information, and the references to a term that would connect to this new series title concept. I even wrote in a twist to the original concept in one scene.

I could have fun with this new element. And having brought up the issue now, early into the edits of ‘Tomorrow Wendell’, I have the time to continue to thread in references and information as the chapter edits go.  When I get to doing the edits for the second novel, ‘Bindings & Spines’, which will be as soon as I wrap up the fourth novel, I can continue to develop the concept and add in the necessary information.

I did a fair amount of work on this yesterday, and I think I worked it right.

This afternoon, I’ll check the edits that were returned last night  and find out if I’m right or wrong.

Either way – it’s been fun.

 

Filed under: Publishing, Writing Tagged: Bindings & Spines, current work in progress, edits, Jonathan Alvey, muse, novel, paranormal private investigator, plot, publish, Tomorrow Wendell, Urban Fantasy, world building, writing, Xchyler Publishing

A Sliver of Hope

This morning I went through ‘Corrupted Souls’, the fourth and current, Jonathan Alvey novel, to see if I could in fact find one of the spots that had not yet been tied to a pre-writen scene. At first, it seemed hopeless, but then one of these gaps tickled the back of my brain and I thought I’d give it a shot.

I had some success, and moved on to find another.

In the end, I wrote three separate, and short (200 word), scenes. But it is progress.

This small amount of work, is leaps and bounds better than I felt about the idea of getting back into the story yesterday morning. If I can do the same tomorrow, I may find myself able to slip into the tale enough to finish the whole thing. It might need a bit extra work come edit time because of this, but I am willing to accept that trade off.

The edits for ‘Tomorrow Wendell’ continue every day, and so far there has been little issue with getting them done. No contest of wills over scenes, no weeping about cutting something, and no frustration over misunderstandings.

The team at Xchyler is not only sharp and competent, they are also wonderful about allowing me to keep my voice and concept. They go out of their way to work with me, and my idea’s, and change and tighten that instead of forcing their concepts onto my work.

I am delighted with the effect, and couldn’t be more excited about what is being produced by this effort. Still one-hundred percent my story, it is through their efforts that my story is one hundred percent improved.

I look forward to many more projects with this group of talented and understanding professionals.

Filed under: Publishing, Writing Tagged: characters, Corrupted Souls, current work in progress, edits, Jonathan Alvey, muse, novel, paranormal private investigator, plot, publish, Tomorrow Wendell, Urban Fantasy, writing, Xchyler Publishing

Sigh – That Backfired

I took a pause in writing the fourth novel, ‘Corrupted Souls’, to write the short story, ‘Charon’s Obol’, to submit to my publishers new paranormal anthology. I hoped, when it was done, the experience would have given me a little distance from the novel and fired up the creativity so I could return to the novel fresh, invigorated, and able to wrap it up.

Not so much.

It seems, I was away from ‘Corrupted Souls’ just long enough to lose the thread.

This is not the first time I’ve been away from a novel and lost the ability to just hop back on. It was, in fact, the third novel, ‘Nine of Cups’ that this happened last to me. That time I was away for a good number of month before attempting to get back to writing it. It was hard, but I got there. This time shouldn’t be as hard but I am debating what to do.

I can troll through it and find all the places that are not connected up – that are missing scenes and see if any of them spark my mind and get me rolling again.

Or…

My other option is to just start at the beginning – reading, doing some light editing, and once more immersing myself in the story.

Each option has its pro’s and con’s, so I am waffling right now.

Whatever way I go, I have to start moving now. The longer I wait, the worse it will be.

I know I need to add little constant things through out the sections already written, so maybe I should just do that and start at the beginning. I would like to wrap it up and set it aside to edit fresh later, and get to work on the comments from my editor regarding the second novel ‘Bindings & Spines’, as well though.

Sometimes listening to my Muse can be… well, sometimes thing don’t always work out quite as you might hope.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: anthology, Bindings & Spines, Charon's Obol, Corrupted Souls, current work in progress, editor, edits, Jonathan Alvey, muse, Nine of Cups, novel, paranormal private investigator, plot, short story, Tomorrow Wendell, Urban Fantasy, writing

Nice To See So Many Rational Minds

That’s right – this is another link to a article being rational about e-cig in response to a completely  irrational one.

Here the link

Filed under: Vaping

New Kid’s Book to Check out!

 

Silent Words

Available NOW on Amazon and Barnes & Nobel

ABOUT THE BOOK

Zelda loves to talk. She always asks a million questions and her head is full of words like apple, bunny, cartwheel and dwizzledoodle. But when a sudden storm turns Zelda’s world upside down, all her words go silent. Zelda must embark on a quest across mountains, forests and oceans to find her parents—and her voice.

This moving tale about loss and hope will tug at your heartstrings. Author Chantal Fournier’s poetic storytelling style and illustrator Nicolas Lajeunesse’s evocative artwork combine to create a poignant story in which a child discovers comfort in the power of words.

CHECK OUT THE TRAILER!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Chantal Fournier (Author)

Originally from a small-ish city not too far from Montreal, I now live in Toronto, Canada, after a long stint on the beautiful Canadian West Coast, where I taught French to university students.

Silent Words, the story of a girl floating on a peculiar cloud, is my debut book. It is the fruit of a long collaboration with my artistic husband, Nicolas.

Nicolas Lajeunesse (Illustrator)

As the son of a sculptor and the grandson of a painter, art has always been a part of my life. After studying filmmaking in Montreal and working with my father for a few years, I left my French-Canadian roots and headed for the West Coast, where I discovered digital arts.

I live in Toronto, Canada, with my wife and family.

 

Filed under: Book Release

Out You Crow

So the chicken we rescued from freezing to death -Hen – turned out to be a boy. He was a late developer which is why we didn’t know. He is still -Hen.

Hen is as healthy as he is going to be, so today he was once more introduced to life outside. This means a power struggle, as all the other cockerels challenge this new comer, to make sure he knows his place. I just hope there isn’t to much injury done to any of them.

The unfortunate part, is that Hen has been running about the house crowing out the windows getting the other cocks all riled up, because crowing is a status thing – they do it when allowed by the one above them in the pecking order (yes, that’s where the term comes from) and it is a means of communicating (often in regards to the hens, or grounds, the cocks are in charge of protecting)

Hen has been disrupting that by crowing inside – where he couldn’t be put in his place (whatever that ends up being). He’s paying for it now.

I’m no overly worried about this … it’s what happens all the time.

I am going to miss his company during the evening, as he loved to sit on my lap while I watched TV (and beside me on the desk if he wasn’t running about crowing).

On the other hand – I’ll probably get cuddles from my kitten now that I’ve kicked the ‘interloper’ out.

Oh the life of a Homesteader.

Filed under: Homesteading Tagged: chickens, cockerels, crowing, hen, homesteading, pecking order

The Important Thing…

So I still have one short scene to write in the short story, but I went through it for cohesiveness and gave it an edit, anyway. It is cleaner, and a little shorter now… but still too long to be properly categorized as a ‘short’. I believe the term applicable is ‘Novelette’.

I’m not worried about about. I like the tale and that is what is important to me. If I don’t like a story, it doesn’t matter what length it is, and, I guess, the opposite is true too – it doesn’t matter how long the story as long as I like it.

I should be able to get that last scene done today. If I do, then tomorrow I can start back in on the fourth novel, ‘Corrupted Souls’ again. Hopefully, with fresh vigor and the inspiration to wrap it up quickly.

I’m glad my Muse smacked this, not so little, diversion upside my head.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: Corrupted Souls, current work in progress, edits, Jonathan Alvey, muse, paranormal private investigator, plot, scene, short story, Tomorrow Wendell, Urban Fantasy, writing

Define – Short?

So I wrote more on this short story, whose name I think I’m going to change, and I have only two small scenes, and one significant scene, left to write. This all fine and dandy except, for the fact that this ‘short’ story is now almost ten thousand words long.

The second short story I ever got published, the editor actually wrote to me and said that ‘it was very good but really short – did I want to try and make it longer?’

I couldn’t conceive of how to make it longer…and I still don’t ,if I think about it. But now, I find that my average ‘short’ story is 7-8 thousand words. Most magazines and anthologies have a cap around six thousand or lower.

I have yet to edit the story – as I am not done writing it – and that might bring down the word count but I don’t think it will do so in any real significant way.

I don’t know if this growth of the length of my stories is simply because that is what my Muse is feeding me, or if it is because I’m writing in the world of Jonathan Alvey, which I know so well, and am so invested in, that I can’t cut out the extraneous. That I can’t help but put in too much of the world and his reaction to it.

I’m not going to stress over this – I write for the sake of telling the tale. I no longer fret about ‘will someone accept it?’ I hope to get more work published, but that isn’t my job – My job is to write.

Still, sometimes I think I should challenge myself to write a short story that is actually… well, short. Maybe after the work for getting ‘Tomorrow Wendell’ ready for print is done, and I’ve wrapped up this short story, and finished the fourth novel … oh, who am I kidding?

 

Filed under: Writing Tagged: anthology, current work in progress, edits, Jonathan Alvey, magazine, muse, novel, plot, short story, Tomorrow Wendell, Urban Fantasy, writer, writing, Xchyler Publishing

Show and Tell Time Class

I used to – well, I probably still do because whose perfect – have a problem with ‘telling’ instead of ‘showing’.

“Robert was sad” is telling.

“Robert’s wet eyes were empty” is showing.

It’s not a perfect example but you get the point.

I’ve become much better at ‘showing’ in my writing  because of a great gift I got for Christmas. I mentioned it before but I’m returning to the subject because, after just shy of three months, the impact it has had on my writing is tremendous.

‘The Emotion Thesaurus’ is a must have for any writer and, for the price, is an amazing investment in your own writing.

Every time I come to a place where I would have ‘told’ before, now I am automatically reaching for the book. I don’t always use a direct example from the list, but I read through the possible descriptions and it helps form a picture. I can then describe that picture using my own words molded from the ones suggested. Sometimes a phrase will jump out from the page, and you know that’s the one to use in that instance. Either way, the effect on my writing is dramatic.

With this book it becomes a fun and interesting challenge to ‘show’ and the thought of ‘telling’ becomes dirty. Do yourself a favour, especially if you are just starting to get serious about this thing called writing, get this writing aid.

The Emotional Thesaurus at Amazon

Filed under: Writing Tagged: characters, emotions, scene, thesaurus, world building, writer, writing

A Bold Novel by A Great Author

Welcome to a White Chalk Spotlight from Novel Publicity! This posts includes and excerpt, book blurb, and information about the author, Pavarti K Tyler

 

An Excerpt

Too cold for me to be out, drenched in a thin sweatshirt, I trudged home after school. November had betrayed me with its promises of clear skies, and I’d skipped the bus.

Mr. Harris pulled up, his oversized body squished into the too small car. When the window rolled down, warm air tinged with the scent of coffee invited me in.

“It’s a little cold for you to be walking, isn’t it, honey?” He peered out the window, brows pulled high to his forehead, appraising my appearance.

“Can you drive me home, Mr. Harris?” My teeth chattered as I spoke.

“Come on, get in. But you know teachers aren’t supposed to pick up students on the side of the road.” He chuckled softly to himself.

“I know. I won’t tell anyone. Please? I’m just so cold.”

In the car, I kicked my soaked backpack out of the way of the heating vent and slid my feet out of my shoes. My toes had gotten so cold I half wondered if they’d be tinged with black—gangrene setting up shop. I leaned back and closed my eyes, letting the warmth of the car envelop me. When I opened them, I realized Mr. Harris hadn’t started driving again.

Instead, he sat staring at me. Parked in the middle of the road, his eyes roamed my body as I shivered.

Cold? Lust? I didn’t know, but the feeling of power spreading through my chest as he took in the curve of my hips made me bold. I sat up and pulled the wet sweatshirt over my head, revealing the T-Shirt beneath.

Mr. Harris shifted in his seat. His gaze fell upon my breasts and the sound of his breath sped up.

“Mr. Harris?” I asked, the temptation of seducing a teacher thrilling me.

“Yeah?” His voice was hoarse.

“Thanks for the ride.”

“What?” His body snapped to attention as he remembered where he was. “Oh, right… um….” He shifted position again.

“Really, I appreciate it.” I laid a hand on his arm and rose up in my seat, leaning forward so I could kiss him on the cheek—innocently, like kissing an uncle or cousin. But I knew it wasn’t, and when I pulled away, the dark intensity of his eyes told of desire I’d only been hoping to find.

About the Book

Click to buy on Amazon

Evolved Publishing presents an intimate glance inside teenage angst and confusion, and one talented but troubled girl’s attempt to make sense of life, in the coming-of-age tale, “White Chalk,” by award-winning author Pavarti K. Tyler. [Literary, New Adult, Women's Fiction]

Chelle isn’t a typical 13-year-old girl—she doesn’t laugh with friends, play sports, or hang out at the mall after school. Instead, she navigates a world well beyond her years.

Life in Dawson, ND spins on as she grasps at people, pleading for someone to save her—to return her to the simple childhood of unicorns on her bedroom wall and stories on her father’s knee.

When Troy Christiansen walks into her life, Chelle is desperate to believe his arrival will be her salvation. So much so, she forgets to save herself. After experiencing a tragedy at school, her world begins to crack, causing a deeper scar in her already fragile psyche.

Follow Chelle’s twisted tale of modern adolescence, as she travels down the rabbit hole into a reality none of us wants to admit actually exists.

About the Author

Award winning author of multi-cultural and transgressive literature, Pavarti K Tyler is an artist, wife, mother and number cruncher. She graduated Smith College in 1999 with a degree in Theatre. After graduation, she moved to New York, where she worked as a Dramaturge, Assistant Director and Production Manager on productions both on and off Broadway. Later, Pavarti went to work in the finance industry several international law firms. She now lives with her husband, two daughters and one very large, very terrible dog. She keeps busy working with fabulous authors as the Director of Marketing at Novel Publicity and penning her next genre bending novel.

White Chalk (Evolved Publishing) marks Tyler’s third full length novel and promises readers familiar with her work the same mind bending experience. Her other projects include: Shadow on the Wall (Fighting Monkey Press) and Two Moons of Sera (Fighting Monkey Press). Shadow on the Wall has received many awards: Winner of the General Fiction/Novel Category of the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Winner in the Fiction: Multicultural category for The 2012 USA Best Book Awards, and Finalist in the Multicultural Fiction category for the 2012 International Book Awards.

White Chalk has been hailed as “brave”, “raw”, and “destroyingly beautiful”. In line with novels such as White Oleander, Thirteen Reasons Why and Gemma, White Chalk invites you to witness one girl’s heartrending story of confusion and desperation.

You can find out more about Pavarti K Tyler here:

Website: http://www.pavarti.com

Twitter: PavartiDevi

Facebook: Facebook profile

Blog: http://www.pavarti.com

Filed under: Book Release