My Blog and Welcome to It

I’ve met a lot of great people since entering the indie book world. I want to showcase those great people to my readers. So, once a month I’ll be featuring a guest post from a person in the book world, some you’ll recognize and others will be new to you. Hope you enjoy learning about some of your favorite authors and discovering news ones.

To kick things off, I headed north to New York City and Ashley Pullo.

The Golden Rule for Authors: write what you know.

~by Ashley Pullo

We’ve all heard it, and we seem to understand the abstract meaning, but how does a writer take what they know and create fictional stories?

With my previous series, Discography, I penned the male point-of-view three times, developed characters with unique professions, described vacations to destinations I’ve never been, and humbly followed a Marine to Afghanistan. Emotionally, my narratives go through things I’ve never experienced, and unlike what I know, they always tend to find a happy ending within the confines of a book. I DON’T KNOW THESE THINGS – Am I breaking the rules? God, I love breaking rules!

I tend to enjoy stepping outside the formula box when it comes to a style or narrative concept. But I’m no fool – structure is structure, and every well-written novel is a tiny piece of the author’s imagination rooted by things they know. Living in New York City, I take advantage of the millions of stories unfolding before me every day. By drawing inspiration from my surroundings, reading countless current news articles, and observing the day-to-day lives of New Yorkers, my writing is in fact, fictional episodes set in the place I know.

This past June, I spent an entire month in a place I refer to as my “incubator.” Truth? My incubator has snacks and Netflix, but other than the few distractions, it’s a place where I let the creativity fight with reality. During this time, I did what I love to do – I developed thirty-seven characters for an unnamed series. Pages of characters. Pages of notes. Playlists. Clothing ideas. News articles. Secret Pinterest boards.

When my incubation period was complete, and I’d finished season three of Orange is the New Black, I soon realized that I had no idea what I was going to write about – but I did have a pretty f**cking awesome outline describing the people of New York City. As a long-time follower of the blog, Humans of New York, I was inspired to capture that same vibe while crossing over to Women’s Fiction.

New Amsterdam is a new series coming this fall featuring three petite novels: Tess (October) Julia (November) and Darby (December). Each novel introduces realistic characters and relevant narratives found within the cement jungle of Lower Manhattan.

Write what inspires you.

Ashley Pullo resides in New York City with her husband, two children, and Boston terrier. She’s an independent author, an entertainment blogger, and an advocate for cultural literacy.

Follow Ashley

www.ashleypullo.com

https://www.facebook.com/ashleypullo

https://www.wattpad.com/user/AshleyPullo

Discography Series – Available Now (Contemporary Romance)

(Click photo for Amazon link)