Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
3T Writing Tidbit
Back to Basics--a quick reminder that'll save your story.
Whether you pants or plot, if you write a story you're writing where something happens. Hopefully enough something and interesting enough something that other folks will read it.
Like the perfect face, there are a lot of variants, but the most attractive will have the same basic structure. Plotters will figure them out beforehand, pantsers will chisel the story into them after, but they will be present. (Note: Longer stories will have more plot points but these basic five are still the major peaks.)
CATALYST (also Inciting Incident or Opportunity)
BIG EVENT (also First Test or Change of Plans)
PINCH (also Crunch or Reversal or Point of No Return)
CRISIS (also Major Setback)
CLIMAX
1. Peter, though his grandfather warns him of the wolf, opened the gate and went into the meadow. "Boys like me aren't afraid of wolves."
2. He was skipping along with his friends the bird and the duck when the wolf appeared.
3. The wolf eats the duck.
4. Peter climbs into a tree. He tells the bird to twitter the heck out of the wolf to distract him. Peter makes a rope into a noose and lowers it stealthily.
5. Peter lassos the wolf. Hunters help him parade the wolf to the zoo.
Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits.
Whether you pants or plot, if you write a story you're writing where something happens. Hopefully enough something and interesting enough something that other folks will read it.
Like the perfect face, there are a lot of variants, but the most attractive will have the same basic structure. Plotters will figure them out beforehand, pantsers will chisel the story into them after, but they will be present. (Note: Longer stories will have more plot points but these basic five are still the major peaks.)
CATALYST (also Inciting Incident or Opportunity)
BIG EVENT (also First Test or Change of Plans)
PINCH (also Crunch or Reversal or Point of No Return)
CRISIS (also Major Setback)
CLIMAX
1. Peter, though his grandfather warns him of the wolf, opened the gate and went into the meadow. "Boys like me aren't afraid of wolves."
2. He was skipping along with his friends the bird and the duck when the wolf appeared.
3. The wolf eats the duck.
4. Peter climbs into a tree. He tells the bird to twitter the heck out of the wolf to distract him. Peter makes a rope into a noose and lowers it stealthily.
5. Peter lassos the wolf. Hunters help him parade the wolf to the zoo.
Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Guest Renee Wildes--NEW RELEASE
I was fortunate and honored to read Renee's latest addition to the Guardians of Light series earlier this year.
Her best book yet.
I loved this book. I was so thrilled, I could barely wait until release day so the rest of the world could get their hands on it.
Today's the day, people! Go out, buy, enjoy :D
He was bred for war. Her magic is only for peace. Together they must fight for love.
Guardians of Light, Book 7
Weapons
stolen, comrades dead, ship burned and sunk, Valkyn is rotting in Lord
Zurvan's grim dungeon, wondering if he will ever again see his sons.
Rescue comes from an unexpected source—the human witch Zurvan sent to
patch him up between beatings.
Mari
can't bring herself to let Valkyn die, never mind that the fearsome
northern riever is the scourge of her homeland. Yet in him she finds an
ally who could help restore the rightful boy king to the throne. And a
man who reminds her body there's life after widowhood.
Their
first kiss unleashes pent-up passion she thought was long buried,
clouding all the reasons they shouldn't get involved. But the blood on
Valkyn's hands is anathema to Mari's magic. If she dares open herself to
him fully, he could destroy her.
Valkyn
knows his heart has already surrendered to hers. When this quest is
over, the real quest will be convincing her that polar opposites not
only attract, they belong together—forever.
Warning: Contains
a witch who abhors violence teaming up with a war-hardened riever who
has never known peace. Complicated by a savage warlord, a boy king in
hiding, an embittered selkie prince who's lost his skin, and hot love
scenes that show a lot of it.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Brand New Release--Alienne Mine, a Prequel to Dragon Dawn--guest Deborah O'Neill Cordes
Alienne Mine
A prequel to Dragon Dawn
by Deborah O'Neille Cordes
Far from her home world, an alien female clandestinely observes the Earth, but her intense need for a mate overwhelms her desire for secrecy. It is time to pick her Chosen, the one who will share her life. With her keen ultraviolet vision, she’s watched the human astronaut, Edward McAdams, a man with a unique and compelling aura. Is he the one? If so, will he agree to leave Earth and travel with her to the stars? But her plans are threatened when she discovers dangers lurking in the vast reaches of the Milky Way galaxy, menacing aliens who may not only imperil Edward, but everyone else on Earth.
Buy at Amazon
Excerpt from Alienne Mine below!
And be sure to snag Dragon Dawn, Book One of the Dinosaurian Time Travel Series.
What if the extinction of the dinosaurs hadn’t occurred? An alien stranded on Mars is determined to find out by sending human astronauts back in time to rewrite Earth’s past. But a female astronaut, through a strange twist of fate, survives the change in the space-time continuum. After finding herself in a dinosaurian body, she must race against time – and the formidable alien – to restore the universe to its rightful course.
Buy at Amazon
Deborah O’Neill Cordes website: http://deborahoneillcordes.com/
Morgan O’Neill website: http://www.morganoneill.com/
Deborah O’Neill Cordes is an award-winning screenwriter and novelist of historical and speculative fiction. She is the author of the sci-fi time travel novel, Dragon Dawn, Book One of the Dinosaurian Time Travel Series, and its prequel, Alienne Mine, which blends fields of study she loves in equal measure – Deborah holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology and a master’s degree in history. She is also the co-author of the Morgan O’Neill time travel novels. Deborah resides in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two West Highland White Terriers, who, alas, are precocious terriers and therefore never white.
Excerpt from Alienne Mine, a Prequel to Dragon Dawn:
As Alienne readied her mind to send Edward back to his world, she realized she had not told him about things like the wet-ware in her brain or her ability to communicate telepathically, if she chose to do so.
There was still much to share, the many things he could learn from her and she from him, but there was no time for that now. “I must say goodbye, Edward.”
He drew her close and whispered, “With a kiss.”
He touched his lips to hers, and her twin hearts leapt in wonder. A gentle caress, the soft, shared breath of two living beings. A mark of his world, alien to her but entrancingly familiar given how long she’d watched humans loving one another.
“Alienne.” He groaned her name just as his embrace deepened, but she had sent the thought command to the teleportation device in the instant he leaned down to kiss her. Before another breath was spent, he was gone.
She leaned back against the wall of her ship, the cold metal as much a shock to her senses as the warmth she’d experienced in his arms. They’d touched briefly, for a moment in time, yet she knew the thrill of being alive would not return until he held her again.
I must go. She studied the planet Mars and realized she could not delay. Whatever was down there might find her. This hiding place on Deimos offered no real protection. If her instincts were correct, she needed to leave orbit – and fast.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
August 1T Status Update
This month's big news is that edits for Passion Bites should be about done and the book put to bed. Now it's just waiting for Santa to come and waking up on Release Day...which may now be just after St. Nick's day on December 8. More info to come.
The other big news is I have the green light for Mind Mates, book 2 in the Pull of the Moon trilogy. Wizard Prince Gabriel Light meets his match (as I write her, she's leaping off the pages as more than his match, lol) in iota wolf shifter Emma Singer. I'm through chapter 8. Look for this book in August of 2016.
Okay, one more other big news. Hot Chips and Sand, a contemporary romantic comedy, is finally getting its edits this month. I'm planning to release it in September or October.
On the music front, I've started putting together my part for Bach's Brandenburg Concerto 5, featuring soli violin, harpsichord and flute (that's me!). I was first introduced to playing in an orchestra through the Music Minus One version of this concerto (along with #4), so it has special meaning for me. Our spring 2016 concert is the Brahms German Requiem, with the simply gorgeous "How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place". We've got a pretty heavy hitting schedule this year so I'm especially glad to have some great books in the works to balance things out :)
The other big news is I have the green light for Mind Mates, book 2 in the Pull of the Moon trilogy. Wizard Prince Gabriel Light meets his match (as I write her, she's leaping off the pages as more than his match, lol) in iota wolf shifter Emma Singer. I'm through chapter 8. Look for this book in August of 2016.
Okay, one more other big news. Hot Chips and Sand, a contemporary romantic comedy, is finally getting its edits this month. I'm planning to release it in September or October.
On the music front, I've started putting together my part for Bach's Brandenburg Concerto 5, featuring soli violin, harpsichord and flute (that's me!). I was first introduced to playing in an orchestra through the Music Minus One version of this concerto (along with #4), so it has special meaning for me. Our spring 2016 concert is the Brahms German Requiem, with the simply gorgeous "How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place". We've got a pretty heavy hitting schedule this year so I'm especially glad to have some great books in the works to balance things out :)
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