The sun drips beyond
the horizon and the day’s
light flows into dreams.
Haiku to you Thursday: “Sun drips”
The sun drips beyond
the horizon and the day’s
light flows into dreams.
Filed under Haiku to You Thursday, poetry by author
cARtOONdAY: tHE gROWTH OF iNSPIRATION
Inspiration can come from almost any dirty little part of your life.
Filed under cartoon by author, CarToonsday, inspiration, noir
Monday morning writing joke: “Fiery language”
“Look at this,” one editor said, reading the cover letter of a manuscript. “He claims he puts fire in his writings.”
The second editor read a few pages of the manuscript and told the first one, “He’d do better to put his writings into the fire.”
Filed under Monday morning writing joke
Serendipity comes to an end
The rooster atop the birdcage. Through the window are books offered for sale.
By David E. Booker
I have worked at a struggling independent bookstore. I used to joke that I couldn’t hang out in bars, so I hung out in bookstores instead. Truth is, I probably wouldn’t be hanging around bars anyway. They never held much attraction for me.
But a neighborhood bookstore in a former bar, and on top of that a bar that has a reference in literature? Sometimes more serendipitous things have happened, but for slightly over two years Central Street Bookstore was just such a place. Housed in what was formerly the Corner Lounge, the same Corner Lounge referenced in Cormac McCathy’s novel Suttree, it was a place where you could find a good used or rare book as well as stand at the bar that may have been around when Cormac McCarthy lived in Knoxville.
You could also find interesting curiosities such as an orrery, a smiling Buddha with red nipples, a limber-headed statue of Edgar Alan Poe, and a rooster sitting atop a birdcage housing lights. It was a place, as owner John Coleman said, “where people can still make serendipitous discoveries,” be those discoveries novels by authors you knew or didn’t know (including Suttree and other books by McCarthy), books of poetry, history books, and copies of books you might not find anywhere else, including comic books and even the occasional book on tape. I found and bought probably way too many books there for myself and friends, including some this past Christmas.
Some of the books for sale at Central Street Books.
Unfortunately, that will all end this March 2013, when Central Street Books closes its doors. John says the store is too small to be profitable, and that at least for the moment, he’ll concentrate on his Internet book selling and traveling to sell at book fairs. He will also have some books at a local antique mall. The struggling independent bookstore I worked at over 15 years ago is also closed. Has been for many years. The building is now home to an Oriental restaurant.
It was a serendipitous that this bookstore showed up in my neighborhood, even if for only two years. I’m just not sure where my next serendipitous finds will be found.
Books and more.
Filed under Essay, Photo by author, Sunday story
Haiku to you Thursday: “Water falling down”
Water falling down, /
stumbling over the moment, /
my heart lands in tears.
Filed under Haiku to You Thursday, poetry by author
Writing Tip Wednesday: Should Character or Plot power your Synposis
SHOULD CHARACTER OR PLOT POWER YOUR SYNOPSIS?
By Teri Brown
What is the difference between a character-based synopsis and a plot-based synopsis? That’s the question I asked myself early last spring, when opportunity came knocking unexpectedly on my door.
Six months prior, I’d landed a great contract with Balzer+Bray for a young adult series set in the twenties. I thought I was done pursuing new contracts for a while, but after watching, (and loving!), Downton Abbey, I mentioned in an email to my agent that we should pitch an Edwardian anthology. Two weeks later, I had an editor who didn’t want an anthology with different authors; she wanted a three book series and wanted me to write it.
Even though this is for a “new adult” series– which I had never written before– I told her I could do it. To make the series happen in the short time frame she wanted, she needed a synopsis and two chapters of the first book as soon as possible.
A BETTER WAY
I wondered how I could possibly write a synopsis for a book and characters that hadn’t even existed two weeks before. I usually write the synopsis after most of the book had been written. Like many authors, I dread the synopsis, and so I immediately went into research mode, because there HAD to be a better way than pulling my hair out and winging it like I usually did.
Turns out, there is, and unless instructed otherwise, this is how I’ll approach synopses from here on out.
As I discovered through the process, you have to have great characters no matter how good your concept is, so it makes perfect sense to start with the characters and not the concept/plot. For me, that is the fundamental difference between a plot-based synopsis and a character synopsis.
Instead of starting with a plot, I started out with characters, added in the events and social issues of the time period and hoped that somehow, miraculously, a book would emerge. To my surprise it did, and the experiment ended up in a very nice three book deal.
FOCUS ON CHARACTER
Here are some tips on how you can craft your own character synopsis:
— Who are your main characters? If you have three main characters, as I did, that is how many parts of the synopsis you will have. It’s all about telling the story from their point of view.
— Get to know them. I’m not talking about their favorite colors; I’m talking about the desires of their hearts. If he/she could have anything, what would it be? It’s important to know your characters because you (and the editor) need to know why they react to the plot the way they do.
— Pick a lead. Even though my book would have three main characters and three POV’s, one of the character’s journeys would be stressed more in this particular book. I began with her and told her story as simply as I could. Then I told the next character’s story and then the next. Their stories intersected, but each main event was told from differing points of view.
Each character reacts differently to the same event because they have different emotions, problems and issues. For instance, when an evil uncle forces Prudence into service, Prudence is devastated, Victoria is righteously angry, and Rowena feels guilty because she had made a bargain with their uncle to keep Prudence with them. One event, three different reactions followed by three different actions.
— Like a plot synopsis, make sure you have the main plot points, but stress how each character reacts.
For me, writing a character synopsis is simpler because I begin with people and write their story as opposed to starting with story and then creating characters–you’ll still end up with a novel outline, either way, but this way, the characters have breathed life into it.
About: Teri Brown is proud of her two children but coming in a close second is the fact that she parachuted out of a plane and beat the original Legend of Zelda video game. She is a word scribbler, head banger, math hater, book reader, rule breaker, food fixer, novel writer, kitty keeper, and city slicker. You can find her online at www.teribrownbooks.com.
The above is taken from the e-newsletter Bruce Hale’s THE INSIDE STORY, December 2012. To learn more about Bruce Hale or his newsletter, go to www.brucehalewritingtips.com/
Filed under Writing Tip Wednesday
Would you buy this novel?
Steve’s a potato and Stephanie’s carrot in a food porn novel entitled The Boiling Stew.
One reviewer said: “This novel is full of heat, with p(l)ot and sub-p(l)ot bubbling over at every turn. The range of emotions ignited in this novel will eave your blood boiling, you mouth watering with anticipation, and your mind consuming the meat of the story as the characters get their just deserts. No glass of water is safe! … Two oven mitts up!”
Filed under absurdity
Haiku: “Winter Laughs”
The New Year arrives
Old Man Winter has a laugh
His cold strokes your hopes.
January 1, 2013 · 2:23 am
Monday morning writing joke: “All ‘choked up”
Sometimes his writing “chokes” me up.
I’m a writer and I don’t get no respect. I was at a holiday party for writers the other night when I heard someone say of my latest work: “Reading his novel is like eating an artichoke: you have to go through so much to get a little.”
I wasn’t hungry after that.
Haiku to you Thursday: “Great Escape”
Smiles, hugs, and paper; /
Presents, bows, and tape askew. /
Great escape again.
Filed under Haiku to You Thursday, poetry by author
Booker's Blog 