Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Narration - Getting from Here to There #MFRWauthor #amwriting

Narration is sort of like speed dating. Writing the details or every moment of every day of a character's life could be boring to the reader. There are times when you want to move a character from one scene to another without writing a paragraph like this.

Greg woke up. The sun was shining. He went to the bathroom to shower, brush his teeth and shave. Then he returned to put on jeans, a tee shirt, shoes and socks. He went downstairs etc. You want to take Greg from home to school. So you write a write a short narrative.

The sun woke Greg. After his morning routine, he headed for school. The reader can fill in the blanks but getting to the action is what the reader really wants.

So narration bridges a bit of time and place with a few hints as to what's happening, especially if nothing exciting or meaningful happens during that time. Narration can keep the story moving forward. Narration can also be used to characterize a character.

If you've written a scene and it sounds almost ridiculous when spelled out in detail, Narration can help the reader believe in the event. You can also take the reader into the past with a short bit of narration.

So use narration with care or readers will think you are telling the story rather than showing what's important to be blocked out in full.

Tuesday's Inspiration - Fictional Dichotomy #MFRWauthor

 Just what does this mean. There is literary fiction and there is popular fiction. Can they come together. I was reading an essay by Ken Follett. He said some interesting things and says for some reason fiction divided into two camps. Is it possible to blend the two?

I'm not sure there is . What do you think about this? We're told to read the classics and some of us do, but not all these classics were considered more than popular fiction. Stories used to be published as serials and people eagerly waited the next installment. Now books like Oliver Twist, oncy popular fiction are now considered classics.

For me the difference is in the story and the plot rolling together in a seamless tale. I've read some literary fiction that's bored me to death. I've read others that are fascinating. The same goes for what's considered popular fiction. Some are boring and some are great. What makes the difference? The difference lies in the characters facing problems and solving them. The plot and the characters walk hand in hand.

I also know I once thought I wanted to write literary fiction. I found I couldn't though I've used some of those elements as I write. Will the gulf ever be bridged. One can only hope so and maybe you will be the one.

Meandering On Monday with Janet Lane Walters #MFRWauthor

Meander 1 - I have a new toy and I really like it. A can opener that runs by batteries. Just put it on the can and push the start buttons and in seconds the can is opened. I can do other things while the cans are opening. This morning getting ready to make red sauce I opened six cans in just over five minutes. What fun. The best thing was it was very inexpensive. So now I don't have to do anything except check the batteries when it runs out of steam. They are easy to put in, too. I may not be in love but I'm definitely in like.


Meander 2 - This blog seems to be doing very well this month. We're to the halfway point in the month and there have been 10,000 hits. I do wish people would make comments but one can't have everything. I'll be happy with what's happening, though.


Meander 3 - My writing. Going well. Besides working on my own stuff I edited and made suggestions on a friend's mss. Hers is a good story and not too much for her to do. Back to mine. Working on Wizards of Fyre. Am nearly finished with the second run through of writing drafts. This time I'm filling in the scenes I left out of the mix with a phrase or two. The first draft came to about 30,000 words and that's a good sign for me to reach the 60,000 goal for the completed story. Must write a note to a publisher about getting my books back so I can recycle them. Since I've earned less than 10 dollars with seven books there she should give them back easily. Then there will need to be some work done on my web page. Books are going up almost everywhere and I really can't keep track of them all. I have too many completed books and there are so many more to come.

Sunday's Book - Confrontations - Book 4 of the Affinities Series #MFRWauthor #fantasy #YA

 Confrontations (Affinities)

In Confrontations by J.L. Walters, a Books We Love Young Adult Fantasy, Ash, Bran, Ky and Jay along with their friends have now mastered their affinities. They now control their ability to use Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The time has come for them to face Dom Senet and He Who Walks with Evil. They have learned a disturbing fact. He Who Walks With Evil is able to exchange an old body for a new one. Dom Senet wishes to obtain the secret and he is willing to sacrifice even his own son to gain this power. The four sets of companions set off to rid the doms and domas of Dom Senet’s bonds and to defeat the two evil men. Can they or will they become pawns to evil?

1. 

Saturday's Blurbs - Juliet Waldron, Mikki Sadil, Janet Lane Walters #MFRWauthor #Historical #YAfantasy #Medicalromance

Master Passion/Book #2/Glory Passes
 
Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler had a whirlwind Revolutionary War romance. The hard work of marriage, through the legendary founding of a nation, epidemics, endless separations, sacrifice and personal tragedy, would come next.  


http://amzn.com/B013OB20LS 
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/567884

 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-master-passion-the-story-of-alexander-and-elizabeth-hamilton-juliet-waldron/1122329571?ean=9781771453851 
         

Night Cries (Beneath the Possum Belly Book 1) by Mikki Sadil

Cries in the night. Whispers against her cheek. Sixteen year old psychic, Gabriela Gaudet, is awakened night after night by crying and sobbing voices. Children’s voices.

The traveling carnival that Gabriela’s French-Creole parents own has come to the small town of Dead Man’s Crossing, Iowa. Now the cries and whispers have become loud and pleading. Three small girls. Their brutal murder. An entire town closed ranks and glossed over this terrible crime as though it never happened five years before. It’s up to Gabriela to find the killer, and put the children’s souls to rest. Remi, a handsome young man who appears out of thin air, and disappears just as fast, meets Gabriela and become her partner in seeking justice.

But there are strong forces in the town that want her gone. Just as strong are the forces that want her to stay and finish her mission. Then, there are the six gargoyles in the lobby of the high school who apparently come to life after dark, and the six women in the high school office who look perfectly normal…if you don’t count the tall, cone-shaped and brightly colored witch’s hat each of them wears. “Accidents” harass the carnival. Danger stalks Gabriela with every step she takes. A web of evil surrounds the town, and threatens to draw her into its sticky strands. Will her powers be strong enough to fight off this malevolence, or will the town win again? The Possum Belly waits.

Night Cries (Beneath the Possum Belly Book 1)

Divided Dreams (Book 4 of Moon Child Series) by Janet Lane Walters

Rob Grantlan has given up medicine to become an author. As a Gemini, having two careers seems just right. His quiet days are overturned by the death of his wayward sister and his taking guardianship of his two month old niece. When he learns the father of the infant is his old flame Andi Sherman’s brother a plan unfolds. Years ago, he hurt her. He still loves her and he wants to regenerate that love.

Andi Sherman is now a nurse practitioner in Pediatrics. She has vowed never to return to Fern Lake. The offer of a partnership in a friend’s practice is tempting. She refuses until she learns Rob has given up the practice of medicine. She believes he will leave town. On the day after her July birthday, she returns and comes upon the accident, finds the dying woman and the baby. When she learns the little girl is her niece and Rob hasn’t left town she is conflicted. She still loves him but she can’t trust him. News from her brother brings a threat.

Will Tammy’s presence in their lives find a way to allow them to love and trust again?

Divided Dreams (Moon Child Book 4)

Friday, Heroes, Heroines and Villains, Janet Lane Walters #MFRWauthor

Do you write a single genre or do your fingers flow over the keys creating tales in many forms? Does your reading choices reflect your writing choices? Are there genres you wouldn’t attempt?

I bill myself as the eclectic writer but lately I’ve realized most of my stories are romances but they fit into subgenres of romance. Except for some of the YA stories but even there, there are boy/girl relationships that can be developing. Even my mysteries hold a bit of romance for the heroine that takes five books to lead to her marriage. Some of my romances are contemporary, some paranormal, fantasy, historical and suspense. They range in heat level from sweet to spicy.

My reading choices are just as different. I read most everything but not all books are enjoyed as much as others. With the number of books floating through the internet and my Kindle handy, I read a lot. I do not read horror.

As to what I wouldn’t attempt to write. Anything with hard science. I know nothing about technology and while I admire people who do I’m not going to try. I don’t see a horror book in my future. Though sometimes I can write dark horror is beyond dark to me.

2. Heroes, Heroines, Villains. Which are your favorite to write? Does one of these come easy and why?

There are days and days. Sometimes I have difficulty reining each of the three into form. I’m usually more able to identify with the heroine and her emotions. The heros often give me trouble, especially when they speak. They don’t always come across as male but a sort of neuter kind of person. Now villains usually come easy because that allows me to let some of my evil nature escape.

3. Heroes. How do you find them? Do pictures, real life or plain imagination create the man you want every reader to love? Do they come before the plot or after you have the idea for the story?

I turn to Astrology to develop my hero. After the idea for a plot comes into my head, I begin to look at what kind of hero I need. Turning to my many Astrology books, I find a sun sign which will show my character’s inner nature. This may be different from the face he shows the world. For that I look for an Ascendant that fits what the character is becoming in my head. For the emotional quality, I look at his Moon Sign. This usually gives me how his emotions differ from the two other elements. This makes for a complex character. And often tells me what his interior conflict will be. The outer conflict can also be found in the three elements of his character. Once this is in place, I develop the other characters, though one or both of them may have entered my imaginary world before.

4. Heroines. How do you find them? Do pictures, real life or imagination create the woman you want the reader to root for? Do they appear before the plot or after you have the idea for the story?

For my heroines I also use the same process as I do the hero. There are times when the heroine appears before the plot and I must find a hero and a story for her. Using the what if can bring a heroine to life. Many of my heroines are nurses or have other skills that are somehow medical. Here I can pull things from women I knew when I worked as a nurse. Something will remind me of a trait or a worry one of these former colleagues displayed. Also in my heroines, there is a little of myself. Not myself as I am but myself as I wish I was.

5. Villains or villainesses or an antagonist, since they don’t always have to be the bad guy or girl. They can be a person opposed to the hero’s or heroine’s obtaining their goal. How do you choose one? How do you make them human?

Villains for me are the easiest to write and they aren’t necessarily the bad guy. In my latest release in both paper and electronically, the female lead begins as a villain. To make her human meant she needed lessons to be learned. She did love her land and her parents but she performs an act that makes her seem not to be a good person. Through the first four stories in this collection, she remains unknowing of what she must do. She needs to learn how to love. Each story gives her a small hint about love and the final two stories show what lessons she has learned.

The trick with making villains is giving them traits that make them human. This is easy with the opposing character who isn’t a true villain but one who has his own ideas about the lives of the hero and or heroine. This person can have good reasons for their feelings and can be made while not likeable at least interesting. The character who is truly evil is harder to find a reason to make them seem less that evil. The trick here might be to develop their degree of evilness in increments through the story. At least that’s the way it works for me.

6. What is your latest release? Who is the hero, heroine and or the villain?

Divided Dreams, the fourth book in the Moon Child series. The hero is a doctor turned writer, a Gemini. The heroine is a Cancer as are all the heroines in the series. She is a nurse practitioner returning to the town of her childhood and to find the man who broke her heart. He obeyed his bullying father and has regretted this ever since. An infant who is niece to both of them arrives in their lives. The villain is her brother and brings problems since he's the baby's father.

7. What are you working on now?

My current WIP is Wizards of Fyre the third of a fantasy series - Island of Fyre. Though connected to the other two books in the series, this one is a stand alone. The story involves the young girl from Dragons of Fyre who was sold to the wizards by her father and a young man adopted as a small child by the wizards. They face a pair of villains and come upon an ancient dragon present in the days when the wizards first arrived on this segment of the island and destroyed most of the dragons except the ones who fled over the mountains.

8. How can people find you?

            Website http://janetlanewalters.com/home

            Blog http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com/

            Twitter  https://twitter.com/JanetL717

            Facebook https://www.facebook.com/

            

Thursday's Villain - Dom Senet from Searches Book 3 of Affinities #MFRWauthor #Fantasy #YA

Searches (Affinities Book 3 - Young Adult Fantasy, Books We Love)

Dom Senet appears in the other Affinity series books but in Searches more of his plans unfold.

She searched the winds for traces of the particular aroma of Dom Senet’s thoughts. He wasn’t in Cedris. Nor was he in the highlands. She continued to scent the winds until she smelled his essence. Cautiously, she slipped into his head.

He spoke to a pair of doms. Malera, Mandir and Lodar are in place and ready to do my bidding. They will seek the heirs of Easren, Nortren and Soutren. His laughter filled the wind. Ash felt cold.

They believe I will help them become the rulers of these princedoms. They will do all I ask until the day they learn there can only be one ruler. I am that one. You will remain hidden here. Two of my faithful will be sent to each of the other princedoms. I will tell you when and how to act. Though time will pass, you must remain alert.

Just as she was about to leave his thoughts, she caught a tendril leading to his plans for the four young men Zand and her brothers had met. She wanted to know more about them so she delved deeper. As she had suspected, the four were being trained to face her siblings and her. A sliver of fear sliced through her thoughts.

Ashlea?

Dom Senet’s voice. A surge of fear that wasn’t hers startled Ash. She broke the connection to the dom the way Doma Jandia had taught her. Come, she called to Kirlon. She felt him flee on her trail. Yet someone remained.

Who? Ash asked.

Sydli.

Where are you?

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - A Bit more about Description #MFRWauthor #amwriting

There are some other thoughts about using descriptive passages. One is how a character uses his or her senses. Take the sense of smell. A doctor might describe odors in one way, a mother in another. Using sight think of how a cop would see things as opposed to a scientist. You can do this with all the senses and bring a character to life. When writing one of my stories I spent time with touch, how a musician thought about touch and what things came from his memory and from using his hands. Bringing characters to life and making them unique certainly helps.

Remember one word will often do more than a long string of world. Sometimes I become annoyed when a writer strings long lines of adjectives in a row in an attempt to show something. Searching for the right word is part of the revision process. There are times when I write things like there is a fight. They make love. I go on since I don't want to take the time to build that scene. I want to reach the end of the plot before I do more than say a scene should go in a specific place.

Use time to develop your own senses. People watching is a great way to do this. Also taking walks and just observing what's around you. Sit down and try to write a description of a scent, a sight, a touch, a taste or a sound. Your imagination helps develop your characters. Trust your reader to have their own ideas about the senses and often a single word will trigger something within themselves.

Remember when using description the strength of the parts of speech. Strong verbs elicit strong feelings. Exact nouns do the same thing. Then comes adjectives and adverbs. Choose them with care.

Tuesday's Inspiration - Are you readable? #MFRWauthor #Amwriting

Just what does this mean? Are you readable? You need to find a way to suck your readers in like quicksand and holding their attention to the end of the book. I find the first paragraph is the one I work over and over again. I may write the opening sentence a dozen times before i commit myself. I need to catch the reader's attention. What this means to me is beginning the story at a place where there's something that has either happened, is just about to happen or a character is facing the consequences of what has just happened. The thing is if you don't grab them from the beginning, they won't stick until the end.

The story I'm working on starts a very short time before something happens that will change several of the character's life. The heroine's view point is caught in the opening scene. She is brewing poison, not for her to use but for her captors to use in trade. Shortly after this comes the threat to her and she knows she must find a way to escape this place.

For me this is a comfortable place to begin many stories. At that moment when everything seems ordinary and there is a build to the event and the story is off and running. But there can be a problem here. This waiting for the event can take too long and the reader becomes bored.

Other stories start in media res. In the middle of the action and the sentences must show the event in progress. That's an active beginning and will draw the reader in but sustaining the action and the excitement can leave little big events to follow. If you begin with a huge explosion what can you follow with.

The third way is after the event has occurred. A possibility but make sure the characters don't open the story feeling sorry for themselves. There has been an event and they must be in the process of figuring what to do next.

Meandering On Monday with Janet Lane Walters #MFRWauthor #amwriting

Meander 1 - Dreaming at night can be a confusing bit. I seldom remember any snippets of my dreams but I did see the hero of not my next book but perhaps the one after that. Now if I could remember more than when I woke up thinking, "Great conversation with the heroine." Sure wish I could remember what they said. So I will wait to see if sometime while I creating a new story I can come up with something to match what I don;t remember.

Meander 2 - Falling asleep. This afternoon I was watching a Law and Order episode that somehow I had never seen. I became completely engrossed in the episode and wanted to know the ending. Well something dreadful happened. I watched and then suddenly woke an hour earlier in the middle of a movie. I'll never see how it ended unless I catch another episode.

Meander 3 - Writing is moving ahead. Even with the release of Divided Dreams and some promo work, I'm moving ahead with Wizards of Fyre. Working on the flow of the plot and making sure all goes well. Since there are four viewpoints in each chapter there have been times when I need to rearrange the VP segments so the time line works. Once that's done, I'l look at rewrites of the other segments to fill in details left our or scenes just sketched in. Have a sort of out line for the Cancer Capricorn book for Opposites attract. Will have some emails to write tomorrow. One about my EPIC membership, one about getting books back so I can work on revising them to republish them and a third to find out what's been happening with the royalties on the books Jane and I wrote . It's been a long time since any royalties have been paid. Not sure what I can do since Jane is no longer around to say take them or keep them. Will cross that bridge when the woman writes me back. There will be weekly emails.