Tag Archives: Julie Kenner

Worried about Writers’ Block? Janis Patterson writes on the Struggles and the Successes (plus a Giveaway!)

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Writers’ Block bringing you down? Janis Patterson joins me today to talk about the struggles and the best ways to overcome. Read on for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

Writers’ Block and Other Hazards – The Joys of Being A Writer

by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson

It’s happened to everyone.

You’re speeding along, words are flowing easily, the plot is advancing, your characters are doing exactly what they’re supposed to…and suddenly BOOM! Everything stops as suddenly (and sometimes as messily) as if you’d hit a brick wall.

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Suddenly your characters stop cooperating and start sulking while without warning your Muse takes it into her head to dash off to parts unknown.

Suddenly your story becomes a tangled mess of coincidences and author intrusions that not even a Deus Ex Machina could sort out.

Suddenly you become a tongue-tied idiot with a vocabulary of six words and no idea of how to construct a sentence. To add insult to injury, every word you put down only makes it worse.

You have writers’ block.

It’s a horrible disease that strikes without warning and, according to some who have been afflicted, deserves its own telethon. Unfortunately, there are lots of cures – it’s just that none of them work consistently.

I know. I’ve been there.

The most obvious is just to take a break – get up and fix another cup of coffee, or walk around the block, or (my particular favorite) take a good long soak in the hot tub. Sometimes, when those don’t work, The Husband will take me out for dinner. Either he is terribly kind, or he doesn’t want to risk eating anything I prepare when I’m in such a mood.

Usually these stalls, combined with an evening of mindless television and a good night’s sleep, do the trick. By the morning my mind is rested and everything starts to work again.

If it doesn’t, I grit my teeth and go after it the old fashioned way. I write a word. Then another. Then another. And so on. Most of what I write in this way is pure rubbish, but after a while it does prime the pump and the story starts to come again – usually first a dribble and then (hopefully!) a good flow.

Sometimes, if the block is stubborn, I simply switch to another work in progress. That’s why I seldom have fewer than three or four projects going in varying states of completion.

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Then occasionally you’re writing at full speed your story twists and turns and metamorphosises before your eyes. Sometimes several times. I know when I was writing THE HOLLOW HOUSE (cozy murder mystery set in 1919 written as Janis Patterson – Carina Press) I ended up changing the murderer three times in the last three chapters of the story. Then, when the killer was finally revealed it was so right! Of course, I groused that I had to go back and put in all the clues leading to this killer, but what was spooky was when I started, all the clues were already there. Hmmm…

Another kind of problem plagued me while writing EXERCISE IS MURDER (contemporary cozy mystery written as Janis Patterson – 5Star/Gale/Cengage). I knew exactly who did it, and where, and how, and why, but what drove me nuts was getting everyone in place for the reveal. My characters simply wanted to go their own way. It took some doing, but finally it was done (though not in the way I originally envisioned) and justice served.

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Another problem is being true to the world you have created. In INHERITANCE OF SHADOWS (traditional gothic written as Janis Susan May – Carina Press) I had two worlds – one the everyday, reasonably normal one, the other a perhaps fictional world created by the heroine’s late author father. Okay, the everyday one was pretty easy – I just had to remember to keep everyone’s names straight. The other…

When I teach writing, I urge everyone to keep a bible (small ‘b’) on each book. Nothing fancy, just when you put something in the manuscript, also put it in the bible. I don’t organize or section it – just put whatever it is on the next line. It saves time. If ten chapters later I need to find out the name of Lady Whatsis’ butler, it’s easy to glance over the one or two pages of the bible instead of searching through the entire manuscript.

With INHERITANCE OF SHADOWS, though, the bible ran to eight single-spaced pages. The world the heroine’s father had invented had six or seven separate sentient species, each of whom had their own appearance, language, history, mythology and norms of behavior. The spellings alone were enough to drive one batty. When I submitted the book, I sent the bible along with the manuscript to my editor, who in time handed it over to the copy editor. I got nice letters of thanks from both of them for saving them a lot of time and trouble, but I originally did it just for me.

I think that we can all accept that writers are different, but we do have to live in the real world, however reluctantly. The words dry up on us, our characters stubbornly go their own way, sometimes we invent worlds too complex for our puny little brains to handle, yet we always manage to come out on top. It really isn’t writers’ block or a hazard – it’s a challenge, and real writers will always come up with real solutions.

Janis Susan

Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson is a 7th-generation Texan and a 3rd-generation wordsmith who writes in mystery, romance, horror and non-fiction/scholarly. Once an actress and a singer, Janis has also been editor-in-chief of two multi-magazine publishing groups as well as many other things, including an enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist. Janis’ husband even proposed in a moonlit garden near the Pyramids of Giza. Janis and her husband live in Texas with an assortment of rescued furbabies.

For more information on her books, check out both Janis Susan May‘s and Janis Patterson‘s websites!

Many thanks to Janis Susan for coming on the blog! Ready to tackle your next writing project? Leave a comment to be considered for the $5 Amazon gift card!

P.S. - Book two of my Stark Trilogy -  Claim Me - is in it's third week on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists! And Complete Me comes out July 30.  WOOT!  (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!  I'm thrilled that it's now in it's 11th week as a USA Today bestseller!)

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy! XXOO

--J.K.

Writing the Paranormal: Laura Resnick talks Themes, Popular Myths, and her own Series

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How do you get out of the typical tropes for paranormal writing? Laura Resnick shares her stories…with a kick!

One of the challenges a paranormal novelist like me faces is how to use familiar supernatural tropes without writing a book that’s just like someone else’s book.

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I didn’t really struggle with this when I wrote the first couple of books in my Esther Diamond urban fantasy series, Disappearing Nightly and Doppelgangster, because the fantasy premises I used in those two books (supernatural vanishings and paranormal perfect doubles) weren’t common, let alone ubiquitous. My next two Esther Diamond books, though, brought my dread of the retread into my writing life front-and-center, since Unsympathetic Magic was a zombie novel and Vamparazzi was about vampires.

Oops.

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In an endless sea of zombie and vampire books, how do you write a novel about each of these familiar (no, let’s be honest: clichéd) subjects that isn’t just like someone else’s novel?

Well, I’m a simple person, so I found a comfortingly simple solution: Research.

I ignored everything that I had seen in the movies, TV shows, and popular novels viz zombies and vampires, and I focused on nonfiction books and documentaries about my subject matter. This is the way I always do research for my novels, after all; and it turned out to be particularly useful when dealing with something as done-to-undeath as zombies and vampires.

Polterheist

Thus I soon discovered that what I “knew” about zombies and vampires was based entirely on my exposure to well-entrenched portrayals (no, let’s be honest: popular stereotypes) of them… And such portrayals were entirely different from religious beliefs, mythologies, and folkloric traditions recorded about such creatures.

For example, all I “knew” about zombies was that they’re terrifying walking-corpses who eat human brains. But actually, in Haitian folklore, from which the commercial concept of zombiism was originally derived (and then much altered), zombies don’t eat human brains. They don’t eat anything, in fact. Because they’re, you know… dead. So they don’t require nourishment.

Zombies also aren’t evil or vicious in Haitian voodoo (or Vodou) belief. They’re morally neutral, in much the way that your car is morally neutral, because they’re animated and directed entirely by an exterior intelligence. Zombies are not violent unless ordered by their creator to commit violence. They cannot act independently or react to circumstances; they’re strictly the obedient slaves of whoever raised them from the grave—typically, a bokor (a sorcerer who deals in black magic) who has petitioned Baron Samedi, the Lord of Death, to allow him to create a zombie.

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And “slaves” is a key word there; in Haitian belief, a zombie is not a monster, it’s a victim. Haitians don’t fear zombies, they fear becoming zombies. In the context of Vodou, a religion founded by slaves, slavery is the worst thing that can happen to a person—hence the fear of being raised from the grave as the living dead, for the sole purpose of being a dark sorcerer’s slave.

This was all a lot more interesting to me than, “Brrrraaaaiins! WANT BRAINS!” when figuring out how to write about zombies.

Similarly, when I started working on Vamparazzi, I initially feared that when writing about vampires, there would be no way to avoid invading territory already staked out (sorry, I couldn’t resist) by other novelists. Once again, though, as soon as I started researching my subject, I discovered precisely the thing that became the promo tag line for Vamparazzi: “Everything you think you know about vampires is wrong.”

Here’s a good example: In European folklore, vampires don’t have fangs. That’s strictly an invention of novels and films. It’s a shrewd invention, of course—because trying to access someone’s jugular vein without razor-sharp fangs is extremely messy… as we learn in Vamparazzi, which eliminates fangs as a feature of vampirism, since I didn’t want to imitate (generations of) other novelists when I wrote about vampires.

Vamparazzi

To give another example: Vampires bursting into flames or withering into ashes when exposed to sunlight is also strictly an invention of fiction and film; yes, folkloric vampires are typically active by night rather than day, but there is no tradition of sunlight being fatal (or, rather, terminal) for them.

Moreover, I was surprised to learn there have been real-world vampire epidemics. In Eastern Europe in the 18th century, for example, outbreaks of vampirism were so alarming and widespread that the Austrian Empire, which then ruled the region, sent government officials to the afflicted provinces to investigate and report on these strange events. Those vampire epidemics play an important role in Vamparazzi—as, indeed, they played historically in spreading Slavic vampire lore through Western Europe.

Thus I relearned a lesson which helps me gird my loins as I approach additional tropes that I fear may have already been done way too much: Just research it.

*****

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Laura Resnick is the author of the popular Esther Diamond urban fantasy series, whose most recent release was Polterheist. She is on the Web at LauraResnick.com, and you can visit her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

 

Thanks to Laura for an exciting post! Are there any tropes in paranormal novels you would prefer to see (or prefer to not see)?

P.S. - Book two of my Stark Trilogy -  Claim Me - is in it's third week on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists! And Complete Me comes out July 30.  WOOT!  (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!  I'm thrilled that it's now in it's 11th week as a USA Today bestseller!)

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy! XXOO

--J.K.

Designing Your Own Book Cover? Expert Brian Jackson gives us his Tips and Tricks!

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The world of book publishing requires authors to have a hodgepodge of skills, including choosing your cover art! Need a little help getting that eye-catching cover for your book? Brian Jackson is the man for the job!

0xF Tips for Creating a Selling Book Cover

by Brian Jackson

I doubt that there are many self-published authors out there who would argue against the fact that a good book cover is essential to grabbing a buyer’s attention and therefore selling more books. We all know this. Let’s assume it’s a given.

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Given that we all care about our book covers, have you ever wondered how to create a book cover that sells? I bet you have. In my self-publishing book, Do It Yourself: Book Covers, I address the mechanics of creating quality book covers inexpensively but provide little guidance on the best practices for book cover design. In this blog post I intend to rectify this omission.

The following are 16 tips for creating a quality book cover that will sell more books. Why 16 tips instead of 10 you ask? Because I used to be a programmer and we count in base 16 (hexadecimal). As a result, I’m providing 16 tips, not 10. They’ll be number in hexadecimal format from 0×0 to 0xF.

0×0 Reinterpret Existing Book Covers

Before creating a book cover, spend plenty of time checking out the covers on books that sell well and covers that you like. I’m not saying you should steal the covers, but there’s nothing to say you can’t borrow appealing elements from these cover, try to match images, replicate a color scheme or layout, and thereby reinterpret a winning book cover.

You can begin your journey by reviewing The Wall of Book Covers located at the following URL: http://www.authorBrianJackson.com/bookCovers.html

These book covers were created by me using the techniques outlined in my book.

Before creating a book cover or contracting with someone to create a book cover you, do your homework by examining plenty of covers for books in your genre. Look for pleasing color schemes, cool fonts, and eye popping images to reinterpret in your own cover.

0×1 Use Fonts to Tell Your Story

A book cover is composed of three basic elements: text, images, and colored boxes. It’s that simple. All three of these elements need to be used to tell your customers what you’re book is about. One of the most frequently overlooked elements that can be used to tell your book’s story is your cover font.

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Go back and check out The Wall of Book Covers. Notice how the fonts used on the covers move from whimsical to downright creepy? That’s because the story told by each book ranges from whimsical to downright creepy.

If you’re creating your own book cover, check out the following URL to download free fonts onto your computer: http://www.dafont.com. Look for fonts that tell your story.

0×2 Purchase Quality Low Cost Images

One of the most powerful aspects of any book cover are the images presented to tell the book’s story. You can spend your time trying to get the licensing rights to images you find on the web or searching the public image bins, but I recommend that you instead purchase the rights to low cost images.

The following websites sell the rights to professional images for one or two dollars an image. The quality of the images is exceptional and you don’t have to screw around trying to get the rights, they’re selling the rights:

http://www.canStockPhoto.com and http://www.iStockPhoto.com

Both sites are great, the first is a little cheaper and the second has somewhat better images. In either case they’re both cheap and provide wonderful professional images. All the images on The Wall of Book Covers are from either canStock or iStock.

Note that when buying images from either site, you should purchase credits and use them instead of paying in dollars. Paying in credits is significantly cheaper.

0×3 Avoid Spindly Fonts and Tiny Images

Man those delicate, spindly fonts sure are pretty. The problem is that when these fonts are viewed in thumbnail size (e.g. on Amazon) those pretty delicate fonts tend to become dashed and come apart. The same is true for small delicate images.

Avoid using narrow fonts and small images on your book covers to insure they can be seen. One good way to insure your book covers elements can be seen is to…

0×4 View Your Cover in Thumbnail Size

All image manipulations programs (e.g. GIMP or Photoshop) support the ability to view your images in various sizes. Use this feature to insure that your cover is readable and looks good when displayed in smaller sizes (e.g. in GIMP I view in either 1:8 or 1:16 size to verify an image’s readability).

0×5 Use Large Fonts for Title and Author

You want to make your title readable. Next in order of importance is your author name and any accolades you want to brag about. Reviews from famous authors are also important. Your subtitle or slogan doesn’t matter quite as much. Make your title and author name large enough to be readable in thumbnail size.

0×6 Contrast Font and Background Colors

Dark text tends to pop off the cover better when it overlays a light background. Conversely, light colored fonts show up best when laid over dark backgrounds. White on black or black on white produce the greatest contrast and tend to pop the best. Pay attention to your font and background image colors when designing your book cover. Consider using colored boxes or drop shadows to make your font stand out.

0×7 Include Appropriate Accolades

If you’re an Amazon, New York Times, or USA Today bestseller, you’d better say so right about you author name on your cover. Likewise if you’re a Bram Stoker, Hugo, or Nebula award winner. Include appropriate accolades on your cover right about your author name.

Skip the accolade if it’s a featured author in your junior college review. Yeah, I won that honor once as well, but we’re trying to REALLY wow the reader.

0×8 Include Series Designation

If you’re book is part of a series, let the reader know. At least list the name of the series to let the reader know that they can purchase additional books if they like the characters and world. Consider including the sequence number of the book in the series (and definitely include this information in the title of the book in your Amazon listing).

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0×9 Include a Catchy Subtitle

Got a nice hook to draw readers in? A catchy slogan or subtitle? Use it, just keep it smaller than your title, accolades, and author name. If it’s really good then why isn’t it your title?

0xA Use Colored Boxes or Background Images to Contrast Text

This is that old light text on dark background and vica versa thing. I really like placing light or dark colored boxes behind my text to really make it pop. In your image manipulation program simply select a rectangular area and dump a light or dark color into it, then place the rectangle behind your text and over your background image. Works great.

0xB Use Drop Shadows and Ghost Shadow to Make Text Pop

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Quite often, text can be highlighted by placed a drop shadow or ghost shadow behind your text. If your graphic program doesn’t directly support drop shadows, simply put the same text behind the text you want to make pop but make it a contrasting color (e.g. black for white text, white for black text). Position the text behind the text you want to make pop and slightly down and right of the text on top. Now blur it. I like to blur white ghost shadows a lot defusing them into the cover image.

0xC Use Complementary Colors

Show some taste with your covers. Use cool blues or greens, pastels, or wild yellow and red. Just keep the colors complimentary (e.g. no hot pink fonts over an image of a forest). I’d like to explain further, but this blog post is too short. I’m afraid that if you have no taste you’re doomed when it comes to cover design.

0xD Select Compelling Cover Images

Yeah, I know. This is pretty obvious but it’s also so important that I feel the need to state the obvious. Besides, to some degree this is the fun part of cover design. Spend lots of time on canStock searching for images that will catch the eye by being exceptionally beautiful or in some other way are eye catching. Find an image the both tells your books story and catches the book buyer’s eye.

0xE Review Your Book Cover With Others

I always send my book covers out on FaceBook for review. Readers can provide a lot of good insight into how to improve a cover. Plus it’s nice to get some positive strokes for your work.

0xF Tell a Concise Story

Keep it simple. Sometimes the simplest, minimalist covers are the best. Tell a concise story with your book covers and don’t overload the reader with needless BS. Title, accolades, author, subtitle, image. That should do it.

About the Author

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Brian Jackson is a retired computer programmer who now spends his time writing. He is the writer of fiction in a number of genres and nonfiction books about self-publishing. Additionally, he publishes books written by his wife Melanie Jackson and maintains her web page.

Thanks to Brain for a helpful guide to cover designing! What do you look for in a good book cover?

P.S. - Book two of my Stark Trilogy -  Claim Me - is in it's third week on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists! And Complete Me comes out July 30.  WOOT!  (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!  I'm thrilled that it's now in it's 11th week as a USA Today bestseller!)

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy! XXOO

--J.K.

Hump Day Books from Terry Odell, Fran Baker, Angie Fox, Karen Whiddon, Laura Resnick, Caren Crane, Leslie A. Smith, and Barbara Meyers

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Need that extra boost to get through the rest of the week? Check out some of this week’s Hump Day Books!

Rooted in Danger (Blackthorne, Inc.)
First time in digital!
Learn more at Terry’s website


The Talk of the Town (Daughters of the Great Depression)
“Delightfully steamy read” (Publishers Weekly)
Learn more at Fran’s website!


The Accidental Demon Slayer (A Biker Witches Novel)
Check out Angie’s blog post here!
Learn more at Angie’s website!


The Wolf Prince (The Pack)
Check out Karen’s blog post here!
Learn more at Karen’s website


Doppelgangster (Esther Diamond Novel)
Check out Laura’s blog post coming this Friday!
Learn more at Laura’s website!


Kick Start (Cross Springs)
Debut novel from an award-winning writer!
Learn more at Caren’s website!


Don’t Look Away (Veronica Sloan)
I’m excited to promote my good friend Leslie’s book today!
Learn more at Leslie’s website!

The First Time Again (The Braddock Brotherhood)
The Braddock Brotherhood, Book 3; E-Book version available May 7, 2013
Learn more at Barbara’s website!

If you are interested in submitting a book for the Hump Day feature, click here!

P.S. - Book two of my Stark Trilogy -  Claim Me - is in it's third week on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists! And Complete Me comes out July 30.  WOOT!  (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!  I'm thrilled that it's now in it's 11th week as a USA Today bestseller!)

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy! XXOO

--J.K.

What’s In A Word? Judy Gill on Historical Research and Writing!

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Word usage can change a lot over the years! Judy Gill joins me today to share the research she must do for her historical novels!

What’s in a Word —

historically speaking, that is.

What a great opportunity I’ve just been handed, a chance to reach out to people through Julie’s blog and I know a lot of folks read it, so here I am, ready to run off at the mou—er—fingertips.

Most of the time, I focus on my own writing, but on occasion, I edit for some clients and would like to share a few tips about some irregularities I’ve recently found in historical manuscripts. As readers, you can watch for them then do a little “nya-nya” at the authors if you want. I know when I make boo-boos, there are a few eagle-eyed folks out there who delight in letting me know. I don’t mind. It always helps keep me on the ball. As authors, if you’re doing any historical writing even involving relatively recent eras, look out for the following words I’ll mention because they’re so ingrained in our daily speech, they’re not really obvious as mistakes. I use several references. including the Merriam-Webster online dictionary that dates words by their first usage.

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This does not mean when they first became common in our everyday speech, so beware of that, too. Just because men can be accused of having “testosterone” fits when they get all manly and arrogant today, doesn’t mean you can safely use the comfortably familiar term for their actions in say, 1750, or 1890 or… well, even in 1934 because that particular hormone wasn’t even discovered until 1935!

But, enough with the hormones—there are a couple of other words I see used all too often in works that take place prior to their actually coming into usage. Most notably, “hello.” It seems few people remember (or may never knew) hello is a word invented by Alexander Graham Bell for use in answering his new invention, the telephone. The word was first used in 1877, possibly by Thomas Edison, who used it when answering the telephone (whereas his business rival Alexander Graham Bell used to shout “Ahoy!”).

alexander-graham-bell-makes-telephone-call

Whoever invented it, Edison or Bell, it was created for answering the telephone and has no real meaning, as in it doesn’t equate with good morning, good day, how are you, or any of the other greetings used prior to the invention of the telephone. 

Earlier, I wrote about readers’ comments when I make errors in syntax or grammar or fact keeping me “on the ball”. That flows easily off the tongue or from the keyboard and many think it’s a modern term meaning “to be alert” and may be closely linked with baseball, but evidence shows otherwise: In 1864 Schoolboy Days, a British publication included this scene:

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“Ellis seized the bat with a convulsive clutch… Remembering Ernest’s advice, he kept his eye on the ball, and hit it so fairly…” Seems Ellis was playing cricket or rounders, and here were are thousands of miles and a couple of centuries later, using his phrase. And he might not have been the first one to use it, either.

 

Judy Griffith Gill www.judyggil.com has recently finished Refuge! book one of a four-book Speculative Fiction series entitled The Stories of Storn, with book two, Dirtsiders,  well underway. When book two is farther along, she’ll put Refuge! up either as an Independent publication on Amazon Kindle Select. She’s still, well… speculating.

For a full list and links, visit http://www.openroadmedia.com/authors/judy-g-gill.aspx. Her own blog https://judyinthejungle.wordpress.com appears at irregular intervals where she speculates on the question “Why is it…”

Many thanks to Judy on her insightful blog post! What things do you say day-to-day that are relatively new?

P.S. - Book two of my Stark Trilogy -  Claim Me - is in it's third week on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists! And Complete Me comes out July 30.  WOOT!  (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!  I'm thrilled that it's now in it's 11th week as a USA Today bestseller!)

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy! XXOO

--J.K.