Category Archives: Telling the tale

Short, Sweet and Sassy

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While I was stuck in bed away from my working computer and basically miserable, I couldn’t help but think of writing. Specifically synopsis and what really makes a good one. One that’s interesting, draws you right in but though it doesn’t lie and clearly mentions key point’s also doesn’t give anything away. Brief without feeling like an ad, in short: nothing if not distilled awesome.

In my head if it’s got to be short, sweet and sassy it’s got to be this brief description of the classic film, The Wizard of Oz.

Written Rick Polito for a 1998 TV Guide, this little gem has made the rounds of the internet meme scene for years and it’s entirely true and ridiculously intriguing for a modern audience (on the off chance that there’s someone alive who hasn’t seen the Wizard of Oz) all within the scope of one sentence.

In my fevered state of course I had to try my hand at a few similar snippets for one of my books as well.

Ash of Ambitions

  • Innocent woman gets caught up in the sinister machinations of a murderous family’s plots.
  • Sweet loner has unwanted guests suddenly heaped upon her. Body count rises.

Well that was fun. Got any sassy little blurbs of your own to share? Go ahead and post ’em in the comments.

Guest Post: Spark by Karyn Pearson

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Time for another awesome guest post! This time I’m honored to be hosting Karyn Pearson, a writer of paranormal fantasy! Take it away Karyn:

The Birth of the Hellfire Trilogy: An Origin Story

So one of the questions I’ve been asked as an author of a series is: how did the Hellfire Trilogy come to be? Did you plan to write three books? To be honest, I was surprised that Spark developed into a full fledged novel. When I first started writing it, I didn’t think I was going to have enough material to write a book from start to finish. I genuinely had no idea what I was doing or where I was going, which at first, was pretty scary. But despite my fear of writing something that might only turn out to be a few pages long, I pressed on. And as I kept writing, the tiny idea I had began to sprout and grow.

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The Essence of Blargle Splect

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Moments ago I was staring at my manuscript – drawing a complete blank. I don’t remember what I wrote yesterday, the day before that, all month long. Worse I’m not even sure what I’ll write next. It’s not that the voices are silent (gods I wish) no, it’s more like they’re holding their council and I don’t have high enough clearance to know what’s going on.

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The Best in Book Cover Design

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I’m finally done being sick but my head is full of book covers as I try to finish mine off as quickly as possible. When I say my head is full of book covers, I mean it. Not just the elements to pull together to make my book cover but also what makes a book cover really stand out and stick with you. That makes me think of my all time favorite book cover.

My favorite book cover design of all time is Stephen King’s “Everything’s Eventual,” designed by Mark Stutzman.

On the front is a bight scene. Tableware is laid out neatly on crisp, white linens and in the background there’s just the hint of another table, letting us know that this idealistic place setting is probably in a restaurant. Slightly off center in the foreground is a water glass full of clear water in which swirls one drop of red color.

It is bright. It is beautiful. It is idealistic – and there’s something very wrong here.

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Announcing New Book, Series Title Change & Kittens

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It’s time to dig in my heels and really take a big bite of the work currently on my plate (yay or something). Over the last few days besides valiantly battling my bodies desire to remain sick, all the time, I have been working tirelessly (blatant lie) to come up with a title for my next book as well as for the series because the ‘Ash series‘ hurts my delicate writer’s ear.

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It’s That Time of Year Again…

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That time of year when everyone is midway through their training for the famous writer marathon – NaNoWriMo!

For those who are blissfully unaware NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, though really it’s been international almost since it’s start – one simply does not throw away an awesome title like that. It’s when experienced writers and the inexperienced hopefuls all come together in one place and vow to churn out 50,000 words in a single month. It’s fun. It’s exhausting. It’s more than capable of snapping the resolve of experienced writers and hopefuls alike like straw.

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There’s a Problem with Slow Cooking

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I’m a bit of a foodie. I kind of have to be, since I’m also a ridiculously picky eater. In my culinary tool book there are numerous recipes that require slow cooking; succulent roasts, mouth watering stews and even a variety of beans. The problem is, long before these dishes are ready to eat, the delicious smell permeates the whole house and sets the tummy to growling and the mouth to watering. No amount of poking, prodding or illicit sampling makes the dish any more done unfortunately and in some cases can actually make you sick if raw meat is in the mix.
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Let’s Start The Cleaning Up!

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Well I promised and no amount of hating process is going to make it suddenly easier to accomplish – so lets dive in! I’ve already stated that regardless of how much you hate the process revision/editing/rewrites are a must so I won’t brow beat you about it anymore. Instead, let’s start out by looking at the basic terms.

  • Revision: focuses on overall readability and clarity
  • Rewrite: writing a scene, chapter or page over again.
  • Editing: focuses on grammar and punctuation line by line; also sometimes called “line editing“
  • Copy Editing: focuses on the text as a whole. Includes both line editing and revision in one.

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