Cats are lovable, playful companions, and they each have their own personality. Cats all have a few things in common…
Read more →In the small town of Weyport, one mother discovers just how far she will go to save her son.
Read more →Leaves are turning color then falling off the trees, leaving the grass carpeted with their bright colors. But what is…
Read more →Three young men who have just graduated from law school are on their way home after all the celebrations. Drunk…
Read more →Michael Tanner has lost everything because of an explosion at the plant where he worked. Worst of all, he is…
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Emotions are any of the feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, love, etc. We all experience these emotions, but we each react to them in our own individual way. Still, there are some similarities in how we let others know we are sad, depressed, angry, happy, etc. How Your Characters React Emotionally What about your…
The English language is full of confusing words, and they become even more confusing when you don’t always see them used the right way. Lead and led are two words that are often used the wrong way. He lead the horse to the stall. He led the horse to the stall. Which one of the…
The “giraffe women” have always fascinated me. Why would any woman allow heavy brass rings to be placed around her neck? Why would any woman submit her young daughter to such a thing? A lot of it depends on the culture you were raised in, and what you were taught to believe. The Padaung women…
Hidden fears, especially when they come from the dark side of religion, cripple the human personality. Medicine women, the powerful female healers in The Unholy, know how to help a person face these fears. Religion-induced fears come during waking and sleeping time. Nightmares of a religious nature often betray horrid pasts replete with church-bound guilt,…
Claire lives in Aztlan, a land of magic. Haunted by memories of her mother’s violent death that she witnessed when she was only five years old, Claire is now twenty-five. The time has come to make a final decision about whether or not she wishes to follow in her mother’s footsteps, in the footsteps of…
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but it is up to the author to write those thousand words. (Richard Petracca) The road winds gracefully amidst the trees. Is this all you see when you look at the picture? Or does your mind go wild thinking of what could be at either end…
Phobias are constant, irrational fears that afflict some people. Their fear should be taken seriously. The person should never be made fun of or belittled because of their fear. But as writers, we can bless (or curse) our characters with phobias and make the story so much more interesting. What happens if someone encounters the…
Did you realize that lightning and lightening have different meanings? I used to think that either one could be used to describe the flashing light show that takes place during a thunderstorm. Then I took the time to look up the word lightening and discovered just how wrong I was. The lesson learned? Don’t ever…
Let me give you a picture of how this novel Watch the Shadows began. We were sitting by the fireplace at night, stroking the cats on our laps, and I was thinking about science fiction horror novels and movies, considering what in my own life would most terrify me. I realized that the common thread…
The homeless people in Isla Vista, California are disappearing. The ducks are vanishing from the park, and the rats are disappearing. The disappearance of the rat population is a welcome thing, but the ducks? A homeless man searches through the trash for food. The piece of meat he finds isn’t exactly what he had expected…
How much research had to be done for this book? How did he decide on the title? Why did he create his own publishing company? What kind of books does he like to read? How long did it take you to complete this book? I started it in 2006, and the last draft, #5, took…
Does your worst day even begin to compare with the day that Ian is about to have? Ian’s life goes from bad to worse when he walks into a coffee shop located inside a bank to apply for a job. While he is filling out the application, the bank is robbed by the infamous Busty…
The month of April is full of crazy and unique holidays. Here are some that take place on April 7 for you to consider including in your writing. Will you find a family of beavers to observe on International Beaver Day? How many newspapers will you read on International Snailpapers Day? Will you take a…
Nothing exciting ever happens in the life of the president of a company that specializes in bugs for organic gardening. Right? Wrong. An innocent night with a sexy lady bug sends him on a race to find her killer before he is locked up for the crime. Patton Burch is the president of BedBugs, a…
“Literary” is a type of book many people admire, but it’s not a genre that people necessarily seek. It’s even hard to call it a genre the way “mystery,” “romance,” and “paranormal” might be. Books that appear on Amazon’s literary bestseller list, for example, reveal how widely defined “literary” really is. For instance, this week,…
Does he feel the importance of having a great vocabulary is being ignored? What was the inspiration for these short stories? What advice does he have for writers who are striving to be published? You have an impressive vocabulary. Did you have to work hard at learning the meanings of all these words, or did…
Love Will Make You Drink and Gamble, Stay Out Late at Night is a book of short stories. Each of the stories is about relationships. They tell about the mistakes made, words misunderstood, and the resulting misadventures had. All of the stories revolve around life in Santa Barbara. This book has twelve short stories. One…
Here in the United States, we celebrate Easter by going to church to rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, having Easter egg hunts, and eating the ears off chocolate bunnies. Well, maybe not everyone eats the ears off the chocolate bunnies, but that is something my husband used to do when our kids were…
Honey, that wonderfully sweet and sticky substance made by bees using nectar or pollen collected from flowers, is the only food that contains all the substances necessary to sustain life. It can also be used as a medicine. So if honey is such an awesome and nutritious food, how can someone become mad or even die…
The origin of April Fool’s Day, the holiday that delights those who love to play practical jokes, is a mystery, although it is believed to have had its beginnings in France sometime during the 1500s. No one is safe from pranks, practical jokes, and hoaxes on this day when humor reigns. There have been some…
There are several things you should consider before choosing the name your character will be known by. One of the first things you should look at is the time or era in which your story takes place. Say your story or novel takes place in 1925. The five most popular names for boys in 1925…
When you are bitten by a snake, do you need an anecdote or an antidote? Do math students learn how to measure an angel or an angle? Would you be taken on a picnic by your aunt or your ant? anecdote, antidote An anecdote is a story. Jerry had an anecdote to share about every situation in…
When you think of a character for your new book, what is the first thing about him or her that pops into your mind? Is it the color of his skin or hair? Maybe it is his temperament. Or it could be a peculiar mannerism he has. Whatever it is, this is where you start…
BAM! Splat! Pow! Punched, shot, exploded, shredded, rolled, kicked, stabbed . . . What are good fighting words? What makes a good fight? Should it be real? Supernatural? Painful? Showy? There are so many options that sometimes it’s hard to figure it out. Maybe you know exactly how the fight should go, but not how…
