Tag Archives: Writing

Jan 31 2015

To Outline or Not to Outline – Or is There a Third Choice?

Author Don Massenzio

This week’s blog focuses on the topic of whether or not it is better to outline your book or short story before you dive in and write. When I wrote my first book, it was in the days before airplanes allowed tablet devices to be used during that down time before the flight took off. I fly through Atlanta from Jacksonville, FL every week and usually the time waiting to take off exceeds the actual flight time. During those dark ages when ALL electronic devices had to be off and stowed, I wrote my first novel completely in longhand in notebooks. It was an interesting exercise that was very time consuming. I not only had to type everything I wrote later on, but, being a left-handed refugee from Catholic school, my handwriting is pretty horrible and I often had to guess at what I had written.

Needless to say, I…

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Jan 26 2015

Guest Post: Age Indifferent by Barbara Morgenroth, author of the Bittersweet Farm series

Words, Words, Words

 
<!– [if supportFields]>SEQ CHAPTER h r 1<![endif]–><!– [if supportFields]><![endif]–>AGE INDIFFERENT
Some years ago, a friend read one of my books and observed “What people don’t understand about your work is that you’re writing for adults even though your characters may be young.”
Age appropriateness was a continuing issue in publishing until Harry Potter and now, since the digital revolution, it’s all but disappeared.  Readers can easily find books that suit their interests, and categories have lost the importance they once had.  Is a book a Young Adult because of the age of the characters or the situations?  What makes a book adult fiction?  Age or content?  Was Harry Potter meant for children or for readers?
Do classifications matter as long as the story is compelling and satisfying?
In my equestrian fiction, Bittersweet Farm, the sisters were seventeen when the series began, and now are both eighteen. Home schooled…

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Jan 25 2015

Instead of Worrying About First Person vs. Third Person, How About the “Right” Person?

Author Don Massenzio

My blog this week stems from my recent reading. As you know, besides writing books and short stories and recording my audio book, I am an avid reader consuming 3-4 books per month. My reading genre is mostly fiction with some non-fiction mixed in. Lately, I have been reading the work of some noted authors that have jumped on the young adult fiction bandwagon and some that have written for characters that are opposite their gender. The results, in my humble opinion, are mixed.

Let’s start with those that have been able to write effectively from a perspective that is quite opposite their own. Most notable is J.K. Rowling. Her Harry Potter series and, to some extent, The Casual Vacancy, were very effectively written from the point of view of 10 year old children through young adults. She represented their emotions, actions, and reactions quite accurately and demonstrated how, over…

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Jan 22 2015

SHADES OF DOUBT: “The average woman wouldn’t lie about this”

Sarahbeth Caplin

The light at the end of the tunnel is now visible with SHADES OF DOUBT. As I have yet to edit the first draft and decide whether I’m going traditional or indie again, no release date has been configured yet. My best guess is possibly Fall 2015, but we’ll see what life throws at me 🙂

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     It’s a surreal thing to pretend this is a normal evening by going through the usual motions of preparing for a date, but nothing is normal about this; nothing can be normal again. I never considered how the court of public opinion might be a rape victim’s only hope of justice, if she realizes she’s been raped at all. I never thought it would be such a difficult process to even comprehend that it happened. A few months ago, “I didn’t know I was raped” sounded as ludicrous as being “just a…

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