Tag: authors

Things I’ve Learned While Working During the Coronavirus

· Leave a comment ·

I’m fortunate to still have a job..for now. So, I’m very grateful for that. I have learned a few interesting things while remaining at work during this tragedy, and I’d like to share. I work in a public library. Right now, we’re sanitizing EVERYTHING. The books, CD and DVD cases, shelves, computers, tables, chairs—everything. I’m in charge of sanitizing the fiction books, and let me tell you, there are A LOT OF THEM. But, this humble little activity has helped me discover a few things.

 

1. Many of the movies I love were based on books. Just Cause, starring Sean Connery and Blair Underwood was based on a book by the same name. Plus, I came across Forest Gump and Rosemary’s Baby. Both books have sequels, to my surprise.

2. I had no idea Amish Fiction was a genre. I have cleaned a ton of Beverly Lewis’s books. 

3. James Patterson basically needs his own private bookshelf in the library. His place in fiction takes up five shelves. 

4. Actors Hugh Laurie and Ethan Hawke have published fiction. Laurie’s book is The Gun Seller, released in 1996, while Hawke’s book is Ash Wednesday, 2002. 

5. Those 1980’s/1990’s Avon romance novels all seem to have similar, awful plots. 

6. Incest is the name of the game in most of V.C. Andrews’ books. 

7. David Lagercrantz continued Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, etc).  Because of their last names, their books aren’t too far away from one another on the shelves.

8. After Ian Fleming’s death, 6 other authors inherited James Bond as a character.

9. Spic and Span is good at cleaning the plastic that was used to preserve the covers of the books.

10. My “want to read” list may be getting out of control. 

 

I’m sure there will be more in the days to come. 

 

 

 

Bildungsroman

· Leave a comment ·
Bil·dungs·ro·man
/ˈbildo͝oNGzrōˌmän,ˈbēldo͝oNGks-/
noun
a novel dealing with one person’s formative years or spiritual education.
One of my books was recently added to the catalog at the Hampton Public Library: a copy of Our Lady of Righteous Rage. When I read the list of related subjects and search terms in the description, an interesting word caught my eye. Bildungsroman. Of course, I had to Google it: in literature, this is a genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist of a story, from youth to adulthood, in which the character undergoes a change.  In other words, a coming-of-age story. I had always thought of OLORR as a sort of coming-of-age story, but I hadn’t given enough thought to the true meaning behind the genre.
The protagonist of OLORR is a cat-girl named Amy. The story follows Amy from her twelfth birthday into adulthood, from middle school to her career in music. She starts out the way most twelve-year-olds do: spirited, a bit naive, and eager to try new things. Friends, music and guitars–that’s her world. As she grows older and matures, she begins to learn there’s more to life than these three things. Sometimes, things don’t go the way we want them to. Sometimes, you meet Prince Charming, and later, he turns into a jerk. A series of life experiences shape Amy into a mature adult; one who can not only have a great career, but be a fantastic wife and mother.  
Bildungsroman is such a wonderful and appropriate term.
If you’re interested in this genre, here are some other titles you may want to check out:
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D.  Salinger
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by  Stephen Chbosky
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

It’s All in the Details: A Little Writing Tip

· Leave a comment ·

As a writer, I’m always looking for new ways to improve my writing skills and make my writing more interesting. It can be challenging at times, but it’s always worth it. One trick I’ve learned, is replacing basic boring nouns with more exciting nouns. For instance, take this sentence:

The car pulled into the parking lot.

Not much there. The reader may have the image of a car pulling into a parking lot, but let’s say ten different people read that sentence. Ten different people are going to imagine ten different cars. One person may envision a Ford Mustang. Another may see a Chevy Camaro. So, try replacing car with a make and model type:

The Chevy Camaro pulled into the parking lot.

Much more interesting, yes? It’s a minor detail, but it adds more weight to the sentence. We can spice it up even more with a color:

The yellow Chevy Camaro pulled into the parking lot.

Now let’s focus on the parking lot. Is it empty? Full? Is it dark? Let’s go with dark:

The yellow Chevy Camaro pulled into the dark parking lot. 

I’m a visual person, so adding these small details make all the difference to me. Now we can compare the first sentence, with the revision:

The car pulled into the parking lot.

The yellow Chevy Camaro pulled into the dark parking lot. 

It’s all in the details. 

Woolaston Entertainment

I’m Over My Dry Spell

· Leave a comment ·

I went through a bit of a dry spell after I published my last ebook. Lucia and the Saints: Volume Four came out on August 2 of this year, and I haven’t released anything since then. My plan was, to keep on writing and publishing. But, sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to. I didn’t feel like writing, even though I have a ton of material to work on, and books that I need to finish.  Experiencing a dry spell was not a good thing.

Last week, I forced myself back into writing. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is literally around the corner, and I’m hosting an event at my local library. This means, I need to get myself back in gear. I need to finish editing my mother’s latest book, A New England Serial Killer, and finish Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep and Lucia and the Saints: Volume Five and Volume Six. The good news is, I’m nearly finished with editing Mom’s book, almost ready to edit Jo Fuentes, and Lucia Five will be ready by Saturday. So, the dry spell has ended!

Woolaston Entertainment