Tag: authors

The Top 12 Books That Influenced My Writing

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Every writer can look back at some point in their life, and recognize the person, place or thing that encouraged them to start writing in the first place. Or, something that had an impact on their style of writing. For me, there have been many, many books which have influenced me. The number one book: Bunnicula by James Howe. My second grade teacher read it out loud to my class, and I was instantly hooked. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was receiving a lesson on personification (giving human attributes or qualities to a non-human object). I was already creating short picture books for myself, but this book made me want to be a WRITER. 

The actual list of influential titles is too long to post here, so I managed to narrow it down to 12. I still feel like it should be 15 strong, but we’ll stick to 12, for time’s sake. Here it is, in no particular order:

  1. Bunnicula and Nighty Nightmare by James Howe (couldn’t have 1 w/o the other)
  2. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz (all 3 in the series)
  3. Hellsing (manga series) by Kohta Hirano
  4. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  5. Revolutionary Girl Utena (manga series) by Chiho Saito, Be-Papas
  6. The Spiral Dance by Starhawk
  7. Grey by Pete Wentz
  8. Just Kids by Patti Smith
  9. Sailor Moon (manga series) by Naoko Takeuchi
  10. Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers and Emo by Andy Greenwald
  11. The Haunting of Grade Three by Grace Maccarone
  12. Odyssey from River Bend by Tom McGowen

this book made me want to be a WRITER. 

It’s a pretty eclectic list, isn’t it? Childrens’ chapter books, Japanese manga, horror stories and fiction. I have to give an honorable mention to Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman as well. 

So, which books would make your list? Feel free to share in the comments below!

Nonfiction?

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My brain: “Let’s write a nonfiction book!”

Me: “What about?”

My brain: “I dunno. Let’s just do it!”

Me: “Yeah, let me get back to you on that one…”

What Do Your Characters Sound Like?

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When you sit down to create a character, whether it’s for a book, short story, or a graphic novel/comic, what comes to mind? Your character’s appearance? Their behavior? What about their voice? What does your character sound like?

Every chapter is an episode, and I’m just watching them and writing all the details.

I mentioned this on a previous post, but I’ll say it again here. I’m a visual person. When I write, I picture the story taking place in my mind, and basically write what I see, the same as you would if you were watching a TV show or a movie and writing down all the events taking place. For me, Fortune’s Wing and Valentine aren’t just books, they’re TV series. Every chapter is an episode, and I’m just watching them and writing all the details. This means, all of my characters not only have a physical appearance, they have voices, too. So, I’m going to share some of the voices I hear, whenever one of my characters speak. This would serve as a potential cast list, of any of my books ever become animated movies or series.

Fortune Oyama
Valentine

Fortune Oyama of Fortune’s Wing: Leonardo DiCaprio. I dunno why, but each time I sat down to work on FW and I wrote Fortune’s dialogue, that’s the voice I heard.

Demetri of Fortune’s Wing: Orson Welles. Yes, I know he passed away in 1985, but he would have made a perfect Demetri. His voice also would have worked for John Rafferty of the Valentine series. Both characters are large men, and they’re both villains. I first heard Orson Welles’ voice in Transformers: The Movie (the animated one from 1986). He provided the voice for Unicron. I was enamored with how deep and booming his voice was, and he actually inspired both Demetri and Rafferty.

Valentine of Valentine: Charlize Theron’s voice has always been in my head for this character. She’s actually the reason I made Val so tall in the series (she’s between 5 foot 9 and 5 foot 10).

Dee Seybrook of Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Taraji P. Henson would HAVE to be the voice of Dee, if this book series became animated! Hands down! Her voice is perfect for Dee: the voice of a petite female who doesn’t take any crap.

Aidan Sirci of Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Ryan Renolds. Period. Tall, good looking, and sarcastic….pretty much describes Aidan, too!

Of course, your characters’ voices don’t have to belong to celebrities. Mine just happen to. Since I modeled Nyda Summit of Our Lady  after my mother, I tend to hear my mother’s voice when Nyda speaks. And Erin Michaels of Our Lady? That’s all me.

Woolaston Entertainment

The Dark Side of Jo Fuentes — ebunnygirl

Nicole Woolaston, my favorite indie author, is preparing to release the sequel to her 2017 book, Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen. The sequel, titled, Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep, picks up where the Valentine series left off (if you haven’t read the series, I promise I won’t spoil it for you!). Jo is still working for Kelly McCormick, and she’s still wondering […]

via The Dark Side of Jo Fuentes — ebunnygirl

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June E. Parris’s Author Pages

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I recently updated my mother’s (and fellow author) author pages on Goodreads and Amazon. She just wrote her third book, A New England Serial Killer, and I’m editing it and preparing it for publication. With that being said, I wanted to be sure all of her pages are up to date. You can visit her Amazon Author Page and Goodreads Author Page to check out her books and follow her! 

Woolaston Entertainment

Confidence Boost

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Happy Saturday, everyone! I wanted to share a piece of good news. I started my Books For Books Campaign at the very end of February, in order to increase sales for my website, and make donations to organizations in need. So far, it’s been one sale here, one sale there. It’s slow going, but it is only the beginning of March, so I decided to remain hopeful. But you know how it goes: you try something new, you go into it with high expectations, and when it doesn’t go as planned, you feel a little let down. Then, a customer reached out to me on Facebook’s Messenger. She asked about some of my books, and we talked about writing and publishing. I figured, maybe she’ll order a book, and I can match the order with a donation. The following morning, I checked my email, and received an unexpected surprise. 

She had placed a $100 order! She order ALL of my bundles, and two copies of The Witch of Fulton Lane. I was completely shocked. I contacted her to make sure the order was correct (and it was). I thanked her for the order, and I let her know her books would be in the mail by Monday. Even now, I’m still in shock.

100dollarorder
My first major order!

This order isn’t just a boost for Woolaston Entertainment. It helped me regain my confidence as a writer and a business woman (just in time for International Women’s Day, which is even more awesome!) Plus, I will match the order by donating books to the organizations I selected. 

To my customer: I promised not to mention you by name in my posts, but I have to thank you again for your support. I greatly appreciate it 🙂

Even when things look dark, and you feel like what you’re doing is pointless and you feel like saying, “Forget it. I’m done. I give up”, you have to keep going. Sometimes it takes a long while to get to where you want to be, but you will eventually get there.

I’m still matching purchases through my Books For Books Campaign: I will donate a book for every book that is purchased. 

Thanks for reading. 

woolastonentertainment.com