Tag: books

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

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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. 

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Reading Your Book Out Loud

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Remember kindergarten, when it was story time and your teacher would read a book out loud to your class? Or perhaps, for some of you, it was first grade. Maybe you had a parent read a book out loud to you. Either way, at some point, you were able to experience having a book read to you. If this never happened during your childhood, well, two things:

1) How sad.

2) Consider the audio book. It can be a wondrous thing.

speaking+out+loud

Reading something out loud can give the text itself a whole new meaning. It’s a combination of the material and the person reading. I mean, I couldn’t sit and just read Miriam Webster’s Dictionary, but I could listen to Tom Hiddleston read it out loud (there’s something about his voice, dude. It’s like ear-porn). Material sounds more interesting when its read out loud. If you’re writing a book, and you’re not sure how it will “sound” to your readers, try reading it out loud to yourself or to someone else.

I was on the fence about Our Lady of Righteous Rage, until I read it to myself, out loud. The material took on a different flow, and I actually came to appreciate it more. The same can be said for Novocaine. In fact, I have posted videos of myself on the Woolaston Entertainment Facebook page, reading samples from some of my books. 

Reading your material out loud can give you a better sense of how the words themselves flow. Maybe your main character’s speech about freedom isn’t as strong as it could be. Maybe that conversation that takes place between the husband and wife sounds a little too crude. Aside from learning how the material will “sound” to your readers, reading out loud is also a great editing tool.

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Snippet of “Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Extended and Uncensored”

The Year of HER: Female Characters in W.E.

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I’d like to create a harmonious balance between the use of male and female characters in my books. However, try as I might, I seem to lean towards the female characters more. Maybe it’s my inner feminist. One of my goals for 2020 is to write stories that focus more on the male characters. As a society, it seems our mission is empower women and young girls. I fear the men and young boys are being left out in the cold, and that isn’t good. The last thing I want to see, is a generation of males being made to feel like their feelings and thoughts don’t matter, because they’re not females. But, I digress…

For the Woolaston Entertainment books, this has been the year of HER.

RNRM Cover

Rock N Role Model

Amy Edwards of the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series shows off her tender, motherly side in this first companion book of Phase Two of the series. She discovers a young fan  named Stephanie (Step for short) and takes her under her wing. The two of them begin to spend time together, bonding almost as if they were mother and daughter. It’s an opportunity for readers to see Amy isn’t all punk rock and guitars; off of the stage and away from the studio, she’s a mother.

 

Lucia Vol One Cover

Lucia and the Saints

The woman who created John Rafferty and gave  The Syndicate it’s name is a force to be reckoned with. She’s the reason Valentine, Jo Fuentes, Lola Vencent, Mac Avery and Kelly McCormick each have a place in the Syndicate. Lucia carries a gun, and she knows how to use it. She has no problem standing up to anyone, be they a man or a woman. But she’s not the only strong woman in the series: the young girls she takes in, The Lady Saints are each pretty badass in their own right. They’ll pick up a gun and join Lucia in a fight if necessary.  Lucia is their role model, and they want to learn as much from her as they possibly can.

 

Project Sleep Cover

Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep

Jo already proved her worth in the Valentine series and in Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen. In Project Sleep, Jo works through her PTSD in order to discover the true origins of her dangerous skills. She could just worry about her own safety, but Jo is still a soldier, and the welfare of the other members of Project Sleep is a major concern for her.

 

Rock N Role Model and Lucia and the Saints are both available on Amazon. Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep will be available by the end of December 2019.

Woolaston Entertainment

Woolaston Entertainment Presents 25

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Imagine putting together a book to celebrate the 25th anniversary of something you created. Sounds like it shouldn’t be too difficult, right? Now imagine most of your material is in storage…in another state. All I can say is, thank goodness for flash drives and Google Drive!

WE25

 

I’m not sure how I did it, but in nineteen days, I combed through my books and whatever images I have saved on my flash drive and in my Google Drive, and put a 112 page book together, containing the best 25 things about W.E. Plus, it’s in COLOR! This is a first for me. Not only is it in color, it’s my first nonfiction book, and it’s a bit larger than the paperbacks I’ve published in the past (this one is 7×9). This one put me through the ringer, but its finished and soon it will be available for purchase on Amazon, and then the Woolaston Entertainment website. 

If you’ve never read my other books, there will be a few spoilers, but I think I did a pretty good job keeping them to a minimum. There are a ton of facts about W.E.’s creation, and info about the books and characters I’ve never shared before. The book should be ready by this weekend, and I hope everyone enjoys it. 

Woolaston Entertainment Presents 25 retails for $14.49 UPDATE 12/13/19: Available now on Amazon

ISBN: 978-1-6724-7820-5

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Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale Continues!

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I had a few people email me yesterday (much obliged, btw!) about the sale on Woolaston Entertainment’s website. All W.E. books are 25% off in honor of W.E.’s 25th anniversary. While that sale was scheduled to end tonight, Cyber Monday, I’ve been asked if I can extend it. My answer: yes! Orders that were placed over the weekend will be shipped tomorrow. All other orders will be shipped by the end of the week. So, the sale will continue until Saturday, December 7. Enjoy!

Woolaston Entertainment Online Store

Do You Know About Worldcat.org?

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Let’s say you head to your local public library, in search of a particular book. However, you discover your local library doesn’t own a copy of the book you want. What should you do? There’s a few options. You could try and purchase a copy of the book online, via Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or another website. Or, maybe check with a different library. The best option, may be this one: have your library check the World Catalog.

WorldCat

Most public libraries participate in a program known as Inter Library Loan, or ILL. Some academic libraries participate as well. This allows libraries to receive materials from libraries outside of their city, state, and in come cases, country. Maybe you use the Queens Public Library in New York, and you need a copy of Of Mice and Men, and they don’t have one listed in their catalog. Perhaps a local library in Atlanta, Georgia has a copy to spare. Queens can use the ILL system to borrow the book from the library in Atlanta, so that you can borrow it from Queens. Pretty sweet, right?

This is where the World Catalog comes in. It lists materials available at libraries all over the world. So, if you’re looking for something, but can’t seem to find it at your local library, you may want to ask your librarian to check the World Catalog, to see if its available elsewhere. The borrowing time may differ from that of your local library, but at least you’ll have access to what you need. 

Check out the World Catalog when you have time!