Tag: creativity

I May Host a NaNoWriMo Event

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I know, I know: it’s October, and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) isn’t until November. So, why am I talking about it so early? It’s because I have a bit of good news. My day job is at the Hampton Public Library, and there’s going to be a NaNoWriMo event at the location I work in, in November. Why is this so exciting? Becuase I may be the lucky person who gets to host it!

I don’t have all of the details just yet, but here’s what I can tell you so far:

Event: Creative Nonfiction Workshop

Place: Hampton Public Library Main Location

Date: November 14, 2019

Time: 12pm to 1pm

More details to follow! 

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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I’ve Had A Sarcastic Advice Book In Me For Years

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I keep a list of book ideas on my flash drive (and admitedly, on my phone). I’ve maintained this list for over ten years now. Whenever I manage to write one of the books on the list, I hilight it, and add another idea or two. There’s one book idea that has been on the list from the very begining, but I never got around to writing it. It’s an advice book. It’s a sarcastic advice book.

While I didn’t write the book, I did make notes and write a few drafts of potential chapters. Each time I considered starting the official rough draft, I’d read over my materials, and think, “No, that’s way too mean. People are going to be too deep into their feelings if I publish that.”  But, maybe that’s a good thing. Sometimes, people need something that stirs a reaction of some sort. Somethimes, people need a good solid kick in the butt.

So, I’m drafting the manuscript now. I’m pulling out all of my old notes, and making new ones. We’ll see what comes out of it.

Woolaston Entertainment

What Makes a Good Spin-Off?

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Spin-off: by definition, it is “a byproduct or incidental result of a larger project” or “a product marketed by its association with a popular television program, movie, personality, etc”. It’s not quite a sequel, but more of an extension of a smaller component of a larger creation. For example, there’s the sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, and its spin-off, Young Sheldon. The Big Bang Theory is the primary show, while Young Sheldon focuses on one character from Big Bang, Sheldon Cooper.

What makes a good spin-off? When it comes to books, I believe it helps to chose one of the most interesting characters or settings from the original book or series. Perhaps, a character the audience didn’t learn very much about in the original story. My Valentine series has led to two spin-offs: Valentine Apart and Lucia and the Saints (and I’m working out the details for a third series, Valentine R). The Apart series focuses on characters other than Valentine; characters the audience didn’t know much about, because the bulk of the series focuses mainly on Valentine herself. I chose the characters that seemed the most interesting, such as Lola Vencent and the Avery siblings. Her Name is Lola Vencent dives into Lola’s background, and her life before she worked for John Rafferty, while Allan and Mac depicts the events that took place before Allan and Mac met Valentine. While each character (or set of characters) received one stand-alone book, Jo Fuentes, another featured character from Valentine , will be the only character to have TWO books: Jo Fuentes The Black Queen and the upcoming Jo Fuentes Project Sleep. 

New cover of Valentine

Spin-off’s need to be interesting. If a boring character, or one is just isn’t memorable is chosen, and all the details about them are boring, the audience will most likely lose interest. Readers like interesting backstories.

A good spin-off, should have a little foreshadowing. There need to be clues and events that connect the spin-off to the larger story. Lucia and the Saints is FILLED WITH FORESHADOWING. This series follows John Rafferty as he rises to become the “villain” readers know him to be in Valentine. It also follows the life of another important character, Lucia Milazzo, who ultimately helps Rafferty gain his power and position in the Syndicate.

Allan and Mac
Her Name is Lola Vencent
Young Kelly McCormick

There are other characters in Valentine that I could have chosen to use in Valentine Apart. Veronica, Val’s cousin, may have been a good candidate. However, since she and Val practically grew up together, and you learn more about both of them throughout the series, I felt it would have been a bit redundant. There’s also Melinda, the orphan Val rescues during her road trip to L.A. Melinda provides a brief recount of her life, prior to meeting Val, but since she’s only fourteen, I didn’t think there would be enough to tell about her, to fill a stand-alone book. But, Allan, Mac, Lola and Jo are all hitmen, with tragic backgrounds that make their stories interesting enough to appear in a stand-alone book.

Several characters make appearances in Lucia and the Saints, aside from Rafferty and Lucia. Vincent and Victor Entienne, Jacob Price, and Allan and Mac Avery, all had to start somewhere, and their entrance into the Syndicate is revealed in this series.

Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep is coming soon. The rest is available on Woolaston Entertainment’s site

“Lucia and the Saints” and Things to Come!

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Hello! This past weekend I released the fourth volume in the Lucia and the Saints series. Volume Four finds Lucia and John purchasing a second nightclub; this time its located in Chicago. While Lucia prides herself on her skills as a business woman, it seems the men around her don’t want to take her seriously. Lucia decides its time for her to show the fellas what she’s made of. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, the confrontation between Brian and the Lady Saints is about to come to a head, as the connection between Lucia Calderon and Lucia Milazzo is finally revealed!

Lucia Vol Four Cover

I will be taking a short break from writing the remaining two books in this series, in order to finish some of the other projects I started. But, rest assured, the rest of the series will be released within the next two months.

I had planned to release my mother’s third book, A New England Serial Killer, this past weekend, but I was feeling a bit under the weather and was unable to finish editing. I did however, manage to create an image for the cover. Don’t worry: no one was harmed in the creation of this pic. 

ANESK Cover Photo

I hope to have A New England Serial Killer ready before the end of the week. 

I’m also getting back to The Age of the Daughter and Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep. I put them on hold for Lucia and I’m glad I did. During my hiatus from working on those two books, I came up with new ideas for them. 

More things to come!

Lucia and the Saints: Volume Four is available on Amazon

Woolaston Entertainment

Research and Planning in Writing

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I once read a short story, which took place in the 1960’s. There was a scene in which a character pulled out a cell phone and made a call…which is odd, considering the first mobile phone didn’t come out until 1973. This character was not a time traveler, which simply means, the writer didn’t do enough research before writing their story. 

How much research and planning do you do, before writing your story or book? Some work requires only a little research. Others, require extensive research.

When I wrote the first book in the Valentine series, I used a road map. Yes, an actual road map. In the story, Val Entienne drives from Chicago to L.A. to find her father, and I wanted her to use route 66. I also wanted to make sure I had her drive through states route 66 passed through. To some readers, this probably wouldn’t matter. To an anal-retentive like me, it matters, and I’ll give you an example of why.

I’m a New Yorker, and if you’ve been watching films or television shows for the past thirty years or more, you’ve noticed how many films and shows are recorded in New York. Take Law and Order, for example. I can watch an episode, and recognize a landmark or a street, because the show takes place in New York. While watching a scene in John Wick: Chapter Two, I thought, “I know The Continnental isn’t real, but I can tell from surrounding landmarks where its supposed to be located”.  Little details like that can make a huge difference. So, if I’m reading a story, and a character says they’ll meet another character in Chelsea, on 125th Street in New York, I know that’s a mistake. 125th Street is in Harlem, not Chelsea.

I can’t afford a slip-up such as having a character appear to be too young during a particular arc of the storyline.

I’m working on a series thats a prequel to Valentine, and one key detail I needed to focus on, are the characters’ ages. I ended up making a chart of how old certain characters were in the Valentine series, so I could calculate how old they should be in the prequel, Lucia and the Saints, should I need to use them. 

ages

Val Entienne is 19 when the Valentine series begins, but she’s only 3 during Lucia, so there’s a good chance she won’t be mentioned in the prequel. Again, this may not matter to some readers, but for those who are paying attention, I can’t afford a slip-up such as having a character appear to be too young during a particular arc of the storyline.

Careful planning went into Our Lady of Righteous Rage’s Righteous, too. In this book, the band goes on their first national tour, via an R.V.. I calculated the amount of hours it would take to drive from city to city, to make the story more accurate. For instance, it takes at least two hours to drive from New York to Philadelphia. Anything less than that, would be incorrect. 

I also keep a list of fake birthdays for my characters, so I can have them age appropriately, as the story progresses. If a character starts out as a fourteen year old, and the story takes place across six years, by the end they should be twenty. If they’re only seventeen by the end of story, there’s a problem. This became very important in the Our Lady series, which begins in the 1990’s and goes from there. 

If you decide to use certain landmarks in your story, such as stores or restaurants, and you’re focusing on a particular time frame, you may want to make sure those landmarks still exist, or existed during the time in which your story takes place. I wanted to use the famous CBGB in Our Lady, but the time within the story I wanted to use it, wouldn’t have worked, since CBGB closed in 2006. 

Just a little food for thought. 

Woolaston Entertainment