Tag: inspiration

Bildungsroman

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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

KDP Tutorial, Anyone?

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It’s a new year: 2020. 2019 has finally died. People around me are busy making resolutions, and I generally don’t make any. My usual goal is simply to finish whatever I start. But this year, I do have one resolution, and this is it: I’m going to do more of the things that scare me; I’m going to challenge myself more. 

Working in a public library has introduced me to many new people, some of whom are interested in writing and publishing (two of my favorite things!).  During NaNoWriMo, I was fortunate to lead a workshop for creative nonfiction. I had no idea how much people enjoyed it, and it’s slowly turning into something I’m going to run all year ’round. Lately, I’ve had a few library patrons ask about publishing books through Amazon, so I’d like to integrate self-publishing information into my 2020 workshops. There’s something else I’m planning, too.

I’m going to do more of the things that scare me; I’m going to challenge myself more. 

A few years ago, an offer was made to me to teach a class on Skillshare, but I never went through with it because I was too nervous. Several people have suggested that I post videos online to promote my writing. Again, I was too nervous and never went through with it. So this year, I’m going to get over my fear, and post a few videos. I’m planning to release a series of tutorials on how to navigate Amazon’s publishing service, KDP. Am I an expert on the subject? Maybe not an expert, but after working with an overpriced self-publisher, a publisher who closed for business, and publishing 32 books with KDP, I think I have a lot of knowledge to share. 

Nicole_WEBooksMarch2017
Some of my books were published through Xlibris, others with Create Space

I’m currently nursing a cold (more like the flu), so I’ll have to wait until my voice sounds normal to make these videos. I’ll keep you posted.

PS: I’ve update the refund policy on the Online Store, to make things easier for my customers/readers 🙂

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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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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!

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.

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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! 

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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.

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