Tag Archives: Books

Laughter, Life, Writers

Writers:Time To Take Over The World

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2013-03-14 08.43.06

Writing is serious business. With it comes pain, struggle, time and effort to get to our own personal endpoint. To lighten it up it helps to watch a funny movie, book or hang out with people who make you laugh.

I know my laugh embarrasses my son for it is loud, deep and has a life of its own. Someone at my old job told me it did not matter what I was laughing at when they heard it they too would burst out into laughter. That pleased me.

So when I went to my favorite used book store in town I came across this book, “How To Rule The World: A Handbook for the Aspiring Dictator”. I mean seriously it practically jumped into my hands how could it not?

Sitting down I started to check it out immediately bursting into loud fits of giggles to where heads turned. I am not sure where in the store my husband was but I am sure he heard and recognized me.  I mean with a title like this how could it not be funny right? As the pages turned my sides started to hurt and I teared up to where my glasses became stained. I love moments like that and the things that make it happen.

The humor this author possess is magical for me. Going to the counter, for I knew I must have this book, I told the clerk about it and she smiled. I was still in fits of laughter to where my hubby finally said enough basically.  Getting home I irritated my family some more as I continued to read. I did not let them stop me.

My point is simple. It is hard work being a writer and trying to make a name for ourselves. Now and then we need to chill and just forget the moment and laugh. And not one of those small giggles that you cover your mouth with not wanting to make a scene.  I want you guys to have a big belly jiggling , sides hurting, tears in your eyes to where you can barely stand for it is just too much to hold in.  Life is short writing is a hard word. Laugh along the way I know I am.

Amazon Parrot, Blog hop, Jasper

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

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JasperPic

 Jenny, http://jennysblogspot.com, thankyou for tagging me in The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. For those of you who don’t know, the goal is for me to answer a list of questions about my book, and then at the bottom of the post, I’ll tag five more authors, who will answer the same questions next week. Here we go. Sounds like fun right?

What is the title of your book? Jasper, Amazon Parrot: A Rainforest Adventure

Where did the idea for the book come from? It came from my Amazon parrot Jasper who has been a member of our household since 1999. He is 18 years old.

What genre does your book fall under? A children’s fiction chapter book.

Will your book be self-published or represented under an agency?I am in the process of submitting to traditional publishers in hope someone will love it as much as I do.

 How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?It took me three months.

 Give a one sentence synopsis of your novel:

Jasper the Amazon parrot spends his day exploring the secrets of the rainforest with his partner in crime Charlie, a spider monkey.

What other works would you compare your story to? To be honest I can not think of any. When I was researching books to nail down my age group nothing came within my view.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?  My bird Jasper was my inspiration. To the outside world he is well just a bird. But he is more than that. In this book I got to share with everyone the true personality of my buddy in a way that people might not possibly imagine.  His Jasperness shines through in the pages written.

What else might pique the reader’s interest?

Here is a short piece from the book:

The next day, movement broke the silence within the nest just enough to wake up Jasper. He heard his mama coaching the other egg to crack. She nudged and nudged, but the egg remained uncracked. Jasper saw his mom continue to stare at the egg and then he heard her sigh.

“What’s wrong with it?” he asked his mother.

“I don’t know, son. There could be a few reasons. Maybe I did not sit on it enough to keep it warm. Maybe it does not have a baby inside. I am not sure,” she said.

Jasper did not know what to say to his mother. While he did not know what it would be like to have a brother or sister, it would have given him company for the times his mother was out gathering food and supplies. What he did know was that she was sad. Maybe that was what he was feeling on the inside of his tiny body.

Sally came to where Jasper sat and gave him a big hug. “ It was not meant

to be. A lesson we all learn as we grow older, Jasper.”

It is time to tag five authors so they can take a turn at answering the same questions. For those I tag, you all need to answer the same questions and then put your answers a week from today which would be December 17th. Tag five more authors at the bottom of your post and let the hopping continue. I wanted to again thank the authors who helped me during NaNoWriMo 2012 who posted on my blog while I did that frenzy.

Jo Ann Mason

http://cerridewnspeaks.blogspot.com

Michael D. Fowler

http://themikebehere.wordpress.com

Lynn Thompson

http://lynnthompsonbooks.blogspot.com

Merry Farmer

http://merryfarmer.net/

Victoria Treder

http://tredalong.com/

Antagonist, Uncategorized

Test Time

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Plot is more than dramatic action. It involves having character emotional development, dramatic action and thematic significance. This is also known as how your protagonist acts or reacts. By doing these three things he or she is changed and something is learned. When stories get stuck it is likely that one of these three key elements has been ignored. One might concentrate on the action only, forgetting that character provides interest and is the primary reason people read books.

Organizing solely around the character can make one overlook the fact that dramatic action provides the thrill that each story needs. One might forget to develop the overall meaning of the story or the thematic significance. When the dramatic action changes the character at depth over time, the story becomes significant.

The Power of Character

In a story line, the characters grow and change in reaction to the dramatic action. This growth does not rely solely on a physical level. The challenges the characters face must create emotional effects, the deeper the better for reader. An effective way to do so is the use of a Scene Tracker. A scene tracker will ask you to fulfill seven essential elements in every single scene, with the biggest being focused on the character emotional development.

For example:

The Crisis: The crisis is an event in a scene that works like any crisis we may come across in our real life. Its job is to shake things up in such a way that the protagonist has to act. It takes on dramatic proportions when it is seen as the highest point in the dramatic action plot up to date in the story.

It has been fortunate for me so far that I have not gotten stuck yet. But knowing that there is a guideline of things that need to be included is a good thing to know. Plus it is a good tool to put my stories to the test and see if they have the three key elements that is needed. I can use it as a checklist of sorts to see if my works are well working. I need all the help I can get.