Are You Up To The WordCrafter Challenge?
Posted: March 9, 2020 Filed under: Fiction, Paranormal, Speculative Fiction, Stories, weird western, Western, WordCrafter, Writing, Writing Contest | Tags: Paranormal western, Short Fiction, Short Fiction Contest, Short Stories, weird western, Western Paranormal, WordCrafter, WordCrafter Paranormal Western, Writing Contest, Writing to be Read 4 Comments
I wanted the 2020 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest to be a challenge, to motivate authors and writers to reach outside their comfort zones and write a short story in a genre they maybe hadn’t tried yet. But, from the low number of entries received thus far, I’m wondering if I didn’t scare a lot of writers off when I named the genre as paranormal western.
It’s one of those combination genres that have risen up in recent times, also called weird westerns, that has both elements of western and elements of paranormal. I presented it as western ghost stories, because the old west has plenty of potential for ghosts. (Mark and Kym Todd’s Wild West Ghosts is filled with the stories of many real life characters whose ghosts are said to haunt the west today, if you’re looking for inspiration.) However, I fear our friends abroad may be shying away because they just don’t know a whole lot about the American western frontiers.
While westerns usually take place in the American west, they don’t have to. The movie Quiggly Down Under, with Tom Sellak comes to mind, taking place in the Australian Outback, but with plenty of western elements. Every country has its own frontier history that helped to shape it, some may be still developing their frontiers. So, let me re-itterate, a western does not need to be set on the American frontier, but it does need to have some of the elements of the western genre. Man (or woman) against the elements, man (or woman) fighting for justice in an untamed landscape where the only law may be what he (or she) can manage to dole out. Western characters lead nomadic lifestyles, carry guns, ride horses, drink whiskey and face their own mortality, sometimes on a daily basis.
Weird westerns tend to use these elements, but they add elements of the paranormal or speculative fiction. I’ve reviewed a few and found their authors to be quite creative in combining the two genres. Chris Barili’s Hell’s Butcher series features a gun toting Marshall who is tasked with keeping all the outlaws in hell and tracking down any who happen to escape into the realm of the living. In DeAnna Knippling’s Chance Damnation is a paranormal western fantasy, where hell breaks through and wreaks havoc on the western frontier. And a book that I’m reviewing this month is Death Wind, by Travis Heerman and Jim Pinto, tells a tale of ancient Indian legends come to life. (You can catch my review of this book on Friday, March 20th).
So, with this in mind, I’m asking each of you to re-consider entering your own paranormal western short in the 2020 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest. It’s only $5 to enter, and the winner will be featured in the resulting anthology and receive a $25 Amazon gift card. Other entries may also be included in the anthology by invitation, so get those entries in to me by April 30. There’s still time, and you can find the complete submission guidelines here: https://wp.me/pVw40-49e
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“Writing for a Y.A. Audience”: Are they real?
Posted: November 20, 2019 Filed under: Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Writing, Young Adult | Tags: Fantasy, Goat Children, Inspiration, Jordan Elizabeth, Writing for a YA Audience, Writing to be Read, Young Adult Fiction 4 Comments
SPOILERS AHEAD
I was at a book signing in October. A woman came up to my booth and asked for a quick synopsis of each story. I was happy to oblige, and when I got to GOAT CHILDREN, the woman teared up.
I wrote GOAT CHILDREN based on my experiences taking care of my grandmother when she suffered from dementia. This woman’s mother was diagnosed with dementia. She went on to share a few examples, and I could identify with all of them.
The woman bought the book for her daughter, who feels alone while helping her grandmother. The other kids in high school don’t understand.
I went through the same thing when I was in college and high school. My grandmother was “weird”. I was a “freak” for trying to take care of her. She was “scary”. Okay, the unpredictable moods were scary, but she was still my grandmother. Fear goes hand-in-hand with dementia.
After the woman bought the book and moved onto the next book at the fair, my mind kept returning to GOAT CHILDREN. It was one of my first books published and one very dear to my heart. Now come the spoilers…
The Goat Children are a mythical warrior class who the fictional grandmother, Oma, believe to be true. The main character, Keziah, can’t figure out if they are real or not. The story provides glimpses into the truth behind the female warriors.
My grandmother believed in little people living in her fireplace and dancing in her basement. When we asked her if she was scared of them, she said no, they comforted her. The Goat Children comfort Oma too.
Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com
At the end of the story, the grandmother and Keziah both leave Earth to live with the Goat Children. They are together and strong, and immersed in a world of magic both of them longed for. I decided to make the Goat Children real because I always wanted the little people to be real too, taking care of my grandmother, keeping her safe.
Jordan Elizabeth currently lives in the house her grandmother lived in. She’s still looking for the little people in the fireplace. You can connect with Jordan via her website, JordanElizabethBooks.com.
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Author Update: The Making of a Memoir On Hold Indefinitely
Posted: June 12, 2019 Filed under: Book Covers, Books, Editing, Fiction, His Name Was Michael, Memoir, Nonfiction, Paranormal, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Speculative Fiction, Stories, Western, WordCrafter, WordCrafter Press, Writing | Tags: Anthologies, Ask the Authors Anthology, Delilah, Delilah: The Homecoming, His Name Was Michael, Losing Michael: Teen Suicide and a Mother's Grief, Whispers of the Past, WordCrafter, WordCrafter Press, Writing to be Read 4 Comments
I’m sorry to say that the obstacles and road blocks I mentioned in my April post have brought my memoir writing process to a screeching halt before it had truly begun, and thus, this bi-monthly blog series must come to a halt, as well, until I can find answers to the problems related to writing about real people and organizations which is necessary to telling my son Michael’s story, as well as my own. Losing Michael: Teen Suicide and a Mother’s Grief has been shelved, at least for a while due to legalities. This book project is based from my personal experience and is dear to my heart, and it great saddness that I make this decision, but I’m not ready to face the trials that forging ahead with it would require.
On the other hand, there are exciting things on the horizon. My efforts for the near future will turn to working on the issue of re-issuing Delilah, which Dusty Saddle Publishing has so graciously offered to do. Once this is completed, I plan to pick up where I left off on the drafting of the second book, Delilah: The Homecoming. I just got Delilah back on track in this story with considerable revisions and I’m a little sad to have to delay the completion of this book, but also confident that the story will be better for it.
I will be getting the WordCrafter website up and running and ready for launch. Get ready folks, because WordCrafter Writer & Author Services is coming soon. Services will include Editing and Copywriting services, online courses, and WordCrafter Press.
I’ll also be compiling and publishing the two great anthologies to be released by WordCrafter Press. The Ask the Authors anthology will feature the collaborative interviews from the 2018 “Ask the Authors” blog series right here on Writing to be Read. This book will be filled with writing tips and advice from authors who are out there doing it, a valuable writing reference for authors in all stages of the publishing journey.
The other anthology, Whispers in the Dark, will be a short story collection harvested from the WordCrafter Paranormal Short Story Contest held at the beginning of 2019. It will feature several of the submissions from the contest, including the winning entry, “A Peaceful Life I’ve Never Had”, by Jeff Bowles. These anthologies are still in the preliminary stages, but I plan to have them both out by the end of the year. I have cover ideas for each one, but only Whispers has a final version at this time. I plan to release it in October.
To keep up on the latest with my writing endeavors and with Wordcrafter, sign up for my monthly newsletter in the pop-up. When you do, you’ll recieve a free e-copy of my paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets.
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“Chance Damnation”: A strange paranormal western fantasy
Posted: May 3, 2019 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Dark Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal, Speculative Fiction, Western | Tags: Book Review, Chance Damnation, DeAnna Knippling, Paranormal, Paranormal western, Western, western fantasy, Writing to be Read 2 Comments
Chance Damnation, by DeAnna Knippling is a western turned inside out. It draws you in with a strange opening scene, jumping right into the thick of the action, where multi-horned demons attack a small ranching community in Buffalo County, South Dakota, and then carries you away into the depths of the story as things get even stranger.
There is definitely something out of the ordinary going on, and young Celeste Marie seems to be at the center of it. Jerome is determined not to let the demons have her, but the adults won’t listen to him because he’s just a kid. When Celeste Marie is kidnapped by the demons and Jerome goes after her into the demon realm below, community members who died in the demon rampage return as demons and Jeromes older brothers and other family members fight against the demons, but it seems as if they might be fighting a losing battle. This paranormal western fantasy is filled with surprises.
Stranger and stranger. But, it is strange in a good way. It captured my interest and kept the pages turning. It is strange in a good way. The story is well written and well paced, as is with most of the books I’ve read by DeAnna Knippling. It is a weird western, but a good story. I give Chance Damnation four quills.
Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARCs. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.
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Writing for a YA Audience: Writing about a Dollhouse
Posted: March 20, 2019 Filed under: Fiction, Mystery, Speculative Fiction, Steampunk, Writing, Writing for a YA Audience, Young Adult | Tags: Clockwork Dollhouse, Jordan Elizabeth, mystery, Steampunk, Writing for a YA Audience 3 Comments
Dollhouses have always intrigued me. That and steampunk, but we’ll get to that later.
As a child, I had three dollhouses. One was wooden, made by my maternal grandfather. One was metal. I used it for my Little People. The third was plastic and I used it for my Victorian Playmobile set (I still feel bad that I never got the official dollhouse that went with the sets!). I loved setting up the rooms and just looking at them. My dolls didn’t always move around in them. It was more for show. I used my imagination to act out scenes.
There’s another dollhouse that sticks out in my mind, only I didn’t own it. As a child, my mother and I went through an estate sale in the neighborhood. In the basement, there was a dollhouse built to replicate the actual house. I fell in love with it. Unfortunately, it was expensive. It was old and showed the effects of being in a basement. Plus, it didn’t fit through the door! I can still picture that dollhouse to this day. I became obsessed with having an intricate dollhouse just like that one.
My grandmother bought me a wooden dollhouse kit. It came with working windows, shingles, and a drainpipe. It also came with a bit of trouble – none of us were carpentry inclined. The dollhouse sat in its box in my basement for years. Eventually, my then-boyfriend (now husband) attempted to put it together, but didn’t get farther than popping out the pieces. A few years ago, a friend’s husband put it together. It looks just as amazing as I’d always hoped it would.
My mother and I bought wallpaper, wainscoting, furniture, dolls… We’re in love with it, but we haven’t done too much decoration-wise. Some of the furniture came in sets and we already know we’re horrible at putting sets together. This dollhouse, sitting on the hall table, with its beautiful dolls keeps pulling at my imagination. I wanted to create a story about a dollhouse, one with secrets. Since I love the steampunk genre, I wanted to add in a taste of that. Thus, along came CLOCKWORK DOLLHOUSE, a short story about dolls and secrets.
Have you ever seen a dollhouse that beckoned you into its walls?
Jordan Elizabeth is a young adult fantasy author. If you have any spooky dollhouse furniture you want to part with, she would be happy to take it off your hands! You can connect with Jordan via her website, JordanElizabethBooks.com.
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Chatting with the Pros: Interview with science fiction and fantasy author Kevin J. Anderson
Posted: March 18, 2019 Filed under: Books, Chatting with the Pros, Collaboration, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Fiction, Interview, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Teaching Writing, World Building, Writing, Writing to be Read | Tags: Chatting with the Pros, Fantasy, Kevin J. Anderson, Writing to be Read 1 Comment
My guest today on “Chatting with the Pros” is an award winning and best selling author who has written countless novels and over 56 national and international best sellers. A majority of his works fall into the science fiction or fantasy genres, but he writes across many genres. In a recent introduction for “The Big Idea: Kevin J. Anderson“, an article about the latest release in his short fiction collection, Selected Stories, John Scalzi calls him, “one of the most prolific authors working today”, and one look at his immense book list on Amazon would leave no doubt that this is an accurate assessment. (You can find my review of selected stories here). He’s written a lot of books, 56 of which have hit the national and international best seller lists, and he’s been writing for many years, and I’m sure we will find his knowledge and experiences enlightening. Please help me welcome Kevin J. Anderson.
Kaye: You have written at least 56 national or international best sellers. What makes a good story in your mind?
Kevin: People want to read a good story with an exciting/interesting plot, a well-developed setting, and engaging characters. Make it a story you WANT to read, with clear prose and action. I don’t like muddled, glacial-paced stories where the prose is just too precious.
Kaye: Why science fiction and fantasy? Why not western or romance or mystery? What’s the attraction?
Kevin: Well, I’ve also written plenty of mysteries, and some of my work has been set in the old west, and most good stories have a strong romance component (though I don’t write category Romance or Westerns). I like to tell an interesting story, and I move around a lot among genres, even though I am primarily known for science fiction or fantasy. I grew up in a very mundane small town in rural Wisconsin, and I was captivated by SF/F from an early age, because it showed my imagination what was possible. I wanted to go to exotic places, whether they were filled with aliens or dragons. Science fiction took me to a much wider universe. (And as a skinny, nerdy kid with glasses and a bad haircut, “romance” wasn’t much of a possibility, so I stuck with spaceships and swords.)
Kaye: You wrote several Star Wars and X-Files novels. Is it difficult to immerse yourself in someone else’s settings and characters enough to pick up a thread and run with it in the same tone and writing style? How do you go about getting yourself into that mindset?
Kevin: It’s no more difficult than trying to immerse yourself in the old west or ancient Japan for a historical. A writer’s job is to absorb the story, characters, voice, and setting. I was already a big fan of Star Wars, Star Trek, X-Files, and Dune, and I enjoyed going to work in those universes. In each instance, I would completely surround myself with the property — whether that meant watching the Star Wars films over and over again, or the episodes of the X-Files, or repeatedly rereading DUNE and its sequels. You pick up the manner of speaking, the “look and feel” of the world, and you make it into your own story.
Kaye: You’ve done several collaborations, including books of the Dune series, with Brian Herbert and the Clockwork books which you collaborated with Neil Peart, drummer for the band Rush. What is the biggest challenge when collaborating on a book?
Kevin: You both need to have the same vision for the book—which means a LOT of talking and brainstorming ahead of time—and you both need the same work ethic (so each partner puts in the same amount of time and effort…a tortoise and hare collaboration will just cause a lot of friction), and you need to be flexible. There’s never only ONE way to write a sentence or describe a scene. I would never want to collaborate with a diva!
Kaye: Do you belong to any writing organizations? If so, which ones? Do you feel your membership in these writing organizations have been helpful in your writing successes? How so?
Kevin: I belong to the Horror Writers Association (and edited three anthologies for them, the BLOOD LITE series), IAMTW (International Association of Media Tie-In Writers), and SFWA, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, although some of their recent decisions have made me so upset that I would not renew my membership if I wasn’t already a lifetime member. The problem with such organizations is that you can become to engrossed in the politics and bickering that you forget your real purpose, which is to WRITE.
Kaye: You’ve written several series, including Saga of the Seven Suns, Dan Shamble P.I. and the Clockwork books? Are any of your books stand alone? Why do you lean toward series?
Kevin: I’ve written many standalone books. The one I just finished last week, a vampire/serial-killer thriller STAKE, that’s not part of a series. But I like to tell big stories, and once you’ve done all the effort of world building and character building an entire universe, you want to spend some time. To me, a trilogy is perfect — a beginning, middle, and end, with enough room to tell the story and describe the world in all its glory. Pragmatically speaking, it’s a much better decision commercially to build a series, because readers will want more and more, and each new book will help sell copies of previous volumes. Can you imagine if A.C. Doyle had stopped after writing only one Sherlock Holmes story?
Kaye: Science fiction authors create whole worlds from their imaginations, often with new languages created in their own minds, and you have created many. How do you go about creating a new language?
Kaye: Your work has won many prestigious awards. Which award are you most proud of? Why?
Kevin: Awards are awards, and it’s nice to have them, but I really prefer READERS. That’s what makes your writing worthwhile. It’s not terribly prestigious, but the award I value most is one I received very early in my career, when I received a trophy with an engraved brass plate and everything, naming me “The Writer with No Future” because I could produce more rejection slips than any other writer at an entire conference. To me, that didn’t mean I was a failure as a writer or that my work was awful—it proved that I was more persistent, that I kept trying, kept getting better, and never gave up. I still have that trophy.
Kaye: In addition to being an author, you and your wife, Rebecca Moesta, are publishers at Wordfire Press, but originally you were traditionally published. Why the switch to being your own publisher after being traditionally published for so many years?
Kevin: Survival. No choice. The publishing industry has undergone a tremendous upheaval equivalent to the Industrial Revolution, and I could either be a mammal and evolve or stay a dinosaur and go extinct. I am still traditionally published (four books released in 2018, in fact, and a new 3-book contract from Tor Books for an epic fantasy series), but I also have a lot of backlist titles that were out of print and my fans wanted to read them. So I started releasing them myself with all the innovations of new technology. It’s just another alternative.
Kaye: What does Wordfire press offer as a publisher for other authors?
Kevin: We are nimble and flexible, and we can produce books and get them to market far quicker than a traditional publisher can manage. But when you work with an indie publisher, or if you do it yourself, then you have to do all the work, all aspects of it. It’s another income stream and another way to get your book in front of your audience.
Kaye: Is Wordfire taking submissions? What type of fiction is Wordfire looking for?
Kevin: Not really, I’m afraid. When we are open, we’re looking for established writers who don’t need their hands held, writers who already have their own platforms, fanbases, and marketing efforts because we have to rely on them to do the work that a whole department at a traditional publisher would do.
Kaye: You recently signed on as an adjunct professor at Western State Colorado University and you are a finalist candidate for the director of their Certificate in Publishing program. What prompted you to venture into the world of academia?
Kevin: Actually, I’m now a full professor and I run their Masters program in Publishing. I will start the first group of MA students this coming summer. There’s a LOT of paperwork and bureaucracy in academia! I have taught writing and publishing quite often at countless writers’ conferences and conventions, most notably our own Superstars Writing Seminars, which is just hitting its tenth year. Becoming a professor and teaching at a beautiful university in the Colorado mountains is great, offers a little more stability than freelance writing, and (the bane of all freelancers) it gives me health insurance and benefits I wouldn’t otherwise get.
Kaye: Any writing pet peeves?
Kevin: I don’t like artsy-fartsy stuff, dense prose and opaque plots. Tell me a great story with a cool setting and interesting characters!
Kaye: Creating characters, developing plot, world building – what is the most challenging part of writing for you?
Kevin: Those are all fun, but if I had to choose I would say I have most difficulty with building rich, fleshed-out characters. Plotting and worldbuilding—that’s what I excel in.
Thanks to Kevin for sharing with us today. He’s given us food for thought with some really great answers. You can find more about Wordfire Press here: https://wordfirepress.com/. Kevin and his wife, Rebecca Moesta, head up the Superstars Writing Seminars each year in February, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for those interested in learning the business of writing. If you’d like to become a member of the Superstars Tribe, or would just like more information about Superstars, visit the folowing link: superstarswriting.com. Visit the links below to learn more about Kevin J. Anderson and his works.
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Kevin-J-Anderson/e/B000AQ0072/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1545798018&sr=1-1-fkmr1
Wordfire Press: http://www.wordfire.com/
Blog: http://kjablog.com/
Join us next month on “Chatting with the Pros”, when I’ll be chatting with romance author Maya Rodale. You can catch the monthly segment “Chatting with the Pros” on the third Monday of every month in 2019, or you can be sure not to any of the great content on Writing to be Read by signing up by email or following on WordPress.
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Short Fiction Contest! Paranormal Stories Sought
Posted: January 28, 2019 Filed under: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Paranormal, Speculative Fiction, Stories, WordCrafter Press, Writing, Writing Contest, Writing to be Read | Tags: Flash Fiction, horror, Paranormal, Short Fiction, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction, WordCrafter Press, Writing Contest, Writing to be Read 9 Comments
I love a good ghost story or paranormal tale, and that’s just what I’m looking for for the first Wordcrafter short fiction contest. If you write paranormal short fiction, submit your best story for a chance for it to be included in a paranormal anthology. Flash fiction is accepted as long as it is a complete story, with beginning, middle and end. In addition to publication, the winner will recieve a $25 Amazon gift card.
Guidelines:
- Submit paranormal, speculative fiction, or horror. I want to read your story!
- Stories should be less than 10,000 words and have a paranormal element. They don’t have to be scary, but it helps.
- Submit stories in a word doc, double spaced with legible 12 pt font, in standard manuscript format.
- Submit stories to kayebooth@yahoo.com with Submission: [Your Title] in the subject line. You will recieve instructions to submit your $5 entry fee with confirmation of reciept.
- If you recieve an invitation for the anthology, you will also be asked to submit a short author bio and photo.
- No simultaneous submissions. You should recieve a reply within 45 – 60 days.
- Multiple submissions are accepted with appropriate entry fee for each individual story.
I’m excited about this contest and the resulting anthology, and I hope you are, too. I can’t wait to read your stories. I’m hoping to release the anthology around Halloween through WordCrafter Press, so get your submissions in by April 30th. I’m searching for a title for this anthology, so if you have a paranormal title that’s killer, leave a comment below and give me your suggestions.
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