Monday Musings: The tropes that trouble me

Monday Musings: The tropes that trouble me.

I agree with Mr. Bury. Too many authors attempt to emulate Tolkien and Lewis. The thing is, a good writer ought to be able to create their own world and pull it off. A good story is not dependent on someone being able to recognize a world in which a reader finds oneself in. The best stories I’ve ever read were just that because no one had ever written about it yet. For example, Lewis’ Space Trilogy. The first two books in this trilogy are about man visiting planets never before touched by humans. I fell in love with Perelandra, the drifting islands, the descriptions of the fruit, the innocence of the inhabitants. It was this originality that made it so unique. Had Lewis written a novel about something that took place in, say, Arthur’s Briton, sure, I would have liked it, but probably not as much. Perelandra remains one of the best novels ever written, in my book. Not because Lewis wrote it, but because he took the time to create an entirely different world no one else had ever created.

So instead of creating a fantasy novel set in Britain or the UK, delve deep into your imagination and create something truly unique. I am working on doing just that right now. 🙂 Happy writing!

Autobiography and Published Works of Violet Yates

Just a short bio:

A love of the English language was fostered in Violet Yates at a young age. Since the time she could first read, books were an escape to a world full of fantasy and imagination, where horses became unicorns and wings, where tornadoes picked up houses and little girls and they somehow landed in an emerald city. Having grown up in Hawaii, there was quite a bit of Hawaiian legend to be told to little Violet, as well as Chinese stories of girls and boys being born from peaches and growing from trees. She wrote her first story at age 8 and sent it into Highlights magazine, who sadly rejected it. But that did not stop her. Throughout Violet’s life, she worked at perfecting her writing, striving to achieve straight A’s in school.
While in New York in her 30’s, Her love of words led her to seek a Bachelor’s degree in English, and during those years she wrote a novel, a novella and several short stories. She went on to obtain a Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration.
Violet loves to read, write, watch movies, listen to music and dream. She considers the Bible to be the best book ever written.
Violet has three children,a 23 year old son who is strong and wise, a 22 year old son who is handsome and makes her so proud, and a beautiful 13 year old daughter who takes after her mother a great deal.
Currently Violet lives in on the Kona Coast in Hawaii.

Link to my Published by Violet Yates Facebook Page, for information & updates on my books: www.facebook.com/publishedbyvioletyates

A link to my novella, Leaves of the Fall: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62456

A link to my short story collection, A Violet Fancy: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/79143

Two short stories, Forgotten Forest of the Innocent & Learning to Drive: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/61075 & http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62820

My autobiography, Leaves of the Fall: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/64041

All are only 99 cents, which is a great deal, plus you get to sample free. They are also only 99 cents on the sites listed below and easily searchable.

My short story collection is available in paperback here: http://www.amazon.com/Violet-Fancy-Short-Story-Collection/dp/1463799918/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397221235&sr=8-1&keywords=violet+yates

Falling into the Lord’s Hands is available in paperback here: http://www.amazon.com/Falling-into-Lords-Hands-Addiction/dp/1466244372/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1397221235&sr=8-4&keywords=violet+yates

My books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, Diesel, Page Foundry, Baker & Taylor (only via Blio right now), Flipkart, Oyster & Scribd. Baker & Taylor Axis 360-will be shipped soon. My books have the capability to be purchased by via Library Direct so that they would be accessible at libraries. If you have questions regarding the sites that I don’t have links for, I don’t currently know much about them but I will find out what I can if you need to know. All but Amazon are distributed through Smashwords.

Thanks! Have an awesome weekend! 🙂 ❤ 😀

 

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Guest Blog with Lynn Hallbrooks, co-author of Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning)

Hi, I’m Lynn Hallbrooks and I’m happy to be here on Violet’s blog. I am co-author with David McKoy. Together we wrote Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning). It is an Action/Adventure/Political Intrigue novel where all the main characters are former military Special Operations that work together in a CIA Special Operations Team. While the original target audience is military minded folks, I hope that it will also appeal to those who like Political Intrigue and patriotism. Our ultimate hope is to enlighten and entertain our readers.

Our book took over a year to put together and edited by us. Then we presented it to River Road Press for their professional input on editing and to have our book layout done. The reason we went with them was because of my connection with another fellow author, Ed Beesley, who wrote, ‘Lucky Enough’ published by Red Engine Press which later became River Road Press. We learned a lot from them. It wasn’t until after we went live on Amazon.com that I became involved with the Amazon Kindle boards then eventually to the Amazon Discussion boards, in particular the Meet the Authors forum. It was there that I met Violet and many other helpful people.

We all share a common goal and eventually a special bond of friendship. This bond has helped all of us be able to share information with one another in order to make our books or presentations even better than they were. As we began to welcome new people, we helped them where and when we could.

Because of this series of events, several new websites and Facebook fan pages have spun off. The latest website is Independent Authors and Writers (http://www.independentauthors.org/). I was tagged as the person to pick the book of the day. Initially I posted them on the companion Facebook fan page (http://www.facebook.com/IndependentAuthors) after we had a connection to twitter. One of my picks was Leaves of the Fall by Violet Yates. (http://www.independentauthors.org/2011/07/hi-im-violet-yates/) Now I post my pick of the day under the column heading: Lynn’s Literary Listing where I can illuminate page links of any variety…Book or Author of the day. After I get done with my column, I post it on the Facebook fan page where hopefully it will virtually spread.

 

CIA Special Ops Team, Call Sign: Wrecking Crew is sent overseas on a Top Secret mission. Once the mission is completed, they rapidly realize they are merely Pawns in an International Chess Game that turns into a Political Firestorm. As a result, they are disavowed. Accompanied by Firefights, Fate, and Faith, they finally find a way home. After arriving, they discover governmental abuses of the Constitution. Will they survive long enough to thwart these enemies of the State?

Genre: Fiction – Action/Adventure/Political Intrigue
Mature Audience rating is recommended
MS Word count: 193,763

If anyone is interested in purchasing our book, Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning) it is available on Amazon Kindle, U.S.,(http://www.amazon.com/Call-Sign-Wrecking-Warning-ebook/dp/B004INHK2G/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1309399051&sr=1-1)

Amazon Kindle, U.K., (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Call-Sign-Wrecking-Warning-ebook/dp/B004INHK2G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310941786&sr=8-1)

Amazon Paperback, U.S., (http://www.amazon.com/Call-Sign-Wrecking-Storm-Warning/dp/0982792352/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1309399051&sr=1-1)

Amazon Create Space, U.S., (https://www.createspace.com/3635438) and Barnes & Noble nook, U.S. (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Call-Sign/David-McKoy/e/2940012975584)

If you wish to keep up with what is happening in our little piece of the world, we can be found on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Call-Sign-Wrecking-Crew-Storm-Warning/228437083836889) or on our blog (http://callsignwreckingcrew.blogspot.com) plus you can always visit at our website (http://www.callsignwreckingcrew.com) and leave a message on our guest book page letting us know how you found out about us.

We hope everyone has a great one!

Lynn Hallbrooks

Along with David McKoy

Co-owners of Call Sign Wrecking Crew, LLC

Co-authors of Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning)

David McKoy is a graduate of the School of Hard Knocks, Magnum Cum Laude.

David encouraged his co-author Lynn Hallbrooks to follow her dream of becoming an author. It is interesting to note that David developed the storyline from his own ruminations. The scary part is that some of his futuristic predictions were coming true before the book even went to the publisher.

David attributes his inspirations to a combination of Glenn Beck and Richard Marcinko. He even decided to not read any new books for fear of being further influenced by them and not developing his own style. David believes whole-heartedly in the Founding Fathers and the freedoms they gave us.

David has over 30 years in the security field starting in the U.S. Navy and continuing into his civilian life. As such, he prefers to stay out of the limelight. David is also a member of an American Legion Post as well as the NRA.

Lynn Hallbrooks is a graduate of the School of Hard Knocks.

After 30 years of being in the Health Information field, Lynn decided to change careers. Lynn and her co-author David McKoy set out on a journey to write a book. Both being of military backgrounds, Lynn in the Air Force and David in the Navy, they decided something military based would be the best place to start. David developed the storyline while Lynn had the computer talents and connections.

Lynn met Connie Kay soon after 9-11. Connie’s husband, Eddie, wrote a book called Lucky Enough a few years later. Watching Eddie and Connie progress through their literary journey, and seeing that book-writing was an obtainable goal, Lynn decided to try their publisher.

River Road Press (Pat McGrath Avery and Joyce Faulkner) took them through their paces and now they’ve been on Amazon Kindle since January 2011. Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning), is a blending of their writing styles. It could even be considered a mixed genre between Political Intrigue and Action/Adventure.

For security reasons, David McKoy prefers to stay out of the limelight. But he has no problem allowing Lynn to take the lead on matters of public relations.

Writing: A State of Mind

Sometimes when I’m writing, the words flow neatly onto the screen, or paper, timed at an even pace. Other times, it’s like squeezing apples to get the juice flowing. I tend to write in spurts. I don’t write every day like some do. I cannot write on demand. I used to be able to do so, but I spent many years imbibing in alcoholic beverages and somehow my brain has suffered (I am now in recovery, 2.5 years).

I cannot seem to hold words or thoughts in my head for very long. If a thought comes to my mind and I don’t write it down, it is lost in the ether. I am sure many great ideas have slipped by me this way. I have taken to keeping a small notepad in my purse for those moments in which I need to scrawl away. I can then later transcribe my words into digital form. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing. If I’m driving, I pull over. If I’m watching a movie, I press pause. If I’m working on something else, I stop and write it down. I must keep track, as well; otherwise, I have a gazillion thoughts scribbled down or written into MS word and no cohesion.

Not everything I write is kept, although when I’m seriously revising a manuscript, I’ll keep a second file open to copy and paste the cuts to. I do hate to throw anything I write out, with the exception of typos. But as most writers know, this is part of the creative process. Just like painting over a mistake, we must omit our mistakes, even beautiful ones. Part of revising, I learned as an English major, is cutting or considerably changing parts of your written works. It is painful, but necessary.

What can be even more painful is those few seconds when someone announces they are reading your work. As anyone who has gotten a less than favorable review can attest to, it is terrifying not knowing what that particular person will say about your hard work. It can be crushing to receive a bad review or a critical review. We often rely on others to bolster our opinion of our own writing, and when that fails, it can be devastating.

Rejection letters work in the same way. My first manuscript was rejected numerous times both by publishers and agents. It actually gave me writer’s block for a long time; it took me years to gather the courage to send anything out again. I am still hesitant. One must consider, however, that an editor or agent is a person with different tastes and ideas, so one must never allow a rejection to stop them from writing, like I did.

But good reviews are awesome! I soar when I receive a good review, or when someone says they loved my writing. When they strike up a conversation about my characters, I look like a Cheshire cat. I adore those people and will remember them always. I have made quite a few friends as a result of my writing.

Writing, to me, is cathartic. I love to write, to see how well the words flow onto the page. If I lost the ability to write, I would be very depressed indeed. Even while I was suffering writer’s block and didn’t write a wink of fiction, I was still writing poetry and blogging. My motto these days is “never stop writing.”

Thank you for reading!

Review of No Wings Attached by Stella Deleuze

Review by Violet Yates

I received this book for free from the author after I’d read another one of her books, Excuse Me, Where is the Exit? I loved that one, and I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The plot is original, yet not outlandish. The writer, Stella Deleuze, uses the paranormal genre to accentuate a beautiful love story.

This story is about a woman in her early thirties named Celia, who had bad luck with love in the past and has a sore, slightly mistrustful heart as a result. Tom, a handsome man in his late twenties, is a wish consultant who is assigned to her. At first all he sees is a difficult woman who is jaded, but as he gets to know her, he begins to love her. But Tom has a secret, something that threatens to disassemble their almost perfect relationship. When the mishaps, and accidents, started happening, it served to draw me in to learn more about the ‘why.’

This story is cute, with just enough drama to keep the reader turning the pages. The conflict could have happened earlier, in my opinion, and should have been accentuated a bit better. But that is just my thoughts. I loved Celia’s and Tom’s characters; they have quirks and attributes which are memorable. Stella’s ability to describe the scene really helps: Celia’s love for cooking shines through; the scents of good cooking waft from the pages.

I look forward to reading more of Stella’s writing. Good job!