Holiday break

New posts coming in the next few days!  Stay tuned and hope you all had happy holidays! 

Guest Post by Jim L. Wright - The Next Big Thing

 Repost as Guest - Jim L. Wright's Blog Post

~part of a blog hop for authors to help readers find new writers, genres and books~

The Next Big Thing

Posted on 11/12/2012

I have been asked by Francis Laveaux of the blog In The Shadow of the Dragon and author of Le Cheval, l’Alouette to take part in a blog chain called The Next Big Thing in which an author answers ten questions about his/her next (or most in need of a push) book. At the end of the blog post I must ‘tag’ five other authors and they answer on their blog the following week. And, we all put it on our blogs and Facebook pages, and/or tweet it.”

And these are the 10 questions:

1) What is the title of your book?

The title of my book is “New Yesterdays”.

2) Where did the idea come from?

The idea for New Yesterdays was germinated in the 2011 NaNoWriMo. The story was originally about three young boys, modeled after my brothers and me, living in rural Alabama in the 1960s. I thought the story was going well for a few days there, but then the characters decided to go in a completely new and different direction. Remember, these boys were my brothers and me so I knew how headstrong they were so I decided to just follow along and let them tell the story. When the tale finished was both surprised and satisfied with what they’d done.

3) What genre best defines your book?

I reckon I’d have to classify it as a Young Adult Fantasy. However, I think that most adults will find it entertaining, as well. To bolster that belief, I’ve had a good many reviews and emails from adults from 30-75, all saying they enjoyed it very much! So, nuts to the classification system!

4) What actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?

I don’t know much about child actors nowadays, so I’d have to reach back to the past. I can see little Ronny Howard (of the Andy Griffith Show) playing the role of Jim and perhaps Johnny Crawford (of the Rifleman series) as Dustu. Co-stars could include Adam Beach as Adahy, Saginaw Grant as Tooantuh and Elaine Miles as Hiawassee, Dustu’s mother. The roles of Principal Chief John Ross, President John Adams, and President Andrew Jackson might be a bit more difficult since they are actual people.

 5) What is the one-sentence synopsis?

A fanciful rewriting of one of America’s ugliest eras.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It is self-published at Createspace and Amazon.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft?

Believe it or not, the first draft was banged out in thirty days.  However, I had spent the better part of the previous year outlining and researching the story. I spent the next four months editing and passing it around to beta readers before finally publishing at the end of February 2012.

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Honestly, I can’t say I’ve ever read anything quite like this story, with which I could compare it. Certainly, I didn’t have a “model story” in mind as I wrote it. As I mentioned earlier, the boys are the ones who actually wrote it; I was merely the stenographer!

 9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My two brothers, Tony and Michael were my inspiration for the story and my love of history and my heritage helped me to research and finish it.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

I think that the way I deal with the actual history of the tragedy of the Cherokee people will interest most readers, even if they have only a casual interest in it. I also think my way of telling a story has a way of holding people’s interest. There’s nothing stilted or formal about it. I just write my stories the same way I tell them round the dinner table or over a nice hot, steaming cup of coffee!

Now, I must pass The Next Big Thing to five more victims… erm, friends. Watch for the answers provided by my nominees and support their efforts by picking up a copy of their books. If you like them let them know by posting a review. It’s your praise and criticism that keep us going!

And, the nominees are:

• Ruth Watson-Morris, author of The Reptilian Series
• Tony Levy, author of A Turnkey or Not
• Tom Rydder, author of The Clearing, due out from Greyhart Press in early 2013
• Michelle Patricia Browne, author of And the Stars Will Sing
• Peggy Bechko, author of Out of Thin Air

About olbigjim

Ol' Big Jim, a teller of tall tales. My stories should take you on a journey. I want to make you laugh, thrill you, and maybe even frighten you just a little. I hope you'll enjoy reading them and let me know about it.

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Heads Up Writers - The Weather Is Your Friend

Okay, writers, listen up.  Despite all those jokes about “A dark and stormy night” via Edward Bulwer-Lytton and the ongoing Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest the simple fact is the weather can be and frequently is a writer’s friend.

At the risk of rattling a few cages and creating some writers’ angst, there’s a whole lot you can do with the weather whether in a script or a novel or short story. For one thing you can’t avoid the weather, it’s there. And it offers the opportunity for all sorts of descriptive, atmospheric and elements to advance a plot.

The intrepid writer can utilize weather to raise the stakes in a book or movie - hey, there are lots of weather conditions that can turn life-threatening and add great interest to a story (provided you’re not tossing it in just for some action and it doesn’t relate to the plot). I mean look, things are pretty tricky if a protagonist has werewolves on his trail, but things get that much worse when he gets trapped by a rising flood inside a high-rise WITH the werewolves and no way out.

A writer could simply set the mood for his or her story with weather. Many times sadness is reflected with drifting snow outside a window or a drizzling rain falling from gray skies. Weather affects us all and contributes to our moods. Adding a bit to your story wouldn’t hurt.

Have you noticed weather can put forth irony as well?  What about a beautiful sunrise, chirping birds and the news a loved one has died? Maybe the opposite - a raging blizzard, a computer that works and gives up the information the protagonist has just won the lottery but can’t get out of the house.

It can also be a way to present your reader of your writing or watcher of your movie some symbolism. Weather can be evocative of memories; happy ones of a snowy Christmas - or a palm-bedecked Christmas if in the tropics. And what of the character who’s always sunny and happy no matter how dismal the weather?

Weather can also create an interesting setting. Bring color into your writing. Add rain, snow, sleet, ice, wind, whatever and add spice to a scene. Take a scene of a couple merely standing and talking and turn it into a bit of a comedy by having them slipping and sliding on the ice, clutching each other to keep from falling. Zip things up.

So don’t hesitate to use weather to your advantage - but remember to use a light hand and in small doses, interwoven with action and dialog and remember to use it when it’s important. As a writer you don’t want to plague your readers with endless pages of snow drifting lightly down on the trees, covering the walks, making driving slow and difficult, coating the little birds’ heads, melting into ice patches, etc.

Use it the right way and add spice, color and life to your story, but like everything else, in moderation.

Come on, tell me when you’ve used weather to spice up a story or add drama. Who's afraid of Bulwer-Lytton?