Hank Quense on Using Scene Settings to Develop the Rest of the Story @hanque99 #AmWriting

Why choosing your setting is important

A setting for a new story is one of the earliest attributes I assign. I need the setting on order to develop the rest of the story design elements. More about the story design elements later. There are two separate types of setting in a story. One is the overall setting such as a Medieval kingdom or Victorian London or an alien planet. The second type of setting is a subset of the overall setting and this second tip is used in scenes. Thus, scenes set in Victorian London could include a private men’s club, a private home, the docks on the Thames, and the London Bridge. All of these are readily identified as part of the London overall setting. It is an essential requirement of the story that the scene settings be consistent with the overall setting. For instance, if the scene on London Bridge includes modern automobiles, the reader will have a difficult time suspending belief.

In other words, choosing a setting limits what the writer can do and it also limits the characters. Likewise, a character in the Medieval kingdom setting can’t use Kung Fu to disarm an opponent. Using Victorian London as the story setting will require research in order to write convincingly about it. However, since no one is alive who lived during that era, the author has a bit of leeway in describing the setting. That’s not true if the writer uses a modern setting. If the writer gets the details wrong, some readers will call him on the mistakes.

I live outside New York City and I love to visit Central Park. I’ve used the Park as a scene setting in a few stories. In one story, the climax took place in the Park at a spot that includes Cleopatria’s Needle, an Egyptian obelisk. The story called for characters to be dropped off on the east side of the Park (5th Avenue) and go through the Park to get to the obelisk. To ensure accuracy, I went to the Park and walked the route my characters would take. I also took pictures to ensure I wrote the details correctly.

If you haven’t been to Central Park, don’t try to use it in a scene, it’s unique. In similar fashion, don’t write about San Francisco’s Chinatown unless you’ve been there and are familiar with the area.

I’ve written a number of scenes in a fantasy city called Dun Hythe. I picture the seaport as resembling Quebec City. This city has two parts called the Lower and Upper towns. The Lower Town is along the St. Laurence River and extends back a few hundred yards. The Upper Town is atop a rock palisade a hundred feet or more high. My Dun Hythe is constructed similarly and I have photos to took while in Quebec so I get the details correct.

Do you enjoy untypical coming-of-age stories? Well, you won’t find one more untypical than Moxie’s Problem. Moxie is an obnoxious, teen-age princess who has never been outside her father’s castle. Until now. The real world is quite different and she struggles to come to grips with reality. The story takes place against a backdrop of Camelot. But it isn’t the Camelot of legends. It’s Camelot in a parallel universe. So, all bets are off!

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – Fantasy, Sci-fi

Rating – G

More details about the author

Connect with Hank Quense through Facebook & Twitter

Website http://hank-quense.com/wp/

Read More

7 Things You Should Know About "The Three Sisters" by Bryan Taylor #politics #humor #mustread

The Three Sisters is Laugh Out Loud Funny. My main goal in writing The Three Sisters was to make people laugh.  I grew up on Monty Python and always enjoyed their anti-establishment, intellectual sense of humor which used the absurdity of life to make people laugh.  Everyone I know who has read the book has found it to be one of the funniest books they’ve read in a long time.  Not only did I try to put a lot of wit in the book, but by writing a satire, the book is comic by its very plot and nature.

The Three Sisters is illustrated.  I think it is a pity that most books aren’t illustrated.  We live in a visual world, and there is no reason why books shouldn’t be illustrated as well.  I love the illustrations that Gustave Doré and others provided to books in the nineteenth century, and it is natural to include illustrations in children’s books, but what about “serious” adult books?  I think they would be better off with illustrations, and I tried to show how I think this should be done in The Three Sisters using illustrations from other books, photoshopped pictures and commissioned paintings.

The Three Sisters is a Sacrilegious Satire.  Although the book is about three sexy nuns, it is not just about Catholicism and religion.  As a satire, it attacks all aspects of the establishment: government, the media, corporations, and all points in between.  Classical satire, such as Candide or Gulliver’s Travels, were written because it was difficult to directly attack the establishment.  Although this is no longer true, I felt a satire was the best way of getting across the message I wanted to provide. I hope that by putting this message in a humorous framework, it will get more people to read the book.

The Three Sisters took thirty-five years to write. The book was originally a serial that I put together in college in 1977. After graduating, I spent four years converting this serial into a book.  For some reason, when I offered a sacrilegious satire about three sexy nuns who work at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Parts and who are arrested for their misdeeds, agents and mainstream publishers didn’t want to publish the novel. Don’t know why.  So the novel sat around in my closet for 30 years.  When electronic publishing made it possible to print a book on your own without anyone telling you how to “fix” your novel, I decided to bring The Three Sisters into print.  I have no doubt The Three Sisters would have been a completely different book if I had used a publisher who was more mindful of their reputation than the novel itself.

The Three Sisters has many unexpected plot twists.  Readers like surprises.  If I can tell you what is going to happen in a book a hundred pages before it happens, I lose interest.  It is fun to think of the author as an escape artist, like Houdini, who can place their characters in an impossible situation, then escape.  That is what I like in a book, and I wanted to do that for my readers as well.  I can guarantee you that if you read The Three Sisters, it will take twists and turns you will never expect.

The Three Sisters originated from a photograph a friend gave me.  The Three Sisters is not autobiographical.  I did not get a sex change and become a nun so I could write from experience. I just read too many books.  A friend of mine gave me a photo of three nuns back in college and I turned that into a wanted poster.  She gave me another photo of nuns, and I turned that into a second little story.  People at the college began asking me what was going to happen next. Each week I put up a new episode and thus the basic plot of The Three Sisters was born.

The Three Sisters was self-published. After I finished writing The Three Sisters in 1983, I was unable to find an agent to represent the book, much less a publisher to publish it.  The book sat in my closet for the next 30 years.  A friend of mine recommended that I self-publish the book, and he told me how easy this was to do today.  The publishing world has been turned upside down and you no longer have to rely upon mainstream publishers to get your book published (getting people to read your book after it is published is another matter, however).  I still had my typewritten manuscript, and I outsourced The Three Sisters to India to convert into Microsoft Word, then began editing the book for publication.  Self-publishing allowed me to create the book I wanted, and I have been pleased with the results.  I encourage others to publish on their own.  Print-on-demand means the book is always available and e-books mean anyone anywhere in the world can download and read your book.  Unfortunately, publishing is the easy part.  Getting people to be aware of and read your book is an even bigger hurdle.  But I have to believe that somewhere, someday, an agent or editor will fall in love with my three nuns and through readers recommending the book, it will receive the readership it deserves.

Nuns just want to have fun! But when three former Catholic nuns have too much fun and get in trouble with the law, they become nuns on the run.

Driving back to Washington D.C. where they work at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Parts, the three sisters are arrested in Tennessee. After defeating the local deputy in strip poker, they escape from jail, and are pursued by the zealous Detective Schmuck Hole, who has personally offered a $10,000 reward for their capture on The 700 Club. Little do they know that when the three sisters visit the Washington Monument, their lives will change forever.

Set in 1979, The Three Sisters is a sacrilegious satire that skewers not only organized religion, but the government, the media, intellectuals, corporate greed and every other part of the establishment. Maybe not the greatest story ever told, but possibly the funniest.

Buy @ Amazon

Genre – Humor, Satire, Catholicism, Politics

Rating – R

More details about the author

Connect with Bryan Taylor on Facebook

Website www.threesistersnovel.com

Read More

Inside the Mind of @AlexMueck & More #Humor #Historical #Fiction

Inside the Mind of the Author

I think every author needs to set the mood.  Some escape too remote cabins, but that is not always possible.  But I do my best work when there are no distractions.  I like to have the room dark with a candle or two, and play soft jazz while I generally listen to hard rock.  Once I feel ready I try to lose myself to the characters and imagine I am them.  Some days the words just flow, others not, but I try to always forge ahead, and can always strengthen the writing later.
The Footsteps I Follow: Authors I Admire

Too many to mention.  I am always reading, and I have a wide varied interest in fiction and non-fiction.  I will just say that with each book I tried to do something in the vein of authors I respect in that genre, and yet ensure that it was unique. The first book was a financial thriller, the second a detective/serial killer story, and the third a comic farce.  In the latter genre I love and admire authors like Carl Hiaasen, Christopher Moore, and others, so I would cite them on my most recent book.

How to Overcome Radio Stage Fright

I love to talk, so I doubt I would have an issue.  I suppose one would imagine they are not on the radio, but rather having a chat with someone.

Why Writing is a Form of Personal Therapy

I think it is important for an individual to have a hobby, a passion, something that brings inner satisfaction.  We all have different gifts, it may be art, mechanics, athletics, and pursing these goals makes us feel alive with purpose.

How to Find a Critique Buddy

I have a friend or two who are also authors, and we all seem to have different strengths and weaknesses.  For instance one has great imagination and the author does a splendid job of capturing characters thoughts and emotions, and I feel I am good with dialogue and plot ideas.  So getting feedback and opinion always helps.  Even if you don’t agree, I feel if you even change one thing, then you still improved the book.

How to Create a Great Work Area for Inspiration

I think you need to remove yourself from distractions, family, friends, TV, phone and lose yourself into the characters and setting.

How to Write by the Seat of Your Pants: Outline or No?

I like a semblance of an outline.  What is the goal of the story?  What am I looking to achieve.  Who are the main characters, and what is the main plot, beginning and end.  So I definitely give a fairly large rough outline.  I expand on them as ideas form, but I like to write as I go, let the words come natural, although I script out each chapter in advance.

How to Research Your Story Before Writing Your Book

Depends on the book.  On m y 2^nd book which dealt with religious leaders being offed by the killer, I read quite a bit about each religion, and then sat down and visited places of worship and even participated in some ceremonies.  So basically every scene in the book I had visited.  This new book is a historical fiction comedy.  I read several books on Jesse James and outlined areas of his life that worked in the framework of the story I wanted to tell.

Why Choosing Your Setting is Important

If your mind is not free from distraction, it is hard to write.

"“A historical fiction comedy that packs
as much heart as humor.”
—Michael Dadich, award-winning author of The Silver Sphere

When a Harvard history professor receives a thesis paper titled Jesse James and the Secret Legend of Captain Coytus, from Ulysses Hercules Baxter—an underwhelming student—he assumes the paper must be a prank. He has never read such maniacal balderdash in his life. But after he calls a meeting with the student, Professor Gladstone is dismayed when Baxter declares the work is his own. As he takes a very unwilling Professor Gladstone back in time via his thesis, Baxter’s grade hangs in the balance as he attempts to prove his theory.

It is 1864 as philanderer and crusader Captain Coytus embarks on a mission to avenge his father’s death and infiltrates the Confederate Bushwacker posse looking for the man responsible, Jesse Woodson James. Accompanied by the woman of his dreams, Coytus soon finds himself temporarily appointed to be the sheriff of Booneville and commissions his less-than-loyal deputy to help him carry out his plan.

But when tragedy strikes, the Captain is forced to change his immature ways and redefine his lofty mission—more or less."

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Humor, Historical Fiction

Rating – R

More details about the author

Connect with Alex Mueck on Facebook & Twitter

Read More