When Life Imitates Art

by Ann Montclair

 

Being a first time author, I’ve come to realize how important reviews are in so many ways for a writer. Prior to publishing, I would read through the message boards that Amazon provides for the writers who publish there. A lot of the stuff was on the technical elements of writing, but I was surprised by how many threads were posted by writers who were either celebrating a new review, or trying to solicit a fellow writer to provide them with a review.

“Don’t be so needy,” I would think. Then I published, and waited for the reviews to come pouring in. Didn’t happen. My first customers were friends and family, so after a few days I sent an email out saying it would be helpful to see a review (how long can it take you to read my book was, I think, the underlying message). Nothing. “I must stink as a writer,” I thought, “or everyone would post a review.” Then it happened. A friend posted a review. It was short and sweet, but 5 stars, and said good things about the book. Maybe I do have value as a writer.

Over the next weeks and months that one review has grown into a wonderful library of customer feedback. I’ve been blessed with some very kind readers who have encouraged me to continue on with this new endeavor, and I’m extremely grateful to them. As the process has unfolded, I’ve learned a lot about the value of reviews.

First and foremost, reviews give great encouragement to the author, especially self-published writers. I don’t know that JK Rowling obsesses over reviews, but from my experience and based on message board posts, I promise that self-published writers do. Reviews give legitimacy to a book. Sales of my book started at a trickle (to be polite), but once there were a dozen or so reviews, sales started to pick up. Reviews inform potential readers about the book. When authors submit their work to Amazon, we are limited to how much we can blurb about it (both by Amazon and good taste). A good review can give prospective readers information an author can’t.

Will You Still Love Me…In The Next Book?

Keeping the Romance Active Throughout a Series

How do I come up with plots? Well, my plots kind of develop themselves…

The LEGACY characters first appeared as secondary characters in my book, THE BODYGUARD. Marly O'Shea was such an intriguing secondary character, I had to tell her story, so I wrote PICTURE PERFECT LEGACY.

Wherever Marly is, her seven overly protective brothers are nearby. To get them out of her love life, they needed challenges and lovers of their own, so their stories started percolating in my head.

One of those brothers is a priest. Yes, the kind who takes vows of celibacy. Right away this presents a major conflict in a romance as well as gives our hero some major internal struggles. :)

I learned early in my writing career that conflict is good if you don't want a story that's only a few pages long. So in spite of wanting my characters to have their happily-ever-afters right away, I learned to write conflict.

One of the ways I do this is pick two main character who are opposites in many ways. For instance, a cop who sees life in black and white falling in love with a social worker who sees all the rainbow shades of motivation. Or a fireman who is attracted to a woman who is afraid of fire.

Or, in LEGACY OF ANGELS, a priest and a prostitute.

Then the plot must unfold in a way readers will find believable--but not predictable.

I had already set up a baby-selling ring in the first book of my LEGACY series. A caseworker had removed a child from his adoptive parents because this child had been stolen from his birth mother and sold under the guise of a legal adoption.

With the baby-selling scenario and two main characters in mind, I started asking questions to build the plot. For example, where is the birth mother? Did she search for her child? If not, why not? Was she afraid to get the child back? Or was she in such a dire situation she thought the child would be better off with someone else?

There are many aspects to creating interesting characters. First of all, they have to seem true to life in some of their traits, and at the same time inhabit unique qualities so a reader will not always guess what each character will do or say. Secondly, three dimensional characters have spark and sizzle since they are deep in their feelings and thoughts as we all are in real life.

The creation of characters derives from an amalgamation of traits that we recognize as well as original ones from our imagination. When people describe the writing of characters as though ‘they write themselves’, this too occurs at times. Dialogue and/or action seems to jump into the story before we’ve had a chance to fully nurture it. Then comes the revisions and editorial process. None the less, between the muses and the unconscious, there is a whole active world inside our minds and in our spiritual existence, that is simply waiting to explode and dance on paper and in digital form! It is up to us, to release this energy when we feel it, and control portions of this in order to unleash characters that have deep inner conflicts as well as challenges they face externally.

When I was little girl my sister Shirley, who was fifteen years older than me, had a pen pal named Scotty. I was amazed that she was getting a letter from someone who lived in faraway Scotland.  Though I don’t recall how it began, I acquired my Scots pen pal, Sheena McIlvean, sometime before my twelfth birthday.  (We are still pen friends!)  We had been writing for a year or two, when Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip were married in 1947.  Sheena sent me a lovely book with wedding pictures of the royal couple.

About forty years later when I was proofreading a manuscript for a publishing company in Harrisburg, PA, I read the inscription on Margaret’s grave marker in a Wigtown, Scotland, kirkyard.  I was awed by the dedication of this 17th century teen martyr. I set out on my own quest to find out all I could about her.
A librarian by profession, I had research skills that put me in good stead.  However, finding information about a Scots teen who  had lived some 300 years ago was a daunting task.  For about four years I searched for Margaret in libraries and on the Internet.  I subscribed to The Scots Magazine and watched for any mention of her or of  the time frame in which she lived.

In 2000 I visited Scotland on a Castle Tour.  I met Sheena and her husband Phil and shared a dinner with them in their lovely home in Perth. The following day they took me to Stirling Castle. Just below the castle is a huge statue of Margaret and her younger sister.  We also visited some areas in Edinburgh that were significant in Margaret’s life. I came home and finished my story as best I could based on the information I had assembled.

In 2004 when Sheena was securing for me a CD entitled Voices of Wigtown, she was given the name and contact for the leading authority on Margaret Wilson and the Covenanters, Donna Brewster. Donna was an American who married a Scotsman and now lived in Wigtown. When I contacted her via e-mail, she invited me to come to Wigtown as her house guest.  She would take me to the places important in Margaret’s life.
I finished my manuscript as best I could before visiting Scotland to “check things out.”  I returned on the 325th anniversary of Margaret’s martyrdom and had the privilege of laying flowers on her grave and taking a wreath to the spot where she was drowned.

Donna took me to Margaret’s birthplace and to the moors as well as other spots that were part of Margaret’s life. Stepping into the small prison cell where she spent her last few days in Wigtown was an emotional high for me and a fitting climax to my research.

  It was home again to rewrite much of Margaret’s story. When questions arose in my mind about something Scots, a quick e-mail to Donna, or to Liz Curtis Higgs, an American author acclaimed for her historical Scots novels, secured for me the answers I needed to ensure my story details were accurate.
In July 2007 an American publishing company, P & R Publishing (Presbyterian and Reformed), released Against the Tide: The Valor of Margaret Wilson as part of their Chosen Daughters Series.

The persecution of Christians around the world grows more severe day by day, a grim reminder of the mini-inquisition that Margaret Wilson and the people in Southwestern Scotland faced for fifty years from 1638-1688.

Widow M’Lauchlan, a devout Covenanter who was martyred on the same day as Margaret Wilson, had counseled her when they were imprisoned together in Thieves’ Hole that they needed to be ready for service or sacrifice.  Margaret understood this.  She was ready.

Whether the readers of Margaret’s story are teen or adult, that’s the story I aimed to tell through Margaret’s life.

I think I found out how I developed my character in retrospect, and now that I can see it I think I reverse engineered her. When I first started writing my book, “When Monsters Get Lonely,” the last thing on my mind was character development. I just wanted to tell the story of a little girl who overcame her fear of the dark and of monsters. So my character’s greatest fear was already there. She also had a dream of becoming a movie director, so she started out as a concrete character with a dream and a fear from the very start.

I think that developing a character for a picture book is much easier than developing one for a novel. You have a limited number of words to work with, so you can’t go into detail and you have the illustrations to fill in the description of the character. I did have quite a bit of detail about the character which I had to delete because of word count, but the character immerged nevertheless.

I was afraid of the dark and of monsters as a child so the character was partly me, but when the book became about my granddaughter, the character became partly her. She was almost three at the time, so really the character was what I imagined her to be.

I think my character just developed with my understanding of how to write picture books. When I found out that the main character must resolve the problem herself, my character became strong and intelligent, because she had to understand what Grams meant when she said that we invent our lives, and she had to use her understanding to resolve her problem.

Hannah was strong enough to go back to her room, but not overly so. She asked her mom to leave the lights on, so she came through as both strong and vulnerable.

In the end to sum it all up, I think my character was real because she was

-Borrowed from real life, but I don’t think that a character should be exactly like one particular person. But then that’s the fun of writing fiction, you can make up a whole new personality.

-She had an ambition and a fear.

-She had strong traits that the reader can identify with, she was intelligent, brave, and vulnerable.

-She grew and got over her fear by resolving her own problem.


About the Author:


Maha Huneidi is a wife, mother and now grandmother, who finally found out what she wants to be when she grows up. This book is the first step of her journey. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Many young writers feel challenged by what seems to be such a daunting task—writing a story. They wonder how they will ever remember the who, what, why, when and where of their proposed story. Nothing is easy without practice and as we all know, practice makes perfect. My suggestion for a young writer wanting to put their own story down is to start with stories they already enjoy.

Read some of your favorite books, the ones that had you longing for more excitement. Or the one that was so fascinating you read it more slowly so the book did not end too soon. Or the one where you were so tired but could not put it down until you knew the hero was safe … for now. Think about why the author had you captivated from the start. The author probably came up with a great idea right away, an idea that gripped you. It could have been a mystery, a quest, a journey, a mission, and perhaps something that seemed impossible for the hero to accomplish. The author then drew you into the story which had unexpected twists and turns, surprises, and sometime disasters that affected the hero. The plot is what makes a hero or heroine who they are. Every plot has a story to tell, and that story follows a certain sequence. Sure, you can jump around and have side excursions, but every writer should bring his hero back to the main story soon enough.

Creating a great plot. Write your initial plot down in a few words. Keep it simple. “My story is about (my hero) who is faced with (a challenge, a dilemma, a problem) and how he/she overcomes the challenge or solves the problem. A tip: stick to the kind of story that you like to read, or else material that interests you. If you love football, then don’t make your hero a hockey player. Place your story in a setting that you either know about, or would enjoy researching.

How to Construct your Storyline. Structure is very important otherwise you’ll forget something important, and your story will fall to pieces. Carefully outline your initial plot with more detail. You may not stick to it exactly, but it’s important to map out where the story is going. You don’t want to give away the plot too soon, or tell the reader everything all at once. So begin with a simple 3-point system: the Beginning (your hero appears—what is he doing? What does he want to achieve?); the Middle (something will happen to him and he has to …?); the Ending (your hero resolves the situation). From those three vital points you will fill in your other plot points—how did… why did… what happens next. You can introduce new characters and other story lines to add interest to your main plot. Don’t forget to always bring your readers back to the main plot.

As your plot develops you’ll find your characters will grow by their experiences. A tip: as your characters appear in the story and new developments take place, keep a notebook on the side and make notes to remind yourself of all the small details. Don’t forget that depending on the situation and location of your story, you may have to research facts. Make sure your information is as accurate as possible to make your story more enjoyable for your readers.


About the author:


Fiona Ingram’s earliest story-telling talents came to the fore when, from the age of ten, she entertained her three younger brothers and their friends with serialized tales of children undertaking dangerous and exciting exploits, which they survived through courage and ingenuity. Haunted houses, vampires, and skeletons leaping out of coffins were hot favorites in the cast of characters. Although Fiona Ingram has been a journalist for the last fifteen years, writing a children’s book—The Secret of the Sacred Scarab—was an unexpected step, inspired by a recent trip to Egypt. The tale of the sacred scarab began life as a little anecdotal tale for her 2 nephews (then 10 and 12), who had accompanied her on the Egyptian trip. This short story grew into a children’s book, the first in the adventure series Chronicles of the Stone. The author has finished the next book in the series—The Search for the Stone of Excalibur—a huge treat for young King Arthur fans. Although Fiona Ingram does not have children of her own, she has an adopted teenage foster child, from an underprivileged background who is just discovering the joys of reading for pleasure. Naturally, Fiona is a voracious reader and has been from early childhood. Her interests include literature, art, theatre, collecting antiques, animals, music, and films. She loves travel and has been fortunate to have lived in Europe (while studying) and America (for work). She has travelled widely and fulfilled many of her travel goals.

 How I’m going to talk to my kids when they become teenagers is a thought most parents have since the kids were born. They change in front of our eyes, rebel, and become independent, wanting to spend less time with the family and more out with their friends. And if this is not enough, many start to drink, smoke, and experiment with drugs and sex. You remember; you were there a few years back.

 But talking is only one component of the relationship you have with your kids. Try to see them as what they really are; children of God you have the privilege to raise, care for and guide as they find their way in the world. In that sense, your soul and theirs are equal, having different roles to play in life. Being aware of it you would raise them respecting who they are, bringing them to respect you and your role as their parent. Having relationship which is based on mutual respect is a key for healthy dialog with teens.

Seeing them as God’s children will also give us the patience and composure needed so much if we are to succeed in our role as parents. Remember that teenage rebellion is a normal part of their growth. We have the experience; they still need to accumulate it. Still, the parent is the mature one in the relationship, so even if they seemed unwilling to listen, make sure they know you are always there for them. It is important to remember that all that God is asking of you is to do your best, and that ultimately how each person ends up is between his or her soul and God.

Nurturing healthy relationships with kids from an early age will help you to survive the turmoil of the teenage rebellion. No one likes to hear orders al the time, and parents who constantly give them (“Because I said so”), will find it harder to deal with teenagers who are much less impressed by threats and punishments. So talk to them, open yourself and when possible explain your reasoning for making a new rule, or setting new restrictions. It is your home and your rule, but a wise leader lets everyone feel included.

You are the pillar of the family, and your kids don’t need you as their best friend. They even don’t need to love you; they need to respect you, and hopefully overtime they will come to admire the role you played in their lives. Hearing her saying, “You are the best parent in the world” because she got what she wanted would make you feel good, but is not a sign of a decision well made. Make what you consider to be the right decision and over time they will learn to respect you for it. Most people grow up to by like their parents, so while guiding them as teens; you are also showing them how to do the right thing as a parent later on.

There are many ways to raise teenagers, and the one you will adapt has a lot to do with how you were raised. Try to remember what worked and what didn’t. Try hard not to repeat the mistakes you parents made, and if useful to you, use those things that worked. And when you feel overwhelmed, it is a good idea to seek professional help. But above all, listen to your inner voice, and seek God’s help. It is where the endless wisdom of the universe is to be found. And we need every bit of it if we to be successful raising teenagers in the 21th century.



Author Bio


During his formative years, Tal Yanai was not happy with his reality. What he was creating in his life was not in alignment with what he wanted in his heart or what he knew and deeply felt was possible.

As a struggling student, he was considered a troublemaker in school. Then one day, during a bike trip from the kibbutz to the sea, he was asked to take charge and make sure none of the other kids lagged behind. For the first time in his life, at age fifteen, Tal got a taste of what it meant to assume responsibility and be a leader. This one experience planted the seed for his goal to assume a leadership role in his later life. After finishing high school, having been raised on Kibbutz, Einat, Israel, he volunteered to serve as a leader in the Kibbutzim Youth Movement, which focused on principles such as volunteering, mutual help, and giving to one’s community and country.

In tenth grade he was diagnosed with dyslexia, which explained his learning difficulties but it did little to ease his frustration with himself and his everyday struggles. He had no mentors he could confide in or look up to. And no matter how hard his parents tried, his living on a kibbutz meant they had little influence during his teenager years.

At the age of twenty-three, when he moved to the U.S., Tal found solace in a higher power and started on a spiritual path, which has led him to align himself with his soul’s essence and mission.
For two years he worked as an historical analyst at the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, established by Steven Spielberg after the filming of Schindler’s List. As part of his job, he listened every day to testimonies of Holocaust survivors. Many were children or teenagers during WWII and their stories greatly influenced Tal’s decision to become involved with educating youth, so he proceeded to get his Teaching Credential in Social Studies.

Bringing two wonderful children into the world gave him a new sense of urgency to share and teach everything he’s learned about God and spirituality. Today, Tal teaches Hebrew and Judaic Studies in Temple Beth Hillel in the San Fernando Valley as he continues his quest to explore the meaning of soul and achieve his full potential as a spiritual teacher.








Resource on drug abuse for help talking with your teen: http://blackbearrehab.com/substance-abuse/