Friday 24 May 2013

Introducing guest author Rosemary McCracken and BLACK WATER - a gripping and compelling read!

I got to know Rosemary a few years ago, when I had the privilege to be her Mentor in the Crime Writers of Canada Mentorship program. Now, I've mentored many fiction writers - probably over 1000 -  through my classes at Sheridan College.  You know that great feeling one gets when you discover a new writer you know is going to be a hit?  I felt that way about Rosemary.

And here it is: her second novel.  Enjoy!




The Best Piece of Writing Advice I’ve Ever Heard
I wrote several stories when I was a child. They were pretty dreadful, and at the age of nine or ten I had no idea how to make them better. So I stopped writing fiction.
If only I’d kept on. My writing and my storytelling abilities would have improved.
Instead, I became an avid reader and went on to study English literature at university. I was told that I had a talent for putting words together. After university, I became a newspaper journalist because it involved writing. And I’ve been writing and editing newspaper and magazine articles for the past thirty years.
But deep down I wanted to write fiction instead of relating facts. I wanted to create my own stories instead of reporting those of other people.
One day I overheard a conversation between a newspaper editor and a fellow reporter. This reporter was a terrific newshound. She could sniff out a good story and track down wonderful sources to interview. But she had trouble building an article out of her wealth of information. She’d get stuck on the first sentence.
“Just jump in and start writing,” the newspaper editor told her. “Don’t worry about the opening. You can come back and fix it. Turn off your internal editor, and write the story down just as if you’re telling it to me.”
Turn off your internal editor. The words resonated. As a journalist, I never had problems writing articles. I had to write to deadlines, and at daily newspapers, those were usually daily deadlines. I had no choice but to submit an article and move on to the next. I had no time to listen to internal editors when I had editors in the newsroom saying they wanted that article ASAP.
But I remembered the internal editor I’d listened to as a child, and I realized that I was vulnerable to that voice when I was writing fiction. And that was because I was working completely on my own, without deadlines and without feedback.
I decided to take another run at fiction writing.
With some difficulty, I managed to tune out my internal editor while I was writing. I focused on getting the story out, sentence by sentence, page by page. Later, the following day or the following week, I revisited these pages with my editor’s voice turned on but firmly in check. I tightened and reworked sentences and paragraphs. I discarded entire pages if necessary.
I joined a writers’ group that meets once a month. This provides deadlines, and I work well to deadlines. I joined networking groups such as Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime. Several years ago, I left my full-time job at a Toronto newspaper and became a freelance journalist to free up more time for fiction writing. I submitted work to literary contests.
Slowly, I made progress. I had short stories published in anthologies. I made the shortlist on some pretty prestigious writing contests. Then last year, my debut mystery, Safe Harbor, was published as an ebook and a paperback by Imajin Books. Its sequel, Black Water, has just been released.
I’m still vulnerable to my internal editor who likes to compare my writing—usually unfavourably—with the works of other writers. I need to tune out these comments, and with practice, this becomes easier to do. The voice will always be there, and it can be useful when my work needs editing.
But it has to be kept firmly in check.



Rosemary McCracken has worked on newspapers across Canada as a reporter, arts reviewer, editorial writer and editor. She is now a Toronto-based fiction writer and freelance journalist. Her first mystery novel, Safe Harbor, was shortlisted for Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association’s Debut Dagger in 2010 and published by Imajin Books in 2012. You can buy it here.
Black Water, the second book in the Pat Tierney series, has just been released at the special introductory price of .99! You can buy it here.
To win a $50 Amazon gift certificate, enter the contest here. Deadline is June 15.

Wednesday 22 May 2013

The Trouble with Magic! Former Comedy Writer Goes Rogue



I’m a former comedy writer gone rogue, by writing fantasy. My Land’s End series has been called “Game of Thrones Lite” by reviewers, and also, “The Princess Bride with sex.”

ROWENA AND THE DARK LORD, book 2 in the series, has just been released. I’m currently writing book three and have discovered a fascinating thing about fantasy.

Here’s the trouble with magic: if you allow a mage to be all-powerful, what’s to stop him from killing everyone he doesn’t like, grabbing the girl, and getting his way all the time?

Nice for him, but not much of a story for our readers. So…I have learned that the thing about writing books with magic in them is you need to establish limits to that magic. In fact, you need rules.

These rules need to be logical, and they need to be consistent. They can’t be too complex -  readers must be able to understand them.

In ROWENA AND THE DARK LORD, Cedric is the main user of magic. He is also the villain (Author insert here: or is he?) Cedric is learning magic, and becoming more powerful. He has gone over to the dark side to pick up more power. He can create armies of ghostly faceless warriors. But he has a major limit. He can’t do magic from a distance. Therefore, he can’t kill or inflict harm on someone he can’t actually see.

Rowena is also a user of magic. But she is an ‘infant witch,’ untrained. She has a magic bracelet, and no idea how to use it. Then she finds out that with the bracelet, she can channel magic. So if someone is around, happening to use magic, she can misdirect it. But she doesn’t know how to create it herself.

These limits on magic allow me to create a lively and funny plot in ROWENA AND THE DARK LORD. There is misfiring magic all over the place. A Roman Legion gets taken out of time, and time itself is in jeopardy.

We take care of that one in book three.

Short Excerpt:
Men’s voices again, echoing like souls lost in a fog. The mist lifted in one swift movement to disappear into nothingness. In its place, were at least a hundred men.
Bugger. I messed up.
“Houston, we have a problem,” I said out loud. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I must have pronounced one of the spell words wrong.
“Who is Houston?” Lars said.
“Romans!” Gareth hissed. He drew his sword.
“Romans?” I stared at the battle-scarred men before us. They looked exhausted. They also looked bloody, dirty and rather short. Not to mention confused.
How the heck could they be Romans?
Someone yelled “Form Square!” in—yup—that was Latin.
“What the hell?” I stared. The men came to life moving with purpose into a square. Within seconds we were facing a shield wall bristling with spears.
Gareth and Lars already had their swords drawn. They tried to move in front of me but I spread my arms to hold them back.
“Sheath your weapons,” I commanded.
They hesitated, eyeing the wall of men and knives.
“For crissake,” I insisted, “what do you expect to do against that, besides get us all killed?”
With reluctance the swords slid back into their scabbards.
The man on the horse wore a breastplate the sort of armor that you only saw in museums back home. Or movies. I was reminded of Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor. Richard Burton playing the part of Marc Antony.
Hoo boy.
The man on horseback stared at me. No stirrups on his saddle. A helmet that was in history books. Definitely Roman. I stared back at him.
Romans? In this time? What the poop had I done?
“It’s a freaking temporal rift!” My laugh was strident. “Where the hell is Spock when you need him?

Melodie Campbell achieved a personal best this year when Library Journal compared her to Janet Evanovich.  She has over 200 publications, including 100 comedy credits, 40 short stories, and 4 novels. She has won 6 awards for fiction. 

Sunday 19 May 2013

Writing Comedy – and Loving It! It's an addiction....



“I had the flu once.  It was terrible.  I couldn’t eat a thing for three hours.”


I hope you giggled at that line.  I think it’s one of my best.  And yes, I am a tad fond of eating.  In fact, you could list it as my major hobby.

My name is Melodie Campbell, and I write comedies.  (This is a self-help group, right?)  Sure I’d like to kick the habit and write a ‘real’ book with literary merit.

Okay, so that’s a lie.  Leave ROWENA AND THE DARK LORD behind?  Not write a sequel?  I’m starting to hyperventilate.  Actually, I love writing comedies.  It’s in my blood.
<crowd gasps here>

A GREEK MASK
Some people are born beautiful.  But most of us aren’t and we look for ways to survive the slings and arrows of life.  Sometimes we choose to hide behind a mask.  That Greek Comedy mask was the one I picked way back.

As a means of self-preservation in the cruel world of teenagers, I looked for the ‘funny.’  More often than not, I made fun of myself.  This was easy to do.  I knew the target well and there was a wealth of material.  And it didn’t hurt anyone else, so people liked it.

When I left school and had a ‘real’ job, I started writing stand-up on the side.  I rarely delivered it – usually I wrote for others. That led to a regular newspaper humour column, and more.

So when it came to writing fantasy novels, I fell back into ‘safe mode’.  Write it funny.

IT’S AN ADDICTION
Worse than chocolate and foreign Counts…  Comedy writers take a situation, and ask themselves ‘what’s the worst thing that could happen now?’  And then, what’s the funniest?

But why do it?  Why does an otherwise sane individual write zany and some might say silly comedy, and risk the inevitable hit from critics who say your book is without great literary merit? 

One reason, and one reason only: many readers love it.  Their comments and reviews are heart-lifting.  I’ve lightened their day with adventure and laughter, and in some cases given them a story they can escape into, over and over again. Yes it’s true.  It wouldn’t be fun to write if I didn’t have warm and generous readers.

Excerpt from Rowena and the Dark Lord
I was beginning to get a very bad feeling.
“Did you volunteer for this job?”
“Yes.” Howard was now relieving himself off to my right.
Why?” My voice was perhaps a little harsh.
“To get out of fighting, of course. Everyone says there’s going to be a big battle. It seemed like a good time to leave the castle.”
I rolled my eyes. So now I had a complete newbie horse dude who was also a coward to look after on this trip. Howard the Coward. Lucky me.
“Can we sit for a bit? I’m exhausted.” He plunked down on the grass. Then he sprang up again.
“Ow! Ow! Ow!” He ran around in circles.
“What is it?” I watched in amazement.
“A bee! I sat on a bee.”
“Are you sure it’s a bee?” I said, crossing my arms. “Maybe it was a wasp.”
“Does it matter?” He was jumping up and down.
“Well, if it’s a wasp, you’re okay. If it’s a bee, the stinger will still be stuck in you. So when you sit down again…”
“Ahhh!! Take it out! Get it out!” He lifted his tunic and bent over.
Ick.
I turned away. “I am so not doing that.”

ROWENA AND THE DARK LORD, book 2 in the Land’s End series, is NOW AVAILABLE 

Buy now

And the one that started it all: ROWENA THROUGH THE WALL, book 1 in the Land’s End series

Buy now

Tuesday 14 May 2013

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Rowena and the Dark Lord by Melodie Campbell

Rowena and the Dark Lord

by Melodie Campbell

Giveaway ends May 30, 2013.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Monday 13 May 2013

COMEDY WRITER FALLS RIGHT OVER THE CLIFF - Worst Typos EVER



Ever make a really bad typo?  I mean really bad.

My worst ever professional mistake was in an Annual Report for a one-hundred-million dollar corporation, in which an innocent little ‘t’ went missing from the word ‘assets.’  The board was not amused by “This year, we experienced an increase in corporate asses.”

Today, I found out what one little vowel can do to ROWENA AND THE DARK LORD, book 2 in the Lands End series.

Okay, REALLY uncool when you misspell the name of your own book on your own blog.
ROWENA AND THE DARK LARD is probably not the best way to get sales for a fantasy series. 

However, as I do write comedy, I'm thinking about a parody.
Is it okay to write a parody of your own book?

Draft one: ROWENA AND THE DARK LARD
Synopsis 1: Rowena moves back to Land’s End and opens up a bakery.
Synopsis 2: Cedric’s use of dark magic goes totally out of control, and so does his appetite.
Synopsis 3: Thane and Rowena return to Land’s End and become pig farmers.
Synopsis 4: Rowena messes up another spell that causes all who look at her to turn into donuts.
Synopsis 5: Rowena kills off Nigella Lawson in a battle with pastry rollers, and assumes the role of Prime Time Network Food Goddess <sic>.
Synopsis 6: Someone takes a totally justified whack at the author. End of series.

Excerpt from ROWENA AND THE DARK LORD

Men’s voices again, echoing like souls lost in a fog. The mist lifted in one swift movement to disappear into nothingness. In its place, were at least a hundred men.
Bugger. I messed up.
“Houston, we have a problem,” I said out loud. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I must have pronounced one of the spell words wrong.
“Who is Houston?” Lars said.
“Romans!” Gareth hissed. He drew his sword.
“Romans?” I stared at the battle-scarred men before us. They looked exhausted. They also looked bloody, dirty and rather short. Not to mention confused.
How the heck could they be Romans?
Someone yelled “Form Square!” in—yup—that was Latin.
“What the hell?” I stared. The men came to life moving with purpose into a square. Within seconds we were facing a shield wall bristling with spears.
The man on horseback stared at me. No stirrups on his saddle. A helmet that was in history books. Definitely Roman. I stared back at him.
Romans? In this time? What the poop had I done?
“It’s a freaking temporal rift!” My laugh was strident. “Where the hell is Spock when you need him?

Melodie Campbell achieved a personal best this year when Library Journal compared her to Janet Evanovich.  She has over 200 publications, including 100 comedy credits, 40 short stories, and 4 novels. She has won 6 awards for fiction. 

ROWENA AND THE DARK LORD, book 2 in the Land’s End series, is NOW AVAILABLE
And the one that started it all: ROWENA THROUGH THE WALL, book 1 in the Land’s End series