Wednesday 27 August 2014

My Characters Hate Going to Bed aka Why Writers Write

by Melodie Campbell

(As usual, this post will sit on the wacky side. But there is a serious message behind it all.  Why?  Why do we spend hours and hours alone in our garrets, piecing together stories that may never earn us a living wage, or even see the light of day?  Are we insane?  Or, as I posit, does writing keep us sane?)

But back to our regularly scheduled blog post:

Rowena is arguing with Thane.  Cedric meets Soren the demon for the first time.   Kendra can’t choose between Richard and Logan…or is it that young cousin of the Viking Warlord, what’s his name?

Gina and Nico are planning an art gallery heist.  Uncle Seb is about to kick the bucket, and he didn’t die ‘cleaning his gun.’  Pete is caught with counterfeit moolah, and slips through the portal to Land’s End…

No, wait a minute.  Wrong book.  Wrong series.  Even wrong genre!  Plots, you’re getting yourselves mixed up.

It’s 3:15 AM, and all is not well in my head.

I’ve come to the conclusion that my characters hate going to bed.

Like little children, they race around in my head, determined to have yet another adventure.  Problem is, they stumble over each other in their bid for freedom.  Series start mixing in decidedly zany ways.

(Okay, back to the point of this blog.)

WHY WRITERS WRITE:
We authors control what our characters do during the day.  It’s one of the things I love about writing: the ability to control the world in a way we can’t do in real life. 

I can’t control the real world.  Sometimes the script being directed from above is pretty painful.  In my case, it contains an autistic brother and life-long care-giver burdens I can do nothing about.

But I can control the world I create in words.

In my fiction, I control my characters, put them where I want them, alter their lives, change the time, the year, the setting, give them astonishing adventures and  dramatic endings– it’s glorious, unfettered control.

But at night, even they go wild. 

In the wee hours of the morning, my head is a playground for creative creatures, both human and fantastical.  They have adventures even I haven’t thought of yet. 

So here’s a job for you scientists out there.  Figure out a way to capture the nocturnal plotlines that create havoc for us authors as we struggle to give our brains some needed snooze-time.

And in the meantime, can you guys please keep it down in there?  I’m trying to sleep.




Monday 25 August 2014

THE ARTFUL GODDAUGHTER - Pre-order now, receive it next week!

THE ARTFUL GODDAUGHTER goes on sale in bookstores a week from today! Now available for pre-order on Amazon and Indigo (and this author really appreciates pre-orders.) Official in-person launch will be in Oct. in Hamilton. News on that soon.

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/the-artful-goddaughter/9781459808195-item.html?ikwid=the+artful+goddaughter&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0


Wednesday 20 August 2014

Review: Rowena and the Viking Warlord by Melodie Campbell August 20, 2014 Miriam Smith


Review: Rowena and the Viking Warlord by Melodie Campbell


What an incredible story! Battles, strategy, weapons, and a dragon. Yes, a little dragon named Cinders! Cute and awesome! Incantations with hilarious results, demons bent on destruction, and a claiming. (Don’t know what that is? Read this story and find out!)

Two things really stuck with me as I read this story. The first was the depth of Lars’ feelings for Rowena. His love for her came through with amazing clarity, and not just when they were in bed. I could feel it in the way he looked at her, how he talked to her, how he acted toward her, how he considered her when she spoke. He was always attentive when it came to Rowena, in a time when women were seldom valued so highly.

The second is the detail. Ms. Campbell’s attention to minute detail is spot on. There was never a moment where I felt like I was a spectator watching this story happen, because I always felt like I was actually there. Sounds, smells, environments. Wonderful job, Ms. Campbell. You pulled me right in and kept me there until the end.
Excellent

Tuesday 19 August 2014

A SHORT BREAK AS WE TAKE A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR...

...or something of the sort <grin>
Announcing a First!  On Kobo, last night:


Viking Warlord #1 in Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy!

Cool to make the Romance charts, when you really don't write Romance :)

"OUTLANDER meets SEX AND THE CITY"  (Vine review)

Saturday 16 August 2014

MEN AND GRASS: The Final Frontier - more humour from BAD GIRL

(Reprinted with Permission)

By Melodie Campbell

What is it, about men and their grass?  And I’m not talking about funny weed here.  I’m talking about the green stuff that becomes the object of mower wars every year once Jack Frost leaves for Florida.

Take one A-type guy.  Present him with a front lawn, much like the other front lawns owned by guys all down the street.  And watch him turn into a teeth-gritting supercharged competitive mess.

“Dear,” I say.  “Mable and I don’t lie in wait with the express purpose of determining whose house is cleaner at this very moment.  Neither do we examine bed sheets to see whose laundry is whitest.”

“Your point?” says the weed demon, currently glowering at a patch of clover-like substance.

“Why waste time doing the one-upmanship thing when we could be shopping?” I reply.

He grunts.

But I’m not finished.  “Why do guys care so much about whose lawn is the greenest?  It’s grass.  It grows.”

“Len was using Roundup last Friday,” he muttered.  “I know it.  And Charlie is using his sprinkler system at night on red days.”

“Red days?”  I question.

“When there’s a ban on watering!  I know he’s doing it.  I’m going to catch him in the act.”  He grins like a maniac and prepares to spend all night sleeping on the front porch.

And so I propose it. 

Admit it.  You knew it was coming.

The newest reality TV show – LAWN WARS!

8 am. Saturday.  A street in a town/city/burg somewhere in the northern hemisphere.  Joe creeps out of his house with coffee.  Surreptitiously wanders over to his neighbour’s yard.  Looks suspiciously down at the ground to see if Ralph’s grass is greener than his.  Meanwhile, Ed, two doors down, is doing the same reconnaissance work as Joe, but this time on Joe’s lot. 

War is declared.

Five minutes later, the lawn mowers come out on all adjacent properties.  Blades are set to golf course smooth.  Micrometers are used to measure each grass length. Weed and feed is executed with diabolical fanaticism. 

It’s Whippersnippers at thirty paces.

Meanwhile Mable and I are discussing laundry.

“Laundry sucks,” says Mable.  “All Len’s clothes are dirty. I think I’ll just throw them out.”

“Go for it.”  I say.  And then we go shopping.

Melodie Campbell writes funny books, like The Goddaughter’s Revenge, winner of the 2014 Derringer and Arthur Ellis Awards.  You can buy them at Chapters and at online retailers everywhere.

Wednesday 13 August 2014

5 Stars for ROWENA AND THE DARK LORD - Many thanks to reviewers everywhere!

Reviewers:  if you ever wonder about not being appreciated, hear me now: there are times when the Black Dog hits authors.  Reviews like this keep us writing.  Yes, *reviewers* keep us writing, not sales cheques or publishers.  God bless you.
 
Customer Review

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh Row .. what else could happen to you!!!!, August 13, 2014
By 
This review is from: Rowena and the Dark Lord (Land's End Book 2) (Kindle Edition)
Book 2 of the Rowena Series, was just as good as the 1st. I was so drawn into the the book I was about to read it in one day! it was amazing.

This book starts off a few weeks after Row, Thane, Kendra and Richard all go back through the portal. Thane is depressed at the way he left his men on the battlefield and Row is so sad that she made him choose between her and his honor.

Row is kidnapped again by Gareth and brought back to Land's End once again, but this time she is completely alone. But it works out for her, she discovers some new friends and even a family member she didn't know still existed in Land's End.

So much happens in this book it's hard not to give anything away so I'm going to say if you liked the 1st one you will love the 2nd one. The story flows with such ease it's like Lands End is right in front of you. You can feel the sun on your skin and the green grass under your feet. Just amazing writing from an amazing author, thank you!

Tuesday 5 August 2014

“THE PRINCESS BRIDE with SEX” or WHY I WRITE WACKY TIME TRAVEL (in addition to respectable crime)

By Melodie Campbell

I am best known as a writer of comic crime capers, and in particular The Goddaughter series (Orca Books). 

However, I also have a second life as an author of racy fantasy…the sort of thing that has been called “The Princess Bride with Sex.”

Why?  Why would a moderately respectable crime author swap genres and write a wacky time travel series, set in Arizona and Alternate-world Great Britain?

1.  I like Arizona.  Especially in winter.  You can fly nonstop there from Toronto.
Whoops – delete, delete.  Of course, the real reason for using Arizona is I believe in accuracy of setting and doing research, which I take great pains to do once each year in February. 

2.  I like Great Britain.  And I like to be accurate.  But you can’t travel to medieval Great Britain right now, at least not on WestJet. (WHY doesn’t someone invent a cheap time travel airline?)  So I can’t be accurate, which bugs me a lot.  But I can be silly, which is almost as good.  Hence, Alt-world.

3.  My cousin Tony’s family, the Clegg-Hills, used to own a Norman castle in Shropshire.  Unfortunately it burned down in 1556.  Damned careless of them.  I had to make up what it would look like from family stories, which are probably dubious at best, and vaguely criminal, on reflection.  Also, I hate being sued. Hence, Alt-world.

4.  Fessing up, here.  I actually didn’t plan to write funny time travel.  I meant to write a serious whodunit that would get the respect of the Can-Lit crowd, and the more erudite members of Crime Writers of Canada.  This ‘veering from plan’ is becoming a nuisance.  Next book, for sure, will be a serious whodunit.  Okay, maybe a whodunit.  Okay, maybe a book.

5.  Okay, I lied.  The serious whodunit turned into a wacky mob comedy series that has won a Derringer and an Arthur.  Still no respect from the Can-Lit crowd.  So I might as well go back to writing wacky time travel.

Why?  ‘Cause it’s a hell of a lot of fun.


Sunday 3 August 2014

ROWENA and her VIKING WARLORD GO ON TOUR! Catch the fun at these sites across North America

FIRST: 
Catch me in person at WHEN WORDS COLLIDE! Calgary, Aug.8-10

Friday 6 PM Writing Hot [panel] 
Friday 9 PM Laughing at Love [panel]  (podcast)
Saturday 2 PM Why Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Is So Popular [panel] 
Saturday 4 PM Get It Written! The Craft of Plotting your Novel [presentation
Saturday 8 PM Autographs  
Sunday 12 PM Murder Most Fair [panel]  (podcast)
Sunday 4 PM Death Throes [panel]  (podcast)

Also join CWC RVP Susan Calder and I at the CWC Crime party on Saturday night!  All welcome.


THEN: Join me as I touch down on these blogsites across the US:

Monday, August 4
First Chapter Reveal at The Literary Nook
Tuesday, August 5
Book Review at Emeraldfire’s Bookmark
Wednesday, August 6
Thursday, August 7
Monday, August 11
Guest Blogging at ARe Cafe
Tuesday, August 12
Book Featured at Bound 2 Escape
Wednesday, August 13
 Interview at Examiner
Thursday, August 14
Interview at As the Page Turns
Monday, August 18
First Chapter Reveal at Read My First Chapter
Tuesday, August 19
Interview at Deal Sharing Aunt
Wednesday, August 20
Book Review at Written Love
Thursday, August 21
Interview at The Writer’s Life
Monday, August 25
Interview at Beyond the Books
Tuesday, August 26
Guest Blogging at Lori’s Reading Corner
Wednesday, August 27
Interview at I’m Shelf-ish
Thursday, August 28
Interview at Review From Here
Friday, August 29