I just posted an essay on using conflict in writing on my "StartingYourStory" blog. At the end, I challenged readers to take a look at their most recent writing and identify the conflicts they included. So, just for fun, here's something I wrote at a recent meeting of our Write Time writers group (from the prompt, " I didn't know that brown cheese burned so well." ... and it turns out to have all sorts of conflict ... but see for yourself:

 I didn't know that brown cheese burned so well. Of course, I’d planned on serving it cold, sliced, with crackers and fruit.  God, the fates or the heat-death of the universe had other plans for my cheese, it seemed.

“Cal, you gotta come see this.” My roommate, Jess, can never be bothered coming to me—I always have to go to her. “It’s brilliant. We gotta do this at the party.”

“Jess, it’s just a few people coming over for drinks before we see a movie. It’s not a Hollywood premiere or anything.

“But look at this recipe—I love that flamed Greek cheese. “

“Don’t have time to shop—I’ve got gouda and Swiss and that Norwegian stuff your boyfriend loves.”

“Well, use that then, Callista. What could go wrong?”

What indeed…

A Gift for You

My holiday gift to you really is a Christmas present this year. For five days beginning tomorrow, November 27th, 2012, you may download a free copy of the Kindle version of Fulfillment, my novel of the first Christmas.

Fulfillment will change the way you think about the first Christmas. One of my Amazon reviewers called it “… the most unique version of the Christian Nativity story ever written.” So far, it’s received one five-star and two four-star reviews. (For my Christmas present, I’m hoping Santa… and you… enjoy Fulfillment enough to give it a five-star review on Amazon.)

I wrote Fulfillment by first asking: What was Satan up to while God was going about the business of sending his son to save the world?

In my story, Satan sets out to stop the birth of Christ. Since Jesus is too powerful to take on directly, Satan decides to kill the mother before Jesus is born. Of course you know how the story ends. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The suspense, horror and awe in my novel occur on the journey. If the idea of Satan hungering for your soul doesn’t keep you awake at night, read Fulfillment. It will.

Free Fulfillment - for 5 days only beginning tomorrow
Click here to download a free copy of my Christmas novel, Fulfillment, for your Kindle starting tomorrow, November 27th and running through Saturday, December 1st. You may purchase the paperback version on the same Amazon page. The paperback "buy" link is below the book cover image. And you may click on the book cover to read a section of the novel for free before you download your copy. That's always a good idea to see if you like the novel before downloading it.

And if you can't wait that long, it's only a couple of bucks on my Amazon Author Page. See all of my Amazon books by clicking here.

Need a Kindle? Download the free version of the Kindle reader for your computer, tablet or smart phone from Amazon by clicking here.

Here’s another novel idea…
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Life is Like a Zombie Movie

Recently, I came to the conclusion that life is very much like a zombie movie.  Life is out to get you.
You're alive and you keep moving to keep it that way.  Everyone else is in the same situation as you and you're all working together.  There's always someone that will risk everything they have to keep the group alive and there's always someone who is only with the group for their own advantage.  So, everyone you're with can be trusted, to an extent.  We have to weed through those who we can rely on and those who we need to stay weary of.  All the while, life is chasing after you in order to feed off you.
Sure, zombies usually are slow moving and you can run away from them (except of course the crazy mutant variety).  They, like life, are always waiting for you around the corner.  Sure, you can bunker down and try to keep your situation safe but eventually you'll have to make some kind of gamble or eventually your defenses will get broken down. That's always when it's the most dangerous too.  When you think you're safe and you get complacent, that's when the defenses get smashed and you're on the run again.
The worst part of it all is that the whole time you know in the back of your head: Life (like zombies) will eventually kill you.
This isn't all that bad, actually. For starters, everyone dies eventually, obviously.  But also, like Duke Leto Atreides told his son Paul in Frank Herbert's Dune, 'The first step in avoiding a trap, is knowing of it.'  In this context, once the realization, that life is a tough and messed up thing, is achieved it becomes more manageable or at least slightly more navigable.  Everyone is in the same position of keeping their life going.  We're all exhausted and tired but we still fight on.  Because once we see that the world isn't what it used to be before the zombie apocalypse (or in real life once people have to start being more independent and support themselves or someone else) we get a better sense of what we're dealing with and how to move forward.  Just like in a zombie movie, you can't give up and you have to keep going.  So, be like the survivors.  Just because it looks (and for them it literally is) like the end of the world, it doesn't mean there isn't hope.

Genre Separates the Indies from the Traditionals

Genre is the one place where you may find a major difference between traditionally published novels and indie published novels.

Traditionals fit into bookstores
Traditionally published novels have to fit into a very narrowly defined genre space in a bookstore. The author has to adhere to the rules of genre so that the novel is easily identified as belonging to the genre. A mystery story is clearly distinct from its first cousin, the thriller, for example.

Unless you are a well-known author of best sellers, the reader isn’t shopping for your book in a book store. Instead, the reader is browsing the shelves looking for an interesting mystery, thriller, romance or whatever genre they prefer. The challenge for the new traditionally published author is to build a fan base that will seek books written by them in the future.

The indie difference
Indie published authors don’t have to worry as much about genre definitions because they aren’t marketing in traditional bookstore outlets. And their fan base is built from loyal family and friends and word-of-mouth. Such buyers are buying the author more than the book. Indie novel readers tend to select the author first and the book second.

The challenge for the indie author is to reach new readers through social media and online marketing combined with speaking gigs and traditional PR efforts. Indie authors still need a genre to identify the book’s place in Amazon or Smash Words, but the author self-selects the genre.

The indie author need only select the genre that most nearly fits what the story is about. This leaves the indie author with more freedom to mix genres and experiment with genre formats in ways traditionally published authors can’t. This is a subtle difference, but one you can notice if you look for it. But you have to know the basic rules of the genre you enjoy reading.

Speaking of reading...
My new horror novel Hags is about an ex-con who is accused of serial murders while battling a human-sized faerie and a couple of hags as evil as any from the Middle Ages. As the body count mounts, will he learn the secret of the hags before he becomes their next victim?

Today is the last day to download Hags for free. But you have to act before midnight tonight. Obtain your free copy for your Kindle reader by clicking here.

Don’t have a Kindle reader? Download the free version for your computer or smart phone from Amazon by clicking here.

Here’s another novel idea…
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What Is the Theme of Your Life?

Can you spot the theme in the books you are reading? One clue to the theme is to identify the main character’s biggest fault. Micah in Hags has issues with unresolved anger. He has other issues like a defeated outlook at the beginning of the story. For fun, watch how Micah’s personality becomes stronger as you move forward in the plot. What theme does that point to? How about a message like “forgiveness makes you stronger.” Or “don’t let adversity get you down.”

Another way to look at theme is to consider your own life.
What is the thread that runs through your world? You may want to start with your biggest fault. Or your biggest disappointment. Or that thing that keeps happening over and over again to you. Why do you suppose that keeps happening to you? There’s a theme in your life. The good news is it is not too late to change the theme or make it work for you instead of against you. Ask a few trusted friends about the theme they see running through your life. What themes run through the lives of your friends?

Read Hags for Free Now
Download Hags for free this week only from Amazon for your Kindle reader by clicking here.

Don’t have a Kindle reader? Download the free version for your computer or smart phone from Amazon by clicking here.

Here’s another novel idea…
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Why Aren't You Like That?

A good story has a point. The author starts with an idea and writes a cool first draft. Like your first read, it is mainly about the plot. Then the author notices something interesting about the story, or maybe the author intended it all along. The thing that’s noticed is the moral of the story. It’s like those old faerie tales where at the end, you read something like, “And the moral of the story is never go into the woods alone.” Well, in a good novel, the author is telling us something about our world. Think of it as the life lesson illustrated by the story.

During the editing process, good authors go back through their story and bring out this moral so it weaves like a thread running through the fabric of the tale. In horror and other thrillers or fantasy fiction, the theme is often innocence to experience. Super8 is a good example of a movie using an innocence to experience theme.

One way to look for theme is to watch how the main character changes and then look for similar changes in other characters. Pets and monsters count as characters as do computers and robots. And elves and dwarves. Not sure about zombies and vampires. Does going from dead to undead count as a character change?

The main theme in Hags, my new horror story, is forgiveness. As in real life, you meet a lot of characters who are hurting. They have to learn how to forgive. Some do, some don’t and some are just flat out evil. So what’s a hero to do? Forgive the forgivable and kill the evil guys? Or refuse to forgive the really wicked deeds of the past?

Read Hags for Free Now
Download Hags for free this week only from Amazon for your Kindle reader by clicking here.

Don’t have a Kindle reader? Download the free version for your computer or smart phone from Amazon by clicking here.

Here’s another novel idea…
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Why Give Hags Away?

You can read Hags for free on your Kindle as a result of my three goals:

Spread the word: By giving Hags away free for five days, I’m hoping you’ll enjoy it so much that you’ll tell your friends and family about it.

Generate Amazon reviews: If you enjoy reading Hags, I invite you to let other readers know about it by posting a review on Amazon.

Establish a baseline for future novel marketing: This is my first big book giveaway and I’m curious to know how many books to expect people to download during the five-day giveaway. And I want to know if the giveaway produces any kind of sales bounce following the giveaway period as a result of publicity and word-of-mouth advertising. How many books can I expect to have downloaded from Amazon in five days? Is a hundred reasonable? How about five hundred or a thousand? How about several thousand? I’ve heard of people giving away thousands of books through this kind of promotion. The good news is you can follow my success on my business blog by clicking here. (If you are reading this after the week of October 8-12, 2012, you'll have to click on those dates on my business blog.)

Read Hags for Free Now
Download Hags for free this week only from Amazon for your Kindle reader by clicking here.

Don’t have a Kindle reader? Download the free version for your computer or smart phone from Amazon by clicking here.

Here’s another novel idea…
Enjoy this blog post? Please share it with your friends by clicking the social media buttons below.

How Scary Is Your World

The world says, “What you can’t see can’t hurt you.” But it’s the scary invisible things that haunt your soul and keep you from the life you deserve. My new horror novel, Hags, takes you on a journey through this invisible world.

Hags is set in one of the most normal of normal places, assuming there is such a thing as normal. The location is Naperville, Illinois, an upscale small city located in the heart of Chicago’s western suburbs.  It’s a real place that I populate with unreal characters ranging from an unlikely ex-con hero to a couple of hags as dangerous as any from the Middle Ages.

What evil lurks in the hearts of people (to paraphrase an old radio show)? For one of my characters, it’s life as a mad serial killer. But wait, why stop at one mad serial killer when you can have two? Let’s mix in a demon posing as a faerie to go along with the hags and you have the makings of mayhem, murder and worse in Naperville, Illinois. Let’s add in a little romance… okay, maybe more than a bit and…

But instead of telling you about the book at length, why not read it for yourself. For free.

The big giveaway
This is DAY 1 of my FIVE-DAY GIVEAWAY. You read that right. I’m giving away my new novel, Hags, on Amazon.com for free for five days. Download it now for your Kindle reader by clicking here. Don’t have a Kindle? You can download the free version for your computer or smart phone from Amazon by clicking here.

Free reading device software. Free novel. Nothing scary about a giveaway. But what about my new novel? Better leave the lights on when you read Hags. It’s scary horror suspense in my unique mix of noir and humor. Enjoy.

Reading for More than Plot?

Everyone loves to read for the plot. How many times do you hear someone say, “Don’t tell me the ending; you’ll spoil it?” But there is so much more to a story. The more you know what to look for in a story, the more you will get out of it.  And the more you will benefit from your reading experience. Enjoy the plot as you read your free copy of Hags next week, but while you’re at it, look for these other attributes of a good novel:

Theme: A good story has a point to it. In horror stories and other thrillers or fantasy fiction, the theme is often innocence to experience. The movie, Super8, is a good example of an innocence to experience theme. What’s cool about Super8 is the monster also goes through an innocence to experience event, particularly in the backstory.

Interesting Characters: A character has to go through an event or series of events that change his or her life. Learning has to take place. The cool thing about following the main character is you can learn the same thing the character is learning through the character’s experience.

Style: Style is about two things. One is the way the author plays with or uses the language. Style is also about how the author tells a story, the way the plot is put together. For a quick study on style, watch an Alfred Hitchcock movie and then a James Bond movie. Both movies are in the suspense or thriller genre, but with very different styles. Hitchcock stories tend to build slowly with a touch of humor. Bond movies move at a breakneck pace from start to finish. Bond humor is flippant. Hitchcock humor is subtle.  What other differences do you notice?

Pacing: As you move through the story, notice when the story picks up speed or slows down at times. The fast pace emphasizes or highlights the danger and action of the plot. The author slows the pace down to emphasize character and scene.

Consistency with Genre Rules: The genre or type of story you enjoy reading has basic rules. A mystery story is always about a crime that happened either in the past or at the beginning of the story. Otherwise, it’s a thriller if the crimes are still happening. Romance novels always have a happy ending. Otherwise it’s a literary story or love story, but not a romance. The more you know about the genre you enjoy reading, the more you can appreciate how the author plays with the rules to create a unique reading experience.

Get Hagged
Mark your calendar for October 8th through October 12th to download your free Kindle copy of Hags, my new horror novel. And if you just can’t wait, you can download a pre-launch copy right now for only $2.99 by clicking here.

Here’s another novel idea…
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The Real Naperville, Setting for Hags

My new novel, Hags, takes place in Naperville, Illinois, located in the far west suburbs of Chicago. Naperville is a city of 141,853 people according to the 2010 Census. The median age is 35. Micah Probert, the main character, fits right in at age 38 when the story begins. Median annual family income is more than $117,000, quite a bit more than what Peevy O’Malley, Micah’s ex-girlfriend, earns as a barista. Naperville takes up 38.77 square miles of DuPage County. According to Money Magazine, Naperville is one of the five best cities in the United States to live.

Where is Bob’s Coffee Emporium?
A lot of the action takes place in Bob’s Coffee Emporium, a fictional coffee shop. As such, it exists within the covers of my novel. However, I pictured it on the southeast corner of Main and Jefferson in downtown Naperville. At the time of this writing, a Starbucks sits on that space. It’s smaller than my vision of Bob’s but it’s nice to know you can find a cup of coffee if you visit the neighborhood.

Micah’s fixer upper
If you walk north on Main Street from Starbucks about two blocks, you’ll find where Micah owned his fixer upper house. Denise Appleby owned the house next door. At one time there actually were two rather dilapidated houses on the block, but they were torn down years ago to make way for new construction.

Get Hagged
Mark your calendar for October 8th through October 12th to download your free Kindle copy of Hags, my new horror novel. And if you just can’t wait, you can download a pre-launch copy right now for only $2.99 by clicking here.

Here’s another novel idea…
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