Natalie Wexler - The Mother Daughter Show - Guest Post

About the Book

At Barton Friends a D.C. prep school so elite its parent body includes the President and First Lady - three mothers have thrown themselves into organizing the annual musical revue. Will its Machiavellian intrigue somehow enable them to reconnect with their graduating daughters, who are fast spinning out of control? By turns hilarious and poignant, The Mother Daughter Show will appeal to anyone who's ever had a daughter - and anyone who's ever been one.

Guest Post

When I took a creative writing class for the first time, back in high school, the teacher told us about a book you could buy called Plotto. This book supposedly contained the bare outlines of every plot that could possibly be devised. The teacher’s message was clear: plot is just the skeleton. It’s how you flesh it out—with characters, setting, lyrical language—that really makes or breaks a novel or story.

Well, yes and no. What I learned writing The Mother Daughter Show is that a good plot may not be sufficient to ensure a successful novel, but it’s absolutely necessary. If you don’t have a storyline that keeps your readers turning the pages, they’ll never get to all that other stuff you’ve worked so hard to dress it up with.

When I started writing The Mother Daughter Show, I was still involved in the real-life experience that inspired it—an annual musical revue at my daughter’s school, written and performed by the mothers of graduating senior girls. While the book was definitely fiction, I borrowed a number of scenes and plot twists from what was actually unfolding before my eyes.

I was lucky enough to find an agent who was enthusiastic about the manuscript, but from the beginning she told me she felt there was something missing. She focused on the characters. Maybe they needed more “sparkle,” she suggested? I labored over several more drafts, trying to introduce some sparkle, until finally my agent managed to get across the message that what I really needed was … a plot.

My initial reaction was: forget it. I already had a plot! But ultimately I came to realize that my plot had hewed too closely to my actual experience working on the show. It turns out that other people found those show planning meetings somewhat less fascinating than I did. I needed to get beyond what happened on the show itself and introduce elements of drama that came from elsewhere.

So I made two of the three mothers in my book good friends, allowing for greater emotional impact when they clash violently over the content of the show. I moved the job search of one character, a longtime stay-at-home mom, into the foreground. I introduced a flirtation between her and another character that seems to be heading dangerously towards infidelity—always a good plot move! And I had one of the daughters run away from home. It wasn’t easy shoehorning a new plot into the confines of an existing one, but it was worth it.

So while real life may give you the inspiration for a novel, it rarely hands you a ready-made plot. And Plotto may not be the answer either. For a plot to work, you not only need to have a lot of stuff happen—it also has to be stuff that grows out of what your characters yearn for.



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The Mother Daughter Show can be purchased at:
Amazon
Fuze Publishing
Kindle
Nook

Price: $19.95 paperback, $9.99 ebook
ISBN: 9780984141296
Pages: 274
Release: December 2011


About the Author

Natalie Wexler is the author of The Mother Daughter Show (Fuze Publishing 2011) and an award-winning historical novel, A More Obedient Wife. She is a journalist and essayist whose work has appeared in the Washington Post Magazine, the American Scholar, the Gettysburg Review, and other publications, and she is a reviewer for the Washington Independent Review of Books. She has also worked as a temporary secretary, a newspaper reporter, a Supreme Court law clerk, a legal historian, and (briefly) an actual lawyer. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband.

Connect with Natalie:
Web Site
Goodreads
Fuze Publishing Web Site
Fuze Publishing Blog
Fuze Publishing Facebook
Fuze Publishing Twitter
Tribute Books Blog Tour Site

Janiera Eldridge - Soul Sisters - Author Interview

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
The first book is based more around Dana who is the human sister.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
The main idea of the plot is that twin sisters Ani and Dana (Ani is a vampire and Dana is not) are trying to find away to save themselves from execution. Ani has made a very public display of her vampirism and their leader Donovan wants to get rid of the both of them. Neither one is going down without a fight.

3. When does the plot take place?
Soul Sisters take place between past time periods and the present. The book flocculates between the past and the future to give a well rounded background of some of the main characters.

4. Where does the plot take place?
The book features many different locations Switzerland, San Diego, Harlem New York. There are some really great locations all though out.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
I really believe I started off with a plot idea in my head but as I wrote the plot and characters took over and wrote themselves. Sometimes I got writer’s block but other times it was smooth sailing. I just let the characters talk to me and the events unfolded on their own.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
I was watching something about how close twins are and even if they grow up apart they still lead similar lives. The idea just came to me: what if you had twin sisters and one is vampire while the other is a human. What kind of trouble would they get into? The answer is…. a lot!


About the Book

Soul Sisters is an urban fantasy novel about African-American twin sisters Ani and Dana who have a rather unique secret: one sister is human while the other is a vampire. While the sisters have lived peacefully with each other for many years one fateful night will change both their lives forever. When a drunken man tries to attack Dana (the human sister) Ani (the vampire sister) protects her sister with all of her ferocious power.

However, when the vampire’s leader Donovan finds out about the public display he calls for the sisters to be assassinated for disobedience. Ani and Dana now are in for the fight of their lives to protect each other as well as the lives of their dedicated friends who have joined them on their mission for survival. If Dana and Ani can make it through this time of uncertainty, Ani can take her new place as vampire queen.

Soul Sisters is expected to be a trilogy; The book also features a multicultural cast of characters that brings a new edge of chic to the vampire world.

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: May 23, 2012
Formats/Prices: $10 paperback, $2.99 ebook
Buy Links: CreateSpace, Kindle




About the Author

 Janiera enjoys feeding her  book addiction when she not writing. She is also a book blogger at Beauty and Books where she mixes being a book nerd with keeping things chic. When not reading or writing she is freelance writing in the entertainment industry. Soul Sisters is her debut novel.

Links to connect with Janiera:
Blog

Twitter

Facebook
Pinterest
Goodreads

Hillary E. Peak - Wings of Hope - Author Interview

About the Book

The letter said he was dying, that’s all Jules Weinstein knows when she leaves her life in San Francisco and moves to New York City to be with her father. She goes for the remarkable opportunity to really know her father. She never dreamed he had liberated a concentration camp, dealt cards to Bugsy Siegel or saved the life of a Black Panther. Wings of Hope is a road trip through the memories of a man making peace with his life. Little does she know that by getting to know her father, she will find herself. While her father struggles with whether his life was meaningful, Jules discovers that her father’s last gift to her is the ability to reach for her dreams. Her journey teacher her that “the goodbye” is sometimes the most heartbreakingly beautiful part of life.

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
There are two main characters: Sol and Jules. Sol is the father. He has a terminal illness and wants to spend his last days with his daughter, Jules. He and her mother divorced when she was a child. This is his last chance to really get to know her and impart any last wisdom. Jules is drifting through life. She has a job she doesn't really care about, a boyfriend she's only sort of interested in. She doesn't really know what to do with herself. So, when her dad asks her to come because he is dying, she drops everything and goes.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
A father and daughter spending precious time together, getting to know one another as adults and sharing hopes, fears and a final goodbye. Sol wants to make certain that Jules is going to try and move forward into a life that is more meaningful. Jules wants to get to know her father better, hearing about his life before she knew him.

3. When does the plot take place?
Present day.

4. Where does the plot take place?
Mostly in New York City, much of it in Sol's apartment.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
Because I was using my father's own true stories, the stories Sol is telling drove the plot--where they go, who they meet, what they see. Everything was determined by the stories I wanted Sol to tell Jules. Even Jules life was put together in a way to allow Sol to impart particular ideas, thoughts and wisdom.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
My father lived a truly extraordinary life. I started writing his stories down for my daughter while I was pregnant. The idea of weaving them into a fiction novel grew out of that. Jules was a product of a discussion I wish I'd been able to have with my own father about ambition and the need to follow your dreams.

***

Wings of Hope can be purchased at:
Amazon
Barnes&Noble.com
Kindle
Smashwords

Price: $9.99 paperback, $2.99 ebook
ISBN: 9781466312197
Pages: 226
Release: December 2011


About the Author

Hillary Peak is a recovering idealist. She became a lawyer to change the world and is still somewhat shocked that didn't occur. Now, her goal is to retire from practicing law and write novels that people love. She is currently a practicing attorney in the District of Columbia. She lives with her family in Alexandria, VA.

Connect with Hillary:
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Tribute Books Blog Tour Site

Molly Best Tinsley and Karetta Hubbard - Satan's Chamber - Author Interview

About the Book

He was a crack CIA operative, who vanished from the streets of Khartoum, Sudan.

And he was her father.

She followed him into the Agency’s National Clandestine Service, and now despite her junior status, she gets the assignment she covets: Khartoum.

From the minute Victoria Pierce arrives in-country, nothing is what it seems.

The one-eyed Kendacke, descendant of the first female black pharaohs, is a fugitive in her own land. Bart Wilkins, the buff but bumbling supply officer at the Embassy, keeps turning up one step ahead. The super-rich Adam Marshall has information, but it comes with strings attached.

Whom can she trust as she begins to uncover the pieces of a horrific plan? Thus the mystery begins.

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
Our protagonist, Victoria “Tory” Pierce, a recent graduate of the CIA training program is inexplicably posted to Khartoum, Sudan without the appropriate seniority. She is more than happy with the assignment as it gives her the change to investigate her father’s disappearance there five years before. Tory is idealistic, independent yet insecure, extremely analytical and physically fit. In over her head when she arrives in the Sudan, thrust into situations that are beyond her control, she plays catch-up as the world around her spirals out of control. Tory begins the story as a naïve, inexperienced agent and by the end she has grown into a seasoned, emotionally mature operative able to hold her own.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
Tory wants to find out what happened to her father, even if it means sacrificing her job, and possibly her life. Meanwhile a succession of odd events and crises points to a larger, more malevolent agenda underlying her own.

3. When does the plot take place?
Beside the prologue, five years before, it takes place over the course of four weeks, between August 25, 2008 to the fall equinox.

4. Where does the plot take place?
The story shuttles between Washington, DC and Sudan. In Sudan, the discovery of oil under much of the land has provoked an international stampede of greed and systematic genocide. The sacred mountain Jebel Barkal, secretly inhabited by the female spiritual leader, Kendacke, has become the last outpost of humanity and hope for the people. Against this backdrop, Tory Pierce seeks information about her father. Meanwhile in the corridors of the CIA, there are signs of internal treachery. Within the opulent walls of the Metropolitan Club, the outline of a horrific plot is taking shape. With the help of her mentor, Maud Olson, Director of Intelligence at the Agency, Pierce finds a way to connect all the dots.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
Satan’s Chamber is a story about a young woman’s quest to find and come to terms with her heroic father. The deeper Tory Pierce delves into her father’s disappearance, the more she is confronted with competing choices yielding their own set of consequences and circumstances. Tory has to figure out whether each person she encounters is friend or foe? Which path to take, follow her instincts or other’s advice? Suffice to say, her early choices are not the most astute, and one pitfall leads to another.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
The plot evolved from a vague idea about terrorism and Sudan. Research into that African country, however, turned up a much more complex picture of the politics of oil, tribalism and national identity, and ancient theology. Blending in our personal knowledge of Washington, D.C. and the CIA, we crafted a plot that shuttled between the two countries. There were false starts and dead ends in the process, which we can’t explain in detail without giving some of the crucial plot points away.

The title Satan’s Chamber was with us from the beginning and became a sort of metaphor for what we wanted our story to be about. While it describes the horrific circumstances under which the people of Sudan must live, it is also a metaphor for the hell people create for themselves when they turn to greed to fulfill themselves. Satan’s Chamber is ultimately opposed by the sacred chambers inside the mountain of Jebel Barkal, where the female leader Kendacke, who finds fulfillment through love and generosity, is hatching her counter plan to bring peace and unity to her people.

***

Satan's Chamber can be purchased at:
Amazon
Fuze Publishing
Kindle
Nook

Price: $19.95 hardcover, $14.95 paperback, $5.99 ebook
ISBN: 9780984141203
Pages: 294
Release: August 2009


About the Authors

Air Force brat Molly Best Tinsley taught on the civilian faculty at the United States Naval Academy for twenty years and is the institution’s first professor emerita. Author of My Life with Darwin (Houghton Mifflin) and Throwing Knives (Ohio State University Press), she also co-authored Satan’s Chamber (Fuze Publishing) and the textbook, The Creative Process (St. Martin’s). Her fiction has earned two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sandstone Prize, and the Oregon Book Award. Her plays have been read and produced nationwide. She lives in Oregon, where she divides her time between Ashland and Portland.

***

As a businesswoman and entrepreneur, Karetta Hubbard has more than twenty-five years of experience in consulting, strategic management, and organizational change for companies throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan. Having recently turned to literary endeavors, Ms. Hubbard credits her five grandchildren as her inspiration and encouragement to put pen to paper.

As an active member of the Washington, DC community, Ms. Hubbard has held appointments at the Small Business Advisory Council (SBA), the Tyson Business and Professional Women Foundation (BPW), and the Fairfax County Democratic Committee. Ms. Hubbard attended the University of Virginia and received her B.A. degree from George Mason University. She also attended Catholic University’s Graduate School in Social Work.

Connect with Molly and Karetta:
Satan's Chamber Web Site
Satan's Chamber Goodreads
Fuze Publishing Web Site
Fuze Publishing Blog
Fuze Publishing Facebook
Fuze Publishing Twitter

Feature & Follow

Feature & Follow

Q:  Jumping Genres:  Ever pick up a book from a genre you usually don't like and love it?  Tell us about it and why you picked it up and why you picked it up in the first place.

I usually don't like historical fiction, but got into it because it told the story of Queen Isabella and I found it very interesting.

Paul Rimmasch - The Lost Stones - Author Interview

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
The plot is based around a young man named Ammon Rogers. Two things have changed about him since returning home from the Iraq War. First, he no longer wants to be a businessman but rather wants to study forms of alternative energy. Second, he wants to get in touch with his faith--a faith he had given up on as a teenager.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
The main idea or theme of the plot is an exploration of the relationship between faith and proof. Also explored is the impact mainstream science plays in this relationship. While a work of fiction, The Lost Stones, examines many real life issues along this front. A lot of research went into this book.

3. When does the plot take place?
The plot takes place in present day, give or take a few years.

4. Where does the plot take place?
The characters in the book hop around quite a bit. They start out in Utah. Then travel to Mexico, Michigan, and finally end up at and in the Grand Canyon.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
Research really drove the development of the plot. I had a basic framework in mind when I started. As my research progressed, however, further plot avenues opened up to me.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
I came up with the plot by pondering one of the great “what ifs” in Book of Mormon scholarship.


About the Book

1600s Mexico- The Aztec Prince Ixtililxochitl writes that the first people to inhabit his land came from the Tower of Babel at the dividing of tongues…Scholars dismiss his writings as myth.

1800s Mid Western United States- Settlers dig into ancient burial mounds and discover thousands of slate tablets covered with a strange hieroglyphic writing and drawings depicting Jesus Christ…these artifacts are denounced as a hoax.

1909 Arizona-a newspaper runs a story describing how a cave containing metal artifacts and Egyptian-type hieroglyphics was discovered in the Grand Canyon by a group of Scientists from the Smithsonian Institute…the Smithsonian categorically denies the account.

These and other amazing facts make up the world of forbidden Book of Mormon Archaeology. It is a world BYU student and Iraqi War veteran Ammon Rogers never knew existed. He is thrust headlong into this world when he asks the enigmatic adventurer John Byrd a simple question. When John is kidnapped in Mexico, Ammon joins forces with John’s beautiful daughter in a desperate attempt to not only save John, but to find his answer…an answer that will change the world…an answer one sinister foe will do anything to suppress.

Release Date: August 2011
Genre: Thriller, Archaeology
Pages: 192
Publisher: Cedar Fort Publishing & Media
Price: $13.99
Buy Links: Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com 


About the Author

Paul Rimmasch was born and reared in the Salt Lake Valley. He graduated from Weber State University with a Bachelor of Science in Criminalistics and a minor in Photography. Paul has spent the last fourteen years working as a Crime Scene Investigator for Weber-Metro CSI and is active in Forensic Science education and Law Enforcement training. He lives in Ogden Utah with his wife and three children and is an avid hiker and gardener.

Paul had parlayed a life long interest in Book of Mormon Archaeology and LDS Church History into this, his first novel.

Links to connect with Paul:
Web site
YouTube

#Spectral by @ShannonDuffyLit Twitter Party

CLICK HERE to R.S.V.P.

#Spectral by@ShannonDuffyLit
Twitter Party

Tuesday, July 10, 2012
2-3:30 p.m. Eastern

Follow hashtag #Spectral as author Shannon Duffy answers your questions for 90 minutes live on Twitter.

A great app to use in order to follow the #Spectral hashtag during the Twitter Party can be found at tweetchat.com

We offering at least (1) $50 cash prize to the person who has a receipt confirming an ebook purchase of Spectral and tweets at least once during the Twitter Party.

We'll also be giving away a variety of Spectral swag throughout the event:

• t-shirt
• necklace that has the cover and a butterfly
• bookmark
• pen
• three main character trading cards of Jewel, Roman and Chase that have their pics and stats on them