The Gertrude Warner Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Middle-Grade Readers. The Gertrude Warner Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAwards) and Novel Competitions.
Chanticleer Book Reviews is looking for the best Chapter Books and Middle-Grade Readers featuring stories of all shapes and sizes written to an audience between the ages of about eight to twelve. Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Paranormal, Historical, Adventure we will put them to the test and choose the best Middle-Grade Books among them.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2018 GERTRUDE WARNER Book Awards writing competition for Middle-Young Adult Fiction Novels!
Alexander Edlund – Keelic and the Pathfinders of Midgarth
Rebekah Stelzer – Susa’s Story
M. P. Follin – Dakota Joy and the Traveling Stones
Joanna Cook – The Life of Bonnie Dickens
Victoria Adler – Emma and Mia
Ginger Heller – The Boy Who Rode the Tiger
Beth Cahn – Duncan Dogood: The Journey of the Would-Be Hero
Cheryl Carpinello – Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend
Jules Luther – The Portals of Peril
James Sulzer – The Card People
T. L. Frances – The Bird Queen’s Book
Vezna Maria Gottwald – Blue-Green Corduroy
Verity Byrne – Charmers and the Blood Red Candy
Patricia M Ahern – Pondlife: Blue Moon Eclipse
Patrick Thornton – Stepping Up
Elizabeth Doyle Carey – Junior Lifeguards: The Test
Kay M. Bates – The Adventures of Rug Bug: The Revolution
Diane Rios – Bridge of the Gods
P.H.C. Marchesi – Shelby & Shauna Kitt and the Dimensional Holes
Gloria Two-Feathers – Tallulah’s Flying Adventure
Pamela Hartley – The Final Rue of Naveena Bleu
Aric Cushing – Vampire Boy
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2018 Gertrude Warner ti Book Awards LONG LIST (aka the Slush Pile Survivors). We incorporate the Long List when the judges request an additional round of judging to accommodate the number and/or quality of entries received.
These entries are now in competition for the 2018 Gertrude Warner SHORT LIST. Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. Semi-Finalists will compete for the coveted First Place Category Winners of the 2018 Gertrude Warner Book Awards in the final rounds of judging. The First Place Category winners will automatically be entered into the 2018 GERTRUDE WARNER GRAND PRIZE AWARD competition.
The 16 CBR Grand Prize Genre Winners will compete for the CBR Overall Grand Prize for Best Book and its $1,000 purse. First Place Category and Grand Prize Awards will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Awards Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 27th, 2019, Bellingham, Washington.
#CIBAwards
All Short Listers will receive high visibility along with special badges to wear during the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala.
Grand Prize Ribbons!
Good Luck to each of you as your works compete for the Gertrude Warner Book Awards Short List.
Bek Castro, Paul Aerkter, Murray Richter
The Gertrude Warner Grand Prize Winner and the First Place Category Position award winners will be announced at theApril 27th, 2019 Chanticleer Book Awards Annual Awards Gala,which takes place at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2019 Gertrude Warner Book Awards writing competition. The deadline for submissions is May 30th, 2019. Please click here for more information.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at Info@ChantiReviews.com.
A few years back, above the sparkling Pacific, the prolific and talented Chelsea Cain talked to writers about what she’d learned from writing bestsellers. One piece of her advice always stuck with me: Write the bare bones version of the scene first using mostly dialogue, and then move on and in the second draft flesh out the scenes with description and action.
In other words, an early draft might look more like a screenplay than a novel.
Fiction and memoir writers need to be omnivorous–searching out classics and bestsellers, prizewinners and Goodreads favorites–reading widely, and analyzing with an eye for structure and arcs. And they need to analyze movies and read screenplays for storytelling techniques. All screenplays reveal the underlying acts and key events and there’s a lot to be learned from what screenwriters leave out.
…there is a lot to learn from what screenwriters leave out.
Below I’ve pasted the opening or set up in the thrillerAir Force Onewritten by Andrew Marlow. If you write action or thriller novels, what did this story teach you? For example, notice how the protagonist has alotto lose. Air Force One is hijacked while the presidentand the first family are on board. Smart writers insert sky-high stakes by using vulnerable characters and complicated motives. In the opening, the president makes comments about not bargaining with terrorists. And the first two acts set up a deadly showdown and the memorable dialogue “Get off my plane.”
(I listed two screen writing resources at the end of this post – JPM)
Tip for Writing Action Scenes: READ SCREENPLAYS!
Here is the excellent sample from top screenplay writer, Andrew Marlow, the opening from Air Force One.
Like most action films,Air Force One begins without prelude:
Air Force One
Andrew Marlow
FADE IN:
INT. C-130 HERCULES TURBO-PROP - NIGHT
Eighteen combat-ready special forces, wearing
assault black, jump packs and combat gear,stare down
the deep end of a greasy ramp into the night sky.
Village lights flicker 19,000 feet below.
The STRIKE FORCE LEADER signals to his team.
Without a moment's hesitation, they dive into the
darkness and plummet toward earth.
EXT. MANSION - NIGHT
A military GUARD, old Soviet-style uniform,rounds
the corner of the large estate toting an AK-47.
A red laser dot appears briefly on his forehead and
after a beat, the red dot seems to bleed.The Guard
collapses dead.Two other GUARDS are dispatched with
single, silenced shots.
A Strike Team member at a junction box awaits a signal.
Through infra-red binoculars the strike Force Leader
watches his assault troops as they take positions.
STRIKE FORCE LEADER
(into headset/in Russian) (Russian)
GO!
On the estate - as the power goes out.The team on the
mansion's front porch pops the door and pours in.
INT. MANSION - NIGHT
FOLLOWING - the FIVE TEAM MEMBERS as they rush a
stairway in phalanx formation. They nearly knock
over an old lady, who in turn lets out a blood
curdling scream.
UPSTAIRS CORRIDOR -
The team kicks open a door. Rushes into the room.
INT. BEDROOM -
Assault weapons pointed at the bed. The soldiers
yank back bedsheets to reveal IVAN STRAVANAVITCH, a
middle-aged man and his half-naked 18-year-old
concubine.
SOLDIER
(in Russian)
Get up, now! Up!
The soldiers pull Stravanavitch to his feet and haul
him out of the room.
FOLLOWING - As they push down the hallway.
MANSION SECURITY GUARDS rally with haphazard gunfire.
Out come the strike force's flash-bang grenades.
Exploding everywhere, disorienting Stravanavitch's
men.
EXT. FIELD - NIGHT
Signal flares burn as a helicopter descends on the
position. The Strike Team evacuates across the field
and forces a struggling Stravanavitch into the low-
hovering copter.
The commandos swiftly board the craft as a handful of
Stravanavitch's guards break into the clearing.They
open fire.
And the mounted machine guns on the helicopter
return.
One of the Strike Team members takes a bullet to the
neck. He's pulled by his comrades into the chopper as
it lifts into the sky, its guns spitting lead...
STRIKE FORCE LEADER (V.0.)
Archangel, this is Restitution.
Archangel, this is Restitution.The
package is wrapped.
Over.
VOICE (V.0. RADIO)
Roger, Restitution. We are standing
by for delivery.
FADE TO BLACK
The SOUNDS of a dinner banquet.
Forks clanking against plates and
the din of a hundred conversations,
broken by...
The DING, DING, DING of a SPOON tapping against a wine glass.
SUPER TITLE: "MOSCOW - THREE WEEKS LATER
FADE IN:
INT. BANQUET ROOM - NIGHT
Hundreds of men and women in formal evening wear sit
at round banquet tables. A HUSH falls over the guests
as the DINGING continues. All attention turns to the
front table.
A rotund, silver haired-man in his late sixties
rises and sidles past U.S.and Russian flags up to the podium
microphone. He is STOLI PETROV, President of Russia.
PETROV
(in Russian)
Thank you for joining us this evening.
Petrov's harsh Russian issues through the
room. But over it we hear a young woman's
voice translating.
TRANSLATOR (V.0.)
Tonight we are honored to have with
us a man of remarkable courage, who,
despite strong international
criticism...
AT THE FRONT TABLE -
A translator's words ring in the earpiece of a
handsome man in his mid-forties. Worry lines crease
his forehead and the touch of gray at his temples
attest to three very difficult years in office.
This man is JAMES MARSHALL, and he is the PRESIDENT of the
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. He busily makes last
minute changes to his speech.
TRANSLATOR
(V.0. earpiece)
Has chosen to join our fight against
tyranny in forging a new world
community. Ladies and gentlemen, I
give you the President of the United
States of America...
Mr. President.
Thunderous applause as Marshall rises and approaches
the podium.
At the back of the room, DOHERTY, a senior policy
adviser whispers to the President's Chief of Staff
ED SHEPHERD...
DOHERTY
Maybe we should consider running him
for re-election instead of the U.S.
The applause dies as Marshall begins to speak.
MARSHALL
(in Russian with subtitles)
Good evening and thank you. First I
would ask you to join me in a moment
of silence for the victims of the
Turkmenistan massacres.
The room remains silent a few beats. Most guests
respectfully bow their heads.
Marshall begins again, but this time in English. The young
woman translates simultaneously for the Russian audience.
MARSHALL
As you know, three weeks ago American
Special Forces, in cooperation with
the Russian Republican Army, secured
the arrest of Turkmenistan's self-
proclaimed dictator, General Ivan
Stravanavitch, whose brutal sadistic
reign had given new meaning to the
word horror. I am proud to say our
operation was a success.
Applause from the audience. Marshall turns the page
on his speech.
MARSHALL
And now, yesterday's biggest threat
to world peace... today awaits trial
for crimes against humanity.
During the applause, Marshall pulls a page from the
speech, folds it and slides it into his pocket. He
removes his glasses and looks out into the crowd.
His tone becomes more personal.
He's not reciting the speech anymore.
MARSHALL
What we did here was important. We
finally pulled our heads out of the
sand, we finally stood up to the
brutality and said "We've had enough.
Every time we ignore these atrocities--
the rapes, the death squads, the
genocides- every time we negotiate
with these, these thugs to keep them
out of gig country and away from gig
families, every time we do this
we legitimize terror.
Terror is not a legitimate system of
government. And to those who commit the
atrocities I say, we will no longer
tolerate, we will no longer negotiate, and we will no longer
be afraid. It's your turn to be afraid.
Applause rolls through the crowd.
EXT. MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - NIGHT
Sprawling terminals spread out to runways like
tentacles.
ON THE TARMAC -
Bathed in floodlights, perched majestically on the
runway, dwarfing nearby commuter and military jets,
stands...
AIR FORCE ONE
The President's own Boeing 747-200,
dubbed "the flying White House".
The distinctive royal blue stripe
over a thin gold line tapers to a
tail adorned with the American flag
and the Presidential Seal Secret
Service agents and Marines stand
guard at the aircraft's perimeter.
A RUSSIAN NEWS VAN emerges from the darkness and
pulls to a stop by a Secret Service barricade.
SPECIAL AGENT GIBBS greets the Russian news
team that emerges.
GIBBS
Gentlemen, welcome to Air Force One.
Please present your equipment to Special
Walters for inspection.
The news team's segment producer, a crusty old
Russian named KORSHUNOV raises his big bushy eyebrows.
KORSHUNOV
We've already been inspected.
GIBBS
Sir, this plane carries the President
of the United States.
Though we wish to extend your press service
every courtesy, you will comply with our
security measures to the letter.
KORSHUNOV
Of course. I'm sorry.
Korshunov and the FIVE MEMBERS of his news crew
present their video cameras, sound equipment and
supplies to Special Agent WALTERS for inspection.
Secret Service DOGS sniff through the baggage.
GIBBS
Please place your thumbs on the ID
pad.
Korshunov puts his thumb on the ID pad of a portable
computer.
The computer matches up his thumbprint with his
dossier and photograph. "CLEARED" flashes on the
computer screen.
INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT
The President, walking with his entourage.
SHEPHERD
CBS said they'll
give us four minutes. They thought
the Russian was a nice touch.
MARSHALL
I always wondered if my freshman
Russian class would come in handy.
DOHERTY
Sir, you threw out page two.
MARSHALL
Goddamn right I did. I asked for a
tough-as-nails speech and you gave
me diplomatic bullshit. What's the
point in having a speech if I have
to ad-lib?
DOHERTY
It was a good ad-lib, sir.
MARSHALL
Thanks. Wrote it last night.
The President exits the building and enters his
limousine.
EXT. TARMAC - AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT
Walters hands the bags back to the Russians.
WALTERS
Equipment checks out.
A striking woman in her early thirties descends Air
Force One's stairway. MARIA MITCHELL.
GIBBS
Gentlemen, this is Maria Mitchell.
Press Relations for the Presidential Flight Office. She'll
take you from here.
KORSHUNOV
Ms. Mitchell. So nice to finally
meet you in person.
MITCHELL
The President and I were delighted
that we could accommodate you. Now
if you're all cleared?
(Gibbs nods)
You can follow me then.
They ascend into the belly of Air Force One.
MITCHELL
I'll be giving
you a brief tour, then during the
flight, two members of your crew
will be allowed out of the press
area at a time for filming. You
will have exactly ten minutes with
the President and twenty with the
Screenplay Resources from Jessica Page Morrell:
You can find thousands of screenplays online to read.
Here’s a goodresourcefor screenplays: SIMPLYSCRIPTS.com where you can read the scripts from 3 Kings, The Fifth Element, An American Werewolf in Paris, and more!
And here is a screenwriting informational website titled Go Into the Story
Jessica Page Morrellis a top-tier developmental editor and a contributor to Writer’s Digest magazine, and she teaches Master Writing Craft Classes at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that is held annually.
Jessica Page Morrell
Jessica understands both sides of the editorial desk–as a highly-sought after content development editor and an author. Her work also appears in multiple anthologies and The Writer and Writer’s Digest magazines. She is known for explaining the hows and whys of what makes for excellent writing and for sharing very clear examples that examines the technical aspects of writing that emphases layering and subtext. Her books on writing craft are considered “a must have” for any serious writer’s toolkit. For links for her writing craft books, please click on her above.
Chanticleer ReviewsandOnWord Talkswill interview Jessica for more of her writing tips and advice. Stay tuned! ~Chanticleer
We are planning a writing craft workshop soon that will be taught by Jessica.
The M&M Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Cozy, Classic, & Not-So-Cozy Mystery Novels. The M&M Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) and Novel Competitions.
Chanticleer Book Reviews is looking for the best books featuring “mystery and mayhem”, amateur sleuthing, light suspense, travel mystery, classic mystery, British cozy, hobby sleuths, senior sleuths, or historical mystery, perhaps with a touch of romance or humor, we will put them to the test and choose the best among them. (For suspense, thriller, detective, crime fiction see our Clue Book Awards).
The 411
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2018 M&M Book Awards LONG LIST (aka the Slush Pile Survivors). We incorporate the Long List when the judges request an additional round of judging to accommodate the number and/or quality of entries received. These entries are now in competition for the 2018 M&M SHORT LIST. Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. Semi-Finalists will compete for the coveted First Place Category Winners of the 2018 M&M Book Awards in the final rounds of judging. The First Place Category winners will automatically be entered into the M&M GRAND PRIZE AWARD competition. The 16 CBR Grand Prize Genre Winners will compete for the CBR Overall Grand Prize for Best Book and its $1,000 purse. First Place Category and Grand Prize Awards will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Awards Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 27th, 2019, Bellingham, Washington.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2018 M&M Book Awards novel competition for Cozy, Classic, and Not-So-Cozy Mystery Novels!
Michelle Cox – A Promise Given
Kate Vale – Only You
Mary Adler – Shadowed by Death: An Oliver Wright WW2 Mystery Novel
B.L. Smith – Bert Mintenko and the Minor Misdemeanors
Charlotte Stuart – Why Me?
Nick Korolev – Flashback
Becky Clark – Fiction Can Be Murder
Alan Chaput – Savannah Sleuth
Elizabeth Crowens – Dear Mr. Hitchcock
Christine Evelyn Volker – Venetian Blood: Murder in a Sensuous City
C. C. Harrison – Death by G-String, a Coyote Canyon Ladies Ukulele Club Mystery
Susan Lynn Solomon – Dead Again
Mark W Stoub – The Fifth Trumpet: Fire in the Blood
Traci Andrighetti – Campari Crimson
Dawn Meredith – Letters From the Dead
Chief John J. Mandeville – Old Dark and Dangerous
Bonnie C. Monte – The Sleeping Lady
C.A. Larmer – Do Not Go Gentle
Anna Castle – Moriarty Brings Down the House
C.A. Larmer – Evil Under The Stars: The Agatha Christie Book Club 3
James Musgrave – Chinawoman’s Chance
James Scott Byrnside – Prisoners of the Past
Nancy J. Cohen – Hair Brained
Stone Winkler – Blood on a Blue Moon: A Sheaffer Blue Mystery
Roger Newman – What Becomes
Julie Chase – Cat Got Your Secrets
Lori Robbins – Lesson Plan for Murder
Lo Monaco – Lethal Relations
Linda Hughes – Secrets of the Asylum
Donna Huston Murray – For Better or Worse
Anna Castle – Moriarty Takes His Medicine
Carl and Jane Bock – Death Rattle
Deborah Rich – Under the Radar
Kelly Oliver – FOX: A Jessica James Mystery
Susan Lynn Solomon – Dead Again
All Short Listers and SemiFinalists will receive high visibility along with special badges to wear during the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala.
Grand Prize Ribbons!
Good Luck to each of you as your works compete for the
M&M Awards Short List.
The M&M Grand Prize Winner and the First Place Category Position award winners will be announced at theApril 27th, 2019 Chanticleer Book Awards Annual Awards Gala,which takes place at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2019 M&M Awards writing competition. The deadline for submissions is April 30th, 2019. Please click here for more information.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at Info@ChantiReviews.com.
Author Susan Faw is the perfect example of what I mean by #SeriousAuthor. She not only writes amazing YA Fantasy, she also approaches her writing as an occupation.
She’s serious. She plans. She kills it. Every time.
Please read, respond, and share this 10 Questions Interview with author, Susan Faw.
Chanticleer: Tell us a little about yourself: How did you start writing?
Faw: Back in 2014, the company that I had been working for since 1994 announced that it was merging with another company from the U.S. I knew that it was the death knell for my position within the company and that it wouldn’t be a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when.’ I grabbed a bottle of wine, went out to my deck, cried for a couple of hours while I polished it off, then went inside and sat down at my computer and started to write Seer of Souls. My prediction came true on May 1st of 2017 when I was let go due to a “work slowdown.” It was a nice way of saying I was over 50 and no longer wanted within the organization.
Chanticleer: That’s fascinating. I often wonder about how stress has the power to alter our perception of the world around us – even how we define ourselves. And sometimes what it draws out of us in that altered state. When did you realize that you were an author?
Faw: I think it started to feel real when Seer of Souls was picked up by Booktrope (now defunct). They gave me my start and dragged this new author through the process of taking a raw manuscript to finished, published product. Unfortunately, they closed their doors three months after my first book went live, and so I had to start all over again, learning the Indie way of doing things.
Chanitcleer: Seer of Souls did well in our 2016 Dante Rossetti Awards. Talk about genre. What genre best describes your work?
Faw: I am a fantasy author, first and foremost. I cut my teeth on the great fantasy authors of the century and have always loved to be transported to unique worlds. I think the subgenre of dystopian fiction, which I see to be a hybrid of science fiction and fantasy, was birthed due to this need to know the answers to what if the worst case scenario happens.
Chanticleer: What led you to write in this genre?
Faw: I adore it. Despite what most people think, fantasy is about people, more so than even the romance genre. Fantasy explores the human condition through a portal of strange new worlds and if well written, challenges our beliefs about structures or ‘norms’ that we must accept in modern society. It allows us to talk about taboo subjects in a safe environment, because of it is “just fantasy.” I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction. When you immerse yourself in a genre, you learn the tropes, the norms, what works within the genre and what has been already done. By reading you absorb a culture that you can then build on. I couldn’t write romance. I don’t understand the genre.
Chanticleer: Good insights. Are you a rule-follower or do you like to make up your own rules?
Faw: I follow the rules for the most part, but I find that when I try to be formulaic about the rules, it shuts down my creativity. I become bored with the project, so a certain level of spontaneity is important for me.
Chanticleer: Yeah, sometimes the best way to silence the muse is to unleash the editor in the middle of the creative process. Something, I’m sure, we all do from time to time. How do you come up with your ideas for a story?
Faw: I like to do a day or two of random reading online. I check out the weird and the wonderful posts that litter the Internet and start taking notes of strange occurrences or weird events. Ghost stories or reports are a great source of inspiration. Paranormal activity can lead to all kinds of magical concepts.
Chanticleer: Those nachos look good… How structured are you in your writing work? How do you approach your writing day?
Faw: Now that is a work in progress. I recently moved and am still settling into my writing routine here. In the past I would write whenever I could squeeze the time in, but now that I am writing full time I have found my discipline to have weakened. Ideally, I like to treat my writing day like a work day, work 8-5 at my computer. I find that keeping a routine is the most productive. Beyond that, I like to write in the mornings and do the business side of things in the afternoon, such as marketing or production activities.
Chanticleer: I believe you will settle into your routine in no time. Can you give us a few of your favorite authors and describe how they influence your work?
Faw: JK Rowling, Robert Jordan, Erika Johnannsen, Terry Goodkind, Brent Weeks – all are fantasy authors and I love rereading their works because of the depth of their writing. The world building is amazing and the character development is so real, you would swear their characters breathed.
Chanticleer: I love authors who can create worlds and characters like that. Do you use craft and/or business books? Which ones have helped you the most?
Faw: When it comes to editing, I put every book I write through this preliminary edit, to sift it for the chaff – The Word-Loss Diet by Rayne Hall. It is a small book stuffed with the most common, juvenile writing mistakes. I also reference The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman and Writing The Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. I need to give a shout out to indie author Chris Fox and his advice in Six-Figure Author – Using Data to Sell Books and Write To Market – Deliver A Book That Sells. That last book is not what you think but involves understanding your audience and discovering subjects within your niche that will resonate with your audience, within your genre.
Chanticleer: That’s an awesome list. Thanks! Give us your best marketing tips, what’s worked to sell more books, gain notoriety, and expand your literary footprint.
Faw: Marketing is every author’s Achilles heel. Whether you publish the traditional route or are self -published author, like me, we all need to market. The reasons for this are varied, but in the end, it all boils down to the same two facts:
No one will take as much interest in your career as you will. You are your own best advocate.
Over the last three to four years, I have worked hard to learn the best practices when it comes to advancing and expanding your author footprint. No one answer works for everyone but there are some essentials that you must have in place.
Firstly, you MUST have a kick-ass(ets) cover. Everyone judges by appearance, if they have eyes to see. A poor cover is a stumbling block. When someone is browsing for a book to buy, your cover needs to stop them dead. It should compel them to read your blurb, to check out the ‘look inside’. If you cover cannot grab their eyes, then you book will not grab their wallet. Spend the money on this, if you are an indie. If you are a traditional author, make this a serious discussion with your publisher.
Secondly, take the time to LEARN about Facebook ads, and Amazon (AMS) ads and how they work. As a traditional author, you might not be able to run Amazon ads, but you certainly can with Facebook ads. A small, effective and can make a huge difference in daily sales.
Thirdly, work hard to build a mailing list dedicated to your author brand. There is no better way to market than to a dedicated list of fans waiting to snap up every book you write. There are ways to introduce your work to new people, usually in the form of some sort of giveaway. It can be a short story related to your series or some deleted chapters, or original sketches/artwork that you have drawn. Work on building that audience who is hungry for your next book. The other reason why this is important is that it is a marketing activity that is totally within your control. Regardless of what happens with other advertising platforms, your list is yours. That direct contact with your customer is essential. An excellent coach for in this area is Bryan Cohen of the “Sell More Books Show” podcast.
Lastly, take the time to get to know other authors in the book industry. The collective wisdom of these smart people can help you avoid some costly mistakes and alert you to new possibilities as they crop up. Whether traditional or indie, be humble enough to learn from others who may be farther along the path than you, or doing something smart.
Chanticleer: Susan, thank you for spending time with us today. You are a powerful and positive force in the universe and we absolutely adore you!
Susan’s second novel, Soul Sanctuary, took home the 1st Place in the 2017 Dante Rossetti Awards! Check out her website and her other books, social media accounts. As you can see, she’s got it going on!
The Journey Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Journey Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAwards).
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2018 Journey Book Awards LONG LIST (aka the Slush Pile Survivors). We incorporate the Long List when the judges request an additional round of judging to accommodate the number and/or quality of entries received. These entries are now in competition for the 2018 Journey Semi-Finalists List known as the SHORT LIST. Short Listers will compete for the limited First Place Category Winners of the 2018 Journey Book Awards in the last rounds of judging and will be announced at the Awards Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 27th, 2019.
Chanticleer Book Reviews is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2018 JOURNEY Book Awards novel competition for Non-fiction Fiction and Memoir!
Joy Ross Davis – Mother Can You Hear Me?
Cheryl Aguiar – Great Horned Owlets Rescue: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way…
Sean Dwyer – A Quest for Tears: Overcoming a Traumatic Brain Injury
Philip Muls – Mind on Fire: A Case of Successful Addiction Recovery
H. Alan Day with Lynn Wiese Sneyd – Cowboy Up! Life Lessons from Lazy B
Andrew Jurkowski and Lisa Wright – Between The Swastika and the Bear: A Polish Memoir 1925 – 1948
Reanne Hemingway-Douglass – Baidarka Diaries: Voyages and Explorations: British Columbia andAlaska, 1992 – 2003
Donna LeClair – Waking Reality – Overcoming the Heartache of Abuse
Janice S. Ellis – From Liberty to Magnolia: In Search of the American Dream
Julie Morrison – Barbed
Kayce Stevens Hughlett – SoulStroller: experiencing the weight, whispers, & wings of the world
Liberty Elias Miller – The Heart of the Runaway
Jody Rae – Criminy Sakes Alive: And Other Generational Curses
Karen A. Anderson – The Amazing Afterlife of Animals; Messages and Signs From Our Pets on the Other Side
Kevin Howard – The Evolution of a Man
Abby Wilton – Machiavellian Bluff
Jeff O’Driscoll, MD – Not Yet
Dr. Rick Scarnati – Soul Explosion 2nd Edition
R. Scott Decker – Recounting the Anthrax Attacks: Terror, the Amerithrax Task Force, and the Evolution of Forensics in the FBI
Ellen Krohne – We Lost Her
GySgt L Christian Bussler – No Tougher Duty, No Greater Honor – a memoir of a Mortuary Affairs Marine
Terry Milos – North of Familiar: A Woman’s Story of Homesteading and Adventure in the Canadian Wilderness
Nick Delmedico – Biography
Carolyn Porter – Marcel’s Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate
Dennis M. Clausen – Goodbye to Main Street
Russell Vann – Ghetto Bastard, A Memoir
Diane Pomerantz – Lost in the Reflecting Pool: a memoir
Rebecca Brockway – Miss Matched at Midlife: Dating Episodes of a Middle-Aged Woman
Austin M Hopkins – The Loose Ends Became Knots
Janis Couvreux – Sail Cowabunga! A Family’s Ten Years at Sea
Katrina Shawver – HENRY: A Polish Swimmer’s True Story of Friendship from Auschwitz to America
Carol Folbre, Ph.D. – Edge of Abundance: Asian Sketchbook
Donna LeClair – IMMUNITY: Entitlement of Wealthy Political Notables
Lou McKee – Klee Wyck Journal
Cheryl Hughes Musick – The Day the Musick Died
The JOURNEY Long Listers will compete for the 2018 JOURNEY Short List. Short Listers will then compete for the First Place Category positions. The First Place Category winners will automatically be entered into the JOURNEY GRAND PRIZE AWARD competition. The CBR Grand Prize Genre Winners will compete for the CBR Overall Grand Prize for Best Book and its $1,000 purse.
All Short Listers will receive high visibility along with special badges to wear during the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at Info@ChantiReviews.com.
Grand Prize Ribbons!
Good Luck to each of you as your works compete for the JOURNEY Awards Short List.
The JOURNEY Grand Prize Winner and the Five First Place Category Position award winners will be announced at theApril 27th, 2019 Chanticleer Book Awards Annual Awards Gala,which takes place at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2019 JOURNEY Awards writing competition. The deadline for submissions is April 30th, 2019. Please click here for more information.
Action is eloquence. William Shakespeare, Coriolanus
There are a few techniques it seems like I’m always passing on to my clients: amp up your verbs; use language and details to create more tension, and force scenes to rise. By ‘rise’ I mean writers need to thrust the drama level to a crisis, a confrontation, an explosion. Because in most scenes you’re aiming for the worst outcome.
Components of an Action Scene
Characters
The main players in the scene with their key traits visible & engaged. Secondary characters need a reason for being.
Setting
The time, place and context in which the scene takes place. The setting is not just a backdrop; stage action scenes for maximum wattage.
Scene Driver:
The inciting event/change/stimulus/threat.
The event/stimulus/threat that starts the action rolling in the scene (action can be precipitated before the scene begins)
Internal response
External response
How the main characters react emotionally to actions, threat, choice. How the main characters react physically–dialogue, movement, escape confrontation, fisticuffs. Typically there is a second driver (event or response)that starts the action.
Goal
What the main character decides to do as a reaction to the inciting event or threat.
Consequence
How the main character struggles to accomplish the goal.
Resolution
How the scene goal turns out–win, lose, draw, escape, disaster.
Three words to write by—cause and effect.
Action scenes are high stakes.
The action needs to build to a full boil crisis.
Whenever possible structure action scenes with a midpoint which is also a reversal.
Use all your tools to create a character’s emotional responses including, subtext, posture, facial expressions, gestures, mannerisms, eye movements, and voice quality. Voice includes pitch, the rate of speech (does the character talk fast when nervous?), and intonation.
As you write, imagine you’re holding a camera catching the action blow-by-blow.
With intense action, use short sentences to pick up the pace. Action scenes usually have a minimal amount of description unless it contributes to the scene. The scent of blood. The sound of a gun cocking, or the creak of a floorboard. This is not the place for describing the scenery or the characters.
Action scenes feature choppy and incomplete sentences. Such as, “What was that noise?” “What the . . .”
If the setting is complex and the action intricate, sketch out a map. Place coins or placeholders to mark your players, define the sight lines, scene’s boundaries (how far can a character reach?), and how long it might take to walk, run (or sneak) from point A to point B.
If the action is complicated, ask friends or family members to act it out so you can verify the sequence and reactions.
Read your dialogue out loud.
Use simple past tense verbs such as “kicked” or “punched” rather than those pesky ‘ing’ participles such as “kicking” or “punching.”
Your protagonist has skills, strengths, and weaknesses youcan exploit and showcase. Foreshadow those traits throughout the story so when the reader reaches the action scene, he is expecting complications and credibility.
Scenes are never random events—they all need a logical connection to the storyline and to create ramifications.
Pay special attention to endings—they need weight, potency, and to reveal consequences.
Pacing is key but should be controlled by the scenes that come before and after. These will typically be slower to set up and react to the fight/conflict.
When writing fight scenes or violence, pack these scenes with anemotional punch too.
Read screenplays to digest the moment-to-moment breakdowns.
When you watch films study the reaction shots.
Some emotions in an action scene will be brief or fleeting.
When a gunshot is fired nobody has time to think. However, thebody’schemistry shifts to handle lethal threats, allowing the brain to process far more information in a shorter period of time.
Keep in mind that action scenes happen at several levels and much of the fight needs to be about internal changes, the inner world of the protagonist.
During revisions fine tune character’s emotional reactions so they’re unique, fresh, and individual. This aspect of revision can be difficult, but it is crucial.
Make certain you can justify carnage and bloodshed.
Don’t bog down the sequence with too much technical description. Show who has the upper hand, rack up the tension to the nines and tap into the motivations of the character readers root for. And if someone gets punched or shot or knocked to the ground, readers should feel it too.
Utilize all the senses and never rely solely on the physical description.
The next article from Jessica Page Morrell will include an example of screenplay action from Air Force One by Andrew Marlowe.
Jessica Page Morrellis a top-tier developmental editor and a contributor to Writer’s Digest magazine, and she teaches Master Writing Craft Classes at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that is held annually.
Jessica Page Morrell
Jessica understands both sides of the editorial desk–as a highly-sought after content development editor and an author. Her work also appears in multiple anthologies and The Writer and Writer’s Digest magazines. She is known for explaining the hows and whys of what makes for excellent writing and for sharing very clear examples that examines the technical aspects of writing that emphases layering and subtext. Her books on writing craft are considered “a must have” for any serious writer’s toolkit. For links for her writing craft books, please click on her above.
Chanticleer ReviewsandOnWord Talkswill interview Jessica for more of her writing tips and advice. Stay tuned! ~Chanticleer
We are planning a writing craft workshop soon that will be taught by Jessica.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
The Cygnus Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction. The Cygnus Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBA).
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from SLUSH pile to the 2018 Cygnus Book Awards LONG LIST. We incorporate the Long List when the judges request an additional round of judging to accommodate the number and/or quality of entries received. These entries are now in competition for 2018 Cygnus Semi-Finalists List known as the SHORT LIST. Short Listers will compete for the limited First Place Category Winners of the 2018 Cygnus Book Awards in the last rounds of judging and will be announced at the Awards Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 28th, 2019.
Chanticleer Book Reviews is looking for the best books featuring space, time travel, life on other planets, parallel universes, alternate reality, and all the science, technology, major social or environmental changes of the future that author imaginations can dream up. Hard Science Fiction, Soft Science Fiction, Apocalyptic Fiction, Cyberpunk, Time Travel, Genetic Modification, Aliens, Super Humans, Interplanetary Travel, and Settlers on the Galactic Frontier, Dystopian, we will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2018 Cygnus Book Awards novel competition for Science Fiction!
Andrew Lueders – Youth Patrol
Matthew D. Hunt – Solar Reboot
Mark Daniel Seiler – River’s Child
Samuel Winburn – Ten Directions
Rhett C Bruno – Titan’s Wrath
Catori Sarmiento – The Fortune Follies
Paul A. Vasey – Trinity’s Legacy
Isadora Deese – Right of Capture
Jim Cronin – Recusant
Phillip R. Onagan – Within The Gambit
O@4 – Europe United
Stu Jones & Gareth Worthington – It Takes Death to Reach a Star
Ryan London – Pillars of the Mortal Monarchies
Pamela LePage – Virtuous Souls
Richard Mann – Zeus 25 – Jory and Zenobia
Denise Lammi – Lucid World
M.Black – Electric Gardens
Mark Daniel Seiler – River’s Child
Daniel Zadow – Pigeon
Elizabeth Crowens – Silent Meridian, Book 1 in the Time Traveler Professor series
Elizabeth Crowens – A Pocketful of Lodestones, Book 2 in the Time Traveler Professor series
Gareth Worthington – Children of the Fifth Sun
KB Shaw – From the Shadows
Sarah Katz – Apex Five
Lou Dischler – Meet Me Under the Comet
Cary Allen Stone – Seeds – The Journey Begins
Justine Avery – The One Apart: A Novel
J. I. Rogers – The Korpes File
Timothy Vincent – Jack Out of the Box
Alexander Edlund – Keelic and the Pathfinders of Midgarth
Ted Neill – The Selah Branch
E.C. Fisher – The Deceived
Isadora Deese – Right of Capture
Megan Wetzel – Abandon
G.R. Morris – Tomorrows End
The CYGNUS Long Listers will compete for the 2018 CYGNUS Short List. Short Listers will then compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. The Semi-Finalists will compete for the First Place Category positions. The First Place Category winners will automatically be entered into the CYGNUS GRAND PRIZE AWARD competition. The 16 CBR Grand Prize Genre Winners will compete for the CBR Overall Grand Prize for Best Book and its $1,000 purse. The CIBA Awards!
Bennett Coles, CYGNUS Grand Prize Winner for his VIRTUES OF WAR series that was picked up by TITAN BOOKS U.K. for a three book series and recently by Harper Collins.
All Short Listers will receive high visibility along with special badges to wear during the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at Info@ChantiReviews.com.
Grand Prize Ribbons!
Good Luck to each of you as your works compete for the CYGNUS Awards Short List.
The CYGNUS Grand Prize Winner and the Five First Place Category Position award winners will be announced at theApril 28th, 2019 Chanticleer Book Awards Annual Awards Gala,which takes place at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2019 CYGNUS Awards writing competition. The deadline for submissions is April 30th, 2019. Please click here for more information.
We can do nothing, including taking risks, if fear is our overriding emotion. Fear is paralyzing and certainly, there are many of us who write that feel fear around the edges of our egos and emotions as we put pen to paper, share our work with others, send a letter to an agent, speak with a publisher or, even vaguely consider self-publishing our own work.
You’ve GOT THIS!
Moving through our fears is the only way to the other side where we can step fully forward making choices true to who we are.
Many years ago, on Sunday afternoons when living in Maryland, I would pack up my two young daughters and, along with my guitar, we would visit with the very elderly in a nearby long-term care facility. Although these senior folks could no longer carry on conversations regarding the present, they could remember the words to the old hymns, singing along as I strummed my guitar and my small girls dispensed hugs all around.
I continued these weekly visits over several years becoming familiar with the relatives of these precious people and much about the lives they had lived. I became especially close to a woman of 80 years named Calle. Fragile of body, but sharp of mind, displaying a caustic wit and a no-nonsense approach to all of life, she was the last person whom we visited on those Sundays. Calle was not especially social and did not attend the hymn singing as she was still living in the present and very conversive. All her friends had passed on and her two sons lived quite a distance away, seldom visiting their mother. We became fast friends.
Calle was a woman ahead of her time. She went to university and studied nursing and radiology. Radiology technology in the early 1900’s was a field in which she worked for over forty years. She would tell me of the challenges of working in a profession primarily occupied by men and how her fiercely competitive nature and desire to constantly learn, often got her “into trouble.”
She was never afraid to pursue excellence, never afraid to take risks.
Calle thought me a fine young woman but extremely meek. She persisted in challenging me to think about my own future. What were my dreams and aspirations in addition to being a mother? I told her I loved playing music, writing songs, poetry, and stories. And that because I stuttered, I wanted to someday go to college and become a Speech-Language Pathologist. She told me that “someday was here” and I was to plot a plan for how my future dreams were to be accomplished. I told her I was afraid. Afraid my husband would object to my going to university, afraid I would be seen as a negligent mother, afraid I wasn’t intelligent enough, afraid my music and writing would be found wanting by everyone – especially me. With a great sigh, Calle asked me what I was NOT afraid of and I should start there.
Can you identify your fears related to your writing?
Where, as a writer, does your confidence lie?
Do you aspire to self-publish your stories, poems, novel, memoir, non-fiction – whatever you are wanting to publish?
It is important first to recognize all your strengths and make them work for you.
Gail Noble-Sanderson
If you have entertained the thought that you might want to self-publish, I am here to tell you it is not rocket science (although I’m sure you could do that as well). If you have done all the hard work of research, writing, and editing and are ready to send your work out into the world, then you can certainly self-publish. Especially if you have attempted over some time to find an agent and/or publisher and there has been no forward movement. Or if you have spoken with other self-published writers, some of whom were published with a publishing house and later decided to self-publish, or if you feel strongly that you want to retain control of and manage your work from the beginning and thinking self-publishing is best for your vision.
A few days before we moved to Washington state, I said my good-byes to Calle. I asked her if she had to live her life over what would she do differently. She fiercely took hold of my hands and said, “I would have vanquished fear and taken more risks.”
So, if you are considering the option of self-publishing your work, walk through the fear because, truly, it is not the difficult, frightening process some would lead writers to believe. The next article in this series will look at where to begin and how to proceed when you decide to publish your own work. Remember, “keep falling in love with the potential of what you are doing” and move you and your work forward without fear.
Gail Noble-Sanderson is the author of two works of historical fiction, both of which are self-published under her own Noble Press. The Lavender House in Meuse is an emotional, intriguing, and sensitive account of the crises of World War I and one woman’s journey towards recovery and growth. Her second novel, The Passage Home to Meuse
won 1st Place in the 2017 Chatelaine Awards, the Chanticleer International Writing Competition for romantic fiction.
Both books are available through Amazon and Village Books.
Meet Denise Ditto Satterfield, 2016 Grand Prize Winner of the Chanticleer Little Peeps Awards
I first met Denise at CAC17 and was impressed by her passion for writing and her ability to encourage those around her in their craft. Much like her Children’s books, she seemed to be spreading her charm and charisma (#fairy_dust) everywhere she went!
Recently, we had a chance to chat and here’s what she said about her writing life and life in general. I hope you enjoy getting to know Denise Ditto Satterfield a little more through this interview.
Chanticleer:Tell us your story, Denise, how did you start writing?
Denise Ditto Satterfield: At the ripe old age of 44, I decided to go to college. My friends teased me, jokingly asking, “Why didn’t you go to college when you were supposed to?” You see, I started life the old-fashioned way … the way my dad said it had to be done. Graduate high school, get married and have kids. No college in the picture … especially not for girls. So, that is what I did. You ask, “How did that work out for you?” Not very well. Fast forward – I got divorced, my kids grew up, I got remarried and then I went to college. In my first English class, my love for writing was reignited. At the encouragement of one of my teachers, I submitted a story to the school’s literary magazine. I won first place in the competition and the rest is history. From that day forward I knew that one day I would quit my job and write full-time.
Chanticleer: What a journey! It takes a lot of strength to break out of the mold and do something else. Follow your heart. Good for you! Let’s talk a little aboutyour chosen genre.
Ditto Satterfield: My genre, for the moment, is children’s chapter books. I am also working on a Tooth Collector Fairy handbook which will be a companion book to the chapter books. When I take a break from fairies, I’m working on a middle-grade book. I love writing for children because I think like a child. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s the truth.
Chanticleer: That’s perfect. I find your work marvelously relateable. Maybe I think like a child as well… Do you find yourself following the rules or do you like to make up your own rules?
Ditto Satterfield: Well, it’s funny you ask this question. The handbook I’m working on consists of the rules and guidelines that the tooth fairies must follow. The main character, Batina, is a hardcore rule follower. As for me … I would say that I am a rule follower when it comes to most things. My husband says more specifically that I don’t follow the rules because they are rules. I follow the rules because they make sense. If I find that the rules don’t make sense, I will tweak … or bend … or ignore rules – whichever makes the most sense.
Chanticleer: I agree – things have to make sense. Easier to remember that way! What do you do when you’re not writing? Tells us a little about your hobbies.
Ditto Satterfield: Up until May 2017, my hobby was motorcycling. I rode a Harley for 27 years. My road name was Wonder Woman which was later shortened to WW. I got this name when my husband and I rode to Raleigh, NC for a Marine Corp reunion about 18 years ago. I was meeting a group of old Marines whom I had never met before. When the word got around that Skipper (my husband, Frank) had arrived at the hotel where the event was being held, all the guys filed outside to greet him. When they saw me they couldn’t believe I, a girl, rode all the way from Texas with him on my own bike. What made it even better is that, at the time, I rode a Softail painted like the American flag. That was the day I got my name.
When I quit my job to write full time, I became a joiner. I joined writing clubs, attended conferences, workshops, etc. I thought maybe I should learn how to blog so I went to a Leisure Learning class called, “Blogging for Dollars.” At that workshop, I heard something very interesting. The teacher said it was important for writers to build a platform. She suggested that for those in the class that didn’t have a website or blog should start one. She went on to say, “All you have to do is write about something you know.” I decided to take her advice – I started writing a motorcycle blog focusing on women riders. I gave tips in the form of videos. Honestly, they are a hoot. If you want a good laugh, visit www.motorcyclemommablog.com. Here are a few of my favorite videos – Blue Jean Shirts – Oct 2013; Bad Coffee – Apr 2013; Listening to music on the Motorcycle – March 2014.
Chanticleer: You are hysterical! Great blogs – I hope this is something you can continue. Maybe add a Children’s Book Blog to your impressive platform? So now, how do you come up with your ideas for a story?
Ditto Satterfield: When I was working everyone knew that I was going to quit my job one day and write full-time. When people know that they all have an idea of what you need to write about. I had one girl come to work one day and tell me that her daughter lost her tooth. The daughter wanted to know if all tooth fairies were girls. She told her no. Her request was that I write a story about tooth fairies that included boy tooth fairies. I thought that sounded like a pretty good idea. I wrote Batina’s Best First Day but didn’t have any tooth collector fairies that were boys, so in book two, Home from Decay Valley, I incorporated a boy tooth collector fairy. (He’s real cute … and very inquisitive … and I love him. He makes me laugh.)
Chanticleer: I love it when your characters are so deeply developed you can’t help but fall in love with them! How structured are you in your writing work?
Ditto Satterfield: I am not structured at all with my writing. I go in spurts and sometimes I work best under pressure. For example, when I was working on, Home from Decay Valley, I set a date for completion. The rough draft spilled out pretty fast. It was the revision stage that bogged me down. I would talk about how I had to finish the manuscript and then find something else to work on. I think this is what some might call procrastination. But I’m the farthest thing from being a procrastinator. I’m the one that has to have all my ducks in a row and the sooner the better. When it comes to creativity, it’s just hard to turn it off and on.
Chanticleer: It is hard! And it’s also important to let others know that the process isn’t easy. Thank you for sharing that. It’s important to work on your craft. What do you do to grow your author chops?
Ditto Satterfield: I find that the best way to grow my author chops is to attend workshops and social events with other writers and conferences. I always get fired up after a great conference. I also conduct a critique group at my house twice a month.
Chanticleer: Good answers. What do you do in your community to improve/promote literacy?
Ditto Satterfield: I have presented my book at schools and libraries. In addition, I visit the Ronald MacDonald House in House annually and read to the kids and sign and give away books.
Chanticleer: You are truly amazing! Okay, before I start to cry because you’re too awesome, please give us your best marketing tips, what’s worked to sell more books, gain notoriety, and expand your literary footprint.
Ditto Satterfield: I love the marketing part of being an author. I believe an author must find his/her target audience first. Once the audience is identified, hit the road running. In my case, my target audience is 1. Children in the tooth losing age and their parents/grandparents, and, 2. People in the dental field i.e. dentist and dental hygienists. What I’ve done to sell my books is a little bit different than most. Besides the usual avenues (libraries, schools, bookstores) I sell my books at different types of festivals. People love to shop at all the different vendor tables because they can get unique gifts not usually found in stores.
Denise onstage!
I gained a tiny, wee bit of notoriety when a children’s theatre group picked up my story and made it into a musical. This is how I did that. I pitched the idea to a children’s theatre group. They liked the idea and made it into a musical. This performance gave me a lot of mileage on sales prior to the Premier Performance date. I was able to hit events all over town promoting the musical and selling my book. Since the first performance, I have packaged the musical and am now taking it on the road. It was performed again this month, May 2018, in Conroe, TX by the C.KIDZ Theatre School. Lucky for me I was able to get the C.KIDZ Theatre School into the Children’s Museum of Houston to perform the musical again on May 27th. I will also be launching my second book at the museum on May 27th directly after the musical so that should increase sells.
Chanticleer: You are blowing me off the page right now! What are you working on now? What can we look forward to seeing next from you?
Ditto Satterfield: Right now I’m working on the Tooth Collector Handbook. It will outline the rules and guidelines for the Tooth Collector fairies.
Chanticleer: That makes perfect sense – and smart, too. I can imagine kids will love this. Who’s the perfect reader for your book?
Ditto Satterfield: Children between the ages of 5-10 and their parents and grandparents.
Chanticleer: What is the most important thing a reader can do for an author?
Ditto Satterfield: I know that reviews are very important to most authors. I think that should be number as the most important thing a reader can do but … for me, the most important, rewarding thing a reader can do for me is tell me what they think about the story. I had a school visit a couple of months ago and there was a little girl in the class that had my book. She jumped up and told the class all about it. It was crazy fun. She was so excited to meet me and she told me she love, love, loved the book. That made my day.
Chanticleer: I’ll bet it did! Denise, thank you for taking the time to share a little bit about yourself and your writing life with our community. You are a treasure!
For those of you in the Houston, TX area, Denise will be launching Home from Decay Valley that will include an onstage performance of Batina’s First Day on May 27, 2018, at the Children’s Museum of Houston. A not-to-miss event! Denise will donate $1 for every book sold on May 27 to the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation.
I would love to invite our readers to visit Denise’s website for her children’s books. It’s an education in marketing. https://toothcollectorfairies.com/
For her books, you can purchase them from her website, or your favorite retailer.
We’ve asked 10 questions, now it’s your turn! What question would you like to ask Denise Ditto Satterfield?
Denise won Grand Prize in the Little Peeps Awards for Children’s Books by entering the contest. Do you have a Children’s Book? The deadline for entering Little Peeps is September 30, 2018. Enter here today!
You can read The Tooth Collector Fairies: Batina’s Best First Day Chanticleer Review here.
1. The writing style is flowery, cluttered with modifiers, or sloppy. Overuse of modifiers is one of the most obvious indicators of an unsophisticated or sloppy writer at work. The simple solution is to limit your use of modifiers and use them only when they contain information that a noun or verb cannot.
2. Mechanical errors such as spelling mistakes, grammar slip-ups, poorly constructed sentences, or punctuation problems. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, these errors will knock you out of the running. Editors and agents are only interested in professional, polished and error-free writing.
3. The conflict is weak or boring.Conflict ignites and powers a story. Your protagonist must be up against powerful opposition at every turn and must fight these forces with an all-out offensive.
4. The opening does not contain a hook.The opening of a story is a gathering of forces to be unleashed. Stories always open with a change in the protagonist’s circumstances and this change is usually threatening. Openings also introduce a question that needs answering.
5.The story and the individual scenes do not have a sense of tension building and suspense. Readers need a reason to keep turning the page and all stories need growing intensity until the climax or resolution. A story where the tension does not rise, without unanswered questions and a series of surprises and reversals, won’t captivate readers.
6. The manuscript is plagued with dialogue disasters:overly long exchanges; characters giving speeches; or, the dialogue contains no tension or conflict. Other problems: each character does not sound distinct, characters talk about mundane topics not relevant to the story, or speech tags are distracting and filled with adverbs. Properly utilized dialogue defines characters, provides information and pushes the plot forward.
7. There is too much telling, not enough dramatization. Whenever appropriate bring the story to your readers in scenes, where they can witness it unfold in real time. “Show, don’t tell” is a useful guideline for writers, but fiction is actually ‘told’ and ‘shown.’ A combination of both techniques creates the most effective fiction. Scenes are most effective when you’re revealing characters or complicated interactions between characters. Exposition is most effective when you’re filling in background information or moving quickly between two scenes. Too much showing or too many scenes makes the story too drawn out just as too much exposition makes it static. The best stories usually move back and forth between scene and description.
8. Characters are underdeveloped.In the best fiction the reader has a sense that the characters have existed before the story began and will carry on after it ends. Memorable fictional characters are richly drawn, consistent, with dominant traits throughout.
9. The ending doesn’t deliver or satisfy.The best endings are not contrived or convenient. They are the logical and highly dramatic culmination of the proceeding events. The climax is the highest emotional pitch of your story, a decision, a collision of forces, and settling of scores.
10. The point of view is muddled or inconsistent.The point of view is the filter or lens which we see the story through. It is crucial that you understand who is telling the story and why. Viewpoint characters are generally those who will be most affected by the events of the story. If you’re using a multiple point of view, strive for a logical and consistent pattern.
Another note from Kiffer Brown,
One way to make sure that your work is the best that it can be before LINE EDITING and COPY EDITING, is to have a professional manuscript evaluation or manuscript overview assessment of your work-in-progress. This assessment will alert you to any of the above issues before you have your work edited.
and finally, Number 11 – FORMATTING ERRORS and Erroneous Submissions
11. The manuscript format is inappropriate or contains errors.There are no exceptions to the guidelines for manuscript submission. Margins, line spacing, fonts, and formats must be adhered to or your manuscript will be ignored.
11a. The manuscript has been sent to the wrong person or house.For example, you send a category romance to a publisher that only publishes mainstream. Submissions require meticulous research and care. Whenever possible, make contacts in the industry and in general, send brief inquiries before sending any manuscript pages.
Jessica Page Morrell
Jessica Page Morrell is a top-tier developmental editor and a contributor to Writer’s Digest magazine, and she teaches Master Writing Craft Classes at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that is held annually.
Jessica understands both sides of the editorial desk–as a highly-sought after content development editor and an author. Her work also appears in multiple anthologies and The Writer and Writer’s Digest magazines. She is known for explaining the hows and whys of what makes for excellent writing and for sharing very clear examples that examines the technical aspects of writing that emphases layering and subtext. Her books on writing craft are considered “a must have” for any serious writer’s toolkit.
Chanticleer Reviews and OnWord Talkswill interview Jessica for more of her writing tips and advice. Stay tuned! ~ Chanticleer
We are planning a writing craft workshop soon that will be taught by Jessica.
The Gertrude Warner Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Middle-Grade Readers. The Gertrude Warner Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAwards) and Novel Competitions.
The M&M Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Cozy, Classic, & Not-So-Cozy Mystery Novels. The M&M Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) and Novel Competitions.
Author Susan Faw is the perfect example of what I mean by #SeriousAuthor. She not only writes amazing YA Fantasy, she also approaches her writing as an occupation.
Faw: I like to do a day or two of random reading online. I check out the weird and the wonderful posts that litter the Internet and start taking notes of strange occurrences or weird events. Ghost stories or reports are a great source of inspiration. Paranormal activity can lead to all kinds of magical concepts.
The Journey Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Journey Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAwards).
The Cygnus Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction. The Cygnus Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBA).
