A Huge Congratulations to all of the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards (CIBAs) Finalists!
Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few manage to rise this far in the ranks.
For our Shorts and Series Authors, this post has links to all of the Finalist Awards for the 3 CIBA Division Lists we have for Collected Shorts, Individual Shorts, and Series. We will have a separate post for Fiction and Non-Fiction.
All Finalists in attendance will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, and we will announce the Winners at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, June 25th at the Chanticleer Banquet. We can’t express how excited we are to be able to do this in person with our fully vaccinated and boosted staff in a healthy metro area.
Now let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.
The remaining tiers are the First Place Winner, the Grand Prize Winners, and finally, the coveted Overall Grand Prize Winners. The Overall Grand Prize Winner takes home the $1000 and more! See the Book Award details here.
Now, presenting the links to the Non-Fiction Awards Finalists
We have badges available starting with the Short List. If you need a digital badge reflecting your tier level, please email info@ChantiReviews.com with your division and rank, and we will send you one as soon as possible.
The 10th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference is June 23-26, 2022
Make sure your Award gets the attention it deserves on Goodreads.com
In the Librarian Manual on Goodreads, you can go to your Book Edit Page — Literary Awards.
You want to list the Award for Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) Winners, and be sure to include the year and what place you received. For example:
The year Long List, Short List, Semi-Finalist, or Finalist.
Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.
Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.
The Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2020 CIBAs was Rebeca Dwight Bruff’s book Trouble the Water
This year we introduced the Non-Fiction Division for Military and Front Line Book Awards. These books focus on Narrative Non-Fiction that highlights the lives of service members, medical workers, and generally those who engage in public service. This is a division we’ve been waiting to launch for years, and we felt this was the year to make it happen. While we still are updating our site for this division, all 24 of our other CIBAs are now accepting entries for 2022.
Remember, you don’t have to be present to win, but it sure is a lot more fun! The CIBAs Ceremonies will also be livestreamed for those who can’t attend in person. Information about how to watch will be sent out by the week of the Conference to all finalists.
The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
Featuring: International Best Selling Author Cathy Ace along with experts in the business and marketing and promotion for authors from Kickstarter to Hindenburg.
A Huge Congratulations to all of the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards (CIBAs)
2021 Non-Fiction Book Awards Finalists!
Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few manage to rise this far in the ranks.
For our Non-Fiction Authors, this post has links to all of the Finalist Awards for the 7 CIBA Divisions we have for Non-Fiction. We will have a separate post for Fiction and one more post for the Shorts Awards for both Individual Works and Collected Works, as well as the Series Book Awards.
All Finalists in attendance will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, and we will announce the Winners at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, June 25th at the Chanticleer Banquet. We can’t express how excited we are to be able to do this in person with our fully vaccinated and boosted staff in a healthy metro area.
Now let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.
The remaining tiers are the First Place Winner, the Grand Prize Winners, and finally, the coveted Overall Grand Prize Winners. The Overall Grand Prize Winner takes home the $1000 and more! See the Book Award details here.
Now, presenting the links to the Non-Fiction Awards Finalists
We have badges available starting with the Short List. If you need a digital badge reflecting your tier level, please email info@ChantiReviews.com with your division and rank, and we will send you one as soon as possible.
The 10th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference is June 23-26, 2022
Make sure your Award gets the attention it deserves on Goodreads.com
In the Librarian Manual on Goodreads, you can go to your Book Edit Page — Literary Awards.
You want to list the Award for Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) Winners, and be sure to include the year and what place you received. For example:
The year Long List, Short List, Semi-Finalist, or Finalist.
Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.
Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.
The Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2020 CIBAs was Rebeca Dwight Bruff’s book Trouble the Water
This year we introduced the Non-Fiction Division for Military and Front Line Book Awards. These books focus on Narrative Non-Fiction that highlights the lives of service members, medical workers, and generally those who engage in public service. This is a division we’ve been waiting to launch for years, and we felt this was the year to make it happen. While we still are updating our site for this division, all 24 of our other CIBAs are now accepting entries for 2022.
Remember, you don’t have to be present to win, but it sure is a lot more fun! The CIBAs Ceremonies will also be livestreamed for those who can’t attend in person. Information about how to watch will be sent out by the week of the Conference to all finalists.
The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
Featuring: International Best Selling Author Cathy Ace along with experts in the business and marketing and promotion for authors from Kickstarter to Hindenburg.
A Huge Congratulations to all of the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards (CIBAs) Finalists!
Every tier of the CIBAs is an important one, though few manage to rise this far in the ranks.
For our Fiction Authors, this post has links to all of the Finalist Awards for the 16 CIBA Divisions we have for fiction. We will have a separate post for Non-Fiction and one more post for the Shorts Awards for both Individual Works and Collected Works, as well as the Series Book Awards.
All Finalists in attendance will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, and we will announce the Winners at the CIBAs Ceremonies on Saturday, June 25th at the Chanticleer Banquet. We can’t express how excited we are to be able to do this in person with our fully vaccinated and boosted staff in a healthy metro area.
Now let’s take a step back and look at where we came from to make this happen.
The remaining tiers are the First Place Winner, the Grand Prize Winners, and finally, the coveted Overall Grand Prize Winners. The Overall Grand Prize Winner takes home the $1000 and more! See the Book Award details here.
Now, presenting the links to the Fiction Awards Finalists
We have badges available starting with the Short List. If you need a digital badge reflecting your tier level, please email info@ChantiReviews.com with your division and rank, and we will send you one as soon as possible.
The 10th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference is June 23-26, 2022
Make sure your Award gets the attention it deserves on Goodreads.com
In the Librarian Manual on Goodreads, you can go to your Book Edit Page — Literary Awards.
You want to list the Award for Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) Winners, and be sure to include the year and what place you received. For example:
The year Long List, Short List, Semi-Finalist, or Finalist.
Note from Goodreads: “To add a new award or edit an existing award, you’ll need help from one of our volunteer librarians or a staff member.” For assistance, post in the Goodreads Librarians Group.
Always double check that you’ve written everything correctly before posting it. The search function for Awards on Goodreads is both case and punctuation sensitive.
The Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2020 CIBAs was Rebeca Dwight Bruff’s book Trouble the Water
This year we introduced the Non-Fiction Division for Military and Front Line Book Awards. These books focus on Narrative Non-Fiction that highlights the lives of service members, medical workers, and generally those who engage in public service. This is a division we’ve been waiting to launch for years, and we felt this was the year to make it happen. While we still are updating our site for this division, all 24 of our other CIBAs are now accepting entries for 2022.
Remember, you don’t have to be present to win, but it sure is a lot more fun! The CIBAs Ceremonies will also be livestreamed for those who can’t attend in person. Information about how to watch will be sent out by the week of the Conference to all finalists.
The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
Featuring: International Best Selling Author Cathy Ace along with experts in the business and marketing and promotion for authors from Kickstarter to Hindenburg.
You will not look like this by the end of this artilce…probably
While everyone has questions about social media, one of the big ones for writers is often Twitter. Founded in March of 2006, Twitter is now one of the go-to places for hot takes, cold takes, pitching agents, and generally trying to go viral on just about anything.
Plus, what on earth is Elon Musk doing on there, and what’s our number one piece of advice for social media?
One of the first things agents and publishers will do while researching an author is check to see if they have any sort of social media presence. Author platform comes first in the majority of cases, rather than an author being discovered and then being set up with an incredible platform by people who believe in their book. And a digital presence is work.
So, how do you establish a following on Twitter?
Set yourself up for success
To begin with, you’ll want a profile picture and cover photo that fits with your author brand. Your author brand should be in line with the genre of your books. This means it puts your readers in mind of what you write when they visit your site. If you’re a Non-Fiction author who focuses on social justice and journalism, you want readers interested in social justice to think of you when they think about your genre.
Of course, we’re thinking of someone specific. Check out the homepage for Dr. Janice Ellis’s Twitter profile.
We’ve added some letters to the image to help us better understand and discuss what she’s doing here.
A. Ellis is a professional journalist with a PhD, and her picture reflects that level of expertise.
B. Here we have Dr. Ellis standing next to covers of her book. The background color we can see was drawn in part from the color of her Chanticleer Nellie Bly Grand Prize winner From Liberty to Magnolia. This helps tie the whole image together. She even includes a personal mission statement: “Experience and Knowledge Fuel the Mission to Promote the Good”
C. You can search everywhere for Janice S. Ellis, PhD, and find that her name is consistent across platforms.
D. This is her Twitter handle. You can see that it clearly links to her name that appears, which is good because you want to be as easy to find as possible.
E. Here Dr. Ellis has been clever by including a website where she is frequently published and a hashtag that attaches to what she’s known for. We’ll talk more about hashtags later on.
F. Here the key is that Dr. Ellis has included her own website. Having your own personal site independent from social media is always an important component of any author platform.
Sell yourself, not your book
While this might seem counter-intuitive, it makes sense when you realize people want to follow a human being, not an inanimate object. On Twitter, you can do the following things:
Follow: Like many social media platforms, you should follow who you want to follow. Ideally, keep in mind your brand and author platform as you do this.
Tweet: Regular posting at least once a day is ideal. Mix it up with pictures, videos, whatever strikes your fancy.
Retweet: This reposts someone else’s Tweet to your timeline
Quote Tweet: This reposts someone else’s Tweet to your timeline, and you can comment on it. This is a great way to start a conversation or answer a fun question
Comment: This is simply commenting and responding to people who have either created their own post, responded to a post, or responded to your post.
Direct Message (DM): This one should only be done with explicit permission. You can ask to DM someone, or they may say “DMs open” – otherwise you should always leave a public comment.
You have a lot of choices on how to handle Twitter
The big questions that come up here are how to interact with agents and publishers on Twitter. Follow the ones who you think might be interested in your work, but as mentioned above, don’t DM them unless you have permission to do so. Interact with them like a human being, and keep an eye out for when they’re open to submissions.
One thing agents and small presses talk about on Twitter is that they appreciate it when someone continues to submit to them. This is confirmed in Jane Friedman’s The Business of Being a Writer:
“‘Getting rejected by a magazine repeatedly and then, finally, getting work accepted is, actually, fairly normal. It’s a little frustrating for an editor,’ she said, ‘when a writer submits to us five times and then just stops, and we never get a chance to read the writer’s work again.’” (78)
Persistence pays off in more ways than one.
So When can I sell my Book?
Generally posting once a week about your book is plenty. During releases, or if you’re participating in Book Awards like the CIBAs or receiving a Review, then you can post more. Just make sure there’s a reason you’re posting about it beyond “buy my book!”
Hashtags and Pitch Wars
One thing to keep in mind anytime you read something (this included) about social media is that what you’re reading is already out of date. For example, while the idea of #PitchWars is still going, #PitMad, the original founding idea, appears to be defunct as of this year. What are these programs?
You can get a thorough rundown with hashtag suggestions for #PitchWars from The Writing Cooperative here, but the short version is they’re opportunities to promote your work on Twitter directly to agents who are interested in what you have to sell. Usually the rules are you post hashtags appropriate to the pitch day, and then you go and support your friends by Retweeting their posts. Be careful not to Like any posts, because that is an action reserved for Agents, and indicates they are open to being contacted about reviewing their work. If you do Like one of these Tweets by mistake, you’re likely to receive a polite DM asking you to Retweet instead, which isn’t a tragedy, but it can feel a little embarrassing to make a faux pas like that.
What about more commonly used hashtags outside of special events?
Well, the following are pretty common:
#WritingCommunity
#AmWriting
#AmQuerying
#WritersLift
Note: Physical lifting is uncommon in a #WritersLift
All of those can be used in fairly self-explanatory ways, except for #WritersLift. A #WritersLift comes with an invitation for authors to put links to their work on your post, and then there is the expectation that you will follow them on Twitter, and they will follow you back. Making a #WritersLift post can be a quick and easy way to boost your Twitter following and maybe make new friends!
Other hashtags that are genre specific can be used fairly easily, such as #Fantasy or #Journalism. If you have a hashtag based on your book such as #TFioS (The Fault in our Stars by John Green, pronounces “tif-ee-oh-s”) those are great to use, but always pair them with more popular hashtags.
Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters snuggling up in the movie “The Fault in Our Stars”
Another great time to use Hashtags is anytime your book wins an award or receives a review. Big milestones like that can make a huge difference when it comes to getting noticed, so if your book because a finalist in the CIBAs or receives a Chanticleer Book Review, tell your friends and followers all about it!
Note: Conferences and Writing Events often have a specific tag like #CAC and #CIBAs (for Chanticleer Authors Conference and Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards). Using those specific tags can be a great way to have the organization notice you.
Blocking
It’s always good to talk about blocking people on any social media platform. On Twitter, blocking someone is often an act of self-love. Rather than getting into a fight with a stranger on the internet, just click that block button and don’t worry about talking to them ever again. Your mental health isn’t worth trying to reach someone who just wants to be mean.
So what’s Elon Musk got to do with all of this?
Billionaire and would-be-Twitter-Owner Elon Musk
Recently it came out that Musk has invested enough to own 9.2% of Twitter. If you really want to dive into this, you can check out this article from CNET here, but these are the highlights. In addition to owning a substantial share of Twitter, Musk has now offered to buy the company. If Twitter says no, he could divest his stock and drive the price of Twitter down, harming the platform. If they say yes, he’s sure to transform the platform into something quite different from what it is now. Should we be worried?
Well, probably not.
There might be a bit of an upset, but it’s more likely things will continue as they have for Twitter, and Musk might just try to make his own social media website. However, this brings us back to the importance of having your own author website. Companies like Twitter and Meta (that’s Facebook and Instagram) are eventually going to go the way of MySpace, and then we’ll all have to collectively jump onto a new social network. If all our eggs are in the basket that ends up losing popularity or shutting down, then we lose our entire author platform at one go. So, keeping your website as a hub that tells people who you are, and directs folks to your social media makes your position much more stable.
Our best advice for social media?
This might seem obvious, but always be polite. Being rude on social media is a great way to get blocked. As we tell kids, the internet is forever. When a person explodes or swears at someone online, that sort of thing has a way of making it onto Watch Dog sites like Writer Beware, ALLi, or Absolute Write. These spaces can mean the difference between someone deciding to work with an author or not, which can have huge consequences when it comes to sales.
A few words from Kiffer.
Be kind. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t post anything at all.
And be sure not to hi-jack someone else’s post. This is just plain rude. IF someone tries to hi-jack your post, you can choose 1) not to respond – at all 2) delete the comment if it is egregious or 3) if someone is trying to sell their book on your social platform — well, that is just plain out tacky! If the person doing this persists (we all make blunders – and I would like to think most of the time unintentionally), then you may have to block that particular person. Facebook and Twitter do NOT notify the person that they have been blocked. You just won’t have to see their comments on your posts anymore. On Twitter, this is called “thread-jacking” — someone interjecting in a discussion in order to divert it in a different direction.
My advice for social media is Be kind. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t post anything at all.
What is posted on the internet is there forever and for everyone. – Kiffer
Post note: Keep in mind, that the publishing world is a small one.
Thank you for joining us for this Writer’s Toolbox Article, and good luck out there on the web!
FLEXIBLE REGISTRATIONS ARE AVAILABLE for these challenging times.
Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
Being a Rooster, Chanticleer is pretty keen on the idea of Earth Day.
It may surprise you to hear that Earth Day is the largest secular holiday in the world, celebrated for the past 50 years! You can read our last article that focused on the origins of Earth Day, as well as the powerful impact literature can have on the environment, as happened with Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.
This year, we want to take time to recognize and cheer on some of the Chanticleer authors who have made their own contributions to environmental literature. While nature focused writing can fit into almost any genre, the genres we most often see with environmental stories are: Global Thriller Awards, Journey Awards, Little Peeps Awards, Hearten Awards, and, of course, our Cygnus Awards with the rise of the Cli-Fi genre!
Books show where we put our focus and attention, and we’re glad that these authors did such a great job highlighting the world in their work!
A smart, science fiction thriller that will have readers looking twice at dolphins – and scanning the waters for something far more menacing. Highly recommended.
Kristie Clark is a pediatrician with the heart of a writer. She always knew that she wanted to write and began writing poetry in middle school. Her mother read to her at night, instilling a love of books. As a child, C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series impacted her greatly, and as a teenager, she began reading science fiction for fun, enjoying books by Arthur C. Clarke.
Big congratulations are in order for Kristie Clark as this book recently made the Finalists list for our Global Thriller Awards. Her newest book, Dragon Gold, is on the Finalist list for the Cygnus Awards, and her short story “Dragon of the Sea” is a Finalist for the Shorts Awards. Way to go Kristie!
An intelligent techno-thriller that won’t leave you even after the final page is read. Highly recommended!
Norman M. Jacobs MD, MS is an award-winning writer and former bookstore owner. He’s a scientist and physician and has published many newspaper and scientific articles. He has a master’s degree in physics, passed a PhD exam in physics at the University of Pennsylvania, and completed a residency program in radiology at Duke University Medical Center with specialty training in neuroradiology. Congratulations Norman on being a Finalist in the Global Thriller Awards!
Kobee Manatee® Climate Change and the Great Blue Hole Hazard is a fantastic journey showcasing fun, friendship, and the necessity of keeping our oceans clean.
You can find all 4 of the Kobee Manatee® books here!
Robert Scott Thayer always had a passion for manatees, oceans, weather, and sea life. He is also an award-winning recording artist who writes and sings in the pop, jazz, and children’s genres. Robert’s newest children’s tune, Kobee’s Song, is available on iTunes.
Lauren Gallegos earned her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Illustration from Cal State Fullerton in 2009 and has been illustrating ever since. When it comes to stories, Lauren has always loved books that warm the heart and touch the soul; timeless narratives that speak to your inner child. As a young girl she loved to pour over illustrations that were rich and full. Lauren still loves books that take you to mysterious places and let your imagination run wild with possibilities. Her biggest illustration influences are Chris Van Allsburg, Loren Long, Chris Sheban, Arthur Rackham, and Scott Gustafson to name only a few.
In a world where the rich obtain immortality, a forbidden love can either bridge the gap of unimaginable inequity or drive the disparaging classes even farther apart. A science-fiction novel with an earthly conscious.
Sean Curley’s new book, Anika’s Gift is making good progress through the cover design process, and ARCs are being sent out now. Sean is a renaissance man who loves new experiences, diversity, and challenges (though more intellectual than physical). He is also the author of the the 2014 Chaucer Grand Prize for Early Historical Fiction with his book Propositum. Sean will also be at the Chanticleer Authors Conference June 23-26, 2022!
Are you a Chanticleer Author who has some good news to share? Let us know! We’re always looking for a reason to crow about Chanticleerians! Here are some recent updates from our authors:
FLEXIBLE REGISTRATIONS ARE AVAILABLE for these challenging times.
The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
Just as every dark and stormy night, dinner party, holiday gathering, or bustling office on payday are infused with mood, so are scenes in the best fiction.
Mood affects, resonates, and reinforces the reader’s emotions, aids in understanding key moments, and enhances his or her immersion into the story events.
Mood is the feel or atmosphere or ambience of a story or scene.
ALL writing should evoke a mood.
Miranda at “that” dinner party that takes place in the STATION ELEVEN series. The tension is palpable.
Mood is the Soundtrack of Fiction aka Mood as Backdrop
Mood is omnipresent in the best books much like the soundtracks of notable films. As with movies without a soundtrack, fiction is not complete and captivating without having moods as a backdrop. Mood makes readers worry about heroines stranded in lonely castles and fog-bound moors. It feeds suspense and tension, and is in fact inseparable from them. It is essential to genres like horror, thrillers, and action, but is necessary to every moment in every story where you want a reader to feel a certain way. You can stage your characters in dramatic events but without setting up the proper mood, the characters’ actions will fall short.
Mood is What Readers Feel While Reading Your Story.
Mood is what the reader feels while reading a scene or story. It’s not the reader’s emotions, (though mood is designed to influence them) but the atmosphere (the vibe) of a scene or story. It’s the tornado heading for Dorothy Gale’s Kansas farm. In the film, once the viewers spot that towering tunnel and witness winds lashing the countryside, fear sets in. Will Dorothy make it to cellar in time?
It’s what the reader notices, what gets under his or her skin. Not all readers will experience/perceive the same mood from a scene, although the writer tries to achieve a particular feel common to every reader.
A quick example from everyday life–candlelight is soothing and soft; overhead fluorescent lights are harsh and even irritating.
Tip: Mood should change and vary as the story moves forward. Moods in subplots should vary from the main storyline.
Why Mood?
Deepens the reader’s experience.
Creates cohesion.
Enhances tension and suspense.
Evokes emotions, creates emotional connections to the characters and their situations.
Works with reader’s nervous system.
Underlines themes.
Mood helps fiction become more immersive, alive, lifelike and creates a backdrop for drama.
Mood is Created by a Range of Literary Devices:
Setting
Conflict
Imagery
Sensory Details
Characters Reacting and Responding in Scenes.
Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series is an exemplary example of infusing mood into scenes: joy, fear, longing, betrayal, expectation, disappointment, and so on.
Evoking mood in fiction – Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Use Descriptive Language to Induce Moods
While setting is most commonly used to induce moods, descriptive language is a potent tool and that decreases or amps up tension. In Dean Koontz’s psychological thriller The Face, a horrific storm lashes Los Angeles a few days before Christmas adding a delicious shiver of danger and tension. The weather is referred to in each scene, causes things to happen and creates an ominous, the ‘world-is-askew’ mood. For example, he writes, “In the witches’ cauldron of the sky, late-morning light brewed into a thick gloom more suitable to winter dusk.”
Mood is created on a word-by-word basis by choosing sensory details that stir emotions, but also by orchestrating pacing. Slow down for important moments, places readers need to savor. Pacing naturally speeds up when excitement is high, conflict is intense, action is nonstop. Short sentences and paragraphs communicate excitement, urgency, panic, anger, shock, and violence. Short sentences land a gut punch and demand readers keep zipping through the text.
While most stories, especially short stories, have an overarching atmosphere, the ambience or vibe of a story will change over time and change in intensity.
Mood is linked to tension and suspense and getting under your reader’s skin.
Use mood to foreshadow.
Remember that a vague or pallid setting will create vague and pallid emotions/reactions in your readers. – Jessica Morrell
Example as Mood as Backdrop
Peter Heller’s brilliant novel The Dog Stars takes place in a future where the world has been ravaged by a pandemic that’s killed off most of the population. If that wasn’t bad enough, the natural world is dying off too. He wrote it in 2012. I’m a sucker for a post-apocalyptic novel, even when they’re shockingly prescient. I cannot recommend enough this beautiful, compelling, heart-wrenching story that invaded my thoughts for days while reading it. This backdrop to the state of affairs the protagonist Hig exists in, is dropped in on page 6.
“In the beginning there was Fear. Not so much the flu by then, by then I walked, I talked. Not so much talked, but of sound body—and of mind, you be the judge. Two straight weeks of fever, three days 104 to105, I know it cooked my brains. Encephalitis or something else. Hot. Thoughts that once belonged, that felt at home with each other, were now discomfited, unsure. Depressed, like those shaggy Norwegian ponies that Russian professor moved to the Siberian Arctic I read about before. He was trying to recreate the Ice Age, a lot of grass and fauna and few people. Had he known what was coming he would have pursued another hobby. Half the ponies died, I think from heartbreak for their Scandinavian forests, half hung out at the research station and were fed grain and still died. That’s how my thoughts are sometimes. When I’m stressed. When something’s bothering me and won’t let go. They’re pretty good, I mean they function, but a lot of times they feel out of place, kinda sad, sometimes wondering if maybe they are supposed to be ten thousand miles from here in a place with a million square miles of cold Norwegian spruce. Sometimes I don’t trust my thoughts not to bolt for the brush. Probably not my brain, probably normal for where we’re at.”
“I don’t want to be confused: we are nine years out. The flu killed almost everybody, then the blood disease killed more. The ones who are left are mostly Not Nice, that is why we live here on the plain, why I patrol every day.”
Example of Mood Setting the Stage
“Stop that you’ll fall.”
A week’s worth of snow has compressed into ice, each day’s danger hidden beneath a nighttime dusting of powder. Every few yards my boots travel farther than my boots intended, and my stomach pitches, braced for a fall. Our progress is slow, and I wished I’d thought to bring Sophia on a sled instead.
Reluctantly, she opens her eyes, swivels her head owllike, away from the shops, to hide her face in her sleeve. I squeeze her gloved hand. She hates the birds that hang in the butcher’s window, their neck iridescent feathers cruelly at odds with the lifeless eyes they embellish.
I hate the birds too.
Adam says I’ve given the phobia to her, like a cold or a piece of unwanted jewelry.
“Where did she get it from them?” he said when I protested turning to an invisible crowd, as if the absence of answer proved his point. “Not me.”
Of course not. Adam doesn’t have weaknesses.
This is the opening salvo for Hostage written by Clare Mackintosh, a ‘locked room’ thriller. The locked room in this story is a London to Sydney flight. It feels like a thriller doesn’t it? Those creepy dead birds, dangerous snow, and the husband-wife conflict signal something bad is going to happen.
Keep writing, keep dreaming, have heart. Jessica
Jessica Page Morrell
Jessica Morrell is a top-tier developmental editor and a contributor to Chanticleer Reviews Media and to the Writer’s Digest magazine. She teaches Master Writing Craft Classes along with sessions at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that is held annually along with teaching at Chanticleer writing workshops that are held throughout the year.
Jessica Morrell’s Classes and Workshops at CAC22
June 23 – 26, 2022 at the Hotel Bellwether, Bellingham, Wash. In Real Life and Virtual!
Using Film Techniques for Fiction Writers– Camera angles, method acting for getting into a character’s pov, and creating subtext and tight dialogue
Your Brain on Writing
Captivating Co-Starsthat add depth to your work-in-progress
Women’s History Month began being celebrated nationally in just 1981
And back then it was only Women’s History Week! As a woman owned company, Chanticleer is a big proponent of Women’s History Month. Generally the month is about celebrating and recognizing the accomplishments of women throughout history. It also is the month where we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th. You can read more about current events happening with Women’s History Month here.
The 2022 National Women’s History Theme
“Women Providing Healing, Promoting Hope”
President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation in February 1980 declaring the Week of March 2nd – 8th 1980 as National Women’s History Week.
“From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.” President Jimmy Carter’s Message to the Nation.
What Exactly is International Women’s Day?
The origins of the holiday may surprise you. The Socialist Party of America celebrated decided February 28, 1909 would be the first National Women’s Day. The day was meant to honor immigrant women who went on strike.
The day gained international recognition just the following year, and has focused in the last century on equal rights for women and suffrage, and then evolved to include a greater focus on working class women of color. For an excellent deep dive into a fuller history of International Women’s Day you can read this article from the Washington Post here.
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is Break the Bias — #BreakTheBias – focusing on creating a gender equal world.
Women in Words
One of the most famous recent examples of a woman in the world of words is Amy Schneider on the hit show Jeopardy! She made history not only as the second longest streak holder (behind Ken Jennings), but also is the first openly transgender contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions and as the most successful woman to grace the show with both a 40-game streak and $1.3 million in winnings!
When asked why she specifically did so well at the wordplay questions Schneider said, “I think a lot of it comes from doing crosswords for years, it’s given me practice at thinking of words as both a concept and a collection of letters at the same time.”
Now Amy has quit her former job as a software engineering manager. She’s sitting down to focus on one of our favorite activities: writing a book! It’s wonderful to see a woman go so far in such a popular television program.
Women at Chanticleer
Recently we were excited to share the good news of Dr. Janice Ellis being featured across the nation as she discussed the recent decision surrounding the next Justice for the Supreme Court. If Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is confirmed, she will be the fourth woman on the court and the first Black woman ever appointed to the US Supreme Court. You can read our report on Dr. Ellis’s full article here.
Here is a link to our Homage to the Suffrage Centennial – Women’s Rights, Suffrage, the 19th Amendment post that celebrates the 100 Year Centennial Celebration of the 19th Amendment.
Click on the above link to read more about these amazing women: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Matilda Electa Joslyn, Alice stone Blackwell, Belle Squire, Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrel, and Harriet Tubman.
Wyoming Territory Women could vote in 1869.
It would take until 1920 for the 19th Amendment to pass that would allow women to vote. ANOTHER 51 YEARS!
Now let’s dive into some of our favorite recent reviews of books written by women:
PAUSE
By Sara Stamey
First Place Winner in Somerset Awards
Sara Stamey’s Pause features a hero who defies gravity, a scintillating setting, and a lovely backdrop for this riveting story.
This story is about women: strong, weak, abused, cherished, divorced, cancer survivors, mothers, sisters, friends, frenemies. It is a book about survival and hope, about getting back to self to reemerge into a life worth living.
Meet Lindsey, a fifty-two-year-old divorced woman going through menopause, living alone with her two cats, and worrying about her 1 and ¾ breasts. Readers will be hooked from the very beginning with the first of many poignant and funny journal entries. Here is Lindsey’s reality: a middle-aged woman suffering hot flashes that sear her skin and cause spells of nausea, who suffers PTSD from an abusive spouse.
THE ALOHA SPIRIT
By Linda Ulleseit
Grand Prize Winner in Goethe Awards
In Linda Ulleseit’s novel The Aloha Spirit, we meet the plucky heroine, Dolores, as her father leaves her.
“Dolores’s father deemed her useless when she was seven. Neither he nor her older brother, Pablo, ever said that, but every detail of their leaving told her so. Papa had tried to explain the Hawaiian custom of hānai to her. All she understood was the giving away, leaving her to live with a family not her own.”
Her story starts in 1922; the place, multiethnic, multilingual Hawaii. Papa, a sugar cane cutter from Spain who worked in Hawaii, decides to take his son Pablo with him to seek his fortune in California. His wife died five years earlier. He leaves 7-year-old Dolores with a large family on Oahu in an arrangement called hānai, an informal adoption. Dolores doesn’t know the family well. She feels abandoned, with no idea when or if her father will send for her or return.
MYSTERY in HARARE
By M.J. Simms-Maddox
First Place Winner in M&M Awards
In M.J. Simms-Maddox’s atmospheric thriller, Mystery in Harare: Priscilla’s Journey into Southern Africa, a former legislative aide’s wedding day turns deadly.
As the second installment of The Priscilla Trilogy opens, Priscilla J. readies to walk down the aisle in an American church to marry Jonathan. Not the man of her dreams, but the man she believes may be right for her. Love isn’t exactly on the table, but Priscilla hopes it will be in the future.
Before she can even take her vows, her soon-to-be husband is murdered in cold blood in front of her and those in attendance. Priscilla catches a glimpse of the murderer before succumbing to unconsciousness. She’s been drugged, and the kidnappers will confound and surprise readers.
In her nonfiction debut Across the Distance, Christina Kemp showcases a collection of eight personal stories that delve into the most poignant relationships throughout her life.
The well-crafted narratives encompass relationships with her parents, brother, childhood friends, boyfriends, and mentors as they moved in and out of her life. Themes of love, loss, distance, self-preservation, and healing rise to the surface.
Within the book, Kemp ponders the course of a romantic relationship as she realizes that love cannot make underlying differences disappear. At thirteen years old, her father died, and Kemp analyzes how she was able to come to terms with his death, reflecting on his kindness and heroic deeds. Several years later, she is diagnosed with the same condition that took her father; she feels as if she carries her father’s memory in the cells of her own body.
SOULMATED
By Shaila Patel
First Place Winner in Paranormal Awards
Eighteen-year-old Liam Whelan must balance the pressure and danger of his new role leading his entire empath clan while searching for a fabled ‘soulmate’ in Shaila Patel’s paranormal romance novel, Soulmated.
Since the age of six, guided by his father’s visions, Liam and his family have traveled across the United States, moving from town to town searching for the girl destined to “join” with Liam. However, no empath in centuries has found a soulmated union. No one knows what joining actually means. Liam tires of his parents’ search for what he considers a fantasy girl, but he agrees to give up one more year of his life. The family moves to North Carolina for Liam’s senior year.
SHAPING PUBLIC OPINION
By Janice Ellis, Ph.D.
Grand Prize Winner in Nellie Bly Awards
Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D., introduces the journalistic theories of Walter Lippmann in her new non-fiction work, Shaping Public Opinion: How Real Advocacy Journalism™ Should be Practiced.
Walter Lippmann, considered one of the foremost journalists in the field over the last 100 years, was a mentor in absentia of Dr. Ellis in the art of advocacy journalism. During Lippmann’s 40+ year career, his columns were syndicated in over 250 newspapers nationwide and over 25 other international news and information outlets. Lippman focused on the ethical dissemination of information, especially about communities, society, and the world. A theory, which Dr. Ellis calls Real Advocacy Journalism™.
Real Advocacy Journalism™ theory pertains to foundational behavior and ethical standing for those who report on, translate, and share information with the masses. This theory identifies the tension between individualism and collectivism, the private sector and public sector, the ruling elite, and the dormant masses.
FLEXIBLE REGISTRATIONS ARE AVAILABLE for these challenging times.
Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
SAVE YOUR SEAT for Hindenburg’s FREE LIVE TRAINING SESSSION MARCH 21st
This is a Beginner Course for Those Who are Interested in Audio Book Creation
TELL YOUR STORIES
with the audio editor made for storytellers
From podcasting to radio and audiobook production, Hindenburg has all the tools you need to easily record, edit, and publish professional audio without the technical hassle. Spend more time doing what you love.
High audio quality is key to keeping listeners engaged! This workshop addresses the challenge of how to create immersive compelling audiobook productions through the use of “non-verbal” audio techniques.
If you are ready to take the quality of your audiobook production process to the next level, don’t miss out on this workshop. This hands-on workshop will help you streamline your production process from beginning to end as well as learn new audio techniques.
You can click on the link below to be taken directly to the Information and Registration Form for this FREE event.
The Format: Hindenburg senior trainers, including Jonathan Hurley, will perform and demonstrate skills to take your audiobook creation skills to the next level. Throughout the class learners will adjourn to virtual group tables to practice each skill.
*Hindenburg 7-day Workshop Training Trial – Download Link
Kindly download and install your trial and student materials prior to your workshop.
Thank you again for your continued interest in Hindenburg products.
*Hindenburg typically allows (1) 30-day software evaluation trial per user. However, as a courtesy, Hindenburg is happy to provide you with a 7-day workshop training trial so that you may participate in hands-on portion of the workshop
This FREE 1.5-hour Webinar for Beginner Narrators will provide an overview of:
How to create an immersive experience through “non-verbal” audiotechniques
Ways to avoid mistakes and keep the work professional
Basics of Hindenburg Pro
WHAT YOU WILL NEED IN ADVANCE of the FREE Hindenburg WORKSHOP WEBINAR
Register for the FREE webinar in advance so that you will receive the unique access link in your email. Click here
Download the required workshop materials here. (email Hindy at Events@Hindenburg.com prior to the workshop if you have trouble)
Before You Start on Monday, March 21st at 10 a.m. Pacific Time
Help is here! Hindy will have “office hours” with this learning lab. And HINDY experts and tutorials are available online 24/7.
*For 30 minutes prior to the session start time, Hindenburg staff will be available to assist you with trial license and course material downloads.
*Your FREE Hindenburg software and course materials must be downloaded, installed, and ready for use prior to the start of the session.
Yes this workshop will be recorded so you can watch it again! Join us (Kiffer and David) at this FREE audiobook webinar.
HINDENBURG HAS YOUR BACK
with customer support and also community
With video tutorials, live webinars, a vast knowledge base, and fast customer support, Hindenburg is here when you need them. They offer more than just support, they offer a thriving community of users who share your love for audio storytelling.
Chris Mottes, Hindy CEO, teaching podcast editing at Harvard University.
Knowledge of audio recording systems is a powerful tool in marketing your own work, from recording audiobooks for yourself, to helping friends record their work.
Record like a Professional
Don’t just take our word for it! Here is what PremiumBeat says about it this article.
“Why Hindenburg is the BEST Podcast Editing Software”
I found that Hindenburg’s workflow is lean, streamlined, and intuitive—they’ve trimmed all the fat and left only the good parts…it’s much more straightforward to use. –Logan Baker
Hindenburg will also present at the 10th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference
Register today for the Chanticleer Authors Conference, June 23-26, 2022. CAC22 will be LIVE and IN-PERSON with a Virtual Option to attend at the beautiful Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, WA. Find out why it’s the conference that Serious Authors recommend.
Participants of CAC22 will qualify for an EXCLUSIVE session with Hindenburg after the conference, and they frequently have digital perks for the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards Winners.
Let’s discuss using closeup “shots” of your characters in fiction. Filmmakers have a large repertoire of techniques that writers are wise to study and borrow. Closeup camera angles are powerful in film and an important technique fiction writers need to emulate throughout their stories.
When to Use a Wide Angle in Your Scenes
I write many, many notes and suggestions to my editing clients, some within the pages of the manuscript, some included in a long, detailed memo. At times I suggest a wide angle or establishing shot to introduce setting and atmosphere–especially helpful when a character arrives at a new place or when major action is about to go down.
“We’ll always have Paris.” Casablanca Original Book: Everyone Comes to Rick’s by Murray Bennett and Joan Alison in 1940.
When to Use Closeups
However, I’m certain that every story I’ve worked on needed more ‘closeup’ shots of characters, so I suggest when to bring the viewpoint– fiction’s camera lens–closer. In film or television the director and cameraman have lots of choices about how to use distance to achieve drama. There are full shots, medium, long, POV, closeup and extreme closeups. A closeup shot tightly frames the actor’s face and signals significance. They’re typically used to portray deep emotions and create connection between audience and actor. There are also ‘extreme close-ups’ where the camera lingers on a subject, usually the actor. But close-ups can also focus on hands and body parts, props, jewelry, or other objects of interest.
Be Cognizant of What You Are Revealing to Your Readers in Your Closeups
Obviously closeups are intimate because they’re revealing. They showcase significant emotions, realizations, decisions, and important moments or actions. They also reveal when characters have something to hide.
When Harry Met Sally – The SCENE that set the story. By Nora Ephron
Romance films and dramas employ these shots especially when characters are surprised, shocked, filled with dread, or when feelings shift. Closeups, naturally, are often used in horror and suspense films to increase the audience members’ heartbeat. Alfred Hitchcock was fond of using them, such as in the grisly shower scene inPsycho. You know the one.
Convey important moments, reversals, revelations.
Enhance threat and danger.
Enhance evil and malevolence.
Shock value as when a monster or villain is in the frame.
Focus on, reveal a character’s state of mind.
Slow the pacing.
Portray damage, pain, the cost paid by characters.
Allow readers to see the world through the character’s eyes. * See The Eyes Have It post link below.
Reveal closeness, intimacy, estrangement, coldness between characters.
Suggest or define character arc.
Show other ‘sides’ of a character, including subtler traits.
Illustrate a character’s emotional bandwidth, as in how she or he handles the best of times and the worst of times.
In scenes that contain violence, brutality, or horror, a closeup amplifies the dangers as in the ‘here’s Johnny’ moment inThe Shiningwhen Jack Torrence, played by Jack Nicholson is terrorizing his family. Notice how it’s clear that he’s sunk into madness.
The unforgettable “Here’s Johnny” scene in The Shining.
As you’re revising, make sure that during the most poignant moments in the story, readers are pulled in. Allow your readers to witness emotions flickering across the character’s face. Let them sense what’s churning beneath a character’s exterior.
Notice Beth’s hands, her eyes, her posture. The juxtaposition of the watch she wears versus the clock on the wall. Her black and white dress adjacent to the black and white chess board. See how she is capturing the white pawns.
Beth Harmon knows she will win several moves out in this scene of Queen’s Gambit
Jessica Morrell is a top-tier developmental editor and a contributor to Chanticleer Reviews Media and to the Writer’s Digest magazine. She teaches Master Writing Craft Classes along with sessions at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that is held annually along with teaching at Chanticleer writing workshops that are held throughout the year.
Jessica Classes and Workshops at CAC22
Using Film Techniques for Fiction Writers– Camera angles, method acting for getting into a character’s pov, and creating subtext and tight dialogue
Your Brain on Writing
Captivating Co-Starsthat add depth to your work-in-progress
SAVE YOUR SEAT for Hindenburg’s FREE LIVE TRAINING SESSSION in MARCH
Hindenburg’s Promise: Leave this 1-hour Hindenburg live training equipped with a basic technical understanding of how to record, edit, and publish your podcast in today’s most popular narrative platforms (Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, TuneIn, etc.)
Click the link above to reserve your space on Monday, March 14th at 10 a.m. Pacific Time
Before and after the session starts, you will have access to a networking lounge where you can jump from table to table. There will also be a Speed Networking option at the top that you can join to meet new people.
This FREE 1-hour Webinar will provide an overview of:
Podcasting with a Single Host (one microphone with one or two people)
Round Table Recording (Panels)
Conducting Phone and VOIP Interviews (aka – Zoom, Facetime, Hangouts, Skype)
Sound Signature (Your “audio” brand for intro, extro, and background for your podcast)
Publishing (hitting the airwaves around the globe)
Q & A
WHAT YOU WILL NEED IN ADVANCE of the FREE Hindenburg WORKSHOP WEBINAR
Register for the FREE webinar in advance so that you will receive the unique access link in your email. Click here.
Download the required workshop materials here OR email Hindy at Events@Hindenburg.com before March 11th, 2022.
Before You Start on Monday, March 14th at 10 a.m. Pacific Time
Install the Hindenburg trial license software.
Wear headphones (with mic preferably)
Download student material
Help is here! Hindy will have “office hours” with this learning lab. And HINDY experts and tutorials are available online 24/7.
*For 30 minutes prior to the session start time, Hindenburg staff will be available to assist you with trial license and course material downloads.
*Your FREE Hindenburg software and course materials must be downloaded, installed, and ready for use prior to the start of the session.
March 14 How to RECORD, EDIT, and PUBLISH a PODCAST Webinar
At 10am PST, March 14, 2022, Hindeburg Systems will be hosting a FREE webinar (and yes it will be recorded and can be sent to you) on how to record, edit, and publish your podcast. Learn from the best and how by clicking here. Be sure to let them know that Chanticleer sent you! Hindenburg often offers free perks and discounts to Chanticleer members.
Join us (Kiffer and David) at this FREE podcasting webinar as they sharpen their audio skills. Hindenburg Systems powers OnWord Talks podcasts!
Chris Mottes, Hindy CEO, teaching podcast editing at Harvard University.
Knowledge of audio recording systems is a powerful tool in marketing your own work, from running podcasts for yourself, to helping friends record their work.
Record like a Professional
Don’t just take our word for it! Here is what PremiumBeat says about it this article.
“Why Hindenburg is the BEST Podcast Editing Software”
I found that Hindenburg’s workflow is lean, streamlined, and intuitive—they’ve trimmed all the fat and left only the good parts…it’s much more straightforward to use. –Logan Baker
Hindenburg will also present at the 10th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference
Register today for the Chanticleer Authors Conference, June 23-26, 2022. CAC22 will be LIVE and IN-PERSON with a Virtual Option to attend at the beautiful Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, WA. Find out why it’s the conference that Serious Authors recommend.
Participants of CAC22 will qualify for an EXCLUSIVE session with Hindenburg after the conference, and they frequently have digital perks for the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards Winners.
