Categories: SPOTLIGHT ON...

24 Feb 2010, Comments (3)

The Promise of the First Pages

Author: Ann Marie Gamble

My Monday morning writing club has an ongoing argument about the importance of a quick start to a novel: diving right in versus a slower reveal. The rulemeisters say it’s all got to be there on the first page: meet the hero, introduce the conflict, set the tone and genre. The first page makes a promise to the reader that must be fulfilled. “But I’m not writing a thriller,” one of the clubbers says, or “Surely that’s for genre fiction, not literary.”

I, for a change, agree with the finger waggers on this one. I finally took my own advice and pulled some books I’ve read—so I know the story—and reread the first few pages. I am blown away with what I see this time around. Here’s my short stack: (more…)

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SPOTLIGHT ON...
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9 Feb 2010, Comments (2)

YA Author Dawne Knobbe Speaks on Building Character at Flintridge Bookstore

Author: Cheryl

In celebration of her debut YA novel RUNAWAY STORM’s January 2010 publication author Dawne Knobbe gave a ‘Fun Workshop’ at Flintridge Bookstore and Coffee House in La Canada, CA on January 24th and it was fun! Dawne was wonderful. She shared her journey in getting her first novel written and published, followed by a workshop in developing character and story through conflict. (more…)

Popularity: 32% [?]

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SPOTLIGHT ON..., WRITING CRAFT
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character, dawne knobbe, flintridge bookstore, YA

11 Jan 2010, Comments (2)

Book Review: The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan

Author: Elizabeth Varadan

The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan (movie poster)

Gods and goddesses of ancient Greece have long been discounted as myth, right? In the fast-paced fantasy, The Lightning Thief, these “immortals” still live. Their half-mortal offspring walk among us, pursued by monsters.

Percy Jackson is in trouble again at his new boarding school. He’s dyslexic and he suffers from ADHD, and he assumes that’s why he has the kinds of mess-ups that get him regularly expelled from schools. What Percy doesn’t realize is that he is one of the demi-gods. Monsters find him; after a narrow escape, still unaware of his identity, Percy heads home to his mother. New developments cause her to take him to Camp Half-Blood, a safe haven for demi-gods. (more…)

Popularity: 89% [?]

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Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

24 Dec 2009, Comments (0)

A Story For All Times

Author: Lia Keyes

A Christmas Carol, Disney 2009.

It took a while to accept the arrival of Christmas after a year filled with so little goodwill, but thank goodness it’s here. Holiday traditions ground us and give us feasts for the mind as well as the table, and there’s another ancient tradition that comes to the fore at this time of year, too; a tradition that also feeds the mind, though the feasts for the table may be harder to achieve. Yes, I’m talking about writing.

(more…)

Popularity: unranked [?]