Featured Author Diane Scott Lewis

 

 

I’m an historical author at BWL Publishing, Inc. My pen name is Diane Scott Lewis. You can find my books at https://www.bookswelove.net/lewis-diane-scott/

 

I’ve always loved history and traveling in my mind to other places—that’s what spurred me to be a writer.

 

I grew up in the bustling San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve always loved to write since I first discovered the written word and could put pencil to paper, revealing the imaginative stories in my head. My first novel took place in ancient Egypt and Rome, written at age ten. My second was an Alfred Hitchcock style murder mystery, also at age ten (a productive year evidently).  The grand movies of the time influenced my stories: Cleopatra, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Marnie.

Reading was always a big part of my life. Our house had shelves of books, especially history, which fueled my interests.

In high school I had a short story submitted to a literary festival. I didn’t win, but my teacher’s faith in me excited my ambition.

 

After high school I joined the navy to see the world. I worked in communications, stationed in Nea Makri, Greece, where I met my husband. Traveling and living in Puerto Rico, San Diego, and Guam, I put writing aside to raise my two sons.

When we settled in Virginia, and my husband retired from the navy, my drive to write re-surfaced. Did I still have my writing muse? I wrote long rambling manuscripts, then learned the art of editing and revision. I traveled to England and France, where my first novels were set. I wanted to walk where my characters walked in these foreign locales.

I studied the eighteenth century through old books I found at the Library of Congress, later, on-line texts, and reading novels published in that era. I joined critique groups to hone my craft.

 

The road to publication wasn’t easy. I finally found a publisher, but then they sold out, changed hands, and I wasn’t happy with the new situation.

Meanwhile, I attended writers’ conferences, workshops, and made solid friendships with other authors. A close author friend introduced me to BWL, publishing, Inc. And my career has taken off. I strive to write what History and Women has said, “authentic characters and setting.”

 

My novel, The Apothecary’s Widow, an historical murder mystery, takes place in Truro, Cornwall, England in 1783. A squire with a murdered wife fights his attraction to the widow who prepared the tincture that killed her. Excerpt:

Branek stumbled into the apothecary shop and called out. “I’ve…been shot.” The room seemed to tip. He pressed against the wall and trembled with a sudden chill.

“A-barth Dyw! Where? Where were you shot, sir? In the stomach?” Jenna hurried close and clasped his upper arms.

“In my left side.” He grunted and tried to take a decent breath. The pain pierced like a sword deep inside his flesh.

Jenna slipped her arms around him as he tottered. “Dear me, sir. We probably need a surgeon; oh heaven help us.” She gasped. “Can you stand while I bring you a chair?”

He straightened, then sagged against her. She held him securely under the arms. Her breasts pressed against his chest. Her hair smelled like lemons. “Help me to...to your kitchen.” He was determined not to sink to the floor, or fall under her spell, but her embrace was a comfort.

 

On a Stormy Primeval Shore is set during the founding of New Brunswick, 1984, part of the Canadian Historical Brides series. A bride who rejected her soldier-betrothed and a handsome Acadian trader meet for the first time:  Excerpt:

At the bear’s growl, Amelia stepped back. She slipped, tumbling down the short embankment, rocks poking into her flesh. Her gloves were ripped off as she groped. She struggled to rise amid her tangle of skirt and petticoats and scrambled to her feet to scuttle up the hill to help her cowering maid.

Nearing the crest, dirt dislodged above her, sifting down on her face and scalp. Amelia blinked up, her pulse hammering. She heard movement, footsteps.

A large man with a black beard, wearing buckskin clothing and a leather hat, stood at the top of the slope. He aimed a musket in the direction of the bear. The animal growled louder.

“Don’t move, either of you, mes jeune femmes,” he commanded in a French accent.

 

My newest, Her Vanquished Land, begins in 1780 Pennsylvania: a young woman spies for the British during the American Revolution. Rowena tries to trick a rebel spy. Excerpt:

Fergus reached into his frock coat pocket and snatched out a small knife. “Now, if you’ll be so kind, tell me the truth. You’re lying about your mission.”

How could Rowena talk her way out of this? She slid a step back. “You are far too disturbed. Think about what you’re doing. I will call for help.”

Fergus grabbed her shoulder, pulled her close, and touched the side of the blade to her throat. His stink of breath gushed over her, the blade cold. “Not if I slash your gullet.” He blinked. “Trust me, I don’t wish to hurt you.”

“You’ve lost your senses, sir. I swear I’m only a messenger from…” She shoved at his arm and swung away from him, across the tiny office. Her hip bumped into the smaller desk. She plucked her muff pistol from the inside pocket and aimed it at him. “Step away from the door.” She had him, Fergus was a spy for the rebels. She must take him to the King’s men.

 

I currently live in Western Pennsylvania with my husband and one naughty puppy.

 

For more info on me and my books, please visit my website: http://www.dianescottlewis.org

 

 

Titles Tell All by Victoria Chatham

 

Available Here

You spend weeks/months/years writing your novel. You type THE END. And then it hits you. You haven’t got a title.

Titles come easy to some, not so easy to others. But how important is that title? In a word, everything. After all those thousands of words in your content, you now must encapsulate them all in a few words. Not as easy as it sounds because choosing a title needs as much attention as your characters, plot, and setting.

Available Here

A good title should be easy to remember and be appropriate to the book. It must hook the reader into picking up your book to find out what is between the covers. Is it clear what your genre is? Is there a hint of intrigue in the title, or does it have a hidden meaning such as Nancy Bell’s Dead Dogs Talk or
Stephen King’s It? 

Does your title state who your character is? Think of Connie Vines’ Lynx, or Jane Austen’s classic Emma. 

Place can also be a character, such as Eileen O’Finlan’s Kelegeen or James Michener’s Texas. 

All these book titles tell their own tale and give the reader a clear clue about the content of the book.

Available Here

Authors who write a series or link books will often have ‘follow on’ titles as in Mary Balogh’s First Comes Marriage, Then Comes Seduction, At Last Comes Love or Donna Alward’s Larch Valley or Cadence Creek series. The titles of these books set readers up with what to expect. There is no cheating in them and there should be no disappointments.

There are tools to help you, like the any one of several book title generators you can find on the Internet. Or you can create your title from your content, create your own list of possible titles and run a contest for your followers to choose one, or appeal to your fellow writers or critique partners. 

There isn't much doubt about Loving That Cowboy. It's a contemporary western romance and the title says it all. However, no matter how good the title or how attractive the cover, there really is no substitute for a good story. With National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) looming in November, it's time to get writing the next good story.

 

 

 

 

Featured Author: J.Q. Rose

 

BWL Publishing Mysteries by J.Q. Rose
Click here to discover JQ's mysteries at BWL Publishing

Hello and welcome to the BWL Publishing Insiders Blog. Thank you to BWL Publishing for featuring authors on the blog. Today it's my turn to introduce myself to you.

Life Experience is Fodder for Authors by J.Q. Rose

Terror on Sunshine Boulevard

I always thought of horror writers as eccentric, peculiar people. But my perception changed when a horror story sprang from my own mind. You can imagine my surprise when my first publisher categorized my novel as a mystery/horror tale. That made me a published author of horror stories. BWL Publishing released that revised horror story as Terror on Sunshine Boulevard, the perfect read for this scary month.

Right away, I must tell you I am not an eccentric, peculiar person. I am just a regular woman who is an aunt, sister, sister-in-law, wife, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother. I like eating a burger at McDonald's, shopping at Walmart, and reading mystery novels. But, perhaps some would think my childhood was different. You see, my father was an embalmer and funeral director. I was reared in a funeral home.

An author’s life experience shapes the stories in their minds. I based my romantic suspense, Deadly Undertaking, on growing up as a funeral director’s daughter. The story is fiction, but my funeral director brothers helped me with some details for the story. So, it is loosely based on the real funeral business. The keyword here is loosely.

Deadly Undertaking

In the story, I include how I helped my mom and dad in the business. I dusted caskets, set up the display of funeral arrangements for the visitation/funeral, hauled them to the church for the funeral service and rushed in after the service to load up the flower car to race out to the cemetery to set the flowers up around the gravesite. I always felt the colorful flowers from friends and family helped to soften the stark setting of the casket among the tombstones. I loved working with my parents and doing something to comfort grieving families.

Arranging a Dream: A Memoir

                                       To be released by BWL Publishing on January 1, 2021 

My husband, Ted, and I dreamed of being entrepreneurs in the greenhouse business because he had a hobby house attached to the garage at our home in Marseilles, IL. Instead of working at his dead end job in a windowless building, he was ready for a new challenge and so was I. We made that dream a reality when we purchased a greenhouse operation along with a flower shop.  I used the knowledge I gained from setting up the funeral arrangements in my future role as a floral designer.

Revealing my life experiences as a mom, floral designer and business owner, I penned my memoir, Arranging a Dream a Memoir. BWL Publishing will release the paperback book in December and the digital book on January 1, 45 years to the day we became entrepreneurs. This work of creative non-fiction is about that first year when we became shop owners and moved to a town of strangers with our one-year-old baby girl. We had no friends or family in that city and no experience in the fresh flower business!

Come along with me and discover the laughter and tears, the struggles and triumphs that first year as I learn about the floral industry, floral arranging and motherhood.

About JQ:

            J.Q. Rose, author

Whether the story is fiction or non-fiction, J.Q. Rose is “focused on story.”  She offers readers chills, giggles and quirky characters woven within the pages of her mystery books. Her published mysteries are Deadly Undertaking, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard and Dangerous Sanctuary released by 

BWL Publishing. 

Using her storytelling skills, she provides entertainment and information in articles featured in books, magazines, newspapers, and online magazines J.Q. taught elementary school for several years and never lost the love for teaching passed down from her teacher grandmother and mother. She satisfies that aspect of her character by presenting workshops on Creative Writing and Writing Your Life Story. 

J.Q. features writing tips on the Focused on Story blog and hosts guest authors from diverse genres.  When J.Q.  isn’t writing, she stays out of trouble with photography, Pegs and Jokers board games, and traveling with her husband. They spend winters in Florida and travel up north in the summertime to be with their four grandsons and granddaughter.

Connect online with J.Q. Rose

J.Q. Rose blog 

BWL Publishing

Facebook 

J.Q.  Rose Amazon Author Page 

Goodreads

The Rose Courier October 2020 Edition

Want to keep up-to-date, with JQ? Sign up for the Rose Courier delivered to your inbox once a month. Click here to subscribe for articles, excerpts, prizes, freebies and more.

 

Thank you for stopping by.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

Vampires with Napoleon? by Diane Scott Lewis

October, the month of Halloween, or All Hollow's Eve, the one night when the division between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. People would set a place at the table for their lost loved ones, hoping to see them one more time.

Ghosts, witches, and vampires. Many believe these entities really exist. The legend of vampires is usually traced back to the Romanian nobleman, Vlad the Impaler, in the fifteenth century. A man who took care of his enemies in a brutal manner-his name says it all. Next, in 1818, when Mary Shelly wrote her famous novel, Frankenstein, another participant, Dr. Polidori, penned his short work of prose: The Vampyre. Of course, Bram Stoker's Dracula, published in 1897, made the creature who rises from his grave and lives off human blood famous.

Throughout history similar creatures were mentioned in fables. A Saxon grave in England had men, women, and children, nailed down to prevent their rising and walking among the living. Though that sounds more zombie than vampire.
It was thought if you wore garlic around your neck you'd be protected. A wooden stake through a suspected vampire's heart was supposed to kill him. But since vampires are already of the 'dead', perhaps it's to keep him in place in his coffin. Vampires could also change into bats and fly where they wished, to await their next victim.

Vampire, 1895, by Edvard Munch

Years ago I'd written a novel set on the remote, South Atlantic island of St. Helena. I had so much research about the oddities of this isolated rock in the ocean, its strange flora and fauna, and the man who made it famous: the exiled Emperor Napoleon. After Waterloo, and Napoleon's surrender, the British wanted him as far away from Europe as possible.

An old map of St. Helena

What better place than an island at the bottom of the world. An island of mystery. Discovered by the Portuguese in the 1500s, St. Helena was eventually taken over by the British as a way-station, a place to drop off their sick sailors, and obtain more water and food for long voyages.

I came across a novel written about vampires involved with Napoleon's army in Russia. For my novel, A SAVAGE EXILE, to add conflict and danger, I decided to include a few vampires. In Napoleon's entourage and ones already on the island, who is hiding a dark, dangerous secret? The seductive Countess de Montholon? His officers? Napoleon's devoted valets? The Emperor himself? And who is the monster rumored to live and hunt for prey in the hills? People with strange bite marks on their necks are found murdered on the island. The beautiful maid Isabelle, who serves the feckless countess, is determined to find who is responsible before another person is killed.

 Isabelle is likable heroine, and I enjoyed watching her make the best of a bad situation. Anyone who enjoys historical romance with a paranormal twist might want to check it (A Savage Exile) out.
~ Long and Short Reviews

To purchase my novels, and my other BWL books: BWL

Find out more about me and my writing on my website: Dianescottlewis

Diane Scott Lewis lives in Western Pennsylvania with her husband and one naughty puppy.

Excerpt from Terror on Sunshine Boulevard: a Scary Read for Halloween

Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose
Paranormal mystery
Click here to find more mysteries by J.Q. Rose released by Books We Love Publishing

📙🎃 📙🎃📙🎃📙🎃📙🎃

Hello and welcome to the BWL Publishing Insiders Blog.  I'm sharing a short excerpt from my "terrifying" novel that is perfect for a scary Halloween read, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard.

A reader told me she discovered she shouldn't have read Terror on Sunshine Boulevard before bed. She was too scared to turn off the lights and go to sleep!

📙🎃 📙🎃📙🎃📙🎃📙🎃

Back of the Book: Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose

Rescuing a naked woman lying in a geranium bed or investigating mysterious murders are not the usual calls for first responder Jim Hart. He expects slip and fall accidents or low blood pressure emergencies in his retirement community of Citrus Ridge Senior Community and Golf Resort. The ghastly crime scenes turn the winter time fun into a terrifying season of death and mystery when the authorities cannot track down the predator responsible.

Jim and his wife Gloria could escape the horror and grief by returning to their northern home, but concern for their friends and residents keep them in Florida. With the entire community in a dither over the deaths, the Harts participate in the normal winter activities of golfing, dancing, and pool parties with their friends to distract them from the sadness and loss.

Can Jim and Gloria work with the authorities to discover who or what is killing the seniors on Sunshine Boulevard and stop the increasing body count?

                                         

Excerpt: Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose, Chapter 8
Warning: This is the chills part of the blog post, not the giggles.

Turning on the warm water in the bathtub, she placed her hand under the faucet to gauge the temperature. When it was just right, she turned the shower on at full force, ready to step in for a relaxing indulgence with the warm water raining over her body.  Before Pamela could step in, she heard Noel’s moan from the bedroom. Terror clutched her throat. Oh, Noel, please don’t have a heart attack now! She yanked open the bathroom door and stood frozen in the doorway. The moonlight through the window added shimmer to the yellow stripes crawling across Noel’s naked body. When a blazing yellow light filled the bedroom, she slammed the bathroom door shut. The animal instinct to escape kicked in. Clambering onto the toilet and stepping onto the granite counter, she yanked the screen off the bathroom window and dove headfirst into the cool night air. She landed face down on top of the flowers in the wood-chipped flower bed below. Pamela’s screams pierced the night as she lay naked among the geraniums....to be continued.  

Do you enjoy being scared? Haunted houses? Horror movies? Scary books?
Please leave a comment below and let us know.

Happy Halloween!!

Click here to connect with J.Q. Rose online.

You are invited to return to the Insiders Blog on Thursday, October 22. 

On October 22,I will be featured as the author of the month and will have the opportunity to talk about how my life experience has influenced my writing.

Click here to join me on Thursday. Thank you.

Hail and Farewell by Helen Henderson

Windmaster Golem by Helen Henderson
Click the cover for purchase information.

 
First I want to say that although the title traditionally applies to someone leaving, that is not really the case. The hail and farewell is to Captain Ellspeth, Lord Dal, and the other characters who I have lived with for many years. With the publication of Windmaster Golem this month, the tale of the Windmaster Novels is over. At least if the characters agree to do so. Let me just say they have not always been cooperative.

As a reader, I love series. Even if no new stories are written, I still have the option of going back, re-reading the tales, and visiting with characters and their world. Things are different as an author. Even though I can technically go back and reread the tales, the special connection that exists between author and characters during the writing process breaks, or at the very least slowly dissipates into non-existence.

I first met Ellspeth as the captain of Sea Falcon. The visit turned interesting when she hired the archmage, Dal, to help unload her cargo. Their adventures continued in Windmaster Legacy. At that time, I thought the series was complete. Then on a clear, star-filled night, two bright lights caught my attention. They reminded me of the legend of of the star-crossed lovers, Pelra and Iol, and I realized there was unfinished business so I chronicled their story. Eventually Dal and Ellspeth said I needed to acknowledge their friends, Kiansel and Brodie. So that I wouln't get on the bad side of two powerful mages, I fulfilled their request.

There has been scientific evidence that when a book is complete, an author can feel the loss as we say goodbye to friends we have lived with for months, years, or sometimes even decades. The emotion can be even stronger when it is a series of books and we know we will never visit the time and place in the same way.

There is one way to help ease the transition ... Start a new book.

~Until next month, stay safe and read. Helen

 

To purchase the Windmaster Novels: BWL

Find out more about me and my novels at Journey to Worlds of Imagination.
Follow me online at Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter.

Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky and a feisty who have adopted her as one of their pack.

Author Voice by Nancy M Bell

To learn more aobut Nancy's work please click on the cover above. What is Author Voice? Does everyone have one? What does it do exactly? I found a quote by Richard Nordquist which I thought summed it up quite well. “Voice is the music in writing that makes the meaning clear.” Sounds simple, but of course it’s not. Voice is hard to define and seems to possess chameleon-like characteristics. Changing from one minute to the next. Everyone has an author voice if you write anything at all. Even shopping lists. Some of you will make bullet points for your list, some will list items and where they plan to shop for them, others might categorize the list by price point. It all depends on your personal outlook and how you communicate. So, no matter what, we all have an author or writer’s voice, some of them are just more developed than others. What is Author/Writer Voice? Your voice is in reality the expression of you on the page. A unique collection of your world view, your passions, fears, beliefs and attitudes. A very good friend and mentor told me many years ago that you meet the writer in her books and stories not in her living room. I was young at the time and nodded sagely like I totally understood. It wasn’t until much later and with the seasoning of a few years that I understood what she meant. As writers, we reveal parts of ourselves we would never drag out into the light of day in a conversation or everyday life. Ah, but in our writing we can let those hidden aspects surface and run freely across our pages. Voice is unique to each writer and it’s about having the courage to express yourself on paper. To be a bit more technical: Voice is the unique and individual way an author puts words on paper, a compilation of idioms, syntax, punctuation, development of your characters, dialogue and sentence structure in a body of work. Voice is not choosing to write in first or third person, nor is it a specific technique or style. Voice isn’t about branding. An author’s voice tends to be consistent throughout their work. There will be slight variations depending on the genre an author works in. To complicate things a bit. There is also Character Voice, which exists within the Author Voice. No one wants to read a book with cookie cutter characters who all speak and act in similar ways. So the author must develop the characters in the story and give then each a unique voice, which will inevitably be some part of the author’s own unique voice and outlook. Each character will have their own way of speaking, certain phrasing and ideas they express that drive the story line forward. Every facet of ourselves can be given free rein in our work. Your cast may include authoritative characters, shy, warm, funny, silly, conceited, angry etc. All of these will reflect some part of the author, we can’t escape that fact. Our characters spring from our own wellspring of experience. The trick here is for each character to have a voice that is appropriate to their role in the work, consistent and believable. What is the Function of Voice in our Writing? A well rounded and honed voice makes every word count, set up a consistent thread through the work and speaks to the reader in a way that captures their attention. What is the Difference between Tone and Voice Tone is subset of Voice. Tone is the mood of the story or work while Voice is the personality. So while your voice might be described as ‘serious’ the mood of the individual piece may be quite humorous. In creating a Tone the author sometimes will use jargon or culture specific references. While this might be important if you are writing in a specific genre like Sci-Fi or Chick Lit, you also date your work and limit your longevity. Your writing will be around for years and if you reference a certain movie star or current trend, thirty or forty years from now most readers won’t identify with that. So, don’t be lazy and tell your reader the heroine looked like a Kardashian, or Helen Mirren, or Edward from Twilight. The more diverse your audience becomes the more important it is the you aspire for simplicity and clarity. Avoid slang and culture specific references. The exception to that, is of course, unless you are writing in a genre that your audience will expect it. Just know that you are aiming at a niche audience when you chose to write in that genre. Finding Your Voice Let’s explore how you go about finding that elusive Voice. There are three major elements to consider here: What do you want to communicate about yourself, of in the case of business writing, about the brand you’re representing. If you could ask your readers to describe your work in a few descriptive words, what words would you like to hear from them? What is the purpose of your writing? Your voice will moderate slightly if you are writing a novel, a movie review or an obituary. Decide what you want to convey to your reader. Will you need to use short blunt sentences, or longer descriptive passages? Who is your target audience? This will dictate the style and tone your Voice will acquire. Both of those being subsets of Voice. Take a minute to think about those three points and come up with a few words that apply to your voice. If you’re having trouble with that, think about what you don’t want to say. How is your voice different from anyone else’s? When you have a decent list, start to whittle it down. Scrap any words that aren’t really important, make sure the ones you keep are fairly specific. Pare your list down to four or five words. You can repeat this exercise every once in a while as your descriptors will change as your Voice develops and becomes fuller and multi-layered. Types of Voice Stream of Consciousness: narrative that is made up of the thought process of the characters. Examples are Faulkner’s The Sound and Fury. Character Voice: We spoke about this earlier. Character Voice allows the reader to experience the story from the eyes and POV the character. This can be achieved by the use of third or first person POV, depending on the genre and content of your work. Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series is a good example of use of Character Voice. When she is writing in Claire’s POV it is first person, but when she switches to any of her other characters’ POV she uses third person. A clever convention to keep the reader from being confused while sub-consciously never letting them forget it is Claire who is the main character of her books. Unreliable Voice: The character speaks directly to the reader in a highly exaggerated and excitable way. This is usually employed in first person POV where the character is biased, childish or ignorant and tries to deceive the reader. This is a Voice that can be quite useful in horror or thriller genres to take the reader deep into the POV of the killer or psychopath. Poe uses this Voice in the Tell Tale Heart. Epistolary Voice: This voice is a narrative one which uses letters or documents to tell the story. It may employ multiple characters’ voices, or no character at all if the author has chosen to tell the story through various documents and letters. Shelley’s Frankenstein uses this Voice. Third Person Subjective Voice: This is a very passive Voice where a narrator relays the thoughts, opinions and feelings of the characters in the story. Hemingway’s Old Man and Sea uses this POV. Third Person Objective Voice: The story is told by a narrator who doesn’t touch on the character’s emotions or thoughts. It supplies an objective and unbiased (except the author’s own ingrained bias) POV. I’ll close with a quote form Rachel Gardner: “So how do you find your voice? You can’t learn it. You can’t copy it. Voice isn’t a matter of studying. You have to find it. And the only place you can find it is within you.”