Print Galleys are up and Best Sellers

Print Galleys are up on the following books:

CALL SIGN LOVE, by Carlene Rae Dater

LOOKING FOR LOVE, by Anna Dynowski

Current best-sellers at Fictionwise (for our own small company, not the whole site) are:

1. MEMOIRS OF A SLAVE GIRE, by Hariet Jacobs

2. MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES, by Agatha Christie

3. TWO YEARS BEFOR THE MAST, by Richard Henry Dana

4. SECRET ADVERSARY, by Agatha Christie

5. LUST FOR DANGER, by K. S. Brooks

6. HIGH PLACES by Nina Osier

7. PATRIOT ACTS, by Steven Clark Bradley

8. THE SEARCH, by Grace Livingston Hill

9. THE MYSTERY OF MARY, by Grace Livingston Hill

10. TRAVELER, by David Yates

Highest Reader rated books (for out small company) are:

1. A LITTLE PRINCESS by Frances Hodgeson Burnett

2. CAPTAIN BLOOD, by Raphael Sabatini

3. GHOST DANCER, by Arline Chase

4. MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES, by Agatha Christie

5. BODILY HARM, by Arlene Stadd

6. SECRET ADVERSARY, by Agatha Christie

7. DARK ELF, by Ray Morand

8. SLOW DANCING WITH THE ANGEL OF DEATH, by Helen Chappell

9. SHAPE OF FEAR, by Matthew L. Schoonover

10. TORTURED SOULS, by Matthew L. Schoonover

That's it for a newsy, Monday.

Personal Essays - writing tip

The most important thing about a personal essay is that it have a point the reader can relate to in his or her own life. A pointless essay is like the broth without the beans. The point is where the essayist and the audience meet and understand each other's feelings.

All personal experience essays are written to a formula just as stories adhere to a plot outline Here is the formula:

1. Make a STATEMENT (Your Lead) about something -- say, baloney! The cost of baloney is nearly $3 a pound and it's expensive, just as it was back in the depression when it was 10 cents a pound, but nobody had a dime, or a job to earn one.

2. ELABORATE with detail over the next two or three paragraphs using anecdotes and examples that are easy to relate to. Explain how people are ready to hand you baloney every day with lies or nefarious practices. Because lying is also a simile for "baloney." Explain how polititians lie and the government lies as well, telling us they really NEED to buy those $800 toilet seats when you can get one at Wal-Mart for $9.95.

3. Make your POINT. People dish out baloney all the time and we sometimes swallow it, without even noticing.

4. In the final paragraph, make your piece come FULL CIRCLE by tying the end of the essay to the opening sentence or lead. "Regardless of the time or place, baloney can be very expensive to all of us."

In this way, your personal experience will become a shared experience with the reader.

Marie Prato's Peas, Potatoes and Macaroni - recipe

Marie Prato’s Peas, Potatoes and Macaroni

1 medium size onion
1 or 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
2 medium or three small potatoes, cut into cubes
1 sm. box frozen peas
1 sm. can tomato sauce
2 quarts of water
1 sm. box shell macaroni

Cut up a medium size onion and saute it in a tablespoon of olive oil in a pot. Cut two medium potatoes into small cubes and add to the oil. When slightly golden add in a package of frozen peas. Put in two quarts of water and a small can of tomato sauce. When the water boils, add a box of shell macaroni. Season to taste. Makes a thick broth soup and a complete meal in one pot for four people.

Contributed by Marie Prato, author of Ten Terrifying Tales...Impeccably written and haunting short stories. Marie Prato reveals all of her writer's craft in these pieces of short fiction. Her stories are believable and chilling. Read Ten Terrifying Tales and prepare to sleep with the lights on!

Triple O Outline - Writing Tip

Every story is about someone who wants something and whether they get it or not. Any story plot can easily be broken down into three parts: Objective; Obstacles; Outcome, sometimes referred to as the Triple-O Outline. There are hardly any new plots, so don’t be discouraged if “it’s been done.” The challenge for any writer is to make the characters so fresh and interesting that the reader forgets they have seen the plot before.

Plots for short stories should be short. If too much action is incorporated, the story will grow longer and longer and may become unwieldy. If too many obstacles occur, the reader could grow impatient and give up.

Be careful not to confuse “back story” (information needed to explain the characters personality and problems to the readers), with current plot action. Whatever has happened before the real action begins is “back story”. Be careful not to confuse explanatory action, with a plot turning point. A plot turning point is always when something CHANGES.

To use a classic example, in the story Cinderella her mother’s death and her father’s remarriage are all “back story”. The mean way the rest of the family treats Cindy is explanatory action used to set up the objective. Because the Objective for Cinderella, is that she wants to go to the ball. Until Cinderella decides she wants to go to the ball nothing has really happened, everything is going on as usual. Remember, plot always happens when something changes. When the character knows what he or she wants, that is the objective and the objective is always the beginning of the story, the beginning of the plot. Now the character has a problem to solve – how to get what s/he wants. Once there is a problem statement, it’s time to get on with the story.

If there is no problem, nothing is happening, and there is no story. Stories are about overcoming something. If there is no “overcoming” then there is no satisfaction to the reader at the end.

Here are The Triple-Os

Objective: The objective (some call it object, but I like objective better) is what the character wants. Once your character knows what s/he wants, s/he has an objective. Cinderella wants to go to the ball. Her sisters are going and she darned well wants to go, too.

Obstacles: Whatever stands in the character’s way of getting what s/he wants are plot obstacles. There's an old writer's axiom called the "rule of three" that tells us not to include more than three things in any one sentence. For hundreds of years three has been a magic number in our culture. Genies grant three wishes, Cinderella had two ugly sisters, there are usually three turning points or complications in a story plot, with the last one resulting in the crisis/bleak moment (some people call it the “black moment” and Carla Neggers calls it the “big gloom”), just before the resolution. So it is unwise to plan more than three obstacles in any plot.

Cinderella wants to go to the ball, but: She has nothing to wear. She has no way to get there. She must leave by midnight. And sure enough, that last leads to the bleak momen of her leaving the prince. The resolution is, of course, that he searches for her.

Gone to press

The following books have gone to press:

THE KISS OF NIGHT and POSTCARDS FROM MR PISH, both by K. S. Brooks.

NOT HIS FAIR LADY, by Kaarina Brooks

Print editing continues on:

LOST MEMORIES by Ray Morand

DEATH ON APPEAL by Shel Damsky

Oma Julchen's Chocolate Mousse - Recipe

Oma Julchen's Chocolate Mousse

4 1-ounce squares bitter or semi sweet chocolate
1/4 cup water
5 pasteurized eggs
1 tablespoon Cognac
3/4 cup sugar

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Add the sugar and water; stir until dissolved.

Separate the egg yolks from the whites and set the whites aside. Beating vigorously, add the yolks, one by one, to the melted chocolate. Remove the mixture from the heat and add the Cognac.

Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then fold them gently into the chocolate mixture. Pour the mousse into individual molds or a dessert bowl, then place the mousse into the refrigerator for at least 12 hours. The longer it stands the better. It will keep for several days. This recipe makes about 4 cups.

Contributor’s Note: In my recipe files is a yellowed index card on which I long ago typed my grandmother's "piece de resistance", her chocolate mousse. Yes, she was short and plump, often sighing deeply. But despite her heaviness, both emotional and physical, she was the one who could make food addictive. Maybe the two go together.

Contributed by Hannelore Hahn, On the Way to Feed the Swans in the park, 5-year-old Hannelore heard Hitler making a speech.... “My, those must be terrible people he’s talking about,” she said. “Hush,” came her mother’s answer. “He’s talking about us.” This is the story of how Hannelore and her family left their home in Dresden, Germany, and how she journeyed back, almost half a century later, in search of old friends.

Turning Point - Writing tip

A good story really should have one crisis (or dramatic high) or climax, just before the resolution. What most have is three turning points with the last resulting in the crisis. A turning point is the place in the story where something CHANGES FOREVER. Good stories have a single conflict. Somebody wants something, they try different ways to get it, and their third try results in the “BLEAK MOMENT” – when it looks as if they will never have it – and the crisis that leads to the conclusion, where they either do get it, or they know they never will and the story plot is resolved.