The Writing Process by Dan Jolley, Author of The Storm ~ @_DanJolley ~ Suspense Thriller

Discover a great new suspense thriller in Dan Jolley’s The Storm Blog Tour, 

taking place February 18-25!

Please welcome Dan to the blog today!

I get asked about the writing process, and about the best advice I can give to writers, on a semi-regular basis. I’ve basically boiled it down to four rules. (I can, and will, go on at unreasonably great lengths about each of these three if prompted, but for now here’s the bare bones.)

RULE #1: Never go back and read what you’ve written until you’ve finished an entire draft.

RULE #2: Give yourself permission to write a terrible first draft. First drafts are supposed to be terrible. It’s not a big deal. You can fix it once it’s done.

RULE #3: If you’re writing any kind of serialized work – a comic book series, a novel series, a webcomic, anything that keeps going – recognize that your characters are more important than your plot.

RULE #4: Get a good editor. Every writer needs an editor. No exceptions.

Expanding on Rule #3, one of the things I encourage aspiring writers to do, either purely as an exercise or by way of creating characters they’ll use in a story, is to base a fictional character on someone they know in their real life.

I’m not talking about just taking inspiration from someone you know, or using a couple of features of their personality. I’m talking about launching into a serious, meticulous study of this person, analyzing their personality, their speech patterns, their likes and dislikes, the way they walk – everything. It’s a little bit like an art student recreating a painting by one of the masters. If you can re-create someone you know on the page, convincingly enough that someone else who knows that person can recognize them by what you’ve written, then you’ve succeeded in the exercise.

I advocate for this because it gets you in the habit of considering every aspect of a character. It’ll help you avoid the pitfall of coming up with a protagonist whose single defining characteristic is, for example, “angry.” Instead, you’ll think about your original characters, ideally, with as much depth and nuance as you used to mimic the person you know.

In my new novel, The Storm, I’ve done quite a bit this. The story is set in a tiny, fictional northwest Georgia town directly inspired by the tiny, real northwest Georgia town where I grew up, and I’ve populated it with characters familiar and recognizable (sometimes uncomfortably so) to other residents of the area.

One of the aspects of the book that this approach informed was the relationship between the main character, Sheriff Zandra Seagraves, and her older brother Perry. Now, I don’t know anyone who’s exactly like either Zandra or Perry, but the dynamic between them came pretty naturally, because I took it straight from the relationship I have with my older brother Clint.

Perry is eleven years older than Zandra. Clint is eleven years older than I am. What that meant was that when I started second grade, Clint started his first year at Georgia Tech. He was a larger-than-life figure to me when I was a kid, and I’ll readily admit that I basically worshipped him as a hero. Everything Clint was into, I was into, in a big way (except for math – he’s an engineer, and I’m, uh, very much not).

Clint read science-fiction and fantasy novels, so from the time I could read, I tore through all the Larry Niven and Robert E. Howard I could get my hands on. (Not to mention Fritz Leiber and Poul Anderson and Ursula K. Le Guin and Harry Harrison and… I should stop, or this post will just turn into library listings.)

Every time Clint came home from college, he’d bring me a big Xerox paper box filled with comic books. We were not collectors; these comics were just thrown into the box loose, bent and curled and squished. But I read each and every one hundreds upon hundreds of times, and fell in love with Iron Man and Batman and Wonder Woman and Spider-Man.

Clint discovered Dungeons & Dragons in college. He would be the first to tell you that it became a bit more of a distraction from his studies than he wanted, so eventually he brought all his D&D stuff home and left it with me. And I ended up basically memorizing the Monster Manual and the Fiend Folio and everything else I got.

Clint was the living embodiment of awesome to little grade-school me. I wanted to be him when I grew up, except of course that I had already figured out I couldn’t do math, so engineering was out. (I made the decision to become a professional writer at age 13, though, and haven’t looked back.)

But then, as I got up into high school, a funny thing happened. I started to get to know my older brother as a person. Not as my hero. Not as this demi-god who could do no wrong. But as Clint, a guy with a degree from Georgia Tech. Who got married at twenty-two. Who became an Industrial Engineer. As it turned out, he was not a demi-god. I discovered that he was a flesh-and-blood person who could make mistakes just as well as I could.

But as I went through college myself, graduated, and eventually became the guy-wondering-when-everyone-else-will-notice-that-he’s-just-pretending-to-be-a-grown-up you see before you today, a miraculous sort of thing happened. My brother, the former hero, former demi-god, became my friend.

A bit about my personality: I am introverted like you wouldn’t believe. (I know, I know — an introverted writer? The hell you say!) Part of that means that I’ve only ever had two or three close friends at a time. In fact, my brain has basically developed what I think of as “friend slots,” like the places on a motherboard where you can plug in extra memory cards. My brain’s friend slots are finite and low in number.

But now Clint occupies one of them. We can talk like equals. We can commiserate on the day-to-day minutiae of just living life. We can go to each other for advice.

In the last six months, our father has fallen terribly ill, and that’s a subject for a whole other post at some point. But Clint has been coming to visit from his home in South Carolina much more frequently, and he always stays with my wife and me, and that’s strengthened our friendship even more.

And it’s that friendship that I lifted directly from my own life and plugged into The Storm. No, Zandra isn’t all that much like me, and no, Perry isn’t really similar to Clint. But their relationship — the ease of it, the banter, the deep-seated mutual respect — came naturally to me, because I’ve been cultivating it with my own brother for the last several decades.

So, for a glimpse into a friendship that I value incredibly highly — set in a tense mystery-thriller that shines a light on some truly vile aspects of human nature in other characters — I invite you to check out The Storm.

Dan Jolley

An intense tale that explores murder, mystery, and race relations in a rural area of modern day Georgia, The Storm delivers a captivating reading experience!

About The Storm:

RED SPRINGS.

A tiny town in Georgia’s northwest corner — ninety-five percent white. Five percent black. Utterly unprepared for the devastating tornado that rips and smashes through it one dark August day.

SHERIFF ZANDRA SEAGRAVES already faced an uphill battle. Elected by a fluke, Red Springs’ first-ever black, female sheriff leads the recovery efforts, despite knowing how much the townspeople–and her own department–loathe her. But Zandra has no idea just how hellish things are about to get.

Because one of the relief workers stumbles across a ghastly secret: the tornado tore a long-abandoned house off its foundations, revealing a grisly, recently-used torture dungeon below it.

A monster has been dwelling in Red Springs. Undetected for years. Preying on the unsuspecting populace. His atrocities only brought to light because of the storm.

Now, amid the tornado’s wreckage and surrounded by people who want her gone, Zandra has to hunt this monster down before he disappears again.

And to do it, she’ll have to peel back all of Red Springs’ dark, corrupted layers. One vile secret at a time.

Purchase Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Meet the Author:

About the author: Dan Jolley began writing professionally at age 19. Starting out in comic books, Dan has worked for major publishers such as DC (Firestorm), Marvel (Dr. Strange), Dark Horse (Aliens), and Image (G.I. Joe), and soon branched out into licensed-property novels (Star Trek), film novelizations (Iron Man), and original novels, including the Middle Grade Urban Fantasy series Five Elements and the Urban Sci-Fi Gray Widow Trilogy.

Dan began writing for video games in 2007, and has contributed storylines, characters, and dialogue to titles such as Transformers: War for Cybertron, Prototype 2, and Dying Light, among others. Dan lives with his wife Tracy and a handful of largely inert felines in northwest Georgia, and enjoys connecting with readers via his website (www.danjolley.com) and on Twitter (@_DanJolley).

Author Links:

Twitter: @_DanJolley

Website: www.danjolley.com

Tour Schedule and Activities:

2/20 The Sinister Scribblings of Sarah E. Glenn https://saraheglenn.blogspot.com/ Top Ten's List

2/21 Breakeven Books https://breakevenbooks.com Guest Post

2/21 I Smell Sheep http://www.ismellsheep.com/ VLOG

2/22 Horror Tree https://www.horrortree.com Guest Post

2/23 Sapphyria's Books https://saphsbooks.blogspot.com/ Guest Post

2/23 Sheila's Guests and Reviews http://sheiladeeth.blogspot.com Guest Post

2/24 The Book Lover's Boudoir https://thebookloversboudoir.wordpress.com/ Review

2/24 Books, Reviews, and More http://bookworm1977.simplesite.com/435597726 Interview

2/25 Jazzy Book Reviews https://bookreviewsbyjasmine.blogspot.com/ VLOG

2/26 MyLifeMyBooksMyEscape http://mylifemybooksmyescape.wordpress.com Interview

2/27 Honestly Austen https://honestlyausten.wordpress.com/ Review

2/27 Willow's Thoughts and Book Obsessions http://wssthoughtsandbookobsessions.blogspot.com/ Review

Author Post ~ Why I Like to Blend Genres by JL Mulvihill, Author of the Steel Roots Series ~ @JLMulvihill @TCMPublicity

Please welcome JL Mulvihill to the blog today!!

K. W. Jeter coined the phrase Steampunk when he described his novel Morlock Night. Since then the genre has taken of in so many directions it’s amazing.  I love the aesthetics of the Steampunk genre and writing in this world makes me feel like anything is possible. Of course I do lots of research and buy all kinds of books about steam trains, the age of steam, and the Victorian era and revolution. I also study maps of America and the train routes that are and used to be.

Some of the histories of the train routes all over America are fascinating stories in themselves. There were train routes put in by companies trying to get to and from their mines. Some of the routes were put in when the railroad companies could not seem to get along. All these little railroad companies popped up all over the nation for a while. Just as suddenly as they popped up they were purchased or went out of business. It seems that taking out the tracks that have been laid was just too much of an expense so there are a lot of railroad tracks that just go nowhere and then stop. It’s pretty interesting to me and I feel that the whole steam train aspect works well within the Steampunk genre.

Steampunk stories usually take place in the Victorian era and in Europe though I have noticed more and more in America, and of course Asia has some amazing Steampunk stories. However, I wanted to put a little different feel to this story so I drew on my own experiences and places I have been and things I have seen. The reader will find a lot of caves and mines in this series and that’s because this is another obsession I have. I have gone spelunking and visited old silver mines and lots of natural caves so this was another influence in my writing.

I have a very vivid imagination so much that I can close my eyes and put myself in a place or situation and then I look around and describe everything I see, feel and hear. Sometimes it can be difficult to describe accurately what I see in my head. When this happens I turn to my research and use a lot of visual for description. If you see my office will see all kinds of eclectic items as well as books on just about every subject. I have black and white photos of old train cars and old maps along with dragons and Star Wars toys. These items inspire me and my writing.

With all these things in my visual it’s not hard to see where I get my ideas and why I like to blend genres. I have incorporated Fantasy into this series along with the Steampunk which tends to confuse people. I feel that writing can be like cooking and if you mix the ingredients properly you will have a tasty outcome. Anyway, isn’t steampunk really fantasy? Besides, the original Steampunker used elements of Fantasy in his book Morlock Night so why can’t I?

All these components I put them together and created the Steel Roots series. A Western, Steampunk, Fantasy adventure. I like to call it a heart stopping, train hopping great American adventure. This is an adventure where a young girl learns that the world around her is not so great but with her determination and the help of her friends, she can overcome anything. 

So what happens next? I am finishing up the 4^th novel, The End of the Line, and I personally cannot wait to find out what happens.

Thank you,

J L Mulvihill

www.jlmulvihill.com

Changing the world one story at a time.

Steel Roots Series
August 8-16, 2018

More and more readers are discovering the wonderfully imaginative Steel Roots Series from JL Mulvihill! A young adult, steampunk, alternative history adventure, the Steel Roots series features three books, The Boxcar Baby, Crossings, and Rails West. Character-driven and beautifully written, the Steel Roots series is the focus of this new blog tour running from August 8-16!

 

About The Boxcar Baby: 

Born in a boxcar on a train bound for Georgia. At least that is what Papa Steel always told AB'Gale. But now, fifteen years later, the man who adopted and raised her as his own is missing and it's up to AB'Gale to find him. Aided only by a motley gang of friends, AB'Gale train hops her way across the United States in a desperate attempt to find her papa and put her life and family back the way it was. Her only guide is a map given to her by a mysterious hobo, with hand written clues she found hidden in her papa's spyglass. Here is the Great American Adventure in an alternate steampunk dystopian world, where fifteen-year-old AB'Gale Steel learns that nothing is as it seems, but instead is shrouded in secrets and mysteries ... and that monsters come in all shapes and forms. 

The Boxcar Baby is the first book of the Steel Roots series.

    

About Crossings: 

Bishop Steel is still missing, so AB’Gale must follow the map continuing the search for her papa. Her quest leads Abby down dangerous paths that threaten to get her captured by the System. Danger lurks at every turn of the road, on every doorstep and every train. Finding it difficult to know who to trust when she discovers she is now wanted for crimes against the System, Abby travels under the guise of a young boy. Conflicted with the desire to rid her world of the unjust or find her papa, Abby finds few friends amid hobos, air pirates, and entrepreneurs. Abby finds that real friends will never abandon you, nor will they allow you to give up on your convictions. A true awakening to internal conflict and the desire to put right what is wrong, this is the great American adventure ringing with the sound of freedom along the steel routes. 

Crossings is Book Two of the Steel Roots Series.

 

About Rails West: 

“The System Regulatory Unit has determined that the responsible parties of last week’s explosion in Downtown St. Louis are none other than the notorious Abigail Steel and her band of pirates. She is wanted for questioning regarding numerous acts of rule breaking against the System. She is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached but informed upon at once.” Not only is her name misspelled, but the System has her description all wrong because AB’Gale Steel is not a criminal. She just wants to find her papa and now she feels she is so close, but will the System catch her before she finds him? And what about the marks on the map the old hobo gave her? What was Papa doing in all those places? Why is the System so concerned about Bishop Steel and his daughter? Are the people of America seething with frustration? And is there an insurgency boiling beneath the surface? All the answers lie within Rails West. 

About the Author: 

  

A California native born in Hollywood, J.L. Mulvihill has made Mississippi her home for the past seventeen years. Her debut novel was the young adult title The Lost Daughter of Easa, an engaging fantasy novel bordering on science-fiction with a dash of Steampunk, published through Dark Oak Press in 2011. The sequel to this novel is presently in the works. Her Most recent novel, The Boxcar Baby of the Steel Roots series, was released in July 2013 through Seventh Star Press. Steel Roots is a young adult series based in the Steampunk genre and engages the reader into a train hopping heart stopping adventure across America. Book 2, Crossings released December of 2014. She is also the co-editor of Southern Haunts; The Spirits That Walk Among Us which includes a short story of her own called Bath 10, and a fictional thriller involving a real haunted place. Her poem, The Demon of the Old Natchez Trace, debuts in Southern Haunts part 2, Devils in the Darkness. J.L. also has several short fiction pieces in publication, is very active with the writing community, and is the events coordinator for the Mississippi Chapter of Imagicopter known as the Magnolia-Tower. She is also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), Gulf Coast Writers Association (GCWA), The Mississippi Writers Guild (MWG), as well as the Clinton Ink-Slingers Writing Group.

Author Links: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mulvijen/ 

Twitter: @JLMulvihill 

Official sites: 

http://elsielind.com http://jlsbooks.blogspot.com/ 

http://home.comcast.net/~mulvijen/site 

Tour Schedule and Activities:

8/8 Jazzy Book Reviews http://bookreviewsbyjasmine.blogspot.com Guest Post

8/8 I Smell Sheep http://www.ismellsheep.com/ Guest Post

8/9 Inspired Chaos http://inspiredchaos.weebly.com/blog Guest Post 

8/9 Breakeven Books https://breakevenbooks.com Author Interview 

8/10 Sheila's Guests and Reviews https://Sheiladeeth.blogspot.com Guest Post 

8/11 Bookmark Your Thoughts https://bookmarkyourthoughts.blog Review 

8/11 Ravenous for Reads https://www.ravenousforreads.com Author Interview 

8/11 Sapphyria's Books https://saphsbooks.blogspot.com/ Guest Post 

8/12 The Book Lover's Boudoir https://thebookloversboudoir.wordpress.com/ Review 

8/13 The Reading Bud https://thereadingbud.com Review 

8/14 Swords and Red ses https://swordsandrosess.wordpress.com/ Review 

8/14 Ravenous for Reads https://www.ravenousforreads.com Guest Post 

8/15 Literature Approved http://literatureapproved.com Review 

8/15 Honestly Austen http://honestlyausten.com Review 

8/16 YA/NA Book Divas http://facebook.com/yareeds Guest Post 

8/16 Love Bites and Silk http://www.lovebitesandsilk.co.uk/ Guest Post 

Purchase Links:

The Boxcar Baby

Amazon

Barnes and Noble 

Crossings:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble 

Rails West

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Book Spotlight and Review ~ Kentucky's Haunted Mansions by Jacob & Jenny Floyd ~ @AuthorJAFloyd @TCMPublicity

 

Book Details:

Print Length: 150 pages
Publisher: Seventh Star Press
Publication Date: November 17, 2017
ASIN: B076QHB2D1



About Kentucky's Haunted Mansions:

Kentucky’s Haunted Mansions, from paranormal authors Jacob and Jenny Floyd, will take you into the homes of the dignitaries and luminaries that made Kentucky industrious through business, bureaucracy, and bloodshed. Beyond the rich, sweeping history that these men wrote, there lies the spiritual energy their lives left behind. Some of these mansions are alleged to be haunted, and many ghostly reports have come out of them. Read about phantoms such as the angry young girl at Griffin Gate to the vanishing cat of the Loudon House. Explore the accounts of the Aging Lady on the stairs at Elmwood and the Creature of the Cross Breeze at Wickland Estate Discover several of the most elegant and haunted homes across the commonwealth. But rest assured, foolish mortals, there are no hitchhiking ghosts here—that we know of!

My Review Can Be Found Here:

https://saphsbooks.blogspot.com/2018/03/book-review-kentuckys-haunted-mansions.html

Tour Schedule and Activities:

2/28 Book in the Bag bookinthebag.wordpress.com Interview 

3/2 Amie's Book Reviews http://Amiesbookreviews.wordpress.com Review 

3/2 Beauty in Ruins https://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.com/ Guest Post 

3/2 Armand Rosamilia, Author http://armandrosamilia.com Guest Post 

3/4 Robin's Book Spot http://Robinsbookspot.blogspot.com Review 

3/5 Book in the Bag bookinthebag.wordpress.com Review 

3/5 Sapphyria's Books https://saphsbooks.blogspot.com/ Review 

3/6 deal sharing aunt https://dealsharingaunt.blogspot.com/ Review 

Purchase Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Meet the Authors:

Jacob and Jenny Floyd (also known as The Frightening Floyds) are paranormal authors, ghost hunters, and tour operators from Louisville, Kentucky. Jenny is a sensitive and an empath that has been around the paranormal for years. Jacob Floyd has been a writer and paranormal enthusiast for years and enjoys all things creepy and macabre. They recently began two tours in Kentucky—the Shepherdsville History and Haunts Tour and the NuLu History and Haunts Tour—and have been a part of numerous ghost hunts in graveyards, hotels, and other various buildings. They live in a home surrounded by pets and one possible ghost.

Author Links: 

https://www.facebook.com/jacobfloydauthor/ 

Twitter: @AuthorJAFloyd

Book Review ~ Kentucky's Haunted Mansions by Jacob & Jenny Floyd ~ @AuthorJAFloyd @TCMPublicity

Book Details:

Print Length: 150 pages
Publisher: Seventh Star Press
Publication Date: November 17, 2017
ASIN: B076QHB2D1

Amazon

Goodreads

About Kentucky's Haunted Mansions:

Kentucky’s Haunted Mansions, from paranormal authors Jacob and Jenny Floyd, will take you into the homes of the dignitaries and luminaries that made Kentucky industrious through business, bureaucracy, and bloodshed. Beyond the rich, sweeping history that these men wrote, there lies the spiritual energy their lives left behind. Some of these mansions are alleged to be haunted, and many ghostly reports have come out of them. Read about phantoms such as the angry young girl at Griffin Gate to the vanishing cat of the Loudon House. Explore the accounts of the Aging Lady on the stairs at Elmwood and the Creature of the Cross Breeze at Wickland Estate Discover several of the most elegant and haunted homes across the commonwealth. But rest assured, foolish mortals, there are no hitchhiking ghosts here—that we know of!

Kentucky's Haunted Mansions by Jacob & Jenny is a great collection of stories relating to some of the state's oldest buildings. I really enjoyed the fascinating background and history of each mansion. The authors provide information about previous and current owners along with historical facts and hearsay. Each mansion features information related to various paranormal activities and events. The authors don't overexaggerate or speak of the paranormal activity as proven fact. They present the material objectively, allowing the reader to decide for themselves.

Whether a believer or a skeptic, the mansions, their histories, and the facts presented about each home will engage the reader. I was engrossed in every detail about the mansions throughout Kentucky. I love historical buildings and this books was near perfect in feeding my interest.

I really wish there were more pictures in Kentucky's Haunted Mansions. The book only contained pictures of some of the mansions. Not only do I love to learn about historic buildings, I love to see the exterior and interiors of them, as well. I do realize it may not have been possible to photograph privately owned homes. I just find old homes interesting and photographs help me put all of the details together. 

I have read a bunch of paranormal books about homes and buildings with paranormal hauntings that are  Michigan-based (where I have lived my entire life) and enjoy reading about subject based in other states. Kentucky's Haunted Mansion is a must-read for anyone who loves history and/or paranormal events. I'm glad I was given the chance to read the book.

My Rating: