First Word

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         Contact: Michelle Gamble                                                               Mobile: 916-300-8012                                                          Email: info@3LPublishing.com THE MYSTERIES OF “THE HEN” UNFOLD IN A STUNNING WORK OF LITERATURE The Illustrated Hen celebrates the inner world of imagination and the sublime uniqueness of a yo...

I just finished my new novel titled The Abused . I also received feedback from my focus group of early readers. Responses were all extremely positive with the common comment being “I couldn’t stop reading it.” I get asked all of the time, “How do I write a page-turner?” My answer may sound simple, but it’s not easy to do. The main ingredient to writing a page-turner is to create constant intrigue. Your reader must be interested and intrigued enough to want to keep reading. How do you create intrigue? Tip #1: Show don’t tell . Last night I read a chapter from The Abused. “I love the way you built up the tension. How did you do it?” So let me give you the set up scene from the book… On this outing, Frank was in his usual laid-back mood. Jonesy had gotten up early ready to jog. They were standing in front of the morning fire watching the gray tin coffee pot that sat on the grill begin to bubble up. Jonesy wore a green jogging suit, and Frank had on...

I have been waiting for you in the sky-painted night I have dreamed of you and felt you in my bed I have brushed the tips of my fingers against my wish for you I once thought I could persuade your heart Coax you into my awaiting arms Yet like a timid creature it moved, it shied away Dear Soul Mate, I am waiting Can you feel me? Do you know me? When will you come be with me? The answers are more riddles The questions more obvious Dear Soul Mate, I have waited so long now Time has ticked away Dust become ashes Timber become petrified My warm heart melting in the heat Dear Soul Mate, Are you out there? Do you hear me? Do you want me? Because I want you! Michelle Gamble

This morning's adventure in the sublime and humorous -- a form in which they insisted I TYPE in the answers. Type? Huh? What? Does anyone actually own a typewriter anymore? Last I checked my IBM Selectric was sold in a yard sale about 20 years ago. I had a Royale too -- you know for term papers. I can't imagine typing anything nor can I even think of white-out smudges. The only thing retained from the days of yore (typewriters) is knowledge of the keyboard. I am a fast typist. I can type probably 100 words per minute or better. It's a brain-to-fingertips gift. Do you even remember when rewriting required white-out and what was it? That eraser "thingy" (my friend uses the word "thingy" all of the time). I just remember how important it was to get erasable typing paper; but you better get your thoughts down right the first time. No revising for you! Revising required re-typing. Good lord and no way. My now-computer-trained brain grimaces at the thought. ...

I remember listening to Alice Walker, author of iconic books such as The Color Purple , speak at UC Davis. I was about 20-years old. She talked about life and experience. One thing she said was that she didn't think writers had anything to really say until their 40's. I was 20 -- and this was discouraging. At the time I remember defiantly thinking I had plenty to say. Well years later, I think I'm inclined to agree. I really didn't have any life experience to draw on. I could imagine the feelings and the experiences all right, but did I understand the "heart" of the experience? No. I had no resources to draw perspective. Fast forward to my 40's, and I've had plenty to say and much experience to understand. In my new book Body in the Trunk , the story revolves around a paranormal romance and duplicity. Having a much broader experience with different kinds of love helped create the layers of emotion in the story. It enabled me to give the character...

I read this statement in a recent review of the 3L Publishing book Vengeance is Now , which to paraphrase went something like this: strictly bad and good characters are boring. Author Scott D. Roberts and I have discussed flawed characters practically from the first time we met each other. We both have a propensity to enjoy the flaws the most -- and it's those flaws that prevent boring. In real life do you know anyone who is perfectly "white" or perfectly "black"? I know people who are overall good people, and I know people who I question their morals and ethics. Truth is most of us have our good points and our "messier" points. So when you're writing a novel or a story, it's always more interesting and provocative to make characters "gray" and then fill in the greater or lesser color of white or black. Let me give an example: In my forthcoming novel  Body in the Trunk , I've written the ex-husband as a real jerk. Yet our heroi...

The best books take interesting approaches to storytelling. I recently received a submission from a new writer who naturally and successfully broke linear storytelling structure. As her memoir unfolded it wasn't the typical "...and I was born ... and died" approach. Yes, a story needs a beginning and an end. Her story was unique. She began with an opening that defined the theme in the book. She then fluidly moved to major life events. Guess what? Not in chronological order. She began building intrigue by providing her life story through defining events. As she did so, she opened questions to be answered and pull the reader forward -- and that is what you call a page-turner. The reader wonders okay how are we going to get back to this plot point? After building, for example, a chapter where she alludes to her own "death," she then successfully plunges back into her past and how this history makes her who she is now. Brilliant! So the point? Don't take a strai...

Bogged down in exposition : so many writers will spend so much time setting the stage for the drama to take place that they lose the reader in the sheer volume of the details. Many readers will, in fact, check out of the story long before the aforementioned drama even has a chance to occur. Too much exposition is like sludge to the storytelling process and should be avoided. You can easily and effectively set the stage and then just let the drama unfold. Too much minutia : as a reader, I really get distracted and often discouraged by writers who fall in love with the minutia. Whether it's a novel or screenplay, you should only include descriptions of things that move stories forward. In screenplays, you should absolutely only mention that which is relevant to the story, period. You should not add unnecessary elements that don't matter. It's distracting and irrelevant to the actual story. Just ask yourself, "How does this push the story forward?" If it doesn'...

How much of the artist is poured into the work? I get asked if I'm my heroine Brea Harper in California Girl Chronicles . I am not Brea. It's not an autobiography. But how much of the book reflects something about my life and psyche? I once took a great class in college about the psychology of authors and how you can see what was going on in their lives through the lens of their work. We studied many of the great authors and read about their lives and then read one of their greatest works. One of our assignments was to read about D.H. Lawrence and then read Sons and Daughters, which reflected back on his family life . In comparing the life to the work, we did pull out relevant events and factors that were in the stories. Of course, the author brings his or her "world" to the story. We are better writers when we come from a place of authenticity. It's harder to write about the richness of an experience when we've not had the experience. When I have very young a...