Archive for the ‘Ebooks’ Category
Friday, August 20th, 2010
Intro: I’ve been teaching a writers’ workshop at our local Camosun College on how to write a mystery novel. My students are eating it up, telling me that they’re learning lots of practical and usable tips and techniques, so I thought I’d offer bits and pieces of the workshop in my new Friday Mystery Writing blog posts.
The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called Youdunit Whodunit! How to Write Mysteries and offers my tips, techniques and information suitable for crafting of all types of genre writing.
STORY STRUCTURE (PART 7 (b))
This is it. You’ve driven your story and your readers headlong towards the final solution (as described in earlier posts.) The occasion when all is revealed. The moment your audience has been waiting for…so make sure that your story’s Ending:
- Winds up all the sub-plots first and achieves the bits and pieces necessary in order to attain the main goal
- Gives everyone what they deserve, good or bad
- Arises logically through the action and detection of the lead character isn’t obvious but is believable, bestowing that much-sought after “Ah ha!” moment for your audience
- Ends at the very end; sounds ridiculously obvious yet it’s not always pulled off, and
And finally, once all is exposed, everything else is a reader’s let down. So, quickly tidy up any loose ends and beat a hasty exit. Leave your audience wanting MORE not less.
If you found this post of interest, you may wish to see the previous posts starting here.
…MORE how-to write a mystery tips and techniques continued in the next Friday post as we begin exploring character development! Ready for my close up, Mr. Demille.
Find out further information or how to purchase this e-book, jam-packed with ways to immediately improve your writing, click Youdunit Whodunit (only $2.99US!).
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, fiction, genre fiction, mystery novel, mystery writing, writing how to, writing skills
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Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
Am very excited to receive an excellent new review of my fiction mystery e-book (and print paperback), A Hemorrhaging of Souls.
A Hemorrhaging of Souls cover
Clare Swindlehurst, of the excellent review site bluearchipelagoreviews, has just given my dark psychological suspense mystery a five-starred review.
(BTW, Clare defines this rating as…these books were gripping and thoroughly enjoyable. If I award a book 5 Stars it gets to stay on my bookshelf so that one day I can read it again. )
Her review:
This is a story of skeletons in closets and betrayal, with so many twists and turns you’d be forgiven for getting dizzy!
I was drawn into this book from the very first page, and Nicola does a wonderful job of weaving a tale with so many twists and turns, that I didn’t know whodunnit until the last page. I couldn’t even begin to tell you what happened in this book as it is so wonderfully complex, yet simple to follow along as you read it.
The characters are quirky and believable, and it’s always good to throw in a little romantic tension in a “will they won’t they” fashion!
If you have a few hours to spare and you want to escape from the world then download this book to your Kindle and get reading.
You may read this review and many others at bluearchipelagoreviews.com.
For more about A Hemorrhaging of Souls, including an excerpt, other reviews and links to buy here.
Tags: book review, crime fiction, detective fiction, ebook, fiction, mystery, mystery novel, mystery writing
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Friday, August 6th, 2010
Intro: I’ve been teaching a writers’ workshop at our local Camosun college on how to write a mystery novel. My students are eating it up, telling me that they’re learning lots of practical and usable tips and techniques, so I thought I’d offer bits and pieces of the workshop in my new Friday Mystery Writing blog posts.
The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called Youdunit Whodunit! How to Write Mysteries.
STORY STRUCTURE (PART 7 (a)
This is it. You’ve driven your story and your readers headlong towards the final solution (as described in earlier posts). The occasion when all is revealed. The moment your audience has been waiting for…so make sure that your story’s Ending:
- Occurs at the height of suspense, conflict, life or death situation for the Protagonist or someone she loves
- Is driven by action, often a chase scene
- Involves high emotional drama among the players
- Answers all the main questions (usually), especially those involving the solution to the crime. If you want to leave some of the soft stuff — relationships, life details, whatever — unfinished for the next in the series, go for it.
To be continued…
If you found this of interest, you may wish to see the previous posts starting here.
…MORE how-to write a mystery tips and techniques continued in the next Friday post!
Find out more information or how to purchase this e-book, jam-packed with ways to immediately improve your writing, click Youdunit Whodunit (only $2.99US!).
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, fiction, genre fiction, mystery novel, mystery writing, writing how to, writing skills
Posted in Ebooks, Writing | Comments Off
Friday, July 30th, 2010
Intro: I’ve been teaching a writers’ workshop at our local Camosun college on how to write a mystery novel. My students are eating it up, telling me that they’re learning lots of practical and usable tips and techniques, so I thought I’d offer bits and pieces of the workshop in my new Friday Mystery Writing blog posts.
The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called Youdunit Whodunit! How to Write Mysteries. .
Don’t forget to slip in the Sly Bits:
- As mentioned earlier, a good mystery must follow the Rule of Fair Play. This means the audience should receive the same information as the Protagonist, thus giving the reader a chance to solve the crime by the end of the story
(more…)
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, ebook, Electronic / Digital Publishing, fiction, genre fiction, mystery, mystery novel, mystery writing, self-promotion, self-publishing, writing how to, writing skills
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Thursday, July 29th, 2010
I recently had the pleasure to assist Michael Hanson, a former officer with England’s famed Metropolitan Police, publish his first fiction e-book.
The Black Widow is an intriguing police procedural mystery from a man who’s been in the trenches. To purchase ($2.99 US) or to find out more information, check it out at Smashwords.com. The Black Widow will soon be available from a number of other online booksellers.
The Black Widow by Michael Hanson
Michael kindly offers this note of appreciation for my electronic publishing services, my brief how-to primer, Self-Publish Your E-Book in Minutes, and for my e-publishing course:
When you are getting a little long in the tooth and want to publish a book, modern technology and publishing changes mean that skilled help is necessary.
The lecture on E-Book Publishing given by Nicola Furlong makes it easy for all ages, and her creativity and imagination give the necessary encouragement to take this step to publish your book. She was tremendous help with mine.
Her blog will keep you up to date in a rapidly changing world of fiction and nonfiction reading.
Why not let The Black Widow spin you her web?
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, Electronic / Digital Publishing, mystery, mystery novel, self-publishing, smashwords
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | Comments Off
Monday, July 26th, 2010
It’s taken a month or two but I’m really pleased to announce that my e-book version of Unnatural States is now available on Canada’s fab online bookseller, Kobobooks.
UnnaturalStates
You may read an excerpt and buy my paranormal thriller from Kobobooks for $2.99 at
Unnatural States.
To read some reviews, check out the book trailer and find out more info, please visit Unnatural States.
You may always experience Unnatural States in a cool multi-media format at Unnatural States Quillr®.
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Marketing, Multimedia Storytelling, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | Comments Off
Saturday, July 17th, 2010
Intro: I’ve been teaching a writers’ workshop at our local Camosun college on how to write a mystery novel. My students are eating it up, telling me that they’re learning lots of practical and usable tips and techniques, so I thought I’d offer bits and pieces of the workshop in my new Friday Mystery Writing blog posts.
Youdunit Whodunit!
The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called Youdunit Whodunit: How to Write Mysteries.
STORY STRUCTURE (PART 6 Continued)
LOOSE THE HOUNDS INTO THE MIDDLE:
Other mid-story development tidbits:
- Increase the tension and confusion by adding sub-plot entanglements, clues, red herrings, mistakes and misunderstandings. Find these distractions by playing around with answers to this question: what could reasonably and believably go wrong?
- Explore your characters’ motivations; remember the theme or the point of the story or what the Protagonist learns, about him or her or the world, foreshadows the solution
(more…)
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, ebook, genre fiction, mystery novel, mystery writing, writing how to
Posted in Ebooks, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | Comments Off
Saturday, July 10th, 2010
Intro: I’ve been teaching a writers’ workshop at our local Camosun college on how to write a mystery novel. My students are eating it up, telling me that they’re learning lots of practical and usable tips and techniques, so I thought I’d offer bits and pieces of the workshop in my new Friday Mystery Writing blog posts.
Cover for mystery writing primer, Youdunit Whodunit!
The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called
Youdunit Whodunit: How to Write Mysteries.
STORY STRUCTURE (PART 5 Continued)
LOOSE THE HOUNDS INTO THE MIDDLE:
Other mid-story development tidbits:
- Never introduce the guilty party late in the book; that’s betraying the rule of fair game
- Generate more complications resulting from the criminal’s efforts at concealment or escape; these often result in a really big problem: a second murder or crime
- Remember that the strongest stories are intertwined, so construct your main and sub-plots to resonate or reflect one another. Perhaps your main mystery is a missing child; then a strong sub-plot would be to have one of your character’s searching for their birth family.
- Make it personal: have someone the reader likes be affected by the first murder or crime: maybe as a suspect? Or is in love with the suspect? Or their life’s changed by the crime?
Remember how MURDER SHE WROTE’S Jessica Fletcher always had some relationship with the victim or the suspect? So much so that no one would ever really want to be close to her!
- Develop and show strong motives for at least three characters and you’re off and running
…MORE how-to write a mystery tips and techniques continued in the next post!
Find out more information or how to purchase this e-book, jam-packed with ways to immediately improve your writing, click Youdunit Whodunit (only $2.99US!).
Tags: crime fiction, detective fiction, ebook, Electronic / Digital Publishing, fiction, genre fiction, mystery, mystery novel, mystery writing, self-publishing, writing how to, writing skills
Posted in Ebooks, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | Comments Off
Monday, July 5th, 2010
Recently, I was fortunate enough to listen to an excellent free webinar, offered by Enhanced E-Book University, on enhanced e-books.
Three interesting guests:
- Jessica Goodman, Wiley and Sons, explained their “How to Cook Everything” app
- Theodore Gray, Touch Press, on creating his wildly popular app, “The Elements, and
- Rhys Cazenove, Enhanced Editions, about producing the very popular, “Death of Bunny Munro”.
The trio offered excellent information and advice.
UnnaturalStates: John & Harry Battling
It was so cool to learn that others are embracing the multimedia enhanced book platform. Though different from our UnnaturalStates Quillr® concept, they were all hip to offering stories and information in a whole new way.
Text alone storytelling and reading is just so five minutes ago!
Read more and see some video of the webinar here.
Tags: Electronic / Digital Publishing, enhanced e-book, ereaders, multimedia storytelling, Publishing, quillr, writing how to
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Multimedia Storytelling, Self-Publishing, Writing | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
I’m delighted to announce the electronic publication of my latest how-to primer. This time, I tackled electronic self-publishing with Self-Publish Your E-Book in Minutes!.
I jumped on the digital wagon last year by re-publishing my mysteries as e-books. Soon, I began instructing others—many had failed with traditional publishers or were wary of costly Print on Demand—at a Victoria, B.C., college.
Self-Publish Your E-Book in Minutes
I immediately found the demand far exceeded my eager students and concluded that a practical, simple and affordable how-to primer on electronic publishing was needed.
Thus, Self-Publish Your E-Book in Minutes! was born.
It’s brief, practical and succinctly covers all the essentials of electronic publication, like formatting, uploading and marketing, and is available online at Amazon.com and Smashwords.com for $0.99.
Tags: Electronic / Digital Publishing, ereaders, iPad, iPhone, kindle, kobo, non-fiction, Publishing, smashwords, writing how to
Posted in Ebooks, Electronic / Digital Publishing, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Writing | Comments Off
