cover image for Youdunit Whodunit!

J. Rosemary Moss kindly gave it three stars, saying:

A brisk, informative read for new-comers to the mystery genre.

Short and sweet…thanks, Ms. Moss, for buying my little ebook and for taking the time to applaud it on Goodreads.com.

Recently read the following helpful books and gained much:

Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read by Scott McNulty:

- lots of detailed information and instructions on improving your blog
- sometimes a little difficult to understand; more images might help

Examine for yourself:

Teach Yourself Visually WordPress by Janet Majur:

- easy to understand instructions and visual approach, using actual WordPress images
- bit simplistic and limited because of the images

Check it out yourself:

Bottom line: if they were combined, the result might be perfect!

Feel free to let me know of any other helpful WordPress books you’ve used.

Just finished listening to an audio version of Ray Bradbury’s amazing sci-fi story, A Sound of Thunder, on BBC Radio 7.

I am thunder struck.

Leopard (credit E. Polinsky)

Bradbury takes the hoary old concept of The Butterfly Effect, wherein a small initial change can result in huge dynamic modifications in the long term, spins it into another classic chestnut, the time travel tale, and metamorphs them both into a riveting and chilling adventure morality story.

After checking it out on the ‘net, I’ve learned from Wikipedia that A Sound of Thunder is the most re-published science fiction story of all time.

Not surprising. Of course, I should have known about it already. So may fab stories…so little time.

Bradbury’s writing sings, just read this excerpt and tell me you don’t want more:

The Monster, at the first motion, lunged forward with a terrible scream. It covered one hundred yards in six seconds. The rifles jerked up and blazed fire. A windstorm from the beast’s mouth engulfed them in the stench of slime and old blood. The Monster roared, teeth glittering with sun.

Humbling and inspiring…now I’m going to listen again.

Find out more:

First, as every writer knows, I need an outstanding premise, something that will propel my interest, thoughts and passion through the many weeks of writing and rewriting and result in a ‘can’t be put down’ story.

Not easy.

For my first swinging whodunit, Teed Off!, I wanted to explore the survival of an injured, unhappily retired female athlete, someone who had reached that rare pinnacle of becoming a professional before being forced out of the life and limelight she craved.

In my second mystery, A Hemorrhaging of Souls, I delved more into psychology than physiology, my thoughts springing from a horrific scene of a child strangling herself to death and a seemingly-accomplished young woman’s need for self harm. How might their paths intersect?

I fleshed out both concepts, spending days pondering ‘what if’ scenarios, sometimes biking or gardening and often consuming fudge.

But I didn’t just jump around with no plan of action waiting for the muse to strike. Instead, I reached for two of my how-to non-fiction bibles: Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass and 20 Master Plots by Ronald Tobias.

So once again, these two excellent books are open and at my side. Maass says the key ingredients for a break-out premise are:

• plausibility
• inherent conflict
• originality
• gut emotional appeal

I’ve got a glimmer or two for a premise; now comes the hard part, pushing and prying and twisting and juggling to see if it has the key ingredients.

If you’re struggling to find the breakout premise, you may wish to explore these books:

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.

Interesting thriller. Old-fashioned feel with clues, pursuit and love in Paris.

View all my reviews >>

You may buy this book at Amazon.com

UnnaturalStates

It’s from Groovy Writer who’s posting on a mobileread forum.

Wow, impressive. Great job, Nicola. Interesting premise, too. You put a lot of work into the multimedia site. Bet it kept you busy through the long BC winter!

Thanks, Groovy Writer!

Cover for Teed Off!

Coffee Time Romance & More, just reviewed my swinging whodunit, Teed Off!.

Matilda, a reviewer for the terrific online review site, called Teed Off! “good and suspenseful” and she’s not even a golfer! You may read the whole review here.

Teed Off! reviewed by CTR

Teed Off! is available as an e-book for $2.99 US at a number of online bookstores.

To find out more (reviews, book trailer, excerpt, booksellers), please go to epubbing.com’s page for Teed Off!.