Archive for 2006

And the Winners Are…

February 15, 2006 | Contests

in the Valentine Hero Hunt through the Triskelion Authors;

Sus Ahn
Vancouver, Canada

Judi Theis
Erie, PA

Tammy Russotto
Margate, FL

Each lady received a beautiful bouquet on Valentine’s Day and a $20.00 gift certificate for Triskelion Publishing.

Congratulations Ladies and Happy Reading!
Sloane

Today Only!

February 14, 2006 | Freebees

HAPPY VALENTINE DAY!

Head on over to Triskelion Publishing at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TriskelionInferno/ for a free copy of “My Valentine Hero”. While you’re there meet some of the hottest heros in books today.

I love you Studly!!

Sloane

Brazen Vixen Conquers Publishing Word

February 13, 2006 | Hot Damn

Wonderful news for Sherrill Quinn, a fantastic erotica author, she has been offered a contract from New Concepts Publishing for “The Praetorians: Discovery”. Be sure to check out her web site, www.sherrillquinn.com, for the release date.

Way to go, Ms. Quinn!

Psst, want to be the first?

February 11, 2006 | Friends

Happy days are here again! If you want to see something BEAUTIFUL go www.bethanderson_hotclue.com. It’s the brand new website for Chicago crime writer Beth Anderson and the most gorgeous site I’ve seen in ages.

While you’re there, be sure to check out her book “Second Generation”. It is a fantastic read.

Have a good weekend,
Sloane

That’ll Never Happen to Me!

February 7, 2006 | General

How often have you heard negative news and were positive such a thing could never happen to you? Ten, twenty, one hundred times? I’ve always felt that way. Always sure things happened to other people but not me. Apparently yesterday was my comeuppance day.

Studs was showering and I figured it was a good time to reconcile the checkbook. It’s not my favorite job, but with the Quicken program it’s easy. As I’m going down the list doing my little click thing, I see two checks that cleared for over $100 each. Now I’m positive I’d voided those two checks, but you know how it is with something you were sure of but have to recheck and it still doesn’t make sense? There I was flipping back and forth between the statement and the checkbook, repeatedly, trying to figure what I did wrong.

Like a nice, polite citizen, I call the bank and tell the faceless person on the other end there seems to be a problem with my account. She pulls up the record in her computer and informs me the checks were written by another person against my account.

Okay, I’m blonde but it doesn’t take a Mac truck to make me realize there’s a more serious problem here. Also, I’m out several hundred dollars and not at all happy. Then the nicer, politer lady on the phone tells me there’s a third check written by the same people against my account. I’m stunned and at a complete loss as to what to do. The lady tells me she’ll take care of everything and will get back to me. Yeah. Right. About twenty minutes later she does call back. She recommends I close the account, go into the bank to sign forgery affadavits, and it’s also necessary to file a police report.

Studs agrees, but he’s got a problem. You see, these three checks were written in consecutive order to the other checks in our register. All I can say is – I’m very confused. He looked up the address for the forgers. Bingo, they’re listed in the phonebook. Not making too much sense to me.

We go to the bank, sign the papers, but can’t get any more information. At the police station the detective was nice but explained it was pretty much a lost cause to find the forger.

On the way home, Studs asks if I want to drive by the forger’s house. Hell yeah! I’ve never seen a crack house and here’s a great opportunity. What a shock when we pulled into an upscale subdivision.

Studs drives by and I see an older woman through the open drapes. I wanted to stop and talk with her but Studs was against it. Of course I insisted and am grateful I did.

To cut a long story short I’ll recap the lady’s info.

Her daughter was the fifth in a line of identity theft. When the girl got her bank statement she noticed three checks written against her account, in consecutive order, that she didn’t issue. She called the bank and went through the same routine as we did.

Since then, this young woman has had checks cashed against her account in the thousands of dollars all across the state of Illinois, she lives in Indiana. She had to get her drivers license and credit cards changed. She too was not going to let this go and discovered the other people before her had the same problems but worse. One of them had a high-end Lexus purchased under this scheme. All these people banked at the same bank branch. I’m at the same bank but a different branch, different city, same state.

She has been working with a detective in her city. He told her the FBI were called into the case because the fraud has crossed the state line and escalated into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Apparently the concensus is that it’s an inside job and the bank is working hard to uncover the person or persons responsible for the fraud.

When I left I told the girl’s mother how sorry I was her daughter had to go through all this. The lady sadly smiled and said that within two weeks I’d be in the same situation. I must have had a puzzled or shocked look on my face because she told me all this had happened to her daughter within the last twelve days.

Over a martini, which I desperately needed, Studs and I rehased it all. We couldn’t figure out how the bank had so much personal data to afford an employee with the ability to go to such ends. I pulled out the paperwork we all complete to open a bank account. There is was, in black and white, name – address – phone number – social security number – driver’s license number. What more could any criminal need to ruin your life?

Please be sure to scrutinize your bank and credit card statements carefully. If your bank statement contains photo copies of the checks, thoroughly look those over as well. Immediately report any discrepencies. And good luck.

Sloane

The Novel Chatter

February 3, 2006 | It's All About Writing

Editors like dialogue. It provides ‘white space’. Readers like dialogue. It moves the story along at a faster pace. You, the author, need to master writing dialogue. Let’s try and make it easy for you with two important factors.

TAG LINES

He said, she said, they all said are what is known as tag lines.

Many writers wax poetic with; he replied angrily, she screamed out the words, they hissed their answer as one. After you yank your finger out of your throat consider why the three examples are bad.

He replied angrily.
Replied is good but angrily is over kill. Your dialogue should show the character’s anger. Add an action to emphasis instead of an adverb.

Once in awhile it may be necessary to add an adverb. Hester Kaplan wrote in a prize short story:

“Cold as hell in New York, she said hoarsely, as though clots of snow were lodged in her throat.

In this case “hoarsely” is important to the reader or they would be confused over a person choking on clots of snow.

She screamed out the words.
Over the top. If your character has to scream, then so bit it, but it’s unnecessary to add “out the words”. Again, your verbs in the dialogue should be strong enough to show the reader the character is screaming out the words.

They hissed their answer…
Snakes hiss, people generally don’t. Write your dialogue to show their anger or do it with an action.

Every sentence of dialogue by a different character doesn’t need a tag line. If you have two people talking the occasional “said” is sufficient. But if you use an action after the line of dialogue then drop the “said”.

“Your perfume is very unusual.” He sniffed at her neck.
“Thank you. It’s my favorite.”
“It reminds me of something, but I can’t quite name it.”
“Rosemary?”
He snapped his fingers. “Exactly.”

Nary a “he said” or “she said” added and you know who is talking.

A few more tag lines will be required when you have a group in conversation. It will also be necessary to add the character’s name.

“Your perfume is very unusual.” Max sniffed at her neck.
“Thank you. It’s my favorite.” Eva smiled at what she hoped was a compliment.
“It reminds me of something, but I can’t quite name it.”
“Rosemary?” asked Ron.
Max snapped his fingers. “Exactly.”

VOICE

Every character in your story has a different voice, the way they say things. Be true to that character and write the dialogue as if they were really speaking.

Now that you have the idea, go though your manuscript in hard copy. Read the dialogue aloud or, better yet, have a friend read it. Then ask yourself these questions;

• Does it seem stilted, unnatural?
• Is that character’s dialogue true to them or do they all sound alike?
• Have you over dramatized the tag lines?
• Is the dialogue too long?
• Boring?
• Important enough to move your story along?

I’ll be back on Tuesday with Passive Writing; Show Don’t Tell.

Happy writing!
Sloane

Another Victory

February 2, 2006 | Hot Damn

More good news for the Brazen Vixens. Jeanne Laws received a contract for her erotic Western “A Good Man is Hard to Find” from Loose-ID.

This is Jeanne’s second contract in less then a week. The first was for “Animal Stories” published by Loose-ID.

HURRAY! Jeanne. Congratulations, you’ve worked very hard on two fantastic books.

Both books will be out this summer. Be sure to get your copy.

Sloane

It’s Hunkarama Time!

February 1, 2006 | Contests

The Triskelion authors banded together to hostess a Hot Hunk Valentine Hunt. It runs until February 10, so there’s still time to enter the contest and receive some cool prizes. Go to www.karagriffin.com/herohunt.html for an entry form and go go go check out the sexy heros we authors have on our sites.

On Valentine’s Day we’ll have a party and announce our winners. So if you’re not not being romanced by your own hero, stop in and join in the fun. We have a new free story, “Be My Valentine”, that the Triskelion authors have written especially for this event. You’ll want to be sure to drop by to claim your copy.

Happy Hunting!
Sloane

Lettuce anyone?

January 31, 2006 | It's All About Writing

It’s time to put your manuscript on a diet. Cinch your belt as tight as you can and let’s self-edit.

What’s self-edit? It means you eliminate all the fat, all the extra words that don’t move the story forward, and all the passive words bogging down your scenes.

REUNDANCIES are unnecessary words over describing an action.

The following are examples and if you look hard you’re bound to find several in your work.

• David pulled out the bench and sat down in the chair.
The word ‘down’ is unnecessary because that’s the only way David could sit.

• David jumped up. OR David stood up.
‘Up’ is unnecessary because, again, that’s the only way he could go.

• Melissa shrugged her shoulders.
I love this one because it eliminates two words, ‘her shoulders’. What else could Melissa shrug?

• Melissa loved to see David’s well-toned chest and how it tapered down to his narrow waist.
‘Well’ and ‘down’ go. The sentence should read;
Melissa loved to see David’s toned chest and how it tapered to his narrow waist.
The corrected version is cleaner and right to the point.

A few other examples are;

• Blue in color
• Climbed up the stairs
• Eased slowly
• Nodded his head
• Stomped heavily
• Stood to his full height
• Terribly bad

PASSIVE WORDS are used in our speech but should never be used in writing. You’re telling a story and must keep the action moving. These words are showing not telling.

• Is
• Might
• Seemed
• Started to
• Was
• Were

Readers want action therefore you must construct your sentences with powerful verbs.

The same reasoning applies to ADVERBS and ADJECTIVES. The following is but a small select and offer little to help paint a picture.

• A little
• Almost
• Even
• Just
• Perhaps
• So
• Some
• Very
• When

Most, if not all, adverbs and adjectives weaken your writing and need to be eliminated from your story.

PREPOSITIONS are not your best friend. Go through your work and highlight every preposition, including prepositional phrases. If you have an abundance you must clear them out to create stronger sentences.

THAT is a word we seldom need in a sentence. Its filler and a word you need to eliminate from your writing and your vocabulary.

The Best Tip of the Day;

Do a word search to discover how many times you’ve used a specific word. Reread your sentence and replace the overused word with something stronger.

Friday we’ll discuss dialogue. Until then…

Happy writing!
Sloane

We’ll have Caviar to go with that Champagne!

January 30, 2006 | Hot Damn

When a friend gets great news it makes everyone’s day better.

Jeanne Laws, Passionate Ink Editor, has received a contract from Loose-Id for her exciting book “Animal Dreams”. And here’s the best part; Loose-Id is interested in all three books in the trilogy.

Congratulations, Jeanne, I’m proud to know you.

Sloane