BookRix member, smithmatthewd

Many of you know BookRix member, Smithmatthewd, as a prolific writer on the site with the unique ability to sneak in surprise endings. If you need any proof of that, look no further than his tales Anthropophagi (entered into the Frightening Fiction contest) and Easy Money?

In the following guest post, Smithmatthewd gives us a look into how he develops his stories.

Story Development

Before I began to write The Littlest Superhero, I went through the process of thinking about what a superhero symbolizes.  The two predominate characteristics I thought of were hope and action.  After developing this base from which to begin, I tried to find an environment for the story that would be relevant in modern society.  Lastly, I wanted to apply simple dialogue that reaffirmed the base of the story.

E-book by smithmatthewd

Hope was fairly easy to include within the story.  The obvious hope, that the main character, Gabriel wouldn’t be harmed, and that his mother would survive was a simple part of the story line.  However, throughout the story, Gabriel dons, removes, and then has his cape returned.  The cape is symbolic of hope in the story.  Gabriel begins the story having donned the cape in hopes of protecting his mother in some way.  When Gabriel’s hope is dashed, he removes the cape (and his hope) and offers them to his mother. Finally, as the story ends Gabriel is given the hope back by his mother (unknowingly to him, but consciously by his mother in an effort to keep him from ever becoming like his father.)

Action in the story is in two forms.  I opened the story with the comic book classics of “Boom, Pow, Slash! “to immediately insert a sense of action.  Both the domestic violence and reactions of Gabriel and his mother also apply action to the story.

Domestic violence and Gabriel’s presence in the situation came from having read a news article on the internet about children living in the middle of domestic violence.  The more I thought about heroes and hope, the more I found myself thinking about the hope of these children and their welfare.  Once that was established, I needed to place Gabriel into a situation that the reader would emotionally feel and share in the hope, and fear, of the situation.

The dialogue contained in the story is simple with a purpose.  In order to keep the story in line with the qualities of a child, I did not want to use complex words or dialogue.  The simple structure of the words adds to the innocence of the story.

I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this blog and hope you enjoyed The Littlest Superhero.

You now can check out the next chapters of “The Littlest Superhero” and find a list of all of Smithmatthewd’s books on BookRix.

As many of you may have seen on our BookRix YouTube Channel, while at the 2011 BookExpo America, I had the opportunity (and lucky chance encounter!) to meet in person and grab an exclusive interview with two of the most successful self-published authors of our time: J.A. Konrath and Blake Crouch. Currently, they are grossing between $30,000 and $50,000 a month in eBook sales!

Watch this video (turn up your speakers) if you are serious about self-publishing your novel or book. They offer helpful tips and important messages to not only Author R. Lynn, who’s just started her journey down the same indie path with BookRix as a sponsorship partner (and was the perfect person to ask these guys some serious questions), but for all of the BookRix community and writers in the world wanting to expand their book’s potential horizons.

In this video Blake Crouch and J.A. Konrath discuss what it’s been like since they left their legacy publishers and how that’s changed their options.

They also talk about the importance of marketing and finding key influencers to write book reviews for their books (pre-launch), building a fan base and platform to sell books online and so much more.

Be prepared, the REAL, authentic and humorous personalities that Author R. Lynn and I got to see emerge during the interview are included, but with all seriousness about why they left their legacy publishers and the power of social media sites for authors including Facebook, Twitter and of course your very-own BookRix.

Follow the authors on Twitter:

@JAKonrath
@BlakeCrouch1
@AuthorRLynn

A poet, storyteller, BookRix contest winner, moderator of the BookRix Poet Society group… these are all synonyms for BookRix community member, Dr.Wardha. Below she describes how she gets inspired to write her poetry.

Poetic Secrets shared by Dr.Wardha

There are these moments of trance-like brilliance when my awareness of all things real becomes, ever so slightly, vague. Generally, these happen during my long drives when I feel compelled to entertain myself with the ministrations of my own Mind and philosophise upon an Idea for poetic expression.

I talk to myself. Often. Yes, that’s my big secret, my most incriminating habit, if I were to be analysed by a psychiatrist. I do it even when in company (of course, not out loud, I mean THAT would be crazy). Many of my ideas for poems come from these mental monologues based on observations of the human psychology. Man, the phenomenon, the chemical, volatile being — oscillating rhythmically between deceit and faith — fascinates me.

Human nature — its failings and its strife, its inexhaustible desire to rise above and beyond the call of the hour, its fragile psyche, its strong passions — all serve as my Muse. I watch people with an eye, which I feel, is compassionate and nonjudgmental. I listen to their views with a mind, I feel, is ever interested in understanding the definition of “human.” I often deliberately don my trance to do a bit of role-playing where a certain set of circumstances I wish to write about prevail, and I imagine the emotional ague of the sufferer. Most of my cherished (by me mostly) verses have been written in such a way.

I find great inspiration in the works of renowned authors of the nineteenth century. Their mode of expression was, to me, an art in its very construction. I often find myself re-reading, and marveling at their acumen in sentences phrased like a sphinx, descriptions sculpted like a Madonna, brilliant-like gems, in their perfect use of the perfect word.

Yes, that is my wonderment at the art of writing, discovering the perfect word.

Dr.wardha was the winner of the BookRix Cowboy Contest with Kat and Sable and a finalist in the BookRix Drabbles Contest.

You can read her other work here:

"Shades of Grey" by dr.wardha

"Known Stranger" by dr.wardha

"Sweet Treats" by dr.wardha

NaNoWriMo has finally arrived again, so BookRix is here to say to aspiring writers, “Now’s the time to get organized, brainstorm, have fun and write write write all month long!”

National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo) is an annual creative writing project coordinated by The Office of Letters and Light, a non-profit organization. Lasting the entire month of November, the project challenges participants to write 50,000 words of a new novel. (In our opinion, even making it all the way to 30,000 in 30 days is a feat to be proud of!)

Not only is NaNoWriMo free to register with, but there’s tons of support and resources to help guide writers along the four weeks of dedicated output. They’ve been working hard since July of 1999 when founder Chris Baty began NaNoWriMo with only 21 participants. According to the Wikipedia article on NaNoWriMo, last year more than 170,000 people signed up and 2,427,190,537 words were written!

In case you’re a newbie to NaNoWriMo, here’s a short video by NaNoWriMo veteran Kristina Horner to get you BookRixer’s thinking about whether this is something you’d like to join thousands of others in doing this month:

The NaNoWriMo Song – Music Video!

Love following tips? Follow NaNoWriMo’s tweets on Twitter to keep you motivated! And update BookRix on Twitter as well with including @BookRixUS in your tweets!

Good luck and happy writing! We look forward to reading your NaNoWriMo stories on BookRix in December ☺

Just in time for NaNoWriMo! From AppVee:

As a reviewer, I do my fair share of writing, but nothing comes close to those who spend all day writing novels and producing other excellent literature. With a tool as awesome as the iPad, I was excited to begin writing without a keyboard or being tied down to the computer. Although Apple has provided an excellent document editor for the device, there was always the feeling that there needed to be something more. iA Writer for the iPad is that more.

See it in action:

All kidding aside, the world’s greatest writers don’t spend all their time reading and writing. There’s no greater inspiration than getting out and living life to its fullest!

Still working on your entry for the Frightening Fiction writing contest? If so, you definitely want to check out ConstructingHorror.com. It’s filled with articles and interviews with top horror writers. Sign up for their newsletter and you’ll receive a free ebook, Worth Dying For – Your Protagonists Goals and Behavior by Sara Caldwell, author of Splatter Flicks.

Here’s a sampling of some of their recent interviews:

• PhD. DAVID D. GILMORE
• Tim Lebbon
• Jeffrey H. Goldstein, Ph.D.
• Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• Stanley Wiater

And articles…

• Why We Love Stories – storytelling and the discoveries of neuroscience
• On Children and Horror – An interview with John Ajvide Lindqvist
• The Basic Elements of Horror Screenwriting
• On the Art of Film Music : An interview with Composer Kurt Oldman
• The Skeleton Key

And…it’s all free! I suppose at some point they’ll want to sell you something, but I haven’t seen it yet, and if it’s up to par with the rest of the site, it’ll be worth buying.

The Curse of the Pirates writing contest is already under way, but you can give your book a leg up…with its curb appeal!

Our community manager, Ayelet, just posted a tutorial on how to change fonts (into piratesque ones) and add a pirate-inspired cover.

In conjunction with our Frightening Fiction writing contest, which is now underway, I thought I’d share some videos on horror writing. Today, the king of horror writing, Stephen King:

Aye, so you need some help writin’ like a pirate for the Curse o’ the Pirates Contest? You don’t have t’ write like a pirate, o’ course, but if you need a little help with the dialog, you might check out the Pirate Translator.

And in case you’re wonderin’ what kind o’ results you’ll get, this whole durn blog post has been run through it.

Ye’ll ne’er get me buried booty!

Image credit: amy_b