Common Themes in Literature by Jacqueline Seewald

Whether authors of fiction write short stories, plays or novels, theme is an essential component, just like characterization, plot and setting. The theme of a book is a universal idea or message that stretches throughout a work. Themes are often sociological or cultural in nature.

Some themes reoccur often. For instance, I just finished reading a thriller novel in which the theme was conspiracy theory, common in suspense genre. Fiction writers often pull their themes from nonfiction and then write faction. Dan Brown and Brad Meltzer are two very popular suspense authors who do this. Shakespeare used the underlying theme in his plays that appearances are deceiving. This works particularly well in the theatre.

Good fiction writing needs a cohesive theme to hold the work together. The lesson is generally about life or humanity and is preferably implied rather than stated outright. The show-not-tell rule works well with theme.

In YA lit, the theme is often coming-of-age. However, there may be more than one theme, especially in a novel. One way to convey theme is through recurring use of symbolism. Hawthorne and Hemingway were both particularly talented in that regard. My forthcoming YA novel THE DEVIL AND DANNA WEBSTER which will be published by Astraea Press uses symbolism as well.

Romances concentrate on the theme of finding love everlasting. This is true of my short story collection BEYOND THE BO TREE offered on Amazon Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DTV0750

However, even with romance fiction there are often secondary themes. My soon be published prize-winning historical romance THE CHEVALIER is very much connected with themes of war and politics.

 Mysteries are about finding solutions and discovering the truth about puzzling situations such as solving murders and imposing order where there was chaos. For instance, my romantic suspense spy thriller DEATH LEGACY, both romance and mystery, explores whether a CIA agent was an enemy mole or a murder victim. 

http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=28798&cid=337

There are often socially significant secondary themes in crime fiction. For example, in my co-authored novel THE THIRD EYE: A PINE BARRENS MYSTERY

http://www.amazon.com/Third-Pine-Barrens-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00G5K7VXI

we deal with the theme of bullying. Jim who is short for his age is bullied by an older boy. He learns how to cope with the situation. His search for a murderer also interconnects with the theme of bullying. This is a theme that has increased awareness in our modern society where young people have tragically ended up committing suicide owing to cyber bullying. Even successful pro football players are not immune to this kind of abuse.

All types of writing need an underlying idea which serves as a fundamental component. Writing without a theme is like sailing in a rudderless ship. It will eventually flounder and sink.

What themes interest you in particular as a reader or a writer? What themes appear to be especially important?

Just How Crazy Is the Marketplace Today? by Susan Oleksiw

I was casting around for an idea for my monthly contribution to Author Expressions when I thought I’d settled on something timely—the topic of whether or not writers should give away their work. An article in the New York Times by Tim Kreider on just this issue had sparked a lot of debate on various lists. The topic appealed to me because when a friend, Ann Perrott, and I founded The Larcom Review I insisted that we pay every contributor, even if it was only a nominal amount.

Those who write well enough to be published deserve to be treated as professionals; they should be paid. Ann agreed, and we paid every contributor (writer, poet, interviewer, reviewer, photographer, artist) a modest $25 plus one contributor’s complimentary copy. The amount is pathetic but it’s better than nothing.

Today thousands of writers blog for free (like me, right here), put their novels and short stories on line for free (I haven’t done that), and contribute stories and articles to anthologies for no money at all (I haven’t done that either) and no free copy. It is so much the norm now that fewer and fewer people are arguing that writers should never write for free. It is argued that this is unrealistic—there are simply too many writers willing to fill the screens with their ideas and beautifully wrought sentences, hoping someone will offer them a paying gig.

This isn’t just a problem for midlist writers like me and most other mystery writers. It’s common knowledge that the writers who made Huffington Post worth purchasing were paid nothing for their contributions. They got nothing from the sale of the online newspaper. That doesn’t make anyone feel any better, but it does remind us just how widespread this problem is—writers should write for free and be glad of the opportunity to have their work disseminated. The marketplace for writing is out of whack.

So, how out of whack is the marketplace today?

While I was searching for a book by Mavis Gallant I decided to take a vanity detour and check out my own list, to see if the new covers were now on the Amazon site. They were. I scrolled down to admire them, and noticed that various issues of The Larcom Review were mixed in with the book titles. And then I took a better look.

I’m used to seeing paperbacks at $0.01, with the total cost being the shipping plus a few pennies. But I was not ready for the price I saw on one issue of The Larcom Review. The spring/summer 2001 issue was priced at $2,350.70. (Seventy cents?) The cover price is $10.

I remember that issue. In fact, I had just given a copy of it to a friend as a hostess gift when she invited me to dinner. The issue contains 61 works in prose or poetry and 15 artworks, including photographs, line drawings, and prints. The issue includes an interview with Andre Dubus III by Rae Francoeur, a poem by Erika Funkhauser, one by Rhina P. Espaillat, two prints by John Martin, and a cover photo by Robin Paris, among other items. Is all this worth $2,350.70?

I’ve emailed the bookseller to find out what is so special about this issue that he’s charging over $2,000. After all, I still have several copies in storage I’d be glad to sell. I have't heard anything from him yet, but I'll let you know if I do.

And now you can see how out of whack the publishing business is right now. I’ve forgotten my topic and where I was going with it. The ludicrous amount of money being offered for one issue of The Larcom Review has completely thrown my brain off kilter. What more do you need to know?

To purchase copies of The Larcom Review at a normal price, email me. To read Tim Kreider’s article, click on the link below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/opinion/sunday/slaves-of-the-internet-unite.html?hp&_r=1&>

Susan Oleksiw is the author of the Mellingham/Joe Silva series and the Anita Ray series. Her books can be found on Amazon, Nook Press, and Smashwords. For more information, go to www.susanoleksiw.com

Cover Artist/Author Interview

When Book Three of The Maine Shore Chronicles, my Five Star hard cover trilogy, needed a new cover for eBook publication, I decided to ask cover artist, Patty Henderson to design it as a Boxed Set for the series. You can see the tiny covers she had already designed for the first two books on spines of the boxed set.

 

I was so comfortable in the working process of these covers I decided to let other authors know about this talented woman via: 

 

An Interview with Cover Designer / Author Patty Henderson

  by  Mary F. Schoenecker 

Question: Did your career start as an author or a book cover artist? 

I have often been asked how I got to be an author and a book cover artist as well.  I began to write in the 1960’s. I loved comic books and decided I would do a “treatment” for DCComics for a new comic book hero. I wrote the entire back story and a new comic book featuring my new superhero. I even did an amateurish drawing to go with it. I remember it being a supernatural type hero that used a pendant for his power focus. Needless to say, I did not become a successful comic book artist or writer. 

Question: Other than comic books, what inspired your writing?

I discovered Edgar Allen Poe. The love for Poe’s work led me to write short stories in the supernatural mystery vein. My short stories were published in fanzines of the 70’s. Life intervened and I stopped writing until I could no longer contain my inspiration to write a novel. 

Question: When did you write your first novel and was it a similar genre theme?

In 1995 I wrote my first vampire novel, but my bigger success came with the Brenda Strange Supernatural Mystery series. The first book, THE BURNING OF HER SIN was published in 2002 by Barclay Books. That was quickly followed by the second, third and fourth books in the series, TANGLED AND DARK, THE MISSING PAGE and XIMORA. 

Question: How can readers get your books?

All my books are available as Kindle eBooks and trade paperbacks at Amazon.com and ePub eBooks at Barnes and Noble.

Question: Can you tell us how you got started with Cover Designing ?

I learned how to draw from my father. That eventually led to working fourteen years in a photographic studio where I honed my skills as a digital artist with Photoshop, learning to  create art using the computer. Once the studio closed shop and I found myself without a job, I made the decision to freelance on my own and began creating custom book covers for small publishers and independent authors. 

Question: Will you share a little about the creative  process of Cover Art and Design?

Creating book covers  isn’t just choosing a photograph or artwork from a royalty-free site and getting creative with it. As an artist I use the painting and blending and other tools in Photoshop, combined with artistic elements such as backgrounds and textures to create a cover that is like a digital painting. Sometimes I incorporate up to five or six images and/or textures to create one book cover. 

Question: Is their much interaction between the author and you the designer?

Yes. I feel blessed that I can work with authors  to help them create the vision they want for their books. As an author myself, I bring the added recognition of how important a book cover can be and how to help the author bring out the right imagery to create impact for their book via the right book cover. It is a win win for both author and artist, and much reward and satisfaction for me.

I’m always excited to meet new authors who need book covers and I invite you to check out my graphic art web site, Boulevard Photographica, the name of my graphic freelance work. I will work with any author and/or publisher in creating the book cover you have dreamed of. 

Author web site: www.pattyghenderson.com

Book Cover web site: www.boulevardphotografica.yolasite.com

 

 

 

 

Keeping an open mind...

Gee, E.T. did it, why can't I?

One of the things I enjoy about writing and reading is the ability to suspend disbelief. If a story can do that for the reader successfully then the author has done a good job. The pictures that have been painted with their words must be vivid and "realistic." Ah, so you ask, what about fantasy or paranormal? Vampires? Werewolves? Aliens?

Good questions. Some readers don't like those genre's, but I challenge authors out there to write a really great story so that even the "non-fantasy" type reader will enjoy it. How? You build a world that seems absolutely realistic or so intriguing that the reader wants to visit it. You create characters that are 3-dimensional and interesting. You sprinkle in some tension that everyone or anyone can relate to - good vs evil; family dynamics; growing up; discovering self; survival - whatever it may be and make the reader see that even vampires want loving. Even evil characters had parents and maybe their home life was really bad, so they took the easy way to deal with life. The dark side, for those Star Wars folks out there. Doing what is right or good, isn't always the easy path, right?

I'm a very visual person with an active imagination, that's why I love stories, movies, plays - all forms of story telling. I want to "feel" what the characters feel, whether it's joy, sadness, confusion - I want to be a part of the story. That makes a good writer - as well as a good story - if the reader sees it and feels it with every page.

I read all types of genres and the ones I've truly love had the most vivid worlds and characters. Look at The Lord of the Rings. I mean, Hobbits - come on?! And Star Wars Jabba the Hut, what ugly slug is going to be head of the galactic mob? Did I love these characters that pushed the envelope of what is "real" and what is "fantasy"? Absolutely. It's what makes the stories so interesting - the melding of what is and what could be - here or in a galaxy far, far away.

Cowboys & Aliens

Have you ever read a Louis L'Amour western? Oh Man. He transports me back to the days of six guns and wild Indians. I love them. And there's always a reluctant hero, a fair damsel, and something bad that happens. Throw in some historical references and I'm hooked! Coupled with the fact that Sam Elliot and Tom Selleck will always be two of my favorite Sacketts, what's not to like?

Some of my favorite authors write about the south and make me smell Jasmine and Honeysuckle, and feel the humidity in the air. They make me want to visit Tybee or Sullivan's Island and take a tour of the low-country. Do you know who I'm talking about? Dorothea Benton Frank, C. Hope Clark, Fern Michaels, Pat Conroy - there's a bunch of them. Give them a try.

My point is that I recommend stepping out of your "comfort genre" and explore the possibilities. There are a plethora of authors out there who present their stories with flare and touch our hearts. Keep an open mind. Try new things. And if you find something you like, write a review for the next reader to find your new discovery. 

Oh, and writers - this applies to you as well. If you've always written mysteries but you have a burning desire to write a children's novel - go for it. And, enjoy the journey!

Interview with Author Maggie Toussaint by Jacqueline Seewald

Formerly a contract scientist for the U.S. Army and currently a freelance reporter, Southern author Maggie Toussaint has ten published books. Maggie lives in coastal Georgia, where secrets, heritage, and ancient oaks cast long shadows. Yoga, beachcombing, and music are a few of her favorite things. You can visit her at http://www.maggietoussaint.com.

Question: What is the title and genre of your novel?  Why did you select them?

Answer:  My latest release is Dime If I Know, and it’s a cozy mystery from Five Star/Cengage. My amateur sleuth, Cleopatra Jones, is an accountant, so each book has money in the title. Book 1 was In for a Penny. Book 2 was On the Nickel. Since Book 3 in the series is about doubts, I liked the play on words of Dime If I Know.

Question:   What inspired this novel? How did it come about?

Answer:  To ramp up the stakes in my series, I make sure that the person charged with committing a crime is someone close to Cleo. In the first book, the spotlight was on her best friend. Book 2 put her mother in the cop’s crosshairs.

Throughout the series, Cleo struggles with not being part of a couple and with living in the moment. Now that she’s been dating Rafe for several months, she longs for a more lasting commitment. Shining the limelight on her boyfriend in Dime forces her to look at what she wants and makes her realize how little she knows about the man she’s in love with.

Question:  Could you tell us a little bit about the heroine and/or hero of your novel?

Answer:  Cleo is a divorced mother of active teenage daughters. She also rides herd on her free-spirited mother who lives under her roof. Her loyalty runs bone deep. Most nights she shares her bed with a Saint Bernard she inherited from the victim in the first book, but she’d rather share it with Rafe. Cleo’s the kind of person that likes problems solved and neatly filed away. Trouble is, her life is messy and a little broken. Her ex has seen the light and wants her back, but she’s having none of that. Her affection lies in the direction of the sexy golf pro, Rafe Golden.

Rafe is an enigma to Cleo. He doesn’t want to be tied down, though he is keenly interested in his hot affair with Cleo. In Dime, the reasons for his behaviors come out, and they aren’t pretty. His estrangement from his family drives Cleo crazy. She can’t imagine not being surrounded by family. As an aside, Rafe looks like a young Ernie Els, who is a professional golfer. Be still my heart.

Question:   Can you tell us about some of your other published novels or work?

Answer:  In addition to writing mysteries, I also publish romantic suspense novels. Hot Water is my latest romantic suspense, and it’s the story of Laurie Ann the cop and Wyatt North the arson investigator. Together they chase a serial arsonist around South Georgia, hoping to stop him before he kills again. On Amazon, Hot Water is highly rated at 4.7 stars out of 5, with a total of 37 reviews.

Question:   What are you working on now?

Answer:  I’m editing the sequel to Hot Water right now: Rough Waters. It’s another romantic suspense set in the small coastal town of Mossy Bog, featuring a florist and a shipwreck hunter searching for stolen gold sovereigns.

Question:   What made you start writing?

Answer:  I’ve had a lifelong affair with stories and the written word. My earliest memories are of sitting around and listening to family members share stories, and, oh, the places I could go in books! After college, career, marriage, and children, I decided to try my hand at writing a book. It was much harder than I thought it would be! Many years later, I was lucky enough to land two book contracts within a three-month span.

Question:   What advice would you offer to those who are currently writing novels?

Answer:  Don’t hold back. Write at “wide open” all the time. Write about people and places and issues you care about. Do your best every time you sit down to write. Learn the craft of writing and the business of writing. Develop thick skin. Rejection is an occupational hazard for writers at all levels of this business.

Question:  Where and when will readers be able to obtain your novel?

Answer: Dime If I Know is available in hardcover right now from most online bookstores. Sometime in early 2014, it should release in digital format. Hardcover at Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/qcx8cth and at Barnes and Noble http://tinyurl.com/neutdbg

Thanks, Maggie, for a great interview! Readers, leave comments for Maggie and she will respond.

Horror Fiction: Not Just for Halloween! by Jacqueline Seewald

The horror genre of fiction continues to fascinate readers. Why do readers love what terrifies them? It appears that vampires  never die. Zombies can be found in movie theatres, TV shows, commercials, books, and short stories. In the month of October, three of my own speculative short stories, combining horror and mystery, are being published in new anthologies.  They are:

Between There, Vol 2

http://www.amazon.com/Between-There-Anthony-S-Buoni/dp/1888146028/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380665088&sr=8-1&keywords=between+there+vol.+2

Spirits of St. Louis: Missouri Ghost Stories
http://www.rockinghorsepublishing.com/new-release.html

Dying to Live: Stories of the Undead

http://www.diabolicpublications.com/soon

When people talk about horror fiction, they might let out an involuntary shudder. However, horror fiction isn’t just about the gruesome. It’s not only about such supernatural creations as: ghosts, goblins, ghouls, gremlins, etc. No, it’s really about what we fear, what we dread most, what strikes terror into our hearts and souls. These things may be ordinary, like a pit bull off the leash running toward us, or extraordinary, like meeting a vampire in a neighborhood bar at midnight. Our fears are both usual and unusual.

Horror fiction will not be going away any time soon because it is human nature to feel fear as an emotion. Horror fiction helps us handle these feelings, helps us cope with and confront our terrors, those within us and those in the environment around us. Writers like Stephen King and Dean Koontz have recognized this. They reach into their worst fears and nightmares to help us come to terms with our own.

In my co-authored novel, THE THIRD: A PINE BARRENS MYSTERY, a boy and his mother, writing alternating viewpoint chapters, come to terms with their own greatest fears while solving several murders. The novel’s setting is real but eerie. Legends of the Jersey Devil prevail. Fans of both mystery and horror will relate to this novel. You can check out some of the reviews on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Third-Eye-Pine-Barrens-Mystery/dp/1432826980/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380463378&sr=1-1&keywords=the+third+eye+seewald

or Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17720868-the-third-eye

What frightens you? What sort of horror story would you read? Drop by and leave a comment. Include an e-mail address if you wish to be entered to win a copy of THE THIRD EYE—or simply place a request for the novel at your local library.

Happy hauntings!

Goodreads and the New Policies

The change in the publishing world has pushed writers and readers onto the Internet faster than the offer of a free trip to the Bahamas, but we have adopted the new way of life without thinking much about it except how to manage the technology. Goodreads has recently stepped in to tighten up its policies, deleting reviews it deems unsuitable and shelves in a reviewer’s page, and Amazon is deleting certain books in a certain category (hint: think porn).

All this change has some readers and reviewers reacting loudly and angrily because they have come to regard these sites as public spaces where individual rights applh. The reactions are to (1) Goodreads making the changes without announcing them directly to all members of GR and (2) deletion of reviews and shelves without an explanation first.

I understand the emotional reactions from reviewers who have lost reviews without warning. Some have put time and effort into their reviews, stating clearly what they dislike and why. They take reviewing very seriously, and strive to present a thorough understanding of the book under review. But I also understand the decision of GR to delete the negative reviews. Writers who have received mean-spirited reviews that seem to attack the writer for writing rather than discussing the book have had no recourse to this kind of cyber bullying and will be relieved at the new policies.

The truth is, most reviews now are written by people who have little or no experience in the world of journalism; they are not professionals, trained and vetted by any independent organization. As reviewers, many do no more than react. They do not think first and write second. They do not give time or thought to why they dislike a particular book. And they blur the line between disliking the book and disliking the author. Personal feelings about the writer have no place in a review, and shouldn’t motivate a negative review either. A review is supposed to be about the book, to guide readers who are interested in finding books that will be entertaining, interesting, and rewarding in insight and experience as well as within the type they most prefer.

We have become a nation of individuals with short attention spans. The book that requires the reader to “dawdle” through the first chapter to get to know characters and ways of seeing the world is sure to get a negative review. A book with a terse style that is meant to mimic a particular group of people will certainly turn off some readers. But many readers are not going to understand that the fault, to paraphrase Shakespeare inventing a quote by Caesar, “is not in the stars but in ourselves,” that we are untrained readers telling the world what we dislike.

Reviews of self-published books are useful as feedback from unsolicited beta readers, and negative reviews of commercially published books can also be useful. But reviews that are snide and mean are of no use to anyone. They are often a brief one or two lines, which suggests that the reviewer didn’t read the whole book, didn’t begin reading with a willingness to give the book a fair hearing, and didn’t try to understand how the book fit in the genre or contributed to the topic. If you only enjoy modern spy thrillers, why are you reading for review a romance novel set in nineteenth century France?

The controversy will continue, and the new gatekeepers, Goodreads and Amazon among others, will have to continue making decisions about what will be allowable on their sites. Some people will agree with their decisions and others will not. But all of us will learn more about the kinds of people who are out in the world looking for an opportunity to tell the world what they think.

If you are interested in the discussion on GR, go http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1507089-new-rules-from-goodreads

And if you are interested in the policy statements, go

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1499741-important-note-regarding-reviews?page=1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=comment_instant

and for the update on the policy statements go

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1517130-faqs-about-reviews-shelves-on-goodreads?utm_medium=email&utm_source=comment_instant#comment_84136827