Gwen Gardner, Author: May 2016

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

IWSG: Spellbinding Sentences

It's the first Wednesday of the month and time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Thanks to Alex Cavanaugh and his minions for all the work they do for this worthy cause! If you want to join, GO HERE.

So...last year was a year of stepping back and reflecting on my writing career and how best to organize and structure the whole thing. I experimented with different types of outlines, from James Patterson's Masterclass to the 7-point structure to Save the Cat!

Apparently this is another year of stepping back. I have three outlines ready to go and one WiP. So, what did I do? I bought another book on writing. Yeah, because I really needed another one. NOT!

In school, I really sucked at English as far as learning all the parts of speech. Boring! But when I skimmed through Spellbinding Sentences: A Writer's Guide to Achieving Excellence & Captivating Readers by Barbara Baig, it looked like something I could use to improve my writing. She breaks everything down so that it's relatable, not just another English lesson, but strengthens your writing. Basically how to go from the mental image in the mind of the writer--to the verbal image made of words--to the mental image in the mind of the reader. Because, simply put, that's what all us writers are trying to do:

To choose the right words to create a particular image

in the minds of our readers so they can see the story being told

Well, I have high hopes that this will help me to improve.

What do you think?

Is this just another procrastination technique?

Or a true desire to be the best writer I can be?

(P.S., I now know four kinds of verbs, y'all! LOL!)
(P.S.S. Be sure to check out the giveaway by Chrys Fey in the post below!)

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

A Duel and a Giveaway, Oh My!

I'm sooo excited to have Chrys Fey here today with a guest post for her new release, Seismic Crimes and her already released companion novel, Hurricane Crimes! Such a clever way to offset the two novels against each with a duel..

So without further a-duel....

Here's Chrys!

********

It’s a Duel!

When it was time for me to write the opening sentence of Seismic Crimes, I purposely made the statement opposite from the first sentence of Hurricane Crimes. And I, of course, had to show a contrast between the first paragraphs as well.

This is a duel!

Hurricane Crimes is in the red corner.

Seismic Crimes is in the blue corner.

Which story will come out on top?

You decide!

Hurricane Crimes:

Beth was going to die.

At least according to the nervous weatherman on her flickering television screen. An image of what was supposed to be Florida wavered in and out, except it was barely visible beneath the swirling mass of a Category 5 hurricane named Sabrina, which seemed to have a vendetta against the sunshine state. She never once sidled away from Florida but came head-on while gaining strength like a warrior preparing for battle.

Seismic Crimes:

Beth didn’t die.

The anxious weatherman forecasting Hurricane Sabrina’s arrival was wrong. She didn’t even die at the big, slightly calloused hands of Donovan Goldwyn, as she had thought she would. Accused of killing his brother, Donovan had shown all the signs of being a murderer, but she later realized he wasn’t a killer despite his suspicious mannerisms. Together, they had taken down one of the police officers responsible for killing Donovan’s brother, but one of the killers got away.

QUESTION: SO...Who won? Hurricane Crimes or Seismic Crimes?

Title: Seismic Crimes

Author: Chrys Fey

Series: Disaster Crimes Series (Book Two)

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Format: Digital and Print

Page Count: 282

DIGITAL LINKS:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA

NOOK / KOBO / All Romance eBooks

PRINT LINKS:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA

The Wild Rose Press

BLURB:

An Internal Affairs Investigator was murdered and his brother, Donovan Goldwyn, was framed. Now Donovan is desperate to prove his innocence. And the one person who can do that is the woman who saved him from a deadly hurricane—Beth Kennedy. From the moment their fates intertwined, passion consumed him. He wants her in his arms. More, he wants her by his side in his darkest moments.

Beth Kennedy may not know everything about Donovan, but she can’t deny what she feels for him. It’s her love for him that pushes her to do whatever she has to do to help him get justice, including putting herself in a criminal’s crosshairs.

When a tip reveals the killer's location, they travel to California, but then an earthquake of catastrophic proportions separates them. As aftershocks roll the land, Beth and Donovan have to endure dangerous conditions while trying to find their way back to one another. Will they reunite and find the killer, or will they lose everything?

HURRICANE CRIMES 99¢ SALE!