The Vanishing Review!

Check out my post on Story Empire!

Story Empire

Greetings, SE’ers! Beem Weeks here with you again. Today, I’m discussing vanishing reviews on Amazon.

Last year, I wrote a post on the necessity of being honest in our reviews of books we’ve read. If we enjoy the story, we explain why. If there were issues, we report those issues without being hurtful or harmful. A review helps the writer, sure, but it also assists readers searching for their next book.

So, if you enjoyed a particular novel, and you wrote a glowing review, why would Amazon yank your review after a day or a month or even longer? That’s a question many of us have had to contemplate at least a time or two.

I’ve written hundreds of reviews on the mighty Amazon over the past decade or so. My reviews cover almost everything I’ve ever purchased from the site. Books, music, electronics, replacement refrigerator handle—if I bought it…

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Elements of a Dual Timeline Novel: Timeframes and Settings

A fantastic series!

Story Empire

Hi, SEers! You’re with Mae today. Thank you for joining me for part three of my series on dual timeline novels. Part One provided an introduction, while Part Two offered a look at character development. Today, we’re going to explore timeframes.

Image from Deposit Photos

When developing your characters, you probably started thinking about timeframes. Usually, when people think of dual timeline novels, they often envision a large gap between eras. One timeframe in present day with the other set somewhere in the past. Often this involves another century, but there’s no rule that says you have to go back x-number of decades or centuries.

I’ve written novels with my “past” timeframe set in the late 1700s, 1840s, and 1880s. I’m also sitting on a completed manuscript wherein the earlier action takes place in the 1970s. Once you’ve chosen your era, it’s time to do a research dive. Even the…

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AFTER THE BOOK IS WRITTEN: WEBSITE & SOCIAL MEDIA

Great tips for marketing by D. L. Finn!

Story Empire

Hi SEers! D. L. Finn here to talk about what I learned after writing the book.

Over twenty years ago, I tried to find my children’s book a publisher. After a couple of years of nice handwritten or standard form rejections, life got busy, and I put this on the back burner.

Then eight years ago, after I was laid up with a broken foot, I decided to try self-publishing. After some research, I hired an editor and someone to create a book cover. I was ready.

Being new to self-publishing, I used a company that formatted and uploaded my book to various websites. It was a steep price with little in return, but it was done.

Then I imagined myself creating my next book while waiting for readers and reviews to find me. None came.

I realized the only people who might read my book was family and a…

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Interview Beem Weeks, Author of The Thing About Kevin!

Hey, everybody! Kim Cox interviewed me on her Kim’s Musings blog. Check it out!

Kim's Musings

ABOUT BEEM

Beem Weeks is an author, editor, blogger, podcast host, and audio/video producer. He has written many short stories, essays, poems, and the historical fiction/coming of age novel entitled Jazz Baby. Beem has also released Slivers of Life: A Collection of Short Stories and Strange Hwy: Short Stories, and the novella The Thing About Kevin. He is a lifelong native of Michigan, USA.

INTERVIEW WITH BEEM

Can you tell us a little about your background?

I am a lifelong Michigander, born and raised. I spent two years living in Ft. Myers, Florida, in the 1980s.

How did you get started as an author?

I’ve been writing since I was eight years old. I co-wrote a play that was performed for the entire school in fifth grade. Once in high school, I wrote a music column for the school newspaper. From the first time I learned to…

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Oops, I did it again #NewBook

C. S. Boyack surprises readers with a new release!

Entertaining Stories

Well, I’ve gone and done it again. This has been a weird year for me. We had a small family emergency, and my workplace kind of went crazy, along with the need to dedicate some time to my daughter. There hasn’t been much time for writing in the mix. Fortunately, for me, I had three finished manuscripts to deal with.

One of these is book-one of an intended trilogy, so I’m holding it back for now. One is a new story about Lizzie and the hat, that might come out near Halloween. This brings me to one of my solo titles. This book is called “Once Upon a Time in the Swamp.”

It’s about a farm wife trying to live her best life. Mari is performing one of her regular chores when the book opens, and I tried to allow her to find some joy in it. Great place to…

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Interview with Verwayne Greenhoe, Author of Finding Myself Again!

Kim Cox has a fine chat with author Verwayne Greenhoe!

Kim's Musings

ABOUT VERWAYNE

Born and raised in West Michigan, author Verwayne Greenhoe spent the last seven years in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. After freezing his keister off, he and his wife moved to Florida in late 2021 to spend more time writing and less time shivering. Author of multiple stories, genres, & formats including 28 Audible books & counting, Greenhoe spends his free time working in his backyard, plotting on where his next story will go.

INTERVIEW WITH VERWAYNE

Can you tell us a little about your background?

Raised on a small dairy farm in west central Michigan, the oldest of six kids, I enjoyed working with the cattle and other animals. I learned to drive a tractor at eight, and was hauling hay and straw in from the fields.

I graduated from high school and went to a small local community college before going to the University of Michigan…

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Elements of a Dual Timeline Novel: Character Development

More on the art of dual timelines by Mae Clair!

Story Empire

Hi, SEers! Welcome to the another Mae Day on Story Empire! In my last post, I gave a brief introduction to dual timeline novels. Now I’d like to tackle the elements involved in each.

Today is all about characters.

I’ll start this post by saying I’m a plantser. That’s part plotter with a lot of pantsing tossed in. When I started writing dual timelines, I learned it’s near impossible to pants a novel one hundred percent. There are simply too many connections to work out between characters.

Remember­—when writing a dual timeline, you’re working withtwosets of characters andtwostories. Yes, you can use the same characters in an earlier time frame and a later time frame, but for this post, I’m going to focus on generations apart. If you’re not careful, it’s easy to end up with a tangled web, a path that leads nowhere, or a…

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Story Verbing Part 2

More fantastic writing tips on Story Empire!

Story Empire

Greetings, Story Empire mavens! Today’s post is the second half of Story Verbing. If you missed Part 1, find it here: https://storyempire.com/2023/03/08/22923/. We’ll build on some of the examples in the first part. Sure, choosing the best verbs sounds simple, but you might be impressed with the possibilities. Smash that comment button and let me know what’s working or not with my posts. Remember to share and spread the word about Story Empire and this fine group of authors working to help you put out your best possible stories!

Now that we are avoiding UPOVRs (Unnecessary Point-of-View Reminders), using the active voice, avoiding BE verbs, and choosing action verbs, it’s time to:

Add Personality

Obvious when describing a sentient being, the art of adding personality proves more challenging with objects and concepts. However, carefully chosen personality-suggesting verbs substantially enhance the vividness of objects and their relationship to the setting…

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A Glimpse at Dual Timeline Novels

Another fantastic post from Story Empire!

Story Empire

Hi, SEers! Happy first day of Spring! You’re with Mae today.

For my next few posts, I’d like to talk about dual timeline novels. I’m sure most of you are familiar with them. Some of you, have likely even written a dual timeline book. Story Empire’s own Joan Hall wrote a post about using timelines, which you can find HERE.

When I look back to my earliest published works, most drew on history. One used the American Civil War, another maritime superstitions and history. I suppose it was only natural I would advance from touching on history to doing in-depth research for a series that relied heavily on historical fact and folklore. I quickly became hooked and started each book of my Point Pleasant series by writing a chapter set entirely in the past—something I had never done before.

All images courtesy of Pixabay

History always intrigued me but…

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Story Verbing Part 1

Great writing tips on Story Empire!

Story Empire

Greetings, Story Empire mavens! Today’s post starts a two-parter on the nuances of choosing effective verbs to enhance description. Sure, it sounds simple, but you might be impressed with the possibilities. Per my pattern, this post starts with the basics so Part 2 next month will let us explore, play, experiment, brainstorm, innovate—pick some cool verbs and we’ll do ‘em. Smash that comment button and let me know what’s working or not with my posts. Remember to share and spread the word about Story Empire and this fine group of authors working to help you put out your best possible stories!

Story Verbing

Choosing expressive verbs is the most powerful technique for enhancing the vividness of your narrative descriptions. Setting your prose apart from mundane writing, it more effectively paints the imagery of your scenes. It can manipulate readers’ emotions and infuse your story with personality reflecting your point-of-view character(s)…

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