Would You Read On? hosted by Diana Flegal

Welcome to Would You Read On? 


This week's First Page is the opening to a Historical novel. We welcome your thoughts. Please comment below if you would continue reading on.  

Nicodemus, Kansas

Spring, 1885

      Some folks said he was crazy, others saw him as plain evil but most folks just avoided Gideon McCoy and understandably so. When he rode through a town it was hard to decide which held your gaze more, the man or his horse. Each distinctly seized your attention and together they made a remarkable spectacle.

     In this small Kansas town it was unusual to see a man so pristinely garbed wearing such an expensive white shirt and black trousers under a long black overcoat. His fancy gun belt trimmed in silver pulled your eyes to his pearl handle six shooter. More of an odd occurrence was for the man to be a recognized gunman and a Negro. With unashamed impudence he led his steed down the main street of the town.

     The horse was a fine-looking tannish blonde with a bleached colored mane and tail, equally eye-catching and rare. The animal’s legs were outstanding, long and thick with hoofs uncommonly sturdy. He was indeed a magnificent beast trotting with the same imposing dignity his rider exhibited. The pair moved unhurriedly down the street taking in the distant view of an endless blue sky and tall prairie grass swaying in the warm breeze.

     The extravagantly embellished saddle was not only quality leather but had the rider’s name inscribed across the back. There would be no mistaking he was the infamous Gideon McCoy credited with walking away from over fifteen gunfights leaving his opponents sprawled dead in the dirt.

Would you read on?

Last weeks brave author was Jessica Nelson. 

Please check out Jessica's book, Love On The Range  Love Inspired Historical and stop by her website for a visit. www.JessicaNelson.net

Your Dream Conference by Andy Scheer

If you could plan the ideal writers conference, what would you include?

That's not a hypothetical question. As part of my job as editor for a writers organization, I'll soon be planning a writers conference for early in 2014.

So here's your chance to help design the perfect conference. As a writer, what would you most like to see in a conference—something you've not been able to get at the ones you've attended.

Just a few guidelines: Please limit your suggestions to what's feasible. (Forget a free, all-expenses paid, two-week conference in Tahiti. Ditto kidnapping top editors of major publishers and not releasing them until they sign multi-book contracts.)

The location and dates are already set. The organizers envision meeting at a major hotel over four days: beginning Thursday evening and concluding by noon Sunday.

The other distinctive: This conference would focus on the needs of book authors (none of the usual classes for beginning writers on writing basics and how to break into magazines).

Your turn: Over four days, what do you most need to improve and expand your range of skills? You're helping invent the ideal conference for book writers. What does it look like?

Prologues??? by Linda S. Glaz

Just read a wonderful blog that emphasized getting to know your main character right away, creating empathy with him/her. I was told last year that I had to lose my prologue on a suspense novel because the reader didn't have enough feeling for the main character soon enough, and the critique was spot on. I dropped the prologue and the story came alive much sooner as we learned enough about the main character to care about her.

THAT SAID

How do we know when a prologue is necessary to set up a story or when it is simply taking up space because we, as writers, like what we're saying? I think immediately of Mary Higgins Clark who often sets up the entire story through a heart-pounding prologue, which may or may not have anything to do with the main character. But she is successful in that the entire story hinges on what happens to someone in the prologue.

What kind of experiences have you, as writers, as readers, had with respects to prologues opening a story?

Can you give an example of how a prologue intrigued you enough to have a read?

Is it absolutely necessary to have the main character in the opening chapter of the book?

On another note, does it make a difference in the genre you are reading? I can see romance needing the main characters right away, but what about suspense, thrillers, or a blend of suspense and romance--thriller and romance.

What do you like to see?

Or give us an example of a book that hooked you right away without there being even a mention of the main character in the opening.

Nearly time for ACFW by Terry Burns

It's nearly time for the ACFW Annual Conference. That is the American Christian Fiction Writers if you are somehow unaware of them.

This is a very large writing conference and will have hundreds of attendees. This large attendance makes for very strong programming and allows for an opportunity to do a substantial amount of networking. It is the strongest and most impressive conference that I go to, and I do on average a couple of conferences a month.

It is for fiction writers, but I know quite a number of people who write only non-fiction yet say they learn a great deal at the conference and that the contacts they make there work just as well for them.

But the size of the conference also presents some challenges that people need to be aware of. First, there will be so much content available that choosing what you want to go to and thus NOT go to is a definite challenge. Some people solve this by ordering recordings of the sessions they couldn't make. Also, some people who can't afford to go to the conference have found that they CAN order the conference recordings and that helps some for not being able to attend.

Another challenge presented by the size is the number of attendees makes individual contact with agents and editors very difficult. It holds the number of appointments an attendee can schedule to a bare minimum and puts a strong emphasis on casual contacts an attendee might have during the event. There will be hundreds of these casual contacts taking place and rising above the din takes skill and planning.

The primary tool for taking advantage of a contact at a meal, or a casual contact in the hall or an elevator (certainly not at their room or some place like a restroom) is your elevator pitch. You should have a short, interest garnering one sentence pitch prepared on your project that is polished and can be drawn like a gun to deliver at any opportunity. This may be invited by a comment like "What do you write?" or you may have to initiate it yourself by asking "May I give you my elevator pitch?"

Hopefully it will interest them and result in a proposal being invited. If not immediately forthcoming, ask "May I send you my proposal on it?"

The editor or agent is generally not going to want to take anything more than a business card with them. If you have a physical appointment with them, maybe a one sheet, but most don't even want that. They will want it sent to them. I very often don't make it home with things I have pressed on me at a conference.

Editors and agents are attending to learn of good projects, but the magnitude of this even makes brevity and conciseness a virtue. Launch into a long synopsis of your project and you'll see their eyes glaze over and see them edging away talking about how late they are to be somewhere. The process is simple, elevator pitch, ask for the sale (can I send a proposal?) and ask for their card to send it. I promise they will appreciate this solid, business-like approach.

I hope you are going to be at the conference and I hope with a little forethought that you will be able to make it work very well for you and know that you will be able to do a huge amount of networking.

Would You Read On? hosted by Diana Flegal

Welcome to Would You Read On? where we publish the first pages of brave authors books; fiction and nonfiction.

Today's submission is an Historical Romance:

Harney County, Oregon, 1918

Obsession was the way in which madness lay.

Despite that annoying truth, Gracelyn Riley couldn't stop scanning the train platform for Special Agent Striker as she disembarked. People bustled everywhere, stirring up dust. Nearby, a mother held her toddler close while passengers crowded around her. Boards groaned and voices rose as people scattered, looking for their luggage and rides.

The whistle shrieked a warning to those lagging on the platform. The train had stopped briefly at this desolate Oregon county station before continuing on to California.

Gracie had hesitated traveling to this vast and untamed land until she'd learned Special Agent Striker lived here. He was the only reason she could endure going to a place as dreary as this. Though her parents considered traveling alone unsafe, even in these modern days, the threat of influenza loomed larger than their worries and prompted them to send their only daughter west. Had the fear of grippe not been so severe, her parents would surely still have her strapped to their sides.

Once she'd learned Striker made his home here, her plans changed. She'd finagled the promise of a coveted position as a staff writer with the Woman's Liberator if she could procure an interview with the elusive agent. Sweet independence was within her grasp.

Unfortunately, she didn't see among the passengers anyone who looked dangerous enough to be the mysterious Striker.

She stood on the platform until the crowds thinned and the train rolled away on a cloud of steam. Squinting, she turned a slow circle. Though several wagons parked nearby, they all looked full and their drivers busy.

Where was her ride?

Gathering her things, she walked to a bench situated outside the station door and sat. Her trunks remained inside. No doubt when the driver arrived, he'd go in and retrieve them. In the distance, mountains jutted into a never ending sky. Sparse landscape surrounded her.

She shuddered and pulled Jane Eyre from her Dotty bag.

A shadow fell over her. "Ma'am, is this seat open?"

She looked up. The man beside her waited for an answer. With the setting sun behind him, the broad brim of his cowboy hat shadowed his face and hid all but his straight nose and strong chin.

Comment below and let us know if you would read on.

Last weeks brave author was Mary Netreba.
Thank you Mary for allowing us to review your first page.

Let's Ride It Again by Andy Scheer

That's what I heard from my family years ago at Disney World after first riding the Thunder Mountain Railway. We'd enjoyed everything about it, so let's do it again.

Often if I've enjoyed something, I like to repeat the experience. Vacation destinations, restaurants, favorite movies, novels. Especially novels.

But with books, I usually let some time pass before re-reading. Until this weekend, I can remember only one book besides the Bible that, as soon as the ride ended, I immediately returned to the front of the line.

The book that prompted that response was Stephen Bly's Paperback Writer. The tale was so quirky, so audacious, I immediately re-read it— “Just to see if it ends up the same way the second time,” I said. It did, but it still left me amazed.

Nine years later, it happened again. Saturday I finished the novel, then re-read the conclusion—and decided I needed to read it again. Sunday I started back into the book.

The first time I read it too quickly. I wanted to see what happened next, and next, and next. A few times I took note of some aspect of the craft—a new subplot or a fulfillment of some foreshadowing. But the story was too well told for me to read it analytically. This time I want to savor the tale more slowly.

There's an old saying that a bad book can't be too short, or a good one too long. This time the latter certainly applies, though Stephen King's 11/22/63 weighs in at nearly 850 pages. Already the second time promises to be just as good.

Have you encountered other books worthy of an instant replay?

Everything Has a Beginning and an End by Linda S. Glaz

     Here it is, Labor Day and I wonder how it crept up on me so quickly. We had a horribly hot summer in Michigan, but the last few days have been so beautiful, it could have continued a tad longer. However, summer is coming to an end, and it reminds me that all things have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
     The end of something, like the end of our novels, means that while something has finished, something else is about to begin. What a beautiful thought. Ends shouldn't worry us. There are ends to jobs, ends to meals, ends to one POV, but with the end comes another beginning. And how beautiful is that?
     For those of us in Michigan, it means the beginning of a wonderful time. Leaves turn color, and oh what spectacular colors we see! The temperature moderates. Seventies during the day, cool dry evenings at night. Great sleeping weather. It doesn't last long enough, but while it does, we all remember why we love Michigan. The beauty, the comfort, and for many of the guys and some gals--the hunting!
     There's sweet misery as we tie up the loose ends to a novel. We sit back, take a deep breath, and realize, it's the end. What are your first steps to a new beginning? Do you take a breather, research? What gets you into the next "beginning"?
     I wish you all a lovely Labor Day, and pray exciting new beginnings for all of you.