If anyone's curious on how I did on this contest - Previous post

Beth and the Beaumont Murder came in 2nd :-)  So close and yet so far.

I didn't get a request either but I hear I am getting a full critique from the editor from TOR, which should prove to be interesting reading.


Shereen

One of my earlier articles, re-worked, is up at this site - about sculpting with English Alabaster. 

It's based on some research I did for a regency (historical) short story called To Capture Love.

History Undressed

Shereen

Like everyone else who's heard this, I loved this voice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z0h1NNk1Ik

Shereen

Heard some good news in February. 

One of my regency romance novels was a finalist in a contest.  Odd thing was, it was in the fantasy category (Unique Genre).  It's off to the final judge (an editor at TOR).

2009 Linda Howard Award of Excellence


Shereen

I don't do this often, but occasionally I do judge contests.

This year I signed up for judging a paranormal category in a contest I'd entered (in the Historical category). I've received 5 entries and am looking forward to delving into them over the next week.

The advantages of judging include:

• keeping abreast of what other people are writing
• keeping my editing skills honed, and
• giving back a little for all that I've received in help over the years with my writing

I've also taken a couple of days off work the week after next (Jan 17-20) as I plan to start on a new novel then. It'll be the fantasy novel I've been plotting out for the last couple of weeks.

Shereen

Hope you've all got your goals ready for the next year.

One of mine for 2008 had been to finish 8 short stories.  I managed 7. 

Finished the last one today.  A fantasy romance called The Misspelled Charm.  It turned out to be more enjoyable to write than I expected.  And the ending surprised me, not the usual happily ever after but oh so romantic and very happy and fun in its own way.

Despite being 1 short of the goal, I've decided that 7's good enough.

What are my goals for 2009? Start and finish a new novel in 2009. And considering these tough economic times, not surprisingly, I want to get saving, over and above saving for bills, lol.

Hope all of your wishes for the new year come true.


Shereen
www.shereenvedam.com

I've got a white Christmas and the best part of it is I don't have to go out and shovel today. 

It's not snowing and better yet (not for the gutters, but for my snow banks) they're promising rain and warmer temperatures.

My Christmas Wish for you:
Hope today is relaxing, not spent in an airport and brings you peace.

I know it's too early for New Year's resolutions, but I've already got one in the works.

2009 Goal #1:
I'm going to post more regularly - definitely not every day, but more often than every few months.

I did a blog at Paranormal Romance Writers on the subject of Author Voice. 

Here:

http://paranormalromancewriters.blogspot.com/


Shereen

It's hard to believe the year is almost over.

I haven't posted in a while, and figured if I didn't post soon, it'd be 2009!

On the writing scene, I did a lot editing this fall and attended a fantasy convention but as for new writing, there wasn't much.  I am in the midst of a new short story, about a third of the way through.  It's tentatively titled The Misspelled Charm.  I'm enjoying it, which is good.  All I have to do is kill the editor planted on my shoulder before Christmas and I'll probably sail through before the end of 2008 touches me.

The 2008 World Fantasy Convention was very low keyed but interesting. 

The one workshop that resonated with me was given by David Morrell about author voice. 

He spoke about finding the thing inside our psyche that torments us.  He asked us to think of this issue as a ferret stuck inside the sofa, and you trying to get it out.  If you can manage to track it down and get your hands on that squirming bundle, he says, put it in your stories. 

He explained how his squirming ferret was fear. 

After some thought, I came to the conclusion that my squirming ferret is a sense of isolation/separation and looking over all that I've written in the past, I can see ghosts of this ferret in practically all my stories.  Since I write a lot of romances with happy endings, the theme tends to be movement from isolation into acceptance.

Actually, now I think about it, the short story I'm working on right now has that theme too, of a witch who does floral charms, who's grandmother just passed away and her charms aren't selling, since flowers in this world have become frowned upon because of an ongoing war that involves magical garlands.

I wonder if David's right and everyone has a squirming ferret inside them.  Or maybe I'm just a freak.  Okay, I see the isolation thing creeping in, so I'll shut up now :-)


Shereen

Was a bust, new writing wise.  It's October and I didn't finish a short for September, didn't even start one.

And I'm not sure how October will fare either.  I'm off to the World Fantasy Convention at the end of the month being held in Calgary and using the month end long weekend to do it, which I've normally been using to finish these shorts each month.

Well, that's part of a writing life, having goals but willing to compromise and adjust those goals as needed when necessary.  I still have hopes for a short story to be at least started in October, if not ended.

As for today, (I've got the day off) but I've got critiques to read for Tuesday.  And then editing of that short story I finished in August.  It's been a month since I finished it, so hopefully, I will be distanced enough to do a credible editing job on it without that flush from new writing passion coloring my vision of the crappy bits that needs serious re-working.

Most of all, I'm grateful for having a stress free day off work!


Shereen

Sony eReader Contest!

Yeah, contest time!

Several authors from The Wild Rose Press (including me!) are sponsoring a Fall 2008 SONY eReader giveaway.  So between September 22 and December 15, 2008, if you purchase any title from any of the participating authors, you will be eligible to enter the contest.

It’s easy to play. Beginning September 22, The Wild Rose Press will have a list of participating authors listed here:

http://thewildrosepress.com/publisher/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1588&Itemid=135

You can enter the contest in two ways:

1) Make a purchase, whether at The Wild Rose Press bookstore or any of their distributors and send a copy of the order number, the title purchased and the date you purchased it to sonyreader@thewildrosepress.com.This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  


2) The no purchase necessary option...you may also enter the contest by mailing a postcard with the titles of three (3) books or short stories by three DIFFERENT participating authors and mail that postcard to:
   The Wild Rose Press
    P.O. Box 708
    Adams Basin, NY   14410
    USA
And your postcard will then be entered in the general drawing.

On December 16, one name will be pulled from all the entries and the winner will be announced in the regular Tuesday night chat at The Wild Rose Press chat room.

Good luck!

Shereen Vedam
Website

I sold a fantasy short story to this anthology and it was released August 2008.

The anthology editor for CAT TALES was George H. Scithers. 

Dragon Dreams
Premise:
Dr. Marina Preston, a disillusioned veterinarian, has distanced herself from society because she’s convinced that, unlike animals, people just aren’t worth the trouble they cause. But when visions of her and her cats encountering a dragon in a strange realm begin to haunt her, she wonders if she’s perhaps distanced herself a little too far.

The subject line says it all, pretty much.

That makes 6 for this summer, and 5 all set in one world.

This whole experience of writing in one world has been a learning event.  When I first began, I hated having to be confined to write in that one world.  So much so, I wrote a story set somewhere else.

Then the first of the 5 short stories set up the world and the main story line that was to play throughout all the other short stories. 

When it came time to edit though, I ended up deleting the whole beginning set up - costume, culture, people.  It read better starting where the action for the story began.

Setting the second story in the same world felt restrictive.  I wanted the freedom to do my own thing.  But I forced myself to do it, albeit on another continent, with the first story's enemy as the main characters.  I liked that one because I learned how to build a bridge using stacking stones.  That was cool.

The third took me back to the original continent, but with ew characters and well into the conflict set up in the first short story.

The fourth went to a third location, an island on the far side of this world, filled with sorcerers.  And I wrote it as a young adult story to help me work through how magic works on this land.  As a child, the main character, too, learned how to gain mastery of her magic.

This fifth short story took us back to the first setting on this world, and the bit I chucked, which was set inside a university.  I re-used some of the costumes and decorations, and one of the characters reappeared with a walk on part, with the main story revolving around a murder mystery.

The most amazing part of this experience is that throughout the writing of these short stories, I was thinking in the back of my mind, wouldn't it be nice if I could be like some of the fantasy authors I enjoy reading, who write characters that became staples for their stories.

These were characters that kept me coming back again and again, years later, to the same author.  Yet, in all of my shorts, I couldn't find any character that stuck with me.  They were all interesting, and entertaining, and fascinating.  But my instinct said none of them had that thing that makes them staple characters.

Until this last short story.

I can totally envision a hundred stories with the main and side characters from this one.  So, of course, I've been trying to figure out why?  Why these two?  What makes them different?  More enduring?  And the answer, I think, is that they're more endearing.

Well, the next short for September isn't supposed to have them in it.  But maybe it will.  Since I can't seem to shake these two out of my head.


Shereen Vedam
Website

I got a very nice review for this short story:
Score:

I was captivated by the first lines of "Daughter of the Sorcerer King." With an opening of mysticism and intrigue, and set in a wonderful castle, this story drew this reader in and held my interest
...
Well written and filled with vivid details, this is a tale of a woman’s journey toward her destiny—despite that destiny having taken an unexpected twist.

Full Review
Reviewer: Peony
Review Site: The Long and the Short of it
Date: August 2008

Part of being a historical writer means always being on the lookout for interesting information and insight.

Well, recently a friend of mine, trimming her bookshelves, gave me a book called an Anthology of William Cobbett's writings on Country Matters (from around 1825).

I was out of something to read on the bus on the way to work and was flicking through this one.  I know, very dry, hardly any pictures, I was thinking I must be really desperate.  But I was interested in gleaning a bit of info on country gardening for my current project and thought this might give me some useful hints.

I don't think this book was meant to be funny, but it was hilarious!  Lots of dry reading, some I skipped over, some I read, but his ranting on the uselessness of potatoes (worse than eating dirt!), his fights with newspaper editors, his comments about politics and politicians of the time, it was so funny.  I was hard  pressed to not break out laughing and startle my neighbors on the bus.

Don't even ask about his opinion of women who don't know how to bake bread!  Oh, and he gave detailed instructions on the process. 

Over and above that, I got some useful gardening/growing tips.  Now I know what I should be planting in the kitchen garden for August (early cabbage, cauliflower for spring, spinach for a winter crop, Welsh onion) and September (reading onions, carrots in a warm border, more spinach, radishes).

The book gives a great sense of the period and what country life was like back then.   And quite unexpectedly, I wasn't the least bit bored, but thoroughly entertained on the way to work for the next few days.

 

Shereen

Website

I rented this movie last night and was so glad I did.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It's one of the best modern day fables I've seen.  It was well written, well edited, and well filmed.  And best of all, it was original and enchanting and heartwarming - exactly the type of fantasy I love.

I highly recommend it.  So much so, I've added it to the front of my website as one of my all time favorite movies.

I've heard people ask, what is urban fantasy?  To me, this is a perfect example of that genre.


Shereen
Website

 Yeah!   Fifth short story completed for 2008 and only 2 days late.

This one was another in the fantasy world created earlier this year, which makes 4 set there, and one that was an urban fantasy romance.

Goal is to do at least another three more before November/December.

With each of these shorts, I'm learning something about my writing style. With this one, the plot I'd outlined ended up being the subplot and a new one evolved all on its own.

I also learned that even if I come up with the concept and the outline, it's only when I start writing that the main characters comes to life and reveals the core, the soul, if you like, of what this story is going to be about.

No wonder I enjoy being a writer. What a cool feeling.


Shereen
Website

First the news about the release.



Premise:

Samara is furious when her father, the Sorcerer King, advocates a boy from a foreign kingdom as his successor simply because three witches foretold the event. Then the king asks her to escort the child safely back to his realm. If that were not bad enough, as if Samara were incapable of discharging the distasteful duty, he insists a knight accompany them on the journey home. But when a grieving dragon steals the child, Samara is afraid her father will never forgive her this mistake, or worse, think she had intended the boy harm. Desperate to rescue her charge, she turns to her too-amorous knight-escort for help.

In celebration of another short story release, I offered to guest  blog at Simply Romance Reviews blogspot  tomorrow, July 10th.

The topic of the blog is Story Ideas

• where do they come from?
• how to generate a good one?
• can anyone dream one up?

And for those who visit and play along, you'll be entered to win a free copy of Daughter of the Sorcerer King.

Should be fun.

Shereen Vedam
Website

The third short story I sold to The Wild Rose Press, Baron of Dragon's Reach was released yesterday, June 25th.


Premise:
As a loving daughter, Elena had agreed to marry the son of her father's enemy to bring peace to their two lands. However, a year later, due to a misguided liaison with a traveling minstrel, she is no longer the promised virgin. When the neighboring land baron announces he's coming to claim his bride, Elena seeks out a witch to cast a spell to disguise her lost innocence. But instead of making her problem disappear, the spell turns Elena invisible, leaving both the fulfillment of her promise to her father, and the possibility of peace, in grave jeopardy.



This was a long time coming, so I'm thrilled to see it finally take its first breath :-)

Shereen

Well, June is progressing well, and I'm glad I took the time off new writing.  It's given me the pleasure of editing at ease without rushing and has led to a new discovery.

That short story I finished and discovered my hero was a villain, just morphed again.

I'd about finished editing it and was getting ready send it off when I realized I hadn't yet created a one sentence summary for the story for the cover letter. 

I have a method for doing this that involves answering the following questions in order to get to the crux of the story - gleaned from a course I took from Lori Wilde on how to come up with a high concept:

Who is the compelling character in the story:
What is his/her misguided belief:
What is his/her desperate desire:
What is the specific situation:
Is there a classic plot involved:
What is the character's fatal flaw:
What is the inciting incident
What is the innovative idea in this story:
Is there irony in the story:

By the time I finished answering these questions and then worked on the 25 word high concept, I realized why the hero in my story was a villain.

It was because I hadn't finished the story!

The end point I'd stopped writing at was the black moment.  No wonder it felt so bitter sweet, lol.

So I went back and wrote the ending and discovered how to change a villain into a hero.

It's by helping the character learn and grow and gain insight into his experience, instead of remaining mired in his bitterness.   The trick is to ensure this evolves naturally out of all the elements of the story you've written thus far.

So, I'm now off to mail this short story to the first market and pick up the volunteer outfit and ID card for the tall ships coming to town next weekend.



Shereen