Madison leads Nov. 4 workshop on “Crafting a Successful Synopsis”

You dread them. I dread them: the synopsis.

To most writers, completing a synopsis is more painful than writing the manuscript itself. But, never fear, with a few simple rules in hand, anyone can write a successful synopsis, said author Shawntelle Madison.

Her “Crafting a Successful Synopsis” workshop will be held from 10 a.m. to noon, Nov. 4, at The Lodge Des Peres, 1050 Des Peres Rd., St. Louis, MO  63131. It is free to St. Louis Writers Guild members; $5 for nonmembers.

“In this workshop, we will also examine successful synopses and breakdown their parts based on the aforementioned rules and tips,” she said. “I look forward to meeting you and helping you craft your next synopsis.”

Shawntelle Madison is a web developer who loves to weave words as well as code. She’d never admit it, but if asked she’d say she covets and collects source code. After losing her first summer job detasseling corn, Shawntelle performed various jobs—from fast-food clerk to grunt programmer to university webmaster. Writing eccentric characters is her most favorite job of them all. On any particular day when she’s not surgically attached to her computer, she can be found watching cheesy horror movies or the latest action-packed anime. She lives in Missouri with her husband and children. http://www.shawntellemadison.com

Learn more about the St. Louis Writers Guild at www.stlwritersguild.org.

Local Authors at Wizard World Comic Con, St. Louis!

Wizard World Comic Con is this weekend in St. Louis, Missouri. Several local authors will join authors, artists, and celebrities from across the country for a weekend to celebrate all things in the world of science fiction!

I’ll be one of many panelists featured this weekend! Brad R. Cook

Villains versus Villains

A battle royale between villains! What makes a great monster or just plain psycho-antagonist? Creators divulge which villains claim the best villain award. Why do some win our hearts while others creep us out? Special guest speakers Genese Davis (The Holders Dominion), Ryan Dalton (The Year of Lighting), Emilyann Girdner (The Labyrinth Wall), Brad R. Cook (The Iron Chronicles), and Zac Brewer (The Cemetery Boys) will share their perspectives and creative process including what key ingredients they focus on when creating vicious characters. Don't miss this thrilling discussion.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

12:30-1:15p

Room 130

Wizard World Comic Con, St. Louis

Several other local authors will be there

My illustrator and author Jennifer Stolzer will be a panelist on It’s Your Write.

Meredith Tate will be a panelist on Ode To Leading Ladies

Shawntelle Madison will be on both Ode To Leading Ladies and Visibility Isn’t A Superpower

Plus New York Times Bestselling Author Zac Brewer will be presenting Visibility Isn’t A Superpower and Villains vs Villains, plus signing books.

It’s not an April fool’s joke. It’s happening. So come for Shatner, Tennant, Piper, or Smith but stay for some great St. Louis Authors.

Plus those who come to my Villains versus Villains panel will get to see for the first time anywhere… the brand new cover for my third novel IRON LOTUS.

It will be an exciting weekend under the Arch!

Wizard World Comic Con
St. Louis 2016
April 1-2-3, 2016
Fri-Sat-Sun

LOCATION
America's Center
701 Convention Plaza
St. Louis, MO 63101

SHOW HOURS
Friday, April 1, 2016 – 3pm - 8pm
Saturday, April 2, 2016 – 10am - 7pm
Sunday, April 3, 2016 – 10am - 4pm

Programming Schedule for Wizard World Comic Con, St. Louis

Photos from Wizard World Comic Con, St. Louis

Shawntelle Madison: KEPT out 11/27!

Welcome to SHAWNTELLE MADISON, a friend I met through the St. Louis Writers Guild. Shawntelle is a web developer who loves to weave words as well as code. She’d never admit it, but if asked she’d say she covets and collects source code. After losing her first summer job detassling corn, Shawntelle performed various jobs—from fast-food clerk to grunt programmer to university webmaster. Writing eccentric characters is her most favorite job of them all. On any particular day when she’s not surgically attached to her computer, she can be found watching cheesy horror movies or the latest action-packed anime. She lives in Missouri with her husband and children.

http://www.shawntellemadison.com

The Writers’ Lens is about "Bringing fiction into focus." What brings your writing into focus-- the characters, the stories, the love of words? For me, it’s all about the characters. Each of my stories starts out as one person I want to follow. There’s something about them that is unique and I feel compelled to write about them. Whenever I start a story, I’m walking with one person. In the end, both the reader and I have met not only the protagonist, but a cast of characters with their own stories. If I’ve done my job, the reader will want to know what happened to the majority of the people the protagonist met.
 
How do you find time to write and do a demanding job? Most of the time, something has to fall between the cracks. (I try not to let it become too many things.) I have to keep up with a to-do list in Outlook or I start to get behind, especially when I have to tackle both work and writing. Since I work from home during the day, I have to deal with the distractions of a messy home, work, and writing. So the answer to the question is get organized and stick to it.

What do you think readers will like about your book? I hope they will enjoy rooting for Natalya and feel empathy for a flawed character. I love to write about protagonists with flaws. If you start out at the bottom, the only direction you have to go is up, and like any reader, I love that kind of journey.

What's your favorite way to interact with fans/readers? I love social media! Especially Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus. I could chat on those for the longest time. What’s cool is that you can bring others into the conversations and anything goes!

How much fact is in your fiction? I try to make things as factual as possible—I do write urban fantasy so this is rather difficult. But when I can, I include real street names, city names, and more. It adds local flavor and grounds the book. In Kept, I really wanted to incorporate Russian history into certain places, and some of those are real facts blended into the narrative.

What's the highest compliment someone could make about your writing? The biggest compliment in my humble opinion would be to say I entertained them. When I read a book, I want to forget about work, the house, and the family. I want for that moment in time to fall in love with the hero or want to kick butt with the heroine. I hope to do the same for someone else.

KEPT (available Nov. 27):  Fresh from defending her pack in battle, Natalya Stravinsky, a whip-smart werewolf with a lovable neurotic streak, wants a little rest and relaxation. Once an outcast, she's now eager to rejoin the ranks of her New Jersey pack, and has even gotten a handle on her obsessive urge to hoard holiday ornaments. Yet Nat barely has time to revel in her progress before the next crisis comes howling at her door.

Nat's father has suddenly gone missing, captured by the Russian werewolf mafia. And as Nat steps up to save her dad from a mob boss's deadly game, two men step in to play another round for her heart: her gorgeous alpha ex-boyfriend, Thorn, and her new flame, the sweetly sensitive wizard Nick. With her life growing more harried by the minute, Nat must stay cool, calm, and collected . . . or else risk losing everything.  

 ______________________
This is T.W. Fendley. Thanks for reading and commenting on The Writers' Lens. 

You can find out more about me at www.twfendley.com.
 

Two Authors and Two Great Events!

Two Authors and Two Great Events:
It's an Olympic Sized Literary Double-Event!

By Brad R. Cook

With everyone’s attention on the Olympics’ opening ceremony, I wanted to tell you about two authors who will represent their genres in a couple of literary events.

Shawntelle Madison, author of Coveted, and Jeannie Lin, author of Butterfly Swords, The Dragon and the Pearl, and My Fair Concubine will present two workshops for St. Louis Writers Guild in a cross-over event of Olympic proportions.

On Saturday, August 4, Shawntelle and Jeannie will present Worldbuilding: Enriching Your Story With Culture and Setting at St. Louis Writers Guild’s monthly Workshops for Writers, and then on Saturday, August 25, they will discuss how to Acquire an Agent and Publisher at the third annual Writers in the Park!

They will be going for gold in both events! (Groan, I know, but I had to keep the Olympic theme going)

I would suggest adding them to your “To Read” pile, you won’t be disappointed.

Shawntelle Madison

Is a web developer who loves to weave words as well as code. She’d never admit it, but if asked she’d say she covets and collects source code. After losing her first summer job detassling corn, Shawntelle performed various jobs—from fast-food clerk to grunt programmer to university webmaster. Writing eccentric characters is her most favorite job of them all. On any particular day when she’s not surgically attached to her computer, she can be found watching cheesy horror movies or the latest action-packed anime. She lives in Missouri with her husband and children.

www.shawntellemadison.com

Coveted

For werewolf Natalya Stravinsky, the supernatural is nothing extraordinary. What does seem strange is that she’s stuck in her hometown of South Toms River, New Jersey, the outcast of her pack, selling antiques to finicky magical creatures. Restless and recovering from her split with gorgeous ex-boyfriend, Thorn, Nat finds comfort in an unusual place: her obsessively collected stash of holiday trinkets. Nat’s pack is under attack from the savage Long Island werewolves—and Nat is the first target in the turf war. Toss in a handsome wizard vying for her affection, a therapy group for the anxious and enchanted, and the South Toms River pack leader ready to throw her to the wolves, and it’s enough to give anybody a panic attack. With the stakes as high as the full moon, Nat must summon all her strength to save her pack, and ultimately, herself.

Jeannie Lin

Jeannie Lin grew up fascinated with stories of Western epic fantasy and Eastern martial arts adventures. When her best friend introduced her to romance novels in middle school, the stage was set. Jeannie started writing her first romance while working as a high school science teacher in South Central Los Angeles. Her first three books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal and The Dragon and the Pearl was listed among Library Journal's Best Romances of 2011.

As a technical consultant, backpacker and vacation junkie, she's traveled all over the United States as well as Europe, South Korea, Japan, China and Vietnam. She's now happily settled in St. Louis with her wonderfully supportive husband and newborn twins, and she continues to journey to exotic locations in her stories.

http://www.jeannielin.com

My Fair Concubine

Chang Fei Long has been called back home upon the death of his father to learn that the family is swimming in debt. Before his death, his father arranged for Fei Long’s sister to become an alliance bride to regain favor with the imperial court. When Pearl begs for mercy, he can’t bring himself to force her into marriage and exile to a barbarian land. As a result, he has to come up with another false princess to go in her place.

Yan Ling is a servant at the tea house where Fei Long goes to brood about his troubles. When she mistakes his musings as a proposition for sex, she dumps a pot of tea on him and gets thrown out into the streets. Now homeless and destitute, Yan Ling begrudgingly accepts Fei Long’s offer to train her as a replacement princess.

My Fair Concubine takes place in 9th century Tang Dynasty, purposefully setting it apart from the alternative history seen in Butterfly Swords and The Dragon and the Pearl.

St. Louis Writers Guild’s Workshops for Writers

The 1st Saturday of every month

Worldbuilding: Enriching Your Story With Culture and Setting

Saturday, August 4, 2012

10am – Noon

Kirkwood Community Center

111 S. Geyer Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122

Worldbuilding is not merely where your story takes place; it's about the unique way that your characters interact within the world and with each other. Authors Jeannie Lin and Shawntelle Madison discuss the ways in which they bring their worlds to life by incorporating elements of surface and deep culture. Jeannie Lin is the author of Butterfly Swords, a groundbreaking historical romance set in Tang Dynasty China. Shawntelle Madison is the author of Coveted, a unique, quirky urban fantasy about a werewolf who hoards Christmas ornaments.

Followed by,

Third Annual Writers in the Park

A free mini-conference held by St. Louis Writers Guild

Acquiring an Agent and Publisher

Saturday, August 25, 2012

10am – 2pm

Lions Amphitheater at Kirkwood Park

111 S. Geyer Rd. Kirkwood, MO 63122

There are multiple breakout sessions an hour for adults and writing workshops for kids in 4^th through 8^th grades.

Shawntelle Madison is represented by Jim McCarthy of the Dystel & Goderich Literary Management and Coveted is published by Ballantine Books. Jeannie Lin is represented by Gail Fortune of the Talbot Fortune Agency Inc. and My Fair Concubine is published by Harlequin.

For more information on both these events please visit www.stlwritersguild.org

The full schedule of events for Writers in the Park will be posted on the St. Louis writers Guild website in the beginning of August, but when it gets a little closer, The Writers’ Lens will bring you more details.

 

Enjoy the Olympics’ Opening Ceremony! Maybe one of the events will inspire some great tale.

 

Brad R. Cook is a historical fantasy author and President of St. Louis Writers Guild. Please visit www.bradrcook.com or follow me on Twitter @bradrcook

To learn more about St. Louis Writers Guild, visit www.stlwritersguild.org Saint Louis Writers Guild on Facebook or on Twitter @stlwritersguild