Laura Pauling: Writing heart-stopping adventure stories for all ages

When Ansha Kotyk told me Laura Pauling's latest book was about the Maya, I couldn't wait to learn more.

Laura writes for all ages where the real and the incredible combine in heart-stopping adventures. She lives out her desire for travel and excitement in her young adult Circle of Spies Series: A Spy Like Me and Heart of an Assassin. Her middle grade, How To Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings is available now.

She’d say that living her life of a suburban mom/author complete with minivan carpools, soccer games, and home-baked snicker doodles are really a cover for her exciting life of secret missions and covert operations, but she’d be lying. She loves living in New England with her husband and children.

This may or may not be what she really looks like.

She may or may not actually bake cookies.

You decide.
  
The Writers’ Lens is about "Bringing fiction into focus." What brings your writing into focus-- the characters, the stories, the love of words? That’s a tough question. Most of my fiction is plot driven, so I’d have to say the stories. But the characters and their emotional arc are closely tied to the plot. I love words: reading fun or beautiful writing, but that means nothing to me without a good story. For me, story is king in my writing and in what I choose to read. The big catch there is that so often characters, their stories, and the love of words are all interconnected.

How do you find time to write and do a demanding job? Even though I’m not earning full- time author wages, that’s what I do. I’m at home, and during the day, I treat writing and publishing like a full time job. (I manage to clean my house and exercise too.)

What inspired your latest book? How To Survive Ancient Spells & Crazy Kings is my last book published but not the most recent book I’ve written. I love time travel and high adventure. I love humor with added suspense. Before I started researching the Maya, I felt like I knew nothing about this ancient civilization. Why did they make sacrifices? What were their daily lives like?

I embarked on the journey and after reading college textbooks and studying the culture for several years I found answers and wove them into my story. My inspiration was that I wanted to learn.

Would you share a bit about your next project? I will be working on Secrets of an Assassin, the third book in my Circle of Spies Series. But I’m currently editing another book in the How To Survive series titled How To Survive Pirate Curses and Tainted Treasure. Bianca and Melvin’s magical adventures continue.

How much fact is in your fiction? Given the amount of research I completed on the Maya, I’d say that there is a lot of fact, but I tried very hard to only include those details necessary for the plot. In fact, research helped tremendously in my plot. I studied the lives of the great kings in the golden days of the Maya and what troubles they faced and then planted Bianca right in the middle of that!

Newsletter

Email: laura@laurapauling.com

http://www.laurapauling.com

Twitter @laurapauling

Facebook

HOW TO SURVIVE ANCIENT SPELLS AND CRAZY KINGS: Convinced that her grandfather, Zeb, needs help, twelve-year-old Bianca persuades her family to fly to the Mayan ruins of Tikal on a search and rescue mission. Impatient, she and her brainy cousin, Melvin, sneak out in the middle of the night and follow the clues to the ancient Maya city of Etza, where the people haven’t aged in 2,000 years. The cousins must learn to work together as they face loin-cloth wearing skeletons from the underworld, a backstabbing princess, and an ancient prophecy—one that says in three days the city will be destroyed. They’ll find Zeb and zip right out of there. No problem.

Except, Bianca starts to care for her new friends, and Zeb does not want to be rescued. The fact that a crazy king wants to serve Bianca up to the gods as an appetizer is just a minor technicality. But this ancient evil dude has finally met his match.

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Praise for How To Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings

Published by Pugalicious Press

“Packed with adventure and non-stop action, kids won’t be able to put this one down.”

-P.J. Hoover, author of The Forgotten Worlds Trilogy 

“Ever wondered what Indiana Jones would be like as a girl? Here is your answer! This non-stop adventure will whisk you off to an ancient Maya city, throw you into certain doom, and keep you chuckling the whole way through.”

-Anna Staniszewski, author of My Very Unfairy Tale Life

Carrie Lee Williams at 6 North on 1/19

Meet Carrie Lea Williams from 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Jan. 19, at::
 

6 North Café  

14438 Clayton Road  

Ballwin, MO 63011

  (directions)

Carrie lives in Saint Louis with her husband and two children. She has written and illustrated two children's books: The Smile Box: A Story About Feelings and The Swan and the Rose: A Story About Inner Beauty.

“I grew up loving to escape in the world of stories that my Father would write just for me. So, it wasn’t any wonder that as I got older, I too picked up the pen and started writing.”

The Swan and the Rose is about a swan that finds a rose that's already dead. While others see only the way it looks now, the Swan sees the true beauty despite its appearance.

The Smile Box is about a little girl who feels sad because things are not going her way. Her mother teaches her how to look inside one's self to find happiness and not to rely on the things going on in the outside world
 
Autographed books will be available for purchase on Jan. 19.

Lens on P.O.V. (Point of View)

Lens on P.O.V. (Point of View)

By Brad R. Cook

Today I wanted to focus The Writers’ Lens on something important to all stories, the Point of View.

There are three basic points of view – First Person, Second Person, and Third Person

Each has their proper use, and will have significant influence on how your story is told. So it’s best to know your POV before you start, otherwise you’ll end up rewriting an entire book from one POV to another. I don’t suggest that.

However, rewriting a short story in multiple POV’s can be a great exercise to discover what POV you are most comfortable with or which is best for your story.

First Person

First Person Point of View is telling the story as if the writer is the main character. This form is easily recognizable by the use of “I”, but it can be a very effective technique when writing.

The Good

            First person instantly gives your story a clear voice. The MC’s voice.

            The pace of your novel is faster, because the reader isn’t bogged down with lots of descriptions or various characters’ opinions; these are usually quick-reads.

The Bad

            First person limits the amount of story that can be told, everything is filtered through the main character and we only see the events through their eyes.

            If you’re not careful it can become a grocery list and not a story. I did this, then I did that, and then I went over here. That isn’t a story; it’s a list of actions.

Second Person

Second Person Point of View is telling the story directly to the reader, connecting with them as if you were in the room with them. This is not usually used in novels, but is often a gimmick, a technique of breaking the fourth wall.

The Good

            It allows the writer to connect directly with the reader.

            This can often be effective in short spurts, like a narrator who talks to the reader while the characters are separate from them.

The Bad

            Often the writer ends up telling a story as opposed to showing the reader what is happening in the story.

            These stories can sometimes come off as ‘preachy’.

Third Person

Third Person Point of View can be further divided into Limited, Multiple Viewpoints, and Omniscient. All three are defined by the use of he/she.

Third Person Limited is told from only the main character’s point of view, as if the narrator sat up their shoulder through the whole novel. Everything the reader absorbs is from this single point of view, allowing the reader to get to know that character.

Third Person Multiple Viewpoints is told from two or more points of view. This usually works best when one chapter is dedicated to a characters point of the view and different chapters represent different characters.

I would not advise switching within the same chapter, unless…

Third Person Omniscient involves a narrator who lets the reader in on every characters mind and action. If third person limited has the narrator sitting on the main character’s shoulder, then third person omniscient is floating high above and telepathically linked to everyone. It’s a delicate balance to write, and I suggest reading some classical novels for inspiration.

The Good

            Many books are written in third person, it used to be the most common POV.

            Third person allows the writer to include greater depth for each of the characters not just the MC.

The Bad

            It can distant the reader from the characters, whereas first person makes them feel like part of the story.

What Point of View is your favorite to write, or do you have a Good or Bad point to share? Let me know in the comments.

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

St. Louis Reflections http://www.stlbooks.com/B009271-1211-51/Review.aspx

Let's Talk about Tweets... and Give One Away!

Let’s talk about Tweets… and Give One Away!

By Brad R. Cook

I wanted to take a quick moment to talk about Twitter.

This isn’t an article about what Social Media is, whether it’s good or bad, or how it’s changing the world… just three ideas you need to ‘follow’ to get the most from Twitter.

Yes, you can endlessly schedule promotions for your book and follow everyone you can find around the world, but that’s not really using twitter, that’s standing on top of the mountain and screaming the title of your book. People will hear, but there are other ways.

Follow what you love! Follow your favorite authors, the sexiest stars, people you admire, or causes you believe in. Twitter is one of the best ways of keeping up with the things you care about – but you already knew this.

Follow the industry! Follow literary agents, publishing conglomerates, small presses, magazines, reviewers, and editors, follow the writers, the literary organizations, and more. Twitter might just be the best way of following the publishing industry; it’s definitely the fastest – a lot less blogs to read.

Follow the Hash Tags! Twitter is filled with conversations – writing tips, editing tips, review requests, contests calls, every genre has one, and more pop up every day! Some are well known like #amwriting, #writer, #author, #books, #poetry, and #contests. Others are less known like, #pubtip, #writetip, #yalit, #mglit, and #Fridayreads. Then there are the Twitter specific hash tags like, #FF (follow Fridays), #MM (Monday Mentions), #WW (Wednesday Writers), and #stl (for St. Louis). St. Louis Writers Guild even has one, #slwg. Join in, the whole world is having a conversation, and the best part is we are all invited.

Did you know that The Writers’ Lens is on Twitter? We are, follow us @writerslens.

You can also find us on Facebook, so stop by and like us, we’d appreciate it.

Let me know your favorite hash tag in the comments section!

And… because this is Monday, and we hold our giveaways on Monday, The Writers Lens is offering a promotional tweet, several of them actually. This is a call to authors and writers – sorry corporate America, but if you want The Writers Lens to tweet your information that would be sponsorship, and we can talk about that… but this is a call to all the authors and writers.

You can enter the contest by leaving a comment on this post. Just tell us your @twittername or email, and the title of your novel or blog. The winner will be chosen on Sunday, January 20, 2013 and the tweets will run every day until Sunday, January 26, 2013! We’ll even give it cool hash tags so more people than our followers will see it. Note: we will only tweet your name, and the title of your novel, or blog address, this is not an endorsement of your novel or blog. We just want to help spread the word about you!

Good luck and may your tweets go viral!

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

St. Louis Reflections http://www.stlbooks.com/B009271-1211-51/Review.aspx

Our Favorite Writers' Lens Articles of 2012!

Our Favorite Writers’ Lens Articles of 2012!

By Brad R. Cook

2012 was an amazing year here at The Writers Lens, you’ve already seen the most viewed articles, and the biggest story we ran, but I wanted to bring you one more – our favorite articles from last year.

T.W. Fendley, David Lucas, and I have written a variety of great stories and I went to both of them and asked for their favorite articles from the last year. Here are the three we chose.

 

Spec Fiction and the Accidental Horror Writer

By T.W. Fendley

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

http://www.thewriterslens.com/2012/08/spec-fiction-accidental-horror-writer.html

 

 

The Murderer’s Ladder

By David Lucas

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

http://www.thewriterslens.com/2012/01/murderers-ladder.html

 

 

The Mechanics of the Perfect Pitch

By Brad R. Cook

Friday, March 2, 2012

http://www.thewriterslens.com/2012/03/mechanics-of-perfect-pitch.html

 

The links may no longer be valid in my article, for information on the 2013 Missouri Writers Guild Conference visit http://mwgconference.blogspot.com/ or http://www.missouriwritersguild.org/Conference2013v6/index.htm

Also, St. Louis Writers Guild’s March Workshop for Writers “Sit Down and Pitch” will discuss how to pitch to an agent or publisher, and will feature practice pitch sessions too! It will take place on Saturday, March 2, 2013. Details will be posted on www.stlwritersguild.net in the coming weeks.

Thank you for making The Writers’ Lens a true success, but we’re not slowing down. We’ll still be focusing our lens on great articles about writing, the publishing industry, great books and authors, more from 6 North Café, wonderful giveaways, and a few marquee articles just to blow your mind.

May 2013 inspire you to write something amazing!

 

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

St. Louis Reflections http://www.stlbooks.com/B009271-1211-51/Review.aspx

Meet Claire Applewhite at 6 North

Meet Claire Applewhite from 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Jan. 12, at:

6 North Café 14438 Clayton Road Ballwin, MO 63011

  (directions)

Claire is the author of The Wrong Side of Memphis, Moonlight Becomes You So (2009), Crazy For You (2010), St. Louis Hustle, Candy Cadillac (2011) and fourth in the series, Tennessee Plates. She is a novelist, columnist, speaker and instructor at local universities. 

A graduate of St. Louis University and a participant in the Writers’ Institute at Washington University, she is a member of the St. Louis Writers’ Guild, the Missouri Writer’s Guild, the St. Louis Metropolitan Press Club, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and the Ozark Writers’ Guild. For more information about Claire, visit her website: claireapplewhite.com.
 
TENNESSEE PLATES: In ’68, the hot smoke and cold eyes of ‘Nam stalked Elvin Suggs. Now, it’s a blonde in a red dress and a silver Caddy—and, he doesn’t want to run.

Autographed books will be available for sale on Jan. 12.

Writing Hitchcockian--Creating Character Sympathy

Good Evening. Welcome back to the darkest corner of the Writers’ Lens as we continue the discussion on looking at Alfred Hitchcock’s techniques and how we can employ them to our writing. Have you heard a woman say they went to a movie, a play, or read a book and had a good cry? You never hear someone say they had a bad cry. They wanted a good cry. Have you ever noticed that when people go to horror or suspense movies, plays, or read a book that there will be points where they will jump out of their seats, maybe scream, and then . . .soon it is followed by a laugh? The importance of these reactions is on the quality of the cry, the scream, the surprise and the laugh. It a good reaction comes from hard writing and good manipulation of the audience by the writer, director, and actors. So how do we get there?

Hitchcock hated working with method actors. They always questioned the directions that Hitchcock was giving saying that “I don’t think my character would do that.”

Hitchcock would reply, maybe not so politely, “Do what I tell you.”

The reason was not so much as Hitchcock wanted to be bossy (ok, yes he wanted to be bossy), but rather Hitchcock was manipulating character sympathy in the viewer. Character sympathy is the third emotional state of writing. (See Writing Hitchcockian—the Three Emotional States of Writing posted October 17, 2012) This is done in every good book you read, play you see, or movie you view. Often the author of the work had his or her own “method actor” to deal with as they wrote—some character which didn’t want to express what needed to be expressed. I think, but cannot prove, that this is why so many times we run across the writers telling us how the character feels.

The telling can be as simple as: Jane was mad as she stormed out of the room. Or it could be done in dialog:    “I’m so mad I could just spit,” Jane said.

Would either of those scenarios really elicit your sympathy for the character’s emotional state? It wouldn’t mine. Where is the body language that implies how mad they are?

A better question: Isn’t there someway to show how mad the character is instead of just telling the audience? The answer is yes.

There are a lot of books written on body language and how to use it to read what a person is feeling or thinking. There are books on the subject aimed at the acting world to help actors improve their craft. There is also, now at least, a great resource for doing this for writers that I recommend. You can find this electronically. It is The Emotion Thesaurus: a Writer’s Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. This book came from posts on their blog The Bookshelf Muse (http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/) which has many great entries exploring emotions, settings, physical attributes, character traits and more.

Using the tool above, let’s relook at our mad character.

Without dialog:

Jane, turned on her heals, hiding her eyes that were moist from unreleased tears. Her face was flush as her fists called, digging her lacquered nails into the soft flesh of her palms. She walked toward the door, her back rigid, her chin high and her arms sweeping back and forth as if making her walk a military march.

With dialog:

“I could just spit,” Jane said. Her legs were planted to the ground, as she flexed her fingers and turned her flinty gaze at the door.

These are simple examples, but at no point do I say that she is angry. But, you can see it. The description should show the reader the level of emotion as well as the emotion and tell something about the character. We know she is not confrontational—or the situation will not let her be. We know in the first example that she refuses to let anyone see that she is on the verge of tears. We also can picture something about her hands, which tells the reader more about her.

In the dialog example we can see her emotion from her eyes and that she is flexing her fingers. We can also see that her anger is making her defiant because she is standing planted to the ground.

By using emotional description rather than just giving the emotion, the author can give the audience more depth to the character and create character sympathy for the character—even if that character is the antagonist.

 Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com andwww.thewriterslens.com. You can also follow me on twitter @Owlkenpowriter and the Writer’s Lens @TheWritersLens. Fiction is the world where the philosopher is the most free in our society to explore the human condition as he chooses.