Tag Archives: Indie Thursday

FREE BOOKS GIVEAWAY – A Villain for Vanessa – Gift for 5 Days

Great Read, ,

#FREE #Books #Giveaway. Autumn in the North Country and everything is on fire. Fabulously flaming trees. Red hot passion about to ignite. Blood-red murder smoldering in the vengeful heart of A Villain for Vanessa.

#FREE #Books #Giveaway. I loved conjuring this story. Now I love giving it away. Vanessa, in search of a warm family embrace, finds terror and sorrow and a wild river to drown her deep. Bobby, struggling to keep his loved ones safe, sees them dash toward destruction instead. A Villain for Vanessa book over art

#FREE #Books #Giveaway. I’m thrilled by the response to this story which was a rollercoaster ride to write. What readers say about A Villain for Vanessa. “Tightly written suspense with tension, shifts and twists that don’t let you look away.” “I was gripped before I was off the first page.” “The mystery gets tighter and tighter while the romance gets hotter and hotter.”

#FREE #Books #Giveaway. I reveled in recreating the place where I once walked among swirling leaves beneath thrashing branches beside that roiling river. Like Vanessa, my heart pounded as the wind rose. The same furious winds whipped my imagination to frenzy as I wrestled each scene onto the pages of A Villain for Vanessa.

#FREE #Books #Giveaway. We dare you to join us, Vanessa and me, careening past catastrophe, squealing through narrow escapes, a runaway speedboat toward conflagration. Your free ticket awaits – RIGHT HERE – Today/Thursday, October 25th, through Monday, October 29th. Enjoy the ride called A Villain for Vanessa.

Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com

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For yet another great read and fiery ride – don’t miss Alice’s latest novel. A Time of Fear & Loving – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Book 5. Available HERE. Look for all of Alice’s books HERE.

A Time of Fear & LovingWhat readers say about A Time of Fear & Loving. “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.”
“A budding romance that sizzles in the background until it ignites with passion.”
“The best one yet, Alice!”

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Peeps and Predicaments – What’s Happened to Your Character with Whom

Storytelling, ,

Peeps and Predicaments. What’s happened to Your Character with Whom. A couple of posts ago, I wrote “Create Captivating Characters.” The post before that was about how to write a great main character. I keep harping on character creation because characters are the heart of strong storytelling. If you make your characters come to life on the page, they will make that heart beat with a rhythm that captivates your reader.First, we discovered why your main character is so important.  Your main character’s story is what connects you with the reader, the avenue by which you draw her in and make her care. Once you have made her care, she is hooked, and that narrative hook is essential to writing a successful story. The reader must become emotionally involved with your character, not just a little, but intensely.

Next, we examined how to make your readers care so much about your character. Then, we dug deeper to make your reader care even more. How to tie us emotionally to her fate, until we long for only good things to happen to her. Which means that you, as a storyteller, must frustrate our hopes for her by making bad things happen to this character you’ve seduced us into loving. I never said your job as a writer was to be kind to your characters, or to your readers either.

Now, we move not only deep, but closer in to the individual person your character will be. You accomplish that by conjuring a context for your character. Peeps and Predicaments. What has happened to your character in her life, especially her Predicaments, physical, emotional, psychological. Plus, the people who had the first, huge effect on her life, her most pivotal Peeps, those who loved her and wished her well, as we do, or may have failed to do so.You need a single, specific main character to do this work, and you must give her a name. Naming your character gives her substance and reality, especially in your own consciousness as her creator. Crafting the very specific substance and reality of your character’s context is your goal at this stage of character creation. The context of your character as a person, the details of which may or may not appear in your story but will immerse you in her humanity.

You must delve into the central self of your character by becoming her. Here’s how. Respond to each of the following questions in the first person, using “I.” Respond as your character, not telling us about her but being her and speaking in her voice. Concentrate on how you, your character, feel about each question. Answer more from your character’s gut than from her head. Be specific, avoiding theories and abstractions altoge­ther if possible.

This is where the fun happens, the magical mystery tour of yourself as your character.

  • What family member do you consider yourself closest to, and what would you say is the deepest, most true reason for that closeness?
  • What member of your family are you most distant from? How did this distance begin, and why does it persist to this day?
  • What was the most memorable experience of your childhood? Recreate the scene if you can.
  • What is the most important memento you have saved from your growing-up years? Why have you saved it for so long, and where do you keep it?
  • What incident in your life made you most angry?
  • When in your life were you most frightened?
  • What is the single thing you most yearn for in life?
  • What is the saddest thing that has ever happened to you?
  • When in your life were you most happy?

Please, respond at length, in writing, of course. Once you have done so, you will find yourself somewhere very special, under the skin and among some of the most inner secrets of your character. Your character has opened herself to you. She has done so because you cared enough about her to become her and ask her most crucial questions. She has spoken from the deepest part of her heart into the deepest part of yours, and you have listened.You and your character have become one being. Your souls have melded to become the place from which you will share her secrets, speak her truth, and write the very best story of her you have in you, perhaps the very best story you have ever told. I, for one, can’t wait to read it.

Bonus Exercise. Become one with the famous characters in the above pictures. Ask yourself, as each character, “What do I want?” Celie in The Color Purple? Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby? Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird?
Alice Orr – https://www.aliceorrbooks.com

– R|R –

Amanda Miller’s life is full of Peeps and Predicaments. Experience them yourself in Alice’s latest novel, A Time of Fear & Loving – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Book 5. Available HERE. Look for all of Alice’s books HERE.

 What readers are saying about A Time of Fear & Loving: “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “A budding romance that sizzles in the background until it ignites with passion.” “The best one yet, Alice!”

http://facebook.com/aliceorrwriter/
http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/

My First Indie-Versary

Indie Pub, ,

Anniversary 1 imageIt’s been one year – or will be on February 14th – since I put out my first independently published novel. Twelve months seems too short a time for all that has happened. Especially too short for all I’ve learned.

The most significant thing I learned is I can’t be as independent as Indie sounds. Other authors run the gamut of what it takes to put out a book from start to finish. I admire and salute their fabulousness but I’m not among their number. I need a lot of help.

April Eberhardt tells me I’m what she calls an Assisted Independent Author. In other words I have a team assisting me. The thing I’m most grateful for about this past year is that I was able to find my team and they’re willing to work with me.

My first book was edited by Mary Litchfield Tuel. I’d worked with her before so I know she’s very good. Some huge personal challenges forced her to cut back for a while. But – Hallelujah! – she has put on her editing hat again. Anybody in need of a great editor would be well-served to get in touch with Mary.

Meanwhile I had to push on to a new strategy. A beta reader plus a proofreader. My beta reader is the same guy who did that for me in my traditional publishing days. My handsome hardnosed – when it comes to what does and does not work in a story – husband Jonathan.

My proofreader is another smart head. In fact she’s one of the sharpest people I know. Irene Peterson doesn’t let me get away with anything and – believe me – I try. I attempted to do this part by myself for a while but – although I can spot other people’s errors in their work – apparently I can’t do the same in my own. Thank heaven for Irene.

Another thank you shout goes out to Caridad Pineiro for recommending The Killion Group Inc. They do so much for me. Kim Killion take my ideas and sprinkles them with her mystifying magic to produce the fantastic book covers I’m very proud to have on my work.

Jennifer Jakes – also a Killion Kween – formats my eBooks and my print books and uploads them to their online platforms too. She has also given me enough crucial advice to fill a book all its own. If I were her I think I’d call it Jenn Tells Us When Why and How to Do It Right.

Killion whipped my website into shape as well. The sunrise banner sends exactly the message I want out there about me and my career. “Good Morning Everybody. This is My Brand New Day.” With my book covers added for everyone to see. The three I put out in this sunrise year.

My most recent teamwork leap was into Newsletter Land. I’d have fallen flat on my face if not for Amy L. Heffernan. She takes my copy and makes it beautiful. I was scared to death to try a newsletter. Amy makes it easy-peasy.

What a year! What a lot of work! What a Super Team! I’m thankful and hopeful and full in general – mostly of enthusiasm to start Year Number Two with Book Number Four.

So – do I get a cake with one candle? Yellow cake with chocolate frosting please.

Alice Orr – https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

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A Wrong Way Home – Book 1 of my Riverton Road Romantic Suspense series – is a FREE eBook at Amazon and other online retailers. All of my books are available at my Amazon Author Page http://www.amazon.com/Alice-Orr/e/B000APC22E/.