Want to Review a #Free #Ebook about #glutenfree Places to Eat?

Howdy fellow GF-ers,

I'm finishing writing an ebook with information about being GF and eating in US chain restaurants called "What To Eat When You Eat Out, Gluten Free."

I have researched 60 medium and large restaurant chains, plus some smaller joints.

For each restaurant chain, I have listed:

- Name
- Quick notes, esp whether a GF menu is available and where.
- A list of all the safe GF items on their menu you can eat
- Link to their GF information
- Link to their find-a-location page
- More extensive notes including my own experience and reports from the web.

At the front, I have 3 hyperlinked indices: Index of Good GF Restaurants, Index of All Restaurants, and Index of Local GF Restaurants by State.

If you'd like a free advance reading copy and (if you like it) will post a review of it on Amazon or your other favorite ebook retailer, either leave a comment in reply to this post or go to my web page tkkenyon.com and click the "EMAIL TK" button on the left.

For both, make sure to include:

1) the email address to send it to
2) preferred format (epub for Sony, Apple, or Nook; or mobi for Kindle, or something else.)

I'll send you a link when it's published. If you liked it, please review it!

I plan to give away 25 copies, so contact me soon if you'd like a free copy!

Thank you!
TK, the Celiac Maniac

TK Kenyon Reviews Wickedly Charming by Kristine Grayson at SF Signal -- 5/5 Sparkly Hearts!

I gave Wickedly Charming by Kristine Grayson (Kris Rusch) 5 Sparkly Hearts (out of 5) because it's a fun, fluffy, well-written paranormal romance novel. It's a light, fun read!

Review at SF Signal here. 

TK Kenyon

New WWII Ebook Released!

Short stories from WWII! All meticulously researched. All surprising as heck.

Jitterbugging with The Bomb: At Los Alamos, fear can make you do crazy things.
Heart Mountain: At a Japanese internment camp in Wyoming, a teenage boy makes his stand.
Kings: At a German POW camp, a prisoner plays liar's poker for lives.
Hooligan Navy: A rich socialite teenage girl discovers that she can serve her country and finds her own strength.

Amazon/Kindle: http://amzn.to/rVcOtx
All Ereaders: http://bit.ly/ts5uSE


Hope you like them!
TK Kenyon

TK's Amazon Profile: Lots of Reviews of Novels and Gluten-Free Cookbooks! http://www.amazon.com/T.-K.-Kenyon/e/B001JP4HK4

All my musing on Amazon, including lots of book reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/T.-K.-Kenyon/e/B001JP4HK4

Hope to see you there!

TK

Aithne Posts TK Kenyon's Links!

http://aithne-jarretta.blogspot.com/p/t-k-kenyons-reader-writer-links.html

What a nice person she is! Go read and buy her stuff!

TK Kenyon

TK Kenyon Reviews Cryoburn by LM Bujold at SF Signal

I only gave it 4.5 stars. Is that enough for a Hugo-nominated novel?

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/09/review-cryoburn-a-miles-vorkosigan-novel-by-lois-mcmaster-bujold/

Where to Connect with TK Kenyon -- Google+ and Goodreads and Twitter, oh my!

Google+ is the hottest new site, right? https://plus.google.com/114092439743576593278/posts 

If you’re into science, connect with me here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tkkenyon

Great blog for creative writing tips. http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com/

My Amazon profile. http://www.amazon.com/T.-K.-Kenyon/e/B001JP4HK4

Here I am at BlogCritics. http://blogcritics.org/writers/tk-kenyon/

I even MySpace, occasionally. http://www.myspace.com/tkkenyon

Tweet with me! I tweet links to free e-fiction on the web and happy thoughts! https://twitter.com/#!/TKKenyon

A great place to see what I’m up to, writing-wise. http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/malachitepublishing

Shelfari is another great book site: http://www.shelfari.com/tkkenyon

All my reviews on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2QSSNUGVG5II8?ie=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0

This is a great science fiction anthology, and I gave it 5 stars because it deserved it. http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/08/guest-review-tk-kenyon-on-the-best-science-fiction-and-fantasy-of-the-year-volume-five-edited-by-jonathan-strahan/

Connect with me on Goodreads: A great site for readers: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/202809.T_K_Kenyon

All my blogs: Gluten-Free, creative writing, other stuff. http://www.blogger.com/profile/13756031460622964015

Fuel for Diesel Ebooks: http://search.diesel-ebooks.com/author/Kenyon,%20TK/results/1.html

Like to blow things up? Here’s a guy who did it for a living. Now that’s job satisfaction! http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/magazine/articles/26-4-science-and-celebrity.aspx

Do you #kindleboards #KB? I do! http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php?topic=71383.0

Having trouble with your overprotective parents? Try being Indian, in the theater, and lesbian. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66664 http://www.amazon.com/Nag-Hindi-Cobra-ebook/dp/B0055WXKDW

Think you can beat Las Vegas? Frank thought so. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/68208 http://www.amazon.com/Law-Large-Numbers-ebook/dp/B0057AFHJC

In 1942, Nazi subs hunted ships off the US East Coast. Read more: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/79924 http://www.amazon.com/Hooligan-Navy-Short-Story-ebook/dp/B005GL8V1S

Harry Potter, Othello, and The Matrix: Story Structure

This excellent lecture in five parts by Dan Wells (he of the excellent podcast Writing Excuses) on story structure is a must-see. Get out a big notepad and prepare to take notes.

Dr. Kenyon’s Daily Writing Apple is a daily writing prompt to help you with your fiction work-in progress, instead of an unrelated writing exercise in creative futility that asks you to write about an elephant or how some other character feels. Subscribe via Atom Posts at http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default (LINK) or Like on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Kenyons-Daily-Writing-Apple/157414557652275 (LINK).

Tweet with me onTwitter: @TKKenyon. I tweet where to find excellent free fiction on the internet daily! 

Good other posts to read: 

Kurt Vonnegut explains story structure: http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com/2011/09/kurt-vonnegut-explains-story-plots-for.html 

How to introduce a character: http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-introduce-character-in-your.html 

TK Kenyon Reviews Cryoburn by LM Bujold at SF Signal

Just thought you guys might like to know that I reviewed Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold at SFSignal.com.

I think I was fair, but I'd love to hear your comments.

TK Kenyon

Kurt Vonnegut Explains Story Plots for You

Kurt Vonnegut was a genius. No doubt about that, he just was.

Here, he explains the three story plots for you, and he's funny, and he's right.

Watch and learn, friends. Watch and learn.

TK

Harper Collins Stole Cover Art from An Artist

This is egregious.

Look at the original art (left.) The Harper Collins book cover is on the right.

Wow. Other than the fact that the HC cover is less artistically interesting both in composition and detail, and the color and light are all wrong, it's a revoltingly close copy.

Did they know? Is this just a coincidence?

Heck, no. HC contacted Nathalia Suellen (the artist) to buy this exact piece of art for this exact book. She wouldn't sell it to them because she had already sold it to someone else for a book cover.

So they copied it.

Right down to the bird.

Cheaters.

Read her story at http://blog.ladysymphonia.com/

Mad Men Me!

Me, as I see myself, on Mad Men. (Any similarity to real life may be coincidence.)

What is your character's lack and compensation?

All good, round, deep characters have a flaw. Sometimes it's a tragic flaw; sometimes, it's a fatal flaw. Other times, it's the shattered facet that keeps a character human.

So what's a flaw?

Often, it's a lack of something.

If a character feels a lack of something, it motivates him. Often, nearly always, this character has a goal that symbolizes, to him/her, the satisfaction of this inner, private need.

It could be love (too many to mention), success, money (all the Nero Wolfes), affection for his family (It's a Wonderful Life,) , a family, safety from a criminal (Silence of the Lambs), a certain level of society (The Great Gatsby,) etc.

In short, it is anything that threatens your character's sense that s/he controls his/her own destiny.

When a person is aware of such a lack, they are ill at ease. They try to compensate. More on compensation tomorrow.

Your Main Character and Books

What kind of fiction does your main character read?

Do they not read fiction because "it isn't real"?

Do they read only horror novels with lots of slippery blood and torture of young women? Even if your MC is a young woman?

Do they read only bestsellers that the NYT picks out for them?

Do they not read fiction but have an extensive library in the living room so it looks like they do?

Only DWMs? Only living LBGT writers of color?

Only highbrow lit that Oprah thinks is too tough for her viewers?

Only sword and sorcery fantasy? Even if they're a brain surgeon? Or a Wiccan palm reader, to get ideas?

Only 99c ebooks, to spite the major publishers? Or because they're chinsy? Or because they like new writers? Or because they won't read a publisher that published Snookie?

Only $15.99 ebooks because those self-published writers can't be any good since they haven't jumped through the appropriate hoops and paid their dues?

Ways to Tag a Character: Attitude

There are four major ways to tag a character: 

1) Appearance 

2) Speech 

3) Mannerisms 

4) Attitude -- also called traits: the habitually apologetic, the fearful, the easy-breezy laugh, the careful vanity, an obsequiousness ingrained from surviving rounds of layoffs, an ex-general accustomed to snapping orders and immediate obedience, preoccupation with a single subject (golf, babies, one's own health, a religion or political stance, a perfect lawn, fishing, retribution for a minute perceived wrong or for the murder of one's child, etc.) quick to take fey offence at any perceived insult to his status in the peerage, an innate bravery when the most powerful wizard in the world keeps trying to kill you.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

Ways to Tag a Character:

There are four major ways to tag a character:

1) Appearance

2) Speech

3) Mannerisms --  clutching a sheaf of sliding papers, spinning a e-reader like a basketball, a toddler who scowls, a servile but furious house-elf, a girl who flutters, an eye-dodger, an earlobe-tugger, a tic, a twitch, a hand-washer, a doodler, a nose-picker, an ex-smoker who can't let go of a phantom cigarette, a seat-squirmer.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

Ways to Tag a Character: Speech

There are four ways to characterize.

1) Appearance.

2) Speech -- New Yawker or Southern drawl; an affected 19th-century manner, the vocabulary of a wharf whore or a Georgia preacher's wife; an autodidact or a lazy bum; a manager of a factory farm with a master's in ag science and a minor in botany/genetics or a dirt farmer; do-diddy rappin' or the King's English; and stutter, stammer, or clenched throat. One's profession, hobbies, religion, family, background, and education change speech.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

Ways to Tag a Character: Appearance

There are four major ways to tag a character:

1) Appearance -- cobalt blue eyes, burnt sugar skin, emaciated physique with umbrella-ribs torso, grimy fingernails, mango orange hair, mourning black hoop-skirted dress, sunburn on one side of the face, only wears designer business suits, dark roots under platinum Marilyn Monroe blonde hair, mom ponytail, a fat toddler grown six feet tall, a lightening bolt-shaped scar on his forehead, an Adonis but for his crooked teeth, a wretch but for her kind and clean smile, chest hair like a tiny bear skin rug glued to his skin, bald and lumpy like a golf ball, one eye higher than the other, a brass prosthetic nose, huge herpes lesion on his upper lip, etc.

More to come.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

What's your character's reaction to the sun?

Not only vampires have problems with too much sunlight.

If your character is running around Paris, outside, for four hours or more, unless they are very melanin-blessed, they're going to get sunburned.

Ditto if they're outside, running away from the bad guys, on a sunny day (or even a cloudy one) for more than a few hours. What does that do to them? Are they sore? Do they blister and peel the next day? Are they worried about getting more little cancers that the dermatologist is going to have to burn off? Does the sun start to hurt?

Describe all that. Accumulated damage to your character, physical and psychological, is an important part of your plot and story.

How to Introduce a Character in Your Story or Novel

To introduce a character, whether the main character at the beginning or a new character somewhere in the middle, you need three things:

1) The character must be a character. 

They can't be flat or shapeless. They can't be neutral or wussy. They have to be for or against something. That's important. You have to give your reader something to react to. You can have them hate or love the character, but the reader has to have a reaction.

2) The first time he appears, the character should perform an act that characterizes him. 

This goes back to Sunday school: don't listen to what people say, watch what they do. Your reader will watch what the character does, and it should be something important. Is he a thief? Have him steal something. Is he honest? Have him give back a nickel to make correct change. Generous and sweet? Have him over-tip the waitress after charming her.

And make that waitress important later.

If he's not generous and sweet, have him charm the waitress and then stiff her.

That doesn't mean to make the charecters flat. You can add contrast later, and should. Just show what they essentially are, in their core, first. More about adding contrast in these posts:

http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com/2011/06/contrast-makes-your-writing-more.html
http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com/2011/07/3d-characters-easy-formula.html

3) The characterizing act must be both pertinent and characteristic. 

That means you should show the most important characteristic of your character, not a side characteristic. If he's supposed to be courageous, don't show first how kind he is, etc.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

Even 3D Characters Have One Dominant Trait

We've discussed several times in this blog how to make your characters seem three dimensional.

Easy Formula for 3-D Characters
Character Complexity
Naming Your Characters

However, if you have too many contrasts and nuances, you can end up with character mush.

For that reason, it's a good idea to identify a dominant trait in each of your major characters that will predominate during the story.

A story is an enactment of what is, most probably, the worst and or most exciting thing to ever happen to your main character. When this one major stimulus occurs, one part of your character's personality will determine their reaction.

Your main character should be heroic in some way. For him/her, choose a heroic trait, like bravery, or kindness, honesty, or compassion, or maternal/paternal/fraternal/sororital bonds. The Seven Cardinal Virtues are an easy list. I like the ones first espoused by Aristotle and Plato: temperance, wisdom, justice, and courage, supplemented by the three virtues from the New Testament: faith, hope, and charity/love.

Your other characters, co-protagonists, antagonists, etc., can have heroic, anti-heroic, or neutral traits, such as the seven deadly sins (PEWSLAG: Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Lust, Avarice, and Gluttony,) or any of the heroic ones above, or such neutral ones as stupidity, ambition, recklessness, introversion or extroversion, etc.

More about characters and how to introduce them, next.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

How Not To Write: Be Vague

Specificity about objects, emotions, and characters creates startling, fresh fiction. The details should be pertinent to the character and mood of the work.

Vagueness and cliches suck all the lifeblood out of your fiction, like a condor-sized Alaskan mosquito. (See how it wasn't a vampire, there?)

"Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die. ... The barrel of the gun pressed the back of my throat, Tyler says, 'We really won't die.' With my tongue I can fell the silencer holes we drilled into the barrel of the gun." (Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk)

Wow. That's a specific detail.

"Lyme Disease?" "Spread by tick bite. They're seething in the grass. You get Bell's palsy, meningitis, the lining of your brain swells like dough." ("Modern Love," T.C. Boyle)

"ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE is scrawled in blood red lettering on the side of the Chemical Bank near the corner of Eleventh and First and is in print large enough to be seen from the backseat of the cab as it lurches forward in the traffic leaving Wall Street and just as Timothy Price notices the words a bus pulls up, the advertisement for Les Miserables on its side blocking his view, but Price who is with Pierce & Pierce and twenty-six doesn't seem to care because he tell the driver he will give him five dollars to turn up the radio, 'Be My Baby' on WYNN, and the driver, black, not American, does so. ... Price calms down, continues to stare out the cab's dirty window, probably at the word FEAR sprayed in red graffiti on the side of McDonald's on Fourth and Seventh." (American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis)

Complex Emotions in Fiction

Complex emotions are easy.

Characters should not have just one emotion at a time. Mix them up and describe the shades between them.

Happiness can be tinged with nostalgia, remorse, satiety, loneliness, euphoria, triumph, vindictiveness, condescension, schadenfreude, earnestness, desire, sexual desire, or hysteria, etc.

Anger can be mixed with hate, schadenfreude, envy, stupidity, berserker rage, annoyance, self-aggrandizement, irritation, ignorance, suppression, or vindictiveness, etc.

Describing the whole, round emotion makes your characters seem 3-D.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

3D Characters: The Easy Formula

No kidding: making characters seem 3 dimensional is easy. There's a stupid formula that works every time.

The character desires a certain outcome. When the opposite outcome happens, they are surprised that they feel the opposite of how they expected they would feel.

Seriously, that's all there is.

I read a really, really bad novel (that was glowingly reviewed) that actually had one character, a rather minor character, write a letter to the main character and tell him that when the unexpected thing happened, he "felt the opposite of what he expected." Literally in those words.

Stupid, clunky writing. All sorts of crap is being published by the Big 6 these days.

Show it. Have the character feel it. Bring the character on screen and let them scream their head off.

Don't have a character write a flippin' letter to another one and say it. Arrrgh.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

Your Main Character and Food: What can or will they eat?

What are your character's food preferences, predilections, and prejudices?

I was in Paris this weekend. The French will eat anything they can kill.

I'm a (mostly) vegetarian and a celiac.

Sometimes, I compromised my morals to not get sick, but I didn't go as far as fois gras or veal.

During your WIP, what does your character eat, and would they eat that normally?

The Five Stages of a Writer's Career (according to publishers)

Who the hell is TK Kenyon?

Get me TK Kenyon.

Get me a TK Kenyon-type author.

Get me a young TK Kenyon.

Who the hell is TK Kenyon?

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

How to Not Lecture in a Novel

In fiction: description and images are rarely confused with lecture.


Write your lecture as an image in a scene, a face, a hand, a landscape, as seen by a person. 

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

How to Start A Short Story or Novel

How should a story start?


 After looking at a bunch of excellent short stories and some novels, an excellent formula is: a character, an action, and a thing that is a symbol. 


Examples: 


"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." Gabriel García Márquez (trans. Gregory Rabassa) One Hundred Years of Solitude
"I am an invisible man." Ralph Ellison Invisible Man
"Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself." Virginia Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 
"We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall." Louise Erdrich Tracks 
"Vaughan died yesterday in his last car-crash" .J. G. Ballard Crash 

My favorite: 


"He—for there could be no doubt of his sex, though the fashion of the time did something to disguise it—was in the act of slicing at the head of a Moor which swung from the rafters." Virginia Woolf, Orlando 

It's not the only way to start a story, but it is an effective one. 

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

How to End Your Novel or Story

How to end a novel or story. Honesty = trust -> happiness. 


That's how you do a happy ending, not just a smooch.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

What you need to have in order to write a darn good novel

Got a life?

In order to write, you need to have a life.

You do have one, even if you're trying to make the family's ends meet. You don't have to run with the bulls in Spain or get killed in a Greek civil war. Be mindful of your own life: the drama, the people, the symbols, what people are working through, how they do things.

That's all fodder for the mill.

How to Tell if Your Idea for a Story is a Good One

How do you know if an idea is a good one?

Think about *conflict.*

Is there conflict within the character or in the situation.

If not, then you need to find how conflict is intrinsic to the character or situation. If you can't find the conflict, it might not be a good idea for a story.

Does all fiction have to have conflict? Well, maybe, and probably.

You need to consider what fiction is for. Nonfiction writing is to inform. Fiction is either (1) to entertain, or (2) to forge the consciousness of the (human) race. Both of those jobs are dependent on conflict within the story. You may have a different idea of what fiction is for. Consider whether or not your philosophy needs conflict, but your story probably does.

For writers: describing things without cliches or adjectives

Stuck for how to describe a color that isn't a cliche? Try a verb plus a noun. That red and orange sunrise? It's like bleeding peaches. That blue and green dress? It's like ivy growing on the ocean. Stars in the sky? Like sugar spilled on a black table. Use judiciously.

You can receive these writing prompts daily by liking us on Facebook: Dr. Kenyon’s Writing Apple or by subscribing to the RSS/Atom feed at Blog: Dr. Kenyon’s Writing Apple Blogspot .  

How To Write the First Line of A Story

Stuck for how to start a story? Go find a really good first line and "mimic" it. Break down the sentence structure and voice and use it to get a running start. Is your story told from the first person at a later time than the events? Rebecca. Is your character doing something active and characteristic and you have a strong theme? Orlando. Etc. 


100 Best First Lines of Novels 

You can receive these writing prompts daily by liking us on Facebook: Dr. Kenyon’s Writing Apple or by subscribing to the RSS/Atom feed at Blog: Dr. Kenyon’s Writing Apple Blogspot .  

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

Amazing way to write three times more fiction!

I have discovered a new, brilliant, amazing way to TRIPLE your writing output every day! Every, every day! Triple, AT LEAST, the number of rough draft words that you write AND pages of editing that you finish! 


How, you ask? What is this amazing secret? 


TURN OFF THE FLIPPING INTERNET. 


Either unplug the cable or turn off the wireless switch. 


Just turn it off. 

The Best Sentence You've Ever Written

What's your best line in your story? Look hard at your story and find that one, best, most unique, most-in-your-voice line. Look hard at it. Now make the rest of the story match that line.

Contrast Makes Your Writing More Interesting

"The wages of sin are death. The wages of blackjack are around five hundred dollars an hour."

Contrast makes your writing more interesting.

Contrast can be a simple verbiage set-up, as this is, or a contrast in characters or situation ("The Prince and the Pauper, etc.) Play up the contrast in your WIP.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

Write More, Write Faster

How much do you write every day? Do you have an allotted or limited time? 


Try Focus Booster for a gentle reminder that your time is ticking away. 


You download the app, and it puts a tiny little bar on the top of your screen that slowly ticks down the minutes. 


(Not a paid ad. I use it. It's great.) 


If you need a more brutal prod, tune in tomorrow for a truly 
nefarious writing aid.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

Naming your Main Character: Would Rose McGowan or Charlie Rose Smell As Sweet?

Through the looking glass, Lewis Carroll's Alice stumbles upon an enormous egg-shaped figure celebrating his un-birthday. She tries to introduce herself:

"It's a stupid name enough!" Humpty Dumpty interrupted impatiently. "What does it mean?"

"Must a name mean something?" Alice asked doubtfully.

"Of course it must," Humpty Dumpty said with a short laugh: "My name means the shape I am - and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost."

Dare you use something symbolic as a name for your character? 


Symbolic names occur so often in real life.


Dirty twitter pics by Rep. Weiner. 


Financial rape by Ken Lay. 


Bernie Made-off with your money. 


Martha Stewart = steward, someone who runs a household.


Shakespeare used Proteus for a changeable character (2 Gents of V), Malvolio as an ethically challenged Puritan (12th Night, and then J.K. Rowling used "Marvolo" for Tom Riddle/Voldemort's middle name), the narrator Rumor (2 Henry 4), and Falstaff as his base alter ego (Fall-staff = Shake-spear, both are moving sticks.)


Dare you!

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

Grab your reader with emotion in the first scene

Speaking of the beginning: begin your book with an emotional punch and big contrasts. 


*Basic Instinct* began with Sharon Stone having sex a guy and then stabbing him through the heart. 


Witness began with bucolic Amish scenes and then little Samuel witnessing a brutal murder. 


Emo is all!

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)

You Must Know the End of Your Character's Story, but not the End of the Plot

Do you know how your WIP ends? 

While I'm a "pantser" (writing "by the seat of my,") rather than a plotter, I sure do. The end must be contained in the beginning to create a cohesive experience for your reader.

To that end: look at your beginning. What happens in your beginning that is so important for your character to change about themselves? Do they have doubt (in love? in humanity?) that must turn to faith? Do they have fear that must turn to trust? 

That's your character's story arc.

As far as the plot is concerned, meh. Whatever. That's where you write by the seat of your pants.

Sleeping Your Way Through the Plot: Your Novel and the Main Character

Where does your character sleep while the plot is going on? 


If your plot lasts more than 24 hours, they're going to get groggy, and the effects of sleep deprivation will sneak up on them. 


Can they go home? 


Do they find a hotel? What level of hotel? How do they pay for it? How does this impact their budget, checking account, and credit card limit? Most hotels require an ID and a major credit card.


 Do they have those?

Thanks for reading!

Here’s two interesting 99c short stories for you to read: (More fiction coming soon.)

The Law of Large Numbers (Kindle Store on Amazon)

The Law of Large Numbers (All Formats)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (Kindle Store on Amazon)

Nag Is Hindi for Cobra (All Formats)  

Your Main Character and Airplanes

Does your character like flying on an airplane? Do they have to fly for your story? How does this affect them? Do they drive or take a train to avoid it, and how does that affect the story?

Disclaimer

Dr. Kenyon will *once again* be traveling on business this week, working on technical writing. Posts may be sporadic. Keep writing!

Do your worst to your character in your WIP to get the plot going

What is the worst thing that could happen to your character? Worse than that. No, really really bad. Worse. Yeah, that one. Do that to them. Have them lose the mentor or the reason to go on. Force them to make the choice that they desperately are avoiding. That's what makes a good story.

The Chronology of Your Fiction: What Day Is It? It matters.

 In your WIP, consider what day of the week it is and what day of the year it is. Is there an upcoming holiday that may throw a kink into your character's plans?

What if it's Memorial Day or Turkey Day weekend coming up, and they need to book a flight?

Or Tax Day is 3 days away and they haven't filed yet, in addition to the plot?

Or if New Year's Eve is in 1 day and there are going to be police roadblocks all over, looking for DUIs but also running plates?

Or Mother's Day, and they need to make that phone call or are hoping for that phone call from a disappeared child?

Or Diwali (early November-ish), and they're in India, where the street crowds set off fireworks and your character has 'Nam/Riyadh flashbacks? 

Or Christamas, and no one wants them, or two sets of divorced/remarried parents want them and there's a blowup every year, no matter where they go? 

Daily Plotting Help

Happy Friday! What day of the week does your work-in-progress begin on? Weekday? Weekend? What does that mean for your characters as far as being able to buy something they need (stores close when?), eat (restaurants close at different times on weekdays vs. weekends,) go to a doctor vs. an ER or a dentist, get help from tech support, call their office, or call friends for help (during office hours, they might be unavailable, on weekends, they might be gone or drunk.) 

How's that 5000 words coming?

How's that 5000 words coming? You halfway yet?

Just Desserts

What is your character's favorite dessert? Lemon or chocolate? Vanilla or butterscotch? Baskin Robbins Rum Raisin or Junior's cheesecake or Le Cirque's vanilla panna cotta with lavender-rhubarb sorbet or Grandma's Baptist Butternut Squash Pie? How often do they eat this dessert? What effect does that have on their wallet, their waistline, and their perception of this favorite?

Dr. Kenyon's Writing Apple

This author blog, while still authory, will also be converted to Dr. Kenyon's Writing Apple,  a daily writing prompt to help you with your current WIP, not an exercise in creative futility.

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