A Haunting of Words by Various Authors - Book Tour + Giveaway
A Haunting of Words Anthology
by multiple authors
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GENRE: Drama/Horror
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BLURB:
From Scout Media comes A Haunting of Words—the third volume in an ongoing short story anthology series featuring authors from all over the world.
In this installation, the reader will experience a multi-genre journey beyond traditional haunts; from comedy, to drama, fantasy, romance, and horror, these stories put eclectic spins on the every-day ghost tale. Whether you are running from the ghost of a vengeful mother, falling in love with an apparition, touring with a deceased famous musician, saving a newborn from a possessed crib, or having a specter cat as a sidekick, these stories of hauntings and apparitions will warm your heart, send shivers down your spine, and tickle your funny bone.
Whether to be enlightened, entertained, or momentarily caught up in another world, these selections convey the true spirit of the short story.
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EXCERPT
Excerpt from Joe by JM Turner
I stop to look at the fifth picture along. It was taken on a gloriously sunny day, much like this one: Joe is wearing his little blue shorts and a white vest top. I say he is wearing blue and white, but the truth is that anyone looking at the picture would say he is wearing brown; he is sitting, splay-legged, in the middle of the one and only puddle that remained from the previous day’s rain, covered in mud, his head thrown back in one enormous guffaw of laughter. A brilliant stream of sunlight illuminates his wet hair; blonde curls that cascade around his head like an angel’s aura. Rufus is just behind him, one ear cocked, one ear flopped, head down and rear end in the air in his classic ‘play with me’ position. He, too, is a muddy mess. I can still hear Joe’s laughter and can almost taste the smell of mud, dog, and boy. I smile to myself, stroke the picture with one tender finger, straighten it up, then make a move to Joe’s room.
Guest Post
Author Jill Turner for “A Haunting of Words” book tour
Writing and Keyboard Warriors
So you’re a writer! You’ve finished your book, novel, novelette (or whatever it is that has floated your boat for the last however long); you’ve laughed, cried, sweated blood, had mental blanks and made last minute changes, and it’s all finally fallen into place enough for you to be able to write ‘The End’, and celebrate with a large glass (or bottle) of whatever it is that takes your fancy. In my case, that would be diet tonic water.
Okay, maybe with a tiny nip of gin. (Chin, chin, darlings!)
You’ve interacted in all the ‘right’ social media groups and you’ve talked, endlessly, about when it’ll be finished. Now it is, you’re itching to get your baby out there into the big, wide world so that everyone can admire your genius – and they will – won’t they?
Well, won’t they?
Someone asks you to post a snippet of the story and you spend nearly three hours deciding which bit to show. You’ve heard that dialogue is good for moving the story along, so you pick one of your best bits with the greatest lines and sit back and wait for the acclamation and the first comment is: ‘You’ve used an ‘ly’ suffix – smh. Hasn’t anyone told you to show, not tell…’
The next comment reads, ‘You should use double quotation marks, not single’ which is immediately repudiated by someone else and a mini-argument ensues. Commenter three says you need to check your punctuation – and so it goes on. You may get the odd positive comment, but the vast majority of replies probably won’t be.
By the time you’ve finished reading them you are beginning to wish you’d never started writing in the first darn place and the laptop must now burn.
But does this mean you should give up?
Hell, no.
Does it mean you’re a crap writer?
Again, hell, no.
Actually, you’ve just learned lesson number one – do not, under any circumstances, post snippets of the first draft of your work.
Succinctly put, you’ve offered up perhaps one one-thousandth of your entire storyline – and been judged on it. Harshly. Social media is rife with people who lie in wait to pounce and point out all that is wrong with somebody else’s work under the guise of constructive criticism. They’re not actually giving you constructive criticism – they’re showing off. It’s the equivalent of little boys saying, ‘my dad’s bigger than your dad’... (Question: it is ‘dad’ boys say, isn’t it?)
We’ve all been there; finished something we think is fantastic, let someone have a quick read and been disappointed by the reaction. I daresay even top league writers have been slated at some point or another, but the difference is that they didn’t give up. So, if you believed in your story as you wrote it, you can’t give up either.
Some people find it super easy to criticize others, but it’s another thing entirely to be able to do it in a positive manner. Keep watch, if these keyboard warriors are called out on their hurtful comments it’s a safe bet to say they’ll have a massive flounce and disappear (and that’s always a fun read).
I’d love to know why some people act like this. Is it because they are secretly afraid that, despite knowing (or thinking they know) the rules of writing, (and remember, rules are made for breaking) they can’t actually finish anything themselves? Are they secretly terrified that someone will criticize their work, and can’t face it so get in first? After all, who would dare to critique someone who evidently knows so much? They must be right, right?
A small piece of the person goes into every story written. The best writing comes from experience, and therefore, from the heart. As a result, most writers are vulnerable and there are very few who are truly confident in what they do. I’ve found that those who found the magic formula early on in their careers tend to keep writing in the same style for the rest of it, perhaps in the hope of not rocking the boat.
But I quite like a quirky maverick.
So, to any keyboard warrior who recognizes themselves in this piece, how about you think before you spill your bile in future? Or try a praise sandwich – you know? ‘I love this bit, this part needs slight work (because…) and this bit’s fabulous…’
Chin, chin, darlings!
By JM Turner
Featured author in A Haunting of Words, an anthology published by Scout Media.
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Author Bio
JM Turner started writing many years ago but only decided to take it seriously a few years back. She began with a children’s trilogy, moved on to books for young adults and then tried her hand at writing for adults with her story, Joe, that is featured in the A Haunting of Words trilogy. She edits and proofreads for university students, businesses and other authors, and also works with SEN children. She loves what she does. She lives in the UK, in an area called Norfolk which is very pretty and has its own city!
Author photo
Links
GIVEAWAY
The authors will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
22 Comments
Good morning everyone who visits this page today, and thank you to Jasmine for hosting this event.
ReplyDeleteIn case you hadn't guessed, this is Jill, (I wrote the above piece and am featured in the anthology - all the authors are hoping you'll love the entire book, by the way, so please check some of them out).
If you have any questions or want to just say 'hi', please do. I'll be nipping in and out of here all day.
Hi Jill - agree with your point of view. Putting any kind of art work out there into the world takes a huge amount of courage on the part of the artist. And I also like quirky and maverick! The good thing about art (all types) is that there is no wrong or right to it. There is just the truth of the artists heart. I bet Picasso was not bothered a jot by criticsms that he wasn't enough like Constable or Turner and vice versa. Hope the guest-spot goes well!
ReplyDeleteThank you Rachel - yes, you make a good point: there is no right or wrong in relation to art in any form. What is one person's mess is another person's joy. So, to any authors who are scared to publish - make sure that you are happy with your work, have it edited, proofed (or, at the very least, check it for plot holes, spelling and grammar), then go for it! You could make many, many, people very happy - and those who aren't? Pah! Remember, if they care enough to go all 'keyboard warrior' about it, at least you've been noticed...
DeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for arranging it, Goddess Fish Promotions!
DeleteYes, many new writers don’t realize it takes extra time & effort for an editor to “soften” a writing critique. Great advice - the ol’ critique sandwich: something nice, this needs work, something nice. Rather how I review books, too!
ReplyDeleteHi Nina,
DeleteIt's how I work when editing, too. There's always something positive to pick out and a way of suggesting when something needs a little work. I know I like to be treated this way (do as you would be done by!)
I enjoyed reading the excerpt to get to know your book; Hope the tour is a fun one for you, and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa,
DeleteThanks for reading and good luck!
I loved "Joe"! I'm looking forward to reading more of your work, Jill.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Laurie!
DeleteJust dropping in to say hi! I am trying to think of an intelligent question for you, but I’m not really awake yet.
ReplyDeleteHi Care,
DeleteLucky you, it's almost 4pm here (in the U.K.) so I've been up for hours!
P.S. I answer daft questions, too... although not necessarily seriously!
There were 365 stories submitted for this anthology, and you were only 1 of 30 that made it in. What approach did you take to help your story make sure it was ahead of the pack of the other submissions?
ReplyDeleteHi. This is Sunanda Chatterjee. I loved your story in the anthology. What was your inspiration?
ReplyDeleteHi Sunanda,
DeleteI'm glad you loved the story!
SPOILER ALERT COMING IN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION, SO IF YOU HAVEN'T READ 'JOE' AND WOULD LIKE TO, STOP READING NOW!
Any story comes about, to a degree, from personal experience.
Thankfully, I do have two wonderful children, but it was all too easy to understand how losing a child could addle someone's brain.
The geographical area I write about in the story is based on where I lived with my youngest child when they were very little, (some liberties have been taken with it) but the park, and that road, are pretty much exactly as described - so it was all too easy to write.
Thank you for your question, Brian.
ReplyDeleteI think when anyone is thinking of writing and submitting a story in the hope of being published, particularly when it is in a fiercely competitive market, the first thing anyone should do is read the guidelines thoroughly and then write to those guidelines. I think a lot of people fall down on this - almost as though they think to themselves, 'well, I know they say they want this, but surely they won't mind if I just...'
I put myself in the shoes of the person reading the submissions and knew how annoyed I'd be if the guidelines were blatantly ignored, no matter how good the story.
When I had the idea for, and subsequently wrote 'Joe', I kept to the guidelines and made sure that my writing was clean, had the correct spelling and grammar, that there were no plot holes and that it was something that I would want to read myself if I hadn't written it. In other words, I edited the heck out of it!
I know how my heart sinks if I am faced with a long piece of writing that consists of one, or maybe two, sentences; and it sinks even more if the writer hasn't bothered to even run it through a spell checker.
The final thing I did was to try to make sure that anyone reading the story would want to stay to the end. 'Joe' starts out as a very gentle tale, but has a twist two thirds of the way through. I hoped this would lull people into almost a false sense of security, and then knock them for six! I planted little seeds into the gentle part and then sent them into fruition - so that, if someone re-read the story, they'd think to themselves, 'Of course! That's why this happened!' Or at least, that was what I aimed for!
Sounds like a book I'll enjoy reading!
ReplyDeleteGrab a copy, Victoria - I'm sure there'll be several stories you'll love in there!
DeleteIt's now getting late over here in the U.K. so I'll be signing off very shortly - I just wanted to say a massive thank you to Jazzy Book Reviews for allowing me to take over this page, and also to all who have contributed today (and kept me on my toes!)
ReplyDeleteIf you're reading this at some later stage, do please go and buy the book - A Haunting of Words - there are some truly amazing stories by some wonderful authors in there. Put the kids (or your partner!) to bed, pour yourself a glass of something relaxing and settle in for a darn good read!
Jill
What book would you like to see a prequel to? Thanks for the giveaway. I hope that I win. Bernie W BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
ReplyDeleteGlad I came back and saw this Joseph, it's really made me think - there are so many fantastic standalone books that I'd love to have some insight into that it's hard to highlight just one. If I really have to, I'd pick John Green's 'The Fault in our Stars' - written from the point of view of the parents of both Hazel and Gus.
DeleteI hope you enjoy A Haunting of Words, and good luck with the giveaway!
Jill
Please try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.