Today we welcome guestblogger, Harlow Coban! Harlow is the author of Life in Death, her debut novel which is now available. A fast-paced murder mystery, Life in Death is the first part of the Kari Marchant series. Read on to find out how to effectively turn your real life stories into captivating fiction!
My story isn’t a warm and fuzzy one.
My father was murdered when I was 12 years of age.
A few years ago, at my uncle’s urging, I looked into what happened to him. The police had suspects, but no one was ever arrested and the case remains unsolved.
I learned a lot about police procedure when I looked into my father’s murder. It was then that I decided to write a novel.
While my murder mystery novella, Life in Death, is not entirely based on what happened to my father, it draws from real life experiences I had with him.
Writing the novel was a cathartic experience for me. What I liked most, and found particularly cleansing, about the experience was my power to spin the story as I saw fit.
We all love, hate, laugh, cry, and everything in between, so we’re never at a loss for stories to tell.
Here’s how you get started writing a novel based on a true story:
- Determine what kind of story you want to write. Talk to family and friends. Look at newspaper articles. I don’t want to be morose, but look at obituaries, too. Take notes. There are stories there.
- Determine the story’s theme: Good/evil, love/hate, birth/death, peace/war, etc. Again, take notes. This may be where the title of your book comes from or maybe not. The title of my book came to me in a dream.
- Construct a compelling plot. I suggest creating a plot outline to start with. I used the “what if” technique to determine what would happen in my chapters. Basically, you ask yourself “what if” this or that happened to your character and expand from there.
- Create dynamic scenes. My advice is something has to happen in “every” chapter or scene.
- Create multi-dimensional characters. Many writers, including yours truly, base their characters on real people and then add nuances to create more complexity and depth. This is one way to go.
- Read, read, read. The more you read, the better writer you’ll become.
- Lastly, start writing. “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland.
Truth can be stranger than fiction, but maybe not as entertaining. The key to writing a novel based on a true story is in how you spin the story to make it enjoyable for readers.
About Harlow Coban:
Author Harlow Coban was born in Kansas City, MO, but grew up in Denver, CO. She relocated to North Carolina five years ago with her husband, two dogs, and 16-year old twins.
She shares a birthday with the notorious Napoleon Bonaparte. In keeping with his legacy, she is currently working on taking over the world. Harlow’s positive attitude and fresh take on life are her tools and conquest is certain.
She spends her free time writing, dancing, traveling and defending mailboxes from her 16-year-old twins’ driving.
Her debut novel, LIFE IN DEATH (to be published in early 2012), is a murder mystery which pulls from real-life situations from her own family history. She felt compelled to share her story with the world while offering a thrilling, entertaining, and amusing escape for readers.
In keeping with her commitment to improving the lives of children, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of her book will be donated to the Boys and Girls Club in her home state of North Carolina.
She loves to connect with her readers and can be found on Twitter, her Blog or on Facebook.
Posted in Writing by .
Today we welcome regular guestblogger, Dave Baldwin for his first post of 2012! Dave’s been blogging at Write From the Inside Out for almost a year–that shows real commitment, staying-power and strategy. Dave talks about the power of guest blogging and I hope you’ll be inspired to seek out blogs to showcase your work so you can expand your sphere of influence and leverage your valuable time. Heck, maybe you’ll even get a regular gig like Dave!
One of my goals for 2012 is to guest blog more often. Why? Because it just makes sense.
I’ll start with the obvious benefits. When you guest blog for someone else, you gain visibility on their platform, in front of their audience – in other words, people who might not otherwise have heard of you. Most blog owners will allow you to place a short bio at the end of each post, with a link back to your website. This helps your search engine rankings over time.
Those are good benefits, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg. Guestblogging is really about networking. As a bona-fide introvert, I think differently about networking. For people like me, networking is not about winning a prize for having the most contacts in my cellphone, nor is it about shaking hands and saying “What do you do?” Let’s face it; there are plenty of “networking” groups that don’t have much going for them aside from the free food. Guest blogging is a whole different kind of networking, and it’s severely underutilized.
How exactly does one “network” by guest blogging? Let’s take a step back and ask a more basic question: what is the purpose of networking? While the answer to that question differs for each of us, I’m a firm believer that we can all stand to benefit much more from building quality relationships with a small number of people than from handing out stacks of fliers and business cards (most of which will end up in trash cans).
Writing guest posts helps to develop your relationship with the person whose blog you write for. This happens partly because you are helping them by providing content to keep their blog current, but the process also forces you to learn what is important to them. Unlike your own blog, where you likely have too much freedom for your own good, your writing will be held to a higher standard when you write for someone else. If you agree to a fixed schedule, it also creates greater accountability. You can choose to blow off your own blog for months on end if you want; not so when someone else is counting on you for content.
Beyond helping the blog host, you open new doors by guest blogging. After all, blogs for which you guest post have established audiences. You never know who might be reading your posts and paying attention to what you’re saying. You just might run into some of those readers at a cocktail party in a year or two, and they may recognize you on sight. One thing that I’ve learned about the internet is that people pay attention much more often than they respond out loud.
Consider spending one hour per month writing a guest post for someone else’s blog. While it won’t yield instant results, it will pay off in spades over time. If you’re the type of person (like me) who would just as soon skip the “networking” events filled with people you’ll never see again, you will love this approach to networking. Stay tuned next month for more out-of-the-box networking ideas for introverts.
About Dave:
Dave Baldwin is a writer who has lived and worked in Raleigh, NC since 2007. He has self-published two books: Pied Piper Entrepreneurship (2009) and Get That Book Out of Your Head! (2009).
Your Turn:
Do you guest blog? Share here what you think about it and what suggestions you can offer folks who want to try it in the New Year.
Posted in Networking by .
All in all, 2011 was fairly decent with a few lows and many more highs. As we say “so long” to 2011 and hello to 2012, I felt the need to be self indulgent and review my year with you!
2011 was the year my book, Unfinished Projects published by Main Street Rag, debuted. I traveled about 5,000 miles this year promoting my book throughout the Carolinas along with visiting New York’s Book Revue Bookstore and the St. Louis poetry scene. I met so many fantastic people on all of my road trips, but my favorite gigs were in Charleston and Waynesville, NC. I don’t think I laughed so hard in Charleston after the Monday Night Poetry and Music show in April—ever. (I think it involved not getting caught on Spruill Ave, Hurricane Katrina and Star Wars tattoos—thank you, Aaron, Kevin and Katrina!) Waynesville (about 20 min west of Asheville) was also a trip and a half. My hosts from the Mountain Writers Club took me and my best buddy/honorary poetry roadie Jane to the Sweet Onion where the conversation was a lively as an electric eel. Stay tuned for more road trips in 2012 when I visit Columbia, SC, Asheville, Charleston and Hickory to promote my new book, After the Steaming Stops, coming out in March or April.
2011 was the year I cut my hair. I was so bored with my long hair and tired of strangers telling me I looked like Kathy Griffin, the comic. So I got my hair cut in mid-May. It was a good cut, but so…different. I couldn’t style my hair like before and my husband kept calling me “Prince Valiant.” Oy. The good news was that folks said I looked younger than my 29 years. I’ve got my hair now to about my shoulders after 7 months and I want to go long again. Another part of the good news is that I found a curling iron that keeps up with my style even in bad humidity and my long hairs don’t clog our sinks anymore.
2011 was the year I became a Reiki Level II practitioner. Reiki has helped calm me down—but only so much since as you all know I’m a very intense person. I’ll be training to be a Reiki Master this spring! I’m using my Reiki to be more aware and intuitive, plus with my hair growing longer, my intuition will only get stronger! (there’s a theory that the longer your hair, the better your psychic abilities)
2011 was the year I called 9-1-1 after my three-year-old daughter Erin severely sliced open the bridge of her nose when she jumped from the bathroom sink onto the edge of a plastic trash can. I guess she was practicing for a role in Spiderman? I remembered my health ed classes and kept steady pressure on her wound. She was cool with everything and found it interesting that her older brother practically fainted when he saw her five stitches. 2011 was also the year my son wandered into the deadly April 16 Raleigh tornadoes—I wrote a poem about it. He ended up safe but you should have been a fly on the wall when my husband, who was at work at the time, asked me where Daniel was and I said, “IDK!” and then he said, “Well, the roof of the Lowe’s in Sanford just blew off!” Daniel followed a neighbor with Chihuahuas back to her townhouse to ride out the storm. Oy vay.
2011 was the year I got Craig-Listed by my boss. I was the editor for a fledgling magazine for three months and the publisher (I use that term loosely) put my position up on Craig’s List with me still in the job! I quit the next business day. I have to say I met SO many awesome people in that position that it was worth the time. But I realized I don’t want to take a “jobby job”—I’m having too much fun as an entrepreneur where I set my own hours and have the opportunity to increase my income. Take this job and shove it!
2011 was the year I sang in public for the first time in 10 years. I got the singing bug back, so watch out! I want to take singing lessons next. 2011 was the year I gave blood again after 10 years. And 2011 was the year I took a humor workshop AND wrote and performed five humor-themed speeches. I used one of those speeches in my emcee duties at the CHERUBS Angels Masquerade Ball for babies born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH), but I cheated since I made fun of Charlie Sheen the whole time.
2011 was the year I visited the Ozarks, Fort Smith and St. Louis for the first time with my husband. In St. Louis I saw my first cousin KC after 17 years! That was cool. 2011 was the year I took up running again and published a blog post once a week—do or die!
2011 was the year every single one of my dresses, save one or two, came from the boutique consignment store, Our Friends Closet in North Raleigh off of Durant Road in Falls River Town Center. 2011 was also the year of teaching fantastic writers in my memoir workshops, fiction editing workshops and blogging workshops (both in person and online)—may the knowledge continue in 2012! I taught poetry at the Nazim Hikmet Festival in April, sponsored by the American Turkish Association and the Town of Cary, and will return to teaching at the Festival this year as well. I do it to be invited to the crazy Turkish after-party, but please don’t tell anyone that!
Well, goodbye 2011 and I know 2012 will create a wealth of good memories and fun! In 2012 I’m going to keep posting my blog once a week, memorize a classic poem every month and practice my singing and comedy routine, along with writing some more riveting poetry—so watch out!
Your Turn:
How did you survive 2011? What are your promises to yourself for 2012?
Posted in Creativity Writing by .
