Very rarely do I ever "see" a story completely when the idea for it comes to me. Usually I get a scene or two stuck in my head, maybe a quick character sketch, and after thinking about it for a while, the elements start to gel together into something that wants to be written. That wasn't the case with The Man Next Door, a short story I released earlier this year under my young adult pseudonym, J. Tomas.
I was lying in bed one evening, on the verge of falling asleep and trying not to think of anything in particular, when the entire story came to my mind in a flash. It stemmed from my interest in reading a lot of survivors' stories about the Holocaust, I'm sure, and included some of my own prejudices and concerns. I wanted to write a story about my experiences learning about the Holocaust, and I felt a young adult tale would be best suited for the task.
I know most people don't know where the pink triangle now used as a symbol of gay pride came from -- even a lot of gay people don't know. Many don't realize the Nazis persecuted anyone other than Jews. I didn't until college, when the Holocaust museum was created in D.C. and there was an extensive article about the concentration camps in a popular magazine, Time or Newsweek.
The triangle symbol is something I feel everyone should know about, if only to prevent something similar from happening ever again. I have it tattooed on my left arm, and when someone asks about it, I tell them the origin of the symbol (I'm sure they regret asking after that). Putting it into a story seemed to be a great way to spread that same message to my readers.
Blurb:
When fifteen year old Jake Allister learns the new neighbor in his apartment complex is an elderly man from Germany named Mr. Wagner, he fears the worst. The guy's old enough to have survived World War II, and to Jake's young mind, that makes him suspect. Because Mr. Wagner isn't Jewish, Jake assumes the man must have been part of the Nazi regime who tortured and killed millions before he was born.
Jake isn't religious, by any stretch of the imagination, and neither is his mother. He had to learn about the Holocaust at school; now he distrusts anything German, including Mr. Wagner. Then he sees the old man watching him and his boyfriend Thad make out in the parking lot. Jake just knows the guy is a Nazi.
But when he finally gets invited into Mr. Wagner's apartment, Jake discovers Jews weren't the only ones who suffered during the Holocaust. For the first time, he begins to grasp the scope of the tragedy that unfurled during the war ... and what it meant to be Jewish -- or gay -- in Nazi Germany.
Download your FREE copy today only!
J. Tomas
j-tomas.net
December 7, 2012
J. Tomas on The Man Next Door
December 6, 2012
J.M. Snyder on writing prompts
I have always been a fan of writing prompts.They're a great way to jog your muse into getting something down on paper. Now that I'm a published author, I force myself to write daily, if I can, and try not to let too many days go between finishing one story and starting another.
But when I was younger -- when I knew I wanted to be an author but didn't quite know how to get there -- writing prompts helped me combat the fear of staring at a blank page for hours on end. They moved me past the wanting to write something stage into the actually starting a story stage. Of course, it was years before I really finished a story, but at least I had a lot of practice beginning them!
The one problem I often had with writing prompts was picking one. I find it difficult to settle on any one prompt to work on at a time. I’ll find something, think it sounds good, then flip the page and find another prompt that looks just as promising, then turn to another page ... you get the drift. I’m easily distracted, and would rather read through the entire book of prompts rather than pick one out at random and write.
When I began this book, I decided to eliminate that indecisiveness, in case other writers suffer from it as well. I thought if I wrote the book in a diary or planner format, with one prompt per day for an entire year, then it would be a no-brainer which prompt to use. Whatever day it happens to be, flip to that page, and viola! Instant inspiration.
The idea, of course, is to write everyday. It’s only by writing that one becomes a writer, and practice makes perfect. Even if you aren’t working on a particular story, writing a brief scene or a short thousand-word story is a great way to stay in shape and hone your writing ability. It also gets you into a routine, and writing daily will sooner or later lead to a finished story or book.
It worked for me, and if you're having problems finishing a story, maybe take a look at some writing prompts to see if they can't help? I know a place where you can find 366 prompts all in one place ... Write Every Day: A Year of Daily Writing Prompts by J.M. Snyder.
J.M. Snyder
http://www.jmsnyder.net
Write Every Day: A Year of Daily Writing Prompts by J.M. Snyder
Write Every Day: A Year of Daily Writing Prompts by J.M. Snyder is now available in e-book format!
Writing prompts are a great way to jumpstart your muse and get the creative juices flowing. Sometimes you want to write and don’t really know what to write about, and prompts can help guide you into a new story.
This collection of 366 writing prompts can be used daily throughout the year (leap years, too!) as a starting point to get you writing ... and keep you writing. Each day of the year has its own, unique prompt. Set a timer for fifteen or twenty minutes, and write wherever the prompt takes you. Or, if you’re between stories and looking for something different to work on, flip to the prompt for today (or any random page) and start fresh.
This book will kick-start your writing or take you in exciting new directions every day of the year!
Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!
December 5, 2012
Paul Alan Fahey on The View from 16 Podwale Street
Guest post by Paul Alan Fahey ...
Every Story Has a "What If?"
My novella, The View From 16 Podwale Street, started with an idea I had for a character. When I was an undergraduate in the 1960's, I had a brilliant sociology professor at San Francisco State who was also an albino. One day in class, he was lecturing on diversity. I don't recall the specifics since so much time has passed, but the themes were social injustice and the lengths we humans go to label those who are different as outsiders. Over two hundred of us sat in rapt silence and watched as this kind and gentle soul emotionally fell apart and had to excuse himself for the remainder of the class; to say this incident touched me and most of the class deeply would be an understatement. I wasn't a writer then and had no idea I'd become one, but this experience has stayed with me over the years. It took 45 years to finally write a story that spoke to this moment.
Before writing The View From 16 Podwale Street, I began with a two word question most writers ask themselves to develop character and plot: What if? And here's where the process led me:
- I knew at the outset, due to my interest in World War II, I wanted to write a suspense story set during the 1940's. What if I set my story in Europe during the early stages of the war?
- There had to be something important at stake. What if two women were living together as lovers in Warsaw just months before the German invasion of Poland? The coming invasion would add immediacy to the story while the women's secret relationship would up the stakes even more.
- Knowing how negatively the Nazis viewed diversity in terms of physicality, or anything else for that matter, what if one of the women happened to be an albino, who from childhood lived a life of seclusion -- a way of life conditioned by her parents and continued into adulthood by habit and a fear of the outside world?
Readers have posted several reviews of The View From 16 Podwale Street on Amazon.com. Other reviews can be found at Novel Approach and Some Writers.
The View From 16 Podwale Street recently placed third in the 2012 Rainbow Awards Best Lesbian Historical category. And you can download it for FREE for today only at JMS Books!
If you enjoy the novella, and I hope you do, I think you will like my next story, a WWII thriller/gay romance called Bomber's Moon, to be published by JMS Books January 2013.
Paul Alan Fahey
Nipomo, California
December 4, 2012
Good Breeding by J.L. Merrow
Good Breeding by J.L. Merrow is now available in e-book format!
Adopted as a baby, Giles Frobisher has grown up with every privilege. Encouraged by his best friend—and secret crush—Oz to seek out his birth mother, he’s appalled to discover she’s loud, lower-class, and insists on calling him Wayne!
Giles’ snobbier-than-thou, none-too-faithful boyfriend Hugh is equally horrified, and Oz, who’s always been secretive about his own family, starts acting very strangely.
It seems Giles is about to learn that good breeding has nothing to do with who your parents are!
Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!