During a phone conversation with a friend yesterday, I asked as casually as I could, “Did I ever tell you I’m a writer?”

Now, this is a friend, mind you. Someone I’ve known for decades and I’m now telling her that I’m a writer. Better late than never, I guess. Anyway, just as I expected, my friend told me she’s not a reader, but she did ask a few questions, which I was hoping for.

After asking me what my book was about–I told her it was actually a series of three books–and gave her a brief synopsis of the books. Then she wanted to know how I was able to sit down and write three books.

I explained it was not difficult because the first book was based on a true situation I knew of when I was a teacher back in Trinidad. For those of you who never heard the background to Coming Out of Egypt, here it is in brief:

It was rumored that two sisters attending the elementary school where I taught were being abused by their father. Their mother had died, and the girls lived in a secluded home with their father. They appeared very shabby, were isolative and did not do well in school. We, the teachers, had no legal authority to do anything in that society during that time period, and I transferred from that school without knowing what became of those girls.

So much for the background. How did I write the book?

1. The idea. It was easy for me to get started because I had the basic idea – the above synopsis – but the ending would be different. Instead of transferring from that school to another, the teacher would stay there and try to help those girls out.

2. The characters. I already had the protagonist – the older sister. Her younger sister June would be the second most important character. Then I added another character– the teacher–and I gave her a name. If there’s a protagonist there would be an antagonist. Guess what? The teacher’s boyfriend, a detective,  became the antagonist.

3. The setting. I already had that too. A rural village in Trinidad.

4. The plot. That is what happens in the story. How do these characters act on this idea in this setting? The pieces began to fall into place. The girls would go to school, the teacher would teach, and the detective would … He would have to find something to detect. Right? More ideas.

In order to make the book interesting, I had to throw in a few more elements. So I threw in some romance–the teacher and the detective, Marva and her boyfriend and even June has a boyfriend or rather, boyfriends. Then I included some police work –our detective is a hard-working guy–so we give him a crime to solve.

By this time I had an idea what I wanted the title to be. The real village where the girls lived is called Egypt Village. Egypt in the Bible represents a place of bondage. Since the book was being written from a Christian perspective, I used the story of the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt as a metaphor for the story of these girls’ journey out of their bondage, and thus came the title Coming Out of Egypt.

This whole process may sound easy or complicated depending on how you look at it. However, if you are going to write a book, I would suggest you become familiar with the craft by doing the foll.:
1)Begin reading, if you are like my friend –not a reader.
2)Take a few courses–online or at a community college or some such place
3) Join a writer’s group and
4) Start writing

If you enjoyed this blog post, I will suggest two things:
1. Buy the Book
2. Sign up to join my mailing list. You will be the first to know about my giveaways, special offers from time to time and updates from other authors.

I am still in a state of euphoria following the royal wedding on Saturday, which is why I’m so late writing this post today. I’ve been viewing all the stunning photos splashed all over the internet and reading the comments—some of which are downright, Pulitzer-prize worthy—and berating myself for not doing some work.

So, here goes. This post is intended for my fellow authors, but readers are welcome to peep over their shoulders to see the reason for some terrible reviews you see on Amazon. When agents and editors reject our work, they usually say that the fault is not with our writing. The story is just not the right fit for them. Yeah, right. And I’m the Duchess of Sussex.

Sometimes, the writing is bad, very bad. Typos, grammatical errors, misspellings, you name it, it’s there. Recently, I gave a bad review to a book that was given me in exchange for an honest review, and, truth be told, it contained none of those flaws mentioned above. In fact, the prose was beautiful. Descriptive passages to die for. But that’s where it ended for me. Even though the book belonged to a genre I don’t read, I was prepared to give it a shot, but try as I did, I couldn’t connect with the protagonist, couldn’t understand her motive, and most of the time I couldn’t understand what was taking place. It was a very difficult read.

I felt badly about giving such a poor rating, but I had to write my honest impression. I was happy to see that some other reviewers gave the book four stars, but it just didn’t work for me. So, the next time you get a poor rating, take it with a pinch of salt, as we say. Maybe it wasn’t the right choice for the reviewer, or she was distracted by a wedding—hers or someone else’s.

You can still pick up a copy of Coming Out of Egypt, book 1 of the Egypt series for just 99c. and In the Wilderness for $2.99. If you haven’t joined this newsletter, you are missing out on special offers. So, please sign up on the form below. And look out for In the Promised Land, the third and final book in the series, soon to be on preorder.

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Today, as I’m sure most of you know, is International Women’s Day. Women have made tremendous strides in every field of endeavor – medicine, education, law and other areas, however, as a writer, I was disappointed to see that there is a huge gender gap when it comes to publishing. From my research, it appears that the number of traditionally- published female authors hovers between 30 and 34 per cent. Other depressing reports show that the works of female authors are less likely to be reviewed by top reviewers such as the New York Times.

However, there is still some hope. One survey found that 68 per cent of self-published authors were female, and in that group the highest earners were romance writers. The survey also found that those who have their books professionally edited, are educated and spend more time writing tend to earn more than those who don’t. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

So, don’t be discouraged because you are a woman. Over the centuries women have overcome great odds and continue to overcome. Maybe if we approach our writing in a more professional way we could close that gap between us and our male counterparts. Happy writing.

How do you begin writing a novel? How do you build the plot, recruit a cast of characters, place them in an exotic setting and do all that in a way that will keep your readers turning the pages? In other words, where do you get your ideas? At a conference I attended, one of the presenters suggested that authors browse popular magazines for stories that interest them and build a plot based on that. She actually had us draw up a simple outline during the session. I came up with a few other fountain of ideas.

From other novels.  As a writer, you should be reading – a lot – especially in the genre you want to write. Even famous novelists report that they have been influenced by other authors, especially the classical ones like Hemingway, Dostoyevsky and others. One editor suggested you summarize a novel you enjoyed, but change the entire premise. Instead of the good guy riding off into the sunset with the girl, have her marry the bad guy instead. It could mark the beginning of a series.

From your life.  What kind of life experiences have you had? Have you ever stumbled on something you were not supposed to witness? Have you ever found yourself in a place you were not supposed to be? How did you get out of it? At the last conference I attended, one of the hosts mentioned that the fourth floor of the hotel in which we were staying was not accessible either by elevator or escalator. Why was the fourth floor cut off like that? What was on that floor? The mystery writers among us all had their antennae up.

The media. One thing we can be assured of is, people love bad news. Every book on writing will tell you that an effective story begins with someone facing a disaster or conflict of some sort. Therefore, if you want bad news, where do you turn? To the media, of course. They dole out mini plots everyday. Think of the stories that dominated the headlines last year. The disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the Ebola outbreak,  the Bill Cosby rape allegations, ISIS, police shootings, and other less popular stories can all provide us with enough material for many books.

Your job. Regardless of where you work, your job can be a treasure trove of interesting stories. Your co-worker who is going through a divorce, a grandmother whose son has just moved back home, a woman who has just been diagnosed with cancer, an accountant who is cooking the books to keep his mistress. The list is endless. The idea for my first novel Coming Out Of Egypt came from when I worked as a schoolteacher. There were two sisters who, it was rumored, were being abused. In my novel, the older girl kills her father.

Your imagination. Of course, no matter where you look for ideas, you will not have a salable idea without imagination. You cannot rewrite a news item and make it read like a novel without infusing it with some imaginary details. If the situation you now come up with intrigues you and makes you want to keep on writing, then you can be sure your readers will want to keep on reading.

After you hit on an idea that sparks your creativity, draw up a plot then run it by a few friends. Listen carefully to what they say, but go with your gut feeling. You will write many drafts before you type The End. Drop me a line in the comment box below and let me know where your ideas come from.

While on my walk this morning, I came across a couple staring at something on a tree branch. As I drew nearer, the woman pointed to the tree and said, “Isn’t it amazing how God puts so much detail into everything?” I peered at the tree to see what she was talking about, and there was a huge spider caught in a big web. I agreed with her that God is a God of details. Then I saw she had her phone out. “Did you get him?” I asked. “I sure did,” she replied. So I got out my phone and took two shots. See one of them here.

As I walked away, the word “details” kept popping into my mind. I immediately thought of my writing. As fiction writers, it can be very easy for us to focus on getting our plot just right; working out the conflicts, all the little twists and turns and surprises, while ignoring the details. But its these little details that make the story come alive and make the reader feel she is in the story, not looking in from the outside.  Let’s look at the paragraph below from The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George:

Warmth. Wind. Dancing blue waters and the sound of waves. I see, hear, feel them all still. I even taste the sting of the salt on my lips, where the fine, misty spray coats them. And closer even than that, the lulling, drowsy smell of my mother’s skin by my nose, where she holds me against her bosom …

Do you see, hear, feel and taste the details? That’s the kind of sensory experience you want to give your readers. This is not the same as clutter, which adds nothing to the story. If it feels cumbersome, it must go. But if everything fits into place, like the markings on a spider’s leg, then you are on to something. Like any craft, it takes practice, but eventually, you should get it just right.

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I will be taking my book Women For All Seasons on a virtual book tour from October 7 – 18.  I will also be giving away a copy of the book and downloadable excerpts to readers who visit the blogs and leave a comment. I will post all the details as the time draws nearer. Meanwhile, if you wish to jump ahead you can purchase a copy on Amazon from the link on your right, or from Smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/34069

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