Savannah’s story was inspired by a high school friend who became involved with an extremely controlling, possessive boyfriend and ultimately married him. All the red flags were there that he was a potential abuser, but in our inexperience and naivety, we actually thought his behavior was romantic.
Lynn Slaughter – 14 January 2025 Continue reading
In March of 2023, one of my sons gave me a book about Youngstown, Crimetown USA: the History of the Mahoning Valley Mafia. As I was reading it, I saw a lot of names I recognized, including people I met personally dozens of times. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and that got me thinking and plotting out a story about mob conflicts in Youngstown during the time I was growing up.
Daniele Willard – 12January 2025 Continue reading
The Burning Gem and its sequel wrestle with a fundamental question: “as a species, are we really so unevolved, that when facing existential challenges such as climate change we can only fall back on primitive and counterproductive responses such as tribalism, distrust of the Other, and a demand for simple answers to increasingly complex questions?”
Don Sawyer – 30 December 2024 Continue reading
As the stories accumulated, I realized they may be something others would enjoy reading and possibly, spark something within them to begin tossing out their own version of a Nugget of Hope.
Kim Lengling – 26 December 2024 Continue reading
I’m not a beach read girl, so I want to write things that are meaningful and different.
Ashley Baker – 24 December 2025 Continue reading
The biggest problem was creating distractions for the savvy readers so they couldn’t guess who the actual bad guy or girl was too early in the book. Different threads, clues, and reasons must be sprinkled throughout the story to keep the reader guessing and flipping those pages anxious to learn the answer and not miss any of the story.
Charles Breakfield and Rox Burkey – 22 December 2024 Continue reading
Throughout my experiences, I didn’t have access to any books or literature that was similar to my idea, and I felt that it would be helpful to others to write what I had in my mind.
Joshua Winkler – 20 December 2024 Continue reading
I love character development, and I love making unique and complicated characters that the reader will find enjoyable and believable. I was able to really go all out and create dozens of awesome characters throughout the series.
Bjorn Leesson – 18 December 2024 Continue reading
I was lying in bed, staring raptly at my phone, thumbing through the news of the day and I began to wonder: what would an Internet Armageddon look like if I experienced it through my smartphone?
Michael Wolk – 16 December 2024 Continue reading
Scene descriptions and dialogue have always come naturally, and I jokingly explain how I imagine each scene in my head, playing out as a video, and I am just along for the ride, writing down what I see.
J.M. Shaw – 14 December 2024 Continue reading