Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers

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Writing Prompt Wednesday

January 31, 2018
mandyevebarnett


9781608636921

Does your name have a meaning? If so, what is it? If not, make up your own meaning for it.

For a start Mandy is an English baby name. In English the meaning of the name Mandy  is ‘worthy of being loved’. However, it is an abbreviation of Amanda. For those that know me, I NEVER respond to Amanda only Mandy – or risk getting a punch!

My Mother gave me the name due to having babysat a little girl in her youth, whom she was enamored. It is also, I have been told through biblical scholars, in Hebrew/Aramaic the name AMANDA means “Gift from God.” Interestingly, Amanda does not mean lovable. It means “she must be loved” in Latin.

For some reason my Mother named all her children with Hebrew names. I have no idea why.

The name Simon is a Hebrew name meaning ‘hear; listen.’

The name Rebecca is a Hebrew baby name meaning ‘captivating; knotted cord’
The name Jonathan is a Hebrew baby name meaning ‘Jehovah has given. Jehovah’s gift.’
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Do you know what your name means?  Is there a significance to the name you bear? Care to share?

Genres of Literature – Speculative Fiction

January 29, 2018
mandyevebarnett


spec fiction

Speculative fiction

Speculative fiction is included in a broad category, which includes science fiction, fantasy, alternate histories (which may have no particular scientific or futuristic component), and even literary stories that contain fantastic elements. It can also be categorized, in some instances with magic realism. In truth speculative fiction is an umbrella genre encompassing narrative fiction with supernatural or futuristic elements.

The genre ranges from ancient works to paradigm-changing and neotraditional works of the 21st century. It is recognized in the author’s intentions or social contexts within the story versions commonly known. The genre was previously termed historical invention (I personally like this term) as characters from various time periods were within the same narrative. And other terms used were mythopoesis or mythopoeia, meaning fictional speculation.

In general it is the creation of a hypothetical history, explanation or ahistorical storytelling. It is not a ‘new’ genre by any means with the genre being used by ancient Greek writers through to the mid 20th century. In its broadest sense the genre captures both conscious and unconscious aspects of human psychology in making sense of the world, and responding to it by creating imaginative, inventive, and artistic expressions.

Interestingly according to publisher statistics, men outnumber women about two to one among English-language speculative fiction writers aiming for professional publication. However, the percentages vary considerably by genre, with women outnumbering men in the fields of urban fantasy, paranormal romance and young adult fiction.

My current work in progress manuscript is a speculative fiction. Life in Slake Patch is set in an alternative future, where the devastation of a World War resulted in the majority of the male population perishing. This created a world-wide matriarchal society.

LifeinSlakePatch 001

Have you written a speculative fiction story/novel?

Care to share the details below in the comments?

And one last note as I found this delightful snippet of information after I had posted on science fiction on 15th January.

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The story was “True History” by Lucian.

Author Interview – Lisa de Nikolits

January 26, 2018
mandyevebarnett


Author-Interview-Button

LisaNFLT01BW

  1. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Both. To not write, dismays and distracts me. Writing is like lancing a wound. It’s painful but with writing, comes release. And relief! I often worry there’s no story there at all, so once I realize there is, I feel a great deal of relief!
  2. What is your writing Kryptonite? I use too many he said, she said’s. I also have to completely rewrite every single thing I write, at least three times. It would be so much easier if I could just get it right the first (or second!) time. But then again, most of writing is rewriting anyway, isn’t that so? And when you sculpt a sentence or an image, it’s wonderfully satisfying! Sometimes I’ll read a first draft of a thing and think that it’s utterly awful writing – who on earth can even write that badly? But at that time, the only thing was to get the story down and I always say that – just get the story down, you can fix the writing later. If I edited as I went along, I’d get nothing done.
  3. Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym? Actually yes! I am thinking of branching out into some really weird noir and I’m considering these names: Kingston Lee, Mansel Williams, Lee Digby, Lee Hunt.
  4. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? Terri Favro, Carole Giangrande, Brenda Clews, Catherine Graham, Grace O’ Connell, all my pals at the Mesdames of Mayhem, D.J. McIntosh and Dawn Promislow are just a few. I love their work so much – their direct, beautiful prose, their descriptions. And I am blessed to be part of a very strong writing community, so that list is really very brief, there are many more names. We are all, across Canada, linked in our love of literature and I find the Canadian literary community to be extremely supportive and encouraging. I know that if I hadn’t come to Canada, the chances of me publishing a book would have been very slender because it was within this community that I learned how to write. And there are SO many fantastic Canadian authors and poets! It’s astounding, really, what a nation of literati we are. And, kind, lovely people!
  5. Do you want each book to stand alone, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? They are all definitely standalones! I would be very open to writing books with connections but it doesn’t seem to happen! I just write what I am told to write!
  6. What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? Going to workshops. I love workshops and conferences. Also, buying books about writing and self-editing.
  7. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power? Wow, this is tough one! I can’t say for sure. I remember being part of the debating team at school and it was fascinating to me then, how language is actually a tool of persuasion. I’m sorry to not have a better answer for you.
  8. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? The Book of Stolen Tales by D.J. McIntosh. It’s such a masterful, gripping read, filled with fascinating folklore.
  9. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? It changes a lot! I find there is usually one per book. The owl was very strong for a long time. Then the snake. Right now I would say it’s the wolf.
  10. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? I have a whole cupboard of them! They include God’s Day Off, The Fables of Foxtrot Four, The Savage Chardonnay Society and a collection of short stories called Cannibals of the Afterlife. None of them is worth a damn and I really want to have a lovely big bonfire and watch them all go up in smoke. I feel like that would be cleansing and cathartic. I wanted to do it last summer but the opportunity never arose. Although, some stories in Cannibals of the Afterlife are fairly recent and have some potential. So I wouldn’t burn those just yet!
  11. What does literary success look like to you? I feel happy and fulfilled when people enjoy my work. My books aren’t always to everyone’s tastes and I understand that so when a new reader gives you a four or five star rating on Goodreads, then I am happy! I think that No Fury Like That is enjoying a lot of literary success which I wasn’t expecting – I thought readers would hate Julia Redner but they really seem to like her! So that’s a huge win!
  12. What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book? That depends on the book. Rotten Peaches is my next book, for 2018 and I did a lot of research on trade fairs, the toxic ingredients that go into cosmetics and also, the history of the Afrikaner in South Africa. I worked out a calendar of trade show events before I began the story, so I would have an accurate timeline for the book. For my 2019 book, The Occult Persuasion and the Anarchist’s Solution, I did a huge amount of research on treatment and methodology in psychiatric institutions in the 50’s and 60’s (very scary stuff) and I read a lot about tarot, casting spells and the like. That was how I discovered the The Occult Shop on Bathurst. Also, you can find a lot of gems about that kind of subject matter in used book shops. I also researched the Sydney Harbour Bridge in a great amount of detail as that is featured in the book too. Sometimes I will write the story and then flesh out the facts later, when I don’t want to lose the momentum of the real writing. The facts can always be tidied up later – something I rue when I get to it! Why didn’t I just look this up at the time? Well, because you were too busy writing! There’s a lot of constant internal dialogue in my head about my writing, the process as well as the stories.
  13. How many hours a day/week do you write? I write every day. At least two hours a day, usually a lot more on weekends.
  14. How do you select the names of your characters? I find it tough! I study movie credits constantly, or names I see in newspapers. I think about people I have met, and do I have any connotations with that name? I prefer a name to not have any connotations at all but just fit the character. I often change the names a few times but Julia Redner was always Julia Redner. The main character names seem to come easier than the secondary ones. The secondary names are perhaps even more important than the protagonists because the names need to bring a volume of information and meaning and description, meanwhile you can take the time to actually describe the protagonist.
  15. What was your hardest scene to write? Banishing the evil spirit in The Occult Persuasion and the Anarchist’s Solution was very tough. As I was writing the scene, I noticed a series of blisters pop up on the inside of my wrist, in the shape of a serpent and I felt quite terrified. Later I realized that I had shingles. I told my husband it was the demon spirit and he said no, it was obviously a hard scene to write and it made it physically clear! In No Fury Like That, it was hard to write the final revenge scene – Julia went to great extremes to exact he revenge and I was concerned it was too much but people have likened it to Kill Bill which I thought was a great compliment! I think I need to work on having more tough scenes to write, it’s a good workout for the brain!
  16. Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?  If you write more than one, how do you balance them? I started off writing literary fiction but then I wanted to write more of a plotted book. Characterization comes fairly easily to me but plotting is much harder. I love reading crime novels and wondering how they came up with such intricate plots. So I set myself the challenge of writing novels with more layers of plot. I love imagining what could happen next and then, the domino effect that would have and how the characters will interact down the line. My novels have been called cross-genre or genre-bending, so I guess they just are what they are!
  17. How long have you been writing? I feel like I’ve been writing as long as I’ve been reading and I was a very early reader. Ever since I read Enid Blyton (I devoured her books), I tried to imagine myself coming up with stories like that. The Magic Faraway Tree was one of the first books I wish I had written!
  18. What inspires you?  Everything. Street art. Graffiti. Other people’s trash. I was recently on holiday in Auckland, New Zealand and I had a fine old time of it, rooting through the trash. I know, that sounds unhygienic and disgusting (and I do get some odd looks) but there are so many stories in what other people throw out. People on the subway or bus inspire me. Fashion inspires me. It’s ridiculous and extremely beautiful. People’s conversations inspire me. Movies, books, poetry, patterns in the clouds, stories in magazines or newspapers (I have cuttings from all over the world, snippets of things that could turn an idea into a character. Travel definitely inspires me.
  19. How do you find or make time to write? I am neglectful of cleaning the house, I eat the same food day after day (quite happily). I wear the same style of clothes. I minimize wasting time on a thing when I could be writing or planning a story. I put writing before meeting friends for a coffee, I shamefully neglect my husband (who thankfully is a sports fan and has his own photographic interests and doesn’t seem to mind!) I am distracted a lot, by whatever story is in my head. I limit my time on social media and miss a lot of what’s going on. I get behind on current affairs and things that are going on in the real world.
  20. What projects are you working on at the present? I am working on self-edits for Rotten Peaches. Those need to be completed by the end of January. Then I want to work on a new idea for a novel that came to me on my trip, Boomerang Beach. I wrote a hundred or so page longhand and I need to input them and see if there is anything there, and then I need to do a completely new second draft of another novel called The WeeGee Doll, after receiving great feedback from a writer friend of mine. Then I have a few short stories I want to sculpt.
  21. What do your plans for future projects include? As you can tell from the answers to 20, there is a lot on the go! And then there is always the promotion of the current book. I have a blog tour for planned for No Fury Like That for all of Feb, with Partners in Crime and I hope your readers will find it to be of interest.
  22. Share a link to your author website. I’d like to share the blog tour link if that’s okay? The blog tour hosts and I have quite the lineup planned! And let me take a moment to thank you for having me as a guest on your wonderful blog today. You and I go way back Dear Mandy, and it is with great joy that I celebrate your many writing successes with you.

Link to blog tour with Partners In Crime:

http://www.partnersincrimetours.net/no-fury-like-that-lisa-de-nikolits/

http://bit.ly/2lzkp0q (same link just shortened)

Other links

  • Facebook • Goodreads • Twitter • YouTube • LinkedIn • Instagram

 Where to order a copy of the book:

http://www.inanna.ca

http://amzn.to/2Cm9Rft (amazon.ca)

no-fury-web

Writing Prompt Wednesday

January 24, 2018
mandyevebarnett


9781608636921

Have you ever experienced something that just could not be logically explained?

This event happened when I was about nine or ten years old. My father was driving the car with my mother in the front seat and my three siblings and I in the back seat. (Years before seat belts!) We were  driving across Bucklebury Common, a familiar place to us all as we lived nearby.

There appeared an object in the clear blue sky that we thought at first was an plane. However, as it drew closer we could all see it was oval in shape, had a dark coloured exterior and did not reflect the sunlight.

My father slowed the car down (there were no other cars on the road) so he could see better and we all stared at the object, which just hung in the air – not moving up or down or in either direction – just perfectly still.

We are convinced it was a UFO but have no way of proving it as my father did not have his camera with him and it was decades before cell phones were invented.

To this day I sometimes reflect on  that experience. The object disappeared as quickly as it had come into view, seemingly in the blink of an eye – surely not a conventional mode of human transport.

UFO

Have you had an unexplained event? Why not share in the comments?

Genres of Literature – Historical Fiction

January 22, 2018
mandyevebarnett


Historical

Historical Fiction are novels with an historical setting in which fictional characters and events take place. Although some narratives do center around real historical figures this might be why definitions vary. The Historical Novel Society defines the genre as works written at least fifty years after the events described, while critic Sarah Johnson has defined the genre as being set before the middle of the last century (20th century). Her definition is based on the author having written from research rather than personal experience. Another view by Lynda Adamson states that some people read novels written in the past i.e. Jane Austen as if they were historical novels.

What is your definition of an historical novel?

No matter which definition you agree with, historical fiction is a literary fiction where the plot takes place in a setting in the past. These major historic events mostly take an ‘off stage’ part, while the characters inhabit the world in which they take place. Used as an umbrella term it can also be applied to works in other narrative formats, such as performing or visual arts like theater, cinema, television, opera and in more recent times video games and graphic novels.

The essential part of an historical novel is that it pays attention to the manners and social conditions that the era depicted ensuring the readers can understand why the characters respond in the manner they within their environments. Unfortunately, not all novels are accurate in their details and this causes tension about the historical authenticity  between readers and critics and even scholars.

Sub-genres 

Some sub-genres insert speculative or ahistorical elements into a novel such as alternative history of historical fantasy.

Other sub-genres include:

Documentary fiction

These novels incorporate not only historical characters and events but reports of everyday events found in 20th century newspapers.

Fictional biographies

A fictional biography of a historical figure.

Historical mysteries

Also known as historical whodunits, this sub-genre’s plot involves solving a mystery or crime with a setting in the distant past.

Historical romance and family sagas

Novels with a background detail set in a particular period, but that does not play a key role in the narrative. They can also contain more modern-day sensibilities, and more conventional characters in the novels would point out the heroine’s eccentricities, such as wanting to marry for love – not a true reflection of how the society worked at that time in most cases.

Alternative history and historical fantasy

Where the established history is changed with dramatic results or modern day characters return to the past and change it. And also narratives are loosely based on historical events but fantasy elements are added including sorcery and supernatural creatures.

Children’s historical fiction

This has become a prominent sub-genre resulting in narratives exploring other time periods via time travel or time portals transporting modern day characters. It allows children to learn and understand about different eras.

My medieval fantasy novella, The Rython Kingdom has elements of history through its characters but it is not historically correct in regards to the monarchy at that time.

Have you written historical fiction?

Was it strictly historically accurate or was it in one of the sub-genres?

 

 

 

 

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