Writers Authors On Fire podcast

Mark Schlichting describes himself as writing in the trans-media arena. Here's the link to Mark's Show Notes page with interview highlights and quotes, links to his books, and to his websites and social media connections.

By training, Mark is an artist and an animator. In his younger days, he was the art director for a small publishing company. He transitioned into video and video games. He loved children's picture books and the challenge to bring a book alive. Mark was also interested in reading and how kid's learned to read, which led him to study child development. Mark's book, Harry and the Haunted House was turned from a paper book into an interactive digital product - an app. The digital app version has outsold the print version. Mark stresses that you have to think about how you are going to create the interaction between text, pictures, and the story elements. Many children's books are being turned into apps that appeal to today's digital minded kids. Mark talks about writing Harry and the Haunted House with the idea of making it an interactive book. Mark ends with an excellent explanation into the power of surprise and it's role in storytelling.

Jenna Victoria is a journalist who writes inspirational Christian romance and suspense. Here's the link to Jenna's Show Notes page with interview highlights and quotes, her book, and to her website and social media connections.

Jenna used reading, and later writing, as an escape mechanism in her younger years. In high school, she was appointed as the editor of the school newspaper. In college she studied journalism and wrote for a newspaper. Now, writing fiction, she laughs when saying she's the queen of unfinshed fiction. She offers advice for those with unfinished manuscripts as she tells the story of getting her first book accepted and published. Her first writers conference, unknown to her at the time, was about witches and warlocks, paranormal, and more. Out of that experience came her tagline, fiction that feeds your faith. Her chemo treatments for cancer make writing challenging and she shares how she writes through fatigue and focus problems. Jenna goes in-depth into researching and writing War of the Heart, her Christmas novella that uses a snow globe to introduce time travel back to 1940. Her novella is one in a series of romance books, in multiple collections that feature snow globes and time travel. Her suggestions on how writers can tell if their ideas are good is excellent. 

In this special episode we recap episodes 51-75 of Writers & Authors on Fire. Here's the link to the Show Notes page for the special recap show.

We'll go from episode 051 to episode 075 with a short description of the show and then share a short clip from the interview. You will learn about authors, what they shared, and in their words, a bit of wisdom culled from their interview. These 25 episodes are entertaining, but more important, informative as they share what they have learned about writing, their tips and advice, and the exciting direction their writing journey has taken them. It is our hope that the short clips might entice you to listen to the full shows.

The 25 include authors of general fiction - novels of all types and for all ages, humor, romance fiction, coloring books, outdoor books, trail guides, mystery and suspense, writing for children, girls, devotionals, personal stories of struggles of health and faith, and more. Each interview is unique and each will provide you with tips, advice, and learnings you can apply to your writing.

Be sure to check each episode's show notes page to read highlights and tips, see their books titles, and find out how to connect with the guests. You can see a complete list of all podcasts at http://www.writersauthorsonfire.com/podcasts/

Clive Riddle has three books about zombie thrillers and the supernatural with elements of science fiction. Here's the link to the Clive's Show Notes Page for highlights, quotes, and links to his books, website, and social media connections.

Clive's first book included supernatural events. He has always been a big fan of science fiction. His two most recent books are about zombies, but he does not follow the classic zombie apocalypse format. Instead he brings in elements of science fiction. His first zombie book, The Burning Z, takes place at the Burning Man Festival. The Z Tailgate, his third book, is a sequel to The Burning Z. In this interview we talk about writing zombie thrillers and supernatural stories, plot lines, character development, developing the story line, deviating from the classic zombie format, adding elements of science fiction, knowing your audience, and more.

Dr. Michelle Bengtson is the author of Hope Prevails, a book about depression. Here's a link to the Show Notes page with highlights, quotes, and links to her book, website, and social media connections.

Dr. Bengtson is a neuropsychologist, meaning she assesses brain behavioral relationships, and makes diagnosis of different conditions of the brain. In her spare time, she writes and speaks. Her new book, Hope Prevails: Insights from a Doctor's Personal Journey through Depression is for those suffering from depression, their families and those wanting to help them - and those who are struggling with the lies they believe about their self worth. Overall, one in four adults are likely to experience depression in their lifetime. Hope Prevails comes from Michelle's personal experience with depression and her training as a neuropsychologist and finding what she was prescribing for her patients didn't fully work for her. This led to the discovery of the spiritual component to resolving depression. She confesses the book was gut wrenching to write. It's written as a prescriptive rather than a memoir, with parts of her story thrown in - from a doctor's perspective. Hope Prevails not only helps those with depression, but anyone working through difficult times and struggles in their lives. She shares her honest struggle with writing book proposals. Finally, Michelle shares from her heart as she talks about challenges and obstacles to writing, and how being vulnerable in her depression story has brought hope and healing to others.

Sydney Avey has written two literary fiction novels about the human experience. Here's the link the Sydney's Show Notes with highlights, quotes, and links to her books, website, and social media connections.

Sydney saw writing as a lifestyle - a way of life, and she knew her life would change as she got into writing. Her husband supported her desire to write and they both talked about the costs of doing this. Friendships and commitments changed. Her love of writing began with assignments to write poetry in the 3rd grade. She wrote all the way through school and college. She wrote for magazines, journals, and literary magazines, even winning a silver pen award for a letter to the editor. Those all affirmed her desire to write and provided great connections to other writers. She values the collaborative effort between authors and the editor and publisher - knowing her work would be better because of it. We talk about her writing processes, story development, plot and character development, creating a timeline for the story, trying one novel into the previous one, thinking about your audience, and more. She talks about the fun of writing in Scrivener. Sydney shares the importance of knowing how your novel ends, understanding the two paths of writing and which brings you joy, and more.

Susie Finkbeiner is the author of successful historical and contemporary fiction books—but offer a whole lot more. Here's the link to Susie's Show Notes page for quotes, highlights, links to her books, and links to her website and social media connections.

After two successful contemporary contemporary fiction books, Susie made the switch to historical fiction—and loves it. She takes us through her process of writing A Cup Of Dust, a depression era novel centered around the dust bowl. She relates the experience of rewriting Paint Chips 11 times and how her writing has changed in the years since. She stresses the importance of writing in other areas, working on social media, blogging, and getting your work out there as good exposure. Susie walks us through lessons she learned on her way to become published. Other topics included tips on finding and getting an agent, the collaborative efforts of working with an editor and publisher, and the problems with reading your books after they're published. The perfect interview for fiction writers.

Kelly Klepfer and Michelle Griep have a new book just released, Out of the Frying Pan - a cozy mystery with murder on the side. Here's the link to Kelly and Michelle's Show Notes Page with highlights, quotes, links to their books, and links to their websites and social media connections.

The book is loaded with humor and romance. We laughed our way through the interview. We talked about character development and who wrote what, scene transitions, the difficulties and the value of writing together, the strength of the book idea, how they worked together, plot versus character, communication back and forth, marketing, and more.

Dony Jay ioves reading in the spy thriller genre, so it made sense for his first book to be a spy thriller. Here's the link to Dony's Show Notes page with show highlights, quotes, links to his book, and link to his website and social media.

The Warrior Spy is his first book, with a second due out later in 2016. After years of reading other spy thrillers, he decided to write his own story with a Christian faith worldview. After not finding an agent, he decided to publish The Warrior Spy on his own. The main character, Regan Rainey, is developed after Dony's love of George Washington. Dony shares how he balances the faith element in the book with the rest of the gritty story. We talk about his writing process with scenes and dialogue. 

Giacomo Giammatteo writes what he loves to read - hard-boiled gritty mysteries. Here's the link to the Show Notes page for Giacomo's interview, show highlights quotes, his books, and he website and social media connections.

Giacomo has eight fiction books in three different series and two books in a nonfiction series. He writes what he knows, believing in the power of a well-told story, and does extensive outlining and synopsis building before starting to write his books. He spends much of that energy on character development, feeling that building likable and strong characters are what keeps his readers coming back to read more of his books. He stresses the use of beta readers for their feedback. Coming back from a year of medical struggles, he's back to writing with a goal on one new book per year in each of his series.