Linda Covella, Author

My theme for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge is Creativity. Today, I discuss Brainstorming!

This is an interesting 2012 article from The New Yorker on brainstorming.

According to the article, brainstorming is a concept created by Alex Osborn, an advertising professional who wrote: “The more you rub your creative lamp, the more alive you feel.” He presented his idea of brainstorming in his book Your Creative Power published in 1948.

The article—and Osborn’s concept—focus on group brainstorming. Of Osborn’s “rules for brainstorming,” he felt the most important to be the absence of criticism and negative feedback. “Creativity is so delicate a flower,” he wrote, “that praise tends to make it bloom while discouragement often nips it in the bud.”

Now, from the results of various studies, some have concluded that brainstorming doesn’t work. Their premise for this conclusion is, as Charlan Nemeth, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley said after a 2003 study, “While the instruction ‘Do not criticize’ is often cited as the important instruction in brainstorming, this appears to be a counterproductive strategy. Our findings show that debate and criticism do not inhibit ideas but, rather, stimulate them relative to every other condition.”

I can see their point that conflict can be stimulating, but I also believe brainstorming can be a good thing to boost your creativity. I believe brainstorming takes you out of the constrictions you may have placed yourself in (most likely unconsciously), making it difficult to “think outside the box,” thus inhibiting your creativity.

And brainstorming doesn’t have to be only used in group activities. It’s a great tool to use for yourself, no matter what your creative outlet is.

Many professionals promote the use of mind maps. I’ve never used one, but they look like they could be a good tool. I’m not going to go into that in this post, but there’s lots of information about mind mapping on the web. Here’s one article if you’re interested.

Today, I just want to touch on basic brainstorming.

There are different methods for brainstorming. One article suggested timing your brainstorming session, but for me that would add tension, making your brainstorming session counterproductive.

For your brainstorming session, you should find a quiet place by yourself where you won’t be disturbed.

Write down everything that comes to mind, no matter how dumb it may sound. Remember, nobody but you needs to read the notes from your brainstorming session. Osborn wrote: “Forget quality; aim now to get a quantity of answers. When you’re through, your sheet of paper may be so full of ridiculous nonsense that you’ll be disgusted. Never mind. You’re loosening up your unfettered imagination—making your mind deliver.”

Once you’re done brainstorming, you can organize your ideas into categories. You can also expand on the ones that appeal to you, and set aside the ones that you think won’t work. (I wouldn’t get rid of them entirely. What came from your subconscious may be valuable later!)

It’s best to implement your ideas while they’re still fresh, at least in rough form, such as a rough draft if you’re writing.

What’s your opinion on brainstorming? Do you think it’s a good tool to unleash your creativity?

My theme for this A to Z challenge is Creativity.

By definition, creativity means having the ability or power to create. This ability is characterized by originality, expressiveness, and imagination.

I believe we all have the ability to be creative. I think some people are afraid to express their creativity for a variety of reasons:

“I’m not good enough.”

“I don’t have any artistic ability.”

“I might fail.”

“I’ll embarrass myself.”

In this A to Z blog challenge, I’ll be giving my thoughts on these concerns. I’ll explore how creativity can mean different things to different people, how each individual can be (and probably is without realizing it) creative in his or her own right, and how to nurture your creativity.

Let’s look at that definition again, how the ability to be creative is characterized:

Originality: that means “you.” Each of you is an original, and what you create can be original, too, if it comes from your heart, your soul, your brain.

Expressiveness: Expressing what you feel, what you see around you, how life and people and things affect you.

Imagination: We all have an imagination. It’s our dreams, our fantasies, our hopes. It’s what scares us, and what makes us laugh or cry. Think of these things and then go beyond that to see where your imagination takes you.

I’m excited about this challenge and exploring creativity with you. Please join in on the conversation—I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Silvia Villalobos, writer, prior critique partner, and online friend (we have yet to meet in person, and I look forward to that day!), invited me to join the “My Writing Process” blog hop. I’m always interested in hearing how other writers get their stories down on paper. Each has a different process, so hop around to the different blogs and enjoy these “behind the scenes” takes on writing.  Check out Silvia’s blog here. She always has inspiring and insightful posts!

What am I working on?

I recently signed a contract with Astraea Press for my young adult historical novel Yakimali’s Gift. I don’t have a release date yet, but I’m preparing for marketing and promotion now so I’m ready to go when the publication date is close.

I just finished revising a middle grade paranormal story The Castle Blues Quake that I’ll begin submitting to agents.

I want to do a major revision for another completed middle grade novel Cryptogram Chaos, this one an adventure story.

And, I plan to start research soon for a sequel to Yakimali’s Gift, which will require a lot of time.

With all this, plus helping my husband with our small business, I’m going to be quite busy!

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

This is a difficult question to answer.

Most of the historical fiction published has a sub-genre: Historical romance, historical fantasy, etc. Yakimali’s Gift is closer to straight historical fiction. Though there is romance in the story, and that’s an important aspect of it, there’s also a focus on the main character, Fernanda, who is half Pima Indian and half Spanish, finding her place in the world and learning about her Pima ancestry.

I believe my two middle grade novels have some unique premises, and hope an agent and/or publisher thinks so, too!

Why do I write what I do?

I love writing for children, having them as my audience. Kids and teens have such unique perspectives on life. I absolutely love hearing what’s on a kid’s mind—at any age.

The youngsters are always fun to watch as they show their amazement and delight with each new discovery—discoveries that we have long since taken for granted.

During the middle-school years, kids are starting to come into their own, learning who they are and flexing their maturity muscles. Their independence is beginning to flourish as they start to question things and form their own ideas and opinions.

I have a great respect for teens. By that age, they’ve developed their own one-of-a-kind personalities and strong viewpoints on all sorts of topics. They begin to test and stretch the limits that are attempting to rein them in. Believe it or not, I can still remember those feelings from my own teen years, and it’s an exhilarating time of life.

I think writing for kids keeps me in touch with the feelings from my childhood. It also encourages me to keep an open mind when I’m with kids, to remind me they are unique individuals, and to give them that respect.

How does my writing process work? 

The most difficult and complicated part of the writing process is the beginning.

~A. B. Yehoshua

“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

~E. L. Doctorow

These two quotes pretty much sum up my writing process.

It’s always difficult for me to get started. For me, first drafts are the most difficult part of writing. But once I get past that, I absolutely love revising—searching for that perfect word or phrase, developing the characters, refining the plot. I could keep revising a story (almost) forever!

The second quote describes my style as I make my way through the first draft. I know many authors do detailed outlines before they start writing. That’s not me. I have an idea for a story, I know the general plot and the main characters, and I start writing. Along the way, things happen that I never planned on. Characters appear that I previously had never imagined. I love that part of writing. Maybe it takes longer and maybe it requires more revision later, but that’s the joy I find in writing.

Each writer is different. There’s no right or wrong way. And that’s what makes this blog hop interesting!

Thanks again to Silvia for the invite. I’m tagging two other writers to share their process, typically posted on a Monday: friend and long-time critique partner Dale Ibitz who has three published books in her Last Moon Rising series and a fourth book Kiss Me Dead soon to be released through Soul Mate Publishing, and fellow blogger Aubrey Wynne who writes and reviews books in the Historical Romance genre, as well as other genres. Please check out their blogs for more inspiration on writing!

For the first time, I’ll be joining the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge takes place throughout the month of April, and each day (except Sunday), you write a blog focused on each letter of the alphabet in sequential order.

So, on April 1^st, the blog topic will have something to do with the letter A, for instance, write about apples. April 2^nd, the topic must be focused on the letter B, for instance, write about bananas. You get the idea.

The organizers of the challenge suggest you have a theme for all your blogs, for instance, fruit! They also suggest making your blogs short—100 to 300 words–so you aren’t burned out by mid-April.

Hundreds of bloggers have signed up for the challenge, and there’s still time if you’re interested.

I think it will be hard work, but also a lot of fun. Another advantage is you meet other bloggers, which is nice to have more blogger friends, interesting blogs to read, and more exposure for your own blog.

My Theme

My theme for the blog challenge is Creativity. As a writer, I believe that’s an important characteristic to have and to nurture. But you don’t have to be a writer, or an artist, or an actor to express your creativity. Think about it. Creativity means, to me, expanding your mind, digging deeper into whatever talent you might have. Even mathematicians and scientists express their creativity as they search for new solutions to problems.

So I’ll be exploring different aspects of creativity during the blog challenge. I hope you’ll join me in this April adventure!

I told you recently about my new book contract with Astraea Press. Once the contract was signed, the next step was to do “pre-edits” and fill out forms from my “new author packet.” Wow, that sounds nice!

Author Involvement

I’m really impressed how organized Astraea Press is and how they involve the author in the process. The forms included a promotion sheet, which I returned to the publicist. I answered such questions as what are some interesting things about my book, why will someone want to read it, and how I plan to promote the book. Yes, even though Astraea Press will help me with marketing, I will do some of my own marketing. These days, whether you’re with a large or small press, you’re expected to help out with promoting your book. There is so much you can do today, and I’ll discuss my plans in a later blog.

Another form asked me to provide tags, a tagline, a short blurb, and a back cover blurb. I already had the two blurbs, so the hardest one was the tagline. This is a one-sentence “catch phrase” for your book, the line you sometimes see on a book’s cover. I won’t go into detail here because there many blogs, etc., which talk about creating a tagline. Here’s one I found helpful. And this one talks about taglines versus loglines.

In the last form, I had to provide information about the cover. I love that Astraea Press asks this of their authors. I often hear authors mourn the fact that they don’t have any say in how their cover will look. I think this is very common with the major publishers. Astraea Press asked for relevant symbols or objects from my story, detailed descriptions of my hero and heroine, what I would like to see on the cover, and what I don’t want to see.

Pre-Edits

When you sign with a publisher, expect your book to go through an editing process. Consider this a good thing! No writer’s manuscript is perfect, and you’ll feel better that your editor caught errors instead of a reader.

Astraea Press asks the author to do “pre-edits” before sending the manuscript. They provide guidelines, which include removing excessive adverbs, varying sentence structure, formatting according to their standards (no bold chapter titles, how to set apart scene changes, etc.), and removing overused words such as that, very, really, smiled, looked, turned, and grinned.

You’ll probably be surprised if you search your manuscript for these words and find how many times you’ve used them. Often the word (such as “that”) is not even necessary. Removing words such as turned, smiled, looked, and grinned will force you to dig deeper into the story and characters. For instance, “smiled” can be replaced with dialogue, gestures, and actions that show the character smiling. It’s harder than just writing “she smiled,” but your story will be stronger. This Word Frequency Counter is an eye-opening program that shows just how much you’ve overused certain words.

Have you had an editing experience with a publisher? Please share it, or tell us how you edit your manuscripts.

Welcome to the Book Tour & Giveaway for Constructing Marcus by Danielle DeVor. You can find Danielle’s complete tour schedule at MythBehaving Book Tours.

I’m excited to be a part of Danielle DeVor’s book tour. She’s with us today to answer a few questions about her writing and her road to publication. After the interview, keep reading for more info about the book, about Danielle, and…about the GIVEAWAY!

On Danielle’s Writing:

Linda Covella: Welcome, Danielle! How long have you been a writer?

Danielle DeVor: Probably almost as soon as I could write a sentence. I was always making up something.

LC: Do you write in one particular genre, or explore a variety of stories?

DD: I mostly write dark fantasy/horror, but I’ve branched out into YA Paranormal Romance and Thrillers.

LC: From where do you get your inspiration for your stories?

DD: Just about anywhere. My latest idea stems from an old episode of The Twilight Zone.

LC: What is your writing process? How much/often do you write?

DD: I sit down with a steno pad and a pen. I definitely write without outlines, etc. I tend to keep working on some project or another. One day I can write 300 words and the next I can crank out over 2k.

LC: Do you have writing partners who critique your work before submission? Why do or why don’t you think this is important?

DD: I have a group of beta readers I work with for every book. I think it is important because you can’t always catch everything yourself.

Danielle’s Road to Publication:

LC: How long have you actively been pursuing publication?

DD: Roughly since 2011.

LC: Do you have an agent? If yes, how did you go about finding him/her and what have the benefits been to having an agent?

If not, do you think an agent would be helpful to your writing career/do you plan to seek an agent?

DD: I don’t currently have an agent, but I think one would be useful if someone suddenly wanted to make a film out of one of my books.

LC: Is your new release, Constructing Marcus, your first publication? Please tell us a bit about Constructing Marcus.

DD: Constructing Marcus is the 2nd book I’ve had published. It is about a young girl who discovers her new house is haunted, but not by a ghost. [See below for a synopsis.]

LC: Have you self-published or gone through a traditional publisher?

If self-published, why did you go that route? Or, why a traditional publisher?

In your view, what are the pros and cons of each?

DD: So far, I have only published through small presses. I plan on self-publishing a short story very soon though. I think there are pro’s and cons to all types of publishing. Right now, I’m comfortable with how things are going.

LC: Are you a full-time writer, or do you have a “day job.” If you have a day job, do you wish to share what you do? And…if you could have any job (besides being a writer), what profession would you choose?

DD: Writing is technically my day job, but I also teach people how to fit pointe shoes (the hard toed shoes ballerinas wear).

LC: What’s up next for Author Danielle DeVor?

DD: I have three books coming out in 2014. The first is Dark Horse, a YA Thriller. The second is The Devil’s Liege, which is the sequel to my book, Tail of the Devil. And finally, there is Sorrow’s Edge, which is the sequel to my book, Sorrow’s Point.

LC: Anything you’d like to add or that we should know about you?

DD: That I appreciate you hosting me on your site. This has been a fun interview.

Sixteen-year-old ghost hunter, Emma Hoffman thought that moving into an old Victorian was going to be awesome– ghosts galore.

Much to her delight, she discovers that the house is haunted—not by a ghost, but by a construct (a spirit created to be a servant). As she gets to know Marcus, the construct, he asks her to help him avenge his maker and find her killer. Emma’s not too sure this is a good idea, she’s a ghost hunter after all, not a detective, but she agrees to help him anyway.

While trying to discover more information about the killer, Emma begins to have feelings for Marcus- feelings she isn’t ready to admit. Then the sorcerer who killed Marcus’s maker shows up at Emma’s house with an insane plan to capture Marcus and absorb his power- Emma isn’t having it. Marcus is hers.

When the killer performs a spell that begins to steal Marcus’s life force, Emma risks losing him. It’s a race against time for Emma to figure out how to stop the sorcerer and his spell before Marcus fades away and disappears from her life forever.

Danielle DeVor

Danielle DeVor spent her early years fantasizing about vampires and watching “Salem’s Lot” way too many times. After living briefly in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she moved back to her hometown to write. When not writing and reading about weird things, you will find her hanging out at the nearest coffee shop, enjoying a mocha frappuccino.

Danielle has been on a writing roll this year! With the release of Tail of the Devil, Constructing Marcus and Sorrow’s Point she already has three books out.

You can find Tail of the Devil and Sorrow’s Point at Amazon.

Buy Links for Constructing Marcus

 GIVEAWAY

Win one of two prizes:

ONE – $10 Amazon Gift Card

ONE – eCopt of TAIL OF THE DEVIL by Danielle DeVor

Must be 13+ to enter.

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

Danielle’s links:

Danielle’s Website

Danielle on Twitter

Danielle on Facebook

Danielle on Goodreads

This tour is brought to you by

I’m very excited to announce that I have signed a contract with Astraea Press for publication of my young adult historical novel Yakimali’s Gift.

Reminder: Never Give Up!

As some of you might remember, I had a contract for Yakimali’s Gift with another publisher, and my book was slated for release in December 2013. Then, months before that, the publisher went out of business. As you can imagine, I was devastated. It took a lot of determination to not give up and to start over with my submissions. But I did. And now here I am with another contract! I could have easily thrown in the towel, but you see what can happen when you Never Give Up!

Two Offers

When I received an offer from one publisher, I was thrilled, to say the least. Then, a few days later, another offer came in, something I never imagined happening. When I floated back down from my ecstatic ride on cloud nine, I looked over each publisher’s website, and then emailed them questions. I was interested in whether they worked with a distributor, how many books they planned on publishing in the coming months and years, and what type of marketing (if any) they did for their authors.

I also checked out their covers, the professionalism of their websites, and how many books they had published. And since both were small presses, how long they’d been in business.

Negotiation

The next step was to negotiate the contracts. I pulled out my trusty book, Negotiating a Book Contract by Mark L. Levine, which I’d purchased for my previous contract. I also used that contract as a guide. Both publishers were willing to make most of the changes I requested, making my decision that much more difficult.

I had a good rapport with both the editors I was communicating with; each publisher had pluses the other one didn’t. So it came down to weighing those pluses, which ones were most important to me, that helped me make my final choice.

In the end, I’m very happy with my decision, and look forward to working with Stephanie Taylor and her team at Astraea Press!

Signed, Sealed and Delivered

I have my “new author package” (doesn’t that sound cool!) and the next step will be editing. I get to have input on the cover, and they’ve asked for other information to help them set up a marketing and promotion plan for me.

I have a lot of work ahead of me, including adding my own marketing efforts. But it’s work that I’m so excited about doing. I’m so ready for this!

Remember…if you have a dream, a dream you’re trying hard to achieve—whether it’s publication or something else—never ever give up. Never Give Up.

I have some favorite “how-to” books on writing: Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee; Wired for Story by Lisa Cron; Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott; Take Joy by Jane Yolen; and the Elements of Fiction Writing series published by Writer’s Digest Books.

I have a new book to add to the list: Back to Creative Writing School by Bridget Whelan.

Whelan, a writing teacher and fiction and nonfiction author, organizes her book into three “terms.” The book is easy to read and strewn with interesting facts, references, and examples from well-known authors.  Each section ends with exercises—helpful for your current WIP (work in progress) or a future story. Indeed, some of the lessons might provide inspiration for new stories.

Term One

The chapters in this section tackle such subjects as picking characters’ names (more on that in the chapter “Inventing People”), choosing titles, fresh writing vs. clichés, showing instead of telling by evoking all the senses in your writing, and even practicing poetry writing.

Before you groan, Whelan admits she’s not a poet, but shows how trying your hand at poetry can make “you think about using language with precision.” I think her fun exercise also helps you search for new language, to appreciate the beauty of words and the choices available to you as a writer. Related to this, she talks about the “Music in Words” in a later chapter.

In “Descriptions that Multi-task,” Whelan explains: Too much description and the reader might not bother to hang around… Too little and the reader might not care where the journey is heading.

Term Two

This section begins with “getting over the fear of starting and having the courage to write even though you don’t know where you are going.” This is something all writers experience—staring at the blank page, the dead weight of your hands and your mind keeping you from getting started. Whelan’s exercises will help you get some words onto that blank page!

Term Two includes a chapter on writing dialogue, as well as chapters that will show you how (and challenge you) to create mood, atmosphere, emotions, and suspense.

Writing humor might be something you wish you could do, or something you have no interest in pursuing. Either way, Whelan says you should give it a try because fiction writing is “a question of light and dark. The dark will seem darker if there are moments of lightness,” and “comedy is all about confounding expectations.” Her exercise in this chapter is helpful for any type of writing—and it’s fun!

Term Three

This last section delves deeper into the writing process with such chapters as finding characters in unlikely places, prose poetry, writing horror and magical realism, more on humor, and writing book reviews.

The book ends with a “Suggested Reading” list for further study.

I read Back to Creative Writing School for this review (Whelan provided me with a free copy and asked if I would be interested in reviewing it), but I didn’t do all the exercises. I’m so impressed with this book, I plan to reread it and do each and every exercise!

About Bridget Whelan: Bridget Whelan is a London Irish writer now living on the south coast of England. A lecturer in non-fiction at Goldsmiths College—the leading creative university of the UK—just two years after graduating from the MA creative writing programme, she now teaches at many locations in Southeast England and was Writer in Residence at a community centre serving the unemployed and low-waged. Her own writing career was launched when she won first prize in an international short story competition, and she was granted an Arts Council bursary to complete her first novel A Good Confession set in 1960s Ireland and London. For more information, visit Whelan at her website.

Boy-o-boy, it’s hard to believe that January 2014 is almost over! I had a tough beginning to the new year with a bad cold that lasted two weeks. I rarely get sick, and if I do, I’m usually over it in a day or two. But this one hit me hard. I know many people have suffered or are suffering from a cold or the flu. I hope you all feel better soon!

I haven’t been completely idle, though. I’ve been writing—mostly revisiting and rewriting some older stories. And I’ve been submitting to a few agents and publishers. I also have some business ideas on the back burner, which I want to start pursuing ASAP.

I’m looking at joining this year’s A-to-Z Blog Challenge in which you blog every day in April except Saturdays and Sundays. Each blog subject should begin with a letter of the alphabet, consecutively following the alphabet from A to Z. For instance, your first blog might be about Apples. For the next one you might ponder the meditative benefits of Basket weaving. And so on. Experienced A-to-Z bloggers suggest you choose a theme for the challenge, and then come up with your daily topics before the challenge begins. If any of you have participated before, I’d love to hear what your experience was like. Who’s tackling the challenge this year?

 So…I’m revving up to make 2014 a fun and productive year! What are your goals and/or resolutions for 2014?

It’s not too late to donate food, books, toys or your time this holiday season. Following is a list of charities that will be thrilled to receive your donations. The smallest gift can make the biggest difference to a child’s or family’s holiday. If you don’t live in the Bay Area, check these websites for online donations.

Sacred Heart Community Service in San Jose needs donations by Friday 12/20/2013. According to a San Jose Mercury News article, the charity is running low on toys and books for low-income children. To put into perspective how many children they serve for Christmas, they’re short 9,000 toys and books!

This article from KTVU has a comprehensive list of charities broken down by Bay Area counties. Some of the charities make it easy to donate online. The Family Giving Tree has a donation page that allows you to donate money that will go toward fulfilling children’s specific gift wishes.

Here in Santa Cruz County, we have a Toys for Tots organization with drop-off sites in Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz, Capitola, Aptos, Watsonville and Corralitos/Pajaro Dunes. All the donations go to local kids, and the charity is especially in need of gifts for girls ages 10-14, books for early readers, Spanish/English books, batteries and bike helmets. Check out this website for other Toys for Tots locations throughout the country and where you can also make a donation online.

The Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz does a wonderful job of providing help to those in need year round, and they have holiday programs in need of volunteers who can help provide food and gifts to low-income families.

I imagine for most of us, no matter how much we may be struggling financially, there’s someone struggling even more. ‘Tis the season to make that someone’s holiday bright!

I wish you all a very merry celebration of the season, a happy new year, and a fabulous 2014!