Where Genres Collide Traci Dowe YA Author

Favorite Storytellers

Apr. 30, 2024

Loleta Abi

Who are some of your favorite storytellers? I have many. A lot of them in different genres. Some in long fiction, others in short. Some traditionally published, some Indie. Today, the focus is on: Nora Roberts.

Nora Roberts is known as one of the most prolific writers out there. I do love her stories, but I especially like her fantasy romances. They are usually done as a series of books with me impatient to read each one.

One series I’ve been trying to read (Yes, there still somewhere in the packed boxes in the garage, lol) is The Stars of Fortune trilogy. It’s about a dark goddess who faces off against three moon goddesses and the humans they send to defend Earth.

Each of Nora’s books features a couple, moving from the “weaker” to the “strongest” powers in the group at the end. I quite like this idea. You get the whole story from a set of different players. She brings the people together, one by one, until their group is whole.

In The Cousin O’Dyers trilogy, another of my favorites, a woman visits Ireland, having been told her relatives are from there. When she meets her cousin, she is startled to realize that the three are descendants from a dark witch that once fought a sorcerer who is back, trying to wreak havoc.

The stories are told with such eloquence, such depth, and great mystery that it just yanks you in and demands for you to hear their stories.  It’s like hearing about dark fairytales you might have been read to at one point or another. Scary and delightful but you always know you’re in good hands.

The Pagan Stone Chronicles were the first of her trilogies for me to read. I had just started to get bored with other romances and hadn’t quite gotten all the way into fantasy then. “The Pagan Stone” just sang to me of other worldly things, something I’ve come to pull into my own fiction. There’s a strangeness to them, a need to investigate, and wonder to keep you riveted.

So while, I haven’t quite got into her contemporaries and that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with them, her fantasy romances are my cup of tea. Each one makes my imagination soar and promises me a good read.

I even hope to write a series like these someday. They’re more into the areas that interest me. Before, I always thought I was heavily into the horror genre, but I’ve come to find fantasy is more of where I belong. There are horror elements in them but just that, horror elements. The whole story is not fully horror as it should be in that genre.

How about you? Do you like Nora Roberts? Any particular type? If not, who are some other notable writers that you love to read? Have a great week, take care, and God bless!

Some posts around the website that peaked my interest:

1. Entertaining Stories: Did I do it? | Entertaining Stories (wordpress.com)  stewed about breaking down my third act with too many section breaks. I managed to smooth away a couple of these, but some have to remain.

Today, I wrapped the story up with a bittersweet ending. I left a glimmer of hope for the future in the last two paragraphs.

This one kicked my butt, and took me longer than most stories, but I really like it. I used some new techniques, and learned by doing. That’s the most profitable part of this gig. Being a self published author isn’t about money. (Other than that going out the door.) Learning, improving, and getting better at what I do

It’s both a relief and an absolute collapse from exhaustion when completing a story. At least for me. I can sleep for a week. And then my elation kicks in. I did it! I stayed the course and produced a story! Nothing makes me happier. I like when writers talk shop. Craig opens up about his stories in a way that draws you in but doesn’t spoil things. Give him a read! And check out his fiction!

• D.G. Kaye Writer: Sunday Book Review – Cut and Thirst – #shortstory by Margaret Atwood – DGKayewriter.com hree women scheme to avenge an old friend in a darkly witty short story about loyalty, ambition, and delicious retribution by Margaret Atwood, the #1 bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Myrna, Leonie, and Chrissy meet every Thursday to sample fine cheeses, to reminisce about their former lives as professors, and lately, to muse about murder. Decades ago, a vicious cabal of male poets contrived—quite publicly and successfully—to undermine the writing career, confidence, and health of their dear friend Fern. Now, after Fern has taken a turn for the worse, her three old friends decide that it’s finally time to strike back—in secret, of course, since Fern is far too gentle to approve of a vendetta. All they need is a plan with suitably Shakespearean drama. But as sweet and satisfying as revenge can be, it’s not always so cut and dried.

Book reviews are some of the most important and kind things you can do for an author. They help them establish an audience for a book. What might not be your cup of tea, could be another person’s. Reading is a joy and a discovery for all. Why not share a book today?

• Library of Erana: Inspiration – A strange and fickle mistress – part 1 #Writing #AWritersLife – Library of Erana (wordpress.com) eople sometimes ask me – where do you get inspiration for your stories and poems? Often the people who ask that aren’t creatives (but not always). I’d assume other creatives would know, or at least understand what a fickle mistress the muse is.

Inspiration is strange, at least for me. Either it comes, and I get poked by stories, scenes, characters, ideas, words until I write, or nothing. Nada. Zilch. And it can pop up any time – often just when I’m not in a position to write (in the bath, in bed, at work) and I have to jot something down or hope I remember it for later. There’s not one specific thing that inspires me – everything, nothing, nature, news, other stories, random thoughts zinging about in a neurodiverse brain.

This reminds me of the Russian fairytale, The Bear and the Nightingale. I had never heard of kitchen imps before that.

• AC Flory: Andrew…who? | Meeka’s Mind (wordpress.com) “When parents I know heard about him [Andrea Tate] it was in December when he was jailed. So we’d never really heard about him before, but when we asked our teenage sons if they knew who he was, they all did know who he was, and we had no idea. And I found that really, really disturbing.”
  https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/abc-news-daily/what-teen-boys-see-in-andrew-tate/101887710

I found that really, really disturbing as well, and I wondered how many of you know how your sons and grandsons are being groomed?

Grooming is usually associated with sexual abuse, but it can also refer to mental and emotional brain washing. Teens without good role models will go searching for someone to emulate. Girls go looking for glamorous women on social media. Boys search for strong, successful men who make them feel good about themselves.

• Fiction Favorites: Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Prompt – Show | Fiction Favorites (johnwhowell.com) When will the brain-saving liquid show up? It has been an eternal minute since the process was engaged. It seems to me there might be a glitch in the brewing mechanism. No wait. There it is, the first few drops of Elixer slowly making their way to my cup. Finally complete, the first sip is a reminder to grab that clock. I set it for April 26th, 1924, with the location in London. The duration is two hours. When the plunger is pulled, we are immediately transported to Aeolian Hall in London.

Lucky us because we get to witness the first performance of Tzigane, a rhapsody for violin and orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. Tzigane, the title of which is derived from the generic European term for “gypsy,” was composed in a short time in 1924. The violinist performing is Jelly d’Arányi, who is of Hungarian descent. He is joined by Henri Gil-Marchex at the piano.

The premiere piece’s performance lasts eleven minutes, and the audience applause is deafening. Maurice is most famous for his Bolèro, which was written in 1928, so he clearly has 

Imagine being able to pounce into other times, to watch shows you wished.

• Smorgasbord Magazine: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Blogger Weekly – Book Reviews Toni Pike, #Interview Marcia Meara and Darlene Foster, #Cosymysteries Carla Loves to Read, #Writerlinks D.G. Kaye, #Shakespeare Rebecca Budd, #Laughter Pete Springer | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine (wordpress.com) Toni Pike shares her reviews for books 3 and 4 in the Harbor Pointe series… fantastic by the way…The Destination by D.L. Finn and The Seas of Time by D. Wallace Peach.

More book reviews!

• Chris the Story Reading Ape: Great Writing Tips, by AI and a Human – posted by Janice Wald… | Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog (thestoryreadingapeblog.com) Do you want to be a great writer? Then, you need this guide to great writing tips.

I asked today’s guest author what makes great writing. I also gave ChatGPT commands to tell me great writing tips.

• Writers Helping Writers: Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Nice Guy/Girl – WRITERS HELPING WRITERS® DESCRIPTION: Nice guys and girls are decent, kind, morally upright, and are generally liked by everyone. They’re similar in personality to the Girl or Boy Next Door, but while the latter is often a love interest for the protagonist, nice people make great friends and allies.

FICTIONAL EXAMPLES: Samwise Gamgee (The Lord of the Rings), Beth (Little Women), Cassian (A Court of Thorns and Roses), Neville Longbottom (the Harry Potter series), Goose (Top Gun)

Who doesn’t love a nice guy/girl? They often help the hero/ine succeed.

• Life in the Realm of Fantasy: #FineArtFriday – Children’s Games by Pieter Bruegel the Elder | Life in the Realm of Fantasy (conniejjasperson.com) itle: Children’s Games

Artist: Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Year: 1560

Type: Oil on panel

1. Roberta Writes: Roberta Writes – The Gift: A poem about cats for d’Verse Poetry Challenge #d’Verse #poetry #cats (roberta-writes.com) Here is your assignment! Choose one of the artworks contained herein, and write a poem inspired by the artwork. Simple enough, right? There’s just one catch–you may not use the word cat anywhere in your poem, including the title. Other feline terminology is acceptable. Do let us know which work you have chosen in your post.

1. Anne R. Allen: Agents: The Good, The Bad, The Downright Disgusting (annerallen.com) our agent is your representative in the publishing world. A good or great one will have wide knowledge of the current trends — are historicals hot? Is alien sci-fi romance coming up? Is medieval adventure staggering along on its last legs?

Your agent will know where best to target your work, which editors are looking for exactly what you’re writing, which publishers do a great job with your genre — and which ones don’t.

He/she will know which publishers are great with lit fic and which ones couldn’t place Leo Tolstoy with the perfect in-house editor if his/her life

Most of my contact with agents has been through the mail or emails. I had one interested once—until her company got investigated for fraud. She switched to a legit agency and never looked back.

1. Helping Writers Become Authors: 7 Growth Milestones to Build a Character Arc – Helping Writers Become Authors From KMW: On the one hand, deciding how to build a character arc is pretty simple: the character changes, the end. On the other hand, building a character arc can often seem monumentally overwhelming. How can we possibly take so nuanced and complex an experience as personal change and convey it realistically through the events of a story?

As you all know, I love tools that help writers zoom out to look at the big picture, allowing us to break down the complexity of creating a story into simpler categories. Today, I’m pleased to share with you a guest post from Becca Puglisi, of Writers Helping Writers and co-author of The Emotion Thesaurus, that offers an accessible tool for creating, enhancing, and guiding your characters’ P

This goes along with what I’ve been learning in Apex classes. Always push your character and show the growth they go to do better. It really makes their humanity shine as they win or lose.

1. Horror Book Reviews: Book Review for The Witches of Wildwood Cape May Horror Stories and Other Scary Tales from the Jersey Shore by Mark Wesley – Horror Novel Reviews The Witches of Wildwood Cape May Horror Stories and Other Scary Tales from the Jersey Shore, by Mark Wesley Curran, is a collection of short horror stories (plus one novella) about supernatural mishaps, evil or otherwise, that exist in New Jersey. Whether it be love gone wrong, or tragedies intertwining with paranormal mayhem, Curran taunts his readers with visages of the dark, all the while gaslighting them as to whether or not they’re real. 

I absolutely loved The Girl in the Attic. The psychological twist as to whether or not the girl-next-door is a vampire reminds me of books where the protagonist questions whether or not the person really is who they say they are. The same could be said for a story like Dante’s Inferno at Castle Dracula;

Book Reviews!!

1. Steve Laube Agency: The Goofy English Language – (stevelaube.com)  stumbled over this poem about odd plurals in the English language. There was no attribution. If you know who wrote it, please let me know so I can give proper c