Bethany Maines drinks from an arsenic mug

Rewrite Time

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Time for a Rewrite

With Christmas just past and the long stretch of post holiday free time ahead (that’s a joke, there’s no free time, just more gray skies) it must be time to launch into a new project.  Or perhaps just rehash, reimagine, and rewrite an old one. I’m mid-way through turning my Christmas novella Winter Wonderland into a feature script. With plenty of Christmas magic and romance it’s a Christmas love story with missing diamond and a mystery in the middle. Which I think would make a great not-quite Hallmark movie.

So How Does That Work?

So how do you turn a novella into a movie? Rewrite! Not everything in a book can go directly into a script. The reason we love an actor who can convey a full range of emotion and the internal workings of their mind with just their face is because we don’t get to hear what’s going on in their heads the way we can in a book.  So for a script I have to find ways to translate some of those internal moments into external dialogue and events.  And sometimes that means changing up events, adding characters or giving existing characters some new dialogue.

Other People Have Thoughts Too

I’m still exploring the world of scripts and figuring out the process, but one of the things I have learned is the need to determine who I want to produce my script and then tailor it to meet their standards. Hallmark has pretty specific thoughts on swearing (no!) and Christmas (put it in every scene!).  But the format it’s filmed for can also affect the script.  If it’s intended for TV I might want to look particularly hard at some of the scene endings to make sure they’re a little bit of a cliff hanger to pull people back after commercial breaks.  And all of this means that my perfect little gem of a novella will need… (you guessed it) rewrites.

And How Does That Make You Feel?

Well, I can’t say that rewrites are something I look forward to. But sometimes they offer an opportunity to rethink something I wasn’t quite happy with, or flesh out a side character that didn’t get the time they deserved. Trying to reconfigure a story for a new format can be a challenge, but it can also be pretty fun. I’ll let you know what this one turns out to be.

Learn More About Winter Wonderland

When a Marcus Winter, a photographer with a bah humbug take on the holidays, meets Larissa Frost, a set designer who loves all things Christmas, sparks are destined to fly, but when a famous diamond goes missing from the shoot they’re working on Larissa finds that Marcus may be the only one who can keep her from being framed for a crime she didn’t commit.

BUY NOW: https://books2read.com/Winter-Wonderland

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Bethany Maines drinks from an arsenic mugBethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay).  You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Happy Holiday!

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Let Us Eat Cake

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Read more

Advent Ghosts or Who Can Write the Most Frightening Drabble?

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by Paula Gail Benson

For thirteen years, Loren Eaton has hosted an event called Advent Ghosts to celebrate the tradition made famous by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which is to entertain readers and listeners with holiday stories featuring the paranormal. Scary, spooky, or simply speculative fiction is welcome — with one required element — each story must be a “drabble,” or exactly one hundred words.

I joined the fun in 2016 with “Ever Here,” about a spouse lost in a flood who is commemorated by the remaining spouse at Christmas. During 2019, I experimented with a number of fairy tale drabbles. In 2020, I contributed “Tribute,” where an undecorated tombstone is pitied by the living and adorned by the dead. For 2021, I relied upon Icelandic legend with “The Yule Cat’s Fury.” This year, I dealt with family loss and a neglected Advent calendar in “Traditions.”

Moriah Richard’s Writer’s Digest article, “What is a Drabble in Writing?” explains: “The term itself is said to come from Monty Python’s 1971 Big Red Book, which describes a game called Drabble where players compete to write a novel. In the 1980s, the Birmingham University SF society is credited for setting the story’s length at 100 words.”

Richard goes on to note that other short forms have developed from drabble, including the dribble (55 words), the double drabble (200 words), the trabble (300 words), and the pentadrabble (500 words). She also directs readers to 100wordstory.org to read excellent examples of drabbles.

Meanwhile, I recommend that you go straight to Loren Eaton’s ISawLightningFall.blogspot.com to read a series of delightfully sinister holiday drabbles. Contributors may publish their drabbles on their own blogs and Loren will provide connecting links, or they may send their stories for Loren to post.

Reading these terrific shorts is a great way to spend an evening curled up with some hot chocolate and cookies. You can even gift the authors by providing some immediate feedback in the comments!

Better yet why not join the fun by offering your own drabble next year!

Happy holidays!

Bethany Maines drinks from an arsenic mug

Battery Life

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My battery life be like…

Whew! I rolled into November like I thought I was Rocky and I’m hitting mid-December like I’m Rocky after going the distance with Apollo Creed.  I caught the flu over Thanksgiving weekend and that took me down right when I wanted to be hard charging into Christmas decorating! Combined with my efforts to wrap up my NaNoWriMo manuscript and a couple of work projects cropping up with some deadlines and I’m now a few bars short of a full battery.  Is it possible for a human to get some sort of extended battery life?  Because that would be great.

Plug-in and Recharge

So what do I plan on doing about this flat feeling?  Well, you know what they say… It’s not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls off the Nakatomi Towers.  So I’ll be putting on my Nakatomi Towers Christmas Party shirt and watching a few Christmas classics like Die Hard and White Christmas and then maybe eating a bunch of chocolate.  And oh yeah, doing all my last minute shopping online.  I want to shop local, but you know what else I want?  More time on the couch.

Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox

In case you don’t know that heading refers to a country song about a gentleman’s instructions about what to do with his dead body – you can view the Weekend at Bernie’s hijinks here.  But I may have to take a similar approach to my computer.  Or at least invest in some sort of carpal tunnel wrist braces because I’ve got a fat stack of edits on a Christmas Mystery script (see the novella version below) and book three of the Rejects Trilogy that both need to be done by January.  Hee hee.  I’m sure this will end well.

What to Read

While you’re waiting to see if I crash and burn or wait breathlessly to see what the mummies and werewolves get up to in the Rejects Pack, please consider picking up Winter Wonderland.

WINTER WONDERLAND

A Holiday Adventure

When a Marcus Winter, a photographer with a bah humbug take on the holidays, meets Larissa Frost, a set designer who loves all things Christmas, sparks are destined to fly, but when a famous diamond goes missing from the shoot they’re working on Larissa finds that Marcus may be the only one who can keep her from being framed for a crime she didn’t commit.

BUY NOW

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Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay).  You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Clicking Our Heels – Shopping for Christmas, Chanukah or Kwanza

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Clicking Our Heels – Shopping for Christmas, Chanukah, or Kwanza 

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, or nothing, it is the shopping season of the year. Some of us are last minute shoppers, some shop all year round. Today, we explore our shopping styles and what, if we could tell someone special what we wanted this year, what it would be (hint, hint).

Debra Sennefelder– I start shopping for Christmas during the week of Thanksgiving. But I’m always thinking about gifts for family and friends all year long. I’d love to receive a cross pendant necklace in silver.

Lois Winston – I usually start thinking about holiday gifts at Thanksgiving. If I see something I know will be perfect for someone on my list, I’ll buy it when I see it. I don’t like being pressured at the last minute and would rather enjoy the holidays without having to shop ‘til I drop. As for what I want this year, how about world peace and an end to the climate crisis?

Dru Ann Love – Most of my family are adults so I tend to gift them something they need when they need it. If I want something, I tend to get it myself because chances are no one can afford to give it to me.

Kathryn Lane – It depends. I’m not a shopper so gift shopping can be difficult. If I see a perfect gift for someone, I’ll get it even if the holidays are months away. In other cases, I’m up against the deadline. For this holiday, I’d like a chip implant that would help my brain retain what I read!

Debra H. Goldstein – I’m a last minute shopper (gift cards and checks are me). My first thought for a gift is world peace, but I’d also like a) personal peace, b) a book contract on a silver platter, c) a month at the beach with family and friends dropping in.

MaryLee Salsbury Woods – Over the years, I’ve unfortunately become less prepared for the holiday so I tend to shop late. Thankfully the grandchildren are very good at creating wish lists so I have good options to choose from when I do get busy shopping. As far as what’s on my wish list, my family knows that what I value most is time together and one year they went together and planned a small getaway. Both sons and families, my husband, and I and a long weekend. It was just the best gift ever. So, I pick another one of those!

Donnell Ann Bell – I wait until December. With six grandchildren who are growing rapidly, I want to make sure their sizes are correct.

T.K. Thorne – I am always a last minute shopper and really hate the whole thing (except when I find something perfect!). So the rule now is only the kids get presents.  Takes some pressure off.  // What would I want?  The most precious gift is time, so I would ask for time with my husband having an adventure together somewhere beautiful.

Shari Randall/Meri Allen – I like a deadline, so I’m a late shopper. Shopping online has taken a bit of the fun out of shopping and if I shop online I promptly forget what I’ve purchased and end up with too much or too little. I’ve learned to relax and enjoy shopping close to the holiday, so I can enjoy the decorations and music. As far as what I want this year, it’s the same as always – I love books and things that smell good!

Lynn McPherson – I love Christmas shopping. I have very few people to buy for (my kids, husband, and two secret Santa gifts for extended family) so for me I enjoy the hustle and bustle of the lights, the sales, and the excitement.

Saralyn Richard – I’m not a great shopper. If I happen to see something that I think someone would like at any time during the year, I’ll buy it and put it away for the holiday. So many people on my list prefer gift cards to gifts these days. I understand their thinking, but (sigh) personally feel it takes some of the fun out of gift-giving and receiving. My favorite gifts are things that people I love have selected for me, and I can look at them and celebrate our relationship.

Barbara J. Eikmeier – I shop early then lose track of what I got for everyone and make a frantic last minute shopping trip only to discover I have bought duplicates! The one thing I always ask for but haven’t gotten (yet) is a complete detailing of my car including cleaning the dirt off the inside bottom of the doors.

Linda Rodriguez – Normally, I like to take care of my holiday gift shopping early, but I have noticed that during the pandemic I have been caught short and had to resort to emergency measures for my gift shopping, the kind I used to make fun of my brothers for doing.

NaNoWriMo 2022

Let’s All NaNoWriMo… or Not

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by Bethany “NaNoWriMo” Maines

NaNoWriMo Wha?

I don’t really believe in NaNoWriMo AKA National Novel Writing Month.  Partially just because I object strenuously to the clunky abbreviation.  But also because the goal of writing fifty thousand words in a month reduces novel writing to a very basic component—words. Writing fifty-thousand words is an accomplishment of a sort, but having the right fifty-thousand requires a bit more of a skill.  However, the NaNoWriMo community supplies great camaraderie and inspiration to a multitude of writers, and if an artificial deadline and contest get some people to put fingers to keyboard then I raise my glass in cheers.  And usually that’s it.

Soooo why am I doing this?

This year the fates have conspired to arrange my projects to have a novel that needs to be written this month.  I would really like to put out the next trilogy in my Supernatural paranormal romance world next summer.  The Rejects Pack is a fun, Indiana Jones / The Mummy inspired series featuring more wolves, warlocks, romance, and an ancient Egyptian artifact or two.  Also maybe a mummy that comes back from the dead.  (Shhh.  Don’t tell anyone.)  And with Book 1 out to my beta readers already, you would think I wouldn’t feel the need to rush book 2 and 3.  Butttt…. I keep eyeballing the amount of plot I’m intending to shove into book 3 and I’m just a little bit worried that my trilogy is going to become a tetralogy.

Tetralogy means a four book series. In case you don’t want to have to google it like I did.

And then…

And then there’s the fact the holidays are almost here (YAY!!!) and I have a new novella coming out this month!  I’m busy is what I’m saying.  So I’m trying to hedge my bets and leave myself time for a book 4 by cramming book 2 into November.  And of course it will be fun to watch the NaNoWriMo communities progress.  You can keep up with my progress and learn about Killian and Moira and their hunt for the long lost Library of Alexandria on Facebook and Instagram.

But Speaking of Christmas

If you’ve got a hankering for a Christmas mystery rom-com check out Winter Wonderland!

ORDER (all retailers):  books2read.com/Winter-Wonderland

WINTER WONDERLAND: When Marcus Winters, a photographer with a bah humbug take on the holidays, meets Larissa Frost, a set designer who loves all things Christmas, sparks are destined to fly. But when a famous diamond goes missing from the shoot they’re working on Larissa finds that Marcus may be the only one who can keep her from being framed for a crime she didn’t commit.

 

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Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay).  You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

 

Holiday Novella

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by Bethany Maines

A New Holiday Novella

Oh my goodness!  COVID down time actually came through for me this year and I have finished, yes that’s right actually finished, the holiday novella I’ve been planning on getting around to for last THREE years.  Way back in 2017 I completed what I would consider a long short story called Oh Holy Night about a graphic designer and a bank robbery that goes badly.  And then I followed that up with the award-winning Blue Christmas the following year.  Blue was about a college student, an adorable French Bulldog and a whole lot of smuggled diamonds. As you can guess from the descriptions, these aren’t the traditional Hallmark Christmas stories.  But they are romantic funny adventures about people who learn to love the Christmas season.

What Christmas Carol is Next?

Winter Wonderland completes the trilogy with a story about Bah-Humbug photographer Marcus Winters and a set designer Larissa “I love Christmas” Frost who find themselves involved in a robbery gone wrong and must solve the mystery of “whodunnit” before Larissa ends up in jail for a crime she didn’t commit.  The fun part about the novella is that it let’s me get back in the mystery writing zone.  And jeez, now I remember why that was hard! The clues, the suspects, the timeline!  Every time I write a mystery, I respect other mystery writer’s even more.

What is the question?

Every book has a question in it that the protagonists are trying to answer. Whether that question is philosophical to themselves and their world or whether it’s something literal like “where’s the money” the question has to be answered in a satisfactory way order to deliver on the promise of the book.  But with a mystery, not only are the protagonists trying to answer the question of “who committed the crime” the reader is too.  And staying a step ahead of the reader and the characters in the story is hard work for a writer. Authors can fall back on several tricks to make the mystery work–choosing when to reveal information, letting information exist on the page without drawing attention to it, deliberately calling out false clues (red herrings!)–but in the end, a mystery only works if the crime is solvable and for that a writer cannot whimsically wave their hand at the end.  An author has to know how, who, where, and why and then, if your me, also toss in a romance, some character development, and hopefully a decent turn of phrase.

It has been fun to venture into the mystery world once again and I’m more than pleased to complete the story that’s been on my to-do list for three years.  I hope that readers will enjoy it too.  Look for Winter Wonderland in November of 2022.

Want to know more about Winter Wonderland?

Click Here: https://bethanymaines.com/romanticsuspense/

PreOrder Here: https://books2read.com/winter-wonderland/

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Bethany MainesBethany Maines drinks from an arsenic mug the award-winning author of romantic action-adventure and mystery novels that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind-end.  When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.