Ghost of Atlanta National Fiction Award Finalist!

This is a Blessing From God!
Ghost of Atlanta is a 2011 Readers Favorite National Fiction Award Finalist!!!
I've waited for over fifteen years for a chance to see my novels recognized on a national level.
I've worked so hard and it's been frustrating and very difficult at times. I've been a Georgia Author of the Year Nominee in 2007 and 2011, but to be a finalist in a national award contest is an incredible honor.
I want to thank Debra Gaynor the head of Readers Favorite, Dennis DeRose my editor and Passionate Writer Publishing for this honor.
Now, I await to see if Ghost of Atlanta is among one of the award winners on September 1, 2011 when the announcement will be made.
Please click on the link or cut/paste to read more about the 2011 Readers Favorite National Fiction Awards:
http://readersfavorite.com/2011-award-contest-winners.htm

Description: Be Specific!

Be specific!
That’s the clarion call to all creative writers as you pull your readers into your fictive dream. That’s the reason description is an art form.
Description is simply a portrayal, in words, of something that can be perceived by the senses. Each time you use a word or phrase to describe a person, a setting or any other aspect of writing, it must be clear, concise and straight to the point of the situation.
As a writer, you are painting a word picture so the reader "sees" exactly what you are describing. It vividly portrays a person, place, or thing in such a way that the reader can visualize the topic and enter into the writer’s experience or the fictive dream.
Descriptive Goals as you Write:
***Writer’s create descriptions by using images with elaborate use of sensory language: Sight, sound, taste, feel, etc. It must be vivid.
***Writer’s use figurative language such as simile, hyperbole, metaphor, symbolism and personification.
***Writer’s use “Show, Don’t Tell” through the use of active Verbs and creative adjectives. When a writer really wants to go in depth in a scene he will use “show” and the mental movie rolls in the reader’s mind. When the writer wants to get a quick point or speed up a scene he will use “tell” in the scene.
Thoughts on Descriptive Writing:
• Make writing more concrete or vivid
• Add specific information
• Show sensory images
• Make comparisons
• Use dialogue
• Make writing more interesting
• Make characters come alive
Descriptive Writing Exercises:
Note: Keep a Descriptive Journal where you keep all your writing exercises. This will be a fantastic future reference to see your improvement as a writer.
1. Observe and then describe an event.
2. Walk outside your apartment or house and describe it in two ways:
a.Tell: Write a bare-bone version of the walk with few descriptions.
b.Show: Write a full-blown description of your walk with many descriptions: Use adjectives, descriptive phrases, metaphors, similes, etc.
c. Read each version out loud: You will see which version put the reader into the scene.
3.Reflect on a person or object that stands out in your memory. Write a description of the person/object.
4.Take a photograph, for example, and then describe the person, setting with the bare-bone approach and then the full-blown approach.Email me with an example you created from one of these writing exercise: juliusthompsonbooks@gmail.com

Happy Writing!

Thompson On...Building Believable Characters

Character Development: Filling Out A Character Resume!

Plausible and complex characters are crucial to successful storytelling. This entails not only the protagonist, but the antagonist and a carnival of minor characters.
The importance of character development was hammered home to me at the AJC-Decatur Book Festival when New York Times Best Selling Author N. M. Kelby did an impressive two-hour presentation on Character Development.
Think of any great book and the main character pops into your mind: Pride and Prejudice: Elizabeth Bennett, The Great Gatsby: Nick Carraway, Janie Starks: Their Eyes Were Watching God, To Kill a Mockingbird: Scout Finch, Devil in a Blue Dress: Easy Rawlins, etc. The list can go on and on with many examples from literature.
Your Main Character:
1. Delivers your point of view to your readers
2. Is identified forever with your book.
3. Is memorable and creates lasting memories for your readers.
All your characters should respond to their experiences by changing or by working hard to avoid changing. As they seek to carry out their agendas, run into conflicts, or fail or succeed, and confront new problems, they will not stay the same.
If you want to write a successful novel, you must create a realistic group of characters to move your plot along.
How do you get to know your Characters?
You must create a character resume for your protagonist, antagonist and a few of your minor characters.
Think of using a resume as if a character was applying for a job in your novel. You must complete a resume for your characters. This will give you the opportunity to get to know them.
For my fourth novel, Purple Phantoms, I had to develop totally new characters from the novels in my trilogy, A Brownstone In Brooklyn, Philly Style and Philly Profile and Ghost of Atlanta.
Before I even wrote a word of Purple Phantoms I filled out a resume for all the major characters. This helped me get to know all the people who will carry the storyline in this novel.
Will you use everything in a resume? The answer: No!
What you do learn is how your characters will react in certain stressful situations and critical moments in your book.
How can you put your characters in critical situations if you don’t know the personalities?
You need to fill out a Character Resume to help find the answers.
I have a character resume form that I use for the protagonist, antagonist and minor characters.
From past experience, I’ve learned the importance of developing this resume, which contains many questions. You don’t want to delve into your book and still don’t know what makes your characters tick.
Here is an example of a few of the questions in the resume:
Character Name:
Address & Phone Number:
Date & Place of Birth:
Height/Weight/Physical Description:
Citizenship/Ethnic Origin:
Parents’ Names & Occupations:
Other Family Members:
Spouse or Lover:
Friends’ Names & Occupations:
Social Class:
Education:
Occupation/Employer:
Social Class:
Salary:
ETC. (Many More Questions)
Please email me, juliusthompsonbooks@gmail.com,requesting a blank character resume form and I will email it to you.
I also want to leave you with this thought:
“Keep Writing,
Keep Believing,
And Never Give Up On Your Dreams”

Bloodlines, Tales From the African Diaspora Book Review!

Veronica Henry's short story anthology, Bloodlines, Tales From the African Diaspora, creates an awesome impression. Ms. Henry put together a collection of short stories by authors who not only entertain, but allow the reader to experience places they will never visit and people they will never meet.
Each of the fourteen short stories excites and moves the reader to turn the pages to experience adventure.
The stories range from Ronald Jones' African sci-fi adventure Skyboat Strangers, Boureima Igodiame Soumana's tale of a stolen child in Near But Far, Eleanor Adams' edgy experience of African-American women in Along Racial Lines and Kalunda Bockarie's voyage to a futuristic prison on the moon in Lunar Slam.
Each of the author's creativity is expressed in developing unique and compelling characters.
You are drawn into each story with characters that energize word pictures that pull the reader into the storylines. The settings are realistic and the scenes are crammed full of action.
This is like experiencing a fourteen-course gourmet meal, with each course tasteful, flavorful and satisfies a variety of genre appetites. There is something for every reader to enjoy and experience.

Goodbye Borders!

When the announcement came that the bookstore chain Borders has announced that it will seek liquidation and close its remaining stores, it was another attack on the printbook format.

Theywill close 399 stores which mean that over three-hundred outlets for author’sbooks will be unavailable for authors at the end of the fourth week of July
2011.

This is very, very sad news!

This is another casualty in thelong drawn-out decline of the paperback and hard cover book formats.

I remember when I was marketing my first novel, ABrownstone in Brooklyn and Philly Style and Philly Profile, the venues for new authors was nil. Today, it is even harder forauthors to get book event at major venues.

For years I tried vainly to getbook signings in bookstores to prove to the reading public that I was alegitimate author.

I walked into many bookstores andgot a resounding “No”!

I went to the Stonecrest MallBorders in Lithonia, Georgiawithout much confidence in getting a chance at a book signing.

Imet the store manager and told him I was a local author and teacher at a Dekalb County High School. He was very gracious and receptive and loved the
idea of a local teacher getting a chance at a book signing.

Heintroduced me to the community relations manager and I had my first major bookstore event!

I sold over fifteen copies on thatSaturday afternoon and gave out tons of marketing material, but mainly this wasmy first major exposure at a major book event venue.

Thatone signature moment, in my career as an author, lead to me getting speakingopportunities at other major chain outlets and eventually a stint as a
presenter at the AJC-Decatur Book Festival, The Virginia Festival of the Book,Buffalo Book Fair, New York City Book Festival and other major book festivals.

Now, I wonder where the road wouldhave taken me if it wasn’t for a manager at a Borders store that gave a newauthor a chance to showcase his work.

Good Bye Borders you will be missed!!!!