Cool! My Work Has Been Quoted!

I just stumbled across the following while I was trying to find a link to a guest post I did a while ago...

In 2009, I completed my MA at Athabasca University.  My concentration was Cultural Studies, and my final paper was called Homogenized Salsa: Latina Canadian Drama.  Here's part of the abstract:

Equality, cultural identity and personal struggles are common themes in Canadian drama, and indeed are common themes in the literature of a post-colonial world. 

Another common theme in contemporary writing pertains to women’s issues: equality, sexism, gender roles, exploitation and the like frequently figure in modern drama and literature. These themes result in something of a kaleidoscopic head-on collision when 

one considers Latino Canadian drama through a feminist lens. This paper examines 

some of the works of Carmen Aguirre, an accomplished and well-established writer and actor who immigrated to Canada from Chile. Her plays, including The Refugee Hotel, 

The Trigger, and Que Pasa with the Raza, eh? are very autobiographical, and yet 

they also speak for many other Latinos who have relocated to Canada. 

So, that's that... 

But what I stumbled upon was the fact that my aforementioned paper was quoted recently in some other MA student's paper!  How cool is that?  The author spelled my surname incorrectly (Edmonson), but so what?  It's pretty cool that someone in academia found my work and my words worthwhile!!!  

Hot Stuff! Interview with author Charity Parkerson

Author Charity Parkerson

First question is, whoa! How do you do it all!? You’re a wife and mom, and a prolific author, plus a moderator and reviewer.  So many people say they’d love to write, but just don’t have the time.  So, c’mon, ’fess up: Do you secretly have a 28 hour day that none of us know about!? 

I wish! I'm blessed to be able to write full-time. Plus, I don't sleep, LOL! 

I love the premise of the “Safe Haven” series.  Where did the idea for this originate? 

I had this dream that wouldn't leave me alone. It was so vivid and I had to write it down. From there, it continued to grow until it became this entire world of black ops.

Your book covers are very eye-catching (and a wee bit daring!)  I especially like the cover for “The Informant”.  How important do you think the cover image is? 

I think that it's extremely important. I love that you think they are eye-catching since I designed them. YAY! Go me! :-) I  know that I tend to buy books based on their covers and I will try a new author if it catches my eye.

I bet you had a lot of fun writing the “Sinners” series.  Why did you choose to set “Wicked Sinners” in Martinique? 

Every detail of Wicked Sinners was carefully researched. Julien and Jacques Dubois are thousands of years old and are Druids. I wanted the book to be as genuine as possible. Druids believe in the force of nature and what better place for all of the elements to come together than a  tropical island where there is sun (fire), water, ocean breeze, and sand. Also, Martinique has a heavy French population and France is one of the countries that has stood for thousands of years.    

Character names: Your books have people named Genie Cook, Raven, Ace Sparks, Narmer Horus, and Catriona.  Where and how do you come up with character names? 

A few of my characters are named after people that I know and sometimes I have done my research on certain names so that I can spring a surprise on you in the book.

Naughty stuff now...  What kind of a reaction did you get from friends and family when you began writing high-octane romance and erotica? 

I'm not sure that anyone is ever surprised by anything that I do. I think sometimes I am more embarrassed than anyone around me :-)

You have done a lot in fiction; is there any chance you might someday write non-fiction?  Do you think the same skill set applies to writing fiction and nonfiction? 

I am in the process of writing a non-fiction "how to" guide with fellow author Jeremy Emling. It is a long way from finished and I'm finding it much harder to be myself rather than a fictional character.

Who are two of your favourite authors (living or dead), and name two authors who most inspired you (maybe these are the same...?) 

Only two? Umm, this is such a hard one because there are so many authors that I love. Eloisa James and Lisa Kleypas are two of my many favorites, but I'm inspired by all writers. It takes nerves of steel to pour your soul onto paper and then watch silently as the world judges it loudly.

Just about every author I know has a half-started, then aborted, then re-started, but never finished manuscript stuck away in a box, on the top shelf of a closet...  Do you have something like that, a book you keep promising yourself you’ll finish some day? 

YES! "A Splash of Hope" I've given myself a deadline on it because it is a story that I really love, but my main character is so stubborn. She doesn't want to live the life that I had originally planned for her.

What is the most surprising thing you’ve learned about being an author?  Something you wish you had known, or really didn’t expect, back in the days before you were published? 

I didn't know that there were so many people like me. I thought that I was the only person who couldn't sleep because people were having conversations in my head and wouldn't be quiet. Then I began joining groups on Goodreads and Facebook and realized that I was normal. Who knew?

Last question is a bit of a freebie:   What is the one thing you wish I had asked you but didn’t?  Now go ahead and ask and answer that question. 

Is there anything that I would like to say to readers? Thank you, thank you, thank you. I get to live my dream because of you and there are not enough thank you's in the world for that.

 

Check out Charity's website HERE.  

Get Charity's books on AMAZON click here. 

Follow Charity on Twitter @CharityParkerso

Writing Column from today's Globe and Mail - Russell Smith

This is a neat article on what advice established authors have for aspiring writers.  Lots of it, it seems.  Interestingly (but not surprisingly), much of the advice is contradictory.  Hmmm...  what works for you?


Click The Writing Advice Industry to read the article.


I read a few books on writing when I began my first manuscript.  I came across many valuable tidbits.  I also came across a lot of drek, or at least advice that didn't seem like it would suit my needs/plot/personality (especially being told to write everyday, set aside an hour a day, etc... For me, long chunks of time - ten hours on a Sunday, for example, works best, but I digress...)


What I did find helpful, though, and I mean really helpful, was reading books on how to get published, how to query an agent/publisher, how to prepare a manuscript, and similar topics. 


I think each writer's voice is unique, as is each writer's story.  But we all work within the same industry (a surprisingly small one at that), and learning about the techniques and tricks to get your ms or query noticed was immensely valuable.  It also yeilded results.

Nonfiction and Academic Writing

Okay, so you know I write fiction and that "Blood and Groom: A Sasha Jackson Mystery" will be in stores in a week or two; however, I have spent a helluva lot of time over the last two years writing nonfiction, academic stuff.

I have just finished my MA degree, with a concentration in Cultural Studies, which in my case meant minority literature, which includes Feminism and Women's Writing. To that end, I married my love of crime fiction with my studies and did a few papers on women in detective series.

My favourite paper is called "From Spenser to Yeats: Feminism's Answer to the Hardboiled Sleuth is on the Wagon and Rides a Harley." In this, I argue that the Jane Yeats character by Liz Brady is every bit as much of an ass kicker as Robert B. Parker's Spenser.

Another paper is called "Hardboiled and Hairspray: Feminism and Stephanie Plum." Anyone who has read this series by Janet Evanovich would probably scratch their head at the thesis, but upon close examination, Stephanie - clumsiness, shoe shopping, and mascara notwithstanding - is a modern version of the noir PI walking down the dark and seedy streets.

Finally, I did a paper called "Supermoms, Supersleuths" in which I look at the discrepancy between fact and fiction in terms of the incidence of single mothers and detecting/law enforcement jobs.

So, there, that's another side of me and my writing. And, I really think the academic stuff benefitted me greatly as I was writing "Blood and Groom" - certainly it gave me a solid foundation in the genre.