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Tag Archives: Channeling Fiction Characters

Working birthdays into your novels

01 Dec
The latest Beyond book in the series

The latest Beyond book in the series

Probably because today is my birthday it got me thinking about how to work in birthdays for your main fiction characters. Doing something different in the plot instead of just the character having a birthday party. Or in the case of the fraternal twin PIs Dana  Bowman and Bast Overture in the current Beyond mystery (which I’m still rewriting) who turn 40 in the book. I am avoiding the cliche throw a 40 surprise birthday party. I have also added in that their birthday is December 31 so we have New Year’s Eve as well. Double celebration here, but not just party- party – there are plot twists and revelations and I’ve put all this birthday/New Year’s Eve stuff at the end of the novel. And it is not only December 31, but December 31, 1999 so going into the new (then) 21st. century.  Bast is a computer geek so some of us will remember the big Y2K scare at that time. Yes, that’s involved but I’m not saying how.

What I am saying is there are ways to incorporate typical life happenings and events into your novel but be unique in your plot about it. Another example from this Beyond book is the pushing 40 syndrome, although in 2016 it might be “pushing 60” not 40. Remember my book set in late 1999. Yes, the twins have some anxiety about reaching the big 40, but it’s more than that as both have life intervening events that play a part in their angst. Especially Dana.

And I’m not saying what. Just a few tips to sum up how to incorporate normal life events into your fiction.

For specific holidays, have something different about them and I don ‘t meant just the location. Christmas is a big one. I jump from mid December to New Year’s Eve with just a sentence referencing Christmas in that chapter. While I love Christmas movies – olnd new – I think Christmas plots have been overdone, at least in film. “Different” is the key word here.

For characters birthdays, again, make it different and that can be done by tying it into the plot. Your character pushing 40, 50 or whatever, can help them decide to make a big change in their life – but what is the change? Depending on the genre, they might want to let their inner desires come to the surface and act on them. Use your imagination for what that can be.They might be so fed up with their life situation (which will be in your plot) they decide to disappear for good. Instead of telling your story from the other, main characters about after the character disappears, why not go with the disappearing character and what he or she is dealing with. Is it as he or she expected? Or different?

“Different” again is the key word here. You don’t want to write the same old, same old. So brainstorm. Let your mind wander. This often works best when you are doing something else. You know when you are trying to think of something (with me it is people’s names, a sure sign of getting old(er), don’t think about it and it will come to you.

Having said that, just the act of sitting at your computer and creating and getting in that well, creative – out-of-your-normal- world zone can also bring about some interesting and different plot ideas. Is your character directing this? Maybe. Sometimes I think Dana Bowman is in my head. She certainly thinks she is.

Happy and creative writing.

Cheers.

Sharon

And the  usual, click on the Beyond Blood graphic at the top to go to my author profile and books and where to purchase. Christmas is only 25 days away.

And I don’t have most of my Christmas decorations up. Too busy writing and editing.

 

 

 

 
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Posted by on December 1, 2016 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Characters and plot in fiction, Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

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Dana Bowman and George Walton collide this evening

27 Oct
Dana Bowman

Dana Bowman

This evening Dana Bowman from my Beyond Blood novel and George Walton from Shane Joseph’s novel In the Shadow of the Conquistador meet and collide. It may be a collision all right as Shane and I have still to do an in-person rehearsal together. We have done a script of sorts for a skit-line – back and forth by email – and I have been practicing on my own, which is difficult when the other person is not there.And Skype isn’t exactly the best way to practice. But Shane is coming here a few hours early for us to practice..

Meantime, Dana Bowman, as you can see from her photo at the top is getting into high gear to do her snarky bratty thing. And George Walton? He better be ready. Those two – one from a mystery novel and one from a literary novel are both eccentric and powerful characters.And neither better forget their lines – even if not exact. It has to be somewhat spontaneous.

And hopefully this rain and wind storm won’t interfere with people coming to see this Urban Folk Art Salon and also the other performers arriving. (And water better not get into my basement.) Below  are more details for those in the area who wish to attend.

Also part of this two-hour salon are folksinger Brian Gladstone, poet Merle Amodeo, Ariel Balevi, Isaak Bonk, Ann Marie Boudreau and Mary Mllne with host poet/violinist Tom Gannon Hamilton.

The location, time, etc. details are:

Location:

Mount Pleasant Library

599 Mount Pleasant Rd. (between Davisville Rd. and Eglinton Ave. E.)

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Free.

Below are photos of Sharon and Shane. Click on the photos to link to our respective websigtes. Sorry no photos of George…yet

sharonacrawford authorShane Joseph.

 
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Posted by on October 27, 2016 in Beyond Blood, Blue Denim Press, Book Promotion

 

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Connecting with your fiction characters

20 Oct
The latest Beyond book in the series

The latest Beyond book in the series

The other night I had a dream about one of my main Beyond characters – the other fraternal twin, Bast Overture. I was in my house waiting for him to arrive here – not just in my head, but physically. Of course, as in most dreams of this type, I woke up before Bast arrived.

I’m not sure why I even dreamed about this as my mind lately has been overcrowded with computer and house repair problems. The former is all this Windows update nonsense with the changes in how and its slow checking for the actual updates and even downloading and installing them. Enough said about that. Perhaps Bast was there to remind me to get back to rewriting the third Beyond book this week. I haven’t done anything in it this week so far – not just for computer issues to deal with but also client work and this latter is fine with me.

But the weird thing about the dream is Bast is not the Beyond character I identify with – but his fraternal twin, Dana Bowman. No, Dana is not based on me, but as some of you know she is the one I channel (or the other way around if Dana has her way). She is the one I dress up as and “become” in comedy skits. Not Bast. Bast would be a little difficult for me to do unless I grew a beard (red in colour, too) and stood on stilts. Bast is 6 feet 3 inches tall to my 5 feet 1 inch.

And next Thursday, October 27 I will be again doing a Dana skit – this time with another novelist – Shane Joseph. We have a scenario where Dana and Shane’s main character, George Walton, from his latest novel In the Shadow of the Conquistador. Our novels occur in the same time frame mostly – the late 1990s, but that’s where similarities may end. Shane’s novel is literary and mine is mystery genre. But our characters can be pain in the you-know-what. Dana is an opinionated private investigator who likes to stick her nose in other people’s business and George is a philandering world traveller. But they do have something in common, at least Dana thinks so…until she meets up with George.

If you want to see and hear what happens, if you live in the Toronto, Canada area, check it out. We are part of the monthly Urban Folk Art Salon October 27 at the Mount Pleasant Library.

Also part of this two-hour salon are folksinger Brian Gladstone, poet Merle Amodeo, Ariel Balevi, Isaak Bonk, Ann Marie Boudreau and Mary Mllne with host poet/violinist Tom Gannon Hamilton.

The location, time, etc. details are:

Location:

Mount Pleasant Library

599 Mount Pleasant Rd. (between Davisville Rd. and Eglinton Ave. E.)

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

More info: 416-393-7737

Time and Date: 6.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016

Free.

Below are photos of Dana Bowman and Shane Joseph. Sorry, I don’t have one of George Walton.

And click on the Beyond Blood icon at the top for more info about the book.

Cheers.

Sharon

Dana Bowman

Dana Bowman

Shane Joseph

Shane Joseph

 
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Posted by on October 20, 2016 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Book Promotion, Channelling Fiction Characters, Comedy Skits, Credible Fiction Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

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Being Dana – precautions when getting inside fiction characters

11 Aug
The latest Beyond book in the series

The latest Beyond book in the series

Dana Bowman is the main character in Beyond Blood. Because some of the novel is told from her viewpoint in first person singular, I get inside her head a lot. Of course, Dana thinks it is her getting inside my head.

Could be.

That’s where fiction authors have to be somewhat careful. How much of what your character thinks, does and says is him or her and how much is you? While it is true that some of our quirks rub off on our characters, they are distinct “people” at least between the book covers or in e-books, and in your head.

Add to all this head business is my comedy skits where I actually become Dana Bowman. Again, have to make sure I’m channelling her, not me and she talks and acts as Dana, not Sharon. I try to use the black wig as my changing point.Black wig on I’m Dana; black wig off I’m me. And no, I don’t wear the wig when I’m writing – or as I am doing now – rewriting the next Beyond book.

This brings up something else I’m having to deal with. Without going into a lot of details, Dana suffers some sort of injury in the latest book. What happens has not exactly happened to me – yet. So, besides doing the medical research, to understand better what Dana is going through, I went back (in my mind) to similar injuries I have suffered. How did I react? How did I feel right after it happened? Later? Injury consequences.

Earlier this summer I was at an open garden held by a member of my garden club. I had never been to her place before and because we were encouraged to walk all over the property outside, I entered the property by walking on the front lawn. After seeing the garden in the backyard, asking questions, and talking to the garden’s owner and other club members, I decided to return home.

This time I left by the normal route out front – used the cement walkway to the public sidewalk.

Except when I got to the end of the walkway I lost my footing and went flying forward, landing on my front on the hard cement sidewalk and injuring my knee – big wide cut, bleeding.

Shock, was what I felt. And anger – although the latter was not directed at the culprit – yet. Many people helped me up and one fellow lined up my purse and hat which had fallen off. Many (included the owner) brought out some first aid stuff and one couple drove me home (it was a 10 minute walk but I wanted to get antiseptic on my knee before putting on the gauze and band-aids to hold the gauze in place as soon as possible. I was deathly afraid of infection (because I had been bitten by flying ants a couple of summers ago and the areas did get infected). After the cleanup at home I headed over to the drugstore for more band-aids and gauze.

Later, like the next day, I began to re-direct my anger – at the homeowner. The step was deeper than a curbside step (from sidewalk to road) and unseen – no handrails, so unless you were familiar with the area you would not know the step was there. I wanted to report the homeowner’s negligence to the City – there is probably a bylaw for something like this. But I decided that if my injury didn’t become infected I wouldn’t do that, but would have a serious “chat” with the homeowner next time I see her. The injury didn’t become infected although at one point it looked like it might be and I rushed over to the walk-in medical clinic near my place. I haven’t yet talked to the property owner, because I haven’t made it to any garden club events since then.

How does that translate to Dana and her situation? Well, the fall part, the shock at it happening, the loss of control and the fear afterwards – that’s what I can draw on. The rest for Dana has to be different because she does not fall down an unseen step. Also she is 27 years younger than me, so “seniors and falls” doesn’t come into play.

What happened to me gives me some idea of something bad physically happening, something that is unexpected and how Dana could feel.

So, if you can pull something out of your life that occurred to get the feelings at least, it can help you get inside your character’s head when he or she has something bad happen that is similar.

Now I just have to contend with Dana’s chattering inside my head.

Who is really in control here?

If you want a look at Dana Bowman as I see her (and others when I do a comedy skit), her picture is below. For more info on her check out my website book page. You can see what I look like (on my good days) at the top of this blog

And you can check out my author profile at amazon by clicking on the Beyond Blood book cover at the top.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

Sharon A. Crawford channelling Dana Bowman from Beyond Blood

 

 

 
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Posted by on August 11, 2016 in Beyond Blood, Channelling Fiction Characters, Comedy Skit, Credible Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

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Using real life in your fiction – more info

07 Jul
Sharon A. Crawford's latest in the Beyond series

Sharon A. Crawford’s latest in the Beyond series

A writer friend recently told me that I was one of the strongest people she knows and then she referenced that I raised my son as a single parent.

Once I got over the shock (I seem to live my life in worry and fear lately but I am very vocal and get after people and organizations that mess up my life), I started thinking that this may have a lot to do with the family situation I created in my novel Beyond Blood.

My main character, PI Dana Bowman has a seven-year old son, David. She is also divorced, so a single mom.

In my life, I do have a son whom I raised as a single mom. But I did have help from my ex-husband. Dana gets no help from her ex, Ron, but she and David live with her fraternal twin brother, Bast Overture, also a PI.

My son was a young child in the 1980s while Beyond Blood is set in 1998. But subconsciously I guess some of raising my son rubbed off. But there are several differences besides the time frame. Dana is much more outspoken than I was back then and she ventures where another character Great Aunt Doris says she shouldn’t because she is a mother. Aunt Doris says Dana shouldn’t be working as a private investigator and chasing after bad people also because it’s not safe for David.

Unfortunately, it turns out Aunt Doris is right here because David is kidnapped. But that puts Dana in the double-bind of being the PI to find her son and being his mother. That creates a lot of character conflict which influences the plot. And that is pure imagination. My son was never kidnapped. The closest he came to “disappearing” was when he was four years old. I couldn’t find him anywhere in the house (and yes, I was home at the time) or outside – at first. Then I looked a little closer in the big backyard. Yup! There he was, crouched down in the grass and playing with his toys.

My point here is you can use some situations and even characters loosely in your novels and short stories. But you have to fictionalize it all. Just think “trigger point” and use your imagination from there.

Maybe living my life in fear (balanced by being very outspoken and yes, I admit, sometimes grumpy) has spawned something good. Because Dana’s family situation continued in the four linked short stories in Beyond the Tripping Point and in the current Beyond novel I am currently rewriting.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

And as usual, if you click on the book cover at the top it takes you to my amazon profile and my two Beyond books

 
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Posted by on July 7, 2016 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Channelling Fiction Characters, Characters and plot in fiction, Credible Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

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Dana Bowman from Beyond Blood appears again May 28

26 May
Sharon A. Crawford channelling Dana Bowman from Beyond Blood

Sharon A. Crawford channelling Dana Bowman from Beyond Blood

Dana Bowman, the main character, the irreverent  PI from my novel Beyond Blood will be doing another of her comedy skits this Saturday afternoon. The occasion is Toronto’s annual Doors Open and Dana (and me too) will be at the Toronto Heliconian Club volunteering from 1.30 p.m. and then performing at 4 p.m.

There’s a lot of work in these comedy skits and this one is 85 per cent new stuff. The premise is Dana is supposed to talk about Beyond Blood and she does – sort of – in her own way, dissing me and generally not following instructions. So trying to get this skit together with help from Dana hasn’t been easy. Dana keeps sticking her face in maybe too much and therein lies the dilemma.

Just who is writing this skit? Who wrote Beyond Blood. Both Dana and I each answer “I did.” The book has “Sharon A. Crawford” for the byline but the skit?

Personally, I would prefer Dana that writes it. She is performing it so it’s her call. So, she’s been digging inside my brain for info or I have been channeling her.

There are many things to consider – content – is it funny or funny enough? Sometimes what’s on paper doesn’t come across as funny enough when you perform it. Then you go back to the skit content and realize that a lot of it is in the performance. The practice session yesterday wasn’t up to par. But I wasn’t feeling well then so does that mean that Dana was also feeling sick?

I did get ideas for some skit changes and made them.

And it might help if I was fully in costume when practicing. Especially the hair.

That’s Dana at the top. And here is the blurb from my website about Dana at the Heliconian Club May 28.

Sharon A. Channels Dana Bowman at Toronto’s Doors Open

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Sharon A. Crawford will be channeling Dana Bowman, the main character in  Beyond Blood at the Toronto Heliconian Club during the first day of Toronto’s Doors Open. Sharon/Dana will be there from 1.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. to talk about the Heliconian Club along with other club members and she will take to the stage at 4 p.m. for a short comedy skit. Meantime, Sharon is coaching Dana on the Toronto Heliconian Club’s history and club activities, etc.

See you there.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

Sharon A. Crawford's latest in the Beyond series

Sharon A. Crawford’s latest in the Beyond series

 
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Posted by on May 26, 2016 in Beyond Blood, Book Promotion, Channelling Fiction Characters, Comedy Skit, Doors Open Toronto, Fiction Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

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Beyond book character taking over my life?

10 Mar

Sharon A. Crawford channelling Dana Bowman from Beyond Blood

Dana Bowman, the main character in my Beyond mystery series is taking over my life – both professional and maybe some personal. Considering all the bad things that have been happening in my personal life lately (and no ramble on that here), maybe that’s a good thing.

It all started back at the book launch of Beyond Blood October 19, 2014. The editor at my publisher’s, Shane, suggested that the other mystery author, Klaus Jakelski, launching a mystery novel Dead Wrong and I do a brief skit. He also gave the criteria – we would be our main characters and the skit would be a mock-up of a scene in his novel. Klaus’ character would be waiting to meet a broadcaster and instead gets Dana Bowman, PI, but friend of his book’s broadcast character. Shane had to talk Klaus into doing this, but once Klaus agreed, he came up with a good short script.

The short skit went off okay, although I kept sneaking looks at the script, hidden in one of Dana’s props – her large sketchpad.

But it gave me courage to do future skits. This time as it was only me then, I did a 10-minute improv – no actual script, just a list of what I wanted to cover as Dana dissed her author (me). And lots of practice plus filling my mind with the skit in the hours before showtime. It went over well here at my East End Writer’s Group 15th anniversary presentation. One comment afterwards was it was great, like the character just jumping out of the book (this is a guy very critical of others’ writing). And another author who has acting experience said it was good, but she suggested not having the character do any actual reading from the book as it lowered the energy level.

Fair enough. I’ve done variations of the skit twice since then and seemed to actually fool one person in the audience. When I returned into the room, dressed back as Sharon, he commented “Oh, you’re back.” I know I wear a black wig, cap and sunglasses, but… you can check out Dana’s photo at the top and see what you think. The next skit was at a Syrian Refugee fundraiser in early December. I was overtired then and didn’t think Dana was up to her usual. But one person in the audience thought it was great.

Have I found a new calling in my old age? One that combines as book promo? I’m scheduled to do a 10-minute skit May 28 at the Toronto Heliconian club during Toronto’s big annual Doors Open event. And for the rest of the afternoon I’m there volunteering, I’ll be dressed up as Dana. A couple more Dana appearances are in the works, one with another person who has acting experience.

Methinks I need a bit of training in improv. Off to Bad Dog Theatre mini-workshop at least, next month.

Dana is also inhibiting my mind with novel plots, etc. But that’s another story. Check out the Gigs and Blurbs page connected with this blog and my website  There will be a new  better-designed website (same address) hopefully the end of this month/early April. My son, the computer whiz and I are working on it.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

Sharon A. Crawford's latest in the Beyond series

Sharon A. Crawford’s latest in the Beyond series. Click on book cover to see where book is available.

 
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Posted by on March 10, 2016 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Channelling Fiction Characters, Credible Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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Beyond Blood characters wish you Happy New Year

31 Dec
Sharon A. Crawford channelling Dana Bowman from Beyond Blood

Sharon A. Crawford channelling Dana Bowman from Beyond Blood

Sharon A. Crawford has asked us to step in and wish you a happy new year. But before we do that, we – Dana Bowman and Bast Overture from Beyond Blood would like to sum up this year from our perspective between the book covers.

Dana: It’s been a good year for both of us, me especially as Sharon is channelling me, or so she says. But really it is me jumping out of the book, going in front of an audience and telling what I think of Sharon, her writing and some of her quirks. She really seems to have a thing about short people and making me three inches shorter than her? But she really gets me – my impulsiveness, sticking my nose in everybody else’s business…

Bast: She is a former journalist and that’s what journalists do.

Dana: You should know. You are a former crime reporter.

Bast: True. But Sis, you really need to get over this short height thing. Not even an issue.

Dana: You should talk. You’re 6’3″ I don’t think Sharon will ever channel you on stage.

Bast: Maybe not, but I’ve heard a writer friend of hers is interested in doing this.

Dana: Really. Actually that should be interesting. We can then both dis Sharon.

Bast: Why not just talk about how she writes with us?

Dana: Yes, she does do that, but it’s more fun to talk about her quirks.

Bast: Now, Sis, I don’t think that is a good idea.

Dana: Why not?

Bast: We shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds us.

Dana: Shouldn’t that be the other way around?

Sharon: Dana, Bast, stop! I asked you to extend a Happy New Year to all, not get into a sibling squabble. But I get it. You both were born December 31, so maybe that is behind all this. You know getting a year older.

Dana: Which year?

Sharon: Let’s just focus on this year going into next year. Now, all together…

Dana, Bast, Sharon: Happy New Year to everyone. May you write and read a lot and most of all be healthy and prosperous.

 

Cheers.

Sharon, Dana, Bast

 
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Posted by on December 31, 2015 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Channelling Fiction Characters, Credible Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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Book promo through acting?

03 Dec
Sharon A. Crawford channelling Dana Bowman from Beyond Blood

Sharon A. Crawford channellng Dana Bowman from Beyond Blood

If you are a published author, you might want to try something else besides reading from your book to entertain and possibly sell book copies.

When I present with three or four other Crime Writers of Canada authors, we don’t just stand there and read. We have found that reading only bores the audience and we don’t really connect with them. So, we get a lively panel discussion going with one of us moderating. Sometimes we have prepared questions which we all answer – or some variation of the questions when we have true crime and fiction writers. Sometimes we each take turns talking about something connected to our writing – maybe writing series novels, research for true crime books. In both setups we welcome lots of questions from the audience.

And that gets the lively discussions going and what you have is writers and readers connecting.

Some of us venture out into more creative outlets. I know one crime writer who has actors play out scenes from her books. Another one has conducted mystery tours in Toronto. And I have started acting (in my old age, no less, portraying someone 25 years younger than me).

As mentioned in last week’s post, I now do brief skits, dressed up as my main Beyond Blood character Dana Bowman. In most of the scenarios – and I do vary them each time – Dana disses me, her author. That can include some quirky personal habits and writing habits. Dana, of course, claims to write her novels. But she does give me credit for getting her character down pat. I take a humorous tone and keep it to 10 minutes.

So far, i.e., two times it has gone over very well. One person in the audience (also a writer) said that my character just jumped out of the book. And the editor at my publisher’s was so enthused, he and I are planning on doing skits together starting in spring 2016.

And yes, it helps sell books.

Maybe I’m a ham at heart. Seriously, it might be a good idea for you to do something else besides read to promote your books. Do something unexpected; catch your audience off guard and at the same time connect with them.

I do one more Dana skit this year, tomorrow, Dec. 4, 2015 for a fundraiser for Syrian Refugees. Here is the blurb for that one.

This is a reminder of our upcoming Lifeline Syria Fundraiser.
Writers, musicians, and actors across Toronto are joining forces to raise money for Lifeline Syria (the Toronto-based grassroots organization helping to sponsor l,000 Syrian refugees).
There will be a silent auction including tickets to Soulpepper, spa passes, books, and lunch with Camilla Gibb.
Middle Eastern appetizers and desserts will be available on a pay what you can basis.
Details: Date: Dec 4Time: 6:30pm-l0:00pmLocation: Friends House, 60 Lowther Ave (Avenue Rd/Bloor) Cost: $l0.00

Cheers.

Sharon

 
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Posted by on December 3, 2015 in Author Reading, Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Book Promotion, Channelling Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Uncategorized, Writing

 

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Tales – good and bad – from the book promo trenches

26 Nov
Sharon A. Crawford channelling Dana Bowman from Beyond Blood

Sharon A. Crawford channelling Dana Bowman from Beyond Blood. Shane Joseph photo

Still promoting my Beyond books. But when you do this you also need to help other writers promote their books. It is only fair as we are all in this together.

And sometimes that can be fun as the photo at the left shows. Cut line explains it briefly but more on that shortly. First I need to mention the downside as other published authors may run into this, if not with this bookseller, but another one, or two.

Up to last week, my encounters with booksellers have been amicable and polite. All had said they would at least see about carrying my Beyond Blood in their store. One even opted to carry a copy of each Beyond book. A couple of others I have to follow up on but they are part of a big chain, which has been helpful at other branches, so we will see here.

Now the bad and the ugly. I have also been approaching independent bookstores, but the latest venture there has left a sour taste in my mouth. Last week I entered Ben McNally Books in downtown Toronto. I always like to check to see if they already have a copy of my book. Ben McCally Books has a weird book placement system. No books by category – no signs either at the top of the bookshelves. Mystery,science fiction are all placed in with all fiction – alphabetically by author. So be it if that is the way they want to do it – their prerogative.

I approached the owner, Ben McNally about carrying a copy of Beyond Blood. As always, I stated it is not self-published but is published by a small Canadian trade publisher and handed him my business card and now that I have more – a couple of bookmarks. He barely glanced at them and said, ” Sorry, no.” He looked about as sorry as a person arrested who shows no remorse for his crime.

Being a former journalist and naturally curious, I asked “Why?”

He said he didn’t want books by small trade publishers.

So, I three him my kicker:

“Indigo (big Canadian book chain) has them in their stores.”

Then, I turned and left the store.

And you know, there weren’t many other customers in the store. Which says something.

I went directly to the big downtown Indigo store and what a difference. Manager very interested in carrying my Beyond Blood in that Indigo store. Indigo Chapters online has carried both Beyond books from day 1 for each, including print copy and e-copy (Kobo). Also this downtown Indigo bookstore is very busy – lots of customers. Because of the positive response, I bought a book there to give as a gift to a friend.

What goes around comes around.

And that brings me to what goes with the photo at the top.

I have started doing brief skits featuring Dana Bowman, the main character in the Beyond stories. I give Dana instructions to talk about herself and to read a bit from Beyond Blood.

Dana being Dana doesn’t listen. She does talk about herself some – but connects it to talking about me, her author. Dana claims she is instrumental in writing the Beyond stories. Oh, to a certain extent. I’ve been told I’m channelling Dana. I don’t mind her talking about writing and some of my quirks – if related to writing, but she can leave my plants out of it.

And when I say to read, she needs to read from Beyond Blood. And that hair in the photo above, taken by the editor at my publishers at their fall book launch, November 21? Dana has short “boy style hair.” Now she has decided to grow it somewhat. Really?

But the skit went over well at Blue Denim Press’s book launch. I was happy to bring along a few friends and to pre-promote the book launch and the authors launching their books, Shane Joseph and Chris Canniff, including reviewing their books in the two previous posts on this blog. The launch also had a Flamenco dancer and her husband providing the music on his guitar.

The funny thing here is Michael, the husband, used to come to my East End Writers’ Group when he and Lesley lived in my area. So did Shane when he lived in Toronto. And I knew Chrit from Canadian Authors Association Toronto Branch.

See, we writers are all connected, so we need to help each other.

Certain booksellers need to learn that too. Then they might get more business.

Dana Bowman will be making one more appearance before Christmas on Dec.4 and Sharon A. Crawford will have her Beyond books for sale at the Toronto Heliconian Club Art and Gift sale, Saturday, November 28. See my Gigs and Blogs page for more info.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on November 26, 2015 in Author Reading, Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Book Promotion, Book Reviews, Channelling Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Uncategorized

 

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