2012-05-30

Eclipse Awards Winners announced. Aro's story, Sun Ray, has been awarded 3rd place as Best Humor One-Shot:

Summary: "Aro's take on New Moon. Why can't an old man enjoy some leisure time in peace?"

Thank you, my sweet readers!
 Aro is very happy and would like to celebrate with all his kind readers in Volterra.


His assistant, Heidi, will guide you. 


You'll meet Aro's friends.



The most faithful readers will get a free ride on



Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

2012-05-26

The 2nd chapter of "A Good Liar" is now available. There's a question for you at the end of the chapter.
Summary: "The first time the Grim Reaper visited Edward, it was in the form of the Spanish influenza. The second time, Death had the lovely face of Bella Swan."



The story is due to be updated every two weeks

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2012-05-23

Voting in The Wordsmith Awards is now open (http://wordsmithawards.blogspot.it/p/voting.html).
Voting closes on May 26.


My friends Camilla, Marlena, and Jmolly are among the Nominees:

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Camilla is up as Best Author and Best Prereader. Her story The Pilgrimage is up as Best Non-Canon Story and Best Original Character (Adso).



Marlena is up as Best Beta:




Jmolly is up with Unforeseen Events Revisited (Best non-Canon Story) and with Make Haste My Beloved (Best Lemon).





An Italian Winter is up as Best Canon Story, Best Romance, and Best Edward.

2012-05-19

Edward is back. And he seems stubborn...would you go to Florence with him?
Summary: "There was a reason behind Edward's rebellious period – a reason that still holds true and brought him to Italy. His existence has been predicated on revenge for decades, to the point that forgiveness seems impossible. When Edward meets Bella, only a winter separates him from his last human prey and his own destruction." AU-Vampires.


Reviewers get a little gift (different for each chapter)

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This chapter's suggestion is Homer's Odyssey


At this link you can read it for free: http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html.


Announcements! 
  • Next week I'm going to update A Good Liar. Would you give it a chance? Thank you!

  • Voting is open for the Twilight Eclipse Awards.
    • An Italian Winter is up as Best Vampire Full Fic
    • Sun Ray is up as Best Humor One-Shot

2012-05-16

What do "feel" and "just" have in common? They're listed in the following articles about words to avoid when writing.


In the first one, 10 Words to Avoid When Writing, David Bowman focuses on ten enemies that "nearly always weaken writing": Really, You, Feel, Think, As, A lot, Sort of, Like, Just, Used to.

In the second one, Words and Phrases to Avoid, you can find a long list of words that "deserve to die." They appear in order of popularity. Happy killing! 

As usual, your comments are welcome.

Thanks to Zsadi, who sent me this lovely excerpt!

2012-05-12

Are you ready for the truth? Brave readers, go enjoy the new chapter and tell me your thoughts!
Summary: "There was a reason behind Edward's rebellious period – a reason that still holds true and brought him to Italy. His existence has been predicated on revenge for decades, to the point that forgiveness seems impossible. When Edward meets Bella, only a winter separates him from his last human prey and his own destruction." AU-Vampires.



Reviewers get a little gift (different for each chapter)



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Enjoy this chapter's literary suggestion. It's a fascinating novel about Forgotten Books and hidden identities.



Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Shadow of the Wind


“Books are mirrors: 
you only see in them what you already have inside you.”

The story is set in Barcelona. On this website, http://www.df.lth.se/~jokke/sombra/, you can find more about places in Barcelona mentioned in the book. The author has an English website: http://www.carlosruizzafon.co.uk/
A good website about the novel (in Spanish): http://www.carlosruizzafon.com/la-sombra-del-viento/.

Announcements! 
  • Voting is open for the Twilight Eclipse Awards.
    • An Italian Winter is up as Best Vampire Full Fic
    • Sun Ray is up as Best Humor One-Shot

2012-05-09

'An Italian Winter' is up to vote in the weekly poll at The Lemonade Stand

This is Edward's reaction:



Click on the link below and go vote for your favorite stories!

The Lemonade Stand: MEET THE POLL: Each week we share with you what we are reading and enjoying. The following made the top of our lists last week. Please help us det...

Thanks to Lynn Pepper who rec'd the story and to Catti-brie Potter who told me about the poll!

2012-05-08

This fic by suitablyironicmoniker is one of the best I've found in the current year. It's a vamp story, elegantly written, perfectly crafted. In every chapter, the author elicits many different emotions. Some passages gave me shivers as the relationship between Bella and Vampward develops. The story is updated every week. 
Here's a banner for this gem: 


2012-05-05

Someone is in trouble. Go read the new chapter and tell me your theories!
Summary: "There was a reason behind Edward's rebellious period – a reason that still holds true and brought him to Italy. His existence has been predicated on revenge for decades, to the point that forgiveness seems impossible. When Edward meets Bella, only a winter separates him from his last human prey and his own destruction." AU-Vampires.


Reviewers get a little gift (different for each chapter)

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Enjoy this chapter's literary suggestion.



Oscar Wilde, The Nightingale and the Rose
http://www.online-literature.com/poe/178/


Announcements! 
  • Voting is open until May 11th for the iSparkle Awards
    • An Italian Winter is up for the Dreamer's Award; 
    • De Immortalitate is up for the Tickled Heart Award; 
    • Little Dart is up for the Enough for Always Award. 
    • My friend Camilla is up for the Sparkle Award, the Enough for Always Award and The Bright Star Award.
  • Voting is open for the Twilight Eclipse Awards.
    • An Italian Winter is up as Best Vampire Full Fic
    • Sun Ray is up as Best Humor One-Shot

Twilight Eclipse Awards: Voting is Open!: You can only fill out the form once so please make sure you have time to fill it out completely on the first try. Vote for your Favo...

2012-05-02

The lovely Lissa Bryan has already authored some spectacular lessons for the Writing Lab.  She's currently posting a new story, The Dark Goddess, is working on her upcoming novel Ghostwriter, and is running her blog (http://lissabryan.blogspot.it/). She also finds time to read (a lot!). So let's talk about

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What Do Writers Read?
By Lissa Bryan

I read EVERYTHING. If you walked into my home library, you wouldn't be able to determine a favorite genre, because I have - literally - thousands of books, both fiction and non-fiction, old and new. I have books on esoteric subjects like the history of catsup manufactures in the US (no joke) and Victorian hair jewelery. I'm the curious sort, and I'll find myself looking at an object, like a paperclip or something, and wondering who came up with the idea, and then I'm off to look for a book on the subject.

A few favorite authors:
Margaret George, Arthur Goldman, Colleen McCollough, Sharon K. Pennman (historical fiction), Alison Weir, David Starkey, Carolly Erickson, Antonia Fraser, (historical non-fiction), Jaquelyn Frank, J.R. Ward, Amy Lane, Larissa Ione (paranormal romance), Catherine Anderson, Beatrice Small, Margaret Mitchell (historical romance), Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, Phillip K. Pullman, (general fiction), Carl Sagan, Mary Roach, Susan Strasser, Stephanie Coontz, Andrea Tone (non-fiction).
In my opinion, reading has EVERYTHING to do with writing. The best writers are bibliophiles. As our mind devours each page, we're also learning the way to present a scene, to build up tension or foreshadow. Each writer has their own unique "voice", but just like a baby learning to talk, we learn by experiencing the voices of others.

The early works of Stephen King taught me how to make even a minor character come to life. With a single sentence, he could give them a personality. Emily Brontë taught me how to weave words to create a mood, and though I never quite mastered it, to make a single line into a poem. Hemingway (thought I never liked him) taught me that a description doesn't have to be effusive in order to be effective. Margaret George taught me how a fictionalized biography should be done in her magnificent Autobiography of King Henry VIII. I must have read that book twenty times and from her I learned how to make a historical figure come alive. From Arthur Golden, I learned how to introduce the reader to another culture, as he did so beautifully in his Memoirs of a Geisha.

And I also learned from authors' mistakes. Though I won't name them, there have been authors that have taught me how NOT to create a character and when it's time to end a story rather than drag it on until readers fall out of love with the characters and lose interest in the story line. Not to mention the number of historical novels that have gone unfinished when I reached my limit (admittedly quite low) for inaccuracies.

I'm still learning as I go. I don't believe any writer ever truly masters the craft; it's a lifelong journey, and if you're headed in the right direction, your work develops and improves as you go. Some authors fall by the wayside, and I think it's because they forgot that they're on the journey. They stopped somewhere along the way and pronounced themselves as having reached their destination, and they start producing the same work over and over again, with declining quality, sometimes falling into a sad state of self-parody.

I'm in talks with a publisher, so it seems I may be making the step into original fiction. I hope my readers will join me in the next phase of my journey. I'm not quite sure where we're going, but I'm betting it will be one hell of a fun ride.

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Thank you, Lissa Bryan!


As usual, your comments are welcome.
What do you read?
What have your favorite writers taught you? 

Lissa's stories: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/3300533/Lissa_Bryan
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