I’m really pleased to welcome my friend and fellow writer Nancy Jardine to my Writing Wings blog. She’s a true Celtic writer whereas I only live in a Celtic land further south. Please tell you about your new releases, Nancy. 

Hello Roland, I’m totally delighted that you’ve let me come to share my new launch news with your readers.

Those who already know me a little will have learned that my writing spans the fiction sub-genres of historical romantic adventures; contemporary romantic mysteries; and time travel adventures for a middle grade/YA market. My next two books to hit the launch pad are from these quite different styles of writing – though both were delightful to create!

I’m very excited that on the 27^th March 2015, Crooked Cat Publishing is re-launching a new general reading edition of Monogamy Twist, a light-hearted contemporary romantic mystery. The fabulous quirky new cover, designed by Laurence Patterson of Crooked Cat, reveals a grand house at the centre of the story which is a really excellent image since the plot is based around a Dickensian theme. Luke Salieri finds he’s been bequeathed a dilapidated mansion in Yorkshire…but he can only fully inherit after some weird and antiquated stipulations are fulfilled! He’s never met his benefactress; hasn’t even heard of her but Luke’s never one to back down from a challenge. He needs expert help, though, to find out why Amelia Greywood chose him and Rhia Ashton seems ideal. Rhia, a historian and family tree researcher, seems perfect but it turns out that she has her own ideas of what will make Luke’s strange request worthwhile. Compromise is the name of the game for Luke…and for Rhia.

It’s probably no surprise that the plot for the novel came about as a combination of my watching the current BBC TV Charles Dickens serial of late 2010 and while I was also doing the first forays in researching my own ancestral background. I found a decided black sheep in one of my great-grandfathers: Rhia finds a good few family surprises for Luke in Monogamy Twist! Rhia and Luke were lovely characters to invent but some readers have told me that they love Thor, the Irish wolfhound, even more!

I extend a warm welcome to your readers to join my Facebook Launch Party for Monogamy Twist on the 27^th March 2015. Quirky goodies can be won. There’ll be music; food; lovely locations in Yorkshire… Why not pop in and say hello!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1092788957413601/

PRE-ORDER AVAILABLE NOW FROM AMAZON:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monogamy-Twist-Nancy-Jardine-ebook/dp/B00V1I59TW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427017128&sr=8-1&keywords=Monogamy+Twist

My other new launch – The Taexali Game, a time travel historical adventure for a middle grade/ YA readership − will be in April 2015. Set in northern Roman Britannia (current Aberdeenshire) in AD 210, my valiant trio – Aran, Brian and Fianna – must work through a set task list, part of which is to help both the ‘baddies’ and the ‘goodies’ in the story. The problem is that there are local Celtic tribespeople who are just as nasty as the invading Roman Emperor Severus and his barbaric son Caracalla. Working out who to trust is a perilous business. Literally sparring with death is a daily occupation back in AD 210, but in The Taexali Game, my teens are up to the challenges facing them! Graphic designer, Neil Saddler, has done a fabulous job of blending the main elements of the story in the wonderful cover design he’s created for me − depicting locally recognised background scenery in Aberdeenshire; the threat of invasion from the Ancient Roman Legions; my time trio who are about to launch themselves into the adventure!  The Taexali Game will be available in both paperback and ebook formats.

Nancy Jardine lives in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. She currently shares a home with her husband, daughter, son-in-law, 3 year old granddaughter and 1 year old grandson. It’ll continue to be a busy household till late summer of 2015 when the new build home will be completed for the young ‘uns on what was Nancy’s former back garden. The loss of that part of the garden won’t be missed since there should now be more writing time available this spring and summer! Childminding is intermittent over the day and any writing time is precious. (If interested in how a new house is built these days, follow my blog posts named ‘Gonna build a house’ )

All matters historical are a passion; Ancestry research a lovely time-suck. Nancy regularly blogs and loves to have guests visit her blog. Facebooking is a habit she’s trying to keep within reasonable bounds! Any time left in a day is for leisure reading and the occasional historical series on TV.

Author links:

http://nancyjardine.blogspot.co.uk   http://nancyjardineauthor.com/    Twitter @nansjar  Facebook: http://on.fb.me/XeQdkG

Amazon Author page for books and to view book trailer videos:

US http://amzn.to/RJZzZz   UK  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nancy-Jardine/e/B005IDBIYG/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Novels also available from Barnes and Noble; W.H. Smith; Waterstones.com; Smashwords; TESCO Blinkboxbooks; and various other places.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my news with your readers!

A pleasure to have you visit. And for those that missed my review of Nancy’s “Topaz Eyes”, read the Goodreads review here.

Today I am welcoming the first of many – I hope – guest bloggers, Eric Staggs the founder of Spectacle Publishing, who were insightful enough to publish my debut novel, Spiral of Hooves. Creating Tension is a key part of a writer’s art and getting it right, keeps readers wanting more. And without further delay, here’s Eric.

Smoke On The Water ~ Image courtesy of Evgeni Dinev / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What makes a real page-turner? Think about it. What is that single thing that makes you want to find out what happens next? In almost all cases the answer is anticipatory tension.

Good writers will use this technique on audiences all the time, even if the audience doesn’t know it. Here are a few examples – starting with the obvious, and then working into some you may not have thought of. Get your ratchet up the tension with some tried and true techniques, for your crime genre stories and beyond.

The Timer

Tick-tock typically gets the heart going. In film and literature, it’s usually associated with something bad. Think about all those bombs with timers, counting down ominously, whether its five minutes or fifty, or five days, the timer represents the loss of future opportunity, as well as a count down until something inevitable but unpredictable happens.

Time is the only thing we can’t change – this concept is so ingrained into audiences, it’s almost an instinct (though, new physics are telling us that time is affected by gravity and velocity, for most of us, time is time). This instinct regarding the immutable march of time is something that terrifies the human on a deep, hindbrain level. Way back in the primitive part of the human mind, we know that time is a marker, defining segments until we reach our own demise. Whew!

Your novel can’t always have a bomb-timer, well at least it shouldn’t. So, what are some other methods you can use to raise the tension? There’s really no need to vary from the tried and true method of a countdown. But sometimes you need to disguise it. Here are some non-standard timer ideas to get the creative juices flowing.

Image courtesy of hywards at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Days and Nights

The natural passage of time is expected in most narratives – but the situation becomes much more exciting when the event at the allotted amount of is dangerous. For example, in Isaac Asimov’s classic Nightfall, the timer is counting down to the moment when the planet is engulfed in darkness. For the people of a world that never sees sunset, this is a big deal – it might as well have been a bomb.

The Stars Are Right

The motivations of criminals are sometimes hard to fathom, but when they’re cultists waiting for the proper cosmological alignment, the timer can be down right world shattering. When an inevitable planetary conjunction brings murderous cultists out seeking sacrifices, the “timer effect” is in full swing.

Further Down The Road

Travel is a form of timer as well. Getting from point A to point B is often the bulk of the story (just ask those Hobbits), but travel and distance are a form of timer as well. Perhaps the best kind – the journey eats up supplies as fast as miles, the psychological cost of being on the run cannot be overstated. Refugees, escapees or even willful migration is more taxing than most characters are expecting. In the crime genre the journey often manifests as an escape or a hunt – depending upon which side of the law the protagonists fall. Making good an escape is another form of timer – will the protagonists make the rendezvous and escape the relentless lawman? Will the lawman catch the kidnapper before leaving his jurisdiction?

Vintage Train Placards ~ Image courtesy of artur84 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

These are just a few examples of how writers employ time and timers to elevate tension. Tension comes from expectation – realistic expectation of actual events or anticipation of the unknown – and that tension grows with delay of that expected event. Use it wisely!

    Eric Staggs (www.ericstaggs.com) is a writer and publisher. As founder of Spectacle  Publishing and Great Lakes Games, Eric works with authors at all stages in their writing careers. Learn more at his website.