The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction To Life
Written by Noah Lukeman
Published by St. Martin's Press, 2002
To purchase this book click here.

Noah Lukeman, literary agent and author of the best-selling The First Five Pages, shows both beginners and experienced writers the tricks to crafting well thought-out and successfulplot points.

The first part of the book focuses on creating believable characters inside and out. Showing the writer how to really see and know his characters by role-playing as their doctor or a police sketch artist, enabling them to really see the physical and emotional details that bring the words to life. Lukeman includes helpful writing exercises that help pinpoint the details that make the character a person. Other chapters cover "Applied Characterization, The Journey, Suspense, Conflict, Context, and Transcendency."

Some of the writing exercises include outlining the path that that a
character follows, as well as examining how well he follows it. "Does he progress? Does he do so evenly?" Another suggests creating a scene with conflict between normally uncompetitive characters and seeing where it leads. Lukeman also gives great advice such as setting your work aside for a short time and then rereading it later, as a way to try to gain perspective. He asserts that it is important to get at least one outside reader to help the writer to find problems that may be invisible to him.


In addition to Rainy Day Corner, Michelle Smith reviews books for Know Your Authors and Vegetarian Baby and Child Magazine, where she also serves as Recipe Editor. You can contact her at vegewriter@aol.com.

HARKENING: A Collection of Stories Remembered
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Reviewed by Rolf Gompertz


What is "harkening"? According to the dictionary, harkening means: to listen attentively; to give heed.It is what Carolyn Howard-Johnson has done. She has harkened to the experiences of her life. She has harkened to the individuals who have peopled her life. She has harkened to her heart, mind, soul -- her inner voice. And she wants us to harken, so that through her stories, we may recognize their truth and find our truth in our own stories. Howard-Johnson has written a most extraordinary book.

"HARKENING: A Collection of Stories Remembered" is neither factnor fiction, but reality, HER reality. "This book," she explains in her Introduction, "is made from my own memories and the harkenings of others. I liken the process of recording them to a child who listens to adult conversation with nuances that she doesn't quite understand; she must fill out the meaning with her own experiences."

The author asks, "Isn't a writer's truth more truthful than fact?" She calls her stories, "creative nonfiction."
Her stories resonate within our own hearts with their truth. They speak to us, even before we read them, by their titles
alone: Legacy, Mama's Depression, The Message, Child's Play, Neighbors, Summerville, The Music Lesson, What Isn't Lavender, Milk Glass, Portrait of Sisters, Remembering Winter, Gunnison, Through a Window, Grandmother's Slip, Ski School, House of Neglect, A Different Generation.

Like each one of us, Howard-Johnson wants to know how she came to be who she is. She looks to past and present relationships with various family members, going back generations; to encounters with friends and strangers; to moments with her husband, children and grandchildren.

The author travels back and forth in time and place - to Utah where she was born and raised, to the Los Angeles area, where she lives now, and to other places that have figured in her life. Though connected, each story also stands alone. In each case, Howard-Johnson goes in search of the truth that lies at the heart of some person, some encounter, some experience. She uncovers layer upon layer and plummets secrets, until she arrives at some precious gem of truth.

Howard-Johnson is a remarkable writer and a fine story-teller Her stories are as simple as her language - deceptively simple. Every word has been carefully chosen and every story is a polished gem. Some books can be scanned, others can be devoured. "Harkening" should be read word for word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, chapter by chapter. It should be read leisurely. To do so is to rediscover the all but forgotten pleasure of reading.

Howard-Johnson writes with eloquent journalistic clarity, economy and simplicity. She knows how to capture the essence of things in a few telling sentences:

'LEGACY': "I must write this story because Mom-Bertie expects it of me. It is not really my story. It is not really my
mother's either. It is her mother's story. And her mother before that. In a way, it belongs to us all, though it may not
even be entirely fact."

'THE MESSAGE': "I learned about life and death in another time, another place. I remember it almost as vividly as if it
were yesterday."

'PORTRAIT OF SISTERS': "A generation is the great divide. There was almost twenty years between Bertie and Trisha. Bertie was married and gone from the house soon after the younger sister was born. So when Trisha found a raft-colored box while helping the older one clean out closets, it was an opportunity for closing the gap."

'REMEMBERING WINTER': "Winters in Utah can be bitter." 'GUNNISON': The Main Street of Gunnison is Highway 89. It is still marked "Main Street" on the street signs and "Highway 89" on the map but it is really no longer a main street and certainly no longer a highway."

'A DIFFERENT GENERATION': "I once said that I never wanted to live my mother's life. Yet somehow I keep trying to do just that."

Howard-Johnson has an uncanny eye and ear for tell-tale facts,definitive feelings and penetrating remarks. Like an artist,
selecting the right color, she finds the fitting word, the striking image, the memorable phrase:

'CHILD'S PLAY': "The mountain dominated the view from my window. In the winter, I would peek out through the panes crusted with sparkling white geometry against a sky the color of newsreel battleships."

'THE MUSIC LESSON': "The road to grandma's house wound like unspooled thread along the base of Mount Olympus. It followed the feminine contours of the foothills, jumped a creek when necessary, ran a route that traced the boundaries of old farms and homesteads."

'REMEMBERING WINTER': "The shirred wind sharpened my reaction,left my eyes bare to forgotten memories…"The children in the schoolyard looked like children from a remote decade. No color. A black and white film. The wind
blew their voices away from me."

THROUGH A WINDOW': "Thoughts move about, like the breeze in the room."

'SKI SCHOOL': "Her eyes were both filmy and bright like star sapphires. They looked as if they knew more now than when they could see. Her body was like a snap bean, all the seeds and organs of life evident under the skin."

What is most extraordinary about "HARKENING: A Collection of Stories Remembered" is that the author shows us that the seemingly ordinary moments and events of our lives are anything but ordinary. She shows us that they contain kernels of deep meaning and profound truth -- if we allow them to speak to us, and if we will harken with courage, honesty and love.

"HARKENING: A Collection of Stories Remembered," by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, is a profoundly meaningful and enjoyable book written by a skilled, honest, extraordinary writer and story-teller.


Rolf Gompertz is the author of eight books, including, "Abraham, The Dreamer/An Erotic and Sacred Love Story," a provocative, biblical novel about Abraham, his wife, Sarah, and "the other woman," Hagar. The paperback may be browsed and ordered at http://www.iUniverse.com , http://www.amazon.com , or ordered from iUniverse's toll free number 1/877/823-9235 or any bookstore. Mailto:rolfgompertz@yahoo.com

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Author of the awards-winning novel This is the Place, and the soon-to-be published Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered For More information and the author's FREE promotional cookbook go to: http://www.tlt.com/authors/carolynhowardjohnson.htm

Click here to purchase How to Publish Your Articles:A Complete Guide To Making The Right Publication Say Yes  

Review by Sheri Wallace

If you were going to ask someone a question about writing magazine articles, whom would you ask? Chances are, even if you knew someone with lots of published articles to their credit, you wouldn't get the hours of their time it would take to convey all the secrets and hints you'd need to get that first byline, let alone make a living.

Shirley Kawa-Jump has solved this problem for you. Her new book, How to Publish Your Articles: A Complete Guide to Making the Right Publication Say Yes, will answer any question you can think of. Even if you already have the nationals calling with assignments (we can all dream, right?) Shirley has ideas that make this read worth your time and money.

With a whopping 2500 plus articles to her credit, Shirley can guide novices and experts alike through uncharted territory and sticky situations. She also includes information that is a must-read for all writers - especially given the downturn in the publishing industry. For example, the "Square One System" Shirley describes in Chapter Six makes organizing volleys of queries a breeze, and the basic tracking chart will help even the least organized among us stay on top of follow up calls.

How to Publish Your Articles also includes information you won't find in older books on the subject. Email submissions are covered thoroughly and the resource sections list hundreds of online sites and newsletters that will benefit all writers. Not afraid of the gray areas, Shirley has also addressed contracts and negotiations, and given concrete examples of how to handle complex scenarios such as pulling a manuscript from consideration and handling multiple acceptances for the same article.

The book includes a detailed glossary as well as names, addresses, phone numbers, and URLs for professional organizations, resources, and information sites. The style of the book is friendly and open, and even audiences typically left out of how-to writing guides have sections with specialized information. This is the perfect gift for that academic writer in your life, they don't teach any of this in college!

If you are interested in publishing magazine articles, or even if you are just curious how the process works, How to Publish Your Articles belongs in your shopping cart.

For more information on Shirley: http://www.shirleykawa-jump.com 

Copyright 2001 Sheri Wallace, all rights reserved.

Playing Smart

By Susan K. Perry

Published by Free Spirit Publishing March 2001

ISBN-1-57542-095-3

To order Playing Smart : The Family Guide to Enriching, Offbeat Learning Activities for Ages 4-14  click this link

Review by Linda S. Dupie

Playing Smart (Revised, Expanded, and Updated Edition) published by Free Spirit Publishing and written by Susan K. Perry, Ph.D. is creative and fun in its approach to learning.

What I liked most about the book is the ability to skip around and the activities take little or no supplies to put into action. While reading Playing Smart, I found myself in situations where I could easily use what I read with my children. In chapter one Instant Fun, I used several activities from the waiting games section.

Our favorite activity is Opposites. I say the word cat, and my daughter comes back with dog. As we waited on line in the grocery store or at the doctor's office, our game progressed to offbeat pairs with shapes, color, big, and small. One pair of opposites that comes to mind is ocean (big) and whale (small). My daughter stretched it when I said can and she said pan. Her reasoning, they were made of the same material; each held something, but they were opposite of the other because one was small and the other large. She stretched her thinking beyond the normal confines and used the skill of reasoning to prove her idea.

The ideas and activities don’t stop there; there is something for everyone, and adjusting the activities to suit all ages is easy. The variety of activities varies from gardening, journaling, brainteasers to using a cemetery as a learning tool. More activities include photography, using the kitchen and physical activity.

I definitely recommend Playing Smart to parents and grandparents with children four years and older. I will continue to use it now and in the future; in fact, I have several day trips planned with my children where we will be able to use the activities to enhance our fun and learning. 

Copyright 2000-2001 by Linda S. Dupie. All rights reserved.

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, columnist for The Pasadena Star News and awards-winning author of "This is the Place" and "Harkening"