Fascinating Friday Feature – The Mafia in America

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Pre 1890s While researching my recent release, Claire, I uncovered several interesting facts about the mafia in America. In my book, Claire boards a train to flee New York after her mafia father is murdered and a contract is placed on her head. Toby, an undercover Pinkerton operative, heads for Denver, finding himself on a train with a woman who is vaguely familiar to him. Toby, to add to his cover story, has placed an ad for a mail-order bride. Claire replies to the ad, neither realizing their connection. Can they solve the mystery of who is trying to kill…

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In Marketing, One Cut Leads to a Paste Somewhere

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A few scenarios might have seemed frustrating, but easily turned to fodder for marketing My editor had me find and use a quote daily for a devotional and then changed it to scriptures I did tons of research for each day’s devotion for a historic nonfiction (Stories of Faith and Courage From the Home Front) and had folders of excess info Another editor cut content and had me add other content I realized each time that I had plenty of material for social networking. I had a whole database of historic dates I blogged about. I had quotes on my…

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Research For Contemporary Fiction IIIA

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 Hi from Gail Gaymer Martin at www,gailgaymermartin.com   Weeks seem to fly by and I’m late sending the third part of Research for Contemporary Fiction. Thought it might seem contemporary fiction is not as complex to research as historical, it is still important and can take much time, depending on the plots of the novel. While historical elements are not significant in most cases when researching contemporary, setting location can still require time-consuming research, as well researching details of the story such as medical information, how to do specific things in the plot, and so much more.

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Friends and Experts

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Hi, all! Ava Pennington checking in from sunny Florida. They say the life of a writer is lonely. That’s true in some ways, but the advent of the Internet has connected us in ways we never imagined. It has also made research easier than ever. However, easier is not always better. We’ve all heard the warnings about verifying the accuracy of our sources. Certain websites have more credibility than others. Just because something is on the Internet doesn’t make it true.

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Craft of Nonfiction Storytelling

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Jan here, writing about nonfiction writing craft on this fine Friday in January of the new decade. Let’s talk about the craft of storytelling in nonfiction. Fiction writers naturally spend much focused time developing the craft of story. Nonfiction writers quickly discover this is essential for their writing as well. It is very possible that a section of story excerpted from its larger context could be told so well that a hearer or reader would need to guess if it’s nonfiction or fiction. Is it a true account told by a storyteller who has skillfully woven the facts through a creative use of…

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