Author Spotlight-BK Walker

1.             

BK Walker currently lives in Central Pennsylvania with her three children, Brittney, Hunter and Danny, her dogs Rancid, Sadie and Haven, a cat named Whiskers and a goldfish named Fat Albert. She has always had a love for reading and writing, even as a child she created stories reading them to her stuffed animals. With a love for vampires and werewolves, you will not be disappointed with her writing as she mixes up the paranormal juice. Aside from writing, BK also supports Indie Authors organizing virtual book tours, helping them to market and promote their work. Her book review site, BWB Reviews, is just another small way she contributes to the reading world. With many stories floating around in her head, she writes when she gets the time between working as a Pediatric Home Care Nurse, being a single mother, and continuing her college education in Graphic Art Design. When BK's not fighting with her muse, Mouthy Mary, who has much to say way too often, you will find her at a baseball game with her children, or relaxing with a good book in her hand.

1. What inspires you as a writer?

Everything. I can get ideas from a conversation with a friend, sitting at a red light and looking at my surroundings, from TV, and from my dreams. Inspiration is all around us, we just need to grasp it and run with it.

2.     When did you have that ah ha moment when you knew you were a writer?

I'm not sure I've ever had that "ah ha" moment. There are days when I still don't consider myself a writer, just a good story teller. I'm still learning new things everyday, and maybe one day I will consider myself in that term, and it will hit home that I am a writer.

GP: BK, I have seen your work, believe me you Are a writer!

3.     What is your writing process? 

Man, my writing process is crazy. There are times when I write as a panster, other times I have to develop each character by conducting an interview, and plan out the plot with sticky notes on a poster board so I know where the story is going. It really depends on my muse, and the characters. Many times the scene will come to me in my dreams and I will need to get up and type it all out right away so I don't lose the feel of it. All in all though, I don't really have a set writing process.

4.     Tell us about your favorite character and why you chose to write about them?

Wow....I'd have to say that right now Keara is my favorite character. She's strong, and going through so much. She thought her life was perfect and well planned, but when her parents die and she starts experiencing things within her, and meeting new people that are trying to help her, she quickly learns that life is never what we expect it to be. Keara is a fun character to write because she goes through so many changes. As she learns more about herself, I learn too and the writing for her becomes fun and entertaining.

5.     What are you currently working on?

I'm finishing up the final touches on Broken Captive, about a girl who is broken by abuse and help captive by self inflicted pain. Serpent Seekers is in its beginning stages as well, another paranormal romance.

6.     Any upcoming events?

Romancing Your Dark Side tour will run until October 31. We have a couple of Live Author Chats and Live Book Signing events, just check the schedule for those at www.vbtcafe.com

7.     If you could be anyone you like, who would you be?

Hmmm. Now that is a loaded question. I don't really think I'd like to be anyone else other than me. There are many people I'd like to get inside their heads to see how their thought processes work, but I'm happy being me.

8.     Do you have any advice for new writers and something that a seasoned vet can learn?

For new writers - Don't ever let anyone tell you that you're crazy and it can't be done. If you can tell a good story, you can write a book. For seasoned vets - I think we all pretty much learned it and continue learning everyday. Always reach for your dreams.

9.     Where can your followers find you?

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1831525609

Twitter - www.twitter.com/bk36

Immorality and Beyond - www.immortylcafe.com

Virtual Book Tour Cafe - www.virtualbooktourcafe.com

Blog - authorbkwalker.blogspot.com

10.   Any last words?

Dream a dream and reach for the skies!

 Thank your for stopping by BK Walker.

The Golden Literary Circle is going to Baltimore

Tiffany A. Flowers

For those who Stare at the Moon

Patterns are Everywhere

Omegia Keeys

Passionate Playmates

Seduction.com

Can You Keep a Secret

Rise and Fall of a Track Star

Novel Writing: The Setting

Today's Guest Blogger is non other than Award Winning Author Mr. Julius Thompson. If you haven't read Ghost of Atlanta you are missing out. I love his topic as I sometimes get lost when an author fails to set the scene correctly. Mr. Thompson was most recently at the Decatur Book Festival. Here's a quick snippet of what his experience.

JT Decatur Video

          Where am I?

          This is a question you DON’T want your readers to dwell on as they turn the pages of your novel.

        Picking the setting of a novel is obviously a critical step.

           You must craft a vivid and realistic setting to act as a canvass for your characters to perform. This setting/sense of place must be credible.

          When you read great works of fiction, you know immediately where and what time period you are in. For example, Walter Mosley puts you in early fifties’ Los Angeles in Devil in a Blue Dress, Harper Lee sets you in the early twentieth century south in To Kill A Mockingbird and F. Scott Fitzgerald sets you in the roaring twenties in The Great Gatsby.

          You must give your reader a sense of place and this will make it easier for your readers to exist in the “Fictive Dream” of your novel’s world.

           A great author once said: “Characters interact with setting/sense of place as if its’ another character. The setting/place of place will change the character. In a different sense of place the characters will be different. The setting/sense of place will change the characters.”

      In crafting your novel, ask yourself a couple of questions. What is the relationship of a particular setting to your novel’s main characters? Can you imagine him/her in a different setting?

            What happens in novels, when the protagonists appear in a new setting—what does that appearance in a new setting have to do with “what the book is about”?

      For example, my point of view character, Andy Michael Pilgrim, lived, interacted and changed in the three novels of the Julius Thompson Trilogy: A Brooklyn in Brooklyn, Philly Style and Philly Profile and Ghost of Atlanta.

           In the progression of the trilogy, Andy’s early adult life was shaped by growing up in Brooklyn, New York and in the move to Philadelphia he was shocked in his young adult life watching the influence of drugs and gangs destroy young people’s lives.    Finally, in returning to his beginnings in Atlanta, Georgia, as an adult, he was shaped by the negative memories of his past.

           The three cities were major characters and forced Andy Michael Pilgrim to react as if he was confronting another living person in each novel.

            As you craft your novel, ask yourself, “Where does the action take place?”

             In reading your novel, the must reader learn pretty quickly in what place and time the story unfolds—in other words, where in time and space the story “is set.”

           The setting is the backbone of your novel, upon which you will build a cast of dynamic characters. Research your setting so you can add very, very specific details to make your setting as realistic as possible. You must be very descriptive in your setting to pull and keep people reading your book.

  In choosing the setting for your novel, ask yourself these questions:

            1. What year is it?

      2. What City and town do your characters live in?

            3. What is the weather like?

      4. What season is it?

            5. What type of architecture is found in your setting?

            6. What is the setting of your Novel?

      7. How do you paint a picture of the setting in the reader’s head?

     I hope these hints help you create realistic settings for your novels or short stories.

     Happy Writing!!!!!!

 Julius Thompson’s  journey to compose a trilogy began in 1995. The  fictional journey of  Andy Michael Pilgrim from Brooklyn (A Brownstone in Brooklyn), to Philadelphia (Philly Style and Philly Profile), and finally Atlanta (Ghost of Atlanta) is now complete. In this pilgrimage, readers experience places that are filled with hopes, dreams, challenges and fears that make us human.

Mr. Thompson received the Georgia Author of the Year nomination for Philly Style and Philly Profile, from the Georgia Writers Association, in 2007,. and he is currently a Creative Writing/Publishing Instructor at Atlanta’s Evening at Emory’s Writers Studio

Mr. Thompson is writing his fourth novel, Purple Phantoms, which is the haunting of a  high school basketball team.  This book is totally different from the trilogy and a chance to explore the use of second person point of view in a novel.

Mr. Thompson  grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York and attended Bushwick High School. The sixties in Brooklyn was an era that had a personality, a feel, and a life-force that changed a generation. Mr. Thompson felt this energy and experienced these fires of social change.

 After high school, Mr. Thompson spent the next four years riding the "A" train to Harlem, in upper Manhattan, to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from the City College of New York.  At CCNY, literature instructors like Professor Thomas Tashiro, fueled the fire in him to become a writer. 

GP: Mr. Thompson thank you so much for stopping by and congratulations on your literary award!

Missing in Action

Hello all. Please forgive me for not posting lately. My writing was calling me and I had to answer. Sometimes my Muse gets beside herself and barely gives me any room to eat, shower, and tend to the kiddies let alone actually write anything other than what she desires.

Well if you missed it the Decatur Book Fest was a very successful event for the authors and readers in attendance. Even with the threat of a storm on Sunday, people came out in the thousands to show support. I stopped by the Passionate Writer Publishing tent, nice display as always, and met fellow authors Kane, Julius Thompson, Omegia Keeys, and a children's author Tiffany A. Flowers.

Debra Gaynor owner of Readers Favorite was out and about meeting the authors. If you have not submitted your book for one of their reviews, what the heck are you waiting on? This is a nationally recognized company who has done reviews for the likes of James Patterson and for publishing companies such as Random House, and guess what the Independent Author as well!

Okay back to the fest itself. This is a must. If you are thinking about doing an event this should be top on your list. From the sounding of the fest with the drummer signaling the Kiddie Parade is about to commence to the thousands of people in attendance, this is the place to be. Believe me I know, as I have attended several lackluster festivals.

More upcoming events this year:

Baltimore Book Fest, Sept 23-25
Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN, Oct 14-16
Miami International Book Fair, Nov 18-20

Now you can't say you didn't know about them. If you can't attend this year why not mark it on your calendar for next year? Go ahead get that exposure.

The Golden Pen