manuscripts

Book Cover Reveal: My Soul to Keep

Lynette M Burrows

I’m delighted to present the book cover reveal for my debut novel, My Soul to Keep. On sale: August 2018 Artist/Illustrator/Designer: Elizabeth Leggett Publisher: Rocket Dog Publishing ABOUT MY SOUL TO KEEP Miranda Clarke lived a charmed life…until she broke the rules. It is 1961 and America’s a theocracy controlled by the Fellowship and its tyrannical council of eleven men. Miranda Clarke’s family is part of the ruling elite, wealthy and privileged. Miranda wants nothing more than to stay out of the public eye, but her power-hungry mother has different plans. She forces Miranda into an engagement to an up-and-coming Fellowship member and schemes to get Miranda’s father elected President of the United States. To escape the arranged marriage and the repressive Fellowship, Miranda makes a break for freedom. But lurid family secrets and a dead man lands her in prison. She not only must escape prison and outwit her mother’s ruthless ambitions but avoid the deadly Azrael, the Fellowship’s enforcers who Take unbelievers. Will Miranda survive ‘outing’ the family secrets? Told from four different perspectives, My Soul to Keep is a spine-tingling science-fiction thriller and will be available in all your favorite online bookstores. My Soul to Keep is the […]

An Idea That Grew Into a Story

Lynette M Burrows

I met Rob Chilson at a local science fiction group meeting.  He is the soft-spoken author of seven novels and numerous short stories and novellas published in science fiction magazines. Visit his website at www.RobChilson.com to learn a little more about this Oklahoma born author. After one meeting, Rob came to me with an idea for a story.  He thought I would be the perfect collaborator because I was both writer and nurse. It was an idea that grew into a story. The Spark We each read a short article in a science magazine about how when you are sick your ‘sick cells’ changed electrical polarity from the ‘well’ state. Two science fiction authors should not have been surprised that we’d read the same article, but we were. When we talked about this discovery we wondered if someday there might be a box that could read and correct the polarity of cells making illness and disease a thing of the past. Rob wondered how that change would impact society. He thought that perhaps we wouldn’t need doctors and nurses any longer. I argued that we would always need someone with a healing touch.  Then we discussed characters, a basic plot, and […]

From the End to the Beginning

Lynette M Burrows

Part 7: Re-visioning Your Story     Why from the End to the Beginning? Many writers spend a significant amount of time crafting the beginning of their story. They know the beginning of a story is critical. If you don’t hook your reader, the story will go unread. But did you realize the ending is just as important?   No amount of convincing characters, intricate or thrilling plot, nor vivid story world construction can overcome a poorly crafted story end. And a failed ending of your story will cause an agent, editor, or reader to put down the book never to pick up another of your stories. But a great ending will reward your reader with an emotional payoff. Hooked, he’ll eagerly seek out more of your stories. So how do you construct a great ending? In revision. First, in order to craft a perfect ending, you must understand the key components of the ending of a story: the crisis, the climax, and the resolution. CRISIS The crisis is the pivotal moment of your story. Your protagonist’s choices and actions have led her to this point where she must make a final, irrevocable choice. “At the point of crisis,” Bob Mayer […]