Category Archives: Genres - Page 2
On October 5th, 2011 Victor R. Volkman and Donna Winters spoke with writer, broadcaster, and historical fiction writer Susan Violante about incorporating research from oral history into fiction and non-fiction contexts. In 2010, she published her Young Adult novel Innocent War: Behind and Immigrant’s Past — Book One. She currently works as the Editorial Assistant for Reader Views and First Chapter Plus. During the course of her writing she used tapes her father recorded as well as one-on-one interviews to flesh out the events, characters, and emotions that she hoped to capture in her book. In this wide-ranging discussion, we covered those issues and much more:
- Researching for your book
- Benefits of Interviewing as a research tool when writing any story
- Different Interviewing tools and techniques.
- Quick tips to interview like a professional.
- How to use your story’s research to Market your book.
- Creating Podcasts using recorded interviews done during story research.
- Using your contacts generated through story research to promote your book.
|
 Susan Violante |
| Born and raised in Venezuela from Italian immigrants, author Susan Violante completed a BA degree in Political and Administrative Cs. and worked as Founding General Director of a Environmental Foundation before moving to the US. Although she built a career as a Business Analyst/Accountant since 1987, she also kept herself active as a Freelance writer. In 2010 Violante finally retired from Accounting and leaped to the publishing industry. She is also finishing her first picture book titled Tuma: The Little Indian Princess while working on Book 2 of her Series. Susan is also the host of I Have Something to Say LIVE, and soon to be Managing Editor of her newest project: I Have Something To Say Press. Her new radio show: Italian Austinite will go on the air through Blogtalk radio at the end of October. |
 Innocent War |
On September 15th, 2011 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with children’s author, publisher, and marketing guru Barbara Techel. She is the award-winning author of the Frankie the Walk ‘N Roll Dog book series. She has shared her story of hope and inspiration about her dachshund, Frankie, who is in a wheelchair, with thousands of children and adults since 2007. To date they have made over 300 appearances in Wisconsin and many more via Skype to classrooms across the US and Canada. Barbara is also a speaker and publisher. She appeared on our show to help all authors who may be having trouble getting started in speaking at schools and libraries some ideas and inspiration. A few topics we covered include:
- What to include in your presentation.
- Types of presentations
- Ideas for what fiction authors can speak about
- Pitfalls to avoid in pitching classroom appearances
- Appropriate length for various ages
- Managing the sales appropriately
- Where to speak: In-person and via Skype
- What to charge for classroom appearances
- Marketing your message and appearances to schools
|
 Barbara Techel (and Frankie) |
| Barbara and Frankie are avid volunteers as a therapy dog team. They routinely visit a local hospice community, hospital and senior assisted living facility, where they “walk their talk” about the inspirational nature of perseverance in the face of challenge.Since before her first book was published, Barbara has worked tirelessly to promote her books and the positive message they embody. She has garnered coverage for her story from local, regional and national media through these efforts, and continues to develop and refine her marketing message and approach. Class Act: Sell More Books Through School and Library Author Appearances is her first book about what she’s learned, but not likely her last. |
 Class Act: Sell More Books Through School and Library Author Appearances |
On July 21, 2011 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with humorist and songwriter Tom Cornett. He is a Midwestern writer who has collaborated with country singers in Nashville as well as writing and co-writing novelty (comedy) songs and parodies. Tom is a student of the observational school of comedy and enjoys putting a twist on reality. He releases his comedy music under the pseudonym “Twisted Tom“. He spoke with us on a variety of humor writing points including:
- Basics of comedy songwriting
- Observing human nature as the source of the absurd
- The importance of collaboration
- Humor vs. satire
- Parodies
- Point-of-view in comedy
- Handling rejection effectively
|
 Tom Cornett |
| Tom also writes a blog in addition to his music sites on ReverbNation and MySpace |
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On July 7th, 2011 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with writing coach and author Dion McInnis about how anyone can learn to write an engaging memoir. He teaches Memories to Memoirsworkshops at a variety of outlets, as well as teaching photography. He fell in love with writing by the time he was 12 and photography at 6. During the day, he is a university administrator, and every moment of every day he is a writer/photographer/speaker/poet. We covered a range of topics on memoir including
- Using writing cues to jog your memory
- The Horizontal Timelines and how they can co-ordinate the story of your life
- The importance of preserving your point-of-view while recovering memories
- Choosing fiction or non-fiction as your final product
- Using old photos to stimulate memories and discover context
- Non-verbal methods of bringing yourself back in time
- And much more!
|
 Dion McInnis |
| Dion McInnis has always loved the stories of his life and the lives of those he encountered. He believes in the richness, wisdom and humanity of stories. Over time, he realized that it is harder to rekindle memories and find the ways to turn them into stories, whether for memoirs, autobiographies, short stories and so on. So, he developed a way to find the memories and turn them into words. His most recent book is entitled Daddin’: The Verb of Being a Dad. |
 Daddin': The Verb of Being a Dad |
