Pinch Points
Worst Clichés in Fiction
Songs for the End of the World by Saleema Nawaz
If you’ve had enough of all the media blitz about Covid, then maybe you should put this book aside for a while before reading it. The story is based on a bestseller about a global virus outbreak and the effect it has on the characters in the story who, in some way, are all connected. There doesn’t seem to be an actual ‘protagonist’ since the POV switches to and fro from the slew of characters. Yet the writing, as well as the characters, are well crafted. We see a lot of dysfunctional relationships, and with that come the frequent passages of self-doubt and self-reproach. The decisions taken by the characters, directly or indirectly, affect the lives of others.
To isolate oneself from society is the bestseller’s best advice to escape the virus. But is that a sure way to protect oneself from the infection? Just as burying our past will not erase any wrong decisions we’ve taken.
Illusion of Wings
Another milestone on my writing journey. I just completed the eight draft of my latest novel, Illusion of Wings—actually it must be my ninth since I kept on going back to change things while I was writing out my query letters. I had to finally put my pen down and tell myself it was enough… no more editing. We’ll see. Is a novel ever really finished?
In any case, I have time to tinker around with the manuscript. The publishers take forever, if at all, to respond. It takes six to eight months or more for them to get back to you. I had one contact me after almost five years—luckily it was to offer me a contract. That’s why I send out simultaneous query letters with the mention that I will advise them immediately of any changes in the status of my submission. But these publishers are flooded with new submissions every week. They need to take the time to properly access each manuscript––not an easy task with few employees and limited budgets.
Illusion of Wings, is a working title. What I consider to be a suitable title might appear strange to a potential publisher. I have yet to imagine what the cover would look like––that’s certainly not my specialty. But I do have time to think about it now that I’ve started sending out submissions. I’ll be posting my main characters’ backstory soon and hope to get any comment you can spare.
Here is a short blurb:
Ailis, a 17 year-old indentured servant, is desperate to get her freedom. But escaping her master in Louisiana of the 1750s could get her whipped, branded and placed in stocks. Her plans are put on hold when her master sells her to a Montreal merchant to pay off a debt. She sails from New Orleans on a large frigate disguised as a cabin boy where she’s able to use her skills as a healer to treat the sailors.
Once In Montreal, she continues to use her medicines to help people while serving her demanding mistress. Her plans of escaping to freedom are rekindled when she befriends, Reine, a black slave who harbours the same dream as her.
Not long after, she meets up with Phil, a sailor she met on the ship, and starts making plans to leave the fortified city.
She discovers that both her master and her mistress are hiding a secret which, if exposed, can lead to their downfall. Is she willing to go against what she believes in to negotiate her freedom? When one of the servants under her care dies, she’s accused of murder and imprisoned. She must find a way to avoid the gallows—but at what price?
Review: The Daughters’ Story
Thank you to Lili Naghdi for posting her wonderful review of my novel, The Daughters’ Story on Amazon. Greatly appreciated and very encouraging.
Read it here: bitly.ws/3V4x
#Womens’ fiction # Historical fiction # Canadian fiction #reviews
The Daughters’ Story: Update
The ebook format of my novel, The Daughters’ Story, has been released at several vendors. Hopefully, that will help with the sales, but at the end of the day, the reviews, good and bad, will be the determining factor as to whether the book will survive. Putting it through an extravaganza of promotional stunts will give it visibility and with that, maybe a handful of willing readers, but if none of them bother to comment on what they read––not something that comes natural––the book will have had its moment of fame and slowly disappear.
As writers, we put our hearts out there, hoping someone will listen, feel, rethink life, get angry or throw the book across the room. We want to touch someone’s heart or hit a nerve. An emotional reaction indicates the book has changed a reader’s life in some way, and perhaps it happens, but if the reader never gives any feedback, the author misses out on how to use their writing to maintain that vital writer-reader connection.
I’ve done what I could for the novel and now… time to roll up my sleeves and focus on my latest work.
#historical fiction #Canadian fiction #Quebec fiction #novel #new release #women’s fiction #October Crisis
Now available at:
Baraka Books: https://bit.ly/2QZcF9P
KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-daughters-story
Amazon.com: http://bitly.ws/3Vrb
Amazon.ca: https://tinyurl.com/y4olrt44
Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/y6f6fra2
Indigo: https://tinyurl.com/y6f6fra2
Alibris: https://bit.ly/2VqjeUb
Review: “The Daughter’s Story” by Murielle Cyr
via Review: “The Daughter’s Story” by Murielle Cyr
A review of my novel by a fellow author, Christoph Fischer–– a pillar in the writing community who has been an inspiration to me from my beginnings as a writer. How good can it get?!
Thanks, Christoph. I honour the goodness in you.
#Canadian literature #fiction #novels #historical fiction #Quebec writing #womens’ writing #family saga
The Daughters’ Story
Moving along… the advanced reading copies are out and heading for those who will read and hopefully review my work. They might like it… or maybe hate it.
Too much back story… characters not credible… pace too slow… weak structure… ending too abrupt… I’ll have a panic attack trying to come up with what I did wrong.
But maybe they’ll connect to the main character, Nadine––fingers crossed––and forgive all the flaws in the story. Nadine is banished to a home for unwed mothers in 1950. She’s 15. Her baby daughter, whose father is shrouded in secrecy, is put up for adoption without her permission. Vowing to reunite one day with her daughter, she cuts all ties with her dysfunctional Irish and French-Canadian Catholic family whose past is cluttered with secrets, betrayals, incest and violence.
As writers, we are dependent on the reader’s reaction to our work. Some will enjoy the book and review––or not. Others will make sure to comment if they don’t like something about the story. Both positive and negative reviews help to make the book visible to others. Without reviews, the book disappears.
It should be released May 1st, but it’s available for pre-orders which will arrive at the end of March.
#Quebec fiction #Canadian fiction #modern historical fiction #Family saga #womens fiction #adoption #WW1 #WW2 #October Crisis #Amazon #Indigo #Barnes & Noble
The Daughters’ Story
Thank you for your support!
The Daughters’ Story
Available May 1, 2019 Pre-order now
https://www.barakabooks.com/catalogue/the-daughters-story
Nadine is banished to a home for unwed mothers in 1950. She’s 15. Her baby daughter, whose father is shrouded in secrecy, is put up for adoption without her permission. Vowing to reunite one day with her daughter, she cuts all ties with her dysfunctional Irish and French-Canadian Catholic family whose past is cluttered with secrets, betrayals, incest and violence.
It’s now October 1970 in Montreal. Following two FLQ kidnappings, Ottawa proclaims the War Measures Act and sends the army into Quebec. These staggering events indirectly bring about a reunion between Nadine and her daughter Lisette, now 20 years old and embittered after being bounced from one foster home to another. Eight months pregnant, Lisette and her partner Serge, who is close to the FLQ, need money and see Nadine as a possible source.
A family saga with World Wars I and II, the Great Depression and the October crisis as backdrop, The Daughters’ Story tells the unsung, yet intensely passionate, tale of women whose unquenchable need to belong drives them to survive and thrive despite cruel conditions.
Release on the Way
My new historical fiction novel— a family saga set in Quebec, spanning two world wars and beyond— will be released in early spring. The cover is to be revealed very soon.
#historical fiction #Canadian fiction #Quebec fiction #October crisis #women fiction
Creating a Strong Character’s Voice
Guest classic author: Beatrix Potter. Children’s books, rabbits and the Lakes.
Today as all Fridays (although we’ll take a break to bring you some Christmas specials during the festive period) I bring you a guest author. This time is a classic that I think most of us will be familiar with (and especially with her characters): Beatrix Potter.
There is plenty of information about her on the internet. I leave you a short biography and links to more information about her and her works.
Biography:
Helen Beatrix Potter was born on the 28th July 1866 in London (South Kensington). Both her grandparents had been industrialists in the cotton business (in the Manchester area) and her parents were quite wealthy and followers of the Unitarian faith. Her father was a barrister and amateur photographer and her mother enjoyed embroidery and drawing. They were both interested in the arts and encouraged Beatrix and her younger brother, Walter Bertram, in the pursuit of…
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How the Seven-Point Story Structure Can Help Your Writing
A helpful option to plot your novel …
Murielle Cyr 
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