Kid in a Candy Store

By Maegan Beaumont

When a writer lands on a story idea, it usually happens one of two ways. It's either like being hit by lightening or like watching a seed germinate. Either way, once the story takes root, your head starts to swim in The Sea of Possibilities...

This is good--possibilities always are, but if you're not careful, you start to look like this:

or like this:

and then, eventually... like this:

Having a fiction writer's imagination can be both a blessing and a curse. We can spin straw into gold but sometimes, we get carried away. Every idea we have is a good one, every plot twist we come up with is absolutely vital to the outcome of the story (or so we fool ourselves into believing) so, we pile it on. We're gluttonous. Greedy. We have what I call Kid-in-a-candy-store-itis.

Before we know it, we're working plot points for a paranormal, dystopian, sci-fi,western about a half-vampire, half-werewolf who falls in love with a time-traveling mermaid... which, by the way, has absolutely nothing to do with our initial story idea.

Just remember to keep it simple. With roughly 1,100 years between us and the first printed page, an original plot is damn near impossible. Originality comes from our voice. Don't let it become cluttered and bogged down by an over active imagination or you'll end up like this guy:

And remember: friends don't let friends write paranormal, dystopian, sci-fi westerns about a half-vampire, half-werewolf who falls in love with a time-traveling mermaid.

Maegan Beaumont is the author of SACRIFICIAL MUSE, the second book in the Sabrina Vaughn series (Available through Midnight Ink, summer, 2014). A native Phoenician, Maegan’s stories are meant to make you wonder what the guy standing in front of you in the Starbucks line has locked in his basement, and feel a strong desire to sleep with the light on. When she isn’t busy fulfilling her duties as Domestic Goddess for her high school sweetheart turned husband, Joe, and their four children, she is locked in her office with her computer, her coffee pot and her Rhodesian Ridgeback, and one true love, Jade.
She also writes a blog dedicated to helping writers with plot woes and answering writing questions. Check her out – http://maeganbeaumont.blogspot.com/ 

Guest Post: Emily Kimmelman

Thanks to Inkspot for having me on her blog today to talk to you about a contest I’m running in order to find a narrator for my Sydney Rye series of audiobooks. When I was driving cross country last year I listened to a lot of audiobooks. What I learned quickly is that the story didn’t matter as much as the voice. As a writer I hate to admit it but the truth is that no matter how compelling a tale if the voice doesn’t work then neither does the audiobook.

This realization was at the forefront of my mind when I decided to turn my own series into audiobooks. So I’m asking for your help. After narrowing the finalist down to four voice artist I’m going around the web begging for you to tell me what you think.

If you Haven’t read Sydney Rye yet don’t worry. You can download the first book, UNLEASHED, for free on Amazon, iTunes, B&N, or Kobo and see how she sounds in your head then vote for the best narrator.

Since I’m asking for your help I figured I should give something back. Voting enters you to win all sorts of great prizes including Amazon gift cards, signed books, and the finished Audio book!
I hope you’ll take the time to help me out by letting me know what you think. Thanks!

Here are your choices for narrator:

https://soundcloud.com/emily-kimelman-gilvey/tracks

Emily Strong

Emily Strong is an actor, voiceover talent, and first time filmmaker.  As a native of Michigan, she is a nature-lover at heart but has the mind of a city girl and moved to Chicago nearly three years ago because she wasn't smart enough to go somewhere warmer.  She takes full advantage of what the city has to offer by training at legendary places like The Second City and eating lots and lots of ethnic food (will travel all the way across the city to Pilsen for the best tacos!).  Her love of reading was the catalyst for her adventurous spirit and the reason why she is always stoked to tell stories in their many different forms. You can visit her at www.emilystrong.net

Erin Jones

Erin has narrated over 500 audio books including "The Hunger Games" trilogy for The National Library Services/Library Of Congress,  "A State Of Wonder," The Garden Of The Beasts," "Anna Karenina," "Ferdinand The Bull, and "Madeline."

Sonja Field
 
Sonja has two loves: acting and reading. Narrating audiobooks is her absolute passion. She has logged over 600 hours recording textbooks with an organization called Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, and is currently in the process of recording a kids' action-fantasy-adventure novel, a steamy and mysterious paranormal romance, and a non-fiction about writing. She loves nothing more than bringing vivid worlds and unique characters to life. When she's not recording, Sonja can be found onstage, traipsing around Brooklyn, or entertaining children with a variety of dubious accents.


Erica Newhouse

Erica Newhouse is a film, televesion and theater actor living in New York City. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

Voting enters you to win all sorts of great prizes including Amazon gift cards, signed books, and the finished Audio book! Add to your chances of winning by joining Emily's email list, liking her Facebook page, or telling your friends about the contest.

Prize Details
Every vote, like, share, or sign up is an entry for the "grand prizes"
                        One person will win Signed copies of all 5 books
                        One person will win a $30 Amazon or B&N gift card
                        Four other winners will win paperback copies of UNLEASHED
                     
Anyone who votes +  signs up for Emily’s email list + likes Emily’s FaceBook page gets a copy of the audio book when it's completed!

Enter HERE for the Raffle Copter giveaway FIND THE VOICE OF SYDNEY RYE AUDIO BOOK CONTEST LINKS

Code:

<a id="rc-dc5f661" class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/dc5f661/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>

More about UNLEASHED:

UNLEASHED is the first book in Emily Kimelman's best selling Sydney Rye series of mysteries.
When the series begins Sydney Rye is named Joy Humbolt. She does not like people telling her what to do, so it comes as no surprise that she was just fired from her last job. When she buys Charlene Miller's dog-walking business on Manhattan's exclusive upper east side, it seems like the perfect fit: Quiet environment, minimal contact with people.

But then one of her clients turns up dead, and Charlene disappears. Rumors say Charlene was having an affair with the victim--and of course, everyone assumes Joy must know where she is. Joy begins to look into the crime, first out of curiosity then out of anger when there is another murder and threats start to come her way.

When police detective Mulberry is assigned to the case, Joy finds a kindred spirit--cynical and none-too-fond of the human race. As they dig deep into the secrets of Manhattan's elite, they not only get closer to the killer but also to a point of no return. One last murder sends Joy Humbolt hurtling over the edge. Her only chance of survival is to become Sydney Rye.

The Rest of The Sydney Rye Series:

DEATH IN THE DARK (A Sydney Rye Novella, #2)
INSATIABLE (A Sydney Rye Novel, #3)
STRINGS OF GLASS (A Sydney Rye Novel, #4)
THE DEVIL’S BREATH (A Sydney Rye Novel, #5) Coming April 2014

Emily Kimelman Biography 

Emily Kimelman is the author of the best selling “Sydney Rye” series of mystery novels including UNLEASHED, DEATH IN THE DARK, INSATIABLE, STRINGS OF GLASS and the forthcoming THE DEVIL’S BREATH. Emily lives with her husband, Sean Gilvey, and their dog, Kinsey Millhone “Pup Detective”, on a trawler docked in the Hudson Valley during the summer. She spends her winters traveling to where ever the next Sydney Rye Novel takes place. Right now she is in Costa Rica working on Sydney Rye #6.

If you’ve read Emily’s work and liked it please contact her. She loves hearing from readers. You can reach Emily via email ejkimelman@gmail.com or on  twitter @ejkimelman. Follow her on Instagram to see pictures from Emily’s latest adventures. Visit www.emilykimelman.com to learn more about Emily and the Sydney Rye series.

Thanks for visiting, Emily.