March | 2012 | Debra R. Borys

I think all authors put a piece of themselves into their characters. But when Painted Black’s main character Jo Sullivan did an interview recently at Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews, there are a number of things she said like the quote below that make me realize how true that is.

Click here to read the whole interview, an excerpt from the novel, and a chance to WIN a FREE copy of Painted Black. Two winners will be chosen May 4.

Tell us how you became a journalist and what you like about your job with Winds of Change?

Wow, was I surprised by how the change of jobs has changed me. It started as just another step in my career, you know? In addition to covering the cop beat and other stories assigned to me, they wanted me to continue a column they had called Street Stories. The purpose of the column was to make street people visible as human beings, instead of the scourge of society like so many people think. Each story focuses on one individual person, and I found that by writing them, I started focusing on the individual person. They weren’t just stories anymore; they were the vet who got brain damaged by an IED, or the teenager who got kicked out because the family couldn’t afford to feed her anymore.

via Laurie’s Non-paranormal Thoughts and Reviews: Painted Black by Deb Borys: Character Interview & Excerpt.

I just found a new person to follow on Twitter. Andrew Shaffer (@evilwylie) has a sense of humor I can appreciate. He’s written a parody of the wildfire best seller 50 Shades of Grey which is an adult, erotica fan fiction spin off of the wildfire YA best selling Twilight Series. Shaffer’s book started as a satirical selection of tweets mocking 50 Shades of Grey and progressed to tweeting the first chapter of his parody 140 characters at a time. The tweets earned him 2000 readers and an offer via twitter from a small press.

His agent is currently shopping the complete manuscript around now. I hope it finds a home, because I can tell you that while I have no intention of reading any books in the Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey series, I would buy Shaffer’s book just to give him a buyer’s version of a high five.

Shaffer plans on publishing the book, if it’s acquired, under a pseudonym. He’s also acutely aware of the meta nature of what he’s doing—writing a parody of a novel which, itself, is a variation on another novel—and he’s celebrating that fact. “I was upfront about my intentions to ‘sell out’—I posted that once I sold the book to a publisher I would change the characters’ names to Edward and Bella and hide out from my fans in a McMansion in Beverly Hills. Of course, this all just parodies EL James’ path to success, so maybe what I’m really doing is an extended piece of performance art?”

via ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Parody Makes the Rounds.