#InkRipples~Genres

This month #InkRipples is tackling the topic of genres. After an author has written their novel, they need to decide what genre it belongs in.

Sometimes choosing the correct genre can seem confusing, especially if the story contains elements from more than one genre. Let’s take a look at the genre possibilities.

According to Wikipedia, the main classical genres of writing are:

• Fiction
• Comedy
• Drama
• Horror
• Non-fiction
• Realistic fiction
• Romance 
• Satire
• Tragedy
• Tragicomedy
• Fantasy

That’s quite a list!

My writing and reading preferences tend to fall into three genres. They are:

• Romance
• Mystery
• Fantasy

So, how do I know where my story belongs? Throughout the month, we’ll take a look at these three genres to see why a story belongs there. Come join me next week for a look at romance!!

Don't forget to check out Katie L. Carroll, Kai Strand and the other #InkRipples posters (follow the tag on Twitter and Facebook!) Want to join in? Keep reading for more information.

Ripples in the Inkwell is a themed meme hosted by Katie L. Carroll, Kai Strand, and me, Mary Waibel. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on the #InkRipples tab above, and link back to our three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #InkRipples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.

This year's topics are:

February: Genres
March: Tropes
April: Revision
May: Fairy Tales
June: Blurbs
July: Heroes/Villains
August: Author Options in Publishing
September: World Building
October: Career vs Hobby
November: Finishing that Book!
December: Goals

#InkRipples~Book covers

Happy New Year!!!! 

I drifted away from posting during 2016, but am back and looking forward to sharing my thoughts again in 2017.

And what better post for the first of the year than an #Inkripples post.

Today's topic: Book covers.

Book covers are more complicated than you may realize. After all, one glance must not only catch the eye of a prospective reader and entice them to pick up the book to read, but it must also reveal the genre and a subtle hint of the story.

If you're looking for a thriller, you aren't going to pick up a book with flowery script and a picture of a man in a suit and top hat with a woman in a belle of the ball gown, are you? No, because the cover is revealing that you're holding a romance (and most likely, a period romance.)

Color, font, and images are all used to help a reader know at a glance what the book they are looking at is going to be about. 

This was an important thing for me to learn when I worked with the cover artist for my first book. I answered a series of questions about my book, about what I'd like to see on the cover, and some covers that I liked that were in the same genre as I was writing.

I had always thought that book covers needed to represent a specific scene from the story, but that isn't true. A great book cover will capture the essence of the story through the colors, font, and images the cover artist uses. And it is much harder to do this than you think!

Do you agree that book covers are more complicated than they first appear? What are some of your favorite covers and why? Share in the comments below!  

Ripples in the Inkwell is a themed meme hosted by Katie L. Carroll, Kai Strand, and me, Mary Waibel. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on the #InkRipples tab above, and link back to our three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #inkripples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.

This year's topics are:

January: Book covers
February: Genres
March: Tropes
April: Revision
May: Fairy Tales
June: Blurbs
July: Heroes/Villains
August: Author Options in Publishing
September: World Building
October: Career vs Hobby
November: Finishing that Book!
December: Goals

#InkRipples~Cookies

Wow!  It's hard to believe I've been away from the blog for FOUR MONTHS!!! What have I been doing? Spending lots of time with my family and doing a lot of nothing. Catching up on some TV shows, a little reading, and lots of just hanging around. In other words, I was taking a much needed break.  But, now it's time to get back into the swing of things.

Katie, Kai, and I have been talking about #Inkripples topics for 2017, and I realized how much I've missed posting these last few months. I'm very excited about the upcoming topics, and hope you will be too!

But, before we get there, we have the last 2016 topic to tackle. Cookies.

Cookies are great! In fact, I indulged in two at work today (a wonderful and unexpected gift from a hockey-mom friend). Another great thing about cookies? Recipe swaps. One of the things I always enjoyed on my early twenties was getting the holiday themed romance book collection (3-5 stories in one book) with recipes from the authors. And if the food (cookie or pie or cake) was worked into the story, even better.

While I haven't worked a cookie recipe into a book (although there is a loose mac and cheese recipe in The Boyfriend Project) I thought I'd share a couple of holiday go to's for me.

Buckeyes:
This recipe has been passed down through my family and are a yearly favorite.  You may know them better as Peanut Butter Balls.

1/4 cup margerine
 2 cups confectioner's sugar
 2 cups peanut butter
 2 cups rice crispies
 Almond bark (or chocolate chips and wax), melted

Cream first three ingredients.  Add rice crispies.  Mix well.  Roll into balls.  Refrigerate 2 hours.  Dip in melted chocolate and set on wax paper.  Store in refrigerator. Notes:  When dipping them in the chocolate, we always stab the peanut butter ball in the center with a toothpick and dip it in the chocolate, leaving a small circular area uncovered- it makes it kind of look like an eye (hence the name).

Snickerdoodles
 My son recently mentioned that this is his favorite cookie, so I see a batch of these in the near future! This recipe is from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book.

1 cup shortening (part butter or margarine)          
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups sugar  
1 tsp. baking soda
 2 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt 
2 3/4 cups flour
2 Tbsp. sugar  
2 tsp. cinnamon

Heat oven to 400.  Mix shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and eggs thoroughly.  Blend flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.  Stir in.  Shape dough in 1" balls.  Roll in mixture of cinnamon and sugar.  Place 2" apart on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes.  These cookies puff up at first, then flatten out.  Makes 6 dozen cookies.

 What are your favorite cookie recipes? Share in the comments below!! Be sure to check out Katie and Kai's posts. And stay tuned for the 2017 #Inkripple topics!!

Ripples in the Inkwell is a themed meme hosted by Katie L. Carroll, Kai Strand, and me, Mary Waibel. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on the #InkRipples tab above, and link back to our three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #inkripples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.

#InkRipples~Inspiration and Guilty Pleasures

[Wipes away the cobwebs hanging everywhere and shakes the dust from the curtains.]

Hi! I bet you thought I'd abandoned this place, didn't you? Well, I just took a short leave of absence. And now I'm back.

Because I missed last month's topic, I thought I'd give you a quick post on where I get inspiration before diving into this month's topic. I find inspiration everywhere. In a song. In a lyric. In an image. I once had a book idea come to me from a name in the credits at the end of a movie. I just need to find the time (and focus!) to develop the ideas I find.

Now, on to guilty pleasures. Here's a couple of mine!

First...Anime. I love to watch Anime. In fact, I just finished re-watching Vampire Knight for the somethingth time (yeah, I've lost count.) I don't know what it is about that show, but I can binge watch all 26 episodes in 2 days.

I also love Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. While I enjoyed Fullmetal Alchemist, it was almost like reading a draft of a finished novel when compared to Brotherhood. They share a similar story line, but Brotherhood was much more developed.  I highly recommend Brotherhood to anyone new to Anime. It's an amazing story you don't want to miss.

Second...Movies. Recently I've been obsessed with watching Pride and Prejudice (the one with Keira Knightly). I've been waiting for it to come back on Netflix, and in the meantime I watched Pride and Prejudice the mini-series with Colin Firth. While this had more character development, I still find myself partial to the Matthew MacFadyen's Mr. Darcy. (He's good to watch in Ripper Street, too!)


What are some of your guilty pleasures?

Don't forget to stop by Katie and Kai's blogs to see their guilty pleasures!

Ripples in the Inkwell is a themed meme hosted by Katie L. Carroll, Kai Strand, and me, Mary Waibel. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on the #InkRipples tab above, and link back to our three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #inkripples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.

#INKRIPPLES~Movies

Wow! It's hard to believe an entire month has gone by already. Don't look, but we're almost halfway through the year. Didn't it just start a few weeks ago???

As Katie and Kai pointed out on twitter...I've been slacking. But, not with my #InkRipples posts (although this one is going up later in the day than usual.)

This month, we're talking movies.

I love movies. Truth be told, I prefer to watch them at home, but I've made it out to the theater for three flicks so far this year. What have I watched?

Deadpool. Superman vs. Batman. Captain America: Civil War.

Okay, so I have a thing for comic book/action movies. But, those aren't the only movies I've watched this year. I also watched Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightly and Matthew MacFayden one) on Netflix. If I'd see the movie first, I'd probably have liked the book better as I really like this movie (and may have rewatched it a couple times).

The hubby and I watched I'll Follow You Down on Amazon. This is a time travel/sci-fi movie. And, while I'm really hit and miss with Sci-fi, I really enjoyed this movie.

Of course, having been out to the movies, I've made an "I want to see" list that contains the following:

X-Men: Apacalypse
Star Trek: Beyond
Suicide Squad
Jason Bourne
Doctor Strange
Rogue One

What movies have you seen this year? What are you looking forward to seeing? What's the one movie you have to stop and watch when you find it on TV (or Netflix or Amazon)?

Ripples in the Inkwell is a themed meme hosted by Katie L. Carroll, Kai Strand, and me, Mary Waibel. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on the #InkRipples tab above, and link back to our three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #inkripples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.