Everything is About Writing for Marian Allen, Author Lady

Everything is About Writing for Marian Allen, Author Lady Unicorns, dragons and talking tortoises might not be standard fare for everyone. But Marian Allens fantasy realm created in the Sage trilogy fulfils any fantasy lovers craving for those exact things. The first book of the trilogy, The Fall of Onagros: Sage: Book 1 (Sage Trilogy) (Volume 1), begins like this:Unicorn pressed a hoof into the yielding earth, leaving a moss-lined hollow. Phoenix shook a tiny iridescent feather into the impression. Tortoise spat upon the feather; the droplets dissolved it, swelled, burst their surface tension, and filled the shallow bowl with shimmering liquid. Dragon breathed gently on the water, and a vision appeared.The Fall of OnagrosHowever, just as quickly as that dragon-inspired vision appeared, Allens novels can take a decidedly mysterious turn, such as in Sideshow in the Center Ring, beginning with these ominous first lines:It started with parties and ended in blood. Im not a violent womanâ€"who would have thought it would end in blood? Maybe it s tarted on Helena Street. If you go back that far, maybe the blood makes sense.Helena Street was where I was born and raised: a thousand feet of narrow, broken, asphalt that we called Hell Alley. It ran from Market Street to the service entrance of 63 Andriot, a block of condominiums, overpriced for the upper class. We were a century into the New World Order, and a quick flip through a history book showed a pretty familiar picture. The Haves did, do, and always will; the Have-Nots didnt, dont, and wont. Helena Street was for Have-Nots.Sideshow in the Center RingAbout the authorLouisville, Kentucky-native Marian Allens own description of herself is as an inveterate this-and-thatter. Along with having written since she can remember, she reminds her readers that the content on her blog is about anything [she] damn well [pleases], including recipes and one-liners. Having been told at the age of six that it was possible to do what she loved (which was write) and make money doing it, she k new what she wanted to do for a living.A graduate of Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Allen has worked several positions ranging from high school teacher to a soda jerk, and prefers small-town living. Her blog is one way to connect with friends and writing circles. Allen describes her passion for writing like this: I try to remember, in my books and stories, that no one exists in total isolation, but in a web of connections to family, friends, colleagues, self at former stages of maturity, perceptions and self-images. Most of my work is fantasy, science fiction and/or mystery, though I write horror, humor, romance, mainstream or anything else that suits the story and character.Allens work includes stories in anthologies, on-line and print publications, including Oceans of the Mind and Marion Zimmer Bradleys Sword and Sorceress anthologies 22 and 23. Her work can also be seen in less common formats, such as on coffee cans and on the wall of an Indian restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky. She has books in electronic formats and paper, self-published and traditionally published, and is a member of Southern Indiana Writers and Quills and Quibbles.Books, collections and free readsAllens collection of books and stories, along with links to preview and purchase each, are available for prospective readers to peruse, and the author offers multiple free reads and free samples. Its easy to make a purchase for Kindle or print copies of her work, and many of Allens blog posts are sample chapters from her books or writing. For example, a post she categorizes under #SampleSunday is a complete short story she wrote for her local Quills Quibbles writers meeting, limited to approximately 250 words. She then follows that story with a writing prompt for her readers: Write about an encounter at a bar, concession stand, or food cart.Another post is an original short story Allen wrote that was published in the Southern Indiana Writers Groups now-out-of-print anthology, Christ mas Bizarre. The story is reprinted as part of the groups new anthology, Holiday Bizarre, which includes stories involving holidays throughout the year. Heres a brief sample of the introduction of The Christmas Pool (the rest can be found within this post):How do you tell a four-year-old you dont want him around, ever? This is not a good time, I could manage. Its time for you to go home now, I could manage. Ill be busy tomorrow, I could manage. But, Go away now and never come back? Couldnt be done.In late August, Len started pre-school. Every evening I drove home to find a grubby urchin on my front porch with an armful of my dog and a stream of gossip about the kids.Darkness held no terror for him; the days grew short, but my headlights always picked out that figure waiting for me. Id give him goodies, listen to him while I got my supper started. Now and then hed say, Whatcha making? That looks good, but I had no trouble resisting the temptation. Id just put everything on simmer and drive him home, then come back to my quiet and my solitude.The Christmas PoolPoetryAllen begins her blogs poetry section with a story about a party in which a challenge was thrown out to write ten-word, surrealist poems. The way she describes it, each participant took a piece of paper, wrote down a made-up title for a poem that hadnt been written yet, and folded the paper so that each persons title didnt show as they passed the paper to the person next to them. They then wrote a new title on the paper, folded it, then passed it onâ€"three times until they each unfolded the title in their hands and wrote a ten-word poem. Here are a few of the results:Gray Day in JanuarySky, slush, riverâ€"Your eyes.January thaws before that gray.I Always Hated PsychologistsThen I met you.You make me feel so Jung.PhantasmIs it real?Does that matter?I live with it.Writing advice and promptsMy favorite tidbits available on Allens blog were her multiple writing prompts, which are found throughout many o f her posts, such as this one: A writing prompt for you: Write a character who thinks the height of happiness is being in a mess of loud, drunken people behaving badly.In addition to these wonderful prompts, Allen offers multiple posts with writing advice and inspirational tips, such as this one entitled Life Outside the Storyline. In this post, she writes the following concerning genre writing versus literary writing:Everybody says, Know your characters inside and out â€" and then leave most of it out of the book. I think thats more true of genre writing than literary. I think genre books focus nearly exclusively on the storyline, with peripherals coming in as subplots. I think literary books focus on life outside the storyline, with the storyline simply being the thread through the beads.Marian AllenThere are also guest posts by Floyd Hyatt, such as this post entitled Adjective Objective, where he offers advice on the use of adverbs and adjectives that isnt typically taught in the industry. Heres a hint: it goes against Stephen Kings advice stating, The adverb is not your friend.Additional linksAdditional links on Marian Allens site lead visitors to selected nonprofits meaningful to the author. Allen also offers several products for purchase in her Café Press shop, including shirts, a tote bag, a messenger bag, an apron, a mousepad, and a mug with flash fiction shorts of her writing.