It is my pleasure to welcome Stephen Meier, author of Katka, to Cafe of Dreams today!
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How to Make Your Characters Believable
The first and foremost point to making your characters believable is if you are a student of life. When I say that, I mean do you pay attention to your surroundings, people and most importantly do you actually listen to what people say, really listen. Do you follow what happens in society or do you live your life in a box?
I had a creative writing teacher back at ASU that told me that you can only truly write about what you know. That made a lot of sense to me, so after I graduated I moved abroad and traveled and taught for close to three years. I studied different customs and cultures, and i put myself out there like a social butterfly. This has allowed me to meet and interact with many different people of all races, ethnicities, classes, what have you. It's also allowed me or put me, I should say, in many crazy situations or places, that a lot of people will never experience.
But it's these moments that stand out in my brain, and allow me to write and create characters that people find intriguing or more importantly believable. That could never have happened without going out and living life. Live baby live. Haha.
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A Bit About Stephen Meier:
Stephen Ross Meier was born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the first of many places he would live worldwide. He received his Bachelors in English from Arizona State University. He currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada
Inspired by music, films, books, and the world around him, he is currently working on several projects, with his next book, Teaching Pandas to Swim, ready to be released soon. A huge fan of such writers as Charles Bukowski, Milan Kundera, Irving Welsch, Irving Stone, Chuck Palahniuk, and Brett Easton Ellis, Stephen has always been drawn to writing and story telling.
Having been diagnosed with Heart Disease on May 10th, 2006, Stephen has been reminded that life void of passion is really not a life at all.
For more information please visit http://www.stephenrossmeier.com
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A Bit About Katka:
Katka by Stephen Meier is a gritty, edgy novel of greed, love, and swindles gone very wrong. When Gavin and his girlfriend team with her best friend Simona to pull a phony mail order bride scam in the Czech Republic, Gavin gets in way over his head in the high-stakes and dangerous business of selling wives. When Gavin talks Katka, his girlfriend, into becoming part of the merchandise, planning to bait-n-switch the client in the end, things go awry and Katka disappears with the client. Partnering with the jealous and volatile Simona, Gavin begins to lament this risky life he has chosen, but finds the money is something he can’t walk away from. Gavin’s doubts grow; the con begins to consume him, and he finds himself thinking of Katka, the fate he dealt her, and whether he can undo the biggest mistake of his life.
Written with staccato grit and streetwise savvy, Katka reads like a Quentin Tarantino movie. Stephen Meier’s work will leave you begging for more.
WIN PRIZES!!!
KATKA VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR '09 will officially begin on June 1 and end on June 26. You can visit Stephen's blog stops at http://www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/ in June to find out more about this great book and talented author!
As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How to Make Your Characters Believable
The first and foremost point to making your characters believable is if you are a student of life. When I say that, I mean do you pay attention to your surroundings, people and most importantly do you actually listen to what people say, really listen. Do you follow what happens in society or do you live your life in a box?
I had a creative writing teacher back at ASU that told me that you can only truly write about what you know. That made a lot of sense to me, so after I graduated I moved abroad and traveled and taught for close to three years. I studied different customs and cultures, and i put myself out there like a social butterfly. This has allowed me to meet and interact with many different people of all races, ethnicities, classes, what have you. It's also allowed me or put me, I should say, in many crazy situations or places, that a lot of people will never experience.
But it's these moments that stand out in my brain, and allow me to write and create characters that people find intriguing or more importantly believable. That could never have happened without going out and living life. Live baby live. Haha.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Bit About Stephen Meier:
Stephen Ross Meier was born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the first of many places he would live worldwide. He received his Bachelors in English from Arizona State University. He currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada
Inspired by music, films, books, and the world around him, he is currently working on several projects, with his next book, Teaching Pandas to Swim, ready to be released soon. A huge fan of such writers as Charles Bukowski, Milan Kundera, Irving Welsch, Irving Stone, Chuck Palahniuk, and Brett Easton Ellis, Stephen has always been drawn to writing and story telling.
Having been diagnosed with Heart Disease on May 10th, 2006, Stephen has been reminded that life void of passion is really not a life at all.
For more information please visit http://www.stephenrossmeier.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Bit About Katka:
Katka by Stephen Meier is a gritty, edgy novel of greed, love, and swindles gone very wrong. When Gavin and his girlfriend team with her best friend Simona to pull a phony mail order bride scam in the Czech Republic, Gavin gets in way over his head in the high-stakes and dangerous business of selling wives. When Gavin talks Katka, his girlfriend, into becoming part of the merchandise, planning to bait-n-switch the client in the end, things go awry and Katka disappears with the client. Partnering with the jealous and volatile Simona, Gavin begins to lament this risky life he has chosen, but finds the money is something he can’t walk away from. Gavin’s doubts grow; the con begins to consume him, and he finds himself thinking of Katka, the fate he dealt her, and whether he can undo the biggest mistake of his life.
Written with staccato grit and streetwise savvy, Katka reads like a Quentin Tarantino movie. Stephen Meier’s work will leave you begging for more.
WIN PRIZES!!!
KATKA VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR '09 will officially begin on June 1 and end on June 26. You can visit Stephen's blog stops at http://www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/ in June to find out more about this great book and talented author!
As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.
4 comments:
Even though novellas are ususally at the bottom of my reading list, this one sounds quite interesting and in the spirit of stepping out of the box I might just try it out.
Wanted to stop by and thank you for having me as a guest blogger today! Plus, to Lilly, would love if you stepped out of the box and picked up my book! I would love to hear your thoughts!
I have already read Katka and I hope that the author will write soon another book! I think Mr Meier has a very peculiar style and an excellent creativity in describing unique situations involving simply amazing and at the same time very realistic characters. I found in Katka a really new style of narration, hectic, involving, enthralling. The reader has the sensation of watching an amazing movie and sharing with the main character, Gavin, all his unpredictable choices. It's definitely a book that transpires and gives you every kind of feelings.
I will soon be reading "Katka" & am looking forward to it.
Thanks!
Cheryl
megalon22[at]yahoo[dot]com
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