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Monday, May 2, 2016
April 2016 Newsletter
Emelle Gamble Newsletter, April 2016
Exclusive for Newsletter Subscribers: $100 VISA cash card for your summer vacation fund!
ONE ...
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Reader Nina Lillard
and Author Emelle Gamble discuss the novel SECRET SISTER
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| Click to view at Amazon Books |
Nina:
What was your biggest reservation about putting your work out there, and what
gave you the final push to become an Author? Did you have a full-time occupation
before you published your first book?
Emelle: I had no
reservations – was totally gung ho to share my stories and entertain as soon as
I felt like I knew how to actually structure a story. Pretty arrogant, huh? I’ve
always worked in marketing and yes, when I first started writing, I worked for
AT&T.
Nina:
Some
writers do research in different ways to develop or frame up their story. Have
you ever done something unusual to build a character or a plot? Like Traveling
to a weird place, developing a ritual, sacrificing various writing instruments
*LOL*, anything that was memorable, funny, intense, or something that became
“your thing” to get you in a zone of inspiration.
Emelle: Very
interesting question, and I am shocked to answer No. I think my characters –
particularly the lead characters – come from a very personal history place, and
I know them as aspects of myself, or those closest to me. This isn’t
to imply my characters are me or anyone I know, but I do understand them and
think I get what makes them tick. They seldom get away from me and act out –
although that happens. Zoe, the hero’s sister in Secret Sister, was one of
those. She had so much insight and spunk, and I had imagined her more passive.
Nina:
Sometimes
readers experience the stories you write in a completely different way than you
intend. Have you ever been swayed to write additional pieces to a story to help
your readers see your characters the way you see them?
Emelle: I have always
been a huge believer in ‘the story stands alone’. I resisted, when I was an
English major in college, reading criticism of works that based points of
so-called insight on the author’s personal life. I realized once I began
writing, that this of course was foolish of me, as all work is a chunk of the
author’s soul, and reveals certain things. What has been a true revelation to
me is how often my characters are viewed differently by my readers than by me.
Now, a smart author would probably question their skills as writer and work on
their technique (HA!), but of course, as your insightful question asks,
something else is going on. I wrote a blog post once that said, ‘books belong
to readers’. And that is the revelation – once a book is out there, the reader
brings their own reality and life experience and personality make-up to the
story, and very often sees things an author might not realize or simply sees
things differently. It’s been shocking, and intoxicating at the same time. But
no matter how carefully an author thinks they are crafting a character or a story, it
will often, if not always, be seen to mean, or succeed or fail, for reasons
that are different than what was intended, and that is completely legitimate. So no, I don’t try and convince someone of a character’s
virtue. I let them meet the reader, and the rest is up to those two!
Nina:
For
me personally, Secret Sister was an incredibly remarkable story. I’m not sure
if I would have felt as emotional had I read the book on my own, instead of
experiencing it through the audiobook. I thought Stephanie Bentley was nothing
less than perfect narrating it; and the combination of the story with the performance
of it moved my heart in a very unexpected way. What was the process of picking
the perfect narrator like?
Emelle: I contracted
with ACX, who is the company who puts the narrator and the producers/actors
together for audio books, and then sells them at Audible.com or Amazon or iTunes. You post a request for audition on their site, and
prescreen actors and producers, who read and then submit short (5 to 15 minute)
tapes. Stephanie was immediately empathetic as Cathy Chance, in particular. So
while she wasn’t a ‘perfect’ match to how I heard the characters inside my head
– I still feel she has a bit of a ‘valley girl’ tempo that I had not imagined –
her depth of emotion and grasp of the drama of the story sold me immediately.
In fact, listening to some of the story from her lips, I felt like I was not
the author – she made me forget that I already knew what was coming next
because she built the tension so beautifully.
Nina:
Please
tell us a little bit about Secret Sister and what is was like to write this
story.
Emelle: Secret Sister
is truly the book that best expresses what I feel about true love. I am a hopeless romantic, and believe that some people
are meant for each other, and are fortunate beyond blessing when they find
their true love. The idea for the book came when I was sitting around with my critique group. I threw out the notion
that my true love, my husband of thirty-plus years, would know me ‘no matter
what’…and hence the story was born. I found it fun beyond belief to imagine the
circumstances of what happen to Cathy, and how difficult it
would be to try and convince someone of your identity if you looked completely
different.
The book deals with love on many levels, love of a parent, or a
best friend, of your spouse. And it certainly is about the secrets we all keep from even those closest to us. It was emotionally taxing to write, but if I had to use one
word, I would say creating Secret Sister and those characters was exhilarating.
No matter what else I ever write, it will be always be my favorite creation.
Nina:
A
Question for a character in the book…Nick’s best friend Bradley. One of
the best quotes I ever heard is Bradley’s comment to Nick, “The heart remembers”. Having that in mind, do you believe you can
allow yourself to love and be happy with a new person, as you once were?
“Yes. I think you honor
love by opening yourself to love again. You can never recreate what you had
with another – especially if that other was your soulmate – but you can be
happy again. I believe that, just as I believe I will never love as completely
as I loved Mitch.”
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| Audio book link |
Love is all there is, it makes the world go 'round Love and only love, it can't be denied No matter what you think about it You just won't be able to do without it Take a tip from one who's tried - Bob Dylan
Monday, August 10, 2015
HEARD any good books lately?
I was a slow convert to audio books – not as a listener,
because I have always loved listening to a story – but as an author of ‘to be
read’ stories.
I was always nervous about the process which includes putting
material up for audition, listening to the tapes the actors send – and then,
gulp, choosing the ‘just right’ narrator.
Why? Not because it was a difficult a process, it isn’t.
ACX, my retailer of choice, makes it ridiculously easy and economical for
authors to find just the right professional voice to step up to the microphone
and ‘tell’ the author’s story to an audience of readers who enjoy getting their
box fix via a hands-free delivery system.
What was most daunting to me was simply letting go of my
story. There is no doubt about it – giving a book to an actor to read is
letting go of your work and watching – in fascination, and sometimes in shock –
as another creative person interprets the mood, tone and characters in your
book.
Authors, by the end of the editing process (which in my
case involves reading my book about 10 times, some sections more than that),
can clearly ‘hear’ their characters voices. We know what motivates them, what
they wish for, what they’re hiding and scared of. We understand clearly why they
did what they did, and what part they play in the overall panorama of the plot.
Our biggest challengers as authors are to do two things – make the readers
clearly understand these characters by choosing the right words for the
dialogue and internal thought, and convincing the reader that these made-up
creatures are acting from believable and well-grounded motivation.
On my final edit, I am confident the readers will
understand my characters’ actions and personality, and hopefully they will like
or dislike them as I do, and enjoy the story they inhabit.
Readers, of course, bring their own experiences along
with them when they read a book, and I have learned from conversations and
reviews that authors aren’t always the final word. I have often been surprised
by readers reactions to a story of mine, where many times they do not like or
accept something about a character, that, as the writer of the story, I thought
I was the final word on. HA! Frankly, I’ve loved this reckoning, for I know
that books do belong to the readers. When I write it, it is my story, but when
I give it to someone else, it is theirs. Each of us decide which characters are
good or bad or fair, or deserving of a happy ending.
While I have embraced this fact of life about readers, what I didn’t realize was that
when I authorized an audio version of a book, I had authorized another
interpretation of what was going on. Listening to the actors voicing my words, I
was surprised at how, through intonation
and tone, their grasp of each character was a shade or two different from mine.
My first venture into audio was with my book SECRET SISTER, a women’s fiction novel
with a surprise paranormal twist that sets up the action. Thematically, this
novel is about love and friendship, trust and lies, secrets and the hope we all
have that we can ‘fix’ even the most complicated events so that we will be
happy.
The actor who produced and narrated SECRET SISTER, brought a younger, fresher voice to Cathy Chance
than I had heard in my head, and a more subdued and suffering voice to my hero,
Nick Chance. In several scenes, she infused the novel with an ache and dramatic
intensity I had not imagined, but which she felt by interpreting the words I
had written in a darker or sadder tone.
This same thing occurred – even more startlingly for me –
with Caroline Price’s performance of my new audio release of MOLLY HARPER. Both in the introductory
novella, Duets, and in the full women’s fiction novel, brought a
pensive, inured insight to Molly I may not have consciously intended.
 |
| Buy Molly & Cruz at Amazon.com |
Molly Harper, a beautiful, academy award winning actress,
is an angsty, somewhat prickly character and I had some push back from readers
and reviewers about her. Some thought she was arrogant, or cold, or
unforgiving, and felt she should be softer, nicer, because of all the blessings
she has in her life…not bitchy because of unresolved personal wounds.
I saw her, wrote
her, as heroic and smart, navigating as best she cut through a cut-throat profession
as she dealt with significant wounds to her heart and soul because of some
deeply troubling family secrets and lies. But I understood how readers, coming
from their own experiences, didn’t understand her as I did.
However, I was again surprised (slow learner here) to
listen to Caroline’s reading of the novel, because through her, I actually
heard Molly’s character differently. She did seem a little bitchy. She could be
aloof. I finally understood what some readers had been angry with Molly about
when Miss Price voiced my character. She spoke the same words I had written,
but came away with a different take.
Note
to self…embrace this fact – anyone who touches your work
interprets it and understand it through their experience and point of view –
hears it with their heart in a way you might not. I have always prided myself
on being good at communication – that human process of stating something in
such a clear way the person being communicated with fully understands what you
meant. But this process has taught me once again that for all my thinking,
planning, editing and polishing…readers and listeners hear things you may not
realize you revealed.
The bottom line is, once an author writes ‘the end’, books
then belong to readers, and listeners. They will create, with their own
wonderful imaginations, the world inhabited by your characters.
Trust this, and enjoy it, for after all, there is nothing
else you can do.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
RWA in the Big Apple - New York City - July 22-26 Marriott Marquis
Please come join us at the "Readers for Life" Literacy Event at the Marriott Marquis. Free entrance to readers! Come meet hundreds of authors and buy some signed books. All proceeds to benefit Literacy.
In honor of the ghost of RWA past, here's a blog I did about one of the more embarrassing things ever to happen to Emelle Gamble! Leave a comment below about something embarrassing that happened to you, and you could WIN a FREE signed book and $25 gift card!
What not to do at RWA in New York City?
Hint: Do NOT spill 10 pounds of shrimp on your shoes at Nora Robert’s party.
I’m sure you are nodding as you read the above, and thinking, “Well, what kind of dolt would do that?”
This dolt.
It was a few years ago, and Ms. Roberts had graciously invited her home chapter of RWA to join her and her many other guests for cocktail hour in her suite.
It was perfect…view out the windows glorious, delicious and varied spread of cheeses and dips and seafood, waiters with drinks on gleaming trays, fabulous clothes and sparkling party jewelry. The room was packed with well-known and much loved writers, very important editors, publicists and fans and fellow WRW members like me who were thrilled to mingle and have a couple of munchies and a fortifying drink before the Awards Ceremony.
I was nervous, as always, like most of us there, hoping to make an impression on those we wanted to do business with. I had my elevator pitch ready and my new high heels on and was keeping my eyes peeled for an editor I was dying to chat up. I decided I’d grab a drink, but realized sensibly it would be much smarter to first take a lovely little cocktail plate and grab a few bites. The line was forming, shoulder to shoulder hungry writers were starting to queue up, and I somehow, with a graceful step or three, managed to plant myself right in front of an amazing display of shrimp.
A gorgeous silver bowl of the plumpest, freshest, yummy little creatures sat on a table covered with crushed ice, the enormous bowl tilted just so one could poke a toothpick in and spear one without any effort at all. Plate in one hand, toothpick in the other, I first spooned on a tablespoon of lovely red cocktail sauce, then speared a shrimp.
I plopped it on the plate and frowned, not sure but wondering, did the silver bowl gently, oh so freaking gently, begin to turn on its bed of ice? I thought it might have, no more than a degree clockwise, if I remember right. The room was warm, the ice was melting just a bit, but no problem. Surely.
I speared a second shrimp. When I picked the thing up from the mountain where it perched with a thousand of it’s lovely pink buddies, disaster.
Like card 101 in a design that could only ever balance 100, the silver bowl of shrimp moved again. Wildly. The thing took a full, dizzying ninety-degree spin, and one second later tipped forward and spilled at least half its content onto the table, onto the table cloth, onto the floor of Ms. Nora Robert’s suite.
And onto my totally shocked and humiliated feet.
It made quite a noise. A crash, actually. Ice, silver, shrimp, glass. I don’t know what broke, but something did.
One hundred people fell silent. And then an anonymous voice from across the room asked gently, “Is everyone thinking, Thank god I didn’t do that?”
Which was hilarious at the time to everyone but the woman with seafood stuck between her toes.
In an instant a waiter in a black coat appeared at my elbow. He smiled at me and then spoke into a walkie-talkie, which appeared in his hand as if by magic.
“We have a shrimp emergency,” he said. Clicking sounds. Static sounds. Then a disembodied voice asked, “Is there sauce involved?” The waiter met my eyes. He looked relieved. “No, no sauce.”
Many more people in black coats appeared. The shrimp was cleaned up. Replacement bowls of the jumbo little devils arrived. The hostess was gracious and kind and did not have me thrown out of her penthouse window. She waved me to come over to where she stood, sympathetic and smiling, and had me sit down while people brought me drinks.
Later that evening, after all the fun, I had an excellent discussion with the editor I was chasing, but it centered on faux pas in public, not my book. I believe she said me vs the shrimp was the worst she had ever witnessed. Ha.Ha.Ha.
Yay! I made an impression!
Okay, so lesson learned and duly passed onto fellow Conference goers. “Step away from the shrimp”, as my dear critique partner, Elaine Fox, now whispers in my ear whenever we’re in a buffet line anywhere.
Especially if the sneaky devils are in a bowl on an ice display, intent on proving Al Gore is totally right about Global Warming.
Especially if the sneaky devils are in a bowl on an ice display, intent on proving Al Gore is totally right about Global Warming.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
MOLLY and CRUZ... a Love Story in three parts!
I thought I was done with movie star Molly Harper and her on-again, off-again true love, hot-tempered English professor Cruz Morales. I introduced you to them in DUETS, and let you see them struggle and come together and break apart in MOLLY HARPER. I ended that book on what I thought was a final note, but after many readers and reviewers wrote that they wished for a little bit more, I decided a sequel novella would be just the thing!
DECEMBER WEDDING is the final chapter for these two, and I hope you'll enjoy it. It's available for pre-order now, and will be released on November 22, 2014 exclusively on Amazon.
The final act... together again and expecting a child, will the love story of Molly and Cruz end with a happily ever after, or will all the old problems of family, fame and temperament once again rule the day? Join the Harper, Sullivan, and Morales families for more than one surprise in DECEMBER WEDDING. Two reader favorites, brother Harry Sullivan, and birth mother Anne Sullivan, along with a couple of not so favorite ones (hint, hint, ex-hubby Ben Delmonico is back!) are part of the last adventure.
Pre-order on Amazon
To say thank you to all new readers who leave a review of any of these titles on Amazon.com on or before December 15, 2014, I'll be giving away one $50 Amazon gift card. Just email me at emellegamble@aol.com when you've posted a review and you'll be entered in the contest. As all my readers know, any honest review is welcome...share your thoughts and it benefits other readers, and the author! We love hearing what you think.
Winner announced on my Facebook page December 17th! Good luck.
One of my critique partners suggested this actress was Molly Harper!
And one of my dear readers sent me this photo and said it was Cruz Morales! Works for me!
All three titles are available in eBook or Paperback, and will be available as Audio Books this winter. Good luck in the drawing, and happy reading.
XXX Emelle
www.EmelleGamble.com
Buy MOLLY HARPER here
Thursday, July 10, 2014
RWA San Antonio Texas, July 23-27, 2014 Marriott Rivercenter
RWA in San Antonio Texas, July 23-27...Please come join us at the "Readers for Life" Literacy Event at the Marriott Rivercenter ...Free entrance to readers! Come meet authors and buy some signed books. All proceeds to benefit Literacy. (Yes, the great Nora Roberts, here with a fan, will be signing her books!)
In honor of the ghost of RWA past, here's a blog I did about one of the more embarrassing things ever to happen to Emelle Gamble! Leave a comment below about something embarrassing that happened to you, and you could WIN a FREE signed book and $25 gift card!
What not to do at RWA in San Antonio?
Do NOT spill 10 pounds of shrimp on your shoes at Nora Robert’s party.
I’m sure you are nodding as you read the above, and thinking, “Well, what kind of dolt would do that?”
This dolt.
It was a few years ago, and Ms.
Roberts had graciously invited her home chapter of RWA to join her and
her many other guests for cocktail hour in her suite.
It was perfect…view out the windows
glorious, delicious and varied spread of cheeses and dips and seafood,
waiters with drinks on gleaming trays, fabulous clothes and sparkling
party jewelry. The room was packed with well-known and much loved
writers, very important editors, publicists and fans and fellow WRW
members like me who were thrilled to mingle and have a couple of
munchies and a fortifying drink before the Awards Ceremony.
I was nervous, as always, like most
of us there, hoping to make an impression on those we wanted to do
business with. I had my elevator pitch ready and my new high heels on
and was keeping my eyes peeled for an editor I was dying to chat up. I
decided I’d grab a drink, but realized sensibly it would be much smarter
to first take a lovely little cocktail plate and grab a few bites. The
line was forming, shoulder to shoulder hungry writers were starting to
queue up, and I somehow, with a graceful step or three, managed to plant
myself right in front of an amazing display of shrimp.
A gorgeous silver bowl of the plumpest, freshest, yummy little creatures sat on a table covered with crushed
ice, the enormous bowl tilted just so one could poke a toothpick in and
spear one without any effort at all. Plate in one hand, toothpick in
the other, I first spooned on a tablespoon of lovely red cocktail sauce,
then speared a shrimp.
I plopped it on the plate and frowned, not sure but wondering, did the silver bowl gently, oh so freaking gently, begin to turn on its bed of ice? I
thought it might have, no more than a degree clockwise, if I remember
right. The room was warm, the ice was melting just a bit, but no
problem. Surely.
I speared a second shrimp. When I picked the thing up from the mountain where it perched with a thousand of it’s lovely pink buddies, disaster.
Like card 101 in a design that could only ever balance 100, the silver bowl of shrimp moved again. Wildly.
The thing took a full, dizzying ninety-degree spin, and one second
later tipped forward and spilled at least half its content onto the
table, onto the table cloth, onto the floor of Ms. Nora Robert’s suite.
And onto my totally shocked and humiliated feet.
It made quite a noise. A crash, actually. Ice, silver, shrimp, glass. I don’t know what broke, but something did.
One hundred people fell silent. And then an anonymous voice from across the room asked gently, “Is everyone thinking, Thank god I didn’t do that?”
Which was hilarious at the time to everyone but the woman with seafood stuck between her toes.
In an instant a waiter in a black
coat appeared at my elbow. He smiled at me and then spoke into a
walkie-talkie, which appeared in his hand as if by magic.
“We have a shrimp emergency,” he
said. Clicking sounds. Static sounds. Then a disembodied voice asked,
“Is there sauce involved?” The waiter met my eyes. He looked relieved.
“No, no sauce.”
Many more people in black coats
appeared. The shrimp was cleaned up. Replacement bowls of the jumbo
little devils arrived. The hostess was gracious and kind and did not
have me thrown out of her penthouse window. She waved me to come over to
where she stood, sympathetic and smiling, and had me sit down while
people brought me drinks.
Later that evening, after all the fun, I had an excellent discussion with the editor I was chasing, but it centered on faux pas in public, not my book. I believe she said me vs the shrimp was the worst she had ever witnessed. Ha.Ha.Ha.
Yay! I made an impression!
Okay, so lesson learned and duly passed onto fellow Conference goers. “Step away from the shrimp”, as my dear critique partner, Elaine Fox, now whispers in my ear whenever we’re in a buffet line anywhere.
Especially if the sneaky devils are in a bowl on an ice display, intent on proving Al Gore is totally right about Global Warming.
Especially if the sneaky devils are in a bowl on an ice display, intent on proving Al Gore is totally right about Global Warming.
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