<![CDATA[Author Kathryn Dionne - My Blog]]>Tue, 24 Jan 2023 12:19:15 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[“Baking Up” the Perfect Story]]>Tue, 21 Feb 2017 20:20:06 GMThttp://kathryndionne.com/my-blog/-baking-up-the-perfect-storyPrecision. It’s paramount if you’re trying to bake the perfect dessert. Just the right amount of each ingredient will bring you to that epic sweet conclusion. But alter the amounts, and your beautiful seven-layer cake could become a seven-layer, inedible disaster.

The same goes for writing. When writing a book there are certain key ingredients that one must use in the proper amounts. Otherwise your story will not be palatable.

A great story contains the perfect blend of facts and fiction. Too many facts can make your story dry and boring, like one of your old high school history books. And not enough facts can make your story too unbelievable and hard for your reader to swallow.

Even in a made up world where the reader is asked to disregard everything they know to be true—the suspension of disbelief—there still needs to be facts associated with that make believe world so that it appears to be real.

So how do you do that? How do you take a fictional story and make it real? How do you know when you’ve reached that perfect balance?
  1. Show, don’t tell.
This is one of the easiest ways to keep from bombarding your reader with useless facts. Make some of these facts part of your character’s dialogue or action. Doing this will keep you, the author, from including so many facts that your story and your characters become boring.

   2. If it doesn’t progress the story, don’t use it.

If a fact is pertinent to the story then use it. If not, then set it aside for another story at another time. Every chapter, every paragraph, and every sentence needs to advance the reader, along with the story.

   3.TMI.

​One of the biggest mistakes a rookie writer can make is trying to include everything, including the invention of the kitchen sink, into their story. Not all of it is necessary. Your readers are smart. They don’t need to be told the same thing a dozen different ways.  Make a point only once, and then move on.

While there are a myriad of other ways to help an author create a compelling and realistic story (even if it’s pure fantasy) these three basic rules will help you create a story with depth and substance, one that your readers will surly be able to sink their teeth into.
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Now let’s get cooking!]]><![CDATA[Authors' Cave Grand Festival Launch Train]]>Sat, 19 Jul 2014 15:31:24 GMThttp://kathryndionne.com/my-blog/authors-cave-grand-festival-launch-trainWelcome to the Authors' Cave Grand Festival Launch train where you can learn about some terrific books and the talented authors who wrote them. Be sure to click on the links below to keep the train going. . .


3 sentences about myself:  

My name is Kathryn Dionne, and I am the author of the Amazon #1 best seller, The Eleventh Hour trilogy. I also coauthored with author Abby Vandiver and wrote, At the End of the Line, which is also an Amazon #1 best seller. When I’m not writing I'm taking care of our grove of Italian olive trees or throwing pottery in my studio.

Elevator Speech: Provide 2 sentences to 'SELL' your book(s).

When archaeologies, Sophia Conrad, unearths an ancient scroll thought to be the personal diary of Jesus, she is compelled to steal it. As she unrolls the scroll she finds a piece of fabric stuffed inside, and based on the translation it says: . . .and from these fibers shall emerge the next immaculate conceptions.

 The first three words I would use to describe myself are:

Sensitive, obsessive, and creative

I am currently working on this project:

I am currently working on the sequel to The Eleventh Hour. It’s tentative called, Chasing Time, and I hope to have book 1 completed by the end of summer.

My favorite thing about Book Review Depot / Authors' Cave...

My favorite thing about Book Review Depot/ Authors' Cave is that I’ve been fortunate enough to connect with some amazing authors from all over the world who are willing to share their knowledge, experience, and insights regarding the world of writing, marketing and publishing.  

Enough about me...here are 3 more books from Authors' Cave you might enjoy!    

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Get to know these fine authors. . .

C.N.Lesley

Laura DeBruce

Ginger Gelsheimer and Taylor Anderson

Stay on the train and follow these authors next! See how they responded to the same questions!

]]><![CDATA[Interview With Digital Book Today]]>Wed, 21 May 2014 23:32:04 GMThttp://kathryndionne.com/my-blog/interview-with-digital-book-todayOur interview today is with Kathryn Dionne, author of the Amazon #1 Best Seller, The Eleventh Hour Trilogy: 
and her children's book, Derek the Fireless Dragon. 


Her most recent work,  At the End of the Line, coauthored with Abby L. Vandiver under their pen name, Kathryn Longino, is also an Amazon #1 Best Seller.

Before we get to the interview, here is a brief description of The Eleventh Hour Trilogy: 

Book 1: The Enlightened Ones

"...and from these fibers shall emerge the next immaculate conceptions." 

When archaeologist, Sophia Conrad, uncovers an ancient scroll hidden deep in the Judean hills, a force greater than her conscience compels her to steal it. As she begins to translate the writings she realizes three very important facts. This is a book of prophecy foretelling the end times; it is the personal diary of Jesus: And she has been chosen to save mankind from the next cataclysmic event. But when she discovers a small piece of fabric tucked inside the scroll, she and her husband, David, a geneticist, are propelled into a life of science, secrecy and government conspiracy.

Book 2: Day of Atonement

"...he who cometh next shall be the spirit and image of the Lamb of God."

The scroll forewarned David and Sophia about a cataclysmic event that would devastate mankind. So for thirty years they secretly prepared for what Jesus called The Day of Atonement. Now, as that day is upon them, they must do everything in their power to save the lives of seven very special men and get them to Old Beersheba before the Shift of the Ages can take place. But a weapon so evil, so insidious, yet so unassuming threatens their mission, their lives and the lives of all humanity. Who will get there first? The race is on!

Book 3: Resurrection

"...if one emerges whose soul is as pure as mine, let him step forth. The salvation of all mankind depends on it."

One look at the eerie green swirls of light slithering across the night sky, and Sophia Conrad knows the prophecies foretold in the scrolls are true. The Shift of the Ages has begun. And no matter how many times they perform the ancient ritual, nothing seems to work. The Earth is slowing down, the magnetic fields are dropping, and time is running out. One look at the guns pointed at her heart, and Sophia knows that no matter what happens, her life is about to end... unless God grants them a miracle.

And here is a description of At the End of the Line:

A wrong number, and a cry of desperation at the end of the line, sparks a long distance friendship between two women who’ve never met. Through fourteen years of trouble and heartache from a stagnant domestic life, the struggle for civil rights, and the stigma of interracial relationships, a bond forms between the two that changes both of their lives forever. 

It’s 1958, a time when women and Negroes are deemed second-class and are being second-guessed. From there arises the perfect storm for change, and the perfect time for an unlikely friendship. 

Beatrice “Beanie” Peterson, forced to marry at fifteen and live with two sister wives, six children, and an abusive husband twenty years her senior, is looking for a way out. 

Adeline “Liddie” Garrison, friend of Jack Kennedy, wife of a prominent Boston business man, and resident of Beacon Hill has already found her way in.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH KATHRYN DIONNE

1. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I knew when I was 8 years old I wanted to write. I remember telling my father that I wanted to be a writer. He replied, “You don’t want to be a writer. Writers don’t make any money. You want to be a lawyer.” To his defense, he was just looking out for my wellbeing. I spent the next forty plus years trying NOT to be a writer. Every time I’d put my writing away, something would bring me back to it.

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I started out writing poems as a child and evolved into writing stories. As an adult, my career took me into the advertising industry where I wrote mainly advertising copy. In 1997 I wrote a screenplay called The Eleventh Hour and shopped it around Hollywood. I found some producers who were interested in it, but nothing ever came of it. So I put it away for several years until an editor read it and said I should turn the script into a manuscript. So I did. And in 2013, I publish The Eleventh Hour trilogy on Amazon.

2. What inspired you to write The Eleventh Hour Trilogy?

Have you ever had a dream seem so real that when you woke up, you weren’t sure whether it was a horrible nightmare or a premonition of thing to come? The Eleventh Hour is based on a horrible end-of-the-world dream I had over fifteen years ago that still haunts me to this day. I’d had the basic story idea but nothing else, no protagonists or antagonists. After the dream, I knew that was the direction my story needed to go. Around that same time I was flipping through the television channels and landed on a documentary about the US government’s Remote Viewing program. This program, which was developed in the 1970’s, taught people how to psychically spy on other people. Right then I knew my antagonists needed to be remote viewers. I made my main character, Sophia Conrad, an archaeologist because of my love of archaeology, treasure hunting, and digging up the past.

3. What inspired you to write At the End of the Line?

This book was written somewhat on a whim.  I was talking on the phone with my writing partner, Abby Vandiver. We were just about to hang up and I said, "Hey, I have a great idea for a book. How about if we write a story about two women who meet via a wrong telephone number. They end up developing a long distance friendship that spans many years but actually never meet until the end of the book." At first she didn't like the idea. But after talking about it for several minutes she said, "Yeah, and we could call it, At the End of the Line." So we ended up talking about it for sometime and decided that it needed to take place during a time when there was no internet. So we decided to have it take place from 1958-1972 and center around the civil rights movement.

I came up with this idea because, just like our characters in the book, my writing partner and I have never met face to face. But one day, we hope to.

4. What was it like to coauthor your book and would you do it again?

Writing a book with someone I've never met was a very interesting process. And like any project it had its ups and downs. Abby lives in Cleveland and I live in California. So we couldn't just meet for coffee to discuss the details. It either had to be through emails or phone calls. Some days, especially toward the end of writing the book, we would spend ten hours a day on the phone with each other.  You really get to know someone when you are talking with them for ten hours straight.

What I liked about the process was that we could bounce ideas off of each other and brainstorm. Most of the time writers are in their own little bubble. But when you have a partner, there is more opportunity to add something extra to the story that you might not have thought of. In our case, we each took a main character and wrote from their perspective, giving each character a distinctively different voice. In fact, whenever there was a conversation between these two characters, Abby and I would actually have the dialogue over the phone in order to keep our characters true.

But of course, like with any relationship there is bound to be some bumps. And we had our share. We're both strong willed when it comes to our writing. So sometimes we each had to acquiesce for the sake of our "baby". But in the end we were both thrilled with the results and the positive feedback that we are receiving.

Would I do it again? Of course!  The rewards far outweigh the costs. One of the best perks of coauthoring is you only have to write half of a book. 

5. Tell us about the main characters from At the End of the Line.

Beatrice, "Beanie" Peterson is a fifteen year old Mormon girl who has been forced to marry a church elder twenty years her senior about become one of three sister wives.  She's kind but very naive and knows nothing about the world outside her small Utah community of Hildale. She soon discovers that her husband is abusive, and she fears for her life.  In an attempt to call her beloved piano teacher who moved away, she ends up dialing the wrong number. 

The woman on the other end of the line is Adeline Garrison who lives in Boston and is friends with Jack Kennedy. Adeline  "Liddie" Garrison has a more darker side filled with secrets and regrets. But she is strong and strong willed. Against her husband's wished, she decides to help this child. This evolves into an unlikely friendship that spans some of the most tumultuous times in American history.

6. What do you enjoy most about writing?

There are so many thins I love about writing: breathing life into the characters in my head, the solitude that writing provides, the chance to express my thoughts and ideas. But the thing I love the most about writing is when my stories touch or inspire another person. I received a review on The Eleventh Hour Trilogy that epitomizes this beautifully. She said; “. . .my soul felt better after reading these books.” For me that is the highest praise and the reason I write.

7. What is the hardest thing about writing?

For me the hardest part about being a writer is me. I am my own worst critic. As I am writing I can hear my own voice in my head saying, “This story is terrible. No one is going to want to read it.” but then I hear my mother’s angelic voice saying; just keep writing! Most days I listen to her words, and they inspire me. But some days my voice overpowers hers, and well, those are the days that I take a break from the computer and go play in my garden.

8. Where do you get the inspiration to write?

I'd have to say my biggest inspiration is my mother, Helen. She passed away in 2011 before I finished writing and publishing The Eleventh Hour Trilogy. But during the fifteen years of coming up with the idea, writing it as a screenplay and shopping it around Hollywood, and finally turning it into a trilogy, she was my number one cheerleader. Through all of my agonizing over it and rewriting it numerous times, she was the one who encouraged me to finish it. She still inspires me with little signs here and there to let me know that she is still with me, cheering me on.

9. What do you like to do when you are not writing? What is your ultimate luxury?

I love to go on archaeological digs and dig up treasures. I've been so fortunate to travel the globe digging up artifacts.  I also love to get in my studio and make mosaics from discards objects. This may sound whacky to some, but my ultimate luxury would be to go to Easter Island on an archaeological dig, uncover some ancient important and significant relic and then celebrate its discovery with a bottle of Chateauneuf du pape. 

10. Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

Yes, the desire to be a writer has always been in me, struggling to get out. What kept me from succeeding sooner was my own self-doubt. If I could offer any advice to fellow authors it would be that those stories were placed in you for a reason. Maybe by writing them you will be touching someone in a profound way. One of my favorite authors, Richard Bach, said: the difference between a writer and an author is an author is a writer who never gave up. So never give up. Strive to become the author you were always meant to be.


To connect with Kathryn Dionne, visit her at:
Kathryn Dionne
Twitter
FaceBook

To buy her books visit her Amazon pages:
Kathryn Dionne
Kathryn Longino


]]><![CDATA[Say Hello to Beatrice "Beanie" Peterson]]>Mon, 19 May 2014 05:59:54 GMThttp://kathryndionne.com/my-blog/say-hello-to-beatrice-beanie-petersonAt the End of the Line is a story of courage and determination during a time in history when not all men or women were created equal. But instead of me telling you about this compelling story, why don't I let Beanie tell you in this very informative interview:

Tell me a little about yourself and the world you live in. 
 
A: My name is Beatrice Peterson, but people call me Beanie.  I live in Hildale, Utah in the 1950’s where plural marriages are accepted. At the age of fifteen I was forced to marry one of the Mormon elders, twenty years my senior, and live with two other sister wives and six children. My husband, Orson Peterson, is not very kind to me.  He abuses me when I don’t follow his rules.


Tell us your most closely guarded secret?

A: Three months into the marriage, I discovered I was pregnant, but I ended up miscarrying.  When my husband found out, he was furious. He accused me of killing his child and he beat me. He forced me to have sex with him so that I would get pregnant again. My most closely guarded secret is that I ended up getting pregnant again and miscarrying a second time. I knew that if Orson ever found out he would hurt me even worse.

Tell us about your single most important memory.  What was it and how does it affect you now?

A: By far, my most important memory is the day I dialed a wrong number. It changed my life forever. I was trying to reach, Miss Cora, my piano teacher, who had moved away.  I needed to ask her to help me get away from Orson.  But the person I ended up speaking with was a woman in Boston named Adeline Garrison. This sparked a long distance relationship spanning fifteen years.

What type of person are you?  Are you a hero or do you shy away from conflict?

A: At the age of fifteen, I was shy and very fearful. But as I grew older, I became involved in the civil rights movement and fought for desegregation.  I was one of the first Freedom Riders to get arrested in Birmingham, Alabama. And I marched with other peaceful demonstrators on Washington D.C. in 1963.  So I would like to think of myself as a hero.

Do you have any hobbies, any special talents?

A: Yes, I am known to play a mean piano.  I’m very good at sight-reading music, especially jazz. This talent landed me a nice job playing piano at a jazz club in Chicago called, Smoky Joe’s.

And in that line, what would be your ideal day?

A: My ideal day would be to take the El train with my best friend, Byron, to his great aunt and uncle’s place on the south side of Chicago and eat macaroni and cheese and then play Duke Ellington’s, Hello Little Girl on the piano at the club with Mr. Ellington singing along. 

Do you have anyone close to you, any family or friends of interest?

A: Most definitely. Mrs. Adeline Garrison, (Liddie). She was the woman at the end of the line when I dialed the wrong number. Most people would have hung up, but she didn’t. She heard the desperation in my voice and she helped me. We spent years writing back and forth. I would call her from time to time when I knew Orson wouldn’t overhear me.  But mostly I sent her letters and postcards. She was my saving grace, and the reason I was able to have the guts to run away from Orson.

What is your most prized possession?

A: My postcards. I always keep a stash of them in my knapsack so that I can write to Liddie no matter where I am or what I might be doing. It's these postcards that have allowed our friendship to grow.

What initially spurred your actions in this story.  Obviously it had to start somewhere for you, give us an idea of where that starting point is and where it all started.

A: It all started with me being forced to marry Orson. But it wasn’t until Liddie and I became long distance friends that I was able to run away and start a new life.

How do you envision your future? 

A: My goal is to become a civil rights attorney. Since I married at fifteen, I didn’t get to finish high school.  But because of Liddie’s generosity, I was able to get my diploma, go to college and attend law school. One day, Liddie and I will meet face to face, and I will be able to hug the woman who helped save me.

Tell us where we can read more about you?  What book are you featured in?

A: You can read more about Beanie and Liddie in their book, At the End of the Line.

Author: Kathryn Longino

Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/At-End-Line-Kathryn-Longino-ebook/dp/B00JTMM7V0/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

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]]><![CDATA[How To Market Your Books]]>Thu, 24 Apr 2014 18:15:40 GMThttp://kathryndionne.com/my-blog/how-to-market-your-booksThe 90/10 Rule. . .

By Kathryn Dionne

In days past, writers wrote.  When they had a finished product, they searched out agents and publishing houses that would take their “baby” off their hands, nurture it to its full potential, and give it legs long enough to cover the globe.  If the writer was fortunate enough to find such a person who believed in their talent, shared their enthusiasm,  and was willing to promote them, then the writer became free to focus solely on doing what she does best; write!

Oh, how times have changed!

A new breed of writer has emerged on to the scene, creating a worldwide industry; The Indie writer.  These independent authors who have chosen to forego the daunting task of finding an agent and going it alone are discovering that it’s not enough to simply write a great book. They have to know how to market it.  They have to get their book into the hands of the public and make them want to read it.  

But how do we do that?

As an indie author myself, I have learned to follow the 90/10 rule; 10 percent writing, but 90 percent marketing.  I’m not trying to make an assumption, but I’ve discovered that most people either have a knack for writing or a knack for marketing. Rarely do they possess both.  But if you’re going to be an Indie author you have to be great at both. When I first published The Eleventh Hour trilogy, it was difficult for me to praise my own books because I thought it made me sound too egotistical.  So I didn’t market them or tell people about them. I just left their fate to chance. Then one day a friend said to me, “You must not like your books very much.”

His statement took me by surprise.  Why would he think that?  He knew how hard I worked to develop the story and the characters.  He was privy to the hours and hours and hours of the endless research I did to make the story real and believable.  So how could he say that? I became indignant and said, “I love my books. They tell a great story.  And I am very proud of them!”

“Then tell people about them,” he said to me. “Don’t cheat them out of an opportunity to feel the same way about them that you do.”

Wow, I hadn’t thought of it in those terms.  But he was right. If I didn’t make the effort to promote them, then why should anyone make the effort to read them?

So what could I do in order to market my books effectively?  I needed to:

1. Change my mindset.  I needed to treat my writing as if it were a business rather than a hobby.  This started my mind thinking in a different direction. Once I accepted that my marketing efforts were an integral part of my writing process, I began to allocate a certain amount of time every day to each part of the process. I found that I liked to do part of my marketing in the morning before I started to write and then a little more in the evening before I went to bed.   I learned to apply the 90/10 rule in a way that was comfortable for me and befitting my lifestyle so as to ensure its longevity. If it worked for me, then I’d be able to work it.

2. Make my books easy to find. Thanks to the Internet and places like Amazon, Goodreads, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and a whole host of other websites dedicated to providing a platform for authors and their books, I had an unlimited audience.  But those people couldn’t buy my books if they didn’t know about them.  So I put them everywhere I could. Redundancy turned out to be key in getting my books noticed. I had some books printed solely for the purpose of giving them away.  I donated them to my local libraries, senior and rec centers, and anywhere else where people gathered.  It turns out people love supporting their local authors.

3. Make my efforts fun. I knew that if I didn’t make these marketing efforts enjoyable, then the chances of me continuing them would be nil. One of the most fun and rewarding ways of getting my books recognized has been by doing blog tours.  This has allowed me to virtually travel the globe, stopping at websites around the world to do interviews, guest posts, pod casts and radio shows without ever leaving my office.  In putting together this tour, I discovered so many amazing sites that catered to indie authors by giving them a place to showcase their works. Most of the sites, like Lambert Nagle, are run by authors themselves who have graciously opened up their website in an effort to help promote fellow writers.  Doing a blog tour not only allowed me to tap in to their followers, but it gave me the opportunity to share my viewership with them.  Authors helping authors!

We writers are part of one big family that stretches across the globe. The written word is in our blood, and the need to tell a story is in our hearts.  But unless we learn the language of marketing, our voices will remain silent and our stories untold.  Don’t let your works die out before they’ve even had a chance to live!



]]><![CDATA[Author Interview]]>Wed, 02 Apr 2014 21:04:14 GMThttp://kathryndionne.com/my-blog/author-interviewIndie Author Land did an interview with me about my books.  It showed up on their webside this morning.  

Interview with Kathryn Dionne, author of The Eleventh Hour trilogy
By David Njoku / October 17, 2013 / Thriller 
Have you ever had a dream seem so real that when you woke up you weren’t sure whether it was a nightmare or a terrifying premonition of things to come?

The books are about archaeologist, Sophia Conrad, who uncovers a scroll thought to be the personal diary of Jesus.  The scroll forewarns her of a cataclysmic event that will destroy mankind unless she can stop it. When she unrolls the scroll a little further, she discovers a small swatch of fabric tucked inside.  Based on the translation it says; ‘…and from these fibers shall emerge the next immaculate conceptions.’

This propels her and her husband, a geneticist, into a life of science, secrecy and government conspiracy.

Oh wow. We like where this seems to be going. 
What genre is this? 
I consider The Eleventh Hour trilogy  an action/adventure thriller with a bit of the supernatural thrown in.

If you like Indiana Jones meets Dan Brown meets Richard Bach, you’ll love my books.

Tell us about Sophia. 
Sophia Conrad is an “intuitive archaeologist” and a former Remote Viewer for the US government. 

She’s feisty and outspoken.  On the outside she’s a pillar of confidence, but inside she questions her judgement and her sanity. She is conflicted and tormented because she’s hidden some monumental secrets from her only son. But her drive to carry out a divine mission to save mankind,  bestowed upon her by God, forces her to put aside her motherly instincts and become the warrior she was meant to be.

That makes it sound like she doesn’t love her son. 
Though her love of family is strong, her love for humanity is stronger.

Fair enough. What kind of readers will it appeal to?
I’m hoping it will appeal to all kinds of readers.  I’ve been told that it is suitable for young adults as well as adults and is a fast paced thrill ride for those who want an adventure.  But also, it’s a book with a good message. I even had one reader say that “her soul felt better after reading these books.”

We still can’t get over how ingenious the premise is. How did you come up with it? 
Have you ever had a dream seem so real that when you woke up you weren’t sure whether it was a nightmare or a terrifying premonition of things to come?

The Eleventh Hour Trilogy is based on a horrifying end-of-the-world dream I had over fifteen years ago that still haunts me today. It scared me so badly that I cried for weeks.  Even to this day I remember it as clearly as if I had the dream/vision last night.

So will it leave readers feeling terrified too? 
I want my readers to feel a renewed sense of global hope.  I want them to realize that what they say and do truly does effect others. I want them to know that they have the power to move mountains or destroy them.  The choice is theirs.  I also want them to feel like the time spent reading my books was fulfilling and time well-spent.

Have you written any other books that we should read next?
Because this trilogy was so intense for me, I needed to write something completely opposite of The Eleventh Hour in order for my brain to decompress. So I wrote a children’s book called, Derek The Fireless Dragon.  It’s a book of humorous and hopefully touching poems for children ages six to ten.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
Yes, people can find out more about me by going to http://www.kathryndionne.com/index.html

What about Facebook? 
https://www.facebook.com/kathryn.dionne.9.

What’s next?
I am currently working on a sequel to The Eleventh Hour.  It will have a lot of the same characters but will include a new heroine named, Charlene (Charlie) Deveroe, a Brooklyn detective.  I can’t tell you what it is about because it would give away the ending of The Eleventh Hour trilogy.  But it will have action, adventure, suspense and a bit of the supernatural.




 





 


 





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