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About J. J. Brown
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Blog post…..(henceforth referred to as Novel Now Finished), I had a fairly diverse cast of characters. I knew their histories, what the relationships were, what they did for a living, and their favorite flavor of ice cream. The names I researched and chose for them reflected aspects of their personalities – a lot of the time, it was right on the nose. Sometimes it wasn’t and I’d have to come up with a new one, with the help of friends.
In Novel Now Finished, one character had a tendency to cha -
Blog post…….are being reassigned to the sequel of my first novel, Secrets & Howls.
In a way, it makes sense.
Both novels/series take place in the same geographical area (Northern California) and in the same fictional county in which I placed them. Both series are also supernaturally themed, with werewolves, vampires and witches being fully integrated with the non-magical world by hiding out in plain sight. [1] Given that some of my favorite TV shows, movies, and books deal with var -
Blog post……..of my novel, Secrets & Howls, being published. In anticipation of this, I’m revising it and remembering how I really loved working on it. The story opened pretty much as it does now, with a character moving into the sleepy village of Wolf’s Head Bay. As it happened, two very different plot lines featured characters moving into town (Elizabeth Phillips and her son and Marita Brye, the main character), but originally, it wasn’t the Marita we followed in the opening pages, but Elizabeth.
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Blog post……I went to the movies, hoping a little cinematic entertainment would be just the ticket to stop over-thinking (it usually does the trick).
While standing in line, I engaged in conversation with the two couples standing in line ahead of me. The four of them were going to see The Invisible Man, starring Elizabeth Moss of A Handmaid’s Tale (the film is a great twist on the HG Wells classic novel). I was planning to indulge my inner nerd and see Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (it w -
Blog post……that I wrote twenty years ago, while searching for old magazines for an art project. Only the first few pages had been typed, the rest were in long-hand. So I put everything aside and read the old script, curious at what my younger self had produced. It’s a romantic comedy involving a video store, a matchmaker with a mysterious background, a search for the film To Have and Have Not and the ghost of Humphrey Bogart. It was with some surprise that I realized the s
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Blog post……..a fantasy TV show that aired on ABC and involving characters in both their fairy-tale context (with a twist) and in our modern world. The most common reaction I get when I mention the show has been, “Yes, I loved it, but it got really weird”, with no clarification on how it got weird or why. But this is a show involving fairy tales and magic, so weird kind of left the station with the very first episode.
One of the things that utterly charmed me from the start abo -
Blog post………I get to feed horses and bask in their grounded presence.
While with the horses, I’m also privileged to see real magic in this world – nature.
Nature just is.
Just a couple of blokes, hanging around…..
There is no good, there is no evil.
Just pure instinct in motion – like a red-tailed hawk capturing its breakfast or a hummingbird taking a long drink of water from a puddle. Or four turkey vultures unwittingly re-enacting a scene as the Fab Four -
Blog post…..and made some very interesting observations as I went about my normal routine, going to my local coffee shop and running errands around town. First and foremost, this was the first time I’ve taken on the challenge to try and become a character in my own book. Second, I did this primarily because I’m more familiar with how a woman of the late 20th/early 21st century would dress and move. Third, in order to get into the mind-set of a character set in an era not my own, this
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Blog post…….for a very simple reason – I sprained my ankle. The bad news on that is I’m limping on a weak ankle, using a cane when necessary for extra support and balance. The good news is, my ankle is healing and while it’s doing that, I’m gifted with more time to play around with the hair style that I’ve chosen.
This also puts me in a curious position – until my ankle heals completely, I’m not sure I want to wear the sensible shoes with the thick heel. [1] So now, I’m looki -
Blog post……I’m spending my time waiting for its return by bumbling around with the sequel. So many changes have occurred within Novel Now Finished that a lot of the background I’d written has gone by the wayside and no longer seems pertinent. Still, there are some things I’m able to recycle into the sequel, with a minor tweak here and there, and I’m curious to see where these bits will fit in.
“A writer writes, always.”
Billy Crystal,
Throw Momma From the Train (1987)
Titles By J. J. Brown
