What makes a story Interesting?

Probably the answer to this question is as varied as are the number of reader. One thing that pulls in interest is being different. The mundane is out. Something unique sets aside the story from everyone else. But the readers needs to identify with the story’s elements. Something about it must be familiar. The combination of unique/identifiable seems like an oxymoron but think of some of the great successes.

The Twilight series is a good example. What is Identifiable about it? Vampires. We all know vampires. Yawn! What is unique? This is a love story between Bella (the girl next door) and Edward (the vampire). Continuum, available on Netflix, caught my interest lately. The story is science fiction time travel with the obvious paradoxes, but it’s also a police procedural (aka mystery-thriller) where the time traveler works alongside of a detective on the Vancouver police force. Also, the lead character, Kiera, is not only a high tech cop from the future, she’s a mom and wife, sorting out career-work issues.

Ask these two questions about your story. Why will everyone identify with it? What makes it different from everyone else?

Ron D. Voigts is the Author of Claws of the Griffin available on Kindle and Nook.

Black Hat and White Hat

When I was a kid we played "cowboy". Not sure if kids do anymore, but back then we didn't computers or tablets or iphones or all the gadgets of today. Back then it was pure imagination.  "I'll be the good guy and you be the bad guy."

Many writers today still play good guy-bad guy.  The hero is handsome, smart and wears a white hat. The villain is ugly, cunning and wears a black hat. As Melanie Anne Phillips points out in her book "Hero" is a Four-Letter Word, what they've created are stereotypes. 

A reader mentioned recently that in my book Claws of the Griffin, the "hero" Peter Reynolds is a bit of a snob. Why not? He's got seven million dollars in the bank and a gorgeous girlfriend even if he isn't terribly handsome. Peter finds his world falling apart  when he gets mixed up with moonshiners, Southern politics and a sociopathic killer

What is the hero like in your story? 

Ron D. Voigts is the Author of Claws of the Griffin available on Kindle and Nook.

And a Publisher Is Born!

Claws of the Griffin is now available in Kindle and on Smashwords. After the upset of losing my publisher for the book, I made a comeback on this in about 30 days. I had a lot of great help from friends and family to get things back on track. TY everyone!

Some changes came out of this near catastrophe.  I started thinking if you can’t beat them, join them. So, I filed a DBA (doing business as) in my home state.  Officially I am now NIGHT WINGS PUBLISHING. Haven’t mapped out entirely where I'm going with this, but it does create some interesting possibilities.

This doesn’t mean I’ve given up totally on publishers, and I still am an Indie Author. My lit agent has my next book, The Witch’s Daughter, which is a paranormal mystery. I have gotten some positive comments back from publishers like, “a real page turner” and “shows promise.” But then in the same breath I hear, “not right for us.”  Here is the opening.


   “According to the police records, you assaulted a man at the After Hours Bar approximately 11:15 PM Saturday night.” The lawyer, a gray haired man wearing an Armani suit, custom made shirt and gold cuff links the size of golf balls, ran his finger down the page. “You broke Frederick Richards’ jaw requiring it to be wired shut. He received six stitches for a laceration above his left eye, and you broke his nose. Would you like to see the photos?”
    We sat at a table in the county jail room reserved for meetings between prisoners and lawyers and whoever else they’d let in. Metal brackets held the wood table and chairs to the floor. A mirror across one wall most assuredly had someone behind it, watching everything. The guard standing by the door wore no gun, but the one just outside did.
    The lawyer leaned forward and spread the photos in front of me. I had to admit it. Freddy looked like a train had hit him. “I should have broken his arms while I was at it.”


Hope to find a home for this one. Maybe it will be NIGHT WINGS PUBLISHING!