MGOC Contributor: Leslie Davis Guccione

LESLIE DAVIS GUCCIONE

EXCERPT from "Where Do I Go from Here? Being Orphaned" by Leslie Davis Guccione in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction

Most writers will tell you their top professional priority is developing rapport with that all-important editor. She’s bought your manuscript; his revision suggestions are clear; you’ve signed your first multiple book contract.

Nearly twenty years have sailed by since my agent’s words, “Leslie, I’ve sold your manuscript,” danced through the phone lines. Armed with my IBM Selectric typewriter and a lifetime supply of Wite Out, I set sail. Not to belabor the metaphor, but with calm seas and a steady breeze I left port heading toward long term relationships with supportive, enthusiastic editors, increasingly lucrative multiple book contracts, and sterling reviews. Fan mail! Classroom visits! Book signings! Royalty checks!
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With the simultaneous sales of a YA and adult romantic suspense novel, Leslie Davis Guccione left public relations and fundraising copywriting to concentrate on fiction.  Over 25 years she’s published 28 novels for adult, middle grade and teen readers, garnering awards, starred reviews and genre fiction best seller status.  Her work has been translated into eight languages. As Kate Chester she created and wrote the six book Hear No Evil series, featuring deaf protagonists, for Scholastic, including Tell Me How the Wind Sounds, which was optioned for television. Leslie is adjunct faculty for Seton Hill University’s MFA program. Professional memberships have included The Authors Guild, Romance Writers of America and The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

MGOC Contributor News: David Morrell's New Books

Many Genres, One Craft contributor David Morrell has two new books out in his popular culture series.

Frank Sinatra: The Artist And His Music

Did you know that Frank Sinatra was permanently scarred from birth and never went anywhere without using pancake makeup … that in his youth this supposedly self-taught singer took voice lessons from a Metropolitan opera singer … that he learned breath control by swimming underwater and mentally singing lyrics?

These are only some of the little-known revelations in this e-work. Based on more than forty years of listening and reading, it provides an in-depth analysis of Sinatra’s music and shows why this troubled high-school dropout came to be justly called the greatest interpretative singer in the recording era. After you read this, you might never listen to Sinatra or any other singer the same way again.

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Nelson Riddle: The Man Behind The Music

Frank Sinatra. Nat “King” Cole. Ella Fitzgerald. Judy Garland. Peggy Lee. Rosemary Cloony. Linda Ronstadt. No matter their various styles, these and other iconic popular singers had one thing in common — much of their best work was arranged by Nelson Riddle, whose fame within the world of arrangers rivaled that of the legends for whom he wrote. Indeed, some critics maintain that, if not for Riddle, Sinatra might not have overcome his mid-career failure and climbed to the superstar status that he eventually attained.

This e-work describes the career of a musical genius, who changed popular music and proved that a great arranger is as important as a great song and a great singer. At its core is the irony that a man whose music is described as “light” and “bright” should have been so bitter and disappointed in his life.

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MGOC Contributor: Diane Turnshek

DIANE TURNSHEK
EXCERPT from "Teaching Young Writers" by Diane Turnshek in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction:

I was never a young writer, but for ten years I have been teaching teens to write what they love. I feel that I am in a unique position to make observations about the differences between young writers and people who are merely new to the craft. Teaching them has taught me a lot. My experience shows me that young writers can turn out genre work equal in quality to that produced by battle-hardened, aged writers. Many of the young writers I have known, through inspiration and force of will, have learned what it takes to produce professional copy and have stuck with the challenging current publishing climate until their work sold.

Advantages to being a young writer abound.

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Diane Turnshek is an astronomer and a science fiction author with short fiction in Analog magazine and elsewhere. She teaches astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and St. Vincent College, where she’s also taught creative writing. Since 2002, Diane has been mentoring graduate students at Seton Hill University in the MFA in Writing Popular Fiction. She founded Alpha, the SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers in 2002 and the Triangulation anthology series (as editor) in 2003. She served as Eastern Regional Director for SFWA, a professional organization of 1500 genre writers and directed the 2007 SFWA Nebula Awards in NYC. She has four delightful sons and a sweetly supportive dream guy.