I have the pleasure to host, today, two special ladies, two fellow authors, mother and daughter, Leslie Talley and
Terri Talley Venters.
Leslie Talley
Mother/Daughter Writing, From Mother’s Point of View
My daughter
Terri’s interest in writing was sparked by a writers’ conference we attended in
Melbourne, Florida, when she was in high school. Years elapsed during which
time she mulled over an idea for a series which became Elements of Mystery.
Meanwhile, I had
published travel pieces and a few short stories, but the publication of my
mystery novel, Make Old Bones, eluded
me. It had won first place in the mystery/suspense category at the Space Coast
Writer’s Guild in 2000. Finally in 2008 Terri and I attended a conference
sponsored by the North Florida Writers’ Association at Ponte Vedra Beach,
Florida. Make Old Bones once again
won first place in the Lighthouse Book Awards for mystery/suspense. Terri was so
proud, she cried! That spurred me on; that spurred her on. She finished writing
her mystery novel, Carbon Copy. She
hoped to ride in on my coattails. The opposite happened.
She submitted to
Wild Child Publishing, an electronic publisher; I had never thought of doing
that. When her book was accepted, I submitted also and was accepted. Since then
we have critiqued each other’s work. She is my biggest fan! We feed off each
other. My main characters, Otis and Clarice Campion, became her main character,
Lilly Allen’s, Uncle Otis and Aunt Clarice. When we are together and we hear an
interesting turn of phrase, we both screech, “I call it!”
One way I may
have unconsciously influenced her is by setting, or a sense of place. According
to my professor, Dr. Richard Adicksfrom Literature of the South at the
University of Central Florida, there are six prominent features in Southern
writing: a sense of history or of the past; a sense of religion or original
sin; a sense of the grotesque; a sense of place; a sense of family or
genealogy; and agrarian, or rural.
I write from a
sense of place. Set your novel in a unique setting, and all manner of ideas pop
up. Terri imbibed this from somewhere. Her first novel is set in New York and
the Florida Keys, the sequel in Charleston. Her upcoming takes place in
Scotland. My first takes place in Daytona Beach, the second in St. Augustine,
the third in Ireland, and my work-in-progress in Scotland. We both have
hurricanes and castles figuring prominently.
Even though we
are much alike we have differences. My degrees are in English with some nursing
thrown in. Hers are in Accounting and Taxation. She comes up with better plots.
And while my mysteries are Cozies, hers are more modern.
But the acorn
doesn’t fall far from the tree, to be trite! Great minds, and all that!
Bio Leslie
Talley
Author
of Make Old Bones and Bred In The Bone
Leslie
Talley received her B.S. in Nursing from the University of Kentucky and a B.A.
and M.A. in English from the University of Central Florida, Orlando, where she
subsequently taught, as an adjunct, Technical Writing and Business Writing for
ten years.
Leslie
and her husband Luke have two children: Terri Talley Venters, Wild Child author
of Carbon Copy, Tin Roof, and Copper Cauldron;
and Damon Talley, video conference lead at Harris Corporation. Leslie and Luke
have lived in Titusville, Florida, for forty-five years.
Make Old Bones and Bred In The Bone are both available from
Wild Child Publishing, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com. Purchase links can
be found on her website. http://www.makeoldbones.com/
Bred
in the Bone Synopsis
In this
sequel to Make Old Bones Otis,
Clarice, and Miss Lettyact as exchange innkeepers at Castle Keep in St.
Augustine, Florida.
Castle
Keep, built of timbers from a shipwreck, has a disturbing history which carries
over to the present.Recently a series of break-ins by a homeless man and the
sound of chains dragging in the attic complicate matters.
MissLetty
and Clarice visit the original plantation site where Clarice discovers a
skeleton in the icehouse. In addition, they find the burned body of the
homeless man in a dragon sculpture, causing them to make connections among
disparate events separated by over a century.
Add to
the mix a psychic, an African-American journalism student, the Donner wedding
party, Florida Gators, two snobbish Southerners, father and son mural painters,
an obstreperous Cavalier King Charles spaniel named Charles Dickens, and an
obnoxious, but, unwittingly, helpful twelve-year-old named Beddington.
Terri Talley Venters
Mother/Daughter authors,From daughter’s point of
view
Wow! Where do I start? 18 years ago, my mother and I only dreamed of
writing a novel, let alone getting it published. Our dreams of becoming mother/daughter
published authors was just something we fantasized
about. Now we’ve both
published not only our debut novels, but their sequels as well.
Reflecting back over the last 18 years, I realize how much hard work
went into our first books: Make Old Bones
for my mother and Carbon Copy for me.
The hardest part for me was starting. I thought about it for 8 years before I
finally started writing. The next hardest part for me was finishing. I spent 5
years writing Carbon Copy. My mother was the reason I started and finished it.
I always tried to have a chapter for her to read whenever we planned a visit.
Then the next hardest part about the writing process was the waiting. Although
I was blessed to find a publisher within six months of finishing Carbon Copy, it was another 2 and half
years in editing before it was finally released in June 2012.
Now that we both have the same awesome publisher, Wild Child Publishing,
the writing and editing are much easier for the both of us. I’ve recently
finished writing my fifth book, Silver
Lining, the epic conclusion to the Carbon
Copy trilogy, while my mother is almost finished writing thefourth book in
her bone series - The Bonnie, Bonnie Bone.
My mother and I are case in point that hard work, patience, and determination,
can make your dreams come true. We couldn’t have done it without each other’s
constant encouragement all of these years.
So now that we’ve had our dream of being mother/ daughter published
authors come true, what’s our next dream? I still dream big. I’m looking
forward to having both of our books out in print so that we can do book
signings together. And although I loathe public speaking, I can’t wait to doa
mother/daughter presentation at a writer’s conference. Thank goodness my mother
is an award winning Toastmaster. I’ll just smile, nod, and show cleavage. We’re
brainstorming a co-authored book which is a prequel to Carbon Copy and Make Old Bones.
The characters in our books are related.My heroine, Lilly, is the niece of my
mother’s heroine, Clarice.The title will contain both a “bone” and an “element”.
My biggest dream of all is to have one of my books get made into a
movie. My mother and I promised to be each other’s “plus one” if either of our
book movies get nominated for an academy award for best adapted screenplay. And
yes, I’ve mentally started writing my acceptance speech. Who knows what the
future holds for our books, but the best part of all is that I’m enjoying this
wonderful journey with my mother. I love you, Mom!
Bio Terri Talley Venters,
Author of Carbon
Copy, Tin Roof, Body Of Gold, Copper Cauldron, and Silver Lining
Terri received
her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Master’s degree in Taxation from the
University of Florida. She is a licensed CPA and a Second Degree Black Belt in
Taekwondo. She lives in St. Augustine, Florida, with her husband, Garrison, and
their two sons.
Terri has two
other published works available from Wild Child Publishing. Carbon Copy and its sequel, Tin Roof, plus her unrelated novella, Copper Cauldron. She recently finished
writing Silver Lining, the epic
conclusion to the Carbon Copy
trilogy, coming soon from Wild Child Publishing. Her romantic/suspense novel, Body Of Gold, is coming soon from
Freya’s Bower. Terri also posts free short stories on her website each month. www.ElementsOfMystery.com. Follow her as she weaves her way
through the Periodic Table of Elements.
Terri is the
daughter of Leslie S. Talley, author of Make
Old Bones and Bred In The Bone which are also available from Wild Child
Publishing.
For the purchase links and more info
about Terri’s books, visit her website.
Blurb
Tin Roof
the sequel to Carbon
Copy
In the sequel to Carbon Copy, Lilly Allen
returns to her hometown of Charleston,
South Carolina, to be closer to
her mother, help with her injured brother, and heal from the disappearance of
her fiancé Grier Garrison. While she awaits Grier's return, she busies herself
with her mansion renovations, her best friend's wedding, and her job as a news
reporter.
But even her busy
schedule cannot stem the worry over her brother's persistent amnesia and
changes in personality. Is he her real twin? Or did they rescue a clone?
On top of this, the
months of pining without a word from Grier begin to take their toll. She finds
herself growing closer to her favorite cameraman, Joe. His confession of
undying love, followed by a passionate kiss, has her questioning how much
longer she can wait, and whether she wants to.
To further complicate
matters, two unrelated news stories drag her into the seamy underbelly of the
Charleston Police Department where murder and drugs are common occurrences.
In the chaos of a
hurricane, another body washes ashore, and Lilly comes face-to-face with the
murderer.
Anne a young woman who lived in the present day and time had broken up with the man that she loved a while back. But then one day he shows up on her door step sort of speaking. Anne still being in love with him no matter what had happened between them realized that she couldn't be without him and let him talk her into giving him another chance. So Anne and Neil go on a vacation. They get lost on the way to their hotel and spend the night in the mountains. They find an old abbey that has all but fell completely down. While they are at this old abbey Anne starts having these vision or dreams about this young girl. Anne feels or just knows somehow that vision was real. Anne wants to help this girl/ghost to move on so that she can be happy. Anne finds some old bones in an old oak tree and sets out to find out whose bones they are.
