Guest Post: Real problems, Real Solutions. by Hank Quense

 

Real problems, Real solutions.

by Hank Quense 

Let's be honest. Writing a book isn't the only hard part. After you write it, then you have to publish the thing and, worst of all, get somebody to buy it. Somewhere along that road, every writer hits a pothole. Usually several. Sometimes the whole road caves in.

I know this because I've been in several cave ins since I started writing stories back in the last century (that sounds better than "a long time ago"). I've published plenty of short stories plus a pile of fiction and nonfiction books, all self-published. I've made the mistakes so you don't have to.

That's why I added a new feature to my website: Real Problems, Real Solutions. It's a collection of the problems writers and authors actually wrestle with, along with practical answers. These answers are based on my own experience, not on advice from some guru who's never uploaded a manuscript.

The feature has three sections.

Fiction Problems

This covers the story stuff, from "I have an idea, now what?" to "I'm stuck in the middle" and everything in between.

•       Is your plot flat?

•       Do readers say your characters are dull?

•       Do all your characters sound the same? (Hint: they may be too much alike.)

•       Confused about Point of View?

•       Wondering if you really need a character arc? (You do.)

Each problem gets a straight answer, plus a pointer to more in-depth content.

Self-Publishing Problems

Self-publishing a book, especially your first one, means lots of research. That's where the trouble starts: who can you trust on the web? Some of the information out there is accurate, some is outdated, and some is just plain wrong. Then there are the scam artists and vanity presses waiting to separate you from your money. This section covers:

•       alternatives to self-publishing

•       KDP vs. Draft2Digital vs. IngramSpark

•       whether you need an ISBN

•       what you need before you upload

•       a ten-step process for getting from manuscript to published book

Book Marketing Problems

The amazing thing about book marketing is the huge number of ways to spend — and waste — money. This section tackles :

•       keywords

•       blurbs,

•       book descriptions iew

•       targeting

•       Author Central

It also covers the most important piece of marketing you have: your book's landing page. There's even advice on what to do first when your marketing budget is about the size of a cup of coffee. And if you've wondered why your social media campaigns don't sell books, I explain that too. (Short version: social media sells clicks, not books.)

Don't See Your Problem?

Send me an email and I'll answer it. If you need more hands-on help,  hankquense (at) icloud (dot) com.  I also offer coaching for self-publishing and book marketing. 

So the next time you're staring at a stalled manuscript, a publishing decision that has you baffled, or a marketing plan that's going nowhere, stop by Real Problems, Real Solutions. Odds are your problem used to be my problem, and I've already done the hard work of figuring out the fix.

Check it out here. [(https://hankquenseauthor.org/real-problems--real-solutions)

Early in his writing career, Hank was strongly influenced by two authors: Douglas Adams and his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. Happily, Hank has never quite recovered from those experiences. Hank writes humorous and satiric sci-fi and fantasy stories. He also writes and lectures about fiction writing, self-publishing, book marketing and author business. He has published 21 books and 50 short stories along with dozens of articles. His two daughters and five grandchildren live in nearby towns in northern New Jersey.

Guest Post from Anne Shaw Heinrich, Author of House of Teeth

Anne Shaw Heinrich’s work has been published in numerous outlets, most recently, Writer’s Digest, Education Weekly, and Ms. Magazine, as well as The New York Times bestseller The Right Words at the Right Time, Volume 2: Your Turn (Atria 2006) and Chicken Soup for the Soul's The Cancer Book: 101 Stories of Courage, Support and Love (2009). Her debut novel, God Bless the Child, was the first in The Women of Paradise County Series published by Speaking Volumes. House of Teeth, the third book in the Series, releases in June 2026. Learn more at anneshawheinrich.com.

 

Follow Anne Shaw Heinrich on social media: 

Threads: @anne_shaw_heinrich | Instagram: @anne_shaw_heinrich | TikTok: @ash34249

Pushing Your Characters to Their Tipping Points 

When someone snaps and it seems like the break comes out of nowhere, those of us who have made a good number of trips around the sun know that such outbursts actually come from somewhere and everywhere. 

We understand overflowing buckets, and know how untended boiling water boils over, but we’re often startled if in the room when a person buckles under pressures, both seen and unseen. We’re uncomfortable, sometimes defensive or offended. If we’re interested, we can guess at the factors that brought on the boil. To do so is an act of humanity that the collective we should probably consider more often. 

One of the things I enjoy most about writing fiction is the chance to take those deep dives with characters and find ways to help readers consider the many factors that result in moments of unbearable tension. One of my favorite such moments takes place in God Bless the Child, the first novel in The Women of Paradise County Series. 

By the time readers get to the scene, they don’t know everything that has happened to the primary character, Mary Kline. Not even close; but they do know that she’s in way over her head, having taken in Pearl Davis, a vulnerable girl who has given birth to a daughter, Elizabeth. Mary believes herself to be the child’s mother until she sees the undeniable, biological truth: 

“ …I do indulge in forbidden emotions, like love and lust, and envy and anger. I exercise my rights as a part of the animal kingdom. Female animals often take on the role of mother to abandoned infants of another species. They feed these babies, hold them, love them, clean them, and naturally feel territorial… 

…Once, when Elizabeth was about seven months old, I hauled off and slapped Pearl as hard as I could. Mother and Daddy were already at the store, so it was just us three girls. I’d put water on to make hot chocolate. The teapot whistled, so I left the girls in the parlor. When I returned to the doorway with a tray of hot chocolate, I saw the thing I dreaded most… 

…Pearl stood there in her long nightgown, holding Elizabeth to her cheek. She was humming soft mama songs in her baby’s ear, swaying the instinctive mother-sway: back-and-forth, back-and-forth, foot-to-foot. She was a natural. Elizabeth snuggled into her mother’s neck, looking more contented than ever. I froze. 

 That sweet scene frightened me. Would I be relieved of my duties? Would Elizabeth and Pearl abandon  their captain with a mother-daughter mutiny? Was I to be confronted with a natural and understandable coup?...I would not allow it. I put the tray down on the coffee table and snatched Elizabeth from Pearl. I gently laid the baby on a blanket on the floor and worked myself back to my feet, finally reaching eye level with Pearl. She smiled dimly, that smile I’d grown so sick of seeing. I hated the simple stare she gave as she watched me lavish her baby with my love…My slap had more heft than I intended. Really. It was a full and jealous swing..I should never have slapped Pearl…She was just a confused child. Bewildered by all that had happened to her, she trusted me, and I guess that’s why I slapped her. Pearl was counting on me to make things right, but I knew nothing about this situation would ever be right.” 

Letting Mary describe what happened here was really valuable. Even she seems surprised that she’s behaved so irrationally, so violently, to someone she thinks she loves. The reader knows that Mary is not really backed into a corner. The only other people in the room are a baby and a childlike young woman, but letting the reader inside Mary’s head, we see all that she thinks she has to lose. The slap is an act of desperation, and it is just one of many surprises this character reveals throughout the book. 

In Books Two and Three of the Series, Violet is Blue and House of Teeth, readers

get a chance to be with a little boy-turned young man named Jules Marks, another primary character who gets pushed to the brink more than once. He’s quiet, intelligent and has come to understand in spades just how cruel and kind the world can be. He’s been beat up plenty, but still fancies himself protector of those he loves. 

When Jules learns that his own father, the feckless Lem Hauser, was the one who put a tattoo on the lower belly of his only friend, Violet, he makes a move that seems out of character. He comes to the confrontation committed to a verbal spat, but his father’s cruel taunts push Jules to a new brink that turns physical: 

I hated him. I hated every last thing about him. 

“Now, Jules, I hate to tell you this, but I got there first, you know. I saw that before you ever did. I saw that before your little gal let me work on her. I saw that clean and white as a brand-new sheet, my boy.” 

He laughed some more, nearly choking on the dark tobacco juice sloshing around in his mouth. The childish, but powerful nature of his laugh stung. He wasn’t taking me seriously. I lunged for him. I caught him off guard, and we both tumbled to the ground. I could feel the dust on my teeth and the smell of his wet tobacco breath. My body was on top of him. I started swinging as hard as I could. His ballcap had fallen to the ground, so I could see his greasy black hair, slicked down with pure meanness. I landed some good punches and kept swinging until he stopped me and pushed me off him. The push was hard enough to knock down the burn barrel…The air between us bristled. Hungry dogs barked in the distance. My face throbbed… 

“Hey, Jules, you come back any time and wrestle with old Lem. Anytime, Sir.” 

Angry tears started to pool behind my eyes. I didn’t want them to drip down my face until I’d put more distance between us. They started falling anyway.

Writing this part of Jules’ story challenged me, not because I thought the attack on Lem wasn’t justified. After the willful neglect and cruelty that this character and his five little sisters have endured, he deserves to throw a punch and have it land. Lem’s involvement with Jules’ only friend, Violet, pushes an already distressed Jules over a very natural edge. Showing readers this break makes a character who is beyond heroic by any standards, more believable and layered. 

The layers matter to me as a writer. Making decisions about how and when and who will reveal new pockets of humanity in a story is my idea of a good time, but there’s more to it. Giving fictional characters room to grow and to be fully human has the potential to do work beyond the page, and I think that has more value in the long run. Is it possible that by reading and writing stories that lay bare more than one truth, we expand our capacity to extend similar considerations to the people who live and breathe around us? To this, I say yes, yes, yes. 

Jules Marks and his five little sisters can finally relax. Their feckless parents from Shakey's Half are doing time in the Paradise County Jail, and their Uncle Larry, Aunt Sally and Aunt Clarice have swooped in to give them the safety and security they deserved all along. As they settle into the closest thing to normal they’ve ever known, their neighbors and classmates are quick to remind them not to get too comfortable. Poulson’s only dentist makes a generous offer to help the Marks children fix their long-neglected teeth, but many folks object to the free treatment they receive. Meanwhile, Jules is figuring out how to be a man as he holds onto an ugly secret involving his dear friend, Violet Sellers. When cancer strikes the family, Jules decides to right a wrong that’s gone unchallenged for far too long.

You can purchase House of Teeth and the other books in The Women of Paradise County series on Amazon.

Guest Post from Mary Lawlor, Author of Fighter Pilot's Daughter

 We are thrilled to welcome back Mary Lawlor, author of Fighter Pilot's Daughter. 

FIGHTER PILOT’S DAUGHTER tells the story of the author as a young woman coming of age in an Irish Catholic, military family. Her father, an aviator in the Marines and later the Army, was transferred more than a dozen times to posts from Miami to California to Germany as the government demanded. For her mother and sisters, each move meant a complete upheaval of ordinary life. The car was sold, bank accounts closed, and, of course, one school after another was left behind. Friends and later boyfriends lined up in memory as a series of temporary attachments. The story highlights the tensions of personalities inside this traveling household and the pressures American foreign policy placed on the Lawlors’ fragile domestic universe.

The climax happens when the author’s father, stationed in southeast Asia while she’s attending college in Paris, gets word that she’s caught up in political demonstrations in the streets of the Left Bank. It turns out her strict upbringing had not gone deep enough to keep her anchored to her parents’ world. Her father gets emergency leave and comes to Paris to find her. The book narrates their dramatically contentious meeting and the journey to the family’s home-of-the-moment in the American military community of Heidelberg, Germany. The book concludes many years later, after decades of tension that had made communication all but impossible. Finally, the pilot and his daughter reunite. When he died a few years later, the hard edge between them had become a distant memory.

Remembering the 60s and the Cold War for Fighter Pilot's Daughter

By Mary Lawlor

Fighter Pilot’s Daughter was one of the most difficult projects I’ve ever undertaken. It was also probably the most important thing I’ve ever done for myself. Putting the book together was like a process of self-therapy: it had a powerful stabilizing effect that stays with me now. Part of this came with the clear account the research and the writing made of my family’s zigzagging past.

Like most military families, we moved a lot (fourteen times before I graduated from high school). And like other Army fathers, my Dad was away often. My mother and sisters and I would worry about his safety, especially when he was flying in war zones. He would write my mother fairly regularly for a while, then his communications would dwindle off under the weight of more pressing matters close at hand. This would leave us wondering how he was, and I often had nightmares of him being captured, imprisoned…

In spite of the fact that we missed him fiercely, Dad’s homecomings weren’t as easy as we expected them to be. Familiar as he was, his tall frame in the doorway and his blaring blue eyes with that far-away look were strange and frightening. After a while, we’d get used to him; but I wonder how long it would take him to get used to being home. He’d been in such a different, all-male world where violence reigned. At home, there were only women. My mother and sisters and I knew little about what he’d been through, not just because we were too young to know but because a lot of what he’d been up to was secret.

We never talked about any of this, so our house was a tense, uneasy place when Dad came home. Indigenous people in many parts of the world have rituals for bringing warriors home—practices aimed at diminishing the potency of trauma and other effects of prolonged exposure to violence. I guess we’re starting to see something like this in the debriefings and psychological attention given to soldiers and marines returning from war. But in the sixties there wasn’t anything like it. Dads just came home, still warriors, and now being asked not to be.

The story of Fighter Pilot’s Daughter had to have a plot—not just the order of our moves but the dramas that accompanied them. It was difficult enough getting all my father’s military records so I could see the crazy chain of our moves from one place to another. It was even harder to go back into memories that reawakened painful feelings of confusion and anxiety that came with being new all the time. All those scenes where I was a stranger, and everybody else belonged still stung.

Making a story out of my family life meant describing my parents, sisters, and myself as if we were characters. I had to give physical portraits, convey personalities and make us say things. The truth had to be the first priority, but the truth can be messy. These portraits had to be shaped so readers could make sense of who I was talking about. I think human character is, in the end, more complex than any literary character. Picturing human beings in their ordinary rawness is very difficult. A reader needs a writer to give their literary characters more specific shape and continuity than most of us usually have—features that allow a reader to recognize a person from one page to the next. In memoirs and biographies, those shapes and continuities have to be made from real materials—the habits and speech styles and surprising tics of real human beings. So my family members and I ended up appearing in the book in more definitive shape than we actually had. Still, these descriptions adhered to the truth of my memory as much as I could make them.

Writing Fighter Pilot’s Daughter gave me a chance to air the ragged feelings still running in my brain and heart from those days long ago. Some of these feelings had to do with the work my father did. As a teenager, I had a hard time understanding how I felt or should feel about the things he did as a warrior. When I went away to college, I drifted from my parents and made friends with people in left political groups and the anti-Vietnam War movement. In Paris, in May of 1968, I participated in demonstrations against, among other things, the war my father was fighting. At the time, he was posted outside Saigon. When I saw him again, the tension between us was almost too much. We had heated arguments, and then for a long we didn’t speak. Much later my parents and I got to be very close, and I’m deeply grateful for that. Being retired from military life, Dad had changed dramatically.

I wanted to write about all this so I could sort out those powerful emotions that were still with me. I hope Fighter Pilot’s Daughter strikes a chord with other military kids. And I hope it gives readers in general a better understanding of what military kids go through. When I tell people I grew up in an Army family, they often say, "Was it like 'The Great Santini'?" It’s surprising how often people ask that. The answer is no. Santini was an abusive father, and while many soldier fathers are professionally familiar with violence, they don’t necessarily bring it home with them. Pat Conroy, author of The Great Santini, tells a great story, but as he says himself, it’s his story, not a representative account of military family life. His book is one of the few that features a Marine Corps pilot, his wife and children as the central characters, so it often gets taken as a model of military family life.

I hope readers of Fighter Pilot’s Daughter see that there are other ways of describing domestic life for service families. Many of the biggest difficulties for spouses and children are built into the structures of everyday life in military environments. I hope readers take from my book a sense of how complicated it is to maintain a healthy, optimistic family life when you’re having to move all the time and when a parent has to spend long months away from home on deployments. For all the good or ill the armed services might do for America, they can bear down hard on the lives of soldiers’ wives as kids. And they can make their lives wildly interesting, as I hope Fighter Pilot’s Daughter shows.

Mary Lawlor is author of a memoir, Fighter Pilot’s Daughter: Growing Up in the Sixties and the Cold War (Bloomsbury 2015) and two books of cultural criticism, Recalling the Wild: Naturalism and the Closing of the American West (Rutgers UP 2000) and Public Native America (Rutgers UP 2006). She studied at the American University in Paris, the University of Maryland, and New York University. She divides her time between Easton, Pennsylvania and Gaucin, Spain. Her novel, The Translators, is set in 12th-century Spain and fictionalizes the experiences of Robert of Ketton, first translator of the Koran into Latin. She hopes to see it out next year. In the meantime, she has started a second novel, The Women’s Hospital, set in 18th-century Spain and inspired by the life story of an Irish woman whose family moved to Cádiz, escaping English oppression in their own country.

You can visit her website at https://www.marylawlor.net/ or connect with her on Twitter or Facebook.

Five Things You Should Know about Sgt. Windflower by Mike Martin, Author of the Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series

 

RCMP officer Winston Windflower’s rare afternoon off gets interrupted when a hit and run turns into murder and he must pull together a team of Mounties from Newfoundland to resolve the crime. Following the money and fentanyl— and bodies—Windflower and his team join forces with police officers in southern Ontario to take down an international drug-smuggling ring.

Windflower must face personal doubts and fears when fellow Mountie Fil Romano is kidnapped. While the higher-ups at HQ make plans to give safe passage to the drug lords in return for Romano’s life, Windflower worries Romano will get caught in the crossfire. Windflower again looks to his friends and allies for help in the difficult hours and days ahead.

PURCHASE A CHANGE IN PLANS HERE!

Five Things You Should Know

 about Sgt. Windflower

Hi everybody, and pleased to meet you. I’m Sgt. Winston Windflower of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Mounties, as we’re better known. Here are five things you should know about me.

1. I’m a Cree from Northern Alberta who got assigned to a small town in Newfoundland, on the easternmost tip of Canada. Grand Bank has become home to me and my beautiful wife, Sheila. We have two adorable daughters, Lady the collie, and Molly the cat. 
2. I love living in Grand Bank. I fell in love with the place first, and then I met Sheila. That sealed the deal. I love almost everything about Grand Bank. But not the weather. If you read any of the Sgt. Windflower Mysteries, you will see why. 
3. I like to cook. My specialties are anything you can grill, especially meat. But I love to eat even more. Meat, fish, and whatever vegetables Sheila puts in front of me. My favorite dessert is chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. You can get it at the Mug-Up café in Grand Bank.
4. I have great friends. Eddie Tizzard has been a Mountie and assigned to the same area as me for the last eight years. He likes to eat even more than me. Herb Stoodley is a former Crown Attorney who co-owns the Mug-Up café. That really is friends with benefits.
5. I try to be a good person in the world. I have learned from my ancestors and family to always try and be kind. My Aunt Marie says that I should be strong like grass. It will lie down if you step on it, but when the pressure eases, it is resilient and rises up again. I am working on that.

Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer, and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines, and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand.

He is the award-winning author of the best-selling Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, set in beautiful Grand Bank. There are now 17 books in this light mystery series with the publication of A Change in Plans. 

A Tangled Web was shortlisted in 2017 for the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn won the 2019 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. All That Glitters was shortlisted for the LOLA 2024 Must Read Book of the Year award.

Some Sgt. Windflower Mysteries are now available as audiobooks, and the latest Darkest Before the Dawn was released as an audiobook in 2024. All audiobooks are available from Audible in Canada and around the world.

Mike is the Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers, and a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild and Capital Crime Writers.

Visit Mike’s website at https://sgtwindflowermysteries.com. 

Connect with him on social media at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkerOnTheCapeReviewsAndMore 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mike54martin 

Guest Post & Giveaway: Delia Hayward, Author of From Turmoil to Peace

 

Delia Hayward, one of eight children, grew up during the Hippie Era in a dysfunctional family, for whom emotional and physical abuse was a normal occurrence of her childhood.

Her marriage further deteriorated what little self-esteem she retained from her childhood. Perhaps these torments are what made her desperately seek God and a personal relationship with Him.

When her marriage fell apart, she rose to the challenge of raising three sons alone. With the help of God and sheer determination, Delia managed to instill positive self-esteem and a love for God into the hearts of the next generation.

As you read this book, may you also find hope in the midst of your storm, and may God bring you from turmoil to peace.

GUEST POST:

Title: When Pain Meets Purpose — Sharing My Story and God's Grace

 

Writing my story felt like standing at the edge of a cliff and trusting God to carry me across the canyon. It was terrifying, exhilarating, and deeply healing. Putting your life on paper—especially the parts marked by trauma, heartbreak, and spiritual transformation—is no easy task. You're laying your soul bare for strangers to read. But for me, the thought that my story could help someone feel less alone, or guide them toward hope, made it all worth it. I’ve received messages from readers saying they couldn’t put the book down—and that alone has been one of the greatest confirmations that the risk of vulnerability was not in vain.

The journey from journaling my experiences to publishing a book was never a straight path. God planted the seed in my heart long before I could see the fruit. I always had the sense that my story wasn’t just mine to keep—it was meant to be shared. But it wasn’t until I was laid off from work in 2014 that the vision truly came into focus. I had started writing while working full-time, but progress was slow and sporadic. When the job fell away and doors didn’t open elsewhere, I felt a clear nudge from God: “This is the time. Finish it.” What felt like a loss of career turned out to be a divine invitation to create something lasting.  Throughout the process, my faith anchored me. I trusted that if God called me to write this book, He would also equip me to finish it. And He did—but not without patience. It took eleven years of starts and stops, before it finally came to life in printed form. I had to learn to wait, to be okay with God's timing, which rarely matched my own.

 

The most helpful companion in this journey, without question, was my relationship with God. In moments when self-doubt crept in or the words wouldn’t flow, I leaned on Him. I also had friends and family who encouraged me along the way, reminding me that the pain I endured had purpose, and that sharing it could bring healing—not just to me, but to others.  This book isn’t just a testimony—it’s a love letter to anyone walking through the fire, wondering if there's a way out. 

 Read sample here.

From Turmoil to Peace is available at Amazon and Barnes&Noble.

Delia Hayward is a proud mother of three wonderful sons, a beautiful granddaughter and a precious grandson. God put it on her heart to write this book "From Turmoil to Peace" so that people could benefit from her life experiences. She has been blessed and hopes her book blesses others.

You can visit her website at https://deliahayward.name/ and follow her at Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/delia.hayward.14. 

Giveaway Details:

Delia E. Hayward is giving away TWO $25 Amazon Gift Cards!

Terms & Conditions:

• By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.

• Two winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive a $25 Amazon Gift Card.

• This giveaway starts August 18 and ends on September 18.

• Winner will be contacted via email on September 18.

• Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck,

everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guest Post: Using Artificial Intelligence by Hanke Quense, Author of The Author's AI Toolkit

 

Hank Quense was born and raised in Jersey City NJ. He attended St Peters Prep High School and Newark College of Engineering where he received a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

After college, he went to work for Western Electric engineering telephone equipment into central offices. Later, Western Electric was absorbed into AT&T, and Hank was transferred to a new sales organization as an account rep serving New York Telephone Company. He was later promoted to Sales Manager.

In 1996, he took an early retirement offer to become a fiction writer. His efforts at short story writing led to sales of over 40 short stories. His first two novels were published by a small indie press. This experience was so distasteful, he looked into self-publishing, started his own imprint, Strange Worlds Publishing, and self-published more than 20 books, both fiction and non-fiction. Hank’s short stories and novels are humorous or satiric sci-fi and fantasy. His non-fiction covers fiction writing, self-publishing, book marketing and author business.

Hank’s newest project is to create a website filled with content based on his years of experience in fiction writing, self-publishing and book marketing.

Using Artificial Intelligence

Writing often bogs down in unexciting chores that have to be done.  Editing and revision are two examples.  Then there are the times when the writer is stymied as to what to write next.  Another painful experience is to get stuck in the middle of a scene.  Your hero is in big trouble and you can’t figure a way to drag her out the mess.

I’ve faced all of these issues in the past, but now I use an Artificial Intelligence app to help me speed through the roadblocks.  In short AI allows me to spend more time on creative activities and less on mundane chores.

I use Perplexity.AI as my writing buddy.  The trick with using an AI app is how you write the query that gives the AI app its instructions. If you write a generic query, the AI will respond with a generic reply.  To get a useful response you have to write a detailed query.

That last paragraph may be a bit puzzling to those who aren’t familiar with using AI so I’ll provide a list of AI queries that have been tested (by me) to provide useful output. These queries can be used in a variety of AI apps such as Perplexity, ChatGPT, Notebook LM or even the AI feature built into apps like Craft or Fabric or Notion.

Research and brainstorming queries:

Research query: Show me a list of websites that have information on {topic}

Outline query: Provide an outline for the {book/research paper/website} {insert description}

Brainstorming query: Brainstorm the following  {insert topic} and give me a list of six ideas for an {article/story/project}

Editing and revision queries:

Editing query: Edit the following piece and highlight your changes: {paste text here}

Editing and Show-Don’t-Tell query: Edit the following piece, highlight your changes and point out examples where show-don’t-tell can be used {paste text here}

Rewrite query: Rewrite this {insert text} two different ways: one in a light-hearted tone, one in a pompous tone.  (yes, you can tell the AI what tone to use!)

Stuck Query: My character is {describe situation}. Tell me {number} of ways he {describe solution}

I don’t restrict my AI usage to writing and research.  I also use it for marketing activities.  Here are a few typical queries.  In these cases, I use a storyline or short synopsis as part of the detailed query.  This gives the AI the background information it needs to respond properly.

One important comment about these responses.  I consider them to be first drafts and revise them, sometimes quite extensively.  Still, having a first draft to work on saves a lot of time, effort and creativity.

Marketing queries:

Targeting query: My novel is a {insert genre} story. How can I reach {enter genre} readers rather than the general population

Social media posts: {Insert storyline} write 5 social media posts for {insert social media platform} Use keywords where appropriate.

Blog posts: {insert storyline} write {insert length} blog post. Use keywords where appropriate

Hashtags query: {insert storyline} Generate list of appropriate hashtags

 

These queries are taken from my book, The Author’s AI Toolkit.

 

——————————

Website: hankquenseauthor.com

Guest Post by Vanessa Morgan, Author of Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies

Have you ever noticed how cats have a way of stealing the spotlight in supernatural books and movies? 

Whether they’re harbingers of doom, masters of the jump scare, or even saving the day, cats seem to have a permanent place in the world of the paranormal. 

Let’s dig into some of the recurring themes and plot devices that make these feline stars so unforgettable.

And if you’re as fascinated by these four-legged scene-stealers as I am, you’ll love my book, Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies, where I explore their cinematic roles in detail. 

Guardians Between Worlds 

Cats have long been viewed as creatures with one paw in this world and the other in the supernatural. In films, they often take on the role of guardians—protecting characters from unseen forces or warning them of danger. Think of the titular feline in The Cat That Came Back or the animated cats in Studio Ghibli's The Cat Returns. These cats aren’t just background props; they’re often messengers or guides, steering the story and its characters toward the truth (or a chilling twist). 

Loyal Familiars 

In many supernatural stories, cats play the role of loyal familiars, especially when witches and magic come into the mix. From Hocus Pocus’ snarky but brave Thackery Binx to Sabrina the Teenage Witch’s Salem Saberhagen, these cats bring wit, wisdom, and occasionally some much-needed comic relief. 

But it’s not all lighthearted fun. Familiars often tie their fates to their human companions, adding emotional depth to the story. These magical partnerships remind us why cats are seen as more than pets—they’re allies in the battle against dark forces. 

Masters of the Jump Scare 

Cats are a classic tool for delivering jump scares in supernatural films, and it’s easy to see why. Their sudden, unpredictable appearances make them perfect for jolting viewers out of their seats. A cat’s sudden leap from the shadows, accompanied by a piercing yowl, can ratchet up tension and release it all at once—an effective way to keep the audience on edge. 

Directors often use cats as red herrings, startling viewers with an intense moment that turns out to be harmless, only to follow it up with a real scare moments later. This clever misdirection not only highlights the cat’s knack for being in the right place at the right time but also reminds us why they’re so indispensable to supernatural storytelling.

Harbingers of Doom 

If a cat crosses your path in a supernatural film, you’d better watch your step. Cats frequently act as harbingers of doom, signaling that something wicked this way comes. 

But it’s not always so straightforward. Sometimes, the "omen" is a misdirect, lulling viewers into a false sense of security before the real horror strikes. 

Agents of Supernatural Justice 

Cats often serve as agents of supernatural justice in stories, bringing karma to those who deserve it. 

Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Black Cat” was the first tale to depict a cat as a force of eerie retribution. In Poe’s story, the feline embodies guilt and vengeance, leading the narrator to expose his own crimes. 

This portrayal set the stage for countless other films and books where cats act as avengers of wrongs, often targeting those who harm them or disrupt the natural order. From spectral cats exposing killers to magical felines punishing evildoers, this theme remains a powerful way to remind audiences that justice—especially the supernatural kind—can come with claws. 

The Cat That Came Back 

Cats’ infamous nine lives make them natural candidates for supernatural survival. They often seem to endure situations that would finish off any other character. This resilience becomes even more potent in films like Sleepwalkers, where the cats are a literal army of protectors. 

Why Cats? 

Why do cats keep returning as recurring symbols in supernatural books and films? The answer lies mostly in their real-world mystique and the deep well of cat mythologies and superstitions around the world. Across cultures, cats have been seen as omens, guardians, and even magical beings, feeding countless stories that blend the feline’s natural intrigue with the supernatural. 

On top of all that, many writers and filmmakers are unabashed cat lovers who can’t resist weaving their favorite animals into their work. Whether they’re being used to frighten, amuse, or mystify audiences, cats remain endlessly adaptable and utterly captivating on screen. 

If you’re a fan of cats in film, or just love dissecting the supernatural genre, you’ll find even more fascinating insights in my book, Meow! Cats in Horror,Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies. It’s a deep dive into the roles these feline stars play across genres—and how they continue to leave their pawprints on our hearts (and our nightmares). 

So, the next time you watch a supernatural movie and spot a cat lurking in the shadows, ask yourself: Is it a guardian? An omen? Or something far more sinister? One thing’s for sure—the cat always comes back.

 

VANESSA MORGAN is the editor of When Animals Attack: The 70 Best Horror Movies with Killer Animals, Strange Blood: 71 Essays on Offbeat and Underrated Vampires Movies, Evil Seeds: The Ultimate Movie Guide to Villainous Children, and Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies. She also published one cat memoir (Avalon) and four supernatural thrillers (Drowned Sorrow, The Strangers Outside, A Good Man, and Clowders). Three of her stories became movies. She also introduces movie screenings at several European cinemas and film festivals and is a programmer for the Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels. When she is not writing, you will probably find her eating out or taking photos of felines for her website, Traveling Cats. 

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