|
|
 |
Shara Rendell-Smock Award winning author, Shara Rendell-Smock certainly has a varied background. After graduating from a Chicago area high school, she set out for Florida where she worked as a newspaper features writer. Two years later, she returned to Illinois to enroll in the University of Illinois's social work program. While racking up credits at the U, she worked at a newspaper, putting together the weekly TV listings. Hoping the paper would recognize her talent if they saw her initiative and output, on an evening off, Shara went to hear President Jimmy Carter speak at a local auditorium, finessing her way into the press area. Flying high, she submitted what she thought was a darn good article. This event became the turning point (the wrong way) for that job. Unless an employee had a journalism degree, the higher-ups would not even read an employee's unsolicited submission. So that particular job was a dead end. Even though she nearly had achieved a master's degree in social work, she knew it was time to quit both the newspaper and the social work program to diligently devote herself to writing. She got hired at a local branch of the computer firm Gould, stayed with them five years and wrote a pile of manuals. Between that computer shop and one other, Rendell-Smock went on to write more than 20 computer software user manuals.   FREE + $2.00 for shipping!
For this "Author's Special" Offer through Banyon Publishing direct! >>> Available in Quantities: E-Mail for Rates. See "Reviews" below. Along the way, Shara has taken time to pursue many interests. A mystery buff, she thought of eventually becoming a detective. So she enrolled and excelled in several police training classes, yet kept returning to writing. Now Shara works freelance, writing and editing for numerous publishers, firms, and other authors throughout the states. She also writes some fun books. In 1995, she earned a national nonfiction writing award for her book, Living with Big Cats: The Story of Jungle Larry, Safari Jane, and David Tetzlaff. Then came the book, Getting Hooked: Fiction's Opening Sentences 1950s-1990s, which answers the question "What grabs the reader?" This book presents novels' first sentences by decade, 1950s through 1990s, and by genre--mystery, science fiction, western, romance, as well as mainstream. Presently Rendell-Smock's past projects include writing for firms; editing for other authors; and writing a mweekly article for TheSideroad e-zine, and writing a monthly article for The Sarasota Herald-Tribune. She lives on Florida's Space Coast. KTHX RADIO, Reno NV Book Review by Linda Weber "Sudden death saved his life." That's the first line of Edna Buchanan's novel Pulse. Don't you want to get that book and find out HOW? Successful authors know you've got to start off with a dynamite beginning to hook the reader. Hence the name of Sharon Rendell-Smock's book. She's come up with a unique concept: she got more than a hundred best-selling authors to tell their favorite opening lines and why those lines work. This book is a must for anyone who's ever entertained the idea of writing a novel. Hooking the Reader: Opening Lines That Sell is by Sharon Rendell-Smock. It's $11.95. I recommend it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5 Star Review at amazon.com by THE MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW Hooking The Reader: Opening Lines That SELL by award winning author Sharon Rendell-Smock is a no nonsense compilation of literary tips, tricks, and techniques for hooking readers' attention, as provided and described by more than one hundred notable and successful authors ranging from Anne McCaffrey, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, and Larry Niven, to Poul Anderson, Gene Wolfe, and Greg Bear. From first-rate opening lines to ways to best sustain the reader's interest, Hooking The Reader is a veritable showcase of useful insights, information, tidbits, and examples -- and has the absolute highest recommendation for aspiring authors everywhere, regardless of their chosen genre or subject matter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Review by Word Thunder Without question, writers must hook the reader immediately. Many will stop reading if they are not hooked within the first paragraph. But how does the writer hook the reader? To answer that question Sharon interviewed over one hundred well-known authors for her ambitious book. Hooking the Reader is chock full of great examples of winning opening lines, as well as good advice from writers, and deserves a place on every writers’ bookshelf. Sarah Mankowski atWordThunder.com: http://wordthunder.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Review by Florida Writers Association Whether you're writing your first novel or your seventh, you can find useful information in Rendell-Smock's book, Hooking the Reader: Opening Lines that Sell. More than 100 published authors share their techniques and secrets of hooking their readers. Rendell-Smock didn't just throw all of the author's responses in a hodgepodge manner and call it a book. She reviewed all the material she received, looked for similarities, and found patterns that she formatted in an easy-to-read, expansive source of "first line" information. Award winning authors quote first lines from their own creations as well as from authors they admire. Rendell-Smock arranges her book with insights from each author and examples of first lines from classic to contemporary. Not only do these great authors share their techniques for hooking their readers with first lines, they share their thoughts and feelings about what motivated them to chose the words they did. So, what makes a great first sentence? The hook. The hook is what captures the reader's interest and draws them into the author's imagination. Authors who use the hook effectively understand the importance of first impressions and carrying their reader's interest from the first page to the last. You only get one chance to make a great first impression Your book is no exception. Sharon Rendell-Smock understands this concept perfectly. She tells us that "books can start with a bang or a whimper." A great first sentence can be the start of a wonderful relationship between the author and the reader. Discover the secrets of other authors and learn how to hook your reader from the very first sentence! Book Titles Available | | The BANYON NETWORK | Betty Byers | Whitlow Synopsis | INNER-VIEWS WITH CELEBRITIES | ECLECTIC REVIEWS | BOOK REVIEWER'S CORNER | The NEWS | SHORT STORIES CORNER | | Return Home | GREAT LINKS | WHAT'S NEW? | CONTACT US | |
||