Happy Monday Everyone! Today I’m excited to have debut
author Stacy Nockowitz here to share about how she writes historical fiction
and about her MG historical The Prince of Steel Pier. I love historical
fiction, and the time period and Atlantic City setting in Stacy’s book really
appeals to me, so I’m excited to read it.
Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:
A Young
Teen Falls in with the Mob, and Learns a Lesson About What Kind of Person He
Wants to Be
In The Prince of Steel Pier,
Joey Goodman is spending the summer at his grandparents' struggling hotel in
Atlantic City, a tourist destination on the decline. Nobody in Joey's big
Jewish family takes him seriously, so when Joey's Skee-Ball skills land him an
unusual job offer from a local mobster, he's thrilled to be treated like
"one of the guys," and develops a major crush on an older girl in the
process. Eventually disillusioned by the mob's bravado, and ashamed of his own
dishonesty, he recalls words of wisdom from his grandfather that finally
resonate. Joey realizes where he really belongs: with his family, who drive him
crazy, but where no one fights a battle alone. All it takes to get by is one's
wits...and a little help from one's brothers.
Follower News
First, I have Follower News to share. An Insecure Writers Support Group
Anthology
Romance – Clean &
Wholesome/Contemporary/Historical
First Love: The Art of
Making Doughnuts was recently released. Here’s a blurb: Featuring the
talents of Linda Budzinski, Melissa Maygrove, Michael Di Gesu, Sylvia Ney,
Katie Klein, Kim Elliott, Templeton Moss, S.E. White, Denise Covey, and Sammi
Spizziri. Hand-picked by a panel of agents and authors, these ten tales will
touch your heart and rekindle lost feelings. Prepare to return to that first
love…
Links:
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/First-Love-Art-Making-Doughnuts-ebook/dp/B09QH3Z28P/
Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/first-love-insecure-writers-support-group/1140884369?ean=2940165751301
Deniz Bevan recently released Druid’s Moon. Here’s a
blurb: Archaeologist Lyne Vanlith discovers an ancient Druidic curse on
her first dig. When a Beast rescues her, she kisses his snout and he transforms
into a man. Lyne is meant to be Beauty to his Beast. She must take up her
legendary role, to defeat the curse and monster after them, and save
Frederick—and herself.
Fantasy – Romance / Paranormal / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales,
Legends & Mythology
Print ISBN 9781939844866 / EBook ISBN 9781939844873
Links:
Apple - https://books.apple.com/us/book/x/id1588920227
Amazon
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HRDWJZ8
Barnes
& Noble - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940165040276
Sandra Cox recently released
Geller’s Find. Here’s a blurb:
It’s summer break and Dr. Luke Geller history
prof and part-time archeologist is in Nevada looking for potsherds. What he
finds is an antique rifle and a portal in time.
Buy link: https://tinyurl.com/GellersFind
Nick Wilford is releasing Reckoning, part 3 of a YA dystopian series tomorrow. Here's a blurb: The time has come for those who perpetrated wrongdoing and suffering on the land of Loretania to face their judgement, but nothing is that simple. Lunkin, the psychotic former Chief Scientist, has one more trick up his sleeve and is wreaking havoc even from behind bars. Can Welles and Ez, the kind and benevolent new rulers of Harmonia, turn the tide of public opinion and secure justice for the people of Loretania before it’s too late? Here are a few link:
Amazon US / Amazon UK / Smashwords / Barnes & Noble / Kobo
Now here’s Stacy!
How and Why I Write Historical Fiction
I’m a debut author, but I’m
no spring chicken. I’m 55, the age when many children’s authors are
well-established in the industry, with a good number of books already out in
the world. I don’t mind being on the older side. I’ve had a long and satisfying
career in education that began when I was only 23 years old. Right after
undergraduate school, I earned a Master’s Degree in education from Columbia
University Teachers College. I started out teaching 4th grade in New York City and went on to teach
middle school language arts for many years in New York, Massachusetts, and
Ohio. Fourteen years ago, I decided to go back to school for my Master’s in
Library Science, and I became a middle school librarian in 2010. I’ve been
around for a while.
From the time I was about 6 years old, I dreamed of being a
writer, and I wrote consistently over the years. Most of this writing was in
notebooks that I didn’t show to anyone. I wrote Star Wars fan fiction when I
was a kid, and I even wrote a couple of short novels in my twenties and
thirties that I showed to maybe three people.
In 2017, an idea came into my head for a story about a kid
who gets involved with some mobsters. I loved the movie A Bronx Tale,
and I thought that the basic premise for that movie would make a great
children’s book, if it was written right. I saw a scene in my mind: This kid is
playing Skee-Ball, and the mobsters surround him and start betting on his
score. I’m from New Jersey, so mob culture is something I grew up with. The
Sopranos was set in New Jersey for a reason. So, I had my idea. But I had
to decide on the setting, the when and the where.
One thing I knew for sure. This story was not going to take
place in 2017. The scene in my head was old school. These mobsters did not have
cell phones. This kid was not tethered to a screen. That was when I realized
that my writing future is fixed in the past. I wanted to write historical
fiction.
I read somewhere that you shouldn’t write historical fiction
just because you don’t want to deal with cell phones, but that’s exactly why I
write it. I’m no Luddite, but I find 21st century technology to be stifling to my writing. I don’t like that a kid
can get out of a situation just by looking something up or using an app or
texting mom. I like a lot of one-to-one interaction, face-to-face dialogue, and
even some back-to-the-wall, real world tension that only comes from being “in
the room where it happens.” Also, technology shifts and morphs so quickly these
days that some tech tool I write about today might be obsolete tomorrow.
And kids don’t like to read about obsolete technology in contemporary
fiction.
I prefer to immerse my readers in another era and get kids
excited about history. In my library, students are passionate about books set
in the past– medieval times, the Wild West, World War II. My goal is to
introduce kids to eras that they’re not as familiar with, like the 1970s or the
1950s. At some point, I may tackle pre-20th century history, but for now, I’ll
stick with the past 100 years or so.
Doing research for historical fiction is one of my favorite
parts of being a writer. It’s essential to get all of the historical details
right. Obviously, I couldn’t write about a 1970s kid using a cell phone, but
what about other, smaller details? For example, in The Prince of Steel Pier,
the main character, Joey, keeps all of his arcade prize tickets in a grocery
bag. In my first draft, that was a plastic grocery bag. But after some
research, I learned that plastic bags hadn’t been introduced into grocery
stores yet in 1975. So, the bag became a paper bag. My book is filled with all
kinds of period details that required research far beyond Wikipedia. Joey uses
a big Nikon camera in one scene, so I had to find out what features Nikon
cameras had in 1975 to make that scene authentic. Even though I was a kid
myself in the 70s, I couldn’t rely on my memory to get those details right.
Might Joey’s older brother have attended a Pink Floyd concert in 1975? I had to
find out if I was going to have him put on a Pink Floyd concert shirt.
But I also had to know when
to stop doing research, too, or else I could continue seeking out resource
after resource and never get to the actual writing! How does a writer know when
to put on the brakes? In grad school, I attended a workshop about writing
historical fiction led by the great author Anna-Marie McLemore. She said you
should only do enough research so that you could comfortably time travel back
to that time. Then STOP. In other words, you don’t have to know everything.
You don’t have to know when toilet paper was invented if you’re not going to
show a character using a toilet. But if a character is going to eat candy,
you’d better know when that Snickers bar became available!
Chances are pretty good
that your book is going to have dialogue in it, no? So, you will definitely
need to research things like slang from that era or dialects or regional speech
variations. I moved from Massachusetts to Ohio 25 years ago, but I still call
soda “soda.” Here, they call it “pop.” If my book takes place in Ohio, I need
to call it pop in the manuscript.
Being a librarian helps a
lot when I’m doing research for historical fiction. I know how to dig deep,
find information, and verify it. If you don’t have those kinds of information
literacy skills, I have a few tips for you. First, consider doing the majority
of your research at a library. If you have access to a university library,
that’s great, but public libraries are wonderful, too. If it’s a decent
library, the librarians there should know their stuff. Try to work with a
librarian, not an aide or volunteer. Next, if you choose to do research at home
on the Internet, be sure the sources you use are reliable, authoritative,
current, and well-presented. Is the site trying to sell you something? Is it
biased? Are there a bunch of ads all over the page? Avoid those sites if at all
possible. And finally, understand that good research involves working
horizontally in your web browser. In other words, when you read a fact, open another
tab and verify that fact in another source.
So, I’m an older debut
author. That’s the way things worked out for me, and I’m thrilled. I know that
if I hadn’t had 30 years of experience as a middle school teacher and
librarian, I would not have written The Prince of Steel Pier. Or at
least, it wouldn’t have been nearly as good as it is. At 55, I’m okay with
tooting my own horn a bit.
My website: www.stacynockowitz.com
Twitter: @snockowitz
Email: snockowitz@gmail.com
Giveaway
Details
Stacy has generously offered an ARC of The
Prince of Steel Pier for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to
do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or
bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by October 1st. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, you must
leave it in the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email
address.
If you mention this contest on Twitter,
Facebook, or your blog and/or follow me on Twitter or Keely or Tara on their
social media sites, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra
entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. The ARC giveaway is
U.S. and Canada.
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is hosted
by Greg Pattridge. You can find the participating blogs on his blog.
Upcoming
Interviews and Guest Posts
Wednesday, September 21st, I have an agent spotlight interview
with Jazmia Young and a query critique giveaway
Monday, September 26th, I'm reviewing Alba
Dobb's MG historical The Other Side of the River and doing an ARC giveaway
Wednesday, October 5th, I’m participating in the Howloween
Giveaway Hop
Wednesday, October 5th, I have an interview
with debut author Kim Bartosch and a giveaway of her YA mystery/ghost story Ask
the Girl
Monday, October 16th, I have an agent spotlight
interview with Sarah Stephens and a query critique giveaway
Sunday, October 16th, I’m participating in the Cheeky Pumpkin Giveaway Hop
Monday, October
17th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Eve Adler and a query critique
giveaway
Hope to see you on Wednesday!
