Flogging the Quill is out of print at the end of 2014, but a new and improved version titled Mastering the Craft of Compelling Storytelling is now available as a paperback and Kindle book. It's in a smaller paperback size and has new content. Mastering the Craft is a one-book remedy for a host of beginning novelist ailments, a tune-up for published authors, and a resource for editors. Rich with advice and coaching from editor/author Ray Rhamey, its primary focus is to lift a novel manuscript to a publishable, professional level. The book's sections cover storytelling, determining what drives a plot, the six vital story ingredients, and tools for spotting shortcomings in a narrative. Writers also learn experiential description, how to handle the tricky character-description hurdle, staging, and overwriting. The when to tell, how to show lesson has been praised by literary agents and college teachers. If any one book can help you lift your novel to professional and publishable, this is it.

Flogging the Quill: Crafting a Novel That Sells

Reference

Rhamey, Ray

Writing, Research & Publishing Guides

Flogging the Quill Llc

You've no doubt seen this quote: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." It's true: today, revolving-door courts spit felons back onto streets uncaught, unreformed. Madmen, madchildren, and criminals kill us with terrifying firepower. Along with the action and tension of a top-flight political thriller, "We the Enemy" challenges traditional thought on the 5th Amendment and provides out-of-the-box thinking on gun control. The story leads readers to experience the impact on ordinary people of evolutionary ways to deal with crime and weaponry. And it leaves you wondering if maybe they just might work in the real world. This is an "issues" novel that works as a story and as a thought-provoker. In "We the Enemy," the very nature of criminal justice and self defense is changing in the Pacific Northwest—criminals are compelled to tell the truth in court, and citizens are encouraged to carry nonlethal defensive guns. But there’s fierce opposition, and the president, in danger of losing reelection, aims to win votes by taking down the man behind it all, Noah Stone. His weapon is Jake Black, an ex Secret Service agent. Now a cold-blooded gun for hire, Jake lives an emotionless existence after the deaths of his wife and little girl. A fog of numbness in his mind smothers the grief he cannot bear--and pretty much everything else. Scoring a million dollars for taking care of what he sees as a con man is no problem. But the closer he gets to his target, the more he sees Stone as on the right side of issues. Jake faces the question of his life—who is the real enemy, Noah Stone or Jake Black?

We the Enemy

Science & Math

Platypus

The air was as still as it was hot-only the whir of a grasshopper's flight troubled the quiet. Jesse felt like an overcooked chicken, his meat darn near ready to fall off his bones. Mouth so dry he didn't have enough spit left to swallow, Jesse croaked, "That guy tryin' to kill us?" Turns out the answer is "not yet." A ranch hand is murdered and bad things start happening to Jesse, just an average kid working on a ranch the summer of 1958. And then there's Lola . . . the boss's daughter is a firecracker of a girl, and her bold ways send death their way. It will take all of their heart and courage to survive. What readers say: "Jesse is the kind of character you hope young boys will turn into-considerate, quietly determined even if he lacks confidence because of his youth and limited life experience in the beginning of the novel, you have the sense he has the character to do the right thing. "Lola is a striking character-so apparently self-assured yet so very troubled at the same time-perfect adolescent angst, and the quiet hints at the darkness that troubles her makes you empathize with her sass more." "The Summer Boy brought back memories of first kisses and fogged car windows." "The story is alive. I kept reading even when my eyes were closing at night." "Wow . . . the tension never ended and it seemed to come from all directions. I spent the day reading as I couldn't stop."

The Summer Boy

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

"Mastering the Craft of Compelling Storytelling" is a one-book remedy for a host of beginning novelist ailments, a tune-up for published authors, and a resource for editors. Intended for novelists and memoirists, the book's sections on Wordcraft, Technique, and Story cover aspects of storytelling that include spotting shortcomings in a narrative; characterizing through experiential description; how to create tension; when to tell and how to show; and much more. "Mastering" adds new content to Ray Rhamey's original "Flogging the Quill, Crafting a Novel that Sells" in this new version. See reviews of "Flogging the Quill" for insights from writers. Here's what pros say: Tess Gerritsen, bestselling author of "Die Again," says, "Whether you're writing your first novel or your twentieth, this book is a must-have for any novelist. And it's one of the most readable, entertaining books on writing out there." Laura Abbott, co-owner &amp; managing editor, Amber Quill Press: "I've read many manuscript submissions that were near-misses. If those writers had had the benefit of this book, they'd be published right now. This is a must-read for the burgeoning story-teller and serious novelist, and it's a necessity for editors who seek to nurture their writing clients." Dan Conaway, literary agent, Writer's House: "Learn the critical art of ruthless and rigorous self-editing from a man who understands the art better than most. His practical, sensible advice really can help you become a better writer." Lou Aronica, editor, publisher, president of The Fiction Studio: "Writers will learn a great deal from the pages of this book. Rhamey offers the kind of advice that could make a huge difference in a writer's prospects."

Mastering the Craft of Compelling Storytelling

Words, Language & Grammar

When is magic not magic? It is when the Hidden Clans control living energy to do things that appear magical to us-cure disease, slow aging, and heal a heart from the inside-or incinerate an enemy's as it beats. And those abilities have deadly consequences for the Clans. Annie, a gifted healer, has kin who were burned at the stake as witches. She must conceal herself from the lessi, "normal" people who would persecute the Clans. But she and many other clansmen also venture freely among us, in disguise, to satisfy their needs for art, entertainment, science . . . and for love. Homeland Security breaks Annie's cover-branded a terrorist, she runs, desperate to keep the secret of the Clans. And then a clan leader launches a horrific plague to end lessi tyranny by eliminating us-all of us, including people Annie loves. She has a chance to stop him, but Homeland Security is closing in . . .

Hiding Magic

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Fantasy