The Pen Factor Writer of the Month: Nancy Bachana

Twenty-Three Hundred - Nancy Bachana
December 2015

Our current feature story is the grittily realistic tale of a young girl’s experience while interning at the downtown sheriff’s office. Danielle, a well-intended but inexperienced sixteen year-old, finds herself way out of her depth on the wrong side of town. Through her probing, restless narrative, Nancy Bachana takes us deep into her character’s lives, leaving the reader with an uneasy sense of pity and foreboding.

Nancy started writing fiction in 2009, as a creative outlet from a creatively stifling job. Originally from North Florida, Nancy now lives in New York City with her family. The inspiration for Twenty Three Hundred came from a real-life interaction with a co-worker at McDonalds, when Nancy worked there during high school. When Nancy announced her intentions to go to college the following year, her co-worker’s rueful response was “I envy you”; a quote used to great effect in Nancy’s short story.

Nancy found out about The Pen Factor while searching for writing contests online. She was interested in the competitive aspect of the writer’s forum – “critiques can be more honest when they are anonymous and competitive … less likely to go soft on fellow writers”. Nancy found the 1,500 word limit incredibly helpful for her writing, resulting in more polished, stronger stories.

“Crafting my submissions for The Pen Factor has given me a new approach to writing – if I can't craft each scene to be as strong and necessary as a gripping short story, cut it!"

At the moment, Nancy is revising her young adult novel. She dreams of being a published writer who can inspire girls and young women to “take action, explore and accomplish things they can be proud of and not get side-lined by boys or sexy vampires!”. Nancy would be ecstatic to write ‘good reads’ that readers will treasure and share long after they’ve been read.

Read Nancy's short story here: Twenty-Three Hundred.

The Pen Factor Interviews: K. M. Zahrt

Ken Zahrt has seized the reigns of his burgeoning writing career. Since becoming a serious writer ten years ago, Ken has self-published two books (Thanksgiving with Pop-Pop (October 2013) and Odd Man Outlaw (February 2014)) and is poised to release his third, a mystery novel with a literary twist. In June 2015, his short story, Pink Panties, Chocolate Pudding, and a Proposal, was The Pen Factor Runner-up. Guest-judge and award-winning writer Nicholas Shakespeare described it as “well written and fresh”.

Ken’s mystery-thriller novel, Odd Man Outlaw, wades through an increasingly murky trail of evidence surrounding the arrest of security guard, Edward Waters, suspected of aiding and abetting a known fugitive. Ken wrote the entire first draft by hand in composition notebooks on a flight to China in August 2007. The story was inspired by a job he took after college as a security guard at a nursing home. “There was a boiler room at the nursing home where homeless people would try to hide for warmth and shelter in the winter time. The story was built out of that place and evolved over time.”

Odd Man Outlaw by K. M. Zahrt

Ken values the feedback he received from submitting to The Pen Factor. “The Pen Factor is unique. I've never come across anything like it. It's really beneficial to get good feedback to know how your work is resonating with readers. When you send out work anywhere, rejections are inevitable, but there's no way to tell if there's something wrong with your story or if it simply doesn't fit what editors are looking for at that particular moment. The Pen Factor gives you a chance to get some honest feedback in a low-risk environment.”
Ken found his passion for writing via studying film and video at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. In 2006 he won the Department of English's Oldenburg Writing Contest for one of his first scripts and has been hooked ever since. Ken likens writing to a game of golf: “You can play the same course over and over, but the journey and the outcome of each round is different ... That's what's so engaging and challenging about it. The next round might just be the round of a lifetime.”


K. M. Zahrt reads from his book, Odd Man Outlaw

You can buy Ken's book here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615958125/
Website: http://www.kmzahrt.info/

The Pen Factor Writer of the Month: Rachel Bryan

The Unexpected Serial Killer - Rachel Bryan
November 2015

The Unlikely Serial Killer is a first-person narrative story that delves into the mind of a most unexpected murderer. Intriguing, witty and dark, Rachel Bryan's comedy-thriller is a compelling read from first line to last.

Rachel is based in the Columbia Gorge in Washington State. Strongly encouraged by her grandma, she has been writing fiction since she was 12. After an early encounter with a Stephen King novel ("I was too young to be reading those kinds of things..."), Rachel started delving into darker subject matter which gradually morphed into dark comedy as she matured. The inspiration for The Unlikely Serial Killer came from a lightbulb moment at Baja Fresh when Rachel knocked over a stack of salsa containers she had filled up.

"A lightbulb went off and my first sentence just played out in my head and the story wrote itself from there". The entire story was subsequently finished in under six hours!
Prior to submitting The Unlikely Serial Killer to The Pen Factor, Rachel had never shared her writing with anyone other than her grandma and friends. After receiving such great responses from fellow writers at The Pen Factor, Rachel gained the courage to apply for a freelance job and now writes sports articles for the local newspaper.

"That's what appealed to me so much about The Pen Factor - the feedback. I am always wanting to grow more as a writer and you can't do that without good feedback."

Rachel has started a writing group in her area in an effort to create a writing community. Her writing dream is to eventually publish a book and help others get published as well. 

Read Rachel's story here!

The Pen Factor Interviews: Deep Roy

The Hollywood star kindly granted me an interview, in which he shed some light on his acting career, books and writing in the movies.

Deep: When Tim Burton asked me to do Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, he said to me “I’m looking for you to play the Oompa-Loompas and joining Jonny Depp to play Willy Wonka” – so I agreed – four Oompa-Loompas turned out to be 165! I played each one individually – definitely my most technically challenging role to date.

Clarissa: Were you a Roald Dahl fan before you got the part in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

Deep: Yes, I was a Roald Dahl fan. Loads of his books have been made into successful films. I think he was an amazing children’s writer … as was Dr. Seuss. They did Cat in the Hat and The Grinch – which I worked on. All these writers and authors are talented people. They have a vision, which they put on paper – and sometimes these visions are turned into movies.

Clarissa: Do you have any favourite books?

Deep: My all-time favourite book is Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard, which was made into a successful feature movie produced by Danny DeVito. I’m also a great fan of John Grisham and James Patterson.

Clarissa: You’ve worked with the biggest names in Hollywood as well as the biggest studios. Have there been any film producers or directors that you’ve particularly enjoyed working with during your career?

Deep: I think I’ve enjoyed working with each and every one of them. They are all talented writers and directors, like J. J. Abrams, who did Star Trek. I’ve worked twice with him and I’m going to be doing another Star Trek with him next year … he’s a prolific writer himself and a science fiction buff who’s revamped the Star Trek movies … and now also Star Wars.  He’s a joy and a gentleman to work with, and so is Tim Burton. I’ve done four movies with Tim. What an incredible talent and vision he has. Not only does he do feature films, but he also does animation! Then there’s Wolfgang Petersen, I’ve worked twice with him – and last but not least Michael Bay, who directed Transformers II – another prolific director and writer.

Clarissa: What was it like working on the early Star Wars movies with George Lucas?

Deep: You know, it was amazing to portray Yoda, an Ewok, Droopy McCool and R2-D2 – even though I didn’t get the credit! [we laugh]

Clarissa: What would you say to anybody who wants to pursue their dream and reach for the stars?

Deep: … if I can do it, anyone can do it. If you’ve got the passion and the desire, you’ll get there. With hard work and a bit of luck, anybody can do anything!

Top Minds Read Top Books: Clarissa Dickson Wright

The late TV chef Clarissa Dickson Wright once told me that I had a great name. Likewise. 
Her all-time favourite writer was H. H. Munro.










The Complete Works of Saki – H. H. Munro 

"When my drinking was at its heaviest I carried a copy of The Complete Works Of Saki with me. It seemed fitting somehow."

Top Minds Read Top Books: Peter James (part 2/2)

@PeterJamesUK

Once again, The Pen Factor takes a look at the literary taste of international best-selling crime thriller novelist, Peter James. This time he shares with us his top 10 favourite US thriller writers – some of whom Peter has encountered in person during his writing career.






My 10 favourite US thrillers

Tell No One – Harlan Coben  

"This is a true classic – a sharp dramatic start, and then the steady, relentless unravelling of a truly compelling mystery."

The Silence of the Lambs – Thomas Harris 

"When I put this book down, back in 1988, I thought, 'Wow, this is a game changer'. It took the crime thriller to a new level of author research and to a new, dark, but very thrilling level of morality – from good versus evil, to a world of bad versus evil!"

Along Came a Spider – James Patterson 

'This utterly compelling book simply explodes with energy. Alex Cross is one of the warmest and most human cops in all of fiction, and Gary Soneji I rank alongside Hannibal Lecter as a brilliant and compelling depiction of evil."

Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard 

"I love Elmore Leonard’s writing. He has such vivid characters – sometimes I feel he could have someone reading the phone directory for three hundred pages and still keep me hooked. This is my favourite of his books. I was lucky enough to meet him one time, at a crime festival in Courmayeur in Italy, where we were sat opposite each other at a dinner. Although in his eighties, he was sharp as a tack, and when we went outside for a smoke together, I told him how much I loved Get Shorty but since seeing the movie, I could not get John Travolta out of my head as Chilli Peppers. In his soft, gentle, laconic, voice, Elmore replied. 'You know Peter, I have a different problem each time I meet Travolta. I can never think of anything to say to him!’"

The Lincoln Lawyer – Michael Connelly 

"As a great believer – and stickler – for research, Connelly, a former court reporter, ticks so many boxes for me in terms of authenticity. He has a wonderful writing style and his characters are so vivid and credible. This book is a wonderful cat and mouse game between a lawyer and his increasingly dubious client."

The Bone Collector – Jeffery Deaver 

"I was alerted by a number of my fans that Jeffery put a villain in one of his novels called Peter James!  He graciously permitted me to get my revenge in a future novel by having a sleazebag called Jeffery Deaver – which I have yet to do – saving this up! But I did get a different and very sweet revenge in 2012 when my eighth Roy Grace, Not Dead Yet, beat his James Bond book to No 1 by 93 books! I sent him a t-shirt on which was printed JD 002, PJ, 001 ! He took it in great spirit – he’s huge fun, even if he does look like a cross between an axe-murderer and an undertaker…"

The Con Man – Ed McBain 

"Ed McBain and John D MacDonald were the writers that truly changed my horizons about the world of crime novels. Until I discovered this wonderful book, in my late teens, I’d thought to write crime fiction – certainly for a British writer – you had to stick to certain rigid rules and conventions: A dead body in chapter one, preferably in a country house setting … and the rest of the story the puzzle to solve the murder. But in the world of US crime thrillers the victims were more than often still alive at the end of Chapter One – and in deadly peril."

The Onion Field – Joseph Wambaugh

"Strictly this should not be here as it is a non-fiction story, but it ranks alongside In Cold Blood in my view as one of the most gripping non-fiction crime stories ever told. A former LAPD Sergeant, Wambaugh is an amazingly vivid writer. This story about the kidnapping of two plainclothes LAPD officers and the subsequent murder of one was, I think, a really ground-breaking book in its realism."

Dress Her In Indigo – John D. MacDonald 

"From the moment I read my first few pages of my John D. MacDonald Travis McGee novel (they all have a colour in the title) I felt a huge sense of excitement as a writer. In his creation of Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle had showed an intriguing and unconventional character, but Travis McGee took quirkiness a whole league further. He’s a private eye, who lives on a houseboat on the Florida Keys, called The Busted Flush, and drives a Rolls Royce converted into a pick-up truck, and he specialises in getting things back for people …"

Red Leaves – Thomas H. Cook

"Every now and then you discover a truly stunning writer and you wonder, how the hell has this guy not made it to the top of every bestseller list on the planet? Maybe because his style is too quiet, but I am mystified. I just loved this book – beautifully written and utterly gripping."

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Peter James has joined The Pen Factor team as a guest judge for our June 2015 competition. Read Peter's review of our winner's story, The Rock Fortress, here.

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Top Minds Read Top Books: John Cleese

@JohnCleese

The actor recently took some time out of his busy schedule to chat to The Pen Factor about some of his favourite books.

The Drunkard's Walk -  Leonard Mlodinow
"Now that book had a particularly strong effect."

On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
"I thought that was almost life changing,  because it contained an idea that I just thought was extraordinarily important."

Memories, Dreams and Reflections – C. G. Jung

"Memories, Dreams and Reflections was a book that changed me but I’m not sure how. I think it was about rearranging my priorities."

Quiet – Susan Cain 
"That gave me, since I’m basically introverted, the confidence to understand my cast of mind a little better than I have before."

The Black Swan – Nassim Nicholas Taleb 

"I was quite shocked to realize how bad we all are at forecasting the future."

Read John's full interview with The Pen Factor here.

Top Minds Read Top Books: Peter James (part 1/2)

@PeterJamesUK

The international best-selling crime thriller novelist has kindly put some time aside to reveal his all-time 5 favourite books.  

My 5 favourite books...

Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
"Quite simply, this is the book that made me want to be a crime writer. Set in my home town, where I set my Roy Grace series of crime novels, Brighton Rock is a wonderfully gripping dark book about the criminal underbelly of Brighton, about religious faith and about human nature. And it has one of the darkest and most poignant endings to a novel I have ever read.  My dream is to, one day, write a novel that comes even remotely close to being as good as this book.


"

Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard


"They say he is the man and you just have to read him to understand why. Characters, characters, characters. Elmore Leonard’s characters are just so vivid, so engaging, you don’t even need plot. You could have a group of his characters reading the phone directory for three hundred pages and you’d still be gripped. And this is the favourite of his novels."




The Hound Of The Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle
"

I started reading Sherlock Holmes as a teenager, and instantly wanted to be writer of detective novels. Another thing I admired about Conan Doyle was his lifelong interest in the paranormal – something I share. This book exquisitely combines the detective story with the supernatural – or so you think ... Without ever resorting to any deus-ex-machina stunts pulled on the reader, and a brilliant twist at the end.
" 



Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut Jnr


"I first read this book when I was 23, and it changed both my perception of the world, and my perception of the boundaries of the novelist. Paradoxically this insane, insanely funny novel is the default book I return to whenever I feel the world – or my world – has gone mad!"

Rosemary’s Baby – Ira Levin


"This is the most beautifully written scary novel ever – a gem. It is a masterpiece of spare, economical writing, of characterisation, emotion and quiet understatement. There is no horror on the pages, Levin puts it all straight into your mind."

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Peter James has joined The Pen Factor team as a guest judge for our June 2015 competition. Read Peter's review of our winner's story, The Rock Fortress, here.

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