Check out the book trailer for Nina Munteanu’s newest space adventure thriller, “Outer Diverse“. To the brooding longing notes of Rachmaninov, it previews a haunting paranormal tale of mystery and discovery …
Rhea Hawke discovers there is far more to the massacre of a spiritual sect, mysteriously linked to Dust, the contraband drug “of the gods” and a devastating prophesy of a catastrophic End of Age, triggered by the joining of twin souls. She unravels secrets of fractal geometry, deja vu, dreams and clairvoyance, multiple universes and space-time … and ultimately the greatest secret: herself …
“… a master of metaphor, Munteanu turns an adventure story into a wonderland of alien rabbit holes … a fascinating and enthralling read.”–Craig H. Bowlsby, author of Commander’s Log
You can pick up Outer Diverse at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, Borders and other quality bookstores near you. For those of you in Toronto, Bakka Phoenix Books is carrying Outer Diverse as well as Nina’s “Darwin’s Paradox” duology (set in Toronto) and her guidebook “The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now!”
As a result of continued pressure by new students, Nina has opened a second Master Writing Class.
It runs every Wednesday at 5 pm EST. Join this Exclusive Club of writing enthusiasts for $49/month.
Sign up for Nina’s ongoing Master Writing Class on the Master Class Page.
For $49/month, this is what you get:
four weekly one-hour interactive teleseminars accompanied by live webinar (computer streaming: NEW!) Nina lectures on popular writing and publishing topics, based on your submitted works, common issues, and questions from previous sessions. Topics covered and discussed are directly applicable to your personal writing challenges and interests.
teleseminar sessions include a twenty minute telephone lecture, followed by interactive computer streaming discussion of specific topics and works directly applicable to your ongoing work. Nina “shows” and “tells”.
facilitated discussions on the 10 most common issues faced by novice and professional writers: getting started; dealing with time management & writer’s block; getting those ideas down and making a story out of them; focusing and maintaining the staying power to finish; incorporating all the elements of good storytelling like plot, character, theme and setting into a seamless, page-turning story; making your writing compelling, clear and exciting; doing research and editing; marketing, synopses & outlines, query letters; handling rejection and fear of rejection; and overcoming fear (of failure, of success, of everything).
Eligibility Criteria & Requirements:
The Master Class is tailored for writers serious about getting published and with works in progress (e.g., first draft finished, mostly completed, firm premise and storyboard with portion written). If you do not fit these criteria, you may find that one of Nina’s other online courses or her manuscript evaluation and personal coaching is more suited to your needs.
To be eligible for the Master Class, you must submit an example of your work and agree that you are willing to persist with efforts toward publication, including the willingness to be critiqued, pursue ongoing revisions, and discussions.
The course requires that you have a computer with internet, a secure phone line, have submitted some of your work, have subscribed below, and have acquired the codes to access both conference call and live computer streaming.
Unless you have been specifically INVITED, contact Nina BEFORE you subscribe:
BEFORE you sign up, contact Nina for eligability and availability at nina.sfgirl@gmail.com [subject: Master Class]. In order to address each of you personally, Nina limits her class sizes. Our first class is still running at maximum. This is why Nina has opened up a new class.
The Master Class that is currently open, runs every Wednesday at 5 pm EST. There are limited spaces for Master Classes so availability will be on a first come basis. Once you successfully register and subscribe for a place in this exclusive club, you will get an email with information on how to get in on the next call. See you there!
Yes, I’m a successfully published author with acclaimed novels, short stories and essays published all over the world. But I almost didn’t get there. What if I told you that I never read as a kid, I was the worst speller in my school and I used bad grammar? I didn’t excel in typing class and practically failed English 101. Based on my Career Aptitude Test score, the school counselor recommended that I go into some trade like car mechanic. Believe me, I started from behind.
I’ve experienced your disappointment and your fear—and prevailed.
I’ve battled the gridlock of time and schedule conflicts, priority problems and lack of support from family and friends—and forged a way.
I’ve felt lonely and depressed because no one understood my dream or took it seriously—and found a community.
I’ve been lost in a sea of unfocused ideas, undirected plot, excessive—even boring—characters—and created a masterpiece of tense page-turning excitement.
I understand your pain, your moments of hesitation and lack of confidence, your yearning. I’ve been rejected and rejected and rejected—and then published!
Are you a storyteller? Because that’s where it all starts. With a story. The rest is window dressing. Every author is on a journey, a hero’s journey, really. Because that’s what most writers are: heroes. We journey into the dark frightening abyss and return with the prize for the world: truth. The writer’s life is not really romantic, like many believe. It is rife with doubt, rejection, betrayal and disappointment. But it is also graced with the richness of joy, satisfaction, energy and fulfillment. When a writer writes what he or she is passionate about, there is nothing better. Absolutely nothing. So, let me tell you a story now, about how I almost didn’t become a writer but did because it was what I had to do. Like most stories, this one has a beginning, middle and an end…
The Beginning: The Sweet Promise
When I was ten years old, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up: I was going to be a paperback writer. It was 1964 and I’d taken my favorite rock group’s song to heart, the Beatles’ “I Want to be a Paperback Writer”. It was an incredible moment of clarity for me and despite being challenged by my stern and unimaginative primary school teacher, who kept trying to corral me into being “normal”, I wasn’t going to let anyone stem my creativity and eccentric—if not wayward—approach to literature, language and writing. I was a confident, but lovable, little brat and I knew it. She and I didn’t exactly get along, as a result. But I did okay anyway, and, despite her acidic commentary (I didn’t cross my “t”s the way she wanted me to), Miss House begrudgingly awarded me my due A’s and B’s.
Nina pretending to read
I wrote some fan fiction but quickly found my own creations far more interesting and less limiting. As a teenager, I wrote, directed and recorded “radio plays” with my sister. When we weren’t bursting into riotous laughter, it was actually pretty good. She and I shared a bedroom in the back of the house and at bedtime we opened our doors of imagination to a cast of thousands. We fed each other wild stories of space travel, adventure and intrigue, murmuring and giggling well into the dark night long after our parents were snoring in their beds. Those days scintillated with liberating originality, excitement and joy. I also enjoyed animation and drew several cartoon strips, peopled with crazy characters as I dreamt of writing graphic novels like Green Lantern, Magnus, Robot Fighter and Spiderman. My hero was science fiction author and futurist, Ray Bradbury; I vowed to write profoundly stirring tales like he did. Stories that mattered. Stories that lingered with you long after you finished them. Stories that made you think and dream and changed you imperceptibly.
I had found what excites me—my passion for telling stories—and I’d inadvertently stumbled upon an important piece of the secret formula for success: 1) having discovered my passion, I decided on a goal; 2) I found and wished to emulate a “hero” who’d achieved that goal and therefore had a “case study”; 3) I applied myself to the pursuit of my goal. Oops… the third one, well…
…It went downhill from there…
Life got in the way.
I grew up.
The Middle: The Struggles & Confusion of “Reality”
Well, that, and the environment intervened. In several ways. It started with my parents. Recognizing my talent and interest in the fine arts (I was pretty good in visual arts), they pushed me to get a fine arts degree in university and go into teaching or advertizing. They made it obvious that fiction writing was not a viable career or a forté of mine (I was lousy at spelling and, despite my ability to tell stories and my love for graphic novels, I didn’t read books!). I can still remember my father’s lecture about how perfect the teaching or nursing profession was for me. I wasn’t enamored by either. The second blow to my author-ego came in the form of a school “interest-ability” test, meant to prepare us for our career decisions. I remember the test consisting of an IQ portion (spatial, English and math), and a psychology portion (including problem-solving and scenarios meant to tease out our affinity for a particular career). Secretly harboring my paperback novelist dream, I filled out my forms with great excitement. I still remember the deflating results, which suggested that I was best suited to be a sergeant in the army! LOL! Remember what I said about my spelling and grammar. “Writing” as a career barely made it on the graph, and scored well below “computer programmer” and “mechanic”; none of which interested me.
Forest road near home
Dante’s Forest
I began to see a career in advertizing as a viable option; my love and abilities in cartooning seemed to naturally tie in with this pursuit. I also had an affinity for graphic design. So, I deferred to the “wisdom” of others and let myself be diverted and distracted by clever reasoning and an appeal to logic. I did what I thought I should do, not what truly excited me.
I still quietly held my dream of being a paperback novelist close to my heart, even if it was closeted in my subconscious. But self-expression had dwindled to a trickle; the creative flow of stories dried up and in its empty wake I discovered a cause worth investing a fervent energy: the well-being of our planet. With the cause came my relentless pursuit of a science degree. I left home and surprised and disappointed my parents by electing on registration day at the university to go into science rather than pursue a fine arts degree in advertizing. Although I wasn’t “expressing”, I was nevertheless inspired. I obtained several degrees in science, including one in Limnology (the study of freshwater), which were all to prove worthwhile in my ultimate “calling” and self-expression: that of making science accessible to the lay-public and eventually writing hard-science fiction stories and novels of substance about the environment. The latter didn’t happen for several years after I acquired my Masters of Science degree and did a long stint of teaching at university (yes, I DID teach after all!) while successfully publishing articles for magazines.
The End: Fulfillment
Nina outside Bakka Books in Toronto where her novel is for sale
My non-fiction pieces became my entrance into the world of fiction (much harder to break into) and I used this venue to polish my writing skills in fiction (don’t let anyone tell you that non-fiction can’t be exciting, bending to many of the same rules as in fiction writing). Once I began publishing fiction stories, I never looked back. And as far as I’m concerned, the sky’s the limit now.
Not too long ago, I quit my day job and moved across the country to an artistic community on the east coast. I am currently travelling the world and pursuing my dream as a full-time author and writing coach. It’s not an easy life. And it can be lonely at times. But it is so incredibly fulfilling and blessed with meaning.
Come, walk with me and pursue your dream. It’s for the taking.
You’ve landed on the website of Nina Munteanu, internationally published Canadian SF author and ecologist. Nina is living her dream of the writing life! She is currently putting the finishing touches on her next science fiction novel. And if you’re lucky, you might catch her at one of her writing workshops where she coaches great fiction writing!
The Mentor: Nina is frequently sought after for one-on-one mentoring as well as personal coaching and group workshops on all aspects of writing and publishing. Because she has published frequently in both fiction and non-fiction, she knows exactly how to help her clients succeed in getting their works published.
TheEcologist: Nina currently does research and gives talks in science and limnology (No! That isn’t the study of limbs! She studies freshwater) and is driven by a passion to help keep our planet’s environment healthy. In April 2010 she participated in talks with the Dalai Lama as part of the Mind and Life XX Conference on Altruism and Compassion in Economics in Zurich, Switzerland, where she participated in discussions on the use of ecological relationships in economic policy. Nina is a passionate traveler, and has tasted her way around the world from Bangkok to Paris.
TheAuthor: Nina has published award-nominated short stories all over the planet (with translations into Greek, Romanian, Polish, and Hebrew). Two of her several novels, “Angel of Chaos” and “Darwin’s Paradox” (science fiction ecological thrillers by Dragon Moon Press), explores humanity’s co-evolution with machine intelligence and Nature’s intelligence. She also writes critical essays and reviews, several of which have appeared in Strange Horizons, IROSF, and The New York Review of Science Fiction. Her personal heroes include Dr. Lynn Margulis and author Ray Bradbury. Nina’s guidebook on writing, The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now! is currently used in schools and universities across North America.
The Blogger: Nina is also The Alien Next Door, author of the award-wining blog which hosts lively discussions on pop culture, travel, science, writing and philosophy. Nina co-authors an environmental blog on climate change, Climate of Our Future. She frequently guest-blogs on Toulouse LeTrek, her feline friend’s travel blog.
O Muses, O high genius, aid me now! O memory that engraved the things I saw, Here shall your worth be manifest to all! —Dante Alighieri, Canto II of the Inferno
As a published author of over a dozen short stories and three novels (with more coming!) I often get asked how and where I draw my inspiration from. How do I find my muse? And how do I keep it? (i.e.,, how do I defeat “writer’s block”?). Let’s first define muse:
The Muses, in Greek mythology, are a sisterhood of goddesses or spirits who embody the arts and inspire the creation process with their graces through remembered and improvised song and stage, writing, traditional music and dance. The Muses are water nymphs associated with the springs of Helicon and with Pieris (from which they are sometimes called the Pierides). According to Hesiod’s Theogony (7th century BC), they are the daughters of Zeus (king of the gods) and Mnemosyne (goddess of memory).
Greek mousa (from which muse derives) is a common noun that means “song” or “poem”. In Pindar, to “carry a mousa” is “to sing a song”. The Muses were, therefore, both the embodiments and sponsors of performed metrical speech: mousike, from which “music” was “the art of the Muses”. In ancient times, before books were common, this was the major form of learning. The first book on astromony, by Thales, was set in dactylic hexameter, as were many works of pre-Soctratic philosophy. Both Plato and the Pythagoreans included philosophy as a sub-species of mousike. Herodotus, whose primary form of delivery was public recitation, named each one of the nine books of his Histories after a different Muse.
The muses weren’t assigned standardized divisions of poetry and art until late Hellenistic times. The nine canonical Muses include:
Calliope (beautiful of speech)—chief of the Muses and the muse of epic or heroic poetry Clio (glorious one)—muse of history Erato (amorous one)—muse of love or erotic poetry, lyrics and marriage songs Euterpe (well-pleasing)—muse of music and lyric poetry Melpomene (chanting one)—muse of tragedy Polyhynmia (singer of many hymns)—muse of sacred song, oratory, lyric, singing and rhetoric Terpishore (one who delights in dance)—muse of choral song and dance Thalia (blossoming one)—muse of comedy and bucolic poetry Urania (celestial one)—muse of astronomy
The British poet, Robert Graves, popularized the concept of the Muse-poet in modern times based on pre-12th Century traditions, and medieval troubadours, who celebrated the concept of “courtly love” and the romantic poets (and that’s a whole other post!). Wrote Graves:
“No Muse-poet grows conscious of the Muse except by experience of a woman in whom the Goddess is to some degree resident…A Muse-poet falls in love, absolutely, and his true love is for him the embodiment of the Muse…But the real, perpetually obsessed Muse-poet distinguishes between the Goddess as manifest in the supreme power, glory, wisdom and love of woman, and the individual woman whom the Goddess may make her instrument…The Goddess abides; and perhaps he will again have knowledge of her through his experience of another woman…”
And what about women Muse-poets? Plato coined the term, “the tenth Muse” for these rare specimens (at the time) and it is a term that remains in use today.
But, what is it really? What IS one’s muse? And how can you summon it (when you need it)? I think it’s a personal phenomenon; like one’s belief and relationship with God. So, I can only tell you of my personal experiences and thoughts and what works for me…
Let’s start with the opposite: many writers complain of experiencing writer’s block at some point in their career—that affliction of not accessing one’s creativity, when the muses have all fled to Tahiti or someplace far away and you are left with a blank page or more importantly—and alarmingly—a blank mind. No desperate search, hot shower, long walk or discussion with a friend will seduce those holidaying muses back. You’re stuck. Here’s my solution: simply let go. Embrace the emptiness … and something wonderful will fill it. We are all vessels, able to carry a diverse and fluid mixture of things. My belief—in fact my conviction—is that God dwells inside each of us, connecting us to the beauty and wonder of nature and to each other through means we need not know. And when I “empty” myself and let my “muse” enter me, I am communicating with God. That simple.
Each of you has felt it: that otherworldly, euphoric wave of “knowing”, of resonating with something that is more than your visible world. Shawn McKim Murphey of Joyous Life Works calls it your “inner spark(le)”: when the hairs on the back of your neck tingle as you write that significant scene…or tremble with giddy energy as you create that perfect line on a painting…or glow with a deep abiding warmth when you defend a principal… or surge in the frisson you share with fellow musicians on that exquisite set piece…or cry out joyously with that cresting orgasm at exactly the same time as your cherished lover. These are all God moments; God’s poetry.
If, indeed God moves us to express that within us which is divine, then poetry is the language of the heart and music is the language of the soul.
I once insisted to a good friend that I don’t—CAN’T—write poetry. I was lying; to myself. I write it all the time, though not formally. We are all poets and we all “write” it, whenever we open ourselves and let our “muse” enter us. Every creative moment is poetry.
That’s not to say that one can’t entice those capricious muses. Here are a few things that help me:
Music: music moves me in inexplicable ways. I use music to inspire my “muse”. Every book I write has its thematic music, which I play while I write and when I drive to and from work (where I do my best plot/theme thinking). I even go so far as to have a musical theme for each character.
Walk: despite what I said above, going for a walk, particularly in a natural environment, uncluttered with human-made distractions, also unclutters the mind and soul. It grounds you back to the simplicity of life, a good place to start.
Cycle: one of my favorite ways to clear my mind is to cycle (I think any form of exercise would suffice); just getting your heart rate up and pumping those endorphins through you soothes the soul and unleashes the brain to freely run the field.
Hope you found this useful.
Recommended Reading: Robert Graves, The White Goddess, a historical grammar of poetic myth.
