The Crazy Things Some People Do for a Good Book

Do you ever wonder how some stories would play out in a different setting? Like The Little Princess… but in the Chicago Projects, or The Little Mermaid—in reverse. Sandy Barela from Celebrate Lit Publicity and Publishing joined me a couple of weeks ago for a couple of hours of brainstorming, and this is part two of that session. You can listen to the first part where we talk about books others have created from retellings and mashups over on Episode 13.

Note: I don’t think there are affiliate links in here, but there could be! *shrugs*

The Crazy Things Some People Do for a Good Book

How about stand in a hot room in the desert with the windows closed and all fans off to keep the recording as clear as possible? Yeah? Or stuff one’s self in a walk-in closet to do the same? Yep. Sandy and I went all out to bring you our craziness as clear as possible. You know, so you could hear us cackle, come up with nutty ideas, and basically have a good time that hopefully makes a bit of sense.

We talked about mashups like mixing:

Amish and Bronte

Count of Monte Cristo and… Persuasion (and it was funny at the time, but I’m gettin’ ideas!)

Anne of Green Gables—set in England in WWII

Little Women—no, wait. Not telling on that one. Hee hee!

Shakespeare

Horror

Dickens.

Although she tried to bring in Wuthering Heights (which for some reason we kept calling “withering—it’s really a better word for it, though… withers the soul), I managed to keep it out!

And better than that, we gave verbal permission (verbal agreements are legal and binding!) for anyone to take any of these ideas and run with them because…

Celebrate Lit Publishing (our sponsor this week) is having a CONTEST.

Yep, that’s right. I’m excited to share that Celebrate Lit Publishing is accepting entries into a contest with a publishing contract as the grand prize! All you have to do is go HERE and submit your initial entry by August 31, 2020. It asks for name, email, basic story idea (what you’re mashing up) and why you’re excited to do this.

Then, by December 31, 2020, you need to submit your first three chapters, a full synopsis (detailing the full plot—no cliffhangers. This is for a publisher, not a reader), and a marketing plan (how you plan to help promote your book).

Just going to reiterate… Celebrate Lit Publishing will choose one winner and, if publishable, offer a contract! EEEP!

Trust me, if I could enter, I would. But, well… I kind of can’t. So, I’m just going to help with reading all the submissions. And then I’ll do episodes talking with the authors! SQUEE!

This was the second of a three-episode series on these mashups. Stay tuned for the next. It has some of my favorites in it. AAAAK!