Ask the Author: Joe Cosentino
Answered Questions (15)
Joe Cosentino
Thanks! Happy writing (and hiking and napping-smile).
http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
Doing a physical activity to combat a writing hurdle is a great idea. Conversely, I take a nap. As in the old adage to "sleep on it," somehow my subconscious mind always works out the issue. I wake on the right side of the bed (no pun intended) with a new perspective. Not to mention, it also gives me a few more minutes of beauty sleep (smile). Thanks for asking.
Joe Cosentino
Paul, thanks for the thoughtful question. It's an easy answer. My publishers supply me with terrific editors. My In My Heart series, Bobby and Paolo Holiday Stories, Tales from Fairyland, and upcoming Found At Last series are with Dreamspinner Press. My Cozzi Cove series is with NineStar Press. My Jana Lane mysteries are with The Wild Rose Press. In each case, the publisher provided me with wonderful editors who appreciated my unique, comedic, dramatic style and offered helpful and resourceful research, thoughts, and comments. A good editor doesn't try to impose their style on an author, but instead they offer a different insight to consider. I self-publish my Nicky and Noah mystery series, since it's such a specialized comedy cozy mystery series. So my spouse is my editor. After he gives me notes, I argue each one. Two minutes later, I realize he's always right (which he never lets me forget-hah). As Nicky might say, "I'm more grateful than a closet gay politician in the backroom of a gay bar during a blackout." (smile) A good editor is important to a writer. I'm thankful to have several. Good readers are important too. Thank you! Joe Cosentino http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
The Republican Party controls every aspect of the US government. By executive order they remove environmental protections but refuse to ban assault weapons, deregulate banks, give tax breaks to the top 1%, take away people's health insurance, remove LGBT equal rights with false claims of "religious freedom," appoint evangelical federal court "justices," incite violence and war, gerrymander, remove Democrats from the voter rolls, and work with Russia on the next election. Joe Cosentino http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
The Hawaiian resort I created in Drama Luau, the fourth Nicky and Noah mystery, features swaying palm trees, white sandy beaches, turquoise ocean waves, and pink sunsets. Not to mention muscular male hula dancers for the luau show. With Nicky and Noah there to share their priceless humor, tender romance, and entertaining acting skills to solve the murders, it's a paradise on earth. I'd love to be investigating the mystery right along with Nicky and Noah. I am, since I wrote it. You can be too by reading the novel! Enjoy! http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
I've always had a wild imagination. I generally wake up at 3am with a terrific idea usually based on a dream. If I can read the notes on my night table the next morning, I write a character biography and outline. Once the voices start talking in my head, I write the first draft. My spouse reads the second draft. After we argue, I write the third draft, which goes to the publisher's editor. Joe Cosentino http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
I've always loved telling stories. Just ask my parents. Hah. I remember as a kid laying in a hay-filled crate doing a Nativity show with my older sister and older male cousin. I loved it since I played the leading role! I majored in theatre in college and became an actor in film, television, and theatre playing opposite stars like Nathan Lane, Rosie O'Donnell, Holland Taylor, Bruce Willis, and Jason Robards. As I tell my students at my college, wheher acting, singing, dancing, writing, directing, or designing, there is nothing more inspirational and wonderful than being able to share your imagination with others. Joe Cosentino http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
As a college theatre professor/department chair, I realized a college theatre department is rife with mystery, romance, humor, and drama (pun intended). So I created my Nicky and Noah mystery series, where college theatre professors Nicky and Noah use their drama skills (like impersonating other people) to solve murder mysteries. Boy did this series take off! Readers love the humor, romance, and cozy whodunits. I am currently writing my seventh Nicky and Noah mystery, Drama Castle, where Nicky and Noah travel to a castle in Scotland to do a show and solve a multi-generational mystery. Joe Cosentino http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
Write what you know and feel passionate about. Write every day. Don’t be afraid to take chances. When you have a story you think is unique and perfect, ask someone you trust to read it. Then after doing another draft, email it to a publisher with an open submissions policy who publishes the kind of story you’ve written, or publish it yourself. A mystery should have more than mystery. Like any novel, it should include interesting characters, a strong plot, and a shocking but totally earned satisfying ending. Getting there should be half the fun. So don’t forget the romance and humor. And play fairly by giving the clues early and consistently throughout! For romance, the writer and reader must fall in love with the leading characters while the characters are falling in love with each other. For comedy, key into something you think is funny and write about it. Don’t impose the humor on the story. Let it come out in the scene naturally. Life is funny. Trust that. Joe Cosentino http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
Doing book signings, readings, and author talks, where readers tell me I made them laugh, cry, feel romantic, travel to wonderful locations, think about new things, and change their lives. Joe Cosentino http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
What's writer's block? I have so many ideas swimming around in my head that I have difficulty deciding which to select for my next book. That's probably why I've written twenty books in three years. My mother said, "Don't you have anything better to do than write so many books?" Hm, I wonder if Stephen King's mother asked him that? Joe Cosentino http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
I'm a college theatre professor/department chair, so I need to write rather than read over the summer. I also travel to wonderful locations to write about in my novels. For example, an Alaskan cruise for Drama Cruise, the third Nicky and Noah mystery; Maui for Drama Luau, the fourth Nicky and Noah mystery; Scotland for the upcoming Drama Castle, the seventh Nicky and Noah mystery; the New Jersey Shore for my Cozzi Cove beach series; Hollywood for Paper Doll, the first Jana Lane mystery; Washington, DC for Satin Doll, the third Jana Lane mystery; New York City for China Doll, the fourth Jana Lane mystery; and the Island of Capri for A Home for the Holidays, the first Bobby and Paolo holiday story. I also sneak away for a few days to a health spa. As one of the characters in my Nicky and Noah mysteries said, "My body is a temple, but nobody wants to worship at it." (smile) Joe Cosentino http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
You'll have to read my full answer below and find out at the end. As a teenager, I suffered from terrible insomnia. What finally put me to sleep was reading cozy mystery novels, and I read plenty. The captivating settings, quirky and interesting characters, humor, puzzles, fast-paced plot twists and turns, and shocking yet justified endings intrigued me.
As she cooked dinner one evening, I told my mother I wanted to be an actor. Her response was, "Take this knife and stick it through my heart." After majoring in Drama (on stage and off) in college, I became a professional actor performing on stage, screen, and television opposite stars like Bruce Willis (A Midsummer Night’s Dream onstage), Nathan Lane (The Roar of the Greasepaint on stage), Rosie O’Donnell (AT&T Industrial), Jason Robards (Commercial Credit Computer commercial), Charles Keating (NBC-TV Another World), and Holland Taylor (ABC-TV movie My Mother Was Never a Kid). Two masters’ degrees later, I became a college theatre professor/department chair.
Blending my continued passion for mystery novels with my show business background, I created the Jana Lane mystery series. I self-published the first novel, Paper Doll, which did so well that The Wild Rose Press published the next four novels: Porcelain Doll, Satin Doll, China Doll, and Rag Doll. In the stories, Jana Lane lives with her family in a mansion in Hyde Park, New York. America’s most famous ex-child star discovers who destroyed her past and who is threatening to destroy her future. She then moves on to solving murder mysteries on her comeback film and television sets and on the Broadway stage. Critics called the series, “superbly crafted mystery” (Fresh Fiction), “a masterpiece of mystery” (Readers’ Favorites), “beautifully written and intensely detailed….a masterful creation” (Books Laid Bare), and “edge of your seat mystery….can’t put it down (Urban Book Reviews).
Adding in my quirky wit and quirky years in academia, I next created the Nicky and Noah mystery series: Drama Queen, Drama Muscle, Drama Cruise, Drama Luau, and the upcoming Drama Detective, Drama Fraternity, and Drama Castle. In these hilarious novels, college theatre professors Nicky and Noah use their theatre skills, including impersonating others, to solve murder mysteries in the theatre department, physical education department, performing in a murder mystery dinner theatre show onboard a cruise to Alaska, directing a luau show in Hawaii, directing a Broadway musical, and directing movies. Drama Queen (Lethe Press) was voted Favorite LGBT Mystery Novel, Humorous Novel, and Contemporary Novel of the Year by the Readers of Divine Magazine. Drama Muscle (Lethe Press) received a Rainbow Award Honorable Mention. Critics called the series “superb from start to finish” (Three Books Over the Rainbow), “an absolute gem of a series” (Divine Magazine), “laugh out loud funny” (Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words), Hardy Boys-meets-Murder She Wrote-meets-Midsummer Murders, with a side of parodic, farcical, satire” (Boy Meets Boy Reviews), and “a murder mystery, a comedic romp, an investigative caper, and a love story all rolled up into one nifty little novel” (The Novel Approach).
Many of my books also have audiobook versions performed by prominent actors. Readers tell me the books would make terrific television series or films. I agree. So I wrote screenplay versions of them. What's the mystery in my life that could be a plot for a book? Why haven't any offers come yet from television and film producers?!
For more information about my novels, see my web site at http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
As she cooked dinner one evening, I told my mother I wanted to be an actor. Her response was, "Take this knife and stick it through my heart." After majoring in Drama (on stage and off) in college, I became a professional actor performing on stage, screen, and television opposite stars like Bruce Willis (A Midsummer Night’s Dream onstage), Nathan Lane (The Roar of the Greasepaint on stage), Rosie O’Donnell (AT&T Industrial), Jason Robards (Commercial Credit Computer commercial), Charles Keating (NBC-TV Another World), and Holland Taylor (ABC-TV movie My Mother Was Never a Kid). Two masters’ degrees later, I became a college theatre professor/department chair.
Blending my continued passion for mystery novels with my show business background, I created the Jana Lane mystery series. I self-published the first novel, Paper Doll, which did so well that The Wild Rose Press published the next four novels: Porcelain Doll, Satin Doll, China Doll, and Rag Doll. In the stories, Jana Lane lives with her family in a mansion in Hyde Park, New York. America’s most famous ex-child star discovers who destroyed her past and who is threatening to destroy her future. She then moves on to solving murder mysteries on her comeback film and television sets and on the Broadway stage. Critics called the series, “superbly crafted mystery” (Fresh Fiction), “a masterpiece of mystery” (Readers’ Favorites), “beautifully written and intensely detailed….a masterful creation” (Books Laid Bare), and “edge of your seat mystery….can’t put it down (Urban Book Reviews).
Adding in my quirky wit and quirky years in academia, I next created the Nicky and Noah mystery series: Drama Queen, Drama Muscle, Drama Cruise, Drama Luau, and the upcoming Drama Detective, Drama Fraternity, and Drama Castle. In these hilarious novels, college theatre professors Nicky and Noah use their theatre skills, including impersonating others, to solve murder mysteries in the theatre department, physical education department, performing in a murder mystery dinner theatre show onboard a cruise to Alaska, directing a luau show in Hawaii, directing a Broadway musical, and directing movies. Drama Queen (Lethe Press) was voted Favorite LGBT Mystery Novel, Humorous Novel, and Contemporary Novel of the Year by the Readers of Divine Magazine. Drama Muscle (Lethe Press) received a Rainbow Award Honorable Mention. Critics called the series “superb from start to finish” (Three Books Over the Rainbow), “an absolute gem of a series” (Divine Magazine), “laugh out loud funny” (Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words), Hardy Boys-meets-Murder She Wrote-meets-Midsummer Murders, with a side of parodic, farcical, satire” (Boy Meets Boy Reviews), and “a murder mystery, a comedic romp, an investigative caper, and a love story all rolled up into one nifty little novel” (The Novel Approach).
Many of my books also have audiobook versions performed by prominent actors. Readers tell me the books would make terrific television series or films. I agree. So I wrote screenplay versions of them. What's the mystery in my life that could be a plot for a book? Why haven't any offers come yet from television and film producers?!
For more information about my novels, see my web site at http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
Hi Stephanie. I'm so glad you loved Cozzi Cove: Bouncing Back and Cozzi Cove: Moving Forward. Cozzi Cove: Stepping Out releases from NineStar Press on January 23, 2017, and Cozzi Cove: New Beginnings releases March 27, 2017. So there's lots more in store for handsome Cal Cozzi, Michael, Taylor, Carla, and all their guests at Cozzi Cove on the New Jersey shore. In the meantime, Drama Cruise, the third Nicky and Noah comedy mystery, releases from Lethe Press on December 1, 2016, where cute couple Nicky and Noah perform in a murder mystery dinner theatre show onboard a cruise to Alaska and of course murder and hilarity ensure. I'm looking forward to your next release too. I loved your first novella! Joe Cosentino http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Joe Cosentino
Hi Jean, thanks for the question. I've always been a storyteller. As a kid I played make believe constantly. “Let’s put on a show!” was my motto with full scale musicals in the garage starring my sister and me. Eventually I became an actor in film, television, and theatre, working opposite stars like Bruce Willis, Nathan Lane, Rosie O’Donnell, Holland Taylor, and Jason Robards. Morphing into writing plays and now novels seem like the perfect progression. I self-published PAPER DOLL, the first Jana Lane mystery. It did so well that Whiskey Creek Press picked it up. I'm excited to report that The Wild Rose Press is publishing the second, third, and fourth Jana Lane mysteries: PORCELAIN DOLL, SATING DOLL, and CHINA DOLL in 2016. The series is about an ex-child star making a comeback who solves murder mysteries--including who is after her! I also wrote gay romance novellas that were published by Dreamspinner Press, the first publisher I sent them to. They are filled with humor, drama, and romance and quite popular: AN INFATUATION, A SHOOTING STAR, and A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS (just released and set on the gorgeous island of Capri). Dreamspinner Press is also publishing my gay fairytales, THE NAKED PRINCE AND OTHER TALES FROM FAIRYLAND, in February. Finally I wrote a comedy/mystery series set in the world of academia, the Nicky and Noah mysteries, published by Lethe Press. DRAMA QUEEN is out now and made the Amazon bestseller list. It is available as an ebook, paperback, and an audiobook performed by Michael Gilboe who plays all twenty-four characters. DRAMA MUSCLE and DRAMA CRUISE are releasing 2016. I hope you read my books. Please let me know how you like them. Good luck with your writing too. The best way to get published is to keep writing and keep emailing small publishers your work based on their guidelines on their web sites. Happy reading and writing! Joe http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
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