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Stephanie Van Orman
Bio
I write novels like I am part-printer, part book factory, and a little girl running away with a balloon. I'm here as an experiment and I'm unsure if this is a place where I can fit in. We'll see.
Stories (82/0)
Getcovers
Normally, I design my book covers myself. But, I had seen millions of ads for a design company called Getcovers, and their covers were totally decent. So were their prices, so I decided to go ahead and hire them for a cover for a novelette I plan to release on OBOOKO. Here is the finished cover. It took them two days to finish the order.
By Stephanie Van Orman2 years ago in Journal
Call Him By Your Dad's Name
One time, I was sitting between two men who were desperately competing for my attention. One of them was a spunky blond with a tongue piercing who had put a lot of energy into his shoes. The other one was a brainy type with glasses. I watched them argue and try to one-up each other for a solid twenty minutes before I turned to Mr. Tongue Piercing and said, "Wanna walk me home?"
By Stephanie Van Orman2 years ago in Confessions
Ten Tricks to Selling Your Books in Person
Aside from being a novelist, I have spent quite a lot of time working tables at fairs and farmers' markets. I'm also familiar with the work that goes into administering vendor tables and organizing festivals. On other days, I worked at an independent bookstore where I could sell my books directly to the public on my days in the store. With all that in mind, let me give you my ten tricks:
By Stephanie Van Orman2 years ago in Journal
If Diamonds Could Talk
I was in the changing room of a high-end clothing boutique. Christian was choosing clothes for me. This time, he was buying me a dress. The frock I was trying on was pink blush with thousands of sequins and feathered material in the skirt. The price tag read that it was forty-six thousand dollars, but I was choosing a dress to wear to an important event, so the price tag didn’t matter.
By Stephanie Van Orman2 years ago in Fiction
My Dune Misunderstanding
The book Dune by Frank Herbert is a man magnet. When I was reading it, I accidentally locked myself out of my apartment. To pass the time until my husband got home with the keys, I decided to try a little experiment. I got down on the grass in front of my apartment building with the book next to me. I nestled it into the grass and I stretched out next to it. How long would it take for a man to pass, see the book, and speak to me using that book as flint for a conversation starter?
By Stephanie Van Orman2 years ago in Geeks
Putting a Razor to Your Skin
I remember one time, the most ridiculously handsome boy told me something he found unattractive in a girl. He was describing a girl both of us knew from school and church. She was our age, wore toupe-colored pantihose and she did not shave her legs. He told me that the sight of her leg hair mashed down and completely visible through the sheer pantihose grossed him out.
By Stephanie Van Orman2 years ago in Blush
The Great Gatsby and Me
When I was a teenager taking English classes, I often saw copies of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald hanging around. The blue cover, the crying flapper, the city skyline, and the eyes that never stop watching. It never came up in the English classes I took, but when I was a teenage warthog, I asked my mother what it was about.
By Stephanie Van Orman2 years ago in Journal
A Scorpion Journal
When I was caring for my aging mother, one of the recurring themes in her care was unresolved issues from her past. One of the things that bothered her in particular was a young man she was dating who abruptly stopped seeing her. I'm very good at dating, love, romance, and all that. I wouldn't call myself a love guru, but I would call myself a reliable resource, so I decided to use my skills for the good of my mother. I sat down and told her to tell me everything she could remember about her relationship and to leave not one thing out.
By Stephanie Van Orman2 years ago in Journal
From Idea to Novel
The very first step in creating an excellent novel is first not caring what anyone thinks. It is opening the doors inside you to a room that is all your own, like a little stage at the bottom of rows of theater seats. You take your seat on the second row and start ordering the stage about like you’re the director and everything is going to be exactly as you say it is. You want a character that looks like this. Perhaps you want a set that looks like that. Change the lighting, play the music, bring the mood.
By Stephanie Van Orman2 years ago in Journal