Julie Peters / Special to The Star Michael Mehas is a local attorney and author.

Two local novelists have teamed up with the California Literary Arts Society to offer a free, six-month series of writing seminars at Bank of Books in Ventura.

Writers of all levels are invited to engage in Third Thursdays, which will kick off this week with a talk about "Shaping Your Story and Letting it Take You: Raising Your Consciousness Through Writing."

Leading the discussions will be Ventura residents Michael Mehas, an attorney and author of the fact-based novel "Stolen Boy," and Patricia Kokinos, an educator and author of the novel "Angel Park."

The goal is to offer a welcoming local venue where folks can learn about writing, publishing and marketing and share ideas and experiences with other writers, Kokinos said.

"Both of us have published our first novels via the self-publishing route. This gives us a unique and inside view of the publishing process as we have lived it over the past couple of years," said Kokinos, who recently left her position as a high school administrator in Ventura County to write her philosophical mystery "Angel Park," an ironic exposé of why public education doesn't work the way we think it should.

Based on her experiences as a literature and writing teacher and school administrator on both sides of the country for 25 years, the novel is a story of one woman's transformation as she uncovers the ways school and the nation need to change if we really want to rescue the American dream.

During the Third Thursdays series, "we certainly hope other writers will learn something specific from each topic, since we plan to share a lot of hard information," Kokinos said. "But even more, we hope to create a community of independent writers that can continue to share information and provide mutual support as this process develops."

The series will continue Feb. 21 with "Crafting a Point of View that Communicates" and March 20 with "All About the Self-publishing Route."

Future topics will include "Revising, Revising, Revising," "Getting into Print: Articles, Blogs, Letters, Critiques" and "Jumping into Book Marketing, 1-2-3."

Mehas hopes the series will tap into a community of authors and let them know they're not alone.

"Writing can be a very lonely process," said Mehas, who served as associate producer for the film "Alpha Dog" and based his novel on a fictional exploration of the reasons for the shocking events that surrounded the ongoing, true crime story.

As the primary researcher for the movie, Mehas was deeply involved with the people on trial in the notorious kidnap-murder case involving Jesse James Hollywood, which is still on appeal with the California Supreme Court. In creating his novel, Mehas found himself revisiting aspects of his own youth in Southern California, and it is his writing experience that will be discussed in the opening seminar, "Shaping Your Story and Letting it Take You," on Thursday.

"Writing is a difficult process, not only to master the craft of it but to understand how to get what you've written published and then to know how to market what it is that you've published," he said.

Every writer's situation is different, with circumstances unique unto themselves, Mehas emphasized.

"So we hope to establish, through the California Literary Arts Society and the Bank of Books, a watering hole, so to speak, where we can all gather to exchange ideas," he said.

Both authors were delighted that Clarey Rudd, a longtime Ventura bookstore owner and a board member of the Literary Arts Society, was willing to host this seminar series at his new Bank of Books location downtown.

"All three of us want to see it evolve into a venue where writers can meet, talk and share information — about writing, publishing and marketing — right here in Ventura," Kokinos said. "I think there are a lot of writers in Ventura who could feel more confident about doing their work with a little support from others in the same situation, and we want to help create that opportunity."