by Donnell Ann Bell
Have you ever been reading a novel, only to find yourself skimming over a passage of long, drawn out setting or description? My guess is you did that because you already had a clear visual and were ready to get on with the story. Setting and description belong in a writer’s tool kit and used right are part of an invaluable arsenal.
One of my favorite quotes is by Russian Writer Anton
Chekhov who wrote, “I don’t need to know
everything that’s in the room, I only need to know what I need to know is in
the room.” That made so much sense to me, and why I’ve tried to remember it
in my own writing.
 |
| What would you write to describe this room? |
When I write, I choose locations familiar to me or
spend long hours checking out a town’s Chamber of Commerce page, Google maps,
and then I contact people who live in the area to beta read and verify I have
it correct. I try to sprinkle in popular landmarks, although be careful here;
you don’t want it to read like a travelogue. The
best way to mention a landmark is to make it imperative to a scene.
Additionally, because I write mystery, suspense and romantic suspense, if I’m ever going to say something negative about a place, e.g. place a dead
body or a murder there, I change the name or make up a fictitious place
that blends in seamlessly with an actual area.
Writing around the theme, Suspense too Close to Home, I’ve
written about Denver, Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, El
Paso, Texas and in my most recent novel, Black Pearl, which takes place between
Denver and Montrose, Colorado. But the book that I think I did setting particularly
well is in my adopted hometown of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the best-selling The Past Came Hunting. Because I’d lived
in that city for thirty-plus years, I had a good grasp of the community
and its surroundings.
As I mentioned earlier, the best way to mention a
landmark is to make it imperative to a scene. (In the following scenes my cop protagonist
is on his way to a hearing and my female protagonist is at her job after a
brutal end to their relationship.) I could have described the places first then
written about their turbulent emotions. Instead, I combined both setting and
the emotions they were going through into the narrative. Hopefully, by doing
this I upped the pacing . . . .
Joe walked into the building,
flashing his badge to the security guards and bypassing the metal detectors. He
had the record, the credentials, votes of confidence from peers and
subordinates and the support of the district attorney. Combined, these factors
all but guaranteed him the promotion to commander.
He
was one lucky cop.
Images of Melanie flashed
through his brain as he entered the Division Room Four of a proceeding already in
progress. So, with so much going for him, why wasn’t he smiling?
Transition
to Female Protagonist
On the West side of town,
things weren’t going much better for Mel. With Aaron visiting family in New
York, she cleared the glass shelves of Christmas, Hanukah and seasonal items and
prepared to mark them down. The best way to overcome heartbreak, she reasoned,
was to throw herself into the things going right, namely her son and her job at
Pinnacle Creations.
According to Aaron, they
had thirty days to reduce inventory, then gear up for Valentine’s Day, Thanks
to holidays and special occasions, the floral industry never ended. Unlike
relationships.
Ideally, I didn’t have to describe a courthouse or a
floral shop because these things are so well known to us. Setting and
description are vital to a book. But like dialogue, external and internal
narrative, emotion, and above all, an author’s voice, they are tools. Too much
of anything is overwriting.
How about you? Any tips on setting you’d like to share?
Donnell Ann Bell is an award-winning
author, including finalist in the 2020 Colorado Book Award, she is the author
of Black Pearl, book one of a series, and is currently editing book two.
You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, or Bookbub. Sign up for her newsletter
at www.donnellannbell.com
The Dog Days of Writing!
/in Uncategorized/by The Stiletto GangBy Lynn McPherson
1. A Nose for Trouble!
Lynn McPherson has worked for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, ran a small business, and
taught English across the globe. She has travelled the world solo where her daring spirit has led her to jump out of airplanes, dive with sharks, and learn she would never master a surfboard. She now channels her lifelong love of adventure and history into her writing, where she is free to go anywhere, anytime. Her cozy series has three books out: The Girls’ Weekend Murder and The Girls Whispered Murder, and The Girls Dressed For Murder.Caddyshack revisited by Dru Ann Love
/in Drus Book Musings/by Dru Ann LoveWe have pigeons. They can be annoying when they gather. Especially on my balcony railing.
I’ve tried everything. Shooing them off the balcony. Spritzing them with water. And yet the continue to land on my railing and make a mess. Now they come onto the balcony and walk around leaving a mess there as well. So the battle has begun in earnest.
Repellent ribbons, they worked well until rain caused the ribbons to shrivel up and lose their shine.
Repellent device #1, they did keep the pigeons away, but they made too much noise when it swung against the glass panel
Spinners, they worked fine until mother nature unleashed strong winds and spun my spinners from their pole into the ground below. Later I found remnants of my spinners.
Repellent device #2, same strong winds took these away as well.
Spikes, I took a gamble and bought these spikes. After losing the spinners, I put one strip up and watch a pigeon land on my railing, take a few steps and encountered my spikes and flew away. Victory, but now I have to wait to see what mother nature will do to these spikes before I put the rest down.
Do you have troublesome pests?
Following a Rabbit —T. K. Thorne
/in Uncategorized/by TK ThorneWriter, humanist,
dog-mom, horse servant and cat-slave,
Lover of solitude
and the company of good friends,
New places, new ideas
and old wisdom.
I follow rabbit trails when I am writing because they often end up in the most unusual and interesting places.
Here are three tidbits I learned writing about an unnamed woman who was married to one of the most famous men on Earth:
*Written on stone, the oldest story known is from the Middle East (Babylon) and predates the Hebrew Bible. The Epic of Gilgamesh tells a tale with many parallels to the story of Noah and the flood.
A man named Utnapishtim survived a flood that destroy the earth after being warned to build a boat and gather his family and animals because the gods were unhappy with mankind—not because of sin, but because they were too LOUD! (Love it!) Utnapishtim sent out a dove (the ancient symbol of the Mother Goddess) to try and find dry land.
*The earliest known deity was female! The role of the feminine in the divine was entwined with early Judaism and keeps reappearing throughout history.
*The explorer John Ballard got money from the U.S. government to hunt for the wreckage of a secret Russian submarine in order to pursue his true desire to find the wreck of the Titanic. He found both. He also discovered the remains of an ancient flooded settlement about two miles into the Black Sea, preserved because of a lack of oxygen in the depths.
Writing Noah’s Wife was an adventure (with many rabbit trails) that took four years. I don’t regret a minute. The characters are still in my mind and come alive every time someone picks up the book. Despite its controversial challenges to traditional interpretations, it won “Book of the Year” for Historical Fiction and—more importantly to me—readers continue to let me know how much they loved it.
The Thrill that Inspires
/in Uncategorized/by Barbara Kyleby Barbara Kyle
As the author of historical thrillers and contemporary thrillers, I’ve enjoyed pushing the boundaries of the genre.
It’s often said that a good thriller is like a roller-coaster ride. That’s true enough. The genre is about high stakes, countdowns, and suspense, and
every compelling thriller delivers this kind of excitement.
But the most satisfying thrillers deliver more: an exciting story that also
explores complex issues and has something important to say about our world. This
kind of story takes the reader away from the amusement park and sends them on a
voyage: an exhilarating journey into a different way of thinking.
I call it the Inspiring Thriller.
An inspiring thriller takes readers beyond their expectations and gives them
an insight they never saw coming. “Insight” literally means seeing the truth
through and under the surface of things. It’s the inspiring thriller’s job to
challenge readers’ acceptance of society’s status quo.
At its heart, an inspiring thriller is always about confronting power.
Power-Busters
Charles Dickens knew this when he used his immensely popular novels to hold
a mirror up to the horrors that working-class people suffered under unfettered
capitalism in nineteenth-century England.
In our time, bestselling author John Grisham has often done the same with
his thrillers about the “little guy” up against some form of corporate bully.
John le Carré’s thrillers train his unflinching focus on the controlling corporate
and political powers that corrode our lives.
Denise Mina, a master of crime fiction, reveals the raw wounds that
Glasgow’s poor and powerless suffer, while featuring female central characters
who are resilient and resourceful.
Grisham, Le Carré, and Mina use the thriller genre to say what needs to be
said.
What’s It All For?
Christopher Vogler, in his book The Writer’s Journey, says the final step of
any hero’s journey is bringing back an “elixir” to heal the rupture that
incited the main character’s risky quest. The elixir might be literal: food for
the starving tribe. Or it might be abstract: a hard-won wisdom that heals a
shattered family. In a big techno-thriller, it might even heal the world.
Whatever it is, if the hero does not bring back something to share, they
remain unenlightened, adolescent. They haven’t grown. And therefore, neither
can the reader.
In other words, the roller-coaster ride is all you get.
An inspiring thriller may end in tragedy, or it may end with justice
prevailing, or maybe a bittersweet blend of both. Whatever the outcome, readers
welcome the experience. We need it.
Because it’s not the roller-coaster ride that satisfies the soul. It’s the
voyage.
______________________________________________________________________
Barbara Kyle is the author of the bestselling
Thornleigh Saga series of historical novels and of
acclaimed thrillers. Her latest novel of suspense is The Man from Spirit Creek. Over half a million
copies of her books have been sold. Barbara has taught
hundreds of writers in her online Masterclasses and many have become
award-winning authors. Visit Barbara at https://www.barbarakyle.com/
Untitled Post
/in Uncategorized/by Saralyn RichardLibraries
By Saralyn Richard
Rosenberg Library’s Fox Room
I’ve always loved libraries. My mother was
a regular patron at the turn-of-the-century library and museum in my hometown,
Rosenberg Library, and I remember climbing the marble stairs to the third-floor
children’s library, where I loaded up on books every two weeks. The high
ceilings and cool, papery smell, the hushed sounds of people moving about, the
tall wooden card catalogue cabinets with tiny drawers, the thrill of
discovering new books—there was no other experience quite like this.
Howard-Tilton Library, Tulane University
The Rosenberg Library set a high bar, and for a long
while, other libraries didn’t come close. When I did my undergraduate studies
at Tulane University, I spent a lot of time in the Howard-Tilton Memorial
Library. This building was much more modern, and my purpose there was much more
prescribed. Instead of wandering among shelves, looking for whatever might
appeal to my taste for reading material, I was there to do research. As an
English major, that research usually had to do with history, philosophy,
literature, or cultural background, mostly nonfiction. I still enjoyed the
quiet atmosphere of study, the efficiency of the searching and checkout
systems, and the sleek, clean tables and study carrels. I’m proud to say my
honors thesis, “A Stylistic Study of John Milton’s Comus,” is part of
its circulation, too.
Harper Library, University of Chicago
When I was in graduate school at the University of
Chicago, I fell in love with the Harper Library. This lesser-used research
facility has been classified as one of the top places in the world to study. I
agree whole-heartedly. The building has the appearance and feel of a medieval
castle—inside and out, but the seating is super-comfortable, and, for a
bibliophile like me, the atmosphere is luxurious.
You may think me odd, but when I travel to different
cities, states, countries, or continents, I love to visit their public
libraries. I’ve seen scores of libraries that have made deep impressions on me.
Some of my favorites are the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the New
York Public Library, and the British Library (where I stood in reverence before
the Magna Carta and J.K. Rowling’s first query letter).
My passion for libraries has compelled me to volunteer
to support my local library, as well. After many years of living in a different
part of the country, I have returned to my hometown, and I am on the board of
the Friends of Rosenberg Library, the same institution where my love of
libraries began. I publish a semi-annual newsletter, manage a weekly sale of
online collections, and work at the annual book sale.
I’m positive that heaven is one big library in the
sky. What do you think?
Visiting Beaufort, South Carolina
/in Uncategorized/by Paula Bensonby Paula Gail Benson
If you’ve seen the movies The Big Chill, The Great
Santini, and The Prince of Tides,
then you’ve seen parts of Beaufort, South Carolina. Pronounced Beau (rhyming
with DEW) -fort rather than the North Carolina Beau (rhyming with SEW) -fort, the
city preserves its historic features while offering a thriving community for
the arts, education, and military installations (Beaufort Marine Corps Base,
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, and Naval
Hospital Beaufort Navy Base).
Two weeks ago, while traveling for work, I had the
opportunity to stay over in Beaufort and visit with a friend. During the
summer, it is hot and humid, but there are plenty of sights to explore inside.
We had a delightful lunch at the Lowcountry Produce Market & Café, which
offered both indoor dining as well as a variety of products to take home. It’s
located next to the library on Carteret Street. As I was going there, I stopped
behind a long line of cars. I noticed no one seemed perturbed by the wait.
Later I learned that the bridge had been open, allowing vessels to pass. It’s a
regular occurrence in Beaufort.
Up the street from Lowcountry Produce is NeverMore Books,
now located at 910 Port Republic Street. It provides a warm and welcoming
environment for any book lover. As you enter, there is a large collection of
books by local authors about Beaufort. I’ll recommend two in particular by a
good friend and excellent historian, Alexia Jones Helsley. A Guide to Historic Beaufort, South Carolina (History and Guide)
(The History Press 2006) provides both the story of the city as well as
suggestions for touring. Wicked Beaufort
(The History Press 2011) offers a history of Beaufort’s illicit activities
spanning from the 1500s to the 1900s.
My friend, Greg Rawls, displays his beautiful glasswork art
at Thibault Gallery. You can view his work at the Gallery through this link or on
his website.
In addition to his glasswork, Greg designs sets for the
Beaufort Theater Company and Beaufort Children’s Theater. Sometimes he also
appears in the productions.
Beaufort may best be known as the home of novelist Pat
Conroy. The Pat Conroy Literary Center is located downtown and contains
memorabilia and offers programs of interests to readers and writers of all
ages. Come see the Spanish moss, smell the pluff mud, and be inspired by a man who drew his own
inspiration from this charmed city.
Bringing Home the Gold (or the Silver Falchion)
/in Uncategorized/by DebraBringing Home the Gold (or the Silver Falchion) by Debra H
Goldstein
The Olympics produced many discussions from what is the
twisties to whether Americans have the wrong mindset in terms of medals. The
reality is that we celebrate winning the gold, but don’t have the same excitement
for silver or bronze. Who ever saw a bronze medalist on the “Breakfast of
Champions” Wheaties box?
An August 9, 2012, Scientific American article, “Why Bronze
Medalists are Happier Than Silver Medalists,” noted that both silver and bronze
medalists focus on what might have been. The silver medalist frets about how
close to winning the individual came and consequently is disappointed. The
bronze medalist is happier because that winner’s comparison is the person who
finished fourth-out of medal contention. The thrill for the bronze medalist is having
squeaked through with a medal victory.
As a semi-finalist for the 2021 Silver Falchion cozy award
for Three Bites Too Many, the third book in
Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery
series about a woman who is more frightened of the kitchen than murder, I am
excited. I’d like to win, but I’m honest enough to admit that I’m in good
company in the cozy heat. Tina deBellegarde, Kay DiBianca, Bonita Y. McCoy,
Lori Robbins, Colleen J. Shogan, Maggie Toussaint, Cathy Tully, Becki Willis,
and Lois Winston are all tough and worthy contenders. I’d love to hear the
Killer Nashville announcer call out “Debra H. Goldstein,” but I think any of us
should consider ourselves gold medalists. Why? Because somewhere and sometime
this past year, the books we are nominated for brought readers joy. A medal
would be nice, but what’s better than touching other people by giving them a
few hours of fun and escape from their daily lives? What do you think?
Galactic Dreams
/in New Release/by Bethany Mainesby Bethany Maines
Welcome to a brave new age – the future! When my co-writers and I agreed to collaborate on Galactic Dreams – a series of sci-fi fairy tale adaptations – we had no idea that the project would stretch into three volumes. Galactic Dreams (from Blue Zephyr Press) is a unique shared universe that I, along with my co-writers, J.M. Phillippe and Karen Harris Tully, developed and set the rules for, and then set our own stories within that universe. In Volume 3, we’ve adapted some classic fairy tales: Beauty & the Beast, Hansel & Gretel, and Jack & the Beanstalk.
The Beast of Arsu (Beauty & the Beast) – Bethany Maines – When Bella Glass is thrown a 140 years into the future she finds a world she doesn’t recognize and love in Kai Craig, a man fighting against the effects of a bomb that turns him into a rage-filled beast. But someone else has traveled into the past and Bella must choose between preventing a devastating alteration of the timeline and a love she was never meant to have.
Read Chapter 1 >>> https://bethanymaines.com/galactic-dreams/
A Trail of Stardust (Hansel & Gretel) – J.M. Phillippe – When the Hexx siblings, Rax and Lex, are forced to flee into
space by their malevolent step-mother, Hila, they have no idea what is waiting
for them and a damaged space craft throws them from the frying pan into the
oven. Captured by pirates, Lex and Rax are facing certain death and the only
way out is to rely on each other, but what will be waiting for them at home?
Break the Sky (Jack & the Beanstalk) – Karen Harris Tully – When Jakarta “Jak” Moon climbed up the giant elevator that leads to the low-orbiting space station above her irradiated planet, she has one goal—don’t die. But when she returns to the ground, she finds herself targeted by the winged-dictator known as the Godmother. Now Jak is on the hook to climb through the clouds and bring back the treasures the Godmother craves or she, and her planet, could face destruction.
Buy Beast of Arsu Now
**
Bethany Updates:
Blue Christmas received a Maincrest Media Award! It was also a finalist in the Book Excellence Awards and an award winning screenplay.
The Second Shot Audio Book is now available!
The Moonlight & Misadventure Anthology: 20 Tales of Mystery & Suspense, featuring my story Tammy Loves Derek is now available!
**
Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.
Olympic Skates
/in Uncategorized/by Gay YellenLike many sports fans last week, our TV was tuned to the Olympics. Gymnasts, swimmers, divers, track-and-fielders. Such amazing athletes! This year, for the first time, we also watched skateboarding.
Skateboarding may not strike purists an Olympic-worthy sport, but I can understand how the hobby— embraced for decades by renegade spirits of all ages—made it through the international committee that decides such things. Perhaps it went something like this: “Well, we’ve got snowboarding in winter, so…”
This year’s event aired just in time to put the finishing touches on a scene in my next mystery. In researching the sport, I’ve learned a few bits of language that thrashers (skateboarders) speak—like grind, ollie, and tail-grab five-forty—as they zoom around a skatepark’s cradles and bowls.
Here’s a peek at that scene:
He leaped into the bowl, flipped his board with his feet, reconnected to it in mid air, zipped down to the bottom and up another slope, gaining speed as he went. On his last approach to the top, his feet left the board and he went airborne, flipped upside down and still somehow managed to reconnect feet to board and land the trick. Someone shouted, “Rip it up, Skeeter!” The crowd went crazy.
After watching eleven- and twelve-year-old girls compete for an Olympic medal in Tokyo, a different skateboard scene, this one in The Body Next Door, popped into my head. (Five years on, I forgot I’d written it!) Instead of a skatepark, it’s set in the parking garage of a high-rise where Samantha Newman watches the forlorn ten-year-old Lizzie Mason struggle to teach herself how to ride her big brother’s cast-off board.
That scene led me to remember another one from the book, one that features Krav Maga, which is a perfect sport for the Olympics. Invented by the Israeli military, and adopted by law enforcement organizations around the world, it’s a form of hand to hand combat in which you learn to neutralize an assailant (or unruly criminal) as quickly as possible. No weapon needed. In my novel, however, the self defense system dissolves into a silly pillow fight between Samantha and the ever-elusive Carter Chapman. While it could be said that their attraction to one another is of Olympic proportions, we shall save that conversation for another day. 😉
Did you watch the Olympics this year? What’s your favorite event?
Make Setting Work for Your Story
/in Uncategorized/by Donnell Ann Bellby Donnell Ann Bell
Have you ever been reading a novel, only to find yourself skimming over a passage of long, drawn out setting or description? My guess is you did that because you already had a clear visual and were ready to get on with the story. Setting and description belong in a writer’s tool kit and used right are part of an invaluable arsenal.
One of my favorite quotes is by Russian Writer Anton
Chekhov who wrote, “I don’t need to know
everything that’s in the room, I only need to know what I need to know is in
the room.” That made so much sense to me, and why I’ve tried to remember it
in my own writing.
When I write, I choose locations familiar to me or
spend long hours checking out a town’s Chamber of Commerce page, Google maps,
and then I contact people who live in the area to beta read and verify I have
it correct. I try to sprinkle in popular landmarks, although be careful here;
you don’t want it to read like a travelogue. The
best way to mention a landmark is to make it imperative to a scene.
Additionally, because I write mystery, suspense and romantic suspense, if I’m ever going to say something negative about a place, e.g. place a dead
body or a murder there, I change the name or make up a fictitious place
that blends in seamlessly with an actual area.
Writing around the theme, Suspense too Close to Home, I’ve
written about Denver, Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, El
Paso, Texas and in my most recent novel, Black Pearl, which takes place between
Denver and Montrose, Colorado. But the book that I think I did setting particularly
well is in my adopted hometown of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the best-selling The Past Came Hunting. Because I’d lived
in that city for thirty-plus years, I had a good grasp of the community
and its surroundings.
As I mentioned earlier, the best way to mention a
landmark is to make it imperative to a scene. (In the following scenes my cop protagonist
is on his way to a hearing and my female protagonist is at her job after a
brutal end to their relationship.) I could have described the places first then
written about their turbulent emotions. Instead, I combined both setting and
the emotions they were going through into the narrative. Hopefully, by doing
this I upped the pacing . . . .
Joe walked into the building,
flashing his badge to the security guards and bypassing the metal detectors. He
had the record, the credentials, votes of confidence from peers and
subordinates and the support of the district attorney. Combined, these factors
all but guaranteed him the promotion to commander.
He
was one lucky cop.
Images of Melanie flashed
through his brain as he entered the Division Room Four of a proceeding already in
progress. So, with so much going for him, why wasn’t he smiling?
Transition
to Female Protagonist
On the West side of town,
things weren’t going much better for Mel. With Aaron visiting family in New
York, she cleared the glass shelves of Christmas, Hanukah and seasonal items and
prepared to mark them down. The best way to overcome heartbreak, she reasoned,
was to throw herself into the things going right, namely her son and her job at
Pinnacle Creations.
According to Aaron, they
had thirty days to reduce inventory, then gear up for Valentine’s Day, Thanks
to holidays and special occasions, the floral industry never ended. Unlike
relationships.
Ideally, I didn’t have to describe a courthouse or a
floral shop because these things are so well known to us. Setting and
description are vital to a book. But like dialogue, external and internal
narrative, emotion, and above all, an author’s voice, they are tools. Too much
of anything is overwriting.
How about you? Any tips on setting you’d like to share?
Donnell Ann Bell is an award-winning
author, including finalist in the 2020 Colorado Book Award, she is the author
of Black Pearl, book one of a series, and is currently editing book two.
You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, or Bookbub. Sign up for her newsletter
at www.donnellannbell.com