by Lynne | Jun 16, 2014 | Uncategorized
The Blog Tour
Thanks to Indy Quillen of Mediafastlanes for inviting me to participate in this new writing experience. Indy is responsible for my superfine website as well as my current knowledge of social media including FaceBook, Linked-In, Twitter and Pinterest. “Pre-” Indy I was truly a novice in this arena.
WHAT AM I CURRENTLY WORKING ON
I am currently in the middle of final-editing my fourth book, PURE LIES, about the Salem Witch trials. I am happy to report that this unpublished work has made it through the first two rounds of Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Awards. The first two rounds included a 300-word pitch and the first three chapters of the manuscript. The third round is the entire manuscript, and yes, you read correctly, I sent it in before it was completely edited. Shame on me. But, honestly, I had no hope of winning. Still, to get this far is encouraging. Plus, if I don’t make it through the third round, I can say: “Well, it wasn’t edited.” Ha.
HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS OF ITS GENRE?
My books are not formulaic. I take a period in history that I find fascinating. I create a mystery surrounding real people and events. Then I solve it today with modern technology – usually digital photography. Other books go back and forth from past to present, but I think my blending of history and technology make them unique.
HOW DOES MY WRITING PROCESS WORK?
I have no formula. There are other responsibilities in my life that I must make time for, so I don’t write at a particular time each day. Sometimes I write in the morning, sometimes at night. In fact, I might even skip a day. Yikes. And, as all writers know, there are those times when I’m writing, I’m not writing. My mind is wandering, I get up to get coffee or the mail; I switch from writing my book to social media and socialize; I return to my outline, do a new outline, re-do a character sketch, check my history or forensic facts. Often, I take a walk, play the piano or go to yoga to re-energize.
Then there are those days when my fingers race across the keyboard and page after page magically appears. Those days are truly rewarding.
And, finally, I rewrite and I rewrite and I rewrite.
Et voilà! Three books that have received great reviews and publicity.
UP NEXT: My friend, author Lynn Hooghiemstra will be posting during the week of June 23. Her blogs are very insightful, the last of which deals with the battle between Hachette and Amazon, a topic urgent to all writers today. http://elynnh.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-high-ground.html
Her novella, “Tales from the Fountain Pen,” is a delightful story that I urge you to read.
I’m also tagging Alex Roque, “writer by night.” She’s working on several interesting writing projects. One is an urban fantasy romance series with the first book titled “Wings of the Fallen.” And with Alex’s interest in Greek mythology, she’s working on a novel called “The Olympian” about the journey of an ancient Olympian. For more, check her website at http://alexroque.org
by Lynne | Jun 1, 2014 | Uncategorized
Emotional Upheavals Can Translate to Great Writing
I’ve had a rather tumultuous week since I returned from Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks. I started out high on beauty and serenity, natural landscapes and wildlife. I was calm, tranquil, close to meditative.
Then my sweet dog of thirteen and a half years passed away. It was downhill from there.
You know that feeling of being gut-punched, but you weren’t? Of having your throat close up but you’re not sick? Of crying during a comedy? Of laughing during a tragic drama? High one minute, low the next? Forgetting why you walked into a room? Not feeling particularly hungry one minute, but ravenous the next? In the words of C.S. Lewis:
“Grief … gives life a permanently provisional feeling. It doesn’t seem worth starting anything. I can’t settle down. I yawn, I fidget, I smoke too much. Up till this I always had too little time. Now there is nothing but time. Almost pure time, empty successiveness.”
This is grief. Grief . . . at the loss of a loved one, human or animal, or even the loss of a job, a car, a house. Not pleasant. Still, for writers, it can give us that added insight into the emotional underlay of our characters. Grief, or other intense emotions, like anger, can provide that extra dimension to boost ordinary characters into incisive, sharp, exquisite personalities. It’s hard to write what you can’t feel, or what you haven’t ever felt.
Actors practice getting into character by living or reliving these emotions and translating them into behaviors. Screaming, crying, yanking their hair out, pounding the table, running away or simply sleeping. So many ways to act out grief.
Writers must translate those same emotions into the written word. I encourage you to take these emotions and render them to words, then to sentences and scenes. How have your own experiences of these sensations, like grief, helped you bring your characters to life?
by Lynne | May 24, 2014 | Uncategorized
Finding Inspiration for Your Writing
Having just returned from a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, I find it hard to find the words to describe such beauty. Ethereal, haunting, lyrical, dazzling, sensuous, gossamer, transcendent, nonpareil, vivid, intoxicating, melodic, reigning, inexhaustible, come to mind. But none really express the feelings I had when I gazed at these natural, splendid landscapes.
Instead of struggling to find the right words, I thought I’d share some of the photographs I took. If nature can inspire words befitting these views in your mind, I encourage you to share them.
by Lynne | May 11, 2014 | Uncategorized
Who Are You Writing For?
Are you writing for yourself or writing to be published? Many of us will say we write because we love to write; we’ve always written, since we were very young, and we couldn’t stop even if we wanted to. We have a story to tell and we must put it down on paper, whether anyone else ever reads it or not. Many of us love research and the learning that comes from it, through travel, libraries, personal interviews, the Internet.
If we’re honest, we say we write for ourselves, but we’d also like others to read our work. We have something to share, for others to, hopefully, enjoy. That usually means getting published. Getting published means marketing the book. Marketing the book means targeting your audience, which brings us back to the original question: who are you writing for?
Are you writing for young adults, men, children, older women, doctors, new mothers, teachers, who? As you write, do you have an audience in mind, or does the audience develop along the way? Personally, when I write, I don’t think about who will read it until I’m done. Maybe that’s not smart. Maybe it won’t help me sell. But if I think about who might read the book, I find myself stifled. If I aimed for gray-haired ladies or young teens, I might avoid swear words or gritty murder scenes that make my books more authentic. So I don’t shoot for any particular market. I simply write . . . and hope I can find the best audience for it later, in the marketing phase.
Only after my book is done, edited, re-written, edited and re-written, do I focus on target marketing. Who would like this book? An adult audience that enjoys history, forensics, and puzzle-solving. I can also shoot for readers interested in the time and place of the story ie: New York City in the early 1900s. You might target readers who love horses, dogs, do yoga, play golf, tennis, are musicians or mathematicians.
Can you stretch those audiences to include YA readers? Possibly, but probably not unless there are YA characters in the story. I don’t think many teens want to read solely about characters of their parents’ generation. What about other genders, sexual orientation, or ethnic groups? If your characters are gay or lesbian will a straight audience be interested? Likewise, gender and ethnicity. What about political or religious affiliations? All important considerations. For marketing.
For writing, however, write because you love to write, whoever the audience turns out to be. You’d be surprised. If a book is a delight to read, you might get audiences you never dreamed of.
by Lynne | May 4, 2014 | Uncategorized
The Misunderstood Acronym
I thought I’d share this humorous story about how words (and letters) can lead us astray.
“The Wayside Chapel”
An English lady, while living in Switzerland was looking for a room and asked The Schoolmaster if he could recommend any. He took her to several rooms and, when everything was arranged, the lady returned to her home to prepare for the move. When she arrived home, the thought suddenly dawned that she had seen no WC (water closet or toilet) around the place, so she immediately wrote to The Schoolmaster asking him where the WC was.
The Schoolmaster was a very poor master of English so he asked the Parish Priest if he could help in the matter. Together they attempted to discover what the letters WC meant. The only solution they could find was the local “Wayside Chapel.” The Schoolmaster then wrote the following note to the lady seeking a WC with her room.
Dear Madam,
I take great comfort in informing you that WC is located nine miles from the house, in the center of a beautiful grove of trees surrounded by lovely grounds. It is capable of holding 200 people and is open on Sundays and Thursdays only. As there are a great many people expected in the summer months, I would suggest that you come early, although there is usually plenty of standing room. This is an unfortunate situation, particularly if you are in the habit of going regularly. You will no doubt be glad to hear that a good number bring their lunch and make a day of it, while others who can afford it go on Thursday when there is organ accompaniment. The acoustics are excellent and the most delicate sound can be heard anywhere. It may interest you to know that my daughter was married in the WC, for it was there she first met her husband. I can remember the rush for seats. And there were 10 people to a seat usually occupied by one. It was a wonderful sight to behold. The newest attraction is a bell donated by a wealthy resident of the district. It rings every time a person enters. A bazaar is to be held to provide plush seats for all, since the people feel it is too long a wait.
I shall be delighted to save the best seat for you, if you wish, where you will be seen by all.
Hoping to have been of service, I remain,
Sincerely,
The Schoolmaster
by Lynne | Apr 21, 2014 | Uncategorized
Artistic License or Outright Lies
I watched the first episode of “Salem” Sunday night and wanted to share some thoughts. My latest book, “Pure Lies,” is an alternative history of the Salem witch trials. Unlike the WGN mini-series, however, it truly is based on real events. I’ve devised an alternative explanation for the “afflicted” girls’ delusions.
Historians have suggested a number of reasons for the girls’ behavior from fungus in the grain they ate to simple boredom. I came up with a new possibility. (Sorry, you’ll have to read it to find out.) But the television program went far beyond any reasonable solutions in creating an alternate history. They completely revamped history.
Let’s start with the setting. Salem Village was tiny, not the busy enclave with shops and big houses they portrayed. (The set was staged in Shreveport, Louisiana, by the way, nowhere near Salem, Massachusetts, but okay, what the heck?) Salem houses were small and very simple; windows were rare and made out of blown mullioned glass. Plus, Puritans were extremely religious and yes, puritan. So did they really have a whorehouse in town? Egad.
Yes, some of the characters they portrayed did, indeed, live during that time and place. But many were fictitious. Even the characters based on real history were in fictitious situations ie: Cotton Mather (who played no significant role in the real Salem story) caught with a prostitute? I know, I know, the whole series is based on the fantasy that witches were real with devilish powers, so what am I going on about? It’s fantasy. Still, it bugs me that producers can take a very real and very fascinating period of history and turn it into Hollywood.
Don’t get me wrong. I love “Grimm,” “Lord of the Rings,” “Game of Thrones,” “The Hunger Games.” These are all fantasies and you can get lost in them. But they’re not, and don’t pretend to be, based on real events in history. That’s the problem with “Salem” for me. Since I know so much about the real history, I get distracted and, frankly, annoyed, at the ridiculous plot and silly character machinations.
Maybe I’m just one of those righteous history geeks and hate to see the essence of the truth completely destroyed. When I was a kid I remember watching a Disney cartoon about hippos dancing underwater. Even as a kid, I somehow knew that hippos didn’t dance in real life. But I did not know, until I was much older, that they didn’t, couldn’t, live underwater. How much does this fake history teach our children?
Yikes. Does anyone else agree?
Thanks to Indy Quillen of Mediafastlanes for inviting me to participate in this new writing experience. Indy is responsible for my superfine website as well as my current knowledge of social media including FaceBook, Linked-In, Twitter and Pinterest. “Pre-” Indy I was truly a novice in this arena.
