Month: February 2021

A Plot As Old As The Hills #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

 

March 1,2021

Is ‘genre-bending’ and ‘genre hybrid’ a reality or a fallacy? Has plot changed since Shakespeare or the Bible?

Let’s talk about the Bible first. It’s got it all. It’s filled with stories of love and hate, treachery and loyalty, peace and war, failure and redemption. There are stories of birth and death, and what might have been the first beauty pageant.

Face it, human emotions are messy. No matter how hard we try, they interfere with everything we do. Is it possible to write a fiction book without them?

I would argue the answer is no. At the heart of it, conflict is what makes a story. So what if fantasy bleeds into science fiction? Does it advance the book? Then it’s fine. There’s a touch of an Amish plot in a mystery? Whatever. Because the genre isn’t the important part.

I tried to come up with one—just one—fiction book that doesn’t bleed from one genre to another and can’t. Even books that have non-human main characters use human-like emotions to further the storyline.

Let’s tackle the second half of the question. Has plot changed over all these years? I’ll go back to what I said earlier. At the heart of every story, you’ll find conflict. Whether it’s the Bible or Shakespeare, that’s what makes a story. And genres are just the window-dressing.

Let’s check out what everyone else has to say by following the links below. And, until next time, stay safe! 

Is ‘genre-bending’ and ‘genre hybrid’ a reality or a fallacy? Has plot changed since Shakespeare or the Bible?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

That Don’t Impress Me Much #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

 

Feb 22, 2021

What does it take to impress you when you are reading someone else’s book?

First, thanks to Shania Twain and Robert John Lange for the title.

I’ve written here before about the mistakes that make me put down a book. Lots of misspelled words, grammatical errors, a boring storyline. So, what does it take to impress me?

Let’s start with the story. Please give me something fresh. Unlike many readers, I don’t want to know what the end will be before I finish the first chapter. I want to be strung along. Make me guess the ending. Give me an unexpected hero. How about an old lady who saves the day?

While we’re talking about the ending – please don’t disappoint me. If you’ve spent the entire book building up the female MC, having her learn self-defense and how to shoot a gun, let her rescue herself. Don’t have her lover rush in at the end to save her.

I love stumbling across a well-done book in a new (to me) sub-genre. Let’s say a modern interpretation of Greek mythology written as a love story, for example. Maybe a historical thriller, or a time-travel story that isn’t a romance.  The first steampunk novel I read blew me away.

The problem with this is I can easily burn out the genre in no time flat. So, I might miss a really well-done book because I’ve read several mediocre ones in the same category, and they all start to blend together. Heck, once I attempted to read all the James Bond books and even that got tiresome.

I’m not against reading classics, either, although I don’t have the same thirst to read them as I used to. I find the style that many of them are written in no longer suits my preference in reading.

Back to the original question – what does it take to impress me? It’s a fresh approach, a new way of looking at a story. One an author has put effort into to make it feel polished without losing touch with the reader. The book needs to be crafted, not just thrown together. It’s hit or miss. I can love one book from an author and only be mildly pleased by another.

How about you? What does it take for a book to impress you? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

Don’t forget to check out the other authors on this hop and see what it takes to impress them. Just follow the links below,

And, until next time, please stay safe.

Feb 22, 2021

What does it take to impress you when you are reading someone else’s book?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

And The Second Runner Up Is #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Feb 15, 2021

Did you ever get picked last in gym or some other class? Have you used that in your writing?

I was never one of the popular girls in school. Too introverted, too nerdy, too weird, I guess. I had my nose in a book most of the time.

But I had the advantage of being from a large family with older brothers. Along with the neighborhood boys who were the same age as them, I joined in playing backyard sports with them. Baseball, touch football, basketball, or whatever else was the flavor of the day. So, I wasn’t afraid to be aggressive when we played sports in gym class. Even if I didn’t have finesse, I wasn’t scared to get in the way of opposing players, and that earned me a defensive spot on a team every time. Still, I wasn’t the top choice either, leaving me with a sense of insecurity until my name was called. (Why were the popular girls always chosen to be the team leaders by the teachers?)

Have I used this in my writing? Not directly, but the experience may have flavored the backgrounds of a few of my characters. Take Tasha from Wolves’ Knight, for example. She’s always trying to prove herself and drive herself to become better. No one asks her do it, it stems from an internal need.

Her lungs screamed from the lack of oxygen, her eyes burned from the sweat streaming into them, and she could no longer feel her legs. She was past pain and moving from sheer force of will. But she wanted to go farther. Her goal was the meeting of the southern and western borders. And past that if she could hold on that long. From Wolves’ Knight

Was Tasha chosen last in gym class? I doubt it. But the strong males of the pack would have been chosen first, if they were in coed classes. And Tasha wasn’t the type to have been one of the popular kids. She was too serious for that to happen.

Lori from Wolves’ Gambit had it worse. She was the runt of the litter, and was left out of everything.  As a result, she operates with a chip on her shoulder, but has learned to use her small size as a tool, rather than it being a disadvantage. 

“So, what kind of shifter are you?” Turtle asked.

“Wolf.”

“No, really.”

“Wolf.” Lori shrugged. “Even in wolf form, I’m small, but that’s the way it is.”

“Then why can’t we smell or hear you?’

She moved away the mental blocks that kept her secure. “Try now.” From Wolves’ Gambit

I’ve always had a thing for the underdog, having been one, and that’s reflected in my stories. How about the other authors on this hop? We can find out by following the links below.

Until next time, please stay safe.

Feb 15, 2021

Did you ever get picked last in gym or some other class? Have you used that in your writing?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

More Ideas Than Time #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

Feb 8, 2021

Do you get story ideas that you know you’ll never write?

I took a nap this afternoon, and woke up from a dream about a Scottish lady returning to the Highlands after being held captive for many years, and deciding whether to go to war and seek revenge. There’s a book in there, but I probably won’t write it. I don’t know enough about the time period (in the way back days) or of Scotland to carry it off. Sure, I could change the location and the time, but then it wouldn’t have the same magic. And what genre would that fit in? Not romance, although I suppose it would be possible to wiggle a love story in there. I don’t see it as sword and sorcery, either.

I’ve got several ideas floating in my head attached to the Free Wolves series. Imagine a special unit of alpha wolves in the US military. They’ve got to find a channel for their aggression somewhere. Those stories would have their share of detailed sex, and I’m not ready to go there—yet. I still have to figure out the story of Counselor Carlson, who lives like a monk despite being the alpha of alphas. And Lori from Wolves’ Gambit has more adventures waiting to be told.

Have I mentioned that Jake from the Harmony Duprie Mysteries finally opened up to me? I thought I was done with the series. (Or will be as soon as I finish editing The Ranger’s Dog Tags and get it released.) What am I going to do with a prequel story written from the anti-hero’s point of view? Well, once I get done writing it. He’s getting impatient because I’m ignoring him and concentrating on Harmony’s last book.

Did I tell you the one about…okay, I’ll quit now. You get the picture. Ideas aren’t my issue. Well, they are because I don’t have enough time to write all of them. Or they aren’t right for me at the moment. I’m sure there are ideas I’ve had that I’ve forgotten. I’ve never made a habit of writing them down to come back to. There was one about a private eye on a cruise ship, chasing the bad guys over the hills of Italy….

Enough already! I need to quit while I’m ahead and go check out the other authors on this hop. Come with me by clicking on the links below.

Until next time, please stay safe.

Do you get story ideas that you know you’ll never write?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

More Than Sharing Stories #IWSG

  By IWSG
 
February 3 question – Blogging is often more than just sharing stories. It’s often the start of special friendships and relationships. Have you made any friends through the blogosphere?
 
The awesome co-hosts for the February 3 posting of the IWSG are Louise – Fundy Blue , Jennifer Lane, Mary Aalgaard, Patsy Collins at Womagwriter, and Nancy Gideon!
 
I don’t have a huge following on my blog. I watch the page views trickle in some days. Shoot, some days I avoid looking at the number of visitors because it’ll only make me depressed.
 
But I share a blog hop (not this one!) with a few other authors, and we’ve bonded over some of the topics we’ve discussed. We’ve written about places we’ve been and places we want to go. There was a post about the mistakes we’ve made in our writing. We’ve discussed marketing tips and what works for us and what doesn’t. Along the way, I’ve made friends.
 
Well, as much as “talking” strictly over the internet allows us to be friends. We don’t always agree with each other, but we try to be respectful of each other’s opinions. The group includes writers from a variety of countries and backgrounds, which can lead to interesting discussions in the comments. If you’re interested in seeing what do, scroll down to other posts.
 
If I were wealthy, and there wasn’t a world-wide pandemic, I’d love to meet these other writers in real-life. I don’t expect either of those roadblocks to change in the near future, so I’ll keep having conversations with them via the blogshere, or on the other social media we use to stay connected.
 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

How about you? Have you made friends through your blog?
 
(Shameless plug: I’d love a few more followers. There’s a link to the right where you can sign up to be notified of new posts!)
 
Until the next time, please stay safe.