Month: May 2021

And The Secret Is: #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

May 31, 2021

Plot twists…do you have a favorite you can talk about (yours or someone else’s?)

Can a character be a plot twist? Because Jake, from the Harmony Duprie Mysteries, is not what I planned for him to be.

I first imagined him as a ‘throwaway’ character. He’d get a mention or two, and that was it. His role was to be a bad memory for Harmony, and that’s it. Well, those of you who have read the series know that isn’t the way things turned out. He basically took over Book 2, Her Ladyship’s Ring.

I tried to get rid of him in Book 3, The Baron’s Cufflinks. I sent him out of town to a job in Chicago. Or so I thought. But I was wrong. He showed up at a ratty little bar in West Virginia, the last place Harmony (or I) expected, and became a pivotal part of the book’s ending.

Tired of fighting with him, I gave him a key role in The Contessa’s Brooch, Book 4, and allowed him to play hero. Shoot, I even let him kiss Harmony. He didn’t mind at all.

Maybe that’s why he cooperated when I sent him out of town in The Samurai’s Inro, Book 5, and he stayed gone. Well, mostly. He came back for a quick cameo and that was it. Frankly, I was tired of him taking over the spotlight.

Then came the last book in the series, The Ranger’s Dog Tags. I finally had a story that I could tell without Jake butting in, and I couldn’t do it. Leave him out, that is. It didn’t feel right. Naturally, he took the minor part I’d given him and turned it into something much larger. You know what? It didn’t even bother me. Jake deserved his sliver of glory.

Back to plot twists – yes, I am a fan. I don’t want to know the book’s ending by the time I finish the first chapter. I once received a critique where I was criticized because the reader didn’t know who the villain was right away. Frankly, I took that as a compliment. And if Jake helps provide the plot twist in several of the books, I can go along with it.

To quote Oak Grove’s Police Chief Sorenson: “There’s one more thing that bothers me, Miss Duprie,” he said, as he stood, dismissing me. “How the hell did you manage to turn Jake Hennessey, the town’s villain, into a hero?”

I’m looking forward to hearing about other authors’ favorite plot twists.  You can too, by following the links below.

And, as always, until next time, stay safe!

May 31, 2021

Plot twists…do you have a favorite you can talk about (yours or someone else’s?) 
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

 

Meeting History and Music #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

 

May 24, 2021

What historical/public figure would you most like to learn more about? Would you ever write about them?

As a kid, I had crushes on Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, at least as TV shows and movies portrayed them. As I got older and dug deeper into their stories, I realised that there was a darker side to their stories and some of the shininess wore off.

The same is true for President Kennedy, war hero, devoted husband and father, and man with an alleged mistress or two. How about Mother Teresa, who is said to have ignored basic sanitary practices in some of her facilities aand worse.

You get the point. It’s hard for me to find a hero to worship. So, who would I like to learn more about, knowing that they will be imperfect?

I’m going to switch things up. Instead of a person, I’m going with an event. I’d like to spend a day or two at Woodstock. Listen to the music, dance, make new friends. Embrace the vibe and find out what really went on. No movie or collection of songs or interview with someone who was there can convey the total experience.

Yes, history can and does happen in our lifetimes.

Yes, I’m sure I’d find the downside. The people on bad trips. The too-long waits to go to the bathroom. No water or food. The thunderstorms and nowhere to sleep.

Would I write about it? Sure, why not? I wonder how my wolf shifters would have participated to Woodstock? As a matter of fact, how would they react to psychoactive drugs? Hmm. I sense a wrinkle to a future story.

Now, before I plot the future of my hero, I need to go check out who the other authors would like to know more about. Just follow the links below  to find out.

And, as always, blease stay safe until next time!

 

May 24, 2021

What historical/public figure would you most like to learn more about? Would you ever write about them?

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

 

Dear Diary: Life from Harmony’s POV #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

 

May 17, 2021

Dear Diary. Write a diary entry or a letter from your character’s point of view. 

When I kept a diary as a pre-teen, it was boring, filled with details of my daily life. What we studied in school, what we had for lunch, who I sat with on the bus. The most exciting thing I did all week was go to my Girl Scout meeting. Perhaps that’s why I can’t imagine any of my characters keeping a diary.

But I could consider The Harmony Duprie Mystery series as Harmony’s diary. With that in mind, what would her first meeting with Eli look like in diary form?

Dear Diary:

Today was story hour at the library. I’ll never confess it to anyone else, but that’s one of the things I miss most about working at the library. I never worked directly with the little ones, but I love seeing their happy little faces. I keep dropping hints, but I don’t know if they’ll ever rehire me, despite the fact that I was innocent. There are a couple old farts on the Board of Directors (cough<Mr. Randall>cough) who still think I was selling drugs. I don’t know if I can wait for them to retire or die to get my job back.

I found the information I’ve been hunting for today, and got a menu from one of Rockefeller’s parties. Everything from oysters on the half-shell to turkey and ham and a variety of desserts. And booze. Lots of booze. And not the cheap stuff, from what I could tell. Rockefeller had money to burn. At least he spent some of it building this library.

My reward was making a trip to the shelves where the library stores historical books about the Victorian area. As I leafed through a book with lots of pictures, I dreamed of living in that era and wearing dresses that floated around me.. Oh, and a big hat with colorful feathers. I’d cling to the arm of my escort, a handsome gentleman with a mustache that curled up at the ends.

I decided to take it back to the table I’d claimed for the day.  That’s when I ran into him. Nice looking guy, but with the palest blue eyes I’ve ever seen.

And when I say I ran into him, I mean literally ran into him. Almost fell down but saved myself my grabbing the closest shelf. Dropped my book in the process. He picked it up, handed it to me, and then walked away without giving me a chance to apologize. Man, how embarrassing.

He isn’t from Oak Grove – I would have recognized him. But the weirdest part?

He smelled like dirt. I don’t mean dirty. I mean how the ground smells when you’re planting seeds and the earth is still damp and it smells fresh? That’s what it reminded me of. I don’t know if it was his aftershave or my imagination.

I need to stop by the package store tomorrow. My order of craft beer from Colorado came in. I’m looking forward to trying the one that’s supposed to taste like summer sunshine.

That’s it for tonight, Dear Diary. I want to go read the book I bought about Queen Elizabeth. I wonder if I could learn to be a mechanic?

******

There you go. An entry from Harmony’s diary. I hope you enjoyed reading it. If so, you might want to read The Marquesa’s Necklace if you haven’t already!  https://www.pjmaclayne.com/?page_id=232

And one personal note before I run off to check out everyone else’s entries for the week – Happy 93rd birthday, Mom!

The rest of you, until next week, please stay safe.

May 17, 2021

Dear Diary. Write a diary entry or a letter from your character’s point of view.

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

 

Just Twenty-Six Letters #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

May 10, 2021

Inspired by a comment on a recent post. Discuss:
It never fails to amaze me that ALL the books ever written are made up of just twenty six letters.

I first saw this statement as a response to a post on another author’s blog hop post, and a small piece of me died. A little more of me shriveled when shortly after, I saw the same statement on Facebook. I had to restrain myself from answering and starting a war on social media. Here, I can express myself.

Now, I understand what the folks who shared the sentiment were trying to say. Language is a marvelous thing. The way we can arrange shaped to have meaning is amazing. Even if the lines and shapes are sometimes incorrect, our minds can translate them to the correct meaning.

But here’s my problem. At its face, the statement is English-centric and ignores the differences between languages. The Russian alphabet has thirty-three letters, the Spanish one has thirty. Then you have Japanese, with different written languages and seventy-one or more characters.  Are they any less important than English when it comes to writing?

But can the English language be used to translate every other language using those 26 letters? The answer is, not really. Take Irish, for example. The word AMAINIRIS (“ARM-AN-ERISH”) means the second day after tomorrow. There isn’t an equivalent word in English. There is overmorrow, but that’s only one day after tomorrow.

Let’s throw in how the same word can have different meanings in different countries. In Nigeria, the word ‘hammers’ is the act of coming into big money. It has nothing to do with power tools.

The point being, words are more than twenty-six letters strung together. Language is words and context and color. Books are more than words.

What do you think? Let’s talk about it in the comments. Don’t forget to check out the other authors on this hop and see what they think. Just check out the links below.

And, until next time, please stay safe.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

May 10, 2021

Inspired by a comment on a recent post. Discuss:
It never fails to amaze me that ALL the books ever written are made up of just twenty six letters.

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.

We Surprise the Readers- They Surprise Us! #IWSG

  By Uncategorized

It’s May already, and time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group post.I’ve got to admit, May snuck up on me and I almost missed it!

The May 5th question, if you’d like to answer it, is:  
Has any of your readers ever responded to your writing in a way that you didn’t expect? If so, did it surprise you?
The awesome co-hosts for the May 5 posting of the IWSG are Erika Beebe, PJ Colando, Tonja Drecker, Sadira Stone, and Cathrina Constantine!

I’ve had a few. A cousin I hadn’t talked to for years contacted me through this blog. Dan, if you are still reading my posts, hi!  A reviewer asked for a specific character to be featured in more stories – in fact, they suggested a write a whole series on that character’s adventures – that made me happy! (and I may use that idea, because I love that character, too.)  I made a beta reader and my editor cry over specific parts of my latest story. That’s a huge compliment in my book.

Frankly, the fact that people take time to review my books is a compliment. I appreciate every review I get, even if they aren’t five stars. Of course, the biggest compliment is when I can tell the same person is buying, one by one, all the books in a series. 

That’s it for now. Don’t forget to check out some of the other posts in this hop. And, until next time, please stay safe.

 

Pets and Animals and the Story #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book

May 3, 2021

Do pets (or other animals) play an important part in your books? Tell us about them.

Let’s begin with a philosophical debate. I have a series of shifter books. My main characters are human-to-wolf shifters, but I sprinkle a variety of other shifter forms into my stories as well. (Imagine a rabbit shifter hanging out with the wolves!) My characters are aware of their animal nature when they are in human form and they don’t lose their human nature when they are in animal form. So, I don’t consider them animals.

My shifters also know the impact they have on the animals they interact with. From Wolves’ Gambit: “It’s not like we can take up ranching. Have you ever seen how cattle react to our presence?” and later “Chickens don’t care that we are shifters.” I’ve made jokes about how they can’t have pets. I’m going to exclude the animal side of my shifters from this discussion.

But animals are a natural part of my shifters’ lives. Crows play a minor part but are an important tribute to Dot’s (My female MC)  Native American heritage in Wolves’ Pawn. (Yes, I know birds are technically not animals!) 

A raucous noise broke her meditation, and she opened her eyes to find a large crow sitting in front of her. It cocked its head, uttered a single caw, and flew away. One large black feather drifted down from the sky. Dot picked it up and stuck it into the scarf wrapped around her arm.

In Wolves’ Knight, there’s a scene that explains how my wolves interact with wildlife:

Tasha cautiously lifted her head the same time the wind changed direction. “That’s a beauty, and not another shifter,” she sent as a large white-tailed buck stepped into a patch of sunshine. She counted the points on his rack. Ten. “What’s he doing here?” They hadn’t been quiet before the deer showed up.

Although the pack didn’t depend on the local wildlife for food, hunting was a natural part of their lives, and few large animals were found on pack land anymore. Even rabbits and squirrels were not as plentiful as they were years ago.

“It’s almost hunting season. He probably got chased out of his territory by someone scouting for a good spot for a blind. Are you going to take him down?”

“Does the pack need the food?” Tasha’s other-self licked its lips in anticipation of fresh meat, but the deer was larger than she and Elder Fenner could eat in one sitting.

“No.”

“Well, crap.”

I’ve been considering adding to the Free Wolves’ series. There are so many potential stories. Heck, I could see a whole different series coming out off Wolves’ Gambit. If you’ve read the series, you know Counselor Carlson deserves his own story. What part would animals play? I can’t predict. But I have the feeling they’d be worked into the story somehow.

How do our other authors incorporate animals into the books? Follow the links below to find out!

As always, until next time, please stay safe.

 

May 3, 2021

Do pets (or other animals) play an important part in your books? Tell us about them.

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