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.
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.
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.
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.
This week’s blog hop question is simple. Are prologues and epilogues good writing? And my answer is a very firm and definite – maybe?
I’ve read prologues that were short and sweet and flowed into the story without a whisper. And I’ve read other ones that rambled on and on, building the entire world before the real story begins. Guess which one I prefer? I even wrote a prologue for Wolves’ Pawn, the first book I published. It’s a page and a half long. That’s it. As you can see, I tried for the first type.
I humbly think it worked. It was a short scene that set up the conflict for the rest of the story. It wasn’t long enough to make a chapter out of, and the way it was written, I couldn’t work it in as backstory. So, I included it even though I understood some people frown at prologues. It’s the only prologue I’ve included in any of my books and I don’t regret it.
Then there are epilogues. I use them frequently to wrap up loose ends and minor plot points. I hate leaving cliffhangers at the end of my books! I started checking, and I have used them in most of my stories. Some are fairly short, a page or two, and some fairly extensive. The one for the Ranger’s Dog Tags was about four pages long, basically a chapter. But the mystery had been wrapped up in the last chapter and I was tidying up the entire series, so I don’t feel bad. It’s what the book and the readers needed.
And that’s what it comes down to. What does the story demand? The writer has to listen to the story and figure it out. Both prologues and epilogues should be used with care, but neither should be avoided entirely. That’s my take, anyway. Let’s find out what the other authors think by following the lings below.
As always, until next time, please stay safe.
April 26, 2021
Prologues and Epilogues. Yes or no?
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.
Let’s talk about book descriptions. Do you write yours before or after you write the story?
I’m what is known in the writing world as a pantser. That means I write my stories by the seat of my pants. I may have a beginning and an end in mind. but everything in between is up for grabs. My characters determine what happens – and sometimes they change everything!
As a result, book descriptions have to wait until I’m done writing the story. Then they go through any number of revisions. I’ve never gotten it right on the first try. Truth is, I made a revision to the tagline of my newest book, The Ranger’s Dog Tags, less than a week before I started uploading files to the various ebook stores.
Here’s how it ended up:
Tagline: It isn’t the first time Eli Hennessey has disappeared. Is it the last?
Eli Hennessey has vanished.
His house in Oak Grove is in flames, his cell phone is out of commission, and friends in Florida can’t find him. It’s up to Harmony Duprie to track down her missing lover before her life shatters and his ends.
Harmony’s first discovery: Eli tricked her into signing paperwork putting her in charge of his company. Had he planned his disappearance?
The answers won’t be found in Oak Grove. Harmony hightails it to Florida in search of Eli and the truth.
The Ranger’s Dog Tags, Book 6 of the Harmony Duprie Mysteries, is the final book of the series.
It seems so simple now, but I lost sleep over it. (That’s only a slight exaggeration.) There were several nights I brooded over the wording before falling asleep. Once I was mostly satisfied with it, I shared it with fellow writers who told me what I’d done wrong and helped me revise it again. And again. And then a different bunch of people switched it up yet again. It’s a lot of work.
It’s a good thing I didn’t write the description before I wrote the book. I had plans for Harmony that never made it into the story. Plus, I knew at least one person was going to die. I just didn’t know who. Or how many.
I know other authors who are plotters. They have their entire book outlined before they ever start writing. They could do the descriptions first. I don’t envy them – it’s more fun to ‘discover’ the story along the way, in my humble opinion.
Let’s find out if anyone on this hop writes their descriptions before they write their books. It’s easy. Just follow the links below.
Until next time, please stay safe!
April 19, 2021
Let’s talk about book descriptions. Do you write yours before or after you write the story?
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.
They’re making an action figure of you. Describe the toy and accessories. (Do you have a catch phrase? Favorite items, clothes, hair style?)
Nobody wants an action figure of me. Maybe back in the day, when I was living a minimalist lifestyle, growing my own food, cutting wood to burn in our wood stove, and freezing and canning food, but not now. I’m afraid I’m not very active any more. Too much time spent in front of a computer.
My wolf shifters were the obvious choices to fill in for me, but they refused to be part of this post because they don’t want to be outed. Luckily, Harmony Duprie ‘volunteered’ to come to my rescue. She didn’t think she was worthy of an action figure either, but I talked her into it. Her adventures are more what you’d expect from an action character.
She made it easy because the original covers for her stories were cartoon-like. Remember this? This is the original cover for The Marquesa’s Necklace. Brown hair, always in a bun, little or no makeup. The only thing missing is her thick glasses. She broke down and wore contacts for date night in this picture. Of course, the red dress would be a one time only adventure. More likely she’d be wearing a nice blue blouse, dress slacks, and a pair of black flats. (But we’ll include the dress and necklace as part of her accessories)
Other accessories are easy, too. A stack of books and her laptop bag. There will be two cars sold separately. One is a pale blue Ford Pinto and the other one is a red Jaguar.
And yes, Harmony has a catchphrase. “I don’t believe in coincidence.” It’s not as catchy as “I’ll be back” or “Hasta la vista, Baby,” but it’s perfect for her. (The closest thing I have to a catchphrase is “Supper’s ready!”)
I can see kids getting Harmony into more trouble than she already does, or maybe as their hero as they take pretend adventures of their own. She’d help them outwit the villain and save the day.
How about you? Would you like to gave an action figure of yourself? I’d like to see if the other authors who write on this hop want one of them! Let’s find out by following the links below.
And, until next time, please stay safe!
April 12, 2021
They’re making an action figure of you. Describe the toy and accessories. (Do you have a catch phrase? Favorite items, clothes, hair style?)
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.
April 5, 2021 What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done in the name of research?
I won’t put you at risk by listing some of the shady websites I’ve visited. Or send you down the deep holes of the dark side of the internet. Or bring you to tears by linking to the saddest videos i’ve watched in the name of research. That’s right, most of my current research is done on the internet. I’ve taken a lot of risks in my lifetime, and now I’m playing it safe. Mostly.
I’ve had a few adventures on my lifetime. Like dangling from a cliff while practicing mountain climbing rescue techniques. That was about four months after getting a concussion and broken collarbone in a bicycle accident. Ot the time I was approached by what I suspect was a sex trafficker while waiting to change busses in the Cleveland bus terminal. Obviously, young and innocent me was smart enough not to fall for the bullshit he was telling me.
I haven’t used either experience in any of my stories. Maybe one day.
I’ve also spent hours watching videos on self-defense techniques and driving stunts. Some of those have earned a place in the Harmony Duprie Mysteries. I would never dare attempt Harmony’s favorite maneuver, a Bootlegger’s 180, especially in my Jeep. Check out this video. It’s safe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-voVITL-4I
Here’s Harmony’s take on it from The Ranger’s Dog Tags. (Coming April 22nd) She normally only attempts it on empty country roads. She breaks the rules in this clip:
Vanessa sucked in a breath as we blew past a string of cars in the right lane. “Slow down. I’m not wired. There’s a tracker app on my phone. That’s all.”
I didn’t ease off the pedal. “Who has access to it?”
“My boss.”
“And?”
“Richon.”
“And?” I glanced at her. Under her Florida tan, her face had paled. I pushed Dolores to go faster. “And?”
“Putnam and his agency. Will you slow the fuck down?”
I did better. It was a gift from the heavens. A spot with no traffic. And a paved strip between the two sides of the interstate for law enforcement use only.
I slammed on the brakes—
Feathered the clutch—
Shifted down—
Cranked the steering wheel—
I ended up facing the opposite direction. The perfect bootlegger’s 180. My favorite maneuver.
Oh, and Harmony’s penchant for visiting less-than-upscale bars in the name of undercover research? Yeah, I may have lived that experience. Not the undercover part, but the visiting the bars part. Heck, once the hubby and me, for an adventure, stopped at a girly bar while on a road trip. They wanted to charge him the entrance fee and let me in free. And even though I was fully dressed, I was getting more eyeballs on me than the nearly-naked girl on the stage. We didn’t stay. We’ve also had drinks at the bar where Eileen Wuornos, the first well-known American female serial killer, had hung out before her arrest.
But I will take credit for Harmony’s interest in self-defense techniques. Although I’ve never taken more than a few very basic courses, I’ve had a fascination in the martial arts since high school. Anyone remember the 1970s TV show Kung Fu? That’s where my interest started.
These days I’m happy sticking to my computer screen. But that might not be true for the other authors on this hop. To find out what they are sharing, follow the links below,
And, until next time, please stay safe!
Dear readers: I know the format of this post is weird. I haven’t been able to figure out what’s different from every other post. Please bear with me, while I try to fix it…or until I give up on it and hope it doesn’t repeat on my next post!
April 5, 2021 What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done in the name of research?
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.
March 29, 2021 If you weren’t an author, what other art would you likely pursue?
Some of you already know the answer. I’ve mentioned it here several times. I may even find time for it again once I’ve retired from my day job and have the time.
I love doing various kinds of needlecraft. Embroidery, crewel, needlepoint. I tried knitting and crochet back in the dark ages, and never caught the urge to get good at them.
But give me a needlepoint canvas or crewel cotton fabric and let me go to work. I’ve created some heirlooms.
I’ve also embroidered baby quilts for my kids and grandkids, as well as several nieces and nephews. There are pillows and tablecloths and various other projects out in the world that I’ve given away. There was a time when I did projects for a local gift and handicraft shop. There’s no way of knowing where they ended up.
Frankly, I’ve run out of room to display additional examples of my work, and I’ve put aside doing more. But I miss it. I’m itching to find a project I can do without taking too much time away from my writing. But I tend to go for large and complex designs. Like this one. It’s one corner of a tablecloth that took about five years to complete. With the stitches I used, each flower petal took about half an hour to do.
I wonder what type of art our other authors do? Come with me as I find out my following the links below.
And, until next time, please stay safe!
March 29, 2021 If you weren’t an author, what other art would you likely pursue?
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.
March 22, 2021 Whose perspective do you like to write from best, the hero (protagonist) or the villain (antagonist)? Why?
As she drifted back to sleep, another burst of explosions and light brought her to an upright position. She reached over and raised the blinds so she could peer out the window. The red-orange glow that colored the night sky had nothing to do with a celebration or the rising of the morning sun. The months she served overseas rushed back to her.
It took every ounce of Lori’s self-control to fight back the instinct to shift and join the battle. Fully awake now, she realized the long truce between the Jaegers and the Destins had ended. Whose side was she on?from Wolves’ Gambit
If you’ve read any of my published books, you know that I write from the protagonist’s view. I identify with the good guy. What may not be clear is that I sometimes identify with the antagonist. Not the villain, necessarily, but I enjoy seeing things through the eyes of the bad guy. It helps me understand their motivation.
And then there’s Jake from The Harmony Duprie Mysteries. He was supposed to be a throwaway character, only mentioned in The Marquesa’s Necklace, the first book in the series. Then he took over the second book, Her Ladyship’s Ring. I hadn’t planned on that. He continued to make appearances in the subsequent stories. I saw him as Harmony’s alter-ego, but never understood what was behind his bad-boy facade. He wouldn’t “tell” me.
That changed a few months ago, when he allowed me to peek behind the curtain and gave me a glimpse of who he really is. A villain to be sure, but one with ethics. He’ll take money from a drunk guest at a wedding, but won’t consider stealing the bride’s jewelry. He’ll take jewelry from a wealthy woman’s home, but makes sure he locks the door when he leaves. Here’s an unedited snippet:
At the end of the evening, he ended up with an unneeded invitation to join the second cousin at an after-hours bar, a silver ring in his pocket, and a high-quality pearl necklace in his shoe. Not heritage jewelry, but not bought in the last two years, either. All it took was offering to help the lady in question slip on her sweater when a chilly breeze blew in off the lake and didn’t matter if he broke the thin chains. The gold would get melted down for scrap at one pawn shop and the pearls sold individually at several others. Not a big take, but it scratched the itch. The gold and ruby tie tack he lifted from the cousin’s best friend was a bonus. Not bad for a week’s work. From Jake’s Story (working title)
I’ve had a lot of fun with Jake in this story. Even if I don’t know what I’m going with it, I feel privileged to have been invited in behind the doors he keeps closed to everyone else. I’ve also joked that I’d make an excellent villain if I hadn’t chosen to be on the side of good, and Jake has allowed me to explore that. Perhaps he’s my alter-ego?
Back to the question-which do I prefer to write? I can’t answer. It changes from story to story, depending on what that story needs. At least I’m not confined to one or the other. What I am sure of is that an antagonist is necessary to make the story interesting.
What about the other authors on this hop? I can see a few of them writing from the villain’s point of view. Let’s find out by following the links below.
And, until next time, please stay safe.
March 22, 2021 Whose perspective do you like to write from best, the hero (protagonist) or the villain (antagonist)? Why?
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’re going on a road trip: where are you headed? With who? What are your snacks? Music? Plans?
It’s been too long. And we all know why. Weekend road trips were one of the things we enjoyed previously. Just short trips to explore close to home. But it looks like things will loosen up soon and we maybe able to consider a quick trip soon.
Where to go? There are so many places we’d like to visit that this post could get far too long. So, I’ll try to contain myself.
For a warm-up trip, we’ll head up to Walden, Co. We haven’t been there since the shutdown and the last year’s forest fires. I need to see what survived and what didn’t, since so many of my favorite landscapes were in the path of destruction. Plus, I wonder how many of the small business in town have stayed open. (At least one of them has changed hands.) Follow that with a trip to Estes Park. Problem with that is our favorite place to stay was sold and is under new ownership, and we’re looking for a new base camp.
If we’re heading into the mountains, John Denver is going to be on my playlist, along with classic rock. Did you expect anything different? And munchies? I should be good and take dates and raisins. HA! More like peanut butter cups and some form of chocolate.
Now, let’s say we’ve got unlimited time. I’ll need a minimum of three or four weeks for this trip. First stop is to visit my mother in Pennsylvania. It’s been a couple of years since my last in-person visit. Then we’ll travel down to Florida to visit my daughter and her family. A trip that long will allow for a variety of music and unhealthy eating. (The entire trip will be 3000+ miles.)
Now, how about a fantasy trip? Head south, take I-70 west over the Rockies, figure out a route to get to HWY 101 just north of San Francisco, follow 101 north to Washington state, and come back through Montana. Take all the side trips we want, stop wherever we want., stay in one spot as long as we want. I can see the trip taking several months. We’d explore mountains reaching for the sky, redwoods that bridge the gap between the ground and the clouds, rocks tumbling into the ocean, sandy beaches that glisten in the sun. That’ll take several months. I can dream, right?
Let’s find out where everyone is dreaming of traveling to my following the links below. And, until next time, please stay safe.
March 15, 2021
You’re going on a road trip: where are you headed? With who? What are your snacks? Music? Plans?
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.
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.
