I had the honor of being interviewed for SapphireJBlue blog radio on Thursday. We talked about the Marquesa’s Necklace, and the Harmony Duprie Mysteries. It was fun and thought-provoking and we had a great time. If you missed it, you can catch it at the link below.
And this coming week, we’re going to do it again! On Thursday, September 15th, we’ll be discussing Wolves’ Pawn. Jeanette is a fan of the paranormal, so this should be interesting.
Sept 6, 2021
Does food play an important part in your writing? How about sharing a favorite recipe of one of your characters, or maybe one of yours? (We haven’t done this in forever!)
None of my main characters are bakers or chefs or work in a restaurant. But food is an important part of my writing with many conversations happening over a shared meal. Here’s a bit from The Ranger’s Dog Tags, in a scene between Harmony and Vanessa Salters, an ATF special agent.
She waited while Bea brought our food. The slice of meatloaf was so thick I wondered if I’d be able to eat even half of it.
The rich aroma of the gravy alone made me realize how hungry I was. I’d have to bring Eli here someday. I put down my fork, my appetite suddenly gone.
Vanessa noticed but didn’t comment. “Now, about your living arrangements. You said you’re in a hotel? You aren’t staying at Mr. Hennessey’s place?”
I shrugged. “I’m not comfortable with him not being there.”
“Got it.” She chewed on a forkful of corn. I took a tiny bite of the meatloaf. It was better than what I make, so I took a second, bigger bite.
From there Vanessa goes on to outmaneuver Harmony into allowing Vanessa to become her bodyguard, (and Harmony hates bodyguards) but you’ll have to read the book for that.
I’m not going to give you the recipe for the restaurant’s meatloaf—I don’t have it. Frankly, I suspect the real secret was in the way they made their gravy. Instead, here’s a recipe for Hamburger Soup. I love it because it’s so flexible and it makes a large enough of a batch that there’s plenty of leftovers for later. It’s great for a cold winter day, which we may be seeing sooner than we are ready for! (depending upon where you live, naturally)
Hamburger Soup
Ingredients
1 ½ lbs lean ground beef (or substitute ½ lb Italian sausage for an extra kick)
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups shredded cabbage
1 sweet bell pepper, chopped
1 tbls minced garlic
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
4 cups beef stock ( I usually use more)
½ tsp seasoning salt
½ tsb basil
¼ tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
In a large skillet, brown the beef, onions celery, garlic and pepper until the meat is no longer pink. Add the cabbage and cook together for a couple of minutes. Drain. (I find it easier to add most of the vegetables after draining the fully cooked meat.) Add the seasoning.
Transfer the meat and vegetable mixture to a stock pot, add the beef stock and tomato sauce. Mix. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30-45 minutes and serve. (I like it with shredded cheese on top.)
I’ve used both yellow and green peppers at the same time to give it some added color. I also like to add sliced carrots.
As a bonus, here’s one of my favorite food scenes from the book, when Jake gets Eli to eat hospital food.
“Here, let me help you,” Jake said, reaching for the bedside table.
Eli shook his head. “I’m not hungry.”
Jake lifted the covers from the various dishes. “Jello. Naturally. Some sort of broth. How original. No wonder you don’t want to eat. I need to sneak in some real food. A steak or a big juicy cheeseburger. Applesauce? What was I expecting? It’s sprinkled with cinnamon. That’s a good place to start.”
Eli shook his head and looked away. “I’ll pass. Save it until you leave. I don’t want to eat in front of you.”
Clear as day, he was lying. I crossed my arms and glared. “You love applesauce. Tell me the truth. Why don’t you want to eat?”
He rolled so his back was to us. “I can’t do it. Last time I tried, I ended up with food all over me. The nurse had to clean me up and change my gown, then feed me like a baby.”
“Hurt your pride, did it?” Jake asked. “Was she cute, the nurse?”
“If you go for the grandmotherly type.”
Jake snorted. “Okay, here’s the deal. Roll over. I’m going to help you. You hold the spoon, and I’ll guide it where it needs to go. Ready?”
Then I watched the most amazing thing ever. Jake propped himself on the bed, opened the silverware packet, removed the spoon, and placed it in Eli’s shaking hand. Together, they dipped out a spoonful of applesauce and, ever so carefully, Jake helped Eli put it in his mouth.
Not a drop spilled. In fact, Eli may have licked the spoon.
No recipe to go with this one – only a link where you can find out more. The Ranger’s Dog Tags
Now I’m hungry, so I’m going to check out the other posts in this hop and see what everyone else is cooking up.
As always, until next time, please stay safe.
Sept 6, 2021
Does food play an important part in your writing? How about sharing a favorite recipe of one of your characters, or maybe one of yours? (We haven’t done this in forever!)
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.
It isn’t much of a place, but what I choose to afford, and the landlords keeps it in good repair. It’s the entire third floor of a three story home, and Luke and Joe have the bottom two floors. They are getting older so I help them out with basic maintenance and they keep the rent low. (from The Marquesa’s Necklace)
Were they a couple? At that point, I wasn’t sure. But some gay men of their generation weren’t open about their relationship status. The neighbors could pretend they were “just” housemates, and ignore the implications. Sure, society has become more accepting, but if that’s the way Joe and Luke wanted it, I was glad to oblige. Their love of old houses is what defines them in the series, anyway.
In contrast, I wanted there to be no question about Detective Horace from The Ranger’s Dog Tags being a black American, because it would play into the story. (and he insisted on it.) I modeled him as a combination of several men I’ve worked with. Here’s his intro:
I didn’t anticipate being greeted by a brick wall of a man with deep brown skin when I opened the door. If I wasn’t mistaken, that was a gun in a holster under his left arm. And a police badge attached to his belt. (from The Ranger’s Dog Tags)
Again, I didn’t want Detective Horace to be defined solely by his skin color, and it never gets mentioned again. His position as a detective for the Orlando Police Department was the more important characteristic. That, and his size. His size gets mentioned throughout the story, almost as a running joke. For example, “I was afraid that Horace would break any of the furniture, all of which had seen better days.” That, plus Harmony’s nickname for him, ‘The Mountain.’
The second part of the question is easy and tough. How do I avoid cultural insensitivity? The easy part is by treating my characters the same as I treat my friends from similar backgrounds. But I’m not perfect, and I’ve been known to mess up. Phrase something poorly, or miss the point. I try to be cognizant of what I put in writing, and I think seeing the words staring at me help me to be more aware. (Plus, I have time to think about what I am saying, instead of blurting out the wrong words!)
Over the years, I’ve interacting with people from a lot of different backgrounds, and learned a lot from them. I try to let that flow into my writing as I populate my stories. That way diversity happens naturally and isn’t forced. You know, like would happen in the real world under the best of scenarios. (Which, I’ll admit, don’t happen nearly enough.)
Let’s find out what the other authors in this hop have to say. Hopefully, there will be links you can follow below. (This feature hasn’t been working right lately, and it’s making me crazy!)
Anyway, until next time, please stay safe.
July 26, 2021
Write a scene or story that includes a character who has a phobia. What do they fear? How does this phobia affect their life?
I decided to write a scene involving two of my favorite characters from the Harmony Duprie Mysteries. Harmony and Eli. For those of you who have read the series, this scene would fall between the The Contessa’s Brooch and The Samurai’s Inro. At the end of The Contessa’s Brooch, Harmony had promised Eli that she would fly down to Florida to start working for him, and he had promised her that he’d use the company’s jet to pick her up instead of making her take a commercial flight when he figured out she has a fear of flying.
*****
The path on my maps app showed our path going straight, but Eli had flipped on his turn signal. Had he changed his mind, and we were driving to Florida? I could hope. “This isn’t our turn,” I said as I put my phone in my lap and wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. He’d told me to dress for comfort.
“The jetport has its own exit.” A wide grin lightened his face. “You’re in for a treat.”
“Nothing that has to do with getting on an airplane is fun.” I wiggled in my padded and heated seat. “This is a nice car. I’d love to take it for a long drive with you. Like all the way to Florida.”
“We’ll make that happen some day, Harmony. But not this time. I have a full slate of meetings tomorrow, and you need to be there for a few of them as part of your training.” He patted my knee.
“I got myself into this fix, didn’t I? I should have never accepted the offer to work for you.” It had seemed like a good idea. I had a hard time resisting when he batted his pale blue eyes at me.
He laughed. “I’m not going to need to pull a Mr. T. intervention on you, am I?”
“Mr. T.?”
“Old TV show. The tough guy on a team had a fear of flying. They had to come up with creative ways to drug him and get him on a plane to their next job almost every week.”
“I thought that soda you bought for me tasted funny. You didn’t…”
“No, I wouldn’t. But I’m not afraid to throw you over my shoulder and carry you onto the jet if I need to.”
“One time. One time you pulled that trick. And we were headed to the bedroom, not an airplane, and I wasn’t fighting.”
“That sounds like a challenge.” He turned onto a side road. “We can test it tonight. I’ll carry you to my bed. At my house. In Florida. That’s another benefit of taking the company jet.”
“Good selling point, but what else can you throw in to sweeten the pot?”
“Comfy leather chains you can stretch out in? Your pick of adult beverages, including your favorite wine? Not needing to go through TSA security or wait in line to board? Me to keep you company?”
“They all sound nice.” I wasn’t sold, I laid my hand on my thigh and and squeezed to hide the trembling.
Eli pulled into a parking spot but didn’t turn off the engine. He turned to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “You never have told me why you’re afraid to fly.”
“I never told you I was afraid to fly.”
He moved his hand and rubbed my neck just below my bun. “You didn’t need to say the words.”
I leaned into the massage, and the tautness in my muscles eased. His phone rang, and I missed the warmth of his touch when he answered it.
Eli’s side of the conversation was mostly words of acknowledgment, and I wondered who he was talking to. It wasn’t a normal business discussion. “We’ll be in the lounge when you are ready,” he said. “See you soon.”
He turned off the car. “That was Andy, my pilot. He’ll be landing soon. It’ll take a while to do paperwork, refuel, and he takes a break. We can wait in the visitors’ area.”
Every muscle in my body tensed. “I can’t do this, Eli.”
“One step at a time, Harmony. We’re just going inside and get a drink and use the restroom. You don’t even have to take your luggage. Andy will handle it. Okay? That way I can hold your hand.”
I swallowed back the lump in my throat.
He got out of the car, came around to the passenger’s side, opened the door, and crouched beside me. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“Blame it on my parents.” The bitter words dripped from my mouth.
He scrunched an eyebrows. “I thought they died in a mountain-climbing accident.”
“They did. I took them to the airport for their trip and they never came back. I don’t have a fear of flying, I have a fear of abandonment. Me abandoning everyone else. But only with airplanes. I don’t want to go somewhere and never return It’s not logical, but there it is.”
“And all those times I’ve left you, you’ve never said a word.”
“Because somehow I always knew you’d be back, and it was okay.”
Eli stood, stretched, and smiled. “There’s your answer! It’s logical. As long as we are together, we’ll both be okay. Right?”
I mulled over the logic, looking for flaws, and didn’t find any. “It can’t be that easy.”
“No, but it’s a start. Let’s go inside.” He held out his hand.
After undoing my seatbelt, I accepted his help to get out of the car. I stood glued to the spot, searching for courage.
He slipped his arm around my waist. “It’s only to the lounge. One step at a time.”
How had I’d missed it? Eli was my courage. I leaned into him. “One step at a time. But we’re going to discuss the fact that you’re taking it for granted we’ll be sharing a bed tonight.”
*****
To read what our other authors have to say about their character’s phobias, follow the links below. And, until next time, please stay safe!
July 26, 2021
Write a scene or story that includes a character who has a phobia. What do they fear? How does this phobia affect their life?
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.
July 5, 2021
If your character wanted to wear a disguise, how would they dress?
I giggled as Lando adjusted the support stockings. They hid the thick bandages he had wrapped each leg with to make them appear fatter. “Luckily it’s getting chilly outside,” he said, handing me a heavy sweater. “The more layers of clothing you wear the less you resemble yourself.”
With the foam form strapped around my belly, I thought I had plenty of padding already. It was designed to give a man the concept of the extra weight women carry when they are pregnant, but mostly it made me look fat. The over-sized dress with the huge Hawaiian flower pattern exaggerated the effect. Under all the foam and extra layers of clothing, it wouldn’t be long before I started to sweat.
The gray wig was a nice touch too. It was hard getting all my hair to stay under it, and thank heavens the curly hair hid the lump my bun made. Lando worried the makeup he had applied didn’t fill my face out enough, but he did the best job possible with his limited supplies. He hoped the huge glasses he’d found would help. The plain thick glass meant I still needed my contacts. The ugly white nurse’s shoes were a size too big, but with the thick socks they fit just about right.
A cane was the last accessory. To put any weight on it, I had to lean forward. He stood back, nodding and admiring his work. “Well, I think that’s it, Aunt Martha,” he said grinning.
I smiled back and pointed the end of the cane at him. “That’s enough out of you, sonny.”
From The Marquesa’s Necklace
That’s the first time we got to see Harmony Duprie in disguise. It wasn’t an outfit she picked, but it worked. Several times, actually, until it got a bit too well-known and she had to abandon it.
Photo by Antonio Friedemann from Pexels
Where did her friend Lando get his knowledge of makeup and camouflage? He’s a cosplayer, and had build several elaborate costumes. I like to think he got his start doing theatre in high school, trying to impress a cute girl.
It wasn’t the last disguise Harmony adopted in the series. She soon discovered how useful changing her appearance was when to went to local bars to do ‘research’ on whatever mystery she was investigating. She also found out how many tutorials there are on the internet to give her step-by-step instructions on applying makeup, wigs, and other essentials for becoming someone new.
Most of my camouflage came from thrift shops in Pittsburgh. Old jeans, tank tops, and plaid shirts, paid for in cash, to make the purchases untraceable. All except for the bright red wig. It came from a costume store. Still, it looked real.
And I’d spent far too much time watching on-line videos on techniques for applying makeup. My makeup supplies had swelled to never-before-seen proportions. I hadn’t owned this many colors of eye shadows and lipsticks even in high school.
For a finishing touch, I knotted the pink plaid shirt under my breasts, exposing the black tank top underneath it. With a final fluff of the wig, I nodded in satisfaction. In the harsh lights of my bathroom, I looked sufficiently unlike myself to suit my purposes. And in the typical dim lighting of a typical bar, my alter-ego should fool everyone.
From The Baron’s Cufflinks
Harmony is aware that going in disguise isn’t the answer to all situations. That doesn’t stop her from planning elaborate costumes and scenarios to get the answers she’s needs. It’s a challenge, and one she enjoys.
What about the other authors on this hop? Do their characters utilize disguises? Find out by following the links below. And, until next time, please stay safe!
July 5, 2021
If your character wanted to wear a disguise, how would they dress?
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.
June 14, 2021
Write a top 10 list in the voice of a character. Is your character a person making a bucket list? How about someone listing their greatest fears? What does the list they make say about the character?
I knew this one was going to be tough from the moment I posted it. Most of my major characters live for the moment and don’t make bucket lists, so I decided I’d do it from the voice of one of my secondary characters. Folks, meet Lando Soldati.
Lando is a tall, lanky programmer at Shifter Technologies, and one of the first employees hired by Eli Hennessey. He’s smart but doesn’t take life seriously, which makes him the perfect sidekick for Eli., who has a habit of overthinking things. Lando changes his hair color regularly, and his favorite accessory is a bright red mohawk hairpiece.
Now for his bucket list, in his words and in no particular order:
And that’s Lando for you. Sweet guy who hasn’t got life figured out yet, but is working on it. I’ve tried giving him his own love interest a time or two, but it’s never worked out.
Don’t forget to check out the lists from the other authors on the hop. You can find them by following the links below.
As always, until next time, please stay safe!
June 14, 2021
Write a top 10 list in the voice of a character. Is your character a person making a bucket list? How about someone listing their greatest fears? What does the list they make say about the character?
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.
June 7, 2021
What commercial do you hate? What commercial is your favorite? (YouTube link us if possible) Have you ever gotten an idea for a story from a commercial?
DISCLAIMER: This is another post in the “Why did P.J. pick this topic?” category, because I don’t watch TV. One reason is because I HATE commercials. What I love to do is pick them apart, point out all the weak spots and generalizations, and ruin my husband’s TV watching experience. I have learned to ignore them even if I am sitting in the same room. I used that in my Harmony Duprie Mysteries. Harmony doesn’t watch TV either, except for the weather and the occasional documentary.
That doesn’t mean I’m not exposed to commercials. Yes, I see them from the corner of my eye even if I don’t pay attention to what they are selling. And hate is a strong word, but there are some that I strongly dislike. Sorry, Flo with Progressive Insurance, I’m side-eyeing you.
I get it. The commercials are supposed to be humorous. But they don’t make me laugh, and Flo’s ‘personality’ grates on my nerves. I’m amazed the advertising company keeps using the same setup, but it must reach the audience they want. I’d think lots of people would be tired of it, but I’m no marketing guru.
That’s part of my issue – how frequently a commercial is aired. Show it me me one time and I may be mildly amused. Play it five times in the same day and I’m over it. Done. Don’t want to see it again. I wasn’t going to buy the product anyway.
Are there any commercials I enjoy? Hmm. The only ones I can think of I caught on YouTube, and I’m not sure they’re being played on TV. They are from Realtor.com, and feature a series of monsters looking for new homes- and what happens when they find one. I’ve seen four different versions, and I like the vampire one the best. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5UPI8x70ag
The question about having been inspired by a commercial? I’m not touching that one with a ten-foot pole. I think you know the answer.
I’m sure there are creative commercials out there, so I wonder what the other authors will come up with. Let’s find out by following the links below.
And, until next time, please stay safe.
June 7, 2021
What commercial do you hate? What commercial is your favorite? (YouTube link us if possible) Have you ever gotten an idea for a story from a commercial?
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.
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.
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.
April 26, 2021
Prologues and Epilogues. Yes or no?
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.
