Welcome Guest – Julia Ridgmont

by

Could This Really Happen?

I’m 46 years old, and I can honestly say that my life has been stranger than a fictional story could ever tell—but it reads more like a horror story in places, so I’ll spare you the gory details. Don’t get me wrong—I have a great life, too, and appreciate the fact that the Lord has seen me through some very difficult circumstances that helped to shape me into the person I am today.

That being said, as an avid reader of romance before I ever wrote my first novel, I remember coming to the end of a book several times and thinking, That was a great story, but it never would’ve happened in real life. And it irked me that a writer would have the audacity to exaggerate so much, pushing what I felt was too far beyond the bounds of what could logically occur in real life.

This way of thinking was tempered when I became a writer. After being tutored by some highly successful authors, I realized that fiction needs to strike a balance between realism and fantasy—where the magic is less about abracadabra and more about the sparkles illuminating the characters. Believability is important for sure, but a reader also wants to escape reality and be immersed in a fairy tale for a while. I mean, what reader of romance doesn’t wait in breathless anticipation for the hero and heroine to kiss for the first time?

So when my heroine, Ariana Stover, finally meets her father again after being separated from him for almost twenty years, having thought he was dead, or another heroine, Emma Hutchins, runs off to help a U.S. Marshal apprehend a duo of wanted thieves, I look at these ideas and realize they could have actually happened, but if so, they were very uncommon experiences for young women living in the 1880s indeed. Another experienced writer, Regency author Sarah Eden, taught in a writing conference I attended a few years ago that if a writer of historical fiction asks her hero or heroine to break one of the conventions of society, the writer needs to make sure there’s a good reason for the character to do so. Along with the need for a good reason, the character needs to suffer the natural consequences later on for his or her decision.

I kept these nuggets of wisdom in mind as I crafted the plot of my Brides of Hope Hollow romance, Hope in Her Heart. The previous book, On the Wings of Hope, leaves Emma Hutchins caught in a bank during a robbery. Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—U.S. Marshal Patrick Carter also happens to be in the bank when the robbers storm inside. While Emma and Patrick come through the experience okay, they each have their reasons for chasing after the robbers once they leave the bank. (He, of course, being a lawman, needs to bring the criminals to justice, and she needs to recover her stolen necklace, which is a family heirloom.) I knew the bulk of this book would be spent with Emma and Patrick pursuing their quarries, and I needed to create ways they could spend enough time together to fall in love but still be watched over by chaperones for part of the time as well. Secondary characters to the rescue!

Or those secondary characters might be the foil to a larger scheme that Emma and Patrick need to uncover. And will they suffer the consequences of their decisions? You betcha! But in the process, they might just discover that the other is a prince and princess in disguise.


Today I’m offering signed paperback copies of On the Wings of Hope and Hope in Her Heart to a randomly chosen winner.

To enter the contest, comment with a fictional incident that gave you a jolt when you first read it, thinking it could never happen in real life, and then to your surprise, it did happen. Or comment with an incident you’ve seen or read about that actually happened and it made you think it would make a good fictional piece.

This is where the idea originated for Ariana’s father to come back into her life after being absent for so many years. I read an article about a Holocaust victim who thought his wife had died, and then was miraculously reunited with her many years later. Truly, real life can be, and often is, stranger than fiction. More importantly, the Lord is the author and finisher of our faith and can work miracles that our finite brains could never imagine!

 

 

 

+ posts

40 thoughts on “Welcome Guest – Julia Ridgmont”

  2. Would a modern day prince leave his country for love and in order to protect his family?

    But yet, we saw Prince Harry leave the UK to protect Meghan Markle…

    It seemed so surreal at the time.

  3. When my husband and I first started working at our state correctional facility, he worked with a guy who was raising his two children alone because (he told us) his wife died. He eventually remarried but that marriage didn’t work out. About ten years of being very close friends with this man, he introduced us to his “new” wife. This woman was actually his first wife and mother of his children! I remember my husband telling her, “You look very good for a dead woman!” Turns out that they had lived several states away and after splitting up, he had gone back and kidnapped his children during the night and later came up with the story that his wife had died.

  6. This is about a woman who follows a man from NH to Vt and married him. Lives in a home and has three children and pregnant with the fourth child and the house burns down and she has to walk a mile to the nearest home to use the phone in November. Then the community donates the materials to build a two room house with outdoor plumbing. Yes two rooms. Kitchen and livingroom in front part of the house and bedroom in the back. She then has two more children, a total of six. Divorces the man and raises the children on her own while working nights to support them. I know this because I am one of her children. She is a amazing woman and now she has Mild Cognitive Memory loss and Dementia. And the beginnings of Parkinson. When she was growing up she was in foster homes because her father passed away and mom was never around. She had a rough life growing up. Thank you for sharing your time with us all. Hugs. I hope this counts as one of your stories.

      • I forgot to mention that she remodeled the house into a five bedroom house with indoor plumbing. I wouldn’t change a thing I’m my life. I am what I am because of her hard work.

  7. I last saw my dad at age 3. After my mom and stepdad passed i started looking for my dad it took me 10 years to find him I wrote letters to ss and the war dept. He was living in Ca. Now i know why i liked movies and read lots of books because of him. I was 40 when i met him again.

  8. Good Morning, Julia! We live in exciting times as the darkness grows deeper, the glory of the Lord becomes brighter!

  9. I enjoyed your captivating post today. So unique and creative. being Jewish I believe in Beshert. I realize that in life there are coincidences but you also make opportunities. When I met my husband I was unaware of his close neighbor across the street to a member of our family. She was friends with aunts and knew my father and his abilities. She admired his hardworking ethics.

    • Beautiful story, Ruth! Isn’t it interesting how small the world can be at times? Years ago, before I was born, my aunt married a man from northern Arizona, and her sister, my other aunt, went to stay with them for a short while. There she met whom would eventually become my husband’s grandfather and started dating him. So glad that relationship didn’t work out, ha ha!

  10. Many years ago when I was a teen I met a young man whom I asked to a party. Unknown to me he was a relation because when his father drove to pick me up he recognized my father and grandmother. I never did hear anything further about it though. The young boy was smitten with the girl who hosted the party and she was not happy that I had brought him. He was persistent and she was angry with me since she had no interest at all in him. Eventually she moved to Ca.

  11. The difficulties which my parents experienced during their upbringing during the depression could fill several novels. Their courage to overcome adversity and raise a family was heartwarming, but beneath was the sadness and depression from their experiences.

    • I hear you, Anne! I grew up hearing some of those stories as well, and I’ve considered writing some stories of my own in that time frame. Don’t know if I’ll ever get around to it, though. God bless your parents! They sound like wonderful and hardy folks!

  12. Julia! I think of that story that comes around every once in a while about the couple who were separated from one another during the Holocaust and all their possessions, of course, were confiscated by the Nazis. In some town, a tornado had ripped through and made a large hole in the wall of the church, at the very back, behind where the pastor stood to preach. The only thing they could find that would cover the hole for the next day’s service was an antique lace tablecloth. It fit just right. Well, a little lady, very poor, came in to pray, and as she looked up to the front of the church, she saw that tablecloth, and she told the pastor, who had been talking with her, “I recognize that tablecloth!” She walked up to it and lifted the corner and showed him her initials that she had made into it. He tried to give it to her, but she said no. They needed it, that part of her life was gone, she would never even see her husband again, and she left. The next day, Sunday, a young woman brought an older man to church with her family, and as the pastor explained why there was a tablecloth up on the wall behind him, the man began to get very excited and told the young woman, “I know this tablecloth”, and as soon as the service ended, he ran to it and lifted up the corner and exclaimed “It is my darling’s tablecloth!” The pastor came to him and said “You know the woman who made this beautiful tablecloth?” “Yes, he exclaimed, ‘she was my wife and we were separated in Germany by the Nazi’s!” The pastor said “She was here yesterday, and I can take you to her!” He did, and they just fell into each other’s arms, sobbing with joy, that the Lord had brought them back to each other and all because of the beautiful tablecloth she had made! I’m sorry I took up so much space!!

  13. About 40 years ago I heard of a family who were both white, but when their 1st child was born, she was a black baby. The husband immediately accused the wife of having an affair, but she knew she hadn’t. She had someone check into both their ancestors and found her husband had a black great grandmother. The couple went back together and 2 more children. All 3 children were light complexion black children. The husband accepted and loved his children.

  14. Welcome, Julia. We’re so glad to have you back. When I was a girl I learned our next door neighbor’s daughter wasn’t really theirs. The man had won her in a poker game. She’d cry and tell me that one day she was going to find her real parents and ask them why they couldn’t love her. The man who’d won her was a disgusting drunk and made her life unbearable. My first published book dealt with this subject and people told me that could never happen. But yet it did. Enjoy your visit and best wishes for the success of your book.

    • Wow, Linda! I’m glad you wrote about that. I think these kinds of attitudes and behaviors need to be held up to the light for society to examine. I hope the girl eventually found the peace and happiness she deserved, too. Thank you for having me here. I’m enjoying being with you all today.

  15. Welcome today Julia. I have also read books that seem unrealistic. Leaves me wondering if it really was a good book or not. Yes I agree a great book has that line between fictional and realistic. Takes us a the reader on a trip but keeps realism in the balance. When I lived on the farm, I ate up Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour among others. We had a lot of things happen that would have been funny in books. My middle brother, John, wanted new boots like his other two brothers. Only problem was, his boots were still very good. And mom had five kids. No buying just for fun. When we needed clothes or shoes we got them. Anyway, mom and dad both told John no, he would have to wait. Well that was not good enough. So he proceeded to pull the heels of his boots off. Well dad was so upset that he would do that, he told John to go and get a big stick. He was going to get spanked. So John went off. He came back dragging a 2×4. Needless to say my dad didnt know what to do. Mom took the board and put it back. Pulled John into a room and talked to him. Then he got the spoon on his bare bottom. Dad put the heels back on his boots. He never did it again. Now at 62, he still wears cowboy boots. LOL

    • LOL, Lori! That must have been a sight to behold. I, too, have a mischievous brother. When we were younger, he decided to stick a piece of tinsel from the Christmas tree into the electrical socket to see what would happen. A loud boom sounded and then a big puff of smoke filled the room. When he came running into the other room afterward, his hair was standing up straight and his face was completely black. My mom expected him to keel over. Poor woman nearly had a heart attack. She says his guardian angel was always working overtime!

  16. Hi, Julia, thanks for the chance to win! Stories that tend to jolt me are ones where a woman is forced to give up her baby for adoption and years later their paths cross. Sometimes they know or find out about each other as their paths crossed and other times they themselves don’t realize they’ve come into contact with the very person they gave up for adoption. There are so many stories that really make me stop and think though. One recently was The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox.

    • Thank you for the book recommendation, Megan! I, too, enjoy stories that bring long-lost family members together. So heartwarming, and you can often see the hand of God in these things.

  17. When I was traveling on my way home after 3 years in the Peace Corps. I spent a few days in Bali. This was back in 1971 and it wasn’t as developed a tourist spot it is today. Traveling as I was on about 5 or 6 dollars a day, I was living on the local level. It had the advantage of letting me see the culture and the people as they really were. They believe that the good spirits start coming back into the world at midnight and as the day progresses , the evil spirits start coming back and by sunset they are dominant in the world. In discussions about religion and culture they talked about Curses being put on families and evil spirits taking possession of person’s body, all of which they firmly believed. Curses carried through generations and usually the evil spirit posses a young female of the family. I got a first hand of it and can say it is real. The room I was staying in at the compound/hostel had a window that looked out onto the courtyard next door. Every day the women of the family would make their floral offerings for the many shrines in the house and area. One evening I came back to my room hearing terrible screaming. Looking out the window I saw a young woman who had been strapped to a bamboo pallet being tended by the older woman of the household. She was screaming and pulling at her tethers. This was continuous and I finally left the room after an hour or so. When I came back, it was still going on. No one was hurting her, rather they were trying to prevent her from hurting herself or others. I stayed in the room and she finally quieted. It was exactly midnight. There were no clocks in the area nor watches and no one had come out to tell them what time it was. They untied her and went into the house as if nothing had happened. Talking to the man who ran the hostel, this happens every few weeks and is the result of a curse put on her family. I saw several other things that also did not make sense or seem real in our cultural realm. For instance a ceremony where they walked on hot coals.
    It is a big wonderful world out there. It is a shame so much of it has been “westernized” and so much of what makes these cultures special have been lost. The cultural representations have become a floor show for tourists.

    • Very interesting, Patricia! Thank you for sharing your experience there. I live in a somewhat sheltered world, and so I probably would have been uncomfortable seeing something like that. Very eye-opening!

  18. When I read Kristin Harmel’s book, The Book of Lost Names, I was so taken aback by what the Jewish person went through to leave Paris during WWII. The children that were saved by the false documents that the forgers made to get them to Switzerland. The details that had to be on these documents that all had to be completed by hand. This is a novel that has haunted me since I read the book. Merry Christmas. God bless you.

Comments are closed.