It seems impossible that it’s nearly Easter, but here we are, and life is just as crazy busy as ever. I stopped today to look at my planner, see what I’ve done this year and how many of those things were on my goals sheet. You have a goals sheet don’t you? During the year I often check back to see if I’m where I want to be. A lot of times when the excitement has drained from our writing or we’re bored with the tedium of work and responsibilities, it’s because we’ve forgotten our dreams.
There are mortgages to pay and kids to raise and groceries to buy and dinners to prepare. Besides that there are books to promote and cars that need oil changes and graduations and—fill in the blank. That’s life. But tucking away our aspirations at the expense of our personal well-being isn’t healthy. Eventually we resent the things that are “robbing” us, instead of enjoying each facet for the richness it brings. Certainly there is joy to be found in the dream of your own home and in the treasure of children, but sometimes we pause in the midst of all that busyness to wonder, “Is this all there is?” There has to be more, and we yearn to find fulfillment within ourselves. That’s most often the time to reprioritize our busy schedules.
Look at the goals you set for this year. If you missed the mark, just start over. Don’t beat yourself up over what you didn’t do; just start today and look forward. If you didn’t make a list, it’s not too late to get started. Take time now. Sit down and write five things you dream of doing. Divide them into categories if you like: Family, Professionally, Writing, Spiritually, or Just for Me. Now select one that you will devote yourself to work on before the end of summer. Make another list of the steps you will take to see that accomplishment come to pass.
Now take those steps. Recapture the joy. We need to be participants in our lives, not spectators. We need to be passionate about our dreams. Sometimes simply revisiting our dreams is the kick we need to change our thinking and get us out of a rut. So dream big and dream often.
All the photos are mine.
If you haven’t read Donnelly’s Promise yet, you can read it in its entirely here for free:
It’s always a delight to share my garden photos! Spring has come early to the Midwest. Trees and perennials are already flowering. My bleeding heart, which is on the north side of the house beside ferns that have been moved from yard to yard since I got them from my grandfather thirty years ago, is not quite blooming, so I’m sharing last year’s photos.
The Royal Horticultural Society is an old group of plant lovers who sought out new and unusual flora. In the 18th century, rare and unique plants were being shipped to the UK from China and Japan. Robert Fortune was sent to find and bring back Asian specimens. He is credited with introducing bleeding heart in 1847. The plant name for what is commonly known as bleeding heart is Dicentras
The informal herbal and perennial gardens of the Victorian era were perfect places for bleeding heart. The beauties flourished beneath the branches of elms, alders, maples or other shade trees. The traditional English cottage garden has also been a favorite planting place for the bleeding heart. The plant’s habit of blooming all summer with fall and winter dormancy, make it an important part of both spring and early summer gardens.
Native Americans used the wild bleeding heart medicinally. Wild Dicentras carpeted forest floors in the Pacific Northwest. It was used as a tincture or compress to relieve pain. The wild plants are lower growing and smaller than Dicentras spectabilis, but are identical in foliage type and have the classic heart-shaped flowers.
I hope you enjoy my photos today!
My April book The Wedding Journey is now available for order on amazon and the Kindle release will be available on the first.
Drumroll please…..
I’m giving away ALL THREE SIGNED BOOKS IN THE TRILOGY to one person who leaves a comment today.
When Harlequin does a continuity series, a group of editors come up with a concept and invite the authors they want to participate. The authors are given what is termed ‘the bible,’ a two or three page synopsis of each story and a brief sketch of each character. An overall concept is included, explaining how the threads connect the stories.
After that, it’s up to the authors to put their heads together and collectively figure out how they’re going to make this idea work—and how they will create their individual stories to keep the plots logical and the stories exciting enough to carry them through however many pages.
I’ve participated in several Montana Mavericks continuities, both historical and contemporary, as well as a contemporary continuity about a fertility clinic. One of the most critical parts of this whole process is the brainstorming and chemistry between the participating authors. A good group makes all the difference, so I was delighted after Love Inspired Historical asked me to write the first book in the Irish Brides trilogy I learned Renee Ryan and Winnie Griggs were the other two authors.
I’m fortunate that Winnie is my sister Filly here at Wildflower Junction and Renee is a member of my RWA chapter, so the three of us already knew each other. Working with them was a joy, and I can only hope they feel the same way about my participation. We plotted and shared and wrangled plot points until each of us had a great story to write.
The premise and setting set me back for only a few minutes. Three orphaned Irish sisters leave their homeland and travel to America in hopes of finding a man they discover loved their mother. They need a place to live as well as a new start. I’d only ever written American-set stories and only a couple set as early as 1850. As soon as I began my research I was hooked. The history of these sisters came to life for me, and I had the privilege of setting up each character—with Renee and Winnie’s guidance of course.
I prepared myself for the narrative and dialogue by watching every Irish movie I could fit into my schedule. Quite a hardship I assure you. My favorite is always Far and Away, but there are other great ones.
I enjoyed populating the sailing vessel, the Annie McGee with colorful sojourners and creating conflicts for my character, Maeve Murphy. I slipped in one cowboy, who is traveling back home–couldn’t resist. The tale of The Wedding Journey unfolds onboard the ship, as Maeve is given a position as the physician’s assistant, and their trip is underway. Renee and Winnie have written the stories of Bridget and Nora, Maeve’s older sisters, whose tales begin once the ship docks in Boston Harbor.
Once my story was finished, Harlequin asked me to write a free online serial for their website, and gave me free license to come up with a prequel to the Irish Brides. Again I dove into research for something to snag my interest and found stories of the poor starving Irish being sent to penitentiaries for stealing food or not paying their landowners. The story sprang to life from there.
In 1850 Ireland, Darcy Keegan secretly plans to escape the drudgery of the prison where her father is warden to start a life elsewhere. Her plans are thwarted by a young boy who’s been imprisoned and whom she can’t bring herself to leave until she knows he will be safe.
Vaughn Donnelly has recently returned to Castleville to add a wing to the penitentiary, and is captivated by the young lass he observes in the prison yard. His job prevents him from staying, so love and marriage are out of the question–or are they? When he intervenes on behalf of a lad being mistreated, he wins the admiration of the Irish lass he admires.
Their shared concern for the laddie quickly turns into something more–read Donnelly’s Promise FREE on the Harlequin website: CLICK HERE
By the time I finished with these two stories I thought and dreamed everything with an Irish accent! I had so much fun with these characters and their tales of love that I can’t wait for readers to discover them.
I love romances. Really. I write them and read them. But there are some things in romance novels that just make me crazy, and I know I’m not the only one.
In no particular order these things irritate me:
1 . The heroine has tiny feet. How many people actually think of their own feet as tiny?
2 . The heroine falls asleep thinking about what’s going to happen. Yawn.
3. The heroine has “small perfect” teeth. Or pearl-like or even. Why does the writer feel the need to tell us that?
4. Jumping in and out of heads/point of view. Do readers notice or care when we know what the cab driver is thinking?
5. A couple jumping into bed before I care about them – or before they care about each other. :::yawn:::
6. The ending feels rushed, as though the author only had a few remaining pages in which to resolve everything.
7. A story that starts out with so much backstory that I feel as though I’ve missed the previous book.
8. Heroines who giggle.
9. Heroines who only need a shower and a little lip gloss to look like JLo. Yeah, right.
10. Heroes with bad attitudes and nobody ever calls them on it. He’s full of himself, bossy and arrogant. I just don’t like jerks.
11. Heroes who growl. Really? If a man growled at you would you fall all over him?
12. Heroines who purr or mewl. :::meow:::
13. Impossible dialogue tags: “He husked” How does one husk?
14. Ridiculous dialogue tags: “He barked” Excuse me? Are you barking at me? Down boy.
15. Euphemisms. You know the ones I mean. Call a body part by its name or simply elude to it, but don’t bring pomegranates or roots into a love scene.
16. A heroine who cries. A good cry once—maybe twice—is acceptable as long as it’s well motivated. For me, the black moment or an overdue confession is a good reason to cry. But please not weeping and tearing up all through the story. A lot more emotion can be conveyed if the character holds back tears. Strength can be great characterization.
17. Characters who say the other person’s name repeatedly. I understand all about keeping story people separate for the reader, but people don’t speak to each other that way—unless they’re angry, usually.
18. Couples who argue without good reason. This is not conflict, people, this is bickering!
19. Heroines who are too young. Ewww.
20. Purple eyes. Do you know ANYONE with purple eyes?
I doubt I’ve covered it all. Is there anything I missed that sets your teeth on edge?
I can’t let a December go by without a blog about Christmas trees. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a nut for beautifully decorated trees. At one time I put up four or five in my home, but since our downsize, I’ve taken to enjoying other people’s trees all the more. In fact I hold the Annual Great Christmas Tree Tour every year from Thanksgiving to Christmas. If you haven’t already sent me a photo of your tree, please don’t wait any longer! Here’s my email: SaintJohn@aol.com
It’s difficult to get good photos of Christmas trees without fancy lenses, but if you know how to slow down the shutter speed, you can do a pretty good job.
Every year since our children were small, we’ve spent an evening driving around and enjoying the lights. The houses are so lovely. Some people are extreme in their decorating, but my favorite part is still seeing that lighted tree in the front window. Over the holidays I usually have a chance to see several of our friends’ homes and trees, and I never get tired of the experience.
Late in the Middle Ages, Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees inside their homes or just outside their doors to show their hope in the forthcoming spring. Records have it that the first Christmas tree can be traced to France in 1521, though the Germans are most often credited with its origin. (OTannenbaum) The first trees were decorated with apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers for the pleasure of the wealthy people’s children.
George Washington didn’t have a Christmas tree. Many colonial religions banned celebrations, claiming that they were tied to pagan traditions. The New England Puritans passed a law that punished anyone who observed the holiday with a five-shilling fine. The Quakers treated Christmas Day as any other day of the year. The Presbyterians didn’t have formal services until they noticed that their members were heading to the English church to attend theirs! This sparked the Presbyterian Church to start their own. It was the Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Lutherans who introduced Christmas celebrations to colonial America. December 25th actually began a season of festivities that lasted until January 6th–the Twelve days of Christmas. January 6th was called Twelfth Day, and colonists found it was the perfect occasion for balls, parties and other festivals.
Legend has it that one crisp Christmas Eve around 1500, Martin Luther was walking through snow-covered woods and was struck by the beauty of a group of evergreens. Their branches, dusted with snow, shimmered in the moonlight. When he got home, he set up a little fir tree indoors so he could share this story with his children. He decorated it with candles, which he lighted in honor of Christ’s birth.
In the early 19th century, decorating a tree became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in 1816, and the custom spread across Austria.
In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess who later became England’s Queen Victoria wrote, “After dinner…we then went into the drawing-room near the dining room…There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments, all the presents being placed round the trees.” A young Victoria often visited Germany and most likely picked up the customs she enjoyed. A woodcut of the royal family with their Christmas tree at Osborne House, initially published in the Illustrated London News of December 1848, was copied in the United States at Christmas in 1850. Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable–not only in Britain, but with the fashion-conscious east coast American society.
Margaret Brownley's Lucky Horseshoe Tree
A German immigrant living in Ohio was the first to decorate a tree with candy canes. In 1847, Imgard cut a blue spruce tree from a woods outside town, had the Wooster village tinsmith construct a star, and placed the tree in his house, decorating it with paper ornaments and candy canes. The canes were all white with no red stripes.
Ornaments were made by hand during those early years. Young ladies spent hours quilting snowflakes and stars, sewing little pouches for secret gifts and paper baskets with sugared almonds in them. Popcorn and cranberries were strung on thread and draped as garland. Tin was pierced to create lights and lanterns to hold candles, which glowed through the holes. People hunted the general stores for old magazines with pictures, rolls of cotton wool and tinsel, which was occasionally sent from Germany or brought in from the eastern states. Small toys were placed on the branches. Most of the trees at this time were small and sat on a tabletop. They weren’t the six and seven foot trees we think of today when we think of Christmas trees.
Some believe the Christmas tree tradition most likely came to the United States with Hessian troops during the American Revolution, or with German immigrants to Pennsylvania and Ohio. Most resources site Germans as some of the first to decorate Christmas trees. But the custom spread slowly. The Puritans banned Christmas in New England. Even as late as 1851, a Cleveland minister nearly lost his job because he allowed a tree in his church.
Tracy Garrett's Tree
The Christmas tree market was born in 1851 when a Catskill farmer by the name of Mark Carr hauled two ox sleds of evergreens into New York City and sold them all. By 1900 one in five American families had a Christmas tree, and twenty years later the custom was nearly universal.
In 1880 England, Christmas trees became a glorious hotchpotch of everything one could cram on and grew to floor-standing trees. They were still a status symbol, the more affluent the family, the larger the tree.
The High Victorian of the 1890’s was a child’s joy to behold! It stood as tall as the room, and was crammed with glitter and tinsel and toys galore. Even the middle classes managed to over decorate their trees. It was a case of anything goes. Everything that could possibly go on a tree went onto it. Kind of like my philosophy: More is more.
The Christmas tree market was born in 1851 when Catskill farmer Mark Carr hauled two ox sleds of evergreens into New York City and sold them all. By 1900, one in five American families had a Christmas tree, and 20 years later, the custom was nearly universal.
Christmas tree farms sprang up during the depression. Nurserymen couldn’t sell their evergreens for landscaping, so they cut them for Christmas trees. Cultivated trees were preferred because they have a more symmetrical shape then wild ones. A F.W. Woolworth brought the glass ornament tradition from Germany to the United States in 1890. I love vintage ornaments, how about you?
If you don’t have a copy of Snowflakes and Stetsons yet, order a copy so you can read it sitting by the tree, sipping hot cocoa.
Do you have memories of Christmas trees from your youth? Remember tinsel trees, those aluminum lovelies with the turnwheel light that made it change colors? My grandma had one of those. I inherited a few of her decorations: A set of cardboard houses crusted with glitter that have tissue paper windows and a set of Santa and reindeer that were among the first products made from plastic.
Yesterday I received my Harlequin Worldbeat Author Newsletter. Each addition includes kudos for milestones. Here are a few impressive stats:
95th Book
Carla Cassidy—THE LAWMAN’S NANNY OP
Susan Mallery—SISTER OF THE BRIDE
Gina Wilkins—THE DOCTOR’S UNDOING
Sherryl Woods—HONEYSUCKLE SUMMER
110th Book
Rebecca Winters—HER DESERT PRINCE
160th Book
Carole Mortimer—CHRISTMAS AT MULBERRY HALL
205th Book
Marie Ferrarella—THE DOCTOR’S FOREVER FAMILY
Impressed much?
That got me to thinking about how many of us are not living up to our potential.
As authors, one of the questions we hear most frequently is, “How can I get published?” You know those mega writers hear it all the time. The answer is as simple or as complex as the author has time to share. Basically, write the best possible book you can and submit it to the perfect editor. Is it as easy as it sounds? Definitely not. Writing a book is hard work and getting it published traditionally is no guarantee.
If you’re inexperienced and thinking you can write better than the author who wrote the last book you read—so you’re going to be published tomorrow, think again. If you’ve never written a book before, I’m pretty sure you don’t write as well as the author whose book you just finished. I wrote several books over several years before I learned how to write to sell and finally sold one.
Some people think their book deserves to get published because they had such a wonderful idea or because their mother loves the story. They spent a whole two months working on the manuscript. I’ve actually had people say to me, “I’ve always wanted to write a book, so I’m going to do it when I get a few free weekends.” That’s like saying, “I’ve always wanted to play pro football, so I’m going to scrimmage with Darren McFadden on my next summer vacation.”
Writing is an art. Art takes training, sacrifice and dedication. Of course writing involves talent, but much of writing is learnable, and the learnable parts require study and self-evaluation. To write well enough to sell in today’s tough market, you must learn the craft and come up with a product an editor won’t be able to refuse.
There are a million books out there to help you learn to write, so how do you choose? The books that writers find valuable are as varied as the writers themselves, but start with the basics: Characterization, conflict, plot, grammar, self-editing. If writing is going to be more than a hobby, you’ll need to learn the business. If you want your work published and readers to come back for more, you must commit to both the craft and to learning about publishing.
How To Books:
* Techniques of The Selling Writer, Dwight V. Swain
University of Oklahoma Press: Norman ISBN # 0-8061-1191-7
* Writing the Breakout Novel, Donald Maass, Writer’s Digest, ISBN # 0-89879-995-3
* The Complete Writer’s Guide to heroes & Heroines, Tami Cowden, ISBN #1-58065-024-4
* Building Believable Characters, Marc McCutcheon, Writer’s Digest ISBN # 0-89879-683-0
* Creating Characters, How To Build Story People, Dwight V. Swain, Writer’s Digest
ISBN #0-89879-417-X
* Plot & Structure, James Scott Bell ISBN #1-58297-294-X
Basics:
* Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary
* Random House Dictionary of the English Language, unabridged edition
* Roget’s International Thesaurus
Inspiration:
* Writing on Both Sides of the Brain, Henriette Anne Klauser, ISBN # 0-06-254490-X
* On Writing, Stephen King
First you need to figure out which genre you’re writing in. Genre is a marketing tool used to distinguish types of stories. Go to a bookstore and compare which books are the most like yours to figure out where your books will be shelved. There’s so much to learn. How do you get help deciphering all this stuff?
Find a national support organization for your genre. Browse their websites. There are national groups such as Science Fiction Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, Western Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, America Christian Fiction Writers. You might find a local statewide writers’ organization.
You are not looking for a writing group. You are looking for an organization designed for advocacy and information. Most have membership fees on national or local levels, and you must consider this an investment in your career. Dues are tax deductible. Membership provides you with market updates, editor and agent information, submission guidelines, online mailing lists, conference information, writers groups and critique groups, just to name a few benefits.
Here are reasons to join a local chapter:
Market updates
Contests
Local writing retreats
Monthly support meetings
Critique groups
Online support and brainstorming
Teaching programs by professional writers
Research help and tips
Yearly goal setting program
Conference information
Editor and agent tips
Submission guidelines
Recognition for writing achievements
Others have as many characters in their heads as you & therefore don’t consider you a lunatic
Be a learner. If you ever think you know it all, there’s a problem. Be willing to take instruction. If you’re saving or printing how-to articles and pouring over them, you’re on the right track. Take every class available. In social situations with authors, be a good listener. You will often learn as much at lunch as you will in a workshop.
Be willing to write badly. Be willing to make mistakes. Even the NYT best sellers started at the same point you’re at. Get the words on the page and then fix them–or do it better the next time.
Be a friend and an encouragement to others. I’m a firm believer that what goes around comes around. Choose your friends and critique partners wisely. Surround yourself with positive, encouraging people who lift you up.
Set goals and mark them out in your datebook. Share them and ask a friend to hold you accountable.
Believe in yourself. People might tell you your goal is impossible to achieve. Others might criticize your genre or your dogged determination. Someone along the way will likely hurt your feelings. So believe in yourself, even if you’re the only one who does.
How many of you have a book inside, but have never taken the first steps?
I just love writing novellas for the western Christmas anthologies and am always tickled when my editor invites me to participate. I’d wanted to do a train story for a long time, so when I got the call, I immediately started thinking about a train. Some stories are meant for novellas and others have enough plot for a full length book. A wise writer knows which is which. I often come up with a story idea and then tuck it away for the future, because the premise won’t sustain a full-length novel.
This time I didn’t go to those stored ideas, I sat down and brainstormed new characters. Characters always come first. Once they’re established, I know what they’ll do and how the plot will come together.
Jonah had a few other names in the process—names are a number one priority for my creative process. Without the perfect names I can’t move forward. I considered and dismissed Cole McAdam, Grady Neville, Ivan Kingsley and Jeremiah Thorpe among others. But Jonah Cavanaugh won out. He sounds like a duty-bound U.S. Marshal, doesn’t he? He’s inflexible, honorable, protective and always on the lookout for danger. With Jonah it’s all about duty.
Meredith was always Meredith. Her name came to me with the story premise, and she was the easiest to flesh out. Born into a well-to-do family with a railroad tycoon father, Meredith is living up to expectations. She doesn’t like to feel ordinary. Nothing is grand enough for her; she loves drama, and she has an adventurous spirit. She’s competent, bossy, headstrong and used to getting her own way. But while Meredith is fearless, she hides her lack of confidence regarding her true worth.
Now to get these two together.
Christmas = snow.
A few days before Christmas Jonah is protecting a gold shipment on a train pulling the Abbott’s luxury Pullman. When he spots a notorious bandit aboard, he knows there’s trouble coming, so he alerts the engineer and uncouples the last three cars, stranding the mail car, the luggage car—and the Pullman in a blizzard.
Little does he suspect the railroad heiress is traveling alone on her way to a Christmas Eve party in Denver, where her suitor will propose. Now, not only does he have a strongbox filled with gold to protect, but a pampered female—and before the day’s out—two stowaway orphans.
I had so much fun writing this story about the true meaning of Christmas and the promise of love that I believe it’s one of my favorites. If you’ve already read it, I hope you’ll leave me the gift of a comment or brief review on amazon.
If you leave an amazon review today CLICK HERE, send me a quick email: SaintJohn@aol.com and I’ll add your name to a drawing for this beautiful 50” single strand bead necklace! (The round disk beads are pale pink, which you can’t see well in my photo.)
If you haven’t read Snowflakes and Stetsons yet, here’s the link to order:
If you order today, let me know and I’ll add your name to the drawing.
Among my favorites by other authors are Mary Balough’s Christmas anthologies. Many readers tell me that the novellas are their favorite Christmas reads and they buy them all. Are you one of those readers?
Wrongly imprisoned, Caleb McGraw is finally free—but the bitterness he holds still makes him feel trapped. Until he sees the beautiful Caroline holding a little boy with eyes just like his own. Discovering his long-lost son is just the start of Caleb’s Christmas miracles!
Christmas at Cahill Crossing by Carol Finch
One Christmas night, outcast Lucas Burnett finds a silver-haired angel buried in the snow. But Rosalie Greer is no pale spirit—she’s a fiery, independent woman, as wild as the mustangs Lucas breeds. Can she be the one to finally thaw Lucas’s frozen heart?
A Magical Gift at Christmas by Cheryl St.John
Meredith has always dreamed of a grand life but, stranded on a train in heavy snowfall with two young stowaways, she unexpectedly finds she has everything she needs with just one strong man to protect her….
As the rest of you probably have, I checked out both Borders stores in my city for bargains. I put two baby name books back on the shelf, but bought one. The Big Book of 60,000 Baby Names. I already had ten name books. So…I threw away two of the old ones. I never even realized until making an inspection of my shelf that they were tattered and the pages were actually yellow. I use them all the time. All the time.
My stories don’t begin to unfold until I’ve named my characters and named them correctly. How do I know if a name is right? I can’t explain it. If their name is right, I can see them. I can hear them talk. I can create scenes and situations for them. If a name is wrong, there is no story.
Whenever I get an idea for a character or a plot or theme, I grab my binder with my worksheets, a notebook and a couple of fun pens, a cup of chai tea, and then make myself comfy on the sofa. I use a story grid to flesh out my characters’ goals and motivations and the points of the story. But I use a stack of books and folders to find their names. I keep lists of everything, so of course I have lists of names I want to use. I didn’t mention the name folder, did I? Oh, or the NY name index encyclopedia or my reverse name dictionary.
I am not obsessive. I’m thorough. (You may quote me.)
Most important for me is that the character’s name sound like a real person—and a real person I’d want to know. It must be a name that I won’t mind typing 400 times. I just checked one of my books, and I’d used the hero’s name 403 times. Sometimes I fall in love with a name, but it’s tough to type quickly, so what I do is create an autocorrect for it in Word. For example, if the heroine’s name is Elisabeth Ann, I create an auto correct so that each time I type in elsb+spacebar, it changes to the name I want.
Where do I get my lists of names? Lots of places. I’m an avid movie watcher and also check out the new season TV shows. If I sit with a notebook and a fun pen (notice how pens are required to be special?) I can call it work. So I watch every line of the credits and write down names I like. If I’m watching a movie, I’ll take notes regarding what worked for me and what didn’t. It’s research. I save graduation programs, school band programs and baby name books. I’ve come home from many a burial with names from gravestones written on the back of my memorial folder. If you browse the library book sales and Friends of the Library sales, you can find vintage registers and books about county and state officers, townships, etc. filled with names. These type books often include maps with street names and businesses.
What else is important when choosing a name? Sometimes nationality. Sometimes connotation: I probably wouldn’t name a nuclear physicist Tiffany. No offense to any nuclear physicists named Tiffany, but it just wouldn’t work for most of us. Tiffany is a teenager’s best friend. On the other hand, you can go against stereotype, for instance naming an enormous woman Daisy or a tiny dog Rambo.
It’s confusing to the reader if two characters’ names are similar or their names start with the same letter. Personally, I get lost if a writer does that. I catch that first letter and if they are two similar, my brain doesn’t associate it quickly enough, so I constantly rethink and recheck to see who this person is and am jerked out of the story. Here’s how I prevent that confusion and others with names:
For each book I keep a 5×7 index card with all the characters’ names handy. At the bottom I write the alphabet. Every time I use a letter in a first or last name I put a strike through a letter. Of course I often use a letter two or three times, but some are for last names and others for secondary characters that won’t be confused.
I also create a “style sheet” for each book. This is a page or two that I turn in with the manuscript. It contains a list of all the character names and all the places, streets, businesses, proper nouns. This reference helps me in creation of the story and in turn helps the copy editor. Sure comes in mighty handy when I do a sequel!
Once or twice I’ve gotten hung up in the creation of my story in the planning stages or first chapters. The story person’s name had been nagging at me, because I never was quite sold on it. So I changed the name and the story moved on.
Once when I had revised a story proposal, taking out the hero and replacing him, I was completely stumped for a name and couldn’t develop the guy. I held a contest on my blog to name him. As soon as I saw a particular name, I knew it was the right one. With his name in place, the character sprang to life.
My October novella in the Snowflakes and Stetsons anthology is about U.S. Marshal Jonah Cavanaugh. He’s all about duty and justice. Meredith Abbot is the rich spoiled daughter of a railroad tycoon on her way to Denver for a Christmas ball. He looks like Gabriel Aubrey and she like Debra Messing. Can you picture them? Mix in a gang of robbers after a gold shipment, a Pullman stranded in a blizzard over Christmas, and you have…well a lot of fun and some serious kisses.
The story I just finished is The Wedding Journey for Love Inspired Historical. Now it’s a continuity book, so the editors came up with the bible and the names for main characters. All the rest of the names are mine however. Secondary character Aideen Nolan is a young-ish spinster who is traveling to America from Ireland. She meets a mysterious cowboy on board. His name is Judd Norton. It’s an 1850 Irish immigrant story that takes place entirely on a ship, and that was my way to get one cowboy into the book. Other secondary characters are Goldie McHugh, Henry Begg, Margaret Madigan, Michael Gibbon and Reverend Theobald Matthew.
I don’t like frivolous names or names that are difficult to pronounce. Even if I’m not reading aloud, I want to be able to know how to “think” it correctly. How about you? Is there anything you find distracting about a particular name or spelling of a name? Do you like names plain or exotic? Did you ever think about how much work goes into naming an entire cast of characters?
I’m excited about my July release Her Wyoming Man. This story was one of those that starts out as only a snippet of an idea I had scribbled on a paper until one day I looked it over and began to flesh it out. My original idea started out like Milk Money (Melanie Griffith) or The Substitute Wife (Farah Fawcett) but transformed into something different.
Originally I had planned for a third party to seek out a prostitute as a wife for his brother/father and for the man who marries her to think she’s a regular mail order bride. Would have worked.
But the more I thought on it, the more effective it seemed that the woman herself be the one to instigate the deception. She became a lovely courtesan, raised in a high class brothel in Dodge City and kept by one wealthy man. When he leaves town, she is desperate to avoid becoming available to the Saturday night cowboys, so she joins with a group of soiled doves and replies to an ad for mail order brides in a booming Colorado city.
Of course the hero isn’t simply a rancher. Oh no. He practically started this city single-handedly. He’s a well-educated widower and city attorney being pressured to take a wife to improve his image for the governor’s race. He’s smitten at first sight. And so the deception begins….
My favorite stories are those in which one of the characters is keeping a secret. Ella Reed’s secret is a doozy. After living the life of a near-prisoner, she is out in public and exposed to people for the first time. Everything is new and exciting. She knows how to pretend, but she doesn’t know how to be herself or a regular person. Reality takes a lot of getting used to. She quickly learns to love this life as a wife and mother. However, she lives in fear that the truth will bring her world tumbling down around her.
And of course, it eventually does just that.
I’ve written a couple books since writing this one, so it was fun to go back and look it over so I could tell you about it. Hope you look for Her Wyoming Man in stores now!
I love romances. Really. I write them and read them. But there are some things in romance novels that just make me crazy, and I know I’m not the only one.
4. Jumping in and out of heads/point of view. Do readers notice or care when we know what the cab driver is thinking?
8. Heroines who giggle.
14. Ridiculous dialogue tags: “He barked” Excuse me? Are you barking at me? Down boy.
20. Purple eyes. Do you know ANYONE with purple eyes?
