Bell Bridge Books

RESEARCH OBSESSION? ANYONE?

By Patricia McLinn

I’m a research junkie.  Love it. Especially when the research takes me back to Wyoming, as it did last week.

It was a delight to revisit the landscape and people that Elizabeth “E.M.” Danniher discovers in SIGN OFF, Book 1 in the “Caught Dead in Wyoming” series, when she’s dropped from her top-notch TV news job in New York into rustic Sherman, Wyoming. Newly divorced, newly arrived in Wyoming, she’s not sure where she’s going – or wants to go – in her career or her life. But she’s determined to find out. … As well as figuring out whodunit when dead bodies cross her path.

Like Elizabeth, I arrived in Wyoming for the first time with no idea where I was going. A decade and a half ago, I had a free airline ticket that I had paid for dearly in inconvenience. I decided to go somewhere I’d never been before and that was expensive to fly to <eg>. I ended up in Sheridan, Wyo., rented a car and took off around the state.

It was fascinating. New and varied worlds at almost every turn.  I heard a western meadowlark for the first time, saw big horn sheep, buffalo, the Big Horn Mountains, the Rockies, vistas that brought tears to my eyes, Yellowstone Park … and met some people that brought tears to my eyes from laughing at their dry humor.  It was a terrific trip, and the first of many. I was hooked.

Now, you might think this obsession with Wyoming is strange for an Illinois native, but I swear I have mountains somewhere back in my blood, because I have this strong affinity with the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, as well as the Big Horns and Rockies of Wyoming. It feels like I can breathe deeper there.

(But Wyoming’s mountains have another advantage: They’re dry.  Plus, it’s windy, so it’s like living in one of those shampoo commercials where your hair is never frizzing and forever streaming behind you … except, of course, for when it blows in your face. If I’d known Wyoming could do that for my hair, I would have run away to the Big Horns as a teenager for sure!)

On this latest trip, I spent lots of time on a friend’s ranch, seeing newly born calves and their mommas. On my second trip (to see older calves and heifers moved to grazing land using pickup, horse and dogs to track them as they moved along) I was grateful for improved cell coverage … receiving a phone call from my friend, who said, “Just saw your car drive past the turnoff.”  Oops.

I’ve done that a few times in Wyoming, including one memorable occasion when I was tracking wagon ruts of a trail from the 1860s and ended up in a rancher’s pasture. Fortunately, he was unperturbed. Did I mention it was nearly dark and I was low on gas? Hmm, I wonder if Elizabeth could have a similar adventure … This trip included a few times when I wasn’t sure where I was, but with the mountains to my west I could figure I was heading in the right general direction and I didn’t even make any accidental pasture visits.

For sure, Elizabeth will be visiting King’s Saddlery/King Ropes [[http://www.kingropes.com/index.htm]]  in Sheridan, as I did this trip. And she’s going to receive an education on ropes as I did from Dan Morales, who generously shared just a bit of his vast knowledge of ropes and ropemaking with me. But I can’t tell you any more about that until you read LEFT HANGING, the second book in the “Caught Dead in Wyoming” series, which will be out at the end of June.

I also visited the wonderful Bradford Brinton Museum [[http://www.bbmandm.org]]  having a wonderful times wandering the grounds – I want this house! – as well as talking with an intern who gave me some great ideas and contacts I need for the third book in the series (no title yet) that I’m working on now.

So, now it’s time to unpack the rope I bought at King’s, the bowl I got at Piney Creek Pottery, the wildflower seeds from Brinton Museum and all the memories, while I get busy revisiting Wyoming through Elizabeth’s eyes in “Caught Dead in Wyoming” – hope you’ll come along with Elizabeth and me to see this fascinating place.

 Through tomorrow, SIGN OFF, Book 1 in the Caught Dead in Wyoming Series is ONLY $1.99 at Amazon Kindle!

DO PUBLISHERS AND EDITORS READ BOOKS PUBLISHED BY OTHER PRESSES?

By Danielle Childers

Do publishers and editors read books they didn’t publish?  You betcha!  After all, we’re in this industry because we love good books. We’re such reading harlots. So I have no shame in presenting you with A Library Trollop’s Reading Recommendations!

I’m absolutely obsessed with retro fiction right now.  The stunning covers. The world events. The vintage feel. When I pick up these books it’s like they whisper “I’ve lived.  Read my wisdom. Experience my days.” And lately I’ve been reading new books about old summers.

I am super late to the party to read Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (Harper Perennial). But I was so excited that I purchased it in hardback. A luxury when you have to fund my reading habit.  A story within a story. A movie within a novel. The azure coast of Itlay. The 1960s.  An actress. An innkeeper. The filming of Cleopatra.  “The only thing we have is the story we tell.”

Yes.  It was beautiful. The writing. The imagery. The book.  Yes, this is literary fiction of a sort, but as a former librarian, I am bone tired of the limited genres we have to describe books that are just…more.  It’s vintage fiction. It’s retro-glam fiction.  It’s geographic fiction. It’s gently epic and strangely modern. It’s amazing. Read it. But don’t read it as a guilty pleasure. Read it like the clever and cultured book that it is. Read it with a touch of awe and leave your critique behind. Just…enjoy it.

Still on a high from Beautiful Ruins, I discovered (because books simply happen to me, for me.) Palisades Park by Alan Brennert (St. Martin’s Press). An Amusement Park. The 1930s.  It’s like The Great Gatsby gone wild but brighter, and the grit is not hidden by the glitz.  A book full of dreams from back when safety nets did not exist. Complete with frozen lemonades and the warmth of day that lingers in the asphalt.  It’s something you only notice as a child, I think. But it’s magic. I read it on my Kindle with a fan blowing in my face and the sun shining. Yes. Read it. Now. Read it and reflect on the happiest summers that were magical because you lived and breathed thirty years of summer at an amusement park. You didn’t? Well sometimes I can’t separate books from my life.

Now, when I’m feeling really sentimental or have found a book I know I’m going to love so much, I always turn to some old, faithful book friends. I like to read them and introduce them to their new book friends. They won’t sit beside each other on my shelves unless they have the good luck to be written by authors who are alphabetically compatible, but when I glance over their spines, I’ll know they’re related.

So, it felt completely natural after these thoughtful, retro books, to pull out The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood (Harper Perennial). Don’t judge me. I feel very protective about this book, and I can’t explain it. I have a soft spot for Rebecca Wells because she can tell a great southern story spanning decades that will have you tasting pecans, dissolving in the summer heat with your friends, and sounding just like my Great Aunt Sherry. And it’s a great, mostly light hearted finale to this summer reading list.

There you have it. Three absolutely perfect summer retro reads. Where the time is just as much of a character as the beaches as the roller coasters, as the people.  Read Palisades Park and make lemonade. Beautiful Ruins should be read after watching Cleopatra.  And the Ya-Ya’s?  Just make a shoofly pie and drink the lemonade mentioned above. Sugar is sugar, and there’s just enough salt in the pie to enhance the tartness of the lemons.

Happy reading.

Bell Bridge Books presents these fabulous summer reading titles for only $1.99 on Amazon Kindle Today! 

Book People

by Sparkle Abbey

“My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

Before we were writers, we were readers. Voracious readers. Book people. In fact, one of the things we realized we had in common when we first met was our love of books. We both loved Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and graduated from those series to classics, gothic novels, and big rich stories. Though we grew up miles apart – one in California and one in Iowa, our childhoods are not dissimilar. Tripping though warm summer days with a book in hand. The cool halls of the town library, its musty smell signaling a treasure trove. Our families could not have possibly bought all the books we wanted to read. The library was the mother lode.

“A library is more than a brick and mortar building filled with delicious books. It is also a community of people who live to invest in our youth, who read for knowledge and fun, and who are ready to include anyone who walks through the door.” ~ from Authors for Libraries, a program of United for Libraries

We were recently asked to give an author talk at the Slater, Iowa public library. Slater is a small town but the turnout was great. And not only did the event have good attendance but these were book people. Great questions, expert discussion, a fun and informed crowd. Attendees ranged from seventeen to seventy, but to a person these were all avid readers and though we were strangers when we arrived, we were friends when we left.who live to invest in our youth, who read for knowledge and fun, and who are ready to include anyone who walks through the door.” ~ from Authors for Libraries, a program of United for Libraries

How about you? Did you spend time at your local library as a kid? Do you still visit the library?

We think libraries are so important to communities and today’s libraries offer audio books, e-books, movies, computers, wi-fi and community rooms – in addition to books.  Support your local library in every way you can. Donate, volunteer, champion! Check out: www.ilovelibraries.org

Sparkle Abbey

Sparkle Abbey is the pseudonym of mystery authors Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter who co-write the Pampered Pets Mystery Series.

Book One: Desperate Housedogs

Book Two: Get Fluffy

Book Three: Kitty Kitty Bang Bang

www.SparkleAbbey.com

WRITING YOUR PASSION

by Trish Jensen

In previous blogs I’ve argued for writing what you don’t know and writing what you know. Here’s a slightly different angle: writing your passion.

Here’s what I mean. Several years ago my long-time friend and critique partner watched me get down on the floor and lavish her new puppy with love. She was already well aware that I’m a fanatical animal lover, to the extent that at one point that when my then significant other said we couldn’t afford all of the bird feed I had on the grocery list, I told him, “Fine, don’t buy my milk, then, and use it to buy the bird feed.” I’m a milk guzzler. Alone I go through at least two gallons a week. So giving up milk in favor of watching the birds happily munch sunflower seed in my back yard will give you a hint of the lengths I’ll go to for any animals, including my spoiled brat black lab Cassie, whose weekly grocery bill easily doubles mine.

But getting back to the point, Sandra was watching me lavish love on her dog when she said, “You need to write a dog book.”

“Huh?”

“You need to write a book where the hero or heroine is involved with animals. A vet, a dog sitter, whatever. In fact, I read this article the other day about a dog spa.”

I instantly perked up. And my mind went to work. And Against His Will was born. A hardened, leery FBI guy inherits his aunt’s stubborn English Bulldog and is forced according to the terms of the will to take the brat mutt with an attitude to a dog spa run by, of all things, a certified Animal Psychologist.

He’s so sure it’s a scam, and that this woman has been scamming his beloved aunt for years that he’s actually looking forward to it, so he can expose this quack and shut her operation down for good. After all, that’s what he does. And what she deserves.

But when he gets there, his world is turned upside down, which kind of happens to be my modus operandi when it comes to my heroes. And then her world is turned upside down when his dangerous world intrudes on the serenity of hers.

The point being, though, is that Sandra hit it on the head by telling me to write my passion. Mine happens to be animals. There are tons of books about knitting (I tried that, I really did, but couldn’t even finish a scarf without dropping stitches at least once every couple of rows), music, painting, sailing, whatever. You can always tell when it’s an author’s passion.

So I write what I don’t know, write what I know, and write what I’m passionate about. Next time? Writing what I do and don’t know and what I’m passionate about all at once. Being Southern.  : )

THAT GUY IN THE NEW BOOK IS ME
Kathleen Eagle

My standard answer—it’s usually to one of my brothers-in-law—is if you say so.  And very often they do say so, which means I’ve succeeded.  I’ve created a character readers not only can but willingly do identify with, a character that is both universal in his humanity and as individual as any of my brothers-in-law.  And, believe me, my dear brothers are individuals.  I’m so glad we have a huge Eagle family because they are some of my most loyal readers.  And, yes, I do put them in my books.  Not the whole person, of course, but bits and pieces.  A quip here, a trait there.  The more books I write, the more likely it becomes that anyone I’ve ever known can find a bit of himself somewhere on those pages.

That’s where good characters come from.  They don’t come third-hand from Hollywood.  They don’t come floating through the office ready to be plucked out of thin air and plugged into a plot.  They come from a writer’s life, from people we’ve known.  We chop them up and make fiction salad.  Maybe not by design—probably more by instinct—but that’s how it works.  When a character is fully fleshed out, when the book is finished and I’m working on some stage of edits, that’s when I’ll fully realize where details of character might have come from.

YOU NEVER CAN TELL is about an American Indian activist and a journalist who wants to tell his story.  Having lived on the reservation and worked as a teacher during the heyday of the American Indian Movement, I’ve known lots of AIM members.  Hero Kole Kills Crow’s back story was inspired by a couple of people—one idealistic, another reckless—while his personality grew from the seeds planted by his fictitious but reality-based back story and fertilized by those bits and pieces I was talking about, bits that come from time well spent with interesting people.  The idea for the situation Kole finds himself in—he’s hiding out while his former rebel sidekick has made himself a career in Hollywood—has roots in reality, “ripped from the headlines,” as they say.  That’s a lot of juicy stuff to be mixed into the story pot, and that’s only one character.

Now I add the heroine, the successful journalist who’s a fish out of water when she barges into Kole’s territory.  She’s the idealist who’s just as reckless as Kole used to be.  She’s an outsider and a true believer and she serves as a catalyst.  I know her pretty well.  I like her, and I can identify with her.  Details of her character come from a variety of women I’ve known along with one I’ve seen in the mirror.  Not that any of them ever found herself in Heather’s situation, but a part of each of them could have and might still.  And really, it wouldn’t matter whether was a lady’s maid or a mermaid, Heather Reardon is a woman with whom readers willingly travel.  She’s a lot like us and then some.  We’re apt to say, “That woman could be me.”  And she’ll take us on an exhilarating journey.

Could our characters be related to real people?  You never can tell.

THE FOREVER CHILD
By Sharon Sala

I’m always being asked how do I come up with ideas, and doesn’t it get difficult to find something new to write about after 80 plus books?  I have a pat answer for that question – that ideas are always in my head and that I will get too old to remember how to form sentences before I run out.  And while that is a fact, I rarely, if ever, think why.  How does my mind work in such a convoluted fashion?

The basic truth is that I came this way.  Every child is born with the ability to imagine, because for them, the world is an amazing place of possibilities.  We don’t see roadblocks, or put the word ‘impossible’ into our vocabularies until we’re older.

I have come to realize that people who write fiction are simply people who did not lose their childhood ability to pretend.  As a child, I could frighten myself far worse by imagining what was in the dark, rather than what was really there.  When I was small, I didn’t play with dolls.  That was too passive for me.  I played cowboys and Indians, and rode a stick horse and wore my Roy Rogers gun and holster all day, every day with the rationale that you never know when you might need to shoot a bad guy.

I used to play dress-up with my younger sister, but even then I had to be all about the drama.  If someone was going to be kidnapped or lost, it had to be me, because if I didn’t fight my way out of my disaster, the play just wasn’t fun.

When we were little, we ran barefoot in the hot sand between the rows and rows of grapes in my grandfather’s fruit orchard.  And when the sand was too hot on the bottoms of our feet, we would slip under the low-hanging vines and stand in their shade, picking sweet purple grapes from the ripening bunches and popping them in our mouths.  I can still remember the scent of hot sand, the burst of flavor in my mouth from the dark, sweet grapes, and the rough edges of the grape leaves brushing against my skin.

As a writer, imagery is everything.  If you can’t put the reader in the story and make them care about the characters, they won’t care about the book.  For an adult, still having that ability to impart heart-stopping fear, overwhelming joy, and the feel of hot sand on the bottoms of your feet, or the feel of being caught in a downpour and trying to run for dear life, only to have the deep, sticky mud pull the shoes right off your feet is a priceless gift.

It’s been said that writers are often a queer lot.  We work in solitude, never knowing how something we spent months, even years producing will be received, and yet we persevere because even if we’re the only one to read it, it is enough.

We are blessed because we didn’t lose the sense of wonder we had as children.  We didn’t forget how to play ‘pretend’.  We are never bored with our own company.  And yet the best part about being a writer is that our greatest joy multiplies a thousand-fold when shared with people who love to read.

A Writer’s Thought Process
By Eve Gaddy

During my morning ritual, drinking a cup of coffee and playing that ridiculously addicting online game, Mahjong Connect, while checking email, I tried to think of a blog topic.  I thought about the writing process and where we get ideas.  I remembered a conversation I had with my husband the other day as we were driving.

“Why does meth make people’s teeth fall out?”

Bob gave me the look that either means, writers are really weird or, you are really weird, I never know which.  “I suppose it has more to do with the gums and lack of blood supply to the gums than teeth.”  He then went into a more detailed explanation to which I paid no attention because I’d already moved on.

“You’re wondering why I asked you that, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”  Another mystified glance at me.  “I guess there’s some sort of logic to it.”  He sounded extremely doubtful.

“I’ve told you before, it’s a logical process.  You just can’t follow it.”  We’ve been married thirty-six years.  You’d think he’d understand by now.  “Would you like me to explain to you how I got there?”

“Okay.”  He didn’t sound at all sure but he knew he had no choice.  He was going to hear the explanation whether he wanted to or not.

“I saw the Tae Kwon Do sign on that building we passed.  I remembered how I took Chris (our son) there when we first came to town.  I have a friend who has recently gotten her black belt and it sounded like fun but I didn’t like that guy here much, so I guess I won’t do that.  Then I remembered a friend of mine had a nephew who had a brown belt but she said she was never sure how he got it because he was a wimp.  Then I remembered she’d said that a dentist had offered to fix his mouth because he’d kicked a meth habit but had terrible meth mouth.  Which led me to wonder why people’s teeth fall out from meth.”

“I always thought you just came up with this stuff out of the blue.”

“Of course not.  There’s always a convoluted logic to it.”  Always is a slight exaggeration but he doesn’t need to know that.

A few days later I was telling my daughter, Diana, this story and she said that she arrived at things that same way.  Doesn’t everyone?

“No.  I think it might be just women because my non-writer female friends don’t have much trouble following me.  Of course, I haven’t actually asked any male writers I know.”

“I agree,” she said.  “I think it’s women.  Of course, your logic is always a little more off the wall than mine, but it’s still similar.”

Off the wall?  Me?

“Which reminds me.  Why don’t you ever hear about women inventors?  Why are they always men?  If women think outside the box, you’d think there would be more of them.  Maybe there are and nobody talks about them.”

I probably won’t use what I learned about meth mouth in a book, although I write romantic suspense so you never can tell.  But a woman inventor sounds interesting.  In fact, I read something recently about Hedy Lamarr, a famous actress who invented the basics of WiFi during World War II.  Hmm.  More research coming up.

Congrats to Lisa and A LITTLE DEATH IN DIXIE.  You can find the book here:

http://www.amazon.com/Little-Death-Dixie-ebook/dp/B003STDO4O/ref=zg_bs_154606011_1

When first asked to blog about growing a character in a series, I figured I should be able to write about this topic with little trouble. After all, I’d developed a couple characters for the BelleBooks’ Mossy Creek series and I’d outlined twelve books for Heather, my hypersensitive teenage heroine in my middle grade YA Ghost Handler series. But that was not the case.

With the best of intentions, I sat at my desk yesterday morning and stared at a computer screen filled with disjointed ideas that weren’t coalescing into anything I could even pretend to like. What could I say that was insightful? How exactly did I grow Heather? Why was I sitting inside on such a gorgeous spring day?

Fortunately, after consuming some chocolate courtesy of the Easter Bunny, I figured out why this topic was so daunting. Growing a character in a series is basically akin to raising a living, breathing child—only without the back talk and driver’s training.

Make Plans
 As with real children, your life/writing will be easier if you set some goals and create a plan to get your protagonist there. This plan can be a series outline or it can be a synopsis for each of the books you expect to write in the series. But you have to have some type of overall plan for something as big as a series. Your character/child must have an ultimate goal to reach for, and this goal has to be big enough for several books. My goal for Heather is to become confident in who she is, even if she is weirder than the average teenage girl longing for a hunky prom date. Her goal is to be less of a freak.

 One way to develop the big plan is to break down those ultimate character goals into smaller steps. I envisioned my series as twelve books total taking Heather from the summer before her freshman year of high school through the end of that first school year at Pecan Hills High. In Book One, Haint Misbehavin’,  Heather states her smaller goals of wanting the hot lifeguard at the pool to notice her, of becoming less of a bottom feeder, and of making some progress with her older sister, who finds Heather a big embarrassment.  By the end of Haint, Heather makes some progress toward achieving her goals, but there’s still room for further improvement. Book Two, Hainted Love picks up where book one leaves off. She’s hoping to build on her relationship with her older sister during their vacation at Jekyll Island and to discover her absence has made the cute lifeguard’s heart grow fonder. Of course, she encounters obstacles and a ghost who makes her goals more difficult to achieve. What Heather doesn’t know is that she’s becoming more confident in who she is with each obstacle she overcomes and each ghost she helps. As an author/parent, you have to see the big picture, even if your heroine/child doesn’t.

Keep It Real
Just as every child comes into this world with good as well as challenging personality traits, each teenage character created for a series must  possess both likeability and flaws to seem real. Perfection isn’t real, and it leaves no room for growth. You’ll know you’re keeping your protagonist real, if your character has the ability to make parents want to hug her and bang their heads against the wall when she makes the wrong decisions. Heather is that kind of character. She is basically a good kid, but like many other teenagers, she sometimes makes bad choices for what seem to her to be good reasons. 

Part of keeping your heroine real is determining all the little details of this child/character’s life. You decide where you want to raise this character. In what environment will she have the best chance to flourish—or achieve your goals as an author? In which school district will she live? Will she attend a public or private school? What’s her neighborhood like? How many siblings will she have? Who are her friends? How much interaction with other extended family will take place? What have been the biggest challenges in her life? What chores does she have to do? Does she oversleep? The more you know about your protagonist, the more real she becomes. 

Listen to Your Gut
Sometimes as a parent, you sense when something is wrong with your child. The same can be said for an author and a series protagonist. Because we live with these characters for such a long time, our gut often tells us when something in the story or series outline isn’t working. We need to listen to that gut reaction. While working on Hainted Love, Book Two of the Ghost Handler series, I had this feeling that something wasn’t working between my heroine and her aunt, who also sees ghosts and is suspicious of Heather hiding a similar ability. My gut told me to move forward with that relationship—something I hadn’t planned on doing until much later in the series. Listening to my gut made the second book better than it would have been if I’d stuck strictly to my detailed outline. 

So that’s how you grow a character in a series. You make a plan for this kid. You realize she isn’t perfect, and that’s a good thing. And you listen to your gut instinct when it comes time for crucial decision-making. Sure, this character/child might give you a few gray hairs along the way, but she eventually grows into the heroine you envisioned when you set out to write the series. Best of all, characters, unlike real children, never ask you if they can borrow the car.  

Georgia author Maureen Hardegree is thankful that heroine Heather Tildy does not as yet have her learner’s permit. Readers can learn more about Heather in Hainted Love, Book Two of the Ghost Handler series and can visit Maureen’s website (www.maureenhardegree.com) and Facebook page for updates on signings and events.

Last year the Wall Street Journal short-listed Melissa Ford’s blog about fertility issues, “Stirrup Queens” as one of the country’s best motherhood-themed journals.

Now Melissa has put her insights on the blogging life into a smart, funny, poignant novel about the pain of divorce and the healing power of writing about it. LIFE FROM SCRATCH follows heartbroken New Yorker Rachel Goldman as she struggles with her first year of single life. She can’t even fry an egg correctly, and she wonders if her lack of homebody skills helped K.O. her marriage to a busy lawyer. She sets out to prove she can find the way to a man’s heart through his stomach, but along the way she starts blogging about her misadventures in the kitchen.

Soon her “Life From Scratch” blog segues into a diary about her marriage, her loneliness, her mistakes, and her clumsy efforts to develop a new love life with a sexy Spanish photographer. Soon her blog is a surprise hit, her romance is taking off, and her kitchen skills are becoming impressive. But Rachel still misses her ex-husband, and her blog fans don’t realize that she’s not done with her journey to recreate her life from scratch.

Mary Alice, co-star of Food Network’s ACE OF CAKES show, says LIFE FROM SCRATCH “made me laugh out loud and made me hungry.”

LIFE FROM SCRATCH. Now available at all online booksellers in paperback and ebook.