Emotions. Do you display them?

 Have you described your emotions on the page? Every scene is emotional.  It may not be a said emotion, but it must be conveyed. When my son enlisted in the army, I was proud of him but at the same time, my heart sunk to my knees.  I knew what the future would bring.  How do you describe the bittersweet? Here’s what I wrote to myself at the time:

    There’s that salad, sitting out on the front porch waiting for the guests to arrive with their contributions of hotdishes to add to the potluck.

    Potluck you say? What else could it be? My son is going away—far away—into the army and I feel that I will never see him again. The neighbors, friends and relatives have all been invited to attend the open house.

   Where is the kid? Oh! There he is dressed in his new shirt and jeans and youthful smile that shows how naïve and vulnerable he is—truly—coming from a mom and pop family and going where no man has before—an army of one--. 

    My son who has his young fiancé—too young and immature—stands on the other side of him. I’m supposed to be the love of his life.  

    The guests are arriving time to for me to pull myself together. 

  What am I not telling you?  What of the five senses am I displaying?  Am I displaying true emotion?  I’d like to know what you think.  

    Thanks so much for reading this blog. You can read comments below. Please feel free to share.

   Barb

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Characters and senses. Their likes and dislikes.

Have you ever thought writing about rooms in your house as worthwhile?  I didn’t either until I tried it.  Describe what you see in the kitchen or do you want to begin with the family room?  It doesn’t really matter.  We’ll get to know your characters likes and dislikes.  Are you the main character or most of you, I should say?  I am in an awful lot of my books.  Mostly it’s me.  In The Broken Circle, most of me was in it. I had been a teacher and knew the classroom scenes plus had a boyfriend who went to Vietnam while serving in the Marines.  In my White House Dollhouse series, I always loved dolls and am a history buff. Who are you in your books?  Let’s find out your likes and dislikes.

     Choose a room and it really doesn’t have to be from your home, but it must evoke strong memories. Set your timer for five minutes, then write about the room. Put down any details that you remember about the room. When the timer goes off, then stop.

      Circle all visual words.  How many did you use? Write down the number.

      Circle all words that make sounds—verbs. How many? Enter the number.

      Continue with smell, taste and touch. 

     How many words for each of the senses?  Now you know where your strength and weaknesses are.  

     Now go ahead and add your character in the room and see what happens.  If you don’t care for the character you added then try another one.  You’ll see how each character responds to different settings.

     I hope this helps you in your writing.

     Please leave a comment and follow me.  Happy writing!

     Barb 

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Is your book set in a hobby store?

Is your book set in a hobby store?

My mystery series is set in a White House dollhouse store.  I started having problems almost immediately because of the age differences between the person who raised her from a little girl and her knowledge of the first ladies.  How could a girl in her early twenties know so much about the first ladies plus all the nuances surrounding the many presidents? I had to make her educated and a little older.

My corner of the characters’ universe was drawn, I decided upon the First Lady Dolley Madison  as the first miniature doll plus the president. I had already researched Dolley and was in love with her. I wanted to make her as important as the main character. So, I speak to my dolls frequently which allows the reader to learn a little bit of history.

In all four novels the store is in a brown stone building which was built at the turn of the 20^th century, right around 1880-1920. The building age fits the concept of what I was after—older buildings—quaint and interesting.  However, I change a building here and there, using new ownership and businesses.

As the reader follows along in SPANGLED to DEATH I have the characters eating at a local coffee house near where she lives, The Riverview.

Who occupies the diner? Coffeeshop? Do you have a garden? This and more is all part of your setting? Who tends the garden and buries the dead at night under a moonless night? Are there bushes nearby for the killer to hide behind?  Maybe you’re not writing a mystery, but there is always a character that’s a little odd or different, isn’t there? What makes them odd? The block they live on or what the house looks like? 

Know your setting and characters then the book will come to you.

Happy writing and have fun!

Please feel free to share and respond.

Barb

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Draw the setting!

You can’t draw, you say?  Well…you just might be better than you think you are!  

Go and get a sheet of typing paper, get two—and tape them together. Now you’ll have two blocks of your little imaginary town or ‘real’ town.  Stick figures are not so hard to draw. With a ruler you can draw the middle street just by tracing either side of the utensil.

Don’t tell me you can’t draw a house or other buildings!  Yes, you can!  Take that ruler and trace a line about three inches above the top and bottom of the page from—the middle ruler line.  For my book, Body on the Tracks, I taped 20-25 paper sheets together and had them all around my dining room table. Since it’s a train book, I drew in railroad tracks instead of a road.  Where your buildings are, draw a vertical line down to the sidewalk or street. Do you see? It’s all drawn with a ruler.

How many store fronts do you need? Pencil in the store name or if it’s a neighborhood, the family name. Afterwards, decorate. Get to know if this business or home has flowers. Trees? Swingsets? This may mean children.

Now you’ll meet your characters on their own playing field.  In Body on the Tracks, I placed Victory Gardens along the way and mentioned towns and news about the Zephyrettes and how they assisted the women and children.

I wouldn’t have been able to get the time zones correct or the people in the cars without the use of my drawings.

Now you know what to do and how to get started on getting to know your settings and characters better.

Have fun!

Please share and or leave a message!

Happy writing!

Barb

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Add to the Life!

Are you ready to continue with your drawing? You are? Or do you think I'm a little on the nutty side? You'll be able to decide that later!

    Now that you have your four major corners, how about adding to it by attaching minor neighborhoods?  In my White House Dollhouse series, I had the neighborhood where the store is located but the character lived in a different section of the city.  Since  the setting was where I grew up, it was set in my mind and only needed a few tweaks such as the drugstore now being a coffee shop. That was easy but for those of you with settings in locations where you not so attached or knowledgeable of, you may need a drawing to have it fixed in your mind. 

    From many sources, I've heard never to write about your neighborhood. In my historical fiction, Body on the Tracks, I made the mistake of not drawing the tracks between the start and end points. I had the sun rising and setting at all different times and locations where it shouldn't.  Needless to say, since my setting was a train, I had an awful lot of settings to draw because of the cars, plus the train's location along the route. It did border on a nightmare during the writing time, however, in the end, it made for a better, tighter read.

     Now you see why the setting must come first, I hope! 

                     

     Your assignment is to decide characters for the various stores, etc, in your setting block.  While deciding upon characters, here's a question--what is in the stores?  Ladies wear? A beauty shop? The character always needs to know where they are at. 

     Or do they?

Happy writing!

Barb

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GIVE YOUR CHARACTER LIFE!

     Do you have an idea for a story? Have you put it together in your head but still don't know where to begin? Maybe the setting isn't quite right?

     Here's a few questions or thoughts to think about:

     Have you drawn the setting? 

     Neighborhood? 

     Do the characters fit inside of the setting?

     I grew up in Minneapolis and used to go shopping in downtown Minneapolis with my girlfriends and or grandma when I was younger, then I married and eventually moved to Bemidji. However, when I first began to write, I knew that Minneapolis would be the setting for my books. I loved the area on the other side of downtown, the older part of the city. The street is still cobblestone and the Stone Arch Bridge is nearby. In fact it's a lovely area to stroll in the summer or to walk from the bridge up to Hennepin Avenue bridge, cross the river, and go back. It's a gorgeous walk.

    Once you've decided upon a setting, then what?

    Draw it!  Yes! Sketch it out on a sheet of computer paper so you have it. By drawing the neighborhood, it'll make sense once you're deeper into your story. Will your character fit the scene? The setting?

    Make sure you draw all four corners of the chosen setting. Put in the building names, cafe, bookstore, etc. You get the picture. 

    Now you can start to think about what goods you'll have inside of each building. Oh yes!

    Do you have a drugstore? Grocery? Gas station? 

    Give it life.  Your character will live then, too!

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5 Star Review!

I just received my first five start review for my book, WORD to DEATH! I feel fabulous, like my writing journey has been worth it!  It actually is the second mystery that I wrote, and it circles around the Lincoln's. I've always felt sorry for Mary Lincoln and the way she was treated. She'd endured an awful lot and wasn't treated kindly by her family, press, and those in the administration nor those in politics at the time of his death. Did you know that even when she traveled to Europe with her son, Tad, she was ignored? How horrible and terrible.  There was no excuse for the unjust treatment that she received. Now I feel better about it all. Please take a look at my White House Dollhouse books.

 On an added note, I will be speaking and reading from my books on February 11, at 5:30 from the Bemidji Library. Please come and join me if you can!

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