Soundtrack for my Stories, an open book blog hop post

 

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

If your book had a soundtrack what would be on it? 
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screenshot of my YouTube playlist

I haven't generally chosen a soundtrack to go with my work, but that's changing with my latest projects. My works-in-progress right now are a trio of GenX themed romance novellas, with characters in their 50s falling in love.  

For the first one, working title Not Too Late, I've been using song titles from 80s songs as my chapter titles. And it's a lot of fun shopping for just the right song to fit the emotions or plot points of each one. 

I've got a full draft now, so here's a playlist of all the songs I chose to represent Mandy and Chris, my lovebirds:

 

For the second novella, working title Acid Reign, my main character is a member of an imaginary all-girl punk band that had its heyday in the 80s. I haven't decided yet if I'll continue that idea and use song titles from 70s and 80s punk bands or if it might be better to use song titles from my imaginary band. I guess real ones are easier to actually listen to, but I have made up some fun songs for my imaginary band. "Not Your Lolita," "Nice Girls Don't", and "MTV Can Bite Me" for example. 

I think I'll finish writing it and then decide. 

Do you like having soundtracks for your writing or reading? What' s a good one you've seen/heard? I'd love to hear about it in the comments. 

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My Best Lines, an Open Book blog hop post

 

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

What's the best line you've written recently? Or ever? 
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It is a lovely feeling to re-read your work and find lines that make you feel a bit of pride and accomplishment. It's fun to look for those jewels, moment that are beautifully crafted or emotionally resonant, and that will help attract readers to your work. I often pull them for use in ad campaigns or newsletters or social media posts. 

Four pull quotes from Going Through the Change, book 1 of the Menopausal Superheroes series.

Honestly, those sparkling little moments feel like magic and they're a big part of why I write. They give me a sort of glowing feeling.

My work-in-progress right now is a trio of Gen X romances I plan to release as my first fully indie projects. I've just finished re-writing the first one, working title Not Too Late. 

Here's a line I'm proud of from that one: 

A firetruck flew up the avenue, but Chris didn’t get out of bed to see which way it was going. He was far more concerned about a much older flame and whether he was the one who would end up getting burned.

It's an important moment in the romance, establishing Chris's character and his feelings on having his one-time crush come back into his life all these years later. I felt clever, using the firetruck to lead into the flame metaphor as applied to love. 

When I'm reading, I also look for these kinds of lines--quotable bits, insights that really hit home. I highlight them (in my kindle edition) or copy them into notebooks, and if I ever want to tell someone why I love a book, that's where I go first. 

 How about you? Are you drawn to quote-able lines? What kinds of moments in a book (one you've read or written) glow brightly for you? 

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Leave 'Em Wanting More…But Don't Leave 'Em Hangin': an IWSG post

      

Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. The awesome co-hosts for the December 4 posting of the IWSG are Ronel, Deniz, Pat Garcia, Olga Godim, and Cathrina Constantine!


December 4 question - Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories? Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or a reader?

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The only series I've written so far (recently finished! hurray!) is the Menopausal Superheroes. In writing it, I used some tropes, abandoned others, and tried to twist still others. I wanted the books to feel like what they are--superhero stories--but to also be their own thing, so that was sometimes a delicate dance. 

Cliffhangers are bread and butter in superhero stories--going as far back as the oldest comic books and movie serials with superpowered characters. 

image source

I know some readers hate cliffhangers, feeling that they are a manipulation designed to pull them into the next book. That can be true, but sometimes, they are genre expectation and the best way to tell a story. 

The end of the first book has been described as a cliffhanger by some (usually by folks who don't like cliffhangers).  If you read my reviews of that first book, people who don't love it almost universally complain that it ended in a cliffhanger. 

I don't think it exactly is…my heroes had met their primary goal, and the next problem presented itself immediately. That fits the comic book feel of it to me. True that it wasn't all wrapped up…but no was left in the middle of an immediate crisis. Heroes seldom get to enjoy or celebrate their wins for long--there's always another fight looming. 

That said, the second, third, and fourth books end more fully than that first one. So maybe I came around to what some of my readers were saying. We'll find out next summer if they like what I've done with the fifth and final book in the series--coming to you in summer 2025 from Falstaff Books!

For myself as a reader, it's a case by case scenario. Some cliffhangers feel organic to the story and others just feel like tacked-on manipulations. So some I love, and some frustrate me. I don't think there's a right answer to this one. You gotta do what's right for each story. 

And, yes, a cliffhanger is a tactic to drive readers to pick up the next book in a series. Done well, it's no more manipulative than writing engaging characters, leaving a question unanswered, or showing an assumption about what's happened might be mistaken. I don't think writers are doing anything wrong if they work some curious and tension-building techniques in to pull a reader through a whole series. That's just good story telling (and a little business sense). 

So, what do y'all think? Cliffhangers, yea or no? Why? 

Best reads of 2024: An Open Book Blog Hop post

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

What's the best book you've read this year (besides your own)? 
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I try to read about a book a week every year. At this writing, late November, I have read 64 books (see below for the entire list). I'm pretty good at choosing books that I will enjoy--after 50ish years as a reader, I know what I like. So, most of these are books I very honestly gave 4 or 5 stars to. 

I'm always a mood reader, with the exception of promises made to book clubs or folks I promised to review, and my taste ran dark this year. I went on a T. Kingfisher binge and read 12 of her books this year. I revisited some established horror favorites like Grady Hendrix, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Gabino Iglesias. 

I read a lauded and admired fantasy with dragons, and the final installment of a series I have loved. I picked up a couple of books by friends and a few things I can't even remember how I learned about them. 

So, it's been a great reading year. 

Picking a favorite…

I'm not good at that. So, I guess I'll tell you what my favorite one is today. But you should know that if you ask me tomorrow, I might give a different answer. 

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. 

It's a fairy tale, in the tradition of the Brothers Grimm, but isn't a straight-up retelling of any particular fairy tale. It's also a story about escaping bad situation, perseverance and resilience, and found family. Grimm fairy tales were some of my first loves in the world of story, and I love the way Kingfisher pulled out all I loved about those stories and made something new from it. Bonus points for a having one of the heroines be a "woman of a certain age." 

How about you? What did you read that was wonderful this year? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

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When to Kill (a character), an Open Book Blog Hop post

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

Have you ever regretted killing off a character? Or not killing one off? 
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Interesting question this week! 

Killing off characters has really ranged for me. There have been times when I didn't even blink. It was obviously what the story needed. Other times, I'm waffled and written several versions trying to decide. 

People die in my horror stories all the time. They are, after all, horror stories. The stakes are high and violence is expected. You're just as likely to end up in the afterlife if you start a horror story as a hero or a villain, since both endings are common in the genre.  I do try to make these deaths matter, though. I *hate* stories where one character is killed off solely to motivate other characters or for shock value alone. 

In my superhero work, though, I have a much lighter, more optimistic tone, and I've mostly avoided killing. My heroes are not the grim-dark sort you find in some superhero stories, but the true-heart, noble-bright sort for the most part. Even Patricia, the most reluctant of heroes, doesn't use her power indiscriminately. 

Patricia "Lizard Woman" O'Neill, as drawn by Charles C. Dowd

In the field more generally, characters do die in superhero stories, but it's usually not the heroes, or at least not without a LOT of hoopla and the possibility of undoing that later in some fashion. 

I've recently turned in the series ender for the Menopausal Superheroes series. There is a death of a named, recurring character in this last one, and I feel it was the right choice for the story. But, there's another character who was on a trajectory that might well have led to her death and I chose not to kill her off. It didn't feel right. 

I think that's the key for me. This is a decision based on what feels right. Does it serve the story? Is it necessary? 

I guess we'll find out how readers feel next summer when the book comes out! 

How about you? If you write, have you killed off any characters? For readers, have there been any character deaths that you thought were handled well or badly? 

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Creativity in the Kitchen

     

Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. The awesome co-hosts for the November 6 posting of the IWSG are Diedre Knight, Lisa Buie Collard , Kim Lajevardi, and JQ Rose!

November 6 question - What creative activity do you engage in when you're not writing?

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Most of my creative energy goes into my writing. It's where my imagination plays best--making up stories and romping about with imaginary friends in the wordscape. 

image source

I've been told often enough that I'm a creative person--usually by someone who is trying to find a nicer way to say that I'm weird or strange. Even I can tell that my brain doesn't work like other people's brains. 

But it's really only stories, poems, novels, etc. that I create. 

I don't paint or dance or write music, for example. I don't make fiber art, origami, or jewelry. I don't do woodwork, pottery, or collages. I might show a little creativity in my house design choices, and DIY projects, but those don't feel original to me in the same way. 

I have acted and sung in the past, and played a couple of musical instruments, but I don't pursue any of those activities with regularity right now. I'd like to get back into the playing the piano though. It's challenging with my arthritis, but it brings me joy. 

So I guess the closest I come to having another creative outlet in my life is in the kitchen. Sure, I'm following recipes in there (at least the first time I make something), but I'm definitely also creating something--something yummy!

I'm especially fond of baking, though I also take pleasure in making new dishes for dinner. I'm happiest if a new recipe requires me to try something I've never done before--a new technique, ingredient, or kitchen gadget! 

Treats from my kitchen in the past few months. 

How about you? What are your creative outlets? Are there any you wish you made more time for? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Can I quote you on that? An open book blog hop post

  

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

Do you have any favorite quotes about writing? 
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I love reading about writing. It's always interesting to me to learn about what processes other writers follow, especially if I admire their work. So, there are a BUNCH of great quotes about writing rattling around in my brain, but I'll stick to just two of them for this post: 

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Toni Morrison wrote some of my favorite books. Beloved broke my heart and scared me at the same time. I also loved The Bluest Eye and Sula. But you know what? She never wrote about Menopausal Superheroes and I wanted to read that, so I took her advice and I wrote it. At the most basic level, this is why I write what I write: I am my own intended audience. I'm writing what I want to read. 

image source

EM Forster might be best known for the opulent Merchant Ivory films made of his books: Howard's End, A Room With a View, A Passage to India and the like. They are fascinating for the way they capture a moment in time, and encapsulate class issues and explore humanistic themes. 

I don't remember where I first ran across this quote from him, but when I read it, it was like lightning in my brain. "Yes! Just like that!" I thought. Story is my major coping and processing mechanism in life. Whatever I'm going through or thinking about, writing is going to be part of how I pull myself through and get to the other side of it. This quote captures that feeling for me of needing that step back, that opportunity to listen to the still, small voice within, and dialogue with my own subconscious on the page in order to clarify my thinking and understand my heart's desires. 

So there are two of my favorites. What quotes have you run across that speak to your ideas about creativity? I'd love to hear about them in the comments! 

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