Dia Duit!

If that looks Greek to you, it’s not. It’s actually Irish—God be with you, or “Hello”. I’ve been taking lessons with the Friends of Irish Studies for a couple of months and practicing with some “study buddies” since. (I’ve been doing Duolingo for a while too, but it’s not as good as “in person”/Zoom corrections.)

Irish is a tough language, I’m finding. I knew a few common words growing up with both parents born in Ireland, and knew bread and butter, close the door, throw it out, please, thank you, some colors and other common terms (Aran agus im, dun an duras, caith amach, le do thoil, go raibh maith agat and such!).

And though I try the basics with Dad, his Irish is from sixty-plus years ago and not the standardized one in spelling/pronunciation anymore. But we try! I tell him Ta an spear gorm (the sky is blue) and he understands! He tells me three times to “An Solas a mhucadh” and I gradually figure it means ”turn off the light” (surprised we didn’t learn that one growing up!).

I’m better at reading/vocabulary! (Surprise!) than pronouncing/understanding, but it’s been fascinating to learn some of the language.

So if you’re interested in learning more, check out The Friends of Irish Studies. All are failte (welcome), and new classes are starting up in the fall.

And there’s also an immersion course in Irish trad music and in the language in the next months if you’re interested (online now, but they do in person some in Montana and next year I think perhaps back in Ireland again after a break these past few years!)

Check it out and maybe I’ll be able to say more than "Conas ata tu” (how are you) and hold a real conversation soon! :)

Slan!

FYI—Traolach O’Riordain, the lead teacher, is the Director of Irish Studies at the University of Missouri at Montana and my cousin! He’s been pushing me to start real lessons for years, but I’ve only just gotten to the point where I can try. It’s good to have the family keep challenging you!

NY Botanical Gardens in June

So this is tangentially about writing/publishing since I visited the NY Botanical Garden with Joan Marlow Golan, editor extraordinaire! But it was a humid (not so sunny) lovely day! The roses were gorgeous. :)

And if you get the chance to take the Rock Garden tour, Michael Hagen (sp?) was knowledgeable and passionate about his job!

NY Botanical Garden - Rock Garden - waterfall

New York Botanical Gardens - Rock Garden

Heathcliff Rose

Heathcliff Rose—literary reference! And so much better in person!

Easter Basket Rose

Easter Basket Rose—love the blend of colors!

Not sure of the name, but gorgeous color!

perhaps Eschscholzia?

Rock Garden—I think a poppy? But again, colors even better in person!

Other craft recommendations....

At the conference, I asked the other authors about some of their favorite recommendations for craft books. There were some lively discussions at panels as well!

Here are some of their suggestions!

Craft titles:

This Year You Write Your Novel - Walter Mosley

Plot and Structure by Jamie Scott Bell

Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland

On Writing by Stephen King

Goal, Motivation, Conflict by Debra Dixon

Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maas

The Kick-Ass Writer by Chuck Wendig

Writing the Blockbuster Novel by Al Zuckerberg

Romancing the Beat - Gwen Hayes

Romance Your Brand - Zoe York

Screenplay Mastery - Michael Hauge

Dear Reader (various) by Becca Symes

Master List for Writers by Bryn Donovan

For Grammar;

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves by Lynne Truss

The Transitive Vampire by Karen Gordon (old one)

Strunk and White of course!

Podcasts/Videos

On the Page - Pilar Alessandra

The Creative Penn - Joanna Penn

Alexandra Torres Ink

The Digital Reader

I haven’t read all of the above, but during our romance panel, I’d recommended https://writersinthestormblog.com/2012/03/using-the-12-stages-of-physical-intimacy-to-build-tension/

Anything else that you feel other authors might not know about but would appreciate?

Happy writing!

Brainstorming with an author

When asked about what services an editor can offer, it’s easy to explain the doing a copy-edit or correcting grammar. And explaining developmental edit can be done as well.

Brainstorming, however, isn’t something every author does or needs, but it can be part of an editor’s service as well.

For instance, I’ve worked with Jacki Delecki on a number of titles, and one of the things she likes to do is brainstorm at the beginning of the book.

She discusses her basic idea and premise—part of a miniseries, needs some suspense, the basic idea of the characters and then we brainstorm.

Here, she had the idea of doing a winter story, the characters needed to be snowed in together, and it had to tie into the previous series.

She though about doing a connection with a hero who appeared as a character in a previous book, but then how would the heroine get snowbound with a stranger?

So we threw out some ideas and I mentioned I loved Georgette Heyer’s THE CORINTHIAN when Pen climb out of the window and the hero—rather drunk and avoiding his family—sweeps her off and they have an adventure.

Jacki enjoyed the idea of this meeting, and liked the idea of the hero spying the heroine in jodphurs climbing from the window. And then she built on it, with the heroine escaping the French villains mistakenly capturing the heroine instead of her sister.

So I would say a “What if…” and she would say, “No, that won’t work because…” and I’d go “But if you did…” and she’d go “The hero could be…” and I’d say “What if the heroine did….” and Jacki would go, “The Codebreakers need to know….” and after about an hour of going back and forth, she’d had the opening scene, overall plot, sense of the hero, conflicts and such!

And then when writing them, things would change. :)

After that first scene of the heroine climbing out the window, the rest of the story is very different—Pen and Richard are lighthearted, funny, protective, and only in social danger. This novella has Nicholas and Eliza hiding from the French, Eliza hiding her identity from Nicholas, a stronger physical attraction, and an edge of danger.

I love the creativity and possibilities in a brainstorming session. Everything starts out as a potential, as a possibility and then it gets narrowed down into what the author sees working for her and the story. I'm never going to be a writer, but I really enjoy the generating of ideas, working through problems and seeing the final result. It's amazing what can spark an author, and our rambling conversations end with true gems!

If you want to see how the story ended up, check out Jacki’s story and the full collection.

Enjoy!

Source: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XNJ9WPF/ref=c...

is or was?

In the past few years, it feels like the use of present tense has exploded in stories. And it brings a sense of immediacy, urgency, and action to the story. It allows for deeper POV and identification with the protagonist. It is great if you have an unreliable narrator (which might be a different post!), or if you want to convey a filmlike quality to the story. Fast-paced action works in this tense!

But it can also be harder to read and edit.

Using the present tense can allow for too many little details into the story. The protagonist is seeing everything and the author often feels the need to add in the moments that would be elided and skipped when written in the past. Telling information can become difficult, and transitions in place and time are harder. It can be harder to keep different character POV distinct.

As an editor, I’ll need to pay close attention because authors can often slip into the past tense by accident—and habit—so it means keeping a careful eye. It’s also additional work to prune the story and keep the focus on what needs to be told.

And there are some readers who simply refuse to read in the present (yes, even for The Hunger Games, or Ulysses, or such!). They dislike it intensely, and so a minority of readers will be turned away for that reason.

I’ve seen some authors mix the two by having one character in snippets in present, or using a dual time frame plot. That can work—but please, it shouldn’t become a gimmick!

For some authors, the present tense is a deliberate choice that serves the needs of the story and characters and develops into a compelling read. Sadly, though, I often see authors—particularly newer authors—choose it without realizing the ramifications. The story can begin to sprawl, be inconsistent in the usage, and lose the energy and focus that is the best part of present tense. And, as with first person, if the reader doesn’t like the main character, the use of present tense can actually end up repelling the reader.

So I encourage authors to understand why that present would be best for their story and then carefully develop the story and pay attention to their techniques!

How do you feel as a reader? As an author?

Happy reading!