Just Ginger

I couldn’t believe the proofreader of my second published historical romance Ransom’s Bride felt it was necessary to verify every little detail in my manuscript. I was a history instructor at the local junior college. It wasn’t possible for me to write a historical romance without filling it with accurate historical details. If I wrote that a certain train went from Nashville to Atlanta on a certain day at a certain time, then that train existed and I had checked its time table. Even though I was miffed at her thoroughness, I was also delighted because she found no inaccuracies. After reading some recently released historical fiction novels, both traditionally and indie published, I’m beginning to think some of today’s editors and writers need the services of my thorough proofreader. Which is hard to believe since today’s writers have unparalleled access to mountains of information. The advent of the Internet has made it possible for any writer who wishes to research an obs...

I’m not sure what’s going on in the publishing world, but I’ve noticed an annoying trend in the dialogue–action–tag sequences. It’s something one would expect to find in novels written by novice writers whose work hasn’t been edited. Imagine my surprise to find it in the published books of several longtime popular writers.   Some writers (or maybe their editors) are separating a character’s dialogue and action by creating separate lines on the page. One line for dialogue and then a new line for action while the speaker remains the same. Why is this a problem? Because a new indented line signals the reader something new is happening, not an extension of what’s been happening.  Our eyes see the indent, register a new line, and our brain signals back, “be on the lookout, something different is about to happen.” Generally, an indented line in a dialogue sequence signals that a different character is going to speak. When a writer varies from this pattern, the reade...

Several years ago I was involved in a community drive to convince our local city council to add a dog park to the city park. I created the logo, researched dog park facts, wrote up a media packet, and set up a website. During my research, I discovered that not all dogs are a good fit for dog parks. Sadie, our Catahoula Hound, pretty much failed the test because she’s a fearful dog who reacts with aggressive behavior in many situations. (We adopted her when she was about a year old and have no idea what shaped those first months of her life.) Here I was volunteering to help get a dog park built and I probably couldn’t use it unless we took Sadie at oh-dark-thirty, before any other canines showed up. What’s this got to do with writing? Glad you asked. Stories come in all sizes and shapes, but sometimes a perfectly good story idea isn’t a good fit for a book. It may work well as flash fiction, a short story, or even a novella, but there isn’t enough there to warrant wri...

I once read a manuscript for an aspiring writer who introduced 40 characters in the first three chapters. She wasn’t happy when my critique suggested she pare down the number of characters she named. She felt my suggestion, if she followed it, would ruin the story because all these characters were part of the story. Not really. She had named and described every character as they appeared in her story. Giving a name, description, and back story to Mary Jane the cashier who appears on page  two because the protagonist is buying groceries and she’s his cashier doesn’t bequeath name status on Mary Jane. She need to be “the cashier.” Bombarding the reader with a sports arena full of named characters is no way to build a bond between the main characters of your story and the reader.  In most stories there are characters who need to be named and those who don’t. Minor characters who exist to people your story world can be identified by their job, their hair color, ...

Last spring, the grass in one section of our yard failed to turn green. What we thought was dormant ended up being dead. Unable to figure out what happened, we called in an expert who explained that grass needs a balance of 50% soil, 25% water, and 25% air to thrive. The repeated heavy rain falls of the preceding months had suffocated the grass roots in this area, killing the grass.   We live on a hill, have invested a small fortune in retaining walls, drainage systems, and sod, but the rains had been heavy and frequent, saturating that particular portion of the yard.   Again and again.  Lesson learned: Grass needs a healthy balance of soil, water, and air to thrive.  Being a writer, I made the mental jump to writing. I realized that sometimes writers forget that stories also need a healthy balance of ingredients. It’s easy to suffocate a story. Too much dialogue, you have a screenplay. Too much narrative, you have a snoozing reader. Too...

  Where have I been lately ? Well, three rounds of physical therapy in less than 12 months and the pain associated with the problem ate up a lot of time and energy. On the bright side, the third time was a charm. The” last resort” physical therapist watched me walk and immediately diagnosed the problem. My gait was flawed.  Now to look at me, you would never guess any of this. I didn’t limp or anything. And two medical doctors and two physical therapists who worked with me missed it. Their consensus opinion pointed to my IT band being inflamed.  Yeah, like I’m a runner.  Anyway, I was lucky and someone told me about a nontraditional type of physical therapy. One visit with someone who specializes in whole body movement and I was on the road to recovery. I learned that my off kilter walking stressed my right side, which torqued my back, which then sent burning nerve signals to my left leg.  Weird, right? What Was Happening? My...