Just Ginger

Historical writers tend to love history and are often lured off the research track by fascinating historical tidbits. Frequently, the lure isn’t germane to the story being written. Which is why I find writing some type of outline or synopsis a great help once I’ve gained a feel for the historical period. This does not have to be a polished, submission level outline/synopsis. This is for your eyes only and can be as sloppy as you want. Probably the most important first step is establishing a time line. Why read about what happened in 1858 when your story takes place in 1812? Listing the basic elements of your story is another important step. In my November 19, 2019 blog I write about the essential story ingredients such as character, motivation, conflict, goals, etc. You can be as thorough here as you want. This is for your eyes only and can be as vague or detailed as you like. It’s easy to expand a word with a question mark into a sentence which eventually becomes a paragraph and the...

“Never write a historical novel as your first book.” I read this piece of writing advice in my first how-to-write fiction book. Youth and an undergraduate degree in history made me discard the advice. I spent the next two years writing a 900 page tome about Roman Britain set in 60 A. D. Gladiator it was not.  By the time, I wrote “The End,” the advice made sense. A novice historical romance writer is giving herself two difficult new skills to master: the craft of writing and the creation of a different time period.  The beginning writer of a contemporary story worries only about learning the craft of writing, because she can draw upon a store of shared contemporary images when she creates her setting. For example, the word “McDonald’s” puts the reader in a fast-food restaurant replete with smells.  Life isn’t as simple for the writer of historical novels. You don’t have this store of contemporary images and if your story is set before 1827, you can’t use the w...

I hope you enjoyed my  Story Steps  series. I’ve decided to wander back into writing more randomly about writing. If that makes sense? The idea behind the  Story Step s was to help you get started with a project. Now I’m going to return to random topics that I hope you will find helpful. As usual, I had a little more to say about my experience with story titles than in my Story Step 6 blog. Disclaimer: I’m not the world’s best title maker upper. Although I am proud of several of my titles, they are usually hard fought battles as I try to find the one that best reflects the story I’m telling. In Story Step 6, I wrote about choosing a title for your work in progress. My advice being that if you’re struggling with a title, don’t let that sidetrack you from writing the story. It’s not uncommon for traditional publishers, as I also mentioned, to change the title of a contracted book if they don’t like your title. My thoughts wandered back this way because the rights to a short...

It's hard to believe March is right around the corner. February flew by with my Goddess Fish Virtual book blog tour the highlight of the month writing wise. But now it's nose to the grindstone as I get back to work on writing another story or two. I'm trying to learn how to balance promotion and writing, carving out time from a busy schedule to do both. It's not an easy task. The Internet hovers nearby, happy to devour time, a most precious commodity. But also a wonderful connection to wonderful readers. The art of balance...I shall continue working at balancing my writing life.