Just Ginger

I recently realized I’m a genre snob. Literary works don’t do much for me. I realized this when I read the reader discussion at the end of a book I had just finished. The author admitted he has no message in that book. No message? No take away? Nothing that makes reading the book worthwhile for the reader? Actually, this pretty much summed up thoughts I’ve frequently had about literary fiction. Many “literary” books don’t seem to have a worthwhile message, some stories just meander from scene to scene without really going anywhere. Yet in all my years of study of how to improve my own writing, we are constantly told to have some sort of takeaway for the reader. That most people read a book to help them make sense of the world. Through the years, I have read countless fiction books written by countless authors. It may be shallow, but I often veer away from literary fiction because I have learned the stories often have an unfulfilling ending. At least to me. It took me awhile to realize ...

I was listening to National Public Radio (NPR) one day when a man began recounting an incident in his life that led to a group of teens beating him up. I didn’t listen to the complete story because I couldn’t get past the beginning. Here’s how he set it up: It was midnight.  It was Brooklyn, NY  He was walking home alone.  He was talking on the phone with his friend.  He was wearing earbuds.  He was in a deserted industrial area. There were so many things wrong with this story. Rather than think, poor guy, he got beat up. I thought what were you thinking? Of course, you got beat up. Let’s step back from his story for a moment . I worked on ten Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) handbooks–writing, editing, and proofreading chapters. One topic the FAA hit again and again was situational awareness. What is situational awareness, you ask? Pretty much what you think it is: being aware of the situation around you. Being aware of what is happening...

I love to write. I have always loved to write. I wrote my first short story when I was in second grade. My ability to write well has helped not only me, but also others. As a student, it helped me earn better grades–my essay on moiré patterns meant a passing grade in physics. An article I wrote about a Federal Aviation Administration award for mechanics provided the impetus for two Alabama gentlemen to receive it. A personal essay published in the local newspaper gifted a wonderful woman with a day set aside in her honor by the mayor. It has also prompted my readers to ask if I’d write another book about a character because they want to continue reading about him or her. While writing hasn’t made me rich and famous, it’s brought me a lot of joy. The ability to communicate through writing is not going away. Right now, most of you communicate continuously via text messaging, but the truth is from the time you get up in the morning until you turn off your cell phone at night, yo...

It’s impossible for us to attain perfection with every sentence we write, but we do need to check our work for as many errors as we can before putting it out in the world. I keep encountering certain things in books I read that drive me nuts. Here’s my favorite three. The Case of the Missing Pants As we set the reader in our story world, we need to describe characters. If you chose to describe a character’s outfit, please don’t stop mid-way through the description. A server in a crisp white shirt, red vest, and red bow tie approached.  As I read, I form a mental picture of a character. From this abbreviated description, I can’t help butwonder if the bottom half of his body is naked. And if so, why didn’t the  other characters notice? How about A server dressed in a crisp white shirt, red vest with red bow tie, and gray pants approached. While this isn’t the complete picture, his socks and shoes are missing, and maybe a watch–you get the picture. ...

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...

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, ...