When Did They Say That?

When writing historical novels, it's easy to let things slip into your writing that aren't era appropriate. I remember watching an episode of Paradise (a western), where a stuffed bear is referred to as a 'Teddy Bear'. Since teddy bears are named after President Theodore Roosevelt, no one would have called the toy by that name.

That scene has stuck in my mind for years and made me more aware of trying to get the language right in my stories. If you need help knowing if a word is appropriate, check out this site: Online Etymology Dictionary

Happy Writing!

Ghosts of Romances Past

Congratulations to my daughter, Laura Briggs. Today is the debut of her new release from White Rose, Ghosts of Romances Past. If you enjoy great inspirational romance with a little historical thrown in, you will enjoy this book! It is available at White Rose, as well as Amazon.

Historicals

If you enjoy reading historical novels and are just plain interested in history, check out the blog post over at Everything Writerly. I especially enjoyed the pictures of the kitchen. Can you imagine having to make meals in there? (And this stove would have been in a very 'modern' kitchen, at the time). Part of me is hopelessly romantic when it comes to pioneer life--the other half shrinks at the thought of doing without some modern conveniences. It was something to think about when I watched Frontier House on PBS several years ago.

Check This Out

Enjoy this great post by Mary DeMuth on Michael Hyatt's blog!

Writing Wednesday

The cover for my White Rose Christmas novella, Christmas in Coyote County, has arrived!! It was designed by White Rose Editor-in-Chief, Nicola Martinez. She did a fantastic job capturing the fun nature of the story. Thank you Nicola!!

Writing News

Earlier this year, White Rose Publishing put out a call for Christmas novellas for their 2011 holiday line-up. I submitted one at the end of April, and last week I received an email from White Rose Publishing~they have accepted my novella manuscript. I'm so excited and pleased to be part of the White Rose family! It will be published in eBook form along with the 23 others that they have lined up.

I also want to say congratulations to my daughter, Laura Briggs. White Rose accepted her Christmas novella, as well as another project she submitted.

Happy Writing!

Knowing Your Characters

You must know your characters--inside and out. That is one of the benefits that I am seeing in the Snowflake program that I recently purchased. The questions answered for each character is very in-depth. When you are finished with the page on the character, you know him or her as well as you know yourself--well, almost, LOL!

Of course, you don't have to use the Snowflake program to do this. An easy method is to make a detailed page of each of your main characters. In other words, write their history--even things that you won't include in your novel, such as a few fun events from their childhood--something only you will know about them that will shape their personality.

It's not necessary to do this for every character in your novel, but try it out on your hero and heroine and maybe two or three other characters in your novel.

This method may add a few extra days of time before you start your novel, but the better you know your characters, the more they will come alive for your readers. And pleasing your readers by making your story believable is your main goal.

Happy writing!