A Bit About Plot by Janet Lane Walters #BWLAuthors #MFRWAuthors #Plot #Phone Call #Voice From Past

 

I've recently had several ideas and had to decide which kind of plot to use.  The History Author's Snuff Boxes was the idea.

Snuff boxes were popular years ago and people used the to carry snuff with them so they could take a sniff when they wanted. I looked at many and saw they were small and sometimes very beautiful. At first I thought a historical story particularly in the Regency period would be the setting. But I didn't really want to put snuff boxes into a story and for them not to be the focus. That eliminated one kind of plot.

Remember this. A plot is just a plan to take a story from the beginning to the end. Something I've heard many times since I began writing.

I looked at other kinds of plots. Contemporary romance. I didn't think snuff boxes would work. Not would, at least for me, paranormal. Not fantasy or science fiction.

Actually as I considered how to use the snuff boxes, I could probably figure a way to put them into most genres. Then one hit me and seemed to be the way for snuff boxes to be featured in my book.

At the present time, the idea is swirling in my thoughts adding bits of ideas that will eventually become the book I've dreamed of. Not until I finish the book I'm currently working on - a medical romance at present called A Voice From Her Past triggered by a phone call I received from a friend I hadn't seen or heard from for years.

The sailing adventure continues, by J.C. Kavanagh

 

Click on the link below to purchase this award-winning series!

https://www.bookswelove.net/kavanagh-j-c/

The Murray Canal - anyone know about this place in Ontario, Canada?

I knew very little about this Canal until I began my sailing adventure from Georgian Bay, Ontario, on our way to the Bahamas. Me and my partner, Ian, are sailing on our Beneteau 423, which weighs roughly about 20,000 lbs fully loaded and has a draft of five-and-a-half feet (that means our cast iron keel measures 5.5' below the boat's water line. Oh and the keel itself weighs about 6,000 lbs or 2650 kg.) 

But getting to the Bahamas is no easy feat. There is much planning to do! Because our sailboat has a deep draft, we are not able to travel on the Trent-Severn Canal which is the quickest route from Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario. Instead, we have to travel north on Georgian Bay then south on Lake Huron, through the St. Clair River to Lake St. Clair, then continue south on the Detroit River to Lake Erie, then east to the Welland Canal. From there we reach Lake Ontario and head east to the Bay of Quinte and the Murray Canal. This little trip takes us 650 nautical miles around three of the five Great Lakes. If we took the Trent-Severn Canal, we would have saved 550 nautical miles of travel. 

The Murray Canal

As early as 1796, plans for the canal were proposed and a total of five surveys were undertaken: in 1824, 1833, 1837, 1845, 1866 and 1881. Finally, in 1882, construction of the canal began and was completed in 1889. It is located between the Bay of Quinte and Presqu'ile Bay on Lake Ontario and is approximately 8 kms in length (5.5 miles). It was named after Sir George Murray, a British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in what was then called Upper Canada. The canal provided a 'safer' shipping route as it shortened the journey around the dangerous shores off the peninsula of Prince Edward County. When I say 'safer,' I also mean safe from the threat of war with the United States (check out the history of the Empire Loyalists). The seven-year project cost $1,272,500 to build, which is approximately $32.6 million in today's dollars.

Me at the helm, travelling through the Murray Canal

Our adventure to the Bahamas continues! And, if you're looking for summertime, adventurous books to read, look no further than the award-winning Twisted Climb series. As one reader wrote in a five-star review, "the series would be perfect for a movie!"

Stay safe and don't forget to tell the ones you love that you love them :)

J.C. Kavanagh, author of

The Twisted Climb - A Bright Darkness (Book 3) Best YA Book FINALIST at Critters Readers Poll 2022
AND
The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends (Book 2) voted BEST Young Adult Book 2018, Critters Readers Poll and Best YA Book FINALIST at The Word Guild, Canada
AND
The Twisted Climb,
voted BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers Poll
Voted Best Local Author, Simcoe County, Ontario, 2021
Novels for teens, young adults and adults young-at-heart
Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh
www.amazon.com/author/jckavanagh
Instagram @authorjckavanagh

The Joy of Dialogue by A.M. Westerling

 

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The Joy of Dialogue

 

            Recently, I had one of those A-HA moments. You know the ones, where you feel as if you have been bopped over the head with a big foamy hammer. And my epiphany?

 

Dialogue is my friend.

 

            Oh, how I used to fret and fuss over dialogue, agonizing over every word, forcing out sentence after sentence.  Introspection, back story, no problem. Description? Bring it on. But dialogue? It was like pulling teeth. Which is probably why my first manuscript had pacing issues. I much preferred to spend my words describing the scenery and clothing than have my hero and heroine actually talk to each other. 

 

But all of a sudden, one day I clued in - dialogue is a very, very powerful tool. Why is that?  Because:

 

1.         It breaks up narrative.  It happens in real time.

 

2.         It presents information. You can use it to tell the back story (one character talking to another.)

 

3.         It develops character. By word usage and slang, you can identify characters.

 

4.         Use it to move the plot along. The characters tell what’s going to happen rather than the author.

 

5.         It can also develop conflict – one character arguing with another.

 

            Now that I have more writing experience, I know how to build a scene with dialogue. Everyone has their own method but for me it is to write the conversation first, then go back and fill in the quotation marks, tags, emotional response, setting, gestures, etc. I might have to go over it a few times until I get the balance that I want but even so, I can write a few pages of dialogue a lot faster than a few pages of narrative.

 

Tips:

 

-       Get to the point – don’t waste time saying hello, talking about the weather, etc.

-       Don’t have the characters call each other by their names – we don’t talk like that in our everyday conversations

-       Identify pet phrases, expletives, etc for your characters – we all have them (see #3)

- If you’re in a public place, listen to people conversing around you.

 

 

A.M. Westerling, a writer of historical romance, is currently working on her tenth book for BWL Publishing and now finds that she can’t get her characters to shut up!!

 

Storytelling Magic

 

Find "I'll Be Seeing You" here

You're never going to kill storytelling, 

because it's built into the human plan. We come with it.
~ Margaret Atwood 

As I complete my third book in my award-winning Navajo Code Talker Chronicles series (All of Me...coming in November), I am, as usual in awe of the power of storytelling. It's the power of the creative spirit... the ability to make something out of nothing that we all possess. We express it in many ways... a well-tended garden, a dance or song, a painting, a family. And it is nothing short of magical.

Our grandson is at an age where he's starting to get the mechanicals behind creating magic. He loved joining his mom to create beautiful illusions to benefit our local Friends of the Library. I enjoyed that spark in his eyes as he pulled a bouquet of flowers from a silk scarf...astonishing even himself. I recognize the same in me as I stand back from a section of dialogue that seems to come from my characters themselves or plot twist that even I didn't see coming. Wow. Moments of magic.

Our young magician

Evan our six-year-old knows that making magic requires craft...presentation, patter, storytelling... and practice, practice, practice with the tools of magic. 

So too for his grandma and her tools of storytelling magic: character development, plotting, dialogue, narration, description... and edit, edit edit!

I hope you'll find the results as pleasing as my grandson's magic!

3 generations of magicians

Book 1

  

Book 2

Book 3

My Changing Author Photo

Please visit my website or click this link for book purchase information.

When my first novel, A Deadly Fall, was published in 2011, I decided to get a professional author photograph for book promotion. A friend recommended her friend, Deb Marchand, a local Calgary photographer who specializes in portraits, family pictures, and special events like graduation photos. 

I contacted Deb, found her cost reasonable, and arranged a photo session. Deb likes to shoot outdoors and prefers the evenings for better light. We picked a date, but that summer kept getting hit with evening thunder showers, and we had to cancel our first date. The next time, another storm loomed, but we agreed to chance a downpour. 

Deb chose a location on a park ridge. I had asked her advice on clothing for my portrait. Since it would be a head shot, clothes only mattered from the chest up. Deb said a plain coloured top with a rounded neckline would be best. I had also read that it's best to avoid jewellery in portraits since it detracts from the face, which is what people most want to see about the person. 

I looked through my wardrobe, couldn't find the perfect top, and threw a bunch into a bag with the plan to discretely change on the ridge until we found the top that worked. Fortunately, on that evening of looming clouds few people were out walking in the park. After taking numerous photos of me in several tops, I went to Deb's house, in the rain, to go through the selections on her computer. An agonizing choice when so many photos looked similar and I'm not the biggest fan of pictures of me. 

In the end, I settled on a photo of me wearing a white top with a V-neck. I liked the look so much that I had the photo enlarged for my family room wall. 

Deb and I became Facebook friends. She came to my book launch and read A Deadly Fall and my next two novels. In 2019, I realized my eight-year-old photo was out of date and asked Deb if she'd be interested in another photo shoot. This time, we met on a clear, spring evening in Calgary's St. Patrick's Island Park, and I had the perfect top--red with a rounded neckline.  

 

Six years passed. I published three more novels, let my hair go naturally gray, and. thanks to cataract surgery didn't wear glasses anymore. Every time I sent out my author picture, I felt it didn't look like the current "me." I messaged Deb who was enthused about working with me again. She suggested Prince's Island Park downtown for our third photo shoot.  

Deb asked if I'd prefer a city or nature backdrop. I chose nature because I liked the greenery in my past photos and thought high rise buildings in the background would portray the wrong image for my shift to historical fiction. Deb thought a light-coloured top would be a good contrast to nature colours. I chose a pale pink rounded-neck T-shirt top. 

On a warm, slightly windy and smoky evening in June, we walked around the Prince's Island Park and caught up on each others' news. Deb photographed me on a staircase to the Bow River and in front of trees and flowerbeds. She had me do models' poses--chest out and swish your arms down your hips to your thighs--and fussed with my windblown hair. It reminded me that I wouldn't want to be a model. 

After the session, Deb emailed me a longlist of photos as well as her five personal favourites, from which I chose my two author photos. Here they are:

  

When I want, I can crop the bottoms of these photos for more close-up views, which works especially well when the promotion image will be small.  

Deb also sent black and versions:   

 

Deb and I shared a few laughs during the photo shoot. She said that, as a bonus, she'd add a joyous portrait as her gift to me. "It will be one of those great laughing photographs that makes me smile as big as your smile in the photo." 

I was touched when she gifted me with two joyous pictures. Thanks to Deb Marchand Photography for all these years of great author photos.