the nitty gritty of it

Someone asked about how a writer keeps track of trilogies which would lead to the same concerns when it comes to series writing. I started to answer it in a comment; but realized I'd learned a lot, especially recently, and it was worthy of its own blog.

When I participated in that Facebook event, I had not only my own hour, but listened in and commented on other writers-- learning a few things along the way. As a writer, you tend to be all on your own especially when creating a new world where you become part of it more than your own-- at least for awhile. Unless you go to workshops, joint critique groups, or attend conferences, none of which have I done, you may not even know other writers doing what you do-- at least it was that way for me until I got into the Amazon forums. The Facebook event was even more of a connection to like-minded writers and readers. It was fast moving, free flowing, like a big party but all revolving around westerns, writing or reading.

So when it comes to writing a series or trilogy, you need to define when your characters were born (even important secondary ones) at least for yourself even if it never shows up anywhere else. In a contemporary it might seem less important but it still matters. How old was that mama? When were the hero and heroine born? When did parents die or did they? What might've impacted their lives-- like say a war. It might seem less important with a story set in today, but in romances, it's the relationships that matter; so consistency in time counts.

For years I kept  all that about my characters in my head. I had no idea when a character had been born. Even more so when I had continuing characters, secondary in one, hero in next, I wasn't always that clear on how that would work for getting pregnant or jobs. Frankly back then it didn't really matter. I was writing for myself. When I decided to ePub these books, it was obviously going to matter-- a lot.

If you have a girl in one instantly being a woman two years later and back to a girl in the third, that will drive readers nuts. A timeline avoids that kind of glitch. I made my first one on Corel as frankly I didn't know how to draw a line in Word. What I did was create a straight line and on one side the years-- other side what happened. In my first timeline, I didn't use major world events. They weren't a factor in the story-- or so I thought.

Well major wold events actually are a factor. We are impacted in our daily lives by what we know happened outside our own world. Historical or contemporary characters are no different. Hence attitudes, toward immigration, Native Americans, other countries, natural disasters, political causes, impact of climate, all do enter in their lives as well as our own. We may be on the other side of the popular opinion but it still plays a role in how we see it for something like a major war. If your heroine cannot vote, how does she feel about it? Was the treatment of the Chinese okay or not? Don't know what that was? If she didn't, it says something about her personality-- and if the hero knows, but she doesn't, are they really a good match?

So a timeline that takes into account what else was happening can mean two timelines if it was a lot or just notes regarding something outside the characters' orbits. I finally did learn to draw a line in Word and found that leaving spaces blank when nothing was happening for a few years, gave that timeline more meaning-- also leaving room for additions in the future.

This week-end, at that Facebook event, a writer of mysteries mentioned that she does a bible for her books. I hadn't heard the term and thought I could find out with a search the next morning. What I found is the word bible is so filled with energy that you cannot find anything except it-- pro and con. The search was awash in horror (or glee) that Costco had put the Bible in their fiction section in Simi Valley. Finally I gave up the search and emailed her with the question.

What she told me, that I never did find by a Google search, is that it's like a series bible. If I'd had that second word, I would have saved myself a lot of time. The essence is that a series on television needs to keep track of a lot of characters, what happened, what influences, and that's the bible. She has taken that term to use especially with her mysteries but clearly also her historicals 

She was generous and gave me an example of how complex hers is for a series of detective stories she writes-- it was a table of contents that led to 166 pages. -- numbers, timeline, recurring character bios, professional contacts, trends, location, etc. etc.-- basically a book in itself.In her character bios, she had important secondary relationships. She had chapters for weapons, forensics, legal system, etc. Think Arthur Conan Doyle here. She went on with a lot more of the trends of that time, which might impact her stories-- each with their own chapters. 

I think I should now give you the name of the prolific author who gave me all this info-- Alison Bruce, who writes both mysteries and historicals. 

In the past, I did my research without anything resembling the level of a bible. It was all on many small and large pieces of paper-- some handwritten, some typed. I had a mix of bookmarks that I might be able to find again if I could remember which file. I'd lose the paper or throw them out when I thought the book was done without realizing I was going to someday write another with the same characters.

Yes, I knew some writers were more organized than me. I didn't really care as I thought I was writing what came along. Up to a point, that might work when it's not a series or even more so a trilogy where a continuing problem will be resolved in the third book (and in my case with each standing alone if someone reads only one). 

In 2011, when I started to pull my books together, the ones with some of the same characters, I just felt lucky I hadn't yet published any of them. I could adjust some things to finally get them to follow in a logical line. Some, with a recurring secondary character, I had to change of names. It was impossible to blend them as I had with my loose sense of organization. The heroes and heroines were fine, but they could not show up elsewhere out of sequences for their age, age of children or jobs.

I still write seat of my pants in a lot of ways with a story that comes to me and details that grow as I consider what fits together. Now though I have a timeline, adding to it if required, and I do write character profiles when I first introduce a character or family. I am thinking I will also have a bible. It won't be so organized that it has chapters but it will stay in a folder that at least can be found later with printed off articles that relate. Yeah, I'm not anal-- I also though am not nuts, don't want more work than required, and realize readers keep track. A writer that's sloppy likely won't get a second chance.

two good westerns-- on DVD

Most evenings, wherever we are, my husband and I watch a movie. We try to agree on what and it's not unusual for it to be something we have seen. We tend to like the same sort of films which means no horror, extreme violence, or that leaves us feeling depressed when they are over.

We have experimented with indie westerns for our nightly film-- which can be laughably bad. One, won't name names, was so bad that it would have been better with the sound off-- better because it did have a beautiful cast of young heroes. Totally a pleasure to watch but dialogue and acting... ack! Could a better director have saved the story-- maybe or maybe not.

The two I want to discuss here had varying levels of apparent money behind their making. They were both, however, definitely indie movies, never meant for movie theaters and only for DVD sales or rentals. They were both good in different ways. Of course, when I say that, it is a given that I mean for those who like westerns. If you don't, you might disagree totally. Western lovers though will accept a lot of minor glitches in the plot if it stays true to the genre. And these did in spades.

The other aspect the two had in common was their star. Both movies starred country music singers who had risen to the top of those ranks and are mature men now probably looking for new challenges.

They are middle aged but still tough enough looking to carry off the western hero, the kind of guy who is tough, capable, and for me-- a pleasure to look at. Give me a guy who has some experience on his face. Surprisingly they both gave good acting performances. Could they do Macbeth? Maybe not (likely would not want to), but a western is about good versus evil. It is about those who will stand up when others stand down. It is about the need for right to triumph. Much as a romance, they will have a happy ending-- which may or may not involve a woman.

Ambush at Dark Canyon starred Kix Brooks, who is famous in CW circles for being part of Brooks and Dunn who had hit after hit until they got to a certain age and felt they were repeating themselves and maybe wanted to go different directions. Brooks had a goal to act in a western which I felt he did quite well in this story of a US Marshal who made a catastrophic error in judgment which cost him his freedom.

The story does not end there, but I cannot reveal more of what happens without wrecking the story. Suffice to say there was plenty of action, two good bromances, and a setting in Southern Arizona where they used Yuma Prison for some of the scenes. I have been there which added to my enjoyment as Yuma Prison is one of those places you don't forget-- a literal hellhole for any one unfortunate enough to end up there.

The second film had me in some doubt when I purchased it. It was a retelling of The Virginian. Now that film has been made a lot of times usually with the same plot and beloved by me whether it's perfectly made or not. (The honeymoon at the end of the book, which evidently Owen Wister only added at Teddy Roosevelt's request -- gotta have a happy ending which Wister hadn't originally intended to involve love-- that honeymoon in the Big Horns is my idea of the best a man could give a woman. Total perfection and no sex in the story. It didn't need it.)

Okay, I got distracted. Back to the newest version. It starred Trace Adkins, who is another of my favorites in music-- and to look at. Adkins though seemed an unlikely choice for the Virginian; but when you get into this movie, it no longer is the case. He was perfectly cast.  This Virginian is a middle-aged guy, who has lived a hard life and is trying to live by the Code. He's tough, respected and living in a time where life can end very abruptly-- something he knows all too well.

The plot deviates a lot from the book while keeping some key elements. I can't say too much about it, or I'd ruin someone else's pleasure as the story unfolds, but the jacket gives away one point and I think blows it on another.

This Judge Henry is not a good guy. Ron Perlman knows how to play a complex character like this to perfection. To me, the rethinking of the Judge's character suits our understanding of how power can corrupt. By reworking  his character, the essence of the story changed from the original, but in a way that stayed true to westerns and added a view of life today.

Whoever wrote the book's jacket had a tough job. I know how hard it is to write blurbs that tell enough without too much. I just felt that the friendship between the city man and the western guy changed them both (yes another good bromance). These two men evolved with the needs of the situation. It wasn't one impacting the other but both of them. And the heroine, Molly West, well she was terrific for today's audiences.

Both of these films were good, stayed true to the heart of the western, and were eye candy enough for anybody who isn't a kid themselves ;). Certainly The Virginian was done on a budget as it didn't have a big cast-- but it put its money where it was most important.

It was the perfect time to watch these films as my newest novella comes out February 1 and while it's not exactly a western, it has one cowboy and the other a ranch owner for heroes... as well as... okay I won't go further but there will be more on it this week (while I am on the road but they are prewritten).

Paty Jager-- today's guest author

Wife, mother, grandmother, and the one who cleans pens and delivers the hay, award winning author Paty Jager and her husband currently ranch 350 acres when not dashing around visiting their children and grandchildren. She not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

With sixteen published books, three novellas, and an anthology, Paty is never at a loss for story ideas and characters in her head. Her rural life in central and eastern Oregon and interests in local history and the world around her keeps the mystery and romance ideas flowing. 

Secondary Characters- When do they go from being secondary to main characters? 

By Paty Jager

Secondary characters in my books aren’t always expected. In that I mean, I usually figure out the sidekicks and the important secondary characters in the beginning when I do my process called stewing and brewing. This happens in the early stages of a book’s conception where I start thinking about the main characters and what hurdles can I put between them and what the premise of the book is going to be about.

Once I have the main characters figured out, I sit down and write up bios about them starting as far back as is pertinent to their role in the story. This is when a sidekick or friend might come into the mix as a secondary character. With the first book of the Halsey Brother Series, Marshal in Petticoats, I came up with the idea of an accident prone young woman becoming marshal of an equally accident prone town. But to make her plight more compelling she’s on the run with her younger brother (sidekick) from their evil uncle. She dresses like a young man to be able to move about without being hindered by the proprieties of the times. But that also lands her with the job of marshal when she accidentally shoots a bank robber.

The secondary characters in this story that popped up out of the blue were Gil, the hero’s, brothers. I hadn’t thought too much about his background only that he was a drifter and trying to hide from something. When I gave Darcy, the heroine, strong family values, I decided Gil would be estranged from his brothers, but, lo and behold, their names popped up one day and the reason he fled the family mine and before the book ended the reader has met each of the brothers. In their short appearances in the first book, I fell in love with each of them and knew once Marshal in Petticoats was published, I’d be writing a book for each of the brothers.

There are always secondary characters who are only in one or two scenes. Those I add as they pop into the scene and only give them as much life as is needed to move the book forward and give needed information to the story.

To answer your question: Do you prefer writing series or stand-alone books?

I like to write both. I enjoy the challenge of a new stand-alone book, I have three historical and two contemporary westerns that are stand alones. But I also like the familiarity of writing a series. After a couple in the same series, the rest of the books are easier to write because you know at least one of the main characters so well and the secondary characters that were in the previous books. This familiarity make the books write faster in my opinion. 

 *********************************

This month you can purchase Paty's five book Halsey Brothers Series in an ebook box set for $.99. The reason the set is at such a good price this month only is to get readers involved in the Halsey family so they will be clamoring for the first book of a Halsey Homecoming Trilogy that will be available in November.  

Laying Claim is set in the Yukon during the gold rush. Jeremy, Darcy’s little brother in Marshal in Petticoats is all grown up and making money in the Yukon as a guide and packer to prove he can make it on his own without the Halsey family backing.

Laying Claim starts out with a young woman arriving in Skagway, Alaska and determined to travel over the treacherous Chilkoot Trail to find her brother. He is the heir to the family business in Seattle and the only person who can help her mother and siblings avoid ending up out on the street. Duped several times at her arrival to Skagway, it becomes clear to Clara Bixbee she needs to find an honest guide. Everyone has high praise for Jeremy Duncan so she seeks him out. And that is where the sparks begin to fly.

Blurbs for the Box Set:

Halsey Brothers Series - Five historical western romance novels set in Oregon in the 1800's.

Marshal in Petticoats

After accidentally shooting a bank robber, Darcy Duncan becomes marshal of a town as accident prone as herself.  And she’s not about to take orders from a corrupt mayor or a handsome drifter.

Gil Halsey discovers the new marshal is a passionate woman hell bent on proving the mayor is corrupt and dodging outlaws to clear her name.

Outlaw in Petticoats

Maeve Loman accepts Zeke Halsey’s offer to help her discover the truth behind her father's disappearance even though she hasn’t met a man who can keep his promise.

Zeke Halsey has wanted Maeve Loman since he first set eyes on the prickly schoolteacher. Offering to help her find her father, he hopes to prove he’s not going anywhere.

Miner in Petticoats

Ethan Halsey is determined to fulfill his father’s wishes to provide for his brothers. The only drawback is a feisty woman who refuses to part with the land he needs.

Aileen Miller has had two husbands. She isn’t about to allow another man to dictate her life or the lives of her two children.

Doctor in Petticoats

Dr. Rachel Tarkiel gave up on love after a devastating accident and settled for a life healing others. 

Blinded by a person he considered a friend, Clay curses his circumstances and his limitations. Can their love overcome their internal fears and the obstacles life throws at them or will a mysterious man keep them apart forever?

Logger in Petticoats

Hank Halsey believes he’s found the perfect logging crew—complete with cooks—until he discovers Kelda Nielson would rather swing an axe than flip eggs.

Strong and stubborn, Kelda Nielsen grew up falling trees, and resents any man who believes she’s not capable, until Hank.

You can purchase the Halsey Brothers Series box set at:

Kindle                    Nook              Kobo     

Learn more about Paty at her blog; www.patyjager.blogspot.com   

website; http://www.patyjager.net or on 

Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager 

and twitter;  @patyjag. 

Predictability or manipulation?

In the midst of the ranch's fox chronicles, I've been trying to think about my books-- the ones already out and those yet to be published. My thought right now is that the first Arizona historical will come out the end of July. It's mostly then because we have a trip planned for the middle of July; and I want to be around when the book is published. I also hope to bring this one out as a paperback which takes more advance planning.

This week I came across an interesting article for writers. Ginger Simpson mentioned it in the MOA, and I thought it was worthy of linking here.

Is your plot predictable? by Rita Karnopp 

What she writes about is an issue which I think most writers debate with themselves. My exploration of predictability and unpredictability in writing follows:

sorting, sorting and more sorting

 It's been stormy in the Pacific Northwest with squalls coming through combined with breaks with a bit of sunshine. Nothing that inspires a person to be outside for more than quick walks. I got into sorting 'stuff' and that's pretty well been encompassing my week. This is a little late for spring cleaning and it's not that. It's trying to discard and organize. Some of this came because I found a cool deal online for four sundresses, which I love when it's warm enough, and when they came, that led to organizing my closet, putting out summery clothes (if warm weather gets here)... and somewhere in there I decided I also needed to go through our old VHS tapes.

In the cleaning out the anteroom to the garage, Farm boss came across two boxes of romance novels which I hadn't seen for years, barely remembered I had ever bought, have no idea why they were there or for how many years. That led to sorting them. These are books from late 1980s into 1990s when I was reading a lot of this to try and get a feel for what the romance genre required.

Which means, I've been scanning through a LOT of books all at once, all from authors who were popular then but some don't still have books out there while a few do. I am keeping a few and more will be set up to hopefully sell as boxes maybe on eBay. That was what I was going to do with others I'd gone through over a year ago and have yet to try to sell. It takes photographing their covers and offering them in groups of say 20. No bookstore will take books from that far back unless they are by authors who are still publishing (learned that years ago when I thought I could read the books and resell them when done).

Anyway it's been interesting to see an affirmation of what I had written before-- the plots get circulated and recirculated. Yes, readers of romances today do want fresh approaches (but not too fresh). The plots are used again and again by new writers. I do not think original plots are particularly desired which is a bit of a bummer if you like to write original stories.

What I have wondered, as I've been skimming through them, is do my plots fit any of these categories? I do feel they are hybrids between a true romance and say a Mary Alice Monroe. Is there a market for that?

It was interesting to see some of the names of writers that don't appear to still be selling books and yet had published over 40. They were doing something right in terms of drawing readers. Can I fit any of that while still telling my own story? That's my issue to think about for now.

Between fence problems involving the sheep, the fox wars (more on that continuing saga for my Saturday blog on Rainy Day Thoughts), trying to learn how to do discussion videos, watching our granddaughter run in an end of the season meet, I've been sorting, sorting and re-sorting and my house is a mess-- full of boxes of this or that. The farmhouse doesn't have enough storage space or maybe it has too much!

On creating my own videos, I updated my YouTube site (actually they said do it now or they'd be doing it soon) as they suggested offering a less than one minute video to explain what my channel there is about-- creating and nature. I also spent more time (when emotionally I had the energy) working on what it will take to do one for a specific book keeping the video to around 2 minutes.

What I am beginning to think is I won't be able to interest people to check these out unless I come up with something more to intrigue which might mean combining scenery (if we ever get dried out up here) or even images from the books. I am not remotely sure how to do any of that and this gets old fast trying to figure it out especially since I am still not sure it'll sell my 'hybrid' romances.

Anyway here's the video I did for my book Desert Inferno. I am thinking the book videos should start with the location, the setting, the motivation behind the story, and have limited about the plots and characters as that's all available at Amazon. The video is really about interesting someone enough to look at the sample and the blurb.

The photo at the top is a teaser regarding the chronicles of us and the fox family-- come back Saturday to Rainy Day Thoughts for more.

the nature of warriors

Before I begin writing a story, a lot of time is spent mulling over plot and characters in my head. It is when I begin to think about who goes with the two main characters. I work out the difficulties they will face and come up with subplots. For me it all happens before I begin typing. Once in awhile I might write a vignette to help me think about the mood of the piece-- the snippet often won't ever make it into the book.

In the historical story I am currently planning, its two lead characters will be different than any I've written-- both are warriors in different fields. I've written about heroes who had been in the military and about lawmen but never a career military officer. To add to the difference, my heroine will also be in a business that required secrecy and involved danger. She will be able to shoot and react as well as a man when required.

Two warriors. And me not a warrior. Well, I've been listening to documentaries, reading things, to get the feel for what that means. Music is a factor also and the following video is about warriors over a period of generations. There are no images-- just words about a desire for peace while one straps on a gun to do their part to bring that about. I have to get the feel for a world in which I have never lived in order to tell the story that has come to me this time.

What resolves a novel?

 In writing a novel, or really any fictional work, you've been writing along and feel the story is getting there-- or is it? Where a good beginning to a story is essential in attracting a reader's interest-- a good ending is maybe even more important. That reader has put time into your story. They need to feel it was worth it when they reach the end. I've read a lot of reviews (not of mine but others) who liked a book right up until they felt cheated at the end.

The ending, when it's a romance, can be when the couple are ready to fully commit to each other. That might mean a wedding-- or not. Writers sometimes throw themselves into contortions trying to keep those two from getting together too soon. That is really unnecessary. The novel does not have to end with their coming together but might have another problem they must resolve before the happily ever after. That something else could be an emotional issue that suddenly arises or something threatening from outside them.

Generally the ending to my novels has been pretty easy for me to determine. There have seemed enough barriers to keep it happily/or unhappily moving along until the problem with the bad guy or outside issue has been resolved. That can mean, in the body of the story, the lovers get together, fight over a very real issue, leave each other, work it out and go through that a couple of times-- very much like it happens in a lot of real life relationships (yes, I speak from experience). 

When reading someone else's work or writing my own, what I don't like is using a bogus issue to keep lovers apart. I want it to be some real problem in their personalities that makes them question whether a life together will work. Sometimes an outside issue can interfere making the happily ever after take awhile. But whatever it might be, my goal is always to make it feel as though-- yeah that's how mature people would handle it. I suppose if I was writing about immature people, it'd be otherwise, but as I mentioned before, I like to write about people I could respect if I knew them in real life.

When writing, I enjoy putting real life, small moments into my romances because they are fun to write. I suppose some readers might consider that makes them slow reads if they believe exciting action has to be happening all the time. My own favorite reads mix action with the kinds of happenings that revolve around maybe cooking a meal or weeding a garden. Those are things I like in what I read and likewise what matters to me in my own books. 

The other night, we again watched Murphy's Romance, starring James Garner and Sally Fields. If you haven't seen it, it's a love story about a much younger woman and an older man. As I have thought before, this would probably be a book that a lot of romance readers wouldn't like as it develops slowly, and there are a lot of real life feeling moments not filled with action but part of developing the characters, building the mood and celebrating the pace of life. Then, by The End, the end seemed right. I am not sure writing romances like that works with today's readers, but it works for me when I find such a book.

What has led me to consider this question comes out of my own WIP as I began to ask-- where am I at in the resolution? Have I missed a bigger problem that originally I didn't see? For a little bit I was feeling worried. It seemed it was all working out too smoothly. That was only until I stepped back and saw the whole situation for what it really was and the writing resumed on track. 

This particular story, which is set in an historical time period, appears to not tell as much of that historic time in Oregon as I had originally anticipated. That likely will mean a fourth book as I won't stretch this one beyond what feels right for these characters and their original dilemmas. If I do write a fourth book about that period in Oregon history, I'll use a third sister from the family, it's something I won't decide until I get this one to The End.

One thing I like about writing this blog is my writing always seems to give me topics that I can turn out pretty fast and get back to the problems in the novel. In terms of my own life and how it's going or the country as a whole, that's where I am stymied for what I want to say. I read, observe, have opinions, but not many I want to write about.

escape to another world

Currently I am very involved in writing. My goal is a story the length of my other historicals which range from 120,000 to 140,000 words. For a writer like myself, never published in paper, I couldn't even get an agent to read a manuscript that length. Publishing houses draw a limit at 100,000 for their slush piles (uninvited queries and manuscripts) and prefer less. But this is generally what I feel is needed to fully tell such a story. Once I get into a book like this, I want to stay with these people and fully develop the plots with all the nuances possible. This one follows a prior Arizona story by about two years. The hero and heroine began as secondary characters that I realized would merit their own story.

Old Tucson

The challenge, when you create a new book, is choosing which characters go along with the main protagonists. For a book this length, you need good secondary characters and some secondary plot-lines. You have this historic period you are setting them into-- which might be your own but in my case is southern Arizona and beginning in the winter of 1886. 

Whether today or yesterday, you find out what their community would be like. What were the political issues back then and did they impact their lives? Who do they talk over their problems assuming they are the type to reveal their thinking to anyone? Who will present barriers to their life? What challenges do they choose and which ones are forced upon them by someone else or nature? What are the fun things that just happen, which you didn't plan, but come out of these characters' interactions?

As you are writing, at a certain point, this world will seem as real as your own. It is as though you have reached into a pool and pulled from it characters that at a certain point become fully fleshed. What began as an idea has become a world as real as your own and it's where the magic lies in writing. It is both the challenge and the joy of it.

I particularly recommend such activity in a time such as ours where when you read what is going on in the world, you want to curl up in a hole. I am a believer in being informed and involved in the political choices being attempted or done. Our awareness is critical if we want to remain anything resembling a democracy.

For those who don't know, we are a Republic. We elect leaders to run our system. We vote for them based on believing they follow our own goals and priorities. These are the ones we expect to fight to make this country a good one for us all. When we lose the ability to elect leaders like that, this system is doomed because a lot of what happens once it gets to those leaders too often isn't democracy at all.

This can be very depressing to think about-- whichever political side you take. My opinion is we need to pay attention, be aware of what is happening because what they do does impact our real world. How can we expect to keep a nation that runs on the will of the people if the people can be so easily dissuaded from paying attention? But, the key to a personal, satisfying life, is to do what we can and then let it go. It's a balancing act because how to let it go is the problem.

It is in times like this where I heartily recommend writing fiction whether that be full length manuscripts, novellas, novelettes or short stories. Create your own world and if that's sci fi, fantasy, romance, adventure, pop or great lit, it doesn't matter. 

The ticket is finding somewhere fascinating for you to go with your characters and escaping for awhile from the world in which we actually live. Give your fantasy world some interesting prime characters which might be male and female, mother and offspring, friends, enemies, whatever intrigues you. Then start writing the events as they unfold. Consider if that worked. If it didn't, start over. Whatever the case, you want your mind caught up in their world and not your own as a way to get a break.

Sabino Canyon and another way to escape for awhile-- nature

What to do instead...

Sometimes a writer or painter or sculptor or whatever is just plain flat. Not that it means nothing is happening inside, but there is a feeling of mental fog. The question is often asked-- what do you do then?

Some say just keep doing it. It doesn't matter if you feel it. It's that you set yourself up a schedule and hew to it. So you paint even though everything you are doing is coming out blah or looks like everything you earlier did. You write so many words a day and it doesn't matter if you feel it. You stick to a schedule and it will work itself out.

Frankly I've done that. I've written and painted when I didn't 'feel' it. It's both worked and not worked. Sometimes as I start to write, the energy changes and I see where it's going. Like that film Field of Dreams-- build it and they will come. It's a fantasy but it has some truth to it but not always.

Mostly when I don't feel it one place, I am better off to switch to something else. For instance with writing fiction, I might have a good idea where the character is going but need some time to consider it. The reason I don't feel the inspiration is because what I'm trying to do is the wrong way. Giving it some time can help to develop a better sense of what comes next.

Some of the things I do when I'm in one of those in between times is move to a different media. I might look for photos that fit the stories I am writing, photos to inspire me. Now I have mentioned my favorite source for this is CanStock. I try only to buy photos that I know I can never take for myself. That means scenery I almost never buy. I also have a lot of wildlife shots; but lightning strikes, which are symbolic of both power and threat, those I am unlikely to ever take to the level I can buy.

What I learned this last year is that buying images of heroes, heroines, and secondary characters helps me get a feel for them.  I didn't think it would work that way, but it has ended up bringing a level of reality and inspiration to my books that my dreamlike imagination wasn't managing.

When I was going through one of my rather flat times (election hasn't helped with this), I began to play around with improving book covers. One led to another. It was a break from plots and character development and ended up surprisingly upgrading a couple of covers.

The one at the top is an example. I had been satisfied with the cover as it had that couple with a black background. The hero of Her Dark Angel is going through a bleak time when the book opens. He's in the midst of something very dangerous. The last thing he wanted to do was fall in love especially with a woman he knew he could never have. Lightning is apropos for his situation as well as later plays into one of the critical events. When I originally did the cover, I had no lightning photos. Now I have a couple and they prove useful every so often.

On such a day when the words aren't flowing, I will also do something I dislike but is essential to getting books out-- marketing. I go around, see what subjects are being discussed in forums, put up an advertising blurb (something I have yet to see sell a single book), write a Twitter, put up a Pinterest image, just generally do something to show I am still out there.

Finding something else to do, something to do instead, keeps me from feeling I am accomplishing nothing. Writing when the energy isn't right often just means I later go back and take it out or totally rewrite it; so it's not the best choice for me. Finding something else is because while doing that there will be those ideas  swirling around in my brain for what would happen next in the plot. When I get back to it, it'll go smoother.

a romance with an edge

For the month of October, I reduced the price of Moon Dust to $.99. That will end with November 1, where it will go back to $2.99.  I wanted to mention it here again; so that anyone who hasn't read it can get it at the lower rate.

To keep the cover fresh; and because the cover I had didn't show as much of what the book was about as I wanted, I redid it. Now instead of the cover's emphasis on the heroine, it is on the hero who faces many of the more dangerous threats, both to his emotional and physical health.

In looking for a new cover, I created two.  The one above is not the one I used. I liked it a lot as it showed the strength of high school principal, Dane Connors who was working hard to get the best for the students in his school and facing up to some tough issues as well as in his personal life.

The story is set in Portland, Oregon but could be any big city across this country for the kinds of problems Dane's school was facing-- guns, bullying, budget crunches, gang activity, parents wanting to enforce their social and religious views onto the school, and in his case a very dangerous man leading a local militia group who felt threatened by Dane's invasive (as he saw it) educational ideas.Writing about our schools, the problems being faced there and having a high school principal for the hero made this book rewarding to research and write.

Dane's personal problems were also threatening his life as his wife of two years was divorcing him; something Dane had totally not been expecting. Her reasons for wanting a divorce went into areas he didn't want to explore from his own past.

There is a reason for the title, but I won't give it away as it is about the truth underlying the story-- a truth I want readers to find in the book rather than be told about beforehand. It is about how we make a difference in the lives of others-- something of much interest in the work of educators.

This story led to another, Second Chance, eight years later where two of the secondary characters from Moon Dust become the hero and heroine of their own story centered in the work of wildlife rehabilitation.

Moon Dust is a strong love story between two adults, with action, danger, an underlying reason for being, and oh yes, healthy sexuality. I've actually gotten a few reviews by those who would prefer no sex in their stories. I don't write sweet romances because I think writing about healthy, vibrant sexuality is important-- especially in a culture where so much of it is anything but healthy. 

While Moon Dust is still in Amazon Select, that may not be true for much longer either because as the heavy lifting work on our little ranch lets up, some of these contemporary romances will go to other ePublishers like Barnes and Noble and Kobo, which means they can no longer be in Select which requires the books to be exclusive to Amazon. I've taken 6 out and won't be putting new ones in there (and I still haven't decided whether to put the historical anywhere just yet).

Developing a new story and its characters

Writing about writing when I am starting a new book is more complicated than writing about writing when I am editing. I think the reason is editing is more about technical aspects which often reminds me of things other writers might find useful. But when beginning a new story, I don't want to give away too much of what the story will be as I work through it for myself. There are several reasons for that.

One being I might and do change my mind as the story progresses. Although I always know where a story is going to go, have a good idea of the general steps along the way, those things can change. I do not have an outline written on stone.

I've read writers who say the story takes over. This almost sounds occult to me, but I know what they mean. It never happens in my stories. That story will abide by my rules, and it will end up where I want it to be. If I could not control it, I'd quit writing. Frankly life has too much that is out of control for me to invite it into my writing.

These characters and I have a relationship. Developing them, discovering who they are, will change things as I write the action. I create a character and then have to decide what that character's personality is really like. In this new story, I do have such a secondary character where I think I can write about the process with her without ruining the story for readers.

Connie Sicilla is a natural psychic who does readings but not for a career. She does them because it was a natural gift she wishes to use to benefit others. She is cautious about who she will see as well as who might know of her gift as she has had bad experiences in other towns when people fear what they do not understand.

Today, most psychics I have met do it for a business. I've heard though of those like Connie, who don't want money. In a way, a natural sensitive, like Connie, is more free to do one, to say what she gets, to not feel she must provide something even if she didn't 'get' anything because she took money for it. Not saying paid psychics are less honorable but certainly an unpaid one could be more honorable-- unless there is a hidden motive in her not taking money.

 It was fun when I had my heroine come to Connie. Priscilla Wesley, who first appeared in the book before this one, is fascinated by the other side, by possible occult experiences. Hence she is logically interested in going for a reading when she hears of this woman.

When I wrote the reading, I decided it would begin with a Tarot deck. I had a feeling my deck would not have been available then but Tarot itself has been around for thousands of years. To avoid having to research what her cards might've looked like, I opted to have her interpret without describing the cards.

Because I do Tarot myself, I did the reading for my characters, and it came out perfectly for what I needed. It was a good start to the reading for Connie as she went beyond the cards to use her inner sight and her feeling of Priscilla's energy.

Connie is a good person who has a sense of responsibility for what she tells those who might come to her. That much is definite. But where I am undecided is in regards Connie's husband-- Del. He is a faro dealer and bartender at a Tucson bar. Is he a good guy or bad?

The potential for what it will mean to Priscilla's life for connecting with Connie is where it gets iffy. Priscilla is the daughter of wealthy parents. If Connie's husband is not honorable, he could be a danger to her. Or if he's a good man like his wife, he could help Priscilla by various methods. That's the kind of thing you wrestle with, as a writer, sometimes go one way and then change if you see more potential to a different direction.

Frankly secondary characters are very important to a full length book and without them, the stories really don't have the depth. It's how the main protagonists treat others that often tells the most about who they are.

I described Connie in the book but that also could change depending on whether she becomes a more major character or just one of those who come and go through our lives. For now I used an image above taken of me about five years ago along our creek. If I opted to use it in the book, I'd change the background and put her in a more mystical background and definitely desert oriented.

When one book leads to another

Editing on my Arizona historical romance has proven beneficial in an unexpected way. Always I had known that the marshal in this book, a secondary character, was the ancestor of the later O'Brians both in Desert Inferno and also in Evening Star. He was the one who settled the ranch that family still owned when they had to fight for it again against dangerous smugglers. Randy, from Evening Star, looked like that marshal and even took his career path as a lawman but with cowboy right under the surface.

But I had never figured I'd write his story. I had another hero for this one, and he was the one on my mind. That was true until this final editing when I realized I did know Marshal O'Brian's story and his romance-- even an unexpected connection to the hero of the one coming out in September. Instead of being about the area further south of Tucson and east to Tombstone, this one would go into Tucson's own corrupt history as well as to the southwest to the settling of what became the Circle O.

As a marshal who is disillusioned with the constant battles, Micah (what I think his name will be but that could change) faces trying to find fairness for a town. He is a man who knows the pain of loss as his wife died in Kansas of cholera and he had to leave his daughter there for grandparents to raise as he had no way to do it as a lawman. He makes a totally fantastic romance hero-- as well as a fun way to once again put some history into one of my romances.

Where I had a bit of a problem was coming up with who his woman would be. Once I thought about it a bit, that was also answered in the book I've been editing.

The unfortunate part about this is I am not remotely in a position to start this story. I do though know what it'll be although its title is still iffy in my mind, and I am wondering if this future book might change the title for the book that will lead into it. It would be nice to have the titles fit a bit together as my Oregon series titles do.

My main reason for not starting writing this one right now is my obligation to finish that three book series about the settling of Oregon. I had the first two done and only needing editing, but the third, that one I owe a finish and that will be what I start on right after this book is ready to go. It's been fun though to come up with this new story. Writing new books is a LOT more fun than editing, editing and editing the finished ones.

My excitement though on the plot for this second Arizona story will give me motivation to get busy as soon as I can for the one set in Portland, Oregon, the John Day country, and right after the Civil War.

When writing, often one book leads to another. That's the fun of writing.

What If and If what

 When writing a story where there is some kind of dilemma, there are two ways to look at it-- what if-- or if what? It might seem they say the same thing but they do not and how a character approaches problem solving will be part of how the reader goes along sympathetically and with interest or gets turned off totally. Let's put it another way-- it's when I get turned off.

To expand my meaning a bit further-- What if we did this? Or if what happened hadn't happened...

It's easier  with a few more words to see the issue of how there are two ways of looking at any situation. If only it hadn't happened gets us nowhere, because it did. How can we use it, that is what moves us forward. It's hard not to do an 'if what' now and then. Characters aren't perfect either and basically should have the same flaws the rest of us have. Although if they truly did, why did we bother reading their stories?

If a character is consistently looking backward, I think the reader quickly gets bored with them. Secondary characters might do this to form a counterpoint but the main character? Not so much.

So you have a hero such as where I am currently editing on his story and he knows he had a bum deal when they passed out parents. Born to a whore in a brothel, with no idea who his father might've been as there were many possibilities, then his mother dies of tuberculosis when he's still a small child. The whores weren't the golden angels of the history books or fiction. They were as cruel as they had been treated (more like those who have been downtrodden hence tread on others).

Take this hero, who is an adult when the story begins, and have him spend the rest of the book whining over his tough lot in life and tell me how well the story would go? How well would his life?

The truth is how you see those two words-- what if and if what-- will determine a lot of how you see solutions to life. What if I did this and then that would improve things looks forward. Or if what happened, had not, I'd be a different person.

I'm not one who looks back a lot in life (not on the good or the bad), and I don't want to spend a book writing about a character who does. I know of famous books where the main character does exactly that, is terrible and you hate that person all the way through the book-- if you bother to finish it. No way am I going to spend the months it takes to write a book (years even) with that kind of person. I have a life also that I want to make good.

When I write about a hero and heroine, they might start with flaws, but they are going to work on them as it's what I think life should be about. Move forward and change what needs to be changed. Whining is only good for the first day (okay, sometimes longer), but after that, the emotionally healthy person starts thinking-- what if I did this or that? How can I change this? So does a healthy character.

Luck of the Draw

is about one week at Oregon's Pendleton Roundup in 1974. A man and woman meet at a time not convenient for either of them. It's about the kind of love that takes the person by storm and carries them in directions they never imagined. It's about the world of rodeo in the days before champion bull rider Lane Frost was killed in 1989. It was a time rodeo was going through a transition from the wild and woolly days to one of more professional athletes.

When bronc and bull rider, Billy Stempleton meets Sara Connors, it impacts both their lives. Billy knows what he wants from his life and rodeo. He has a plan and it does not include finding the woman of his dreams just yet.

Despite knowing it's pure foolishness, he pursues Sara, a woman who would've been everything he'd have wanted in ten years but could mean nothing but trouble to his plans when he's just working his way up the rankings. He tells her up front he'll only be there a week.

Twenty-one year old Sara has the opposite problem from Billy. She has no idea what she wants and has been taking the path of least resistance right up until she let this cowboy into her heart. Sara wants security in life. The danger in his life both draws and repels her. There is nothing secure about falling in love with a rodeo cowboy, but at the same time he inspires her to figure out her own dream, to take risks with the things she might want, and not let her goals be defined by anybody else-- not even him.

The world of rodeo is fast moving, dangerous. The people she meets, the experiences she goes through in that one week, challenge Sara to reach into herself for strengths she never knew she had while Billy has to make some decisions regarding his own direction.

While they both know logic says this week can't change their lives, that's easier said than done. Whether it leads to something more permanent or is only for the week, it won't leave either of them the same when the week ends.

Luck of the Draw comes out this week for Kindle. When I have the date, I'll post it here and a bit more about it.

Why a book fails while another succeeds?

When I write a book, I don't think whether it will be successful with the buying public. In the first place, most of my books were written before I even dreamed of something like ePub. I wrote them because they came to me. I didn't aim them at editors either, although some were sent into publishing houses as part of a query.

Dark Angel never was submitted. I wrote it because the hero came to me in a dream. The story is a bit of a fairy tale which I only recognized after I had completed it and was beginning to edit/edit/edit. It is beauty and the beast. A lot of good romances were first laid out in a fairy tale. After all, there are only so many basic plots out there. It's what you do with it after the basics that separates the books.

Now a real life beauty and the beast (I just watched Hemingway and Gellhorn) wouldn't end happily. Real life tends to get in the way of happy endings, and when you have a man who is a beast, he is likely to be impossible to live with-- especially for an intelligent woman (Hemingway said-- 'Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know').

Actually their story did have a happy ending, if you ended the story before WWII and the real conflict they eventually faced between the intense career and emotional needs each of them had. Real life often starts where a romance leaves off.


Distracted again-- back to Dark Angel. The beast in this story is not a man who is difficult like Hemingway, but it is where opposites attract. Kind of like that old Billy Joel song Uptown Girl with a downtown guy.  Actually he sang another about this combo also earlier where he was the boy your mama warned you about.

Dill is all of that but he's mostly a good man in a bad spot. Seemingly you'd think it'd be a popular story. Maybe too many had read it already with the fairy tales? Perhaps they thought dark angel meant evil, and it doesn't but is the title maybe wrong for it? Well I don't know.


Asking why a book doesn't attract readers is the kind of question writers do ask. With mine, sometimes I know with say a story like Moon Dust where it's dealing with the adult ramifications of childhood abuse. Golden Chains had some fearing erotica and others not that interested in the art community.

Dark Angel though seems more generally of interest, with a tough and interesting hero coming together with a beautiful and strong heroine. There is, however, for it one possibility that seems as likely as a plot that turned readers off. I never did a free day.

When I got onto Kindle, I liked the idea of the free day promotions that are part of Select. I am an unknown quantity as a writer. People don't want to take the risk even when it's only $2.99. I feel those free days allowed me to introduce myself to a lot of readers. They would then know what to expect from a Rain Trueax book. And there are certain dependable elements.

Then I began to hear people in the forums saying they waited for free books. The system has spoiled them for buying at all. That eventually becomes self-defeating for the writer who would like to have the books be profitable.

So Dark Angel never got that freebie boost. No book of mine will from now on even if they disappear into the darkness of Kindle where they never see the light. The goal for me now is to see my books available other places, reviewed in other blogs and find readers apart from Amazon. Since now a lot of readers do know my work, I don't see the benefit of undermining readers who paid for a book by giving it away next week. That just proves upsetting.

Now there might be other reasons why Dark Angel didn't do well besides no free day. I really have never understood why readers choose what they do or why one book will suddenly sell 10 copies while another sits there and to me both are good stories in their own way. Anyway, enjoy the trailer as it gives a flavor of the story-- a beauty and the beast story that eventually, after a lot of travails, will end as a fairy tale should. Shame about Gellhorn and Hemingway.

Sexuality and Fiction

Recently I had an articulate reader comment on my books in the Amazon Forums. She said she had not bought any, even though they looked interesting, because of her dislike of sexuality in books. She felt my covers indicated they might have that sort of thing inside (she was right). She thought a rating for sexuality would be helpful in my product descriptions.

I wrote back that I'd have a problem deciding how I could rate mine even if I could think of a rating system. One of my books got a review in a book review blog. I only stumbled across it by doing a name search to see what was out there in mine. She gave that book a 2 star in passion. Since a 5 star is tops where it comes to rating a book, I am guessing she was saying that while there was some passion, it wasn't that much. I am not sure if that was her meaning-- other than if someone wants zero sex, they don't want my books. On the other hand, if they are looking for erotica, they don't either.

If I used the ratings like for films, it wouldn't get much easier. I would definitely not say my books are PG but then would they be PG-13? When my granddaughter asked if she would be able to read them, I said not for some years. It wasn't just about the sex though. It's about grown-up attitudes toward romance. I don't really want her thinking soul-mates at her age.

When I think about an R rating, I am not sure my books are sexy enough for an R. I have read a lot of romance books where a sexual encounter can go on for pages, sometimes 20 or more. Mine are more about the leading up than the actual doing as I am not into reading or writing blow by blow descriptions. But on the other hand, they don't fade out before the big event either (and there will be at least one big event somewhere along the way). 

I am still thinking how sexuality can be handled in the blurbs for the books. I am comfortable with the level I use in the actual books-- and I did think about it. My belief is that healthy sexuality is good for adults. I think it's fun to write and seems rewarding for the characters and me. And I am about a full experience for those characters as well as the person who will pick up the book.

In my own reading, I don't mind sex in a book, but I wouldn't buy one for it either. One writer I've read over the years used the term blush for the level of sex in her books. Well I agree she has sex and it's described, sometimes step by step, but blushing? I don't know what it would take to get me to blush regarding sex in a book.

If a writer puts in more sex than interests me (and for me it's not about offensive, it's about boring), I skip over it. In some books I have read, that can mean I get a short story rather than a full novel.

IF I make a mistake and get a book with what I feel is a perversion of sex, I throw that one out rather than trade it back in. I wouldn't put a nasty review on that author's page, but I sure wouldn't buy another book by them either. The only kind of sexuality I am interested in reading or writing is healthy relationships between two people.

In my case that means male and female, not because I consider the other unhealthy but because I don't know much about it. I try to stick to what I do know something about from my own experiences. I have had gay characters, but they are always secondary-- i.e. friend of hero or heroine.

An idea for a book has rolled around in my head for awhile. It came to me in a set of two of my movie type dreams that came a couple of weeks apart. In the first dream the hero has been in a long time relationship with another man-- basically his life mate. He and the heroine are forced to go on the run from a criminal element and in spending so much time together, they fall in love.

In the dream, he might have known he was bisexual before this, but she was totally surprised as she may have been attracted to him but didn't let herself imagine it could be anything. In the first of the dreams, they didn't pursue it once they escaped from whatever they were trying to flee. Although it appeared that his partner was sick and when he died, maybe as much as five years later, they would seek each other out.

In the second dream about these same people, his primary relationship turned out to be with a crime boss-- meaning he had been betrayed by his long-time partner thereby not only proving dangerous, but also giving him a legitimate reason to go to her. If I had ever tried to fully develop this idea, I would not have written about his same sex experiences but only the new one with the woman. (The dream didn't reveal either as I have to admit here, I don't dream about sex. I am more of a dream right up to it and fade to black kind of dreamer.)

Usually when you do see a movie or read a book about three people in this kind of triangle, it's from the other end where the man and woman have been in a long time relationship and then one of them recognizes their true sexuality is to be gay.

 I haven't tried to develop this idea not because I think readers would not go for it (who knows on that).  I don't write based on whether I think an idea would be popular with readers. Instead my hesitation was because I thought it might be offensive to gay people where I have read that many don't think there is such a thing as bi-sexuality. Gays are fighting for respect on so many levels now that I would hate to write something offensive or implying people can change their gender at will. I don't believe that but what I do think is some are gay, some are straight, and some can go between, but what do I know about it. Hence it has seemed wiser to leave this idea on the discard pile where a lot of other ideas for books end up.

Well, that was kind of a distraction to my main topic which was to try and figure out some kind of sexuality rating for my own books that alerts readers to avoid them if they are opposed to sex in a book-- married/committed or not. I know one thing-- they aren't sweet and they aren't Christian. But what they aren't doesn't say what they are.

Moon Dust-- a free day

Free for one day on May 5, 2012, Moon Dust, is one of those stories that took a lot of research in order to write about a serious issue-- the impact of childhood abuse on adults. This is most especially true for those who have tried to bury or forget what happened. This book is about its impact on one marriage.

It also is about our modern educational system and one particular high school principal caught in the potentially deadly grip of community expectations as he tries to assure that his school is providing its students a full education. This man believes in his students and puts his life on the line to do the best he can for them.

 This story led to a second book with some of the same characters.  Second Chance takes place eight years later with most of the same characters but set in the world of wildlife rehabilitation with a different couple at the apex of the love story.

when you tell what you tell

One of the issues a writer has in any story from short to epic and in any genre-- when do you reveal information to the reader? How do you reveal it? Does the reader discover it or are they told? Writers who do a dump of info right in the beginning show their lack of skills. The reader wants to discover and does not need an entire resume in the first chapter.

Think how it works in friendships. You get to know someone. You find out a bit about them; then a bit more. If they tell you too much right out of the gate, you back off. On the other hand, there must be enough information to make the friend feel secure and interested in learning more. That's exactly how books are. The best books keep revealing things until the end.

One of the things I have learned about this process is that groundwork should be laid for anything that will later be revealed as a key element of the story. It's not as though you constantly are dropping hints, but there has to be enough that when it comes as a surprise, it also is believable.  Tricks don't make a reader have faith in that writer and aren't likely to lead to their seriously considering another of their books.

I have had stories where a set of facts revealed themselves throughout the book. I knew what they were but hadn't thought fully on what they meant. Suddenly it dawned on me-- this has significance and one or more of the characters must address it at least in their thoughts.

How you address it for a character means they recognize what's going on and draw the conclusion the reader has also drawn or will as soon as they hear them say it. Whether the reader came to it before the character doesn't seem important to me. What is important is they believe it even as they go-- wow, look at where that led.

The idea of tricks, of some big surprise is fine-- if it makes sense for the characters. If it's all aimed at the reader, I don't as a reader appreciate it.

Characters do act in their own best interest. Now that doesn't always mean it's wise what they do, but it will make sense at the time for their character-- even if later they go-- what was I thinking? This will vary only slightly between character or plot driven stories.

In a way  a book has two audiences. One is the characters themselves. The other is the reader. The reader has to be secondary to the characters-- and no matter how slick something sounds-- a writer must make sure it's believable for those on the front-lines-- the characters.

This was driven home to me when I was editing a book which will be ePublished a little later in May-- Sky Daughter. I had my characters saying something about a certain situation and when I looked at the reality of that situation, it didn't fit their assumptions. I either had to adjust the event or their expectations-- if I wanted readers to feel good about what they had read.

When I start out with a story, I do know the outline of where it is going. I never lose sight of that. There is a plan for this, but what I don't know is all that will happen along the way. The characters, when they have a sense of reality to them, they take the story into different areas and sometimes unexpected ones. They do not take the story from me. Rather they fill it out.

Again in Sky Daughter, I saw this happening in a key situation. Every event put down a trail of crumbs to the conclusion, sometimes in ways I had let happen because these were the characters and it's what they would have done. In the end though, I felt it was important for my hero to acknowledge what it all meant which required some thought processing by him.

When something like that happens, when I find in a key element, the story was smarter than me, I am excited and it reminds me why I love to write fiction. 

As with two other books, I did a trailer for Sky Daughter which is adding a lot to my enjoyment in these stories and I hope will add to reader interest in the story.

And so you want a villain?

Villain:  1. A person guilty or capable of a crime or wickedness. 2. The person or thing responsible for specified trouble, harm, or damage: "the industrialized nations are the real villains".

As long as I was writing about heroes and heroines, I figured I should add in another very important aspect of many stories-- the villain. Villains or the book's enemy provide an important psychological element to the story, but do not have to be a person. Life itself can be the enemy, or as the definition above states-- the collective nature of one cultural element. What I am writing about here though is-- the villain.

There was a time in books and entertainment when a villain would immediately look like a villain. This kind of thing has proven very handy for real villains-- as real villains do not come in identifiable packages. Not only are looks not a dependable criteria for who is a villain, but sometimes neither, in the beginning, is behavior-- hence was born the anti-hero. Sounds like villain but in the end is heroic.

Where it comes to the real deal for villains (fictionally anyway), I find them a lot of fun to write. The story can have more than one. When there is a human enemy, it is important that he or she be convincing, a worthy opponent, with reasons for what they do-- even if the reason is pathological or psychotic. The victory cannot be forced; so the hero must have the tools in his persona to succeed.

I don't think a writer should ever insert a hero just for drama or to let the hero/heroine be heroic.  A good villain is not inserted just for manipulation. Think of that villain as a real person and it gets easier to think why they might do despicable things. That does not mean the reader should sympathize with them. They might but it's not important. What is important is genuine motivation. Villains are not place holders. They are an important part of the drama of a story.

In some stories, the enemy is within the main protagonists and it's that which it must overcome. One way or another a struggle is a part of most interesting books.

When I got into the stock images, I began looking for possible human type villains as a part of doing trailers-- these people are unlikely to ever appear on a cover but they are excellent in a trailer.

When I found photos that fit my book descriptions, I would generally feel a bit apologetic for buying them for this purpose. I am sure these are very nice people. They don't really look like someone I'd identify as a villain in real life. That's the key advantage in a villain, of course. They don't look like one.

Think of some of the most despicable serial killers-- the one that comes to my mind immediately is Ted Bundy. He was handsome. His ruthlessness was hidden until he had a victim helpless. The fact that we think a villain will look like one is part of what enables some of the most vicious of humans to be successful. They are the ones who the neighbors say they had no idea. Or they undermine families using emotional violence while getting sympathy for themselves. Someone in real life who looked like a villain would be easy to identify and avoid. It's when they don't that their risks to us all increase.

In writing a book generally I use two points of view-- hero and heroine. In one book I used only the heroine's perspective because I wanted the reader to wonder about the hero. If they had known his thinking, they'd have been certain of his nature sooner than I intended. To carry some parts of that plot, where the heroine would not be going, I used the villain's point of view.  I have also done that now and again because I enjoyed writing these bad guys.

Dialogue between that hero and villain in Evening Star was a lot of fun to write and revealed more about the hero, things the heroine would not be able to observe. That villain was a crime boss, not psychotic. He was sane but a user of people for his own ends, and totally amoral in every area of life.

For one of my trailers with a villain, check out Desert Inferno. This was a guy I enjoyed writing for some of his quirks. The hero is someone I enjoyed for other reasons. I don't have favorites really because each is a favorite when writing the story-- but this guy, I really loved.