Archive | August 2024

Suspension of (dis)Belief

Aug23

I wrote a whole romance story in my little Mead spiral notebook when I was in 4th grade. I don’t remember the particulars, but I do remember the female main character having a broken arm and leg, hopping on a motorcycle and riding it down the face of a mountain. Not very believable. It tracks, tho, for my age at the time.

You all know I don’t name and shame when I find something I so passionately disagree with in a book that I’m willing to write about it here. I spoke, at length, to my BFF last night (who is NOT a reader) about the problem I had with the book & problem we are going to discuss. I basically gave a TED talk.

When I went back to see the reviews I kept coming across the acronym TSTL in reference to the female main character (FMC). I’m a little old, and oblivious, and my first thought was “What’s a T St Louis?” No, Dear Reader, it does not have anything to do with the city. It apparently means TOO STUPID TO LIVE

Roughly 4 months pregnant, she hops fences, gets drugged 3 or 4 times within a couple of chapters, mounts a rescue with a teen girl, oh … The same teen girl who tried to help her escape the hero. And The “hero” choked her out and left bruising and chafing around her neck. This wasn’t sexual. It was abuse. And all the heroine would say was “It’s complicated.”

This FMC is the one in a horror story who would say “Hey, what’s that noise in the basement? Oh, look, it’s a werewolf should I pet it?”

I can’t tell you how it ends because I gave up on the series somewhere in the middle of book 2. I couldn’t suspend my disbelief. Now, I’m not trying to yuck someone else’s yum. If you like books that veer more towards bruises that’s ok. Your reading taste does not have to be the same as mine. 

But what I really can’t abide is how stupid the FMC was.  And how cavalier she was with the lives of not only her unborn babies but the teen girl and her brother. She was “so good with them”, and yet she kept making choices that any dumbass would know were going to have high consequences. For her and them.

And she kept making the same mistakes.

It’s ok to write a character who is TSTL. But as authors we need to write some kind of growth (unless it’s a horror book). Or at least new ways to be stupid.  The FMC was not exhibiting any signs of growing the F up, and the hero was devolving. As a reader I was skipping whole parts and as a writer I knew…. When that starts happening, it’s time to skip the book altogether.

What’s your reading TED Talk about, Dear Reader?

Please Don’t: Writing Edition

Aug15

Dear Author;

Thank you for writing your book! I love it! There’s just this tiny little thing…

Please Don’t: have you heroin kidnapped, roughed up and freezing cold and when you have her saved the police are there but not an ambulance? Or even the hero taking her to a doctor? Whaaaa???

Please Don’t: Lose track of who is who. Because after the bad guy has been revealed to the world, he probably is not having dinner with the main characters. Unless the main character is killing him. Or her.

Please Don’t: make it a duology if the second book is just the hero(s) trying (and failing) to make up to the heroine for what a douche canoe they have been. I say this mainly because book 2 will have none of the angst and tension that book 1 had. You will lose readers over this pacing/theme problem. If Book 1 is a ripper of a ride that ride has to continue in Book 2.

And a related Please Don’t: Be careless with your brand. Yes, your brand. If you are asked to write a NOVEL/ NOVELLA in a shared world, please make sure their writing level is in sync with your own. I personally came to a “shared world” series because it was connected to one of my favs. But had I tried some of the others first, not knowing the caliber of my favs writing? I would never have given her a chance. (Anthology writing is different– people expect to get a few stories they don’t jive with and the editor normally… Weelllll… Edits the stories.) Your name is your brand. Protect it. Protect your readers.

There’s only one more thing and it’s a huge ask. I know  it is, but I have faith in you.

Please don’t give up. The world needs your stories, your voice.

Which name

Aug1

So my lovelies… Here’s a question for all of you who have joined the insanity of being a writer: Do you use you legal/real name?

I personally have only published with my legal name. Which is fine because it’s been literary and fantasy that have been published. I never in a million years thought I’d even consider using a pseudonym.

Of course, at the time I was writing and publishing only 2 types of stories (no books yet but I’m working on it!). Now, I’m at the point of writing different types of stories. Some I would not want my mother to read, even though she would pretty much love them.

But it’s also about your readers, as well. There’s a duology I have been studiously avoiding because of drug use within the story. It’s a trigger for me. The story was written by one of my favs, though, and it came down to a question of “Do I trust this author?”

Writing in multiple genres doesn’t worry me either as a writer of stories or as a reader. However, If something is a completely different tone, such as light and fluffy to dark, or no sex to sex on page– I’m starting to think maybe a pseudonym is a good thing. Even if it is a well known secret (Nora Roberts and JD Robb), I think the ability to differentiate is important for readers.

Will I ever use one? I don’t know. Part of that is because publishing is not the whole point of my writing and also, every word I write still sometimes feels like a battle.

What about you, fellow writers? Do you write with a pen name? Why?