Eighteenth-century Philadelphia smelt bad. That’s one tidbit I discovered when researching my latest book, The Shenandoah Road: A Novel of the Great Awakening. And there were waves of disease: smallpox, malaria, and yellow fever. New Englanders and Quakers had decent standards of personal hygiene, but horses pooped everywhere, and there were no toilets, only “necessaries” […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Zoe M. McCarthy Imagines Love on a Golf Course
Ask any member of my golfer-laden family if they think I’d write a story where love happens on a golf course, and they’d laugh. In my early golf encounters, I resorted to observing everything except the golf to keep my interest in the game. While watching golf on TV with my husband, my thoughts drifted […]
Behind the Scenes: How Author Ada Brownell plots a story
Anytime you pick up a work of fiction, you’ll find a plot. Writers often talk about plotting. Even way back, it sounded boring to me. Too similar to an outline. But when I sat down to write my recent novels, the first, Joe the Dreamer: The Castle and the Catapult, published in 2013; The Lady […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Rose Verde sets her story in a national park
My publisher wanted some stories set in the National Parks across the US. So, I started doing some research. Finally, I zeroed on the Great Smoky Mountain Park. Next, I needed to figure out who my heroes would be. I then settled for a medically discharged US Marine. I wanted him to be a park […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Bonnie Engstrom discusses naming her characters
Common questions people ask me: How do you decide what to name your characters? And how do you plot or plan your story? I don’t decide what to name my characters. In the Candy Cane Girls series the names just burst into my head, except for Noelle in the series’ debut. I knew she ‘needed’ […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Lillian Duncan’s main character takes over
Authors may tell you how characters seem to spring to life independently. This happened with Chrysalis (AKA Chryssie), whom I first met in a short story I wrote for my blog. I named her Chrysalis because I wanted to incorporate the symbolism of a caterpillar and a butterfly into the story. And since a chrysalis […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Gail Kittleson’s parents and her fiction
We don’t often reflect on the forces molding our childhood experiences until much later in life. Here I am in my sixties, finally considering how much World War II affected my parents, and therefore, my siblings and me. The Women of The Heartland Series, I realize now, found its roots in my parents’ moorings. Dad […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Tanya Eavenson tells of answered prayer
Recently I was asked to share what inspired my new story To Gain a Mommy. It might surprise you, but my inspiration behind this story isn’t what most people would think of. It was actually a prayer. Several months ago I was asked to take a great position at the company I work for, but […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Leeann Betts adds up the numbers to solve the crime
Writers hear this all the time at conferences: write what you know. As a new writer, I took this advice seriously. So when I sat down to write my first book, I asked myself: what do you know? I knew numbers. I was trained as a bookkeeper, had worked for many years in accounting departments, and I […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Donna Schlachter conjures a unique setting
Have you ever started to read a book where you got to the third chapter (or sooner) and tossed it aside because you weren’t engaged? To engage readers, writers often focus on developing multi-dimensional characters and character journeys and backstory, but we neglect that all-important setting. When handled properly, setting becomes as much of a […]