Top 10 Reasons Why I Write Historicals

Years ago, and I mean YEARS ago before ebooks, I did a lot of international travel for business. But I can remember my first trip overseas very clearly. It was a two week trip to five European cities. I brought six novels thinking I would catch up on my reading—there never seemed to be enough time at home with three small children. I finished one and a half books before I landed.

  

I know, how could I leave them? It wasn’t easy. My days were filled with client calls with the local bank directors, but most late afternoons, evenings and the weekend I was on my own. I filled the time with walking tours of the city, sometimes in groups other times using the track provided by the hotel.

Each time I came face to face with history; the Grand Place in Brussels, the Place de la Concorde in Paris, and HamptonCourt in England. As I went on to the different cities I tried to hear the sounds, smell the aromas, and see the sights from a different perspective, a different time. Stories by Julie Garwood, Jude Deveraux, Johanna Lindsey and Lynn Kurland had me enthralled along with Clive Cussler.

I know, he's not exactly romance but his Dirk Pit stories always start with some historical fact or thread that's crucial to solving the mystery. I read my books at night and visited places where I could imagine the stories unfolding. 

I promised you a list of reasons why I write historicals. Here it is:

1. I LOVE history. I’m captivated with the past. Sometimes I think I was meant to be born in another time.
2. I like research. Even if I have a detailed outline of my story I find I’m researching while I’m writing. If I’m not careful I can easily get distracted for hours. I’ve even taken classes, how old manuscripts were made and how to transcribe them from Stanford University. Witch Craft in the Middle Ages from the University of Barcelona. It goes back to enjoying history. 
3. Historical facts mixed with chivalry and magic made the most compelling stories to me. The romance of the middle ages and Renaissance with their knights and princesses and their myths of druids, fairies, and fae tossed in for good measure all drew me in.
4. I enjoy reading how people reacted and solved issues in their time. Things we take for granted today were challenges in earlier times. Just think about travel, washing clothes and cooking.
5. I like to read stories where women push the limits of their time and how people around them, especially the men they love respond. I don’t enjoy reading a story where a woman is the victim unless she rises to the challenge and becomes the true heroine of the story.
6. Time travel stories and the ability to change the past, protect the future, or simply experience a different time made all things possible. Personally, I want my fiction based on fact but I don't necessarily want the cold truth of reality. I know that history doesn't always end with a happily ever after but taking a little poetic license to alter history just a bit to make it all work out is what I enjoy reading. 
7. I’m a romantic. I love reading about the courtship rituals of the past and comparing them to today. I was really surprised when I researched medieval romance and found that many of the established courtship rituals up until the 1950’s were based on the Medieval and Renaissance periods. It made me love knights in shining armor all the more!
8. I enjoy exploring human emotions, figure out motivations and how they can be so similar to motivations today.
9. Like Mary Jo Putney, I believe historical stories have a mythical element you don’t find in contemporary stories. There is a license to exaggerate, as long as the situation is plausible, with risks that reach beyond limits, and men that are bigger than life.
10.  After years of writing marketing and product information for an international bank, which was anything but creative, I thoroughly enjoy creative writing. It is such a wonderful outlet for all the stories and characters that run around in my head.

Why do you write or read historicals? I would love to know.

The Plan of Arting

When I first started the journey to become an author, I sought a great deal of advice from both established and would-be writers. How did a person sit down an write 5,000, 25,000, even 105,000 words?

The answer?

Everyone does it different.

Well, that's not helpful, I thought.

But the more I studied the profession, the more I came to realize that they were right. Everyone writes a story in a completely different manner. There's no singular path to this art, which is part of the magic. As such, we're free to find our own ways from dreamer to doer. For me, those "ways" were ingrained in me from my previous career and have helped me overcome many writing-based speed bumps. Consider them nothing more than one person's take on how to plan for arting:

1) Make a Plan: 

"In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." -Dwight D. Eisenhower


Planning is, at its core, one of the most crucial skills a writer can learn. Some people have the ability to write 100,000 words from the seat of their pants, but for many (myself included), we need a plan. An outline. A guide to get us from Point A (the blank page) to Point Z (the celebratory glass of wine after typing The End).

Planning also helps you think through the "What If's". The first time you do this, you're just spit-balling. "What if my computer dies? What if my plot stinks? What if there's a chandelier on stage?" But each time you plan another story, you apply the lessons learned from the previous attempt. Eventually, your plans become a little more refined and a little easier to follow.

For me, it starts with an over-arching concept. What is the point of the story? Who are the main characters? And, most important, what is it I want the reader to get out of this by the end? From there, I do some reserve-engineering, asking myself "what was required to get us to here? Okay, how about before that?" And so on. Once the basic plan is in place, I'm ready to fire up my writing program and start hammering out the words.

2) Understand Your Plan Is Just That: 

"No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy." - Helmuth von Moltke the Elder.

Always have a good Plan A. Then have an even better Plan B. Make sure Plans C and D are roughed out as well, just in case. That was the advice I was given many moons ago and some of the best I've had to date. It helped me in my military career and has helped far more in my writing career.

Plans are great. They provide a solid foundation to operate from. But they're not set in concrete. Sticking to The Plan without an ounce of deviation may not always be the right answer, in combat or in writing. All the plotting, outlining, and framework in the world might not be enough to fix the fact that the plan itself is awful. Or that something popped up you hadn't planned for.

Normally I can get through the first chapter before enacting a massive change that makes Plan A completely obsolete. A character's name changes, a plot point becomes too outlandish or forced to work, an antagonists' motivation simply doesn't make sense. Stories, no matter how long or short, are living organisms. They adapt, grow, and mature the more we work on them, slowly evolving from bare bones to a full realized tale. Being willing to break from The Plan is vital for allowing the story to go where it needs to, which leads to the third critical artistic planning item:

3) Improvise and Adapt: 

"I'm a Marine. We don't plan, we improvise." - Sgt James Dunn, Most Wanted


Combat, like writing, is fluid. Both demand an ability to adapt and overcome situations that weren't in The Plan. For writers, adaptation often comes in the form of inspiration. Sometimes it hits early on. Other times its "midstream". One moment we're happily following The Plan, the next, we're down some rabbit hole of an idea. The next thing we know, everything leading up to that scene needs to be completely reworked. Being able to, and more important willing, to adapt when inspiration hits is crucial.

4) Lose a Battle to Win the War: 

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." - Henry David Thoreau


Not every story is meant to be a best seller or a novel or even a completed manuscript. Sometimes they're merely stepping stones to the next level. Ask any author and they'll admit to having a ton of half-finished manuscripts that will never see The End.

But you know what? That's okay.

Each one of those stories helped refine their skill. They're the hammer and anvil that shapes the artistic sword, honing the author's understanding and ability. Each story started with a plan, sometimes a half-baked idea at best, but a plan none the less. And each one was ultimately trunked because it was a losing battle. But stepping away from that story, an artistically tactical withdraw if you will, is sometimes necessary. Not only does it allow you to focus your energy elsewhere, but you take the lessons learned from the trunked story and apply them to the next manuscript, then the next. Each time you get better at the process, hammering out imperfections, smoothing the blade. Then one day you look back at those early attempts and realize just how far you've come, how sharp your skills are now in comparison. And all because you planned, failed, and planned again.


Like Eisenhower said, plans aren't the crucial element with writing, but planning is. The process of developing a plan, then being willing and able to completely deviate from it are hallmarks of both successful tacticians and writers. Each time you sit down to write a story, you apply the lessons learned from before and use them to further refine your skill. Plan often enough and ultimately what you get isn't a perfect plan, but an artistic story that's the result of the planning process.

Bio:

Joshua Roots is a car enthusiast, beekeeper, and storyteller. He enjoys singing with his a cappella chorus, golf, and all facets of Sci-Fi/Fantasy. He's still waiting for his acceptance letter to Hogwarts and Rogue Squadron. He and his wife will talk your ear off about their bees if you let them.

His Urban Fantasy series, The Shifter Chronicles, is available wherever digital books are sold.

He's planning to do...something...eventually....

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The long tail end of ebooks

With the recent closure of Samhain, which was one of my first publishers, I’ve been thinking about the life spans of ebooks.

The reason why this is on my mind is because I had 4 ebooks with Samhain which are now mine again. Do I rerelease them or let them die? The current wisdom is get them back out there as they can earn money, draw new readers and it’s all about the long tail.

But then I see the statistics about how many ebooks are uploaded to Amazon every day. It is a bookstore with literally millions of books as nothing need ever go out of print the way it once did. Which is a double-edged sword, as if nothing ever goes out of print how does one find the new stuff…but now I can read everything a favourite author has ever written.

Given how much the landscape has changed over the seven years I’ve been published, what will it look like in another seven years? How many books and ebooks will be available? It already feels like an avalanche. Yes, every snowflake (book) is unique, but how do you find the specific one you want?

Will anyone really miss 'Ruby’s Ghost' if I don’t republish it?

Would my efforts (and money) be better spent on cover art and editing for new works that I plan to self-publish? Putting out a quality product isn’t cheap. My writing has changed over the years and I’d like to think I’ve gotten better so the old stories do need a freshen up at minimum.

At what point is it better to remove old books…and surely at some point that has to be thought about because otherwise we will drown in the sheer number of ebooks available. I look at some of my books, and I look at their ranking and wonder if I should just let them slip away into the night and chalk it up to experience.

How do other authors feel about old books that have come back to them? Do you revise and get them back out there or let them languish?

As a reader how do you feel about books going ‘out of print’ when in theory ebooks never need go out of print?

What do you think the future holds for the burgeoning tide of ebooks?

10 Ways to Lighten Up All This Darkness Bombarding Us

Most people I know agree that last year was pretty rough on everybody. So far, 2017 isn’t being much gentler. The state of things in the world, money troubles, personal problems, medical issues…everyone seems to be walking under a dark cloud.

If you’ve ever read anything I’ve written, you know that I tend to mix a generous helping of humor into my work, no matter how dark it might get. Humor has always been one of the ways I cope with problems. Love, laughter, hope, and kindness will always win over all the negativity in the world. I believe this with all my heart.

So, with that in mind, today I want to share some ideas on how to push back against the dark clouds and let in some fresh air and sunlight. Just taking a break from ugliness for a little while can make a huge difference.

1. Literally let in some fresh air and sunlight. Crack a window. Open the blinds. Go for a drive with the air vents on full blast if it’s too cold for a window. Take time to breathe.
2. Temporarily unfollow people and pages on your Facebook feed when they’re a little too intense. Replace them with things that make you smile. Cat videos. Cheesy affirmations. Parks and Rec pages. Disney World live feeds. Whatever makes you happy. When you’re ready, you can always re-follow what you shut off. The point is to take a break, and sometimes a full media blackout is impossible.
3. Grab a friend and find an adventure to go on. I highly recommend consulting http://www.roadsideamerica.com/ to plan a day trip. Go find the nearest giant ball of twine (there are several), a museum of wigs, or a headstone that’s written backwards. (These are all real things near me.) Go to the site, enter your town and find out what truly stupid and unusual things you can visit—often for free. I guarantee there’s something absolutely ridiculous within an hour’s drive of where you’re sitting right now. (If there’s an equivalent in other countries, I’d love for someone to drop it in the comments!)
4. Do a stealth kindness. Pay for the next person’s coffee in the Starbucks line, pay the next car’s toll, or anonymously pay someone’s electric bill if you’re lucky enough to have the funds. Drop a quarter in an expired parking meter. Whatever it is, don’t wait around for thanks. Just knowing that you made someone feel good will make you feel good, too.
5. Find a place to volunteer a little of your time. If you go to https://www.volunteermatch.org/ and search for your town, it’ll give you loads of opportunities to choose from. Good people doing good things could use your help to do even more good. That’s so much good, there’s no room for anything bad.

Need something quick and easy? Here are a few to keep you going until you can take a longer break:

1. Cuddle an animal. (Preferably neither wild nor venomous.)
2. Play with a child. (Yours or a friend’s. Don’t just go grabbing children.)
3. Sit by yourself and color, build with LEGOs, scrapbook, play Angry Birds. (Whatever lets your mind drift.)
4. Go to the gym or take an exercise class. (Hahaha! Just kidding.)
5. Read books and escape to another place for a little while. (I suggest mine! Or books by any of the wonderful Here Be Magic authors. Or by ancient dead poets, your sixteen-year-old nephew, the mailman, your fourth-grade teacher, or your best friend from high school. As long as it makes you happy, read it!)

I know none of these things will fix the world or cure chronic depression. But they can bring something positive to the table. Every little bit helps, and love, laughter, hope, and kindness will always win in the end if you give them a chance. I promise.

Rachel writes stories that drop average people into magical situations filled with heart and quirky humor.

She believes in pixie dust, the power of love, good cheese, lucky socks and putting things off until the last minute. Her home is Disneyland, despite her current location in Kansas. Rachel has one husband, two grown kids and a crazy-catlady starter kit.

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Here Be News

Now Available as an Audio Book!

RHEA 41070
Sci-Fi Romance
by Linda Mooney
Narrated by Doug Green
Hear a Sample

Bock Gammon is a freedom runner. A man with a space ship for hire. He has heard of Replacements and knows they exist, but he has never personally come across one. In fact, he finds the whole idea repugnant--growing a living being specifically for the purpose of harvesting his body parts. So do the governments in many of the galaxies who have declared Replacements illegal.

Which is why he is stunned to discover his latest assignment is to bring a Replacement to one of the wealthiest men in the Chatta Dul system. If he hadn't so desperately needed the money, he wouldn't have accepted the job.

It doesn't take long for Bock to realize that Rhea 41070 isn't just one-of-a-kind, she's also unlike any woman he has ever met.  And the closer they get to the point of delivery, the more he knows he can't walk away and leave her behind to be dissected.  Somehow, he has to find a way to save her, despite the odds and hundreds of well-armed men awaiting their return.

Warning!  Contains idol worship, twisted old men, blackmail, apathy for human life, black market medicine, a shootout, a taste of the good life, and more gold than you can shake a stick at.

Excerpt and buy links.

Cover Reveal: 

Veronica Scott revealed the cover for her latest scifi romance novel, due out at the end of March!

The story: 

Miriell, a powerful empathic priestess, has been kidnapped from her own primitive planet along with a group of her people, and sold to the evil Amarotu Combine, largest organized crime syndicate in the Sectors. When she and her handler are sent to use her power to commit an assassination, she must leave behind her own sister as hostage to ensure her compliance. Miriell cannot ask for aid without endangering herself and others.

Despite his best efforts, Combine enforcer Conor Stewart is entranced by Miriell, and helps her evade the worst of brutal treatment from the rest of the mob. But Conor must keep his distance, before the lovely empath learns that he has secrets of his own--secrets that could get them both killed.

The situation becomes dire when Conor and Miriell come to the attention of both the Combine overlords and the deadly Mawreg, aliens who threaten the Sectors. Can she save herself and the Mawreg's next victims? And will Conor help her, or remain loyal to his evil bosses?

          

Celtic Mythology: Irish Werewolves

Our theme this month is Celtic mythology, so today I’m talking about Irish werewolves! 

How are Irish werewolves different from normal werewolves, you ask?

In many stories, werewolves are warriors who willingly take the shape of wolves in order to protect the people under their care. Some people are cursed (usually by Christian priests). Some are born with the ability. Some are enchanted. Irish werewolves are warriors and guardians and raiders, but they're rarely the bloodthirsty monsters of horror novels.

One of my favorite stories is about the werewolves of Ossory. The legend tells of a priest who encounters a wolf on the road. The priest thinks he’s going to die, but then the wolf starts talking. He tells the priest not to be afraid and that he needs some help.

The wolf says:

“There are two of us, a man and a woman, natives of Ossory, who through the curse of one Natalis, saint and abbot, are compelled every seven years to put off the human form and depart from the dwellings of men. Quitting entirely the human form, we assume that of wolves. At the end of the seven years, if they chance to survive, two others being substituted in their places, they return to their country and their former shape. And now, she who is my partner in this visitation lies dangerously sick not inspired by divine charity, to give her the consolations of your priestly office.” (Topographia Hibernica by Gerald of Wales)

So the priest performs last rites for the sick wolf, and the other wolf leads the priest out of the woods and sends him safely on his way.

I have nothing against bloodthirsty werewolves, but the Irish werewolves are a nice change of pace. 

*If you're looking for a good read along these lines, check out Jan DeLima's Celtic Wolves.* 

5 Reasons to Celebrate Reading!

Today is the National Education Association's Read Across America Day, a holiday celebrated in schools nationwide. It also happens to be the birthday of Dr. Seuss, a beloved favorite author of many, including yours truly, as well as World Book Day.

So, in honor of World Book Day, I thought I'd count down the reasons reading is a wonderful thing. Grab a book and pull up a chair, and feel free to add your reasons in the comments!

It Transports You To Places You'd Probably Never Get To Go Otherwise: I've traveled to Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, thanks to my love of books. Oh, and I've been to outer space and other universes and many realms of fantasy, too. I love to travel without paying tons of money or leaving my home!

It Helps You Escape Life's Problems: Let's face it. No one's life is all daisies and tulips. If I couldn't escape from my problems for a few hours by diving into a good book, I'd probably be living in a padded room and wearing straight jackets.

It Introduces You To New Friends: I'm speaking both fictional characters and real people here. I'm pleased to have Nancy Drew, Katniss Everdeen, Harry Potter, and a whole host of other characters in my life, and I kind of consider them to be friends at this point. Plus, my love of reading has connected me to other people who love to read, and those friendships are solid.

It Makes You Smarter: At least, I'm pretty sure it does. It doesn't matter if you read nonfiction or fiction, you're bound to learn something new when you pick up a book.

It's Make You Empathetic: If you can get inside another person's viewpoint, you're bound to come out the other side more empathetic and compassionate. Personally, I think that's something the world needs more of these days.

***

Angela Campbell is the author of the psychic detectives series from Harper Impulse. Learn more about her and her books at www.AngelaCampbellOnline.com.