larkspur

Wildflowers are amazing with their appearance only where it suits them. Some will be along country roads, while others are far more particular and only appear in very select places-- a certain elevation, certain amount of moisture, and for a time to suit themselves. There are a few that will bloom all summer, although never in as much profusion as their first bloom. A few make their fans work for any sight of them.

One of the things we always aim to do is get to Beazell Memorial Forest when the larkspur are at their peak. I've never been anywhere with so many forming a lush garden. We've made it there some years and others arrived too early and then too late. This happens to also be a busy time on the farm. 

The larkspur are in lush profusion in one main area right alongside the small creek. This year, we were there a few times, ahead of the bloom, thought we might have missed it, but finally hit it just right. They are almost impossible to photograph because their blue is very similar in value to all the green surrounding them. 

After reading the above link, I may try again to get them started along our creek. At one time it had livestock foraging along its banks. Pretty well the death of any such plants. Now it's fenced off; so maybe...

ups and downs

Sitting here at the keyboard, I am enjoying the sight of the columbines out my window, allergy season not so much, and re-edited an Oregon historical manuscript that is due out June 21st. 

 this is not the cover, but I played with it as a possibility

Where Dreams Go has been edited, time and time again. This edit is the one ahead of when I hand it over to a beta reader. He has read a lot of my books, maybe all of them, been a friend, knows a lot about Oregon history, and has proven to be good at finding errors I missed. I think the first time I experienced his skill was in Desert Inferno, where I had a heroine, who didn't care much for coffee. She was sitting on her patio, enjoying a desert morning-- sipping coffee. Okay, I might have gotten by with that if she hadn't been sipping tea only a few lines down. He caught that one, and he's been good at it ever since. 

Finally it dawned on me to ask if he'd consider being a beta reader. There is no money in it, but beta readers do get many thanks, the book free, now and again a paperback or bookmarks, and the satisfaction of telling the author-- you goofed. Mostly they are looking for inconsistencies in the author's logic, but anything else they find is a plus.

Besides not having beta readers, I also haven't had editors. A major no-no to the ePublishing world. The experts, and pretty much everybody else, are adamant that you must have editors as no writer can edit their own work. I believe they can, but it takes hours and hours, doing it many times with distance between the reads, and is a pain in the neck job as it's a word for word job. It has none of the excitement of writing the first draft or reading a book for the first time.

This week, our ranch lost a calf. Fortunately Ranch Boss saw the problem and was able, with a lot of muscle, to pull the dead calf and save the mother. It was too big for her. These things are tough; but on the same day, another heifer had hers without problem, but that was due to its being smaller. 

Currently we are trying to get our shearer out here, but this is his busy season which means we work around his schedule. They are doing okay although we did have one lamb break its leg, something that is generally fixable. The question in such cases is always-- how on earth did it do that?

Weather in my part of Oregon has been a mix of gray to beautiful blue skies. We are now though in a warm streak with temps up to 80ºF this week-end. The garden is tilled and ready for planting, even if it is 33ºF in the morning. Normally, I buy bedding plants about now, but this year I can't buy from any source that will not promise me that the plant was not grown using neonicotinoids or their ilk.If you are not familiar with the concern, here is but one link: 

beyond pesticides.  

When you think about it, it's not hard to figure out that if a product becomes part of the plant and kills insects, why not bees. With the great concern over hive collapses, it seems to me that we home gardeners must do our part to see this product and those like it are no longer used. Petitions are nice but kind of do nothing. When you vote with your dollars, growers and manufacturers hear you. In my case, if I can't get guarantees of the plants being safe, it's the year I'll grow them all from seed. 

I have also read that these products are not healthy for pets. We would like to think we can trust our nurseries or stores. The truth is-- we need to ask questions. If they say they don't know, then bye-bye. I am grateful for the researchers who reveal such problems to us and give us a choice. Science is wonderful for what it can do-- Of course, the science that told me of the dangers of neonicotinoids was used by a corporation to develop the product to begin with... 

What most of us want as consumers is full disclosure, and that for all those working to come up with new products, there are others assessing them for their safety. I know not all people value science. Some even want to cut budgets for any research. That's where consumers again need to be educated and vote their personal ethics and concerns.

I know... another review, but give it chance...

Previously, I have mentioned how beneficial reviews are for writers. The happy ones, of course, feel best, but even the unhappy ones are pluses for a writer. Usually, they are the only live connect a writer has to readers. The bad part is not being able to argue with a reviewer and tell them-- wait, this is why that action made sense.

Quite some time back, I had submitted one of my books to the only professional place where I have ever asked for a review (only did it with two of them). Literally I never remembered to look back for the review. But recently I had noticed they had it listed as a book I submitted. I went looking and there was it was from 2013.

"While out in the desert working on her latest landscape painting, Rachel O’Brian sees something off in the distance - something that shouldn’t be there. Going off to investigate, she finds a nicely dressed man taking his dying breath. Later that day a Border Patrolman knocks on her door and she is knocked for a loop. This rugged-looking man has her heart racing and her body tingling, which has never happened before. 

"Border Patrolman Jake Donovan, shows up at Rachel’s door to investigate the body in the desert.  He soon realizes that the man’s death is tied to a bigger crime ring and possibly to someone in his past. Ramirez has a debt to repay and he doesn’t take kindly to being betrayed. He has also sucked Rachel’s father in to his illegal dealings. Setting his sights on Rachel he plans to make her his wife, regardless. Rachel however, has made Jake Donovan her prey, and she plans on making him hers, if they can survive the madman and his unstable mind.

"Ms. Trueax sure knows her way around the Arizona desert! Her attention to detail regarding the landscape, and sunsets is so spot on it makes an Arizona girl homesick! The relationship between Rachel and Jake is a bit unrealistic, and one that falls into the insta-love category. It’s also unlikely that a woman who is extremely close to her father would marry without him being present. Rachel and Jake are both strong characters, and with a bit more realism and a little more editing, this story would be as stunning as the sunsets the author paints."

That was a pretty nice review for Desert Inferno. Wish I had read it way back then. It didn't get as many stars though as I would have liked based on the reviewer's character analysis that falling in love at first sight isn't as believable and the heroine would never actually marry without her father there. I could not make my case to the reviewer (even if I had read it back then), but I can here. 

One thing I should add first. Romances are primarily stories about relationships. They are of the hero and heroine, of course, but also secondary characters. The writer is always looking to make the relationships feel very much like real life. The question for a reviewer or the author is-- whose real life?

I fell in love at first sight. I met him in college. I went home that night and wrote in my journal that I was in love and had met the man I wanted to marry. Now he was attracted but certainly wasn't thinking love. He probably would have been scared off if I had let him know then. I didn't. I also wrote in the journal that while the attraction was instant, I wanted to know more about him before I knew if it would really be a permanent relationship that I would want. We didn't actually marry until two years later as we were in college and economics were a factor. 

My in-laws met during WWII. She said she saw him and thought wow. When he noticed her, it was the same for him. One month later they were married. My husband said he asked his mother about the courtship since it had been so fast. She was in her 90s by then. She said-- It was hot. Woohoo! They didn't marry with their parents there although they were still alive. Their marriage lasted over 50 years and was still happy when he died and then she a few years later. We also celebrated a 50th wedding anniversary last year-- with no idea how long ours will go but we have no intention of ending it-- today anyway ;). 

In Desert Inferno, Rachel felt that kind of instant attraction. Bang, but she wanted to get to know him to see if they had what it takes. She had to be the one to push for it to happen. His doubts were greater than hers. She had never felt this way before, and she was relieved she could feel it as she wasn't a girl. Now if he'd turned out not to be the man she thought he was, it would have ended. Artist or not, she was a practical lady.

As to the other objection, Jake was antsy enough, that Rachel was willing to marry him whenever he said yes. Her beloved father had been remote and acting strange when he was around. With a very sudden wedding, she was married in Scottsdale with the aunt who had helped raise her after her mother died. She had never wanted a big wedding. She was twenty-eight and ready to marry without a father's permission. She figured they could have a second wedding if her father had a sentimental reason to be there. Ritual though wasn't a big deal to her. 

Despite the reviewers unhappiness with those two features, this was a good review with a mix of think about-- you can be better and attaboys that always make a writer feel good-- less stars or not :). Some think if they can't write lengthy reviews, they should not write any. That's not how I see it. A short and pithy review is appreciated also.

Okay, for awhile, I promise I won't do another review blog, but when I said I'd be writing here about writing, I meant it. Reviews and what others think matter. It's like valuing comments in a blog. Every blog writer loves them, but we don't all get them. Readers really should think about putting their comments out there, anywhere they can, as what they think is true-- for them. It's of value.

The cover changed since that review but the story has not. I liked its other cover, but the new one, above, more suits Jake's uneasiness and Rachel's belief this would work. It takes awhile for him to come around to her opinion. Below is the one the reviewer saw when she read the book. I liked it but it doesn't really show as much of the dilemma Jake faces when a beautiful woman, out of his league, decides he's the one. :)

Getting it right

A writer, contemporary or historical, from any genre, has a choice when putting together their book-- fudge details or research them. It's not hard to smooth over places where details aren't known. On the other hand, there is the option to do research and find all the places where information resides-- these days a lot of which is discovered on the internet. 

Then the problem is-- how much to include. The more writers know about something, the better they can write their story. But almost never do they put all that was learned into it. Actually, in romance, I'd say absolutely never. Laundry lists of details can turn off even the most dedicated reader.

Recently, between writing the first half of my new work, I have been swallowed by research with new things popping up as I discover this or that would have happened. The romance part I knew before I began. Its only research is to be open to the nature of their characters and keep their actions consistent to that. Being open to that led me to three secondary characters that I hadn't expected but that added a lot to the story and my enjoyment of writing it.

My greatest research has been into the Pre-Columbian ruins in the region today known as the Sierra Ancha. Even though the actual dig will be fiction, I needed a lot of information and some of it was not easy to acquire. What words were used for these sites in 1901? Did the researchers already call the earlier peoples the Hohokam, Mogollon, Chaco, Anasazi, Salada, or Sinagua?  Most likely not; so what did they call them?

Some people dislike Google for overreach. This is one area where their overreach is a huge help to writers like myself. With their help and that of universities, research books have been scanned and can be read by anyone doing a search. These are books the average person could not buy unless they were willing to pay hundreds of dollars and sometimes, not even then. Libraries, with limited space, have long since sold them off.  If a facility had the space, the books ended up buried in dusty rooms. Not places the average writer is likely to access.

Scanned books sometimes are the literal pages, which you read by clicking through the book. Some are available online as a doc or pdf. Those are often harder to read due to the scanner misreading certain letters. 

What I most needed were books actually written during the late 19th century or early 20th. What would such an explorer or ethnologist have viewed? Who might he have talked to? What names did he use? Yeah, though my heroine is a budding archaeologist, it was usually men back then-- although the field was changing.

One such useful volume was 'Final Report of Investigations Among The Indians of the Southwestern United States, Carried on Mainly in the Years From 1880 to 1885' by A. F. Bandelier which was originally published in 1892. He was not an archaeologist but an ethnographer with a fascination for ancient cultures. His trips to as many of the ruins as he could find, as well as his discussions with the indigenous cultures living there, was invaluable for what my heroine would have heard and known.

For writing this book, I had a big advantage in my daughter being an archaeologist, who although she is not working in the field today because of family, she was involved in a lot of digs. I asked her for something that might give me archaeological methods from 1900 or so. It turned out that she owned such a book written in 1904, which she said she'd loan me. I worried about being responsible for a book I thought would be hard to replace.

I looked online and there it was-- 'Methods and Aims of Archaeology' was written by W. M. Flinders Petrie who did his work in Egypt, but his methods were what my heroine would have been taught in her university studies.

I didn't need to know all my heroine knew but I wanted to make her feel believable for her knowledge. Researching a subject like this is total fascination for me. 

More coming in the next blog about another aspect that my research revealed :)

The photos are of places I've visited across the Southwest-- none actually in the region where my story is set but they would look a lot alike. The petroglyph might be of Kokopelli, although there is no hump on his back; so maybe not.

Disappointment

If you are uncomfortable with sexual discussions, then stop reading right now and come back on Saturday :).

More on the dilemma of being 'out there' or 'in the arena' as the video last week talked about. When you write for yourself and you are the only one who sees your words, you do not face what I got recently, making it worse-- just before I went to bed. Another review with this time only 2 stars and I would say an angry more than disappointed ex-reader:

Very disappointed, the sample of the story didn't prepare me for all the sexual context in the book. Had an good story line , historical facts , this author seem to thing that loading it down with bedroom seances made it better . If you are looking for a good clean historical novel this is not it! On a positive note St. Cloud was a good addition to the book! His faith in God and his knowledge was refreshing. !

I do everything I can to avoid this happening. I do not want that reader and my book to come together. She does not want sex in a book. I don't want her unhappy for reading things she'd rather not see. My blurbs for the books all have the warnings. The words sweet or clean do not appear. I reference the book having a heat level of 4 ♥♥♥♥. There is, however, no way to force someone to read the blurb. I also cannot help them interpret the sample. There are no opening chapters to romances (erotica maybe) that have the hero and heroine jumping in bed; so no sample will ever tell a reader there will or will not be sex. That has to be found in the blurb. 

This whole thing is driving me nuts-- not though about readers who don't want sex. This lady only represents the tip of the iceberg of readers who want zero sex, violence and profanity in their books. It is a movement that is hitting back against the easing up of what is possible in mainstream literature. My problem is how do I keep those readers from buying my books? I suppose some of them would like censorship where nobody could read books like mine-- where writers are forced to take out what these readers don't want to see.

Censorship can work. Big publishing houses can be impacted by it. Writers who have to make a living can. Now, with independent writers, it's harder to make the will of a movement felt on all. Writers like me are not going to change what they write. Amazon might be impacted if the pressure builds on them. The censorship movement did have some success with certain best-selling erotica a couple of years ago, but I think it eventually got back out.

I am in the midst of the new one, Aztec Moon, and it has the same level of heat. I do not write what is computer driven by the latest polls for what readers want. When I put my books (this blog also) out there, I am revealing something of myself, my thinking, my belief about life. Because they say never contact a reader or answer a review, I cannot explain to her why the opening sample in that book gave more clues as to what was coming than even the blurb.

I won't post the sample here. Anybody who wants can take a free look [Round the Bend]. The book's first three chapters are reached by clicking on the cover. What I am going to say here is I am beginning to get a feel for what upsets these women readers so much. It's not that there is sex permeating the whole book as the above reviewer implies. Sure there is desire, but where I think the upset came, for this reader, is who is feeling it-- the woman. 

The heroine is young, not quite eighteen, and she is just awakening to her own body and to what it feels like to desire a man. Round the Bend is not just about a man jumping a woman's bones (he does try that in the first chapter). The story is her growing in her understanding of what she wants. It's her thoughts, her yearnings more than even actual action. She is headstrong, and it takes a lot for her to realize actions have consequences. I have a feeling the women readers (and it is mostly women) dislike it that the heroine is the aggressor, and he is the more responsible one where it comes to understanding consequences. There are reasons he knows that and she does not. It is her journey to learn it.


Because I do understand how sex can be a powerful force and even one that can be destructive, I have another female character in the book who illustrates the other side of how women can deceive and even damage themselves by misunderstanding what sex is really about-- which means it belongs in responsible, mature relationships where the consequences are fully faced. That's the message the reviewer above missed.

Round the Bend is in a lot of ways the journey of women. Being 71 years old, I am well aware of how most women were taught about sex. They threatened us so much with don't do it that they forgot to tell us how it should be done. They were so afraid of the power of sex that they turned it into something unclean outside of a closed bedroom door-- do not talk about it, watch it, or hear anything about it. 

Of course, many women did it anyway and many married pregnant; but they usually wanted to think that they were seduced into it. It was what a good woman did. She got seduced. She didn't do the seducing. 

Well (and this happens a lot in my books), this heroine discovers a good woman can feel desire and want a man. Then she worries that she isn't good. She eventually talks to her mother about her sexual desire. When she tells the hero her mother's wisdom, that whitens his face, but it shows the kind of relationship the heroine has with her mother. The mother does all she can to stop her daughter from having sex too young or from being with the wrong man, but she recognizes reality and gives her practical advice (also from the Bible, I might add).

You know, the Bible is a pretty lusty book itself. It actually has one book just about passion and a woman's desire for a man-- Song of Solomon. Worth reading if you have forgotten how heady that book actually is. Now religious teachers have tried to tame it down to suit their fear of healthy sexuality by saying it's talking about a man's love for God; but give me a break! Anybody who reads it knows it speaks of a woman's desire for her lover's body and his for hers. It even discusses oral sex-- of course, in a very poetic way, but the words cannot be mistaken. 

What I believe is that healthy sexuality is what more people need to read about. Not in some dry textbook with the biological facts but in a way that inspires an understanding that actions have consequences and that the connection we want with another person is one that goes beyond the physical to include the soul or spirit. 

I won't quit writing books like the one that so offended her. I think such books are healthy for readers. I just want to find a way so that a reader like her and I never come across each other.

As I lay in bed after reading that review, I thought putting books out there is a lot like going to a dance where you didn't go with a date. This might be something young people don't experience today, but I remember being in a big hall where the girls sat on one side. The boys on the other. The music started and the boys began to come across to ask girls to dance-- or not. 

For this dance, the music starts when the book is out there. The reader is the one who requests a dance, a relationship that lasts as long as the book takes unless the reader wants more dances. What I want to find is a way to not have my books asked to the dance by those who will find a full exploration of life is not their cup of tea. There are plenty of books out there for them, they are called sweet or clean. Those readers should also watch where they read in the Bible. ;)

more warnings

After writing about romance reader preferences, there is no way not to mention sex and violence. Actually, I might have avoided it here, even though it had arisen in a reader/writer group, but then these two reviews brought it back to my attention.

"Beginning in 1851 Independence, Missouri the reader travels the Oregon Trail & experiences the grueling journey early pioneers must have faced in their never ending desire for a new life. I particularly liked the wagon master, St. Louis Jones. He was such a lovable character & his friendship to Matthew Kane defined him as a memorable part of this story. I can't imagine taking 300 people on that kind of a trip & having to be responsible for the safety of all of them.

"As children growing up Amy Stevens & Matthew Kane were destined to find their childhood friendship turn to a deep abiding love. Amy, ever the romantic, learns that excitement in many instances means danger & danger means possible injury or death. In this revelation she finds that the word adventure will take on a whole different reality. It takes awhile but she finally gets her head out of the clouds & her jealousy under control.

"Matthew, on the other hand, has much more to overcome. His father & brother are down right evil & it's hard to see how he could be so forgiving of their past treatment towards him.
"A good book for the historical western fan with romance woven in. The sex & violence made me inclined to drop a star on this one."

First, in my opinion, this is a nice review but it does represent a not totally satisfied reader based just on sex and violence. I liked though how she personalized why she didn't like this, and still was able to mention other good qualities in the book. 

Regarding sex, warning off such readers is why I call my books adult and use a rating system. My books are pretty much all ♥♥♥♥ except for the novellas that are ♥♥♥ based on their shorter lengths (when working with less words, something has to go). My own scale defining heat is at the top of all my book blogs:

♥ -------holding hands, perhaps a gentle kiss
♥♥ ----- more kisses but no tongue -- no foreplay
♥♥♥ ----kissing, tongue, caressing, foreplay & pillow talk
♥♥♥♥ ---all of above, full sexual experience, including climax
♥♥♥♥♥ --all of above with coarser language/sex more frequent

Round the Bend did have heat, I believe it was in a believable context, not gratuitous. These are two young people in love. Not likely there'd be no heat, but they were on a wagon train with her parents and a lot of travelers; not a great deal of opportunity to acquire even ♥♥♥♥. I did put out the warning for those who want none. 

Sadly for the next reviewer, I think it might have been that same one, who reviewed Arizona Star. 

"Didn't really care too much for this book but it was my own fault for buying it without reading the reviews. Too much explicit sex that the story of Abby & Sam could have been put forth without. I did like the characters & was glad that Abigail didn't let her father push her into a relationship that would have crushed her spirit. The actual story was good but I won't be reading the rest of the series."

She downgraded that one to 3 stars but still, I consider it a fair review in the sense that she explained why. I like it when reviewers do that. Can't please all readers but nice to know when you didn't what the reason was. Too bad she can't just skip over those scenes she doesn't like; but it is her privilege, of course. There is a reason they are there.

Arizona Sunset is a passionate book. It is not, however, erotica. In my opinion, there wasn't enough sex for me to give it ♥♥♥♥♥. I write scenes that I feel the book needs. No scenes anywhere are just added. They are there to take the development of the characters further. The actual working title for Arizona Sunset was Outlaw Pleasures. I gave it up because I felt it would then sound like erotica. The working title had been chosen because the book is about all those things we are told we should not do by an authority of one sort or another. Reading a hot sexual scene, of course, is one of them for some people. 

In the story though, this heroine had to let go, to not let someone else dictate her life, and to trust in her female nature. Sure, a writer could gloss over that and hint it happened. In my books, I prefer to write about healthy sex between a man and woman. I like writing about a whole, even lusty relationship that is healthy- in all aspects, one of which is that sex can be fun.

Naturally, like all writers, I do want to please readers, but first and foremost are what my characters need in their story. It is good for this reader and me that she won't read more of my books as they pretty much are similar in their heat level. Luckily for her there are a LOT of romance writers who write sweet. 

What I try to do is provide sufficient warnings so a reader is not blindsided. Earlier I mentioned how I also have warnings on all the books regarding language. I write dialogue as seems apropos for the characters. That doesn't mean I won't get a review finding fault with it.  

What has me stumped is how do I warn off the reader who wants no violence or will down rate the book if it's included? Not just this reviewer, but that reader/writer group brought up this problem for some readers. They want no violence in their stories. A lot of times my books, which do have suspense as part of their story, do have violence. With Round the Bend, there was no way to tell a realistic story of the westward movement of these pioneers without including the dangers that did often accompany them.

"This is the ninth case of death by violence on the route, three of whom were executed, the others were murdered. This route is the greatest one for wrangling, discord and abuse of any other place in the world I am certain."    Abigail Scott Duniway

That was far from the only memoir that described such incidents. What I describe in the book belongs there. My issue is not whether to leave violence out. What I am trying to figure out is a meaningful way to warn readers who would find any disturbing. 

If I say the book contains some violence, it might make readers think it has more than it has. If I list off its violent events, it gives away plot elements that should be discovered as they unfold. For me, a violence rating is complicated by the fact that the descriptions in my books are about what would have routinely been in old western movies, the unrated kind, like John Wayne, and old TV shows like Gunsmoke or Cheyenne. If that was disturbing, you couldn't have such actions at all without upsetting that reader.

What I suspect is that when any reviewer takes away stars in a review based on sexuality, they are really hoping to influence the writer in this area. Otherwise, they'd simply not review the book or email the writer to express their displaesure. That though, would not have a punishment attached. In the case of these two books, it's not as though the reviewer needed to warn other readers. My blurbs do that-- well, except for the violence. To me, that is an issue I haven't resolved. I just don't know how to warn sensitive readers, and I do sympathize with them, as I personally try to avoid violence on movies and TV shows. We all have those areas that disturb us. So for rating the violence in my stories, I'd say they are PG13. Does that though work for a book?

Currently, I am very involved in writing my fifth Arizona historical with an enjoyable (for me) hero and heroine. Sam and Abby are in it too as secondary characters. They have been in the background of a lot of my books. Yes, the new one has violence-- a gunfight almost right off the bat with more to come. Its heat is ♥♥♥♥ :). It's what I write.

All photos from Old Tucson, staged stunt fights.

going to the sweaty place in creativity

When I bring out a new book, it's an edgy time. In the midst of writing one also can be, as it's when the inner critic is most active. When I see a review that slams my work, when a book is returned with no explanation, I feel the mix of pain and joy at stepping into the arena as Brown discusses in the video below. 

She had a quote that she said changed her life. It's a powerful one for all of those taking the risk of being out there in whatever way.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”   Theodore Roosevelt  

In changing the purposes for my blogs, here is going be the place to deal with the whole experience of creativity-- as it is for me. There are plenty of places readers can find words only of encouragement and blogs that speak of things that readers want to hear-- pretty pictures and words. While I am not much on whining as a positive thing, I am going to make this a place for the dark and light side of creativity. For me, there are wonderful times of light but equally there are times where nothing is going right.

Currently I am deeply into the fifth Arizona historical (over half way to where I want it to go). Oh no, it isn't working. It doesn't have value. It won't fit the other stories. I lost my place. Equally there are times, where the words are flowing and hitting the sweet spot. I think euphoria and doubt both belong to creating anything that goes beyond following a formula.

Serendipity is a word I like (happenstance leading to convenient occurrences). I would call another writer recently sharing the video below to be serendipitous. The things Brené Brown discusses, I have felt over and over and not just with writing. If you are a creative person, and stepping into the arena where you are vulnerable, or on the other hand, if you haven't let your creative side free, because you don't believe you can handle criticism and rejection, either way, give yourself that twenty minutes. You won't regret it.

 

decisions, decisions, decisions

Most writers begin with, or eventually develop, a set of ethics on which they base their work. There are things they won't do, places they won't go. Some of this may be impacted by the reason they write, i.e.: to tell their story, for the money, or some combination.  

Bannack, Montana

A writer has the freedom to write their own story but not to guarantee it will please anybody else. Basically, all of life is action and reaction. We can control our action, not someone else's reaction. It sounds lofty to say I will stay true to my story-- not everyone has that option.

I am thinking about this because of reading comments in a private writing group. This group has both readers and writers-- a huge plus as often writers only talk to writers or readers to readers. Bringing the two together can be educational, rewarding, but also present frustrations. Readers, who are willing to speak out, have many must haves-- often not the same and sometimes diametrically opposed. Here are a few issues that arose and had me scratching my head:

1) This one is mostly aimed at historicals but is true of all books to some degree. The details must be believable and feel real-- even though the story is fiction (fantasy is excepted from this). In an historical, the language, food, transportation, etc. all must be correct (as they have been taught) or some claim they will discard the book before they finish it. 

The reader is always right. Except they are not. Some are completely wrong with their assumptions. They don't always know what was true for say 1880 because they did not spend the hours the writer did listening to stories from those with older relatives, reading historical analysis, pouring over old newspapers and memoirs (some of the latter only available in libraries. 

The most demanding readers often only know what they feel should be true, sometimes based on other fiction. When they write a scathing review of details being wrong, the writer is not supposed to address their complaints nor try to have a conversation about it. Writers are never to address reviewers directly-- not to say thank you or to argue.

So what option does that leave the writer? Well, for me it's spending those hours on the research, editing and quadruple editing for what someone ate-- and then trust I got it right. I own a lot of history books, some that tell me when this or that first appeared (which may or may not be right either). I bookmark websites where I can go for when a phrase or word showed up in print (which does not mean the first time it was used verbally).

An example is having a character say okay. It sounds wrong for historicals. Often I avoid it for that reason. But it first was used in The United States in the 1840s. It would be quite appropriate in a western set in 1880, but there might be purist readers who would be turned off by it. Safer to not use it as really how important is it to the story?

That is my criteria: Does it matter enough to stick to my guns (speaking of guns, you really have to research those for when they were first sold). When something is important to me, and I am confident it was true; then I will use it whether a reader later objects. There are readers who will appreciate that-- maybe just less of them ;)

2) Next issue is specific to ethnicity. It can take considerable research to find what word was used for this or that racial group, and sometimes the word that was most common is offensive today. 

Big time, this is where ethics come in. In our country, racial divides have been revealed to still be there and hurtful. Does a writer want to make that worse? For myself, I will err on the side of sensitivity-- but I don't avoid characters from various ethnic backgrounds. I won't use words I know might've been correct at one time. There are things that matter more to me. Hurting a racial group, who have already experienced persecution, isn't something I am willing to do to satisfy the purist-- who might not be correct either. It's not like we have tape recordings from back then.

3) This last example surprised me. Until I had read it, I had no idea how intensely some felt about it-- profanity in a book. The phrase most objected to was whenever the reader believed the character was taking the Lord's name in vain. There were those who said they would quit reading right there. They apparently don't realize that when someone says G-- D---, they are not damning God at all. They are just using an expression indicating strong emotion, frustration, or anger against a situation. It's in itself meaningless.

In addition, their interpretation of the Commandment is not only Old Testament but refers today to words that didn't even exist when the books of the Bible were written. The Third Commandment says-- you shall not take your Lord's name in vain. The easy take on that is in profanity. But I don't think it means that. 

Using something with less heated emotions, think about this. If you took my name in vain, I'd say you had used me to excuse what you were doing or to give your position more power, and it wasn't true what you said. I think what was meant and is far more powerful than avoiding reading a swear word. 

What I believe it is saying is-- don't go around claiming God wants you or someone else to do this or that because He said it... when He did not. I have heard this coming from some of the religious pundits where they claim God brought a hurricane to punish someone somewhere else for being gay or having an abortion. That to me is taking God's name in vain. 

To top this off, I had a pastor once who took the whole issue a step farther and said even saying gosh, golly, gee, or guldurn, all were the same as taking His name as it was from where it came. My goodness didn't even pass the test.

Once I tried using little g to indicate it's a god in general, not the reader's THE god; but that upset some who emailed me. It made them uncomfortable even though the word god is generic.

What I believe is that those, who say they quit reading at one G-- D--- (I am using dashes in case one of them comes here and would stop reading if they got to the actual words as I'd like them to read the rest), they really want the writer to stop using the words. It does not suit their religion to use/read them, and so it should not be in my book or anybody else's; and if it is, the threats follow. 

For me, ethics decide this. I create characters that feel real to me. They will use words I believe they would say-- with some exceptions. There are some obscenities that I don't like writing (I do read books with them in it); so for me, I get around it with expressions like: "he said some words she'd never heard" "he cursed explosively," etc. (It is most generally men swearing in my books. Women are a little milder in their use of profanity.)

I will not have a tough hero saying-- gee whiz or my goodness in a critical moment. Not gonna happen-- ever. I try to keep my characters true to their character. In my most recently released book, I did have my two younger male leads use that objectionable phrase (each, under extremely heated situations); it wasn't ever said by the wagon master. I can't imagine him saying G-- D--- and he doesn't.

Interestingly, some of the very reviewers in the first two issues demand authenticity right up until they come to #3. So what does the writer do? Well, if they have to make a living, they probably take out the words, and then the next ones that offend another reader and pretty soon they have a watered down story that suits certain people and maybe sells. If they don't have to make a living at their writing, they stay true to their own code to reveal the story and characters with all their depth and sometimes their grittiness. 

To satisfy my ethics, to tell my story, and stay true to it, I came up with a solution to warn away sensitive readers where it comes to the profane. I went back to all my blurbs and inserted a warning that the book contains strong language and mild profanity. Not all of them actually used the words they most disliked, but they all have some swearing in them. I do not want to blindside any reader for their sake and mine.

One more thought on this business of extreme purity, coincidentally we recently rewatched The Bulletproof Monk, which has a lot of good lines and philosophy. This quote fits the issue:

Water which is too pure has no fish.

Works for me :)

separating a cult from a religion... or not

We know the rules for polite conversation-- not supposed to discuss religion or politics.

What about writing a book about religions?

Risky business—never know who you might offend.

What a pity, as religions are where an attempt is made to offer reason and rules for life.

 Except, religions don’t teach the same things for what those would be.

This issue of religions and cults came to my mind because of watching Scientology-- Going Clear on HBO. The program did a good job on getting into not only for what members are looking but also who begins such groups. Scientology used coercive methods to get themselves declared a religion-- a benefit for tax and profit purposes. The documentary is well worth the time not just for understanding it but the appeal such 'religions' offer.

It was the 1980s when Oregon had a cult experience. I guess you can call it an experience although for most of us, it was just through the newspapers. The Rajneesh, who was respected by many as a spiritual leader, arrived in Eastern Oregon after his 'group' purchased the Big Muddy Ranch. This was an area with which I was familiar due to camping and fishing trips. Rugged hills, interesting rock formations, juniper, sage and cattle country pretty well explains the appeal of high desert. For this commune, Rajneeshpuram, there was probably one more appeal-- fairly isolated from large populations but not too far for followers to fly into Portland and easily drive out.

Rajneeshpuram built buildings to house large meetings, held retreats with some moving to be there all the time. The information we were told was that followers were mostly professional people. Most did not live there although some did and began a commune.

The nearby ranching community of Antelope was purchased enough to be renamed Rajneesh. Businesses were turned to new purposes to suit the population at the commune. Some locals sold their property due to fear, some to make money, but the remaining residents became fearful as to what was going on. The publicity for the cult made it to newspapers the other side of the Cascades. The Rajneesh was different for his beliefs as it included buying a lot of limos and being driven around in them. 

photo of the faithful and his limo attributed "Osho Drive By" by Samvado Gunnar Kossatz. Licensed under Attribution via Wikimedia Commons

The whole thing grew more fraught with enemies and friends until the ones in charge of the cult went too far. Ma Anand Sheela used criminal methods to change the political atmosphere. She faced criminal charges and the days of that cult, in Oregon, were over.

Shortly after the Rajneesh left, the ranch was purchased by a Montana rancher for a youth retreat but that didn't work out. From what I know, the buildings are still  a problem as to what to do with them. 

Chandra Mohan Jain, also known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh went back to India and formed another group, which is still functioning there after his death. After Sheela was freed from prison, she went to Switzerland, remarried and and established new work.

This month, what interested me, about the cult world enough to watch the program on Scientology, was that I had written a romance based on a fictional cult. I wanted to explore two questions-- what leads people to become fervent followers of such groups-- and who are those who lead them? Why are some, like the followers of Jim Jones, willing to die for those reasons?

The book had the title Hidden Pearl because of the scripture where Jesus said how a hidden pearl is what a man will give up his life to possess. My book is not a religious look at cults. It explores one fictional one, its members, and what is the danger when such a group goes too far.

S.T. Taggert receives a call from his Navajo mother asking him to find his missing sister. S.T. has been estranged from his family, but he can’t refuse the request even from a mother, who had left her white husband and two children to return to the land that was so critical to who she was-- her beloved redrock country of Arizona. 

Besides the trail to his missing sister leading to this cult, S.T.'s mixed heritage gave me a chance to explore something else of interest to me-- how important, to who we are, might be our ancestors and our ethnic history? This is something S.T. has to work out for his own peace of mind.

My heroine, who becomes entwined in this, is a photojournalist whose assignment had been to photograph up and coming young leaders, which included the cult leader as well as S.T. (a successful architect builder in Portland). Her taking of photographs, her friendships in the Portland area added to my enjoyment in writing the story. My own love of photography helped me understand this woman.

Some ask what separates a cult from a religion? Religions can take on cult like qualities if they use ostracism, threats, imprisonment, and violence to maintain their power. In a religion, members can question or even leave. Cults attempt to limit such freedoms. Cults are willing to poison others to maintain their power. Religions might believe someone else is wrong, but they don't resort to murder to enforce it-- when they do, they crossed a line.

For the writer, the cult is where a story can get interesting—but where there is also the risk of offending those who have a religion they value and may think the story is a threat against it. But can a writer please everyone and still tell their story? My experience is I have not found that I can-- but it's why writing is so rewarding where I can explore the human need for answers and security-- while I also tell the story of two people falling in love-- with its own perils.