For Readers Who Love a Good Series

Posted on February 21, 2017February 20, 2017 by vlaw759

alexander mccall smith the woman who walked in sunshine

Here’s a name you should know: Alexander McCall Smith. He is a British author—a prolific British author—born in Zimbabwe, best known for his #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. The series features Precious Ramotswe and contains 17 books to date, all set in Botswana. Some of these were presented on HBO.

My sister-in-law lived in this area of Africa for seven years, and she said the depictions are absolutely authentic. But McCall is so much more than one series! His writing is excellent, his characters grab your heart, he uses lots of humor, and he’s an all-around feel-good read!

alexander mccall smith the bertie project

Set in Edinburgh, the 44 Scotland Street series contains 11 novels, with wonderful people portraits and gentle satire. Bertie is the center of it all.

alexander mccall smith a distant view of everything

Also set in Edinburgh, The Sunday Philosophy Club series, featuring Isobel Dalhousie, contains 14 books. Isobel is a professional philosopher and amateur sleuth. USA TODAY said “Isobel is a force to be reckoned with.” NEWSWEEK said, “Remarkable. . . [Isobel] is such good copany, it’s hard to believe she is fictional.”

alexander mccall smith unusual uses for olive oil

Professor Dr. Von Igelfeld is the somewhat bumbling academic sleuth in the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series. Only 4 books to date, but we can hope for more. I don’t know what McCall’s experiences are with his setting in Germany, but he certainly nailed the academic politics and atmosphere!

alexander mccall smith corduroy mansions

So far there are 3 books in the Corduroy Mansions series. The location is Pimlico; the cast of characters are the residents of Corduroy Mansions, plus McCall Smith’s first canine star, Freddie de la Hay.

alexander mccall smith the great cake mystery

McCall Smith has written 5 books in two series for children: School Ship Tobermory Children’s Series and the Precious Children’s Series/Precious Ramotswe Mysteries for Young Readers.

dream angus alexander mccall smith — [Source: Amazon]

As if all of that were not enough, Alexander McCall Smith has published 11 stand-alone books, set in various times and places. For example, Dream Angus is set in twentieth-century Scotland. Dream Angus comes at night bestowing dreams. He’s also the god of love, youth and beauty. Magical realism, anyone?

TWO REASONS TO READ ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH: 1) If you like series, you can stick with him for a long time, and 2) if you are a writer, skip hither and yon among his offerings to sample one writer’s diversity.

Murder and Mayhem, Clover Hill Library Style

Posted on February 17, 2017February 20, 2017 by vlaw759

It wasn’t a dark and stormy night, but a week ago tonight was perfect for murder. For the second year, Sisters in Crime/Central Virginia worked with Clover Hill Library for their Friends of the Library fundraiser, Murder at the Library.

murder mayhem clover hill library style sleuth's notebook

I can’t rave too much about this event. It was very well organized. For one thing, they provided a sleuth’s notebook that included photos and thumbnail sketches of the potential suspects. In addition, it contained the program, author photos, and bios.

murder mayhem clover hill library style program

The skit ended with the discovery of the body.

murder mayhem clover hill library style body

Then attendees mingled with the suspects, asking questions, gathering more info. Here you see me taking with the Branch Manager who had “borrowed” money from library funds to pay for her expensive red scarf. This would be the same scarf found near the body.

Then there were the lecherous president of the Friends of the Library rejected by the victim and the library gossip who knew the victim since college and held a grudge.

murder mayhem clover hill library style suspects

This famous children’s singer was the victim’s lover and an all around not-so-nice guy. Jeanette was grumpy because she hated change, and expected to get her old job back now that the librarian who had replaced her was dead.

And let’s not forget those not pictured! Pokemon Go Guy, two boozing mom’s on Xanax and wine, the singer’s sister, and Detective Nancy Drew who called on those present to help find the person who had motive, means, and opportunity.

Votes were cast by tossing legos into the labeled bin of the suspect one favored, and reasons were given for the suspicions. I’m proud to say, I was right! (And no, I won’t name the killer.)

Several of the authors presented a discussion of the sub-genre’s of mysteries: Mary Miley, Maggie King, Heather Weidner, Tina Glasneck, Fiona Quinn, and LynDee Walker. Rosemary Shomaker and I facilitated the sleuthing.

Besides the pleasure of all the murder and mayhem, a ticket to this event allowed attendees to have heavy hors d’ oeuvres, beer, wine, and soft drinks. Watch for notices of the event next year and to be sure you don’t miss it, get your tickets early!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Posted on February 14, 2017February 14, 2017 by vlaw759

Today I’m not really blogging. Instead I’m focused on The Five Love Languages.

If you didn’t read my earlier blog about this book, you might want to do so now.

So today is all about love and romance.

For murder and mayhem, tune in again on Friday. It really happened at the Clover Hill Library!

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Posted on February 10, 2017February 9, 2017 by vlaw759

I have two favorite anecdotes about my children’s language. The first was when Helen was four and Sara was three weeks old. Helen had an appointment for her annual check-up and Sara had a terrible diaper rash, so we were on our way to the pediatrician’s office. Helen was anxious and asked question after question about what was going to happen. Eventually she asked whether he would see her first or Sara. I said, “I don’t know—whichever he chooses.” She said, “Oh. It’s his prerogative.” Yes, this really happened.

Time passed. When Sara was four and Helen was eight, I scolded Helen for hitting her sister and sent her to her room. Helen ranted about it not being fair, Sara had grabbed her book. Sara said, “But you hit me. You know the contingencies!”

Truth: I’ve sometimes told these anecdotes for their entertainment value. But I’ve recounted them here for different reasons. First: just because it really happened doesn’t make it believable. If you were to use this dialogue in a scene, you would have to lay the groundwork carefully. Let the reader know the parents are Ph.D.s who never talked baby talk to their children.You might want to let readers know that the father is an English professor and the mother a psychologist.

If you are writing stories for children or scenes involving children, choose your words carefully. There’s help out there. Although this reference is for people writing books for children, it’s a great resource for words children would understand and/or use. The words are grouped by grade level, beginning with kindergarten. It also includes synonyms.

Use the most recent word book you can find. A lot of words enter the language in fifteen years. Keep up.

These particular books start with kindergarten. For younger children, consult Dr. Spock or a good child development textbook. The usual tendency is to have children speaking too old for their years. But writers missing the target of believability ruins their credibility.

Great Reading for Black History Month!

Posted on February 7, 2017February 8, 2017 by vlaw759

Not that these authors should be read only in February, but this is a great opportunity to sample authors you might not have read before. Choose any of the authors/books listed below and you can’t go wrong!

MAYA ANGELOU: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (autobiography—first of seven), Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘fore I Diiie (poetry)

JAMES BALDWIN: Go Tell It On The Mountain (novel), Giovanni’s Room (a novel dealing with race and homosexuality), and three collections of essays, Notes of a Native Son, Nobody Knows My Name, and The Fire Next Time

OCTAVIA BUTLER: Kindred and many others (science fiction). She’s won two Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards, and was the first sci-fi writer to win a MacArthur fellowship.

RITA DOVE: Thomas and Beulah, Sonata Mulattica, Mother Love Poems, and others. Poet Laureate, her poems and essays are everywhere.

W. E. B. DU BOIS: The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America is still an authoritative work on the subject, The Emerging Thought of W. E. B. Du Bois: Essays and Editorials from “The Crisis” (essays)

RALPH (WALDO) ELLISON: Shadow and Act (essays), Invisible Man (fiction)

LANGSTON HUGHES: The Weary Blues (poetry), Not Without Laughter (novel). He’s also written plays, short stories, and several other books.

ALEX HALEY: The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Roots: The Saga of an American Family.

ZORA NEALE HURSTON: Their Eyes Were Watching God, but also more than 50 published novels, short stories, plays, and essays.

TONI MORRISON: The Bluest Eye, Sula, The Song of Solomon. She’s a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winning novelist.

ALICE WALKER:The Color Purple (novel)—she won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

RICHARD WRIGHT: Native Son and Black Boy (novels), Uncle Tom’s Children (short stories)

THIS IS ONLY A SAMPLE! Explore and read, read, read.

Musings on Memoir

Posted on February 3, 2017February 2, 2017 by vlaw759

I recently started reading Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance. Change the names, and it could be my memoir!

Yep. Roots in the hills of Eastern Kentucky. An old home place—where my paternal grandparents lived—in the holler at the head of Old House Creek. Granny Butcher, Granny’s mother, lived there, too. Here’s a picture taken in the yard there when I was a baby, me in Granny Butcher’s lap, with Dad and Granny standing.

To make Vance’s memoir my own would require a lot of tweaks. For example, it was my parents who didn’t finish high school. We both graduated from state universities in Ohio, but he went on to become a lawyer while I got a Ph.D. in psychology. Still, the broad picture is the same: unbreakable family ties, work-related migration from Kentucky to Ohio, and the emotional upheaval of upward mobility.

Which brings me to the point: good memoir evokes a strong emotional response in the reader. The basis of my response to Hillbilly Elegy is obvious, but there must be more to it than personal relevance. It didn’t become a bestseller on the basis of me alone! I was strongly affected by West With The Night (Beryl Markham) and Glass Castle (Jeanette Wall) without nearly so much shared history.

When you sit down to write memoir, start by asking yourself, “Why would anyone else care?” What is the emotional chord I am trying to strike? Horror or humor? Nostalgia or dysfunction?

And then, get some guidance. Writing good memoir draws on many of the same skills required for writing good fiction. But there are some issues and concerns unique to telling one’s life story. There are tons of good books out there. Here are a few samples.

Memoir is the fastest growing genre among writers today. But if writing it isn’t for you, at least read some. And ask yourself, “Why do I care?”

Read this Book!

Posted on January 31, 2017January 31, 2017 by vlaw759

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf is incredible. It’s low-key, but the operational definition of a page-turner. It opens with Addie Moore calling Louis Waters and inviting him to sleep with her. The twist is that they are seventy-something widow(er)s, and there’s no explicit sex. They defy the town gossips and family opposition. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said, “A fine and poignant novel that demonstrates that our desire to love and be loved does not dissolve with age.”

Kent Haruf is a best selling novelist. But this is the first book of his I have read. I literally couldn’t put it down. Haruf has a spare style—like Hemingway, without the macho. It’s a fast read, but you might want to linger. It’s truly gripping.

Writing Love

Posted on January 27, 2017January 27, 2017 by vlaw759

The best written love must overcome obstacles.

writing love romeo and juliet — *Romeo and Juliet* by Frank Dicksee (1884) [Public domain]

Yes, parental objections, physical distance, poverty, etc., are great ploys. But CONSIDER THE POTENTIAL OF MISCOMMUNICATION.

writing love pride and prejudice cover — Cover of Pride and Prejudice from 1894 [Source: Pinterest]

Jane Austin nailed misunderstanding. You can, too. Want a handy guide? Check out The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman.

This book explores five ways people express love.

#1 Words of Affirmation
#2 Quality Time
#3 Receiving Gifts
#4 Acts of Service
#5 Physical Touch

According to the author, each person has a predominant mode of expression.

FOR PLOT PURPOSES, you need only have two people with different preferences for expressions of love to go unrecognized.

This book is a NYT #1 Bestseller. The writing is accessible, the examples informative. I recommend it!

And as so often happens, there are now niche sequels.

GO FOR SOME LOVE! After all, Valentine’s Day is coming soon.

A Different Read

Posted on January 24, 2017January 23, 2017 by vlaw759

These are the appointments that will affect virtually all aspects of our lives in the near future. I’m urging you to do your research. Read about each of them, trying to find the strongest facts in support of and against the nominees.

Then, contact your senators. Your representatives can’t represent you if you don’t share your opinions. Tell them what you want them to do and why. (This last is optional.)

In Virginia, that would be Tim Kaine (phone # 540-682-5693) and Mark Warner (phone # 804-775-2314). I was told that the most effective contact is a phone call to the person’s local office. You will get through immediately and be treated politely.

If you don’t live in Virginia, comparable info for your senators is available online. Ditto for members of Congress. Alternatively, you could call the congressional switchboard at 202-225-3121, and they will transfer you to the appropriate office. Unfortunately, when I tried to do this, the switchboard was swamped and I didn’t get through.

We are citizens even before we’re writers. Be informed. Be involved.

Writing Mass Behavior

Posted on January 20, 2017January 21, 2017 by vlaw759

Today is the Trump inauguration. Tomorrow is the Women’s March on Washington. And every time you turn around, there is a football game or a rally of some sort. How can a writer make use of such events?

1) As the background or setting for plot action. Two or more characters can come into conflict. They can initiate, confirm, or advance plans for future action, be it benign or malignant. They can use the crowd as camouflage for a murder, kidnapping, or elopement. You get the idea.

2) As a means of revealing character. Just being there makes a statement—about attitudes, beliefs, or interests, depending on what the gathering is about. Then, too, it’s an opportunity to reveal how the character feels about being part of this. Why is s/he there? Is it voluntary? Obligatory? Part of the job? Is the character interested? Resentful? Inspired? Surprised? Bored?

3) As an opportunity for deviance. In the sorts of situations under discussion here, most people behave in similar, uniform ways. Psychologists call this behavior matching. Think of the wave at football games, listening politely to a public address, spectators cheering marathon runners. But what happens when someone behaves in the opposite way? Would your character do that? Why or why not?

4) As an opportunity for strong emotions. People tend toward emotion matching. On average, people experience things as funnier, scarier, sadder, etc., depending on the apparent reactions of those around them. Also, people are more likely to “let themselves go”—in ways usually forbidden, anything from sexuality to looting—if people around them are doing the same. Psychologists call this disinhibition.

So, at least four good reasons to view this weekend’s mass events with a writer’s eye. Can you think of others?

Vivian Lawry

Writer