Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 29
May 28, 2020
Updates on What I’m Doing
The new covers for the books in the Wyoming Series is here!
Old covers:
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New covers:
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Now no one can pick up the book thinking they are getting a book without sex in it. When someone assumed I was writing Amish romances based on the original cover for The Fugitive’s Bride, I knew I had to update the covers. I have no interest in writing Amish romances. I like my romances spicy.
I plan to keep these covers for the Regency Series I’m currently working on (Marriage by Design Series) because I love them…
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…but all future covers I do will now convey to people unfamiliar with my books that I write romances that have sex in them. I figure Breaking the Rules lets people know there is sex in the book, but the other two might possibly give mixed messages. I love these covers, so I’m keeping them. I love all of my old covers, so I’ll keep those, too. (I do, however, want to eventually update Loving Eliza, Bid for a Bride, and Bride of Second Chances.) I’m happy with all of the other covers.
I have an Author Page on MeWe!
I have left Facebook, and I am MUCH happier now. If you happen to be on MeWe and would like to connect on my page, here’s the link: https://mewe.com/p/ruthannnordinsbooks.
Writing progress!
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This is Book 2 of the Wyoming Series. Book 1 is The Outlaw’s Bride.
The Rancher’s Bride is fully edited now. I need to get it formatted and uploaded. I hope to get it done this weekend. The official release date is June 27.
This book bridges the events from The Outlaw’s Bride to The Fugitive’s Bride. This book starts the night our heroes rescued the two-year-old Lloyd. As you’ll recall, Abby ended up taking him, and no one knew what happened to them, so we’re left wondering if Abby and Lloyd are okay. This is her romance, so naturally, they’re fine, but she does sustain an injury that requires a doctor’s attention. As luck would have it (because I happen to be the author of this book), Thayne was a doctor during the Civil War. He no longer performs surgery because of the psychological effects the war left on him. Meanwhile, Wade is stuck at his hideout, and since he was also injured, he can’t search for Abby and Lloyd. Jeremiah does the search for him. There are a lot of serious moments in this book, but I also balanced them out with Thayne’s ten-year-old niece who says the darndest things at the worst possible times. When things get to be too depressing in a book, I like to boost things up with some humor.
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This is Book 3 of the Wyoming Series. (This is the last book in the series.) Book 1 is The Outlaw’s Bride. Book 2 is The Rancher’s Bride.
I’m over the halfway point, and I’m going to be sad to see this book end. Of the three, this one is my favorite. The whole series is one of my top favorites. The Nebraska and South Dakota Series are my top favorites, and now this one is right there with them. There’s an emotional connection I’ve felt for all of these characters, and my favorite couple of the three books in the Wyoming Series is Wade and Millie. From The Outlaw’s Bride, we’re introduced to both characters.
Wade is bitter brother who wants nothing more than to kill Charles because Charles killed his wife, kidnapped his son, and stole his ranch. He has a lot of issues to work through, and it has been fun to watch him evolve from someone who is embedded in bitterness into someone who lets that destructive emotion so he can truly love and have joy again. Millie was Lillian’s traveling companion at the very beginning of The Outlaw’s Bride. Charles had abducted her from the stagecoach because he needed a woman to take care of Lloyd. At the end of The Outlaw’s Bride, Wade rescued her from Charles while he was rescuing Lloyd. So that’s how she ends up at the hideout with him. Millie is Wade’s perfect match. She’s compassionate, but she’s no doormat. Sparks fly between them, and that has made the romance portion of the book so much fun.
As a side note: I’m not writing a book for Jeremiah. Jeremiah does get his happy ending, but his doesn’t require a romance to make that happen.
I don’t know if I should publish this in August or wait until October like I had originally planned. Right now, Nobody’s Fool is slotted for August. It all depends on how much interest there is for The Rancher’s Bride.
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This is Book 2 in the Marriage by Design Series. Book 1 is Breaking the Rules.
Poor Emilia is having the hardest time convincing the very besotted (and geeky) Benjamin that they would be better off living in separate townhouses. A wife has never had more trouble getting her new husband to fall out-of-love with her. She’s tried being a wallflower, being argumentative, and being a spendthrift, but so far, to her bewilderment, nothing has worked. This is a cute romantic comedy. I realize people are going to immediately root for Benjamin because he is such a sweet hero, but our heroine will need some convincing of it, which is what the book is all about. The “book” most of the gentlemen in my Regencies receive makes its way into this one. I know some of you enjoy it when that book pops up, so I thought I’d mention it.
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This is Book 3 in the Marriage by Design Series. This is the last book in the series. Book 1 is Breaking the Rules. Book 2 is Nobody’s Fool.
This book has been a lot of fun to write. This is the classic battle of wills setup. Aaron is the hero, and we learn in Breaking the Rules that his mother had several affairs and children from those affairs. It’s made him bitter toward marriage, and he assumes all ladies are like his mother. With that background, you know he’s not going to be happy to be tricked into marriage. Our heroine had hoped to be unmarried forever, so she’s not exactly happy to be married, either. She, however, was willing to give the marriage a chance. And then he hired a chaperone to watch over her at all times. When I say “all times”, I mean “all THE time”. Our poor heroine can’t get a moment alone. He refuses to take the risk she’ll have someone else’s child.
But she’s not one to take things lying down. She hires a chaperone to watch him, saying she won’t have him siring a bunch of children with other ladies, either. From there, the battle of wills only intensifies, and at the moment, our poor heroine has been forced to wear gray dresses from the top of her neck all the way down to her ankles because our hero can’t bring himself to admit he’s attracted to her fiery spirit (and her beauty), so he is determined to snuff out anything that tempts him to cave. She’s not so tempted by him at the moment, though I’m sure she’ll figure out a way to him as uncomfortable as the restricting dresses are making her.
I’m laughing a lot while writing this. If you like my type of humor, you’ll enjoy this book. It’s a solid romantic comedy. I have no idea how these two will finally kiss, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
May 21, 2020
Is the Story Good Enough?
This is something I think every writer asks themselves once in a while. Usually, while we’re writing a story, the words flow nicely and the scenes seem to ease from one into another with no real effort at all. The story is vibrant in our minds, and we see and feel everything our characters do. Time is suspended while we’re in our world and watching things unfold as the story progresses.
And then we finish the story, have it edited, and publish it. I don’t know how many writers out there start to question the story once it’s released into the world, but I do with just about every book I’ve ever done. Did I give the characters the story they deserved? Did I leave something out that should have been in the plot? Did I add something in the plot that was unnecessary? Was the story too short? Was it too long? Did I rush something? Did I let something drag on too long? In other words, “Is the story good enough?”
There are many things a writer can doubt about their work. It’s hard to remember what made the story so awesome when we were writing it as we get further away from it. This is why I think it’s good for us to go back and reread our stories from time to time. Of all the people who ever read our books, we should be the most excited to be wrapped up the worlds we created. But try not to read the story as an editor. Read it for enjoyment.
Will there be things you see that you wouldn’t do today? Probably, but these are often small things like word choice, a way to better explain something, or a certain detail you know would be a better fit. In cases like this, I think you should take that as a sign of growth as a storyteller. I wouldn’t bother going back and fixing it. When you get enough books out into the world, there’s simply not enough time in the day to tweak old books. The best use of your time is to keep producing new work because writing new stuff is the best way to fine tune our storytelling abilities.
So when you notice those things that could have been better in the old stories, think of this as an indication that you are a much stronger storyteller today than you used to be. It’s a sign of success. Even with some hiccups in a past story that you pick up, you should still get enjoyment from reading your stories. This is why you should read them as a reader. You spent a lot of time writing it and polishing it up to get it published. Why not sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor?
Thankfully, how well a book sells or doesn’t sell is independent of the emotional satisfaction you have when you go back and reread the story. Some of the books I enjoy most are the ones that barely sold at all. Sometimes when you publish a book and realize very few people want to buy it, it’s easy to think the story sucks. The truth is, a lot of amazing stories out there aren’t getting the sales they really deserve. I don’t know why this is. But this idea that only good stories are big sellers is a myth. Just because a story is good, it doesn’t mean it’ll sell well. In the end, if you got pleasure from your own story, it is a good story. I don’t care what anyone else says. You are the only person whose opinion is worth listening to when it comes to your work. If you reread your story and love it, it is good enough.
May 16, 2020
Return of the Aliens Trivia
I know this isn’t on the list of things I had up to do next. That was The Earl’s Wallflower Bride. But I have just gotten through rereading Return of the Aliens. In light of the virus that caused almost every country in the entire world to lockdown, various politicians in the world calling for a one world government (which isn’t all that new), and the Pentagon recently releasing footage of UFO (or “unidentified aerial phenomena”, as they’re calling it), it just seemed like a good time to go back and read the book. I hadn’t read it since I published it, so I’d forgotten quite a bit of it.
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1. I got the initial idea for the book back in 2009 when I saw a You Tube video (from someone I can’t remember) who said that the US government was going to declassify UFO footage the military has taken over the years. My first thought was to laugh. But the writer in me asked, “What if it did happen? What if the government suddenly came out with alien disclosure?” And that one question led me down a rabbit trail that introduced me to conspiracy theories I’d never heard before.
2. It took over a year for me to write this book. The rabbit trail of one conspiracy theory after another evolved as I did more and more research. It led to things like the Illuminati, underground bases where strange experiments are going on, super soldiers, black-eyed kids, false flag events the government puts into place to scare people into giving up their rights, and the meaning of different colored dots in the mailboxes to signify who is a compliant citizen and who isn’t. Since these were conspiracy theories, it was hard to separate fact from fiction. But those theories made for good storytelling.
3. Now, I do believe the Bible and the prophecies that point to the rapture of the church, the Great Tribulation period, and the second coming of Jesus Christ to this Earth. I also believe there is a spiritual world going on around us composed of angels and demons. I have not had visions or dreams or anything like that. I just study the Bible and go by what it says. I do, however, have a friend who is attuned to the spiritual world. I know it exists. I just don’t have any personal stories to share about it. Anyway, Return of the Aliens was written from the “What if….” standpoint. What if the conspiracy theories are true? If they were true, how might they collide with Bible prophecy?
4. It was a lot of fun playing with all of these neat ideas, but it was also very draining. The book took over a year to write because I had to keep taking breaks. I was wiped out by the time it was done. The extensive research I did for this book was more than I want to do with any other book, and this is why I have no intention of writing anything else like it.
5. Autumn’s name comes from the lateness of the hour since autumn is the season where the leaves die and fall off the trees. It represents the end of one era (summer), and it also represents a transition into the next (winter that leads into spring). This story begins the end time events. In Bible prophecy, preachers often say that the hour is late and we’re very close to Jesus’ return. I realize they were saying that even in Peter and Paul’s day, but this virus has shown me how connected people are on a global scale. I’m seeing things I thought I’d never see, and it sets the stage for what happens in the Book of Revelation.
6. Devon was meant to be a bad guy who stayed the villain. I picked his name because it was close to “devil”. He was supposed to represent the evil forces in the world. That’s why Autumn saw the demon hovering around him. However, about 1/3 of the way into the book, I realized he was going to turn into a hero. No one was more surprised than I was by the turn of events.
7. Alex was supposed to end up with Autumn, but that changed on me, too. Alex had two choices to make, and he chose to hold onto his anger. Vanessa was very hard to write, too. I liked both of these characters, but they made their choices, and I had to follow the results of those choices to their conclusion. While Alex’s choices were based in resentment and bitterness, hers were made out of fear.
8. The alien stuff is pure speculation. I was listening to some people at the time who held the theory that our “saviors” would appear to us as aliens but they really were fallen angels. Having watched the movie Mission to Mars where the astronauts learned that aliens planted our DNA on Earth, I decided to go with that approach to explain the aliens’ appearance in the book.
9. I enjoyed writing the scenes with Devon the most because it allowed me to explore various techniques in working with psychological suspense and horror. In my opinion, psychological suspense and horror have the strongest emotional impact than the slasher kind of stuff. That all said, this is not a book for children. It’s for adults. I wanted to write something for a mature audience because the subjects I tackled were dark.
10. The scenes with Alex and the gray alien freak me out even to this day. While I wrote them, I was seriously spooked and would imagine all kinds of crazy things happening in the house. I was relieved to get past those scenes, and when I reread the book last week, I skimmed those parts. I think it’s because demons were tormenting him, and since I believe demons are real, that just hit too close to home. The conspiracy theory stuff Devon went through were more of a “maybe/maybe not” scenario, so it’s easier to brush that off.
11. I didn’t get to all the seal, bowl, or trumpet judgments mentioned in the Book of Revelation. I originally set out to do that, but there was so much already going on in the book that I couldn’t have possibly fit everything in. Instead, I focused on the four main characters (Autumn, Devon, Alex, and Vanessa) and dealt with their specific stories.
12. The original set up for this book was six installments, so it started out as a serial. I later dropped the individual small books and put everything into one book that is what you get today.
May 9, 2020
Updates on What I’m Doing
Remember an anthology I was in years ago called Bride by Design? The novella I wrote was under my pen name, Barbara Joan Russell. This is the cover to help jog people’s memory.
Original Cover Under My Pen Name:
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Okay, so Catherine Lynn (my friend and fellow author in that anthology) and I got our rights back from the publisher to take our books and republish them. I decided to publish my story under my real name because I use Barbara Joan Russell for YA Fiction these days.
A Tale of Two Sisters
Our stories do slightly overlap. I wrote one sister’s story, and Catherine wrote the other sister’s story. One of the questions I get most is, are there any books featuring a secondary character in your story? So I want to give everyone’s that heads up. I wrote Colleen O’Hara’s story in Online Proposal. Catherine Lynn wrote Maggie O’Hara’s story in Tristan’s Redemption.
Chronological Order of the Stories
Online Proposal comes first. Tristan’s Redemption comes second. Both of these are contemporary romances that have no sex in them.
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Online Proposal is mean to be a cute and fun afternoon read. There’s some humor in it. And as I mentioned earlier, there’s no sexual situations in it. (As you know, I tend to add spice in my books. So this is one of those rare stories where I don’t do that.)
Please note: I was able to make this free on every retailer but Amazon. Amazon won’t let me go under $0.99. It might be at some point they’ll make it free, but right now, they won’t. So please go to the other retailers I’m linking to if you want this for free.
Tristan’s Redemption comes next in the duet. This one is by Catherine Lynn.
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This is a heartwarming and sweet story about Maggie who is drawn to a homeless man who’d given up on life. If you like the kind of feel of the Little House on the Prairie or Touched by An Angel TV shows, you’ll like this one.
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More Boxed Sets are Up
Once in a blue moon, people will ask me about boxed sets, so I’ve been slowly adding them. I have four to mention at the moment.
1.
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I believe I already mentioned the Marriage by Scandal Boxed Set, but just in case I haven’t here it is. This is already available.
2.
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The Marriage by Deceit Boxed Set is available right now, too.
3.
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The Marriage by Arrangement Boxed Set is on Pre-Order. It’ll be out on May 17.
4.
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The Marriage by Bargain Boxed Set is on Pre-Order. It’ll be out on June 7.
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I’m still working on the three books I started in mid-March. It’s been slow going because all the kids are home with the schools closing for the rest of the school year. I had to give up on trying to help the deaf one during the weekdays. There simply is not enough time in the day to do it all, so I devote the weekends to seeing about getting him caught up with his schooling. Weekdays had to go back to homeschooling the one and catching up on my writing since that’s how I make money. Authors only make money when they publish books, and they can’t publish books unless they write them. So like any other parent who is working and trying to meet the demands of long-distance learning, I do what I can.
The Rancher’s Bride is still in edits, but it is set for a late June release.
This is Book 2 in the Wyoming Series.
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Cover will be changing soon.
I’m in Chapter 6 on Nobody’s Fool.
This is Book 2 in the Marriage by Design Series.
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This is a cute romantic comedy about a lady who is desperately looking for ways to dissuade her new husband from falling in love with her. The hero is incredibly geeky but also very sweet, so it’ll be fun to see at what point she’ll change her mind. (It’s a romance. We all know she’ll end up falling in love with him. The fun is finding out “how”.)
I just started Chapter 7 in A Deceptive Wager.
This is Book 3 in the Marriage by Design Series. (This is the last book in the series.)
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I wasn’t sure what direction this book would take when I started it, but it’s turned into a funny battle of wills between a headstrong gentleman and an equally headstrong lady who have been forced to marry. For those who like strong heroines who won’t let a gentleman walk all over her, this will be a good one.
I’m in Chapter 10 in The Fugitive’s Bride.
This is Book 3 in the Wyoming Series. (This is the last book in the series.)
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Cover will be changed soon.
It has been really fun to finally see the characters find their happily-ever-afters after all these years. My heartfelt gratitude goes to Stephannie Beman for allowing me to complete the series. This is one of my favorite series of all the books I’ve done. A lot of moments have made me cry because the topics presented have been serious ones, but there’s been sprinkling of humor as well. (We all need some comic relief in order to keep things from getting too grim.) But this series is one that really comes from the heart, and I believe it represents my best work. But I want to give credit where credit is due, and Stephannie set the foundation with the characters and the main theme of the overall series, which is to rescue a vulnerable child and eventually get the ranch back.
For people who like romances like Brave Beginnings, Loving Eliza, Bid for a Bride, Eye of the Beholder, and His Redeeming Bride, the Wyoming Series books have a similar range of depth and emotions embedded in them.
April 29, 2020
The Accidental Mail Order Bride Trivia
This is Book 3 in the Chance at Love Series. Here are the books in order:
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1. Originally, The Accidental Mail Order Bride was supposed to be the last book in the series. I wasn’t originally going to write about Carl, but there was a scene where Abe and Carl got into a fight, and I realized Carl wasn’t really as bad as he appeared at first. I got a glimpse into his life and knew he felt as betrayed by their father as Abe did. This made me feel sympathetic toward him, and I wanted to write his book. But I couldn’t write his book until I got rid of his wife (Lydia). That’s why she was murdered in Book 2. But I didn’t have time to wrap about the murder in Book 2. I had to extend that subplot through Book 3 in order to make way for Book 4. That’s why I spent significant time in Book 3 on Carl.
2. Allie, the heroine of this book, was originally slotted to be the heroine in Book 2, but I couldn’t come up with a good plot for that story if I used her. So I went with the plan to delay her arrival and gave the book a heroine who wasn’t the one the hero was expecting. Originally, Allie was supposed to marry Eric, and Caroline was supposed to marry Travis.
3. The beauty and beast trope has been used many times over the course of written history. The earliest account in written literature that I’m aware of is the Greek myth of Aphrodite (the goddess of love) and Hephaestus (the deformed god of craftsmanship). The version I read when I was in high school was the one where Aphrodite had her pick of any god she wanted to marry. She wasn’t impressed with the gods who glorified themselves and their beauty (like Apollo and Ares were doing), but she came across Hephaestus who didn’t feel worthy of her. She was impressed with his humility and chose him. He might not have had outward beauty, but he had inward beauty as well. There are other versions of this myth, of course, but that’s the one that most appealed to me. Since then, I have been fascinated with this specific plot in storytelling. This is a very popular trope in fiction. I chose to use this trope for this book. I’ve also used it in Eye of the Beholder (except in there the heroine was the unattractive one). I used it in The Marriage Contract. The hero in that book had a mask that was my nod to the Phantom of the Opera since the phantom wore a mask to hide his face. I’m also currently using this trope in my current work-in-progress titled Nobody’s Fool. In Nobody’s Fool, the hero is more geeky than ugly or scarred. As you can tell, this is just a setup I really love, so I use it if there’s a storyline that appeals to me.
4. I didn’t start up with the idea of Travis being scarred when I started Book 1. It’s just that when Abe went out to get the metal scraps from him, something in my creative brain gave me the image of what Travis looked like, so I went with it. Most of the time, I don’t know what any character is going to look like until I write the scene they appear in. My mind will present the image of the character (hair color, body type, height) within a second. The image often doesn’t match what’s on the cover, but since it’s very difficult to find a picture of a person that fits what is in my mind with the right time period clothing, I just have whatever fits best for the cover while keeping my own image of the character in mind while I write the story. In this case, I didn’t even bother trying to put a “Travis” type on the cover because people are not attracted to romance covers that have imperfect people on them.
5. Some of the townsfolk saw Travis as a monster. This idea was inspired by To Kill a Mocking Bird. I didn’t read the book, but I watched the movie with my mom several times during childhood. In that movie, the kids were scared of Boo Radley and came up with stuff he did that was evil. But when we get to the end of the movie, we realize Boo wasn’t the monster the kids made him out to be. So the rumors circulating through town about Travis having an extra eye, having strange origins, and so on had its roots in the way Boo was thought of in that movie.
6. When Allie was cleaning up the cottage, I kept thinking of the Snow White cartoon in the version Disney made. All that was missing were her singing while the animals helped her clean. I couldn’t put that in since this isn’t a fantasy, but the scene did play out in my mind.
7. I always felt that Travis and Carl were kindred spirits. They understood each other better than anyone else (except for their wives) did. I enjoyed the dynamic between them. What others couldn’t tell them, they could tell each other. This was a tough-love situation, and they matured because of it.
April 26, 2020
The Duke’s Secluded Bride is Now Available!
This is the final book in the Marriage by Fairytale Series.
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I’m going to miss this series. It was fun to explore some gothic elements within the romance genre, but my ideas have run out. As a result, I’ll be returning to the romances you’re used to reading from me.
A caution about The Duke’s Secluded Bride: it has a strong villain in it. A couple of my beta readers told me they were surprised by how wicked the villain was. One accurately pointed out that it reminded her of a Twilight Zone episode. It was hard to tell what was really going on. That was the thing I was hoping for when I wrote the book. I wanted people to keep guessing what the truth through the book. If you liked the other books in this series, I think you’ll like this one, too.
With that disclaimer aside, here’s where you can find the book and the description I finally settled on. 
April 18, 2020
Notes from the Homeschool Science Class
I don’t know if anyone can use this for their own homeschooling, but I thought, “What the heck? I’ll pass this along.”
Personally, I’m tired of chemical reactions and the periodic table. That kind of stuff drove me crazy in high school, and my 8th grade homeschooled kid wasn’t interested in it. So for the last few weeks we have left for our school year, he and I decided to use our class to learn how to grow flowers and a couple of vegetables. Since we’re in Montana, it’s too early to do anything outside. (Earlier this week, it was snowing.)
But we have begun some indoor activities. We’ll be taking to growing things outside when it gets warmer. Many thanks to the people who have taken the time to share their knowledge with people like me on You Tube. I’d rather watch and hear people explain how to do something than to read it. Really fast, I want to give a shout out to these people. I don’t know any of them. I came across them either in a search or while talking about growing food with my friend Stephannnie Beman. So part of the thanks goes to her as well.
Here are the You Tube channels that I have found very useful:
Regarding the homeschooling, we opted to regrow lettuce and green onions. We also found an herb kit at the grocery store. Plus, we found some flower seeds at Ace Hardware.
First, the lettuce.
(You Tube video I found most helpful with this technique is from this link.)
I love Romaine red leaf lettuce, so this was my choice. The bottom of the lettuce was small enough to fit into a Solo cup, but I ended up putting it into a glass mason jar so it could get better sunlight.
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This is as big as the picture gets.
A week later, this is what we had.
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Lettuce growing in
Second, the green onions.
(You Tube video I found most helpful with this technique is from this link. It includes lettuce, carrot leafy tops, and another veggie I never eat, so the name slips my mind.)
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freshly cut green onions; this is as big as the picture gets
A week later, this is what we had:
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Regrown
My kid chose the flowers, and he picked ones that wouldn’t take too long to grown in.
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Zinnias
and
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Alyssum: These seeds were closer than we thought they were. They were such tiny seeds. My kid thinned them out after this picture was taken.
April 15, 2020
The Perfect Book Tag
Rami Ungar, a fellow author I know who excels in the horror genre, recently did a post that looked like a lot of fun. I couldn’t settle on specific books or characters, so I’m going to be more general in my answers than he was in his. He did a great of listing out specifics, and I enjoyed reading what he came up with in his favorites for the horror genre. You can check his blog post here if you’re interested.
On to my answers…
The Perfect Book Tag
……….
The Perfect Genre
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ID 225386 © Karenr | Dreamstime.com
Romance. Specifically, I love historical romances. The reason I enjoy romance so much is the happy ending. I’m assured that no matter how bad things get during the course of the story, things will turn out okay. I don’t get that kind of assurance with any other genre. The guaranteed happy ending is what prompted me to start reading this genre in the sixth grade, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
The Perfect Setting
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ID 27775185 © Fotomicar | Dreamstime.com
My favorites are Regencies and historical westerns, but if I had to pick the one that I would write if I couldn’t write anything else, I would pick the historical western romance. I have a fondness for mid-to-late 1800s. I know life was tough back then, but the stories of husbands and wives sticking together no matter what came there way reveals to me just how powerful love can be. In a couple of the tours I’ve taken to old towns and homesteads, many of these people would travel out west with no idea what to expect. They had God, they had each other, and they had their children. It’s just a beautiful testimony to the importance of faith and family.
The Perfect Main Character
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ID 2434345 © Jeanne Provost | Dreamstime.com
I like a main character who works hard, knows how to protect himself and his family, and has integrity. Dave Larson probably sums up my idea of the perfect character.
The Perfect Best Friend
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ID 111553310 © Mariaskrigan | Dreamstime.com
The comic relief. I love it when the best friend of any main character brings humor into the story. Sometimes this comic relief ends up being the main character, and while that is fun to read, it’s always more fun to me when the main character’s best friend has the funny lines that make me laugh.
The Perfect Love Interest
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ID 1647165 © Kirill Zdorov | Dreamstime.com
As much as I love Dave Larson, I really like a man who can make me laugh. So I’m going to have to go with sense of humor as being the biggest quality in this area. Someone like Christopher Robinson would be someone I’d lean toward because he is funny, loyal, and patient. Plus, my husband is a lot like Christopher. That’s why Christopher won over Dave in the end. (Sorry to those who love Dave the most.)
The Perfect Villain
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ID 36783178 © Alphaspirit | Dreamstime.com
I actually love the villain who ends up becoming the hero in another book. The reason for this is because this type of character has many layers. One in particular is Neil Craftsman. He had a complete turnaround from villain to hero, but the change didn’t happen right away. It took time and suffering for him to get there. It’s a good display of redemption. I love the theme that anyone can have a second chance. That is the appeal of the villain, and if I can find one I can transform into a hero, that’s exciting.
The Perfect Family
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I love the family where there’s witty banter between the family members and they accept each other (faults and all) without judgment. The Larsons are my idea of the ideal family. They’re not perfect. They have quirks. They have moments where they get upset with each other. But at the end of the day, they will do everything they can to help each other out.
*****
I’m going to stop here. I spent 2.5 hours on this post (it was hard to make find the images best suited for each category). Also, my mind is blank on the other categories I would have to choose from: the perfect animal/pet, the perfect plot twist, the perfect trope, the perfect cover, the perfect ending. Well, I love an arranged marriage trope, but there are several ways to achieve this and I love them all. I love marriage of convenience plots, forced marriage plots (whether it’s with a shotgun or through some trick by another person), and mail-order bride or husband plots. I can’t pick one.
April 3, 2020
A Bride for Tom Trivia
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I originally got the idea for this book while writing Eye of the Beholder. I was intrigued with the idea of Tom doing everything he could to impress Jessica, especially when Jessica said, “He was so nervous around me. He’d keep stammering and tripping over his feet. I thought it was adorable that someone would put forth that much effort to try to please me. So I ended my engagement to another man and let Tom court me instead.” I wrote the book so I could find out more about this time in her life.
I wrote the original version of this book in the First Draft blog I used to have. I took the blog down when someone started stealing my books and putting them for sale on Amazon. That was unfortunate since I enjoyed the blog, but I have a responsibility to protect my books as much as possible.
This book had three versions to it. The first ended at about 18,000 words long. The last scene in the first version was when Tom gave Jessica the note from Jenny in which Jenny said that Tom was sweet on her. Then Jessica corners Tom in the parlor and finally gets him to admit he wants to be with her. In the second version, I continued the story until the wedding day. In the third version, I added the wedding night. The reason I added the wedding night was because authors of “clean” romances kept asking me to do mutual promotion with them, and I had to keep telling them my other books had sex in them so they really did not want to promote books with me. I was not a good fit for them. My audience was not their audience. So I finally added the wedding night in order to stop any more “clean” romance authors from contacting me for this reason. The method worked. I haven’t gotten a single email since.
In the first version of this book, I had created no plans for Margaret’s book. Then in the second one, I realized I wanted to write her story, which is why I had her post an ad for a husband.
Eye of the Beholder was the first Larson book I wrote. A Bride for Tom is the second Larson book I wrote. The Wrong Husband was third. Shotgun Groom was the fourth. Isaac’s Decision was the fifth. To Have and To Hold was the sixth. Her Heart’s Desire was the seventh. When I started writing, I wasn’t thinking of writing books in a series or even going in a chronological order. I just wrote each story as I wanted to, and this might be why those were my best stories. I didn’t force a story just because it came “next” in the timeline. I notice that chronological timelines are very important to readers, which is why I try to stick with them.
A Bride for Tom is one of my favorite books of all I’ve done because of the humor. This is the book where I developed the rivalry between Tom and Joel. I wrote Eye of the Beholder first, and this rivalry didn’t exist at the time. The rivalry officially started when the two were at the kitchen table. Joel grabbed his hair and pretended to scream. Tom, in turn, let the dog lick Joel’s utensils. That was the “ah-ha” moment which led me to use the rivalry in future books. Those are my favorite two Larson boys to put together, and I do it whenever I can. To me, the Larsons are more than characters on paper. They are my family. Granted, they’re imaginary, but the connection is there. Some of the best books written are those in which the author has a deep personal connection to the characters.
Peter is loosely based off of one of my ex-boyfriends who had an abnormal attachment to his parents. They dictated a lot of his life for him, and looking back, I feel sorry for him. He wasn’t allowed to grow up and be his own person. I’m also relieved I didn’t end up marrying him.
The argument Jessica and Connie had over what color the roses should be was based off of some of the ridiculous arguments the same ex-boyfriend used to bring up over things that didn’t matter. For example, he would make a big deal over whether you called something a paper towel or a napkin. I didn’t see why it mattered, but he could argue for hours over stuff like this.
March 29, 2020
Are Any of My Characters “Christian”?
I received a comment in the “Where To Find Me” section of this blog asking this question. I decided to answer it with a blog post in case other people were wondering the same thing.
All of my main characters are Christian. Sometimes they start the book or series as a Christian. Sometimes they become a Christian during the course of the story because they come to their faith while the story is happening. It all depends on the plot and what’s needed for the character. Sometimes a character isn’t a Christian in a book where they are a secondary character, but when I get to writing their romance, they have either already become one or will become one during the course of that particular story. If a secondary character never ends up becoming a main character in another book, they aren’t necessarily a Christian but they could be. Not every character who shows up in my books are Christians. I’ll offer up some examples in a moment to better explain what I mean by all of this.
But first, I want to offer up a few pieces of information that shed light on why I write the kind of stories I do.
1. I don’t like to get preachy.
My main criticism of most fictional Christian books and movies is that they are preachy. Essentially, they are a sermon lightly sprinkled with a story. I find these incredibly boring. The plots have very little substance to them, and the characters come off as cardboard stereotypes. As if that isn’t bad enough, there also seems to be an added layer of Christian apologetics woven into them (especially in the movies) where the Christian is debating the non-Christian about a social or doctrinal issue we find in our contemporary society. The end result is that you feel like the writer of this book or movie is banging you over the head with their faith, and even though I am a Christian, it turns me off. I read books and watch movies to relax. I read the Bible or listen to a sermon to receive instruction. The place of fiction is to entertain, and a lot of these writers lose sight of that because they’re so worried about getting their agenda pushed into the story.
2. Most Christian books and movies take the viewpoint that the Christian is good while the non-Christian is bad.
In real life, I have only had one or two non-Christians actually confront me on my beliefs, and those were pretty good conversations where the people were just asking for information. I have never felt attacked for my faith from someone who wasn’t a Christian. Now, I have faced criticism from other Christians who don’t like something I believe or am doing, such as handling the finances in my house instead of having my husband do it, what clothes I should wear, or adding sex in my books. And when it comes to discussing things in the Bible, some of them are quite rude when I offer up an opinion that differs from theirs.
I have no trouble with someone who has a different opinion than me. I figure everyone is welcome to whatever they believe. It’s just sad that some people feel like if you don’t agree with them, you should either be ignored or you should be scolded. For example, I had an ex-boyfriend who would criticize every little thing I did or said because it didn’t line up exactly with what he felt was “Christian”, and this was a guy who went to church and went to Bible studies. I’ve encountered quite a few similar people over the years, and it’s just sad that the idea of grace and mercy have been lost on them. The main thing should be Jesus Christ, but some people would rather get tangled in the weeds than focus on what really matters.
I wrote about the issue of how Christians can attack other Christians in His Redeeming Bride. Some of the events were fictional, but some were based on stuff I went through.
Suffice it to say, just because someone says they’re a Christian, it doesn’t mean they’re a nice person. So I don’t paint every Christian character as a wonderful person, and I don’t paint every non-Christian character as a villain.
3. Sex is a beautiful gift from God.
This is the area I receive the most criticism in my books, and it’s only other Christians who do it. I don’t get the hang-up in this area. As long as the hero and heroine are married, I have absolutely no qualms about them having an intimate life. If that isn’t your thing, you’re better off not reading my books. The reason I started writing books was because Christian romances were squeaky clean. I don’t consider a “steamy” kiss to be “hot”. To me, this is still clean. Necking, hugging, and closed doors are all clean. And quite frankly, these types of romances bore me. I like to know how the hero and heroine relate to each other when they’re intimate because that is when they are most vulnerable.
Back in 2007 when I was reading a lot of romances, I searched high and low for an author who had a Christian worldview who also added spice to the stories. The only one I found was Carolyn Davidson. The problem? She was only one author, and there were only so many books she could write. So I decided I would write my own so there would be more books I wanted to read. When I realized other people were reading my books (something I honestly never expected), romances written from a Christian worldview that included sex within marriage became my platform. These are the books I offer. It’s what separates me from a lot of other authors out there. Rose Gordon is the only other author I know who also had this platform, and sadly, she hasn’t published anything for a long time. To me, sex isn’t just the physical act. There are many layers to it. If you read sex and only see the physical act, you are missing the emotional aspect of those scenes where the hero and heroine grow and mature in their love for each other.
Alright, with all of the background information in place, I’m going to present some examples of how I utilize Christian characters in my books.
Example 1: The character who isn’t a Christian at the beginning of the book but becomes one during the course of the story.
Restoring Hope
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At the beginning of this book, Woape is not a Christian. She is agnostic. She considered that there might be a higher power watching over everyone, but she really wasn’t sure. During the course of the story, she becomes a Christian. It was a gradual process for her. I never showed an “ah-ha” moment of conversion, but I did includes thoughts and dialogue that conveyed the conversion had taken place. This wasn’t something I was preachy about. It was just subtly put in.
A Most Unsuitable Earl
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In the beginning, Ethan Silverton (Lord Edon) was not a Christian, but due to the circumstances in which he began to fear for his life, he became one. I never came out and said this anywhere in the book. You will notice that before the time A Most Unsuitable Earl took place, he would tell raunchy jokes and play the role of a cad, but after A Most Unsuitable Earl, he changed. While he still is popular and can tell good jokes, he no longer goes around trying to be scandalous. (Breaking the Rules takes place before A Most Unsuitable Earl in the Regency timeline, so he is still a cad at this time and enjoying every moment of it.)
I will add that Christopher Robinson, Ethan’s best friend, was always a Christian, though he did do some stupid things. Christians aren’t perfect. But he does mature as the Regency timeline continues. That all said, Ethan and Christopher do still enjoy learning about a good scandal and like to befriend gentlemen who aren’t uptight and stuffy. In my opinion, people can sometimes take things way too seriously. It doesn’t hurt to relax and have a good laugh from time to time.
Example 2: The character who began as a non-Christian but became one later in the course of a series or a follow-up series.
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Neil Craftsman began the Nebraska Series as a non-Christian. In Eye of the Beholder, he wasn’t a Christian. But after the events in Eye of the Beholder, he became one, so by the time we get to His Redeeming Bride, he is a Christian. I make this abundantly obvious in the flashback scene where he spoke with a preacher who led him to Christ. So this is an example of where I did get a bit on the preachy side, but I tried to do it in a way that didn’t feel like a sermon.
Also…
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Stephen Bachman is another example. In Married In Haste, he was not a Christian. (In this book he was a secondary character.) But by the time we get to The Marriage Contract, he was. (He was a main character in this one.) I never explained how he became a Christian like I did for Neil, but you’ll notice he wasn’t the same person in The Marriage Contract that he was in Married In Haste. That’s because his faith changed him. In The Marriage Contract, he is an example of a Christian who is trapped in the state of guilt after being saved. It’s one thing to know God has forgiven us of our sins, but sometimes, we don’t feel like we can forgive ourselves. This book was about him learning to forgive himself and embrace a new life where he could finally have joy and love in it.
3. The character who begins the book as a Christian.
Bride of Second Chances
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This is best example of a character who is overtly Christian. Jeremy Graham is a preacher. You don’t get more overtly Christian than this. He had many thoughts about God, and I gave portions of his sermons in this book. This is also a very spicy book. It’s probably the most “in-your-face Christian worldview with spicy content” book that you’ll find in anything I’ve written.
Wagon Trail Bride
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Richard Larson was a Christian at the beginning of this book, but I never came out and stated it. The method I used in this was to draw an illustration. Whenever Amanda thought of him as “light”, this was an indirect reference to Jesus Christ and how He was reaching out to her. She started the book as a Christian, too, but she had been so hurt that she’d lost the joy of her faith. In this book, she worried her “darkness” would expel Richard’s light, but as it turned out, his light expelled her darkness, and she was, in the end, able to find joy within her faith. This story was basically an example of a Christian who has lost the joy of their relationship with Jesus Christ. He never turns His back on us, and He’s always willing to gently bring us back to Him and give us the comfort and assurance we need, no matter what horrible things we’ve faced. But, like Richard, Jesus never forces us to have that closeness with Him. It is ultimately up to us to choose it, just like she made the conscious decision to be a real wife to Richard.
The Reclusive Earl
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Landon and Opal, the two main characters in this book, were Christian. This is an example of how I never came out and stated anything about their faith. I also didn’t do any subtle spiritual undertones in the story. The characters demonstrate their faith by how they live their lives. Most of my books are like this, especially in the Regency genre.
4. Sometimes a secondary character is not a Christian, even though the character initially seems like one.
Brave Beginnings
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The best way to know if someone is really a Christian is by the way they act. There is no better example I can think of than Ernest in Brave Beginnings. Julia and Chogan are the main characters. Chogan wasn’t a Christian at the beginning of this book, but he later came to be one shortly after he married Julia. I do not show this conversion. It’s implied. Ernest (the villain) comes across as a nice Christian man when you first meet him, but as the story progresses, he shows his real colors. He is only saying he’s a Christian because it was socially expedient for him to put on that facade. I originally thought I could write a book for Ernest, and I had even created a woman in this story to eventually pair up with him, but the more the story progressed, the more I realized I couldn’t do it. He was just too evil to redeem, and in the end, I had to kill him off.
***
I could go on, but this post is long enough already.
To sum it up, all of my main characters are Christian. Some are obviously so; others aren’t. I go with the plot in order to decide how heavy to hit the “Christian” thing, but in every book, I try not to get preachy and I try to show people as being imperfect because we all have flaws. This might be why people don’t always see the “Christian” characters in my books. I like to write realistic characters that I can relate to. I want characters who have areas they can grow in because one of the most satisfying things for me, as a writer, is to work with characters who need to mature. Plus, I struggle every day between worldly temptations and obeying God. My characters, likewise, are in the same situation. That’s why mercy and grace are so important. And ultimately, that is what I aim for in all of my books. I want everyone to have the assurance that no matter what we’ve said or done, we can be forgiven and have a good relationship with Jesus Christ. It might not be outwardly stated, but it is there.
