Sara Donati's Blog, page 13

genealogy, characters, mysteries: wiki

For those who have mentioned to me that you would like to see the genealogy charts for the characters in the Wilderness novels andThe Gilded Hour, here’s what I can offer you.

There is a Gilded Hour wiki, as you may be aware.

The purpose of the wikiis to serveas a place to keep and organize all the research I’ve collected while writing the novel (and continue to pull together for the sequel, of course). If you pop over there and scroll down to the bottom, you’ll see a list of wiki categories...

Character Sketches: Your Input

For a while I’ve been thinking about the best way to put together character sketches for characters in all of the Wilderness novels and GH. Not a small undertaking, I know, but I think of it as along-term project.

There are many websites/wikis devoted to book series and movies that do a good job of this. Examples includeKatniss Everdeen(Hunger Games) has a character sketch which is exhaustive and very carefully put together and Debra Morgan (Dexter) is another example of a very intense and d...

Fictional Hiccups, as I use them

Over on the forum there was an interesting question from CBigbee, which I answered there, but am duplicating here because links aren’t showing up over there properly.

The question:

First, I read the Wilderness series a few years back. When I completed the final book I thought that I could never read another book again….So sad to see it end. When I started Gilded Hour it took me a while to catch on to the connections back to Wilderness, and I was delighted! My burning (& odd)question is about...

Conversations & Comfort

After experimenting with a spoiler-full discussion board on the GH website and asking various people for feedback about that, it is clear to me that I haven’t yet found a configuration that works. I’m trying to decide whether to scrap the idea all together, or to try something new.

Just another pole.

I would like to have a place where people would feel comfortable asking questions about GH and my other novels, and more important still, where people might actually discuss the work. This is pre...

Planned Parenthood and The Gilded Hour

If you’ve read The Gilded Houror have readanything about it, you know that the 19th centuryfight for access to information about birth control is a major theme. In fact, reproductive health was a major issue at the time. Doctors did sometimes end up in jail (and prison) for providing patients with information on how to prevent conception. This subject is apparently still open to debate, as indicated by the current congressional inquiryon Planned Parenthood.

From the day I first starting think...

We Have a Winner

It took me a while to get a complete list of people who entered the $100 giveaway (and how many times they entered, because you could do that, in case you didn’t realize), but I think I managed after combing through Twitter, Facebook, this weblog and the Gilded Hour forum. Then I went through my usual procedure: the next person I spoke to (this time on the phone, about an appointment) I asked to pick a number between 1 and 175. Finally I took that number and counted down from the top.Last tim...

Poll: Your Favorite Men

Nathaniel

I tried to post this on the GH discussion forum but things went haywire, so here it is.

This is just for fun. Note:

Nathaniel is missing. I’m going to assume he’d get everybody’s vote, so I asked him to step aside. He didn’t mind at all. The men are in no particular order, andI did that on purpose. Just the Wilderness novels and The Gilded Hour men are represented. You can vote for two, and only two, men.

If there’s somebody I should have put on this list (I’m almost sure there m...

UPDATE on the Last Big Giveaway

Rather than give you books to read — even mine, or novels I love — this time I’ve got a gift certificate for $100. The winner can choose where they’d like the gift certificate to come from — as long as I can arrange it by email, it can be for your favorite shoe store in Glasgow or Boise, for Amazon Australia or Etsy.com — whatever you’d like.

What you have to do to enter this drawing is simple and a little easier, now.I’m expanding the way you can enter because some people were unable to thro...

Last Big Giveaway for The Gilded Hour

Rather than give you books to read — even mine, or novels I love — this time I’ve got a gift certificate for $100. The winner can choose where they’d like the gift certificate to come from — as long as I can arrange it by email, it can be for your favorite shoe store in Glasgow or Boise, for Amazon Australia or Etsy.com — whatever you’d like.

What you have to do to enter this drawing is simple:

click for a larger image

Go to The Gilded Hour wiki-ish website, click on “forum” at the top right....

Catching Up & Discussions, Unlimited

I believe that I have finally sent off all the books and bits and pieces various people won in the giveaways leading up to the release ofThe Gilded Hour. If you are one of those people and havenot received a package by the end of this coming week, please shoutand I will send out the hounds to track the package.

And thanks to everybody who participated in the various contests. Your support means the world.

The news:I have finally got the discussion forum up and working onThe Gilded Hourwiki-...