Florence Witkop's Blog, page 24
August 7, 2019
King of the tree stump
I like goats, always have, ever since we had a couple as a kid. Okay, one of them wasn’t the nicest goat in the world and when he died we didn’t care. But the nanny — Nancy, of course — was the kindest animal ever and gave us milk daily. So when my daughter got …
August 5, 2019
A reader’s question: How do you base an antagonist on a real-life person without making that person recognizable?
How do I model a character after someone real without giving away their identity? Easy. Describe that person exactly as you know them without any specific, identifiable details. No names, dates, or anything else that will point directly to them. Don’t worry that your description itself will be a ‘give-away’ because everyone sees people differently …
August 3, 2019
Stories don’t always obey the rules.
My work in progress, The Snow Queen, the second in the Wilderness Women series, is about a couple who are stranded in a remote cabin during a blizzard with dwindling supplies and no help of rescue. I had it all plotted out. Names, locations, what would happen and when. Then I sat down and started …
July 31, 2019
I’m supposed to be retired!
Hey, I’ve reached the age of retirement. Or so I thought. Foolish me to think I could actually spend my days sipping lemonade on the deck and communing with the deer, bears and mosquitoes that frequent our neck of the woods. Instead, I’m full-on busy as a part of a family business making and selling …
July 29, 2019
Question: What do you wish to see more of in young adult novels?
What would I like to see more of in New Adult novels? My answer? Everyday realism. Maybe that’s not what young adults are looking for when they choose a work of fiction to read and I understand completely that people often choose a different world to visit when they read a book. But you asked …
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July 27, 2019
July is coming to an end. I’ll miss it.
Why will I miss July when I’ve known so many of them? Because this is my first July ever being involved in Christmas In July. It’s been fun. When I first started writing The Christmas House, I had no thought of turning it into a Christmas-themed novel but, as the story played out, it occurred …
July 24, 2019
Clouds
I’ve loved watching clouds ever since I was a little girl who climbed as high in an apple tree as possible, found a comfortable branch, and spent what seemed like hours watching the clouds drift by and coming up with all sorts of stories to match what they looked like. Palaces. Horses running across the …
July 22, 2019
Question: Is it true that as long as you have an interesting villain, a story doesn’t require a well-fleshed out hero?
Does a story require both a well-fleshed out villain and hero? Two things come to mind: If the story falls within a genre that requires the hero to be not only a main character, but an essential one, then, yes, the story requires a well-fleshed out hero, simply because this particular kind of story does. …
July 20, 2019
Question: What are some tips for writing dialogue for a novel?
What are some tips for writing good dialogue? Listen. Hear how people really talk. Go someplace filled with people — a restaurant, mall, holiday venue, wherever — and close your eyes and listen. Don’t worry about the actual words at first (you can do that later), just get a feel for how people talk to …
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July 18, 2019
Next novel is coming along, with an odd result.
As you know, my last novel The Pathfinder, the first of the Wilderness Women series was recently published by Winged Publications. I’m working on the next novel, the second of the series, titled The Snow Queen. Yep, as you might have guessed, it takes place in the winter and it’s now the height of summer, …
Continue reading Next novel is coming along, with an odd result.
