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Saturday, May 24, 2014

Round Robin Blog, May 24, 2014, SETTINGS

What is the most inspiring, romantic, or dangerous setting you ever read or written?

Round Robin Blog with Connie - #RndRbn May 24, 2014

Welcome to another Round Robin Blog event, held 
once a month and hosted by Rhobin Lee Courtright.  
This month's topic:

What is the most inspiring, romantic or 
dangerous setting you ever came across 
while reading or imagined while writing?  
Do you have a preference for a certain time 
and place for a story?

Rhobin comes up with some great topics for
discussion, and this one gave me pause (hence
my posting on Saturday morning rather than late, 
late on Friday night).  While my current two series are westerns (historical YA andcontemporary 
 romance), I do write in multiple genres, and with a wide range of settings. 
Book 2 of my Rodeo Romance Series (Brede) is romantic suspense, set in New Mexico.  

When I have an idea for a new story, it begins with with dialogue.  The only way to explain this is 
to say, "It is like someone is including you in a private conversation".  Not a whisper, exactly, 
more of a casual 'coffee shop' conversation.  When a close fried places her hand on your 
shoulder to give you clue in on what's going on around you. Even though my characters 
drive my stories, I am a pragmatic writer. 

I write a backstory, outline and include chapter summaries, motivation, and the computer 
equivalent of 3 x 5 cards to to develop my scenes.  My research is time consuming :-), 
I interview, I read the local newspapers, I vacation in the area (umm, sounds a bit like stalking) 
and I post photos in my office, cook regional foods and listen to the music my characters 
would have save to his/her iPhone.

 The result of my 'dangerous' setting(s).  My YA histoical novel Whisper upon the Water delves 
into one dark area of American history.  The treatment of Native Americans, and that of their
children, after the Indian Wars.  The setting is dangerous for my heroine, and many of the children 
who lived with their tribes/bands and were forcibly relocated to government run 
boarding schools. All across the western plains (especially in the Dakotas) is still place, 
on and off of the reservations, where life is. . .often unsafe . . .

Brede, Rodeo Romance Book 2, is a suspense novel.  I was visiting a descrated ruin in 
New Mexico when I was involved in the Title 9 program and serving on PAC committees 
involving Native American Affairs.  The times were troubling and often deadly.  
This became the driving force for this current release.

I don't wish for my readers to think my novels are filled with 'darkness'.  
Lynx, Rodeo Romance Book 1, is filled with humor, rodeo action, and smoking hot cowboys!
My education series (YA and children's short-stories)  Medicine and Magic in Ancient Egypt 
and A Candle in the Dark, are informative and draw children into, and, help children experience 
'every day life' hundreds, if not thousands of years ago.

Fall of this year will provide my readers with new adventures:
My Cajun Anthology, My Zombie (think "War Bodies" minus chomping), novella, 
and hopefully, Book 3 of my Rodeo Romance (with a ChickLit slant) titled, Rand.

My current releases are available on Amazon. 



Next on the Round Robin Circuit is:
Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/

This is the line-up of authors participating in today's Blog Event!
* Lynn Crain at http://lynncrain.blogspot.co.at/
* Anne Stenhouse athttp://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com
* Diane Bator at http://dbator.blogspot.ca
* Geeta Kakade at http://geetakakade.blogspot.com/
* Connie Vines at http://connievines.blogspot.com/
* Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/
* Beverley Bateman at http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
* Ginger Simpson at http://mizging.blogspot.com
* Margaret Fieland at http://margaretfieland.com/my_blog 
* Fiona McGier at http://www.fionamcgier.com
* Rhobin Courtright at http://rhobinleecourtright.com
Heidi Thomas at I http://heidiwriter.wordpress.com/ 

7 comments:

Heidiwriter said...

Your rodeo series sounds like it's right up my alley! You've written an eclectic array of books--congratulations!
I don't think my blog was on your list, but stop by:
http://heidiwriter.wordpress.com
Heidi M. Thomas, Cowgirl Dreams series

anne stenhouse said...

Hi Connie, that's an interesting sort of research. I'm not a nervous or fussy eater, but some Regency foods would not suit my palate. However, I do know my story is going to catch when I hear the characters talking to each other - so we have that in common. Anne Stenhouse

Rhobin said...

Interesting! Coffee shop talk. I usually see or hear a situation that makes me start thinking, but I also do a lot of research.

Connie Vines said...

Anne, I am adventurous in my dinning. II have eaten Rocky Mountain Oysters with horseradish sauce during Frointier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Bison during a powwow in South Dakota.

Connie Vines said...

Heidi I added you to my blog links.

BeverleyB said...

Great post and you definitely have some dark and dangerous settings - but I think I need to check out the smokin' hot cowboys. :)

Fiona McGier said...

A few of you have mentioned the amount of research you do before you finish writing a book. So much for people who dismissively sniff at "romance" as being "cotton candy for the brain." I try to ensure that my readers learn something during the course of each book--even if it's just that they wish they were the heroine!