WHAT WORKS FOR ME AS A READER.

My column Purple Prose—a Bum Rap, posted this month at Romancing the Blog, provoked quite a bit of nice discussion. Whether they agreed or disagreed, I think most of those who commented understood the various points I was trying to make.

In response to my column, Alison Kent said: "I had several [romances] over the past few years in my RITA batches that were nothing but talking heads. I couldn’t see a single thing. Couldn’t smell or taste or hear a single thing beyond the dialogue and the internal thoughts. These books SO did not work for me! It was like reading in a vacuum. Not a thing about the stories compelled me to read them - and I wouldn’t have had they not been assigned!!"

One of my points exactly. I couldn’t agree more about the talking heads. Several different points of view in a novel can and frequently does work for me as a reader. But dialogue-driven books usually don’t—for the very reasons Alison listed. As I explained in my column A Place for Everything, posted last month at Romancing the Blog, when I read a novel, one of the things I want as a reader is to feel as though I’ve somehow been transported into the book’s place setting. That just doesn’t happen for me with pages of nothing but talking heads. Further, to draw me into his/her story, the author has to make not just the place setting, but also everything else come alive for me. Like Alison, I want to see, hear, smell, and taste all aspects of whatever’s taking place in the story.

Larissa Ione said: "I think we’ve just grown so used to instant gratification, more sparsely written, fast-paced books, that anything that’s a little more ‘elaborate and ornate,’ comes across as purple."

Also one of my points exactly. By today's standards, many classic works of fiction would qualify as purple prose---yet, conversely, these are the same books that are invariably pointed to as the greatest novels ever written. Further, as a reader, one of things I don’t need from a novel is instant gratification. What I do need is a good story that completely engrosses me and comes to an appropriate and satisfying conclusion (whether that’s happy or sad). I don’t have any objections per se to sparsely written prose. Some authors I adore are masters of it. The trouble is that the more sparsely written something is, the better and more effective it has to be in all its word choices in order to make anything come alive for me as a reader.

Let me give you some contrasts. Let’s use the sentence "The dog begged for a bone." That’s clean and sparse, yes. But what, exactly, does that tell me as a reader? Well, not much. I don’t know all the things I want to know: what the dog looks like, its gender, why it’s begging for the bone, whether it’s happy or excited, etc. Maybe I’ll get additional information from the story’s context, but then again, maybe I won’t. Changing the sentence to "The flop-earred dog sadly begged for a bone" begins to put me on the right track, perhaps, by giving me a little more information, but again, not much. For all I know, I may going down the wrong path entirely. This dog may be sad merely because it's greedy, already stuffed full of treats, and disappointed at not getting still more, despite all its conniving. But what if we change the sentence to "After fetching his master’s slippers, the flop-earred dog begged for a bone, his sleek red forehead wrinkled with sadness, his dark brown eyes anxious at the thought that, instead, he would receive a sharp word and an even sharper kick, as usual." Well, then, I don’t need any more information from the story’s context to know that: this dog is male; his fur’s not fluffy but sleek; that in addition to floppy ears, he’s got a red forehead and loose skin that’s capable of wrinkling, brown eyes, and that, sadly, despite the fact that he’s clearly intelligent and obedient enough to fetch his master’s slippers, instead of being praised and rewarded, he’s regularly denied treats and abused. As a reader, which sentence made the dog come alive for you? I know which one worked for me. Based on a single sentence, I've already personalized this last poor dog and feel very sorry for him.

Today, in addition to the sparse prose that’s currently the trend, fast-paced action also appears to be de rigueur, as Larissa noted. But just like instant gratification, this, too, is something I don’t require as a reader. If, from its very beginning, a novel straps a crash helmet onto my head, inserts me into a cannon, then launches me from it, rather than the book being filled with enough excitement to keep me turning the pages, I find that just the opposite occurs: I’m frequently left wondering "Who are these characters; why is all this happening to them; and why should I even care?" For me, breakneck pacing invariably steadily loses effect—for the simple reason that there’s no contrast; there are no lulls that make the storms all the more gripping.

All these various points are just some of the things that make novels work or not work for me as a reader. This is just my own opinion as a reader, mind you. Every reader’s taste is different, so what works for me as a reader might not work for you. Variety is indeed the spice of life. So my own personal hope is that the romance genre continues to offer something for everyone, that the so-called Rules don’t begin to dictate one particular style to the exclusion of all others. Because if that happens, then there will be a lot of readers who stop reading romances altogether, simply because their own expectations for a good read are no longer being met.

PURPLE PROSE---A BUM RAP!

Read my post, Purple Prose---a Bum Rap, today at Romancing the Blog!

FIGHTING THE HARD FIGHT!

Today, I'm going to break one of my own rules and talk about something very personal in my blog. I don't normally do this---mainly because I'm just not comfortable with it. Many writers have no compunctions whatsoever about detailing every single aspect of their private lives for the public. That's fine. That's what works for them. But I'm not one of those writers.

However, I feel that this subject is extremely important and that all women can use a wake-up call about it---although I sincerely hope it's not the kind I myself got this week when my family was informed that my mother has breast cancer.

The good news is that because Mom has always been diligent about self-examinations and her regular medical check-ups, her cancer was discovered in its earliest stages. She had many years of records, X-rays, mammograms, etc., for comparison to her most recent mammogram. So her doctors were able to observe clearly the kind of change that had taken place in her affected breast. They immediately scheduled her for a biopsy, and when it confirmed cancer, she was also immediately scheduled to meet with a surgeon.

Before meeting with her surgeon, Mom wrote down a list of questions so she wouldn't forget anything she wanted to know, and my stepdad and I accompanied her, so that we could ask questions of our own, too. Her surgeon spent a considerable amount of time with us, answering everything and explaining all we needed to know. He was very kind, patient, and experienced. I left feeling as though Mom will be in good hands next week, when her actual surgery takes place.

She will undergo a lumpectomy, followed by radiation therapy. At this point, her prognosis for making a full recovery is excellent.

Until this week, I confess I haven't been nearly as diligent about my own self-examinations and regular medical check-ups as Mom has been. I know I had a baseline mammogram and that I've had a couple more mammograms since. But since I can't remember when the last one was done, I know it's been far too long ago. Mom's surgeon informed me that most women are like me. They don't do monthly self-examinations. They don't have regular medical check-ups.

Ignorance is bliss. I always felt fairly safe because no one in my family has ever had breast cancer before. I now know that gave me a terrible false sense of security. Regardless of her family history, breast cancer can strike any woman at any time.

Ladies, I can't urge you enough to be as diligent as Mom has been. Until there's a cure, your best defense is to stay on the offense, the way Mom has. Do your monthly self-examinations. Get your regular medical check-ups. If you think something is wrong, say so! Mom spoke up and, when her doctors could initially find nothing wrong, insisted on a mammogram out of time because she herself sensed that something was not right with her affected breast. I know it's been said before, but truly, the life you save may be your own.

For more information on self-examinations, mammograms, and breast cancer, visit breastcanceer.org.

HOW TIME FLIES!

How time flies, indeed. I can scarcely believe that another week has flown by and that I should be posting to my blog again---not to mention updating my Web site. But this latter is going to have to wait until next month, I'm afraid, because I really must wrap up my latest manuscript, THE CRYSTAL ROSE, and get it off in the mail to my editor.

This week has been special to me for a couple of reasons: (1) my husband, John, came home after a three-week visit to his native England, and (2) both my crabapple trees are now in full, glorious bloom.

I always miss John whenever he's away, even though I'm happy that, among other things, he got to spend some time with his family. Along with other belongings, he returned with his antique Black Forest anniversary clock, which has been in his family for ages and which now has a place of honor on our restored Victorian mantel. It's proved the perfect finishing touch.

One of my crabapple trees is now nearly twenty-five years old, and its blossoms are a gorgeous shade of fuchsia. I love it not only because it's so tall and spreading that its branches nearly touch our bedroom window, but also because it's frequently full of squirrels, who love its fruit and who are a delight to watch. My other crabapple tree is much smaller and younger. John bought it for me a couple of years ago, and it has beautiful white blossoms. We planted it by our waterfall and little stream that flow into our fish pond. Someday, its branches will shade the rustic bridge John built over the stream.

John's very good at all kinds of construction projects I couldn't even begin to tackle on my own. So although I do lend a helping hand whenever I can, I mostly just watch---and enjoy the finished products! *g*

THE BLOGGING LIFE...

This is one of those days when I know I should probably post to my blog, but when I really have little or nothing to say. Before I started my own blog, I never visited other people's blogs. For one thing, I thought most of them were about politics---and the fact is that I'm just not into working myself up over politics. I like to watch the FoxNews channel, but if their news reporters, Bill O'Reilly, Hannity & Colmes, and/or their guests, etc., are telling me things that aggravate me, then I switch to another channel (aren't remote controls wonderful? *g*). This is not to say that I don't care about politics. I do. I've voted in every single presidential election since I was old enough to vote. But I like my life to be peaceful---and politics just isn't a very peaceful topic.

Now, of course, I know there are lots of blogs out there in the Ethernet that aren't about politics. In fact, since becoming one of the regular columnists at Romancing the Blog, I've visited almost all the blogs listed on its homepage. As a result, I've learned a great deal about blogs within the publishing industry and the romance genre, at least. Quite frankly, I'm amazed at how many people post to their blogs every day. I wonder how they find so much to say on a regular basis---and the time to say it all in. I can only conclude that I'm simply not a chatty person (this comes as no big surprise to me, however, since I've known it for years), and that because I'm a slow writer, I'm much stingier about the amount of time I'm willing to devote to my blog. I've never been someone who could crank out ten pages in ten minutes. I often wish I were. But the truth is that although I've tried more than once to learn how to write faster, I just can't seem to manage it.

I'm also amazed at how much ranting seems to go on in blogs. I know that everything from academia to the romance genre has its own brand of politics. But I'm not into working myself up about any of that, either. So that's why you won't see a whole lot of ranting in my own blog. In addition to rants, many blogs contain reams of publishing-industry news and gossip. Where do these particular bloggers get it all? I wonder. Do they spend hours surfing the Internet? I don't have either the inclination or the time for that, either. After dutifully devoting several hours one day to reading all these blogs had to offer, I wound up with a massive migraine from information overload! It made me remember why I like not knowing all this stuff! *g* I've always thought one could drive oneself crazy worrying about best-seller lists, online-bookstore numbers, reviews, rules for writing, whether the bottom was falling out of the market again, etc.

As one of my colleagues has observed, being a recluse does have its advantages! *g* For one thing, without all that information in one's head, one is free to write books from the heart, rather than novels that are designed to try to cash in on the latest trend (which trend, however, has usually passed by the time everyone else gets a book out to try to cash in on it!). For another, by not attempting to keep up with all that information, one has time for other things.

So, when I'm not writing, what do I do instead of immersing myself in information about the publishing industry and the romance genre? Well, among other things, I like to spend time with my husband, John, and my son, Shane, of course. On sunny days, I like to go outside by our fish pond and throw sticks for our dogs (we now have two, having recently acquired an Australian Cattle Dog, in addition to our Long-Haired German Shepherd). The sunshine, fresh air, and mild exercise always clear my mind and make me feel better physically. I also like to putter around in our garden and to bake in our kitchen. I have an entire list, in fact, of simple things I enjoy doing.

No, they probably aren't going to do wonders for my career. But they do wonders for me. :) They are peaceful pleasures that keep me connected to life and the earth---and after some exploration, I have the sense that one could lose one's bearings and wind up lost in the Ethernet....