As writers, we have to create worlds. Whether it’s the real world, a make-believe world, or an alternate reality, we have to populate those worlds. We dress the characters, give them histories, anxieties, families, and dreams. But I think we sometimes insert a little more of ourselves into them than we realize. For instance, you’re eyeball deep in revisions and edits and you realize your heroine is…You. No wonder she felt so familiar. Is this writer’s therapy? Are we working out our childhood troubles and disillusions through our characters? Are we living through them, or just so enamored of ourselves that we are certain we must belong in a book? Well, I hope your life has been so exciting, but I suspect we’re just slipping into the familiar. As I was writing the character of Bree Kirkland, heroine of AWAKEN THE HIGHLAND WARRIOR, I realized that Bree bore some distinct traits that I either have or want to have. Bree is a quirky historian. Not boring and stuffy, but kind of Indiana Jones-ish. Okay, that’s not me, but I wish it was. She’s clumsy–that is me–and she’s always felt a little different than the other girls. Hmmm, maybe me. Of…

In my many dialogues about ASHES OF THE EARTH I have discovered a remarkable, though sometimes reluctant, resonance among others about post-apocalyptic scenarios. I expected that initial reactions from readers would be along the lines of “why select such a dismal context?” or “why would you want to spend so much time in such a dark, unlikely place?” –but that has not been the case.  Instead many readers seem almost eager to offer their personal view of the post-apocalyptic world. They don’t reject the notion that such scenarios are a real possibility, they want to explain their own version of what that world would be like. Apparently we have lived so many years with the Doomsday Clock set at five minutes to midnight that the apocalypse has taken on a familiar aspect. We may often treat discussion of the apocalypse as taboo but it is uncanny –even alarming—that so many of us are thinking about it. I have been truly amazed at how many people harbor ready, well-considered views on what post-apocalyptic geographies would be safe, what technologies would endure, what types of people would be most likely to survive, or even what food survivors would be eating. This may…

Once Upon A Time, I wanted to be a historical romance writer.  I even majored in history in college, although I dropped out of the honors program when they won’t let me write an accurate historical novel (“like Michael Shaara‘s THE KILLER ANGELS,” I said) for my thesis.  They told me I had to go to the English department for that. Well, everyone I knew who majored in English ended up teaching writing, and I didn’t want to teach, I wanted to write.  In truth, I was already writing.  I had paid much of my way through college as a freelance nonfiction writer, and in my sophomore year, I started working as a reporter for a local radio station. There—and in my history classes—I learned about the importance of accuracy, of not committing anything to paper until it was absolutely right.  Which, somehow, I took over into the fiction side. It would take me years, I reasoned, to write a good historical romance.  And honestly, I didn’t (and don’t) have the attention span for that. So I gave up and wrote science fiction and fantasy (sf/f). Because I could make it all up.  All of it—the setting, the people, the…

I think all writers can agree that characters build as we write. Especially the hero or heroine. But what we don’t always expect is when the secondary characters—or as I like to call them, our secondary heroes—begin to speak louder and demand to be heard. It happens differently for every writer. I can only tell my own experience as it happened to me. And understand, it doesn’t happen with ever book or with every series. The stories of these characters becomes important to the reader, as well as the writer. So much so their voice comes through and they’re no longer shoved to the back of the book, but come forward to the front. And eventually—they get their own show. This is great news for a writer who’s developed a series that readers enjoy. It gives the writer a new path to follow from a different set of eyes, and it fleshes and fills out the back-story of every character within that writer’s universe. For me, it was a persistent character. A character that I used through the series as a dues ex machina. And as my books grew, and I continued to use this secondary hero—I realized I went…

Hello, my friends. It’s been a long time since I chatted with you here. Did you miss me? Laughing, probably not since we’ve had many many authors stop by and be our guest at Fresh Fiction, more interesting than what I usually rambled about. And so, here we are and I’m not quite sure what to say. Well, today is book club tea day in Texas. It’s a late one because the tea room holds it at 3:30pm to 5:00pm. That’s the strange thing about teas I’ve found over the years, the ‘proper’ time ranges from noon to 6pm. Each venue has their own idea of what is right. Most believe that a tea was a snack between luncheon and dinner so the ladies wouldn’t faint. I guess I’ve always thought of it as similar to feeding your kids when they came home from school before the family dinner. Give them a quick sandwich or snack and they won’t tear the kitchen apart rummaging for food. But whenever tea is held there is always someone who expresses that it’s too early, too late but never just right. Ah, well, life goes on. From experience I am certain the Chocolate Angel…

Fresh Fiction. I like this website’s name and theme. Everyone likes things fresh–fresh air, fresh fruit…and a fresh start. I’m author Linda Hubalek and many of my historical fiction books have characters longing for fresh starts for their families. I write about ancestors that moved to Kansas for a reason–to homestead land to start a new life for their families. For example Deborah and John Pieratt, featured in the first book of the Trail of Thread series) left Kentucky in 1854 when the Territory of Kansas was formed. They were part of the thousands of families that packed wagons and headed east for the promise of a new life. The thought of owning land must have seemed like the perfect fresh start for their six young children. THIMBLE OF SOIL, the second book in the series, features Margaret Ralston Kennedy. She was a widow who moved with eight of her thirteen children from Ohio to the Territory Kansas in 1855. (Margaret and two of her daughters are standing in front of their house in the photo with this post.) She was dedicated to the cause of the North, and helped with the Underground Railroad in both Ohio and Kansas. She…

“How do you say goodbye to a piece of your heart? If you’re a quilter, you have a time-honored way to express yourself. “A quilt is an object of peculiar intimacy. By virtue of the way it is created, every inch of the fabric is touched. Each scrap absorbs the quilter’s scent and the invisible oils of her skin, the smell of her household and, thanks to the constant pinning and stitching, her blood in the tiniest of quantities. And tears, though she might be loath to admit it….” That’s a quote from the beginning of THE GOODBYE QUILT, a story about letting go, leaving home, and obviously, quilting. I am not a quilter, but I’m a quilt-appreciator. The background of the author photo for this book is a family heirloom quilt, which is about a century old, yet just as sturdy now as when it was stitched. A really good quilter knows how to make things that last. When my own daughter was leaving home, I made her a scrapbook. However, The Goodbye Scrapbook doesn’t resonate in quite the same ways as THE GOODBYE QUILT. In the novel, the narrator, Linda, creates her quilt from the bits and pieces…

Susan Mallery has entertained millions of readers with her witty and emotional stories of women and the relationships that move them. In her latest novel, ALREADY HOME, Jenna Stevens, still reeling from a recent divorce, is unpleasantly surprised by the arrival of her birth parents, who seem to want her to feel a family bond immediately. She was perfectly happy with the loving, traditional parents who raised her. Can she learn to love a second mother without damaging her relationship with the woman who raised her? Join Susan’s Members Only area at www.susanmallery.com for exclusive sneak peeks, short stories, and more. Recently, a friend recommended a cookbook to me. She said the chocolate chip cookie recipe in her favorite cookbook was to die for. Thick, soft, chewy, chocolatey goodness. I’m a sucker for chocolate chip cookies, so I ordered the book. This is a cookbook for someone who loves cooking. The thing is, though – and I’m letting you in on a big secret here – I don’t love cooking. I understand my friend’s mistake. After all, the heroine of my latest book, ALREADY HOME, is a chef. During the course of the book, she reconnects with her creativity in…

In the pictures I have of my mother she looks like the Duchess of Windsor. My husband, who didn’t like her, would say, “Uh oh, here comes the Duchess,” when he heard her car in the driveway. Raised in an orphanage, how did my mother come by that royal presence? How could she have been so fragile, and yet accomplish so much in her young widowhood, raising my brother and me? How can she exist so powerfully after she is dead? She seems to have left tracks in my brain like indelible markers that are more than memory, leaking into my present. She died while I was downstairs in the hospital coffee shop drinking a milkshake and leafing through Newsweek. I found her on the floor after her last desperate moment of pride trying to get to the bathroom alone. She was crumpled at the foot of the bed, a terrifying stranger in a hospital gown. I screamed for the nurse who came running. It took the two of us to get her back in the bed where she lay, dignified once again, even in this unbelievable death. In life she didn’t look like anyone’s mother. She was too young-looking,…

Pia Giovanni is the heroine for my new book DRAGON BOUND, the first in the Elder Races series released May 3rd.  Pia is all too well aware that she is problematic.  She is half-human and half-Wyr, with a deep sense that she doesn’t fully belong anywhere, so she has to work twice as hard to pretend to fit in.  So she tends bar and listens to other people’s problems.  It pays the bills and it gives her the sense of community she needs. But let’s face it:  she’s just getting by, she isn’t really rooted anywhere, and bar tending only pays the bills because she doesn’t have that much of a life.  Then she makes a mistake.  She trusts the wrong guy, the relationship doesn’t last, and he blackmails her.  She thought she had problems before but then her life really goes to hell. That’s when she wakes up.  Call it whatever you like, boredom, depression, loneliness.  She realizes she’s been coasting on a lot of things and not really paying attention to what really matters.  The blackmail kicks her out of the rut she has fallen into, and the melting pot of the Elder Races world turns into her…