Category: blog (Page 4 of 8)

I have been thinking about culture. I’m defining culture here as that unspoken ‘knowledge’ that a group of people share. The things that we never question because we are sure that everyone understands, accepts, and experiences the same. Every family has a culture–a way of doing things and thinking that every family member assumes is universal (but often isn’t).

And isn’t that one of the challenges of the first little while of a marriage? Two people who love each other come face to face with another family culture and live with a person who has never seen life done differently or considered that there might be another way? Maybe even a better way. In most successful relationships, both people have to open their minds to other possibilities. Most create a new family culture, melded from the two that they came from.

Most books have a culture too. All writers, in one way or another, create a world.

I met this challenge this week in my writing group. One friend read my piece for the first time. (We can’t all of us read all of the writing. We choose a few pieces, and it mostly works out that every author has a few people reviewing and giving feedback). This friend isn’t a romance reader. He writes fantasy/science fiction, so he tends to choose those pieces that are closer to his wheelhouse, so to speak. But this week he read my piece. While giving feedback, he said something like, “And what is keeping these two apart. She’s just making a big deal about nothing, IMO.”

It isn’t fantasy, but Regency England is an unfamiliar world that I try to build/reveal in my novels. It has a very different culture that made no sense to this 21st century man and writer of fantasy worlds. This is a world where a girl can’t dance more than twice with the same man in an evening without endangering her reputation. If a single man and woman are discovered alone, perhaps in the garden outside the hot ballroom, he is honor bound to offer marriage. Name, position, history, and reputation–and money of course, determine a person’s future. And if the reputation of one person in the family is ruined, all suffer the consequence. (Think Lizzie in Pride and Prejudice after Lydia runs away with Wickham).

So, I’ve been thinking about culture. Have you ever been forced to question the way your family, your community, your culture does things? What caused the questions? What happened?

And what worlds, what cultures have you most enjoyed in your reading? Why?

hand holding a picture frame in front of vista

Write What You Know

October 31, 2021 / Gigi Lynn

Write what you know. You’ve heard it before. I think people say that hoping to de-mystify writing, to make it sound easier, doable for all of us.

I see three problems with this imperative.

One is that I only know so much. There is another saying that everyone has at least one book in them. I believe that. But if I only write what I know, I may only have one book in me. But I have a need to write more.

Two is the question of imagination, creation, and exploration. Where are those things if we stay in the lines of what we know? What about all those worlds out there that I don’t know yet? I want to explore those.

Three is perhaps the most difficult. What I do know, what seems most important for me to capture and express, are the most difficult things to capture and express. I have experienced kindness, and sacrifice, and selfless service. I know devotion, loyalty, romance, and love. I have seen beauty, friendship, joy. I also know sorrow, and loss, and regret. Reverence, and grace, and faith are very real to me. These I try to capture in words. And that is the biggest challenge. How do I put the reality of these emotions and experiences into words.

Write what you know. It does sound simple. But it is a quest, an adventure, and often a frustration and agony. Maybe that is one kind of writer’s block–being filled with a knowing that no words can capture and describe. I am compelled to keep trying.

Unfiltered

October 17, 2021 / Gigi Lynn

Recently, I had an opportunity to guest blog for RWSL. So for today, you get a little bit of writing technique advice. Don’t close down yet. It’s not an English class. This might help in your own writing or speaking or social posts. So here goes.

In my writing group, we’ve been talking about filters. It’s made me hyper-sensitive to words and phrases that separate my readers from my action. Editing these filters has strengthened my writing. So let’s talk about filtering here.

The phrase ‘filtering’ comes from Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway. She writes, “you step back and ask readers to step back and observe the observer—to look at [the character] rather than through the character—you start to tell-not-show and rip us briefly out of the scene.” Filters are words that come between our readers and our character’s point of view or their experience. They pull the reader out of the action.

Once you’ve become aware, you’ll begin to notice filters everywhere, and I guarantee that you’ll want to banish them as much as possible from your writing. Here is an example (filters in bold). First draft and edited excerpt from The Lies We Tell by Gigi Lynn:

The rocking of the carriage and the bumps in the road kept me holding onto my seat. I thought miserably about the day. I looked down at the boy’s clothes I wore, now much worse for the drying mud. I asked myself what did I have to show for my unladylike defiance and descent into immodesty?

I found a maid I no longer wanted but lost a dog I did. I had no papers, and I had no more information about what Hugh was doing. I asked myself, what did all of this have to do with me? I had never been involved in Hugh’s vices. I told myself shouldn’t feel responsible. I knew I wasn’t equipped to expose smugglers or fight women who ran brothels. I had been taught to be a lady. I realized that I had no other skills. What a muddle I had made of things I thought in discouragement.

The rocking of the carriage and the bumps in the road kept me holding onto my seat. What a miserable day. My boy’s clothes stuck to me, more disreputable for the mud. And what did I have to show for my unladylike defiance and descent into immodesty?

I found a maid I no longer wanted but lost a dog I did. I had no papers and no more information about what Hugh was doing. What did all of this have to do with me? I had never been involved in Hugh’s vices. I wasn’t responsible. I wasn’t equipped to expose smugglers or fight women who ran brothels. I was taught to be a lady. I had no other skills. What a muddle I had made of things.

When we take out the words that come before the action, our readers will experience the action and emotions more immediately. They will be in the story, living what happens along with the character.

Now that you’ve seen what a difference filtering makes, you’ll start noticing phrases like:

I watched as— She realized that— He noticed— He saw that— I felt like— She knew— I decided right then that— It seemed— He wondered— She thought— She heard— It sounded like— There are others, but you get the idea.

It’s our goal to have readers enter our stories. We want them to feel what our characters feel. We want them to experience the action with our character, not through our character. If we remove most of the filters from our writing, our readers will more vividly experience every action and emotion in our stories. so let’s write unfiltered!

“Gigi Lynn grew up in Las Vegas, devouring romance novels like they were candy. She studied and later taught English literature and writing—and continued to read romance novels voraciously. She raised seven children and read to them every day—and often read romance novels for fun or escape. She always said she would write one day. One day is now! She recently published two regency romance novels and a novella. Another novella will go live mid-October 2021.

A Handmade Gift

October 10, 2021 / Gigi Lynn

What do you give your family for their birthdays?

A few years ago, my husband and I attended the funeral for the mother of a good friend of his. He had spent a lot of time in their home, and she had made him feel a part of their family. The funeral was a sweet tribute to her and a celebration of her life.

I was touched me by the stories that her grandchildren told of letters she sent to them on their birthdays every year. In those once a year birthday letters she would reminisce about what she did and how she felt when she was their age. What a precious gift this woman left to her children and grandchildren.

I would like to say that I started right then to write birthday letters to my grandchildren. I didn’t. First, I’m not sure I could remember enough about my childhood to accurately describe what I did and how I felt. And I felt a little like I was starting too late (which looking back I realize is ridiculous). Regardless, I didn’t do it.

What special, personal, intimate gifts you give to your loved ones-your family, your dear friends? I’d love to hear from you.

One thing I have done is make a quilt for each of my grandbabies. I haven’t always been timely with this gift, but before they turn two, they have a quilt from Mimi.

In my family, this has been an exercise in quilt binging because the babies seem to come in batches. So a few years ago and again this last two months, I made five baby quilts.

I hope you enjoy seeing what I do when I’m not writing, researching, or reading.

What topics do you research?

September 19, 2021 / Gigi Lynn

Spying: Part One of a Three Part Series

Research is the one avoidance behavior I don’t feel too guilty about. I find the most interesting information while researching for my books. While my time spent delving into Regency England informs my writing, I can’t put everything I find in the stories. For fun, I want to take a few weeks and share some stories I’ve found about spying during the Napoleonic war.

Both England and France collected information, discredited their enemy’s diplomats, and even planned assassinations. I hope you enjoy reading about a few Napoleonic era spies.

This week, meet Karl (Charles) Ludwig Schulmeister, Austrian double agent for France.

Karl Ludwig Schulmeister Unknown artist – www.servimg.com

Charles was one of Napoleon’s most successful secret agents. His father was at various times a metalworker, grocer, shopkeeper, smuggler, and a Lutheran minister in Baden. Charles was raised as a shepherd, ³ but later became a smuggler in Strasbourg. One of the things he traded was information. ²

Charles gathered contacts among the French. One of his contacts, General Anne-Jean-Marie-Rene Savary, was aide-de-camp to Napoleon and recruited him to work for Napoleon. He was sent to Vienna to find out the plans of General Mack, the commander of the Austrian Army.⁴

Once in Austria, he claimed he was a Hungarian noble who had been exiled from France. He began to move in aristocratic circles and soon met General Baron Karl Mack von Leiberich. ⁴ He persuaded Mack that he represented royalist opposition to Napoleon and gave him secret data about the French army (Given to him by under Napoleon’s orders).

Now trusted by General Mack, Schulmeister was made chief of intelligence in Mack’s army.

Taking information from Schulmeister, Napoleon printed false newspapers and letters reporting unrest in the French army. Mack believed that the British were landing a force and that France was close to an uprising and were retreating. When Mack pursued the French, he was surrounded by their “retreating army.” He had no choice but to surrender. Napoleon won one of his most famous victories at the battle of Austerlitz. He captured Vienna and Schulmeister became chief of police.¹

At various times during the war, Schulmeister acted as a General in Napoleon’s army, was active in espionage in England and Ireland, and was director of the French Secret Service.²

Schulmeister set up an effective cluster of spies from Napoleon’s enemies in the East. After Napoleon’s success at Austerlitz, he told his officers “Gentlemen, all respect to Charles, who I estimate highly, because he was worth an army corps of 40,000 men to me.”³Schulmeister wanted to be awarded the Legion of Honor, but Napoleon later said that “gold is the only suitable reward for spies.” ¹

After Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo and exiled, Schulmeister was arrested. He bought his freedom with his fortune. Nearly penniless, he received a a tobacco stand from an old friend in Strasbourg. He was able to earn a small income until he died of heart failure.³

I thought it interesting that Napoleon used Schulmeister for his information but didn’t trust him or respect him. His death in poverty seems a just end.

Sources:

Questions for Discussion: The Lies We Tell

September 12, 2021 / Gigi Lynn

I thought I would be able to practice courage in a few small things first, just to get in the way of it. Fate and my stepbrother Hugh had different ideas.

We had only lived in Bexhill a few months when Hugh was shot dead by a smuggler, ironically in a peaceful wooded field situated between the shops on Hastings Road and St. Peter’s church, right in the center of town.

Then everything changed, and there was no time to dabble in courage. I must spring right in, or perhaps I should say, be plunged in, whether I would or not.

Questions:

1. Amelia claims she wants to learn how to be courageous, but she doesn’t feel that she chooses her brave actions. What impels her to do such unprecedented and daring things?

2. Mr. Jones was very different from Amelia. His life was completely outside her experience. Why did that make her so nervous?

3. When you meet someone whose life, culture, experience, or outlook are different than yours, does it make you nervous? What do you do?

4. Amelia cannot ignore or walk away from the young women who are being abused. Have you ever witnessed something you couldn’t walk away from?

5. Have you ever seen something and felt powerless to help? What do you do?

6. What did your family do to encourage social justice and awareness in you?

7. Amelia is accustomed to being seen and treated in a certain way. She expects and even encourages that response, yet suddenly she is frustrated with how she is viewed. Have you ever felt limited by others’ assumptions/views of you? What did you or do, or what do you think you would do?

8. What is it about Mr. Jones that appeals to Amelia?

9. In what ways does Amelia change over the novel?

Are You a Plotter or a Pantser?

September 5, 2021 / Gigi Lynn

Some writers begin a new project by creating an in-depth outline, a detailed plan of what will happen in each chapter. They may start and keep a Character Bible right from the outset, where they record all the details about each character, including background, preferences, fears, and quirks. With this information at hand, the conflict and dialogue can be personal and consistent. Some writers are what we call Plotters.

Other writers begin a new book with a blank page and a few ideas floating around in their brains. (Or perhaps a deadline and anxiety). Maybe they’ve seen something or someone who has sparked one idea. They may have dreamed up one scene or imagined one character. These writers dive right in, not necessarily knowing what is going to happen next. They often don’t know all of the characters who will populate their story. Some writers are Pantsers.

Guess which I am.

It wasn’t even difficult, was it?

Every time I begin a new story, I think, “I will plan this one out.” Sometimes I even make a loose outline. And then I actually start putting words on paper. And every single time, the characters literally take over.

I’m still surprised about things that happened in my latest novel, The Lies We Tell. The main character, Amelia already had the seed of a romantic interest planted in the previous book (The Secrets We Keep). I had a vague plan to develop that relationship in Lies. Nope! Perry Gerow just wasn’t doing his job. She needed someone who would challenge her, someone who saw her more clearly. Poor Perry. He got relegated to the friend zone. (Just a little bit of a spoiler).

And where did the Hydra House girls come from? I’m sure I was more shocked than anyone at that twist. It was definitely not in the outline! Honestly, I did not make that stuff up. My mind doesn’t work that way. Part way through the novel writing, I thought to myself, who is Amelia? What is she doing? And Why? Who will she become? I could hardly wait to find out.

I’m wondering if there are Plotters and Pantsers in life as well as in writing. Do you wake up in the morning (or the night before) and make a plan, write a list, have a schedule? Are you able to stay on your set course?

Or do you climb out of bed to see what the day will bring? Maybe you start with one general idea of what you’d like to do or one person you think you should see. Do you often find your life has other ideas. (It has a life of its own?)

Which are you, Plotter or Pantser?

Would you like to experiment with time?

August 30, 2021 / Gigi Lynn

Recently Fiddler on the Roof came up in a conversation with my granddaughter. The chorus of this song has been running through my mind ever since:

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laiden with happiness and tears

SUNRISE, SUNSET Composed By Jerry Bock, Lyrics By Sheldon Harnick

As the evening air begins to cool and the trees change colors in the mountains, I’ve been looking back. It’s been a full summer. Many of you have posted your hikes, vacations, family reunions, milestones. Some have shared struggles or illness, sadness or doubts. I’ve had a little of both happiness and tears this summer too.

As the season changes, take a moment with me and measure how far you’ve come. Did you try something new this summer or take a next step on our planned journey? Or have you experienced one of those surprising twists that changed your direction and forced you to make new plans? What have you learned? How have you changed? I’d love to hear about it. Comment below.

And I invite you to write about it. Amazing insights and even more growth happen when I write my thoughts and experiences.

Now look forward with me. More than January, September always feels like the beginning of a new year. What do you want to happen this Fall/Winter? What do you want to learn? What habits to establish? What relationships to build, heal, or improve? What do you want to accomplish spiritually, socially, physically, intellectually/mentally? I’d love to hear about this too.

Swiftly flow the days
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laiden with happiness and tears

SUNRISE, SUNSET By Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick

Maybe–I hope–if we take a few moments to think about, write about, talk about the past season and the one coming, the passage of time won’t seem such a blur. We can make time slow down. We can twist it and turn it, look at it from all sides and from the inside out.

It might only be for a few moments and then time will speed up again and we’ll be right in the middle of the movement and sound and demands of our lives, but maybe it will all look just a little different after our step out of time.

Take a breath. Maybe another.

Okay. Back to life. I look forward to a new season of growth with you.

Are You Branded?

August 15, 2021 / Gigi Lynn

Writing a book? That’s hard.

Photo by Florencia Viadana on Unsplash

Figuring out the author site, the social media thing, the marketing? Hahahaha. I think this is true of many authors (and other artist types), but it is more true for some of us than others.

Photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash

To counteract my tech unsavvy, I have leaned upon my children. This month I asked Megan to help me with a logo. Just a simple one. She is good at it. It would be fun, right?

Apparently, I didn’t understand what is involved in creating a logo. Megan had assignments for me, and tests. Okay, they may not have been tests; they may have been questionnaires about branding. So, I have expanded my view of my work, my image, my brand.

I found that in branding terms, I am foremost a Creator. Then pretty equally, I am also an explorer, and the girl next door. How does that work? I’m a writer. It’s simple, right?

I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, trying to get it straight in my mind. This is how I’ve started thinking. Maybe you have some more insight you can share.

First, an obvious statement: I write clean regency romances. Someday I may write in other eras or other genres, but I know there will always be a romantic element in any story I write. I just love relationships. I believe in love as a power. I write about love. That’s me, the writer. (Creator).

However, a writer is only one part of who I am and the life I live. Is the writer so very different from who I am as the neighbor, the friend, or part of a family? In some ways certainly, but one constant is that relationships are important to me. I believe love is a power. I’m in love with love. (Is this the explorer? The girl next-door?)

I may write alone, but you are always there in my thoughts. Who are you? What does your journey look like? I know you have a lot of interests and responsibilities. I think you must have a sense of humor. You like the power of words to help you to see the world through someone else’s eyes. You care. And you love love too. It’s not a lot to know about you. I’d like to know more. Part of why I write on this site is because I’d like to build a relationship with you. I’d like for you to know me, and I’d like to know you better.

So, then I find myself asking how do we intersect and interact? What relationship do I want/can I build with you? And how? (Probably the girl next door thing)

Add the element of my books, as if they are a separate entity. Often they seem to have a life of their own. The characters and their experiences and the themes have a part to play. I try to write about people who are learning new things, often about themselves. I need my characters to grow and change over the course of their story. They are going to make mistakes and do stupid things, but they are going to love deeply. And love will conquer all. Factor that in.

Finally, there is the experience that I want you to have when you read. Some descriptors are: entertained, charmed, hopeful, relaxed, renewed. I like the words whimsy and delight.

All those pieces will hopefully come together in my “Brand.” And I may get a logo. I will be changing my site–different colors, different look. (Watch for changes). It will still be me writing romance, but hopefully everything I do here will reflect all of it–who I am, who you are, the books, the characters, the reading experience (and the characters’ experience), and mostly the relationships (of you and me and of the books and characters). And hopefully it will reflect our belief in love.

Photo by Susn Matthiessen on Unsplash

How Do You Remember the Good Stuff?

August 8, 2021 / Gigi Lynn

Last Weekend was EXCITING! Really it was wonderful. I published the second novel in my Illusions series.

https://www.amazon.com/Lies-We-Tell-Illusions-ebook/dp/B09BJ2CXZT/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=gigi+l

We also had a family reunion. Health kept my father from attending, but all my siblings were there. Most of their children (and ours) were there. Most of their grandchildren (and ours) were there. We have not been together for–well, I can’t remember the last time. We talked, we reminisced, we played games, we took family pictures in a cow pasture. It was so much fun.

But, and I hate that so often there is a but.

While we were gone, our basement flooded–a lot! Two of our sons pulled back the carpet, vacuumed the water, and started the fans. Then they came down to the reunion.

Then on the way home, another son had car trouble. So, we stopped at the cabin and spent the night. The next day we loaded his car on the trailer and started home together.

The story isn’t finished. On the way home, our pick-up threw a rod. I hate that I know what this is. I hope you never find out. I will tell you this: The pick-up is dead. The only way to fix it is to rebuild the engine or replace it. (And it is an older, high mileage truck. It’s not worth doing).

This meant that another of our sons had to come to the little town about 40 miles from home and hook the trailer up to his vehicle and tow it home.

We got home and the basement had flooded again. And today, with the help of one of our sons, we get to go and pick up the useless pick-up.

And I haven’t even mentioned the cost of this little weekend. Nor the fact that I somehow left my phone at the cabin, nor the complaint of one neighbor that caused the city to send us a notice about parking our trailer, when it’s not at the cabin, by the side of our house.

Two paragraphs about some really great things. Seven about some really awful things. But the good things were amazing, and look at how lucky we are to have four of our five living sons available and so willing to give us a hand. That has to be added to the good things, doesn’t it?

Still, I find myself thinking more about how to work through and recover from all the bad luck, and not nearly enough time remembering the good stuff.

How do you do it? Because, let’s be honest. Somehow this bad stuff will pass. We’ll fix the basement. We’ll live without a pick-up for awhile until we can save some money and find one we can afford. (We gotta have one while we’re renovating the cabin). Life will go on, and mostly our life is pretty wonderful. So how do we remember that? How do we think more on the connections with our family, and our achievements, and the kindness of friends and neighbors (who offer to help and loan us their chains and come-alongs)?

I’m sitting in my very comfortable living room in my really beautiful house, with a computer on my lap, and I’m writing. That needs to go in the good column. I am pretty healthy. In a few minutes I’ll go into the kitchen and eat. There is food in my kitchen–plenty really. We have a car. We have work we enjoy, mostly. We have family and friends. We have a lifetime of rich experiences and joyful memories.

Bad stuff happens, sure. And this isn’t anywhere near the worst we’ve experienced. But we have so much good in our life. I want to remember that, even in the midst of the difficult times. How do you do it?