The Games People Play & the Value of Improvisation: Part Two

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Donnell Ann BellBy Donnell Ann Bell

Last month I wrote a blog called The Games People Play & the Value of Improvisation | The Stiletto Gang

My point in writing the blog was to explain how word games and improvisation can activate our brains. For writers, games and improvisation not only are fun, we can also use them as tools. Tools to inspire or to help us get unstuck. Further, working these puzzles often churn out writing nuggets worthy of a goldmine.

In last month’s blog I gave an improv example and invited others to play. This month, I’d like to post the participant contributions, and to put myself on the spot as well, I even gave it a whirl.

Special thanks to Marianne Shields one of the Stiletto Gang Readers who I think is a closet writer!!! Be sure to read her gem of an improv.

Here’s how my improvisation assignment works:

Assign five random words and the start of a sentence. (Words are from the Merriam-Webster Deluxe Dictionary. The start of a sentence is from a random book on my shelf.)

Instructions: Create a paragraph or two using the five random words. Participants were free to start with the fragmented sentence or use it further inside their narrative.

Finish this sentence:  Nothing explained the. . .

Five Random Words:

Damage

Firepit

Mirror

Plumbing

Stretch

~~

Participant: Brooke Terpening

Nothing explained the cracked Mirror in the Firepit or the Damage that Stretch(ed) from the broken Plumbing line.

 

Participant: Mary Lee Ashford

Looking in the mirror I surveyed the damage from the firepit. I stepped into the shower and prayed the plumbing was feeling cooperative and I’d be able to adjust the water temperature. It was a stretch to reach the faucet, and I winced. Nothing explained the cruelty.

 

Participant: Marianne Shields

Nothing explained the awful damage to the pearl beading on Margaret’s scarlet ball gown When she went for her final fitting a few days ago, it looked fabulous. She brought it home and carefully hung it on her closet doorframe beside her bedroom mirror. It was quite a stretch to get it up high enough to be out of the reach of Susie, her nosey little scotty. Looking out the bedroom window, she noticed Mack’s plumbing company van parked at the curb in front of the house. Her handyman was scheduled to connect a gas line to the patio firepit this morning.

Meantime the mystery of what or who had torn the lovely beading away from the bodice and skirt of the dress needed to be solved. As she retrieved the beads that were scattered on the floor, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a long green feather. Good grief, she thought, was Petie loose in the house again? A month ago, her parrot had somehow escaped from his cage and had been flying freely about the house. The brightness of her red dress no doubt attracted Petie and his natural curiosity. He could not resist the shiny beads.

 

Participant: Donnell Ann Bell

As an arson investigator I was often called in to confirm questionable fire scenes. But as I talked to the lead cop, I couldn’t sign off on his report just yet. True, the winds had been 40 miles an hour two nights ago. I simply found his theory that firepit sparks had ignited the blaze a stretch. Not that it couldn’t happen, (embers were a leading cause of forest fires) But nothing explained the considerable damage. A typical house fire didn’t melt the plumbing or reduce a three-bedroom house to the foundation. Still, I’d yet to discover any evidence of an accelerant or any other point of origin besides the pit.

Clad in my rubber boots and gloves I traipsed through the ash and rubble one last time, ready to accept defeat and add my signature to the report. That was, until my boot kicked up something solid. At the sight of an uncharred ladies’ compact, I froze. I also suspected I’d find the mirror inside undamaged as well.

It wasn’t a lucky guess. I’d found an identical compact at a scene I’d investigated the month before.

 

Thanks to the participants for playing improv with me. See you next month! 🙂

 

What Ever Happened to …?

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Whatever happened to the classmates in your old school yearbooks?

What happened to their dreams? And what happened to yours? Are all the memories tucked away in a box somewhere, or proudly displayed on your bookshelf? Have you looked at them lately and reminisced? Or were those years best left to be forgotten?

In my continued slog through what remains from my mother’s storage unit, I came across a boxful of her college yearbooks, plus one from her high school, and one from my father’s high school, too. Together, they weighed fifteen pounds, and were large enough to overwhelm my already over-burdened  bookshelves. So I wondered…

… What to do with these old books book now?

I pored over the pages of Mom’s books, looking for her familiar young face and checking out her class activities. Most of them were familiar to me: French club, a campus play or two, a modeling job, a social club, etc.

My Dad had saved only one annual from his small town high school. Seeing his teenage smile was a moment to savor.

But, hidden among the pages was something truly wonderful, something I had overlooked when I was hurriedly packing them up.

The dreams of a young man from a small town

I finally decided to call our city library to ask if they had any interest in old school yearbooks. Yes, they replied, but only if they didn’t already have them in their collection. So I took them there, and just as I was about to hand them over, I had a last minute urge to check them again.

And that’s when I found the clipping from an old newspaper.

You see, my father once told me that his first ambition in life was to become a pro baseball player.

He was a Dad who shared his love of the sport with this lucky little girl. He taught me the rules of the game, and how to throw and catch and bat. Took me to local community games, where he coached a local team. And he was among the first to buy season tickets when our town got a pro baseball franchise.

After he died, I remembered seeing an old newspaper clipping with the headline “Ace Yellen Does it Again.” I don’t know what happened to that article. I hope it shows up someday. But for now, I’m planning to frame the one I rescued from his yearbook that day as I was about to leave the books there.

In case you can’t read the fine print, the article reports that in this game, he’d pitched an 8-0 shutout and hit a home run. And a double, too. No wonder he loved baseball. Apparently, he was pretty darn good at it.

It’s funny what happens when you start to see your parents as young people, after they’re gone. As a writer, I’m suddenly getting an urge to merge parts of their stories into something I’d like to write. Who knows? Perhaps Ace Yellen will spring to life in one of them and hit a walk-off homer.

Have you looked through your old yearbooks lately? 

Gay Yellen’s award-winning writing career began in magazine journalism.  She later served as the contributing editor for the international thriller, Five Minutes to Midnight (Delacorte), which debuted as a New York Times “Notable.”

Her multi-award-winning Samantha Newman Mystery Series is packed with suspense and laced with touches of romance, heart, and humor. Available on Amazon or through your favorite bookseller. 

 

Do You Play Games?

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In my ongoing effort to declutter, I’ve been taking books to the Family Garden in the park and filling the Little Library there. I’m always thrilled when the last batch I loaded has been taken, and I’m happy to fill it up again. 

But on occasion, there are a few oldies I just can’t part with, like my very yellowed paperback edition of Games People Play, by Eric Berne. I recently spotted it on a shelf behind two other rows of books. (Yes, my bookcases are overburdened, no matter how much I try to lighten the load.)

Mind Games

Berne’s New York Times bestseller was based on his theory of Transactional Analysis, a cultural psychology phenomenon he introduced in the early 60’s. I encountered the book years later when it was assigned reading for an acting class, and again just recently, among other text books from my early days as a theater nerd.

Inside its yellowed cover, I had dutifully underlined paragraphs of Berne’s theories with a red ink pen. Over the years, several pages became unglued. But they were all accounted for, and chock-full of the kind of mind games that define unhealthy interpersonal transactions (or, in non-psychobabble: toxic relationships).

There are 36 “games” identified in its chapters, spread among seven classifications. “Life Games” include Kick Me, Now I’ve Got You, You SOB, and See What You Made Me Do, among others. These are followed by “Marital Games,” “Party Games” (not the children’s party variety) and “Sexual Games,” followed by three more categories. You can see some of them listed on the book’s back cover.

As a treatise on psychotherapy, the point is to get patients to recognize harmful patterns of mind games that are present in their own lives, and eventually, to learn how to stop them, whether the patient is the player or the played-upon. In acting class, it was meant to help us decode the depths of a character’s motivation.

The book is way too technical to be anything but a slog. But on reflection, I realize that I’ve internalized much of its wisdom over the years. It definitely helps me create more fully rounded characters in my writing, especially for villains like E.B. Odom in The Body Business.

And in real life, thankfully, I’ve managed to avoid—or at least identify and remove myself from—most situations in which I might be feeling “played.”

Fun Games

Speaking of more pleasant games, my favorite is the one I play with my husband almost every day at lunch, when I take a break from writing. As I wind down the morning, he’s making a delicious chopped salad which we share over a backgammon table. We’re pretty evenly matched at this game, and the competition’s friendly. Afterward, I’m refreshed for the rest of the afternoon.

Any kind of healthy game can serve as an antidote to any toxic thought gremlins that invade our tranquility. Lots of people I know play Wordle or some variation of it to relieve stress. Group games like Bridge, Poker, and Mahjong are popular again, too.

It may be impossible to permanently shut the woes of the world away, but there’s no harm in trying to raise the fun quotient for a few moments of peace.

Of course, you could also lose the blues by reading a good book!

When you’re plagued by toxic mind games, what do you do to stay calm?

Gay Yellen’s award-winning writing career began in magazine journalism.  She later served as the contributing editor for the international thriller, Five Minutes to Midnight (Delacorte), which debuted as a New York Times “Notable.”

Her multi-award-winning Samantha Newman Mystery Series is full of suspense, with touches of romance, heart, and humor. Available on Amazon or through your favorite bookseller.

Rabbit Holes & Root Beer

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Help! I’ve burrowed down another rabbit hole, and I’m stuck in a warren full of of too many possibilities. So deep am I into the research for my next book that I lost track of time. Which is to say, I almost forgot to write this post.

With no plan for what to post today, I turned to a holiday calendar for inspiration. Maybe this date in history would spark and idea. Boy, did it ever, though it sent me burrowing even deeper.

Turns out, today is National Black Cow Day. Curious as to why we should celebrate dark bovines, I clicked and learned that today’s Black Cow hoopla is all about a drink I’d always known as a root beer float—that delicious concoction of vanilla ice cream melting inside a tall, icy glass of root beer.

Okay, I thought, a fun subject, but not meaty enough to write about—until I read more, and discovered sassafras.

Sassafras is an incredibly fun word to say out loud. (Try it!)

It’s also the original ingredient in root beer, first marketed in America in the 19th century by Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Hires. But that’s not what kept me deep inside that rabbit hole.

When I discovered how important sassafras was to native tribes across the eastern half of what became America, I had to read on.

Here’s why: Attentive readers of my Samantha Newman Mystery Series may recall a mention in Book 3, The Body in the News, of the discovery of a possible ancient Native American campsite on Carter Chapman’s Serenity Ranch. With the idea of that as a plot point in the next book, I’ve been researching indigenous people who may have once inhabited the region.

Cornell Botanic Gardens

Who were these people? What did they eat? What tools did they use? Were they peaceful, or warlike? What might they have left behind at the campsite? I’ve already done a ton of research based on those questions, with more to go. And, to that, I now add this question: Did sassafras trees grow on their land?

Today I learned that every part of the sassafras tree was used by Native Americans from the east coast to west of the Mississippi into Central Texas. Roots from which root beer flavoring is derived were used as toothbrushes. An emetic made from bark was used in purification after funeral ceremonies. Leaves, rubbed onto bee stings, wounds, cuts, sprained ankles, and bruises, were thought to have healing properties.

Ground Sassafras/Cornell Botanic Gardens

Timber from the sassafras tree was used in construction, furniture making, and—when explorers learned of its utility— shipbuilding. By the early 18th century, sassafras became the second-most exported American product, right behind tobacco.

I could tell you everything I’ve learned about sassafras and the possible tribes who may once have hunted on what’s now Carter Chapman’s Serenity Ranch in my books, but I’m running out of time to get this posted.

Also, I have to get back to my research.

bittersoutherner.com

But I’ll leave the foodies among you with one more sassafras fact: its leaves were also dried and pulverized for use as a thickening and flavoring agent. If you’ve ever had true Cajun gumbo, you’ve enjoyed the flavor of filé, made from ground roots or leaves of the sassafras tree.

All of which makes me hungry for some gumbo right now. Maybe I’ll chase it with a few frosty swigs of a root beer float.

Happy National Black Cow Day to you, and may your day be full of fun adventures, down rabbit holes or wherever you roam.

Gay Yellen is the author of the award-winning

Samantha Newman Mystery Series including:

The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and The Body in the News!

Writing Life and Inspiration: Strangers + “What if?” = Plots and Characters in Fiction

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By Lois Winston

Whenever I hear a writer complain that she can’t come up with an idea for a plot or character, I offer this advice: “Get off your phone and keep your eyes and ears open.” No matter where I go—from the supermarket to a doctor’s appointment to the line at the DMV—I see people with their noses buried in their phones. I’m the outlier. As an author, part of my writing life is spent eavesdropping on conversations and observing the behaviors of those around me. That’s where I get much of my writing inspiration. For me, strangers + “what if?” = plots and characters in many of my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries.

Ideas for plots and characters are all around us if we just take the time to look and listen. Neighbors, friends, relatives, strangers, and the daily news provide constant sources of ideas for plots and characters. All you need to do is channel your inner snoop gene while pretending not to pay attention.

I’ve been privy to the most sensitive of conversations while sitting on a commuter train, in a department store dressing room, and even while doing the necessary in a mall ladies’ room stall. Sometimes, I’ve even heard both ends of the conversation, thanks to the person on the train or in the dressing room or lavatory having placed the call on speaker. Those lavatory experiences became the source of a scene in Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series.

The world is full of interesting and odd individuals, and I came across some of the oddest back in 1998 when my husband and I moved to a new house. These people and their strange habits have stuck with me over the years. With the encouragement of some of my readers to whom I told about these former neighbors, I incorporated them into my latest Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery. To my knowledge, none of the real people were ever murdered or committed murder, but the traits I observed did make their way into Seams Like the Perfect Crime, the fourteenth book in my series, currently up for preorder with a release date of February 2, 2025.

Seams Like the Perfect Crime

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 14

When staffing shortages continue to hamper the Union County homicide squad, Detective Sam Spader once again turns to his secret weapon, reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack. How can she and husband Zack Barnes refuse when the victim is their new neighbor?

Revolutionary War reenactor Barry Sumner had the odd habit of spending hours mowing a small patch of packed dirt and weeds until his mower ran out of gas. He’d then guzzle beer on his front porch until he passed out. That’s where Anastasia’s son Nick discovers his body three days after the victim and his family moved into the newly built mini-McMansion across the street.

After a melee breaks out at the viewing, Spader zeroes in on the widow as his prime suspect. However, Anastasia has her doubts. There are other possible suspects, including a woman who’d had an affair with the victim, his ex-wife, the man overseeing the widow’s trust fund, a drug dealer, and the reenactors who were blackmailing the widow and victim.

When another reenactor is murdered, Spader suspects they’re dealing with a serial killer, but Anastasia wonders if the killer is attempting to misdirect the investigation. As she narrows down the suspects, will she jeopardize her own life to learn the truth?

Craft projects included.

Preorder now. Available 2/4/25

P.S.: On Monday evening, January 27th at 7pm ET (6pm CT, 5pm MT, and 4pm PT), I’ll be the guest of the Cozy Mystery Party Facebook Group, hosted by Heather Harrisson and Shawn Stevens. If you’d like to join in for a fun hour + of all things murder, mayhem, and cozy mysteries (there will be prizes and surprises!), join the group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/cozymysteryparty. 

Hope to see you there! 

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, and children’s chapter books. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

Looking Back and Peering Forward

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by Paula Gail Benson

As I reach the end of this year, I take stock of the many changes that have taken place in my life. I’ve mourned the loss of family and friends. I thanked our Pastor for including an extra candle at our All Saints’ Day commemoration to recognize those who were not members of our congregation but who were remembered in our hearts.

I’ve experienced change in my work, in the lives of my family and friends, and in the organizations to which I belong. As things develop, they bring challenges. Just as we figure out how to cope, we often see the circle coming around so that something from the past returns to sustain us.

For me, that happened this year when I reconnected with former classmates at a high school reunion. A few of us stayed late and gathered on a porch away from the music and crowd, so we could spend time talking and catch up with each other. We found we were still the people we remembered ourselves to be, and that was very comforting.

I remain grateful, when confronted with future uncertainty, that I can still rely on the past to give me hope. I am grateful that even with losses, I can celebrate discoveries.

My high school friends and I have been able to get together since our reunion. We plan to continue to do so. I look forward to our remaining close and having many new adventures.

At this time for reflection, I hope your moments of rejoicing may outweigh those of sadness and regret. May you find yourself looking forward to happiness.

Wishing you all the best of holiday seasons.

The Magic of Editing

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Source: Clker-Free-Vector Images/Pixabay

By Donnell Ann Bell

As a writer, I can attest that I stare at a computer monitor more than I ever stare at a mirror. So, it should be no surprise there are times I walk by one and am shocked at the creature staring back at me. The thoughts that come to mind? For god’s sake, woman, put some makeup on! Where did those wrinkles come from? What’s with that hair? For years, I wore my hair short because, frankly, a stylist I’m not. What’s more, many a baseball cap has come to my rescue during bad hair days.

When my husband and I moved to Las Cruces I noticed people of all ages wore their hair long. I mentioned it to my stylist who said, “Well, let’s grow yours and see what happens!” Uneasily, I agreed, and soon learned growing out layers is a process. At every appointment I’d suggest we cut it. Her response was always the same, “Not yet.” “I’m too old for long hair,” I’d insist. To which she’d argue, “Are not.”

These days there isn’t a baseball cap in my closet. Of course, I still have bad hair days but now my saving choices are banana and claw clips. (And let me tell you, those things are EASY and a side benefit of never having to fret in front of a mirror.)

In addition to not looking in mirrors, I’m terribly uncomfortable with selfies. Likewise, I haven’t had a professional author photo taken since 2010. After a recent hair appointment, when my stylist did my hair, and not me, I thought, wow, this might make a decent picture. Into my bathroom I went and came up with a possible pic—save that my glasses caught such a glare, no one could see my eyes.

I was ready to ditch the idea, when a possible solution came to me. My brilliant critique partner designs covers; she does amazing graphics as well. Maybe Lois could get rid of the glare. I sent her the photo and to my disappointment, she said, “I can’t,” then quickly added, “But my son can.”

“Never mind,” I said, mortified that anyone besides a trusted friend would look at my image. But Lois asked him anyway. Further, she added to my mortification telling me how busy he is and that it would be a week.”

A couple of days later, however, she texted me, including a GIF of Seinfeld’s Elaine doing a happy dance. Her text read, “Check your email, your picture is ready!”

“Oh my gosh,” I cried, then jokingly asked, “Do I look as good as Elaine?”

“You look better,” Lois said.

Yeah, right.  Nevertheless, I dashed to my computer and downloaded the picture that her son had edited for me and laughed out loud. I was still laughing when I called her and said, “Lois, this isn’t me.”

“It is,” she said, “Only better. He even got rid of the electric toothbrush in the background.”

Seriously? I took a selfie with my toothbrush in the background? Is it any wonder my face is perpetually red?

Want to see what he came up with?

Note: I must have been so horrified by the toothbrush pic, I deleted it before I decided to write this blog. So I found one of me having fun trying on glasses before an eye doc appt.  (FYI, I haven’t changed my glasses since 2010, either. :))

 

Before: 

 

 

                                                                                      After: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I knew Lois’s son was a talented artist who owned his own business. I had just never delved into how talented. When I pried further, Lois said, “Scott has a degree in animation. He specializes in post-production work for movies and TV. He worked for several companies in New York before starting his own when he moved to Tennessee in 2019. He’s worked on many major shows and movies and was nominated for one Emmy so far. You can find his CV on IMDb.

When I said, “He’s amazing,” she added, “I’m a proud mama.”

Well, I should say so!

It seems like cheating to use this as my author photo. Then again, we often edit things to make our projects better, right?!  I’m so grateful to Scott Winston for taking his valuable time to help what he captioned, “Mom’s friend.” I wish him amazing success and karma in life.

The fact is, I couldn’t use this photo without admitting how “doctored” it is. But trust me, I plan to use it. Lois was so generous to say, “It’s you, only better.” Know what I really think? That photo shows the magic and value of editing!

 

 

Trolls: Character vs. Caricature When Writing Suspects and Antagonists in Mysteries

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What do trolls have to do with writing suspects and antagonists in mysteries?

Trolls?

 

Trolls: Nasty creatures who live under bridges.

Trolls: Nasty people who bully others on social media.

Trolls: Weird looking collectibles from the 1960s (now the stars of animated movies.)

Trolls: Kristoff’s fun-loving adoptive family in Frozen

Trolls: Amazing works of art from recycled materials by Thomas Dambo.

I first learned of Thomas Dambo’s work when I saw a news story about him and his art installations made of recycled materials. He’s considered the world’s leading recycling artist with his work appearing throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. His more than 125 larger-than-life trolls were created to share his environmental message throughout the world in outdoor installations that use trash to create art within nature.

The trolls have noticed that “small people” (us humans) are harming the planet. The goal of these giant trolls is to educate humans, whereby they’ll rediscover nature and become thoughtful, caring stewards of our planet. A more positive message than those other trolls who frequent social media, right?

Six of Dambo’s trolls took up residence within the gardens, trees, and wooded areas of the Cheekwood Estate & Gardens in Nashville during this past spring and summer. I was lucky enough to have the chance to visit with them. They’ve since moved on to spend time at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach, VA through Jan 20, 2025. If you have a chance to visit with them, tell them I said hi.

So what do these trolls have to do with writing mysteries? Actually, quite a lot. When we think of trolls, most of us think of ugly, nasty creatures, either real or fictional. But both Thomas Dambo’s recycled trolls, Kristoff’s adopted family, and those weird bygone mini collectables showed us that not all trolls are nasty and that ugly is subjective.

Also, the best villains or antagonists are multi-layered. If they weren’t, they’d be caricatures rather than characters, and no author should be writing Snidely Whiplash-type cardboard villains. That’s why it’s so important to spend as much time developing the goals, motivations, and conflicts of our suspects in our mysteries as we do our protagonists.

We’re often asked who is our favorite fictional sleuth, but who is your favorite fictional suspect or antagonist? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free download of any one of the first eleven audiobooks in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series.

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

Luckless Love epub & print editions from co-writer team Bethany Maines & Juel Lugo.

Can I be a Co-Writer?

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A Co-Writer Spills the Beans

Co-writer team Bethany Maines & Juel Lugo present Luckless Love.In my upcoming release, Luckless Love, my heroine is returning from a year long road trip and searching for someplace to belong.  Wanting to belong to a community is a universal theme that I think appeals to readers, but when I started to write the book, I didn’t immediately leap to that theme.  I had to explain my reasoning for using it to my co-writer—Juel Lugo.

Luckless Love started out during COVID when Juel who is my business partner in real life and I took a script writing seminar on how to write a Hallmark movie.  We both felt that we could write one, and with too much time on our hands and since we were in each other’s COVID pods, we gathered around a computer and took notes on how to write a Hallmark movie.

What Are Your Co-Writer Goals?

Juel is not particularly interested in being an author.  She doesn’t want to do the work of putting words on a page, but she is endlessly interested in stories and structure.  As a life-long reader, and marketing expert, she knows that stories are what move the human psyche.  So our deal was that she would do the bulk lifting on inventing the plot. I would walk her through how to outline and then I would do the actual writing.  But that meant that we had endless discussions on our characters, their motivations and how to get them to fulfill their plot obligations.

I don’t know how other co-authors work together, but with over ten years of experience in working with each other, we managed to make it through the outline with very little disagreement.  Having both taken the seminar we both could recognize when we were deviating from the Hallmark pattern.  And then we could also agree when we were fine with leaving that path.  Hallmark has a lot of constraints about how serious or realistic things can be (don’t mention divorce or cancer!), which is understandable for their brand, but for writing a novel it can feel like the characters are lacking in depth.

Did We Make it the End?

So did we make it through the writing process with our friendship and partnership intact?  Absolutely. It was a fantastically distracting project during a time when we very much needed one.  It was also fun to take on a challenge that neither of us had done before.  The script version achieved a PNWA Literary Contest Finalist ranking and we are quite proud of our little romance novel.  We’re looking forward to it’s upcoming release on November 18.  Check out the links below if you’re also interested in a sweet romance, all about wine, second chances and finding some place to call home.

AMAZON: https://amzn.to/4dfmAO6

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216958888-luckless-love

***

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She participates in many activities including swearing, karate, art, and yelling at the news. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay). You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

 

Remember to check out all of the Stiletto Gang’s catalog on our book page!  www.thestilettogang.com/books/

Creativity is a process.

Creativity

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Is it Creativity or Goddess?

As someone who works in a creative field professionally, I’m endlessly interested in how creativity functions. Where does anyone get their inspiration?  Heck, where do I get my inspiration? The Greek idea of a muse—a goddess who comes by to inspire an artist—makes sense to me because sometimes ideas do feel external to myself.

Well, how did you come up with that?

Well, first I was doing the laundry while listening to Pandora (can’t get away from those Greek myths today, can I?) and the song used the phrase “bad for business” which reminded me of Risky Business, which made me think of Tom Cruise, and then I started to wonder why so many people were confused by the original Mission Impossible plot.  Thirty minutes later, I was jotting down an idea about what would happen if a demon burst through the floor of a non-profit fundraiser.  Basically, I came up with the idea by having a lived experience and feeding it all into the hopper of my brain and letting everything pinball around like one of those kid’s mower toys with the balls that go pop-pop-pop.

a representation of the brain of bethany maines and her creativitySo You Live With that Brain All the Time?

I do!  And I like it!  I worry about people who can’t connect completely random dots.  Don’t they get bored just going from A to B to C?  It’s so much better to go A to Q to C to R.  But that’s not to say that creativity is just something that happens.  There are ways to lure the muse into the house and trap her in a box.

To be clear, I’m referring to a computer where my muse has full reign to create whatever she wants. We are not shoving women in boxes over here. (I never saw Boxing Helena, but I have been troubled by it since I read the back of the box in a Blockbuster in the 90s.  Who greenlit that?!  Don’t Google it.  You’re happier not knowing.)

The trick is to gather both the correct input (Read books! Watch movies! Experience the creativity of others!), and make sure I have the space and time to create. But probably my number one trick is to look for a problem to solve.

What problem?

I love James Bond, but when I wrote my first novel, there weren’t a lot of female spies in the marketplace.  So I solved that problem.  I wrote Bulletproof Mascara about a girl who starts by selling make-up and ends up saving the world. Want to know what other problems I’ve solved? Check out my website to find out.

BethanyMaines.com

Or head over to the Stiletto Gang’s books page to see what the Gang’s creativity has produced: StilettoGang.com/books/

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Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She participates in many activities including swearing, karate, art, and yelling at the news. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay). You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.