Do I have authors who have inspired me? (Z Minor)

The only inspiration I ever got from a story was to keep reading to find out what happened to the characters. Did the mystery get solved? Did the people in love actually get together, and did the bad people get their just desserts?

I started reading while in grade school and yes, it was a long time ago. I would sit reading the latest Trixie Belden or Nancy Drew story while I somewhat listed to American Bandstand on TV. My mother said most of the time my feet were thrown over the arm of the chair and my head kept time to the music. Meaning when she called me to set the table I didn’t hear her. I was known to finish a book in one day – if it was good.

I can’t recall any of the stories, but I remember I pictured myself transformed into them and along with the characters I helped solved the mystery, etc.  I remembered early Barbara Cartland’s romance novels – her daughter became Princess Diana’s stepmother in real life.

Many of the author’s names I can’t recall nor do I remember their stories in great detail. I just remember they took me to another place or another time. I couldn’t wait to finish them and get another book, so I could once again be transformed into another adventure.

I like books that make the characters seem real; good, bad or in-between.  I am not fond of horror or Sci-Fi. Yet, I have read a few Sci-Fi books that I really enjoyed. I could never get interested in horror no matter how hard I tried or how much someone recommended them to me.

If a book doesn’t peak my interest in the first ten pages, I put it down and don’t usually pick it back up. I can look past print errors I notice now because I too am a writer and know how hard they are to find no matter how many times I proofread my stories.

I still read a lot of books, fiction and non-fiction. Our library has had books sales and I usually purchase a couple of grocery sacks full and read them within a week or two. The price is right -$4.00 a bag. My taste in my reading hasn’t changed Just give me great characters, a believable plot, and I am hooked.

Happy reading and if you are a writer – happy writing.

Z. Minor

Author of Historical Romantic & Contemporary Suspense Novels.

10 Authors who inspire me by J Vincent

The topic is rather self-explanatory.  While I have come up with ten I have failed to detail as I would like.  My back surgery morphed into a second surgery and now a third looms. The first five authors are all mystery/crime writers.  The first three are British the last two are American and write in the present day.  I’ve enjoyed all of these immensely and learned more than I can say from their different styles.  If you’ve never perused any of them I recommend you do so now.

The last five are Regency writer.  All of them share a tendency towards mystery, some stronger than others.  Like the mystery writers above, they are queens of research. They also have different styles but it is their characters than draw you on and on.  Page turners all.

MYSTERY WRITERS:

 P D James  Commander Adam Dalgliesh of New Scotland Yard solves intricate crimes

Ann Perry   I follow two of her series: Thomas and Charlotte Pitt and private detective William Monk and volatile nurse Hester Latterly

Dorothy Sayer  Lord Peter Wimsey books and other mysteries

J A Jance   J P Beaumont and Joanna Brady are two different series that occasionally overlap. 

Margaret Maron  Deborah Knott Series

REGENCY WRITERS:

 C S Harris   Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries.   Harris’ books are full of detail, intense plotting, and interesting and intriguing characters. The journey St. Cyr makes is incredible and a terrific page turner.

Georgette Heyer  

 Heyer's stories took place amid events that had occurred years earlier, and included details on the period in order for her readers to understand it. She included descriptions of dress and home life to flesh out her novels. Heyer's best touch is found in her knowledge of the minute details of  her aristocratic characters and  the emotional structure behind it.

Jo Beverley   Company of Rogues Series and many others.  A present day writer of Regencies who  excels with her various series' interconnections.

Kate Ross Cut to the Quick: Julian Kestrel #1 was an American mystery author who wrote four books set in Regency-era England about dandy Julian Kestrel.  The detail and characterizations in her work was well matched by the plotting. She died far too young in 1998.  

 Patricia Veryan - Although Veryan’s novels are set in the Regency, they are not traditional Regency Romance, but historicals with a diligently researched background. She wrote four core series using many of the same characters so that her books are linked. I especially enjoyed (The Tales of the Jewelled Men

Writers Who Inspire Me (Katherine Pritchett)

  

      First of all, let me, apologize for completely forgetting last month’s blog. I was in Tennessee with all my children and grandchildren, including the one just born in July; for some reason, blogs were not on my mind. And now it is really hard to focus on much of anything, because my novel, What the River Knows, will be released by The Wild Rose Press on October 14. (You can preorder now, but the e-book won't download until the 14th and the paperback won't ship until then.) 

The E-book link http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=195&products_id=6413 

The Paperback link

http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=191&products_id=6459 

       This is the culmination of a dream I’ve cherished since I was 14. Or maybe I should say, the beginning of the dream. My dream included me being the author of many books. So, when we celebrate at WARA’s retreat in a couple of weeks, we will drink to the next book.

          

      Now, on to writers who inspire me. I could say Stephen King, who persevered despite reams of rejections, or Frank Herbert, whose Dune made me despair of ever writing that well, or Ray Bradbury, whose Martian Chronicles is a lyrical allegory I enjoy still. Or Hemingway, toiling through despair, alcoholism and great mistakes in love—he wrote better miserable. But the writers who truly inspire me are none of the so-called greats. Those writers who keep me going are the writers I know personally.

            

    Many of these are the ladies of WARA. Like me, most of you hold down a full time job, many of you parent children still at home. You deal with many tasks that demand your attention and it is easy to put off the writing “till there is more time.” But we all know that time is never guaranteed. So, on we write. We usually don’t finish a novel in a month, even pushed by NaNoWriMo or WARA’s version of it. We are lucky to grab 15 minutes to add a paragraph or two to our work in progress. Yet, we critique each other’s work, brainstorm with our friends to help break through blockages in the plot flow, research one more idea. We keep on going, no matter what tries to keep us from writing. We can’t “not write.”

    

   I’m sure the greats we would hope to emulate had these same issues. They kept on keeping on and we can, too. Maybe someday, we’ll be the writers another generation will look to as examples. Let’s give them good ones.

   Write on!