Daily Dose - Day Two: All About Nevada

As you can imagine, I did a lot of research when writing Gambling on the Outlaw, and a lot of that research was about Nevada, where the story takes place.

I'd be willing to bet that most of us don't know much about states we don't live in.

Because I'm kind of a nerd in general, I just like to learn new stuff. So all this new info I discovered about Nevada hit the nerdy sweet spot for me!

Sandwiched between California and Utah

For those of you who don't know much about Nevada, here's some really cool stuff about the state:


1. The first European explorers to the state were Spanish, and called the place Nevada (which means snowy, or snow-covered) because of all the snow on the mountains.  Cool, huh?

And you thought the whole state was a desert...

2. Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe are the tribes native to the Nevada area. One of the main characters in Gambling on the Outlaw is a Paiute woman named Nellie. She'll be the heroine of book four!

3. Nevada is known as the Silver State because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. The characters in Gambling on the Outlaw discover a gold mine in the course of their adventures. For many years, gold and silver were valued the same by the U.S. government, until silver was devalued because of a glut on the market.

4. The capital of Nevada is Carson City. (My grandparents lived there for many years).

5. The state is ranked 7th in total area of all U.S. states, but ranked 35th in population.

6. Claimed by the Spanish as the first Europeans to explore it, the area became part of the Spanish Empire. Nevada then became part of Mexico, when it gained its independence from Spain. After the Mexican-American war, the United States annexed the area in 1848. Nevada became the 36th state in October 1864.

7. Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legal (except in Las Vegas and Reno). One of the characters in Gambling on the Outlaw is a former prostitute. Her name is Daisy, and she'll be the heroine of book three!

8. The "official" pronunciation of Nevada, as preferred by natives of the state, is that the first "a" is pronounced like the "a" in "bad."

9. Nevada is the driest state in the United States.

Okay, a lot of it is desert.

 10. Nevada has the most liberal divorce laws in the country. It's also pretty easy to get married there, too (hence all the quickie weddings in Las Vegas).

11. Over 80% of the state's area is owned by the federal government.

12. The August 2010 issue of The Economist is quoted as saying: "Nevada was founded on mining and refounded on sin."

Luckily, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?

13. Nevada's primary agricultural outputs are cattle, hay, alfalfa, dairy, onions, and potatoes. One of the characters in Gambling on the Outlaw is a cattle baron, greedy for the heroine's land.

14. Nevada does not have an income tax, either personal or corporate.


15.  State animal:  Desert bighorn sheep 
 

       State bird:      Mountain bluebird
 
       State colors:  Silver and blue
       State flower:  Sagebrush
 
       State motto:   "The battle born state"
       State gems:    Black fire opal and Nevada turquoise 
 

       


Nevada's a fascinating place, isn't it? I hope you enjoy reading about it in Gambling on the Outlaw.

~Margaret

Daily Dose - Day One

In my last post, I revealed the cover for Gambling on the Outlaw, which releases on June 23, 2015.

Because the novel is set in the fictional town of Palmer, Nevada in 1873, I thought it might be fun to share some daily pictures, trivia, and information about the place, time, and people.

Let's start off today with Virginia City, Nevada. Part of the story takes place in Virginia City, which sprang up around the Comstock Lode, the first major silver deposit discovered in the United States.  At it's boomtown peak, the population averaged 25,000, but after 1878 it declined and in 2010 was somewhere between 800 and 900.

Virginia City in the 1870s

Today, Virginia City is a tourist attraction. When I was a little kid in the 1970s my grandparents lived in Carson City, and I remember on one trip to visit them, they took us to Virginia City. Grandpa gave me and my sister centennial silver dollars and we were in awe of the huge coins!

A more modern Virginia City

A couple of bits of Virginia City trivia:

1. Louis L'Amour's book "Comstock Lode" takes place in Virginia City during the silver rush.
2. The fictional Ponderosa Ranch from the TV show Bonanza is near Virginia City and the characters visit town often, but the Virginia City shown in the TV show is actually a set located on the RKO lot in Hollywood.
3. The Red Dog Saloon in Virginia city is where Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Charlatans, the Grateful Dead, and others got their start in the summer of 1965, and contributed to West Coast hippie culture.



Come back tomorrow for your next Daily Dose of the 1870s!

~Margaret

Gambling on the Outlaw - Cover Reveal!

So, here's the cover for my June 23, 2015 Entangled Publishing title, Gambling on the Outlaw, book one of the Nevada Bounty series.

 

 

 

Genre: Historical romance

Length: 84k

Pub date: June 23, 2015

Nevada is no easy place for a woman, especially for Beth Caldwell, a gambler's widow with an independent streak. When she refuses to marry the local cattle baron-who wants to add her land to his empire-Beth ends up with a powerful enemy. But it's not until she finds a handsome outlaw hiding in her barn that her trouble really begins.  

Isaac Collins survived the Civil War only to find himself the scapegoat for stagecoach robbery and murder. With nothing left to lose, he gambles everything on revenge...and barely escapes with his life. He stumbles back to Beth's place, and as she nurses him back to health something tender and heated grows between them.

But in Nevada, sometimes everything can ride on one high-stakes game of chance...and Beth's rejected suitor will do whatever it takes to get what he wants.

Excerpt

I squared my shoulders and entered the room, determined to behave myself properly.

He was sat up in bed with several pillows piled behind him for support, looking every bit as if he belonged there, enough so that last night came to mind and I was tempted to crawl in and snuggle up next to him. But I gave myself a mental shake. He was quickly turning me into a silly schoolgirl. 

I am a strong, independent woman. 

I had other women depending on me and I couldn’t let some male drifter, a wanted man no less, distract me from my responsibilities. 

I placed the tray on his lap and backed away as quickly as possible, taking a seat in the rocker I’d spent so much time in the last few days.

“It seems your presence is causing quite a stir around here. My friends don’t quite know how to react to you."

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You said none of your lady friends knows how to react to me. What about you? Do you know how to react to me?”

The taste of his lips on mine leaped to mind unbidden, along with the feel of his hands on me, and that’s all it took for my double-crossing heart, and my equally rebellious body, to react with lusty desire. I’d assumed I’d never again be lucky enough to find a man who made me feel that way, and yet here he was, already in my bed. 

Although I wanted very much to shift from the rocker to the edge of the bed and assist him with his breakfast, perhaps feeding him bits of bread with creamy butter that he’d have to lick from my fingertips, I opted for maintaining at least a modicum of decency and kept my rear end rooted to the chair. I suspected where Mr. Isaac Collins was concerned, me and my good sense were in a heap of trouble, because my body had clearly declared war against us.

“Just how would you expect me to react?” 

He’d been watching me, waiting for my answer, those warm brown eyes regarding me from under a fringe of dark lashes, making my belly flutter like a flock of hummingbirds had nested inside.

“A smart woman would be on her guard. She’d be concerned and maybe even afraid, and she’d send me on my way, happy to see the back of me. And I took you for a smart woman.” 

 Preorder links

 Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 About the Author

Margaret writes romance and science fiction, and lives in the vast Northern Plains where it’s quiet, mostly empty, and conducive to letting her imagination run wild. When she's not writing you’ll find her in a college classroom teaching English, or working as a literary agent for an amazing agency…and of course enjoying time with her family. 

Author Links

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Website | Blog

~Margaret 

Top Ten Reasons to Continue Writing

I've been struggling lately, so I'm going to talk about it. I'm working on the third book in a historical romance series. The first book, Gambling on the Outlaw, will be released June 23, 2015 through Entangled Publishing. It should be available for preorder soon.

I wrote book two (still untitled because I suck at titles) and turned that in to my editor in February. I struggled with formulating a plot and writing that book, but I had six months to do it, and I diligently went to work on plotting in Month One, and started writing in Month Two. I completed the first draft in Month Four, edited it, sent it to betas, edited more, and turned it into the editor two weeks early.

Now I'm facing book three. I know who the heroine is. I know who the hero is. I have some general plot notes. And yet, I can't sit the fuck down and write the damn book.

I've had six months to write this book, as well. The deadline is August 31. This means I've already piddled away three of my six months.

At this point, I'm paralyzed by fear...fear of the deadline, fear that I can't inhabit the characters, fear that the words won't come, fear that it'll suck hard.

I keep telling myself that I haven't written anything yet because I've been so busy with everything else in my life, and as soon as that stuff's cleared up, I'll be free to write. But the truth is, I'm just fucking terrified.



Which brings me to the point of this whole rant: I know I'm not the only one who feels this when faced with writing a book. If, as authors, we're so discouraged, distressed, intimidated, by the job of writing...why do we even do it???

Here are my Top Ten Reasons to Continue Writing (in no particular order):

1. Because creating people and worlds is as close to magic as I'll ever get.

2. Because my brain won't shut up, so I may as well get something out of it.

3. Because it's illegal to kidnap people and make them act out the stories in my head (yes, you've seen versions of this as a meme...but it's TRUE).

4. Because it allows me to be someone else, somewhere else, doing something else, and exploring the things I'm afraid of.

5. Because the characters in my head beg me to tell their stories (even if I'm afraid I won't be able to tell them well).

6. Because it allows me to escape reality, which can sometimes be a prison.

7. Because (if I'm a lucky writer) I've signed a contract and I'm on deadline.

8. Because it was my first true love in life and even after I spurned it for years, it's always been there

9. Because everything around me every day is fresh storytelling material and I must use it!

10. Because it's as necessary to my life as breathing.


Okay, I feel a little better now. Reminding myself why I write helps motivate me to sit down and get it done.
 


When you're faced with the fear monster, why do you keep doing it?


~Margaret

Cast of Characters: Part Four, Dialogue

In the character series so far, we've talked about casting characters, giving them names, and developing them using a worksheet and interviews.

Today, I want to talk about talking.

Don't write terrible dialogue. Because it's terrible. Yet hilarious.

Characters are people, or sometimes animals or aliens or some other creature, but the point is they're living beings who communicate with each other. Way back at the beginning of this discussion I pointed out that a story without characters is pretty boring. Likewise, a story with characters who don't interact and talk to each other is equally boring, making dialogue an integral component of storytelling.

What is dialogue supposed to accomplish? 

1. Characterization and voice.
2. Reveal characters' relationships.
3. Move story forward.
4. Increase tension.

Tyrion:  Getting all four purposes in one line of dialogue.

What does dialogue look like?

The mechanics of dialogue are pretty simple: 1) Indent every time a new character speaks; 2) put spoken words in quotation marks; 3) punctuation goes inside the quotation marks (comma if you're using a dialogue tag, period if you're not). So it looks like this:

          "Come in, " Jessica called.

          The door opened and Ginger walked in. She looked at Jessica, looked at Wyatt, then back to Jessica, before biting her lips to stifle a laugh. She failed miserably. "Did I interrupt something?" she asked.

          "No," Jessica said, trying for aloof. "What can I do for you, Ginger?"

          "Seriously? You're going to be that way?"

          "What way is that?"

          "Pretend professional, when your bra is crooked, your hair's a mess, you're flushed, and your lips are swollen. And Dr. Sexy Pants is all smug over there." 

           

How to do it well:

There's a lot of crappy dialogue out there, but if you consider these tips, yours won't be.

1. Showing not telling.

I know, you hear this a lot. It's like white noise in the background, you hear it so much. But in this case I mean don't just say, "and then they went to lunch."  Write the scene. Use dialogue as an opportunity to show who the characters are and how going to lunch  moves their story forward.

2. Ground the dialogue in a scene.

In order to avoid the ping-pong of back and forth talking heads, break it up with actions and reactions from the characters.

3. Make sure all the dialogue is necessary.

Small talk is tedious and boring, so get in late and leave early. You don't need all the 'hi' and 'bye' chitchat.

4. Don't monologue.

People speak in short bursts, not long sweeping speeches so keep dialogue short and crisp. It'll keep readers from skimming.

5. Make it real, not realistic.

It should give the impression of real speech without the choppiness and hesitation. Use realistic-sounding clear sentences, but remember, people speak in contractions so try to avoid stiff-sounding standard English.

6. Use silences and avoidance to convey meaning.

 If a character doesn't respond to another's question, or changes the subject, that can convey tension or relationship issues. If one character says "I love you," and the other doesn't respond, you know there's something up.

7. Avoid exposition as dialogue.

Characters don't talk about stuff they both already know, so avoid dialogue like this:


“Hey, remember Grandpa lived on a farm in Oklahoma where he raised chickens until a tornado wiped out the whole place and then he went to live with Uncle Billie-Bob in Texas?”

8. Differentiating characters

Be sure your characters' personalities are expressed in their dialogue. Are they funny? shy? tactless? That should come across. Try taking out all the tags and reading the dialogue out loud. Can you tell which character is which?

9. Slang/accents 

Less is more here, folks. It's tempting if you're writing a Scottish hero to go overboard on the wee bairns, ye ken? Same for ethnic slang or dialect. If you overdo it, it can come across as unintentionally comical, offensive, or just plain difficult to read.

Any excuse for a pic of Jamie Fraser...

10. People don't say each others' names in every line of dialogue. 

People just don't talk like this:

   "Hi Bob, how are you."
   "I'm fine, Sarah, how are you?"
   "Well, Bob, I'm fine, thanks for asking. What are you eating for lunch, Bob?"
   "I'm glad you asked, Sarah. I'm having a PBJ on rye. What are you eating, Sarah?"

11. Be sparing with exclamation marks. Too many makes it sound like a bunch of 13-year-old girls talking to each other. OMG! 



Places to Study Dialogue

I just threw a bunch of tips at you, but where can you see them in action? Study them? 

 - Read a play! It's all dialogue. See how dialogue and character interaction makes the story come alive.

- Watch a movie! It's better if you can do it with the screenplay in hand, but if you can't watch how characters talk to each other and make the story come alive through speech.

One of my fave movies.

 
- Read other books in the genre you write! Don't just read them, study them (but don't copy them).

- Read your dialogue scenes out loud! How do they sound?

- Eavesdrop on conversations!  This is a good way to see how not to write dialogue, because people speak in such a choppy, non-linear. It's amazing they ever understand each other

Finally: Dialogue TAGS

I'm saving this for a post unto itself because there's just so much to say, so stay tuned...



Did I miss any important dialogue tips? If so, feel free to share!

~Margaret

Literary Ink

My daughter and I did this on Monday:

mother/daughter ink

My husband said now that we have tats we're badasses (because nothing says badass like a tat that says "love"). 

Of course, tattoos aren't for everyone, though I have to say as a romance writer tatted heroes are kinda hot (you're welcome for not indulging in a spam of hot tattooed guy pix...unless you want that, in which case I can dedicate an entire blog post to it).

I've been considering getting inked for a while, and now that I've done it, there are several others I want to get. This is the next one:

homage to Farenheit 451

I love this because it's simple, but says so much. Symbolic of the fight against censorship, specifically of books and words, but in a larger sense of ideas and people, I see it as a literary equivalent of NoH8.

When I was researching the 451 tattoo, I came across a whole slew of others inspired by books and literature. As an author, it warmed my heart and gave me hope for humanity that people could be so inspired by words and stories as to put permanent reminders of them on their bodies.

Here are some of the most interesting:

Great Gatsby (I'm not a fan of the book, but this is an interesting tat)

Still I Rise, Maya Angelou

Fellowship of the Rings

Cool combo of Hamlet and Nancy Drew

Chronicles of Narnia

Perks of Being a Wallflower

 

I found a lot of Harry Potter ink, but this one is pretty cool

This is similarly simple and adorable

creepy...

From Ender's Game

Where the Wild Things Are

Slaughterhouse Five

Not really "literature" but still fun!

Of course, Hunger Games

From my fave series ever (The Dark Tower)...this one is tempting...

Anyway, you get the idea. There are as many literary tattoos as there are books and people who love them, which is pretty darn awesome if you ask me. If you were to get literary ink, what would your choice be?

~Margaret