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Month: August 2021

Nellie Stockbridge Wallace Idaho
Nellie Stockbridge – Real Life Character

Nellie Stockbridge – Real Life Character

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Works:  Bully of Burke and Nellie Stockbridge Mystery Name: Nellie Stockbridge Born: 1868, Illinois. Died: May 22, 1965, Wallace, ID. In 1898, at age 30, Nellie Stockbridge left her home in Illinois to work with Thomas Barnard at his Wallace, Idaho photography studio. A year after her arrival the area exploded — April 1899 Coeur d’Alene Mining Insurrection — which she and Barnard documented. Over the next decades, working often to exhaustion, Nellie photographed the people and places of one of…

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Does Your Novel have Flavor?

Does Your Novel have Flavor?

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If you start with substandard ingredients your broth will be clear and your soup unflavorful and disgusting. You wouldn’t serve cold french fries and stale bread to your in-laws would you? (OK, don’t answer that!) Every stew begins with individual ingredients: stock, veggies, meat, herbs and seasonings, flour for thickening. These ingredients are similar to preparing your story: characters, location, conflict. It is the type of ingredients we choose and how they are combined that determines the quality of final…

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Discovering Depth in My Characters

Discovering Depth in My Characters

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I just finished a great 2 hour writing session — 1000 words based on introducing two of sub-characters in my book “Bully of Burke.” I am fascinated by history, and when they state “a picture says a thousands words” it is so true. I have been scouring the photographic records of TN Barnard and Nellie Stockbridge from the Coeur d’Alenes, and with each photo – a new character comes to life. Over 10 years ago I outlined my mining story…

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Writing Fishing for Ideas
Finding Writing Prompts with Fishwrap

Finding Writing Prompts with Fishwrap

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When you hit that writing wall or are trying to come up with that best-selling story, you COULD try picture prompts or…. get out the FISHWRAP. FISH•WRAP: Slang for any printed journalistic medium (newspaper, magazine, etc.) with such low credibility and standards in acceptable journalism, that its only useful function is to wrap fresh fish in. Well, this definition isn’t exactly true. Old newspapers were used for a variety of things, from wrapping fish (or other items) from the market,…

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Mistake by Tumisu
Learning from Book Reviews

Learning from Book Reviews

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Reviews can help you be a better writer, if you listen. Authors can become obsessed by reviews, but there is more there than good or bad. Reviews give you a lot of insight into what the reader expects in a book. This morning, Amazon sent their latest book reads offer for $1.99. One book caught my attention, not to read, but I liked the cover, so I went to the product page to take a screen shot for my “cover…

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