Zombie Shows, Historical Fiction, and The Road Ahead

February 12, 2025annabowling Leave a comment

Well, it’s February. Normally, this is the month that even voices that don’t normally talk about romance novels, talk about romance novels. This year, the world is kind of….:sucks in deep breath: which is a sign that we need romance novels now more than ever. I am definitely up for doing my part. “But, Anna,” you ask, “where do the zombies come in?” Usually through the door. Sorry, sorry, I could not resist, but I do have a real reason.

Z Nation is my current watch, more than a lighter and funnier version of The Walking Dead (the absolute tippity top of zombie shows, IMO) or at least that’s my takeaway from midway through the first of five seasons, where I am now. I watched both seasons of the prequel show, Black Summer, which had a much more serious tone, and originally passed on this show because I wasn’t sure the jokes would jibe with the zombie apocalypse, but that vanished as soon as I saw multiple zombies taken out by the Liberty Bell (yes, that one) and I am now fully on board. Yes, I checked the wiki, and the dog is okay.

What’s better than zombies? British zombies, or as they are called in this series, Partially Deceased Syndrome Sufferers. In short, they found a cure, and the former infected are sent back to their homes, medicated and ready to mingle…if society is ready for them, which they often are not. Our protagonist, Kieran, even finds the opposition in his own home, as his sister is part of the Human Volunteer Force, dedicated to getting rid of the, well, you know. This time we are in a small rural village in the north of England. The second season hangs on a cliffhanger (with two romances in the balance) but I used my writer powers to decided what happened if I were in charge, so the ending in my head is satisfactory.

Anna. Zombies, and how they relate to romance writing? I’m getting there. The idea for what would eventually be the first of my Ravenwood series, A Heart Most Errant, came from the cover of the dearly departed Romantic Times magazine, which advertised, in two separate articles, medieval romance and post-apocalyptic romance. My brain immediately wanted to marry the two, and what says “historical end of the world” more than a deadly disease that slapped Europe upside the head three times in twenty years? Plus, there was a flood the year after the last plague ended, so we are talking giant paradigm shifts here.

I would check the spine of this book to see if it was marketed as historical romance or historical fiction, but I don’t have a physical copy, so I am going on my own impression and say it’s straddling the divide. I am fine with that. Early Federal period, starting in Westchester, NY, about two generations removed from the people in the first book of the duology, and Our Heroine is now in search of her hubby who went to the frontier to recover from economic ruin. I’m optimistic that she’ll find him, and that’s enough to keep me going.

Anna. There. Were. No. Zom. Bies. In. That. Book.

Okay, okay, I know. I’m getting there. If I had to pick a favorite horror creature, right now, it would be zombies. Not only do I relate to shambling in a stupor looking for sustenance (I call that morning) but the idea of an antagonist that Keeps On Coming is one I can easily comprehend. Also, watching Our Heroes put them down does have a certain measure of catharsis to it. Protagonists who have to fight their way through opposition that keeps coming and can’t be reasoned with or even communicated with (unless one is Murphy from Z Nation) that’s something I can get behind. Our protagonists do what they have to do to survive, make it to the next day, and protect the ones they love.

Right now, for Richard and Cecilia, the hero and heroine of Ravenwood #2, A Heart Most Ardent, that means marrying a total stranger. Richard’s remote country estate survived the plague fairly well, but he did lose his first wife, leaving no children. Cecilia also lost her husband to the plague, as well as her son, and now must plan a future for herself and her young daughter. How do two people go from not knowing the other exists, to marriage, and then to love? Well, that’s the story, isn’t it? All of my favorite zombie tales have total strangers coming together in unusual circumstances, to make a strong found family, so this fits right in with that.

While I’m doing this, Melva is giving Drama King a final once-over, so we can start the indie pub process with that as well. Picture an out of work British actor wallowing in his great failure, and an aggressively optimistic literary agent who is dedicated to advocating for true creative talent. Melvn and I have had great fun writing this successor to Chasing Prince Charming, and can’t wait to introduce you all to Kelly and Jack.

Which brings me to the other bit of news; there are going to be some changes to the blog. Not only will I be bringing MelvaandAnna.com over here so all my writing related content is all in one place, but I am also starting on my very first ambassadorship in social media, with abundance coach, photographer and all around awesome human being, Eryka Peskin. I’ve taken several of her programs as well as one on one calls and highly recommend her offerings, so I am excited to have a platform to spread the word. Oh, and she is not a zombie.

What’s going on in your world?

Camp NaNo Prep, Story Soundtracks, and Other Stories

March 30, 2024annabowling Leave a comment

In about a day and a half, I will start my first historical romance project in…a while. Can a thing feel scary and like coming home at the same time? Apparently, yes. I don’t know very much about the story I have given a working title of Love in a Northern Town, (will definitely change that title. Stories usually tell me their names when they are ready.) because one of the very first things I knew about it was that it would take place in the Noth of England, a setting I haven’t written in yet. Why? Well, why not? It’s not like I haven’t done that before.

Once upon a time, I sat in the kitchen of a pair of dear friends, both musicians, who were off tuning their tunes, while I dog/apartment sat and figured I could use the time to double as a writing retreat. I wrote the start of what would eventually become Orphans in the Storm, which I hope to rerelease in the near future. I knew exactly nothing about the Isle of Man, but that wasn’t the setting I picked; it was the setting. Writer friends, you know what that means. Research. It means research.

“Whithersoever you throw it, it will stand.”

Manx flag and motto right there. Translated from the Manx (because they have their own language and if you think that meant I had to figure out what kind of grammar a native Manx speaker would use if English was their second language, you are right.) in the modern vernacular, whichever way you throw me, I stand. If you are guessing that such a translation slammed into me with a physical force, you are also right. Yes. There she was, my Manx-raised British heroine, Jonnet, torn from the only home she knew and summoned to the faraway Court in Exile of Charles II at the end of the English Civil War. Torn off every mooring she’d ever thought she had, she found her own footing, and most unexpectedly of all, love.

The motto applies as well to her hero, Simon, a king’s man if there ever was one, determined to do whatever it took to do his part in restoring the rightful king to his throne. Simon wasn’t only patriotic, but also wanted to do his beloved father proud, which meant that I listened to a lot of Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying,” because that was Simon’s dad’s song, full stop. I’m not in charge of these things.

I only discovered this children’s choir version today, but it was one of those very good gut punches, so that’s what I’m sharing here.

For Simon, the theme song was “Superman,” by Five For Fighting. Oh Simon, Simon, Simon, always wanting to do the right thing, even if it hurts. Maybe especially then. Simon has issues.

I have loved this song from the first time I heard it, but never saw the video before today.

As for Jonnet, I didn’t know at first that I had a song for her, but as soon as I decided I needed to know, boom, there it was. “Time After Time,” by Cyndi Lauper. I picked the isolated vocals version because that suited Jonnet best, raised in isolation, where she developed bone-deep loyalty and resilience that served her well.

I remember watching the video when it was new. Still holds up. Well done, madam.

I loved writing this book. Loved less learning that I had actually sold it during caregiver brain fog and had less than a month to submit my final-final copy, when the computer I had at the time munched all of my files. Thankfully, I had backups, in my longstanding writing gtoup, so I called in every scrap of paper I gave them, and spent hours on the office floor, piecing together the whole book from scratch. My dear sister-friend, Kathleen Underwood, who was a fabulously talented graphic artist turned my babblings and a handful of separate images into the exact moment when Jonnet first spots the ship that has come to take her from her home and into her destiny, with that same gut punch of “yes, that’s it!” as mentioned about above songs. Kathleen, whom friends called Kady, is no longer with us, but I will forever treasure this straight out of my brain to her screen piece of art.

One hundred percent, if she were still with us, I would have her mockup of a cover for this new story on my desk, to draw inspiration. I don’t have anything like that on hand, and I want it, so I will have to see what my limited collage skills can do. What I can do, though, is start a playlist, I have a playlist for all of my stories. Well, each. They all get their own. It doesn’t matter that this new story (not sure I even want to refer to it as LIAT until I know its name, but one has to call the new baby something) takes place in the first half of the eighteenth century (the Augustan era, a term I was last week years old when I discovered, and mainly refers to literature, but I felt the gut punch of reognition, so that’s the setting, yep) so nobody in this story would know about Frank Sinatra, trains, or even lemonade, but the phrase, “life in a northern town” and the heartbeat-like vocalization that’s just sounds and not words (music people, help- I know this isn’t scat, but what’s the hey hey ahh ma ma ma part called?)

once again, I am an 80s kiddo, so I know and love the original, but trust me, Davy (LIAT’s hero) will pull for a pub full of boisterous if not fully sober locals any day.

As for Davy’s heroine, Julia, she hasn’t told me her song yet. She’s trying to keep a low profile, so I don’t blame her. Gently reared London gal, taking a job so far up north it’s basically the other side of the border, to avoid the repercussions of some bad family decisions (but piece of cake compared to the bad family decisions she lands smack in the middle of, oopsie.) Maybe something by Mary Chapin Carpenter? My heroines generally like Mary Chapin Carpenter. I’ll get back to you on that. In the meantime, if you’re a writer are you doing Camp NaNo? If you’re a reader, what’s the best gut punch of a book you ever read?

Monthly Reset and The Delicate Question

May 29, 2023annabowling Leave a comment

Hey there, hi there, ho there, Neighborinos. What does it say when my cat has her intro down pat while I’m still trying stuff out? Trick question; doesn’t matter. What does matter is the planning and the writing, not always in that order.

Ever since I stumbled upon the idea of a weekly and monthly reset (not yet up to the point of a yearly reset, but it will come) I slid straight into it like a custom-made shoe. Then again, maybe I have, since this is the first year in a long time that I have been in a wire bound planner. Well, one of my planners, I am also in a traveler’s notebook for my everyday carry (EDC) setup, and no worries about my disc bound stuff; that’s moved over to other duties. Plus ring binders, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I like the fresh start of a new month or week, even day, as the thirst for a morning routine (initiated by abovementioned cat, so “feed cat” is the first thing on that list) rises fast and urgent. What are we doing right now? This concerns everybody’s schedules Our household is three adult humans and one calico cat. The humans all have their own household duties and areas of expertise. Meal planning, for instance, is shared between myself and Real-Life Romance Hero, because I am the planner, and he is the foodie. Housemate is in charge of getting the groceries, while I make the list. She’s happy to eat pretty much anything, and since we live in a city, “delivery” counts as a food group.

This weekend, Housemate and I will hie ourselves off to another region for the pursuit of art and craft supplies, hopefully with some in person face time with friends who live there. Sorry, burglars, RLRH will be home, and Storm has a sitter who will be stopping by as needed. Knowing that my daily journal/planner stuff is all in one tote, ready to go to a different room, outside, or on the road, knocks a lot of uncertainty out of the picture, and I like that,

That seems like a good place to pop over to “the delicate question.” If you are a gentle reader, do not Google it Seriously, seriously, do not Google it. Also do not click on the link above, because it will tell you. If, however, you are like the kind of historical romance writer who has a stuffed Plague Doctor, baby raven, and multiple plush bats, once won a Blackbeard’s flag t-shirt from The History Channel’s once upon a time pirate trivia contest, and counts among her prized possessions a transcript of the trial of Anne Bonney (and Mary Read and Calico Jack Rackham) then you may also want to watch the video that got my mind spinning. Again, gentle readers, this is not for you.

For me, though, it’s aha. Yes. Going to tuck this one right into the notebook for the pirate trilogy. Not only the bones (hah) of the um, thing, but avenues of research, some ideas on how this might fill a plot hole (eh, more of a divot, really) and noticing only halfway through a personal calzone that I am one hundred percent not bothered by this rabbit hole (I must note that I am listening to a video essay on Yellowjackets while writing this, so the rabbit mention makes me hmmmm.) This includes jotting down names of people I know on the interwebs and IRL who might have access to umm… :shifty eyes: special information, and a reminder to self that Beau Crusoe, by Carla Kelly, is extremely affordable on Kindle, and long overdue for a reread. Well, gentle readers might prefer a different Kelly book.

What are you up to this week?

Rainy Afternoon Rambles

April 14, 2022annabowling Leave a comment

Raining off and on over here, as best I can tell. Today was the day when my new sleep medication figured out what it was supposed to do, so let’s say I am very well rested today. I hear birdsong and the sound of wheels on wet pavement, and a quick look outside tells me it has indeed rained. It’s been a hot while since I blogged. That happens sometimes. The best way to get back into it is to jump in there and start blabbering, so here we are.

Okay. First of all, I am still not ready for Kate and Toy’s split on This is Us. They are one of my ships. These things take time Shoot, it took me what, a couple of years to watch the Highlander TV series finale. Either the right time will roll around or it won’t. Either way, there is always fanfic if it turns out that’s what I need. I do plan to watch the rest of the farewell season, but don’t necessarily need a front row seat for everything. Has anybody else had an experience like that with a beloved series, book or TV?

Second, I am pretty much listening to “Don’t Tell Anyone,” by Semler, on repeat:

“I want to know your story like I wrote the page” — them’s powerful words for a writer. Also “Don’t tell them that I swore this wouldn’t be my life.” Also, the tune is as catchy as a cold at a daycare center. I mean that in the very best way.

Wait, wait, wait, did I just hear thunder? Because I think I just heard thunder. Thunderstorms are my number one favorite spring/summer weather. I am absolutely here for it if so.

Oh man oh man oh man, this book. This hit me in the feels and my history loving heart. I was but a wee princess in Westchester County, NY during the Bicentennial, so a historical romance set in that era and place is one thousand percent going to catch my attention. Also, it was part of the giant birthday haul from my friend, Mary, who knows me and my historical romance reading tastes. For those who only know the modern flavor of historical romance, I might shelve this in historical fiction with romantic elements, and it works very well that way too. I don’t recall any on page snugglies, but our heroine, Nabby, must choose between two dashing men, one Patriot, one Loyalist, during a freaking revolution. More of that, please. I want to make there be more of that.

A young adult female Sim, with long blue hair and tattoos, stands in front of a white wall and wooden door, pointing to something out o frame.

Then there’s Sims. Sims, for me, is the current-day equivalent of my first-grade teacher noting that my schoolwork was MUCH better if I brought dolls to play with during free play time. I never thought I would get as into it as I am, not only playing the game, but creating my own Sims, with tons of custom content, mods, and even learning how to make my own custom content. Not sure how that is going to turn out, but I am looking forward to finding out. It seems to be doing well for my writing, so a-Simming I will go. Picture editing is next, because I love taking screenshots. Does anybody have any experiences with Lightroom? I’ve been curious. I’m already down the ReShade rabbit hole. May as well go all in on the visuals, though the next step does seem to mean ponying up for photo editing software. I’d use it, though, soooo….we shall see.

One more thing. There is now a window open, and there is fresh air coming through that window onto my skin as I sit here in a white t-shirt stolen from Real Life Romance Hero’s stash. Yep. It’s spring.

The Monkee Lestat

December 16, 2021annabowling Leave a comment

Earlier this week, I found out, on the same day, of the passing of two big influences on my creativity. I found out about Anne Rice first, during my morning Facebook browse, and then, a little later, Mike Nesmith of The Monkees. Both of those hit me, but in different ways.

I first discovered Anne Rice when I stumbled upon Interview With the Vampire, movie version, maybe a half hour in, on a random FB browse. I sat there rapt until the end, immediately sought out the book, then The Vampire Lestat, and hunted down more information on Anne Rice, who had created them. Of course Interview was about grief, and man oh man did she nail it. Not so much the vampire part, surprisingly, but her historical atmosphere so real that it dripped with the Old New Orleans feel. I was actually more of a Louis gal than a Lestat one, but that’s okay. What stuck with me most wasn’t the actual vampires, but the feelings that came along with it. I don’t remember when I wandered away from the franchise. Maybe before Egypt came fully into play, and maybe I will one day go back and read it all.

What I absolutely had to know was the author’s relationship with the Lestat character. I remember reading in some nonficiton book or article or even paper (yes, I tracked down an academic paper) where the author knew the exact moment Lestast left her, and I could see it, feel it, along with her. I also remember reading at a later date of the moment when Lestat came back, and I felt that, too. It’s a special relationship between author and character.

And then (hey hey) there’s the Monkees. We were born the same year (me and the group, that is; the original people were young adults.) All I knew at the time I discovered them in the early 70’s, when their TV show was in reruns, was they were silly and funny and I liked their music. I wasn’t sure where their parents were until I figured out they were adults and performing was their job. Oh, like The Partridge Family, but adults. Okay. Once again (or really before, since I found The Monkees before Lestat and company) I was more of a Davy gal than a Mike one, but I can say that Michael Nesmith was an amazing songwriter, and I have fond memories of watching his special, “Television Parts” which only addressed Monkee-dom with “I was a Monkee. This is my hat,” and then on with the show. I can respect that.

When the Monkees reunion in the 80s happened, I was in ult, and while disappointed that Mike wasn’t going to be part of it, I also understood. As a newly minted adult myself, he wanted to do other things. Cool. I still love Pool It, the Micky/Davy/Peter comeback album. They still had it. The earlier losses of Davy Jones and Peter Tork also hit me. I appreciate all of their work and am thankful for the legacies they left. I watched a clip from one of their last performances, attached to an official statement from Micky Dolenz, possibly their last time performing “Me and Magdalena,” which I adore, from their first release after Davy’s passing.

Maybe it was even the last time Mike and Micky performed it. This was advertised as The Monkees Farewell Tour, the Micky and Mike show. Micky described Mike as “frail” near the end, and yes, I saw it. I also saw what Micky said about Mike insisting on doing the tour, no matter what anyone else said. Micky carried more of the load than usual there, but Mike gave it all he could, and it showed. I can one thousand percent respect that.

There’s definitely part of both of their works in the writing I have done and am doing and will do. Just remembering for right now, thankful for what they gave us in more ways than they knew.

What celebrity’s work would you like to celebrate this week?

Plot Bunnies in the Attic

November 22, 2021annabowling Leave a comment

First of all, Storm is on heat lockdown (we do plan on getting her spayed) and thus was not allowed to use the computer unsupervised. She kept attempting to log onto Cat Tinder, and we could not have that. Seriously. I found her profile picture.

single black, white, and orange female….

Beyond that, things are going pretty well over here. I was a bit under the weather over the weekend, but feeling much better now, and excited over the holiday season proper being right around the corner. For those of us who are stationery aficionados, that means new planner season is coming. For those of us who write fiction, it’s time to look ahead at the coming writing year. For those of us who are both, that means time to work on a writing planner.

One of those sections is creating a “stuck list,” aka books, movies, TV, other media that usually gets my idea hamster on the wheel and running like they think they are Wilma Rudolph or Usain Bolt.

For me, the book section includes romance and non-romance books. One of the non-romances, that I come back to time and again, is Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. As a romance writer, that does give me a moment of pause. Trigger warning: incest, child abuse.

Though there is an intimate relationship between teen protagonists Cathy and Chris, who are full siblings, under extremely extenuating circumstances, this isn’t a romance. It’s a tragedy. I’ve classified it as horror, of the psychological sort, and it is that, but as I wandered down my most recent FITA rabbit hole (it happens every once in a while) I found myself thinking, as I usually do when I revisit good ol’ Foxworth Hall (sarcasm mode on for that house name) “how would this work as a historical romance?”

Not, I should note, that I would ever want to have a hero and heroine who are full, half, step, foster, etc siblings. Not my thing. The big old house with centuries of heritage behind it, though? Oh yes. The family secrets? Yep. The family dysfunction? Well, of course. The creepy-deepy atmosphere? Um, have you met me? You know this is all Anna-nip when it comes to inspiration. I do have to admit that I had some degree of shock when I saw the Lifetime TV movie adaptation of the first book (there are five in all, number five being a prequel; when I reread, I read FITA, then the prequel, then FITA again, as the prequel is the origin story of the villainess) and very seldom pay any attention to the books in between. That’s just me, though.

My other listening obsession is podcasts on romance writing/reading, of which there are delightfully a lot. Though I don’t recall the specific episode where I heard author Sarah MacLean say that she also always thinks “how would this work as a historical romance?” my brain did catch on that. Fellow author Corinna Lawson once told me, after I’d given one of my very first workshops on what is now Play in Your Own Sandbox, Keep All the Toys, that I tend to “take fantasy inspiration and file off all the fantasy.” She’s not wrong, as I first got my start writing Star Trek: The Next Generation fanfic that read like historical romance with blinky things. I think the same thing might well apply to horror.

I did mention above that I have always classed FITA into horror, and with the discovery of some analyses of the Andrews books (only the actual V. C Andrews, thanks. Not the ghostwriter.) that it also fits into gothic drama, and since most of her stories take place in the south, Southern Gothic elements abound. I love that stuff. I gobble the classic gothic romances of the late sixties/early seventies when I can find them, and some authors who are on my top tier historical romance list, like Valerie Sherwood and Aola Vandergriff, also wrote in this gothic genre. Hmmmm. Hmmm. Hmmmmm.

Romance, though, particularly historical (the tone of my contemporaries with Melva Michaelian are decidedly different and equally natural) with HEAs and dating outside of the family line. Right now, I am at the phase of noting things on my stuck list and leaving them to marinate, to ponder in days to come. Maybe this will come in handy when I revise Orphans in the Storm, which may be on tap for 2022. Maybe not, but it’s always fun to examine something that gets the idea hamster on the move, and that’s a worthwhile end in its own right.

What surprising items might you put on your stuck list?

Survival Drama Binge Babble

September 13, 2021annabowling Leave a comment

Right now, I am sitting at my laptop with wet hair, because, somehow, in the midst of all the Monday stuff, I am coloring my hair. I don’t remember the last time. I am listening to summaries of horror movies I will never watch, on YouTube, because A) I work better when hearing human voices, ;and B) it’s pretty good at getting my brain in storytelling mode, without the risk that any of it would naturally seep into my own work. Hm. Maybe that’s why I read as my contemporary YA as I do. Hm. I’m going to put a sticky note on that.

Okay, the historicals do get kind of dark. I will admit that. It’s part of my charm. It may also be one of the reasons I have been bingeing on survival dramas on various streaming services. Bonus points if the show is not American. Subtitles are fine, as I would rather listen to the original language and read the English translation than listen to dubbed dialogue. Then again, there are some dubs that are right up there with the original language.

Currently, the show of choice is season two of Into the Night, a Belgian show where a solar event has ended most life on earth, but for a few plucky survivors (seriously, I am 100% there for a small band of plucky survivors in the midst of a disaster) who were on a hijacked airplane when it all went down. The title comes from the fact that our survivors have to fly during the sunlight hours, always away from the sun (aka into the night) so they can touch down in darkness and scramble to get any fuel they need for themselves and their plane. Sometimes they pick up stragglers along the way. Sometimes those stragglers are Not Nice People.

Case in point: touching down in an airport in Scotland to get more fuel. They have more fuel. Yay. They also have three British soldiers, some of whom can do Plane Stuff. Yay. They can come with. This will take some of the workload off Original Pilot (who only has one working hand) and Substitute Co-Pilot, who used to fly helicopters for the French military, but is new to the plane thing. Once in the air, though, one of our Plucky Survivors learns that New British Soldiers are actually war criminals, recalled for a court martial for Very Bad Crimes. Oh noes. What to do, what to do? Also, if we have a standard for them, what does that mean for Turkish Man who has a shady professional past, but is also bonding big tie with Ill Russian Boy, and IRB’s lovely young mum? Thankfully for IRB, there is a nurse on board, a home health worker who lost her own patient early on in the adventure.

When the first season ended, our Plucky Survivors have found an underground military bunker, where they can hunker. Yay. Only, they are not alone. Uh oh. A politician and soldiers are also hunkering there, but they seem friendly. Yay? Then Bad Things happen, including a fire that wipes out most of their food supply. Oh noes. Suffice it to say that I am not bored. The cast is diverse, not only from country of origin, by walk of life. Every episode, we get a glimpse at somebody’s life Before. I love that stuff, because it’s new information and gives new insight to the choices the character makes now in the worst nightmare scenario.

This is all probably going into the idea soup for my second medieval historical romance, which takes place in the wake of the plague. Other ingredients for idea soup will include medieval romances, because romance. Still backburner at this point, but it’s all part of the process.

Where am I taking this all? I write about survivors. Well, obviously, as otherwise they would be zombies, ghosts, or necrophiliacs. That Thing, though, that people hang on to in the midst of the worst, that Thing that keeps them going; I love finding out what that is for a character. For two characters. Discover the way their Things can work together, make something good even when good things are not the thickest things on the ground.

That’s where the start of this week finds me. How are you doing?

Better Writing Through Computer Games?

December 3, 2020annabowling Leave a comment

Wednesday’s post is here on Thursday this week, because A) I came down with a rotten winter bug, last week’s “cold” actually the first stage of ick, and B ) Real Life Romance Hero’s laptop, less than a year old, abruptly stopped working, so we have had to share the single desktop. Not a lot of writing done this week, which is understandable because all power to shield, and better living through pharmaceuticals. One of the first things I want to do when I am climbing out of this stuff, is play Sims. Right now, that means Sims 4, and by playing, I mean largely refining my custom content to a fare-thee-well.

How does that relate to writing? Glad you asked (because somebody is probably asking. If not, you get my input anyway.) There’s no “right” way to play a life simulation game, and the methods of playing such are infinite, the same as telling a story, which is basically what I like to do with my games. It’s all storytelling. There are times when I blithely ignore what the game wants, er, suggests I do, and wander off the path to do my own thing, focusing on the aesthetics and letting my story brain take the wheel.

Everybody starts with the same basic stuff: the base game. It looks like this:

Now here’s one of my recent screenshots:

What’s the difference? Well, a boatload of custom content, for one. I think the only things in this picture that aren’t custom are the archway, the window, and the washing machine that’s almost in frame. Jacqueline, a Sim I have made in Sims 2, 3, and 4 versions, (yes, she is kind of probably going to show up as a heroine in a future novel, but she will have a different name, and will likely be historical) has custom skin, eyes, hair, makeup, eyebrows, and I spent longer than I would care to admit tweaking her facial features with not only the in-game options but custom presets. This picture is her taking a selfie, which she can do with her smartphone, a game feature, further tweaked by an in-game filter option, and ReShade, which adds post-processing to create some serious mood. Or vintage mood, or bright, cartoony mood, or, or, or, or…yeah.

Right now, my current neighborhood is all British New Build houses made by other players, which I download and decorate down to the tiniest bits of clutter, to best reflect the residents. It’s all character and worldbuilding, and I love it. Next float in this parade is to take one of my screenshots and edit it further in a photo editing program, maybe add some design elements and/or text. Now that I have a ne printer, this might turn into stickers that I can put into my planners and notebooks, etc. There aren’t a lot of words involved in creating Sims and their environments, but here’s one thing that does happen when I spend a good chunk of time playing around with this: I want to write more fiction.

I didn’t expect it to be like that, but maybe it’s not such a surprising thing. As above, it’s character building and worldbuilding. Sims have their own wants, which I can fulfill or not, and deal with the consequences. I can override all of that and make whatever I want happen, within reason. Sometimes without it; Sims actually have things called “whims” that affect their moods, which affects how likely they are to do what the player wants them to do. This isn’t entirely unlike how it goes with writing. There’s also the times when things will just…stop, due to a glitch. Possibly a bad piece of custom content that doesn’t belong in this version of the game, or got shafted due to incompatibility with a patch, or I forgot to tdownload a mesh, or any one of a few dozen things. Maybe my aesthetic has changed, and so the custom content or even dfaults that I ha been playing with for years aren’t going to work anymore.

That means diving deep into my files and ripping out what doesn’t fit with my current methods/desires and replacing it with stuff that does. Trying new things, rising perhaps to a few challenges, or knocking it down and starting from scratch, though I am setting myself the goal of sticking with a single save for a certain number of generations, which is not unlike oh, say, finishing a book.

Right now, Melva and I are focusing on finishing Drama King, and I am loving that. Still, I have my notebook for Her Last First Kiss set up and that’s probably going to be next, because I miss historical romance like I would miss my own right arm. The only way to stop missing that is to get back to it, and, like searching for Sims content, this is going to mean reading a lot and poking around and seeing what I love, love, love, now, and if that means changing a few things that I have already done, so that I absolutely cannot wait to get to that keyboard and get to Bern and Ruby’s HEA, breathless, worn out, but still with enough energy to pump my fist in the air because we did it, fates be danged.

Not at all a bad way to wind up one year and start another, the way I see it.

Rainy Days and Mondays

May 11, 2020annabowling 2 Comments

When I was but a wee princess, back in the days when I only needed one digit to state my age, and, I believe, in the grade that comes after K, my parents (or perhaps the NY educational system) put me into one of those newfangled open classrooms. Basically a mishmash of traditional education with a dash of Montessori is a decent description, and we kiddos were often allowed to pick our own activities for part of the day (as long as work was done.) This allowed the teacher (whom I saw as Grown Up, but was likely in her midtwenties at best) to observe young humans in their natural state (um, that came out wrong. I did not mean naked.) and note what activities and/or behaviors affected their traditional learning, for good or for ill.

Surprising nobody, I did better when I spent time in the book corner (spot the baby writer for one hundred, Alex) and the art area (artist’s kid, no-brainer) but where I showed the most marked improvement in my worksheets and cuisinaire rods learning was on the days when we were allowed to bring our own toys, and I pretty much always brought fashion dolls. I won’t mention the brand, but my preferred dolls stood eleven and one half inches tall (when my friend, V and I did not remove their legs to make them stand in for kid dolls, usually their own kids, or kid-selves. Yes, we knew how to get legs off and on safely. That’s not at all creepy. We could do heads, too.) could swap clothes like nobody’s business, and took on more roles in one afternoon than Meryl Streep in a good year.

Once again, Spot The Baby Writer gets another point. Unfortunately, subsequent classrooms did not hew to this model, and my plastic repertory company was relegated to my room at home, and occasional play dates. I did try collecting as an adult, but not being made of money, or having limitless space, and needing to do adult things, as well as discovering actual writing, that chapter, alas, needed to close. Merely having the items in question wasn’t the same as actually having hands on and acting out the stories in my head with reasonable facsimilies of human beings.

But then — because there is always a But Then- I discovered a few things. Fandom, especially fanfic (ah, so that’s what I had been doing all by myself with Wonder Woman, The Bay City Rollers, and reruns of Family Affair, all along. Not at the same time, mind you.) Finding the plot holes (did you know that the fate of the father in The Partridge Family was never addressed? He doesn’t even get a first name or cause of death. It’s established that he’s dead, but that’s it. When? How? Were he and Shirley happy? Was he musical, too? Did they want a big family from the get go, or did it just kind of happen, because Shirley and Whatshisname loved each other very very much? Come to think of it, what did Mr. Partridge do, to be able to afford that big house and still allow Shirley to be a stay at home mom to five? I still want to know these things.)

Fanfiction was a huge discovery, though I never wrote for any of the above fandoms. I did hunt down licensed Partridge Family novels and comics in used bookstores and flea markets, and Wonder Woman does count as my first fandom, as I collected anything I could about the comic and TV series, and blew through two of the fashion dolls. Yep, I fanned that hard. The first fandom in which I wrote was Star Trek: The Next Generation, and even then I had to do it my way, creating an original love interst for a canon character, and I never budged from that. They are canon to me. They were also some of, if not the very first characters I made when I ventured into my next discovery: The Sims.

Since I am getting chatty on this one, I will stop here for now and pick up again on Wednesday. Need to get some novel work under my belt before I can play (and by play, I mean my current save of the Sims 2 adapted to Sims 3, which is far more fun that should be allowed, but more on that later.)

January 15, 2020annabowling Leave a comment

Only one month now until I present my workshop, Play In Your Own Sandbox, Keep All The Toys, at Capitol Region Romance Writers. If you’ve heard me talk, before, about From Fanfiction to Fantastic Fiction or On Beyond Fanfic, the cores of the workshops are the same. The execution, though, is constantly evolving. I love that.

This morning, I opened the file for the workshop, to nab my bio and a blurb to send to CR-RWA’s esteemed webmistress, and next thing I knew, it was a couple of hours later, and I had accidentally edited some of the chapters, and slid, when I wasn’t looking, into “could I make this into an ebook?” mode. I think I probably could, possibly with a PDF version of t he exercises. This is partly for the workshop’s participants, and partly for my own use. Probably my own use first. After that, then we’ll see. Could be a cool Patreon perk, could be an indiepub, could be a couple of other things. That’s not what’s important right now.

Right now, what’s important is the accepting and embracing of what I love, and seeing how I can take what inspires me and make it my own. There are some tropes I am always going to jump on like a starving hyena with an unattended hot dog stand. Heroines disguised as male, especially if there are seafaring adventures to be had, yep, I’ll take that. second chance at love with the same couple, especially if there has been a decent length of their intermission. Mention of Bedlam Asylum or Newgate Prison. Tudor, Stuart, Commonwealth, early Georgian, skip up to the Belle Epoque/Gilded Age era, I am in my happy place. One or both lovers with a creative talent or profession will guarantee a second look on my part, and those are all things I either have or would love to include in my own writing. Angst. I love angst. Give me all the angst, as long as there is an HEA at the end of it all.

Grit in my settings, I want that, too. Also in the people. Life isn’t easy, and a love story where the hero and heroine have to fight more than their feelings, that adds a whole other dimension for me. That’s one of the reasons I’m keeping track these days of my media habits, of specific traits of the books, TV, podcasts,. etc, I consume, of what I love and why I love it. Will that be ready to share in some form by the time of the workshop? I am not sure, but I think it could be fun.

There is a quick and dirty version of this in the workshop in its current incarnation, so the idea is not totally unrepresented. Thing is, I’m feeling the itch. I want to know why it is that I’m bingeing the Council of Geeks podcast reviewing Cowboy Bebop. I have not (yet) seen the anime, so I have no idea what the host is talking about, but I fell in love with his analyzing style on the Council of Geeks YouTube channel. Do not ask me how I found the channel, since it largely talks about fandoms of which I am not a part, but I feel welcome, and that goes a long way. It’s the excitement and unabashed delight in a story, yet still able to discuss what could have been better yet, or what could have been different.

I want to do that for the romances I write, make them accessible both for those who already love the genre and those who may be new to it, or even merely curious. Fans of SF/F franchises have an enthusiasm I would love to harness that enthusiasm and do some high powered cheerleading for all the things I love most about romance. Maybe that starts with my own stuff.

Typing With Wet Nails

for the love of romance

inspiration