Authors I Wish Wrote More

By Kelly Bridgewater

We all have those authors who have written three or six or even seven books, and we loved each book, but then they disappeared never to write another book in that genre again.

I don't know if the answer is because their books didn't sell enough for the publishing company to see them as a financial investment or they decided not to write again.

But I wish these authors would write more novels.

Here are the novels that I have enjoyed by these authors and wish there were more books by them. (Images come from Goodreads unless noted.)

Lake Manawa Summers and The Gregory Sisters by Lorna Seilstad

 

The Seven Sisters by Debra White Smith

 

Curio by Evangeline Denmark

 

Fantastic Beast series by J. K. Rowling

 

I know this series is part of a movie franchise, but I fell in love with Rowling through the Harry Potter books. The Harry Potter movies have left so much out, so how much of the world of magic in the early nineteenth century is being left out. I really wish there were physical books to read and devour.

How about you? Is there any author that you have discovered who doesn't write anything anymore, but you wish they did?

What J. K. Rowling Means to Me

By Kelly Bridgewater

If you had been following my posts for the last two months, I have decided to share in how 12 different writers have affected me as a writer. First, in January, I started with C.S. Lewis who gave me the gift of imagination. Then, in February, I discussed how J. R. R. Tolkien taught me that conflict is necessary for a story. Now in March, I want to talk about world building.

From J. K. Rowling's Amazon Author Page

J. K. Rowling does a great job at creating a wizard’s world right alongside the world of Muggles. When the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone hit the shelves in America during 1997, I was only sixteen and didn’t pay attention to the books. I grew up in the church. I went to Bible quizzing and puppet practice while doing fundraisers to pay for the annual conference. Every time the church doors were open, my family was there, worshiping and learning about God.

When I turned twenty, I was a newlywed bride with a little baby boy to take care of. I worked at a Christian bookstore, which was my favorite job to date. We could borrow books and return them directly from the shelf. Great perk!  The Christian community was up in arms about this young adult series that allowed the hero, Harry Potter, to use magic. I remember the community, even customers that came to the store, downgrading this book series. As an avid reader, I wanted to know what all the fuss was about.

So I went to the nearby library and checkout the first one. By that time, J. K. Rowling had just released the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. If anyone could get kids to read a 752 page book, how could the book be wrong? I devoured the book.  After reading all four of the books that had been released, I truly enjoyed J. K. Rowling’s writing style.

She had captured my attention with describing every detail of Hogwarts and Diagon Alley. Rowling has a great way of including her reader in the plot. Every person who read the book felt like they were in the hallowed halls of Hogwarts, hunting alongside Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they tried to solve the clues. I loved watching Harry and his friends mature through every book, including developing Harry into a hero when he defeated Voldermort.

J. K. Rowling also has a great way of writing sentences that defy every grammar book. I own a book, Grammar for College Writing: A Sentence-Composing Approach by Don and Jenny Killgallon that explains how J. K. Rowling wrote such masterful sentences. It includes other sentence structures by other great novelist. I have been working my way through the book for a while now.

Rowling has taught me to build a world that everyone will love, even if it is the most popular genre at the moment. Write what you love and what you feel inspired to write. If God allows you to have the desire and the skills to write it, then God will help make it a reality.  With her ability to story build and her sentence structure, I have improved my writing.

Did you read the Harry Potter series? Go back and look at some of her sentences. They are well-constructed. I have even used them in grammar lessons in my college classes.  What was your favorite part about Harry Potter?

*This blog entry was first published on Hoosier Ink on March 18, 2015.*

Why Opening Lines?

By Kelly Bridgewater

I’m going to list five opening lines. See if you can identify what books they come from.

1.)    “The sad, ripe odor of death seeped from the entrance to the abandoned mine.”

2.)    “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

3.)    “In the hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”

4.)    “I hope you’re hungry, Mr. Caldwell, because I’m serving up crow.”

5.)    “Another night of death and defeat.”

What can you tell by reading these five opening lines, even if you guessed what books two of them came from? I made two of them pretty recognizable.

The first one grips the reader’s attention by asking what is dead in the abandoned mine? It had to be recently because the smell is still ripe. But the adjective “sad” evoke an emotional response. As a reader, you are preparing yourself for something that might tug at your heartstrings when the point of view character enters this mine. Automatically, your mind pictures a mine with the wooden beams. Probably damp smelling mixed in with the dead smell. Dark. Cold. So much has been evoked into the reader by the one sentence.

The second one tells you the name of a couple and where they live. But the reader notices that the couple is stuck-up and stuffy because they think they are “perfectly normal.” Who is normal? Who defines normal? Only the ones who think nothing is wrong with them. As a reader, we are prepared not to take these people seriously. Maybe even not like them from the first sentence.

The third quote does not really tell us much. It tells the reader there lived a hobbit, whatever that is, in a hole in the ground. Not much to go on. But the next sentence drags the reader into the comfortable setting of the hobbit.

The fourth quote shows a character who apparently does not like Mr. Caldwell. She is serving him crow, either literally or figuratively. We do not know. We have to keep reading to find out. Why does the point of view character not like Mr. Caldwell. It sounds like a sentence from a determined person who knows what they want out of life. A proud, knowledgeable person who thrives.

Opening lines set the tone for the book you plan to write or read. The reader can be invested in your story and have preconceived notions about the characters, setting, or plot, before you, as the writer, have even written the first paragraph.

So be careful when you write opening sentences. They need to explain something about the character, setting, or plot and entice the reader to keep moving forward. Nothing is worse than having the reader close your book and move on.

Answers:

1.)    The Knight by Steven James

2.)    Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

3.)    The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

4.)    Surprised by Love by Julie Lessman

Did you get them correct?

Oh, you thought I forgot, didn’t you? Where did the quote from number five come from?

Well, actually it came from MY first book, Face of Admiration, in my three book series titled Lockwood Mills Files.

What do you think of my opening line? Would you keep reading the book? It is a suspense book with a hint of romance.    

Leave the opening to your work in progress, so we can have a discussion with your opening line.