Social media can be a fun way to meet people, and that’s exactly how I first met Eleanor, on the Written Dreams Facebook page! We’re so excited to help Eleanor promote her latest novel released in early September. Please help me welcome Eleanor to The Editing Essentials!
Never a fast runner, Eleanor Tatum discovered the joys and advantages of walking. She would listen to classical music and remember the wildlife around her swamp. She would wave at the passing drivers as if thanking them for not hitting her. While she walked, she would imagine their faces in a romantic plot and surround them with the ducks, cranes and yes, the alligators. Before giving up her day job, Eleanor would walk in the mornings and swiftly jot down her ideas. The ideas turned to research, and the research to background and plot. She found it both exciting and soothing. Publication brought the willingness to share, to entertain, to offer an escape. Eleanor lives with her handsome, brilliant husband, and the turtles, bugs, cranes, ducks, water weeds, and yes, even the alligators in the swamps of southeastern North Carolina. Visit her website and blog at: http://eleanortatum.com
Cooking Advice
“I could write a book.”
Soon after the publication of my first novel, I heard those words spoken and the meanness in me silently screamed, “Yeah, but you didn’t.” So many people say they can write a book, but never do. The speaker went on to say a few caustic remarks about her husband. If that’s what she would write about in her book, it probably wouldn’t sell unless his hair had fifty shades of gray. My acquaintance with the marital problems should instead write her book pitting her husband’s character against an active problem in a solution-supporting setting. Then, she’d most likely be successful.
The fictional books I’ve enjoyed the most, (of course, yes, mine included), took the subjects (husbands, drugs, travel, or poisonous blooms in India) mixed with fascinating characters, sensual settings, plausible plots, and sensuous solutions.
The mixture from Swamp Run stole bits and precious pieces from my childhood, such as Bostonian attorneys. Some were taken from my travels along Interstate 95, both north and south. Real settings were mixed with fictional solutions to please my romantic heroes. A forest fire was survived by this author sans the tall oak tree. There’s really a lovely state park near my swampy home and, of course, the island and alligators are real and respected.
Mixture is the key.
If you want to have a novel readers will enjoy, use a variety of culture, characters, and storyline. Since my next novel is Swamp Secret, I have two thirds of the project completed. Now for the characters stirring the mix…how about a beautiful medical researcher solving crimes with a handsome gambling addicted lawman?
Thank you, Eleanor, for your sharing your experiences with us! Please feel free to share comments or questions with Eleanor. She’ll be with us all day. Thank you!
I agree, Eleanor! They always say it like it will be no big deal when they finally sit down and do it, too, like a writer just takes an idle weekend and dashes off a popular novel.
Thank you, Peg, for agreeing with me. That’s a great feeling to have agreement. That same “would-be” writer asked what else I do besides write. She must have more hours in her day than I do.
And if you write romance, you hear it all the time. “Oh, I could write one of those someday.” My response – “Then do it. I’d love to read it.” Heather Graham once said her mother (or maybe it was her mother-in-law) used to drop by and interrupt her, saying, “well, all you’re doing is writing, so you can’t really be that busy.” Until Heather Graham became a best-selling author. Then, it turned into … “Get back to work.”
I want readers to love my characters. That’s why I read books.
Thanx Terry…yes, writing romance sometimes makes “their” attitudes worse than other genres because it’s often trivialized. “Oh, you’re writing, you can change your schedule. Just make your characters kiss and make up.” Never mind plot, conflict, or a multitude of other factors. I’ve learned a lot in the past two years and the spelling of trivial isn’t one of them. Is that right? Such insecurities. Thank you again, Eleanor