Festivals & World Building by Diane Burton

Today is the first day of Tulip Time, a festival in West Michigan. This post originally appeared here in 2017 with a few changes to bring it up to date.

Each year, Holland, Michigan celebrates their Dutch heritage with the Tulip Time Festival, except last year because of covid. I remember when my sister and I drove across the state to watch our siblings in their high school marching band in a parade. We saw President Gerald Ford (when he was a representative) riding in a convertible and waving to the crowd. Now we go to watch our grandchildren.

In past years, Hubs and I would spend a day savoring Dutch food, like boerenkool stamppot (mashed potatoes and kale), gehaktballen (meatball and gravy), saucijzenbroodjes (like pigs in a blanket), and olibollen (a big deep-fried ball covered in powdered sugar) or Hollandse boterkoek (almond flavored shortbread) for dessert. Makes me hungry thinking about all the wonderful flavors.

Oliebollen

 We would also shop in the Marktplaats where vendors displayed Dutch souvenirs, like hand-made wooden shoes, tulip decorated mugs, and just about anything with a Delft design. And, of course, windmills. Dancers in the street wearing wooden shoes (and multiple pairs of socks) is always fun to watch. The best part of the day was watching a parade of children dressed in Dutch costumes, accompanied by marching bands.

Celebrating heritage or founding comes easily for us in the United States. We’re such a young country, and most of our citizens come from all over the world. Many of my own ancestors came from The Netherlands, so I especially enjoy Tulip Time. Since I’m a “melting pot” like so many in the U.S., I could easily join in festivities for German, Polish, Irish, British, Scottish, Welsh . . . you get the picture.

As part of the world building for our stories, we should think about celebrations and festivals—secular and/or religious. Where did the inhabitants come from? What do they hold dear? What are their celebrations like? How long do the festivities last?

In my Switched series, the planet Serenia was founded by a group of colonists called the Intrepid Ones. Like most world-building, I knew so much more than what appears in the book(s) where small but significant details are dropped into conversations or the narrative. The reader doesn’t need to know as much as the author, but I made up an entire scenario about the Intrepid Ones: who they were, how they arrived, what they found, why they left their home planet.

It made sense to me that the Serenians would hold an annual celebration to honor those who settled their planet. At the beginning of Switched Resolution, the crew of the starship Freedom are supposed to serve as an honor guard at the opening ceremonies for Founders' Day. Not good when the captain and officers don’t show up. They had other priorities, like retrieving their ship stolen by rebels.

Hmm. I wonder what foods they served during the festivities.

Blurb:

Actions have consequences as Space Fleet Captain Marcus Viator and NASA reject Scott Cherella discover when they switched places. Does the reserved Marcus have what it takes to imitate his smart-aleck twin? Despite help from his love, Veronese, Scott’s already been outed by two of Marcus’ best friends.

When rebels steal the ship with part of the crew aboard, Scott has to rescue them and retrieve the Freedom. The stakes increase when he discovers the rebels are heading for Earth. They know he’s a fraud and they want Marcus. The safety of the Alliance of Planets depends on Scott and his allies.

Switched Resolution, which wraps up the Switched series, takes the reader from Earth—where Marcus adjusts to a pregnant Jessie—to the starship Freedom commandeered by rebels, to the chase ship with Scott and Veronese aboard.

Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ Barnes & Noble ~ iTunes ~ Kobo ~ Smashwords

Below is the reason for taking the easy way out by rerunning an old post. Typing one-handed presents a challenge. At least, it isn't my dominant hand. 😊

An Author’s “Bible” by Diane Burton

I’m not sure how the term “bible” became connected to writing a series of stories. I certainly don’t mean to be irreverent.

When writing a series of connected stories, how do you keep the details straight? Our own Nancy Gideon is now writing the 15^th book in her By Moonlight series. I used to think writing the 3^rd or 4^th in a series was hard. But the 15^th?

Writers who use Scrivener have a built-in method of handling details. I tried Scrivener, but this MS Word girl found it too hard to change. You know what they say about old dogs and new tricks. 😊

My first book Switched was a standalone. At first. But readers asked what happened next. Who am I to ignore readers? That’s when I learned how to note all those pesky details that sharp-eyed readers will catch if you don’t get them right. For instance, the spelling of names. Switched is a science fiction romance. The alien names are made up. (BTW, make sure you can pronounce those made-up names, too.)

While writing Switched, Too, the 2^nd book in the series, I had to keep going back to the 1^st book for the details. What a pain. Being a Word girl, I opened a new document and called it “details.” (Real original, right?) With Switched open, I noted each detail after the character’s name. (Maybe I should have done one of those character charts.)

Then, I needed to note places—all that world-building stuff. What planet did that character come from? Are people from the planet Tegror called Tegrors or Tegrorians?

What about methods of travel? Food, animals, plants? All part of world-building that needed to be written down and then easily found when needed.

I learned the hard way to keep track of details as I wrote the story, not (like Switched) after completion. Before starting a new story, I open a “details” document—whether it’s part of a series or not. Like my middle grade science fiction adventure. Since I already built a world in my Outer Rim series, I used that world—just set the book on a different planet.

For my cozy mystery series (Alex O’Hara novels), I tried using a spreadsheet (Excel). It’s easier to locate characters, but I feel confined by the small squares. Until I come up with a better method, I'll keep using a Word doc for my details.

How do you keep details straight?

You can find my books on Amazon.

Using Pinterest by Diane Burton

First, an apology to regular readers. My normal dates to blog are the 1^st and 13^th of the month. Lately, my memory is like a sieve. February 13^th rolled around, and it didn’t even occur to me that I needed to post. Maybe I could blame the Polar Vortex for my memory loss. Anyway, here’s my make-up post.

In 2010 when I returned to writing after a long hiatus (family issues), I discovered this thing called social media and that I was supposed to use it to advance my career. I didn’t know Facebook from MySpace, Twitter from Triberr. With the help of friends, I learned to use Facebook—besides looking pictures of nieces’ and nephews’ kids. An author friend wrote my tweet. I learn best by seeing how something is done. One bit of social media, though, eluded me.

Pinterest

Back in the old days (pre-social media), I’d read about writers using poster boards and cutting out pictures from magazines then pinning them to the boards. Not my thing. I had too much to do getting back into the writing game. I didn’t have time to look through magazines, especially since I discontinued most of my subscriptions because I didn’t have time to read them. Someone mentioned Pinterest, that it was sort of like those poster boards. Still, I didn’t see how I would use it . . . until I read an online article or maybe a post on a Yahoo group. (Remember how I mentioned my mind is a sieve? I don’t remember. Sorry.)

That changed everything.

I could use Pinterest for my writing. I read some authors have a board titled “inspiration for” the name of a book. Why not try it? Since my first books were science fiction romances, I searched for sci-fi “pins.” Wow. That was fun. Then I discovered Pinterest sends pins (and boards) that I might be interested in, based on what I’d pinned. Double wow! I didn’t have to search.

Technically, those early pins weren’t inspirations, rather they were descriptions of my book. For instance, Switched, my first published book, takes place on a farm in Michigan. I found pins of farms, interiors and exteriors. Jessie, the heroine, is beamed aboard a starship, so I found pins of starships. The Hitchcock movie Vertigo was inspiration for one of the last scenes in the book. I grabbed the movie poster pin. More fun.

With each book, I looked for pins that represented details, loaded the cover—with a link to Amazon—and spent hours searching for more pins. Once I had all my published books and their associated pins loaded, I started on works-in-progress. Now I really had inspirations. I’m not very good at descriptions. My forte is dialogue. In fact, my first drafts look more like screenplays with dialogue and stage directions. With the pins I’d found of Victorian houses, I could better describe the house in Romance Rekindled.

Of course, I couldn’t resist personal items, like recipes (never mind I rarely cook), ideas for homes (at the time we were looking for a new house), favorite movies and books, vacation ideas, travel, etc. I was really getting into this. The more I used Pinterest the more ideas I came up with. I have a board labeled “Authors On My Blog” that include the author’s photo and a link to their last post on my blog. (This is one board I’m behind on.)

The first time an interviewer asked, if my book was made into a movie, who would play my characters, I drew a blank. I didn’t know current actors. When I visualized my characters, they were actors from the 1970s and 1980s. Okay, maybe a little later. That’s when I created the board “Possible Characters for my books.” I searched for current actors. As soon as I saw a photo of Kaylee (Jewel Straite) from Firefly, I immediately thought of Jessie in Switched. After I saw Chris Pine in Guardians of the Galaxy, I saw him as Scott, the hero in Switched, Too.

Pinterest can suck up a lot of time. No other social media does that for me. I get started then I can’t stop. LOL Hubs often reminds me of ROI (return on investment) when I spend time on certain things. I have to ask myself how am I advancing my career when I spend time on Pinterest. I see at least two things that my time on Pinterest returns to my writing career. One, I can better visualize details in my WIPs. Two, it’s advertising for my books. When readers accidentally, or on purpose, happen across my inspiration board, I hope they find the pins so intriguing they’ll buy the book. Or, if they’ve bought it, they’ll see what I see in it.

I created most of the “Inspiration For…” boards after publication. I hope readers enjoy seeing how I visualized my story. Now, as I write a new story, I really do go to Pinterest for inspiration. My newest book, coming next month, is Rescuing Mara’s Father, a middle grade science fiction adventure. I don’t have very many pins for that board yet. Working on it.

Much of what I learned in using Pinterest came from other authors. I was so intrigued by the banner at the top of Maureen L. Bonatch’s site that I asked how she created it. She told me about Pinterest for Business. I’m sure I don’t use that to the fullest capacity. Instead, I feel like the toddler just learning to walk. The key word in that last sentence is learning. Despite my mentioning a toddler, many days I feel like an old dog. Fortunately, this old dog is open to new ideas. Pinterest opened up a whole new world for me. I hope it does for you, too. If you want to see what I’ve done, here’s the link to my site: Diane Burton, Author.

Do you use Pinterest? In the comments, please share something you’ve learned and include a link to your site. Thanks.

Twins by Diane Burton

According to Wikipedia, twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy. They can be identical (one fertilized egg that split in two, same placenta) or fraternal (two eggs, two sperm, separate placentas).

For years, scientists have studied twins. They look for commonalities—genetics, health, behavior, and tastes in music, food, sports, etc. They also study the differences in identical twins. Each year, twins gather in Twinsburg, Ohio for the Twins Days Festival. With so many twins in one place, this is an excellent time for researchers to study twins. The big question is which influences a person more, heredity or environment.

Back in the 1990s, I took that concept (studying twins) quite a bit further. In my science fiction romance, Switched, an unethical scientist from an alien (but human) world separated Earth twins before birth. He left one twin in the biological mother and transplanted the other twin in a mother from his planet, Serenia. (Think “beaming” the fetuses from one mother to the other.) When the authorities discovered what he was doing, they shut down his project and imprisoned him. That didn’t help those twins that survived—one on Earth and the other on Serenia.

When I wrote Switched, I made a lot of assumptions about twins. I assumed if a twin discovered the truth, she would want to find her twin and biological family. Since the project was an embarrassment to the authorities, they buried all information, including where on Earth the twins came from. But, if a person is driven to discover her origins, I imagine that person would do anything to find out.

That’s how Switched begins, with the Serenian twin beaming down (from a starship) to Earth to meet her twin. In a glitch, the Earth twin is beamed aboard the starship. With another glitch, not only does the starship leave Earth’s orbit, it ends up in another part of the galaxy. Until the starship returns to Earth, each twin has to take her sister’s place. In doing so, they discover their similarities . . . and differences.

As a mother, I wondered what the biological mother of the twins felt. In the days before ultrasound, the doctor relied on manual examinations and heartbeats through a stethoscope. But mothers have instincts. According to a pediatrician I wish I’d had for my kids, a mother’s instinct trumps an MD degree every time. Would the mother know when one of her twins disappeared? How would she feel at the birth when only one child was born? It wasn’t hard for me to imagine the answers to those questions.

Then, I wondered if she met the Serenian Twin would she recognize that he was not the child she birthed and raised? You know I had to use that in the third book in the Switched series, Switched Resolution.

Switched was published in 2001, republished with updates in 2011. Switched, Too was released in 2012 and Switched Resolution in 2013. Although my great-uncles were twins, no other twins occurred in my family. I used information about twins from the internet. A friend of mine has twins, so she became a source, too. Little did I know that twins would show up in my family again.

That’s when I learned firsthand about twins. I even got to go with my daughter-in-law for an ultrasound. How fantastic to see the two, each in his own placenta. From the beginning, one fetus was larger than the other. We joked that it would be like the movie Twins with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger. We were almost right. When the boys were born almost three weeks ago, one weighed 8 lbs 1 oz; the other weighed 5 lbs 11 oz. They were three and a half weeks early (not uncommon with twins). If you add the two weights together, no wonder my DIL was so uncomfortable, especially since they were standing upright.

A question I’ll never figure out is do twins communicate in utero? Were they aware of the other? Once they were born, and put into separate layettes (probably not the right word) in the hospital, did they realize they were separated? Obviously, when their mother held both together they were close enough to be aware of the other. But when one had to be transported to a children’s hospital and stayed there five days, did the other twin miss him? That sounds like a good idea for a paranormal story. 😊

As the boys grow and develop their own personalities, I’ll be watching to see if my guesses (and internet research) were close to reality.

Switched

As if being kidnapped by aliens isn't bad enough, Jessie Wyndom discovers they grabbed her by mistake. She wise cracks past her fear especially when she learns she was part of an experiment separating Terran twins before birth. Her twin just took Jessie's place back in Ann Arbor, Michigan while she gets to twiddle her thumbs on an Alliance of Planets starship. The only good part is the hunky captain. Except. He's so unemotional he could be Mr. Spock's double.

Captain Marcus Viator's well-organized life is turned upside down by the free-spirited female from Earth. Problems with the starship prevent him from returning her to her home. Fate brings them together. Treachery tears them apart. Is their love strong enough to reunite them?

Switched is available for 99 cents at Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ B&N ~ Kobo ~ iTunes ~ Smashwords

Switched, Too

Down-sized astronaut candidate Scott Cherella leaps at the chance to go into space. He just has to pretend to be the captain of an Alliance of Planets starship. His lifelong dream quickly becomes a nightmare when sabotage erupts. To save the ship and crew he has to depend on an uptight, disapproving colleague.

The only time Veronese Qilana broke the rules tragedy resulted. She vowed never again. Now, to protect the real starship captain, she'll have to deceive the crew by helping the imposter. They must work together to uncover the saboteur and get the crew safely home. In doing so, they discover opposites really do attract.

Switched, Too is available at: Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ Barnes & Noble ~ iTunes ~ Kobo ~ Smashwords

Switched Resolution

Actions have consequences as Space Fleet Captain Marcus Viator and NASA reject Scott Cherella discover when they switched places. Does the reserved Marcus have what it takes to imitate his smart-aleck twin? Despite help from his love, Veronese, Scott’s already been outed by two of Marcus’ best friends.

When rebels steal the ship with part of the crew aboard, Scott has to rescue them and retrieve the Freedom. The stakes increase when he discovers the rebels are heading for Earth. They know he’s a fraud and they want Marcus. The safety of the Alliance of Planets depends on Scott and his allies.

Switched Resolution, which wraps up the Switched series, takes the reader from Earth—where Marcus adjusts to a pregnant Jessie—to the starship Freedom commandeered by rebels, to the chase ship with Scott and Veronese aboard.

Switched Resolution is available at:  Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ Barnes & Noble ~ iTunes ~ Kobo ~ Smashwords

World Building: Celebrations by Diane Burton

On Thursday, Hubs and I spent the day savoring Dutch food, like boerenkool stamppot (mashed potatoes and kale), gehaktballen (meatball and gravy), saucijzenbroodjes (like pigs in a blanket), and olibollen (a big deep-fried ball covered in powdered sugar) or Hollandse boterkoek (almond flavored shortbread) for dessert. Makes me hungry thinking about all the wonderful flavors.

 We also shopped in the Marktplaats where vendors displayed Dutch souvenirs, like hand-made wooden shoes, tulip decorated mugs, and just about anything with a Delft design. And, of course, windmills. Dancers in the street wearing wooden shoes (and multiple pairs of socks) is always fun to watch. The best part of the day was watching a parade of children dressed in Dutch costumes, accompanied by marching bands.

Each year, Holland, Michigan celebrates their Dutch heritage with the Tulip Time Festival. I remember when my sister and I drove across the state to watch our siblings in their high school marching band in a parade. We saw President Gerald Ford (when he was a representative) riding in a convertible and waving to the crowd. Now we go to watch our grandchildren.

Celebrating heritage or founding comes easily for us in the United States. We’re such a young country, and most of our citizens come from all over the world. Many of my own ancestors came from The Netherlands, so I especially enjoy Tulip Time. Since I’m a “melting pot” like so many in the U.S., I could easily join in festivities for German, Polish, Irish, British, Scottish, Welsh . . . you get the picture.

As part of the world building for our stories, we should think about celebrations and festivals—secular and/or religious. Where did the inhabitants come from? What do they hold dear? What are their celebrations like? How long do the festivities last?

In my Switched series, the planet Serenia was founded by a group of colonists called the Intrepid Ones. Like most world-building, I knew so much more than what appears in the book(s) where small but significant details are dropped into conversations or the narrative. The reader doesn’t need to know as much as the author, but I made up an entire scenario about the Intrepid Ones: who they were, how they arrived, what they found, why they left their home planet.

It made sense to me that the Serenians would hold an annual celebration to honor those who settled their planet. At the beginning of Switched Resolution, the crew of the starship Freedom are supposed to serve as an honor guard at the opening ceremonies for Founders' Day. Not good when the captain and officers don’t show up. They had other priorities, like retrieving their ship stolen by rebels.

Hmm. I wonder what foods they served during the festivities.

Blurb:

Actions have consequences as Space Fleet Captain Marcus Viator and NASA reject Scott Cherella discover when they switched places. Does the reserved Marcus have what it takes to imitate his smart-aleck twin? Despite help from his love, Veronese, Scott’s already been outed by two of Marcus’ best friends.

When rebels steal the ship with part of the crew aboard, Scott has to rescue them and retrieve the Freedom. The stakes increase when he discovers the rebels are heading for Earth. They know he’s a fraud and they want Marcus. The safety of the Alliance of Planets depends on Scott and his allies.

Switched Resolution, which wraps up the Switched series, takes the reader from Earth—where Marcus adjusts to a pregnant Jessie—to the starship Freedom commandeered by rebels, to the chase ship with Scott and Veronese aboard.

Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ Barnes & Noble ~ iTunes ~ Kobo ~ Smashwords

Holidays

Recently, we’ve celebrated three holidays—Columbus Day, Halloween, and Veterans Day—and Thanksgiving is upcoming, unless you’re in Canada and have already celebrated that holiday. That got me thinking about holidays the characters in our books celebrate. And that’s a part of world-building.

If you have a fantasy world and/or a futuristic one, have you given holidays a thought? Do the people worship a deity? Is a day of the week set aside for worship? What about honoring explorers or the original settlers of the planet or territory? Annual celebrations?

Did the explorers bring their religion and celebrations with them from their former homes? Do they worship a single deity or multiple ones? Your story, your world.

In Switched Resolution (the 3^rd book in my Switched series), an annual celebration honors the Intrepid Ones—those stalwart souls who left their dying home planet and settled on Serenia, so named because it was their hope for their new planet.

In The Chameleon (2^nd book in my Outer Rim series), the people on the hero’s planet honor a female deity they call The Matriarch. One day a week is set aside to honor her.

As you write your stories, keep celebrations in mind. 

Diane Burton writes romantic adventure . . . stories that take place on Earth and beyond. She blogs here on the 13th of each month and on Mondays on her own site: http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/

For more info on her books, visit her Amazon Author Page.