Assassins and Spies
Let’s talk about “developing” characters. Characters, it seems to me, are drawn from a well we’ve been tossing bits of experience and observation into since birth, and letting them marinate like a Victorian tutti-frutti. Once we decide we need a certain type of character for a novel, we visit that well, and, as we continue…
The Belly of the Beast
Let’s talk about crocodiles. Am I making this up, about the crocodiles in Gambela, to scare you?because you don’t know anything about Africa, and it seemed like a good way to add suspense to Crocodile Tears, my first Global Village Mystery? The true answer is a resounding NO! Crocodiles, like many other hard facts about…
Looking for Yesterday
One of the things I did in the new Gambela, pop 40,000, was look for the old Gambela, the Gambela I had known, pop 1,000. Old Main Street, from old coffee warehouse, past Ethiopian Airlines office then new police station on the right I did this by checking and cross-checking maps, looking for patterns and…
Back to the Present
My adorable cottage at Baro Gambela Hotel I want to share more of my trip to reacquaint myself with the world of Gambela. I’m doing this in a blog because it lets me go on a bit and put up lots of photos. I’ll add some other facets on Facebook, too. My Hotel Many bugs also enjoyed my…
Coming of Age
Old British coffee warehouse in Gambela I’ve noticed, as you may have, that, when I speak of my early time in Gambela, I speak also of Coming of Age. Obviously, these two are linked, and important, in my mind. I thought I should try to explain to you—and to me—why. I went to Gambela, Ethiopia—a…
Wild Horses Running Free: Sarah Lovett Workshop 4
After taking Sarah Lovett’s workshop, I’m trying a new way of working, with just me, my inspiration and my courage at the center of it all. Write like this Write a scene as it comes. . . . Then spin off from that to interactions between characters I need to explore, or who will answer questions…
Writer’s Tool Kit: Sarah Lovett Workshop #3
Sarah Lovett also offered, in her workshop, a tool kit of writing exercises from which I could choose whatever appealed to me to jump-start a character or situation or scene—or, later, to blast my imagination out of one particular viewpoint or plot track or scene to explore what was going on in the wider world…
The Wellspring: Sarah Lovett Workshop #2
Anyone who has ever been put in charge of a kindergarten class will understand the futility of trying to be in CONTROL of a bunch of high-energy self-willed beings like the creative entities amongst which writers try to create some sort of order to produce a book. How I had worked before was to lock…
The Key: Sarah Lovett Workshop #1
Sarah Lovett hosts writer’s workshop: Get Your Best Start on Your Bestseller The UNM Writers Conference was over. I was wrapping up the background research for the first of my Global Village Mysteries, Green Pastures. As I started the actual plotting and writing of the first book, I thought it would be the perfect time…
The Global Village
Gambela, Ethiopia, has always been The Global Village to me, a place where you couldn’t stroll the few dirt blocks to Alekko the Greek’s single-countered store (see picture) to buy luxuries like a small, pale loaf of bread or a can of tuna fish without exchanging greetings in at least five languages. A town that demonstrated…
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