Seekerville Welcomes Guest Caroline Fyffe

Writing a Novel is like Buying a Horse

Some may read my title, scratch their head and think, what the heck is she talking about! How can writing be anything like buying a horse? Well, it can. If you stick around and keep reading, I’ll explain how. But—buyers beware.

I became familiar with that term at an early age. Buyer beware. It means the seller of the animal is not going to volunteer everything there is to know about said horse. You have to dig to find out what said nature is really like. If you’re a savvy buyer, and have been through the process several times before, you’ll know and even jump at the chance to have several other knowledgeable equestrians, not just friends who fancy themselves knowledgeable about horses, take said horse out for a ride. And then, if you like what you’ve seen so far, you’ll get a vet check to see if said animal is really sound.

If you’re still with me, let me break it down further.

As the author of the story, you are both seller and buyer of your novel. As the seller, you love your story, think it’s the next New York Times Bestseller, and don’t want to change a single word of it. On the other hoof, as the buyer, you must analyze every chapter, every paragraph and even every sentence that the seller (you) is trying to slip past in order to make the sale.

After you’ve spent many hours with your prospect, fine-tuning and re-writing, you go the next step. Just as a horse buyer seeks out the help of other equestrian professionals or even trainers, you ask the assistance of your writing colleagues and critique partners. These are people who’ll agree to give your “mount” a ride and offer an honest appraisal of him. They’ll point out if “your horse” has a nasty habit of biting or is sporting a big roman nose. They’ll let you know if he’s so boring no one is going to stick with him past page five. All this may be hard to hear, yes, but you’d rather hear it now, when problems can be fixed, than later, from a barrage of readers.

If your horse makes it past the gauntlet of critique partners, it’s time for a vet check—in other words, a read from a professional editor, whether that’s from your publisher’s editing team or a freelancer. Without a vet check you’re sure to be sorry. We can’t see the faults of our own beloved animal. We love him; we worship the ground he trots on. But…if you really love him, you’ll send him out for inspection.

After the deal has been struck and your horse—er, book, is in print, then you’ll have all the time in the world to pet him and give him carrots, blab to tell everyone about him and haul him around to horse shows, (chapter contests), where perhaps someday he’ll win the world renown AQHA Quarter Horse World Show in Fort Worth—aka, The Rita!


Hey, it could happen….

This is the way I go about writing and buying. Do you have another valuable way you can share? One lucky commenter will win my latest release, TEXAS TWILIGHT!



Here’s my “new mount”, TEXAS TWILIGHT. Let me know what you think of him…

TEXAS TWILIGHT – Book Two in The McCutcheon Family Series

Fresh out of medical school, John McCutcheon finds his stagecoach under attack by brutal outlaws. With the help of a feisty acquaintance, Lily Anthony, he manages to fend off the assault. Lily is attracted to the charming cowboy-doctor, with his chiseled good looks and teasing ways, then heartbroken to learn he’s engaged to be married.

“I laughed. I cried. I didn’t want Texas Twilight to end.”
– Theresa Ragan, author of Return of the Rose

Once settled in Rio Wells, Texas, John tries to ignore the fact that his cousin has taken a shine to Lily. When a bounty hunter shows up looking for a priceless jewel that Lily has found stashed away in her aunt’s belongings, Lily fears her dreams of owning her own shop--and of finding true love--are about to go up in flames...or, could that just be the glow of a beautiful … Texas Twilight?



Caroline Fyffe grew up in the little town of El Dorado, CA, the youngest of five girls and whose main interest was the family’s horses. An equine photographer for over twenty years now, she has worked throughout the United States and Germany. Long days in the arenas present plenty of opportunity to dream up all sorts of stories. Her love of horses and the Old West is the inspiration behind her books. Her debut book, WHERE THE WIND BLOWS, was the recipient of the prestigious Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Award and also the Wisconsin RWA’s Write Touch Readers’ Award. MONTANA DAWN, Book One of the McCutcheon Family Series, was a Maggie Finalist, Gayle Wilson Finalist and winner of the Laurel Wreath. TEXAS TWILIGHT, Book Two of the McCutcheon Family Series, is newly published. Watch for SOURDOUGH CREEK.

Married for many years, Caroline’s most cherished achievements are her two grown sons.

Visit Caroline at www.carolinefyffe.com

Tweet with Caroline at https://twitter.com/#!/CarolineFyffe

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=hpskip#!/caroline.fyffe

See her photographs at www.carolinefyffephoto.com

Write to her at caroline@carolinefyffe.com. She’d love to hear from you!


Winner of Caroline's latest release, Texas Twilight a romantic historical western ebook, will be announced in the Weekend Edition.

Birthing Your Characters with Caroline Fyffe

As writers, we all go about birthing our characters in different ways. Sometimes they’re just there, like magic. You know them. You hate them. Doesn’t matter. They jump off the page and scream, “Here I am!” You recognize the sound of their voice and marvel at how beautiful they are, or how revolting. I guess they’ve been alive for some time somewhere in our thoughts, just waiting for the right time to appear.

But other times, we sit and stare at the computer for long, uncomfortable minutes, and nothing happens. As if carved from granite, our brains feel utterly useless. We can’t think of a thing. Minutes pass without relief—then we decide it’s time for a break, at which point we slink away to some mind-relieving diversion.

What makes the process easier is just plunging ahead and getting to know your characters—almost even before they fully exist. For example, interview your characters. Dig deep and be creative with your questions—what are their hopes and fears, their likes and dislikes?--and you’ll find out some astonishing things. Personally, I like to create a family tree. In so doing, I discover a host of interesting things not only about my hero and heroine, but about their parents, grandparents, and other relatives, as well. I give each one a hometown, as well as dates for when they were born, married, died, and so on. Then I add occupations, quirky little traits and, of course, their physical descriptions. In a couple of hours, I can have some really good information with which to anchor my story. That means I never have to dig for that all-important minutiae that brings a story to life, because it’s always right there in front of me. Not all of my information makes it into the plot, mind you, but whenever I’m stuck, often all it takes to get me going again are some handy facts to start the gears turning.

Choosing the perfect name for your hero and heroine is also a challenge. Of course, you don’t want names that sound too similar to those of the other characters in the story because your reader can get mixed up. I usually try to have each name begin with a different letter, again to avoid confusion. And, making names so outrageously different or difficult to pronounce slows your story down. I’ve come across books that got me riled because the heroine’s name was so bloody hard to pronounce that I’d totally avoid it. I don’t want my readers avoiding the most important person in the story. But, on the other hand, the right amount of creativity with names is can be a good thing. Almost so obvious I shouldn’t even mention it is this: Be sure the name is time-appropriate for the era of your book, as well as appropriate for the ethnicity of the character.

Then, too, sometimes names or characters just find you! A few years ago I was at a horse show where I was shooting photographs of reining horses. Each horse-and-rider pair came into the arena individually to compete before six judges. The pattern took approximately three-and-a-half minutes to complete, and the names of the horse and rider were announced as they entered and again as they exited the arena. As it happened, I was working on a western historical set in Montana at the time, and needed a good western-y name that would encompass all that I wanted my hero and his big ranching family to be.

I started testing each of the entries’ names on for size. Boyl, Kyle, Carrier, and Wells rode in, all good names, mind you, but not quite right for my hero and his brothers. Callahan, Arnold, and Hendricks, too. The night passed. I shot pictures. Did I mention reinings go on for many hours? Sometimes there are sixty to seventy head to compete. I got discouraged. Nothing seemed to fit…then a beautiful thing happened. A particular entry caught my eye. The horse, a true athlete, was muscular and fluid, and the rider was tall and lean. The name announced was McCutcheon. The moment the announcer said it, I knew it was a done deal. Thus was my hero, Luke McCutcheon, born. Or, should I say, christened.

Here’s a little about Luke’s story: MONTANA DAWN takes place in the little town of Y Knot, Montana in the late 1800s. The McCutcheons, a cattle ranching family, have carved a dynasty from the wilderness by the sweat of their brow and honorable values. Luke McCutcheon, the third brother and the hero of this story, is the only one who was sired by an American Indian, when his mother was taken captive. He’s the trail boss for the once-a-year cattle drive the McCutcheons make. When he comes upon Faith Brown giving birth in her wagon, he’s shocked to learn her little son is Faith’s only help. He agrees to stay and deliver her child. And that’s when all the fun begins….

I love stories about big families. I wanted to give Luke as much unconditional love as he needed to battle his own ghosts about his heritage. John McCutcheon, the youngest brother, is introduced in MONTANA DAWN, but you don’t actually meet him until my next book, ONCE UPON A TEXAS TWILIGHT, planned for next year.

Today, in celebration of the release of MONTANA DAWN, I’m offering a copy to a commenter.



Also, if you go to my website and sign up for my newsletter (www.carolinefyffe.com) you’ll be entered for a basket filled with candies, chocolates, muffin mix, a handsome coffee mug (filled with more chocolate!) and a jar of scrumptious jam, all made from the Big Sky State’s coveted huckleberry. Also included are autographed copies of both MONTANA DAWN and WHERE THE WIND BLOWS. It’s as easy as pie, and the winner will be drawn on December 10th, 2010--just in time for Christmas.

Thanks for having me join you here today in Seekerville. It’s always a party filled with friends, smiles and good wishes. Thank you!



Bio:

As an equine photographer, Caroline Fyffe has worked throughout the United States and in Germany. Long days in the middle of a horse show arena have given her plenty of opportunity to dream up stories filled with love, heartbreak, joy, sorrow, triumph, and twisting-turning plots. Her feisty heroines and bold, hot-blooded heroes will charm you as they fall for each other in the darnedest ways. Her love for horses and the old West inspired her debut book, Where The Wind Blows, which won Romance Writer's of America's prestigious Golden Heart Award under the title Chasing Jessie, and was released in 2009. Her second manuscript was a Golden Heart Finalist in 2007. She is the mother of two wonderful boys and has been married for 27 years.

Not Enough Hours In Your Day? Think Again!

by Caroline Fyffe

Hi Seekers! I’m very happy and excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

Have you heard of the new fad taking the country by storm? It’s a household name that everyone is talking about. Well, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but I can’t help my enthusiasm flowing over. I saw this great idea on a nightly news report and Googled it to satisfy my curiosity. I’m speaking about a treadmill desk, a combination treadmill with a desktop that will house your laptop, or desktop computer, as it does in my case.

At first I was skeptical. Can a person really work while walking on a treadmill? We all know as women we are hardwired for multitasking. Our ability to walk and talk on our cells as we rummage down a stack of shoe boxes looking for the correct size, check an avocado for ripeness, or even pass three cars on a two lane highway (not in California anymore) without killing ourselves and everyone else on the road, while carrying on a conversation—this is not advisable—proves my point. But, could one actually do something else, like type and create, and write a story?

I decided to find out. First I had to bring my treadmill in from the garage and station it in my office. My husband and son moved my desk to the side; a rather sad site being it had been there for over thirteen years. Then taking a piece of wood from the barn, Michael measured and cut, painted and attached. It took all of one day. He reconnected my computer and I was off. It was fun.

Getting used to it I learned a routine that I’ve kept up and love. In the morning when I first get on I go fast, 3.6 mph on a 3.5 slant for 30 minutes. That gets my heart rate up and fulfills the requirement for my daily cardiovascular work out. While I do this, I don’t write but I do read e-mail and blogs. We all know how much time we can spend reading e-mails and blogs! After the 30 minutes, I slow down to about 1.8 to 2.4 mph and respond to blogs and answer e-mail, which is not hard at all at this speed—really quite easy. At this point I’ve almost walked two miles and burned two hundred calories! Easy as pie and it’s still early. From here it’s all down hill, so to speak. When I’m done with those, and each day is different, I slow down even more to .09 and open up my WIP. After I write two pages (they can be stinky—something is better than nothing –we all know that line) I allow myself 15 minutes on line. And so goes my day….

To see a picture of my treadmill desk go to my website (it's under Potpourri). I’ve also started a club of sorts where we can all walk together, chart our progress on a Google map and just plain have fun. Do you get enough exercise every single day? Does combining working while walking sound intriguing? Only one way to find out….




***Please note! Don’t ever get off and on without pausing your machine. It’s easy to get disorientated and stumble and I don’t want anyone getting hurt. I have my phone with me so I don’t have to get off but other situations do arise and it’s tempting, because of the slow speed, to just jump off and on. Even though it seems harmless, it’s not—I assure you. I haven’t fallen but come close.


I’m also thrilled to announce that my debut, a historical western that I’ve dubbed a Lonesome Dove/Little House on the Prairie story, Where the Wind Blows, is finally here as of two days ago!!!! I’m thrilled. In celebration I’m giving away two-signed copies to two people who leave a comment for me.


Also, if you want to enter my Under The Western Sky Contest that’s going on from August 1st. to December 20th, all you need to do is watch my book trailer on my website. You might be the winner of a nights stay in an old bunkhouse!! Check the details at www.carolinefyffe.com

So, tell me, what do you like to do to get your daily workout in? If it’s not walking, or even if it is, I’d like to know. And, I’d love to hear what you think of the treadmill desk.






More about Caroline:

As an equine photographer, Caroline Fyffe has worked throughout the United States and in Germany. Long days in the middle of a horse show arena have given her plenty of opportunity to dream up stories filled with love, heartbreak, joy, sorrow, triumph, and twisting-turning plots. Her feisty heroines and bold, hot-blooded heroes will charm you as they fall for each other in the darnedest ways. Her love for horses and the old West inspired her debut book, Where The Wind Blows, which won Romance Writer's of America's prestigious Golden Heart Award under the title Chasing Jessie, and was released just this week. Her second manuscript was a Golden Heart Finalist in 2007. She is the mother of two wonderful boys and has been married for 27 years. She lives in California.