Author: Alice Valdal (Page 1 of 19)

Choosing Your Story

October 21, 2025 / / 0 Comments

My book club selection last month was a book I loved and hated. I loved the writing. It was brilliant. Word choice, syntax, voice, clarity, emotion . . . they were all there in shining splendour. But the story! Oh my goodness. The story was horrible. The main characters were depraved, the weak were exploited and the innocent defiled. Even the ending felt hopeless. I searched and searched for one redeeming quality in the MC’s — after all the “experts” say even a villain should have a soft spot somewhere. Not in this case. I tried to find a better tomorrow from the sacrifice of the ‘good’ characters, but couldn’t find it. The story left me depressed and feeling besmirched. 

I’ve turned to one of my favourite “gentle” reads as a palette cleanser. I need to read about moral people. Characters who act on high principles. Story-lines that encourage and enlighten. A book that lets me sleep at night without bad dreams.

But, the experience made me wonder how authors chose their stories. How does a person sit down with a pen and a blank sheet of paper and decide I want to write “this” story. In genre fiction there are certain reader expectations that must be met. e.g. romance needs a “happily-ever-after,” mystery needs a solution, murderers must be brought to justice . .  . But, even within those parameters there are millions of stories that can be told. What makes an author choose the one that goes onto the page? Or what makes a reader decide to enter the world of “that” story?

Author’s are often advised to “write what you know,” but the author of the book I hated is not a bad person. He has not killed, he has not unleased immorality on a town, he has not exercised unbridled power to destroy his rivals. In fact, when asked why he’d written this book, he answered that “it just came to him.” And once he had the idea, he went with it.

In my own books, I wanted to tell a story about my country and it’s history. I also wanted to write a romance, so the Prospect Series was born. Jane Austen must have taken delight in exposing the foibles of her society. But Emily Brontë? What made her want to explore the darkness in Heathcliff’s soul? She was the daughter of a clergyman, brought up in gentile circles and surrounded by loving siblings. Was it the wildness of the moors that inspired her to write Wuthering Heights? By the way, the book was ill-received upon first publication. It was considered too wild and savage. Only years later was it added to the list of great English novels. 

Readers have diverse tastes, and I rejoice that there are books to meet every need. I’m glad my book club presses me to explore different books. And I’m really happy that I have the freedom to read the books I like and set aside those I don’t. What a sad and straight-jacketed world it would be if everyone had to conform to my idea of a good book. 

The Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest book fair in the world,  just wrapped up. The five day event included 1000 authors from 92 different countries and around 200,000 visitors. Three cheers for authors and publishers! May we all continue to thrive and find our happy place between the covers of a good book.

How do you choose a story? Drop a comment here.

Piano Lessons

September 18, 2025 / / 0 Comments

My book club meetings have started up again. Back to school anyone? We reviewed The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart. This is an old book that came into my possession via a little free library. The words “piano” and “left bank” caught my attention so I brought it home. Turns out, I loved this book — so much that I recommended it for our reading list this year.  My fellow readers really enjoyed it as well. We had a great discussion and, because I have a little grand piano in my house, we opened the lid and examined all the working parts, checked out the maker’s insignia, found the gold cording around the edges and made sure there was a stabilizer bar attached to the pedals. Those of us who had had piano lessons at some point in our lives got to discuss various teaching techniques and recital disasters.

But from a purely literary point of view, I couldn’t find a reason that this book held such great appeal to me. The prose is accessible but not extraordinary. The plot — if you can find it — meanders. There are no high action scenes, grand pianos do not drop from balconies onto unsuspecting pedestrians. There is a very muted romance as a sub-plot but only in the last few chapters. Yet the book inspired me to start practicing scales and arpeggios again.

None of my fellow book club readers could help me out, but I have a theory. I believe we are all intrigued by expertise, even when the subject is not our favourite.  We are drawn to people who are knowledgeable and passionate about their pursuits.  In this book, the reader was permitted to enter the highly specialized world of piano making and restoration. We saw pianos from the mechanical viewpoint of the craftsman and we saw them from the artistic perspective of master musicians. We also got to walk along with the author who is an amateur — like us. Remember that the word “amateur” originally meant “lover.” In modern times it is used in a pejorative sense, in that the “amateur” is less than the “professional.” One can turn that definition around and say the “amateur” is the true artist because (s)he does it for the love of art not for payment. 

Having participated in many “amateur” performances, I place great value on the term as “lover of.” In the world of story-telling, we consider writers who can make a living, i.e. get paid, as the ones to emulate. But in the real world the number of writers who write for the love of it  far exceed the number writers who get paid. If you are one of those who cries over yet another rejection letter or sighs at depressing sales records, take heart. You are an amateur. From Wikipedia: “Historically, the amateur was considered to be the ideal balance between pure intent, open mind, and the interest or passion for a subject.”

Consider the Olympics. Here are the very best athletes in the world, competing for love of the sport. They are amateurs!

I’m very grateful to the author of The Piano Shop on the Left Bank for reminding me of the glories of the piano, bringing me back to joy of playing on those black and white keys, and confirming that amateurs (lovers) are a blessing to the world.

https://www.alicevaldal.com/piano-lessons/#respond

Small but Beautiful

September 4, 2025 /

School’s back in session, so time to settle down to a regular routine at my writing desk.  September landed on the calendar so abruptly I feel as though I’ve been caught with my homework undone. I’m used to a few days grace before Labour Day and the back to work schedule. I guess the upside will be in December when Christmas falls on a Thursday. Mid-week holidays seem easier to me than those that fall on Monday.

Anyway, back to this week’s blog. I came upon this article about Indie Publishers.. I think we used to call these small presses, whereas “Indie” meant self publishing. Just a reminder that change in the world of publishing is faster than ever and taking a summer off means I’m out of the loop.  The line in the article that really caught my attention was this: not only are there fewer editors at the Big Five available to pitch, but that their imprints are becoming more generic. “We’re seeing imprints lose their brand identity,” she says. “It’s more common that imprints under the same groups share marketing and sales resources.” 

I was complaining to a writer friend recently that I can’t find romances that appeal to me in the way the old Harlequins of my youth did. I remember the excitement of picking up a new offering and keeping the light on until late, late at night as I followed these characters to their HEA. Along the way I explored Scottish Inns, Italian villas, Dutch tulip fields and Australian sheep stations. Each story was a revelation. Now, I know those books were formulaic but from my experience they were much more original than today’s offerings. 

The romance field has segmented into little boxes. We’ve got erotic, spicy, wholesome, medical, glitz and glamour, small town, paranormal, religious, Amish, . . . Amazon lists 42 categories of romance. In other words, the parameters of the genre are so tightly honed, there is no happy surprise awaiting the reader, no new discoveries on the next page. Editors send rejection letters saying “we don’t know where to market this story,” meaning that it doesn’t fit within one of those pre-determined segments. So a story that might thrill me, won’t get published because the author coloured outside the lines.

At least, that’s how it seems to me. 

So, that is my “back to school essay.” What did you do over the summer? Did you discover a new author or publisher that has made you lose sleep? Please share.  https://www.alicevaldal.com/small-but-beautiful/#respond 

 

 

What’s in a Title?

June 11, 2025 /

doing homeworkWent to the movie, “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.” I hadn’t read much about the show but the title intrigued me so much, I joined a couple of female friends — no husbands wanted to come — and had a girls night out. The movie was not what any of us expected. To begin with, it was in French with English sub-titles. The scenery was beautiful and the plot  . . . took some work to find.

But the movie got me thinking about titles. The theatre sold three admissions because of the title alone.  A quick glance at my bookshelves reveals generic titles like, Venetia, Sylvester and The Grand Sophy — clearly I own these books because I’m a fan of Georgette Heyer. There are also a number of titles with “Vinyl Café” in the title, because I’m a fan of that series too. However, if I didn’t know the authors, I doubt I’d buy the book, or see the movie, based solely on the title.  How about The Sound of Life’s Unspeakable Beauty? I really enjoyed that book, but I can never remember the title when I wish to recommend it to a friend. It is a translation so perhaps that’s why it is cumbersome in my ear.

The first title in my Prospect series is The Man for Her.  The title was chosen by the publisher and didn’t ring any bells for me, but others said it was a “great” title so what do I know? The subsequent titles, Her One and Only, and Her One True Love were chosen to be consistent with the first.  Would you buy any of those books based on the titles alone?

So, what makes a “selling” title? Musical references are a favourite among romance writers. A quick glance at Amazon shows many titles referencing Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender.” There are many, many titles using the “Mail Order Bride” motif. I really like that trope, but there are so many books to choose from authors have had to add qualifiers to distinguish themselves. So now we have The Sheriff’s, the Doctor’s, the Rancher’s, the Cowboy’s etc. Mail Order Bride. Similarly Harlequin Romance has put “Billionaire” into many of its titles. These practices certainly help readers who want a particular trope to find their next read quickly and predictably. 

A look at Amazon’s “best seller” list revealed The Lost Bookshop: The most charming and uplifting novel for 2025 and the perfect gift for book lovers!  That one had me at bookshop — I’m a sucker for books about book shops! The tagline in the title seems a bit over the top, but it probably has something to do with Amazon’s categories and keyword marketing strategies.

What about the classics? Great Expectations, Wind in the Willows, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, Two Solitudes, 1984. If you didn’t know about those books already, would the title alone tempt you?

As usual, the decision rests with individual tastes and interests. You can’t please all of the people all of the time, but it might be worth considering the people you want to please when choosing a title. If you’re writing adventure stories putting Jane Austen in the title isn’t going to be a great marketing strategy, but if you’re looking for middle-aged female readers (or movie goers) it works like a charm.

I’d love to hear about your favourite titles (not books, just titles) and what draws you to them. Please drop a line in the comments section to share your thoughts.

The Crown and Parliament

May 28, 2025 /

Ceremonial mace of Canada

This has been a very exciting week in Canadian politics. A new session of parliament has begun, under a newly elected government and a new prime minister.

The popular view is that parliament sessions with their long debates and nit-picking speeches is pretty dull, and far removed from our day-to-day lives. But watching history in action these past few days has been fascinating — especially to a history buff. 

The first order of a new parliament is to choose a Speaker. That’s the member who acts as a referee in the House of Commons. Among other duties, it is his, or her, job to keep debate from dissolving into shouting matches, to ensure that members maintain parliamentary language and demeanour and to cast the deciding vote in the event of a tie.

 

 

The speaker wears a black robe with an ornately tied ribbon at the back, and a tricorn hat. This medieval dress roots our modern parliament in the long history of parliamentary government from Athens to London to Ottawa.  In Britain, the Speaker’s role was first to communicate from the monarch to the Commons. Over the centuries the emphasis changed and the Speaker now communicates to the crown on behalf of the Commons. Over the centuries many speakers were executed by the monarch when he/she didn’t like the message being conveyed. No doubt that is why the newly elected Speaker of the House of Commons has to be “dragged” to his chair by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.  It makes good theatre in our modern context, but reminds us of the heavy responsibility invested in the role.

The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Commons then places the ceremonial mace — pictured at the top of this post– on a long table in front of the speaker, indicating the authority of the Speaker.

There was great excitement in Ottawa his week, as King Charles III arrived in Canada to open our 45th parliament by reading the speech from the throne. This  is only the third time in Canadian history that the reigning monarch has performed the function. Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles’ mother, opened our parliament in 1957 and 1977.

Queen Elizabeth II, 1957 and 1977

The speech from the throne, which lays out the government’s priorities for the upcoming session of parliament, is delivered in the Senate chamber.  Again, this dates back to the time when parliament and monarchy struggled for power. In order to protect the members of parliament, the sovereign was not allowed inside the House of Commons. In fact, the doors to that chamber were locked against him. Therefore, when parliament opened, the King sent a message to the House of Commons, desiring the members to immediately attend him in the Senate chamber. The room was packed with dignitaries, the Supreme Court judges, senators, MPs, and parliamentary staff and security.

It made for an impressive display of ceremony, enthusiasm, and purpose. Canada is a young country, created by the the British North America Act on July 1, 1867, but as we evolved from colony to sovereign nation, we carried with us centuries of tradition and law. While some of those parliamentary rituals may seem quaint and out of place in a world were MPs can vote electronically from their far-flung constituencies, they serve to remind Canadians and parliamentarians of the weight of their office and the price paid in blood and sacrifice to secure and guarantee the freedoms we have today. 

Parliament governs at the will of the people, not by the fiat of the monarch. Much as I enjoy all the pageantry surrounding a royal visit, I am forever grateful that my country is administered by elected representatives who answer to their constituents. God Save the King! and long live Parliament.

Make My Day

May 14, 2025 /

It seems the media  headlines are nothing but bad news these days. The constant stream of worry and stress and fear weighs on my spirit. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when I had to spend a day on foot in my home town. It began when a teenager paused and held a door for me. He could easily have been on his way without that little gesture of kindness. I was at least six feet away.

I did a little shopping, so had my hands full when I approached another door. A mature woman jumped up and opened it for me. She even offered me a spot at her table, but I wasn’t staying. Still, it was nice to be asked.

Then I went to an outside table with my cup of coffee and a workman leapt forward to pull out a chair for me. 

All of these small courtesies were performed with a big smile, a cheery wave and a “no problem” reply to my thanks. These people turned what started out as a grumpy day (I had to take my car to the garage. Hence the “on foot” bit) into a lovely day. I enjoyed my book and my coffee so much more with a bouyed up frame of mind.

I had two takeaways from my day. The first was on a personal level — smile every chance I get! A smile, a kind word, a cheery wave cost the giver nothing and work wonders on the receiver. We seem to live in a soup of anger and distrust and disdain. Even a tiny bit of good can make a difference.

My second reaction was as an author. How could I use this bit of serendipity to enhance my writing? I’ve been mulling over a “nice” character in my WIP and looking for ways to make her more interesting.  So, if she’s the one holding the door, she’ll bring cheer to others but will remain as a “nice” but boring character. If I make her the one sneering in every utterance, I make her more of a villain than a heroine. 

It is hard to make pleasant characters interesting. Perhaps that is why I have more fun with secondary roles. I’m not that invested in the sidekick so I can make him silly or eccentric or stupid or annoying . . . there are no limits. But for my main character, the hero or heroine, I want the reader to like them, to want to get to know them, to want to spend time in their company. As a  result, the protagonist in my work is often afflicted with “niceness,” and readers and editors quickly dismiss the story.

So, back to my day. The workman with the big smile spoke a language I didn’t know. If I put my “nice” heroine in that situation would she be offended by the “foreigner?” That would be a not-nice reaction but maybe she could recognize her own prejudice in the encounter. This might set her down a path of discovery. That might lead to personal growth, a character arc. Maybe my “nice” heroine has some not-so-nice secrets that make her more interesting to the reader.

Maybe she has been trained to be nice but is sick and tired of being the cheerful one in every relationship. Hmm.

I’m still happy I encountered “nice” people on my day out, and I hope my heroine is the type of person who makes the reader feel happy. I just have to work on that “nice” thing.

4 Ways to Put the Fun in Function

May 7, 2025 /

Oh dear! I’ve been very remiss in keeping my blog posts up-to-date! There are any number of excuses — Easter, election, gardening, book club, writers’ group — no shortages of excuses, the question is: are they valid?

Whether you are a writer, a swimmer, a chess-player or a biochemist, there are always excuses to avoid the work. When faced with a choice between something fun and important, like family for instance, or demanding and important, human nature being what it is, “fun” often wins out. It isn’t that we don’t want to do the work — after all we chose to write, or swim, or . . . but, the path of least resistance is so attractive. 

Now that I’ve confessed my failings and made my excuses, how do I get back on track? It seems to me that the answer lies in the first question. I’ll chose what is fun. Therefore, I must look for ways to make function (act, perform, work), fun.

Here are some suggestions:

  1. Eavesdrop.  I don’t mean nasty, sneaky eavesdropping, the kind that looks for gossip or dirt. I mean the accidental eavesdropping that occurs while sitting in a coffee shop, or sunning on a park bench, or waiting for the movie to start at a cinema.  Snippets of other people’s conversations can spark all kinds of scenarios in a writer’s mind. An added benefit is hearing a fresh turn of phrase, or the latest slang.               
  2.  Troll for prompts.  Sometimes we just get stuck on “troll” mode and can’t put down that screen. Happily, the internet abounds with sites for writers prompts. Instead of doom-scrolling, and sending yourself into despair, check out some writer’s sites. Here is a great one from Writer’s Digest. Or finish this sentence that I just made up — “My superpower is ___________ and I’ll use it to ________.”                                                                                             
  3. Alternative Endings. If you haven’t the inclination to create new work today, think of a book where you didn’t like the ending. Write your own version. Have fun with it. Wreck vengence on unlikable characters from the original. Spread love on the ugle step-sister. Give the prom queen pimples.  I think many, many writers have had a go at Gone with the Wind.  If Rhett came back, what would happen?                                                                                   
  4. Do a word puzzle. All writers like words, so it’s fun to play a word game. Once you solve the puzzle, try writing a sentence or a paragraph that uses the words in the puzzle. Movie, world, monkey and budget, were the words used in today’s Jumble puzzle. This one is almost too easy. “The low-budget movie featuring the world of monkeys did not win any awards.” Wasn’t that fun?

 

Now, it is time for me to take my own advice. Tomorrow I have a chance for eavesdropping. Right now, I’ll check out some of those prompts. 

Love is Love

April 9, 2025 /

T.S. Eliot called April “the cruellist month.” Here, in Canada, that has certainly proven true with the weather. One day we are basking in sunshine and summer temperatures, the next an ice storm, or snow, or rain comes barrelling down, flattening flowers, breaking tree limbs, knocking out power lines and damaging roofs. 

Added to the cruelty of the weather is the uncertainty swirling over financial markets and world affairs. A ceasefire is announced and then broken. Medical workers and journalists in a war zone are killed. In Canada, we are in the midst of an election.

In the publishing world copyright issues, Artificial Intelligence, tariffs, and book banning create an unprofitable and frightening world for authors. Many wonder if they should continue to pour love and effort into fiction — especially romantic fiction.

Writers must each answer that question for themselves. 

But, for encouragement, I offer this bit of philosophy. I just finished reading a book with a very tangled and convoluted plot. People fell in love, or out of love. Parents and children and siblings had difficult relationships and unhappy lives. What seemed good often ended badly. What seemed wrong turned out to be uplifting. When I finished the book I had to reread it to find all the dropped threads and tie them together. But — the “moral” of the story was “love is love.”

As we struggle to find our footing in this shifting cultural landscape, I think it is worth remembering that “love is love.” When we ask “what’s the point?” Love is often the answer. Sometimes that is “boy-meets-girl” kind of love. Sometimes it is “the -lost-is-found” kind of love. Sometimes it is finding self-love in a damaged life.  For some, it is finding, and receiving, the love of God. For writers it may mean finding or rediscovering the love of craft. 

It seems to me, that the heart, in the end, is what drives our living. If the turmoil of our world is overwhelming, look deeply into your heart. There you will find an essence that offers solace. There, behind the baggage and disappointments of the mind, is peace. 

If you are a writer, write stories from that place — offer your understanding and your love to the world. Love is love and can heal even the most flawed of human beings. 

P.S. The cat pictures in this post are just to make you smile, and maybe remind you that pets offer their own form of love.

6 Ways to beat the Sophomore Slump

March 26, 2025 /

The sophomore slump refers to the sense of letdown experienced by second year college students. After the excitement and high dedication of their freshman year, second year looms as a bit of a grind — and their marks reflect that attitude. 

A similar phenomenon sometimes occurs with a writer’s second novel. The first story may have taken years, and too many re-writes to count. The author poured all of her heart and soul, skill and talent into that first work, determined to bring her best work to the publisher. But, having secured that first success, the second novel is sometimes a disappointment. The writing may be rushed, the plot trite and the characters a little flat. It’s still a good book, but it doesn’t live up to the promise of the first one.

I’ve been doing more reading than writing these past few weeks, and I think I’ve been reading those “less than” efforts. Perhaps that accounts for my disappointment with a couple of new books written by authors I hugely admire and enjoy. 

The first ho-hum response came from the latest in a very long series. This author is an auto-buy for me. I love her characters, her setting, her use of language, and her voice. But this latest offering felt a bit — stodgy. Hard to put my finger on exactly why I felt let down, but I suspect that “world famous author” is not getting a good hard edit. Some of the beautiful prose seemed to be there because it was beautiful prose, not because it advanced the plot. 

The second book in question was a new offering from an author with many fewer credits to her name. I have read them all and enjoyed them all, but none seems to live up to the promise of the first. The latest work, to my mind, is her weakest. Again, I ask why? In this case, it seemed to me that I was reading a late draft of the story, and not the polished final manuscript. This can happen when publisher and reader expectations push a writer into producing at a quicker pace than is comfortable for her. Or it could just be that this author is running out of ideas. Her characters were so similar to those in previous books they could almost be the same person but with the names changed. The romance threads seemed facile and shallow. The ending had a “they-came-home-tired-but-happy” feel about it. I got marked down for that in grade three.  I expect better from a multi-published author.

I didn’t set out to disparage these authors in this post. Rather, I was seeking to share lessons I’d learned about keeping my writing fresh. Here are my thoughts.

  • Refresh the characters. Even if they are returning characters used in a series, they need to grow and change — in exciting ways. Just making them older doesn’t heighten the tension. If an athlete is older, make the loss of physical prowess have an impact on his life and the story. Then his aging is germaine to the story.
  • Introduce a new element. If you write small town with the same characters in the same roles over a number of books, bring in a stranger. She can be like a stone thrown into the calm waters of your little town. Let the ripples impact all those stock characters. Unsettle your familiar, cozy small town. It’ll make a better story
  • Cut, cut, cut.  I’ve heard editors reject work for being “self-indulgent.” I think the books I referred to earlier fell into that trap. The author was indulging her love of language to create long, prose passages that read beautifully, but did not advance the story.
  • Take a break. When the words are hot off your pen, or keyboard, they sound like perfection itself. Enjoy that feeling. Walk around for a week or so, buoyed with the sense of accomplishment. Imagine yourself accepting awards for this marvellous book. Then re-read it with a cold eye.  Your masterpiece probably needs another edit.
  • If you have a trusted beta reader (not your mother) send the ms to her/him.
  • Listen to what s/he says. 

Sophomores and second books are not predestined to disappoint, but knowing the hazards should make students and writers alert to them. I look forward to the next offerings from my favourite authors, but if they continue to fall short, I’ll rethink my purchases. There is a saying in the writing world, “you are only as good as your last book.” Let’s make sure our last book is our best book.

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