Research

I've been reading more lately. I like to read other authors of historical "clean" fiction. Sometimes I'm shocked at what passes for clean. I always think, "would I want my teenage daughter to read this?" Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes, absolutely not! Other times I am so bored by the extra filler in the book I would not recommend it to anyone. There is such a prevalent, and publisher promoted, idea that a novel should be somewhere north of 200 pages. This is ridiculous! You end up with a story chock full of adjectives and too much unnecessary detail. I don't like the feeling of wading through a heap of adjectives to finally arrive at the actual story. I recently read Radcliffe's "Mysteries of Udolpho" all the way through. So much wordage was spent describing grass that was simply being passed in a coach, that I was tempted to skim. I persevered and read the entire book. Whew. I feel so accomplished. Ok, not really. I do realize that my books are short. But then, I have always been a firm believer in concise speech and writing. I want to deliver a story with plenty of detail, but not an abundance of "snow" as we called it in university. I would love to hear what my readers think! I was told recently that someone special to me didn't like one of my books, but loved another. Such is authorship. I would absolutely love to have ideas and opinions given to me! Please share the links for my books. They make wonderful inexpensive gifts!