Yes, You Can Still Get Inspiration from Instances of Sexism
Sexism remains an unpleasant reality in our world.
Since sexism is still with us today, you might see it, or even experience it yourself. However, even an unpleasant experience can inspire fiction writing. Because sometimes, you just want to write a villain. And maybe your villain can eventually see the light and change, too.
Sexism At Work
In the United States, there are rather specific laws governing and prohibiting gender discrimination. However, that was not always the case. If you write historical fiction, things can differ considerably. Consider what gender discrimination means. It means judging a person’s characteristics or abilities based upon sex and often traditional gender roles.
Hence judges might see women as better parents in custody battles. Or men might get blue collar jobs more often due to perceived differences in physical strength. And this can happen even when physical strength does not factor into job performance.
Sometimes women lose out on promotions due to imagined differences in toughness. And men can find they are overly scrutinized in professions where they may be in the minority. These can be nursing or teaching or the like.
In Social Situations
Some instances of sexism have mild or semi-benevolent origins in what is gallantry behavior. Holding the door for someone is a nice thing to do. However, when a person only holds the door for women, that is move which treats the sexes differently.
Even a positive difference is a difference, particularly when it can be a vestige of not just gallantry. It can also be a vestige of behaving as if women are incapable of taking care of themselves.
Social sexism can also take the form of deciding who asks whom out, or who pays for a night out. Waitstaff can perpetuate this by asking for women’s food orders first, and also by giving the man the check. Teachers might perpetuate these behaviors by giving strength tasks to boys and praising the quietness or cooperation of girls.
When sex is an excuse for a snap decision about someone without taking specifics into consideration, then it’s sexism.
Casual Prejudging and Sexism
Whether you try to excuse it as locker room banter, or it appalls you, sometimes people indulge in this. And it can even happen almost inadvertently.
One area where this tends to happen is with apparel. It’s rare when boys or men receive judgment for what they wear. That is, unless it’s overly feminine, filthy, or completely inappropriate for the occasion or task at hand. Or it’s the wrong team’s jersey.
Women and girls are often judged by their clothes. It can be skirt or shorts length, the neckline of a blouse, or the height of their heels. And yes, sadly, that goes into the rape old trope. What was she wearing?
No matter what, we still hear it.
Sexism and Transgender Folks
As trans people become more common in our world, they, too, are often subject to sexism. But there is also a bit of it being self-inflicted. How does someone who is pre-surgery and even pre-hormones satisfy their need to be a gender they were not assigned to at birth?
It can be with some preconceived notions about the sexes. Transwomen may feel the need to wear a chic sweater set and pearls, and put on makeup. While women assigned female at birth knock around in jeans and sneakers.
And transmen may feel the need to grow facial hair (if they are able to). They may even embrace male pattern baldness if testosterone therapy turns that gene on in them. Contrast this with men assigned female at birth, who may use Rogaine or do anything to avoid a five o’clock shadow.
But Do They Experience Sexism?
You’d better believe they do. But with trans people, it’s likely to be wedded to transphobia or terfism. It’s even harder for minors who are trans.
Takeaways
Characters can remark on everything from who pays for dinner to who gets the right to vote. They can support sexist conventions by pulling out chairs for women and giving little boys toy trucks. They can upend those conventions by giving up seats on the subway to men. Or by giving little girls chemistry sets. Or by accepting trans folk wholeheartedly, and without reservation.
Exercise should be a vital part of anyone’s life. And you don’t have to be a gym rat to get inspiration from your workout or from what happens while you’re exercising. As we have seen in other instances, exercise is just another vehicle for inspiration if you look at it that way.
Your Workout
In order to maintain good health, you need to get up from your computer or chair on occasion. And you need to work out in some manner. Of course your decision as to what to do depends upon any number of factors. Maybe you’re elite and can train for a triathlon.
However, for beginners, getting around the block might present difficulties. And if your area is sometimes an unsafe one, you might end up working out inside. So that can mean a gym membership or a pool or mall walking or even just equipment in your home.
Hence one factor is your environment. As you observe it, consider your characters. Would the chipmunks you see on a nature trail amuse them? Or would they fight off demons while jogging in a less than savory part of town? Maybe they see exercise as a meditation (a lot of people do).
Your Characters Working Out
Your characters can get in on the action, too. Action and fantasy characters would fight or train. Romantic characters could go for walks. Science fiction characters might work out as a part of military training or even as a health requirement in low gravity.
For Mettle, Elise Jeffries jogs. And, in one of the first chapters, she jogs and that gets her (and the reader) around the neighborhood. She helps to set the scene and show some foreshadowing simply by doing what I have the character loving to do.
Observations
Getting outside means you can overhear conversations. You can people watch, too.
Writer’s Block and Depression
First of all, I want to make it clear that, if you feel the need for medical intervention, please go ahead! A lot of writers can experience certain levels of depression and so by all means, care for yourself. And for God’s sake, I am not saying that all you need is to go outside and be magically cured. Chemical imbalances require more than some fresh air.
For example, if you experience seasonal affective disorder, you will need to find full-spectrum light. Hence you need to either mimic it with a special light or go out in the sunlight. And here in New England, the winters are full of days with very little sunlight. Very, very little.
Hence I have learned to get myself outside and to shovel snow if I have to (I’ve got to watch my back these days, so I do not make the kind of fast progress I used to) or walk carefully to avoid slipping on ice. Good boots are a lifesaver. It’s great to sit on the porch, too, and I try to make a habit of doing that when the weather is at all warm.
It doesn’t hurt that I can people watch then as well.
If none or not too much of that is in the cards for you, a gym membership or mall walking can at least help. Because you will also need to get up, get dressed, and get outside in order to do either.
Often, if we commit to just five minutes, we can feel good about continuing.
Psst, you can do that with writing as well!
Exercise: Some Takeaways
Getting up and getting around is a great way to add little droppers full of scene setting and exposition to your story. A place that is always very hot and humid is going to inform the way characters dress, socialize, and eat. And the same is true of a cold, dry environment.
What happens when characters are assaulted because they’re wearing too little in the oppressive heat? And what happens when villains can convincingly hide their faces without rousing suspicion, because everyone is so bundled up?
But exercise is also a necessity for you, the writer, you know.
Everybody needs to take a break from writing. Your eyes will thank you! So you may as well get up and get some exercise. Live long enough to finish your series! Do it for your fans!
Why, of course it is! And, in fact, it can sometimes be hard not to be inspired by the music in our lives. And we may even, consciously or not, try to emulate videos in what we write.
Just don’t out and out steal, okay? But an homage? It should be fine.
Inspiration from Music
Music is a rather common pairing with writing. Some people cannot write without it. Others are inspired by it. Still others are haunted by it.
Lyrics
Sometimes, it’s the lyrics. For me, personally, I pay a lot of attention to lyrics. As a result, I have a lot of trouble listening to tunes while writing or even editing. I have to shut it off, as I am unable to concentrate.
But I do listen when I go outside or offline. For a fan fiction piece, I created a kind of bad girl character. However, she did not come to life until I listened to Amy Winehouse’s You Know I’m No Good.
It’s not just the words, though. And it isn’t just the video. The bass line did it, too. As a result, the character snapped into sharp focus. I could not stop listening to the song until I finished the piece.
The Sound of Music (The Von Trapp Family and Others)
For a genius character addled with ADHD, I wanted his mind to be going about a thousand miles an hour. The best way to do this was to listen to fast-moving songs. Therefore, this one was a must.
The song itself is kind of silly. The words are somewhat nonsensical. But the beat is fast. It’s not rap, although speed rap could have worked as well. Either way, the sound was discordant. And that was the idea. With so much clanging going on his head, the character was simply incapable of concentrating.
A Constant Companion
So, when I was writing Untrustworthy, Pompeii by the group Bastille was in very heavy rotation on a local college station that my husband and I listen to a lot. That song embedded itself into my mind and it became the song for that book. And to this day, I can’t hear this song without thinking of the book. And, for the most part, vice versa.
When Things Go Wrong
With the character of Peri Martin, a lot of her essence came to life when I started to listen to an older song I love—When Things Go Wrong, by Robin Lane and the Chartbusters. But for the romance, it was Squeeze’s Take Me, I’m Yours.
So for the successor Time Addicts trilogy, most of the playlist was songs about time. But two of them stand out: Time Waits for No One by the Rolling Stones and Got the Time by Anthrax (a cover of the Joe Jackson tune).
The Funky Ceilidh
Of course, Ceilidh O’Malley had to have this song by Black 47. In 2022, when I was writing a prequel to Real Hub of the Universe, I also listened to a lot of Irish music. But the song that really brings me back to her is always Pure by the Lightning Seeds.
The Whole Shebang
For Mettle, I saw the separate point of view chapters as episodes in a series or miniseries on television. And much like the TV show Murphy Brown used a lot of different music, I fell in love with the idea of giving each chapter or at least each character their own tune. But since the book mostly takes place in Boston, the characters would have their own song with some form of Boston connection.
So, here’s how that shook out.
This list is set up by character, song title, and artist.
Eleanor Braverman – I Do – J Geils Band (I may change this one)
Noah Braverman – Roadrunner – Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
Craig Firenze – Shipping Up to Boston – The Dropkick Murphys
Dez Hunter – It’s a Shame About Ray – The Lemonheads
Elise Jeffries – When Things Go Wrong – Robin Lane and the Chartbusters
Kitty Kowalski – The Queen of Suffolk County – The Dropkick Murphys
Minka Lopez – My Best Friend’s Girl – The Cars
Nell Murphy – The Wanderer – Donna Summer
Olga Nicolaev – Train Kept Rollin’ – Aerosmith (I may change this one)
Mei-Lin Quan – Voices Carry – ‘Til Tuesday
So then, for the love scene, it would be Boston’s More Than a Feeling. Of course, there are a thousand others I could add.
Because, do I want to leave out State Radio’s Counting All Crows? Or The Pixies’ Monkey Gone to Heaven? But at some point, you have to put a bow on it and say, “That’s it. I’m done.”
Enigmans and Others
So, I don’t tend to use a playlist for short stories. And The Enigman Cave never really got a song attached to it, either.
Creation
For those who need songs to write, playlists are a must. And you can find several on YouTube by searching on writing playlist. However, that might not work for a lot of people. Because writing is a personal thing, just like musical taste is. If I prefer disco, and you prefer country, we’re both right, so long as we keep writing.
So one great thing about YouTube is the ability to create private playlists. If your inspirational music of choice is BTS or the Bee Gees or Britney Spears or Beethoven or The Beatles or Bobby Darin—then that’s fantastic! And no one need be the wiser.
Music and Writing: Takeaways
If you need it, then by all means listen to tunes while writing or editing. If you don’t, then don’t. And don’t let anyone tell you their way is somehow better. It’s hard to find anything more subjective than this.
For everyone who has ever received medical care (which would likely be all of us), the idea of putting it into fiction should be a natural. After all, not all of us have careers or families. But virtually everyone has gotten some form of medical care, even if it was just someone putting a bandage on a skinned knee.
Is it Possible to Get Inspiration from Injuries and Medical Care?
Of course it is!
Medical care matters in our lives, so it should matter in fiction, too. Because unless your setting is a magical one, somehow, some way, any hurt characters will need healing. And they may even need it in a magical setting as well.
Injuries and Medical care
Medical care might not seem like an inspiring subject. However, doctors and nurses naturally witness drama on most days. And some of the most compelling stories can be about that, such as Coma.
Injuries
So, have you ever broken a bone, or suffered a sprain? And if either of those things happened to you, what happened next? Did you faint? Or seek medical attention? Was it fast? Or maybe did your injury linger, even with an infection or complications. Did you need to have surgery?
And even if you were not the injured party, maybe a friend or a family member was. Surely, somewhere in your past, you signed someone’s cast, yes?
Illnesses
So we all know that illnesses, of course, can run the gamut. They can be mild colds or HIV. And they can be chronic, like diabetes is considered to be today, or a death sentence, such as Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is even more compelling and heartbreaking due to its gradual theft of the self.
And then there are pandemics, like Covid-19. What happens when medical care is rationed, or people just plain believe conspiracy theories which end up hurting—or even killing—them?
We may think of cancer as the worst of all possible diseases, yet treatments are better now than they ever have been. However, if you are writing historical fiction, that was not the case, even as recently as the 1970s or so. And if you aren’t squeamish, look up the treatment for breast cancer for John Adams’s daughter. Yes, that John Adams.
Childbirth
Of course these days only women and transmen give birth (although medical science may change that someday!). However, anyone can always witness it, not only the actual event but also everything leading up to it.
And don’t forget about how it can even be a bitter fight as to who gets to be in the delivery room. Mothers in law, I am looking at you.
Death
Of course death comes along with the territory. Consider the impact not only on the patient and their family, but on the caregiver(s). How do home health aides feel? And what about doctors, or even researchers trying an experimental treatment? Losing a patient is tragic, yes, but researchers can learn a lot from that.
Plus, naturally, the end can bring with it an autopsy. Or maybe the organs are recovered, for transplants or for medical research.
Malpractice
Let’s face it, it exists and it is troubling. How does it affect the patient’s family? Or the medical professional(s) who screwed up? Lawsuits and sorrow and guilt can all happen. Does anyone apologize?
Medical Care: Takeaways
Characters slip and fall, or they get battle injuries or just a cough. The medical care they receive matters.
Science is one of the cornerstones of our existence. So are your characters scientific? Do they f’ing love science? And even if they don’t, it can still inform what they say and do.
Discoveries and Science
First of all, there is an enormous amount of inherent drama in trying to discover a cure for a disease. However, sometimes things go another way, where a seemingly serious breakthrough ends up having a rather different application. So consider minoxidil, which is used to treat baldness. Its original development was to be a drug to treat high blood pressure.
And research, with all its successes and failures, can spark drama.
Chemistry and Physics
So chemist characters can do everything from creating potions on the edge of magic to working in pharmacies. And your physicist characters can study the cosmos. Or maybe they build nuclear weapons, and experience all sorts of doubts and moral crises due to that. Furthermore, any of these characters can teach at the high school or collegiate (or graduate school) levels.
Biology and Geology
Maybe a biologist character could unleash a plague or study alien creatures. And a geologist character could warn of an impending volcano eruption (this would be a vulcanologist, actually), or maybe help find fossil fuels.
The Art and Science of Medicine
Beyond finding cures, doctors also handle people at their most vulnerable. And they see the weak, the sick, the dying, and the naked. So some physicians find humor in the absurd, like in M*A*S*H. Psychiatrists can work with the insane or just the troubled. And that can spill over into marriage counseling, or helping people figure out how to come out of the closet.
And, of course, there is caring for people who (currently) have an incurable disease, such as Alzheimer’s.
Takeaways
So whether your characters are blinded with science or just need to get a sprain treated, scientific observations and pursuits can often inspire great writing.
Consider Frances Miller Ashford, One of My Original Characters
Who is Frances Miller Ashford?
When Ceilidh is hired to work for the Edwards, the first thing readers should notice is: it’s a really big house. There are obviously going to be other people working there. Lots and lots of them! If you have ever watched Downton Abbey or Upstairs, Downstairs, then you know exactly what I mean.
But at the same time, I knew that not everyone would know the nuances of Victorian era living. Plus, I needed to have a good way to get across the look and feel of the Edwards House. There would have to be a character who would, at least in part, behave as a kind of expository mouthpiece.
Enter Frances.
Margaret Qualley, who I see as Frances Miller. Image is intended for reference purposes only.
Where Did Frances Miller Ashford Come From?
I wanted very much to have an immigrant much like Ceilidh but better settled in the story. Also, I needed for Ceilidh to have someone she could talk to. Frances fills the bill rather nicely in both areas. Further, I needed Ceilidh to have someone who had an English accent she could emulate. It didn’t seem realistic to have Ceilidh remember Captain Underwood perfectly for years. But Frances was a lot more plausible.
Originally, her last name was Marshall, but then I had too many scenes with a character named Barry Marsh. The names were starting to get confusing. And I could not change Marsh’s name, as he was named after someone I know.
Hence, Frances got a slight tweak. I also like the newer name better, because it flows much better with her (spoiler alert!) married name.
The Past is Prologue — Backstory for Frances Miller Ashford
An orphan who never knew her family, I never actually wrote her extremely early life. But Frances could have been the child of people who died—perhaps of any of the many diseases flying around Britain at the time.
Or she could have been the child of an unwed mother, left at a church or even the orphanage where she grew up. Her mother could have even been a prostitute. I don’t see her as a female Oliver Twist, the child who’s in the orphanage but should have been raised by their own wealthy family.
No. Frances was to be a real foundling, with a hard beginning. For an almost traditional look at someone who raised themselves up from their bootstraps, she is the one to look to.
Was Frances Originally Jewish?
The more I read about the Manchester Jewish Board of Guardians, the more I wonder if I could make her a Jewish child. Conversion of orphans in orphanages appears to have been pretty common at the time. The Board of Guardians is developed in 1859, though, and I put her birth at 1858. But this can work for the story line.
So, prior to the creation of an appropriate orphanage to place a Jewish child in, the possibility is high that such a foundling would be put in a non-Jewish orphanage. For a very young baby, which Frances would be, there really wouldn’t be anyone to object to someone just quietly baptizing her.
Coming to America
In keeping with what really happened to some people, I wanted Frances to have kind of gotten to Boston in a roundabout way. Ceilidh means to go to Boston. But Frances? Not necessarily.
As she got older, the orphanage was clearly going to toss someone like her out on her ear. The orphanage wouldn’t necessarily care if she ended up working, married, turning tricks, or dead. They would simply want her bed for some other, younger child.
And so I decided there would be someone who would come and promise the older girls husbands if they left the country. This would be an irresistible offer for not only someone like Frances, but also for girls like her and the orphanage itself.
But when they arrive in the United States, there are no waiting husbands. The promise was a false one. And so, rather, Frances and her cohorts become Lowell Girls, working for a mill.
After she bides her time, eventually, she gets a day off and ventures into the big city of Boston. Frances has main advantages: a pleasant voice and demeanor, a high class-sounding accent to someone like Mrs. Edwards, and a willingness to work hard. As a result, Frances gets a job in the scullery. She doesn’t keep in touch with the other girls, and has no idea what happened to them.
Her rise is slow, deliberate, and patient. I want it to feel believable. Frances knows the world does not owe her a living.
Frances Miller Ashford, a Description
So, Frances has dark eyes and dark brown curls. I always hear her as having a somewhat breathy voice. Her British accent is via Manchester. It is the kind of accent Americans generally think of when we think of British accents. She is not cockney and is not some latter-day Eliza Doolittle.
I recently decided on actress Margaret Qualley to be the face of Frances Miller. It was a bonus that Qualley was in a show called Maid!
The idea behind Frances is that she almost blends into the background in the beginning. But, of course, she ends up being a lot bigger and more important than that. Ceilidh is a big part of Frances coming into her own as, of course, Gregory Ashford is, too.
Quotes
Coming from Ballyvaughan, Ceilidh has never used indoor plumbing before. In this scene, Frances explains what to do:
Frances lifted the lid, and showed Ceilidh there was a lacquered wooden seat. “Now here’s all you do, see. You lift the lid like so and let it rest against the back here, see? And then you gather your skirts or your nightgown up and sit down, facing the back.”
“Right, yes, I see.”
“And you do your business, of course. Then you take a sheet of these papers and use it cleanse yourself.”
“What do you do with the paper afterwards?”
“You place it into the bowl, where you just did your business.”
“And then what do you do?”
“You see the lever, and the little frog pull?”
“Yes, ‘tis rather amusing.”
“You pull once and hold it for as long as it takes in your head, to say,” Frances giggled a little, “God Save the Queen.”
“Truly?”
“Truly!”
Relationships
Frances has two main relationships.
Plumber’s Assistant Gregory Ashford
Her romantic one is with her husband, Gregory Ashford. They meet when the plumber is called in, to clear away a clog in the bathroom shared by all the women servants. Gregory is the assistant. While fixing the toilet, he and Ceilidh talk a little. He asks her, “Who is the vision?”
Ceilidh asks for clarification, and he says the vision has brown curls. Ceilidh makes sure to tell Gregory that Frances is Miss Frances Miller.
For Frances, Gregory is utterly unexpected. She and Ceilidh are what anyone of the time would have called old maids. While Frances has always wished and hoped for a family, she is a practical person at heart. Her dreams of love would not necessarily come true.
And so Gregory is a pleasant surprise. He is also kind and gentle and truly cares for her. Frances gets a middle class life, and that is perfect for her.
Ceilidh O’Malley
The only other relationship (really) for Frances is her close friendship with Ceilidh. When Ceilidh arrives, unsure of whether she’ll get work, Frances is the one to help Ceilidh along and assure she gets a job as a scullery maid. Frances wants a friend, someone she can talk to. No one else in the Edwards household can fill that need for her.
And so Frances kind of puts her thumb on the scale and rigs Ceilidh’s test to be hired. Without Frances and her help, Ceilidh would not have gotten such a good job. And certainly nowhere near as quickly.
The truest of friends, Ceilidh convinces Frances to give Gregory a chance, because plumbers will always have work, so she’ll never starve. Coming from grinding poverty, that’s an enormous plus, so far as Ceilidh is concerned.
The biggest bonus is when Gregory turns out not only to be all right, but to truly be an almost (this is the 1870s and 1880s we’re talking about) an equal partner.
Other Servants
Just like Ceilidh and other women of the time, Frances is a victim of what today we would refer to as sexual harassment. Donald Smith is nasty to everyone, and he leers at virtually every woman he sees. This comes to a stop when Gregory finally steps in and makes it clear that Frances is his girl. At least Donald backs off.
With the other servants, Frances is cordial but not overly friendly. There is nothing about the woman who Ceilidh ends up replacing. I never mention her by name, and neither does Frances. And so I feel we can conclude that the two women were not too terribly close.
Conflict and Turning Point
In the first book, The Real Hub of the Universe, the conflict and turning point for Frances are nearly the same as those for Ceilidh. Without getting too far into spoiler territory, the real issue is that both Ceilidh and Frances could have lost everything. When Judge Lowell helps out, Frances realizes she’s come from nothing, but has come to have powerful friends.
Her gratitude goes beyond measure.
By the time the series ends, she has achieved a great deal of the middle class dream. In particular, in comparison to someone like the wealthy Margery Cabot Edwards, Frances has true happiness.
Continuity/Easter Eggs
Gregory’s Brighton, Massachusetts house ties in with, of all things, Mettle. It’s just down the street from the house where Craig and Mei-Lin find the solar panels—about 140 years later.
Also, as an expository character, she aligns somewhat with Ixalla from Untrustworthy. But only a little. Ixalla, after all, is well-educated. Frances, while she can ostensibly read and write, has what is likely what we would call dyslexic today.
Also, her name ties her directly to Josie James’s sixth-eldest sibling, Frances Farrah James Walsh. But Francie is a professional ballerina, and has divorce in her past. She shares custody of her daughter, Gina, with her ex-husband, Clayton. Francie Walsh lives on Titania, a Uranian moon. Her ex has custody of Gina and they live on another Uranian moon, Umbriel.
And so Frances and Francie really just share a name, but nothing else.
Future Plans
I don’t really have future places for her, simply because the series is done. But never say never, for I did write a few short one-offs with her, Ceilidh, Gregory, and Devon. She may very well turn up again. Here’s hoping!
There are also enough hints that there could very well be a sequel series if I ever get a true plot together…
Frances as an old woman could be truly compelling. With her birth in 1858, she could conceivably live into the 1930s. Without it being too much of a stretch, that is. Her earlier, harder life could even give her an advantage during the Great Depression. But she would still be about 71 when it starts, and that’s pretty old for that era. For a person with a difficult early life, even a survivor like Frances Miller Ashford might not live past her sixties, if that.
Frances Miller Ashford: Takeaways
Every main character needs a sidekick, a kind of bounce off person. Frances is that type of character. This survivor, against all odds, is still sweet and charming. This makes her one of the more optimistic characters I have ever written.
Frances Miller Ashford — because so many main characters need a true best friend.
Want More of Frances Miller Ashford?
If Frances resonates with you, then check out my other articles about them, Ceilidh, Johnny, Devon, Frances, and everyone else as they work to prevent a temporally jacked-up genocide.
How was third quarter 2024 for writing? So I spent third quarter 2024 writing new short stories. Also, I spent time seriously considering the final Obolonk trilogy and its plot.
Third Quarter 2024 Posted Works
First of all, I worked on a number of new short stories. A lot of these had been drafted on paper and so I spent some time editing them. Current shorter works include A School for Scavengers and The Duck in the Seat Cushion.
Then on Wattpad I posted nowhere, and really just went there in order to check on my stats.
Milestones
Also, I have written over 3.5 million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined). So right now my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:
Dinosaurs – 42+ reads, 11+ comments
How to NaNoWriMo – 26,183 reads, 340 comments (pulled from Wattpad due to their severing their association with NaNoWriMo)
My Favorite Things (like kibble) – 992 reads, 133 comments
The Obolonk Murders Trilogy – so this one is all about a tripartite society. But who’s killing the aliens?
The Enigman Cave – can we find life on another planet and not screw it up? You know, like we do everything else?
The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy – so the aliens who live among us in the 1870s and 1880s are at war. But why is that?
Mettle – so it’s all about how society goes to hell in a hand basket when the metals of the periodic table start to disappear. But then what?
Time Addicts – No One is Safe – so this one is all about what happens in the future when time travel becomes possible via narcotic.
Time Addicts – Nothing is Permanent – this is the second in this trilogy. What happens when time is tampered with and manipulated in all sorts of ways? It’s the ultimate in gaslighting, for one thing.
Time Addicts – Everything is Up For Grabs – as the timelines smack together and continue to diverge, it gets harder to tell the “real” timeline from all the newer fake ones. And what if some of the changes are for the better?
Prep Work
So currently, my intention, for 2025’s 30Day50k, is to write the third trilogy in the Time Addicts/Obolonks universe. But I need to iron out the plot! So a lot of this year has been spent on that. I have no name for this one yet. However, I think I’m getting closer….
Consider Devon Grace, One of My Original Characters
Who is Devon Grace?
Dr. Devon Grace arose from, among other things, Peter Capaldi being tapped to play Dr. Who.
Where Did Devon Grace Come From?
Once Ceilidh is ensconced in Massachusetts, she needed something to do that wasn’t going to be just endless cookery and housework. And then the idea for Devon sprang up, and I realized it could drive the plot rather well.
The Past is Prologue — Backstory for Devon Grace
Rich and privileged, all Devon wants to do is heal people. But it’s the Victorian era, and he’s got a major secret.
He’s gay.
And so, his very existence is essentially illegal.
Female patients seem to sense something about him, so Devon becomes essentially an OB-GYN. He delivers babies and, eventually, women start to trust him to perform abortions. His track record is decent (after all, he’s no quack), but women still die.
It all goes wrong when a relative of a member of Parliament dies on the table.
Arrested, but then charged with buggery, Devon ends up in prison for a year. But he’s lucky. Since Dr. Grace is wealthy, at least he’s not executed.
Post-Disgrace
Banished from practicing medicine in the UK, he comes to America. But he feels horribly guilty and wants to atone. He does so by becoming what we would now call a Public Health Officer. In particular, he helps a morphine addict turn her life around.
Description
I see Peter Capaldi, hands down. There is no one else.
Purpose/Theme/Motivation
Like the other characters in the Universe of The Real Hub of the Universe, his motivation is to protect the Earth. Much like Ceilidh, he has a redemption arc. Finding love, and finding purpose, are key.
And, along the way, he even finds a more traditional-ish family, marrying Ellen Remy and adopting her son, Richard, who was born out of wedlock.
Quotes (to help out Ceilidh in the Charles Street Jail, Devon poses as her husband)
When the church bells rang for one, the jailhouse’s bell rang and Gregory Ashford arrived, looking concerned. Less than half an hour later, the bell rang again, and Ceilidh heard Devon’s voice. “I will visit this prisoner when I please,” he complained.
“Oh, really? And who might you be?” asked the captain.
Devon came close to the bars and Ceilidh could see he was wearing an unfamiliar cloak. Either he had purchased something new, or it was Shannon. He nodded to her and she approached. Unexpectedly, Devon took both her hands in his and kissed them and then said to Marsh, “I am her husband.”
Relationships
For someone who wanted to be left alone in his misery, he ends up making friends and more.
Ceilidh O’Malley
As originally his employee, Ceilidh is a serving girl, maid, valet, and confidante. They become closer when they reveal their secrets to each other.
At her annulment hearing, he cosplays as a priest, the third necessary for a hearing. No one needs to be the wiser.
Ellen Remy
Devon loves children and sees an injustice in how Ellen and Richard are treated by most people. He proposes marriage to fix that, but also for his own purposes. If he can convince the authorities that he’s a changed man (which we would just see as him being forced even further into the closet), he can go back to Scotland to live.
At first, Ellen is afraid he’s in love with her but she doesn’t feel the same way about her. But they come to an understanding.
Carlos
Devon’s old friend is an important member of SPHERE in Europe. They can joke and laugh and end up in love.
Shannon Duffy
The entity known as Shannon Duffy has odd relationships with most human beings. With Devon, the relationship is cordial. They play draughts a lot, and team up to help Ceilidh and Jake and the rest of SPHERE.
Conflict and Turning Point
When the Yarinduin and the Xolana attack, Devon is in the thick of it.
Continuity/Easter Eggs
Since I also see Capaldi as David Shepherd, I’ve had an intriguing idea. Perhaps Shepherd’s real name should be Devon Grace? I confess I rather like the idea.
Peter Capaldi, who I see as Dr. Devon Grace. Image is for reference purposes only.
Future Plans for Devon Grace
He will not be a part of the Real Hub of the Universe prequel. But never say never. If I write another prequel, he would be a fascinating character to cover.
Devon Grace: Takeaways
Complex, sardonic, rueful, but ultimately kind, Devon Grace was a great character to create.
Devon Grace — a doctor character ahead of his time.
Want More of Devon Grace?
If Devon resonates with you, then check out my other articles about Ceilidh, Johnny, Devon, Frances, Shannon and everyone else as they work to prevent a temporally jacked-up genocide.
Consider Ceilidh O’Malley, One of My Original Characters
Who is Ceilidh O’Malley?
The main character in The Real Hub of the Universe series is someone I originally thought of as “a plucky Irish scullery maid”. But then she grew and changed. And I like her better now. Readers seem to love her, too. To get truly technical and formal, this character is Ceilidh Aisling O’Malley Barnes Radford.
Oh, and her name is pronounced Kay-Lee, and her middle name, Ashling. Dance and dream.
Where Did Ceilidh O’Malley Come From?
The name came to me first. Because the idea behind Real Hub was to marry science fiction with the Victorian Era, the perfect character to observe the goings on would be in the serving class. With a story that goes from the serving class to the Boston Brahmins and back again, she could be there for all of it.
The Past is Prologue — Backstory for Ceilidh O’Malley
Considered an old maid in her tiny home village of Ballyvaughan, Ceilidh, her sister Maeve, and her mother are starving. The crops are unreliable, and the entire village is barely on the right side of grinding poverty. And that even includes the most powerful family in Ballyvaughan, the Barneses.
Ceilidh has stayed away from the men in her village. She’s a cousin of some degree to near all of them. But it’s more than that. She’s just plain not interested in them.
A part of this is because she (and one of the Barnes sons) is the best student in the one-room, multi-year schoolhouse. The teacher? Her father. But by the time she’s in her teens, her father has died of what was likely food poisoning. Things are not looking good.
And so, even though Maeve likes him, it’s Ceilidh who’s married off to the middle Barnes son, Johnny. When Johnny attacks her, she flees the country and the story begins, as does the Real Hub of the Universe series.
Description
Extremely pale, yet with the map of Ireland on her face, Ceilidh is semi-unique looking. But not so much that she should seem out of place. What I didn’t want was a stereotypical redheaded, freckle-faced Irish Colleen.
I decided Ceilidh would resemble Naomi Watts, an actress I like a great deal, particularly because she doesn’t seem to be afraid of looking her age.
This is Naomi Watts (as Gertrude in Ophelia) – looking a bit like Ceilidh O’Malley but probably too well-dressed and not as young as I’d like
Purpose/Theme/Motivation
Ceilidh’s original motivator is getting away/lying. When she leaves Ballyvaughan, it’s essentially under false pretenses. But she can’t stay.
Her struggle to not only survive, but to turn her life around, is at the heart of the series.
Quotes (Ceilidh is talking to Dr. Devon Grace, who speaks first)
“And so you left?”
“Yes. I packed and my cousin was still in the village but he was leaving. So I went with him. He took me to Kinvara and I got passage on the Atlas because Captain Underwood took pity on me. We stopped in Cornwall and I met his wife and befriended her. She agreed to be the go-between for me and my mother and sister. Helen has kindly forwarded letters and even money to them for a few years now. She has exceeded my expectations a thousandfold.”
“And your mother and sister know nothing of your whereabouts?”
“That’s correct. They don’t even know I’m in America.”
Relationships
Ceilidh, like many characters, is well-defined by her relationships in life. Friend, family member, and employee—and eventually employer—she does it all.
Friendships
A true, understanding friend, Ceilidh feels it’s important to help her friends whenever she can.
Frances Miller Ashford
Ceilidh’s first friend in the states is fellow scullery maid, Frances Miller. In fact, Frances makes it easier for Ceilidh to pass a test to be able to work at the Edwards House. To return the favor, Ceilidh works to bring Frances’s admirer, plumber’s assistant Gregory Ashford, to the house more often so the two can get to know one another. The two women are so close that they are in each other’s weddings.
Shannon Duffy
Shannon is a strange creation of mine, essentially a colony of tiny cells which, together, make up a form of collective intelligence. The colony chooses her by vote, as they choose virtually everything else. When they meet, it’s almost by random. Shannon, at the time called Levi Altschuler, is being chased by a number of bullies in the Boston Public Garden. Running from them, Shannon runs directly into Ceilidh and knocks her down. But when the bullies catch up, Ceilidh rises to defend Shannon, even though they have never seen each other before.
Shannon helps her in several different ways (trying to avoid too many spoilers here!), including helping Dr. Grace to save her life.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
This very real figure from history is initially snobbish and somewhat mean to a mere serving girl. But they grow on each other, and he takes the place of her father in some ways. As he ages, he slows down, and suffers what we would recognize as a form of senile dementia, possibly Alzheimer’s disease. She cares for him whenever they are in the same room together, and mourns him when he dies.
Dr. Devon Grace
Devon is Ceilidh’s originally stern and mysterious employer. He likes her discretion and company, and she, initially, enjoys bouncing ideas off him. In that way, he’s also something of a father surrogate to her. She accepts his faults, smooths out at least some of his rough edges, keeps his secrets, and they both make each other better.
Devon’s greatest gift to her is given in Ireland.
Ellen Remy Grace
As Ellen lives in somewhat genteel poverty, Ceilidh can relate. And when Ellen’s employment prospects are nearly zero due to her having an illegitimate child, it’s Ceilidh who gives the semi-starving woman a sandwich. And it’s Ceilidh who treats Ellen like a friend and not a pariah. In her own way, Ceilidh also realizes Ellen is in mourning and has lost a great deal more than just her reputation.
Judge John Lowell and the Other Members of SPHERE
SPHERE, the secret society at the heart of the story, is the source of several relationships for Ceilidh.
Apart from Winthrop Edwards, all the members of SPHERE are real historical figures. Lowell is Ceilidh’s second employer. He treats her well and gives her responsibilities she would normally never have gotten. He and his wife treat her fairly.
Henry Adams is mainly aloof, but in the third book, he confides that he and a woman he corresponds with are involved in what we would nowadays call an emotional affair. George Weld had been a yachtsman, but by the time Ceilidh knows him, he’s becoming disabled (possibly due to a stroke). Much like with Emerson in his later years, Ceilidh fetches him tea, helps him up and down stairs, and otherwise treats him with special care. Alexander Graham Bell joins later, and he’s initially suspicious that a woman could possibly be a good confidante. She wins him over, in a way—but lets Mrs. Lowell speak up when Bell argues at a party that women should never be working.
When Emerson dies, Ceilidh turns to SPHERE member Bronson Alcott to take his place as the father figure in her life. Delighted, Alcott makes her promise to keep in close touch.
Finally, Winthrop Edwards is her Ceilidh’s first employer in the US. Snobbish and very private, we get to know him better in the second and third books than we ever do in the first.
Family
Ceilidh’s family relationships are complex, mainly due to the tininess of her home village (so she’s related to pretty much everyone) and her immediate family’s grinding poverty. Her beloved father dies when she is young, and so her mother, her, and her sister are forced to fend for themselves. And it does not go well at all.
Mam (Mary O’Malley)
When the first book starts, Mary has been backed into a financial corner. She and her family are members of the cottier class, a kind of tenant farmer. But when the crops fail too many times in a row, Mary knows that Maeve in particular probably won’t survive for too much longer. As a result, Mary surveys her valuables and essentially “sells” one of them—Ceilidh—for more food for all of them.
For the time, Mary’s actions are justifiable and even kind. Giving up Ceilidh to the Barnes family means her elder daughter will never starve. And it also means that the meager rations she, Maeve, and Ceilidh have been living on can instead be split among two people. Furthermore, a connection to the Barnes family means occasional meals or at least allowances to be late with the rent. Jack Barnes is already Mary’s cousin. But handing over Ceilidh strengthens that.
When we finally meet her in Book Two, Mary is a doting grandmother but still starving, giving her share to her grandsons even if that means it could eventually kill her.
Maeve O’Malley Barnes
With Maeve, things are complicated. But that’s understandable. Much like in the Old Testament story of Rachel and Leah, it’s Maeve who’s originally pledged to Johnny. But things go south when the family goes through yet another bad winter. And Johnny doesn’t want to wait for what at the time was called ‘wifely duties’.
Mary is cognizant enough of Maeve’s ill health to offer up Ceilidh instead. Ceilidh is about twenty, an old maid pretty much anywhere. Maeve is fifteen, and technically old enough to wed. After Ceilidh flees Ballyvaughan, Johnny and Maeve take up anyway. And when Ceilidh, Jake, Shannon, and Devon go to Ballyvaughan in the third book, Ceilidh discovers Maeve is living in her cottage. Ceilidh’s cottage, that is.
Yep, like they say on Facebook, “it’s complicated”.
People Ceilidh Doesn’t Like
While technically Johnny Barnes should be here, he belongs in the next section. These people aren’t necessarily enemies, per se. But they’re not pals with Ceilidh all the same.
Margery Cabot Edwards
Like in many wealthy American households of the time, it’s the lady of the house who is in charge of the servants. Mrs. Lowell is fair and smart, running her house like a business. Margery Cabot Edwards, on the other hand, is a snobby, spoiled rich girl, more than happy to treat all of her household help like dirt. But her maltreatment is a catalyst to get Ceilidh to find work elsewhere, with the Lowells.
Gerald Price
The lesser of the two louts working for the Lowell House, Gerald is a sexist, but that was par for the course at the time. This stable hand is a bit too nosy for his own good, but otherwise he and Ceilidh mainly stay out of each other’s way. Ceilidh’s semi-revenge is to hire Gerald in Book Three.
Gerald has his name because I’ve been in more than one working situation where a guy named Jerry was just the biggest jerk. My apologies to those who love people named Jerry (and hey, how about Jerry O’Connell?)! But I will often name a jerk in my writing Jerry, and that’s the case in the Time Addicts trilogy as well.
Donald Smith
This character got his name due to the election of the 45th president, a person who has never impressed me.
In the books, Donald is the gardener to not only the Edwards and Lowell Houses, but really to all or most of the Boston Brahmins. Talented and hard-working, he turns that on its head and uses his good qualities to get away with a lot. As a result, he has a girlfriend in nearly every house he works in, and most if not all of those relationships are sexual in nature.
With Ceilidh, he’s rough and nasty. Jealous of her education and her position with Devon, he’s also sexually attracted to her. He calls her Duchess, and he’s not trying to be flattering.
Donald’s comeuppance happens in Book Three (if you’ve only read the first two, trust me, it’s coming), and I spent a lot of time trying to come up with what would punish him the most. Did I succeed? You tell me.
Romantic Relationships
Johnny Barnes
The first time we see Johnny, he’s attacking Ceilidh for having the audacity to try to bring him home after he’s been on a multi-day bender. Most women of the time would have accepted his treatment, although a lot of Irish villages and towns would have held a shivaree.
While Johnny’s behavior is far from defensible, some of it stems from marrying the wrong sister. In some small way, he loves Maeve, but he doesn’t treat her much better than he does Ceilidh. But at least with Maeve, he ostensibly provides care for her and their sons. Well, kinda.
Jacob Radford
Their meeting is far from auspicious, as they first see each other at the Charles Street Jail, on opposite sides of bars. But there is something about Jake. Originally, he’s just her handsome, pleasant, polite suitor. And when he learns the truth of her marital status (covered in her quote, above), he’s all set to do the honorable thing and bow out. But when he learns why she’s in America, he takes up her cause, and is a large part of proving her case in the annulment hearing.
When they wed, he reveals real heat under his manners and Southern charm, and their sex life is certainly more active and consensual than it was for a lot of women at the time. But the time they truly grow close is when he reveals his secrets to her about his service in the Civil War. And when both of them see a possible future for themselves, he includes her in the decision-making, treating her far more like an equal than most husbands did in the 1870s and 1880s.
Conflict and Turning Point
Ceilidh experiences several turning points within the series, and the first one happens in the first scene. Wwhen the series starts, it’s 1876. In this time period, most women would have accepted abuse as their lot in life. But not Ceilidh. She’s not going to continue pretending everything is fine.
In the second book, I tackle more of her marriage to Johnny. The abuse is just the cherry on a nasty sundae.
Without giving away too many spoilers, Ceilidh changes with major upheavals in her life. This is whether they’re from the start or end of relationships, or from external factors like trouble with the law. And, of course, the main change in her life is by aliens.
Continuity/Easter Eggs
Ceilidh lives in two separate houses when she gets to the states. The first is at 85 Mount Vernon Street (the second Harrison Gray Otis House, pictured above). The other one is at 60 Beacon Street. Both are on Beacon Hill in Boston, and are exceptionally expensive properties.
Future Plans for Ceilidh O’Malley
I don’t necessarily have a lot of plans for Ceilidh, because I have already finished the trilogy. But people love her, and I suspect her early life or her future could be of interest to readers. So, I may not have seen the last of her.
Ceilidh O’Malley: Takeaways
For a character whose first appearance is a beating, Ceilidh O’Malley grows to become a somewhat middle class. She grows to become a certainly respectable member of Boston society.
And she ends up with powerful friends, a great love, and a promising future. Her happy ending is the kind any of us would wish for.
Ceilidh O’Malley — a character who turns around completely.
Want More of Ceilidh O’Malley?
If Ceilidh resonates with you, then check out my other articles about Ceilidh, Johnny, Devon, Frances, Shannon and everyone else as they work to prevent a temporally jacked-up genocide.
Consider this: positive reviews are the lifeblood of any independent author. We live for them! And they help us sell more books, which is really awesome. But how can you make them even better?
Caveats
Don’t provide a positive review in exchange for a positive one you just got. And don’t provide one in the hopes that you’ll get one in return. Personally, I very rarely give out five stars. A book has to truly leave me sock-free. I can enjoy a book immensely but still not give it five stars. However, I give out a lot of 3- and 4-star reviews, particularly to indie authors.
And if my review is a positive one, I spread it to as many places as I can.
Length
Just saying you loved a piece is not enough. It’s better than nothing, of course. But you, too, are a writer. You can do better than that! While you don’t have to hit an actual word count, it is more helpful if you give the review some time and attention. Naturally, if you are pressed for time or you have to do a lot of reviews, then you will not get into things like you would if your time was more open.
Plus it does not have to be a novel. A 50 – 150 word review should do nicely, unless it is a blog post. In that case, best practices for blog posts is 300 or more words. So adjust accordingly.
Specificity
Writers often get crippling self-doubt. Imposter syndrome is common. Generalized reviews don’t help much. Be clear about what you loved.
Scarlet O’Hara was a strong female character in a man’s world. What is most impressive about her is the fact that she was written in 1936. Hence Margaret Mitchell was almost revolutionary in writing her. While today we might scoff at some of Scarlet’s machinations, she still manages to be a memorable and memorably flawed character. Her motivations are clear and logical. Her endgame is satisfying.
While the author is no longer alive to read my praise, the paragraph still gets across my admiration for the work (I do, for real, like the book, although it’s not one of my absolute favorites, and I know it’s problematic). This is also a meatier review than just “It’s great!” The review does not just make the writer feel good; it also provides vital information for potential readers. As a result, it’s can help more with sales.
Spoiler-Free Positive Reviews
Please don’t give away the ending! My above review snippet about Gone With the Wind does not give away the ending. In fact, it gives away just about none of the plot at all.
I would write a longer review (the above bit is really just a part of it) where I would probably mention the US Civil War and Rhett Butler. I might get into Ashley Wilkes and Melanie Hamilton, particularly if I were writing a blog post and needed to make word count.
Spread the Love
There are several online places which take reviews.
Amazon reviews most directly affect a writer’s sales and potential sales. If you provide positive reviews on an obscure book blog read by only a few people, then the impact will not be as great. You can also review on other countries’ versions of Amazon (UK, Canada, etc.), GoodReads, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, or iBooks.
Positive Reviews Should Have a Call to Action to Read the Author’s Other Works
A call to action is anything from ‘click here’ to ‘buy this’. It is a statement online whereby you are asking someone to do something. It does not have to feel like a hard sell. Instead, you can write things like:
This book was fun and I can’t wait to see what else the writer has written.
I hear there is a sequel and I can’t wait.
I checked out the writer’s Amazon page (provide the link) and they are blogging there. I’m excited to read what they have to say.
I see Peter Capaldi, hands down. There is no one else.
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