Ashmore’s Blog
It’s been too long, but so much has happened
I just realized that I haven’t updated this blog for almost a year. Yikes! In my defense, it’s been a tumultuous year, punctuated by two deaths of people close to me. I am working hard on All That Burns the Dark and hope to have it out within the next few months. Unfortunately, it will not have the touch of my long-time editor, Diane Mumpower, as we lost her a few months ago to lung cancer. Diane made a huge difference to these books; she understood my characters as well as I did, and she really helped me with Diana’s change...
read moreWhy All Who Are Lost ends where it does…
Or How I Turned One Book into Three! When I decided to publish the Ashmore’s Folly story, I faced a problem: The story wasn’t even finished, and it was almost half a million words. My estimate was that it would end up being about 600,000 words — far too long for any traditional publisher these days, and too long for a reader to take a chance on. Pricing would scare readers off. Not to mention that I needed to get the first and second parts of the story out there so that I would have the gun at my head to finish the third....
read moreDiana and Laura play dress-up
In All Who Are Lost, Chapter 14, “Ancient Crimes,” Laura and Diana find the old couture clothes of their mother stashed in the attic of their father’s house and play dress-up. Laura buys the dresses from Diana and plans to wear them in the upcoming benefit she is giving for Lucy’s cause. Here is the Pinterest board I created with ideas for some of the dresses. I particularly like the couture of Charles James, who created mini works of architecture in his dresses. So what should Laura wear at the concert? (We will see...
read moreCam St. Bride
I’m not going to add a character sketch for Cameron St. Bride, but I did want to post his picture. I have always thought he looked like the young Brett Cullen (actor from TX who had a supporting role in Apollo 13). Here is the link to the headshot that I put in my writing notebook for Cam. It’s the third headshot in the fourth row. If you click it, you’ll see a larger version of the photo. Brett Cullen
read moreWhat’s in a Name?
Or how I got to name people who couldn’t complain! While I’ve been asked many times where I got the idea for Ashmore’s Folly, no one has ever asked me how I came up with the names for my characters. I have agonized over each and every name — and only two characters have had the same name all the way through. Naming a character is as fraught with anxiety as naming a child. With a child, however, you don’t know ahead of time whether or not the name will suit him/her, and she can always call herself Liz instead of...
read moreWhat’s in a Title?
One of the hardest decisions I had to make in writing the Ashmore’s Folly Trilogy was one of the most important: What in the heck was I going to call this thing? Or things, once I broke it into three? Ashmore’s Folly The Ashmore’s Folly part was easy. It had been Brandon’s Folly to me for a long time, and indeed, that was a title on the shortlist when it was still all one long story. (Why Brandon? Because Richard was Richard Brandon for years and years, until someone pointed out that it was one letter off Richard...
read moreAll That Lies Broken
All Who Are Lost
