People, Not Characters

Ernest Hemingway once wrote: "When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature."
In my novels I've tried to create living people, which means they are a mixture of good and bad, of noble and despicable qualities. They have many flaws, but they're also capable of kindness and grace. Like real people.
I've gotten some feedback from readers through emails and reviews on Amazon, but last night I had a chance to speak to some readers face to face, and I got some valuable insights about my characters.
For the first time ever, I went to a book club where the members were discussing one of my books, "Rose Of Skibbereen". I was nervous about going, but the members put me at ease right away, and it ended up being a truly enjoyable experience.
It was a special evening for a fiction writer, to sit there and discuss my characters as if they were real people. The members asked me questions about why Rose did something, or what was Peter thinking when he made yet another foolish decision, and as I gave them my answers it occurred to me that it was like explaining why someone in my family did something.
And that was the best part, because I realized the characters had come alive for these readers. They were not caricatures or cardboard figures, they were living people, warts and all. People whose lives you can get caught up in, which is why we read stories in the first place.
I couldn't be happier about the book club meeting last night. It was a special experience for an author, and I'd love to do it again. So, readers, if you have a book club and you'd like to invite me, contact me at mcdonnellwrite@gmail.com, and we can discuss the logistics. If it's possible for me to come, I'll be there.
I love discussing my people.

Another Good Review, And Some News

I promise I will not use this blog to broadcast every favorable review my books get, but I can't help it, I have to post this one. I sent a review copy of "Rose Of Skibbereen" to Sue-Ellen Welfonder, who is a best-selling author of romances set in the Scottish Highlands. I figured that Skibbereen, Ireland isn't that far from Kintail, Scotland. Their inhabitants share a Celtic soul, and a perspective born of the wild beauty of their lands, I thought, so maybe Sue-Ellen would enjoy my book. 

It turns out she enjoyed "Rose Of Skibbereen"so much that she gave me this quote to use. 

“McDonnell wields his pen as masterfully as the storytellers of his own ancestral Ireland.  Rose of Skibbereen is a gripping tale, powerful and evocative, and with such a strong sense of place and authentic characters, you’ll feel transported into one of the most compelling and heartbreaking periods of Irish history.  I was hooked from the first line and highly recommend Rose of Skibbereen.  This is historical fiction at its finest. Haunting and unforgettable.”

Thank you, Sue-Ellen! It means a lot to me that someone who writes best-selling historical fiction like you enjoyed my novel. I appreciate it!

The other piece of news I have is that I am now hard at work on Book Four of the "Rose Of Skibbereen" series. I had thought that I would stop after three books, but the response has been very encouraging from readers, who want the story to continue. I enjoy writing about these characters, and seeing where the twists and turns of their lives will lead them. I hope to have Book Four published in March, just in time for St. Patrick's Day. All I can say at this point is that the story takes place in the 1960s, so you know there will be a lot of change in the air!

The Review That Put A Smile On My Face

When I published my first ebook a few years ago my main thought was, "Will people like it?" Like all writers, I care what readers think of my work, and I was a little nervous about the reception my ebooks would get.
Now that some time has gone by, I can say that I am very happy. The overwhelming majority of the reviews of my ebooks have been positive, especially for my "Rose Of Skibbereen" series. It's been a great experience to see that people do like these fictional characters I created.
And once in a while, I get a review that is so good it puts a smile on my face for days.
The other day someone named Debora Kerr posted a review like that on Amazon. Here's an excerpt:

"McDonnell shines in his characterizations. I wish there were entire volumes dedicated to some of the other people in the novel, such as Rose's "bewitched" mother and the treacherous Mary. It was very natural to identify with the motives and emotions of all the characters. None of them sunk into limited good girl/bad guy cliches."

Wow! I am so happy, not just because she liked my characters, but because she appreciated the fact that they have nuances about them. They are not simple, one dimensional characters. They have gray areas, they are combinations of good and bad, just like real people. You can't put them into a box; the bad guys have good qualities, and the good guys have flaws.
Just like in real life.
My favorite thing about fiction is creating characters, because I love getting to know them, and seeing where their complex inner lives will lead them. Soon I'm going to start on Book Four of the "Rose Of Skibbereen" series, and I expect to meet more complex, flawed, but fascinating characters.
It will be fun getting to know them.
And maybe I'll get another review that will put a smile on my face.

Dreams And Realities In 2014

It’s the start of a new year, and the Internet is filled with people summing up the past year, proclaiming their plans and resolutions for the fresh new batch of 365 days that arrived recently, and generally doing a lot of pontificating about the passage of Time. 

So, I’ll weigh in with a bit of pontificating also. 

What did I learn in 2013?

That life is short, and you can’t wait around for your dreams to come to you. You have to reach out and grab for them. 

One reason I learned this lesson is that I lost my mother in 2013.

She was sick for a few years, and in some ways it’s a blessing that she doesn’t have to endure any more pain or humiliation, but it was still sad to see her go. I’ve lost both of my parents now, and there’s nothing like losing your parents to make you feel the passage of time. 

And so, now that I’ve realized the clock is ticking, it has occurred to me that I have a limited amount of time left in the game. The dream that I’ve been carrying around for my whole life, the one where I become a successful writer of fiction? I now realize that it’s time to stop dreaming about it and start doing the legwork to make it come true. I could always put it off when I was younger, stow it away in the “Someday” drawer. Not anymore. “Someday” is not some vague misty thing anymore. It’s getting closer all the time, and I can see the outline of it in my rear view mirror.  

Actually, I have been taking steps to realize my dream for some years now. When my father died in the 1990s I started writing short stories again, after abandoning them in my youth. I got some published, and that satisfied me for a time. 

Then, I realized that it was time to try bigger things. I wrote a novel, then another, then another. And, I have to say that my timing has been good. The last ten years have seen a revolution in the publishing industry, so that writers everywhere can get published more easily than at any time in history. The digital revolution has meant that you can publish a novel as easily as you can write a Word document, and in a matter of minutes you can have it available to more people than Gutenberg could have dreamed of when he printed the first hardbound book.

So 2013 was a bad year because my mother died, but it was also a good year because I published the first three volumes of my “Rose Of Skibbereen” series. I published 150,000 words about this Irish girl, based on my great-grandmother, who came to America in 1880 and had many adventures, heartaches and joys. To my great happiness, the ebook sold well. I was a novelist! It was a term I could never use before about myself, but now, by God, I could. 

So the lesson I learned in 2013 was that dreaming is a good thing, but you have to combine it with doing. If you want your dreams to come true, you have to start working on them, one day at a time. 

I won’t make any great predictions for 2014, but I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing -- writing every day, publishing more ebooks as I finish them. And if current trends continue, I’ll get some more readers along the way. 

And hopefully my dreams will keep coming true. 

Excerpt: Crossing The Atlantic

I've decided to post some excerpts from my "Rose Of Skibbereen" historical romance series here on my blog. These will give you the flavor of the book, and you'll be able to get a feel for my writing style. This section is from Chapter Two in Book One. It is about the ocean voyage Rose and her friend Mary took when they came to America in 1880. The scene takes place at night, during a terrible storm.

“If I ever get off this ship I’ll kiss the ground and never leave it again,” Mary said, as the ship settled itself before the next wave. “I’ll never get on another one of these floating coffins as long as I live.”

“Sure, and you’d never see Ireland again if you did that,” Rose said. “Unless you know another way of getting home, you’ll have to take a ship to come back.”

“God help me, if I have to take a ship I’ll never see my home again,” Mary said, as another boom of thunder roared in the background.

“Now, Mary, don’t talk such nonsense,” Rose said. “We’ll all be going home again, God willing.”

“We should have stayed,” Mary said. “If I was you, Rose Sullivan, I’d never have left, not with that fine McCarthy boy making eyes at me like he did to you.”

“He did more than that,” Rose said, mischievously. She was trying to distract the two of them from the terrible storm, and she thought talk of Sean McCarthy might do that.

“What do you mean?” Mary said.

“Why, he kissed me, don’t you know,” Rose said, feeling the color rise to her cheeks.

“Kissed you?” Mary poked her head out of her covers, and looked down at Rose. “Why the devil didn’t you tell me this before? That black-haired boy kissed you? What was it like, Rose? Tell me this instant.”

“It was like a spark of fire on my lips, and it spread through my whole body,” Rose said. “I can tell you it kept me warm the rest of the night.”

“You don’t say! How many times?”

“Just once! What kind of a girl do you think I am, Mary Driscoll? Do you think I’d be kissing a strange boy the whole night through?”

“No, but I can tell you what I’d have done,” Mary said. “I’d have sold my ticket on this blasted ship, and home I’d stay if a boy who looked like that kissed me.”

What do you think? If you'd like to read more, Book One is available here. Books Two and Three are also out, so if you like the story, you can continue on!

Book Three Of "Rose Of Skibbereen" Is Out!

I am happy to announce that Book Three of my "Rose Of Skibbereen" series is now published. This book covers the years from 1935 to 1960, and it follows Rose Sullivan Morley and her family through the Great Depression, the Second World War, and the 1950s. There are some surprises in store for Rose, her son Paul and the other characters, and there is still a strong element of the supernatural -- perhaps even paranormal -- in this story. I've had a lot of fun writing it, and I am constantly amazed at the new directions the story takes. It's like real life, I guess -- you never know from one day to the next what's going to happen. I based this story on things I found out about my own family when I researched the family history, but it has taken twists and turns that I never anticipated.

I originally thought this was going to be a trilogy, but now I realize there will be four books in the series. I want to find out what happens to the family as it faces the second half of the 20th century, and all the way up to the present. There are new characters appearing on the scene, and I want to see how they grow and develop. That book will probably appear in February or March of 2014. For now, though, I hope my readers enjoy this latest installment of the Rose Of Skibbereen series!

As always, let me know what you think!

Thank You, Lynnette!

I'm a big supporter of book bloggers. Of course, that's because people who blog about books can help me to get the word out about my own books. Some of these bloggers have thousands of followers, and it goes without saying that if they feature your book prominently, you'll get lots of exposure. I'm also a reader, though, and I like book blogs for the simple fact that they help me to find books I might want to read. I can scan capsule reviews on these sites and find out what other readers think before I make a purchase.

One very good book blog is Lynnette's Book World. I've known Lynnette Phillips for about five years now, and she is a big supporter of authors. She writes three blogs about books and publishing, is a consultant for self-published authors, writes books herself, and obviously loves to read. Her Lynnette's Book World blog features reviews, book trailers, interviews, and articles about every aspect of self-publishing. It's worth a visit, and a bookmark.

And now for the best part: for the next 30 days Lynnette's Book World is featuring my "Rose Of Skibbereen" ebook on the front page. It's right there at the top of the page, under "5 Star Historical Fiction". I am very pleased that Lynnette chose my book to feature on her blog, and, well, I just had to mention that fact today!

If you like books and reading, I highly recommend that you visit Lynnette's Book World. And if you feel like clicking on the "Rose Of Skibbereen" link, by all means do so!