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World Building

October 5, 2025 by Tracy Reed in category Writing I’ve been writing romance fiction for a while and this year, I got a revelation about world building. Chalk it up to naivety. I thought deep world building was reserved for paranormal or fantasy genres. Not contemporary fiction.

When I wrote my first couple of books, I used the city of New York as my backdrop. I included local landmarks as points of reference to make the stories more relatable. I stand by my decision to do so. To this day, when I include New York, I sometimes use my old building number, not the full address out of respect for privacy to the current residents. However, life and time moves forward and some places mentioned no longer exist which made my stories dated.

When I started writing, I reached out to a well-known author and asked for advice on how to better my writing. I was shocked at her answer, Don’t read any authors in your genre. I followed that advice for quite a while. Then I was at a conference and heard an author say the opposite. She reading other books in her genre greatly improved her writing. I started reading books in my genre, incorporating some of the craft I gleaned and she was right, I saw a vast difference and improvement in my storytelling.

Fast-forward. This year I decided to only read new-to-me black romance authors. I am embarrassed to admit I had not heard of any of these phenomenal authors. In reading their work, I have learned so much about storytelling and world building.

In my own writing, I have extracted characters into spinoffs, but I hadn’t included the characters and places across my other books. World building. I reviewed a couple of my books and realized I had dabbled in world building, but not like the women I had been reading. I noticed they had created schools, cities, brands and products, celebrities, media outlets, retail and other businesses that were used throughout their stories. They even crossed over characters. One author has a prominent celebrity who has ties to characters in some of her other books. In her book world, everyone knows him and is familiar with his work.

This clever world building got my creative juices flowing. I had a list of places mentioned in two of my series, but not like she did. I’m in the course of rewriting a book and I’m doing this world building. I’ve taken a magazine briefly mentioned in one book and carrying it over to another book. It’s going to be one of the media publications in my writing world. I’ve also taken one of the retail stores that belongs to a character and making it a shopping destination for my writing world. I’ve got a lawyer from one series who is the mentor and friend to a lawyer from another series.

World building like this has opened my eyes to deeper story telling. We’re supposed to be fiction writers, but how good are we at our craft, if we aren’t making full use of our creative muse. If you haven’t really committed to world building, I encourage you to do so. Get a notebook and start building your world. 0 1 Read more

Night Shift

A crab shell on the riverbank marked the end of day. No crab inside, just the empty carapace and claws, bright objects against the darker sandy grit along the water. Jyr laid thin branches of hemlock around the shell, then watched the river current flickering where the setting sun touched the ripples.

She had gathered bare sticks and limbs to make a fire, but that was for after night dropped its curtain over the landscape. For now, she sat cross-legged on the bank, next to the shell, and waited.

Soon, the heron had told her. The change was approaching. Was she ready?

She’d asked, “Will I like it?” The heron had preened, offering nothing else.

With a weathered branch, Jyr drew shape after shape in the damp sand. Maybe the runic symbols Belna had taught her as a child would help hurry along whatever lay ahead.

Six mallards swam past, their soft quacks of conversation weaving with the low rush of water over stones. A breeze from the northeast ruffled Jyr’s hair and brought the sharp scent of pine sap. Small rocks mixed with the finer sand pressed into Jyr’s bottom, forcing her to shift.

As the sun sank below the horizon, the river darkened. Instead of a fiery glint, the running water now reflected the spangle of stars emerging overhead.

And still Jyr waited, her stomach rumbling in a low growl. When?

As hard as she stared, nothing and no one appeared out of the night. Finally, a crab moved at the edge of the water, and with a quick stab she had it in her beak. Beak? Now standing, she lifted one leg and then the other, her knees bending backward, then she shook, feeling her feathers move and rearrange themselves.

Another crab, another swallow. Jyr resumed her slow stalk along the bank, the memory of what she had been already fading, like the shapes and symbols drawn in the wet sand.

THE DARKEN DOORSTEP

AN ELEMENT OF MYSTERTY: SWEET, FUNNY, AND STRANGE TALES OF INTRIGUE

UNTIL DAWN: A Supernatural Anthology

FUR, FEATHERS AND SCALES: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Animal Tales

UNTETHERED: SWEET, FUNNY, AND STRANGE TALES OF THE PARANORMAL

SEASON’S READINGS: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales

Scream of the Silent Sun

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My own private war to write ‘The Stolen Children of War’ by Jina Bacarr

September 11, 2025 by Jina Bacarr in category circus, Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as children, circus, France, Paris, writing, WW2

War is hell.

Writing can also exact a toll on you that’s hard to come back from. I don’t propose to compare the valiant efforts of our soldiers, amazing servicemen and women, to me sitting safe behind a computer and writing about war. Not at all. I never served in combat, but I did counsel men who did (this was before women were allowed to fight in combat) and I heard the stories late at night sitting around a big, ole aluminum coffee pot in the US Army Service Club or playing pool with the men. We had a lot of soldiers passing through on their way ‘back home’ who felt more comfortable talking to me about their experiences than their families.

I was so young… and not a trained counselor or psychologist. But I did have one thing: I’m a good listener. Something taught to me by the nuns, especially the wise and round-faced Sister Mary Celestine at St Peter’s. I learned a lot from these Army and Air Force soldiers about brotherhood and loyalty and being ‘blooded’ and that unbreakable bond these men had with their units. I envied that. I wondered how we women would fare in such tense situations under fire.

Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to write about women in war.

My last several books are about Paris during the Occupation by the Nazis and the brave women who fought in the Resistance even as they fell in love and raised children. But writing about such intense times does take a toll on you. Especially when you’re fighting your own pain from an accident and struggling to make a deadline. (I thank God for my fabulous editor Isobel who was with me during this time and never gave up on me.)

Then I remember the sacrifice made by the women and men fighting the Nazis. My God, would I have had the courage to do as they did? I like to think I could and every day I strive to do what I can to help others… whether it’s at the market and someone needs help, or a nervous, new receptionist at my doctor’s office starting her first job.

The world is a scary place.

I also give thanks every day for what I have. Shelter, food, my treasured books I’ve collected since I was a little girl. And the Internet. Which allows me to share my heartfelt stories with you.

So, here we are… the hot days are slowly giving way to cooler temperatures. And with the advent of Fall, I’m so excited to announce my next Paris WW2 book, The Stolen Children of War.

I’m so thrilled with this fabulous cover.

It’s so circus-y!

That’s Lia, my heroine. A trapeze artist and trick rider since she was a kid.

The two children she saves will steal your heart as they did mine!

There’s also a stolen baby, handsome heroes, and an adorable baby elephant.

And a mystery, too… a madman threatening circus queens….

It’s a glorious ride of heart, passion, and razzle dazzle under the big top!

Can’t wait to introduce you to the world of circus during the Occupation of Paris 1943 when the children needed the joy of circus more than ever!

Out 10th November https://mybook.to/ChildrenOfWar

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Are You Contaminated? by Kitty Bucholtz

September 9, 2025 by Kitty Bucholtz in category It's Worth It by Kitty Bucholtz, Writing tagged as community, encouragement, Encouraging Words, Kitty Bucholtz, writing

This weekend I saw some friends who moved away five years ago. What a wonderful surprise! At church, one of the pastors asked them what it was like to visit after so long, and one friend said something that made me laugh.

He said, Coming to this church, you get contaminated. People are so friendly and loving and kind, it brings out those traits in you. Then we all learn and grow together.

What a great way to look at it! Getting contaminated, but in a good way! It made me think of us. Outside of church, I’ve never known such an encouraging, helpful group of people like writers. No matter what’s happening, outside or inside our community, we end up coming together and helping each other through.

I want you to just sit in that for a moment. Think of all the writers who have encouraged you or taught you or held you together when it seemed things were falling apart. Think of all the times you’ve done that for others. This kind of contamination is our super power!

Let’s never forget it. Keeping up this strength individually and as a community is so worth it. 🥰

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Building My World

September 5, 2025 by Tracy Reed in category Writing

I have been a published author for ten years. I need to pause at that number. I’m amazed I’m still in this space. I’m also surprised I still have several stories yet to tell.

Call me ill-informed. I thought world building was limited to fantasy and paranormal writing. When I started storytelling, I freely used real landmarks in my books, which was good, I thought. Listing familiar landmarks gave the reader a point of reference. But as time and the world changed, some of those landmarks ceased to exist. I felt keeping them in my books made the stories dated. I don’t write historical, although in time, today’s contemporary fiction will become historical in a sense.

So, I made an artistic decision to remove the real landmarks and replace them with fictional ones. I was now world building.

I was further encouraged to do this after reading through the catalog of another romance author. I love her style, but what caught my attention was how she cleverly interjected this one character through out most of her catalog. In some way or other, he and his family, and some of the locations are mentioned throughout her catalog. It was brilliant and got me to thinking how I could do the same thing. In a sense, I had dabbled with this when I pulled a barely mentioned character out of The Alex Chronicles and gave him his own story, A Southern Gentleman. Jeremiah and Avery were secondary characters in a couple of The Alex books. They are now part of The Alex Chronicles world. They may also pop up in another book or series later.

This author created a world with celebrities, gossip magazines, fashion designers, university, sports teams, a luxury hotel chain and some other businesses. Once you start reading her books, at some point you begin to wonder who might pop up, because she drops hints throughout the books. All you have to do is pay attention. It’s like that game Clue. In this case, most of the characters lead back to one family.

Reading her books really stirred my creative juices. I thought about the books I’d written and some in the works. I’m doing a rewrite now and I’ve brought over a couple of elements from another book. I also created a list of fictional New York and San Francisco locations, because most of my books are based in those locations.

I’m jotting notes for a new series that will be loaded with world building. It will also be the first time I do a sports theme, which is way off brand for me. But once I add a few fashion and faith elements with some heat, I think it will be good…I hope.

World building is easy when you think about it. All it takes is a little imagination and I’ve got a lot of that.