FEATURED BOOK:  Deception, Natchez Trace Park Rangers, Book 4

AUTHOR  Patricia Bradley

PUBLISHER:  Revell, a Division of Baker Books

GENRE:  Romantic Suspense

SERIES OR STAND ALONE:  Series, Book 4 Natchez Trace Park Rangers

TARGET AGE:  25-70+

 

 

 

IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AUTHOR PATRICIA BRADLEY TO THE OVER 50 WRITER. PATRICIA SHARES ONE OF THE IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF GREAT WRITING.

 

 

 

PATRICIA IS OFFERING A GIVEAWAY! SIMPLY LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO ENTER THE DRAWING FOR A PRINT/ COPY OF DECEPTION.

 

 

 

PUTTING THE 5 SENSES IN YOUR WRITING

 

 

 

by

 

 

 

Patricia Bradley

 

 

 

I was well past the 50-year mark when I was published, so no matter what your age, don’t give up! It’s been nine years since my first book released, and August 2, book #15, Deception, Natchez Trace Park Rangers, Book 4 releases. AND I’m starting book #16. (That doesn’t count the four novellas I’ve written. So, if God called you to write, learn the craft and you’ll be ready when He opens the door.

 

 

 

There are a few things I wished someone had told me when I started out. Like don’t have more than one point-of-view per scene—if you do, it’s called head-hopping. And I’m sure you’ve heard the show-don’t-tell saying more than once. And how about the “use all five senses” in your scenes? That’s what I want to talk about today.

 

 

 

We’ve been told many times that using all five senses in our stores is imperative, and right away I recalled sight, sound, and smell, but briefly blanked on taste and touch. That made me realize I rarely used either of them in my writing, focusing mostly on the other three.

 

 

 

It’s easy to use sight and sound while smell comes in a distant third. Most of what we write for our characters include those three senses: The forested mountains (sight), the babbling brook (sight and sound), the fragrant rose with a drop of dew (sight and smell), the rusted refrigerator at the city dump (sight and smell), the barking wet dogs at the animal shelter (sight, sound and smell)

 

 

 

Often, we overlook the opportunity to incorporate touch and taste. Using the examples above, let’s see how we can add those two senses. If you’re climbing the forested mountains, you can bring in touch: rubbing your hand over the rough bark of an oak tree; for the brook, trail your fingers through the cold water, and at the dump, the sharp pain of slicing your leg on the rusted refrigerator and then the jab of getting a tetanus shot, and for the last, the wet tongue from the puppy you picked up at the animal shelter as it showers you with love.

 

 

 

Here are a few more word choices to incorporate in the sense of touch: Angular, bumpy, caked, chapped, clammy, damp, embossed, feathery, fleecy, furry, gnarled, gooey, hairy, hot, icy, jagged, layered, lumpy, moist, oily, pockmarked, prickly, ragged, ribbed, rough, scratched, silky, thorny, tweedy, unblemished, uneven, velvety, warm, wiry, wrinkled.

 

 

 

Taste is much harder to work with, but here are two from the examples. The tangy, sweet juice as you bite down on a muscadine, drawing a bucket of water from a well and drinking the iron-flavored water. Again, google words that describe taste and you will find quite a few.

 

 

Here are a few words I found for the sense of taste: acerbic, acidic, acrid, astringent, bitter, bloody, briny, buttery, cheesy, chocolatey, chalky, citrus, charred, cream, curdled, delicate, dusty, earthy, fruity, lemony, mount-watering, peppery, salty, scalding, sharp, smokey, tangy, tart, vanilla, vinegary, watery to name a few.

 

 

 

Writing is all about layering. I write romantic suspense and my first draft is my first layer. In it I lay down the plot of the story—the crime and how it affects the characters. I mostly use sight and sound on this layer.

 

 

 

In the second layer I write in more of the romance and spiritual thread, and this is where I layer in more of smell, touch, and taste. Then as I polish, I look for more ways to use the five senses to draw my readers closer to the characters.

 

 

 

Look for ways to add all five senses to your scenes. It will help connect your reader to your characters and story.

 

 

 

Back cover copy for Deception:

After being forced to kill an FBI agent gone rogue in self-defense while working in the violent crimes unit for the Investigative Services Branch, ranger Madison Thorn is comfortable with her move to the fraud and cyber division. At least numbers don't lie. So she's less than thrilled when a white-collar crime investigation in Natchez, Mississippi, turns violent. She could also do without being forced to work with former-childhood-enemy-turned-infuriatingly-handsome park ranger Clayton Bradshaw.

When a woman who looks just like Madison is attacked on the same night Madison's grandfather is shot, it becomes clear that there is something much bigger going on here and that Madison herself is in danger. Madison and Clayton will have to work together--and suppress their growing feelings for one another--if they are to discover the truth before it's too late.

USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Patricia Bradley closes out her popular Natchez Trace Park Rangers series with this complex story of family secrets, mixed motives, and learning to trust.

 

 

DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE PLACED IN THE DRAWING TO WIN A PRINT COPY OF DECEPTION BETWEEN NOW AND SATURDAY, AUGUST 13^TH AT MIDNIGHT MDT. (U.S. residents only eligible for print copy, otherwise, a digital copy will be awarded).

BY LEAVING A COMMENT, YOU GRANT PERMISSION FOR YOUR EMAIL TO BE REVEALED TO THE AUTHOR IF YOU ARE THE WINNER TO FACILITATE RECEIPT OF YOUR BOOK.

 

 

 

Patricia Bradley is a Romantic Suspense Selah winner, Carol and Daphne du Maurier finalist and the winner of an Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award. Three anthologies that included her stories debuted on the USA Today Best Seller List.

She and her two cats call Northeast Mississippi home--the South is also where she sets most of her books. Her romantic suspense novels include the Logan Point series, the Memphis Cold Case Novels, and the Natchez Trace Park Rangers. She is now hard at work on the second book in her new Pearl River series set in the Cumberland Plateau area above Chattanooga.

Writing workshops include American Christian Fiction Writers, the Mid-South Christian Writer’s Conference, the KenTen and Scrivener retreats where she was the keynote, Memphis American Christian Fiction Writer group, and the Bartlett Christian Writers group. When she has time, she likes to throw mud on a wheel and see what happens.

Connect with Pat at:

Blog:    www.patriciabradleyauthor.com/blog

Twitter:    @ptbradley1

FaceBook:   www.facebook.com/patriciabradleyauthor

Instagram:    https://www.instagram.com/ptbradley1/

Pinterest:   https://www.pinterest.com/ptbradley/

 

 

 

SUBSCRIBE TO PATTI’S POSTS HERE

FEATURED BOOK:  Collapse: Death of Honor

AUTHOR: Angela D. Shelton

PUBLISHER:  Two Oaks Publishing, LLC (owned by author)

GENRE:  Young Adult and Contemporary Christian

SERIES OR STAND ALONE:  Book Two in Collapse series

TARGET AGE:  young adult through adult

 

 

 

IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AUTHOR ANGELA SHELTON TO PATTI’S PORCH. ANGELA SHARES A HUMOROUS STORY ABOUT ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND HOW WE CAN LEARN FROM IT.

 

 

 

ANGELA IS OFFERING A GIVEAWAY! SIMPLY LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO ENTER THE DRAWING FOR A PRINT COPY OF COLLAPSE: DEATH OF HONOR.

 

 

 

COW STUCK IN A TREE

 

 

 

by

 

 

 

Angela D Shelton

 

 

 

If you’ve read much of what I post, you know I live on a farm that provides tons of story fodder. Animals act so much like humans. It can be hilarious and it’s not even politically incorrect to laugh at the antics of a farm animal… yet.

 

 

 

One of my favorite stories is about a cow that got stuck in a tree. Okay, it wasn’t really a cow, but most non-farmers can’t tell you the difference between a cow and a steer, and this fellow was a teenaged steer—at least in cattle years. Adolescent calves get into trouble much the same as human teens do. You haven’t truly lived until you’ve heard a mama cow telling off her little one for not doing what she said to do. Yes, it’s a thing.

 

 

 

My husband, Tom, was out checking on the herd early in our farming career and noted that one animal was missing from the group. That’s never a good sign. The errant steer could be hurt, sick, or even dead if he was some place other than where the rest of his groupies hung out. So, the search began.

 

 

 

The pasture they were in has a lovely spring nestled in a group of trees. It’s a cool spot during the heat of the day, and they love to stand in the chilly, muddy water that bubbles up from the ground. The area is extensive enough for the entire herd to rest under the trees, and it can be easy for a small calf to hide amongst the majestic oaks. They love it there, so it was the most logical place to find our missing teen.

 

 

 

Sure enough, he was located quickly and his reason for not following the rest of the pack was clear. He was stuck in a tree. Not his entire body, only his head. Curiosity had gotten the better of him when he couldn’t resist seeing what was inside the giant hollow of an oak. Honestly, he still doesn’t know what’s in the hole to this day, because once you’ve lodged your head in a hole, no light can get in to showcase the space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once Tom finished laughing at the sight of the poor fellow, he called on his fellow farmer friends to figure out how to extricate the wayward animal from the headlock. It took quite a while, and chisels were involved.

 

 

 

An interesting note was that the bull, Tony, insisted on being present to observe. If he were a human father, I can imagine the conversation that would’ve occurred between Tom and Tony as the extrication process commenced.

 

 

 

Tony: “Well, I told him it wasn’t a good idea to put his head in there, but you know kids, they have to learn on their own sometimes.”

 

 

 

Tom: “Yeah, I know what you mean. He really did it up good this time though, eh?”

 

 

 

Laughter all around as the sounds of wood chiseling ensue.

 

 

 

It’s only hilarious, in my humble opinion, if you can relate it back to the stupid mistakes we’ve made in our own lives because we were too headstrong to listen to the advice of others. I’ve done it—you’ve done it—no one is immune. The trick is to learn from those errors in judgement and correct our thought processes so that we don’t fall for similar faults in the future.

 

 

 

It reminds me of a verse from the Bible. “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice” Proverbs 12:15 NIV

 

 

 

I hope that I’m past the point in my life where I’m running around like an adolescent steer. It has always worked out so much better when I look to the experts for advice, pull their collective knowledge, and then track forward on a planned trajectory. If not, bring your chisel and rescue me, won’t you?

 

 

 

Have something to share? I’d love to hear from you.

 

 

 

Blurb for Collapse: Death of Honor

Caleb Worthington always imagined himself playing college football and marrying a cheerleader, not working fields and isolating himself on his family’s ranch. But when society collapses, dreams do too.

So he clings to the only thing left. Family.

As the supply chain crumbles, people soon realize food doesn’t come from stores and those who live at the source have the advantage. Not everyone wants to work for that asset. Having faced marauders invading the Worthington farm once, Caleb is ready to defend his household and their property again.

Now a new threat looms.

A blackmailer has targeted Caleb, forcing him to make a choice — trust his loved ones with the terrible truth of why his former best friend is dead or risk losing everything to hide it.

But nothing stays buried forever.

 

The Death of Honor, Book Two of the Collapse Series, a post-apocalyptic, young adult novel. Explore this nail-biting cliff-hanger by Angela D. Shelton.

 

 

DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE PLACED IN THE DRAWING TO WIN A PRINT COPY OF COLLAPSE: DEATH OF HONOR BETWEEN NOW AND TUESDAY, AUGUST 2^ND AT MIDNIGHT MDT. (U.S. residents only eligible for print giveaway)

BY LEAVING A COMMENT, YOU GRANT PERMISSION FOR YOUR EMAIL TO BE REVEALED TO THE AUTHOR IF YOU ARE THE WINNER TO FACILITATE RECEIPT OF YOUR BOOK.

 

 

 

Angela D. Shelton is a healthcare accountant during the work week and farmer in the evenings and weekends, now moonlighting as an author of the new and upcoming Collapse novels.

Born and raised in Erie County, Pennsylvania, Angela moved to Georgia just seven short years ago where she added the title of farmer to her resume. She lives on Two Oaks Ranch with her husband, Tom, two huskies, a dozen chickens, and a herd of Angus cows. Faith and family are her most important assets in life and in her writing.

Calling on her experience on her farm in small-town Georgia, Angela also drew on her husband’s military and law enforcement understanding, and her own healthcare connections to create her new series of books. The stories revolve around a small-town Georgia family who turn to farming just in the nick of time to be self-sufficient when the supply chains in the world collapse.

Ms. Shelton is a member of the Christian Indie Publishing Association, the American Christian Fiction Writers, and Word Weavers International.

Angela writes stories from the farm on her blog at www.angeladshelton.com.

 

 

 

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