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When I decided to write fiction, I bought a small library’s worth of books on various aspects of the craft: plot structure, characterization, dialogue, self-editing, etc. They have been extremely helpful. But there are some things that are better caught, than taught. That’s why I highly recommend reading good fiction whether you are an aspiring writer or a seasoned pro. That’s also how I can justify reading a novel when my own book deadline is looming on the not-so-far horizon. Today I’d like to share with you a few of the passages I’ve underlined in my books, as well as the notes I’ve written in the margins. Hopefully this will inspire you to pick up a book and feel good about the investment of time! From To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather, the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; boy mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum. (page 5) Harper Lee could have said that the town of Maycomb was really hot. Instead, she used the “show, don’t tell” rule masterfully. I can almost feel the sweat trickling down my spine as I read this. I love the simile in the last sentence, too. [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"706", "attributes":{"class":"media-image size-full wp-image-435 alignleft", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"181", "height":"284", "title":"lady in the mist_180", "alt":""}}]]From Lady in the Mist by Laurie Alice Eakes: Mist swirled around her, smelling of the sea and the tang of freshly turned earth, muffling the click of her heels on cobblestone and brick pavement. (Page 8 ) Love this. Usually mist is described in visual terms, but Laurie Alice adds the smell and sound of it, too, for a much richer description. “Press-gang.” The word burst from her like a curse, and her heart began to race. Her mouth went dry, tasting bitter. She tried to scramble to her feet. She needed to warn the village men to stay inside. But her cloak and skirts tangled around her, holding her down. “Let me help you.” Still speaking in an undertone, he stooped before her. She caught an exotic scent like sandalwood, saw no more than a shadowy outline and dark hair tumbling around features pale in the misty gloom. (page 12) Laurie Alice put all five senses into these two brief paragraphs. Sight: the shadowy outline, dark hair, pale features. Sound: the word bursting from her, the undertone of his voice. Smell: sandalwood. Taste: her mouth tasting bitter. Touch: her mouth going dry, the cloak and skirts tangling her legs. Images of the Englishman filled her head, tingled along her fingers, danced down her spine. She despised the way she thrilled to his flirtation, his touch. (page 15) Nice! She shows how a memory makes us feel, physically. [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"707", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft size-full wp-image-436", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"182", "height":"275", "title":"mary sutter", "alt":""}}]]From My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira: A second floor crouched between a third and the first. Low ceilinged, claustral, darker even than James Blevens’s surgery that day in April, the hallway angled through the series of squat additions that made up the Union Hotel. (page 117) Robin uses personification (crouched, squat) to give this setting a personality, a characterization all its own. The following excerpt is an exchange between a doctor at the Union Hotel hospital during the Civil War, and the nurse, Mary Sutter. They moved on. “This one can’t breathe.” “Give him whiskey.” “This one can’t walk.” “Give him whiskey.” “That one can’t stop itching.” “Give him whiskey.” “This one has got diarrhea.” “Haven’t they all?” “We’ve run out of quinine.” “Give oil of turpentine.” “We’ve run out of turpentine.” “Then boil some willow bark and put it in whiskey and give it to him.” “We’ve run out of whiskey.” (pages 197-198) This rapid-fire dialogue shows very economically the limited resources and hopeless situations they ran into all day long. Very effective. [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"708", "attributes":{"class":"media-image size-full wp-image-437 alignleft", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"180", "height":"288", "title":"Heiress", "alt":""}}]]From Heiress by Susan May Warren: I read this on my Kindle, so I don’t have page numbers for these excerpts. The words seemed to slither out, and Jinx tasted in them the poison she intended. Wow. Susan added touch and taste to “the words” for a drama you can feel. Susan also does a great job adding meaningful beats of hesitation into dialogue, such as the examples below (all from different scenes): He let her words dissolve in the frosty air before he answered. She stared at her curved hand in his, unable to meet his eyes, tasting her heartbeat. She looked up at him, words netted in her chest. Jinx stilled. Something in Esme’s voice—she couldn’t be serious. The silence tore through Jinx like a dagger. She’d longed to flee, her heart already outside her chest, but horror affixed her to the parquet floor. With certainty, the truth slid through her, solidified, turned her heart to marble. The thought pressed into her, grew blades. He looked away then, as if his words cost him. [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"709", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft size-full wp-image-438", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"181", "height":"280", "title":"a heart revealed cover_180", "alt":""}}]]From A Heart Revealed by Julie Lessman: While reading novels by Julie Lessman, I noticed that she very rarely uses the word “said” in her dialogue. She usually uses beats instead of tags, and it’s far more effective that way. For example, she could have written: “All right, Charity, I’ll talk,” he said. “I want you to leave me alone…” Instead of saying “he said” (a tag) she used a beat, injecting much more emotion: “All right, Charity, I’ll talk.” He faced her point-blank, his voice a cold blade with deadly intent. “I want you to leave me alone…” Amazing difference! She does this throughout the book. Using my Kindle, I did a search for “tone” in A Heart Revealed to see other ways she described the characters’ voices, and came up with pages and pages of examples like the following phrases: A tinge of hurt in her tone Affection bated her tone Tease lacing her tone An edge of respect in her tone Tone hushed with respect Worry threading her tone Sincerity softening the plea of her tone In a tone as tight as the muscles in his face Tears in her eyes betrayed the gruff edge of her tone. Her tone was as tart as one of those lemon drops she kept on her desk. He tried to temper the edge in his tone Hint of humor in her tone Shame evident in his tone Wistfulness laced her tone He closed his eyes again, tone tired and lips flat. In a clipped tone With finality in his tone A teasing brogue slipping into her tone Contrition heavy in her tone Her tone rang with an authority she seldom employed. In a rigid tone Apology laced his tone Tone void of remorse (or warmth) Confused by the bite in his tone The sharpness of his tone heated her cheeks. Accusation thick in his tone Mirth laced her tone. His tone was suddenly strained. Up until I did this search (and this list is not the complete results!) I had not been thinking of all the ways I could describe a character’s voice to portray emotion. See, Julie? I told you I was reading your novels for research! :) These are just five novels that have inspired me to improve my own writing in various ways. But virtually every novel I read shows me something, so I can never read a book without a pen in my hand. If it’s a library book, I keep a notebook and pen handy so I can copy down what I notice. Tell me—what have you underlined in a book lately, and why? I would love to know!

A note from Jocelyn: Last summer, I visited Virginia's Peninsula to research my Civil War novel, Wedded to War. While there, I stayed with Linda Montgomery, the editor of ExcellentorPraiseworthy.org, the devotional Web site of Campus Crusade's Military Ministry. In honor of Memorial Day, I want to share with you an article by Linda about the origin and meaning of "Taps." It first appeared at ExcellentorPraiseworthy.org.  July 2012 marks the 150th anniversary of Taps, as it was written after the Seven Days Battle (which appears in Wedded to War). Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast. — Psalm 139:7-10 For me, the story of “Taps” is a local story because I live close to where it was composed. I could easily drive to Berkeley Plantation in Virginia, where there is a monument marking the “birthplace” of Taps. Tour guides will tell you that the haunting 24-note bugle call is actually a revision of a French call to signal to the troops the end of the day and “lights out.” The story goes like this: “In of July of 1862, in the aftermath of the bloody Seven Days battles (Peninsular campaign), hard on the loss of 600 men and wounded himself, Union General Daniel Adams Butterfield called the brigade bugler to his tent. . . .Oliver Wilcox Norton, the bugler, tells the story, ‘. . . showing me some notes on a staff written in pencil on the back of an envelope (some accounts say that Butterfield hummed it to Norton), (he) asked me to sound them on my bugle. I did this several times, playing the music as written. He changed it somewhat, lengthening some notes and shortening others, but retaining the melody as he first gave it to me. After getting it to his satisfaction, he directed me to sound that call for Taps thereafter in place of the regulation call. The music was beautiful on that still summer night and was heard far beyond the limits of our Brigade. The next day I was visited by several buglers from neighboring Brigades, asking for copies of the music which I gladly furnished. The call was gradually taken up through the Army of the Potomac.’” From “History of Taps.” Savage's Station, Virginia, June 30, 1862, Union field hospital during and after the Seven Days Battle. Photo courtesy: Library of Congress   Not long after Taps was composed, it was used for the first time at a military funeral. Union Captain John Tidball, commander of an artillery battery, had it played for the burial of a cannoneer killed in action (during the Peninsular Campaign) because the traditional three-rifle volleys fired over the grave might have alerted the enemy nearby. This event is commemorated in a stained glass window at The Chapel of the Centurion, also nearby at Ft. Monroe. Ten months after it was written, Taps was played at the funeral of Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson. By 1874 Taps was officially recognized by the U.S. Army and was required to be played at military funerals by 1891. Taps is played throughout our nation on Memorial Day as it is traditionally sounded at funerals, wreath-laying, and memorial services. In order to honor those who died in service to our country, giving the ultimate sacrifice—Taps is played in remembrance of all of those who have insured our precious freedom. While we are hearing the strains perhaps you can also remember the words which are associated with the bugle call. While these lyrics are not “official,” the first verse is commonly sung with these words: “Day is done, gone the sun, From the hills, from the lake, From the sky. All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.” God is nigh. The definition of “nigh” is “near in space, time, or relation.” The American College Dictionary, 1955. God is near: You are near, O LORD, and all Your commandments are truth. — Psalm 119:151 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. — Psalm 34:18 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works. — Psalm 73:28 The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. — Psalm 145:18 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. — Philippians 4:5 The last verse of Taps, traditionally, is similar to the first verse: “Thanks and praise, For our days, ‘Neath the sun, ‘Neath the stars, ‘Neath the sky, As we go, This we know, God is nigh.” Is there any doubt in your mind and heart that God is near, during deployment? Even during the lowly conditions of war in 1862, God was there. Jari A. Villanueva is a bugler and bugle historian, considered the country’s foremost authority on Taps. He wrote: “.. . it is hard to believe that Butterfield could have composed anything that July in the aftermath of the Seven Days battles which saw the Union Army of the Potomac mangled by Lee’s Army of Northern Virgina. Over twenty six thousand casualties were suffered on both sides. . . . In the midst of the heat, humidity, mud, mosquitoes, dysentery, typhoid and general wretchedness of camp life in that early July, it is hard to imagine being able to write anything.” From “24 Notes that Tap Deep Emotions”. But write it (or revise it) he did, and Butterfield’s desire to honor his soldiers is forever the way that we seek to honor our brave soldiers. The Scripture from Psalm 139 is a reminder of what we declare in the singing of Taps. With a lump in our throats and perhaps tears in our eyes, we remember this Memorial Day, with grateful hearts, those courageous patriots who have gone before us in battle. . . . and we remember that our God is faithful . . . . and near. Questions to Share: 1. What thoughts come to your mind when you hear Taps? 2. On this Memorial Day, is there someone who served our country whom you could tell your spouse about as a way of honoring them? Note:  Additional information on Taps is available at www.tapsbugler.com

I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember. But up until recently, it’s been solely nonfiction. So when I first got the bug to try writing a novel, the first thing I did was write to my fiction-writing friends and call my agent. “Am I crazy?” I asked. “Can I possibly make the switch from nonfiction to fiction? Because if you tell me it will never work, I’ll put the idea out of my head right now and just stick with what I know.” I meant it. But they all said the same thing. “If you want to write fiction, write fiction. If you can write, you can write fiction. You already know how to tell a story. Everything you need to know about telling a fictional story can be learned.” They meant it, too. And so it began. I polled my favorite authors about their favorite books on the craft, consulted Writer’s Digest for their top picks, and spent a small fortune learning how to spin a tale. So I’d like to share with you the best books I’ve found on writing fiction. (I’m sure there are more, but these are the ones in my stack so far.) In no particular order, they are: Getting into Character by Brandlilyn Collins The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schmidt 20 Master Plots and How to Build Them by Ronald B. Tobias 90 Days to Your Novel by Sarah Domet From First Draft to Finished Novel by Karen S. Wiesner Make a Scene by Jordan E. Rosenfeld Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass How to Write and Sell a Christian Novel by Gilbert Morris The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King Have you found other great books on writing fiction? If so, I’d love to hear about them.