About Karyn Good

I grew up on a farm in the middle of Canada's breadbasket. Under the canopy of crisp blue prairie skies I read books. Lots and lots of books. Occasionally, I picked up a pen and paper or tapped out a few meagre pages of a story on a keyboard and dreamed of becoming a writer when I grew up. One day the inevitable happened and I knew without question the time was right. What to write was never the issue - romance and the gut wrenching journey towards forever.

Reading Therapy

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Karyn Good

I participated in a reading last week at a lovely small town Saskatchewan library along with a friend of mine, Annette Bower. I read from my romantic suspense, Backlash, and she read from her newly published e-book, Moving On: A Prairie Romance. An old converted school house with original tin ceilings and hardwood floors, it contained a small library and an art gallery. We read in a cosy room in front of a beautiful mural created by young local artists to fifteen or twenty interested attendees.

I had a very entertaining conversation with an older woman who hadn’t read a book of fiction since high school. It’s true. Apparently, it’s possible to go fifty or sixty years without reading a book. I’m sure she’s enjoyed many other creative pursuits, but still…

I thought about all those times I’ve read books to save my sanity. Like recently, when I found myself awake at 2:00 am three or four nights in a row because I was coughing and couldn’t sleep. Tucked up in bed, propped up against a mound of pillows, Vicks Vapor Rub smeared on my chest, waiting for the cough medicine to kick in, I poured through four books.

On those bi-monthly weekend Greyhound bus rides from Regina to Saskatoon to visit my now husband in my twenties. Airports, hotel rooms, doctor’s offices. What do people do in these places if they aren’t reading? Okay, excluding hotel rooms!

On our way home from the reading we talked about creative ways to promote ereaders and ebooks. Someone mentioned their niece reading on her ereader while breastfeeding her baby. Oh, how I wished I’d had one way back when to pass those long hours.

It’s been a long day and the next one promising to be just as long. What do you do? You pick up a book and allow the story to sweep you away. There’s nothing quite like immersing yourself in a great book. I’ll even take a not-so-great book over no book. I’ve used books to soothe away teenage angst. I remember once, shortly after moving away from home for the first time at eighteen, a group of girlfriends got together one night to watch the movie: Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I read an entire Harlequin romance once I returned home to my dark, little, very empty house. I don’t remember the name of the story, but it saved my sanity that night.

When has reading saved your sanity?

I hope you check out my friend, Annette Bower and her new release, Moving On – A Prairie Romance.

Moving On-A Prairie Romance

Anna is a mysterious woman that has just moved to Regina Beach. The residents of the small town know everyone’s business and they are very interested in discovering Anna’s secrets. Nick was a Sergeant in the Canadian Army, doing active duty until a horrific accident sent him home to recover. He helps Anna feel safe and comfortable in her new environment, just as he has always done for his men in strange, dangerous places. Meanwhile, he focuses on preparing for his future physical endurance test to prove that he is capable of returning to active duty.

Anna doesn’t talk about her past, and Nick doesn’t talk about his future therefore she is shocked to discover that his greatest wish is to return to active duty. She won’t love a man who may die on the job again. Intellectually, she knows that all life cycles end, but emotionally, she doesn’t know if she has the strength to support Nick.

Six Sentence Sunday

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Karyn Good

Once again it’s Six Sentence Sunday. Here it’s cool and overcast, the perfect day for sampling a variety of tasty fictional snippets.

In this snippet Chase, my hero, is enjoying a quiet moment of introspection.

He hated tranquil and quiet. He preferred noise and movement. Life after nine in the evening. Anonymity.

And more than one degree of separation between him and his high school sweetheart, for fuck sake.

Then again,maybe not so much enjoying as twisting the proverbial knife in the wound.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and check out my contribution. As always, I love hearing from all of you. Have a great Six Sentence Sunday!

If Life Were Like That…

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Karyn Good

If life were like that…I’d have a green thumb. Like my Mom or my Dad for that matter. Or my Brother. My father-in-Law, or countless other relatives. But I don’t. That doesn’t stop me from loving flowers and other green things. With spring here, hopefully to stay, my mind wanders to what I’ll plant in pots and flowerbeds. My lack of a colored thumb necessitates keeping things simple. I have my favorites: petunias, pansies, and impatients. Hardy little souls, they provide lots of color.

I love visiting the greenhouses and wandering colorful aisle after colorful aisle. The colors! Begonias and tons of others I don’t know the names of. Geraniums, that always make me think of Anne of Green Gables and her little plant she named Bonny.

“What is the name of that geranium on the window-sill, please?”

“That’s the apple-scented geranium.”

“Oh, I don’t mean that sort of a name. I mean just a name you gave it yourself. Didn’t you give it a name? May I give it one then? May I call it–let me see–Bonny would do–may I call it Bonny while I’m here? Oh, do let me!”

“Goodness, I don’t care. But where on earth is the sense of naming a geranium?”

“Oh, I like things to have handles even if they are only geraniums. It makes them seem more like people. How do you know but that it hurts a geranium’s feelings just to be called a geranium and nothing else? You wouldn’t like to be called nothing but a woman all the time. Yes, I shall call it Bonny. I named that cherry-tree outside my bedroom window this morning. I called it Snow Queen because it was so white. Of course, it won’t always be in blossom, but one can imagine that it is, can’t one?” from Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

As spring blooms around us, does your thumb turn green while your mind starts planning various groups of plantings? What are you favorite sort of flowers?

Imagine That

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Karyn Good

Imagery takes a person, place, or thing and puts them in context for the reader. It aids us in getting to know an unfamiliar character by giving us, the reader, the sense of walking around in someone else’s shoes. Not only through sight and sound, but what she tastes, touches, and smells. By using the senses you can create a clear and specific image, a certain tone or mood. It’s in the use of strong verbs and specific nouns and enhancing the right, not every, detail.

When I think of imagery, I think of this passage. I can picture that mass herd of caribou as a living entity as it swarms and moves over the land. I can feel the tiredness of the couple as they try to keep up day after day. It speaks to me and it paints that picture we writers strive to create for our readers.

“And they came in waves. Streams of animals pouring like some liquid over the hilltops, expanding, contracting, spreading across ridge crests and passes. We followed for as long as we could each day, were overtaken when we camped for the night, and dragged our leaden limbs out of frosted sleeping bags in the mornings, to start a day of trying to keep up, all over again.” -Karsten Heuer from first weeks “Being Caribou”

So, I’m reminded that as I revise it’s not simply a tree but a specific kind of tree. Perhaps it’s a ripped Grateful Dead t-shirt instead of a shirt. It’s the corner of East Hastings Street and Gore Avenue not down the street. It may be a gun, but it’s also a specific make and model. That guy is not simply homeless. He’s called Chain Man for the ropes of chains looped around his neck. It’s his job to carry those chains, day in and day out, on the streets of Eastside Vancouver. Rain or shine, like a mail carrier with his bag of mail.

Be the image ugly or beautiful, the trick is to have it appear natural and in character. Not simply a niffy sounding descriptor, but true to my voice and style as a writer. There is no need to bedazzle the reader with my genius and clever hand with literary devices. They are useful only in their ability to help enhance the reality of the situation. Kind of like how we use salt and pepper to season a plate of food. We don’t need to pour them over every morsel. We taste first and see where it can be used to improve the favor using a delicate shake or one twist of the grinder.

The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,

And the highwayman came riding–

Riding–riding–

The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door

Do you have a favorite author with a talent for imagery? A movie you’re willing to watch over and over again for the scenery? (Mine’s Pride and Prejudice) What’s your best loves literary device?

Six Sentence Sunday

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Karyn Good

It’s Six Sentence Sunday. Where writers share a mere six sentences from their works. It’s like passing around a book of chocolates. Only you don’t have to stop at just one. Tour around and read as many six sentence offerings as you want without feeling guilty.

I’m sharing snippets from my debut romantic suspense novel, Backlash, which will be available as of June 1st.

My Heroine, Lily, and my hero, Chase, are having a…discussion.

For once, she didn’t want to do the right thing. The sensible thing. The good girl thing.

“As for Tessier…I’m going to feast on every second of payback that bastard has coming for putting his hands on you.”

Rebel thoughts whispered through her mind, like a breeze swirling up the fallen autumn leaves.

Want it.

Go here to see the list of other links with snippets for you to enjoy!

If Life Were Like That…

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Karyn Good

If life were like that…I’d be reading instead of cleaning. A cleaning service would come in every week to shovel out Camp Good and help keep it sparkly clean. Not in twenty-two years of marriage, eighteen of those being a mother, have I figured out how it can get so damn disorganized around here in a space of hours. Suffice it to say we like the ‘lived-in’ look.

Now I’ve heard it said that some people enjoy cleaning, I’ve even met a few who’ve confessed to such disturbing traits. Nightmarish stories of getting up before the sun rises to vacuum, excitement over certain brands of cleaning products. I’m not sure I believe them. But if it’s true, I want to know what they put in their morning tea that causes this strange desires. Or maybe I’m missing a gene.

Interesting fact: One writer Ava Gardner did know quite well was Ernest Hemingway, with whom she was good friends. She starred in three movies based on his writing – The Sun Also Rises, The Snows of Kilimanjaro andThe Killers.

If life were like that what would you be doing right now?

Carnivalesque: Creepy Occurances

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Karyn Good

It’s Thursday and we’re taking our Travelling Blog Show on the road to Joanne Brothwell‘s blog. This week’s topic? What is the creepiest thing that ever happened to you that you couldn’t explain? I kid you not, that’s what we’re dishing on this week. Come join Janet Corcoran, Hayley Lavik, Jana Richards, Joanne Brothwell and myself as we confess to the creepy. We love to hear your about your experiences and hear your opinions!

Appearances

This Saturday, April 21st, at 1:30 pm I’m at Chapters (in my home city of Regina, SK) reading from my writing group’s anthology: Love, Loss and Other Oddities: Tales from Saskatchewan. I’ll be sharing my time with four other lovely Saskatchewan authors: Annette Bower, Jana Richards, Anita Mae Draper, and Jessica Eissfeldt. Join us for an afternoon of reading.

On Thursday, April 26th, at 7:00 pm I’ll be at the Regina Beach Library reading from my upcoming release, Backlash. I’ll be joining Annette Bower as she reads from her new release: Moving On: A Prairie Romance.

What he’s sworn to protect, she’s willing to sacrifice to save those she loves…

Why They Can’t Be Together

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Karyn Good

Internal conflict and Character Growth

We all know falling in love involves drama. I don’t think there’s been a romance in all of history that did not involve some kind of conflict. There is no romance without it. In the romance genre it’s about how the characters overcome conflict to end up together. The real life relationship of King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson come to mind. Though their relationship was mired in controversy they certainly encountered some pretty large obstacles. The fictional couples of Jamie and Claire and Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy. Abdication, time travel, and social standing make great conflict. Dealing with these issues makes for lots of internal angst.

All but the most minor of characters need goals, motivation and conflict. Goal is the future. Motivation is the past. Conflict is the present. It’s what characters want, why they want it and why they can’t have it. It’s the backbone of the romance novel. Creating it takes skill, planning and careful thought.

Conflict (Why They Can’t Have It)

Conflict, of course, should exist on two levels: external and internal. I’m going to stick to internal conflict because as always I’m working through revisions and trying to amp up the emotional stakes. The tricky part is creating an emotional (internal) conflict strong enough to carry an entire book. For readers of the romance genre, emotional conflict is the point. It’s why we pick up a book. It needs to be strong and not easily overcome. We want to see them suffer first.

Conflict is the clash between wants and needs. Ask yourself: What stops a character from doing what he/she must versus what he/she wants? Another important question to ask is this: Why is loving this person the worst thing this character can do at this moment? Your hero and heroine want to be together but there are obstacles in their way. These obstacles need to be HUGE. They need to evoke fear and dread. They must expose vulnerability and escalate emotional risk. They must repudiate strongly held beliefs. Conflict is the reason the hero cannot have what he wants. Conflict or obstacles force an emotional confrontation and lead to achieving goals.

Things to think about when upping the emotional conflict:

Choosing both positive and negative beliefs and values. A strict code of honor. You know, something along the lines of “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Deciding which of these beliefs or values will undergo a change in order for the character to grow and commit to a long standing relationship.

An honest-to-God inner torment that is so close to second nature it’s next to impossible to expunge.

Having to act against those long standing values. Forced to run instead of staying to fight.

Picking a weakness. Deciding what makes the character vulnerable and rubbing their faces in it.

We shy away from huge drama in our own lives, at least I do, but we do want to see in books, in the movies, and on TV. What fictional struggles appeal to you? Reunion stories, revenge stories, fairy tales, myths and legends? What famous romance in history is your favorite?

Backlash Interview Today

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Karyn Good

My very first interview! I’m at Joanne Brothwell’s blog today answering questions and sharing an excerpt from Backlash, my romantic suspense novel that release on June 1st. Please stop by and say hi. I’d love to hear from you!