Characters Who Come to Life

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 6 Comments

One of the best things about blogging is getting to know you readers through your comments. I appreciate how you read my words and sometimes take time to comment. You are so ready with your encouraging words. The last few weeks I’ve been spending a lot of hours staring at my computer screen as I search for those magic words …

Story Quotes from The Song of Sourwood Mountain

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 20 Comments

Sometimes things can get a little crazy when I’m working on a new book and doing things to get the word out about an upcoming release. Both things can be fun and exciting. Well, especially looking forward to having a new book out for readers. The work in progress can be a little more stressful when the words are being …

More about Jessamine in her Own Words

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 37 Comments

Last week I wrote a little about my character, Jessamine, in my Shaker book, The Gifted.  I promised to share an interview I did “with” her when the book released. I enjoy doing character interviews. I need to do two of them for characters from my upcoming release, The Song of Sourwood Mountain. Maybe that’s why I thought of sharing this one. …

A Story Needs People

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 18 Comments

“I will go to my grave in a state of abject endless fascination that we all have the capacity to become emotionally involved with a personality that doesn’t exist.” (Berkeley Breathed) As a writer I have become emotionally involved with many characters that only came into existence because I imagined them and set them down on a story trail. As I …

Inspiration, Research, and Characters

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 19 Comments

  You all really know how to make a blog book party fun. Thank you so much for showing up and for all the great questions you’re asking. I picked three to answer on tonight’s post. If  you’ve already read them in the comments, you already know my answers. But maybe some of you waited to see some of the …

What Makes Characters Come to Life for You?

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 27 Comments

Do the characters in the stories you read come to life in your head? And in your heart? Is there some special something about the book or the characters that makes that happen for you? A few years ago I got a very nice note from a reader who had gone to Rosey Corner. She hadn’t read the first book, …

More Outtakes from When the Meadow Blooms

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 16 Comments

Sienna and Calla were my young sisters in my recent release, When the Meadow Blooms. I always enjoy seeing one of my stories through a child’s or a young person’s eyes. This one was no different. The girls are 9 and 14 at the beginning of the story and Calla is definitely a big sister. She wants to help Sienna …

Outtakes from When the Meadow Blooms

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 8 Comments

Only a couple more weeks until the release of my new book, When the Meadow Blooms. So I thought this would be a good time to share some outakes or scenes cut from the book before it was published. I sometimes tend to be wordier than necessary. I know you all can’t believe that! But some scenes are better without quite as …

Meet Another Character from Along a Storied Trail

Ann H GabhartAnn's Posts, One Writer's Journal 16 Comments

I’ve been sharing a lot of my research and about my characters as I count down to the book birthday of Along a Storied Trail coming out on Tuesday, June 1. Some of you have already gotten your hands on a copy and I thank you for reading my packhorse librarian book. But the story didn’t only talk about the Packhorse Library …