There's all this stuff in my head...: Welcome Dorothy Bell Back!

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Welcome Dorothy Bell Back!

Dorothy A. Bell, author of Oregon historical novels: The Reprobate, The Cost of Revenge, Dance Hall Road and contemporary romance, Reinventing Mica Avery.

I was born in Iowa and moved to Oregon with my mother, father and older sister when I was ten. So I think it’s safe to say I’ve been and Oregonian most of my life.

I’ve known for a very long time that I am a writer. When a work is published, then and only then do I declare myself an author—it’s a process I go through each time. It keeps me humble and grateful.

I believe every writer has their own distinct writing style and methodology. I couldn’t say what mine is. I write to entertain myself first, so I have to have humor. I’m a people watcher, so my stories are character driven. And romance, got’ta have some steamy romance in there somewhere or the story doesn’t interest me.

In all of my stories, I portray my leading ladies as strong, independent, intelligent women who command admiration and respect. The heroes of course, have problems with strong, independent, intelligent women, that’s where the humor comes in to play. As a writer, it’s fun to manipulate through dialog and inner action the transformation of a man’s opinion to bring about his acceptance and inspire attraction.

I have a favorite parable I’d like to share:

Once upon a time there was a woman who’d won over a hundred cooking contests in one year and received multiple blue ribbons and trophies. When asked how she’d done it, she answered simply, “I entered.”

That’s it, right there, if you love to write, submit your work. Refine it, learn all you can about plot development, the difference between character driven and plot driven stories, point of view, passive voice, showing instead of telling, the mechanics of course. And for God’s sake be human in whatever you write. Even monsters have feelings. Reveal the truth in your characters. Expose their soul, their underbellies.

I have many, many more books in me. They’re coming as fast as my editor and my publisher can get them out there. Next one up will be an Oregon historical titled, The Widow’s Ferry. A story of three men: one an abuser, one a user, and a married man with a secret past. They all want one woman—a strong survivor.

You’ll find old family photos, poems and all my buy links on my blog, plus a link to a free full length Oregon historical novel and several free short stories that I’ve put up on Amazon cloud for easy access.

You can find all of my books on Good Reads, Kobo and Amazon. They are Kindle and Nook, e-book friendly.