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Life and Times of 1950s: Traveling…in a Plane

Traveling ... in a Plane | Janet Lynn & Will Zeilinger

My husband and I co-write the Skylar Drake Murder Mysteries, a hard-boiled detective series. Since the stories take place in 1955 we have researched a great deal of that era.

In the second book of the series, Strange Markings, Skylar is hired to investigate the missing nephew of a Los Angeles matron. Clues takes him to pre-statehood Hawaii (1955). As a result, we looked into commercial airlines of the ’50s.

We learned that the Pan American Airlines made frequent flights to Hawaii using 377 Stratocruisers. We also found something called Sleeper-ettes, and early first class attempt to provide comfortable sleeping arrangements for their passengers. Lobster counted as first class airline food. I found an old ad from TWA mentioning a, “full meal to be served in-flight”. That would have included: soup, salad, meat, vegetables, and dessert. And drinks was served in glassware!

Our fourth book in the series, Spike Hill, will be released February 2018, and yes… we are still married.

Janet

Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger

Published authors Will Zeilinger and Janet Lynn had been writing individually until they got together and wrote the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood of 1955. Janet has published seven mystery novels and Will has published three plus a couple of short stories. Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. This creative couple is married and live in Southern California.

www.janetlynnauthor.com
http://www.willzeilingerauthor.com/
www.themarriedauthors.blogspot.com

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Co-writing: A Wonderful Partnership by Janet Elizabeth Lynn

August 3, 2017 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as co-writing, Janet Elizabeth Lynn, research, Will Zeilinger

Authors Janet and Will My husband, Will Zeilinger, also a published author, and I decided to come together and write a 1950’s hard-boiled mystery, the Skylar Drake Murder Mystery series.

Having a research buddy makes all the difference in the world when deadlines loom for a manuscript. Alone, research can be a bear. But with two it goes faster and more comprehensive. This can include traveling, libraries and investigating 1950s style restaurants (and food). Splitting the work up and deciding what fits in the story works better with two brains and four eyes.

The results? SLIVERS OF GLASS, STRANGE MARKINGS, DESERT ICE and SPIKE HILL (to be released 2/2018)…and yes, we’re still married.

Website: www.janetlynnauthor.com

Blog: www.themarriedauthors.blogspot.com

Janet Elizabeth Lynn

A Skylar Drake Mystery

SLIVERS OF GLASS

STRANGE MARKINGS

DESERT ICE

SLICK DEAL

GAME TOWN

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Horse Sense for Your Characters with @sdwriter: June @OCCRWA Online Class

May 23, 2017 by Linda McLaughlin in category Online Classes tagged as history, Horse Sense for Your Characters, horses, OCCRWA, research, Shannon Donnelly

June’s OCC/RWA Online Class is Horse Sense for Your Characters

with

Shannon Donnelly

June 12 – July 7

About the Class:

Most folks today have limited experience as mounted riders, even less for side saddle, or driving a carriage, or training a horse for the movements once used by knights. This workshop provides some basic horse sense through the ages so your horses act more like characters who enrich your story and less like cars or other inanimate transportation objects.

We will cover:

General Horse Sense – Habit and herds: Horse Personality, Basic gaits, Useful Terms
Carriage and Riding Horses – What’s the difference?
Quick Trip Through History: Ancient Times, Palfrey/Destrier, The West: Knights of the Plains
England: Town and Country – Hunting season, ladies’ mounts, side saddle myths, Rotten Row
Basic Transport – Times, distances, and comfort, public transport of the coaching era
The Racing World – The sport of Kings; The sport of Queen
Special Breeds – Arabian, Lippizan, Akhal-Teke, Fresian, Viking’s Horse: Islandic Ponies

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About the Instructor:

Shannon Donnelly and Drake

Shannon Donnelly’s writing has won numerous awards, including a RITA nomination for Best Regency, the Grand Prize in the “Minute Maid Sensational Romance Writer” contest, judged by Nora Roberts, RWA’s Golden Heart, and others. Her writing has repeatedly earned 4½ Star Top Pick reviews from Romantic Times magazine, as well as praise from Booklist and other reviewers, who note: “simply superb”…”wonderfully uplifting”….and “beautifully written.”

Her Regency romances can be found as ebooks on all formats, and with Cool Gus Publishing, and include a series of four novellas.

She also has out the Mackenzie Solomon, Demon/Warders Urban Fantasy series, Burn Baby Burn and Riding in on a Burning Tire, and the Urban Fantasy, Edge Walkers. Her work has been on the top seller list of Amazon.com and includes Paths of Desire, a Historical Regency romance.

She is the author of several young adult horror stories, and computer games. She lives in New Mexico with two horses, two donkeys, two dogs, and only one love of her life. Shannon can be found online at sd-writer.com, facebook.com/sdwriter, and twitter/sdwriter.

Enrollment Information

This is a 4-week online course that uses email and Yahoo Groups. If you do not have a Yahoo ID you will be prompted to create one when you join the class, but the process is not difficult. The class is open to anyone wishing to participate. The cost is $30.00 per person or, if you are a member of OCCRWA, $20.00 per person.

http://occrwa.org/classes/june-online-class/

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Pitfalls of Research: Too Much vs. Too Little by @LyndiLamont

May 16, 2017 by Linda McLaughlin in category The Romance Journey by Linda Mclaughlin tagged as Linda McLaughlin, Regency romance, research, society

Recently I listened to a perfectly delightful Regency romance on audio, but some obvious errors nagged at me and got me to pondering which is worse, too much research or too little?

Those of us who write books that require extensive research are always advised to not let the research show. Weave it as seamlessly as possible into the narrative. That makes perfect sense, though it isn’t easy to do. But what about too little research? That’s when errors become glaring enough that some readers, esp. the ones who also write, are pulled out of the story, saying “Wait a minute, that’s not right.”

Sometimes it’s a matter of historical characters acting or speaking in modern fashion. This can be one of the most glaring problems. Then there is the matter of social mores of the time, which vary from one period to the next.

One of the biggest traps novelists can fall into is writing historical characters with 21st century mores. And nothing can make the reader want to throw a book across the room quicker. This especially applies to women. The double standard still exists, but it was much greater in previous centuries. A young woman’s reputation was golden.

War and social unrest have always upset the normal patterns of life, and social mores tend to fall by the wayside during such periods. Still, a historical female character who shows no regard for her reputation isn’t believable unless she’s already a fallen woman and has no reputation to lose.

Personally, I don’t necessarily mind a heroine who flaunts society’s rules; I just need to believe that she knows what she is doing and is well motivated in her choices. The woman who doesn’t understand the consequences of her actions strains credibility. Women had a lot more to lose in the not-so-good old days.

In the book in question, the problem seemed to be more one of the author not understanding how the social season worked. Societal rules were much more stringent, esp. among the upper classes. It was one way the maintained their air of privilege. It all seems ridiculous to us now, but the aristocracy took these things very seriously.

In general, a young lady could not be out in society unless she had been presented at court and made her bow to the Queen. In my Regency romance, Lady Elinor’s Escape, Lady Elinor is hiding out in a dress shop, pretending to be a seamstress, which means she could not also be out in society. But we writers find ways around details like that. The one ball scene in the book is a masquerade ball she attends only because the shop owner retrieved a discarded invitation from the trash. As long as Elinor leaves before the unmasking at midnight, she feels the risk is worth it.

In writing, like Regency society, it’s best to know the rules before you (or your characters) break them.

So too much research or too little? I’m enough of a history freak to prefer too much research showing to wondering if the author did any at all. What do you think?

Linda McLaughlin
aka Lyndi Lamont
http://lindalyndi.com

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The Fun of Research: #Travel & California Gold Country @LyndiLamont

March 16, 2017 by Linda McLaughlin in category The Romance Journey by Linda Mclaughlin tagged as California, gold country, historical romance, Linda McLaughlin, research, Travel, Western romance, writing

One of the most enjoyable parts of researching a new book is when I get to travel to the location where the book is set. That’s the case with my latest release, Lily and the Gambler, a Western historical romance set in California’s Gold Country.

Western romance is popular again right now, but most of the books are set in other states, ones that are more associated with ranching, like Montana and Texas. In California, Western history means gold mining towns.

My husband and I toured California Gold Country twice some years ago and I fell in love with it. The area is best enjoyed by driving State Highway 49. We started at the southern end, in Mariposa, and drove north to Sacramento, and then Grass Valley and Nevada City, where my book is set Valley in September 1868. I recall scribbling descriptions of the scenery as we drove along.

She watched mile after mile of open spaces pass by, all bathed in brilliant sunlight. In the distance, clusters of dark green trees dotted a hillside, standing out in contrast to the lighter yellow-green of the grass. Wispy white clouds, without a hint of rain in them, streaked the sky, separating shades of blue ranging from pale turquoise to bright azure.

We made the trip twice, first strictly as a vacation, though I kept thinking how I’d like to set a book in the area. The second was a research trip for me, if not for my DH. At one point, he threatened to divorce me if I dragged him through one more mining museum!

A lot of the old Victorian homes have been turned into bed and breakfasts, and we took advantage of that to stay in some lovely old homes.

Interesting stops along the way include:

Sonora, a lovely little town that hosts the Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. For the kid in all of us.

Columbia State Historic Park, the best preserved Gold Rush town.

California Columbia carriage in a real old Western Gold Rush Town in USA

Angels Camp, where Mark Twain heard a story on which he based his short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”

Placerville, formerly nicknamed Hangtown for the zeal of its law enforcement.

And my favorite, Grass Valley, a charming town with the attraction of having the wonderful Empire Mine State Historic Park, a fascinating glimpse into the lives of 19^th century miners. I could see the rudimentary escalator they used to convey the miners down into the shafts, holding their lunch boxes, spherical tins that held tea in the bottom and a pasty on top. At the boarding houses, the cooks carved each miner’s initials into one end of the dough before baking them.

Grass Valley was especially interesting to me because of the large Cornish population in the 19^th century. This area had deep gold veins that couldn’t be panned. The Cornish miners were encouraged to come because of their experience in the tin mines of Cornwall, which were petering out. To this day, the Cornish pasty is a local treat, and the city still celebrates a Cornish Christmas. I chose to make my heroine a Cornish lass looking for a respectable husband. Of course, she falls in love with a gambler.

If you’re up this way, do take a side trip to Sacramento, the state capital, with its charming Old Sacramento historic area, and the amazing California State Railroad Museum. This is one of my all-time favorite museums. It was fun to climb aboard the old trains and imagine a different time.

California poppies

If Bob were still around, I’d be nagging him to take another drive north. After all the rain, the scenery should be gorgeous this spring, esp. when the poppies are in bloom.

Lily and the Gambler

by Linda McLaughlin

Blurb: Respectability is in the eye of the beholder, or so Lily hopes. After her lover’s death she pretends to be his widow and travels to California to marry a mine owner. Then she meets King Callaway, a charming gambler. King knows he’s found his Queen of Hearts. But can he convince her to take a chance on a foot-loose card sharp? Only Lady Luck knows for sure…

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Linda McLaughlin grew up with a love of history, so it’s only natural that she sets most of her books in the past. She loves transporting her readers into the past where her characters learn that, in the journey of life, love is the sweetest reward. Linda also writes steamy romance under the name Lyndi Lamont, and is one half of the writing team of Lyn O’Farrell. A native of Pittsburgh, she now lives in Orange County, California.