Around lunchtime, in the year 79 of the Christian Era, on the coast of what is now modern-day Italy, a once-dormant volcano rumbled. Ash rained down on the first day as residents of the nearby city of Pompeii gathered their belongings and debated whether to leave or stay. A day later, Mount Vesuvius erupted in…
Author: Don Paul Benjamin
Breakfast of Champions
The English language is resplendent with homophones—words which are spelled differently but pronounced alike. By some estimates, there are more than four hundred such conundrums. Examples are the words ail and ale, bate and bait, cheap and cheep, and so on. My favorite pair is cereal and serial. A misuse of this duo gives a…
Book Ends
When writing, I begin each new novel by composing the last chapter first. Thus, I have a target toward which to steer my narrative. I often challenge myself by placing my characters as far as possible–emotionally and geographically–from the feeling and setting of my finale. Just to be clear, I’m not kidding when I declare…
How real is your fiction?
I’ve now published three novels in my Four Corners Mystery Series. Book One is The Road to Lavender and Book Two is A Lavender Wedding. Both novels take place in the mythical village of Lavender on the wild Western Slope of Colorado. And both works chronicle the adventures of my handsome detective/lavender farmer, Trinidad Sands,…
Show your grasshopper the sky
Inventing a character seems pretty basic. You give him (or her, or it) a name, you visualize a face, maybe even conjure up a voice. Not just a literary voice, but a real one, one you can actually hear. You develop mannerisms, manufacture a backstory, and–then what? Throw your character into a situation, of course….