tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808733415551134993.post2431499605272414491..comments2024-03-05T13:51:24.898-07:00Comments on Spacefreighters Lounge : FIVE WAYS TO MAKE THAT BOOK A KEEPERUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7808733415551134993.post-48577972805603214682017-02-10T09:58:47.220-07:002017-02-10T09:58:47.220-07:00Great blog, Donna! And a good question for authors...Great blog, Donna! And a good question for authors to ask themselves: what made THIS book a keeper?<br /><br />Two of the things I look for in a book--beyond the usual suspects of great characters and spellbinding plot--is how the author turns a phrase. Some can paint such amazing portraits and complex twists with minimal words (Barbara Elsborg comes to mind). Others can write with such clever dry wit that I have to chuckle even when I'm terrified (Ann Aguirre is one). A few craft words in a way that always makes the story sound fresh and dynamic (Kimberly Kincaid). And a handful can write a book so compelling that it's still in my head many years later (like Sandra McDonald's The Outback Stars or Linnea Sinclair's Games of Command).<br /><br />The true measure of a keeper for me? A story so well told that it pulls me in, wraps me up in the characters' lives, reaches a heart-pounding, all-is-lost climax and then does the impossible by delivering a "laugh out loud with happy tears running down my face" conclusion. <br /><br />Because books are experiences, and those are the experiences I want to savor again and again. L. A. Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01198035351359321392noreply@blogger.com