Reflections on Award Nominations for The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet
It has been a shocking, thrilling, exciting, and overwhelming week for me. I found out that The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet is up for three awards:
The Edgar Awards
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One of five nominees for the Mary Higgins Clark Award
Screenshot from Mystery Writers of America’s list of nominees:
The Whitney Awards
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One of five finalists for the Best Mystery/Thriller category
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One of nine finalists for the Best Novel by a Debut Author category
The Edgar Awards will be held on April 28th, 2022 in New York City. I haven’t been to New York since I was 14 years old—more than two decades ago—and I feel rather like the storytelling trope of “woman from small Midwestern town visits the big city.” Because that’s exactly what’s going to happen at the end of April.
The Whitney Awards Gala will be held on May 13th, 2022 in Provo, Utah. This is a setting I’m more familiar with—I attended Brigham Young University in Provo, and I have family members who live nearby. This is an award I have followed closely for years, and this year the finalists include a number of incredible authors who I have admired from afar (and an amazing friend who I met when I lived in Arizona).
I did not expect any of these nominations. I’m very proud of my novel, and I spent years of my life researching and writing and pouring my heart into it. I hoped it would find its place among readers, and I was sure that some people would connect with the story. But I had no expectations of any broader recognition.
I’ve already talked about my excitement and initial reactions on social media (learning about the Whitney Awards; learning about the Edgar Awards) so here I’ll share a few other reflections.
Reflection 1: Writing a Niche Story
I had the idea for The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet in 2013. I did some initial research and planning, and then I let it stew and develop in my mind for years. In 2017, when I decided this story would be my next writing project, someone said to me, “A Jane Austen mystery novel about Mary Bennet. That sounds really niche. Do you think that will make it harder to find readers for it?”
It was a fair question, and I didn’t really know the answer, but I decided to write the story anyways.
The conclusion I’ve come to is that you should tell the story that you care about and are passionate about, even if it feels niche. If it’s something you find fascinating and compelling, you will be able to tell that story well, and there will be other people who are drawn to it.
After signing a book contract with my publisher, Tule, I worked with them to see what awards The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet might qualify for. As I was looking at the Edgar Awards on the Mystery Writers of America website, I realized that writing a Jane Austen-esque mystery novel meant my book perfectly qualified for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. They wanted stories in the tradition of Mary Higgins Clark, featuring a woman with good relationships who is drawn into a mystery and “solves her problem by her own courage and intelligence.” The story also had to have no onscreen violence and fit several other requirements. This too is a niche within crime/mystery/thriller writing, but it’s a beautiful one with a long tradition and very avid readers.
My publisher submitted my book for consideration, and while I was certain my book didn’t have a chance, clearly I was wrong.
As a teenager I memorized large portions of “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, and I’m astounded that I will be attending an award ceremony named in his honor. As a teenager, I also devoured the works of Agatha Christie, Elizabeth Peters, and Mary Higgins Clark—women who wrote mysteries that captivated me and inspired me and hooked me on the mystery genre. To have my name, and the name of my book, labeled as a Mary Higgins Clark Award nominee, is astounding and humbling and honoring beyond belief.
Reflection 2: Finding and Embracing Your Community
It’s so important to find and embrace your community. This doesn’t have to be a big community. Back in 2009 or so I joined Livejournal and through that I began to find a writing community. This led to monthly meetups in Salt Lake with a group of other writers. These people became my first writing community, and are still dear friends, as are other writers I met on Livejournal.
In 2012 I moved to Arizona and joined ANWA, the American Night Writers Association. This was my first time participating in a monthly writing group, and not only did it make such a difference for my writing, but, once again, many of the writers I met are now some of my dearest friends and critique partners. ANWA is a part of a larger LDS writing community (authors who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and who write in many genres).
Participating in the LDS writing community brought awareness of the Storymakers community, which led me to following the Whitney Awards, a yearly award to recognize LDS writers. I’ve now been following the Whitney Awards for years, watching authors I admire and love be nominated and win these awards, including Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Traci Abramson, Charlie Holmberg, Julie Berry, and numerous others.
This is definitely a smaller writing community than Mystery Writers of America, but it’s one that means so much to me, and I am thrilled to be a part of it.
Closing Thoughts
I found out about being a Whitney Award finalist on Tuesday, and about being a Mary Higgins Clark Award nominee on Wednesday. On Thursday morning I woke up and I was fairly certain that it was all a dream. I immediately checked the respective websites and discovered that it was not, in fact, a dream.
Not a dream. That knowledge still astounds me.
#50: Use Dialogue Tags for Rhythm and Cadence
In Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland and her friend Isabella Thorpe are conversing in the Pump-Room, a building in the town of Bath that was a popular gathering place. For quite some time, they are watched by several men, but then the men leave. Isabella pretends that she is grateful for their departure; however, she is actually disappointed that they have left and secretly wants to follow them.
Isabella says:
“Well, I am amazingly glad I have got rid of them! And now, what say you to going to Edgar’s Buildings with me, and looking at my new hat? You said you should like to see it.”
Catherine readily agreed. “Only,” she added, “perhaps we may overtake the two young men.”
The key dialogue tag in this passage is she added. As we discussed in the previous lesson on dialogue tags, she added could be considered a functional dialogue tag, a dialogue tag which shows how what the character is saying is functioning within the larger conversation. First Catherine agrees with her friend, and then what she says adds to—and modifies—her previous statement.
Yet she added is doing more than just telling us the role that her statement plays in the conversation. Its placement controls the rhythm of the paragraph and indicates the cadence of Catherine’s speech.
Jane Austen regularly uses dialogue tags for rhythm and cadence, and doing so is a powerful tool that can be used in any fictional genre.
Let’s define rhythm and cadence as we’ll use them in this lesson.
Definitions: Rhythm and Cadence in Dialogue
Rhythm is patterns of language and sound in a passage which create an underlying beat. Poetry sometimes uses strict meters, or rhythm patterns, but there is rhythm in prose as well, and the beat and speed and emphasis created by the rhythm in prose effects both the feel and the speed at which we read. Rhythm is particularly important as we consider dialogue, for dialogue is meant to be spoken aloud. Rhythm can have a powerful effect on the reader both when a beat is created or when it is broken—interrupted.
Cadence is how a person’s voice changes as they speak, both rising and lowering. In most cases, a speaker’s voice is not level or flat across a passage of dialogue: tone and pitch and emphasis change with the content of what someone is saying, and how they feel about it.
Much of the rhythm and cadence of a passage of dialogue is determined by the words and phrasing of the dialogue itself, however, rhythm and cadence can also be impacted by the dialogue tags.
Let’s consider again the line from Northanger Abbey:
Catherine readily agreed. “Only,” she added, “perhaps we may overtake the two young men.”
We can almost hear Catherine’s cadence as we read. She agrees with her friend, probably saying something like, “Of course, I would love to join you.” And then we have an “Only,” she added. It reads almost as an interruption—she’s likely raised her voice slightly, and she’s pausing after it, as if she has just realized the problem with Isabella’s proposal.
During Isabella’s statement—the proposal of activities—and Catherine readily agreed we have a steady rhythm, almost a beat. It’s smooth, nothing accentuated. But then “Only,” she added breaks the smooth rhythm—the forced pause is like an orchestra suddenly stopping all sound for a beat, which adds emphasis to what comes after.
Dialogue Tag Placement
One of the most common techniques that Jane Austen uses to control rhythm and cadence is to choose where to use a dialogue tag, whether it’s a he said, said Catherine, or an action that substitutes for a dialogue tag.
Consider the following passage of dialogue, from the first time that Catherine Morland and Mr. Tilney meet at a ball:
Mr. Tilney was polite enough to seem interested in what she said; and she kept him on the subject of muslins till the dancing recommenced. Catherine feared, as she listened to their discourse, that he indulged himself a little too much with the foibles of others. – “What are you thinking of so earnestly?” said he, as they walked back to the ball-room;—“not of your partner, I hope, for by that shake of the head, your meditations are not satisfactory.”
Catherine coloured, and said, “I was not thinking of any thing.”
“That is artful and deep, to be sure; but I had rather be told at once that you will not tell me.”
If a dialogue tag is used, there are three primary places where it can be placed: before the dialogue, partway through the dialogue (often after a word, sentence, or phrase), and after the dialogue.
One approach that Austen particularly seems to favor is providing the tag partway through the dialogue. This allows a build-up before the dialogue tag—we’re interested in what is being said. Then we are given a physical pause or beat that also serves to provide who is speaking and sometimes how they are speaking or what they are doing. This is followed by more dialogue, which completes the character’s self-expression.
Instead of placing the dialogue tag in the middle of the paragraph, Austen could have written:
As they walked back to the ballroom, Mr. Tilney said, “What are you thinking of so earnestly? Not of your partner, I hope, for by that shake of the head, your meditations are not satisfactory.”
This eliminates the pause after his question—he immediately says the next statement. It also eliminates some of the implied cadence—modulation of his tone—in his question.
The dialogue tag could also have been placed at the end:
“What are you thinking of so earnestly? Not of your partner, I hope, for by that shake of the head, your meditations are not satisfactory,” said Mr. Tilney as they walked back to the ballroom.
Often, a dialogue tag at the end works best for shorter pieces of dialogue—we don’t want to read five or six sentences of dialogue, and then find out who is speaking. This dialogue is of a length that works well with the tag at the end, but it has a different rhythm than what Austen has chosen:
“What are you thinking of so earnestly?” said he, as they walked back to the ball-room;—“not of your partner, I hope, for by that shake of the head, your meditations are not satisfactory.”
Now consider the placement of the dialogue tag in Catherine’s response:
Catherine coloured, and said, “I was not thinking of any thing.”
In part, placing it at the start is necessary, because Catherine blushes as an immediate response to his statement, and then she speaks. However, placing it at the start also impacts how we understand her tone and her volume—we assume she is embarrassed, and likely speaking more quietly, and more quickly, than earlier.
Unnecessary (Yet Rhythmically Appropriate) Dialogue Tags
Another technique that Austen uses is to incorporate dialogue tags that, strictly speaking, are unnecessary—we already know who is speaking, and the dialogue tag doesn’t provide information about the function of the dialogue, how the dialogue is spoken, what emotion is used, etc. Yet these “unnecessary” dialogue tags are used to impact either the rhythm, the cadence, or both.
Later in Northanger Abbey, John Thorpe decides to take Catherine Morland’s future into his own hands. He knows that Catherine has plans to do something with the Tilneys, but he wants Catherine to do something with him, so he goes to the Tilney’s and cancels Catherine’s engagement. He then informs Catherine that she is now available to do something with him:
“Now, my sweet Catherine, all our distresses are over; you are honourably acquitted, and we shall have a most delightful party.”
“This will not do,” said Catherine; “I cannot submit to this. I must run after Miss Tilney directly and set her right.”
The phrase said Catherine is unnecessary—it is clear that Catherine is speaking, and she just been directly addressed by Mr. Thorpe, so readers will assume that the next dialogue is Catherine’s. And, as discussed in the previous lesson on dialogue tags, Austen often omits dialogue tags in cases like this when it is clear who is speaking.
Yet including the dialogue effects the rhythm—we feel Catherine’s pause after her statement, which punctuates both “This will not do” and “I cannot submit to this.” It also affects her cadence. When I read this passage aloud, I naturally read “This will do not do” at a standard tone, and then I read “I cannot submit to this” a little higher and faster.
In Conclusion: The Power of Dialogue Tags
Dialogue tags are powerful. They can:
And, as discussed in this lesson, dialogue tags can also
In the following passage, the dialogue tags do all of these things.
While walking on the street, Catherine has just run into her brother, James Morland, and his friend, John Thorpe. The men are theoretically speaking to Catherine, but they are truly speaking to each other:
[John Thorpe] took out his watch: “How long do you think we have been running it from Tetbury, Miss Morland?”
“I do not know the distance.” Her brother told her that it was twenty-three miles.
“Three-and-twenty!” cried Thorpe; “five-and-twenty if it is an inch.” Morland remonstrated, pleaded the authority of roadbooks, innkeepers, and milestones; but his friend disregarded them all; he had a surer test of distance. “I know it must be five-and-twenty,” said he, “by the time we have been doing it. It is now half after one; we drove out of the inn-yard at Tetbury as the town-clock struck eleven; and I defy any man in England to make my horse go less than ten miles an hour in harness; that makes it exactly twenty-five.”
“You have lost an hour,” said Morland; “it was only ten o’clock when we came from Tetbury.”
“Ten o’clock! it was eleven, upon my soul! I counted every stroke. This brother of yours would persuade me out of my senses, Miss Morland; do but look at my horse; did you ever see an animal so made for speed in your life?” (The servant had just mounted the carriage and was driving off.) “Such true blood! Three hours and a half indeed coming only three-and-twenty miles! look at that creature, and suppose it possible if you can.”
Exercise 1: Playing with another author’s dialogue tags
Another author… what types of dialogue tags do they use. Choose a passage with multiple dialogue tags and read it aloud. Now rewrite the passage with moved to different places and read it aloud.
Exercise 2: Every possible variation
Write a snatch of dialogue—one to three sentences of a single character speaking. Now try to create as many variations of it as possible without changing the words of the dialogue itself.
Things you can vary:
- Placement of dialogue tag (beginning, middle, end)
- Type of dialogue tag (said, a functional dialogue tag like replied or added, a descriptive dialogue like whispered)
- Conveying emotion or how the character is speaking through the dialogue tag
- Using adverbs or character actions
- Using no dialogue tag at all
How many variations were you able to create? Read them aloud and consider how it affects the interpretation of the dialogue, as well as the rhythm and the cadence. Now choose your favorite. (Note: it’s normally important to consider the context—the passage or scene as a whole—when choosing how to use dialogue tags for a single unit of dialogue.)
Exercise 3: Adjusting your own rhythm and cadence
Choose a scene that you have written in a short story or novel which includes between two and four paragraphs or lines of sequential dialogue. Rewrite the passage to create a different rhythm and cadence. Now read aloud the original version followed by the new version. Which do you prefer and why?
10 Full Length Mystery Audiobooks: 2021 & 2022
I’ve compiled 10 incredible full length mystery audiobooks from 2021 and 2022. Each audiobook is unabridged, and most are at least nine hours long, providing an immersive experience with twists and turns and suspense.
Where to listen to mystery audiobooks
- Audible (with a subscription)
- Libro.fm (typically has the best price to purchase individual audiobooks without a subscription. You can also gift audiobooks or get a subscription)
- Hoopla (an app available through many libraries. I wrote another post about mystery books on Hoopla.)
- Libby (an app available through many libraries)
- Buy physical CDs (through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, indie bookstores, or the audiobook publishers themselves)
Full Length Mystery Audiobooks (2021 & 2022)
These recommendations are for 10 audiobooks (full length–mystery) that you can listen to in 2021 and 2022. It includes indie books, hot new mysteries and thrillers, and classic mystery novels.
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala
Cozy mysteries involving food and murder always whet my appetite. This debut novel by Manansala had me craving Filipino food and trying to guess the identity of the murderer until the very last chapter.
The audiobook is also available on the Libby library app (search within app)
The Family Tree by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry
This is a fast-paced thriller involving a woman who discovers, via DNA test, that she’s adopted…and according to the FBI, one of her new family members is a wanted killer.
Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier
Good Rich People is an “eat the rich” thriller in which a woman will do anything to survive–including stealing someone’s life and pretending to be rich. This is a fast-paced, intense, masterfully written thriller that was released in January 2022.
The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet
Mary Bennet, the overlooked middle sister from Pride and Prejudice, has her secrets…like the fact that she is investigating a murder and spying on her mysterious hosts at Castle Durrington.
(Full disclaimer–I wrote this book, but I have to give a plug for it because it’s narrated by one of the best narrators in the business, Alison Larkin.)
August Snow by Stephen Mack Jones
This is the first book of a compelling mystery series featuring August Snow, a half-Mexican, half-black ex-cop in Detroit who finds himself drawn into cleaning up the city. It’s gritty, has a protagonist whose not afraid of violence, and is a great contribution to the hardboiled detective genre.
The audiobook is also available on the Libby library app (search within app)
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
This novel is one of the classics for the mystery genre. Agatha Christie’s mysteries tend to run on the shorter side, but at almost seven hours, this audiobook is full length and unabridged.
The audiobook is also available on the Libby library app (search within app)
Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia
A Harlem Renaissance mystery, with jazz clubs, dancing, and, of course, murder. This book is an incredible debut novel, and the first in a series.
The audiobook is also available on the Libby library app (search within app)
Nanny Dearest by Flora Collins
This is a book where the present collides with the past, and secrets can’t help but be revealed–an adult woman reconnects with her childhood nanny in this suspenseful, multiple timeline thriller.
Waiting for the Night Song by Julie Carrick Dalton
This is a book about childhood trauma, dark secrets unearthed, and has a great underlying environmental themes.
The audiobook is also available on the Libby library app (search within app)
A Deadly Fortune by Stacie Murphy
A compelling, Gilded Age mystery set in New York City with a taste of the supernatural. The main character is placed in an insane asylum because she can summon spirits. Her ability which got her locked up may also be able to save her, and solve a mystery.
Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian
A college-age thriller about a group of psychopaths who are being studied…and then one of them gets killed. Is the main character the hunter, or is she the prey?
The audiobook is also available on the Libby library app (search within app)
Do you have other favorite full length mystery audiobooks that aren’t on this list? If you do, please share in the comments–I’m always on the lookout for my next good listen.
#49: When to Use Dialogue Tags (and How)
Jane Austen is a master of dialogue, and the next series of lessons will focus on what we can learn from Jane Austen on writing dialogue in fiction. This post will specifically address when to use dialogue tags—and how.
While dialogue tags are often taught as an introductory writing technique, Austen uses them in advanced ways, to control rhythm and cadence, and to convey emotion and conflict. Many times, she chooses to forgo dialogue tags entirely. We’ll start with a basic definition of dialogue tags, analyze her sophisticated use of tags in a passage from Pride and Prejudice, and consider the question of when to use dialogue tags, and when to omit them entirely.
A dialogue tag is a phrase that identifies the speaker of a passage of dialogue.
In English, the most commonly used dialogue tag is the word “said” accompanied by the name of a character or a pronoun.
Often dialogue tags are used for clarity and to prevent confusion. Dialogue tags can also be used to add a pause, or to describe how or why a character is speaking.
Instead of using a dialogue tag, an action beat can be used—if a character is acting or doing something, then we assume that the dialogue within the passage also belongs to them.
The Meryton assembly is the first time that we meet the single and ever-so-desirable characters, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy.
Consider the use of dialogue tags and action beats in this passage in which Mr. Bingley attempts to convince Mr. Darcy to dance:
“Come, Darcy,” said he, “I must have you dance. I hate to see you standing about by yourself in this stupid manner. You had much better dance.”
“I certainly shall not. You know how I detest it, unless I am particularly acquainted with my partner. At such an assembly as this, it would be insupportable. Your sisters are engaged, and there is not another woman in the room whom it would not be a punishment to me to stand up with.”
“I would not be so fastidious as you are,” cried Bingley, “for a kingdom! Upon my honour, I never met with so many pleasant girls in my life as I have this evening; and there are several of them you see uncommonly pretty.”
“You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room,” said Mr. Darcy, looking at the eldest Miss Bennet.
“Oh! she is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one of her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I dare say very agreeable. Do let me ask my partner to introduce you.”
“Which do you mean?” and turning round, he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said, “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.”
In this passage, there are three dialogue tags which use said: said he, said Mr. Darcy, and coldly said. There is one dialogue tag which uses a different verb: cried Bingley. This shows both Mr. Bingley’s emotion and the manner in which he is speaking. There is one spot where an action beat is used instead of a dialogue tag: “Which do you mean?” and turning round, he looked for a moment at Elizabeth… (This phrasing works well in Pride and Prejudice, but as a note, modern dialogue conventions often—but not always—split the action beat into a separate sentence. If this convention was used, this paragraph could be written something like: “Which do you mean?” He turned round and looked for a moment at Elizabeth.)
Using Said vs. Other Dialogue Tags
The author Elliott Slaughter performed a study of dialogue tags, and one of the texts that he analyzed was Pride and Prejudice. He found that 50% of Austen’s dialogue tags used the word “said.”
In English, “said” is seen as an invisible dialogue tag. It does its job, assigning dialogue to the speaker, but we aren’t meant to really notice or pay attention to it. Often, we don’t want the reader to be focusing on the dialogue tag—we want them to focus on the dialogue itself, and strong dialogue often gives a feel of how the speaker is speaking on its own, without extra description. In the brilliant book Craft in the Real World, Matthew Salesses explains that said being seen as invisible is just a cultural convention, and is not inherently better or right. Non-native English speakers sometimes find the constant use of the word said to be jarring, while those who have read hundreds of books in English become used to it.
Endless authors and books on writing recommend that writers primarily use the word said in dialogue tags, and to use other verbs minimally or not at all. Largely, I agree—a lot of the time, you do want the dialogue tag to be invisible, and if you’re constantly using other verbs, it can distract or become annoying. Yet when we read Pride and Prejudice we can see how effectively Austen uses other dialogue tags.
According to Elliott Slaughter, while 50% of Austen’s dialogue tags use the word said, 32% of the time she uses “functional dialogue tags”—tags which “indicate the function or role of a piece of dialogue.” The functional dialogue tags Austen uses include replied, added, continued, thought, repeated, and answered. Another common functional dialogue tag in fiction is asked. 18% of the time Austen uses “descriptive dialogue tags”—“verbs that describe the manner, mood or inflection of the speech and not simply its function or form.” The descriptive dialogue tags used by Austen include cried, observed, exclaimed, called, and whispered.
In a previous Jane Austen Writing Lesson, I talked in more depth about how characters say lines of dialogue; one method of doing so is to incorporate actions or adverbs. The only thing I’ll add here is an extra detail from Slaughter’s study—at 14 points in Pride and Prejudice, Austen uses an adverb to describe how someone says something. The adverbs she uses include impatiently, warmly, drily, stoutly, and resentfully.
In the passage between Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley, there were two paragraphs of dialogue that did not include any dialogue tags or action beats. The paragraph that begins “I certainly shall not” is Mr. Darcy’s dialogue, while the paragraph that begins “Oh! she is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld!” is Mr. Bingley’s.
Omitting a dialogue tag focuses the reader on what the characters are saying, and it increases the pace by which we read the dialogue. In Austen’s novels, dialogue tags are used only if they are necessary for comprehension, if they will positively impact the rhythm or cadence, or if they truly add something to the reader’s understanding of the characters and their conversation. The rest of the time, she does not include dialogue tags.
In Elliott Slaughter’s study on dialogue tags in Pride and Prejudice, he found that for 51% of the dialogue, Austen does not use a dialogue tag or any sort of attribution. This is especially common during conversations between two characters. In some passages, the identity of the speakers will be made clear once, either at the start of the conversation or in the actions before the conversation, and then Austen will give five, six, or ten lines of dialogue without any tags or attributions. While it’s easiest to omit dialogue tags if there are only two characters, Austen often omits tags in conversations with larger groups of characters.
In a later scene in Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy’s makes a declaration on Mr. Bingley’s tractability, and then we read:
“You have only proved by this,” cried Elizabeth, “that Mr. Bingley did not do justice to his own disposition. You have shown him off now much more than he did himself.”
“I am exceedingly gratified,” said Bingley, “by your converting what my friend says into a compliment on the sweetness of my temper. But I am afraid you are giving it a turn which that gentleman did by no means intend; for he would certainly think the better of me, if under such a circumstance I were to give a flat denial, and ride off as fast as I could.”
“Would Mr. Darcy then consider the rashness of your original intention as atoned for by your obstinacy in adhering to it?”
“Upon my word, I cannot exactly explain the matter, Darcy must speak for himself.”
“You expect me to account for opinions which you choose to call mine, but which I have never acknowledged. Allowing the case, however, to stand according to your representation, you must remember, Miss Bennet, that the friend who is supposed to desire his return to the house, and the delay of his plan, has merely desired it, asked it without offering one argument in favour of its propriety.”
“To yield readily—easily—to the persuasion of a friend is no merit with you.”
“To yield without conviction is no compliment to the understanding of either.”
The first two paragraphs include dialogue tags, for Elizabeth and Mr. Bingley, but then the rest of this dialogue we can assume by context that the lines belong to Elizabeth, Mr. Bingley, Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth, and then Mr. Darcy. Descriptions of how these characters are speaking is not necessary—we know them and can make assumptions on their tone and mannerisms based solely on what they say.
There are a few places in Pride and Prejudice where the speaker is unclear, which has led to rather exciting scholarly debates. In a letter about Pride and Prejudice which Jane Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra, she said,
There are a few typical errors; and a “said he,” or a “said she,” would sometimes make the dialogue more immediately clear; but “I do not write for such dull elves” as have not a great deal of ingenuity themselves.
While Austen wished she had added a few more uses of “said he” and “said she,” the fact is that there are 633 lines of dialogue in Pride and Prejudice which do not include dialogue tags, and, with a few possible exceptions, they are not necessary in these passages. As you consider what sorts of dialogue tags you want to use in your own writing, consider also when to use dialogue tags, and when to omit them.
Exercise 1: Dialogue Analysis
Choose a book that you admire written by an author who is not Jane Austen. Take a scene or a chapter and analyze the author’s use of dialogue tags. How often do they use the verb said? Do they also use other verbs as dialogue tags? Are action beats used instead of, or in addition to, dialogue tags. Are adverbs or other descriptions of how the character speak used? How often are dialogue tags omitted?
Exercise 2: Omitting Dialogue Tags
Take a scene of dialogue you have written and see how dialogue tags and action beats you can remove without making it unclear who is speaking.
Exercise 3: Dialogue as Style
How you use dialogue tags is an extension of your style as a writer—the choices you consistently make contribute to the overall style of the text. Write a brief scene of dialogue between two to four characters. Now, revise the scene using two different dialogue tag styles. Here are a few options:
- Style 1: Use only invisible dialogue tags (i.e. said) and omit other dialogue tags.
- Style 2: Lean heavy on action beats, though other dialogue tags are allowed.
- Style 3: Jane Austen style. Omit about half the dialogue tags; when you do use dialogue tags, have about half of them be the verb said and half be other verbs.
- Style 4: Wide range of tags. Use at least one said, one functional dialogue tag (i.e. asked, replied, etc.), one descriptive dialogue tag (i.e. cried, whispered, exclaimed, or said + adverb), and one action beat.
- Style 5: Another approach to dialogue tags of your choosing.
Excerpt: “Tatterhood and the Prince’s Hand”
“Tatterhood and the Prince’s Hand” is a novella I wrote that was published in the 2018 collection, Unspun: A Collection of Tattered Fairy Tales.
Tatterhood is a princess from Norwegian fairy tales who rides around on a goat and fights monsters with a giant wooden spoon. I instantly fell in love with her character, but the ending of the story bothered me: she uses magic to change herself to look beautiful so that the prince she is marrying will be happy. Surely that would not end well, I thought.
My story, “Tatterhood and the Prince’s Hand,” occurs six months later.
Excerpt from “Tatterhood and the Prince’s Hand”
Chapter 2
At first, winning a prince’s hand in marriage had seemed a grand sort of prize to Tatterhood—after all, she had single-handedly defeated an entire band of trolls and saved her sister. Surely she deserved some sort of reward, and Ingridr convinced her a husband would bring her great happiness. But now, six months wed, Tatterhood wondered if she had made a wise decision. Yes, her parents had been thrilled when she returned with a husband who was also a prince, but Prince Trygve was still better at pleasing her parents than her.
Tatterhood rode her nanny goat, Storm, through the fields toward the practice grounds, where she thought she’d find Trygve. She had realized, that morning, that she was expecting a child—she should’ve noticed several weeks ago—and she wanted to tell him.
Trygve was engaged in a swordfight with one of her soldiers. He swung his double-edged sword with great finesse, expertly blocking the soldier’s blows and delivering his own.
Trygve was strong and intelligent—a real warrior. And he was a good man, kind to the people. These were all good traits for a husband who would someday rule by her side. The maids said he was a handsome man, but Tatterhood did not care much about that.
Her people liked him, and Tatterhood liked him for that. But he was always more comfortable with everyone else than with her (except for when she changed her appearance). The previous night they had argued about the new coverlet for their bed. Tatterhood insisted the color didn’t matter while Trygve protested that it did matter and the craftsman had not delivered what he had promised and should redo the work. They had said unkind things to each other, and though they both apologized, they had not spoken much to each other since. So now Tatterhood wanted to tell him about their baby—needed to tell him—but she did not know how exactly to start the conversation.
Trygve won his fight. A smile covered his face as he patted the soldier on the back.
“Who will challenge Trygve next?” asked the sword master.
Maybe if they fought in the training arena, it would make it easier to talk to each other. Tatterhood jumped off her goat and raised her wooden spoon. “I will!”
The people cheered, but Trygve’s smile disappeared.
“What is your weapon?”
Tatterhood raised her wooden spoon. It was a full arm in length—perfect for fighting against a sword. The bowl of the spoon was about the size of her head and worked well as a mace. The handle was not completely smooth; the front side was flat, to make it easier to hold. The end of the handle curved out, like the end of an axe handle, so that during a fight the spoon could not slide out of her grip.
“Tatterhood! Tatterhood! Tatterhood!” the people chanted.
“Let the match begin!” declared the sword master.
Tatterhood sprang into the attack, using both arms to swing her spoon toward her husband’s knee. He blocked and then moved to the offensive, swinging his sword first toward her chest, then toward her abdomen. His strokes came in rapid succession, but his motions had lost some of their normal fluidity.
“What’s wrong?” asked Tatterhood as she used the spoon handle to deflect one of Trygve’s jabs.
“Nothing,” the prince muttered. “You just look very gray today.”
Tatterhood wondered again if he was embarrassed by her appearance. Most people got used to it after a few weeks, yet it still seemed to bother Trygve.
She scowled and spread her hands about a foot apart on the middle of the spoon’s handle. She pushed her right hand forward, propelling the spoon head toward his arm (if it weren’t a training fight, she would’ve gone for his neck). He barely managed to block. She yanked her right arm back at the same time as she pushed her left hand forward, which pulled the spoon head back and sent the back of the handle toward his other arm. Once again, he barely blocked. He tried to attack, but she planted her feet firmly on the ground and pushed the spoon handle against his sword with all her strength. He stumbled backward.
She did not want to cause him any true damage—he was her husband—but she wasn’t going to play easy on him. That was not her way.
She swung toward his knee again. He blocked, and she yanked the spoon back and drove it straight forward, hitting him in the ribs with the spoon head. The hit wasn’t hard enough to break any bones, but he would surely bruise.
“This is not a fair fight,” gasped the prince. “Your spoon is magic.”
“It’s not a magic spoon,” insisted Tatterhood. “Not exactly.” It’s not like she had placed a spell on it—there were a handful of ways she could consciously use magic, but for the most part, it did what it wanted. She could not yoke it to her will. (If she had better, more constant control, she could’ve become a witch, but it was too late for that now.) Yet on occasion, when she used things that resonated with her essence, they channeled a bit of the magic inside her. She couldn’t force it to happen, but at times she might fight better or travel faster or jump higher; once she’d even managed to sing a half decent song while on her goat and holding her spoon, which was clearly magic helping things along.
“It’s made of wood,” said the prince. “If it were a normal spoon it would be damaged by my sword.” His sword had rags wrapped around it to make it less lethal, but even so, he was probably correct.
“Very well,” said Tatterhood. “I will fight you with a sword.”
She raised her hand to pause the fight and thought very hard of the sword in her bedroom. She willed her wooden spoon and her sword to switch places, and suddenly, her sword was in her hand instead of the spoon. Like Trygve’s, it was a stout, two-edged blade, though hers weighed less.
The sword master wrapped rags around the blade.
Tatterhood adjusted her grip on the sword. The metal handle felt cold, lifeless, while her spoon felt as alive as a tree.
Trygve swung his sword, so she parried him.
When it became clear that she would not be an ordinary princess, Tatterhood’s parents had encouraged her to take up sword fighting. In this endeavor, she gained proficiency but not expertise.
Perhaps the problem was the sword itself. It had a decorative hilt, fit for a princess, and a beautiful shine. It had been forged by the best sword maker in the land, and the sword master declared it perfect for either a parade or a fight. But it did not speak to Tatterhood’s essence, and so she much preferred her spoon.
Tatterhood was not as fast as her husband—at least not when she held a sword—and Trygve was very good at this. Though she tried her best, she barely blocked his attacks. She kept shifting her sword’s height, but she could not get in a good attack. Yet even if she weren’t as proficient at the sword, at least there was a light in Trygve’s eyes that she did not see most days, and she liked the way their bodies and their swords moved together. They should fight like this again.
Trygve swung and she moved to block, but it was a feint and now his sword was at her throat. The sword master declared the victor.
Tatterhood bit her lip. She had not wanted the fight to end so quickly, and she did not like to lose. She told herself she would have beaten him if she’d kept her wooden spoon. The soldiers patted the prince on the back.
“Walk with me back to the castle?” Trygve asked.
Tatterhood agreed and asked a servant to take her goat. The servant grimaced but nodded and proceeded to chase the goat. Storm was large, shaggy, and brown. And rather ferocious. She jumped onto a waist-high, wooden fence, bit off the servant’s hat, and ran into a field. This did not worry Tatterhood—Storm always came back.
Trygve took Tatterhood’s hand. He held it, raised, in the formal manner used to escort a noble woman. Their fingers did not intertwine as the villagers’ fingers did when they held each other’s hands, but surely it still counted as holding her hand, and in a public, outdoor setting. He must be pleased with her.
They walked through the field. Tatterhood was about to tell him she was expecting a child when a messenger approached. The lass curtsied and declared, “Letters for Princess Tatterhood and Prince Trygve!” Trygve’s letter was from his father, King Varg, and Tatterhood’s from Ingridr.
They read their letters as they walked. Ingridr was doing well and enjoying the sunny, summer weather. She mentioned that King Varg was troubled. “There are reports of the return of a magical creature, but he won’t tell me any more details.”
Tatterhood looked at Trygve. His face was pale, and his eyes darted back and forth across his own letter.
“Anything wrong?” she asked when he finished reading.
“Of course not,” he snapped.
She did not press him or force an answer. She had already discovered that, in marriage, such tactics should be used only in times of great expediency.
They arrived at the castle, Trygve maintaining his stony silence.
“Bring me my horse,” he instructed a servant.
The servant returned with Sunset, the prince’s prize horse. She was a deep-black beauty with a silver mane. He rode her every day and would touch no other creature. He mounted her and rode to the fields without a word of farewell. Tatterhood entered the castle alone.
Trygve spent several hours with Sunset. When he returned, he was back to his normal self. Whatever troubled him must not be too great if it could be cured by a simple horse ride.
That night she had yet to tell him of their baby. Perhaps she needed to create the right moment. She changed out of her tattered clothes into softer, newer material.
Tatterhood turned to her husband. “Will you lie with me?”
He shrugged, as if to say he did not care either way. Sometimes it seemed he lay with her out of a sense of his duty as a husband, but she did not want that from him tonight. She wanted to please him, wanted to tell him about their baby when she was sure he’d be happy to hear the news.
She considered herself in the mirror, and, as always, found herself satisfied with her own appearance. Tatterhood liked her crooked, lumpy nose; liked the piercing of her eyes and her fierce, bushy eyebrows; liked that her left ear was higher than her right. Above all, she liked her gray skin. It allowed her to blend in with shadows.
She shifted her focus to her husband. There were several ways she could use magic. When she used items that expressed the essence of her soul, magic enhanced her actions. She could switch one object for another if she knew both objects well and knew their location. She could sometimes find a missing object if she had a strong connection to it.
She could also change her appearance for a time, though this was a bit trickier. She sent a wisp of magic toward Trygve, let it prod him, touch his desires. She turned the wisp on herself. She instantly transformed—skin smoother and clearer than her sister’s, dainty eyebrows, proportional features. Her hair was still curly but had a reddish tint to it, which surprised her. Normally it turned pale blond.
Tatterhood sat next to her husband on the bed, feeling less like herself.
“It always amazes me when you do that,” said Trygve.
Now it was Tatterhood’s turn to shrug.
“I wonder what the people would think if you transformed before them,” he said.
“I’ve done it before.” As a child, she’d transformed by accident during a festival. Once she recognized the ability and its implications she did it repeatedly until she mastered the skill. But then the novelty wore off for both her and her people. She thought of them cheering for her in the training grounds. “I’m not sure it’s necessary to do again.” She had told Trygve that she could only change her appearance occasionally because it used too much magic. That wasn’t strictly true—magic wasn’t like a vial of oil that could be used up—but she liked being herself. She already changed herself two or three times a week, and didn’t want him to press her to do it even more often.
“Of course it’s not necessary,” said Trygve. “But when you change, you look as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside.”
Tatterhood chuckled. “I don’t think I’m like this on the inside.” And then she opened up to him, in a way that surprised her. “On the inside I’m muddy, always ready for a fight. I’m rough edges and frightening cliffs. I’m disheveled, and not always sure what I should do.”
Trygve put his arm around her. His hand wore the ring she had made for him as a late wedding present. “That sounds beautiful to me.”
Beauty didn’t matter to Tatterhood, but she liked his warmth so she leaned into him and kissed his neck. He kissed her on the lips, and soon they engaged in the same activity that led her to be with child. After, they held each other on the bed, and she knew this was the right moment to tell him the news.
But before she could, Trygve combed his fingers through her hair. “I like the red. Why did you add that?”
“I don’t choose what I’ll look like.”
“You don’t?”
“Well, I can choose, if I have something particular in mind. Sometimes I make myself look like a troll. And when I was young, I always made my face look like a frog to frighten Ingridr. Most of the time, though, I make myself appear like what someone else desires to see in me. You always want me beautiful, and so I become beautiful. Today you must like red hair.”
Trygve sat up and wrapped his arms around his knees. “How very strange.”
“It’s not strange at all,” said Tatterhood. “You probably saw someone with red hair and—” The realization hit her like the punch of a two-headed troll to the face. “The new serving girl has red hair. You think she’s beautiful.” At least only Tatterhood’s hair had changed to match Mette’s, and not her entire face.
“I, I—” stuttered Trygve. His face was flushed. “It’s not like that, Tatterhood. Yes, she has nice hair. But I’ve never looked at her in that way—I don’t desire her.”
“Then why is my hair red?” she said, tugging at it.
“Your hair isn’t red anymore.” He pulled on his nightclothes.
She turned to the mirror. Her hair was back to its normal, grayish brown. She’d lost control of the magic, lost the will to make herself what she was not. She curled up in the bed, pulling the blankets around her. She wanted to take her wooden spoon and hit Trygve with it, but she also wanted to hit herself. This was all her fault—all her fault for marrying a prince who did not want her, all her fault for changing her appearance for their wedding.
She had wanted to show him that appearance was transient and unimportant. She had wanted him to talk before their wedding. But she should’ve stayed ugly and gray, and waited for him to like her as she was, if such a thing was even possible.
“I’m sorry, Tatterhood.”
She could not bring herself to turn and look at him, could not accept such a simple apology. She waited, listened as he fell asleep beside her. Then she let three tears—only three—fall down her face and onto her pillow. She was not the crying sort, and so she blamed the tears on her pregnancy.
She had still not managed to tell him about their baby. She wondered if their child would look ugly like her or handsome like Trygve, and if their child would care either way.
Chapter 3
When Tatterhood woke in the morning, she found herself alone.
During their first few months of marriage, every morning they held each other before rising for the day. It seemed the natural thing to do during the almost endless nights of winter, when the sun awoke for only a few hours in the middle of the day. Now, in summer, the sun slept for only a few hours, creating almost endless illumination. The light often caused Trygve to wake hours before Tatterhood, and she would find him reading a book in a chair. She wished she could hold him this morning, because if they had fought the night before, it always softened their feelings toward each other.
“Trygve?” she called.
Silence.
A sense of unease enveloped her, a fear she could not shake. She walked through their rooms, slowly at first, then more rapidly, peeking her head in every nook and corner. The prince was gone.
Her head ached and her jaw felt tight and sore. She must have clenched it as she slept.
She looked on her table, where he always left her notes if he went to do something or meet with someone. There was nothing.
Her heart sank. Trygve never wrote her the sorts of romantic letters featured in ballads, but he always jotted down a few words to let her know if something demanded his attention. She gripped the edge of the table. Maybe he didn’t want her to know where he had gone.
“He’s left me,” she said aloud, and there was no one in her rooms to disagree with her.
Tatterhood dressed hastily in a ragged dress. Rather than brushing her hair, she pulled her hood on top of it. She grabbed her wooden spoon, rushed out of the room, and addressed her attendant, who sat in the hall, doing embroidery and waiting to be called upon.
“Lady Tove, have you seen Trygve today?”
The woman curtsied. “No, Princess. I assumed he was with you.”
The soldier posted in the hall spoke up. “I took the shift before dawn. He must have left before then.”
She wanted to scream that the prince had not just left their rooms, but left her, for good. Yet she should not do such a thing unless she was absolutely certain. She stuck a finger through a small hole in her sleeve, pulling at it until the fabric ripped, creating a much larger hole. She fiddled with the frayed threads. She wished she could ask Ingridr for advice, but her sister was kingdoms away.
As she walked to breakfast, she stopped every single servant in her path to ask if they had seen Trygve. No one had.
One of the servant’s daughters, Anna, came running down the hall. She jumped into Tatterhood’s arms and gave her a sticky kiss on the cheek.
“Where’s Trygve?” the little girl asked.
Surprised to hear her own question turned back on her, it took Tatterhood a moment to mumble, “I don’t know.” Someday, would her own child ask the same question, and would she be forced to give the same response?
“I want him to play with me,” said Anna.
“I can play with you,” said Tatterhood, wanting anything to distract her from her worries.
The girl shook her head and ran back down the hall toward her mother, Elin. “It’s more fun with both of you.”
“You shouldn’t say things like that,” Elin rebuked her daughter. She turned toward Tatterhood. “I’m sorry, Princess. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Have you seen Trygve?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“No,” said Elin, and she got a faraway look in her eyes.
Tatterhood wanted to know the woman’s thoughts but did not dare to ask. Elin’s husband had left her last summer. And she wasn’t the only one in the castle to experience such a thing. Years before, the stable master’s wife had left him for another. These sorts of things happened. But they did not—they should not—happen to Tatterhood.
She tightened her grip on her wooden spoon, trying to channel her emotions away from grief, toward anger.
She stomped into the private, family dining room, nodded to her parents, and set her wooden spoon on the table, none too gently.
The queen cleared her throat. “What do I always say about spoons at the breakfast table?”
“There are dozens of spoons on this table.”
“But none made of wood, and none that large.”
Tatterhood pinched her lips together. She moved the spoon onto the floor, beneath her feet.
“Much better,” said her mother.
The serving girls came in carrying fruit. The red-haired girl—Mette—spooned bilberries onto Tatterhood’s plate. Tatterhood tried not to look at her.
“Where’s Trygve?” asked her father.
“I don’t believe he’s coming to breakfast,” Tatterhood said between gritted teeth.
Mette walked out of the room with a bounce.
Tatterhood grabbed a handful of the blue bilberries and shoved them in her mouth, daring her mother to correct her for not using utensils. She knew she was behaving much younger than her age, but she did it anyway.
“You didn’t argue about the coverlet again, did you?”
“No, Mother.”
“I took care of the problem. I ordered another in the color Trygve requested, and, to make you happy, since you hate to see someone not compensated for their work, I purchased the coverlet with the wrong colors. I am sure I will find a place for it.”
Her mother was rather stingy when it came to new furnishings. She had finally replaced the castle curtains a few weeks before, and had made all sorts of complaints about the cost. The fact that she was willing to buy an extra coverlet to make both of them happy meant she must be worried about the state of their marriage.
“Thank you, Mother.” Of course, with Trygve gone, the color didn’t matter.
Mette brought in the cheeses. The sunlight shining through the windows glinted off her long, red braid. Tatterhood gripped her silver fork and knife, picturing Trygve talking to Mette, putting his hand on her shoulder, perhaps escorting her to her room. . . .
Mette smiled at her as she returned to the kitchen.
Tatterhood tried a bite of cheese but did not like the taste. She raised one of the breakfast linens to her mouth and spit the cheese into it. Why had she tried to pretend nothing was wrong? She could continue this charade no longer. She dropped the soiled fabric on her plate.
“Please excuse me.” She dashed after Mette and slammed open the door to the kitchen.
The servants all stared as Tatterhood bounded into the room. Mette turned quickly, almost dropping her tray.
“Where is my husband?” Tatterhood hadn’t entirely meant to yell, but it came out that way.
“Wh-what?” Mette stammered, simultaneously setting down the tray and trying to curtsy.
Tatterhood put her hands on Mette’s shoulders. It took great control not to shake the girl, though she desperately wanted to. “Where is Trygve? Where is the prince?”
“I don’t know,” she whimpered. “Why should I know?”
“Just tell me where he is. What did he say to you?”
Mette was almost in tears. “I’ve only been here three days. I’ve never even talked to the prince.”
“Did he visit you this morning?”
The girl did not respond. She looked like a rabbit, frozen in fear.
“Did he?” Tatterhood yelled.
One of the other serving girls curtsied before her. “With all due respect, Princess, Mette shares a room with me. The prince could not have visited her. I’ve been with her almost every moment since she’s been here.”
“The prince never spoke to her,” the other servants confirmed.
Tatterhood’s eyes jumped from servant to servant, reading the sincerity in their faces.
She released Mette as if she were a burning hot pan. The girl sniffled and seemed to shrink away.
The other servants stared at Tatterhood. She breathed in and out, trying to control her rage. She trusted these people, these people who had worked for her family for years, and if they said the girl was innocent of wrongdoing, she had to believe them.
But oh how she wished the girl had wronged her, for then she would no longer need to blame herself for Trygve’s departure.
She knew she needed to apologize to Mette, knew she should, but could not bring herself to do it. Not to this woman that Trygve desired, not to this woman that he had partially turned her into.
A throat cleared. Tatterhood turned reluctantly toward it.
Her father stood in the doorway. He held her wooden spoon.
She walked toward him, head bowed.
He put his arm around her, and did not even berate her for her treatment of Mette, though she surely deserved it.
“What has happened?”
Tatterhood could not speak.
Her mother came and put her hands on both of their shoulders, then led them back into the dining room. As the door closed, the words of a servant drifted through: “Tatterhood’s not normally like this.”
Her father gave her the wooden spoon and she clutched it to her chest.
“What happened between you and Trygve?” he asked.
“Trygve does not like being my husband.” She swallowed. “And I think he has run away.”
She let them hold her for a minute, and then they sprang into action, assembling the servants and courtiers and sending them to scour the castle, the city, and the surrounding areas. Tatterhood joined in the search herself. But during the entire morning, no one found a trace of him.
Tatterhood went to the stables. The stable master put his hand on her shoulder. He had kind eyes, eyes that understood, that had been through this before. But she could not bear his kindness, not right now.
“I need a little time alone.”
The stable master sent all the stablehands away.
She beat at the hay with her wooden spoon. Little pieces broke off and flew into the air. Several guards had seen the prince wandering the gardens in nightclothes during the early morning, but no one had seen him leave the castle grounds.
Tatterhood beat a new bale of hay. Her father had offered to send out the guard, all the way to King Varg’s kingdom if necessary, to bring Trygve back. She had turned him down. She would force no man to be her husband. She did not want a man, anyway, who cared only about her appearance.
She set down her spoon and leaned with her back against the hay. Her belly was a little queasy. For some reason she had assumed she wouldn’t have the same physical troubles as other women. She put her hand on her stomach, which had not yet begun to grow. There were no outward signs of the baby. Would Trygve have left if she had told him?
At least she had what she needed from him: an heir. She did not doubt her ability to rule the kingdom without a king by her side.
She stood, not bothering to brush the hay from her tattered dress. She walked through the stable, and a horse whinnied at her. She stopped.
It was Sunset.
She ran her fingers through the mare’s immaculate, silver mane. Sunset pushed her muzzle against Tatterhood’s chest, so Tatterhood found a brush and groomed the horse. The steady, rhythmic action calmed her in a way that beating the hay had not.
How strange for the prince to leave Sunset behind—it would be like her abandoning Storm. She would never do such a thing unless under great duress.
Tatterhood set down the brush. Sunset snorted at her.
“Sorry to cut it short,” Tatterhood said and stepped outside the stable.
“Sunset is still here,” she said to the stable master. “Did Trygve take one of the other horses?”
He scratched his chin. “I don’t know, Princess. There’s been a lot of horses out and about, what with looking for him.”
She waited while he called back the stablehands. They went over all their charges—every single horse—but not a one was unaccounted for. All the horses absent from the stable had been used by someone trying to find Trygve.
So Trygve had left on foot. Maybe he had bought a horse in one of the villages on the road, but why if he could take his own steed?
“I am sorry,” said the stable master. “I should have checked earlier.”
“It’s not your fault.” Her belief that Trygve had left her had probably made the people searching for him less likely to notice any details that contradicted that conclusion.
She returned to their rooms, examining them in more detail.
Trygve had left his sword.
The laundry master brought in a dozen laundry girls and boys. They determined that the only clothes missing were his nightclothes.
Tatterhood could understand him leaving, but to leave in his nightclothes, without sword or horse? Maybe she had judged him too quickly.
Read the full story
If you enjoyed this excerpt from “Tatterhood and the Prince’s Hand,” you can read the full novella in Unspun: A Collection of Tattered Fairy Tales.
Purchase on Amazon (or read on Kindle Unlimited)
1000 Hours of Writing in 2021: A Year in Review
In 2021, I spent 1000 hours writing.
1000.
A few weeks ago I realized how close I was to 1000 hours of writing for the year, so I decided to go for it and get in the last few hours.
1,000 hours 1,000 hours
If you look back on previous years, there were a number of years when I was firmly in the 400 to 600 hours a year range (so writing on average 60 to 100 minutes a day). Last year was my most writing time ever, with 909 hours total–so an average of 150 minutes or 2.5 hours a day. 1000 hours per day is an average of 165 minutes a day, or 2.75 hours.
Of course, I was not actually writing 2.75 hours a day–some months I wrote a lot more than that, some months a lot less:
Now, a qualifier. I did not spend 1000 hours typing. I’ve talked about this in previous year-in-review posts, but I believe in being pretty expansive in my definition of writing. Daydreaming about story ideas counts as writing. Listening to writing podcasts counts as writing. Submitting stories for publication counts as writing. That said…
What specifically did I work on in 2021?
First off, my debut novel was published!
When I was five years old, I decided that I wanted to be an author and publish books. While I have had a number of shorter works published, this year was my first to publish a book.
Having my book out in the world has been thrilling and tiring and exciting and overwhelming and wonderful all at once. Most of all, I’m grateful to have a story that I wanted to tell out in the world. And I’m grateful to everyone who has read and shared and reviewed my book–I truly appreciate all of your support for my stories!
While The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet was a huge milestone for my year, it actually didn’t take up most of my writing time. (The time that it did use was sharing the word about the book on social media, blog posts, sending out my newsletter, being a guest on podcasts, updating my website, etc.–aka marketing.)
Here’s a snapshot that shows how I spent my writing time throughout the year:
Book 2 in my Mary Bennet series—The True Confessions of a London Spy–comes out in a little over two months, on March 1, 2022. However, this past year I only spent 30 hours on it, and that was for final revisions. (Most of the time for that book came in 2020, when I spent 347 hours on it, and from 2018, when I wrote a very rough first draft.)
What I did spend most of my time on in 2021 was Book 3 in the Mary Bennet series, The Lady’s Guide to Death and Deception. I spent 387 hours on the book. This included brainstorming, research, outlining, reading newspapers from the time, and four drafts. The book is still not finished–I still have 3-4 revision passes on it with the publisher that will happen in early 2022.
Other things I worked on:
Jane Austen Writing Lessons. This has been a project of joy, as I’ve deep dived into writing through the lens of Jane Austen. Basically, this is everything I know about writing in a series of blog posts, and it was actually selected by the Write Life as one of the 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2021.
The 97 hours spent on development included my monthly writing group, critiquing the writing of others, accounting, networking, goal setting and tracking, and learning about writing through listening to writing podcasts and reading books about writing. Developing yourself as a writer is so essential at every stage of the writing or publishing process you are at, and so it’s something that I continue to prioritize.
It’s also important to do writing that’s just for yourself, and that’s where my 52 hours of journal writing came in. And then there were all sorts of other smaller writing projects and writing-related tasks that I worked on throughout the year.
How much of the thousand hours was spent actually outlining, writing new words, or revising? I have no idea, and I absolutely refuse to go through every entry in my time tracker to figure that out. My guess is at least 500. But that number doesn’t really matter to me, because all of the writing-related things are important for me as a writer.
How in the world did I get in 1000 hours?
In years when I was writing 400 hours per year, it was because I fought tooth and nail to spend a solid hour a day working on my writing. It took sacrifices–reading less, watching less, cleaning less, waking up early or staying up late, and sometimes insane life-juggling to carve out that hour.
Writing 1000 hours this year was actually easier than writing 400 those years, because of a very particular set of life circumstances:
- In September, my youngest child entered full-day kindergarten, but I did not start working full-time. Instead I got a 10-hour-a-week part-time job.
- From January to June, I was a stay-at-home parent with one 5-year-old at home. She was rather independent. I also gave her movie time for 2 hours every afternoon, and I always used it for writing time.
- Our family finances work on only my husband’s salary, which is a privilege that many incredible writers don’t have. I can put 1000 hours into writing even if I’m not going to make much from it.
If life has taught me anything, it’s that I can’t guarantee what my life circumstances will look like in any given year. Maybe I will have years in the future where I can spend 1000 hours writing, maybe I won’t. But it was fun to achieve that completely arbitrary benchmark this year.
What to Look for From Me in 2022
- March 1: The True Confessions of a London Spy (Mary Bennet 2) will be released
- May 13-14: I will be teaching a class called “In Defense of Writing Slowly” at the Storymakers conference in Utah
- September: The Lady’s Guide to Death and Deception (Mary Bennet 3) will be released
Hopefully I will be able to add some more in-person events to this list
My Goals for 2022
- Finish revisions on The Lady’s Guide to Death and Deception
- Actually finish revisions on an old steampunk novel (this is a goal I had for 2021 that I didn’t meet)
- Write at least the first draft of a new book (I have a few ideas for this)
I may add or subtract goals from this list as the year progresses.