Author K. Williams Archived Pages

Family Centered – Open Book Blog Hop #522

March 30, 2026 By Captain Maiel 3 Comments

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #522

Do you include your character’s family in your stories?

Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop, Friend! The authors included in this ongoing learning series wish to thank you for your reading. Even more so, we appreciate that you share our writing with friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Prepare to become a regular reader.

Prior to this question, the thought of family and its importance to my writing had not occurred to me. This is one of those moments where I realize that the study of literature and literature theory has its validity. Much of what we writers do syphons from a largely inaccessible subconscious. Outside forces, so to speak, must act to bring the realizations forward to the conscious mind.

Let me start by saying, family matters a great deal to me. Growing up, I was blessed with both parents who focused on providing me and my brother with a life better than theirs. For my mom, this was of the utmost importance. She grew up in severe poverty. Rising from these beginnings, creating a stable home, and futures for her children was what she saw as success. To this day, she takes great pride on her home, the center of the family.

Everything I have is because of the hard work of my parents. It is my hope that I can pass on just as great opportunities to my daughter. Now, the struggle toward better things is for her sake. So, you can see that family is the central focus of what matters in my world.

Good friends and close family are themes that run throughout all my books. That said, there are some familial figures that pose problems to the characters of those same books. This idea stems from the personal knowledge that not everyone blood related to you has your best interest in mind. While my parents were loving and focused on raising a family with all the love they had to offer, there were family members that were downright nasty.

In a previous entry of the Open Book Blog Hop, I wrote about how much of me enters into the work I create. A great deal of me fills the pages of the Trailokya series. I’ve written extensively on how my dreams inspired the work along with other points of inspiration. Certainly, you’ll find those details easy to map. Yet, as far as which character a family member inspired and how poses a greater puzzle to piece together.

Across all of the books, various familial inspired manifestations mingle, mixed and matched to mold believably human characters. The aunties of our world have no reflection in the aunties of my books. The mothers aren’t exactly my mother. The fathers aren’t my father. That is how it works.

In the end, you don’t want to read a story about my bland life. I don’t write to reexperience my life, either. Largely, me and readers are on the same page, seeking escapism through the written word. I’m more interested in exploring unreal worlds and having a thought experiment about how things that pop into my head might play out. Thus, you’ll find bits and pieces filling in the picture–a mosaic rather than a reflection.

If you smashed a life, for instance, you could take the shattered pieces and create unlimited mosaics that never resemble the original. Unless you knew the original, you’d never identify what the pieces once belonged to. One might get lucky and piece together some details.

Regardless of how I wrote any of my stories or what details of me made the cut, the visible thread boldly winding through the fabric of my novels is how important family is to one’s outcomes. Emily would not have had her story without the contrast of her parents. Claire would not have found safe harbor without Aunt Noreen. Lastly, Captain Maiel could have floundered without her loving family laboring upon her behalf.

Inevitably, what bits are me and what are fabricated little matters outside of what I’d call morbid curiousity. My life experiences help me conceptualize stories. That is why I recommend authors live their life as much as possible above writing for a set time each day. Expanding experiences, and thinking about them critically goes a long way to making believable characters in believable situations, and so on. Write what you know!

To read what the other authors replied to this question, click on their links below in the scroll box. Don’t forget to subscribe before you go. The hop will arrive in your inbox each Friday without having to search for us. See you next time!

Breakfast Is What’s Up – Open Book Blog Hop #521

March 23, 2026 By Captain Maiel 6 Comments

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #521

Are you a breakfast eater? What is your favorite breakfast food?

Breakfast is what’s up. My favorite foods are often breakfast foods. Of course, you can make anything breakfast, so I am not sure why we make the classification. I never ate beans for breakfast, but that’s part of an English Breakfast, right? At least, that is what we’re told. Along with some nice tomato slices. As a kid, I’d bristle at this. At my ripening age, it sounds just fine.

Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash. a pancake falls through the air onto a stack of other pancakes. breakfast — ^{Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash.}

When I am not working, I am a late riser, so a nice full breakfast is definitely on order. In fact, I’m writing this piece just after having a full American style breakfast: scrambled eggs (with a bit of ketchup), couple slices of bacon, rye toast with peanut butter, and a half of a grapefruit sweetened. On the side, a steaming cup of coffee waits to finish it all off. I like to make a sandwich with the bacon and peanut butter toast. Don’t knock that till you’ve tried it! I’ve made many an addict in my wake.

Peruse my past excerpts on Breakfast.

In my family, we’d often have breakfast for dinner. That could mean eggs and bacon, waffles, French toast, or pancakes. The usual was pancakes. My daughter lives for what she calls backward day. I like to let her know in advance, and she asks for dinner food for breakfast, so she can fully pull a backward day. In this house, we try to break norms that seem arbitrary. I wouldn’t mind a nice piece of steak for breakfast, even if it does cause havoc in my system (beef sensitivity). Nothing is tastier than a cheeseburger, either–well, maybe pizza.

Any of it could be breakfast. A bowl of cereal serves as a nice snack. Sometimes, I pack a baggy to snack on. That said, oatmeal always feels like an early morning thing. I like to have that at work pretty regularly. Other things that I eat when I am working are Skyr or Greek Yogurt and fruit, sometimes a granola bar. My favorites are Icelandic Apricot Honey (tastes like cheesecake) and most of the Nature Valley Bars. Sometimes, I like a Pop-Tart or Toaster Strudel, too. A lot of American options are super sugary and a waste of calories, even the cereals. I think that’s why most skip.

If I’m not home, it’s hard to eat healthy. Even the oatmeal has too much sugar. The yogurts are crap, unless you get imports. It’s not easy to make eggs, but you can make a passable scramble in the microwave. All that premade stuff is a sodium and sugar bomb. Same with lunch! So, there’s another reason to look forward to retirement. I won’t have to be up so early every single day, and I won’t be trapped by mobile food.

And no, I’ll never get on with over night oats. The very idea makes me queasy. The texture… Even when I’m eating instant oatmeal, I have been known to gag. It’s either the texture or the idea of having it for the millionth time. I used to gag about salad back when I was trying to eat those for lunch several times a week. How much can someone eat one type of thing before their body is like get the f– outta here? Although, I think you could serve me kid cereal until forever or that Cranberry Almond Crunch stuff.

I like to drink coffee all day, too. Serve me up some Bones Coffee! Sometimes, I’ll throw a Barry’s Tea bag into my water cup. Every other day, I have a collagen water with a drink mix to keep my joints and skin happy as I age. Life would be good if I could just eat my two meals per day, whatever they are and have my coffee, tea, and collagen drink.

I have several recipes you can look at on my Culinary K section of the blog, that are Breakfast focused.

Grandma Ada’s Fruit Cocktail
Berry Mallow Yam Bake
Grandma Ada’s Best French Toast
The One Pancake Recipe You Will Ever Need*
Ina Garten’s Perfect Pie Crust (add any filling)
Culinary K’s Deviled Eggs – pair with breakfast sausages and a biscuit.
K’s perfected Chèvre Leek Quiche

^{*This would be the only recipe you’d need if Bisquick didn’t frequently forget the baking powder. I’ve since switched to Cracker Barrel Mix or Vicky Cakes. I’ll add buttermilk instead of milk to the Cracker Barrel mix or whatever I am using if it asks for milk. It’s much better this way.}

Find out what the other authors on the hop think of Breakfast Food by clicking on their links in the scroll box below. Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog before you go. The hop will arrive in your inbox each Friday without having to search for us! See you next week. Thanks for stopping in.

Skeletal Prose – Open Book Blog Hop #520

March 16, 2026 By Captain Maiel 6 Comments

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #520

When you are writing scenes with more than two characters, how do
you help the readers keep track of who is speaking?

As a literature student, I will testify how much I despise losing track of who is saying what in a narrative. Nothing upset me more than reading a Hemingway. He would have pages of dialogue that just rolled line after line with several characters taking part. Who was saying what line? No one knows for certain. No one. If they tell you that they do, they’re lying.

The problem of tracking who says what is in the limited writing. Hemingway is best known for his skeletal prose. I know many love Papa, but I do not. That said, he would have made a great script writer, because you have to be as lean as is possible when writing screenplays. That can cause you a lot of problems in clarity, and not just dialogue clarity. However, in scripts, each line has its person label. So it is quite clear who is speaking.

this way? That way? direction signs in a woodland crossroads, choices

When I write my fiction, I don’t drown the reader in script like dialogue without labels. I want to be certain who is speaking when I’m reading, because it matters to the plot in many ways. If it doesn’t, then the characters are superfluous. If lines are so interchangeable, you can cut the character. I recommend that you do. Give the line to someone who can carry it and make it worth speaking. If it must be said, and pushes the narrative along, then someone as important should be talking. Get what I mean?

This is a much better way to address overwriting, rather than just making your narrative as skeletal as Papa’s.

This is one of the ways I learned to limit characters in my novels. Trailokya is a sweeping series, and there can be a lot of characters when you look through the entire set. However, each character is there to do a job. They don’t just pop up to say two or three lines. They mean something and represent something in the story. For instance, Lena’s guardian and the headmaster of the school. They represent the past and changing of the guards, the old ways and the mystery of those who came before us with their plans for the future.

A good way to keep things straight, when you don’t want to tag each line, is to limit who is present, and make sure that paragraphing works as the demarcation. Consider who should be in the room carefully. Once established, be certain who is speaking versus who is listening. Find a way to establish that quickly and concisely. Use paragraphing to show the altering speakers. If there is a pause, mention the pause, but continue the line in the same paragraph. Being skeletal for the sake of it can ruin the scene. Economical doesn’t mean skeletal.

Precision doesn’t mean deleting everything you think your editor would. One of my editors attempted to change all of my labels to she said or he said, deleting my descriptions. That is terrible. It was so terrible, i feared their ability to edit at all. I’m being honest because this matters to your success in this arena. Once Listen, when I got through their feedback, because of my own background, I was able to judge what was good and what was bad advice. That was definitely bad advice. Do not do this just because an editor said so. (Yet another reason independent publishing is superior to mainstream–you call the shots, and it can be this important!)

a map lies on the table with books and writing implements, as a person takes notes. Photo by Oxona on Unsplash

Also, don’t over describe (over write) your labels. Sometimes, you will just have to let the dialogue float there without the So-and-so said (intoned, whined, cried, mirthed, joked, joshed, chattered, grinned, gruffed…). The previous paragraph and the words spoken will have to attest to who it was. Very often, that is enough. There are just things that are obvious. When it is obvious through the dialogue alone, you don’t have to label.

The matter of dialogue is one of those aspects of writing that leaves me believing I could not teach writing, especially creative writing, to others. Experience and study of other writers are all that can establish the skill, in my estimation. You have to try and fail to have the contrast to know what does and does not work. What I’ve stated above should be obvious. Like anything else, there will be exceptions. Only experience, trial and error, can clarify this enough to build confidence in dialogue writing.

My tips: read books and look at what others are doing, study how it works or doesn’t work. Take a course (either literature, creative writing, screenwriting) that focuses on dialogue. Watch some videos on YouTube to see what others are saying (not everyone is right, mind you). Then choose for yourself what you will do. Some of you very much like skeletal writing like Hemingway, and there are readers who like it, too. So you do you, if you insist that is how you will do things. Just know why you do it. Copying Papa isn’t enough of a reason.

A great way to get other opinions on writing topics is to subscribe to this blog. The Open Book Blog Hop will arrive in your inbox each Friday. Click on the links at the bottom of my post to find the other authors and their responses. Easy lessons in short articles from real writers! See you next week!

open book blog hop photography ad, camera with photos on a vintage map

The Over/Under Share – Open Book Blog Hop #519

March 9, 2026 By Captain Maiel 8 Comments

♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦

Topic #519

How much of yourself do you share with your readers? How much do you hide?

The art of the over share is something I have not quite perfected. Unless, of course, you ply me with plenty of drink. Good luck with that, too. I hate drinking alcohol. The feeling reminds me too much of losing consciousness. Something I have done a couple of times for no apparent reason. (POTS?) Whatever causes it, it is most unpleasant to feel your mind slide backward into darkness, too tired to lift a finger. I suppose that might be what dying is like. Now you know why drinking isn’t fun for me.

Image by Benjamin Hartwich from Pixabay - a radio studio with On the Air sign — ^{Image by Benjamin Hartwich from Pixabay}

All of this and more, might or might not be found in my work. The write what you know advice heralded throughout the writer world would have you believing that every work ever is autobiographical, if you can just find the cipher for it. So would much of literary theory. I suppose they’re not wrong. After all, the writing does come from the confines of the mind that also houses the self.

The better question might be, do I purposely plant myself into the work? Until Trailokya, I had no interest in doing anything of the sort. I wrote to escape me and my dull world. How did I not end up doing theater, you may ask, if seeking to play a role was my game? Well, memorizing lines isn’t as easy as it seems. Having stage fright and not much talent for acting, I went with writing. Too many inhibitions stood between me and the stage. I could never be anyone but me while occupying my body.

How did Trailokya change that? Well, the books track the myriad dreams I’ve had since childhood, putting a bit of a puzzle together to make it all make sense. You can’t get more personal than that. While you’ve heard me talk about the Nervous Nelly poetry can turn me into, you no doubt think that is strange for me to do. In prose, reader, I am at home. Besides, you never know what is embellished and what is authentically from the dreams.

The Baron Morgentus from The Trailokya Trilogy, AI Generated — ^{The Baron Morgentus, The Trailokya Trilogy (AI Generated)}

Let me give you one tidbit. Nothing new. Just know that Morgentus is the straight out of my nightmares. He used to make me want to piss like a puppy the second I saw him. I hated him for that. And the dreams would come without warning, so there was no preparing. That was until the patterns became obvious around him. Still, that was a lot for a child to endure, never gaining the upper hand until adulthood. That dream, also made the cut.

Those dreams are a treasure to the adult I’ve grown into. When I dream of that place nowadays, it’s a whole other level. I’ve grown and become far less afraid of monsters. In fact, I like to repeat the line: “I’m not trapped in here with you. You’re trapped in here with me.” Thanks for the epic line, Rorschach! I definitely feel powerful, no longer at the mercy of what may stalk me in the dark reaches of my dreams.

That feeling is why I bothered to write the story down. I wanted to empower others who feel helpless. Those who may feel trapped. Maybe they’re depressed or experiencing abuse, and somehow my book would give them the courage to rise up and reclaim themselves. It was worth putting me into the work, and that vulnerability that comes with doing so. Will I ever tell the whole thing. No, because that doesn’t matter at all. The story of survival, fairy tale cloaked, is what is necessary.

I hope it helps at least one other person facing bad odds.

For them: You’re seen. You got this. I know you do. Stay. Keep rising. Make them afraid to be trapped in here with you! Take yourself back. And, above all, you deserve love, not the romanticized, played out kind either. The kind that reflects your value back at you. There are so many ways in which humans experience love. Take yourself back, and you’ll get to experience them. Better days.

Click through the other author responses by selecting their icons below in the scroll box. Don’t forget to subscribe before you leave this page. The hop will arrive each Friday to your inbox without having to search us out. See you next time!

Zo Games

March 7, 2026 By Captain Maiel Leave a Comment

Zo’s bestie Bluepin has come over for a visit this late winter. I bet the waters have been really cold where she lives. Bluepin, however, never lets on if she’s struggling with anything. That kid is super positive and just so happy to hang with Zo. It’s a beautiful thing.

I think I may knit her a little scarf to take home, so she can stay warm. Does that even make sense? Fish are cold blooded. Why am I so worried about her. I’ll need to find the softest of yarn, so it doesn’t rub her scales wrong.

Anyway, today, the girls are burning up their time together on video games. It’s so quiet, except for the game sounds. I’ve brought snacks and taken out garbage a few times just to make sure they’re okay! It makes me so happy to see them get on so well.

Another thing that brings me joy is to see their ingenuity. You might be wondering how either of them holds a controller, or how Bluepin copes with the need for water. Let me tell you, Zo doesn’t let her wing buds slow her down. She’s learned that chopsticks can be a useful tool in battering the controller buttons, while her wiggly webbed toes can work the joystick. She’s been at this a long time. As for Bluepin, she is likewise skilled, maneuvering her fins to match. It’s a wonder to watch, and I’ll worry about the water getting on the couch later.