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Donna Baier Stein

Author of The Silver Baron's Wife

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(September 15, 2016)

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Recent Posts

  • Seven Tips From a First-Time Novelist
  • NOBODY PUTS BABY IN A CORNER
  • ART FOR CONTEMPORARY WRITERS
  • SCENES & SEQUELS
  • WRITING, HIGH ANXIETY, AND JAMES PATTERSON

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  • Donna Baier Stein on Seven Tips From a First-Time Novelist
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  • Donna Baier Stein on NOBODY PUTS BABY IN A CORNER

Archives

Seven Tips From a First-Time Novelist

January 13, 2017 by Donna Baier Stein 2 Comments

Seven Tips From A First-Time Novelist

I chose the historical figure of Baby Doe Tabor as the main character of my first novel thinking her fascinating, event-filled, roller coaster life provided its own ready-made plot. I’d been writing stories and knew that my strength was language, not narrative structure. I’d even spent time in two radically different writing groups—one focused on literary fiction (heavy on characterization and language) and one focused on more plot-oriented genre fiction. I, rather arrogantly it turns out, preferred the literary focus. I was definitely a pantser rather than a plotter.

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: novel, writing

NOBODY PUTS BABY IN A CORNER

July 29, 2016 by Donna Baier Stein 6 Comments

There’s some speculation as to how the main character in my novel The Silver Baron’s Wife got the nickname “Baby Doe.” Born Elizabeth McCourt, she had married Harvey Doe, the son of the mayor in her hometown of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Lizzie travelled with her new husband and father-in-law to Colorado after Harvey Doe Senior gifted them with a share in a silver mine called The Fourth of July. They settled into a ramshackle cabin and Harvey began working at the mine while Lizzie stayed behind doing woman’s work in the cabin. But Harvey wasn’t the most driven man – in fact, he was a hard-drinking gambler who succumbed to the lure of alcohol and opium and spent much of his time frequenting saloons and brothels.  As she watched their chances at making a fortune disappear, Lizzie decided to take matters into her own hands. Despite loud objections from her husband and the other miners, she insisted on going to work herself at the mine. Despite the miners’ superstitions about women being bad luck at mines, Lizzie donned men’s clothes and descended into the earth.   Her hard work caught the attention of a reporter for Leadville’s local newspaper and her work ethic and striking beauty charmed her fellow miners and she became their “sweetheart.” That and her petite size (only 5′ feet tall) earned her the nickname “Baby,” which was in line with the long-standing tradition of normally hard-edged mineworkers giving playful, romantic names to the mines they worked in.

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Filed Under: Blog

ART FOR CONTEMPORARY WRITERS

June 4, 2016 by Donna Baier Stein 2 Comments

Writers can turn to visual art to find seed ideas. Delighted that Writer’s Digest has just published my article on ekphrastic fiction. You can read my essay below or buy the whole issue here. Or try this: WritersDigest-July-2016

 

ScreenXShotX2016-06-04XatX9.54.34XAM ScreenXShotX2016-06-04XatX9.54.43XAM

 

 

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: ekphrastic, fiction, writing

SCENES & SEQUELS

September 12, 2015 by Donna Baier Stein 2 Comments

ScreenXShotX2015-09-12XatX10.02.15XAMYesterday’s master class “Thinking in Scenes: Projecting Your Fiction on Your Reader’s Mental Movie Screen” at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference was taught by Angie Hodapp. It was substantive and terrific. I may have been the only “literary” writer in the group; most others were sci-fi or fantasy writers. But boy did I learn (or relearn) some helpful tips. I’m someone who in the past has occasionally been guilty of getting as caught up in the intricacies of language as the intricacies of plot. My natural bent is to finesse the words in the sentences and hope that the plot will take care of itself. In fact, one reason I chose Baby Doe Tabor as the subject of my first novel is because I figured that her fascinating life story provided its own plot. Wrong.

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: plot, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, writing

WRITING, HIGH ANXIETY, AND JAMES PATTERSON

August 18, 2015 by Donna Baier Stein 2 Comments

I’ve been lucky this past year… and got rather accustomed to waking up, getting to work, enjoying my days. This is no small thing for someone who’s spent an embarrassingly large amount of time not writing because she didn’t feel happy enough to be writing. Divorce, a house fire, family and health issues—you name it. If there was a crisis, I felt it. I suppose that being overly sensitive can be considered a good thing for a writer, but the fact is, too much sensitivity and a tendency to slide into the mud of depression are anathema to a writer’s productivity.

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Anxiety, E.M. Forster, James Patterson, writing

ONE STORY MAGAZINE WRITING WORKSHOP

July 29, 2015 by Donna Baier Stein 2 Comments

Most days I spend at home alone. I like uninterrupted writing time and avoid the phone like the plague. But sometimes, it can be really invigorating to socialize with other writers. This month, I spent a week with One Story Magazine’s Summer Writing Workshop. I’d taken two of their online courses recently: Write a Short Story with Hannah Tinti and Become Your Own Best Editor with Will Allison.

I got to work in person with both Hannah and Will during this summer’s week-long, in person workshop held in Brooklyn at the Old American Can Factory.

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: One Story, writing

KEEPING TRACK OF TIME

July 2, 2015 by Donna Baier Stein Leave a Comment

One excellent panel at the Historical Novel Society’s recent Conference in Denver was called “Pressed for Time: Writing and Researching Historical Fiction When Life Gets in the Way.”

The panelists—Stephanie Cowell, Sam Thomas, Lauren Willig, Stephanie Thornton, Heather Webb—were incredibly impressive in their accomplishments. They’d each published multiple historical novels while raising children, teaching, training for marathons, working at a high-powered law firm, and more.

After listening to them, I felt like I should stop complaining about always having too many things to do.

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Donna Baier Stein, Historical Novel Society, Kanban, writing

WHEN WOMEN’S HISTORIES MUST BE TOLD

June 23, 2015 by Donna Baier Stein 2 Comments

I’ll be at the Historical Novel Society Conference in Denver June 26-28. This is my second time attending the conference, and I’m looking forward to seeing familiar faces and new. I knew I had to go this year because Denver is a key setting in my upcoming novel The Silver Baron’s Wife.

I first learned about Colorado’s Baby Doe Tabor when I was seven years old, on a family vacation. I still have the postcards we bought then. In one, she’s regal in an ermine coat. In another she’s dowdy in an overcoat and cap, in front of a shack at the Matchless Mine in Leadville, where she lived the last 35 years of her life.

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Baby Doe Tabor, Donna Baier Stein, Historical Novel Society, The Silver Baron's Wife

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