Just the Facts by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

I know I’ve mentioned how I hate crime drama shows where they determine a suspect’s hair color from a single strand of hair.

On the surface, there is nothing wrong with that, but just take a minute to examine your hair or the hair of some other family member. You’ll find that your hair isn’t one color at all.

Take my hair for instance. Most of my hair ranges from light brown/almost red to dark brown/almost black with dark brown being my overall hair color, except for that streak of white. And I mean white, not blonde, as blonde is actually yellow rather than white.

So, it always seems absurd when characters on TV determine hair color from a single strand.

But now I have a new one to complain about.

I was watching an episode of Bones the other day and Bones said something to the effect of her newest victim had to be between eighteen and twenty because her wisdom teeth hadn’t erupted yet.

Cue me yelling at the TV: “My wisdom teeth haven’t erupted yet!”

That’s right. I will be sixty-two next month and my wisdom teeth are still where they were when I was twenty-one, in my jaw.

I can clearly remember my freshman year of college going to a nearby dentist for a checkup. Of course, they took X-rays first, and while we waited for the film to develop, (remember it was 41 years ago) the dentist asked me a few questions about myself, among the answers was that I was a freshman at the nearby college.

I didn't mention to him that I graduated from high school a month before my twentieth birthday, nor did I mention I spent a year at home helping out before entering college.

He got the X-rays back, looked them over, and announced that I would probably need to get all four of my wisdom teeth taken out by the time I turned twenty.

I stared at him. “I’m twenty-one.”

“Oh, in that case, if they’re not bothering you, don’t worry about it.”

They have yet to bother me! But that also means a body that still has wisdom teeth that haven’t erupted doesn’t mean it is the body of a teenager.

Hence why I yelled at the TV. I haven’t watched Bones a whole lot since then either.

I guess I should be glad that they at least have addressed the issue of the eyes being a different color next time they see the person, however, they usually do that with the use of colored contacts, rather than the ever-changing hazel eyes, that I have, but oh well.

However, I have a book that I have a difficult time reading because at one point the author describes the female lead as wearing big frame glasses that supposedly hide her eyes, and more importantly her unusual eye color. At no point does the author say the lenses are tinted, in fact, she says they are CLEAR!

I hate to break it to you, but that’s not going to hide eye color.

And all that is plain irksome to me. I mean really, getting those details wrong in a show, takes me right out of the show, saying, “That’s impossible!”

And like I said, I have a difficult time reading that one story because of that one description. I always find myself wanting to yell at the book, “You can see eyes through clear lenses, stupid!”

A fact I know because I wear glasses. Tinted lenses or Sunglasses can hide the eyes and their color, but clear regular lenses CANNOT!

I just wish all writers would get their facts straight. It annoys me to no end when they get them wrong. And I’m not talking about stuff that only people in certain fields could know I’m talking about stuff that any observant human being can know just by interacting with other humans, or by their own experience.

It’s like when I complain about how authors, or TV writers, portray twins. Come on, give me a break. Not all twins are identical, and never in my entire life have I ever come across one sweet and one evil twin set of identical twins. In fact, the only time I have come across twins who are polar opposites has been when they were fraternal twins (generally boy/girl twins). But authors and Hollywood seem to think all twins are identical.

I don’t remember ever reading a book or watching a show where the twins are fraternal. Guess what folks, fraternal twins happen more often than identical ones!

By the way, the chance of triplets or higher all being identical is pretty slim, too, so please stop making all multiples identical! It’s unrealistic.

Happy writing everyone!

Favorite Authors by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

Not too long ago, an author I know on Facebook, asked her followers who their three favorite authors were. It took me a minute, but I did come up with a list of four authors, the problem is it was far from accurate. She would have gotten a different answer if she specified a genre.

I have a ton of favorite authors, all depending on the genre.

For instance, my three favorite mystery authors are Dick and Felix Francis and Jana Deleon, which is interesting because the Francis father and son duo write straight mysteries. In contrast, Jana Deleon writes closer to cozy mysteries but it's more on the misadventure level or maybe a “fish out of water” scenario. To put it frankly, the Francis duo writes intense mysteries and Deleon writes hilarious stories.

Now on the other hand, if she had picked the genre of romance, well, there are so many sub-genres, but I’ll stick with two. In the sub-genre of LDS romance, my favorite is Sharon Downing Jarvis, with an apology to my Facebook friend who originally asked the question, because that is her genre too! And my favorite sweet romance author is Linda Goodnight. If I had to come up with three, I’d say my favorite on a more secular level would have to be Muriel Jenson, but I think that is because she has a very accurate description of what it is like to have twin babies, she’s also kind of lighthearted about it.

Now for children’s authors, I guess I could say J.K. Rowling because the Harry Potter series is supposed to be in that category, but I tend to think of her works as more in the fantasy genre, so I’d go with Gertrude Chandler Warner for children’s author. And yes, she is a mystery author, but also a children’s author. Judy Blume could also be considered a children’s author for at least some of her work, but my favorites of hers are more in the YA romance category.

I have Agatha Christie, Ken Follett, and James Patterson in my mystery collection as well, and they are all excellent authors in their own right.

Another favorite author of mine is Jason Wright author of Christmas Jars and Richard Paul Evans author of The Christmas Box, though I admit I like works of both men that fall into different genres than these, it is these books that introduced me to their wonderful writing skills.

I also like biographies and autobiographies though the majority of those I have are for past and present General Authorities of my church, I do have a few on historical figures and even current celebrities; however, in this case, I can only think of one favorite autobiography, that would C.S. Lewis. But I also could mention that I like Emma Bombeck’s books a lot and I have several.

And I could name so many other authors mostly because I’m so widely read.

In the category of historical fiction, I’d have to with G. Lund. Yes, he is LDS historical fiction but well, all of my historical fiction is LDS, since the only other stuff I have in that genre are by the Yorgason brothers.

Though I do have at least one book by the Yorgason brothers that is non-fiction, and I couldn’t begin to name all the inspirational non-fiction LDS authors I have, so I’m not going to try.

I have one favorite author who is the aunt of a friend of mine. I in fact learned of her through his wife. The author is Julie Helm, and her book is The Crooked Swan. It is such a sweet story, you should read it.

Now in the fantasy genre, I’ve already named two; J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis, except I like his autobiography more than Chronicles of Narnia. The other author I have in this genre is Frank L. Baum for obvious reasons.

And this list doesn’t even mention Dorothy Gillman, Mark Twain, Frances Hodson Burnett, or Victor Hugo.

In short, I am a writer and as such I am a reader and I really like a lot of different genres. I mostly write romance in both sweet and YA, but well one of my supposedly sweet romances is actually speculative fiction. I don’t even think I have any books in that genre, so I don’t know how that happened.

And then there is my sci-fi, except on that level I do have a few favorites. Starting with Gene Roddenberry and William Shatner. I might add I like Leonard Nimoy too but his falls in the autobiography and poetry genres.

And yes, I am a big fan.

Konnie’s list, however, would be totally different from mine.

Anyway, Happy writing everyone!