Roni asks our question this month and it should make for interesting responses.
Authors: how do you choose who to dedicate a book to (if you do).
Readers: do you read book dedications? (I always do!)
Roni
Loretta Rogers answered, "I enjoy reading dedication pages. Some of the dedications are inspiring. When I first published, I used dedications as an example how to write
my own.
I dedicate my books to people who might have inspired the story, or for example,
my WIP is a western romance w/ paranormal elements. I'm dedicating that one to a
friend who has a special connection to the paranormal. She sees ghosts. (Truly,
I'm not joking.)
My new TWRP vintage romance that releases next year, has a segment about LaDrang
Valley, Vietnam. So I've dedicated this book to all the military men and women
who served in Vietnam.
And then, of course, I've dedicated to my crit partner, various editors, my
daughters, brother/sister, and g'children.
Here's a question--what happens when you've run out of people/ideas to dedicate
to? Do you stop writing dedications or continue making up new ones?
Thanks for the question, Roni. This is fun."
9 comments:
I dedicate my books to my husband and two children but I acknowledge anyone who has helped with information or ideas for that particular story. I acknowledged the dog next door in my first book The Right Chord because he gave me the idea for the story.
I always dedicate my books to my darling husband Vito. I always will.
And I definitely read the dedications. I love seeing who is close to an author's heart.
This is a great question, Roni!
I've switched up my dedications. I've dedicated to friends, family, editors. And sometimes to people who helped with a book. I enjoy deciding on who to dedicate a book to. And I'm one of those weird writers who adores writing "Dear Readers" letters!
Holly
I don't do dedications myself and I don’t usually read them (or for that matter acknowledgements, author notes, glossaries, biographies, maps, coming soon features, a few words from our sponsor, etc etc etc). But having said that, the best dedication I ever read was in a novel by the British comedian Tommy Cooper whose dedication page read simply: 'This book is dedicated'. That still makes me laugh.
I love to read dedications. Sarita, Julia Quinn always dedicates each book to her husband, plus another person as well. I dedicate books to family members and one of mine was dedicated to my critique partners. Also one was in memory of my grandmother.
I usually have someone in mind when I write a story: sometimes one of the characters is loosely based on someone I know, sometimes the theme of a particular story is a private message to a particular person. I've got manuscripts written but not sold that are already "assigned." And I've got a list of people waiting for the book that's dedicated to them. And yes, I always read other dedications (I've had three books dedicated to me so far and not one author told me beforehand so it's always a nice surprise!)
I've dedicated all my books to my husbband (figure he puts up with a lot, it's the least I can do). And, yes, I do read dedications, acknowledgements ... everything ... but usually not until after I finished the book.
I've dedicated several to my husband, to my children, to special friends, editors, agents and family. One of my favorite dedications was for Honky Tonk Christmas which is about a former Army sniper (the heroine, not the hero) so I dedicated it to all the women who have ever served or are serving in the military. And yes, I do read dedications and the "dear reader" letters. And I also read ads in the newspaper! LOL
I find dedications hard because I'm always scared of forgetting someone and making them unhappy, but I dedicated my last novel to my friend who lifted me up after I got a devastating critique.
And I DO read dedications - but I only started after becoming a writer.
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