KN Magazine: Articles

3/7/16 3/7/16

Self-Publishing: Gone Fishing

When you self-publish, you often don't have the good fortune of having an all-powerful, brilliant editor who's going to turn each of your caffeine-fueled lines into a polished gem. Rather, the onus falls on you, dear writer (brilliant in your own right), to keep the reader in the forefront of your mind and make each word, each scene, fraught with tension.

In this month's "Self-Publishing," author Tom Wood gives insight into how he builds suspense and how you, too, can become a fisher of men, so to speak.

Gone Fishing
By Tom Wood

When’s the last time you went fishing? It’s been years, maybe decades, since I wet a line (that’s fishin’ talk).

If like me — always behind the keyboard and busy writing, writing, writing, trying to meet a deadline — then it’s probably been a while for you, too.

Right now, I’ve got another Word document open and am hard at work on the sequel to my debut novel Vendetta Stone, a fictional true-crime thriller. So when my Killer Nashville Online Magazine editor e-mailed a request for me to contribute a column about literary suspense, I said, sure, no problem. What’s one more deadline?

As a journalist/author, I’ve lived a lifetime meeting deadlines.

But actually, I would rather be down at the ol’ fishing hole, gentle waters lapping at my feet and introducing Mister Minnow to Mister Bass.

That got me to thinking.

Building literary suspense is a lot like going fishing.

I mean, isn’t that what we are all trying to accomplish with our stories? Author Joe Fisherman wants to catch as many fish, er, readers as he can—no limits—and in doing so, he want to catch them off-guard.

All genre writers know the basic definition of literary suspense, though we may approach it from different angles—which makes us anglers, another synonym that fishermen use to describe themselves.

My quest in building literary suspense is to create enough compelling tension in the story and enough obstacles for the main characters that readers feel an empathy for them and concern for their safety and well-being. I want them hanging on every word, and when they get to the end of the chapter, I want them to breathlessly flip to the next page to find out what happens next.

In fishing parlance, that’s called playing the line. Get the reader hooked, let them run with the story going in one direction and then the other, a few tugs at the heartstrings and then worn out from holding their collective breaths, you slowly reel the reader back in.

One reader emailed how much they enjoyed Vendetta Stone, but complained that I made him late to work because he stayed up reading. I smiled, knowing I had done my job.

You need the right bait, the right lure, if you’re gonna reel in readers. That’s the compelling action of your story and what the stakes are for your protagonist versus his/her antagonist.

What’s your story hook? Figure that out, and you have them.

Patience is a virtue when you cast that line, but you must learn how to play it just right. You don’t want to lose the reader to sloppy writing, a boring story, a lack of action or any other number of things that lets them wiggle off the hook.

Some of the best writing advice I learned was at 2011 Killer Nashville during a session on story structure hosted by guest of honor Robert Dugoni. It wasn’t about fishing, but it would’ve been a good analogy.

Bob talked about the importance of the first sentence/paragraph of a chapter being so good that it compels readers to continue. The second-most important sentence/paragraph, Bob said, must close that chapter—the object being to compel the reader to quickly turn to the next chapter. And it didn’t matter how long—or short—the chapter was to get from Point A to Point B, just whatever it took.

That excellent advice helped me hone my story and take it from a good story to a publishable work of fiction.

When everything comes together, you’ve caught the reader—hook, line and sinker.

A veteran sports writer and copy editor, Tom Wood has covered a variety of events ranging from the Iroquois Memorial Steeplechase to the Atlanta Olympic Games for The Tennessean in Nashville. After retirement, he continues his passion for writing, contributing to the Civil War-based anthology, Filtered Through Time and conducting an interview with Stephen King for Feast of Fear: Conversations with Stephen King. In the last year, Tom has begun writing Western fiction short stories, two of which have been published by Western Trail Blazer. “Tennesseans West” is his next project with four other authors involved. He is also an actor and can be seen in several episodes of the ABC series “Nashville”. He also coordinates the Killer Nashville guest blog series. Vendetta Stone is his first novel and he is working on the sequel.

Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.

3/4/16 3/4/16

Live From Bangalore: A Book's Journey

It’s no secret that the world is shrinking; globalization, social media, and widespread availability of the internet has made the exchange of information between distant locales easier and faster than ever before. But what effect does this brave new world have on publishing.

Author and Bangalore-based businessman Vasudev Murthy recounts his own publishing experiences and how this global market has allowed his works to take minds, and journies, of their own.

A Book's Journey

By Vasudev Murthy

They say that every book finds its reader. In 2016, that could well mean someone in a tiny town in Brazil or in Seoul in Korea.

I live in Bangalore, a city in southern India. I write on a variety of subjects—Music, Crime, Humour, Management . . . I have a lot to say and I shall keep writing. I’ve been published by Rupa, Sage, Bloomsbury, HarperCollins, Poisoned Pen Press and a few more. I realize that I’ve been very fortunate.

But this is not about my fortune but the interesting experience of suddenly finding my books being read in far-away places. Much happens by serendipity as I shall show.

I wrote Sherlock Holmes in Japan in 2012-13. It was published by HarperCollins India and was then showcased by them at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Robert Rosenwald, the CEO of Poisoned Pen Press bumped into someone at the HarperCollins stall and decided to acquire the US rights. PPP renamed the book Sherlock Holmes, the Missing Years: Japan and did an additional round of editing and launched it in the US in March 2015 with a gorgeous cover.

Things became even more interesting. Shortly thereafter, HarperCollins sold the Portuguese language rights to Editora Vestigio in Brazil. It was translated with a great deal of finesse by Ana Oliviera and appears to have become very popular. The book’s production was quite wonderful and the cover design daring and different. What a pity I can’t read the language!

I developed a positive relationship with PPP (in distant Arizona) and worked with them on planning my next book. And soon, I signed a contract with PPP for Sherlock Holmes, the Missing Years: Timbuktu. The book was published in January 2016.

Meanwhile, a Korean publisher called Gamesman reached out to HarperCollins and acquired the Korean language rights. Their particular speciality is the sale of one e-chapter at a time; Korea has apparently adopted e-Books in a very big way. Along with that has come new business models which allows readers to decide on moving ahead chapter by chapter; that’s pressure on a writer to keep things interesting throughout or lose the reader!

A friend in Japan introduced a major publisher Kokusho-Kankokai to HarperCollins India which resulted in the sale of the Japanese language rights, something that I was hoping for at the back of my mind.

But what has all this taught me?

One: the world is truly shrinking. Deals are made faster than ever before and publishers are unafraid of placing their bets on a relatively unknown writer if the theme is compelling enough.

Two: the book you write has a life of its own. I can no longer control its destination and I have no way of knowing how true the translation is. It’s a risk worth taking. One never knows what may happen. For instance, a reader in Brazil made a video about it!

Three: your neighbour in Bangalore does not know who you are, except as the guy with the barking dogs, but people in tiny towns in Brazil and the US do and often write in. I find it slightly surreal. The books have made me an international citizen in a way.

Four: it’s very exhilarating working with publishers and editors overseas and seeing how they think. It’s enriching for the writing process. For example, Timbuktu needed a great deal of research. The publisher worked with me from concept to completion. That’s a wonderful example of how the writing process need not be solitary in this age, and can call upon well-wishers from across vast distances.

Five: speed and responsiveness is king. The quick exchange of information, photographs and graphics ensures that a book is out faster than ever before. That means both publishers and writers need to have a great sense of urgency. And communication needs to be crisp and clear.

Six: Marketing has changed. Book launches don’t happen for me because it’s not possible to travel vast distances. I have to support my publisher in whichever way they think best, which these days may include video interviews or blog submissions. I am fairly active on twitter and that does help.

Seven: you may write for a certain audience and include unusual cultural references; the reader is liberal and prepared to find out what you mean. However, there is an additional responsibility placed on us to be rigorous in our research or risk criticism. And what about the poor translator who must be so precise in conveying the syntax as well as the nuance?

This is the journey my book has taken. I hope you find it self-explanatory. Who knows how this picture will look after the Timbuktu book gathers steam?

Vasudev Murthy has authored books on a variety of subjects including music, crime, management and humor. His publishers include Sage, HarperCollins, Bloomsbury, Poisoned Pen Press, Editora Vestigio, Gamesman, LiFi, Kokusho-Kankokai and Rupa, and his book Sherlock Holmes in Japan (Harper Collins, India) has been translated into Portuguese, Korean and Japanese.

Vasudev lives in Bangalore, India where he runs a consulting firm. When he's not knee deep in researching or writing his next book, he can be found teaching, conducting animal welfare seminars, playing the violin, or twisting his aging body into improbable yoga asanas. He has been rescued by six dogs who highly recommend his books as an excellent source of dietary fiber.

3/4/16 3/4/16

Live From Bangalore: A Book's Journey

Author and Bangalore-based businessman Vasudev Murthy recounts his own publishing experiences and how this global market has allowed his works to take minds, and journies, of their own.

A Book's Journey

By Vasudev Murthy

They say that every book finds its reader. In 2016, that could well mean someone in a tiny town in Brazil or in Seoul in Korea.

But this is not about my fortune but the interesting experience of suddenly finding my books being read in far-away places. Much happens by serendipity as I shall show.

But what has all this taught me?

One: the world is truly shrinking. Deals are made faster than ever before and publishers are unafraid of placing their bets on a relatively unknown writer if the theme is compelling enough.

This is the journey my book has taken. I hope you find it self-explanatory. Who knows how this picture will look after the Timbuktu book gathers steam?

murthygraphic

20160223Headshot_Murthy Vasudev Murthy has authored books on a variety of subjects including music, crime, management and humor. His publishers include Sage, HarperCollins, Bloomsbury, Poisoned Pen Press, Editora Vestigio, Gamesman, LiFi, Kokusho-Kankokai and Rupa, and his book Sherlock Holmes in Japan (Harper Collins, India) has been translated into Portuguese, Korean and Japanese.

3/4/16 3/4/16

Live From Bangalore: A Book's Journey

Author and Bangalore-based businessman Vasudev Murthy recounts his own publishing experiences and how this global market has allowed his works to take minds, and journies, of their own.

A Book's Journey

By Vasudev Murthy

They say that every book finds its reader. In 2016, that could well mean someone in a tiny town in Brazil or in Seoul in Korea.

But this is not about my fortune but the interesting experience of suddenly finding my books being read in far-away places. Much happens by serendipity as I shall show.

But what has all this taught me?

One: the world is truly shrinking. Deals are made faster than ever before and publishers are unafraid of placing their bets on a relatively unknown writer if the theme is compelling enough.

This is the journey my book has taken. I hope you find it self-explanatory. Who knows how this picture will look after the Timbuktu book gathers steam?

murthygraphic

3/4/16 3/4/16

Dying for Dinner: Michael's Mother's Killer Kugel & Pearl’s Tennessee Honey Corn Pudding

Dying for Dinner

Michael's Mother's Killer Kugel

By Debra H. Goldstein

Ingredients:
1 (12 oz) pkg. medium egg noodles 1/2 tsp salt

1 Stick margarine 2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup plus a little bit granulated sugar 6 eggs

1 1/2 cup sour cream

1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained

1 1/2 cup cottage cheese (nonfat - mah jongg players watch their weight)

3/4 to 1 cup white raisins, soaked in apple and/or orange juice

Instructions:
Soak raisins in apple and/or orange juice. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook and drain noodles according to instructions on package. Put noodles back in pot and add margarine immediately. Add sugar and mix. Lightly beat eggs and add to noodles. Add vanilla, salt, sour cream and cottage cheese. Stir after adding each ingredient. Add pineapple. Drain raisins and add to mixture. Mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into 9x13 inch lightly greased (Pyrex) pan. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Bake approximately 1 hour, uncovered. Turn oven off and leave pan in oven for 5 minutes. Remove kugel from oven and allow it to cool before cutting Serves 12-16.

For an even lower fat version, use 2 cups nonfat cottage cheese and 1 cup fat free sour cream (but do you really care?)

Pearl’s Tennessee Honey Corn Pudding

By Don Winston

Ingredients:

5 large eggs

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons Jack Daniel’s Whiskey

1 tablespoon orange juice

1/2 cup half/half

4 tablespoons cornstarch

2 (15.25-ounce) cans whole kernel white corn

2 (14.75-ounce) cans cream-style white corn

1 small green cayenne pepper, chopped fine

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Dash onion powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Instructions:
In a large bowl, lightly beat eggs; add half/half and beat. Stir in the remaining ingredients, adding the corn last. Blend well. Pour mixture into a buttered 2 quart casserole dish. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for one hour or until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Serve warm.

20160302Debra Headshot 20160302ShouldHavePlayedPokerFrontCover Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery (Five Star Publishing – April 2016) and the 2012 IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue, a mystery set on the University of Michigan’s campus. She also writes short stories and non-fiction. Debra serves on the national Sisters in Crime, Guppy Chapter and Alabama Writers Conclave boards and is a MWA member. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband, Joel, whose blood runs crimson.

Her website is: www.DebraHGoldstein.com .

20160302DonWinstonHeadshot 20160302S'WANEECover Don Winston grew up in Nashville and graduated from Princeton University. After a stint at Ralph Lauren headquarters in New York, he moved to Los Angeles to work in entertainment as an actor, writer, and producer.

S’wanee: A Paranoid Thriller was his debut novel and hit #3 in Kindle Suspense Fiction, followed by his second novel—The Union Club: A Subversive Thriller. His new thriller—The Gristmill Playhouse: A Nightmare in Three Acts—was released spring 2015.

He’s currently working on a paranormal thriller inspired by the Bell Witch legend.

He lives in Hollywood.

*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.

3/4/16 3/4/16

The Writer's Life: Your First Draft

Authors have long lamented that “there is nothing more intimidating than the blank page,” or other axioms to that effect. Whether you agree with that statement or not, one can’t deny that there’s a certain amount of anxiety—mingled with excitement, of course—involved when faced with the prospect of beginning a new work. One could argue that part of this trepidation stems from the fear of the uncertain (which, unfortunately, even writers are subject to). Maybe you don’t yet know the direction you want your story to take. Maybe you don’t yet even know your story.

In this installment of “The Writer’s Life,” Jaden Terrell shares some tips on how to map out your story. With these tricks in your arsenal, you’ll be able to approach that foreboding empty page with confidence.

Your First Draft

By Jaden Terrell

In the past several months, you’ve learned a lot about the characters in your story. You know what clues the perpetrator left, how he obscured his tracks, who the suspects are and what will cast suspicion on them, and where and how your protagonist will find these clues.

What else must happen in order for your character to get what she wants? What obstacles will she face? How will she be deceived or betrayed?

By now, you’ve probably envisioned a number of scenes. It’s finally time to start putting it all together.

Brainstorming and Index Cards

Based on what you’ve learned, take a few moments to brainstorm all the scenes you know you’ll need. You can make a list, write a summary, use a mind map or clustering exercise, or use whatever format best suits your needs.

I like to use index cards because the act of physically manipulating the cards helps solidify the story in my mind. If you prefer, you can use Post-It notes, a white board and dry-erase markers, an Excel spreadsheet, or Scrivener. If you choose one of these alternate methods, just mentally substitute your method every time I refer to index cards.

If you have several subplots, you may find it helpful to use white for the main plot and a different color for each subplot. When you’ve finished your planning, you’ll be able to see at a glance if your story is balanced and how the subplots are interwoven with the main plot. If one color is clumped at the beginning and then never appears again, you know you have a problem, and you can sort it out before you get too far along in your narrative.

Now, write a sentence or two about each scene you’ve envisioned, one per card. (Make sure to use the appropriate color, if you’re color coding your subplots.) You can go into more detail if there are things you want to be sure not to forget, but don’t worry about pretty writing, and don’t worry yet about putting them in order. It’s okay if there are gaps. You can always fill them in later.

Ordering, Bridges, and Turning Points

Once you have your cards written, put them in order. Don’t stress about this. You can always change things later. With each scene, ask what needs to happen to lead to the next one? What would logically follow? What if your character failed? What would make things worse? After your protagonist takes action, ask yourself if there’s any way your villain would know what your protagonist has done. If so, how would (s)he naturally react? After your villain takes an action, ask yourself what your protagonist would naturally and reasonably know about it and how (s)he would naturally react? Use these questions to build additional scenes, with important turning points at the ¼, ½, and ¾ marks.

Where do you start? As close as possible to the inciting incident (the thing that changes your character’s life and embroils him or her in the story) without confusing the reader. If you have to have a flashback immediately after your opening, chances are you’ve started your story too late.

Once you have your cards in order, you have a flexible outline. As you write, if the direction of your story changes, you can rearrange the cards or toss some out and make new ones. I like to keep them up to date, so I can lay them out and see the whole story at a glance.

Write Your Story

Pick a card, any card. I like to start at the beginning and write to the end (it keeps me from referencing events that haven’t happened yet), but it’s fine to write the scenes out of order if a later scene appeals to you more. Some writers like to write the last scene first so they know where they’re heading. That’s fine too. The important thing is to write.

You don’t have to wait until you know everything.

Whatever scene card you choose, start writing it. Don’t worry about making it perfect. Just get the story down.

When you’ve finished that scene, choose another card.

As you write, continue to ask yourself, “Does what I’m writing make sense, based on what’s come before and what’s going to happen? What would naturally and logically happen next? How would this character naturally and logically respond to this event? How could this be worse?”

To Revise or Not to Revise

There’s no hard-and-fast rule about whether or not to revise as you go. Because writing and editing require different thought processes, conventional wisdom says it’s best to get the whole book down on paper first, then go back and revise and polish. It’s very difficult to do both at the same time, but there are successful authors who manage it and turn out exceptional work year after year, all the while struggling to refine each shining sentence before moving on to the next one. If that’s the way you work, and if you’ve been able to use that method to actually complete a novel, by all means, carry on. You’ve found your process.

But if you suffer from the curse of perfectionism and you have trouble finishing anything because your editor brain refuses to let you move forward until each sentence is a glistening gem, I strongly suggest you follow the conventional advice. If your editor brain is such a tyrant you can’t move forward, you should probably show your editor brain a little tough love. Pack her bags, give her chocolate and strawberries and champagne, and send her away to a cottage on the beach with the promise that when she comes back, you and your writer brain will have a nice, messy draft for her to fix. She’ll tap on the door and look at you with sad puppy eyes, and when you refuse to let her in, she may resort to screeching that your work will be dreck and that, without her, you’re destined to be the laughingstock of the literary community. Put your fingers in your ears and tell her gently, “It’s not your turn yet, Pumpkin.”

When I started writing, I was paralyzed by the need to be perfect, and I had a drawer full of beautiful first chapters to show for it. I had to use the tough love approach before I could finish my first novel. Now my editor brain and my writer brain have made peace with each other, and my process is somewhere in between the two extremes. I like to do what Dean Wesley Smith calls “cycling.” I write a new chapter, then go back and revise previous chapters, then write another new one, then cycle back, and so on. I’m not allowed to revise until I’ve written at least 1000 new words. This keeps me moving forward but allows me to go back and fix problems as they arrive. So my “first drafts” are more polished than they used to be, because by the time I read the end, I’ve already been through it multiple times. The key is, though, that the writing and editing are still separate. Writer brain comes out to play; then the two brains work together to make sure everything works.

Choose the method that will get you to the end. And above all, have fun with it. Try different things. Backtrack if you have to. Give yourself permission to write badly, to tell instead of show, to let your writer brain play. There’s nothing you can do wrong that can’t be fixed.

Below are some things to think about as you plan and write. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed with it all, step back and go back to the basics. Ask yourself the simple questions: Does this make sense? What is the next, natural, logical thing that would happen? What would this character naturally, realistically do? How could this be worse?

Character

Are your characters consistent?
Does your protagonist have at least one heroic characteristic?
Is (s)he too perfect?
Have you used his/her fears and flaws to deepen the story and further the plot?
Does (s)he have enough internal conflict? Opposing desires? Conflicting emotions? (Desire, Motivation, Obstacle, Conflict)
Are the stakes high enough for the character? Is (s)he “all in”?
Have you given your protagonist room for growth? (What is something (s)he would never say, think, or do? Can you find a plausible way to make him think, say, do those things?
Does your character surprise us while remaining true to his/her character?
Have you shown us the emotional and/or spiritual effects of the turning points on the character?
Are all your characters’ motivations believable?
Are the supporting characters and antagonists well developed? Do they have lives, conflicts, and emotions of their own, independent of the protagonist? Do their strengths, weaknesses, and personality traits echo or complement the protagonist’s? Remember, “The villain is the hero of his own story.”

Plot

You’ll notice that several plot issues overlap with character.

Does everything make sense? Does the storyline hold together?
Does one thing lead logically to another, or are there gaps in the narrative? Does it pass the “what would logically happen next/what would the characters logically do” test?
Is there enough happening?
Is there enough conflict? (Conflict doesn’t necessarily mean fighting.)
Have you asked yourself, throughout the narrative, “How could this be worse?”
Do you have subplots and layers?
Are the overall stakes high enough?
Is there a moment of no turning back?
Do you have major turning points at the ¼, ½, and ¾ points of the story and other turning points throughout? Are there reversals throughout the story (places where the unexpected happens and changes the direction of the story).
Have you used these turning points as opportunities to heighten or understate emotion? Are you going for the obvious or can you bring more depth or subtlety to the scene? (Think Mel Gibson in LETHAL WEAPON, where he’s in the trailer putting the gun in his mouth. Originally, the director wanted him to scream, rant, rail at the universe. But Gibson asked to try something different. He made it smaller and quieter, and by doing so, gave it infinitely more power.)
Have you included moments of forgiveness, grace, redemption, and self-sacrifice?
Have you given your characters moral dilemmas and choices?
Does the resolution seem both unpredictable and inevitable?
Are all loose ends resolved?

It seems like a lot to hold in your head, but you can get there, one sentence, one page, one paragraph at a time. Remember Dorie, the incorrigible blue fish in the movie Finding Nemo. As long as you “just keep swimming,” you’ll finish that first draft and be able to type “The End.”

Jaden Terrell (Beth Terrell) is a Shamus Award finalist, a contributor to “Now Write! Mysteries” (a collection of writing exercises by Tarcher/Penguin), and the author of the Jared McKean private detective novels Racing The Devil, A Cup Full of Midnight, and River of Glass. Terrell is the special programs coordinator for the Killer Nashville conference and the winner of the 2009 Magnolia Award for service to the Southeastern Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (SEMWA). A former special education teacher, Terrell is now a writing coach and developmental editor whose leisure activities include ballroom dancing and equine massage therapy. www.jadenterrell.com

3/4/16 3/4/16

From the Classroom: Oprah, High-Art, and Harry Potter

This month’s theme is Literary Suspense. So we got to wondering, “What, exactly, is considered ‘literature?’” The debate concerning the merits of literary works vs. those of genre/popular fiction is one as old as the chicken and its infamous egg. The folks in literature’s corner are often considered hifalutin—their work, inaccessible. Genre writers are often called formulaic, predictable. It can get almost as nasty as debates over fonts and the Oxford Comma (see Erik Deckers over in our “Marketing 101” column for more on that fight).

So who’s right, if anyone? What are the merits of both writing forms? Must popular fiction and “the literary” be considered mutually exclusive?

We reached out to Wayne Thomas—writer, editor, and creative writing teacher—to see if he could help us clear some of these questions up by sharing his thoughts on pedagogy and writing.

Oprah, High-Art, and Harry Potter: Can Literary and Genre Fiction Be Reconciled?
By Wayne Thomas

Just before 9-11, Oprah Winfrey selected novelist Jonathan Franzen and his The Corrections for her book club. The club wasn’t then noted for what it’d become. Certainly, we understood it to be an immediate in for commercial success, but—despite Oprah’s National Book Awards recognition two years prior for contributions to reading and literature—doubts lingered for many. Many of us waited for the endeavor to inevitably get swallowed into a venture to market pulp, and many couldn’t put our heads around the notion that talking books had staying power on a daytime talk show, that the scheme would somehow inevitably find a way to embarrass us believers in the written word.

Then, Oprah hadn’t yet established herself as an absolute champion of literature with one impressive literary selection followed by thoughtful discussion after another, the sort of reputation 15 years and 70 titles earns a person. She rarely missed the mark, and, consequently, when she did, it hardly mattered. She had viewers totaling in the millions reading and talking about the likes of Song of Solomon, A Lesson Before Dying, The Poisonwood Bible, House of Sand and Fog, East of Eden, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and Anna Karenina. She put the likes of Bret Lott, Pearl S. Buck, William Faulkner, Elie Wiesel, and Cormac McCarthy on bestseller lists. It’s time to admit, if we haven’t already, that Oprah’s more than a capable scholar. And we did eventually begin to notice and appreciate, as evidenced by a Time magazine write up in 2008. Indeed, it was a losing day for literature when her show ended May 25, 2011.

But just before 9-11, Oprah to Franzen wasn’t that. Franzen suggested an appearance on the talk show risked offending “the high-art literary tradition.” Though many purveyors of “high-art” rightfully went on to dismiss Franzen’s comments as ass-hattery, the debacle stirred conversations in the creative writing MFA program I’d just begun. So much brashness in an MFA program. Some of us didn’t mind agreeing with Franzen straight up, some wanted to disagree in ways that felt a whole lot like agreeing. A peer described a story I’d submitted to workshop as what might be considered on Oprah, and she didn’t intend for that to be construed as a compliment. My peer did counsel with a heavy, disappointed sigh that “a lot of people would probably read that stuff.” And there’s the rub: a constant assertion that being widely read means you sold out, that great art can really only exist for the select few. How dare Oprah try to prove otherwise?

I’ve long believed there are self-serving delusions involved in hiring “big name” writers to draw students to creative writing programs. Being able to intuit how to write well doesn’t mean you can teach how to write well, and I think most students, especially the graduate school candidates, make their decisions mostly based on who’s decided on them. On Writing, to my estimation, is the best craft book I’ve read. I suspect Stephen King would be a great teacher. It’d certainly be great to tell your friends how he showed up drunk and embarrassed you in workshop. But what if he has no time for your work because of his own. Believe me, friends, there are too many teachers like this. (Not Stephen King; On Writing is truly spectacular.)

In fact, the best creative writing programs are facilitated by teachers who realize the import of making pedagogical decisions. Instead of worrying about a “big name,” students would be better served to investigate the philosophy of the programs they’re considering. It starts with finding answers to two fundamental concerns. Will distinctions be made between literary and genre writing? And—especially if so—will students be allowed or required to produce genre/popular writing? It’s true that most quality programs say yes to the former and no to the latter. The reason should be obvious: writing the literary can only help write in genre should you’ve a hankering later in life, and the opposite isn’t necessarily true. One can see, then, how MFA programs lead so many in their early and mid-twenties—most who, according to all statistical data, will never write much after the institution has finished properly molding them—to poo poo all things not “high-art.”

I never really understood how you don’t distinguish between genre and literary. Penning a Jason Bourne flick requires different muscles than a Mario Puzo adaptation. Perhaps it’s the acknowledgement that’s disconcerting. I’ve colleagues who won’t let their students write in genre. Fair enough, I suppose, but some won’t even entertain the notion that anything genre can also be literary. Such always strikes me as a pretension to validates one’s own worth, and I always wonder what one sacrifices when one works so hard to validate one’s own worth. King will tell you he’s written more than his fair share of crap, but there are a number of King titles we’ll read in a hundred years, solitude or not. Shirley Jackson can write literary horror. Anne Rice can pen a sentence so well the sentence itself transcends genre. Can anyone really deny the brilliance of J. two R Tolkien? What fool will try? Sci-fi is full of masters: Octavia Butler, Angela Carter, and Arthur C. Clarke. Can anyone really question the brilliance of the two middle K’s, Philip Dick and Ursula Le Guin? I adore a Michael Chabon mystery. I adore a Larry McMurtry western. I adore Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss. Yes: children’s literature can be literary, too.

But one more thing before moving on: Does the fantastic or magical immediately disqualify the literary? Are we mistaken, then, to hold in the highest regard the likes of Margaret Atwood and Gabriel García Márquez? Nonsense. And one more thing: Read Kate Bernheimer’s “Fairy Tale is Form, Form is Fairy Tale.”

I’ve noticed so many of the “high-art” teachers rarely address the literary. Seriously. Of all the conversations in creative writing programs about why one writes and one’s voice and what one has to say, there aren’t enough about what actually makes something literary. And, believe it or not, there isn’t a seminal definition of what makes something literary. Again, would-be students, learn the philosophy before saying “yes.” Otherwise, you risk being summarily dispatched because you got a goblin in your story. It shouldn’t be too much to ask your teachers what they demand of your writing. If it’s literary, know what that means—at least what they think it means.

What’s it, then? Best to begin with the more definable “genre” as one must understand it to understand the other. Genre, of course, identifies form: drama, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. More importantly for these purposes, genre writing subscribes to the conventions of categorization (sci-fi, mystery, romance, western, and so forth). Genre, then, aims to unearth new ways to tell familiar stories that are inhabited by familiar characters. Successful genre writing gets us to anticipate another showdown at sunrise, to want redemption for the hardened P.I. whose goodness was broken by betrayal, to yearn for Fabio’s sweat-matted hair to fall like a canopy across our faces as we stare into his lion eyes.

Literary writing more often than not doesn’t subscribe to conventions because literary writing is, more often than not, about real people in real predicaments. It’s the difference between a movie and a film, if you will. In the movies, as in genre, people tend to be exceptional, affluent, and beautiful. In films, as in literature, they’re often pedestrian, poor, and ugly. For me—my own philosophy here—the literary must challenge the human condition. I used to say “must speak to the human condition” or “must be about the human condition,” but I no longer find those words satisfying or true. Genre writing can speak to the human condition, but genre doesn’t aim to challenge as much as confirm. Genre writers titillate before giving us what we want, and they accomplish this by knowing and forming what we expect. Literary writers tend to titillate by taking us to task for what we expect, and they accomplish this by rarely giving us what we want.

There’s one absolute marked difference between literary and genre writing. Literary writers must be overly concerned with craft, which isn’t a prerequisite for genre writers. Literary writers must wonder over the possibilities of language and structure. They must tend to the rhythms and sounds and music of sentences. They’ve to make magic of imagery and voice and persona. Even the minimalists. Even those who write books for children. The prose must be rich, the poetry must be evident. Our best literary writers understand this, even if they work in genre.

So you may want to ask, as my students constantly do, why I’m resistant to let young writers work in genre. I teach undergraduates. If I taught MFA-ers, I don’t think I’d mind at all. One can assume graduate students come to the table with some experience. But the temptation is too great for young writers to simply put a twist to what Stephenie Meyer and J. K. Rowling already wrote and call it a day. The aim is to push young writers to new comfort zones, to challenge their already perceived conceptions of what humanity is capable of and explore those developing conceptions through their work. The best way to really navigate the possibilities of craft is to request they write of what they didn’t realize they’re capable.

If you didn’t before, you might now see why writing the literary can only help write in genre. Still, no need for the pretense that only one holds value. In fact, is it even arguable that genre writing has impacted more people for a longer time and seems destined that it always will? If you’re in the market for a creative writing program, see what your would-be teachers have to say about it.

Just before 9-11, Jonathan Franzen was an ass-hat and everybody but me had started reading Harry Potter. It was something to behold. My boyhood was the sort in which I didn’t read in front of people for fear of being ridiculed. I joined a creative writing program thinking it’d be nice to meet folks who were openly readers, and now everyone in the world but me had started reading Harry Potter. Openly. And cautioning one another to be careful not to ruin any surprises. I’ve never been a fan of fantasy. My lot was with Nero Wolfe and Hercule Poirot. In graduate school, I didn’t have much time even for a detective yarn with all the literature being stuffed down my throat, but everyone else in the program seemed to have time to read Harry Potter. And they were having a ball.

And I thought: Well, this is pretty great, too.

Wayne Thomas is currently working on a novel, Birth of the Okefenokees, for which he was awarded the Baltic Writing Residency. He co-edited Red Holler: Contemporary Appalachian Literature (Sarabande), which was awarded the Linda Bruckheimer Series in Literature. He is the former Managing Editor of Arts & Letters: Journal of Contemporary Culture and former Editor of The Tusculum Review. He teaches creative writing at Tusculum College, where he currently serves as the Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences.

Read more of Thomas’s thoughts on pedagogy in his interview with West Virginia University.

You can check out his micro fiction pieces “The Contract” and “The Black Bear” published at Spittoon.

3/4/16 3/4/16

In The Public Eye: Three Ways To Start Wooing Your Future Audience

The argument can be made that today’s authors have to do more self-promotion than ever before in the history of the written word. These days, it’s not enough to generate good work and shake the right hands. Modern publishers consider a number of external factors before extending that coveted contract.

One of the most important factors, in many publishers’ eyes, is how expansive your fan base is— your social media followings (among many other factors) are huge indicators of your ability to promote your work via your own connections and thus make yourself a profitable publishing investment.

In this installment of “In the Public Eye”, PR expert Julie Schoerke offers tips on establishing a large, loyal following whilst making general, real connections.

3 Ways to Start Wooing Your Future Audience
By Julie Schoerke

Founder, JKS Communications, A Book Publicity Firm

This week I had a fascinating call with a serial entrepreneur. Michael Lyons has a series of novels coming in the future. He has planned five books, and written two, but he already has 3,000 readers through social media, personally engaged with him and his series—which is the tip of the iceberg from what he’s targeted by the time the first book launches.

What does Michael Lyons have in common with veteran author Jenny Milchman? Jenny’s road to publishing is well-documented and celebrated as a success for those who persevere. It took her more than 12 years, but she got a Big Five publishing deal and is now well-known in in the mystery/thriller world.

Jenny’s passion has been connecting kids and independent bookstores. Not a direct link to mystery/thrillers, but it has given her the opportunity to connect with hundreds of bookstores, and she’s accrued thousands of fans in a really authentic way.

Jenny and Michael are both great examples of authors who start marketing and building influence before they even have a publishing date. They make real connections with real people.

What can you do now to make authentic connections with readers and/or tastemakers around the country?

Consider who your “people” are
- How old are the people who will read your book and share it?
- Where do they live?
- What are they passionate about?
- What groups or organizations do they belong to or identify with that you can begin cultivating?

Figure out where your “people” are on social media and jump in:
- Facebook is great for middle-age readers
- Instagram captures the attention of 20-somethings and younger
- Pinterest may be ideal for “cozy mystery” fans who like a heaping helping of wholesomeness with their book
- Twitter is a hashtagger’s dream for connecting with audiences of causes or specific interests

Make real connections
- As you begin to build your base of contacts, don’t go for quantity over quality. Connect with other authors and tastemakers in the industry such as librarians, booksellers, book reviewers, bloggers, book club mavens, etc. Hiring someone in a third-world country to get you a bunch of followers is meaningless if they don’t actually share your passion.
- When you connect on social media, don’t just “friend” someone, engage them. Ask their advice, let them know about some quirky fact you just picked up, as well as—of course—retweeting, liking their posts, etc.

Michael sends direct messages to each person he connects with on social media. He starts a dialogue that asks questions and their advice. This provides a back and forth exchange. His novels feature kids who grew up in military families, known as “brats”. As a former military “brat” himself, he knows where to look to find real groups and “virtual” (online) groups that cater to the interests of alumni of that lifestyle, and kids who are living it today.

Jenny meets hundreds of people in person and then connects with them on social media. She always engages in valuable conversations on a myriad of topics that are important to the people she is “friends” with. Jenny has a radio show that explores the topics that are of interest to mystery writers and readers. She is the founder of “Take Your Child To a Bookstore Day,” which occurs each December with more than 700 bookstores involved.

Be your real, genuine self. Cheryl Rainfield is a great example of an author who shares her triumphs, her challenges and her social concerns as well as her beloved dog’s health with her friends and fans on social media.

Lori Rader-Day is always posting funny, interesting things on Facebook. And she is the queen of events and fun! She makes herself available to groups in the Chicago metropolitan area all of the time and is a popular fixture at mystery conferences.

I wouldn’t miss Charles Salzberg’s posts on social media for anything because they make me laugh or enrage me. He knows how to entertain and inform in short pithy ways.

Kay Kendall is an author’s author who is always lifting up other’s careers and shining a bright light on her colleagues and those books she knows her sphere of influence will like.

In order to “woo” your future audiences, you must be diligent in staying connected with fans, tastemakers, and colleagues in the “real” world at conferences, book festivals, and professional organizations—as well as Facebook groups, Twitter meet-ups, etc. If you are visiting a city, collect data from your social media to learn who is in that area that you could meet face-to-face for a “Dutch” dinner or drinks.

Be on the lookout for valuable content (articles, blogs, etc.) that they will be interested in, and build your email list to share information with these folks that they will be glad to have. When your book is ready to release, these folks will feel like they have more of a stake because you are real to them. That is how you establish a loyal fan base while remaining authentic and genuine.

Julie Schoerke founded JKS Communications, a Literary Publicity Firm, 15 years ago, and the firm has gone on to represent more than 600 authors, as well as publishers and literary organizations. Personalizing creative campaigns for each author, having an accountability system in place throughout the authors' campaigns and including former journalists on the publicity team are hallmarks of her vision for the firm. Julie speaks at writers’ conferences, universities, and book festivals across the United States. She also writes book- marketing and book-promotion columns for trade publications and is a featured guest frequently on radio. JKS Communications is headquartered in Nashville, TN with operations in New Orleans and New York as well. For more information please visit www.jkscommunications.com

3/4/16 3/4/16

In The Public Eye: Three Ways To Start Wooing Your Future Audience

In this installment of “In the Public Eye”, PR expert Julie Schoerke offers tips on establishing a large, loyal following whilst making general, real connections.

3 Ways to Start Wooing Your Future Audience
By Julie Schoerke

Founder, JKS Communications, A Book Publicity Firm

Jenny and Michael are both great examples of authors who start marketing and building influence before they even have a publishing date. They make real connections with real people.

What can you do now to make authentic connections with readers and/or tastemakers around the country?

Consider who your “people” are
- How old are the people who will read your book and share it?
- Where do they live?
- What are they passionate about?
- What groups or organizations do they belong to or identify with that you can begin cultivating?
Figure out where your “people” are on social media and jump in:
- Facebook is great for middle-age readers
- Instagram captures the attention of 20-somethings and younger
- Pinterest may be ideal for “cozy mystery” fans who like a heaping helping of wholesomeness with their book
- Twitter is a hashtagger’s dream for connecting with audiences of causes or specific interests
Make real connections
- As you begin to build your base of contacts, don’t go for quantity over quality. Connect with other authors and tastemakers in the industry such as librarians, booksellers, book reviewers, bloggers, book club mavens, etc. Hiring someone in a third-world country to get you a bunch of followers is meaningless if they don’t actually share your passion.
- When you connect on social media, don’t just “friend” someone, engage them. Ask their advice, let them know about some quirky fact you just picked up, as well as—of course—retweeting, liking their posts, etc.

I wouldn’t miss Charles Salzberg’s posts on social media for anything because they make me laugh or enrage me. He knows how to entertain and inform in short pithy ways.

Kay Kendall is an author’s author who is always lifting up other’s careers and shining a bright light on her colleagues and those books she knows her sphere of influence will like.

3/3/16 3/3/16

Marketing Your Book 101: How Much Influence Should Marketability Have on Your Work?

If you’ve been writing for any lengthy period of time, you’re familiar with the catch twenty-two of publishing: you want to write your book your way, but you also want it to sell. Sometimes, those two desires don’t run parallel. Sacrifices are made, compromises drawn, lines in the sand erased.

In this month’s “Marketing Your Book 101”, marketing/promotion guru Erik Deckers offers up some advice on how to sell you book without selling your soul.

How Much Influence Should Marketability Have on Your Work?
By Erik Deckers

Want to get a writer good and riled up? Do one of two things: 1) Ask where they stand on the Oxford comma; 2) Ask about the marketability of their book.

I can't help you with the Oxford comma, but I can tell you quite a bit about a book's marketability.

Marketability is often the last thing many authors want to think about. They want their art to stand on its own, and to write the stories they want to write, not what the masses want.

But marketability is often the first thing many publishers consider. They want to know how many people might want it, and how well you can market it.

In my first book proposal, I had to answer a few questions about whether there were books similar to mine, the size of my social media following, and whether I had an email newsletter list.

(Careful readers will note the Oxford comma in the previous sentence.)

Because the book was about social media and personal branding, my co-author, Kyle, and I both had a decent social media following, he had a sizable email newsletter list, and there were almost no books about personal branding. So we scored high on marketability, which we learned later went a long way in getting that book deal.

Yay, book marketability!

For us, marketability was a combination of whether a lot of people would buy the book, and how well we could promote it.

The book market for social media in general was already being tapped out. Kyle and I had written a book about Twitter marketing the previous year, but this was new territory for us. If we hadn't come up with a new idea that appealed to a large crowd, we never would have gotten the deal.

But my previous success has not meant automatic deals later on. I've proposed other book ideas since then, but the social media book market has just about run its course. If I want to write another book, I need to come up with a brand new idea.

Book marketability sucks.

How Much Do Publishers Think About Marketability?

First, just know that publishers do look at the marketability of your work, almost as much as they look at the quality of your work. And that goes into the decision of whether they'll publish your book or not.

Don't get me wrong. You could have 1 million Twitter followers, but if your work isn't that great, it will never be published. (Still, if you have 1 million loyal Twitter followers, do you really need a publisher? Self-publish that sucker!)

You may have written the greatest story about teenage vampire wizards who fight zombies, but since that one has already been done to death (I hope!), you're not going to get a lot of love from traditional publishers.

The marketability of a book is not just about the size of your social networks, it includes whether the book will be interesting to the largest number of people. When we wrote Branding Yourself in 2010, it was only the second book of its kind. But in the last several years, there have been a few hundred titles published on social media and its various sub-topics, so our publishers knew they had to strike fast. We were in the right place at the right time.

Having said that, I've read some pretty mediocre books published by people with big fat social networks, and it's easy to see how much consideration the social networks were given. (Hint: way, way too much.)

So Should Marketability Affect Your Content Choices?

Yes and no.

No, it should not, because you should be free to write the book you want, and people should buy it because it's good, not because it's what the masses want. On the other hand. . .

Yes, it should, because your publisher (ideally) knows what the public wants. If you can give it to them, you'll sell lots of copies, and you'll go on book tours where your publisher will put you up in the finest discount hotels and eat at the finest fast-casual restaurant chains. On the other hand. . .

No, it shouldn't, because you have options! You can skip the whole traditional publishing route, and self-publish on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. (Again, note the Oxford comma.) You can market your own book, or sell print-on-demand copies at book fairs and community fairs. On the other hand. . .

Yes, it should, because you can win the greatest number of readers if you pay attention to what the public likes, and try to keep up. On the other hand. . .

No, it shouldn't, because there's an audience for nearly everything you can imagine (and even those things you can't. Don't go looking for those though. Just don't.). Just because there's not a huge audience doesn't mean there's not an audience. Even an audience of 1,000 is a good audience. On the other hand. . .

Yes, it should, because your publisher can get you into the bookstores, especially the large chain(s), which means great exposure to a wider audience. On the other hand. . .

No, it shouldn't, because you're going to be doing most, if not all, of the marketing, and yet you're only going to get a small royalty from your publisher. But if you self-publish, you get a much larger royalty.

Ultimately—I hate these kind of indecisive answers—it comes down to what you want to do, where you think your book is going to go. If you want to write a commercially successful book that gets you invited to Killer Nashville as a keynote speaker, and your book is sold in the Barnes & Noble room, then consider your content and marketability very strongly.

But if you don't want to be beholden to others, to let someone else dictate your story choices, or you just plain want more money than publishers offer, then marketability be damned!

Your book's—sorry, your books'—success will depend on you and how hard you're willing to work.

Erik Deckers owns a content marketing agency in Indianapolis, and is the co-author of four books on social media. He is also a professional speaker and newspaper humor columnist, and was named a 2016 writer-in-residence at the Kerouac House Project.

3/1/16 3/1/16

Under the Microscope with Steve Bradshaw

For all you crime writers out there, it’s important to have a working understanding of how investigators set about to collecting evidence, and the gravity of every second, every random phenomenon or clue found at the scene of death.

Steve Bradshaw, author and founder-president/CEO of Active Implants Corporation has investigated a lot of deaths—thousands, actually. In all his experience, one fact has remained constant: the moment a person dies, the clock begins ticking for medical investigators and their affiliates to collect and evaluate evidence. In many cases, the amount of time between death and investigation is one of the largest determining factors of whether the truth of an incident can ever be unveiled.

Steve Bradshaw understands that urgency. In this installment of “Under the Microscope”, Bradshaw recounts an investigation and how, if it weren’t for diligence, skill, and a quick response time (and maybe just a little luck), it could have come to a much different conclusion.

Death Scenes are Castles in the Sand
By Steve Bradshaw

When I investigated 3,000 unexplained deaths for the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office, I did not know one day I would be writing mystery/thrillers. Now, four novels later, it is clear my forensic experience profoundly assists my efforts to meet the expectations of today’s CSI-sophisticated audience.

Mark Twain once said, “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn no other way.” I believe these words are true to a point. Today I am learning the art of prose—I am carrying a new cat by the tail. However, I am greatly influenced by established authors sharing knowledge gained from their journeys. They have enhanced the quality of my writing and accelerated my growth as an author. In that vein, I often draw from my experiences as a forensic investigator and share with fellow mystery/thriller writers in pursuit of authenticity.

On November 22nd, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. For many there are still more questions than answers. The chaotic death investigation, compared to today’s standards, fueled this fire and led to the establishment of the Institute of Forensic Science in Dallas. A renowned forensic pathologist—Dr. Charles S. Petty—assumed the position of Chief Medical Examiner. Among his many contributions, Petty went before the House Select Committee on the Kennedy Assassination and talked about lessons learned from that fateful day. His high profile recommendations only further reinforced the medical examiner process in our country. I had the privilege of working for this forensic icon after graduating from the University of Texas. As one of his field agents, I learned a great deal. One lesson learned would define my forensic career—death scenes are castles in the sand.

I brought him in the night before. Now I stood at the bare feet of the dead man lying on the stainless steel table—another inquest—cause and manner of death would be determined. For those outside the autopsy room, the thirty-year-old, white male was another unfortunate victim of a tragic automobile accident. For the forensic team, our work had just begun.

From the edge of the white light, I shared findings and thoughts and made suggestions I knew would aim the M.E (medical examiner)—an enormous responsibility. I was the one who controlled the death scene and brought #48432 to the county morgue. Leaning over the bloody corpse with his hands clasped chest high, the M.E. listened to my every word and studied #48432. This was our time. Although the autopsy room was full and bustling, the only dialogue was between the M.E. and his forensic investigator. I was one of seven hand-picked, well-trained, field agents. I was his eyes and ears in the field. My next words would change everything . . .

The night before was cold and wet and empty until I turned onto the dead end street in south Dallas. Spinning blues washed over the stick trees and dilapidated houses in the poorest and most dangerous part of town. Huddled shadows under rising steam stood outside the police tape between me and my next body. A quiet ambulance and dark fire truck sat idle. There was nothing more they could do until the medical examiner arrived. I had just left #48432 and was pulling up to my third death scene.

I parked under a fat elm a half block away—easy exit for my next case. Absorbing the macabre scene before me and leaving the last death scene behind me, I yanked the camera strobe light cord out of the charger and grabbed my metal suitcase. As I approached the undulating shadows, the buzz stopped. Police waved open a path and blank stares followed me. Now they knew for a fact someone was dead. Their questions moved to who, how, and why. In their eyes I was Sherlock Holmes. They watched TV, the news. They believed I solved all the murder cases in Dallas single-handedly. The people working the death scene (police, paramedics, fire) thought I was the M.E. No matter how many times I said I was a field agent working for the medical examiner, it never resonated. After a year, I stopped explaining.

The three-story, broken-down, boarding house sat on a dark hill behind ten-foot hedges and a line of trees. When I left the crowd, ducked the tape, and passed through the gnarly branches, I saw the sheet draped over the body next to the head-scratchers and smokers. As I approached, the lead officer met me and the others backed away. It was my death scene now.

The call came as a forty-year-old, white male—accidental death. He fell down porch steps. I lifted the sheet and felt the carotid—he was dead (sometimes they are not). Taking in the surroundings (my most important moment), I pronounced him dead, made a notation, and asked for ID. No one prepared me; the dead man had a full leg cast and crutch. Now the shattered plaster and twisted appendage hung over his left shoulder. The contorted image and stiff smell of alcohol strengthened the case for accidental death. And it fit the story of the two eyewitnesses, a prostitute and her pimp.

Death scenes are castles in the sand. Every minute that passes another wave climbs the beach and takes something away—transforms the prior world. Death scenes change. The body changes: moving and manipulation, liver/rigor mortis, decomposition, temperature, weather, insects and animal activity to name a few. Physical evidence disappears by mistake, on purpose, and just because. The most information is available at time of death. Every minute that passes, something important to determining cause and manner of death can be lost. I arrived twenty-eight minutes after the call in to the medical examiner’s office. After inspection of the body, it was clear we were several hours after death. What I do or don’t do will aim the M.E. down the right or wrong road. It is my mission to provide him with the most complete picture possible at the inquest where all final determinations are made.

After photographic documentation of the scene, the real work begins. I expect numerous abrasions, contusions, and broken bones from a fall down twenty steps onto hard cement. Where the injuries are located and their shapes (visually and/or tactilely) can give me important pieces to the puzzle. It was my methodical inspection of the head trauma that put me on the hidden trail. I felt the back of the skull—it was wet (blood), and mushy (crushed bone). But there was a straight edge of solid skull ear to ear. Because the victim was found face-down on the cement, the posterior head injury (oddly isolated to the occipital region) was produced before the landing.

Climbing the stairs visualizing the “witness-claimed” event raised more doubts. The victim’s left leg was in a full cast. He had a left armpit crutch rash; I would expect him to move to the right railing before attempting the stairs. But trace blood and signs of the fall were isolated to the left side of the steps. There was evidence of tampering—blood wiped. My growing suspicions took me from the porch into the boarding house. The entry was an enclosed hallway with doors and a staircase to the second floor. It was dark. An out-of-reach lightbulb hung from the ceiling—it was out. With my flashlight and magnifying glass I got on my knees and inspected the floors and walls and door. What I found was pivotal.

It was a single speck of blood—splatter—and it was fresh. The lightbulb was loose. I tightened, restored light, and suggested DPD hold the eyewitnesses—they had lied. It was not long before we found more blood in the difficult-to-clean areas. Although the walls had been wiped and floor mopped, it was not good enough. Behind one door was a mop in a bucket of dirty-red water. Beneath the stairs was a blood-stained, two-by-four. We had enough. The body was transported to the county morgue, and physical evidence was collected and processed. My field report was changed from accident to homicide—blunt trauma force to the head. Before the inquest the prostitute plea-bargained. Her pimp killed for twenty dollars.

Now standing at the feet of my automobile accident victim in the autopsy room, my head was at the boarding house. As the medical examiner worked case #48432, I was thinking about what could have gone wrong if I had not closely inspected the head trauma at the death scene. I would have missed the tell-tale damage to the occipital region. I would not have climbed the stairs looking for more. I would not have searched the dark entry on my knees with a flashlight. I would have missed the blood splatter. Like castles in the sand, I would have left the death scene and more would disappear—the mop, the bucket of dirty-red water, and the blood-stained board. The medical examiner would ask about the head injury. My half-answer could throw him off. We would fail the dead man we represented. Someone would get away with murder.

I think the medical examiner called my name a few times that morning, as I stood in my atypical daze at the feet of case #48432. I remember his bloody gloves and fingers up and his brow ready to dip—we had five cases to go. The medical examiner politely shared that he was working on the accident case #48432 and wanted to know if I would like to join him. It was another complicated death scene I worked the night before. It too was less than straight forward—two in one night. Then the M.E. smiled and winked—he knew I was having a sandcastle moment. I thought that was the best time to tell him #48432 was a suicide . . .

Steve is a mystery/thriller author drawing on life experiences as a forensic investigator and biotechnology entrepreneur. He received a BA from the University of Texas and trained at the Institute of Forensic Sciences where he investigated over 3,000 unexplained deaths for the Medical Examiner’s Office. As the founder-president/CEO of Active Implants Corporation, he raised millions and led the development of a game-changing knee meniscus implant. Steve places his readers on the front row in fascinating worlds of fringe science, chilling forensics, and the pursuit of real monsters. Other page-turner mystery/thrillers by Steve Bradshaw are the BLUFF CITY BUTCHER, THE SKIES ROARED, and BLOOD LIONS. To connect with Steve, visit the following:

Website stevebradshawauthor.com
Email steve@stevebradshawauthor.com
Facebook.com/steve.bradshaw.9400
Twitter.com/sbauthor
Linkedin.com/pub/steve-bradshaw/18/246/660

3/1/16 3/1/16

State of the Industry: Contract Decoding

Continuing Milt Toby’s three-part exploration of publishing contracts (see our January and February editions), we’ve finally arrived at perhaps the most frustrating component of a typical contract: warranties & indemnifications.

These sections are typically riddled with legal jargon that will leave your typical author scratching his/her head—or maybe just skipping straight ahead to pulling hair from scalp. Either way, it’s important to understand how much protection your hide has from the all-powerful paddle of the law, and what you can legally expect from your publishers.

In lieu of hired legal counsel—Milt Toby is here to help.

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)
By Milt Toby

Promises and Problems

Authors should be alert for “warranty” and “indemnification” clauses in their publishing contracts. The former identifies guarantees that the author is asked to make by the publisher, some more onerous that others; the latter is the publisher’s attempt to insulate itself from liability in the event of legal action arising from publication of the book that is the subject of the contract.

This is typical warranty language:

“The Author warrants that he or she is the sole owner of the Work and has full power and authority to enter into this Agreement, that the Work does not infringe the copyright of any other work, that the Work does not violate the rights to privacy or publicity of any person, and that the Work does not defame any person or entity.”

The warranties of manuscript ownership, legal authority to bargain with the publisher, and no copyright infringement make sense, and are things that are reasonable for the author to know. Warranties that the book does not infringe on the rights to privacy and publicity of any individual, and that the book does not defame anyone, are more problematic. Whether a particular book violates privacy or publicity rights, or is defamatory, are legal judgments that an author might not be in a position to predict. Adding limiting language, such as “to the best of the Author’s knowledge and belief” creates some maneuvering room for the author and can be important in the event of legal action by a person claiming to have been harmed.

A contract should include warranties by the publisher that no substantive corrections or additions can be made in the manuscript without prior author approval. It is unfair to hold an author responsible for editorial changes made by the publisher without her approval.

Even more bothersome are “indemnification” clauses such as this one:

“Author agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the publisher against any and all claims (including reasonable attorney fees) that may arise through Author’s breach of any warranty or representation made herein.”

Consider the ramifications of an indemnification clause: an author signing a contract with such language is agreeing to pay the publisher’s legal bills for any legal action related to the book, even if those legal claims prove to be frivolous and the author is not at fault. This is a heavy burden, and an unreasonable one, for an author to bear. The best strategy is to ask that the clause be deleted in its entirety, an action which publishers are reluctant to do. A reasonable alternative is to try and add limiting language such as “when Author’s liability is established in a court of competent jurisdiction, after all available appeals.” This modified clause at least protects an author from frivolous claims.

Liability insurance for authors is available from a few carriers, but it can be prohibitively expensive. Publishers should already have liability insurance in place and they might be willing to add an author to the policy as an also-insured individual. The answer probably will be “no,” but when negotiating a contract it never hurts to ask.

Authors also should be wary of contract language giving the publisher right of first refusal for the author’s next book, usually under the same terms as the original contract. It sounds tempting for an author to think that there is a guaranteed publisher for the next book, but the clause is an option, not a promise. It is a sweet deal for the publisher if the first book is a success, and no guarantee for the author if the first book fails to meet expectations.

Deleting the clause is the best option. Otherwise, the author should request a time limit for the publisher to either accept or refuse the option, restrict the genre so that the author can look for a more suitable publisher, and allow for renegotiation of the contract terms.

Lessons Learned

Authors are an independent and creative group. This usually is a good thing, but making sense of a complicated publishing contract is seldom a do-it-yourself job. These contracts are binding legal documents with long-term consequences relating to copyright, money, liability, and other issues not covered here. Contracts are written by lawyers in the publisher’s employ and are best interpreted by the author in consultation with an attorney who is familiar with publishing agreements and who can protect the author’s interests.

Milt Toby is an attorney and award-winning author of nonfiction. He joined the Board of Directors of the American Society of Journalists and Authors in July, after several years as Chair of the ASJA Contracts & Conflicts Committee. The information in this article is presented for educational purposes only and is neither legal advice nor a solicitation for clients. For more information about Milt’s books, visit his website at www.miltonctoby.com.

3/1/16 3/1/16

State of the Industry: Contract Decoding

In lieu of hired legal counsel—Milt Toby is here to help.

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)
By Milt Toby

Promises and Problems

This is typical warranty language:

Even more bothersome are “indemnification” clauses such as this one:

Lessons Learned

2/15/16 2/15/16

Killer Cocktails: The Secret Affair

This month’s exclusive Killer Nashville Killer Cocktail: The Secret Affair

The Secret Affair

A Killer Nashville Signature Cocktail

Ingredients:

Smucker's PlateScapers

Forbidden Secret Cream - Dark Mocha

Caribbean's Finest Rum

Cream of your choice (optional)

Directions:

Add ice to your shaker.
Add 1 ounce of Forbidden Secret to your shaker.
Add 1 ounce of Caribbean's Finest Rum to your shaker.
Add 1/2 ounce of half & half or your choice of creamer to the shaker (optional).
Shake the contents until it is frothy.
Drizzle PlateScapers onto your glass.
Empty the shaker's contents into your glass.
Top with PlateScapers in a pattern of your choice.
Enjoy

Cheers!

Send us pictures and comments of you and the Killer Nashville’s The Secret Affair. We’ll share them here along with a link back to you.

About Spaz:

Spaz started in the restaurant/bar business back in 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when he was a student at Louisiana State University. Instead of becoming a chemical engineer, he became a social legend instead, he says jokingly. He later transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee, and received a Bachelor’s in marketing from the University of Tennessee in 1989. He has worked in biker bars to 4-fork-setting restaurants. An avid traveler, he has lived in 13 states and visited 40, so far. He enjoys reading sci-fi and sci-fantasy books. He currently holds court at Red Dog Wine and Spirits in Franklin, Tennessee. Check out the store: www.reddogwineandspirits.com.

2/5/16 2/5/16

The Writer's Life: Setting

"Place is a definer and a confiner of what I'm doing. [...] it saves me. Why, you couldn't write a story that happened nowhere." — Eudora Welty

Writing any sort of creative work is taxing on the author. There’s so much to consider: character voice, plot, story arch, etc., that sometimes elements that are vital to the telling of your story are left neglected by the wayside. One of the most commonly overlooked and undervalued components of an author’s work is the treatment of setting.

In this month’s “How-To,” author Jaden Terrell explores what makes setting vital, what it can do, and ways to craft settings that are powerful and provide substance to the work as a whole.

The Importance of Setting: Macro vs. Micro
By Jaden Terrell

Imagine a Miss Marple mystery without the small-town ambience of St. Mary Meade, Gorky Park without the brutal Russian winter, Heart of Darkness without the stultifying heat. Imagine The Lord of the Flies without the island or Sex in the City without the city.

Doesn’t work, does it? Without their settings, each is a completely different book than the original.

Every story takes place somewhere. Events occur in a particular time and a particular place, each of which affects what happens and how the people involved interpret those events. This is true even of fantasy novels and modern fiction set in imaginary towns. Middle Earth and Gotham City may not be places you can visit outside your imagination, but they are “real” places nonetheless, in that each is vividly portrayed with specific details unique to that place.

Think that seems obvious? Not necessarily. Inexperienced writers often make the mistake of moving their characters through “fuzzy space,” amorphous settings that leave the dialogue and action unmoored in time and space. A conversation takes place in a bar, in a kitchen, on a hilltop, in a concentration camp, but the specifics of the setting are so vague that the characters might as well be saying their lines in front of a green screen. What’s missing are the specific, carefully chosen details that put your readers in a scene and keep them there.

Strategically placed, specific sensory details can help bring your settings to life and add an additional layer of authenticity to your story. At the beginning of each scene, you should give your readers enough information to ground them in the setting. Your readers should always know when and where they are. This will help prevent “talking head syndrome” and keep your characters from seeming to float in a formless void.

Look at how Robert Crais uses vivid details to establish setting and create tension in the opening of The Promise: An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel:

The woman stood in the far corner of the dimly lit room, hiding in shadows like a fish in gray water. She was small, round, and dumpy. The fringed leather jacket probably made her seem rounder, but she’d never been a looker. She reminded Mr. Rollins of an overripe peach, and the peach was clearly afraid.

A steady rain fell from the overcast night. The dingy, one-bedroom bungalow west of Echo Park reeked of bleach and ammonia, but the windows were closed, the shades were down, and the doors were locked. A single yellow twenty-five-watt lamp provided the only light. The chemical smell gave Mr. Rollins a headache, but he could not open the windows. They were screwed shut.

The locked doors, the reek of bleach and ammonia, the screws holding the windows shut…these all help create a claustrophobic feeling in the reader. The peach is frightened, and we begin to feel she has reason to be.

And look at this brief but evocative opening from Gorky Park: All nights should be so dark, all winters so warm, all headlights so dazzling.

This line just before we witness detectives investigating bodies frozen in the snow. Doesn’t it set you up to think about the nights less dark, the winters less warm, and the headlights dimming in the swirling snow?

Setting works best when the details are experienced through the senses of a particular character (or narrator). We all see the world through our own filters. This subjective experience of reality is one reason eyewitness testimony is so unreliable. Ask eight different witnesses to a bank robbery what happened, and you’ll get eight different accounts. None of them are lying, but each one’s memory is colored by his or her memories, beliefs, emotions, visual acuity, and other factors too numerous to list. It’s the common bits that lead to the true picture. If all eight people, without prior collusion, say the bank robber had a limp and a velociraptor tattoo, there’s a very good chance he did.

But that which is a headache for a homicide detective is a boon for a writer. Imagine two teenaged girls at a carnival. One is cheerful, upbeat, optimistic. The other is cynical and angry. Watch how each interprets the same scene in a different way.

The midway was a kaleidoscope of color. Everywhere you looked were flashing lights and bold colors, and the air smelled of cotton candy and funnel cakes, all warm and sugary. A little girl bumped my hip as she skipped past. She peered around the giant stuffed T-Rex she was hugging, and we shared a grin as her mother led her away. It was like Christmas on steroids.

The midway was an assault on the senses—garish colors, flashing lights, screaming kids. It reminded me of a crime scene. The air was so sticky sweet I could hardly breathe. As I turned to make my escape, a kid carrying a giant plush dinosaur plowed into me, bounced off, and gave me a malicious grin. For a moment, I imagined pinching that grin right off her face. Then her mother yanked her away and she disappeared into the crowd.

Bet you had no trouble telling which was which.

Setting can be used to create atmosphere, reveal character, or drive the plot. In many cases, it can do all three. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Create Atmosphere

Reed Farrel Coleman has been called “the noir poet,” and the name fits him well. Listen to how, in his short story “The Terminal,” he describes Cony Island as seen through the eyes of a man whose decision to help a young woman brings him into conflict with local gangsters. This moment is a great example of a description that creates atmosphere and reveals character at the same time.

Doc turned his back to the ocean and beheld the amusement park’s moth-eaten splendor. From where he stood, in the first light of morning, it still looked a grand place. At that distance, it all seemed in working order. Even the Parachute Jump seemed ready to shine again. From Doc’s place in the sand, he thought, you might be able to fool yourself that the sun-faded, blue-finned Astroland rocket atop Gregory and Paul’s food stand might fire up its engines and blast off. You had to get much closer to see the truth of it, the rust and folly of the place.

The setting evokes a sense of nostalgia, but it also echoes Doc’s feelings about himself—a man whose best years are behind him, a man who may have made one too many mistakes.

And how about the opening to Glendon Swarthout’s tragicomic coming-of-age novel, Bless the Beasts and the Children?

In that place the wind prevailed. There was always sound. The throat of the canyon was hoarse with wind. It heaved through pines and passed and was collected by the cliffs. There was a phenomenon of pines in such a place. When wind died in a box canyon and in its wake the air was still and taut, the trees were not. The passing trembled in them, and a sough of loss. They grieved. They seemed to mourn a memory of wind.

Isn’t this bleak wilderness, with its sense of loneliness and loss, the perfect backdrop for a bittersweet tale about six troubled teenagers who, after witnessing the culling of a herd of buffalo in a “canned hunt,” strike out on their own to try and save the next day’s cull?

Reveal Character

How characters maneuver through or manipulate a setting can tell you a lot about them. The Darth Vader figurine on your banker’s desk makes a statement, as do the Tiger Beat posters on the bedroom walls of a 70s-era teen.

Nancy Sartor’s debut suspense novel, Bones Along the Hill, opens in Neva Oakley’s family mortuary, where she’s reconstructing the face of a murdered infant. The funeral home provides a unique backdrop in which we get to know and understand Neva, and as she recreates the face of the child, we see her talent, her compassion, and her determination.

In A Cup Full of Midnight, my detective, Jared McKean, follows a woman down a hallway and into an immaculate living room. The hall is lined with photos of her dead children, and on the living room wall is a hand-sewn heirloom bonnet and christening gown in a frame. The setting shows the ongoing grief and loss that motivate the character.

Drive Plot

Setting can also influence the direction of your novel. A story set in a Minnesota snowstorm forces the characters to deal with the risk of frostbite and exposure, the hazards of driving in deep snow and ice, and the threat of losing forensic evidence to the weather. Trying to track a killer? Better find him before the snow covers his tracks.

Imagine an altercation occurring in a commercial garage versus a pool hall versus a bridal shop. What weapons are near to hand? What kind of cover is available? A fight scene set in one of these three places would be very different from one set in either of the other two.

Rob Pobi uses a hurricane to raise the stakes and heighten suspense in his novel Bloodman. As the action of the story rises, so does the violence of the storm. The hurricane works on a thematic level, but it also drives the narrative, as characters react to the growing danger of the storm.

Macro & Micro Settings

There are two main types of settings in your novel—macro-settings and micro-settings. The macro setting is the region, city, state, etc. where the story as a whole takes place. The micro settings are the specific places where individual scenes take place.

A macro-setting might be the Outer Banks, New York City, Chicago, Nashville, or New Orleans. When writing about macro-settings, you need to consider things like climate, terrain, architecture, and culture.

Micro-settings might include an abandoned warehouse, the living room of a suspect, the victim’s basement, the protagonist’s favorite restaurant, or an interrogation room at the local police station. When writing about micro settings, you should take into account things like décor, building structure, objects at hand, and so on. If you’re describing a person’s kitchen, what are the telling details that will reveal both the character perceiving the room and the one who lives there?

Making Setting Work for You

What’s the macro-setting of your novel? When you think of this setting, what comes to mind in terms of climate and temperature, weather patterns, and landscape? If it’s an inhabited area, what is the architecture like? The traffic patterns? The time period? What’s the culture? Is there a festival or other special event going on? Can you think of a way for the macro-setting to influence the plot—a storm, a drought, a hurricane?

Now, think about your micro-settings. Remember your list of clues? The ones your character needs in order to solve the mystery or stop the bomb from exploding? Think about where (s)he might find those clues. Try to set your scenes in a variety of places. A pub can be a great setting for an interview with a potential witness, but a dozen pub interviews dilutes the effectiveness of the pub as a setting.

Does your sleuth interview someone in his or her living room? What details can you use to show the character of the person who lives there?

Try making a list of all the micro-settings in your novel. Free write a description of each. Don’t censor yourself; visualize the setting and write down everything you can think of. Be sure to include other senses as well. (If it’s a real setting, consider going there and writing down everything you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell.) Now take a highlighter and go back and read your descriptions. Highlight the most telling details, the ones that encapsulate the place and the person whose space it is.

Are you starting to see scenes in each of these settings? If so, jot down your ideas. We’re going to use them in next month’s lesson.

2/5/16 2/5/16

Under the Microscope with Dr. Robert Jacobs: Borderline Personality Disorder

In our October issue, Richard Helms’s "Cradle of Criminality," gave us a look at the inner workings of the criminal mind. For you crime and mystery writers out there, a basic understanding of the criminal psyche is pivotal to crafting believable, authentic characters. But not every criminal, or antagonist, for that matter, possesses those specific markers laid out in Helms’s article.

In keeping with February’s Romantic Suspense theme, we’ve elected to take a look at a common trope among literature and film alike, i.e., the obsessive significant other. In this installment of Under the Microscope, Dr. Robert Jacobs, psychologist, explores the tendencies of someone suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder.

Borderline Personality Disorder and Romantic Relationships
By Dr. Robert Jacobs

Adam met Liz by chance in the aisle of a department store, and the two began a playful banter right away. Her laugh was airy and carefree, and she touched his arm while they talked. Before they parted ways, she said to him, “I know you want to text me, so why don’t you give me your phone and I’ll put my number in.” He placed his phone in her hand. Her candor was thrilling. Liz seemed so open and familiar.

They arranged to meet for a drink the following day. When Adam arrived at the bar, he spotted Liz easily despite the crowd; she was wearing a short, tight dress. She stirred her drink and kissed his cheek as he sat beside her. Her touch felt electric. Her eyes never seemed to leave him. Hardly an hour passed before they were at his apartment, turning off the lights.

The first three weeks of the relationship were invigorating; Adam felt energized and constantly turned on. He’d never had such great sex. Work seemed unimportant, and he often left early to spend time with Liz. He felt unusually protective when she mentioned her ex-boyfriend; thinking the guy sounded vain, even abusive. Fleetingly, Adam marveled at how quickly he and Liz had connected—in moments. The pace was dizzying. She texted a lot, and he noticed that when he didn’t respond immediately, she often asked if everything was okay. Or if he was mad at her. He found himself having to reassure her that he felt fine, and that the relationship was “great.”

“How great?” She would ask flirtatiously.

Something inside Adam began to tighten.

The next time he picked Liz up for a date, she seemed irritated at his being s a few minutes late. Adam noticed several magazines related to his hobbies on the coffee table in her living room, and that she’d stocked the refrigerator with his favorite type of beer. Over dinner, Liz wanted to decide on a vacation destination for the following summer, and had several ideas. When he told her he would need to check his work calendar, and that it was too early to decide, she bristled.

The following week, Adam realized he was woefully behind at work and needed to catch up. When he called Liz to suggest they postpone their date, she screamed and hung up. Startled, he immediately called back and when Liz answered, her voice sounded completely different. Sobbing, she explained that her doctor had phoned earlier to tell her that she had a rare form of cancer. “I’m sorry,” Adam offered. “What can I do?”

“Can you just come over so we can talk? I don’t want to be alone.”

An hour later, Adam arrived, and found Liz to be in a mysteriously positive mood. In fact, she didn’t seem to want to talk about her health at all. She wanted to have sex. The change seemed odd, and when Adam pressed for details, Liz was vague and annoyed. The tightening inside Adam continued. Her cancer diagnosis was never mentioned again.

A week later, Adam decided he decided he needed some space from the relationship, and explained to Liz, in the kindest way he knew, that he wanted to slow their pace and take time for himself. Liz turned over her chair as she stormed away. Five minutes later, Adam’s phone lit up with a text message from her. “I have something I need to talk about, too,” it said. Below was a picture of a positive pregnancy test.

Human behavior is inherently fascinating. Most of us have puzzled over the motivations of our friends and loved-ones, and, at times, been curious about the intent of our own actions. We want to be more effective participants in our relationships, but at times we’re at a loss for how they work. We ask questions like, “Why would (s)he do that?” and often in hindsight wonder, “What was I thinking?”

Certain diagnoses in particular are especially intriguing. Any time the subject of Borderline Personality Disorder comes up, curiosity and questions follow, and it’s easy to understand why. People with this diagnosis have an easy time capturing the attention and igniting the frustrations of people around them; they engage others and act out in ways that are intense and often destructive. They show a pervasive pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, affective states, and marked impulsivity. The pattern typically begins by early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts (DSM-V, 2015). They are frequent characters in fiction. About seventy-five percent of those diagnosed are female, though research on males with Borderline Personality Disorder continues to come forth.

Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD, lack emotional regulation and exhibit strong, sometimes wild, behavioral extremes in their relationships. Many times the goal of this behavior is to elicit the concern of a caretaker, but nowhere is the pattern more acutely observed than in their romantic connections.

In therapy, when patients characterize their exes as “crazy,” what do they mean? What is a romantic relationship like with someone who has BPD? Many people describe them as childlike and manipulative, constantly testing a relationship, often showing wild emotional swings when they sense real or perceived abandonment. Having little emotional regulation, they’re prone to tantrums. It can feel to people around them that “something” is missing, or didn't develop; a critical sense of stability, of being fundamentally okay despite normal relational fluctuations, is distinctly absent. Their impulsive, acting-out behaviors are even more notorious for being self-damaging: recurrent suicidal behavior, self-mutilation, substance abuse, reckless driving, overspending, promiscuity, and intense and inappropriate anger are common.

What Borderline patients excel at is eliciting an emotional response. The clinical folklore among some therapists is, that if in the first session the therapist wants a romantic, inappropriate connection with the patient, he or she is probably Borderline. If that sounds circular and patronizing, it’s because it probably is. Even if the idea offends some, (I do think that a therapist’s awareness of his or her emotional response to a patient can help diagnosis and guide treatment. For example, our own reactions likely resemble the reactions of others around them, as well.) it does raise an important truth: Borderline patients are skillful at provoking.

Borderline Personality Disorder is fueled by emptiness and insecurity, and the misguided goal of all of this self-destructive and manipulative behavior, after all, is to gain stability and feeling cared for. One cruel paradox of Borderline behavior is that the backing-away response elicited from relationship partners is precisely the reverse of what the person desires: more love, assurance, and intimacy. The conventional thinking among many psychologists is, that when it comes to having a relationship with someone suffering from BPD, the best strategy is avoidance altogether. Or, as one friend suggested, “Run, don’t walk.” And most of the time, this self-protective drive comes from a very understandable source: frustration and fear. We sense right away that we want no part of the toxic behavior at hand, or worse, worry that we’ll reinforce it, making it more likely to recur.

Theatricality may distract us in other ways as well. It’s tempting to marvel at the foreignness of Borderline behavior, and in doing so, we may be miss the universality of the particular feelings themselves. The strength of the particular emotions at play—abandonment, sadness, emptiness—may be alien, but the feelings themselves are likely quite familiar. Truth be told, people with a Borderline Personality Disorder may fascinate us because we see ourselves in them. Fundamentally, all personality disorder diagnoses describe characteristics and ways of being that are simply extreme versions of common traits and urges. I’ve never heard someone say, for example, “I just love feeling abandoned,” or “I never wonder where I stand with people I care about. I never need assurance.” Tragically, the disproportionate reactivity of the Borderline patient obscures the underlying ubiquity of their emotional experience.

Given all the difficulties that exist in these types of relationships, why would anyone start a relationship with someone with a Borderline diagnosis? Contrary to my friend’s advice, not everyone runs, or even walks away. It’s important to note that while there may be intense and disruptive behavior, Borderline patients often have qualities that produce a rewarding romantic partnership much of the time.

Often warm and kind, they may also be described as fun, exciting, and passionate. Here, people often speak of the disorder in terms of its deficit, like any other organic or medical concern. Even in troubled moments, they will report seeing a flicker of deep recognition and awareness in their partner’s eyes, enough to know that the person they know and love is still there covered beneath their insecurities. I understand the notion of duality. I too have been taken aback and puzzled over the recklessness and irrationality (and astonishing immaturity) I’ve seen among otherwise very high-functioning people. Borderline patients don’t seem to have figured out how to keep their feelings, particularly their anger, in check. This juxtaposition between high and low-functioning can be shocking at times. We may ask ourselves how it’s possible that this composed, professional person, mother, from whom I received a Rockwellian Christmas card the year before, is acting the way she is.

Some are drawn to these patients because they have intense emotions and strong desires for intimacy—and because they themselves have precisely the same emotions and desires. This is often more challenging to recognize and contend with, because, again, the behavior of the Borderline patient positions them in such an obvious position of scrutiny and vulnerability. As it plays out, Borderline patients aren’t often offered much empathy. Many times, they describe feelings of being used, and often do allow themselves to be used by their partners, because of their neediness. Many times, their friends and family admit that if the patient’s acutely descriptive behavior stopped long enough that they could feel safe, they would run for the hills. Not much of an incentive to stop, even as BPD patients recognize they have worn out their supports.

In writing characters with similar diagnoses, it is often too easy to dehumanize the subject and make him or her out to be villainous and completely alien from the rest of us. But in order to craft authentic, believable characters—regardless of his or her psychological well-being— it’s important to understand that character’s psychology, and that it isn’t much different from our own.

In navigating relationships (and, perhaps, storylines) with Borderline patients, acceptance may be our best course. Learning emotional regulation as a couple may be helpful, as may be developing an understanding of common triggers and de-personalizing reactivity. Context helps understanding, and it’s important to bear in mind their (and our) story leading up to the beginning of the relationship. For the relationship to be successful, we have to accept that our partner really does need more emotional reassurance than most. And we have to look in the mirror to examine our own attraction to that particular person, at that particular moment in our lives.

Robert Jacobs grew up in Fort Myers, Florida. He completed his Ph.D. at Texas A&M University and has been a practicing psychologist in Nashville since 2003. Clinically, he focuses on treating anxiety as well as addressing family and couples’ issues. Outside of work, he enjoys athletics, spending time with family, and working on creative fiction. Learn more about his practice at www.robertjacobspsychologist.com.

2/5/16 2/5/16

Live From Scandinavia: What's Wrong With Scandinavian People?

If you’re like me, when you think of Scandinavia, you envision quiet, picturesque countrysides. Maybe a farmhouse nestled between greenery-covered mountains. Kind, peaceful people who are always happy and eating fancy chocolates. You might be surprised to learn that our friends in the Scandinavian region churn out a large chunk of today’s popular crime literature. What, exactly, makes “Scandi crime” so popular? And why does so much of it come out of this particular region of the world?In this edition’s International Corner, Scandi crime author Anders de la Motte attempts to make sense of Scandinavia’s infatuation with crime lit.

What’s Wrong With Scandinavian People?

By Anders de la Motte

Is it perhaps related to the vast amount of pickled herring the Scandinavians eat at every major holiday? Or has it something to do with the various types of high-quality alcohol we produce and later consume along with the salty little fish? Could it be the influence of our Viking forefathers?

I’ll do my best to answer all those questions, but first, being a Swede, there is a small matter of protocol that I’ve been yearning to correct.

Scandinavia, in its proper meaning, only consists of the countries sharing the Scandian mountain ridge, meaning Sweden and Norway. If we were to include Finland, Denmark and Iceland, the correct name would be the Nordic region, or just the Nordics. Still, the word, “Scandinavia” seems to have stuck with the entire region, and not even the inhabitants know the difference anymore. There, I’ve said it. Now I feel a lot better.

So what is wrong with us Scandinavian (Nordic) people, besides the obvious need to always be right? Why do so many of us write crime fiction and why does the rest of the world never seem to tire of reading it?

Let’s begin with some statistics that may shed some light on the Scandinavians.

Crime fiction is by far the top selling genre in all the Scandinavian countries.
Police procedural is the dominating sub-genre.
The actual crime rate in the Scandinavian countries is very low compared to most other countries, and the combined police forces of the five countries just about exceed that of the NYPD.
The majority of crime-fiction readers are women aged 35+
Gender balance within the writing community is more equal in Scandinavia, but still skews toward female dominance.
The most popular character of Scandi crime is often, but not always, a troubled-yet-gifted cop that solves cases involving a serial killer.
Serial killers are VERY unusual in real-life Scandinavia.
So are troubled-yet-gifted cops who go after them alone.

My personal opinion is that many readers look in books for something they don’t encounter in their daily life. A bit of excitement, and even horror, that you can stop just by closing the book you are reading. And because Scandinavia is one of the most peaceful and safe regions in the world, we can’t seem to get enough of reading about violent crime, especially when the setting is somewhere familiar to us, making the suspense even higher.

This attraction to violence probably goes for most readers of crime fiction, not just Scandinavians. But why does the rest of the world take such a huge interest in Scandinavian crime literature?

What is the magic recipe that makes the genre so successful? Here’s my special brew for creating Scandi crime that will kill (pun intended) with readers the world over:

Start With the Basics

In the spirit of Swedish equality, it all started with a couple, Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, who in the late 60’s and 70’s wrote books about the slightly gloomy detective inspector Martin Beck and his colleagues in the homicide division of the Stockholm police. The books broke away from the previously dominating Anglo-Saxon tradition of storytelling by being both quite realistic regarding police procedure, and by including a large social pathos, criticizing the Swedish welfare system that, at the time, was considered the best in the world.

Sjöwall and Wahlöö wrote ten books altogether, the fourth titled The Laughing Policeman, which won the prestigious Edgar Award and propelled the books to international fame. In 1995, Mystery Writers of America rated The Laughing Policeman the second best police procedural ever written.

All the Sjöwall-Wahlöö books have been filmed numerous times; The Laughing Policeman even became a Hollywood movie in 1973, starring Walter Matthau as Martin Beck, with the setting moved to San Francisco. In Sweden, a series of 34 films will be finalized in 2016, which says something about how the popularity of the characters has transitioned to the modern day.

Recently deceased Henning Mankell and his books about detective lieutenant Kurt Wallander revived the concept of combining a procedural police story with social criticism in the 1990s. These books have also been frequent book-to-film adaptations, most notably by the BBC adaptions starring Kenneth Branagh as Kurt Wallander.

In the 2000s, Stieg Larsson took the concept to an entirely new level with his Dragon Tattoo series, featuring Lisbet Salander and Mikael Blomkvist, starting out with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I’m sure you have missed neither the books nor the film(s).

The series was so popular that a fourth book was recently released, this time written by David Lagercrantz, as Stieg Larsson sadly and unexpectedly passed away in 2004.

Perhaps you can say that it was Sjöwall-Wahlöö who invented Scandi crime, Henning Mankell who updated and refined it, and Stieg Larsson who made it the worldwide phenomenon that it is today. Every Scandinavian writer is in some way influenced by some—or all—of them.

2. A Drop of Dynamics

As I mentioned earlier, Scandinavia is a relatively unknown part of the world that you hear little or nothing from. The countries are known for their generous welfare systems, and they are all ruled or have been ruled for long periods of time by social-democratic parties, emphasizing a large public sector. The Scandinavian countries have a very high standard of living, low levels of corruption, and crime rates are low (in all international comparisons), and are therefore considered safe and very desirable countries to live in. The population in general has a high level of education and is considered civilized, peaceful, and friendly—although perhaps a bit reclusive. If you combine all these factors with dramatic events like murders, power games, and acts of violence, you get an interesting and suspenseful dynamic that works well in crime stories.

3. Lots of Location

The Scandinavian (Nordic. Sorry, last time) countries are located way up in the Northern hemisphere, meaning we have short, beautiful summers where the light never seems to end (some really northern parts even have midnight sun), and long, dark—and sometimes very snowy—winters (where the same northern parts have no daylight at all). Scandinavian nature includes vast forests, deep fjords, high fjells (mountains), tens of thousands of lakes, and beautiful archipelagos—many of these features not far from the major cities. These are all fantastic locations for any kind of story, but especially those with the most counter-dynamic.

4. A Hint of History

The Scandinavian region has lots of exciting history, dating all the way back to 10th century Vikings. Even though we are now very peaceful, the Swedish king Gustaf II Adolf revolutionized 17th century warfare and waged war against half of Europe before being killed in battle. The weapons industry he founded is still world-leading, even though Sweden has not been at war in 200 years.

Before becoming friendly neighbors, Sweden and Denmark were archenemies for half a millennium. Finland, which was a part of Sweden for 700 years, was conquered by Russia in 1809 before declaring independence in 1917, and then suffered through a very bloody civil war. Denmark and Norway were both occupied by Germany during WWII; Sweden declared neutrality and became a playground for spies and smugglers, and Finland had it’s own war against the Soviet Union.

During the Cold War years, both Sweden and Finland were situated right between NATO and the Warsaw-pact, and the Baltic Sea was a zone of constant confrontations.

All of these factors create a very compelling backdrop for any story, not just crime.

5. Serve It In Style

Scandinavians (in general) are efficient, engineering people; some say a more polite version of the Germans. Our trains (mostly) run on time, our roads are good, our cities well-organized, and our tradition of gathering statistics about almost everything dates back hundreds of years. A reader once suggested to me that perhaps this almost manic focus on efficiency and process optimizing also has effect on our language and storytelling.

Perhaps he was right—at least when it comes to crime fiction. Many of our stories are fairly short and to the point, with very little room for excess. In fact, the Sjöwall-Wahlöö novels were only around 150-200 pages long, and most of us Scandinavian writers (except Stieg Larsson) still finish well before the 400-page mark.

Quite a few writers in the region have had other jobs somewhat related to our stories, too. Sjöwall-Wahlöö, Liza Marklund, and Stieg Larsson were journalists. I used to be a policeman; Jo Nesbo was and still is a Norwegian rock star (Ok, bad example.). My point is that many of the Scandi crime stories are stylistically enticing, as they’re written efficiently, in a realistic way (perhaps due to previous job skills).

6. Enjoy In Good Company

I’m sure you’ve heard that success breed success. I’m not sure that is true, but what I do know is that the friendly competition between the Scandinavian writers definitely has something to do with the success of Scandi crime. You have to constantly improve if you are to belong to the top-tier. Every time a Scandinavian writer is successful it increases the interest for Scandi crime as a genre, something that benefits us all. Right now it is Jo Nesbo in the lead, and next year it might be me, but we all help each other sometimes, even practically with blurbs, recommendations or advice. This is one of my favorite things about the book industry.

So that’s it! Now you know everything there is to know about Scandinavian crime literature, what’s wrong with us Scandinavians, and why we (nor the world) never seem to tire of our crime lit. All that is left now is to try (another?) one of our books and see if you agree that the recipe is pretty good for a fantastic read.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much as we enjoy writing them.

Anders de la Motte is the author of Game, Buzz, and Bubble. He has worked as a police officer and the director of security at one of the world’s largest IT companies. He now works as an international security consultant in addition to being Sweden’s most exciting and innovative new thriller writer.

2/5/16 2/5/16

State of the Industry: Contract Decoding, Part Two

In this second of three installments, Milt Toby explores perhaps the most popular of subjects: getting paid for your work.

As an accomplished author and attorney, Toby is better equipped than most to be your guide into the publishing world. In our January edition, Toby gave us a glimpse at contract decoding and how to determine where your rights end and the publisher’s begin.

So put the cushions back on the couch, leave the kids’ piggybank alone, and hold off on calling that bookie—at least until you’ve heard what Toby has to say. In this installment, he will show you how to understand your contractual payment rights. We’re not guaranteeing you profit (that’s between you, the publisher, and your audience), but we are guaranteeing that no kneecaps are assaulted due to a failure in communication.

Contract Decoding (Part 2 of 3)
By Milt Toby

As mentioned in the first installment of “Contract Decoding”, a publishing contract can often be riddled with mind-numbing legal jargon. The author must understand, among other things, the rights being sold and warranties/indemnifications present within the contract—difficult channels to navigate, at best.

The publishing contract also establishes how, and how much, the author will be paid.

Common payment schemes include:

Flat fee;
Advance with royalties deferred;
No advance, with royalties starting with the first sale.

A flat fee is just what the name suggests. The publisher pays the author an agreed upon amount, usually divided into two or more installments triggered by specific events such as signing the contract, delivering the manuscript, and final approval by the editor. A flat-fee payment before any book sales might sound a lot like an advance—both are upfront money—but there is an important difference between the two that authors should understand.

After the flat fee is paid, the publisher has no ongoing financial obligation to the author in the form of royalties from book sales. An advantage to a flat fee contract is guaranteed income for an author early in the publishing process; a disadvantage is that the author has no financial interest in how well the book sells. Over the long term, especially if the book turns out to be a popular one, an author might earn more from royalties than from a flat fee.

An advance against royalties, especially a large one, is the Holy Grail for authors—money when the contract is signed, plus royalties based on sales. Only a small percentage of publishers offer advances these days, however, and authors lucky enough to land one need to understand how the numbers work.

Unlike a flat fee, which is not dependent on sales, an advance is money paid to an author by the publisher in anticipation of future book sales. A typical structure for advance payments is one-third of the total amount when the contract is signed, one-third when the manuscript is delivered by the author, and one-third when the final version of the manuscript is approved by the publisher. For authors of fiction, who generally sell their books based on a completed manuscript rather than on a proposal, the first two installments in the example above could occur at the same time.

One aspect of an advance that sometimes confuses authors is the notion that an advance is free money. In fact, royalty payments to the author will not begin until the book has “earned out.” This is a term of art which means that the publisher recoups the advance already paid by keeping all royalties until the full amount of the advance is recovered. Only then, and only if the books earns out, will royalty payments to the author begin.

The majority of books do not earn back their advances, however, unless the author is among the Stephen Kings and Dan Browns of the publishing world. For that reason, it is prudent for many authors to consider the advance the only money they will earn from their books.

The third payment scheme, and the most common one for fiction authors, is a publishing deal without any advance. The downside is obvious, no money up front. On the other hand, the author earns royalties starting with the first book sale since there is no advance for the publisher to recover. Given a choice, most authors probably would opt for an advance. Realistically, though, a choice between an advance against royalties or no advance will not be an option in most situations.

Running the Numbers

Royalty payments will be listed as percentages in a publishing contract. A typical (and imaginary) royalty schedule for a hardcover novel might look something like this:

10% of cover price/net price/net proceeds for first 5,000 copies sold

12.5% of cover/price/net price/net proceeds for next 5,000 copies sold

15% of cover price/net price/net proceeds for subsequent copies sold

For this to make sense, some definitions are in order:

Cover price: Self-explanatory, the price listed on the cover of the book (and the price most readers never actually pay)
Net price/net proceeds: The cover price of the book, minus the discount given by the publisher to book retailers. This method recognizes that book publishers typically are wholesalers of their books. A publisher’s net price/proceeds should not include any deductions for overhead expenses.

The distinction between cover price and net price is important. The terms should be defined and the contract should be clear about which number is being used as the basis for the royalty calculations. The difference between royalties based on cover price and those based on net price can be substantial.

For example, an author’s 10-per-cent royalty for a book based on a cover price of $25.00 is $2.50 for each copy sold.

If, on the other hand, the same 10-per-cent royalty is based on net price (the cover price of $25.00 minus the publisher’s discount given to book retailers, usually between 40 per cent and 50 per cent), the author’s royalty drops by as much as one-half, to around $1.25. A basic understanding of the mechanics of royalty payments helps an author avoid an unpleasant surprise when the first royalty check arrives.

A word about ebooks is appropriate here, because there is substantial disagreement about how to calculate the appropriate royalty rate for those paperless editions. Authors argue that the royalty rate for an ebook should be higher than for a print book because the publisher has very little overhead compared to printing, storing, and shipping print versions of the same book. The Authors Guild is pushing for at least a 50%-50% split on ebook royalties, characterizing the author-publisher relationship as a joint venture, but publishers are resisting. This is an example of how the competing interests of authors and publishers come into play in a publishing contract.

Finally, authors should consider how often the publisher is going to write a royalty check. It might take longer to get a check than expected. Many publishers calculate royalty payouts every six months, on December 31 and June 30, for example. The accounting period sometimes is unreasonably long, however, with publishers asking for accounting on an annual basis. Six-month accounting does not mean that the publisher cuts a check at the end of each accounting period, however. Contracts generally allow publishers an additional period of time—30 days at a minimum, sometimes longer—before they have to actually pay royalties to authors. Lengthy accounting periods, along with additional time to actually pay authors the royalties due, amount to interest-free loans from authors to publishers.

Lessons Learned

Authors should try and negotiate as short an accounting period as possible.

Publishers also frequently hold back a portion of the royalties earned by authors, called a “reserve,” to account for returns of books from retailers. The rationale is that a publisher might pay royalties on sales to retailers on books that later are returned for refunds. Authors should try and negotiate either no reserve or a reasonable limit on the length of time reserve funds can be held.

Publishers usually give authors a few free copies of the book (always ask for more free copies!) and the opportunity to buy additional copies of the book at a reduced price. Although authors generally do not earn royalties on these discounted purchases, authors can generate profitable full-price resales at signings, book fairs, and other events, unless the contract seeks to prohibit such retail sales by the author. Resale restrictions do not show up in publishing contracts often, and publishers often delete them if asked, but authors should look for these clauses if they plan to resell books themselves.

In our next edition, Toby will guide you through understanding “warranties and indemnifications”—what they are, and what rights you have regarding them

2/5/16 2/5/16

State of the Industry: Contract Decoding, Part Two

In this second of three installments, Milt Toby explores perhaps the most popular of subjects: getting paid for your work.

Contract Decoding (Part 2 of 3)
By Milt Toby

The publishing contract also establishes how, and how much, the author will be paid.

Common payment schemes include:

Flat fee;
Advance with royalties deferred;
No advance, with royalties starting with the first sale.

Running the Numbers

Royalty payments will be listed as percentages in a publishing contract. A typical (and imaginary) royalty schedule for a hardcover novel might look something like this:

10% of cover price/net price/net proceeds for first 5,000 copies sold

12.5% of cover/price/net price/net proceeds for next 5,000 copies sold

15% of cover price/net price/net proceeds for subsequent copies sold

For this to make sense, some definitions are in order:

Cover price: Self-explanatory, the price listed on the cover of the book (and the price most readers never actually pay)
Net price/net proceeds: The cover price of the book, minus the discount given by the publisher to book retailers. This method recognizes that book publishers typically are wholesalers of their books. A publisher’s net price/proceeds should not include any deductions for overhead expenses.

For example, an author’s 10-per-cent royalty for a book based on a cover price of $25.00 is $2.50 for each copy sold.

Lessons Learned

Authors should try and negotiate as short an accounting period as possible.

In our next edition, Toby will guide you through understanding “warranties and indemnifications”—what they are, and what rights you have regarding them

2/5/16 2/5/16

Marketing Your Book 101: How Long Should a Post Be? Three Tips for Writing Your Author Blog

Blogging has become essential to the marketing machine. You Tweet and Facebook about yourself, but now it’s a “must” to share your knowledge, and ultimately your writing skills through blogs. Marketing expert Erik Deckers answers that burning question about blog length. When is enough enough?

How Long Should a Post Be? Three Tips for Writing Your Author Blog
By Erik Deckers

Someone once asked Abraham Lincoln how long a man's legs should be. "Long enough to reach the ground," he said.

I think of Abe's advice whenever someone asks me how long a blog post should be.

"Long enough to get to the end," I say. And then I have to explain the whole story, which ruins the effect.

Basically, there's no magic rule of how long a blog post should be. You need enough time and space to say what you need to say, and that's it. Don't say too much, but don't give short shrift to your ideas either.

Reading Is Different Today

People read differently today than they did 50, 20, or even five years ago. Readers skim and scroll to see what catches their attention. No longer can we write long, Faulknerian paragraphs that stretch on for pages, joined by semicolons and em dashes. In fact, this paragraph is making me uncomfortable, and I really want to hit the return key to make it—

GAAH! I couldn't take that much longer. You probably couldn't either.

Basically, we have become an impatient society. People read on their smartphones, tablets, and laptops. We're not a nation of readers, but a nation of skimmers. That affects how we write and engage our readers.

Here are three tips for writing the ideal blog posts to keep your readers coming back.

Use plenty of white space

Blogging is as much a visual medium as a written one. Imagine a book printed in a sans serif font, very little space between lines, and blocks of text that fill up an entire page. You'd probably quit after five pages.

White space (also called negative space because there's nothing in it) is important in making a post or magazine article appear readable. It's more pleasing to the eye, because it looks easier to digest.

I use short paragraphs partly because my fourth grade teacher said they had to be four or five sentences long, and I never do what I'm told.

But I do it mostly because when people skim-read, they think, "I'll just read a little bit. Oh, that next paragraph is short, I'll read that one. Oh, and that one. All right, this one too. And the next one."

If I've done a good job with my white space, people will jump from paragraph to paragraph, thinking they'll only read "a little more" until they reach the end.

And now here you are at tip number 2. See how that works?

2. There's no "magic number."

I can give you several good reasons why your posts should be less than 300 words, around 700 words, or why 1,000 words is perfectly fine.

For example, 300-word-writers will tell you a smartphone screen will hold 100 words. People who research this kind of thing know that readers have the patience to swipe two more times to read an article. That's—tap (100), swipe (200), swipe (300)—and they're done.

At the same time, long-form writers point to the growth of sites like Grantland.com and LongReads.com to say 1,000 word articles are perfectly fine, as long as the work is interesting.

Basically, whatever anyone tells you is the "best" length, just remember there's always a reason to pick another length. So just pick the length that suits you and your readers.

3. Identify "The Crease"

At the same time, you can have an article that's too long. If you've reached 1,500 words in one article, that may be too much, and you can break it up into smaller posts.

That's because when people tend to write about a big topic, they start combining two or three smaller points into one big point.

When that happens, look for the crease, that spot where you thought, "And another thing!" and kept writing. That "And another thing!" should instead be another blog post. Cut and paste everything from that point on, and save it somewhere else. Focus on what's left.

For example, I could have written this article as three separate articles—the importance of white space, word count, and the crease—and covered each of them in about 300 – 500 words. The crease happens between each point.

In fact, breaking up big posts is another blogging strategy. Rather than writing one big post about a subject, divide it up into several smaller ones. You can publish more posts more often, which boosts your personal brand by boosting your blog readership.

Did you see it? Did you see what happened back there? That previous paragraph was an added thought, but if I had kept going, I could have added another 300 words to this post.

That "In fact" was the crease. If this article really did run to 1,000 words, I could have cut that out and used it somewhere else. It was important to the central point of publishing, but it wasn't so important that I had to share it today.

Blogging is one of those specifically ambiguous art forms where you only have to write enough to make you happy. Just put your ideas out there, explain them thoroughly, but succinctly, and your posts will be exactly as long as they need to be. Just like Abe's legs.

His hat is a different matter.

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KN Magazine: Articles

Gone FishingBy Tom Wood

A Book's Journey

A Book's Journey

A Book's Journey

Dying for Dinner

Your First Draft

Oprah, High-Art, and Harry Potter: Can Literary and Genre Fiction Be Reconciled?By Wayne Thomas

3 Ways to Start Wooing Your Future AudienceBy Julie Schoerke

3 Ways to Start Wooing Your Future AudienceBy Julie Schoerke

How Much Influence Should Marketability Have on Your Work?By Erik Deckers

Death Scenes are Castles in the SandBy Steve Bradshaw

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)By Milt Toby

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)By Milt Toby

The Secret Affair

The Importance of Setting: Macro vs. MicroBy Jaden Terrell

Borderline Personality Disorder and Romantic RelationshipsBy Dr. Robert Jacobs

What’s Wrong With Scandinavian People?

Contract Decoding (Part 2 of 3)By Milt Toby

Contract Decoding (Part 2 of 3)By Milt Toby

How Long Should a Post Be? Three Tips for Writing Your Author BlogBy Erik Deckers

Submit Your Writing to KN Magazine

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Gone Fishing
By Tom Wood

Oprah, High-Art, and Harry Potter: Can Literary and Genre Fiction Be Reconciled?
By Wayne Thomas

3 Ways to Start Wooing Your Future Audience
By Julie Schoerke

3 Ways to Start Wooing Your Future Audience
By Julie Schoerke

How Much Influence Should Marketability Have on Your Work?
By Erik Deckers

Death Scenes are Castles in the Sand
By Steve Bradshaw

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)
By Milt Toby

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)
By Milt Toby

The Importance of Setting: Macro vs. Micro
By Jaden Terrell

Borderline Personality Disorder and Romantic Relationships
By Dr. Robert Jacobs

Contract Decoding (Part 2 of 3)
By Milt Toby

Contract Decoding (Part 2 of 3)
By Milt Toby

How Long Should a Post Be? Three Tips for Writing Your Author Blog
By Erik Deckers