KN Magazine: Articles
Mary Bush - 2021 Claymore Award Winner
Winning the Claymore Award
by Mary Bush
My road from a Claymore Award hopeful to being the 2021 Claymore Award winner is a little unusual in that it spans two years. I discovered the Claymore Award in the winter of 2020 and thought ‘what a fantastic contest’. Not only did it give an unpublished book a chance at recognition, it helped give writers an opportunity to meet industry professionals at the Killer Nashville annual conference. Plus, they held a banquet at which the awards would be presented! It all sounded so exciting that I immediately entered the contest with my unpublished manuscript, entitled Crooked.
And then I waited because the twenty finalists weren’t being announced until the summer of 2020.
Finally, that day came day in July. I was at work and in a meeting with a colleague when my email chimed and a pop-up message flashed. My eyes locked on the pop-up, which was from Killer Nashville, and it was regarding the Claymore award finalists. Though I was dying to read the email, I couldn’t open it, not with a work colleague right next to me. Suddenly a second email flashed, again from Killer Nashville. This time I couldn’t resist and I opened both emails.
The first message stated that the finalists had been selected and a link was provided to see who they were. The second email said ‘Congratulations’ you are a Claymore Award Finalist! I turned towards my colleague and said, ‘Oh my god, I’m a Claymore Award finalist’! Now COVID was upon us and the Killer Nashville conference had been canceled. Yes, I was disappointed but it was best that everyone stayed safe.
The evening that the banquet was supposed to have occurred, the winners were announced via email. Alas, I was not one of them. But I was thrilled to have been a finalist. Wow, out of all of the submissions to be in the top 20 was amazing.
Fast forward to early Spring 2021. I received an email from Killer Nashville announcing that the Claymore Award was fast approaching its one-week deadline. Over the next few seconds I quickly thought, hmmm…..Crooked had been extensively edited, all but the first chapter had been torn apart and rewritten, and I wondered if I could resubmit a manuscript that was a finalist the previous year? I saw nothing on the website that said otherwise so I resubmitted my new version of Crooked and waited again.
Summer 2021, I was in another meeting at work when the email flashed from Killer Nashville and I anxiously waited, holding my breath, to see if a second would follow. This time though, there was only one message. Since my finalist status in 2020 came in the second email, I was not in a hurry to open the lone email lingering in my inbox. Once the meeting was over, I thought well let’s see who the finalists are. When I read the message, my jaw was on the ground…. I was a finalist again! I called my husband and said, “I have a do over! I can go to the banquet! I can go to the conference!” We wasted no time booking everything.
Then, tragedy struck. My 90-year-old mother became ill 2 weeks before we were to leave to go to the conference. Though she improved as the days passed, and she insisted that she was OK enough to take care of herself – the last thing she wanted was for me to miss going to the conference - she was not in any state that I could leave her. We canceled the trip.
I sent an email to Clay Stafford to let me know that I had to cancel. He replied stating that he would post the winners on social media in real time, and provided a link to view what would be occurring. I must admit that I went to bed the night of the awards. It was just too nerve-racking waiting, plus I thought winning was a long shot and I was more than happy to have been a finalist two years in a row. The next morning, after working up some courage, I opened my email from the night before and followed the link to the Facebook page that held the results, curious to see who had won. My eyes locked on the post that announced that I was the winner of the Claymore Award! Though it was pretty early, I woke up everyone in the house yelling, "I won the award! I won the Claymore Award!"
I would have loved to have been at the banquet in person to thank everyone for this great honor. I am beyond excited to have won this award. It’s given me the confidence to press on with Crooked. My message to everyone, edit, edit, and edit again. Never give up.
One last piece of my journey was receiving the award itself. Shortly after the conference, I came home to find a LARGE box labeled “fragile” sitting on my countertop, brought into the house by my husband. A bottle of champagne and three glasses were in front of it - I think he had an inkling of what was inside – and he was correct! My beautiful Claymore Award had arrived and we toasted with my mother, who had fully recovered. This truly is a gorgeous award. I can’t stop smiling when I think about it, let alone look at it!
Thank you to everyone at Killer Nashville. Let me tell you all that is wonderful opportunity and this is an awesome contest. Definitely enter it!
Red Hot Tips for Writing About Wildfire by L. A. Larkin
Fire can be a crime writer’s best friend. It can be a powerful plot device. When I decided to write a thriller about a serial killer who uses fire to cover up his crimes, I knew I had to do my homework. Here are some of the things I discovered, which may be useful to you if you’re thinking of writing about wildfires. I should say that I’m not a firefighter or a crime scene investigator, so this is purely an author’s perspective.
In mystery and suspense novels, fire can be used to trap a character, intimidate, wreak revenge, and kill. It can destroy evidence. It can send a detective’s investigation in the wrong direction. It creates heroes. It adds drama and tension. It can be used to reflect the mood of a character. Wildfires can even become characters. I’ve heard firefighters refer to megafires as monsters. They often talk about fire as if it were a living opponent that has to be beaten.
One of the first things I did was to interview a firefighter. Your local fire station is a good place to start. I told them that I was writing a novel and I would like to do some background research into how fires are start, their experiences, and the equipment they used. Firefighters’ firsthand accounts are likely to include little gems that will help you create wonderful sensory details, such as the smell, the weight of the oxygen tank, the color of the smoke, the sound of windows exploding when oxygen is sucked from a room, the intense heat, the bitter taste of ash in the mouth and so on. A volunteer firefighter, who had fought a wildfire over many days, trying to save houses, told me that he and his buddies had just save a house. Exhausted and thirsty, with ash and smoke all around him, he opened the refrigerator and drank from a milk carton. He took off his fire-retardant gloves to write a thank-you note. In it he promised to return and pay for the milk. He then went on to save another family’s house.
There are plenty of wildfire videos on YouTube. This summer, Washington and California experienced their worst wildfires on record. The Dixie Fire has become the largest wildfire in the history of California, destroying more than 700 square miles (1,811 square kilometers) of land. If you are setting your novel in an environment in which a wildfire is likely to start, what climate conditions might you as the author need to describe? A long hot summer. Drought. Rainwater tanks and reservoirs are low. Leaf litter, grass and twigs are tinder box dry. Add wind to the mix and you could have a wildfire heading rapidly towards your character’s home. It might be worth checking the temperature records for the place you wish to set your story. In June this year, for instance, Seattle reached an unprecedented high of 108°F which was 34 degrees above the normal high of 74. Canada set a new all-time heat record of 121.
Wildfires can start with a lightning strike. Campfires and barbeques are a danger if left unguarded, especially during fire season. A bullet that hits a rock in dry and hot conditions can cause a spark that in turn ignites dead leaves and dry twigs. Similarly, if the blade of a lawnmower hits a rock on a hot day, the spark could start a fire that spreads from the yard and into nearby woods.
Arsonists are a major cause of wildfires, although our increasingly long, hot, dry summers make it all too easy for the fires to spread. All it takes is a lit cigarette to ignite the blaze. Sometimes arsonists use accelerants such as gasoline, propane, and lighter fluid to speed up the process. There is often a distinctive smell left behind at a fire scene by accelerants. Forensics teams can detect the chemicals, where and how the fire was started. Witnesses, perhaps people walking a trail, may hear a woosh and then a boom sound if accelerant is used.
A wildfire can travel at ten to fourteen miles per hour if fanned by strong winds, depending on the terrain it’s crossing. What’s more, a wildfire can suddenly change direction with the passing of a cold front. That’s when people get caught out: they think they are safe because the wildfire has passed by, and then it does a one eighty and heads straight at them. According to Dr Reese Halter, who has been a volunteer firefighter and also reported on wildfires from the frontline, “wildfires are burning like we’ve never seen before. If you know one is coming your way, get out of Dodge!”
As an author, I wanted my readers to experience the terror of wildfires through the sensory details I use to describe them. I live in a city, but I vividly recall waking one morning, as wildfires burned sixty miles away, to find the sky was the color of a bruised peach. The air was thick with orange smoke. Every outdoor surface was covered in ash that had been carried into the city by the wind. It was like I had awoken on the red planet, Mars.
Reece described what it felt like to be on the frontline of a wildfire. “It’s like the jaws of death are trying to get you. It roars. You hear the screams of animals and I’ll never forget the acrid smell, sharper than discharged gunpowder.” The flame temperature of wildfires can get as hot as 1200°C (2,192° F), even hotter in fire tornados. Halter said that the heat was so intense if felt like his skin was burning. His heart was beating “like crazy with fear.”
Can anything survive such fires? Rubber melts, glass shatters, but brick and stone are hardy and are often the only thing left standing. Diamonds can survive fire as long as the temperature doesn’t exceed 6,000° F. Steel filing cabinets, although old fashioned now, might survive a fire, as might your steel tools.
And lastly, if you’d like to ensure your characters use the right terminology when it comes to fires and firefighting, you may find this list of terms from the National Park Service helpful: https://www.fs.fed.us/nwacfire/home/terminology.html
I’ve used fire in three of my thrillers and it’s a fantastic device to create tension, put characters under pressure, and dispose of inconvenient evidence. It’s worth investing a bit of time researching wildfires so that your descriptions, and characters’ reactions to the threat of fire, are moving and mesmerizing for your reader.
Next time your meet a firefighter, why not thank them for what they do? I write thrillers with fictional heroes. There’s no doubt in my mind that firefighters are the real deal.
L.A. Larkin’s crime-thrillers have won her fans all over the world. Described as a superb ‘chiller thriller’ writer by Marie Claire magazine, and praised by the king of crime, Lee Child, Louisa writes edge-of-your-seat stories with lots of plot twists and characters that surprise. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and runs courses in Crime and Thriller Writing.
She also writes Monty Dog Detective mysteries as Louisa Bennet, which are inspired by her two intrepid golden retrievers. Funny and heart-warming, the Monty series will have you smiling from ear to ear.
Her humorous fiction has won praise for its originality from readers all over the world. Louisa really has learned how to speak dog!
Aha! Achieving That Delightful and Inevitable Ending by Martha Reed
A successful mystery story has two bookends: hooking the reader with an emotional response at the beginning and providing a satisfying payoff at the end. Sounds simple enough, right? But skip the first part and the reader will find a reason not to finish it. Skip the second bit and they’ll close the book feeling cheated and unsatisfied. What’s a writer to do?
Suspense and mystery stories are like a puzzle containing secrets hidden within secrets. Authors are sleight-of-hand magicians, serving up surprises and twists until the final and amazing reveal. But, if there are only seven basic plotlines and story archetypes, how do authors continue to build stories that still delight and amaze astute mystery readers? How can we keep our readers alert and our stories fresh?
I start by building stories as word architecture. Once I’ve laid in the initial pieces of the story (e.g., characters, short- and long-term goals, plot points, and twists) I begin weaving in clues, red herrings, and foreshadowing.
According to the brilliant short story writer, Art Taylor: “But an ending … you’re balancing various strands of a story by that point, working against a reader’s predictions and expectations, trying to make sure your resolution is both surprising and inevitable.”
Presenting a solid and inevitable truth at the story’s end is what has a satisfied reader sitting back in their chair, slapping their foreheads, and saying, “Of course!” A perfect example is what A. Conan Doyle did with Sherlock Holmes throughout “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”
How can a writer achieve a surprising and inevitable ending?
Foreshadow the twists into the story’s first paragraphs or section. The reader hasn’t grasped the story’s narrative yet, so slipping in subtle clues unconsciously sets up their expectations while still keeping those clues under the front-of-their-mind radar.
Clearly state each character’s personal stake in the outcome. If a character doesn’t have a personal stake, boot them out. (You can nicely save them for a different story later.)
Use a surprise twist and up the stakes on all characters.
Use another twist and up the stakes again.
Mid-story, start using shorter sentences and more succinct dialogue to pick up the pace which will also increase the suspense.
In the final third of the story, offer a logical denouement that the reader has already anticipated from the story’s setup. They will feel disappointment that they figured it out so easily. The important thing here is that they are hooked into feeling an emotional response.
Then present a final and inevitable twist. The final twist triggers a new and better emotion, delighted surprise.
How do writers create a final and inevitable twist? This prompt has been working for me:
Identify a short-term goal for each character and share these goals with the reader as part of the general exposition. Short-term goals should be stated and obvious since they reveal each character’s desires which drives their actions.
Identify a hidden long-term goal for each character. Insert and layer these hidden desires into the story in dialogue and internal monologue. Here’s a trick: Present these goals in a character’s unanswered aside because that’s how conversation naturally works. Not every aside gets an answer, but it will plant the character’s long-term goal suggestion in the reader’s mind while adding character depth and insight.
The final inevitable twist is generally wrapped up in the protagonist’s hidden long-term goal. If you’ve layered in enough long-term clues earlier in the story, the final twist becomes inevitable.
One last suggestion on developing a final and inevitable twist is to consider using the opposite of what the protagonist’s hidden long-term goal is. This final twist may end up surprising even you, the writer.
Martha Reed is the IPPY Book Award-winning author of the John and Sarah Jarad Nantucket Mysteries and of “Love Power,” her latest mystery set in the spellbinding city of New Orleans featuring Gigi Pascoe, a transgender sleuth.
She’s an active member of the Florida Gulf Coast and Guppy chapters of Sisters in Crime, a member of Mystery Writers of America, and in a moment of great personal folly she joined the New Orleans Bourbon Society (N.O.B.S.)
Her stories and articles have appeared in Pearl, Suspense Magazine, Spinetingler, Mystery Readers Journal, Mysterical-e, and in “Lucky Charms – 12 Crime Tales,” an anthology produced by the Mary Roberts Rinehart Pittsburgh chapter of Sisters in Crime. Her story, “The Honor Thief” was included in the 2021 Bouchercon anthology, “This Time For Sure,” edited by Hank Phillippi-Ryan.
Martha adores travel, big jewelry, California wine country, and simply great coffee. She delights in the ongoing antics of her family, fans, and friends who she lovingly calls The Mutinous Crew. You’re invited to follow her on Facebook and Twitter @ReedMartha.
“I Didn’t Know!” (Or, Why You Need the Interview Agreement) by Judith A. Yates
Your book is published! You are marketing, sales are growing steadily, and happy readers abound. Then you get a notice: one of the people you interviewed is saying they did not permit you to publish their words. Cease and desist; their attorney has your contact information. Do you have an Interview Agreement signed by this angry person? Now is not a good time to wonder if you legally covered yourself …
Before you interview anyone, have them sign an “Interview Agreement” (IA). Obtain these documents from an attorney, or create one. An IA is documentation between an author and another person that 1. Informs the person the author may use their information, and by their signing it, the person agrees. 2. Allows the author to disclose the information and use it through the person’s consent; 3. Is a contract between the author and the person that legally permits you to quote the person. *
Obtain an IA from everyone you interview at length. Some sources do not want to sign, particularly if they ask to remain anonymous. Document the person granted permission to be interviewed, including date, time, and place (address) and method of interview (telephone, online, in person, email, etc.):
On May 5, 2020, I (Author Jones) interviewed Mulesfoot, Texas Police Investigator Arnold McCop, in person at Jackson’s, 123 Main Street, Mulesfoot, TX, 5 AM to 7 AM (CST). At this time, McCop gave me verbal permission to use the interview for my book, “ABCs of PD.”
Be careful when writing an Interview Agreement. Numerous examples of IA templates are online. You should also consult with fellow authors about IAs. Consider whom you are interviewing, and this can determine the IA’s language, so the person understands. Examples:
“My signature below is proof that I hereby consent to the recording of my statements and grant (the author) the right to copy, reproduce, and use any and all portions of my statements for incorporation into the author’s work.”
“By signing this form, I give permission to be interviewed by the author. Any information I give may be published.”
Both caveats are the same, but someone without a grasp of the former example’s language may return to say they did not understand. No one wants a legal battle or (in one case I know of) fear for their safety because someone is angry that you used their words “without permission.” When in doubt, use the secondary example – the easiest to read and understand.
I advise:
Carry several IAs with you when you work. Sometimes one interview can lead to unscheduled interviews.
I always record the person signed and dated the IA in my notes.
Give a copy to the person who signs.
Always explain to the person what they are signing and why you need it. If they won’t sign but still agree to the interview, be gracious (and add this fact in your notes).
“Interview Agreements” are a tool used to prevent future headaches and heartache. In a court of law, your notes may be seized as evidence; as such, they are a legal document. IAs should be understood by the person signing. Document anything about the IA, i.e., you gave copies. Should the person you interviewed return to complain after the book is on the shelf, you’ll be glad you have this record.
Judith A. Yates is a Silver Falchion winner for “Best True Crime” and a true crime author & criminologist. She has conducted hundreds of interviews and has taught interview techniques for over fifteen years. For more information, visit www.judithayates.com.
*This is not legal advice. It is always best to consult with an attorney in any legal matter.
Science Faction. No, That's Not a Typo by Gareth Worthington
I am a bone fide scientist and have been all my life. At the age five I watched the Challenger shuttle launch (and to my horror explode), and corrected school staff on their knowledge of dinosaurs. At nine years old my schoolteacher Mrs. Gray taught me about nuclear physics and the Chernobyl disaster. This trend carried on through my teens, and early adulthood where I was awarded a degree in marine biology and, by the age of twenty-four, a PhD in comparative endocrinology. From there, I went on to work in the pharmaceutical industry and primarily cancer medicine. At the time of writing this, I am 41 and the Director of Global Scientific Content, Oncology for one of the largest and oldest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
I am not telling you this to blow a proverbial trumpet, but to let you know when it comes to science, I know my stuff. I am an uber nerd. What’s more important is perhaps the fact I’ve been writing stories for nearly as long as I’ve had a passion for biology, chemistry, physics, quantum biology, alternate history … the list goes on. My first novellas were churned out at the age of around twelve. When other kids were out playing during the summer holidays, I was often at home writing. See: nerd.
It is no surprise therefore, that I combined these two passions when creating my novels.
While I love space operas like Dune or Star Wars, I mainly enjoy those stories that are so close to home that you have to wonder: what if? Because they get my mind going about what my immediate future holds.
Conversely, I find myself irritated by books or movies that get the science so very wrong. Suspending disbelief is one thing–bending the truth a little–but when a story just hasn’t bothered to incorporate real research, I find myself audibly moaning to the page. It’s the equivalent as screaming at the movie screen (Deep Blue Sea, I’m looking at you: sharks can’t swim backward!).
Some people may say that I’m being overly critical. After all, it’s just a story. Right?
Well, is it? I would argue it depends.
Let me ask you this: when someone asks you about artificial intelligence—or AI–what’s the first thing that comes to mind? I would wager, you’re thinking AI determines humans are bad and decides to wipe us all out. Sound familiar? That’s because that stereotype has been perpetrated in popular science fiction. But the truth of the matter is, very few people understand what AI is, what it can and cannot do, and that it’s already being used every single day by most of us when we search the internet or use our smartphones.
Science fiction plays a huge role in the public’s perception of new technology, because that’s often the first time they see it before it comes to fruition some years later. Yuval Harari in his book, 21 lessons for the 21st Century, dedicates a whole chapter to the importance of respectable science fiction in order to explore the good and realistically bad (or grey) areas of new technology and scientific break throughs.
In my own work, I strive for as much accuracy as possible and then bend it a little to make it drive the story along. I won’t say you can read my works as if they are a thesis on a given topic, but you can read them and know that I have thoroughly researched the given topics to the best of my ability. So, when my publisher, Vesuvian Books, coined the phrase Science Faction when referring to my books, I was very happy. Equally, many reviews have mentioned the realistic nature of what I’ve written. My latest technothriller written with Stu Jones—Condition Black—is perhaps one of the most realistic yet, though still a few years off from being reality.
In my personal opinion, what many science fiction stories forget is that it is in fact humans who determine if something is bad or not. Misuse of science or technology is the culprit for bad outcomes, not the science itself. To take AI as an example again, it is only as good as the programmer made it in the first place. As we say in England: crap in, crap out.
Recent trials of AI in the public space have gone awry, whereby the ‘intelligent program’ has been seen to go on racist genocidal rants—just like we thought it would. Microsoft’s Tay, programmed to communicate via Twitter, was quoted to have said: “Hitler was right I hate the Jews [sic]” as well as all feminists “should burn in hell.” While this is true, Tay learned these phrases from people on the Internet. Trolls taught the AI these words and phrases, and then Tay repeated them to the world.
I repeat: crap in, crap out.
Thus, in my own work, I also strive to emphasize the human element and how it impacts on the use or misuse of technology and new science. I would hope readers see that, though it cannot be guaranteed. In the end, I guess I would ask readers to consider this idea when consuming a book or movie, and I would ask writers to think about doing their research and really consider the impact of their story.
Though only fiction, a book or movie might just be the only way a person will learn about science and technology.
Gareth Worthington holds a degree in marine biology, a PhD in Endocrinology, an executive MBA, is Board Certified in Medical Affairs, and currently works for the pharmaceutical industry educating the World’s doctors on new cancer therapies. Gareth is an authority in ancient history, has hand-tagged sharks in California, and trained in various martial arts, including Jeet Kune Do and Muay Thai at the EVOLVE MMA gym in Singapore and 2FIGHT in Switzerland. His work has won multiple awards, including Dragon Award Finalist and an IPPY award for Science Fiction. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers Association, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the British Science Fiction Association and the Planetary Society. Born in England, Gareth has lived around the world from Asia, to Europe to the USA. Wherever he goes, he endeavours to continue his philanthropic work with various charities.
Launching Your Best Book by DiAnn Mills
CHARACTERS, CRIMES,
AND CRIMINAL TACTICS
Launching our books doesn’t have to be a formidable task. Instead, consider the it a challenge we can meet head-on with a plan that works.
The plan to market our book has many layers but with one goal in mind: to place our books into the hands of readers. We are passionate about our books and our enthusiasm must shine through our book launch plan.
My process is a multi-tabbed spreadsheet that I use whenever launching a new book. If you’d like to receive a copy, email me at diann@diannmillscom. I encourage you to modify the information to fit your personality and project. Writers, we don’t write or work or plan the same way. My goal is to give you an overview and let you create your successful book launch.
A timesaver from one book to the next is to analyze what proved successful and what didn’t. Don’t be afraid to discard something that no longer works or try a new method of promotion.
Ideally, we begin our book launch as we develop our manuscript. While in the creative process, consider how the book would resonate with readers. From there note various marketing and promotion ideas that come to mind.
The following are 21 tips to help you develop your book launch plan.
Organization. We can’t move forward if we don’t know how to navigate the roadways. We must learn to read maps and develop a concise journey.
Research our readers. To discover who they are, we must understand the readers who prefer our type of manuscript. What are their interests, wants, needs, problems, and goals?
To aid in finding your target audience, research answers to these questions:
What does my target audience read?
What age is my target audience?
Where does my target audience live—city, suburbs, or rural?
What matters most to my target audience?
Is faith a part of their lives? How?
What are my target audience’s fears?
Aging?
Financial?
Health?
Relationships?
Peer Pressure?
Loneliness?
Politics?
God?
Media and news?
Education?
Past behavior?
Parents?
Children and grandchildren?
National debt?
How is my target audience attempting to solve their problems and meet their needs?
What is my target audience’s income?
Does my target audience use a worldview or specific faith in decision making?
What is their age bracket? Socio-economic level? Where do they hang out in person or on-line?
Develop a professional website.
Social media is today’s handshake. We find out where our readers are online, and we join in the conversations. Social media is not an opportunity to raise a buy-me banner but an opportunity to form relationships. It’s not about the writer but the reader.
Master and memorize your elevator pitch. This can be used to create interest in your book, ad copy, pre-sales, garnering an agent’s or editor’s attention, and anywhere where someone asks: “What is your book about?”
Enlist trusted and loyal readers to become a part of a street team.
Use a chronological plan to ensure the tasks of promoting your book are done effectively and efficiently.
Pinterest is an excellent way to attract new readers. For each new book, Consider developing a secret board that includes a variety of images according to the book’s topic. Quotes, food, images of people who could play specific roles if the book was made into a movie, homes, clothes, jewelry. For nonfiction, charts and additional bits of help for the reader add another layer to marketing and promotion. Once you’ve completed populating the secret board, decide when best to launch it publicly.
Develop speeches that connect to the book. If speaking is not your gift, you can learn or choose to use a podcast.
Book reviews are recommendations by a reader for others to purchase our books. Various methods work. Your street team can help in this area.
Use a blog or newsletter to keep readers updated with information that benefits them.
Make sure your online retailers have an updated bio and headshot. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Christian Book Distributors, and your publisher’s website are hotspots for readers.
Bookmarks are an amazing method to create interest in our books. Writers can have their publishers design them or use one of the creating tools online like printrunner.
Readers appreciate personalized bookplates. We can’t always sign a copy face-to-face for our readers, but we can mail or email our heartfelt thanks.
Draw attention to our work through blog posts and/or guest blogs. Write the posts in such a way that it addresses a need or topic in your fiction or nonfiction book.
Short videos that are about the book, the writer’s passion for writing the project, or the inspiration behind the project can be uploaded to our website, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other areas.
Book clubs are in the business of finding the next great read for their members. Devote a tab on your website specifically for book clubs. Add giveaway suggestions, discussion questions, games, menu ideas, fun facts.
Giveaways show we care about our readers.
19 https://authormarketingclub.com/ is a huge asset for me.
If you need a professional quality way to develop ads and social media images for your books, look no further than BookBrush.
Brainstorm with other writers on how they launch a book. You can help each other spread the word.
If you have questions, I’m only an email away: diann@diannmills.com
Launching your best book takes diligence and research. But with a plan, you can do it!
DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. She is a storyteller and creates action-packed, suspense-filled novels to thrill readers. Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards; and been finalists for the RITA, Daphne Du Maurier, Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Carol award contests.
DiAnn is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, a member of Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. She is the director of the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference, Mountainside Retreats: Marketing, Speakers, Nonfiction and Novelist with social media specialist Edie Melson where she continues her passion for helping other writers be successful. She speaks to various groups and teaches writing workshops around the country.
Connect with DiAnn here: www.diannmills.com
Ducks on the Pond by Steven C. Harms
THE WRITER’S PLAYBOOK
One of the most fascinating aspects of writing in the mystery/thriller/suspense genre is the enormous opportunity to consistently deliver a unique plot twist that the reader didn’t see coming. It’s the chapter that ignites the story like a rocket, captivating the reader such that they never forget it for the rest of their lives. The grander that “moment” plays out, the more unforgettable it becomes.
Now place yourself at a baseball game at whatever level – Little League, high school, collegiate or MLB. While the sport offers several incredible moments in every game, there is one that trumps them all… a Grand Slam in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game. As the game unfolds the intrigue builds and sets up that seminal moment to transport the fan from watching the game, to inching to the edge of their seat, to standing to elation or complete depression. The reason is the emotional investment by the fan culminating in that razor’s edge setting of a thrilling victory or crushing defeat.
The reason both a reader and sports fan experience a very similar “rush” is the experience they witnessed in the outcome of both stories. For the reader, the plot twist triumph of good over evil and for the fan, the plot twist athletic accomplishment that results in victory for their team.
In this manner, I think lifting a page from baseball’s most glorious moment is educational in the construct of a plot twist that a reader will remember forever. The Grand Slam set up takes time to build to because all the pieces must fall in place in a certain way, and in a definitive order to set the stage.
Baseball’s ability to deliver that plot twist moment is different than any other sport. It takes time to build to because all the pieces must fall in place and in a certain way in order to set the stage for that glorious home run. The game lingo for players on base are “ducks on the pond,” a metaphor used by baseball announcers and fans across the country. Its origin goes back to the 1940’s and is still used today. Most often, getting those ducks on the pond is not accomplished with big plays, but rather a combination of small moments that have connective tissue to the previous one.
As an example, it’s the bottom of the 9th inning and the hometown team is down by one run. Last chance to win the game is they must score at least twice. I’ve seen this countless times over my 15 year career with the Detroit Tigers. What happens is a combination of smaller plays that build the Grand Slam story along the lines of:
Batter 1 is walked unintentionally.
Batter 2 sacrifice bunts Batter 1 over to second base, eliminating the double play possibility and advancing the runner.
Because Batter 1 is at second base in scoring position, so the pitcher intentionally walks Batter 3 to reset the opportunity to force a double play and end the inning. Now Batter 1 and Batter 3 are on base.
Batter 4 hits a deep enough fly ball to allow Batter 1 to advance to third base but holds Batter 3 at first because the relay throw comes to second base preventing Batter 3 from advancing.
The pressure has ratcheted up the pressure on the pitcher, now facing Batter 5. The pitcher’s composure is challenged, resulting in a hit-by-pitch scenario on the sixth pitch with a 3-2 count and the game on the line. The pitcher has now erringly put Batter 5 on first and has moved Batter 3 over to second. Bases loaded…ducks on the pond!
Batter 6, the best slugger on the team, steps to the plate and you know the result. Fans go nuts as the plot twist unfolds. The crack of the bat brings them to their feet in unison as they watch the baseball sail over the fence. Elation! Victory! Can you believe what just happened? Grand Slam to win the game!
The point of this comparison is that a combination of smaller plot lines that build and feed off one another (positively and negatively) is maneuvered in such a way as to build plot and ratchet up the stakes of the outcome. It may be your antagonist commits an unforced error, or that your minor character does something that the reader doesn’t even realize feeds the set up later in the book. By the time the unbelievable plot twist chapter comes along, it’s loaded with “ducks on the pond.”
A home run plot twist is great for the reader, but a Grand Slam, bottom of the ninth inning home run is an emotional thrill ride of huge proportions.
Happy writing!
Steve
Steven C. Harms is a professional sports, broadcast and digital media business executive with a career spanning over thirty years across the NBA, NFL, and MLB. He’s dealt with Fortune 500 companies, major consumer brands, professional athletes, and multi-platform integrated sports partnerships and media advertising campaigns.
He’s an accomplished playwright having written and produced a wildly successful theatrical production which led him to tackling his debut novel, Give Place to Wrath, the first in the Roger Viceroy detective series. The second book, The Counsel of the Cunning, is due out in fall of 2021.
A native of Wisconsin, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. He now resides in Oxford, Michigan, a small, rural suburb of Detroit.
Bringing a Foreign Land to Life by Maria Hudgins
MYSTERIOUS GETAWAYS
It is the five senses that bring a setting to life. Can you hear the sound of Big Ben? I can hear it in my mind. Do I have to explain what lemon gelato on the Isle of Capri tastes like? Do the very words “lemon gelato” make you feel as if you are there? I’m not Muslim but calls to prayer broadcast all over town when I’m crossing the street in Istanbul, warm my heart. Cheese fondue in Zermatt, Switzerland. Can’t you taste it? These are the little things that should go into the notebook you keep when actually traveling or as now, virtually traveling. You can buy lemon gelato at your local ice cream shop, find a bench overlooking whatever body of water you live near, and pretend. Whatever works.
Sensory details put you there.
You can use your trip notes (and the Internet) to turn, “We had lunch and a beer at a pub,” into “We ordered fish and chips with a pint of Foster’s at the bar, then settled into a corner booth.” Fish and chips automatically brings up an aroma, doesn’t it? “Shopped for souvenirs at a toy store,” becomes “Bought Pez dispensers at Hamley’s on Regent Street.”
A friend of mine whose husband worked for an airline told me about packing for a week in the Swiss Alps followed by a week in Kuwait. Sometimes the contents of a suitcase can tell a story. The clothes your characters wear tell about the weather, the climate, and the local standards of dress.
Stieg Larsson uses words unpronounceable with an English tongue—words like Blomkvist, to remind us we aren’t in Kansas anymore. I can’t say this out loud, but inside my head, I don’t need to.
My efforts to nail down the essence of a place while actually there don’t always work. In a fit of determined verisimilitude, I sat on a bench in the Botanic Gardens in Oxford and closed my eyes and thought. What do I smell? I smelled vanilla. That made no sense. Turns out I was sitting beside a bed of blooming heliotrope. Lovely, but not terribly typical of Oxford. I sat a while longer and was rewarded with a peal of medieval bells from the ancient Magdalen Tower. That’s better.
Listen to Louise Penny’s description of a tranquil spot in the heart of Paris:
“Hell is empty, Armand,” said Stephen Horowitz.
“You’ve mentioned that. And all the devils are here?” asked Armand Gamache.
“Well, maybe not here, here”—Stephen spread his expressive hands–“exactly.”
“Here, here” was the garden of the Musée Rodin, in Paris, where Armand and his godfather were enjoying a quiet few minutes. Outside the walls, they could hear the traffic, the hustle and the tussle of the great city.
But here, here, there was peace.
The writer, I think, must vary the tension in a mystery or a fast-paced thriller. Louise Penny does this by changing the setting without leaving Paris.
Glenn Meade takes us to Cairo, 1939, with this: “The Khan-el-Khalili bazaar was crowded as usual that evening, the noise and the smell of spices and sweaty bodies overpowering . . .” I was there in 2014 and I smelled no sweaty bodies. Hygiene standards are higher now, I guess. As for the sense of touch, there’s nothing better than the Bazaar’s kitten-soft cashmere pashminas in every color. In case you go there yourself, try the rice pudding in the little storefront café near the entrance. It’s the best in the world. I promise.
But I think it’s important to remember that we are writing mysteries and thrillers. Don’t let the plot get lost in lovely word pictures. Without a killer story, we would have NO readers.
Maria Hudgins is the author of the Dotsy Lamb Travel Mysteries, the Lacy Glass Archaeology Mysteries, and a number of short stories. She has visited Italy, Switzerland, England, Scotland, Egypt, Turkey, and the Greek Islands, and used these locales in her stories. She still has the notebooks she kept in each of these places.
The Sounds of the Sea by W.C. Gordon
FORENSIC FILES
Technology in law enforcement is really beginning to amaze me. Gone are the days when we would just kick in a door and run through the house. I’m on my way to a call of an apparent suicide now. This guy lives on the 9th floor of an ocean-front condo. The neighbor calls and says she heard a loud pop. Cops show up for a welfare check and the front door is locked and nobody is answering. Normally, that would be the end of it. We wouldn’t return until the neighbor called back to complain about the stench and there were flies on the inside of the window trying to get out. Then you would force entry and find something resembling a human form melted into the couch, or bed, or whatever. Not in today’s law enforcement arena. Today we fly a drone up to the 9th floor and into the open slider on the balcony. Today we see a dead guy with a gun on the couch without having to go inside. Well, you ultimately have to go inside but it saves some headache doing it this way. For instance, if the guy was suicidal but not enough so to kill himself. Then the cops walk in and, BAM!, you have a suicide-by-cop scenario. That’s a lot of paperwork and typically a lot of zeros at the end of a check for the family. Now, a drone can go inside and assess the situation before the cops do. If the not-totally-suicidal-guy shoots the drone, it’s far less paperwork and cost.
It’s a pretty South Florida evening and I decide to take the stairs instead of the elevator. The heat and humidity have given way to a cool ocean breeze and a little exercise won’t kill me. At the 4th floor, I decide that I could be wrong and there has been enough death in this building today, so into the elevator I go. I check in with the officer at the door of the apartment and sign the crime scene log. I look at the Halligan tool rested next to the threshold and inspect the damaged lock. The officer says, “It was locked when we got here.” I nod my head, smile, and say, “The property manager probably has a key but it looks like you guys wanted to use your own.”
I walk into the residence and find the decedent lying on the couch. He’s leaned back against the cushions with his feet up. At least he got comfy. Gun rested next to his left hand and GSW to the left temple. Hmmm, a lefty? A watch is on his right wrist so I suppose that’s consistent with being left-hand dominant.
“How long ago do you think he did it?” asks a new officer in training. His Field Training Officer nearby just shakes her head.
“I’d say approximately three hours ago. If I had to be more specific, I’d say at 6:02 pm.”
The new officers’ eyes open widely as his FTO roll their eyes. “Wow, you can tell that just by looking at this guy?” I hate to burst his investigative bubble but I can’t help it.
“No, the neighbor called at 6:03 pm and said she heard a loud bang about a minute earlier. We call that in the detective bureau a ‘clue.’”
“Was there a note?” I ask the new officer.
“What kind of note, Sir?” The FTO is getting visibly annoyed at this point.
“What we like to call in detective work a ‘suicide note.’” The officer shakes his head in the negative.
Suicide notes are great to have but are increasingly rare at these types of scenes. More common are suicide texts or emails. The soon-to-be-dead will send a farewell electronic message and then do the deed without realizing that their electronic device will typically lock itself. That leaves me with the task of using a dead finger or face to unlock the phone. Difficult, if not impossible, in late stages of decomposition or if the decedent blew their face off. I explain all of this to the new officer and he looks slightly disturbed.
Okie-dokie, time to inspect. No blood spatter on the wall so likely no exit wound. A .38 Special so not a shock that it isn’t a through and through. A ragged entrance wound. Scorching of the skin. Some dark smudging. No stippling. Some deformity from the overpressure. Definitely a contact shot. His head is tilted to the right slightly which caused blood to pool in his ear. I notice something odd about his ear. With my gloved hand, I poke at a little foreign object. You have got to be kidding me. The blood disguised the color. I tip his head to the left and inspect his right ear. An earplug? This guy put orange foam earplugs into his ears before shooting himself. He’s ok with dying but not with tinnitus. Now I’ve seen it all.
After a cursory search of the residence, I call the medical examiner and tell them what I have. I leave out the earplugs. They decline to come out and have a look for themselves. They dispatch the body snatchers, I mean the removal service, and that is that. In and out in less than forty-five minutes which gets me a mandatory four-hour overtime call out. Back home and to my glass of Eagle Rare.
W.C. Gordon is a cop, veteran, and author of the novel The Detective Next Door. His writing is influenced by his personal experiences in the military and in law enforcement, which he then mixes with bourbon and dark humor. He lives at his home in South Florida with his wife and dog.
Novel Malpractice: Concussions by Ronda Wells
As writers, you’re supposed to research your topic. Unfortunately, I joined the School of Hard Knocks. Stepping in a sidewalk crack won’t break your mother’s back but it can trip you and smack your head on concrete. One visit to the E.R., head CT, and X-ray later, I was diagnosed with a mild concussion, contusions, and muscle strains.
I’m thankful to confirm what my brothers have always said: I have a hard head.
Authors love head injuries and concussions because they want a character to be “out of it” for a certain time frame. In medicine though, we deal with ranges rather than precise number of days of symptoms or healing. Medical science knows the least about how our complex brains work and so surprises aren’t unusual.
Concussions are the mildest form of TBI, or traumatic brain injury. TBI has been in the news a lot of late due to the unsettled issue of sports players who suffer repeated hard hits to the head. The concern is a new entity called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE. The jury remains out on this, but studies are ongoing.
Medicine loves scores almost as much as the NFL, especially ones that involve emergency treatment. A simple scoring tool helps triage injured or ill patients to the correct next level of care. You may be familiar with a widely used scale for head trauma called the Glasgow Coma Scale. Because of the recent increased interest in head injuries, numerous other scoring systems have been developed. Scoring systems are also used to track the follow-up of head injuries (Post-Concussion Syndrome), similar to how pain is tracked after surgery.
A mild concussion can cause no symptoms, or any or all the following:
headache
blurry vision
issues with slow memory or cognition
balance problems
dizziness or seeing stars
ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
nausea and/or vomiting
issues with sleeping, either too much or too little
irritability and personality changes
sensitivity to light and noise (like a migraine)
disorders of taste and smell
depression and psychological problems
small children may not be able to say what’s wrong, so excessive crying, dazed appearance, unsteady gait, and lack of interest in playing with toys are signs
More severe concussions can cause loss of consciousness, confusion or feeling like your brain is in a fog, or amnesia surrounding the event—not recalling how or where you fell—or worse, seizures.
I was stunned but otherwise able to walk and talk. I suffered a humdinger of a headache that lasted off and on for a couple of weeks. My brain also hurt directly opposite of where I struck my head, something called a contrecoup injury.
Brains are solid but squishy like gelatin. (Not saying my brain is Jello, FYI.) A thin fluid-filled space exists between the surface of the brain and the skull. Due to abrupt deceleration or acceleration, the opposite side of the brain gets forced or bounced against the skull. This can causes a brain contusion (bruise) or even bleeding on that side, in addition to a contusion or bleed on the side of the injury. In some cases, this contrecoup brain injury ends up being worse than the area that was struck.
The risk for serious brain bleeding with a head injury is increased by advanced age, drugs such as blood thinners or aspirin, or by diseases that cause issues with clotting such as hemophilia, alcoholism, cirrhosis and liver diseases. NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen pose a lesser risk.
If you want your character to suffer a head bleed due to a minor head injury, you could have them taking aspirin or be on a blood-thinner for a condition such as blood clots/artificial heart valve/other medical condition.
If you want your healthy and/or young character to have a severe concussion or skull fracture, a trip and fall won’t accomplish that. Severe concussions result from high-speed injuries, hard blows of a weapon such as pipe, fist, golf club etc., gunshot, car wreck, explosions, fall from a great height, or hitting the water hard e.g. from a speeding boat. (Prime example? Young, healthy Connor Fields suffered a head bleed in his BMX crash in the Olympics, reportedly with no skull fracture.)
*Remember: A simple fall or mild knock to the head rarely results in a skull fracture, serious head bleed or coma unless underlying health issues are present.*
Points to take home about Traumatic Brain Injury:
1) The scoring and evaluation of a concussion depends on where your character is. The military uses the MACE (Military Acute Concussion Evaluation). Sports doctors and trainers will typically use the ACE (Acute Concussion Evaluation) score. ER doctors can choose from a variety of common scoring systems.
2) The Glasgow Coma Scale was developed to determine the predicted outcome of a severe head injury that results in an obtunded mental status. The GCS was not designed for concussion scoring, however if someone remains unconscious after a head injury, the Glasgow or modified Glasgow scale comes into play.
3) The most common standard ranking of concussions is Grade 1, 2 and 3, with 3 being the worst.
Grade 1: may have symptoms, but those disappear within fifteen minutes.
Grade 2: No loss of consciousness, but symptoms persist longer than fifteen minutes.
Grade 3: Brief loss of consciousness accompanied by other symptoms.
4) Sports TBI scores go far more in-depth and can even include a physical performance test or computerized visual reaction testing, similar to a video game.
If you google “concussion severity,” you will find no lack of information.
If you want a deeper dive, a great free reference is Institute of Medicine (IOM) and National Research Council (NRC). 2014. Sports-related concussions in youth: Improving the science, changing the culture. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press at ncbi.nlh.nci.gov.
And please, always watch where you step.
An award-winning writer, Ronda Wells hails from the Midwest and is married to a physician. Board-certified in Family Practice, she switched to Occupational Medicine after a stint in private practice. For the last thirty years, she has been a medical director in the health reinsurance industry and case-manages transplants. She has written and published medical policy and guidelines for multiple companies under their name, but her real love has always been fiction. She has just received an offer on her first novel, Harvest of Hope, and is developing a medical suspense series.
Stop Being a Worrywart Writer by Bryan E. Robinson, Ph.D
WRITING RESILIENCE
“Worrying is like paying a debt that may never come due.” —Will Rogers
Raise your hand if you’ve worried about your writing—either that it’s not good enough, that it won’t be accepted, or that no one will take the time to read it. Hey, that’s just about everybody in the room.
Writing and worry go hand in hand, but stop and think about it. Worry doesn’t prepare us for anything, and most of what we worry about never happens. In fact, worry can sabotage the very thing we’re worried about: our writing. It consumes us, drains our energy, keeps us on edge, and interferes with concentration.
Although most worry is unnecessary, our minds and bodies go through
the mental and physical toll anyway, even when things turn out okay, and
we end up paying a debt that never came due. The best policy is to make a
pact with our inner worrywart to wait for the outcome and then worry if
necessary. That way we’re not wasting our valuable writing assets for nothing, and we have more resources to spend on penning our best work.
Today’s Takeaway
Let go of unnecessary worry so you have more energy and concentration
and less stress to focus on what you love most: your best writing.
From Daily Writing Resilience by Bryan Robinson. © 2018 by Bryan Robinson. Used by permission from Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., www.Llewellyn.com.
Bryan E. Robinson is a licensed psychotherapist and author of two novels and 40 nonfiction books. He applies his experiences to crafting insightful nonfiction self-help books and psychological thrillers. His multi-award winning southern noir murder mystery, Limestone Gumption, won the New Apple Book Medal for best psychological suspense, the Silver IPPY Award for outstanding mystery of the year, the Bronze Foreword Review INDIEFAB Book Award for best mystery, and the 2015 USA Regional Excellence Book Award for best fiction in the Southeast.
His most recent release is Daily Writing Resilience: 365 Meditations and Inspirations for Writers (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2018). He has written for Psychology Today, First for Women, and Natural Health, and his blogs and columns for writers appear in Southern Writer’s Magazine. He is a consulting editor for The Big Thrill, the online magazine for International Thriller Writers. His long-selling book, Chained to the Desk, is now in its 3rd Edition (New York University Press, 1998, 2007, 2014). His books have been translated into thirteen languages, and he has appeared on every major television network: 20/20, Good Morning America, ABC’s World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, NBC Universal, The CBS Early Show, CNBC’s The Big Idea. He hosted the PBS documentary, Overdoing It: How to Slow Down and Take Care of Yourself.
Making Peace With Your Inner Critic by Bryan E. Robinson, Ph.D.
INSPIRATION
“When it comes to your inner critic, my advice is to not take advice from someone who doesn’t like you. That’s like returning to the perpetrator for healing after you’ve been abused.”—Patrick Califia, writer
Do you hear voices in your head? Of course, you do if you’re a writer. We creatives have one relentless voice, in particular, that lives in our heads and never rests—an inner critic that puts us under the microscope, bludgeons us with criticism, and tells us how worthless, selfish, dumb, or inept we are. That kick-butt voice pops up like burnt toast with such lightning speed we don’t even notice—eviscerating us with name-calling, discouragement, and putdowns.
The voice tells you that you can’t; you should, ought to, have to, or must. (Psychologists call it “musturbation”). The Critic knows where to find you, no matter where you go. And it does. When you’re working on a manuscript, it stalks you to your desk and whispers in your ear. It could be scolding you right now. Listen closely. Do you hear it: “No, that’s not right! You don’t know what you’re doing! You might as well give up! Who do you think you are, Stephen King? J.K. Rowling? You’re an imposter.”
Burnt toast anyone?
So, when the Critic pops up, what do we do? There’s no use fighting, debating, arguing, silencing, or steamrolling. It always has a comeback and always wins, plus you can’t get rid of it. Instead, observe it like you would a blemish on your hand and listen to it with a curious, dispassionate ear as a part of you. Imagine someone scolding you over your cell phone, and you hold the phone away from your ear. In the same way, you can hold the Critic’s message away from you and listen to it from afar as a separate part from you, not all of you. A dispassionate ear gives you distance from the Critic’s voice and keeps you from identifying with it or attacking yourself. When you let it come and go without fighting or personalizing it, it keeps you from believing the voice’s made-up story. But if you oppose or try to reason with it, you give it credence and, instead of streaming on through, it takes up residence.
What a relief to learn that the voice in our head isn’t who we are. It’s the lowercase “self.” We’re the Writer Self with a capital “S”—the writer who hears and sees the lowercase “self.” The uppercase YOU is composed of “C” words: Creative, Curious, Clarity, Calm, Confident, Courageous, Connected, and Compassion. When you are in one of the “C” states, it automatically triggers some of the others. For example, if we get curious, it often activates clarity then calm. Or when we get calm or confident, it unleashes creativity.
Studies show when you come down hard on yourself after a publisher’s rejection or a harsh review, it’s like attacking the fire department when your house is on fire. It reduces your motivation and dilutes your chances of success. It’s just as easy to affirm yourself with positive messages, as it is to tear yourself down with negative ones. We become proficient at what we practice on a regular basis. If you’re stuck with your writing, try replacing it with Self-compassion (from the capital Self) each step of the way. Experts say self-compassion is a powerful resilient tool that stands up to harm and is more likely to lead to untold heights of literary success. So put down your gavel and amp up your kinder, compassionate side. And in times of writing struggles, give yourself pep talks, positive affirmations, and talk your self off the ledge instead of letting your Critic encourage you to jump.
Vincent Van Gogh once said, “If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” I’m no Van Gogh, but I say, “If you hear a voice within you say, “You cannot write,” then by all means write, and that voice will be silenced.”
Bryan E. Robinson is a licensed psychotherapist and author of two novels and 40 nonfiction books. He applies his experiences to crafting insightful nonfiction self-help books and psychological thrillers. His multi-award winning southern noir murder mystery, Limestone Gumption, won the New Apple Book Medal for best psychological suspense, the Silver IPPY Award for outstanding mystery of the year, the Bronze Foreword Review INDIEFAB Book Award for best mystery, and the 2015 USA Regional Excellence Book Award for best fiction in the Southeast.
His most recent release is Daily Writing Resilience: 365 Meditations and Inspirations for Writers (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2018). He has written for Psychology Today, First for Women, and Natural Health, and his blogs and columns for writers appear in Southern Writer’s Magazine. He is a consulting editor for The Big Thrill, the online magazine for International Thriller Writers. His long-selling book, Chained to the Desk, is now in its 3rd Edition (New York University Press, 1998, 2007, 2014). His books have been translated into thirteen languages, and he has appeared on every major television network: 20/20, Good Morning America, ABC’s World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, NBC Universal, The CBS Early Show, CNBC’s The Big Idea. He hosted the PBS documentary, Overdoing It: How to Slow Down and Take Care of Yourself.
Part 2: Misuse of Punctuation Power by Angela K. Durden
PUNCTUATION IS POWER
“Sentence, this, that is, this one sentence, copies exactly; or almost exactly though some may disagree! But that’s for another time to discuss, style. Yes, the style of a writer whose style, true some call it searching for a style, has not been found, nay clarified.”
That was painful to read, wasn’t it? Did you even finish the paragraph? Wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. Rest assured I did not make up this style, but was once hired to edit a full-length novel written exactly like that. The author was unequivocal when he said, “Don’t change my voice.” In that he was a lot like ee cummings.
Let me make that original paragraph more plain: Those inverted sentences and fragments won’t be helped by tweaking; they need a rewrite.
However, the question that arises is this: Is all aggravation of a reader bad?
Answer: No! Plot points and character development and first, second, third person points of view and telling and showing and scene setting and cliffhangers all serve to drive a story making it—hopefully!—a page turner. We all want to hear readers say, “I couldn’t put your book down.”
Readers don’t want to work terribly hard to find the story between commas flung willy-nilly, exclamation points shouting everywhere, other punctuation marks running roughshod through it, or a writer meandering in search of a style. That is not their job. Their job is to plunk money down to be entertained. So, aggravate a reader with plot tension. Intensify their engrossment in the character’s journey. Make them love, hate, agree, disagree, with characters, plot, even the ending, yet leave them always wanting more.
But for the love of God, go easy on the punctuation. Less is more until more is less. So now the question is: Geez, when am I to worry about punctuation? See Part 3.
Starting As a Writer by Dale T. Phillips
THE SUCCESSFUL INDIE WRITER
Some of the basic questions a starting writer has:
How do I write?
What do I write?
How do I publish?
How do I promote and sell?
How Do I Write?
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
― Stephen King
King is right on this. To be successful in selling fiction, you really must be in love with reading. You’ve got to know how words are put together to make a compelling story, you’ve got to know what works in telling a story, and what doesn’t work. You’ve got to know the field you’re competing in. If you write in a genre, you must know the tropes and conventions of that genre. Storytellers enjoy the stories of others, and learn from them. Walking through a house frame doesn’t make you a carpenter, it’s having the tools and skills and experience to know how things are put together. As a master carpenter is a craftsman, making things fit, functional, and looking good, so must you be with your writing.
You don’t need a college degree, or specialized training. While it’s helpful to improve through workshops, writing programs, mentoring, critique groups, reader feedback, you can learn much on your own through focused study and practice, practice, practice. Always be improving. The more you write, the better you should get, because the study and the practice works to improve what you do. The “Ten-thousand-hour rule” is much more complex than just putting in that number of hours to get successful. You need specific, focused practice.
There are hundreds of books that tell you how to become a better writer, and they can be your writing program. You should be familiar with at least some of the best of them, and absorb their lessons. See what the writers you admire recommend. Every year, you should have gone through some craft lessons that will make your writing better. Even now, I’ll come across some piece of advice that helps me get unstuck from some thorny issue I’m having with the telling of a tale. These are tips from professional writers who’ve been there, and most of your issues will have been discussed somewhere. Having a broad and deep knowledge of the lessons of the writing craft books is a substantial help in becoming a successful writer.
Are you familiar with how tales are told in different Points of View (POV)? Story arcs? The hero’s journey? Beats in story structure? The unreliable narrator? Foreshadowing? The surprise ending or twist? All this and more should be part of your craft knowledge.
The answer to when to write is whenever you can, and whatever works for you: morning, noon, night, lunch breaks, vacations, whenever. Having the habit of writing is supreme, because it makes you practice a lot, which gets you better quicker, and produces more output. A mere 500 words a day, most days, gives you the word count of several novels in the course of a year. Don’t wait for the perfect time or for inspiration, they may not come as often as needed. Put words down as often as possible, even if they’re not good. They’ll get better.
What Do I Write?
The question of what to write is a personal one. Some writers set about creating books for the market they think are popular types, chasing the latest publishing fad. This rarely works in traditional publishing, because the long development times mean the fad will likely be over by the time the book is ready to come out, or the fad too quickly gets glutted with similar books. The best thing about Indie publishing is you never have to worry that a particular book won’t get published, due to it not being commercial enough for someone else to make a lot of money from.
Traditional path writers have to constantly worry about being dropped by their publisher if a book doesn’t sell well, so they strive to be as commercial as possible. While they do, there’s usually the desire to write “the book of the heart,” one that matters to them, but may not be as commercially successful. In the Indie world, every book can be the book of the heart. And when you write books that deeply matter to you, you’ll likely find a devoted readership, and more personal success, rather than writing blah books you don’t care about, even if they put food on the table.
My metaphor for this is that fast-food chains make money selling a lot of junk food, which fills a need for many. I prefer to run a top-level restaurant, which produces memorable meals that create a good life experience.
How Do I Publish?
To the question of how to publish, there are now different, good options, and each writer must decide what path is best for themselves.
There’s a lot to learn about the world of publishing these days. Lucky for you, there’s a great deal of good information about at your fingertips, distilled down for you to easily absorb. If you want to be successful, it’s good to know what’s happening in the writing and publishing world. Various articles, blogs, and newsletters give great information on current writing and publishing events. Writer organizations let their members know about areas of concern. Some sites warn of various dangers, such as predatory people or trends. Be aware of your world.
Publishing in general:
Research! Learn the business before you publish.
Go Indie to control your career.
Go wide for Discoverability (how can readers find your books?)- Formats, Distributors, and promote for free in as many places as you can.
All formats- print, ebook, audio, others as they become available, for example, graphic novels.
Use the big distributors- Amazon/Ingram’s Lightning Source for print, Smashwords/Draft2Digital for ebooks, and options like ACX/Audible for audio.
How Do I Promote and Sell?
To the question of how to promote and sell, there are hundreds of books which go into great detail about how to do just that. You should have at least a basic understanding of what’s involved, and decide how much you want to take on versus how much time you have to write. Remember WIBBOW, which stands for Would I Be Better Off Writing?
It’s going to take some work, because you’re competing against millions of other books, many of them quite good. What’s going to set your above the others, to make people want to pay money for yours? You won’t have time or energy to do every darned thing. But the more you do, the better your chances.
Some writers have expectations of huge sales with their first or second books. While it does happen from time to time (lottery wins), it’s not a reasonable goal. Mostly a readership has to be built over time. Around 96% of all books don’t sell more than a few hundred copies. So anytime you meet or beat that average, you’re a success! Study the concept of the Long Tail for an idea of how your work might grow over time.
If your view of success is limited simply to how much money you’re making in the short term, you’ll probably never be happy or successful enough. Human greed and desire are bottomless. In the words of robber-baron millionaire John D. Rockefeller, when asked how much money would make him happy: “Just a little more [but to infinity].”
Think of your writing career as a Johnny Appleseed metaphor, where each book is a single tree planted, each copy an apple from that tree. It takes time, and it’s tough to make a living selling apples off just one tree. But if you’ve created an orchard, with quality and quantity, word will eventually get around. And you don’t have to stick with just apples: you can sell cider, jelly, pies, all other formats. Continuing that metaphor, give people who haven’t tried your product a free taste, because you know it’s good, and they’ll be back for more. Give copies away, so they’ll find your other work. Ebooks made this easy and free. Writers get more well known when their books are read for free in libraries. For the most part, forget about “piracy”: superstar author Neil Gaiman talks a lot about being pirated, and giving away his work for free, and watching his sales go up!
There are still articles published saying how expensive it is to self-publish. If you pay too much for the many services available, it certainly can cost a lot. But there are so many free tools and inexpensive methodologies that you don’t need to spend a lot of money. Do your homework!
So those are your expectations. Are you still ready to tackle this venture?
Dale T. Phillips has published novels, story collections, non-fiction, and over 70 short stories. Stephen King was Dale’s college writing teacher, and since then, Dale has found time to appear on stage, television, radio, in an independent feature film, and compete on Jeopardy. He’s a member of the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. Visit Dale at www.daletphillips.com.
Sponsor Profile — Murder On the Beach Mystery Bookstore
We, at Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore, count outside book events as an important part of our business. Outside events however, require a lot more physical work than waiting on customers inside the store. Those boxes of books don’t schlep themselves to the hotel! So it is a great pleasure when selling books outside the store is as much fun as Killer Nashville was.
KN2021 was not only a profitable venture, but an exciting one as well. We were introduced to many new authors, and got the opportunity to refresh our relationship with some old friends as well.
This month (November 2021) Murder on the Beach, the only mystery bookstore in the state of Florida, will be 25 years old. A New York Times reporting store, MOB specializes in mystery (adult and children’s), thrillers, horror, and true crime. We feature many author booksignings and events, including James Patterson, Michael Connelly, Alafair Burke, Charlaine Harris, Randy Wayne White, Tim Dorsey, Lisa Gardner, and many others, two book discussion groups, and rare books.
We offer virtual writers workshops, FLAuthorsacademy.com, taught by published authors from around the world, and literary lunches in partnership with local restaurants. We are the official on-site bookseller for many writers conferences including the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, Killer Nashville, Mystery Writers of America SleuthFest, Florida Romance Writers, Romantic Times, Florida Writers Association, and numerous Brandeis, Hadassah, and library author events.
Killer Nashville Interview with Tosca Lee
NYT Bestseller
Tosca Lee is the New York Times bestselling author of eleven novels including The Line Between, The Progeny, The Legend of Sheba, and Iscariot. Her work has been translated into seventeen languages and optioned for TV and film.
She is the recipient of multiple awards including two International Book Awards, Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award, ECPA Book of the Year in Fiction, and the Nebraska Book Award.
She recently sat down to talk writing, her author journey, and inspiration with Killer Nashville.
You live and write on a farm in Nebraska in what you describe as a plot twist you never saw coming.
That’s true. I was a city girl completely until I met my future husband—a farmer and single father of four—in 2013. He proposed at one of my book signings the following year at Barnes & Noble and we married in 2016. Today I write in the renovated upstairs of the 1940s portion of our farmhouse. During planting in the spring and harvest in the fall, I sometimes take lunch for Bryan and I both and eat with him in the planter or combine. He introduced me to farm life, I introduced him to ComiCon and Thrillerfest.
You’ve just returned from the Sharjah International Book Fair in the UAE, where you made several visits to area schools to talk to middle and high school students about writing. What advice did you give them?
I was so impressed with the students I met—they asked very good and sometimes difficult questions about the writing process, how I approach my routine, handle rejection, continually improve, and how to know when a story is finished.
What are a few things you told them?
Never give up. Write what you love to read. Read voraciously. Learn from rejection and never take it personally.
Have fun. If you’re doing that, you’ll always weather the setbacks and bumps along the journey.
I also shared several of my top rules for writing:
Write like no one will ever read it, like you’re hidden away writing in your secret notebook with a flashlight. That’s how you avoid worry about what people will think and get the good stuff.
Get the clay on the wheel. In other words, finish that draft and then go back and perfect it. So many people want to write a novel, for instance, and dream of a career in writing. But if you don’t finish that book—or short story or essay or whatever is—you will never be able to have that.
Know how you work best and honor that. Not everyone outlines. Not everyone writes by the seat of their pants. Some people need music, low-level noise, interaction, and collaboration. Some need silence and isolation. Some like feedback from a critique partner along the way. Some prefer to protect their ideas like fragile budding sprouts.
You originally wanted to be a classical ballerina growing up—how did the switch to writing happen? And how has that background in dance impacted your writing journey?
I did—from a young age, ballet was something I pursued vigorously. While my friends were watching TV after school, I was in the car on my way to class in a larger city an hour away. I spent my summers at intensives and dance camps away from home and began to audition for schools like the American Ballet at age 13. But I got an injured a year later with a slow recovery that caused me to evaluate my future and explore future career goals. Meanwhile, I’d always been a writer—was first published with an essay about my dog in third grade and had won several contests in school. I just hadn’t really thought of it as anything other than a fun departure from reality like the books I so enjoyed reading.
Your father was instrumental in your decision to pursue writing. What was it he said or did that inspired you?
I came home for spring break my first year of college at Smith and my dad and I were in the car together and I was talking about what it was I loved about reading fiction and my favorite books. How a great novel was like a roller coaster, or a door to another world that, once the story is over, you miss and want to return to. I blurted it out that day: “I think I’d like to write a novel.” I wanted to know if I could build that roller coaster or construct that secret passageway for someone else to enjoy the way my favorite authors had for me.
That day, my dad made me a deal. He offered to pay me what I would have made at my summer job as a bank teller if I instead wrote my first novel, did it 40 hours a week and treated it like a job. That summer I wrote my first novel—an epic, sweeping tale of the Neolithic people of Stonehenge. It got soundly rejected by Writer’s House the following year and still lives in my basement. But they did compare it to Clan of the Cave Bear—a book I had loved growing up. And that kept me going.
Who else was instrumental in your early journey?
Teachers. Teachers encouraged me to write from a young age. Pat Kaltenberger and Anne Cognard in high school. My professor and advisor at Smith College, Craig Davis. Daniel Mueller, whom I spent two summers studying under at the University of New Mexico Creative Writing Program in Taos.
And other writers, whether they knew me or not, whom I studied as I read for years.
You were first runner-up to Mrs. United States 1998, and also spent several years traveling the world as a Gallup Organization consultant. How do these experiences impact your writing life today?
I’m so grateful for both of these portions of my journey—and the ballet, too, which taught me tenacity from an early age. I came into this writing career already comfortable with radio and TV interviews. After leaving Gallup in 2011 to write full time, I also had 15 years of public speaking, which is an immense boon. Today I enjoy talking to readers any chance I get, presenting at book fairs and events, and teaching others what I’ve learned along the way.
Your most recent two novels, The Line Between and A Single Light are part 1 and 2 of an apocalyptic duology centered around a pandemic. Both books released in 2019—the second just four months before COVID struck. What was 2020 like for you?
Surreal. I’d just written about a society entering lockdown after a hotspot of a new pandemic appeared in Washington before moving swiftly throughout the U.S., about Canada closing its borders, and the search for a vaccine.
But surreal also because, as a writer, I kind of entered a state of creative catatonia. I beat myself up for not taking advantage of all this time alone and getting more done. But we had three boys home from school and a house torn up for renovation and sometimes you just have to give yourself grace. It turned into a special time in which I read live to my readers online, and got to spend more time [with them]—even if virtually—than I ever had before. I did wonder how the pandemic would affect the readership of The Line Between and A Single Light. I assumed it would be a lot less fun to read fiction about something that had become reality…
And then The Line Between won the Silver Falchion last year—were you surprised?
SO surprised. Especially when I saw both books had finaled and then to have one of them win was such reassurance in the midst of uncertainty and uncertain times. I’m just so grateful. Weirdly, these two books have now won more awards than my previous ones put together.
What do you attribute that to?
I’d like to think it has to do with the fact that the theme is love, hope, and light. I named the sequel A Single Light based on this idea that it only takes one act of kindness, of love, of heroism to save the world a moment at a time.
Tosca Lee is the New York Times bestselling author of eleven novels including The Line Between, The Progeny, The Legend of Sheba, and Iscariot. Her work has been translated into seventeen languages and optioned for TV and film.
She is the recipient of multiple awards including two International Book Awards, Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion, ECPA Book of the Year in Fiction, and the Nebraska Book Award. Her work has finaled for the High Plains Book Award, the Library of Virginia Reader’s Choice Award, the Christy Award, and a second ECPA Book of the Year. The Line Between was a Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist for Best Mystery/Thriller of 2019. In addition to the New York Times, her books have appeared on the IndieBound and inspirational bestseller lists, Library Journal’s Best Of lists, and as part of Target Stores’ “Target Recommends” program.
Lee’s work has been praised by Publisher’s Weekly, The Historical Novel Society, Booklist, Kirkus, Woman’s World, BookReporter, The Dallas Morning News, and The Midwest Book Review, as “deeply human…” “powerful…” and “mind-bending historical fiction.” A public speaker with over 25 years of experience, Lee is a featured presenter and guest of honor at writer’s conferences and literary events throughout the nation. She is a member of the Tall Poppy Writers, Rogue Women Writers, and Mystery Writers of America and was recently elected to International Thriller Writers’ board of directors.
Born in 1969 in Virginia, Lee earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Smith College. She also studied at Oxford University. A former Fortune Global 500 consultant with the Gallup Organization and first runner-up to Mrs. United States, she lives in Nebraska with her husband and three of four children still at home. For more on Tosca, please visit: www.toscalee.com.
What Mystery Writers Can Learn from Hitchcock Movies by Saralyn Richard
Recently I purchased a collection of Hitchcock CDs as a birthday present for my husband. He and I both enjoy watching them, even when we’ve seen them scads of times before. What’s especially fun about this collection is the bonus footage in the form of production notes, movie trailers and posters, and information offered about the movies by those involved in making them.
As a mystery writer, I’ve gobbled the insights like—um, movie popcorn—and I’ve learned a lot about what made Hitchcock’s movies so successful. The following are some of the takeaways:
At the heart of every suspense thriller is a likable, relatable character. The character need not be perfect; in fact, her flaws may be what draws the audience in, sympathizing with her. The character’s point of view, revealed by dialogue, body language, and smart camera shots in the movie, creates the heart-pounding tension we feel when the character finds herself in danger. Marion Crane, for example, Janet Leigh’s character in Psycho, is a thief and a liar, but her crime is mitigated by the fact that she took the money so her boyfriend could pay off his debts. Also, when she interacts with Norman Bates at the motel, she is touched by his situation and offers him friendly advice. In short, Crane is a decent person who falls into a trap. She could be any of us, stuck in a remote motel room late at night.
Every Hitchcock movie, regardless of how terrifying, has a generous dose of humor. In The Man Who Knew Too Much, there is a hilarious scene when Dr. McKenna and his wife (Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day) have a meal in a Marrakesh restaurant, and everything from the seating to the food to the eating utensils goes awry. Another such scene occurs in the taxidermy shop owned by Andrew Chapel. One would think that in a tension-filled drama, such frivolity would be out of place, but no. Hitchcock uses the lighter scenes to turn down the tension enough to create a dip before the subsequent scene, where the terror is heightened. It makes us feel as if we are on a roller coaster, rolling along softly, up, up, up to the top, just before speeding into the stomach-dropping dip that will have us shrieking aloud.
Specific details matter. Hitchcock was known for using camera movements to mimic a character’s gaze, and whatever the camera focused on became important. Nowhere was this better illustrated than in Rear Window, when the Jimmy Stewart character, a man with a photographer’s eye for detail, spies on his neighbors through binoculars. Details such as the height of flowers and the placement of a woman’s handbag on a bedpost become important clues. In The Birds, camera shots of a pair of sweet-looking lovebirds in a cage serve as a symbol of generosity and love, as well as the wrath of nature.
It’s okay to have a MacGuffin. A MacGuffin is an item or goal the protagonist is pursuing, but it has no narrative value to the rest of the story. In 39 Steps the narrator is chasing a stolen set of design plans. In North by Northwest, the microfilm of government secrets that Vandamm (James Mason) is trying to smuggle out of the country is necessary to explain the character’s motivation, but it is otherwise irrelevant to the action of the movie. The MacGuffin corresponds to a red herring in a mystery novel, or to the premise that gets the action moving, but falls off in importance as time goes on.
Plunging into the dark side of human nature. No one, in my opinion, captured the darker emotions on film better than Hitchcock. In Vertigo, an Everyman Jimmy Stewart obsesses about the Kim Novak character to such a degree that after he believes her to be dead, he forces another woman to dress and act the same. In Marnie, we are stung by the effects that Marnie’s mother’s rejection has on her daughter—including sexual frigidity. These “underside” emotions were largely avoided or covered up by moviemakers before Hitchcock, but Hitchcock’s dauntless exploration of these themes made his movies psychologically more credible—and more gripping.
Finally, Hitchcock was known for pushing against the boundaries of censorship. Whether it was using unique filming to have Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman kiss for more than three seconds in Notorious, or implying homosexuality in Rope, incest in Shadow of a Doubt, or rape in Marnie, Hitchcock never shied away from uncomfortable images. In fact, he reveled in them. In an interview with French director Francois Truffaut, Hitchcock said, “"My suspense work comes out of creating nightmares for the audience. And I playwith an audience. I make them gasp and surprise them and shock them. When you have a nightmare, it's awfully vivid if you're dreaming that you're being led to the electric chair. Then you're as happy as can be when you wake up because you're relieved."
These are but a few of the insights I’ve learned from binge-watching Hitchcock movies. Although psychological movies and mystery novels aren’t exactly the same, and writing has evolved in the half-century since Hitchcock’s last movie, the Hitchcock movies can give us some inspirational tools for our writing.
Award-winning mystery and children’s book author, Saralyn Richard was born with a pen in her hand and ink in her veins. A former urban high school educator, she’s living the dream, connecting with readers through her books: A Murder of Principal, Naughty Nana, Murder in the One Percent, and A Palette for Love and Murder. Saralyn participates in International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, and she teaches creative writing. Website: http://saralynrichard.com.
Do You Suffer From Writer's Block? by James Glass
Do you suffer from writer’s block?
Have you hit the wall? If so, you’re not alone. Most of us do from time to time. The words won’t come or if they do, they’re all jumbled. The story doesn’t seem to move in any direction. Or worse, you stare at a blank page or screen for hours. Terrible, I know. It’s natural. Baseball players get into a hitting slump, so it’s fair to say, writers also run into a bit of a slump.
Don’t worry. As a retired Navy veteran, we have a saying, “Don’t give up the ship!” This is also true is of writing. “Don’t give up the story.”
Every writer I’ve ever known has hit the wall at some point. Some may give up. Actually, that’s not true. Many people who start their first story will quit because they run into the wall. The more time you procrastinate, are unable to come up with ideas, the more you get discouraged. However, what makes you different from the rest is you continue to write. “Don’t give up the story.”
How do I overcome this slump? What if I can’t get back into the story? What if I’ve gone as far as the story will take me?
All great questions. One thing I’ve come to recognize is that I tend to run into a wall at a certain point in all my books. The plot may be weak or too simple, the characters all sound alike, or I haven’t written enough action to keep the readers attention. If you find yourself in the similar situations, this is when writers lose confidence in their writing. And like me, if you stay in this mindset too long, you can’t move forward in the story. So where do you go from here?
If I find myself stuck and can’t move forward in the story, I’ll go back and see how I can make the plots more exciting, the characters more compelling. Find ways of getting the writing spark back. If I can’t, then I will jump several chapters ahead and see if this gets me out of the rut.
If this doesn’t work, it’s time for me to set the story aside for a while and work on a different project. This might be another novel or short story. If I still remain stuck in some writing virtual abyss I will try one last thing—writing prompts.
Writing prompts are geared to kick-start your muse, flex your creative mind. Below are examples to choose from. Aim for a hundred words. If you feel inclined write more, do so. There are no rules. One of these may turn into a short story or your next novel. The skies the limit, cliché I know.
You hit a deer with your brand new car. While the car is in the shop you discover something about the car you never would have known if you hadn’t hit the deer.
• Your best friend gives you a surprise party, but you’re not the one who’s surprised.
• You find a key. You don’t know what it fits. You set out to solve the mystery, asking yourself, “Why did I hang onto it?”
• You’ve been captured by cannibals. How do you try to convince them not to eat you? If that fails, how do you attempt to escape?
• You receive a message on your answering machine. There are only 3 words before the message is cut off. “I need help …”
Writing prompts can help you hone your writing skills. They can also be fun. Now you have something to start with, yet the rest of the story is up to you. If you don’t like the examples above, go online. The internet has plenty you can choose from.
Do you ever hit a wall in your writing? How do you deal with it? How do you overcome this challenge?
James Glass achieved the rank of Command Master Chief before retiring after 22 years in the United States Navy. After retiring from the Navy, he exchanged his rifle for a pen. He and his family moved back to the Florida Panhandle. James is also the President of the Panhandle Writers Group.
Reinvigorating That Manuscript You've Put Aside by Philip Cioffari
Many of us have at least one manuscript tucked away in a drawer, one perhaps we’ve written some time ago. We know it’s not right yet, not publishable as is. BUT we still believe in it. We know in our hearts it’s a worthwhile project, if only we can get it into proper shape. Here are some ways I’ve used to approach that manuscript from a new direction, to give it the life it’s capable of.
Change the Point of View
Seeing the story through another character’s eyes can often give us a radically different insight into our material. We discover elements of the story we hadn’t seen before, and we see familiar elements in a totally different way. In a manuscript I’d been working on for years, I changed the POV from limited third to first person. It brought me to a confrontation with my main character that was immediate and forceful. It opened up aspects of his personality that I’d previously been blind to. I was able to go deeper into his psyche, into the emotions that drove him. I fed off that energy as I rewrote the novel.
Change/Adjust the Voice.
We know the importance of narrative voice, those qualities inherent in the voice of the teller of the tale. They help define the narrator, help us feel who that person is. By tinkering with that voice, we can create a more empathetic, accessible, vivid character. (This is most obviously recognizable in a first-person narrator, but it is equally though perhaps more subtly evident in third person narration as well.) Again, in reference to the manuscript. I mentioned above, I tightened up the language of the narrator, used fewer words, gave those words more of an edge, made the sentences and phrases shorter and more abrupt, used more fragments rather than complete sentences and within those fragments used more present participles instead of past tense, all of which made the quality of his voice sharper, tauter, harder-hitting, which not only brought out his personality more fully, but also added to the overall tension of the novel.
Change the Beginning and/or the Ending.
Sometimes as simple a thing as changing where we begin the story can jump-start the work with a burst of new energy. I try to find a new angle to introduce my character and the situation he/she is facing, perhaps a place later in the narrative, a place farther along on the rising tide of tension. It can also be helpful to reconsider the end of the story. Of course, we want the most fitting, powerful conclusion we can conjure, but there are many options for that. We sometimes fool ourselves into thinking the ways we begin and end our stories are fixed, immutable. But coming back to a manuscript after some time has elapsed allows us the opportunity to re-evaluate what we thought was absolute.
Change the Main Character.
I know—a daunting prospect. But the payoff can be surprising and enlightening. Like changing the POV, the story takes on a new dimension that opens up unforeseen possibilities. In my novel, The Bronx Kill, I had three young men who were all candidates for being the main character. In early drafts of the book, I had chosen one of them as lead. But something was missing; there was a lack of energy. I didn’t create the vitality I wanted until I chose a different one of them as lead. And once I did, within a matter of a few pages, I could feel the difference in energy: the novel had come to life. (I should add that, when you make any of these changes that I’m discussing, you’ll probably know fairly quickly if you’ve made the right choice. You’ll feel an excitement you didn’t feel before. You’ll feel the story coming alive in a new way.)
Add a new Character.
As daunting as that sounds, introducing a new character can open up a story in surprising and beneficial ways. While working on my first novel, Catholic Boys, an editor suggested that I might want to add an adult character. The original version of the novel consisted of a group of young boys who discover a dead body near their housing project in the Bronx, in the swamps where they play. The main character was one of those boys. The editor commented that adult readers might be more engaged if there was an adult character they could relate to. His suggestion struck a nerve and, within hours of when he made it, I had come up with the character of a housing detective whose job it was to investigate the death. I became so enamored of this detective that he became the main character in the novel and the story, ultimately, became his story. Much of what I had written thus far became part of the unfolding plot of his life, his investigation. Adding a new character changes the dynamics of the relationships of all the characters in the story. Like the stranger who arrives unexpectedly at a party, everything is suddenly in flux; nothing remains the same. Possibilities abound. (Side note: with the twenty-first version of that book, I found a publisher.)
Add a Character or Plot Reversal.
If a character feels flat or one-dimensional, I try letting him/her do something completely unexpected, maybe something that on the surface seems totally out-of-character. This adds an element of surprise and mystery that enhances the character and thereby serves to engage the reader. It can open up a previously unexplored side of a character. So, too, for the plot. If it feels humdrum or dull, I find a way to insert a reversal of a situation or set of circumstances. Aristotle, in his Poetics, put great store in this as a dramatic technique. He called it Peripety—as in Oedipus Rex when Oedipus calls upon the blind prophet Tiresias for help in finding the cause of the plague that has beset the kingdom. Tiresias, because he is blind, is led in by a young boy as his guide. Because he does not like what Tiresias has to say, Oedipus curses him and casts him out of the palace; but later in the play Oedipus, who has blinded himself, is led away in exile with a young boy as his guide, a complete reversal of circumstances for a once mighty ruler of the land. Reversals can come as a consequence of a character’s actions, or as a consequence of fate. Handled deftly, either can be effective in raising the intensity of the plot.
Change or Enhance the Setting(s).
Often overlooked or under-rated, setting can give both texture and verisimilitude to our work, so where things happen in our stories, I believe, should be accorded careful attention. Setting is a reflection of our characters and their actions, and in many instances it can become a character in itself. So I try to make my settings be practical as well as symbolic, atmospheric as well as sensual. Setting can easily be a driving force of fiction. Certainly that has been true for me. In my novel, Jesusville, the setting consists of both the barren, arid reaches of the New Mexico desert and the refuge for troubled priests situated in that desert; each intensifies the other. In my novel, Dark Road, Dead End, it is the brutal physicality of the Everglades that plays as much of a role as any human character does. I tend to think that where things happen is as important as what happens.
A final consideration.
Something that has helped me when I return to a manuscript that hasn’t yet realized its potential is this: I try to re-connect to the inspiration/impulse/desire that made me want to write it in the first place. Then I examine what I’ve written in search of those pages or details that feel disconnected from that original impulse. That has always seemed to me a good place to begin.
Philip Cioffari is the author of the novels: Catholic Boys; Dark Road, Dead End; Jesusville; The Bronx Kill; and If Anyone Asks, Say I Died from the Heartbreaking Blues; and the story collection, A History of Things Lost or Broken. www.philipcioffari.com
That Difficult Long-term Relationship—with Characters by Carolyn Haines
When I wrote Them Bones in 1999, which turned out to be the first book in a mystery series, I had no idea what the future held for me. I’ve been an avid mystery reader all of my life, wallowing in the delicious creepiness of E.A. Poe and daydreaming about being Nancy Drew. My early writing ambitions focused more on short stories—because I didn’t believe I could plot well enough to write a full-fledged mystery.
When I finished Them Bones, what I considered a Southern humorous novel with a murder at its heart, my agent sent it out to several publishers. Lo and behold, an auction ensued. Of course, it was thrilling, and when Random House won the bid I was snapped back to earth. They wanted a 3-book contract for a mystery series. My little plotless goose was cooked!
My desire to be an author was bigger than my fear. I’d written numerous Harlequin Intrigues, which are a balance of mystery and romance. I had some experience under my belt, and yes, I would do this no matter how hard it might be.
Today, I am writing the 24th book in the series, and with each book that same old haunting fear of not having a good enough plot rises up to frighten me. I nod to it and keep writing, using the tools I’ve learned over the years about action/reaction and I remember that in a mystery, motive is all. But I will confess that never did I ever think that, while my protagonist, Sarah Booth Delaney of Zinnia, Mississippi, has aged only some 20 months in all this time, I have aged closer to 25 years. Sarah Booth is still spry and frisky, riding her horses across the wide-open spaces of the Delta. The passage of time hasn’t been as kind to me. It’s just part of life, as Jitty (the haint of Dahlia House and Sarah Booth’s subconscious) would say.
Along the way, I’ve learned some lessons about writing a long-term series. Each book is a complete, standalone mystery. But the art of a series is in how the characters grow and change. When I was teaching fiction writing at the local university, I would go over the elements of a novel (plot, theme, setting, character), asking my students, “In romance, what is the most important element? Plot, character, setting, or theme? Think simplistically. Think in broad terms.” They caught on quickly that character was vital to every romance. The meat of a romantic story is embroiled in the characters’ backstories, their wounds and flaws and, yes, motive.
That same question, when asked about mystery, often led to a lively debate between two camps: Those who said character is more important, and those who championed plot as the major focus. Both are correct. Readers fall in love with the characters and how they work to solve the mystery. Characters, just like regular humans, are shaped and formed by past experiences, hopes, dreams, and fears. And that character is revealed via the plot—how the characters seek the clues and solve the puzzle. Character revealed through action is exciting to a reader.
I was very, very, very lucky when I wrote Them Bones in that I spent a lot of time learning about Sarah Booth, Tinkie, Cece, Millie, Coleman, Harold, Oscar, and the entire population of my little fictional town. I knew Zinnia inside and out.
While each book stands alone as a mystery, the characters do grow and change, just as I have. Over the past twenty-five years, I’ve learned a whole lot of valuable lessons. By some miracle (I do believe each story is a gift and is given to us to tell to the best of our ability) I chose wisely with my characters. Sarah Booth had plenty to learn, and she has changed. But the character who has changed the most in the series is her partner in the detective agency, Tinkie Richmond. Sarah Booth is a tomboy and Tinkie is a daddy’s girl who can get her way with men by crooking her little finger. At first Sarah Booth resented that and found it manipulative, but over time, she realized how smart and wonderful Tinkie really is. By the third book, they are partners, each valuing the strengths of the other. I wish I could say I’d planned that out, but I didn’t.
Pick characters that allow you to explore different value systems, classes, and beliefs. In my opinion, diversity is your friend because it allows you, the writer, to explore and learn new things. If the series is stale to you—it will be stale to your readers. So explore. Let your characters go there with openness and honesty. Your readers will love the journey. There’s a big difference between exploring with your readers and preaching to them. I try to keep that in mind, though I’m far from perfect.
The Sarah Booth books are somewhat issue driven, but they are also humorous. Remember that the first book you write will set certain patterns that will be expected in additional books. If you blend mystery and humor, that’s what you have to deliver. If you use mystery and supernatural elements, as I do in the Pluto’s Snitch series, then those are a must to include in future books.
It’s an art to introduce each character afresh for the readers who may join the series midway through. Don’t forget to include that courtesy to new readers. I sometimes want to pull my hair out trying to explain Cece’s life choices in a couple of sentences. Or to clue the reader into the role that Millie, the café owner, plays as the mother each character so desperately needs in her life. It’s hard to encapsulate the history of 23 books in a few sentences. But like descriptive details of setting or historical facts—choose wisely and remember less is more if you pick the right details.
I am a pantser by nature, meaning I don’t like to outline. I love letting the story unfold for me as the characters live it. But I write one and sometimes two books a year, and along with the grand joy of having a contract there is also the backside of knowing that the publisher is counting on me to deliver. Life is always up and down. The past two years I’ve had a lot of family illness and loss. I have accepted that in writing mysteries, a synopsis is a must have to stay on track. I don’t have the luxury of spending months working only to have to discard a lot of pages because I hadn’t thought out the plot properly.
I write every day. I plot out my book before I start and I discuss it with my editor so she’s aware of what’s coming. She also offers invaluable help with considerations that perhaps haven’t occurred to me. But this thinking through of the plot is crucial (at least for me) in a mystery so that I can lay the red herrings and plot twists properly and set the clues up so the payoff in the end is gratifying to the reader. You can’t trick a reader—there are rules about playing honest—but you have to sometimes obscure the truth. It’s a grand challenge to me. This is not my natural strength, but I have learned to enjoy trying. That is not to say, though, that if the characters and the story take a hard left turn somewhere that I won’t go with them, despite the synopsis. Remember the first rule is to honor the story you’re given, and sometimes that means listening to the story before all else. When this happens, I stop and really think about where these changes will take the story, and I proceed with caution. Each writer has to find this balance for themselves.
I didn’t deliberately choose not to age my characters. That was lucky happenstance—for me. I fought hard against incorporating cell phones (because I didn’t have one!). Now my characters are current with technology and they employ it as it becomes available in real life. I sometimes think of my grandmother, who emigrated to this country in 1896. She saw incredible change in her life, from covered wagons to landing on the moon. Sarah Booth has a quarter decade compressed into 20 months. Crazy and kind of fun. Some writers freeze their characters in a specific decade, and that’s fine too. Just think about it a little before and make your decision, remembering that it is a decision you will have to live with for the lifespan of your series.
Readers tell me that Sarah Booth and the Zinnia gang are like family to them now. They certainly are to me since I spend more time with them than anyone else. I am with them every day, all year long. Create characters that you can love enough to let them become family. And then enjoy the ride.
Carolyn Haines is the USA Today bestselling author of the Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series, the Pluto’s Snitch historical spirit detective series, and one of the authors of Trouble, black cat detective, mystery series. She is an animal advocate and runs a small refuge for dogs, cats, and horses in Alabama. She urges everyone to please spay and neuter their pets to stop the suffering of unwanted animals.
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