KN Magazine: Articles

3/2/16 3/2/16

Speed Writing To Keep Up With Speed Readers / John Hegenberger

The immediacy of the Internet has conditioned us to expect instant gratification. We’re so far past the days of dial-up that if a page takes more than two seconds to load, we check to see if our Wi-Fi is down. This gets us in trouble when we have to face a long-term project as ponderous as traditional publishing can be. What if I want my book to be available now? This week’s guest blogger John Hegenberger has used both self-publishing and traditional publishing to get his stories out there, and shares on the perks and pitfalls of each.Happy reading!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine

Speed Writing To Keep Up With Speed Readers
By John Hegenberger

The book publishing process is changing and accelerating.

A reader once asked me, “How long does it take to publish a book?”

Thirty years? Three years? Three months? Three days? Three hours?

For me, when I recently published Cross Examinations, a collection of short private eye stories, the answer was all the above.

I wrote the first draft back in 1988, which is still the setting for the tales today. Not long after, I encountered a series of personal needs involving my family and friends and found it best to put the manuscript into a drawer and build a career that assured us all a steady income. It all worked out beautifully, because about 27 years later with a career completed and three children grown, I was nearing retirement and it was time to reopen that drawer.

Thus, in 2012, I entered a whole new world of electronic publishing. The book went through a rewrite, along with several other manuscripts. And I began writing daily again and created another book; a novel, this time. And then an additional novel for a whole new PI series that I wanted to have published.

After approximately three months of searching, I found a publisher for the first novel. Ah, but then I was faced with the prospect of waiting another eight to ten-months while the editing and publishing process advanced. That seemed like forever.

I wanted to do something progressive in the meantime. So, having heard about this thing called self-publishing, I decided to give it a try with the short story collection while I waited for the novel to come out.

Again, I worked through three weeks of rewrites and polishes to create the content of Cross Examinations.

But then came the daunting task of learning to properly format and post an eBook. After another three days of poking around, reading up, and watching various videos, I pressed the Send button and launched my book into the world.

Next came the agonizing three-hour wait before the book became fully available on the website.

Finally, success was mine!

So, as you can see, the process contains many stages, but at each step along the way, I knew I was getting closer to the fulfillment of my dream. Looking back, it doesn’t seem to have been all that long, after all. I’m happy I took the time and I learned a lot from the process and quite a bit about marketing, too.

In fact, I now have two sequels out for Cross Examinations: Crossfire and Tripl3 Cross. Crossfire was completed last December, edited by the publisher, Rough Edges Press, over the holidays, and launched in January 2016.

Oh, and that first novel finally came out in November 2015. It’s titled Spyfall and is part of a second series of private eye novels, featuring a different detective, Stan Wade, LAPI. Spyfall was also written and sold early last year and saw print in November 2015. The second volume in this series, Starfall, will come out in February 2016, with several additional entries later in the year.

In both cases, the books have been fully edited and packaged by the publishers. The main difference is the speed of delivery to the readers. In this era of “binge-watching” TV series, it appears that readers want more of an immersive reading experience.

By the time Killer Nashville 2016 rolls around, I should have a good handle on which publication cycle the readers prefer. Perhaps it doesn’t matter so much how long it takes to get a book written, as how quickly the book can be offered for public enjoyment.

Born and raised in the heart of the heartland, Columbus, Ohio, John Hegenberger is the author of several series: Stan Wade LAPI in 1959, Eliot Cross Columbus-based PI in 1988, and Ace Hart, western gambler in Arizona in 1873. He’s a father of three, tennis enthusiast, collector of silent films and OTR, hiker, Francophile, B.A. Comparative Lit., pop culture author, ex-Navy, ex-marketing exec at Exxon, AT&T, and IBM, and happily married for 45 years and counting. He is also an active member of SFWA, PWA and ITW. Find more of John’s work at www.johnhegenberger.com

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.

For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.

And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.

*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.

3/2/16 3/2/16

Speed Writing To Keep Up With Speed Readers / John Hegenberger

Speed Writing To Keep Up With Speed Readers
By John Hegenberger

The book publishing process is changing and accelerating.

A reader once asked me, “How long does it take to publish a book?”

Thirty years? Three years? Three months? Three days? Three hours?

For me, when I recently published Cross Examinations, a collection of short private eye stories, the answer was all the above.

Again, I worked through three weeks of rewrites and polishes to create the content of Cross Examinations.

Next came the agonizing three-hour wait before the book became fully available on the website.

Finally, success was mine!

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.

For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.

And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.

3/1/16 3/1/16

Under the Microscope with Steve Bradshaw

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

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

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

Death Scenes are Castles in the Sand
By Steve Bradshaw

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3/1/16 3/1/16

State of the Industry: Contract Decoding

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

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

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

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)
By Milt Toby

Promises and Problems

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

This is typical warranty language:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lessons Learned

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

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

3/1/16 3/1/16

State of the Industry: Contract Decoding

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

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)
By Milt Toby

Promises and Problems

This is typical warranty language:

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

Lessons Learned

2/24/16 2/24/16

A Shrink with Ink / Ellen Kirschman

It’s important as readers and writers that the fictional world we enter seems real. We don’t know why, necessarily, but we can’t invest ourselves in a story that doesn’t somehow feel true. In this week’s guest blog, writer and psychologist Ellen Kirschman divulges some of her methods for creating a police procedural thriller or mystery that gives the audience that elusive, essential foundation of believability.

Happy reading!

Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine

A Shrink With Ink

By Ellen Kirschman

I’m a police psychologist and the author of three non-fiction books. A few years ago, I decided to try writing fiction. As an avid reader and mystery fan, I have often felt that novelists come closer to the truth of human experience than many psychologists do. And, to be frank, I was tired of doing research. I actually thought it would be easier to make stuff up.

I was, as I soon found out, delusional.

The challenge of writing non-fiction is getting the facts right and presenting them in an understandable, readable package. Fiction requires the writer to capture the reader’s imagination. Get her to care so much about the story and the characters that she’ll bare her teeth at anyone, or anything, that interrupts her before she finishes the book. Non-fiction readers can and do pick up a book and put it down again at will.

My first “aha” moment as a fledging novelist came when I changed from third to first person point of view. My protagonist, Dr. Dot Meyerhoff, is also a police psychologist, though she is thinner and younger than I am. (And in possession of skills I never developed, such as breaking and entering, and assault with a deadly weapon.) Once I put myself in Dot’s shoes, as a woman and a civilian working in a male-dominated profession, where both are sometimes treated as second-class citizens, I was in familiar territory.

My goal is to write mysteries that both capture the imagination and reveal something I know to be true about psychology and about police work. For example, my first mystery, Burying Ben, looks at police suicide. Most people don’t know that cops are two to three times as likely to kill themselves as they are to be killed in the line of duty. I’ve always wondered how I would feel if one of my clients took his own life. Or how much worse it would be if, as it happens to Dot, the officer left a note blaming me.

My second book, The Right Wrong Thing(October 2015), drills down into the contemporary debate over police community relations. A young officer shoots and kills an unarmed, pregnant teenager. The officer, who suffers from PTSD, is determined to apologize to the dead girl’s family, despite everyone’s efforts to stop her. The results are catastrophic. Dot, ignoring orders from the police chief to back off, enlists some unlikely allies and unconventional undercover work to expose the tangled path of her client’s disastrous journey.

Readers ask me if my books are inspired by actual events. The answer is yes and no. There is truth in both my mysteries, real things that happened to real people. But the stories are embellished, disguised, and blended so that they are unrecognizable to the people who lived them. For years I’ve been keeping a file folder of the funny, off-the-wall things cops say. Officer Eddie Rimbauer, Dot’s occasional and troubled ally, is a composite of many people I know. He sounds so real, though, that there was an online pool of cops competing to guess his real identity.

If you’re writing fiction and want to get the details right, you don’t have to have a Ph.D or spend thirty years counseling cops. You could attend a citizens’ police academy at your local PD for hands-on experience, for example.

Go on a ride-along. After all these years I still learn something new every time I do. Learn about guns. Practice on the range. Try your hand at a firearms training simulator (FATS).

If you're qualified and have the time to invest, think about becoming a reserve officer. Whatever you do, don’t watch cop shows on television. Most are so over the top, real cops can only laugh at them.

Read widely. My books I Love a Cop,I Love a Fire Fighter, and Counseling Cops all contain real-life scenarios that can enhance your stories and deepen your characters, as does Sergeant Adam Plantinga’s highly readable book, 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman (2015 Silver Falchion Award winner for Best Nonfiction Crime Reference).

Ellen Kirschman, Ph.D, is a clinical psychologist in independent practice. She is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Society for the Study of Police and Criminal Psychology, the American Psychological Association, and the International Association of Women in Law Enforcement. She is the recipient of the California Psychological Association’s 2014 award for distinguished contribution to psychology as well as the American Psychological Association’s 2010 award for outstanding contribution to the practice of police and public safety psychology.

Ellen is the author of the award-winning I Love a Cop: What Police Families Need to Know, I Love a Fire Fighter: What the Family Needs to Know, and lead author of Counseling Cops: What Clinicians Need to Know (2013). Her debut novel, Burying Ben: A Dot Meyerhoff Mystery (2013) is about police suicide told from the perspective of the psychologist. Ellen and her husband live in Redwood City, Calif. Reach her at ellenkirschman.com

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.

For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.

And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.

2/24/16 2/24/16

A Shrink with Ink / Ellen Kirschman

A Shrink With Ink
By Ellen Kirschman

I was, as I soon found out, delusional.

My goal is to write mysteries that both capture the imagination and reveal something I know to be true about psychology and about police work. For example, my first mystery, Burying Ben, looks at police suicide. Most people don’t know that cops are two to three times as likely to kill themselves as they are to be killed in the line of duty. I’ve always wondered how I would feel if one of my clients took his own life. Or how much worse it would be if, as it happens to Dot, the officer left a note blaming me.

My second book, The Right Wrong Thing (October 2015), drills down into the contemporary debate over police community relations. A young officer shoots and kills an unarmed, pregnant teenager. The officer, who suffers from PTSD, is determined to apologize to the dead girl’s family, despite everyone’s efforts to stop her. The results are catastrophic. Dot, ignoring orders from the police chief to back off, enlists some unlikely allies and unconventional undercover work to expose the tangled path of her client’s disastrous journey.

Go on a ride-along. After all these years I still learn something new every time I do. Learn about guns. Practice on the range. Try your hand at a firearms training simulator (FATS).

Read widely. My books I Love a Cop, I Love a Fire Fighter, and Counseling Cops all contain real-life scenarios that can enhance your stories and deepen your characters, as does Sergeant Adam Plantinga’s highly readable book, 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman (2015 Silver Falchion Award winner for Best Nonfiction Crime Reference).

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.

For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.

And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.

2/24/16 2/24/16

A Shrink with Ink / Ellen Kirschman

A Shrink With Ink
By Ellen Kirschman

I was, as I soon found out, delusional.

My goal is to write mysteries that both capture the imagination and reveal something I know to be true about psychology and about police work. For example, my first mystery, Burying Ben, looks at police suicide. Most people don’t know that cops are two to three times as likely to kill themselves as they are to be killed in the line of duty. I’ve always wondered how I would feel if one of my clients took his own life. Or how much worse it would be if, as it happens to Dot, the officer left a note blaming me.

My second book, The Right Wrong Thing (October 2015), drills down into the contemporary debate over police community relations. A young officer shoots and kills an unarmed, pregnant teenager. The officer, who suffers from PTSD, is determined to apologize to the dead girl’s family, despite everyone’s efforts to stop her. The results are catastrophic. Dot, ignoring orders from the police chief to back off, enlists some unlikely allies and unconventional undercover work to expose the tangled path of her client’s disastrous journey.

Go on a ride-along. After all these years I still learn something new every time I do. Learn about guns. Practice on the range. Try your hand at a firearms training simulator (FATS).

Read widely. My books I Love a Cop, I Love a Fire Fighter, and Counseling Cops all contain real-life scenarios that can enhance your stories and deepen your characters, as does Sergeant Adam Plantinga’s highly readable book, 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman (2015 Silver Falchion Award winner for Best Nonfiction Crime Reference).

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.

For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.

And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.

2/17/16 2/17/16

Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book / Michael Guillebeau

Every enterprise is fraught with uncertainty, and for most of us, that means some level of anxiety. This week’s guest blogger, Michael Guillebeau, faced significant trepidation before (and during) the creation of his new anthology, as he mentions below. But the more he pushed through his fear, the more delighted he was by the results, which seems to be a common theme in success stories. Who knows? Take his advice to heart, and you just may have words of wisdom to share with the Killer Nashville family one of these days, too.

Happy reading!

Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine

Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book
By Michael Guillebeau

First off, I’ve got to apologize for this piece not being funnier than it is. You can blame my writers. When I started Eight Mystery Writers You Should be Reading Now, I thought I’d have a mess of funny stories by now. I mean, writers are notoriously independent (I expected at least one chorus of “I know you said you wanted mystery stories, but I thought my unicorn story would be better”), late (“If I have my section done by Christmas, will that meet your October deadline?”) and even bizarre (“I do all my writing in Japanese. My editor has to fix it”).

Not my writers. Not only are they all great writers whom you really should be reading now, but they were also the best team of people I’ve ever worked with. Thank you, Lisa Alber, Kathleen Cosgrove, Chris Knopf, Jessie Bishop Powell, Larissa Reinhart, Jaden Terrell, and Lisa Wysocky. And thanks from all of us to Hank Phillippi Ryan for giving us a wonderful foreword. And to the amazing Stacy Pethel for editing contributions from nine separate writers for no pay or glory, and no reason other than her love for words. I’d work with you all again on anything.

So, I didn’t get any funny stories to tell. Sometimes, life gives you lemons and you have to make lemonade. Sometimes, a team of waiters shows up at your table to make you a perfect Porch Crawler, and thanks you for the privilege. (I’m a writer; we know how to deal with disappointments involving alcohol...)

I didn’t get any funny stories, but I do have a few pointers on how a multi-author project can be more fun and successful than you can possibly imagine.

1. Don’t say no to the idea.

This is always the hardest and most important lesson, isn’t it? Like most of us, I was frustrated by the problem of asking readers to select my writing based on blurbs when I really wanted them to see… my writing. Handouts and free days help but have their limits.

I reflected on how I picked my own reading material: mostly through recommendations from people I trust. What could be a higher recommendation than inclusion in a book with writers that people already trust?

2. Find a clear vision, and the right people to buy into it.

So now I was excited, but scared. I have trouble asking a waiter for a refill of iced tea. Now, I had to refine my ideas and go up to people I was in awe of and ask them to play with me. But I set that aside and thought: What if they said yes? Who would I want?

There are lots of anthologies focused on a certain style or sub-genre. I didn’t want that. I wanted this to be a book of discovery for readers. I wanted eight writers who were each so different that most people who loved one of them would never have heard of the others—but might discover something new that they wouldn’t otherwise look at.

I also had to have quality. I expected readers to dislike at least one writer because it wasn’t the style they wanted, but if they read even one writer who seemed amateurish, they’d put the whole book down.

So I had to find people whose work I admired, and make sure they were all different. I needed people to buy into a project that was to be largely promotional (we’d rather give away a thousand of these than sell a hundred), but that would still require their best. And the kind of people I wanted were already up to their armpits in better projects than mine.

Jesus.

3. Even big people love to be asked to help, particularly if it helps them, too.

So you’ve heard the saying about leap and the net will appear? After downing antacids and adult fortifications, I started approaching some of these semi-giants. Felt like Dorothy approaching the Wizard, without even a lion or scarecrow or a tin man.

I was rewarded with some of the best experiences of my life, as faces lit up and people I admired thanked me for the opportunity to be a part of this.

4. If you keep your request small, people will deliver big.

I pitched Eight as a low-impact project to the other writers, but none of them treated it that way. All I asked for was a sample chapter, a previously written story, and an interview. I got all that, on time (barely in some cases, but on time), and so much more. Jessie Powell made us a book trailer, and had to be restrained from doing a print ad. Kathleen Cosgrove found us a cover artist (her son Charlie Wetherington) who delivered a killer cover for next to nothing. Chris Knopf sent our press release to his many contacts. And… well, everybody went over and above.

5. Actually producing the book is the easy part.

There are lots of materials out there on how to self-pub a book. I won’t add to them except to say that pulling together a book is just a lot of fussy little time-consuming tasks, but nothing to be scared of.

6. Multiple writers multiply the quality of the book and the power of the marketing.

I really think that each person roughly doubled the value of this project. What a joy.

So now my little-bitty scary idea has become the book that I may be the most proud of, the one that will probably get the most attention, and the one that was the most fun to work on.

Without me having to do all that messy writing stuff.

Michael Guillebeau’s first book, Josh Whoever (Five Star Mysteries, 2013) was a finalist for the 2014 Silver Falchion Award for Best First Novel: Literary Suspense, received a starred review in Library Journal, and was named a Debut Mystery of the Month by Library Journal. His second book, A Study In Detail (Five Star Mysteries, 2015) received the following praise from the Midwest Book Review: “fresh, original and witty.” Guillebeau has published over twenty short stories, including three in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Michael Guillebeau lives in Madison, Alabama, and Panama City Beach, Florida. For more information, see www.michaelguillebeau.com.

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.

For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.

And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.

2/17/16 2/17/16

Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book / Michael Guillebeau

Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book
By Michael Guillebeau

I didn’t get any funny stories, but I do have a few pointers on how a multi-author project can be more fun and successful than you can possibly imagine.

1. Don’t say no to the idea.

2. Find a clear vision, and the right people to buy into it.

Jesus.

3. Even big people love to be asked to help, particularly if it helps them, too.

I was rewarded with some of the best experiences of my life, as faces lit up and people I admired thanked me for the opportunity to be a part of this.

4. If you keep your request small, people will deliver big.

5. Actually producing the book is the easy part.

6. Multiple writers multiply the quality of the book and the power of the marketing.

I really think that each person roughly doubled the value of this project. What a joy.

So now my little-bitty scary idea has become the book that I may be the most proud of, the one that will probably get the most attention, and the one that was the most fun to work on.

Without me having to do all that messy writing stuff.

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.

For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.

And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.

2/17/16 2/17/16

Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book / Michael Guillebeau

Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book
By Michael Guillebeau

I didn’t get any funny stories, but I do have a few pointers on how a multi-author project can be more fun and successful than you can possibly imagine.

1. Don’t say no to the idea.

2. Find a clear vision, and the right people to buy into it.

Jesus.

3. Even big people love to be asked to help, particularly if it helps them, too.

I was rewarded with some of the best experiences of my life, as faces lit up and people I admired thanked me for the opportunity to be a part of this.

4. If you keep your request small, people will deliver big.

5. Actually producing the book is the easy part.

6. Multiple writers multiply the quality of the book and the power of the marketing.

I really think that each person roughly doubled the value of this project. What a joy.

So now my little-bitty scary idea has become the book that I may be the most proud of, the one that will probably get the most attention, and the one that was the most fun to work on.

Without me having to do all that messy writing stuff.

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.

For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.

And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.

2/15/16 2/15/16

Killer Cocktails: The Secret Affair

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

The Secret Affair

A Killer Nashville Signature Cocktail

Ingredients:

Smucker's PlateScapers

Forbidden Secret Cream - Dark Mocha

Caribbean's Finest Rum

Cream of your choice (optional)

Directions:

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

Cheers!

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

About Spaz:

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

2/10/16 2/10/16

Challenging Clichés / Sharon Woods Hopkins

There’s a dangerous mental laziness inherent in the use of clichés that, if unchecked, can lead us, and our readers, to a limited worldview—particularly when those clichés are stereotypes. In this week’s guest blog, author Sharon Woods Hopkins shares anecdotal examples from her own endeavors to eschew stereotypes in favor of increased imagination and creativity.

Happy reading!

Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine

Challenging Clichés
By Sharon Woods Hopkins

I was told a long time ago that clichés are weak writing.

So are stereotypes, which are a form of clichés, about groups of people. If you write about bikers, don’t make them leather jacket thugs. For example, I know a great group of Christian bikers, and let’s not forget the Freedom Guard riders. Even if your biker, protagonist or antagonist, isn’t the church-going type, write him or her with an unexpected characteristic. Maybe he or she is a dog lover and carries a miniature poodle in a backpack.

If you write about a group of people, make them unique, different, and most of all, interesting.

I had stereotypes to avoid in Killerground, my fourth Rhetta McCarter mystery. Like the first three, this story is set in rural Southeast Missouri. That, in itself, could give rise to the Ozark hillbilly stereotype. Instead, my protagonist is a businesswoman who drives a resto-mod 1979 Camaro with a Corvette engine.

At the heart of the trouble are unusual deaths of members of a Native American tribe whose land borders that of a mysterious group that call their compound the Righteous Rewards Retreat.

The challenge to the stereotype of a cult compound here was to make the Righteous Reward compound something other than a religious group. It would have been easy to make them ultra-conservative and right wing, and that scenario has been done a lot. The leader, or Teacher as he’s called, is a billionaire from Oklahoma who believes in lay lines and the mystical powers they hold. There is no worshipping involved.

The conflict between his followers and the neighboring Native American tribe is over a natural spring that sits directly on a lay line that Teacher feels has magical power, but which belongs to the Native American tribe.

I enjoyed creating the character of Chief Ed Silver Fox, who strongly resembles a dear friend, Chief Paul White Eagle, whose help was invaluable in this story. At the same time, it was a challenge not to stereotype the chief, too. In many stories, Native Americans live on reservations, are poor, and suffer many addictions. The Native Americans in this story are not a recognized tribe by the US Government, and live on land they own independently. The chief is a talented, widowed artist determined to build a historical museum to tell the story of his dwindling tribe. He is calm, charismatic, and very wise. He is, however, distrustful of most non-Native people.

Another issue particular to the writing of this book was changing the occupation of the character and building a new world for her that was different from the one she had had for three books. I had to create a whole new occupation for Rhetta, while maintaining her circle of supporting characters. They needed different jobs, so it was a challenge to figure out what they would all do, and how they would mesh and be relevant in the new story. I did that by having my protagonist form a charitable foundation and hire her friends to work for her.

Her first project was to help the Chief build the museum. That put her in a position to be involved with the Chief, and by extension, the Righteous Rewards Retreat, and the mysterious deaths, one of which she witnessed.

As always, I strive to make Rhetta, who is just a normal woman thrown into extraordinary circumstances, smart, funny, and too nosy for her own good.

Keep clichés for conversation, like the next time your neighbor is as drunk as a skunk.

Sharon Woods Hopkins, author of the award-winning Rhetta McCarter mysteries, is retired from banking and spends her time writing and volunteering. She owns the original Cami, a restored ’79 Camaro who appears as a character in her books. Her hobbies include restoring muscle cars and painting. Her first book, Killerwatt, placed as a finalist in the 2012 Indie Excellence Awards. Her second, Killerfind, won first place in the 2013 Missouri Writers’ Guild Show-me Best Book Awards and placed as a finalist in the 2013 Indie Excellence Awards.

The third in the series,Killertrust, was a finalist in the 2014 Indie Excellence Awards.

Her newest in the series, Killerground, was released in 2015. Her award-winning short story, “Rear View Mirror”, was published in That Mysterious Woman anthology in 2014.

She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Guppies, International Thriller Writers, Missouri Writers Guild, Southeast Missouri Writers Guild, and Heartland Writers. You can find Sharon at the website she shares with her husband and fellow author, Bill Hopkins, the other half of The Deadly Duo, at www.deadlyduo.net, on Twitter @sharonwhopkins, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sharonwoodshopkins.

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.

For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.

And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.

2/10/16 2/10/16

Challenging Clichés / Sharon Woods Hopkins

Challenging Clichés
By Sharon Woods Hopkins

I was told a long time ago that clichés are weak writing.

If you write about a group of people, make them unique, different, and most of all, interesting.

At the heart of the trouble are unusual deaths of members of a Native American tribe whose land borders that of a mysterious group that call their compound the Righteous Rewards Retreat.

As always, I strive to make Rhetta, who is just a normal woman thrown into extraordinary circumstances, smart, funny, and too nosy for her own good.

Keep clichés for conversation, like the next time your neighbor is as drunk as a skunk.

The third in the series, Killertrust, was a finalist in the 2014 Indie Excellence Awards.

Her newest in the series, Killerground, was released in 2015. Her award-winning short story, “Rear View Mirror”, was published in That Mysterious Woman anthology in 2014.

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.

For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.

And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.

2/10/16 2/10/16

Challenging Clichés / Sharon Woods Hopkins

Challenging Clichés
By Sharon Woods Hopkins

I was told a long time ago that clichés are weak writing.

If you write about a group of people, make them unique, different, and most of all, interesting.

At the heart of the trouble are unusual deaths of members of a Native American tribe whose land borders that of a mysterious group that call their compound the Righteous Rewards Retreat.

As always, I strive to make Rhetta, who is just a normal woman thrown into extraordinary circumstances, smart, funny, and too nosy for her own good.

Keep clichés for conversation, like the next time your neighbor is as drunk as a skunk.

The third in the series, Killertrust, was a finalist in the 2014 Indie Excellence Awards.

Her newest in the series, Killerground, was released in 2015. Her award-winning short story, “Rear View Mirror”, was published in That Mysterious Woman anthology in 2014.

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.

For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.

And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.

2/8/16 2/8/16

Featured Poetry: "Pencil to Paper"

By Sharon Ann Wilson

My pencil snapped yet again
I can’t get the words right
So I erase and do it again
and again.
That’s the 5th lead today
I’m afraid to touch my laptop
For fear I might throw it.
Is this writer’s block?
I doubt it, but what do I know…
Number six is up, I hope it will hold
Oh boy, a sentence down
Only several thousand more to go
So, I write on, praying this lead will hold.

2/5/16 2/5/16

The Writer's Life: Setting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bet you had no trouble telling which was which.

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

Create Atmosphere

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reveal Character

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

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

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

Drive Plot

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

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

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

Macro & Micro Settings

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

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

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

Making Setting Work for You

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2/5/16 2/5/16

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

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

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

Borderline Personality Disorder and Romantic Relationships
By Dr. Robert Jacobs

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

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

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

“How great?” She would ask flirtatiously.

Something inside Adam began to tighten.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2/5/16 2/5/16

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

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

What’s Wrong With Scandinavian People?

By Anders de la Motte

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Start With the Basics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. A Drop of Dynamics

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

3. Lots of Location

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

4. A Hint of History

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

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

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

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

5. Serve It In Style

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

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

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

6. Enjoy In Good Company

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

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

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

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

2/5/16 2/5/16

State of the Industry: Contract Decoding, Part Two

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

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

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

Contract Decoding (Part 2 of 3)
By Milt Toby

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

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

Common payment schemes include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Running the Numbers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lessons Learned

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

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

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

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

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KN Magazine: Articles

Speed Writing To Keep Up With Speed Readers / John Hegenberger

Speed Writing To Keep Up With Speed Readers / John Hegenberger

Under the Microscope with Steve Bradshaw

Death Scenes are Castles in the Sand
By Steve Bradshaw

State of the Industry: Contract Decoding

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)
By Milt Toby

State of the Industry: Contract Decoding

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)
By Milt Toby

A Shrink with Ink / Ellen Kirschman

A Shrink with Ink / Ellen Kirschman

A Shrink with Ink / Ellen Kirschman

Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book / Michael Guillebeau

Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book / Michael Guillebeau

Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book / Michael Guillebeau

Killer Cocktails: The Secret Affair

The Secret Affair

Challenging Clichés / Sharon Woods Hopkins

Challenging Clichés / Sharon Woods Hopkins

Challenging Clichés / Sharon Woods Hopkins

Featured Poetry: "Pencil to Paper"

The Writer's Life: Setting

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

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

Borderline Personality Disorder and Romantic Relationships
By Dr. Robert Jacobs

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

What’s Wrong With Scandinavian People?

State of the Industry: Contract Decoding, Part Two

Contract Decoding (Part 2 of 3)
By Milt Toby

Submit Your Writing to KN Magazine

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KN Magazine: Articles

Death Scenes are Castles in the SandBy Steve Bradshaw

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)By Milt Toby

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)By Milt Toby

The Secret Affair

The Importance of Setting: Macro vs. MicroBy Jaden Terrell

Borderline Personality Disorder and Romantic RelationshipsBy Dr. Robert Jacobs

What’s Wrong With Scandinavian People?

Contract Decoding (Part 2 of 3)By Milt Toby

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Death Scenes are Castles in the Sand
By Steve Bradshaw

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)
By Milt Toby

Contract Decoding (Part 3 of 3)
By Milt Toby

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

Borderline Personality Disorder and Romantic Relationships
By Dr. Robert Jacobs

Contract Decoding (Part 2 of 3)
By Milt Toby