KN Magazine: Articles
Writing Authentic Characters of the Opposite Sex by Edwin Hill
I write a mystery series about a Harvard research librarian named Hester Thursby who also finds missing people. I’m three books in and so far, she’s found ax-wielding serial killers, a child abductor, and a missing student who has no desire to be found. Sometime in the near future, she’ll be seeking out her own missing mother who she hasn’t talked to in twenty years.
When you write a series, you make decisions early on that stick. Some of them you like, and some of them you learn to live with. For example, in my first book, I decided to be coy and name a secondary character Cary so that readers wouldn’t know whether Cary was a man or a woman. Now, three books in, it kind of annoys me anytime Cary comes on the page that I didn’t simply name her Carrie.
Another early decision was to make my protagonist a woman. I’m often asked why, and if I find it difficult to write from Hester’s point of view.
I’ll tackle the why first.
When I started my first book, Little Comfort, I began with the antagonists, two childhood friends named Sam Blaine and Gabe DiPursio who also happened to be serial killers. Like many first-time novelists, I took my time with the book as it pinged from one iteration to the next. God knows I didn’t have an agent or a publisher waiting for the manuscript. When I hit a roadblock focusing on the two antiheros, like any fiction writer worth their salt, I backed up and tried to find a new path into that story, and decided I needed shift the focus to a protagonist. I didn’t want to write a book about three men, so I decided to make the protagonist a woman. That was my whole decision-making process! And that first book saw some success and turned into a series, so here we are.
The second question is harder (and easier) to answer. Is it difficult to write from a woman’s perspective? The short answer is yes. But then, I find writing from anyone’s perspective to be a challenge, especially if the character doesn’t share my background or sensibilities, and fiction writing is all about making up characters that feel authentic. I’ve written from the point of view of women, straight men, young people, veterinarians, police officers, serial killers, child abductors and transgender men, all experiences I’ve had to imagine for the characters. (For the record, a novel with me at as the central character would go nowhere except the sleep aids aisle of the pharmacy. I’m far too boring!)
Fiction is about inhabiting the lives of others. As writers, if we do our job well, those lives feel authentic for our readers, and if we don’t, they feel forced or, even worse, offensive. So when I write Hester’s scenes, I start with finding the things about her character that connect us — we both love movies, we’re both reluctant misanthropes, we both care about the people who touch our lives —and I exploit those similarities as much as I can.
Still, we have differences I’ll never fully understand. Yes, Hester Thursby is a woman, but she’s also a librarian, she’s 12 years younger than I am, has a child, is estranged from her mother, is very short, and the list goes on. With each novel, I need to decide which of those parts of Hester’s life I want to bring to the forefront. In Little Comfort, it was motherhood. In my latest novel, Watch Her, it’s Hester’s work life as a librarian. I treat learning about those experiences as I would any piece of research that goes into creating the novel. As I write, I talk with as many people as I can. For Watch Her, I spent a terrific afternoon touring Harvard’s Widener Library and then learning about the day-to-day life of a research librarian. Those few hours wound up infusing the entire novel.
Finally, when I’m done, I have a team of beta readers who tell me what I got wrong. And while Hester is the central character, all my novels are told from multiple points of view, so getting Hester right is only the first step. Once I finish with her, I move on to the others. It’s all in a day’s work!
Edwin Hill is the author of the critically acclaimed Hester Thursby mystery series, the first of which, Little Comfort, was an Agatha Award finalist, a selection of the Mysterious Press First Mystery Club, and a Publishers Marketplace Buzz Books selection. The second installment, The Missing Ones, was also an Agatha Award finalist and a Sue Grafton Memorial Award nominee. Formerly the vice president and editorial director for Bedford/St. Martin's (Macmillan), he now teaches at Emerson College and has written for the L.A. Review of Books, The Life Sentence, Publishers Weekly, and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. He lives in Roslindale, Massachusetts with his partner Michael and their Labrador, Edith Ann. Visit Edwin online at www.Edwin-Hill.com.
The Difference Between Terrorism and Organized Crime by Frank Hamilton
Terrorism and organized crime have both been important in the real world which has made them a common feature of various literary genres, especially thriller and mystery novels. But the two are not the same and knowing the difference between terrorism and organized crime is crucial to use the two effectively in your work.
What Is Terrorism?
To put it simply, terrorism is the intentional use of violence for pursuing political and/or religious goals. Most of the time, the word is used to refer to the violent acts committed during peacetime or aimed at civilians. The word itself dates back to the French Revolution of the late 18th – early 19th century when the “Reign of Terror” began under the Jacobin regime of Maximilien Robespierre.
But when terrorism really gained prominence was the 1970s. At the time, the conflicts in Palestine, the Basque Country, and Northern Ireland got a lot of attention. In the 1980s, suicide attacks became more widespread, and in 2001, the September 11 attacks in the United States solidified the use of the term and resulted in the Global War on Terrorism. Yet, there is still no universally agreed-upon definition of terrorism.
As Victor Young from the custom writing reviews site Online Writers Rating notes, “Terrorism is an emotionally charged term which means using it will already imply that some kind of moral wrong has been done. Those using the word usually mean to denounce or condemn the actions of the terrorists. In most countries, terrorism is illegal, but there is still no consensus about whether or not it should be considered a war crime.”
What Is Organized Crime?
The term organized crime is a broad one and is usually used to refer to international, national, and local groups run by criminals that engage in various illegal activities for profit. Members of organized crime groups can also force people to do business with them (e.g. take money from small business owners in return for “protection”) but these people may still be considered victims rather than partners in crime depending on the situation.
Crime has existed for as long as humans have, but the degrees to which it has been organized have varied significantly. Gangs can sometimes be considered a part of organized crime, while most criminal organizations are referred to as mobs, mafia, syndicates, etc. Some notable examples of organized crime include the Sicilian mafia, the Russian mafia, the Japanese yakuza, the Chinese triads, and the Hong Kong mafia.
How Do Terrorism and Organized Crime Interact?
In some instances, terrorist groups can be considered a form of organized crime. This happens when criminal organizations become politically or religiously motivated in their actions. Organized criminal groups and terrorists can establish partnerships and alliances and work together to pursue their own goals. But there are more similarities between terrorism and organized crime than one might expect initially:
Structure and Organization: The “cell structure” has been adopted both by organized criminal groups and by terrorist groups. This structure allows the cells to have relative autonomy and continue working even when one or more of the cells have been exposed.
Tactics and Strategies: Because of the kinds of operations criminal groups and terrorists are involved in, both usually need to get fake or illegally obtained documentation. At the same time, both prefer establishing connections with corrupt officials for profit.
IT and Communication: The Dark Web is often used by criminal organizations and terrorists alike to avoid leaving an electronic footprint. However, both usually require the help of experts to perform complicated tasks of such kind.
Territorial Ambitions: Organized crime and terrorism depend on the control of certain territories which is why conflicts and/or alliances can result from the struggle between the two.
Financial Resources: One particular area where organized crime and terrorism converge is narcoterrorism. It is still very widespread in certain countries and has remained a major issue for decades.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, terrorism and organized crime have definitely been very separate from each other but have been converging to an extent in recent years. Using either of the two in your work will help you tell a more compelling story and build your fictional world authentically, but only if you understand the differences between terrorism and organized crime.
Frank Hamilton is a blogger and translator from Manchester, England. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English.
Organized Crime in the Time of Corona by Michael Gorman
Many areas of organized crime have taken a serious beating since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. With the sealed borders that prevent the smuggling of contrabands and the closed streets where drug dealers used to sell their products, many of the criminals’ activities have been brought to an indefinite halt.
However, it would be rushed to think that the earth’s mobsters failed to find their ways to criminal activities. In fact, it seems like they’ve truly outdone themselves during this global crisis. From the criminal underbelly of the Internet that yielded more frequent cyber-attacks than ever, to innovative and unexpected ways to infiltrate the health systems, criminals seem to adjust to the change rather fast and effectively.
Sergio Nazzaro, a spokesperson for the anti-mafia parliamentary commission’s president of Italy, has stated the following: ‘’The mafia is like the coronavirus – it will get you wherever you are.’’
How Has the Pandemic Affected the World of Crime?
In China, the place that’s known as the world’s capital of counterfeiting, criminal enterprises are left without their main sources of supply due to the lockdown of Chinese factories. In Bosnia, thieves find it harder than ever to steal vehicles, and we all know how big of a problem this country had with such crime. It seems to be harder to steal cars when the streets are devoid of people and quieter than ever, says the GI-TOC.
One of the areas where organized crime is hurt most badly is the area of sports. The cessation of collegiate and professional sports such as the NCAA has impacted the regular money supply for criminal organizations such as La Casa Nostra and their gambling operations.
It’s not news that the criminal world has also suffered great losses, but they seem to be coping and dealing better than everyone else. Frederick Yang, a former professor of criminology and current writer at academized believes that ‘the criminals are as strong as ever, and their strength only grows while we focus hard on beating the pandemics. Most of the time, their big actions even go unnoticed, and we’ll realize it too late.’’
Organized Crime across the Globe during the Coronavirus Pandemic
The strength of the mafia is highly evident in places like Rio de Janeiro where criminals are strengthening their relationship with the state by helping them enforce the lockdown at night. Several painted notices have been found across this location, telling people that if they leave their homes, organized crime will do the right thing and punish them. There even was a video where the loudspeaker shared a terrifying message: ‘Anyone found messing or walking around outside will be punished.’’
It seems that, thanks to this pandemic, mobsters have found new opportunities for crime, some of which could be long-term. The increased partnership with the state is certainly one such perk. Bethany Terrence, a remote criminology writer who performs dissertations services at a content writing company stated that: ‘’the criminal world has made such strong progress, it will last for decades to come.’’
In Switzerland, one of the safest places in the world, there has been an increase of criminals who loot properties. They present themselves as representatives from official state agencies, requesting access to different establishments and properties in order to ‘disinfect them of coronavirus’. To be more, Europol has issued a report that vacated establishments are at high risk of criminal activities, especially since people choose to depart to their secondary residences and leave their city residences empty.
To make matters worse, there have been many reports around the world regarding frauds called the ‘grandma trick’. Criminals seem to present themselves as doctors, asking to be introduced into a person’s home to test the people for the coronavirus. Once they’re granted access, they burglarize the place.
The areas that are most affected by crime at this point are the healthcare and the Internet. In the countries where organized crime has already infiltrated the health systems, the value of stolen healthcare spending has increased significantly in the past month. The United States has issued a report in 2012 estimating that around 10% of the healthcare spent value is being stolen on a yearly basis. With the pandemic and the increase in spending, these numbers are becoming significantly higher.
Six in every 10 products used in the healthcare industry are expired, falsified, or stolen in Mexico. According to GI-TOC, the Jalisco New Generation cartel promotes pirated drugs’ production and demands that pharmacies sell them to people.
The strength with which the criminals work is evident by the number of raids that Interpol coordinated in a single month. They’ve made 121 arrests of a worldwide level and dismantled 37 organized crime groups. In the process, Interpol seized items like hand sanitizers, counterfeit masks, coronavirus packages and sprays, as well as numerous antiviral medications that are unauthorized.
In Italy, the police is frequently seizing counterfeit masks while in Ukraine, there have been attempt to smuggle the most essential stocks of hand sanitizers and medical face masks.
The Mafia is sure gaining a lot of local support in the Italian territory by distributing food to the poor families put in quarantine. Apparently, the criminal organizations have found their ways to connect with the people and make them join their circles. Nicola Gratteri, the head of the prosecutor’s office of Catanzaro and an antimafia investigator told the Guardian the following:
‘’Millions of people work in the grey economy, which means that they haven’t received any income in more than a month and have no idea when they might return to work. [...]If the state doesn’t step in soon to help these families, the mafia will provide its services, imposing their control over people’s lives.”
As we mentioned, cyber crime is one of the most frequent occurrences these days, especially now when people use technology more than ever. More and more people decide or are asked to work from home, leaving criminals with endless opportunities to perform cyber crime.
As a result of the increased use of technology, there have been a series of new phishing scams that emerged since the coronavirus outbreak. Cybercriminals seem to be impersonating the WHO to steal personal information and spread malware.
Some of the cyber attacks go beyond just scamming individuals. They are more coordinated and aimed toward infrastructures like the hospital in Brno. After the attack, the Czech hospital had to completely shut down its system and reroute all patients to the facilities nearby.
Rich Jacobs, the ASAC of the cybercrime branch at the FBI New York office, believes that there are two categories of scams in the criminal world related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first is more generic and includes the investment in companies that produce medical equipment and the solicitation of funds for cures, vaccines, and test kits. The latter is cyber attacks in the form of fake websites and phishing emails designed to get people’s personal information and IDs.
The bottom line
The criminal world has also suffered some losses, but they’ve definitely risen to the occasion. Since most law enforcement agencies across the world are understaffed and cannot focus on criminal activities in the midst of the quarantine and the crisis, the criminals have found their haven during this epidemic.
Sources:
https://www.newsbreak.com/news/0OZNwjRO/organized-crime-in-the-time-of-corona
https://globalinitiative.net/crime-contagion-impact-covid-crime/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/brazil-rio-gangs-coronavirus
Matthew Farrell is the internationally-bestselling author of WHAT HAVE YOU DONE and I KNOW EVERYTHING. His books have been sold in 16 countries and have been #1 bestsellers in the US and UK, having landed on the Washington Post and Amazon Charts best sellers lists. He currently resides in Northern Westchester County with his wife and two daughters. Get caught up on the progress of his next thriller along with his general musings by following him on Twitter @mfarrellwriter or liking his page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/mfarrellwriter2 or Instagram @mfarrellwriterbooks.
Researching International Thrillers by Michael Niemann
For the past thirty-odd years, I’ve had the following conversation innumerable times.
Person at a party: "What do you do?"
Me: "I teach."
"What do you teach?"
"World Politics."
"Oh, that must be really interesting right now."
I have always puzzled over this response because I knew there hadn’t been any increase or decline of the level of interestingness of world politics for as long as I’ve been teaching it.
It seemed to me a uniquely US-American response. The sheer size of this country makes it possible for many folks to live a rich, productive, and creative life without paying much attention to what happens elsewhere in the world. Those other countries are far away. Sure, those with the means go on holidays there and learn a little bit, but that’s the extend of it. It’s therefore not surprising that there’s also a lack of understanding how deeply US policies impact other countries.
Many international thrillers reflect this US-centric view of the world. But it doesn’t have to be that way. How does one write more nuanced international thrillers?
The short answer is research. I’ll focus here on two aspects.
Location
If at all possible, visit the place you’re writing about. But don’t visit as a tourist; visit as a researcher. That means establishing contacts beforehand.
How do you find contacts? Check local news sources. Papers and TV stations often have an English version of their website. If you see an article that pertains to your topic, contact the writer or journalist. Check out local crime writers and see if you can contact them. Universities also are great places to find knowledgeable folks. For my latest thriller Percentages of Guilt I needed to learn more about the Belgian legal system, which differs from the common law tradition of the US. I emailed the dean of the law school of the University of Antwerp, stated my desire, and she put me in contact with a professor of criminal law who explained to me that my initial idea for a plot didn’t work in Belgium.
If you can’t visit, learn as much as you can through satellite view or street view available in various map apps. It’s not the same as being there, but it gives you a sense of what street life looks like. For my thriller No Right Way, I did that with the town of Kilis in southern Turkey. The imagery showed me how new and old buildings stood side by side. A tiny old grocery store next to a shiny new bank. The grocery store had a hand-written sign in the window, offering bulgur on sale. That made it straight into the novel.
Wikipedia is also an invaluable resource. Need climate information for a city somewhere? Wikipedia covers most large and medium-sized cities in the world and gives you the temperature averages and extremes as well as rainfall for every month of the year.
Issues
What’s happening in the politics of the country where your thriller takes place? What are the social issues that have people talking?
Again, news sources are helpful here, but don’t forget an often-overlooked resource: global, regional, and local NGOs. Nongovernmental organizations span the gamut from wildlife preservation to social justice to human rights. Those NGOs publish regular reports. Often those reports are issued in multiple languages or have at least an English summary. An Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch report about a specific country provides an in-depth view of what’s currently going on there.
If you need to know the current conflicts in a particular country, consult those types of reports. They may offer hints of how to enrich the conflicts in your novel, but at a minimum such information will make your novel richer and more realistic for the reader.
For my thriller Illegal Holdings (which won the Silver Falchion Award at Killer Nashville 2019), I drew on the reports of the Oakland Institute on foreign land acquisitions on the African continent. Those reports gave me insights on how foreign corporations and countries bought large acreages of land in several African countries. Those insights expanded my personal knowledge of Mozambique and helped sharpen the basic conflict in the novel.
A final treasure trove of information are international organizations. From the United Nations down to various regional organizations, the amount of information and report available for free is astounding. When I was writing Percentages of Guilt, I needed information on money laundering. The Financial Action Task Force offered a host of information including examples of schemes used by criminals to launder money.
Proper research will make your novel more plausible, help you avoid stereotypes and maybe even educate your reader. That’s something all writers aspire to.
Award-winning author Michael Niemann has long been interested in the sites where ordinary people’s lives and global processes intersect. His thrillers featuring UN investigator Valentin Vermeulen are published by Coffeetown Press. Legitimate Business and Illicit Trade were published in March 2017. Illegal Holdings came out in March 2018, and No Right Way followed in June 2019. Illegal Holdings won the 2019 Silver Falchion Award for Best Thriller at Killer Nashville. The fifth Vermeulen thriller, Percentages of Guilt has just been released.
The Case for Creating a Killer Marketing Plan by Ellie Alexander
I remember the day I received the call from my agent letting me know that we had an offer for a three-book contract. After dancing around the living room and toasting with a celebratory pint of hoppy Pacific Northwest ale, the next thing I did was get right to work on my marketing plan. It might seem strange that, instead of savoring the sweetness of landing my first book deal, my thoughts immediately turned to marketing. The reality of publishing in the 21st century is that, in addition to writing a page-turning mystery with plenty of twists and red herrings that lead readers down dead ends, we as authors are also tasked with publicizing and selling our books. The sooner we embrace that, the more creative energy we can pour into crafting a killer marketing plan.
Now, let me be clear about what I mean when I say that we are responsible for selling our books. I do not mean employing the strategy of screaming in ALL CAPS on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Tik Tok, “BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK!” I see so many examples of authors spinning their wheels and spamming their social media followers with constant, in-your-face messages about nothing other than buying their book. Imagine this in the real world. You walk into a bookstore, eager to sip a coffee while you peruse the shelves, but upon entering the store you’re greeted by an author waving their book in your face and demanding that you buy it. They then proceed to follow you around the store shouting that their book is the best you’ll ever read and you’ll regret it if you don’t buy it today. I’m going to guess that this might be a turn off. Am I right?
Book marketing, like marketing in any other profession, requires thoughtful planning designed to build a loyal and engaged audience of readers. How do we achieve this? By thinking inside the book. This is more important now than ever, given that traditional bookstore signings, library talks, and events are on hold due to the pandemic. Rather than trying to scream the loudest on social media amongst all of the noise, invite readers into your world. Offer them a taste of what they might find inside the pages of your book.
For example, my Sloan Krause Mystery series is set in the charming Bavarian village of Leavenworth, Washington and features a female brewer turned part-time sleuth. I’m fascinated by the craft brewing culture. It’s truly science meets creativity at it’s best. Brewers are like magicians. They take four simple ingredients hops, water, yeast, and grains and produce completely unique beers from there. I want to share that chemistry with readers, so when I was sketching out my marketing plan for the series, I reached out to a variety of professional brewers. I asked if they would be willing to do video interviews and live chats on social media to talk about their process and craft. It’s a symbiotic relationship. I get to offer readers insight into a new world and the brewers get to share their knowledge with a new audience.
Not once did I demand that readers buy my book in these interviews and live chats. The book is secondary. I’m providing highly specialized content to readers that ties back to the book. I might weave in comparisons on how Sloan prefers to add fresh hops to the mash tun or talk about the hours I spend “researching” (aka tasting) different beer styles to make sure that my descriptions of a dark chocolate coconut stout or honey Pilsner are correct. Readers chime in with their questions about brewing and books. They connect by sharing their favorite or least favorite beer experiences. (Insert beard beer here—yeah, that’s a real thing. Google it.) These are the building blocks of community, and ultimately the reason a reader will end up buying your book.
Creating an authentic marketing plan is one of the easiest ways to ensure long term success as an author. Use themes, settings, ideas, or people from your book as a launching point. Welcome readers into that space. Ask questions. Start conversations. Listen. Have fun! Marketing doesn’t have to be serious. It can be giving away beer-themed coasters and stickers to your readership in celebration of release day. Hosting an online pub crawl where readers stop by different breweries to pick up clues at each spot—both in real life and in digital space. Or, holding a photo contest for readers to share their funniest beer pics. Use the same creative energy you tapped into to write the book, to formulate a marketing plan.
In my Mystery Series Master Class, I teach new writers the tools of the trade and walk them through building a comprehensive marketing plan while they’re writing their first book. Setting the tone and the stage for inventive ways to reach and build lasting relationships with readers is perhaps the single most important thing you’ll do, aside from writing the actual book. Not only will your future readers thank you, but immersing yourself in the process of crafting a marketing plan will likely bring you unexpected insight into your writing.
Cheers to that!
Ellie Alexander is a Pacific Northwest native who spends ample time testing recipes in her home kitchen or at one of the many famed coffeehouses or pubs nearby. When she’s not coated in flour, you’ll find her outside exploring hiking trails and trying to burn off calories consumed in the name of research. She is the author of the bestselling Bakeshop Mystery and Sloan Krause Mystery series. Sign up for her e-mail newsletter to stay up to date on new releases, appearances, and exclusive content & recipes.
Ellie also loves hearing from readers and interacting with them on social media, so be sure to follow her to learn about her mystery series master class, upcoming books, special events and giveaways, and more!
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Learning to Let Go When Editing by Matthew Farrell
When I was asked to write this article for Killer Nashville, I was in the middle of fourth round edits for my fourth book and second round edits for my fifth book, so I thought the subject of the editing process would be fitting. For those of you out there who are looking to enter into the world of publishing for the first time, allow me to take you behind the scenes of what the process of editing looks like from my standpoint from first draft to finished product.
I love the process of editing. I love taking a story you think you know and building on it or stripping it down or moving it in a different direction, only to watch it grow more compelling and polished with each pass. I never realized the magic that editing is until I experienced it on a professional level. Before I was published, I would typically write a first draft, go back and correct typos or misspellings, and call it finished. In my mind, I couldn’t wrap my head around changing elements of the story away from what I previously come up with. It wasn’t that I was being stubborn or standing my ground for the good of my art. I just didn’t know you could do that. I never contemplated moving a story around to make it more exciting or gripping or mysterious. I thought what went down initially were the pieces of the puzzle that fit a certain way. What I didn’t understand was that I could take that puzzle apart, change the pieces themselves, and create an entirely new puzzle. To me, that was fascinating and new. I was intrigued.
But this realization didn’t come to me until I had some interest from an agent who couldn’t take the manuscript on as it was and suggested I hire a freelance editor to help. I found Jennifer Sawyer Fisher, who had once been a senior editor at a top publisher on Manhattan. One of the first things Jennifer said to me was “This story takes place in Philadelphia, but you’re not using the city. Make the city a character. Take the reader through it and use the landmarks in your story to push the plot and the action.” I had literally never thought of that. Suddenly, I had places to play with and landmarks to chase my characters through, and the story began to morph from a Psychological Thriller to more of a Suspense Thriller. We talked more and went through another round of editing, tightening the story and cutting scenes that didn’t work or didn’t move the story along. Again, I never realized I could do that, and in hindsight it seems so logical, but when the story is yours, it’s sometimes hard to see what needs to be cut or tightened or rearranged. During this process, my eyes were opened to the endless possibilities proper editing can provide. It can take you down roads you never thought were there and it can shine a light on something that isn’t working and holding the story back from being as good as it could be. When we were done, I had a tighter, more fluid, story, and although that particular agent still passed, I learned the process of editing, had a story that was better than it had ever been before, and I eventually landed an agent who helped with even more rounds of edits until it was sold and became my internationally bestselling debut, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE.
I’ll say it again. I love editing. In fact, I like it more than writing the initial story. That may seem strange to some of you, but it’s the truth. The first draft is nothing more than a brain dump of words to get it down on the page. It’s a huge block of ice. It’s just there, untouched, waiting to be carved into a beautiful sculpture. And with each round of editing, I do just that. I begin to carve the story I want it to be and each round brings that new version of the story to life. Suddenly characters are doing new things. Motivations change. The plot can change. More often than not, the murderer will change. A twist I never saw before reveals itself. And in the end, I have something I hadn’t thought of during that first draft, but is something I know my readers will enjoy.
In the professional world of publishing, I typically go through five to seven rounds of editing from first draft to what the reader is reading on publication day. I write my draft and then edit once myself before sending to my agent. My agent and I go through another two rounds of editing, and this is usually where major changes are done to plot and character motive. After we’re done, I send to my editor at the publishing house and I go through another two or three rounds. These rounds start with big changes and then grow smaller with each pass. I write thrillers, so my editing at this level often involves tightening a story, developing a plot more, and getting that twist just right. After my editor is satisfied it goes through a final pass-through line edit for typos and punctuation, etc. My job is to keep that reader turning the pages and not give them a point where it’s okay to put the book down. It’s harder than you might think, and it really does take a team to pull it off. I’m so thankful I have the team I have.
In closing, I want to leave you with one piece of advice. In editing, everything’s on the table. You need to be prepared to cut or add whatever you need to in order to make the story stronger. The publishing phrase “kill your darlings” comes from the editing process. It’s inevitable that you will come across a scene or subplot or character that you absolutely love, but must cut for the good of the story. It happens to all of us. I just deleted 20,000 words from my fifth book because what I was trying to pull off wasn’t working and we decided to go in a different direction. It was painful to hit that delete button, but I’m excited to move in this new direction and I know the readers will love where we’re now going. I also had to kill a character (no spoilers) in WHAT HAVE YOU DONE that I really liked and was determined not to kill and hadn’t killed in all the previous versions of the story. In the end, I knew it had to be done in order to move the story to where it needed to go, and although some readers are blown away by the death and some are upset by it, everyone recognizes it as a turning point in the novel and always elicits a reaction from the fans. Killing a darling happens to us all. Embrace it when it happens to you and remember that everything’s on the table.
Happy writing (and editing) to all of you out there. I hope you enjoyed our peek into my professional editing process.
Matthew Farrell is the internationally-bestselling author of WHAT HAVE YOU DONE and I KNOW EVERYTHING. His books have been sold in 16 countries and have been #1 bestsellers in the US and UK, having landed on the Washington Post and Amazon Charts best sellers lists. He currently resides in Northern Westchester County with his wife and two daughters. Get caught up on the progress of his next thriller along with his general musings by following him on Twitter @mfarrellwriter or liking his page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/mfarrellwriter2 or Instagram @mfarrellwriterbooks.
Taking On an Icon by Liese Sherwood-Fabre
In an article from The Guardian in 2012, Ewan Morrison noted that if fan fiction is defined as “reworking…another author’s characters,” the concept only developed after laws regarding copyright and intellectual property appeared—along with the printing press and mass production of fiction. Prior to the Statute of Anne, drafted in the 18th century, creators of original compositions had no protection from the publication of any derivative works. Even Miguel de Cervantes was unable to stop the publication of an unofficial sequel to the first volume of Don Quixote. He did, however, refer to it in the second volume—and mock it in the process.
The development of the Internet has provided a much larger platform for those interested in expanding story lines or involving fictional (and non-fictional) characters (from print or other media) in new situations, and perhaps one of the most popular and enduring of such efforts involves Sherlock Holmes. The fanfic site Archive of Our Own boasts more than 127,000 stories based on this character—second only to Harry Potter (at more than 253,000). Shortly after Arthur Conan Doyle penned his last tale in 1927, American teen August Derleth asked Conan Doyle if he could continue the series. While the author declined, Derleth did develop his own stories about a detective Solar Pons who seemed uncannily similar to Sherlock Holmes—down to having a brother named Bancroft.
A few years later (1934), the detective’s fans created formal societies in honor of their hero. The Baker Street Irregulars meets once a year in New York and oversees a network of societies, or scions, dedicated to Conan Doyle’s character. In addition to reading and discussing the original works, referred to as “the Canon,” fictional and non-fictional pieces are shared among members and published in local newsletters as well as national and international journals.
A recent survey in Britain found 20% of respondents identified Sherlock Holmes as an actual, historical figure. Pressed for details, most would likely describe him as wearing a deerstalker hat, smoking a pipe, and carrying a magnifying glass. My own research into the detective uncovered very little about Sherlock’s origins. Other than mentioning his ancestors were country squires and his brother was named Mycroft, Sherlockians have filled in some gaps (such as his birthdate), but how Sherlock Holmes became Sherlock Holmes was never fully explained. Conan Doyle mentions Sherlock developed his “methods” while at university and gained some notoriety among his fellow students there, but his motivation was never fully delineated. My curiosity piqued, I decided to provide just such an origin story for the world’s most famous consulting detective.
Given the popularity in addition to the well-organized Sherlock Holmes fan base, an author does not approach such a subject lightly. His personal knowledge and traits were supplied in the first work, A Study in Scarlet, (a whole list is provided in the second chapter) and other habits appear throughout the Canon. Moving forward with this project, then, meant keeping true to the spirit of the original Holmes, but with skills not as refined as he would have as an adult.
The base and heart of Sherlock’s popularity was—and is—his ability to apply logic and science to solving mysteries. When originally written, many of his methods were just being applied to solving true crimes, and some even anticipated actual application. Both Sherlock and Mycroft had exceptional intellectual abilities, but someone had to nurture these traits. Following research into the Victorian period and my own imagination, I chose their mother to be both teacher and mentor in such areas. During the Victorian period, the mother was in charge of the household, including the children’s education. At the same time, they led very restricted lives. I developed a woman with a mind as keen as her sons’, but without the outlet the boys were offered. In addition, because country squires served as local magistrates, I included their father to serve as an inlet into the law and criminal activity. Given such an environment, the rest was—fictional—history.
I have penned the first three of “The Early Case Files of Sherlock Holmes,” to some very positive reviews. Bestselling author Gemma Halliday has called it “a classic in the making.” Kirkus Review describes the second (out at the end of August) as “a multifaceted and convincing addition to Sherlockian lore.”
This series developed because I wanted to answer a question about a fictional character, leading me into the realm of fan fiction. For others interested in doing something similar, here are some things I learned along the way (as well as advice drawn from other fan fiction writers)
Be true to the character. Read the original works and understand the characters’ personalities and traits.
Be true to the time and setting. Unless set in an alternate universe, be certain to keep to the original historical period.
Based on the above, have fun! Put the characters in new situations, or at a time and place before or after what is known.
Be aware of any copyright issues. Anne Rice does not allow fan fiction. J. K. Rowling does, if not for profit. Some sites allow posting of unauthorized stories/characters without the original author’s permission. Others do not. As I was writing the first book, a copyright case was brought against another author, and thanks to that case, all but the last ten Sherlock Holmes stories were considered in the public domain. As long as I did not reference items appearing only in the last ten stories, the Conan Doyle estate would not be interested in my origin tales.
Share your work (based on the caveat above). Some of the more popular sites include:
Archive of Our Own (most popular)
Commaful
net
Tumblr
Wattpad
Who knows? Your work may make you the next E.L. James!
Liese Sherwood-Fabre knew she was destined to write when she got an A+ in the second grade for her story about Dick, Jane, and Sally’s ruined picnic. After obtaining her PhD from Indiana University, she joined the federal government and had the opportunity to work and live internationally for more than fifteen years. After returning to the states, she seriously pursued her writing career and has recently turned to a childhood passion in the tales of Sherlock Holmes. A recognized Sherlockian scholar, her essays on Sherlock and Victorian England are published across the globe and have appeared in the Baker Street Journal, the premiere publication of the Baker Street Irregulars.
The Adventure of the Murdered Midwife
After only a short time into his first year at Eton, Squire Holmes calls Sherlock and his brother back to Underbyrne because their mother has been accused of murdering the village midwife. The two women had, after all, been in a very public argument only days before, and it is Mrs. Holmes who finds the woman stabbed in the back with a pitchfork. From her gaol cell, Mrs. Holmes commissions her younger son to find the true killer before she hangs.
“[Dr.] Sherwood-Fabre makes her conceit of a teen sleuth work. Sherlockians open to plausible extrapolations from the canon will enjoy this.” – Publishers Weekly
The Adventure of the Murdered Gypsy
What’s a holiday without surprises?
It’s Christmas 1867 at Underbyrne, the Holmes family estate. The house is filled with family, relatives, and three unexpected arrivals—all ready to celebrate the holidays. That is, until another uninvited guest appears: dead in the stables. The discovery marks the beginning of a series of bizarre occurrences: Sherlock’s young cousin reports hearing footsteps outside the nursery, Mycroft suddenly falls head-over-heels in love, and the family learns more than one person under their roof harbors secrets. Is someone in the household a murderer? Sherlock must discover the dead man’s identity before another unwelcomed body materializes.
Key Elements to Writing Thrillers by Lee Matthew Goldberg
When people ask what kind of books I write, I usually say that I write thrillers but the truth is that all great books have key thriller elements. The main thing that thrillers need are strong suspense and tension. Usually that involves life or death scenarios, but even non-thriller books would do well to incorporate some keys elements that thriller writers use. Here’s a few to keep in mind.
Moving Plot Forward
Thrillers are not inert and the characters are often propelled by the plot. That means the novel should always be accelerating. If you’re bored writing it, the reader will be bored too. And because a thriller is rarely just about ideas, you need a plot with a strong hook that can carry for three hundred or so pages. In coming up with an idea, I like to think of it in movie terms. This meets that. A successful thriller is also one that could be pitched succinctly. My second novel, The Mentor, was marketed as Cape Fear meets Wonder Boys. This also helps for any adaptation aspirations. A studio will be more interested if they can sum it up easily.
Highlighting Suspense
What keeps a reader turning the page? I read an interview with Stephen King which said that he likes to ramp up the suspense as you get to the bottom of the page so you want to turn to the next one. Having a strong plot helps, but you also need characters the reader will care about. They have to be living and breathing so that we want them to survive whatever peril they encounter. Twists and turns are also good to add. The worst thing in a thriller is when a reader can telegraph exactly what will happens. How can you as a writer keep them on their toes?
Adding Tension
Tension becomes a big part in ramping up the suspense. In my newest novel, The Ancestor, the main character wakes up in the Alaskan wilderness with amnesia. The tension becomes discovering more about him as the novel progresses, especially some terrible things that he did which he may not want to remember. But it’s not enough to just add tension, you want to make sure it’s believable. Too many thrillers are so far-fetched it becomes hard to get on board. You have to find a way to ground your tale in reality.
Drawing Inspiration
I like to make my writing as visual as possible so the reader has to do limited work. The words need to leap off of the page and become a film in their minds. I’m often most influenced by films as well as books. Depending on the project, I tend to read and watch similar things. For The Ancestor, I read a lot of books and films set in arctic conditions, and it was written during the winter so I could mimic the feel of my protagonist. If you find that you’re stuck, read a great author’s work and see how they handle plot and the moments they ratchet up the suspense.
Routine
For any type of novel, it helps to have a routine. I write most days in Central Park because I find nature to be the best inspiration. Discover a writing space that can work for you. I like to edit in the mornings, take a break, and then write in the afternoons. Some days the inspiration isn’t as strong, but if you have a routine set, it helps to keep you committed.
Encountering Rejection
Rejection is a big part of any writing career. You will always be rejected, even once you’ve “made it.” You have to learn to be like Teflon and not let it get to you. The thriller community has so many amazing writers that it can be tough to break out. Be active on social media. Write short fiction to get you in magazines. Go to conferences and network with other writers. Go to readings and be a part of the community. If you really believe in your work, don’t take no for an answer. You only need one yes to get your career moving forward.
Think of Your Book as More Than Just a Book
These days writers should be thinking bigger than just having a novel out there. Your book could be a film or a TV show, it could be adapted into a play, it could sell in multiple countries, it could be a podcast. Don’t limit yourself. Thrillers work because they are a great form of escapism. Try interacting with others in adjacent fields.
Lastly, Promote, Promote, Promote
Promotion is tough these days because there’s so many books out there and so many distractions. In COVID times, do as many virtual tours as you can, do podcasts, do readings and promote them on social media platforms. If you can pay for it, hire a publicist, even if your publisher already has one for you. You can never do too promotion. Likely you haven’t done enough.
Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of the novels THE DESIRE CARD, THE MENTOR, and SLOW DOWN. He has been published in multiple languages and nominated for the 2018 Prix du Polar. His Alaskan Gold Rush novel THE ANCESTOR is forthcoming in 2020. He is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Fringe, dedicated to publishing fiction that’s outside-of-the-box. His pilots and screenplays have been finalists in Script Pipeline, Book Pipeline, Stage 32, We Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay contests. After graduating with an MFA from the New School, his writing has also appeared in the anthology DIRTY BOULEVARD, The Millions, Cagibi, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, The New Plains Review, Underwood Press, Monologging and others. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series and lives in New York City. Follow him at leematthewgoldberg.com
Killer Nashville 2020 and COVID-19 by Ray Peden
I first walked through the doors of the Hutton in 2012, introverted, intimidated, friendless, and unpublished. As an alumnus of 7 Killer Nashvilles, I’m still an introvert, but now I have two well-received suspense/thrillers published, made the short-list for a Claymore and Silver Falchion, been a contributor on numerous panels, gotten a powerful blurb from Clay and others, but most importantly, have slowly accumulated a growing stable of writer friends, all trying to tackle that daunting, elusive, hair-pulling, moving target we know as the @#$%^&* publishing business. My literary financial portfolio hasn’t changed much since I started, but the human experience has.
Armed with some strong anxiety meds (metaphorically speaking), I was looking forward to KN-2020, ready to multiply my friend count, but C-19 tells me otherwise. Bummer. But I’d much rather look forward to seeing comrades in 2021, healthy and brimming with enthusiasm, than chance it now. Not to mention I’m not particularly looking forward to saying goodbye to my family via Facetime with a tube down my throat.
Although it’s been batted around, the idea of a virtual conference doesn’t do KN justice. It’s been said by many that the informal gatherings in hallways, and more so at breakfasts and crowded after-hours round tables by the bar, anchored by tall tales, white lies, and alcohol, is where the real value of KN is spawned. After all—and this is not to diminish the deft organizing skills of KN staff—but these interpersonal exchanges are where the heart of Killer Nashville is most skillfully nurtured. I won’t say I have learned it all, nor that panels have no further value in developing my skills, but the luncheons, award banquets, and elsewhere is where the real value of a prestigious, successful, long-running writing conference shines. And so it is here.
So, to this end, I offer my sad regrets for this year and look forward to seeing everyone next year, God willing, and the creek don’t rise. My book 3, The Bourbon Conspiracy, needs my full attention. Cheers, Clay. You made a tough decision, but the right one. One that all of us, expressed or not, understand.
Ray Peden took a slight detour from the creative pleasures of his youth and molded a 43-year professional career, not as a writer, but as a Civil Engineer, General Contractor, Home Builder and Designer, Land Developer, and Public Relations Copywriter.
Along the way he found time for other pursuits: magazine editor, R&B guitarist, painter, cartoonist, drill sergeant, carpenter, stone mason. Throw in three ex-wives, three amazing daughters, four grandchildren and counting, and it was time to retire to a new career, the thrill-a-minute life as a novelist, counting bodies, conspiracies, and emotional conflicts while he sips bourbon and watches the Kentucky River roll by. Visit him at https://www.writerontheriver.com/.
10 Common Writing Challenges All Writers Face by Diana Adjadj
Writing is not easy for anyone. Even though you might believe some people just sit down, full of motivation, and churn out thousands of masterpiece-worthy words in under an hour, the reality is very much different. Every writer faces challenges and struggles. Even the most prolific authors who achieved international fame admit that writing gets incredibly hard at times.
Here, we will look at some of the most common writing challenges that writers face.
1. Fear and self-doubt
One of the most common obstacles for all writers is the fear that arises before they start writing. A large number of authors express the fear they feel before starting a project.
The solution, in this case, is not to wait for the fear to go away. The fear probably won’t go away as you make significant progress on your project. So, you can find the necessary team to support and encourage you to continue when you don’t feel like it.
2. Lack of time
Those who wish to become writers may require more time than they have. In turn, the world will not stop when a writer needs more time to write. However, there is an effective solution for this.
At this point, you should establish your writing as a priority over other activities you are doing. In fact, throughout the day, not all activities we do have the same importance. So, if you don’t have time, you will have to leave certain tasks aside.
3. Parkinson’s Law
Generally, when a writer wants to carry out an important project, he or she will have to meet certain deadlines. Even if you don’t have a set deadline, you should create one for yourself in order to avoid Parkinson’s law. This law claims that your work will take as much time as you are allowed to have. In other words, if you give yourself 3 years to finish a book, you’ll most likely be done in 3 years. If you give yourself 3 weeks, you can finish in 3 weeks.
A good solution to this is to set a date and time in the week to continue writing. In this case, you should make sure that no activity interferes with this task.
4. Perfectionism and too much self-criticism
A lot of people suffer from chronic perfectionism. This feeling makes the writer detect errors, even where there are none. In this way, writers never manage to finish a project as they are always correcting mistakes.
Estelle Liotard, a contributing writer from Top Essay Writing, says that “if you don’t want to suffer from chronic perfectionism, you should forgive yourself for some mistakes. The drafts you make are not supposed to be perfect.”
5. Using wrong or ineffective writing software
These days, pencil and paper are no longer used as they were decades ago. On the contrary, it is necessary to know how to use writing software. So, when you use the wrong software, then the writing process is greatly impaired.
You will need good writing software that meets your expectations. When you get high-quality software, you should know how to use it. This way, you will get good results. Kristin Savage, a writer from Trust My Paper and content creator for her own blog called Fly Writing, says that “many people use Microsoft Word for writing, but it’s worth it to explore other options as well. Sometimes, even the act of changing your writing environment can improve your productivity”.
6. Lack of discipline
As with any other activity in life, lack of discipline is a problem here too. So, without proper discipline, you may find that time passes, and your project does not progress.
At this point, the solution is similar to a previous one we have mentioned. Here you will have to set a time and a day again and avoid any other factors interfering. Even depression or lack of inspiration should not be an excuse not to write.
7. Accidents and unexpected events
In this case, writers suffer from unforeseen events and family emergencies, just like everyone else. So, dealing with these problems can be a big obstacle if you don’t know how to do it.
So, the solution here will be to learn to abstract from the current problems you have to go through. In turn, if it is too big a problem, you can take some time to deal with it. After that, you can use that pain as a resource for your writing.
8. Past problems
Depending on the topic you wish to write about, you may encounter some key obstacles. In this case, some traumas and problems from your past may interfere with your creativity.
An effective solution here is to identify the specific trauma in question. This, in turn, is an excellent opportunity to begin therapy and solve a multi-year problem.
9. Losing a good plot
The vast majority of authors tend to lose a good plot at some point. Even this can get worse when they don’t have enough inspiration to improve the situation. You can see this tendency everywhere, especially in TV shows with many seasons or stories with too many sequels.
Each author has his or her resources that are adapted to each personality. If you feel like you had a good writing plot, but distanced away from it too much, you can use these resources to help you get back on track.
10. Not being able to finish the project
One of the most common obstacles for a large number of authors is not getting the right ending. Sometimes it even happens that an author writes an ending, deletes it, rewrites it, and so on.
At this point, the solution is to write the ending that you think is best at this point. Also, you should not be a perfectionist with it. After a certain period, you can reread the ending you have written and corrected it.
Conclusion
The biggest struggles and challenges writers face have to do with their mindset. When you’re writing from a place of low self-esteem and perfectionism, it’s unlikely that you will ever reach a result that you really like.
So, if you want to progress as a writer, try working on your expectations, thoughts and behaviour patterns rather than the technical skill of writing. You will be surprised at how much things can change when you adopt a positive mindset.
Diana Adjadj is a professional writer working with some of the best companies in the industry: Best Essays Education, Supreme Dissertations and Classy Essay. She is also a regular contributor at Grab My Essay, an academic writing service. What inspires her the most in her writing is traveling and meeting new people.
Facts and Fiction by Shelley Blanton-Stroud
She’s striking, with high cheekbones and a full lower lip, but also haggard, sun-damaged. The fingertips of her right hand graze her cheek as she squints into the distance, inscrutable. Two young children lean into her, heads turned from the camera. A baby in dirty clothing sleeps in her arms. The woman is both the high point and center of their circle. The filthy lean-to tent behind them has the mottled quality of a photographer’s curtain backdrop. The composition is nearly perfect. Nearly. You can’t take your eyes off her face. Her name is Florence Thompson.
The photographer, Dorothea Lange, took five shots in this 1936 series, none of the others like this one, “Migrant Mother, Nipomo.” All the others include more people, more details of the Hooverville campsite. Lange later even had the photo retouched to remove Thompson’s thumb from the bottom of the image, as a compositional flaw drawing the eye away from Thompson’s face. (Such modification was against the rules of the Farm Security Administration, for whom Lange worked.) When the photograph appeared in the San Francisco News, the government sent 20,000 pounds of food to Thompson’s migrant camp. The picture made a difference. It fed hungry people. Though it omitted key details, including Thompson’s name, it appeared to tell a truth about the experience of hungry people living along the roads and fields of Depression-era California.
In her darkroom, Lange hung a quote by Sir Francis Bacon: “The contemplation of things as they are, without error or confusion, without substitution or imposture, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention.” This was her photographic creed—to photograph things as they are, though Florence Thompson later said the story this picture told about her was a lie. And though Lange clearly approached her documentary work with an artistic editorial eye.
This photo is in part what inspired my historical mystery, Copy Boy, and its central question—what is the difference between fact and truth? It was also a central problem for me as I was writing. How to treat historical fact in historical fiction. Here are five ways of seeing that helped me figure it out.
Look for cracks in the facts. When you’ve found a period and people you want to immerse yourself in, look for a gap in the history, an unexpected tunnel leading to a grotto where you can invent. When I researched iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Herb Caen, I found all kinds of information from his adolescence through his sports-writing gig as a 19-year old at the Sacramento Union, and then much more—of course—when he’d become a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle in 1936. But there was a one-year period when almost nothing was written of him. How did he go from being a teenaged sportswriter for a small-town paper to columnist at a big city paper in one year’s time? What could happen in such a year to evoke such a change? That was my grotto.
Look through a scrim of history, to the present. For me, this idea came from my working playlist. Writing about dust bowl Okies, I listened constantly to alt.country music, mostly Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams, because their music suggested something authentic about the 1930s Depression-era but at the same time something very current. As a reader, I think it’s good to aim for that. Historical fiction that manages to be authentically of the past but at the same time current, can avoid the cute preciousness of tidy recreation.
Look with a worker’s eyes. When you show somebody at work in a particular time and place, it establishes historic authenticity precisely, without your having to cover everything happening in that time. In Sheri Holman’s TheDress Lodger, when you follow a grave-robbing doctor who needs bodies for dissection, you also see core aspects of the Industrial Revolution. In Caleb Carr’s The Alienist, when you follow a psychological profiler investigating an immigrant boy’s murder, you also learn about Gilded Age New York City. Showing the workplace and the job narrows your scope but provides a view outside.
Look for the wrong person to put in the right place. If you’re aiming for realism in your historical fiction, you can still make it fresh by putting an unlikely person in an authentically accurate historical role. This is where you choose from an alphabet soup of protagonist pathologies—an obsessive-compulsive crime-scene clean-up guy; a delusional investigative reporter; a pathological liar as court reporter.
Look for story over history. Don’t be so beholden to what actually happened in history that you miss the chance to tell a good story. One way to do this with impunity is through alternate history, as in Stephen L. Carter’s The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln. This can allow you to explore things that did happen with fresh eyes. The person many people see as our greatest president also took actions to win the Civil War that bear consideration. With his alternate history, Carter crafts a courtroom drama to do so.
Maybe looking this way through your story options will help you find the right balance between accuracy and authenticity, fact and truth.
SHELLEY BLANTON-STROUD grew up in California’s Central Valley, the daughter of Dust Bowl immigrants who made good on their ambition to get out of the field. She teaches college writing in Northern California and consults with writers in the energy industry. She co-directs Stories on Stage Sacramento, where actors perform the stories of established and emerging authors, and serves on the advisory board of 916 Ink, an arts-based creative writing nonprofit for children. She has also served on the Writers’ Advisory Board for the Belize Writers’ Conference. Copy Boy is her first novel, and she’s currently working on her second. She also writes and publishes flash fiction and non-fiction, which you can find at such journals as Brevity and Cleaver. She and her husband live in Sacramento with an aging beagle and many photos of their out-of-state sons. To get to know Shelley Blanton-Stroud and her writing better, visit her at https://shelleyblantonstroud.com.
The Noir Zone by Janet Roger
The Noir zone? I’ve borrowed the title from UK-based writer and script consultant, Phil Clarke who recently wrapped a charming compliment around an interesting question. And all in a few lines on Twitter! Here’s the question, and some of the thoughts it stirred:
I did want to ask you how you manage to so exquisitely nail that Chandler tone. Was it just a case of having read the books when you were young or did you do anything specific before writing Shamus Dust to get into the noir gumshoe zone? Did you work on your metaphors and similes? (always of note in a noir) I’d love to know.
Now the fact is, the whole apparatus of a Chandleresque mystery felt so natural to write that I wasn’t aware of doing any preparing at all. Yet still the question nagged. It left me wondering not only why Chandleresque should feel so natural, but also how to label that Chandler tone. After all, Hardboiled just doesn’t get close, does it? Here’s some help on that from Robert Towne, talking about his screenplay for Chinatown in a Jack Nicholson biography, Jack’s Life:
Raymond Chandler’s descriptions of LA really knocked me out, left me with a sense of loss. His prose is so incredible. He made that time so real. There is that lyrical, lazy feel of a city with horrible things going on.
So for now let’s call Chandler’s tone his lazy lyricism, and consider where does anybody - where did I - absorb it from? Well, like Robert Towne, I read all the Marlowe novels. First as teenage reading while I ground through Eng. Lit., and then lots more times since. Only recently, Hill, Jackson and Rizzuto’s The Annotated Big Sleep, set me off on the entire series again. By now there’s lazy lyricism in the bloodstream, I suppose. Not forgetting that it’s a European bloodstream. You see, Robert Towne read his Chandler as an Angeleno himself. And he wrote Chinatown as a detective story based in the history of his own city. Whereas, I’m not even a native speaker of American English. Luckily, there were always the movies.
Since we started on labels, Chinatown finds itself tagged as neo-noir. It deals in those themes found in classic films noirs of the 1940s and 50s; which is to say, unhinged wealth and civic corruption in the big city; murder and complicit policing; a femme fatale and a private-eye narrator who’s left to work through the maze, and to speak some truth to power along the way. If I’m a longtime enthusiast for those noir originals, it’s hardly a surprise. For that European teenager, reading Chandler’s lyricism off the page was one thing. Hearing it echo through those movies, in the contexts and settings and American cadences of the day, was quite another. Film noir decided that the shamus in Shamus Dust would have to be an American, even though the setting is London, 1947. The truth is, I simply couldn’t hear my private eye in any other voice.
So what am I saying? Start young on the Marlowe novels? Get to all the film noir festivals you can? Never miss Eddie Muller’s Noir Alley on TCM, and you’ll end up thinking and dreaming Chandleresque prose? Well, you might. As long as you remember, when you’re watching Robert Towne nail that lazy lyricism in Chinatown, there’s another facet of tone in the mix.
I mean the conventions Chandler writes in. The sensibilities of his time. Because on one hand, there are places that hardboiled mysteries of the 1940s and 50s just don’t go. And on the other, in the places they do go, they’re a reliable cheerleader for the routine prejudices of the day. Chandler is no exception; when the Marlowe novels turn to women, or to race or sexualities, they can make for some queasy twenty-first century reading. Which may well be regrettable, but the fact remains: if you plan to write a 1940s Chandleresque mystery, those sensibilities are as much a part of Chandler’s world as the hats and the highballs. Fail to observe the casual prejudices, or those places that are off-limits, and you won’t be writing the 1940s. Fail to confront them, and you’ll be left writing dead pastiche.
To see what I mean, think how Robert Towne deals with the off-limits in Chinatown - where his LA is contemporary with the LA of The Big Sleep. Yes, he’s steeped in Chandler’s prose style. But also in the sensibilities of the age. So when he explodes the timebomb of incest that weaves through his story, he not only makes the revelation oblique, it very graphically has to get beaten out of the victim. Put it this way; no amount of facility with Chandler’s lyricism would be convincing, if Towne didn’t also know there were things he could and couldn’t use it to say. Set your detective story circa 1940 and - if you want to stay in period - you won’t be flat-out naming and confronting incest. Get that wrong in the writing and not only will the tone not work, the costumes and art direction will be empty decoration.
Similes? Yes, they’re a Chandler and a noir thing. No, I don’t work on them. On the contrary, I think they inevitably fail when they don’t grow out of their immediate surroundings. Some of Chandler’s similes are splendid. Some others are labored, flat and forgettable. He was known to make lists of them for future use, and I suspect those are likely to be the dogs, while the splendid ones are an inspiration of the moment. Metaphor likewise. One extended metaphor in Shamus Dust is its setting in a spell of icy-hard London winter. Now admittedly, bone cold and blizzards don’t obviously chime with Chandleresque prose. Marlowe always seems so perfectly fitted to a California climate. But the best metaphors, like the best similes, spring from exigence. When you know your story well enough to trust it, you write what it demands.
Janet Rogeris an historical fiction author, writing literary crime. She trained in archaeology, history and Eng. Lit. and has a special interest in the early Cold War.
She is a contributor to The Rap Sheet, CrimeReads, Suspense Magazine, Punk Noir and to Mystery Readers Journal.
Check out her recent interviews with Deborah Kalb, In Reference to Murder, NB Magazine, Women Writers, Women’s Books - among others.
Janet Roger’s Shamus Dust: Hard Winter, Cold War, Cool Murder is a Chandleresque private-eye fiction, set in 1947 post-war London. Published by Troubador in 2019 it won the Beverly Hills Book Award for Crime Fiction, was Fully Booked's Book of the Year and Finalist for the 2020 Montaigne Medal.
Shamus Dust has garnered very many five-star reviews, from some of the best-read magazines and award-winning writers in crime fiction.
You can find her on
https://twitter.com/shamusdust
https://www.facebook.com/author.JanetRoger
Phil Clarke is a professional who knows the art and the industry from the inside. His screenplays are optioned in the UK and Hollywood and his books are published worldwide. He’s a script consultant based in the UK, working with writers who’ve won or placed highly at major script competitions, on projects optioned, produced, and débuting at Cannes. Check his website where you'll find lots more about him, including some interesting interviews. He’s also on Twitter @philmscribe.
Read Phil Clarke’s review of Shamus Dust.
Read The Rap Sheet and Mystery Readers for Janet Roger on The Annotated Big Sleep.
Using Asian-Pacific Pride to Promote Representation in Literature by Tori Eldridge
I can’t imagine a better place to grow up as an Asian-American, Pacific Islander than Hawaii. Our island community is predominantly Asian and mixed-race, so most of the kids I went to school with had dark hair and lovely shades of brown skin. I fit in perfectly.
My mother is Chinese-Hawaiian, my father is Norwegian from North Dakota, and they met and married in Tokyo, where my sisters were born. I came along over a decade later and was born and raised in Honolulu. There weren’t many full-blooded Hawaiians, even then, so being part Hawaiian was and is a source of pride. And with over 50 percent of the population identifying as Asian, being almost half-Chinese was common.
Things were quite different when I moved to Illinois to attend Northwestern University. I didn’t see anyone who looked like me. In fact, less than 4 percent of the student population was mixed race and less than half a percent were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
Fortunately, my self-image had been set in Hawaii, and I carried my Chinese, Hawaiian, Norwegian heritage proudly with me when I moved to Chicago, New York, Boston, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles, where I’ve lived for 36 years. Rather than feeling isolated by my extreme minority, I’ve felt kinship to everyone because of my mixed race.
I was able to share my heritage and mixed-race experience while writing my debut novel, The Ninja Daughter.
The protagonist, Lily Wong, is a Chinese-Norwegian modern-day ninja in Los Angeles with Joy Luck Club family issues. I drew heavily from my own Chinese-Norwegian culture and experience as a fifth-degree black belt in the Japanese art of the ninja to write her story. But I also drew from the experience of my Chinese-American friends and fellow ninja.
Although my character and I are undeniably close, Lily is definitely not me. She is her own powerful person, plagued by doubts and demons, defined by family, and fueled by purpose.
That said, family and heritage are also deeply important to me.
I can trace my Hawaiian roots to 1783, during the reign of King Kamehameha. The kānaka maoli—native Hawaiians—are generous, beautiful people with a culture rich in song, dance, and storytelling. Hawaiians are our own race of people with native language, customs and ancestry. But modern Hawaii culture is an amalgamation of many, especially those from Asian countries.
My Chinese ancestors were early pioneers on the island of Maui and, along with all the other first-wave Chinese settlers, contributed to its modern culture, language, and commerce. The people of modern Hawaii are a mixed plate. This is evident in our fusion of food, clothing and our Hawaiian Pigeon English. Unlike other forms of pigeon English, Hawaiian Pigeon is a legitimate creole language—fully developed and taught to many children as a primary language. Although it incorporates many words from the native Hawaiian language, they are not at all the same. Although both have their place, I am happy to see a resurgence of our beautiful aboriginal language.
In the midst of this deeply ethnic environment, my father infused me with stories and wisdom from his own North Dakota upbringing and Norwegian heritage. Naturally, I wanted to celebrate this with my protagonist, Lily Wong.
It meant the world to me that my parents lived long enough to know I was writing a novel—and now a series—that would celebrate their heritage.
Asian and Pacific Islander representation in literature and media matters. Not only is it vital to see ourselves and identify with positive role models, but it’s important for everyone of all ethnicities to expand our awareness of each other. This is how people learn to appreciate and connect with one another.
I love that Lily Wong’s mother is an immigrant from Hong Kong, that her father is Norwegian from North Dakota, and that her ninjutsu teacher was born and raised in Japan. I love that my son fell in love with a woman from Hong Kong—after I was well into writing the first draft of The Ninja Daughter—and has married this wonderful woman into our family. I love how my art has not only become an expression of my life but a means to delve even more deeply into my ancestry and identity.
This piece was originally published by Books Forward under the title “Books Forward author Tori Eldridge uses Asian-Pacific pride to promote representation in literature." Tori Eldridge is the Lefty-nominated author of “The Ninja Daughter,” which was named one of the “Best Mystery Books of the Year” by The South Florida Sun Sentinel and awarded 2019 Thriller Book of the Year by Authors on the Air Global Radio Network. Her short stories appear in several anthologies, and her screenplay “The Gift” earned a semifinalist spot in the prestigious Academy Nicholl Fellowship. Before writing, Tori performed as an actress, singer and dancer on Broadway, television and film. She is of Hawaiian, Chinese, Norwegian descent and was born and raised in Honolulu, where she graduated from Punahou School with classmate Barack Obama. Tori holds a fifth-degree black belt in To-Shin Do ninjutsu and has traveled the U.S. teaching seminars on the ninja arts, weapons, and women's self-protection.
Surviving Being Orphaned or Simply Unwanted by Debra H. Goldstein
There’s a special feeling of satisfaction when one finishes a book or a story and sends it out for submission. The exhilaration of acceptance can’t be described. Rejection sucks. It takes the air from your lungs and creates an ongoing black mood. But what if you’ve had the high of being accepted, published, and then you’re told that’s it? Your work is being orphaned.
Being orphaned doesn’t mean what you’re writing is bad. I’ve been orphaned twice. Both times my books, which were each planned as the first of a series, were selling. In the first instance, the publisher went out of business and returned the rights to all of its authors; in the second, the company decided not to continue its mystery line, but kept the rights through the contracted period because the book was selling. My reaction both times was the same—sadness, anger, fear, desperately seeking advice, and then writing something new and trying to get it in front of a possible buyer.
The acceptance and publication of my first book, Maze in Blue, was a fluke (a story for another day). Listening to the advice of many after it was orphaned and therefore became a standalone, I wrote something new. When it was finished, I brought it to Killer Nashville, where I’d signed up for two roundtables. During a KN roundtable, the first two pages are read to an agent and editor who critiques them. If they are interested in the manuscript, they can ask for more pages. I thought it was an excellent mechanism for me to introduce Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Playersmystery to the world – and get some feedback in the process.
After the two pages were read at the roundtable, I received praise for my writing, tone, and dialogue from the editor. The agent echoed her sentiments. I asked the agent who had praised my work, “would you like to see more?” She said “no.” I was shocked, especially because the agent asked for fifty pages. Somewhat excited by the agent’s interest, but still dismayed by the editor’s reaction, I asked, at the end of the session, if I could talk to her for a few minutes. She agreed and we sat down (one thing about Killer Nashville is how accessible the agents and editors are). I asked her why she’d praised my book, but didn’t want to see it?
Her answer was simple: “That’s not what I’m here buying. It’s going to sell, but it doesn’t fit what I’m looking for today.” During the next fifteen minutes, she explained why it wasn’t a match for her. I walked away understanding that a good book might not find a home on a given day.
Two hours later, I went into another agent and editor roundtable. The editor’s remarks of praise were identical to what I’d heard from the editor during the first roundtable. A little nervously I asked if this editor would be interested in seeing more of the manuscript. She said “Yes,” so I followed her requested submission guidelines. A week later she bought Should Have Played Poker.
I rode Cloud 9 from purchase to publication. The publisher treated me well and the book was lovely. It was only when I was informed that the company was no longer going to have a mystery line that I crashed, but this time I was ahead of the game. I accepted that Should Have Played Poker was now a standalone and began writing something new.
That something new, taking into consideration some of the points the first editor had made during our discussion, became One Taste Too Many, the first in Kensington’s Sarah Blair cozy mystery series about a woman who finds cooking more frightening than murder. Two Bites TooMany was published in October 2019. Three Treats Too Many, which is available for pre-order, will be released later in 2020. Kensington has contracted for at least two more books in the series for 2021 and 2022.
Being orphaned isn’t fun, but taking control of the situation and moving forward can lift the blue funk and, hopefully, bring you that feeling of exhilaration again.
Judge Debra H. Goldstein writes Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series (One Taste Too Many, Two Bites Too Many and the upcoming Three Treats Too Many). She also wrote Should HavePlayed Poker and IPPY winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories, including Anthony and Agatha nominated The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place, have appeared in numerous publications. Debra serves on the national boards of SinC and MWA and is president of SEMWA. Find out more about Debra at www.DebraHGoldstein.com
Promoting a Book and Achieving Humiliation by Barry S. Brown
My book, having been written and published, was ready to be promoted. I eagerly anticipated the opportunity to spread the word, bringing joy to some number of heretofore empty lives, and making some serious coin in the process. I felt myself ready for the initiative. My website was up, a Facebook page had been created, and an armful of books had been ordered. My immediate target became the independent bookstores in the community. Here, I reasoned were people after my own heart, courageous individuals who had forged paths for themselves in a world dominated by huge corporate entities (my own book had been printed by a small, but obviously discriminating publisher). Indeed, the bookstore owners I contacted were not only self-reliant, but were uniformly pleasant and supportive.
Pineapple Books (names have been changed to protect the well-meaning) went so far as to offer me the opportunity to do a reading with the understanding that the many fans created in the course of the evening could then line up to purchase my work. Having been present at a reading at Pineapple, and seen a substantial number of the 35-40 bibliophiles in attendance storm the counter after the final question had been posed and answered, my only concern on my night in the limelight was whether I had brought a sufficient number of books.
I was well prepared otherwise, having given my talk several times to the enthusiastic, but restrained audience I found in my mirror. I arrived early—very early—and found the Pineapple parking lot not yet full; in fact, I found it deserted. Not wanting to appear overanxious, I drove around the neighborhood for a while until it seemed safe to return to the Pineapple. I was surprised to find the condition of the parking lot unchanged. Adopting my customary devil may care attitude, I strode to the front door and throwing it open got the second surprise of the evening—and one that explained a great deal about the first surprise. Neatly arrayed, in a line before the speaker's table, were four chairs. As I was later to discover, this would be an optimistic estimate of my audience.
I joined the store clerk, who had been dragooned into spending her next hour and some with me, rather than at home and hearth which she would surely have preferred. In spite of that cheerless assignment, she was relentlessly good-humored while we waited for my audience to show up. Promptly, at the scheduled starting time of seven, she did. I had been instructed that I was to deliver my talk to whatever number of people appeared. And so, to the visitor and the store clerk, I delivered a talk that brought laughter at times, a welling of tears at times, and occasionally elicited a response from my audience as well. I told the story of the book's creation, gave the core of the plot, discussed its historical context, and answered questions about the author's work habits. At the end of the hour, I shook hands with everyone in attendance, wished them well, and gathered up the exact same number of books I had come with.
Undaunted—well, maybe a little daunted—I accepted the invitation of the owners of another bookstore—I'll call it Two Cousins Bookery—this time to engage in a book signing. Once more armed with a stack of books, and now with pen at the ready (actually two pens in case one failed), I sat behind a small card table strategically placed to face the front door. With a smile frozen in place, I greeted whatever patron made eye contact, and waited to demonstrate my cursive writing skills. And waited. And waited some more. Indeed, I became nostalgic about the audience I had earlier attracted at Pineapple Books.
At the end of the two hours I had been allotted, I courteously thanked the proprietor for the card table and chair, packed the books it now appeared I would take with me to the grave, retracted the point on my pen, and prepared to leave, never again to darken the Two Cousins' door. However, the one of the Two Cousins on duty that day would have none of it. She decided the heavy rains experienced throughout the afternoon were responsible for my dismal showing. Wanting desperately to believe it to be true, I agreed, and, as a result, we scheduled a return engagement.
The following Saturday, the day scheduled for my redemption, shown bright and sunny. The card table was set in position, the point on my pen was no longer retracted, and the ever-present stack of books was again at the ready. As it turned out, friends must have told friends, and those few who did not avert their eyes upon entering the Bookery, nonetheless avoided my table with an agility that belied the age of many. All seemed intent on creating a pretense that I did not exist, then establishing the pretense as fact.
The young son of one of the Two Cousins decided finally it was his responsibility to steer customers to my table. Displaying an eight-year-old's ingenuity he began to run his toy car along the edge of my card table with appropriate sound effects, drawing attention to the two of us until his mother intervened. He then began interceding with people in the store to advise them of the opportunity to meet an author, although I suspect his actual words were more along the lines that the guy over there is dying and wouldn't they do something about it. I had become finally the object of an eight-year-old's pity.
And then a customer approached me. My frozen smile threatened to become genuine—until she spoke. "Can you tell me where I can find mysteries by ___?" Suffice it to say my name is not ___.
It needs to be understood Mrs. Brown raised two boys to be gracious in all situations. I am the younger of the two. And so, I showed the woman where she could find books by ___. In the course of our short journey, I informed her about another author, actually in attendance, who also wrote mysteries. She reported already knowing that and thanked me for showing her ___'s books.
At the end of that sunlit, spring-like day, I had signed as many books as I had in the pouring rain. Again, I thanked the cousin. This time there was no offer of a makeup day, nor was one wanted. Since then, however, I have learned of a seniors community that invites authors to talk about their books, and to autograph the ones they sell. I'm thinking about giving them a call. What the hell. If they've got a card table, I've got a pen, and Lord knows I still have the books. Come to that, I can bring a card table.
Barry S, Brown is the author of the Mrs. Hudson of Baker Street series. His latest book, sixth in the series, is Mrs. Hudson Takes the Stage released in April, 2020. Unwilling or unable to recognize either defeat or reality, he remains available for readings and book signings. Learn more about his work here: barrysbrown.com/index.html
Writing in First Person or Third Person or Somewhere In Between by R.G. Belsky
I’ve had fourteen mystery novels published during my career as an author, all of them written in the first person. I’ve written other novels in the third person, but none of them ever got published. Which is probably why I prefer writing in the first person.
Deciding on a character point of view (or POV, as it’s usually called) is one of the most important decisions an author needs to make before writing a book. Especially if you believe (as I do), that the relationship between your character and the reader is even more important than the story line.
My new book THE LAST SCOOP (Oceanview) is a good example of that. It’s the third in a series featuring Clare Carlson, a hard-driving, hard-living TV journalist in New York City. The Clare Carlson books have won a number of awards, including the Claymore and Silver Falchion Finalist at Killer Nashville.
But none of this might have happened if I hadn’t got the POV right.
You see, I originally wrote the first Clare Carlson book in third person.
It just didn’t quite work that way. Same story, but the character didn’t come alive like I wanted. I tried a few more versions until I finally hit on the idea to write the Clare Carlson character in the first person. After that, everything seemed to click. I won the Claymore at Killer Nashville with the beginning of the book, later got a publishing contract at Oceanview Press and then all the other good things that have happened with the series.
The advantage of writing in the first person like this is that you’re able to establish a much more personal connection with the reader: you’re not just writing about your character, you’re writing as your character. No question about it: The first-person narrator can provide more intense emotion and a better portrayal of inner thoughts than a book in the third person normally does.
Simple, right? Well, not really. Otherwise, of course, everyone would write first person books.
It clearly depends on the type of story the author is trying to tell. Some books work better with a third person narrator. Many - especially complex thrillers - require multiple POVs involving a series of characters to keep the plot moving by telling the reader things the main character doesn’t know. Other books combine a first-person narrator with several third person POVs from other viewpoints. And there are even novels (not many, but a few) that are written in the second person.
How each individual author makes this decision can be a fascinating process.
Now most of the classic PI novels are written in the first person of the main character. Think Raymond Chandler with Philip Marlowe; Robert B. Parker with Spenser; Sue Grafton with Kinsey Millhone; Janet Evanovich with Stephanie Plum; Lawrence Block with Matt Scudder; and so on.
But there is one notable exception: Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch. Bosch normally would be a classic first-person character like those others, you would assume. Except Connelly (with one minor exception) has always written his Bosch novels in the third person. I had the opportunity to ask him about this once at a mystery conference. Connelly is such a wonderful, accomplished author - maybe the best mystery author of our time - that I expected some kind of extremely reasoned, well-thought out response. But instead his answer was: “I don’t know. I never really thought about it that much.” In other words, he just went with his instinct on the best way to tell the Bosch stories. Which is probably why Michael Connelly is so incredibly successful with his books.
Lee Child on the other hand has used both approaches - writing some of his super-successful Jack Reacher thrillers in Reacher’s first person POV - but using third person for Reacher in other books. Child has said he finds it more natural to write in the first person, and he enjoys the intimacy of that - but the third person helps him build the story’s suspense around Reacher. Therefore, it depends on the type of Jack Reacher book he wants to write.
And then there are many mystery authors - like the late, great Mary Higgins Clark - who use multiple POVs to tell the story. Higgins did that so masterfully for many years in her novels - giving the reader the viewpoint of various characters as well as her own main character until the climactic moment when it all came together for the conclusion of the mystery.
Sometimes authors will even use a hybrid combination of those formats. Writing much of their book in first person for the main character - and then switching to third person in a few instances for different viewpoints to help propel the plot.
So which POV approach is best?
There’s only one right answer to that question.
It’s whatever one helps the author tell his story the best way.
And there’s simply no hard and fast rule for that.
As a matter of fact, the current manuscript I’m working on features a third person lead character as well as multiple POVs.
Who knows what will happen? Maybe I’ll wind up selling it this way.
If not, well...there’s always first person again.
R.G. Belsky is an author of crime fiction and a journalist in New York City. His newest mystery, The Last Scoop, was published in May by Oceanview. It is the third in a series featuring Clare Carlson, the news director for a New York City TV station. Belsky has published 14 novels - and also has had a long career in the media as a top editor at the New York Post, New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News. Belsky won the Claymore Award at Killer Nashville in 2016 and also has been a Silver Falchion Finalist.
I Have Become the Timebound by Robert Mangeot
I’ve been reading essays by authors struggling to write our COVID-19 world. I can relate. We’ve had a social discontinuity and a still-unfolding tragedy. Life is different now than it was mere weeks ago, and things will change a lot more before the outbreak’s waves subside. Some parts like vaccination regimens we can predict and, in our writing, take license on those details. Most of the near future seems beyond my realistic guess, in life and on the page.
Lately, I’m finding it hard to focus. I can’t read my in-progress stuff without it feeling bound to a past age. Historical, no matter how current the intended setting.
An example: A few years ago, I finally sold a sci-fi/caper blend about an easily distracted scientist pursuing high-tech uses of spider silk. The caper didn’t work initially because I tried setting it in our then-current times. But the plot depended on modern science and some cloak-and-dagger, none of which--in those first drafts--were believable when drones and cellular signals and security cameras can track our GPS-precise movements. The story only clicked once I dialed it back into the Cold War, pre-smartphones and satellites but with ever so much cloak-and-dagger. I’d misplaced the idea in time.
Those tricks may not help anymore. Even if I’d solved that story’s tech problems, a post-COVID-19 setting introduces fresh plot holes. International travel will happen very differently once we get traveling again. Personal--and collective--tracking via everyday tech will grow more sophisticated, more prevalent. And is there a regional flare-up causing a lockdown or extra infection precautions? Sure, I could show or signal as subtext that any virus situation is fine for the story moment. But can I skip past that? I don’t know yet. There’s this inescapable thing about super viruses. You can’t ignore them or their lasting impacts.
I’m cutting my own hair while we shelter in place. I won’t ask my wife to try, for the same reason I dread her asking me: Neither of us have the least talent at hair cutting. I’ll grab the CVS clippers and do the hack job myself, and I alone will be to blame.
Our house is a 24/7 quarantined mishmash of workplace, retreat, and writer’s studio. We call out the latest developments off CNN. We had to buy toilet paper direct from an international distributor. We cut up a Christmas tree skirt for makeshift masks. And we’ve been hugely lucky. School, graduations, weddings, and life events of all sorts have been disrupted. These are minor things when people are suffering physically, economically, emotionally. Still, I’ll take my 2020 experiences forward into the new normal. Every character set in COVID-19’s wake will have their own baggage and backstory.
Perspective will help. We don’t all have to sketch the Spanish Flu’s scars unless our characters live in its decades-long wake (done well in Downton Abbey). We don’t have to account for the much more recent 2009 H1N1 pandemic’s impacts unless central to the piece. With some breathing room, the self-haircuts and toilet paper intrigues should take their place in lore and even bring a laugh (think Monty Python and the Plague). I hope so. We’re a fair bit away from the space and security that allows for other than graveyard humor.
I don’t mean to be doom and gloom. If we honor who we’ve lost, our new normal could bring us deeper human bonds, a chance to assess income inequality, and a better grasp of what it means to be “essential.” Hell, we might finally get smarter at outmaneuvering the ever-adapting flu.
I’ve also read posts by an author or two worried that COVID-19 plots are too raw for fiction. I disagree. Fiction has tackled many tragic and difficult subjects, and soon enough we’ll read terrific works that help us understand exactly this 2020 outbreak and its consequences. Fiction isn’t going to shrink or crumble, and neither am I. I’m just bound in time a while.
Robert Mangeot is a writer, teacher, and sandwicher. A counter of things. He lives in Franklin, Tennessee with his wife, a cat-beast named Zelda, and this other ginger cat with plans all her own.
His work appears in various anthologies and journals, including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, The Forge Literary Magazine, Lowestoft Chronicle, Mystery Weekly Magazine, The Oddville Press, and in the print anthologies Mystery Writers of America Presents Ice Cold: Tales of Intrigue from the Cold War, Not So Fast, the Anthony-winningMurder Under the Oaks. His work was named a finalist for the Derringer Awards and also won contests sponsored by the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild, On The Premises, and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. He proudly serves as the outgoing president for the Middle Tennessee Chapter of Sisters in Crime and as the current Vice President for the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (SEMWA). He teaches short fiction and will happily debate its whethers over beverages of choice. When not writing, he can be found counting things or wandering the snack food aisles of America or France.
Dream, Dream, Dream by Debra H. Goldstein
Throughout literature and poetry, there are references to dreams. Some are the kind we experience when we sleep, but many are a wish, a goal, a hope we have. Whether one reaches out and grabs the gold ring or lets the dream be deferred is an individual decision.
For years, I dreamed of being a writer—but I didn’t do anything about it. Sure, I wrote skits for parties and meetings and very boring legal briefs and decisions, but I only gave lip service to my dream. The lip service often took the form of talking about an idea I had for a book to a dear friend or my immediate family. It wasn’t something I shared with the general public.
I was too embarrassed to talk about wanting to write because not doing it, to me, was an admission of failure. At the same time, I had a million reasons why I wasn’t putting pen to paper. I could tick them off on my fingers if you’d asked: a demanding job, raising four children, an easygoing husband who still needed some attention, aging parents, being the Girl Scout troop leader, my responsibilities on several community boards, and obligations to my friends. If these weren’t enough, I could always find something to add to the list.
At times, my friends and my family begged me to write or stop mentioning it. I began to internalize my dream, but still I did nothing. Finally, one friend challenged me to “leave the kids with Joel, come to the beach with me, use my condo for the weekend to write and if you don’t, never talk about wanting to write to me again.”
We went to the beach. I got up early and watched the sun rise and illuminate the water. The moment was beautiful, but my pen and paper remained unused on the table. And then, it dawned on me that what I was observing happened every day. There wasn’t an excuse made for the sun not rising or setting. Some sunrises or sunsets were spectacular; others not so much, but they happened.
I picked up my pen and wrote some words. My sun was rising. In that moment, I understood that if I wanted to be a writer, I had to do it with regularity and accept the fact that not every day would produce perfect words. That day, the words flowed out of me. During that weekend, I wrote eighty-five pages. Truth be told, as I often say laughingly, only five of those pages ended up in my first book, Maze in Blue, but I realized that weekend I could see a beginning, middle, and end to a book. The key was whether when I got back to the real world, I could force myself to sit down and fill in the words and pages still missing.
The answer turned out to be “yes,” but my writing was not like the sunrises and sunsets. It didn’t have regular times, it wasn’t uninterrupted, but it happened. There were times I went long periods without writing, but I knew that the only way to fulfill my dream was to pick up the pen and continue where I’d left off.
Some people say one doesn’t write unless one puts one’s bottom in the chair daily. That may be true, but it wasn’t for me. Instead, it was coming to terms with the fact that every day isn’t perfect for writing, but if the motivation is there, the excuses can be put aside to fulfill a dream.
Judge Debra H. Goldstein writes Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series (One Taste Too Many, Two Bites Too Many and the upcoming Three Treats Too Many). She also wrote Should HavePlayed Poker and IPPY winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories, including Anthony and Agatha nominated The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place, have appeared in numerous publications. Debra serves on the national boards of SinC and MWA and is president of SEMWA. Find out more about Debra at www.DebraHGoldstein.com
Tentative Tips on the Craft of Writing by Suzette A. Hill
When I was kindly invited by Killer Nashville to make a brief contribution to its next edition, I was rather diffident, because although a crime writer (and a British one at that) I had come late to the genre, and despite having lectured in English Literature had never had any desire to write a novel – of any kind. It was only in retirement, and on a whim, that I embarked on the fiction game. And since first taking up my pen at the kitchen table and writing “It was Bouncer who found the leg . . .” to my continuing surprise, I have managed to produce twelve crime novels. Actually, I think the term crime novel is a slight misnomer but that is the category my books have been assigned. I, however, see them a little differently, i.e. as social comedies into which a few corpses are strewn to give ballast and to provide a skeleton – if you will excuse the pun – on which to hang the absurd and occasionally risible narrative.
Absurd? Comedies? Risible? You may feel that these are unsuitable terms to be applied to the serious matter of murder – and you could well be right. But I think that the sinister does exert a curious pull on our imagination and we are both fascinated and frightened by it. There are those who derive an exquisite frisson in contemplating its more morbid and gruesome aspects; whereas there are many – such as myself – who, feeble spirits as we are, merely like to dip our sensitive toes in the water, paddle about a bit and then jump out pronto! For us, humour or partial humour acts as a sort of comforting safety belt. Consequently, with belt firmly fastened, my novels are light-heartedly escapist and are best read in a capacious arm chair with a mug of cocoa – though preferably a G&T or similar brew. Yes, yes, I hear you mutter impatiently, that’s all very well but what about the craft of writing? Surely there are some tips you can give an aspiring crime writer – messages of comfort and advice which he or she can apply to their own nervous efforts.
Hmm, I reply warily, there are a number of suggestions I could make but it is always dangerous to generalize; and since people’s temperaments are so diverse, what works for one may not for another. For example, an obvious tip would be to devise a good plot and plan it meticulously: construct the skeleton first and pile on the flesh afterwards. Sound advice and a method adopted by many, for not only does it produce a clear structure but will also help the author’s confidence . . . Yet alas, for this author, such sage words do not work. I cannot invent in the abstract, and thus, were I to spend time wrestling with an initial plot, none of my novels would ever get written! It is people who stir the wayward Muse, and it is through them and the worlds they inhabit that some coherent narrative will gradually emerge. I gather this is known as the "evolutionary process" – beloved by some, anathema to others!
Nevertheless, there are certain elements of the novelist’s craft which to me do seem necessary: absorption in the theme, definition of place and personality – and, vitally, care for words and their arrangement. Regarding the first, it is no use thinking vaguely "it would be nice to write a novel." You must have a focus or interest, a specific inspiration that makes you want to grab your pen or rush to the laptop. It doesn’t matter how large or small, profound or funny, familiar or obscure, the idea must tickle your imagination and make you want to explore and convey it to others. Without that impetus your writing will lack drive and quickly pall. After all, if you are not engaged no-one else will be.
Then with theme or subject set, you need clear and distinctive characters: individuals who ring true, are palpable and not just ciphers to push the concept. Personally, I find that novels whose characters are sketchily drawn – even those intellectually challenging like a conundrum – lack conviction and fall flat. And to strengthen that conviction it is helpful to place the individuals in a firm, tangible context – whether a town, landscape, bar, bedsitter or grand palace. It doesn’t matter what, provided they do not operate in a vacuum. Our surroundings are integral to our experiences: and their evocation, however subtle, will give a sense of immediacy and sharpen the realism.
Thirdly, and what no writer of any genre can do without, is a love of language and its manipulation for maximum effect. This may sound obvious, but without that concern for the tools of your trade little will be achieved – either of a criminal nature or anything else! One’s ideas may be brilliant, but to live they need concrete form. And for this it is not only mind and eye that must be alert, but also the ear: while choice of words is paramount, sound too plays a part. Niceties of rhythm and cadence, variations in syntax, pace and stress – all of these will raise the drama and vivify the world you are aiming to create.
Oh, and one more thing! Writer’s block. When you are stuck (as you will be) there is nothing more dispiriting than staring morosely at a blank page or screen. A dry martini may sometimes palliate but its effect is transitory. Thought generates words; but words can also generate thought. So get something down – anything will do, it doesn’t matter what. Phrases, inconsequential sentences, snippets of dialogue, a colourful image, a description of a person’s walk or dress . . . it is amazing how often such random scratchings will galvanise the tortured brain and set it prancing again. This of course is not infallible but it works more often than gin. Good luck!
If of interest, I have written two genial crime series set in the 1950s. The original concerns a bumbling vicar (plus his cat and dog) who thoughtlessly murders a parishioner; the other features Rosy Gilchrist who, with a pair of mildly eccentric male companions, becomes reluctantly embroiled in murky skulduggery. The most recent novel, Deadly Primrose, is the second sequel to the first series and is available in the U.S. from June. The latest tale in the Gilchrist collection is The Cambridge Plot – absurdities in English academia. Further information can be gleaned from my website www.suzetteahill.co.uk
Diving Into the Past for Historical Novels by Tom Young
Twenty-six miles off Morehead City, NC, the dive boat pitched and rolled. I fought seasickness as I pulled on my scuba gear. Everything gets harder when you’re trying not to lose your lunch; even strapping on fins becomes a struggle. I screwed the regulator onto my air tank. Cracked open the valve and watched the pressure gauge spring to 3000 PSI. Finally, with mask, fins, weight belt, and everything else in place, I rolled over the side and splashed into the swells.
The seasickness went away as soon as I hit the water. I followed my buddy and the other divers down the anchor line. The water grew darker and the light dimmer as we descended. My eyes adjusted to the depth. Every few feet, I swallowed so that my ears would pop and adjust to the depth, as well.
She materialized as if a film director had ordered a dissolve to a new scene. On the bottom, at a depth of 110 feet, lay the U-352, a German submarine sunk by the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Icarus on May 9, 1942. Of her 48 crew members, 15 perished. The survivors spent the rest of the war as prisoners.
I explored the U-boat for every minute the time-depth tables allowed. Amid amberjack hovering around her conning tower, I tried to imagine the battle that sent her to the ocean floor. The hiss of air flowing through my regulator and into my lungs reminded me of my own frailty. If the regulator failed, my chest would start to burn for air in a place where none existed. It became very easy to imagine the terror a sailor might feel if trapped in that steel hull as it filled with water.
Suddenly the past was no longer a faraway country. It was something real, right there in front of me, and I wanted to know more. Decades after that dive, my interest in the WWII Battle of the Atlantic found expression in my novel Silver Wings, Iron Cross.
To write a historical thriller, you don’t have to go to such lengths—or depths, as the case may be. But along the way, I learned a few things about writing a novel set in a previous time.
There are plenty of ways to immerse yourself, if you’ll pardon the pun, in the past. You can do library research. You can read memoirs. You can watch old movies or listen to recordings of old radio broadcasts. If your time period is recent enough, you can interview people who were there. One practical tip: You can try to find a Sears catalog from your chosen time to get an idea of what people wore and how much things cost.
Admittedly, the farther back in time you go, the harder this job becomes. You won’t find a Sears catalog or a radio broadcast from the eighteenth century.
But what’s even more important is to find an emotional connection with your characters. When we novelists do our best work, we tap into something universal and timeless. Our protagonists long for home, fear death, need to prove themselves, or hope to save a life. Perhaps they seek to solve a crime, or prevent one. Maybe they aim to defend their countries or avenge a wrong. Perhaps they experience some combination of the above.
In this regard, a novelist lives in all times at once. Until you do the research, you might not know how to climb the rigging of a British man-of-war. But you can well imagine the fear if you made that climb with cannon fire scorching past you. You might not know, yet, how a farmer in 1863 grew tobacco. But you can relate to his worries when a draft notice from the Confederate Army pulls him from his fields and family.
For me, finding a relevant historic site or artifact helps prime the creative pump and make that emotional connection. History classes might teach you the futility of Pickett’s Charge. But go to Gettysburg and gaze out over that open field. Think of crossing it with no cover, under a storm of bullets. Your palms will sweat.
Visit an air museum and crawl through the cramped spaces of a B-17 Flying Fortress. Now imagine trying to bail out in heavy flying gear as the aircraft spirals toward the ground. Your heart will pound.
Find an arrowhead in a plowed field. Now put yourself in the place of a young Native American facing the approach of winter 10,000 years ago. You’ll pray to whatever God you believe in to let your arrow fly true and provide meat.
In a meditative moment at your writing desk, try to inhabit your character: If I were in this situation, what would I want? What would I fear? What would I say or do? The answers are not so far in the past as you might think.
William Faulkner famously wrote: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” To take the thought a little further, the past is all around us. And in our most basic fears, hopes, dreams, and aspirations, the past is also within us.
Tom Young flew nearly 5,000 hours as a flight engineer with the Air National Guard, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other locations. His novels include The Mullah’s Storm, Silent Enemy, and Sand and Fire. Silver Wings, Iron Cross is his first historical novel.
Website: www.tomyoungbooks.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TomYoungAuthor/
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