KN Magazine: Articles
The Shadow Knows / Marielena Zuniga
I have always been fascinated with the Chinese philosophy of the Yin and Yang, which is rooted in the idea of contraries. For example, with light, there is darkness, which are complete opposites. But rather than being opposing forces, they are actually intertwined. You can’t have one without the other. Killer Nashville guest blogger Marielena Zuniga touches on a similar concept: the shadow side, or that part of you that is your complete opposite. Awareness of this darker side can be illuminating and a touchstone for writing.
Happy reading!
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
The Shadow Knows
By Marielena Zuniga
Ever write a book you never intended? I did. Let me explain.
By nature, I'm a quiet, introspective, spiritual person. So naturally I thought my first novel would be much like my persona, the face I put out to the world. I would write in the style of Sue Monk Kidd, who is one of my favorite authors.
Who did I get instead? Sassy, in-your-face Loreen, a convict who has a history of making bad choices. Her worst choice is escaping from a Texas prison by stealing the tour bus of a famous country music singer so she can get home to her dying mama in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee. Welcome to Loreen on the Lam: A Tennessee Mystery.
Welcome to the shadow side of writing. It’s a side you’ll want to befriend because, as some psychologists will tell you, it’s the seat of creativity.
What's the shadow? According to Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, the shadow side is the unknown “dark side” of our personality. It consists of the primitive or negative aspects of ourselves that are hidden, or that we want to repress or suppress, and can include such emotions as lust, power, selfishness, greed, envy, anger and more.
In books — as in real life — villains are often driven by their shadow sides. But good characters have them as well. Take my heroine, Loreen, who basically has a good heart, but has had a hard life. Growing up poor in Red Boiling Springs, she's never known her father and starts getting into trouble around age 14.
Loreen is a master at repressing “deep thoughts” or any kind of awareness. She has one such insight about her shadow side when she realizes she has been verbally abusing Tilly Davis, one of her unwanted passengers, a woman who has been battered by her husband.
“Then Loreen had another insight. She was abusing Tilly just as men had done. Dang. She didn’t want to do that. These awarenesses were coming too fast and she wanted them to go away.”
During her journey, however, Loreen starts to get in touch with her shadow side. She becomes aware of her selfishness, the bad choices she’s made, and her desire to escape life and responsibility. And, she begins to have “aha moments”.
While I might be prone to selfishness or any other dark part of myself, this doesn’t mean I – or anyone – acts on those traits. It doesn’t make us “bad” people. But when we can acknowledge them, we become more integrated and whole.
Is it terrifying as a writer to examine our dark side? You bet. But when we get to know our own shadow and, as a result, channel it through our characters’ innermost feelings and thoughts, that’s where the magic happens. If Stephen King had hidden from his shadow, The Shining would never have been written, and the same can be said for many other novels, from The Exorcist to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Loreen on the Lam: A Tennessee Mystery does not fall into the horror genre, nor is it necessary to go there to tackle a character’s hidden side. You can channel your own shadow into your characters with a few caveats:
The writer’s shadow should inform the story, but never take it over. This isn’t therapy in writing, nor is it a self-serving shadow rant. It’s about drawing from that “hidden” and creative reservoir within you that will give your characters depth and texture.
Along those lines, don’t be gratuitous with your shadow. Shadow material that’s violent or psychotic for its own sake is boring and self-indulgent. This is dishonest writing and serves no one.
Good characters have shadow sides and your characters’ shadows should repel them as much as yours do you. Readers need to see what your characters want to hide – and then how your characters come to peace with those hidden aspects of themselves, or not.
When I started writing Loreen on the Lam, I had no idea where she would take me. What I wasn’t expecting was a character who surprised me with those parts of myself I often keep hidden. So don’t be afraid to go digging into that shadow side of yourself and your writing. It knows.
Marielena Zuniga is an award-winning journalist and creative writer of more than 35 years. She holds a M.S. in counseling psychology.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editor-in-chief Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
The Shadow Knows / Marielena Zuniga
I have always been fascinated with the Chinese philosophy of the Yin and Yang, which is rooted in the idea of contraries. For example, with light, there is darkness, which are complete opposites. But rather than being opposing forces, they are actually intertwined. You can’t have one without the other. Killer Nashville guest blogger Marielena Zuniga touches on a similar concept: the shadow side, or that part of you that is your complete opposite. Awareness of this darker side can be illuminating and a touchstone for writing. Happy reading! 
Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
The Shadow Knows
By Marielena Zuniga
Ever write a book you never intended? I did. Let me explain.
By nature, I'm a quiet, introspective, spiritual person. So naturally I thought my first novel would be much like my persona, the face I put out to the world. I would write in the style of Sue Monk Kidd, who is one of my favorite authors.
Who did I get instead? Sassy, in-your-face Loreen, a convict who has a history of making bad choices. Her worst choice is escaping from a Texas prison by stealing the tour bus of a famous country music singer so she can get home to her dying mama in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee. Welcome to Loreen on the Lam: A Tennessee Mystery
Welcome to the shadow side of writing. It’s a side you’ll want to befriend because, as some psychologists will tell you, it’s the seat of creativity.
What's the shadow? According to Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, the shadow side is the unknown “dark side” of our personality. It consists of the primitive or negative aspects of ourselves that are hidden, or that we want to repress or suppress, and can include such emotions as lust, power, selfishness, greed, envy, anger and more.
In books — as in real life — villains are often driven by their shadow sides. But good characters have them as well. Take my heroine, Loreen, who basically has a good heart, but has had a hard life. Growing up poor in Red Boiling Springs, she's never known her father and starts getting into trouble around age 14.
Loreen is a master at repressing “deep thoughts” or any kind of awareness. She has one such insight about her shadow side when she realizes she has been verbally abusing Tilly Davis, one of her unwanted passengers, a woman who has been battered by her husband.
“Then Loreen had another insight. She was abusing Tilly just as men had done. Dang. She didn’t want to do that. These awarenesses were coming too fast and she wanted them to go away.”
During her journey, however, Loreen starts to get in touch with her shadow side. She becomes aware of her selfishness, the bad choices she’s made, and her desire to escape life and responsibility. And, she begins to have “aha moments”.
While I might be prone to selfishness or any other dark part of myself, this doesn’t mean I – or anyone – acts on those traits. It doesn’t make us “bad” people. But when we can acknowledge them, we become more integrated and whole.
Is it terrifying as a writer to examine our dark side? You bet. But when we get to know our own shadow and, as a result, channel it through our characters’ innermost feelings and thoughts, that’s where the magic happens. If Stephen King had hidden from his shadow, The Shining would never have been written, and the same can be said for many other novels, from The Exorcist to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Loreen on the Lam: A Tennessee Mystery does not fall into the horror genre, nor is it necessary to go there to tackle a character’s hidden side. You can channel your own shadow into your characters with a few caveats:
- The writer’s shadow should inform the story, but never take it over. This isn’t therapy in writing, nor is it a self-serving shadow rant. It’s about drawing from that “hidden” and creative reservoir within you that will give your characters depth and texture.
- Along those lines, don’t be gratuitous with your shadow. Shadow material that’s violent or psychotic for its own sake is boring and self-indulgent. This is dishonest writing and serves no one.
Good characters have shadow sides and your characters’ shadows should repel them as much as yours do you. Readers need to see what your characters want to hide – and then how your characters come to peace with those hidden aspects of themselves, or not.
When I started writing Loreen on the Lam, I had no idea where she would take me. What I wasn’t expecting was a character who surprised me with those parts of myself I often keep hidden. So don’t be afraid to go digging into that shadow side of yourself and your writing. It knows.
Marielena Zuniga is an award-winning journalist and creative writer of more than 35 years. She holds a M.S. in counseling psychology.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editor-in-chief Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
The Shadow Knows / Marielena Zuniga
I have always been fascinated with the Chinese philosophy of the Yin and Yang, which is rooted in the idea of contraries. For example, with light, there is darkness, which are complete opposites. But rather than being opposing forces, they are actually intertwined. You can’t have one without the other. Killer Nashville guest blogger Marielena Zuniga touches on a similar concept: the shadow side, or that part of you that is your complete opposite. Awareness of this darker side can be illuminating and a touchstone for writing. Happy reading! 
Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
The Shadow Knows
By Marielena Zuniga
Ever write a book you never intended? I did. Let me explain.
By nature, I'm a quiet, introspective, spiritual person. So naturally I thought my first novel would be much like my persona, the face I put out to the world. I would write in the style of Sue Monk Kidd, who is one of my favorite authors.
Who did I get instead? Sassy, in-your-face Loreen, a convict who has a history of making bad choices. Her worst choice is escaping from a Texas prison by stealing the tour bus of a famous country music singer so she can get home to her dying mama in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee. Welcome to Loreen on the Lam: A Tennessee Mystery
Welcome to the shadow side of writing. It’s a side you’ll want to befriend because, as some psychologists will tell you, it’s the seat of creativity.
What's the shadow? According to Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, the shadow side is the unknown “dark side” of our personality. It consists of the primitive or negative aspects of ourselves that are hidden, or that we want to repress or suppress, and can include such emotions as lust, power, selfishness, greed, envy, anger and more.
In books — as in real life — villains are often driven by their shadow sides. But good characters have them as well. Take my heroine, Loreen, who basically has a good heart, but has had a hard life. Growing up poor in Red Boiling Springs, she's never known her father and starts getting into trouble around age 14.
Loreen is a master at repressing “deep thoughts” or any kind of awareness. She has one such insight about her shadow side when she realizes she has been verbally abusing Tilly Davis, one of her unwanted passengers, a woman who has been battered by her husband.
“Then Loreen had another insight. She was abusing Tilly just as men had done. Dang. She didn’t want to do that. These awarenesses were coming too fast and she wanted them to go away.”
During her journey, however, Loreen starts to get in touch with her shadow side. She becomes aware of her selfishness, the bad choices she’s made, and her desire to escape life and responsibility. And, she begins to have “aha moments”.
While I might be prone to selfishness or any other dark part of myself, this doesn’t mean I – or anyone – acts on those traits. It doesn’t make us “bad” people. But when we can acknowledge them, we become more integrated and whole.
Is it terrifying as a writer to examine our dark side? You bet. But when we get to know our own shadow and, as a result, channel it through our characters’ innermost feelings and thoughts, that’s where the magic happens. If Stephen King had hidden from his shadow, The Shining would never have been written, and the same can be said for many other novels, from The Exorcist to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Loreen on the Lam: A Tennessee Mystery does not fall into the horror genre, nor is it necessary to go there to tackle a character’s hidden side. You can channel your own shadow into your characters with a few caveats:
- The writer’s shadow should inform the story, but never take it over. This isn’t therapy in writing, nor is it a self-serving shadow rant. It’s about drawing from that “hidden” and creative reservoir within you that will give your characters depth and texture.
- Along those lines, don’t be gratuitous with your shadow. Shadow material that’s violent or psychotic for its own sake is boring and self-indulgent. This is dishonest writing and serves no one.
Good characters have shadow sides and your characters’ shadows should repel them as much as yours do you. Readers need to see what your characters want to hide – and then how your characters come to peace with those hidden aspects of themselves, or not.
When I started writing Loreen on the Lam, I had no idea where she would take me. What I wasn’t expecting was a character who surprised me with those parts of myself I often keep hidden. So don’t be afraid to go digging into that shadow side of yourself and your writing. It knows.
Marielena Zuniga is an award-winning journalist and creative writer of more than 35 years. She holds a M.S. in counseling psychology.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editor-in-chief Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
Being a “One-hit Wonder” vs. Sustaining a Career: My Habits and How I Changed Them / Kay Kendall
Balance. Moderation. These are not just words, but the keys to pretty much all aspects of living a healthy, full life from eating to drinking, and now completely applicable to writing. And it makes complete sense! As I’ve heard from wiser people than I, “It’s a marathon not a race.” Killer Nashville guest blog author Kay Kendall shares her own awareness for her desire to sprint, but recognizes that writing is a long-term commitment and, though we stumble, we all need to honestly look at ourselves to find our own sense of balance.
Bottom line: Enjoy; you’re probably doing fine! Take confidence, continue the race using what works for you, and until next time, read like they’re burning books.
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Being a “One-hit Wonder” vs. Sustaining a Career: My Habits and How I Changed Them
By Kay Kendall
Before I began my second career as a mystery writer, I spent twenty-five years as a public relations executive. That time — combined with eight years in college and graduate school—taught me a lot about myself. My preferred work habits featured intense bursts of creativity and fascination with a large, innovative project, followed by fallow periods when I regrouped. That was exciting. Maintenance projects bored me. I was a hare, not a tortoise.
When I set out to become a mystery author, I realized I needed to smooth out my habits. Sure, I could probably produce one book in a frenzy of late nights, caffeinated days, and ignored loved one. But that was no way to build a sustainable career, writing book after book. So, I plotted my new path.
As I moved along toward the publication of my debut novel Desolation Row in 2013, I developed new patterns that enabled the publication in July 2015 of Rainy Day Women, the second in the Austin Starr Mystery series.Remember the old axiom “slow and steady wins the race?” Those are my watchwords now, and here are the turtle-esque rules I use to keep me focused on that new way of living.
Maintain balance in your daily life. Don’t give up anything that you really enjoy. Fit that activity into your writing life. If you are going to be a full-time author over the course of many years, you can’t give up going to movies.
Enjoy them. You can’t give up gardening. Keep doing that, too. Besides, your mind needs a breather. Some new plot twist may well pop up while you’re pulling a weed. I admit that the old myth of the author writing a book in a white-hot fit of inspiration still appeals to me, but I’ve trained myself to see that sanity and calmness and balance have their rewards too.
Make time for your pals. Writing can be a lonely pursuit, and trying to get published these days is a killer. I need all the support I can get, and my friends have stayed right beside me on my journey. They keep me going through the darkest days and share my joy upon publication. I’ve also made new friends by joining writers’ critique groups and associations. Many writers are said to be introverts, but I’m not. Two new pals who write mysteries are extreme introverts, and I keep in close touch with them and actively encourage them to mingle with other writers. I’m a staunch believer in the truth of what Barbra Streisand sang back in the Sixties. Remember this? “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”
Physical activity is essential. Keep walking the dog—or running, spinning, or dancing. Whatever exercise you used to do before you became an avid or full-time writer, don’t stop. Health gurus insist that sitting all day is a terrible habit that can lead to early death and/or dementia. Besides, when I’m on my exercise bike, I zone out and then, given enough time, ideas for my writing zone in. The mind-body connection is worth protecting with sufficient exercise. Even when I’m on a deadline, I try to stick to this rule. However, it’s time for a true confession. I have trouble actually walking the talk on this.
Keep reading. Just because you’re writing your own book, that doesn’t mean you can stop reading other ones. In fact, I’ve read more, not less, since I began to write fiction. I submerged myself in the mystery/suspense genre for almost two years before I started Desolation Row. Picking up tricks of the trade by osmosis suits me better than gulping a dozen dry how-to tomes. Of course, I read a few of those too!
Believe you can achieve your aims. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” I first saw that quote on a coffee mug for sale at Whole Foods and was scared to touch it. How dare I think I could write a novel? Yet I forced myself to buy that mug and drank from it while I wrote. When my first manuscript didn’t sell, I wrote the second, which got published. My friends (see comment above) helped keep me going. I really did “get by with a little help from my friends.” (*Footnote—the Beatles.)
Keep on keeping on. Once you find what works to make your writing life roll along as smoothly as possible, keep on doing it. Sometimes I find guidelines in how-to articles suggesting that my way is not the right way. The best writing coaches add the caveat, though, that there is no perfect method of writing a novel.
I’ve now been at this venture long enough that I’ve come across some authors who do have habits similar to mine. For example, many experts advise you to write a first draft as rapidly as possible, not editing as you go. But I just cannot do that. Just can’t. Feeling a little guilty, I write my way through manuscripts, editing and re-editing as I go. And recently—lo and behold—I read about a bestselling author who said he always begins his day by editing what he’s written the day before. What a relief! I am okay after all. So, as we used to say back in the day, just keep on truckin’.
Kay Kendall, the author of Desolation Row and Rainy Day Women, is a reformed public relations executive who won international awards for her work. Kendall lives in Texas with her Canadian-born husband, three house rabbits and spaniel Wills. She has degrees in Russian and Soviet history, and her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com
Being a “One-hit Wonder” vs. Sustaining a Career: My Habits and How I Changed Them / Kay Kendall
Balance. Moderation. These are not just words, but the keys to pretty much all aspects of living a healthy, full life from eating to drinking, and now completely applicable to writing. And it makes complete sense! As I’ve heard from wiser people than I, “It’s a marathon not a race.” Killer Nashville guest blog author Kay Kendall shares her own awareness for her desire to sprint, but recognizes that writing is a long-term commitment and, though we stumble, we all need to honestly look at ourselves to find our own sense of balance. Bottom line: Enjoy; you’re probably doing fine! Take confidence, continue the race using what works for you, and until next time, read like they’re burning books! Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Being a “One-hit Wonder” vs. Sustaining a Career: My Habits and How I Changed Them
By Kay Kendall
Before I began my second career as a mystery writer, I spent twenty-five years as a public relations executive. That time — combined with eight years in college and graduate school—taught me a lot about myself. My preferred work habits featured intense bursts of creativity and fascination with a large, innovative project, followed by fallow periods when I regrouped. That was exciting. Maintenance projects bored me. I was a hare, not a tortoise.
When I set out to become a mystery author, I realized I needed to smooth out my habits. Sure, I could probably produce one book in a frenzy of late nights, caffeinated days, and ignored loved one. But that was no way to build a sustainable career, writing book after book. So, I plotted my new path.
As I moved along toward the publication of my debut novel Desolation Row
Maintain balance in your daily life. Don’t give up anything that you really enjoy. Fit that activity into your writing life. If you are going to be a full-time author over the course of many years, you can’t give up going to movies.
Enjoy them. You can’t give up gardening. Keep doing that, too. Besides, your mind needs a breather. Some new plot twist may well pop up while you’re pulling a weed. I admit that the old myth of the author writing a book in a white-hot fit of inspiration still appeals to me, but I’ve trained myself to see that sanity and calmness and balance have their rewards too.
Make time for your pals. Writing can be a lonely pursuit, and trying to get published these days is a killer. I need all the support I can get, and my friends have stayed right beside me on my journey. They keep me going through the darkest days and share my joy upon publication. I’ve also made new friends by joining writers’ critique groups and associations. Many writers are said to be introverts, but I’m not. Two new pals who write mysteries are extreme introverts, and I keep in close touch with them and actively encourage them to mingle with other writers. I’m a staunch believer in the truth of what Barbra Streisand sang back in the Sixties. Remember this? “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”
Physical activity is essential. Keep walking the dog—or running, spinning, or dancing. Whatever exercise you used to do before you became an avid or full-time writer, don’t stop. Health gurus insist that sitting all day is a terrible habit that can lead to early death and/or dementia. Besides, when I’m on my exercise bike, I zone out and then, given enough time, ideas for my writing zone in. The mind-body connection is worth protecting with sufficient exercise. Even when I’m on a deadline, I try to stick to this rule. However, it’s time for a true confession. I have trouble actually walking the talk on this.
Keep reading. Just because you’re writing your own book, that doesn’t mean you can stop reading other ones. In fact, I’ve read more, not less, since I began to write fiction. I submerged myself in the mystery/suspense genre for almost two years before I started Desolation Row. Picking up tricks of the trade by osmosis suits me better than gulping a dozen dry how-to tomes. Of course, I read a few of those too!
Believe you can achieve your aims. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” I first saw that quote on a coffee mug for sale at Whole Foods and was scared to touch it. How dare I think I could write a novel? Yet I forced myself to buy that mug and drank from it while I wrote. When my first manuscript didn’t sell, I wrote the second, which got published. My friends (see comment above) helped keep me going. I really did “get by with a little help from my friends.” (*Footnote—the Beatles.)
Keep on keeping on. Once you find what works to make your writing life roll along as smoothly as possible, keep on doing it. Sometimes I find guidelines in how-to articles suggesting that my way is not the right way. The best writing coaches add the caveat, though, that there is no perfect method of writing a novel.
I’ve now been at this venture long enough that I’ve come across some authors who do have habits similar to mine. For example, many experts advise you to write a first draft as rapidly as possible, not editing as you go. But I just cannot do that. Just can’t. Feeling a little guilty, I write my way through manuscripts, editing and re-editing as I go. And recently—lo and behold—I read about a bestselling author who said he always begins his day by editing what he’s written the day before. What a relief! I am okay after all. So, as we used to say back in the day, just keep on truckin’.
Kay Kendall, the author of Desolation Row and Rainy Day Women, is a reformed public relations executive who won international awards for her work. Kendall lives in Texas with her Canadian-born husband, three house rabbits and spaniel Wills. She has degrees in Russian and Soviet history, and her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com
Being a “One-hit Wonder” vs. Sustaining a Career: My Habits and How I Changed Them / Kay Kendall
Balance. Moderation. These are not just words, but the keys to pretty much all aspects of living a healthy, full life from eating to drinking, and now completely applicable to writing. And it makes complete sense! As I’ve heard from wiser people than I, “It’s a marathon not a race.” Killer Nashville guest blog author Kay Kendall shares her own awareness for her desire to sprint, but recognizes that writing is a long-term commitment and, though we stumble, we all need to honestly look at ourselves to find our own sense of balance. Bottom line: Enjoy; you’re probably doing fine! Take confidence, continue the race using what works for you, and until next time, read like they’re burning books! Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Being a “One-hit Wonder” vs. Sustaining a Career: My Habits and How I Changed Them
By Kay Kendall
Before I began my second career as a mystery writer, I spent twenty-five years as a public relations executive. That time — combined with eight years in college and graduate school—taught me a lot about myself. My preferred work habits featured intense bursts of creativity and fascination with a large, innovative project, followed by fallow periods when I regrouped. That was exciting. Maintenance projects bored me. I was a hare, not a tortoise.
When I set out to become a mystery author, I realized I needed to smooth out my habits. Sure, I could probably produce one book in a frenzy of late nights, caffeinated days, and ignored loved one. But that was no way to build a sustainable career, writing book after book. So, I plotted my new path.
As I moved along toward the publication of my debut novel Desolation Row
Maintain balance in your daily life. Don’t give up anything that you really enjoy. Fit that activity into your writing life. If you are going to be a full-time author over the course of many years, you can’t give up going to movies.
Enjoy them. You can’t give up gardening. Keep doing that, too. Besides, your mind needs a breather. Some new plot twist may well pop up while you’re pulling a weed. I admit that the old myth of the author writing a book in a white-hot fit of inspiration still appeals to me, but I’ve trained myself to see that sanity and calmness and balance have their rewards too.
Make time for your pals. Writing can be a lonely pursuit, and trying to get published these days is a killer. I need all the support I can get, and my friends have stayed right beside me on my journey. They keep me going through the darkest days and share my joy upon publication. I’ve also made new friends by joining writers’ critique groups and associations. Many writers are said to be introverts, but I’m not. Two new pals who write mysteries are extreme introverts, and I keep in close touch with them and actively encourage them to mingle with other writers. I’m a staunch believer in the truth of what Barbra Streisand sang back in the Sixties. Remember this? “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”
Physical activity is essential. Keep walking the dog—or running, spinning, or dancing. Whatever exercise you used to do before you became an avid or full-time writer, don’t stop. Health gurus insist that sitting all day is a terrible habit that can lead to early death and/or dementia. Besides, when I’m on my exercise bike, I zone out and then, given enough time, ideas for my writing zone in. The mind-body connection is worth protecting with sufficient exercise. Even when I’m on a deadline, I try to stick to this rule. However, it’s time for a true confession. I have trouble actually walking the talk on this.
Keep reading. Just because you’re writing your own book, that doesn’t mean you can stop reading other ones. In fact, I’ve read more, not less, since I began to write fiction. I submerged myself in the mystery/suspense genre for almost two years before I started Desolation Row. Picking up tricks of the trade by osmosis suits me better than gulping a dozen dry how-to tomes. Of course, I read a few of those too!
Believe you can achieve your aims. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” I first saw that quote on a coffee mug for sale at Whole Foods and was scared to touch it. How dare I think I could write a novel? Yet I forced myself to buy that mug and drank from it while I wrote. When my first manuscript didn’t sell, I wrote the second, which got published. My friends (see comment above) helped keep me going. I really did “get by with a little help from my friends.” (*Footnote—the Beatles.)
Keep on keeping on. Once you find what works to make your writing life roll along as smoothly as possible, keep on doing it. Sometimes I find guidelines in how-to articles suggesting that my way is not the right way. The best writing coaches add the caveat, though, that there is no perfect method of writing a novel.
I’ve now been at this venture long enough that I’ve come across some authors who do have habits similar to mine. For example, many experts advise you to write a first draft as rapidly as possible, not editing as you go. But I just cannot do that. Just can’t. Feeling a little guilty, I write my way through manuscripts, editing and re-editing as I go. And recently—lo and behold—I read about a bestselling author who said he always begins his day by editing what he’s written the day before. What a relief! I am okay after all. So, as we used to say back in the day, just keep on truckin’.
Kay Kendall, the author of Desolation Row and Rainy Day Women, is a reformed public relations executive who won international awards for her work. Kendall lives in Texas with her Canadian-born husband, three house rabbits and spaniel Wills. She has degrees in Russian and Soviet history, and her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com
How Small, Independent Publishing Saved My Novel / K.C. Tansley
In the middle of downward turn, a spiral out of control, or the dashing of one’s hopes and dreams, no one, and I repeat, no one likes to hear the same tired sayings like, “When one door closes; another door opens” or “You will look back and laugh”. It’s just too painful even if the intent is to instill optimism.
In this week’s Killer Nashville Guest Blog, K.C. Tansley shares her roller-coaster ride to publishing, which despite the turmoil turned out to be the best thing to ever happen.
This is a lesson for all of us: Never give up!
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
How Small, Independent Publishing Saved My Novel
By K.C. Tansley
You know the first manuscript that most writers leave under their bed? After seven years of revising and querying, I sold mine to Harlequin in the spring of 2013.
Within a month, I had an agent at ICM Partners and the deal memo from Harlequin. This was really happening. My YA time travel murder mystery, The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts, was going to be traditionally published! My craziest dream was coming true.
The contract negotiations went on for a while. By early 2014, Harlequin had assigned my editor, and I received my editorial letter. My editor had a way of focusing and tightening the story while staying true to the heart of it. I was happy with where we were going and so excited to share what I knew would be the best version of this book with the world.
In the fall of 2014, I waited for line edits that didn't come. I emailed my editor and she apologized for the delay, but she was really good at being on time. Something felt off. I couldn't shake the feeling. I emailed my agent and asked her to look into it.
I’ll never forget what happened on October 4, 2014. I was sitting at a restaurant, waiting for my friend, when my agent’s reply came in. I knew I shouldn’t have read it, but I couldn’t help it. I clicked on it. And everything changed.
It was the worst-case scenario. My imprint was shutting down. My book wouldn't be published and the rights were reverting back to me. Eventually.
My mind raced with all the things that I had to do. Questions I needed answered. Emails I’d have to send. That kept me busy for a few days.
The worst part came next—weeks of waiting and uncertainty. Finally, my rights reverted back to me, and my agency and I parted ways.
That was when it all hit me. It felt like my world imploded. Everything I'd worked for over the past eight years was gone. Wiped out in one fell swoop. I was back to square one. Again.
It was the first time a dream nearly broke me. I didn’t see a reason to keep trying. It hurt too much. My book deal was dead and my dream had become a nightmare.
Mentally and physically, I was defeated. All I wanted to do was curl up and binge watch “The Vampire Diaries” for a few weeks. Hide in my bed and pretend this wasn't happening to me.
But I still had this novel that was line-edited and almost ready for publication. This story that I had lived with for nine years. These characters that I had poured my soul into. I couldn't abandon them. I wouldn’t abandon them.
But querying? No, I wasn't ready to face that kind of rejection again.
A friend of mine stepped up and passed the revised version of my manuscript around to her industry friends. It ended up with a small press. They shared the vision that my editor and I had for the book, and they wanted to publish it. They even hired my editor to freelance it to completion.
I was still emotionally torn up from what had happened, but I believed in my book. I put aside my personal stuff and gave the book the best chance I could.
This time around, I wasn’t a tiny cog in a massive publishing machine. My publisher wanted my input, and they communicated regularly with me. I felt like I was a partner in the publication process.
We still faced an uphill battle: a small press doesn't have the distribution network or the publicity machine of a major traditional publisher. We needed a promo push for this book so I hired a publicist for the book launch.
My book may be a product that is being brought to market, but it’s a unique product, a way to escape life and go on an adventure. It’s an emotional enterprise, so it is very important that everyone involved is emotionally invested in my book’s success. From the publisher to the editor to the cover designer to the formatter to publicist, everyone is doing his or her best work. And it shows. I feel supported and nurtured. That’s how indie publishing turned my worst nightmare back into my greatest dream. Going indie didn’t just save my book, it saved me.
K.C. Tansley lives with her warrior lapdog, Emerson and three quirky golden retrievers on a hill somewhere in Connecticut. She tends to believe in the unbelievables—spells, ghosts, time travel—and writes about them. Never one to say no to a road trip, she’s climbed the Great Wall twice, hopped on the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, and danced the night away in the dunes of Cape Hatteras. She loves the ocean and hates the sun, which makes for interesting beach days. As Kourtney Heintz, she writes award winning cross genre fiction for adults.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
How Small, Independent Publishing Saved My Novel / K.C. Tansley
In the middle of downward turn, a spiral out of control, or the dashing of one’s hopes and dreams, no one, and I repeat, no one likes to hear the same tired sayings like, “When one door closes; another door opens” or “You will look back and laugh”. It’s just too painful even if the intent is to instill optimism.In this week’s Killer Nashville Guest Blog, K.C. Tansley shares her roller-coaster ride to publishing, which despite the turmoil turned out to be the best thing to ever happen.This is a lesson for all of us: Never give up! Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
How Small, Independent Publishing Saved My Novel
By K.C. Tansley
You know the first manuscript that most writers leave under their bed? After seven years of revising and querying, I sold mine to Harlequin in the spring of 2013.
Within a month, I had an agent at ICM Partners and the deal memo from Harlequin. This was really happening. My YA time travel murder mystery, The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts
The contract negotiations went on for a while. By early 2014, Harlequin had assigned my editor, and I received my editorial letter. My editor had a way of focusing and tightening the story while staying true to the heart of it. I was happy with where we were going and so excited to share what I knew would be the best version of this book with the world.
In the fall of 2014, I waited for line edits that didn't come. I emailed my editor and she apologized for the delay, but she was really good at being on time. Something felt off. I couldn't shake the feeling. I emailed my agent and asked her to look into it.
I’ll never forget what happened on October 4, 2014. I was sitting at a restaurant, waiting for my friend, when my agent’s reply came in. I knew I shouldn’t have read it, but I couldn’t help it. I clicked on it. And everything changed.
It was the worst-case scenario. My imprint was shutting down. My book wouldn't be published and the rights
were reverting back to me. Eventually.
My mind raced with all the things that I had to do. Questions I needed answered. Emails I’d have to send. That kept me busy for a few days.
The worst part came next—weeks of waiting and uncertainty. Finally, my rights reverted back to me, and my agency and I parted ways.
That was when it all hit me. It felt like my world imploded. Everything I'd worked for over the past eight years was gone. Wiped out in one fell swoop. I was back to square one. Again.
It was the first time a dream nearly broke me. I didn’t see a reason to keep trying. It hurt too much. My book deal was dead and my dream had become a nightmare.
Mentally and physically, I was defeated. All I wanted to do was curl up and binge watch “The Vampire Diaries” for a few weeks. Hide in my bed and pretend this wasn't happening to me.
But I still had this novel that was line-edited and almost ready for publication. This story that I had lived with for nine years. These characters that I had poured my soul into. I couldn't abandon them. I wouldn’t abandon them.
But querying? No, I wasn't ready to face that kind of rejection again.
A friend of mine stepped up and passed the revised version of my manuscript around to her industry friends. It ended up with a small press. They shared the vision that my editor and I had for the book, and they wanted to publish it. They even hired my editor to freelance it to completion.
I was still emotionally torn up from what had happened, but I believed in my book. I put aside my personal stuff and gave the book the best chance I could.
This time around, I wasn’t a tiny cog in a massive publishing machine. My publisher wanted my input, and they communicated regularly with me. I felt like I was a partner in the publication process.
We still faced an uphill battle: a small press doesn't have the distribution network or the publicity machine of a major traditional publisher. We needed a promo push for this book so I hired a publicist for the book launch.
My book may be a product that is being brought to market, but it’s a unique product, a way to escape life and go on an adventure. It’s an emotional enterprise, so it is very important that everyone involved is emotionally invested in my book’s success. From the publisher to the editor to the cover designer to the formatter to publicist, everyone is doing his or her best work. And it shows. I feel supported and nurtured. That’s how indie publishing turned my worst nightmare back into my greatest dream. Going indie didn’t just save my book, it saved me.
K.C. Tansley lives with her warrior lapdog, Emerson and three quirky golden retrievers on a hill somewhere in Connecticut. She tends to believe in the unbelievables—spells, ghosts, time travel—and writes about them. Never one to say no to a road trip, she’s climbed the Great Wall twice, hopped on the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, and danced the night away in the dunes of Cape Hatteras. She loves the ocean and hates the sun, which makes for interesting beach days. As Kourtney Heintz, she writes award winning cross genre fiction for adults.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
How Small, Independent Publishing Saved My Novel / K.C. Tansley
In the middle of downward turn, a spiral out of control, or the dashing of one’s hopes and dreams, no one, and I repeat, no one likes to hear the same tired sayings like, “When one door closes; another door opens” or “You will look back and laugh”. It’s just too painful even if the intent is to instill optimism.In this week’s Killer Nashville Guest Blog, K.C. Tansley shares her roller-coaster ride to publishing, which despite the turmoil turned out to be the best thing to ever happen.This is a lesson for all of us: Never give up! Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
How Small, Independent Publishing Saved My Novel
By K.C. Tansley
You know the first manuscript that most writers leave under their bed? After seven years of revising and querying, I sold mine to Harlequin in the spring of 2013.
Within a month, I had an agent at ICM Partners and the deal memo from Harlequin. This was really happening. My YA time travel murder mystery, The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts
The contract negotiations went on for a while. By early 2014, Harlequin had assigned my editor, and I received my editorial letter. My editor had a way of focusing and tightening the story while staying true to the heart of it. I was happy with where we were going and so excited to share what I knew would be the best version of this book with the world.
In the fall of 2014, I waited for line edits that didn't come. I emailed my editor and she apologized for the delay, but she was really good at being on time. Something felt off. I couldn't shake the feeling. I emailed my agent and asked her to look into it.
I’ll never forget what happened on October 4, 2014. I was sitting at a restaurant, waiting for my friend, when my agent’s reply came in. I knew I shouldn’t have read it, but I couldn’t help it. I clicked on it. And everything changed.
It was the worst-case scenario. My imprint was shutting down. My book wouldn't be published and the rights
were reverting back to me. Eventually.
My mind raced with all the things that I had to do. Questions I needed answered. Emails I’d have to send. That kept me busy for a few days.
The worst part came next—weeks of waiting and uncertainty. Finally, my rights reverted back to me, and my agency and I parted ways.
That was when it all hit me. It felt like my world imploded. Everything I'd worked for over the past eight years was gone. Wiped out in one fell swoop. I was back to square one. Again.
It was the first time a dream nearly broke me. I didn’t see a reason to keep trying. It hurt too much. My book deal was dead and my dream had become a nightmare.
Mentally and physically, I was defeated. All I wanted to do was curl up and binge watch “The Vampire Diaries” for a few weeks. Hide in my bed and pretend this wasn't happening to me.
But I still had this novel that was line-edited and almost ready for publication. This story that I had lived with for nine years. These characters that I had poured my soul into. I couldn't abandon them. I wouldn’t abandon them.
But querying? No, I wasn't ready to face that kind of rejection again.
A friend of mine stepped up and passed the revised version of my manuscript around to her industry friends. It ended up with a small press. They shared the vision that my editor and I had for the book, and they wanted to publish it. They even hired my editor to freelance it to completion.
I was still emotionally torn up from what had happened, but I believed in my book. I put aside my personal stuff and gave the book the best chance I could.
This time around, I wasn’t a tiny cog in a massive publishing machine. My publisher wanted my input, and they communicated regularly with me. I felt like I was a partner in the publication process.
We still faced an uphill battle: a small press doesn't have the distribution network or the publicity machine of a major traditional publisher. We needed a promo push for this book so I hired a publicist for the book launch.
My book may be a product that is being brought to market, but it’s a unique product, a way to escape life and go on an adventure. It’s an emotional enterprise, so it is very important that everyone involved is emotionally invested in my book’s success. From the publisher to the editor to the cover designer to the formatter to publicist, everyone is doing his or her best work. And it shows. I feel supported and nurtured. That’s how indie publishing turned my worst nightmare back into my greatest dream. Going indie didn’t just save my book, it saved me.
K.C. Tansley lives with her warrior lapdog, Emerson and three quirky golden retrievers on a hill somewhere in Connecticut. She tends to believe in the unbelievables—spells, ghosts, time travel—and writes about them. Never one to say no to a road trip, she’s climbed the Great Wall twice, hopped on the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, and danced the night away in the dunes of Cape Hatteras. She loves the ocean and hates the sun, which makes for interesting beach days. As Kourtney Heintz, she writes award winning cross genre fiction for adults.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
North and South: A Writer’s Journey / Ellen Byron
We all have unique and life-stamping beginnings that stay with us forever, but it’s our life experiences that shape who we are. With any luck we both enhance and challenge ourselves with every new day.
In this week’s Killer Nashville blog, author Ellen Byron shares her journey to becoming a writer and reminds us of the ultimate two tenets of writing: know what you write and write what you love.
Read like they are burning books!
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
North and South: A Writer’s Journey
By Ellen Byron
Why does a native Noo Yawkuh who lives in the City of Angels always seem to write about the South? It’s a question I’ve often asked myself. And after giving it much thought, I’ve come up with two answers. One is obvious, the other less so.
My initial fascination began as a teenage obsession with Tennessee Williams. I was overwhelmed by the poetry of The Glass Menagerie, the sensual brutality of A Streetcar Named Desire, and the passion and heartbreak of Orpheus Descending.
Eventually it hit this Williams fangirl, what better place to pay homage to my idol than New Orleans? I transferred from a gritty New York state college to the lush, almost tropical campus of Tulane University, and embraced everything about the magical Crescent City. I reveled in its sultry humidity and guested at Mardi Gras balls. I people-watched on the streetcars, wondering if one of the white-gloved society matrons making her way to the French Quarter might have been the inspiration for Blanche DuBois. I wanted to be accepted so badly that I tried to hide my New York accent, and while no one ever mistook me for a Southerner, I did have a customer at the sandwich shop where I worked part-time ask if I was British.
When my parents came to visit, we’d rent a car and explore southern Louisiana. I learned that if you saw an alley of trees that dead-ended in an empty field, odds were that’s where a plantation once stood. I met proud and marvelous Cajuns, people whose ancestors were forced out of Canada in the mid-eighteenth century by Le Grand Derangement, their roots in America pre-dating the Declaration of Independence. People who still spoke French as their native tongue and English as their second language over two hundred years after their diaspora. And gradually this gal from Queens fell utterly in love with a way of life that couldn’t seem more different from her own background.
But was it so different? While mulling this over, I came up with the second answer to the question of why I feel so connected to a part of the country where I only spent a few years of my life.
My mother was born in Italy. She came to America with her parents at the age of three. During the decades that followed, a parade of relatives and pisanes (fellow countrymen) from the little village of Orsogna joined her in the migration. I spent much of my childhood at family functions where the air was thick with the scent of homemade sauces, pastas, and meats. Uncles, aunts and cousins spent the meal laughing and arguing in Italian. I could spend an entire day at a family event and never hear a word of English. It was a world unto itself.
So why do I feel drawn to the South? Because, like my family’s small enclave, it’s a world unto itself— a rich, unique culture within the larger culture of the United States. This is particularly true of southern Louisiana, where I’ve set my debut novel, Plantation Shudders: A Cajun Country Mystery The food, the music, and the language all come together in this part of the world to create a singular environment. (By the way, my fascination with the South isn’t limited to Louisiana. In my play Old Sins, Long Shadows, I trade the Pelican State for Kentucky as a family battles for the mineral rights to their land.)
I sometimes worry that this East Coast/West Coast girl might be viewed as some kind of carpetbagger. Then I remind myself of two writing tenets I’ve always adhered to: know about what you write, and write about what you love. Which is exactly what I’m doing. So I hope Southerners see my preoccupation as a form of flattery, and forgive any errors I might make as a wannabe rather than a native. To quote a favorite playwright of mine, “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” Or, as my late Nonna might have put it, “Ho sempre dipendeva dalla benevolenza di strainer.”
Ellen’s debut novel, Plantation Shudders: A Cajun Country Mystery, launches in August. Her TV credits include Wings, Just Shoot Me, and network pilots. She’s written over 200 articles for national magazines, and her plays, published by the Dramatists Play Service, have been performed around the world. She’s the recipient of a William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant, presented by the Malice Domestic Conference.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.
North and South: A Writer’s Journey / Ellen Byron
We all have unique and life-stamping beginnings that stay with us forever, but it’s our life experiences that shape who we are. With any luck we both enhance and challenge ourselves with every new day.In this week’s Killer Nashville blog, author Ellen Byron shares her journey to becoming a writer and reminds us of the ultimate two tenets of writing: know what you write and write what you love.Read like they are burning books! Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
North and South: A Writer’s Journey
By Ellen Byron
Why does a native Noo Yawkuh who lives in the City of Angels always seem to write about the South? It’s a question I’ve often asked myself. And after giving it much thought, I’ve come up with two answers. One is obvious, the other less so.
My initial fascination began as a teenage obsession with Tennessee Williams. I was overwhelmed by the poetry of The Glass Menagerie, the sensual brutality of A Streetcar Named Desire, and the passion and heartbreak of Orpheus Descending.
Eventually it hit this Williams fangirl, what better place to pay homage to my idol than New Orleans? I transferred from a gritty New York state college to the lush, almost tropical campus of Tulane University, and embraced everything about the magical Crescent City. I reveled in its sultry humidity and guested at Mardi Gras balls. I people-watched on the streetcars, wondering if one of the white-gloved society matrons making her way to the French Quarter might have been the inspiration for Blanche DuBois. I wanted to be accepted so badly that I tried to hide my New York accent, and while no one ever mistook me for a Southerner, I did have a customer at the sandwich shop where I worked part-time ask if I was British.
When my parents came to visit, we’d rent a car and explore southern Louisiana. I learned that if you saw an alley of trees that dead-ended in an empty field, odds were that’s where a plantation once stood. I met proud and marvelous Cajuns, people whose ancestors were forced out of Canada in the mid-eighteenth century by Le Grand Derangement, their roots in America pre-dating the Declaration of Independence. People who still spoke French as their native tongue and English as their second language over two hundred years after their diaspora. And gradually this gal from Queens fell utterly in love with a way of life that couldn’t seem more different from her own background.
But was it so different? While mulling this over, I came up with the second answer to the question of why I feel so connected to a part of the country where I only spent a few years of my life.
My mother was born in Italy. She came to America with her parents at the age of three. During the decades that followed, a parade of relatives and pisanes (fellow countrymen) from the little village of Orsogna joined her in the migration. I spent much of my childhood at family functions where the air was thick with the scent of homemade sauces, pastas, and meats. Uncles, aunts and cousins spent the meal laughing and arguing in Italian. I could spend an entire day at a family event and never hear a word of English. It was a world unto itself.
So why do I feel drawn to the South? Because, like my family’s small enclave, it’s a world unto itself— a rich, unique culture within the larger culture of the United States. This is particularly true of southern Louisiana,
where I’ve set my debut novel, Plantation Shudders: A Cajun Country Mystery
I sometimes worry that this East Coast/West Coast girl might be viewed as some kind of carpetbagger. Then I remind myself of two writing tenets I’ve always adhered to: know about what you write, and write about what you love. Which is exactly what I’m doing. So I hope Southerners see my preoccupation as a form of flattery, and forgive any errors I might make as a wannabe rather than a native. To quote a favorite playwright of mine, “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” Or, as my late Nonna might have put it, “Ho sempre dipendeva dalla benevolenza di strainer.”
Ellen’s debut novel, Plantation Shudders: A Cajun Country Mystery, launches in August. Her TV credits include Wings, Just Shoot Me, and network pilots. She’s written over 200 articles for national magazines, and her plays, published by the Dramatists Play Service, have been performed around the world. She’s the recipient of a William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant, presented by the Malice Domestic Conference.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.
North and South: A Writer’s Journey / Ellen Byron
We all have unique and life-stamping beginnings that stay with us forever, but it’s our life experiences that shape who we are. With any luck we both enhance and challenge ourselves with every new day.In this week’s Killer Nashville blog, author Ellen Byron shares her journey to becoming a writer and reminds us of the ultimate two tenets of writing: know what you write and write what you love.Read like they are burning books! Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
North and South: A Writer’s Journey
By Ellen Byron
Why does a native Noo Yawkuh who lives in the City of Angels always seem to write about the South? It’s a question I’ve often asked myself. And after giving it much thought, I’ve come up with two answers. One is obvious, the other less so.
My initial fascination began as a teenage obsession with Tennessee Williams. I was overwhelmed by the poetry of The Glass Menagerie, the sensual brutality of A Streetcar Named Desire, and the passion and heartbreak of Orpheus Descending.
Eventually it hit this Williams fangirl, what better place to pay homage to my idol than New Orleans? I transferred from a gritty New York state college to the lush, almost tropical campus of Tulane University, and embraced everything about the magical Crescent City. I reveled in its sultry humidity and guested at Mardi Gras balls. I people-watched on the streetcars, wondering if one of the white-gloved society matrons making her way to the French Quarter might have been the inspiration for Blanche DuBois. I wanted to be accepted so badly that I tried to hide my New York accent, and while no one ever mistook me for a Southerner, I did have a customer at the sandwich shop where I worked part-time ask if I was British.
When my parents came to visit, we’d rent a car and explore southern Louisiana. I learned that if you saw an alley of trees that dead-ended in an empty field, odds were that’s where a plantation once stood. I met proud and marvelous Cajuns, people whose ancestors were forced out of Canada in the mid-eighteenth century by Le Grand Derangement, their roots in America pre-dating the Declaration of Independence. People who still spoke French as their native tongue and English as their second language over two hundred years after their diaspora. And gradually this gal from Queens fell utterly in love with a way of life that couldn’t seem more different from her own background.
But was it so different? While mulling this over, I came up with the second answer to the question of why I feel so connected to a part of the country where I only spent a few years of my life.
My mother was born in Italy. She came to America with her parents at the age of three. During the decades that followed, a parade of relatives and pisanes (fellow countrymen) from the little village of Orsogna joined her in the migration. I spent much of my childhood at family functions where the air was thick with the scent of homemade sauces, pastas, and meats. Uncles, aunts and cousins spent the meal laughing and arguing in Italian. I could spend an entire day at a family event and never hear a word of English. It was a world unto itself.
So why do I feel drawn to the South? Because, like my family’s small enclave, it’s a world unto itself— a rich, unique culture within the larger culture of the United States. This is particularly true of southern Louisiana,
where I’ve set my debut novel, Plantation Shudders: A Cajun Country Mystery
I sometimes worry that this East Coast/West Coast girl might be viewed as some kind of carpetbagger. Then I remind myself of two writing tenets I’ve always adhered to: know about what you write, and write about what you love. Which is exactly what I’m doing. So I hope Southerners see my preoccupation as a form of flattery, and forgive any errors I might make as a wannabe rather than a native. To quote a favorite playwright of mine, “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” Or, as my late Nonna might have put it, “Ho sempre dipendeva dalla benevolenza di strainer.”
Ellen’s debut novel, Plantation Shudders: A Cajun Country Mystery, launches in August. Her TV credits include Wings, Just Shoot Me, and network pilots. She’s written over 200 articles for national magazines, and her plays, published by the Dramatists Play Service, have been performed around the world. She’s the recipient of a William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant, presented by the Malice Domestic Conference.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.
It’s No Mystery: Writing Mysteries for Kids Is the Best Job in the World / Robin Newman
Writing for children can be complicated. There’s so much to keep in mind like using vocabulary that’s age-appropriate and providing bite-sized clues, all while telling a good story. In this week’s Killer Nashville guest blog, author Robin Newman shares her love of writing children’s stories, and some helpful hints as you write yours.
Happy Reading!
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
It’s No Mystery: Writing Mysteries for Kids Is the Best Job in the World
By Robin Newman
I wish I could say that I was an avid reader and writer as a child. But to tell the truth, I didn’t become a reader until I was in high school, and it wasn’t until law school that I realized that I enjoyed writing.
Growing up in the 1970s, many of my peers and I were TV junkies. Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, Hong Kong Phooey, Bugs Bunny, Fat Albert, The Jetsons, Road Runner, and School House Rock played an intrinsic part of my childhood. I also grew up watching, and may have possibly read some of, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. Later, as an adult, I was hooked on television detective shows like Dragnet, Law and Order, Murder, She Wrote, Cagney and Lacey, and Barney Miller. All of these shows were perfect fodder for a budding writer of children’s mysteries.
Television, in particular, has created expectations for readers of mysteries. So, it’s no mystery that when I started writing The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, my critique group told me that I should follow the formula and language used in detective shows. “Give us the facts, and just the facts…”
When writing a mystery for young children, there are a few things that one should consider, aside from the usual suspects of plot, character, and setting.
Age matters. Who is reading the story? The parent or the child? Will the reader get the joke? These are things that you need to think about when writing for a young audience.
Word counts. Is your story going to be a picture book, early reader, transitional reader, or chapter book? Picture books generally fall within the realm of 500 or fewer words. It’s extremely hard to write a detective story in fewer than 500 words.
When I started writing The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, it was a picture book. But my word counts were off the charts, around 1200-1600 words, and I knew an editor would hyperventilate if he or she saw my manuscript. Upon excellent advice, I changed the book to an early chapter book, and the story flowed much better.
Short and sweet. Try to keep your sentences short. There’s a lot going on in a mystery, and you need to keep your readers focused on tracking the clues that will help them find the culprit.
Vocabulary. Detective and mystery vocabulary is pretty sophisticated for emergent readers. Terms like alibi, suspect, witness, clues, investigation, etc., need to come across clearly in the text. For example, in this one scene of The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, Detective Wilcox is interrogating the suspect, Fowler the Owl:
“Hoo-hoo,” said Fowler, peeking her head out of her hole. “What brings you two tasty treats to my tree?”
“Investigating a case,” I said, holding up my badge. “Detective Wilcox and Captain Griswold, MFIs. Where were you between 8:00 and 10:00 this morning?”
“I was chasing a field mouse.”
“Do you have any witnesses?” If someone had seen her, she’d have an alibi.
“There was one, but I ate him.”
Easy clues and repetition. Make sure you leave a crumb trail of easy clues for your junior detectives to find. Having one character repeat or slightly modify what another character has said is an opportunity to emphasize a clue and slow down the reader to take note of an important fact.
“But she sure was acting like a funny bunny.”
“Funny ha ha or funny odd?” I asked.
“She didn’t say a word—not even a peep when I asked if she wanted a nice hot cup of slop! And she was still wearing her pajamas…”
Have fun! Don’t forget to add lots of fun puns and jokes. Kindergartners, first and second graders LOVE puns and bad jokes. This is the age of knock-knock jokes.
It’s no mystery: writing for kids is the best job in the world. I suspect that if you give it a try, you will love it too!
Raised in New York and Paris, Robin is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and the City University of New York School of Law. She's been a practicing attorney and legal editor, but she prefers to write about witches, mice, pigs, and peacocks. She is the author of The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, A Wilcox & Griswold Mystery, illustrated by Deborah Zemke (Creston Books, Spring 2015), about two hardboiled mouse detectives working their beat from a shoebox at the back of Farmer Ed’s barn. They are MFIs, Missing Food Investigators, and on their seminal case, they’re on the hunt for Miss Rabbit’s missing carrot cake. (Note: The names of the animals have been changed to protect the good guys.) Visit her website at https://robinnewmanbooks.wordpress.com/
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Meaghan Hill, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.
It’s No Mystery: Writing Mysteries for Kids Is the Best Job in the World / Robin Newman
Writing for children can be complicated. There’s so much to keep in mind like using vocabulary that’s age-appropriate and providing bite-sized clues, all while telling a good story. In this week’s Killer Nashville guest blog, author Robin Newman shares her love of writing children’s stories, and some helpful hints as you write yours.Happy Reading! Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
It’s No Mystery: Writing Mysteries for Kids Is the Best Job in the World
By Robin Newman
I wish I could say that I was an avid reader and writer as a child. But to tell the truth, I didn’t become a reader until I was in high school, and it wasn’t until law school that I realized that I enjoyed writing.
Growing up in the 1970s, many of my peers and I were TV junkies. Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, Hong Kong Phooey, Bugs Bunny, Fat Albert, The Jetsons, Road Runner, and School House Rock played an intrinsic part of my childhood. I also grew up watching, and may have possibly read some of, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. Later, as an adult, I was hooked on television detective shows like Dragnet, Law and Order, Murder, She Wrote, Cagney and Lacey, and Barney Miller. All of these shows were perfect fodder for a budding writer of children’s mysteries.
Television, in particular, has created expectations for readers of mysteries. So, it’s no mystery that when I started writing The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake
When writing a mystery for young children, there are a few things that one should consider, aside from the usual suspects of plot, character, and setting.
Age matters. Who is reading the story? The parent or the child? Will the reader get the joke? These are things that you need to think about when writing for a young audience.
Word counts. Is your story going to be a picture book, early reader, transitional reader, or chapter book? Picture books generally fall within the realm of 500 or fewer words. It’s extremely hard to write a detective story in fewer than 500 words.
When I started writing The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, it was a picture book. But my word counts were off the charts, around 1200-1600 words, and I knew an editor would hyperventilate if he or she saw my manuscript. Upon excellent advice, I changed the book to an early chapter book, and the story flowed much better.
Short and sweet. Try to keep your sentences short. There’s a lot going on in a mystery, and you need to keep your readers focused on tracking the clues that will help them find the culprit.
Vocabulary. Detective and mystery vocabulary is pretty sophisticated for emergent readers. Terms like alibi, suspect, witness, clues, investigation, etc., need to come across clearly in the text. For example, in this one scene of The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, Detective Wilcox is interrogating the suspect, Fowler the Owl:
“Hoo-hoo,” said Fowler, peeking her head out of her hole. “What brings you two tasty treats to my tree?”
“Investigating a case,” I said, holding up my badge. “Detective Wilcox and Captain Griswold, MFIs. Where were you between 8:00 and 10:00 this morning?”
“I was chasing a field mouse.”
“Do you have any witnesses?” If someone had seen her, she’d have an alibi.
“There was one, but I ate him.”
Easy clues and repetition. Make sure you leave a crumb trail of easy clues for your junior detectives to find. Having one character repeat or slightly modify what another character has said is an opportunity to emphasize a clue and slow down the reader to take note of an important fact.
“But she sure was acting like a funny bunny.”
“Funny ha ha or funny odd?” I asked.
“She didn’t say a word—not even a peep when I asked if she wanted a nice hot cup of slop! And she was still wearing her pajamas…”
Have fun! Don’t forget to add lots of fun puns and jokes. Kindergartners, first and second graders LOVE puns and bad jokes. This is the age of knock-knock jokes.
It’s no mystery: writing for kids is the best job in the world. I suspect that if you give it a try, you will love it too!
Raised in New York and Paris, Robin is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and the City University of New York School of Law. She's been a practicing attorney and legal editor, but she prefers to write about witches, mice, pigs, and peacocks. She is the author of The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, A Wilcox & Griswold Mystery, illustrated by Deborah Zemke (Creston Books, Spring 2015), about two hardboiled mouse detectives working their beat from a shoebox at the back of Farmer Ed’s barn. They are MFIs, Missing Food Investigators, and on their seminal case, they’re on the hunt for Miss Rabbit’s missing carrot cake. (Note: The names of the animals have been changed to protect the good guys.) Visit her website at https://robinnewmanbooks.wordpress.com/
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Meaghan Hill, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.
It’s No Mystery: Writing Mysteries for Kids Is the Best Job in the World / Robin Newman
Writing for children can be complicated. There’s so much to keep in mind like using vocabulary that’s age-appropriate and providing bite-sized clues, all while telling a good story. In this week’s Killer Nashville guest blog, author Robin Newman shares her love of writing children’s stories, and some helpful hints as you write yours.Happy Reading! Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
It’s No Mystery: Writing Mysteries for Kids Is the Best Job in the World
By Robin Newman
I wish I could say that I was an avid reader and writer as a child. But to tell the truth, I didn’t become a reader until I was in high school, and it wasn’t until law school that I realized that I enjoyed writing.
Growing up in the 1970s, many of my peers and I were TV junkies. Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, Hong Kong Phooey, Bugs Bunny, Fat Albert, The Jetsons, Road Runner, and School House Rock played an intrinsic part of my childhood. I also grew up watching, and may have possibly read some of, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. Later, as an adult, I was hooked on television detective shows like Dragnet, Law and Order, Murder, She Wrote, Cagney and Lacey, and Barney Miller. All of these shows were perfect fodder for a budding writer of children’s mysteries.
Television, in particular, has created expectations for readers of mysteries. So, it’s no mystery that when I started writing The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake
When writing a mystery for young children, there are a few things that one should consider, aside from the usual suspects of plot, character, and setting.
Age matters. Who is reading the story? The parent or the child? Will the reader get the joke? These are things that you need to think about when writing for a young audience.
Word counts. Is your story going to be a picture book, early reader, transitional reader, or chapter book? Picture books generally fall within the realm of 500 or fewer words. It’s extremely hard to write a detective story in fewer than 500 words.
When I started writing The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, it was a picture book. But my word counts were off the charts, around 1200-1600 words, and I knew an editor would hyperventilate if he or she saw my manuscript. Upon excellent advice, I changed the book to an early chapter book, and the story flowed much better.
Short and sweet. Try to keep your sentences short. There’s a lot going on in a mystery, and you need to keep your readers focused on tracking the clues that will help them find the culprit.
Vocabulary. Detective and mystery vocabulary is pretty sophisticated for emergent readers. Terms like alibi, suspect, witness, clues, investigation, etc., need to come across clearly in the text. For example, in this one scene of The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, Detective Wilcox is interrogating the suspect, Fowler the Owl:
“Hoo-hoo,” said Fowler, peeking her head out of her hole. “What brings you two tasty treats to my tree?”
“Investigating a case,” I said, holding up my badge. “Detective Wilcox and Captain Griswold, MFIs. Where were you between 8:00 and 10:00 this morning?”
“I was chasing a field mouse.”
“Do you have any witnesses?” If someone had seen her, she’d have an alibi.
“There was one, but I ate him.”
Easy clues and repetition. Make sure you leave a crumb trail of easy clues for your junior detectives to find. Having one character repeat or slightly modify what another character has said is an opportunity to emphasize a clue and slow down the reader to take note of an important fact.
“But she sure was acting like a funny bunny.”
“Funny ha ha or funny odd?” I asked.
“She didn’t say a word—not even a peep when I asked if she wanted a nice hot cup of slop! And she was still wearing her pajamas…”
Have fun! Don’t forget to add lots of fun puns and jokes. Kindergartners, first and second graders LOVE puns and bad jokes. This is the age of knock-knock jokes.
It’s no mystery: writing for kids is the best job in the world. I suspect that if you give it a try, you will love it too!
Raised in New York and Paris, Robin is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and the City University of New York School of Law. She's been a practicing attorney and legal editor, but she prefers to write about witches, mice, pigs, and peacocks. She is the author of The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, A Wilcox & Griswold Mystery, illustrated by Deborah Zemke (Creston Books, Spring 2015), about two hardboiled mouse detectives working their beat from a shoebox at the back of Farmer Ed’s barn. They are MFIs, Missing Food Investigators, and on their seminal case, they’re on the hunt for Miss Rabbit’s missing carrot cake. (Note: The names of the animals have been changed to protect the good guys.) Visit her website at https://robinnewmanbooks.wordpress.com/
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Meaghan Hill, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.
How to Host a Killer Book Event / Jenny Milchman
I’m old and I’ve read and seen a lot. Rarely do I read something that makes me shift back in my chair and go, “Wow!” This blog does it for me.
Author Jenny Milchman is the touring James Brown. (She took her kids out of school?) She’s accredited with the longest book tour ever. (Rented out her house ‘cos she was going to be gone 11 months!) This woman has to keep Starbucks in business.
You learn a lot on the road. Most authors keep it to themselves. Jenny shares. You may not want to load the kids in a mini-van and drive across the continent, but everything Jenny shares can be used to advantage at the bookstore in your own hometown. What a dynamo. If you want to build an audience (different from selling a book), this blog is a must-read. I’ve seen these techniques work first hand. They will make a major difference in your mind-shift, maybe even career altering.
Read, enjoy, and share you own experiences. We would love to hear them.
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
How to Host a Killer Book Event
By Jenny Milchman
First, I’m going to give y’all (this is Killer Nashville so I feel safe saying that) my bona fides for writing this post. Then, I’m going to cull ten bullet points for what will make your event the best ever. (I love bullet points! They make everything so simple and easy to digest. I wish chocolate cake came in bullet points. No, I don’t).
But, I digress. On to those credentials.
So, after my first novel — which was really my eighth, but that’s a different blog post —came out following a thirteen-year journey to publication, my husband and I did the following:
We rented out our house, traded in two cars for an SUV that could handle Denver in February, withdrew the kids from school to “car school” them on the road, and put 35,000 miles on that new car. Over a period of seven months, we toured the bookstores, libraries, book clubs and other literary pockets of this country. Then, when my second novel came out the next year, we did it all over again.
Of the past 24 months, I have spent 11 on the road, doing over 300 events.
I’ve seen everything from the one person who showed up at a bookstore in Goshen, Indiana, and didn’t buy a book (but for a very good reason) to nearly 300 foot-stomping attendees in Oxford, Miss., where I appeared at Square Books’ ever-popular Thacker Mountain Radio event. And a great deal in between.
Without further ado, here is what I’ve learned:
Do keep a contacts list. When you’re engaged in social media, find out where people live. (Nicely, not like a stalker). You’ll be amazed how many will want to come out to see you in person.
Do make things personal. Don’t send invitations to a Georgia event to everyone on your mailing list. Figure out who lives closest to Atlanta, or Savannah, or Macon. Blasts get deleted; personal notes are read.
Having said that, a Tweet and FB status update—“I am here” with a photo and place/time/date should become part of your day- or week-before routine.
Do consider creative ideas for format. You don’t have to get up there and read for twenty minutes. Instead, tell the story-behind-the-book, or the story of your publication journey. If your book has a ready tie-in, do something related (like dress up to fit the historic period or serve cookies to reflect a recipe in your book or teach a craft the sleuth uses to solve the case). Hold a writers workshop; be a guest author at the store’s book club. Pair with another author and interview each other. Bring in your dog or cat (because people love dogs and cats, of course). Your imagination is the only limit here—let it fly as free as it did when you wrote your book.
Do know that attendees love the Q&A portion of an event. Leave lots of time!
Do bring a gift for your host. Something sweet to eat, a little gift bag filled with swag related to your book (lip balm, pens, pads, matches, pouches of hot cocoa, chocolate, mini anything, tissues—again, let your imagination roam).
Do consider holding a raffle for attendees. Their receipt for your book is their ticket. Prizes could be a gift card to the bookstore, something tied to your book (Jodi Picoult gave away stuffed wolves when “Lone Wolf” came out), a book club basket of books by your author friends, or a writer’s wish list consisting of coaching or critique.
Do serve light refreshments if possible. Nothing makes it a party like wine or cheese, baked goods and one of those boxes of coffee, or even just popcorn.
Do understand this paradox. Book events are not about selling books. May you become the biggest blockbuster author in the world and sell 1,000 books at every event. You will still only begin to cover the costs of the tour. Events don’t really make dollars and cents—but they do make dollars and sense. There will be moments when your one attendee turns out to be the book reviewer for the Miami Herald. And other kinds of moments, too. That attendee I had in Goshen, IN who didn’t buy a book? It was because he already had three copies. One to read, one to loan, and one to keep “pristine.”
Do be professional. Things can go wrong, and will. I went to Arkansas with my first novel, and the venue had forgotten about my event. Never mind—we went over my calendar, saw that I was actually passing through at such and such date and could come back. When I arrived that time, the place was closed. I promise things will go easier for you than that! But when they don’t, wear a smile, don’t be a diva (or divo?) and know that getting to hang out with a bookseller who then reads your book and becomes a fan for life can be every bit as joyous as walking into a packed room.
For the past three years, Jenny Milchman has gone on what Shelf Awareness called “the world’s longest book tour”. She is the author of three acclaimed and award-winning thrillers: Cover of Snow, Ruin Falls, and the just released As Night Falls. Visit her website at http://www.jennymilchman.com/
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.
How to Host a Killer Book Event / Jenny Milchman
I’m old and I’ve read and seen a lot. Rarely do I read something that makes me shift back in my chair and go, “Wow!” This blog does it for me.Author Jenny Milchman is the touring James Brown. (She took her kids out of school?) She’s accredited with the longest book tour ever. (Rented out her house ‘cos she was going to be gone 11 months!) This woman has to keep Starbucks in business.You learn a lot on the road. Most authors keep it to themselves. Jenny shares. You may not want to load the kids in a mini-van and drive across the continent, but everything Jenny shares can be used to advantage at the bookstore in your own hometown. What a dynamo. If you want to build an audience (different from selling a book), this blog is a must-read. I’ve seen these techniques work first hand. They will make a major difference in your mind-shift, maybe even career altering.Read, enjoy, and share you own experiences. We would love to hear them. Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
How to Host a Killer Book Event
By Jenny Milchman
First, I’m going to give y’all (this is Killer Nashville so I feel safe saying that) my bona fides for writing this post. Then, I’m going to cull ten bullet points for what will make your event the best ever. (I love bullet points! They make everything so simple and easy to digest. I wish chocolate cake came in bullet points. No, I don’t).
But, I digress. On to those credentials.
So, after my first novel — which was really my eighth, but that’s a different blog post —came out following a thirteen-year journey to publication, my husband and I did the following:
We rented out our house, traded in two cars for an SUV that could handle Denver in February, withdrew the kids from school to “car school” them on the road, and put 35,000 miles on that new car. Over a period of seven months, we toured the bookstores, libraries, book clubs and other literary pockets of this country. Then, when my second novel came out the next year, we did it all over again.
Of the past 24 months, I have spent 11 on the road, doing over 300 events.
I’ve seen everything from the one person who showed up at a bookstore in Goshen, Indiana, and didn’t buy a book (but for a very good reason) to nearly 300 foot-stomping attendees in Oxford, Miss., where I appeared at Square Books’ ever-popular Thacker Mountain Radio event. And a great deal in between.
Without further ado, here is what I’ve learned:
- Do keep a contacts list. When you’re engaged in social media, find out where people live. (Nicely, not like a stalker). You’ll be amazed how many will want to come out to see you in person.
- Do make things personal. Don’t send invitations to a Georgia event to everyone on your mailing list. Figure out who lives closest to Atlanta, or Savannah, or Macon. Blasts get deleted; personal notes are read.
- Having said that, a Tweet and FB status update—“I am here” with a photo and place/time/date should become part of your day- or week-before routine.
- Do consider creative ideas for format. You don’t have to get up there and read for twenty minutes. Instead, tell the story-behind-the-book, or the story of your publication journey. If your book has a ready tie-in, do something related (like dress up to fit the historic period or serve cookies to reflect a recipe in your book or teach a craft the sleuth uses to solve the case). Hold a writers workshop; be a guest author at the store’s book club. Pair with another author and interview each other. Bring in your dog or cat (because people love dogs and cats, of course). Your imagination is the only limit here—let it fly as free as it did when you wrote your book.
- Do know that attendees love the Q&A portion of an event. Leave lots of time!
- Do bring a gift for your host. Something sweet to eat, a little gift bag filled with swag related to your book (lip balm, pens, pads, matches, pouches of hot cocoa, chocolate, mini anything, tissues—again, let your imagination roam).
- Do consider holding a raffle for attendees. Their receipt for your book is their ticket. Prizes could be a gift card to the bookstore, something tied to your book (Jodi Picoult gave away stuffed wolves when “Lone Wolf” came out), a book club basket of books by your author friends, or a writer’s wish list consisting of coaching or critique.
- Do serve light refreshments if possible. Nothing makes it a party like wine or cheese, baked goods and one of those boxes of coffee, or even just popcorn.
- Do understand this paradox. Book events are not about selling books. May you become the biggest blockbuster author in the world and sell 1,000 books at every event. You will still only begin to cover the costs of the tour. Events don’t really make dollars and cents—but they do make dollars and sense. There will be moments when your one attendee turns out to be the book reviewer for the Miami Herald. And other kinds of moments, too. That attendee I had in Goshen, IN who didn’t buy a book? It was because he already had three copies. One to read, one to loan, and one to keep “pristine.”
- Do be professional. Things can go wrong, and will. I went to Arkansas with my first novel, and the venue had forgotten about my event. Never mind—we went over my calendar, saw that I was actually passing through at such and such date and could come back. When I arrived that time, the place was closed. I promise things will go easier for you than that! But when they don’t, wear a smile, don’t be a diva (or divo?) and know that getting to hang out with a bookseller who then reads your book and becomes a fan for life can be every bit as joyous as walking into a packed room.
For the past three years, Jenny Milchman has gone on what Shelf Awareness called “the world’s longest book tour”. She is the author of three acclaimed and award-winning thrillers: Cover of Snow
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.
How to Host a Killer Book Event / Jenny Milchman
I’m old and I’ve read and seen a lot. Rarely do I read something that makes me shift back in my chair and go, “Wow!” This blog does it for me.Author Jenny Milchman is the touring James Brown. (She took her kids out of school?) She’s accredited with the longest book tour ever. (Rented out her house ‘cos she was going to be gone 11 months!) This woman has to keep Starbucks in business.You learn a lot on the road. Most authors keep it to themselves. Jenny shares. You may not want to load the kids in a mini-van and drive across the continent, but everything Jenny shares can be used to advantage at the bookstore in your own hometown. What a dynamo. If you want to build an audience (different from selling a book), this blog is a must-read. I’ve seen these techniques work first hand. They will make a major difference in your mind-shift, maybe even career altering.Read, enjoy, and share you own experiences. We would love to hear them. Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
How to Host a Killer Book Event
By Jenny Milchman
First, I’m going to give y’all (this is Killer Nashville so I feel safe saying that) my bona fides for writing this post. Then, I’m going to cull ten bullet points for what will make your event the best ever. (I love bullet points! They make everything so simple and easy to digest. I wish chocolate cake came in bullet points. No, I don’t).
But, I digress. On to those credentials.
So, after my first novel — which was really my eighth, but that’s a different blog post —came out following a thirteen-year journey to publication, my husband and I did the following:
We rented out our house, traded in two cars for an SUV that could handle Denver in February, withdrew the kids from school to “car school” them on the road, and put 35,000 miles on that new car. Over a period of seven months, we toured the bookstores, libraries, book clubs and other literary pockets of this country. Then, when my second novel came out the next year, we did it all over again.
Of the past 24 months, I have spent 11 on the road, doing over 300 events.
I’ve seen everything from the one person who showed up at a bookstore in Goshen, Indiana, and didn’t buy a book (but for a very good reason) to nearly 300 foot-stomping attendees in Oxford, Miss., where I appeared at Square Books’ ever-popular Thacker Mountain Radio event. And a great deal in between.
Without further ado, here is what I’ve learned:
- Do keep a contacts list. When you’re engaged in social media, find out where people live. (Nicely, not like a stalker). You’ll be amazed how many will want to come out to see you in person.
- Do make things personal. Don’t send invitations to a Georgia event to everyone on your mailing list. Figure out who lives closest to Atlanta, or Savannah, or Macon. Blasts get deleted; personal notes are read.
- Having said that, a Tweet and FB status update—“I am here” with a photo and place/time/date should become part of your day- or week-before routine.
- Do consider creative ideas for format. You don’t have to get up there and read for twenty minutes. Instead, tell the story-behind-the-book, or the story of your publication journey. If your book has a ready tie-in, do something related (like dress up to fit the historic period or serve cookies to reflect a recipe in your book or teach a craft the sleuth uses to solve the case). Hold a writers workshop; be a guest author at the store’s book club. Pair with another author and interview each other. Bring in your dog or cat (because people love dogs and cats, of course). Your imagination is the only limit here—let it fly as free as it did when you wrote your book.
- Do know that attendees love the Q&A portion of an event. Leave lots of time!
- Do bring a gift for your host. Something sweet to eat, a little gift bag filled with swag related to your book (lip balm, pens, pads, matches, pouches of hot cocoa, chocolate, mini anything, tissues—again, let your imagination roam).
- Do consider holding a raffle for attendees. Their receipt for your book is their ticket. Prizes could be a gift card to the bookstore, something tied to your book (Jodi Picoult gave away stuffed wolves when “Lone Wolf” came out), a book club basket of books by your author friends, or a writer’s wish list consisting of coaching or critique.
- Do serve light refreshments if possible. Nothing makes it a party like wine or cheese, baked goods and one of those boxes of coffee, or even just popcorn.
- Do understand this paradox. Book events are not about selling books. May you become the biggest blockbuster author in the world and sell 1,000 books at every event. You will still only begin to cover the costs of the tour. Events don’t really make dollars and cents—but they do make dollars and sense. There will be moments when your one attendee turns out to be the book reviewer for the Miami Herald. And other kinds of moments, too. That attendee I had in Goshen, IN who didn’t buy a book? It was because he already had three copies. One to read, one to loan, and one to keep “pristine.”
- Do be professional. Things can go wrong, and will. I went to Arkansas with my first novel, and the venue had forgotten about my event. Never mind—we went over my calendar, saw that I was actually passing through at such and such date and could come back. When I arrived that time, the place was closed. I promise things will go easier for you than that! But when they don’t, wear a smile, don’t be a diva (or divo?) and know that getting to hang out with a bookseller who then reads your book and becomes a fan for life can be every bit as joyous as walking into a packed room.
For the past three years, Jenny Milchman has gone on what Shelf Awareness called “the world’s longest book tour”. She is the author of three acclaimed and award-winning thrillers: Cover of Snow
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Clay Janeway, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.
Unlocking the Mystery / Blake Fontenay
What makes a mystery? Unanswered questions, of course. But aren’t there unanswered questions in other genres. Author and Killer Nashville Guest Blogger offers his take on what unanswered questions separate mysteries from all other genres.
Enjoy! And read like someone is burning the books…because somewhere in the world, they are.
Until next week!
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Unlocking the Mystery
By Blake Fontenay
What makes a mystery novel mysterious?
The answer seems obvious. A mystery is a story in which major plot points are unknown to the protagonists — and readers as well. In a murder mystery, the main question to be answered usually is: Whodunnit? And quite often, why and how the murder was committed as well.
Now, there are some authors who give readers the answers to these questions fairly early in the story. Through an omniscient viewpoint, the reader learns who the good guys and the bad guys are — and the tension in the story comes from knowing that the good guys and bad guys will eventually clash.
To me, that kind of story doesn’t really qualify as a mystery. It might be classified as a thriller, provided the author does a good job of building and holding tension.
I consider my most recent novel, Scouts' Honor, to be more of a thriller than a mystery. The book has unanswered questions — about the good guys’ mysterious advisor, about the true scope of the bad guys’ nefarious plans — but at its core, it’s a story about a group of Boy Scouts trying to survive in the wilderness while they’re being hunted by terrorists.
By contrast, I consider my first book, The Politics of Barbecue to be more of a mystery because the key to the story was finding out why the mayor of Memphis was so dead set on building a Barbecue Hall of Fame in his city.
I suppose an argument can be made that any work of fiction will have unanswered questions. In the romance novel, for example, the unanswered question might be whether the lonely widow will choose the socially inept pool maintenance worker with a heart of gold or the slick stockbroker who’s kind of a jerk.
Virtually all stories have some unanswered questions. In a mystery, however, I think those unanswered questions take on greater importance than they do in other genres. Yes, it’s important for a mystery writer to have interesting characters who grow and change throughout the story. It’s important to have a compelling setting for the story. And it’s also great if a writer can educate his or her readers on one or more issues of social importance.
But for me, those unanswered questions — and how they ultimately are answered — are what make mystery novels special, provided the writer follows certain rules.
It’s important for a writer to play fair with readers. That means there have to be enough clues provided throughout the story to give readers the opportunity to figure out the answers to those questions before they are revealed in the story.
There’s nothing wrong with a writer creating some misdirection — clues that are intended to throw readers off a little bit. However, I find it very frustrating when all the clues point one direction and the answers to the story’s central questions aren’t related to any of those clues.
The element of surprise in a story is great. The element of surprise when it’s completely unsupported by anything that has preceded it in the story is not so great. I think the best mystery novels are the ones where the right clues are there, but they are so subtle that they only make sense in hindsight. My favorite mystery novels are the ones where, at the end, I’m asking myself: “Why didn’t I see that coming?”
I’m also a big fan of having multiple unanswered questions in the same story, some concerning major plot points and some concerning relatively minor issues. As a writer, this provides a measure of insurance. Say the writer’s clues to one of the unanswered questions aren’t subtle enough and readers are able to solve that part of the mystery. If there are other questions that remain unanswered, that’s an incentive for readers to keep reading. If there’s only that one unanswered question and the reader figures it out halfway through the book, he or she is likely to feel disappointed at the story’s end.
In my own writing, I try to tell stories from many different points of view, although I’ve been told by writing coaches that this is a no-no. I’ve heard from people whose opinions I respect that limiting storytelling to one or two or three points of view is generally preferred. I don’t necessarily agree with that for all types of stories, but I can see the merit in a well-crafted mystery.
In a mystery, I’m fine with knowing only what the main protagonist knows. That makes the story a journey of discovery for both of us. He or she gets the same clues I get, at the same points in the story. With any luck, we’ll come to the same conclusions about the unanswered questions at the same time.
If you’re reading this and thinking to yourself that I read too many Encyclopedia Brown books as a kid, then I would disagree with you. Because you can never read too many Encyclopedia Brown books.
Maybe the points I’ve asserted in this post will seem too formulaic or conventional to some. But I know what I like. And I know what kind of stories I’m going to buy.
Blake Fontenay spent more than 25 years as a reporter, columnist and editorial writer for metropolitan daily newspapers – including the Sacramento Bee, Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), Orlando Sentinel, and Commercial Appeal (Memphis). He won several awards for editorial writing while at the Commercial Appeal. Since leaving the newspaper business, he has worked as the communications director for Tennessee’s Comptroller, Treasurer and Secretary of State. He is currently the coordinator for the Tri-Star Chronicles project at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. His debut novel, The Politics of Barbecue, was published by John F. Blair Publisher in September, 2012. The Politics of Barbecue won the Independent Publishers Book Awards gold medal for fiction in the South region in 2013. He and his wife, Lynn, live in Old Hickory, Tennessee, in a neighborhood filled with other artists. His second novel Scouts' Honor is available online at www.secondwindpublishing.com
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Meaghan Hill, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.
Unlocking the Mystery / Blake Fontenay
What makes a mystery? Unanswered questions, of course. But aren’t there unanswered questions in other genres. Author and Killer Nashville Guest Blogger offers his take on what unanswered questions separate mysteries from all other genres.Enjoy! And read like someone is burning the books…because somewhere in the world, they are.Until next week!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Unlocking the Mystery
By Blake Fontenay
What makes a mystery novel mysterious?
The answer seems obvious. A mystery is a story in which major plot points are unknown to the protagonists — and readers as well. In a murder mystery, the main question to be answered usually is: Whodunnit? And quite often, why and how the murder was committed as well.
Now, there are some authors who give readers the answers to these questions fairly early in the story. Through an omniscient viewpoint, the reader learns who the good guys and the bad guys are — and the tension in the story comes from knowing that the good guys and bad guys will eventually clash.
To me, that kind of story doesn’t really qualify as a mystery. It might be classified as a thriller, provided the author does a good job of building and holding tension.
I consider my most recent novel, Scouts' Honor
By contrast, I consider my first book, The Politics of Barbecue
I suppose an argument can be made that any work of fiction will have unanswered questions. In the romance novel, for example, the unanswered question might be whether the lonely widow will choose the socially inept pool maintenance worker with a heart of gold or the slick stockbroker who’s kind of a jerk.
Virtually all stories have some unanswered questions. In a mystery, however, I think those unanswered questions take on greater importance than they do in other genres. Yes, it’s important for a mystery writer to have interesting characters who grow and change throughout the story. It’s important to have a compelling setting for the story. And it’s also great if a writer can educate his or her readers on one or more issues of social importance.
But for me, those unanswered questions — and how they ultimately are answered — are what make mystery novels special, provided the writer follows certain rules.
It’s important for a writer to play fair with readers. That means there have to be enough clues provided throughout the story to give readers the opportunity to figure out the answers to those questions before they are revealed in the story.
There’s nothing wrong with a writer creating some misdirection — clues that are intended to throw readers off a little bit. However, I find it very frustrating when all the clues point one direction and the answers to the story’s central questions aren’t related to any of those clues.
The element of surprise in a story is great. The element of surprise when it’s completely unsupported by anything that has preceded it in the story is not so great. I think the best mystery novels are the ones where the right clues are there, but they are so subtle that they only make sense in hindsight. My favorite mystery novels are the ones where, at the end, I’m asking myself: “Why didn’t I see that coming?”
I’m also a big fan of having multiple unanswered questions in the same story, some concerning major plot points and some concerning relatively minor issues. As a writer, this provides a measure of insurance. Say the writer’s clues to one of the unanswered questions aren’t subtle enough and readers are able to solve that part of the mystery. If there are other questions that remain unanswered, that’s an incentive for readers to keep reading. If there’s only that one unanswered question and the reader figures it out halfway through the book, he or she is likely to feel disappointed at the story’s end.
In my own writing, I try to tell stories from many different points of view, although I’ve been told by writing coaches that this is a no-no. I’ve heard from people whose opinions I respect that limiting storytelling to one or two or three points of view is generally preferred. I don’t necessarily agree with that for all types of stories, but I can see the merit in a well-crafted mystery.
In a mystery, I’m fine with knowing only what the main protagonist knows. That makes the story a journey of discovery for both of us. He or she gets the same clues I get, at the same points in the story. With any luck, we’ll come to the same conclusions about the unanswered questions at the same time.
If you’re reading this and thinking to yourself that I read too many Encyclopedia Brown books as a kid, then I would disagree with you. Because you can never read too many Encyclopedia Brown books.
Maybe the points I’ve asserted in this post will seem too formulaic or conventional to some. But I know what I like. And I know what kind of stories I’m going to buy.
Blake Fontenay spent more than 25 years as a reporter, columnist and editorial writer for metropolitan daily newspapers – including the Sacramento Bee, Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), Orlando Sentinel, and Commercial Appeal (Memphis). He won several awards for editorial writing while at the Commercial Appeal. Since leaving the newspaper business, he has worked as the communications director for Tennessee’s Comptroller, Treasurer and Secretary of State. He is currently the coordinator for the Tri-Star Chronicles project at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. His debut novel, The Politics of Barbecue
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Tom Wood, Maria Giordano, Will Chessor, Meaghan Hill, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog. And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.)
Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale.
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