KN Magazine: Articles
Writing “As If” Can Change “Faking Success” Into “Raking Success” by Bryan E. Robinson
“I believe the way to write a good play is to convince yourself it is easy to do, then go ahead and do it with ease”—playwright Tennessee Williams
Raise your hand if you’ve ever been unsure which direction to take with your writing, if self-doubt has nipped at your heels, or you’ve landed in the clutches of writer’s block or “second book syndrome.”
I thought so.
Writing rejections and disappointments nibble away at us like torture from half a million cuts. After a while, it feels as if we can’t tolerate one more slash. Statistics show more of us have the stamina to continue to take safety risks after a car crash than continue after a series of psychological writing defeats. Writers often throw in the towel so they don’t have to continue feeling disappointment. Attempts to bring quick relief to the misery of defeat rob us of knowing what missed opportunities lay beyond the barrier. This impulsive reaction—scientists call it the what-the-hell effect—is a way out: permission to give up. Adding insult to injury, we seek comfort in the very thing we’re trying to conquer: writing failure.
Most of us who’ve written for any length of time have gotten stuck somewhere along the way. But there’s good news. Twelve Step programs have batted around a phrase for years called “acting as if.” This strategy can help us get through periods of writing paralysis.
What does it mean to act as if? It’s a simple, yet powerful tool that says we can create better circumstances by acting as if they’re already true. We give ourselves to a certain performance as if it’s how we feel. When we act as if, the mood we pretend becomes a reality. Suppose you have difficulty getting words on the page, but instead of fighting tooth and nail, you convince yourself it’s easy, write as if it’s easy, and tackle the difficulty with ease. Authors of all genres have used this method to jumpstart their writing mojo. In addition to Tennessee Williams, screenwriter Steven Pressfield uses the “as if” approach: “You and I as writers must write as if we were highly paid, even though we may not be. We must write as if we were top-shelf literary professionals, even though we may not (yet) be.” And author Dani Shapiro swears by it: “Act as if you’re a writer. Sit down and begin. Act as if you might just create something beautiful, and by beautiful I mean something authentic and universal.” I, too, have used this method in my fiction and nonfiction work, writing as if my books will be on the shelves beside Lee Child or J. K. Rowling, as if Steven Spielberg will beat down my door to sign me for the screenplay. I’m still waiting for Hollywood to call, but I can testify to the effectiveness of this strategy after writing 40-plus books.
Here’s the science behind why it works. When we act “as if,” the rest of us follows suit. It’s based on the science of the mind-body connection. The cells of our bodies constantly eavesdrop on our thoughts from the wings of our minds. When we’re doubtful or disappointed about our writing, our bodies go with the downturn of our feelings, making us feel worse. Hunching our heads or slumping when we walk contributes to our insecurity and lack of confidence. On the other hand, if we change our body posture, breathing patterns, muscle tension, facial expressions, gestures, movements, words, or vocal tonality, it releases a surge of chemicals and changes our internal state. For example, making the facial expression of a smile can make us happy. Neuroscientists confirm that the act of smiling tricks your mind into confidence, simply by how you move your facial muscles. We feel bad not just because facial expressions reflect how we feel, but they contribute to how we feel. Plus, standing tall, shoulders back, not only makes us look confident, but also makes us feel more confident and optimistic.
Training the body to position itself the way you want to think and feel about yourself as a writer adjusts your thoughts and feelings to the way you want them to be. Making body adjustments—pulling your shoulders back, standing or sitting up straight, walking in a more expansive way—can pull you out of self-doubt, disappointment, or any other self-defeating emotion that blocks your creativity. When your mind and body proceeds with the way you want to be (as if), your attitude navigates you with easy sailing through choppy writing storms. This tool can salvage a bad writing day, repair or prevent a squabble with a fellow author, or kick-start a marathon in front of a blank screen turning dread into enthusiasm and ultimately success.
So let’s convince ourselves that a writing challenge is actually a piece of cake, act as if it’s true, then notice the ease with which an obstacle becomes a cinch to work through. To say we write “as if” is another way of saying we’re resilient warriors on a literary path, determined to persevere over the long haul.
Bryan E. Robinson is a licensed psychotherapist and author of two novels and 40 nonfiction books. He applies his experiences to crafting insightful nonfiction self-help books and psychological thrillers. His multi-award winning southern noir murder mystery, Limestone Gumption, won the New Apple Book Medal for best psychological suspense, the Silver IPPY Award for outstanding mystery of the year, the Bronze Foreword Review INDIEFAB Book Award for best mystery, and the 2015 USA Regional Excellence Book Award for best fiction in the Southeast.
His most recent release is Daily Writing Resilience: 365 Meditations and Inspirations for Writers (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2018). He has written for Psychology Today, First for Women, and Natural Health, and his blogs and columns for writers appear in Southern Writer’s Magazine. He is a consulting editor for The Big Thrill, the online magazine for International Thriller Writers. His long-selling book, Chained to the Desk, is now in its 3rd Edition (New York University Press, 1998, 2007, 2014). His books have been translated into thirteen languages, and he has appeared on every major television network: 20/20, Good Morning America, ABC’s World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, NBC Universal, The CBS Early Show, CNBC’s The Big Idea. He hosted the PBS documentary, Overdoing It: How to Slow Down and Take Care of Yourself.
What in the Word: Entertainment
WHAT IN THE WORD
A personal exploration of words. Come sail with me through the struggles I’ve had with certain words, drift through how they’ve changed etymologically in my life, and perhaps we can think of words in unique ways.
I wasn’t aware of the word “ENTERTAINMENT” until I moved to NYC to study at a socially progressive art school, which felt like falling up the map and landing in the center of art and culture, a strange, skyscraper-filled wonderland called: Manhattan. It was brilliant. But I was blind.
Let me set the scene. Second semester, in a course called “Fake”—which all incoming freshmen were required to take—air conditioner blasting, in a fluorescent classroom, cream painted walls of intimidating brick, old school desks large enough to hold half a college notebook, zero windows and no professor yet.
Only four students: a guy, full face of makeup, flaunting chic Prada sunglasses, posing like a beautiful giant in the tiny desk beside me, looking even cooler than the rattling air conditioner in the back of the room; a girl next to him, Birkenstocks lying like muddy footprints in front of her desk as she was cross-legged in cut off jeans, gorgeous legs of hair (which she pulled off), a half-eaten tin of veggie sushi on her desk next to stickers like “vegan or kill” plastered on a blue, reusable water bottle; another person (who I later found out was nonbinary and used the pronoun “they”), slouching in their ripped skinny jeans, resting their lime green mohawk on the edge of their seat, with a fan of post-it notes spraying out the sides of an “Intro to Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies” book atop three covers of the latest Vogue.
Then there was me. Like poor Alice who’d just chugged the potion which made me feel three times smaller than my normal 5’3”, shivering furthest from the dark wooden door.
“Where’s the prof?” said the Birkenstock girl, plopping more vegan, sushi-like pills as she barefooted to the front to recycle her plastic by the blackboard. I was too shy to answer, so I just stared at the light, red chalk scratched onto the blackboard like a shattered twig. It read “FAKE” but might as well have read, “You’re fake, Neena. You don’t belong here. And why aren’t you wearing any pants?”
“Sorry!” chimed a shrill voice, thick red-rimmed glasses, angular shawl, sauntering in with platform heels higher than the mad hatter’s hat, our professor. “What do y’all think of the word ‘fake’?” she sked in a thick, Texan accent.
A shiny acrylic nail pointed to the student next to me,.
“Fake,” they yanked themselves up, their mohawk not budging a centimeter, “is when Disney announced a sequel to Captain America.”
“Why?” Professor Jane crossed her arms.
“Because he’s a heterosexual. White. Cisgender,” a scowl appeared, “male. In mainstream media. What a shocker!”
Jane, a smug look on her face, “And why—”
“Marvel,” Birkenstock girl was quickly on her feet, “promotes acts of violence creating fictive kinship amongst tween boys who think it’s okay to shoot things if it’s ‘for good.’” Her face turned brighter than Jane’s red glasses.
Nodding in agreement, Jane held up her hand, and the Birkenstock girl slowly sank into her chair, her arms still mounted on the table for her next defensive attack.
The class went silent.
“You.” Jane glared at the human in the full face of makeup, which made me almost wet my pants thinking she was about to point to me. I edged up pretending to have a stance, though deep down, I knew I had a neutral view—but hadn’t the words to express myself.
“Uh,” they said, clearly not paying attention.
“Captain America,” the mohawk whispered, sensing the human’s discomfort.
“Marvel,” whispered Birkenstock girl.
Their eyes lit up.
“They’re body shaming men with unrealistic muscles, muscles you can only achieve through taking steroids, working out for five hours and eating ten meals every single day.” They glanced down, voice quiet, “Which I’ve tried.”
My cheeks burned like scorching tea as Jane swiveled her eyes towards me, pursing her lips, but before she could point, a small voice came from the back corner. Everyone turned to where a small Asian girl in white linen (which blended her into the walls) rose, closing her anthology of Kafka short stories.
“What the—” said the lime green mohawk.
“Sorry, had to finish up Penal Colony before my lecture,” the Asian girl floated to a seat next to me, making her the furthest from the door, “No art. Just box-office sales. It’s all stupid entertainment.”
Everyone turned to Jane.
“Fake, fake, fake, fake, faaake!” Janes eyes gleaned shinier than her nails, “Entertainment is fake. Fake is popular. Popular is not art. Art is not popular. Popular is entertainment!” At this point she was talking at the ceiling, “And why can’t anyone make anything real anymore?”
The class cheered as I sank in my seat.
Jane’s smile glowed crazier than the Cheshire Cat’s.
“That’s what this class is about,” Jane turned around and crossed out “fake,” scribbling underneath it “entertainment” as she muttered through her teeth, “We are going to make real art.”
I kept quiet the rest of the year, pretending I was sleepier than the dormouse at the Hatter’s tea-party so I wouldn’t get called on, feeling both types of media had a place in this world (even though their value might not be exactly the same), but too scared to say anything in a room full of intelligent, strong humans. I was wrong. And I felt it.
It wasn’t until years later that I questioned the meaning of ‘entertainment,’ fearing it would stick to my novel, lessening it in value, but after months of bullying myself to write with the depth of Kafka or the poetry of Poe, one morning, staring at a blank ,white page, my life changed.
Entertainment definition:
First: “Provide someone with amusement or enjoyment”
Second: “Give attention or consideration to (an idea, suggestion, or feeling)”
My eyes widened.
Give attention or consideration to ideas, suggestions, or feelings. Wasn’t this very close to the definition of “enlighten”? As I ran to the dictionary again, my mouth dropped, I knew there was truth in both statements, and that one couldn’t exist without the other. To my warming soul, enlighten means to “shed light upon” (on a subject). I felt like I could breathe. It’s the same. The exact same. My heart leapt out of my chest; I danced, and my smile grew wider than Jane’s on that disheartening first day.
I looked at the definition again: give attention or consideration to (ideas, suggestions, or feelings). That meant the Bible is entertainment. The Quran is entertainment. Kafka’s Penal Colony is entertainment. I leaned back in my chair. Was the word “entertainment” really something that I needed to fear? Was it true? My computer flashed down to a black screen—Captain America and God fell into the same category?
Yes, yes, and yes.
How could it not?
From that moment, after wiggling my mouse and flashing back to the blank page, something lit up in me, words started to flow. The story was finally popping onto the page, the story came to life. And the most unexpected thing happened. The theme showed up when I was the least bit thinking of it, while I focused on the craft of story: conflict, character, human emotion/connection, and, dare I say it, “entertainment” value. Voilà! The meaning of my novel smacked me in the face after finishing my second draft. I was so busy trying to create theme, meanwhile theme was always there, jumping like crazy in the corner and I just ignored it. If we really think, isn’t there a meaning in everything—good or bad, merely the way we see things?
Is Captain America enlightening and entertaining? Like my mohawk friend said, he’s a straight, white dude playing the lead of a story we’ve seen many times before. But if it weren’t for the Avengers/Marvel Universe, my mohawk friend wouldn’t have been able to make such a valid, important point: where’s the representation? Perhaps stories like Marvel’s Captain America enlighten us to a larger issue at hand, the lack of representation for sexual orientation, body type, gender, skin color, everything and anything in the universe.
If I could calm down my freshman self through time travel, shivering in that icy classroom, insecure of my own view of the world, I would tell her, listen to Jane, but also listen to you and make something. Make anything, because meaning can’t be seen in something that doesn’t exist yet. Create first. Worry later. Work first. Meaning later. Be you first. And don’t be you later. Be you always. Are you being true to yourself?
If you answered yes, then congratulations. You’re making real art.
Neena Phan is an illustrator/writer of children’s books.
The Backstory: Part One in Creating Killer Characters by Alexandrea Weis
Every character must resonate, making any movie, television show, or novel riveting—what would Star Wars have been without those adventurous misfits. However, when embracing the challenge of the thriller genre, the history of your more sinister characters needs an almost forensic psychological breakdown to explain their motivations for depravity, rape, revenge, or murder.
Ever been unnerved by documentaries about serial killers? Who hasn’t? Understanding the workings of their minds is a different kind of horror. But if you want to write about those outside society’s norms, you must discover who they are, what they did, and why. Learn about the psychology of those who kill and use it to create your character. This doesn’t come from reading other fiction books. You must become acquainted with theories of deviant behavior and comb profiling techniques to custom-build your killer. Don’t present ludicrous ideas that won’t sit well with an audience inundated by shows like CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds, not to mention those numerous documentaries.
Behind every reaction is an action compelling your homicidal maniac to execute their dastardly deeds. It is your job, as a writer, to find that motivation, slowly unearth it throughout your novel, and give the reader something to establish why your character has ended up in their predicament. Avoiding an explanation is like watching a movie, investing two hours of your life relating to characters, becoming sucked into the story, only to have the ending leave you with unanswered questions. You walk away angry, confused, and frustrated. If a book lover feels that way about your story, they might not return for more.
Establish a character history from childhood in the same way a forensic psychologist would. Use charts to build your character’s past until it feels as authentic as possible. Include key indicators of disturbing behavior exhibited from a young age, such as violent acts against people or animals. Trauma markers like loss, bullying, betrayal, or abuse can define turning points in a killer’s psyche. Explore parental influences, sibling relationships, or an unstable home life to earmark a pattern of inner turmoil. Not every character has to have such a detailed plan, but it is better to do your homework to appease an audience. Some murderers defy convention and are a fascinating study, but for your Richard Ramirez wannabe, mapping the development of evil tendencies can avoid pitfalls. Your evildoer’s inner workings should be second nature before you put him/her on paper. Having all the elements of your psychotic in your head will help your writing flow and aid the story’s ability to enthrall.
You also want to make sure you don’t become bogged down in details. Writing a thriller novel is akin to learning an intricate dance. You must master the steps to one move before you can proceed. Slowly unmasking your mesmerizing character, with their mysterious, catastrophic pasts, will pull your reader in. It is essential you address every issue, answer every question but not bore your reader with too much information or science. Balance is the key. From collecting trophies to methodology, use a character’s history to address their issues but keep the story moving. Blending enough fact with fiction always makes for a tantalizing tale.
To make your killer delicious—someone who remains in the mind long after the book is put aside—determine how the character makes you feel. If they haunt you at all hours, occupy your dreams, and live in the back of your mind, then you’ve done your job. You can never obsess too much when it comes to constructing a cutthroat character. You want them to feel as if they can almost step out of your book and occupy your world.
Remember, sensational doesn’t always sell. It is a good story with great, believable characters that reels in an audience. A carefully crafted villain will drive a storyline, so don’t always go for what is flashy, shiny, or high-tech when it comes to your madman or madwoman. Every tale needs sound footing, something to build on. Create this by doing your research, studying the psychology of the criminal mind, and learning about other masterminds who have come before. Building your Frankenstein isn’t easy, but the more work you put into the character, the more frightening he/she will be.
Delving into the thriller genre is not something every writer wishes to do because of the endless research or gut-wrenching gore. Still, when you pull off a dark, seething murderer who intimidates and horrifies, there is no greater sense of achievement.
Alexandrea Weis, RN-CS, PhD, is a multi-award-winning author, screenwriter, advanced practice registered nurse, and historian who was born and raised in the French Quarter of New Orleans. She has taught at major universities and worked in nursing for thirty years, dealing with victims of sexual assault, abuse, and mental illness in a clinical setting at many New Orleans area hospitals.
Having grown up in the motion picture industry as the daughter of a director, she learned to tell stories from a different perspective. Infusing the rich tapestry of her hometown into her novels, she believes that creating vivid characters makes a story moving and memorable.
A member of both the International Thriller Writers Association and the Horror Writers Association, Weis writes mystery, suspense, thrillers, horror, crime fiction, and romance and has sold over one million books. She lives with her husband and pets in New Orleans where she is a permitted/certified wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries and rescues orphaned and injured animals.
Ditch Your What-Ifs by Bryan Robinson
WRITING RESILIENCE
Do not lose power over the what-ifs of
your life. They are unlimited and endless.
Keep your power in the now, in present time.—Gary Zukav
One of the most common ways we overestimate threats is waiting for the ax to fall. What ifs are those cruel ghosts that haunt us day and night. “What if my writing class doesn’t like my piece What if my novel doesn’t sell? What if I can’t think of a plot for my next story? What if my publisher turns me down?”
What ifs are endless exaggerated thoughts streaming through our minds that we latch onto as fact—worries that interrupt our enjoyment of writing. Truth be told, most things we worry about never happen or at least not in the way we imagine.
What ifs are out-of-the-moment episodes that disconnect us from our present selves. Before jumping to conclusions with such thoughts, we can keep our power in the present moment. Imagine you’re a private detective in a murder mystery and ask, “Where’s the evidence for my prediction?” When we wait to connect the dots after instead of before the hard evidence is in, we discover that what is usually contradicts what ifs. And we save ourselves a lot of hand ringing and wasted time that we could put into writing that heart-pounding scene.
Today’s Takeaway
Next time you catch yourself mired in writing worries, turn your foresight into 20/20 and use your hindsight as a reminder that what ifs are unreliable sources of information.
From Daily Writing Resilience by Bryan Robinson. © 2018 by Bryan Robinson. Used by permission from Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., www.Llewellyn.com.
Bryan E. Robinson is a licensed psychotherapist and author of two novels and 40 nonfiction books. He applies his experiences to crafting insightful nonfiction self-help books and psychological thrillers. His multi-award winning southern noir murder mystery, Limestone Gumption, won the New Apple Book Medal for best psychological suspense, the Silver IPPY Award for outstanding mystery of the year, the Bronze Foreword Review INDIEFAB Book Award for best mystery, and the 2015 USA Regional Excellence Book Award for best fiction in the Southeast.
His most recent release is Daily Writing Resilience: 365 Meditations and Inspirations for Writers (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2018). He has written for Psychology Today, First for Women, and Natural Health, and his blogs and columns for writers appear in Southern Writer’s Magazine. He is a consulting editor for The Big Thrill, the online magazine for International Thriller Writers. His long-selling book, Chained to the Desk, is now in its 3rd Edition (New York University Press, 1998, 2007, 2014). His books have been translated into thirteen languages, and he has appeared on every major television network: 20/20, Good Morning America, ABC’s World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, NBC Universal, The CBS Early Show, CNBC’s The Big Idea. He hosted the PBS documentary, Overdoing It: How to Slow Down and Take Care of Yourself.
Dr. Bernard Spilsbury, and the Brides in the Bath by Bradley Harper
MYSTERIES IN HISTORY:
TRUE CRIMES AND REAL PEOPLE WHO INSPIRED GREAT STORIES
Dr. Spilsbury (1877 – 1947) was one of the earliest full-time forensic pathologists in the world. Tall, handsome, and confident bordering on arrogant, he was the one witness for the Crown that defense barristers dreaded cross-examining above all others. Early in his career, he made a name for himself by identifying the body found in Dr. Crippen’s cellar as Mrs. Crippen’s, but his fame was established for all time when he unraveled the puzzle of “The Brides in the Bath.”
Edwardian England had a shortage of young, single men. Infant mortality was significantly higher among male infants, and many men left for the colonies as soon as they were able to seek their fortune. Thus, the tall and flamboyant George Joseph smith (under various names) had little difficulty in finding women willing to marry him. He lacked a knack for keeping them, however, though he did manage to keep them long enough to go through their life savings and steal any jewelry they had.
At some point Mr. Smith decided he wasn’t getting as much out of the experience as he might, so beginning with a Miss Bessie Mundy, he married them, took out a generous (to him) insurance policy, then murdered them in the bathtub.
In January 1915, Detective Inspector Arthur Neil of Scotland Yard received a letter written on behalf of a landlord in Blackpool. The landlord and his wife had rented a flat for a brief time to a newly married couple in 1913 when they were called to the bathroom by the distraught husband upon “finding” his wife dead in the bath. The landlords were struck by another, similar death reported in the papers recently occurring in Highgate, London.
Inspector Neil went to the lodgings in Blackpool and was struck by how small the tub was and failed to see how an adult could have “drowned” in a bathtub three-quarters the length of the deceased. He also discovered that the widower had taken out substantial life insurance policies on his wife a day before her death.
In London, he met with the coroner who had examined the second body. He said the only finding at autopsy was a small bruise above the left elbow. The tub was once again smaller than the deceased. The coroner mentioned the husband had contacted him as he needed a final report to file his insurance claim. Neil advised the coroner to file a false report citing natural causes, and when Mr. George arrived to claim it, he was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Enter Spilsbury. He had the two bodies exhumed, but found no traces of poison, and the evidence for drowning was inconclusive. Death seemed in both cases to be almost instantaneous. Finally, he ordered the two bathtubs be taken to his laboratory where he could examine them more closely. Meanwhile, the press had gotten hold of the story, prompting a third report of a death under similar circumstances in High Street, London. Subsequent photographs of the various husbands proved they were all Mr. George J. Smith.
WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!
For weeks, Spilsbury pondered the riddle of the bathtubs. Bessie Mundy was described as having her feet out of the water, her head submerged. Spilsbury reasoned Smith must have seized her by the feet and jerked them up toward himself, sliding the upper part of the body under water. The sudden flood of water into her nose and throat might cause sudden loss of consciousness, explaining the absence of injuries and minimal signs of drowning.
Inspector Neil hired experienced female divers of the same size and build as the victims. He tried to push them under water by force but could not do so without leaving signs of struggle. Neil then without warning jerked up the feet of one of the divers, and her head slid underwater before she could react. Neil was shocked to see the woman become motionless as soon as her head went underwater and it took over half an hour to revive her. When she finally came to, she said that all she remembered was the rush of water before losing consciousness, confirming Spilsbury’s theory.
It took the jury about 20 minutes to find George Joseph Smith guilty of murder. Smith was hanged shortly after in Maidstone Prison, and until then had to content himself with a prison shower.
The “Brides in the Bath” have been mentioned in various mystery stories, most notably by Agatha Christie’s A Caribbean Mystery and The Murder on the Links, and Dorothy Sayers stories Unnatural Death and Busman’s Honeymoon, as well as more modern works by other authors.
An interesting footnote to Dr. Spilsbury’s career occurred during WWII, when he was involved in selecting a body that could be used to simulate a British officer who had drowned while carrying official secrets, in order to deceive the Germans as to the actual site of the Allied landing on Sicily. The ruse was entirely successful and immortalized in the movie, The Man Who Never Was.
Bradley Harper is a retired US Army Colonel and pathologist who has performed over two-hundred autopsies and some twenty forensic death investigations. A life-long fan of Sherlock Holmes, he did intensive research for his debut novel, A Knife in the Fog, which involved a young Doctor Conan Doyle in the hunt for Jack the Ripper, including a trip to London’s East End with noted Jack the Ripper historian Richard Jones. Harper’s first novel was published in October 2018 and was a finalist for a 2019 Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel by an American Author and is a Recommended Read by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate.
Knife went on to win Killer Nashville’s 2019 Silver Falchion as Best Mystery. The audio book, narrated by former Royal Shakespearean actor Matthew Lloyd Davies, won Audiofile Magazine’s 2019 Earphone award for Best Mystery and Suspense. The book is also available in Japan via Hayakawa Publishing.
His second novel, Queen’s Gambit, involving a fictional assassination attempt on Queen Victoria, Won Killer Nashville’s 2020 Silver Falchion Award twice, once for Best Suspense, and again as Book of the Year.
How the Killer Nashville Conference Changed My Life as an Author by Saralyn Richard
The benefits of professional conferences are unquestionable. I attended dozens as an educator, and I even participated in hosting some when I was a school improvement consultant. I know what goes into planning them, and I consider myself an authority when evaluating them.
That said, I had high expectations when I attended my first-ever writing conference, Killer Nashville, in 2019. I had heard good things about Killer Nashville. I was expecting to learn a lot from the assemblage of diverse and qualified speakers—authors, agents, and others in the publishing industry. I knew I would meet people and participate on panels and have a good time. My first mystery novel, Murder in the One Percent, was up for a Silver Falchion for police procedurals and in the Readers’ Choice Awards competition. So I packed my suitcase and hopped on an airplane, full of anticipation.
What I didn’t expect was that this conference would change my life as an author. I know that’s high praise, but it’s not hyperbole. What did Killer Nashville do to ignite my professional growth? I’m bursting with examples, and they all have to do with people.
In 2019, the guest authors were Joyce Carol Oates, David Morrell, and Alexandra Ivy. As a conference participant, I had the opportunity to observe and interact with each of these authors numerous times. The quality of content in their interviews and workshops was high, and the environment was cozy enough to allow for meaningful dialogue. I had admired Joyce Carol Oates’s writing for many years. I’d even taught many of her short stories. It was a special thrill to learn that so many big ideas had emanated from such a petite person, a writer focused not on her past works, but on her future ones. “Write about what matters,” she expounded. Her utter lack of timidity was inspirational. David Morrell continued to inspire. He pointed out that “reading is the only way to develop empathy,” and it is the writer’s obligation to evoke the best human emotions from readers. Alexandra Ivy spoke about the fear many authors struggle with, but she said, “Writing from your heart is the only way to find your voice.”
Here I am, two years later, still quoting these acclaimed authors, but, more importantly, I’ve taken to heart their advice. My subsequent mystery novels march boldly into areas and topics that have relevance to society—PTSD, LGBT, me too, race relations—to name a few. The guest authors’ remarks showed me how important it is to write from the soul.
The guest authors weren’t the only people who had a positive effect on my writing. Also on board were five friendly and helpful literary agents. I chatted informally with several of them at the Friday night “’Shine ‘n’ Wine” event, and I attended a session in which they explained how they work and what they look for in submissions. I also attended a pitch session where I received a personalized critique from two agents. Although these sessions didn’t result in my snagging an agent, they provided me with something more important—a critical view of the process of moving a story to publication in a highly competitive market. Now I’m much more conscious of voice and deep point of view than I was before, and I have a broader view of my audience.
Next, I participated in scores of special sessions and panel discussions. Most of these were in small group settings, so I was able to get to know the presenters and ask questions. I presented at several sessions, as well, and was the group leader for one. Through these sessions I met a lot of fellow authors. We exchanged cards and contact information, shared common experiences, and formed networks. My social media platform exploded, and when the time came to seek authors to read my next books with an eye toward writing review blurbs, these were my go-to people. I have done a lot of cross-promoting with authors I met at Killer Nashville, and we have continued to encourage each other and celebrate victories together.
Speaking of victories, the awards ceremony at Killer Nashville was thrilling. So many contending books were represented as finalists in various categories, and so many authors received warm attention for their writing. That moment when my name and my book title were called out in two categories—it felt like the culmination of a lifelong dream. That Murder in the One Percent won the Readers’ Choice Silver Falchion for 2019 was the ultimate acknowledgment that I’d achieved something meaningful as an author. The honors went a long way toward motivating me to work harder to improve my craft, to connect with readers again and again.
One special feature of Killer Nashville was the mock crime scene set up by Dan Royce, formerly of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations. Throughout the conference, participants were invited to examine clues laid out in a hotel suite. The murder scene represented a real case, and it was my job to identify which items were pertinent to solving the case, decide which tests needed to be performed on these items, and form a conclusion as to who killed the victim, how the killing occurred, and what the motive was. It was a real-live game of Clue. It was fun to compete with other mystery authors to solve the murder correctly, but I also learned a lot about forensics, the precision required during investigations, and the costs of the crime-solving methodology. I was able to transfer this knowledge to my writing, as well.
All these experiences combined to make my time at Killer Nashville one of the most worthwhile weekends of my writing career. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the glue that held all of the components of the conference together, the Killer Nashville staff. Each staff member was friendly and helpful, throughout the conference, but Liz Gatterer did so many things to make my experience go smoothly from start to finish. Her organizational skills and people skills really shone. Finally, huge accolades went to Clay Stafford. His vision and commitment to Killer Nashville have made everything else work together like a perfectly performed play. Clay’s energy and enthusiasm were contagious, and he made every one of us feel like family.
What was the secret recipe for a life-changing writers’ conference? Equal parts of class, spirit, inspiration, support, and Southern hospitality. Stirred until smooth. Gently baked with caring hands. Rendered super cool, and served repeatedly over time. I can’t wait to go back!
Award-winning mystery and children’s book author, Saralyn Richard was born with a pen in her hand and ink in her veins. A former urban high school educator, she’s living the dream, connecting with readers through her books: A Murder of Principal, Naughty Nana, Murder in the One Percent, and A Palette for Love and Murder. Saralyn participates in International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, and she teaches creative writing. Website: http://saralynrichard.com.
On Bringing Back A Long-Dormant Series by Steven Womack
In 1990, after almost two decades collecting rejection slips, I finally published a novel, Murphy’s Fault. The book had been turned down by over twenty publishers before legendary mystery editor Ruth Cavin picked it up for St. Martin’s Press.
After such an inauspicious, tortured beginning, imagine my surprise when the book was named to the 1990 New York Times Notable Book List, the only first mystery on the list that year. This got me a second contract and a little bit of local notoriety.
A short time after the book was published, Tennessee writer Deborah Adams asked me to blurb her debut novel, All The Great Pretenders. As I’d never been asked to provide a blurb before, I was flattered. I loved the book, wrote a nice little slug for it, and sent it off to the editor at Ballantine Books, Joe Blades.
The next thing I know, Joe called and thanked me for the recommendation. He also mentioned that Deb had sent him a copy of Murphy’s Fault and that he really liked it. The next words out of his mouth made my jaw drop:
If you ever want to work together, give me a call…
Now you have to understand, I was 37 years old and had been collecting rejection slips since I was 18. For an editor at a major New York house to make that offer staggered the imagination.
“I’ll have you something in 30 days,” I promised.
Joe laughed. “Well, give yourself a little time.”
After we hung up a few moments later, it hit me: What the hell do I do now?
I went back through my files and found a project I’d worked on years earlier, a story featuring Harry James Denton, an investigative reporter in Nashville who gets fired and decides to become a private investigator because he thinks it might be fun. His first case comes when an old girlfriend hires him to investigate her husband, a prominent doctor who compulsively cheats on her.
Originally a 75-page novella, I offered Murder at Vanderbilt to Nashville Magazine for free. They turned it down. Wrap your head around that: I literally couldn’t give the damn thing away.
Now, though, I had an editor at a major mystery house who wanted something from me and I had promised it to him in 30 days. I went to work and rewrote the first few chapters, then expanded the plot into a full-length genre mystery and sent it off to Joe Blades.
He bought it.
It wasn’t a great deal and the advance was, well, modest. We also wrangled over titles. My original working title for the book was Death on a Soda Cracker. Thank God, I lost that battle. We finally settled on Dead Folks’ Blues, a riff on Music City.
Dead Folks’ Blues launched in early 1993. I did a few local signings. Ballantine put a little bit of marketing into the book, but not much.
Then lightning struck. Dead Folks’ Blues was nominated for an Edgar. I’d heard of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, but had no idea what it meant. My friend and mentor Sharyn McCrumb explained that the Edgar Award was often called the Pulitzer Prize of genre fiction.
What I did know was that suddenly Ballantine Books was treating me a lot better. They flew me and my then-wife to New York City for the 1994 Edgar Awards banquet and put us up in a swank hotel. Sue Grafton was President of the Mystery Writers of America that year and I remember being almost in shock when she ripped open the envelope and called my name.
In a daze, I walked through the applauding crowd up to the dais. Sue leaned in as she handed me the statue. “This is so cool!” she whispered into my ear.
And it was. To this day, it’s the biggest professional thrill I’ve ever experienced. I woke up the next morning to see all the Edgar winners, including mine, on the CBS Morning News. My agent, Nancy Yost, sent me a bottle of Aberlour Single Malt Scotch whiskey. That long-empty bottle still occupies a place of honor on a bookshelf in my office.
Perhaps more importantly, it cracked a door to persevere. Ultimately, Joe bought five more books in the Harry James Denton series. In what has to be some minor footnote in the history of series mysteries, every installment either won or was nominated for a major mystery award. Torch Town Boogie was nominated for the Shamus Award, as was Way Past Dead. The fourth installment, Chain of Fools, was nominated for both the Shamus and Anthony Awards.
Murder Manual hit the trifecta of mystery awards when it was nominated for a second Edgar, another Anthony Award nomination, and won the Shamus Award. The last Harry James Denton novel, Dirty Money, was nominated again for the Shamus.
As well as the books did critically and awards-wise, sales were lackluster. The advances were still tiny and the books were consigned to the mass-market paperback ghetto. I voiced my frustration, so Ballantine made a verbal promise to move the last two books into hardcover.
Unfortunately, as Sam Goldwyn observed, a verbal promise ain’t worth the paper it’s written on. When the last two books were published, they came out as paperbacks and I walked.
Worse, I walked right into 1999-2000, when the publishing industry had hit the skids. As hard as she tried, Nancy Yost couldn’t get another house to pick up the series.
Meanwhile, life got in the way. Divorce, remarriage, becoming a father for the first time in my late 40s, rinse and repeat in my early 50s. My writing career was in the dumper and I had a family now. When the film school at the Watkins College of Art in Nashville—where I’d been teaching adjunct for a few years—offered me a full-time job, I jumped on it.
For the next twenty years, that was my life. I didn’t quit writing altogether, but in those two decades I only published two standalones. I always meant to get back to Harry, but there never seemed to be enough time or energy.
He never left me, though.
Fast forward to 2020, when the Watkins College of Art closed its doors permanently. The Covid-19 pandemic hit, so I was stuck at home with a lot of time on my hands. I decided to bring back Harry. To make this happen, I had to revisit those first six books.
What I realized was that without really meaning to, I’d sculpted a series of story arcs. Each book had a story that would stand on its own, from start to finish. But overarching the whole series was a larger story, the story of a guy who loses everything and has to rebuild his life from scratch, who sets forth on an odyssey to find himself.
It’s also a grand, doomed love story between Harry and the great love of his life, Dr. Marsha Helms, who’s a forensic pathologist. They meet in Dead Folks’ Blues. Their relationship rises and falls over the middle four books, then they have a daughter and break up in the last book, Dirty Money.
That’s where we left Harry, in Reno, Nevada after becoming a father and having to return to Nashville without his daughter and her mother.
So how do you bring that character back?
The first challenge was to answer the big question: Was I going to pick up the series as if Harry had just left Reno? That wasn’t workable; too much has changed in the world since then. The alternative was to drop back into Harry’s life almost two decades later, when he’s pushing 60 and his daughter, Alexis, is a teenager.
I had to create a backstory to fill in the years since we last saw Harry. Then I had to figure out how to weave all that exposition into a new book without it grinding the narrative to a halt.
I also had to come up with an idea for the novel, so in the finest sense of writing what you know, I decided to get Harry involved in a murder mystery set in a film school.
The result, almost a year later, was Fade Up From Black: The Return of Harry James Denton.
Reviving a dormant series can be tricky. I thought at first I’d have to self-publish the book. Years ago, I got the rights back to the first six books and successfully republished them under my Spearhead Press imprint, so it seemed a solid plan.
But after receiving some really incredible feedback from other mystery writers as well as a few select readers, I decided to take a shot at a traditional publishing deal. To that end, I’m on the hunt for the right agent and a great book deal.
More than anything, it’s good to be back in the game. Wish me luck.
Steven Womack began his first novel when he was eighteen-years-old. A short eighteen years later, he finally sold one. His first published novel, Murphy’s Fault, was the only debut mystery on the 1990 New York Times Notable Book List. Since then, he has published eleven more novels, winning an Edgar Award for Dead Folks’ Blues and a Shamus Award for Murder Manual.
A scriptwriter as well, Womack also co-wrote the screenplays for Proudheart, which was nominated for the CableAce Award, and Volcano: Fire On the Mountain, an ABC television movie that was one of the most-watched television movies of the year.
Womack was also a founding faculty member of the Watkins Film School in Nashville, where he anchored the screenwriting program for 25 years until the college closed in 2020. Now retired from teaching, he has returned to full-time writing.
Visit his website at www.stevenwomack.com.
The Power of No by J.A. Jance
When I was in second grade, I read the Oz books written by Frank Baum—not just the one with Dorothy and the ruby slippers, but all those other Oz books as well. Encountering those stories didn’t make me want to be either Dorothy or a wizard. No, reading them made me want to be Frank Baum, putting words on pages, and from that moment on, that’s what I wanted to be in life—a writer.
It wasn’t easy. I wasn’t allowed in a university-level Creative Writing class in 1964 because, as the professor pointed out, I was a girl. “Girls,” he told me, “become teachers or nurses. Boys become writers.” As a consequence, I ended up with a teaching degree and later a masters degree in Library Science. As icing on the cake, I married a man, a guy who was allowed in the Creative Writing class that had been closed to me. He told me in 1968 there was only going to be one writer in our family, and he was it. (For the record, he never published anything!) But because I wanted my marriage to work, I put my fiction writing ambitions aside and left them alone for the next fourteen years.
After spending two years as a high school English teacher and five as a school librarian, I then did another ten-year sting of selling life insurance. In actuality, selling life insurance was a wonderful preparation for becoming a writer because I learned the important skill of ignoring the word NO. Life Underwriting Training Council classes suggest that sales people should expect to be given ten NOs before getting appointments and another ten NOs during appointments before walking away with an application and a check. That’s exactly what I did exactly that for the next ten years. A side benefit to all that was meeting and talking to countless people. I heard all those folks’ stories, and squirreled many of them away for future reference.
By the early eighties, I was a divorced, single mom in my late thirties, living in Seattle and still selling life insurance. I decided to enroll in the Dale Carnegie course in order to improve my sales skills. Participants were required to give a series of talks, one of them focused on an experience along the way that changed the course of their lives. Mine was about how in 1970 my former husband and I had crossed paths with a serial killer. When the talk was over one of my classmates turned to me and said, “Someone should write a book about that!” And the thought that passed through my mind in that moment? I’m divorced. What have I got to lose?
That was on a Thursday night. In preparing for the presentation, I had realized that living through the sixty days between when we first came to grips with the idea that there had been a killer in our midst and the time he was taken into custody had changed me into someone I hadn’t been before. We lived in a solitary house on a small volcanic knoll at the time, seven miles from the nearest neighbor or telephone. For forty of those sixty days, I was on the hill by myself, carrying a loaded weapon and fully prepared to defend myself. Once those forty days were over, I was a different person from the one I had been before. I had gained a measure of independence no amount of bra burning can ever duplicate.
After that talk, I spent the next three days wondering if anyone would want to read a book about someone who has a life changing experience and finally gets a divorce ten years later? That just didn’t work. Finally in the wee hours of Sunday morning I figured it out—why not write a novel rather than telling the real story? Sunday after church, I took pen to paper and began writing my first novel which turned into a 1400 page opus, one that was never published even after an agent advised me to cut it in half. (By the way, the agent who didn’t sell my first book is still my agent fifty books later.)
Painful as the agent’s initial rejection seemed at the time, I did what she said and trimmed out literally half the book. By the way, writing that first unsold manuscript and reducing it by half was an invaluable process. It gave me on-the-job training in plotting, pacing, dialogue creation, and scene setting. By cutting it in half, I learned the value of accepting editorial advice. Believe me all of those skills are necessary ingredients for becoming a “real” writer.
For the two years following that Dale Carnegie event, I stood with a foot in both worlds, writing from 4 AM to 7 AM before getting my kids up for school and me ready to go sell life insurance. In 1984 when I finally had to make a choice between the two—selling insurance or writing—I chose writing. People thought I was nuts, and from a financial standpoint at the time, they weren’t wrong. When my first two Beaumont books sold in a two-book contract for $4000 total, that income came to only a fraction of what I’d been earning before. I kept on writing after exiting the insurance job, but I had to scramble to support my family. I did one stint of handling auditions for Family Feud and worked with a team selling season tickets for the Seattle Repertory Theater.
In 1985 I had the good fortune of meeting the wonderful man who became my second husband. For the first several years of our marriage, he supported all of us—him, me, his kids, and mine. Then, in 1994, he was able to retire, and I began supporting him. I still do, by the way.
I began my publishing career in the low-brow world of original paperbacks. Naysayers around me told me that original paperback mysteries had a ninety-day shelf life. My first Beaumont book, Until Proven Guilty, was published in 1985. It is still in print today. That’s a whole lot of ninety days later and proof positive that the NO people aren’t always right! For book after book I chose to remain with the same publishing house rather than being lured away by the promise of higher up front advances, and that’s the primary reason my backlist catalog continues to grow.
My latest Ali Reynolds book, Unfinished Business, hit bookstores on June 1stof this year. That’s book number 64. I’m working on the Beaumont #25, Nothing to Lose, due out next year. That will make 65 published books. Not bad for a girl. If you add in novellas, the number is closer to seventy, but who’s counting?
The point is, those books exist because I refused to take NO for an answer—not from the Creative Writing professor, not from my first husband, and not from the countless people who told me it was dumb to leave a sure thing of selling insurance in favor of the risky idea of becoming a writer. (By the way, it’s best to not make mystery writers mad. They have their ways of getting even. In my first hardback, Hour of the Hunter, the crazed killer turns out to be a former professor of Creative Writing from my alma mater, the University of Arizona. Too bad the professor was dead by then and never saw it.)
I recently received an email from one of my early naysayers, someone who knew me back in my life insurance days. She said, “When you said you were quitting insurance to become a writer, I never believed it would happen, but it did. I have now read every one of your books.” That one really made me smile.
For people launching off on the path of becoming writers, there will be all kinds of folks holding up STOP signs along the way and telling you it’ll never work. If you happen to be someone who’s easily discouraged, maybe you should avoid them as much as possible. But for me, the exact opposite was true. The more people told me no, it would never happen, the more I wanted to prove them wrong, and I believe I have.
And if you really want to have fun, one of these days write one of those doomsday don’t-go-there folks into one of your stories. Whether or not that work gets published, writing a little revenge fiction will make you feel better.
As for me, at this point I’m grateful for all the naysayers in my life, the ones who told me my idea of becoming a writer would never work. I’m a whole lot like that Little Engine That Could. The more people told me it couldn’t be done, the more determined I was to make it happen.
Yes, there’s power in the word NO, but there’s even more power in ignoring it.
The most important bit of writing advice I ever received came when I bought my first computer in 1983. The guy who sold it to me fixed it so that, when I logged in at four AM each day, these are the words that flashed across the screen: A writer is someone who has written TODAY!
Having written this little essay, I qualify as a writer for today, but now I need to get back to work on that next book. I have a deadline that’s actively ticking, and all those people out there who told me I was crazy are still shaking their heads in astonishment.
Thank you, Frank Baum. You helped make it happen.
J.A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the Ali Reynolds series, the J.P. Beaumont series, and the Joanna Brady series, as well as five interrelated Southwestern thrillers featuring the Walker family. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington. Visit her online at JAJance.com and listen to a recent interview with her at https://poisonedpen.podbean.com/e/j-a-jance/
The Changed World of Publishing by Dale T. Phillips
“In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that longer exists.” — Eric Hoffer
In the past, most professional novels on the market went through publishers, who set all the terms. Because the costs of printing, distributing, and advertising books were expensive (and difficult for the author to do on their own), it was considered mutually beneficial—the publisher took the financial risks of printing mass “runs” of books and distributing them. They had to guess about the possibility of profit in each instance. It was expensive, and they were taking a chance every time. While few authors lost money if a particular book didn’t sell, they were bound by what was considered sellable by others. So many books remained unpublished.
One statistic said that out of every five books on average, one would turn a profit, two would break even, and two would lose money. So, publishers bet on what they considered would sell. But even when they still had people who knew books (less the case these days), they were wrong so much of the time—and yet still made money. When you’ve got a monopoly on production, you can profit, as there are few challenges.
Everything that didn’t sell more expensive hardback copies was a heresy that traditional publishing fought. Cheaper paperback books were considered an abomination, yet readers loved them and bought even more books of all types, increasing readerships. Ebooks came along, and it was said they’d never be a significant part of the market (it’s rather significant now). The concept of audiobooks was thought marginal, and now they’re getting a bigger share of the market. At every turn, people found other ways of accessing stories without paying a lot for each one, yet with more profit to the creators—the authors. With each new method, smart authors could profit from adopting the path.
Still, printing books remained pricey until the advent of Print on Demand (POD) technology, where printing books became lower-priced, and one only needed to order as small a print run as they wanted—no more hundreds of unsold books in boxes in the garage for the self-published! Ebooks were even cheaper, and they started getting a higher profile. “Self-published” for so long was synonymous with “trash,” because anyone could do it, and it had not been blessed by the gatekeepers of publishing. Self-published authors were dismissed as hobbyists, not professionals. Yet some began creating works as good as the professionals, with astonishing results. Some sold primarily ebooks, and the early days of Kindle became a gold rush for a select few. Having quality items in a limited field can certainly be profitable, and many blasted out their results to upend the publishing world.
Now the publishing world no longer belongs solely to the gatekeepers. It is possible to publish and sell without an agent or a publisher (middlemen between the author and reader), and to keep control of one’s own work. It does mean that anyone wishing to be successful in this path learn a great deal about the ways and means of selling online, in essence becoming a small business. But a true business it can be.
That’s where we are today— any writer has multiple means of getting their stories out to the world without waiting years for a blessing or “go-ahead” from strangers. One can even make money at it, and some can even be very successful by adopting techniques used by successful authors before them. The information is widely available because the independent (indie) community is very open and helpful, and willing to share what works.
The writers to be pitied are the traditional writers, who came of age in a system that may have worked for them in the past, but no longer works for most. While writing stays the same, many writers have quit, unable to deal with the changes to everything they knew about publishing and unable or unwilling to learn. The sad part is, even with traditional publishers, writers are now expected to do much of their own marketing and selling anyway, but they have many more restrictions, and must do it without many of the benefits that indies enjoy. With the publishing world turned upside down, the indies are now the ones with the best chances of success going forward.
Though I began in the traditional path, getting an agent and trying to get a larger publisher interested, many months would go by with no word and no progress. By attending conferences, learning from blogs, articles, and talking to many writers, I saw that a new path was becoming viable. While I was learning more, I published my first few novels with small presses, who would let me set all the terms: content, covers, pricing, and distribution. After two years and three books, I had learned enough to strike out on my own. Now with 24 books out, I am my own publishing company, and quite happy to produce all my work on my schedule, just the way I like it.
Many traditional authors bewail people finding mistakes in their books, because it is expensive to change the galley proofs, so oftentimes errors remain unfixed. Indie writers can correct any published error and have an updated version in minutes, for ebooks, and days for print.
Due to the changes in publishing, it is now the best time in history to be a writer. One can create stories and get them to a worldwide market, in multiple formats. Anything a writer wishes to create can be up for sale, with no one blocking publication, because they feel it will not sell enough. We have ultimate freedom for our craft.
Dale T. Phillips has published novels, story collections, non-fiction, and over 70 short stories. Stephen King was Dale’s college writing teacher, and since then, Dale has found time to appear on stage, television, radio, in an independent feature film, and compete on Jeopardy. He’s a member of the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. Visit Dale at www.daletphillips.com.
There Is Someone Among You by Chad Campese
There is Someone Among You Who…
There is someone among you who’s done terrible things. Held dark thoughts, treated people poorly, said and done things they’ll forever regret. The bodies buried in their basement are many. But maybe it’s best for everyone if we don’t start there.
An exquisite mystery. The epic thriller. We cherish stories able to transport us from the familiar, the mundane, and into worlds like no other. Worlds that hold us at the edge of our seat, grip our attention, force our eyes to flow through the pages at a furious pace. We identify with the protagonist. They need to be victorious, or at least die trying. Then, in an instant, the secret comes to light. Our questions are answered. The story always ends.
But what if it didn’t? What if the greatest prose holding our attention, the thriller that gripped our mind wasn’t in book form at all? What if the excitement could always lie in the very depths of our souls, in our own lives, far beyond where people normally look or are comfortable exploring? What if that next great thriller was really just life itself. Authentic life. Maybe it isn’t boring, or mundane at all. Your life. Where’s it going? Where’ve you been? How does it end? Why are you here at all? Can you be our protagonist?
Your highest highs. The lowest lows. There are things no one knows about you. What you think, what you believe, the secrets that drive you. They sit in a box in the corner of the attic, back behind the Christmas decorations and under the home movies layered with cobwebs.
In public, we’re just faces, faces sitting on headshots next to a glowing bio. Happy family photos are draped across social media. Faces of good times, vacations, parties with no end. They litter the landscape everywhere as we fall farther into the trap of living life in shallow ways, never really being known, and dying eventually forgotten.
Writing, and the industry that surrounds it, can be a lonely endeavor. Difficult to break into, even more difficult to see it for what it really is. We can be an unknown people hidden behind a computer screen, the next great novel, pages filled with red pen. The words that surround us are our only friends. The mask, the shell that covers you at work, around acquaintances, even with family, it puts forward your best self, hopes and dreams riding on fake assumptions of what people want you to be. What we think the world wants us to be. We sit, at times alone, unconnected, unknown, lonely. Or maybe it’s just me.
Who are you? What’s your story? Can you thrill us by simply being authentic? By simply being honest with people about your failures, your struggles, your fears and thoughts. Underneath, inside, after the public persona gets stripped away, the greatest mystery, the most gripping thriller, sits in the person beside you at a meeting, it serves your dinner as the waitress gets a bit too close while placing your plate, the energy shocks you as your eyes meet for the briefest second. So much more to who they are, to who you are. What’s your confession? What’s the one thing that’s never let you go all these years? The one experience, addiction, action, or regret that’s created who you truly have become?
Yes, I am someone among you, someone who’s done terrible things to, with, and for people. They haunt my mind. Whiskey used to be a friend that helped drown out their voices. Their words drove reactions and interpretations of life in ways I wish I could change. But I can’t. I’m a cop, doing and seeing and living things that people write books about. I’ve written my own. It was both the loneliest and most freeing experience of my life.
We all eventually just become a collage of all life has offered. For me, it’s created a man, a fraud, a shell of himself, but only if you knew the truth. Smiles, laughter, lighthearted banter in public, yes. But if you shook my hand, looked me in the eye, and held my gaze, you’d see more. There’s always more.
Peace. Calm. Freedom. They come with confession. They come as the mystery ends and the thriller is solved and all the questions are answered. They come when a person takes the deepest breath, finally steps out onto the ledge they thought was much too small. But then, suddenly, they find their footing and realize the ledge is really a porch, filled with flowers and warmth, and a chair that beckons relaxation. The confession brings a closure to the space haunted by everyday as we sit, our favorite drink in hand, toasting whatever lies beyond the cotton whisps above. Listening, breathing, and becoming honest about who we are. Becoming truly known. Connected with an authentic community.
This blog aims to be that porch, filled with whatever relaxation looks like through your eyes. We are many things. Writers, new and experienced, publishers, editors, lovers of books, and so much more. Let’s connect the community of Killer Nashville, authentically. There’s no time or tolerance for surface conversations here. It is reserved for people who know that honesty, emotion, and feeling are the fuel of life. True life. And while this idea may fail, as people question whether the promises of freedom are worth the sacrifice of exposure, I think it has a potential that outweighs the risk.
Allow me to start. I’m a police officer of eighteen years. Recently, confession has been the only thing that saved my family, myself, and the things I now hold so dear. Freedom has found its way to my home as my thriller moves past its climax and my family and I get to move forward into whatever’s next. I look forward to being the first to share details, kick off the confession, conversation, and remove my mask in my next post.
What’s your mystery? What thriller is locked away in the depths of the person no one knows beyond your mask? Who are you when the night sets in and the quiet engulfs? I’d love to hear it, to experience it, to meet you and connect with the authentic, and then to share it here, for the benefit of both you, and others, with your permission. Being known, being able to admit who you are while knowing you have worth and value and purpose, and seeing that no matter what it costs, the thrill of authentic community connects all in ways you’ve never imagined is freedom. And it bonds us in instances both mysterious and thrilling.
There is someone among you…and indeed you are not alone.
Chad Campese is a father, a husband, a police officer for far too long, and a man being led down a path he’s not entirely sure of. He might be a freelance writer, but hasn’t yet tried to get a gig. But he’s never been rejected! His first book currently sits with a few contests, so maybe one day he’ll have an award to speak of, or even perhaps have been published. He enjoys hanging with his kids, his wife, and his friends, as he comes to terms with who he really is while enjoying a drink by the fire and staring off through the evening sky. He invites others to open up about their honest selves in ways that bond us all as we blindly feel our way together through this thing we call life.
Truth Meter for Murder: The Interview by Stephanie Dickinson
“In real-world situations, it’s very difficult to know what the truth is.” – Israeli psychologist Gershon Ben-Shahar
At the heart of Razor Wire Wilderness, my recently launched true crime memoir, stands Krystal Riordan, then a 20-year-old prostitute who witnessed a horrific murder, and now a 35-year-old inmate. In July 2006, at the end of a hot, steamy night, her 36-year-old pimp/boyfriend Draymond Coleman brought Jennifer Moore, a teenage girl stranded after a night of underage drinking, to the seedy Weehawken, New Jersey hotel room that the two shared. Krystal saw her boyfriend punch Jennifer when she refused his sexual advances and then continued to watch the escalating violence, the beating, the strangling, and the rape. Was she a willing accomplice, or was she too a victim? Draymond Coleman pled guilty to first-degree murder and received a 50-year sentence. His release date: January 23, 2049. Krystal pled guilty to kidnapping and hindering apprehension and received a 30-year sentence. Her release date: October 25, 2027.
Now, almost 15 years later, the question remains unanswered. Perpetrator or victim? Was she a willing accomplice, or was she too a victim? Or was she both accomplice and victim? Perhaps it’s not the right question or series of questions. Draymond Coleman refuses to be interviewed, although he occasionally writes Krystal: You never turned your back on me. You’re where you are because of my stupidity. And then most disconcerting: Even after our arrest your letters were always –I love you, I love you, I love you… What truth lies behind those words? Or the following from Krystal: I froze. I thought I would be next. Does truth smell like sweat and Clorox? He snapped, and then he snapped back. The sweat of the murderer and the Clorox used to wipe DNA from the body. I froze.
Finding the truth for the writer is ultimately not the same as the truth-seeking done by the police or by a prosecuting attorney; the writer is looking for a more nuanced truth, something that works toward explaining the inexplicable. Often those who know the perpetrator, the character witnesses, are interviewed not to corroborate evidence but to shift the focus, to introduce us to the variegated person they know, to render a fuller, more intimate picture. Draymond babysat for my daughter. He was a big teddy bear. For more substantiation, the police reports are scrutinized. Police look for certainty in either the circumstantial evidence or a confession that will lead to a conviction. Writers want to know what lies behind the corroborated, adjudicated truth. The interior, the unadorned, the bone truth.
How are we to interview an inmate about the crime they were sentenced for? Must they exonerate themselves to themselves? Are they running through a mental checklist of what and who they have revealed the truth to? It matters less how we interview the subject, whether in person or via video/audio or email, than providing a safe emotional space that puts our subject at ease. Krystal, my subject, is an eyewitness as well as a perpetrator. She underwent 14 hours of initial interrogation. Eye-witness testimony often leads not to truth but to misidentification and falsehood. The Innocence Project points out that inaccurate eye-witness testimony is the leading cause of false convictions. We are running up against the notorious tricks of memory. Perhaps the telling and re-telling opens the door to creating false memories.
Can we believe that she was remorseful? Not after viewing the video. She left the room at will numerous times. –Candida Moore, Victim Impact Statement
The grainy hotel video captures Krystal leaving the murder room on numerous occasions. I always did what he told me to do. I was weak-minded. No one who witnessed the crime is independent. The video camera turns out to be the most credible witness, free of bias and emotion. The truth meter grapples with I saw it with own eyes. Human memory is porous, the holes plugged with filler. Experts tell us we can’t possibly take in all the minutia around us, so the brain fills in the details.
Trauma degrades the clarity of memory. I was mugged inside my building and afterward I rode with the police through the neighborhood looking for the perpetrators. I had described two men, the taller one wearing a red sweatshirt. On the police radio we learned that two men had been apprehended after another mugging, minutes after mine had occurred, and were being held on Greenwich Avenue by the arresting officers. The taller man stood under the streetlights, and I saw he wore a brown jacket not a red sweatshirt. Instead, he had on red sweatpants. The chrome handgun tossed into the bushes linked the men to a series of muggings, including mine. Why had I been so sure of the red sweatshirt? The men had pushed me down in the stairwell and I was at eye level with the red sweatpants. I saw red. But what if someone’s future depended wholly on the accuracy of that red sweatshirt?
The interview, including the self-interview has always fascinated me, in its many hybrid forms. I conducted a fictional interview with a noir actress from the 1960s in my book Heat: An Interview with Jean Seberg. (New Michigan Press). Seemingly chronological, the questions evolved into something more circular, i.e., the actress interrogating herself and colliding with the existential question of whether or not you can even know your own truth. My friend Andrew Kaufman’s poetry collection The Rwanda Poems will soon appear and since he had conducted extensive face-to-face interviews in Rwanda with a number of genocide survivors, rape victims, perpetrators falsely accused, and perpetrators convicted of horrifically murderous acts, I asked him about his technique. Considering he spoke to both victims and perpetrators, was the testimony itself the sought-after truth? The speech? Did his approach differ when it came to perpetrators? He approached both initially the same in a kind of getting-acquainted approach, asking about the subject’s childhood, family, life experiences, school, work, and favorite activities. Then, in the case of perpetrators, the questions would narrow, becoming more pointed and specific.
Perhaps we should all try interviewing exercises, a self-interview, we become our own mock lie detectors. We can look at memory not as something fixed, but a fluidity, often a matter of perception.
In reviewing my first letters to Krystal I discovered that my technique and Andrew’s initially followed a similar path. Tell me about yourself: What is your favorite color? Do you like animals? What kind of music do you listen to? What are your favorite foods? I, then, told her all my favorites.
Later, I could ask
Q: I know you and Draymond have a child together. Do you have any contact with the child?
Q: Did having a child with him, make it difficult for you to testify against him?
Much later—
Q: Could Jennifer have left the room alive if she had stopped resisting Draymond?
A: Jennifer was no match for Draymond.
Q: Did Jennifer walk into the room willingly or did Draymond carry her in?
A: Jennifer was doing cocaine.
I questioned the validity of both answers. In Jennifer’s last cell phone call to her boyfriend, she states: “A man keeps following me, and he’s offering me drugs.” What I don’t question in Krystal’s answers are the deeper truths about her inner world that her few words reveal. In the beginning, I could not fathom how a young woman who had the ability to leave the murder room would not run for help. Now I understand, I do not condone or excuse, and it is not my place to forgive. Through interviews, I know Krystal both as perpetrator and victim. Never did she consider testifying against her ex-boyfriend, the now-convicted murderer. Although Draymond Coleman has promised on numerous occasions to give his statement to exonerate Krystal, he never has.
Stephanie Dickinson, raised on an Iowa farm, now lives in New York City with the poet Rob Cook and their senior citizen feline, Vallejo. Her novels “Half Girl” and “Lust Series” are published by Spuyten Duyvil, as is her feminist noir “Love Highway.” Other books include “Heat: An Interview with Jean Seberg” (New Michigan Press); “Flashlight Girls Run” (New Meridian Arts Press); “The Emily Fables” (ELJ Press); and “Big-Headed Anna Imagines Herself” (Alien Buddha). She has published poetry and prose in literary journals including Cherry Tree, The Bitter Oleander, Mudfish, Another Chicago Magazine, Lit, The Chattahoochee Review, The Columbia Review, Orca and Gargoyle, among others. Her stories have been reprinted in New Stories from the South, New Stories from the Midwest, and Best American Nonrequired Reading. She received distinguished story citations in Best American Short Stories, Best American Essays and numerous Pushcart anthology citations. In 2020, she won the Bitter Oleander Poetry Book Prize with her “Blue Swan/Black Swan: The Trakl Diaries.” To support the holy flow, she has long labored as a word processor for a Fifth Avenue accounting firm.
Is Your Marketing as Good as Your Art by D. Eric Maikranz
How a single comment from “Rich Dad” Robert Kiyosaki changed my approach to my writing
I decided to self-publish my novel The Reincarnationist Papers in 2009, but a chance reading of motivational and self-help giant, Robert Kiyosaki, (author of Rich Dad Poor Dad), sparked an idea that changed everything. In Rich Dad Poor Dad, Kiyosaki relayed a conversation he had with an author who was struggling to break in and get published. The author lamented that she felt her writing was good enough and her novel and characters were interesting and compelling enough, but she kept getting rejected. Kiyosaki told her that what she needed to focus on wasn’t her art, but her marketing.
At first, Kiyosaki’s statement that marketing was equal to or potentially more important than the art itself infuriated me. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. At the time, my job involved designing software by collaborating with end users; I decided to collaborate with my readers in the same way. I eventually came up with the idea to let my readers help me market the book by offering them the agent’s commission. On the first page of my novel, I included a reward notice:
REWARD
As the author of this work, I offer you, the reader, the opportunity to redeem a cash award for introducing this work to any literary agent, publisher or producer that offers an acceptable contract [to the author] for this work. The reward offered is 10% of any initial book advance or option contract for film up to a maximum of $10,000.00…
I wanted to empower and incentivize my readers into helping me introduce The Reincarnationist Papers to a Hollywood producer who would adapt the book into a movie. The unorthodox marketing idea of putting a cash reward to readers on the first page of the book seemed like a crazy marketing plan—right up until it worked.
It didn’t take long for the first queries from readers to trickle in, but the breakthrough happened on Thanksgiving Day, 2010, when, Rafi Crohn, an assistant to a Hollywood director found The Reincarnationist Papers in a hostel in Katmandu Nepal while traveling.
The assistant rang me and, via a scratchy call from Katmandu, he told me that he loved the book, the idea of the reward, and that wanted to see the book made into a movie. I was ecstatic when I received his call. I felt validated that my idea had worked.
When he returned to Los Angeles, he set about getting The Reincarnationist Papers adapted into a motion picture, and true to his word, he brokered an option to Bellevue Productions who contracted a screenwriter to adapt a screenplay. It took Rafi a few years and there were times when the project looked dead, but in 2017, Bellevue sold the adapted screenplay, INFINITE, to Paramount Pictures. The movie stars Mark Wahlberg, Dylan O’Brien, and Chiwetel Ejiofor and is scheduled to premiere on September 24, 2021.
I often think back to that reading of Rich Dad Poor Dad and Kiyosaki’s advice on marketing. His simple message of focusing on the marketing as much as the art has made all the difference for me.
Are you focusing as much on your marketing as you are on your art? What is your plan for getting your art to a wider audience?
Author D. Eric Maikranz has led a multitude of lives. As a world traveler, he was a foreign correspondent while living in Rome, translated for relief doctors during a cholera epidemic in Nicaragua, and was once forcibly expelled from the nation of Laos. He has worked as a tour guide, a radio host, a bouncer, and as a Silicon Valley software executive. “The Reincarnationist Papers” is his first novel and has been adapted into the Paramount Pictures film, “Infinite,” starring Mark Wahlberg. He is also the author of two travel books, “Insider’s Rome,” and “Insider’s Venice.” Learn more at https://ericmaikranz.com.
It’s Your Book, but Don’t Leave the Reader in the Dust by Katherine Dean Mazerov
One of the biggest mistakes writers make is forgetting about the reader. While our lives and interests can certainly provide inspiration for a book or short story, we as writers often become too immersed in our own narratives or research, going down deep rabbit holes or diverging into the weeds of technical, overly academic subject matter that leaves the reader struggling to “get into” the story. What you, the author, finds interesting and compelling may not be to the people you are trying to reach.
Whatever you’re writing – a book, a short story, article, blog post—it needs to do at least one of three things:
Entertain: Aim to evoke emotion in your readers. Make them laugh or cry. Send chills up their spines. Help them escape from the stress and problems of the real world;
Resonate: Present a story where your readers can relate to or recognize the characters or plot in a meaningful way;
Enlighten: Educate your audience about an important issue, societal trend, or period of history.
As a career journalist, I have spent most of my life writing and editing newspaper and magazine articles, always with the underlying objective of giving people something they want or need to read. When I expanded my horizons into fiction, with a suspense novel partly inspired by events in my own life, I felt liberated by the opportunity to use my imagination to create my own colorful characters, comfortable, realistic dialog, and vivid scenes. I had fun with it. But in the back of my mind, I pondered the same “so what” question I’d asked as a reporter and editor: why would anyone want to read my book, and what will keep them engrossed in it?
For me, writing is equal parts art form and craft, a construction project that starts with that basic idea or vision—a strong foundation or premise that will provide the basis for a good page-turner. I love this process. Outlines, storyboards, even diagrams provide a roadmap for charting the story. I devote a lot of time thinking through an idea, then sharpen it with a basic outline that guides the storyline with a clear beginning, middle and end. There is no hard and fast rule on how to embark on a writing journey. Do what feels comfortable and enables you to write and tell the story. But know where you are going.
Then, hit the ground running with a first sentence or paragraph that immediately piques the reader’s interest, makes him or her hunger for more. In the world of journalism, that’s known as the lead; In fiction, it’s the grabber. This is no small feat. Whether you’re a seasoned, award-winning author or an aspiring writer, staring at that blank page can be daunting.
Start with a gripping scene, event, or key character using descriptive words that will capture and transport the reader into the story. Verbosity is not your friend here. Keep it simple but powerful. Use rich and scintillating words that will create a mood, conjuring up vibrant emotions and bold visuals that tell people your book is going to be a good read.
As your story unfolds, go back and review what you’ve written. Multiple times. Refine it. Perfect it. Writing is a fluid process. Look to your favorite authors or successful books to inspire empathetic characters, ambitious prose, and authentic dialog readers can identify with. And it doesn’t have to be fiction. In the 1960s and ‘70s, a literary movement known as “The New Journalism” emerged that combined research and investigative journalism with the techniques of fiction-writing to create powerful, descriptive prose, with detailed and riveting scenes and strong character development to tell stories about real-life events. The non-fiction novel.
One of the most iconic examples of this style of writing is Truman Capote’s 1966 book In Cold Blood, the true story of the horrific, senseless slaughter of a Kansas family by two ex-cons. Capote, of course, did not witness the crime, know why the killers did it, or what they did afterward. But his detailed reconstruction of the events and dialog from countless hours he spent with the killers in prison, exhaustive research of the crime scene, and retracing of the trail the killers left behind resulted in one of the most memorable crime books ever written. Here is his description of the hotel where the two killers ended up after traveling across the country following the slaughter:
In Miami Beach, 355 Ocean Drive is the address of the Somerset Hotel, a small, square building painted more or less white with many lavender touches…It is one of a row of little stucco-and-cement hotels lining a white melancholy street.
Instead of simply dismissing this destination as a seedy hotel in Miami, Capote took the time to flesh out the scene and describe the place in vivid, intricate detail, allowing the reader to really visualize and experience that setting and step into the story.
Good writing requires good organization—presenting the story in a coherent way that is easy for people to follow and understand. Which does not mean the narrative must be linear or chronological. That’s where transitions are so important. Authors need to employ problem-solving skills that enable them to figure out those all-important transitions that seamlessly take their readers from one scene to the next, present-day to flashback, character to character.
If you’re writing a crime, mystery, or suspense novel, it’s imperative to incorporate the right amount of foreshadowing, clues, and red herrings into the narrative that keep people engaged, allowing them to use their own imaginations and critical thinking skills to try and figure out the whodunit aspect of the tale.
And finally, combining all those elements to fit the story together so that it flows at a pace that keeps readers intrigued.
Ultimately, it’s your story. Your book. But keeping your readers top of mind throughout the process helps you move forward and stay focused on what’s important, creating not just a book, but an unforgettable literary experience.
KATHERINE DEAN MAZEROV is an award-winning journalist and the author of Summer Club, a suspense novel with a comedic twist where poop in the pool meets a body in the river. The former newspaper reporter and editor has been a magazine writer, worked in corporate communications for a Fortune 500 company and has written extensively on trends, market outlook, and emerging technologies for the global energy industry. She is passionate about writing, expanding her horizons along the way as a wife, mom, tennis player, skier, cyclist, and world traveler. She can’t imagine a world without dogs.
Writing Romantic Interests with Borderline Personality Disorder Fairly by R.J. Jacobs
Adam met Liz by chance in the aisle of a department store, and the two began a playful banter right away. Her laugh was airy and carefree, and she touched his arm while they talked. Before they parted ways, she said to him, “I know you want to text me, so why don’t you give me your phone and I’ll put my number in.” He placed his phone in her hand. Her candor was thrilling. Liz seemed so open and familiar.
They arranged to meet for a drink the following day. When Adam arrived at the bar, he spotted Liz easily despite the crowd; she was wearing a short, tight dress. She stirred her drink and kissed his cheek as he sat beside her. Her touch felt electric. Her eyes never seemed to leave him. Hardly an hour passed before they were at his apartment, turning off the lights.
The first three weeks of the relationship were invigorating; Adam felt energized and constantly turned on. He’d never had such great sex. Work seemed unimportant, and he often left early to spend time with Liz. He felt unusually protective when she mentioned her ex-boyfriend; thinking the guy sounded vain, even abusive. Fleetingly, Adam marveled at how quickly he and Liz had connected—in moments. The pace was dizzying. She texted a lot, and he noticed that when he didn’t respond immediately, she often asked if everything was okay. Or if he was mad at her. He found himself having to reassure her that he felt fine, and that the relationship was “great.”
“How great?” She would ask flirtatiously.
Something inside Adam began to tighten.
The next time he picked Liz up for a date, she seemed irritated at his being s a few minutes late. Adam noticed several magazines related to his hobbies on the coffee table in her living room, and that she’d stocked the refrigerator with his favorite type of beer. Over dinner, Liz wanted to decide on a vacation destination for the following summer, and had several ideas. When he told her he would need to check his work calendar, and that it was too early to decide, she bristled.
The following week, Adam realized he was woefully behind at work and needed to catch up. When he called Liz to suggest they postpone their date, she screamed and hung up. Startled, he immediately called back and when Liz answered, her voice sounded completely different. Sobbing, she explained that her doctor had phoned earlier to tell her that she had a rare form of cancer. “I’m sorry,” Adam offered. “What can I do?”
“Can you just come over so we can talk? I don’t want to be alone.”
An hour later, Adam arrived, and found Liz to be in a mysteriously positive mood. In fact, she didn’t seem to want to talk about her health at all. She wanted to have sex. The change seemed odd, and when Adam pressed for details, Liz was vague and annoyed. The tightening inside Adam continued. Her cancer diagnosis was never mentioned again.
A week later, Adam decided he decided he needed some space from the relationship, and explained to Liz, in the kindest way he knew, that he wanted to slow their pace and take time for himself. Liz turned over her chair as she stormed away. Five minutes later, Adam’s phone lit up with a text message from her. “I have something I need to talk about, too,” it said. Below was a picture of a positive pregnancy test.
Human behavior is inherently fascinating. Most of us have puzzled over the motivations of our friends and loved-ones, and, at times, been curious about the intent of our own actions. We want to be more effective participants in our relationships, but at times we’re at a loss for how they work. We ask questions like, “Why would (s)he do that?” and often in hindsight wonder, “What was I thinking?”
Certain diagnoses in particular are especially intriguing. Any time the subject of Borderline Personality Disorder comes up, curiosity and questions follow, and it’s easy to understand why. People with this diagnosis have an easy time capturing the attention and igniting the frustrations of people around them; they engage others and act out in ways that are intense and often destructive. They show a pervasive pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, affective states, and marked impulsivity. The pattern typically begins by early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts (DSM-V, 2015). They are frequent characters in fiction. About seventy-five percent of those diagnosed are female, though research on males with Borderline Personality Disorder continues to come forth.
Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD, lack emotional regulation and exhibit strong, sometimes wild, behavioral extremes in their relationships. Many times the goal of this behavior is to elicit the concern of a caretaker, but nowhere is the pattern more acutely observed than in their romantic connections.
In therapy, when patients characterize their exes as “crazy,” what do they mean? What is a romantic relationship like with someone who has BPD? Many people describe them as childlike and manipulative, constantly testing a relationship, often showing wild emotional swings when they sense real or perceived abandonment. Having little emotional regulation, they’re prone to tantrums. It can feel to people around them that “something” is missing, or didn’t develop; a critical sense of stability, of being fundamentally okay despite normal relational fluctuations, is distinctly absent. Their impulsive, acting-out behaviors are even more notorious for being self-damaging: recurrent suicidal behavior, self-mutilation, substance abuse, reckless driving, overspending, promiscuity, and intense and inappropriate anger are common.
What Borderline patients excel at is eliciting an emotional response. The clinical folklore among some therapists is, that if in the first session the therapist wants a romantic, inappropriate connection with the patient, he or she is probably Borderline. If that sounds circular and patronizing, it’s because it probably is. Even if the idea offends some, (I do think that a therapist’s awareness of his or her emotional response to a patient can help diagnosis and guide treatment. For example, our own reactions likely resemble the reactions of others around them, as well.) it does raise an important truth: Borderline patients are skillful at provoking.
Borderline Personality Disorder is fueled by emptiness and insecurity, and the misguided goal of all of this self-destructive and manipulative behavior, after all, is to gain stability and feeling cared for. One cruel paradox of Borderline behavior is that the backing-away response elicited from relationship partners is precisely the reverse of what the person desires: more love, assurance, and intimacy. The conventional thinking among many psychologists is, that when it comes to having a relationship with someone suffering from BPD, the best strategy is avoidance altogether. Or, as one friend suggested, “Run, don’t walk.” And most of the time, this self-protective drive comes from a very understandable source: frustration and fear. We sense right away that we want no part of the toxic behavior at hand, or worse, worry that we’ll reinforce it, making it more likely to recur.
Theatricality may distract us in other ways as well. It’s tempting to marvel at the foreignness of Borderline behavior, and in doing so, we may be miss the universality of the particular feelings themselves. The strength of the particular emotions at play—abandonment, sadness, emptiness—may be alien, but the feelings themselves are likely quite familiar. Truth be told, people with a Borderline Personality Disorder may fascinate us because we see ourselves in them. Fundamentally, all personality disorder diagnoses describe characteristics and ways of being that are simply extreme versions of common traits and urges. I’ve never heard someone say, for example, “I just love feeling abandoned,” or “I never wonder where I stand with people I care about. I never need assurance.” Tragically, the disproportionate reactivity of the Borderline patient obscures the underlying ubiquity of their emotional experience.
Given all the difficulties that exist in these types of relationships, why would anyone start a relationship with someone with a Borderline diagnosis? Contrary to my friend’s advice, not everyone runs, or even walks away. It’s important to note that while there may be intense and disruptive behavior, Borderline patients often have qualities that produce a rewarding romantic partnership much of the time.
Often warm and kind, they may also be described as fun, exciting, and passionate. Here, people often speak of the disorder in terms of its deficit, like any other organic or medical concern. Even in troubled moments, they will report seeing a flicker of deep recognition and awareness in their partner’s eyes, enough to know that the person they know and love is still there covered beneath their insecurities. I understand the notion of duality. I too have been taken aback and puzzled over the recklessness and irrationality (and astonishing immaturity) I’ve seen among otherwise very high-functioning people. Borderline patients don’t seem to have figured out how to keep their feelings, particularly their anger, in check. This juxtaposition between high and low-functioning can be shocking at times. We may ask ourselves how it’s possible that this composed, professional person, mother, from whom I received a Rockwellian Christmas card the year before, is acting the way she is.
Some are drawn to these patients because they have intense emotions and strong desires for intimacy—and because they themselves have precisely the same emotions and desires. This is often more challenging to recognize and contend with, because, again, the behavior of the Borderline patient positions them in such an obvious position of scrutiny and vulnerability. As it plays out, Borderline patients aren’t often offered much empathy. Many times, they describe feelings of being used, and often do allow themselves to be used by their partners, because of their neediness. Many times, their friends and family admit that if the patient’s acutely descriptive behavior stopped long enough that they could feel safe, they would run for the hills. Not much of an incentive to stop, even as BPD patients recognize they have worn out their supports.
In writing characters with similar diagnoses, it is often too easy to dehumanize the subject and make him or her out to be villainous and completely alien from the rest of us. But in order to craft authentic, believable characters—regardless of his or her psychological well-being— it’s important to understand that character’s psychology, and that it isn’t much different from our own.
In navigating relationships (and, perhaps, storylines) with Borderline patients, acceptance may be our best course. Learning emotional regulation as a couple may be helpful, as may be developing an understanding of common triggers and de-personalizing reactivity. Context helps understanding, and it’s important to bear in mind their (and our) story leading up to the beginning of the relationship. For the relationship to be successful, we have to accept that our partner really does need more emotional reassurance than most. And we have to look in the mirror to examine our own attraction to that particular person, at that particular moment in our lives.
It’s comfortable to believe we are in control of ourselves. We all maintain a self-concept and we tell ourselves that while we might be capable of some things, some behavior is beyond us. Writers develop our characters in the same way: by focusing on their traits. Then, we develop histories to explain them. We ask ourselves: Given who this person is, what would they do in this situation? But the opposite question may be more correct: Given the dynamics of this situation, what would anyone do? Would a “good” person be capable of aggression? Violence? An atrocity? As writers, we have a chance to create resonant plots when we can hold character constant for a moment and consider how an accumulation of circumstances bears upon a particular opportunity to act.
R.J. Jacobs has practiced as a psychologist since 2003. He maintains a private practice in Nashville, focusing on a wide variety of clinical concerns. After completing a post-doctoral residency at Vanderbilt, he has taught Abnormal Psychology, presented at numerous conferences, and routinely performs PTSD evaluations for veterans.
His novel, tentatively titled: Broken Surface, is scheduled to be published by Crooked Lane in 2019.
He lives with his wife Rebecca and their two children.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Column, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Joseph Borden and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s editorial.
Writing Authentic Characters of the Opposite Sex by Edwin Hill
I write a mystery series about a Harvard research librarian named Hester Thursby who also finds missing people. I’m three books in and so far, she’s found ax-wielding serial killers, a child abductor, and a missing student who has no desire to be found. Sometime in the near future, she’ll be seeking out her own missing mother who she hasn’t talked to in twenty years.
When you write a series, you make decisions early on that stick. Some of them you like, and some of them you learn to live with. For example, in my first book, I decided to be coy and name a secondary character Cary so that readers wouldn’t know whether Cary was a man or a woman. Now, three books in, it kind of annoys me anytime Cary comes on the page that I didn’t simply name her Carrie.
Another early decision was to make my protagonist a woman. I’m often asked why, and if I find it difficult to write from Hester’s point of view.
I’ll tackle the why first.
When I started my first book, Little Comfort, I began with the antagonists, two childhood friends named Sam Blaine and Gabe DiPursio who also happened to be serial killers. Like many first-time novelists, I took my time with the book as it pinged from one iteration to the next. God knows I didn’t have an agent or a publisher waiting for the manuscript. When I hit a roadblock focusing on the two antiheros, like any fiction writer worth their salt, I backed up and tried to find a new path into that story, and decided I needed shift the focus to a protagonist. I didn’t want to write a book about three men, so I decided to make the protagonist a woman. That was my whole decision-making process! And that first book saw some success and turned into a series, so here we are.
The second question is harder (and easier) to answer. Is it difficult to write from a woman’s perspective? The short answer is yes. But then, I find writing from anyone’s perspective to be a challenge, especially if the character doesn’t share my background or sensibilities, and fiction writing is all about making up characters that feel authentic. I’ve written from the point of view of women, straight men, young people, veterinarians, police officers, serial killers, child abductors and transgender men, all experiences I’ve had to imagine for the characters. (For the record, a novel with me at as the central character would go nowhere except the sleep aids aisle of the pharmacy. I’m far too boring!)
Fiction is about inhabiting the lives of others. As writers, if we do our job well, those lives feel authentic for our readers, and if we don’t, they feel forced or, even worse, offensive. So when I write Hester’s scenes, I start with finding the things about her character that connect us — we both love movies, we’re both reluctant misanthropes, we both care about the people who touch our lives —and I exploit those similarities as much as I can.
Still, we have differences I’ll never fully understand. Yes, Hester Thursby is a woman, but she’s also a librarian, she’s 12 years younger than I am, has a child, is estranged from her mother, is very short, and the list goes on. With each novel, I need to decide which of those parts of Hester’s life I want to bring to the forefront. In Little Comfort, it was motherhood. In my latest novel, Watch Her, it’s Hester’s work life as a librarian. I treat learning about those experiences as I would any piece of research that goes into creating the novel. As I write, I talk with as many people as I can. For Watch Her, I spent a terrific afternoon touring Harvard’s Widener Library and then learning about the day-to-day life of a research librarian. Those few hours wound up infusing the entire novel.
Finally, when I’m done, I have a team of beta readers who tell me what I got wrong. And while Hester is the central character, all my novels are told from multiple points of view, so getting Hester right is only the first step. Once I finish with her, I move on to the others. It’s all in a day’s work!
Edwin Hill is the author of the critically acclaimed Hester Thursby mystery series, the first of which, Little Comfort, was an Agatha Award finalist, a selection of the Mysterious Press First Mystery Club, and a Publishers Marketplace Buzz Books selection. The second installment, The Missing Ones, was also an Agatha Award finalist and a Sue Grafton Memorial Award nominee. Formerly the vice president and editorial director for Bedford/St. Martin's (Macmillan), he now teaches at Emerson College and has written for the L.A. Review of Books, The Life Sentence, Publishers Weekly, and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. He lives in Roslindale, Massachusetts with his partner Michael and their Labrador, Edith Ann. Visit Edwin online at www.Edwin-Hill.com.
The Difference Between Terrorism and Organized Crime by Frank Hamilton
Terrorism and organized crime have both been important in the real world which has made them a common feature of various literary genres, especially thriller and mystery novels. But the two are not the same and knowing the difference between terrorism and organized crime is crucial to use the two effectively in your work.
What Is Terrorism?
To put it simply, terrorism is the intentional use of violence for pursuing political and/or religious goals. Most of the time, the word is used to refer to the violent acts committed during peacetime or aimed at civilians. The word itself dates back to the French Revolution of the late 18th – early 19th century when the “Reign of Terror” began under the Jacobin regime of Maximilien Robespierre.
But when terrorism really gained prominence was the 1970s. At the time, the conflicts in Palestine, the Basque Country, and Northern Ireland got a lot of attention. In the 1980s, suicide attacks became more widespread, and in 2001, the September 11 attacks in the United States solidified the use of the term and resulted in the Global War on Terrorism. Yet, there is still no universally agreed-upon definition of terrorism.
As Victor Young from the custom writing reviews site Online Writers Rating notes, “Terrorism is an emotionally charged term which means using it will already imply that some kind of moral wrong has been done. Those using the word usually mean to denounce or condemn the actions of the terrorists. In most countries, terrorism is illegal, but there is still no consensus about whether or not it should be considered a war crime.”
What Is Organized Crime?
The term organized crime is a broad one and is usually used to refer to international, national, and local groups run by criminals that engage in various illegal activities for profit. Members of organized crime groups can also force people to do business with them (e.g. take money from small business owners in return for “protection”) but these people may still be considered victims rather than partners in crime depending on the situation.
Crime has existed for as long as humans have, but the degrees to which it has been organized have varied significantly. Gangs can sometimes be considered a part of organized crime, while most criminal organizations are referred to as mobs, mafia, syndicates, etc. Some notable examples of organized crime include the Sicilian mafia, the Russian mafia, the Japanese yakuza, the Chinese triads, and the Hong Kong mafia.
How Do Terrorism and Organized Crime Interact?
In some instances, terrorist groups can be considered a form of organized crime. This happens when criminal organizations become politically or religiously motivated in their actions. Organized criminal groups and terrorists can establish partnerships and alliances and work together to pursue their own goals. But there are more similarities between terrorism and organized crime than one might expect initially:
Structure and Organization: The “cell structure” has been adopted both by organized criminal groups and by terrorist groups. This structure allows the cells to have relative autonomy and continue working even when one or more of the cells have been exposed.
Tactics and Strategies: Because of the kinds of operations criminal groups and terrorists are involved in, both usually need to get fake or illegally obtained documentation. At the same time, both prefer establishing connections with corrupt officials for profit.
IT and Communication: The Dark Web is often used by criminal organizations and terrorists alike to avoid leaving an electronic footprint. However, both usually require the help of experts to perform complicated tasks of such kind.
Territorial Ambitions: Organized crime and terrorism depend on the control of certain territories which is why conflicts and/or alliances can result from the struggle between the two.
Financial Resources: One particular area where organized crime and terrorism converge is narcoterrorism. It is still very widespread in certain countries and has remained a major issue for decades.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, terrorism and organized crime have definitely been very separate from each other but have been converging to an extent in recent years. Using either of the two in your work will help you tell a more compelling story and build your fictional world authentically, but only if you understand the differences between terrorism and organized crime.
Frank Hamilton is a blogger and translator from Manchester, England. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English.
Organized Crime in the Time of Corona by Michael Gorman
Many areas of organized crime have taken a serious beating since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. With the sealed borders that prevent the smuggling of contrabands and the closed streets where drug dealers used to sell their products, many of the criminals’ activities have been brought to an indefinite halt.
However, it would be rushed to think that the earth’s mobsters failed to find their ways to criminal activities. In fact, it seems like they’ve truly outdone themselves during this global crisis. From the criminal underbelly of the Internet that yielded more frequent cyber-attacks than ever, to innovative and unexpected ways to infiltrate the health systems, criminals seem to adjust to the change rather fast and effectively.
Sergio Nazzaro, a spokesperson for the anti-mafia parliamentary commission’s president of Italy, has stated the following: ‘’The mafia is like the coronavirus – it will get you wherever you are.’’
How Has the Pandemic Affected the World of Crime?
In China, the place that’s known as the world’s capital of counterfeiting, criminal enterprises are left without their main sources of supply due to the lockdown of Chinese factories. In Bosnia, thieves find it harder than ever to steal vehicles, and we all know how big of a problem this country had with such crime. It seems to be harder to steal cars when the streets are devoid of people and quieter than ever, says the GI-TOC.
One of the areas where organized crime is hurt most badly is the area of sports. The cessation of collegiate and professional sports such as the NCAA has impacted the regular money supply for criminal organizations such as La Casa Nostra and their gambling operations.
It’s not news that the criminal world has also suffered great losses, but they seem to be coping and dealing better than everyone else. Frederick Yang, a former professor of criminology and current writer at academized believes that ‘the criminals are as strong as ever, and their strength only grows while we focus hard on beating the pandemics. Most of the time, their big actions even go unnoticed, and we’ll realize it too late.’’
Organized Crime across the Globe during the Coronavirus Pandemic
The strength of the mafia is highly evident in places like Rio de Janeiro where criminals are strengthening their relationship with the state by helping them enforce the lockdown at night. Several painted notices have been found across this location, telling people that if they leave their homes, organized crime will do the right thing and punish them. There even was a video where the loudspeaker shared a terrifying message: ‘Anyone found messing or walking around outside will be punished.’’
It seems that, thanks to this pandemic, mobsters have found new opportunities for crime, some of which could be long-term. The increased partnership with the state is certainly one such perk. Bethany Terrence, a remote criminology writer who performs dissertations services at a content writing company stated that: ‘’the criminal world has made such strong progress, it will last for decades to come.’’
In Switzerland, one of the safest places in the world, there has been an increase of criminals who loot properties. They present themselves as representatives from official state agencies, requesting access to different establishments and properties in order to ‘disinfect them of coronavirus’. To be more, Europol has issued a report that vacated establishments are at high risk of criminal activities, especially since people choose to depart to their secondary residences and leave their city residences empty.
To make matters worse, there have been many reports around the world regarding frauds called the ‘grandma trick’. Criminals seem to present themselves as doctors, asking to be introduced into a person’s home to test the people for the coronavirus. Once they’re granted access, they burglarize the place.
The areas that are most affected by crime at this point are the healthcare and the Internet. In the countries where organized crime has already infiltrated the health systems, the value of stolen healthcare spending has increased significantly in the past month. The United States has issued a report in 2012 estimating that around 10% of the healthcare spent value is being stolen on a yearly basis. With the pandemic and the increase in spending, these numbers are becoming significantly higher.
Six in every 10 products used in the healthcare industry are expired, falsified, or stolen in Mexico. According to GI-TOC, the Jalisco New Generation cartel promotes pirated drugs’ production and demands that pharmacies sell them to people.
The strength with which the criminals work is evident by the number of raids that Interpol coordinated in a single month. They’ve made 121 arrests of a worldwide level and dismantled 37 organized crime groups. In the process, Interpol seized items like hand sanitizers, counterfeit masks, coronavirus packages and sprays, as well as numerous antiviral medications that are unauthorized.
In Italy, the police is frequently seizing counterfeit masks while in Ukraine, there have been attempt to smuggle the most essential stocks of hand sanitizers and medical face masks.
The Mafia is sure gaining a lot of local support in the Italian territory by distributing food to the poor families put in quarantine. Apparently, the criminal organizations have found their ways to connect with the people and make them join their circles. Nicola Gratteri, the head of the prosecutor’s office of Catanzaro and an antimafia investigator told the Guardian the following:
‘’Millions of people work in the grey economy, which means that they haven’t received any income in more than a month and have no idea when they might return to work. [...]If the state doesn’t step in soon to help these families, the mafia will provide its services, imposing their control over people’s lives.”
As we mentioned, cyber crime is one of the most frequent occurrences these days, especially now when people use technology more than ever. More and more people decide or are asked to work from home, leaving criminals with endless opportunities to perform cyber crime.
As a result of the increased use of technology, there have been a series of new phishing scams that emerged since the coronavirus outbreak. Cybercriminals seem to be impersonating the WHO to steal personal information and spread malware.
Some of the cyber attacks go beyond just scamming individuals. They are more coordinated and aimed toward infrastructures like the hospital in Brno. After the attack, the Czech hospital had to completely shut down its system and reroute all patients to the facilities nearby.
Rich Jacobs, the ASAC of the cybercrime branch at the FBI New York office, believes that there are two categories of scams in the criminal world related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first is more generic and includes the investment in companies that produce medical equipment and the solicitation of funds for cures, vaccines, and test kits. The latter is cyber attacks in the form of fake websites and phishing emails designed to get people’s personal information and IDs.
The bottom line
The criminal world has also suffered some losses, but they’ve definitely risen to the occasion. Since most law enforcement agencies across the world are understaffed and cannot focus on criminal activities in the midst of the quarantine and the crisis, the criminals have found their haven during this epidemic.
Sources:
https://www.newsbreak.com/news/0OZNwjRO/organized-crime-in-the-time-of-corona
https://globalinitiative.net/crime-contagion-impact-covid-crime/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/brazil-rio-gangs-coronavirus
Matthew Farrell is the internationally-bestselling author of WHAT HAVE YOU DONE and I KNOW EVERYTHING. His books have been sold in 16 countries and have been #1 bestsellers in the US and UK, having landed on the Washington Post and Amazon Charts best sellers lists. He currently resides in Northern Westchester County with his wife and two daughters. Get caught up on the progress of his next thriller along with his general musings by following him on Twitter @mfarrellwriter or liking his page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/mfarrellwriter2 or Instagram @mfarrellwriterbooks.
Researching International Thrillers by Michael Niemann
For the past thirty-odd years, I’ve had the following conversation innumerable times.
Person at a party: "What do you do?"
Me: "I teach."
"What do you teach?"
"World Politics."
"Oh, that must be really interesting right now."
I have always puzzled over this response because I knew there hadn’t been any increase or decline of the level of interestingness of world politics for as long as I’ve been teaching it.
It seemed to me a uniquely US-American response. The sheer size of this country makes it possible for many folks to live a rich, productive, and creative life without paying much attention to what happens elsewhere in the world. Those other countries are far away. Sure, those with the means go on holidays there and learn a little bit, but that’s the extend of it. It’s therefore not surprising that there’s also a lack of understanding how deeply US policies impact other countries.
Many international thrillers reflect this US-centric view of the world. But it doesn’t have to be that way. How does one write more nuanced international thrillers?
The short answer is research. I’ll focus here on two aspects.
Location
If at all possible, visit the place you’re writing about. But don’t visit as a tourist; visit as a researcher. That means establishing contacts beforehand.
How do you find contacts? Check local news sources. Papers and TV stations often have an English version of their website. If you see an article that pertains to your topic, contact the writer or journalist. Check out local crime writers and see if you can contact them. Universities also are great places to find knowledgeable folks. For my latest thriller Percentages of Guilt I needed to learn more about the Belgian legal system, which differs from the common law tradition of the US. I emailed the dean of the law school of the University of Antwerp, stated my desire, and she put me in contact with a professor of criminal law who explained to me that my initial idea for a plot didn’t work in Belgium.
If you can’t visit, learn as much as you can through satellite view or street view available in various map apps. It’s not the same as being there, but it gives you a sense of what street life looks like. For my thriller No Right Way, I did that with the town of Kilis in southern Turkey. The imagery showed me how new and old buildings stood side by side. A tiny old grocery store next to a shiny new bank. The grocery store had a hand-written sign in the window, offering bulgur on sale. That made it straight into the novel.
Wikipedia is also an invaluable resource. Need climate information for a city somewhere? Wikipedia covers most large and medium-sized cities in the world and gives you the temperature averages and extremes as well as rainfall for every month of the year.
Issues
What’s happening in the politics of the country where your thriller takes place? What are the social issues that have people talking?
Again, news sources are helpful here, but don’t forget an often-overlooked resource: global, regional, and local NGOs. Nongovernmental organizations span the gamut from wildlife preservation to social justice to human rights. Those NGOs publish regular reports. Often those reports are issued in multiple languages or have at least an English summary. An Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch report about a specific country provides an in-depth view of what’s currently going on there.
If you need to know the current conflicts in a particular country, consult those types of reports. They may offer hints of how to enrich the conflicts in your novel, but at a minimum such information will make your novel richer and more realistic for the reader.
For my thriller Illegal Holdings (which won the Silver Falchion Award at Killer Nashville 2019), I drew on the reports of the Oakland Institute on foreign land acquisitions on the African continent. Those reports gave me insights on how foreign corporations and countries bought large acreages of land in several African countries. Those insights expanded my personal knowledge of Mozambique and helped sharpen the basic conflict in the novel.
A final treasure trove of information are international organizations. From the United Nations down to various regional organizations, the amount of information and report available for free is astounding. When I was writing Percentages of Guilt, I needed information on money laundering. The Financial Action Task Force offered a host of information including examples of schemes used by criminals to launder money.
Proper research will make your novel more plausible, help you avoid stereotypes and maybe even educate your reader. That’s something all writers aspire to.
Award-winning author Michael Niemann has long been interested in the sites where ordinary people’s lives and global processes intersect. His thrillers featuring UN investigator Valentin Vermeulen are published by Coffeetown Press. Legitimate Business and Illicit Trade were published in March 2017. Illegal Holdings came out in March 2018, and No Right Way followed in June 2019. Illegal Holdings won the 2019 Silver Falchion Award for Best Thriller at Killer Nashville. The fifth Vermeulen thriller, Percentages of Guilt has just been released.
The Case for Creating a Killer Marketing Plan by Ellie Alexander
I remember the day I received the call from my agent letting me know that we had an offer for a three-book contract. After dancing around the living room and toasting with a celebratory pint of hoppy Pacific Northwest ale, the next thing I did was get right to work on my marketing plan. It might seem strange that, instead of savoring the sweetness of landing my first book deal, my thoughts immediately turned to marketing. The reality of publishing in the 21st century is that, in addition to writing a page-turning mystery with plenty of twists and red herrings that lead readers down dead ends, we as authors are also tasked with publicizing and selling our books. The sooner we embrace that, the more creative energy we can pour into crafting a killer marketing plan.
Now, let me be clear about what I mean when I say that we are responsible for selling our books. I do not mean employing the strategy of screaming in ALL CAPS on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Tik Tok, “BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK!” I see so many examples of authors spinning their wheels and spamming their social media followers with constant, in-your-face messages about nothing other than buying their book. Imagine this in the real world. You walk into a bookstore, eager to sip a coffee while you peruse the shelves, but upon entering the store you’re greeted by an author waving their book in your face and demanding that you buy it. They then proceed to follow you around the store shouting that their book is the best you’ll ever read and you’ll regret it if you don’t buy it today. I’m going to guess that this might be a turn off. Am I right?
Book marketing, like marketing in any other profession, requires thoughtful planning designed to build a loyal and engaged audience of readers. How do we achieve this? By thinking inside the book. This is more important now than ever, given that traditional bookstore signings, library talks, and events are on hold due to the pandemic. Rather than trying to scream the loudest on social media amongst all of the noise, invite readers into your world. Offer them a taste of what they might find inside the pages of your book.
For example, my Sloan Krause Mystery series is set in the charming Bavarian village of Leavenworth, Washington and features a female brewer turned part-time sleuth. I’m fascinated by the craft brewing culture. It’s truly science meets creativity at it’s best. Brewers are like magicians. They take four simple ingredients hops, water, yeast, and grains and produce completely unique beers from there. I want to share that chemistry with readers, so when I was sketching out my marketing plan for the series, I reached out to a variety of professional brewers. I asked if they would be willing to do video interviews and live chats on social media to talk about their process and craft. It’s a symbiotic relationship. I get to offer readers insight into a new world and the brewers get to share their knowledge with a new audience.
Not once did I demand that readers buy my book in these interviews and live chats. The book is secondary. I’m providing highly specialized content to readers that ties back to the book. I might weave in comparisons on how Sloan prefers to add fresh hops to the mash tun or talk about the hours I spend “researching” (aka tasting) different beer styles to make sure that my descriptions of a dark chocolate coconut stout or honey Pilsner are correct. Readers chime in with their questions about brewing and books. They connect by sharing their favorite or least favorite beer experiences. (Insert beard beer here—yeah, that’s a real thing. Google it.) These are the building blocks of community, and ultimately the reason a reader will end up buying your book.
Creating an authentic marketing plan is one of the easiest ways to ensure long term success as an author. Use themes, settings, ideas, or people from your book as a launching point. Welcome readers into that space. Ask questions. Start conversations. Listen. Have fun! Marketing doesn’t have to be serious. It can be giving away beer-themed coasters and stickers to your readership in celebration of release day. Hosting an online pub crawl where readers stop by different breweries to pick up clues at each spot—both in real life and in digital space. Or, holding a photo contest for readers to share their funniest beer pics. Use the same creative energy you tapped into to write the book, to formulate a marketing plan.
In my Mystery Series Master Class, I teach new writers the tools of the trade and walk them through building a comprehensive marketing plan while they’re writing their first book. Setting the tone and the stage for inventive ways to reach and build lasting relationships with readers is perhaps the single most important thing you’ll do, aside from writing the actual book. Not only will your future readers thank you, but immersing yourself in the process of crafting a marketing plan will likely bring you unexpected insight into your writing.
Cheers to that!
Ellie Alexander is a Pacific Northwest native who spends ample time testing recipes in her home kitchen or at one of the many famed coffeehouses or pubs nearby. When she’s not coated in flour, you’ll find her outside exploring hiking trails and trying to burn off calories consumed in the name of research. She is the author of the bestselling Bakeshop Mystery and Sloan Krause Mystery series. Sign up for her e-mail newsletter to stay up to date on new releases, appearances, and exclusive content & recipes.
Ellie also loves hearing from readers and interacting with them on social media, so be sure to follow her to learn about her mystery series master class, upcoming books, special events and giveaways, and more!
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Learning to Let Go When Editing by Matthew Farrell
When I was asked to write this article for Killer Nashville, I was in the middle of fourth round edits for my fourth book and second round edits for my fifth book, so I thought the subject of the editing process would be fitting. For those of you out there who are looking to enter into the world of publishing for the first time, allow me to take you behind the scenes of what the process of editing looks like from my standpoint from first draft to finished product.
I love the process of editing. I love taking a story you think you know and building on it or stripping it down or moving it in a different direction, only to watch it grow more compelling and polished with each pass. I never realized the magic that editing is until I experienced it on a professional level. Before I was published, I would typically write a first draft, go back and correct typos or misspellings, and call it finished. In my mind, I couldn’t wrap my head around changing elements of the story away from what I previously come up with. It wasn’t that I was being stubborn or standing my ground for the good of my art. I just didn’t know you could do that. I never contemplated moving a story around to make it more exciting or gripping or mysterious. I thought what went down initially were the pieces of the puzzle that fit a certain way. What I didn’t understand was that I could take that puzzle apart, change the pieces themselves, and create an entirely new puzzle. To me, that was fascinating and new. I was intrigued.
But this realization didn’t come to me until I had some interest from an agent who couldn’t take the manuscript on as it was and suggested I hire a freelance editor to help. I found Jennifer Sawyer Fisher, who had once been a senior editor at a top publisher on Manhattan. One of the first things Jennifer said to me was “This story takes place in Philadelphia, but you’re not using the city. Make the city a character. Take the reader through it and use the landmarks in your story to push the plot and the action.” I had literally never thought of that. Suddenly, I had places to play with and landmarks to chase my characters through, and the story began to morph from a Psychological Thriller to more of a Suspense Thriller. We talked more and went through another round of editing, tightening the story and cutting scenes that didn’t work or didn’t move the story along. Again, I never realized I could do that, and in hindsight it seems so logical, but when the story is yours, it’s sometimes hard to see what needs to be cut or tightened or rearranged. During this process, my eyes were opened to the endless possibilities proper editing can provide. It can take you down roads you never thought were there and it can shine a light on something that isn’t working and holding the story back from being as good as it could be. When we were done, I had a tighter, more fluid, story, and although that particular agent still passed, I learned the process of editing, had a story that was better than it had ever been before, and I eventually landed an agent who helped with even more rounds of edits until it was sold and became my internationally bestselling debut, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE.
I’ll say it again. I love editing. In fact, I like it more than writing the initial story. That may seem strange to some of you, but it’s the truth. The first draft is nothing more than a brain dump of words to get it down on the page. It’s a huge block of ice. It’s just there, untouched, waiting to be carved into a beautiful sculpture. And with each round of editing, I do just that. I begin to carve the story I want it to be and each round brings that new version of the story to life. Suddenly characters are doing new things. Motivations change. The plot can change. More often than not, the murderer will change. A twist I never saw before reveals itself. And in the end, I have something I hadn’t thought of during that first draft, but is something I know my readers will enjoy.
In the professional world of publishing, I typically go through five to seven rounds of editing from first draft to what the reader is reading on publication day. I write my draft and then edit once myself before sending to my agent. My agent and I go through another two rounds of editing, and this is usually where major changes are done to plot and character motive. After we’re done, I send to my editor at the publishing house and I go through another two or three rounds. These rounds start with big changes and then grow smaller with each pass. I write thrillers, so my editing at this level often involves tightening a story, developing a plot more, and getting that twist just right. After my editor is satisfied it goes through a final pass-through line edit for typos and punctuation, etc. My job is to keep that reader turning the pages and not give them a point where it’s okay to put the book down. It’s harder than you might think, and it really does take a team to pull it off. I’m so thankful I have the team I have.
In closing, I want to leave you with one piece of advice. In editing, everything’s on the table. You need to be prepared to cut or add whatever you need to in order to make the story stronger. The publishing phrase “kill your darlings” comes from the editing process. It’s inevitable that you will come across a scene or subplot or character that you absolutely love, but must cut for the good of the story. It happens to all of us. I just deleted 20,000 words from my fifth book because what I was trying to pull off wasn’t working and we decided to go in a different direction. It was painful to hit that delete button, but I’m excited to move in this new direction and I know the readers will love where we’re now going. I also had to kill a character (no spoilers) in WHAT HAVE YOU DONE that I really liked and was determined not to kill and hadn’t killed in all the previous versions of the story. In the end, I knew it had to be done in order to move the story to where it needed to go, and although some readers are blown away by the death and some are upset by it, everyone recognizes it as a turning point in the novel and always elicits a reaction from the fans. Killing a darling happens to us all. Embrace it when it happens to you and remember that everything’s on the table.
Happy writing (and editing) to all of you out there. I hope you enjoyed our peek into my professional editing process.
Matthew Farrell is the internationally-bestselling author of WHAT HAVE YOU DONE and I KNOW EVERYTHING. His books have been sold in 16 countries and have been #1 bestsellers in the US and UK, having landed on the Washington Post and Amazon Charts best sellers lists. He currently resides in Northern Westchester County with his wife and two daughters. Get caught up on the progress of his next thriller along with his general musings by following him on Twitter @mfarrellwriter or liking his page on Facebook: www.facebook.com/mfarrellwriter2 or Instagram @mfarrellwriterbooks.
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