KN Magazine: Articles
Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book / Michael Guillebeau
Every enterprise is fraught with uncertainty, and for most of us, that means some level of anxiety. This week’s guest blogger, Michael Guillebeau, faced significant trepidation before (and during) the creation of his new anthology, as he mentions below. But the more he pushed through his fear, the more delighted he was by the results, which seems to be a common theme in success stories. Who knows? Take his advice to heart, and you just may have words of wisdom to share with the Killer Nashville family one of these days, too.
Happy reading!
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book
By Michael Guillebeau
First off, I’ve got to apologize for this piece not being funnier than it is. You can blame my writers. When I started Eight Mystery Writers You Should be Reading Now, I thought I’d have a mess of funny stories by now. I mean, writers are notoriously independent (I expected at least one chorus of “I know you said you wanted mystery stories, but I thought my unicorn story would be better”), late (“If I have my section done by Christmas, will that meet your October deadline?”) and even bizarre (“I do all my writing in Japanese. My editor has to fix it”).
Not my writers. Not only are they all great writers whom you really should be reading now, but they were also the best team of people I’ve ever worked with. Thank you, Lisa Alber, Kathleen Cosgrove, Chris Knopf, Jessie Bishop Powell, Larissa Reinhart, Jaden Terrell, and Lisa Wysocky. And thanks from all of us to Hank Phillippi Ryan for giving us a wonderful foreword. And to the amazing Stacy Pethel for editing contributions from nine separate writers for no pay or glory, and no reason other than her love for words. I’d work with you all again on anything.
So, I didn’t get any funny stories to tell. Sometimes, life gives you lemons and you have to make lemonade. Sometimes, a team of waiters shows up at your table to make you a perfect Porch Crawler, and thanks you for the privilege. (I’m a writer; we know how to deal with disappointments involving alcohol...)
I didn’t get any funny stories, but I do have a few pointers on how a multi-author project can be more fun and successful than you can possibly imagine.
1. Don’t say no to the idea.
This is always the hardest and most important lesson, isn’t it? Like most of us, I was frustrated by the problem of asking readers to select my writing based on blurbs when I really wanted them to see… my writing. Handouts and free days help but have their limits.
I reflected on how I picked my own reading material: mostly through recommendations from people I trust. What could be a higher recommendation than inclusion in a book with writers that people already trust?
2. Find a clear vision, and the right people to buy into it.
So now I was excited, but scared. I have trouble asking a waiter for a refill of iced tea. Now, I had to refine my ideas and go up to people I was in awe of and ask them to play with me. But I set that aside and thought: What if they said yes? Who would I want?
There are lots of anthologies focused on a certain style or sub-genre. I didn’t want that. I wanted this to be a book of discovery for readers. I wanted eight writers who were each so different that most people who loved one of them would never have heard of the others—but might discover something new that they wouldn’t otherwise look at.
I also had to have quality. I expected readers to dislike at least one writer because it wasn’t the style they wanted, but if they read even one writer who seemed amateurish, they’d put the whole book down.
So I had to find people whose work I admired, and make sure they were all different. I needed people to buy into a project that was to be largely promotional (we’d rather give away a thousand of these than sell a hundred), but that would still require their best. And the kind of people I wanted were already up to their armpits in better projects than mine.
Jesus.
3. Even big people love to be asked to help, particularly if it helps them, too.
So you’ve heard the saying about leap and the net will appear? After downing antacids and adult fortifications, I started approaching some of these semi-giants. Felt like Dorothy approaching the Wizard, without even a lion or scarecrow or a tin man.
I was rewarded with some of the best experiences of my life, as faces lit up and people I admired thanked me for the opportunity to be a part of this.
4. If you keep your request small, people will deliver big.
I pitched Eight as a low-impact project to the other writers, but none of them treated it that way. All I asked for was a sample chapter, a previously written story, and an interview. I got all that, on time (barely in some cases, but on time), and so much more. Jessie Powell made us a book trailer, and had to be restrained from doing a print ad. Kathleen Cosgrove found us a cover artist (her son Charlie Wetherington) who delivered a killer cover for next to nothing. Chris Knopf sent our press release to his many contacts. And… well, everybody went over and above.
5. Actually producing the book is the easy part.
There are lots of materials out there on how to self-pub a book. I won’t add to them except to say that pulling together a book is just a lot of fussy little time-consuming tasks, but nothing to be scared of.
6. Multiple writers multiply the quality of the book and the power of the marketing.
I really think that each person roughly doubled the value of this project. What a joy.
So now my little-bitty scary idea has become the book that I may be the most proud of, the one that will probably get the most attention, and the one that was the most fun to work on.
Without me having to do all that messy writing stuff.
Michael Guillebeau’s first book, Josh Whoever (Five Star Mysteries, 2013) was a finalist for the 2014 Silver Falchion Award for Best First Novel: Literary Suspense, received a starred review in Library Journal, and was named a Debut Mystery of the Month by Library Journal. His second book, A Study In Detail (Five Star Mysteries, 2015) received the following praise from the Midwest Book Review: “fresh, original and witty.” Guillebeau has published over twenty short stories, including three in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Michael Guillebeau lives in Madison, Alabama, and Panama City Beach, Florida. For more information, see www.michaelguillebeau.com.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book / Michael Guillebeau
Every enterprise is fraught with uncertainty, and for most of us, that means some level of anxiety. This week’s guest blogger, Michael Guillebeau, faced significant trepidation before (and during) the creation of his new anthology, as he mentions below. But the more he pushed through his fear, the more delighted he was by the results, which seems to be a common theme in success stories. Who knows? Take his advice to heart, and you just may have words of wisdom to share with the Killer Nashville family one of these days, too.Happy reading!
Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book
By Michael Guillebeau
First off, I’ve got to apologize for this piece not being funnier than it is. You can blame my writers. When I started Eight Mystery Writers You Should be Reading Now, I thought I’d have a mess of funny stories by now. I mean, writers are notoriously independent (I expected at least one chorus of “I know you said you wanted mystery stories, but I thought my unicorn story would be better”), late (“If I have my section done by Christmas, will that meet your October deadline?”) and even bizarre (“I do all my writing in Japanese. My editor has to fix it”).
Not my writers. Not only are they all great writers whom you really should be reading now, but they were also the best team of people I’ve ever worked with. Thank you, Lisa Alber, Kathleen Cosgrove, Chris Knopf, Jessie Bishop Powell, Larissa Reinhart, Jaden Terrell, and Lisa Wysocky. And thanks from all of us to Hank Phillippi Ryan for giving us a wonderful foreword. And to the amazing Stacy Pethel for editing contributions from nine separate writers for no pay or glory, and no reason other than her love for words. I’d work with you all again on anything.
So, I didn’t get any funny stories to tell. Sometimes, life gives you lemons and you have to make lemonade. Sometimes, a team of waiters shows up at your table to make you a perfect Porch Crawler, and thanks you for the privilege. (I’m a writer; we know how to deal with disappointments involving alcohol...)
I didn’t get any funny stories, but I do have a few pointers on how a multi-author project can be more fun and successful than you can possibly imagine.
1. Don’t say no to the idea.
This is always the hardest and most important lesson, isn’t it? Like most of us, I was frustrated by the problem of asking readers to select my writing based on blurbs when I really wanted them to see… my writing. Handouts and free days help but have their limits.
I reflected on how I picked my own reading material: mostly through recommendations from people I trust. What could be a higher recommendation than inclusion in a book with writers that people already trust?
2. Find a clear vision, and the right people to buy into it.
So now I was excited, but scared. I have trouble asking a waiter for a refill of iced tea. Now, I had to refine my ideas and go up to people I was in awe of and ask them to play with me. But I set that aside and thought: What if they said yes? Who would I want?
There are lots of anthologies focused on a certain style or sub-genre. I didn’t want that. I wanted this to be a book of discovery for readers. I wanted eight writers who were each so different that most people who loved one of them would never have heard of the others—but might discover something new that they wouldn’t otherwise look at.
I also had to have quality. I expected readers to dislike at least one writer because it wasn’t the style they wanted, but if they read even one writer who seemed amateurish, they’d put the whole book down.
So I had to find people whose work I admired, and make sure they were all different. I needed people to buy into a project that was to be largely promotional (we’d rather give away a thousand of these than sell a hundred), but that would still require their best. And the kind of people I wanted were already up to their armpits in better projects than mine.
Jesus.
3. Even big people love to be asked to help, particularly if it helps them, too.
So you’ve heard the saying about leap and the net will appear? After downing antacids and adult fortifications, I started approaching some of these semi-giants. Felt like Dorothy approaching the Wizard, without even a lion or scarecrow or a tin man.
I was rewarded with some of the best experiences of my life, as faces lit up and people I admired thanked me for the opportunity to be a part of this.
4. If you keep your request small, people will deliver big.
I pitched Eight as a low-impact project to the other writers, but none of them treated it that way. All I asked for was a sample chapter, a previously written story, and an interview. I got all that, on time (barely in some cases, but on time), and so much more. Jessie Powell made us a book trailer, and had to be restrained from doing a print ad. Kathleen Cosgrove found us a cover artist (her son Charlie Wetherington) who delivered a killer cover for next to nothing. Chris Knopf sent our press release to his many contacts. And… well, everybody went over and above.
5. Actually producing the book is the easy part.
There are lots of materials out there on how to self-pub a book. I won’t add to them except to say that pulling together a book is just a lot of fussy little time-consuming tasks, but nothing to be scared of.
6. Multiple writers multiply the quality of the book and the power of the marketing.
I really think that each person roughly doubled the value of this project. What a joy.
So now my little-bitty scary idea has become the book that I may be the most proud of, the one that will probably get the most attention, and the one that was the most fun to work on.
Without me having to do all that messy writing stuff.
Michael Guillebeau’s first book, Josh Whoever (Five Star Mysteries, 2013) was a finalist for the 2014 Silver Falchion Award for Best First Novel: Literary Suspense, received a starred review in Library Journal, and was named a Debut Mystery of the Month by Library Journal. His second book, A Study In Detail (Five Star Mysteries, 2015) received the following praise from the Midwest Book Review: “fresh, original and witty.” Guillebeau has published over twenty short stories, including three in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Michael Guillebeau lives in Madison, Alabama, and Panama City Beach, Florida. For more information, see www.michaelguillebeau.com.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book / Michael Guillebeau
Every enterprise is fraught with uncertainty, and for most of us, that means some level of anxiety. This week’s guest blogger, Michael Guillebeau, faced significant trepidation before (and during) the creation of his new anthology, as he mentions below. But the more he pushed through his fear, the more delighted he was by the results, which seems to be a common theme in success stories. Who knows? Take his advice to heart, and you just may have words of wisdom to share with the Killer Nashville family one of these days, too.Happy reading!
Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Herding Cats for Fun and Profit: Lessons Learned from Producing a Multi-Author Book
By Michael Guillebeau
First off, I’ve got to apologize for this piece not being funnier than it is. You can blame my writers. When I started Eight Mystery Writers You Should be Reading Now, I thought I’d have a mess of funny stories by now. I mean, writers are notoriously independent (I expected at least one chorus of “I know you said you wanted mystery stories, but I thought my unicorn story would be better”), late (“If I have my section done by Christmas, will that meet your October deadline?”) and even bizarre (“I do all my writing in Japanese. My editor has to fix it”).
Not my writers. Not only are they all great writers whom you really should be reading now, but they were also the best team of people I’ve ever worked with. Thank you, Lisa Alber, Kathleen Cosgrove, Chris Knopf, Jessie Bishop Powell, Larissa Reinhart, Jaden Terrell, and Lisa Wysocky. And thanks from all of us to Hank Phillippi Ryan for giving us a wonderful foreword. And to the amazing Stacy Pethel for editing contributions from nine separate writers for no pay or glory, and no reason other than her love for words. I’d work with you all again on anything.
So, I didn’t get any funny stories to tell. Sometimes, life gives you lemons and you have to make lemonade. Sometimes, a team of waiters shows up at your table to make you a perfect Porch Crawler, and thanks you for the privilege. (I’m a writer; we know how to deal with disappointments involving alcohol...)
I didn’t get any funny stories, but I do have a few pointers on how a multi-author project can be more fun and successful than you can possibly imagine.
1. Don’t say no to the idea.
This is always the hardest and most important lesson, isn’t it? Like most of us, I was frustrated by the problem of asking readers to select my writing based on blurbs when I really wanted them to see… my writing. Handouts and free days help but have their limits.
I reflected on how I picked my own reading material: mostly through recommendations from people I trust. What could be a higher recommendation than inclusion in a book with writers that people already trust?
2. Find a clear vision, and the right people to buy into it.
So now I was excited, but scared. I have trouble asking a waiter for a refill of iced tea. Now, I had to refine my ideas and go up to people I was in awe of and ask them to play with me. But I set that aside and thought: What if they said yes? Who would I want?
There are lots of anthologies focused on a certain style or sub-genre. I didn’t want that. I wanted this to be a book of discovery for readers. I wanted eight writers who were each so different that most people who loved one of them would never have heard of the others—but might discover something new that they wouldn’t otherwise look at.
I also had to have quality. I expected readers to dislike at least one writer because it wasn’t the style they wanted, but if they read even one writer who seemed amateurish, they’d put the whole book down.
So I had to find people whose work I admired, and make sure they were all different. I needed people to buy into a project that was to be largely promotional (we’d rather give away a thousand of these than sell a hundred), but that would still require their best. And the kind of people I wanted were already up to their armpits in better projects than mine.
Jesus.
3. Even big people love to be asked to help, particularly if it helps them, too.
So you’ve heard the saying about leap and the net will appear? After downing antacids and adult fortifications, I started approaching some of these semi-giants. Felt like Dorothy approaching the Wizard, without even a lion or scarecrow or a tin man.
I was rewarded with some of the best experiences of my life, as faces lit up and people I admired thanked me for the opportunity to be a part of this.
4. If you keep your request small, people will deliver big.
I pitched Eight as a low-impact project to the other writers, but none of them treated it that way. All I asked for was a sample chapter, a previously written story, and an interview. I got all that, on time (barely in some cases, but on time), and so much more. Jessie Powell made us a book trailer, and had to be restrained from doing a print ad. Kathleen Cosgrove found us a cover artist (her son Charlie Wetherington) who delivered a killer cover for next to nothing. Chris Knopf sent our press release to his many contacts. And… well, everybody went over and above.
5. Actually producing the book is the easy part.
There are lots of materials out there on how to self-pub a book. I won’t add to them except to say that pulling together a book is just a lot of fussy little time-consuming tasks, but nothing to be scared of.
6. Multiple writers multiply the quality of the book and the power of the marketing.
I really think that each person roughly doubled the value of this project. What a joy.
So now my little-bitty scary idea has become the book that I may be the most proud of, the one that will probably get the most attention, and the one that was the most fun to work on.
Without me having to do all that messy writing stuff.
Michael Guillebeau’s first book, Josh Whoever (Five Star Mysteries, 2013) was a finalist for the 2014 Silver Falchion Award for Best First Novel: Literary Suspense, received a starred review in Library Journal, and was named a Debut Mystery of the Month by Library Journal. His second book, A Study In Detail (Five Star Mysteries, 2015) received the following praise from the Midwest Book Review: “fresh, original and witty.” Guillebeau has published over twenty short stories, including three in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Michael Guillebeau lives in Madison, Alabama, and Panama City Beach, Florida. For more information, see www.michaelguillebeau.com.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Challenging Clichés / Sharon Woods Hopkins
There’s a dangerous mental laziness inherent in the use of clichés that, if unchecked, can lead us, and our readers, to a limited worldview—particularly when those clichés are stereotypes. In this week’s guest blog, author Sharon Woods Hopkins shares anecdotal examples from her own endeavors to eschew stereotypes in favor of increased imagination and creativity.
Happy reading!
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Challenging Clichés
By Sharon Woods Hopkins
I was told a long time ago that clichés are weak writing.
So are stereotypes, which are a form of clichés, about groups of people. If you write about bikers, don’t make them leather jacket thugs. For example, I know a great group of Christian bikers, and let’s not forget the Freedom Guard riders. Even if your biker, protagonist or antagonist, isn’t the church-going type, write him or her with an unexpected characteristic. Maybe he or she is a dog lover and carries a miniature poodle in a backpack.
If you write about a group of people, make them unique, different, and most of all, interesting.
I had stereotypes to avoid in Killerground, my fourth Rhetta McCarter mystery. Like the first three, this story is set in rural Southeast Missouri. That, in itself, could give rise to the Ozark hillbilly stereotype. Instead, my protagonist is a businesswoman who drives a resto-mod 1979 Camaro with a Corvette engine.
At the heart of the trouble are unusual deaths of members of a Native American tribe whose land borders that of a mysterious group that call their compound the Righteous Rewards Retreat.
The challenge to the stereotype of a cult compound here was to make the Righteous Reward compound something other than a religious group. It would have been easy to make them ultra-conservative and right wing, and that scenario has been done a lot. The leader, or Teacher as he’s called, is a billionaire from Oklahoma who believes in lay lines and the mystical powers they hold. There is no worshipping involved.
The conflict between his followers and the neighboring Native American tribe is over a natural spring that sits directly on a lay line that Teacher feels has magical power, but which belongs to the Native American tribe.
I enjoyed creating the character of Chief Ed Silver Fox, who strongly resembles a dear friend, Chief Paul White Eagle, whose help was invaluable in this story. At the same time, it was a challenge not to stereotype the chief, too. In many stories, Native Americans live on reservations, are poor, and suffer many addictions. The Native Americans in this story are not a recognized tribe by the US Government, and live on land they own independently. The chief is a talented, widowed artist determined to build a historical museum to tell the story of his dwindling tribe. He is calm, charismatic, and very wise. He is, however, distrustful of most non-Native people.
Another issue particular to the writing of this book was changing the occupation of the character and building a new world for her that was different from the one she had had for three books. I had to create a whole new occupation for Rhetta, while maintaining her circle of supporting characters. They needed different jobs, so it was a challenge to figure out what they would all do, and how they would mesh and be relevant in the new story. I did that by having my protagonist form a charitable foundation and hire her friends to work for her.
Her first project was to help the Chief build the museum. That put her in a position to be involved with the Chief, and by extension, the Righteous Rewards Retreat, and the mysterious deaths, one of which she witnessed.
As always, I strive to make Rhetta, who is just a normal woman thrown into extraordinary circumstances, smart, funny, and too nosy for her own good.
Keep clichés for conversation, like the next time your neighbor is as drunk as a skunk.
Sharon Woods Hopkins, author of the award-winning Rhetta McCarter mysteries, is retired from banking and spends her time writing and volunteering. She owns the original Cami, a restored ’79 Camaro who appears as a character in her books. Her hobbies include restoring muscle cars and painting. Her first book, Killerwatt, placed as a finalist in the 2012 Indie Excellence Awards. Her second, Killerfind, won first place in the 2013 Missouri Writers’ Guild Show-me Best Book Awards and placed as a finalist in the 2013 Indie Excellence Awards.
The third in the series,Killertrust, was a finalist in the 2014 Indie Excellence Awards.
Her newest in the series, Killerground, was released in 2015. Her award-winning short story, “Rear View Mirror”, was published in That Mysterious Woman anthology in 2014.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Guppies, International Thriller Writers, Missouri Writers Guild, Southeast Missouri Writers Guild, and Heartland Writers. You can find Sharon at the website she shares with her husband and fellow author, Bill Hopkins, the other half of The Deadly Duo, at www.deadlyduo.net, on Twitter @sharonwhopkins, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sharonwoodshopkins.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Challenging Clichés / Sharon Woods Hopkins
There’s a dangerous mental laziness inherent in the use of clichés that, if unchecked, can lead us, and our readers, to a limited worldview—particularly when those clichés are stereotypes. In this week’s guest blog, author Sharon Woods Hopkins shares anecdotal examples from her own endeavors to eschew stereotypes in favor of increased imagination and creativity.Happy reading!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Challenging Clichés
By Sharon Woods Hopkins
I was told a long time ago that clichés are weak writing.
So are stereotypes, which are a form of clichés, about groups of people. If you write about bikers, don’t make them leather jacket thugs. For example, I know a great group of Christian bikers, and let’s not forget the Freedom Guard riders. Even if your biker, protagonist or antagonist, isn’t the church-going type, write him or her with an unexpected characteristic. Maybe he or she is a dog lover and carries a miniature poodle in a backpack.
If you write about a group of people, make them unique, different, and most of all, interesting.
I had stereotypes to avoid in Killerground, my fourth Rhetta McCarter mystery. Like the first three, this story is set in rural Southeast Missouri. That, in itself, could give rise to the Ozark hillbilly stereotype. Instead, my protagonist is a businesswoman who drives a resto-mod 1979 Camaro with a Corvette engine.
At the heart of the trouble are unusual deaths of members of a Native American tribe whose land borders that of a mysterious group that call their compound the Righteous Rewards Retreat.
The challenge to the stereotype of a cult compound here was to make the Righteous Reward compound something other than a religious group. It would have been easy to make them ultra-conservative and right wing, and that scenario has been done a lot. The leader, or Teacher as he’s called, is a billionaire from Oklahoma who believes in lay lines and the mystical powers they hold. There is no worshipping involved.
The conflict between his followers and the neighboring Native American tribe is over a natural spring that sits directly on a lay line that Teacher feels has magical power, but which belongs to the Native American tribe.
I enjoyed creating the character of Chief Ed Silver Fox, who strongly resembles a dear friend, Chief Paul White Eagle, whose help was invaluable in this story. At the same time, it was a challenge not to stereotype the chief, too. In many stories, Native Americans live on reservations, are poor, and suffer many addictions. The Native Americans in this story are not a recognized tribe by the US Government, and live on land they own independently. The chief is a talented, widowed artist determined to build a historical museum to tell the story of his dwindling tribe. He is calm, charismatic, and very wise. He is, however, distrustful of most non-Native people.
Another issue particular to the writing of this book was changing the occupation of the character and building a new world for her that was different from the one she had had for three books. I had to create a whole new occupation for Rhetta, while maintaining her circle of supporting characters. They needed different jobs, so it was a challenge to figure out what they would all do, and how they would mesh and be relevant in the new story. I did that by having my protagonist form a charitable foundation and hire her friends to work for her.
Her first project was to help the Chief build the museum. That put her in a position to be involved with the Chief, and by extension, the Righteous Rewards Retreat, and the mysterious deaths, one of which she witnessed.
As always, I strive to make Rhetta, who is just a normal woman thrown into extraordinary circumstances, smart, funny, and too nosy for her own good.
Keep clichés for conversation, like the next time your neighbor is as drunk as a skunk.
Sharon Woods Hopkins, author of the award-winning Rhetta McCarter mysteries, is retired from banking and spends her time writing and volunteering. She owns the original Cami, a restored ’79 Camaro who appears as a character in her books. Her hobbies include restoring muscle cars and painting. Her first book, Killerwatt, placed as a finalist in the 2012 Indie Excellence Awards. Her second, Killerfind, won first place in the 2013 Missouri Writers’ Guild Show-me Best Book Awards and placed as a finalist in the 2013 Indie Excellence Awards.
The third in the series, Killertrust, was a finalist in the 2014 Indie Excellence Awards.
Her newest in the series, Killerground, was released in 2015. Her award-winning short story, “Rear View Mirror”, was published in That Mysterious Woman anthology in 2014.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Guppies, International Thriller Writers, Missouri Writers Guild, Southeast Missouri Writers Guild, and Heartland Writers. You can find Sharon at the website she shares with her husband and fellow author, Bill Hopkins, the other half of The Deadly Duo, at www.deadlyduo.net, on Twitter @sharonwhopkins, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sharonwoodshopkins.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Challenging Clichés / Sharon Woods Hopkins
There’s a dangerous mental laziness inherent in the use of clichés that, if unchecked, can lead us, and our readers, to a limited worldview—particularly when those clichés are stereotypes. In this week’s guest blog, author Sharon Woods Hopkins shares anecdotal examples from her own endeavors to eschew stereotypes in favor of increased imagination and creativity.Happy reading!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Challenging Clichés
By Sharon Woods Hopkins
I was told a long time ago that clichés are weak writing.
So are stereotypes, which are a form of clichés, about groups of people. If you write about bikers, don’t make them leather jacket thugs. For example, I know a great group of Christian bikers, and let’s not forget the Freedom Guard riders. Even if your biker, protagonist or antagonist, isn’t the church-going type, write him or her with an unexpected characteristic. Maybe he or she is a dog lover and carries a miniature poodle in a backpack.
If you write about a group of people, make them unique, different, and most of all, interesting.
I had stereotypes to avoid in Killerground, my fourth Rhetta McCarter mystery. Like the first three, this story is set in rural Southeast Missouri. That, in itself, could give rise to the Ozark hillbilly stereotype. Instead, my protagonist is a businesswoman who drives a resto-mod 1979 Camaro with a Corvette engine.
At the heart of the trouble are unusual deaths of members of a Native American tribe whose land borders that of a mysterious group that call their compound the Righteous Rewards Retreat.
The challenge to the stereotype of a cult compound here was to make the Righteous Reward compound something other than a religious group. It would have been easy to make them ultra-conservative and right wing, and that scenario has been done a lot. The leader, or Teacher as he’s called, is a billionaire from Oklahoma who believes in lay lines and the mystical powers they hold. There is no worshipping involved.
The conflict between his followers and the neighboring Native American tribe is over a natural spring that sits directly on a lay line that Teacher feels has magical power, but which belongs to the Native American tribe.
I enjoyed creating the character of Chief Ed Silver Fox, who strongly resembles a dear friend, Chief Paul White Eagle, whose help was invaluable in this story. At the same time, it was a challenge not to stereotype the chief, too. In many stories, Native Americans live on reservations, are poor, and suffer many addictions. The Native Americans in this story are not a recognized tribe by the US Government, and live on land they own independently. The chief is a talented, widowed artist determined to build a historical museum to tell the story of his dwindling tribe. He is calm, charismatic, and very wise. He is, however, distrustful of most non-Native people.
Another issue particular to the writing of this book was changing the occupation of the character and building a new world for her that was different from the one she had had for three books. I had to create a whole new occupation for Rhetta, while maintaining her circle of supporting characters. They needed different jobs, so it was a challenge to figure out what they would all do, and how they would mesh and be relevant in the new story. I did that by having my protagonist form a charitable foundation and hire her friends to work for her.
Her first project was to help the Chief build the museum. That put her in a position to be involved with the Chief, and by extension, the Righteous Rewards Retreat, and the mysterious deaths, one of which she witnessed.
As always, I strive to make Rhetta, who is just a normal woman thrown into extraordinary circumstances, smart, funny, and too nosy for her own good.
Keep clichés for conversation, like the next time your neighbor is as drunk as a skunk.
Sharon Woods Hopkins, author of the award-winning Rhetta McCarter mysteries, is retired from banking and spends her time writing and volunteering. She owns the original Cami, a restored ’79 Camaro who appears as a character in her books. Her hobbies include restoring muscle cars and painting. Her first book, Killerwatt, placed as a finalist in the 2012 Indie Excellence Awards. Her second, Killerfind, won first place in the 2013 Missouri Writers’ Guild Show-me Best Book Awards and placed as a finalist in the 2013 Indie Excellence Awards.
The third in the series, Killertrust, was a finalist in the 2014 Indie Excellence Awards.
Her newest in the series, Killerground, was released in 2015. Her award-winning short story, “Rear View Mirror”, was published in That Mysterious Woman anthology in 2014.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Guppies, International Thriller Writers, Missouri Writers Guild, Southeast Missouri Writers Guild, and Heartland Writers. You can find Sharon at the website she shares with her husband and fellow author, Bill Hopkins, the other half of The Deadly Duo, at www.deadlyduo.net, on Twitter @sharonwhopkins, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sharonwoodshopkins.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Believability—How Much Can We Stretch Reality and Get Away With It? / Caroline Fardig
Part of the fun of fiction is escaping the constraints of normality. Although readers value consistency and authenticity in the worlds we construct, we have to be careful not to allow these concerns to squelch our creativity. This week’s guest blogger Caroline Fardig offers advice on walking that tightrope, drawn from her experience as an author of both cozy and forensic procedural mysteries.
Happy reading!
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Believability—How Much Can We Stretch Reality and Get Away With It?
By Caroline Fardig
My agent, Ethan Ellenberg, once told me that if you can get the reader sucked into a good story, it’s okay for believability to take a backseat. I agree wholeheartedly, and in my writing I’m always stretching the limits of what “real” people would actually do in a given situation. That said, you can’t exactly introduce a family of sparkly, angsty vampires into your psychological thriller and expect your readers to go along with it. Yes, writing fiction gives us certain liberties, but you still have to play by the rules of your genre.
In any genre, you want to create characters who come to life for your readers. They should have faults as well as redeeming qualities, and you can exaggerate those traits, but only up to a certain point. For example, maybe your main character is a curmudgeonly, hard-nosed cop, never passing a chance to offer up a gruff comment or a fiery retort. You can play that to the hilt. However, he has to have a softer side; otherwise, he won’t seem real (or likeable).
Humans are complex, and characters with layers to their personalities are much more lifelike than one-dimensional caricatures, and thus believable. If your character seems dependable and real, you can stretch the boundaries of what they are able to do, like when the fate of the world hangs in the balance and only one person has the power to save it.
With mysteries, it depends on your specific genre as to how much of a stickler you need to be for accurate investigational procedure and forensics. In cozies, you’re never going to have a decomposing body lying in a pool of bodily waste with blowflies circling it. It’s just not done.
On the flip side, in a more hard-boiled detective novel, you’re not going to find dead Aunt Martha posed peacefully in her favorite chair and still smelling like roses after being dead for a day or two.
Case in point, in my upcoming humorous cozy, Mug Shot, the heroine lands herself in jail for a minor infraction. She’s thrown in the drunk tank, which is co-ed, and hilarity ensues. Do men and women ever get locked up together in the same cell in real life? Not likely. But when I asked my friend Rick Reed (a detective-turned-author and yearly Killer Nashville presenter) if he thought it was too unbelievable, he said I should go for it.
Rick assured me that it wasn’t too terribly far-fetched for a cozy and it sounded like a fun scene. Would I do the same thing in the forensic procedural I’m currently writing? Heck, no!
In fact, I am so intent that my grittier mystery series is believable, I’ve taken two criminology classes at my local college. My forensics professor also works as a firearms and tool mark specialist for the Indiana State Police Crime Lab, so for one of the class sessions, we got to tour the local lab facility and speak with all of the criminologists on staff. Both classes had a lot of guest speakers, so I was able to make connections with law enforcement officials who have been more than willing to answer my questions and explain the ins and outs of crime solving.
Did I go that far in researching for my cozies? Again… heck, no! In preparing to write my cozy Java Jive series (Death Before Decaf and Mug Shot), the most rigorous “research” I did was going on a couple of weekend trips to check out coffeehouses in Nashville.
Don’t scoff too much at that, though. If you’re writing a story based in a real area, you need to actually go to the area and get a feel for the place. I’ve either walked or driven down nearly every street in the Midtown area of Nashville, which is just south of downtown between the campuses of Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities, because I want the setting to be as true-to-life as possible, even if the situations the characters get themselves into are not!
If you’ve followed all the rules and are still worried that something doesn’t quite sound believable, fess up to it! At the end of Joyland, Stephen King admits to making up some of the carny slang he uses throughout the book. He basically said that we readers should get over it, and he very kindly let us know we could save our hate mail, because after all … it’s FICTION!
Caroline Fardig is the author of the Java Jive Mysteries series and the Lizzie Hart Mysteries series. Suspense Magazine recently named Fardig’s Bad Medicine as one of the Best Books of 2015. She worked as a schoolteacher, church organist, insurance agent, funeral parlor associate, and stay-at-home mom before she realized that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Born and raised in a small town in Indiana, Fardig still lives in that same town with an understanding husband, two sweet kids, two energetic dogs, and one malevolent cat. Find Caroline on the web at www.carolinefardig.com.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Believability—How Much Can We Stretch Reality and Get Away With It? / Caroline Fardig
Part of the fun of fiction is escaping the constraints of normality. Although readers value consistency and authenticity in the worlds we construct, we have to be careful not to allow these concerns to squelch our creativity. This week’s guest blogger Caroline Fardig offers advice on walking that tightrope, drawn from her experience as an author of both cozy and forensic procedural mysteries.Happy reading!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Believability—How Much Can We Stretch Reality and Get Away With It?
By Caroline Fardig
My agent, Ethan Ellenberg, once told me that if you can get the reader sucked into a good story, it’s okay for believability to take a backseat. I agree wholeheartedly, and in my writing I’m always stretching the limits of what “real” people would actually do in a given situation. That said, you can’t exactly introduce a family of sparkly, angsty vampires into your psychological thriller and expect your readers to go along with it. Yes, writing fiction gives us certain liberties, but you still have to play by the rules of your genre.
In any genre, you want to create characters who come to life for your readers. They should have faults as well as redeeming qualities, and you can exaggerate those traits, but only up to a certain point. For example, maybe your main character is a curmudgeonly, hard-nosed cop, never passing a chance to offer up a gruff comment or a fiery retort. You can play that to the hilt. However, he has to have a softer side; otherwise, he won’t seem real (or likeable).
Humans are complex, and characters with layers to their personalities are much more lifelike than one-dimensional caricatures, and thus believable. If your character seems dependable and real, you can stretch the boundaries of what they are able to do, like when the fate of the world hangs in the balance and only one person has the power to save it.
With mysteries, it depends on your specific genre as to how much of a stickler you need to be for accurate investigational procedure and forensics. In cozies, you’re never going to have a decomposing body lying in a pool of bodily waste with blowflies circling it. It’s just not done.
On the flip side, in a more hard-boiled detective novel, you’re not going to find dead Aunt Martha posed peacefully in her favorite chair and still smelling like roses after being dead for a day or two.
Case in point, in my upcoming humorous cozy, Mug Shot, the heroine lands herself in jail for a minor infraction. She’s thrown in the drunk tank, which is co-ed, and hilarity ensues. Do men and women ever get locked up together in the same cell in real life? Not likely. But when I asked my friend Rick Reed (a detective-turned-author and yearly Killer Nashville presenter) if he thought it was too unbelievable, he said I should go for it.
Rick assured me that it wasn’t too terribly far-fetched for a cozy and it sounded like a fun scene. Would I do the same thing in the forensic procedural I’m currently writing? Heck, no!
In fact, I am so intent that my grittier mystery series is believable, I’ve taken two criminology classes at my local college. My forensics professor also works as a firearms and tool mark specialist for the Indiana State Police Crime Lab, so for one of the class sessions, we got to tour the local lab facility and speak with all of the criminologists on staff. Both classes had a lot of guest speakers, so I was able to make connections with law enforcement officials who have been more than willing to answer my questions and explain the ins and outs of crime solving.
Did I go that far in researching for my cozies? Again… heck, no! In preparing to write my cozy Java Jive series (Death Before Decaf and Mug Shot), the most rigorous “research” I did was going on a couple of weekend trips to check out coffeehouses in Nashville.
Don’t scoff too much at that, though. If you’re writing a story based in a real area, you need to actually go to the area and get a feel for the place. I’ve either walked or driven down nearly every street in the Midtown area of Nashville, which is just south of downtown between the campuses of Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities, because I want the setting to be as true-to-life as possible, even if the situations the characters get themselves into are not!
If you’ve followed all the rules and are still worried that something doesn’t quite sound believable, fess up to it! At the end of Joyland, Stephen King admits to making up some of the carny slang he uses throughout the book. He basically said that we readers should get over it, and he very kindly let us know we could save our hate mail, because after all … it’s FICTION!
Caroline Fardig is the author of the Java Jive Mysteries series and the Lizzie Hart Mysteries series. Suspense Magazine recently named Fardig’s Bad Medicine as one of the Best Books of 2015. She worked as a schoolteacher, church organist, insurance agent, funeral parlor associate, and stay-at-home mom before she realized that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Born and raised in a small town in Indiana, Fardig still lives in that same town with an understanding husband, two sweet kids, two energetic dogs, and one malevolent cat. Find Caroline on the web at www.carolinefardig.com.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Believability—How Much Can We Stretch Reality and Get Away With It? / Caroline Fardig
Part of the fun of fiction is escaping the constraints of normality. Although readers value consistency and authenticity in the worlds we construct, we have to be careful not to allow these concerns to squelch our creativity. This week’s guest blogger Caroline Fardig offers advice on walking that tightrope, drawn from her experience as an author of both cozy and forensic procedural mysteries.Happy reading!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Believability—How Much Can We Stretch Reality and Get Away With It?
By Caroline Fardig
My agent, Ethan Ellenberg, once told me that if you can get the reader sucked into a good story, it’s okay for believability to take a backseat. I agree wholeheartedly, and in my writing I’m always stretching the limits of what “real” people would actually do in a given situation. That said, you can’t exactly introduce a family of sparkly, angsty vampires into your psychological thriller and expect your readers to go along with it. Yes, writing fiction gives us certain liberties, but you still have to play by the rules of your genre.
In any genre, you want to create characters who come to life for your readers. They should have faults as well as redeeming qualities, and you can exaggerate those traits, but only up to a certain point. For example, maybe your main character is a curmudgeonly, hard-nosed cop, never passing a chance to offer up a gruff comment or a fiery retort. You can play that to the hilt. However, he has to have a softer side; otherwise, he won’t seem real (or likeable).
Humans are complex, and characters with layers to their personalities are much more lifelike than one-dimensional caricatures, and thus believable. If your character seems dependable and real, you can stretch the boundaries of what they are able to do, like when the fate of the world hangs in the balance and only one person has the power to save it.
With mysteries, it depends on your specific genre as to how much of a stickler you need to be for accurate investigational procedure and forensics. In cozies, you’re never going to have a decomposing body lying in a pool of bodily waste with blowflies circling it. It’s just not done.
On the flip side, in a more hard-boiled detective novel, you’re not going to find dead Aunt Martha posed peacefully in her favorite chair and still smelling like roses after being dead for a day or two.
Case in point, in my upcoming humorous cozy, Mug Shot, the heroine lands herself in jail for a minor infraction. She’s thrown in the drunk tank, which is co-ed, and hilarity ensues. Do men and women ever get locked up together in the same cell in real life? Not likely. But when I asked my friend Rick Reed (a detective-turned-author and yearly Killer Nashville presenter) if he thought it was too unbelievable, he said I should go for it.
Rick assured me that it wasn’t too terribly far-fetched for a cozy and it sounded like a fun scene. Would I do the same thing in the forensic procedural I’m currently writing? Heck, no!
In fact, I am so intent that my grittier mystery series is believable, I’ve taken two criminology classes at my local college. My forensics professor also works as a firearms and tool mark specialist for the Indiana State Police Crime Lab, so for one of the class sessions, we got to tour the local lab facility and speak with all of the criminologists on staff. Both classes had a lot of guest speakers, so I was able to make connections with law enforcement officials who have been more than willing to answer my questions and explain the ins and outs of crime solving.
Did I go that far in researching for my cozies? Again… heck, no! In preparing to write my cozy Java Jive series (Death Before Decaf and Mug Shot), the most rigorous “research” I did was going on a couple of weekend trips to check out coffeehouses in Nashville.
Don’t scoff too much at that, though. If you’re writing a story based in a real area, you need to actually go to the area and get a feel for the place. I’ve either walked or driven down nearly every street in the Midtown area of Nashville, which is just south of downtown between the campuses of Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities, because I want the setting to be as true-to-life as possible, even if the situations the characters get themselves into are not!
If you’ve followed all the rules and are still worried that something doesn’t quite sound believable, fess up to it! At the end of Joyland, Stephen King admits to making up some of the carny slang he uses throughout the book. He basically said that we readers should get over it, and he very kindly let us know we could save our hate mail, because after all … it’s FICTION!
Caroline Fardig is the author of the Java Jive Mysteries series and the Lizzie Hart Mysteries series. Suspense Magazine recently named Fardig’s Bad Medicine as one of the Best Books of 2015. She worked as a schoolteacher, church organist, insurance agent, funeral parlor associate, and stay-at-home mom before she realized that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Born and raised in a small town in Indiana, Fardig still lives in that same town with an understanding husband, two sweet kids, two energetic dogs, and one malevolent cat. Find Caroline on the web at www.carolinefardig.com.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Thinking Like a Horse / Lisa Wysocky
As a well-rounded adult member of society, you have more interests and areas of expertise than just the all-important writing world. (Right? …If not, well, I hate to say it, but you’re missing out.) Sometimes, viewing an aspect of writing through that seemingly incongruous lens offers you perspective, and can help you approach problems with new insight. In this week’s guest blog, equestrian mystery writer Lisa Wysocky applies her lifelong love of horses to decrypting the relationship between writers and readers.
Happy reading!
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Thinking Like a Horse
By Lisa Wysocky
From the time I was very young, I have written about horses, and as I have gotten older I find that my most important lessons have come from the world of horses—including lessons about reading and writing (and about readers and writers).
Every “horse person” knows that humans are predators and horses are prey. Obviously, this is a fundamental difference between species, and as a result, each acts accordingly. Horses look to those around them for leadership. If their human partner does not display an ability to lead via business-like body posture, competent facial expression, calm voice, and sensible decisions, the horse will lose respect for the human and call them on their error by misbehaving.
What, you might ask, does this have to do with reading or writing a mystery? Everything, actually, as horses and humans are not the only ones to have differences. Authors and readers can also be very different, in terms of their roles. Authors, for instance, “lead” the reader into the story, just as a human might lead a horse into a new adventure on the trail. If the writer’s story is not engaging and exquisitely crafted, then, just like a horse, the reader will lose respect.
Mystery authors sometimes live with their characters long enough that it becomes difficult to find perspective in giving out needed details of character and plot. If they get it wrong, a reader will call an author on it every time. In this way, the horse/human relationship and the author/reader relationship are not so very different.
Horse lovers also try to impose human experiences onto horses, and that is an impossible task. From the way horses process thought, to how they see and process touch, theirs is a world apart from the human experience. It is the same with readers and writers. When I write, I try to think like my readers, even though I know my characters and the story inside and out, while the reader is at the mercy of the information I choose to deliver.
That’s why I am always conscious of how the typical mystery reader might interpret a scene, or the last line of a chapter. Will my description of a round pen, for example, make sense to a person who does not know about horses, yet not be too elementary for those who do? As a reader, I know that I would much rather have the comfort of a concise, accurate description of an object or a process, than have a “Huh?” experience. As an author, however, that balance can be hard to find.
I have been fortunate to have my nonfiction books about horses diligently edited by people who are seasoned horse people, because those are the only readers who will be interested in that kind of book. On the other hand, I am equally as fortunate to have a woman who knows little about horses edit my Cat Enright equestrian mystery series, including The Fame Equation (2015). Even though I try to think like my readers when I write, I sometimes forget that not everyone knows, for example, what a fetlock is. My editor calls me on those lapses every time.
What is relevant information? What description adds to the story? What words advance the plot? How much is too much? Authors must lead the reader ably into, through, and out of the story in such a way that the reader wants to come back for more. Horse lovers want their horses engaged with them. Authors want to engage readers. Both, in a way, are done through leadership.
That’s why I try to think like a horse when I write. Scientists’ best guess is that horses think in pictures, much as people on the autism spectrum do, and every writer wants to be visual. Horses are also quite literal. If they don’t like something, you know it immediately with the pinning of an ear or a swish of a tail. As a writer, I know pretty quickly if a reader doesn’t like something, as one is sure to speak up.
Whether it is through reading or writing, we all love to immerse ourselves in a new mystery. That focus and attention is also very horse-like, so whether you realize it or not, you have something in common with the horsiest of horses.
Lisa Wysocky is a registered level PATH International instructor and also holds a certification as a Mentor and Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning. The September 2011 publication of the four-time award winning Cat Enright equestrian mystery, The Opium Equation, marked Lisa's debut fiction effort. The follow up, The Magnum Equation, takes place at an all breed horse show and won best book at the American Horse Publications awards, the first fiction book ever to earn this honor. The Fame Equation was published in 2015 and the series has recently been optioned for film and television. Lisa is also one of the authors included in the best-selling anthology, Eight Mystery Writers You Should Be Reading Now, with a Foreword by Hank Phillippi Ryan. She splits her time between Tennessee and Minnesota. Find her at LisaWysocky.com.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Thinking Like a Horse / Lisa Wysocky
As a well-rounded adult member of society, you have more interests and areas of expertise than just the all-important writing world. (Right? …If not, well, I hate to say it, but you’re missing out.) Sometimes, viewing an aspect of writing through that seemingly incongruous lens offers you perspective, and can help you approach problems with new insight. In this week’s guest blog, equestrian mystery writer Lisa Wysocky applies her lifelong love of horses to decrypting the relationship between writers and readers.Happy reading!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Thinking Like a Horse
By Lisa Wysocky
From the time I was very young, I have written about horses, and as I have gotten older I find that my most important lessons have come from the world of horses—including lessons about reading and writing (and about readers and writers).
Every “horse person” knows that humans are predators and horses are prey. Obviously, this is a fundamental difference between species, and as a result, each acts accordingly. Horses look to those around them for leadership. If their human partner does not display an ability to lead via business-like body posture, competent facial expression, calm voice, and sensible decisions, the horse will lose respect for the human and call them on their error by misbehaving.
What, you might ask, does this have to do with reading or writing a mystery? Everything, actually, as horses and humans are not the only ones to have differences. Authors and readers can also be very different, in terms of their roles. Authors, for instance, “lead” the reader into the story, just as a human might lead a horse into a new adventure on the trail. If the writer’s story is not engaging and exquisitely crafted, then, just like a horse, the reader will lose respect.
Mystery authors sometimes live with their characters long enough that it becomes difficult to find perspective in giving out needed details of character and plot. If they get it wrong, a reader will call an author on it every time. In this way, the horse/human relationship and the author/reader relationship are not so very different.
Horse lovers also try to impose human experiences onto horses, and that is an impossible task. From the way horses process thought, to how they see and process touch, theirs is a world apart from the human experience. It is the same with readers and writers. When I write, I try to think like my readers, even though I know my characters and the story inside and out, while the reader is at the mercy of the information I choose to deliver.
That’s why I am always conscious of how the typical mystery reader might interpret a scene, or the last line of a chapter. Will my description of a round pen, for example, make sense to a person who does not know about horses, yet not be too elementary for those who do? As a reader, I know that I would much rather have the comfort of a concise, accurate description of an object or a process, than have a “Huh?” experience. As an author, however, that balance can be hard to find.
I have been fortunate to have my nonfiction books about horses diligently edited by people who are seasoned horse people, because those are the only readers who will be interested in that kind of book. On the other hand, I am equally as fortunate to have a woman who knows little about horses edit my Cat Enright equestrian mystery series, including The Fame Equation (2015). Even though I try to think like my readers when I write, I sometimes forget that not everyone knows, for example, what a fetlock is. My editor calls me on those lapses every time.
What is relevant information? What description adds to the story? What words advance the plot? How much is too much? Authors must lead the reader ably into, through, and out of the story in such a way that the reader wants to come back for more. Horse lovers want their horses engaged with them. Authors want to engage readers. Both, in a way, are done through leadership.
That’s why I try to think like a horse when I write. Scientists’ best guess is that horses think in pictures, much as people on the autism spectrum do, and every writer wants to be visual. Horses are also quite literal. If they don’t like something, you know it immediately with the pinning of an ear or a swish of a tail. As a writer, I know pretty quickly if a reader doesn’t like something, as one is sure to speak up.
Whether it is through reading or writing, we all love to immerse ourselves in a new mystery. That focus and attention is also very horse-like, so whether you realize it or not, you have something in common with the horsiest of horses.
Lisa Wysocky is a registered level PATH International instructor and also holds a certification as a Mentor and Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning. The September 2011 publication of the four-time award winning Cat Enright equestrian mystery, The Opium Equation, marked Lisa's debut fiction effort. The follow up, The Magnum Equation, takes place at an all breed horse show and won best book at the American Horse Publications awards, the first fiction book ever to earn this honor. The Fame Equation was published in 2015 and the series has recently been optioned for film and television. Lisa is also one of the authors included in the best-selling anthology, Eight Mystery Writers You Should Be Reading Now, with a Foreword by Hank Phillippi Ryan. She splits her time between Tennessee and Minnesota. Find her at LisaWysocky.com.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Thinking Like a Horse / Lisa Wysocky
As a well-rounded adult member of society, you have more interests and areas of expertise than just the all-important writing world. (Right? …If not, well, I hate to say it, but you’re missing out.) Sometimes, viewing an aspect of writing through that seemingly incongruous lens offers you perspective, and can help you approach problems with new insight. In this week’s guest blog, equestrian mystery writer Lisa Wysocky applies her lifelong love of horses to decrypting the relationship between writers and readers.Happy reading!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Thinking Like a Horse
By Lisa Wysocky
From the time I was very young, I have written about horses, and as I have gotten older I find that my most important lessons have come from the world of horses—including lessons about reading and writing (and about readers and writers).
Every “horse person” knows that humans are predators and horses are prey. Obviously, this is a fundamental difference between species, and as a result, each acts accordingly. Horses look to those around them for leadership. If their human partner does not display an ability to lead via business-like body posture, competent facial expression, calm voice, and sensible decisions, the horse will lose respect for the human and call them on their error by misbehaving.
What, you might ask, does this have to do with reading or writing a mystery? Everything, actually, as horses and humans are not the only ones to have differences. Authors and readers can also be very different, in terms of their roles. Authors, for instance, “lead” the reader into the story, just as a human might lead a horse into a new adventure on the trail. If the writer’s story is not engaging and exquisitely crafted, then, just like a horse, the reader will lose respect.
Mystery authors sometimes live with their characters long enough that it becomes difficult to find perspective in giving out needed details of character and plot. If they get it wrong, a reader will call an author on it every time. In this way, the horse/human relationship and the author/reader relationship are not so very different.
Horse lovers also try to impose human experiences onto horses, and that is an impossible task. From the way horses process thought, to how they see and process touch, theirs is a world apart from the human experience. It is the same with readers and writers. When I write, I try to think like my readers, even though I know my characters and the story inside and out, while the reader is at the mercy of the information I choose to deliver.
That’s why I am always conscious of how the typical mystery reader might interpret a scene, or the last line of a chapter. Will my description of a round pen, for example, make sense to a person who does not know about horses, yet not be too elementary for those who do? As a reader, I know that I would much rather have the comfort of a concise, accurate description of an object or a process, than have a “Huh?” experience. As an author, however, that balance can be hard to find.
I have been fortunate to have my nonfiction books about horses diligently edited by people who are seasoned horse people, because those are the only readers who will be interested in that kind of book. On the other hand, I am equally as fortunate to have a woman who knows little about horses edit my Cat Enright equestrian mystery series, including The Fame Equation (2015). Even though I try to think like my readers when I write, I sometimes forget that not everyone knows, for example, what a fetlock is. My editor calls me on those lapses every time.
What is relevant information? What description adds to the story? What words advance the plot? How much is too much? Authors must lead the reader ably into, through, and out of the story in such a way that the reader wants to come back for more. Horse lovers want their horses engaged with them. Authors want to engage readers. Both, in a way, are done through leadership.
That’s why I try to think like a horse when I write. Scientists’ best guess is that horses think in pictures, much as people on the autism spectrum do, and every writer wants to be visual. Horses are also quite literal. If they don’t like something, you know it immediately with the pinning of an ear or a swish of a tail. As a writer, I know pretty quickly if a reader doesn’t like something, as one is sure to speak up.
Whether it is through reading or writing, we all love to immerse ourselves in a new mystery. That focus and attention is also very horse-like, so whether you realize it or not, you have something in common with the horsiest of horses.
Lisa Wysocky is a registered level PATH International instructor and also holds a certification as a Mentor and Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning. The September 2011 publication of the four-time award winning Cat Enright equestrian mystery, The Opium Equation, marked Lisa's debut fiction effort. The follow up, The Magnum Equation, takes place at an all breed horse show and won best book at the American Horse Publications awards, the first fiction book ever to earn this honor. The Fame Equation was published in 2015 and the series has recently been optioned for film and television. Lisa is also one of the authors included in the best-selling anthology, Eight Mystery Writers You Should Be Reading Now, with a Foreword by Hank Phillippi Ryan. She splits her time between Tennessee and Minnesota. Find her at LisaWysocky.com.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Author vs. Reader / C. Hope Clark
Thanks to the Internet, and the proliferation of cliché-caching sites like TVTropes.com, it’s harder than ever to surprise a reader. We’ve become so jaded as story-consumers that even the phrase “I’ve seen it all before” is too predictable to bother uttering. Rather than allowing this to discourage her, however, guest author C. Hope Clark chooses to see genre-savvy readers as an exciting challenge for her creativity to overcome in her quest to trick and trap her readers to their hearts’ delight.
Happy reading!
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Author vs. Reader
By C. Hope Clark
Mystery is the only genre that pits author against reader. When I state this in classes, attendees’ eyes travel up and to the left, as if searching through their mental files to see if their experiences prove my statement. They always smile in recognition.
At first blush, anything with X versus Y sounds like a bad thing. An adversarial experience. Readers hunting for mistakes, maybe. Finding blue eyes on your protagonist on page 43 and brown on page 76. Or spelling “Jesse” in one conversation and later having it “Jessie”.
But only mystery? What about romance? Sci-fi? Women’s fiction? Suspense? Ah, suspense! Still no. Suspense is about the chase, not the whodunit. Only in mystery does the story open with an unanswered question that, through clues, trip-ups, and numerous wrong turns, leads the reader to a solution he never saw coming.
Author vs. Reader is about more than the whodunit. It’s about the red herrings and twists, and writing them such that the reader can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t. It’s about leading him down one path with all its color, intricacies and three-dimensional style to make him feel that what isn’t real actually is. Then at the end, after the maze of this redirection, the solution rears up in the reader’s face all grinning, sly, and smiling, and whispers, “Got you.”
I get chills mastering that talent as an author, and it is entertainment of the highest order when an author bests my sleuthing skills as a reader.
I absorbed this Author vs. Reader tenet a long, long time ago in a small, uneventful class, but I didn’t realize the intensity of its importance until I got involved in a critique group. I’ve belonged to an online critique group for twelve years. A core within that group has followed and coached me from the first novel to the present. We have become so familiar that we scold each other when material triggers our BS meters.
While I can write without the group, I prefer to hear their questions as to why I chose a certain route. “If that’s a clue, you’ll need to flesh it out better than this, because it isn’t working for me.” Or, “Are you kidding? Sorry, but I can’t see this character doing that even if it is a red herring.” After feedback, sometimes I toss that twist in the trash. Other times I hone it more, so that it is smoking hot smart. It’s finding that subtle edge that makes a mystery brilliant.
No author, however, can know all the potential options to taking a mystery from Point A to Z. I dare say that no author can operate in a vacuum without running twists by someone they trust. As mystery specialists, we read so much and juggle so many options through our heads that we can become callous and flat in understanding what zings. However, beta readers or a strong critique group can help us zig instead of zag so that the zing really sings. The harsher you let them question your motives, the slicker you learn to adjust.
An avid mystery reader enters a story with radar on and eyes scanning for clues, accepting the challenge laid down by an author. The reader opens the book, thinking, “No way this author can best me.” The author writes, thinking, “You’ll never guess who did it before the end.” And the gauntlet is thrown down. Unless your theories and clues have been tested to the nth degree, a mystery aficionado will bust you by chapter ten.
This Me against You mentality makes for some of the best stories. But it makes for some of the biggest hurdles for an author. Every story has to be told well, with great dialogue, remarkable setting, and characters that pop off the page. The highs and lows, the emotional baggage, all must be presented with a deft hand. Each word matters, and in the best books, the reader appreciates this because he never sees the words… only the story.
A mystery author, however, must invest themselves deeper, because the reader enters Chapter One knowing that anyone on any page might be the culprit… or an author’s misrepresentation. Actions, choices, and even snippets of dialogue can snare and divert a reader.
A knife thrown in the bushes jumps out as a clue to watch, while the subtle mention of hot chocolate on the counter means nothing, only to become the real evidence. Or will the knife seem so obvious that the reader discounts it, only to learn that it did matter, a jousting advance and retreat between reader and author.
I’ve altered who died, shifted red herring suspects, and even deleted climaxes to avoid being too predictable. Killed the unexpected good character and saved the cad. My second Carolina Slade Mystery, Tidewater Murder, had an entirely different climax before a beta reader gave it a lukewarm rating as predictable. In the third, Palmetto Poison, a Silver Falchion award winner, I decided in the third draft to insure every single character represented a twist somewhere in the book.
Authors twist and turn, then twist and turn again, then ponder whether to undo one twist and replace it with another. Or twist the twist that came about from the first twist. There’s nothing wrong with stepping back from your work think, “How can I screw with this in another direction one more time?” Remember, your reader has many mysteries under his belt, and feels he’s seen it all. He tingles at the opportunity to experience something he hasn’t. Every paragraph and page must be taken to the point of ridiculousness, because anything less is fair game to the reader.
An author has to wow himself with the clues and answers in a mystery long before he wows the reader. And if a mystery author hasn’t completely amazed himself with his story, he’ll never win the fight.
C. Hope Clark attempts to amaze her mystery readers in her award-winning Carolina Slade Mysteries and Edisto Island Mysteries, both from Bell Bridge Books of Memphis, TN. Two of the Slade mysteries won Silver Falchion awards at Killer Nashville, and her latest release is Edisto Jinx. Her short mystery “Rich Talk” appeared in Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded and has been nominated for an Edgar. When not twisting mysteries, Hope manages FundsforWriters.com, chosen by Writer’s Digest Magazine for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for 15 years. Reach her at www.chopeclark.com. She lives on the banks of Lake Murray in central South Carolina, when she isn’t writing at Edisto Beach.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Author vs. Reader / C. Hope Clark
Thanks to the Internet, and the proliferation of cliché-caching sites like TVTropes.com, it’s harder than ever to surprise a reader. We’ve become so jaded as story-consumers that even the phrase “I’ve seen it all before” is too predictable to bother uttering. Rather than allowing this to discourage her, however, guest author C. Hope Clark chooses to see genre-savvy readers as an exciting challenge for her creativity to overcome in her quest to trick and trap her readers to their hearts’ delight.Happy reading!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Author vs. Reader
By C. Hope Clark
Mystery is the only genre that pits author against reader. When I state this in classes, attendees’ eyes travel up and to the left, as if searching through their mental files to see if their experiences prove my statement. They always smile in recognition.
At first blush, anything with X versus Y sounds like a bad thing. An adversarial experience. Readers hunting for mistakes, maybe. Finding blue eyes on your protagonist on page 43 and brown on page 76. Or spelling “Jesse” in one conversation and later having it “Jessie”.
But only mystery? What about romance? Sci-fi? Women’s fiction? Suspense? Ah, suspense! Still no. Suspense is about the chase, not the whodunit. Only in mystery does the story open with an unanswered question that, through clues, trip-ups, and numerous wrong turns, leads the reader to a solution he never saw coming.
Author vs. Reader is about more than the whodunit. It’s about the red herrings and twists, and writing them such that the reader can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t. It’s about leading him down one path with all its color, intricacies and three-dimensional style to make him feel that what isn’t real actually is. Then at the end, after the maze of this redirection, the solution rears up in the reader’s face all grinning, sly, and smiling, and whispers, “Got you.”
I get chills mastering that talent as an author, and it is entertainment of the highest order when an author bests my sleuthing skills as a reader.
I absorbed this Author vs. Reader tenet a long, long time ago in a small, uneventful class, but I didn’t realize the intensity of its importance until I got involved in a critique group. I’ve belonged to an online critique group for twelve years. A core within that group has followed and coached me from the first novel to the present. We have become so familiar that we scold each other when material triggers our BS meters.
While I can write without the group, I prefer to hear their questions as to why I chose a certain route. “If that’s a clue, you’ll need to flesh it out better than this, because it isn’t working for me.” Or, “Are you kidding? Sorry, but I can’t see this character doing that even if it is a red herring.” After feedback, sometimes I toss that twist in the trash. Other times I hone it more, so that it is smoking hot smart. It’s finding that subtle edge that makes a mystery brilliant.
No author, however, can know all the potential options to taking a mystery from Point A to Z. I dare say that no author can operate in a vacuum without running twists by someone they trust. As mystery specialists, we read so much and juggle so many options through our heads that we can become callous and flat in understanding what zings. However, beta readers or a strong critique group can help us zig instead of zag so that the zing really sings. The harsher you let them question your motives, the slicker you learn to adjust.
An avid mystery reader enters a story with radar on and eyes scanning for clues, accepting the challenge laid down by an author. The reader opens the book, thinking, “No way this author can best me.” The author writes, thinking, “You’ll never guess who did it before the end.” And the gauntlet is thrown down. Unless your theories and clues have been tested to the nth degree, a mystery aficionado will bust you by chapter ten.
This Me against You mentality makes for some of the best stories. But it makes for some of the biggest hurdles for an author. Every story has to be told well, with great dialogue, remarkable setting, and characters that pop off the page. The highs and lows, the emotional baggage, all must be presented with a deft hand. Each word matters, and in the best books, the reader appreciates this because he never sees the words… only the story.
A mystery author, however, must invest themselves deeper, because the reader enters Chapter One knowing that anyone on any page might be the culprit… or an author’s misrepresentation. Actions, choices, and even snippets of dialogue can snare and divert a reader.
A knife thrown in the bushes jumps out as a clue to watch, while the subtle mention of hot chocolate on the counter means nothing, only to become the real evidence. Or will the knife seem so obvious that the reader discounts it, only to learn that it did matter, a jousting advance and retreat between reader and author.
I’ve altered who died, shifted red herring suspects, and even deleted climaxes to avoid being too predictable. Killed the unexpected good character and saved the cad. My second Carolina Slade Mystery, Tidewater Murder, had an entirely different climax before a beta reader gave it a lukewarm rating as predictable. In the third, Palmetto Poison, a Silver Falchion award winner, I decided in the third draft to insure every single character represented a twist somewhere in the book.
Authors twist and turn, then twist and turn again, then ponder whether to undo one twist and replace it with another. Or twist the twist that came about from the first twist. There’s nothing wrong with stepping back from your work think, “How can I screw with this in another direction one more time?” Remember, your reader has many mysteries under his belt, and feels he’s seen it all. He tingles at the opportunity to experience something he hasn’t. Every paragraph and page must be taken to the point of ridiculousness, because anything less is fair game to the reader.
An author has to wow himself with the clues and answers in a mystery long before he wows the reader. And if a mystery author hasn’t completely amazed himself with his story, he’ll never win the fight.
C. Hope Clark attempts to amaze her mystery readers in her award-winning Carolina Slade Mysteries and Edisto Island Mysteries, both from Bell Bridge Books of Memphis, TN. Two of the Slade mysteries won Silver Falchion awards at Killer Nashville, and her latest release is Edisto Jinx. Her short mystery “Rich Talk” appeared in Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded and has been nominated for an Edgar. When not twisting mysteries, Hope manages FundsforWriters.com, chosen by Writer’s Digest Magazine for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for 15 years. Reach her at www.chopeclark.com. She lives on the banks of Lake Murray in central South Carolina, when she isn’t writing at Edisto Beach.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Author vs. Reader / C. Hope Clark
Thanks to the Internet, and the proliferation of cliché-caching sites like TVTropes.com, it’s harder than ever to surprise a reader. We’ve become so jaded as story-consumers that even the phrase “I’ve seen it all before” is too predictable to bother uttering. Rather than allowing this to discourage her, however, guest author C. Hope Clark chooses to see genre-savvy readers as an exciting challenge for her creativity to overcome in her quest to trick and trap her readers to their hearts’ delight.Happy reading!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Author vs. Reader
By C. Hope Clark
Mystery is the only genre that pits author against reader. When I state this in classes, attendees’ eyes travel up and to the left, as if searching through their mental files to see if their experiences prove my statement. They always smile in recognition.
At first blush, anything with X versus Y sounds like a bad thing. An adversarial experience. Readers hunting for mistakes, maybe. Finding blue eyes on your protagonist on page 43 and brown on page 76. Or spelling “Jesse” in one conversation and later having it “Jessie”.
But only mystery? What about romance? Sci-fi? Women’s fiction? Suspense? Ah, suspense! Still no. Suspense is about the chase, not the whodunit. Only in mystery does the story open with an unanswered question that, through clues, trip-ups, and numerous wrong turns, leads the reader to a solution he never saw coming.
Author vs. Reader is about more than the whodunit. It’s about the red herrings and twists, and writing them such that the reader can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t. It’s about leading him down one path with all its color, intricacies and three-dimensional style to make him feel that what isn’t real actually is. Then at the end, after the maze of this redirection, the solution rears up in the reader’s face all grinning, sly, and smiling, and whispers, “Got you.”
I get chills mastering that talent as an author, and it is entertainment of the highest order when an author bests my sleuthing skills as a reader.
I absorbed this Author vs. Reader tenet a long, long time ago in a small, uneventful class, but I didn’t realize the intensity of its importance until I got involved in a critique group. I’ve belonged to an online critique group for twelve years. A core within that group has followed and coached me from the first novel to the present. We have become so familiar that we scold each other when material triggers our BS meters.
While I can write without the group, I prefer to hear their questions as to why I chose a certain route. “If that’s a clue, you’ll need to flesh it out better than this, because it isn’t working for me.” Or, “Are you kidding? Sorry, but I can’t see this character doing that even if it is a red herring.” After feedback, sometimes I toss that twist in the trash. Other times I hone it more, so that it is smoking hot smart. It’s finding that subtle edge that makes a mystery brilliant.
No author, however, can know all the potential options to taking a mystery from Point A to Z. I dare say that no author can operate in a vacuum without running twists by someone they trust. As mystery specialists, we read so much and juggle so many options through our heads that we can become callous and flat in understanding what zings. However, beta readers or a strong critique group can help us zig instead of zag so that the zing really sings. The harsher you let them question your motives, the slicker you learn to adjust.
An avid mystery reader enters a story with radar on and eyes scanning for clues, accepting the challenge laid down by an author. The reader opens the book, thinking, “No way this author can best me.” The author writes, thinking, “You’ll never guess who did it before the end.” And the gauntlet is thrown down. Unless your theories and clues have been tested to the nth degree, a mystery aficionado will bust you by chapter ten.
This Me against You mentality makes for some of the best stories. But it makes for some of the biggest hurdles for an author. Every story has to be told well, with great dialogue, remarkable setting, and characters that pop off the page. The highs and lows, the emotional baggage, all must be presented with a deft hand. Each word matters, and in the best books, the reader appreciates this because he never sees the words… only the story.
A mystery author, however, must invest themselves deeper, because the reader enters Chapter One knowing that anyone on any page might be the culprit… or an author’s misrepresentation. Actions, choices, and even snippets of dialogue can snare and divert a reader.
A knife thrown in the bushes jumps out as a clue to watch, while the subtle mention of hot chocolate on the counter means nothing, only to become the real evidence. Or will the knife seem so obvious that the reader discounts it, only to learn that it did matter, a jousting advance and retreat between reader and author.
I’ve altered who died, shifted red herring suspects, and even deleted climaxes to avoid being too predictable. Killed the unexpected good character and saved the cad. My second Carolina Slade Mystery, Tidewater Murder, had an entirely different climax before a beta reader gave it a lukewarm rating as predictable. In the third, Palmetto Poison, a Silver Falchion award winner, I decided in the third draft to insure every single character represented a twist somewhere in the book.
Authors twist and turn, then twist and turn again, then ponder whether to undo one twist and replace it with another. Or twist the twist that came about from the first twist. There’s nothing wrong with stepping back from your work think, “How can I screw with this in another direction one more time?” Remember, your reader has many mysteries under his belt, and feels he’s seen it all. He tingles at the opportunity to experience something he hasn’t. Every paragraph and page must be taken to the point of ridiculousness, because anything less is fair game to the reader.
An author has to wow himself with the clues and answers in a mystery long before he wows the reader. And if a mystery author hasn’t completely amazed himself with his story, he’ll never win the fight.
C. Hope Clark attempts to amaze her mystery readers in her award-winning Carolina Slade Mysteries and Edisto Island Mysteries, both from Bell Bridge Books of Memphis, TN. Two of the Slade mysteries won Silver Falchion awards at Killer Nashville, and her latest release is Edisto Jinx. Her short mystery “Rich Talk” appeared in Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded and has been nominated for an Edgar. When not twisting mysteries, Hope manages FundsforWriters.com, chosen by Writer’s Digest Magazine for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for 15 years. Reach her at www.chopeclark.com. She lives on the banks of Lake Murray in central South Carolina, when she isn’t writing at Edisto Beach.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Too Cozy or Not Too Cozy? / Linda Thorne
Although it’s tempting to think of our own works as too special, too ground-breaking, too fill-in-the-blank to fit into any kind of genre, the truth is that every story fits into some kind of box, once you break it down enough. And that’s not a bad thing. Genre designations help us as a community of writers and readers to categorize our preferences, and reach the people interested in our particular niche.
But what about when those definitions change? Can genres stretch to accommodate the needs and tastes of new generations? In this week’s guest blog, author Linda Thorne grapples with the constraints of “cozy”, and the different ways that modern cozies—including her own—diverge from these supposedly hard and fast rules.
Happy reading!
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Too Cozy or Not Too Cozy?
by Linda Thorne
Anything you hear regarding cozy mysteries will likely slot them into a sub-genre that promises the reader escape from anything objectionable. Profanity is eliminated, or virtually imperceptible. If sex is written into the book, it will always be low-key. The protagonist is never physically harmed or subjected to true violence. I recently read a post online that said crime in a cozy would be “bloodless.”
The setting is a small town where the characters drink tea and have cats or dogs for pets (sometimes other animals). The lead will be a female amateur sleuth, often described as a sincerely nice and endearing person. The definition offered here is what I read in posts and articles. It’s the same when I listen to authors speak on the subject.
Before my debut novel Just Another Termination was contracted for publication, I submitted it to agents, publishers, contests, always referencing it as a mystery. My rejection letters referred to it as a cozy. One year when I entered Just Another Termination in the Colorado Gold Writers Contest, one of the judges wrote notes in the margin beside my description of the first dead body, a crime scene far from “bloodless.” He said I was stepping outside the bounds of cozy.
I made all the other changes both my judges suggested, but held on to the grizzly, real-life description of the dead body, as it seemed important to my story. When I found a publisher, the graphic details of my murder scene survived their edits, yet my book is still considered a cozy.
Are there cozies that are hybrids: mostly mystery with a touch of cozy? I presented the question to a panel of cozy authors at a Killer Nashville Writers’ Conference years ago, using Carolyn Haines’ Sarah Booth Delaney Bones series as an example. I told the group that I’d noticed Sara Booth’s sex life escalating in each new book and her consumption of Jack Daniels increasing. After some pause, one of the panel authors said, “Maybe we could call her books naughty cozies.” The whole room had a good laugh, but then the questions and responses moved back to the traditional elements of cozies.
But my question hadn’t been answered: why do the cozies I read (and write) not meet some or all of the typical cozy criteria? Goldy Schultz, the caterer protagonist in Diane Mott Davidson’s series, has been knocked down, bonked, bruised, and stabbed. She’s been left unconscious and has found herself confronted by many murderers trying to kill her. Any reader of the series should find solid reason to believe she is in true danger of physical harm or death. Often.
As for M.C. Beaton’s series character, Agatha Raisin, I’d hardly describe the character as nice. Certainly not endearing. To me, Agatha is a fun protagonist in her sarcastic, grumpy, cigarette-smoking, self-centered way.
Jennie Bentley has some horrific things happen in her cozy renovation series. The skeleton of a baby is found in a crawl space above an attic, a 98 year-old woman is pushed to her death down steep stairs, and more.
In Sunny Frazier’s second book in her Christy Bristol series, Where Angels Fear, Christy gets involved in a membership-only S&M sex club. I have to say, the subject added spice to the story, but an objectionable topic to some? I would think so.
The books I’ve mentioned are missing a lot of tea drinkers, and in one way or another have taken a brazen step outside the boundary of their subgenre. Regardless, I came away from reading these books with a feeling I’d been on a fun ride. One without gloomy afterthoughts or bad dreams. As these authors’ examples illustrate, books called cozies can move outside their definition and still hold their label, cozy, so long as they leave the reader with their hallmark—a warm and comfy feeling. It works for me.
Linda Thorne began pursuing her true passion, writing, in 2005. Since then, she has published numerous short stories in the genres of mystery, thriller, and romance. Four of her short stories made the selection process for publication in the 2012 anthology, Soundtrack NOT Included. Her debut novel, Just Another Termination, is the first in a planned series of mysteries that tell the story of Judy Kenagy, the first career human resources manager to turn sleuth. She is currently writing the second book in her series, A Promotion to Die For. Thorne resides in a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and two border collies. Learn more at http://www.lindathorne.com, and connect with her @lindamthorne on Twitter.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Too Cozy or Not Too Cozy? / Linda Thorne
Although it’s tempting to think of our own works as too special, too ground-breaking, too fill-in-the-blank to fit into any kind of genre, the truth is that every story fits into some kind of box, once you break it down enough. And that’s not a bad thing. Genre designations help us as a community of writers and readers to categorize our preferences, and reach the people interested in our particular niche.But what about when those definitions change? Can genres stretch to accommodate the needs and tastes of new generations? In this week’s guest blog, author Linda Thorne grapples with the constraints of “cozy”, and the different ways that modern cozies—including her own—diverge from these supposedly hard and fast rules.Happy reading!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Too Cozy or Not Too Cozy?
by Linda Thorne
Anything you hear regarding cozy mysteries will likely slot them into a sub-genre that promises the reader escape from anything objectionable. Profanity is eliminated, or virtually imperceptible. If sex is written into the book, it will always be low-key. The protagonist is never physically harmed or subjected to true violence. I recently read a post online that said crime in a cozy would be “bloodless.”
The setting is a small town where the characters drink tea and have cats or dogs for pets (sometimes other animals). The lead will be a female amateur sleuth, often described as a sincerely nice and endearing person. The definition offered here is what I read in posts and articles. It’s the same when I listen to authors speak on the subject.
Before my debut novel Just Another Termination was contracted for publication, I submitted it to agents, publishers, contests, always referencing it as a mystery. My rejection letters referred to it as a cozy. One year when I entered Just Another Termination in the Colorado Gold Writers Contest, one of the judges wrote notes in the margin beside my description of the first dead body, a crime scene far from “bloodless.” He said I was stepping outside the bounds of cozy.
I made all the other changes both my judges suggested, but held on to the grizzly, real-life description of the dead body, as it seemed important to my story. When I found a publisher, the graphic details of my murder scene survived their edits, yet my book is still considered a cozy.
Are there cozies that are hybrids: mostly mystery with a touch of cozy? I presented the question to a panel of cozy authors at a Killer Nashville Writers’ Conference years ago, using Carolyn Haines’ Sarah Booth Delaney Bones series as an example. I told the group that I’d noticed Sara Booth’s sex life escalating in each new book and her consumption of Jack Daniels increasing. After some pause, one of the panel authors said, “Maybe we could call her books naughty cozies.” The whole room had a good laugh, but then the questions and responses moved back to the traditional elements of cozies.
But my question hadn’t been answered: why do the cozies I read (and write) not meet some or all of the typical cozy criteria? Goldy Schultz, the caterer protagonist in Diane Mott Davidson’s series, has been knocked down, bonked, bruised, and stabbed. She’s been left unconscious and has found herself confronted by many murderers trying to kill her. Any reader of the series should find solid reason to believe she is in true danger of physical harm or death. Often.
As for M.C. Beaton’s series character, Agatha Raisin, I’d hardly describe the character as nice. Certainly not endearing. To me, Agatha is a fun protagonist in her sarcastic, grumpy, cigarette-smoking, self-centered way.
Jennie Bentley has some horrific things happen in her cozy renovation series. The skeleton of a baby is found in a crawl space above an attic, a 98 year-old woman is pushed to her death down steep stairs, and more.
In Sunny Frazier’s second book in her Christy Bristol series, Where Angels Fear, Christy gets involved in a membership-only S&M sex club. I have to say, the subject added spice to the story, but an objectionable topic to some? I would think so.
The books I’ve mentioned are missing a lot of tea drinkers, and in one way or another have taken a brazen step outside the boundary of their subgenre. Regardless, I came away from reading these books with a feeling I’d been on a fun ride. One without gloomy afterthoughts or bad dreams. As these authors’ examples illustrate, books called cozies can move outside their definition and still hold their label, cozy, so long as they leave the reader with their hallmark—a warm and comfy feeling. It works for me.
Linda Thorne began pursuing her true passion, writing, in 2005. Since then, she has published numerous short stories in the genres of mystery, thriller, and romance. Four of her short stories made the selection process for publication in the 2012 anthology, Soundtrack NOT Included. Her debut novel, Just Another Termination, is the first in a planned series of mysteries that tell the story of Judy Kenagy, the first career human resources manager to turn sleuth. She is currently writing the second book in her series, A Promotion to Die For. Thorne resides in a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and two border collies. Learn more at http://www.lindathorne.com, and connect with her @lindamthorne on Twitter.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Too Cozy or Not Too Cozy? / Linda Thorne
Although it’s tempting to think of our own works as too special, too ground-breaking, too fill-in-the-blank to fit into any kind of genre, the truth is that every story fits into some kind of box, once you break it down enough. And that’s not a bad thing. Genre designations help us as a community of writers and readers to categorize our preferences, and reach the people interested in our particular niche.But what about when those definitions change? Can genres stretch to accommodate the needs and tastes of new generations? In this week’s guest blog, author Linda Thorne grapples with the constraints of “cozy”, and the different ways that modern cozies—including her own—diverge from these supposedly hard and fast rules.Happy reading!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Too Cozy or Not Too Cozy?
by Linda Thorne
Anything you hear regarding cozy mysteries will likely slot them into a sub-genre that promises the reader escape from anything objectionable. Profanity is eliminated, or virtually imperceptible. If sex is written into the book, it will always be low-key. The protagonist is never physically harmed or subjected to true violence. I recently read a post online that said crime in a cozy would be “bloodless.”
The setting is a small town where the characters drink tea and have cats or dogs for pets (sometimes other animals). The lead will be a female amateur sleuth, often described as a sincerely nice and endearing person. The definition offered here is what I read in posts and articles. It’s the same when I listen to authors speak on the subject.
Before my debut novel Just Another Termination was contracted for publication, I submitted it to agents, publishers, contests, always referencing it as a mystery. My rejection letters referred to it as a cozy. One year when I entered Just Another Termination in the Colorado Gold Writers Contest, one of the judges wrote notes in the margin beside my description of the first dead body, a crime scene far from “bloodless.” He said I was stepping outside the bounds of cozy.
I made all the other changes both my judges suggested, but held on to the grizzly, real-life description of the dead body, as it seemed important to my story. When I found a publisher, the graphic details of my murder scene survived their edits, yet my book is still considered a cozy.
Are there cozies that are hybrids: mostly mystery with a touch of cozy? I presented the question to a panel of cozy authors at a Killer Nashville Writers’ Conference years ago, using Carolyn Haines’ Sarah Booth Delaney Bones series as an example. I told the group that I’d noticed Sara Booth’s sex life escalating in each new book and her consumption of Jack Daniels increasing. After some pause, one of the panel authors said, “Maybe we could call her books naughty cozies.” The whole room had a good laugh, but then the questions and responses moved back to the traditional elements of cozies.
But my question hadn’t been answered: why do the cozies I read (and write) not meet some or all of the typical cozy criteria? Goldy Schultz, the caterer protagonist in Diane Mott Davidson’s series, has been knocked down, bonked, bruised, and stabbed. She’s been left unconscious and has found herself confronted by many murderers trying to kill her. Any reader of the series should find solid reason to believe she is in true danger of physical harm or death. Often.
As for M.C. Beaton’s series character, Agatha Raisin, I’d hardly describe the character as nice. Certainly not endearing. To me, Agatha is a fun protagonist in her sarcastic, grumpy, cigarette-smoking, self-centered way.
Jennie Bentley has some horrific things happen in her cozy renovation series. The skeleton of a baby is found in a crawl space above an attic, a 98 year-old woman is pushed to her death down steep stairs, and more.
In Sunny Frazier’s second book in her Christy Bristol series, Where Angels Fear, Christy gets involved in a membership-only S&M sex club. I have to say, the subject added spice to the story, but an objectionable topic to some? I would think so.
The books I’ve mentioned are missing a lot of tea drinkers, and in one way or another have taken a brazen step outside the boundary of their subgenre. Regardless, I came away from reading these books with a feeling I’d been on a fun ride. One without gloomy afterthoughts or bad dreams. As these authors’ examples illustrate, books called cozies can move outside their definition and still hold their label, cozy, so long as they leave the reader with their hallmark—a warm and comfy feeling. It works for me.
Linda Thorne began pursuing her true passion, writing, in 2005. Since then, she has published numerous short stories in the genres of mystery, thriller, and romance. Four of her short stories made the selection process for publication in the 2012 anthology, Soundtrack NOT Included. Her debut novel, Just Another Termination, is the first in a planned series of mysteries that tell the story of Judy Kenagy, the first career human resources manager to turn sleuth. She is currently writing the second book in her series, A Promotion to Die For. Thorne resides in a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and two border collies. Learn more at http://www.lindathorne.com, and connect with her @lindamthorne on Twitter.
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Stacking Your Positivity Deck: Ten Tips For Finishing Your Mystery / Bryan E. Robinson
We all need a healthy dose of reality. But what happens when the cold, hard facts of disappointment and failure start to overshadow the moments of happiness and victory? Can you make your own silver linings? This week’s guest blogger, author, professor, and psychotherapist Bryan Robinson, has known considerable success, but even his past triumphs and accolades weren’t enough to defeat debilitating self-doubt. He had to develop an entirely new set of tactics to get him through, and he’s here to teach you how to soldier on.
Happy reading!
Clay Stafford
Founder Killer Nashville
Publisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Stacking Your Positivity Deck:
Ten Tips For Finishing Your Mystery
By Bryan E. Robinson
When you started writing on a regular basis, did you think being an author would answer all your prayers, and you’d live happily ever after? Did you dream your book would be on bookstore shelves beside Lee Child, James Patterson, or Heather Graham? That it would hit number one on the bestsellers list and garner all the literary awards? That Steven Spielberg would beat down your door to sign your screenplay?
I did.
Were you perplexed to discover that nightmares come with the territory? Did an agent’s bludgeoning rejection, a publisher’s blast of disparagement, blistering reviews, no-shows at bookstore signings, deadline pressures, agonizing writer’s block, zero award nominations, and your own seismic rumble of self-doubt besiege you? And are you still waiting for Hollywood to call?
I am.
After dashed dreams, do you still love to write? If you have ink in your blood like me, you have to write. That’s what successful writers do. We persevere through literary storms, albeit bruised, bereft, and beleaguered. I’ve seen them: writers frazzled from publishing’s frenetic pace, spirits dead from unfulfilled hopes and stressful career demands. Empty shells, comatose, like zombies moving among the living.
I was one of them.
In the still and lonely hours before dawn, I plopped into the armchair, elbows digging into the knees of my ripped jeans. I dropped my head into my hands, grabbed a fistful of hair, and wept. That’s right. This grown man cried. After finishing my best mystery yet, or so I had thought, an editor I’d hired tore the plot to shreds. Rewrite after rewrite, dead-end after dead-end, confusion and frustration mired me. I wailed at the clock and shook my fist at the heavens, cursing, slamming things. Still, at every turn, I met one roadblock after another. Distraught, I didn’t know what else to do.
But cry.
Keep in mind, this wasn’t my first book. I had written thirty-five nonfiction and fiction books, tons of magazine and journal articles, blogs, and book chapters. I even won a few writing awards along the way. But I had never encountered that degree of writer’s hell. Those of us who are aspiring scribes know the publishing world is brutal—full of meteoric challenges, constant negativity, major setbacks, and devastating letdowns. Agents say the number one key to writing success—even more important than good writing—is perseverance, dogged determination in the face of disappointment.
One cruel fact of becoming a published author is that the mind’s negativity has a longer shelf life than positivity. I’ll bet you remember where you were on 9/11 but not the following week. Scientists say the brain is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones to keep us out of harm’s way. It takes three positive thoughts to offset one negative thought. No wonder it’s difficult to remain hopeful and persevere in a publishing career bombarded with the same bad-news bias that keeps us safe.
But here’s the good news: Grass grows through concrete. When negativity strikes, you can bounce back by overriding your negative knee-jerk reactions and stacking your positivity deck. You can underestimate writing threats and overestimate writing possibilities with the same tried-and-true tips that have helped me navigate the ups-and-downs of a tumultuous publishing world, break free from the clutches of writing woes, and finish that murder mystery from hell:
1. Focus on the upside of downside situations. “I’ve hit a wall with my novel’s ending” becomes “Other than the ending, I’ve completed my novel and gotten promising feedback.”
2. Pinpoint opportunities contained in negative writing events. Ask, “How can I make this situation work to my advantage? Can I find something positive in it? What can I manage or overcome in this instance?”
3. Frame setbacks as lessons to learn, not failures to endure. Ask what you can learn from difficult writing outcomes and use them as stepping-stones, instead of roadblocks.
4. Broaden your scope. Look beyond rejection, put on your wide-angle lens, and let your love of writing steer you beyond the gloom.
5. Be chancy. Take small risks in new situations instead of predicting negative outcomes before giving them a try. “If I agree to be on a panel at Killer Nashville, I might fall flat on my face” becomes “If I participate on a panel, I might get to network with other writers and promote my murder mystery.”
6. Avoid blowing situations out of proportion. Don’t let one negative experience rule your whole life pattern: “I didn’t sell my novel, so now I’ll never be a published author” becomes “I didn’t sell the novel, but there are many more pathways to getting it published.”
7. Focus on the solution, not the problem. You’ll feel more empowered to cope with writing’s curveballs when you step away from the problem and brainstorm a wide range of possibilities.
8. Practice positive self-talk. After big writing letdowns, underscore your triumphs and high-five your “tallcomings” instead of bludgeoning yourself with your “shortcomings.”
9. Hang out with positive people. Optimism is contagious. When you surround yourself with optimistic people, positivity rubs off.
10. Strive to see the fresh starts contained in your losses. Every time you get up just one more time than you fall, your perseverance increases the likelihood of propelling your mystery to the top of the charts.
Bryan E. Robinson is a novelist, psychotherapist, and Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He has authored thirty-five nonfiction books that have been translated into thirteen languages. His debut novel, Limestone Gumption: A Brad Pope and Sisterfriends Mystery won multiple awards, and his work has been featured on every major television network. He maintains a private clinical practice in Asheville, North Carolina, and resides in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He has completed the sequel to Limestone Gumption, She’ll Be KILLING Round the Mountain, and is working on the third installment, Michael Row the BODY Ashore. Visit his website: www.bryanrobinsonnovels.com or email him at info@bryanrobinsonnovels.com
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
Stacking Your Positivity Deck: Ten Tips For Finishing Your Mystery / Bryan E. Robinson
We all need a healthy dose of reality. But what happens when the cold, hard facts of disappointment and failure start to overshadow the moments of happiness and victory? Can you make your own silver linings? This week’s guest blogger, author, professor, and psychotherapist Bryan Robinson, has known considerable success, but even his past triumphs and accolades weren’t enough to defeat debilitating self-doubt. He had to develop an entirely new set of tactics to get him through, and he’s here to teach you how to soldier on.Happy reading!Clay StaffordFounder Killer NashvillePublisher / Editorial Director Killer Nashville Magazine
Stacking Your Positivity Deck:
Ten Tips For Finishing Your Mystery
By Bryan E. Robinson
When you started writing on a regular basis, did you think being an author would answer all your prayers, and you’d live happily ever after? Did you dream your book would be on bookstore shelves beside Lee Child, James Patterson, or Heather Graham? That it would hit number one on the bestsellers list and garner all the literary awards? That Steven Spielberg would beat down your door to sign your screenplay?
I did.
Were you perplexed to discover that nightmares come with the territory? Did an agent’s bludgeoning rejection, a publisher’s blast of disparagement, blistering reviews, no-shows at bookstore signings, deadline pressures, agonizing writer’s block, zero award nominations, and your own seismic rumble of self-doubt besiege you? And are you still waiting for Hollywood to call?
I am.
After dashed dreams, do you still love to write? If you have ink in your blood like me, you have to write. That’s what successful writers do. We persevere through literary storms, albeit bruised, bereft, and beleaguered. I’ve seen them: writers frazzled from publishing’s frenetic pace, spirits dead from unfulfilled hopes and stressful career demands. Empty shells, comatose, like zombies moving among the living.
I was one of them.
In the still and lonely hours before dawn, I plopped into the armchair, elbows digging into the knees of my ripped jeans. I dropped my head into my hands, grabbed a fistful of hair, and wept. That’s right. This grown man cried. After finishing my best mystery yet, or so I had thought, an editor I’d hired tore the plot to shreds. Rewrite after rewrite, dead-end after dead-end, confusion and frustration mired me. I wailed at the clock and shook my fist at the heavens, cursing, slamming things. Still, at every turn, I met one roadblock after another. Distraught, I didn’t know what else to do.
But cry.
Keep in mind, this wasn’t my first book. I had written thirty-five nonfiction and fiction books, tons of magazine and journal articles, blogs, and book chapters. I even won a few writing awards along the way. But I had never encountered that degree of writer’s hell. Those of us who are aspiring scribes know the publishing world is brutal—full of meteoric challenges, constant negativity, major setbacks, and devastating letdowns. Agents say the number one key to writing success—even more important than good writing—is perseverance, dogged determination in the face of disappointment.
One cruel fact of becoming a published author is that the mind’s negativity has a longer shelf life than positivity. I’ll bet you remember where you were on 9/11 but not the following week. Scientists say the brain is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones to keep us out of harm’s way. It takes three positive thoughts to offset one negative thought. No wonder it’s difficult to remain hopeful and persevere in a publishing career bombarded with the same bad-news bias that keeps us safe.
But here’s the good news: Grass grows through concrete. When negativity strikes, you can bounce back by overriding your negative knee-jerk reactions and stacking your positivity deck. You can underestimate writing threats and overestimate writing possibilities with the same tried-and-true tips that have helped me navigate the ups-and-downs of a tumultuous publishing world, break free from the clutches of writing woes, and finish that murder mystery from hell:
1. Focus on the upside of downside situations. “I’ve hit a wall with my novel’s ending” becomes “Other than the ending, I’ve completed my novel and gotten promising feedback.”
2. Pinpoint opportunities contained in negative writing events. Ask, “How can I make this situation work to my advantage? Can I find something positive in it? What can I manage or overcome in this instance?”
3. Frame setbacks as lessons to learn, not failures to endure. Ask what you can learn from difficult writing outcomes and use them as stepping-stones, instead of roadblocks.
4. Broaden your scope. Look beyond rejection, put on your wide-angle lens, and let your love of writing steer you beyond the gloom.
5. Be chancy. Take small risks in new situations instead of predicting negative outcomes before giving them a try. “If I agree to be on a panel at Killer Nashville, I might fall flat on my face” becomes “If I participate on a panel, I might get to network with other writers and promote my murder mystery.”
6. Avoid blowing situations out of proportion. Don’t let one negative experience rule your whole life pattern: “I didn’t sell my novel, so now I’ll never be a published author” becomes “I didn’t sell the novel, but there are many more pathways to getting it published.”
7. Focus on the solution, not the problem. You’ll feel more empowered to cope with writing’s curveballs when you step away from the problem and brainstorm a wide range of possibilities.
8. Practice positive self-talk. After big writing letdowns, underscore your triumphs and high-five your “tallcomings” instead of bludgeoning yourself with your “shortcomings.”
9. Hang out with positive people. Optimism is contagious. When you surround yourself with optimistic people, positivity rubs off.
10. Strive to see the fresh starts contained in your losses. Every time you get up just one more time than you fall, your perseverance increases the likelihood of propelling your mystery to the top of the charts.
Bryan E. Robinson is a novelist, psychotherapist, and Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He has authored thirty-five nonfiction books that have been translated into thirteen languages. His debut novel, Limestone Gumption: A Brad Pope and Sisterfriends Mystery won multiple awards, and his work has been featured on every major television network. He maintains a private clinical practice in Asheville, North Carolina, and resides in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He has completed the sequel to Limestone Gumption, She’ll Be KILLING Round the Mountain, and is working on the third installment, Michael Row the BODY Ashore. Visit his website: www.bryanrobinsonnovels.com or email him at info@bryanrobinsonnovels.com
(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)
Thanks to Tom Wood, Emily Eytchison, and publisher/editorial director Clay Stafford for their assistance in putting together this week’s blog.
And for more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com, www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com, and www.KillerNashvilleBookCon.com.
And be sure to check out our new book, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded, an anthology of original short stories by New York Times bestselling authors and newbies alike.
*Killer Nashville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you purchase a book from the links on this page, Amazon will give Killer Nashville a small percentage of the total sale. Killer Nashville receives zero compensation (other than sometimes the book to review) from publishers who have been selected for the Book of the Day.
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