KN Magazine: Articles
When “The End” is Just the Beginning
Ten years ago, when I sat down to write my first novel, the thought of self-publishing never crossed my mind. To be fair, times were different then. There was a greater stigma to self-publishing, and vanity presses had (deservedly) earned their reputation as the bottom feeders of the book publishing industry.
As an established freelance journalist and magazine editor, I was also no stranger to seeing my name in print, with bylines in dozens of North American newspapers and magazines. I assumed—wrongly, as it turned out—that my good reputation would help pave the way to a traditional publishing deal.
It didn’t, and in July 2014, after several (mostly nice) rejections and one offer from a New York City agent to ghost write a book in exchange for a small share of any royalties earned (I turned her down), I signed a contract for The Hanged Man’s Noose, the first book in my Glass Dolphin mystery series.
I vetted the publisher, an independent press based in Oregon, as well as anyone can prior to submitting. I checked online reviews and ratings of the books in their catalogue, read a handful of titles to ensure they were well edited, then contacted three of their authors who, like me, belonged to Sisters in Crime. Feedback about the publisher was overwhelmingly positive. Quality editing, proofreading, and cover art were all handled in a collaborative manner with the author. Royalties were reported monthly and paid promptly. I was further assured by the publisher’s Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers approved standings.
Despite all that, when it came time to find a home for the first book in my Marketville mystery series, I decided to query elsewhere to make sure all my eggs weren’t in one basket. I’d heard too many tales of authors whose series had been “orphaned” (an industry term meaning the premature cancellation of a contract due to the publisher shuttering its doors or discontinuing the genre). That wasn’t going to happen to me.
Except, it did. Twice. It turned out having multiple baskets didn’t offer the security I thought it might.
It didn’t come as a huge shock; traditional print media had been declining for years, and my years in the magazine world taught me to read the signs of impending closure. One publisher had systematically begun to release every one of their authors from their contracts. The other had all but stopped communicating, including royalty reports and updates on books-in-progress. By July 2018, both of my series were officially orphaned.
Few “orphaned” authors find a new home for their existing series, even after months, sometimes years, of trying. Some start over. Some give up. I did neither. Both failed publishers had given me knowledge of the industry. I understood what loomed on my horizon, and a few months prior to being officially orphaned, I’d set up my own imprint, Superior Shores Press. I was ready to take my destiny into my own hands.
I’ve learned a lot since 2018, made a few miscalculations along the way, overcomplicated some things, underestimated others. I’ve also guided a couple of traditionally published authors through their own indie journeys and, at the request of my then-local library, developed a presentation titled Finding Your Path to Publication, which led to a second presentation, Self-Publishing: The Ins & Outs of Going Indie.
Both of those presentations led me to research and write two step-by-step publishing guides in 2023. Finding Your Path to Publication released in May, followed by The Ins & Outs of Going Indie in December. I don’t kid myself. These sorts of niche publications are unlikely to earn me what I like to call “Stephen King money,” but it is my sincere hope that they will help other authors—whether orphaned, published and looking for a change, or still at the querying/getting rejected stage—a place to explore options and opportunities.
Because authors should help authors. And because sometimes the end is just the beginning.
A former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the bestselling author of Finding Your Path to Publication: A Step-by-Step Guide, as well as two mystery series: the Glass Dolphin Mysteries and Marketville Mysteries, both of which have been published in multiple languages. Her short crime fiction appears in several collections, including the Superior Shores Anthologies, which she also edited. Judy has a passion for understanding the ins and outs of all aspects of publishing, and is the founder and owner of Superior Shores Press, which she established in February 2018.
Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she served on the Board of Directors for five years, the final two as Chair. She lives in Northern Ontario. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com.
Timing is Your Time’s Best Friend: Calendar Management for the Soon-To-Be-Published Author
By Roger Johns and Kim Conrey
If you’ve been through the book publication process, you know the demands of publication and promotion can be ferocious time eaters. If you’re a soon-to-be-published author, about to go through this process for the first time, the magnitude of these time demands can be difficult to anticipate. So, it’s important to know what this process will look like, ahead of time, so you can manage your time and your calendar more effectively. The last thing you want is for the joyous occasion of your book’s upcoming emergence into the world to be plagued by stress and anxiety because you’ve gotten stuck in the mire of constantly playing catchup, or because things aren’t happening at the pace you expected them to.
An important set of tactics to keep this from happening is to make it a priority to acquire advance knowledge of: (1) the demands the book production process will place upon you, (2) the opportunities publication will make available to you, (3) how to properly plan for what’s coming so you can stay ahead of the game, and (4) when you should begin the various tasks that contribute to your book’s success.
As with all complex endeavors that are not completely under your control, the schedules and demands of others will have to be considered and, to some extent, catered to. This means you will need to know who and what you will encounter on the road ahead, what their role is, and how they view your role in the process. Experience tells us that what you do, and when you do it—especially during the busy months preceding launch—can have an outsized impact on the success of your promotional efforts in the critical months immediately following publication. So, it pays to understand the timeframes during which certain undertakings need to be started, because when you begin can be as or more important than what you begin. In this context, timing is your time’s best friend.
Demands of the Book Production Process
If you have just signed your first contract to become a traditionally published author, you should expect your manuscript to undergo a fairly rigorous, multi-part editing process—a process in which you will play a significant part. Depending on your publisher, the condition of your manuscript, and your editor’s inclinations, this can include story edits, copy edits, and proofing edits. All of these must be done with care, and completed and returned on time. So, ask your publishing house editor what’s coming and how much time you’ll have to complete and return your responses. If your editor wants a lot of story edits, this can take quite a while to do properly because changes to one part of a manuscript often require changes to other parts. And, obviously, the longer your book, the longer all phases of the editing process can take. Knowing, ahead of time, what’s expected of you, will allow you to plan these tasks into your personal and professional life.
In addition to the editing process, you will need to provide input on cover images, gather blurbs from other authors, produce some of what’s known as front matter and back matter (i.e., dedication and acknowledgements), and provide an adequate headshot, and you may be asked to weigh in on (or craft entirely) the jacket/flap copy. All of these tasks can be loads of fun, but they all take time, and they all come with deadlines, so they need to be planned for. Missing an editing or production deadline is not a recipe for success in the publishing world. And starting late in the process of soliciting blurbs from other authors can leave you with less than you had hoped for, in terms of quality and quantity. Authors who agree to furnish a blurb will need a copy early enough to do a good job for you. This is especially true if you are self-publishing your book. Publishing houses have established timelines for prompting authors to solicit blurbs. If you’re self-publishing, you’ll need to initiate this process yourself.
If you have just made the decision to self-publish, you’ll need to plan other activities even further ahead, as well. The fantastic editor you’ve hired who took only weeks to get edits back before, may be playing catch up when your manuscript hits their inbox, and the same goes for your cover designer. A mantra for any author, especially the self-published author, is, everything takes longer than you think it will. If this is your first attempt at self-publishing, you may be shocked to find that it can take Ingram Book Company, the largest book wholesale distributor in the world, several weeks to load your book’s meta data onto Amazon and other retailers. So, if your goal was to get as many print preorders as possible, you’ll need to have your book ready to go months before your official publication date. Take it from droves of authors who’ve checked book retailer websites every morning for weeks looking for their book’s cover only to find the dreaded “No Image Available” icon. This can be heartbreaking for an author who was planning a huge preorder push, and there will be nothing you can do but wait for the data to load. No amount of begging customer service will help. You are one of thousands of authors waiting on the same thing. If eBook sales are your only goal, you will have more time, but if you do not have your eBook loaded in time for preorders to be delivered, Amazon can suspend you from selling an eBook on their site for a solid year. It is crucial to plan for the unexpected. Whatever you think your timeline is, double it at the very least.
And…while all this is going on—whichever way you choose to publish—you’ll need to do your part in the increasingly challenging process of book promotion. It’s tempting to think that, if you’ve signed with a traditional publisher, especially a big one, that all of that “promo stuff” will be taken care of by the sales and marketing and publicity folks at your publishing house. Sorry, unless you’re one of the biggest of the bigtime authors, things are unlikely to work out that way. Regardless of whether you’re about to be traditionally- or self-published, you’re going to have to do your part. And, unless you’re a celebrity author, with high brand recognition, “doing your part” means building demand for your book before it becomes available for purchase, by: (1) establishing a social media presence, (2) lining up appearances at bookstores, local author-oriented events, conferences, conventions, book clubs, and other venues, (3) developing or joining a blog or a podcast, (4) creating posts for blogs hosted by others, and (5) becoming involved in professional organizations dedicated to the type of book you’ve written.
And…while all this is going on, you’ll need to be writing your next book.
Opportunities Publication Will Make Available to You
Being a published author is a big deal. It’s true that millions of books are published in this country every year, but it’s also true that hundreds of millions of people live here. By publishing a book you have accomplished an amazingly rare feat. And a fascinating one, as well. The reading public shows a strong interest in knowing about the writers of the books they read. Because of this, there are dozens of regularly scheduled (and undoubtedly thousands of individually arranged) events around the country, every year, at which authors and their readers gather for the purposes of getting to know each other and finding new authors to read. This means published authors will have opportunities to get in front of the reading public in ways that are generally unavailable to others—including appearances at conventions, conferences, bookstores, local author events, blogs, podcasts, libraries, and book clubs.
Availing yourself of these opportunities takes time, research, and determination and can require special knowledge. For instance, if you’re interested in lining up bookstore or local author event appearances on, or shortly after, your launch date, you’ll need to know how far in advance their schedule is booked, and approach them early enough to be considered for a spot. The most desirable venues often have crowded event calendars that are fully booked long into the future, so you’ll need to give them plenty of lead time. The same goes for blogs and podcasts hosted by others. And conferences, conventions, and book and literary fairs and festivals have specified registration periods that must be adhered to. And because not all venues will be receptive to your pitch, it’s possible you’ll need to over-develop your list of target opportunities, and make contact with enough of them early on to have a useful understanding of what’s going to work out and what’s not.
If you intend to create your own blog or podcast, you will need to start long before launch day, so you can establish your presence and build a readership or listenership. These activities can be difficult and time-consuming, and the more tech-challenged you are, the more difficult and time-consuming they become. However, there are lots of good books and web resources that can advise you on how to set these projects in motion.
Planning (to Stay Ahead of the Game), and Knowing When to Begin
It bears repeating that all of these tasks take time—sometimes lots of it. Many of them will need to be in process or fully in place well before launch day, so that a steady stream of promotional efforts is bearing fruit in the critical weeks and months immediately following publication. To make this work, it’s helpful to view your publication day as the midpoint on a timeline that begins the day you either sign your publication contract or decide to self-publish and continues for several months after your book becomes available.
The critical take-away is to develop a list of the obligations you will need to fulfill and the dates by which you will need to fulfill them, as well as a list of the opportunities you wish to pursue, along with the dates you’d like to avail yourself of them, and then place all of these on a timeline so you can literally see what the future will look like.
So you can have a clear understanding of when to begin each of the obligations and opportunities on your timeline, think of them in terms of lead time—the period between when you begin a process and when its purpose is achieved, and mark the start dates on your timeline as well. Then develop checklists for the specific tasks associated with each item on your calendar, indicating what needs to be done, by when, and by whom. This will allow you to measure your progress and to avoid getting blindsided by matters you should have or could have known about. In other words, give your book and your writing career every chance for success by creating a detailed map of the road ahead, so you can handle things like a pro.
ROGER JOHNS is the author of Dark River Rising and River of Secrets, from St. Martin’s Press, as well as numerous short stories published by, among others, Saturday Evening Post, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly Magazine, and Black Beacon Books. He is the 2018 Georgia Author of the Year for mystery, and a two-time finalist for the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award. Since 2016, Roger has made over 140 live appearances across the country, at conferences, conventions, bookstores, libraries, book clubs, corporate events, writing clubs, continuing education classes and other writing-oriented venues, as well as on podcasts, web radio, and broadcast radio. He has also made, and continues to make, frequent invited presentations on writing and career management for new authors, and his articles and essays on these topics have appeared in, among other publications, Southern Writers Magazine, Career Authors, and Southern Literary Review.
KIM CONREY is the Georgia Author of the Year recipient in the romance category for Stealing Ares, traditionally published by Black Rose Writing and Losing Ares, the follow up. Her urban fantasy Nicholas Eternal was published in June 2023, and her memoir You’re Not a Murderer: You Just Have Harm OCD, which she co-wrote with her adult child, was released in October of 2023. Her work has also been published by numerous magazines and literary journals and received awards. She serves as VP of Operations for the Atlanta Writers Club and podcasts about writing with the Wild Women Who Write. She gives book marketing talks and speaks on various topics relating to writing at local and regional writing conferences and literary festivals.
TOGETHER, Kim and Roger co-author “If You Only Have An Hour: Time-Saving Tips & Tricks For Managing Your Writing Career” the quarterly advice column in "Page Turner", the magazine of the Georgia Writers Museum and the Atlanta Writers Club.
Setting Goals
As a new year unfolds, many of us may sense the need to set objectives for our writing, regardless of whether we’re novices or experienced. There’s also a business aspect to our writing careers, which requires us to focus on how we present ourselves. To achieve this, we may need to polish our editing skills, improve our social media presence, attend conferences to network, and stay updated on the latest market trends.
We can inspire and uplift our readers through writing, providing them hope, guidance, and encouragement. However, doing this requires more than talent and passion. We need a clear understanding of where we’re going and a well-defined plan. This includes identifying our target audience, developing a marketable brand, building a platform, and engaging with our readers through various channels. We should be willing to continually grow and improve our craft, seeking feedback and guidance and staying current with the latest trends and techniques in the industry. With dedication and perseverance, we can achieve great success as writers and positively impact our readers.
Setting goals is a crucial aspect of our journey as authors. It helps us to stay focused and keeps us motivated and accountable for our progress. By aligning our objectives with our values, we can ensure our efforts are directed toward what matters. To help us, here are tips to keep in mind while creating goals that are in line with our values:
Seek guidance: Starting with a strong foundation is essential. Whether seeking clarity on a specific goal or looking for general direction in life, mentors can be a powerful tool for gaining insight and inspiration. Before starting anything new, it’s wise to seek guidance from those with more experience and ask for help from them to lead us forward.
Establish a clear vision: Clearly define what we want to achieve. Once we comprehensively understand our end goal, we should write specific things we want to achieve. This should be measurable and achievable to track our progress and stay motivated. Setting clear and attainable objectives usually increases the chances of success and allows us to prioritize our focus.
Align goals with our values: It’s vital to ensure our objectives align with our beliefs to share our message with the world effectively. This means that before embarking on any writing project, we should take the time to reflect on our values and beliefs and ensure our aspirations are aligned. This way, we can create content that resonates with our audience and positively impacts the world. Ultimately, our writing should be guided by our desire to make a difference in the lives of those who read our work.
Break down goals into smaller steps: When we create aspirations for ourselves, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the task. However, we can make them more achievable by breaking them down into smaller, more manageable steps. We must create a detailed plan outlining specific actions to move closer to our aim. By breaking things down this way, we can feel more in control of our progress and motivated to keep going, even when faced with challenges.
Hold ourselves accountable: To take responsibility for achieving our goals, we set objectives and hold ourselves accountable to them. Another key tactic is to schedule regular check-ins with ourselves and those we trust to evaluate our progress and determine whether we are on track to reaching our desired outcomes. Through this action, we can identify areas we may need to adjust our approach or put in extra effort to stay on target.
Celebrate our success: Celebrating small achievements along the way helps to reinforce positive behavior and maintain our motivation to continue working toward our targets. We can learn from our failures by reflecting on what went wrong and using this information to improve our strategies. Adopting a growth mindset and viewing failures as opportunities for growth can turn setbacks into stepping stones toward success.
As writers, we can accomplish unprecedented success and leave an indelible mark on the world through our words. By setting goals, channeling our creative potential into our literary endeavors, and dedicating ourselves wholeheartedly to our craft, we can make meaningful contributions to society. Let’s relentlessly strive with unwavering passion and dedication to create works that inspire, motivate, and transform lives. Let’s unleash our full potential and reach the pinnacle of our literary journeys, leaving a legacy that’ll inspire future generations.
Author, speaker, educational consultant, and editor–Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes, Ed. D., has had her hand in leadership for many years. She loves speaking to groups, delivering messages with quick wit and real-life stories. Katherine is a freelance writer/content editor, a content editor/writing coach for Iron Stream Media and a sensitivity reader for Sensitivity Between the Lines. She is a review board member and contributor to Inkspirations (an online magazine for Christian writers) and her writing has been published in Guideposts. Her work in art/writing is distinguished by awards including the New York Mayor’s Contribution to the Arts, Outstanding Resident Artist of Arizona, and the Foundations Awards at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writer’s Conference (2016, 2019, 2021). She is a member of Word Weavers International and serves as an online chapter president and mentor. She belongs to FWA (Florida Writers Association), ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers), CWoC (Crime Writers of Color), AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association), and AASA (American Association of School Administrators). She serves on the board for the nonprofit organization Submersion 14 and is an art instructor for the nonprofit organization Light for the Future. Katherine is the host of the podcast Murder, Mystery & Mayhem Laced with Morality. She has authored a Christian Bible study for women and is currently working on the sequel and prequel to her first general market thriller novel, “A Fifth of the Story.”
Motifs for Murder
No, the title is not a typo, and motifs was not meant to be motives.
If you had asked me, “What is a motif?” twenty-five years ago, I would have had no idea. After earning a master’s degree in Rhetoric and Composition, teaching college and university students, and receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing, I shout out not only the definition but also the importance of motifs in mysteries.
Of course, the definition of a motif, or at least mine, is: a literary device that uses repetition of a key word, phrase, symbol, color, or image to emphasize a subtle meaning. A motif also helps to develop the overall theme of the written work.
In my work in progress, one of my motifs is dead black crows. Some see crows—more than two are called a murder—as a message or prediction of sadness, danger, and even death to come. Further employing crows as a motif also helps to emphasize my overall theme of good versus evil and, more specifically, that even the most righteous can fall from a pedestal of grace into the darkness of sin.
But what exactly is the etymology of the word motif? Interestingly, the origin of the word dates back to the 14th century when the word in Old French meant to “drive,” and in Medieval Latin meant “to move.” Similarly, today, motifs are used to drive or move the theme along.
The use of motifs in mystery novels serve this very purpose, and in fact, Edgar Allan Poe, considered to be the father of detective fiction, used such common motifs as death, fear or terror, and madness in several of his short stories.
In the Sherlock Holmes canon, written by Arthur Conan Doyle, he creates such themes as cunning and cleverness, justice and judgment, and society and class, to name a few. He uses such symbols as Toby the dog to represent devotedness and faithfulness, a coronet as a tool to represent greed and hidden worth, and exotic animals to represent the dark, threatening, and poisonous nature of Dr. Roylott in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.”
Agatha Christie used a rhyming verse of then there were none, well as dreams and hallucinations, as motifs in her novel “And Then There Were None.”
Motifs can be used in character development. If a character is depressed, the description of her clothes as being heavy and black can convey her mood. If a character is arrogant and haughty, the writer might choose to use the motif of mirrors or the repeated phrase mirror, mirror on the wall. The continual wailing of a baby can foster grief, suffering, and pain.
Motifs can also be implemented to create a mood. A foreboding tone might use motifs such as heavy drapery, dusty furniture, or squeaky floors. On the other hand, a joyous mood could be represented by gnomes appearing in a sitting room or in a garden. A threatening mood might be depicted by thunderstorms, lightening, and thunder.
Another place to incorporate motif is in setting. Rain might imply treacherous conditions or uncontrollable circumstances. Some motifs to describe an isolated setting are weeds, dead flowers, or a howling coyote. A hospital’s motifs are squeaky oxfords, medicinal smells, or overhead public announcements.
In the above examples of characterization, mood development, or setting creation, you probably noticed that motifs are often examples of sensory language, such as sight, sound, and smell. What categorizes them as motifs is the frequent use of them in a written work.
Another literary term known as a tag also becomes a motif if used often. An example of this is a tapping cane, a pipe’s scent, or a twitching eye. Not only are these words used to describe or to set apart one character from another, but they also could imply nervous habits, anxious traits, or restlessness if used as motifs.
In my opinion, this literary device is often neglected in mystery novels. The importance of red herrings, misdirection, and cliffhangers, for example, are a must, but don’t discount the use of motif to reinforce your theme, add depth and meaning for the reader, and contribute a subtle ambiance to the plot.
You Want Me to Spend Time with You?
By Paula Messina
We all have different measures for what keep us reading. One of mine is characters I’m willing to live with all the way to the end. The gift of a mystery got me thinking about this. Why do some characters meet my requirement and others fail?
The novel looked promising. The author had won a prestigious award. The main character is an archaeologist. I enjoy books that involve an expertise, especially one I’m not schooled in. Alas, my interest dwindled quickly.
The story is told through the main character’s viewpoint. She is miserable and self-loathing because of her weight. This was not a good sign, but I read on. Soon enough a detective needs her help on a murder case. He comes not with hat in hand. Rather, he’s downright nasty. Not only is the detective as off-putting as the main character, his approach is irrational. The characters have no history together. His unprofessional behavior is inexplicable, even cause for termination. Didn’t he learn at his mother’s knee you catch more flies with honey than vinegar?
Actually, he was terminated. I stopped reading the book.
For me to sustain interest, I don’t demand that the characters be Mother Teresa incarnate or a Nobel Peace Prize winner or even a Boy Scout rescuing abandoned dogs. It’s those one-note grumpy characters I can live without.
I’m not alone in this. After I closed that book, I read the online reviews. I have plenty of company. The negative reviews essentially said the same thing: I don’t want to waste my time on these characters.
It’s next to impossible to imagine anyone more dislikable than Ebenezer Scrooge. Dickens is emphatic that absolutely everyone avoids him. “Even the blind men’s dogs appeared to know him; and, when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said, ‘No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!’”
And yet Scrooge is one of the most enduring and, dare I say, beloved characters in English literature. Ebenezer is proof that flaws are fine. It’s how flaws are presented that makes all the difference. Characters need not be perfect. Indeed, they shouldn’t be.
Dickens pulls the reader into A Christmas Carol by raising questions. Who is Marley and why should we care that he died? Why was Scrooge “his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner.”?
Dickens quickly establishes Scrooge’s wretched personality. No reader would invite Ebenezer over to watch the Super Bowl, at least not until the three Ghosts of Christmas get through with him. Dicken’s delicious descriptions keep us curious about how one being could be so miserable and disliked, but delicious descriptions only satisfy for so long. Dickens could have easily pushed Scrooge into an unbearable, unreadable character.
Yet Ebenezer Scrooge endures. Why?
The answer is simple. Scrooge doesn’t tell the story. An intimate, chatty, gossipy narrator does. If Scrooge told A Christmas Carol, it is highly doubtful even the inestimable Dickens could keep readers turning the pages for one hundred eighty years.
Arthur Conan Doyle and Rex Stout used the same technique for the odd genius Sherlock Holmes and the often belligerent but brilliant Nero Wolfe. We see Holmes and Wolfe through the eyes of their friends, and because Watson and Goodwin find redeeming social value in Sherlock and Wolfe, the reader does as well.
It’s no accident that Dr. John Watson is a cheerful, friendly character, or that Archie Goodwin is only a few IQ points short of Wolfe’s genius. Archie is wittier than Wolfe, likes women, and is a great dancer. Our view of Sherlock and Nero is filtered through these immensely enjoyable narrators, and we’re willing to stick around until the end.
A narrator isn’t the only technique to make an unpleasant character palatable. We often describe our lives in absolute terms. I’ll never be anything than an utter failure. My husband never compliments me. My mother never has a kind word for anyone. There’s a name for this kind of thinking: cognitive distortion.
We humans are not a never-ending one note, miserable or ecstatic. Even in the worst of times, we laugh at a good joke, make goo-goo eyes at an infant, and enjoy the warm sun on our skin. It’s impossible to be miserable all the time, just as it’s impossible to be endlessly upbeat.
Humans experience ups and downs throughout a day, a year, a lifetime. Characters do as well. Good characters are complex. They enjoy life one minute and complain in the next. They lament about their weight, then promise to diet tomorrow.
In the mystery mentioned, a little levity, for example, would have made the character’s self-loathing tolerable. An explanation and an apology would have made the detective’s initial bad impression understandable and relatable. In other words, mitigating circumstances make an unpleasant character more lifelike, but even mitigating circumstances only carry a reader so far.
Sherlock’s genius makes him impatient with lesser mortals. Wolfe has a dark past that is never explained. It possibly involves a bitter betrayal by a woman. Dickens shows us Scrooge’s descent into a spiritual wasteland through a series of flashbacks while also showing Scrooge’s journey to reclaim his soul. It is those flashbacks that make his redemption on Christmas Eve believable. His goodness was always there to be brought to life. We know in our hearts that Ebenezer Scrooge does become “as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.”
It’s not flaws that are off-putting. A character without a flaw is malformed. It’s how those flaws and foibles are presented that makes the difference. A main character can be stubborn and uncooperative. Supporting characters can goad the protagonist into a better disposition. Archie Goodwin is a master at this. Introduce a humorless character to a cutup. Dr. Watson on the page isn’t the bumbling Nigel Bruce, but he does lighten Holmes’ intensity. A dour woman populating pages needs to meet a ray of sunshine. Conversely, that main character who insists on imitating Pollyanna is just waiting for someone to burst her bubble.
Contrasts work wonders. Characters bring out different aspects of the main character. Best-selling author Barbara A. Shapiro says different friends bring out different aspects of our personalities.
Think about it. You discuss politics and solve the world’s problems with one friend. You’re a veritable joke machine with another, and a third has you discussing how to grow mushrooms and make kimchi and sauerkraut. Scrooge interacts differently with Bob Cratchit than he does with his nephew Fred. Scrooge moves from disbelief, to insolence, fear, and finally to submission as he travels with each ghost.
This works both ways. No human is always bubbly and positive. Characters aren’t either. What my friend Marilyn says of life is also true of fiction. “If you don’t have a problem now, wait two weeks.”
In the novel I’m writing, Donatello, my main character, is essentially a good guy, but he vents his fury on his parish priest. The priest deserves the drubbing, but Donatello believes it’s a sin to scream at a priest. He screams anyway. Donatello would be a weak character if he ignored the priest’s nastiness.
Donatello’s anger serves another purpose. It displays Donatello’s determination to reclaim his life after an accident robs him of his dream to pitch pro ball. Donatello’s anger says he’s not giving up. No one’s pushing him around, not even his parish priest. This anger intensifies Donatello’s commitment to find his sister’s murderer.
When I pick up something to read, I want to be carried along in a story filled with characters I’d invite to share my life for a while. They can be a pompous Sherlock, a ton of immovable flesh a la Wolfe, or a Scrooge so nasty even dogs avoid him. But I only keep reading if those negative traits are balanced by positive ones. In short, for this reader, how a writer presents his characters is vitally important.
As for the kvetchers, the malcontents, the one-note nasties, I’d rather not even open the book.
Paula Messina lives near America’s first public beach. When she isn’t sloshing barefoot through the Atlantic, she’s writing short stories and essays. Her humorous caper, “Which Way New England?” appears in Wolfsbane, Best New England Crime Stories 2023. “Science for the Senses,” an essay, is in issue 7 of Indelible Literary and Arts Journal. You can listen to her reading works in the public domain at librivox.org.
Punctuation is Power - Part 5: Are you in business or in hobby?
Across the board in creative endeavors something interesting is happening. Folks are getting to be about 55 or so, thinking of or are retiring, and getting back into the thing they loved before the kids came along and the bills piled up and their time was not their own in that thing we call Life.
Whether it is music, writing, sculpture, painting, pottery, dance, and more, you will find many “of an age” mingling with young folks just getting into that creative endeavor. For some, writing a book or two is just a hobby. They don’t really intend to make it a business. Thinking about the bygone golden years of publishing when authors became stars. They dream of their book being:
rep’d by an agent,
sold to one of the Big 4,
making the best seller lists,
selling like crazy domestically,
translated into multiple languages and selling internationally to wild acclaim,
made into a movie or two or three.
Bring on the mailbox money! From your mouth to God’s ears, right?
Well, firstly, the business was never exactly like that. As we learned from the recent Hemingway documentary, his lavish lifestyle was mostly due to having a series of rich wives. Secondly, the old saying “make hay while the sun is shining” applies in this business. Much marketing of personalities went into the making of the myths. Hemingway used his marketing myth to get money for product endorsements. Nothing much has changed there.
Still, much hard work by many people went into the writing, editing, printing, marketing, distribution, tracking of inventory, and sales of most books. Starting in the late 1980s, though, the book business began to change. Tired of being shut out and stolen from, the age of the Indie Author and Indie Publisher began and has not abated. Technology has made the publishing of a work easy; distribution via print-on-demand methods has made it within the affordable reach of millions. (Marketing of a book is a whole other subject. It is a bugaboo, a thorn in our paws, a never-ending challenge.)
Unfortunately, too many authors, having written a work, tire out and don’t do the necessary boring work of thorough and multiple edits and rewrites. Not only that, they are also unwilling to pay for it, too. Many will not take any advice when it comes to punctuation, sentence structure, flow of the material, etcetera. They see any question as an assault on their baby.
I want to scream when I hear “Well, I [or my spouse, significant other, best friend, or sibling] have a degree in English and have already edited the book.” Or “My wife edited my book. She has a degree in English. She’ll get her feelings hurt if I let anybody else edit it.”
Then these authors are not in business. They are in hobby. True, there are some creative outputs that are simply for making the creator happy. Enjoy the process! It is wonderful to have a hobby one enjoys.
The business of book publishing, though, requires another mindset. Sorry to say, but one may still not see a profit from all that hard work. All business endeavors are a crapshoot.
I have always had an allegiance to words in whatever form they take. I hate advertising language that reeks of the weasel. Since it has always been a moving target, I detest rigid rules of punctuation for rules’ sake. [See Part 1 of this series].
As a writer in many categories (business, children, non-fiction, memoir, humor, and fiction), my goal is to teach and/or entertain but always challenge the reader and tell it well.
As an editor my goal is to make a book the best it can be. One that, when a grandchild finds it on a shelf and reads Grandma’s or Grandpa’s book they will be proud of how good it is, not embarrassed about it.
As a small publisher it is to bring to life high-quality books the Big 4 will not touch. Blue Room Books has published history, music business memoir, fiction, and more, some not easily categorized. We may or may not make a profit on these, but damn it all, when they go into the world they will be equal to or better than offerings from the big houses.
So, as asked in Part 4, I ask again:
Why do you write?
Performance/Production
By John MaGuirk
Yes, you can create your audiobook. All it takes is time, patience, and a minimum investment in equipment.
Equipment requirements are modest. For best results, invest in a headset microphone. Logitech makes inexpensive, reliable equipment. If you are after “big studio” sound, a boom mike with spit screen is better.
My mike was so sensitive I could hear myself turning script pages on my desk. I invested in a music stand to slide the pages, reducing background noise.
A walk-in closet makes a great recording studio. Remove the doors and use egg cartons (paper if you can find them) as sound absorbers. They will eliminate that nasty “big room” echo.
Tech Tip # 1 Beware handheld or stand mikes have two aspects.
Side delivery & top delivery.
Always speak/talk to the “badge” (makers insignia).
Any smartphone may provide a digital file, use “voice memos” It’s a widget on your iPhone. Since iOS-7 it’s possible to share a larger file through a Cloud source.
Many production programs will permit you to record directly into a “region” or track. Because of the nature of the display, I prefer not to get distracted and use voice memos exclusively.
When I first began as a podcaster, I left in the little stumbles and glitches everyone makes. Sometime if you can find it, watch “outtakes” of R. Lee Ermey, it’s a hoot. However, your consumer expects your best, don’t disappoint them.
Tech Tip # 2 A headset is necessary for best editing results.
Good editing requires practice and patience, and your first effort is bound to be frustrating, especially when it comes to “joining” regions. Think re-assembling!
Digitally editing an MP-3 file is a piece of cake compared to the old “razor & tape” days of the past.
I prefer GarageBand. It’s extremely powerful and relatively easy to master. On the PC side, look for Audacity. There is a free version, get some practice before moving up to the paid version. It’s relatively straightforward or user-friendly, as we used to say.
There are several PodCast apps and programs that you can use, but most of these lack basic editing features.
I hark back to the days of The Radio Reader/PBS Dick Estell, WPLN carried his programming and he read from current published works. His daily program was thirty minutes. It’s my personal opinion you want to keep your content at about 45–50 minutes, especially the first episode if you release your effort serially.
Consider that many of your listeners may be in their car or engaged in other tasks like working out.
The Bard of Avon said it best:
“Brevity is the soul of wit…”
Shakespeare
Be sure to include a special offer at the end of each episode, think of it as a personal commercial. This is especially useful if you are engaged in writing a series. If you are a mystery writer this might be a way to create some suspense.
Your special offer could be a copy of the print edition at a discount price, or perhaps containing added material. It’s up to you to make the offer tantalizing and unique.
Next Time: Distributing your audiobook.
If you would like a personal workshop: working with GarageBand editing features, I would be pleased to do a thirty-minute tutorial via Zoom (there is no charge for this activity.) Text a request to 615 - 584 - 2717 include contact information or via email to sideshoj@aol.com. use Coupon Code: Killer/Nashville
John MaGuirk creates, writes & produces digital content by PodCast. Since his debut in 2011 (December) he has produced of 1100 unique episodes.
Feedback
As a writer, your work is always up for critique—I call it showing your homework for correction to the world. And it will be critiqued, so much better to have it ripped apart and made better before it’s published, right? There are a number of ways to get valuable feedback before the work goes to an editor, and before it goes out to the world of readers.
A good critique writing group can give various levels of usable feedback. Even if they’re not perfect, they can catch a lot of stupid mistakes. For my first few novels, my local group was invaluable in finding the dumb stuff before the editors did. They bluntly told me when some passage of writing did not work for them. It wasn’t pleasant to hear, but it was necessary. We always told people we’d give honest feedback, not just say nice things about all the work. Some writers came in and expected everyone to tell them how wonderful the piece was. When they heard the slightest criticism, they strenuously objected. They didn’t last long, and most likely never got published.
Many of these groups have a regular meeting schedule. Usually, someone reads a section of their work (sent in advance, or read cold on the spot), and then the members of the group offer feedback on what they heard. Though the quality may vary, it’s good to hear others read your work aloud, because it alerts you to things that might not sound quite right. And offering feedback to others makes you a better writer, as you must think about the words and the story, and how they’re presented.
When offering feedback, be constructive. Let them know when something works particularly well and help them make their writing better. Many times, you’ll get feedback on your writing that tells you something doesn’t work. Usually, they cannot specify exactly how to fix it because that’s up to you. Specifics are for the author, but if the same thing doesn’t ring true for more than one person, they might be on to something. You may sometimes get feedback that’s flat wrong, so always consider the source, and see if you can get confirmation from others. Advice from someone with multiple, successful publications may be more useful than a tip from someone with few or no publications.
Finding a Group
How does one find a feedback group?
• Check local libraries and bookstores to see if any already exist.
• Check online for information about potential groups.
• Check with writing organizations to see if they know of any in your area.
• Go on social media to discover existing groups.
• If you can’t find a group in your area, you may be able to work with an online group.
• You may have to start one if there are none in your area.
The best feedback comes from workshopping—really intense editing by people who are writers and willing to share solid criticism with each other. For this, three to four people are about right. Best is when you’re all at similar ability levels in your writing. Send out good chunks of work, 25 pages from each person, and meet once a month, with the marked-up manuscript edits on all work in hand. Then drill down to the nitty-gritty and discuss what works and what doesn’t in the story, and possible fixes. At that rate, you can go through a book length in a year. You’ll raise each other’s level as well, getting better at spotting bad writing, both in their work and your own.
Beta readers are those who’ve agreed to read your entire work in draft format, and give you feedback, one-on-one. For brutally honest feedback, don’t ask friends—rather, get someone who doesn’t care about telling you like it is. Friends will usually take pains not to hurt your feelings. And this person just has to be a reader, not necessarily a writer, and so much better if they understand the genre. You want them to tell you what didn’t work in the book. Though some will read for nothing, many times the people work out a swap, each critiquing the work of the other. You can find people for this using similar methods to finding a group. Use as many Beta readers as you like and are comfortable with.
Some people post their draft work online for public critique. Andy Weir’s The Martian did this, with excellent results. I prefer to not use this method, but there are sites that provide an opportunity for people who like this. If it works for you, go for it.
Reviews
After a work is published, the public starts in to tell the writer what they thought. Some writers choose not to read reviews for various reasons. If you get 99 good reviews, but one bad one, you might focus on the bad instead of accepting the good. With the entire world as potential critiquers, there will always be someone who doesn’t like what you’ve written. Don’t wind up second-guessing yourself because of one opinion by one reader. However, if several reviews point out similar things that didn’t work for them, consider if their feedback has merit.
Reviews are harder to get for everyone these days, but especially for Indie writers. Many established venues will not review Indie-written books, although some of those are changing. You can now purchase a pricey review from Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly if you think it’s worth it. There is no guarantee if you’ll get a good one or not, but if you’ve got money and want to gamble, hey, it’s your funds. I have one data point from an Indie writer who got lucky and received a positive review after going this route, and he says it helps when approaching libraries and bookstores, about the last people who read those industry publications.
While traditionally published writers get almost automatic glowing reviews from their publishing-house mates, in a logrolling way, Amazon tends to remove posted reviews written by people with any provable (mostly via social media) connection to the Indie writer—who are the very people the Indies start getting reviews from!
Your best bet (again, more work) is to research the many places that still review Indie books, and request one. Usually, you’ll send them a copy (electronic is best—no cost), and they have to acknowledge this fact when they review. I’ve had success doing this and received many great reviews I can use for promotion. Keep a list of where and when you send requests with the results.
Sending print copies out for review is expensive (especially overseas), so make sure it’s worth it. Many places accept e-book versions, and there are a growing number of places that review audiobooks—these are terrific because most book reviewers are busy many months ahead, but an audiobook might get reviewed much quicker.
Bad Reviews and Rejection
Always remember that no matter how good your work is, there are people in the world that will not like or appreciate what you have created. Ignore them, they do not matter. Many writers feel personally rejected when their work is rejected in some fashion, and their self-esteem suffers as a result. Dean Wesley Smith has a great post on this. Imagine getting five thousand rejections, as he did. That would sink many writers. He just kept going and selling. For the win! Any number of yesses is worth more than all the nos.
With traditional publishing, writers get rejections more often than they’re accepted. I still get stories turned down by some venues. When that happens, it quickly goes out to the next market, and so on, until it gets sold or put into a collection. By doing this, you tend not to focus on the rejection, but on getting it to the next person and making the sale. Back when rejections were sent by mail, I would save the printed form in a binder, and note when the magazine went out of business before I did. I finally stopped, because many of my stories were selling more often, and I preferred not to print out rejection emails. But it’s a great reminder when you’re down to look back at what someone didn’t want, which sold somewhere else.
Dale T. Phillips has published novels, story collections, non-fiction, and over 80 short stories. Stephen King was Dale's college writing teacher, and since then, Dale has found time to appear on stage, television, radio, in an independent feature film, and compete on Jeopardy (losing in a spectacular fashion). He's a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the Sisters in Crime. He's traveled to all 50 states, Mexico, Canada, and through Europe.
From Claymore to Award-Winning Series
By R.G. Belsky
My new mystery novel, Broadcast Blues, came out on January 2. It’s the sixth book in a series published by Oceanview about a woman TV journalist in New York City who solves murders. So how did I wind up writing this series—and, even more importantly, getting it published? Well, that’s a long story. A long, long story.
It began years earlier when I first got the idea for writing a book about a journalist haunted by a big story from her past with long-buried secrets that she had never revealed. The book was then called Forget Me Not, and it featured a different lead character from Clare Carlson.
I spent a lot of time rewriting it in various forms with several different primary protagonists after that—but had no success in getting it published, no matter how many different approaches I tried.
Fast forward to the 2016 Killer Nashville International Writers Conference. I had a new version of the book now that I had entered in the Claymore Award competition. What do I have to lose? I figured.
So on an August evening in Nashville, I sat at the awards dinner and listened to all the names of finalists and runners-up being announced. When my name wasn’t called as a runner-up, I figured I’d just have to try again next year. But then Clay Stafford announced the winner of the 2016 Claymore Award: It was Forget Me Not by R.G. Belsky!
The rest of the evening was kind of a daze. I remember receiving the Claymore Award itself—a huge trophy that was almost too big to carry—an agent approaching me and asking if I wanted representation, and being asked the next day by the head of a panel I was on to bring the Claymore Award trophy with me to inspire others.
It was a memorable experience for me—an experience I hope many of you out there will have a chance to experience too.
Things moved quickly after that. Oceanview Publishing bought my book and changed the name to Yesterday’s News, and it came out in 2018. They told me they liked my Clare character so much they wanted to publish more of her, so I have done a Clare Carlson book a year since then.
I’ve been fortunate to get a lot of awards and acclaim for the series. Yesterday’s News was named the Best Mystery of 2018 by Deadly Ink Mystery Conference. The follow-up book in the series, Below The Fold, won the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Gold Winner for Mystery. And I’ve finished as a Silver Falchion Finalist at Killer Nashville with several of the Clare Carlson mystery novels.
Would I have had all this success without winning the Claymore Award at Killer Nashville?
Maybe.
But the Claymore Award definitely was the turning point for me to turn out the Clare Carlson series as well as a number of other books since then.
Yes, the Claymore is a unique competition, unlike any I’ve ever seen from any other writing conference. It gives a beginning writer—or any writer—a chance to try out any idea for a book by submitting the first fifty pages and getting feedback from the judges. Not just in terms of being a finalist or even a winner in the contest, but also in comments/advice that can be requested by an applicant.
I recommend entering the Claymore competition to any aspiring writer I meet who asks for advice.
“Hey, it worked for me,” I tell them.
So it can work for you too. . .
R.G. Belsky is an award-winning author of crime fiction and a journalist in New York City. Belsky has published 20 novels—all set in the New York city media world where he has had a long career as a top editor at the New York Post, New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News. He also writes thrillers under the name Dana Perry. And he is a contributing writer for The Big Thrill magazine.
When Secondary Characters Demand the Spotlight
By Martha Reed
When I’m introduced to a new series, it doesn’t matter if the storyline comes via a book, a movie, or TV, and I’m open to any setting. But if the crime fiction or mystery series is going to engage my active monkey brain and continue to hold my interest, it must offer a wide-ranging ensemble cast with plenty of individual and interesting character development. Cardboard cutouts and one-dimensional characters are not for me.
Developing a supporting ensemble cast is a creative balancing act because while it offers a fertile field of fresh and unforeseen possibilities, you don’t want to lose your protagonist in the crowd. You’ll need to invent just the right number of secondary characters to keep your story lively and fresh without confusing the reader.
And while individual crimes and misdemeanors and their solutions structure the plot, character development provides the necessary depth, conflict, drama, background color, and bodies for the suspect list.
The trick is that an inciting or trigger event not only impacts the protagonist and his/her world; collateral fallout cascades through the secondary characters as well, causing countless new conflicts and story sub-arcs. Say, for instance, your beat cop protagonist finally earns her detective’s badge, a cherished career goal. How does her left behind cop ex-partner feel about her promotion? Bruised feelings and damaged egos among secondary characters are 24K nuggets in any writer’s gold mine.
Of course, the protagonist and the antagonist should take centerstage since they’re the focus of the story, but what is an author supposed to do when a secondary character suddenly strides into the limelight demanding equal face time?
This has happened to me twice, and I’d like to share how you can use these events to strengthen your future stories.
In my Nantucket Mystery series, a secondary character CSI Specialist made an unexpectedly snarky remark standing beside a crime scene that was so wryly perfect with dry humor that I realized she was going to steal the focus from the corpse. As I continued drafting the chapter, I wanted to drop the existing narrative and follow her, and that is a fatal type of rabbit hole.
When you run into a strongly vocal secondary character who refuses to behave, don’t throw them out. Take that rampant character energy and move it into an entirely new story.
Use Shapeshifting as a Creative Writing Tool
To keep that CSI Specialist from derailing that established storyline, I softened her punchline and then moved the strength of it and her character into a primary character position using an entirely new setting and series. It worked. Love Power won a Killer Nashville 2021 Silver Falchion Best Attending Author Award as well as being a 2021 Silver Falchion Finalist in the Best Mystery category.
In another shapeshifting instance, a vibrant young UBER driving named Cleo got axed from one of my short stories simply because I needed to trim the word count to fit the submission requirement. After profusely apologizing to my fictional character, I pasted Cleo into a blank Word document and filed her for later use. She has been impatiently waiting for her turn on the boards and now, as I’m drafting my current WIP, I need a strong young new female primary lead. Viola! There she stood, waiting in the wings, already warmed up and ready to go, a gift.
How to develop a secondary character into a primary one
The best tool I’ve discovered is to write out the secondary character’s career and life goals. Every character, even secondary ones are the hero/heroines in their own lives. He/she will have their own aspirations, dreams, ambitions, and struggles, and this is important: their goals may not be in alignment with your protagonist’s main story but adding this level of depth is critical to character development.
For instance, when I life studied one of my secondary characters, a military veteran and career law enforcement officer, I learned that Ted expected to be given the Lieutenant’s position when it unexpectedly fell vacant. When he didn’t get it, Ted soured on the job, so I started sprinkling in quirky quips and sour asides into his normal day-to-day conversation. The bonus is in not explaining the new quips and asides; just as your other characters will start to wonder what’s gotten into Ted, so will your readers, and keeping readers guessing is one of our writerly jobs.
Primary and secondary characters break up over conflicts. Career goal differences or sudden political flare-ups can raise tension to a snapping point. Different responses to an accident or a crime scene can cause rifts in long-standing friendships. Use these events to add increased insight into a secondary character’s life or to the backstory, and it will pique your reader’s interest as well as signal that a shift in a secondary character may potentially move that character into a leading player position.
The payoff is that secondary character development leads to story growth which will hold the interest of your readers.
_______
Martha Reed is a multi-award-winning mystery and crime fiction author. Love Power, her new Crescent City NOLA Mystery featuring Gigi Pascoe, a transgender sleuth won a 2021 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Best Attending Author Award as well as being a Silver Falchion Finalist in the Mystery category.
Her John and Sarah Jarad Nantucket Mystery series garnered an Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Award for Mid-Atlantic Best Regional Fiction. Her short story, The Honor Thief was selected for the 2021 Bouchercon anthology, This Time for Sure, edited by Hank Phillippi Ryan
You’re invited to visit her website www.reedmenow.com for more detail.
Writing From a Male POV – As a Woman
If the author’s axiom “write what you know” is worthy advice, I haven’t heeded it. From the get-go, with my first series, I wrote from a man’s point of view. It felt natural, which makes me wonder if a psychologist would have a field day with my psyche. My surface reasons for writing from a man’s perspective, however, are less complicated. The series features a masculine homicide detective crippled by the effects of child abuse. When I began researching this subject, male molestation was underserved in psychotherapy, which is exactly why I wanted to shed light on it. Many people bury their crisis instead of facing it head on, and I instilled in this protagonist the desire to unravel his mental knots. Conveniently, for Gabriel McRay, the main character, each case he solves triggers a vital point in his recovery.
Writing from the male victim’s point of view gives his journey-to-better-mental-health more impact than, say, if I wrote from the perspective of his girlfriend or his mother. I purposely made the psychotherapy in the book as true to life as possible. More than one male psychiatrist guided me in my research because I wanted to cover the right bases.
Of course, when you want to “think like a man,” there’s always a risk…
“Men mistakenly expect women to think, communicate, and react the way men do; women mistakenly expect men to feel, communicate, and respond the way women do.”
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus― John Gray
While that may be true, thankfully, there’s a lot more gender-blending going on these days than in years past. The roles of males and females (or non-binary people) are not so traditionally defined.
Still, there are practical considerations. I found myself asking my husband things like, “Couldn’t men sit down when they urinate?” and “Do you absolutely hate having to shave every day?”
He’s a patient man. I even hit up my son with lots of questions. It’s okay. They know me well.
To an extent, my efforts have paid off. I have an equal number of male readers as I do female, so I must not have alienated menfolk. The best email I ever received was from a man who confided to me that he suffered the same sort of childhood experience as Gabriel. I deeply sympathized with the reader but felt a sense of satisfaction when he said he found the therapy sessions in the book helpful.
Despite these successes, the female in me did manage to edge into Gabriel’s POV.
Students of creative writing at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) did a character breakdown of the books and pointed out how much they enjoyed the role reversals. Whaaat?
Okay, I admit that Gabriel does the cooking, and his high-powered girlfriend, Dr. Ming Li, earns more money than he. The students, however, took well to Gabriel and Ming’s yin-yang, dualistic relationship and found it believable. I kept my mouth shut and pretended I created the role reversals on purpose. The upshot is, I don’t think any of us writers can escape putting a little of ourselves into every character. Perhaps the more people do this, the less one can accuse us of coming from different planets.
But It Really Happened
By DP Lyle
But it really happened. I swear.
This is the defense fiction writers offer when someone says their story isn’t believable. “That could never happen,” they say. But, it could. It did. Still, their disbelief lingers.
I write both fiction and nonfiction. When people inquire about the difference between creating the two, my response is, “They are exactly the same, only different.” With NF, the research comes first. It must be gathered, fact-checked, and organized. Then, the writing begins. With fiction, you must first know your characters, plot, and setting before researching the materials needed to create a story that rings true.
Fiction writers often base their stories on a true crime. A look at best-selling books and iconic movies over the years underlines this fact. The horrific slaughter of the Clutter family in rural Kansas became Truman Capote’s masterpiece In Cold Blood—a book that sits somewhere between fiction and true crime. Serial killer Ed Gein fashioned furniture and clothing from human skin and inspired Hitchcock’s Norman Bates in Psycho and Buffalo Bill in Thomas Harris’s Silence of the Lambs.
For fiction writers, a true crime book, a news story, maybe a blog post sparks the idea. For my third Samantha Cody book, Original Sin, I created a character who was a snake-handling preacher. My research led me to the National Book Award finalist Salvation on Sand Mountain by Dennis Covington. It chronicles the story of Glenn Summerford, pastor of the Church of Jesus with Signs Following, who employed a rattlesnake in the attempted murder of his wife. You bet that little wrinkle appeared in Original Sin.
Or Victor Borkov, the bad guy in my first Jake Longly story, Deep Six. His enemies often found themselves lashed to an iron ring and dropped into the Gulf of Mexico. Alive. This is based on the actions of Skylar Deleon. Look up sociopath. You’ll see his picture. Under the guise of buying their boat, Skylar and a thug friend convinced Jackie and Thomas Hawks to go for a test cruise. It ended with the Hawks bound to an anchor and dumped in the Pacific Ocean. Alive.
These true stories are unbelievable. Yet true. For fiction writers, the trick is to morph unbelievable fact into believable fiction.
We fiction writers owe a great debt to true crime writers. They do the heavy lifting, the research, the telling of the crime, and we use that to inspire and create our stories. Ann Rule once told me that when she approached a true crime story, she looked for the person who was the heart of the story. Not the bad guy, often not the victim, but someone who was deeply affected by the crime. In fiction, we do the same, but have the added freedom of not being bound to the facts.
The marriage between crime fiction and true crime is alive and well.
DP Lyle, Award-winning author, lecturer, story consultant
Targeting Enemy Words
By James Glass
Writers are notorious for their love of words. Because of this, we have a hard time targeting certain words as enemies. If you don’t take the time to dig deep in your manuscript, searching for enemy words, you risk weakening your story. This robs the reader of your full potential and they may decide to put your book down.
Watch out for empty words in your writing. The word ‘was’ is a sign of the dreaded passive voice, which places a distance between you and the reader. Sometimes ‘was’ is unavoidable, but use it often and the story becomes diluted and boring. Look for stronger verbs that impart real meaning.
Look for crutch words. These are the words writers fall back on when we can’t find a better way to express what’s going on. This often occurs when we dilute the force of what we’re trying to say, but the effect usually muddles the story.
Another commonly overused word is ‘very’, so watch out for it. To help you determine which words are your crutches, go back through the draft of the last thing you finished. Read through the pages with an eye for frequently used words, especially in the same paragraph. Make a list of the words you use often. Once you target them, these words will stand out. This doesn’t mean you can’t use them, but limit the amount of playing time they have in your story.
The most common enemy words are adverbs. Ninety percent of the time, they are unnecessary. The awful thing about most adverbs is you can cut them without changing the structure of your sentence.
Here’s one example. Jack nodded slightly. Talk about wishy-washy. Jack either nodded or he didn’t.
Here’s another. Cindy talked excitedly.
If you want us to see Cindy talk excitedly, add action, not adverbs. We tend to add adverbs thinking they will give extra impact, only to discover it’s weak writing. Comb your first drafts searching for adverbs to cut. Save the best ones for when you really need them, and they will have a bigger impact.
Here’s a list of 10 commonly overused words or phrases. Go back and see how you can delete them. If you can’t, figure a way to rewrite the sentence and make the story tighter.
1. In order to
This is one of the flabbiest phrases I see in writing. People use it, but not one sentence stops working if ‘in order to’ is deleted. Replace with ‘to’, which has the same meaning. This one minor change will make the statement clearer.
2. Really
If you’re saying someone is ‘really’ tall, you’re missing the mark. How tall are they? Readers want you to show them, not tell them. With that in mind, swap this vague term for a more accurate descriptor. If you can’t be more descriptive, delete the word.
3. A lot
‘A lot’ is similar to ‘really’ in terms of vagueness. Saying something is ‘a lot’ different than it used to be robs your readers of an experience. While they understand something has changed, they don’t know what. Provide more specific information so the reader can make good decisions and connect with you on a deeper level.
4. Just
The only time ‘just’ has a place in your content is when you’re talking about something being ‘fair.’ For example, ‘The trial was just.’ Uses of ‘just’ to imply something small or inefficient (e.g., ‘She just couldn’t take the heat anymore.’) doesn’t add anything. In most cases, you can remove this word without affecting the sentence’s meaning.
5. That
‘That’ may seem like an inoffensive word, but it’s usually not necessary. For example, “These are the best pair of shoes that I’ve ever worn” could be changed to, “These are the best pair of shoes I’ve ever worn.”
6. Then
‘Then’ makes your writing stammer, which is the opposite of what you want. To smooth your text, remove the word whenever the sentence makes sense without it. And don’t start sentences with ‘then’ because it makes them clunky and difficult to read.
7. So
‘So’ is another word that doesn’t do much. Despite this, many people use it, particularly as a transition or explanatory word. Delete the word and, in most cases, your readers will thank you.
8. Got
‘Got’ is a lazy word because it doesn’t tell people much about how or why someone got something. Instead, use words that add power, such as ‘obtained’ and ‘earned.’
9. Often
‘Often’ teases readers by telling them something happens frequently without being clear. Replace ‘often’ with specific descriptions, such as ‘five times a week’ or ‘every year.’
10. Very
Perhaps the laziest descriptive word of all, ‘very’ can be deleted without taking away the intended meaning of what you’re trying to convey. Go back and replace the combination with a single, stronger adjective. For example, instead of saying ‘very beautiful,’ use ‘gorgeous.’ Replace ‘very intelligent,’ with ‘brilliant.’
When editing, circle or highlight all the empty words in red. Try rewriting those sentences with stronger verbs. This forces you to restructure the sentence making it sound more active.
Circle or highlight all the adverbs you find in yellow. Check how the sentences sound without them. If the meaning isn’t changed, cut them. Be sure to read aloud. By reading out loud, you hear the flow instead of relying on your writer’s voice alone.
When you finish, you will end up with a cleaner, more efficient prose. Something your readers and editors will both enjoy.
Happy writing.
James Glass achieved the rank of Command Master Chief before retiring after 22 years in the United States Navy. After retiring from the Navy, he exchanged his rifle for a pen. He and his family moved back to Florida. James is also the president of the Panhandle Writers Group. He’s published five novels, one novella, and two (you solve the crime) chapter books.
A Killer Voice That Makes an Impact
When you think about a rampaging murderer out to destroy his victims, what comes to mind? Most of the time, it’s their iconic voice. Imagine Candyman without the breathy and slow speech of Tony Todd or Ghostface without Rodger L Jackson’s craggy mix of sadism and insanity. Who can forget the deep, dark, dulcet tones of the Master of Macabre, Vincent Price? That’s what you want to give readers when your character speaks—a taste of their depravity.
Finding that unique resonance can be challenging, but like any diligent author, you appreciate the value of research to carve out a brilliant inflection that will capture your delinquent’s soul. Breathy, croaky, cracking, soothing, alarming can all describe a voice. Vivid comparisons can also bring the essence of someone alive in a reader’s mind. Does her breathy narration sound like a gentle breeze moving through a tree plump with the leaves of spring? Does his laugh remind you of the bray of a donkey? How a death-dealing degenerate sounds can influence what your readers take away from a scene.
Sentence structure plays a vital role in intensifying a character’s emotions. A nervous woman convinced she’s being followed might require short, clipped phrases, imitating the twittering of a skittish bird. Or there are those long, flowery sentences that could represent the pompous police chief or dense detective who doesn’t believe the victim. Punctuation can also add impact. A frightened person’s dialogue can frequently trail off with ellipses, exemplifying their wavering train of thought. Or a brash thug might add terror to his loud, paranoid ramblings by ending everything in exclamation points.
A voice doesn’t have to be menacing to create a shudder. An ordinary, quiet man with a somber or even childlike tone who carries out ghastly deeds can elicit chills. Think Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. A monotone, emotionless pitch can tell us more about the inner workings of a psychopath than a shrieking mother frustrated with her children. Remember the crazed computer Hal 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Don’t forget about the intense horror of silence. The doomed want answers before they take their last breath. Not having the solace of another’s voice could be more hair-raising than a sinister hiss or last malicious chuckle. A memorable example is the unsettling nothingness of Michael Myers as he sliced through his victims in Halloween (1987).
You may want to design a manner of speaking that becomes your transgressor’s trademark. Police often ask survivors of violence about the voice of their attacker. Even if a victim doesn’t look at the perpetrator, they will never forget how they sounded. The way your slayer stays with those they have tormented can be as important as what they say or do. Inflections, the rise and fall of their tone, the deepness or high-pitched way they laugh, and even the pauses they give when speaking are all critical. The Grady twins from The Shining delivered their creepy invitation to Danny to come and play “forever… and ever… and ever,” scaring theatergoers.
Also, keep in mind dialects do matter. Whether it’s a southern drawl, Texas Twang, the guttural angst of New Yorkers, or the dropped Rs of Bostonians, give your killer some flare. But don’t overdo it. You want authenticity without coming across as stereotypical. Research how people speak naturally in the area you’re writing about. Go to restaurants, walk the streets, sit in coffee shops, and eavesdrop. Get a sense of rhythm and the way people talk. It will give your scoundrel depth and believability.
Don’t forget the backstory, especially when dealing with physical or emotional traumas. A brute with a history of throat damage, whether through strangling or a sliced larynx, can have a wispy way of speaking that sets one’s teeth on edge. Damage to the mouth, either through the loss of teeth or cut nerves, can provide relevant clues to why your murderer speaks as they do. A maniac who’s suffered immense sorrow or abuse might carry the past in their voice. Cold, unemotional, lifeless tones can tell you a lot about the pain behind someone’s words. Red’s rasp in the movie US becomes even more horrific when the audience discovers rats have gnawed through her vocal cords. A cringe-worthy backstory can ramp up the fear factor.
There’s nothing more insightful than a voice. It’s the true window to one’s emotions and personality. So when creating a killer character who will leave readers mesmerized and terrified, don’t forget their distinct, haunting vocal expression. Take the time to make it compelling, and your villain will live on long after your story’s climactic ending.
Alexandrea Weis, RN-CS, PhD, is an award-winning author, screenwriter, advanced practice registered nurse, and historian who was born and raised in the French Quarter of New Orleans. She has taught at major universities and worked as a nurse dealing with victims of sexual assault, abuse, and mental illness in a clinical setting at New Orleans area hospitals.
Having grown up in the motion picture industry as the daughter of a director, she learned to tell stories from a different perspective. Infusing the rich tapestry of her hometown into her novels, she believes that creating vivid characters makes a story moving and memorable. The first person to give her writing advice was Tennessee Williams, a family friend.
Weis is a member of the International Thriller Writers (ITW) and Horror Writers Association (HWA). She lives with her husband outside of New Orleans where she is a permitted/certified wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries and rescues orphaned and injured animals.
Twists and Reveals: The Art of Keeping Your Readers Guessing
By Claire Cooper
An interesting plot and intriguing characters are key ingredients to keep readers turning the pages of any work of fiction. But if you’re writing thrillers, crime, mysteries, or suspense, twists and reveals can be the secret sauce that turns a good story into a great one.
The two terms are often used interchangeably, but twists and reveals are quite different things. What are they? How do you construct them? And most importantly of all, what needs to be in place for them to work well?
The difference between twists and reveals
A reveal is just what it sounds like—new information that answers an important question.
It might be the central question of the plot (who’s the killer?). Or it could be a nugget that brings the reader closer to solving the mystery (that dodgy guy who’s been stalking our heroine is her long-lost brother).
A reveal is essential to any whodunnit. Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party is a classic example—there’s a cast of characters, one of whom is the murderer. The set-up has readers poring over every word, searching for clues to the killer’s identity. When it comes, the reveal is beautifully satisfying.
And while that happens at the end of the story, there are other, smaller reveals along the way. They keep things interesting, provide clues, and allow the reader to form theories about what’s happening.
Like reveals, twists also impart information—but that’s not all. That information turns everything the reader previously thought they knew on its head.
That creates an exciting reading experience. And it also means readers will recommend your book to all their friends, because they’ll be desperate for other people to talk to about it.
Gone Girl is perhaps the most famous example of a twist in a modern psychological thriller. At the start, it reads as a well-written but conventional mystery: a woman has gone missing, her husband is under suspicion. Has he killed her?
But halfway through, we’re presented with new and shocking information. Everything we thought we knew was wrong. And we’re faced with a different set of questions to keep us reading.
Twists appear in classic crime, too. Agatha Christie’s After the Funeral has one of the most brilliantly constructed twists I’ve ever read. No spoilers: if you haven’t read it, put that right ASAP.
What is it that makes some twists and reveals work so well? And what goes wrong when they fall flat?
Writing a great reveal
Both twists and reveals play on the contract between author and reader. Some people refer to this as the “story promise,” the set-up that tells the reader what to expect if they decide to read the book.
Reveals honor that promise. Twists are an unexpected bonus (although the prevalence of twists in modern fiction means they’re not always unexpected—more on that later).
The reveal in The Hunting Party works so well because it offers readers exactly what they wanted when they started reading the book: they find out who the killer is.
Other reveals along the way answer some questions while posing others, keeping the tension high throughout. At the end, everything is resolved—and crucially, it fits together and makes sense.
That logic is essential. Part of the delight of reading a whodunnit is trying to work out the answer for ourselves. With the best books we fail, whilst knowing we could have succeeded, if only we’d spotted all the clues.
When a reveal goes wrong
When reveals fall flat, on the other hand, it’s often because new information comes out of the blue. There’s no way a reader could have worked it out. And there’s no pay-off for our concentration because nothing we’ve read until that point is relevant. We feel cheated.
The same goes for a reveal that feels implausible. While it could happen in real life, it feels too unlikely to be satisfying. It doesn’t fit comfortably with the world as it’s presented in the book.
Classic reveal fails can be guilty of one or both of these sins. Revealing that a character has an identical twin, say, or that a huge chunk of plot has been a dream—both feel like the author isn’t taking us seriously.
Yes, we know that identical twins exist; and yes, people dream. But if we haven’t been given any clues about what’s going on, the author has essentially been wasting our time. And even if the clues have been seeded, it’s hard to feel that the writer hasn’t taken an easy way out.
The key to a successful twist
The same rules apply to a twist. It has to make sense. It has to be plausible. And it has to tie into what’s been presented before.
But with the twist, that final criterion is especially difficult to pull off. As writers, we need to lead our readers in the wrong direction, while still playing fair. Our characters can say things that aren’t true—they can be unreliable narrators. But we ourselves can never lie.
In Gone Girl, the twist is set up by the way we’re persuaded to think about the two main characters. One character reveals they’re lying to the police—they must have something to hide. We hear from the other in a context that makes it seem impossible that they’re lying.
That belief colors our interpretation of everything else. When it’s flipped on its head, we realize all our preconceptions are wrong.
The twist here works at a meta level, too. It changes our whole perception of the kind of book we’re reading. The story promise we thought we were being presented with at the beginning is something else entirely.
That’s a risky approach. But with Gone Girl, it works because it’s so exciting. You thought you were getting something good—but you’re getting something even better.
With Agatha Christie’s After the Funeral, the twist is set up so subtly you don’t notice it’s been done. Not only are we misdirected, we congratulate ourselves for having worked something out for ourselves. What we don’t discover until right at the end is that we got it completely wrong.
And Christie achieves that while only presenting us with the facts of the story. It’s a masterclass in misdirection.
The role of planning in constructing your twist or reveal
I’d argue that planning is essential to constructing both twists and reveals—even if, for pantsers, it only kicks in at the editing stage.
That planning starts with a clear story promise, the question that will be answered by the end of the book. That gives you the substance for your big reveal.
To get there, there’ll be other questions that need to be answered. And those mini-reveals should pose new questions, too.
Also crucial is to decide what to reveal when. A good rule of thumb is to release important information at the last possible moment, only when readers need it to make sense of what happens next. Reveal it too soon, and suspense will leak away.
If you’re including a twist, you need to walk a tightrope. On one hand, your reader needs enough information that the twist will make perfect sense. On the other hand, you need to disguise that information in a way that doesn’t allow your reader to spot what’s coming.
There are lots of different ways you can do that. Here are a few:
Have a character tell the truth, but make them appear so untrustworthy that your reader won’t believe them
Have a character who lies but appears honest
Include red herrings
Slip out crucial facts alongside revelations that appear more important, so your reader focuses on the wrong thing.
Finally, think about where you want your twist to appear. The only rule here is not to have it happen too soon: you need your reader to have developed a clear (and wrong) idea of what they think is happening for it to have real impact.
The role of the twist in book marketing
Once upon a time, a twist was a relatively rare thing. These days, in genres like psychological thrillers, it’s almost expected.
That presents some challenges. If readers suspect a twist is coming, they’ll be on their guard. And some people complain that blurbs mentioning a twist distract them from the story, diverting their attention to trying to spot it.
It’s a fair point. But it’s also true that a great twist can be the thing that gets readers talking about a book. That, of course, means more sales—and what marketing department or indie author can afford to ignore that?
If savvy readers looking out for a twist are wise to the usual tactics, it’s up to us as authors to respond. Either we find ways to execute those tactics so brilliantly that we still bamboozle our readers, or we come up with new tactics altogether.
That’s pretty daunting—but it’s exciting too. I for one can’t wait for the next book with a “mind-blowing twist!”
Claire Cooper grew up in a small village in Wales before moving to London as a student. She was a civil servant for 17 years, but hung up her bowler hat when she discovered that she much preferred writing about psychotic killers to Ministerial speeches. She lives in London with her husband and a pond full of very cute newts, and also writes as C. J. Cooper. Her latest book, "The Elevator" is set in New York, Bristol and London, and includes lots of reveals (and maybe one or two twists!). It was published on August 25th.
Twelve Steps to Writing the Cozy/Amateur Sleuth Mystery Series
By Lois Winston
I started my career writing romance and was first published in 2006 with Talk Gertie to Me, a humorous fish-out-of-water story about a young woman off to New York and the mother determined to bring her back home to Iowa. That was followed a year later with the romantic suspense, Love, Lies and Double Shot of Deception.
I wrote my first mystery after my agent had a conversation with an editor looking for a crafting mystery series. Since my day job consisted of designing craft projects for kit manufacturers, craft book publishers, and both craft and women’s magazines, my agent thought I’d be the perfect person to write such a series. Thus, was born my critically acclaimed and bestselling Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, a humorous amateur sleuth series which sold in late 2009 and debuted in January 2011.
In addition, I’ve written two books in my Empty Nest Mystery Series, which is a modern-day twist on Nick and Nora Charles from the Thin Man movies, and one book so far in my Mom Squad Caper Series.
The following twelve steps are not a sure-fire guide to success, merely helpful suggestions for avoiding mistakes that could lead to a rejection letter instead of a contract offer.
STEP ONE: DECIDE ON THE TYPE OF MYSTERY SERIES YOU WANT TO WRITE
Before you begin to craft your series, you should decide on the sub-genre of mystery you want to write. Do you know the difference between a cozy mystery, an amateur sleuth mystery, a romantic suspense, a romantic mystery, a police procedural, a detective story, and a noir mystery? If not, you need to educate yourself prior to starting your series. Different sub-genres contain different conventions with different reader expectations. (For a complete list of sub-genres with definitions of each, click here.)
STEP TWO: DECIDE WHETHER YOU WANT TO WRITE A LIMITED OR AN ONGOING SERIES
In a limited series the story arc and characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts develop over a set number of books, usually (but not restricted to) three, and are resolved at the end of the last book in the series.
An ongoing series, typical of most mystery series, features episodic stories that resolve at the end of each book but include the same main and secondary characters throughout the series.
Episodic series can be as few as two books or as many as dozens, depending on various factors—the story the author is telling, the desire to keep writing the series, publisher support, and a fan base clamoring for more stories in the series.
Episodic series books should be able to be read out of order without causing reader confusion (More on that later). Stories are independent of each other with new antagonists and additional secondary characters in each book but can be tied to previous stories. Characters introduced in one book may come back several books later.
In most cases, the main and some secondary characters will continue to grow throughout the series, often going through life-altering changes such as marriage, a job change, birth of a child, or death of a family member.
STEP THREE: DEVELOP A CHARACTER WHO CAN CARRY A SERIES OVER MULTIPLE BOOKS
Readers love to bond with characters and continue to read about them, but as a writer you need to make sure you don’t keep writing the same story book after book. You need to create a protagonist who won’t become stale. You can achieve this by setting long-term goals for your protagonist and placing her in different settings.
Even though you end each book resolving the main plot of that book and having your character solve the murder, you want to leave your reader wondering what happens next in the character’s life. One way I’ve done this is by introducing new characters. For example, in Revenge of the Crafty Corpse, the third book in my Anastasia series, I introduce Anastasia’s deceased husband’s previously unknown half-brother.
In Drop Dead Ornaments, the seventh book in the series, I give Anastasia’s older son, Alex, a girlfriend and created a murder plot that involved her and her father. And of course, there’s the mysterious Zack Barnes, a photojournalist who rents the apartment above Anastasia’s garage in Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun. Even though Anastasia suspects he’s really a government operative, a relationship begins to develop between them as the series progresses.
STEP FOUR: GIVE YOUR PROTAGONIST A JOB CONDUCIVE TO DISCOVERING AND SOLVING MURDERS
If you’re writing about a professional investigator, this is a given. However, for cozy and amateur sleuth series, the sleuth needs a career where she isn’t chained to her desk in a cubicle forty hours a week, then spends her evenings watching TV with only a cat for company. Your sleuth needs a logical excuse for getting around to investigate the crime and interact with witnesses and suspects.
Giving her family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers to interact with will give you more opportunities for additional plots in future books. If she travels for her job, that’s a plus. You can locate your crimes in various locales, keeping the settings fresh and interesting from book to book. Some of the settings for my series have included the magazine where Anastasia works, the set of a morning TV show, at a convention center, in the town where she lives, on a cruise ship, at a conference center, and at a winery.
STEP FIVE: CREATE YOUR SLEUTH’S WORLD
Decide whether your books will take place in a real town or city, a fictional town or city, or a fictionalized version of a real town or city.
I’ve set my books in and around Westfield, NJ and New York City because I find it easier to keep track of locations familiar to me. Some authors will take a real town or city but change the name. Others will create a fictional location.
If you decide on a fictional location, make it a place your readers will want to continue reading about from book to book. Give the place some unique characteristics. Is it a tourist destination? A commuter town near a big city? A college town? A town with only one industry? A shore town or one nestled in the mountains? Your setting should become an integral part of your series.
For fictitious locations, create a map to use as a reference while writing your books. You don’t want to make a street one way in one direction, then have it going in the opposite direction two books later. Savvy readers often catch such errors and let you know about them.
If you want to set a story in a real town or city you don’t know or don’t know well, do extensive research regarding the location. Don’t just rely on Google Maps. You don’t want to make the mistake of writing about a massive accident involving half a dozen eighteen-wheelers on a roadway where trucks are forbidden.
It’s perfectly acceptable to have your characters visit actual businesses as long as you don’t write anything derogatory about the establishment. Your characters can meet for Frappuccinos at Starbucks, but if you want your victim dropping dead after one sip, give both the establishment and the beverage a fictitious name to avoid a possible lawsuit.
STEP SIX: CUPCAKES, CRAFTS, & CATS
Three of the most popular sub-genres of cozy mysteries are culinary cozies, crafting cozies, and pet cozies. Culinary and crafting cozies generally include a recipe or craft project. In pet cozies, the pet becomes a secondary character in the series, one the sleuth will often view as almost human. In my Anastasia Pollack series, Anastasia’s mother owns a cat. Her mother-in-law owns a dog. Both animals mimic their owner’s personalities. Anastasia has inherited Ralph, a Shakespeare-quoting parrot who squawks situation-appropriate passages from The Bard.
Sometimes the pet will even play a role in solving the mystery. This is often the case in paranormal mysteries, which are also quite popular and usually feature cats. Even non-pet cozies often feature a pet, especially cats and dogs. I’ve known several authors who were asked to add a cat or dog to a submission before a contract was offered.
When planning your series, you need to decide if you’ll follow a trend or buck trends by writing something outside the box. In a crowded market it’s often difficult to break in and find a fan base when you’re competing against well-established series. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
On the other hand, although publishers will always say they’re looking for something new and fresh, they’re often reticent to take a chance on something different from what they know sells. It’s a publishing conundrum.
When I began writing the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, I did some research into crafting mysteries. All either featured a craft shop owner, a crafting club, or a crafter, and all concentrated on a single craft—knitting, crochet, scrapbooking, stained glass, etc. I decided to buck the single-craft trend by making Anastasia the crafts editor at a women’s magazine. That way I could feature a different craft in each book.
STEP SEVEN: BFFS AND SIDEKICKS
Most cozy and amateur sleuth series have a sidekick who becomes Watson to your protagonist’s Sherlock. This can be a coworker, a relative, a best friend, or a love interest. The sidekick often provides certain character traits that your sleuth might lack. She or he might be totally logical whereas your sleuth might appear flighty at times or be obsessively cautious when your sleuth has a tendency toward leaping before looking.
For instance, in my Empty Nest Mystery Series, my sleuth’s college professor husband is forced to tag along to keep her out of trouble when she insists on sticking her nose into murder investigations. But in Anastasia’s world, depending on the book, her sidekicks alternate between several people in her life, including her best friend, magazine food editor Cloris McWerther, and her tenant-turned-love-interest, Zack Barnes.
STEP EIGHT: SECONDARY AND TERTIARY CHARACTERS
Juggling the number of characters in your sleuth’s world can be a delicate balancing act. Too few characters won’t give you enough possibilities for plots to keep your series going, but too many can become confusing to the reader.
Remember, not every character you create needs to appear in each book. Some characters may play a major role in only one book or pop up sporadically from time to time. Resist the urge to force a character into a story because you introduced him or her in a previous book. Only bring the character back when it makes sense to the story.
Even characters you never expect to appear in another book might come back at some point. When I received a note from a reader wondering if I’d ever bring back Tino Martinelli, introduced in Decoupage Can Be Deadly, I was in the middle of writing Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide. I realized Tino was exactly the character I needed to round out that book’s plot.
STEP NINE: CREATE A SERIES BIBLE
If you plan to write a series over many years, it’s essential that you keep accurate track of all the character details. This includes a physical description of each character, their age, profession, back-story, relationship to the other characters in the series, their relatives, hobbies, and likes and dislikes in everything from books to music to fashion to the make, model, and color of the car they drive.
Don’t rely on your memory. Create a database. Each time you add a character or mention a characteristic of that character, add it to the database. Refer to the database routinely to make sure you haven’t changed a character’s eye color or given him a sibling when you mentioned in a previous book that he’s an only child.
STEP TEN: DECIDE ON HOW QUICKLY YOUR CHARACTERS WILL AGE
Most authors write a book a year. Will your characters age a year between each book, or will each book take place days, weeks, or months after the preceding one? This is something you need to decide before you begin writing the second book in your series.
If you choose to have your characters age a year with each book, how will aging affect their world? If your sleuth has teenagers, will they go off to college in book 4 or 5? Is she nearing retirement age? Will she have to deal with aging parents? What about technological advances? Will you incorporate new technologies into future stories?
I realized after I’d sold the first three books in my Anastasia Pollack series that I should have made her sons younger. As teenagers, they were too close to leaving for college. But the first book was already written. Making them younger wouldn’t have worked with the plot. I solved the problem by having each consecutive book start within a short period of time after the previous book had ended. I’ve even opened one book within hours of ending the previous book.
STEP ELEVEN: KEEP A TIMELINE OF EVENTS
It’s far too easy to lose track of the time elapsing in your story as you work on it, especially if you’re a writer who often goes back and tweaks scenes. You can’t always rely on critique partners or editors catching every mistake you make. The easiest way to avoid such errors is to keep a scene calendar for each book in your series. Print out blank calendar pages. Decide on the month and day your story will start. Record the scenes that occur on each day to keep your timeline accurate.
STEP TWELVE: DON’T LEAVE NEW READERS SCRATCHING THEIR HEADS
It’s important that each book in your series can be read as a standalone. Most bookstores will not carry all the previous titles in your series. If a reader picks up a book from the middle of the series, you don’t want her to feel confused about the characters in your story. You want readers to have an enjoyable reading experience, enough so that they’ll search out your prior titles and purchase future ones.
Avoid the urge to info-dump, though. It’s not necessary to provide each character’s complete biography the first time you introduce him or her in each book. A few carefully worded phrases or sentences at appropriate times will give the reader enough back-story to avoid having her feel frustrated and lost.
LOIS WINSTON is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author of mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry.
The Importance of Strong Pacing and Dynamic Structure in Science Fiction
By Stu Jones and Gareth Worthington
Pacing, style, and structure. Why does they even matter? I have worlds to build!
This mindset is the downfall of even some of the most accomplished science fiction writers. To a sci-fi author, world-building is often the driving force for the book in the first place. “I want to spend page after page describing, in vast detail, the intricacies of my new world.” After all, isn’t that the fun of being a writer? Creating every nuance and allowing readers to enter the world of our imagination? What could be better for a story than that?
Indeed, historically, this was the status quo.
Once upon a time, taking our readers through endless reams of description was possible. Hell, it was standard practice in sci-fi and fantasy, as evidenced by many of the greats. From the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century, a reader was more likely to shell out their hard-earned cash for an author’s latest work. If reading it didn’t conflict with listening to one’s favorite radio broadcast or later, catching one’s favorite television show at five p.m. on a Friday, then there wasn’t much else at home outside a game of cards or a roll in the hay, with which to conflict.
Not so today, at least for the most part.
While there are still readers who enjoy longer novels, with incredible depth of world-building, for the average reader—and therefore the majority of our audience—long side stories about how a certain kind of flora came to be grown on a terraformed planet just isn’t going to cut it.
And why?
Because, dear authors, we are competing for attention. In today’s world, a person’s phone is only an arm length away—if that. And if our story lags into page after page of lavish descriptors, our reader will yawn, set the book down, and start browsing cat videos. Or worse, reach for the TV remote to see what’s streaming. And there, in the world of television and cinema, lies our greatest ally and enemy. While we all yearn to have our book adapted for the big screen and enjoy watching the imagined worlds we read come to life, movies and television series mean that our audiences who also read no longer need us to describe things in ridiculous detail. The average reader now has so many visual frames of reference we, as the author, don’t need to work so hard to help them along.
Let’s try it.
Mars. One word. You are already conjuring an image of a red planet, dry and desolate without oceans. A rocky surface and a thin atmosphere. We did not need to tell you those things. One word was enough.
With this in mind, has the entertainment industry destroyed the beauty of science fiction writing? “What can we do against the tyranny of Facebook, Instagram, and three-hundred-million-dollar movies?” you cry.
The answer is two-fold.
Firstly, we can address structure and prose. We can describe where it is necessary, where the reader may not have encountered our particular nuance for a given fictional ecosystem. But where just a few words will suffice to give the reader that visual nudge, we can move on. We can drive the story forward. We are, of course, referring to pacing.
So, what do we mean by pacing?
It means two things. Number one, always be moving the ball down the field. Something has to happen. And it needs to happen often from the work’s start all the way to the finish. Every chapter should have a purpose to move the story along, not just describe something we would like to tell the reader about our world. If we want to convey a detail, make that detail important to the narrative. Now don’t get us wrong and interpret what we’re saying as descriptors aren’t vitally important. Descriptive prose is the perfume that helps to draw the reader closer to your vision. But perfume alone the beauty does not make. In the end, it’s a delicate balancing act between enough description to draw the reader in, without detracting from where the story is going. It takes constant vigilance to ensure we, as authors, do not wax or wane too far one way or the other.
When we were writing It Takes Death To Reach A Star, we struggled with this. After all, we’d created this whole new world and there were so many elements to show and so many factions vying for a moment in the spotlight. Even though our entire story was set in a single city, we had created a universe with religions, cultural factions, and histories---not to mention the merging of real scientific theories and religious doctrine. At times we were totally overwhelmed with the scope of what we were trying to accomplish.
To our great relief, we feel we managed it with reviews applauding our world-building and comparing it to the likes of Philipp K. Dick. Yet the book is only eighty-four-thousand words. Quite average by any fiction standard. How did we achieve that?
Well, during the refining process, our amazing editor, Jason, came to us with a formula which we both now use in all our writing: The 25, 50, 75 rule. He said that at regular intervals, things should be happening. Little things. Everyday moments of story intrigue and character development. But interlaced between those moments, at major quarter intervals, something big should happen. Maybe it’s a major character reveal, a plot twist, or the development of an unforeseen love interest who promises to change the scope of the story, or a look into the villain’s plan to do something dastardly. But something important that is central to the story should happen. Then, between the little moments and the big moments, the reader is anchored to our story.
No more checking the smartphone or Netflix, because now our readers have to know what happens in our story. If we can achieve this, then it’s safe to go ahead and pop the champagne. When an author nails pace and structure and their story leaps to vivid life, everyone wins.
So, next time you’re outlining your book, think about the rule above. What are the big moments in the narrative? When you’re writing, try to include your descriptors as part of the story, the narrative. Let your characters experience the world and relay what you see in detail, but keep the experience moving. We don’t sit at our desks contemplating the shape of the keys at which we tap away. Instead, we press them and move our story along.
A Dragon Award Nominee, Stu Jones is the author of multiple sci-fi/action/thriller novels, including the multi-award-winning It Takes Death To Reach A Star duology and Condition Black, written with co-author Gareth Worthington (Children of the Fifth Sun, A Time for Monsters).
Gareth Worthington is an authority in ancient history, has hand-tagged sharks in California, and trained in various martial arts, including Jeet Kune Do and Muay Thai at the EVOLVE MMA gym in Singapore and 2FIGHT in Switzerland. His work has won multiple awards, including Dragon Award Finalist and an IPPY award for Science Fiction.
Taking Inspiration Without Plagiarism
By Graham Smith
One thing the vast majority of authors do is read. They read the classics, research tomes, novels from the best-seller lists, and ones from their own to-be-read piles. Authors choose every one of these reads for educational or entertainment value and hope they will be written in a style that engages their readers. It stands to reason that some of those words may try to subconsciously sneak into a manuscript. The author’s job is to spot when they do and either rewrite or remove them.
As a novelist, I take inspiration from a wide variety of sources, such as news stories, half-heard conversations, and because I’m a reader, I take inspiration from the novels I read. That inspiration could be from characters who are wonderfully entertaining, settings whose descriptions crackle with imagery, or a plot that’s both exciting and true to the characters.
What I never do is copy someone else’s idea, character, or phrasing. A few years ago, I set out to write a series set in the US. It was to feature a tough guy lead who was as likely to solve problems with his fists as his mind. I expect that you’re already thinking of such characters as Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Matt Hilton’s Joe Hunter, Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp, and a whole host of others. That’s fine, there’s room for them all. In fact, I took the number of similar—but not the same—characters to be a good thing. It meant the sub-genre was popular enough to stand another.
When I came to create my character and story, I used my knowledge of the sub-genre to make sure I wasn’t re-writing someone else’s story or character. I was inspired by the aforementioned names, but as a fan of those authors, the last thing I wanted to do was rip them off or plagiarize them in any way.
Another instance of where I sought inspiration was the death of a character in a novel called Revenger by Tom Cain. This was the last book in the series and therefore I never got to find out the long-term impact of the character’s death. As a fan, this ate at me somewhat, and because I’d struck up a friendship with Tom, I asked for and received, permission to work a version of the character’s death into one of my character’s backstory, so I could as an author create my own version of how the character’s death affected their beloved.
Sometimes authors working in isolation from each other can come up with the same basic plot idea. This has happened to me, once directly and once indirectly. The direct version was uncovered from a conversation with a good writer friend. We’d chatted plot ideas, publishing gripes, and all the usual stuff us authors talk about when he mentioned that a mutual friend had told him about a novel he was planning. Because I’d already written at least half of a novel with a very similar plot, the mutual friend dropped his idea as he didn’t want to write something too similar to another novel that was likely to be published around the same time as his. The indirect version came from a brainstorming session with another writer friend and when he put an idea forward, it rang a bell with me. Ten seconds of searching online proved the plot idea had been used in a successful novel, and thus another idea was dropped.
The author Craig Russell is someone I count as a friend and a favored author. Such is his skill with language and narrative. I find myself learning about the craft of writing every time I read one of his novels. I have never hid the fact I consider his writing so good as to be educational, but there is no way I would ever ape his style, although I do consider him to be an inspiring influence.
The publishing industry is one that follows trends. Think back to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, and all the similar artefact hunting novels that sprung up around the time The Da Vinci Code had massive success. There was a boom in the sub-genre that lasted a couple of years until the rise of Scandi Crime and then came the psychological thrillers. The standouts in each of the trends were all original novels. They didn’t plagiarize any other piece of work, and while they were each unique, they all held the tropes a reader expected of their sub-genre.
In short, it’s okay to take inspiration from your peers, from whatever source you like. But don’t chase the latest trend, write a uniquely original novel of your own and set the next trend.
I know many authors who scour the news outlets hoping to get a usable idea. What you can’t do as an author is copy someone else’s work. Just like our school days, anyone caught copying the work of another will have consequences to face. Don’t do it. Be original, be unique, be inventive, and be prepared to ditch an idea you have because someone else has already done it.
Most of all, good luck with your writing.
Graham Smith is a 50-year-old author who has published 18 books to date. He lives in Scotland and manages a busy hotel and wedding venue for his family.
Subplots Can Tighten Your Story’s Saggy Middle
By Martha Reed
We’ve all experienced that feeling of keen anticipation and undiluted terror when starting a new story, staring at that initial blank page, and wondering how on earth we’re going to fill it.
We may start out with an amorphous idea of what our story might be about, select an intriguing cast of characters, and develop a plot outline before committing ourselves to the months or even the decades of willful intent and devoted effort it takes to write 85,000 words in the right order.
For me, beginnings are easy enough. In between drafting books, I keep an untidy stack of newspaper clippings and screen capture print outs bearing provocative headlines hoping to plant these magical little seeds in my subconscious and trigger an idea or two down the road. How will these suggestions connect in my new stories? I have no idea, but I do know that they will. It’s part of that writerly sorcery, the creative fiction necromancy I’ve learned to enjoy—and to rely upon—because it’s that wizardry that keeps both me as the writer and my readers entertained.
Endings aren’t difficult because it’s our job as writers to wrap up loose threads. If our characters have followed their true hearts, their heads, and the story’s logic trail, then it should lead them and us to an ending that at least makes sense. It’s our writerly duty to make sure we provide readers with a compelling ending that satisfies them as a reward for following our words. If correctly done, we will gift our readers with a story they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.
Once we hook readers with that dynamic beginning, how do we entice them through our story’s middle act, so they’ll reach that magnificent ending? The answer is by using subplots.
Subplots are the unsung mighty little engines that could. They’re the smaller sidebar stories that support our main overarching storyline, and when we weave in subplots, they can reveal character insights, increase dramatic momentum, raise the stakes, and present plot twists. While subplots are connected to the larger story, they run parallel to the main plot, sub-surface, and they should end before the larger story arc does—or at least be a part of the final wrap-up.
There are dozens of subplot ideas. Here are a few I’ve used:
A character background subplot/flashback helps a reader understand why a character is behaving the way they do. Did your protagonist grow up abused and dirt poor? Were they a spoiled only child? What made them the way they are now?
A love interest subplot makes the protagonist more vulnerable since they’ll be revealing their emotions and/or personal attachments. Use this subplot to engage reader empathy.
A comedic subplot can change the story’s pace, give the reader room to breathe, and lighten the mood.
A parallel subplot shows two different sides of the same story that will eventually converge—for better or for worse. This convergence adds tension and dramatic suspense, especially if the reader sees it coming.
A foreshadowing subplot can be used to insert red herrings, key hints, and clues.
Here are some subplots I like to use:
Suggest a minor or secondary character in act one, but don’t introduce them until act two. Have other characters offer dribs and drabs of that backstory to tease reader interest, suggest potential plot complications, and prefigure unforeseen obstacles.
Give your secondary character a skill in act two that your protagonist will need to use in act three. This is particularly effective if there’s an ongoing misunderstanding or rivalry between them that must be overcome.
Misunderstandings are great subplot devices. Emails and text messages are often misread and feelings get hurt, increasing the dramatic tension because of the conflict.
Every character hides a secret uncertainty or fear, and no one likes to admit to a weakness. In act two, offer an earth-shattering reveal that causes extensive personal and relationship repercussions between your characters and triggers new and surprising plot twists.
The trick with subplots is to correctly use them. Weave them into your story and they will support your plot with elastic drama and tension like a trampoline. Use too many and you risk muddling your plotline, confusing your readers, and derailing your tale. Practice makes perfect and the trick, as they say, is in the telling. Don’t be afraid to try.
Martha Reed is a multi-award-winning mystery and crime fiction author. “Love Power,” her new Crescent City NOLA Mystery featuring Gigi Pascoe, a transgender sleuth won a 2021 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Best Attending Author Award as well as being a Silver Falchion Finalist in the Mystery category.
Her John and Sarah Jarad Nantucket Mystery series garnered an Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Award for Mid-Atlantic Best Regional Fiction. Her short story, “The Honor Thief” was selected for the 2021 Bouchercon anthology, This Time for Sure, edited by Hank Phillippi Ryan.
You’re invited to visit her website www.reedmenow.com for more detail.
Staying Motivated in a Writing Career
“People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit. Most people succeed because they are determined to. Persevere and get it done.”
—George Allen
Staying Motivated
Think of it this way: Failure is a single event, while success is a process.
You should realize (if you hadn’t before) that the road to success is a long, constant journey, not a short sprint to a nearby finish line. Many writers quit before achieving success, including some who were close and would have made it with just a bit more effort. You never know how close you are, where the tipping point will be. In the past couple of years, two of my favorite writers suddenly broke into top-level, best-seller, well-deserved, breakout success after many years of toiling in the trenches. It seemed to happen overnight, and yet they’d been working diligently for years to make it happen and had a number of excellent books out.
Why are you writing? To make money, win awards, get famous? Those are external goals, out of your control. What you can control is your production, your author brand, and how hard you’re willing to work. If you’re not having fun, and it’s taking a toll on your life, it may not be the thing you think you wanted. But if you have that need to write, to get your stories out to the world, you’ll keep going.
How does one persist when success seems unobtainable? One book I highly recommend is Motivate Your Writing!: Using Motivational Psychology to Energize Your Writing Life, by Stephen Kelner. He’s also married to a writer, so he knows his stuff.
Before my first novel was published, I was chomping at the bit to get it out. Publication seemed just out of reach for several years, and I had to prod myself to keep going. One Christmas I printed out the book draft, put the pages in a binder, wrapped it, and gave it to myself as a Christmas gift. Though my family thought it strange, it was terrific motivation and gave me a boost to continue thinking about the day when I would hold a real print copy of my first novel. That day came, and many more of amazing success. One Christmas, I had three unfinished novels, another I wanted to write, and hadn’t published enough work in too long a while. So, I printed title covers, attached them to other books, wrapped them, and gave them to myself as more gifts, as a promise and a commitment that I’d get to work and finish and publish them.
I’m motivated by the stories of amazing writers (and other artists, musicians, entertainers, and creative people) of talent who had a much tougher time of it, who struggled to get published and make a living in years past. Now we can get published whenever we want, but the hard part is getting sold and read. Inspirational quotes and success stories help keep me going. I look outside writing, to success and motivation gurus, to see if I can use techniques for success from other walks of life. By keeping a positive attitude, you can push through the dark days. The habit of success keeps you on track when you encounter setbacks. Do not allow events to stop you. Learn the power of the word NO when asked for things that will suck up your time if they prevent you from finishing projects.
Chart Your Success
Because our minds gloss over the day-to-day, the usual and familiar, it’s quite useful to keep a writing log for recording what steps you take and see how much you do over time. Writing a book may seem like it goes on forever, so keep logs of what you do, to keep on track and motivated.
This can be as simple as making a time and word count entry in a notebook, or in a spreadsheet or document on a computer. You want to build momentum, so that a string of days of writing encourages you to do more. Each day that you’ve put new words down is a success! It’s great to look at the accumulated results after a few months of work, and it truly feels like accomplishment.
You should also keep track of other parts of writing activities and successes. Publications, new editions, acceptances, good reviews, big sales, milestones reached, all that and more come together into a success chart. Record what advances you’ve made, and they will mount up into a tidal wave. You want to look back and see that you’ve made progress. Little steps in the right direction for big results.
Dale T. Phillips has published novels, story collections, non-fiction, and over 80 short stories. Stephen King was Dale's college writing teacher, and since then, Dale has found time to appear on stage, television, radio, in an independent feature film, and compete on Jeopardy (losing in a spectacular fashion). He's a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the Sisters in Crime. He's traveled to all 50 states, Mexico, Canada, and through Europe.
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