The Niche Market by Chuck Stevens

© Chuck Stevens 2008 all rights reserved


The murder/mystery novel inhabits a popular genre. The natural follow-on is that many writers try to write murder/mystery stories. Many of them see themselves as the next Agatha Christie or Colin Dexter and most will be disappointed. It’s a hard fact that too many writers are now trying to muscle in on the act. Some do well and become big names while others are left on the starting blocks with perfectly presentable stories that either do not sell, or cannot find a publisher. How does the canny writer lift himself out of this mire?

To find an answer, you need to understand that murder/mystery stories sit in a very wide-ranging genre. It includes historical mysteries, young adult mysteries, romantic mysteries, tried-and-tested cop stories and many others. Ellis Peters and J J Burley both wrote murder stories but they are as different in content as a Shakespeare play is to a Mills and Boon novel. Taking a logical look at the overall genre, you should be able to identify as many sub-genres as the average publisher lists in his mainstream list. So, stop and think. What sub-genre are you aiming at? If you are not clear on that point right from the start you may end up with a well-written novel which gets side-lined because the publisher can’t pinpoint how to sell it.

I chose to go down the path of the erotic murder/mystery thriller, not because I have a special interest in eroticism but simply because I identified it as an under-subscribed niche market. In other words, I’m playing the market game. Erotic fiction is, these days, big business but most of it is dedicated to romance stories. There is room for me to flex my muscles in a different direction.

I aimed, right from the start, to write a series because each new book will help to sell the others. My key character is an ex-US Air Force pilot called Mike Bodine. He’s a cross between Sam Spade and James Bond: the sort of guy with more than a touch of sexuality about him who meets up with a string of good-looking dames. He’s also now working in the world of commercial flying, and that takes him to various parts of the world. That was another pre-planned ploy: to set each story in a different location. So, I have a main character who will appeal to male and female readers and who has reason to travel the globe. All that remains is to give him a few mysteries to solve, one in each location.

The title of a book is critical to its sales. I had to find something that would advertise the very nature of the novel: an erotic mystery. The first book is called Naked Aggression and it was published in the States in July 2008 by Whiskey Creek Press. The second book is now ready for editing and it is called Naked Grief. It should be out in November 2008. The third book, Naked Courage, will be published next year. Notice that the titles hint at sexuality without going overboard. I’m now working on the fourth novel, Naked Obsession.

You can read more about these stories on the Chuck Stevens web site at: http://www.chuckstevensnovels.vpweb.co.uk/

Interview with Aaron Lazar by Beryl Singleton Bissell

Hi, folks. I have a book signing this weekend and am moving my daughter to Boston next week, so I won't be able to write my usual Sunday column for a few Sundays. I hope you understand.

Instead, I'm going to post a few interviews. This one was conducted by Beryl Singleton Bissell, author of The Scent of God.

-Aaron





BSB: As I was reading Tremolo, I kept thinking what fun it would be if you created a series of these “young Gus” stories for middle readers. Sort of like the Hardy Boy’s of the late 20th Century. Do you have any plans for such a series and if not, why?

APL: Actually, I do have plans to continue the “young Gus” series – at least two more books. I haven’t aimed these at any age group in particular, however. It seems my oldest readers (one of my favorite readers is 98 years old!) enjoy the young Gus romps as much as the YA crowd.

I still haven’t “shown” my readers the year after Tremolo, when Siegfried is struck on the head by a motorboat and loses most of his faculties. Poor Sig. He’s my angel on earth.

And let’s face it – I probably won’t be able to rest until I have “documented” Gus’s whole life!
I’ve written another prequel that takes Gus and Elsbeth to Boston in the late sixties, when they both attended the music conservatory. It’s a delicious hippie aged adventure, replete with flower children, white slave traders, and plenty of emotional plunges. That book may generate some of its own sequels. Gus and Elsbeth are just married in Portamento and they discover their pregnancy at the same time that Gus’s grandmother becomes seriously ill. Multiple traumas happen to our poor hero! On top of that, he almost gets pecked to death by a peacock. But that’s another story for another day…

BSB: I’ve noticed how totally good and loving your main characters are, and how totally evil the criminal are. Most of us, even the most jaded, have elements of both good and bad within us. Can you explain why you’ve chosen to present your characters as either good or bad.

APL: It’s strange, but I never really “chose” to do this. It’s just the way it tumbled out of my brain. I’m not sure why, because I’m certainly aware of how most folks are a blend of good and bad. Maybe it’s just exposure to too many movies where characters are painted that way. Or simply the way my crazy imagination works.

Better yet, it could be my passion for opera. You know there are always the good guys and bad guys, and rarely anyone in between. I think that must be it.

BSB: I am interested in ways that your writing has impacted your life. Can you tell us about how writing changes or strengthens you?

APL: This is a great question, Beryl, one that I know you have great insight to in your own life.
When life gets tough – I turn to my writing for solace, borne of escapism.

Sure, family and friends help soothe life’s woes, and they are fantastic sources of comfort. Especially those hugs I get from my little grandsons. But there’s something uniquely satisfying about turning to the parallel universe I control (when I can’t control anything else) and “taking charge.” Gus LeGarde and Sam Moore (protagonists of both mystery series) are a lot like me, and by creating scenes with them I’m able to participate in virtual adventures. Or to relive the loss of a loved one – and work out those feelings. Or to recapture the joy of childhood. Or to get my blood pumping in my virtual armchair by running helter-skelter through the woods after a bad guy. Or to enjoy “visits” with my beloved father and grandparents, who are populated throughout the books.

You get the drift.

But even if life wasn’t fraught with its own very real problems (we have plenty of medical problems in our family), I’d still write. I have no choice. I need the stimulation of the creative process every day. I need to connect with readers. I live for that.

There’s nothing more satisfying that coming across a reader in the local grocery store who stares with star-struck eyes and tells me how she wants to marry Gus LeGarde. And so does her mother. LOL. It’s great.

Seriously, though, there are deep connections that bind us together – whether they are through themes of loss, honor, family, nature, gardens, music, art, or any common element that resonates with readers. I always encourage my readers to connect with me at aaron dot lazar at yahoo dot com.

BSB: How does your family react to your writing and your writing life and its demands?

APL: You’ll laugh at this one. Or maybe not. Could it be a common problem?

My family is jealous of my writing.

It’s not like I squirrel away in a secret place to write for hours during the day. I don’t. Though sometimes I wish I could!

I get through the day’s needs – engineering, commuting, dinner, babysitting, dishes, catching up – and then I take just an hour or two to write and promote.

Whether it’s late at night or in the early morning, I need a few hours for myself. It was impossible when my three daughters were younger and needed me for everything. You know, laundry, homework, packing lunches, driving everyone to drama club practice, band practice, soccer games, or piano lessons. But as they matured and became more independent, I found the time to pull away just a little.

Even now, it’s never enough. Promoting takes so much time away from the pure writing process that it’s sometimes frustrating. But “nobody ever bought a book they haven’t heard about,” so it’s a necessary part of the business.

My wife is proud of me, but sometimes she gets jealous of “me and the computer.” I try to explain that it’s “me and my books,” but she always mentions about that darned computer. Says we’re joined at the hip.

My daughters seem proud – but they haven’t read all of my books yet. I think that’s because “it’s just Dad,” and they can read them anytime. I guess it’s like that “in your backyard” scenario. I live near Rochester, NY, and I’ve never visited the George Eastman House. Because it’s right there and I can visit “anytime.” Shameful, really.

So now can I add more sex and violence to my books?

Originally I wanted to write stuff that was titillating, but wholesome. I avoided the sex scene details, worried what my little girls would think of their daddy. As time went on, though, in the later books I have added some mild steam to the mix. Nothing scummy or graphic – just sensual scenes between Gus and his wife. In Mazurka, which is due out this year from Twilight Times Books, Gus and Camille enjoy their first “time” together in Paris on the night of their honeymoon. My readers have waited a LONG time for this event.

BSB: With your busy schedule as an engineer, gardener, chef of family feasts and other meals, photographer, blogger, father, grandfather, how do you find time to write?

APL: It’s not easy. On top of the above tasks, I also do the cleaning, laundry, home repairs, shopping, and bills. Oh, I hate doing the bills. Maybe someday when I’m rich and famous (LOL) I won’t have to worry about the struggle. But it never seems to end, even when you think it’s going to “get easier this year.”

But things worthwhile are never easy, are they?

I manage to balance it by putting family first and writing second. The rest comes along for the ride. I also cook healthy feasts on Sundays and we eat off of that every night during the week. Lots of veggies, poultry, and fish. And if the oil change in the car is a little overdue, or if my weeds aren’t all neat and tidy like Sam Moore’s gardens (the creep is retired; I’m so jealous!), or the kitchen floor isn’t shining… well, so be it. I’ve gotta write. I have no choice.

Thank you, Beryl, for these lovely questions! Unique and insightful, they gave me an opportunity to chat about stuff I usually keep to myself. :o)

***
http://www.legardemysteries.com/
http://www.mooremysteries.com/

Meet Author Ellen Meister

Interview by Marta Stephens 2008 all rights reserved

Ellen Meister

MS: Ellen, thanks so much for agreeing to be interviewed. Let me start by asking you to please share with us a little about when you made the decision to become a writer.

EM: As a young teenager, I loved to read and had very romantic notions about what it meant to be writer. Still, my self-image didn't leave room for me to even dream about becoming one myself. Then, in high school, I got a writing assignment from a very difficult and ornery teacher I didn't get along with. I handed in the paper, which was simply a scene between two fictional characters, and got it back with an A and the remark that I had written believable dialogue. It wasn't exactly a rave review, but it lit something in me. I knew the teacher was right—it was believable dialogue. And at that moment it occurred to me that this was something I could do. In fact, it felt as if I had wanted to be a writer all along but had buried the ambition in self-doubt. From there the dream caught fire and took over.

MS: It seems you’ve been drawn to the publishing world from a young age. What from your experience in working for a medical book publisher, literary agency, and various marketing and publicity organizations would you say has influenced your decision to write fiction?

EM: It was really the other way around. The jobs didn't influence me to be a writer. The writing aspirations influenced me to take related jobs.

MS: Your books sound like they’d be great fun to read. How would you describe the genre you write in and what motivated you in that direction?

EM: I never made a conscious decision to write in any particular genre. I just took J.D. Salinger/Seymour Glass's advice to write the story I most wanted to read. In fact, when I wrote SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA, I had no idea I had written mom lit. I never even knew such a thing existed! I was telling agents I had written "a suburban comedy with an ample dose of pathos." What a mouthful! Same holds true for THE SMART ONE. I didn't set out to write "women's fiction" or a murder mystery. I had this sister story I wanted to tell, and the idea of using the discovery of a dead body as the catalyst to the arc of their relationship was fairly organic.

MS: An author’s writing journey is always fascinating. How would you describe yours?

EM: Equal parts hope and fear. It was fear that got me motivated to finally pursue the dream I had my whole adult life. I just awoke one morning with a powerful realization about my own mortality, and understood that time was slipping by. I was terrified at the thought of leaving this planet without ever having taken my shot. So I started. It took two years to write the first novel, nine-months of full-time fretting and sweating to get an agent, and then about another six months of rewriting and submitting to get a publisher. And like I said, fear and hope were my constant companions throughout.

MS: What would you say has been your greatest challenge and your greatest achievement as a writer?

EM: No doubt about it. Getting people to buy the books is the greatest challenge. As hard as it is to write a book, it turns out that's the easy part. I like to think my greatest achievement is the book I'm currently working on!

MS: Do you, as an author, have a main concern?

EM: I'd like to have enough success to be able to continue writing and publishing.

MS: How do you deal with these concerns?

EM: I work like an animal and hope for the best.

MS: I couldn’t agree more with your tactics. Achieving writing success does take an enormous amount of work and dedication. What type of book marketing and promotions do you find most beneficial?

EM: The jury is still out on that. I try everything and it's always an uphill battle. The most important elements for a book's success—distribution and display space—are beyond my control.
MS: What challenges do you see ahead of you?

EM: The book I'm working on right now is a huge departure from what I've done before—much darker and more serious. That could create marketing problems down the road, but we'll see.

MS: When you begin a new project, how do you prepare for it?

EM: I spend a lot of time just living with the idea, developing the characters in my head and scribbling random notes. Eventually, the notes start to look like a plot and I make some feeble attempts at an outline. For me, I can't get very far with an outline until I get a sense of the voice and the pacing. So I write a chapter or two and then go back to the outline, which I eventually ignore anyway! Seriously, my stories usually evolve and stray from the outline, which I think is fine. In my opinion, a writer has to be open to the organic part of the process.

MS: What is your latest book about?

EM: THE SMART ONE is a story about three adult sisters wrestling with their relationship and the labels of childhood. Then they discover a decades-old body stuffed inside an industrial drum under the house next door, and begin a bold, heartbreaking and sometimes hilarious journey that will either bring them together … or tear them apart for good.

MS: Which aspects of the work do you like the least and why? The most and why?

EM: The despair hits when I realize I have to unravel a large chunk of a novel in order to make a change. It's so overwhelming. I start out in a panic thinking there's just no way I can do it. Then I roll up my sleeves and get to work. The best part is when I do something risky in my writing and discover that it works. Woosh! What a rush.

MS: It’s been such a pleasure for me to interview you. Would you please share your thoughts about anything else you’d like to discuss.

EM: Thanks so much, Marta. I'd just like to offer words of encouragement to any aspiring writers out there. I know how tough it is, and how brutal the rejection can be. But try to remember that almost every published author has a long and painful history of rejections. Keep doing what you love.

* * *

Ellen Meister is the author of two novels, THE SMART ONE (Avon A, 8/08) and SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA (Morrow/Avon, 8/06), as well as numerous short stories. In addition to writing, she served as editor for a literary magazine and now does public speaking about her books and other writing-related issues. She lives on Long Island with her husband and three children. You can learn more about Ellen at http://www.ellenmeister.com/.

Life intervenes...

As a writer, I am supposed to be all things creative. I am supposed to be organized and "with it".

Unfortunately, life intervenes.

My regularly scheduled post has been pre-empted by a writing prompt that turned out pretty good. Thought I would share.

Hope your "back to school" time of August goes smoothly.
______________________________________________________


“That was the best game we’ve ever had!”

Tommy’s yell made me jump as he waved at the players who ran back to the locker room.

He was their biggest fan, and I snapped a quick picture of him leaning over the rail to slap hands with his heroes. It sits on my desk today and when I look at it, I always smile.

Those warm fall days we were so blithe. We attended the football games of his favorite team as often as possible. It seemed such a small thing to let him enjoy them while he had the freedom to do so. If the news from the doctor was true, they might be the only joy he ever got out of the rest of the year. He had been told he had a problem with his heart. They placed him on the list to get a new one.

When the weeds of summer came, everything changed. He couldn’t breathe right and had to be hospitalized. The pulmonary doctor just shook his head and told us that he sure hoped we found a heart soon. That sour news made Tommy angry and he told me he was going to get better. And he did.

We went to church every Sunday sitting in the second row so the minister could know we were there. He kept a close tab on us, checking to make sure things were going well. When we were not there, he called.

It was the first snow of winter. Tommy told me he didn’t think he was going to go to church that Sunday. Rather he wanted to walk through the park and feed the geese. I agreed. He loved the geese nearly as much as the football games. He said they made him feel like he is such a small bit of humanity because he couldn’t fly like they could. He always wished they would learn to speak in our language and tell him what it was like.

We were just about to go home when he noticed one of the geese sitting still, entwined in a piece of wire. It was honking miserably and we both knew that we had to try to set it free. Tommy got on one side and I moved to the other. The goose knew we were about to gang up on her, because she tried to flap her immobile wings and her eyes went all around in fear.

We just kept smooth-talking her until she understood we weren’t going to harm her, or at least she settled somewhat. Tommy took one side of the wire, used to make fencing, and began lifting it to find the end. I saw it first and together we disentangled the goose.

She immediately began honking in angry toots and flew off as fast as she could.

“She’s just thrilled to be free and flying,” Tommy said.

It was not very long later after he died that I remembered that statement.

I suppose he, too, is thrilled now to be free from a weak failing body, and if I know him, like I think I know him, he is flying somewhere right now.

end

LIFE IN THE 1500'S

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s that might be of interest to those who write historic fiction.

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying: It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, Dirt poor.

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a thresh hold.

Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leak onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.

They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and re-use the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside! and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a ... dead ringer.

And that's the truth. Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !

You Might Be a Writer...

In the style of Jeff Foxworthy, here are a few behaviours that suggest you might be a writer. If you notice yourself doing any of these things, and you don't write, perhaps you should consider writing a few stories (before your friends and relatives call those nice young men in the nice white coats):

1. If you've ever listened to a co-worker tell you a tragic and/or horrifying personal story, and thought to yourself (or worse, actually said aloud), "That would make a great inciting incident for my vampire circus book!" ... you might be a writer.

2. If you've ever called a morgue or funeral home because you needed to know how much time dead bodies spent there between death and burial, if they smell like rot or chemicals, or whether it's possible for anyone to break in and give someone's dear Uncle Albert a fresh coat of lipstick and eyeshadow ... you might be a writer.

3. If you've ever lost sleep worrying about whether someone who does not actually exist (specifically, a character you've made up) will be able to survive the upcoming alien attack, repair a broken relationship, or save their one-and-only love from interrogation by terrorist ... you might be a writer.

4. If you've ever drawn strange looks and/or comments in public without knowing why, only to realize you have been talking aloud to yourself for fifteen minutes while you work out the latest plot snag in your WIP ... you might be a writer.

5. If you've ever written an angry letter to a publisher or newspaper concerning the three typographical and grammatical errors you found (and secretly thinking that if YOU had been the one writing the book or the article, there would not have been any mistakes, and what's wrong with publishers these days anyway?) ... you might be a writer.

6. If you have spent hours researching esoteric or specialized information on a certain career, historical event, or industrial process, just so you could get one single paragraph correct ... you might be a writer.

7. If you own more than one notebook full of fragmented stories and scribbled sentence fragments that don't make sense a week after you've jotted them down (or several random documents on your computer consisting of the same) ... you might be a writer.

8. If this sentence makes sense to you: "So I had a request for a partial, and the day after I sent it out two more queries paid off, and now I've got three agents reading material - but I'm still worried about the resolution, so I've been revising my secondary plot thread all week, and I'm thinking about killing off Jeffrey in the climax instead of sending him off to prison." ... you might be a writer.

This is by no means a definitive list of the signs of a writer. Feel free to add your own observations!

Deadly Crimes Business Writers Commit

© Brenda Bailey-Hughes 2008 all rights reserved


“In the business writing system, the messages are represented by two separate but equally important groups: the writers who craft letters and the readers who read them. These are their stories.”

I have chosen to focus on business writing because a) it is my area of specialty and good a writer always stick to what they know, and because b) every writer (and writer wannabe) is a business writer even though you may not realize it. How so? Sending a query to a potential publisher is business writing. Emailing back and forth with your editor—business writing. A panicky paragraph in the middle of the night on April 14 when you realize you DO need your accountant to help you figure out your taxes—business writing.

I teach a two hour workshop on business writing. To keep the class fresh, I collect samples of business writing with errors or “crimes.” Each year, I sit down and comb through the pile I’ve collected in search of the top three crimes. The winners (or losers??) this year are. . . . (drum roll, please)

1. Focusing on the writer
2. Burying the request
3. Using passive voice


Focusing on the writer

Memos, letters, or emails need to be more concerned with the reader than with the writer. Before ever putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, consider these important questions:

• What is the bottom line message of interest to the reader?
• Why should the reader care?
• What’s in it for the reader to keep reading or to take the action I’ve requested?

Look for “I” instead of “you” pronoun usage as one piece of evidence that you may be committing the writer-focus crime.

EXAMPLE: I teach a two hour workshop on business writing. To keep the class fresh, I collect samples of business writing with errors. . .

REWRITE: You may be hurting your chances to get published by committing business writing errors that are easily correctable!

Burying the request

As fiction authors, you may find this next challenge quite difficult. It is your habit to build to a climactic point in your work or to hide certain details until the most opportune time. You certainly don’t revel “who did it” in the first sentence of your book. Yet, in business writing, your first line SHOULD be the who-done-it or the most important sentence of the work. My plea to every business writer is to move your action requests to the beginning of your document.

Read your first line carefully before sending any business document. Does it make the request you’ve set out to accomplish?

EXAMPLE: As fiction authors, you may find this next challenge quite difficult . . . My plea to every business writer is to move your action requests to the beginning of your document.

REWRITE: Move your action requests to the beginning of your document. This may feel odd to you as you are accustomed to building to a climactic finale or revealing information only later in the work . . .

Using passive voice

A quick flashback to high school grammar class is in order. Passive voice hides or demotes the subject in the typical subject-verb-object sentence structure.

Active voice: The writer (subject)/ committed (verb)/ a crime (object).

Passive voice: A crime (object)/ was committed (verb)/ by the writer (subject).

The switch to passive voice may seem an innocent enough writing behavior, but it has some sinister consequences. The normal English speaking pattern is subject-verb-object. Therefore, native English speakers most easily processes language when it is presented in the subject-verb-object pattern. Additionally, poor business writing tends to be overly formal. Passive voice contributes to a stuffy tone. Readers appreciate a conversational tone in business documents.

Three key pieces of evidence will help you locate passive writing in your letters:

1. Look for the word “by”
2. Look for the subject (or the doer) of your action—it should come before the verb
3. Look for helper verbs supporting your action verb (was committed versus committed)

You may find that in your fiction writing there is a place for passive voice or for waiting to reveal important information. But business writing operates with its own set of laws. Know and follow these “laws” so you aren’t convicted of a deadly writing crime.

* * *

Brenda Bailey-Hughes, co-owner of TEAM PERFORMANCE CONSULTING, works with a variety of businesses and higher education institutions on communication issues. She regularly presents at conferences and workshops on over 50 different topics. Brenda is the author of Administrative Assistant (Crisp, 1998). Brenda has a Master of Art’s degree in Organizational Communication and Professional Development. She resides in Bloomington, Indiana, with her family.

At TEAM PERFORMANCE , a professional development and consulting company based in Bloomington, Indiana, we deliver results-packed training with our customized, comprehensive, training programs that are competitive in pricing. TEAM PERFORMANCE consultants are available for one-day workshops, staff retreats, and team/management consulting. Keynote and one-day workshops cover a broad spectrum of customer service, leadership and workplace development topics. TEAM PERFORMANCE is a professional member of the American Society for Training and Development, the National Speakers Association, Association of Business Communication, and is accredited through the Center of Applied Psychological Testing. To arrange for a workshop at your company, call TEAM PERFORMANCE at 812.333.8446.

The Blue Heron

copyright 2008, Aaron Paul Lazar

The Blue Heron

Ephemeral blue.
Frayed feathers frame yellow eyes.
Are you really there?

This week I had the opportunity to resume my lunch walks. Aside from getting drenched on one walk -- and I mean wringing, dripping, soaking wet -- I was able to get away from the office for an hour or two each time. Chalk it up to making up for numerous skipped lunches. I was due. Overdue. So I took advantage of these late July days that hovered in the low eighties to change into my shorts and tee shirt and get outside.

On Tuesday, I ran into a blue heron. Almost literally. Quite opposite to any bird behavior I'd ever seen, he stood just ten feet from me on the trail - simply staring with round yellow eyes.

I walked closer, scuffing my feet.

Why doesn't he fly away? Can't he hear me?

a

I scraped my sneakers against the gravel again. He slowly turned his feathered head and looked at me. Right at me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

He continued to stare, his eyes the color of Black-eyed Susan petals. I stepped a little closer and took a dozen photos with my camera phone. Oh, the quality is terrible, but I captured at least a faint image of him. I meant to bring my camera that day.

He stood regal and aloof. His gray blue plummage seemed healthy, full. He stepped with confidence, swinging his head slowly from side to side.

I spoke to him, again.

"Aren't you afraid of me? Why don't you fly away?"

I moved closer, but he only walked a step or two along the path, as if keeping pace with me.

"Are you ill? Do you have a nest around here?"

I didn't dare move any closer, since his beak looked long and sharp. Instead, I took a path into a pumpkin field and marched along until I hit the woods. On the return trip, I looked for him, but the bird had vanished. Relief whooshed through me.

He must be okay.

My mind started to spiral.

Was it a sign? Was this rare and close encounter perhaps my father's spirit, come to visit?

It's been ten years, but I still long for my father's company. I imagine conversations with him. Okay, let's face it. I hold conversations with him. I know he listens, and I often sense his presence. At risk of embarrassing myself, I will admit that I love letting my mind wander in these preposterous ways, even though I know deep down it's farfetched. But walks alone in nature tend to foster such thoughts in me, and I enjoy the fantasies. Not that I'd admit that out loud to anyone. (Except you, of course.)

Today I returned to the trail, camera in hand, hoping to see my friend.I found him, but not as I had hoped. The poor bird lay on the trail, curled and still.

It saddened me. A lot. I considered taking his picture, walked past him, covered another hour of dirt roads, and returned.

Should I? Wouldn't it be disgusting? Gross? Crass?

But I did take his photo,and it was almost a reverent thing. Because even in death, his form held beauty and elegance.

In a very strange way, it was almost like closure.

In my usual self comforting ritual, I started to imagine that perhaps this was a wise old bird whose time had simply come. Perhaps he'd led a full and resplendant life, soaring over lakes and swooping down to skim the water with his feet. Perhaps he'd caught a thousand silvery fish, balancing on long spindly legs while catching his handsome reflection in the mirror surface of the creek.

So how fortunate was I, to have been graced with his startling presence in his last days on earth? I'd been blessed to have met this feathered friend, in spite of his untimely demise.

***

Here are a few shots I took on the walk today.

***
http://www.legardemysteries.com/
http://www.mooremysteries.com/
http://www.aplazar.gather.com/
http://www.murderby4.blogspot.com/
http://www.aaronlazar.blogspot.com/

POV: The Art of Choosing

copyright 2008, Joylene Nowell Butler

Many new writers find choosing POV (point of view) a daunting task. Discerning the advice listed online or in literary help books often requires a degree in sociology. It needn’t be that way. Grasping complicated issues means rethinking in simpler terms. Choosing the right POV is as easy as learning to ride a bicycle. And the best part: once you “get it,” you never forget.
a
The POV of any scene is the narrator, the character telling the story. There are four choices:

Omniscient – God, Author or Character

3rd – She or He

2nd – You

1st – I or Me

It takes a gifted writer to communicate effectively in 2nd person. Sadly, there are few capable of pulling it off; yours truly included; so, for the sake of argument, let’s agree that not too many people want to read a story in 2nd person. Take, for example: “You rolled over and I swatted you.” Or: “You twisted your meaty face into your best smile.” Somehow, those types of construction just don't fly.
a
Therefore, a good rule of thumb for choosing is simply:
a
1st person is the most intimate and Omni is the least; 3rd falls in the middle.

1st-----------------------------3rd----------------------Omni
Intimate<---------------------------------------------->Distant

If the narrator of your story needs to stay outside the action, then Omni is the right voice. James Michener chose Omni in his epic novels for that very reason. He wanted Hawaii, Alaska, and Texas to each stand alone as the all-important protagonist. Choosing 3rd or 1st person, for any one of these works, would have created an intimacy between reader and narrator that would have lessened the impact and importance of Hawaii, Alaska, or Texas as the leading character.
a
In less formal stories, Omni creates a problem for many writers because they believe it gives them license to head-hop: jumping from inside one character’s head into another. Many writers have shown me text that states Omni is a god-like character telling the events of a story that only he or she knows; so why can’t they head-hop? Doesn’t God know everything?
a
Yes. But there’s a difference between God telling you what John, Sally, and Julie are thinking verses “John, Sally, and Julie” telling you. The trick is to always remember Omni, a unique and distinct character, is telling the reader what Jack thought or did or felt. It’s not Jack showing them. That’s why Omni is able to not only tell you what Jack thinks of Steve driving drunk, but he can also show you the police car waiting up the road, or the innocent bystander using the crosswalk ahead of them.
a
Still, confusion is understandable. When new writers see phrases like “3rd person Omni” or “Unlimited 3rd person” or even “3rd person limited” their heads spin. (Not literally, of course.)
When you read a story or scene that uses more than one character to show you the experience, rest assured Omni is the narrator. But note how he evokes a sense of formality inside the scene.
Right about now you may be thinking, “Okay, I get it, I understand what Omni is. But that still doesn’t explain 3rd person.”
a
Third person is the informal Omni. In 3rd person stories, think of Omni as hiding inside the head of your protagonist. In fact, he’s hidden so well that you, your reader, and your character don’t realize he’s there. But his service is invaluable. In 3rd person limited, Omni shows you a story through only one character’s perspective at a time. You are only privy to what the protagonist sees, hears, tastes, feels, or smells. Omni does not share anything that this protagonist does not experience.
a
That’s the clue. If in doubt as to whether you’ve succeeded in creating a truly 3rd person POV, go back and jump inside that character’s head. Does your protagonist experience anything that he or she couldn’t possibly?
a
There are rules and each writer does have literary license to take risks in breaking them. Switching from one character to another inside one chapter today requires a simple blank spot or space between paragraphs. Something as simple as a line break alerts the reader to a change coming; in the same way transitions work. New paragraph, an extra space, and suddenly the reader feels comfortable in making a switch.
a
In my novel, DEAD WITNESS, I show the story through the eyes of three characters: Valerie, Canaday, and DeOlmos. I even sneak in a few openings by using Omni to set up the scene. Those occasions are used when the setting is vital to the story. I trust, or hope that the omniscient summation is brief enough so the reader is unaware of the POV shift.
a
What I don’t do is switch from Valerie, Canaday or DeOlmos in the SAME scene. If I do occasionally start off in Omni, using the all-knowing narrator to show the reader the setting, stuff that my protagonist couldn’t experience, (see, touch, hear, taste or smell) or would ever know, then as quickly as possible, I jump into the protagonist’s head and stay there the remainder of the scene. Not once do I show the reader anything that my protagonist doesn’t experience first hand. That’s not to say it’s an unspeakable crime to do so; it lessens the intimacy.
a
In my 5th manuscript, OMATIWAK: WOMAN WHO CRIES, I stretch my wings and share the story with 3rd person: Danny Killian, and 1st person: Sally Warner. I choose 1st for Sally for two reason. I hope an intimate relationship will develop between the reader and Sally, and most of Sally’s conflicts are inside her head. 3rd works for Danny because he is a man of action; plus, it enables me more versatility.
a
You’ve heard the story of Fitzgerald, who after writing The Great Gatsby in Gatsby’s POV, realized the story needed to be told through Nick Carraway’s POV because of Nick’s naivety and fascination for Gatsby. Imagine if Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, or an all-knowing character had told the story? Nick’s 1st person narrator works. We bond with Nick. Like a tight focus or camera lens, he shows us everything his senses experience. If he doesn’t see it, smell it, hear it, taste or touch it, then neither do we. Think back to the TV series The Wonder Years, where the grown up Kevin Arnold (Daniel Stern) narrates the story of his life during high school in the turbulent sixties. Winnie Cooper’s character was adorable, but had the producers chosen her for voice-over, it would have changed the feel of the show drastically.
a
While Omni tends to be more formal and less intimate, on the grand scale of things, as in epics like Michener’s, Omni is your man. One suggestion though, when choosing Omni, make him or her a unique, formidable, and intriguing character. Give him a voice just as entertaining and endearing as any character. Or make him as non-descriptive as possible. And limit head hopping. Every time a writer jumps from one protagonist in a scene into the head of another, they risk disrupting the intimate (there’s that word again) relationship forming between reader and character. And in a world of quick access and unlimited volume, the risk is too great.
a
As a proud author, choose your POV wisely. Remember: If your story’s important enough to write, then the right person should be telling the story.

***

Joylene Nowell Butler, Métis Canadian, is the author of Dead Witness, released July 2008. A retired emergency responder, she is the guest blogger for Beauty and The Baby, and the primary critique consultant on the soon to be released The Scrimshaw by Ric Wasley. For 25 years, she has published articles and short stories. In between orchestrating writer's workshops in northern B.C., hosting Hillbilly Poetry Nites, she completed five suspense manuscripts and raised five sons. Her 6th novel, untitled, is in its infancy.

A strong advocate of unpublished writers, Joylene has belonged to such prestigious online workshops as Novelpro and Novels-L, and has critiqued prize-winning novels such as THE RACE by David Shield, the unofficial CNN Tour de France expert, DEADLY ENTERPRISE by Christopher Hoare, THE JESUS THIEF by JR Lankford, and THE SECRET EVER KEEPS by Art Tirrell.

In 1992, Joylene and her husband designed and built a log and stick home on Cluculz Lake, near Vanderhoof. They live a quiet life with their 4 cats and Bandit, their Syberian Husky, and spend summers fishing with their grandchildren. In the winter, Joylene teaches Tai Chi.

To Query To Query, Jiggidy Jig

Query letters and what they should hold are an eternal discussion within groups of writers. And well they should be as they may spell the success or failure of your novel.

Here are five things to remember about your query letter :

1. Start off with a hook in the first paragraph, but don’t ask a question as that sometimes annoys an agent.
2. Have your letter body only be about three paragraphs -keep it short and simple (KISS)
3. Use concise wording- agents have very little time and want you to get to the point
4. Don’t waste space and their time by telling them how great the book is or how great you are, let them find out for themselves
5. Present the query in the most professional manner possible, after all this is a business letter- find out the proper person to send it to, and address it to them. Dear agent is not acceptable.

Maybe some of our published authors on MB4 will find time to share what has worked and not worked for them as they queried their books. It’s helpful to know what an agent is looking for before subbing, so try some sites like Agentquery.com for getting all your facts straight.

Information that may help you:

Google is your friend. Use it to find out info about your dream agent. There are a lot of scams out there, so be wise.
Make sure the agent you’re subbing to handles your particular brand of work. Not a good idea to send a non-fiction book to an agent who doesn’t represent it. Not entirely bad, as they may make mention of someone they know of who might be interested, but as a general rule, don’t do this.
Double-check spelling and punctuation for your query letter. Nothing like making a good impression on the simple stuff and you would be amazed at how many people submit queries with misspelled words.
Remember that agents receive hundreds of subs a day. Rise to the top of the pile by doing everything you can to make yours better than the next one.

Q/A's that made me think

© Marta Stephens 2008 all rights reserved


I just finished answering the questions to the third interview this month. I enjoy giving interviews and yes, even though the goal is to get some added exposure for my books, what I like most about them is that sometimes the questions force me to think about a process or to put a feeling or belief that I hadn't vocalized into words.

One such question was asked a few months after my first book, SILENCED CRY, was released. How much of me is in my book?

I can safely say that I’ve never dealt in drugs, never killed anyone, I was never arrested, and I’ve never worked in law enforcement. Still, I can’t imagine a writer not bleeding a little bit into their books with what I’d call human experiences; grief, anger, joy, fear, resentment, worry, suspicion—everyone can relate to those feelings. I dug deep into my own emotions in order to understand how and why my characters acted and reacted the way they did in SILENCED CRY. At times, it took some doing to step into the antagonists’ skin and to look at the world from their perspective. I think there’s something to be said about the writer’s belief system too and how it affects the plot and the characters’ behaviors. As much as I tried to step back away from my own viewpoint, I think a part of me snuck in between the lines.

Another question had to do with starting a writing career in my 50's. Turning 50 was one of the most liberating experiences of my life. Let's face it, ladies, we all know what our 20's were about -- hair, make-up, cloth, dating, and friends. But under that happy go lucky dispositon the pressure was always on. Possibly some leftover anxiety from our teens--the need to be accepted. Wedding bells rang at 25 and before I knew it, life had slipped me into the blurred years--my 30's. A time for raising children, home improvements, PTA meetings, science projects, and house breaking pets. My 40's weren't much different. Our children's outings and toys got a lot more expensive and somewhere in there I nursed a career and got a degree. So the best way I can explain how I felt when I hit the big 5-0 is to imagine holding your breath under water until your lungs feel as if they could burst then rushing up for that first gulp of air. It was finally time for me which of course led to my writing.

So what would I say to other baby boomers interested in pursuing a dream? Go for it! No matter how small, large, or unattainable the dream may seem, it’s always within reach if you want it badly enough. People can find a million and one excuses for why they haven’t accomplish a goal—age shouldn’t be one of them.

Go on, crawl out of that comfort zone, feel the edge of an uncharted path beneath you feet, and move forward. Life is a series of stepping stones, each leading to a new challenge and the next level of development. The jagged edge that trips some people is the fear of the unknown. “Should I stop while I’m ahead, or move on?” Regardless of the decision, twelve months from now you’ll be a year older. The question is, will you be a year older and adding to your list of excuses or will you be on your way to living a dream?

* * *

Marta Stephens writes crime mystery/suspense. SILENCED CRY is available online at familiar shops such as all the Amazons, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-a-Million, and Powells. Other locations include, but are not limited to those listed on her website.

SILENCED CRY (2007)
Honorable Mention, 2008 New York Book Festival
Top Ten, 2007 Preditors and Editors Reader Poll (mystery)

Look for THE DEVIL CAN WAIT in the fall, 2008.

Writers Helping Writers and The Book Promotion Idea of the Century

© Karen Dionne 2008 all rights reserved

“Writers Helping Writers” is the unofficial slogan of the Internet-based writers organization I co-founded four years ago called Backspace. It’s a good tagline, because Backspace members are an extraordinarily supportive group. Besides answering questions at the discussion forums, they turn each others’ books face-out at bookstores, blog about them, buy them as gifts, recommend them to friends. And because we’re currently over 800 strong with members living in a dozen countries, that’s a significant sales force.

Backspace members do this because they understand a key truth about the publishing business: Writers are not in competition with one another.

We've all seen the fast-food strips lining major highways on the outskirts of cities. To a hungry driver, it might seem as though the restaurants are competing for the chance to fill his stomach. But restaurant owners know the clustering is good for business. Offer people a choice, and they're more likely to buy.

It's the same with books. Authors understand that all those volumes lining bookstore shelves are actually helping each other. The more books each author sells individually, the stronger the book-buying market becomes for everyone.

Aspiring authors sometimes think if they could only get published, everything would be smooth sailing. The truth is, staying published is the greater challenge. Publishers have a finite amount to spend on marketing, and the bulk of their promotional dollars go to best-selling authors. Literary agencies hire full-time publicists to take up the slack. Authors with small presses are at an even bigger disadvantage.

One of the hardest things for any new author to get is real-world exposure. For the majority, there are no tours except what they put together on their own. It takes time to build an audience and become a bookstore draw; yet when they're new is when this kind of exposure could help the most.

I’m one of the lucky ones: My novel is getting more than the usual amount of publisher support. Still, there’s not going to be a book tour.

Instead, with the help of Backspace members, I’m sending my book on tour without me. I mailed a dozen arcs to Backspace members living in far-flung parts, they took pictures of themselves reading my novel, and I posted them to my hyperbolically named “The FREEZING POINT Pre-Publication World Book Tour” blog, along with an invitation to readers to write to my publisher for a free advance reader copy and join the tour.

It’s fun to think of my novel making its way around the world in this manner, even though the impact on sales is likely to be just a ripple.

But recently at ThrillerFest, J.T. Ellison shared an idea that’s so powerful, if authors put it into practice, it could make an impressive splash.

J.T. is the author of the Taylor Jackson thriller series for Mira Books, and was one of the co-founders of Killer Year, helping the International Thriller Writers debut novelists of 2007 reach a new audience. Her debut novel, ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS, is being reissued alongside her second effort, 14, September 1, 2008. JUDAS KISS will be released in January 2009, and she’s just signed a new deal for an additional three books in the series, bring the total under contract to six.

By all measures, she’s doing well. And yet J.T. told me that every time she does a real-world signing or event, she brings along another author's book. At the end of her talk, she shows the book to the audience, and gives it a plug.

The idea is staggering. Simple, yet potentially, incredibly powerful. Imagine the impact if every touring author did the same.

The best part is that her effort doesn't take anything away from her own signing; in fact, it adds to it by making her look like the giving, generous person she really is.

J.T. told me she got the idea from Lee Child, who took a newer author, Cornelia Read, along with him last year on his book tour. She also told me another established author, Jim Born, once acknowledged her and her author friend when they were in the audience at one of his talks, and her book sales jumped. “It was so kind and gracious,” she wrote, “that I just got caught up with the whole idea of paying it forward.”

Now thanks to J.T., this fall, FREEZING POINT really IS going on tour.

“Paying it forward.” “Writers Helping Writers.” Whatever you call it, it costs nothing, makes everyone feel good – and it sells books!

* * *

Detroit native Karen Dionne dropped out of the University of Michigan in the 1970s and moved to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula wilderness with her husband and infant daughter as part of the back-to-the-land movement. During the next thirty winters, her indoor pursuits included stained glass, weaving, and constructing N-scale model train layouts.

Eventually, her creative interests turned to writing. Karen’s short stories have appeared in Bathtub Gin, The Adirondack Review, Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine and Thought Magazine. She worked as Senior Fiction Editor for NFG, a print literary journal out of Toronto, Canada, before founding Backspace, an Internet-based writers organization with over 800 members in a dozen countries.

Karen is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Mystery Writers of America, and the International Thriller Writers. She and her husband live in Detroit’s northern suburbs. FREEZING POINT (October 2, 2008 from Berkley) is her first novel.

Live Reading from TREMOLO - looking for feedback

Good morning, friends and writers,

Well, it wasn't that hard after all. With help from my insightful friends on Gather.com (thanks, everyone!), I figured out how to record an MP3 file. I actually shocked myself, because it was much easier than I'd anticipated.

If you'd like to listen to yours truly reading from TREMOLO: CRY OF THE LOON, please click below on the photo.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Does this entice you to want to know more? Was it a good selection? Would you consider buying the entire audio file if I took the month it would require to record the whole book?

Just curious, it's another way to share with my readers and even though it is time consuming, it thrilled me to know that the way the words sound in my head when writing, could actually be heard in your head in the same manner. LOL. Too cool.

Of course, I know this doesn't replace the pure act of reading. Lots of folks (myself included) just prefer that method of absorbing a book.

If you haven't read the book and would like to get to know Gus LeGarde and his world, please stop by my website here or take a visit to my publisher's site, here.

And as always, thanks for your support. For those of you who love to write, remember to write like the wind!

- Aaron

Marketing vs. Connecting

© JD Rhoades 2008 all rights reserved

First off, thanks to Marta and the crew here at Murder by 4 for inviting me to sit in. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with y'all.

When they find out you have a new book out, one of the first things people ask is, “Are you going to do a book tour?” Well, no. The traditional “fly into town, get driven to the bookstore, read a little, talk a little, then sit n’ sign,” doesn’t work all that well for an author who’s not already a brand name. In fact, more often than not when you do that as an author trying to break out, you end up with what I call a “Hare Krishna Signing.” A HKS is one where people pass by the strange guy reading out loud to a bunch of empty chairs, walking very fast with their eyes averted, as if you were dancing in a robe asking for spare change. It’s an experience that teaches you humility, you betcha. Besides, if you're an author trying to break out, there's likely no money from the publisher for that sort of thing.

So what do we do? We spend a lot of hours and blog-time talking about how to market to potential readers. We talk newsletters, websites, conferences, etc.

Recently, though, I saw a fascinating and short talk by a professor named Clay Shirky, who had a lot of interesting things to say about changes in the way people react to media. Shirky asserts that while 20th century media was about "we produce, you consume," media in the 21st century is more about "three different events. People like to consume, but they also like to produce, and they like to share."

He tells the story of a friend who had just brought home a new big screen TV. The friend's four year old daughter sat and watched for a moment, then hopped up, ran over to the TV and started poking around in back of it. They asked what she was doing, and she said "I'm looking for the mouse." The lesson, Shirky said, is that to the current generation, "a screen that ships without a mouse ships broken."

That sentence--"a screen that ships without a mouse ships broken"--jolted me. It made me realize something that has always been lurking in the back of my mind, something that always made me vaguely uncomfortable when doing traditional "marketing": Most people don't like being marketed to. But they don't mind interacting.

This point also came home to me when I did an experiment on my blog and on my Facebook group, JD. Rhoades' Gang of Hellions. I've been writing a book about people trapped on an island in a hurricane. Never having been through one myself, I wanted to know what it was like. So I put the word out: tell me your hurricane stories. And I got dozens of them, some of which found their way into the book.

Now, will these people buy STORM SURGE (the working title of the WIP) when it comes out? Will they buy BREAKING COVER, my current release? Maybe, maybe not. But they know about it and they know my name. I realized, after the survey was done, that it could be considered marketing, because it got my name and the names of my books out.

But that wasn't the purpose. It didn't feel like marketing. It felt like a conversation. It was connecting with readers. And it was fun.

A friend of mine, Raleigh, NC writer Stacey Cochran , has been running a series of talks on "How to Publish a Book, How to Get a Literary Agent." I've had the honor of appearing at several of these with another good friend, paranormal suspense writer Alex Sokoloff. People, especially aspiring writers, pack the house for these things. I'm talking not just standing room only, I'm talking out the door and straining to hear from the next room. And they're an eager, motivated audience; we barely get started before the Q & A begins. And when it's over, we sell books, more, in many cases, than I've sold at traditional signings. Because we're not marketing to people, we're connecting with them. And it's fun.

Blogs are another way to interact, because most of them give readers a chance to respond in the comments. The best blogs, I've found, capitalize on that interactivity by making sure that posts end with a topic for discussion. The best example I can think of is Laura Lippman' s excellent blog The Memory Project , which also invites people to tell their stories and share their reminiscences.

So....let's get interactive. Writers, let's kick around ideas about how we can get away from the idea of 'marketing' as it's been done, i.e., talking at readers, and instead think of it as connecting with people. Readers, chime in. What do you want to say to writers you read (or in whom you're interested) about interaction? What do you want to see more of? What would you just as well do without?

Talk to me.

* * *

Bio: J.D. Rhoades is the author of BREAKING COVER, published in July 2008 by St. Martin's/Minotaur, and the Jack Keller series of thriller novels: THE DEVIL'S RIGHT HAND, GOOD DAY IN HELL, and SAFE AND SOUND, also from St. Martin 's. He was born and raised in North Carolina and has worked as a radio news reporter, club DJ, television cameraman, ad salesman, waiter, trial attorney, and newspaper columnist. His weekly column in the Southern Pines, North Carolina Pilot was named best column of the year in its division for 2005. He currently lives, writes, and practices law in the small town of Carthage, North Carolina.

But I didn't really mean....

Have you ever been misunderstood? As in you say something, and someone takes it totally wrong? I had one of those moments in a writing exercise a few months back. Here is what happened and how my two zany characters, Shannon Wallace and Dwayne Brown communicate. Or... not.

Use these words in a piece: viper, tomatoes, chocolate syrup,
Crocs (the shoes) and a nail file.



It wasn’t just the chocolate syrup that led me into the small alcove we called a kitchen, although the sweet, sticky mess certainly sent my radar into overtime. No, it was the trail of ants that followed the thin, black line of dark gooey stuff that really set me off to the chase.

“Oh good Lord! Dwayne!”

He groaned loudly from the other room. I heard him even from where I stood contemplating insecticide murder.

“What?” He said it a little nastier than I wanted to hear.

“Don’t what me! You left this mess, now come in here and clean it up. You viper, you.”

“What mess?” His Crocs, those hard plastic shoes that I think are the ugliest things around, scraped on the laminate flooring as he shuffled to where I was. He saw what I was looking at and sniffed. “Oh, that mess.” He bit into a red ripe tomato, eating it as though it were and apple. "Hm."

“Hm? Hm, my foot. There must be a million, thanks to you,” I said, grabbing the Raid can. “I promise, if this crap continues, we are so moving. We must have every ant in the universe.”

He watched, amazed, as I annihilated an entire generation of ants. “Um. We can’t move. Our rent is too cheap here.”

I didn’t bother answering. He was right, of course. But I was beginning to hate the antique fixtures, and crumbling paint, paper, and crusty carpet. He took paper towels into the washroom, dampened them and began the task of wiping up syrup, ants, and other germs that I didn’t want to put a name to. "Well, if one of us wasn't such a slob. . . "

I glared at him, even though I knew it was his way of saying he was sorry. “So what was that lady in here about?” I asked.

“Needs videographers to film her son’s soccer game.”

“Are we hired yet?”

“I guess. She has to get the amount approved by her husband or something first,” he said, taking the paper towels to the garbage.

“Did you give her a deadline?”

He returned with fresh ones. I noticed a small stream of sweat across his brow. “No, Wall-ass. She don’t need no deadline. She’ll call back if she’s interested.”

I shrugged and went back to my desk. There were plenty of other things to do while we waited on her or any other potential client. I was elbow deep in previewing footage from a wedding we had shot recently. The lighting had been especially terrible and I worried about whether we had gotten the shots the bride had requested. If the shot was too dark, she might be a little miffed and balk at paying her balance. Some women were truly monsters in white wedding garb.

While the seating of the grandparents went on, I grabbed my nail file and began to clean under my nails, glancing at the monitor every so often. A man with one of the elderly women followed slowly behind her. His face was as red as a tomato, and I wondered what sort of health problem he had. “Going to give himself a good case of stroke here in a minute,” I mumbled.

“You would too if you had to clean up this mess,” Dwayne mumbled back.

I couldn’t contain the laughter that bubbled out. Sometimes he had impeccable timing.

Weeding out Ideas, 5 Ways to Get Started by Fran Shaff

© Marta Stephens 2008 all rights reserved

Aside from cross promoting our works, one of the wonderful benefits about networking are the people we meet along the way and the path where they may lead us. One of my favorite things to do is to read what those in my network are posting. Fran Shaff is one of the many talents whose blogs I enjoy reading. She’s offered countless great pieces of advice for writers and I'm very pleased to have her permission to reprint one of her recent posts here in MURDER BY 4.

* * *

Writers sometimes find themselves with tons of ideas for new novels. In my opinion, better to have too many ideas than not enough.

When we writers are blessed with the "burden" of more ideas than we can handle, it is up to us to choose which ideas we'll develop and which we'll set aside.

So how does a writer determine which premises should be turned into books? A number of factors enter into this decision. Below I've mentioned five specific factors.

1. Is your premise appropriate to the genre in which you wish to write?
Readers of the various genres expect certain kinds of books when they choose a genre or sub genre for their reading enjoyment. Publishers know this. The writer who wants to write a love story in which the hero dies, should not expect to be published in the Romance Genre where it is required that all endings are happy ones. His premise with the sad ending would be better suited to mainstream fiction or perhaps mystery, sci fi or horror if the rest of his story fit into of those genres.

2. Does the premise have broad appeal?
Reader appeal may be due to the characters or the plot or both. The narrower the focus of the story, the fewer the readers.

3. Is the idea high concept?
A story that is high concept also has broad appeal. If terrorists invade an international summit where the fate of the world is at stake, or if a hurricane is moving in on the site of the summer Olympics, the idea is high concept, has broad appeal and fits into the next question as well because these ideas rouse readers' interest. A well-developed plot and compelling characters will hold reader interest throughout this high-concept storyline.

4. Are the stakes high?
As I said above, this is part of the high concept, broad appeal test for a premise.

5. Will the premise sustain the length of the novel which you intend to write?
To answer this question a writer needs to consider novel length according to the requirements of the target publisher, the problems that are bound to arise as the hero pursues his goal, and his own interest in his storyline as well as his competence in the knowledge required to develop the story in a way that makes it completely authentic to the reader.

If writers run their ideas through the above "weeding out" process and perhaps through some tests which they have developed on their own through their experiences, they will likely find it a bit easier to decide which ideas they'd like to develop and which they'd like to leave in notebooks in drawers.

Good luck with choosing your ideas, writers. And, readers, we hope you have a great time with the novel you've chosen to read this week.

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Fran Shaff is the author of more than a dozen published sweet romance and young peoples' novels. She has also had short stories published in such places as WOMAN'S WORLD magazine, and the Amazon Shorts program at Amazon.com. Look for her Award-Winning Article about Orphan Trains in RAILROADING THE PLAINS a book featuring the papers from the 39th Annual Dakota Conference published by The Center for Western Studies in Sioux Falls, SD.Awards Fran has won for her fiction and non-fiction writing include: 2007 EPPIE nomination for young peoples' literature, WRITE TOUCH READERS Award, MORE THAN MAGIC Award, HERBER W. BLAKELY Award, and more than a half dozen other awards and acknowledgments for her outstanding writing.

Intricacies of the Human Mind (or: WTF?)

Last night I received some interesting news from my agent. One of the editors to whom she submitted my manuscript has read it, liked it, and is getting second reads from an unnamed individual in a higher position than she (because publishers work like that). Now, in the grand scheme of "big" publishing, this is neither good nor bad news. If the second-read person, who is likely a senior editor, does not feel my manuscript is a good fit for their line, the first-read person can't make an offer and the house passes. My logical brain knows this is nothing to get excited about.

However, my attention-hungry writer brain that dreams of advances (even small ones), fan mail, and walking into a bookstore to find my name on the shelves (and of course, nonchalantly pointing this out to any book-browser who happens to be near, while jumping up and down and squealing like a schoolgirl on the inside), has other thoughts. It's not easy to suppress that dream-is-almost-coming-true feeling -- even when I know this is only one more spoonful of dirt from the tunnel.*

This suppressed hope did a number on my mind last night while I was sleeping. I had a long and vivid dream. Something awful had happened to the entire world. All the electricity, telephone lines, and utilities were gone. People had been displaced. Everyone was wandering around, dazed and shocked, looking for shelter. I ended up with a group of around 30 people trying to settle into this huge old crumbling house. A handful of us, myself included, went down into the basement for some reason.

We found something so terrible down there, my mind refused to show it to me. Whatever it was didn't want to let us go. We barely escaped with our lives. The house was evacuated, and we were once again displaced with nowhere to go.

At that point, the dream became personal. I invited these 30 lost, hungry, tired people to stay at my house. Now, in the dream, my house was the same as it is now: small, untidy (I work full time and write full time, and I'm a terrible housekeeper), and absolutely unfit for company. In real life, I only allow my immediate family into my house, and only under duress. Still, these people needed something, and I was not about to let them suffer when I could offer them shelter, no matter how inadequate. So, we set off walking down the road, while I worried and fretted and wondered where in the heck I was going to put all these people (and what horrible things they'd think about me when they saw my disaster of a house), but still remained determined to get them safe and make them feel comfortable.

Now that I'm awake, I can understand at least part of the dream. Writing is like that. Through our work, we invite people into our lives, into ourselves. We worry that we will be found inadequate, that people will see our dirty laundry and unwashed dishes and turn away. But we can't stop offering the invitation, because we feel that someone, somewhere will benefit from the escape we're offering - the shelter of our stories. We believe that underneath the clutter of our minds, we have something interesting to say, and we risk ridicule and disdain just to reach those who would look past the occasional mess and derive some happiness from the surroundings we offer.

My dream told me that I'm still scared, but I'm ready to offer everything I have. Maybe, just maybe, it is finally time to come out into the light.

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*Brilliant analogy of the journey to publication being akin to digging out of prison with a spoon, like Edmund Dantes and that crazy guy from The Count of Monte Cristo, courtesy of my husband, who would love for me to see the light on the outside.