The Future of Authors, Agents, and Publishers

© Marta Stephens 2009 all rights reserved

Authors are probably the most optimistic group of people to walk this world—proud to be one of many! We spend years perfecting our craft, pour our hearts into our work, and endure months of isolation (not sure this is true any more with the internet, but it does add a bit of drama.). All this with only one goal in mind—get published.

However, it’s no secret that we’re going through difficult, unstable economic times and the publishing industry, like numerous others, has been forced to rethink the business of doing business. Yesterday, I read an article that shot to the heart of the matter and think it’s information worth sharing http://www.writersdigest.com/article/the-future-role-of-agents/# .

I’d love to hear from authors who are currently looking for agents or publishers. What issues, if any, have you encountered? Any words of wisdom?

About the author:

Marta Stephens writes crime mystery/suspense. Her books are 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.

THE DEVIL CAN WAIT (2008)
Bronze Medal Finalist, 2009 IPPY Awards
Top Ten, 2008 Preditors and Editors Reader Poll (mystery)

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

Visit Sam Harper at http://www.samharpercrimescene.blogspot.com/

5 Things I Love About You(r book)

It may be a sad reflection on society that I am only listing five things I love in a story, where last week I had ten things I hate. It may just be that I'm tired and the number 10 seems so very much bigger than 5. Or maybe it's that love is harder to describe than hate - or easier.

Whatever the mysterious reason, here are five things that make a story shine for me.

1. Strong characters. Now, by 'strong', I absolutely don't mean 'omg this character kicks a** so hard!' Please, spare me the amazingly competent paragons of perfection who are uber-tough and Chuck Norris-like in their abilities to overcome any adversary. Give me characters who are neither unicorn pure nor cardboard-villain evil. Let them have both flaws and redeeming qualities, and make me believe they do things outside the pages I'm reading, and I will love them.

2. Shocking turns of events. Got a plot twist? Keep it from me until the last possible moment - but don't let it come out of left field. Fold in some hints that I can see if I go back and re-read, but that don't stand out until I come to the Big Reveal, so I can think to myself, 'of COURSE it was!' Surprise me, and I will love it.

3. Movement. Like Captain Jack Sparrow, I want movement! Keep the story going - it's not necessary to have someone die or something explode on every other page, but don't stop to reflect on some irrelevant event or description for pages and pages. Make things happen, and I will love it.

4. Plausible motivations. In any given plot, the characters are driven to act by external events - but the machinations of the world alone do not a great story make. Your characters should have reasons for reacting the way they do to external stimuli ... and if they don't, they are as two-dimensional as the page or screen I'm reading them from. Tie your characters intrinsically to the story line, and I will love them.

5. Shades of gray. The world is not black and white - so don't let your story be so. I love to see characters with questionable morals who are nevertheless sympathetic. People are complex, with the capacity to make decisions (the right ones, or the wrong ones). Don't let them always take the predictable path. Show me the layers of your characters and your world, and I will love it.

What do you love in a story? And, if you have a book you think I'll love, let me know about it so I can check it out!

What Motivates You to Write?

copyright 2009, Aaron Paul Lazar

What motivates you to write?

Is it a yearning to connect with humankind? To share your cherished visions with readers? To breach that lonely cold gap stretching between souls? To reach into someone’s heart, and really, truly make a difference?

Or do you simply write for yourself? Do you need to control a parallel universe that performs at your command, whose heroes are vivid and alive in your brain, and whose villains bow to your will? Is your own life so out of control that this writing thing, this whirling, compelling, demanding art form does wonders as a coping strategy?

Maybe you don’t care if your books ever get published; you just need to satisfy that inner drive to write. It itches until you scratch it, lures you like a lover, and enslaves you like a drug. And it’s very unforgiving. If you don’t get your daily fix, you get grumpy. Supremely grumpy.

Some write to purge demons from a childhood trauma, or to escape painful reality. Others create romantic relationships that fill emptiness in their own life, or invent critters to help heal the ache after losing a beloved pet. Some imagine bizarre aliens in a world so unlike ours that tantalizing characters and stories are born into new galaxies. And there are those who create scenes with characters strangely like their dear departed grandparents.

Writing can be comforting, thrilling, romantic, and scary.

But under no circumstances should you write simply to sell a book. That kind of motivation will only disappoint you, and writing for money is often a surefire way to guarantee disappointment. Instead, write from your heart. Write to soothe your spirit. Write to instill order in a chaotic world. Write to entertain, to create twisted plots that electrify or shock. But don’t write just to sell. Because in the end, you may be selling your writer’s soul.

Let’s say you’ve written your heart out. You’ve pumped out a few great books. Suddenly you go dry. What motivates you now?

Look around you. The world is crammed with topics. Watch your favorite movies. Dissect them, list the ideas that stir your imagination, and make an inventory of your favorite themes. Is it unrequited love? Time travel? Gentle giants falsely accused? Delicious twists that shock and surprise? Spunky lady cops who save the day? Heroic animals? Fantastical fairies? Gritty city secrets?

Keep your ears open. Listen to news stories. The often unfathomable, sometimes horrific accounts will stir your creative juices. Imagine a twist on them. Then twist it again and change its literary color or scent. Don’t worry if it’s been done before. Just put your mark on it and write it with passion.

Tune in to real life dramas at work, church, or school. Think about your friend whose wife died from a rare complication of a cardiac virus, your cousin who suffers from depression, your daughter whose college boyfriend from Albania is suddenly deported. Real life is fertile and rich. It’s full of angst, splendor, terror, and adventure. It offers a mosaic of ideas, and waits for you to pluck your new favorites to mix and match into a dynamic storyline.

Last of all: read, particularly from your genre. Read incessantly. Read in the grocery store line. Read at the doctors. Read at the Laundromat. Read while you wait for the kids after soccer practice. Read before you go to sleep at night. It’s not only the best way to charge up your imagination. Sitting at the virtual feet of the masters of the craft is the best way to learn to write.

Life is full of material. Sometimes the hardest part is choosing your themes. Pick a few, and toss them around to coat them with new variations. Make your time traveler a dog, instead of a boy. Put an alien in your tear jerker romance. Create cute little cockroaches instead of bunnies in your children’s book. Or stick to cliché themes, but shake your own writer’s salt on it. Mix up your hat full of ideas and see what falls out.

It’s all up to you. Now go get ‘em.

***

This year is the 10th anniversary of the founding of Twilight Times Books (1999) and the 5th year since we went to print (2004). Those are significant milestones.

In celebration, Twilight Times Books will have a print book sale from Oct. 1st to Nov. 15th. Most titles will be offered to the general public at a 10 - 30% discount. http://twilighttimesbooks.com/print_books101509sale.html

For a limited time, and while quantities last, we are offering a 30% - 50% discount on selected titles.
http://twilighttimesbooks.com/print_books101509special.html (one of the deals is: Buy Mazurka for $15.15 and get Tremolo for $10.15 (a 40% discount))

At Long Last: Mazurka!

At long last...

Some things are just worth waiting for. Whether you're an author or a reader, it seems inevitable that "the next book in the series" seems to take forever when its going through the publishing process.

In Mazurka's case, it really did take forever. The first draft was written in 2002, and after many ups and downs and starts and stops, it was scheduled to come out in mid 2008. Because of the economic uncertainties, many books, including Mazurka, were delayed.

Finally, the wait is over. Today I received the first fifty copies of Mazurka: a Gus LeGarde Mystery. From Paris, to Vienna, to Germany, and finally to the Austrian Woods, Mazurka propels you on a hair raising ride through Europe while Gus and Siegfried fight with Nazis on the Champs Élysées and a steamy shocking secret is revealed about a famous 19th century composer.

Do you like the cover? It's a conglomeration of many photos I've taken over the years, including shots of Paris from the balconies of Notre Dame. I did a bit of sneaky photoshopping to give it a liquefied blood red sky and river, and produced the Nazi on the cover from a silhouetted image of a man I photographed in Germany a long, long time ago. He wasn't a Nazi. At least I don't think he was!

If you've read Double Forte', Upstaged, and/or Tremolo and long for a wild roller coaster ride through Europe (with a few nice stops at museums and great restaurants!), email me at aaron.lazar@yahoo.com for autographed copies for twenty dollars including tax, shipping, and handling.

You can also buy it directly from Twilight Times Books and get a super deal starting October 1st. (one of the deals is: Buy Mazurka for $15.15 and get Tremolo for $10.15 (a 40% discount!) plus tax and shipping.)

Yeah, that's me. Looking very happy.

Mazurka Synopsis:

When Siegfried receives a puzzling invitation to visit an ailing relative in Germany on the eve of Gus and Camille’s wedding, their honeymoon plans change. Siegfried–Gus’s socially challenged brother-in-law–can’t travel alone, so they gather the gentle giant under their wings and fly to Paris.

After luscious hours in the city of lights, a twist of fate propels them into a deadly web of neo-Nazis. A bloody brawl on the Champs Élysées thrusts Siegfried and Gus into the news, where a flawed report casts Siegfried as the Nazi leader’s murderer, sealing his death warrant.

While Siegfried recovers in a Parisian hospital, Nazi terrorists stalk Gus and Camille. Hunted and left for dead in the underground Parisian Catacombs among millions of Frenchmen’s bones, they barely escape. Siegfried is moved to safety at his aunt’s in Denkendorf, where he learns a shocking family secret about Chopin’s steamy past. The calm is soon shattered, when the threesome is plunged into a cat-and-mouse game where the stakes are lethal and the future of Europe hangs in the balance.

***

There are several hundred more copies of Mazurka on their way, and I'll sign and send them out on a first come, first serve basis. By the end of the month, you'll be able to order on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (you can preorder at B&N already). But if you want the book signed, you need to go through me.

If you've already pre-ordered a signed copy, don't worry. You're at the top of the list! I'll be contacting you shortly. If you think you've ordered one and don't hear from me, give me a shout! I'm trying to keep it all together, but sometimes things slip through the proverbial cracks.

If you haven't ordered yet and want one, please send me the following:

• Where to send the book
  
• Who to autograph it to (and if it's for a birthday or special occasion, let me know!)

Last of all, I want to thank the fans who've stayed the course, who've patiently waited for this book to come out. I appreciate that your love for Gus LeGarde hasn't faded over time, and that you're still anxious to see what happens next. (by the way, for all the ladies who have begged for a wedding scene, I answered your request and added a "flashback" wedding scene to Mazurka!)

Now we can all start waiting for Firesong: an unholy grave, the fifth in the series of nine completed (so far.) Firesong was just accepted by Twilight Times Books this week and is scheduled for release next year. Would you believe I'm writing my 14th book now, a sequel to Tremolo? Let's hope it comes out quickly!

To read an excerpt of Mazurka, go to:

www.legardemysteries.com/mazurka.htm

Mazurka's up for a cover award!

Voting is now open for the August COVER Awards. Voting will close on October 3rd and new entries will be posted a week later.

Go here to vote if you'd like to support the book. At the top of the page, there is a tan colored column with books titles and voting buttons. Click on #20 (if you like Mazurka's cover best!) and then scroll down to hit the "Vote" button. Many thanks in advance for those who elect to vote. ;o)

Events

Most of the book signings and book club events for the year are over. But here's what's left!

Poetry, Prose, and Anything Goes

Dr. Ni's radio show Oct. 2, 2009 12-1:30

Heron Hill Winery, Hammondsport, NY ;

Keuka Holidays Nov. 14, 11-5

Radio Show with Barry Eva Nov. 28th, 11AM

A Book and A Chat"

Meet Bob Avey

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Bob's post was not posted last Friday and since we offered the spot to him with very short notice, we are posting his great article on blog tours again. If you haven't stopped in to say hi to Bob, please feel free!



© Bob Avey 2009 all rights reserved

A recent tour earned me a book review that showed up in USA Today. It can happen to you, too.

Imagine my surprise and excitement when I checked my email and found that one of my blog reviews had been syndicated, picked up by USA Today.com. I was ecstatic with the possibility of increased exposure for both me, and my book. As it turned out, the blogger reviewed for several sources, both online and off, which played a role in the review being discovered.

Taking the first step toward a virtual tour can be as simple as engaging a publicity firm to make the arrangements. However, going that route may not be for everybody. The cost of these services varies from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending upon the complexity of the package.

What exactly is a blog tour?

A blog tour, or virtual tour as it is more commonly known, is a series of pre-arranged stops or locations that the author will visit. However, in contrast to an actual tour, which involves traveling to physical bookstores and other venues, a blog tour consists of visits to virtual sites, the most common being writing and reading related blogs. The tours can vary in length from a single day to several weeks, depending upon the number of blogs visited.

How do you go about setting up a blog tour?

1. Find the blogs. The difficult part, of course, is locating desirable blogs and convincing them to host your tour. To accomplish this, conduct an internet-search for book related blogs and look for sites that cater to your style and type of writing. Also, talk to other writers who have toured, and ask for suggestions and inquire about the blogs they visited.
You need to determine the quality, and nature of the blogs you plan to employ for your tour. The blog should be a high-traffic site, which focuses on writing and reading related subjects. If you’ve written a mystery, you wouldn’t want to target blogs that discuss the proper way to groom your poodle. And regardless of the blogs intent, if the site doesn’t draw traffic, it won’t do you any good. In addition, the blogs should contain a comments section, so the readers can ask questions or post comments. There should also be serviceable links that would take potential buyers to places where your book can be purchased.

2. Book an appearance. Once you’ve narrowed down the list, get to know the blog owners by visiting their sites and commenting on posts that interest you. When you have established a relationship, ask them if they would be willing to host your tour.

3. Conduct the tour. The nature or focus of the blog determines what is expected from the author at each individual site. By filling out a predetermined questionnaire, the touring author might be interviewed by certain blog owners. At other sites, he might be asked to write a short article, which would be posted as content on the pages of the hosting blog. Some blog owners simply post chapter excerpts, while others might read the author’s book and post a review.

Appearing as a guest on the right blogs can create a lot of buzz about your book. However, as with most promotional endeavors, the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it. Construct informative and well-written articles for your guest posts, and be creative and interesting when filling out the questionnaires. If done properly, a blog tour can be an effective part of your promotional arsenal.

Bob Avey Website

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bob Avey is the author of the Kenny Elliot mystery series, which includes Twisted Perception, released April 2006, and Beneath a Buried House, June 2008, several short stories and various non-fiction articles. He lives with his wife and son in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma where he works as an accountant in the petroleum industry, and when he’s not writing or researching mystery writing techniques, he spends his free time prowling through dusty antique shops looking for the rare or unusual, or roaming through ghost towns, searching for echoes from the past. Through his writing, which he describes as a blend of literary and genre, he explores the intricacies and extremities of human nature.

Bob is a member of The Tulsa NightWriters, The Oklahoma Writers Federation (active board member for 2006), The Oklahoma Mystery Writers, and Mystery Writers of America.

Inspiration + Perspiration=Success

Are you ready to learn the secret to getting published? Oh yes, this dream can be yours. You can have this today if you will simply take the time to learn and appreciate one tiny secret shared by all the published authors in the world.
What is this prophecy, this nugget of mystery, this one thing you must have? Well, the secret is….

There is no secret!

There is no such thing as a secret to getting published. The path to publication is in no way hidden. Nor is it some obscure formula, something you can whip out time after time. Many people say that there are shortcuts to the final destination. They will charge you money to show it to you. But the reality is, by the time you’ve read what they’ve written, or get into their special workshop, you could have already found the true path and begun writing a wonderful book that might get you down the road to your heart’s desire.

There are exceptions to every rule and yes, sometimes people don’t use tradition methods and they have great success. You’ll hear of the author who submits a sort of proposal before ever writing the entire book and getting a huge advance and three book (or more) contract. But the reality is, such an occurrence is not only difficult, but pretty impossible. It doesn't happen very often. That's why, when it happens, you hear about it. It's big news. But you don't hear about the millions of times people try to do such a thing and end up out on their ear.

Yes, books are published every day, week, and year and the bookstores are chock-full of them. You do have a great chance of success but there are some steps to follow. So here is your “secret formula”.
1. Write
2. Write well
3. Write everyday

What we should be spending our time doing is crafting the story of our heart and making it the best-written story ever penned. Now that’s easy to do. Put your efforts into consistent word counts that will soon add up and you will indeed have something to be proud of soon.

The secret to being published is being devoted and consistent and informed. Oh, and well, prayers might help too!
_______________________________

By the way! my ebook, Avenging Angel is available TODAY at Red Rose Publishing FOR FREE!! you can get your very own for FREE FREEE FREEEE!!

Author Intereviews

© Marta Stephens 2009 all rights reserved

One of the best ways to reach a new audience is to agree to an interview--online, face-to-face, radio, it doesn't matter. You'll be amazed at how many new readers you'll reach by taking an hour of your time to answer a few questions.

My first face-to-face interview was published in a magazine released by the Department of Journalism from my almamater. I was thrilled to get the call, but it felt a little unnerving to not know what questions the grad student who was going to interview me was going to ask. However, I didn't want to miss out on that great opportunity so I agreed to meet her for coffee at local shop and talk about my debut book.

I'm not sure who was more nervous, but once she started asking me questions, I was amazed at how easily I jumped into the author mode. I mean, what writer doesn't enjoy talking about his or her books, right? It was as if I'd known her for years.

Since then I've agreed to do a number of interviews. If you really want to be tortured, you'll find a few of them here: http://www.martastephens-author.com/interview.html

A couple of weeks ago, I was at work when I received another e-mail. This time from an intern who works at the alumni office of my almamater. He had heard about the IPPY that "The Devil Can Wait" won earlier this year as well as the Writers Digest recognition that Murder By 4 received this past spring. Would I agree to an interview for the Alumnus Magazine to discuss my writing and awards? Hmmm, let me think about this! Yes!!

The interview I mentioned above will be published around the first of November. I'm looking forward to reading it. In the meantime, (and again if you're interested) author R. L. Taylor posted an interview with me just this week on "This Is No Ordinary ... : http://rltheauthor.blogspot.com/2009/09/you-should-knowmarta-stephens.html

So how should you prepare for an interview?

• Make a great first impression so look your best and arrive to the interview on time! If you're unavoidably running late, call to let them know.
• Be yourself--charming and professional!
• You have a captive audience of one. Be courteous and turn that cell phone off.
• You know your work, your style better than anyone else. So when it comes to your writing, give them more than they ask for.
• Keep your answers focused on the question. If you deviate, make sure to tie your point to the original question.
• Give full explanations, but be sure to give the interviewer time to get all of his/her questions asked.
• Be sure to give the interviewer a bookmark a flyer, or any other document you may have available that includes your bio and book blurb. The more you can provide, the more they'll have available for their article.
• Most will want a copy of your author photograph as well as a jpg of your book cover. Be sure yours are a good quality jpg.
• If you are asked a question that does not relate to your book, or you prefer to not answer it, simply say, “I am not sure.” Be gracious, but change the subject back to the focus of your interview.
• Is it okay to ask to review a draft before it goes to press? Sure. Some newspapers may not agree to it, but other organizations might so ask away.
• Always send a "Thank you!" note or e-mail.
• Above all, have fun!

About the author:

Marta Stephens writes crime mystery/suspense. Her books are 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.THE DEVIL CAN WAIT (2008)
Bronze Medal Finalist, 2009 IPPY AwardsTop Ten, 2008 Preditors and Editors Reader Poll (mystery)

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

Visit Sam Harper at http://www.samharpercrimescene.blogspot.com

10 Things I Hate About You(r book)

Anyone who reads a lot develops a set of unspoken rules about what they do and do not enjoy in a story. As a reader, you may not even be aware of some of the things that turn you off to a book and make you decide to put it down halfway through, never to pick it up again (or hurl it across the room and fight the desire to pick it up again, just so you can rip the pages out and burn them).

Here are some of my literary turn-offs. Perhaps you share some of these with me.

1. Lazy characterization: "This character is a man who wears pink and talks about shopping all the time. He is gay! See?"

2. Plot "twists" that are supposed to be the big payoff for reading the entire novel, but that are so transparent I've already picked them out on page 3.

3. Authorial soapbox intrusion, i.e. a character who is so "green" that every page of the book contains a reference to recycling, composting, feng shui, or other ways in which that character is the most environmentally conscious paragon since Captain Planet.

4. Arriving at the end of a decent story, only to find out that "it was all a dream." The Wizard of Oz excepted.

5. TSTL (too stupid to live) characters, whose innocence and/or lack of attention to detail drive the entire plot, when the story could have been 300 pages shorter if only the character were not so stupid.

6. Stories in the middle of a series which consist almost entirely of a flashback / alternate history / story told by another character, and which move the actual series story along approximately fifty feet down the road (I'm looking at you here, Mr. King).

7. Debut novels that came to the author in a dream, that took a grueling six months to write, for which the author suffered through three whole rejections before finding a publisher (and a multi-million dollar series deal, and films, and merchandise, and fame and fortune 4-ever) ... all for a poorly written, thinly veiled fanfiction.**

8. Beautiful characters who are beautiful just for the sake of being beautiful. Booo-ring.

9. Long-running series in which the author takes a drastic turn and drives as far and as fast as possible from the expectations and desires of readers, rapidly degenerating into drivel, all in the name of "authorial vision" (and then posts long rants on Amazon and/or his/her personal blog that manage to insult every single reader s/he has ever had).

10. Anthropomorphized animals as characters in adult fiction. Ugh.

What drives you nuts about stories? What makes you want to beat someone with a book, because you actually paid money to read it? Share! Next week, we'll talk about the things we love in books.

**This particular point is also tied to one of my pet peeves about being a writer - the automatic assumption that any criticism of a successful author is "sour grapes", rather than an actual, warranted dislike, as a reader, for an author's work.

Wyoming Writes: Face to Face

copyright 2009 aaron paul lazar

You recognize this picture, right? Or at least the guy in it? That's because I'm all over the web, and co-owner of this blog. So I probably look a bit familiar.

But how many of us have met in person? Face to face? Breathing the same air?

My writerly life is full of people I adore, but most of them are a voice on the computer (or phone) and an image on my screen. I feel as if I know them intimately - at least my closest friends - and would be able to pick up a conversation in a snap if and when we meet in real life. I have had the distinct pleasure of meeting S.W. Vaughn at a book signing in Syracuse. We clicked immediately and I knew we would.

Of course these online friends are "real". And the fact that I don't get to physically meet with them is okay. But last night, for the first time in my writing life, I joined a Writers Group and went face to face with other writers.

I was very hesitant. I had no knowledge of their writing skills. Would they all be amateurs and ask me to critique their books? Not that there's ANYTHING wrong with amateurs. Heck, we all were amateurs at one point in our lives. And I do help fledgling writers all the time. But I knew in advance that I wouldn't be able to take on that kind of a work load. Hell, I have to turn down my online writer friends all the time. Would they ask me to read and review their books? As many of you know, I fit in just a few mysteries per year and struggle to get those reviews written up within 3-6 months. I wish I could do them all, but then I wouldn't be a writer, I'd be a reviewer. ;o)

On the other hand, this stupid brain of mine worried I that maybe they'd be all highbrow super academics who would look down on my mystery series. I'd read them a chapter from my WIP and they'd exchange looks of amused tolerance. Or worse. Tell me all the things they thought are horribly wrong with it. I'm open to critiques, but I was afraid of being ripped to shreds. Yeah, even after publishing four books, writing fourteen, and getting lots of great praise and reviews. I was still nervous. I don't think I'll ever outgrow the fear of being "exposed" as a horrible writer in front of academics. LOL.

Wayne, one of my old friends from Kodak showed up the other day. I hadn't seen him in ten years, and there he was on my doorstep. I was thrilled, as I'd been missing my old pals at Kodak more and more. Wayne's now a journalist for a local paper, and he urged me to attend the Wyoming Writes group as well as do an interview for his paper. He'd been wanting to check out the group himself, and thought he'd write an article about it for his paper.

So, with trepidation rolling around in my brain, I dressed up nice casual clothes and took off for Perry, New York. The bookstore where the group meets is called Burlingham Books. It's a beautiful little shop on what I call Main Street USA - a lovely historic village not far from Letchworth State Park. Wayne and I got there early, did the interview, and waited as folks started to arrive.

All my fears were completely ungrounded. The people - Tanya, Deb M, Deb S, Cindy, the Scribbler, Mr. Newton, and Wayne, were welcoming and supportive. They were mature writers who had stories and work to share. We listened to a chapter about a small country church, quirky poems, poems that painted luscious imagery, and a frank and hilarious opening to a book of memoirs. All were well done and simply delightful. I read the first chapter to Don't Let the Wind Catch You, and to my joy, the folks enjoyed it and wanted to know what happens next. :o) Always a nice sign!

After an hour of reading and sharing, we took a "field trip" to a local art gallery where a delightful assortment of paintings and watercolors were on display. We each chose a piece that "spoke" to us, and had fifteen minutes to write. On other writers' sites I've joined we called this flash fiction. You might call it postcard fiction. But whatever, it was a ball. When we were done, each writer shared his creation as we stood in front of the painting and listened. I've gotta tell you, these works were amazing.

My choice was a gorgeous watercolor. A blue vase with red/pink poppies and iris, by Sandra Tyler. This camera shot doesn't do it justice by any means, but it is truly vibrant and lustrous.

Here's what I wrote in my fifteen minutes. Now don't laugh, it's not polished or anything. And in spite of the beauty of the painting, my mind turned to mystery.

What else?

Blue with Flowers by Sandra Tyler

Celeste placed the vase on the table and dropped into the chair beside it. She’d picked her mother’s poppies before, but today was different. Today her mother lay – not in the cot beside her – but beneath the ground.

The salmon poppies were the color of her mother’s favorite sweater, a fuzzy number that Celeste now wore, wrapped tight around her thin chest. She touched the fragile petals, and couldn’t help compare it with the feel of her mother’s soft cheeks. Cheeks that had sunk deeper and deeper against her bones in the past months. Cheeks that became concave, but which still cradled a smile when her mother’s thin lips curved into a ribbon of delight. Cheeks that Celeste now saw in the mirror, reflected back at her.

She’d inherited more than just her looks from her mother. Her stubborn nature, her love of cupcakes, and her passion for all things pink had clearly sprung from the genetic well that was Mom. Dad had given her the bright red hair. But not much else.

She wished he’d come to the funeral today. At least to make things look normal. Where was he? Off with on a dalliance with a rich bimbo? At the casino? Searching for more unwitting victims?

Celeste knew what had happened. She watched her mother eat the oatmeal every morning. The oatmeal her father had prepared. And she knew. She just knew there had been something in it. Something not right.

Being ten was hard. Especially when your father murdered your mother.

LOL. Okay, so there it is. But the point is, if you haven't joined an in person writers group, give it a try. I'm hooked and will be attending every month.

And always remember, if you love to write, write like the wind!

***

Mazurka, the fourth book in the LeGarde Mystery series is now available through the author, in special pre-release copies. Email him at aaron.lazar@yahoo.com for details.

Visit Twilight Times Books for special deals Oct 1 - Nov 15th.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the founding of Twilight Times Books (1999) and
the 5th year since we went to print (2004). Those are significant milestones.

In celebration, Twilight Times Books will have a print book sale from Oct. 1st to
Nov. 15th. Most titles will be offered to the general public at a 10 - 30% discount.

http://twilighttimesbooks.com/print_books101509sale.html

For a limited time, and while quantities last, we are offering a 30% - 50% discount
on selected titles.

http://twilighttimesbooks.com/print_books101509special.html

(one of the deals is: Buy Mazurka for $15.15 and get Tremolo for $10.15 (a 40% discount))

Virtually Painless Book Tours

© Bob Avey 2009 all rights reserved

A recent tour earned me a book review that showed up in USA Today. It can happen to you, too.

Imagine my surprise and excitement when I checked my email and found that one of my blog reviews had been syndicated, picked up by USA Today.com. I was ecstatic with the possibility of increased exposure for both me, and my book. As it turned out, the blogger reviewed for several sources, both online and off, which played a role in the review being discovered.

Taking the first step toward a virtual tour can be as simple as engaging a publicity firm to make the arrangements. However, going that route may not be for everybody. The cost of these services varies from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending upon the complexity of the package.

What exactly is a blog tour?

A blog tour, or virtual tour as it is more commonly known, is a series of pre-arranged stops or locations that the author will visit. However, in contrast to an actual tour, which involves traveling to physical bookstores and other venues, a blog tour consists of visits to virtual sites, the most common being writing and reading related blogs. The tours can vary in length from a single day to several weeks, depending upon the number of blogs visited.

How do you go about setting up a blog tour?

1. Find the blogs. The difficult part, of course, is locating desirable blogs and convincing them to host your tour. To accomplish this, conduct an internet-search for book related blogs and look for sites that cater to your style and type of writing. Also, talk to other writers who have toured, and ask for suggestions and inquire about the blogs they visited.
You need to determine the quality, and nature of the blogs you plan to employ for your tour. The blog should be a high-traffic site, which focuses on writing and reading related subjects. If you’ve written a mystery, you wouldn’t want to target blogs that discuss the proper way to groom your poodle. And regardless of the blogs intent, if the site doesn’t draw traffic, it won’t do you any good. In addition, the blogs should contain a comments section, so the readers can ask questions or post comments. There should also be serviceable links that would take potential buyers to places where your book can be purchased.

2. Book an appearance. Once you’ve narrowed down the list, get to know the blog owners by visiting their sites and commenting on posts that interest you. When you have established a relationship, ask them if they would be willing to host your tour.

3. Conduct the tour. The nature or focus of the blog determines what is expected from the author at each individual site. By filling out a predetermined questionnaire, the touring author might be interviewed by certain blog owners. At other sites, he might be asked to write a short article, which would be posted as content on the pages of the hosting blog. Some blog owners simply post chapter excerpts, while others might read the author’s book and post a review.

Appearing as a guest on the right blogs can create a lot of buzz about your book. However, as with most promotional endeavors, the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it. Construct informative and well-written articles for your guest posts, and be creative and interesting when filling out the questionnaires. If done properly, a blog tour can be an effective part of your promotional arsenal.

Bob Avey Website

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bob Avey is the author of the Kenny Elliot mystery series, which includes Twisted Perception, released April 2006, and Beneath a Buried House, June 2008, several short stories and various non-fiction articles. He lives with his wife and son in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma where he works as an accountant in the petroleum industry, and when he’s not writing or researching mystery writing techniques, he spends his free time prowling through dusty antique shops looking for the rare or unusual, or roaming through ghost towns, searching for echoes from the past. Through his writing, which he describes as a blend of literary and genre, he explores the intricacies and extremities of human nature.

Bob is a member of The Tulsa NightWriters, The Oklahoma Writers Federation (active board member for 2006), The Oklahoma Mystery Writers, and Mystery Writers of America.

Writer's Block -- Can this writer be saved?

Writer’s block may well be the most common complaint of authors next to dangling plots and misbehaving characters. What is this malady that befalls so many of us and why does it strike at the most inopportune time?

I have a theory.

You are feeling sluggish. You need a fresh approach. You have lost focus of the story.

Am I getting warm?

It’s becoming apparent to me that the real thing is not a block, it is a lack of motivation. We really have to force ourselves to write when this situation occurs. Ideas for a story may abound everywhere but if you have embarked on a journey to elaborate on that nugget, that germ of an idea, you may face not writer’s block but stumbling blocks.

Let me give you a new thing to consider if you are finding yourself chewing on your pencil end rather than pressing forward with the lead end.

Primitive man needed a way to stay warm during the winter. He grew tired of freezing his hands and feet in the snow with no help for the frozenness of it. Likewise, writers need a way to keep the fires of creativity burning. They have no control over what makes their brain freeze and not release the words that they need to keep from dying during the creation phase of a book.

SO! If you liken writing to freezing in the tundra, then you will get this analogy.

You need flint and stone.

Yes, you heard me. Take the nugget of your idea, and strike it repeatedly against something hard. Watch for the sparks to issue forth, and then work like mad to feed it with kindling to get the fire burning.

It’s as simple as writing out the idea and then testing it.

i.e. A woman is lost in the woods.
Test: why? Test: alone? Test? On purpose?

And from there you can flow. If you are stuck in the middle of a story your flint and stone could be damaging someone, or hurting them, or killing them off to create conflict. Usually you will not flag at the end of a story. At least you shouldn’t if you have clear understanding of who did what and why and how that has turned the story in a different direction.

The best cure for writer’s block is action. Get busy. Enabling your lack of creativity is like enabling an alcoholic to have reasons to drink. Getting home from work and lounging on the couch is a sure-fire muse killer. Don’t do it. Take it from one couch potato to another. Make writing as much a part of your life as taking out the garbage, washing the dishes, cooking meals, and feeding the family pets. Sit down at the computer and reread the last thing you wrote, come up with the ideas necessary to write the next scene. If you will just get started, I promise you will turn out a word count that you will be proud of.

Finding Agents and Publishers

© Marta Stephens 2009 all rights reserved

After the thrill of discovering that we could write, after writing that great first opening line and finally typing those two amazing little words, “The End” we writers have discovered that writing the book is the fun, easy, and cost-effective part of the writing journey. Marketing and promotion is a whole other story. It takes time, impeccable timing, and sometimes can cost the author hundreds of dollars to gain a piece of the marketing pie (book tours, book trailers, radio interviews, hire a publicist, travel, marketing materials such as bookmarks, etc., to name a few). So when I find a great source of information that doesn’t cost me anything other than my time, I’m on it.

When I opened my e-mail this week, I found my much anticipated Writer’s Digest E-newsletter. It’s one of the best freebies out there for writers looking for solid writing information is the. It’s full of great articles, advice, and reprints of articles from their monthly magazine. One of the articles that immediately caught my attention in this issue was the piece titled, “5 Quick Tips for Writer/Agent Negotiations.” I’d always heard that a reputable agent will not charge a reading fee, but the other points were just as interesting. Since I will soon be seeking representation for my current work in progress, over the past several months I’ve focused on gathering as much information as possible about agents who represent mystery/suspense. It’s a scary prospect to think that once I have the novel completed it could take months/years before it goes to print, but my eyes are wide open and that’s a risk I’m willing to take.

The important thing is to do your homework.

1. Focus on only those who accept your genre.
2. Read their submission guidelines and follow it to the letter.
3. Polish that query letter and synopsis. Ask several trusted friends who have written them before to read them and offer suggestions.
4. Send query letters to the top five agents on your list, wait two weeks, and send to the next five and so on and so forth.

The following are a few websites writers can turn to for information about reputable publishers and agents.

Preditors & Editors To read about how agents work, check out this link: http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/pubagent.htm

Agent Query

Association of Authors Representatives (AAR) check the "search for an agent" link.

How many more are you aware of?


***
About the author:
Marta Stephens writes crime mystery/suspense. Her books are 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.

THE DEVIL CAN WAIT (2008) Bronze Medal Finalist, 2009 IPPY Awards, Top Ten, 2008 Preditors and Editors Reader Poll (mystery)

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

On E-Books and the State of Publishing

So you're frustrated by the endless complications of trying to break into publishing. Or you've decided all that stuff with agents and big New York companies is a big waste of time. Or you want to start now, and you don't mind starting small and working your way up.

Should you consider e-publishing? The unfortunate answer is the same as everything else in publishing: it depends.

You won't be able to hold your book in your hands (unless your e-publisher, like many of the good ones these days, also offers a print option). You won't see tens of thousands of sales. You won't be interviewed on Oprah.

Despite these disadvantages, there are a lot of pluses to e-publishing. You will have readers. You will have the satisfaction and the feeling of having done something great that comes with being published (yes, really - ebooks count as being published!). You will make a little money. You could even make decent money, if you exercise diligence and research the publishers you're submitting to, and take being e-published seriously.

E-publishing is a lot of fun, and surprisingly satisfying. I'm going to expound on this subject more in the coming weeks - I'll offer tips on choosing and submitting to publishers, promoting your e-books, building an audience, and making the most of the e-publishing experience.

For today, I'll leave you with an interview about e-publishing I was able to get with the blogosphere's beloved Miss Snark before she retired. The Snark, she is wise and knowing. And succinct. :-)

----------------

Miss Snark on E-Books

1. In your opinion, are there any legitimate e-book publishers? If so, what makes them legitimate? 

MS: Sure.  There are some very reputable one.  What makes them legit is the same thing that makes any other publisher legit: they pay the author; they don't expect the author to be the sole engine for sales; books are available to libraries and to the general public through regular sources.
 
2. If an author with strong e-book sales through a legitimate e-publisher queries you, does this lend any weight to the query? 

MS: "Strong ebook sales" is an oxymoron.  What constitutes big congrats in the field of ebooks is negligible in print sales.  What would work is what happened with Ron McClarty's audio-first book.  If something is an ebook and it gets a lot of buzz, I'd probably take a look.  The trouble is however that what makes an ebook "good" isn't necc. what makes a print book "good".
 
3. Have any of the authors you have represented been successful with an e-book, or an e-book version of a traditionally published book?
 
MS: Nope.
  
4. Do you believe e-books have a place in the future of the publishing industry (as part of the industry as a whole, rather than a replacement for print books)?
 
MS: Yup.
 
5. May I attribute your responses to you in my materials?
 
MS: Sure.  But you have to say it very snarkily when you do.
 
**Thank you!**

MS: You're welcome.

Finding Time...

copyright 2009 aaron paul lazar

You want to write. Your head is packed with stories that haunt you, begging to be released. They keep you up at night, and sometimes you wake at 2 AM to scribble down your ideas in a journal full of… scribbles. You dream of the day when you’ll have delicious, lazy hours to put pen to paper, to craft volumes of stories filled with characters who will entertain and inspire readers. You long for a few hours to call your own. Or maybe even a few minutes. You have so much to say, want so urgently to say it, but you don’t have the time.

As if sabotaging your dreams, reality creeps in with a cold splash of guilt. Your two-year-old screams for ice cream, but really needs a nap. Your teen needs a ride to soccer practice, chauffeuring home for a dinner that isn’t yet started, and another ride back to school for play practice. All the while, your eight-year-old just wants to be loved. She asks for help with her homework, and you try to squeeze it into the third trip up to the school. She needs time with you, special time. Your guilt mounts.

Laundry calls your name from the room that’s starting to smell a bit moldy. Weeds creep higher in the garden, and it’s getting harder and harder to distinguish the bean plants from the pigweed. Some days you don’t know how you’ll find time to pay the bills, never mind write a story. You buy extra powerful vitamins to see if they’ll help you get through each day, and although you know you should be cherishing these moments when the kids are little, you secretly dream of the day when you’ll be able to call your time your own.

Or perhaps you’re a corporate slave, commuting hours per day to the job that pays the mortgage but steals your soul. Maybe you’re chained to a desk, or your schedule is jammed with back-to-back meetings. You fly from topic to topic, trying to save the company, or at least fix that one annoying problem that’s sucking the life out of you. Your day starts at 5:00 and ends at 7:00. By the time you get home, you just want to eat, check your email, and flop in front of the television so someone else can whisk you away to worlds only imagined, filled with intrigue, romance, or mystery.

And so it goes. Pressure. Stress. Duties. Responsibilities. They zap your time and wrap you up like a mummy who can barely see through the slits in the white cloth, a drone who glimpses that elusive creative life with envy.

Now stop right there! I’m here to tell you that it can be done. With a little sacrifice, you can carve time out of your day to get that novel started. Even if you “do it all,” like Sarah, the accountant in the following example.

Sarah is a mom who works full time outside the home. After work, she hurries to daycare to pick up her two year old. Her husband isn’t exactly the “let me do the dishes,” kind of guy, so she cooks, sews, cleans, packs lunches, shops, reads to her son, walks the dog, and often takes out the garbage. The hubby mows the lawn and fixes things. In Sarah’s life, there’s barely time to take a shower, never mind luxuriate for a few minutes to jot down a few poetic phrases.

When I met her, I instantly recognized Sarah’s “writer” voice. Through her emails, I picked up on a severely suppressed creative urge. Her words sang to me. They were filled with so much more than typically needed to describe directions to the nearest Thai restaurant, or sharing about those juicy apples she discovered at the orchard tucked away in the boonies. I called her on it, and she admitted writing lots of stories in high school and college. She hoped to write. She planned to write. But life just wasn’t cooperating. She’d have to wait until she retired.

I challenged her. “Take fifteen minutes every day–during your lunch hour, if necessary. Just write something.”

Sarah admitted she ate at her desk most days, anyway. She surfed the web or chatted on the phone. When I mentioned writing, her eyes widened with fear. “I wouldn’t know what to write!”

My answer–write something. Anything. Write gibberish. Write about your dreams last night, or about a scene from your childhood. Write about your wedding. Your rock garden. Your dishes. It doesn’t matter what. Get something down on paper, and show it to me tomorrow. Just write.”

Because Sarah was never shy to accept a challenge, she listened. She’d been interested in Civil War re-enactment lately, and had planned to bring her son to an event in the coming month. With bleary eyes at night, she’d sewn him little costumes that fit the time period, and had researched the heck out of the topic. So, it was no surprise when on that very first day, she wrote the first pages of what ended up being a very tidy little historic paranormal novel about a young woman caught in a Civil War time warp.

Do we all have such books in us? Is it always that easy? Was Sarah just lucky?

The answer is that if you have the calling, if you suffer from the aches and pangs of wanting to write, if you think about stories on your drive to work or in the bathtub, if the itch is so persistent that you’re cranky when you can’t scratch it–then you already are a writer.

In Sarah’s case, the first page of prose she wrote was lovely. Her talent leapt from the page. I knew she had it in her, and all it took was fifteen short minutes every day to get it started. Of course, once she was hooked, she spent her whole lunch hour writing, and even finagled the not-so-helpful hubby to give her several hours a week so she could write.

Sometimes we need to negotiate with our spouses for more time. Sometimes we need to prioritize. In my case, I used to rise at four in the morning to write for two hours each day. It was the only quiet time in our very busy household. Sure, I went to bed early most nights. I’m not a martyr. I need my sleep! But what did I give up?

Television.

So, instead of being lulled into a stupefying sleep at night by mindless junk that others had written, I took control of my life and started my own series. Thirteen books and ten years later, I still don’t care about television, and I know I made the right choice.

You can do it. It’s a matter of making a conscious choice for your writing soul. You have a voice. You need to be heard. Now go figure out a way to let it out!

WRITING CRIME SCENES

© Lisa Black 2009 all rights reserved

Writing mysteries assures us that our characters will wind up at a crime scene at least once during the course of the book. I’m also a forensic specialist, so I can wind up at a crime scene once a day.

The ‘scene’ itself can be very loosely or very rigidly defined. Yellow crime scene tape doesn’t just look cool—it serves a purpose. It delineates the area in police custody. The first thing you do once you put the tape up is remove everyone who doesn’t belong inside it, such as witnesses, suspects, neighbors, etc. There should be one point of entry and exit so that the officer with the ‘contamination list’ (such a negative term!) can keep track of who was there and who wasn’t, and when. Anyone entering the scene is subject to subpoena and therefore may be called to testify in court as to what they did there. This is usually enough to keep out any police officers (especially higher-ups) who show up only to see and be seen. This isn’t just mindless bookkeeping—any evidence found inside the tape is in pretty good shape, but any evidence found outside the tape could be challenged in court as it was not in police custody and subject to possible contamination. (Attorneys seem to think ‘contamination’ is a magic word that can mean whatever they want it to mean.) Never mind that the entire scene was not in police custody for the five hours before the body was discovered, but hey, we do what we can.

Crime scene tape might be put up for a suspicious death or any other serious circumstance, then taken down and disregarded when it has been decided that the death was natural or whatever. And then you get those gung ho types who put it up for anything from a smash-n-grab to a fender bender. It’s $20 a roll, guys, and the budget’s been slashed.

Collecting evidence…yes, we put numbered or lettered markers by small items to photograph them. Photograph everything before you move it! Do not pick up a metal item, such as a spent casing, with metal tweezers (unless the ends are coated with rubber). You don’t want to leave more tool marks on an item that’s going to be examined for tool marks. And forget those handy little self-sealing plastic bags. We put nothing in plastic, ever. Plastic bags have static electricity and stick to the surface of things, making it less like to recover a fingerprint, and also retain any moisture, which might make items mold, rot or rust. The only thing we can sorta, kind tolerate in plastic are paper items like letters or envelopes. I’ve only used plastic jars for insects (one jar with alcohol to arrest the insects at their current stage of development, and one jar with a damp paper towel to keep them alive—for a while—so that they can be grown to maturity and identified).

Of course you know no one in law enforcement calls the killer/burglar/unknown subject a ‘perp.’ Usually they’re just ‘the guy.’ If there’s time for more flowery language, he might be ‘the scumbag.’ We often wind up speaking entirely in pronouns—after all, the relationship between the involved parties is more relevant than their given names. A conversation might go like this: “So the lady that lives here, her husband says she’s wacko and always going off in a huff, but mom says that he pushed her against the wall last week and he’s always yelling at her and was supposed to take her dog to the vet today and she wouldn’t miss that, and the kid says mom said she was going to buy a gun the day before yesterday—” And yes, it can get confusing, so that someone like me interrupts to clarify: “Which mom was going to buy a gun? The kid’s mom (the victim) or the kid’s grandmother (the victim’s mom)? Who did the husband push around last week--and whose dog had a vet appointment--the missing mom or the missing mom’s mom?”

Speaking of guns, the presence or absence of gunshot residue does not prove someone did or did not fire a gun.

We don’t all have handy databases of lipstick, perfume, crayons, fabric softener or honey. Manufacturers make their living with these formulas; they’re hardly likely to make that information public. Also, you cannot scan in a fingerprint and search everyone who has ever been fingerprinted in the entire US, including job applicants and military. Usually you will be searching only local arrestees, maybe the whole state. You might have lowered lighting in Dispatch and in the latent prints unit so that staff can better see the computer screens (though I work in latent prints and prefer normal lighting); every other area of the lab would have the brightest lights possible. We do not tell the detectives what to do—they are in charge of the investigation, not us. It is in the best interest of both parties to cooperate and advise each other, but ultimately it is the detective who decides who to arrest, who to question, and where to search.

If you have the time, you might want to attend a citizen’s academy program at your local police department. This will give you a great overview of how crimes are actually investigated and, better yet, you might meet personnel you can later use as a resource when you have a question.

Oh, and we don’t wear low-cut designer sweaters or high heels. When you work around blood, bleach, staining reagents and just plain dirt, you don’t wear anything that you’d be really upset about ruining. We’re not all young, sexy, single and angst-ridden. On the plus side, we’re generally funnier and a lot easier to get along with.

Just go easy on the crime scene tape.

About the author:

Lisa Black is a forensic specialist with a police department in Florida. Before that she worked as a forensic scientist with the coroner's office in Cleveland, Ohio. Evidence of Murder is her fourth published thriller.

Don't Come Too Early or Stay Too Late

© Marta Stephens 2009 all rights reserved

One of the writing challenges I continue to face is to come up with that great opening line. So often, it’s waiting for me three or four paragraphs into the chapter. That’s the type of thing I look for when I edit my first draft. Equally important though are chapter endings.

In one of my favorite “how-to” books, THE COMPLETE HANDBOOK OF NOVEL WRITING, by Meg Leder, Jack Heffron and the editors of Writer’s Digest, author James Patrick Kelly describes opening lines and chapter ends like this:

“If you’re the first at the party, there’s usually nothing to do until the other guests arrive except to stand around and admire the furniture. Writers who start their stories too early … waste time describing the china on the breakfast table or the daisies nodding in the garden. Similarly, when the story is over, stop writing.”

So the question is, where should the action begin? When the character is walking down the sidewalk, opening the door to a shop, or once he’s in? Is it better to write the scenes chronologically or start in the middle of the action? Here’s an opening line to consider.
In CITY OF GLASS (1985) Paul Auster wrote:

“It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not.”

What intrigues me about this opening line is that we’re brought into the book in the middle of the action. When we turn to the first page in chapter one, the telephone has already rung three times and yet the caller continues to insist on speaking with someone other than the person who answered the phone.

A million questions rushed through my mind as I read that sentence. Who is the caller? What's the urgency? Does the caller really have the wrong number or is there something wrong with the person answering the phone? I would certainly want to read on to find out.

I rewrote the opening paragraph in each of my books, including my current work in progress, at least two to three times before finding the right beginning. In fact, it wasn’t until I wrote the third to the last chapter in my WIP that I realized I needed to change the opening paragraph all together. Sometimes I know from the very beginning—sometimes, the story takes me there.

The same is true for chapter endings. The page turner happens when the reader is left with a surprise development, an intriguing statement, or a character reveals a questionable or unresolved issue. Too often, writers (I'm guilty too) have the tendency pass up a strong ending by adding dialogue, beats or narrative that are nothing more than exposition--fillers and extra words that do nothing more than add to the word count.

It wasn't until I began editing THE DEVIL CAN WAIT, that I realized how many times I used Sam Harper’s ringing cell phone to signal the end of a chapter or chapter scene. I used the “Find” feature in MS Word to search the manuscript for those instances and replaced nearly all but a few that I felt moved the plot forward.

One example is in a scene after Sam Harper has interrogated a teenage boy in the presence of the boy’s parents and has acquired a search warrant for their home and cars. The teen has been in and out of trouble with the law before and it’s clear to Harper that the mother is intimidated by both the boy and her husband. Here, Harper is speaking to her privately (not in the presence of either her husband or son). The original chapter ending read as follows:

“Can you swear that Vinny was home in bed in the early hours of November 15?” Harper asked.

“I can’t swear to anything any more.”

Harper’s cell rang at that moment. It was Detective Rogers calling him from the Wood’s driveway.

“Harper, I found something.”

I deleted the last two sentences and changed it to read:

“Can you swear that Vinny was home in bed in the early hours of November 15?” Harper asked.

“I can’t swear to anything any more.”

I felt that ending this section with her words had more impact than listing to Harper’s conversation on the phone. Changing the ending also made the opening paragraph of the following chapter section stronger too. It’s not always necessary to have a transition from one scene to the next. In this case, the next section opens with the three detectives looking into the teen’s car trunk and finding the evidence they’ve been looking for.

Writing is a process and every writer needs to determine what works best for him or her. My preference is to start in the middle of a crisis and ending with something to think about.

* * *

About the author:
Marta Stephens writes crime mystery/suspense. Her books are 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.THE DEVIL CAN WAIT (2008)
Bronze Medal Finalist, 2009 IPPY AwardsTop Ten, 2008 Preditors and Editors Reader Poll (mystery)

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

Visit Sam Harper at http://www.samharpercrimescene.blogspot.com

Where do your characters work?

First, a bit of a personal note: I am sick. I have bronchitis. Ugh. But after almost a month of being in a fog, and two weeks of truly awful with periods of can't-get-out-of-bed, I can breathe again. My thanks to steroids, antibiotics, nebulizer treatments and Sunny Delight.

----------

If you're writing fiction, your character probably needs a profession. Sometimes the genre dictates the job - if you're writing hardboiled mystery, chances are your main character is a detective, either police or private (and that's as it should be :-). If you're writing medical thrillers, your main character is likely a doctor. But if your genre doesn't decide for you, where should your character work?

It's tempting to write what you know here, and give your character a job that you're familiar with. That can work, if you're careful to stay out of Mary Sue (or Gary Stu) territory. Eventually, though, there will come a time when you'll want to branch out and work with something new. How do you choose a job for your character?

There are, of course, typical professions that most people are familiar with. Lawyer, bank teller, hair stylist, grocer, counselor . . . folks we generally interact with on a regular basis. These types of jobs have the advantage of reader identification. A familiar profession is often a good choice for a character to whom extraordinary things are going to happen (such as assassins, werewolves, or other general mayhem), because the reader can empathize with the ordinary person the character had been before the craziness started.

It can also be a lot of fun to give your character a more exotic profession - something readers would not be familiar with, but would enjoy discovering brought to life through your character. Here's a sampling of the "occupations inventory" in one of my favorite writing reference books, The Writer's Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters:

actor/actress
acupuncturist
amusement park ride operator
armored car driver
bagel maker
baseball player, minor league
boatbuilder
boat charter operator
cartoonist
circus performer
dating service operator
drive-in theater owner
embalmer
farrier
grifter
guide, backwoods hunting
hypnotist
inventor
junk dealer
loanshark
messenger, bike
movie director
palm reader/psychic
radio station owner
reviewer, movie/theater
swimming pool designer
tree surgeon
waterbed dealer
zookeeper

There are many more on the list, but this might get you started. For more specific, fascinating and fun jobs, check out this article from Boston.com - and have fun employing your characters!