Interview with Author Joanna Campbell Slan

Joanna Campbell Slan
PAPER, SCISSORS, DEATH
Fall 2008, Midnight Ink

Hello and welcome to MURDER BY 4, Joanna. Let's start by asking you to tell us who is Joanna Campbell Slan?

A: I am a small-town girl who discovered Jane Eyre at an early age and thought, “Wow. Even plain, poor girls have a chance at a better life if they get a good education.” Heck, I didn’t know it was fiction. It looked like a wise plan to me—and it was.

Q: Please tell us about your journey, where you¢ve been and how you got here.

A: I started winning awards for writing when I was in junior high. I worked my way through college and majored in journalism at Ball State University , Muncie , IN. I wrote for the campus publications and for the local newspaper. I’m the author of ten non-fiction books, including a college textbook on using personal anecdotes when giving speeches. Seven of the non-fiction books were on scrapbooking. One sold 85,000 copies. I used to work as a motivational speaker. I received a Silver Anvil from Public Relations Society of America for my work on FarmAid. I’m doing exactly what I always hoped to do with my life.

Q: What wonderful things can you tell us about PAPER, SCISSORS, DEATH?

A: It’s the first in the Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery series. Jon Jordan of Crimespree Magazine called it “a wonderful read.” Reviewers are noticing that it’s a bit more exciting than the average cozy. For example, Pat Elliott at BookLoons Reviews said, “Slan’s sleuth Kiki Lowenstein is smart and crafty. Her hair-raising brushes with life and death will keep you rooting for her every step of the way.” The book includes scrapbooking tips and in the back is a code for 50 Free Digital Prints courtesy of Snapfish.

Q: What prompted you to write this book?

A: My son got his driver’s license! Seriously, I finally had the necessary blocks of time to think and plan. I always wanted to write fiction. I realized there might be a niche in the market where my knowledge of a craft could be an asset. I love telling myself stories—and Kiki is just so much fun!

Q: What makes your book stand out among other books in this genre?

A: I believe that a cozy can be a thrill ride. I think we can slowly reveal information. We can do a strip-tease on paper that keeps the reader breathless. And cozy authors can create compelling, realistic characters—plus engaging plots. I did not want people to read my book solely because they liked scrapbooking. In fact, I was very careful to craft a read that even non-hobbyists could enjoy.

Q: What marketing/promotional strategies have worked best for you and why?

A: Also, we launched the book at Archivers’ Scrapfest, the largest gathering of scrapbookers in the country. More than 15,000 scrappers were there at Mall of America. We sold 400 copies in two-and-a-half days. Getting an initial OOMPH was very helpful in building word-of-mouth.

Q: What do you feel is has been your greatest strengths as a writer?

A: My willingness to keep learning and improving. I am constantly trying to do better.

Q: In what way do you or don’t you see yourself in your main character, Kiki?

A: A lot of us scrapbookers are like Kiki. We put our families first. We put ourselves last. We’re often underestimated and overlooked. We are hard on ourselves. We write love letters to life in our scrapbook pages, but we’re very down-to-earth and practical.

Q: Please tell us about the setting for your book and why you chose it.

A: I love St. Louis. It’s quirky, full of history and mystery, and I felt it was underutilized as a setting. This city is so important to the book that I treat it like another character. Which it is.

Q: What has been your greatest challenging in writing this book or writing in general?

A: Setting priorities. You have so many other “chores” besides writing that often writing takes the backseat. When I don’t get to write, I feel grumpy because writing is my passion and my release.

Q: Every author has at least one turning point in their career. That moment when they know the path they must take and accept the challenge. Please tell us about yours.

A: I was in college. We were going around and telling the teacher who we were and what we wanted to do after we graduated. I said, “I’m a writer.” One of the other students said, “No, you only hope you’ll be a writer.” And I knew he was dead wrong. That’s who and what I was—and I am.

Q: When you’re not writing, what are you doing?

A: I spend a lot of time promoting and marketing. I also create scrapbook pages and other pieces of paper art. I send out an electronic magazine bimonthly at least, and I need to keep coming up with new projects and ideas for that. Folks can view some of these by going to http://www.scrapbookstorytelling.com/ezinearchive.shtml I get a lot of response from these. I usually offer a free downloadable piece of art. Readers need to send me an email (which allows me to capture new emails because they tell their friends), and I’ll send them the file. Last issue we had 120 or so requests.

Q: What has been the most valuable advice you’ve received along the way? How has it shaped your path?

A: Gosh, I’ve learned so much. My friend Shirley Damsgaard has four things that every line must do: 1.) drive the plot forward 2.) mess with the reader’s head 3.) add something to a character and 4.) ground the reader in a sense of place.

Q: What writing or marketing advice/experiences would you like to share with other authors?

A: I believe in “win-win” and “value-added.” I was able to partner with a paper manufacturer that needed to off-load some old stock. (Paper gets “old” after 3 months in the scrapbooking world.) I paid the shipping, and they gave me cool stuff to give away at signings. Now you might think, “Oh, but that’s scrapbooking,” but here’s the thing: we all have something to share. The trick is to find someone who needs what you have to offer—and who has something of value to you. It’s a mind-set.

Q: What message, if any, does your book offer the reader?

A: Being poor stinks. Friends help you grow up. You can run, but you can only hide from bad news for a short while. Never underestimate anybody.

Q: Thanks so much for giving us a glimpse into your life and writing. Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

A: I blog every Monday at http://killerhobbies.blogspot.com and I blog frequently about being a debut author at http://joannaslan.blogspot.com/

* * *

Joanna Campbell Slan is the author of PAPER, SCISSORS, DEATH: A Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery, the first in a series featuring an amateur sleuth. Kirkus Reviews noted it a “well-turned cozy,” while Crimespree Magazine called PAPER, SCISSORS, DEATH “a wonderful read.” Reader to Reader Reviews notes “Joanna Campbell Slan proves herself to be a top-notch mystery author with this very entertaining and intriguing debut.”

Slan is a motivational speaker and author of ten non-fiction books. Her college textbook, USING STORIES AND HUMOR: GRAB YOUR AUDIENCE (Allyn & Bacon), has been praised by former Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speechwriter. Five of her personal essays have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Her seminal book on the art of scrapbooking, Scrapbook Storytelling, has sold more than 85,000 copies. She’s the author of countless magazine and newspaper articles on a variety of subjects.

Slan has partnered with ScrapBook inspirations Magazine, a UK publication, to run an annual contest called “The Best of British Scrapbooking.” Slan is also the co-founder of Forensic University of St. Louis.

A journalism graduate of Ball State University, Slan currently teaches for Writers Online Workshops and Lewis and Clark Community College. Formerly, she taught public relations at Illinois State University. She is the recipient of a Silver Anvil, Public Relations Society of America’s “Emmy,” for her work on FarmAid.

Visit her at www.joannaslan.com or read her blogs at http://killerhobbies.blogspot.com and http://joannaslan.blogspot.com

Rejection: Is your book REALLY that bad?

copyright 2008 Aaron Paul Lazar



Rejection. Oh, how it stings. Most of us have been through it - plenty. Seeking jobs, seeking love, seeking publication for our books. It hurts. Destroys our self image. For a while, anyway. And it tears at the thin fabric in which we cocoon with our fragile writer's ego, protecting the inner belief that our work is valid.
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A new writer recently emailed me after receiving a flurry of rejections from big agents. With a crushed spirit, she wrote:
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"It makes no sense to me. If someone has written a book that is a good read, then why in the world would it not be recognized, published and read? The only answer that makes any sense is that it's not a particularly good read after all."
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Alas, if it were only that simple. Let's step back and take a look at the situation.
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You wrote a book. Your instincts tell you it's darned good. You envision an agent or publisher recognizing this and sweeping you up in their arms to share with the world. You dream of financial success, recognition, and that sweet validation that makes you feel you're a "real" writer.
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That elusive dream haunts just about every new writer I've ever known. Then, after years of toiling, burning the midnight or early morning oil, sweating and suffering and bleeding onto the pages - most realize, in time, that they'd better not quit their day jobs.If every "good" book were accepted and published, we'd need a great deal more space to store and sell them. I've read that bookstores today stock only 2-3% of the published books in the world. Imagine all the "real" books that don't end up on their shelves? Now imagine all the good books that never get published. It's mind-boggling.
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An enormous number of books are submitted annually to publishers, and only a relative handful of agents and editors to scan through the 0.05% that are accepted for the slush pile. They often receive hundreds of submissions per day. Imagine reading 100 emails every single day from authors who want to be heard? It wouldn't be hard to feel jaded in short order.Publishers and agents have cut down their staffs, because of the economy, and it's probably even harder for them to get through the slush piles now, with the fear of job loss if their next pick doesn't bring in some cash.
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There are plenty of horrible books submitted each year, too. But there are also hundreds, if not thousands, of very good books out there. Yours may be one of them. (If it isn't, keep on working on your skills until it is!)
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Are you in this boat? Have you had your books summarily dismissed by the powers that be, over and over again? Have you hired or courted superb writers to help you perfect your story? Have you scoured your book dozens of times for typos or inconsistancies? Have you researched the heck out of every point that needs confirmation? Have you assured that your dialog is crisp and believable? Have you hacked away at unnecessary adverbs and adjectives? Have you just plain told the story in the same voice you use to speak? And your book has still been rejected?
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If not, drop down on your knees and count your lucky stars, for you are among one of the very few who got picked up at the starting gate. If so, let me share something with you.
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Rejections may have nothing to do with the quality or value of your book. Most often, they have to do with the market, and what's "hot" this season. It could be the mood of the agent or editor who's reading your stuff, or the fact that your book slides between genres. Maybe it features young adults, but doesn't follow someone's blueprint for what a YA book needs to contain. Maybe it's absolutely perfect for a publisher, but they've already filled the slot for your genre on their list this year. Maybe the first level editor falls in love with your book, but her boss doesn't. Or you get all the way to the top of this year's short list, only to be told you didn't make the cut.
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Sound familiar?
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If you don't get picked up in the first five years by high profile agents or publishers, I recommend seeking a high quality small press. It's not easy to get into their world, either. But you don't usually need an agent, and they can provide a nuturing home for you, as well as help you get your books out to the public.
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And let me tell you friends, it's that public, those lovely readers, who will provide the validation you've sought for so long. When the first person (who isn't family or friends) comes up to you and gushes over your characters, or when you receive that unsolicited email from a stranger who NEEDS your next book or "they'll just die," or that lady who's been staring at you with stars in her eyes finally approaches you in the grocery store and says she wants to marry your lead character... that's when the validation just washes through your writer's soul. It's even better than the glowing reviews. Trust me.
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So, the publishing game is tough. But it's not hopeless. There is still a place for us in this intensely competitive world. Acceptance by a high profile firm does not necessarily equate to a good book, just as rejection doesn't always equate to a bad book. Just look at the bestsellers out there. Some are quite odious, filled with plot holes, flat characters, and poor editing.
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So, why bother?
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Even with staggering odds in today's market, every year several "newcomers" are "discovered" and offered lucrative contracts. It does happen. We hear about it all the time. The next "hot" book will be discovered any day now. And it could be yours.
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My final bit of advice is this:
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If you are a passionate writer, you need to write independent of what agent represents you, how many times your work has been rejected, what publisher has thumbed their nose at you, how many readers you have or don't have, how many books you have published or not published.

Okay. Group Hug.
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Now just keep writing. And remember to write like the wind!



- Aaron

author reading to fans from Healey's Cave, coming spring, 2009.

Aaron Paul Lazar writes to soothe his soul. The author of LeGarde Mysteries and Moore Mysteries savors the countryside in the Genesee Valley in upstate New York, where his characters embrace life, play with their dogs and grandkids, grow sumptuous gardens, and chase bad guys. Visit his websites at www.legardemysteries.com and www.mooremysteries.com and watch for the fourth book in the LeGarde series, MAZURKA, coming in January 2009 from Twilight Times Books.

Interview with H. Terrell Griffin

H. Terrell Griffin whose new mystery, Blood Island, is being published this week by Oceanview Publishing visited with MB4 recently. Blood Island is the third book in the Matt Royal series featuring a retired attorney living on an island off the coast of Florida.
You can find more about H. Terrell Griffin at his site over on our sidebar under guest of the week.

1. Do you write everyday?

No. I tend to write when the spirit moves me. Some days I don’t write at all and other days I’m at the computer all day long.

2.How does each session start and how do you proceed? How, where and why does it end?

I usually have an idea of where I want to take the characters for the next few pages. I stop when I run out of ideas. I’ve found that a long walk tends to get the juices flowing again and I go back to the computer to write some more. Sometimes I just quit when my fingers get tired.

3.What is your latest book about?

Blood Island is a mystery/thriller that takes place in Florida, mostly in the Keys. It involves Matt Royal’s quest to find his ex-wife’s missing stepdaughter. The hunt becomes dangerous when people he talks to about the girl end up dead. When somebody tries to kill Matt, he becomes the hunter. He stumbles onto a cult in the Keys that is bent on starting a world war. There’s a lot of action as Matt tries to find the girl and defuse the bad guys’ plans.

4.How long did it take you to write it? Where and when was it published?

I wrote the book in about six months and it was published and released on November 1, 2008.

5.Tell us about your publisher-- How did you choose a publisher for the book? Why this particular publisher? What advantages and/or disadvantages has this presented? How are you dealing with these?

The publisher, Oceanview Publishing, sort of chose me. A friend who owns a bookstore submitted my manuscript to Oceanview and they decided to publish it. Oceanview is a fast growing independent publisher who is willing to take a chance on new and unknown authors. I have heard complaints of other authors about the horrors of dealing with their publishers. I have found the Oceanview people to be wonderful to work with; professionals who put the author’s needs at the top of their list every day. I think the great advantage to a small publisher is that the author is not just another number or a profit center. The Oceanview people take good care of their writers. Their marketing is superb and so far I’ve found no disadvantage to working with them.

6.Which aspects of the work that you put into the book did you find most difficult? Why do you think this was so? How did you deal with these difficulties?

The discipline necessary to write a book seems to be my biggest problem. I was a trial lawyer for 38 years and that is a job that requires an enormous amount of self-discipline. When I retired in 2006 I found that I thoroughly enjoyed the undisciplined life, the ability to come and go as I please, to sleep in, lie on a beach, go fishing, read a book, without worrying about the next case. I deal with that problem in my writing simply by ignoring it. When I’m in the mood to write, I’ll sit at the computer until I’m too tired to go on. I find that writing comes easy and is enjoyable. I like my characters and sometimes can’t wait to find out what they’re going to do next. I’m always aware of deadlines, but so far my lack of discipline hasn’t kept me from meeting them.

7.Which did you enjoy most? Why is this?

The writing is fun. I enjoy the creative juices that flow when I’m “in the groove.” I like working with a sentence to make it better, to build the paragraph that reads well. I think my enjoyment comes from crafting a story that people want to read, that the reader appreciates.

8.What sets the book apart from the other things you have written?

Each book is a new adventure that gives me the chance to build on my characters. I want them to be real people with all the nuances of personality that we see in the real world. The circumstances in which the characters find themselves are not your everyday situations, but this is fiction. Yet, I want the characters’ reactions to be those of ordinary people. I hope in Blood Island I have explored the characters a little more deeply, let them grow some, but leave room for them to continue to thrive in the next book.

9.In what way is this book similar to past works?

Some of the characters are the same, and one of the locales, Longboat Key, is the same. However, the adventure is completely different and the characters continue to face adversity and deal with it in different ways. The story moves to venues that I haven’t explored in my writing before, and I introduce a group of really strange people.

10.What will your next book be about?

My next book, Wyatt’s Revenge, is finished and will be published in the fall of 2009. The three main characters are back pursuing bad guys, this time in Europe. There is a historical context that is important and timely, given the events of recent years. I explore the connections between World War II and today, all in a fictional context.

Avenging Angel, the making of the book

Welcome to my December party! I hope you brought your popcorn!
Teaser to the book is now available on my
WEBSITE!

Telling the story of the journey from where I started to where I am now is not going to be a short tale. I hope you can stand the retelling.

I spent a ton of time online, writing and being critiqued by people I didn’t know personally. I spent an enormous amount of time offline, writing and being critiqued face-to-face with people that I did know, and believe it or not, there was not a lot of difference between the two groups. They were all tough cookies and had hard choices for me to make. I struggled.

I hoped that somewhere, at some time, I would find the pot of gold at the end of the horrendously long rainy season. But like so many new writers, that was just a pipe dream. You ain’t gonna get published without blood, sweat, and tears, folks. Ya just ain’t.

I remember a short story that I had to write in grade school about the Pilgrims. It had to be a real story, not some cheap imitation out of our history book. (To hear the retelling of that, go to my website to find out how it all turned out.) That is most likely the first bit of really authentic fiction writing I ever did, and it sort of tilted me in the direction of where I am today.

Later in my life, I was the editor of my college newspaper and knew writing was definitely in my blood at that juncture. But as a lot of young people do, I gave up my dreams of career pursuits for marriage and kids. For probably fifteen years, I didn’t do more than talk about writing.

It was when my kids decided they wanted to be actors that I found a wealth of time on my hands. Driving to play practices, performances, and auditions gave me so much opportunity to develop ideas, it wasn’t funny. Besides, (my kids) got all their talent from some one, didn't they? Talent is not always acquired. *grin*

My husband was the one to put a cork in my daydreaming and turn my ideas into reality. He plunked me down in front of our very first home computer in the early part of the 1990’s and said, “Now, you have no more excuses. Write.” And so I did.

But life intervened once again, and I had to go to work for a living. Time at a job took away from my creative urges to the point where it was only done sporadically and usually not very well, at that. I just had no energy to devote to it. I had to learn more about computers than about characters in night classes, which kept me too tired to type.

So how did I get from that time to this? Well, find out next week, in the continuing saga of “Avenging Angel, The Book” right here. Same time, same station, same bat cave. By the time we get to my book launch date, you are going to know more about me than my diary does. Hint: Do you like fantasy??

Networking In A Nutshell

As many of you know, I’m in the middle of a month-long virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotions that will end on December 23, to promote my new novel, "The Devil Can Wait. As a result, the CEO of the organization, Dorothy Thompson and I were discussing the value of networking with our readers and fellow authors.

“It's interesting to try to figure out just what works the best,” she said. “You just try different things ... That's all part of networking.”

When you stop and think about it, networking is nothing more than using the social skills and manners our moms, dads, and first grade teacher tried to instill in us. In this fast-paced world of instant gratification a simple "please" and "thank you" still has the power to get you noticed.

Everyone who blogs knows how hard it is to get people to read their posts. Granted, I don’t want to beg, but heck, I've been known to drag a few of my closest friends by the ear to my posts and they’re still talking to me. ;)

But seriously, when people take the time to visit a blog and write a comment, the very least the author can do is acknowledge them with a response.

I’m often asked how I manage to keep up with the various sites I belong to. Call me crazy but yesterday I joined my 25th group and spent several hours posting announcements about my December virtual book tour on all of them. Since December 1, several articles, interviews, and reviews of "The Devil Can Wait" have been published. You'll find them at the following links:

Dec. 1 - Fiction Scribe (interview) http://www.fictionscribe.com/

Dec. 1 -- Joylene Nowell Butler (interview) http://cluculzwriter.blogspot.com/

Dec. 2 - The Dark Phantom (guest post) http://www.thedarkphantom.wordpress.com/

Dec. 2 – Book Marketing Buzz http://bookmarketingbuzz.wordpress.com/

Dec. 2 -- Rose and Thorn Reviews (book review) http://roseandthornreviews.blogspot.com/2008/11/book-review-devil-can-wait-by-marta_24.html

Dec. 3 – The Writer’s Life (guest post)
http://thewriterslife.blogspot.com/2008/11/guest-blogger-marta-stephens-gives-tips.html

I’ve received and responded to several comments on each of these posts and will continue to check them throughout my tour. But this is nothing new to me. I do that on every site and every blog I visit whether I’m on tour or not. If I don’t know the bloggers and I'm not sure if they’ll visit the site again, I go to their Blogger profile for an e-mail address or their website link and send them a thank you note. If the post is on one of several sites where you “invite people to be your friend,” I invite them.

I know what your thinking. Sure this takes time, but don't think for a minute the recipients won't notice. PR 101: That one-on-one, old fashion thank you note is what people remember most. The best part about networking is that it’s free and the few minutes a day you spend reaching out to your readers and fellow authors will pay you back tenfold.

So give me a chance to network with YOU! If you have a minute, drop in on one of my tour stops and leave a comment or question for me. I guarantee a response! And yes, dress is optional. Just slide your feet into those warm house slippers, grab a cup of coffee and drop me a line—I’m waiting.

You’ll find a complete list of all my tour stops here: http://www.martastephens-author.com/Events.htm.

Look forward to hearing from you!

* * *

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 (November 3, 2008)

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

I Got Nothing...

Today is an uninspiring day. I can't think of a thing to post. This morning, one of my kittens died, and there was a giant possom in our basement.

I'll come back and post something better when I find some inspiration.

MURDER BY 4: Where We've Been--Where We're Headed

Wow!! This has been a busy and amazing year for us here at Murder by 4. As a quick recap, MB4 was launched on February 18, 2008. The number of visitors (well over 9,000) in these first nine months, the over 80 guest bloggers, and the posting of 243 articles has far exceeded our expectations. Thanks to all who join us every day and follow our posts at MB4!

What’s happening on an individual basis? Here’s a chronological tally:

Marta Stephens:
Book two of the Sam Harper Series, “The Devil Can Wait” was released by BeWrite Book (UK) on November 3. You’ll find the excerpt and reviews by clicking on the book cover on my website: http://www.martastephens-author.com/. I have a contest link posted on my home page right now and am anxious to get some takers. Check it out! Two more contests will be posted – one in January and another in March, so keep checking for a chance to win, win, win.

November brought me several great book talks/signings opportunities locally as well as a few Internet radio interviews. I also spent most of the month getting ready for my December virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotions. Many thanks to Dorothy Thompson for pulling it all together! The links will be posted daily at http://www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/. The complete list of tour stops (guest blogs, interviews, and book reviews) will also be available in the events page on my website (see above) as well as on my page on Book Tour, http://www.booktour.com/author/marta_stephens.

Last but not least, the voting page for NOVEMBER Book Cover of the Month is now ready, and my book THE DEVIL CAN WAIT is awaiting votes!! Every voter will be entered in a drawing for the winning title. Voting is simple, and the instructions are on the voting page at: http://www.erinaislinn.com/BookCoveroftheMonth.htm. The SILENCED CRY book cover won August 2007 Cover of the Month. Won’t you please help me win another one?



Aaron Lazar:


On the literary front, MAZURKA and HEALEY'S CAVE are due out in January and April of 2009. Aaron will update his readers with a special bulletin when he gets the print copies in hand. He’s still waiting for the reviews from the big review houses, such as Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, etc. But the time is fast approaching. If you’d like to reserve an autographed copy of either book, just let Aaron know at aaron.lazar@yahoo.com.

Meanwhile, he enjoyed corresponding with the students at Pfeiffer University who read
TREMOLO: CRY OF THE LOON (the third book released and the prequel to DOUBLE FORTÉ), for their Mystery Writers class. They had a ball corresponding, the students loved hearing from a “real” author, and Gus LeGarde now has a new group of folks who plan to follow him through the series.

He agreed to do several new radio shows, as well. The dates and links will be posted on his events page, on http://www.legardemysteries.com/ when it’s all settled. Hope you’ll stop by and join him. Some of the hosts include our own Kim Smith, Dr. Niama Williams, Renée Giroux, and Dr. Kent Gustafson.

His book signings are over for the season, and now he reports that it’s time for him to take a break from all that and luxuriate in writing during the cold winter months. But if you’d like to order some books for Christmas, Aaron is offering specials on all three books. Autographed gift set are also available and can save over ten dollars buying directly from him. What a deal, huh?

Kim Smith:
Check out Kim’s radio talk show on our sidebar here at MB4. Kim started this Blog Talk Radio show a few weeks ago and has had some great guests so far! She’s looking to fill more of her Wednesday and Sunday spots so if you’re interested, contact her at pubd2b@yahoo.com. She’ll be thrilled to hear from you!

Of course we’re all very excited about the release of Kim’s debut novel, AVENGING ANGEL, a Shannon Wallace Mystery on December 18, from Red Rose Publishing in e-book format. Mark your calendar on December 18, to stop by MB4 to read my interview of Kim—at last, the tables have turned! Very cool cover, Kim!




S. W. Vaughn:
S. W. continues to stay busy with her writing and is currently working on producing a book trailer for her pal, M. Stephens. ;) She informed me today that she began a new "rambling spot” so be sure to stop by http://fishpopsicles.blogspot.com/ and see what’s up with S. W!


Best wishes to all. We hope your holidays are splendid, full of love, and warm you to the core. And as Aaron always says, remember to take pleasure in the little things.

Thanksgiving Musings (or how the neck was almost cooked in the bird)

Hello friends,

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was full of love and laughter and delicious food! And although the big holidays tend to "steal" writing time, there's lots of fertile material in those gatherings. The funny things that go wrong, the quirky relatives, the cute kid stories, and the warmth of the day - all provide good fodder for your writing, don't they?

I made the meal again this year, for thirteen, including baby Isabella, who didn't actually eat turkey, of course, but who was passed around the table to cuddle while we took turns eating. The turkey came out the best ever, in spite of my early morning glitches. I scanned some recipes and emailed friends for inspiration earlier in the week, wanting to try something new. Frankly, although I've made the dinner for twenty-seven years, I felt like I couldn't remember squat about roasting the bird this year, and needed inspiration. Early Alzheimers? Sometimes I wonder.

Anyway, some of the new tricks I picked up included adding a few inches of turkey broth to the roasting pan, setting the turkey on a "rack" of whole carrots, and adding sprigs of thyme and sage and leftover raw onions to the cooking giblets. They all helped to provide the juiciest bird every, with one helluva savory gravy.

But I had a few glitches, as one would expect. More than a few, I guess. The blasted turkey neck was a super-sized version. The bird was twenty-two pounds, but I think they got the neck from a fifty pound monster. It was so gigantic, it was wedged and iced into the darned cavity, with one end stuck so hard I thought I'd never get it out! It took me twenty minutes of struggling, warm water, and a giant screwdriver to remove it.

The first roasting pan I chose was one millimeter too small, and no matter how I struggled wth that bird, I couldn't get the darned thing into the pan. So I had to switch to the larger banged up ancient pan, which of course was all dusty and buried beneath a ton of stuff in the cabinet.

The fridge was making a loud whirring noise, as if the fan had a bearing that was going bad, and this was on top of a gazillion other appliances that decided to break because, of course, it was Thanksgiving week. I couldn't stop the faucet from trickling water - no matter how I positioned the lever. It's still dripping as I write this. The microwave died a few days earlier. Not that I couldn't survive without it, but it is handy for melting butter, keeping dishes warm, and I actually make my home made cranberry sauce in there. We dug Alli's old one out of the basement, thankful once again for her moving home.

I think one of the reasons my brain felt so fried before the holiday was my fear that our woodstove wasn't going to work out. After paying $800.00 per tank of oil last season, we knew we couldn't survive this winter using the furnace. So last spring, we invested in a great stove from Lopi, the "Leyden." We used our economic stimulus cash for firewood and thought we were set for the season. But for the past two weeks, my daughter Allison and I struggled to get a hot fire going. It was so insidious, so gradual, and it coincided so perfectly with the unusual cold snap, that I thought I was going crazy. I questioned my year-old dry wood, scrutinizing each log as if it were the culprit. Alas, to no avail.

No matter how carefully I used my special method of fat wood sticks arranged on a nice handy firestarter block, no matter how I stood over the darned thing and prayed, no matter how I stared at it, more and more smoke kept coming out of the top loader each time I opened it, more soot built up in a shorter time, and I could NOT get it started or hot enough each day.

And of course each time this happened, someone would walk by and casually mention how cold the house was, or how the stove just wasn't going to cut it in the cold weather. I thought I'd explode, because of course those same thoughts kept rolling through my frenzied brain. Esepcially on last Saturday night, when my daughter Jenn was due to join us for a spaghetti dinner and the whole living room filled with smoke. It poured out of the smokestack over the stove - seeping out of every little crack and hole it could find. I shut the thing down, called my chimney sweep who sold me the stove, and did something that went against every fiber in my body.

I turned on the furnace.

At that point (duh), I knew something was dreadfully wrong, and realized that the draw must be compromised. Not enough oxygen. But how could it be blocked in a few short months of using it? Thank God, our chimney sweep - a wonderfully reliable and intelligent man - came last Monday to investigate. Sure enough, a screen he'd placed for us over the chimney years ago to keep animals out, had plugged with creosote. He removed the screen and cleaned the whole chimney for a well spent $118.00, about 1/8 the cost of a tank of oil, even now with the prices down. We now have our reliable, easy to start, phenomenally warm woodstove back. And we're opening windows to regulate heat again. That blessed, amazing, comforting heat is back!

One more thing happened, but it was yesterday. I guess I should be thankful for the fact that it didn't happen on the holiday. It's the reason why I'm frantically writing this column at the crack of dawn on Sunday, my posting day.

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A tiny chip of wood flew up from my coat after I loaded some wood onto the racks in the morning. It landed in my eye. I babysat my two rambunctious grandsons yesterday (they were FULL of it), and when they left I collapsed. And all day long, even though no one could see anything in there, my eye throbbed and wept and swelled up to the point where I finally had to lie down with a cloth over it and just not try to see.

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Couldn't read. Couldn't get online to write this. Couldn't watch TV. I lay there and listened to two movies we'd seen before, Meet the Parents and Father of the Bride. LOL. At least I could picture what was happening in my mind!

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I woke this morning with a monstrous headache from the inflamed sinuses caused by the eye injury, but thankfully, the pain was gone! The human body is an amazingly rejuvenative creation, isn't it? I still look like Quasi Motto, with one eye half as big as the other. But I can see!

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Anyway, I hope your week, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, was even keeled and less eventful than mine. And of course, I realize that all the ridiculously minor things I'm cronicling here are just that - little idiotic frustrations that pass and are fixable. The enormity of my blessings doesn't go without notice - I'm walking, I can see again, I have family that loves me. I don't have cancer, I'm not in a line for food at a shelter, and I have a roof over my head. I am truly thankful for everything. ;o

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Warmest regards to you all. Remember to take pleasure in the little things, and if you love to write - write like the wind.

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- Aaron

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am celebrating today, I mean, my book is literally alive now. It has a face, a persona, something tangible that people will recognize it by. That's like being alive, right?


I am also very thankful today. And what better time to say so, right? This is what Thanksgiving is all about.

My thankfulness list begins and ends here.

To my circle of three who make up the rest of the FOUR in "murderby4", Marta, SW, and Aaron: You are the reason I am where I am today. If not for the support, love, and friendship of our group, I would be lost. You are the salt to my pepper, the sugar to my spice.

This Thanksgiving, I am spending time with family face to face, but that's what makes our cyber home here so wonderful. I know that you are always with me, no matter where we are. Heart to heart.

And not to sound like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, but, there really IS NO PLACE like home. Cyberly or otherwise. And I appreciate this one, and all the people who visit it. You fans, friends, followers, are the lifeblood of this site.

So, over the next four weeks, to keep you fed, I will be giving you all the info on the book. The journey, the wrong turns, and the right ones. I hope you will tune in and see where I came from, and where I hope to go. Then, on December 18th, I will post my "book's birthday". It'll be a party, y'all. Come on in!

The Brain

© Marta Stephens 2008 all rights reserved

Ah, yes, where would we be without our brains?

Our bodies would cease to function without it. The brain alone is responsible for sending out the proper signals to every organ, nerve, and system in our bodies that keep them running like well-oiled machines. Just try to over-indulger with one glass of wine too many and see what happens.

Curiously though, I’ve noticed over the past several months that in spite of its many complex and important duties, my brain has taken it upon itself to play magician.

We’ve had countless articles on Murder by 4 on self-editing and proofreading techniques and believe me, I’ve paid attention, but it doesn’t matter how often I read my work, some of those pesky typos continue to go undetected.

Why is it then that mistakes jump out at me when I read the pages again with a fresh pair of eyes? Why hadn’t I noticed that the “your” on line five, paragraph three should’ve been “you’re?” How could I have missed adding a “the” and the “to” in the last sentence? Is it really careless proofreading and sloppy editing?

Nay I say! It’s the brain!!

Check this out. Is it any wonder we can't proofread our own work?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFE92HYShYU

Thanksgiving: The Non-Heartwarming Edition

Around Thanksgiving time, lots of folks get gushy and sentimental on their blogs. They write beautiful, heart-rending pieces that make readers weep and leave professions of undying love in the comments.

This year I'm going to skip the sentiment. Here are some fun Thanskgiving facts that probably won't make you cry, but might make you smile.

* Turkeys have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.

* Benjamin Franklin called the turkey 'a true original native of America'. He wanted the turkey to be the official bird of the United States, but eventually lost out to the bald eagle.

* 445 million turkeys are consumed each Thanksgiving.

* Turkeys can drown if they look up while it's raining.

* Thomas Jefferson thought the concept of Thanksgiving was "the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard."

And a few fun Thanksgiving quotes:

"What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?" --Erma Bombeck

"I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land." --Jon Stewart

"Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often." --Johnny Carson

Thanks to everyone who reads this!

The Shores of Thanksgiving

© Lad Moore 2008 all rights reserved


“I swear it. I never took my eyes off him—I only blinked.”

* * *

It is one of Florida’s best-kept secrets—those miles of virtually unspoiled sand and surf from Mexico Beach to just below Port St. Joe. The color of the sea was a confusion of blue and green—a hue no artist’s palette could counterfeit. The sand was like spilled sugar. Our family of three vacationed at Mexico Beach for several successive summers, nestling ourselves in an average but ample cabin only two hundred yards from the crash of the waves. Nearby was a fishing pier, stretching several hundred feet into the Gulf of Mexico. Its boards were gray and coarse, sandblasted and washed by the wind and tides. In the evenings, we tied our crab nets to its rails, waiting patiently to collect the blue jimmies that would fill our steaming pot. Our supper fare was always the same—succulent crab, steamed corn, and red potatoes. The flavor and freshness was such that we would never change the menu.

In the distance down the beach one could see the faint outline of St.Vincent Island. For years St. Vincent remained in private hands, operated as a sanctuary for exotic fish and game. It was both a conservancy of nature and a toy to please the whim and ego of its owners. Eventually it was transferred to the Department of Interior as a wildlife refuge. Each of our summer visits always included a guided trip to the Island for the “men” of the family—a rare chance for me to introduce my son to nature and to catch and release the large peacock bass, shell crackers, and other game fish.

The third day of vacation began like all the others—an early morning ritual of combing the beach for shells and the prized sand dollars that often washed ashore overnight. The sand dollars on this stretch of beach were as white as snow and unusually symmetrical. We collected them not only as souvenirs, but to use as tree ornaments at Christmastime.

As we moved northwest along the shore, Amy and I led the way with our four-year old son Jon trailing behind. We occasionally had to stop and wait for him as he digressed his path—herding a beach ball to the right and left. He carried a sand pail along, and had filled it with shells before we made half a mile. We stopped and sat for a few moments, culling any imperfect specimens from his collection to make room for more.

The surf swells were unusually large that day, and portions of the beach were littered with underwash. For the next few hundred yards, Amy and I were concentrating especially hard on our task, trying to spot sand dollars amidst the drift of seaweed and coconut husks. It was a treasure of debris, and I longed to find one those oddities that occasionally trek from distant shores yet unexplored. Prized were the colorful crab-pot blown-glass buoy markers. No two were alike. Hey! What was this? A bean pod of some sort—with a kernel inside as big as a buckeye. I paused to examine it.

“Where is Jon?” Amy asked. Such few words, such frantic tone. I whirled around. Jon was nowhere in sight. Two seconds ago he was tugging at my shorts! I cupped my hand over my brow to shade the orange haze of the sunrise. There was nothing but beach break as far as I could see. My face flushed. I felt the blood pour out and my skin began to tingle and sting. Amy was screaming Jon’s name, and running back along the beach. I thought: Where’s the beach ball? It’s bright red. It should be visible for a great distance. But it was gone.

I began to chase after Amy, who was distancing me. We headed southeast, running in that special aisle of wet sand that is always packed firm to the foot. I would periodically stop and look into the gulf—not wanting to see anything there. No red ball, no bright yellow swim trunks. It was an odd reassurance to see nothing but a vast expanse of empty sea.

Emotions were combating hard for my attention. Tears were being overruled by the authority of adrenalin. I had to swallow hard to suppress the lumps that swelled in my throat—those alien knots so intent in closing off my air. I wrung my hands as I ran—
my signal of non-surrender to the despair that engulfed me. Amidst this cascade of emotions, I felt as though my insides were sinking. Only my feet confirmed I was still firm in the sand.

Suddenly Amy shouted to me. She had climbed the row of dunes that separate the beach from the highway and cabins. She was waving frantically. I rushed to her side. There was Jon. He had somehow fled our notice, climbed the dunes, and was busily sorting out his shell collection on the porch of our cabin. We ran to him and sandwiched him between our bodies. I was dripping a sweat that defied the dryness of the gulf breeze.

Our son was safe in our arms again. There would be no scolding, no lecture. None of us moved from that spot for the next hour. Amy and I sat in silence, relishing the cooing and murmuring from Jon as he sat playing and arranging his shells and sea treasures. Meanwhile my mind replayed the morning over and over. I paused the scenes long enough to offer prayers of thanks to God.

The event had been so unbelievably frightful, so breathlessly exhausting. My brow would remain deeply furrowed—plowed so by that rush of despair and loss—that awful emptiness—the sweat of panic and the well of tears—that choking grief.

That night Amy and I slept fitfully, often exchanging hollow stares that transcended the darkness. When morning came we packed the car and headed north for home. It was a bright and glorious day, refreshed with clear skies and calm winds. Every few miles, I would check on Jon in the rearview mirror, swallowing at the lump in my throat. Here we all are. This family of three.

* * *

Story © Copyright 2008 by the author, Lad Moore. All rights reserved.
Image © Copyright by Georgis Alexandros, used under special license.

Author bio: Lad Moore enjoys hundreds of writing credits in print and on the web, and has earned several awards including a nomination to the Texas Institute of Letters. His work has appeared in Virginia Adversaria, Pittsburgh Quarterly, Paumanok Review, Carolina Country, and Amarillo Bay, among others. Mr. Moore is a five-volume contributor to the Adams Media anthologies, and is featured in an edition of "Chicken Soup for the Soul." Two collections of his short stories, "Odie Dodie," and "Tailwind," have been published by BeWrite-Jacobsen Books. The author resides in Jefferson, Texas.

Life with Papa

copyright 2008, Aaron Paul Lazar

My grandsons, Julian and Gordon, have always called me Papa. I answer to it more readily now than to Aaron or Honey, and I guess I'm rather comfortable with this role in life, having transcended from 20 years as Dad, in recent times. Oh, I'm still Dad, but now even my daughters call me Papa. LOL.

Maybe it's that crop of silver around the temples. Or the streak of gray in my beard. Or the way I grunt when I get up from the chair. Who knows. But Papa, I am.

A few weeks ago we had a challenging evening that reminded me why young people have children.

It all started when my daughter asked me if I could pick up the grandkids from her future mother-in-law's on the way home from work. Delighted to have them for an unexpected evening, I jumped at the chance.

When I arrived, Barb had the baby ready to go and the diaper bag packed. The boys raced around her playroom in circles like they'd just ingested a five-pound bag of sugar, and while we tried to determine if they had coats or even knew where they were, Barb's golden retriever kept licking me all over and scooting between my legs to show his affection. Bella just watched with her bright button eyes, placid and quiet in her car seat.

Not only did I have to finagle the three little ones out to the van, but there was also a cake leftover from Julian's birthday party at kindergarten, a giant card his classmates drew for him, two backpacks, a monster pumpkin that Gordie picked out on his field trip, and of course, Isabella's giant diaper bag. It took four trips to the van.

I'd asked Bella's father the night before if all three car seats fit across the bench seat in his van, which was similar to mine. He told me, "Sure!" That morning, I had doubts. I could swear a look crossed his face as if he were brushing me off. I knew I should have lugged the ridiculously heavy captain's seat out of the barn, just in case. But that morning it was cold and pitch black, I was late for work, and my back throbbed at the thought of it. First mistake.

I tried. I really tried. I could not figure a way to fit all three seats in the van, no matter how I pushed and pulled and fastened and unfastened all three kids. There was no question about putting someone in the front seat, not only was it illegal, but I'd heard it was the least safe space to transport a child. By the time six-year-old Julian suggested I just let him ride in the middle with the seatbelt, my back was screaming and I gave in. I finally figured out the very bizarre and goofy way the middle seatbelt worked. Yes, I'm an engineer. And no, I didn't figure it out right away. I still haven't figured out how to get it unbuckled, but Jules slithered out of it anyway.

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The drive home was mercifully short - just two miles of quiet country road. But all the way home I crawled, scanning the roadside for leaping deer like a paranoid robotic lunatic with wild eyes and gritted jaw. No wonder I have so many headaches. Anyway, I was so relieved when we pulled into the driveway, I almost collapsed to my knees to thank God.

The whole time, Isabella remained quiet and content. That baby is just too good to be true.

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After lugging all the stuff into the house, including the monstrous pumpkin, I realized Bella needed to be fed first. After setting up the boys and my wife with a game of cards in the living room, I chose bananas from Bella's baby food packs and rooted around until I snagged a baby spoon in our silverware drawer. I set her up on the kitchen table in her car seat, unbuckled by now and resettled on a soft blanket.

Transfixed by this relatively new process of eating solid food, she insisted on grabbing the spoon. I had to clamp her little fists together in my free hand to gently guide the mush into her mouth. It went everywhere. Of course, I noticed the bib in the diaper bag - when we were done and I was spattered with bananas.

My wife offered to hold the baby while I fed the boys. Not exactly a hardship for this doting grandmother. Fortunately I had enough leftovers from Julian's birthday party the day before, so I heated up plates of chicken, yellow rice, kale, and homemade applesauce. We had leftover birthday cake for dessert. Julian spilled his piece on the floor, then smeared it on his sock, the chair leg, and all over his brown corduroys. Orange frosting, mind you. Luckily we had just enough so I could serve him a second piece.

During all this, Gordie didn't eat much, and looked feverish, with those telltale fever eyes I remembered so well from my three girls. When Jenn moved her family out to their own place, they'd taken all of the baby Tylenol and thermometers and Ambesol, etc. with them. I used to keep tons of extras all over the house, but we hadn't had to deal with sick kids since she'd left, and I got lax. I had nothing to offer him. I called my daughter, and she arranged for her fiancé to bring some when he picked them up at 8:00. Only a few hours to go.

I was just about to get Gordie upstairs to my bed to watch his favorite movie and bring the baby up, too, when Julian screamed.

"Papa! I had diarrhea in my pants!"

His face fell, humiliation written all over it. He walked to the stairs like a stiff legged Tin Man, trying not to cry. With patience, I talked calmly to him, told him it was okay, helped him up the stairs (it's hard to climb the stairs when your legs aren't bending!) and got him in the shower. I threw his clothes downstairs for my daughter Allison to wash. While I jumped from child to child, Dale and Alli juggled kids in the background.

Meanwhile, a very specific odor arose from Isabella. It must've been those bananas. I grabbed the diaper bag, which had NO baby wipes inside. But it did have a container of sprinkles in it that my mother-in-law had given Jenn to take home on Saturday.I grabbed a washcloth and got her cleaned up. But in the process, I managed to smear some on her clothes. So I had to change her, and gave THOSE and the yukky washcloth to Allison to add to the wash.

I laid her in her portacrib. She seemed happy. Like I said, she's an amazing baby.Gordie and Jules fought over which movie to see, and Julian finally convinced Gordie that his choice would be fun. But Julian kept sitting on my bad knee, which has been hurting ever since the doctor made me stop taking the Advil for my headaches.

Anyway, poor little Gordie had a terrible cough. It sounded as if his asthma was starting up, which scared the hell out of me. He kept wanting me to lay with him, and asked, "Papa? Why are you taking so long?" every time I tended to someone else. The poor kid just wanted to be comforted and snuggled, since he felt so bad.

His stepfather-to-be arrived at 8:00 to pick them up, but Jules burst into tears, begging to stay with us. After some back and forth conversations, we agreed to keep Julian for the night.
About fifteen minutes after Mike left with Gordon and Isabella, I noticed the baby formula was still on the counter. My heart sank to my feet and I called, certain I'd have to take the long drive to Dansville and back. On a work night. When I felt as wrung out as I had in years. Maybe since I parented my three little girls. LOL.

Thankfully, Mike had an extra can of formula at home, so we were able to breathe a sigh of relief and settled down to watch Julian's new favorite movie, "My Girl." He camped on the floor of our room, happy to be the sole source of our attention for one night.

Of course, Dale and I raised three girls that were all within two years. (Jenn was two when the twins were born) We managed to handle it just fine, and I'd gladly do it again. If we were that age again, LOL. And I've had all three grandkids for a whole weekend, and both boys for a whole week, without problems. But this particular night was a bit unique. Maybe I'm just out of practice!

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But we did survive those three crazy hours. Barely. And realized with even more clarity the wisdom God had when he decided only young people should have kids!

***

Aaron Paul Lazar writes to soothe his soul. The author of LeGarde Mysteries and Moore Mysteries savors the countryside in the Genesee Valley in upstate New York, where his characters embrace life, play with their dogs and grandkids, grow sumptuous gardens, and chase bad guys. Visit his websites at http://www.legardemysteries.com/ and http://www.mooremysteries.com/ and watch for the fourth book in the LeGarde series, MAZURKA, coming in January 2009 from Twilight Times Books.

Characterizations: Archetypes and Stereotypes

© Suzanne Adair 2008 all rights reserved

Ever picked up a novel or sat down to watch a movie, and you realized that all the characters, even the protagonist, were plastic? Of course you have. Seems to be one of the scourges of the entertainment industry lately. Sometimes stereotypes make situations and plots so predictable that you abandon a book or movie as a waste of time. Pondering it later — because you as an author are always turning that stuff over in your head to decipher what went wrong — you realize you've seen that same character type done elsewhere, and done far better, well enough to hold your interest.

What's the difference? What makes the same sort of character come off as two-dimensional and worn out in one setting and fully alive, fresh, and unique in another? Furthermore, how can such flexibility exist, novel after novel, movie after movie, for what's basically the same "type:" a bold hero, a dastardly villain, a humorous, brainy, or sexy supporting character?

An original pattern or model is often referred to as an "archetype." The psychologist Carl Jung took archetypes a step further — said that they're drawn from the experience of a race and are present in the unconscious minds of individuals. Archetype is quite a "buzz word." The business industry capitalizes on the concept with self-help books that promise to identify your archetypal management style and fix your deficits. In his classic book, The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Storytellers & Screenwriters, Christopher Vogler relates these archetypes to the functions or purposes of characters in fiction.

Of late, archetypes have received a bad rap. According to Vogler, the most common archetypes are hero, mentor, threshold guardian, herald, shape-shifter, shadow, and trickster. That gives some novelists and screenwriters the green light when plotting; they presume that all they have to do is include a protagonist who is all death defying action, a smart friend who advises the protagonist, someone who tries to talk the protagonist out of action, another person who brings the protagonist news of change, a character who changes his or her side of the fence, one who strives to defeat the protagonist, and a goofy clown.

Writing those archetypal characters as such is a surefire way to create stereotypes. That's because you've deployed them as mere plot devices. Not only are there are more than seven archetypes out there, but no real person on the face of the earth is pure hero, mentor, threshold guardian, herald, shape-shifter, shadow, or trickster. We are each blends of archetypes, presenting different masks of ourselves to accommodate different situations.

You the author strive to make your characters feel like real people, people your readers recognize from their lives. If you want your readers to continue reading your books, your audience must relate to your characters. The only way you can achieve this relationship is to tend to each character individually. You must resist growing lazy with secondary characters, just because they aren't protagonists. Your protagonist is on a journey in your story, but so is each supporting character. Some set of forces brought the supporting character to the point where he or she interfaces with the protagonist. To some extent, dependent on the character's importance in the story, you must show how those forces shape the character.

A common characterization error in novels and movies is presenting a protagonist who embodies good and strength and a villain who embodies evil and weakness. Writers and even movie editors presume that by paring characterizations down to the bone thus, it creates simple, easy-to-relate characters for an audience. What it does, though, is strip power and dimension from characters, particularly the protagonist and antagonist or villain.

For an example of how this works, look at the movie "The Patriot," released in 2000. Like the latest release from my series, CAMP FOLLOWER, "The Patriot" draws off the real historical characters of Francis Marion and Banastre Tarleton in the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War. In "The Patriot," Marion and Tarleton are fictionalized as the characters of Benjamin Martin and William Tavington. Martin the hero, depicted as a benevolent widower and loving father who is also kind to his servants, goes on the warpath against the redcoats only when the war comes to his doorstep. His decision to embrace violence in guerilla warfare is interpreted as righteous anger. Tavington the villain is depicted as a man without scruples or restraint, a demon hell-bent on butchering civilians and destroying buildings, crops, and livestock for sport. Good vs. evil, strength vs. weakness.

Critics complained that Martin and Tavington came off as comic book figures, wholly predictable in their actions: in a word, boring. Sample outtakes from the movie, available on the DVD, divulge an astonishing lack of insight from the editors. What didn't make the final cut were scenes that reveal Tavington's vulnerability and appreciation of nature. Had those scenes been included in the final release, the audience would have had to process a deeper, more complex villain.

Developing the villain's characterization beyond mere archetype paradoxically demands fleshing out the hero's characterization. That's because audiences for movies and books expect the villain and the hero to be worthy of each other, in parity, and not necessarily polar opposites. Only then is the struggle between them perceived as worthwhile.

Historically, both Francis Marion and Banastre Tarleton were what I consider "gray" characters, embodying both virtues and flaws. Historically, they were opponents worthy of each other. That's what I attempt to capture in CAMP FOLLOWER — no easy task when history is written by victors who paint in stark stereotypes.

The Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines a stereotype as something conforming to a fixed or general pattern. Note the key words "conform" and "fix." In developing any character based on an archetype, you don't want to produce a conventional, rigid character. The wisest use of archetypes is as a scaffold upon which you layer the personality traits of each character, tailored to the theme of your novel. That way, you'll create characters who aren't stereotyped and trite, but archetypal characters who are unique and somewhat unpredictable. Relatable, like people you and your readers recognize, find interesting, and are worth visiting again and again.

* * * *

Suzanne Adair won the Patrick D. Smith Literature Award from the Florida Historical Society for PAPER WOMAN, the first novel of her mystery and suspense series. THE BLACKSMITH'S DAUGHTER and CAMP FOLLOWER continue her fictional ventures into the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War. For more information, visit http://www.suzanneadair.com/.

My to-be-read stack

If you are like me, you have a stack of books to be read. I keep one. It gets moved from my bedroom to my living room to my kitchen to my bathroom to my family room, so I can not say it isn't portable, *smile*.

I will say that it is expandable, too, as it grows taller every week. I am such a book junkie, I just can't seem to stop buying books. I would love to get more read, but I am not too well organized between writing, promoting, working, and family life. I need an assistant.*Roll eyes*

I carry my books with me on all errands, do you do that? I always have a book in my purse, my car, my hubby's car. My biggest problem is trying to read too many at one time. I will be reading a cozy in bed, a suspense thriller in the car (cuz who wants to be full of adrenaline whilst trying to get sleepy, right?). I will keep a non fiction book on my desk in the kitchen for ideas about this or that.

I suppose if I told you all the books I had to be read, you would be surprised at the versatility of my reading life. I just listened to my dear Mama who said, "Broaden your horizons." I think a book is a tool in the hands of a curious mind. That's why I love authors so much. They are my teachers.

Now that I have begun to purchase e-books, I am going to have a lot less time to surf the web, because when I have a virtual stack of to-be-read books, and a real-time stack of to-be-read books, I am going to be surrounded. Literally. Or is that literarily?

A Christmas Murder Scavenger Hunt

Work the clues in

The Devil Can Wait

Another Sam Harper Crime Mystery
by
Marta Stephens

Nine bodies, a cursed relic linked to a Christmas Eve prophecy, and no suspects. While homicide detective Sam Harper hunts down the guilty, YOU can track the clues in “The Devil Can Wait” for a chance to win an autographed copy of “Silenced Cry,” the book that launched the Sam Harper Crime Mystery series and received honorable mention at the 2008 New York Book Fair.
If you’re up to the challenge, just follow these five easy steps and submit your entry by Christmas Eve, 2008.

1) Read Sam Harper’s note titled “From the Desk of Detective Harper” that is posted on the home page of my website.

2) Throughout this article are quotes taken directly from the second book in the Sam Harper Crime Mystery series, “The Devil Can Wait” -- one quote for each week of Harper’s case. Keep in mind that the book is written in 3rd person and this article is written in first, thus some variance applies.

3) E-mail your answers to samharper@bewrite.net by midnight on December 24, 2008, with the following information:

• Write down each quote and the page number where you found it in the book. Both items must be included to be eligible.
  
• Send me a picture in jpg format of yourself holding my book. Please include your first name (last name optional) and tell me where the picture was taken (city and/or state or country). The picture of your smiling face holding this great book will be posted on the photo gallery of fans on my website.

4) Hey, but this isn’t all about me! If you are a published author, feel free to include the name of your book and a link to your website or blog for a bit of cross promotion!

5) HAVE FUN!

Everyone who accurately lists, 1) all the quotes and 2) the page numbers where the quotes are found in “The Devil Can Wait,” will receive a free e-book of “Silenced Cry.” And if you've purchased the paperback, don' forget to send me your picture!!

One name will be drawn from this group of winners to receive an autographed copy of “Silenced Cry” along with other cool stuff to enhance your next reading experience! The winners will be announced on December 31, by direct e-mail. The winners’ names will also be posted on my website.

“Silenced Cry” ~ Honorable mention at the 2008 New York Book Festival, top ten in the 2007 Preditors & Editors Reader Poll.

Purchasing Information for:

“The Devil Can Wait” ISBN 978-1-905202-86-7
316 pages
$15.99

The paperback is available from online shops like B&N, BAM, Borders, Amazon or your favorite neighborhood shop (just give them the ISBN number). Autographed copies are available directly from me (while supplies lasts) by writing to: samharper@bewrite.net. Please make your subject line: A Christmas Murder Savenger Hunt.

E-book is available at:
BeWrite Books
E-readable
Diesel e-books

Good luck and feel free to share this announcement with the mystery lovers in your life!

Masterful Description FAIL

There's been an e-mail circulating on the 'net for quite some time. It's purported to be a collection of bad writing samples from high school English papers. Personally, I don't think that's true - because in order to produce spectacularly bad writing that is genuinely funny, and not merely painful to read, you've got to know how to write well first, and then deliberately play on the words.

Still . . . these are damned funny. Enjoy!

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. Instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

Interview with Anne K. Edwards, co-author of THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING

Please join Murder by 4 and welcome back Anne K. Edwards for an interview focused on the new book, THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING.

APL: Tell us about your book, THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING. Who is it aimed at, and what has been the initial feedback?

Anne K. Edwards: THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING is aimed at anyone who either is or wants to be a reviewer. It was written to bring as much information as possible about reviewing into one form for convenience as well as a guide for the new reviewer or a refresher for the experienced reviewer. The feedback has been excellent in that the reviews are all positive and recommend the book. It is a Finalist in the USA Books Awards and is also being used in at least two colleges as texts for English courses.

APL: What were the rewards and challenges of co-authoring this book with Mayra Calvani? How did you enjoy the experience of sharing authorship?

Anne K. Edwards: My favorite reward of working with Mayra Calvani is that she is a very enthusiatic author and very organized. This makes it so easy to work with her. She is clear on what she wanted the book to be, which is a help to someone like myself who initially had little interest in writing nonfiction. And as in any team effort, there should be a leader so who better to lead than Mayra, with her sense of what needed to be done and how to do it? The only challenge was keeping up with her. She is a whirlwind to my slow motion. I enjoyed very much working with Mayra, but am not sure I could do this with others. That would depend on the other person. Such a person must needs be a near saint to work with me as I am impatient, don't like doing things twice, hate research of any kind, hate deadlines, and find it a chore to work those times when I'd rather be doing nothing at all. My muse is a very lazy fellow.

APL: You love mysteries. You’ve written several as well as published children’s books. Was this your first nonfiction work? How did it compare to writing fiction?

Anne K. Edwards: THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING is my first attempt in the world of nonfiction. To compare writing nonfiction to writing fiction is easy. Writing fiction is fun while writing nonfiction is work. By that I mean, I write all my books from my own head and do little to no research, I edit as I write and I don't use outlines. But in nonfiction, there must be some sort of outline, you must research or know the subject thoroughly before attempting to write the book. And you must be organized which I fear, I am not.

APL: Approximately how many reviews have you written in your career? Have you changed your approach or process over the years?

Anne K. Edwards: Wow!! I'm not sure I can answer this question. I write as few as three reviews some months and as many as twenty other months, and have been reviewing for many years. A lot depends on my other work. If I'm working on a book it slows the number of reviews or if I get involved in other things like editing or putting a long issue of Voice in the Dark together. My approach has probably changed as I learned more about reviewing, and I think reviewing is an evolving field. At first, I was worried about alienating an author, but that changes quickly if you realize you're responsibility lies to the reader. I find also my reviews have changed because the smaller presses are doing more editing and also accepting fewer books that aren't well written so the things I focus on are shifting also.

APL: What criteria do you use to select a book for a review? Read the first chapter? Ask for a particular genre?

Anne K. Edwards: The only type of books I don't review are self-published or vanity presses and this is because of lack of editing. I don't review erotica or porn because quite frankly it is too repetitious and too many lack real plotting as the author uses explicit sex scenes of twenty pages at a time from three to six times and the plot is just a sort of link between them as these scenes are the book's sole purpose for being. I also will not review books that are defamatory or outside the general reading public's preferences as those books can go to review sites within their marketing niche. Lastly, most of the books I review are selected by others and sent--as New Mystery Reader or New and Used Books. The books I do take outside these sites are usually from authors I've reviewed before and enjoyed their books. Sometimes when I get a request from someone I don't know, I will request a few pages to see if I can give a fair review based on lack of errors in the writing and if I think that author can write. I specify that the work must be edited and at times this causes the request to be withdrawn. I find I can be objective outside my own preferred reading and that is a main requirement for reviewing in any genre.

APL: Tell us about the life of Anne Edwards. You live on a farm in the country. Describe a typical day with your husband, horses, and cats. When do you find time to write?

Anne K. Edwards: I never have a typical day since each one depends on the needs and whims of the horses and cats. Some days we seem to spend a large portion at the veterinarian's office or waiting for one at home--many of our critters are aged. Other days, we are taking hay deliveries or going to the feed store. Errands get pushed into one day but this still eats up the full day. Regular chores outside eat a large hole in the day also. Writing time is often scarce due to that alone, but if I do manage a few broken hours at the computer, I spend a lot of time 'chatting' with friends and looking for new sites related to reviewing or book promotion and marketing, all the while removing cats from between me and the monitor or off the keyboard. I find I need at least two unbroken hours before what I write makes any sense, so I usually write things in my head and then transfer them as I get time. Sadly, I've lost some lovely ideas that way, but my best thinking time is when I'm doing barn work.

APL: Can you tell us about your previous books? What are you working on now?

Anne K. Edwards: Lida Quillen of Twilight Times Books took a chance on DEATH ON DELIVERY which was first an ebook and then released in print. She has also published my first children's ebook, JEREMY AND THE DRAGON which has turned into a series, the second of which is being written now. Another ebook, THE LAST TO FALL came out last spring and is doing well. Lastly, is THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING of which I am coauthor. DEATH ON DELIVERY is a mystery, first in the Hannah Clare series--she's a bit different from other women detectives--older, works alone, no nonsense about her and she likes catching the bad guys even at risk to herself. JEREMY AND THE DRAGON was written to show that children can think their way through problems if given a chance. THE LAST TO FALL is a futuristic warning based on what is happening in our world today, but my main characters are three teenagers which does not make it a story for the young, just that they represent the future and perhaps a lost hope. And THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING is my only foray into nonfiction following the talented Mayra Calvani's lead. "SLIPPERy" is meant as a help book to any reviewer, compiling as much information on the subject as could be found.

I am currently working on JEREMY AND THE DRAGON, the second book in that series. And the second mystery for Hannah Clare is nearly done. And as with most authors, I have a million ideas that will probably never see light as time is the problem. Why can't they clone us so we could use these untold tales?

APL: What’s your view on ebooks and print books? Where do you see the book industry going?

Anne K. Edwards: I've been seeing articles that say the publishing industry and bookselling is going down. I think this news applies to the printed version of books and then to the large publishing houses. Recently, I saw that the sale of ebooks was up something like 70% or so. That fact tells me something. Ebooks are here to stay. All they need is a reader that doesn't eat up batteries or cost an arm and a leg, and is easy for us gadget illiterate types to use. A last fact is that the audio form of books is becoming very popular too and will see good growth in the future.

APL: What’s your view on small publishers versus the giants? Do you have advice for emerging writers on this topic?

Anne K. Edwards: That may be a complex question, but my answer is simple. The giants do not always select books for quality, but those that they can mass produce and sell such as specialty books aimed at young readers--the life story of a twenty year old singer or movie personality of the moment. They sell fiction that is often formula fiction which means it is a tried and true plot with few variations on characters or style. And there is a trend for these giants to set these formula books up, then hire writers to follow the dots to producing like stories time after time, i.e., work for hire writing. This keeps all the profits inhouse and they hold copyright. The giants rarely take chances on new writers, they have eliminated much of the mid-list writers, and with a shrinking market they may drop more authors. The small publishers who market online are maintaining or enlarging their market share due to production of ebooks and a willingness to take chances on new authors, thus providing readers with the variety of reading material and new authors that the giants are failing to provide. As more readers use computers to make their purchases of goods, the reality is they will also buy more books online, whether print or ebook. The giants may be waking up to that fact too, as I see reports that they are occasionally buying or contracting with successful small presses. But a word of warning, if they shoulder their way into this online market, attempts will be made to force many small presses out and limit their proliferation, so the giants can increase their own profit margin again. This will limit what is available to the reader as well.

My advice to new writers is based on my own experience. Literary agents rarely, if ever, take on new, untried authors. Their income is based on what they sell and new authors are an unknown quantity and have no following so they are nearly impossible to sell to the large houses agents deal with. This is not a reflection on literary agents, just a fact of life. The larger houses do not take on authors without agents and any submitted manuscript that is not requested may be destroyed, returned unopened, or condemned to the slush pile where it may sit forever.

So, my advice to authors seeking publication is do not waste months or even a year or more waiting to hear from an agent or large publisher on acceptance or rejection. This is in spite of the outdated mantra we hear that we need an agent to be published. That applies only to being published by the large houses and agents are used by them as a sort of filter to keep out the unwanted work.

On the other hand, small presses, niche presses, and other types of presses will give you a much quicker response and your chances of publication are much higher. I highly recommend new authors begin here as this helps develop talent which in turn, builds a readership. Once you have a couple of successes, then is the time to look for an agent if you are still determined to try for being published by the large houses, but do this only if you are willing to waste a LOT of time along the way waiting for them to notice you.

APL: Can you tell us about Mysteryfiction.net?

Anne K. Edwards: Mysteryfiction.net was set up for me by a dear friend who at one time had the Ebooksnbytes.com website. I learned reviewing from working for her also and when Mysteryfiction.net was set up, I quickly found I didn't have any real interest in just rehashing information about myself. So I decided it would be more fun and of value to use it to promote other writers as well and it serves that function well.

APL: Is there a website where we can learn more about THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING?

Anne K. Edwards: Yes, Thanks for having me here! And please check out the following sites for more on THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING:

Blog: http://slipperybookreview.wordpress.com/
Literary Journal: http://www.mysteryfiction.net/
Publisher: http://www.twilighttimesbooks.com/
Mayra Calvani: http://thedarkphantom.wordpress.com/

***
Anne is from south central PA where she lives on a small farm with some horses and a bunch of cats. She loves books and travel and close friends. She writes what she likes to read--mysteries.
Anne is the Editor-in-Chief of MysteryFiction.net which includes the literary Ezine "Voice in the Dark." Future projects include a new mystery, DEATH REENACTED, two childrens books and short stories for New Mystery Reader.