First - in another clone moment, I'm at Elizabeth Spann Craig's blog, Mystery Writing is Murder, talking about writing, so be sure you get over there for the 'meaty' stuff. Since I'm talking writing there, it's going to be one of those "real life" posts here.
A slight change of pace this week. Sorry, but things have been crazy here. We signed a contract on our house. We're trying not to get too excited, because that's only the first step, and as our Realtor points out, we won't really know how it pans out until 10 minutes after we sign the closing papers. So, we're living in limbo. There are pictures, but not the usual sort.
We agreed on a price and signed and initialed a ream of papers. This afternoon, they buyers scheduled a house inspection. About an hour before they were due, two people showed up saying they were here to inspect and pump out the septic tank. Seems that was part of the inspection, although nobody bothered to tell us. Since the buyers ordered it, we let them at it.
The termite inspector showed up shortly thereafter, with the whole-house inspector on his heels. The buyers arrived, and a while later, so did their Realtor.
Mostly we sat around while the inspectors did their thing.
For the last few days, I've been working on putting together my workshop for the First Coast Romance Writer's February 13th meeting in Jacksonville. (Which is scary enough, because they're billing me as an "award winning author". That's not a lie, but my awards aren't exactly the equivalents of the Oscars or Golden Globes.) And speaking of awards, I seem to have garnered a couple more blog awards, which I'll address in a future post.
The group asked me to speak on the way I plot, which followers of this blog will know is very loosely. In addition, by now you should be aware of my dislike of spoilers. I don't want to know what's going to happen until it happens.
My preference for the workshop would be to have an informal chat, a little brainstorming, and chat about what other folks use for their plotting. I think back to my school teaching days, and of lesson plans, which sends a shiver down my spine. I tended to teach by discussing, questions – more the Socratic method, since I was teaching junior high Science, and trying to lecture to those human bags of hormones was a guarantee to elicit the eyes-glazing over syndrome.
What I'm reading: Master of Torment, by Karin Tabke
Last week's reads, especially 3 of Barry Eisler's John Rain series got me thinking about "heroes." As authors, we want readers to care about our characters. If they don't care about the protagonist, why should they finish reading the book? It's especially critical for a series, because a reader who doesn't like the character isn't likely to read the rest of the books. I know I follow a series when the characters draw me in. We want our heroes to be heroic. They might not be saving the world, but they should be acting honorably. What would we do if we were in their position? For a romance, the hero had darn well better be a good guy.
What happens when your hero has unlikeable qualities? Why do readers keep coming back for more when the hero is more of an antihero?
My cop contacts told me about the television show Dexter, where the main character kills people according to his personal code, instilled in him by his father. But he only kills "bad" people, those who have escaped the legal system, which gives it an interesting twist. Definitely not your typical hero.
Dexter is in its 4th season, so people are willing to accept the characters "hobby." Likewise, John Rain has come back five times since the first book. What makes people connect?
Where do you feel most comfortable doing what you love to do? Today, my guest is Christine DePetrillo, a writer, educator, and environmentalist, shares her preferences.
Many idiosyncrasies emerge when one decides to be a writer. Only a certain brand and style of notebook is acceptable for story notes and research. Only a specific pen will capture a character’s line of dialogue stolen from a conversation overheard in line at the supermarket. Only the right pair of sweatpants will truly allow a writer to loosen up enough to let the story unfold as it pleases.
Only the “write” habitat will give birth to a writer’s best work. This includes the area a writer feels most like an author.
For me, I have two spots I would consider my Ultimate Write Habitats. The first is in my certified backyard wildlife habitat. In the spring, summer, and early days of fall, you’ll find me with my trusty laptop on the patio in one of the wooden Adirondack chairs my husband made. Around me the sounds and sights of nature inspire and cheer me on while I wrestle with words on the page.
Thanks to Susan Wiggs for sharing this - what writer hasn't been there?
I'm now officially in the 'submission' phase with my mystery. I've queried a few agents, and have sent off a submissions package to a publisher that said they'd be willing to look at a partial. And yes, I made sure that I followed their submission guidelines, one of which was a 750 word (maximum) synopsis. Given that my shortest synopsis to that point was hitting the 1200 word mark, I had some tightening to do.
To reach that length (I don't think 'shorth' is a word), I had to evaluate which plot points were vital, what character motivation was important, all the while hoping a little of my voice trickled through. And to make sure all 3 POV characters were represented, and there was nothing where a reader would say, "Well, that was a stupid thing to do; why not just do XX?"
So now, it's a waiting game. They say allow 90 days. They also say, "Do NOT approach us in any form of communication before that time is up." Of course, they say it much more nicely, but it's clearly a "Don't call us, we'll call you" scenario.
It's Friday Field Trip time again. This week, thanks to one of my faithful readers, Shawntel, we're going to Cinque Terre in Italy.
Shawntel is a newly married mother of three teenagers, a cat, a step-dog, and a horse. Within days a hedgehog will be joining her family. She didn't travel until she was in her thirties and immediately fell in love with it. Her first trip abroad was to England, Ireland, and Scotland with a large group of friends. Four years later, she loaded up and went to Italy, which was beautiful. Tuscany was exactly as she had pictured it and was lovely. Cinque Terre, however, immediately stole her heart. It was designated a National Park in 1997 and is a chain of five villages linked by hiking trails and a train. Gas-powered motorized vehicles are forbidden and though she's heard that electric busses are allowed, she didn't see one during her stay. She wants to share her love of travel with her kids, so they'll be taking a family trip to Italy in 2011.
Enjoy!
View from a tower in Manarola, the second village in the chain of five.
Looking back toward Manarola from our walk to Riomaggiore
Although I've joined the Twitter set, I haven't really found that it's something I want to spend hours a day tracking. I've yet to figure out the nuances. I have under 200 followers, and even filtering for those who I find have useful or interesting things to say, I can't imagine reading all those tweets. What do the people with thousands of followers do?
Aside from finding some interesting blog posts and articles that were tweeted by others, I spend very little time with the application. But I checked out a tweet by Sarah of Smart Bitches and found a recipe for a Red Bean and Barley soup that sounded good enough to send me to the store for the ingredients I'd need to make it. Yummy.
And it was via Twitter that I found out, sadly, that Robert B. Parker died. I went to my first SleuthFest conference because he was the keynote speaker. He was funny, friendly, and SleuthFest became one of my 'must go' conferences from then on. Indirectly, he connected me with a fantastic group of mystery writers and because of SleuthFest, I've continued to pursue writing mysteries as well as my romantic suspense books. I highly recommend it as a small conference with some big opportunities (I met the editor who bought When Danger Calls at SleuthFest).
Thanks, Randall, for being my guest. You've given me a wake-up call too. Time to stop procrastinating and start submitting. Where to start?
Way back when, when I was in school, teachers would give a test to see if you could follow directions. You've probably seen them. You're told that you have to finish within a specific time limit, which seems all too short when you look at how many questions there are. You start reading, ignoring the first item, which says "read all the questions before proceeding." That's a total time-waste, right? Maybe you read the first few, but you want to get on with it so you finish. Only trouble is, at the end, it says, "Only answer the first three questions" or some other sneaky variation. Needless to say, there was a lot of groaning as those who answered all the questions found they'd failed the test.
Have we learned the importance of following directions? (I'm not touching the male-female question here.)
Moving along to writing:
The manuscript is finished. It's time to query. Agents? Publishers? Either way, you have to create that proper first impression. Hubby grumbles when I nag about all the staging when we have a house showing, but it's no different for a writing project. Home buyer or literary agent: you've got to grab them from the outset. They don't care that at this time of year the trees are shedding leaves and it's a losing battle to keep them away. The buyers look at the property and see "LEAVES TO RAKE." The editor sees "REQUIRES MASSIVE EDITING."
Today I welcome aspiring mystery author Randall LaBranche, who has some good advice for all of us, whether it relates to writing or not. I met Randall at the Y, where he wouldn't let me get away with cheating on the upper body machine I hated. But he would chat while I biked, which kept my mind off the workout tedium.
Thanks to Terry for giving me the opportunity to contribute an article to Terry’s Place. As much as I have pestered her on the recumbent bike at the Y, I’m surprised she even talks to me anymore!
In November, I hopped on a plane to warm Scottsdale Arizona, not once thinking how this ONE particular voyage would be the start of a three-day wake-up call. It all started out normal enough, a team development program with a medical technology firm on Friday, grab a quick puddle jumper to connect with my wife at the San Diego airport on Friday night and hang with my twin brother until Sunday. A little work, a little play, a little life transformation.
It all started with a unique team program involving a collection of about 150 corporate sales reps, some team building and a handful of incredible kids. The design of the session was a half-day of team activities that culminated with groups constructing 15 bicycles as the final goal. One thing that the participants DIDN’T know was the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) would be accepting the bikes to give to deserving children in the community.
Did I mention the participants also had no idea any kids would be there?
Before I forget -- I'm doing the clone thing today. I'm over at author Karin Tabke's blog, The Write Life, talking more about character inspirations. Please visit! But don't forget to come back.
I was going to continue talking about how we can use frustrations to put our characters into conflict-ridden situations, but in light of the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, my post topic seemed trivial. Grumbling about Realtors or computer crises to illustrate frustration doesn't mean much after watching the news.
Officially, it's a holiday here in the states, to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. But, as this graphic says, we should think of it as a day "on", not a day "off."
Personally, we've made a donation to a charitable organization we think will do what little good our few dollars can add. There are many of them, and if you're inclined to donate, I suggest you find one you think will put your money to effective use.
Tomorrow, my guest is Randall LaBranche, a man I met while working out at the Y. He used to goad me into finishing the reps on the dreaded upper body machines, and we began chatting. Turned out, he's an asipiring writer, and he's got some great things to share. Please come back and see what he has to say.
We agreed on a price and signed and initialed a ream of papers. This afternoon, they buyers scheduled a house inspection. About an hour before they were due, two people showed up saying they were here to inspect and pump out the septic tank. Seems that was part of the inspection, although nobody bothered to tell us. Since the buyers ordered it, we let them at it.
