Do You Need a Dead Body?

What I'm reading: Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues, by Michael Brandman

I've hit Milestone #1 in my giveaway. You can't win unless you enter, so check the Deals & Steals tab.

Last week, on The Graveyard Shift, Lee Lofland shared some important information about property crimes, and how patrol officers work to solve them. He presented a lot of good information, including how useful fingerprints are (usually they aren't), and how people talk to cops. Take a minute to read it here.

But my takeaway from his post, and one that was followed up in the comments of the post, was that there's a lot of police work that has nothing to do with solving homicides. If you tell someone you write mysteries, odds are pretty good they automatically hear "murder mystery."

Can't you have a mystery that doesn't include a dead body? There are certainly enough other crimes out there, and they'll impact the lives of your characters even if nobody dies. And for me, it's always about the characters.

When I wrote FINDING SARAH, I thought it was going to be a mystery. But it began with a robbery (Anyone know the difference between a burglary and a robbery? The terms aren't interchangeable.) which brought a detective onto the scene. Now, maybe I got away without having the detective solve a murder because I discovered, thanks to my beta-reading daughters, that I was really writing a romance.

Mystery or Suspense..or Romance?

What I'm reading: The Sentry, by Robert Crais

I've noticed a fair number of recent blog posts offering tips about writing compelling suspense. They were all good, except I don't really like suspense. I'm a mystery fan, first and foremost.

Often we see the two genres combined—it's not unusual to see "mystery/suspense" as a category. But they're not the same. According to the dictionary, suspense is a state of uncertainty, enjoyable tension, or anxiety. A mystery is something you cannot explain, or don't know anything about. It's easy to see how they overlap. But there are distinct differences.

Let's take a look at both:

In a mystery, the reader follows a step behind the detective/protagonist as he or she solves the crime. The reader doesn't know anything until the protagonist does. Normally, the crime has already happened, and the detective has to figure out who did it. Mysteries are puzzles.

Retired? Unemployed? Whatever.

What I'm reading: Knock Out, by Catherine Coulter

Yesterday, I volunteered at an semi-annual Award Ceremony at the Sheriff's Office. The small auditorium was packed to honor those who have gone above and beyond the call of duty, as well as those retiring after decades of service.

Family and friends were invited, but I was most impressed by how many colleagues of these people took time from their day to crowd into that room. I can't help but compare it to what's going on at our place.

Yesterday was also hubby's last official day of work. He's been on half time for the last three months, but as of today, he's officially either unemployed or retired—he hasn't decided yet, since the choice to leave wasn't his. He works in a very small office, but there was absolutely nothing done to acknowledge the countless hours he's put in, going in on weekends, stepping in to do everything from crawl under desks to keep computers running, to driving across the state to represent the company at a fund-raising event.

Not to mention nary a raise in the 8 years he's worked for them. (Practice for living on a fixed income, right?) The company is headquartered in California, but they've definitely kept their hands on what's going on in Florida. Actually, "micromanage" is the term hubby used.

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And, work horse that he is, he'll be back at the office, probably every day, although the agreement says they'd like him to come in one day a week in return for a few minor perks. His new "emeritus" status gives him a desk, and he's been working on some personal, but work-related projects which he can do better there. And yes, there's the "I'll drive him nuts if he's home all day" factor which plays into it as well. But my mindset right about now is that it's all well and good for him to do HIS work at his office desk, but if I find out he's crawling under desks to fix computers, or answering questions, or anything else that he used to be paid for, I'll pitch a fit.

Unemployed or retired doesn't matter. He's not being paid for his time, and owes them nothing. Petty of me? Probably. But that's how I feel right now. And he knows he's toast if he goes to the office until next week, so we should be taking some time off for us, at least until we get sick of each other. Anyone going to start the pool for when that will be?

Meanwhile, I'm working on my short story. I'm about 5,000 words in, so I'm past the halfway point. It's quite a departure for me, since there's no "relationship" the way there would be in a romance or romantic suspense. The protagonist is a divorced homicide detective in his mid-to-late forties, and the major secondary character is a rookie cop who happens to be female. He's definitely a mentor figure, and there's none of the demand to keep building sexual tension.

To be honest, I'm having similar issues with the novel I set aside to write the short story. I have Gordon, a divorced Chief of Police, and two other POV characters, Justin and Megan, all caught up in some Very Bad Stuff. For some reason, there is an undercurrent of sexual tension building between Justin and Megan. I have a feeling that convention would require that if I give them a consummated relationship, I'll have to find a woman for Gordon as well.

It's not a romance, so I don't have the constraints of that HEA relationship, but it's starting to feel strange as Justin and Megan are alone in a hotel room, while Gordon's back in town dealing with two homicides and two break-ins. Hmmm. He's had his eye on Angie, who works in the small town's favorite bakery/café/diner. Maybe she'll notice.

Other writing updates: The release date for my Cerridwen Press short story, The Other Side of the Page is July 27th.

I got my Rita contest scores and When Danger Calls finished in the top quartile. Since it doesn't adhere to romantic suspense convention, I'm pleased to know the judges liked it.

Check back tomorrow when I'll announce the winner of my June contest. And Friday, it's the conclusion of "The Exhumation" from the case files of Detective Hussey.

Black, White and Shades of Gray

What I'm reading: Fatal Secrets, by Allison Brennan; The Language of Bees, by Laurie R. King.

Housekeeping:

I hope everyone enjoyed Detective Hussey's "copspeak" over the weekend. And I'd like to take a moment to congratulate my daughter for finishing a half-ironman in Kansas on Sunday. Near as I can tell, there were almost 100 entries in her age class, and she finished 27th. Her final time was 5:36:47. I can't even comprehend 'exercising' that long, much less competing! She cut an hour off the time of her first half-ironman.

Other tidbits:

I discovered that the Quincy, IL Library had WHEN DANGER CALLS as a "Staff Pick" on display in the lobby.

And don't forget my June contest for a chance to win an autographed copy of WHAT'S IN A NAME?

There's a special 10% off sale at the Jasmine-Jade website. Seems that they've been upgrading, and there have been some glitches, so in a 'thank you for your patience' gesture, all titles from their site, both digital and print, will be discounted through June. To get your 10% discount enter ECWEB2009 into the coupon field when completing your purchase at their site.

On to the business at hand:

Last Saturday, Gennita Low was our guest speaker at my RWA chapter meeting. She's a roofer by day, a romantic suspense author by night. Talk about a strange mix of professions. She discussed writing romantic suspense, and stressed the need for emotional involvement.

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Everyone, Low says, has fears. The task of the author is to channel and use the emotion the fears generate. You might never have been in the same situation you put your character in, but you can translate the emotion. She also pointed out the importance of being able to look at things from another perspective. If you abhor violence, but you have a violent character, you have to be able to understand where that violence is coming from. You need to look at the goals and motivations of that character, to see how it drives him or her.

Another important consideration is shades of gray in emotion. A story where everything is black and white won't be as interesting as one where the lines are blurred. Many thrillers tend to be much more action oriented, and don't show the emotional side of the characters. She did mention that many male authors don't seem to put as much emotion into their books. We've had that discussion here before, more than once, especially in my series on His Brain / Her Brain (Series started Sept. 2, 2008)

In a romantic suspense both the suspense (or, in what I write, the mystery) have to be balanced. She warned of some pitfalls.

First, you need to decide if your story is hero-centric or heroine-centric. Even in romance, one's story will edge out the others, even if it's only by a slight margin.

The language in a hero-centric story is apt to be harsher. Things that might mean your pendulum is swinging too far in trying to make your hero too alpha: Is he too overprotective? Is he taking over, not letting the heroine show her own strengths? Does he discount anything she says or does? Or is he too distrustful? Won't let anyone else do anything? Men use harsher language, but dropping F-bombs doesn't necessarily make your character any more likeable, or any more alpha.

For a heroine-centric book, you don't want your heroine too perfect. She can't be too smart, or too talented. (In fan fictions, these were Mary-Sue characters). On the other hand, she shouldn't rely on the hero to save her; she can't be too weak.

All of these lead right back to those critical 'shades of gray.'

Another caveat: Beware Authorial Intrusion. Not only your 'writerly' voice, but also your own personal agenda. Remember, it's about the characters. Unless they share your viewpoints, leave your own biases off the page.

Low also reiterated points made by so many other successful authors. Use the push-pull of the relationship to create sexual tension. Secrets are good. Moments of danger allow insight into how the characters feel. This is an excellent way to show emotion IF it doesn't stop the story.

And, she advises keeping your eyes and ears open at all time. (Hey, I'm not eavesdropping, honey, I'm doing RESEARCH). All her experiences with roofers can be used to add color to her stories. Not that they have to have roofing scenes, but hanging around a roofing crew gives insight into how males talk, think, and act, which CAN be carried over into a book.

Tomorrow, my guest is author Liana Laverentz who's going to be talking about reasons for getting published. She's also going to offer a critique of the first 15 pages of a manuscript, so be sure to drop by for a chance for some fresh eyes on your work.

More RWA workshop notes - More Romantic Suspense

Karen Rose is another author I admire and respect—and, like Brenda Novak, Karen is on my 'don't mind coming in second to her' list -- this one was in the Lories.

She addressed some of the areas where romantic suspense has different emphases from other sub-genres. Like any other book, establishing the goals, motivations, and conflict for the hero and heroine is vital. However, she attests that in romantic suspense, the villain drives the story.

The villain: Establish the villain's motivation. Some effective ones can be revenge, power, or greed. Give him a personality. Is he antisocial? Sadistic? Dependent? Somewhere, he should have a reason for doing what he does, but she also said some people are just "bad" in general. Is there some pathology behind his behavior.

(Note: If you followed my series on Criminal Thinking, you might also pick up some character help there. Your villain will probably think differently from your hero and heroine.)

Your villain must be smart. At least as smart as your hero and heroine. He must be a formidable opponent, although he can appear to be the man next door. He must also be 3-dimensional. Find his vulnerability.

Things to avoid: The "they" of faceless groups. Find one individual and connect with him. Stupid, bumbling villains. Redeemable villains. Cardboard villains. Villains who appear from nowhere. The motivation of the villain can be the mystery.

Hero and Heroine: their relationship must be threatened by the villain, fed by the suspense. They must stay close to the action. Be sure their occupation(s) give them a right to be where they need to be.

Things to avoid: a heroine too dependent on the hero. Stupidity. A too 'macho' hero. Too much arguing.

Victims: make them human.

Secondary characters: they give dimension to the hero and heroine. Options include: best friend, family, neighbors, coworkers. Secondary characters are great for explaining technology and avoiding info dumps or too much telling. They can provide conflict.

Plot: get the details right, and know where to drip the clues. The romance and the plot have to intertwine. Each scene has to feed both the romance and the suspense. A secondary plot gives a 'bigger book' feel.

Pacing: each scene has to advance the plot. Suspense scenes are usually shorter. A romantic suspense has an urgent mood.

Continuing dilemma for me: some of these gems don't lend themselves as well to a mystery-centered story. More things to work on.

More RWA Workshop Notes - Romantic Suspense

What I'm reading: Trust Me, by Brenda Novak

Another RWA scheduling choice I made was to attend Brenda Novak's workshop on Romantic Suspense. It seemed like a smart thing to do, considering she won the Daphne du Maurier award (instead of me!). Highlight? She gave me a plug during her introduction.

Her points:

A romantic suspense must be ONE story, not a romance and a suspense. They have to be dependent on each other, and the outside tensions have to be equal for both the suspense and the romance. One cannot exist without the other. Things that affect the suspense plot will also impact the relationship.

In a suspense, the timeline is usually short. Building the relationship over a short time has to feel plausible.

There's usually a lot of research involved, and you have to do enough to write with confidence about your subject. However (and this point was reiterated in the FBI workshop I took later), she said it's better to go with a widely held belief rather than confuse readers even though you're "right." This is problematic, because so many readers watch the CSI type shows and believe what happens there is the truth. They'll assume you're wrong, even if you're right.

Conflict: you need a lot. Constantly up the stakes, both for the suspense and relationship. You also need to vary the emotions. Escalating fear throughout the book without any other emotions, or breaks, will leave a reader exhausted, and likely unsatisfied. Conflicts can't be static.

She gave a lot of good writing advice that works regardless of genre. Start on a hook, leave the back story for later, create questions. End scenes in the middle. Tell the boring stuff, show the emotional. Use description sparingly. Use interesting, unique details in descriptive passages.

Revisions: she provided some exercises to move the first draft from ordinary to compelling. Use riskier language, have your character say something outrageous. Challenge reader expectations. Use subtext to add layers. Make dialog work on more than one level. Blend narrative with dialog.

Pacing needs to be quick and tight. Don't repeat information (one of my pet peeves).

Characters must behave in a manner that holds true for the nature of their situation.

Don't forget the villain.

Hold the tone of the book to a sense of mystery.

What hit home for me? First, that I already "know" a lot of this, but need to work a lot more at keeping it in the front of my brain during plotting, writing, and revising. That I shouldn't expect the first (or second) trip through a chapter to be 'right'. That I need to pay more attention to the way I'm connecting the relationship with the mystery. And that can be the rub, because I write mystery, not suspense. I rarely have a "villain." And I have yet to delve into more than two POVs. I thought about it for my current WIP, but haven't been able to bring myself to do it. Goes against what I like in a book.

Release Day!

It's available now!

Returning from a stint as part of a task force on violent crime, Randy Detweiler is eager to reunite with Sarah Tucker in Pine Hills, but she’s having second thoughts about their relationship. Can she deal with a cop who gets called away at a moment’s notice, especially one who won’t talk about his job?

Their reunion is cut short when a body is discovered and rumors fly that it’s the work of a serial killer. To make matters worse, the Town Council might disband their police department, and Randy's under added pressure to solve the murder before they take action. Forced to work under the radar, Randy struggles to balance work with a shaky relationship.

Sarah can’t cope with apparently meaning less to Randy than his job. Should she force him to choose between his job and the us she envisions for the two of them? All bets are off when Sarah herself becomes a suspect in Randy’s case. Before long, it’s more than their relationship that’s in danger.