Favorite Part
By Patricia Sargeant

What's your favorite part of the writing process?

Plotting: Do you prefer brainstorming your idea? Developing characters and situations. Researching locations that support - maybe even enhance - the story. Identifying plot points, twists, red herrings.

Writing: Do you most enjoy fleshing out the story? Developing scenes and sequels. Characters become three-dimensional. Maybe they follow your outline. Maybe they lead you to new discoveries that make the story even more exciting.

Revising: Do you like the editing process? Tightening scenes. Adding scenes. Deleting scenes. Moving scenes around. Adding layers - foreshadowing, motion, emotion.

Promoting: Do you get the biggest thrill from promoting your upcoming releases? Blogging. Guest blogging. Doing interviews. Requesting reviews. Sending press releases and/or press kits. Distributing promotional products (e.g., business cards, brochures, bookmarks).

My favorite part of the writing process is revising. I've gone through plotting and writing. I know I have a full, workable story. Revising allows me to further explore the characters and build on the layers of the story.

Which part of the writing process is your favorite? And why?

Writing with a Day Job

By Patricia Sargeant

On one of my writers loops, there we had a really great discussion about writing with a day job. Since most of us don't make enough from our publishing contracts to support ourselves, we have to keep the day job.

Now don't get me wrong. Especially in this economy, I drop to my knees every day and give thanks and praise for that regular paycheck. But juggling a demanding full-time job, a family, personal commitments and a publishing deadline can get hairy.

A lot of really great suggestions and ideas came from that discussion. Writing during your lunch hour. Writing before work, if you're a morning person. Writing at night, if you're not.

Some people carry tape recorders. Others carry notepads.

Discipline is key. For me, at the end of the day, it's important to have written a certain number of pages to stay on schedule. Whether I'm writing in the morning, during lunch or at night.

How do you juggle writing with your day job?

Book in a Nutshell Contest

The literary agency, Knight Agency, is holding the Book in a Nutshell submissions contest. The deadline is April 20, 2009.

If you're interested in participating, submit three compelling sentences - 150 words maximum - about your completed, unpublished manuscript to submissions@knightagency.net. You must write BOOK IN A NUTSHELL in the e-mail subject line. One submission per project.

Agents will choose 20 of the best submissions and request the writers' work. The agent will then give feedback on that work. The contest may even lead to possible representation.

Remember, the deadline is April 20, 2009. Winners will be notified by May 1, 2009. For more information, go to http://tinyurl.com/cnfe9d.

Happy writing!

Patricia

Writing By Numbers
By Persia Walker

A few weeks ago, I decided that I needed to bring a sense or organization to my writing. The work would flow faster and be done quicker if I simply did more preparation. My usual way of writing was simply to get a story idea, jot down the high points, then sit down and go for it. The result was always a self-contradictory manuscript that got soft in the middle and the required multiple rewrites. Well, I was going to reform my ways. I was going to be organized.

I went to Amazon.com and bought that book by James N. Frey, How to Write a Damn Good Mystery: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide from Inspiration to Finished Manuscript. I'm sure that most writers have heard of Frey and his how-to books. I haven't read the How to Write a Damn Good Novel version, but I'm glad I read the one concerning mysteries.

It was an eye-opener. Oh, my. I saw everything I'd been doing wrong -- and everything I'd been doing right. Now, it was just a matter of moving from the instinctive to the intellectual, from guessing to knowing, from trial-and-error to figuring things out properly.

Frey recommends what he calls a stepsheet. It what the rest of us call a scene outline, or simply outline. His stepsheet, however, calls for you to list every scene with a description of what happens and how it leads to the next one. Simple, basic and essentially quite helpful. I'd usually written such things after I'd written my first draft. But now I was going to be a good girl and do it beforehand.

As usual, I have ideas for several stories in mind -- all of which I can't wait to start on. I decided that I would use organized approach for one of them, the least complicated story. I sat down to write this stepsheet -- and hit a wall.

All of the joy and sense of surprise that accompanies the writing of the first draft evaporated. I froze at the keyboard. Always a procrastinator, I suddenly found myself addicted to hours of Hulu. Nothing writerly got done. I couldn't even bring myself to work on the rewrite of my second Lanie Price book.

Finally, I sat down for lunch with a good friend, Catherine Maiorisi. She was very pointed and very direct. "Put the stepsheet aside and go back to what works best for you."

"But I want to be organized," I said. "I want to write like grown-ups do, get it done and get it right. How I write right now ... it's so ... so messy."

She shrugged. "But it works. When you're messy, you're creative. When you're neat, you sink."

I thought about it, came home and picked up the Frey book. It's such a wonderful book. Having read it, I now see the framework he outlines in just about every commercially successful mystery I read. It seems so obvious, you know? But if it's all that obvious, why can't I do it?

Grrrr ...

But Catherine was right. I'm not an organized person and my attempt to force my mind to work in a way that's absolutely antipathetic was actually blocking my process.

I put the Frey book aside and turned on my laptop. I opened Scrivener, my favorite writing program, and started a new document. A blank white digital page is every bit as intimidating as a blank physical one. Trust me.

So I did what one can't do with a typewriter. I turned off the lights.

That's right. I turned down the screen lighting to the point where everything disappeared. Then I closed my eyes just to make sure, put my fingers to the keyboard and began to type.

Oh my, what a relief! No outlines, no rules, no bright blank page. Just me and my imagination.

I'm averaging a thousand words a day now. As usual, I only know the beginning. I have only the vaguest idea of the ending. Will the story amount to anything? I haven't the faintest idea. I only know how much fun it is to love writing again, instead of viewing it as a task.

How to Write a Damn Good Mystery, meanwhile, has an honored place on my bookshelf. The lessons it contains will reside in my subconscious, where they belong. They will inform all of my writing from now on, but as a collaborating, but not dominant voice.

Yes, it feels good to be messy again.

With a child's pen

I attended a lecture given by an elementary school teacher the other day. This teacher also is a multi-published author of non-fiction books.

During his presentation, he admitted the different writing styles of elementary school students fascinated him. He said you can give a writing assignment to two students in the same class. One student will approach the assignment with great energy and enthusiasm. She'll write page after page after page after page tirelessly. But her four-page assignment will be one run-on sentence.

The second student will approach the same assignment very studiously. Each sentence will have a noun and a verb that are in agreement. Each sentence will be punctuated correctly. Each paragraph will begin in the appropriate place. But, even though her assignment is mechanically correct, it will lack the energy and emotion that comes from the type of enthusiasm the first student demonstrated in her writing.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever found yourself so focused on the mechanics of writing - point of view, scene and sequel - that you're in danger of losing your creativity? I have. I'm struggling through that with my current work-in-progress.

We should all remind ourselves - frequently - that it's about the story. Enjoy the adventure. We can worry about the mechanics in revision.

Happy writing!

Patricia

My New Addiction

I'm an addict. I admit it. Before the entire world, I admit it. I mean, it's sort of ironic, you know? I managed to live for years without being struck by anything so incredibly and stubbornly incurable, but then I took a fall ... and when I did, I fell hard.

To what am I addicted? 3D graphics.

It started innocuously enough. I decided to do my own book cover. Now, this can be a dangerous decision, but I really wanted to do it. I can say I even felt compelled to do it. And so I went about finding a way. I searched for weeks, months really, for software that would allow me to do the kind of work I wanted to do, to create ... what? Well, I had a vision, initially of a woman running down a shadowy, snow-covered street, casting a terrified glance behind her. But ... as gripping as the image was, I couldn't figure out what program would allow me to conjure it up, and to do so with an appropriate amount of professionalism.

One day, I stumbled upon Poser. I bought the program and experienced mild levels of frustration as I struggled to learn it. For a while, I put it aside, but then came the time when I had to do the cover -- and I did. The cover for Darkness and the Devil Behind Me isn't quite the image I first dreamed of, but I think it's quite fitting. It's an image of Lanie, the newspaper reporter, whose determined inquiry solves a tough crime. Above is an image of Esther Sue Todd, the woman whose disappearance in December 1923 is at the heart of the case. And further down is an image of Esther's sister, Ruth, whose plea led Lanie to take another look at the disappearance and the million-dollar heist that followed it.

I not only discovered Poser, but the 3D community at Daz. There I found that I was rapidly falling in love with 3D graphics and all it might possibly enable me to do -- to create actual visualizations of my characters, for example, and of scenes from the book. The only limitation was my own abilities. Since then, I've created character studies, some good, some bad. I've uploaded some to my website, and moved others to my trash.

The reason I mention it is because I wanted to point it out as another possible method of livening your websites, adding content, and even enervating your imagination as you write. When preparing to write a novel, P.J. Parrish, for example, puts together a notebook with clipped photographs of people who resemble the book's characters. The folks who put together the Harry Potter movies spoke of how J.K. Rowling had notebook after notebook full of drawings of her characters, sets and scenes. Well, I could never bring myself to clip photos from magazines -- it didn't quite work for me. And I'm not talented enough to make the drawings myself, if that's what Rowling did. But I've discovered that today's friendly 3D programs allow even the least technically and artistically talented among us (ahem, like yours truly), create credible characters and tinker with them until they represent the images we had in mind when first conceiving our story.

For me, the only downside has been the addiction. Sometimes I spend more time working on 3D than I do on writing. But if the final character studies I end up with add to the vividness of my imagination, then I suppose this addiction can't be all bad.

Until next week then, keep writing!

Best wishes,

Persia

The Case for the Virtuous Villain
By Persia Walker

It can take a few books before a writer understands the importance of having a fully developed "villain," someone who is not only strong, but believable and also sometimes sympathetic. This character is the one who drives the story. He or she is the one who upsets the apple cart, derails the train, rips the carpet out from under our feet and essentially gets the story going. If it weren't for this individual, we wouldn't have anything to write about. Isn't it time that the villain had his due?

I could also call this post "The Case for the Vulnerable Villain," since many a "villain" sees him- or herself as both virtuous and vulnerable. Every now and then, you might actually come across one who says, "Yes, I'm evil and happy about it," but most feel sorry for themselves. Each feels that he has been ignored, downtrodden. He has worked hard, been taken advantage of and deserves the money he stole. She was a faithful wife, bore his kids and put him through school. She's the one who deserves his gifts, his loyalty and admiration -- not that b*tch of a mistress she shot before his very eyes.

All of us know that crooks, criminals and their assorted bedfellows have their own point of view, a very strong point of view, a sense that they had a right to do what they did. Their world was so threatened that they had no choice but to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting community. We know this, but do we reflect it in our writing? Too often, we don't. A villain is a villain is a villain. (Oh, I know that in writing schools and creative fiction classes these days, they teach us not to label anyone as a villain, but to call them antagonists. But let's be honest: deep down, most of us do still think of the person causing all the trouble in our stories as the bad one, the villain.)

We pay a price for being so cut-and-dry when it comes to characterization. Our stories are much, much richer when we take the time to see the world through our villain's eyes. Most of us have been told that motivation for crime boils down to love or money. Almost all crime, we've read, falls into one or both of those categories. Fair enough. But I think we should take a look at what can happen within those categories when explaining our lawbreaker's behavior. Below is a shortlist of explanations just to get you going. You might want to add to the list and/or review which explanation(s) apply to your "villain."

Explanation 1 is a sympathetic one. It is so sympathetic that Dear Reader finds himself wondering if he wouldn't have done the same thing if he'd been standing in the perp's shoes. It's a question that good criminal defense attorneys successfully get juries to reflect on all the time. And it's one that a good writer of mystery and mayhem also gets his or her readers to ask.

One obvious example would be the person who commits a criminal act with the intention of saving another. Remember the movie John Q? A desperate father takes a hospital waiting room hostage to force authorities to find a heart for his dying child, who needs a transplant. This was a good, but desperate man who was driven to commit a very real crime.

Explanation 2 is a trivial one. The reason for the crime seems so trivial that Dear Reader just shakes his head in absolute, profound and existential puzzlement. Why would anyone kill someone over a chicken bone? Or because they refused to turn down the television volume? I mean yes, she might have been annoying, but did you have to kill her over it? Your killer will answer yes. If this perp is a major figure in your story, who has killed again and again, then it behooves you to make the world understand that apparently trivial answer. Just remember: To the perp's mind, whether his act was planned or impulsive, the reason was not trivial at all, but key to his happiness, ambition, peace of mind.

Explanation 3: ... is that there is no explanation. We're talking the sociopath here, or a person who is simply evil. This person enjoys hurting and maiming others. The goal is not retribution or revenge, protecting anyone, or the acquisition of anything material, such as money, a house or a job. The goal, if you can call it that, is simply the experience itself. But even these people will tell you that they are victims. They are victims of the pressure within, a pressure that progressively worsened until they had to act.

Let your villain be multifaceted. Give her an admirable talent. Show him performing an act of kindness. Give insight into her private hell. It will give your story dimension, depth ... resonance.

Your villain inhabits his or her own world. The most forceful writing drags Dear Reader, sometimes kicking and screaming, into that world -- or at least to the very edges of it. It doesn't matter whether you write suburban cozies or gritty urban noir. Your stories revolve around characters who have warped views of their world and their place in it. Lend insight into these views. Make them real. Give Dear Reader a ride for her money and she'll thank you for it by buying your books again and again.

Until next week then,

Persia Walker

Reality Check

Before getting to today's little chat, I'd like to indulge in a rare bit of BSP (blatant self-promotion). I finally got to see my name in print yesterday, in print in the same volume as Michael Connelly's that is. An advanced copy of The Blue Religion landed in my mailbox. The book, to be put out by Little Brown this year, is an anthology of mystery short stories, all inspired by a single thought: "It's not about how the cop works the case, but how the case works the cop." I'm thrilled to have my story "Such a Lucky, Pretty Girl" appear in the volume. Connelly is one of my favorite authors, so having my work appear alongside his, and that of other bestselling authors is like ... wow! I have to pinch myself -- give myself a reality check -- to make sure it's real. Plus, response to my latest book, Darkness and the Devil Behind Me, has been quite good. So yes, I'm smiling. (Ahem. She takes a deep breath and becomes serious again.) Now, back to today's subject.

The Art of Choosing Your Readers

Writers need and want to have feedback. It's an important part of the process, that process of polishing and rewriting that can make even the boldest, most disciplined writer cringe. And it's the part where family, friends, acquaintances and sometimes even strangers can become an integral part of the "writer's team."

When people think about a writer's team, they often think of the agent, editor, contract attorney or publicist. Not many think of those individuals who step back and let a writer write when he needs to be writing, and step forward when he not only needs support but supportive critique. Few think about the readers, the guinea pigs, the brave souls who agree to set aside valuable time, read (or re-read) an unfinished work, and share their unvarnished opinion.

There is an art to choosing readers. There are questions to be asked. "Does this person read a lot? Does he read books in my genre? Have a discerning mind? Does he possess strong analytical skills and is he able to give solid constructive criticism? Is analysis one of his strengths to begin with? Is he astute enough to recognize my 'voice' when reading my work, and believe in me well enough not to think I should sound like someone else?"

Your circle of readers should include people who share your socio-economic background, profession, or tastes, whether it be in literature, sports, or ice cream. But the circle must also include those who differ from you significantly. The first group can provide critique from the point of view of those "in the know." The second can give you insight into the universality of your story.

I recently read a remarkable manuscript about a young girl of mixed heritage who is growing up under strict parentage in the Caribbean. Before passing it to me, the writer had given the manuscript to a reader who is white and Irish. The reader said she identified with the main character's struggle for personal development because it reflected issues that she too had faced, issues that surpassed ethnicity, nationality and geographic location. "It made me feel very good that she connected (with the story) in so many ways," the writer said. She also handed her story to a male reader, who saw enough of the human story in it to enjoy it and not simply dismiss it as "women's literature."

So try to have a diverse group of readers. It's good to have at least three; better to have four. After all, people do get busy. The most important thing is to have people who really do love to read, who are passionate about it, and to have people who respect and support your efforts as a writer. Please avoid naysayers and dream-killers.

All of this sounds obvious, doesn't it? The need to have readers and how to choose them. But over at Gentle Pen, we've been surprised at how little thought some writers put into selecting their readers. They haphazardly ask spouses, parents, folks they've run into. The results can be disappointing at best, hurtful and damaging at worst. So think before you ask someone to read your work and choose wisely.

Until next week, I wish you the best!

Persia

Dear Author

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday season. I’m finally back after an extended vacation, which included too much down time, way too much food, and not nearly enough writing. But it’s back to the old grind. I’ve decided to dedicate today’s post to something I’ve been wanting to address for a long time: requests for advice and help that many authors get from aspiring writers.

I get a lot of these emails, which I have no problem with. I’m always happy to help. I’ve spoken to writers groups, book clubs, and libraries about writing and publishing. I always try and give people resources for further info. But what I can do is very limited.

For instance, I got an email from someone about a week before Christmas telling me that they were going to be in town on a certain day and wanted to know when I would be available to meet with them to answer their questions about publishing and writing. I didn’t know this person from a hole in the wall. I politely wrote back and told them that while I was more than happy to answer any question they had via email, I was not available to meet with them in person. I didn’t get a response back, which didn’t surprise me.

A lot of people aren’t really looking for advice. They’re looking for the almighty hook-up, or at the very least they want someone to read their work and declare them the next big thing. In short, they think I can help them get published. Well I have news for you: Most authors, myself included, have absolutely no power to help anyone get published. Some of us are barely published ourselves. But, here’s what I can do:

1.I can give you the contact info and submission guidelines for my publisher.

2.I can share how I got published, for what it’s worth, since everyone’s journey is different.

3.I can recommend a list of websites, books, and blogs on publishing and writing.

4.I can come talk to your writer’s group, book club, etc.

5.I can recommend mystery authors to read and books or articles about the mystery genre.

Here’s what I can’t do:

1.I cannot read your manuscript. In these litigious times it’s just unwise. Plus, if I read everyone’s manuscript I’d have no time to work or write.

2.I cannot refer you to my agent. This is a very touchy question that puts an author on the spot. I mean, would you refer a complete stranger whose work you were unfamiliar with for an opening at your job? Because that is in essence what you are asking when you ask an author to do this for you. You are asking us to put our reputations on the line for someone we don’t know. Of course they’re are exceptions to this rule. If you are already published, established, have and agent and are looking to switch, or you’ve already been offered a book deal but have no agent to negotiate for you, you can usually find someone willing to make a referral for you.

3.I can’t give you advice on genres I don’t write in. I’m a mystery writer. I don’t know squat about romance, poetry, or nonfiction. But I get tons of emails from people who write in these areas. I can only give them limited help.

Here are a few tips on how to approach an author for help.

1.Be aware that most of us have day jobs and families on top of our writing deadlines and may not have time to give you immediate answers to your questions.

2.Never be rude! Publishing is a very small world. If you do get published and have been rude and difficult, it gets around and can have a negative impact on your career.

3.Give some indication that you know who we are and are familiar with what we write.

4.Always say thank you! Honestly, out of every ten emails I answer about publishing and writing I get maybe one thank you and that’s no exaggeration.

I hope this post doesn’t make it sound like I don’t want to help people because that’s the furthest thing from the truth. But no one can do it for you. You have to create your own destiny and chart your own course. All I can do is help point you in the write —yes, I spelled it that way on purpose—direction.

Have a good one!
Angela

MY "TO DO" LIST FOR 2008

Hey Everybody,

I’m the Crime Sistah who pretty much did a disappearing act for 2007. But I’m back!

These days, I’m gearing up for the release of my third novel, Murder on the Down Low, which is scheduled to go on sale July 1, 2008. While, I’m anxious to move forward with another project, I can’t seem to let the book go, so I tweak, and tweak and tweak. Soon, I’ll have to say, enough is enough.

I want to share my list of New Year’s resolutions in the hope that by making them public I’ll stick to them. Luckily, I only have five. I vow to:

Spend daily time in prayer and meditation, even if I only have five minutes. I have so much on my plate at the moment that all I seem to do is throw balls in the air and hope that they don’t come down. Well, no matter how busy I think I am, I’m going to start the day out giving thanks. So far, so good for 2008 on this one.

Exercise at least three days a week, even if I can only find 20 minutes. Didn’t meet this goal for the first week of the year, but I have 51 more weeks left.

Read my snail mail at least once a week. I’m an email addict. If you send me an invitation via snail mail, don’t expect to see me at your event. (Thank God for electronic bill pay!) I now have a bucket of mail that I vow to read before Saturday. We’ll see.

Blog once a week. (I promise!)

Continue to pursue my passion: writing legal thrillers. This one is a sure bet!

Pamela Samuels-Young

Hello All,

I've decided to take a breather this morning and use my laptop for something other than emailing and writing legal thrillers.

At the moment, I'm hiding out in my timeshare in Palm Desert, California, working on my next novel, tentatively titled -- Conditions of Employment. When you still hold down a "regular" job, it's truly a luxury to have an entire week to do nothing but write. So my vacation time is devoted to non-stop writing. I figure I can lay on a beach and read a good book AFTER I'm a best selling author.

I recently read Walter Mosley's, This Year You Write Your Novel, and found it quite encouraging and helpful. He proclaims that you can finish a first draft in three months if you write every day. Unfortunately, I've never been one of those writers who write every day. Life, just seems to get in the way. But . . . I'm still going to give it a try. I'm currently in the process of outlining the book. (I don't like to write a word until my outline is complete!)

Once my outline is done, I'm going to put Mosley's three-month rule to the test. I will keep you posted on my success.

By the way . . . my fellow Sister in Crime, Angela Henry, whips 'em out at the speed of lightening. So she's already a testimony that it can be done!

Pamela Samuels Young
"John Grisham with a Sister's Twist"

In Firm Pursuit is on sale now!