Remember the Weather

Sometimes, I get so wrapped up in writing a novel, I almost forget what season it's in, or what the weather's supposed to be like. Somewhere along the way, my plot reminds me to figure that out. If I haven't included a locale, that's a necessity. Weather is not the same everywhere.

Today, every radio and television broadcast warns that the Northeast portion of the United States is bracing for a humongous snowstorm, which could dump 2-3 feet of snow that way. Fortunately, here in Illinois, we're only expecting about one inch of snow.

Weather can and should play a role in our novels. Characters live in a world, which in many ways is governed by weather and seasons. That's not to say weather completely controls humans, but it can play a huge part in their behavior and day-to-day activities.

For some reason, fuses are shorter in the hot months, and more fights and murders occur. I'm not sure why tempers flare then, but suspect it may be a physiological phenomenon. Even if that weren't so, keep in mind it's easier to get around and do nefarious things when there's no snow, ice, or cold blocking the way.

Of course, cold, snowy winters also have their advantages. Nefarious happenings can go unnoticed when no one else is around. People like to hunker down in their homes then and not venture out unless necessary, or if attacked by a case of cabin fever. Also, snowbanks can be handy spots to hide bodies, not to be discovered until after a thaw.

http://amzn.com/B002PDOPPG

In my romantic suspense, Killer Career, a snowstorm brings the heroine and hero closer together romantically, after they work in tandem to clear her driveway. The weather also furthers the mystery plot. When the neighbor comes over to ask if they've seen her dog, they search the lady's yard, and at first are hindered because snow has obliterated the paw prints.

http://amzn.com/B00R20N0B2

In my sweet romance, Christmas Carol, a snowstorm brings about a chance meeting between a waitress and a big-time author in a small town.

What other examples can you think of where weather plays a role in a novel?

 

Morgan Mandel writes mysteries, thrillers and romances. You can find her at:
http://www.morganmandel.com
http://morgansbooklinks.blogspot.com

Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/MorganMandel

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/morgan.mandel
Twitter: @MorganMandel

 

Does Anyone Know How to Market?

by Kaye George (also w.a. Janet Cantrell)

I was asked for tips today from a writer who is newly published. I gave her what I could think of at the moment: Goodreads giveaway, read Jeffrey Marks’ INTENT TO SELL, watch what Rebecca Dalhke does.

But, really, besides those, how does one market a new mystery? How do YOU market your mysteries?

Here are some things I do (never knowing what works and what doesn’t).

I guest blog when a new book or short story anthology comes out, wherever I can. I’ve accumulated a list of places where I seem welcome and am always looking for new ones, usually mentioned on one of the writers’ lists I belong to.

I put the news in my newsletter. I put it on my blogs. I cross-reference these as best I can for increased visibility.

If I’m in an area with cool bookstores, I get signings. I now have a signing lined up here in Knoxville at Books A Million for my second Fat Cat book.

I try to appear on panels at conferences, also to increase visibility.

For every brand new story and book, I post the releases on the discussion lists and Facebook groups I belong to.

I try to build up hype before publication with the above-mentioned Goodreads giveaways, plus giveaways on guest blogs and my own blogs. I give away ARCs as well as actual books.

When a conference accepts auction baskets for charity, I put one together with some themed items for the new release. I already have a few cute cat things for Malice in May to promote my Fat Cat series.

I had mugs made for DEATH IN THE TIME OF ICE and for EINE KLEINE MURDER and have done giveaways of them.

When a conference lets me take bids on a name in one of my upcoming novels, I do that. It’s amazing how much attention those get! Some day I hope to be coordinated enough to offer a pet name in an upcoming book.

If a book takes place in a real town, I contact someone official there to let them know.

I have no idea if any of this does any good. But I do know that if I don’t do anything, I won’t sell much.

Any great ideas?

My Role Model: Ernest Hemingway

by Jean Henry Mead

Ernest Hemingway has always been my writing role model. Not only because his work changed the face of writing, but because he was a fellow novelist and journalist. My interest in him intensified when I learned that I was born on his birthday, July 21. A framed photograph of him sits on my office desk, and I was told by Elmore Leonard, during my interview with him, that a large photo of Hemingway hung in his office because he was also most influenced by his work.

The following are a few of Hemingway's quotes:

~There's no rule on how it is to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly. Sometimes it is like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.

~[I'll] work again on the novel today. Writing is a hard business, but nothing makes you feel better. 

~I love to write. But it has never gotten any easier to do and you can't expect it to if you keep trying for something better than you can do.

~The good parts of a book may be only something a writer is lucky enough to overhear or it may be the wreck of his whole damn life--and one is as good as the other.

~A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book.

~Whatever success I have had has been through writing what I know about.

When asked what the best early training is for a writer, Hemingway answered: "An unhappy childhood." Whether his answer was tongue in cheek is irrelevant. I'm sure he meant that emotions such as sadness, anger, rebellion and depression are remembered emotions which contribute to good writing. And writing that elicits reader emotion is the primary ingredient in a successful book.

(Quotes from Ernest Hemingway on Writing, edited by Larry W. Phillips, Scribner, 1984.)

A Place for Me

by Janis Patterson

I call it my office, though that is a grandiose term for a small desk on the short wall of the guest room. Still, it’s mine, and I can go in there, close off the outside world and work. At least, that’s the way it was supposed to be. After some much-needed (and unfortunately ongoing) remodeling on the house and the decision to get rid of our storage units, which necessitated the sorting and going through of all kinds of family stuff, my office without warning morphed into an overcrowded lumber room. It seemed that everything that we wanted to keep but didn’t have an immediate place or which had to be looked through in order to determine final distribution got dumped in there. Now I have a high tolerance for clutter, but all of a sudden it went over the top when I couldn’t turn my desk chair around.

As a consequence I have been opening boxes and sorting and getting rid of stuff! That which we definitely want to keep but have no immediate place for (such as my great-great-grandmother’s sugar bowl, creamer and spoons dish) is carefully packed into uniform new boxes and stored in the garage, which has been remodeled just for such a purpose. Our favorite charity, an orphanage for abused and abandoned animals, has received several pick-up loads of still-good castoffs for resale in their charity shop.

And still the stuff is there! I have decided that one of the secret truths of the universe is that both boxes and books breed. And generally faster than we can sort them. We have been on this decluttering, downsizing ideology since our marriage (when we combined the stuff from four separate households – long story) and it seems that we have more stuff now than when we started. I tell you, it breeds!

One of the major decisions is to make the room more officelike. We have a suite of antique furniture in there – double bed, dresser, chest and nightstand – that had belonged to my father’s mother and is over 100 years old. It’s beautiful and I love it, and not just because it came to me when I was about ten to become my girlhood furniture. It’s just that the stuff is massive and the guest room is a very small room. So – we have decided to continue using the chest and dresser, but get rid of the mattress and springs and knock the bed down. It will be stored with other ancestral pieces in the garage. We’re going to replace it with a single (antique, of course) bed that belonged to The Husband’s family. That will still allow us to shelter a guest, and give me the convenience of a daybed/couch in my office, but free up so much room.

Another thing I have decided to do is hang pictures. The room had two or three in it from the beginning, conventionally hung one to a wall. A sad fact is that our house has a very open floor plan, which means there is very little wallspace for hanging things. As we were going through things I found so many paintings and things that I love, so I decided to hang them. All of them. The result is solid blocks of paintings on every wall and I love it, though the visual cacophony is something of a sensory overload. Neither are the styles congruent. There are huge paintings from J.K. Durbin and Brad Jernigan and 3 or 4 from my mother’s mother, the smallest of this lot being roughly 2x3feet. There are smaller ones by James Rather and Bud Biggs and my parents and an aunt. There are an antique floral chromolithograph and a 17^th century copper repousse Madonna and Child. There are some 1,000 year old scraps of incredibly detailed Wari weavings and a rattle and a blowpipe (complete with carefully sheathed darts) from the Peruvian jungles. Are the darts poison-tipped? I don’t know and I’m being very careful not to find out! I have some of the original artwork from Danny and the Dustbunnies, my only (so far) children’s book. There are two original D. R. Rago archaeological illustrations of an ancient skull. Also, there’s an ornate brass oil lamp from an 18^th century Middle Eastern monastery library and a small collection of reverse-paintings on glass.

Yes, I have very diverse tastes.

The Husband wonders if all this color and crowding might not be distracting from my work. I don’t think so. I am surrounded by things I love, things that each have their own special, personal history for me, things from all kinds of places and times. To me that’s inspiring, not distracting. It makes a somewhat generic guest room into my nest.

Now if I can just get ahead of the brown paper boxes….

Another One of Those Busy Times

There are those who think I'm always busy--but the better word might be occupied. But right now, I really am busy.

My next Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery, Violent Departures, is at the publisher's. As I'm writing this, in my in-box is a rough draft of the final product that I need to go over. (By the time this appears I will have done it.)

I received an email from the publisher's assistant as to suggestions for a cover. I'm really not sure. I looked through some stock photos and picked three that might work. A lot will depend upon how the title is done.

One of the things I always do is a blog tour and I'm planning that now. It won't happen until April but it is a lot of work gathering hosts, setting up the calendar and then writing all the blogs. Each one needs to be unique and interesting enough that at least some people will follow along.

I'm also writing the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery--and I need to keep at least one chapter ahead of my critique group which meets every week. (Thank goodness, since the book will be due at the end of summer.)

In the meantime, I have to keep hubby happy, run my household, teach my Sunday School class, do my duties as church clerk, and enjoy my big, big family.

This is a photo that inspired the coming Violent Departures.

Marilyn Meredith who who writes the RBPD series as F. M. Meredith

Out of Thin Air

Hey, MMM fans. I've been thinking about where our stories come from. Actually, I listened to a lecture Stephen King gave to a Massachusetts University on U-tube. He talked about the kernels that stayed with him. Those were the things he knew he would write, sooner or later.

He started Under the Dome when he was still teaching high school. But, he put the book away, wondering if it was too big for him to write then.

I have one of those books on my desk top. I've been playing with the woman's fiction for a couple of years now, maybe longer. I have the first scene in my head but I haven't felt comfortable enough to dive into the lake and find the lake monster. Not quite yet. Although the book keeps calling to me. I loved hearing King talk about his own process. It made me feel a little less freaky and more like a writer.

Today I hit send on an email to my editor. It's a new cozy proposal that I started playing with last summer during my two week driving trip out west to Idaho. The idea has been marinating for months, with me writing notes about the project. Then last week, I sat down and started making decisions. Who, what, where, when, and how. And one more decision, why. Who were the characters and why were they on the page when they were? My notebook page looked like doodles rather than an outline. But it worked and I'm excited to begin this new adventure.

So where do your stories come from fellow MMM authors? Do they drop down fully cooked as if you dreamed them? Or are you a mad plotter with spreadsheets and pages done before you even start to write the story?

Or are you like me, someone who takes an idea and plays with it for a while in my head before it turns into a story?

Lynn

By the way, GUIDEBOOK TO MURDER, the book that hit the NYT's list last summer is on sale through January. Amazon/Nook/Kobo - it's $1.99. It's a great time to take a chance on a new series.

Some Quotes on Writing

by Kaye George

I love to collect inspirational quotes, that is, quotes that inspire my writing. I’d love to hear your favorites. Here are some of mine. Several of these have been posted here before, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat the best ones.

“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” -Orson Welles

“The way to make a film is to begin with an earthquake and work up to a climax.” -Cecil B. DeMille

“I'm thinking literary focuses on the moment when the character changes, and the genre focuses on what the character does with that change.” -Stephen D. Rogers

“No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you’re still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.” -Unknown

“Writing is a lot like prostitution. First you do it for love. Then you do it for money. Then you recruit others. “ -Moliere

 "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working." - Pablo Picasso

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Every time you sit down to write, you should be afraid of losing the reader at any moment of any page." - Playwright William Gibson

“That was the moment I changed from an amateur to a professional.  I assumed the burden of the professional which is to write even when you don’t want to, don’t much like what you are writing and aren’t writing particularly well.”-Agatha Christie

"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." – Confucius

Crime and Punishment - Whose is Which?

by Janis Patterson

The saddest crimes are not always fictional. Neither do they always involve gain or murder, or, if you want to be pedantic, an actual crime. Not all crimes break the law. Some crimes are the law and not even the most dedicated sleuth can set them aright.

Last year the Dallas City Council, acting against the will of the people, enacted a ban on single-use plastic bags which went into effect January 1. Pardon me, a ban on FREE plastic bags. You can still go to the store and get exactly the same bags you always did, but now you have to pay for them. The city gets about .03 for every plastic bag you get now. I think if a company or an individual enforced such a system it would sound very much like extortion.

The rationale was the money is to pay the cost of cleanup of plastic bags that are allowed to fly around. I live in a neighborhood where if I see a single loose plastic bag in a year it is something worth remarking on, but in the two weeks before the City Council vote unfettered plastic bags flew around like arctic snowflakes. And, like snowflakes in the spring, they vanished as soon as the vote was taken, not to be seen again.

The majority of Dallas citizens made their displeasure with such a scheme known, contacting their council members to protest and say that such an idea was unacceptable. Trying to respond to the will of the people some councilpersons suggested that since the majority of the problem was in a certain part of town, that this part of town be subject to the ban but that the areas without the problem be left unaffected. The resulting argument was laced with all kinds of unprintable epithets. Such a division, said the spearhead of the banning movement (a resident of that part of town and a person some think power-mad), would be unfair.

So does he think it is fair to deprive the citizens who have done nothing of their plastic bags unless they pay a bounty? But the city council, their eyes aglow at the thought of .03 or so a bag, apparently thinks so.

I dislike the label ‘single-use’; after having been used to bring home your shopping these bags are wonderful for damp kitchen garbage, for picking up while walking your dog, for wrapping your shoes to pack in a suitcase, to put your wet bathing suit in for the trip home, to use as a waste receptacle in your car… The number and ways of re-uses are limited only by one’s imagination. I also dislike the much-touted ‘multi-use’ bags; they are ugly, they get dirty and unsanitary very quickly and you must always remember to have some with you and to take them into the store. Plastic bags are so much easier and cleaner.

I also dislike injustice, and of being either deprived or charged all because of something I didn’t do. Being a cynic, I started stockpiling bags as soon as our state capital banned bags, knowing that the power-mad element of our own city government would inevitably flex their own muscles. As a more visible means of protest last month I also bought several thousand blank bags from a wholesaler to take whenever I go to the store. Yes, I had to pay for them, but not one penny for them will fall into the greedy hands of those who voted for the ban. Neither am I the only one to plan to do my future shopping in the suburb cities, therefore depriving Dallas of any sales tax I might owe. Just for the record, I also hate those speed bumps you find on far too many residential streets. They are supposed to be deterrents to speeders; I don’t speed, but even if I slow to a creeping roll I, my passengers, my cargo and my car are shaken and jolted. What government regards as ‘fair to all’ always seems to end up as ‘unfair to those who obey the law’ whether it be littering or speeding.

Perhaps this outrageous insult to the wishes of the citizenry is an object lesson in why people like mysteries. In most mysteries there is a definite crime that is viewed by all as a crime. In most mysteries there is a force (police, detective, amateur sleuth or whatever) who can right the wrong and set society aright again. The will and good of the people is respected and justice triumphs. Even in thrillers, one person – or at most a small group – can fight terrible odds for what is right and save the freedom of the country, the world, the universe, or whatever is at risk. Whether it is the murder of a single person in a country vicarage or the destruction of an entire world such a triumph of what is right and good gives the reader a sense of satisfaction, of order restored. All is set aright. Justice has prevailed.

At least we can still find such a hopeful resolution in fiction. In real life... the politicians win.

Happy 2015! Any Big Plans? Marilyn Meredith

No one really knows what the future holds, but we still make plans.

I'll have a new Rocky Bluff P.D. coming out in March, Violent Departures. (Or at least that's the plan.) Because of that I'm also beginning to arrange a blog tour for April. Anyone interested in hosting me?

So far, except for the Public Safety Writers Association's conference in July, I really haven't scheduled any other cons to attend. The main reason for this is traveling isn't as easy as it used to be.
I am going to be presenting at the PSWA conference, my topic? Avoid All the Mistakes I've Made. (And there's been a-plenty.) I hope it will be amusing and helpful.

As for other in-person events, I'm hoping to be asked to join with the Central Coast Sisters in Crime in some of their plans.

We're supposed to have another Neighborhood Bookstore in the spring.

On my own blog, http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/ January is filled with visiting authors. I hope some of you will stop by and see who will be stopping by.

I will periodically be posting teasers about Violent Departures on my blog.

While all this is going on I'll be writing my next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery--no title as yet, though the plot is coming along nicely.

As for my private life I already have doctor appointments, relatives to visit and visiting me, and all the things I do regularly from teaching Sunday School, attending church, getting to as many of the San Joaquin Sisters in Crime meetings as possible, (that's the closest chapter though takes nearly 2 hours to get there), writing my personal month newsletter, and writing and editing two others.

There's more--but that's certainly enough to give you an idea.

What are you plans for 2015?

Marilyn

Richard Brawer Talks About His Novels

Mystery  is the genre of my first four novels. However after those books, I strayed from mysteries with my first historical fiction novel, then to suspense/thriller novels where I seem to have found my niche.

Are mysteries really that different from suspense/thriller novels? The answer is elusive. In mysteries we want to find out “who done it.” However, if written properly, the reader will be kept in constant suspense. Suspense/thriller novels are written backwards from mysteries. Generally we know the antagonist and why he has put the protagonist in danger. The suspense revolves around how will the protagonist defeat his/her enemy.

For example, my breakout novel, The Nano Experiment, (80 reviews so far with a 4+ average) is a suspense/thriller about an African-American mother of two falsely accused of murder who escapes from death row, battles to prove her innocence and reunite with her children. There is no mystery here. The reader knows the antagonist and why the protagonist is being chased.

On the other hand, suspense novels can also have a mystery theme. For example, my latest novel, Love’s Sweet Sorrow, is a thriller with a mystery woven in. The protagonist uncovers evidence that his boss, the CEO of America’s largest weapons manufacturer, is involved in a conspiracy to sell weapons to terrorists. The mystery is why would the CEO be part of such a conspiracy? In addition, we learn early that the CEO and the man leading the chase to retrieve the evidence are front men, but we don’t know who that top man is.

So Love’s Sweet Sorrow is both a suspense/thriller as well as a mystery. And just to make things more interesting there is a romance as a sub theme.

Blurb:

Ariel’s and Jason’s budding romance is thrown into turmoil when Jason uncovers evidence linking his company’s CEO to arms smugglers selling weapons to terrorists. As the chases and harrowing escapes from those trying to retrieve the evidence intensify, Ariel, a devout Quaker with an absolute aversion to war and murder, is forced to kill to save hers and Jason’s lives.

Jason’s battle to expose the smugglers and convince Ariel that saving their lives was an innate reflex amplifies their differences and compels them to delve deeply into their long-held opposing convictions and question whether they are truly meant to be together.

There are nine reviews on Amazon including the editorial reviews. This one sums them up. “Exciting thriller and love story extraordinaire!”

Read more about Richard and his books at his website: www.richardbrawer.com

Love’s Sweet Sorrow is available in a trade paperback and e-book wherever books are sold.

E-book: $2.99
Trade Paperback: $11.99

A couple of the more popular links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Loves-Sweet-Sorrow-Richard-Brawer/dp/0989063275/ref=sr_1_1_twi_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416768814&sr=8-1&keywords=love%27s+sweet+sorrow

BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/loves-sweet-sorrow-richard-brawer/1119960392?ean=2940149824779&isbn=2940149824779

KOBO: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Love%27s+Sweet+Sorrow

Also can be ordered from any bookstore by title or ISBN: 978-0-9890632-7-2

Love’s Sweet Sorrow is published by Vinspire Publishing, a well respected mid-size publisher.

Bio:
After graduating the University of Florida and a six month basic training tour in the National Guard, Richard worked 35 years in the textile and retail industries.  Always an avid reader, Richard began writing mystery, suspense and historical fiction novels in 1994.  When not writing, he spends his time exploring local history. He has two married daughters and lives in New Jersey with his wife.