Spoiled

With well intentions, I created a monster. It started innocently enough. I felt sorry for my dog, Rascal, who would eye my people food longingly. Since she's getting older, I thought she may as well live it up, and enjoy what I denied her before. I started slipping scraps into her bowl, along with the dog food. Unfortunately, the result is she's become very picky and won't eat her dog food unless something for people is mixed in with it. And, even then, she's become picky. Only certain kinds of people food meet her qualifications. However, when she's happy with what I've provided, she grunts with pleasure and snarfs it down, like she can't get enough of it.

I couldn't help relating her experience to mine when it comes to books, especially on kindle. Before, when I picked up a book and it didn't meet my expectations right away, I was content to keep reading and wait for at least one good part to turn up. Sometimes, I would read an entire book, not because it was so great, but only because I'd started it and felt obligated to finish it.

Now, I expect the good part to start right from the beginning, and it has to keep being good until the end, or I'll start another book instead. If the next doesn't work immediately, I'll start yet another, until I find one to my liking.

I'm afraid, like Rascal, I've become spoiled. With the proliferation of books available, either free or at reasonable prices for my kindle, it's so very easy for me to be picky.

I suspect a lot more readers have become as spoiled as I am. Are you?

See Morgan Mandel's books on her Amazon Author Page:

http://www.amazon.com/author/morganmandel

Excerpts & buy links at Morgan's Book Links Blog:

http://morgansbooklinks.blogspot.com

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Twitter:@MorganMandel 

Nothing Better to Do

My dog, Rascal, gets easily bored. She also craves attention. On nice weather days she's content to sun herself in our backyard.  However, on the not so nice days, especially the rainy ones, she's got nothing better to do than to get into devilment.

I watch her casing the house, searching for targets. Her favorite is paper. At times, I'll purposely leave unneeded papers on the floor under my desk to prevent her from finding  more important ones and destroying them. Okay, I'm not the neatest person in the world, but I do try. Still, she's adept at foraging into odd spots and finding bounty.

Today, she discovered a gauze bandage complete with wrapper, which had apparently fallen under the dining room table, or perhaps onto one of the chairs. I didn't notice it beforehand, but her x-rays vision did!

Don't feel sorry for her. She's got plenty of toys to play with, but they sit neglected. To her, something new is always better. Not only is it fun to chew, but it also gains my attention.


This time I was able to offer her one of her marrow bones, plus a few stuffed animals in exchange for the papers, and she actually played with them  for a few minutes. Right now, she's decided to sleep and give me some peace. I'm not sure how long that will last.



What does Rascal have to do with mysteries? Well, to paint a well-rounded villain, the author should in some way hint at or present a reason why that person chose the wrong path. A few that fit with Rascal's scenario might also apply to your villain. Perhaps that person, with nothing compelling enough to hold interest, such as a hobby, a job, or a cause, sought to relieve boredom by going down the wrong path. Or, perhaps, that person as a child was ignored by parents or guardians. Or, later, for some reason that person went unnoticed by peers. Performing an illegal act, even going so far as to murder one or more people, may seem the perfect solution for gaining attention. The media only feeds the frenzy, by highlighting abnormal behavior, almost to the point of rewarding the perpetrator.

Of course, there are tons of other motives for villains to commit crimes. Maybe you'd like to name one and offer a book or real life example.

Morgan Mandel writes when she gets bored and at other
times. Find excerpts from her mysteries and romances
at http://morgansbooklinks.blogspot.com

Website: http://www.morganmandel.com

Twitter: @MorganMandel

Spring Fling Conference next weekend by Morgan Mandel

The Spring Fling Conference is only days from now. My thriller, Forever Young, is not yet completed, although I've made good headway. I'm afraid I've spent too much time promoting Killer Career and not enough on writing. I've made this mistake before, but never learn. (g)

If I stayed up night and day until Friday, it still wouldn't be ready. I may have made it on time, but I've changed the entire structure of the novel. I'm saving some of my characters for a spinoff, because there were just too many to keep track of without confusing readers. I believe my novel will be stronger and tighter, but wish I would have originally decided to write it this way.

So, I'll still meet with the agent, tell her what the story is about, see if I like her and she likes me, then go from there.  That way we can both relax after that and talk about whatever we feel like. - Like maybe my children's book about my dog, Rascal. That can be ready for her very soon if she doesn't want illustrations. I'd like to figure out Photoshop CS4, but it will take me a while.

So, here I am with two books not finished. Maybe she'll want to see partials and that's a step in the right direction.

What about you? Do you have any manuscripts ready for submission, or are you still working on your WIP?

Have you ended up emptyhanded at a conference when you thought you'd be ready?

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/
http://facebook.com/morgan.mandel