Short Isn't Necessarily Simple...

by Janis Patterson

It's an old story. The other day I was catching up with a friend I seldom see and in the course of our conversation I mentioned that I had written five novels last year. Her eyes grew wide and she asked in wonder how could I get that many ideas, let alone in one year.

Like I said, it's an old story; I've written many times about the plethora of ideas that constantly swirl around and how getting an idea is one of the easiest things in the world.

An idea for a book, that is. Blogs are a totally different animal. I blog of three times a month on three group blogs - Classic and Cozy, Ladies of Mystery and right here at Make Mine Mystery. About once every six to ten weeks I serve my turn at Not Your Usual Suspects and I also do a guest blog every once in a while. Blogs usually shouldn't be over a thousand words and generally closer to five hundred, so you'd think that writing a blog would be a walk in the park compared to the sixty to one hundred thousand words of a book, wouldn't you?

You're partially right. Writing a blog is easy... once you have the idea. And that's where I fall flat on my face. Blogs should be short, concise and focused. Sadly, there are those of us afflicted with hyper-verbosity who can't even say 'Good morning' in less than three hundred words.

Plus, there is the minefield of subject. I usually try to stay on the subject of writing, but let's face it, after half a dozen years of writing blogs there's only so much you can say about writing without starting to repeat myself. I don't want to say too much about my personal life, and though I am a tireless activist for the political and other causes I believe in, I don't think a professional blog is really the place for such subjects. (Though I do confess to having slipped a time or two...)

Which leaves the problem of finding an idea to write about. Once an idea is nailed down writing five hundred to a thousand words more or less is a cinch. It's getting the idea that is the stumbling block. Books are easy - they're a big canvas I can paint with a broad brush and put in lots of exciting events and subplots. To mix metaphors, a blog is a surgical strike - a short, hopefully sweet focus of information.

Sigh. It sounds a lot easier than it is. But I will keep trying. You can decide for yourself if that is a promise or a threat!

Beginnings, Endings and In Between

                                                                                                                  by Janis Patterson

There are few things more wonderful than starting a new book. A whole new world full of promise and excitement beckons, along with a new population of characters who are eagerly anticipating your bringing them to life and giving them directions to a satisfying resolution.

There are few things more terrifying than starting a new book. An unfamiliar and possible dangerous world lies in wait, along with a possibly hostile population of characters who will block and frustrate you at every turn and go their own way no matter what you have planned.

The truly frightening thing is that both statements are absolutely true. Like the Red Queen, it really is possible to believe two absolutely impossible things at the same time.

One of my favorite exercises in masochism is to compare the book that actually got written with the book that was so carefully planned. There are usually, however, a few points of congruency; most of the time, though, they’re two totally different books.

I’ve written at length about how my characters simply will not behave. They walk in, take over and pretty much run things the way they see fit, and perhaps that is rightly so. This is their life I’ve created, and they should have some say in how it works out. On the other hand, so should I, as I am the one who has made all this up, but that doesn’t seem to count. It’s odd, but I have come to believe that perhaps my characters are better writers than I…

Now if I could only find out a way for them to create their own stories, worry with foreshadowing and motivation and plausibility and get the whole thing down in a readable form… Then perhaps while they’re doing that I could go take care of housework and laundry and all else that needs to be done!

I’m not holding my breath, though. In the meantime, I have a new book to begin, a new land to create/explore and a new population to deal with. Maybe this time I will actually get the upper hand. But – like I said, I’m not holding my breath.

Blurbs, Excerpts and Other Annoyances

by Janis Patterson

I’ve said many times the bane of my life is doing publicity. From the time I was nine years old I grew up working in my parents’ advertising agency where creating ads and placing them internationally was an everyday occurrence. I know how to do publicity. I can write a press release that can sell a thousand widgets. I can do a visual that is pure poetry. I just hate it, especially when one doesn’t have an adequate budget – or even much of a budget at all! Even worse is the fact that I was raised in a very old-fashioned manner, meaning that one does not put oneself forward, that is it vulgar to stand up and say ‘Look at me, look at me!’ My family was not quite so primitive as to believe that a lady’s name appeared in the newspaper only three times in her life – birth, marriage, death – but to blow one’s own horn was both crass and cheap.

Sometimes our earliest lessons are the hardest to unlearn.

Which brings me to blurbs. And their bigger cousin, the excerpt. Lots of places take blurbs and excerpts on certain publicity days. Everyone knows you need an excerpt on your website. What ‘everyone’ does not tell you is how we are supposed to take our complex, multi-character, multi-plot book and boil it down to 250-300 words that have any kind of clarity or appeal. Some of us cannot even say ‘good morning’ in 250-300 words!

And as for excerpts - ! Same problem,  just longer. You’re supposed to have a pithy, intriguing scene that will so enchant someone that they will immediately want to buy the book – all in about 1,000 words or less. Trouble is, in my books at least, intriguing scenes are not perfect little capsules. The action is ongoing and interlaced, not chopped up into precise soundbites. And by action, I mean the story – not car explosions and shootings and fistfights. Though all of those do happen occasionally in some of my books…

For that matter, how can you take a slice out of a book and have someone know what’s going on without any backstory or knowledge of the characters? In the excerpt John and Mary are talking – or fighting – or making love. Who are John and Mary? Friends? Lovers? Foes? What is their relationship? Do they have a backstory? What outside forces are acting on them? To get all that information into an excerpt brings it perilously close to an info dump.

Do you get the idea I don’t like either blurbs or excerpts?

On the other hand, I don’t know of any other way to get any attention for one particular book out of the bazillions that are flying around out there. No one book will please everyone. Some books please more people than others. How to get a reader to pick up and buy my – or your – book when there is such an incredible choice out there is a daunting if not downright impossible task.

And I don’t have any better answers. If I did, I’d be both smart and rich.

Now, if you will please excuse me, I have a blurb to write and some excerpts to choose. Darn it.

Beginnings, Birthdays and Books

by Janis Patterson

Yesterday was my birthday. I won’t tell you which one, only that it’s a big one – one of the ‘0’ ones. An entire new decade lies before me, and it’s taking all my courage not to turn around and attempt to run the other way, back through previous decades which, no matter how scary they seemed at the time, suddenly seem safe and easy.

Every birthday is a step into the unknown; if you want to be picky, I guess that every day could be regarded the same, but a birthday – especially an ‘0’ one – is so much more cosmic. It’s a new beginning, much as the beginning of a new book.

Now that’s not so big of a stretch, to compare a birthday and a book. A new book is a completely different world, and world-view, and commitment. Your life will never be the same once you type ‘Chapter One’ or do your outline or whatever it is you do to start a new book. You are committed, either voluntarily or involuntarily, to a new state of being that will affect your life majorly for a while and minorly for the rest of your life. The actual length of time is immaterial, because when the project is over, you can’t go back to being the way you were before. You will be irrevocably changed.

Life is constantly in flux; each day is different, just as each page in a book is different. It’s just that milestones – birthdays, beginnings – always seem so much more noticeable. Especially the birthdays. Especially the big birthdays. The ‘0’ birthdays. It is a literal change in your life. But – whether it’s writing, or birthdays… it sure beats the heck out of the alternative!

Writing, Magic and Electricity

by Janis Patterson

I am always astonished when people ask, “Where do you get your ideas?” The world is full of ideas. Almost anything can spark an idea. At a writers lunch not long ago someone brought a very technical book on statistical analysis they had just published as a part of their day job. The subject was so esoteric while I could read every word in the title, but could not understand what they meant as a whole. (I am definitely among the mathematically and scientifically inept!) When the author explained, I said, “But what a wonderful idea for a plot!”

Everyone looked at me as if I had just lost my mind and one writer was blunt enough to say, “Not for me, it doesn’t,” whereupon I spun out the skeleton of a tale including – as I recall – rogue scientists, an honest researcher and various unscrupulous types manipulating the future through scientific predictions based on statistical data.

It’s usually at this point where The Husband says, “You’re weird.” This impromptu story-spinning of mine has been part of me all my life and is now an almost obligatory performance at dinner parties and other social functions. Pity I don’t remember any of these tales for more than ten minutes or so.

The point of all this being that anything – anything! – can be the germ, the seed, the kernel of a plot. Of course, we all know that for a book you need hundreds of ideas, ideas that will interlink into a seamless whole, but every plot starts with a single idea, even if you don’t know from where it comes.

And they do come – in waves and deluges and herds… The only trouble is that they don’t necessarily mesh with each other enough to make a coherent plot.

In a way it’s a shame to let all those ideas die without even attempting to incorporate them into a manuscript, but sheer numbers and time crunches make that impossible. The whole exercise is extremely useful, though, as just that – an exercise for my imagination. As the saying goes, use it or lose it. Therefore I fully intend to keep on entertaining (and occasionally unnerving) those around me with my flights of fancy. As an acknowledged member of the Reality-Challenged, it’s great fun.

So how do I decide which idea becomes a book or even part of a book and which is an amusing piece of ephemera? Easy – I don’t. It’s the idea. It grabs ahold of me and won’t let go. No matter what else I’m working on – writing or cooking or anything – it’s somewhere there in my mind, as tenacious (and occasionally annoying) as a terrier. Eventually I give in and start writing. Generally every one of those books is finished, usually including a few ideas that somehow didn’t manage to stand on their own. I do have a few – a very few – of these stories that petered out before the final ‘The End’, but I don’t think they’re dead. They’re just dormant, and when the right combination of ideas comes together they will be finished, even if not in the form I originally intended.

That’s why I think writing is a form of magic. Like electricity, I don’t really know how it works, I just know that that it does.

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

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/morgan.mandel

Twitter:@MorganMandel 

Are You a Bibliophile?

by Jean Henry Mead

I confess. I’m a bibliophile.

I love books. Old books, new books, signed books and rare books, especially mystery novels. They're among my most prized possessions. I literally have thousands of books and they’re in every room. We’ve run out of bookcases and many of the ones that have already been read are in boxes, but I can’t bring myself to get rid of them. I still have some from childhood (back in the dark ages).

Another bibliophile, Anne Fadiman, wrote that people who revere first editions and books with lovely covers, and who worry about readers defiling them by writing in the margins, are what she calls “courtly lovers.” She also said that readers “who split open books as if they were ripe fruit, who dog-ear pages and use paperbacks as table mats, are carnal lovers." Which of Fadiman’s categories do you fit into?

I dread the day I have to move because it would cost a fortune to move all these books. And what a backbreaking job that would be. I'm reminded of the time I interviewed Louis L’Amour at his southern California home. His huge office contained floor to ceiling hinged bookcases. Behind them were identical bookcases filled with some 10,000 books. I’m sure he was a fellow bibliophile. I was happy to find one of my own books hiding there on one of the lower shelves next to a copy of Riders of the Purple Sage.

I felt sorry for L’Amour’s housekeeper. Have you ever tried dusting 10,000 books? No wonder librarians are always sneezing. Even my dog sneezes when I take out my swivel duster. Not that I dust mine every day. Writers need time away from housework, but the temptation to caress my books while I take a break at my desk is irresistible. They’re stacked on both sides of my computer and all along the top in built-in bookcases, just sitting there waiting for me to take them down and open them. Or just run my fingers along their spines. It makes me tingle just thinking about it. Western writer Elmer Kelton once told me that his book collection seemed to breed overnight. Bibliophiles are a sensual lot.

Just when it seemed as though a bedroom would have to be converted into a library, ebook readers came along during the '90s and I bought one when my own books were published electronically. I've since gone through the clumsy originals as well as Kindles, a Nook and an iPad, but there's still nothing like holding a print book in my hands, smelling the aroma of ink and rifling through the pages as though on a treasure hunt.

Which format do you prefer and would you trade print books for exclusive electronic reading?

What Are You Reading....

....On?

It’s become the question of the new century. No longer are we reading only hard cover or paperback….now we can read also on our smartphones, computers, laptops, MP3 players, tablets and dedicated readers. Each has its benefits and drawbacks.

Some people still prefer the feel of a book in their hands. A friend was telling me the other day she loves the bindings, the smell of the paper and ink and it’s part of the comfortable feeling of reading for her. Others find holding a traditional book can become uncomfortable or even painful after a while. But they don’t want to give up the joy of reading.

The various electronic ways of reading have their benefits and drawbacks as well. A desktop keeps you sitting in your office chair. A laptop is more portable, but still heavy compared to an ereader. A tablet like an iPad or Playbook is very light and easy to hold, but more the size of a hardcover book. An MP3 player, iPod Touch or smartphone is super-portable, but some find the screen small for reading. All these devices have a lot of glare on their screens if you want to sit outside on a nice day to read.

The new eInk readers like the Kindle, Nook, Kobo and Sony Reader are light, portable, easy to tuck in a purse or commuter bag. They have dedicated bookstores and it’s quick and straightforward to download a new book. However, they’re not backlit, so low light presents a problem. However, there are lots of clip-on lights to get around that. Some people don’t want to have to buy another device to cart with them, so they’re not for everyone either.

Bottom line – find the device that works best for you and whether it’s traditional or the newest thing, keep on reading!!

Libby McKinmer
Romance with an edge
www.libbymckinmer.com
libby@libbymckinmer.com
On Twitter, Facebook & GoodReads too

Don't Get Blogged Down

Nowadays a great deal of authors, in any genre, especially those who are still trying to make it big and are not yet a household name, are bloggers as well. I know I blog a lot. A whole lot. There are many advantages to having a well read popular blog. It is a great way to build up a readership and following. It provides a discipline, if you take it seriously, of writing on a regular basis. If you have more than one blog or one that covers more than one topic it broadens your writing abilities. It also is an effective medium for getting immediate feedback on how well your writing is received. More so than the book, a blog is a quick, lively, and continuous interaction with your readers. It also, when done well, helps you sell more books, and that is after all what we as authors are trying to do - sell books!

But like anything else, blogging can become too much of a ... hmm, do I dare say - addiction? Yes, addiction. I was going to say passion, but addiction is more on the point I'm so tediously slow in getting to. As a passion, which it is to me now, it can be a healthy, and as I explained above, valuable for many reasons and lucrative part of the writer's work schedule. But taken too far and not kept in balance, it can hinder the progress of those most important WIP's, and, taken to the extreme, it can consume one like a deadly narcotic. I'm a full time writer, so I have more liberty to devote hours and hours every week to blogging than the writer who holds down a full time job, but even so I've had to come to grips with my passion for it and put it in its place.

I came to this conclusion, about needing to get a grip on my running out of control blogging habit, at the end of a month-long blogging binge, the consummation of a desolate period of my life. My rampant run amok blogging had ruined me. I had lost my wife, my family's respect, my WIP's had mildew on them, the house and car had been repossessed, I was drinking myself to death with cheap bourbon during the day and Pepsi at night, and so broke I was having to dance at a strip bar to make the money I needed to keep my cable internet going so I could write one more blog. Didn't need food. Just my blogs.

My publisher, in a fit of outrage, hunted me down, pissed with me for having missed my last deadline again, and saved my life by having me committed to a BA (Blogaholics Anonymous) Rehab clinic. It was there, when I finally got sober and realized how far I had fallen, that in a fit enlightened inspiration I penned this poem that I wish to share with you all today. Enjoy, take serious note, and then please share your thoughts in the comments afterward.

Ode to the Blogaholic
(You Know Who You Are)

I thought it best to start out my day-
Working on manuscripts when,
In a fit of addictive behavior I must say,
All did I was just blog instead.

By noon, I resolved, I would certainly have-
A thousand words WIP penned,
But I swear I didn't know the time had all passed ...
By the time I finished blogging again.

Mid afternoon certainly productive must be-
Occupied with writing, swore I then,
But great god almighty and good golly gee ...
By four I had only blogged again!

At dinner I ate quickly and did firmly resolve-
Early eve not one email to send.
In this I can say I was able - but not proud,
For though no emails, I did blog ... shan't pretend.

As midnight approached my manuscripts did so vie-
For attention from me before bed.
But try as I might, and Lord knows I did try,
Before sleep I had blogged once again.

I now lay me down to sleep with a prayer-
For all my good bloggers and friends.
That their days be not lost as mine in thin err-
Whilst blogging o'er and o'er with no end.

***

Books, books, books

Someone on a mystery listserv asked recently if any of us thought of ourselves as book hoarders. One woman thought it must surely be a rhetorical question. Another simply responded that she thought of it more as collecting. I simply have never thought of it. Is there life without books? I have--because I want them-bookcases in every room, but my husband drew a line at the bathroom. All of those bookcases are full. I like books. My husband does too, so I don't know why we can't cram one in the john.

Before I was ever a writer, I was a reader. I read cereal boxes, the small print warnings on cough syrup and anything else laying around. I like to read. But it has been brought to my attention lately that I have been reading more used books and books from the library. That's an okay strategy in this economy, but many small independent bookstores are hurting. I just heard about another today, in danger of having to turn off the lights.

I am an author from a small independent press. I need to support the industry that supports (or may someday anyway) support me. I'm going out tomorrow to buy a book from a small bookstore. Won't you join me? You can always wrap the books up as a Christmas present.