April Fuel

Happy April Fool's Day! It's been a long time since anyone's used this day to pull a fast one on me, not that they couldn't still do it with ease. Just whisper in my ear that Hollywood wants to turn my mysteries into movies, and watch my knees turn to jelly.

Maybe the first-of-April jokes are a thing of the past, and we can focus on more serious things like marketing our mysteries. And maybe some of what I've learned can be fuel for your own marketing efforts. What works, and what doesn't? Let's get it right on the table that I still have more ignorance than knowledge, but the scales are slowly tilting in the right direction.

In the last week or so, author Jeff Rivera sent around an email to a lot of people he apparently didn't know. If you go to the Amazon site for his book Effortless Marketing, you'll see that a number of people received an email from someone named "Mogoli Angelberg." Now doesn't that have to be a real name? I mean, who would ever make up a name like that? Anyway, the email flattered the recipient and touted Rivera's book. As a result, Rivera ticked off a bunch of people. As of this morning, his e-book has 26 five-star reviews on Amazon and 13 one-star reviews. That's awful! It would break my heart to see so many people thinking so little of me and my work.

I read the book, and it's okay. Not great, but okay. My biggest criticism is the title, because there is no such thing as effortless marketing.

So Rivera, who is most likely a very nice man, provides us with an object lesson: be honest, and don't get in people's faces. Sending out a flood of emails to strangers is bad enough without pretending you know them and admire their work.

What does work? Well, work. In my experience so far, Twitter has been helpful. Starting when I had about 1700 followers I tweeted about my books, and others retweeted--that is, they passed my messages along to their followers. To encourage people to do this, I made a special point of doing the same for them. More of my tweets are about other people than about my own work. On the positive side, I made good money for a couple of months. On the negative side, there were diminishing returns. But I would encourage you to try using Twitter. Of course results will vary, but there is a nice market for low-priced ebooks, and Twitter is a good place to begin tapping into it.

So to come back to my bad pun, this is my April fuel that can kindle (and fire up) your e-book marketing.

Just please, please don't pay anyone for a marketing campaign.

It's a Mystery To Me

It's still a mystery to me how the plotters do it! I so admire their discipline and their technique. I'm a pantster writer and always have been, except when writing exams in university, where I plotted out point form notes for the essay questions!

For me, writing fiction is like watching a movie and I'm just recording what's happening -- which can get me into point-of-view problems because I'm seeing everything. (Thank you to my fantastic editor.) I guess my way is kind of like what the director of a movie does by seeing all the scenes, knowing all the characters, but letting them express themselves, in a director's case through the actor, and in my case, through the words.

It also means sometimes my characters surprise me by going off on a tangent I hadn't expected...and I can worry I don't know how they'll get back, but they always do. Nevertheless, I think it can add a bit of zing to a hero to have a wobble toward wimpdom from his strong, silent stoicism or the heroine having a shoe or purse fetish that leads her to finding out more about leather production and thus to a slaughterhouse, and changes her to a vegan. Which I didn't know about her when we started out!

I generally know who the good guys and bad guys are, what the mystery to be solved will be (a death, kidnapping, robbery or whatever) and that the bad guys will lose in the end, even when they seem to have the upper hand at some stage of the story. But I let my characters lead me along their path. It's a fun way to write and why it never, ever gets old for me.

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

Nosy Neighbors



A Nosy Neighbor May Look Like Her.
(Istock version)

 Nosy Neighbors - You know the type. They seem to know everything that's going on with everyone in the neighborhood. Guess what? I'm one of them. I like to know what's going on around me. I suspect a lot of you are also, but may not want to admit it.

On our Tuesday garbage day a few weeks ago, while I was walking my dog, Rascal, I happened to notice a huge pile of garbage in front of our neighbors' house across the street. Also, I couldn't help noticing that one of the containers was marked shrink wrap. After the walk, I told the DH, "It looks like our neighbors are moving."

Well, wouldn't you know it, late Friday evening I heard a a motor rumbling. Glancing out my kitchen window, I saw a moving van in the driveway across the street. It was no surprise to me!

Sometimes I rely on exchanging information with my next door neighbor to keep me abreast of the latest happenings. I do what I have to do to know what's going on.

Okay, you may ask what any of my nosiness has to do with mysteries.

I'm suggesting, if it will fit into your plot, feel free to throw in a nosy neighbor or two to offer clues about the culprit, or maybe to provide a red herring. You can have neighbors talking to the police about what they saw or thought they saw, or one of the main characters could go over and ask. If you're in the mood, you could even have a nosy neighbor come to a bad end. There are lots of possibilities when it comes to nosy neighbors.

Have you read a book including one, or maybe written a book including one?

Morgan Mandel writes thrillers, mysteries &
romance, often combining them.
http://facebook.com/morgan.mandel
http://twitter.com/morganmandel
Excerpts & buy links for Morgan's books:
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/

Marilyn Meredith aka F.M. Meredith, a Featured Mystery Writer

Award-winning Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty published novels, including the award-winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, her latest titled No Bells. Marilyn is a member of EPIC, Four chapters of Sisters in Crime, including the Central Coast chapter, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. She's also featured in the just-released book, The Mystery Writers.

Marilyn, why you write?

Writing is part of my life like breathing. I enjoy creating a story and seeing where it’s going to go. I love connecting with my readers either by way of the Internet or in person at promotion events.

When did you start writing and why?

I began creating stories before I could write by drawing pictures in what some might call a story board today. As soon as I began reading real stories I began writing my own. I’ve been writing ever since in one form or another.

How did your Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series come about as well as the Rocky Bluff PD?

I first became interested in law enforcement when my police officer son-in-law would come to my house after work, have a cup of coffee and tell me what he’d done on his shift. I went on a ride-along with him and with other officers–including a woman who was a single mom. She poured her heart out to me about how tough it was being the only woman in her department.

I interviewed a female resident deputy who lived in the mountain area where I live and about the same time met a Native American woman who’d grown up on the reservation nearby. I sort of combined these women into Deputy Tempe Crabtree.

When we lived in Oxnard, California, which is a beach community, we had several police officers and their families as neighbors. We were all good friends and I observed how the job affected their families and what was going on with the families affected their job. From there came the birth of the Rocky Bluff P.D. located in a small beach community.

Do you feel that ebooks are the wave of the future?

I’ve been electronically published for over ten years. Most e-publishers today publish electronically and in trade-paperback. There have been e-readers around for years, and now with the Sony E-Reader and Amazon’s Kindle, ebooks have really come into their own. Even some of my older books are now on Kindle.

What’s your writing schedule like and how long does it take to write one of your novels?

My goal is to write every morning at least three or four hours. It doesn’t always work out that way because when I have things I need I know have to be done, that weighs heavy on my mind. My writing will work better if I clear my desk–or computer, as the case may be.

I don’t have too many other projects going, I can finish a book in three months. Of course that doesn’t count the rewriting. Most books I usually read to my critique group too, a chapter at a time.

Are you a seat-of-the-pants novelist or do you outline your books? And do you know the ending before you start?

I don’t outline in the true sense of the word, but I start collecting ideas first. Then I decide on characters–who will be the murder victim, if there is one, in the book I’m writing now, I don’t think anyone’s going to die, who the murder could be, usually several folks that had a motive and the opportunity. Then I write something about each of those characters so I can get to know them.

When I start writing I think I know how the book will end, usually the final climax scene, but as I write that often changes. I do keep notes along the way as I think of things I want to put in.

Have you had any strange or humorous events happen while you were researching a book, and do you visit the locations to get a feeling for your settings?

In my Rocky Bluff P.D. series, I’m relying on my memories of living near the beach for twenty years. In my book, No Sanctuary, the two churches are similar to ones I’ve gone to in the past–but the ministers are totally made-up. I’ve lived a long time so I can reach back into my experiences for a lot that I write about.

For my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series, I’ve done a lot of research about Native American culture and visited the reservation and the casino. My most exciting research happened when I discovered that the Tule River Indians (who I write about but call them a different name) believe in a Big Foot like creature called the Hairy Man and that there are pictographs of him and his family on the reservation. I’ve talked a couple of times to the anthropology class and when I talked to the professor about the pictographs he invited me on a college field trip to see the pictographs. What a wonderful experience! The pictographs are hidden away. To get to them you have to climb down huge slippery boulders. Fortunately, the college kids helped me get down there–and back up. The Tule River Indian who guided us told us some wonderful legends and stories of sightings of the Hairy Man. The Hairy Man is in the Tempe book that was released during the fall of 2009, called Dispel the Mist.

Who most influenced your work?

Once I joined a critique group, about 30 years ago, I met a wonderful author named Willma Gore who helped me more with my writing than any other person. Willma wrote and still writes for all sorts of publications and has had several books published, fiction and non-fiction. She taught me more than any writing class or conference I ever attended.

Favorite author and why?

I have far too many favorites to even list them. Jan Burke has always been one of my favorites. I started with her Irene Kelly series and just kept on reading. I've met her several times, and she's a sweet person as well as a good writer.

Betty Webb is another. She's tackled a social issue that has plagued Arizona and now she's changed gears a bit and started a new, lighter series. I admire her courage--and she's also a nice person.

Some men that I really like to read are William Kent Krueger and James Lee Burke, and I love the way both of them describe settings.

Advice to fledgling writers?

Read what you want to write. Learn the basics of writing. Write every single day. When you are done have someone who knows what to look for edit your book. Join a critique group. And when you have begun the submitting process, start writing another book. Do not let rejections stop you. Over the years I’ve met several gifted writers who got discouraged after one or two rejections. My first book received nearly 30 rejections before it was accepted. Over the years, most of my books have been rejected at least once, some several times. Rewrite when necessary.

Marilyn's website: http://fictionforyou.com
Her Blogs: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com
Stiletto Gang blog: http://thestilettogang.blogspot.com (every Tuesday)
Make Mine Mystery: http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com (1st & 3rd Tuesdays)

The two things about plot by Mark Troy

A writer named Glen Whitman wrote about the concept of the two things. The two things refers to the type of question that is often posed in a bar after a couple of drinks. "What are the two things everybody needs to know about X?" For every subject there are only two things that are really important. Everything else is an application of those two things or else not important.

I decided to try it with some aspects of writing. Here, in my opinion, are the two things a writer needs to know about plot.

1. Isolate the protagonist.

2. Grow the problem.

I recall seeing a fantasy poster once by the great calendar artist Frank Frazetta. In it a warrior woman, sword in hand, stands on a clump of rock, maybe the top of a mountain, surrounded by a more numerous, better-armed enemy.  The "ah ha" was when I realized I was looking at the climax of this woman's story. I don't recall the story or the character, but her future was clearly in doubt at that point. The print was a perfect metaphor for what takes place at the climax of a story, the peak of the action.

Isolate the protagonist.

The insight for me came when I asked, "How did she get there?" She didn't get up that morning with the idea of climbing a rock by herself and swinging a sword at an army of bad guys. She probably had family, friends, comrades-in-arms. Where were they? Why weren't they helping her? What made her go it alone? I don't think she wanted to go alone. Clearly some of our protagonists are loners, but it's not always by choice. When it comes to our own survival, most of us want some help and backup. Readers of police procedurals know that the call that gets cop cars rolling is "Officer needs assistance." This warrior may have sent such a call, but the assistance never arrived. Had help arrived, the story would not be as compelling.

Grow the problem.

How did these bad guys get there? How did they get to be so numerous? How did they get to be so well-armed? Our warrior must have royally pissed someone off. She probably didn't start the day that way. Like most of us, she had problems, but they would have been small ones. None of us want to take on more than we can handle. When things begin to get out of hand, we tend to back off. Obviously, our hero didn't. Her problem grew and she could not escape it.

Isolate the protagonist and grow the problem.

Both of these happen slowly and inexorably in the story. We know before we open the book where the hero will end up--alone and up to her neck in trouble. The hero could be FBI agent-in-training Clarice Starling, in a basement catacomb, in the dark, trying to save a young woman from a serial killer with a handgun and night-vision goggles. She started the day as the junior member of a team. Her job was to gather evidence. Along the way, she became isolated and her problem grew.

Even the quintessential loner heroes like Jack Reacher and John McClain don't start alone. Nor do they set out to fight terrorists in a skyscraper. On the other hand, when the story involves an ensemble such as the men and women of the Dan Kearney Agency, one of the group will end up alone in the final battle.

To get our hero to that peak of the action where he or she stands alone, we must build in events that increase our protagonist's isolation each step of the way and grow the problem, like Audrey the carnivorous plant, right before everybody's eyes. If we do that, the anticipation that something bad is going to happen will increase inexorably.

So, the two things about plotting are isolate the protagonist and grow the problem. Everything else is an application of those two things or else not important.

Mark Troy

Look for my collection of Val Lyon mystery stories, Game Face, on Kindle, Smashwords, and other ebook platforms or in paperback from Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

About Eppie Winner, Lingering Spirit

For those of you who don’t know, my son-in-law, Mike Cole, a 15 year vet of the Oxnard P.D. became a deputy in El Dorado County. He was there 6 months and was killed. I loved Mike like a son. He came to my house for coffee after his shift, told me all his stories and even took me on a ride along. He’s the one who got me interested in writing about law enforcement. When he died, it was devastating to everyone in our family. He left a wife and three children. This happened a long time ago—but he is the one who inspired me to write about mysteries containing people in law enforcement and their loved ones (and sometimes not so loved ones.). My Rocky Bluff P.D. series is the result of Mike’s influence.

A few years after Mike was gone I wrote Lingering Spirit, a much fictionalized version of what happened to Mike and his family afterwards and I called in Lingering Spirit. My description of the book is that it’s a romance with a supernatural touch. It was first published by an e-book publisher I wasn't happy with, and I finally pulled it. After I became one of Oak Tree Press’s authors, Lingering Spirit was published as a trade paperback. Later, it was once again an e-book and made available for the Nook and Kindle. Oak Tree entered the e-book into the Epic’s e-book awards for supernatural/mystical romances—and I was shocked and delighted that it won at their annual conference this weekend in San Antonio.

Still floating on air,

Marilyn Meredith

Mercenary!

by Ben Small

Mercenaries -- guns for hire -- have existed for thousands of years, dating back at least to the ancient Romans, but a recent website, sent to me by a former SEAL interested in a mercenary career after his military service, caused me to open my eyes. Here's the website. The World's Most Powerful Armies

I suggest you take a look, and I wonder if you're as surprised as I was. Yes, I'd seen the furor over Blackwater's activities, seen the hub-bub over private contractors' work in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, frankly, I had no idea the extent to which highly-trained retired warriors are being used and funded around the world. I had no idea the business of being a well-equipped mercenary is a growth industry.

But the trend makes sense. The military training our elite warriors receive is extraordinary. The SEALs, Delta Force, Green Berets, Marines, Revolutionary guards, Legionaries, etc. all receive rigorous conditioning, are mult-weapon functional, and the weapons available to these modern warriors are highly functional and effective -- deadly. Plus, there's a world-wide weapons trade to support them. Want to buy AK-47s in bulk? They're available just about anywhere. South and Central America do a booming trade in them. Want a rile that fires an air-burst, a round that sprays shrapnel above a target? It's available. Want a computer operated rifle, one that determines range and balances load automatically? It's available. Grenades? Sure, why not. A rocket launcher? No sweat. A battle helicopter, no problemo. A nuke? Who knows...

For years, we -- and others -- have been training and utilizing these highly effective warriors and incorporating them into a military machine like no other in the world. The best equipment: ordnance, weapons and protective equipment. The best conditioning: strength, stamina, stealth and speed.

And while we train our warriors to the nth degree, in the U.S. we tend to pay them squat and run them in and out of service. Plus, we saddle our soldiers with Rules of Engagement intended to walk the wavy, gray line of political correctness, a line that changes with the need to placate whomever our actions have offended. Then, when someone alleges we've violated an enemy's honor, or "tortured" however that term is defined, we investigate and vilify those we've hardened into effective soldiers.

Under these circumstances, why wouldn't our very best and most trained warriors decide to further their pursuits elsewhere, somewhere for instance where these oppressive rules don't apply and where the pay can make them rich? They'd be foolish to do otherwise. What else are these veterans to do? What's their job market look like in other endeavors? We've conditioned these people to kill quickly, silently and effectively. That's what they do best. And if we won't let them do it the way they've been trained, if we won't pay them for the risks they incur, and if we're going to give them proctoscopic treatment whenever they come back from a mission,  and provide them no jobs, why wouldn't they look elsewhere, utilize their skills in the way they know best -- and profit from it?

And hiring mercenaries offers our government, among others, an out. You can hire someone to do what you cannot do and then claim when you learn what they've done, that you didn't know. Torture is a difficult definition, one that changes over time. Water-boarding is now torture, so is causing pain or injury or putting a prisoner under duress. Playing loud, heavy music is torture. That one's obvious. You learned it from your teenager.

But these restrictions apply to our military, not necessarily to those serving as a contractor. Distinctions tend to blur when issues arise as to who did what to whom and under what authority and where. Employment and duty records may be kept overseas or encrypted. Access to them may not be possible. And whose law governs a mercenary in foreign lands?

And there's another benefit to our government. We can claim to the American people that we're leaving a country, scaling back our military, and then hire contractors -- albeit at higher cost -- sell them weaponry, even aircraft and artillery, and bury these costs under one of our many covert accounts. Want to claim we've left Iraq? Okay, just hire contractors to replace them.

Think Haliburton.

Yes, Blackwater folded. But other similar training agencies and mercenary services popped up to replace Blackwater. Mercenary training and employment have become growth industries. Google "mercenary." You don't have to be more specific. You'll find all sorts of employment and training opportunities. As I said, a growth industry. And one that pays well.

Given this plethora of mercenary opportunities, and the growing trend of hiring them...everywhere, another natural question arises: To what degree are we fighting ourselves? In other words, a case of we train 'em, you hire 'em, for whatever, whomever, wherever. Sell them what they want and let them use it against each other, perhaps both sides funded from the same source: us.

Hamid Karsai hires these mercenaries and so do other Middle East and third world countries. It seems every petty dictator and dictator-in-training has them. And what's more, if Americans cannot satisfy international demand for them, there are plenty of third world nationals that we've trained and equipped who can.

Some may claim that mercenaries fighting mercenaries is the way battles should be fought. Not me. Mercenaries have loyalty to only one god: money. In many cases, there's no love of country or god; they'll fight for who pays them. And what happens if these highly trained warriors organize and decide to take over a country? There are certainly enough of them to do so, and they can buy the weapons they need on the open or black market.

Yes, Dick Cheney utilized mercenaries to good advantage, at least from his point of view. But Obama promised change. While we've imposed ridiculous Rules of Engagement on our official troops, we've encouraged and turned the mercenary industry into a very profitable, growth endeavor. Indeed, covert operations and government lies about them are exploding like bees from a burning barrel.

Robert Ludlum should be alive today. His grandiose conspiracy theories don't sound so implausible now.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking of hiring my own mercenary. My driver's license needs renewing, and I don't wanna wait in line. I'll equip Chuck Norris with this: