All in the name of research.

Guns scare me.

I guess my fear started when I was a kid.  One night, my step brother pulled the shot gun out of his truck to go into the single wide and shoot his wife.  Instead, he got a bullet in the gut when the gun stuck behind the seat and he jerked the gun toward him, barrel first. 

Tough to manage shooting yourself with a shotgun, but he did it. And survived to marry wife number two, three, and four. 

Redneck stories from the wilds of rural Idaho.

I kid you not.

So when I started writing a thriller as part of a Masters of Fine Arts class, and my first scene is a kidnapping at gun point, I needed to research. I needed to know more about guns, what they feel like, and even, what it felt like to fire one.

Going to one of my brothers was an option, but the sane one was out of state and well, see above.

So what’s a girl to do?  I found two gun aficionados at the local watering hole, The Alibi. Recently divorced, I would stop once or twice a week and chat with anyone.  One day, I told a guy my dilemma with my stalled story and he said he owned a gun.

I peppered him with questions until he offered to take me for target practice to the desert (Warning sign #1) on the outskirts of town. 

I don’t know if it was the alcohol or the chance at researching for my craft that made me say yes.  It definitely wasn’t common sense.

The next morning, I met the guy and his buddy (warning sign #2) at the apartment complex. As they stacked an arsenal at my feet, adding duffle bags with ammo, calling out about different types of guns, I started rethinking my bright idea.

Finally, we were ready, but the guys sat on the couch and watched out the window.  When I asked when we were leaving, they informed me that a police cruiser was out front, handling a domestic dispute in a nearby apartment.  So they had to wait for the cop to leave to load the truck.  (Warning sign # 3)

By the time we got to the desert, I knew I was the target, not the shooter. 

Fred, the guy I’d met the night before, pulled the truck over, cracked open a beer, and handed me a gun. 

Not what I’d expected.  Fred carefully taught me how to hold a pistol, how to check to see if it was loaded, we practiced with the safety on, then, he pointed to my target, a can on a rock a few feet away. 

I shot so many guns that afternoon, I have no idea what they gave me.  I tried an AK-47, a shot gun, several different pistols, and a rifle.  When I’d gone through their bag of militia, we sat talking on the tail gate of the truck and had another beer. 

While we talked, I told him my stories plot and what I wanted to happen and they walked me through the type of gun that would be used.  He handed the pistol to me, I checked to see if it was loaded, then shoved the gun in my side.

The boys freaked.  Fred jerked the gun away from me and then I got the lecture about never pointing a gun at myself.

I explained I needed to know what it would feel like to my POV character, but they now looked at me like I was the crazy one.

The ride back to the apartment complex was quiet.  And I never saw Fred at the bar again.  But my chapter turned out amazing.

So what have you done in the name of research?

Lynn

Why Should I Care?

The other day I saw a kid on a skateboard dart in front of a car near our local food store. Though I didn't know him or the driver, I got mad, thinking he should have known better than to jeopardize his life. Also, what about the driver? Imagine what hell the driver would go through if he'd hit the kid.

I often seen people on bikes with child carriers attached to the back, and I wonder why those parents think so much of their own exercise at the expense of what could happen to the child. Again, I don't know these individuals, but they still aggravate me. I can't figure out why children must be buckled up in special car carriers, yet can be so out in the open in the flimsy ones in back of bikes. It doesn't make sense.

Those are actual examples, and there are so many more, where my emotions are affected by people I don't even know.

Why am I mentioning this?

It leads me to one responsibility of authors. Yes, books should be technically correct in grammar and formatting, correct wording, sparse adjectives and adverbs, and all those other items that spell a quality read. However, a book can look correct, but still not engage the reader.

It's the author's duty to make the reader care what happens to the characters, or the reader will feel cheated and bored. Not only must we get into the characters' heads and think the same, but it's also important to share what we feel with the readers.

There are many ways to do this. Some are:

Dialogue, internal or external - What's said or omitted
Mannerisms - Biting a lip, tightening jaws, frown, smile
Another character's observations about the appearance or mannerisms of one of the characters.

These are some techniques. You may know others. If so, please share.

The main thing is to engage the readers. Make them care!

Morgan Mandel

Morgan Mandel is a past president of Chicago-North RWA,
was Library Liaison for Midwest MWA, belongs to Sisters in Crime and EPIC.

Her most recent releases are: Her Handyman, a romantic comedy,
and the thriller, Forever Young: Blessing or Curse.

See all her books at
http://amazon.com/author/morganmandel
Excerpts & Buy Links:
http://morgansbooklinks.blogspot.com
Twitter: @MorganMandel

Small Business Saturday (& Taxes)

by Kaye George

I like the concept that’s being promoted this year. Friday is the day to camp out and burst through the doors of major merchandisers. The people who wrote the SBS ad campaign realize this, they’re not fighting that tradition, but they want you to consider patronizing small businesses the next day. (I didn't realize this concept started in 2010 by American Express. I would have thought some small business organization would have started it.)

Small businesses are good, right? Buy local!

If you’re a writer, you’re a small business, too. If you’re self-published or traditionally, you’re still a small business (unless you’re a big one and everybody in the world knows your name). Next month will be the end of your business year if you run on a calendar year. Some time between January and April, you’ll have to start getting your expenses ready for filing taxes.

There are, surprisingly, a few writers who don’t know the special rules that apply to them. Even seasoned tax consultants sometimes don’t know! So I’m here to tell you! (I recently posted a similar article in the Guppy newsletter, but feel it deserves all the audience it can get among writers.)

There is a well-known Hobby Rule that says you can't take deductions if you don't make a profit in 3 out of the past 5 years. This does NOT apply to writers. I've collected a few articles that shed light on this and I'd like to share them here.

The bottom line is that writers can take deductions for an indeterminate number of years, since even the IRS knows how hard it is to make money as an author. There ARE certain things you should do to prevent coming up short in case of an audit, however.

I'll mention that I'm not an authority. My tax experience is limited--I prepared taxes for H&R Block for a few years and don't have any degrees in accounting--but I do keep alert for parts of the tax code that affect me.

The source files I've collected are too long to include here. One file is 4 pages long, the other is 18 pages long. I'll give you the locations where I got them, though, in case you want to collect them together for yourself.

Here are the highlights.

http://writerinterrupted.com/2012/03/13/hobby-loss-interpretation-for-writers/

You can help your case by being professional about your writing: joining writers' organizations, spending time networking, keeping good records of how you spend your time, showing that you're attempting to get into publication by submitting and keeping records of that, taking classes to improve as a writer to demonstrate effort toward publication. You can even make money some years and not other years if you can show the above things to an auditor.

This article (http://www.eclectics.com/articles/taxes.html), called Authors and the Internal Revenue Code by Linda Lewis, goes into great detail and cites lots of IRS Section codes. It also enumerates the classifications for deductions. It's helpful to me to put these on a spreadsheet and keep track of them throughout the year so I can slap them onto my Schedule C when the time comes. OK, I won't tell you how many months I'm behind in this task, but I do have the spreadsheet and a folder full of receipts. There are cases in this article to illustrate right and wrong ways to go about being a writer.

One last link (http://www.artstaxinfo.com/writers.shtml) to an article by CPA Peter Jason Riley, goes over expenses in detail a little differently and has some PDF and Excel worksheets you might find useful.

Please look at the original articles I've given links to before you do your taxes next year if you've been unaware of these details. The life of a writer is hard enough--no need to make it harder by not taking your deductions.

And happy shopping at your local stores!

Mystery We Write Blog Tour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are blog tours worth all the time and effort it requires to participate? The reviews are mixed, but I’m excited about taking part in my sixth tour, which begins November 26 and runs through December 11. “The Mystery We Write” fall tour is comprised of 16 mystery authors who will be each be giving away at least one of their signed novels at the end of the tour. There will also be a wealth of writing advice, interviews and other interesting posts that make stopping by the various sites worthwhile. My own schedule and the authors who will be appearing at the Mysterious Writers site are listed at: http://jeansblogtour.blogspot.com/ So be sure to stop by and leave a comment to be eligible to win signed mystery novels.
 

Mystery We Write Blog Tour

As You Like It

Sometimes writing a blog entry is like starting a new book. There’s a blank screen in front of you and you have no idea of how you’re going to fill it. Of course, there are ideas – there are always ideas – but they are insubstantial and wispy, and none of them seem sturdy enough to hang a fair number of words on.

Can you tell I’m having trouble here?

Reminds me of my favorite writing quote – “Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank screen until drops of blood appear upon your forehead.”

Whether it’s the start of something new or in the middle of a project, suddenly the words/ideas/inspirations simply dry up. So what do you do in a case like this? To tell the truth, I dunno. There’s no magic pill, unfortunately. (Think of the fortune to be made if someone should invent one!) All I can do is simply put down a word, then another, then another. Sometimes they aren’t even in sentence format, or even related to each other. Just words.

However, I am a believer that it’s like dropping pebbles into a well. Drop enough, and sooner or later you will fill up the well. Keep writing words and sometime an idea will surface. It’s easy to erase the ones that did not work once you find the ones that do.

The secret is, if there is indeed a secret involved, is to never give up. As Nora Roberts is reputed to have said (and I’m paraphrasing here) “Write the book. You can fix garbage; you can’t fix a blank page.” Books aren’t written in an afternoon, and not all days are equal. Books are the result of the author’s tenacity. Keep at it, keep putting down words, and eventually you will have a book, and, once that book is written, you can refine and polish it at leisure.

To prove my point (obligatory commercial here), I point to my two latest releases – BEADED TO DEATH (Carina Press, Oct. 2012) and EXERCISE IS MURDER (FiveStar Gale/Cengage, Dec. 2012), both results of tenacity.

See? I started this with no idea of what I was going to say, but word by word I have a blog post that is probably far too long. Sometimes it just takes time to tap into our subconscious, and that is done word by word.

(In case you’re curious about the title of this post, it comes from a legend about William Shakespeare. He had just created a play but, occupied with other things, had not titled it. When pressed for a title right before opening night, he said dismissively, “Just call it as you like it,” meaning they should put whatever title they wanted on it. So the play has been known all these years.)

          Janis Susan May Patterson is a seventh-generation Texan and a third-generation wordsmith who writes mysteries as Janis Patterson, romances and other things as Janis Susan May, children’s books as Janis Susan Patterson and scholarly works as J.S.M. Patterson.

          Formerly an actress and singer, a talent agent and Supervisor of Accessioning for a bio-genetic DNA testing lab, Janis has also been editor-in-chief of two multi-magazine publishing groups as well as many other things, including an enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist.

          Janis married for the first time when most of her contemporaries were becoming grandmothers. Her husband, also an Egyptophile, even proposed in a moonlit garden near the Pyramids of Giza. Janis and her husband live in Texas with an assortment of rescued furbabies.

We're Headed Into the Holiday Season

Marilyn at a library event with several other authors.

With the holidays come opportunities for book promotion.

Nothing is better than being part of a Christmas craft or boutique event--especially if you're the only author. For the past few years I've been invited by the Porterville Art Association to be part of their annual Christmas Boutique sale--a two day event. I love doing this one. I do make sales, I've also made some new friends. The only drawback is that I also tend to buy the wonderful goodies they've made.

Recently I participated in an Author's Fair in a mall. I didn't know anyone but thought it would be a fun event and it was in a place I've never been before. Despite the fact my table was behind a big post with the a map and location of all the stores, blocking the view of anyone entering the store from that direction, I still managed to sell quite a few books and I handed out lots and lots of cards. One thing I'm noticing is more and more people have Kindles and Nooks.

Some of the authors at this event had great displays and visited with people about their books. But--and this is a big but--one author who was near me brought her books, set them up and trotted off to go shopping. I know that's what she did because she showed me what she bought. Then she left again and didn't show up until it was time to pack up and leave. Some people stopped at her table and looked at her books, but you can't sell anything if you aren't there. Another man near me sat and read his own book the whole time. Some folks did stop and engage him in conversation, but he wasn't really making and effort to sell his books.

My message here is take advantage of whatever event you can to sell your books, but for goodness sake, be a sales person. Look people in the eye, smile, ask them if they like to read mysteries, talk about your books. If you don't, you've wasted your time and might as well have stayed home.

What are you doing for the holidays as far as your book promotion is concerned?

Have you got some other tips for this kind of event?

Marilyn

The Power of Secrets

Give every character a secret,” a well-known writer once told me. She was talking about writing novels for kids, but this proved to be especially good advice when I started writing mysteries. I discovered very quickly that secrets spice up mysteries like passionate scenes enhance erotic romances. Secrets help drive your plot. They provide tension. They make characters lie, misdirect, misinform, and blackmail. Secrets bring out the worst in your characters, and give readers good reason to suspect the wrong character of having murdered your victim.

We humans are curious creatures, and downright nosy at times. What motorist doesn’t rubberneck when passing an accident on the Expressway? Anything out of the ordinary sparks our interest, and secrets concern relationships, deeds, and habits involving the dark side. A character does something immoral, illegal or embarrassing and tells no one. Then someone finds out. When Character A threatens to reveal Character B’s secret, B may decide to kill A to keep him quiet.

In my opinion, the best secrets involve a character’s past. Past histories intrigue us, which is an excellent reason not to give out too much backstory about your characters. Dole out these juicy tidbits as needed. Rev up the reader’s need to find out a character’s secret. What has he done that’s so terrible, he’ll do anything to keep it hidden, even going so far as to murder?

Secrets abound in my romantic suspense, DANGEROUS RELATIONS, which came out recently with Uncial Press. Ardin Wesley has returned to her hometown when her cousin Suziette is murdered. Suziette’s widower, Brett, asks Ardin to help him adopt Suziette’s love child. Though attracted to Brett, Ardin discovers she wants to adopt the little girl herself. She’s suffered from an abusive marriage, and believes adopting the child is her only chance to have a family. But neither can adopt little Lionie until they learn the identity of her natural father. More deaths occur as Ardin and Brett uncover layer after layer of secrets, including Suziette’s list of lovers and more than she ever wanted to know about her ex-husband.

What are some of the secrets your characters have tried to hide? Leave a comment and tell me.