Do We Really Need Adverbs?

by Jean Henry Mead

I recall a workshop where the instructor impressed upon his students that each word committed to paper should pull its own weight. And that every unnecessary word needs culling from the plot. He also said that writers should engage readers, not simply enlighten and entertain them. Creating word images that readers can relate to is preferable to forcing them to fill in the blanks. A Ferrari conveys a much stronger image than having a protagonist ride to the rescue on a bicycle.

Strong verbs are necessary to give one's plot a dynamic, energetic tone: words such as massacre instead of kill, horde instead of bunch, or terrorize instead of bullying. And as we’ve all been told, stay away from the verb to be in all its forms because it’s the weakest of words.

Adverbs that end in –ly also weaken prose. On the other hand, strong specific verbs give writing vitality. I’m reminded of my interview with A.B. Guthrie, Jr. who said, “The adjective is the enemy of the noun and the adverb is the enemy of damn near everything else. Writers use too many descriptive words." As for adjectives, author Lois J. Peterson once said, “One well-chosen adjective can be more effective than two or more, which used together might weaken the idea or image.”

Do we really need adverbs? Not unless it's impossible to come up with strong verbs such as substituting rumbled for driving noisily. Culling adverbs in a second draft and replacing them with muscular verbs strengthens a sentence as well as the action.

Word choices affect the plot’s pace. If every symphony movement maintained the same pace, the audience would either be exhausted or asleep before the finale. So writers need to think of themselves as conductors, controlling the pace with word choices, syntax and variety. Long sentences and paragraphs slow the pace and seem introspective while short, choppy sentences are much more dramatic and conducive of action scenes. A good way to keep readers reading is to alternate sentences and paragraphs in a variety of lengths.

Sentence rhythm is also important. By reading one's work aloud before committing it to a final draft, sentence structure flows like an uninterrupted stream of words. Some word choices bring a sentence to an abrupt halt and should be rewritten or replaced along with all unnecessary words. The musical analogy is a good one because sentence flow is so important.

In other words, make every word count and the best choice possible.

Traffic Jams and Dreckers

by Janis Patterson

Last week The Husband and I went to the Novelists Inc. conference in Florida. It was a simply splendid conference – it always is – with so much truly useful information concentrated into just a few days that it felt as if my overstuffed head exploded regularly. An organization for professional, working novelists, NINC is fantastic. The location – the luxurious Tradewinds Resort in St Pete Beach, Florida – isn’t bad, either, and the chance to network face to face with one’s peers while sitting beneath a palapa looking at the beautiful ocean and indulging in an umbrella-garnished tropical drink is downright luxurious. Okay, so the last is more wishful thinking than actuality – the conference is so intense and so wonderful you don’t want to miss a minute of it. There are moments of relaxation and conversation, though…

The Husband and I drove to the conference, hoping to make a mini-vacation out of the trip. Mostly we succeeded, enjoying the scenery and the intimacy of being just the two of us in the car. It was wonderful. We stopped at graveyards and courthouses in Mississippi indulging our passion for the Tombstone Twitch (sometimes known as genealogical research) and searching for his ancestors who fought in the Late Unpleasantness With the North. We had so much fun doing this that we cut our time extremely short, meaning the last day we had to drive way into the night in time to make it home so he could get back to work on schedule.

I like to drive. I like long driving trips. I would just as soon drive as sit, so I ended up doing most of the driving while we chatted or The Husband slept. The only thing is – the roads are just too d****d crowded, even in the wee hours. The lanes going the other way were almost brim full, as were the lanes going our way. Remember, this was mid-week, not a weekend. Since it had just gone midnight and we were in deep country far away from any town I couldn’t help but wonder where in the world all these people were going!

For a while the driving was easy – everyone was tooling along at a respectable 80 or so and traffic moved smoothly. But as nothing nice lasts for long, the crazies started taking over. There were two rust-bucket sporty-style cars that were obviously racing each other, darting between cars like maddened mosquitoes. They didn't stay around long and were soon out of sight. (There’s never a policeman around when you need one!)

And there was this cattle truck – a big 18 wheeler double deck cattle truck – that zipped in and out of lanes as if he too were driving a sporty-style car. Then he would slow down to a decorous 65 or 70 for a few miles, then be off speeding and zig-zagging again. His trailer must have been empty – not only did it wobble somewhat alarmingly during his more precipitous maneuvers, but any animals in there would have been panicking and probably have overturned it. To say nothing of being very seasick.

Up until now, racers and a mad cow trucker aside, the traffic had been going fairly smoothly. Everyone was going just about the same speed and it was easy driving. Then – still far away from any town – the traffic flow began to slow and jam up. My first thought was, “Great! I’m stuck in a traffic jam going 70 miles an hour!”

Inexorably the traffic clot thickened and slowed until we were down below 50, then 40… and everyone in the right lane was making things worse by shoving their way into the left, slowing the clot even more.

Finally the cause became obvious – in the right lane was a gigantic fifth-wheel RV being towed by an equally impressively sized pick-up, trundling along at a decorous 50 miles per hour. Both lanes of the traffic clot, as visible in my rear-view mirror, were a solid chunk of headlights that went back further than I could see, which in this flat country meant it extended for miles. The pick-up/RV kept puttering on at the same speed, ignoring the chaos it was causing behind it. They couldn’t help but know they were causing a problem, for as soon as a vehicle pulled past them it would shoot away into the dark. That, plus - I surmise - the air surrounding the RV was probably bright blue from the curse words hurled at it by probably hundreds of frustrated drivers. And yes, before you ask, that definitely included several of mine.

Before you get upset, I will admit that it is legal (most places) to drive the minimum speed limit of 50 on a crowded superhighway. That feather-footed idiot did have the right to do so… legally. Morally… I’m not sure. A great number of people were inconvenienced and probably endangered to say nothing of enraged by his doing so. (For your information, the speed limit on that stretch of highway is 75.)

Just because one can do something does not mean that one should. For an analogy, think of MicroSoft and the way they quit supporting perfectly good programs just to make us buy expensive new ones chock-a-block full of stuff we neither use nor want… just because they can. And, of course, they want the money.

For that matter, think of self-publishing. Now I love self-publishing. I self-publish almost exclusively these days. It gives writers a new freedom and access to the public that is unparalleled. Unfortunately, it also empowers people who think that if they string X number of words together they will have a book which will guarantee them fame and untold riches. All they have to do is get it in front of the public. Even more unfortunately, their numbers are legion.

Seriously, do you have any idea of just how much total dreck is out there? I mean, have these people never heard of editors? Or even spell-check? It’s revolting how bad so many of these books are. What’s worse is that this dreck is giving all self-published books a bad name. Many multi-published traditional writers are now self-publishing, only to run into roadblocks built to “maintain literary standards” (a phrase a book store manager used to me not too long ago) – meaning to keep out the dreckers. (Is that a word? If not, it should be.) Reviews. Bookstores. Signing events. Just mention that your book is self-published and immediately shoulders start turning cold.

I’m not advocating a return to the era of the rigid gatekeepers and the write-by-committee mentality that seems to grow there… but there has to be some way of distinguishing real books from badly-written wish-fulfillment rubbish. Reviews on electronic sales sites like Amazon? Hardly. Some of the worst books have many many glowing reviews, doubtless begged from everyone from the author’s next door neighbor to their milkman. Word of mouth? It happens, but it’s hard for anyone to instigate efficiently, from drecker to NYT author. A committee of recommendation would be too much like the elitist old agent/editor gatekeeper system.

I don’t have any answers… just questions. Somehow you’d think the world would be better ordered.

A NOTE  - For years I have blogged two times a month on Make Mine Mystery, on first and third Wednesdays. It’s been great, but an onslaught of new contracts and other obligations has severely cut into my time, so this is the last time I will be blogging on first Wednesdays. I’ll still be here on third Wednesdays, so please don’t forget to come by.

Too Busy to Write--A Confession by Marilyn Meredith

I hate to even put this in writing because I've scolded others for saying this, but truly I have been too busy to write on my work in progress. Partly because of life--doctor visits for hubby and me--the maintenance kind, errands, shopping, and some work that actually brings in money.

I've also been preparing for the freebie sale of Spirit Shapes on Amazon Kindle, a perfect Halloween tale. 

And of course, I'm still promoting the latest in the series-- Seldom Traveled. I've had two radio show to appear on and been to two big book fairs--the first in San Luis Obispo and the Great Valley Book Fest in Manteca. 

Coming up this Saturday is the Visalia Taste of the Arts where I'll be in a booth with several authors all afternoon.

Then there's one last appearance, two days at the Porterville Art Gallery in November for their Holiday Boutique.

The big question is how much does all this help? Who knows. What it does do is acquaint readers with my books and isn't that what we're all about?

Oh,and when we started home from San Luis Obispo we stopped in Morro Bay and saw this replica of the Spanish galleon. Hard to believe that Cabrillo and others could sail all the way from Spain, around the horn and up the coast all the way to California on the open seas in that small and flimsy looking ship.

Eventually life will bet back to normal...maybe.

Marilyn

My beloved companion died a week ago now. Over last weekend, I cried so hard for her I made myself sick. I think that phase of grieving has passed. Most of us have lost a pet, so I can write about Lily knowing you will understand how hard and how completely you can love an animal.

It’s a love that is pure and unconditional. Animals return that love to you in the same uncomplicated fashion.  Their love is not mixed in with hurts and disappointments, slights and petty offenses, misunderstandings and losses,  as our human relationships can be. A loving relationship with an animal illustrates the best in us. 

And the worst. We see animals hideously injured and wondered who are the people who do this? What sickness in them bubbles to the surface to starve or beat an animal? Where does it come from? I don’t want to linger there.

_____________

What has risen to the surface in me since Lily’s death is my old fear of The Axe Murderer. I live in a village in rural, mountainous California. Crime here is likely to be teenagers breaking in to vacant cabins. Nonetheless, I am a student of crime and crime fiction, and dark scenarios dance in my mind when I wake in the night.

It’s silent here, and dark. No streetlights.  A breeze might blow up and sigh through the pines and the oaks. Occasionally I hear the yips and barks of coyotes. Yet the motion sensor light often goes on signaling some animal is padding around the house at the bottom of the stairs.  A raccoon, a bobcat.  It could even be the mountain lion that is caught on wildlife cameras. The bears have been driven into town by the drought. 

I’m much more afraid of the human variety of mammal. Lily used to bark frantically when she caught the scent of the bear. I knew her bear bark. As she grew old, she became deaf, her eyes clouded, and she couldn’t see well in the dark. Arthritis and Cushing’s disease took away her agility. I had to carry her up and down the stairs. 

Still, I felt she protected me, even when I knew that was a fanciful notion. Cats can stare at a wall until you believe something terrible lurks behind the drywall. They can look over your shoulder and convince you a killer is right there, a blade ready to strike between your shoulders. 

When I first moved here, I had night terrors about The Axe Murderer. Stalking the back deck, he would be wearing a long black cloak, drag chains, and have red eyes. Thank you, Stephen King.  Thank you very much. Then Lily came into my life and I forgot about him. He’s back. 

My doors lock and I have a butcher knife and a pry bar on my night table. In the state of mind I’m in right now, a gun would be foolish. I might shoot my foot off if the squirrel ran across the roof at night.  

It’s too soon to find another dog. I know that the right dog will find me, just as Lily did.

All is well. All is basically well. Time will pass. 

 Please see a related post: http://marpreston.com/writing-without-a-dog.html

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.

Ins and Outs of Promoting Seldom Traveled by Marilyn Meredith

This is the last day of my blog tour and I'm at B.K. Stevens blog:
 http://http://www.bkstevensmysteries.com/category/the-first-two-pages/

For the most part, the tour has gone well. There have been a couple of glitches--I never get as many comments when they have to be moderated--people like instant gratification. And since I collect the names for a contest, I want to see the comments right away too. There is so much work to a tour that the more I can do right away, the better.

One host didn't put the post up until the afternoon of the day I appeared--that fouls up my schedule too because I like to do the promoting first things in the morning before things get crazy around here.

And of course, there was one who didn't put it up on the day we agreed on--that seems to happen at least once on a tour.

Of course that's  not all I've been doing for this book. I've sent out review copies--I'd love to see more reviews on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

I've busily set up places to go and sell books--gave a talk about creating memorable characters for a writers group, will be headed to the mountain community of Oakhurst to participate this Saturday at an author and book festival and giving a talk about keeping series characters fresh, And on Thursday, September 20, heading over to the coast to participate in a book fair from 3 to 8 at the Mission Plaza in San Luis Obispo.

I'm also working on a Kindle book give-away for an earlier book in the Tempe series--more about that later. The book will fit the Hallowe'en season.

It's a good thing I'm an early-riser because that's when I get most of my work done.

Yes, I've had a tad bit of Bouchercon envy--but it's truly a good thing I didn't go.

And I've even managed to squeeze in a bit of writing now and then.

Tell me what you've been up to.

Marilyn

Hanging Out At Writers Conferences

by Linda Thorne

Last month I wrote what I hope was a "simple" interpretation on steps to take to become an author. One of my suggestions included hanging out at writers' conferences. If you're an aspiring author, what you'll get out of a conference (and you'll get a lot) is a whole other post.

Today, Thursday September 15th, is my first day at the 2016 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, Blood on the Bayou. I'm here now in New Orleans attending as one of the many published authors; so, although my purpose at this convention still includes learning as much as I can, promotion and networking has taken on a much bigger role.

I'm assigned to a non-traditional panel today from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m. It's an interactive author panel/workshop called the Continuous Bouchercon Conversation and also referred to as the Magna cum Murder. There will be many different authors participating in this panel all day today, tomorrow, and Saturday, each coming in at their designated time and leaving an hour later.

Here are some pics from my two panels at the recently concluded 2016 Killer Nashville Writers Conference:

Session 5 Friday August 19, 2016 Building Your Network at Killer Nashville 2016. 


Left to right in the picture of all of us: Linda Sands,
me, Tom Wood, Bryan Robinson, and Kay Kendall.

The next panel I was tagged as moderator for How To Write Effective Plot Twists. Below from left to right is me, Tom Wood, Sharon Potts, Ray Wenck, and Kris Calvin.

 

Killer Nashville was a fun time. I started going in 2009 when I did not have a book published. I do now and this is the second year I've been included on authors' panels. Always a great time.