About a month ago, Steve Weddle, along with Keith Rawson, inspired by the People of Walmart site, suggested to Patti Abbott, Aldo Calcagno from Powder Burn Flash, and Gerald So, to host a flash fiction challenge called "Walmart, I Love You." Patti proposed a 750-800 word story that is set, or partially set, in a Walmart.
Generally, English doesn't use masculine and feminine nouns or their corresponding adjectives. Sure, we might refer to a car or a boat as "she", but it doesn't really make a difference since our adjective forms don't change dependent on the nouns they describe. The one exception I can think of to this is hair color. The dictionary recognizes both "blond" and "blonde", both "brunet" and "brunette." So here's my question: Are men blonds and brunets while women are blondes and brunettes, or do you tend to use one set all the way through your manuscript? Would you rather read "blonde" for both the men and women in a manuscript, or should the adjective form change depending on which sex is being described?
For myself, I tend to use the feminine of both all the time, and "brunet" just strikes me as wrong when I see it in a book, but I am curious about the rest of you out there. What do you do? What do you like to see other people do?
Toasted Cheese is holding a "Dead of Winter" fiction contest for a horror story set in Winter with a theme of “hidden grave.” Deadline is December 21, 2009. Winning stories will be published in their March issue. Winners receive Amazon gift certificates: 1st: $20; 2nd: $15; 3rd: $10. Word limit is 4,000. You can follow Toasted Cheese on Twitter.
The folks at Creative Nonfiction have two upcoming contests:
You can follow Creative Nonfiction on Twitter.
Ocean Magazine is holding their first writing contest. They are looking for stories, essays, poems and articles relating to the ocean. Deadline is January 15, 2010. The winning entry will appear in the Ocean Magazine and online. No reading fee.
The First Line is looking for stories between 300-3,000 words with the first line: "Working for God is never easy." The deadline is February 1, 2010. There is no submission fee. They pay on publication ($20) and you receive a copy of the issue in which your story appears. The first lines for May, August and November 2010 are also posted on their web site if you wish to check it out.
How about you? Up for any contests? Or is current work keeping you busy, with the holidays on top of it all? Worn out by NaNo? Let us know!
John Irving’s work is always thematic and often moralistic. Such is the case with A Prayer For Owen Meany, which embraces the concepts of friendship, religion, and social justice as momentous elements of the personal life of each character. The reader, in turn, is guided to grab those same elements to enrich his own life.
Written as a memoir of Owen’s lifelong friend, Johnny Wheelwright, this book tells the story of the energy that Owen imparted to Johnny. The impact is summed up in a long and rambling first sentence that includes the fragment “because he [Owen] is the reason I believe in God.”
The main story covers the youth and young adulthood of Owen and Johnny and in that time and place brings in the Viet Nam war. Since Johnny is writing this memoir in 1987, he often sidelines the story to discuss the American political issues of the day, although he has long ago moved to Toronto. This popping the present into a narrative of the past can sometimes be disruptive, although Irving has a moral tie-in bubbling beneath the surface whenever he does it.
Of course both the memoir time frame and the “present” sidelines are all ancient history to the modern reader.
Throughout the book all of Owen's dialogue is in capital letters and that might trip up first time readers. The computer generation would naturally take this as shouting, but it actually represents the distinctiveness of Owen’s voice.
For more Forgotten Friday Books, please visit Patti Abbott, keeper of the list.
Image source here.
With all the chaos in the world including two wars, the economy, Swine Flu, natural disasters, random acts of insanity and our own personal problems, we sometimes forget to voice our thanks to those who make our way of life a possibility.
Well, XEROX Corporation, along with other corporate partners and two wonderful Not-For-Profits called Give2TheTroops, and Operation Gratitude, have arranged for all of us to send a dandy holiday note of Thanksgiving to a member of the American Armed Forces serving overseas.
This quote is directly from the “About Us” section of the Let’s Say Thanks website.
“The mission of Let's Say Thanks is to provide a way for individuals to recognize U.S. troops stationed overseas by sending a free personalized postcard greeting to deployed servicemen and women.
The postcards, depicting patriotic scenes and hometown images, were selected from a pool of entries from children across the country.
All you have to do is click on your favorite design and either select the message that best expresses your sentiment or draft a personal note. The postcards are then printed on the Xerox iGen3® Digital Production Press and mailed in care packages by military support organization Give2TheTroops®.”
Smart, funny and self-described as “ruggedly handsome,” Richard Castle is the lead character in ABC’s new comedy/drama series,Castle, and believe it or not, a New York Times best-selling author, as well. His novel, Heat Wave, has been on the Time’s list for several weeks.
Given that Castle is not actually a living, breathing person, but merely a fictional character on a TV series, that’s a pretty neat trick. And I was curious to know how the show’s producers pulled it off
As a famous mystery novelist the TV Castle is originally asked to help the NYPD solve a copycat murder based on one his novels. He works with Detective Kate Beckett (played by the actress Stana Katic) and decides that she would be a great model for his next book. Using his contacts with friends in high places, he gets permission to accompany her while she investigates her cases.
To make the book feel real, the novel reprises the plot of several episodes of the show, which has Beckett reading from the pages Castle has written based on her. Additionally, Heat Wave was available for purchase at the same time the book within the show was released, with Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) showing up for book signings.
Fillion, the actor who plays Castle, is smart, funny and yes, very handsome. (Okay, I do have a small crush on him, which is why I watch the show.) I think that he brings the character to life with humor and style. But, Fillion is not an author.
Yet, several real life, big deal authors have been part of the series as Castle’spoker playing buddies. Appearing as themselves, they include James Patterson, Michael Connelly and Stephen J. Cannell, anyone of whom could have penned Heat Wave.
Just like these authors, TV Castle gives interviews, has a Twitter page and has a nice “about the author” blurb on Amazon describing his previous novels and his life in New York City.
Trying to uncover the real author’s identity is impossible. No one is talking. The online gossip seems to favor Cannell, who has created dozens of TV programs and authored many mystery novels. Personally, I wouldn’t rule out the prolific Patterson, who might enjoy plotting and writing a series like this.
In an online interview, Castle creator Andrew Marlow insisted that there’s no mystery: “Richard Castle. The roguishly handsome best-selling author of the Derek Storm mystery series. He’s charming. He’s a good writer. And I don’t know why you’re trying to take credit away from him. The guy worked hard on it.”
We've mentioned this charity anthology benefitting Toys for Tots (Just click the cover on our sidebar for more information or to purchase.) Though it's not the season, not quite yet, I'll wet your whistle for our giveaway coming up Wednesday, December 2nd. From editor John Floyd's forward, I've selected two sentences about the variety in this holiday assortment, because it isn't just in the bylines.
"The characters are just as varied: Chinese assassins, guardian angels, ex-cons, shoplifters, recovering alcoholics, schoolkids, werewolves, security guards, elves, farmers, jealous spouses, even vengeful electronic devices. And of course there are a few police detectives and amateur sleuths and private eyes thrown in-- these are, after all, mysteries."
From the beginning of my book-length rewrite, here are two plus one of my own:
"Perhaps she shouldn't find it so appealing, Frankie thought, but she'd had her fill and then some of gritty authenticity. Authenticity was a dark, viscous pool you slipped in. It was the smell you couldn't wash out of your hair."
Share any two you've read and/or written this week, theme optional. Add them to the comments or let us know where they are. And get ready for gifts from us next week!
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This week, Leah J. Utas shares nostalgic horse sense and in-progress tunnel vision.
Patti Abbot is thinking about television today, and it's been on my mind lately, too. Ever since AMC started advertising its remake of one of my favorite TV shows, The Prisoner, I've had a yen to see the old series again. Of course, I watched the remake. (And, of course, I was disappointed--anyone else out there feel the same way?)
The series was originally produced in 1967 and is chock full of counter-culture attitudes. The plot revolves around a secret agent, played by the oh-so-sexy Patrick McGoohan (who, sadly, died in January of this year). The secret agent, who is unnamed, has been abducted and brought to a community called The Village, where people are held for various reasons. Each member of The Village has a number, rather than a name, and when the secret agent arrives, he is told he is Number Six. Thus the famous line from the show, "I am not a number, I am a free man!"
Number Six's nemesis is Number Two, who is always trying to get information about why Six was trying to retire from his mysterious job.
The Village is a forcibly happy place...extremely surreal. Six's dissatisfaction makes him an oddity and upsets the balance of The Village. Whoever runs The Village (the unseen Number One, whose identity Six wants to uncover) uses powerful but strange weapons to keep Six in The Village.
Luckily for me, the series lasted only 17 episodes, so it's cheap enough on iTunes for me to buy it, which I did just yesterday. Now I know what I will be doing for Thanksgiving!
If you're a fan of the Snowflake Method of outlining a novel, have I got great news for you! Randy Ingermanson, the creator of the method--and called the Snowflake Guy in honor--has developed a software program called Snowflake Pro that gives you the tools and guidance to work through the first nine steps of the ten-step method in an easy and convenient way. (The tenth step is writing the first draft of your novel, which you can do using Word or any other regular word-processing program.)
Better, not only does Randy provide detailed written directions for preparing a snowflake, but for each step he also offers an audio lecture. In addition, he includes complete snowflakes for three novels (Gone with the Wind, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Pride and Prejudice) and a movie (Pirates of the Caribbean).
As a bonus, Randy has also programmed a book proposal creator into Snowflake Pro. It doesn't create a whole proposal, but it does give you a good start. This is because the material you create in a number of the Snowflake Method steps is perfect for use in a proposal. Where you need to add information, Randy has left blank spaces and directions.
Note: I haven't yet used Snowflake Pro--I just got it a few days ago, too late for use on my current WIP--but I've been using the Snowflake Method for several years now and I love it!
As is his habit, Randy is charging a very reasonable price for his software: $100. If you're interested in purchasing it or just want some more information, see Randy's website, AdvancedFictionWriting.com, or click here.
1) Where did Okay (or O.K.) come from? I was wondering about this other day, and if you scroll through the answers, the expansion from 1830's American slang seems solid, especially when I consider how well other replacement or rhyming slang persists through public affection for using it, and how contagious slang usage is, my homeys and BFFs. Okay is a super-successful international export. And although I don't use K.G. for the know good homonymic version, I still use N.G. for No Good, and like that I'm keeping history and incomprehensibility alive.
Over at the Showmyface blog Cate invites you to participate in Six Word Saturday to describe your life (or something). So, here's my entry for today:
Unlike the silliness I spread on evenings and weekends with the careless abandon of excess cell phone minutes, these are actual, bibliocentric links I'm slotting into the week proper.
1) In this WSJ article, Alexandra Alter has 17 diverse and accomplished authors briefly share their methods for How to Write a Great Novel. It proves again there's no right way, just what works. If you're surfing the web because your prose is stuck, you can give one of these approaches a try, and if you think your personal methodology's weird, you'll be comforted.
2) When Publisher's Weekly recently announced their top 100 book picks for 2009, none of the top 10 were written by a woman. That may simply be how the compilation of ratings randomly shook out this year, but around the webiverse, some people are explaining why they're considering it a boys' club weenie roast.
3) Harper Collins has launched a beta version of a new site and concept, authonomy. In their words, they hope to connect readers, writers, and publishing professionals
"...unpublished and self published authors to post their manuscripts for visitors to read online. Authors create their own personal page on the site to host their project - and must make at least 10,000 words available for the public to read. authonomy can comment on these submissions – and can personally recommend their favourites to the community. authonomy counts the number of recommendations each book receives, and uses it to rank the books on the site. It also spots which visitors consistently recommend the best books – and uses that info to rank the most influential trend spotters. We hope the authonomy community will guide publishers straight to the freshest writing talent – and will give passionate and thoughtful readers a real chance to influence what’s on our shelves."
If you like this idea, or are trying it out as a reader or writer, please let us know in the comments. Is this the future, another way to replace good individual editors, both?
BTW: I think this method, by Harper Collins, is surely a more transparent, less-exploitative way for a publisher to find new talent than the implications of, oh, say, Harlequin Horizons $elf-publishing arm. Just hearing about the latter, I didn't love it, and perceived lots of issues for both HH and traditional Harlequin authors. Well, this particular new innovation is also drawing fire from Mystery Writers of America, and more worrisomely for the romance mothership, from Romance Writers of America, too. This last link from Jackie Kessler's blog also gives a detailed explanation of why this isn't "self publishing" a legit choice if transparent but true "vanity publishing." Preditors and Editors agrees- look in the H's.
UPDATE: It's hard to keep up with this one as it runs, but I've been referring to Lee Goldberg's blog since working against deceptive practices in (self) publishing is one of his huge crusades as an author and MWA Board Member. I've learned that Science Fiction Writers of America have joined the fray, like RWA, in having removed Harlequin from their list of approved publishers. That means, if you're not aware, that having your work published there doesn't qualify as "pro" level per the organization's guidelines. I'm sure they'll make provision to grandfather in those authors who've made careers up to this point writing professionally for Harlequin. But as of now, future works are lumped with amateur or vanity publishing, and that matters.
Is it time for Harlequin to pull up the stakes and call it a circus already?
Last week a friend handed me a book I knew I’d have to read. It’s title: If I’d Killed Him When I Met Him (… I’d Be Out of Prison Now). With a title like that, how could I resist? The author, Sharyn McCrumb attributed it to a friend who overheard the words from a battered woman who was in jail for murder. Ms. McCrumb is a wonderful writer and a New York Times best-selling author, but this book, an early Elizabeth MacPherson novel, hadn’t made the list.
I wondered why. With such an interesting title and a fun, well-plotted story, it seemed like it would have been a sure-fire winner, at least in my opinion.
This got me thinking about titles and the importance that they have not only in describing a book’s contents, but also in attracting readers and ultimately sales. Through online research, I learned that conventional wisdom has it that it’s easier to market and sell a book with a great title—preferably a short, catchy one. The Exorcist and Blink are two that come to mind.
I also learned that a good title is one people tend to respond to, and perhaps more importantly, retain, much like Pride and Prejudice, the #2 listing on the BBC’s poll of the 100 most popular books. Furthermore, a good title should also be one that the media catch on to and use over and over again, like Catch-22.
We’ve all heard of Jaws ( a book which sold 20 million copies according to Wikipedia's list of best sellers). This blockbuster novel spawned several movies and from them, the famous tag line: “Just when you thought it was safe...“ A line that’s become part of the vernacular, as has the intro music. Da dum. Da dum. All keeping the popularity of the book alive and well for many years.
So, can you judge a book by its title? The Great Gatsby started out as Trimalchio in West Egg until editor Maxwell Perkins changed it. Somehow he understood what would hatch successfully and what wouldn’t.
Some titles, like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo seem provocative. Others, such as The Time Traveler’s Wife may appear straightforward. And some, like The Kite Runner, merely hint at what’s to come. Of course, each of these titles can be interpreted by the imagination and the inclination of the reader. And each has its own twists and turns that have gone beyond their titles to make them best sellers.
Many well-known authors depend on repetition and reader memory to move their work along. Titles by John Sanford include 12 titles in his Prey Series while James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club is working on their 8th crime.
Wondering about which new titles might attract me as a reader, I took a trip to my local Border’s, to see what was on offer.
Titles in new fiction included Invisible by Paul Auster, Looking Glass by Alice Sebold, Ice by Linda Howard and The Atlantis Code by Charles Brokaw.
Among the Best Sellers, I found Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving. Pursuit of Honor by Vince Flynn, Ford County by John Grisham, and The Given Day by Denis Lehane.
While all seemed interesting and fit the criteria of short and catchy, none had that immediate, got-to-read-it-grab of If I’d Killed Him When I Met Him, at least for me.
I’m hoping that the titles of the two novels I’m working on, Keeping Secrets and Telling Lies, will spark interest of that kind among mystery readers.
What titles are you planning for your work? Will they be short and sweet? Long and expressive? Emotional? Descriptive? Or something entirely different? Will they spark accolades, adoration and sales? Please post a comment and let us know what you think.
I confess: Occasionally (blush) I purchase a book at Amazon.com. I try to wait until I have several to order, but the good folks at Amazon are not adept at consolidating shipments. And sometimes, when the first of my deliveries arrives in a box several times larger than its contents, I forage in my closet for shoes with stiletto heels. I need them to pierce the air pillows that cradle my shrinkwrapped paperback book.
For me, the madness began on a warm spring night in 1980. (Pre-Amazon. Pre IBM PC. Pre-shrinkwrap.) That night, I rejoiced along with my landlord and his son (Note: the kid was not all that much younger than I) at his high school graduation party. And I overheard what – on the face of it – was an ordinary exchange between the graduating senior and a family friend:
GUEST: “So where are you off to in September?”
SENIOR: “I’ll be going to [something something] Engineering School.”
GUEST: “Congratulations...another engineer in the family! Any particular specialty?”
SENIOR: “Yeah. I’m a Packaging major.”
A good deal of wine shot from my nose. I looked around, but nobody else was laughing. Did none of them recall 1967? Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate? That iconic cinematic moment in which the bourgeois and bourbon-laced career-advice, “Plastics!” started a hapless social revolution? The message seemed lost on the class of 1980.
Things have changed, and I would know better now, but at the time I had no idea that such a career existed, or what a degree in it entailed. The senior’s proud father was quick to enlighten his party guests. I looked dubiously at George (I’ll call the kid George). One month before, he’d been grounded for revelry that involved a visit from the town police. I winked, but he didn’t pick up on my sympathy. He had swallowed the packaging plan, hook line and sinker.
I think of George every time I shred my skin trying to open a product sealed in clam shell packaging. And I think of George when I hear about the continent-sized mat of plastic debris that floats out in the blue Pacific.
George has a lot to answer for, as does Jeff Bezos at Amazon, as do a number of huge manufacturers, as do people like me, the (nearly reformed) insatiable-consumer. But today at Amazon.com Bezos refers to ‘wrap rage’ and posts plans for Frustration-Free Packaging. He has actually launched a certification program for vendors who find frustration-free ways to package their products.
You can read what amounts to an FAQ here but the bottom line is this: Certified packaging is “recyclable and comes without excess packaging materials such as hard plastic clamshell casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It's designed to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging. Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without an additional shipping box.”
Who knew? I congratulate Amazon. I hope it doesn't take the Georges of the world a decade to implement their new designs.
- Lois
Dick Stodghill passed away recently. He was a reporter, a columnist, a novelist and a short story writer. He was also a husband, a father, a grandfather and a World War II veteran.
I never met him but I feel as though I knew him through his blog and through his comments here, and on Criminal Brief and on the message board of the Short Mystery Fiction Society. And, of course, I have read dozens of his short stories.
Dick was always kind in his comments to other writers and he often made me laugh. Once, over at Short Mystery Fiction, he mentioned that when he would have his sandwich for lunch, he liked to turn on one of the old black and white movie television channels. Sometimes he watched while he ate and went back to what ever he was doing. Often he would stay with the movie to the end. I envied that he’d kept his free spirit even at age 84.
I encourage you to visit Dick’s website and check his sidebar, covering topics from the Normandy invasion, to some of his newspaper columns, to a list of Interesting Mystery Links, and I am pleased to note that Women of Mystery was among those links.
One link brings you to Dick’s short story list. It’s quite long and references stories published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, Thrilling Detective, Hardboiled, Espionage, Amazon Shorts, and Louis Lamour Western Magazine.
There are also two free reads.
"Second Chance" was published in the August 1983 issue of Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.
I read Second Chance for the second time this week. Here are two sentences I would share with you:
“But no one knew I was coming and few realized or care that I am here. Soon someone will tell her, though, and that’s why I’m watching now, before she knows.”
Dick’s Jack Eddy stories have been running in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine since October 1988. He provides a link to one that was published in 2008.
Please click on the link to his blog called Stodghill Says So.
Scroll down to the October 30th post and read how Dick saw the changes in his life coming toward him. If you read nothing else, read the last paragraph. Dick’s philosophy of life is an inspiration. My favorite phrase: “Eat, drink and make merry; it all comes out the same in the end.”
As to my two sentences written, here they are:
God love you, Dick. Your words will be missed.
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If you have two sentences read and/or written posted on your site, please let us know in the comments section, or you can post your sentences in the comments for all of us to enjoy.
Leah has a great comparison over at The Goat's Lunch Pail. Her two read from Oscar Wilde ask a question and her own two written hint at the answer.
There's a lot of color remaining, but you can tell we've crested the hill and face the downslope. For some, I know this is a sobering time to start dreading everything that comes with the holidays and winter. While I understand, I never can feel it. The leaves come down, and my sprits rise with the bonfires. I love the feel of the air, and there's no sweeter warmth than Indian summer. I begin overhauling my life, whistling happy tunes and tidying up the corners. Who wants to hunker down in a hovel?
With other donate-ables, I just sent 8 boxes of books away, painful but necessary. My work space is getting clean, clear, and expansive, along with my thoughts. I've tossed garbage and refined my filing. I've got a fresh palette of notecards to organize my novel's research, so I can spread them over the now-empty carpet in groupings as a colorful schematic reminder. Wonder where I got that idea? 
This time of year, I make plans to carry me through to spring, and as I'm a bulb that does its best work underground, the quiet, dormant season is my most productive. Soon, and very soon, the sweetgum tree above will look like it does below, exposed in all its architectural wonder. And I will be, once-again, working.
Do you find you can work during this time of year, or do you need to take a holiday yourself until the days start getting longer again?
For a city girl, I do like my country music. I’ve never found a country radio station here in New York City, but on the music section of my cable tv, I have a number of country stations, including one that plays bluegrass and good ole country. I have always relied on the awards shows to give me a little hit of country, but lately the music is more pop ( Carrie Underwood) than country ( Charlie Daniels.)
Still, last Wednesday night I watched the CMA awards. I was rooting for Jamey Johnson to pick up an award for his song In Color, which sure has a lot of country in it. And I jumped up, sang and cheered when In Color won the Best Song award. You can see Jamey perform it on this YouTube.
Courtesy of Cowboy Lyrics.com here are the first two lines:
“I said, Grandpa what’s this picture here It’s all black and white and ain’t real clear”
For the rest of the song, Grandpa talks about what was underneath the pictures taken during the Great Depression, in World War 11 and at Grandma and Grandpa’s wedding.
Say hello to the most paleo of yesterday's news, by Tom Gauld via DoobyBrain. The above portrays a dusty attitude of antiquity right up there with the belief you'd never see lame' leggings in daylight on anyone but a hooker making bail. Loud stretchy pants are back, and on the upside, so is the short story. The only way this is a yawner to you is if you've been reading us or along with us brevi-holics for more than a microsecond.
[Actually, digressing slightly to Laura's recent post about being a "planner" or a "pantser," I believe I've discovered I'm more of a Bermuda shorts writer. I like the reliable structure of a nice Madras with some wildly improvisational kneecap. Therefore, I'm planning out my NaNo again and starting over from GO, the good news being that I think I can finish a legit book-length first draft by year's end, and that's very exciting indeed.]
Not to be serially immodest, but at our local Sisters in Crime chapter, we have a boffo program on short stories planned for next week. From hint fiction to the tweeted, from e-zines to anthologies and fiction magazines, you know that WoM have been and are loving the shorts. And we have been talking with delight as fans and writers about the revival in the form. Well, we can all now thank the Wall Street Journal for finally sipping the now-lukewarm mug of clue!*
*So petty of me, because I do think it's great to see the trend confirmed, and an iTunes short market would be fun to test out. Now, if they'd only get the cataloguing and organizational features improved enough to really make short groupings vibrantly usable on the Kindle et al.
Happy Friday the 13th, everyone!
Do any of you out there in blogland use Google Wave? I have an account (it's currently by invitation only as it's still in Beta), and I think it would be a great critique group tool, but since I only know one other person who has it, I can't really try out many of the features. If you, too, have a Wave account, give a shout!
Say the words, “Guess what I read in the Huffington Post?” and I would assume that you want to share the latest political gossip or governmental news. Since I am presently struggling to break my addiction to the twenty-four hour news cycle, I should cover my ears and screech, “No. don’t tell me.” And then I should shout, “Na na na na na” until you shut up and go away.
But I didn’t and so I discovered what everyone else probably already knows, the Huffington Post has an excellent literary section with some terrific blogs. You might want to take a look at Suzanne Morrison’s post describing how the books we re-read are the true indicators of our personalities. Sounds great to me—no more taking those quizzes in old issues of Cosmo while I’m hanging around the beauty parlor.
And last week, Jason Pinter had a detailed interview with the likes of Oline Cogdill, David Montgomery, Sarah Weinman, Patrick Anderson and Kate Stine on the State of the Crime Novel.
The breaking news banners throughout the blogosphere tell us that Lou Dobbs has left CNN. Perhaps the book lovers will take over the news world. Wouldn't that be grand?
Terrie
My brain hurts. I am way behind on words, having had to work at a trade show this past weekend. I am cranky, and it's hard to get my characters to do what I want them to.
But I am doing a little better than I used to at skipping scenes I don't feel capable of writing and moving on to the next thing. I used to have to write in a totally linear fashion--nothing could go down without everything leading up to it being laid out entirely.
I often hear people talk about "planners" vs. "pantsers." Planners outline, whereas pantsers write by the seat of their pants. But of course, nothing is quite that binary. Or, very little is. And nothing in the world of writing. At the latest Mystery Writers of America meeting last night, Chris Grabenstein talked about how he sets "tentposts" rather than outlining. These are the major plot turning points. That's almost an outline, but not quite. I couldn't do that, myself, because I don't know those plot points ahead of time. (I'm a true pantser. I'd written half of my first mystery before I even knew who the murderer was.)
This time out, however, I am trying to do a little better, to think three, or even five, scenes ahead instead of just one. What about you guys? Do you do any pre-planning, or just sit down and go for it? Do you write a complete outline? If I've asked you this before, forgive my brain-dead state. I've generated way too many words in the past eleven days.
Veterans Day began as “Armistice Day” to celebrate the end of fighting between the allied nations and Germany, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. The following year, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11th “Armistice Day.” In 1938, it was changed to “Veterans Day.”
In honor of Veterans Day, I have an assortment of links to share.
Last week on Twitter, I read a tweet from Kaylie Jones (author of Lies My Mother Never Told Me and A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries; her father, James Jones, wrote From Here to Eternity and The Thin Red Line): “An amazing program that takes WWII vets to see their war memorial in DC. 1000 WWII vets die each day,” along with a link to the emotional but heartwarming video.
If you know a veteran who is willing to be interviewed, the Veterans History Project is looking for volunteers to conduct these interviews. Read more info about this wonderful project that is archived in the Library of Congress here.
Looking for a parade? Check out the U.S. Parade Directory on Vetfriends.com.
In honor of Veteran's Day, entrance fees to all our national parks and forests will be waived on November 11, not just to veterans and active service members, but to everyone.
This month, the Smithsonian Channel is premiering a special six-part documentary, “Apocalypse: The Second World War,” as well as other programs that feature the stories of vets.
Several businesses are honoring veterans and active-duty military personnel:
On Wednesday, November 11, at all 1900 locations, Applebees is offering a free entree from 11 am to midnight to veterans and all active-duty military.
This Monday, November 16, Golden Corral is offering free buffet meals (including beverage and dessert) to current military and vets from 5 to 9 p.m.
According to the Loving a Soldier, Living the Life blog, Build-A-Bear Workshop stores are offering a 20% discount on any one transaction to military families from November 11 through November 15.
Cabela's is having a Hometown Heroes Celebration on November 11th and 12th. They are offering Employee Discounts to Military Personnel, Veterans, Law Enforcement, Firemen and EMS.
According to the Air Force Times, Home Depot and Lowe’s are offering military discounts.
Happy Veterans Day to those who are serving or have served our country, and their proud families. I salute you!
I recently had the pleasure of reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, a wonderful story that takes place in Barcelona from 1945 to 1966 and stretches back in time to 1932. The novel is filled with danger and intrigue, seduction and revenge and tragedy and love-- all revolving around the passion of books. Nearly every page has two sentences that captivate the reader. I particularly liked the following two:
A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept. My first thought on waking was to tell my best friend about the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.
Now here are two sentences from the novel I'm working on:
The fiery edges of the setting sun angled sharply over the distant peaks while lingering slivers of orange flew across the landscape like a bettor homing in on a hot table. The scorching orb that had claimed the Strip all day, sharing the wealth of its white-hot light no longer had the juice.
Would love to know about anything you're working on. Post a link or your words in the comments, and we'll update this post throughout the day!
• Terry Odell has intriguing forgotten evening sentences in the comments
• Barbara Martin also has sentences in the comments, these on Canadian history
The winner of our giveaway is Helen Kiker! Helen, please email me (laura.kramarsky [at] womenofmystery.net) your mailing address, and I will get your books out to you! Sorry...no help for getting to the Great Wall of China, though.
In the comments section on Laura’s latest book giveaway , Kar mentioned that she would love to see the Burren in Ireland. It seems Kar’s mother speaks of it in an almost mystical way. And well she should.
The Burren National Park is nestled in the northwest corner of County Clare, Republic of Ireland. Clare itself is located on the west coast of Ireland and, like its namesake our own Clare2e, is renowned for its sheer beauty and dramatic appeal. Clare is surrounded by Galway Bay to the north, the Atlantic Ocean on the west and the River Shannon, Ireland's longest river, to the east.
The haunting landscape of the Burren is a rare karst limestone surface where alpine and Mediterranean plants rare to Ireland grow side by side. You can read all about it here.
second You Tube posted by mgk84 offers a clear vision of the continuous grandeur of the Cliffs.
You've checked your proofs and returned them to your editor. Or maybe you've just finally typed "The End" on the last page of your first draft. Whichever it may be, you're ready to turn your attention to promotion. But what should you do?
Social networking sites are hot right now and are excellent promotional tools for authors--if you know how to utilize them. Publicist Sandra Beckwith knows, and she's offering a teleseminar next Wednesday, November 11, called "Boost Your Book Sales with Social Networking." With the help of marketing expert Dana Lynn Smith, author of The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing and several other e-books on book marketing, she'll discuss topics such as:
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