-- Consuelo Saah Baehr

E-publishing is a miracle that has changed my life.

I was born in El Salvador to French/Palestinian parents who quickly divorced and went their separate ways.  At age five my mother and I traveled to the U.S. by bus through Mexico so I could join my father and get an education. Throughout the trip, I drank Coca Cola.  It was made with syrup and soda at the time and still had traces of cocaine so I arrived a mild dope addict.  My mother left me with my father and five uncles in Washington, D.C. where they ran the prestigious boutique department store, Jean Matou, a favorite of Bess Truman and Jackie Kennedy. My father once refused a check from Bess Truman who had purchased a black nightgown.  “But Mr. Saah,” she said, “I live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”  “I don’t care where you live,” said my father.  “We don’t accept checks.”  My Uncle Charlie had to take him aside and knock some sense into him.

I didn’t know it then but this sort of childhood was the best preparation for being a writer. The solitary life of a child who has to invent friends in her head is often a preamble to inventing stories for publication. After college I wrote advertising copy for the Macy Corp and several Madison Avenue agencies.  Marriage and three children followed and the writing was silent until a stunning Op-Ed piece in The New York Times brought a flurry of offers from book publishers. The result was the personal memoir, Report From The Heart (Simon & Schuster). Four novels followed: Best Friends (Delacorte/Dell); Nothing To Lose (Putnam's); Daughters (Delacorte/Dell) and 100 Open Houses, a Kindle original.

To me, publishing for the various e-readers is a miracle that has changed my life.  It is as important to authors as the printing press.  The sledgehammer of traditional publishing kept me silent for several years.  Traditional publishing is bleak, bleak, bleak interrupted by ten minutes of happiness the day your agent sells your book.  There follows a year of silence while they “produce” the book.  The publishing moment is brief.  If your print run is in the low to mid five figures, your book is DOA.  Two years of your life are gone.  The Prozac year follows.  With e-publishing, I can accommodate my two passions:  writing and commerce.  The best part is that the writer is in control.

Life Balance and a Date with the Mouse

-- Michael Scott Miller

I don’t have the type of day job where when the 5 o’clock whistle blows, I get to race home and leave the job behind.   No, my day job requires 50+ hour weeks and attention to my Blackberry when I’m not in the office.  And then there’s the whole writing thing.  In order market my novel, I’ll spend another 1-2 hours per day planning, plotting, scheming, …er, reading, researching, promoting, and interacting with readers and authors.  I also have three kids, ages 15, 13, and 8 to whom I try to give as much attention as they want (and sometimes more ).

How do I do it?  I’ll share what I do here and maybe some of it will be of value for you, whether it helps you structure your days more effectively, or simply provides a measure of relief that you aren’t the only one cramming everything possible into a day, catching a few hours of sleep, and getting up to do it again.  I managed to squeeze in a trip to Disney World a few weeks ago and not get hopelessly far behind, so with that in mind, here are my self-imposed rules for keeping life in balance, set to the music of Disney.

 

Let’s go fly a kite…

The first rule is that the family comes first.  Period.  Unless I am absolutely unable to break free, when the kids ask to go outside and play ball, ride a bike, help them study, read with them, whatever, my mind immediately goes to, “Can I find a way to say ‘yes’?”  Most often, I do.

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, it’s off to work we go…

The second rule, which ties closely into the first, is to work when the kids are otherwise occupied.  I’m more of a morning person than a night person, so I’ll get up early and work on some aspect of my writing, be it marketing, interacting with other authors on social media, or actual writing before I start my day job.  Sure, I could spend more time with the kids more in the morning, but anyone who has seen kids get ready for school knows that this is definitely NOT quality time.  I am fortunate to have a wonderfully supportive wife who handles the morning duties.  That allows me to also start the day job earlier, which in turn, allows me to come home earlier, increasing the evening quality time with the family.  Most often, I’ll still end up doing a bit more work, either day job related or writing related, once the kids go to sleep.

Look for the bare necessities…

 

 

The third rule is that you have to make choices of what is essential.  For me, that means giving up television, and to some extent, sleep.  When I listen to my friends running through all the shows they watch, in some ways I feel a bit left out, but in others, I feel like I am spending my time doing things that are so much more fulfilling.  Generally speaking, there are one or two shows per season that I’ll make time for --- Lost in its day, Modern Family now.  But even these shows get DVR’d and watched with my wife late night.  I also watch sports, but for the most part, that is easily multi-tasked.  Unfortunately, but realistically, the other thing that gets sacrificed is sleep.

Meticulous planning, tenacity spanning ,…be prepared!

The fourth rule is to be efficient.  That means being organized and prepared.  I habitually keep lists of to-do’s and plan what is to be accomplished on a given day or even in a given hour.  That means pre-determining the amount of time I will spend participating on discussion boards, reading blogs, Tweeting, and writing.  Okay, it helps to be a bit OCD here.  But the prep time that is spent on planning and organization pays off with a much more efficient use of time.

When you wish upon a star…

I hope that I was able to give those of you with life balance issues at least a few ideas that will help you follow your dreams.  I’m having a blast following mine…

Dishing Up the Sun: Mash-ups and Cross Genre Authoring

-- Edward C. Patterson

“There is nothing new under the sun,” or so the Good Book tells us. Still, authors strive to engage readers with original material — unique engagements found only between book covers or e-book reader index lines.  I face this issue every time an idea morphs through my imagination. And I’m not alone in this. It’s a hard spot to be in, because many readers, although they say they want a unique and original read, prefer to swim in comfortable channels — the formulas of genre. So an author either needs to challenge the reader or feed them with off-the-shelf macaroni and cheese. If a novel landscape is too strange, readers might look the other way. If it’s too familiar, readers will just ingest another romance or historical fiction or hard-boiled detective Dick story, not that there’s anything wrong with that. However, I believe that authoring is a two way street — that the reader partners with me. The tale may begin in my imagination, but it unravels and sets seed in yours. There it grows to full term and lingers.

I’m a yarn spinner — realistic, fantastic, and historic. Whatever strikes my fancy, I’ll tell it as a tall tale. Tales are not spun over the entire arc, but in every paragraph, phrase and word. In fact, a reader should be engaged every time they pick up my books. They should regret putting the book down — guilty, even. Like all tall tales, my novels are lies that reveal truths. Therefore, I’m not a creator of plots, fleshing them out until it’s beefy enough call it a novel. Plots are extractions after a work is finished — simple threads describing, in a pale way, what already exists between the covers. Initial plotting suffocates the authoring process. It denies possibilities that are born and thrive as I tell the story, first to myself, and then to you.

Few stories are unique. I mean, romantic triangles were etched on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs and repurposed in the opera Aida. Knights have been slaying dragons, vampires have been sucking blood and clever old ladies have been solving mysteries in quaint English villages for as long as authors have cared to relate such yarns to a willing audience. However, lately, interesting things have been popping up. Fantasy has gone political as in the works of China Mieville (who even turns his protagonists into Kafkaesque bugs) and Jane Austen has been sparring with . . . zombies. Even the Wicked Witch of the West from our childhood dreams has had a roll in the hay and has become an Animal advocate (Animal with a capital “A”). Mash-ups are an interesting concept, which, when applied to a realistic landscape, produces strokes of genius like His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik’s landmark series that marries World War I-fashioned dragon squadrons to the meticulous details of the Napoleonic wars.

The mash-up, at first, seems to be a collection of strange bedfellows. However, when given a realistic spin on the yarn, it can engage a reader’s imagination like no other. When it does, mash-up is not an appropriate genre tag. When you take Austen and zombies, it’s appropriate. The reader knows from the outset that something different may happen like mixing oatmeal with ravioli. However, when the mash-up is a blend of genre elements, the reader doesn’t know what to expect.

Let me speak from experience. I have several novels that blend various genre elements into drinkable brews, and will continue to spin such yarns. However, two of my works approach the mash-up stage without preempting the reader’s expectations.

Turning Idolater is . . . well, what is it? Authors learn that by mixing genres, it’s hard to market a book under one heading. We usually wind up peddling it under several umbrellas. Turning Idolater is a gay romance minus the explicit sex. That the romance is between an eighteen year old Internet stripper and a thirty-five year old author adds interest, but that’s not unique, although the Internet elements give the work added dimension. That the youngster is also attracted to the novel Moby Dick and happens to possess an original edition (a gift from a trick) upsets the paradigm. The fact that there are other men vying for the couple’s attention is a normal romance complication. That there’s a serial killer on the loose, bodies turning up in the Hudson River, and an ongoing investigation pushes the work into the mystery category . . . a bit.

The secret of sewing these disparate elements into a cohesive whole — one that constantly engages the reader, is to drive the work through its characters and create realistic, identifiable settings. When a reader is secure in their surroundings, they can track character development. When the more imaginative portions of the story-blend comes wafting over them, they will find it hard to disengage . . . until the end. As a result, the yarn spinner must be transformed from a writer into an author, sewing a tapestry of old New England whale stories, Dickensian style sweat shop anxiety (in Turning’s case, a strip shop), a gripping crime thriller and a deeply, emotional love tale of the Shakespearean kind. I guess it would have been easier to pen a sex-laden gay romance with a Sherlock Holmes whodunit, but that would only engage a reader’s time and not their imagination. I wanted Turning Idolater to linger, and not like stale garlic.

Another example from my canon is my latest work, The Road to Grafenwöhr (pronounce Grafenveer). In this case, it originated as an autobiographical extension of my novel Surviving an American Gulag, which relates my Army experiences through basic training. I planned this second book to continue relating my adventures when I was stationed in Bavaria —1968, during the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. What evolved even surprised me. That particular area of Germany, the Oberpfalz, teems with folklore and legend. Therefore, I decided to mash-up real events and experiences with a fantasy tale that draws on the Brothers Grimm and Stephen King. I also detailed barracks life and relationships following Jane Austen’s meticulous pattern, where the interaction between the characters become a mosaic drawing the reader through the story.

My protagonist, an imaginative GI named Quincy Summerson (a name derived from two literary characters – Peter Quince in Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw and Esther Summerson in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House) finds himself swept up by his own imagination as it connects to the ancient folkways of the forest near Grafenwöhr. I marry fantasy elements with the real world that existed at that time and in that place. Quincy’s journey is a fateful one. By the rules of mash-up, as his imagination enters the twilight world, he should have arced downward, degraded and extinguished, befitting the horror and paranormal genre. However, I decided to take a different tack, choosing a heroes journey, providing Quincy with all the traditional elements that support a neophyte developing (in this case ripening) into a Homeric hero. In fact, I allowed Quincy to dictate his course to me. I fought him tooth and nail right to the bitter end, but I’m glad he won out. I am happy to report that initial feedback from my readers has also approved his decision. (Bravo Quincy!)

Not every work should be an amalgamation of disparate elements — a mash-up. However, when art calls from the sidelines and insists on a rich palette — the full spectrum — an author must be on guard to rise to the occasion. J. R. R. Tolkien teaches us that to engage the reader on the journey, we must create a familiar world — a comfortable environment for the imagination to take seed and grow. Then, and only then, can young soldiers meet dead Roman ghosts or dragons replace fighter squadrons in great sea battles off the coast of France (bravo Novik). There may be nothing new under the sun, but readers crave more of the same, but in diverse ways. We can either dish it up until they are sated and put it aside, or serve them old bottles in new wine and win their minds forever. Let the new wine flow.

Edward C. Patterson

Author of
Turning Idolater
The Road to Grafenwöhr
and other works see: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002BMI6X8
Website: Dancaster Creative www.dancaster.com

The Blank Album

-- Vinh-Khoi Le

Even though I write absurdist fantasy, a lot of the themes and scenes in my book are based on real life incidents. I believe the best books and movies, even fantasy and sci-fi, connect with people for their relatable scenes. The scene with Harry looking in the mirror and seeing his parents was the reason why I kept reading the first Harry Potter book over and over again. Similarly, the scene with Alice’s sister at the end made the Alice in Wonderland book real to me.

These scenes inspired me to find these scenes in my life, and so I began work. To record stuff on the go, I keep a creative journal and have note cards in my pockets. You may use a notepad, a cell phone, or a recording device. It doesn’t matter, as long as it’s convenient and easy to use.

To find these incidents, I volunteer at several places, most of which are small and intimate. But that’s not all I do. The best characters are found by accident. Sometimes, when I take the T back to college, I would encounter people like a high-class lawyer and a crazy lifeguard. I would share my stories, they would share theirs, and voila, a character is formed. Or when I see a hobo on the street, I would have a conversation with him to learn about his story. It’s surprising the places that you can find characters and stories, like the bus stop, or a fast food place, or the dinner table, or maybe even your job.

After I collect these stories and conversations, I write them down in my journal and in your computer. But that’s not all I do. I develop beta characters from these conversations and write stuff about them, what they might do in certain situations, where they might go, how they might relate to one another. Then I draw character maps, maps of locations, and other things based on my beta characters in my journal. I find this makes my characters so much more authentic and real.

Of course, no experience beats personal experience. I’ve gone through plenty in a short span of time, so every time a memorable event pops up, I usually make a quick note of it. Later, when I have time, I would reflect on these personal experiences. I write down what I was feeling and thinking at the moment, and then write down what I think about the events later.

With all these resources at my fingertips, whenever I’m writing a story and are running low on ideas, I always refer back to my journal and laptop. It helps reenergize my thinking bank and keeps my writing momentum going for a very long time. I believe it could work for others, too.

So the steps are:
1. Find recording devices on the go, and a uniform place to organize your thoughts.
2. Make careful observations, and don’t be afraid to seek out and talk to strangers.
3. Record everything possible after an incident or a conversation. This includes eye color, scars, location, the bottle lying on the ground, etc.
3. Dump your information somewhere and organize it. If you have time, write a quick reflection from the information you’ve gathered.
4. Create beta characters and locations from your information.
5. Have them interact with one another/in different locations. See what they think.
6. Refer to your information for ideas when you’re crafting your piece.

This was my contribution to a 500 word improv invitation on the Amazon Forums:

Kenneth Jameson was in a hurry. In his hurry last night he forgot to set his alarm, so there wasn’t time to do much more than shower and get downtown for that meeting on the Roritan Generator financing. Those idiots at the firm can’t ever get these things straight, he thought as he rushed through his morning routine. Can’t eat now, but I can grab an energy bar at the newsstand in front of the office.

Kenneth threw on his jacket, grabbed his very expensive Moroccan leather briefcase, luckily he had stuffed all the papers in before finally turning out the lights early this morning when he finally put the finishing comments on that poorly written brief. I’m going to have to talk with Jones’ boss about his lack of attention, he muttered to no one in particular.

Closing and locking the door to his penthouse apartment on Central Park West, Jameson walked briskly to the elevator. The shining bronze doors of the elevator opened onto the white marbled lobby of his apartment house. Alfred, the door man, held open the massive brass doors for Jameson as he hurried through.

“Have a nice day,” said Alfred; a comment left unanswered as the partner in Crumbly & Seversin bolted through the door to the waiting black Lincoln Town Car.

As the Lincoln Towncar weaved its way downtown, Jameson went through his papers one more time, marking further comments in bright red ink, so much so that the document soon looked as though it had been riddled with buckshot and was uncontrollably bleeding its life away.

The Lincoln quietly slipped up to the curb of the skyscraper that served as the world headquarters of Crumbly & Seversin, a global investment firm. Jameson had clawed his way up the organization and was now a senior managing director.

He walked briskly toward the front doors of the building, but hesitated remembering that he needed his energy bar. He walked over to the newsstand on the curb and asked for a Power2go bar. “Are you new?” he asked the operator of the stand, “Where’s the regular guy?”

The operator said, “Thomas had to go visit his sick grandmother, so I am sitting in for him.” The newsstand operator handed Jameson the energy bar wrapped in its shiny silver foil.

“Thomas? Was that his name?” replied Jameson absentmindedly. He took the energy bar and walked toward the building. Without thinking, Jameson unwrapped the small chocolate covered energy bar and put it to his mouth.

As he bit into the high calorie, artificially sweeten energy bar, it exploded. Jameson’s head was explosively transformed into a Roman fountain of blood and gray brain matter; his lifeless body slumped to the pristine sidewalk of Crumbly & Seversin.
The newsstand operator quietly slipped into the crowd walking slowly westward on Wall Street as people ran eastward to the scene of the violence. Sirens screamed as police cars and ambulances fought the morning rush hour, trying to fight through the congestion.

See the Improv here

Courage, Strength, and Freedom

-- Pearson Moore

She is not just any slave.

The fiercest battles ever seen on the North American continent will be waged over her.  Depending on the faction that keeps her in shackles, alliances will coalesce or crumble, nations will rise or fall.

She is Myeerah of Hawk Clan, child of Stadacona’s archenemy, the Iroquois.  Daughter of a slave, considered a foreigner to every nation in the northern forests, she has a dream that will propel her into courageous acts and a spiritual strength foreseen not by her, but by her enemy’s greatest leader.  Does hope in a dream suffice?  Is the courage, strength, and freedom of a single woman enough to found a new nation?
 
Such is the beginning of  my first novel, “Cartier’s Ring.”  Myeerah’s enslavement is a sub-plot, but it is important to the final resolution of the novel.  I started “Cartier’s Ring” in 2007 as an experiment in writing.  I coupled a very forceful first-person narrative with something rarely attempted in fiction:  present-tense storytelling.  I knew authors hardly ever used present-tense structures in writing, but I didn’t really understand why until I began my experiment.  Quite simply, it’s hard to write in present tense!  The past tense provides an anchor for both author and readers.  Present tense is only slightly more difficult in casual situations, but conveying a sense of peril is an order of magnitude easier in past tense.  The author can invoke the detachment that past tense allows, methodically going about painting a verbal landscape of a scene, taking her time to convey ten seconds of intense conflict over the course of five pages.  When the novel is rendered in real time, no such detachment is possible.  Authors get around this problem by slowing things down.  The character may think to herself, “It was as if time stopped, and everything happened at once,” giving the author licence to spend five pages discussing those critical ten seconds.  That is an artificial construct, though, and one that really defeats the entire purpose of writing in present tense, which is to force readers into the world the author has created.  An alternative is to avoid intense conflict, but this again defeats the purpose of providing direct and raw appeal to the reader.  It took three years to write the novel—and now I know why!  In my foolish stubbornness I refused to compromise present tense immediacy.  I think the novel is stronger for it, but it was a long time in the writing.

“Cartier’s Ring” is Myeerah’s story.  Enslaved at the age of eleven, circumstance forces her to a resourcefulness few people ever achieve.  She learns the healing arts, her fiancé gives her archery lessons, and she teaches herself to hunt.  She wins her man not by beguiling supplication, rare wit, or unequalled beauty, but through raw courage and tactical prowess:  Myeerah becomes a warrior.

I tried to write “Cartier’s Ring” to appeal to just about any well-read person interested in seeing vivid conflict and spectacle play out before her.  Four conflicting cultures are personalised into the lives of Myeerah and her co-protagonist, François.  Theirs is the most intimate relationship depicted in the novel, but they are not lovers.  Myeerah’s journey is completed not when she finally gets her man, but when she passes on to her great granddaughter the legacy of her people, symbolised in the gold ring she entrusts to Yandessrha’s care.  Myeerah calls it a promise.  In reading the novel, you will come to understand the full significance of the ring to Myeerah.  As you read, you will face slave traders and heartless leaders, but also saints and women of vision.  There are personal conflicts, clashes of culture and personality, and epic battles that level entire cities.  The fast pace and the stormy backdrop should appeal to any fan of action-adventure stories.  The philosophical depth and historical authenticity should find resonance in the minds and hearts of the most discriminating readers of historical fiction.

I began researching “Cartier’s Ring” in 1998, and continued my research through the first draft in 2007 and completion of the novel in 2010.  I enlisted dozens of historical figures as minor characters, including Jacques Cartier, Francis Drake, Samuel de Champlain, Michael Lok, Deganawida, Martin Frobisher, Hernando de Alarcón, and many others.  Intensive research in primary sources, including original-language voyage logs of Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain, and Francis Drake, as well as the Jesuit Relations from 1610 to 1649 and original source documents in French, Spanish, and Nahuatl provided the background I needed to construct an historically accurate setting.  But it is the emotional depth of Myeerah's story that brings the novel to life. You will feel her pain as she is beaten and enslaved, touch her tear-streaked face as she witnesses the ritual torture and execution of her brother, share in her joy as she overcomes deprivation and starvation, and cheer when she vanquishes her enemies.  My hope is that the story affects you personally, at a deep level.  You see, “Cartier’s Ring” is about the birth of a nation, and every nation begins as a hope in our souls and a longing in our hearts.

In the Auschwitz death camp, a single word brought hope even to the starving and those who had lost their family, their pride, and their dignity.  Those who should have been without hope instead invoked the name of the one place in which they would find deliverance from slavery.  The inmates had a code word for freedom.  The word expressed not only physical freedom, but freedom from the horrible spiritual torments of Auschwitz.  They expressed freedom as a place—a place where people were free in mind, body, and spirit.  When the inmates wished to console each other, when the torments became unbearable, they told each other this:  "We will go to Canada."  My novel, “Cartier’s Ring,” is about that place.  I invite you to begin the journey to courage, to strength, to freedom—to Canada.

-- Michelle Scott

Yesterday and today, instead of grading papers like I should have, I watched a pair of mourning doves build a nest.  It was fascinating to see the pair carefully (and I mean carefully!) pick out just the right straws to use for their structure.  They took turns at the task, first plucking the dead grass and then weaving it into the nest.  I marveled over how these two birds were able to build such a tightly-woven structure without the benefit of opposable thumbs.  Or even hands!

As I watched the building process, I thought of how tireless those birds worked.  If I’d been the bird, I would have complained about sore wings or the way the straw tasted or the fact that I would rather just move into a hotel rather than build a nest.  The task, from my point of view anyway, seemed insurmountable.

Then it struck me that writing a book is very much the same.  Okay, I’m obviously not picking up straws with my mouth, but I am building the story word by word.  And it can seem like an impossible task at time.  When I start a book, I can’t look at how many words and pages I have to go, or I’ll just give up and go do something else (like watch the mourning doves).  I have to take it slowly, one word at a time.  Just like those birds painstakingly select their straws, I carefully choose my words, knowing that, eventually, they’ll  build into something wonderful.

At the same time, I must keep my eye on the goal of finishing the book, because if I don’t I also run a risk of getting bogged down with selecting each and every word.  I have to take the entire shape of the novel into account, noting how each chapter fits with the others, being careful of when to slow down and when to pick up speed.  I guess if the doves ever watched me work, they’d wonder why I bothered to do this at all.  Possibly, they’d think my task was more difficult than theirs.

But the birds make their nest and I painstakingly continue to write my books.  And, somehow, it all works.

Michelle Scott received her MFA from Wayne State University.  Her stories have appeared in such places as Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, All Possible Worlds and Realms.  Her fantasy novel, The Dragons of Hazlett was nominated for a 2009 EPPIE Award.  Michelle’s YA novels include the vampire romance, Blood Sisters, and the fantasy Uncommon Magic.  Her latest fantasy novel, An Anthem for the Battle Lands, was just released from Mundania Press, LLC.  Michelle lives in southeast Michigan with her husband and three children.
You can read excerpts of her books on her website: www.mscottfiction.com

 

 The 99 Cent Action Movie

 -- Michael Drake

I've been sold on the Kindle revolution. The fact that Amazon is selling more eBooks than paperbacks and hardcovers tells you that we have reached the "tipping point." And if the regular laws of economics hold, then the lower price point of 99 cents will be the most popular price point.

Putting that all together, I wondered, "What would I want from a 99 cent ebook?"

I thought about this for a while. Though I am a fan of novels, I think there is a huge hunger for a "movie-like" experience when it comes to Kindle reading. A story takes you about 90 minutes to 2 hours to read. The set-up is quick. The story twists and turns and keeps you on the edge of your seat. And then the story builds up to a huge Hollywood style climax with a bunch of Boom, Bang and Blast in-between.

I apologize if I sound like a coked up Hollywood Producer. However, I wanted to express my excitement in proposing a new type of fiction to go with the new price point and delivery system for fiction.

For my first thriller TICKER, I not only researched thrillers, I took a look at films and, most importantly, screenplays. Screenplays are designed to be economical with their words.  Movie style thrillers follow a strict structure of set-up, twist and climax. Of course, how you get from point A to B to C is the creative challenge.

If you are currently thinking about writing a story in the 10,000 to 20,000 word range, consider looking at creating a "movie on a Kindle." Also, consider using movie posters as your inspiration for the book cover. If the general reading public falls in love with this new type of storytelling, at the 99 cent price point, then we can open up a whole new genre of fiction that can, not only challenge legacy publishers, but Hollywood as well.

 

Learning from the Best: the Bright Shiny Object

---J. Carson Black

Writing has always been a journey for me, a quest for my own personal best.  I have used times of failure---I’ve had plenty of those--to raise my game.  I’m sure I’m not alone in this. When I set out to write my new thriller, THE SHOP, I studied Michael Connelly, Joe Finder, Harlan Coben, and many others.

When I discover something important, I make it my own, even giving the idea my own subject line.  So I’d like to tell you about Bright Shiny Objects.

A lot of authors will have a traumatic or important scene, and afterwards, the character will dwell on it.  Even if they’re involved in something else, something different (like buying a new car, or even bungee jumping), they keep going back and worrying what happened in the previous scene, like a dog with a bone.  I used to do that.  It’s a staple of most genre writing, the accepted way of doing things. But the breakout writer doesn’t do that.  I learned this from Harlan Coben’s THE WOODS.  In the first dramatic scene, the main character learns that his sister might not have been killed many years ago at a summer camp.  At least there’s the possibility she didn’t.  Questions arise: Who did die in her stead? Where is she if she is still alive?  Why didn’t she contact her family?  His whole world is turned upside down.  But instead of worrying it to death, which is just a waste of time on the page, the main character has to move.  He has to do his job as a lawyer.  He’s in the middle of a life-or-death case, a fascinating case that is potentially career-threatening.  If he doesn’t get it right, there could be huge consequences for either the defendants or the victim.  The character DOES NOT ONCE think about his sister.  Harlan Coben lets the previous revelation bubble on the back burner. 

Amazingly, the lawyer scene is absorbing and compelling. It reads like a house afire.  Harlan Coben is the master of suspense, and he knows how to move a story along. 

We readers want to be entertained.  We’re like everybody else these days – babies grasping at the next bright shiny object to come along.  My suggestion: try it.  Just give it a whirl and avoid the compulsion to play that one story line like a heavy-footed organist on the pedal-point.  Take us to some place new (that’s integrated into and important to the plot), then bring us back.  This moves a story, and it doesn’t bore a person with all that rehashing.  And it gives the reader something else to stew about, something that will niggle at the back of her mind.

Tina Kelley, Poet

Tina Kelley is on the staff of Covenant House, where she is co-writing a book of profiles of homeless teenagers. She was a reporter at The New York Times for ten years, and also worked at the Seattle Times and Philadelphia Inquirer. Her first book of poems, The Gospel of Galore, (Word Press, 2003) won a Washington State Book Award. Many of her poems are inspired by the Pacific Northwest. She lived in Seattle during her formative years, 1993-1999.

This is Tina's third post during her visit with Soundings: Puget Sound Speaks

 

“SPAWNED-OUT CHINOOKS AID FUTURE GENERATIONS FROM THE AFTERLIFE”

 

             – National Fisherman news service, January 19, 1999

 

It could be harder. We could be in the water, seam-ripping the river, homing in

on the growing molecules of scent that taste of home’s fir needles steeped

in the steep stream. We would be starving, dying, battered back by constant cascades.

 

But if we were in the water, both of us would be light and alive, writhing and fluttering

together, a team. No, I would be unnecessary, and you’d be where you should be,

not in an olive drab rucksack. You’re heavy, dead. The dry ice is a mixed blessing.

 

This spring we’re hauling eight tons of you back to Chinook Pass , to the Bumping River ,

the American, the Naches, dumping you back to rot. From the Hanford Reach

to the Upper Yakima , a thousand of you, trucked-in, hiked-in ghosts.

 

Your absence here lately has caused many hungers. No spawned-out salmon,

no falling-off flesh, no maggots, no insects, no protein to feed the fingerlings

come spring. So we piggyback you home, past the dams, past the farms,

 

past the pavement, up the Forest Service roads, past clearcuts that suffocate

the long allee to your birth place and death place. We lay you in the stream, hope briefly

for the wiggling, adamant flap of departure, but watch the wide, still eye float away.

 

The river will loll you down. When the weather turns warmer you will rot.

And the young will rise to the wealth of your death. And maybe

they will come back on their own. And maybe they won’t.

 

The above poem appeared in Fine Madness and And We The Creatures