Judith Post's Blog, page 82
May 29, 2018
Creature Feature
I love paranormal and creatures. And I love Mae Clair’s writing, so I’m happy to share this. I can’t wait to read the book!
If you’re a regular follower of my blog, it’s no secret I have a love affair with creatures—a passion I developed early, thanks in part to my older brother. He had a Creepy Crawler maker when we were kids. Remember those? You poured colored goop into a metal mold, then heated it up in a toy oven. After the mold baked, you ended up with rubbery scorpions, spiders, and snakes. My parents eventually got me a Flower Power maker, and although it was fun, I was partial to the slithery things (this from someone who detests bugs).
When I was seven, I remember my mom taking me to the opening of a new mall. Something on that scale was a big deal back in those days. There were kiddie rides in the parking lot and cotton candy machines, but what I treasured most was going home with a plastic blue…
View original post 619 more words
May 27, 2018
I put up Chapter 24
Happy Memorial Day on Monday! Here’s chapter 24. https://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/
May 25, 2018
“a fast, easy read . . .”
First, before I start my blog, I want to say that I put up chapter 23 for Empty Altars. I hope you enjoy it.
That said, I want to confess that for years, when someone read one of my books and wrote a review that it was a “fast, easy read,” I was disappointed Now, just to be clear, I’m happy with any good review I get. Reviews aren’t so easy to come by. But most of my goddesses of writing, authors I put on a platform above mere mortals, write layered, complicated novels. Each one of their characters struggles with something. The odds of the protagonist finding success look slim. Every page is heavy with emotion or meaning. And the writing itself is dense, the language rich. I read these more slowly than usual to savor each word, each nuance.
But, I also have to admit that I read far more books that entertain me and keep me turning pages because I’m having a good time. If I wait till the end of the day to read, I want something that makes me relax. I want . . . a fast and easy read, something light. That doesn’t mean the writing’s sloppier or simpler. Not so. There just aren’t as many subplots, as much angst. Usually, there aren’t as many words. The story can be told in fewer of them. And the characters aren’t as flawed.
Deeply flawed characters demand more time to develop. It takes me as a reader longer to decide if I like them, despite their shortcomings. There’s usually a backstory that explains how they became who they are. For fast, easy reads, brush strokes can suffice to give us a feel of a character. But the more that character struggles, the more he falls and gets up again, the more we want him to succeed.
I can give an example of two of my favorite writers. Alice Hoffman, in my opinion, writes serious, heavy books. Even Practical Magic has an undertone of angst. Her writing is beautiful, lyrical. And everything is touched by magic–literally–the protagonists are witches. I read her slowly.
I love Sarah Addison Allen’s novels every bit as much. They’re not fast and easy, but they’re lighter. Her books are tinted with magic, too. There’s an apple tree in the garden that throws apples at anyone it doesn’t like. And her writing’s poetic, lyrical. She creates wonderful characters, but there’s an underlying sense of possible joy that lurks on the pages. I read her more quickly.
I think it’s possible to write a book that’s a fast, easy read and has depth. For me, depth comes when an author evokes emotion. To evoke emotion, the reader has to care about the characters. There has to be enough conflict that the reader worries the characters will succeed, (if it’s a genre that’s known for happy endings), but at too great of a price.
These days, if a reader writes that she enjoyed my book and it was a “fast, easy read,” I’m fine with that. If he/she spent an evening enjoying my story, I’m thrilled. And if she fell in love with my characters, I’m ecstatic. I’ve come to appreciate fast, easy reads. They have a charm of their own.
May 24, 2018
May 21, 2018
10 Steps For Writing a Mystery
Talking about me changing from romances to mysteries on my last blog made me think about mysteries more. I like a variety of them, from cozies to traditional to British detectives and humorous. I read the occasional thriller, am drawn to paranormal and historical. P.I.s are harder for me to get into, but if push comes to shove, I’m happy to read those, too. On top of that, the article I read about reaching more viewers suggested making lists. Lists catch readers’ attention, it said.
Since my mind was already on a mystery bent, I decided to give that a try, but I had trouble taking myself too seriously. I don’t feel like much of an expert on anything, but I’ve learned from lots of mistakes. So, for better or worse, this is what I came up with:
Kill someone. Anyone. If the victim’s a nice person, the reader will sympathize with him. They’ll sympathize with the people who lost him and are grieving. If he was a rotter, the reader and everyone else will cheer. The S.O.B. deserved it.
Find a murder weapon. Poisons are trickier these days, easier to detect. Guns are good. Ballistics can incriminate or clear suspects, perfect for clues. Knives come in all shapes and sizes. Shovels have long handles. So do fireplace pokers.
Keep it clean? If it’s a cozy, sweep the dead body under a rug. Don’t make too big of a mess. Just because a body holds a lot of blood doesn’t mean you have to spill much of it. If it’s a thriller, go for broke. Splash blood and gore on the walls. Have the body fall at an odd angle. Visuals should shock.
Create characters to type. In a cozy, let’s all have good manners. We don’t have to be nice, but we shouldn’t be vulgar. In a thriller, go for gritty. The hero’s tough and rugged. The villain’s a scumbag, even if he wears expensive suits. Morals can be dubious. But the good guy’s good, even if he’s rough around the edges.
Tension should drip from every page. In a cozy, the amateur sleuth overhears a private conversation, stumbles on a clue, and keeps the pace moving even when she’s knitting or making fig pudding. In a thriller, the hero walks the mean streets, gets beat up when he strays too close to alleys, and refuses to quit the case.
A cast of extras keeps things interesting. Every sleuth needs a friend to confide in, to hash over clues. A romantic interest is good, makes for a great subplot. The more suspects, the merrier. In a cozy, they’re polite even when they lie to you. In a thriller, they might be more dangerous than the killer. They certainly cuss more. And a great way to add a twist to the plot? Kill the main suspect, then point fingers at who’s left.
In cozies, a niche is needed. A mystery isn’t enough. The protagonist has to fix up houses, know her way around antiques or fine wines, run a bed and breakfast, or have something she’s really good at it. And if cooking and recipes are included, all the better. A pet cat is a plus. A dog will do, too. It doesn’t hurt to have a love interest who’s in law enforcement. In thrillers, life’s easier if you’re dealing with a pro—a P.I., detective, journalist, spy, or coroner—someone who knows his/her way around the block, someone who can pressure people to talk when they don’t want to.
For a woman in jeopardy book, (and I like those, too) you bump a woman who’s good up against a villain who’s evil, and she has to grow strong and get tainted by his badness to survive. He does everything he can to make sure she doesn’t. But PLEASE don’t use the old horror tripe where the woman does something stupid just so the reader will worry about her–the “No, don’t go down in the basement to see what that noise was” schtick.
In any mystery, whether cozy, traditional, British, or thriller, you have to play fair. You can’t hide every crucial clue, then pull a killer out of your hat. You have to give the reader a fighting chance and try to distract him with false directions and red herrings. You can point to the wrong suspect while keeping your fingers crossed behind your back, but when your detective learns something new, so should your reader.
Don’t give away too much too early, or you have a whole lot of book left to write with not much of import to fill it. But most important of all, just kill someone on paper and have fun!
(I’m sure there’s a lot more you need to know, but these were the big points that came to mind.)
May 17, 2018
Mysteries
I know. I’m posting twice today, but I wanted to let you know that I put up a new chapter. AND, I’m going to be busy this weekend, so I’m posting my blog early. Maybe I’ll get lucky. I read online that the best days to post blogs are Thursdays and Fridays. Guess this time, I’ll find out:) Anyway, here goes:
I’ve read lots of advice about how to brand yourself as an author. Write posts and tweets that help readers recognize you. I’ve changed genres enough, I might have made that hard for them. When I switched from urban fantasy to romances to mysteries, one thing my books all had in common was food. Someone in almost every series liked to cook. Because I do. So, yes, I tweet and post about food. I enjoy reading mysteries that include recipes. But I haven’t really gotten comfortable talking about the mysteries themselves until recently.
My first one, The Body in the Attic, doesn’t come out until November 27, and I guess that felt so far away, it felt silly to talk about it now. But then my publisher surprised me and posted it on Amazon for pre-sale. Without a cover. I don’t even have to turn in the final proof pages until June 4. But, seeing it for sale somehow made the book and marketing more real. And then I read Mae Clair’s blog for her upcoming books, the first one due out June 12. She created wonderful ads and postcards for it and a fewer older books she’s written, and she inspired me. You can see them here: https://maeclair.net/2018/05/15/has-it-really-been-that-long/
Somehow, all of a sudden, I wanted to let the world know I was writing mysteries. So, I used Canva.com to make a twitter header and posted it. I’m not as talented as Mae, but I was happy with it.
[image error]
Every book in the series will be titled The Body In . . . because every book will revolve around murder. When I sit down to write a mystery, I always start with a dead body. Yes, there are other crimes in the world, but they don’t have the gravity of a murder victim. Once I know who died and what he was like, I ask myself Who killed him and more importantly, Why. I’ve read and listened to mystery writers who swear they have no idea who the killer is until they write the last few pages of their story. That would drive me crazy. How do you add clues and red herrings if you don’t know Who Done It? They manage to still write good mysteries. We all approach writing differently, but my brain needs to know the end of a book before I write the beginning.
The next question I ask myself is whom does the victim’s death affect? Are people devastated, or do they cheer and throw a party? How many people wished him dead? And how does my amateur sleuth get involved in the case? What makes this death so important that she’ll try to investigate it?
It helps to have enough suspects, too. Readers are clever. They can practically guess your intentions by intuition. It’s not the end of the world if they guess the killer before the end of the book, but if everything’s too predictable, you didn’t try hard enough.
Anyway, whatever you’re working on, good luck with it. And happy writing.
Are you a mystery reader? What’s your favorite type? Cozies? Thrillers? Suspense or women in jeopardy? If mysteries aren’t your thing, what do you read?
