Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 191

Genre Books=Accessible Literature

I was reading the paper yesterday morning and saw an article by Steven Brown at The Charlotte Observer. He usually reviews our local symphony and opera group, so I was a little surprised to see him reviewing a visual art exhibition.

The art is unusual, as you can see. It's a traveling exhibit and is making its way through American cities.

Steven Brown stated in his article for the paper:

"Here's what I see most every day. People stop. They look....They step inside "La Cabeza" and peer out through its teeth."

He makes the point that some more traditional-looking sculptures around Charlotte are passed by, unnoticed by people walking by.

And…I agree with him. When I took my children to uptown Charlotte to have lunch with my sister, they went inside the skull—checking it out from all angles. Even my teenager. They were positively drawn to it. And…it's art. It's not art that everyone might like, but it's art that's getting their interest and attention. It's accessible.

In a way, I think genre fiction fills that need in the book world. Genre fiction writers are bringing books to the people—books that are usually easily-understood, accessible, interesting, and fun. If someone doesn't think of himself as a reader, maybe a genre book in a subject interesting to him, can put him on a path of reading that can also branch into more literary-reads.

Frequently, print reviewers pick literary fiction as more of the focus. And it gets a lot of praise…well-deserved, of course. But in sheer numbers, genre fiction is responsible for a majority of book sales.

Here are some interesting posts on genre that I've been reading lately:

13 Ways to Add Depth to Your Genre Novel—Victoria Mixon's look at giving your book some depth.

When literary authors slum in genre—Tor points out that genre writers are starting to get more respect.

The Two Worlds of Literature: What Serious Writers Can Learn from Genre Comrades in Arms—I love this article on e-reads about where genre writers excel.

I think there's an important place in our society for high art—in reading, music, and art. But I think it's also important to provide art that's accessible to everyone.

Are you a genre reader or writer?

Finding Critique Groups

Many writers are looking for someone to make a read-through of their manuscript and offer feedback or constructive criticism.

The problem is, usually, finding someone to do it. Family and friends are frequently not the best choices…either they're not big readers, don't read the genre we're trying to sell, or else they're not wanting to hurt our feelings and offer genuine feedback.

Fortunately, the online writing community has blossomed. It's now possible to find writers online to trade critiques with—you read their work, they read yours.

I've posted on critique groups before, but I've recently had a few writers ask how to find them, so I thought I'd run a post again. It's been a long time since I've been in a crit group, but I do pay attention when they're mentioned online.

Finding a Group

Clarissa Draper has been particularly good about keeping up with critique groups that are available online for writers. This post mentions quite a few of them. She also helps connect writers with critique partners, personally. Here is a post that explains how and here is where you sign up.

If you're looking for an in-person group, it's worth the few minutes to pop over to Meetup.com and type in 'critique group' and your location to see if there are groups in your area.

How Groups Usually Work

Usually, with online critique groups, you're paired with one person or a small group of people who write the same genre. You email each other the work you want critiqued. Each group should operate with its own set of rules, covering how often each member can send in material to be critiqued by the others (it's no good if one person sends a chapter every day and the others are too busy reading the one person's work to write), when your critiques of other the other writers' work is due, etc.

Other Thoughts on Making a Critique Group Work Well

I found, in the groups I belonged to in the past, that everything worked a little better if I was paired with another mystery writer, or someone who read mysteries.

It's also good if you're roughly at the same level of ability (otherwise it's like playing tennis when you're poorly matched. You either get killed each time or you're killing the other person. Not as much fun.)

I've found that it's nice to tell beta readers or crit partners exactly what you're looking for. Are they supposed to be just looking for typos and grammar problems? Are you looking for global revision suggestions (character problems, plot issues)?

Also, it's good to be positive. If the person's book really needs work, there should at least be something there to comment positively on—the concept of the book, an interesting character, a cool setting, etc.

I think it might also be important to know what we're looking for, ourselves. Are we really ready to hear that our book needs work?

Have you ever used a critique group? Was it online or in-person? How did it work for you?

Reading, as a Writer

I read an interesting post the other day and shared it on Twitter.

The article was by Candy Gourlay on the Notes from the Slushpile blog. The post was titled "Does writing affect one's love of reading?"

Candy states that, yes, writing will change your reading. She adds, though:

But you've got to make the time to restore your wonder. How can you hope to inspire your readers if you yourself have lost the joy?

Besides, writing books is not just about writing books, it's about living a creative, writing life. And if the best thing about living a writing life is the writing, the next best thing is the reading.

The writers on Twitter who responded (and quite a few did) said that writing hadn't slowed down their reading, but it had affected it. As one writer put it: "We spend our days looking for problems and holes in our own work. It's hard to turn it off."

When I was a kid, I could get completely engulfed by a book—to the point it wouldn't hear my teacher or mother calling me.

Now, it's harder not to analyze a book. Particularly a mystery. If I'm reading a mystery now, it's almost unconscious…there's a tape running in the back of my head saying, "When will he reveal the body? How many suspects does he have? What's the means of the murder?…"

If I like a book or dislike it, I'll figure out why. If anyone I know likes or dislikes a book, I want to know why.

I've found that I'm not quite as bad analyzing books when I use my Kindle or a library book (maybe because I'm not using florescent highlighters on them…even though I've used Kindle's highlighting feature before. It's just not the same.)

I've made peace with the fact that I'm going to keep trying to figure out what makes a good book tick and a bad book lousy. I'm not going to stop.

I'm still enjoying books…I'm just enjoying them differently. Same with films and plays and any type of entertainment. I'm more critical…but I'm still enjoying my experience (usually.)

Has reading changes for you since you started writing?

Banned Book Week

Just a quick mention that September 24—October 1 is the American Library Association's Banned Books Week.

I've read most of the books on the frequently challenged list. Actually, I read most of them in school (English major.) It boggles my mind to think of anyone trying to ban them. I can imagine people not wanting to read the books themselves. I can imagine parents possibly having concerns about their own child reading some of them (apparently, most of the challenges were from parents.) But I can't imagine someone deciding that no one needs to read or study those books. The rest of us might feel just as strongly that our child *needs* to read them.

There are so many worse influences out there than books.

Here are twenty of the list of banned and challenged classics:

1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
15. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway

Here are the top 10 most challenged books for 2010:

Differentiating Characters

My 10 year old daughter met a tough challenge successfully yesterday and I told her she could choose a reward to celebrate.

She chose a Happy Meal from McDonalds. :) I got off very cheaply, and—since she's the only member of our family who likes McDonalds —she got something she wanted, too (since who knows when she'll get that fast food fix again?)

Her Happy Meal box was covered with gobs of marketing stuff, of course. The theme of this meal was a tie-in to a show that she watches on the Nickelodeon channel. One of the games on the box featured a list of sentences for children to connect to different characters on the show. Not catch-phrases, not quotations, but just likely things for the characters to have said.

I'm driving the car and she's immediately assigning each character to a sentence. Right off the bat. Then she looked at the bottom of the box. "I got them all right!"

And I have to say I was very impressed…well, after wondering whether she was watching too much TV. :) The show has obviously done a bang-up job differentiating their characters.

Could I do the same thing for my own characters? It probably depends on the character. It would be easy for major or recurring characters. Secondary/supporting characters? I'd like to think so. But maybe it would take longer than the 10 seconds my daughter spent on her answers.

Apparently, on this show, one character is very vain, one has an overbearing mother, one has had a long-time crush on another character, etc. Not too far off from the kinds of things we're doing with our books. We're just doing our showing with words…we get a strong impression of a character who opens his car door and an avalanche of papers and food wrappers occurs, for instance.

We're giving our characters personalities by showing how they interact with other characters (they're supercilious, stubborn, cheerful, touchy) how they react to difficult situations (they get frustrated, they become leaders, they run off and hide), and—like the Happy Meal—showing character clues through dialogue (their choice of words, speech patterns, vocabulary, etc.).

How do you help readers differentiate between your characters?

Handling Reviews

I noticed I'd gotten a really nice review of one of my books the other day.

Several books ago, good reviews really had a strong impact on me. Actually, the word 'elation' wouldn't be far off the mark in terms of describing my feelings.

But the problem with putting stock in an unexpected good review is that they're sure to be followed by negative reviews. If you're on a high from the good ones, you'll really crash after the bad reviews.

Plus, I realized, if I believed the good reviews, it meant I had to believe the bad ones. Otherwise, I'd really be biased.

After I came to that conclusion, I got a lot more clinical with my reviews. I appreciate them tremendously, I love that people care enough to read my books and offer feedback. But I can't put a lot of stock in them. All I can do is take note of the ingredients of both the positive and negative reviews—did the reviewer list elements they especially appreciated or disliked? Is this a common theme in the reviews I'm reading?—and use them to help me with future books.

My approach:

I don't read reviews when I'm writing something new. It's just hardly ever good for a decent writing day. It tends to make me want to edit more instead of be creative.

I don't respond to any reviews—positive or negative—on a bookselling site. If I see a nice review on a blog, I might thank the blogger in the comments or send them an email. Author intrusion on bookselling sites is almost always a bad thing.

I do like helpful negative reviews—reviewers who point to what they see as a particular problem with the book. It's always interesting to see if the problem is something that can be addressed in future books in the series. Are other people giving feedback about the same thing?

As I mentioned above, I don't believe my good reviews, either. I find them heartening and I appreciate them, but I try to look at them just as clinically. Did they say what they liked about the book? Is it something I can give more of in the next book?

With any review, I try to look at it as feedback. It's a business and I'm trying to make readers happy as well as please my publishers and myself. I work hard to make sure I don't take it personally. If I feel tempted to take it personally, I remind myself it's a business. And it is.

So….basically, I don't take much stock in either bad or good reviews, I just take from them whatever I can find useful, moving forward. And I remember it's all part of the business of writing.

How do you get distance from your work in order to keep positive during either querying or reviews?

Twitterific

Below are the writing-related links I tweeted last week.

The Writer's Knowledge Base search engine, designed by software engineer and writer Mike Fleming, makes all these links searchable. Sign up for the free monthly WKB newsletter for the web's best links and interviews: http://bit.ly/gx7hg1 .

I recently released an ebook: Progressive Dinner Deadly is a Myrtle Clover mystery, available for $2.99 on Kindle and Nook. The 3rd book in the Memphis Barbeque series will release November 1—Hickory Smoked Barbeque (available now for preorder).

Hope everyone has a great week! Good luck with your writing.

Meditation for writers: http://bit.ly/nfHTRj @GrubWriters

Resist the urge to quit: http://bit.ly/ntalXk @JWhite

How 1 mother/writer/teacher fits writing into her schedule: http://bit.ly/q6czMO @AnneRiley

Writing character sketches the modern way: http://bit.ly/ogSEAv

AAP Figures for June Show Dramatic Print Slump, Continuing #Ebook Explosion: http://bit.ly/qTYMiq @DavidGaughran

Writing life--guilt & how 1 writer spent her summer vacation: http://bit.ly/mSQ2Ih

Playing to win: http://bit.ly/o7FHHn

Promoting: A Guerrilla Writer's Approach: http://bit.ly/pcMo85 @bellastreet

10 ways for writers to network: http://bit.ly/n6onra

What's The Best Genre To Write If You Want To Get Published? http://bit.ly/pWC9nd @bubblecow

9 Reasons To Use Video to Enhance Your Blog Posts: http://bit.ly/pUAsJt

How Writing Helped 1 Writer Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Public Speaking: http://bit.ly/mUIM1h @YAHighway

4 Ways To Get Reviews For Your Book: http://bit.ly/qXqG5y @woodwardkaren

Trunk Novels Are An Endangered Species: http://bit.ly/nIg9W2 @thecreativepenn

Talking about Talking--Thoughts on Dialogue: http://bit.ly/oJB30V @V_Rossibooks

5 Elements of a Riveting 1st Line: http://bit.ly/qd5Lpd @KMWeiland

Do you take yourself seriously as a writer? http://bit.ly/oGp7qr @CherylRWrites

1 writer's thoughts on dialogue tags: http://bit.ly/qeQJ9p

10 proofreading tips to get distance from your work: http://bit.ly/pQhf07

20 Ways to Promote Your Facebook Fan Page: http://bit.ly/qrGKAH @smexaminer

Words count: http://bit.ly/naCm0X @BevVincent

Resources for online platform building: http://bit.ly/ntMCUv @nicolamorgan

Keeping track of characters when they're offstage: http://bit.ly/odLT7b @kalayna

Tips for writing a good critique: http://bit.ly/oBfikW @FantasyFaction

On obscurity: http://bit.ly/pXAHkx

Why Chasing a Big 6 Contract is Like Crushing on a Bad Boyfriend: http://bit.ly/oDbqx9 @annerallen

Spoilers – missing the point; a story is more than an ending: http://bit.ly/nF5PaF @dirtywhitecandy

Which Crimes Do Most Superheroes Commit? http://bit.ly/pdVOAD

The Children's Authors Who Broke the Rules (NY Times): http://nyti.ms/mQN6GM

Weaving elements through your plot: http://bit.ly/mUQVfY @author_sullivan

A Theory of the Hero: Agency, Voice, and Sincerity: http://bit.ly/oBxM9C @KgElfland2ndCuz

A Theory of the Hero: Story Archetypes for Heroic Characters: http://bit.ly/nh0FWw @KgElfland2ndCuz

What Serious Writers Can Learn from Genre Comrades in Arms: http://bit.ly/oA6ARA @ereads

The air of bleakness in some crime fiction: http://bit.ly/pP9AWr @mkinberg

Tips for finding an agent: http://bit.ly/pDopvO @bubblecow

3 Steps to Creative Endurance: A Writer's Training Plan: http://bit.ly/qhZE93

10 reasons SFF writers should go to conventions: http://bit.ly/oH3khl @BryanThomasS

Controlling pace in our stories: http://bit.ly/q3CdSu @BookEmDonna

How to illustrate the theme of your novel: http://bit.ly/nkbwtV @TheCreativePenn

Basics of Book Marketing for the Beginning Self-Publisher: http://bit.ly/pwLAKt @jfbookman

The wrong and right way to promote our books: http://bit.ly/qDoCtO @romance_book

Romantic Nature and Sub-genres: http://bit.ly/nfIGZQ

Picture Book Revision Takes 25 Years: http://bit.ly/qNhiEJ

Last-minute conference tips: http://bit.ly/n6xayS

A Lexicon of Speculative Fiction: http://bit.ly/r2XjOX @Suzanne_Johnson @roniloren

"The blog ate my book." http://bit.ly/o3QWxl @WriteAngleBlog

How to Avoid Over-Promoting & Under-Promoting Our Books: http://bit.ly/oqdLRq @JodyHedlund

Let go of high expectations & make attainable writing goals: http://bit.ly/njIMeS

An agent reminds writers of the importance of likeable characters: http://bit.ly/rqHnmW @greyhausagency

Italy's 40K Books: No Paper, No Attention Span, No Problem: http://bit.ly/nSUGJH #publishing

How does a quiet book become known in a world dominated by the loud? http://bit.ly/oYzuEF

Handling editor interest: http://bit.ly/rhy7iB @BookEndsJessica

5 Ways to Optimize Your Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/pGoygX @smexaminer

Does Studying Rejection Letters Hinder Writers? http://bit.ly/pHJ1Mr @writeitsideways

On writers' retreats: http://bit.ly/nTTEUT @donnacooner

Self-publishing: copy edits, tagging, & other odds and ends: http://bit.ly/qWeoOD @HowToWriteShop

When Self-Publishing A Book Is A Great Marketing Move: http://bit.ly/n2fsFj @PassiveVoiceBlg

6 story elements that can force your book to evolve: http://bit.ly/n0ab9H @JamiGold

Borders Employees Vent Frustrations in 'Ode to a Bookstore Death': http://bit.ly/qqt83s @GalleyCat

The Grammar Hokey Pokey (With Commas): http://bit.ly/rg5HlP

On Bosses from Hell, Making Crime Pay, and Walking Around Your Writer's Block: http://goo.gl/gDSRa @cleocoyle

External and internal conflict: http://bit.ly/r3loFs @JulietteWade

Maintaining an Email List Without Pain (almost): http://bit.ly/nwe2RD @PassiveVoiceBlg

The Ultimate Writer's Guide to Blogging: http://bit.ly/q3nkjs @SeanPlatt

How to avoid avoidance as a writer: http://bit.ly/r8cbXu @JulieMusil

The care & feeding of a good critique group: http://bit.ly/no0TW7 @sarahahoyt

Publicity Beyond Your Book Launch: http://bit.ly/qJJ69r @booksparkspr

Hiding tidbits for readers (& when readers think writers planted tidbits that they hadn't): http://bit.ly/p2OpmG @janice_hardy

An agent on resending queries: http://bit.ly/nmrPQy @BookEndsJessica

One of Rowling's techniques for planting clues: http://bit.ly/qhwRWP @HP4Writers

Don't Write a Memoir to Get Revenge: http://bit.ly/pMZfmk @janefriedman

Creating a Long Distance Relationship With Your Manuscript: http://bit.ly/oPkr8W @YAHighway

Introducing backstory: http://bit.ly/oQhiL4 @BTMargins

Do You Suffer from "Not-Quite" Paralysis? http://bit.ly/r48hvr @on_creativity

Finding the Heart of Your Story: A Tip from Donald Maass: http://bit.ly/qkXRPo @4kidlit

Basics of Book Marketing for the Beginning Self-Publisher, Part 2: http://bit.ly/ptr5xb @jfbookman

What Startups Can Teach Publishers: http://bit.ly/nsKwxa #publishing

Flat Adverbs Are Flat-Out Useful: http://bit.ly/npaX8W

Avoiding Despair at a Writer's Conference: http://bit.ly/oe9VQi @rachellegardner

When book promotion becomes spam: http://bit.ly/nw5QjV @rule17

Pacing the start of your novel: http://bit.ly/nxlUDz

Run an Awesome Blog Contest in 5 Steps: http://bit.ly/p7Jk0V @problogger

Setting--adding dimension to your fiction: http://bit.ly/r1TCp3 @KristenLambTX

Why Nouns Matter, part 1: Proper Names: http://bit.ly/r2HSAs @JulietteWade

6 reasons to conduct an interview--with insights from journalist @Porter_Anderson: http://bit.ly/oo6dUV @write_practice

10 More Lies You Tell Yourself While Editing: http://bit.ly/nGAQbm @elspethwrites

How small decisions in crime fiction add tension & realism & can foreshadow events: http://bit.ly/orKLLh @mkinberg

Self-editing checklist--setting and description: http://bit.ly/qUzKPf @SarahForgrave

A Theory of the Hero--Tragic and Anti-tragic Heroes: http://bit.ly/nWRtCs @KgElfland2ndCuz

Create Your Own Words (and Other Uses Of the Hyphen): http://bit.ly/qrY2iN @write_practice

Measuring results of marketing & the nuances of long-term book marketing: http://bit.ly/qUTHsP @jfbookman

A video from @TheCreativePenn shows how to publish your book: http://bit.ly/oJUju9

The Rulebreaker's Guide to the Semicolon: http://bit.ly/qXYdPC @FantasyFaction

A Hidden Aspect of Creative Life That Underpins Great Work: http://bit.ly/numCTi @JaneFriedman

Time Management—Taking Stock of Your Most Precious Commodity: http://bit.ly/mTMMLi @workawesome

15 Frequently Confused Pairs of Adjectives: http://bit.ly/orGCZ5

How to Use the Power of Silence to Boost Your Writing Career: http://bit.ly/qjQgDj

An agent on the importance of character motivation: http://bit.ly/ntDyAG @greyhausagency

The Writer's Diet Wasteline Test: http://bit.ly/oedxSE @manon_eileen

Writing Tough Subjects for Young Readers: http://bit.ly/n0M6L0 @iggiandgabi

The challenge of offering honest criticism: http://bit.ly/oWcvIQ @WriteAngleBlog

3 Keys to a Successful Author Platform: http://bit.ly/q7eTly @KristenLambTX

Is blogging dead? http://bit.ly/onTVOc @RoniLoren

Benefits of outlining: http://bit.ly/orCq1y @KMWeiland

An agent weighs in on prologues: http://bit.ly/oprTdn

Building A Sustainable Writing Career: How To Develop Multiple Income Streams: http://bit.ly/ndhCmH @DavidGaughran

Delaying the answers to our story's questions: http://bit.ly/nABcgE

Advice for Family and Friends of Writers: http://bit.ly/nXwAbw via @DorteHJ

An agent with an observation on character development: http://bit.ly/qWHuBV

An editorial director with a crash course in book events (including...making sure there are books to sign): http://bit.ly/pZa5PQ

Getting started with ghostwriting: http://bit.ly/o0uzx8 @YAHighway

12 tips for naming characters: http://bit.ly/nVtVtE

Marketing Your Book: Swag & Bling: http://bit.ly/qRtjbk @CuriosityQuills

Should Authors Charge for School Visits? http://bit.ly/rpXoIU @Janice_Hardy

What *not* to do at a reading: http://bit.ly/peuzr8 @FantasyFaction

Academic Writing Makes You a Better Writer: http://bit.ly/oohhsR @jeffgoins

The legend of the movie option: http://bit.ly/nZjIx8 @martharandolph

How Our Relationship With Our Characters Is Like Dating a Vampire: http://bit.ly/nSFleN @lisagailgreen

Children's book publishers--foregoing the inherent market advantages of the basic e-book is a big mistake: http://bit.ly/p5Kohn #publishing

These 3 Typography Websites Will Change How You Took at Type: http://bit.ly/pJsFDs @jfbookman

What Is The Point Of Writing A Book If You Have No Online Presence? http://bit.ly/r2NXJE @bubblecow

The truth about editing: http://bit.ly/nZbAQZ @msforster

PublishAmerica and CBA: Rowling Redux: http://bit.ly/nPEPeK @victoriastrauss

4 revisions 1 writer is making to her story: http://bit.ly/pDxuB8

Why Self-Publishing Is So Popular Right Now: http://bit.ly/ouOgny @GoblinWriter

The Most Powerful Learning Tool A Writer Could Ever Have: http://bit.ly/pTSsWZ @ollinmorales @

Quickly review industry news & views with this thoughtful digest via @Porter_Anderson for @JaneFriedman: http://bit.ly/neRh6R

Joe Konrath's response to the argument that the #ebook market is glutted: http://bit.ly/rnhA01

Top 5 things to avoid telling agents and editors at conferences: http://bit.ly/qY3XMl

Publishers Eager for Amazon Tablet: http://bit.ly/rcGh2D @ThePassiveVoiceBlg #publishing

Kindle Books Now in Libraries via Overdrive: http://bit.ly/reRGBe @selfpubreview

Seeking an Agent Is Not Seeking a Job: http://bit.ly/n5ztnZ

An editor with a mini-lesson on exclamation points and question marks: http://bit.ly/nNfSbA @LynnetteLabelle

Tips for writing a great 2nd draft of your novel: http://bit.ly/r08iyD @bubblecow

Writing Integrated Love Scenes: http://bit.ly/nuCjqx

Become The Hero Of Your Own Publishing Story: http://bit.ly/pgC4pw @thecreativepenn

Advice to an aspiring writer: http://bit.ly/mZsfHd @CBR

Tips for dissecting your novel: http://bit.ly/rbvte8

Before the Royalty Statement: Finding Out How Many Books You Sold: http://bit.ly/oaUvsI @BTMargins

The Verbing of the English Language: http://bit.ly/pKLH4c

Using an Agent to Get on Kindle: http://bit.ly/pIYkB1 @JaneFriedman

How Self-Published Authors Get Their Covers Right: http://bit.ly/qmplMS

Writers, be who you are--a process of discovery: http://bit.ly/mQtzAI @BryanThomasS

Set yourself up to succeed: http://bit.ly/phjyDL @Mommy_Authors

You sure you want that movie deal? http://bit.ly/rf55gO @bbeaulieu

Superpowers Will Not Make a Boring Character Interesting: http://bit.ly/nRoRqj

6 Ways to Ask Better Questions in Interviews: http://bit.ly/oVDa4t @write_practice

Nanowrimo Prep: First, You Need an Idea: http://bit.ly/nVIvSS @AlexSokoloff

Wandering in Circles – How to Structure a Story: http://bit.ly/ncah2O @PassiveVoiceBlg

Why Amazon's New Tablet May Pose A Greater Threat To NetFlix Than To Apple: http://bit.ly/nmpjTx @PassiveVoiceBlg #publishing

The power of suggestion – what can you leave the reader to fill in? http://bit.ly/ri3jtJ @dirtywhitecandy

Telling Your Own Author Bio Myth: http://bit.ly/pLX82O @HP4Writers

5 ways to get into the writing mindset when starting a new book: http://bit.ly/pbJqJb

Best Articles This Week for Writers 9/23/11: http://bit.ly/r5mnNk @4kidlit

Building Online Communities for Teen Readers: http://bit.ly/rePIWK

Does your main character get all the best lines? http://bit.ly/pSE7F3 @jeanniecampbell

Are your characters crying too much? http://bit.ly/o9kyHn @lydia_sharp

Avoiding Stop-Action Description: http://bit.ly/qgfxMA @artzicarol

10 Tips Writers can Learn from Bad Movies: http://bit.ly/oYOxmd @LyndaRYoung

What makes a novel a page-turner? http://bit.ly/ql7atc @jamesscottbell

Weeding or editing: http://bit.ly/qvSF3L @nicolamorgan

Write. Revise. Rest. Repeat. The 4 cycles of writing and links to help you master them: http://bit.ly/nIi3QY @bluemaven

Religion in Novels: Terrific or Taboo? http://bit.ly/nZ541p @JamiGold

Preying on Preconceived Notions by Glen Allison—a Saturday Good Read

Please join me in welcoming Glen Allison to Mystery Writing is Murder.

A review of The Informationist by Taylor Stevens 
Expectations are a funny thing. And by funny, I mean they are like that dog with the wagging tail that, soon as you look away, bites your ankle. Or, conversely, they can be like the mean-looking mongrel who merely wants a pat on the head.

Example: You read a novel about a woman who goes into dangerous situations throughout the world to gather information. In the process, she is forced to kill people. Not anyone who doesn't need killing, mind you. When she does it, it happens so fast that she's on to the next challenger with her knives before the blood from the first one spatters on the wall. And, even though the people deserve it, the slayings stir blood lust in the killer. She fights it, but it's there.

You can't help expecting the author of such a story to show signs of inner turmoil. To show it in her eyes, somewhere deep.

But, no. Taylor Stevens, author of The Informationist, is nothing but pleasant here at Bouchercon 2011 in St. Louis. Fans drift to her table in the book signing room, each receiving a smile and kind words from the author. She takes time to encourage a young author who is suffering prepublication jitters. No sharp edges here. Her kindness is genuine.

Not so with her protagonist, Vanessa Michael Munroe, in The Informationist. Oh, Munroe might be smiling. But she is watchful for any preconceived notion on which she can prey. And her knives aren't far away from her fingertips.

She'll need them. And you won't blame her for using them.

"Some people have said it's gratuitous violence," says Stevens, "but I say no. She doesn't seek it out, but it's always necessary."

I agree. The story is more than the violence, however. Munroe, a young woman with a tortured past, usually travels the world on info-gathering missions for big business or other organizations. She uses her innate ability to learn languages rapidly to reveal choice nuggets of insight for her clients. In The Informationist, she is presented a different mission: Find out what happened to a missing American teen girl who disappeared while she traveled through Africa four years previously. Many have failed to find out what happened to the girl. Her father wants to know, to rest his mind.

Munroe rejects the offer, at first, shunning the millions in compensation. But that phrase plays in her mind. "Many have failed...." She is hooked. And so are we as readers. And thus begins a tale of one of the toughest – and most beguiling – protagonists I've run across in a while.

If you love thrillers featuring a character whose inner battles rival her external challenges, read The Informationist, which came out earlier this year. Her next Munroe novel, The Innocent, comes out at the end of 2011.

What I've intentionally left out, until now, is Taylor Stevens's background: She was raised in a communal apocalyptic cult which took her to four continents, including Africa – where much of The Informationist is set. That experience, and her familiarity with the setting, give this novel an authentic feel and emotional depth that grips the reader.

I stand next to Taylor as we gaze down through the windows of the 22nd floor of the conference hotel. A reception honoring another author swirls around us. She speaks of her past, neither embracing nor ignoring its reality. "It's not who I am; it is merely what I experienced." On one hand, she wishes her novel could receive recognition on its own merits (and it definitely is being recognized). On the other hand, she is practical about how the publicity machine rolls on.

Though I do not press her for the kind of details for which today's inquiring minds lust, I sense there is much this woman endured as a child as she panhandled along dirty third-world streets. She has spoken of the closed-off nature of the cult, how it has left her, to this day, feeling like an outsider. Earlier in the day, while participating in one of the many author panels, she hushed the crowd by revealing that her education stopped at the sixth grade, and that she didn't read novels as a teenager. It wasn't allowed.

Her imagination, however, was not handcuffed. "I sometimes think of a time when I was 19. My privileges had been taken away for some minor offense. I had to go to bed at 8:30 p. m. with the younger children. I woke every morning at 5 a.m., which gave me two hours before reveille at 7. And every morning, for months, I'd walk around the compound for those two hours, just thinking. Just me and my imagination. Nobody could keep me from doing that. That time alone is my happiest memory in the cult, and perhaps paved the way for me to start writing this book over ten years later."

That kind of persistence in the pursuit of a dream is inspiring for any would-be writer. It drives her protagonist, Munroe, in her mission to discover what happened to the lost girl. And, it has given us one of the best action/suspense novels of the year.

Glen C. Allison is the author of the Forte suspense series of New Orleans.

 

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Interested in writing reviews?  I'll be running guest reviews for my Saturday Good Reads  series on Saturdays.  Contact me for details: elizabethspanncraig (at) gmail.com

Getting Into the Writing Mindset

I came across a fun post from Clarissa Draper yesterday. She mentioned that designing a cover for a WIP can put her in the mood to write it.

I think designing a cover would be an exercise in frustration for me, since I'm graphically-challenged (I picked the 'minimalist' blog theme for this blog, for example.) :)

But there are other ways I put myself in the mindset to start a new project:

Put a deadline on my calendar—I have an official deadline (publisher-set) and I have an unofficial one that I shoot for.

Write the back cover copy for the book. Can't imagine why, but the copywriting department never seems to use my copy! I enjoy writing it, though, and it helps remind me where I'm headed with the plot.

Come up with a title for the book. Even if it's changed later, it makes the project more real for me if it has a title.

Make an official home for the book on my laptop. I have a folder with the working title of the book. In that folder goes a cast of characters document, a document of brainstormed ideas, and the WIP itself.

Start thinking of it and referring to it as a real book. Even if I've only finished the first two paragraphs. Because it is…it's a book in progress.

How do you make your WIP real? How you put yourself in the mindset to write it?

Do You Take Your Writing Seriously? Do You Take It *Too* Seriously?

One interesting blog post that I've recently come across was on Cheryl's Musings, writer Cheryl Reif's blog.

In the post, Cheryl explains how she decided to start writing. Actually, her story is a lot like my own, which might be why I identified with it. We both enrolled our small children in preschool and started taking our writing seriously.

Cheryl lists some ideas for respecting yourself as a writer, including protecting your writing time and realizing that just because you're unpublished, it doesn't mean your writing is unimportant.

I tweeted a link to the post and quite a few people connected to the topic and retweeted it.

One person tweeted back, though, saying that she thought she took her writing too seriously.

I've done both, I think. I know the biggest gain in my writing career was when I decided to take my writing seriously. I set an attainable goal, and things started clicking into place.

But I've also taken my writing too seriously sometimes. I've let deadlines stress me out, I've concentrated too much on writing and let other things slide that needed attention in my life.

It looks like, as in so many things in life, that moderation or balance is key.

For me this means making sure I eke out writing time each day (lately it's been in the 30 minutes in the carpool line outside the high school), but it also means that I put my laptop away when members of my family are trying to have a conversation with me.

I also make sure I plan time in my day for reading (which is both enjoyment and craft-building time for me) and time for connecting online with other writers….the network of writers on blogs and Twitter, etc., who provide so much information and encouragement. But then I make time to play a card game with my kids or talk about the news of the day with my husband.

And…it's tough. Some days I'm not sure I'm handling the balance at all well. Occasionally I feel distracted, too, when I'm supposed to be focused on what I'm doing at the time. But I'm trying.

How do you balance your time? Do you take your writing seriously? Do you take it too seriously?