Susan Spann's Blog, page 85

Shinobi News: Female Ninjas & Upcoming Launch Party!

This week in Shinobi news:

My first guest post at The Criminal Element is live! I’m talking about Kunoichi, the female ninja spies of medieval Japan – please stop by and say hello!

We’re getting close to the July 16 release date for Claws of the Cat! I’ve got some exciting giveaways and events planned for later in the month.

The official book launch will take place at FACE IN A BOOK bookstore in El Dorado Hills on Thursday, July 18:

El Dorado Hills, CA: Thursday, July 18, 2013: 6:30pm

Launch Event: Face in a Book Bookstore

4359 Town Center Blvd., #113

El Dorado Hills, CA 95762

Map Link

This is a great local, independent bookstore – I highly recommend you check it out, and I hope to see you at the signing!

For more events and details, check out the Events Page!

Kaishakunin – the Seppuku “Wingman”

Seppuku is a form of ritual suicide practiced in Japan for hundreds of years.

Many Westerners recognize the ritual, in which a person (often but not always male) slits his own stomach with a sword, thereby disemboweling himself and causing his own death. Seppuku has a long and complex history in Japan, and many associated rituals, among them the use of a second, the kaishakunin, whose primary role is easing the suffering and speeding the death of the person committing seppuku.

The kaishakunin stands behind and to the left of the person committing seppuku (as shown in the staged photo above), sword ready but usually not drawn. Just before the ritual begins, the kaishakunin draws his katana slowly and silently (as a sign of respect).

After the samurai committing seppuku makes the initial cut across his belly and then pulls the dagger back to the start of the cut, the kaishakunin strikes the dying man’s neck from behind, hard enough to sever the neck but delicately enough to leave the head hanging from the neck by a strip of skin.

Severing the head completely would dishonor both the man committing seppuku and also the kaishakunin, so this role was given only to men who possessed great control of their swords.

Traditionally, a kaishakunin was utilized by persons committing seppuku for honorable reasons. People forced to commit suicide as a result of personal disgrace or as a result of criminal acts were not permitted kaishakunin, and forced to die the longer, agonizing death from disembowelment alone. (A death which could take anywhere from minutes to several days.)

All other things being equal…this is yet another case when it’s better to have a wingman.

Elevator Pitch, Part 3: TRUST THE SILENCE

Welcome to Wednesday #PubLaw! Today, we’re finishing up this summer’s Elevator Pitch series with a look at another critical element of a winning pitch: Trusting the Force Silence.

In the original STAR WARS (Episode 4: A New Hope, for the Star Wars geeks among us), Obi-Wan Kenobi teaches a young Luke Skywalker how to use a lightsaber, the traditional jedi weapon. When Luke has trouble defending himself against a floating practice probe (aka, “the evil baseball of doom”), Obi-Wan suggests Luke lower the blast shield on his helmet, depriving himself of sight.

“Your eyes deceive you,” Obi-Wan says when Luke complains. “Reach out with your feelings. Trust the Force.”

Obi-Wan’s message applies to pitches, too.

Last weekend at the Historical Novel Society conference in St. Petersburg, I worked with several authors on pitching and pitch construction. In many cases, it wasn’t the author’s understanding of his or her novel that caused the problem: it was the author’s unwillingness to trust the story (s)he created.

Failure to trust your story almost always results in a rambling pitch.

Most of us talk when we’re nervous. (Myself included.) Silence creates discomfort. Yet without silence the listener has no chance to ask you questions – and those questions are the heart of the author-agent or author-editor session.

The pitch is designed to hook the listener and open a dialogue about your work.

A dialogue requires two people speaking. When the author goes on and on … and on … there’s nothing left to ask about (assuming the listener is still awake to ask). Run-on pitches lose the listener every single time.

Many authors create long pitches because the author fears the silence that follows. Not without reason. Silence could mean rejection, and rejection equals pain. Run-on pitches create a false sense of security in the author. (“I’m still talking, so (s)he can’t reject me yet.”) Run-on pitches allow the author to delay the moment when silence falls and judgment will take place.

And yet, very often, that run-on pitch creates the very rejection the author hoped so desperately to avoid.

So … how do we fix the author’s fear of silence?

Practice.

You must learn to TRUST THE SILENCE, and realize that silence isn’t always bad.

Work on your one-breath pitch until it’s polished, shiny, and snappy to the ear. Then practice it – and also practice the silence that follows.

Pitch to a friend, and tell the friend to vary the length of the silence before (s)he asks a follow-up question. Pitch to a stuffed animal, a beanie baby, a Lego man, or a plant. Then shut up and allow it time to answer (Note: if it actually does, you might want to get that looked at.) Experience silence to conquer your fear of silence.

You will learn that silence is not your enemy, even though your nerves will tell you otherwise.

Confidence pitching involves creating a solid pitch, but also learning to face and conquer fear. Your nerves betray you, just as Luke’s vision betrayed his instincts. But he conquered that weakness, and you can conquer yours also.

Practice the pitch. Make it simple. Keep it short. Practice silence, and learn to get past your fear. If you’re still having trouble, find someone to help you–classes work, but so do other authors with experience pitching and writing a solid pitch. Find one, and ask him or her to help you out. You’d be surprised how many of us are glad to jump into the breach and lend a hand.

Have questions about pitching or other publishing business and legal topics? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Also: This is your final chance to leave a comment for a chance to win an ARC of my upcoming mystery novel, CLAWS OF THE CAT! I’ll be drawing a winner at random from all of the comments on #PubLaw posts in the month of June! And, of course, the legalese: To be eligible to win, you must be at least 18 years old, leave a valid name and email address in the comments and and live or have a mailing address in the US or Canada. No purchase necessary to win. Odds of winning vary with entries received. One entry per household. One winner will be drawn at random from eligible comments.

An Interview with Annamaria Alfieri

Today I’m honored to welcome Annamaria Alfieri, author of BLOOD TANGO (Minotaur Books, June 25, 2013), a fabulous new mystery that I loved and absolutely recommend!

Annamaria Alfieri is the author of Blood Tango, which takes place in Buenos Aires in 1945 and imagines the murder of an Evita Perón lookalike.  Kirkus Reviews said of her Invisible Country, “Alfieri has written an anti-war mystery that compares with the notable novels of Charles Todd.” Deadly Pleasures Magazine called her City of Silver one of the best first novels of the year.  The Washington Post said, “As both history and mystery, City of Silver glitters.” A world traveler, Annamaria takes a keen interest in the history of the places she visits.  She lives in New York City.

Buenos Aires 1945: It is the most dramatic and tumultuous period in Argentine history. Colonel Juan Perón, who had been the most powerful and the most hated man in the country, has been forced out of power. Many people fear that his mistress, radio actress Evita Duarte, will use her skill at swaying the masses to restore him to office. When an obscure young woman is brutally murdered, police detective Roberto Leary concludes that the murderer mistook the girl for Evita, the intended target of someone out to eliminate the popular star from the political scene. The search for the killer soon involves the girl’s employer, who is Evita’s dressmaker, her journalist lover, and Pilar, a seamstress in the dress shop and a tango dancer. The suspects include a leftist union leader who considers Perón a fascist and a young Lieutenant who feels Perón has dishonored the Army. Their stories collide in this thrilling and sensuous historical mystery.

Annamaria and I share an editor at Minotaur Books and a love of mystery novels, and after last weekend’s Historical Novel Society Conference in Florida (where we spoke together on a panel about writing historical mysteries) I’m delighted to also call her a personal friend. I devoured BLOOD TANGO before I even made it home from the conference, and anyone with a love of mysteries or an interest in Juan and Eva Perón will love this book as much as I did.

For all of those reasons, I’m delighted to have Annamaria here today–on the launch date for BLOOD TANGO!

And so, with no further ado, on with the questions!

Where did you grow up? Will you share a favorite story from your childhood?

I grew up in Paterson, New Jersey in a working-class neighborhood at time when that now difficult inner city was a pretty benign place.  Our house was a two-family with my family downstairs and my maternal grandparents, Italian immigrants, upstairs.  My grandfather was an opera buff.  Each Saturday afternoon he listened to the Texaco broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera on the tall Philco radio in his living room.  Noise in the house was prohibited during those hours, but starting at age four, I was allowed to sit with him in the platform rocker.  He had a glass of wine and a DiNobile cigar and a Hershey bar in his pocket.  I got to sit on his lap and wear the cigar band on my finger.  If I got squirmy, he took out the chocolate and gave me a piece.  He would tell me the stories of the operas as we listened to music.  I am pretty sure I got my very strong romantic from a whole lot of Verdi and Puccini at a very young age..

What inspired you to start writing?

I wanted to be a novelist from age nine.  I just love stories.  In the course of my life I have found out that my father and two of my three brothers also wrote/write stories.  For all I know it’s genetic.  What I am sure of is that once I learned to get words on paper, I started writing stories, and I never stopped.

Your new novel, BLOOD TANGO, is a fast-paced historical mystery set in Buenos Aires, 1945, involving the murder of a young woman whose killer may have mistaken her for Evita Duarte, the mistress of Argentine leader Colonel Juan Perón. What inspired you to set a mystery against the turbulent political (and romantic) backdrop of Argentina at the time of the Peróns?

My first two novels—both also stand alone mysteries—also take place against fascinating points in South American history.  I love to travel and having visited Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina, I wanted to learn more about their history.  Most North Americans don’t know much about the history of the intriguing continent to our south.  Many mystery readers like to learn something new as well as find out whodunit.  It just seemed natural to me to write mysteries that would reveal the unknown history.  I pick times and places that make me say, “OH, wow.”  If the facts capture my imagination, I figure I have half a chance of making them interesting to others.

If you could go back in time and share one writing lesson with “new writer you” before starting your first manuscript … what would that be?

You don’t have to know the end to make a good beginning.  Just get started.

Do you have a favorite author, book, or genre? If so, who (or what) is it, and why?

I have so many that I love.  Shakespeare, Austen—to see/read over and over and still get new enjoyments.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  I have read every word of his.  Love in the Time of Cholera is a marvel of great novel writing.

John McPhee’s non-fiction is brilliant and lucid.  He makes it look easy.  Reading his work is like watching Fred Astair dance.  It seems so natural you think you could do it.  Until you try.

I read a lot of mysteries.  I am very active in Mystery Writers of America’s New York chapter, serving as its president this year. I have a lot of friends who write mysteries, and I enjoy reading their books

Many people know about Colonel Juan Perón and Evita Duarte because of the famous musical, Evita. What did you find most challenging—and most fun—about putting your personal twist on this era and setting?

Actually that musical presented my greatest challenge because so many people know only that viewpoint.  It is based on a polemic view of the history, which characterizes Evita and Perón in ways that are antithetical to what I found in the thirty or so books I read about them and their times.  I found myself wrestling with having to show a different view and make it believable to people who think they know what happened.

The most fun was learning about the tango.  The dance and the music.  I loved writing the tango scenes.  A close second was the atmosphere of Buenos Aires in that era.  What a place!

Do you have a favorite scene or section from BLOOD TANGO? If so (and if you can tell us about it without revealing any spoilers!), what makes that scene stand out for you?

When the reader meets Roberto Leary, the police detective, he is in the house of wealthy family to inquire into an unsolvable murder.  In drafting the story, when Leary started to think and talk, he came to me with his own voice and he has such insights into the place and times.  He goes from that villa where he first shows up to the murder scene.  I won’t spoil what happens to him next.

What is the last book you read, and why did you choose to read it?

Death in her Face by Sheila York, which I bought at Sheila’s launch party.  Her books are right up my street.  Historical mysteries against a background I find intriguing—in her case Hollywood just after WWII, with unusual but fully believable characters, good plots and snappy dialogue.

A Cuckoo in Kenya by  W. Robert Foran, published in London in 1932, about his experiences as a policeman in British East Africa 1905-1909.  I am researching for a new series that takes place in BEA beginning in 1911.  I feel as if Foran, with his keen observant eye, wrote that book just for me.

How did you push yourself to get past difficult moments in writing and editing BLOOD TANGO? Do you have a favorite place to write or to edit your work?

The way I push past all my many difficult moments in writing.  I tell myself that it doesn’t have to be right to begin with, just get better and better until it is as good as I can make it.

I have the enormous privilege of being writer in residence at the New York Public Library’s gorgeous marble palace of free knowledge—the Schwarzman Building.  I write in the Allen Room there.  It is heaven.

Do you have any upcoming signings or readings?

Bunches.

We are planning a gala launch week:

JUNE 25TH 6-8 PM MYSTERIOUS BOOKSHOP: 58 Warren St - New York, NY 10007

JUNE 26TH – 5 PM TANGO FLASH MOB! Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 42ND Street and Second Avenue, NEW YORK

JUNE 28TH – 8 PM until …… TANGO LESSON—BOOK SIGNING—MILONGA DanceSport, 22 W 34th St  New York, NY 10001

Saturday, June 29th, 2-4 pm Desmond-Fish Library, 472 Route 403, near the intersection with Route 9D, Garrison, New York

Friday, July 5th, 5 pm: Canio’s Books, 290 Main St,  Sag Harbor, NY 11963

July 10 – 13, 2013: ThrillerFest VIII, Grand Hyatt New York

Sept. 19-22: BOUCHER CON 2013: Albany, NY

And now, the speed round:

Plotter or pantser?

Both.  I think I have the plot straight until is start writing and the characters take over.

Coffee, tea, or bourbon?

Coffee, unless good white wine is on offer

Socks or no socks?

Socks in winter.  No socks in summer

Cats, dogs, or reptiles?

Dogs

Thank you, Annamaria, for joining me here today! I’m delighted you allowed me to share your launch day for BLOOD TANGO!

BLOOD TANGO is available NOW in hardback and eBook format through all major retailers and independent bookstores, as well as online from the Apple store and all of the “usual suspects.” You can read a sample chapter of BLOOD TANGO here!

You can find out more about Annamaria and her books at her website or at the crime fiction blogs The Crime Writers’ Chronicle and Murder is Everywhere, where Annamaria is a .

A Conferencing Repost: HNS 2011 (from HNS 2013)

**This is a re-post, because I’m currently in Florida speaking at the 2013 Historical Novel Society Conference (The one I mention…IN THIS POST. Imagine that.) Enjoy, and I’ll be back for reals next week!**

Have you ever attended a writers’ conference? You should.

Ancient tribal societies organized gatherings, a chance for allied tribes to meet, share news, and celebrate tribal events. Writers’ conferences are analogues to tribal bonfires, a time when modern skalds and readers gather to meet and learn from one another.

I went to the Historical Novel Society’s 2011 conference as a lone-wolf historical novelist, and left a mystery writer with new friends who would soon become my critique group  – and also the pillars of this author’s writing world.

Could a conference really do all that?

It could, and it did, and it can for you too.

I arrived in San Diego for HNS 2011 excited to pitch my most recent historical manuscript and nervous about talking with other authors. The first afternoon in the bookstore, I met Erika Mailman, author of The Witch’s Trinity and Woman of Ill Fame (who will be speaking at a panel on Witchcraft in Fiction at HNS 2013). Erika broke through my shyness and made me feel not only welcome but a peer – even though she was published and I was not. Two years later, we’re friends who share coffee and breakfast regularly, as well as critiquing one another’s work – but for HNS’11, I would never have known her.

After Erika boosted my confidence, I attended pitch sessions with several editors. Although the manuscript I pitched was pure historical, I’d had an idea for a mystery series set in samurai Japan. Only an idea, however, so I kept it completely secret. By chance, one of the editors I met with asked – out of the blue – if I ever wrote mysteries.

I stammered out an assent, quickly qualified by the admission that I hadn’t actually written one, but I had this idea “for a ninja detective series.”

Write it, she said, it sounds fantastic.

That’s all the encouragement I needed. The Shinobi mysteries went from inspiration to certainty in an instant.

I spent the Saturday cocktail hour meeting a group of authors I chatted with on Twitter  before the conference. Heather Webb, Marci Jefferson, Sophie Perinot, Amanda Orr, Kris Waldherr, and Julianne Douglas were among the fabulous ladies I met and befriended that night. Like Erika, they didn’t seem to mind my nervousness or my slightly awkward ways – and when Heather founded a writing group a few weeks after the conference, she invited me to join (and I gladly accepted).

I went to HNS 2011 hoping to find an agent and sell my book. I didn’t do either – but the conference gave me something even better: it refocused my writing on historical mystery (where I belong!) and introduced me to friends I will have and love for the rest of my life.

Two years later, I’ll return – to HNS 2013 – as a panelist, with an agent and a debut novel 3 weeks from its hardback release.

In 2011 the HNS conference was very good to me … will 2013 be your year? Join me in Florida – let’s find out together!

A Conferencing We Go….A Conferencing We Go….

Hi-ho-a-derry-o, a Conferencing we go!

This morning I’m en route to St. Petersburg, Florida for the Historical Novel Society Conference. On Saturday morning, I’ll be speaking on a panel called “Four Xs–and a Y–Mark the Spot: the Hidden Treasures of Historical Mystery” along with Annamaria Alfieri,  Anne Perry, Frederick Ramsay, and Judith Rock. I’m moderating the panel as well as participating on it, and it’s going to be a tremendous hour. I can’t wait!

I’m also excited to go because most of my fabulous critique group, which functions in a virtual environment most of the time, will be attending the conference. For most of us, this marks our first opportunity to get together in person since the last HNS North American Conference back in 2011 (which also happened to be where most of us met).

As if that wasn’t good enough, my local author friend, Erika Mailman, is also attending–and speaking on a panel called “The Witchcraft Window: Scrying the Past” which also promises to be fantastic.

An added bonus? Betty Bolte, an author friend I met at last October’s Moonlight & Magnolias conference in Atlanta, will ALSO be at HNS 2013.

For writers, conferences offer a great opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones. Even introverts like me can do it…which means that anyone can. No matter where you are in your writing journey, try to attend at least one conference a year. If cost is an issue, look into local conferences (you might not even need a hotel, though staying at the conference hotel is advisable if you can–you don’t miss out on any of the action that way). Apply for scholarships if you qualify. But go. There’s no better way to improve your writing while simultaneously making a group of friends you will love for life.

Elevator Pitches: If You Build it, They Will Come.

Last week’s #PubLaw took a look at the four elements that build a winning elevator pitch. This week? We’re mushing them together and creating the perfect lasagne er, pitch. (Perfect lasagne has four elements too, but that’s a different post.)

To recap, the elements you’re looking for are your novel’s protagonist, active antagonist, stakes, and high concept. And remember: the high concept might or might not make it into your pitch, but you need to keep it in mind.

I’ll continue using my novel Claws of the Cat, as an example, primarily because the pitch worked exactly as intended–it found me an agent, piqued my editor’s interest, and (in slightly modified and expanded form) appears on the jacket copy for the completed novel.

Here’s the original pitch:

When a samurai is brutally murdered in Kyoto teahouse, a master ninja has just three days to find the killer in order to save the Jesuit priest that the ninja has pledged his own life to protect.

Can you spot the four critical elements?

1. Protagonist: A master ninja. You’re better off using the archetype–”master ninja” or “undead barber”–than giving the protagonist’s name. Archetypes are more descriptive and harder to forget.

If I tell you “Hiro Hattori” has three days to solve a crime, you don’t know who or what he is. You might or might not care. But if I tell you a ninja has to find a killer, suddenly you’re curious–because usually, the ninja IS the killer.

Your pitch must put the protagonist front and center. The listener should have no doubt who this book is about.

2. (Active) Antagonist: “The killer” is the overall antagonist – and the killer does appear here too, but the active antagonist in this pitch is actually implied: it’s whoever will kill the priest if the ninja doesn’t find the killer in three days’ time. It’s OK to imply the antagonist, as long as the stakes are high enough.

I opted to imply the active antagonist because it would have taken too long to describe the active antagonist in detail. In Claws of the Cat, the active antagonist is the dead man’s son, who happens to be a policeman. He wants revenge for his father’s death, and if he can’t find the real killer the Jesuit will do.

Look at your novel and ask yourself: what’s the easiest way to describe what my hero is fighting? That’s your active antagonist, and you have to either state or strongly imply its existence in your pitch.

If you don’t describe the antagonist in detail, you need to make sure you nail element #3:

3. The Stakes: In Claws, the stakes are a ticking clock and the imminent execution of an innocent man, both of which appear in the pitch. The secondary stakes are in there too: the ninja has pledged his life to protect the priest – so if the ninja fails to find the killer, both the priest and the ninja will die.

Your pitch MUST explain what’s at stake in your novel. Fail at that, and the listener will not care. Stories require tension; tension requires stakes. In many ways, the stakes are the most important part of your pitch, because it’s the stakes that make the listener need to hear the rest of the story.

4. High Concept: “Ninja detective.” Short and to the point. You’ll notice my pitch never actually says those words, but the pitch as a whole makes it clear that I’m telling a ninja detective story set in Japan.

It’s the little details of the pitch that convey high concept. “Master ninja,” and “find the killer” give a ninja detective vibe. “Kyoto teahouse” tells you the novel takes place in Japan, and if you know about Japanese teahouses, might make you suspect there’s a geisha or two in the mix. “Samurai” and “brutal murder” suggest the era, since medieval Japan was the age of samurai.

Find similar unique details in your novel. Wedge them into the spaces between your protagonist, antagonist, and stakes.

Every word in your pitch should have a reason for its inclusion. You don’t have room for filler words that do not “earn their keep.” Generally, try to use no more than one adjective per noun, and don’t use adverbs if you can avoid it – they break the flow.

Start by building a single sentence that describes–in a single breath worth of words--what your story is about. If you can’t say it all in a single breath, cut it until you can. Then–and only then–revise it. Justify each word and use the strongest words you can. Say the pitch aloud. If it isn’t smooth, revise until it rolls off your tongue as easily as your name. Don’t over-rehearse, but make sure the pitch is smooth and easy to say, because odds are you’ll be saying it when you’re nervous, and it’s easy enough to trip over simple phrases when you’re stressed, to say nothing of long, overcomplicated prose.

A single sentence is easier to remember, flows off the tongue, and inspires the listener to start asking questions–exactly what a good pitch ought to do.

Your homework this week is to pull the four elements from your work and build a pitch of your own. Build it strong and polish it to a shine–and then get out there and pitch!

Remember: if you leave a comment any #PubLaw Wednesday post in the month of June (meaning any post tagged as #PubLaw and dated before June 30) I will enter you in a drawing to win a signed ARC of my upcoming shinobi mystery novel, Claws of the Cat!

And, of course, the legalese: To be eligible to win, you must be at least 18 years old, leave a valid name and email address in the comments and and live or have a mailing address in the US or Canada. No purchase necessary to win. Odds of winning vary with entries received. One entry per household. One winner will be drawn at random from eligible comments.

An Interview with Piper Bayard!

Please welcome Piper Bayard, author of the new release FIRELANDS (Stonehouse Ink, June 2013), a fantastic dystopian thriller:

Piper Bayard is a belly dancer from way back and a recovering attorney with a university degree or two. She currently pens post-apocalyptic sci-fi and spy novels with Intelligence Operative Holmes when she isn’t shooting, blogging, dancing, or chauffeuring her children.

Piper blogs at Bayard & Holmes. You may contact her at their site, on Twitter at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Piper Bayard, or by email at BH[at]bayardandholmes.com. Sign up at Bayard & Holmes Newsletter to receive infrequent newsletters and notices of book releases. She and Holmes will not, under any circumstances, share your email with any foreign operatives, phone solicitors, or grasping DHS agents, though they can make no promises about what the NSA will do with it.

Her debut dystopian thriller, FIRELANDS, published by Stonehouse Ink, is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iPad.

Thrilling, moving, and ultimately hopeful, here is a novel to be savored long after you turn the last page. —James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of BLOODLINE.

Eighty years in the future, America has devolved into a totalitarian theocracy. The ruling Josephites clone the only seeds that grow in the post-apocalyptic climate, allowing their Prophet to control who eats, who starves, and who burns in the ritual fires that atone for society.

Subsisting on the fringes, Archer risks violation and death each day as she scours the forest for game to feed her people. When a Josephite refugee seeks sanctuary in her home, Archer is driven to chance a desperate gamble—a gamble that will bring down the Prophet and deliver seeds and freedom, or end in a fiery death for herself and for everyone she loves.

Seeds are life . . . Seeds are power . . . Seeds are the only hope of a despairing people. What will Archer do for the seeds of freedom, and what will she justify in their name?

I met Piper several years ago at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Colorado Gold Conference. We share a love of thriller novels (and shooting – let’s hear it for girls with guns!) and I had the honor of reading FIRELANDS before its release. I recommend it without reservation – and I’m delighted that Piper is letting me interview her today!

And so, with no further delay….on with the questions:

Where did you grow up? Will you share a favorite story from your childhood?

I grew up in New Mexico, but as a teen, I worked summers at a Rocky Mountain dude ranch in a state I shall not name. You’ll see why. Please forgive me if I start to write in my native accent. Proper dude ranch stories cannot be told in urban terms.

At this dude ranch, I often worked as a horse wrangler. Being the good natured folks we wranglers were, we did anything we could to help the tourists have a good time and fulfill all of their dude ranch dreams. Part of that service included a bit of creative storytelling.

Well, once we had a group of folks out from New York. They sure wanted to see an elk. Problem was there weren’t any elk on our mountain. They’d all moved up to higher ground when the BLM land got opened up to cattle. Elk are kind of particular that way in who they’ll dine with.

So we were out at the barn talking about how we could get an elk for these folks. Playing around, I took a deer rack off the shelf in the barn and tied it to the head of a bay horse named Bucky. (For those who don’t know, a bay is red with black mane, tail, and legs.) We laughed about how that was an elk we could show to the New Yorkers. (No offense, New Yorkers. It really was all in fun.)

The head wrangler came in and saw it, and he got an idea. The next morning, he and I took out the group for the 5:00 a.m. ride, which we called the Dummy Ride, because only a dummy gets up and rides at 5:00 a.m. when they don’t have to. It was my favorite ride. Anyway, as we traversed the forest, a couple of the cowboys took Bucky and the deer rack up to a meadow that sat below a cliff. The wrangler lead the New Yorkers up on the crest of the cliff, and at the same time, the cowboys down below led Bucky, deer rack and all, into the forest in such a way that the New Yorkers only got a glimpse of a large animal with horns.

Those New Yorkers couldn’t have been more excited. They gasped and pointed, and one of them said, “Wow! That’s as big as a horse!” At which I refused to glance sideways or crack a smile. In short, they loved it. Happy tourists mean happy wranglers.

Lest you think God didn’t get us for our deception . . . A week later, the guys—I wasn’t there—took out a different group. This time, it was a really fat, shaggy black Shetland pony that had the honor of being in the meadow below the cliff.

When the head wrangler got the tourists up to the crest, he said, “Look! There’s a bear!” Just then, the pony saw the other horses and whinnied. So busted! And yes, we learned our lesson about overt deception, even in the name of showing our customers a good time.

What inspired you to start writing?

*shifts out of drawl*

My friend offered me the opportunity to sell insurance about the time my kids went to school. It made sense. It played well with my law degree, it had flexible hours, and they were going to set me up. But I knew if I put all my energy into starting an insurance business, I would never write a book. I could die happy without ever selling insurance, but I could not die happy if I never wrote a book. So I began.

If you could go back in time and share one writing lesson with “new writer you” before starting your first manuscript … what would that be?

Who you are is more important than what you can do or who you know. If you are professional, trustworthy, discreet, hard-working, and reliable, and if you can shut up and listen without arguing, the people you meet will be willing to teach you, and you will need their help. No one does this alone.

Your new novel, FIRELANDS, is a fast-paced dystopian thriller set in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world. How did you decide what kind of apocalypse would shape the world of your novel?

Shortly after America went into Iraq, I saw an interview with a Shiite imam, in which he was saying, “Now we are free. We are free to ban TV. We are free to ban music. We can make the women cover up.” Then I noticed that when candidates here win elections, no matter how slim the margins, they, like the imam, interpret their wins as carte blanche for creating society in their own images of freedom. It made me question what it would take for Americans to embrace a theocracy as their image of freedom. I knew it would take an event that would genuinely hit us where we live. Which led to the next question. Where do we live?

America is a Wal-Mart society. As long as we can get in our cars and go to Wal-Mart when we want a cheap TV or a pair of gym shorts or some chips and dip, we’re willing to put up with virtually anything on the part of our government, from betrayals of our foreign diplomats to broad warrantless surveillance of American citizens. Whatever apocalypse came along would have to disrupt the Wal-Mart reality without slaughtering everyone and laying the land to total waste. Someone had to survive to be in the book.

I put that idea with the fact that for decades, a certain well-known agricultural company has created seeds that produce only sterile crops. Also, they have a well-earned reputation for being heavy handed in agricultural domination. In any famine—the natural result of apocalypse—seed companies will hold the key to world domination.

I needed an apocalypse that temporarily affected North America for long enough to bring widespread famine, but that didn’t create a total wasteland. So the book begins twenty-one years after a supervolcano called Taupo in New Zealand blows and blankets Earth with ash, lowering the average temperature of North America approximately 20 degrees for a period of seven years—much like a body of research indicates happened with Mt. Toba in Indonesia 74,000 years ago. During that time, the Josephites, whose prophet is a genetic engineer, cloned the only seeds that could grow in the cold and dark, giving them the power over who eats, and who starves.

Do you have a favorite author, book, or genre? If so, who (or what) is it, and why?

I actually love historical fiction and fantasy. The Crystal Cave, Harry Potter, Shogun, and Colleen McCullough’s First Man in Rome series stand out for me. I love the hope and the noble values inherent in fantasy, and I love the easy history lessons I get from the historical fiction.

Archer, the protagonist in FIRELANDS, must risk her life to save a young girl named Bunny from capture and execution by the religious zealots who control their post-apocalyptic world. What did you find most challenging about balancing the non-stop action with Archer’s internal growth as a character, and how did you overcome those difficulties in writing and editing?

The most difficult part was sacrificing all of the scenes I loved that didn’t move the plot. I call them Little Darlings, a term coined by Kristen Lamb. The hard fact is, though, that there is a difference between writing a book and playing with my imaginary friends. I had to learn that. It was a literary slaughter when I cut those scenes, but it had to be done. Live and let Little Darlings die.

Do you have a favorite scene or section from FIRELANDS? If so (and if you can tell us about it without spoilers!), what makes that scene stand out for you?

I gave this a great deal of thought and concluded they are all my favorites.

What is the last book you read, and why did you choose to read it?

The last book I read was the ARC of your debut novel, CLAWS OF THE CAT, and I loved it! I read it because I was lucky enough to get an ARC.

You’re currently writing a series of spy thrillers with your writing partner, the mysterious Holmes, who blogs with you at Bayard & Holmes. Can you tell us a little about your current work in progress?

We’re currently finishing edits on THE LEOPARD OF CAIRO, the first in our seven-book APEX PREDATOR series that will be published by Stonehouse Ink. In it, an ex-intelligence operative must thwart a billionaire cartel before it can unleash a regional apocalypse, and, in the resulting chaos, corner the world’s oil market. While it is fiction, our particular angle is that we keep it all very real and entirely possible.

And now, the speed round:

Plotter or pantser?

Plotter

Coffee, tea, or bourbon?

Tea

Socks or no socks?

Socks

Cats, dogs, or reptiles?

Dogs

For dinner: Italian, Mexican, Burgers or Thai?

Italian—gluten free, served by a handsome waiter in a white button-down shirt and tight black trousers.

Thank you, Piper, for joining me here today! It’s been great fun to learn more about you and FIRELANDS – it’s a fantastic book, and I’m sure my readers will love it as much as I did!

FIRELANDS is available now in ebook format at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the Kobo store, and through the Apple Store for iPad and mobile devices. The print edition releases later this summer!

You can find Piper at Bayard & Holmes, on Twitter at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Piper Bayard, or by email at BH [at] bayardandholmes.com.

Talk like a shinobi … and I will too!

I’m delighted to be speaking at the Historical Novel Society Conference June 21-23 in St. Petersburg, Florida, as part of a panel called, “Four Xs–and a Y–Mark the Spot: Exploring the Hidden Treasures of Historical Mystery.” Here’s a little more about it:

Historical settings offer a vibrant backdrop for mysteries. Learn how the proper setting becomes a character in itself, pick up hints for selecting your sleuth, and investigate the intriguing details … all without losing the action—or your readers—in the process. Join mystery authors Annamaria Alfieri, (http://www.annamariaalfieri.com/),  Anne Perry (http://www.anneperry.co.uk/), Frederick Ramsay (http://frederickramsay.com/), Judith Rock (http://www.judithrock.com), and Susan Spann (http://www.susanspann.com) as they seek out the clues to spicing up history with mystery!

In preparation for the conference, the Historical Novel Society is featuring blog interviews with the panelists. My own interview appeared yesterday at the blog of Kim Rendfeld, author of the recent historical novel THE CROSS AND THE DRAGON. (Some of you may recognize Kim’s name – I previously had the honor of interviewing her here at Spann of Time.)

In other, not-quite-related news, we’ve started rolling out the extra content for CLAWS OF THE CAT here on the Spann of Time website! The “Talk like a shinobi” glossary – with definitions of Japanese terms that appear in CLAWS OF THE CAT – is live today! You can get there from my website’s homepage by clicking “Enter the World of Shinobi” and then following the link to “Talk like a Ninja.”

Lots of exciting things on the horizon – I look forward to sharing all the fun with you!

Are you attending the HNS conference in St. Petersburg? Or another writing conference this summer? I’d love to hear which conference is your favorite in the comments!

Grand Slam! How to Write a Winning Pitch

As promised, today’s #PubLaw takes a look at how to write an effective pitch for your manuscript. There are many good ways to do this, and many ways to intrigue an editor, agent, or reader, so I do not claim this way is the only one.

It is, however, the one I used–effectively–when pitching my Shinobi mystery series, and the one I teach when working with other writers.

Again, to be clear: I do not claim this is the only way to success. It’s simply the one I’m teaching.

A winning pitch  – regardless of how it’s written – does one thing: it makes the listener want to read your book.

At the end of the day, that’s what we’re after, so keep that goal in mind. If your pitch doesn’t manage that, it fails, regardless of the method used or the words the pitch contains.

Constructing a pitch is easier when we work with a real topic, so I’m going to use my debut novel Claws of the Cat, as our example.

Start putting your pitch together by culling four important elements from your work:

1. Who is the protagonist? Describe him (or her) with 1-2 adjectives.

For example: Hiro Hattori, ninja detective.

2. Who is your active antagonist?

The active antagonist isn’t necessarily the same as the evil genius behind the master plan or the murderer who created the corpse that sets the mystery in motion. The active antagonist is the person, place, or thing the hero is fighting against for most of the novel – the thing that creates “the stakes.”

In Claws of the Cat, the active antagonist is the victim’s son, Nobuhide. When his father is discovered dead in a teahouse, Nobuhide threatens to kill a geisha because the girl was the last one to see Nobuhide’s father alive. When Hiro’s Jesuit friend, Father Mateo, tries to save the girl, Nobuhide threatens to kill the priest as well.

The real antagonist, of course, is the killer Hiro and Father Mateo are seeking, but I can’t disclose that individual’s name in the pitch (it pretty much ruins the book to do so, and unlike a synopsis, the elevator pitch does not reveal the ending of the story.)

So, since I can’t reveal the killer, I have to go with our visible antagonist: Nobuhide, the victim’s son, who is also a policeman.

3. Stakes! (Preferably, through the protagonist’s heart).

Note that I haven’t asked about where the hero started the journey, how many quirky talking teapots (s)he meets along the way, or why there’s a pregnant emu at the turn from act 2 to act 3. For purposes of your pitch, it isn’t important.

What does your protagonist have to accomplish before “the end,” and why will the world fall apart if he or she fails?

Returning to Claws: If Hiro doesn’t bring the samurai’s killer to justice in three days’ time, Nobuhide will kill the geisha and Father Mateo. Bad enough. But it’s also a fact that Hiro’s own life is tied to the priest’s, and Hiro will have to kill himself too if Father Mateo is killed.

In other words: find the killer, or both the protagonist and his Jesuit friend will die.

Those are the stakes.

And that brings us to the fourth and final thing you have to cull from your novel – and this one can be the most difficult of all:

4. The High Concept.

High concept is premise. It’s what makes your story unique. It’s a concept with mass appeal that you can sum up in 1-2 sentences.

For example: Claws of the Cat’s high concept is ninja detective. A longer high concept idea for the book would be “Holmes and Watson in samurai-era Kyoto.”

Get the idea?

High concept is not necessarily your pitch,  but a pitch created with high concept in mind will always be stronger than one which ignores it completely.

If you’re struggling with high concept, try the “What if” method. Summarize your story in no more than 15 words, the first two of which must be “What if?”

For example: “What if a ninja had to catch a killer to save a priest?”

Or “What if a ninja solved murders instead of committing them?”

Tune in next week for Part 2 of our elevator pitch workshop, in which we transform the pieces into a grand-slam pitch!

Do you have an elevator pitch for your work in progress? Between now and next Wednesday, your homework is to pull these four elements out of YOUR work and get ready to pitch like a pro!

And remember: if you leave a comment on this post, or any #PubLaw Wednesday post in the month of June (meaning any post tagged as #PubLaw and dated from now until June 30) I will enter you in a drawing to win a signed ARC of my upcoming shinobi mystery novel, Claws of the Cat!

And, of course, the legalese: To be eligible to win, you must be at least 18 years old, leave a valid name and email address in the comments and and live or have a mailing address in the US or Canada. No purchase necessary to win. Odds of winning vary with entries received. One entry per household. One winner will be drawn at random from eligible comments.