Larry A. Winters's Blog, page 2
September 12, 2018
Jessie Black Book 5 is now available!
False Justice, the fifth novel in the Jessie Black Legal Thriller series, is here!
Start reading today by clicking here!
A powerful corporation. A legal system bought and paid for. A prosecutor willing to risk everything for justice…In a courthouse hallway, assistant district attorney Jessica Black runs into an old law school friend. Jessie is excited to catch up with Kelly … until she realizes the lawyer is terrified.
Kelly is representing grieving parents against a large corporation whose failure to meet safety standards caused a child’s death. The company stands to lose a lot of money, and Kelly fears someone is following her, watching her, and preparing to harm her. But without an actual threat, the police won’t help. Jessie offers to talk to her friends in the police department to try to get Kelly some protection, at least temporarily.
But that night, Kelly is found dead in what looks like a random car accident.
Now, Jessie must prove Kelly’s accident was actually a murder, find the killer, and protect the grief-stricken parents from a corporation willing to do anything to silence them. But can she succeed against a corrupt judicial system, an indifferent police force, and a bloodthirsty killer? Or will her fight for justice cost her everything?
Jessie Black returns in False Justice, the fifth novel in the bestselling Jessie Black Legal Thrillers series readers are calling “fast paced and totally spellbinding.” If you like great characters, high stakes, and surprises that keep you guessing until the end, you’ll love the novels of Larry A. Winters.
Click here to buy False Justice today!
July 31, 2017
Listening to my own audiobooks
If you ask most writers, they will probably agree that it’s hard (and often painful) to read or listen to their own books. No matter how well a project may be received by readers, it rarely measures up with the perfect, ideal version in the writer’s own head. The experience of reading or listening to the finished work is overwhelmed by a constant desire to go back—to edit, tweak, finesse, polish, push the words just that much closer to perfection.
I’m no different, and this was certainly my experience as well when I listened to the audiobook versions of the first three novels in the Jessie Black Legal Thriller series, Burnout, Informant, and Deadly Evidence.
I listened to each one during my commute to and from my day job, and there were times when I actually cringed and winced, I was so hyper-alert for sentences that could be improved, scenes I could make more effective. It was painful in the beginning.
But only in the beginning.
A funny thing happened after the first few chapters of each book. My inner critic fell silent as my imagination was drawn into the stories. I credit this in large part to the excellent narrating skills of Xe Sands and the professional production values of Tantor Media, which brought my creations to life in a wonderful way. By the midpoint of each novel, I was fully captivated by my characters, their struggles, and the twists and turns of the stories. Could I have written better novels? Any novel could hypothetically be improved. But that stopped mattering to me. This may sound egotistical or self-serving, but I have to say it: I loved listening to my own books!
If you’re a fan of the Jessie Black series or legal thrillers in general, pick up these audiobooks. I think you’ll enjoy listening to them as much as I did.
Check out the audiobooks by clicking on the covers below:
June 28, 2017
A Look Back at Six Months of Weekly Blogging
The writing business requires experimentation. In my books, I try new things so that I’m always learning, always stretching as a writer, and hopefully making each book better than the last. At the same time, I’m also experimenting with marketing—looking for the best ways to connect with readers and get the word out about my work.
At the beginning of this year, I set a goal to post to this blog on a weekly basis. (You can read the original post here.) I knew doing so would not be easy. However, I had a bunch of good ideas for things to write about, and I thought an active blog might help entertain readers between book releases.
Well, it’s been six months. I’ve had a lot of fun writing posts for this blog. Here are some of my favorite posts:
Nervous Laughter—Humor in Thriller Novels
Two good reasons you should post book reviews
Interview with audiobook narrator Xe Sands
That said, maintaining a weekly schedule has taken a lot of time and energy, and I think it makes sense to shift some of that time and energy back to the book-writing part of the business. Starting in July, I’ll be scaling back my blog posts to approximately one per month.
If you’re a fan of the blog, don’t worry—more blog content is coming. But this change will also enable me to deliver more novels more frequently, which I believe is the real reason you’re here!
Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below or email me directly. Thank you for reading!
June 21, 2017
Redemption—My Favorite Character Arc
A character arc is the inner journey of a character, beginning in the opening chapters of a story and ending at the climax, in which the character changes in some profound way. My favorite character arc is what I call the redemption arc. This character arc involves a character who is either “bad” or imperfect at the beginning of the story, who evolves through the course of the story so that when finally facing the pressure of the story’s final crisis, he or she rises to the moment and shows him or herself to be a hero. While we love characters who from page 1 are champions of justice and goodness, we seem to be especially drawn to lesser characters who “make good.” There is something about this character arc that seems to be universally appealing.
We’ve all experienced missed opportunities, moments when we behaved in a manner that we knew was beneath us (pettiness, meanness, losing our temper, succumbing to temptation), events we wish we could do over differently. We tend to accumulate regrets and carry them forward, while forgetting the moments where we were kind or generous or forgiving or brave. It’s just human nature. Few of us see ourselves as shining paragons of heroism. Most of us see our own flaws all too clearly. We strive in our lives to be better people. Seeing a character make the transition and experience the growth that we long for ourselves is cathartic and satisfying.
In my legal thriller Informant, the second book in the Jessie Black Legal Thrillers series, the character Reggie Tuck undergoes a redemption character arc. He begins the story as a con artist and jailhouse snitch. I won’t tell you where he winds up at the end, because that would ruin the fun of the book. Based on emails I’ve received, Reggie seems to be a favorite character among my readers. I think that’s in large part because of his character arc.
Informant is available in ebook, paperback, and—by the time you read this—audiobook versions. If you haven’t read it yet, pick up a copy now!
Click here for the Kindle version of Informant.
Click here for the paperback version of Informant.
Click here for the brand new audiobook version of Informant.
June 14, 2017
The End—Thoughts on Thriller Endings
Today I’m going to talk about endings—specifically, what makes a good one. We’ve all had the experience of reading a great book, only to be let down by a mediocre finale. Similarly, we’ve all read and suffered through mediocre books, only to reach a spectacular ending that leaves us with an overall positive impression of a book that, in reality, we didn’t really enjoy all that much. Mickey Spillane famously said that your first chapter sells the book, and your last chapter sells your next book. Endings are super important. They can make or break a reading experience.
So what is it that separates a great ending from a mediocre one? Some of it is just magic, and resists logical analysis, but as a writer I have tried to study what works.
One ingredient that seems to appear in most really great endings is emotion. A thriller relies for most of its length on breakneck pacing, action, twists, and surprises. There usually isn’t much room for subtle emotions such as regret, grief, tenderness, guilt, or the like. But if set up skillfully, a thriller’s ending can deliver on a deeply emotional level. In addition to wrapping up all of the plot threads, and showing the hero finally defeat the villain, a thriller can also make you feel something. We like to be moved emotionally. It’s one of the reasons we read. A thriller that provides an emotional punch in its finale is a thriller you will remember.
Burnout has an emotionally charged ending
As a writer, I haven’t always succeeded in doing this, but I think I achieved it in the ending of Burnout. I won’t spoil the ending in this blog. If you’re curious, check out the book here!
Another technique I see in effective endings is when the end mirrors or bookends the beginning. In Blake Snyder’s screenwriting book, Save the Cat, which I have blogged about before, Snyder suggests that a screenplay should begin with an opening image and end with a closing image that reflects the opening image. The two images can be opposites—for example, a film can open with a view of a run-down village and end with a prosperous one—or the images can be almost identical—for example, a happy family shown before and after the conflict overcome in the story. The symmetry of the opening and closing images is structurally pleasing to film viewers and also, I believe, to book readers.
Sometimes it is easier to recognize bad technique. One of the ways I often see endings fall flat is when they are too quick. It is as if the writer sees the end in sight and rushes to the finish line. After investing myself in hundreds of pages of a story, I don’t want a rushed ending. I want a satisfying denouement. An ending should wrap up the story in a satisfying way, and then give the reader a moment to enjoy the victory. To luxuriate with the main character in the hard-won success that he or she achieved through great effort. To deny the reader this moment creates a feeling of dissatisfaction in the reader. To return to Mickey Spillane’s quote, the last chapter is supposed to sell the next book. If the last chapter doesn’t deliver the promised victory, many readers will look elsewhere for a book that will.
Do you have thoughts about how books—thrillers in particular—can end in a satisfying way? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
June 7, 2017
Tips for Writers—Using Setting to Improve Story
Of all the various moving parts a writer needs to worry about, setting is probably the least exciting, but one of the most helpful. Action, dialogue, characterization – these are the aspects of storytelling that draw us to the keyboard with enthusiasm, raring to go. Setting, on the other hand, can feel like a tedious chore. But mastering the skill of writing setting is critical if you want to create great stories that people will love to read.
The primary purpose of setting is to set establish the “stage,” so that readers will be oriented in the scene. If you don’t establish the basic layout early in the scene, readers will feel an uncomfortable detachment from what they are reading about. It is important to take care of this at the top of the scene, so that the reader is free to focus on the more important things that are going on—the conflict driving the scene.
Ideally, you want to make setting do more than one thing. For example, by careful word choice, you can also establish a tone. A tone can be scary, somber, tense—any mood you want the reader to feel. Think of this function of setting as similar to a film score. The music plays in the background, and the viewer might not even be aware of it on a conscious level, but it influences how he or she interprets what’s on the screen. Similarly, your choice of words in a setting will affect the reader’s emotional response to the events happening in the scene.
Another objective that setting can accomplish is to enrich characterization. As much as possible, a description of the setting should be filtered through the point of view of a character. If you do this well, the reader not only learns the important details of the setting, but also learns more about the character. You accomplish this effect by being selective about what elements of the setting the character notices. The snobby character notices with distaste the shabby furniture, while the cowardly character sees danger wherever he looks.
When writing setting, make sure you carefully balance it against other aspects of the scene, particularly conflict. The biggest risk of scene setting is that it is generally static. You pause the story to offer the reader information. For example, the character enters the room and becomes aware of a couch, two chairs, a coffee table, etc. This is fine in a brief paragraph supporting by more exciting sequences of conflict, but if you overindulge in setting (for example by getting very detailed about the beautiful antique furniture), you risk losing the reader’s attention. You need to establish just enough detail to let the reader visualize the scene (and hopefully get a sense of the tone and the POV character’s personality, as suggested above) and then move quickly to the action. Don’t fall into the trap of over-describing the setting. In my opinion, too little is better than too much.
Another tip—don’t rely solely on visual description. There are five senses, and all of them can be evocative. Because most of us consume a lot of movies and TV, the natural urge is to fill our descriptions with sights and sounds. But smells, textures (touch), and even taste can really bring a setting to life.
One final tip about setting—you only need to do it once for each location. This took me a while to figure out. Readers have good memories, and you need to trust them. If in Chapter 1 you describe a character’s office, you don’t need to describe it again when the characters return there in Chapter 7. Maybe mention one detail as a reminder to quickly anchor the scene (a cluttered desk, for example) but don’t go through the full geography of the place if you’ve already done it. Your readers internalized the setting the first time.
I hope these thoughts on setting are helpful to other writers, and interesting to readers. If you have any thoughts on this subject, please share them in the comments section below.
May 31, 2017
Interview with audiobook narrator Xe Sands
This week I am excited to present an interview with Xe Sands, the narrator of the Burnout audiobook and the upcoming Informant and Deadly Evidence audiobooks. Xe is an accomplished narrator with a number of awards to her credit, including an Audie Award, multiple SOVAS Voice Arts Awards, multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, and a Publisher’s Weekly Narrator of the Year Award. She has lent her voice to books in numerous genres including thrillers, romance, science fiction and fantasy, and others. Despite a very busy schedule, Xe was generous enough to let me interview her for this blog. I hope you enjoy it!
Larry: You have an interesting name, so let’s get that out of the way first. How is Xe pronounced, and what is the origin of the name?
Xe: It is…unusual, that’s for sure. Although one of my cousins also has the same name, believe it or not. Makes for some hilarious confusion on Facebook (although she’s 12 years younger and MUCH cuter, so being mistaken for her ain’t a bad thing…).We’re both named after my great-grandmother. Oh – and it’s pronounced EK-see 
May 24, 2017
Giveaway and Deal on Burnout Audiobook!
My first audiobook is here! Burnout, the first book in the Jessie Black Legal Thrillers series, is now available as an audiobook narrated by Xe Sands. It’s available as a digital download or as a physical MP3-CD. Here’s the cover:
If you’ve been following this blog or you’re on my email list, you know I have been enthusiastically looking forward to this release. And I’m even more excited to let you know about a giveaway and a deal on the audiobook.
The Giveaway
Tantor, my audiobook publisher, is running a Goodreads giveaway. (Goodreads, for those who aren’t familiar, is a social media website for book lovers.) If you go to this webpage, you can enter to win 1 of 5 copies of the MP3-CD version of the audiobook of Burnout. The giveaway is open to readers in the US only, and ends on June 2, 2017. (Note: The web page states that the prize is a “print copy,” but it is actually the MP3-CD copy.)
Enter now for a chance to win a free copy!
The Deal
You can grab the digital version of the Burnout audiobook (you listen to it using the Audible app on your phone, tablet, or computer) at a huge discount by taking advantage of Amazon’s Whispersync deal. Here’s how it works: If you own the Kindle edition of the book, the price of the digital audiobook edition will appear at a deep discount for you on the book’s Amazon sales page. As I type this, it is currently showing as $3.47 for me, an 87% discount from the $27.99 regular price! Even if you don’t own the Kindle edition, it is still cheaper to buy both the Kindle edition and the Whispersync-discounted audio edition now than to just buy one of the audiobook versions. Isn’t Amazon great? (I don’t control this deal and I’m not sure how long it will last, so if you’re interested, buy now!)
If you don’t have it, buy the Kindle version of Burnout here, in order to get the deal!
Buy the digital version of the Burnout audiobook here!
One Request
As with all books, reviews are critically important for audio. Audible pulls in reviews from the Kindle and print versions, but also features audiobook-specific reviews where readers can comment on the quality of the narration and other aspects of the audio experience.
If you listen to the audiobook and have some time, I would really appreciate it if you would go to the audiobook’s Audible page here and leave an audiobook-specific review.
Thank you for reading (and listening) to my books!
May 17, 2017
Audiobook Release Schedule and other News
Time for another update. If you are a fan of the Jessie Black Legal Thriller series, there is a lot to be excited about right now! Here are some highlights.
The First Three Jessie Books in Audio
Jessie Black is coming to audiobooks! Audiobook publisher Tantor Media is bringing the first three Jessie books out in audio format this year. This is super-exciting to me, since I am a huge fan of audiobooks.
As I’ve mentioned on my blog, I am also a big fan of the narrator, Xe Sands, whose performance brings a wonderful new dimension to the books. Here is the audiobook release schedule:
Burnout: May 23
Informant: June 20
Deadly Evidence: July 25
Listen to an audio sample of Xe reading the beginning of the first chapter of Burnout here:
http://larryawinters.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/J0362_BurnoutWinters.mp3
Fatal Defense in Paperback
The newest Jessie book, Fatal Defense, launched as a Kindle ebook on April 7. It’s done pretty well, sticking in the top hundred best-selling legal thrillers on the Kindle store and getting positive reviews from readers.
Now, a paperback version is available as well. I read most books digitally these days, but it still gives me a thrill to hold these in my hand. The book looks great on a shelf and makes a nice gift for a book lover (or if you want to introduce a friend to the series). You can find the paperback here.
Happy Anniversary
I published my first book, Hardcore, on May 14, 2013, so this past Sunday marked my four-year publishing anniversary. It’s hard to believe it’s been so long—I still feel very new at this! But it has been an amazing four years. I am extremely grateful to you and everyone who has read my books. Because of you, I have been able to pursue my lifelong dream. Thank you!
If you’re not familiar with Hardcore, it’s a little different from my other books. The book is an “amateur sleuth” murder mystery rather than a legal thriller, and it’s a standalone book, not a series. (I would be open to writing a sequel if there is demand for one.) It deals with subject matter that hasn’t been explored in many mysteries or thrillers (the adult entertainment industry). I’m proud of the book and think it’s a good read. If you’ve read all the Jessie books and are looking for something else from me featuring a crime-solving heroine, consider checking it out. You can find Hardcore here.
More Jessie coming soon
Don’t think I’m sitting back and kicking my feet up. I’m hard at work on the next Jessie Black story. I’m still in the rough draft stage, and a lot can change, but so far, the story is coming along well. I’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime, enjoy the spring weather. Happy reading!
May 10, 2017
Jessie Black Audiobooks Coming Soon!
You may recall that one of my New Year’s resolutions was to explore audiobooks. I have sung their praises on this blog before, and I’m sure I’ll do so again—I’m a big fan. I have a lengthy commute to and from my day job, and I have found that this time on the road is ideal for reading. Well, I have an exciting announcement to make. The first three books in the Jessie Black legal thriller series, Burnout, Informant, and Deadly Evidence, are being produced as audiobooks by Tantor Media. Burnout should be released very soon, with the other books to follow.
Equally exciting for me is that Tantor was able to get my first-choice narrator for this project. In early 2016, I listened to The Ex, a legal thriller by Alafair Burke. (Highly recommended, by the way.) The narrator of The Ex so impressed me that before I was even a few chapters into the book, I went to the web to find out who she was. Her voice, I thought, would be perfect for Jessie Black.
I found out her name was Xe Sands. I did a little research to see what other books she’d narrated. The results were both impressive and disheartening. Impressive, because I learned she was a multi-award-winning narrator, one who had narrated books for numerous best-selling authors. Disheartening, because I thought it unlikely she’d work with a relatively small-time writer like me. But I’m an optimist by nature, so I wrote her name down in my journal for future reference.
Fast-forward to January, 2017. I received an email from an acquisitions editor at Tantor Media, an audiobook publisher. I was familiar with the name Tantor, both from contacts in the writing industry and from my own audiobook library, so I knew they were legit.
When I ‘d originally made a goal for myself to get some of my books into audio this year, I had been intending to use Amazon’s ACX platform, which provides a mechanism for writers and narrators to work together without a publisher. However, I had read about how much work was involved in the process, and although it sounded fun, I was concerned about overextending myself when I was already late on delivering the fourth Jessie Black book, Fatal Defense. So the offer was attractive. After some back and forth with Tantor, we reached a deal.
The casting coordinator from Tantor asked me if I preferred a male or female narrator for Burnout. I thought of Xe Sands again, and decided to ask for her specifically. (Optimist by nature, remember.) Imagine my excitement when the response came back that Tantor, acting on my request, had engaged Xe to narrate all three books.
In the coming weeks, I will post an interview with Xe, to better introduce her and let her speak for herself, but right now, let me just say how honored and thankful I am to know the audiobook versions of the first three Jessie Black books are in the capable hands of Tantor and Xe Sands. I could not ask for a more professional team.
Watch this blog for more news coming soon!
