Larry A. Winters's Blog, page 4

Tips for Writers—Why I Outline

This week’s blog post is on the short side, but it’s critical advice for writers. If there’s one habit you can adopt to help you write more quickly, craft a more satisfying story, and finish what you start, it’s this: Outline. Here are some reasons why.

Speed

Writing quickly is a valuable skill in the current marketplace (and one I am actively trying to improve at myself). Today’s readers are voracious. They don’t want to wait a year for the next book in a series they love. To meet the demand, writers need to pick up the pace.

Outlining facilitates faster writing because it provides a blueprint telling you what to write next. Staring at a blank page and a blinking cursor is never easy, but it’s slightly less painful when you’re armed with an outline telling you the next scene that needs to be written. With an outline, you’ll spend less time trying to decide what happens next, and more time writing what happens next.

Craft

Speed is important, but all the speed in the world won’t help you if your stories don’t satisfy readers. Craft is just as important as speed—actually, I think all of us would agree it’s more important.

A lot of what makes a story satisfying is its structure. We can get into this subject in a future blog post, but suffice to say that readers, if only on a subconscious level, expect a certain structure in their stories. They expect a beginning, a middle, and an ending, and each of those must function along the lines of the beginnings, middles, and endings of all great stories.

If you’re writing by the seat of your pants (we call these writers “pantsers”), then you run the risk of going astray structurally because you’re constantly focused on your story at the micro level and not at the macro level. If you fumble the structure of your story, chances are the story won’t satisfy your readers. Outlining forces you to look at your story from a macro level, and increases your chances of getting the structure right for maximum reader satisfaction.

Finishing

Another pitfall writers are prone to is a failure to finish what they start. Books can be fun to write at the beginning, when you first dive in, everything is fresh, and the possibilities seem endless. But that feeling inevitably fades. At some point (usually near the middle of the book), the shine wears off, your enthusiasm flags, and writing becomes a chore. The temptation to stop, to just give up on this story and start working on a new one, can be powerful.

The problem is, you will always reach this point. If you allow yourself to give into temptation every time, you’ll start a thousand books and finish none. What you need to do is have faith in yourself, have faith in your story and your ability to tell it, and keep writing until you reach the end.

Getting to the end can be a slog. You are going to have to—painfully—put one word after another, one sentence after another, one paragraph after another, even when they don’t come naturally and every moment at the keyboard feels like a struggle. When you reach this point, it’s going to be a lot easier to fight your way through the draft if you have an outline. An outline is a map, a guide, and a lifeline. It tells you what to write next. It leads you step by step to the end.

An outline does not need to be a rigidly formatted structure of indented lines and Roman numerals. There is no correct form. Some writers create bullet-pointed summaries. Some use spreadsheets. Some use index cards. I’m still changing and refining my methods with each new book. As I mentioned above, some writers don’t outline at all, and if that works for you, then you can ignore this blog post. But if you find yourself facing some of the challenges described above and you don’t currently outline, I’d strongly urge you to give it a try. You might find that it helps you.

For more writing tips, click here.

Do You Want Romance In Your Thrillers?

Love is a big deal. The romance genre is the largest and most widely-read genre of books. Just about every book, movie, and TV show touches on the subject of love in some manner. We have a whole holiday devoted to love. So it isn’t surprising that many thriller novels incorporate love, usually in the form of a romance subplot.

As a reader, I have mixed feelings about romance in thrillers. When done well, a romance subplot can add depth to the characters, raise the stakes of the story, and provide the vicarious excitement of experiencing the roller coaster-like emotions of love and desire. But when executed poorly, romance can feel forced and phony. It can induce eye rolls, cringes, or, in the worst case, abandonment of an otherwise enjoyable book. It’s a risky balancing act. As a reader and a writer, I’ve thought about it quite a bit.

Good Romance

There is a reason that romance subplots appear in a lot of thrillers. When two people are brought together in a situation of extreme danger, the circumstances become a kind of crucible, accelerating the bond between the two people which, in a less intense time period, might take much longer to form. We recognize this phenomenon as realistic, and are more willing to believe the rapid nature of the romance.

In addition, the romantic subplot itself can include thriller elements. I’ll give an example from my own work:

In my mystery novel Hardcore, the heroine, Ashley, returns to the adult entertainment industry in Los Angeles because she suspects her sister’s suicide was actually murder. While digging around, she meets Zack, a man who worked with her sister. Zack offers to help her, and they team up to search for the truth. Although a mutual attraction quickly develops, Ashley is unsure whether she can trust Zack. Is he helping her because he’s a good guy, or because he’s a killer trying to cover his tracks? Ashley doesn’t know, and neither does the reader.

In this example, the romance ratchets up the suspense, rather than slowing the pace. Ashley’s questions and doubts make the reader turn the pages even more quickly. I’m going to pat myself on the back for this one, because I think the romance in Hardcore enhances the book.

Bad Romance

So why do romance subplots so frequently go wrong? Why does the introduction of a love interest often feel predictable, unrealistic, and cliched? I have some ideas.

Thrillers should be fast-paced page-turners. Unless it comes with its own conflicts and suspense (see above), a romance subplot runs a risk of slowing the pace and feeling like filler—something tacked on because it’s “supposed to be there.”

Balance is key. Romance can add to a thriller, but if the balance is out of whack, the result can be a romance novel with thriller elements. That’s fine if it’s what the reader expects (there is a popular genre called romantic suspense), but if the reader has been promised a thriller, then the thriller element needs to dominate.

If an author expects me to fall in love alongside the main character, then the love interest better be interesting. Too often, the love interest in a thriller is a one-dimensional, stock character whose only defining attribute is that he or she is smoking hot. That may work in a 2-hour James Bond movie, but it’s not good enough to pull me through a three-hundred page novel. In addition to being dull, a too-perfect love interest can also be irritating. The hero meets a beautiful, statuesque blonde with an amazing body, a PhD in astrophysics, and a net worth of ten-billion dollars. He falls in love, but the reader is probably rolling is or her eyes and thinking, Give me a break. Good romance requires that the love interest be a fully realized, three-dimensional, realistic character.

What do you think? Do you enjoy a little romance along with your thrillers, or do you find that the romance detracts from the experience? Do you have any favorite thrillers that incorporate romance in a satisfying way?

Let me know in the comments section!

More Time to Read

Want to hear a depressing thought? You won’t be able to read all of the books you’d like to within your lifetime. Neither will I. It’s simple math—there just isn’t enough time. There are millions of books out there that I want to read. (Heck, there are hundreds of unread books on my Kindle that I want to read.) But I only have a finite amount of time—and once you subtract time devoted to family, work, sleep, and other commitments, the time left to read is relatively tiny.

I’ve been an avid reader most of my life, but the older I get, the more challenging it becomes to find time for reading. I’ve picked up some tips that I’d like to share with you. Here are five ways to make more time to read:

1. Read on your phone

Physical, paper books are bulky things (even paperbacks) that aren’t always convenient to carry around and are easy to forget to bring with you in the first place. Plus, if you’re anything like me, you don’t want your books to get bent and crushed in a bag. Digital books take up no physical space and, thanks to the fact that every digital book platform now has a phone app, your digital books are always with you. Waiting at the doctor’s office? Pull out your phone and read. Standing at the end of the line at the DMV? Read. Five minutes here and ten minutes there may not seem like much, but the pages add up. The smartphone is a gift for readers.

2. Listen to audiobooks

Do you have a long commute to work? Regularly drive to visit family or friends? Audiobooks are a great way to read during driving time. Now, I have heard some people claim that listening to an audiobook doesn’t “count” as reading. I disagree. Yes, listening to an audiobook is a different experience than reading the words yourself, hearing the sounds in your head, and seeing the layout of the page. But the essential experience—the words themselves—are the same. And in the case of a good audiobook, you get the added bonus of having those words read to you by a professional narrator. Driving isn’t the only time to listen to an audiobook. Try listening while cooking, exercising, or doing anything else where your hands and/or eyes are occupied.

Side note: If you find that your mind wanders when you try to listen to an audiobook, don’t give up. There seems to be an adjustment period. If you stick with it, you can train your brain to pay attention. Years ago, I found it challenging the first few times I listened to audiobooks. Now it’s second nature.

3. Wake up ten minutes earlier

This is a trick I actually learned by accident. I’ve never been a morning person, but my day job requires me to get out of bed pretty early. Coffee helps, but most mornings, I would press the snooze button until the last possible moment, irritating my wife to no end and leaving no time for coffee. I decided to try getting up ten minutes early so that I could sit quietly and drink a cup of coffee before going through my morning routine of shaving, showering, etc.

It worked. I found that I really treasured this extra ten minutes (especially if the kids remained asleep). Then I started to wonder—in addition to sipping coffee, maybe I could read a few pages of a book, too. I tried it, and most mornings, I still do it.

You won’t make much progress reading for ten minutes a day, but ten minutes are better than no minutes. Plus, if you love to read, you get the added benefit of starting every day doing something you love!

4. Change things up

This tip is less about finding time, and more about reading more quickly in the time you have. In my experience, if I’m pushing through a long novel, sometimes I get weary and my reading speed slows. A nice remedy for this is to read a few different types of books at the same time, so that you can change things up when you find your enthusiasm flagging. Set aside the thriller and pick up a nonfiction book about history. Or maybe a science fiction book or an urban fantasy. You might find that variety increases your enthusiasm, and therefore, your reading speed.

5. Try the Amazon Echo

I picked up an Amazon Echo Dot device during the last Black Friday sale. If you’re not familiar with the Echo products, the quick takeaway is that they are hands-free, voice-controlled devices that use Amazon’s Alexa AI (sort of similar to Apple’s Siri) to play music, tell you the weather, and do other things. One of the lesser known features that Amazon doesn’t really advertise is that Alexa can read your Kindle books to you. You’re not going to get the professional narration of an audiobook, but on the other hand, you don’t need to buy an audiobook. I haven’t tried this feature yet except for a quick test, so I can’t give a final verdict, but it’s definitely something I’m going to explore. The benefits should be similar to those of audiobooks.

In conclusion, you won’t have enough time to read every book—no one does—but using these five tips, you should be able to eke out enough extra time to read more of the books you want to read.

Do you have any tips or tricks to make more time to read? Share them in the comments section.

And if you’re looking for books to read, you should definitely check out mine, which are available here.

Tips for Writers—Do Readers Like Your Hero?

I’m sure some of you are writers, and even if you are not, I’ve found that many readers enjoy a glimpse of the processes writers use to create their books.

That’s my excuse, anyway, for this series of blog posts I am calling Tips for Writers.

For this inaugural post in the series, I’d like to focus on a writing technique known as “Save the Cat.” The “Save the Cat” concept was coined by Blake Snyder in his 2005 book of the same name. The book focuses on screenwriting, but it is full of helpful information about storytelling in general. “Save the Cat” refers to a method of making the main character of your story likable by, early in the story, showing that character going out of his or her way to do something kind—like, for example, saving a cat stuck in a tree.

People enjoy reading fiction for a variety of reasons, but one of the biggest is the joy of bonding with a character you love. The “Save the Cat” technique is a tool that helps accomplish this. If the idea sounds trite or gimmicky to you, I would urge you to withhold judgment. You don’t have to literally show your character saving a cat. The technique actually provides a lot of room for creativity.

I have spent many hours brainstorming “Save the Cat” moments. A really good one will fit the tone and setting of the book so well that it will not call attention to itself. It will seduce the reader into loving your character without ever drawing attention to itself.

My favorite “Save the Cat” moment from my own work is one of the early scenes in Burnout, the first book in the Jessie Black series. We see Jessie in a convenience store, grabbing a cup of coffee on her way to work. Aside from establishing her love of coffee, the scene shows her compassionate side when she encounters a shoplifter and, despite her job as a prosecutor, tries to help him. Here is an excerpt (no spoilers):

She was filling her travel mug when she saw the kid out of the corner of her eye. He wore jeans and a sweatshirt with the hood up, a few flakes of snow still melting in the black material. He held a magazine in his right hand, but his left hand picked four-packs of Duracell batteries from the rack and slipped them into the wide front pocket of the hoodie. He was good, but not good enough to get away with it here. She shook her head. Let him learn his lesson the hard way. She had a ton of work waiting for her down the street.

But something about the kid—maybe the youthful face shadowed by the hood—made her think of Kristen Dillard. Rationally, she knew this stranger had nothing to do with the fragile, orphaned crime victim recovering at Philadelphia Center for Inclusive Treatment, but sometimes rationality lost out to instinct—especially before any coffee hit her brain. She sighed and stepped beside him. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

He whirled on her with narrowed eyes. “Do what?”

She tilted her travel mug at his sweatshirt pocket. “That.”

He rolled his eyes, turning away. “Yeah, why don’t you mind your own business?”

“I’m an assistant district attorney. This is my business. Not that I prosecute shoplifters anymore, or juveniles. But I did enough of that when I was starting out. And you’d be surprised how many of my cases involved this store.”

He chewed his lip. “What are you talking about?”

She gestured at the security camera bolted to the wall near the ceiling, dusty and enmeshed in cobwebs. “That thing works, believe it or not. And the old man’s been watching you for the last five minutes. He looks like he’s reading, but Alish has eyes in his forehead. Probably already called the police.”

“Bullshit.”

“And he will press charges. He always does. He loves going to court.”

The kid seemed to hesitate, then his left hand began to unload his pocket. He didn’t thank her for the advice, or even say goodbye, before strolling out of the store. The bell jangled and he was gone.

One of the things I love about this scene is that it plays against the stereotype of the “tough as nails prosecutor.” Jessie is tough as nails when she needs to be, but she’s not a one-dimensional character bent on punishing the guilty. She wants to help people.

A word of warning: Once you start studying the concept, you’ll start seeing “Save the Cat” moments in books and movies everywhere. For example, I took my kids to see the Disney movie Moana. Early in the story, the main character sees a baby turtle stranded on the beach, being hunted by birds. She helps the turtle back to the water and its family. The incident is brief and the turtles are never seen again, but the point is made—Moana is a good person. Sitting in the dark theater, I smiled to myself at this blatant example of “saving the turtle.”

Jessie doesn’t save any turtles, but she’s a strong, compassionate prosecutor who fights for the victims in her city. Start the series today by buying the books here.

5 Reasons You Should Keep a Journal

A funny thing happened. I kind of backed into journaling by accident. I’m a compulsive note-taker. I keep pads of paper around me at most times of the day, as well as various note-taking phone apps, and I’m constantly jotting down ideas, reminders, To-Do lists, shopping lists, and random thoughts. The problem is, my desk quickly became inundated with piles of slips of paper. It was an unruly mess.

I thought, maybe I should just get a spiral notebook and make my notes inside that, so all my pieces of paper would at least be attached to each other and in one place. I gave it a try, and not only did it result in a much cleaner desk, but it had an unexpected result as well—the notebook changed the nature of my note-taking. It became more linear and more connected. My notes morphed into a journal.

And I’ve never looked back.

If you aren’t keeping a journal, you’re missing out! Here are five reasons why:

1. Your memories will be more useful.

If you’re like me, you forget things all too easily. That’s why I’ve always been a note-taker. I jot things down so I won’t forget them. But a journal takes that activity to another level. Instead of just reaching for a scrap of paper and scribbling down a reminder, the wider canvas and more contemplative nature of a journal makes it more likely that you’ll take your time and elaborate. Instead of just recording a reminder, a good journal entry also records your thought process behind the reminder. Now, when I look back at something I needed to remind myself about, I also see why it was important enough to write down in the first place. The reasons behind the reminder can sometimes be more helpful than the reminder itself.

2. You will think more.

Another benefit, somewhat related to number 1, is that the act of writing in a journal is itself a thinking exercise. My journal entries are basically conversations with myself. I brainstorm. I reason things out. By putting your thoughts on paper, you will probably find yourself exploring new avenues of thought, becoming more creative, solving problems, and becoming more self-aware.

3. You’re more likely to do something if you write it down.

I don’t have the science or statistics to back this one up, but I believe that if you write something down, rather than just decide in your head to do something, you are more likely to actually do it. For this reason, my journal is full of plans—writing plans, marketing plans, personal plans. Even the plan to start blogging regularly originated in my journal—and here we are.

4. You will see patterns.

We’ve all heard the phrase history repeats itself. It’s true on a global, historical scale, and it’s also true on an individual, personal scale. If you keep a journal consistently for a long enough period, and you review your old entries periodically, you will begin to recognize patterns in your life. You’ll identify mistakes that you can avoid, as well as positive actions that you can do more frequently. These patterns can bring real insights and improve your life.

5. Journaling is fun.

This reason should not be overlooked. Journaling is a way to spend quality time with your closest friend—yourself. It’s a way to relax and relieve stress in a judgement-free environment. And it’s a book. We’re all readers here. We love books! Check out mine, a Star Wars themed journal from Moleskine:

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Pretty sweet, huh?

If you’re not into physical paper, there are numerous apps you can find for your phone, tablet, or computer as well. I use the Evernote iOS app as a second journal, and I love that I have it in my pocket wherever I go. If I want to make a note while driving, I can even use the iPhone’s voice to text feature to speak my thoughts directly into the app. It’s great (although I prefer the tactile experience of putting actual pen to paper when possible).

What are your thoughts on journaling? Have you tried it? Has it worked for you? Or do you disagree with my points and find journaling to be a waste of time?

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Mysteries Versus Thrillers

One of the first questions I ask myself when cooking up a legal thriller is whether the story will be structured as a mystery or a thriller. These terms are often used interchangeably, but for me they have distinct meanings.

In a mystery, the identity of the villain (almost always a murderer) is hidden until the end of the book. As the hero struggles to uncover the killer’s identity, the reader solves the mystery alongside the hero.

By contrast, in a thriller, the reader knows the identity of the bad guy and often sees the actions of the bad guy in chapters presented from the bad guy’s perspective. In a thriller, the reader often knows more than the hero. This structure can lead to an increase in suspense as the reader watches, helpless, as the hero follows false leads, walks into traps, etc.

As a reader and a writer, I enjoy both types of stories. Here’s why.

Thrillers: Seduced by the Dark Side

Villains are fun to read about. I’ve covered this topic on this blog before—you can read my thoughts here. One of the joys of the thriller structure is that the reader (and the writer) gets to spend more time with the bad guys. For a famous example of this, take a look at Thomas Harris’s brilliant novel The Silence of the Lambs. In that book, the hero, Clarice Starling, is trying to identify a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill. She spends much of the novel following clues to uncover his identity, but Harris doesn’t withhold that information from the reader. We know from early in the book that the killer’s name is [Jame], and what’s more, we spend time in his twisted mind, learn his motives, experience his creepy thought process, and see him in action as a abducts and terrorizes his latest victim.

In a less famous example, the villain of my legal thriller Burnout, Woody Butler, is never hidden from the reader. In fact, he’s revealed in the opening chapter. As Jessie and her colleagues struggle throughout the book to understand the forces moving against them, the reader knows exactly who those forces are. We spend time in Woody’s head, understanding his motivations. We watch Woody as he plots, maneuvers, and even kills. This is a type of fiction that I always enjoy as a reader. Often, when reading a book, if I reach a chapter from the bad guy’s perspective, I will eagerly devour it.

Mysteries: Working the Case

That said, there are joys to be derived from the mystery structure that can only be achieved by hiding the identity of the bad guy from the reader. From the classic Sherlock Holmes stories to the latest mysteries hitting the bestseller lists today, these stories have remained immensely popular. As readers, we enjoy riding shotgun with our detective heroes and solving mysteries alongside them. Sure, you lose the fun of watching the villain in action, but you gain the challenge of playing detective—analyzing the clues and actively participating in the mystery.

Of my books, Hardcore and Deadly Evidence are the stories that fit the mystery structure most closely. In both, the heroes and the reader don’t know the identity of the villain until the very end. However, when I outlined Deadly Evidence, that wasn’t the plan. Originally, I intended to reveal the villain early in the book, and present chapters from the villain’s perspective as the villain worked against Jessie. But as a wrote the first draft, I quickly realized that the story would be more compelling as a traditional mystery, so I scrapped the chapters from the villain’s perspective and focused on the good guys solving the mystery. Looking back on the novel now, I believe I made the right call.

Because I am a fan of both types of stories, I will probably continue to write mysteries and thrillers. (As I mentioned above, the next Jessie Black book, coming soon, is of the thriller variety—its villain is revealed to the reader early on.) I love that the legal thriller genre so readily encompasses mysteries and thrillers.

Do you have a preference between mysteries (in which the identity of the killer is withheld from the reader, who solves the crime along with the hero) or thrillers (in which the villain’s identity is revealed to the reader early on, so that you can follow the bad guy as a character in the book)? Please let me know in the comments section below!

2017 – The Year of the Blog?

In 2016, I posted a grand total of two posts to this blog. Two! In a year! That’s pretty pathetic. I write novels. I walk around calling myself a writer. So why does my website have such a dearth of content?

Well, the truth is, blogging is hard—for me, anyway. Writing blog posts is a different skill than writing fiction, and it’s a skill that just doesn’t come as naturally to me. But here’s the thing—I want to blog.

That’s why I’m officially naming 2017 the Year of the Blog—or, at least, the Year Larry A. Winters Tries Really Hard To Blog. Call it an experiment, or a challenge. For 2017, I’m committing to updating this blog on a weekly basis for the entire year. That’s right—for one year, you can count on a new blog post appearing here every Wednesday, for your information and enjoyment. (I’m aware that consistency is critical in the blogosphere. A blog post about a great hamburger place in Philly might be interesting, but if it’s one of only three blog posts appearing on the site that year, it’s not going to be read by many people!)

But, I hear you thinking: Don’t you have books to write, Larry? Didn’t you just say you find blogging difficult. Why bother?

Well, like I said above, I want to blog. I have a few reasons:

Reason One: Stephen King.

Let me explain. When I was young, one of my favorite authors was (and still is) Stephen King. He’s one of the reasons I became a writer—but that’s a story for a different day. Aside from his amazing writing, one of the things that inspired me about King was that many of his books included a note to his “Constant Reader.” These free-form, sometimes lengthy notes addressed directly to the reader were filled with anecdotes from his life (both business and personal). King shared behind-the-scenes stories about his books, his opinions on movies, other writers’ books, and his views on the world. There was a strangely intimate camaraderie shining through the text, as if King considered his readers to be real friends. I was and am a fan of many authors, but King’s notes forged a bond with me (especially back in my teenage years) that no other writer did.

Although I could follow King’s lead and add similar notes inside my books (and I may do that someday), the form seems perfectly suited to blogging. My aspiration is to use this blog to connect to my readers the way Stephen King connected to me. (Bonus: Blogs allow for responses and discussion through the Comments section, so it doesn’t need to be a one-way conversation like the old days.)

Reason Two: Content!

You’ve probably noticed, but I’m a relatively slow novelist. Much as I would like to become a fiction factory and pump out mysteries and thrillers on a monthly basis, my brain doesn’t seem to work that way. There are gaps between my book releases, and, while I’m working to shorten those gaps by challenging myself to produce more rapidly (see this and my other New Year’s Resolutions for 2017 here), this blog will help fill those gaps. Anyone looking for new content from me can find it here a weekly basis. As an added benefit, I will probably promote my blog posts on social media, which means my Facebook updates and Twitter tweets will also increase. If that leads to more interaction with readers on those platforms as well, all the better!

I’m aware that a blog post or social media update is not a book and doesn’t satisfy the same craving for new stories and characters. But it is a chance to put my voice to virtual paper more frequently and hopefully inform and entertain you in the process. I’m hoping you will check in with me now and then—and even better, create some great conversations in the Comments section below.

Reason Three: Blogging on a weekly basis will be a challenge for me—a big challenge.

Challenge is good. I believe that pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone is one of the best ways to grow and improve. If the Year of the Blog goes well, I should be a certified blogging whiz by December, able to whip up a great post without breaking a sweat. (And, well, if it doesn’t turn out that way, I can always stop the experiment after the end of the year.)

There’s one final reason: It’s going to be a lot of fun. (I hope!)

One of my biggest challenges will be coming up with a new topic to blog about each week. It would be great if you could help me. (This blog is for you, after all.) Please tell me what you would enjoy reading about, and I’ll do my best to come through for you.

Please leave a comment below with your suggestions for future posts on this blog! Thanks, and see you next Wednesday!

A Writer’s New Year’s Resolutions 2017

It’s 2017. A new year. And you know what that means…. It’s time to make some New Year’s Resolutions!

The thing about me and New Year’s Resolutions, though? I tend to forget about them a few days after I make them.

That’s why this year, I’m posting my resolutions on this blog for all to see. At the end of the year, I’ll revisit the list. When I do, it will either be a celebration in which I congratulate myself on following through on all my promises, or a shamefaced apology in which I publicly kick myself for letting things slip. But it’s a new year and I’m feeling positive, so I’m betting on the celebration!

Here are my resolutions for 2017:

1. Write more books

This is the big one. If I accomplish nothing else on this list, I want to accomplish this one. My most recent book, Deadly Evidence, was published back in April 2016. I’m now preparing my next book for publication, and it’s already 2017. That’s a long time between books. I know you want the books to come out more frequently, and I want the same thing.

Can I produce more books, more quickly, at the same quality? I believe I can. So that’s my first and biggest resolution—publish more books, at least three in 2017.

2. Blog regularly

As you may have noticed, this blog doesn’t see a lot of updates. I think that’s a missed opportunity. A blog is a great tool for connecting with readers. I want to keep you informed about what I’m doing, and hopefully entertain and inform you. I think it would be great to provide a website that you enjoy visiting. Ideally on a regular basis—at least weekly.

I have a plan for this one, which I will reveal to you next week!

3. Get more active on social media

Facebook and Twitter. I have accounts on both of these social media networks, but I wouldn’t blame you for not noticing. During 2016, a Facebook update from me was about as common as a blue moon. Like the blog, social media is potentially a great tool for connecting with readers, and it’s a tool I haven’t really been using. That changes in 2017. This doesn’t mean I’m going to start creating my own memes and GIFs. (Although maybe I will. I enjoy a funny meme as much as the next guy.) Bottom line: I will get in the habit of posting on Facebook and Twitter.

Side Note: I fully intend to follow through on Resolutions 2 and 3. That said, the absolute best way to stay in touch with me is to join my free email newsletter. Newsletter readers are the first to hear about new releases and special offers, and they also receive exclusive material such as behind-the-scenes information about my books. I’ve got some secret stuff in the works, too, that you won’t want to miss out on. The newsletter is free, I won’t share your information with anyone, and you can unsubscribe at any time. If you’re already a subscriber, thank you!

If you’re not already on the list, please sign up here.

Okay, back to business. We’re up to Resolution number 4….

4. Break into audio

I love listening to audio books. I’ve heard that audio books are becoming increasingly popular. I am aware that, through Amazon’s company ACX, audiobooks are easier than ever to produce. Yet, none of my books exist in audio format. It’s time to rectify that. In 2017, I will get at least one audio book to market.

5. Exercise

Hey, it’s a list of New Year’s resolutions. This one’s mandatory, right? In all seriousness, though, I’m a writer and a corporate lawyer, and both jobs are very sedentary. I want to live a long time, see my kids grow up, and put out lots more books. That means I need to be healthy. And that means exercise. For 2017, I’ll start small: Walk for fifteen minutes every day.

Well, that’s my list of New Year’s Resolutions for 2017. Let me end this blog post by wishing everyone a happy New Year. I am grateful for every person who has read my work—I really appreciate it, and I consider you my friends. Let’s all have a 2017 filled with great times, great people, and great books!

Do you have any New Year’s Resolutions? Share them in the comments section below!

Why Do You Read Legal Thrillers?

I wrote a guest blog about why we love legal thrillers, and I thought you might enjoy reading it. The blog is on the website of Manning Wolfe, a talented legal thriller writer. I hope you will check out the blog as well as Manning’s work.

Here’s a preview of my blog post:

Why Do You Read Legal Thrillers?

by Larry A. Winters

Legal thrillers are awesome. And I’m not just saying that because I write them. There’s a reason we don’t see many retail thrillers or agricultural thrillers (or writer thrillers, for that matter), while books about lawyers and the legal profession continue to top bestseller lists year after year. As someone with a vested interest in the subject, I’ve given a lot of thought about why this is the case. I don’t have a definitive answer, but I believe two aspects of the genre are particularly important to its success.

Click here to read the rest!

Where I Get My Story Ideas—Informant

Look, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. Die Hard in a courthouse. That was the original idea for Informant.

Well, okay, there’s a little more to it than that. I was also thinking a lot about witnesses, and the relative importance they play in criminal trials despite research showing their lack of reliability. I explored this issue in the first Jessie Black Legal Thriller, Burnout, but I wasn’t quite done with it. What about that least-reliable of all witnesses, the jailhouse snitch? A convicted criminal who becomes, in effect, an unofficial agent of the state, helping to prosecute other accused criminals through the introduction of often dubious “confessions?” I wondered in what circumstances a prosecutor as moral and idealistic as Jessie Black might resort to introducing the testimony of a jailhouse snitch? How would she feel about it? What would her interactions with him or her be like? Scenes started to pop into my mind—always a sign that I’m on the right track—and, excited by the possibilities, I started researching this morally murky practice.

As I was reading about jailhouse snitches—often referred to as informants (see what I did there?)—it occurred to me that they are really a species of con artist. They pose as a cell mate’s friend, as a sympathetic ear, and extract precious testimony (or enough details to lend believability to their own lies) so they can profit from the mark’s naiveté. I thought, what if my informant was a convicted con artist? With those skills, he’d be one of the most effective jailhouse snitches ever, and he’d also be a tricky, manipulative, dangerous character for Jessie to contend with.

That’s how Reggie Tuck (one of my favorite characters) first formed in my head. I added a sense of humor, a peculiar moral code, a little bit of bravery, and I had a character to anchor the second Jessie Black novel.

It didn’t end there, of course. I still had a major loose thread I needed to pick up from the end of Burnout—Jessie’s relationship with Homicide Detective Mark Leary. I’d laid the groundwork for their relationship in Burnout, and I wanted him to return and play an even larger role in this book. But I also wanted Jessie to face the danger inside the courthouse without the help of a second hero. To accomplish that, I needed to keep Leary outside the building. That presented a question, though. What the heck was he going to do for all those pages?

The answer seems obvious now—be a detective. While Jessie fights for her life (and Reggie’s) inside the courthouse, Leary’s mission on the outside is to figure out what’s happening, why it’s happening, who’s behind it, and how to stop them. (I won’t spoil the answers to any of those questions here. You’ll have to read the book!)

I think the end result is a tight, fast-moving thriller. It may not be as thought-provoking as Burnout, which focused more on courtroom tactics and legal maneuvering, but it does explore some interesting legal concepts, such as whether reliance on questionable testimony by prosecutors is problematic. It moves the Jessie / Leary subplot forward in (hopefully) unexpected ways, and it brings some fun new characters into the mix.

Not a bad result for an idea that started as Die Hard in a courthouse.

 

Informant is available for Kindle| Kobo | iBooks | Nook | Paperback