Christina Hoag's Blog, page 8

Setting my book in Los Angeles

I'm on Jennifer Wilson's blog today discussing Los Angeles, the setting for my literary noir thriller Skin of Tattoos. It's not the L.A. the world sees. Read on:
Los Angeles has a reputation the world over for glamour, dreams of stardom and fame and fortune, thanks to its status as the global capital of the film and television industries. The entertainment business carries an outsize influence around the planet since its products are seen just about everywhere. Movies and TV are undoubtedly America’s most powerful export.
Many of them are filmed here in L.A., even if they’re supposed to be set elsewhere. You often encounter streets closed for use as a movie set on any given day, or sometimes spot a star at shopping malls and supermarkets around town, or run into a crowd of paparazzi hanging outside a trendy club or restaurant waiting for a celebrity to come out. It’s fun to go on studio tours: Warner Brothers, Paramount and Sony all offer behind-the-scenes glimpses of how the world of make-believe is pulled off.
L.A. is also renowned for its azure skies, constant sunshine and beaches. In the summer we can go months without rain, which makes for a great outdoor lifestyle. The downside is that vegetation dries out, creating the risk of brush fire, and water is a precious commodity. One of my favourite beaches is Venice Beach, which has a free-wheeling, Bohemian atmosphere that makes it great for people-watching. Swimming is another thing. Contrary to what you might expect because of the climate, the Pacific Ocean this far north never really warms up. It’s an invigorating dip.
But L.A. is not all glitz and glam. It also holds a couple titles of more dubious distinction. It’s the gang capital of the United States, with at least 450 gangs and 45,000 gang members, according to police estimates. It also possesses the biggest homeless population in the country, with more than 50,000 people living on the streets, largely because the warm, dry climate makes sleeping rough amenable.
This urban underbelly is the Los Angeles where I set my gangland thriller, Skin of Tattoos, because I’m fascinated by how this world functions as a subculture within our larger society. It has its own set of rules and hierarchies, its own moral code and sense of justice. It is a world driven by the demand for respect, and revenge when respect is not given. While these gritty south and east side neighbourhoods are situated only a few miles away from the white, wealthy Westside and storied places such as Beverly Hills, Malibu and Bel-Air, they exist as a parallel universe living in the shadow of the palm-tree postcard L.A. that the world at large sees.
The characters in Skin of Tattoos are Central American immigrants who live in the impoverished, densely packed Central L.A. area near MacArthur Park. This reflects another reality of Los Angeles: It is an immigrant city with large populations from Mexico and Central America, as well as from countries around the globe from Ethiopia to England. Ethnic enclaves, such Little Persia, Little Tokyo and Little Armenia, make for some great, authentic dining.
I’ve only skimmed the surface of the city I’ve made my home. I find it a terrific place to be writer in. I just open my door to find inspiration.
https://jennifercwilsonwriter.wordpre...

Girl on the Brink: Realistic, must read!

New 4-star review in from Author/blogger Jackie Amsden! Another reader who could relate to the realistic portrayal of not-so-nice guys.
Jackie writes: "It’s books like these that make me realize how lucky Bella was that Edward didn’t turn out to be a creep underneath all that undead skin (Seriously. Just imagine the stalking potential from a guy that can watch you through your bedroom window–even if it happens to be on the top of 50-storey tower).

The main character from Christina Hoag‘s YA Suspense/Thriller, Girl on the Brink, is not so fortunate.
Meet Chloe, a level-headed 17 year-old that appears to embarking upon the summer of her dreams when she lands an internship at the local paper. Sure, things aren’t exactly peachey at home with her mom getting drunk and stoned all the time to avoid dealing with the loss of her husband. But whatevs, this girl boss has no problem cleaning up a few barf stains on the living from couch between news assignments. Then he arrives.
Kieran is handsome and older and funny and appears to absolutely adore Chloe. However, as their summer romance progresses, a darker, bitterness begins to poke through Prince Charming’s golden exterior. When Kieran’s love suddenly turns destructive Chloe must tap into her inner Diane Sawyer to survive.

I really liked how realistic this book felt. The ugly side of Kieren’s personality is revealed in tiny morsels alongside the good that made him feel very alive to me. In fact, I had a few boyfriend flashbacks while reading the novel that made him feel a little too real at times.
But by far, my fave fave part of the book was how Chloe was able to take control of the situation and kick-some ass, without having to kick any real ass in the process.
All told, this book is a must-read for all girl bosses in-training–at least the ones that plan on dating before they turn 40 (no judgement).

The importance of knowing your Genre

http://deaddarlings.com/importance-ge...

How I wrote 1st two pages of Skin of Tattoos!

Today on author B.K. Stevens' blog I parse the opening to Skin of Tattoos Read how I did what I did. Here's the opening, for the rest click the link!
The First Two Pages of Skin of Tattoos
Christina Hoag

The opening of a book has to accomplish many objectives, the chief one being to hook the reader so she reads on, and that makes it tough to write. I end up writing my openings a zillion times and tweaking words endlessly. In Skin of Tattoos, a literary thriller, set in the gang underworld of Los Angeles, I decided I had to introduce the reader to my protagonist Mags’s world first because it’s a subculture most are not going to be familiar with. I also am partial to openings that seem like, well, openings. I like to start with a paragraph that has a little majesty to it because it heralds the start of a grand adventure I will take you on and that deserves a tiny bit of pomp. From there on, I ease the reader into this world and the story of Mags.
http://www.bkstevensmysteries.com/201...

How I got inside a Venezuelan jail!

Author Elena Hartwell interviews me on her blog today. I really appreciated Elena's interview because she took the time to look at my website and tailor her questions, instead of using a standard format. Makes for a far more interesting interview! Read on!
What Does a Venezuelan Jail, Gang Members, and a Brand New Novel Have in Common? Christina Hoag!

First up, I have the pleasure of introducing an amazing writer and journalist. Christina is the author of not only her first novel, Skin of Tattoos, but also the non-fiction book Peace in the Hood: Working with Gang Members to End the Violence, and the YA novel Girl On The Brink. For more information, visit Christina at www.christinahoag.com
You have an amazing bio - threatened by a death row inmate, interviewing gang members and thieves, not to mention speaking fluent Spanish and French and traveling the world. I'd love to hear more about any of those amazing events - tell us one story about your colorful past.

I don’t normally talk about the things I’ve done because I don’t want to be seen as bragging, nor can people really relate to them. But since you asked! Here’s one.

I was doing a story on Venezuela’s prison conditions for a human rights magazine, particularly focusing on an infamous jail in Caracas called El Reten de Catia. I needed to get inside to talk to inmates and see the conditions for myself. I was denied entry by the Ministry of the Interior because they could not guarantee my safety inside the jail. (That gives you an idea of how out-of-control it was.) I don’t recall how, but I found a Filipina nun who went in every week to minister to inmates. She said she would take me in, but I would have to adopt the cover that I was a nun. Fortunately, she did not wear a habit, just jeans and T-shirt. I signed on.

You could smell the jail from a block away. The air stunk of raw sewage. We queued up with several hundred other women, including a fair number of prostitutes, to go through a security check, which involved lying on a table and unzipping your pants so female guard could pat down your pelvic area. I was extremely lucky. Just the past week, they had stopped doing vaginal searches!

Once we were inside the jail, we were in territory ruled by inmates. No guards were in sight. The place was horrific. The cafeteria/dining area was coated in a thick layer of black grease. There was no running water in cellblocks. Inmates had to fill buckets from communal faucets to take them to their cells, which were jampacked. Inmates slept in hallways on mattresses on the floor. They were also heavily armed with shanks (homemade weapons). One showed me a sharpened bed leg that he kept in the back of his pants. Since metal bed frames were the source of many weapons, the beds were supported on upturned buckets or on the floor. There was no visiting area. Visitors roamed free in the cellblocks.
Many inmates were desperate to talk to the “hermanas” (sisters) to have some outside contact. Some were not so friendly. I asked a lot of questions, storing answers in my head since I couldn’t take notes. One prisoner got nasty and asked if I was a journalist. “We don’t like journalists,” he said. (I’m not sure why, maybe he didn’t want his drug trade exposed or something.) I had to rapidly head off his suspicions and say I was simply interested in prison conditions. We visited the so-called infirmary, a cement courtyard with sick inmates lying on the ground, and asked a prisoner with HIV what kind of care he was getting—a glass of milk every day, that was his medical care.

I was certainly glad to get out of the place. It was truly a hellhole that degraded human beings. But I got my story.

Fortunately, a few years later, the jail got demolished as a symbol that the government was going to improve conditions throughout the prison system. They may have improved somewhat, but I doubt they’re adequate.



In addition to being a journalist, you've written a non-fiction book, Peace in the Hood: Working with Gang Members to End the Violence. How did that come about?
As a reporter! I wrote a feature for the AP about a former Black Panther in South Los Angeles, Aquil Basheer, who ran a program to train former gang members as community peacekeepers, gang interventionists is the formal term. He has become a sought after expert in countering community violence. (He’s spoken at the World Health Organization in Geneva, had two documentaries produced on his work, conducts trainings around the country and abroad.) I thought it was a fascinating concept, as well as a story of redemption of people who had wrought great harm in their communities and wanted to make amends.
Shortly thereafter, we started collaborating on a book, which ultimately took four years to write and sell, about Aquil’s model for accomplishing this conversion. I made it as narrative as possible, drawing on Aquil’s wealth of anecdotes from his four decades on the streets doing this work plus many of his team members’ stories, as well as a sort of how-to manual, which can serve anyone who works in inner-cities, where communities function with dynamics very different to other settings. The book is being used as a text in various courses at UCLA, USC and The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. It’s a project that I found super interesting and, hopefully, contributes to the world being a better place.
You have a very exciting life, what drew you to the time consuming, working all alone in a room to write a novel, and then go through the agony of finding a publisher? What made you want to be a novelist?
The short answer: a vivid imagination combined with some sort of masochistic tendency! I won a prize for “writing interesting stories” when I was six years old so I guess writing was always there. It came out as soon as I literally learned how to put pen to paper. I was a voracious reader as a kid so that also made me want to write books when I grew up. When I discovered journalism in high school, I knew that’s what I wanted to do as a career because I could write. I wanted to be a foreign correspondent. Although I had written short fiction on and off my whole life, I never seriously pursued it as I was very involved in journalism, which I loved. Then one day, I suddenly decided I had to get serious about my childhood dream of writing a novel. I don’t really know how that came about. It was just something I had to do. That was about 2004-2005. I was a reporter at the Miami Herald at the time. I’ve been steadily working on my fiction ever since.
Writing a novel is damn hard work. I just “love” these people who read a book and say “I could write that!” Well, go ahead and try! I’ve written my whole life and novels are the hardest thing to pull off, although I probably hold myself to higher standards than some writers. However, the greater challenge also means the greater payoff in satisfaction. Ultimately, writing fiction is the only thing that completely absorbs me. I guess that’s why I am driven to do it.

You are a member of the International Thriller Writers Debut Author Program, what other events and PR do you have planned for your first year as a novelist?
This year and next I’m planning to get to as many writers’ conferences as I can with the aim of networking with other authors, readers and publishing industry types and simply getting more name exposure. I’m going to Thrillerfest in July (very excited to be heading to New York after an absence of eight years!), Malice Domestic in April, California Crime Writers in June in Los Angeles, and probably a couple more as funds allow! I’ve actually found that fellow authors are very supportive of each other and are an incredible resource. A writer’s best friend is other writers. (Elena here - so excited to spend time with you at ThrillerFest and Malice Domestic!)

What do you like to do when you aren't writing or researching a story?

I don’t do much straight journalism any more as I’ve moved into corporate communication writing. I write a lot of speeches for executives at household-name companies, press releases, blog posts etc. I also edit dissertations and do big research reports for Congressional Quarterly Researcher. It’s a schedule that allows me the time for my passion writing —my novels. I make an effort to get off my rump and exercise every day. I read a lot, of course, love theatre and movies, going to art galleries. Second to writing, however, my other passion is travel so I’m usually planning a trip somewhere. I find travel super stimulating and nourishing to the brain and the soul.

What are you working on now?
I’ve actually been in a bit of a creative funk of late, waffling about which of various unfinished manuscripts to pursue. However, with the climate of growing political awareness in this country, my gut is telling me that it’s the right time to resurrect an old manuscript tentatively called “The Revolutionary.” It’s sort of a political thriller set in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2002 around the coup attempt of then-President Hugo Chavez, which I covered as a reporter. The protagonist is an expat who gets involved in the political scene with disastrous consequences.
Final Words of Wisdom:

Believe. Believe you can do it, that you have something to say. Believe in yourself, not in agents, editors, your next door neighbor. Yourself. Believe in your gut instinct, your intuition, and run with it.

Dare. Dare to be different, to stand out, to be unique, to be yourself, to write whatever the hell you want to.

(Elena here again. Thank you, Christina, for spending time with me on my blog - I'm so excited to introduce you to readers!)

New 5-star review for Skin of Tattoos!

Mystery author L.C. Hayden gives it five stars! Read on for her thoughts:
"Mags Argueta is home from a prison sentence for something he didn’t do. A happy time, right? Not for Mags. His family doesn’t expect much from him, problems at home compound, nobody wants to hire a convict with tattoos all over him that show gang ties, and worse, he finds that he can’t escape those gang ties. To top it all, his relationships are complicated, especially when he continues to pursue his best friend’s sister, Paloma, a violation of gang code. What follows is a road Mags must travel—a road paved with lies, murder, and revenge.
This well-crafted, realistic novel with its twists and turns will leave you breathless. All you need to do is read the first chapter, and you’ll be hooked. Hoag provides such a perfect glimpse into the lives of the Los Angeles Salvador gang members that you will care what happens to these well-developed characters.
A word of warning, though. This novel contains lots of “bad” language but because of the nature of the story, it only adds realism to the gang’s world.
The superb writing and the escalating tension between gang members will hold you until the very last page. Based on this book, will I be reading her other works? You “betcha!” I highly recommend this book."

Enjoyed this interview with author/blogger PJ Lazos!

Really enjoyed this interview with P.J. Lazos on her blog today Green Life Blue Water! Thanks Pam! Read on:
Think Christina sounds mysterious and exciting? Think Skin of Tattoos sounds like the must-read thriller for 2017? What until you read this!
What’s your writing background (schooling), backdrop (where you work at writing), and backstory (what you will tell the world when you become super famous)?
I won a prize for “writing interesting stories” when I was six years old so I think writing was something I was born with. I always wanted to write books. I discovered journalism in high school – a career that would pay me to write! I wrote short stories on and off until I really focused on my childhood goal of writing novels about a dozen years ago. I wrote an outline for Skin of Tattoos in 2006, started writing it in 2008, finished it in 2013.
What are your favorite books?
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck; Beloved by Toni Morrison; The Goat’s Party by Mario Vargas Llosa; Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; Queen of the South by Arturo Perez Reverte; Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle by Ingrid Betancourt; Robbery Under Arms by Rolf Boldrewood: A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd; For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, Vanity Fair by WillliamThackeray.
Why mysteries?
I love delving into the seamy side of life and what drives people in that world which is very different than mine! My characters do things that I never would so maybe that’s why I like writing them. I’m fascinated with the psychology behind the criminal mind and how people get to be that way, the risks they take. Other than that, crime makes great drama and conflict, the basis of any novel.
Do you see the need for all these sub-genres or do you think we’ve become over-specialized, as in, a story isn’t just a story any longer, but a specific type of story?
Genre can really help sell a book because readers know what they’re getting. Publishers love assigning genre. On the flip side, genre can also box in a book to those preconceptions. Thus I don’t think reliance on genre is great for authors who need free rein to write from their imaginations. I see it as a necessary evil of the publishing industry. Sigh.
Why writing and not ceramics, or gourmet cooking, or anything else really? If not writing, then what?
I have to be intellectually engaged. If an activity doesn’t engage my mind, I get bored easily. Secondly, I love to use my imagination, hence I love writing fiction. It completely absorbs me.
From where do your ideas come?
Really anywhere. Some have come from my own experience, some from people I’ve interviewed and things I’ve written about as a journalist, things I read about or that people just tell me about their own lives. It kind of all gets poured into a funnel in my brain and mashed up.
What’s your routine? Do you work out while writing, take breaks, or simply gut it out?
I’m a morning writer. I get up early, have my coffee, check the news and then sit down and write until I feel my brain turning squishy, usually early afternoon. Then I get some exercise and try to do some marketing and social media work. It’s amazing how much time that stuff consumes!
What is your favorite place to walk?
Anywhere in nature that doesn’t have hills! I really love wild, remote places, probably because I live in the city.
Do you think writing is a form of therapy and, if so, has it helped you work through anything in particular?
Definitely. My YA thriller Girl on the Brink was inspired by a bad relationship I had. I wrote this novel so teen girls could learn the red flags of an abusive relationship, particularly the insidious signs of emotional manipulation. Because it was so personal, writing this book was hard and it took a long time to get it right, but I feel so much better that sharing my experience will help others.
Do you work outside of writing, i.e., do you have day job?
My day job is writing! I do corporate communications/public relations writing: speeches, press releases, blog posts, that sort of thing. I also edit dissertations and do some journalism in the form of big reports for Congressional Quarterly Researcher. I work freelance so I can juggle my schedule to fit my novel writing into my schedule.
If you could quit your job and just write, would you, or do you pull inspiration from the other aspects of your life and find it necessary to keep the creative spark going?
Not really. I have set goals and ideas I pursue. Self-discipline, though, is the key to keeping going.
Pantser or perfectionist who meticulously plots out their stories?
A bit of both. I like to know where I’m going so I have a loose outline. I’ve found knowing your ending from the getgo really helps to avoid writing yourself into corners, or into a wall. That said, I change stuff as I go all the time. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t. Sometimes I do detailed mini-outlines covering just the next chapter or two. It also helps to get you started when you sit down at the computer every day so you avoid wasting time wondering what comes next.
Your perfect day – go.
Basically it’s what I have now, but maybe I’d have an assistant to handle all the social media/marketing stuff and emails, as well as those big royalty checks coming in!
Favorite book, author, individual?
Probably my favorite all time author is Graham Greene. Many of his books are about the concept of being a foreigner, an outsider/observer, which I relate to on a personal level since I’ve lived in many countries both as a child and as an adult. That influence comes through in Skin of Tattoos, where the protagonist Mags was born in El Salvador but left with his family fleeing the civil war when he was a child so he doesn’t really feel Salvadoran, doesn’t remember anything about the place, yet that is his identity. He’s an outsider to El Salvador, yet as an immigrant an outsider to mainstream American society, as well. He finds his home in a gang with others from similar backgrounds.
What has been your greatest writing lesson? How about life lesson?
Writing lesson: Persistence. Just keep at it no matter what anyone tells you, no matter how many rejections you get. The more you write, the better at it you’ll get, and you will succeed.
Life lesson: Believing in yourself is the greatest gift you can give yourself. If you believe you can accomplish something, you will.
If you could be a character in any novel, what character would you be?
James Bond would definitely be fun!
Favorite childhood memory?
Tough one, but probably my mother buying me a book — a Secret Seven mystery by Enid Blyton — on a shopping trip. I had finished it by the time we pulled into the driveway, and I remember feeling so sad I no longer had anything new to read!
And the final question, do you think writing can save the world and if so, why?
Yes. The foremost purpose of writing is the communication of ideas and messages, and ideas are the seed for saving, or alternatively destroying, pretty much anything.
Want more? How about an excerpt from Skin of Tattoos? Read on at:
https://greenlifebluewater.wordpress....

Great review in for Skin of Tattoos

Blogger Michelle Draghalin gives my gangland thriller a 4.5 star rating on her blog, as well as relates her own experience with a gang member trying to escape the life.
"My opinion and rate of 4.5
I like this story and I didn’t expect too. A few years ago a young man moved into our neighborhood who was trying to leave his gang life behind him. His body was covered with tattoos. He and my husband would talk occasionally about life in general. One day he walked by and said he was moving, but we should know a local gang was trying to imitate our son. We ended up keeping our son home a few days and our friend and my husband got involved and the gang left my son alone. However, our friend had to move, he had little choice. Once you are in a gang you don’t get out, alive . I felt sorry for Cyco, it’s a tough world that he lives in and from my peripheral view of his world and brief involvement I feel for him. It’s not an easy situation no matter from what aspect you look at his world.

This book is good and I think that if you want a glimpse into this hard life, you can check out Skin of Tattoos. Nevertheless, I think you will find the book well paced and the characters well-developed and interesting. Check out the book!"
https://michelledragalin50.wordpress....

Talking about narrative viewpoint on Blog Radio

A great discussion about narrative viewpoint on an author panel, which included myself, on Fran Lewis' Blog Talk Radio show about books and writing. Listen or read the transcript here: Thanks Fran! We'll be continuing the discussion on Jan 30.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fran-lew...

Talking about Skin of Tattoos!

http://jamesetmoi.blogspot.co.uk/Welcome Christina, and I can see that you are a very busy lady, so tell me, what is your current release?
CH   It’s called “Skin of Tattoos,” a noir thriller set in the gangland underbelly of Los Angeles.  It’s a crime novel that takes the reader inside the criminal world, in the manner of “The Queen of the South” by Arturo Perez Reverte or “The Cartel” by Don Winslow, or even Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather.”  Here’s the official blurb:

Los Angeles homeboy Magdaleno is paroled from prison after serving time on a gun possession frameup by a rival, Rico, who takes over as gang shot-caller in Mags’s absence.  Mags promises himself and his Salvadoran immigrant family a fresh start, but he can’t find either the decent job or the respect he craves from his parents and his firefighter brother, who look at him as a disappointment.  Moreover, Rico, under pressure to earn money to free the Cyco Lokos’ jailed top leader and eager to exert his authority over his rival-turned-underling, isn’t about to let Mags get out of his reach.  Ultimately, Mags’s desire for revenge and respect pushes him to make a decision that ensnares him in a world seeded with deceit and betrayal, where the only escape from rules that carry a heavy price for transgression is sacrifice of everything – and everyone - he loves.


AW   What first got you into writing and why?
CH   I won a prize for “writing interesting stories” when I was six years old so I guess writing was always there.  It came out as soon as I literally learned how to put pen to paper.  I discovered journalism in high school so I knew that’s what I wanted to do as a career.  I’ve always been a voracious reader so that made me want to write books when I grew up.


AW  That's my kind of research, Christina!
AW  You write thriller novels.  Is it all imagination or do you also undertake research?
CH   I think there is some level of research in any genre of novel that mixes in with the imaginative stuff.  Often, research material is the fodder for the imagination, the seed, if you will.  Research is actually one of my favourite parts of the process and having the internet makes it so easy to look things up as you go along.  Reportage was the inspiration, for example, for "Skin of Tattoos."  I covered a lot of gang issues as a journalist, interviewing gang members and people who worked in that milieu, and ended up writing a nonfiction book about gang intervention, "Peace in the Hood: Working with Gang Members to End the Violence," as well as the novel.

AW  And what about other types of writing?  Have you ever dabbled with short stories, for instance, or other genres?
CH   I’ve written a bit of everything: numerous short stories, some poetry, creative nonfiction, two screenplays.  My career has been in journalism so I’ve written plenty of newspaper and magazine articles over the years.  I currently do a lot of corporate communications writing: speeches, press releases, blog posts, executive bios and such, which is a nice change of pace from fiction.  But I love writing novels, above all, presumably because that’s what I love to read. 

AW  Famous authors, such as Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas, had a special space for writing.  Do you have a writing ‘shed’ of your own?
CH   Alas, my garret is currently just a desk in my bedroom, located at the rear of my condo.  I write there because it’s quieter.  My goal is to one day have an official garret!

AW  Finally, if you had a whole afternoon to yourself and could choose to spend it with any one individual, living or dead or a character from a book, who would it be, and what would you want to discuss?
CH   I think it would be William Shakespeare.  I’m a Shakespeare nut.  Last summer I saw eight of his plays!  I find it astounding how many of our expressions in English come from his works.  I’d love to ask him about his creative process, his philosophy of life and human nature, and try to figure out the source of his marvelous, timeless wisdom, plus if he’s surprised how his works have endured for 400 years.
AW   And, as one Shakespeare nut to another, I would so like to be a fly on the wall for that conversation!  Please do let me know when you have that afternoon arranged, and thank you for being here today.
http://jamesetmoi.blogspot.co.uk/