Julia Buckley's Blog, page 14

Suspense Writer Stephen Brayton Explores the Publishing Paradox

This guest blog was written by Stephen L. Brayton. Check out his new book, Beta, at www.stephenbrayton.com.



More Than Pretty Wrappings



Opening a new book is like unwrapping a present on Christmas morning. You see a pretty dust cover over the formed cardboard like shell and you wonder what's inside. Will it be a story to excite you or make you laugh? Will the hero be fearless and the bad guys extra evil?



Many times, the book ends up being the annual Father's Day tie. Nothing special, same unexciting characters, standard plot with a few new twists. Once in awhile, however, you do get something shiny and fresh and worth buying.



As writers, we're faced with a dilemma--one I think is confusing and somewhat unfair. We're asked by publishers or agents to create something new, to have a fresh voice, because as we all know, there's nothing new under the sun. The same plots have been rehashed and rebuilt and remodeled every year, but we're expected to slap a different coat of paint over them, mix up the action a bit, conjure up new surprises.



Then after months or years of blood, sweat, and tears, those same publishers and agents ask us, "So next to whose books would yours sit on the store shelf?" or "To which authors is your book similar?"



What? We've spent countless hours trying to come up with something outside the box and you ask us who we write like? I write mysteries and horror, but I'm not supposed to write in the same vein as Robert B. Parker or H.P. Lovecraft, yet some person to whom I pitching my story at a conference asks me which authors' novels mine might be next to in the store? Can you say, "Oxymoron?"



So, let's tackle one thing at a time. How do we write in a different voice than everybody else? It can start with plot, but there, you might be limited. Only so many of them to go around. You can combine genres if you think you can make it 'believable.' Zombie romance in space with a few cowboys thrown in for added flavor.



Setting: New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Chicago have seen more than their fair share of stories. Try something in Alaska or rural Montana. Or strike out across the ocean to Galapagos Island or Guam. Is your alien planet a desert Vulcan or the mega-metropolis Coruscant?



Character: Here is where you have a plethora of options. Everybody knows the hard-boiled detective, but does he limp, have one eye, stands only three feet tall, was once a nuclear scientist? What new spin can you make on the leader of the religious cult? Could he be Australian or Nigerian? What personal problems can your protagonists and antagonists have? A lisp? The product of a brother/sister relationship? Dealing with the loss of a dog?



Of course, in certain genres, there are standards you have to meet, and some, like romance, you do not have much room for radical creativity. Romance publishers and readers want the same limited buffet every time. That's okay.



In Beta, I tried to be different with my heroine, Mallory Petersen. Yes, she's tall, blonde, and beautiful. She's also a taekwondo instructor with years of training under her black belt. She's a Sam Spade fan right down to the Bogey trench coat and hat. Many of her cases are fraught with goofiness.



I also placed her in Des Moines, Iowa, because I'm familiar with the area and it's very rare to see a story set there.



Plot: She's takes on the serious case of finding a kidnapped eight-year-old taken by child pornographers.



The second question, of how your writing is similar to other authors, can be tricky, because you shouldn't sound like others; you should sound like yourself. There are aspects, however, you can pinpoint as being influenced by others. Is the humor akin to Evanovitch? Do you have a serial killer a la John Lutz? Did you attend the course on short chapters instructed by James Patterson?



If you've done enough reading–and as writers you should be reading–you are familiar with authors you enjoy and probably are somewhat influenced by them when writing your own stories. Certainly you can learn how to improve your writing.



So, how is Beta similar to others? Who do I sound like? Well…I choose to let you decide. I just hope you enjoy the book and you won't think of it as a Father's Day tie.

Art's Preference and Mine

"I'd rather be a forest than a street;
Yes I would! If I could, I surely would.
I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet--
Yes I would! if I only could, I surely would."

--Simon and Garfunkel, "El Condor Pasa"

Fun Recent Reads

My three latest reads were all terrific in their own ways. DEATH AND THE PENGUIN, a suspense novel set in Kiev, reads sometimes like a mystery and sometimes like existential poetry, but its premise and characters are so unique and fresh that the story stayed with me long after I put away my Kindle.







THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS is not one of John Connolly's famed mystery novels, but an examination of myth, folklore and fairy tales in a WWII England setting. The first page made me cry, but the story never went where I expected it to go, and I became lost in the labrynth of his tale as surely as Hansel and Gretyl were lost in the dark, endless forest.










I chose to read A RELIABLE WIFE on a long busride, and it was the perfect way to pass the time--the conflict is established in the first two chapters, but surprises continue along the way, and I really could not put this down.

In Memoriam

"In love longing
I listen to the monk's bell.
I will never forget you
even for an interval
Short as those between the bell notes."

~ Izumi Shikibu

A Belated Anniversary Wish

I began posting in the summer of 2006, and now here I am, more than 1000 posts and 200 interviews later!

Please stop by and share the virtual champagne.

I am in good company, as Sisters in Crime is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year.

Here's to happy milestones.

The Cool Winds Approach

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

--George Eliot

Yes, autumn is on the way, and welcome to it. The soul-crushing heat of last week has me ready to carve pumpkins and hike through the fall foliage. Thank you, God, for the cooler weather and the lovely fall which is surely on the way!

Mother Issues

I'm exploring the idea of absent mothers in Hollywood scripts over at Poe's Deadly Daughters today. See if you agree with me: every other story seems to have a conveniently dead mother.

Today Is Beautiful

"Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."



~Henry James



While many people are still suffering the ravages of Hurricane Irene, Chicago has at last achieved that rarity that is a perfect summer day: it is sunny and comfortable, and a cool, friendly breeze is blowing.



I am so grateful for these rare and perfect days that I feel obligated to spend as much time outside as possible. Hence this short post!!







(Photo: by Julia Buckley, 2006).

The Value of Reading--Now More Than Ever

"Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence. If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year."







--Horace Mann

Raymond Benson Chats About Books, Bond, and The Black Stiletto

Raymond Benson is an American author best known for being the official author of the adult James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. His new mystery, The Black Stiletto, will be available next month.



Hi, Raymond! Thanks for talking with me on the blog. THE BLACK STILETTO has an interesting premise: that a middle-aged man, going through the belongings of his Alzheimer's-stricken mother, finds out that she is The Black Stiletto—a masked avenger from the mid-20th century, similar to Batman in terms of her legendary status.



How did you come up with this idea?



You know writers can never answer the question "how do you come up with your ideas?" ! I'm not really sure where the idea came from. I can remember talking to my literary manager/agent Peter Miller over a meal and we were discussing what I should attempt next. This was a few years ago. He kept telling me how most of the book-buying public were women, so I should come up with something that would appeal to women. Right then and there, I facetiously said, "How about a female superhero? It could appeal to the geek crowd; go for the 'True Blood' and 'Twilight' audiences." Afterwards, I started thinking about it, and the story just flowed out of me. It was one of the easiest books I ever wrote.



You write the novel from the point of view of Judy Cooper (The Black Stiletto), her son, and an antagonist. What made you choose these particular vantage points?



It had to be from Judy's point of view, naturally, since she's the protagonist. Since I was telling two parallel stories, one in the past and one in the present, it made sense for the second narrator to be her grown son. So really, there are two protagonists and two different storylines. The third voice, the antagonist, was brought in primarily to give the reader a different perspective on what was going on. Knowing what Roberto is doing builds suspense because the reader suspects there will be a clash at the end. Each book in the series will always have the two protagonist voices—Judy and Martin—but there will be a different third voice in each book.



It's interesting that you allow Judy's son to discover her superhero status not after she has died, but certainly after she is able to talk about it with him. This makes the story almost more heartbreaking for me. Was that your intention—to enhance the pathos by making Judy close, yet far away?



Absolutely. I wanted a contrast between the Judy of the past and the Judy of the present to show what Alzheimer's can do to someone. It also creates conflict and tension between Judy and Martin.



Judy's son, for me, is not that likeable a character. Is this intentional, and will he, if the series continues, evolve into more of a hero himself?



Sorry you felt that way, but I did want Martin to go through a lot of changes as the series progresses. He's just a regular guy trying to cope with everyday crises—losing his job, dealing with being divorced, fighting with a teenage daughter, and, most importantly, taking care of his elderly mother who has Alzheimer's. Then we lay on him the knowledge of who his mother was. Any man would go through all kinds of emotional swings with all that going on. Ultimately, while there is nothing "heroic" about Martin in the same way that Judy was heroic, he will become more heroic in a very human, normal way with the decisions he makes regarding his mother and his own life. The first book is just the beginning!



You do leave the reader with some unanswered questions. So there will be a sequel?



The sequel The Black Stiletto: Black & White will be published in May 2012. I plan for The Black Stiletto to be a five-book series.



Have you experienced Alzheimer's Disease with a friend or family member? You seem to know it from the inside.



Yes. My mother-in-law had it, and my wife and I experienced it from its onset until her passing—a period of 11-12 years. It's a horrible disease and I wanted to try and show what it's like not only for the patient but for the caretakers and family members.



I think you captured that well.



The main settings of the story are in Texas, New York and Illinois. Have you been to the locations you write about, or just researched them?



These are all places where I lived at one time. I grew up in West Texas, specifically Odessa. I had to do a little research on Odessa of the early 1950s, but it wasn't much different from the 60s, when I was there. I lived in New York during the 80s, and a place like that sticks to your DNA. Again, the bulk of the research was capturing New York of the late 50s; luckily the geography of New York hasn't changed! Finally, I've lived in the northwest suburbs of Chicago since late 1993, so I know these places pretty well. When one examines my backlist of original thrillers, you'll find that I use these three locations a lot—Texas, New York, and Chicagoland. They say, "write what you know."





On your Facebook page are pictures of you partying at the Playboy Mansion. How did that come about?



I'm happy to say I'm a friend of Hugh Hefner and the Playboy "family." When I was writing the James Bond novels back in the 90s, Playboy published excerpts and original short stories. I got to know Hef slightly earlier than that, when my non-fiction book The James Bond Bedside Companion came out in the 80s. So now my wife and I (and son!) can visit the Playboy Mansion any time we're in L.A.



What, if anything, did you learn about Hugh Hefner that people might not expect?



Hef's a great guy, very generous and kind. We both have a love of film history in common. He likes board games and he likes jazz. He's loyal to his friends. He's also extremely intelligent and, at 85, still sharp.



You have written several James Bond novels. Will you write any other James Bond fiction?



As Bond (Sean Connery) says to Professor Dent in Dr. No—"You've had your six." My run was between 1996-2002; six original novels, three movie novelizations, and three short stories. The Ian Fleming Estate (and its publishing arm) tends to hire one author at a time, and they don't go backwards. So, no, it's doubtful I'll do any more. I'm not sure I'd want to. However, two anthologies of my 007 work were recently published—CHOICE OF WEAPONS and THE UNION TRILOGY—and they contain the six original novels and the short stories.





I can imagine The Black Stiletto as a movie. Any talks about that in the works?



Every author hopes his/her book will be a movie or TV series. One can only cross fingers and hope!



Good luck, and thanks for chatting, Raymond!