Susan’s Comments (group member since Jul 20, 2010)

Susan’s comments from the Q&A with Susan Albert group.

Sandra wrote: "Hi, Susan. I took a correspondence course which was pretty good and from it I learned how to write short stories for magazines and have been published. Classes were $60 a month for about a year, av..."

[Answered privately on FB:]

Betsy wrote: "I finished reading The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber treee. It's definitely a cozier cozy than China Bayles. Boy, I needed that after reading a gruesome mystery about child abuse. I loved how th..."

Thanks, Betsy--

Given the state of the world these days, cozier cozies may be just what the doctor ordered.

Mary Alice wrote: "I am currently reading An Unthymely Death and Other Garden Mysteries. I see where Khat is named with a nod to Koko, Qwelleran's sidekick. The Cat Who are another of my all time read again and again..."

Yes, China Bayles reads The Cat Who, too.

Braun originally borrowed the idea from one of Kipling's Just So stories, "The Cat That Walked By Himself." (http://boop.org/jan/justso/cat.htm)

I took the "cat-that" character from Kipling and used him in one of my Cottage Tales: The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood.

I love being able to trace out the history of an idea--especially when it concerns literary characters. Don't you?

Miki wrote: "Good afternoon. I have been looking at the Story Circle website and found some other sites from there. One of the discussions I happened upon was on the use of verbs and adverbs. When I taught, ..."

I advise fiction writers to keep adverbs to a minimum by revising them to verbs--especially in speech tags, where they are most irritating. Examples: She said laughingly > She laughed. He replied abruptly. > His answer was abrupt or He was abrupt. I use adverbs, but I try to make them count.

I wrote my first "novel" at nine, by hand, in a "book" I made myself. I read everything I could get my hands on at the local Carnegie library, but my father was a great mystery reader and I always read the books he brought home, as well as my own. I remember loving Agatha Christie, of course, but also Rex Stout. After that, I was in college & grad school and taught college English courses for over two decades, so my writing tilted toward the academic in those years.

I've been an eclectic reader since I was four (66 years--I leave you to do the math) and it's almost impossible for me to identify influences, looking back. I've had my "Faulkner period," my "Dickens period," my "Christie period." When I'm writing historicals, I tend to read writers in that era. Right now, for instance, I'm enjoying a "Welty period" and have written about that for Mystery Scene Magazine: http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t...

Thinking more about your question, Miki, I'd say that technology has influenced my writing more than other writers have. I've written on yellow pads, on manual typewriters (had an old Royal wrist-killer), on electric typewriters. I bought an IBM Selectric in 1976 (no more correcting!) and an Apple II around 1983. Computers allow unlimited revision. It's that continued, deliberate rethinking, recasting, and rewriting that makes us all better writers.

I'm one who believes that one good story is worth a dozen lectures. So I'm hoping that if I tell a good story about a community that is facing adversity with strength and goodwill, readers will see the connection and make changes in their own lives.

But I'm also fundamentally interested in telling a good story. So while I definitely have an "agenda," I have to do what every other author does: interest you in the people and their problems. I hope the Dahlias are able to do that!

Mary Alice wrote: "I was so excited to find this group! I so enjoy the Cottage Tales and will be sorry when they end. I have a feeling they will be a series that I return to time and again. I also, enjoy the China Ba..."

Glad you found us, Mary Alice.

Re: the recipes. I've included them in all the books since about 1996, I think. I always try to fit the recipes to the books' time/place/themes. China's recipes are herbal--many of them come from my herbie friends or are family favorites. Recipes in the Cottage Tales are traditional Cumbrian (Tatie Pot, for instance), or from Mrs. Beeton (a Victorian cookbook Beatrix owned). The Dahlias' recipes are Southern Depression-era dishes--traditional Southern ingredients, nothing at all fancy or exotic. I like to use foods as a way of defining/describing the characters, and helping to locate them in time/place.

Miki wrote: "This time, I have questions about revision and editing. Do you do your revisions as you go along, at the end of a chapter, or at the end of the book? I have read several books in the last sixth m..."

I revise constantly, Miki--one of the great virtues of the computer. I start my workday by revising the writing of the day before. Then around 50,000 words, I go back to the beginning and rework the whole first part, which allows me to pick up any threads I've dropped to that point. When I get to about 75,000 words, I go back to the middle and work forward, then finish off with the last 10,000 or so words. Bill reads it then, and points out my glaring errors. :)

But for all that, when I get the book back from the copy editor, I continue to revise. (I especially HATE word echoes: the same word or a derivative form repeated within the space of a few lines.) This continued revision is easier now, because my publisher is using Word Track Changes for the copyediting/production process.

I suspect that blocks of material are repeated when the author is revising. When s/he doesn't read back through the whole thing, they can be overlooked--and overlooked again when the copy editor is inattentive.

Let's hear it for Language Arts teachers! I fear they are fighting a losing battle. Sigh...

Lindy wrote: "I just received notice from my tiny rural library that they are holding "The Darling Dahlia's and the Cucumber Tree" for me. I will pick it up tomorrow and probably get nothing else done - just rea..."

Oh, good, Lindy! Enjoy your reading day. Long Creek Herbs is the home of Jim Long, one of my favorite herbalists. You can always trust his products.

Vickie wrote: "I love listening to this series. It's like listening to a story while wrapped in a snuggly blanket. "

I couldn't be happier with the reader of the series, Vickie. Her name is Virginia Leischman; she's a Brit (as you can tell from hearing her) and a Shakespearean actor. She brings the animals to life in ways I could only imagine. When I listen to her readings, I feel exactly as you do: having a wonderful storyteller read me a story while I'm tucked up with a blanket and a cup of tea. I feel that Beatrix would have approved!

Betsy wrote: "Susan wrote: "Susan wrote: "I'm checking out The Fifth Sacred Thing right now, Betsy. Thanks for the mention."

Yes, well, Susan (that's me) wrote the wrong thing: that Kindle edition of Starhawk's book isn't available yet--so I got it in PB, and now I have to wait. Boo.

Susan wrote: "I'm checking out The Fifth Sacred Thing right now, Betsy. Thanks for the mention."

Betsy, I just got a sample of this for my Kindle--downloading it right now. I've met Starhawk and enjoyed her work. This looks good.

Betsy wrote: "Part of our problem is a lack of imagination...most of Americans have only known the relative affluence of post-war America and don't realize that their lives could be fulfilling in a smaller impact world."

Perhaps...but a bigger part of our problem is denial and a sense of entitlement. Americans can't bear the thought of giving up any part of what they have, because now that they have it, they feel their entitled to keep it. I think it will take more than a few PA novels (even optimistic ones) to change this attitude.

That said, I agree that some may find lessons in the Depression years. If the series helps them toward re-imagining the future, I'll be delighted.

I'm checking out The Fifth Sacred Thing right now, Betsy. Thanks for the mention.

Vickie wrote: "I read books with the lone wolf as well as books with the circle of friends, however big or small that circle is. I admire both type of character, but feel sorry for the lone wolf. That character type seems to not even like him or her self and won't let anyone else in. "

That "lone wolf" detective is a holdover (as I see it) from the 1930s and 40s "noir" detective, always a guy. Typical of that era, I think--a mythic figure almost Ulysses-like in his heroic/tragic aloneness. Same kind of character we see in Westerns like "Shane." Police procedurals show us a "team" in action, and most of the current cozies involve a group of gal-pals. That's more my speed. :)

I do think that we feel disconnected and fragmented today (for a lot of different reasons), and that books in which friendships play an important role may help to fill that emptiness.

Betsy wrote: "Thank you for considering a book set in the future. There are so few positive models of how our culture could change."

I'm wondering how we can define "positive" in this context. I think a great many authors, considering the subject and doing due diligence in their research, might not be optimistic about cultural change. I'm not. For instance, I agree with Bill McKibben's assessment of the problems in Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet. But I think his idea that the Internet would survive is unrealistic. If I wrote a PA, it would likely portray a bleak world peopled by tough survivors.

Have you read World Made by Hand: A Novel? The book models a grim future, but the people who survive are in many ways, "positive" figures.

Vickie wrote: "...and I enjoy learning about the locales when China goes awanderin'. "

That's a big part of it for me, too, Vickie. I usually take China someplace that has a rich history of human uses of plants I want to learn about. The next "away" book (maybe 2013?) will take China to northern New Mexico, where she gets involved in the political issues surrounding the uses of a local acequia, an irrigation ditch. There's so much wonderful acequia history in that area, and a great tradition of local foods--and of course, a curandera (wise woman healer). I'm looking forward to writing it!

Betsy wrote: "Given your awareness of the upcoming challenges our world faces (climate change, resource depletion, general chaos, etc.), I wonder if you've considered a China Bayles story set in the future?"

Sorry, Betsy, I skipped past your question.

That's one of those places where I don't think readers would like to go. When I'm writing China, I feel I need to stay more or less within the boundaries that previous books in the series have set up. I can make changes, yes--and I do. But a "future China" would be a sci fi, and my editor would probably say no to that. This doesn't mean that some of these issues (particularly local food issues) can't be addressed within the familiar landscape of the books. It just means that I can't change genres without upsetting several apple carts.

I have (and Bill and I have) considered writing a post-apocalyptic novel, on the order of James Kunstler's World Made by Hand: A Novel. I (and we) have plenty of ideas for it, but just no time right now. And when I/we have time, the urgency to write may have passed. It's one of those writing projects that are still on the list.

Vickie wrote: "I can't think that the author can worry about what the fans would think or they'd end up writing the for the phone book.."

That's partly true, and partly not, Vickie. Of course every author has to suit herself. But very little fiction--especially these days, in a world of mass two-way communication--is written in an ivory tower. If I want to communicate with readers, I have to write *to* them. I can challenge them to think new thoughts, but if what I'm writing is Greek (or anathema) to too many of them, I'll lose the audience. Or I won't find one, in the first place. (There are plenty of very good writers out there who failed to find an audience.)

So it seems to me that there's always a real-world trade-off, a compromise or series of compromises, between what the author wants to do, what the editor/publisher demands, and what readers are looking for. Readers don't see those compromises, because they get what made it through the process and onto the page, but they're there.

Miki wrote: "Now, at 63, I find I really want to tell some of the stories of my life and make them worth reading."

I'm glad, Miki. You'll find that the process itself (never mind the product) is enormously rewarding. When we write about our lives, we remember things we've forgotten and learn things that we didn't know. It's an amazing journey that can take us to all kinds of unexpected places. Good luck!

Susan wrote: "...Also, I like the prospect of redemption you hold out for them--and by extension, us too ..."

Redemption. Mmm...I don't think I've considered the books as a whole in those terms. But it's an explicit theme of Rueful Death,Bloodroot, and Wormwood. (Interestingly, these are "away" books, when China leaves Pecan Springs. For some reason, that seems to free me to explore more serious subjects.)

And if by redemption you mean the possibility of deliverance or restoration or recovery, I think most good "mysteries" do that in some way--don't you? They show us that there is some sort of justice or rebalancing or compensation, however flawed, in the world. Maybe?

Lindy wrote: "...Looking more deeply into my reasons for reading each and every China book are the issues and conflicts China must face. These are not made-up, fictional issues, but rather things that each of us must face every day..."

One of the problems I have with many mysteries is that the plot is created as a "mystery." Sorry: I realize that this seems self-evident and maybe a little silly. What I mean is that, confronted with the task of writing a "mystery"-- complete with dead body, clues, potential killers, red herrings, and resolution--the author has trouble finding the material for this in real life and therefore ends up building an artificial story.

This doesn't usually happen in police procedurals or PI novels, where there is plenty of real-world stuff to borrow from. But it happens too often in cozies, where the universe of possibilities seems to be more limited. (Am I making sense here?)

Anyway: I didn't want to write police procedurals or PI, but I did want to build a world that felt and smelled and sounded and tasted real--so real that readers would occasionally forget that it was fictional. I don't always succeed. There is plenty of conventional, formula-driven stuff in the books, particularly in the early books. But I think I'm getting better at it. And I'm always glad when I hear somebody say "This feels like a real town to me."

And part of this, of course, is asking the people in the town to face the same kind of issues that you and I face every day. Lovers who cheat (yes, even trusted McQuaid), lesbian daughters, crazy ex-wives, friends who can't get their acts together, moms with Alzheimers, friends with cancer. Ordinary human foibles and fears and even a few triumphs. Real to me--and to you, too, I'll bet.