The Thrill Begins

Do I need Social Networking?

2012-01-26T00:00:00.001-05:00

by Bonnie Calhoun

The $64,000 question is…do I have to spend time on social media to market my books effectively?
The exact and emphatic answer to that is an unfortunate YES. For those of you who just aren’t technologically savvy, I’d say it’s time to learn. There are a million children out there who would love to show you that they know something that you do not. So grab a neighborhood kid to get you started, if you need to!

Seriously though, no one form of marketing is the end-all be all. There are multiple parts to the whole, and the further we move into cyberspace, the more the parts multiply exponentially. If you are looking for a negative response so that you don't have to do any one part of the marketing game...like book signings, speaking, interviews, teaching at conferences, social media, blogging...etc...then just don't do it. It sort of sucks all the fun out of writing if you don’t enjoy what you are doing.

It's your choice. But in this day and information age NOT doing social media is really not an option. We have to do it to stay connected and relevant. Now the question of HOW MUCH to do it depends on you and the balance you are trying to maintain so that you actually have time to create new books.

EVERY marketing survey or study has proven that your name...or product name needs to be seen or heard numerous times to be an effective marketing tool. There are studies that say 3 times are enough for your product to have been seen to be effective; others say 12 to 15 times is necessary for maximum effectiveness.

The magic number depends on the size of your market share, how much other noise there is from competing products, your brand influence, how much money or time you are willing to spend on marketing, and the time frame you are working in.

So in essence…your success depends on how much you want to put into it, to get the maximum out of it. You choose.

Bonnie S. Calhoun is an author with Abingdon Press, with her debut novel Cooking The Books to be released in April 2012. She is also the owner/publisher of Christian Fiction Online Magazine. http://christianfictiononlinemagazine.com/home.html Visit her website at http://bonniescalhoun.com/, Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/bscalhoun or Twitter at https://twitter.com/BonnieCalhoun

Thrillers vs. Mysteries

2012-01-19T07:32:00.000-05:00

by Jodie Renner

Until fairly recently, most readers were more familiar with mysteries than thrillers. Mysteries of all sorts (cozy, hardboiled, suspenseful, etc.) are still going strong, but thrillers make up more and more of the bestsellers these days. How exactly do thrillers differ from mysteries, anyway? Both are fiction stories involving criminal activity, catching the bad guy(s), and at least one murder.

The main difference seems to be in the delivery—how they are told. Mysteries are usually more cerebral, for readers who enjoy solving puzzles, whereas thrillers appeal more to the emotions and a yearning for excitement, a desire to vicariously confront danger and defeat nasty villains. A mystery, especially a “cozy” one, can unfold in a leisurely fashion, but thrillers need to be much more fast-paced and suspenseful.

David Morrell, author of 28 thrillers, explored the difference between mysteries and thrillers several years ago. His detailed description included this: “Traditional mysteries appeal primarily to the mind and emphasize the logical solution to a puzzle. In contrast, thrillers strive for heightened emotions and emphasize the sensations of what might be called an obstacle race and a scavenger hunt.” (David Morrell, www.crimespreemag.com)

James N. Frey, author of HOW TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD THRILLER and HOW TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD MYSTERY, among other “damn good” books on writing, says, “In the United States, mysteries are not considered to be thrillers, though they share some common elements.” Frey describes the differences like this:

“In a mystery, the hero has a mission to find a killer.
In a thriller, the hero has a mission to foil evil.”

Frey goes on to elaborate, “a thriller is a story of a hero who has a mission to foil evil. Not just a hero—a clever hero. Not just a mission—an ‘impossible’ mission. An ‘impossible’ mission that will put our hero into terrible trouble.”

According to International Thriller Writers, a thriller is characterized by “the sudden rush of emotions, the excitement, sense of suspense, apprehension, and exhilaration that drive the narrative, sometimes subtly with peaks and lulls, sometimes at a constant, breakneck pace.”

ITW defines thrillers as a genre in which “tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary heroes are pitted against villains determined to destroy them, their country, or the stability of the free world.”
Part of the allure of thrillers, they say, comes from not only what their stories are about, but also how they are told. “High stakes, nonstop action plot twists that both surprise and excite, settings that are both vibrant and exotic, and an intense pace that never lets up until the adrenaline-packed climax.” (Source: James N. Frey, HOW to WRITE A DAMN GOOD THRILLER)

I asked some friends, clients and colleagues what they thought the main differences were between these two genres. According to thriller writer and friend Allan Leverone, “The definition I like best is this: In a mystery, the crime has already been committed, but the hero and the reader must figure out by whom. In a thriller, the crime (at least the biggie) hasn't been committed yet, but the reader knows who the bad guy is; the question is whether he can be stopped.”

Mystery and romance writer Terry Odell says, “The best definition I’ve heard is that in a mystery, you're one step behind the detective, since you don't know anything until he does. In suspense, you're one step ahead, because you know things that the detective [or hero] can't know.” This is especially true when we get into the viewpoint of the villain.

My friend, suspense-mystery and thriller writer, LJ Sellers, tells me she recently read that in a thriller, the villain drives the story, versus mystery, in which the protagonist drives the story. Good one!

And finally, another good friend and colleague, thriller and horror writer Andrew E. Kaufman says, “Here's a less conservative, completely off-color definition, coming from a less conservative, completely off-color mind: A thriller is like mystery on Viagra. Everything's more amped up, fast-paced, and frenetic. A good thriller should keep your heart racing, your fingers swiping at the pages, and your rear on the edge of its seat. Of course, those lines can be blurred. Many authors straddle the fence between the two. Nothing is in black and white, and gray is a beautiful color.”

I used to read a lot of mysteries, and still do from time to time, but in the last few years I much prefer the pure escapism and “pulse-pounding suspense” of thrillers. Who are your favorite thriller writers? My top three would probably be best-selling authors Lee Child, Sandra Brown and Robert Crais, but I love and read so many more.

How about your favorite thriller characters? For popular series, I especially like Jack Reacher, Joe Pike, Elvis Cole, Myron Bolitar and Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum—and the two hunks in her life!
Then there are the fast-paced mysteries that seem to straddle both genres. For suspense-mysteries, I love LJ Sellers' page-turning Detective Jackson series. And maybe I should put Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar stories and Robert Crais’s Joe Pike and Elvis Cole stories into the hybrid category of suspense-mysteries, too. What do you think? Are there any other novels you like that have elements of both?

Copyright © Jodie Renner, January 2012

Jodie Renner is a freelance editor specializing in thrillers, romantic suspense, mysteries, and other crime fiction, as well as YA. Check out her website at www.JodieRennerEditing.com.

Reversal Expectations

2012-01-12T07:39:00.002-05:00

by D.L. Sparks

As a romantic suspense author and a lover of suspense, one of my favorite writing tools is the reversal of expectation (RoE.) It is a storytelling device whereby the author makes the reader believe one thing about a character, then flips the character into someone the reader does not expect. Stephen King did it in SECRET WINDOW , SECRET GARDEN. In the novella we are introduced to author Mort Rainey, who is accused of plagiarism. We learn at the end, at the reversal, that Mort has split personality disorder and has been accusing himself of not just plagiarism, but unexplained murders. Screenwriter Clark Gregg pulled off the reversal of expectation perfectly in the movie “What Lies Beneath”. Kindhearted, university researcher Norman Spencer is concerned for his wife, Claire. She suffered post traumatic shock after a car accident and was also experiencing empty nest syndrome. However, the RoE was that Norman actually murdered the young co-ed and was now trying to kill his wife. To me this movie was the epitome of reversal of expectation.

However RoE is something that many will try but only few will be able to pull off expertly. Here are two things to consider:

1. Using the reader’s expectations to your advantage

This tool in the craft of writing is definitely something that needs to be worked on and perfected. So many times you will hear someone say how they figured out an ending before they finished a book or movie. Mastering RoE would be one way of thwarting any similar storytelling disappointments. But the good thing is that because most stories are bred from the same formula, you can convince your reader that they are about to travel down a familiar road, then hook a quick left when they least expect it.

2. Timing the Reversal of Expectation for the big Aha!

RoE is best suited for the climax or peak of a novel. It usually adds to the intensity and gets your readers' attention and hooks them in so you can bring your story full circle. One of the things I love to hear as a writer is, "I did NOT see that coming!" But even with the "aha!" moment it still has to make sense to the reader or they will feel unsatisfied and duped. In "Secret Window" it was very believable that a writer could have shut himself off from the real world to the point of becoming a recluse, thus becoming a victim in his own mind. In "What Lies Beneath" Harrison Ford's character had everything to lose, so he had to stay true to his story. Viewers even sympathized with him, thinking his wife was losing her mind, never straying from the original plotline the writer intended. And not realizing they were being set up for the big "Aha!!" moment.

How do you use Reversal of Expectation to wow your readers?

Best selling Author D.L. Sparks’ fast paced suspense novel THE LIES THAT BIND(Urban Books, 2010) landed on the bestsellers list of Black Expressions Book Club magazine, embraced by readers as far away as London and France. Ms Sparks has been voted one of the Top 25 Most Influential Black Fiction Writers on Twitter and is also a contributing writer to Rag ‘N Riches Magazine‘s, where she runs a relationship column. Visit her at http://www.dlsparks.com/

January 2012 Debut Authors

2012-01-05T02:45:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year and Happy Thrilling Thursday. The first of every month we will feature members of our Debut Authors Program. We are excited to announce that three members have books releasing in January 2012.

Nancy Bilyeau - THE CROWN (Touchstone) January 10, 2012 (I had the pleasure of interviewing Nancy for The Big Thrill this month. Read our interview here.)

When Joanna Stafford, a young novice, Dominican nun, learns her cousin is about to be burned at the stake for rebelling against King Henry VIII, she makes a decision that will change not only her life, but quite possibly the fate of a nation. Charged with a mission to find a hidden relic believed to possess a mystical power that has slain three Englishmen of royal blood in the last 300 years, Joanna and a troubled young friar, Brother Edmund, must seek answers across England. Once she learns the true secret of her quest, Joanna must finally determine who to trust, and how far she’s willing to go to protect her life, her family and everything she holds dear.

Cathy Perkins - THE PROFESSOR - Carina Press - January 23, 2012. (Cathy also has interviewed at The Big Thrill here.)

Someone is murdering women on South Carolina’s college campuses: three women, three different schools. The Governor’s order to State Law Enforcement Agent Mick O’Shaughnessy is simple: make it stop. More political maneuvering diverts Mick to nearby Douglass College. There, instead of another dead body, he finds Meg Connelly, grad student and faculty adviser for the latest victim.

Determined to finish her master’s degree, Meg doesn’t need anybody’s help – including her estranged family – to succeed. There’s something irresistible about Mick, but the last time she let someone get close to her, she lost everything except her self-respect.

As the investigation heats up, so does their relationship. But Mick’s interest in Meg doesn’t just endanger her heart—it puts her in the sights of the killer.

Jeremy Burns - FROM THE ASHES - Fiction Studio - January 17, 2012 (Jeremy will be featured in next month’s The Big Thrill.)

Graduate students Jonathan and Michael Rickner, sons of eminent archeologist Sir William Rickner, are no strangers to historical secrets and archeological adventures. But when Michael is discovered dead in his Washington, D.C. apartment, Jon refuses to believe the official ruling of suicide. Digging deeper into his brother’s work, he discovers evidence that Michael was murdered to keep his dissertation research buried. Joined by Michael’s fiancée Mara Ellison, Jon travels to New York where he uncovers the threads of a deadly Depression-era conspiracy – one entangling the Hoover Administration, the Rockefellers, and the rise of Nazi Germany – and the elite cadre of assassins that still guard its unspeakable secret. Finding themselves in the crosshairs of the same men who killed Michael, Jon and Mara must navigate a complex web of historical cover-ups and modern-day subterfuge, outwitting and outrunning their all-powerful pursuers as they race through a labyrinthine treasure hunt through the monuments and museums of Manhattan to discover the last secret of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., before their enemies can bury the truth – and them – forever.

Congratulations, authors!

If you are a debut thriller author and would like to join our program, you must first be a member of International Thriller Writers (ITW.) The International Thriller Writers is an honorary society of authors, both fiction and nonfiction, who write books broadly classified as “thrillers.” This would include (but isn’t limited to) such subjects as murder mystery, detective, suspense, horror, supernatural, action, espionage, true crime, war, adventure, and myriad similar subject areas. Visit http://thrillerwriters.org/aboutitw/how-to-join/ to join.

The International Thriller Writers membership includes some of the world’s best-selling authors: David Morrell, Gayle Lynds, Lee Child, Sandra Brown, Clive Cussler, Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, James Patterson and many, many more. All of these authors’ careers began with their first book. Browse the ITW Debut Authors’ pages on this website and check out The Thrill Begins blog to discover the best-sellers of tomorrow. The ITW Debut Author Program, under the aegis of the International Thriller Writers, seeks to support our first-book members through the publication process by providing a friendly, interactive community for the purposes of networking, mentoring, promotion, and camaraderie. To apply for membership after you’ve become an ITW Member, please contact Al Leverone.

Write What You Know: A Career U.S. Diplomat

2011-12-29T01:20:00.000-05:00

Robbie Cutler Diplomatic Mysteries

By William S. Shepard

I was a career diplomat in the American Foreign Service. I served at our U.S. embassies in Singapore, Saigon, Budapest and Athens, and then retired as Consul General in Bordeaux, France. Since the usual advice given to beginning writers was “write about what you know,” I wrote about the Embassy world. During one of my five Washington tours, as Duty Officer for the Secretary of State, I found myself staying late one evening at the office. While I perused files and diplomatic cables, I realized I had access to a variety of interesting information and sources. That was when the idea came to me that after I retired, I would write mystery stories set in American Embassies overseas.

It was a new genre at the time, and to my knowledge I was the only writer writing what I call “diplomatic mysteries.” I began the series with my protagonist, Robbie Cutler, a thirty- something career diplomat. He served where I had served, and if necessary, I went back overseas to validate my story and for research purposes.

When I was assigned to the American Embassy in Budapest it was during the communist years, when the Hungarian Revolution was officially a nonevent, so it was impossible to do solid research. After the Berlin Wall came down, and with the assistance of both the Hungarian Embassy in Washington and the American Embassy in Budapest, I returned, did research for the book, and even lectured at the official 1956 Historical Institute. Now that would be impossible, for the Institute no longer exists. The 1956 Historical Institute was defunded, some say because its files may have contained embarrassing information about presently powerful people! History tends to wobble around still, like that Budapest park filled with old statues of the Stalinist era!

My series caught on. The President of the American Foreign Service endorsed my series with a cover blurb, “London has Sherlock Holmes, San Francisco has Sam Spade, and now Washington has its first diplomatic sleuth, Robbie Cutler. Learn about embassy life from the inside, as you enjoy Bill Shepard’s latest diplomatic mystery.”

How did I build my novel series using my work experience as a diplomat?

1. NOVEL THEMES

The themes in the series came from my own diplomatic experience. The first novel, VINTAGE MURDER, was set in Bordeaux, where Robbie Cutler was the American Consul. In MURDER ON THE DANUBE, the sequel, Robbie had reassigned as Political Officer to the American Embassy in Budapest.

2. CHARACTERS

The best practical writing advice I ever received was to know my main character well. I would then, gradually, find the other characters emerged from the qualities that my main character lacked. Uncle Seth, Robbie’s great uncle was a nationally prominent man, once TIME Magazine’s Man Of The Year, who also had access to Washington intelligence circles. I thought of Uncle Seth because I wanted Robbie to have access to national security information that a diplomat of his rank and experience would otherwise not have.

3. VILLAINS

Bad guys? I’ve learned that they are all sorts of villains, but none are one dimensional. The ETA gunman in the first novel was motivated by a police killing of a member of his family. The traitor in the second novel was also motivated by the killing of a member of his family. It was fun to speculate about “the Napoleon of Crime,” but most people prefer a villain with reasonable and understandable motivations, something they are accustomed to.

I look forward to reader comments, as together we explore the fascinating craft of writing thrillers with international settings.

William S. Shepard is the author of the Robber Cutler diplomat mystery series: VINTAGE MURDER, MURDER ON THE DANUBE, MURDER IN DORDOGNE, and THE SLADIN AFFAIR. Career diplomat William S. Shepard served as the Consul or Political Officer at U.S. Embassies in Singapore, Saigon, Budapest and Athens. Shepard’s diplomatic career was capped by service as Consul General at the American Consulate General in Bordeaux, France. He and his wife now live on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.Visit him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WSShepard or on his website www.diplomaticmysteries.com

ITW 2011 Debut Authors Pinned

2011-12-22T11:14:00.002-05:00

Using Pinterest to both Promote and Write Your Next Novel

Before the year comes to a close I wanted to share a great visual tool I use to write my novels, Pinterest. Pinterest is a digital white board that lets you organize and share with your friends online. As an author you can use it to:

organize chapter settings
build a visual character sketch
catalog your book’s year in pictures
catalog book bloggers who love your books
the sky’s the limit (I also use it for my Christmas Cookie project)

Pinterest can also help you connect with your fans. I already have fans anticipating my next novel, Someone Bad and Something Blue (July 2012.)

They can subscribe to the pin board to get a glimpse of what the book could be about.

They can also see me put the third book in the series together by subscribing to all my pins.

I thought it would be fun for the Holiday Season to use Pinterest here at The Thrill Begins. The picture above is the Class of 2011 board. (We already have three followers.) Are we a not fabulous bunch?! As I put the board together I was in awe of the amazing talent we have and I wondered at the possibilities for what we could do to leverage our readership if we continued to be accountable to each other, share author goodies that will help us grow, and be a support system for each other. If we have learned nothing this year, we’ve learned that being a published author can be a lonely road if we let it. I hope you continue to participate and participate even more. This blog, The Thrill Begins, is created to help you on your writing journey. If you would like to contribute to the The Thrill Begins 2012, please contact me at mparkerbooks@gmail.com

Again Happy Holidays!

And for the first two commenters, I will give you an invitation to join Pinterest with me!

Miranda Parker is the author of A Good Excuse to Be Bad (Kensington), the first in the Angel Crawford Bounty Hunter Series. Parker has been featured at NBCC and The Decatur Book Festival, the Atlanta Press Club’s Holiday Author Party, and featured in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, RT Book Reviews Magazine, and Publishers Weekly. She is also the Social Media/Marketing Person for the International Thriller Writers Debut Authors Program and a contributing editor to The Big Thrill Magazine. Her sequel, Someone Bad & Something Blue, will be released July 2012. Visit her at www.mirandaparker.com

Suspense Versus Surprise

2011-12-15T01:10:00.001-05:00

by Chris Eboch/Kris Bock

A few years ago I had the chance to ghost write a novel about a certain famous girl sleuth. Not only was that fun, but I learned something valuable from the editor. She asked me to look again at my chapter endings, and said,

“I would like to see more of a slow build-up toward the intense action. In horror movies, it’s always the ominous music and the main character slowly opening the closet door that scares us the most, not the moment right after she opens the door.”

She’s noting the difference between suspense and surprise. When something happens suddenly and unexpectedly, that’s a surprise. If you are going about your business, perfectly happy, when a car slams into yours, or something hits you in the back of the head, or a phone call reveals bad news, that’s a surprise. But up until that moment, there was no suspense.

This is an important difference to remember when writing, especially when writing thrillers. We know the importance of surprise twists, and we may be tempted to keep secrets and let them out with a bang. But true suspense comes from suspecting that something will happen and worrying about it or anticipating it.

Something Is Coming...

To build up truly dramatic moments, give the reader clues that something bad — or excitingly good — is going to happen. Here’s an early version of a chapter ending from Haunted: The Ghost on the Stairs, my novel for ages 8 to 12 (written as Chris Eboch). The narrator, Jon, isn’t sure he believes his little sister Tania when she says she can see ghosts, but goes with her to look for one as their stepfather films his ghost hunter TV show.

At the top of the stairs, my stepfather stood in the glare of a spotlight, a few feet away from a camera. I took a step backward and tugged at Tania’s arm. No one had seen us yet, and we could still escape.

Tania turned to me. The look in her eyes made my stomach flip.

The moment isn’t bad for a cliffhanger chapter ending, but it could use some more buildup, more time for Jon to suspect something’s wrong. Here’s how the chapter ended in the published book:

At the top of the stairs, my stepfather stood in the glare of a spotlight, a few feet away from a camera. I took a step backward and tugged at Tania’s arm. No one had seen us yet, and we could still escape.

She didn’t back up. She swayed.

I took a quick step forward and put my arm around her so she wouldn’t fall. I looked down into her face. I’d never seen anyone so white. White as death. Or white as a ghost.

“Tania,” I hissed. I gave her a shake. She took a quick breath and dragged her eyes away from the staircase and to my face. The look in them made my stomach flip.

The revised version is longer. To get the most out of dramatic moments, you actually slow the pace by using more detail. It’s ironic, but you want to write slow moments quickly, maybe summing up a boring afternoon in a sentence or two, while writing a fast moment slowly, drawing out every detail.

Powerful Paragraphing

You can also affect the pace of your story by your sentence and paragraph lengths. Description or introspection can usually be put in longer paragraphs, slowing the pace and lulling the reader into a false sense of security. When you come to a big action scene, though, try breaking it up into short paragraphs.

Short paragraphs actually make the story read faster, because the eye moves more quickly down the page. You can also emphasize an important sentence by starting a new paragraph or even putting that sentence into a paragraph by itself. For example, consider the following two versions of a chapter ending, adapted from my new romantic suspense novel, Whispers in the Dark (written under the name Kris Bock). The heroine, Kylie, is being chased by villains. It’s dark, and there’s a cliff nearby.

Example 1:

But he must be right behind me! I couldn’t stop, couldn’t even risk slowing down or looking back. Something sharp caught me across the shin, causing me to yelp and stumble forward as the pain burned like a hot knife. I almost went down on my knees, but I managed to thrust a foot out in front of me. Unfortunately, the foot found no place to land, so I pitched forward with a sickening lurch that left my stomach behind. And then I was hurtling through the darkness, down into the canyon.

Example 2:

But he must be right behind me! I couldn’t stop, couldn’t even risk slowing down or looking back.

Something sharp caught me across the shin. I yelped and stumbled forward as the pain burned like a hot knife. I almost went down on my knees, but I managed to thrust a foot out in front of me.

The foot found no place to land. I pitched forward with a sickening lurch that left my stomach behind.

And then I was hurtling through the darkness, down into the canyon.

These use nearly the same words. The only differences are that in the second version I broke up some long sentences into short ones, and I use four paragraphs instead of one. I think the second version captures more of the breathless panic that the narrator would be feeling. Think about that phrase “my life flashed before my eyes.” Life really does seem to slow down in the most high impact moments. Capture that on paper, and your readers will race through the scene breathlessly, wanting to find out what happens.

Learn More

Of course, not every chapter can end with dramatic physical action. My essay “Hanging by the Fingernails: Cliffhangers” in Advanced Plotting (written as Chris Eboch) also discusses how to use cliffhangers in quieter moments. I covered that on my blog as well – along with 10 other posts on cliffhangers! You can tell I love the subject. See my cliffhanger blog posts here.

Learn more about Chris and read excerpts of her work at www.chriseboch.com (for children’s books written under the name Chris Eboch) or www.krisbock.com (for adult romantic suspense written under the name Kris Bock) or see her Amazon page. Kris Bock’s first romantic suspense novel, Rattled, features treasure hunting adventures in New Mexico. In Whispers in the Dark, coming out this month, a young archaeologist seeking peace after an assault stumbles into danger as mysteries unfold among ancient Southwest ruins. Can she overcome the fears from her past, learn to fight back, and open herself to a new romance?

Chris Eboch’s book Advanced Plotting is designed for the intermediate and advanced writer. Learn how to get off to a fast start, prop up a sagging middle, build to a climax, improve your pacing, and more. Advanced Plotting is available on Amazon in paperback for $9.99, or as an e-book for $4.99 on Amazon or Smashwords. You can also read excerpts from Advanced Plotting and get other writing craft advice on her blog.

Which Comes First—The Casting or The Character?

2011-12-08T01:56:00.001-05:00

By P.I. Barrington

Casting Photo of Snow White and The Huntsman (2012)

I'm a big proponent of "casting" characters. Hell, I’m probably the concept's head cheerleader! You most likely know by now that the practice of "casting" your characters with photos of actors/athletes/models and, on occasion, just regular people you'd love to see them play on the screen is widely used by authors for cover art and character inspiration. But there's a whole other dimension to just picking a headshot of a handsome, dreamy actor who you think looks like the character in your head and in your plot.

It reminds me of the ancient conundrum of which came first the chicken or the egg but with an authorly twist (yeah, I just made that adverb up) and deciding which does depends on just how you create that character. That takes looking at and understanding your own creative process.

What comes first in your character creation: The name? The personality quirks? The character's job? Or is it the physical description? All of these items figure into your character's birth and many times the order in which they arrive can surprise you—in a good way.

Casting characters first:

The development of characters can come from the casting pictures and great detail can express itself as well. If you picture your character as blonde, blue-eyed and short, those three features present you with several possibilities at once. Is the character from a certain heritage or location in his or her world, say Scandinavian or British which then begs the questions of their family history, structure and views of society and their places in it. Is that character out of his/her element? How do they react to their current situation—do they adapt well or struggle throughout the story? How do they view themselves if they're short or petite—positive or negative—and what develops in their personality as the result of that view? Are they resentful or fearful of people taller than themselves? Do they view themselves as attractively petite like Blanche Devereaux of Golden Girls? How do they style their hair? Do they wear it with no fuss or do they make a great work of styling it? Something as simple as the way they wear their hair can expose a particular quirk in their personality—no nonsense or excessive extravagant—or keep something they're hiding secret.

The casting photo you choose can offer abilities, career choices, and everything from likes and dislikes to what sports or hobbies they enjoy depending on their physical characteristics such as body type. If you find a photo of a tall, dark woman who appears (in your casting photo of course) athletic, her abilities could include strength, agility and sports ability; or a willowy supermodel type. The same is true for men and young characters or child characters. Matching up characters with their jobs according to physical characteristics can be predictable or unpredictable too. You might have a tall willowy brunette with waist length hair who excels in computer science and avoids exercise altogether or your muscular, athletic looked red-haired male might be a banker rather than a soccer player. Sometimes mixing things up can be interesting for both you and your reader—it keeps you on your toes as a writer trying to make that character either consistent or wildly impulsive and keeps your reader guessing as to what choice the character will make in a pinch.

Emotions can be represented in casting photos too and can be the most important part of casting since it directly relates to character. I believe I need to illustrate this section with a little anecdote that happened to me when I working on my first crime thriller, Crucifying Angel. When the time came for my input sheet to assist my publisher's cover artist, I needed to find a picture of the male romantic rival of the hero. I already knew what Nick Kincaid looked like I just needed to find someone to show my cover artist. After a long search I located a headshot that I thought was perfect. I immediately sent it to her. After the cover was finished and the book out, I thought I might search for more photos of "Nick" since he was a recurring character in the Future Imperfect trilogy. I cannot express the absolute shock of finding all the other photos of the actor—they were of a grey-haired older man in at least his late sixties! I talked to my Editor and informed her of this situation. She laughed and said, "Sometimes it's the lighting, mood, and angle that makes all the difference!" And after the trilogy was finished, I accidentally found another actor who personified Nick and really was younger!

I digress. As in the anecdote, you can pin the personality of your character from one of those moody shots. A headshot usually works best for this, especially if you can find the "lighting mood and angle" that speaks to you as your character. A child's headshot that appears innocent, sweet and happy or one that looks angry (yes there are some—I have one as an avatar lol!) or spoiled can act as catalyst to create an unusual child character with a deep or shallow personality. The same goes for teenage or young adult casting photos. Your teenager can look like either a mathematical genius nerd or exuberant cheerleader but flip the coin and he/she can be full of angst, resentment, attitude, insecurity or hormones.

Most fun of all can be casting your hero/heroine! Here's where you get to dive into your favorite characteristics. You can let fly with the romance, strength, softness, anything you love giving your characters (or they tell you they like) and if you like pretty men and women, hit the actors' websites! (Remember this is only for your fantasy personal casting, you do not have any rights to use the casting shots for anything else!) I've found tall, dark, moody and powerful (& don't forget the pretty) heroines and I've found casting shots of women of every type from tall, athletic to petite and barely able to hold a weapon steady. Another example of casting first that worked perfectly is the main heroine of CA, Payce Halligan—I happened to be easing boredom by checking out avatar sites and there was a medium close-up shot of a blonde woman shooting target practice. At that time I did not know what I could possibly use her for but when I started the novel, she gave me the basis for Payce, a Las Vegas Police Department Homicide Detective.

And last, casting first can give you the most important part of your character: their conflicts! Payce Halligan had major guilt demons, the kind you wouldn't expect her to possess, and they offset the tough, strong police woman normally expected, giving her a depth that could not be imagined. This came from that one casting photo I found that I shelved until I needed it. This type of casting can work on any character in your novel, major to minor, and especially your villain! He/she can look like a mousy, uninteresting bore harboring a raging demon inside or be as beautiful as an angel but be a pretty version of The Mad Hatter!

Casting characters is one of my favorite parts of writing and publishing. It can trigger unbelievable creativity as well as help dictate your plot in the direction it should go to keep it as great as you know it is; it can also assist your writing technique in character development! I even gave it a name: my Virtual Casting Couch! Let the auditions begin!

After a decade long detour through the entertainment industry, P.I. Barrington has returned to her roots as a novelist writing in several genre' including futuristic crime thrillers, paranormal crime thrillers, science fiction and fantasy, and the occasional humor shorts. Among her past careers is radio air talent and journalist. Barrington lives in Los Angeles California (where else?) in a rural area where she watches semi-wild horses grazing behind her house! She has just released her dark, science fiction adventure, Isadora DayStar, available from Smashwords. P.I. Barrington can be contacted via emails: pibarrington@dslextreme.com or pibarrington@yahoo.com and has a blog and website: Blog: http://pibarrington.worpress.com and official website: http://thewordmistresses.com

Bookstore Stops 101: Tips for Your Author Event

2011-12-01T00:42:00.004-05:00

by Mark Stevens

Between the Facebook “like” buttons, the tweet avalanche, and the endless (here’s another one) blog posts, you sometimes have to wonder whether you are connecting your book with the right audience. Yes, I plunge from the high-dive into social media. I do my best. I try to balance self-promotion with genuine participation. Out here in the virtual village, I’ve met tons of cool readers and sold lots of books.

But when it comes to marketing, there’s one old-school tactic that is my bedrock.

Bookstores. Booksellers. Book people.

I visited 42 stores in 2007 when Antler Dust came out and I’m back on the trail in late 2011 with the sequel, Buried by the Roan. Success rates vary. But here’s how I think about it. You’re a writer. Wouldn’t you want your own built-in agents working for you every day? People who talk to readers all day long?

It’s not about just the event and that particular bookstore stop. It’s about developing a relationship with the store owner (or event manager) and readers, too. (And don’t forget: each event gives you a solid reason to tweet and post.)

A few tips:

Query far ahead. Think months. Work with their schedule. Ask if they do events, but be willing to stand around for a few hours with your titles and your nifty cool promotional material. This is true for the chain stores, too. Each Barnes & Noble outlet has its own flair, its own interest in doing “events.”
Treat each event like it was the only one you were ever going to do. Ask the bookstore owner for reporter and editor names in the community. Send advance copy books to the local media (no matter how small). The long lead time pays off here, too. Call the reporter or editor a couple weeks before the event, remind them you are on the way.
Ask the bookstore if you can send a few flyers. Make the flyers. Send them. Ask the bookstore if the local library might post a flyer if you send one or two. Make them, send them.
Find online community calendars (almost every town has one or two). Upload the details.
Find writers who live in the town—or nearby. (Again, the bookstore owner will know.) See if you can make a connection and ask for that writer’s help in reaching friends and fans. Pull up their Twitter account and follow some of their followers. Once a connection is established, send a direct message with the details and something personal.
Post the signing event on your Facebook page (two weeks out, one week out, “day of” reminder) and tweet it to smithereens. Search your Facebook friends for those who live in the area, create an FB event page, invite them. Find the bookstore’s Twitter handle and follow a bunch of their followers (readers, not the carpet cleaning companies) and then send a direct message once they follow you back. (They will.)
Day of event: Ask for a spot near the front of the store. Stand; don’t sit. Be prepared to answer questions about where the bathroom is located. Engage every reader who comes within range. “Any mystery fans here today?” “Looking for something in particular?” “I’m a writer from XYZ town, let me know if you’ve got a minute and I can tell you about my new title.”
Come prepared. Bring a bottle of water, breath mints (ahem). Bring copies of reviews, bookmarks, business cards. An 11&17 poster on foam core with your cover. Best of all, bring your quick speech. What is your story about in one sentence? Nail it. Rehearse it. Make it genuine. Not a sales pitch. Ask readers what they like. Engage them. Some will think, “I may not like mysteries but I have a friend…”
Send a ‘thank you’ to the store after it’s over and post public ‘thanks’ on FB and Twitter and wherever else your social media heart desires.
Not sure yet? Go to book signings and readings by other writers. Take notes. Keep the things you like, dump the elements you don’t.

Now, if you liked this column, back to the virtual world. Please visit my Facebook page and and you could even ‘like’ my protagonist, Colorado hunting guide Allison Coil. https://www.facebook.com/AllisonCoil Hey, and thanks. Nice “meeting” you. Follow me and I'll see you in cyberspace: @writerstevens

The son of two librarians, Mark Stevens was raised in Lincoln, Massachusetts. He worked as a reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, covering a variety of events and issues from the economy, commercial fishing, the environment, politics, then at The Rocky Mountain News, and for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. He has produced field documentaries across the United States and Latin America. He is the author of the novels ANTLER DUST and BURIED BY THE ROAN and now works in public relations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/us/ann-patchett-bucks-bookstore-tide-opening-her-own.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general

10 Last Minute Holiday Book Marketing Tips

2011-11-24T01:11:00.002-05:00

We have a few more weeks before Christmas, Kwanzaa, Watch Night and New Year's. Bookstores have geared up for holiday shoppers and blacked-out in-store events for marquis authors, so there are fewer available spots for in-store events for authors to grab at the last minute. Public libraries have geared up for holiday events, so again, the newer authors will have trouble finding readings to participate in. So what do you do? Hold off selling your books until 2012? Or are there ways for you to take advantage of Holiday Cheer? I say take advantage. Here are 10 ways to promote your writing through the holidays.

1. Host a free children’s book drive at your local library.

It’s not too late to book a meeting room or space at your local library or smaller bookstore for a free children’s book drive. If you plan it now, you have time to get a local reporter and local blogger to the event. Invite the public to drop off new books at the library to give away or donate to the library’s children’s section. On your event day have holiday punch and cookies and invite the public to pick up a free children’s book.

2. Give your book to local coffeehouses to include in holiday gift baskets.

Four years ago I met with a popular local coffee house in my town by request of the owner. He loved authors and great books. We created gift baskets with my client’s books inside. We also introduced a new Winter Reading Series.

3. Host an Under the Dryer Book Signing at a Beauty Salon.

Have you ever been in a beauty salon? The long wait, the old reading material. What if someone was selling a book to read while sitting under the dryer? Bingo!! A client of mine sold out one weekend doing this event. You can also create holiday spa gift baskets that include your book for the salon event.

4. Write a Christmas story and have it published in your local community paper or regional magazine.

I wrote a story for Precious Times Magazine a few years back titled “Kissmas Time.” From that one story, I received many invitations to write articles for other magazines. I have a mailing list of people interested in my book (when it comes out). And I have had speaking engagement requests also as a result of that story.

5. Sponsor your local Girl Scout or Boy Scout Christmas Parade Float.

I just participated in my town’s annual Christmas parade. Loads of fun. I saw many familiar faces and made a friend of the mayor. Yippee. Being out and about in the community is a great way to build your author name. Sponsoring a float, making a banner, providing costumes, or just chaperoning kids in the parade will help make you a presence. People will become familiar with you. If you are an author, have kids pass out bookmarks with candy attached to them, or take your little Christmas story, package it up, and give it out to those on the parade route.

6. Read Christmas Stories at your local elementary school media center.

If you write for a young adult market, or even a soccer mom market, then get yourself to your local school and read your cool book to kids. Host a Santa letter party.

7. Host an Online Book Giveaway--but not of your book. Instead give away:

a book you know your readers want like Ted Dekker’s Kiss, which comes out in January, or
a book that's tied to the holidays like a Paula Deen Holiday Cookbook, or
a book your friends might be afraid to buy, but would love to read (for instance Carleen Brice’s Buy a White Friend a Black Book Month Project)

Promote the giveaway and the winner by sending a press release to the winner’s local paper.Put the book in a gift basket from your local coffeehouse. Hey, it works for the Avon lady.

8. Host a Holiday Book Party at a local restaurant

Publisher and author Dwan Abrams hosted a party this weekend in downtown Atlanta to celebrate her birthday, the holidays, and the release of her fourth novel Married Strangers. The event was free to attend. It is also a book drive for a Women’s Prison Literacy Project. She’s got local celebrities, book reviewers, and bookstore managers popping through. The event has been promoted on local gospel radio stations, online mags, local papers, and to anyone within two paces of her.You do know that now is the time to throw a party?

9. Build a tip sheet

Center the sheet around your book’s theme and the holidays, then submit the tip list as filler for major local magazines and online magazines your readers read.

10. Be a front door vendor at your local bookstore.

Ask your local bookstore if you can set up a table on the weekend to sell your books. Ask for two tables. One to sell your book and another to gift wrap books as a free service to the bookstore. All bookstore chains allow authors to do this. (However, some bookstores will only talk to publicists or publishers.)

Bonus: contact your bookstore every week to see if any big authors had last minute cancellations for their Holiday In Store Events. But be prepared to get books to the store on short notice.

If you put all this together, you will see that the lesson here is to become a part of your community. The holidays are the best and most opportune times to do this. There’s just something about holiday cheer. And it only comes once a year--take advantage of it.

What other Guerilla Marketing Holiday Tips can you share?

And what are you most thankful for as a writer this year?

Miranda Parker is the author of A Good Excuse to Be Bad (Kensington), the first in the Angel Crawford Bounty Hunter Series. Parker has been featured at NBCC and The Decatur Book Festival, and featured in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, RT Book Reviews, and Publishers Weekly. She is also the Social Media/Marketing Person for the International Thriller Writers Debut Authors Program and a contributing editor to The Big Thrill. A sequel, Someone Bad & Something Blue, will be released in July 2012. Visit her at www.mirandaparker.com

photo credit: macinate

Thriller subgenres: is it SciFi, or SciThri?

2011-11-17T01:08:00.002-05:00

Thriller subgenres: is it SciFi, or SciThri?

By Amy Rogers

When authors pitch a novel to agents or editors, they’re expected to cite which category or genre applies to their work. “Where would this book be shelved at Barnes & Noble?” is the question.

Some thriller writers struggle to neatly package their novel in a single category. Mystery versus thriller is a distinction blurred in some books. Thrillers may have strong horror elements, or plenty of romance, begging to be shelved with those genres.

For me, the problematic genre distinction is science thriller (SciThri) versus science fiction (SciFi). I write thrillers. My books meet the expected conventions of the genre in terms of page-turning tension, action, high stakes, and a ticking-clock climax. Yet some reviewers have referred to my debut novel Petroplague as “science fiction.”

Why? Well, I wrote a work of fiction that has a lot of science in it.

Unlike legal thrillers, medical thrillers, espionage thrillers, historical thrillers, and so on, science-themed thrillers are uniquely vulnerable to this kind of mislabeling. There is no shelf at B&N marked “Legal Fiction” or “Spy Fiction,” but there is that big section of “Science Fiction”. How tempting it is to take a novel with a science-driven plot and just toss it in the fiction category that has “science” in the title.

Does it matter if a science-themed thriller gets shelved as SciFi? I think it does. A reader picking up a SciFi novel will have different expectations than a reader picking up a thriller with a scientist as protagonist. SciThri may appeal to SciFi fans, but the science thriller audience is different and potentially bigger—consider all the Michael Crichton fans in the world!

So what’s the difference between SciFi and SciThri? I’ll admit it’s not always clear-cut. But based on the scores of reviews I’ve done for ScienceThrillers.com, here are the general characteristics I believe define these two categories of stories.

Science thrillers:

Usually fiction but can also be nonfiction (e.g. The Hot Zone by Richard Preston)
Set in the real world or something recognizably similar to it
Plot occurs in the present time
Science is crucial to the plot and typically a scientist is a main character
Technology alone does not make a science thriller (e.g. military technothrillers such as Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October don’t qualify)
Story must be plot-driven, page-turning, with some (or a lot of) action
The science should be largely grounded in scientific reality. If a scientific plot element is technically impossible, it must be plausible to an average reader.

Science fiction:

Always fiction
May be set in any world, real or imagined, earth-bound or outer-space
Plot events may occur at any time (past, present, future, or an indeterminate “long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”). History can be rewritten at will.
Science or technology may be important to the plot, or it may be little more than mood-setting wallpaper in the background of the story
SciFi can be plot-driven and action-packed, or it can be quite literary
Scientific plot elements don’t have to be realistic. Time travel, warp speed, and mind-reading are all okay.

Many ITW members (Paul McEuen, James Rollins, and Karen Dionne, to name a few) write books that qualify as science thrillers. I wonder if they have seen their books categorized as SciFi? Granted, some of them—such as Rollins—stretch the science in their stories beyond plausibility into the SciFi realm. Others, such as Paul McEuen in his brilliantly technical debut Spiral, keep their stories largely rooted in scientific reality or near-possibility.

Ultimately, I think the distinction between SciThri and SciFi is believability. In science fiction, the reader allows the author to manufacture entire universes and civilizations from scratch; as long as the author keeps internally-consistent rules, anything goes. By contrast, in a science thriller the reader should be plagued by the feeling that this could really happen. This feeling lurks in the heart of the tension of most great thrillers, science or otherwise.

Do you know a thriller that in your opinion has been wrongly categorized by some readers or industry professionals?

More questions: How do you categorize your novels? Have you experienced mislabeling because you write hybrid thrillers?

Dr. Amy Rogers writes thrilling science-themed novels that pose frightening “what if?” questions. Compelling characters and fictionalized science—not science fiction—make her books page-turners that seamlessly blend reality with imagination. She is a member of International Thriller Writers Debut Class (2011-2012). In her novel Petroplague, oil-eating bacteria contaminate the fuel supply of Los Angeles and paralyze the city. Learn more at AmyRogers.com and ScienceThrillers.com. You can also follow Amy on twitter (@ScienceThriller) and on her Facebook fan page.

CREATING A WORTHY ANTAGONIST

2011-11-10T03:24:00.003-05:00

"Since the heroes and the gimmicks tend to repeat from film to film, only a great villain can transform a good try into a triumph." Roger Ebert

Welcome to Thriller Thursday!

This week we have a treat for you. Jodie Renner shares advice that is paramount to writing a great thriller. The Villain. As the Roger Ebert quote states above, having a worthy antagonist does more than just give your hero someone to defeat. The villain gives your reader a reason to join your hero’s journey, to connect emotionally with the hero, and to understand what’s at stake, if the hero does not succeed.

The villain deserves a great deal of attention from the writer. Wouldn’t you agree? Renner shares terrific villain character development tips and also opens up this week’s discussion. How evil should a modern villain be?

Thank you for this great post, Jodie.

_____________________________________________________

CREATING A WORTHY ANTAGONIST

by Jodie Renner

You’ve outlined a plot and created an appealing, complex protagonist for your thriller or other crime/action fiction — great start! But what about your antagonist? According to James N. Frey, “the villain is your best friend, because the villain creates the plot behind the plot — the plot that has to be foiled by the hero.”

The hero or heroine of your suspense novel needs a worthy opponent who is standing in his/her way and threatening other innocent people. As James Scott Bell says, “Without a strong opponent, most novels lack that crucial emotional experience for the reader: worry. If it seems the hero can take care of his problems easily, why bother to read on?”

And thrillers and other crime fiction need a downright nasty bad guy — but not a “mwoo-ha-ha” caricature or stereotype. If your villain is just a wicked cardboard caricature of what he could be, your readers will quickly lose interest. As Hallie Ephron says, “Characters who are simply monstrously evil can come off as old-fashioned clichés.”

To create a believable, complex, chilling villain, make him clever and determined, but also someone who feels justified in his actions. Ask yourself what the bad guy wants, how he thinks the protagonist is standing in his way, and how he explains his own motivations to himself.

How does your villain rationalize his actions? He may feel that he is justified because of early childhood abuse or neglect, a grudge against society, a goal thwarted by the protagonist, a desire for revenge against a perceived wrong, or a need for power or status — or money to fund his escape. Whatever his reasons, have them clear in your own mind, and at least hint at them in your novel. Like the protagonist, the antagonist needs motivations for his actions.

To give yourself the tools to create a realistic, believable antagonist, try writing a mini-biography of your villain: his upbringing and family life, early influences, and harrowing experiences or criminal activities so far. As Hallie Ephron advises us, “Think about what happened to make that villain the way he is. Was he born bad, or did he sour as a result of some traumatic event? If your villain has a grudge against society, why? If he can’t tolerate being jilted, why? You may never share your villain’s life story with your reader, but to make a complex, interesting villain, you need to know what drives him to do what he does.” Creating a backstory for your antagonist will help you develop a multidimensional, convincing bad guy.

Many writing gurus advise us to even make the antagonist a bit sympathetic. James Scott Bell says, “The great temptation in creating bad guys is to make them evil through and through. You might think this will make your audience root harder for your hero. More likely, you’re just going to give your book a melodramatic feel. To avoid this, get to know all sides of your bad guy, including the positives.”

Bell suggests that, after we create a physical impression of our antagonist, we find out what her objective is, dig into her motivation, and create background for her that generates some sympathy — a major turning point from childhood or a powerful secret that can emerge later in the book.

Not everyone agrees with that approach, however. James Frey, on the other hand, says “in some cases, it is neither necessary nor perhaps even desirable to create the villain as a fully fleshed-out, well-rounded multidimensional character.” Many readers just want to a bad guy they can despise, and are not interested in finding out about his inner motives or his deprived childhood. That would dilute our satisfaction in finally seeing him getting his just deserts.

Frey does feel it’s extremely important to create a convincing, truly nasty villain, one who is “ruthless, relentless, and clever and resourceful, as well as being a moral and ethical wack job,” and one who is “willing to crush anyone who gets in his way,” but doesn’t feel it’s necessary to give us a great deal of information on the villain.

As kids, we loved to see good prevail over evil, and the nastier the villain, the harder they fell — and the greater our satisfaction. Perhaps Frey’s “damn good villain” hearkens back to those times, and his ultimate demise evokes greater reader satisfaction. Forget analyzing the bad guy — just build him up, then take him out!

On the other hand, many readers today are more sophisticated and want to get away from the caricatures of our popular literary heritage… hence, advice from writers like Ephron and Bell to develop more multidimensional antagonists with a backstory and clear motivations.

I’d say there’s room for both approaches in modern fiction, and probably the thriller genre favors the “just plain mean and nasty” villain. Never mind the psychological analysis of the bad guy—we just want to see Jack Reacher, Joe Pike or [fill in your favorite thriller hero or heroine] kick butt!

What do you think? Make the villain nasty, evil and cruel through and through, or give him some redeeming qualities to make him more realistic? Show some of his background and motivations, or just stick with his current story goals and plans?

Resources:
Hallie Ephron, The Everything Guide to Writing Your First Novel
James N. Frey, How to Write a Damn Good Thriller
James Scott Bell, Revision and Self-Editing

Jodie Renner is a freelance fiction manuscript editor, specializing in thrillers, romantic suspense, and mysteries. Her services range from developmental editing to light final copyediting, as well as manuscript critiques. Check out Jodie’s website at www.JodieRennerEditing.com and her blog athttp://JodieRennerEditing.blogspot.com.

Jodie is a member of International Thriller Writers (associate), Sisters in Crime (SinC), Backspace: The Writers Place, The Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), and The Editors Association of Canada (EAC).

Jodie has traveled extensively throughout North America, Europe and the Middle East. In fact, Jodie loves traveling so much, she’s thinking of changing her tagline from “Let’s work together to enhance and empower your writing” to “Have laptop, will travel.”

What is a Small Thriller?

2011-11-03T01:07:00.004-04:00

By Steven Rigolosi

At some point in our writing careers, most of us wrestle with the definitions of genres and subgenres. What exactly is a mystery? How does it differ (if at all) from a crime novel? Is it all right if characters use profanity in my cozy? What is suspense and how do I create it? Or, more importantly, how does the reader define and experience suspense? And of course for the debut author, are my perceptions and definitions in line with what agents and editors want?

We hope we can answer these questions by the time the book is published. In my internal dialogue, I think I have written a caper/cozy (Who Gets the Apartment?), a novel of psychological suspense (Circle of Assassins), and an urban satire (Androgynous Murder House Party).

Never in any of my outlining, plotting, or positioning self-discussions did I consider that I might be writing THRILLERS.

Why? Because to me a thriller is a Big Book with Big Players. Perhaps the protagonist is John or Jane Q. Public, but John or Jane inevitably comes up against Major Forces: the government, a renegade faction of the FBI, an international spy or terrorist network filled with moles and triple agents, or a global corporation with unlimited money, resources, and power. Or Bioengineers doing unsavory things with the human genome for profit. High-speed chases through Zurich, Abu Dhabi, Prague, Johannesburg, and Taiwan…Big Things. At stake is the fate of the Human Race, not to mention Morality, Country, Liberty, and Family.

But, after taking a second look at my work, I ask myself: Must a thriller be Big?

Most of us, whether readers or writers, have a fairly small sphere of influence. We work, we spend time with family and friends, we take a couple of weeks’ vacation each year. If our worlds are small in comparison to those of international jet-setters, perhaps we can have “smaller” thrillers where various microworlds interact, where life-changing events happen to everyday people who are not engaged in ferreting out Al Qaeda cells.

If I think in these terms, then maybe Circle of Assassins might be called a “small thriller.” It tells the intersecting stories of five unnamed people who make a pact to exchange murderous favors. Their tales (and identities) unfold as they tell their stories, describe why their victims deserve to meet their fate at the hands of an assassin, and live with the aftermath of the killings.

One character, who grew up impoverished, is willing to fight to the death to preserve the tiny Cape Cod home she purchased with her life savings. Another is a traditional Italian-American whose father has installed Old-World ways into him – traditions that clash with modern expectations regarding family and gender roles. A third is an academic who sees her department chair as the living embodiment of white privilege.

Each of these people sets events in motion that have ripple effects among smaller communities: an extended family, a college campus, a suburban neighborhood. The drama that unfolds is personal and intense - definitely not as world-changing as pharmaceutical companies manipulating national governments, but, I am hoping, more immediate and more at the level at which the average person lives his or her life, encountering smaller-scale villains who are just as greedy, manipulative, or power-hungry as those CEOs and Directors of Government Agencies.

Still, I don’t think we’ll be seeing any novels subtitled “A Small Thriller” any time soon.

But if you wanted to give it a try…

Here are Three Things Your “Small Thriller” Needs:

1. Character development.

A lot of “big thrillers” are criticized for stereotypical or undeveloped characters. A small thriller offers an opportunity to combine a thrilling plot with intense character study.

2. A tight page count.

The big thrillers often come in at about 400 pages. A small thriller covers much less of the world (and has much less, perhaps even zero, jet-setting), so it might be able to tell its story in a tight, taut 300 pages.

3. Plot twists and a memorable ending.

Regardless of its size, a thriller has to thrill. This means a good story with plenty of surprises, turnabouts, betrayals, unexpected twists, and – my favorite – a surprise ending.

Question: Do you think you’ve written a small thriller? How has it worked for you?

Steven Rigolosi is the author of the Tales from the Back Page series. The most recent installment is Androgynous Murder House Party. He lives in Northern New Jersey and is at work on the next book.Visit him on Goodreads.

If you are a debut suspense or thriller [even small thriller like me] author whose book will release within the next year, we invite you to join International Thriller Writers (ITW) Debut Author Program. Click this link to learn how. thrillerwriters.org/join-itw/debut-authors

Related The Thrill Begins articles:

Can A Real Spy Write a Spy Thriller?

2011-10-27T01:19:00.005-04:00

3 Things to Consider when Your Day Job is the stuff of Novels

by Alma Katsu

When I was an analyst at CIA, many of my coworkers thought about sitting down one day and writing a spy novel. Obviously, few did. (Even I didn’t: my novel, The Taker, is historical with a supernatural element and had nothing to do with my intelligence career.)

But one analyst had penned a spoof of The Hunt for Red October as if it had been written in the rigid style taught to analysts in the Directorate of Intelligence. I wish I could show it to you—I’ve been told that a copy is floating around the Internet, but I couldn’t find it—because it perfectly illustrates the difference between being a spy in real life and being one in a novel. Needless to say, it made real intelligence analysts laugh so hard they’d blow Coke through their noses when they read it.

I worked in intelligence for nearly thirty years, splitting my time between the National Security Agency (known to you civilians as “the super-secret National Security Agency”) and CIA. Thirty years is a long time to do anything, long enough to ingrain the many quirks and peculiarities of the intelligence business into my DNA. (For instance, I find I must correct the inaccurate statement I made above, though it is a common misconception: technically, intelligence professionals are not “spies.” The people they recruit to give up secrets are spies.)

I was midway through my career as an analyst when I decided to return to writing fiction, something I’d abandoned once I started at NSA, as being a published writer is pretty much incompatible with working in intelligence. When literary agents found out about my day job, they’d invariably encourage me to write a spy novel. “You could show what it’s really like,” they’d say, and I took them at their word.

So I wrote a spy novel. It was a lot of work. I wanted to pick the right international conflict, one that I found interesting and I thought Americans should know more about. I wanted it to be accurate: my professional reputation was on the line.

I showed it to agents. To say they were underwhelmed is putting it kindly. I remember one telling me pointedly, “No one wants to read about someone doing their job.”

Of course, many writers are perfectly able to write great thrillers based on their day job: bookshelves are crammed with novels written by doctors, lawyers, police officers, pathologists, detectives, military personnel, police, you name it. For me, the decision not to write spy thrillers came down to this: it wasn’t fun. To me, writing is a means to be somewhere I want to be, with characters I want to be around—an escape. Writing spy novels kept me tethered to my workaday world, and it wasn’t rejuvenating.

You may be in a similar conundrum. What should you do if you’ve got a day job that seems custom-made for a novel but your heart is in writing an epic fantasy? Here are a few things you might want to consider:

1. Platform:

Having that killer day job—Navy SEAL, coroner for LA county—is a leg up for a writer, whether you decide to use it for your novel or not. Even though my book, The Taker, has nothing to do with the world of intelligence, mention of it tends to give me an extra second’s worth of consideration with reviewers and the publicity machinery. There’s a trade off, though: it’s really easy to confuse your potential audience about your product. They may be drawn to the killer day job and have no interest in your type of book (zombie apocalypse, romance.) If you go this route, you need to scrupulously manage your platform to ensure it doesn’t affect how your book is perceived.

2. Your work leaks into your writing anyway:

You know how people are always advising you to ‘write what you know’? I’ve found if you worked in a particular environment for a long time, you’ve absorbed enough of its culture that it’s going to come out in your writing. In other words, the ‘what you know’ will come through anyway, even if you don’t use specifics. For instance, I thought I’d left the spy business behind when I wrote The Taker, but someone at the publishing house pointed out that all my characters tend to be secretive and manipulative, never telling the truth when a cleverly managed facsimile of it will do. It hit me between the eyes: I’d duplicated the atmosphere at my former job.

3. Hold it in reserve:

Never say never. You may find one day that the prospect of writing that trial novel (if you’re a lawyer) or heist novel (if you’re a jewel thief) suddenly appeals. Now that I’m no longer working for any three-letter agencies, I’m thinking that one day I may come up with an idea for a spy novel that I can’t resist. Particularly if the series I’m writing now doesn’t work out. As a working writer, you owe it to yourself to use every tool in your toolbox.

Alma Katsu is the author of The Taker, the first in a trilogy of novels that have been compared to the early works of Anne Rice: historical thrillers with a supernatural element. The Taker was named one of the Best Debut Novels of 2011 ay ALA Booklist magazine. The second novel in the trilogy, The Reckoning, comes out in June 2012. She also blogs for the Huffington Post on intelligence and policy.

The Art of Suspense by A.J. Scudiere

2011-10-20T00:01:00.002-04:00

Wait for it . . . wait for it . . .

Every thriller depends on suspense. Without it, it’s just another tale. Like most things, suspense is both an art and a science. The science can be learned, but the art takes talent and practice – and the best suspense writers have both. To be honest, part of the art is learning when to ignore the science, but you have to know both first.

All thrillers have a uniform goal: mess with the readers’ sleep patterns! Up all night, calling in sick to work, nearly exasperated at the inability to put a bookmark in it and get anything else done. Those are the signs of a thriller done well.

So how do you do it?

Step 1 – Begin in the middle. Okay, you can begin at the beginning. But when you hit chapter three, go back and erase chapter one and probably chapter two as well. Open with the strangest line you have (“The bird asked him how his day went”) or the one that would make the least sense if taken out of context (“The boy crawled along the ceiling”). These require explanation . . . and the reader will have to follow along to find out.

Step 2 – Cut out background information. (Why did she shoot her boss?) Don’t give in to the temptation to put it there. You can add it later. (A lover’s spat? Blackmail? Corporate espionage?) The wait makes the reading intriguing and keeps the pages turning. This step is nearly the opposite of the next step, and they need to be used in concert. The art comes in deciding which to use when.

Step 3 – Set up your punches. Think about a sitcom (follow me on this one for a minute . . .) The best sitcom jokes are the ones that build throughout the show, so that by the time the punchline comes around, you have all the pieces you need. Key ideas and occurrences should never be followed by an explanation – just like in a joke. If an explanation is needed beforehand, cut it into tiny pieces and disperse it throughout the prior info.

Step 4 – Don’t explain. Trust your readers to get it. You can only go for a certain audience – and the best thrillers assume the audience is smart enough to catch on. (A man walks into a bar . . . and says ‘ouch’. Because it’s a bar, like a beam, not like where you drink – Yup, I lost you at ‘because’.) A good beta-reader will let you know if you need more info.

Step 4b – Assume the reader isn’t a specialist. This harkens back to steps 4 and 3. You do need to explain anything that’s not in the general knowledge pool. Dice it into tiny pieces and sprinkle them liberally into the text, so that when the student shows up late for his LSAT, the reader already knows that he won’t be let in, and that the next test isn’t until February, thus keeping him out of law school this year.

Step 5 – Tie it up. But please, not too neatly. If I read another thriller where the killer explains himself to a victim while the good guys get into place, I’m going to . . . (sorry. I read yet another one of those at 10am this morning.) Please! I beseech you: Don’t do it! (Step 4 also applies to characters!)

These are just some of the key pieces to great thrillers. Sometimes the suspense is intrinsic to the story, and other times it can be edited in. Of course, there are more things you need, but we could never hit them all in one spot. What are some of the other essential ingredients for building suspense you can think of?

So bring on the edge-of-your-seat, roller-coaster, can’t-put-it-down-even-though-it’s-four-AM stories! I can’t wait . . .

* * *

It’s A.J.’s world. A strange place where patterns jump out and catch the eye, very little is missed, and most of it can be recalled with a deep breath. It’s different from the world the rest of us inhabit. But the rest of us can see it – when we read. In this world, the smell of Florida takes three weeks to fully leave the senses, and the air in Dallas is so thick that the planes “sink” to the runways rather than actually landing.

For A.J., texture reigns supreme. Whether it’s air or blood or virus, it can be felt and smelled. School is a privilege and two science degrees (a BA and MS) are mere pats on the back compared to the prize of knowledge. Teaching is something done for fun (and the illusion of a regular paycheck) and is rewarding at all levels, grade school through college. No stranger to awards and national recognition for outstanding work as a teacher, trainer and curriculum writer, like most true teachers, the real joy for A.J. is in the “oh!” - the moment when the student sees the connection and it all makes sense.

A.J. Scudiere has lived in Florida and Los Angeles among a handful of other places. Recent whims have brought the dark writer to Tennessee, where home is a deceptively normal looking neighborhood just outside Nashville.

http://www.ajscudiere.com/

Follow A.J. on Twitter: @ajscudiere

or at Facebook.com/ajscudiere

SO MUCH CONTROVERSY: To post or not post a book review on Amazon.com

2011-10-13T01:00:00.003-04:00

Amazon.com Losing its Book Reviews Footing or Literally Misunderstood

Gaining a great book review is very important for a debut author. Reviews help us stand out in the sea of books that release around the same time that ours do. Book reviews help readers find us. Depending on the media outlet, reviews can get us placed as featured authors in book festivals and shelved in independent bookstores.

Today book reviewer, Curiosity Builds blogger, and former book store manager of LA’s Mystery Bookstore Linda S. Brown shares her insights about book reviews, and posts a controversial water cooler topic about the Amazon.com review system. Please join us today, as we discuss the topic of Book Reviews. At the end of Brown’s post we’ve also added links to related articles that buttress Brown’s argument.

We hope you find this post insightful and please share your thoughts with us.

-Miranda Parker for ITW Big Thrills

SO MUCH CONTROVERSY: To post or not post a book review on Amazon.com

by Linda S. Brown

Over the past few months, several authors have asked me to read and review their books. I am honored by those requests. Moreover, I am touched and flattered that those authors respect my opinion enough to ask me. But when those authors asked me to post my reviews to Amazon, I cringed.

No, Amazon did not single-handedly destroy indie brick-and-mortar bookstores. However, it has dealt death blows to many and weakened scores more. And that truth greatly disturbs me.

And… I am uncomfortable with the Amazon.com review system. For those unfamiliar with the system, Amazon.com allows anyone [who has an Amazon.com account] to post a review of a book and give the book a value based on a 1 to 5 rating system (with 5 being best.) After I did some homework I came to the conclusion that this system is flawed on at least two fronts:

Some Amazon reviewers are paid. As far as I can determine, they are not identified. That strikes me as misleading.
The Amazon review and rating system is directly related to sales -- and I don’t feel comfortable with that since I do not work for that retail establishment. I don’t begrudge the authors making money by any means, but why should I, as a reviewer, put more money in the pockets of Amazon.com? The difference between Amazon and book blogs like LibraryThing, GoodReads, CuriosityBuilds.com (my own blog), and publications such as Crimespree Magazine is that Amazom.com will receive direct revenue from someone, who read my review and chose to buy the book based on my review. LibraryThing, GoodReads, Crimespree Magazine, and the rest would not.

On another note, I’ve read some of the reviews on Amazon.com while doing my reconnaissance work: I chose authors whose work I knew and whose books I’ve read. Some of the reviews were well-crafted and thoughtful. Some, not so much. But that could be true in any forum. A review is, after all, primarily one reader’s opinion, informed or otherwise.

Author K. Bennett (aka James Scott Bell, author of a mainstream suspense series featuring an L.A. based attorney named Buchanan, as well as several inspirational novels – and some popular writing manuals) recently asked me if I’d consider posting to Amazon my review of the first book in his new series, PAY ME IN FLESH: MALLORY CAINE, ZOMBIE AT LAW. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I gave it high marks on LibraryThing and GoodReads, and I posted a review on my blog. Jim’s request – innocent enough – sort of sparked this whole debate.

I threw it out to the Twittersphere to discover what other people thought about Amazon reviews. And the issue brought up some lively Twitter and email debates. Some authors felt Amazon ratings and reviews have a direct impact on their sales, and also broaden their exposure to markets they might not otherwise reach. Some authors disagreed. Some authors, bloggers, reviewers and readers refused to look at the ratings and reviews on Amazon, for the same reasons I listed above.

Thriller writer Meg Gardiner (CHINA LAKE, THE DIRTY SECRETS CLUB – which I enjoyed so much while working at The Mystery Bookstore that I made it one of my monthly picks – and more, including her latest, THE NIGHTMARE THIEF) admitted that she had “been surprised to hear from readers who say they hesitate to buy a book that had any 1-star Amazon reviews. To me that sound incredibly shortsighted. Almost every book has at least one 1-star review. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK have 1-star reviews, for Pete’s sake…” However, Meg further pointed out that she understood “why some authors count on good Amazon reviews, especially if their books don’t get a lot of editorial coverage.”

When I expressed my reservation to Jim about posting a review on Amazon, I asked him what made him think people took them seriously. Who takes them seriously? Do authors? Do critics? Do publishers?

Jim’s response was that “readers take (the reviews and ratings on Amazon) seriously, so publishers and authors care because they could affect sales.”

Jim takes marketing very seriously. In addition to offering seminars about the writing process, he also teaches about marketing the finished book.

In the current publishing environment, we all understand the desire for good reviews, good ratings, and most importantly, good sales numbers. I am not currently receiving any compensation for the reviews I’ve written. However, if it ever came to pass that I am compensated for offering my opinions, it would be clear that I am being paid to read the books and to work with the authors.

Meanwhile, I am delighted to continue to read and review books sent to me by authors, publicists and publishers. I will post those reviews on LibraryThing, GoodReads, CuriosityBuilds.com, and I will submit those reviews to other blogs and publications, including the award-winning Crimespree Magazine.

And, meanwhile, I think I will leave the posting of reviews on Amazon to others, until such time as the Amazon system is more clear, open and equitable.

Linda S. Brown was the Assistant Manager of The Mystery Bookstore Los Angeles for 6 years, where she leveraged her love of crime fiction into a position in which she developed and coordinated author events, acted as liaison with publishers and public relations firms, and coordinated media campaigns. Since the closing of the bookstore earlier this year, Linda has become Book Lover at Large, in search of self and a job; meanwhile, she is reading and reviewing crime and young adult novels, writing articles for various blogs, and in the process of developing her own book-loving blog, CuriosityBuilds.Com.

Connect also with Linda S. Brown at:

linda.brown@filagree.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/LindaSueBrown
FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/linda.s.brown

Related Links:

Now that Linda has opened the doors to this great question, let’s discuss:

Do you agree with Linda’s decision? Do you think Amazon.com’s Reviews have the same value as before? Why are Amazon reviews important to your readership?

Technorati Tags: writing tips,book review,amazon.com,public relations,bookstore,mystery books,suspense novels,thrillers,international thriller writers,online review

20 Essential Elements of a Bestselling Thriller, by Jodie Renner

2011-10-06T00:00:00.003-04:00

20 Essential Elements of a Bestselling Thriller

We all want the same thing, right? No, not *that* thing. What we suspense writers and fans of the genre want is a book that leaves us draped over the edge of our seats, hanging on the author's every next word. While no one can guarantee a seat-of-the-pants ride--there's a certain ineffable magic that takes place on the page between writer and reader--in this week's blog post Jodie Renner comes close. Follow these tips, breathe them in and internalize them, and you will have done the thing we're all here for. You'll have written a thriller.

If you want your thriller or romantic suspense to be a compelling page-turner, make sure you’ve included most or all of these twenty elements:

1. A protagonist who’s both ordinary and heroic.

Rather than having a “Superman” invincible-type hero, it’s more satisfying to the readers if you use a regular person who’s thrown into stressful, then increasingly harrowing situations, and must summon all of his courage, strength and inner resources to overcome the odds, save himself and other innocent people, and defeat evil.

2. A likeable, sympathetic protagonist

The readers need to be able to warm up to your main character quickly, to start identifying with her; otherwise they won’t really care what happens to her.So no cold, selfish, arrogant characters for heroes or heroines!

3. A worthy adversary for the protagonist

Your antagonist needs to be as clever, strong, resourceful and determined as your protagonist, but also truly nasty, immoral and frightening.

4. An interesting setting

Readers like to find out about places they haven’t been, whether it’s the seedy side of Chicago, glitzy Hollywood, rural Kentucky, the mountains of Colorado, or the bayous of Louisiana — or more distant, exotic locations. And milk your setting for all it’s worth.

5. A story that fits the protagonist and vice-versa

If it doesn’t, change your protagonist — or your story line. You can always use your present one in another novel.

6. An inciting incident

What happens to the main character to set the story events in action? Make it tense and compelling.

7. A great plot, with ongoing conflict and tension

You need a big story question and plenty of intrigue. And every scene should contain tension and conflict of some kind. If it doesn’t, delete it.

8. Lots of suspense

Keep the readers on the edge of their seats, turning the pages to find out what’s going to happen next. See my blog post, “Heightening the Suspense,” Sept. 26, at http://crimefictioncollective.blogspot.com.

9. Multiple viewpoints

Narrating the story from various points of view, including that of the villain, will add interest, complexity and suspense to your novel. But don’t head-hop within a scene! Wait for a new scene or chapter to change viewpoints.

10. A tight, generally fast-paced writing style

Streamline your writing to improve flow and pacing. Go through and take out all unnecessary words, sentences, and paragraphs, and any repetitive phrases, events or ideas. Thrillers are not the genre to wax eloquent.

11. Increasing danger

Keep putting your hero in deeper and deeper trouble, to stretch his courage, determination, physical abilities and inner resources to the maximum — and increase the reader’s admiration and emotional investment in him!

12. Troubles that hit home

Endanger the protagonist or someone close to her, to add a personal dimension and more stress to the threats and conflicts.

13. Internal struggling of the protagonist

Give her a moral dilemma; show his inner conflict. Make them complex and fascinating; never perfect, complacent, or overly confident.

14. Critical turning points

Present your hero with life-or-death decisions and show his anxiety, tension, and indecision.

15. Obstacles in the way

Your heroine runs out of gas on a lonely road; your hero’s weapon falls into the river far below; he is wounded and can’t run; her cell phone battery is dead; whatever can go wrong does, and more.

16. Enough clues

Be fair. Use foreshadowing and layer in clues and info as you go along, to slowly reveal the plot points and character backstory and motivation to the reader.

17. Twists and surprises

Write in a few unexpected plot twists, but make sure that, in retrospect, they make sense to the readers.

18. A compelling climax

Put the protagonist at a disadvantage in the final conflict with the antagonist, to heighten the stakes. Pile on the adversity the hero has to overcome at the end.

19. A satisfying ending

Leave the unhappy or unresolved endings for literary fiction. Let the good guy overcome the bad guy — by a hair.

20. Psychological growth and change in the hero/heroine

Adversity has made him or her stronger, braver, wiser, a better person.

Jodie Renner is a freelance manuscript editor, specializing in thrillers, romantic suspense, mysteries, and other crime fiction. Her services range from developmental and substantive editing to final copyediting and proofreading, as well as manuscript critiques and plot outline analyses. Check out Jodie’s website at www.JodieRennerEditing.com and her blog, dedicated to advice and resources for fiction writers, at http://JodieRennerEditing.blogspot.com, as well as Crime Fiction Collective, of which she is a founding member.

To join the (ITW) International Thriller Writers Debut Author Program, please visit this link: http://thrillerwriters.org/join-itw/debut-authors/

A View to a Kilt by Chris Redding

2011-09-29T09:18:00.009-04:00

Today author Chris Redding presents James Bond fans (or ace Google users) with a game. Answer 10 trivia questions and be entered in a drawing to win a prize. Simply paste your answers in a comment below. And have fun!

James Bond Trivia

First Bond movie theme to appear on the Billboard Top Ten.
Who was the second actor to play James Bond?
Where did the title Goldeneye come from?
Who was the oldest actor to play Bond?
What film is considered an “unofficial” Bond film?
Who starred in it?
What movie is it a remake of?
How many novels was James Bond featured in?
What nationality is James Bond’s mother?
What children’s book that was made into a movie did Ian Fleming write?

Commenters who answer all 10 questions correctly will be entered in a drawing for a prize. U.S. entrants only please.

Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and three rabbits. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Penn State. Her latest book, A View to a Kilt, an homage to James Bond, will be out October 1.

Rickard DeMille

2011-09-22T08:21:00.017-04:00

This may be one of the more unusual posts we've had in a while--a tutorial within the story of one author's approach to writing. If you've ever wondered how a writer makes one of those exotic locales in his story come alive, read on. Rickard DeMille is about to tell you. No, show you.

***

About seventeen hundred years ago, St. Augustine of Hippo wrote, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

This statement is proof of two things. First, the condition of man hasn’t really changed that much in almost two millennia. Second, those who don’t travel probably have to work for a living. Even those fortunate enough to travel, usually don’t do it as much as they wish.

That’s where we come in. We are writers, and more than writers. We’re travel agents as well. The shelves of the local bookstore (the ones still in business) are like the brochure racks that line a travel agent’s wall. Our clients browse and sample, drawn in by the alluring images displayed on the covers. Eventually they decide where they want to go, and who they want to spend their vacation with.

Personally, I herein confess that I am also a reader - a vicarious vacationer - who frequents the ‘travel brochures’ of my local bookstore. Through my reading selections, I’ve recently searched the hills of Los Angeles for a lost boy with Robert Crais. I’ve sat, enthralled, while Robert Harris took me on a tour of Ancient Rome with none other than Tiro, Cicero’s scribe, as my guide. I spent hours on the edge of my seat as Nelson DeMille rushed me around the state of New York in a life and death quest to stop a brutal terrorist. I accomplished all this without a plane ticket or passport.

As writers, I believe we have the opportunity to expand on St. Augustine’s affirmation. We can say, “The book is a world, and those who read it can travel anywhere with every page.”

I am here to make that task easy, for everyone.

Right! If you believe that, I can make you a great deal on some prime real estate at the top of Mars Hill.

What I actually plan to do is introduce you to a tool that will make your travel planning easier – as in sitting comfortably at your computer while enjoying your highly caffeinated beverage of choice.

My novel, HELLFIRE, is set in Wales. I had the extreme pleasure of visiting Wales for the Six Nations Rugby championship a few years ago. I did a quick tour of South Wales during that visit, but it was only a quick tour. The idea for HELLFIRE came later, after I’d missed my chance for any real research.

Fortunately, I found a way around that. There are literally thousands of resources available to the writer, which offer an alternative to physical travel. While they are not as good, and will never be as enjoyable as a physical visit, they can add a more realistic feel to your setting.

I mentioned thousands of resources, and I truly believe there are at least that many, but here I will discuss just one – Google Maps with Street View.

I only have space to present one tool, and I sincerely believe this is the best.

Let’s start with an easy example. Where was Osama bin Laden’s hideout? Our first step is to open our browser, and type: <maps.google.com> into the address or URL line. This will take us to the main Google Maps page.

Here we enter the place we wish to find. In the search box we will now enter <osama bin laden’s hideout, Pakistan>. Make sure you enter the country and/or city. We enter Pakistan here to avoid Google showing us bin Laden’s hideout in the Hamptons, or his secret office at UC Berkeley.

This is what that line will look like after we’ve entered our search location:

We will now be directed to a page like this in Google Maps:

These are the same place, one a map view and the other a satellite image, of Abbottabad, Pakistan, where bin Laden lived and died. The orange pin icon,labeled “0” in red, shows the location we searched for. If we zoom in, the compound is easier to see:

This is a good time to do a quick tour of the Google Maps screen, and how to use the various features. Here is a screen that has the elements numbered:

The first element I want to point out is in the upper right hand corner and indicated by a large red “5”, it is a box labeled “Satellite.” This will change the view from a map of the area, to a satellite view of the exact same location. Click on it now and watch the image change back and forth between a map and satellite image.

The other tools on the page are as follows:

Panning Tool – this will shift the image in the direction of the arrows around the outside of the circle.
Street View Tool – The small orange figure changes the image from map or satellite, to Street View (I’ll talk about that shortly). We simply drag it onto the map. If there are ground level images available, they will appear as blue lines or dots.
Zoom Tool – As the name indicates, this allows us to zoom in (clicking higher on the bar or on the “+” symbol at the top), or zoom out (by clicking lower on the bar or on the “-“ symbol at the bottom).
Legend – allows us to measure distances.
Map / Satellite tool – This changes from map to satellite view, and back.
Photo tool – This lets us look at photos, videos, or any other resources associated with this location.

Now that we know our way around, let’s play. Click on the “+” symbol at the top of the zoom bar and watch the white indicator bar move upward toward the top. After several clicks, it will reach the top indicating maximum magnification. If you want to give it a test drive, click on the “-“ sign and zoom out.

Now let’s try the Street View. Make sure you have zoomed back in as far as it will go before continuing. Put your cursor on the Street View figure, he will lean slightly toward the image. Left click and hold the mouse button down, and you can start to drag it toward the bin Laden love hut.

At this point, you will notice that several blue dots have appeared. These are places where images are available. Sometimes there will be blue lines as well; this indicates where an entire road has been recorded. Now move the orange icon over one of the dots (or lines) and drop it by releasing the button.

You will now see a view of the bin Laden compound from where the dot indicates. The picture above is not from Street View, but a public domain pictureinstead. You can click on the “X” in the upper right hand corner of the picture and return to the Satellite View to check out other images.

Right now I want to show you one more feature. On the search line, where we typed “osama bin laden’s hideout, Pakistan,” delete that and type “sake toro frisco texas.” When the image loads, zoom in (“+” symbol) all the way and you should go into Street View and see an image like this:

If you don’t have an image similar to this, drag the Street View icon (the little orange figure) to the blue line in the middle of the screen. The photo below is a current picture of the same location. It is important to keep in mind that the Street View images are often several years old, and there may have been changes. Notice the awning and foliage on the trees:

Now that you are in street view, you can use the Panning Tool to “look around.” If you want to “drive around,” put the cursor in one of the streets ahead, put the little white oval in the spot you want to move to, and click:

By panning (using the circle with the arrows in the upper left corner) and moving you can go on a tour of much of the world. From the sushi in Texas, to the hideout of the world’s most wanted terrorist (formerly most wanted that is).

I apologize if this blog entry was longer than normal. It was still a frustratingly short amount of space to explain something so powerful. I’m going to expand this into a booklet, offering more complete and detailed instruction and examples. VIRTUALLY ANYWHERE will also go into other tools I have used or know about to help writers successfully research their settings.

***

A few years ago, I began to write seriously. Since then, I’ve had short stories and articles published, in print and online, and done well in various competitions. Recently I finished my first novel, set in Wales, which was a finalist in the 2010 Debut Dagger contest. In 2011, I signed a contract with Transit Publishing, and HELLFIRE will be published in September of 2011.

Visit Rickard at http://www.rickardbdemille.com.

VENTRILOQUISM by Timothy Hallinan

2011-09-14T13:34:00.007-04:00

I am thrilled (ha) to welcome Timothy Hallinan, author of the Poke Rafferty series of tense, sinister thrillers set in Thailand, to The Thrill Begins. Not only is Tim a wonderful writer who manages to make the exotic universal, but he's also a terrific friend to emerging writers, and he knows this crazy, wonderful, tumultuous biz as deeply as anyone does. Reading Tim's body of work is a great way to get to know him. Today's post below will show you a slightly different side.

***

Most of my books begin with an idea. It's usually not much of an idea – most often, a person in a situation. I usually don't know how the person got into the situation, and I never know how he/she will get out of it. I figure that out by writing the book.

But three years ago, when I was writing the third Poke Rafferty book, BREATHING WATER, I began to hear a voice. I heard it in snatches of dialogue, and then it began to tell me bits of story. That was my first glimmering of Junior Bender, the burglar who moonlights as a private eye for crooks, and who is now at the center of two books, CRASHED and LITTLE ELVISES.

BREATHING WATER had been a difficult book to write, and it was just beginning to resolve itself. I sometimes visualize writing a book as climbing a long slope, picking up things you think you'll need when you go down. The uphill portion is often tough, and in BREATHING WATER it had just barely been on the good side of possible. So I'd crested the hill and started down, and I was at the point where speed was picking up and I could sense the shape of the book and see half a dozen possible endings, and . . .

. . . and this voice wouldn't shut up.

Not only wouldn't it shut up while I was writing, but it obviously napped while I was having dinner and then had a great big pot of coffee, because it went into filibuster mode the moment I tried to go to sleep. One night, I gave up and went downstairs and wrote a long scene about a burglar trying to steal an ugly painting in a house full of Rottweilers, and the only weapons he has is a shelf full of “marital aids” over the bed in the room he's burglarizing. When it's over—and I will say, with all immodesty, that it's a very exciting and very funny scene—he gets into his car and someone in the back seat pushes an automatic into the back of his neck.

At four in the morning, I made a decision: I put BREATHING WATER aside for what I thought would be four weeks, and wrote CRASHED.

It turned out to be five weeks, which is still the fastest I've ever written a book. And I didn't actually feel like I was writing; I felt like a ventriloquist's dummy. Junior never let up until I'd (or we'd) finished, and then he went to the Bahamas or something, and I went back to BREATHING WATER. I finished that book, edited and published CRASHED as an ebook because I couldn't get a good enough offer from a traditional publisher, and wrote THE QUEEN OF PATPONG, the fourth in the Poke Rafferty series.

Ninety minutes after I finished that book, Junior started talking again.

The Junior books are written (obviously) in first-person, but he's very generous about sharing the page. He's brought a whole gallery of supporting characters with him, crooks mostly, whom I hear just as vividly as I do Junior.

One of my favorites is his friend Louie the Lost, who earned his nickname when a getaway car he was driving with four nervous crooks in front and two million in stolen diamonds in the back wound up stuck in traffic in Compton with half the black population of Los Angeles staring in through the windows. Louie is a free-associator, which is heaven for a writer. For example:

“This is a hypothetical,” I said into the phone. The light in the intersection where I was going to turn left went from green to yellow, and I slowed behind two massive SUVs whose owners were doing everything in their power to ensure the future prosperity of Saudi Arabia. “So. Let's say you're suspected of murder. Let's say you know you're suspected of murder. Let's say you're sort of sitting around waiting for the cops to come and get you. You even hire someone to try to do something about it, try to get you off the hook.”

“This has a familiar ring,” Louie said.

“And now let's say that it turns out you have a perfectly good alibi.”

After a beat, Louie said, “For?”

“For the murder. Let's say several people can place you at home the entire day when Derek Bigelow, your hypothetical victim, got made dead.”

I could hear Louie working on his cigar. “How hypothetical is this?”

“Actually, not at all.”

“This is like a word problem,” Louie said. “Remember word problems? If Karen gets on the train in Chicago going West and Harvey gets on another train in San Francisco going East and the two trains are on the same track and one of them's going 59 miles an hour and the other one is doing 83 miles an hour, and it's 1600 miles from Chicago to San Francisco, and Harvey's in the front car when the trains crash into each other, then how much did Karen weigh?”

I said, “It's like that? How is it like that?”

“Because it doesn't make any sense,” Louie said.

So Junior has talked me through two books now, and I have to say they're the most fun I've ever had with my fingers on a keyboard. It's been three years now since he started yammering in my ear, and he remains unique—no other character has done it. And as long as he wants to talk to me, I'll continue to write it down.

So far, other people seem to like him, too. Of the 32 reviews CRASHED and BREATHING WATER have received on Amazon, 32 are 5-star and one is 4-star. A third book, MUTHER'S DAY, is about one-fifth written but has been parked while I write the next Poke Rafferty, THE FEAR ARTIST.

And this time, Junior seems to understand. He's shut up for the present.

***

Timothy Hallinan, the 2011 Edgar and Macavity nominee for Best Novel, will have his fifth Poke Rafferty novel published by Soho in 2012, and brings back Junior Bender, the crook who made his debut in last year's highly-praised CRASHED, in this year's LITTLE ELVISES.

Developing Characters, by Adrianne Sainte Eve

2011-09-08T00:01:00.000-04:00

Creating characters is the most rewarding part of writing, because life is full of endless inspiration. As human beings none of us can live without each other, yet we are all self-centered, maddeningly unreliable, emotional and unpredictable. We are hypocritical, pretentious, annoying and rampant with contradictions. Nobody is consistent, which is what makes us all fascinating. Naturally, our fictitious characters must have some of these qualities. They must have their own delusions, hopes, fears, and subtle nuances, and they must have some admirable as well as some shameful traits. They come to life when we give them physical descriptions, nicknames and distinguishing marks. I love to dress and accessorize them, like imaginary paper dolls.

It is always easier to see the worst traits in other people, so I find that someone in life who really aggravates me is a great starting point for a character. Certainly some of us are truly vile. Though there may be no excuse for this, but there is always a reason. We are complex creatures and everyone has some redeeming qualities through the stench of pain that shrouds us.

Delving into insanity is the best of all challenges. I believe most of us start with similar mental equipment, which becomes warped in different ways. It is entertaining to wallow in the bizarre, contemplate some loathsome and disturbing ideas, when you can attach them to someone else. I have once been told this is sick, though I think not. As authors, we have the freedom to paint in whatever shades of gray seem entertaining.

I enjoy deciding how the various goings on will affect my characters individually. It intrigues me that none of us ever get anything right. We live in our own worlds, always misunderstand everything, put our own skew on it, and run off to act rashly under some misperception. I find that the most rudimentary idea for a story develops itself once I have created my characters and decided how they will fit together. It is a rare and challenging power to determine all their fates. Everyone can relate when terrible things happen to a character, especially when they are undeserved. All the clichés; i.e.: life is tough, good guys finish last, no good deed seems to go unpunished, are about us feeling sorry for ourselves. So some of us must die young, for the sake of a good story, but conversely, some people just have all the luck. It happens. Though never to us, it seems. Still, the truly despicable are often nondescript, blend into the crowd and live their lives without incident. One might even find it therapeutic to get even with a rival, if only in one’s imagination. We have total license to exaggerate, hold up to ridicule, construct a grisly end and chuckle about it, though I admit nothing.

I recently read some opinions on whether or not it is better to write a story in the first person through the protagonist. There’s no doubt that this adds originality to the story. I always wonder how much of the protagonist is based on the author. Naturally, if narcissism demands, you can base the character on your very best self, though he or she must have some blemishes in the interest of genuineness. There is also an excellent opportunity here to sneak in your own personal rants without risk, or the occasion to develop the dark side of yourself, which would be amusing. Some freshness is lost when writing in the third person, but it often makes for a much clearer read. Sometimes it is better to disassociate. As the author, you can be the impartial watcher, just the record keeper, and can be as clinical as you desire.

I like the idea of writing from several people’s perspectives, each with an I voice. This can be confusing, but I say, so what? I personally don’t mind a bit of confusion because it makes me concentrate more. That said, I admit that I have been criticized for having so many characters in my book that it becomes hard to keep track of them. My publisher made me construct a directory as in certain Russian novels. But I felt they were all essential, and all I can say is pay attention.

The point is that as writers, it’s our own story and our own universe. We have free reign to create entire populations. It’s an incredible privilege.

* * *

Adrianne Sainte-Eve was born in Budapest Hungary, and spent her childhood in, Quebec, Regina, Saskatchewan, and Vancouver, B.C. in Canada. She is a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago and Northern Illinois University, and currently lives in Chicago, Illinois.

An Interview with Thriller Author Linwood Barclay, by Carla Buckley

2011-09-01T00:01:00.000-04:00

Linwood Barclay is the #1 Internationally Bestselling author of nine novels, a novella, and a memoir. His latest release, The Accident, features Glen Garber, a contractor who stumbles upon a terrible car accident late one night, only to recognize his wife's car among the wreckage. Reeling from his wife's death, taking care of their eight-year-old daughter, Kelly, and trying to keep his business afloat, Glen soon realizes that the accident that claimed his wife's life was, in fact, no ordinary accident. Kirkus Reviews calls it a "home run," and Stephen King has it on his summer reading list.

We’re delighted he agreed to be interviewed by Carla Buckley for The Thrill Begins.

CB: Linwood, thank you for stopping by to talk about your writing! I'd like to start off by asking if you could tell us a little about your path to publication. Many debut authors find writing their second novel a struggle, mostly because they're facing now deadlines and answering to an audience. Was that your experience?

LB: Depends what you consider the second novel. The first one that got me any real attention was No Time for Goodbye, so I felt some pressure with the following book, Too Close to Home, particularly in the UK, where none of my earlier books had been published, and No Time had been a monstrous hit. But in fact, Too Close to Home was my sixth novel, so that also eased the pressure. I knew I would be able to write it. It was more a sense of apprehension waiting for it to come out, how it would be judged after No Time for Goodbye. (Thankfully, not too badly.) My real second novel was Bad Guys, the second novel featuring Zack Walker. Considering that the preceding novel, Bad Move, had sold about nine copies (at the time) I didn't feel as though thousands of readers were waiting to judge me.

CB: Would you talk about your writing process--are you a writer who outlines, or who starts with a concept and runs with it?

LB: I need to come up with a great opening hook that I really like, and feel has potential to sustain an entire book. Once I have that, I spend a week or two making notes about what's actually going on and who the main players are. So have a semi-outline, and have a pretty good idea where I am going to end up. But then I reach a point where I just have to start writing, because it's only during the writing that I see the opportunities, the different ways I can go, and the twists I can work in. I usually do a first draft in two to three months. There can be a few more weeks, or a few more months, of work, depending on how good that first draft turns out to be.

CB: Would you say that your journalism background (with the Toronto Star) has influenced or shaped your work? Would you encourage other writers starting out to consider journalism as a career?

LB: Working in newspapers has had a profound effect on how I write novels. First, I appreciate deadlines. They are real and they mean something. So I always deliver books on time, or way ahead of time. And I think I approach writing books in a very professional, realistic, unromantic way. It's a job (a great job), so get it done. People always ask if you get "writer's block" but no one ever asks a plumber if he gets "plumber's block." Writing is a job. When you work in newspapers, no one cares if you just didn't feel creative one day, or the muse wasn't there. You do the work.

Also, working in newspapers teaches you to write clearly. Some critics have complained that my writing is simple, not terribly complex. I can live with that. I want my readers to understand my story, not have them get lost in a lot of flowery description that they're probably going to skip anyway.

CB: You're a master at taking ordinary people and placing them in extraordinary situations. Could you tell us how you came up with the idea for The Accident?

LB: My agent and I had been talking for some time about this huge business in knockoff purses. But to my mind, it was the backdrop for another story. Then I hit upon the idea of a man whose wife dies in a car accident that kills two other people, and police conclude she was at fault, drunk behind the wheel. I saw a way to put all that together. And the other background story, of course, is the disastrous downturn in the US economy, and how some people have decided to deal with it.

CB: One of the qualities I most love about your work is your deft and honest exploration of domestic life. How do you balance that quality with the pulse-pounding thriller heartbeat that runs through your stories?

LB: I don't really think about balancing it. But for years I wrote a humor column for the Toronto Star that was often about the funny side of domestic life. It wasn't difficult to turn things upside down and tackle the same subject matter in a dark, instead of humorous, way.

CB: Your premises are always high concept: a girl returns home from school to find her entire family missing (No Time For Goodbye); a man takes his family to an amusement park only to have his wife disappear (Never Look Away); a car salesman races to find his teenaged daughter who's vanished without a trace (Fear The Worst). May I ask whether Hollywood has noticed?

LB: Eric McCormack, who was Will in Will & Grace, has just renewed an option on No Time for Goodbye and when I last heard from him -- a couple of days ago -- he seems determined to get this film made. Fingers crossed. Fear the Worst has been optioned for film in Spain, and it least one production company has been sniffing around Never Look Away, but nothing definite there yet.

CB: I’ll keep my fingers crossed, too! Thank you, Linwood, for stopping by to speak with the debut authors and congratulations on the UK publication today of The Accident!

* * *

Interviewed by Carla Buckley

Carla Buckley is the debut author of the award-nominated The Things That Keep Us Here (Random House, 2010). Her next novel, Invisible, will be released by Random House in 2012. She chairs the ITW Debut Authors Program, and lives in Ohio with her husband, children, and two bossy little dogs.

ONE DEBUT AUTHOR'S EXPERIENCE

2011-08-18T01:00:00.026-04:00

Shared by ITW Debut Author :: Grace Greene
First, a disclaimer: I'm a big fan of ITW and the Debut Author Program and definitely benefitted from it.
Second, a helpful hint: Never underestimate the value of a friend or the help of kind people.
Third, some good advice: Learn what you can where you can - AKA - avail yourself of opportunities.

My debut release is Beach Rental. It came out in July. Every new author will tell you they need help figuring out how to navigate the release world. Certainly, I did, and ITW offered me some concrete options from which to choose: The Thrill Begins Blog, The ITW Debut Authors Mentor Forum, an interview or feature story, Roundtable Discussions, Book Giveaways, and monthly communications–the BIG THRILL Webzine, the ITW Bulletin with Promo Ops, and the ITW Members Bulletin with News and Updates.

Thanks, ITW.

My friend and critique partner, Nancy Naigle (author of Sweet Tea and Secrets, and co-author of InkBLOT) also had her book debut in 2011 and she introduced me to the ITW Debut Authors Program. I joined, but mixed some things up (as usual) and the wonderful Al Leverone (debut author membership coordinator and debut author of Final Vector ) got my membership all straightened out and Carla Buckley (debut author of The Things That Keep Us Here) got me added to the discussion forum and Lynn Sheene (debut author of The Last Time I Saw Paris) got me on the Mentors Forum. Others helped me, too–so many helping hands that I'm sure I've missed some. These volunteers are authors and they give their time in a world where no one has any extra.

I tried to keep up with tasks related to the release of Beach Rental, but I was busy with editing, blogging and so on and quickly feeling buried by the demands of writing and marketing. Nancy gave me the kick in the britches when, overwhelmed, I almost didn't follow up with ITW about the author interview.

Thanks, Nancy.

For the ITW Debut interview, Janice Bashman (managing editor of The Big Thrill and co-author of Wanted Undead or Alive) offered me the choice of an actual interview or an interview crafted from the information I'd already submitted on the book submission form about me and my book. How easy was that? In the midst of trying to juggle all of the elements, I opted for the second choice–and it was wonderful!

Here's the link to my interview. Check it out. Isn't it wonderful? http://ow.ly/5WWRQ

Educational and marketing opportunities–and another interesting benefit of my membership in ITW and participation in the Debut Author Program, is that a large percentage of the visitors to my author website come there from the ITW website. Take it from me, an often overwhelmed debut author, ITW and the Debut Authors Program–I've already received a lot and I'm still learning and benefitting. Thank you, ITW and the Debut Authors Program, and all of the splendid people who've made my journey a little easier.

About the Author:
Grace Greene writes fiction with romance, suspense and inspiration, always with a strong heroine at its heart. Vivid settings and quirky secondary characters round out the stories and there’s a happily-ever-after-ending—most of the time. Grace is also an artist and photographer. She is drawn to houses and landscapes that ooze character and is fascinated by history and human nature. When she’s writing, all of these interests show up on the page.

Beach Rental is her debut release. Her next novel, Kincaid's Hope, is scheduled for release in January 2012. In Kincaid's Hope, Beth Kincaid finds that swearing off the Kincaid temper and creating the perfect life free from untidy emotionalism has its own dangers and can even get you killed.

A Virginia native, Grace lives in central Virginia. Stay current with Grace’s releases and appearances at www.GraceGreeneAuthor.com

Beach Rental Blurb:

On the Crystal Coast of North Carolina, in the small town of Emerald Isle…

Juli Cooke, hard-working and getting nowhere fast, marries a dying man, Ben Bradshaw, for a financial settlement, not expecting he will set her on a journey of hope and love. The journey brings her to Luke Winters, a local art dealer, but Luke resents the woman who married his sick friend and warns her not to hurt Ben—and he’s watching to make sure she doesn’t.

Until Ben dies and the stakes change.

Framed by the timelessness of the Atlantic Ocean and the brilliant blue of the beach sky, Juli struggles against her past, the opposition of Ben’s and Luke’s families, and even the living reminder of her marriage—to build a future with hope and perhaps to find the love of her life—if she can survive the danger from her past.

Can We Have a Moment, by Steve Piacente & Jenny Milchman

2011-08-11T00:01:00.007-04:00

The Help has struck a fat, juicy, chord.

Kathryn Stockett seems accustomed to the idea, but points out that her novel was rejected 60 times by agents before she found one and was awarded a contract by publisher Amy Einhorn. Let’s go back, because the ignition sequence – that period that launches authors from inspired writing into creative marketing – is a witch’s brew of luck, timing, self-promotion, and several more mystery ingredients.

Today’s consumers have a limited amount of intellectual capital to expend each day. Most goes toward the essentials – things like the kids, the jobs, and the bills. Then there’s a small percentage left for leisure; think of it as discretionary intellectual capital.

This is when consumers may be open to suggestions about a good new book. Of course you’re also competing with movies, yoga, restaurants, and, jeez, other good books. How do you fight your way in when the competition already has the door blocked?

The challenge is not much different for self-published authors and those who land deals with a major house, like Jenny Milchman did. Jenny toiled for 11 years before selling her novel, Cover of Snow, to Ballantine.

When it arrives in stores in 2013 – despite the fine crafstmanship that defines the work – the odds are that it will not resonate like “The Help.” So how do you change the odds? (--Steve)

Can We Have an Hour?

Not an hour to present our books—our readers’ eyes would have long glazed over by then, of course.

But I use the word “hour” intentionally to suggest that what an author needs to do in terms of marketing requires lengthy hard work and what I think of as investment building. It takes hours—but most of these come in before you ask the reader for that one minute of his time.

“Permission marketing” is a whole different animal from cold calling. If someone comes to your door with vacuums for sale, that’s a cold call. If your mom’s best friend—who keeps the cleanest house in town—calls up to say she loves her Electrolux but is moving and would like to offer it to you at a good price, that’s permission marketing. You know this woman. And moreover, you trust her level of expertise and knowledge about her product. Just look at her rugs.

(Thank you, Seth Godin, for the concept of permission marketing).

If we translate this to the world of publishing, then a cold call is the 300^th Facebook announcement you get from someone you’ve never heard of announcing that his book is number 1,700 on the Amazon bestseller list of mysteries that feature a monkey sleuth.

While permission marketing would be when Steve Piacente, whom I know to be an intrepid explorer in the independent publishing landscape, suggests that I might like to read the book that started it all.

How do you get to permission status? How did Steve ensure that I knew his name so that he wouldn’t just be thumping on my door while I was trying to prepare dinner?

He blogged. He offered substantive content about what he’d learned, some of which might be of use to me and others. He commented on others’ blog posts so that I started seeing his name around, and realized that he had things of value to say. He put himself out there so that by the time he was marketing anything, I was already halfway to yes.

Does this change for an independent author versus someone like Kathryn Stockett, who had the whole Penguin publishing machine behind her debut? I’d say yes and no.

Kathryn was put on people’s radar by Penguin while the indie author has to put him or herself on the radar through efforts like Steve undertook. But once there, the author has to have something of substance to offer no matter what. Tips for creating a book cover or trailer. Reflections on whether big expenditures like Book EXPO really matter.

And of course, a great book.

One that, when they come calling, we already want to buy. (--Jenny)

Steve and Jenny would like to know what you think. If two well-written, engaging novels are released at the same time, what factors will make one succeed and the other fail?

* * *

Steve Piacente has been a professional writer since graduating from American University in 1976. In 2010, he self-published Bella (www.getbella.com). Steve started as a sportswriter at the Naples Daily News, switched to news at the Lakeland Ledger, and returned to D.C. in 1985 as Correspondent for the Tampa Tribune. In 1989, the native New Yorker moved to the Charleston Post & Courier. He is now deputy communications director at a federal agency in Washington, D.C., and teaches journalism classes at American University.

Jenny Milchman recently received an offer on her debut novel of literary suspense, after eleven years of trying to break in. COVER OF SNOW will be published by Ballantine in early 2013. Jenny teaches for New York Writers Workshop, and co-hosts the series, Writing Matters. Last year she founded Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, a holiday that enlisted over 80 booksellers in thirty states, Canada, and England. This year the Day spread to Australia. She features international bestsellers, Edgar award winners, and independent authors in the Made It Moments forum on her blog. Her short fiction can be found in an e published volume called Lunch Reads and in the forthcoming anthology, ADIRONDACK MYSTERIES II. Please visit Jenny at http://suspenseyourdisbelief.com.

August Debut Thrillers!

2011-08-01T08:54:00.003-04:00

A great big warm CONGRATS to this month's debut authors!!!

Michelle Diener

IN A TREACHEROUS COURT (Gallery)

Rita Henuber

UNDER FIRE (Carina Press/Harlequin)

Keeping a Mystery Fresh by Misa Ramirez

2011-07-28T00:01:00.003-04:00

One of the biggest challenges of writing a mystery series is making murder believable--over and over and over again. Sometimes this part of writing causes mayhem in my mind because with a cozy series, which is what my newest release is, the cozy elements must always be front and center. This means: amateur sleuth, small town, community, and a hook (dressmaking/sewing, in my case).

That’s a little bit tough. Murder and death are not uplifting concepts, nor are they something an ordinary person happens upon time after time. The writer doesn’t have the fallback of a professional crime-solver to explain the proximity of murder to the sleuth...or even the explanation of why the sleuth is involved in solving the crime in the first place.

My first mystery series is a hybrid—soft-boiled with romantic elements. Lola Cruz is a smart, sexy Latina PI. Easy to keep her involved in crime solving since it’s her job!

My second series, A Magical Dressmaking Mystery series has a definite lightness to it. It’s not funny the way the Lola Cruz books are, but it’s not dark suspense, either. It’s small town, feel good, and is as much about the community of people as it is about the murder. But the sleuth is a Dressmaker—so how do I keep her involved in murder after murder without the whole thing becoming too far-fetched?

Of course there’s a degree of suspension of disbelief, but I like to be as authentic and realistic as I can in a book’s setup. In a murder mystery, mayhem must reign supreme—it just has to function within the book’s world. In Pleating for Mercy, the first book in A Magical Dressmaking Mystery series, the sleuth is Harlow Cassidy, a fashion designer who’s been away from her hometown of Bliss, Texas for a good long time. But when her great-grandmother, Loretta Mae, passes, and Harlow inherits the old yellow farmhouse off the square (actually, she’s owned it since she was a baby, she just never knew it—there are a whole lot of secrets in Bliss!), she leaves Manhattan and goes home to stay.

She opens Buttons & Bows and her new dressmaking business is born. But mayhem ensues when an old childhood acquaintance shows up needing a wedding dress made, then a dead body is discovered and it’s all a little too close to home for Harlow. Who said small town life was quiet? They’ve never been to Bliss!

Pleating for Mercy comes out on August 2nd. I loved, Loved, LOVED writing this book and can’t wait to get to my computer every day and get back into the world of Harlow, Nana, Tessa (Harlow’s Mama), Will Flores, Loretta Mae (who’s still hanging around the old farmhouse as a ghost), and the town square. It’s become a comfort to me, and truth be told, I’d like to live in Bliss, Texas. If only it existed outside my head and the pages of my books!

Crafting believable killings within a book series is tough, but getting to spend time with Harlow (who’s a descendent of Butch Cassidy and is charmed) is so much fun. I’m getting ready to start book three, a holiday installment, and can’t wait to see how Bliss comes alive for the holidays. Murder and mayhem aside, there’s just something great about cozies and books which have characters you see as friends.

I’d love to hear about some of your favorite books, favorite characters, and favorite book communities. How do your favorite cozy authors handle their sleuths happening upon murder after murder after murder?

Melissa Bourbon, who sometimes answers to her Latina-by-marriage name Misa Ramirez, gave up teaching middle and high school kids in Northern California to write full-time amidst horses and Longhorns in North Texas. She fantasizes about spending summers writing in quaint, cozy locales, has a love/hate relationship with yoga and chocolate, is devoted to her family, and can’t believe she’s lucky enough to be living the life of her dreams.

She is the marketing director at Entangled Publishing, is the author of the Lola Cruz Mystery series with St. Martin’s Minotaur, A Magical Dressmaking Mystery series with NAL, and is the co-author of The Tricked-out Toolbox and two romantic suspense titles to be released in 2012.

Visit Misa at:

Website: http://melissabourbon.com

The Naked Hero: http://thenakedhero.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/misa.ramirez and http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMelissaBourbon.MisaRamirez

Twitter: http://twitter.com/melissabourbon and http://twitter.com/misaramirez

Killer Characters (on the 22nd of each month): http://killercharacters.com

Entangled Publishing (publisher of my upcoming romantic suspense novels and the 3rd Lola Cruz book, Bare Naked Lola): http://entangledpublishing.com

Style Blunders in Fiction, by Jodie Renner

2011-07-21T00:01:00.001-04:00

No, I’m not talking about the fashion police coming after you. I’m talking about those little errors and bad habits that creep into your manuscript, weaken your message, and add up to an overall feeling of amateurish writing. The good news is that, unlike the more critical creative flow of ideas for plot and characters, these little bad habits are easy to correct, resulting in a much more polished, compelling manuscript.

1. Take out wishy-washy qualifiers like quite, sort of, almost, kind of, a bit, pretty, somewhat, rather, usually, basically, generally, probably, mostly, really, etc. Forget “He was quite brave,” or “She was pretty intelligent” or “It was almost scary.” These qualifiers dilute your message, reduce the impact, and make the imagery weaker. Take them out. Even very is to be avoided – it’s like you’re saying the word after it needs reinforcing. “She was beautiful” packs more punch than “She was very beautiful.”

2. Show us, don’t tell us how your characters are feeling. Avoid statements like, “He found that funny,” or “The little girl felt sad.” Show these emotions by their actions, words, and body language: “Eyes downcast, shoulders slumped, head down, she refused to answer as she pushed her food around the plate.”

3. Avoid colorless, overused verbs like walked, ran, went, saw, talked, ate, did, got, put, took. Get out your thesaurus (or use the MS Word one. Hint: look up the present tense: walk, run, eat, say, etc.) to find more expressive, powerful verbs instead, like crept, loped, stumbled, stomped, glimpsed, noticed, observed, witnessed, spied, grunted, whimpered, devoured, consumed, gobbled, wolfed, munched, or bolted.

4. Avoid –ing verbs wherever possible. Use -ed verbs instead – they’re stronger and more immediate. “He was racing” is weaker than “He raced.” “They searched the house” is more immediate than “They were searching the house.” Rewrite -ing verbs whenever you can, and you’ll strengthen your writing and increase its power.

5. Keep adverbs to a minimum. Instead of propping up a boring, anemic verb with an adverb, look for strong, descriptive, powerful verbs. Instead of “He walked slowly” go for “He plodded” or “He trudged” or “He dawdled.” Instead of “She ate hungrily” say “She devoured the bag of chips,” or “She wolfed down the pizza.” Instead of “They talked quickly,” say “They babbled.”

6. Use adjectives sparingly and consciously. Instead of stringing a bunch of adjectives in front of an ordinary, overused noun, find a more precise, expressive noun to show rather than tell. Overuse of adjectives can also turn your writing into “purple prose” that is melodramatic and overly “flowery.”

7. Dialogue tags – Stick with the basic he said and she said (or asked) wherever possible, rather than “he emphasized” or “she reiterated” or “Mark uttered,” etc. These phrases stand out, so they take the reader out of the story, whereas “said” is almost invisible. However, I like dialogue tags that describe how something is said, as in he shouted, she murmured, he grumbled, she whispered. You can often eliminate the dialogue tag altogether and just use an action beat instead: He picked up the phone. “That’s it. I’m calling the cops.”

8. Describe the stimulus, then the response: When writing an action scene, make sure your sentence structure mimics the order of the actions. The reader pictures the actions in the order that she reads them, so it’s confusing to read about the reaction before finding out what caused it. So describe the action first, then the reaction: Instead of “He yelled when the dog bit him,” write: “The dog bit him and he yelled.”

9. Avoid the passive voice: For greater impact, when describing an action, start with the doer, then describe what he did, rather than the other way around. Use the more direct active voice wherever possible. Instead of “The house was taped off by the police,” write “The police taped off the house.” Also, avoid empty phrases like “There is”, “There was,” “It’s,” “It was.” Jump right in with what you’re actually talking about.

10. Avoid negative constructions wherever possible – they can be confusing to the reader. Instead of “I didn’t disagree with him,” say “I agreed with him.”

11. Avoid frequent repetition of the same word or forms of the same word. If you’ve already used a certain noun or verb in a paragraph or section, go to your thesaurus to find a different way to express that idea when you mention it again. Also, avoid repetition of the same imagery. Whether you’re describing the setting, the weather, or the hero or heroine, vary your wording.

12. Avoid formal sentences and pretentious language. Rather than impressing your readers, ornate, fancy words can just end up alienating them. As Jessica Page Morrell says, “if a reader is constantly consulting a dictionary when reading your prose, you’re dragging him from the story. Words in manuscripts such as capacious, accretion, plangent, occluded, viridian, arboreal, sylvan, obdurant, luculent, longueur, rubescent, and mendacious always pull me from the story. Just say no to showing off.”

As Morrell points out, “Simple words are close to our hearts and easily understood…. simpler words are unpretentious, yet contain power and grace….Pompous words are alienating, boring, and outdated.”

* * *

Resources: Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us, by Jessica Page Morrell; Manuscript Makeover, by Elizabeth Lyon; How NOT to Write a Novel, by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman.

My Katrina Experience by E.J. Findorff

2011-07-14T00:01:00.000-04:00

I don't pretend to have any expertise or secret to offer aspiring writers in my blogs. Most of what I write is prefaced by this works for me. Instead, since all of my novels take place in New Orleans, I thought to share a personal experience in this featured blog.

At the time of Katrina, I was working at a print shop in Niles, Illinois, just north of Chicago. My parents, who lived in New Orleans East, pretty close to the Lower Ninth Ward, evacuated a day early, going to Baton Rouge with my grandmother to stay with my sister. They only took enough items for a two-day stay.

The levees broke and my family couldn’t leave Baton Rouge. That is when a life changing reality set in; my hometown was under water. My experience was a lot different than my parents and those who still lived in New Orleans. I was saddled with the guilt of not being with them and of my life not being turned upside down and the deep sadness of knowing that the home I grew up in was no longer.

My parents lived in the same house in New Orleans East since I was three. I moved out when I was eighteen and my grandmother moved into my old room. After I graduated from the University of New Orleans, I waited tables in the Quarter until I moved to Chicago for a job at twenty-six, about ten years before Katrina.

New Orleans East was a lower-middle class area that was mostly black, with some gangs, but overall, not the worst neighborhood to live in. There were shootings and robberies that you would hear of, but luckily, my parents were never involved in a crime statistic. After Katrina, my parent’s house, which was two blocks off Lake Pontchartrain, had about five feet of water and was totally ruined.

So, at this point, my parents and two grandmothers were staying in my sister’s cramped one bedroom apartment in Baton Rouge with her husband and child and they had no where else to go. I could only imagine the heartbreak and tension they were feeling, not knowing what their future held or what they had to go back to. They had no clothes and their medicine was all back at the house.

The following weekend, I took off work and drove down to Baton Rouge. I don’t know why I did this to myself, but I listened to New Orleans and Mardi Gras music and I found myself crying at different moments during the thirteen hour drive. It became scary when I hit Jackson, Mississippi, as every gas station off the interstate had long lines of cars waiting for gas. For a while I didn’t know if I’d have enough gas to make it, it was getting dark and there was no cell phone reception.

Along the way, I encountered many service vehicles, fire engines, and such heading down. There were campers and SUV’s with Katrina relief written on them. When I finally made it to the apartment complex, I ran up to my family and hugged them and cried, trying to tell them it would be okay, but here I was, feeling that guilt; feeling like an outsider, but this wasn’t about me, it was about my parents and my sister and the hell they were going through.

I stayed with them for a few days. There was nothing for me to do but offer support. They told me I shouldn’t have come, but what could I do? I needed to be there with them, if nothing else, but to be a distraction. When I left, we hugged and cried again and I continued to cry on the way back to Chicago. The total shock of all of these events and the adjustment to a life to follow was going to take a huge toll on them. This was a long way from being over.

As soon as people were allowed back into New Orleans, I drove down to help my parents try to retrieve any items that might have been salvageable. It was extremely creepy driving into our neighborhood as it was a ghost town. It reminded of a typical Stephen King town when there was something evil afoot. There was no law and every time a vehicle came by, we had to be ready to defend ourselves. We’ve heard terrible stories of robberies and murders from people offering help.

We looked around the house first, wearing rubber gloves and facemasks. There wasn’t much to save. Everything was lost; pictures, greeting cards, everything made in elementary school by my sister and me. It was all gone. Gutting the house was a gut wrenching experience, but I couldn’t let it show. Eventually, we had dragged everything we could to the curb. This was a requirement of Road Home buying the house.

My parents, grandmother’s, sister, her husband and child had lived in the one bedroom apartment in Baton Rouge for a while. I called constantly, getting updates on how FEMA’s assistance was coming along. A month or two into it, my parents managed to get their own apartment within the same complex and that saved their sanity for the short term.

My sister had the patience of a saint, dealing with the entire situation. She called FEMA everyday, making sure my folks wouldn’t fall through the cracks. One of my grandmothers was able to move into a FEMA trailer on her property in Slidell while my other grandmother continued to stay with my parents.
Eventually, FEMA came through with Road Home money and my parents started a new mortgage on a house in Baton Rouge and my sister also got her first home just a mile away from them. There were a lot of New Orleanians that stayed in Baton Rouge.Although they are still adjusting to a new life, their new home is in a better neighborhood than the old one and the house is nicer, but it’s not the same, so they tell me. They miss their old life, as would anyone. However, the way I see it, Baton Rouge has gained a lot of character.

* * *

E.J. Findorff is a native of New Orleans. He graduated from the University of New Orleans while serving six years in the Louisiana National Guard. Unhinged is his first novel. For more information about E.J., please visit him at http://www.ejfindorff.com, http://ejfindorff.blogspot.com, and http://www.facebook.com/findej.

Relating Classic Mythology to Today's Mysteries by Thomas Kaufman

2011-07-07T00:01:00.000-04:00

I love private eye stories. As a teenager I read Raymond Chandler and knew, then and there, that I wanted to write a detective story. The result was DRINK THE TEA, and now the sequel, STEAL THE SHOW.

What was it about Chandler's book that appealed to me? Well, in one way it seemed that Marlowe was a romantic. There's poetry in him, and a great sense of humor. Though he's a bit jaded, he still knows right from wrong. When he has to, he puts his life on the line. He's an individualist, irreverent, an investigator who left the police due to insubordination. Plus, he's good at what he does. Very good.

Years ago Joseph Campbell recorded a series of conversations with Bill Moyers and George Lucas. Campbell, as you probably know, wrote extensively about myth, and how myths inform our writing today. (Check out Campbell's book, HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES.) Lucas, who created the STAR WARS saga, was a devotee of Campbell's.

But myth structure is not only for science fiction. When we look at Raymond Chandler, we see how he uses the story of the knight-errant. (In fact, before he settled on the name of Marlowe, Chandler had called his private eye Mallory, the same name as the author who wrote MORTE D'ARTHUR.) And Chandler's private-eye-as-knight-errant goes forward to this day.

So, what's a knight-errant? They are warriors, highly skilled, who travel the countryside. They are knights who may or may not have a king to command them. They are men (and these days, women) who look for trouble. Who were some of the famous knight-errants?

Sir Gawain
Sir Lancelot
Amadis de Gaula
Don Quixote

The Ronin of Japan can fit into this category of hero, (the Japanese film by Kurosawa, YOJIMBO, based on the Hammett novel RED HARVEST) as well as the American cowboy (A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, based on YOJIMBO – talk about coming full circle!).

Are there modern equivalents to the knight-errant?

At the Indiana Bouchercon I had a pleasant conversation with Lee Child, and we talked about myth and its importance in writing. Mr Child talked about the myth of the knight-errant, and its impact on his writing about Reacher, a warrior and a loner, who wanders the countryside, righting wrongs, and rescuing fair maidens. Sound familiar?

I see my private eye, Willis Gidney, as a knight errant. For me, the journey of the hero is a means of self-discovery. This is one of the changes in modern detective stories – that the mystery to be solved is not exclusively that of the detective's client, but also, in part, that of the detective him/herself. That, instead of the private eye as an immutable character, she/he changes over time, grows, and maybe even learns something.

I think Tony Hillerman did a wonderful job when he wrote about Navajo Tribal Policemen Leaphorn and Chee – you can see them progress and change from book to book. There's a psychological variant on the detective story: in the film LETHAL WEAPON, the detective is suicidal, but over the course of the story learns to overcome (some of) his self-destructive tendencies. In THE SEVEN PER CENT SOLUTION, Holmes must rid himself of cocaine addiction, while solving a baffling case.

When I write about the private eye in STEAL THE SHOW, I'm writing about a guy who had been abandoned as a child. His first six years of life are a blank. And this affects his actions, the cases he takes, the reasons for doing what he does. You and I might not go down the paths Gidney travels but, as the writer, it's my job to help you understand why Gidney chooses certain paths over others.

How about your hero? Can you relate him or her to this classic myth?

* * *

Thomas Kaufman is an Emmy-winning director/cameraman who also writes mysteries. His first book, DRINK THE TEA, won the PWA/St Martin's Press Competition for Best First Novel. His second book, STEAL THE SHOW, comes out this July. His blog tour continues this week at Murderati, Gelati's Scoop, and Spinetingler Magazine.

July 2011 Debut Releases!

2011-07-03T08:14:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to our July debut authors!!

E. J. Findorff - UNHINGED (Medallion)

Adrienne Giordano - MAN LAW (Carina Press)

Grace Greene - BEACH RENTAL (Turquoise Morning Press)

Jennifer Hillier - CREEP (Simon & Schuster /Gallery Books)

Pros and Cons of First-Person Point of View by Jodie Renner

2011-06-23T00:01:00.001-04:00

Most novels are written in third-person past tense: “He raced through the dark alley, the footsteps getting louder behind him.” First-person is another option: “As I slammed down the phone in disgust, I heard the doorbell ring.”

While first-person viewpoint can be ideal for a short story, writing a novel-length story in first-person is riskier. New fiction writers sometimes opt to write their novel in first-person, as they think this will be easier. But writing a novel effectively and compellingly in first-person is a lot more difficult than it appears, for a number of reasons. As novelist David Morrell points out, “If the first person were as easy as it seems, all stories would be written from that viewpoint.”

Some of the advantages to writing your novel in first-person are:

It mirrors real life – we experience life around us only from our own point of view – we don’t know what other people are thinking.
There’s a direct connection from the narrator to the reader, so this POV can create an immediate sense of intimacy and believability.
The narrator-character’s voice comes through more clearly, as it is expressed directly.
It’s easier to portray the POV character’s personality and world-view, as they’re doing all the talking.

Some of the disadvantages of using first-person point of view and narration are:

It’s difficult to dramatize scenes where the viewpoint character is not present. Your POV character won’t know what’s going on in other locations.
Too many sentences begin with “I” or have “I” in them. Can quickly become repetitious, tedious, and even annoying to the reader.
In the opening, the reader is often left wondering who “I” is. Be sure to mention your first-person narrator’s name in the first paragraph or two, or certainly on the first page. A dialogue with someone else helps the reader figure out who this “I” is.
Working in a physical description of your protagonist can be a bit tricky, when we’re in her point of view, and the looking in the mirror thing has been a bit overdone.
The reader may tire of the same voice and point of view predominating throughout the novel. Not enough variation in style and personality.
We may also get too much of the first-person narrator-character’s opinions on people and events around him, and long for a little variety. How do the other characters see things?
There’s a danger of too much introspection, interior monologue, and explaining things – in other words, “telling.” Be sure to balance this with plenty of action and dialogue –“showing”– which will help the pacing and move the story forward more easily.
The viewpoint character has to be really interesting, with a distinctive, compelling voice, as we’re “in his head” for the whole novel.
With all those “I”s and “me”s, there’s a danger of the writer putting too much of himself into the novel.

First-person narration is ideal for a short story, and can work really well in the hands of a skilled novelist (for example, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, and The Turn of the Screw by Henry James are three notable examples), but is difficult for aspiring authors to pull off successfully, especially for a whole novel. As Morrell points out, “the first person is only as interesting as the character telling the story.”

To work, your narrator-character needs to have a unique voice and personality, with lots of attitude. As James Scott Bell says, “There must be something about the voice of the narrator that makes her worth listening to—a worldview, a slant, something more than just a plain vanilla rendition of the facts.” On the other hand, don’t make your narrator-character too weird, as that could get grating or annoying after a while, too.

Even then, as David Morrell states: At its worst, when using first-person narration or POV, “The sentences can become a litany of I did this and I did that and I did something else, until the reader is overwhelmed with egotism and closes the pages.” So it’s important to vary the sentence structure to avoid a lot of sentences starting with “I”, “the egotistical I-I-I that makes many first-person stories wearying.” (Morrell)

Many successful novelists also feel that first-person narration encourages too much telling and introspection and analysis, rather than showing and action. As Morrell says, “One of the several liabilities of the first person is its tendency to encourage a writer to jabber away….”

In The Successful Novelist, Morrell discusses how he personally found first-person narration very suitable for short stories, “but I tried at least six of my novels in the first person, each time giving up in frustration once I got deeply into the story.” He found it hard to overcome “the obvious liability of the first person, the nagging, narcissistic I-I-I of it.”

Morrell concludes, “Having been through this turmoil, I think I’ll stick to using the first person only in short stories, while reserving the third person for my novels.”

As an alternative to using one first-person narrator for a whole novel, one could choose to use first-person viewpoint for different characters, giving each character their own chapters, told directly by them, from their viewpoint. In this case, it’s important to make sure that each character speaks with a unique, distinctive voice, with plenty of attitude of their own. Or you could even have your protagonist’s viewpoint in the first-person, then portray other characters in the third-person, in their own chapters.

If you’ve written or started a book in first-person, try rewriting a chapter or two in third-person. Leave it for a few days, then reread the third-person attempt and see if you like the added freedom and variety of voice and viewpoint a little better. Or give both versions to a trusted friend or critique group and see which approach they prefer.

Resources: How to Write a Damn Good Thriller, by James N. Frey; The Successful Novelist, by David Morrell; Revision and Self-Editing by James Scott Bell.

* * *

The Journey of 11 Years Begins With One Day by Jenny Milchman

2011-06-16T00:01:00.006-04:00

Hello, The Thrill Begins readers! Thank you for stopping by to read. If you leave a comment, you will be entered to win a copy of my Kindle short story "The Very Old Man", which has been an Amazon bestseller in mystery anthologies.

Today I wanted to talk to you about my journey to publication—which took one day...and then another eleven years.

If I had known how long it would be, I might have stopped before I even got started. Or maybe I wouldn’t have. After all, I’d wanted to be a writer since before I could write.

Family lore has me dictating bedtime stories as a sleepy two year old to my mother.

At first it didn’t seem like it would take me very long at all. In fact, it even seemed like I might be one of those instant wonders! After all, I received not one but two offers from agents, one at an illustrious NYC agency, the other greener, but hungry and passionate, just months after I began querying.

Now I could sit back and wait for my novel to sell, right?

Questions like that call for only one answer: Wrong.

What I learned was that even the wisest, most experienced, and devoted agent doesn’t sell every project she or he takes on. (What percentage do they sell? I think this is a secret more closely guarded than whether women of a certain age have had work done).

I also learned that my writing—despite having a spark, a certain something, that attracted agents—had a long, long way to go.

It wasn’t just work on craft that enabled me finally to sell, although that must’ve been part of it, for surely I improved over the course of eight (count ’em) novels.

But other things came into play, and I’m listing three tips here, in case one or more is helpful to other emerging writers walking (sometimes plodding) along this road.

1. Pursue what I call para-writing activities. In my case, I began a literary series with events taking place at a local bookstore. I got to know writers, and I got to know booksellers, and many of these people became interested in my journey. It may not have helped me sell any faster, but it sure made the trip less lonely.

2. Join writing organizations that embrace emerging as well as published writers. I write literary suspense, and can recommend three that seemed to work particularly well. One is Mystery Writers of America, another is Backspace, and the third, of course, is International Thriller Writers. While you may have to have a contract or offer in hand to take advantage of some of these groups’ benefits, all offer conferences and events that are open to everyone. Which brings me to—

3. Attend writing conferences. You will learn from the panel discussions. You will commune (and sometimes commiserate) with other writers who are trying to get published. And you will meet authors who can give you faith that a) it will really happen and b) may even be able to help you. Some authors are kind enough to read a few pages of your work, offer his or her agent’s name, or simply tell you how they got their first break.

How did I finally get published? All of the above.

I attended a conference that led me to my third (and ultimately successful) agent. I had grown the writing series enough that I had editors’ names to give my agent. (Sometimes people don’t realize—certainly I didn’t eleven years ago—what a partnership the agent/author relationship is). And finally, I got to know a favorite, much admired author who ultimately agreed to read my unpublished manuscript, and in the end all but put it in her editor’s hands.

It may not be clear, when you’re taking that very first step, how your book—or even which book—will ultimately sell. But I can tell you that if you just keep walking, it will.

Bio:

Jenny Milchman is a suspense writer from New Jersey. She is the founder of the literary series Writing Matters, which draws authors and publishing professionals from both coasts to standing room only events at a local independent bookstore. In 2010 she created Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, a holiday that went viral across the web, enlisting booksellers in 30 states, two Canadian provinces, and England. Jenny is the author of the short story "The Very Old Man", an Amazon bestseller in mystery anthologies. Another short story will be published in 2012 in a book called Adirondack Mysteries II. Her novel, a literary thriller called COVER OF SNOW, is forthcoming from Ballantine.

My various homes on the web:

http://www.jennymilchman.com

http://www.suspenseyourdisbelief.com

http://www.takeyourchildtoabookstore.org

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jennymilchman

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jennymilchman

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