Monday, October 7, 2013

Montana Writer's Conference a Success by Rita Karnopp

The Montana Romance Writer’s Conference in Billings, Montana, was another success.  This was the second year the MT RWA put on a writing conference, something that’s scarce in Montana.

I was excited to be there – representing Books We Love (BWL) with my books in print for the signing and with information readers need to find and connect with the wonderful authors at BWL.

A division between published and self-published authors became apparent and definitely unexpected.  Published authors made it known they’ve paid their dues in order to be accepted as an author for a reputable publisher.

Published authors voiced their concerns and encouraged self-publishing authors to study the art of writing.  Equally important they should hire an experienced editor before even considering releasing their self-published ebook.

A common thread of fear – poorly written ebooks could flood the market, hurting both published and self-published authors.

No doubt we hear a lot about readers who just refuse to accept the electronic reading choices available to them – they still want to hold a book in their hands.  As time goes on, it’s obvious printed books will be in less demand.  Ebooks are taking the market by storm, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.

Please check out my newly released book, Thunder.

 
The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is a volatile, exciting, and action-packed world and even more so behind the scenes.   Keme (Thunder), a Blackfeet fan favorite wrestler at the top of his game, is found hanging from the rafters of his training facility.  Is it murder . . . or suicide?

Thunder’s fiancĂ© and undercover FBI agent, Chloe Evans has been posing as an employee selling memorabilia at WWE events - looking for evidence of blood diamonds.  And now Thunder is dead and his daughter is missing.  She has no choice but to work with his prejudiced and stubborn brother, Mingan, to save Nuttah and expose the truth about Thunder’s death. 

Mingan (Gray Wolf) is certain his twin brother wouldn’t commit suicide.  Entering the world of professional wrestling and fulfilling Thunder’s obligations, Mingan begins by scrutinizing everything around Thunder’s life, starting with the beautiful and haunting Chloe.  As hard as he tries to keep her at a distance, he is pulled to her like adrenaline on a choke hold.  If they find his niece, they will find his brother’s killer . . . or will they uncover something more sinister going on? 

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Afloat on an Iceberg: Creating Background by Lee Killough


Say “world-building” and most writers think “alien planets.” But every story happens somewhere and that “somewhere” needs building...not just for science fiction and fantasy but mysteries, westerns, spy thrillers, Regency romances, and the Great American Novel. Historical settings must be researched. So does any contemporary location not well known to the author. A real place a thousand miles away or a decade in the past can be as “alien” as another planet. If the plot uses supernatural elements — elves, magic, ghosts, psychics, vampires, werewolves — it needs a background allowing them to exist. And of course any fictional setting, even one close to the author’s Here and Now, needs to be developed. Take the example of a small town. No two are alike. Fast food franchises differ from area to area. So do supermarket and department store chains. A farming or ranching community will have different stores than a college town. Yearly rhythms are affected by harvest, working cattle, or the college schedule. In the latter case, depending on the number of town residents connected to the college, even the beginning and end of the grade and high school year may be determined by the college semesters. Towns in areas with tourist traffic or seasonal sports are likewise shaped by catering to the tourists and sports. Working out those details is world-building.
And I love it...whether creating a planet and aliens, building a fictional town, or checking out the history and present-day aspects of a real place on Earth. Reading about it, studying maps, talking to people who know it, traveling there if possible. If I cannot go there personally...thank you for the Internet and Google maps, where in many cities a street scene option lets me pick an address and virtually stand at pavement level where I can turn 360 degrees to see what the area looks like. The next best thing to being there. Constructing background is like putting together a puzzle...figuring out all the little details...the clothes, the food, the houses, local transportation, local amusements, local slang. It is making up the rules for a ghost, as I did in my book Killer Karma, determining out how he would move around, how he could become visible to people. It is making up rules for a vampire in Blood Hunt, Bloodlinks and Blood Games. Deciding that yes, he will have a reflection but no, he cannot enter a dwelling uninvited, because that presents a dramatic obstacle for a vampire who is also a cop. It is creating werewolves for Wilding Nights who do not have to worry what happens to their clothes in shifting to wolf form. For me, world-building is half the fun of writing the book. Never mind that most of the information I work out will never appear in the novel.
A waste? Not at all. Think of background as an iceberg. Only a small portion shows, those details necessary for the story, but the unseen bulk is equally important. Not only has it often suggested plot twists I might never have considered in the context of my own Here and Now, it is crucial support for what does appear in the story. When I read a novel, I want to feel as though I’m living in Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, or Tony Hillerman’s Navaho country, or the ancient China of Robert van Gulik’s Judge Dee. So I want my own books to give readers the same kind of experience. Which I can’t do without knowing novel’s world so thoroughly I am immersed in it as I write. I don’t want to end up with something like a romance I read years ago...and always remember as a warning to myself. Though set in South Africa, it had so little sense of place that the characters seemed to speak their lines in front of a blank backdrop.
Memorable characters might have saved the book for me, someone more than the stock naive protagonist, the Heathcliff-like love interest, and the catty other woman. Because while landscape sets mood and sometimes becomes a character in the story — what would Wuthering Heights and The Hound of the Baskervilles be without the brooding moors? — it doesn’t drive the story. Characters do that...and what makes them interesting and uniquely who they are is their background.
A big part of what we’re doing in world-building, then, is really culture-building. Culture envelops each of us from the moment of birth...permeating our lives, influencing us at fundamental but unconscious levels to shape our attitudes, our prejudices, our reactions. We know it is Harry Potter’s fate to fight Voldemort, but I think that because he was deprived of friends and a sense of belonging while living with the Dursleys, part of what drives his courage is the desire to protect the world of magic where he has found friends and a sense of belonging. Judge Dee believes in spirits because his ancient China does. In his time it was also considered acceptable to use torture in questioning criminal suspects, and because he is a man of his time, Dee uses torture. In Tony Hillerman’s mysteries, Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn are both Navaho policemen. But in Leaphorn’s boyhood, Indian children were taken from their families to boarding schools, where their own language and culture were forbidden in a government effort to assimilate the Navahoes into American society. As a result Leaphorn lacks emotional connection to traditional Navaho beliefs and looks on many of them as superstition. Jim Chee grew up on the reservation. He embraces his culture, and feels so strongly about it that he wants to be a shaman. The difference in their boyhoods affects how the two think and how they approach their police work. The traditional fear of the chindi, an evil spirit left after a person’s death, makes Chee reluctant to touch a corpse. Leaphorn has no such qualms. I want my characters, too, behaving in accordance with their own personalities and background, not mine. My werewolves in Wilding Nights are a separate species from humans who by passing as human have survived the extinction suffered by other hominids such as the Neanderthals. So while they live among humans, they wear masks, hiding their non-human attitudes, rituals, customs. Taking the wolf form uses massive amounts of energy so they have equally massive appetites that astonish the unknowing humans they work with. Their homes are built with walk-in restaurant-style refrigerators.
Like writing itself, there are as many ways to go about world-building as there are authors. All of them correct when they work. It is only wrong to skip doing it. You risk ending up with that the South African romance...or a Star Trek novel I read, where the Vulcans came across as American Suburbanites. Culture is so much a part of us that we tend to be unaware of its influence, and if a story’s background has not been fully worked out, our subconscious will likely fill the gaps with the only culture it knows...our own. Which, as in the Star Trek book, may not work. Or we can make erroneous assumptions. The Colt Peacemaker and the Old West seem synonymous, but if we have a Civil War veteran heading west in 1866 packing the Colt, Western fans will flay us. They know the Colt wasn’t manufactured until 1873.
Being a compulsive — some would say anal — organizer, I world-build by working through a checklist of fifty-plus culture-related categories. A checklist I developed by reading a slew of anthropological studies and seeing what criteria the pros use to describe a culture. Though I type my notes on a computer — up to a page or so per category, using as many categories as necessary (fewer being necessary the closer I am to my own Here and Now) — I print it out along with character biographies and make up a loose-leaf binder for easy reference while writing. The binder also contains maps, sometimes floor plans of relevant buildings, often pictures of story locations if it has a real-life setting, and pictures of vehicles the characters drive. In the case of an alien planet, I do sketches of animals and the aliens themselves.
It works well for me, but while other writers like and use my checklist, we agree that the tome I produce can be all wrong for another writer. Leafing through one of my background books, science fiction writer Jack Williamson confided that when he tried something similar in his early writing days, by the time he finished putting so much effort into the background, he had no creative energy left for the book itself and never wrote it. That is not a result we want. Mystery writer Charlaine Harris awes me because she keeps the worlds and characters of her Sookie Stackhouse, Aurora Teagarden, and Harper Connelly series in her head. I know other writers who do, too. More power to them. They all amaze me. Still other writers, for whom the writing process is one of discovering the story, say they make up background as they go along. One told me that if she knew all about the book before she started, the story would be told and no longer interesting enough for her to write down. I wonder, though, if the subconscious of such writers isn’t at work madly hammering that background together beneath their awareness. In any case, the method works for them...perhaps because they have the experience and skill to pull it off.
Books written that way by young writers too often tend to read like the authors made it up as they went along. Which may have been the case with the Star Trek novel. I feel that at least in the beginning, a writer should consciously work out details about their story background. Which does not have to be as involved or time consuming as my tomes. Some note cards or a computer file equivalent may be sufficient. Whatever it takes to help the author make his setting feel real and complete.
World-building does have a couple of pitfalls to watch out for. Such as killing a book by becoming so engrossed in creating the background that it turns from a tool to an end in itself. I always watch to make sure I’m not tinkering with background beyond alterations necessary to make the plot and characters work. After doing extensive background research on a subject, say San Francisco’s 1906 Great Quake and Fire, it is a huge temptation to cram all those fascinating facts into the story and not “waste” them. Which is why I have a picture of an iceberg prominently displayed on my bulletin board, reminding me to use only what the story needs.
Because the story is the point of it all, and world-building, however important, whether a game or labor, accomplished by whatever method, must in the end do just one thing...provide the characters with a solid and suitable place for telling their tale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Killer Karma

Inspector Cole Dunavan finds himself in the middle of a parking garage with no memory except of his murder. After remembering who he is and accepting that he is now a ghost, he has more problems. He is a ghost with no idea how being a ghost works. No one sees or hears him. He cannot move objects and initially cannot move through closed doors. He learns to his horror that his body has not been found, and everyone thinks he has run off with a woman who is actually an informant. A woman whose life he may have put in danger. He must save her, find his killer, and show his wife he has remained faithful.



"Killough keeps the action driving forward, but does not neglect character development. We get to know our protagonist's loved ones, and to care about them. We begin to understand why the antagonists do what they do. Will there be any justice? Will anyone find out what happened to him, or will they believe the false report circulating? And if they do find out, what then? Killough does not give us easy answers. The climax of Killer Karma is a marvelous crescendo, both complex and poignant." ~ Sherwood Smith

"Killough has created more than a paranormal police procedural here. This is a novel about love and redemption, about friendship and possibility. Any reader who enjoys a good mystery with strong psychological elements, compelling characters, and a fascinating storyline will relish this one. I highly recommend it." ~ Pari Noskin Taichert, Fresh Fiction web site
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Lee Killough has been storytelling since the age of four or five, when she started making up her own bedtime stories, then later, her own episodes of her favorite radio and TV shows. So of course when she discovered science fiction and mysteries about age eleven, she began writing her own science fiction and mysteries. It took a husband, though, years later, to convince her to try selling her work. Her first published stories were science fiction and one short story, "Symphony For a Lost Traveler", was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1985.

She used to joke that she wrote SF because she dealt with non-humans every day...spending twenty-seven years as chief technologist in the Radiology Department at Kansas State University's Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. At the same time, she also used to train horses. She has lived most of her life in Kansas, but when her late husband was in the Air Force at the end of the sixties, they lived two unforgettable years in Washington D.C. During which she witnessed the hippie invasion of Georgetown, the Poor People's march on D.C., urban riots that set fires in neighborhoods close to theirs, and their neighborhood crawling with police and FBI for a day while law enforcement tracked two men who gunned down an FBI agent a few blocks from their home.


Because she loves both SF and mysteries, her work combines the two genres. Although published as SF, most of her novels are actually mysteries with SF or fantasy elements...with a preference--thanks to a childhood hooked on TV cop shows--for cop protagonists. She has set her procedurals in the future, on alien words, and in the country of dark fantasy. Her best known detective is vampire cop Garreth Mikaelian, of Blood Hunt and Bloodlinks, reprinted together in an omnibus edition BloodWalk. She is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters In Crime.



Friday, October 4, 2013

A Few Lines From. . . Tricia McGill

This week, a few lines from Mystic Mountains by Tricia McGill


 "So, you're filling out a bit, I see." He tightened his grip just below her breasts. "A full belly hasn't improved your temper though. Now, be still, little bundle. I'm your master an' I have the right to do as I like with you."
            "Do as you like?" Isabella squirmed away from him. With violently shaking hands she straightened her skirt. Her cheeks flamed when she looked up to see he watched her every movement closely, as if it was his right. The twinkle in his eyes made her temper rise. "I'll kill myself if you take what you see as your rights. Anyway, what would you want with the likes of me when you have so many other women chasing after you?"
"Oho, so you've heard the tales of my exploits with the fair sex, have you? I feel I must set you straight on that account. There aren't that many. But you're right on one thing. I wouldn't fancy you in a fit. I prefer my women to be amenable." He placed his hands on his hips, returning her stare with the arrogance that set her teeth on edge.
            "Then I'm saved from a fate worse than death, for amenable I'll never be." Isabella stepped out of his reach. But to her horror he made a grab for her, grasping her hand. She tugged but he refused to release it.        
           "Now then, which fruit did you want?" he asked, his tone now quite pleasant. "Perhaps I can reach it without resorting to climbing the tree."      
           Isabella stared at him, then pointed to a bunch within easy reach for him. "That one, and those there." She breathed a small sigh of relief when he finally let her go then reached up to pluck them.
            "Hold out your apron," he ordered, dropping the apples in. "There, will that satisfy Thelma?"
Pulling free the cloth tied round his neck, he used it to wipe his brow. As he retied it he watched her like a cat stares at a cornered mouse.
            "I ... I think so." Isabella gathered her apron to her chest and turned to flee, but he caught her by the arm again.
            "Bella. Satisfy my curiosity, will you?"
         His soft tone made her suspicious. She watched him cautiously. "How?"
            "Are you happy here in my household?" he asked softly, those strange eyes of his searching hers.
            "As happy as any woman can be working for an Englishman." That was a dreadful lie, for she'd seldom been happier.
            "You're not yet a woman, Bella. You have a lot to learn about how real women behave."
She disagreed, but wasn't about to go into that argument now.


Mystic Mountains is available here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EFE5UL6
 
 

Monday, September 30, 2013

Characters and Plot by Janet Lane Walters



Writing a novel seems to be circular. Characters drive the plot but the plot drives the characters. Sound confusing? Not really. The plot is the underpinning of the story and the characters are the exposed parts. Choosing the right characters to move the story forward takes strategy. Putting the wrong character in the lead can make a story fall flat. Usually in a story there are 3 characters who form a triangle. For the purpose of this we'll call them the hero, the heroine and the villain. These characters have relationships with each other and their actions and reactions are what drives the story from beginning until the end. There are other characters in stories who relate to the three main ones and these form their own triangles or their own patterns of interaction.



Action bridges character and plot. How many times have you heard "He's acting out of character?" If there's no good reason for this action the story will fall flat and flat stories aren't what writers strive for. How does one make the pieces fit together?



Consistency is one way. Check your characters to make sure their emotions flow in a consistent pattern through out your story. Don't have them loving an object, idea, or person one minute and hating it the next. Unless inconsistency is their nature. Even here you are being true to the character? A character like this would be one who responds to the person they are with. An interesting thought. Sort of like the Janus god that looks at the world through two faces.



Make sure the characters who are the focus of the story are strong enough to sustain the action. Whether you're writing a dramatic or a comedic story a weak character will make the action fall flat. Give your characters a backbone and make them want what they want with an internal passion.



Take your characters and raise them above the mundane or stock characters. Give them some complexity to make them larger than life rather than some ordinary person a reader doesn't want to know.



Believe in the characters you write. If you're developing a really evil villain, make sure you believe in this character. One of my favorite bad guys is found in Code Blue. Yes, he is evil but he's also human and I tried to show the human parts of his character as well as the inhuman parts.



Write about human emotions in your stories and don't throw in a character who seems to be driven by the plot. The plot is a road map of a journey taken by characters and the things that happen in the story are the results of the characters' actions. not the reverse.



Characters are chosen because of the plot you've designed but once on stage let the characters tell the story and move the plot forward, not the reverse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Code Blue

When Susan finds the body of the hospital’s “gossip queen” in the orthopedic storage room, she doesn’t realize this is the first of a series of murders involving her colleagues or that her life is in danger. She is a widow and is exploring a new romantic relationship that promises love but she fears the man she is falling for is as controlling as her dead husband. The arrival of courtship gifts, at first, seen as innocuous soon takes on a sinister note.

Previously published as Obsessions
 
"This book kept me on edge from the first page to the last. Several times I just 'knew' I'd figured out who the killer was, but each time, there was a bit of doubt there until the very last paragraph! I highly recommend this book. 4 Stars (Excellent!)" ~ Tracie's Book Reviews by Kathy's Faves and Raves

"A series of murders, suspense, action, a tad of love makes Code Blue an intriguing tale designed to mystify your mind. If you love mysteries, you'll love Janet Lane Walters newest release. 4 Stars!" ~ Just Views

"Fast-paced mainstream novel. . .Walters plots carefully, each scene constructed to perfection. For readers who enjoy being terrified, this is an author to turn to for entertainment. She tells all, while managing to create paranoia among the characters." ~ Affaire de Coeur  


~~~~~~~~~~~~

Janet Lane Walters has been writing and published since the days of the typewriter. She has 30 plus novels and seven novellas plus four non-fiction books published. Janet lives in the scenic Hudson River valley with her husband, a psychiatrist who has no desire to cure her obsession with writing.

She is the mother of four and the grandmother of five with two children expected to arrive soon from China. Janet writes in a number of genres - Romance from sweet to sensual and from contemporary to fantasy and paranormal. She has published cozy mysteries and medical suspense. She also has a number of YA fantasies published. Visit her Blog:
   
http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com/ 

 


Friday, September 27, 2013

A Few Lines from . . . Diane Bator


A Few Lines from The Bookstore Lady by Diane Bator


 


 
When the hunched over, balding pharmacist next door called out, “Good morning, Katie,” her hand flinched and her heart raced. It took her nearly a full minute to remember she’d been Katie Mullins for two months and she’d better answer before he got offended.

“Hi.” She nodded.

The drugstore opened at eight every morning and it was now quarter to ten. Must have been a slow morning if he had time to stand in the doorway with a large cup of coffee rather than hanging out behind the back counter. “You’d best convince Ray to get some air-conditioning for that store before your new books curl up and warp. It’s beyond me how he’s never lost half his books every summer.”

“Dust absorbs the humidity.” She smiled wryly. “I don’t think we can afford air-conditioning this year.”

“I know a guy who’ll give you a quote. He’s not bad looking once you get past the bug eyes and scars. I can call him, if you’d like.”

“Maybe some other time.” Like when hell froze over.

He waved and went back into the drugstore.

Katie drew in a deep breath. The air was fresh from last night’s rain and the hint of a breeze mussed her hair. In two months, the only thing to find her was the sunshine and a case of withdrawals that made renovations hell. Nate, bless his heart, had had more compassion while she fought “the flu” than any man she’d ever met.

She blew a strand of stray copper hair out of her mouth and jiggled the door lock. Another thing that needed to be fixed before winter. She should have done it during renovations, but it hadn’t seemed as important as books and workmen. Luckily, Nate worked cheap and she hadn’t had to dig into the money from Dunnsforth. The money was tucked up in a box in the backroom, fastened with half a roll of duct tape. She’d ask him to fix the lock when he delivered her order later.

The door opened with a groan. “It’s about time.”

Available at:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Bookstore-Lady-ebook/dp/B00DWKNGPQ/


Tricia McGill follows with A Few Lines next week.

Diane Bator

Website: http://penspaintsandpaper.com
Blog: http://dbator.blogspot.ca/

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