The Edgars

The Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 60th Annual Edgar Awards, which are:

Best Novel:
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
Red Leaves by Thomas H. Cook (Harcourt)
Vanish by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine Books)
Drama City by George Pelecanos (Little, Brown)
Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (Regan Books)

Best First Novel Written by an American Author:
Die A Little by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Immoral by Brian Freeman (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Run the Risk by Scott Frost (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Hide Your Eyes by Alison Gaylin (Signet)
Officer Down by Theresa Schwegel (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Best Paperback Original:
Homicide My Own by Anne Argula (Pleasure Boat Studio)
The James Deans by Reed Farrel Coleman (Penguin - Plume)
Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford (Dark Alley)
Kiss Her Goodbye by Allan Guthrie (Hard Case Crime)
Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books)

BEST FACT CRIME
Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece by Edward Dolnick (HarperCollins)
The Elements of Murder: The History of Poison by John Emsley (Oxford University Press)
Written in Blood by Diane Fanning (St. Martin's True Crime)
True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa by Michael Finkel (HarperCollins)
Desire Street: A True Story of Death and Deliverance in New Orleans by Jed Horne (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel: How to Knock 'em Dead with Style by Hallie Ephron (Writer's Digest Books)
Behind the Mystery: Top Mystery Writers Interviewed by Stuart Kaminsky, photos by Laurie Roberts (Hot House Press)
The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels edited by Leslie S. Klinger (W.W. Norton)
Discovering the Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade: The Evolution of Dashiell Hammett's Masterpiece, Including John Huston's Movie with Humphrey Bogart edited by Richard Layman (Vince Emery Productions)
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak (Harcourt)

BEST SHORT STORY
"Born Bad" – Dangerous Women by Jeffery Deaver (Mysterious Press)
"The Catch' – Greatest Hits by James W. Hall (Carroll & Graf)
"Her Lord and Master" – Dangerous Women by Andrew Klavan (Mysterious Press)
"Misdirection" – Greatest Hits by Barbara Seranella (Carroll & Graf)
"Welcome to Monroe" – A Kudzu Christmas by David Wallace (River City Publishing)

BEST JUVENILE
Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
Wright & Wong: The Case of the Nana-Napper by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz (Penguin Young Readers – Sleuth/Razorbill)
The Missing Manatee by Cynthia DeFelice (Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers)
Flush by Carl Hiassen (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
The Boys of San Joaquin by D. James Smith (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT
Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams (HarperCollins – Laura Geringer Books)
Last Shot by John Feinstein (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Quid Pro Quo by Vicki Grant (Orca Book Publishers)
Young Bond, Book One: Silverfin by Charlie Higson (Hyperion/Miramax Books)
Spy Goddess, Book One: Live & Let Shop by Michael Spradlin (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

BEST PLAY
River's End by Cheryl Coons (Book and Lyrics), Chuck Larkin (Music) (Marin Theatre Company)
Safe House by Paul Leeper (Tennessee Stage Company)
Matter of Intent by Gary Earl Ross (Theater Loft)
Mating Dance of the Werewolf by Mark Stein (Rubicon Theatre)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
CSI – "A Bullet Runs Through It, Parts 1 and 2", Teleplay by Richard Catalani & Carol Mendelsohn
CSI – "Grave Danger", Teleplay by Anthony Zuiker, Carol Mendelsohn, Naren Shankar. Story by Quentin Tarantino
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – "911", Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson
Sea of Souls – "Amulet", Teleplay by Ed Whitmore
Wire in the Blood – "Redemption", Teleplay by Guy Burt

BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY
Crash - Story by Paul Haggis; Screenplay by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco (Lions Gate Films)
A History of Violence - Screenplay by Josh Olson, based on the Graphic Novel by John Wagner & Vince Locke (New Line Productions)
The Ice Harvest - Screenplay by Richard Russo & Robert Benton, based on the Novel by Scott Phillips (Focus Features)
Match Point - Screenplay by Woody Allen (BBC)
Syriana – Screenplay by Stephen Gaghan, based on the book by Robert Baer (Warner Brothers)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
Eddie Newton, "Home" – EQMM May 2005 (Dell Magazine)

The Mary Higgins Clark Award:

Breaking Faith by Jo Bannister (Allison & Busby Ltd.)
Dark Angel by Karen Harper (MIRA Books)
Shadow Valley by Gwen Hunter (MIRA Books)

Congratulations to all the nominees. The winners will be announced at the Edgar Awards Gala Banquet at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York on April 27.

Important Writers...again

I discussed the idea of Stephen King as an important writer.

I'll atempt to make an argument as to why he is an important modern writer without discussing his massive sales, which makes him someone of interest anyway.

He is prolific. The man has written some 40ish novels, published what? 4 or 5 short story collections, written countless short stories and more.

He is versatile in form. Short stories. Novels. Novellas. A comic book. A serial. Screenplays. Non-fiction essays. Non-fiction books. He's written them all with great success.

Though classified a horror writer, he is cross-genre. Some of this stories definitely cross into the realm of science fiction and fantasy. Others are quite literary. Remember, this is the man who, in addition to the Shining, Carrie, Salem's Lot and the like, wrote Apt Pupil, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and Stand by Me.

His influence spans into all media -- the Internet, books, comics, television, radio and movies.

He has spawned imitators and inspired other great writers. He's been a collaborator and is a cheerleader for those struggling to succeed as a writer.

Yes, he is an important writer -- perhaps the most important of our modern time.

Setting

I'm talking here about the setting where you write, not the setting for your stories.

I'm pretty prolific I think. I write all day as a part of my job. And I can still get 2,000 words per day without intense effort, usually.

However, last night, something interesting happened.

On a complete whim, I took my laptop down to Starbucks, ordered a hot chocolate and started playing with a short story idea. About an hour and a half later, the complete first draft, which started from nothing more than an inkling of an idea, was done. The short story's length was 2,750 words -- and to crank that out in 90 minutes when I really only had the nugget of an idea is quite an accomplishment even for me.

At this point the story is just OK and certainly not as clean as most of my first drafts are. I still have a good deal of work on tension and need to do something more with the twist at the end.

I'm wondering how much a change of my setting resulted in the quick write.

Lawrence Block is a prolific writer. He has written more than 50 novels and countless short stories -- enough to fill 8 books as collections of his stories. In an interview, he once spoke of change in location in regards to where he writes.

As an example, he spoke of being on a cruise in Scandinavia with his wife. He said on the third day out, he took a yellow pad and went to the ship's library to write for a while. Words poured out and at the end of the week, just going an hour or so a day, he had a 7500 word short story.

He also talked about how after a while, he comes to hate writing whereever his "office" may be, so he often writes in coffee shops, hotel lobbies, libraries, etc.

It was just an interesting observation for me, although admittedly I did feel funny...it seems that Starbucks has become the home of a million aspiring writers and I'm just another one.

Important Writers

Recently, I loaned a coworker my copy of Stephen King's On Writing.

He made an interesting comment when saying he'd love to read it. It was something like, "I'm not a big Stephen King fan, but he is a very important modern writer."

That phrase "very important" intrigued me.

Certainly he's popular, King that is. He's sold about a bazillion-gazillion-trillion books, some of which I've thoroughly enjoyed and some I don't care for.

How does one define what an "Important Modern Writer" is?

Personally, I'm not sure.

Let's start by defining "modern" as, oh say within the last 40 or 45 years, since 1960.

Who are some of the most important writers and what makes them important?

I'm going to contemplate this and post more tomorrow, but in the meantime, I hope you'll take time to send me your thoughts as well.

Persistence

Persistence and writing comes in all forms, and I may be one of the most persistent out there.

My first published article was in a now defunct magazine called Martial Arts Training. I'm estimating here, but it was probably my 50th or so overall query, and my third to that magazine, that finally broke through.

For a while, I "languished" in the world of martial arts publications. I was frequently published in those magazines, but couldn't get out. I sent out query after query to no avail. The odd non-martial arts magazine I wrote for, well, I still wrote on the topic of martial arts for those.

My first non-martial arts writing piece was at another now-defunct magazine, Memphis Agenda. Through a friend of a friend of a friend, I met the editor. We hit it off fairly well and started chatting. I confided the problem I had and he asked if I'd done any profiles. I had -- of martial artists. He asked to see them. A few weeks later, I got my first assignment from him.

Those articles were a cross in styles -- think business writing meets People Magazine. And they gave me a diversity in my clips that had been lacking. Slowly but surely I started writing for more and more publications. Today, I can honestly boast that my byline has appeared at least a couple hundred times, oh I don't know, 60-70 different magazines.

But it was persistence that led to the flood gates opening...

Likewise with my fiction.

I cannot count the number of rejections I've received when it comes to fiction.

My first piece was published in 1990 in a small, Boston literary magazine. Then it was downhill after that...nothing but rejections for 8 or 9 years.

Back in June, I published "Information" in an online publication, Mysterical-e. That story had been rejected by 8 other publications before getting a solid revision from me, then finding its home. Today, I think about my short story, The Last Cowboy. It has been rejected by Futures Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen. Right now, it is at Shred of Evidence being considered. If they don't bite, I may do a little revision and then get it back out there.

There is another type of persistence, too, that has served me well over the years.

Example. I've wanted to write a short story -- mystery -- with a judo setting. I've tried many times and it always just kinda petered out. However, I'm proud to say that this weekend the rough draft of "Ippon" finished in a furious writing burst. It is just a rough draft and still needs some work, but after many years and numerous false starts, the story is going t happen.

The same for my book Death of a Bluesman. I've thought the Mississippi Delta with its rich culture and quirky characters was too much fodder to pass up for a book. I've had many false starts on a book there, but now, four years after first getting the idea, I'm 68,000 words in and closing in on the finish line.

Persistence. I knew I had good ideas, but something -- the time, my skill level, motivation, something -- just wasn't right.

Am I a good writer? I don't know. I think I'm a competent writer and I think there are tons of folks who are far better writers than me who are unpublished. And I think the big reason is they don't find success is a lack persistence.

And I've had success simply because I'm too stubborn to say "uncle" very easily.

Rejection is part of the game. And if you want to succeed, you have to recover.

To use a judo analagy, judo's founder, Jigoro Kano once said the key to success in judo is if you get thrown seven times, get up eight.

It is the same with writing. If you get rejected seven times, send the story or query out an eighth time. It works, I know from experience. I have queried Writer's Digest 10 times I can remember. Now, I'm going to get to write an article for them.

It is like that sketch of the sea gull. It is swallowing a frog -- the frog is completely in the gulls mouth except for its arms, which are locked in a death grip around the gulls throat. The wording says it all.

Never give up.

Defining success

What is success?

For a writer, that is a difficult thing to define. I know that my personal definitions of success have changed over the years, and vary depending on what type of writing we are talking about.

I have a few goals.
I want to publish a novel, or more than one actually.
I'd like to write a non-fiction book.
I want to be published in Ellery Queen or Alfred Hitchcock's mystery magazines.

And there are others.

I was fortunate enough to spend a couple years making my living as a freelance writer. I will consider myself successful when I can return to that, but under a different set of criteria than before.

The important question is how do YOU define success?

I remember when I got my first reporting job, making a whopping $6/hour, I thought I was on top of the world.

Maybe it is just seeing your byline in print. Or perhaps you measure it by making a certain dollar amount or appearing in a particular publication. Heck, it can even just be "I'm going to write a little every day and not care if it ever gets published!"

What is important is that you set goals so you can measure your own success. It doesn't matter what anyone else on the planet thinks about those goals, they are YOUR goals.

In the end it's all about your happiness.

And if my earnings build me a nice house and help me live a lifestyle to which I could become accustomed, so much the better.

Some news

Looks like I might get a chance to write for Writer's Digest. A while back, I queried them on an article idea and the editor e-mailed me back saying she likes it!

The only thing is they are booked for that section through Jan. 2007. She's going to make contact with me again in a few months to move forward on the piece.

Very exciting!

Two somewhat unrelated observations

I finished a story during my lunch break today.

It was inspired from a photo on my friend, Stefanie McGee's, blog. A link to it is on this page.

It is interesting to me how a good photograph can inspire a story. I think it gets to the crust of an earlier post in which I talked about the importance of living a life. That includes observing art -- photography, paintings, sculpture, good books. You never know where inspiration will strike. I remember reading that Isaac Asimov would flip open a dictionary and put his finger on a word at random. That word would become the subject and title of a short story.

A second observation.

The photo in question is of a donut shop. I originally thought I could do something pretty funny and poking fun at the stereotype of cops and donuts. But this is a great example of a story taking over. 1300 words later, and my story isn't funny at all. It is quite serious and deals with a very difficult moment in a cops life. I think it is very good and am looking forward to sending the story out.

I think that epitomizes a great story or passage. You start writing and it just comes out...your fingers can't move fast enough. And when it is done you are excited, exhausted and have no clue where what you wrote came from.

A few updates

You'll notice a few new links on my site.

One is to one of my favorite judo teams.

One is to a friends blog -- it is primarily a photo blog. I'm including it because one of the photos has gotten me thinking about a story I'm probably going to write. No doubt, a striking photo can inspire words.

The others are to blogs and/or web sites of writers I like.

I'll continue to add to these as time goes along.

One of my favorite people

I wanted to tell you about one of my favorite people.

He's a bit of a loner, or a recluse. I think, but am not certain, that he may suffer from some mild phobia -- scared of people to an extent.

He's tough as nails and a hell of a fighter. He's an Internet junkie and prefers to communicate by e-mail -- that goes back to his fear, or more of a discomfort, with dealing with people in person. His Internet habit and voracious reading habit makes it very unlikely that you'll find something this guy didn't have at least a general knowledge of.

He's tall -- four or five inches taller than me. He's well-built -- the kind of fitness that comes not from the gym but from having worked hard and taken care of yourself. His black hair is greying and he has a worn look in his eyes. He's clean shaven and you can really see the power of his body in his hands. His hands are average size, but there's something about them. You just know that this is a strong man.

His name is Barnacle. I dont' know his first name, but Mike bounces around my head when I think about it.

Of course, Barnacle is fictional, and that's what I love about writing. When a made up character begins to take a life of his own.

And honestly, he's sort of fictional. I can find bits and pieces of Barnacle in a variety of friends, just as I can find bits and pieces of Addison Carlysle, Barnacle's partner, in a variety of friends.

Nothing better than being a writer!

Importance of Setting

I was recently reading The Blue Edge of Midnight by Jonathon King. His books are largely set in the Everglades and the strange little "towns" that barely exist in that swampland.

It really got me to thinking about the importance of setting and how it can move the story forward -- and what it says about the characters.

The main character in this book is Max Freeman, a former Philadelphia cop who kills a young teen in a shootout one night. He's cleared in the shooting but leaves the force and eventually winds up in the Everglades. Hiding from his past?

Not only do the Everglades provide Freeman and place to hide, they provide a very exotic and little-known setting for the trouble he finds himself in. And it does speak of someone who is hiding from his past.

Other books that strike me -- and I'm dealing solely with mysteries that are not "historical" -- are Nevada Barr's "park ranger" series of novels. All her mysteries are set at national parks and certainly Blind Descent, set in a cave, is just scary.

Of course, these writers KNOW their settings. King lives in south Florida. Barr was a park ranger. Just like Robert Crais and Michael Connelly know the Los Angeles they write about and Loren D. Estelman knows the Detroit of his books.

It further dawned on me how much setting adds to a story when I started thinking about my own writing. As soon as I moved my stories' settings to the South, namely to places where I've lived, I think the stories improved dramatically -- and the setting became as much a character as the people populating my imaginary world.

A few goals

Over the last year, I've not really had any goals as far as writing production goes. I mean, I've had word count goals, but in terms of keeping XX number of stories circulation, I had none.

As a general rule, I've not worried too much about non-fiction and tried to keep 2-3 short stories out there.

I think I'm going to change that some.

As I write this, I have four short stories make the rounds. That is going to remain my absolute minimum for the entire year -- I'll always have at least four short stories circulating at any given time. Who knows, maybe I can send more?

I'm also going to set myself a goal of mailing out two non-fiction query letters weekly. Back when I was freelancing full-time, I sent out a minimum of one query letter a day. This kept plenty of magazine assignments rolling in. I don't need that level of work now, but it would be nice to do more non-fiction writing...and earn the cash that goes with it.

So there...no resolutions, but a couple of goals, at least for my shorter work.

More on time

Someone asked where I find time to write as much as I do, though I didn't realize I write that much.

Frankly, I think I have three advantages over a lot of people.

First, I'm not married and have no children. Without the conflict of wanting to spend my time with family, not to mention the time restrictions caused by familial responsibilities, it is much easier for me to carve out blocks of time to work on my writing.

Second, I work at home. I work for an ad agency based some 600 miles away. I'm supposed to be at my computer working on ad/PR stuff by about 8:30. It is very easy for me to get up at 6 or 6:30 a.m. and have a good solid two hours of writing time. Likewise, I can better use my lunch break or be back to writing fiction at 5 p.m. sharp. Without the mad dash to get up and get to the office, the fight during the commute, etc, a lot of time is freed up -- time I spend on writing.

Finally, I spent a number of years as a journalist. There is something about having daily and weekly deadlines and about having to write 8, 10, 12 stories per week that trains you to write very fast. Another thing is that -- and maybe this is just my imagination -- it seems that my rough drafts are a heck of a lot cleaner that those of other writer's I've read. Regardless, journalism teaches you to write fast, with brevity, and to write cleanly -- and to ignore writer's block when it tries to set in.

In the end, finding the time to write is about prioritizing the things in your life. Of course, that's easy for me to say since I don't have to get the kids off to school, spend an hour or more a day sitting in the car commuting to work, and doing a long "honey do" list.

One of the advantages of the journalism experience is I find I can write a large number of words in even short bursts. I believe anyone can train themselves and develop the focus to do that. Once you can, even an hour a day of writing time becomes highly productive and personally -- and who knows, maybe professionally -- satisfying.

Time, time, time

I now have four short stories in circulation trying to find homes.

Two short story rough drafts in need of editing and revision.

Two more good ideas that I need to sit down and crank out.

The book is going quite well.

I also have a half-dozen non-ficiton queries out and one article to write.

And somewhere I have to do my duty to my day job at the PR and advertising agency.

Tonight, when I pray, I'm asking God to extend the numbers of hours in each day, or add an 8th day to the week.

AAAHHHH, middles

I'm working on a book right now.

It started off exciting, maybe 25,000 words in like 3 hours. Ok, not that fast, but I was cranking them out. Can't wait 'till the end either. It's a good one.

But the damn middle is killing me.

I know what happens. I know the course of events. But I'm really struggling to get it down on paper. My usual writing session goal of 1,500 words becomes a chore.

Not sure why that is, but it is a frustration.

Right now, all I can do is keep cranking because I believe in the story. I think it is good.

I wonder if all writers experience this. I certianly don't have this problem with short stories -- they are usually written in one sitting (the rough drafts anyway), even if they push 5,000-6,000 words.

I'll get it worked out, but may need to ask some writer friends if this is normal.

A couple more good books

Over the last week or so, I've read two really excellent mysteries.

Whiskey Sour by JA Konrath and The Blue Edge of Midnight by Jonathan King. I'm glad to have "discovered" these two writers and am looking forward to reading more of their work.

Best books

Ok, here's a list of the best books I read in 2005 -- some of these may not have been published in the last year, that's just when I got around to reading them. I'm not sure how many books I read each year -- I often crank through two a week, but here's the 8 best I read last year.

1776 by David McCullough
A very important book about the most important year in U.S. history. The author brought the characters to life and really pressed home the fact that the Revolutionary War may be one of the greatest close calls in history -- certainly in U.S. history.

No Second Chance by Harlan Coben
Holy cow. I read it in one day. I don't know how Coben writes such gripping stuff, but he has quickly become one of my all-time favorite fiction writers.

Ernest Hemmingway on Writing
This collecting of quotes and thoughts about writing by a literary great was a gift from a friend. It is wonderfully inspiring and of great interest to budding authors.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Steven King
I loved earlier King but haven't enjoyed his efforts the last 10-15 years so much. However, this 1999 novel about a little girl lost in the woods is a classic "man vs. nature" novel at its very best.

The Fencing Master by Arturo Perez-Reverte
The Spanish author captured the glamor and honor of fencing and laced it with political intrigue and murder in 1868 Madrid. I've not read many foreign authors outside of British and Canadian writers, but fully intend to read more of this particular author.

My Life by Bill Clinton
You either love him or hate him, but without a doubt, Clinton was one of the largest and most charismatic figures of the 1990s. The book provides interesting insight into his life, politics and the challenges he's faced.

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
Gaiman is simply the very best short story writer on the planet today. This book proves it. Enough said.

Midnight Sun by Karl Edward Wagner
The late Wagner was a horror writer who created the epic sword & sorcery character of Kane, steeped in Biblical history (yes, that Cain) and thrown into a fantasy world. This is a collection of all the Kane short stories (there were also several novels). Not a big fan of s&s, but there is something very literary feeling about the stories of Kane, a depth I find lacking in most sword and sorcery.

Finally a side note. In 2005, the world of fiction in general and mystery fiction in particular lost a great. Ed McBain, author of more than 100 novels, writer of the screenplay for The Birds (under his real name Evan Hunter) and creator of the 87th Precinct series of novels, died at age 78. I think he was the first mystery writer I ever read -- discovering him sometime around 1990 when I bought a two book deal at a garage sale while in Boston. I've ready maybe 30 of his 87th Precinct novels and they are all great. This year, there was something sad about seeing his 2005 novel Fiddlers hit the shelves about 3 months after his death and knowing it was the last case the detectives at the 87th Precinct would solve. As McBain, he also created the Matthew Hope series of private eye novels. Under his real name, he penned many others, primarily screenplays, and a number of novels, most notably The Blackboard Jungle, later made into a movie. It is rumored that the series Hill Street Blues is based on the 87th Precinct novels. A collection of short stories, Learning to Kill, is due out in July 2006. He also published 22 other novels under 5 different names. He was prolific, a great writer, a true wordsmith and shall be missed.