E. C. Morgan

Parker

2010-05-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

I've been away for a bit, focusing on other areas in terms of blogging. However, my mystery fiction continues and I hope to announce some exciting news soon.

However, Sunday was somewhat a sad day for me. It was the sixth "Jessie Stone" movie, based on the character created by the late Robert B. Parker.

"No Remorse" was not based on a specific Parker book and he was not involved in the production, but it was a great movie and kept in the spirit of the Jessie Stone novels.

According to Newsday, Parker did view the movie before his fatal heart attack in January, and according to the report, he gave it his blessing.

I've long been a fan of Parker's. I wasn't much on his female character Sunny Randall, but I liked quite a few of Specer's adventures. But Jessie Stone was really something ... a flawed character that I liked very much.

And I was proud to see CBS and Tom Selleck put together a quality movie based on some great books.

I hope the movies continue in the same tradition, serving as a fitting tribute to a great mystery writer.

Mysteries

2010-02-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

I recently attended Murder in the Magic City and was interested to see that it was a majority of women in the audience. Not interested in the sense that my girlfriend might beat me up, but interested from a writing point of view.

I have often heard that women read more mysteries than men. Certainly, that conference seemed to provide some measurable proof.

I wonder though, why that is. Certainly, certain types of mysteries may appeal more to women than men, and vice versa. But there are plenty of male characters and plenty of action-oriented mysteries., both of which would seem to appeal more to guys, if we are thinking in terms of traditional gender roles.

Author CJ Box at the conference commented that he gets a lot of fan mail from men. His main character? A game warden.

Not sure what it all means. Certainly, gender roles are merging, changing and evolving. I'm certain the same can be said of traditional gender reading interests.

Dick Francis

2010-02-15T16:44:00.001-08:00

Sadly, mystery great Dick Francis has died. You can read more here:

Dick Francis

Murder in the Magic City

2010-02-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

I attended this great event in Birmingham Alabama Saturday and must say it was extremely enjoyable.

I will write more about it this weekend, however, I offer a few initial notes.

First, the panelists were excellent. I also liked the guests of honors. Across the board a good event.

I got two books signed, one by CJ Box and one by Hank Phillippi Ryan. Both were a pleasure to meet, very giving of their time (thanks to us all having journalism backgrounds, there was plenty to talk about) and I'm looking forward to reading their books.

I will be discussing specific topics this week.

Robert B. Parker

2010-01-20T08:25:00.000-08:00

It is hard to imagine Robert B. Parker gone. But alas, Monday, he died at the age of 77 - allegedly sitting at his desk writing.

I really enjoed Spenser. I LOVED the Jessie Stone novels and I liked the Sunn Randall books. Parker has been a huge influence on me and my writing and it is difficult to conceive that he is gone.

He was a tough guy with a soft heart - every single novel he wrote was dedicated to his wife.

It is a sad day.

Self Publishing

2010-01-09T19:46:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking and reading about self-publishing a lot lately. Not for a novel, however, for two options.

One, I have a couple of novellas I've written. I think they are pretty good. The problem is length. Too long for short story markets, too short to be novels. Sure I could pad and puff them into novels, but that would force me to double each with stuff that is...well....stuffing.

So I've been thinking about publishing them electronically for the Kindle and other readers.

I may even add a short story or two to the mix.

Not entirely sure exactly how it will all come together, but it is on my mind.

Reading Goals for 201

2010-01-07T07:32:00.000-08:00

I'm still working up my list, however, here's a few things I want to read this year.

1. The Bible - I have received a one-year Bible as a Christmas present and started reading it. I've read bits and pieces over the years but never sat down to read the whole thing.

2. At least two or three more of Patrick O'Brian's books. So far, I've read through The Nutmeg of Consolation, so I still have a few more to go in his acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series.

Not sure when it will come out, but I'd like to read the book on Teddy Roosevelt Doris Kearns Goodwin is working on. Maybe it'll publish in 2010, but I've not heard (or looked that hard).

Still early in the year, so my thoughts are fuzzy, but every year, I try to read 2-3 mysteries by foreign (and that means no Canadian or British also) authors and a couple of small press books.

I'll be adding more to the list soon.

Revised

2010-01-06T07:01:00.001-08:00

I'm revising this old blog and will focus on fiction, mysteries and writing. More posts coming this week.

Barbara Parker

2009-03-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

Best-selling mystery writer Barbara Parker, 62, has passed away.

Barbara Parker's Sun Sentinel Obituary

Barbara Parker's web site

On the road

2009-03-03T06:32:00.000-08:00

Just so folks know...

I will likely be attending the Killer Nashville mystery writer's conference in August.

Not sure yet, but I may try to hit up Bouchercon too. It's the world's largest conference for mystery fans and writers. Since it is in Indianapolis this year, it's a chance to go without too much added travel/hotel expense.

Cormac McCarthy

2009-02-21T19:47:00.000-08:00

I've become intrigued by this author.

There are a number of things about him that I find intriguing, but here's the thing. His work is found under "fiction." Not under a specific genre, yet his novels are genre, but they transcend genre.

No Country for Old Men - clearly a mystery/suspense.

The Road - Post Apocalyptic science fiction novel. But very literary.

Blood Meridian - I most recently read this. It's a western.

McCarthy is a great American author. He has earned the greatest awards - including the Pulitzer - which are mostly reserved for non-genre writing. Yet, here he is, experimenting with genre fiction.

He pushes the boundaries and the conventions of the genres to create great American fiction.

You should try him out.

happy birthday!

2009-02-18T21:15:00.000-08:00

Great mystery and suspense writer Len Deighton is 80!

Here's an interview.

New writings

2009-02-16T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well, now that things are settled, I'm trying to get back to a regular schedule on writing.

I've begun a story which I've titled "The Child."

In my mind, it is post-apocalyptic, so I guess it is sci-fi. Yet, it has elements of classic good versus evil, so maybe it is fantasy or horror.

I don't know. It is a little different from other things I've written.

The big question is this...is the child sent by God? Or is she just a weird kid with a special skill? I'm not even sure the answer, but I like to think it is the first. Only time and fleshing out the story will tell.

King's short stories

2008-11-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

Steven King has a new short story collection out.

My PERSONAL experience with King's novels is uneven. That aside, he is without a doubt one the best short story writers ever.

Here's a review:

Little Bites of Horror

A MUST read

2008-11-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I read "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. This novel is the winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize. It led me to something I've not done in a long time - read 300 pages in one sitting.

McCarthy also wrote the novel "No Country for Old Men."

Here's a description of the book:
"The Road" - Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winner bestseller from acclaimed novelist Cormac McCarthy ("No Country For Old Men"), "The Road" is a post-apocalyptic dramatic thriller about a father and his son walking alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food--and each other.

The novel COULD be classified science fiction or fantasy since it takes place in post-apocalyptic America, but it is truly a story about the relationship between a father and son on the edge of no longer surviving.

It is powerful, visual and vivid. And it packs an emotional punch I've not gotten from a book in a long time.

This is an aboslutely MUST read.

And for the record, the road is being made into a movie, scheduled for a 2009 release and staring Viggo Mortensen.

Sad News Indeed

2008-11-20T19:59:00.000-08:00

George Chesbro, the author of the "Mongo the Magnificent" series of detective novels (as well as many other works of crime fiction), featuring a dwarf martial arts expert, died yesterday after a short illness. He was 68.

His death notice read:
NEW BALTIMORE - George Clark Chesbro, 68, of New Baltimore, died Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at St. Peter's Hospital.

Born in Washington, D.C. on June 4, 1940, he was the son of the late George W. and Maxine (Sharpe) Chesbro. An author of over 25 novels and nearly 100 short stories, George was a recipient of an Ellery Queen Award and had served as president of the Mystery Writers Association of America. Earlier in his career, George had worked as a special education teacher at Pearl River and at the Rockland Psychiatric Center where he worked with emotionally troubled teens.

Survivors include his wife, Robin N. Chesbro; a son, Mark Chesbro;, a daughter Michelle Chesbro; two stepdaughters, Rachael and Leah Gass; a sister, Judith (Richard) Ragone and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

Services are private at the convenience of the family.

In lieu of flowers, those who wish may send a remembrance in his name to the Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society, 3 Oakland Ave., Menands, NY 12204.

His web site describes his most popular character this way:
Dr. Robert Frederickson, also known as Mongo the Magnificent, is a criminologist, ex-circus headliner, martial-arts expert, and private eye, who also happens to be a dwarf. The Mongo series is a blend of mystery, suspense, science fiction, and the supernatural.

Chesbro is a great writer and his books are not only excellent mysteries, but they are fun reads. It is sad knowing we'll not read anymore exploits of Mongo.

Sigh. :-(

2008-09-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

One of the most influential authors of our time died Wednesday at the age of 68.

There are many authors I like and James Crumly is one. An interesting fellow and a great writer. One of his books, The Last Good Kiss, is on Men's Journal Top 15 all time best thriller novels.

Local author James Crumley dies at 68

Crimedog One Blog on Crumley

An Associated Press Story

Names

2008-07-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

I have a great idea for my next project and am currently fleshing out facts and background information and kind of plotting out the pertinent details.

For the first time, I'm writing a female protagonist. I think I can handle that part.

But the name is giving me fits.

I always try to choose names that are somewhat memorable, yet seem natural.

Not so with my main character. I'm having a hard time with her and am not sure why her name's being so damn stubborn.

Janwillem van de Wetering, RIP

2008-07-10T07:17:00.004-07:00

Janwillem van de Wetering
It seems that Janwillem van de Wetering, one of Holland's greatest crime writers and the author of many police procedurals featuring detectives Grijpstra and de Gier, passed away in Maine on July 4. He was 77.

Soho Press has issued a press release on de Wetering's death:

Janwillem van de Wetering, one of Holland's most acclaimed crime writers and author of the Amsterdam Cops series, died on July 4, 2008, following a struggle with cancer. He was 77.

Van de Wetering was born in Rotterdam in 1931. After living in Amsterdam, Cornwall, Capetown, Bogota, Lima, and Brisbane, he finally settled on the coast of Maine with his wife in 1975. He is the author of numerous works in Dutch and English, including the Amsterdam Cops mystery series, a children series featuring the porcupine Hugh Pine, non-fiction books, and dozens of short stories. His work often incorporated his experiences as a one-time Zen Buddhist monk and the time he served with the Amsterdam Reserve Constabulary. van de Wetering was awarded the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in 1984.

Soho Press published fourteen books by van de Wetering, featuring adjutant Henrik Grijpstra and Sergeant Rinus de Gier. Critical acclaim was unanimously enthusiastic in publications such as the New York Times, Time, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, L.A. Times, Boston Globe, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Soho Press will be reissuing all of van de Wetering's Soho Crime novels in paperback, beginning in the fall of 2008.

Back

2008-07-10T07:17:00.003-07:00

Trying to refocus my energy on my fiction writing now that I'm starting to feel better, so hopefully I'll be posting on a somewhat regular basis again.

Not dead

2008-05-14T11:29:00.001-07:00

I'm not dead.

It's been really busy.

Some changes/updates coming soon. I promise!

Margaret Truman Daniel

2008-02-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

You never know who has written a murder mystery.

I learned of the death of Margaret Truman Daniel - and there is a reason the middle name sounds familiar as she is the daughter of President Truman.

And yes, she was a best-selling crime fiction author.

Margaret Truman Daniel's Obituary

Feedback

2008-01-30T06:47:00.001-08:00

I've been flattered by the personal feedback I've received from my story The Donut Shop, now available on Shred of Evidence.

I've received some 17 complimentary e-mails, and a couple were even from folks I don't know.

Like a person in any pursuit, good feedback is vitally important to the writer. I love the e-mails I've received. But there is another, perhaps more important, form of feedback.

And that is to the editor of the publication.

It is very important to an author that the editor of a publication — be it print or web-based — receive positive and strong feedback. Tell me you liked my story and I'm happy. Tell the editor you liked my story and I might get to publish another story.

Webzines make it easy through comments, e-mail and blogs. But even in a print publication or anthology, you should be able to find an e-mail address to send a comment to. It would mean a lot to me as an author, as it would any other author.

And it would do them and their career some good.

Donut Shop

2008-01-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

The Donut Shop is out and available for viewing. You can read it at:

The Donut Shop

Please read it and if you enjoy it, please leave a comment on the site.

RIP Edward D. Hoch

2008-01-19T20:01:00.000-08:00

Mystery short story writer Edward D. Hoch has passed away.

He was very prolific and one of the finest masters of the short story. On another forum, a member said Mr. Hoch collapsed by his shower, and had passed before his wife found him.

Here's a news story on his death:

Edward D. Hoch

Not much right now

2008-01-17T06:42:00.000-08:00

It's been a very busy few days at that pesky "day job" of mine, so I've not been able to post anything.

I have been getting my writing in. In addition to working on a few new things, I've been pulling out some old, unpublished stories and seeing if they can be revised. It's interesting to me what a few months or even years away from a story can do for your perspective.

Saw a great interview on TV - I forget the station - I think Ovation - with Walter Mosely. I'm a big fan of his writing style and I found it interesting to hear him discuss how he weaves race into his novels. His Easy Rawlins stories are pretty darned good, but if you want a real gut punch, read some of his Socrates Fortlow stories. They'll stick with you when you are done.

Writer's Block

2008-01-09T06:09:00.000-08:00

Quite recently, there was a forum discussion on Crimespace about writer's block.

I weighed in with my two cents, of course.

I've often found writer's block, ummm, interesting.

Some of the posters on the forum describe seemingly horrid encounters with writer's block. I'm talking mental anquish and physical pain. I think if I encountered that, I'd just put the pen down and go play judo. Let's face it, writing doesn't pay well enough for "suffering for art."

That said, I try not to be critical of those suffering from writer's block for one simple reason, I don't suffer from it, so I don't understand.

As a journalist, I must produce or I get fired. I have two weekly columns. There is no extension on those, no delays, no sick days. They must be done and done on time. When I worked as a freelancer for a spell, failure to write meant failure to afford beer.

Like a person at any job, there are issues that affect my writing. Sick family members, money problems, arguments with friends, and a myriad of other personal life matters can interfere and just like doctors, plumbers and the guy at the grocery store, they can affect my performance as a writer.

I don't know why, but I've always been able to work around "problems" with my writing quickly. Some people describe writer's block like hitting a wall. When I hit the wall, I never stand there and stare at it.

If it is a passage, I may skip it and come back later. If it is a story I may set it down and work on something else. But I just don't stop writing.

My story "The King" is a very short story, less than a tousand words. It appeared in issue no. 11 of Crimespree Magazine. Buy a subscription.

Anyway, as I said, it is a short story that started on a premise that I found very funny -- Elvis is a live and well and making a decent living as an Elvis impersonator. I never could get the story quite right, and as a consequence, those 800 or so words took about a year to write.

The didn't stop me. They didn't even slow me down. They just didn't get written until they were ready to pop out, but in the meantime, thousands of other words were written.

So writer's block? I don't know. I'll just be thankful it doesn't seem to be a problem for me.

Did I write a book? LOL

2008-01-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

So, I did an exercise.

Occasionally, I find my writing slipping into the passive voice and loading up on weak adjectives and adverbs. So I wrote a story and limited myself to 8 words per sentence. No more.

24,000 words later, I have a finished science fiction story, written in 15 days.

I did some research.

The immensely famous Goosebumps, for roughly "middle school" readers, had an average of 22,500 words, and an average of 8 words per sentence.

Interesting.

And now I ask myself - have I written a children's science fiction novel?

An obituary

2008-01-03T08:36:00.000-08:00

The author of one of the....ummm....most colorful and .... ummm ..... "loose" characters in fiction has died.

George MacDonald Frasier, author of the 12 "Flashman" novels, and several other books, has died. I've read two novels featuring the anti-hero Harry Flashman, and they were damned colorful books.

Here's his obituary.

George MacDonald Fraser, Author of Flashman Novels, Dies at 82

Looking ahead

2007-12-28T13:18:00.001-08:00

Took a little break from blogging to enjoy the Christmas holiday and am now back at it in full force.

What are you writing goals in 2008?

My writing goal is simple.

I will write 500,000 words of fiction in 2008 in any combination I damn well feel like. But I will record a half-million words. That is less than two thousand a day if you write five days a week.

In 2008, I will submit no less than 20 short stories for consideration to be published in magazines, webzines or anthologies. Five of these will be in genres other than mystery. Two will be a sub-genre of mystery I generally do not write.

I do have other goals sure to help my writing.

I want to read books by 10 authors I've never read before. Five of these cannot be mysteries. Three must be non-fiction.

I want to make myself healthier. I think healthy people are more productive people. That means more words.

About finished

2007-12-17T09:38:00.000-08:00

It started off as a crime story set in a diner in the middle of the night. A really cool female sheriff - an homage to the police chief in Fargo -- would take care of things.

Then I took a hard left, though I didn't intend to.

My crime story has turned into a ghost story. No more Ghost Hunter marathons for me.

I think it is a good story...a darned good story. I'm kind of proud of it, particularly the character development, so we'll see how it does out there.

My favorites in FICTION from 2007

2007-12-12T07:14:00.000-08:00

These are the best books I read in 2007. It's just what I read...some of these were published in other years...a few in other decades. I'll publish my non-fiction favorites in a few days.

These below are five I think are worthy of mention.

I think the best book I read was

The Watchman

by Robert Crais. In this book his sidekick to Elvis Cole, Joe Pike, takes center stage. There is family reconciliation, a bit of a weird love story and of course Pike kicking ass. It was Crais at his best and I loved the book.

I also read

Captain Alatriste

by the great Spanish historical mystery author Arturo Perez-Reverte. This man is a master of the language, just as Alatriste is a master at weapons. A great book, and a great start to what I'm certain is a wonderful series.

I also read and very much enjoyed

Fragile Things

by Neil Gaiman. I've said it before — Gaiman is the best short story writer alive today, and this collection supports my thesis.

I picked up the first novel by a very popular mystery writer this year. I'd never read Jonathan Kellerman before, but decided to try out

When The Bough Breaks

and was pleasantly surprised at the results. His main character, Alex Delaware, a psychologist, is a different type than I'm used to and very enjoyable.

Every year, I read again

Ender's Game

and it never fails to amaze me. A great science fiction novel.

Writing Instruments

2007-12-05T07:34:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I wrote a short story. It's an OK story, probably going to need some work before I can consider sending it out.

What is different is I wrote the story by hand.

And you know what?

I HATED doing that.

Most writers seem to wax poetic about switching from the keyboard to a handwritten manuscript, like there is somesort of magical connection between the brain, a hand, a pen and paper. Not for me.

The only thing I could think was "at some point you are going to have to type this thing up."

I grew up on keys. I wrote my first published article at at the age of 15 on a dedicated Brother word processor I purchased with birthday money (yes I'm a dork).

Yes, I can hand write a story. But was it magical? Hardly.

Write daily

2007-11-27T20:18:00.000-08:00

Yehudi Menuhin was one of the most accomplished violinists in history.

He once said about playing, and I may not get it exactly right:
If I miss one day, I notice.
If I miss two days, the conductor notices.
If I miss three days, the audiendce notices.

If you are serious about writing, do you need any other reason to work on your craft every day?

Pretty Cool

2007-11-25T18:03:00.001-08:00

I stumbled across this while reading the blog of an author friend of mine.

This is a blog that shows the covers of vintage mystery and crime novels. I thought it was cool, but then again, I'm a dork. I think the accompanying commentary is excellent.

Here's the link:

Vintage Crime Novel Covers

A couple of obits

2007-11-15T12:32:00.000-08:00

Obituaries. We've lost a couple of great writers in the last couple of weeks.

Ira Levin

Norman Mailer

To be honest, I've not read much of Mailer, but enjoyed watching him interviews. Levin however, is different. If you don't know him, you've seen movies based on his works. Rosemary's Baby is one. I first discovered him when I read a Reader's Digest version of The Boys From Brazil. Wow...amazing writer.

A Shred story coming soon

2007-11-13T20:56:00.001-08:00

I've received word today that my short story "The Donut Shop" will be published in Shred of Evidence magazine on Jan. 21.

When it is up, I'll provide a link.

NaNoWriMo Give me a break

2007-11-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

It's National Novel Writing Month. It's the one month when thousands and thousands of people who want to write a book sit down and do it.

Whatever.

I don't understand why it takes a special month to get someone to do something — whether it is writing a novel, fighting breast cancer, studying African American history, whatever.

As if all the people who never had time to write a book before suddenly have time in November. Give me a break!

Look, writing a novel isn't that difficult. I've written 3 (of course they are all unpublished :-P).

And it doesn't take that much time.

Here it is. 500 words a day. That's it. Write 500 words a day, and you'll have a 60,000 word novel in 120 days. Even if you only get three writing days a week in, you'll be finished in one year.

It doesn't take a month. It takes only one special thing to get a book out.

Ass in chair. Start typing.

Simple.

Tired

2007-11-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

Been tired lately. Well, more than tired...bone tired, if you will.

And frankly, more pissed off than usual. I can point to the reasons why, but does it really accomplish anything?

Got a great idea for a book - not a mystery though. I think it is fantasy, or more, modern fantasy, along the lines of American Gods by Neil Gaiman, except, well, no mythological gods in America, so maybe it's not along those lines.

See what I mean? I'm just tired and can't get my brain straight it seems.

Walter Mosely

2007-11-01T06:21:00.001-07:00

Walter Mosely is on the road promoting his new "Easy Rawlins" book, Blonde Faith. Mosley, who writes on a broad range of topics — fiction and non-fiction — is probably best known for his mysteries and is one of the few black authors who enjoy mainstream success — and does so with black male heroes, something else you don't see often in mainstream fiction.

I discovered him by reading a collection of short stories featuring Socrates Fortlow, a murderer and rapist finally out of prison years later, trying to make up for his life. Abosolutely, utterly and completely fascinating. I've been hooked on Mosely ever since.

Here's a recent Walter Mosely Interview

Robert B. Parker and spenser

2007-10-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

Robert B. Parker's new Spenser novel "Now & Then" is getting a lot of great praise, and is being hailed as the best Spenser novel in some 20 years. Some have said that after the first ten novels, the series, established in 1973, began to falter. But "Now & Then" sounds like quite the book.

Here's a reivew:

Now & Then Review

Also, in case you are interested, here's a pretty good interview with Parker, a fascinating author, in my opinion:

Robert B. Parker Interview

More on Women

2007-10-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

I spoke briefly about female mystery writers a couple weeks ago.

I keep hearing that mysteries are a male dominated field, but I'm really beginning to wonder...are they?

The highly prestigious Anthony Awards were announced and all three novel lenght categories were one by women.
One of the novel length categories for the Shamus Award was also won by a female author.

All are excellent writers.

Perhaps the tide is turning?

Online presence

2007-10-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Just so you know...

http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/ECMorgan
This is a group sorty of like "Myspace" for mystery writers. You may or may not be interested, and I don't have a whole heck of a lot on my page, but feel free to check it out.

Currently in the works is a substantial and substantially revised web site. More details to come.

This blog will remain fairly active.

The supernatural

2007-10-08T05:20:00.001-07:00

As a kid I read everything. Devoured is more like it. I read mysteries, classics, and certainly more than my fair share of horror, fantasy and science fiction.

I even wrote a bit of "supernatural fiction" but can't recall anything I've written in that genre since, oh, 15 or so.

Well, this weekend I wrote a short story that started off as a story about a hostage situation — I anticipated it to be a straight forward crime story. But somewhere along the way something happened...

The story did not turn out like I originally planned. That's the excitement of writing.

But I am struck by the fact that I wrote a story more likely to come from a horror writer than from me.

Just something I think interesting.

Damn Novellas

2007-10-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I purchased "Capital Crimes", a "collection" of two novellas by Jonathan and Faye Kellerman.

The husband and wife team are individually immensely successful crime novelists. I've not ready any of Faye's work, but very much enjoy Jonathan's "Andrew Delaware" novels. I very much enjoy the way he weaves his experience as a clinical psychologist into his novels. He's published in journals extensively on psychology, particularly child psychology, and his knowledge of the field shows in his novels.

Trivia: The Kellerman's are the only married couple in history to appear simultaneously on the New York Times Best Seller List.

Anyway, on to novella's. I'm glad the Kellerman's were able to come up with a market for theirs.

In case you don't know, novella's are strange beasties. Too long to be short stories, too short to be novels. There is debate on what constitutes a novella, but the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, for their Nebulus Award, classify novellas as 17,500 to 40,000 words.

There is the problem. I have written two novellas that I think are quite good. One's about 25,000 words and the other about 30,000 words.

From Wikipedia:
Stephen King, in his introduction to Different Seasons, an anthology of four of his novellas, has called the novella "an ill-defined and disreputable literary banana republic"[2]; King notes the difficulties of selling a novella in the commercial publishing world, since it does not fit the typical length requirements of either magazine or book publishers. Despite these problems, however, the novella's length provides unique advantages; in the introduction to a novella anthology titled Sailing to Byzantium, Robert Silverberg writes:
[The novella] is one of the richest and most rewarding of literary forms...it allows for more extended development of theme and character than does the short story, without making the elaborate structural demands of the full-length book. Thus it provides an intense, detailed exploration of its subject, providing to some degree both the concentrated focus of the short story and the broad scope of the novel. [3]
In his essay 'Briefly, the case for the novella,' Canadian author George Fetherling (who wrote the novella Tales of Two Cities) said that to reduce the novella to nothing more than a short novel is like "saying a pony is a baby horse." [4]

The novella is simply too long to be published in any of the short story magazines, who seem to limit fiction. For example, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine's guidelines say they accept fiction up to 12,000 words, but prefer much lower word limits.

But on the other hand, novels typically run 60,000-65,000 on the short end.

The poor old novella. It's a great form that is the best of brevity and detail. And there is no home for it.

Solitude

2007-10-02T12:13:00.001-07:00

The last, oh, 18 months, or maybe closer to a year, has been a period of solitude in terms of my personal life.

I've kind of been hibernating, which means really keeping to myself. It's not like I don't go out — I do, but my activities tend to be solitary — a lot of walking, some surfing, beach time, things of that nature.

I wonder what the impact has been on my writing.

Jessamyn West may have said it best: "Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking."

Certainly the last year or so has been one of extreme productivity, despite my grumblings about how my writing's not going well.

And you know, the writing's been pretty good, and covered a variety of topics, styles and genres.

Which is interesting because I've always been an advocaate of really being out there in the thick of "life" for great writing material. Hmmmm.

Food for thought.

And my favorite quote about "solitude": "I owe my solitude to other people." Allen Watts.

Awards

2007-10-01T14:24:00.001-07:00

New Awards:

First, the Shamus Awards:

BEST NOVEL: Ken Bruen, The Dramatist (St. Martin's Minotaur)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL: P.J. Parrish, An Unquiet Grave (Pinnacle)
BEST FIRST NOVEL: Declan Hughes, The Wrong Kind of Blood (William Morrow)
BEST SHORT STORY: O'Neil DeNoux, "The Heart Has Reasons" (AHMM, September 2006)
THE EYE FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Stuart Kaminsky
THE HAMMER FOR BEST PI SERIES CHARACTER: Shell Scott (created by Richard Prather)

And then the Anthony Awards:

BEST NOVEL: Laura Lippman, NO GOOD DEEDS (William Morrow)
BEST FIRST NOVEL: Louise Penny, STILL LIFE (St. Martin's Minotaur)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL: Dana Cameron, ASHES AND BONES (Avon)
BEST SHORT STORY: Simon Wood, "My Father's Secret" (Crimespree Magazine, B'con Special Issue 2006)
BEST CRITICAL NONFICTION: Jim Huang & Austin Lugar, ed. MYSTERY MUSES (Crum Creek Press)
SPECIAL SERVICES AWARD: Jim Huang

Back in town

2007-10-01T09:59:00.001-07:00

Went home for a few days, good trip.

I'm back in town and lots of work to do.

Interesting article by Stephen King on the short story. The link is from the New York Times Book Review, so I'm not sure if you'll have to register or not.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/review/King2-t.html?_r=1&ref=review&oref=slogin

More Smatterings

2007-09-24T04:56:00.000-07:00

We now mark the 40th anniversary of the novel S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. It was a novel that shocked audiences then for its portrayal of teen life, and has remained a classic since.

Speaking of which, this week is Banned Books Week. It is amazing the number of books that are challenged or banned from school districts, school libraries and sometimes even public libraries. Hinton's book makes the list, too. You can read more at the American Library Association's web site. I will also have a column you can read at www.aransaspassprogress.com on Wednesday.

I've been having some serious thought to my character Barnacle. I wonder if it is too late to change him. He's a total ass kicker, but doesn't like to be around people. I've often thought, without writing it, that he may have agoraphobia or something similar. That's why he's an Internet junkie. But maybe there's something else. A handicap? A physical feature he thinks people find repulsive. I don't know. I see him taking more of a supportive role to Addison Carlysle though.

Busy writing weekend. 12,000+ words done.

Smatterings

2007-09-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

I'm not too interested in writing holiday oriented stories, generally speaking. But I've just finished the rough draft of one for Christmas, and it is quite fun. Starts with the premise "What if being Santa Claus (the real one), was actually punishment for something?" Hmmmmm...........

I finished reading my first novel by John D. Macdonald, featuring Travis McGee. I know, I'm running behind, and have to say that now I know why those novels are so influential.

Robert B. Parker has a new novel out - High Profile, featuring Chief Jesse Stone. I've very much enjoyed the novels and am looking forward to reading this one. And look forward to seeing the television movie CBS is sure to make. Tom Sellek has played Stone in four movies and all have been excellent.

And an obit from last month I somehow missed:
GENEVA -Magdalen Nabb, a British author who wrote crime novels about a quirky Italian investigator, has died, her publishing house said Tuesday. She was 60. Nabb died of a stroke Saturday in Florence, Italy, where she had lived and worked since 1975, said Diogenes Verlag AG, her Swiss publisher.

Nabb's most popular novels featured the Sicilian-born police detective Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia, who was described by Publishers Weekly as "an unusual protagonist for a crime novel: he's neither a Bond-like sophisticate nor a recovering loser."

She published 13 books in the series, the most recent being "The Innocent" in 2005. Her publisher said she had recently submitted a 14th book entitled "Vita Nuova," which is to be released next year.

Nabb said she started writing when Belgian author Georges Simenon stopped writing his acclaimed novels about French detective Jules Maigret in 1972. A lifelong fan of Simenon's, Nabb struck up a correspondence with the Belgian which continued until his death in 1989.

Nabb's publisher said the first copy of each of her books went to him, and "she couldn't write as fast as Simenon read" because he asked her after each new novel where the next one was.

Born in the village of Church in northwest England, Nabb studied art and pottery and later taught at an English art school. She came up with the idea for the character Marshal Guarnaccia while working in a pottery studio in the Italian town of Montelupo Fiorentino.

Nabb also published 13 books for children and young adults, including "The Enchanted Horse," "Twilight Ghost."

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

I'll be grouchy a minute

2007-09-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was "taken to task" for a grammatical error in a post on another forum for mystery writers. I think someone even corrected one of my posts on here, once.

Here's the deal.

When I write this blog, it is very much free flow. Raw writing. I generally don't edit it and I often write it late at night. For me, it is as much an abridged diary as it is a self-promotional tool. Therefore, there may be the odd word with bad spelling, syntax or grammatical errors.

I save as much perfection as I can muster for the newspapers and for fiction I submit for publication.

This is a blog. My blog. It is not designed to showcase my writing. Nor is it designed to be a self-promotional tool. Rather, it is a place for me to record my thoughts, and keep what few people who read it informed of what I'm doing.

Grammatical errors?

Deal with it. Or don't read the blog. Or fuck off and die.

Pick one.

Women in Mystery Fiction

2007-09-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

One of the things I've found interesting in the field of mystery and crime fiction, today and yesterday, is the role women have played.

Since the early days, female authors such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers were able break through and acheive commercial and literary success during a period of time — and in a genre — where only men could succeed. What's more, they didn't have to do like their science ficiton counterparts, and assume pen names with initials and/or vague gender identity.

I doubt that things were all peaches and cream back in the day, but certainly things have changed.

Women have always had success in mystery fiction, but it seems to me the last 25 years or so has brought about some gender-defying writers.

Sue Grafton, Sarah Paretsky and others have very successfully crossed into private detective fiction — sometimes hardboiled detective fiction — and they do it with female characters who fight, float in and out of relationships, and really are all that unfamiliar in the genre.

Today, the mystery bestseller lists are filled with female writers, like always. But some, ranging from the two women above, to Faye Kellerman to P.D. James and a host of others are writing fiction that is definitely not the realm of cozy, crime solving cats, little old ladies and novels with no blood, gore, or dirtiness.

Difficult to write

2007-09-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

It's been difficult to write lately. I've been tired, stressed out at work, pissed off and more. Can't seem to really relax.

My fiction is suffering because of it. Productivity is down and quality is way down. What time I feel like writing, I have to spend on writing for the paper.

Not in a very good mood today.

Agatha Christie

2007-08-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

I read a very interesting article about Agatha Christie's books, and some plans for them.

But first, if anyone doubts her influence on the literary world, consider the following:
•In 50 years, she published 66 novels, 154 short stories and 20 plays.
•Her work is translated into more than 70 languages.
•She is out-sold by only the Bible and Shakespeare.

It seems that her publisher is going to release a few of her novels in the graphic novel format. Here's an article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6949913.stm

This is intriguing.

On the surface, the graphic novel format is very popular with plenty of folks, especially young people, so perhaps this is an opportunity to reach a new audience that reads little other than Harry Potter.

I do indeed hope the addition of Mrs. Christie to the graphic novel world does translate into many new readers of conventional novels, but I have one fear.

I think a conventional novel offers so much more, though I'm not that familiar with graphic novels. However, from sheer words and pages, I'd think a graphic novel can offer more in terms of character development, description, plotting, etc. But I could be wrong.

What I do know is that Mrs. Christie was a pioneer. She was one who ploughed the way for female crime writers. Her work has been translated into every medium — novel, stage, television and the big screen. So maybe, just maybe, it is appropriate that she charge into the medium of graphic novels some 31 years after her death.

Ok...ok...ok

2007-08-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

I've been away from this blog for several months and I apologize. I'll get more regular in my posting again, I promise.

My update.

I've been writing a lot. Looking like a few things will be coming out in the near future and I'll let you know as they pop up.

I'm still heavily focused on mystery and crime fiction. My themes, such as the strength of family, moral ambiguity, etc., remain strong undercurrents to my writing. I'm focusing on both long and short fiction. And occasionally, I branch outside of mystery fiction, too.

Personally, not much has changed. I work a lot. Hang out. Read a lot. Spending a lot of time on the beach and in salt water — swimming, body surfing, surfing, body boarding, that sort of thing. I have a few friends/folks I hang out with, but it is mostly a solitary life, and I'm pretty happy with that.

A field you hate

2007-04-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

If you are up for a reading challenge.

Pick a type of fiction you hate. Maybe science fiction, fantasy, mystery, romance, whatever.

Do a little research, find out what one very highly regarded and popular book in that field is and read it for pure enjoyment.

Did you like it?

Now, read it a second time, but this time to study how the author wrote the book. Style. Usage. Point of view.

Did you learn anything?

All too often we get in reading ruts. There is nothing wrong with this - what can be wrong with reading what you enjoy? But every once in a while, you should stretch yourself.

While I'm ok with sword & sorcery and fantasy, I deplore "modern fantasy," that is stories with magic and such taking place in the modern day. I hate 'em.

Well, years ago, a friend of mine was a freak for Neil Gaiman. I absolutely refused to read his books, despite her insistence I do so. We drifted apart as friends sometimes do, and one day I picked up Neverwhere by Gaiman, whom I speak of frequently on here. I'm not sure why I purchased the book because it has everything I just hate - a modern setting but one where magical and amazing creatures living and operate among us. Of course, we don't know it. Give me a fucking break.

But I loved it.

Gaiman is one of the best storytellers alive today, but I'd have never known it if I didn't stretch my boundaries just a little.

So, while you are out there, try stretching yourself...even if just a little.

A New Playground

2007-04-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

Just so you know, I've been spending a little of my online time over at a place called Crimespace. Really, it's just myspace for crime writers, and those interested in mysteries.

My page there is http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/ECMorgan if you care to check it out. Not much yet.

Lelia Kelly

2007-03-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

As Relay for Lifes take shape across the country, the mystery genre lost an up and coming voices to breast cancer. Lelia Kelly was the author of three legal thrillers with a fourth on the way.

I challenge everyone who reads this blog to make some conribution to the American Cancer Society.

Here is her obituary from the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Lelia Kelly, mystery book author

By DERRICK HENRY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/17/07
Lelia Kelly graduated from college with degrees in history and East Asian studies, then decided to become a banker — with no training for the profession whatsoever. Before long, the native Atlantan was a vice president at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in New York City.

After 14 years in the banking profession, Miss Kelly quit. She wanted to write legal thrillers. She returned to Atlanta in 1994, began writing and between 1998 and 2001 published three such thrillers, the second of which landed on the New York Times best-seller list.

Lelia Kelly (center) enjoyed swimming at Lake Burton with her nieces and nephews. She turned herself into a banker and then a successful author with no training but much determination.

"Again, Lelia just decided she wanted to do something different," said her sister, Ellen Smith of Carmel, Ind. "She had always wanted to write."

Miss Kelly's goal, she wrote on her Web site, www.leliakellly.com, "was to write the kind of book I enjoy reading myself. I think of my ideal reader as a fan of the television show `Law and Order.' "

Just as she had had no prior training in banking, Miss Kelly had no training in the law. So she researched the Georgia Code online. She consulted lawyers and policemen and even shadowed a detective, her sister said.

Her first novel, "Assumption of Guilt," appeared in 1998. Two years later came "False Witness," which earned Miss Kelly a nomination for the prestigious Mary Higgins Clark Award presented by the Mystery Writers of America. Her last completed thriller, "Officer of the Court," was published in 2001. All three novels consistently earn four- and five-star ratings from reviewers on www.amazon.com.

Frances Lelia Kelly, 48, died Tuesday at her Atlanta residence of complications from breast cancer. The funeral was Friday. H. M. Patterson & Son, Oglethorpe Hill, is in charge of arrangements.

"Lelia's books were page turners and fun to read," said Allyson Greene of Atlanta, a fellow book club member. "She told me her goal was to write a book you could buy at the airport in New York and read on the airplane to Los Angeles."

Miss Kelly was fascinated by "the mystery component and interesting characters," said writer/editor Jan Butsch Schroder of Atlanta, another book club member.

Reviewer E. Bukowsky, writing on www.amazon.com, called "Officer of the Court" her "third and best novel ... an exciting and suspenseful legal thriller with an intelligent and courageous heroine."

Miss Kelly's three books centered around the character Laura Chastain, an Atlanta-based prosecuting attorney. Atlanta scenes figure prominently, and the first novel centers around Brookhaven, where Miss Kelly grew up.

Her ability to create believable characters came from the way she interacted with others, her sister suggested. "Lelia could relate to anyone by talking to them and finding out what they were interested in."

Her book club colleagues were impressed with the sophistication of Miss Kelly's reading. "She was insightful," Mrs. Schroder said. "We'd have a discussion of a book and she would come out with a comment that showed she had read so much more into it than we had."

Miss Kelly's favorite hobby, Mrs. Schroder said, "was searching for vintage sweaters on eBay. She liked the old-timey stuff, bead sweaters from the '30s through '50s. If she got a sweater she didn't like, she would give it to a friend."

And she didn't let her long cancer treatment affect her sense of humor. Two weeks ago, at the last book club meeting that Miss Kelly hosted, "someone said to her, 'Your hair looks great,' " Mrs. Schroeder said. "Lelia said, 'It may look great, but it's not my hair.' "

Additional survivors include her mother, Frances Bryan "Bree" Kelly of Atlanta; and two brothers, Michael Kelly of Atlanta and Bill Kelly of Nashville.

Interesting Book

2007-03-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

I recently read The Last Detective by Robert Crais, another in his series featuring private detective Elvis Cole and his partner Joe Pike. In keeping with Crais' other books, this one was quite good, but there was something that struck me from a writing point of view.

And that was point of view.

It kept shifting throughout the book.

Some passages were from the point of view of Cole. Others of Pike -- particularly Pike who played a much larger role in this work. There were also passages from the point of view of Ben, a little boy who was kidnapped in this book. And you even get some perspective from the points of view of minor characters.

Again, I found the shifting POV to be a very interesting way to tell this story, and it was very skillfully handled.

For me, at least, it has given me food for thought.

Experience

2007-03-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

What does it feel like to fire a 9mm?
How difficult is it to turn someone onto his stomach and handcuff him?
How does it feel to be punched in the nose?
Pepper sprayed?
To fall madly in love?
To have your heart broken?
To be stalked?
To have someone shove a gun in your face?
To be mugged?
To lose a loved one?
To save a life?
To do CPR?

Do life experiences such as these make you a better writer?

Do they allow you to more accurately and realistically write about such things?

If you've never been a spy working the streets of Tehran, can you accurately write about it?

Just some thoughts...

Wonderful Music

2007-03-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

I know this isn't about writing, but I don't care, it's my blog.

My favorite band, Rush, has a new studio album coming out in May.

Back

2007-03-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

I was surprised...

After a few weeks of not posting, the e-mails started coming in.

This surprised me, because given the plethora of comments that my posts have generated, I wasn't sure if more than one or two people were actually checking out this blog. I got several e-mails from folks I don't know!

So, I'll get back to it and get regular...promise!

It's been a wild and wooly couple of months down here virtually in every aspect of my life.

But I'm back...for now.

Gotta love it

2007-02-04T21:20:00.000-08:00

I was reading the blog by an agent -- it is a very popular blog. She was asked about how to respond to folks who respond to your writing dreams by telling you you'll be broke, miserable, etc.

She said, "Publishing is low paid and frustrating. It's also glorious. As an agent, I work with people who are smart, funny, creative and extraordinarily happy with their lives on the whole. My job is to help them be successful. The details of day to day life can be frustrating and filled with angst. Show me a job that isn't. I have the best job in the world, and I thank God every single day for it."

But then she concluded with:
"D0 what you love. Tell those naysayers to fuck off and die."

I can say I've had to do that once or twice, even to those whom I care immensely about.

The Passing of Sidney Sheldon

2007-01-30T20:31:00.000-08:00

Just moments ago, we lost one of our greatest writers....

Los Angeles - Sidney Sheldon has passed away from complications of pneumonia at age 89.

Sheldon was born Sidney Schechtel in Chicago, Illinois to a German Jewish father and a Russian Jewish mother.

His career began in 1937 in Hollywood, California, where he reviewed scripts and collaborated on a number of B-movies.

After a stint in the military as a pilot in the War Training Service, a branch of the Army Air Corps, during World War II, Sheldon returned to civilian life and began writing musicals for the Broadway stage while continuing to write screenplays for both MGM Studios and Paramount Pictures.

Over the years, Sheldon wrote for television, film, and stage, winning an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay (1947) for The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, a Tony Award (1959) for his musical Redhead, and earned Emmy nominations for his work on I Dream of Jeannie, an NBC sitcom. Additionally, he created The Patty Duke Show and the ABC mystery series Hart to Hart.

In 1969, Sheldon wrote his first novel, The Naked Face which earned him the Best First Novel Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America. His next novel, The Other Side of Midnight, went to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list as did several ensuing novels, a number of which were also made into motion pictures or TV miniseries. He struggled with bipolar disorder for years; he nearly committed suicide at 17.

Edgar Nominees

2007-01-25T20:04:00.000-08:00

And the nominees for the 2007 Edgar Awards, given out by the Mystery Writers of America, are:

BEST NOVEL

The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard (HarperCollins)
The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Gentleman and Players by Joanne Harris (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
The Dead Hour by Denise Mina (Hachette Book Group - Little, Brown and Company)
The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard (Random House – Ballantine Books)
The Liberation Movements by Olen Steinhauer (St. Martin's Minotaur)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson (Random House)
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (Crown - Shaye Areheart Books)
King of Lies by John Hart (St. Martin's Minotaur – Thomas Dunne Books)
Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith (St. Martin's Minotaur)
A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read (Warner Books – Mysterious Press)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

The Goodbye Kiss by Massimo Carlotto (Europa Editions)
The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson (Coffee House Press)
Snakeskin Shamisen by Naomi Hirahara (Bantam Dell Publishing – Delta Books)
The Deep Blue Alibi by Paul Levine (Bantam Dell Publishing – Bantam Books)
City of Tiny Lights by Patrick Neate (Penguin Group – Riverhead Books)

BEST FACT CRIME

Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger (W.W. Norton and Co.)
Finding Amy: A True Story of Murder in Maine by Capt. Joseph K. Loughlin & Kate Clark Flora (University Press of New England)
Ripperology: A Study of the World's First Serial Killer by Robin Odell (The Kent State University Press)
The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe and the Invention of Murder by Daniel Stashower (Dutton)
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Unless the Threat of Death is Behind Them: Hard-Boiled Fiction and Film Noir by John T. Irwin (Johns Hopkins University Press)
The Science of Sherlock Holmes: From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear by E.J. Wagner (John Wiley & Sons)

BEST SHORT STORY

"The Home Front" – Death Do Us Part by Charles Ardai (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)
"Rain" – Manhattan Noir by Thomas H. Cook (Akashic Books)
"Cranked" – Damn Near Dead by Bill Crider (Busted Flush Press)
"White Trash Noir" – Murder at the Foul Line by Michael Malone (Hachette Book Group – Mysterious Press)
"Building" – Manhattan Noir by S.J. Rozan (Akashic Books)

BEST JUVENILE

Gilda Joyce: The Ladies of the Lake by Jennifer Allison (Penguin Young Readers – Sleuth/Dutton)
The Stolen Sapphire: A Samantha Mystery by Sarah Masters Buckey (American Girl Publishing)
Room One: A Mystery or Two by Andrew Clements (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
The Bloodwater Mysteries: Snatched by Pete Hautman & Mary Logue (Penguin Young Readers – Sleuth/Putnam)
The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery by Nancy Springer (Penguin Young Readers – Philomel/Sleuth)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks (Scholastic – The Chicken House)
The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson (Penguin YR – Sleuth/Viking)
Crunch Time by Mariah Fredericks (Simon & Schuster – Richard Jackson Books/Atheneum)
Buried by Robin Merrow MacCready (Penguin YR – Dutton Children's Books)
The Night My Sister Went Missing by Carol Plum-Ucci (Harcourt Children's Books)

BEST PLAY

Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure by Steven Dietz (Arizona Theatre Company)
Curtains by Rupert Holmes (Ahmanson Theatre)
Ghosts of Ocean House by Michael Kimball (The Players' Ring)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

The Closer – "Blue Blood", Teleplay by James Duff & Mike Berchem (Turner Network Television)
Dexter – "Crocodile", Teleplay by Clyde Phillips (Showtime)
House – "Clueless", Teleplay by Thomas L. Moran (Fox/NBC Universal)
Life on Mars – Episode 1, Teleplay by Matthew Graham (BBC America)
Monk – "Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink", Teleplay by Hy Conrad (USA Network/NBC Universal)

BEST TELEVISION FEATURE/MINI-SERIES TELEPLAY

Conviction, Teleplay by Bill Gallagher (BBC America)
Cracker: A New Terror, Teleplay by Jimmy McGovern (BBC America)
Messiah: The Harrowing, Teleplay by Terry Cafolla (BBC America)
Secret Smile, Teleplay by Kate Brooke, based on the book by Nicci French (BBC America)
The Wire, Season 4, Teleplays by Ed Burns, Kia Corthron, Dennis Lehane, David Mills, Eric Overmyer, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, David Simon & William F. Zorzi (Home Box Office)

BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY

Casino Royale, Screenplay by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade & Paul Haggis, based on novel by Ian Fleming (MGM)
Children of Men, Screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby, based on a novel by P.D. James (Universal Pictures
The Departed, Screenplay by William Monahan (Warner Bros. Pictures)
The Good Shepherd, Teleplay by Eric Roth (Universal Pictures)
Notes on a Scandal, Screenplay by Patrick Marber (Scott Rudin Productions)

Obit: Barbara Seranella

2007-01-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

Barbara Seranella, an auto mechanic-turned mystery writer, died Sunday in Cleveland, Ohio, of end-stage liver disease while awaiting a third liver transplant. She was 50 years old.
After writing her first book, "No Human Involved," which was published in 1997 and was No. 5 on the Los Angeles Times best-seller list, she gained popularity for suspense novels based on the adventures of Munch Muncini, a female auto and motorcycle mechanic/detective with a checkered past not unlike that of the author.
She went on to see seven more books in that series published. A new book, "Deadman's Switch," based on a different character, is expected to be released in April.
Born in Santa Monica, Seranella grew up in Pacific Palisades and ran away from home at age 14, joining a hippie commune in San Francisco and riding with an outlaw motorcycle gang known as the Heathens. During that time, she became all too familiar with drugs, alcohol and jail time. She was arrested 13 times for various offenses.
At age 22, she got sober and decided to settle down. She worked at an Arco station in Sherman Oaks for five years, then for a Texaco station in Brentwood, where she became service manager and married her boss, Ron Seranella, in 1994. They had homes in Laguna Beach and in La Quinta.
At the urging of her husband, she retired soon after they married to pursue writing, something she'd wanted to do since childhood.
She wrote her first book in 1995, sold it in 1996 and saw it published the following year.
In the process, she went from tough biker chick to genteel, conservative, well-dressed author, active in local writing groups, such as Sisters in Crime Orange County, and frequently was asked to speak to mystery fans and aspiring writers.
In the summer of 2005, she had two liver transplants – the second coming only three days after the first.
Last year, she learned the second liver, too, was failing.
"Barbara died at 50," said her husband, Ron, "but she wasn't really 50. She was 75 in life experience."
She is survived by her husband, Ron; parents, Nate and Margie Shore; stepdaughters, Carry Seranella, Shannon Howard; brothers, Larry and David Shore.
Services are pending.
The family asks that instead of sending flowers, friends and fans add the pink organ-donor dot to their driver's licenses in memory of Barbara Seranella.

A reading and writing update

2007-01-14T11:14:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned several times in the past that there are few true masters of the short story alive working today. Neil Gaiman may very well be the best short story writer alive, in my opinion.

Gaiman is a highly versatile writer. He wrote the Sandman graphic novels, a number of best selling novels, at least one movie script I know of, two best selling childrens books and a slew of short stories.

Just before Christmas, Fragile Things, Gaiman's second collection of short stories was released in hardback and I picked it up the other day. I must say that the man has lived up to his reputation. Imaginative, creative and amazingly vivid, this collection of short stories is a must read. If you haven't already read them, be sure to pick up Smoke and Mirrors, too.

Gaiman's books are usually found in the "fantasy and sci fi" section of book stores, though that is a category that isn't quite right. In fact, his books defy categorization.

WRITING
I'm currently working on a short story -- what appears to be becoming a rather long short story or perhaps a novella -- titled the Gauntlet.

The original idea was pretty simple. A man of the cloth is tired. He's angry at people, the world and God. His life and his service to the Lord has not been what he intended or imagined. My thought at this idea was two-fold: 1) What kinds of things brings a person to this level? and 2) What can bring them back?

One scene, which is very short, is very pivotal, I think. This man doesn't want to come out and ask an elderly priest for proof that God exists, so he asks a different question.

"Father, does evil, real evil, exist?"
The old man sighed deeply and looked into Jon's eyes.
"My son," he said in a frail voice. "Ask the true question in your heart. Does God really exist?"

In my crazy little brain, it didn't take long to develop a story line in which this man, like many humans in a moment of despair, challenges God to prove His existence. Then the question popped into my head...what if God takes you up on your challenge? They say God works in myserious ways....

It's been an interesting and fun journey so far.

Thoughts

2007-01-07T20:24:00.000-08:00

The last few days have been quite interesting to me, writing wise.

I began developing a new character...didn't intend to, but he insisted.

I think he derives from this thought.

I believe with all my heart there is true evil in the world. I'm not sure about supernatural evil, but certainly there are men who simply evil and commit the most horrible of acts.

I also believe in balance. There are people of good in the world, and maybe, just maybe, some of them exist to fight that evil.

My new character doesn't know it yet, but he's on the verge of becoming one of those people.

Read this book!!!

2007-01-02T19:03:00.000-08:00

Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

This book features the recurring character FBI agent Pendergast - a most interesting character. I've read one or two other Pendergast books and very much enjoyed them, but I have to tell you "Still Life With Crows" freaked me the fuck out. It has been a very very long time since a book put a chill in me like that.

A MUST read.

Some of my favorites of 2006

2006-12-25T18:52:00.000-08:00

Well, it is that time of year again. Here's a few books I read in 2006 that I really enjoyed.

Beggars Banquet by Ian Rankin
I'd never read Rankin before and this collection of short stories shows why he's such a well-selling crime author. I'm looking forward to reading some of his novels next year.

The Dramatist by Ken Bruen
Hardboiled detective fiction is alive and well. Of course, in this book the main character has kicked the pills and powder, but only because his dealer is in jail. It's a lively book and an interesting study in the darker side of things. I intend to read more Bruen in the new year.

The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Man, this Spanish guy can write. I first discovered him through his novel the Fencing Master, and now this novel. He's one I'm definitely keeping on my reading list.

Art in the Blood by Craig McDonald
This book is a collection of interviews with mystery writers. I love reading interviews and this book contains the first interviews I've found in a long time that delve into new territory and this book does provide some new insights, and interviews with authors you don't normally read interviews with.

Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen
The first time I ran across the Lakewood Church pastor, I was flipping channels and happened to stop on his sermon when the phone rang. I remember him describing a problem you may have in your life, and darn it if it wasn't my problem. For the next 10 minutes, I felt as though he were talking directly to me. This book is sort of religious self-help, but it addresses how to put yourself in a position to let God help you live a good life.

Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum
Fossum is a Norweigan crime novelist who writes novels featuring Inspector Konrad Sejer. Her novels have been translated into 16 languages and this one makes it easy to see why.

Of course I read a lot of other books this year. I enjoyed novels by Robert B. Parker, Stephen King, Sue Grafton, Jonathan King, Harlan Coben and others. I enjoyed non-fiction by Stephen Ambrose, Barak Obama, Pres. Jimmy Carter and others.

Priority

2006-12-24T06:52:00.000-08:00

Over the summer, I was presenting a news writing class at a conference for reporters. I was asked this question, "how do you find the time to write when you work full-time as the publisher of a newspaper?"

The answer is really simple. Priorities.

I have known many people who say they want to be a writer, or claim to be a writer, but find reason after reason after reason not to write.

Just Thursday, I sat down at the keyboard at about 8:30 or so to write. I had to crank out five pages. That's my daily goal. Five pages.

Within 10 minutes the phone rang with an offer for a late night dinner. As much as I'd have liked to have gone, I had to beg off.

I have my priority.

I can usually tell how serious someone is about their writing when I try to help them find the time to write.

"Wake up an hour earlier" I say. "But I need my sleep."

"Write during your lunch break," I say. "And skip lunch?"

"Set a time every night." "But on Mondays I have this. On Tuesdays I have that. On Wednesdays I have the other thing."

I am often amazed at the people who just HAVE to write. The HAVE to get it out of them, but they never ever do.

It is simply giving your writing a place of some sort of priority in your life. I often exchange e-mails a woman who is a short story writer. She is married. Has two kids. Her husband is a military man, which requires him to be away from home. Yet, she has established a two hour period four days a week thta is her writing time. She's carved it out, hires a babysitter if she needs to, and writes for those four two-hour periods. She has made it a priority.

I look at people. They have spouses, children, jobs, soccer, karate, Boy or Girl Scouts, and they still find the time to go back to college. If these people can do that, you and I can find time to write.

The young man who asked me about finding time. I asked him, how often do you go out drinking with your buddies? His response was almost every night. Can he scale that back? Or more importantly, is he willing to scale that back to write?

I know it is tough, and maybe I take it to the extreme, however, I look at it very much like the guy who starts his own business. We works endless hours now for a wonderful return in the future.

A bit of an update

2006-12-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks have been something of a writing surplus for me.

I currently have my short story "The Donut Shop" being considered for publication by Shred of Evidence.

I have also very recently (like this past weekend), completed two short stories. Soon I'll revise them and get them in circulation to see if anyone bites.

Got a great premise all set for the new Barnacle book -- if I could ever get the first one sold -- and have written a rough draft of the first chapter.

I plan to attend 3 writer's conferences in 2007. Love is Murder in February in Chicago, and then two summer events, Harboiled Heroes and Cozy Cats in Houston and ConMisterio in Austin.

More on character

2006-12-05T20:20:00.000-08:00

So, I've been thinking more and more about creating characters the readers identify with, and hopefully develop a friendship with.

I think of Ender's Game, which I consider to be the very best plot-driven novel I've ever read. While the book is science fiction, that boy and his story could easily fit in just about any genre, setting or time. It has universal appeal because it is so character drive.

What is it about Ender that really made me relate to him and be affected by him?

We were both in the military. From a young age, we both felt as though we didn't quite belong wherever we were. But you know, that's about the extent of it.

While like Ender I've moved far away from parents and family, unlike him, I've maintained close contact with them. I've never had to lead earth's military against an alien invader. I've never had the very future of the world placed on my shoulders.

So what is it? It is definitely something elusive.

However, one thing that strikes me is I've known people very much like Ender. Loners, brilliant, folks who just don't fit in anywhere, but by God, they are the ones you want on your side when the shit is hitting the fan.

But I don't know if that is it.

I continue to ponder this question of characters.

Character

2006-12-03T17:23:00.002-08:00

A couple weeks ago, I met a woman. There wasn't a romantic spark or anything like that, at least not for me. However, what struck me was in the course of a five or ten minute conversation, how familiar she seemed -- like I was talking to a friend I'd known for years.

Sometimes that happens. You meet someone, or engage in a conversation with a complete stranger, and it is so much like talking to a long time friend. Why is that? How can a complete stranger come off that way?

Of course, this got me to wondering about writing, and how I can transfer that feeling to the readers of a story.

The closest I can come in writing is the wonderful novel Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. This book became very emotional for me, almost as if a real life friend was going through the trials and tribulations that little boy Ender went through.

Writers often do things to make their characters seem more real.

Adding flaws is a biggie. Even Gandalf of Lord of the Rings was flawed, especially as Gandalf the Grey. Heck, the one ring was right under his nose for 60 years and he didn't even recognize it.

Of course I can't relate to that.

Chief Jessie Stone of Robert B. Parker's books has flaws. He's an alcoholic -- I can't relate to that. He can't maintain a decent relationship with a woman -- I do feel his pain there. Heck, the one decent relationship he's gotten in in five novels, the woman wound up murdered. Yikes!

Other authors will give their characters little hobbies or quirks. Myron Bolitar of Harlan Coben's series has a sense of humor. His associate, Win, doesn't date -- he just hires escorts to satisfy his, ummm, needs. Elvis Cole of Robert Crais' books is a big fan of Disney things -- an attempt to satisfy his inner child. In Nevada Barr's books, her character Anna Pigeon has a lot of dating trouble too, and also has trouble maintaining friendships with women.

So what is it? What is that thing that makes another person - a stranger - or a character in a book seem so very real.

It is something I'm thinking about anyway.

Reading ABOUT Writing

2006-11-26T12:49:00.000-08:00

Yes, if you want to write, you need to read. A lot. I usually have two or three books I'm reading at any given time.

But what about reading ABOUT writing.

I think this is an important part of any beginning writer's training. There are a ton of books out there, as well as The Writer, Writer's Digest and other magazines.

The simple fact is like novels, these books and articles are very uneven. Actually, most are way too generalized and superficial to be much use. Afterall, how can you discuss character development for a 100,000 word novel in an 800 word article?

That said, do read the magazines, but do so critically. There is useful information in those pages. Likewise with books.

I highly recommend On Writing by Stephen King. It is a tour de force and offers significant insight into this writer's beliefs, techniques, and development...the kind of things often missing from other books on writing.

Lately, I find myself scouring interviews with writers. Mostly, it is the same stuff rehashed over and over...but every once in a while, you come across a gem.

So get looking for those gems. They are out there and they are worth wading through the crap.

Doubts

2006-11-19T20:08:00.000-08:00

Doubt is a writing killer.

Over the last couple of weeks, a few doubts began to slip into my brain in regards to my writing.

Is it really good enough? Can my novels find a home? Have I just rehashed the same old, same old, and really written nothing that is unique and creative and at least somewhat original?

Or, have the words dried up? Is there nothing left to give?

I don't remember who said it, but I once heard someone say "extraordinary people are just ordinary people with an extraordinary sense of determination."

I like that. Determination is the key.

Doubt is the creative buzz kill.

Determination kills doubt.

Conventions of genre

2006-11-16T20:25:00.000-08:00

Recently, an interesting debate took place on a mystery writer's forum I belong to. It concerned the sub-genre known as hardboiled mysteries.

Hardboiled is somewhat difficult to describe, but it definitely has a "dark" feel to it. John D. McDonald was hardboiled, as was early master Raymond Chandler.

Their characters are to mystery fiction what Robert E. Howard's Conan is to fantasy fiction.

The thing about it is, Conan was truly an original. Yet over the years, there have been a million Conan clones come down the pike to the point that the sword and sorcery sub-genre is sometimes looked down upon. Same with hardboiled -- I definitely saw it in the conversation we had in the forum.

Let us look at Raymond Chandler's creation Phillip Marlowe. When you think of him, you immediately think "private eye." Here's a description of Marlowe: The private eye is a pessimistic and cynical observer of a corrupt society, yet the enduring appeal of Marlowe and other hardboiled detectives lies in their tarnished idealism. Underneath the wisecracking, hard drinking, tough private eye, Marlowe is quietly contemplative and philosophical. He enjoys chess and poetry. While he is not afraid to risk physical harm, he does not dish out violence merely to settle scores.

The thing is...in the 1920s, that was quite an original character and what Chandler did was simply amazing. Today, there have been thousands of books filled with cheap Marlowe clones written.

I have read some of these and they are a let down.

Yet, there are those out there who've taken the hardboiled themes (crime, violence and sex) in general, and the private eye story (which is not necessarily hardboiled) to a whole new level.

Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone, Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar and Robert Crais' Elvis Cole all are private eyes. Their books certainly touch upon the hardboiled subjects of crime, violence and sex in an unflinching and sometimes graphic manner, yet the characters bring such originality to the table they are a pleasure to read.

The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein put epic fantasy on the map, and a slew of cheap knock-offs ensued. But then in the 1980s, amid the trash, a man named Terry Brooks came along with a series of "Shanara" books. Wow. They were original, amazing and definitely epic fantasy.

My point is there is still plenty of room for originality and creativity, even in the sub-sub-genres of fiction that deal with the most basist of emotions and ideas.

I believe my crime fiction is largely hardboiled, but that is where my stories need to be. I deal in themes of violence, of moral ambiguity and moral "gray areas." It seems this style of fiction best serves me and my stories at the moment.

Court TV

2006-11-12T19:44:00.000-08:00

Yea, I'm back.

A new series premiers on Court TV on Monday, Nov. 13, titled "Murder by the Book."

Here's a description from the web site.

James Ellroy, Faye Kellerman, Jonathan Kellerman, Michael Connelly and Lisa Scottoline: These masters of the American crime novel are well known for their captivating page turners dealing with mystery, murder and the most shocking twists and turns in the history of popular fiction. But did you ever wonder what real-life crimes inspired them to write? Court TV has invited America’s top mystery fiction writers to recount their memories, speculations and personal connections to the true-life mysteries and headline-making crimes that haunt their dreams at night.

Using documentary footage, first-person accounts and the author's own insights, each one-hour episode sheds new light on a particularly intriguing crime. With alarming new facts combined with suspenseful storytelling, riveting developments are the rule in each dramatic opening and every shocking conclusion.

I'm very much looking forward to it, especially the James Ellroy episode, which is first in line. He's an interesting person, to say the least.

It airs on Court TV at 9 p.m. Central on Mondays.

An obituary

2006-09-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

I read "Policewoman" and found it fascinating. Just learned that the autor of it died in July.

Dorothy Uhnak, 76, Novelist Inspired by Police Experience, Is Dead

By DOUGLAS MARTIN

Dorothy Uhnak, once famous as a 125-pound New York City Transit Authority policewoman who knocked down and arrested an armed mugger and then better known as the author of gritty, suspenseful, best-selling crime novels, died on Saturday in Greenport, N.Y. She was 76 and lived in Shelter Island, N.Y.

Her daughter, Tracy Uhnak, said she died of a deliberate drug overdose. She added that her mother had had a variety of accidents in recent years, was often depressed and had discussed suicide matter-of-factly.

“You don’t have to kill yourself today,” she said more than once, her daughter recalled. “You can do it tomorrow.”

Ms. Uhnak (pronounced YOU-nak) combined vibrant elements of her native New York, long experience as a police officer and a hard-boiled literary style that some compared to Hammett’s or Chandler’s in nine books of fiction and one of nonfiction.

Critics often cited the authenticity of scenes and characters in reviewing her crime novels “Law and Order,” “Victims,” the “Christie Opara” series — and her first book, the semi-autobiographical “Policewoman: A Young Woman’s Initiation Into the Realities of Justice.” She preceded Joseph Wambaugh as an ex-cop writing about the netherworld of crime and was a precursor of other women who have written about tough crime-fighting protagonists, including Marcia Muller, Sue Grafton and Patricia Cornwell. Her work was translated into 15 languages and was particularly popular in France.

“I write about very hard situations and in a strong way,” Ms. Uhnak said in an interview with The New York Times in 1977. Carol Cleveland, in The St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, noted her “copious, pounding style that forces the reader to be involved.”

Ms. Uhnak was born Dorothy Goldstein next door to the 46th precinct on Ryer Avenue in the Bronx on April 24, 1930. Her novel “The Ryer Avenue Story” (1993), a murder mystery with a horrifying twist, roams her old neighborhood.

She was a tomboy who liked to hang out at the precinct and help with typing. She lamented to Newsday in a 1964 interview that she was “always chased out when something interesting happened.”

She attended City College, then joined the transit police. She won two awards for bravery, but sometimes had an unusual perspective on people she arrested. She gave $125 she had won on a television quiz show to the pregnant wife of the large armed man who had attacked her.

“I wondered what it feels like, how a criminal tells his family what he’s done,” she said to Newsday. “I felt so sorry for him when I saw his family.”

After 14 years with the transit force, 12 of them as a detective, she resigned to complete her college education at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She also suggested that she left police work because of sex discrimination. “Policewoman” was published in 1964, after several editors recognized the woman who had pestered them with submissions as the name in the news.

Her first novel, “The Bait,” won the Edgar Award as the best first mystery novel of 1968 and introduced Detective Second Grade Christie Opara, who starred in Ms. Uhnak’s next two novels, “The Witness” (1969) and “The Ledger” (1970).

She jettisoned the series after the editor Michael Korda at Simon & Schuster approached her to write a big police novel, modeled on “The Godfather,” Mario Puzo’s blockbuster. The result was “Law and Order” (1973), Ms. Uhnak’s breakout book, about three generations of a police department family. It became a television movie in 1976.

Another of her big successes was “The Investigation” (1977), which was the basis for the 1987 television movie “Kojak: The Price of Justice.’’ It generated controversy because it seemed to exploit the real case of Alice Crimmins, who was convicted of murdering her two young children. Ms. Uhnak insisted that the heroine of her novel, Kitty, was entirely her own creation.

In addition to her daughter, who lives in Kew Gardens, Queens, Ms. Uhnak is survived by her husband, Anthony, and a sister, Mary Ellis of Hartsdale, N.Y.

Though it was Ms. Uhnak’s own alchemy that turned police duty into imaginative fiction, she sometimes gave part of the credit to the criminals she had met in the line of duty.

“Once I arrested a character at a subway stop for indecent exposure, and through the years I’d come home and write endless short stories about him,” she told The Times in 1981. “He finally evolved as a rapist-murderer in my first novel.”

Correction: July 26, 2006
An obituary on July 12 about Dorothy Uhnak, the policewoman turned detective novelist, gave an incorrect given name for her surviving sister. She is Mildred Ellis, not Mary.
More Articles in Arts »

Cliche

2006-09-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about some of my favorite mystery characters and stereotypes in the mystery world.

Hmmm.

Police Chief Jessie Stone, created by Robert B. Parker. His life is a mess. Trouble with booze. Too many one night stands. Uhoh. However, there are some twists. He battles the alchol problem, unlike some characters of old. He really does want to be back with his ex-wife, which is probably the source of his women problems. He's seeing a shrink. Suddenly, he gets a little more real.

I like Harlan Coben's character Myron Bolitar, sports agent who happens to get wrapped up in these messes. In his 30s, up until recently, he still lived with his parents. How's that for a character "flaw"? A bit different to say the least. Plus, I like some of the recurring issues that stem from him almost making it to the NBA, until an injury at camp ended his hoops career.

Harry Bosch, of Michael Connelly's excellent books, has women trouble and a variety of other trouble. But it seems, to me anyway, weaved into his experiences in Vietnam. It creates a character whose problems are not unlike those faced by Vietnam vets we all know.

LIke a lot of private eyes, Robert Crais' Elvis Cole is tough, and seems to go from woman to woman. However, the cliche is tempered by a character who clearly has a soft spot for kids, and things childlike. He's a Disney freak and very joking.

The thing is, these characters are very popular and attract millions of readers, literally. When you begin to look at them, you think "oh no, another alcoholic police chief" or whatever. But they use SOMETHING - an ex-wife the man still loves, a career and dream ending injury, a war -- to give the characters a legitimate reason for their problems. All of a sudden, they become like people we all know.

And the characters are given idiosyncracies -- a love of Disney, a love of pets, etc. -- to humanize them and steer them farther from the cliche and the tried and true.

Mystery fiction today is riddled with stereotypes. But in the hands of a master, the cliche can become very realistic, adding something to the book and making the character more memorable.

Why it doesn't matter...

2006-09-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

I recently had a conversation with someone who gave me a decidely weird look when I informed her that I wrote mysteries. The look got weirder when I informed her that my mysteries tend to involve a lot of gray areas Â good people doing bad things for good reasons, moral ambiguity, that sort of thing.

Finally she asked something like, "why don't you write something better?" in a very condescending tone.

I run into that question occasionally and usually I just stick my tongue out at the person. After they've turned their back.

Writing's writing. You may write non-fiction, newspaper columns, porn, mysteries, fantasy, literary fiction, whatever. It doesn't matter to me as long as you enjoy what you write and the genre serves your story's purposes.

I write because I enjoy writing. It just so happens that I can make a decent living stringing words together.

Here's a few reasons why it doesn't matter...
1) I've been published, while 99% of the people who look down their nose at me for what I write haven't been published and never will be published.
2) I gain personal satisfaction from my writing, so they can go sit in the corner and be offended by my stories all they want.
3) I've been paid for my writing, so screw them.
4) It happens that the mystery genre provides me with a foundation to study topics that are of interest to me. Moral ambiguity.Succeedingg amid deep personal problems. Redemption. Southern life. The importance of the family name to old southern families.
5) I think my very cleverpseudonymm, E.C. Morgan, would look damn good on a book cover. But maybe that's just me.

But, yea, I write primarily mysteries these days for one simple reason. It's fun. And that's the most important thing.

The reading list

2006-09-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

While not being able to blog much lately, I've read a lot.

Here's a few books I've read and a couple of comments on each of them.

Sea Change, by Robert B. Parker -- B-
Not his best Jessie Stone novel, but still a good yarn. To me, Stone is becoming less interesting as a police chief as he settles more into the job and his personal life gets more and more settled. But no doubt about it, Parker can still tell a heck of a story.

Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose -- A-
The true story accound of Easy Company and the basis for the HBO mini-series. Required reading that helps you truly understand the sacrifices that were made to win World War II.

Darkest Fear by Harlan Coben -- A-
An excellent book in Coben's Myron Bolitar series. In this one, the sports agent deals with some very serious family issues and it is a gripping read.

The Effective Editor -- FFFFFFFFFFFF
Hey, I had to read it -- I do so about once a year. Good reminders for newspaper editors.

Behind the Mystery -- C+
This book is composed of interviews with mystery writers. No new revelations in the interviews, however, the black and white photography of the writers in their homes is quite stunning.

Various Sherlock Holmes Stories -- A+
I picked up my complete Sherlock Holmes collection recently and read through them. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never ceases to surprise or amaze.

And currently, I'm reading The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
Good stuff so far and that Pendergast character is something else. I'm looking forward to see how this one turns out and Pendergrast chases a modern day serial killer who is mimicking one of 100 years ago.

An update on my writing

2006-09-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a while and I really need to be more regular with my blogging. I've noticed that the more I blog, the more I write other stuff, and now that I'm pretty well settled into my position at the paper, excuses are falling away quickly.

I've not been idle, though.

The short story, The Donut Shop is making the rounds and I expect someone will want to publish it. I'm currently doing some revision work on another short story and writing yet another short story.

Book work was suspended until just the last couple of weeks.

A lot of ideas are bouncing around my brain, and I need to start getting some of them down on paper!

Mood and preference, Part 2

2006-06-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

The other day I wrote a little bit about how preferences can impact an editor's decision whether or not to publish a story.

The second part of the equation is mood.

Let's face it, we're all human and our mood is impacted by so many things. And like it or not, mood has a lot to do with our decision-making process.

I don't remember exactly when, but about 12 years ago, an article I'd submitted, which exactly met the assignment criteria and I which I thought was pretty decent, was rejected out of hand. I was shocked. I'd published probably 25 articles with this magazine, most with this particular editor.

After about 3 weeks, I finally called the editor and asked why. He was shocked himself. "I can't imagine rejecting one of your stories," he said. I resent it and he bought it.

Turns out the week he happened to read my article, he was worried sick. His son had been fairly seriously injured in an accident. His son recovered, but he admitted to me that for about 2 weeks, nothing got a fair read at the magazine.

Unfortunately, this is a part of publishing we as writers cannot control. You don't know if the editor reading your short story just got their butt handed to them by their boss. You don't know if there was a big fight at home before work, or if they just hate Mondays.

The only solution really is to be very familiar with the publication, follow their guidelines carefully, and write the very best story you can -- the one that goes beyond bad moods.

Mood and preference, Part 1

2006-06-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

Over the last month or so, the results of newspaper contests have come out here in Texas. A fellow publisher sent me the judge's comments for her paper.

"Your paper is excellent. Surely would've been first place winner. But I hate ads on the front."

Beyond some basics: spelling, grammar, etc., preference plays a big part of an editor's decision making process.

For example, I hate the "cat" books that populate the mystery world. Don't get me wrong, I think pets have a place in a book because in real life, pets play a major role in people's lives. Therefore, they can provide a lot of insight into character and can indeed play a major role in a character's life.

As an example, Elvis Cole, the main character in Rober Crais' excellent private investigator series, has a cat. The cat is important in that it provides some insight into Cole's life at home. However, unlike these cat books, the animal isn't out solving the crimes for us.

If I were a fiction editor of a magazine, or a fiction acquisitions editor at a book publisher, you'd have a hard time selling me a "cat" book. Or a dog book, horse book, or whatever. I fully recognize these are very popular books, but I don't care for them. My preferences might shine through.

In the 80s, the appearance of judo in Black Belt magazine declined precipitously. It was due in part to a decline of judo in the nation. However, I've been told by several folks that it was also due to a string of editors who had no experience with judo and chose takewondo and karate — which soared in appearances in the magazine — over other arts.

I know an editor of an online fiction magazine. He's devoutly christian and one curse word and your out. If the "good guy" even smacks of a belief other than christian, your out. It is not a christian publication, but he definitely has a preference.

Preference. It absolutely will help a mediocre story get published or a really good one get canned.

This is why it pays to learn all you can about the editors you might be dealing with. Listen to them speak at a conference. Catch on online interview with them. Read the magazines they edit. Notice what's there and what's not there.

It is one of those things that makes a big difference.

New Story Out

2006-06-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

The King was recently published in issue number 11 of Crime Spree Magazine. This is a print magazine and can be ordered at www.crimespreemag.com.

Updates

2006-05-29T19:58:00.000-07:00

So, things have been hectic but are settling with the new job and should be more regular on my blog now.

Here's what's going on.

My short story Dohnut Shop was rejected by Alfred Hitchcock, but I've revised it and sent it back out. "Duly served" was also rejected, by Ellery Queen. I'll be doing revisions soon.

I am planning on attending one of two mystery writing conferences being held here in Texas this summer. I'll keep you posted.

I'm also back to work on book-length stuff. More to come on that.

Anyone read anything good lately? I just read The Nautical Chart by Arturo Reverte-Perez. VERY good stuff. Check it out. I also flew through Darkest Fear by Harlan Coben. Man, he's really got it going with his writing!

More soon -- I should be back to 3 times a week posts, so check back often!

I'm back!

2006-04-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

After completing a move and starting a new job at a newspaper in Texas, I sat down at the computer to write some fiction today.

Whew.

I had the vague idea to construct a story about someone who is hiding dead bodies in a pet graveyard. It was tough work.

After about 2 hours, I had about 18 words, and had lost four pounds in sweat.

In truth it wasn't that bad. I knocked down around 800-1000 words. Not very good words, but a start none-the-less.

Over the next few days, I'll be trying to get back into a writing habit. I've also got a couple of short stories to revise and get out there in circulation.

Sorry for the short post. I am back and will be updating several times a week again.

Quick Note

2006-04-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

My apologies for not posting. I am in the midst of a change of job and an out of state move. I'll resume posting in a week or two.

Thanks!

I HATE YOUR GUTS!!!!!

2006-03-16T11:25:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, that's how it feels.

A personal insult. A slap in the face. As one writer friend said, like your favorite dog just died.

Of course, I'm talking about rejection.

In the writing industry, especially as a freelancer, rejection comes often, sometimes too often.

Think about this.

My last four PUBLISHED pieces of fiction were rejected 11 times before finding a home. I NEVER broke a 50% "go ahead" rate on my query letters and don't know anyone who ever has.

Publishing is competitive. It is hard. It takes a lot of perseverance.

I'm not going to name names, but there is a guy on one of my mystery writing lists who is a professional news writer. He had a book, chatted with an agent at a conference and she expressed interest. He sent her the book and she declined to represent it. Now, he's saying he's lost the desire to write.

What's important is what the agent said in rejecting him. The book wasn't right FOR HER.

It is important to keep in mind that there are MANY reasons for rejection and only one is "you suck." Here are a variety of reasons I've been given over the years:
• We already have a story like that in the works.
• Too similar to one we did six months ago.
• Too violent for our publication.
• We don't do profiles.
• We don't print first person pieces.
• We have too many stories on backlog right now.

My favorite...and I'm going by memory was this:
Clay,
Can't use the idea you pitched...we published one identical to it in last year's annual and you should know. You wrote it.

The point is rejection happens for many reasons. And yes, sometimes it is because a person is simply a bad writer, or a piece was very poorly written.

Don't take rejection too personally. Certainly, if a query or a story gets repeated rejections, you want to take another look at it, but there are so many reasons -- and the rejections are usually form letters -- it's just not worth getting worked up over.

Praise pours in

2006-03-12T11:30:00.000-08:00

I felt a little weird about this post, because it really is tooting my own horn. However, a great deal of praise is being given to The Last Cowboy and Jessie, both of which were recently published. Part of this site is geared toward self-promotion, so I thought I'd share, in the event you've not read the stories...maybe these comments will get you over to the sites.

But first:
The Last Cowboy - www.shredofevidence.com
Jessie - www.acruelworld.com
Both are under the byline E.C. Morgan

FROM STEFANIE (via phone conversation)
Perhaps the highest compliment came from my friend Stefanie who told me, after reading The Last Cowboy, that she was amazed at how much I crammed into so few words. I do believe it was the tightest story I've ever written and I appreciated her comments very much.

FROM PHILL (via e-mail to me)
I read and enjoyed both. Both primaries rose above mere retribution and took on a defender role.

Interesting turn at the end of "Jessie"--using a predator's weakness as bait.

Life imitates fiction--I know you read the recent story about 3 guys who setup a fake female profile on MySpace to play a prank on one of their friends and they ended up hooking a 40-something year old man--strike that: male. A man would never engage in such behavior. I had already read your story before hearing about this on the national news.

FROM HANK (posted on A Cruel World's forum)
Very believeable story, with a nice little twist at the end. Well-written. And they did get what they deserved!

FROM ADELA (via e-mail to me and in reference to The Last Cowboy)
I loved it....it brought tears to my eyes.

FROM DEDRA (via e-mail)
Good job! Glad the writing's going well.

There were many others, including kind comments from five significant mystery authors...though the markets are low-paying or no-paying, comments such as these give me motivation to keep going.

In other related news, a new software program being developed for writers is going to be using The Last Cowboy as an example of good writing!!! I can't say much more at the moment, but in about three months, I'll share that information with everyone.

Thank you all for your support and for your kind comments!

Good money writing

2006-03-10T08:01:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, I had the joy of working as a full-time freelance writer for a couple of years. I never made so much money (but I did have to pay self-employment tax which took a bite out of it), but it was very hard.

I firmly believe you can make plenty of money as a freelancer, either full-time or as a supplement to your regular income.

Here's some steps on how to do it.

• Put a value on your time.
I'd suggest establishing a rough hourly rate you'd like to be paid. Now most magazines pay a flat rate or by the word and that's ok. Estimate how long it would take to write an article, what the magazine pays, and then you can see if you'll the per hour rate you want. As an example, back then, martial arts magazines paid me about $125 per article. With my knowledge of judo, I could knock out a judo article in 2-3 hours...not a bad per-hour rate. However, if I got outside of judo, and had to spend 2 hours writing, 3 hours researching, a little time polishing...well, suddenly "do you want fries with that" started to look lucrative.

Also, this means avoid writing for free. If you establish a name in an industry, you will be approached to do projects pro bono. By and large, I avoided these, unless there was some other tangible benefit to doing the piece.

• Query first.
Why spend one second writing an article a magazine does not want? Writing a query letter will give you at least some idea that the magazine is interested in the topic. I always queried before I wrote the first line of any article.

• Query A Lot
When I was freelancing, I sent out a minimum of two queries per week, usually more. This is vital to creating a consistent and constant flow of work coming in. Of course, if you are doing this part time, you may want to reduce the number you send out.

• Recycle research material
I cannot tell you how many articles I wrote on stamp collecting. I wrote about collecting stamps with martial arts on them (Black Belt), cats (I Love Cats), fish (Tropical Fish Hobbyist), and the list goes on. I recycled the same material into several articles, all serving different audiences, and made quite a bit of money off it.

• Look to the Trades
Trade magazines serve people working in specific businesses and professions, and generally are not available on the stands. Many of these magazines pay quite well and the competition with other freelancers is much smaller than with consumer magazines. It is also easy to recycle materials. My article on writing a press release that works appeared in about a dozen trade magazines...and only required minor rewriting for each different magazine.

• Look at when you are paid.
Most magazines pay on acceptance or on publication. I eventually set myself up to write only for those magazines that pay on acceptance, since publication may occur a year or more after your article is approved. When I wrote for publication, it was under the understanding that the article would be published by a set date.

• Don't be afraid to walk away
The martial arts magazines were very good to me. I got my first publication credits on their pages. I made friends with the editors and enjoyed the work. Eventually, consolidation of magazines reduced the number of markets, and the magazines wouldn't come up on their rates, and they paid on publication -- one article was published more than two years after accepted. I finally had to come to the hard conclusion -- it was not profitable for me to write for these magazines anymore. Sometimes, you have to walk away.

• Be professional.
Study the magazines. Keep good notes. Be accurate. Meet the criteria set in guidelines. Make all deadlines. Revise happily. Establish good relationships. Set up a good query tracking system. Have goals. Maybe even a business plan.

Short Story Process

2006-03-05T07:29:00.000-08:00

I was recently asked about the process I use to write short stories -- something I seem fairly prolific at.

Of course, it starts with an idea. When I get an idea that I think might make a good short story, I go ahead and open a Word document and write the idea down, usually in one sentence.

Over a period of days or weeks, I'll open that document and I might write down a few more words or phrases, but not begin work on the story in earnest.

For example, my recently published short story "The Last Cowboy," started from this sentence: A modern-day cowboy in Madisonville, Texas gains justice. Over a period of a couple weeks, I wrote down a few other words -- rape, slaughterhouse, revenge, defense attorneys, technicalities. Literally, over two weeks or so, I only spent maybe 5 minutes on paper with the story.

However, during that time, my brain was working. The idea was fermenting and turning over in my head. A plot was developing and more importantly, a couple of characters were starting coming to life. Finally, a rough outline appeared in my head.

My short stories tend to be short -- shorter than 3,000 words and often less than 2,000 words. When I finally sit down to write the short story, I write the entire rough draft in one sitting, as I did with the Last Cowboy, which came in at 1,300 words.

After I write the rough draft, I'll quickly go at it again -- this time primarily working to eliminate passive verbs and grammatical errors. Then I set the story aside and let it sit for a little while, usually a week to two. I then do my final revision, which is a "smoothing" out, a revision to make sure the story flows smoothly and makes sense.

The off it goes.

In the case of The Last Cowboy, that story was rejected by two magazines -- Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. After those two rejections, I did one more revision, which I think did the story a lot of good. The improvements must have been obvious as the highly regarded Shred of Evidence, an online magazine, accepted it.

Jessie is now published

2006-03-03T06:39:00.000-08:00

The March issue of A Cruel World, www.acruelworld.com, is now up and contains my story "Jessie." To read the story, click on "issues" at the top and it will take you to the link.

They also have a forum, accessed via the links across the top. In that forum is a section to discuss the issue, and a section to discuss each author. I hope you'll take time to leave a comment or two.

Remember, the title of the magazine is A Cruel World.

WARNING ••• WARNING
This story is unlike any I've written. It deals graphically and directly with rape of a boy and his efforts to extract revenge. Some people will not enjoy this story -- heck, I was shocked at myself when I wrote it. That said, I believe it to be a powerful piece of fiction and am glad it found a home.

I used a graphic approach because I deplore child abuse in all its forms and I wanted the reader to feel, perhaps just a little, what it is like for a child to be sexually abused. Perhaps that will motivate someone to give to an anti-child abuse cause, or get involved in some other way. And of course, I wanted the child to win in the end -- and the story kept with a recurring theme -- doing an evil act for a good reason.

You have been warned.

Clay

An update

2006-03-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

Well, here's what's going on right now in my writing world.

As most of you know, my story The Last Cowboy was published in Shred of Evidence. You can read it now at www.shredofevidence.com.

I'm awaiting the publication of Jessie, which will appear in the March issue of A Cruel World.

Two short stories, The Dohnut Shop and Duly Served, are making the rounds among magazines looking for a home. They are currently being considered by Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen mystery magazines, respectively.

I've recently completed a new short story, a mystery of sorts, titled High Seas. It is based loosely on an actual incident that happened while I was in the Coast Guard, but of course has some twists that didn't happen when I was a Coastie. It is currently "cooling off" and in a few days I'll turn my attention to revising it.

At the moment, I'm playing with three short stories that are in some level of development.

On The Wings of Rescue is set in the immediate aftermath of Katrina and features a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, a little boy and a group of opportunists.

Voodoo Blood is a classic police procedural with a supernatural twist.

The Triplets is what I hope will be a humorous mystery in which Barnacle and Addison Carlysle are hired to protect -- you guessed it -- the virginity of The Triplets -- pop's newest teen sensations.

Of course, work on the novels continues.

The importance of independence

2006-03-01T06:43:00.000-08:00

Last week, I journeyed to Texas to join my friends at the Texas A&M judo team in a camp. As always, when in Texas, I made it a point to stop by Murder by the Book -- a great book store in Houston.

It is easy to run to Barnes and Noble or Borders, or even make a purchase on Amazon. Probably cheaper too. However, independent bookstores, such as Murder by the Book, serve a valuable purpose.

Murder by the Book sells nothing but mysteries and related titles -- suspense, thrillers, etc. Since they are an independent store, they tend to carry titles you may not find -- heck may not even be able to order -- at a B&N or Borders.

Here's an example, my friend Phill, who went with me, picked up a book that hasn't even been "released" in the U.S. yet. The store special ordered copies from England.

I purchased several books by foreign authors that are not otherwise easily available here. Likewise with a couple of small press purchases.

More importantly, independent bookstores such as this are strong supporters of authors, particularly new and up and coming authors. And that is important to the industry.

So whenever you have a chance, try to go visit an independent bookstore.

Shred of Evidence Story

2006-03-01T06:37:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited to report that my short story "The Last Cowboy" is now published at Shred of Evidence, an online magazine that has garnered quite a few awards and an excellent reputation during recent years.

The story can be accessed at www.shredofevidence.com and is published under the name E.C. Morgan.

My thanks to editor Megan Powell for publishing the story.

BOOKSELLERS’ 100 FAVORITE MYSTERIES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

2006-02-22T08:39:00.000-08:00

Members of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association compiled a list released in January 2000 of their 100 Favorite Mysteries of the century. It was agreed that each author would appear on the list only once. The Association is a trade association for owners of businesses wholly or substantially devoted to the sale of mysteries.

I have read books by 38 of the authors, including 29 books specifically named below.

Allingham, Margery - The Tiger in the Smoke
Ambler, Eric - A Coffin for Demetrios
Armstrong, Charlotte - A Dram of Poison
Atherton, Nancy - Aunt Dimity's Death
Ball, John - In the Heat of the Night
Barnard, Robert- Death by Sheer Torture
Barr, Nevada - Track of the Cat
Blake, Nicholas - The Beast Must Die
Block, Lawrence- When the Sacred Ginmill Closes
Brand, Christianna - Green for Danger
Brown, Frederic -The Fabulous Clipjoint
Buchan, John - The 39 Steps
Burke, James Lee - Black Cherry Blues
Cain, James M. - The Postman Always Rings Twice
Cannell, Dorothy - The Thin Woman
Carr, John Dickson - The Three Coffins
Caudwell, Sarah - Thus Was Adonis Murdered
Chandler, Raymond - The Big Sleep
Christie, Agatha - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Connelly, Michael - The Concrete Blonde
Constantine, K. C. - The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes
Crais, Robert - The Monkey's Raincoat
Crispin, Edmund - The Moving Toyshop
Crombie, Deborah - Dreaming of the Bones
Crumley, James - The Last Good Kiss
Dickinson, Peter - The Yellow Room Conspiracy
Doyle, Arthur Conan - The Hound of the Baskervilles
DuMaurier, Daphne - Rebecca
Dunning, John - Booked to Die
Elkins, Aaron - Old Bones
Evanovich, Janet - One for the Money
Finney, Jack - Time and Again
Ford, G. M. - Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca?
Francis, Dick - Whip Hand
Fremlin, Celia - The Hours Before Dawn
George, Elizabeth - A Great Deliverance
Gilbert, Michael - Smallbone Deceased
Grafton, Sue - “A” is for Alibi
Graham, Caroline - The Killings at Badger's Drift
Grimes, Martha - The Man With the Load of Mischief
Hammett, Dashiell - The Maltese Falcon
Hare, Cyril - An English Murder
Harris, Thomas - The Silence of the Lambs
Hiaasen, Carl - Tourist Season
Highsmith, Patricia - The Talented Nr. Ripley
Hill, Reginald - On Beulah Height
Hillerman, Tony - The Thief of Time
Himes, Chester - Cotton Comes to Harlem
Innes, Michael - Hamlet, Revenge!
James, P. D. - An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
Kellerman, Faye - The Ritual Bath
Kellerman, Jonathan - When the Bough Breaks
King, Laurie - The Beekeeper's Apprentice
Langton, Jane - Dark Nantucket Noon
Le Carre, John - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
Lee, Harper - To Kill a Mockingbird
Lehane, Dennis - Darkness, Take My Hand
Leonard, Elmore - Get Shorty
Lochte, Dick - Sleeping Dog
Lovesey, Peter - Rough Cider
MacDonald, John - The Deep Blue Good-bye
MacDonald, Philip - The List of Adrian Messenger
Macdonald, Ross - The Chill
Maron, Margaret - Bootlegger's Daughter
Marsh, Ngaio - Death of a Peer
McBain, Ed - Sadie When She Died
McClure, James - The Sunday Hangman
McCrumb, Sharyn - If I Ever Return, Pretty Peggy-O
Millar, Margaret - Stranger in My Grave
Mosley, Walter - Devil in a Blue Dress
Muller, Marcia - Edwin of the Iron Shoes
Neel, Janet - Death's Bright Angel
O'Connell, Carol - Mallory's Oracle
Padgett, Abigail - Child of Silence
Paretsky, Sara - Deadlock
Parker, Robert - Looking for Rachel Wallace
Perez-Reverte, Arturo - The Club Dumas
Perry, Thomas - Vanishing Act
Peters, Elizabeth - Crocodile on the Sandbank
Peters, Ellis - One Corpse Too Many
Pronzini, Bill - Blue Lonesome
Queen, Ellery - Cat of Many Tails
Rendell, Ruth - No More Dying Then
Rice, Craig - The Wrong Murder
Rinehart, Mary Roberts - The Circular Staircase
Robinson, Peter -Blood at the Root
Rosen, Richard - Strike Three You're Dead
Sayers, Dorothy - Murder Must Advertise
Sjowall & Wahloo - The Laughing Policeman
Stout, Rex - Some Buried Caesar
Tey, Josephine - Brat Farrar
Thomas, Ross - Chinaman's Chance
Todd, Charles - A Test of Wills
Turow, Scott - Presumed Innocent
Upfield, Arthur - The Sands of Windee
Walters, Minette - The Ice House
White, Randy Wayne - Sanibel Flats
Woolrich, Cornell - I Married a Dead Man

New Format

2006-02-19T19:03:00.000-08:00

Just so everyone knows, I've changed the color scheme of the blog to hopefully make it a little easier to read.

Hope you enjoy it.

Point of View

2006-02-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I was reading an article titled "Perspectives on Point of View" by author Loren D. Estleman. Estleman is a great mystery writer who created the character Amos Walker. He's also cross-genre, having very successful novels that are historical, westerns and mainstream fiction.

His article was straight forward, talkinga bout the various points of view and showing examples -- all pertaining to mysteries.

Then he showed this example, which I believe is a prime example of outstanding writing.

These are Sherlock Holmes' remarks to Dr. Watson (first person narrator of the book) upon finding the body of Sir Charles Baskerville in "The Hound of the Baskerville."

"He was running Watson -- running desperately, running for his life, running until he burst his heart and fell dead upon his face."

Estleman goes on to comment, "Three pages of on the spot description would read no more chillingly than those lines."

He's right. You don't see the incident, because the book is from Watson's perspective and he didn't see the incident. But Holmes' observation leaves no doubt as to the fear and desperation Sir Baskerville must have felt.

I tend to use a couple of different points of view in my writing.

All my Addison Carlysle and Barnacle stories are written first person from the perspective of Addison.

Many of my other stories are writting in third person subjective and I've begun to experiment with the omniscent point of view.

My short story "Jessie" as well as my first novel, Family Ties, alternate points of view -- third person subjective and first person.

In the end, as with all things, I believe it all depends on one thing and one thing only: your story. What point of view best serves your story.