A PLACE TO SHARE AND/OR PROMOTE BOOKS - SEE WHAT'S OUT THERE
Networking Authors, Readers, Publishers, Editors, Agents, Reviewers, Librarians, All Book People. Promo Is Encouraged. Copyright infringements, opinions, statements, quotes, references, are contributing member's responsibility. No porn.
SEE AUTHORS COLUMN, THEN CLICK ALL AUTHORS TO GET A LISTING OF AUTHORS ON OUR NETWORK. Then click the author you'd like more info about. Authors - you can send a jpeg or two plus a blurb and order info to morgan@morganmandel.com & use ADD AUTHOR for the subject line & I'll put it up. Enjoy!
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Upcoming Events
I am going to be out and about in the next couple of months, doing some promoting, speaking, etc. So I thought I'd share some of my upcoming events with you, just in case you're in the neighborhood!Wednesday, February 10
Pre-Valentine's Day Romance Presentation/Signing (7:00 p.m.)
Freemont Public Library
1170 N. Midlothian Road
Mundelein, IL 60060
847-566-8702
April 9, 2010
Wild Wedding Weekend releases!
April 11, 2010 (tentative)
Local Author Event (1:30 - 4:30 p.m.)
Deerfield Public Library
April 23-24, 2010
Spring Fling Conference and Book Signing
Deerfield Hyatt
Deerfield, IL
www.chicagospringfling.com
Hope to see you around!
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
Operation Paperback by Margot Justes
Did you know that you can ship 'gently used' paperback books to our troops. All the information is on line and it's relatively easy, all you need are books, boxes, tape and a little bit of time.When I heard about it from my friend Gina, we decided to check it out and see if we could do something. After all, what a terrific idea, the books will be passed around and benefit many.
We started a drive at work and within a week we shipped four boxes, and by Friday afternoon we had enough books for a couple more shipments.
Once you register, you get a set of names and list of preferred genres. We were able to ship sixteen books per box. Because we had actual names of soldiers it became a bit more personal.
I had a lot of fun going through the books and see what people read. We had Ludlum, Patterson, Brown, the usual suspects. But we also had a few classics and mid list authors. A nice rounded selection.
This will be an on-going effort, as long as we have books, we'll ship them out. What a wonderful idea.
Till next time,
Margot Justes
www.mjustes.com
A Hotel in Paris
eBook Wars - What They Portend For Writers by Robert W. Walker
The long long history of writers and their publishers has not been a gentle, kind one but rather every horror story you have ever heard at the bar about a writer and his publisher is true, true, true. In the end, typically, the writer gets it in the end—and I mean that literally. Now comes an opportunity offered by Amazon.com for authors to go “Indie” – to become their own publishing concern in partnership with Amazon acting as bookstore and distributor in one, and for the first time in history authors are getting paid what their efforts are worth.
In the meantime, while many authors have been partnering via ebooks over the hard years when it was generally believed by print publishers that ebooks were a flash in the pan and would go the way of many another fad—authors and Amazon have been in the business of ebooks. Major publishers of the NYC variety have eschewed and seldom understood this area of book sales and in fact have not supported it. Until now. Until the day it appears ebooks can and do outsell paper books on occasion—as with this past Christmas. Now suddenly, Macmillan is decrying the situation as Amazon has defined it—that no Kindle book would cost more than ten bucks, because as Macmillan CEO says, authors can earn more money if their ebooks are priced higher, and so he flies to Seattle, meets with Amazon CEO and offers up an ultimatum when Mr. Bezos says no to 15 buck ebooks for Macmillan titles. Most Macmillan authors think that they won when Amazon backed down and accepted the price increase for Macmillan books, and the general consensus among Mac authors and many others is that the giant publishing firm struck a blow for writers.
Nothing further from the truth. Amazon knows its clientele better than anyone on the planet, and they know that few people believe that an ebook priced at above the 9.99 promised price for years now is going to earn out far more monies for authors than the higher prices—which will be boycotted in huge measure by readers of ebooks. Ebook readers are not interested in titles priced high whether they are bestsellers or not. Ebook readers love FREE books, public domain books are being gobbled up at an unprecedented rate! Followed by the .99 cent book and the 1.99 cent book. Ebook readers are voracious and most have enough reading piled up for the moment to last them months. They are not in the market for Dan Brown’s latest at paper price or ebook price if it is over 9.99.
Of these facts I am sure because I have been watching this trend for years, and I have had ebooks on FictionWise for years, and I have ten Kindle titles onboard with plans to add seventeen more, and the titles that are moving, selling, are not my 7 dollar titles priced by the publisher as the SAME price on the paperbacks, and not my 8.99 – half priced latest hardcover. My titles that are selling like hotcakes at a county fair are priced respectively at 2.99 and 1.99 – and as a result of volume sales, the Amazon model, like the Wal-Mart model, I have made more money in the past three years from ebook sales than I have made on paper sales. Writers pricing at bargain basement prices gain more readers who talk to other readers and fan the flames of word of mouth. This aside from the paradox of making more with smaller prices works in favor of the author, not against him or her.
The CEO of Macmillan had a major chip in his pocket—Apple’s IPad which wants to get into the ebook business too and they want to charge more for books, and they were talking to Macmillan about fifteen buck ebooks. So when Macmillan CEO states he is doing this for the benefit of his poor, put upon authors it is a croc and a major croc at that. A croc full of it. It also amounts to short-sightedness and not understanding the clientele—ebook readers, most of whom are assembled under a banner of boycotting any book priced above 9.99.
You don’t have to believe me about such matters but before you decide I am dead wrong check out JA Konrath’s recent blogs and articles on this exact subject. Joe is the man most in the know. See what he has to say on his platforms.
Meantime keep your ego up by placing a chapter or more up at http://www.authonomy.com/ where you can get feedback on your book and share feedback on my Children of Salem. The writing is the darling part of this business, and the rest can be an awful pain.
Rob
http://www.robertwalkerbooks.com/
What Would You Do? by DL Larson
Last week I was interviewed by a local newspaper of a neighboring town. I wasn't interviewed as a writer, but as a person in our community. The question was "what draws folks to small towns." A friend of mine was also interviewed for her involvement with the organization called Friends of the Library. I was at this interview to support her upcoming project on Valentine's Day, a Victorian Tea. The benefits made from this project will help fund the children's department in our library.I answered questions as best I could, keeping a positive twist on living in our small community. A few days later the paper's photographer stopped by the library to take pictures. That's when it hit me; I never talked about my writing career to the correspondent. I spoke of the nice, safe commuity I live in, the wonderful people, the many great organizations and churches, but not about my writing. This paper has a circulation of about 4,000 - 5,000 daily. My article would be a part of their weekend "hometown" section. I'd just given up a perfect opportunity to blow my own horn and I never mentioned the tiniest comment about being an author.
The article came out last Saturday as promised. I received lots of comments about being in the paper and what good things I said about Earlville. Then the questions came, "I thought youw were a writer ..." "I was expecting to hear about your next book..."
So my question is, how should I have worked the topic of being a writer into the conversation? Or was it okay not to wave the flag of oh, did I mention I'm an author? Part of me wishes I had spoken up, the other part is rather proud I focused on the topic and let my personal agenda stay quiet.
What would you do if if this happened to you?
Til next time ~
DL Larson
Political Views by Morgan Mandel
Because of the primary election, my thoughts turned to politics and the role they play with authors and bloggers. I purposesly avoid speaking of politics on my blogs. I don't like to force my opinion on others or alienate people of opposite tastes. I only include politics in a very general sense in my novels.What about you? I'm not asking you to tell us your political opinions here. I just want to know your ideas about sharing political views.
Is it something you feel necessary to include in your blog? Do you think it's helpful or harmful in an author's career to do so? Or, maybe you'd like to name circumstances that would affect doing so or not.
CHECK OUT BOOK PLACE AUTHOR, RUDI UNTERTHINER'S FACES, SOULS AND PAINTED CROWS
Faces, Souls, and Painted Crows by Rudi Unterthiner - the story of Paul Reiter who is torn between his work as a plastic surgeon in Hollywood and his true calling as a healer to the Indians in Mexico's Baja, until his wife teaches him about the power of forgiveness and the true connection between faces and souls. At Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Faces-Souls-Painted-Crows-Unterthiner/dp/0980953413/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264895867&sr=1-1
Events
March 10
Tuesday
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March 10, 2009 at 6pm to March 31, 2010 at 7pm – My web site
January 20
Wednesday
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January 31, 2010 at 6pm to June 30, 2010 at 7pm – US, Canada, UK Everywhere
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Marrying Mallory - Diane Craver, Author
Marrying Mallory - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat
'In the past, Mallory Harrington felt cursed at times. Too many things had
gone wrong in her thirty-two years of life. Her father had left when
she was five and never… Continue
Posted by Martha A. Cheves on February 9, 2010 at 5:43pm
Thoughts that destroy productivity
This month’s Procrastivity Tip (below) comes directly from recent client situations, but in some ways it parallels my own personal experiences. I’ve been fostering (yet another) rescue dog. His name is Tanna, and we’ve had him for about a month. After fi
… ContinuePosted by Kerul Kassel on February 9, 2010 at 5:08pm
MAKE MINE MYSTERY - http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com
RIP: THE MYSTERY COMPANY by Austin Camacho
The mystery genre has faced a number of tragic losses in recent months. We will see no new books from Robert B. Parker. We will have a much harder time finding Waldenbooks or Borders Express stores. And now, we will never be able to buy another book from The Mystery Company. That means something to me because this particular independent bookstore was the first to order my novel Blood and Bone. On a less personal note, Jim Huang was a great friend of mystery writers.Don’t know Jim Huang? Then you probably didn’t attend Bouchercon 2009, which Jim worked hard on. Nor did you attend the smaller but equally fun Magna Cum Murder mystery conference in Muncie, which Jim helped to organize. Jim ran The Mystery Company in Carmel, Indiana for seven years until he was forced to close its doors in the last few days. For those seven years Jim Huang was a great friend to mystery authors and a voice of reason in the industry. His love of the genre was evident, as was his leadership among the small fraternity of mystery booksellers.
The store’s closing had nothing to do with Jim’s business acumen, level of effort or determination. I’m sure it had everything to do with the economic downturn, the consumer shift to online shopping, the huge discounts big book retailers can offer, and the slow but steady growth of e-books which cuts the brick-and-mortar retailer out of the sale entirely. In other words, the loss of The Mystery Company is a symptom of what’s happening in the industry in general.
My understanding is that Jim hasn’t abandoned book selling, but that in a few days he will be managing a college bookstore - at Kenyon College in Ohio to be exact. We wish him the best.I know that Jim gave The Mystery Company everything he had. More to the point, he gave mystery writers and their work everything he had. I hope he maintains a presence at conventions and conferences, and I look forward to shaking his hand again at a future event and thanking him for his years of support.
You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up...
by Ben SmallFor mystery writers, these are tough times. Not only is the economy in the tank, the outlook for traditional publishing bleak, confusion as to new technologies and how to market oneself, but we see real life examples of torture-creativity we never would have thought of occurring every day.
It's hard to keep up.
Folks, there are some real sickos out there. If you wrote a novel featuring a bad guy who kept a young girl prisoner in his backyard for eighteen years, fathered a child by her, all while being on parole for federal kidnapping and assault charges, you'd have a hard time selling that improbable tale to your parents. You'd get a roll of the eyes, a mumbled "Right," and then a long lecture about the use of your time.
Bank on it. Even your dog wouldn't eat that book.
So who would have come up with the idea of playing on an estranged wife's musophobia - an unreasonable and disproportionate fear of rats and mice - by creeping to her house early one Sunday and playing nineteen white mice from a paper bag through her mail-slot?
Man, that's evil. And it happened in a Stockholm suburb. Where's Mickey?
Sure, the guy was arrested, charged by mice-huggers no doubt, and let out on bail. The mice are being held at the local police station, awaiting word on handling from the county vet. Meanwhile, the bad guy has demanded his mice be returned, and the authorities are considering his request.
I mean, who could make this stuff up?
A Time for Courage
Characters in mysteries lie all the time. The bad guys deny they did it. The cops lie in an effort to make them admit it. So lying is a time-honored device in the field of mystery writing. The problem is that lies can have far-reaching consequences, particularly when they are indulged in by our leaders.This isn't a political discourse, at least not of a partisan nature, as the ability to skirt the truth seems to be an endemic disease in Washington, if not around the all the world's capitals. I get several daily newsletters from groups offering financial advice. I don't always read them, unless the headline catches my fancy. This morning one snagged me with this:
A Time for Honesty, Sacrifice, and a Serious Financial Course Change
"You can listen to the speeches Churchill delivered even as the bombs fell — never lying to the British public about the dire straits they were in ... but also never failing to inspire."
He brought this up because of a feeling that politicians have lost the ability to level with us, particularly when it comes to financial matters. He said there's no Churchill on the scene telling it like it is and asking us for personal sacrifice. "Instead, politicians keep promising the sun, the moon, and the stars — even though we simply can't afford it. We're SPENDING like there's a massive world war going on even though there isn't! And no one seems to want to change this course we're on."
The author pointed out that projections by the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) and CBO (Congressional Budget Office) project the deficit will increase to 18.1 trillion dollars by 2020, with the interest jumping from $188 billion to $840 billion. That's interest, folks, money that doesn't buy you one penny of anything.
But ever hopeful, the article states:
"We CAN still turn things around. We can pull our nation out of this fiscal tail spin. Heck, if the average Londoner could pick himself out of the rubble of his home, brush himself off, and head to work in the middle of the Blitz, then we can show the same stoic resolve here. But that will take real political courage and real sacrifices. There is no easy way out."
Lying may be the thing that ramps up a mystery, but it ain't good when indulged in by our leaders of all stripes. Come to think of it, there ought to be a good mystery plot in there.
Chester Campbell
Life In the Slow Lane
Do you ever have one of those...Nope, I'm not going to use that hackneyed expression to start this blog. No. Wait... does that count? I don't think so. Anyway.
Life has been interesting lately, and mostly in the sense that it seems that every time I turn around, there is something there to slow me down. I mean, I'd like to make daily progress on my writing, on the editing jobs I'm doing right now, on the house
my wife and I are building with our own four hands, but no-o-o. Just ain't gonna happen.
Case in point: The recent spate of preternaturally cold weather we have had here in the
Southeastern U.S. has wrought havoc on many farmers, and tens of thousands of people were without power in North Carolina and Tennessee. While we didn't lose power, we did have a problem with water pipes. They froze and burst, and of course it would not be so simple as a single pipe somewhere. Oh, no... it had to be a burst complex water manifold that I managed to create for our homestead's water supply. (You can't see it, but that entire arm of the manifold is split all the way up the back. *sigh*)
Of course this would happen while we have our backup well pump pulled out of the well for repair, too, so no water at the building site at all. This isn't good when you are using concrete and mortar for most of the construction.
Now, you'd think this would mean I could focus on other things, like writing, editing, and so on. Well, not really. I've had one unexpected obligation after another pop up lately, and
generally they are spaced out just far enough to keep me from focusing very much on the jobs I need to do. When I have to be somewhere that is an hour's drive away at 1:00 PM, and I'll spend two hours or more there, basically that afternoon is shot. Reminds me of driving in Atlanta traffic.
Sometimes when I'm on I-75, or I-285, in afternoon traffic, I get stuck in that slow lane behind someone who's lumbering along, oblivious. I am usually antsy to get around them and get home, but for some reason everyone in the world seems to be buzzing by me in the left-hand lane, just far enough apart to be annoyingly tempting, but too close to allow me to speed up and get around the lummox in front of me. So, I'm stuck in that slow lane. Amazingly enough, it happens with life, too.
It's at that point that I can begin to sympathize with the desperate person who texts while driving. "Am stuk n trafik. Tryin 2 gt hom. C u soon." Maybe that's what Twitter is for--the desperate texts of a person stuck in the slow lane of life, trying to get things done but not quite succeeding.
Problem is, I hardly even have time to tweet any more.
Here is the point where I'm supposed to wax philosophical and creative, and come up with some pithy homily about how we can make use of the time we have given to us... about how we can relax and do what we need to do, and let the rest of it take care of itself... about some remarkable way I manage to get things done in spite of being stuck in the slow lane.
It ain't gonna happen. I'm fresh out of pithy homilies and inspirational twaddle. I guess the best I can do is this: Folks, I'm gonna grin and bear it even if it means gritting my teeth. But if that fool behind me keeps honking his dang horn, I'm eventually going to haul out that 9mm semiautomatic I keep in the dash (legally registered and licensed) and go all "24" on him.
Jack's got nothing on me.
Sidekicks by Mark Troy
Recently someone asked me if my detective has a sidekick. The answer is, "yes." My main character, Ava Rome, undertakes her adventures with the aid of Moon Ito, a tough guy sidekick who kicks ass when called upon.
Sidekick comes from a 17th century gambling term, side-kicker, meaning a strong card held in reserve. The sidekick’s role is to provide backup for a fictional hero. Although the sidekick assumes a subordinate status, his or her abilities are not necessarily inferior. Often the sidekick is equal to or superior to the main character. Little John was better than Robin Hood in their fight with the staff. Tonto was as good a horseman and shot as the Lone Ranger, and he was a better tracker.The earliest sidekick in literature might be Hanuman, the monkey god, in Valmiki's Ramayana, the 4th century B.C. Hindu epic. Hanuman is smart and capable with abilities such as leaping over the ocean and lifting mountains. He and his monkey army gave essential help to Rama in rescuing his wife, Sita, from the evil lord Ravana.
In many cases, the sidekick has skills, ability or temperament that complement the main character in some way. Sancho Panza provided realism to counter Don Quixote's idealism. Falstaff was comic relief to Prince Hal's seriousness. In the case of Sherlock Holmes, Watson provides an emotional connection that makes it easier for the reader to get to like Holmes.Sidekicks are frequently distinguished from the main character by class, ethnicity, culture, or language. They might even be a different species. The alien sidekick is a common feature of science fiction.
The primary bond between the sidekick and the main character is trust and loyalty. Bad guys don't have sidekicks. They have henchmen and minions who are seldom trustworthy.
If the sidekick is a different gender, romantic or sexual tension can wreck the bond of trust and loyalty. The hero seldom has an intimate relationship with a sidekick. Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin, for example, were completely platonic, even though their adventures brought them into close proximity. On those occasions when Willie sees Modesty naked, he is surprisingly dispassionate. What are we to make of Fiona Glenanne in Burn Notice? She's Michael Westen's ex-girlfriend. Presumably the intimacy has ended. Is she a sidekick? Who would deny anything to a girl with a gun like that?The sidekick is generally a well-developed character who serves more than one function in the story. He or she might provide information or counsel, but that is not their sole function. In general they perform those tasks that would be inappropriate or difficult for the hero to perform. Often, they are called upon to rescue the hero. Regardless of function, however, the sidekick shares most of the adventure with the hero.
In my stories, Moon Ito watches Ava's back in dangerous situations. His primary occupation is providing VIP security, so he has access to weapons, vehicles, and communication devices if Ava needs them. Because Ava works in a state with stringent gun laws, Moon's ability to obtain guns is very useful to her. He is not a criminal, but he can call on a number of thugs for support. If a criminal act needs to be performed, Moon can get it done.
Like Hawk and Spenser, there is an ethnic and cultural difference between Moon and Ava. Moon is Japanese-American, born in Hawaii while Ava is Caucasian, a haole. Like Willie and Modesty, there is a gender difference between them without a romantic or sexual component. Moon, however, is not as high-minded about it as Willie. He just knows that Ava isn't interested in him. Like Willie Garvin, Moon speaks a non-standard dialect. For Willie, it's Cockney English, for Moon, it's Hawaiian pidgin English.
Does your main character have a sidekick? Tell us about him or her. Also hop over to my Hawaiian-eye blog for my top ten list of favorite sidekicks.
Mark Troy
http://www.marktroy.net
Balancing, balancing, balancing
We've talked about this before, but since I've been doing so much of this lately I decided to approach the subject again.I'm working on a new Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery and have written fifteen chapters.
While I'm doing that I've also been working on the program for the Public Safety Writers Association's conference, which is from June 10 to 17 in Las Vegas. We have so many wonderful speakers I'm really excited about it. The speakers have to pay to come to the conference and their expenses like anyone else so it's a real coup when they agree to come. Besides the speakers we also have an agent and three small press publishers who will give one-on-ones. Anyone who signs up before March 31 can be on a panel if they want to be on one.
Because of these great speakers, I've been promoting the conference like crazy, I don't want anyone to miss out. http://publicsafetywriter.com
And...while I'm doing that I am planning the promotion for my next Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel, An Axe to Grind. I don't have copies of it yet, so can't set dates for my book launch as yet, but I do have events lined up already.
January has already been busy. Spent one weekend in Ventura with the PSWA Board doing business--and have a bit of fun and some great food. Love the Ventura, CA area--lived there for over twenty years. While we were there, got to see my two daughters and their hubbys who live close by.
We went to the coast this past weekend again, this time to Morro Bay. I belong to the Central Coast chapter of Sisters in Crime and joined with them to put on a writing workshop. Whenever you have an event away from home it means planning what you need to take with you and getting a hotel reservation somewhere that doesn't cost much. Fortunately, going to small coast communities off season is really the best time.
A blog tour is planned for March. So far haven't had any interviews or questionnaires to do for that, but when they start coming in, that'll take some juggling too.
On my personal blog, every Friday I'm interviewing members of PSWA, and I try to have something new every day. http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com
Once a week I attend the writers critique group I've belonged to since 1981.
Believe it or not, I also have a life. My hubby expects a bit of time with me each day and we try to go to the movies and out to eat two or three times a month. I'm also the chief cook around here and always have extra folks joining us for dinner. I have four adult children (two live really close by) and lots of grandkids and great grandkids. I teach Sunday School, I'm the Church Clerk and participate in many church activities.
I'm sure I've missed something, but you get the idea, it's a lot to juggle.
Macmillan and Amazon War by Morgan Mandel
I've been watching with interest the developments in book price wars. This one is a battle between Macmillan and Amazon. Macmillan's demanded higher prices for kindle, when apparently $9.99 is the highest Amazon would go.Amazon pulled all the buy buttons from Macmillan books and was only selling books offered by third party vendors, none bought through Amazon itself.
Then, Amazon gave in under strong protest and decided it would agree to offer bestsellers at $12.99 to $14.99, under strong protest, saying Macmillan had a monopology over its own books.
I actually dropped the kindle price for Killer Career to $3.99 to stay competitive in the ebook and kindle market.
Will the insistence on higher prices help or hurt authors? That's the question. In this poor economy, it's a good thing for books to be readily available at affordable prices. Still, these prices have dropped extremely low. Some authors give away their ebooks or kindles, while others offer them at $.99 or $1.99 in the hopes of attracting volume sales.
Will readers buy at the higher prices? Are publishers like Macmillan pricing themselves out of the market?
What's your take?
Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/
Killer Career available at http://digital-bookshop.com/ , at Amazon and other venues.
Ordinary Sounds by Morgan Mandel
Going on midnight, I'm typing away at the computer, with the dog and DH already fast asleep. I hear a loud sound in the direction of the kitchen. My heart pounds. Then I identify the noise as the ice maker dropping ice into the refrigerator's ice bin.I can be under the covers and hear faint knocking sounds. What is it? It turns out to be the furnace causing the warm air to blow through the vents.
Those are innocuous explanations for ordinary sounds. Now, what if I heard one of the doors creaking at night when the DH is already inside with me? That sound would make me want to grab my cell phone and call 911.
Can you name other ordinary sounds that can become menacing under certain circumstances? Or, maybe you've used one in a book.
Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/
Killer Career now at http://digital-bookshop.com/ and Amazon.
Make Every Word Count
by Jean Henry MeadI recall a workshop where the instructor impressed upon his students that each word committed to paper should pull its own weight. And that every unnecessary word needed to be culled from the plot.
Writers need to engage their readers, not simply enlighten and entertain them. Creating word images that readers can relate to is preferable to forcing them to fill in the blanks. A Hummer H2 conveys a much stronger image than having your protagonist ride to the rescue in an SUV.
Strong verbs are necessary to give one’s plot a dynamic, energetic tone. Words such as hurried, leaped and laughed as opposed to passive words like thought, imagined, mused or considered. And as we’ve all been told, stay away from the verb to be in all its forms because it’s the weakest of words.
Adverbs that end in –ly also weaken your prose. On the other hand, strong specific verbs give writing vitality. I’m reminded of my interview with A.B. Guthrie, Jr. who said, “The adjective is the enemy of the noun and the adverb is the enemy of damn near everything else. Writers use too many descriptive words." As for adjectives, author Lois J. Peterson once said, “One well-chosen adjective can be more effective than two or more, which used together might weaken the idea or image.”
Do we really need adverbs? Not unless it's impossible to come up with strong verbs, such as substituting rumbled instead of drove noisily. Cull the adverbs in your second draft and replace them with muscular verbs. As for adjectives, the rundown house can be rewritten as a hovel.
Word choices affect the plot’s pace. If every symphony movement maintained the same pace, the audience would either be exhausted or asleep before the finale. So writers need to think of themselves as conductors, controlling the pace with word choices, syntax and variety. Long sentences and paragraphs slow the pace and seem to be introspective while short, choppy sentences are much more dramatic and conducive of action scenes. So, in order to keep your reader reading, alternate your sentences and paragraphs in a variety of lengths.
Sentence rhythm is important so be sure to read your work aloud before committing it to a final draft. Some word choices bring a sentence to an abrupt halt and should be rewritten or replaced, along with all unnecessary words. The musical analogy is a good one because sentence flow is so important.
New Mysteries I'm reading by Christine Duncan
I love Sarah Graves' Home Repair is Homicide series so much that I barely finish the latest book in the series before I start looking for the next. I don't know exactly why--perhaps because her heroine, Jacobia (Jake) Tiptree is so real to me. The woman could live down the street.Crawlspace, Graves' newest in the series is no exception to the rule. Jake is busy trying to figure out how to stuff insulation in her house (and striking a chord with this homeowner right there, since I also live in a drafty old place.) Her son is recovering from alcohol addiction and life is going on as normal, when a visiting true crime writer stirs things up by looking at a recent death in the area. Even then, Jake is not all that interested except....
See, this is my problem with reviews. I hate when they tell too much, you know? But suffice it to say, that Jake's adventures into mystery this time put both her son and herself in danger. Read this book!
Another recent read is Ghastly Glass a Renaissance faire mystery by Joyce and Jim Lavene. This is only the second in the series but it is already a favorite of mine.
Jesse Morton is writing a thesis about crafts in the Renaissance time period. She is researching them by apprenticing herself to various crafts folk at a Renaissance Village in Myrtle Beach. Previously, she had been apprenticed to a basket weaver (Wicked Weaves is the first book in the series.) and this time she is returning at Halloween for a short apprenticeship with a glass blower. Those folks who like to read seasonal mysteries in order to get in the mood will love this one which really makes you feel as though it is Halloween. And regular mystery series lovers will like the character of Jesse and her boyfriend, Chase Manhattan and want to keep reading their adventures. I can't say enough about this series.
So what have you been reading lately? I'm always looking for a good mystery.
Christine Duncan is the author of the Kaye Berreano mystery series. Book two of the series, Safe House was recently released by Trebleheart books.
Forum
How Do You Get over Your Phobia of the Very First Page & The Beginning of Your First Novel 14 Replies
Started by Sheryl Farmer-Storrie in DISCUSSION. Last reply by Sheryl Farmer-Storrie 9 hours ago.
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MORGAN'S OWN BLOGSPOT
Tummy Tuck Anyone?
I've still got until Feb 26 to learn all I can from the 30 days of free lessons from Lynda.com , which Adobe offered when I purchased Adobe Photoshop CS4.Today, I stumbled upon a neat one that does virtual tummy tucks. They show a man with a hefty belly. After a few magic software adjustments, he's looking mighty lean.
Hmm, maybe I'll get out some of my photos and see about a tummy tuck here and there. It's a painless operation. All it takes is some brain strain and a few clicks here and there.
Would you also like to be a patient? Who knows, maybe I could get a whole waiting room going. I promise not to charge as much as a regular plastic surgeon. (G)
Morgan
Cell Phone or Email?
I can't help but marvel at all the people who walk down the street or drive with a cell phone stuck to the ear. Whatever do they have to talk about for so long?It's particularly mystifying to me, since I rarily use my iPhone as a phone. I take photos with it, check my email, and do all sorts of other things instead. The DH and I communicate back and forth on my cell while I'm at work, I'll call other members of the family about plans, or I'll use the phone for long distance calling, but that's about it. I always have a huge amount of units rolled over to the next month.
On the other hand, I'm constantly on the computer using the email feature to communicate with friends, promote my books, arrange book signings, learn all sorts of things, swap jokes, and various other reasons. Somehow email seems more civilized. I'm not demanding someone instantly talk to me. I'm allowing that person to respond when it's convenient, with the understanding that I'm receiving the same courtesy.
Some people say that email has taken away from the personalization of communicating. Maybe, but I tend to believe that even though I don't hear that other person's voice, I'm actually sharing a lot more. I don't know about you, but I tend to reveal more about myself when I write than when I speak.
It's your turn. Tell us, do you prefer cell phone communication over email? Or, maybe you use them equally?
Facebook's New Design - Do You Like It?
I opened up Facebook this morning and got confused. Overnight apparently a remodeling job was going on. The Daily Herald Business Section this morning said the new design is meant to streamline navigation and also let the games and apps stand out more.I'm still trying to figure out whether or not I like it. What about you? What's your take on Facebook's new design?
How Silly Can They Be
Twice in the same day I saw women walking Downtown wearing shoulder bags facing their backs. I also saw women wearing boots with high pointy heels. It's winter in Illinois, snowy, icy and slippery. How silly can they be?Guys are not excempt from doing silly things. What about putting house or car keys in the coat pocket and leaving the coat in another room at a party? keys have a habit of falling out. Coats have been known to go off with the wrong owners.
When you write, do you let your characters do silly things? Do they do them as a matter of habit or as a mistake? Depending on the answer and the skill of the author, the reader can look on your character as ridiculous or endearing. It's fun to create a quirky character, but the challenge is in not making the person seem too dumb.
What about you? As a reader, do you enjoy it when a character does silly things? What would seem too silly?
As a writer, do you let one of your characters do silly things? On a regular basis? Maybe only once, but it turns out to be once too many?
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Rascal's Blog
I told Rascal to wait, but she's an impatient one. So, today, I'm helping her with her blog. She wants everyone to know about the new children's lesson book I'm creating with her as the star. The trouble is when I'm working on it, she has a habit of wanting me to step away from the computer and pay attention to her.
I've got to head for work now. We need the money to keep those treats coming!
Morgan Mandel
Latest Activity
Fifteen Years Blog Tour at Online Event
February 22, 2010 to February 26, 2010
Fifteen Years Blog Tour
TOUR DATES: February 22-26, 2010
This tour is for Kendra Norman-Bellamy, author of Fifteen Years (Moody Publishers – February 2010).
ABOUT THE BOOK
Jonah (JT) Tillman, the son of a substance dependent and neglectful mother…
Marrying Mallory - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat 'In the past, Mallory Harrington felt cursed at times. Too many things had
gone wrong in her thirty-two years of life. Her father had left when
she was five and never even…
This month’s Procrastivity Tip (below) comes directly from recent client situations, but in some ways it parallels my own personal experiences. I’ve been fostering (yet another) rescue dog. His name is Tanna, and we’ve had him for about a month. Aft…
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