Any Time Now I Will Love to Write

I love to write.

I hate to write.

Let's start over: I love to create. I love to edit. I love to tell a story.

I love to have written book.

The writing part? Well, I'm pretty much on the hate side. Except for the times I love it. Which becomes kind of like a drug addiction. I'll work through days of hating it because I know—I just know—that I will love writing if for even just a few hours any time now.

Dangling carrot. The cocaine-high of effortless brilliance. The part where I get to play a kind of writing god where I create the world (in seven days? ha!), and I create the people and their backstories and their fears, and decide what fate has in store for them.

That's a lot of responsibility.

And even more work.

Writing my first draft is wild. They often begin like silk. The words flow. I can't possibly type fast enough.

"This is gonna be the fastest first draft (and perfect, by the way) in the universe. It's magic!"

Yeah, right.

Then comes the first speed bump. And the second.

I've found I write best when I have a bit of a roadmap—an idea of where I want to get to next. That doesn't mean that little bits of flotsam won't work through whatever filter I have in place and make its way onto my page. The magic part is... (are you ready?) I don't immediately delete those things that feel, at the moment, like dust-bunnies. Pieces of lint I'm eventually going to have to vacuum up.

Trusting the process is one of the key elements for a writer. My process can include a lot of deleting, but it can also include a lot of surprises.

"Oh, yes! I see the connection now between that earlier dust-bunny and this trigger for murder!"

Or:

"That dust-bunny sure set up a great metaphor for the overall theme of this story (which I rarely know about ahead of time): global terrorism!"

Which is part of the whole addiction.

You get my point. In case you haven't, it's to trust the process. Sometimes you've just got to let it flow.

Thanks to my Sisters in Crime sister, and good friend, Sheila Lowe, for encouraging me to write this post. You can read hers by clicking on her name. She writes an awesome series featuring a handwriting analyst. Which works really well for her because she is one. (And waving to Dennis Palumbo, whose fabulous book, PHANTOM LIMB, I finished reading this morning even before turning on the news. Yes, it's that good. And who, by the way, provided a beautiful endorsement for my last book, THE SACRIFICE.)

Check out another Sisters In Crime blog (and yeah, she's really my sister): Lala Corriere.

Meet Jamie Taylor (no, not that one)

If you’ve ever wondered where characters in your favorite author’s books come from, this is a terrific blog hop to follow. The Meet My Character series, written by authors, sheds terrific light on a single character of their choosing, which also might shed a little light on the author!

I was invited to join this parade by Lala Corriere. Here’s a little about her (and how you can meet one of her characters):

Lala Corriere is the author of four titles in suspense, with her most recent work, Bye Bye Bones, scheduled for release in late winter, 2014. Her credits include the endorsement and long-term mentorship from the late Sidney Sheldon, and blurbs from Andrew Neiderman [author of the Devil’s Advocate], J.Carson Black, Paris Afton Bonds, KT Bryan, and CJ West. Lala’s a desert rat. She nestles there with her husband of twenty-five years, two Teacup Yorkies, and an American Curl.

www.lalacorriere.com

Amazon Author Page

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Jamie Taylor recently agreed to be interviewed by Suspense Novelist. What follows are excerpts from that interview.

SN: What makes you interesting?

JT: (laughing) That’s kind of direct. I suppose it isn’t me so much as my dogs. I have four of them, and they’re all working dogs. When we’re not looking for lost hikers in the Colorado High Country, we’re looking for signs of arson, making ill people feel better, or finding evidence of human remains. Each of my dogs has his or her specialty and I just go along to write the reports.

SN: Have you always had dogs?

JT: We got our first dog when my dad took early retirement from an international security company, and we moved to Aspen Falls. I’d always liked dogs—from a distance. But when we got Sammy, I fell in love. If I’ve been disappointed in people, dogs prove that God got something right.

SN: How have people disappointed you?

JT: Where do you want me to start? I have a lousy record of choosing men. Is that me, or is that the men? I was married once, and the only thing I took with me from that experience, aside from the clothes I was wearing when I left, was a six-inch scar that runs from my belly button up to my left breast. I’m not sure an intimate, lasting relationship is in the cards for me.

Then there’s the fact that my mother was murdered.

SN: Wow, I’d say “disappointed” is an understatement. Did they catch whoever murdered your mom?

JT:  We did, but that’s another story.

SN: What are you working on now?

JT:  My accelerant detection dog, Kaji, and I are working on a series of fires in Colorado, many of which have turned out to be arson, and dodging threats from the arsonist, which, as you can guess, makes everything personal. In addition, I’m trying to figure out my relationship with the FBI agent I met a year or so ago. It’s a little dicey given my history.

SN: If readers want to get to know you a little more, where can they find you?

JT: Red Tide is a terrific book, and you can find out about what happened to my mom there, and a little more about my ex-husband. Peg is working on telling the story about arson in Flame Game, where Kaji and I are trying hard to help the investigating detective. That should be available by the end of this year.

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Next: (Just so you know, I feel incredibly fortunate to have these two authors coming up. You should take advantage.)

On August 14th, it's Sheila Lowe: Like her fictional character Claudia Rose in the award-winning Forensic Handwriting Mysteries series, Sheila Lowe is a real-life forensic handwriting expert who testifies in handwriting-related cases. She holds a Master of Science in psychology and is licensed to provide continuing education for marriage and family therapists. She also authored the internationally acclaimed The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Handwriting Analysis and Handwriting of the Famous & Infamous, as well as the Handwriting Analyzer software.

www.claudiaroseseries.com

Blog: www.algonquinredux.com  

On August 18th, it's L.J. Sellers: L.J. Sellers writes the bestselling Detective Jackson Mysteries—a two-time Readers Favorite Award winner—as well as the Agent Dallas series and provocative standalone thrillers. L.J. resides in Eugene, Oregon where many of her novels are set and is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Housing Help. When not plotting murders or doing charity work, she enjoys standup comedy, cycling, and social networking. She's also been known to jump out of airplanes.

http://ljsellers.com

https://www.facebook.com/ljsellers?ref=profile

https://twitter.com/LJSellers

google.com/+LJSellers

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And then:

On August 22nd, you'll get to hear from Michael W. Sherer: Michael W. Sherer is the author of Night Tide and soon-to-be-released Night Drop. The first book in the Seattle-based Blake Sanders series, Night Blind, was nominated for an ITW Thriller Award in 2013. His other books include the award-winning Emerson Ward mystery series, the stand-alone suspense novel, Island Life, and the Tess Barrett YA thriller series. He and his family now reside in the Seattle area.

Please visit him at www.michaelwsherer.com or you can follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thrillerauthor and on Twitter @MysteryNovelist.

http://www.michaelwsherer.com

Also on August 22nd, it's Gayle Carline: Gayle Carline is a typical Californian, meaning she was born somewhere else. She moved to Orange County from Illinois in 1978 and finally nested in Placentia a few years later. Her husband, Dale, bought her a laptop for Christmas in 1999 because she wanted to write. A year after that, he gave her horseback riding lessons. When she bought her first horse, she finally started writing.

Gayle soon became a regular contributor to Riding Magazine. Then, in March 2005, she began writing a humor column for her local newspaper, the Placentia News-Times, entertaining readers with stories of her life with Dale and their son, Marcus. In 2009, she published her first mystery novel, Freezer Burn, featuring housecleaner-turned-detective Peri Minneopa. She has now published seven books, three Peri Minneopa Mysteries, two humor books, and two books featuring her favorite hobby – horses.

In her spare time, Gayle likes to sit down with friends and laugh over a glass of wine. And maybe plot a little murder and mayhem. She’ll continue to write columns and mysteries as long as there are stories to tell.

http://gaylecarline.com/

http://www.facebook.com/AuthorGayleCarline

http://www.twitter.com/GayleCarline

http://www.amazon.com/Gayle-Carline/e/B002C7FHZW

It's all better with friends.

Judging a Book By its Cover

Sheila Lowe brings a level of authenticity to her series surrounding handwriting expert, Claudia Rose. Lowe has more than 35 years of experience in the field of handwriting analysis, and is recognized as an expert in the California Court system.

I recently submitted a sample of my own handwriting to Sheila to use (or not use) in an upcoming book. It was rather like allowing someone to peek in my underwear drawer—a personal place where I hide my secrets from the world. I have to admit I was a little relieved that because she'd received so many samples, she didn't do any in-depth sleuthing. Phew!

Her fourth book, Last Writes, and the subject of this post (sort of) is available for pre-order through Amazon or your local independent book store.










When NAL picked up my first mystery novel, Poison Pen, my editor and I took a walk around the dealer’s room at Malice Domestic. I pointed out covers that I liked and, more important, those that I didn’t, so that she could guide the art department when they were preparing my cover. I write novels of psychological suspense about a forensic handwriting expert whose entry into criminal investigations comes through her clients; I guess you could call them “medium boiled.” Claudia Rose’s cases sometimes end up in court with her presenting testimony as an expert witness, so it seemed logical that my covers should look more like The Firm than The Cat Who....

Eventually, the cover art came for Poison Pen with what I learned was the standard note: “Here’s your new cover, we hope you love it as much as we do.” The artwork suggested a desert locale done in crimson and tan, and featured a magnifying glass and a fountain pen inscribed with the text: “Forensic Handwriting Mysteries.” I’d been thinking a courthouse, or maybe a forensic lab, but was thankful they hadn’t put a quill pen on the cover. After studying it for a couple of hours, I really liked it (hey, I was being published by one of the biggest houses in the world, what’s not to like?!).

Written in Blood, book two, had a blue-hued cover that also offered a clue to one of the locations in the book. It, too, sported a pen and had a similar artistic style to Poison Pen—together, they looked like part of a series. Book three’s cover came in shades of orange and depicted a running woman (no pen this time). To me, she appeared to be fleeing a forest fire in the mountains—a bit of cognitive dissonance—Dead Write is set near Manhattan’s theater district. If you look closely at the cover, you will see a lone taxi on an otherwise empty street. Maybe the artist had never been to Manhattan. Still, the overall style made it part of the series.

And that brings us to book four, set for release on July 6. Some friends who’ve seen the cover think it’s terrific, and it is. But it doesn’t look like part of my series. The cover depicts a stylized modern kitchen with an overturned chair and a cup on the floor, coffee puddling around it. The artwork looks cozy; everyone who’s seen it agrees. Since I write psychological suspense, which is a different sub-genre than cozy and attracts a different set of readers, this cover just didn’t feel like my book.

I’m trying to come up with a way to describe the difference between cozy covers and mystery/suspense covers, but as a non-artist, all I can say is, you just know. Cozies are sometimes described as “fun.” The person who solves the mystery is often an amateur sleuth and the stories usually take place in a small town where everyone knows each other. The bad language is kept to a minimum and the sex and violence take place mostly off the page. Cozy covers seem to reflect traditional values and they tend to either be realistic, depicting people, or done in soft pastels and have drawings of cakes, shops, or flowers, usually portraying the sleuth’s job or the book’s theme.

Like the tales around which they are wrapped, suspense novel covers tend to be darker in hue and in tone. They seem to promise the reader, not lighthearted “fun,” but chills and thrills. There’s less likely to be a human figure on the cover than a location. Or, if there is a figure, it’s most often hazy or ambiguous or menacing.

Cozies are hugely popular, and luckily, there are many crossover readers. But my concern (read that: abject fear) is that readers looking for psychological suspense might overlook the book because they’ll assume from the cover that it’s not their kind of story, and that cozy readers who are attracted by the cover of Last Writes will end up hating it because it’s not what they expect (it’s about a religious cult and the search for a missing three-year-old—not cozy), and they’ll feel ripped off and write rotten reviews. I know, I must have too much time on my hands...

But the fact is, a book is not always what its cover suggests. So even if a cover doesn’t immediately draw you, look inside anyway. Read the first paragraph or the first page and see if the writing grabs you. Give it a chance. My first published book was The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Handwriting Analysis. I got emails from people who said they would never buy a book whose title called them an idiot. I asked them then not to judge the book by its cover, and I do the same here, not just for my books, but as a general reading rule.

So the question I leave you with is this; how does cover art affect your reading choices? Let me know what you think. Sheila@sheilalowe.com

Like her character, Claudia Rose, Sheila Lowe is a forensic handwriting expert. She’s also an award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction. www.claudiaroseseries.com and www.sheilalowe.com






CR: The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner

It's all better with friends.