Murder She Writes

Please welcome our special guest blogger today, my dear friend and one of the smartest ladies I know, Josie Brown!

“Women We Love to Hate…and Five Reasons Why” – Josie Brown

MSW author Karin Tabke’s latest novel, GOOD GIRL GONE BAD, has a great title, for a lot of reasons—the main one being that bad girls always attract our attention, both on and off the page.

Margaret Mitchell knew that when she invented her now classic rebel belle über-heroine, Scarlett O’Hara, in GONE WITH THE WIND (though she claimed that the real heroine of her story was Scarlett’s competition, the meeker, uncompromising Melanie). The same thing goes for Amber St. Clare, Kathleen Winsor’s illegitimate guttersnipe in FOREVER AMBER, and Edith Wharton’s fiery social climber, Undine Spragg—yep, all are women we love to hate with each heinous crime they commit between the pages of their books—and the bedsheets of the men they use on their climb to the top.

I have to admit, writing about femme fatales is a lot of fun. It allows us authors to live vicariously through the mean girls we create: women who do things that would repulse us, should we run into them in our own lives. In fact, the most fun I had with my next book, the glam-packed IMPOSSIBLY TONGUE-TIED, was writing about Kat McPherson, the diva bitch actress who steals away the husband of the book’s heroine, Nina Harte. The heartlessly delicious way in which she stalks her prey, Nathan, gave me the opportunity to put every audacious act I’d ever witnessed (or, through my celebrity interviews, heard about) on paper for others to enjoy.

In my research of such characters, I’ve picked up on five major traits that every bad girl seems to embody:

Trait #1: She’s gorgeous—and boy, does she know it—and flaunt it.
Trait #2: She’s selfish—and she doesn’t care who gets hurt because of it.
Trait #3: She’s a heartbreaker. But isn’t that part of her charm?
Trait #4: She allows us to live vicariously through her. Whether she shoots, kills, lies, steals, or is just mean as all get out, she may not earn our love, but she certainly maintains our grudging respect.
Trait #5: She can’t be redeemed—and that’s okay. After all, that’s what sequels are for, am I right?

So, who’s your favorite bad girl, and why?

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Josie Brown left advertising to become a crusading investigative reporter. Sadly, in our voyeuristic culture vulture society, there is an insatiable demand (and better pay) for celebrity journalists, which is how Josie came to rub elbows (not to mention egos) with the rich and famous. She still writes about celebrity, sex and scandal, only now as fiction (which, she insists, is just as strange as what she knows to be fact). Her novel, TRUE HOLLYWOOD LIES, is on bookshelves now. Her next book, IMPOSSIBLY TONGUE-TIED, will be out in December. You can read about her books and her blog at http://www.josiebrown.com.

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How Far Is Too Far?

I had the fun of seeing and hanging and paneling with Deb Le Blanc (and even singing to her, in her absence!) at Heather Graham’s WRITERS FOR NEW ORLEANS conference two weeks ago (Photos HERE.).

And an interesting thing happened that weekend (well, a whole lifetime of interesting things, really, but…) that I’ve been thinking about ever since, and thought I’d talk about it for my guest blog, here.

It was the last day of the conference, and we’d just done a great group booksigning with BENT PAGES BOOKSTORE, and most of us had drifted out to the hall, and the generally supremely elegant and self-possessed Cherry Adair comes stumbling out of the signing room all dazed and flushed and glowing – almost like – well, you know… and she stops and says, not really to anyone in particular, more to herself and anyone who would listen and maybe understand:

“I just met my main character. That little bookseller”… (waving vaguely back toward the signing room)… “She’s my main character in the book I started this week.”

Man oh man, do I know what she means. I met a couple of my own characters that weekend, myself.

Partly that’s New Orleans, a city which, at least for me, seems to magnify intention and desire, all kinds of desire – sometimes for good, sometimes – not. And partly that’s travel in general. But partly, mostly, it’s being a writer, right? You start a new project and when it’s really going right, the story starts to manifest, literally manifest, around you.

(Doesn’t it? You do know what I mean, don’t you? Or have I finally made it over the deep end? No, I have proof. Cherry Adair is my proof. It’s not just me.)

A stranger really will walk up to you and you’re hit with some cosmic thunderbolt, because they are the living image of a character you’re trying to define, and suddenly you understand so much more about your story than you ever realized you were writing. You will find yourself in the exact situation that your main character is struggling with. You will walk around a corner and come face to face with the precise house your villain lives in.

It’s scary and mindblowing and ecstatically wonderful… and very, very disorienting. Reality starts seeming not so real.

Okay, so my question is… how far are we required to go along with this, for the sake of a story? Do the best writers completely abandon themselves to this ride, let the story take them over, start acting out the parts themselves? Do YOU?

Now, obviously, it would be a bad thing if we mystery writers started acting out – our villains, to state the obvious example! And let’s just assume for the sake of all that is holy that I am not looking for permission to behave badly with jailbait bookstore clerks simply because my new main character is a little – voracious, that way.

But we all do research – and when the research starts coming alive, where’s the line? Does everything you do take place behind your desk, or does a little real-life roleplaying help? In fact, does too much stability hinder the writing process, perhaps? (I’m thinking of some of my favorite authors who – while I’m happy that they’re alive – were simply much better writers when they were full-tilt crazy.).

Or am I just trying to rationalize a desire to go farther than I should?

What’s your process? When your story starts coming alive, how far do YOU go?

Allison Here: Alexandra Sokoloff is a fabulous writer and a terrific, fun woman. A screenwriter (among other things), her debut novel THE HARROWING was released earlier this month. Check it out here. Thank you for visiting today, Alex (and sorry I was late in posting! You don’t want to know . . . )

I was recently asked to judge a national contest for best original paper back novel, and, as though I had nothing better to do, I agreed. The books just started flooding in this week, and woohoo do I ever feel like a kid at Christmas!

Funny thing is as I’m reading through the books I’m noticing a pattern forming—clichés. Tons of them. Not in all the books, but in enough to notice. Now I can deal with a cliché or two, sliding right over them if the story is good and the writing is decent. But what do you do when the story plot’s a cliché? Aside from tossing the book across the room that is. These are some of the ones I’ve seen so far:

• An accused person saved by the discovery of a long-lost twin.
• The sole witness for the prosecution ‘suddenly’ disappears the night before she testifies.
• The hooker who plans to quit the ‘job’ as soon as she earns enough money to become a full-time mom to the baby she gave up years ago.
• The leggy brunette who works her way into the run-down office of a wise-crack, in debt P.I. and tells him in a sultry voice . . .
• A caller who has urgent info for the sleuth but for some never explained reason can’t talk about it on the phone, and whose body the sleuth comes across when he arrives for their clandestine meeting.
• The sleuth who’s tied up and about to be killed but she’s able to get her captor to brag about the details of his crime and who’s rescued at the very moment the killer just happens to provide the final piece to the puzzle.

These kinds of clichés drive me crazy. They’re like arrows pointing to the conclusion of the book. You KNOW how the story’s going to end even before you get to chapter two. Have you run across story clichés lately in the books you’ve been reading? What are some of the worst you’ve seen?

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Dancing Daughter, my youngest (I only have two, so it’s either youngest or oldest…he he) recently had a dilemma. I let her try out for Thriller, a professional production by an awesome dance company in Utah (Odyssey Dance), and she made it. She was THRILLED. Pun intended. She was a part of the Chucky Doll dance. I wish I could explain, but I can’t. You HAVE to see this production, which is the creation of Derryl Yeager. It is a mix of incredible dance skill, incredible humor, and just a touch of the macabre. I love this show.

I mean LOVE IT with big CAPITAL LETTERS. I rave about it to everyone in Utah, and I wish it would tour nationally, because so many of you would love it, too. Halloween is NOT Halloween without Thriller, performed by Odyssey Dance.

My husband, who is not really a Dancing Dad, loves it, too. The first time we saw it, he raved to all his friends. This is not his usual agenda. He was grumbling as we got ready to go. Usually, he is not encouraging people to attend dance performances. Even the ones his DAUGHTER is dancing in. But after seeing Thriller a few years ago, he was calling friends and telling them YOU MUST GO SEE THRILLER. “Take your wife,” he would tell them. He scared me. His daughter was NOT EVEN IN IT. That was so not like him. And that tells you something. It’s funny, scary, edgy, and performed with a skill you won’t see anyplace else. Perfect for Halloween.

But Dancing Daughter had also told me she wanted to try out for The Nutcracker, with Ballet West. Ballet West’s production of The Nutcracker is a very prestigious production and this year she was Party Girl size. It’s the LAST year she will probably be Party Girl size. PG is the primo role, of course, aside from Clara. Actually, Clara DANCES with the Party Girls. So I let her audition, thinking if, just IF, by some chance, she made both, we could work it out.

Dreamers dream.

I didn’t think she would make both. She did. Desire, combined with an awesome dance teacher, Misty.

So we had to choose, because BOTH performances started practices the same night, and I couldn’t let her do either one halfway. And frankly, I knew neither Ballet West or Odyssey Dance would want her doing them halfway either. I tinkered with it. I really did. I even printed out calendars and put out both schedules, asking, “CAN WE DO THIS?”

The answer was no. We could not. After all, she is 11. And the practices conflicted in a major way. So we had to choose. WE? No, really, we didn’t. She had to choose. The bottom line was, it is about her and her desire. And her choice was Nutcracker.

And I was heartbroken. I love Thriller. I really wanted to SEE her in Thriller. But, apparently, she has her own brain, and she knows what she wants. Whouda thunk it?

Her father and her sister tried to influence her, too. They LOVE Thriller. They wanted to see her in Thriller. They think Nutcracker is okay, but they wouldn’t call their friends and rave about it. But she didn’t cave in.

She wanted to be a Party Girl in the Nutcracker. And so she is.

She has desire.

I had desire, too. I wanted to be published. I wanted my books with a BIG NEW YORK PUBLISHER, and I refused to give up, even though I got rejected more times than I care to remember. And I finally saw my dream realized. With three publishers. I’m living the life, right? Keep reading.

Desire. Do you have it? Because if you don’t, you won’t make it. And if you do have it, and you do make it? When you take that desire to that higher level? Are you ready for what is ahead?

Be prepared for some hard choices. Just like DD had to make a hard choice, so will you. It is not wine and roses. It is NOT pedicures and spa treatments. You will have sell throughs to worry about. You will have lists to stress about. You will see people with lower print runs hit lists that YOU did not hit, even though YOU sold more books than the other author’s entire print run.

This business is about timing, and execution, and sometimes, shenanigans and tomfoolery. It just plain ain’t easy.

Jen and I were chatting via email this morning, and I admitted I feel like a big failure.

“Why?” she asked.

Well, nothing is HAPPENING right now. I’m writing, of course. I have a book due in two weeks, and another one with some major revisions that must be done. But no one is nominating me for awards, or reviewing my book, or talking about me at all. I am sort of…. STAGNANT.

This is how the business goes. Tess Gerritsen has been so honest about her struggles and about worrying where she lands on the lists. And she got a lot of flack for it, but you know what? The bigger you get, the bigger your worries.

You just never know when the rug is going to be pulled out from under you.

But I have desire. I will get through it. How about you?

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I finished writing my contribution to the SUN, SAND and SEX anthology (June 2007).

I think.

Maybe.

Except I keep thinking about all the little things I could add, or expand on, or maybe I didn’t make something clear enough, or…

Enough. There has to come a time to let go. I KNOW the right thing to do is send it to my editor and get her input. She has a great eye, and she will tell me if the book needs work. She really has the ability to zero in on problems, making it easier for me to fix them.

I suspect there are two reasons I’m trying to hold onto this book. First, I really like the characters and since its novella length, I’m not as sick of them as I usually am at the end of writing a full length novel. I’ve gotten to know Nick and Lexie so intimately that they are friends, and they haven’t overstayed their welcome.

The second reason is that I’m procrastinating starting the next book. I already know that in order to make the next book good, I’m going to have to dig deep. I’m going to have to find the emotions in myself to flesh out my heroine, Ivy. She’s been hiding behind a lot of “theories” that have made her really popular in her certain circles. She’s built her second career on these theories after her first career went up in flames. She’s going to look in the mirror and find the courage to see the truth, not just the face she puts on for the public. In order to get Ivy to the place where she can do that, I’m going to have to make her life hell.

After writing several books, I know now how much emotional energy it takes to torment my characters that much. To strip away their protective layers and make them vulnerable.

I realized this weekend, when I swore I would not work, that my brain has been turning over Luke and Ivy, thinking about how the external conflicts will force them to deal with their internal conflicts. Even when I’m reading, in the back of my mind, I feel the shadow of those two characters looming, looking for substance; the flesh and blood characteristics that make them so real on the page.

Sunday, I went to the bookstore, just to walk around and think. (I also bought Karin’s book GOOD GIRL GONE BAD!) I didn’t write, I was just thinking. Just letting the characters simmer.

As the weekend progressed, I’m realized I’m ready to let the finished anthology go, and dig into Luke and Ivy’s story. I’m starting to get curious about these two characters. For instance, why is Luke so sure that Ivy is a thief, that she won’t be able to outsmart him? After all, he believes she got away with stealing a big chunk of money once before….

In our fast-moving society, procrastination is supposed to be bad, a sign of laziness. But I have another theory—that procrastination is a method of giving our subconscious valuable time to play. Maybe physically, I’m surfing the internet and reading blogs, or baking cookies, or walking around the bookstore, but my subconscious is imagining different scenarios, often going in unexpected directions because I’m not consciously directing my thoughts. My subconscious has more freedom that way. Procrastination is a way to give our subconscious time to play and create.

I think that procrastination can be an important tool for creativity. Or maybe I’m just really lazy! What do you all think?

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I’ve learned that an agent, a good one, is invaluable. Not only should an agent be a sounding board, but they must also be your biggest cheerleader and manager. I have learned that even though I am a business person, one who has owned her own successful business for over 20 years, that when it comes to publishing, my agent is in charge of certain aspects of my career and that I should, as hard as it is for me, allow her do what she does best and butt out.

I’ve learned that not all editors are the same. They are a reflection of their publisher. And many publishers guard numbers as a super secret as well as other mysterious publishing knowledge. I have learned I have a great publisher. And they have confidence in my editor who in turn has confidence in me and is willing to share.
I have also learned to allow them to do what they do best, and butt out.

I have learned that once the book is written and published there is more work to be done. I have learned about promotion. Lots of it. I have learned to accept the things I cannot change. I cannot change the fact I have to promote myself. I hope to learn to get better at it as each book comes out.

I have learned that stress and neurotic behaviors are required elements of being published. It is a hard lesson learned for someone who has always been in control of her own destiny. I have learned I cannot control anything except the words I type.

I have learned that when I am on deadline, I have to pull inward and leave the world to its own spin. It will continue if I don’t post a comment on a blog or reply on a loop.

I have learned that I write better under pressure. I have learned that doing so knocks my back out of whack and my shoulders ache for days. I have learned to survive on coffee and ibuprofen. I have learned that sweat pants and tee shirts look ok on me.

I have learned that I can stay up writing all night and still manage to get up by seven a.m. and it won’t kill me. I have learned that during those days, I will need a nap.

I have learned that despite the stress, the highs, the lows and the neurosis, that I love what I am doing and nothing else I could possibly do could give me more pleasure, more satisfaction or more rewards than this crazy business called publishing.

What have you learned during your journey?

First, I want to thank Tess Gerritsen and Barbara Colley for being our guests this week at Murder She Writes. We really appreciate them taking the time!

There have been a few technical difficulties. Barbara responded to everyone’s comments, but unfortunately they seem to have disappeared. We’re looking into it. (Actually, we’re having our web guru at Stonecreek Media, look into it.) If you’ve posted something that has disappeared or never showed up this week, please email us.

I need to ship out my copyedits on SPEAK NO EVIL by the end of today. I have 100 more pages to go. I started them on Sunday (after taking Saturday off; now I’m regretting it!) I should be done, but I’m tweaking. I can’t help it. And when I tweak, I read slower.

Most authors probably tweak BEFORE they send the book into their editor. After revisions, I didn’t have time. I slammed through the revisions, got all the major points covered. I didn’t have time to go over each line, make sure I wasn’t too repetitive (a problem I have), fix word problems.

The book was 95% clean, and the line edits I’m looking at are really good. My guy who does it really tightens my writing in a way that I hope to be able to do to myself down the road. I think I get so close to the story that I can’t think of a better way to say something, but he’ll cut a word or two (or add a word or two) and suddenly my meaning is clearer. I haven’t STETted much (that’s when you write STET in the margin because you DON’T want a copyedit/line edit change made.) Some problems were that the copyeditor didn’t understand my meaning–which means I wasn’t clear enough. So I fixed the sentences to make them clearer.

I’m still tweaking things that haven’t even been touched by the red pencil. Because this is the last time I can make substantial changes. This is also the version (with all these changes) that will be printed for the ARC. So I want to get things as right as possible.

I found one major error no one else saw. I mentioned that The Butcher (from THE HUNT) had seventeen victims. Then later, sixteen. So I went back to THE HUNT and re-read the section that had this information. The Butcher had 22.

But I love this part of the process. I’ve read the book all the way through for the first time. I had read everything IN the book multiple times, but not in order. So I’m seeing the full picture for the first time. It’s both exciting and scary. I love this story; will anyone else?

Oh, yeah, have I mentioned that I’m totally neurotic?

ADMIN: Please join us in welcoming guest blogger Barbara Colley of the popular Charlotte LaRue mystery series! Barbara’s willing to answer questions and chat with MSW friends, so don’t be shy. Ask away…. and welcome, Barbara!

What a Character!

First, I should thank the wonderful authors of Murder She Writes for inviting me to be their guest. Thanks, ladies!

And second—you do know that if you say first, there has to be a second–anyway, just so you know, I have never blogged before. I’ve been just a wee bit afraid to. Okay, make that a lot afraid to. You see, I have a tendency to say things I shouldn’t at times, especially if I’m sitting at a keyboard, so I figured that blogging was just one more way to get myself into trouble. Of course I was told that I could “talk” about anything that I wanted to, but it was suggested that something about writing would be appropriate.

So, how about I talk about creating characters? That should be safe enough and keep me out of trouble. Actually, I’ve been thinking a lot about characters lately. Starting in two weeks I’ll be teaching a series of three writing classes for the Community Education program where I live, and I’ve been trying to decide what I want to include in those three short classes. After all, I’ve been in this business for at least twenty years and have had several books published, so there’s a whole bunch of information that I could share.

The title for my course is “A Novel Idea.” How’s that for being original? And no, I’m not usually sarcastic, just a wee bit aggravated that I couldn’t come up with something more, ah . . . creative. Anyway, that’s beside the point. The real problem is that I’ve got more information to share than I’ll have time to present, but I digress . . . again. For the first six books I wrote that were published, I knew that characters were important, but it wasn’t until I began writing my mystery series that I realized just how important they were. Suddenly, it hit me that my whole series hinged on that very first book and the first introduction to my sleuth. If readers liked her, then they would want to read more about her. But if they didn’t like her, then my series was doomed. Just think about the books you’ve really enjoyed. I’d be willing to bet that you probably don’t remember every detail of the plot, but you remember the characters. Think, Scarlett O’hara, and what about Clarice and Dr. Lecter, or how about Harry Potter? See what I mean? All are truly memorable characters.

Talk about putting pressure on myself! I put so much pressure on myself that I spent more time getting to know Charlotte LaRue than I’d ever spent on any other character that I’d created, and that was before I even gave Charlotte a story. And yes, I did that chart thingie where you fill in the hair color, color of eyes, body type, etc., etc. But I guess what I wanted to share with you (and what I’ll share with the class that I’ll be teaching) is the one thing that I did that was most helpful when creating Charlotte. I simply let her talk to me and tell me “her” story. Once I let her talk, I couldn’t shut her up, and I learned all kinds of stuff about her that no one has ever put on a chart.

Now I know that might sound a little strange, but unless you’ve tried it, don’t knock it. And just to be crystal clear, I do think that character charts are helpful, essential tools for a writer to use. But once you’ve filled in all of the blanks, then sit back, close you eyes, and let your character talk to you through the keyboard. And no, I’m not into channeling or any of that kind of hocus-pocus non-sense. What I am into is giving my creative self permission to be . . . creative. Does any of that make sense? I sure hope so, but if it doesn’t, then do whatever works for you, and thanks for taking the time to read my first attempt at blogging.