Book Prices

I've been reading a lot of discussions about book pricing lately and like every other person out there, I have an opinion and a mouth, too (a different and perhaps more polite orifice than the one usually referenced in these kinds of statement, ha, ha). My opinion is that, like any other product you'd care to mention, pricing is in a constant state of flux.

So...what do I really think?
How to I decide on a pricing strategy if I independently publish (self-publish) my book?

I should state first that concerns about pricing doesn't show a lack of experience--even veteran authors who decide to self-publish their backlist have to go through the trauma of deciding on prices and periodically reviewing/revising them. It is a very real concern and no one--including publishers--have a really good handle on yet. Even big publishers are playing around with pricing and have different strategies depending upon author name, genre, etc.

For example, one well-known publisher recently released most of Georgette Heyer's books (originally published in the first half of the 20th century), with an introductory price of $2.99. Then the publisher raised the prices, some to almost $9.00. Now, prices vary on those books from $2.99 to almost $9.00, with a few periodically showing up as free.

So you can see that even publishers are experimenting with price.

And to make matters more complicated, there are a lot of readers like myself who absolutely WILL pass up books because of price. I generally will not buy a book above $4.99 at all, unless it is something I require for work (rare) or a reference book. And I don't buy a lot of books above $3.99. I have to really, really want the book at $4.99 to buy it. Those account for maybe 1 book every few months versus several books at $3.99 or less. I simply can't afford to feed my reading habit if I buy books that cost more. That's why I also used to go to used book stores and libraries. And I still look for specific books (e.g. classics like "Rebecca") for free, if I can find them for my electronic library.

However, I follow trends on marketing and what others are pricing their books at in several markets. Here is what I've seen:
Most authors decide on an overall strategy for the types of books they write, something like this:
$.99 for short stories up to 10,000 words
$1.99 for novellas from 10,000 through 50,000 words
$2.99 for novels that range from 50,000 (e.g. a Harlequin-length category romance) through 75,000
$3.99 for long novels that range from 75,000 on up
---Some folks go higher, e.g. $4.99 and up, when their particular genre supports that price or they have a wide audience. A quick survey of other books in a specific genre may provide a clue about the "sweet spot" for independently published or self-published books.

For authors with series, here is what I've seen:
$2.99 For the FIRST book in the series, when no other books are available yet (or $3.99 is popular, too)
$.99 Drop the price of the FIRST book in the series to $.99 when the second book comes out
$2.99 or $3.99 for the second and subsequent books in the series (some go as high as $4.99 before sales drop off, but usually after the series is better established)
--Finally
PERMA-FREE (Oh, my goodness!) You can drop the price of the FIRST book in the series to free when there are three or more books in that series available, as an alternative to $.99. This cycles in/out and authors often adjust this as part of promotional activities. It is also useful to build up reviews as part of promotional activities with the idea that the money will be made on the subsequent books if you have a good "read-through" rate (I made that up as a term to account for people who get the first book and then buy subsequent ones in the series).

Free vs $.99 for the first book in a series swings back and forth as far as effectiveness, so folks tend to manipulate that as necessary. Right now, so many are set to $.99 that the price point is becoming less effective. The pendulum is swinging back to perma-free. That will then work for a few months before it becomes less effective again and prices for the first book in a series will swing back up to $.99.

Or we may see some other changes.

That is certainly a strategy that seems to work for series pricing, but there are some caveats:
1) It works best if the first three books come out with no more than one month between releases. The quicker the other books in the series are released, the better.
2) Read-through and sales/earnings are best if there is a cliffhanger at the end of each book in the series, forcing the reader to pick up the next one. Note that this ticklish. It can backfire if the subsequent books aren't available because it irritates readers. Also, it assumes that you DO wrap up the main story's arc and that the cliff-hanger-ish part is a minor sub-plot or even a the start of a new plot/new story arc. You really have to be careful because a lot of readers totally loathe cliffhangers and books that don't have a "real ending." (I know I dropped Jordan's series because I got tired of long books with no resolutions and a seemingly endless series. I'm not a big fan of cliffhangers and often decide to stop reading after the first book. I don't think I'm completely unique in that.)

So there are a lot of strategies. Also keep in mind that some companies that want your price to end in $.99 so you'll have to take that into consideration. It means $3.99 versus $3.49, for example. And for me, I find that readers like the slightly odd $3.49 because it "feels" cheaper than the more common $3.99 and is a little different, making it look less like one of the herd. A little more thought went into it. A lot of folks now equate $2.99 with self-published and perhaps a lack of skill, although some publishers are now releasing old books (like those Heyer books I mentioned) at that price, which is helping erase that stigma.

That's why, though, many authors are going to $3.99 or even $4.99--it can sometimes make readers believe it is a higher quality product. But it can backfire when you have a reader like me, who honestly looks for bargains AND READS THEM (I don't buy stuff I don't want just because it's free or cheap). I won't buy a book at $4.99 if I have the least concern that I may not like it. But I'm more likely to take a chance on a new author at a lower price.

It is much more difficult if you write books that "stand alone" and are not in a series. Then, using the simpler pricing strategy of basing price on the length of the book may work best. Then you can change the price for various promotions, e.g. free or $.99 for a few days or week to build up reviews and get some momentum going.

Psychological games. Ha, ha.

Many successful authors recommend playing with price until you find the sweet spot where you're selling a nice number and still making a comfortable profit.

Remember: You can always change the price. Nothing is permanent.

One last note: do an informal survey of the books in the genre your book fits within and see what the range is. That also helps. You don't want to be at the upper range of price unless you're already so famous that people will buy your books no matter what they cost. :) Likewise, only use prices in the lowest range for specific purposes, like the first book in a series or a special promotion.

Hope that helps someone. I also hope to hear from readers. What prices make you buy a book? Do you equate price with quality?

Writing Mindfully

It always surprises me how many lessons you learn at one job "translate" successfully to other areas of endeavor. And how often your parents really are right. :) Long, long ago (in a galaxy not that far away) my mother told me that it was important to set goals. All fine and well, but like a lot of other people, I found it hard to set goals when I didn't really know what I wanted or wanted to accomplish. So I sort of ignored that advice.

Then, as I got a "real job" (as opposed to my fiddling around with writing for one or two lifetimes) I was able to translate Mom's advice into something useful to me. I didn't set goals so much as figure out what I needed to accomplish. It sounds like a trivial difference, but it was an important difference to me. You see, "goals" felt like hard things that I probably couldn't accomplish while saying "this is just something I need to get done"  felt much more do-able.

And so life went on with some successes, some failures, and a lot of "what the heck am I doing" moments. Then, about 15 years ago, I seriously started writing again. I'd piddled with it off and on, but I finally realized that if I ever wanted to be a writer, then I needed to put on my big girl panties and get down to work.

My first few, aw heck, first FIVE manuscripts were a mess. I thought you could just write and your brain would work it all out and you'd create a masterpiece. Sure, I did some elementary plotting and kept track of character names and bios--all the usual stuff--but I didn't think too much about the whole thing. I just wrote. Which was fine as an exercise, but after a few more disastrous manuscripts, the metaphorical light bulb went off. I needed to decide what I wanted to get done.

That simple decision is what makes the difference between a manuscript that is, quite simply, a mess and one that is a real story fit for an audience. And it's not just figuring out the plot, although that is part of it.

Before I forget, let me digress for a moment and mention that I believe this is true whether you are a "plotter" or a "pantster." What are plotters and pantsters? Writers who either create meticulous outlines of their plots before they write (plotters) or writers who just sit down and...write by the seat of their pants (pantsters). I happen to be an unholy alliance of the two. I sort of plot but then halfway through, the characters have revolted, taken over the plot, and all bets are off.

Anyway, so what the heck do I really mean by "decide what needs to get done?"

You need to decide what you are writing. That sounds simple, but it's really not. Let's say you know in a broad way that you want to write mysteries. Okay, that's part of it. But you also have to decide if you want the story to be dark and gritty or light and humorous. Atmospheric or well, whatever the opposite of atmospheric might be. What feelings are you trying to dredge up out of the depths of the reader's psyche?

That goes for each scene, too. As you are writing, you need to keep an eye on what you are trying to do with that scene, and hopefully it will serve multiple purposes. Maybe you need to drop a specific clue for a mystery and you also need to reveal some critical aspect of your hero's personality and push the plot forward. Add a twist. Whatever.

For pantsters, the "does this serve my purpose?" evaluation may come later, but it's still critical. If you don't know what emotions you were trying to evoke or what the scene needed to accomplish as far as plot and characterization, then how do you know if the scene is successful? If you should keep it or cut it? Sadly, many of my scenes--usually the "best" ones in terms of snappy dialog--wind up terminated with extreme prejudice because they don't accomplish what they needed to in order to drive the story forward. It kills me to delete them, but...it is what it is.

Every element in a book: plot, characterization, dialog, setting, descriptions, etc, must be there for a reason for a story to be successful.

So that's my thought for today on writing. I'm still working on perfecting my craft--my reach always exceeds my grasp. Or to put it another way: a wise man is one who realizes that it is not what he knows that makes him wise, it is the recognition of how much he doesn't know that makes him wise. (I must be very, very wise at this point because I feel like I don't know anything.)

For the incurably curious

I'm working on the edits for my next contemporary cozy mystery and I hope to send it to my editor at Five Star soon. Maybe even by the end of August! I can't quite decide on a title, though. I am terrible with titles, but I'm thinking along the lines of "The Missing Body." Who knows. I just hope she likes it and Five Star is willing to pick it up.

Very soon (within the next few weeks, in fact) the next Pru and Knighton mystery will be out: The Dead

Man's View. My wonderfully talented cover artist is working on the cover and I can't wait to release it early in August. I've got another Pru and Knighton mystery up my sleeve, A Honeymoon with Death, where Pru is once more dragged into a mystery during her honeymoon in Europe with Knighton. Pru and Knighton are asked to debunk a haunting, only to stumble into murder instead. I can't wait to get to it, but I've already started another Second Sons Inquiry Agency mystery featuring a new inquiry agent, an embittered Napoleonic war veteran, who is requested to investigate the murder of an earl in The Illusion of Desire. I've gotten the first five chapters written and I hope to finish that during the winter.

Oh, and did I mention that I have a new cover for Pru and Knighton's first book, The Vital Principle? My cover artist (Amber Shah) did a great job and I'll be re-releasing that book with the new cover at the end of the month.

Finally, I'm trying something a little different and will probably have it published under a slightly different pen name as it is a contemporary crime/horror story about revenge. In fact, it's called Revenge. It's crime, black humor, and a bit of paranormal horror all rolled into one biting manuscript. Because it has some dark moments, I'm thinking it may be too dark for the traditional Amy Corwin fans, hence my thought that maybe another pseudonym may be in order. I used to be totally against multiple names for one author because I figured readers were smart enough to read the blurbs and know if the book was something they wanted to read or not, but then I realized the usefulness if you happen to write different genres. It makes it a lot easier for folks to know that if they buy an "Amy Corwin" there won't be a lot of explicit, well, stuff, in them, with the exception of my series of paranormal romances like A Fall of Silver which have a few love scenes.

I've got a lot more "on the burner" as far as writing and I hope that later this summer, the fruits of all my labors will finally be available.
Enjoy and Happy Reading!

Author Interview: Dennis Collins

Today we are privileged to have Dennis Collins with us, and I'm flinging some questions at him that he's been patient enough to answer.

An Interview with Dennis Collins

Why did you decide to write?


I’ve always enjoyed making up and telling stories so I consider myself more of a storyteller than a writer. I have lots of stories running around in my head so I began writing them down so that I wouldn’t forget them. I suppose that’s where it all began.

How much research do you do and what’s your favorite method?

It always bothered me to find a mistake in a book and so I decided that my books would always be thoroughly researched. I sometimes probably go farther than I need to but there is just so much information available on the internet, I get carried away. But when it comes to a setting for a story, nothing is better than a personal visit to get the real feel for the location. You might find that the place has magnificent sunsets or hectic traffic or possibly a unique smell. You can’t find that stuff on the internet.

Do you have a favorite theme or message for your readers?

I wouldn’t call it a message but my writing does have a personality. I like my characters to carry a strong sense of right and wrong and to be responsible and accountable. Of course the bad guys have none of these qualities.

When do you write/what is your writing day like?

I’m one of those fortunate few not tied to a day job so I can write whenever the urge hits. Sometimes it takes a little discipline to keep from getting lazy so I set daily writing quotas. Some mornings I wake up feeling inspired and so I begin before breakfast and other times I find myself working around lunchtime. On rare occasions I can be productive in the evenings. As long as I can get somewhere around two thousand words, I consider it a day’s work. Sometimes it’s only a couple of hours and other times it takes all day.

What is the best advice someone has given you about writing?

It’s a message I’ve heard over and over from successful authors, from editors, and just about every keynote speaker at every conference I’ve ever attended. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t let rejection letters bother you. Don’t give up!

How do you approach a new book? Outlines? Just an idea?

All of my books have been inspired by one small thought or some seemingly insignificant event. The idea for my first book came from an obituary in a newspaper. Another book was the result of a discovery I made about my own family. I start with a very small seed and begin to build a story around it. I never use an outline. One of the adventures of writing this way is that I have to keep going in order to see where my story ends up.

How do you develop your characters?

Basically I give my characters a personality and then throw them into situations. Their personality controls how they react to conditions and gives them a chance to grow. So I’d say that my characters are developed by the challenges they face.

Who are your favorite authors? Have any authors inspired you or influenced your work?

There have been some authors whose work is so dynamic and captivating that I’ve looked long and hard at their writing to see what made them stand out so dramatically. Hemingway comes to mind as a man who could convey great emotion with very few words. Herman Wouk is a magnificent story teller and Mario Puzo was able to take a cold blooded murderer and turn him into a folk hero. These authors shared the same knack for being able to mesmerize their readers.

What makes a great book in your opinion?

Books are a subjective thing. As a reviewer I’ve seen a few books that I didn’t care for draw glowing reviews from other readers. I personally judge a book on whether or not the story appeals to me and ease of reading. I like something that flows well, follows logic, and entertains me.

If a reader took away one thing from your book(s), what would you like that to be?

My main message has always been that good triumphs over evil but life is not always fair. The good guys will win but there will be victims.

Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?

Don’t give up!

Where do you see yourself as an author in five years?

My current goal is to publish two titles a year so I’m hoping to have a large enough list of books to actually get noticed.

Where do you see the publishing industry going in the next few years and where do you see yourself within this industry?

This is the most interesting question of the bunch. I don’t think that anybody knows what lies in the future for the publishing industry. The recent explosion in e-book sales is exciting but I’m sure that there are a few yet to be exposed growing pains lurking in the swamp. The situation is even more unpredictable because the portion of the industry that produced e-readers is in an unprecedented growing spurt as well. We’re not only dealing with a culture change among readers, we’re at the mercy of the electronic geeks who provide the venue. As for me, I’ll probably always be somewhat behind the curve but I’ll keep a close eye on what the leaders are up to and do my best to adjust on the fly,

The First Domino Blurb

Joe Pellerito thought he could murder his way into the mob. The son of a high powered Mafia lawyer and negotiator, he assumed that he’d be welcomed into the Family. When Joe’s father died of cancer he waited anxiously for the invitation to join the ranks. But the call never came. Feeling shunned, Joe devised a plan to show his dedication and fearlessness. From a list of Detroit cops who have been problems for the syndicate Joe chose three candidates and pulled off a string of three brutal murders in less than two hours on a bright spring morning.


The philosophy of the mob has moved into the new millennium and has all but abandoned confrontations with law enforcement. Joe’s actions threaten to undo the progress that took two decades to build. The problem of Joe Pellerito must be addressed.

With a price on his head, Joe is forced to flee and tries to hide in Italy where he attempts to gain a whole new identity.

The diligence of Detroit Police detectives Otis Springfield and Albert McCoy helps them sniff out Joe’s trail but the mob has its resources as well and soon the race is on to see who can get their hands on Joe first.

All of the books in the McCoy series are attractively priced in Kindle and Nook formats. See more at: http://www.theunrealmccoy.com/ .

* * * * *
Thank you for joining us, Dennis! I was really interested in hearing about the direction you thought the publishing industry might take in the next few years. It's definitely a period of change for all of us, but I firmly believe it will result in more opportunities for everyone and a richer landscape for readers. I'm looking forward to it.

Too Stupid To Live Characters

Too Stupid To Live (TSTL) or Just Normal?


I’ve been thinking a lot about characters in books and movies who are labeled, “Too Stupid To Live” or TSTL. I rarely think a character is TSTL, although sometimes I wish she really would pick up that gun that the bad guy dropped before he gets it back. (I’m going to talk about killing and the ability to kill in a later blog, so I won’t address that aspect at this point.)

Is it because I’m more forgiving of differences in human beings?

I don’t think so. In fact, most people think I’m cruel because I'm impatient and expect people to live up to a higher standard. I expect them to do things like “make sense” and “act reasonably.” But I do recognize that not everyone—in fact almost no one—thinks clearly in an emergency situation without a lot of practice and training. In fact most self-defense classes are about repetition so that your body knows what to do when attacked and you don’t have to think about it. Because as soon as you start thinking about it, you’re bound to mess up. He who hesitates is lost.

Anyway, let’s take a classic TSTL moment in fiction. In chapter 1, a bad guy escapes from prison. Let’s call him John. It’s on the news. Alice watches the news and thinks, wow, that’s not good. In chapter 2, the heroine (let’s call her Alice) hears a noise in the basement. Alice goes down to investigate.

I find this perfectly acceptable. A lot of readers, however, throw the book at the wall at this point because they know it’s John in the basement. After all the book is suspense and we (the reader) know this. The author has warned us. The author set up the scenario.

But if this were real life, why would Alice think it’s John in her basement? In real life, it’s probably a raccoon. Or a rat. Or a rattle in the pipes that just knocked over a clay pot that had been teetering on the edge of a loose shelf for the last decade.

If we called the cops every time we heard a noise in the basement, the cops would soon stop responding to us. And although I’ve got my concealed carry permit, I don’t run around the house with my gun, even if there is an escapee loose from the local jail. Why would he come to my house as opposed to all the other, closer ones?

We all play the odds. We don’t expect bad things to happen to us. Mostly if I hear a weird noise, it’s one of the dogs, one of the cats, or another snake has gotten into the house from the swamp.

Back to the book, what would you really want to happen?

• Alice locks the basement door. John piddles around in the basement and eventually gets bored and leaves. End of book.

• Alice locks the basement door and calls the cops. John hears the cops pull up. He leaves. The cop write up Alice for a nuisance call. End of book.

• Alice arms herself with a .357, goes into the basement, sees John and shoots him. She goes to jail for manslaughter. End of book.

• Or…Alice acts like a normal human being, goes into the basement, John grabs her and…stuff happens. About 350 pages worth of stuff.

What’s wrong with that last thing? Well, the real problem isn’t that Alice is TSTL. The problem is really that people are tired of the old, dark basement thing and they want a new way for John to break into the house and terrorize Alice.

In addition, we don’t want our characters to act like us. We don’t want them to be afraid to pick up the gun that the bad guy accidentally dropped. We want the characters to be better than us. Stronger. Quicker. More intelligent. Maybe not Superman, but…better. Because if the characters are better than us, it makes a more compelling story, and secretly, we’d all like to be just a little bit better in one or more ways. As humans, we have a need to vicariously feel what it’s like to be a bit stronger and more intelligent. We want to feel the rush of overcoming great odds and winning in the end. That’s why movies such as “The Karate Kid” and “Rocky”, even “Harry Potter” are so compelling. They’re about characters who rise above the ordinary. They are larger than life.

So is there really a problem with TSTL characters? Or is it just the hackneyed plot device that makes them see that way?

In the end, it really depends upon the reader.

What are your thoughts?

Guest Author: TL Jones

Today we have T.L. Jones visiting, talking about the craft of writing. She's working on an interesting series, the Jaded Series, revolving around Jade Hamilton Douglas. Without more ado, here is T.L. Jones.

The Craft of Writing, By T.L. Jones

First I want to thank Amy for allowing me the opportunity to blog. We have chosen to blog about ‘The Craft of Writing’.

Writing can mean many different things to the writer themselves. Some authors write out of passion, some for stress relief and others for reasons to many to mention. Most writers’ stick to a genre they are familiar with or have knowledge of.

Writing can be challenging and enjoyable. The different styles of writing can be confusing and new authors have to find their own style. Some authors will make an outline before they begin their novels or short stories and others, like me, don’t work with an outlined story.

I find that my talent simply put, flows. I love the challenge of sitting down to my laptop and begin a story line off the top of my head. This would be uncomfortable for those that choose to work from an outline.

Imagine being able to write a story and have characters you’ve made come alive on the page. I believe one of the highest compliments a writer can get is when the reader tells them that reading the book was like watching a movie. That means they have given enough detail to give the reader a complete description to actually see in their minds eye what the writer is trying to say.

Many writers’ complete formal training to learn the rules of proper writing. I don’t believe you must have formal training, however, keep in mind the importance of proper grammar. Of course, sometimes, proper grammar is not used in such instances as, conversations between characters. (When you want the dialect to sound like a conversation.) Not many of us talk properly when we converse with each other, such is the case when you have two characters talking you want it to sound like a typical conversation between two people.

Editing is one of the most important aspects of writing. Many writers employ editors to edit theirs works. You wouldn’t want to pick up a book to read only to find error after error. That takes away from the joy of curling up with a good book. The storyline can be an exceptional storyline, however, if not edited well, you probably would not enjoy the book.

Writers come from all walks of life and most work another job. Writing is a hard industry to break into since today it seems everyone has a book. Self-publishing and vanity presses make it easy to get a book in print these days, however, quality can be a problem. If you are going to take the time to write a book keep in mind the competition for finding a publisher is very tough.

There are several blogs on writing techniques and the do’s, as well as, the don’ts for anyone looking for help. Just make sure you take the time to see your book completed with quality. Do not rush the process and skip important steps just to see your work in print.

T.L. Jones

http://www.tljonesauthor.com/

and on Facebook as T L Jones Author

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Thanks, T.L., and I'm glad you mentioned taking time with your book. Independent publishing venues have made it ridicuously easy to rush a book into print before it's really ready. It's difficult to resist that when you're really excited about a story. But we all owe it to our readers to take the time and write the best book possible.

School of Hard Knocks: Pacing and Tension

Story Pacing and Tension

 

I recently had a chat with my editor, and I need to improve the pacing & tension in my latest paranormal romance. So before I did anything, I thought I’d do a quick scan on the Internet for articles on pacing and tension. I’ll admit I was looking for easy answers instead of what I already knew.

 

What I found surprised me because it strictly focused on cosmetics rather than the fundamentals. Sort of like advising home owners that if they have a leak that has stained the wall, they can simply paint over the wall to eliminate the stain. While this is true, it doesn’t fix the leak. But it’s easier to paint than it is to rip out the wall, replacing or fix the leaking pipe, replace the wall, and then repaint.

 

So while it’s true that I was looking for an easy answer, I wasn’t happy with the easy answers I found because I knew they would not fix my problem. I also knew in my heart-of-hearts that I actually needed to put in some blood, sweat, and tears to fix the issue. I just didn’t want to admit it.

 

Cosmetic Fixes

 

If you need a quick fix, here’s the answer that is plastered all over in writing blogs everywhere: Shorten your sentences. Use a few fragments. Avoid lengthy descriptions. Shorten your scenes. Use more dialog.

 

Yes, that will increase the pace. But…I’ve seen entire novels written this way, so while it does help, it’s actually not the answer if you need to increase both pacing and tension.

 

How to Increase Tension and Improve Pacing

 

There are two main ways to do this. Actually, there are dozens, if not hundreds, but all methods can be roughly defined by the two I’m going to mention. Neither is easy. Both require a lot of thought and work. Once you do one of them, you can “pretty it up” by doing the cosmetic thing with the shorter sentences, fragments, etc.

 

The two ways are defined mostly by the kind of story you are writing. If you are writing a mystery, where much of the tension is derived from information (i.e. clues, new suspects, etc) then the method of most interest will be the Information Method. If you’re writing a more action-packed story, e.g. adventure, suspense, etc, then the technique listed as Obstacle Method may be more germane. But either method will work in any kind of story. Most of the time, authors use both methods, because varying the method will also help to increase the tension and improve the pace.

 

No matter which method or variation of a method used, the key is this: to increase tension and pacing, you must introduce something new, either information or an obstacle. It must come from an entirely different, and unexpected direction.

 

Sometimes the new thing comes in the form of a subplot. For example, in a mystery, you have the detective trying to solve a homicide. She’s being shot at and generally placed in danger by thugs who may or may not have committed the murder. But you have a subplot where her boss is trying to make her retire because he thinks she’s “past it”. So you can increase the tension and pacing by throwing in a curve by having the boss assign the case to a different guy, but your detective can’t let go. Conflict. That’s what you’re going for.

 

The thing about this is that it’s not what the reader expects. It’s not just “more of the same”. You can’t increase either tension or pacing by just piling on more of the same kind of action, i.e. the detective faces one gunman in chapter 1, so in chapter 2, you have her face five gunmen. Bor-ing!

 

Information Method

 

Give the reader a new bit of information that send the story in an entirely different direction. For a mystery, this can be a new clue (or red herring) that forces your detective to suspect a different person. Think of it as driving down a street and coming to an intersection. Your reader expects you to go straight or turn right or left. You’re going to back up fifty feet and go down an alley the reader didn’t even see.

 

Obstacle Method

 

An obstacle can be anything that causes a problem for your hero or heroine. But for this to work, it has to be a different problem with the following characteristics:

 

• It’s not the same (only more/bigger/badder) problem s/he face before. You can’t just add one or two more gunmen to the shoot-out. It has to be something different, like the house suddenly caving in on them. 
• It has to be unexpected. 
• It has to flow naturally out of the story so that once the reader sees it, they’ll say—of course that happened, it had to, but it was sure a shock. For example, in a ghost story, your intrepid investigators are attacked by some sort of paranormal entity while trying to help the family who just inherited the house. Blah, Blah. Then suddenly, they are shot at! By another group of competing investigators, who are there because they’ve learned there’s a chest of cursed gold hidden, blah, blah. A physical attack by humans is not what your average ghost story fan expects. It’s not what your hero/heroine expects, either. (The gold isn’t expected by your hero, either, so it’s a two-for-one moment, both information and obstacle.)

New information and obstacles must be present in every chapter—hopefully, something new is delivered in every scene—to create a page-turner. That’s something new happening three times a chapter, at a minimum. That’s the structural requirement to keep a book from having a sagging middle, and once you create the structure, then you can daub on the paint to make it look pretty, too, by shortening sentences, adding more dialog, etc, in those specific high-tension spots where the pacing has to increase to the fastest pace.

 

But remember, you don’t want your entire book to be at a run because that can be exhausting. You want to give the reader a chance to catch their breath once in a while, just like your characters have to.

 

Now, I have to get back to figuring out what walls to rip out and replace in my own book.

 

Guest Blog: Debra Purdy Kong

I'm a fan of Debra Purdy Kong, so I was thrilled when she agreed to join me and blog about the research she did for her mysteries. Many readers don't realize how much background work authors do to write even the simplest novel. I blame this on authors like Debra. Her books appear effortless, which is the hallmark of a good writer who did a great deal of research.

So here's Debra!

Researching the Hard Way

To say that I’m not a prolific writer would be an understatement. My first Casey Holland novel, The Opposite of Dark, took twelve drafts and about that many years to write. Mind you, I was working, raising a family and writing two other novels as well as short stories, articles, and personal essays.

The idea for The Opposite of Dark actually came twenty-five years ago, while I was working a temporary secretarial job for a public bus company here in British Columbia. I remember typing away when a young woman walked in wearing a black leather jacket and mini-skirt, and high heels. In the mid-eighties this definitely wasn’t an acceptable dress code, but I quickly learned that she was working as an undercover security officer for the bus company.

As years passed, I never forgot that woman or her work, so when I was ready to create a new mystery series, I decided to put my protagonist in security. After the seventh or eighth draft, I decided to learn more about the security business to add authenticity to my story. So, at age 53, I answered an ad in the paper for security officers from a company that paid for training.

With some trepidation, I called them up and asked if they could use someone my age. The answer was yes. Apparently, my maturity and work experience was an asset. It proved to be true, as I was assigned to a university campus where young women and female staff often felt more comfortable with women officers, particularly if we had to patrol locker rooms or dorms for a specific reason. I also worked in the communications office, dispatching security officers to different incidents and coordinating with the paramedics and firefighters during emergencies.

After landing a contract with my publisher, I left security work to write full time, but I have to say that I kind of miss security. I learned a lot, and although some might think I’d taken a tough approach to research, the paychecks certainly came in handy. The basic security training I took, including conflict prevention and resolution, is the same that Casey would have taken. Casey, however, is much more of an in-your-face, rule-breaker than I was, but she’s also a lot more interesting.

Since I intended The Opposite of Dark to be the first in a series, I wanted readers to learn about Casey’s family background, as it plays a huge role in the decisions she makes in future professional and personal relationships. In this book, Casey is informed by the police that her father has been murdered in his West Vancouver home. The problem is that she buried her dad three years earlier in an open-casket ceremony in front of a lot of witnesses. Once more, her dad never owned a home in West Vancouver, but he’d always dreamed of one. And so begins Casey’s adventures.

You can visit Debra on the web at: http://www.debrapurdykong.com/index.html

More info about The Opposite of Dark can be found from the publisher at http://bit.ly/i983XE
From amazon.com at www.tinyurl.com/2frw58u  or
From chapters/indo and on Kobo at http://bit.ly/gtFSFw

Guest Writer: Mary Reed on Misleading Readers

I love to get the inside scoop on how other writers tackle their research and writing tasks--there's a lot more work to writing fiction than you might imagine. So I'm very happy to have Mary Reed as a guest, to talk about how to mislead readers. :) As you might imagine, this is a skill that all mystery writers must cultivate.

MISLEADING READERS

It's been my experience that as soon as someone hears my accent they haul out the kettle and teapot and ask if I take milk and sugar.

This sort of kind gesture to a visitor leads me to thoughts on how to mislead readers by utilising their expectations of a particular type of character in an underhanded way.

The British ex-Indian Army colonel often appears in classic mysteries.

Readers tend to expect him to be a red-faced choleric individual who talks of pig-sticking, regimental messes, and hill stations. His conversation will be punctuated by words such as punkah wallah and tiffin and if married he will refer to his wife as his memsahib. He will doubtless vote Conservative and when serving on the magistrate's bench will fine poachers heavily.

But what if our colonel is spending his retirement working on a volume of philosophical reflections, heartily dislikes Indian cuisine, never wears his medals or attends regimental reunions, prefers his furniture to be in the style of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and thinks women should have the vote?

Quite a different character emerges! Certainly an unusual specimen of his class, easily misunderstood by those -- including the detective -- who would tend to assume that a man of his social position and history would possess certain traits.

But they would be wrong, especially if he is the leading culprit.

To avoid spoilers by revealing those responsible for crimes, as a demonstration of use of misdirection in character expectation consider Agatha Christie's Miss Marple.

Miss Jane Marple appears to be the model for everyone's favourite elderly aunt. She's twittery and fluffy, fond of knitting and gardening, at times somewhat vague. But under that cosy exterior she has an incisive mind and excellent deductive ability, often based upon her superb grasp of the worst aspects of human behaviour from observation over the years of incidents involving her fellow villagers in St Mary Mead.
Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Hercule Poroit in fact to some extent knowingly takes advantage of misleading expectations. To outward appearances he is a fastidious dandy with a comical mode of speech, zealous devotion to an outlandish moustache, and at times, alas, a boastful nature. Those who see only the outward man often regard him as an merely a vain, idiot foreigner and react accordingly. Poirot sometimes misleads by playing up to these expectations -- to the extent of bending the truth at times -- to obtain the information he needs to complete his deductions.

As another example closer to home, the investigations of our protagonist John, Lord Chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, take place in sixth century Constantinople and its imperial court.

John is a eunuch, a condition that is historically correct for one holding his high office.

Whatever readers initially assume a eunuch to be, we feel it's unlikely they will have visualised a lean, inscrutable former mercenary handy with the blade if need be, an austere man with no taste for luxury or rich foods despite living on the grounds of the Great Palace. There is much more to his character, of course, but his condition is what readers tend to react to when first encountering him. And for the record, on those occasions when it must be mentioned we treat it in a matter of fact way, just as John himself does.

Returning to my introduction to this blog, I should add that I rarely drink tea although as a guest I am happy to imbibe it when it's made specially for me since I appreciate the kind gesture.

But at home it's always black coffee with no sugar.
Mary Reed

Our webpage: http://home.earthlink.net/~maywrite/
Co-author Eric Mayer's blog: http://journalscape.com/ericmayer

Thank you, Mary!