Guest Author: Julia March

Please welcome mystery writer Julia March! She's going to talk about my favorite subject, the mystery novel.

Why do people like mystery novels so much?

There are a lot of different kinds of mystery novels—the cozy mystery, the hard-boiled, the police procedural... Even though they’re different, each one of them delivers a similar enjoyment for the reader.

Mystery novels reassure us that the world makes sense, and that good will triumph. And that an ordinary person has the power to bring about justice.

Order from chaos. We like seeing order come out of chaos. From the raw, unorganized data, the protagonist—whether it's Sherlock Holmes or an amateur sleuth—constructs a coherent narrative.

In a way, we all do this all the time. We ask what strange experiences mean. What explains them? How can we solve the mystery of why things weren't the way we expected?

If the cashier at the garden centre called for a carryout guy for you even though you said you didn't need one, and even though you didn't have very much to carry—that makes sense to you once you notice the carryout guy is the cashier's age and cute.

In a mystery novel, the mystery is more complicated then that. It's often a murder. The clues and the reasoning have to be more complicated, too. But figuring things out is still a familiar activity for people, and a familiar pleasure.

Most kids like mystery novels. (Remember Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown?) Young people are always trying to construct coherent narratives to make sense of the world. A good mystery novel can teach about discovery and reasoning.

Brain exercise. Reasoning is fun. A lot of people like "thinking" puzzles. People do crosswords and sudoko. I used to enjoy those logic puzzle books, myself, especially when I was commuting on the train.

People get satisfaction when they answer an important question, like what's making the dog sick—not just because the dog stops being sick, but because they figured it out themselves.

That's why it's so important that the mystery be fair. You don't want the protagonist to say, suddenly, "But what about this?" and hold out a surprise eyewitness or a honking great physical clue that you, the reader, were never privy to.

In a mystery novel, there's often the reward of a revelatory climactic moment, where the sleuth explains all the clues, and how they led to this end.

The process of reasoning has to be revealed to the reader. And it also has to be something the reader could have done.

What the protagonist knows, the reader should know or be able to figure out. The explanation can't be something like "I had a bad feeling he was the murderer. I don't know why; there's just something about the way he looks."

If the only proof he's the murderer is the way he looks, he needs to be described very well. The reader needs to see the way he looks, too. (But you'd better hope there's better proof than that.)

Pleasure of revelation. We like it when things are revealed. Think of any genre of novel. Hidden things are revealed in it, and that's part of the enjoyment.

In a mystery, facts are revealed about the victim and criminal. In Murder in the Philosophy Department, it seems almost everyone is hiding some secret—including Liza, the sleuth.

What we want to learn is what caused the murderer to be driven so far as to kill someone. We know it's going to be a dramatic story—we've never been driven so far—and that makes us eager to read it.

Personally, I love a good mystery—and they're as much fun to write as they are to read.

Bio: I worked at a university as a philosophy professor for a period of time. Now I read novels, write novels, and play with my dogs.

Web: http://www.juliamarch.com/

Murder in the Philosophy Department

Who killed Niles Norman, the new head of the philosophy department?

When Norman is found murdered in his office, Liza Ryder, a professor of philosophy, offers the police her help. She's worried they won't take academic motives seriously. And she also investigates her colleagues herself.

Was the murderer the dotty old hippie? The vindictive former department head? The prodigiously incompetent administrative assistant?

Liza is horrified by how many motives she finds. Extortion. Deception. Secrets kept since grad school. Will anything be left of the philosophy department when the investigation is over?

* * * * *
Thank you, Julia. I don't know about anyone else, but I think a perfectly good reason to kill a philosophy professor is because they're a professor. And they teach philosophy. I can think of many times when...oh, wait. No. I would never do something like that, or even think it!
LOL

What Compels You To Read?

What attracts you to a book? Why do you read?
Those questions are fascinating to me, and there are almost as many answers as there are blades of grass in the world.

For me, reading is a chance to explore other "modes of life," other cultures, discover new things, new words, vicarious thrills, see how others solve problems, and most of all, explore what it is that makes a human being tick.

Unlike a lot of readers, I avoid the heart-warming, the tear-jerkers, the super-woman heroines who weigh 90 lbs but stand 5'8" tall in fancy high-heels and tailored suits. Or the fun-loving hippy-chick who lets her emotions rule her beautiful life. I seek out the books about the overweight, the irrascible, the bitter cynics, misfits, the sarcastic, geeky, uncool loners who never fit in and know they probably never will. Those who like to think logic drives them but are often surprised at how many times obscure, deep-seated needs made the decisions for them. And they weren't good decisions.

Could it be that I bond more strongly with those I perceive to be like me? (I shudder to think what that says about me.) Or those who are portrayed with qualities I'd like to emulate? Is that part of what drives a reader to select certain books, certain authors over others? It's an interesting question and may in part help us understand why certain authors reach mega-stardom and others, who may even be better writers in the same genre, simply don't find a wide audience. Are the truly popular able to tap into the psyche of the "fat middle of the bell curve" of humanity (instead of the skinny ends), creating characters and incorporating themes that speak to most people?

To a large part, that may be true. The authors who can tap into the zeitgeist will undoubtedly do well.
For me, there are definitely values, themes, and characters that draw me into their stories and cause me to buy every book I can find about them.

The Inspector Rutledge series by Charles Todd, for example. This series of mysteries is set in England, right after World War I. It's a period when a shell-shocked population saw their world change forever in fundamental ways. The war itself was traumatic, but layered on top of that were changes brought about by technology. Cars were replacing horses, for example. Civilization was shifting into high gear. It was the start of an era we would recognize as the roots of our modern times.

While the shift is undoubtedly fascinating, what really draws me is Rutledge. This is a man who I can truly respect. He's been through horrific events during the war and returned home, shell-shocked and scarred both physically and mentally. His fiancee leaves him and his life is in tatters. And yet...instead of laying about whining, he returns to the work, hoping the challenges will give him time to pull himself together and heal. He shows enormous integrity and courage, as well as the drive to work through adversity instead of just giving up. He typifies all the qualities I admire most. He is why we will forever call those men and women who lived through the first half of the 20th century, the Great Generation. No one from that period would even think of eliminating cursive writing from school because it's too difficult to teach. (Okay, I had to add that, sorry.)

In contrast, I also read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson every year, sometimes twice a year. WARNING: SPOILERS. The main character draws me in as strongly as Rutledge and in many ways, she is much like him. She is also damaged and that damage leads her inexorably to her fate. I love the understated, vicarious chills of this horror story. There is no blood, no unspeakable acts of torture. It is more subtle and in may ways more horrible because of that. It is filled with irony. Eleanor is a character we can sympathize with, and perhaps even admire. She has sacrificed her own happiness and independence by spending most of her adult life taking care of an invalid mother. Exhausted by years of coming to her mother's call, day and night, she accidentally sleeps through one, final call. The one call that turns out to be the one she should have answered, for her mother dies. Ironic. And Eleanor can never quite forgive herself for that.

Then at last, she has one opportunity to find happiness and show her independence by taking her first vacation ever. At Hill House. Where whatever forces await her recognize that buried guilt and prey upon her. Her first attempt to find happiness, to show independence, results in...well. Ironic.

In contrast to that, are the works of P. G. Wodehouse. Particularly his stories set at Blandings Castle. Blandings Castle is the seat of Lord Emsworth. I adore Lord Emsworth. Mostly because he loathes his children, his family and only wants to be left alone to fatten up his champion sow, the Empress of Blandings. He makes me wonder how many parents really feel about their children, particuarly after said children reach the ages of around 13-25. I suspect Lord Emsworth isn't the only one who'd like to see them locked away and forgotten during that period. I wouldn't have blamed my own parents one bit if they felt like that. In fact, I can't understand how they avoided doing just that when I was in my teens.

As for my own writing...I find that I can't even start a book unless I have some pretty good conflict going and can include at least one irrascible, possibly down-right mean, character and a bit of comic relief. That's why so many of my stories end up with those elements somewhere around the middle when the going gets tough and I need a laugh or two to keep going.

My themes vary, but many have elements of "being trapped" in them, like Eleanor is trapped by her noble quality, her ability to sacrifice her happiness for others, and her guilt at failing her mother at the most critical moment. In my latest mystery, A Rose Before Dying, many of the characters are trapped in a variety of ways, both internally and externally.

Sir Edward is trapped by his lameness and circumstances. Someone may be trying to implicate him in a series of murders. In his efforts to extricate himself, he traps his nephew, Charles Vance, into investigating.

Charles Vance is trapped in a murder investigation by duty, a deep sense of honor and his love for his uncle.

As a woman in the early years of the 19th century, Ariadne Wellfleet is trapped by Society and legal obligations. She's engaged to be married to a man she does not like and restricted in her abilities to alter her situation for the better. She has a rose hybridization business she loves, but if she breaks her engagement she may lose it all.

This theme of entrapment is something I enjoy exploring, so I seem to return to it time and time again.

I'll leave you with two things: a question to ponder and a brief blurb for A Rose Before Dying.

What themes and characters intrigue you--why do you read?

And now...a word about A Rose Before Dying.

Only Sir Edward had the motive, the opportunity, and a garden full of the identical roses sent to each victim before their death.

The first victim was Sir Edward’s ex-mistress, a woman who threw him over for a younger man. After receiving a mysterious rose, she dies while alone with Sir Edward. Then a second rose is delivered and a deadly game commences, where roses are the only clues to save the next victim.

However, Charles Vance, Earl of Castlemoor, refuses to believe his uncle, Sir Edward, could commit the murders, even when the renowned head of the Second Sons Inquiry Agency warns him there may be some truth behind the rumors. "The roses are Sir Edward’s attempt to cast suspicion elsewhere." "Misdirection." Or so the whispers say.

Convinced he can prove his uncle’s innocence, Vance enlists the aide of notable rosarian, Ariadne Wellfleet, little realizing his actions will involve the Wellfleet household in the killer’s game.

Before the week is out, another rose is delivered.

Guest Author: Jim Franz

Please welcome Jim Franz, a mystery writer with a fascinating angle! I'm pumped to have him on the blog because we are both intrigued by the human mind and "what makes us tick". For good or bad, we both had psychologists in the family, which means endless discussions about nature versus nurture, not to mention experimentation in the realm of parenting. My mother was an ardent follower of Skinner's behavior modification techniques, so the less said about that, the better. LOL

I'm a fan of mysteries where the hero or heroine faces the challenge of a psychological disorder. After all, it's what made Monk on television such a compelling character. But I won't babble on about why psychology interests me...

Here's Jim!

World Without Faces

Although the main character in World Without Faces is fictional, the disorder he has is very real. It's called prosopagnosia, and it's a neurological condition in which people can't recognize faces.


Imagine going to school or work and being unable to tell who anybody is. You'd never be able to recognize anyone at a supermarket or a high school sports event, nor meet up with friends at a restaurant.

Speaking of friends, how would you make them? If you have a good conversation with somebody at work, the gym, or at a school function, how would you know who they are if you ever wanted to spot them again? How would you maintain that relationship?

Maybe you're thinking we could always ask our husbands or our wives who people are; they cover for us now, anyway! But how would you meet your husband or wife? How would you date? Imagine meeting somebody at a wedding or a party, and you're attracted to them, and they're funny, and things are going well. Then they say they're going to get something to drink, or maybe you're supposed to get the drinks, or one of you has to go to the bathroom. The moment they're out of your sight, you can no longer tell who they are. Will you go up to random people, ask them if you've been hitting it off for the past twenty minutes?

A major problem that people with prosopagnosia face is that they're not blind. It doesn't seem to make sense, does it? How is not being blind a problem? The problem is that the condition is neurological, so other people have no idea about the disorder and will not make allowances for it. If you actually were blind, people would say, "Hey, it's Alex, I'm back." But if you're not blind and you don't acknowledge Alex in a special way, then Alex may feel blown off, and there goes the potential relationship.

Would you tell new people about it? How well do you think that conversation would go? Prosopagnosia is almost completely unknown outside of the medical community. Indeed, unless you're speaking to a neurologist or neuropsychologist, most doctors don't even know it exists. Would a new acquaintance think it makes you sound interesting or that it makes you sound like a freak?

There are tricks people with prosopagnosia can use, and they may not be what you think. Sometimes you can recognize a person's voice, but that only works when the person is talking to you and if their voice is somehow distinctive. Sometimes the person is wearing something unusual or extreme. (There's no research on the subject, but I have a feeling that even people with prosopagnosia can spot Lady Gaga in a crowd!)

In the example of finding somebody again at a party, you might describe the person to yourself by saying something like, "She's 30 years old, brunette with shoulder-length hair, and is wearing black slacks with a white top." If that description matches only one person in the room, then you'll find her. If you see somebody else matching that description, though, you're likely to make a fool out of yourself. If she put on a jacket while you were away, you're done for.

This is the world my main character lives in. Every student, every teacher, every potential friend and enemy are unidentifiable. Worse, he witnesses a murder that he feels compelled to solve. But even if you lived a normal life with prosopagnosia, hopefully without any murders, how would you function day-to-day?

If you'd like to read more about World Without Faces or are interested in psychology topics in general, please check out my website at http://www.jim-franz.com/ .

* * * * *
Thank you, Jim. I hope others find that as compelling as I have.

Guest Author: LJ DeLeon

I'd like to welcome LJ DeLeon today. She's a terrific writer of fantasy using the legend of the werewolf in some very unique ways.

Why Fantasy Requires Research

I know it sounds strange to say I researched to write fantasy. After all, it is fantasy. But I love history, and even more, I love myths, discovering the common themes between cultures, and how I can use or abuse them.

So why research? Because from childhood forward we have read books with Fae, were-animals, angels, gargoyles, and demons in them and have preconceived ideas of what is acceptable and what isn’t.

I combined Greek, Roman, Celtic, Gaelic, Norse, and Germanic myths, then turned them upside down. I also used a variety of religious beliefs. The Warriors for Light series uses a female deity for all non-humans.

Fantasy, like science fiction, has to be grounded in some kind of reality. When people say bad science makes bad science fiction, the same applies for fantasy. Bad world building makes bad fantasy, but your world must be grounded in a set of believable physics. If I want a character to defy gravity, there has to be gravity.

Here is an example within the Warriors for Light series. One of the problems with werewolves throughout fiction is what happens to their clothes when they change. Does their clothing rip to shreds or do they strip before changing? I chose to have my Weres able to shift— or phase—from one form to another without destroying their clothing or suffering pain. It happens in a twinkling of an eye.

My Weres are born, not made, and phasing is magical. Every Were I write will be able to phase this way. Therefore, I am always consistent within the Warriors for Light world. My readers can rely upon this consistency. How did I come to this decision? I researched a variety of shapeshifter myths and decided which ones worked best for my world.

As you read the Warriors for Light series, you will find that some traditional creatures fulfill different roles than you might expect. Their history will also be unique. That’s intentional. I wanted to keep the reader guessing about who is good and who is evil. It’s more fun to read when you aren’t quite sure about the characters and to have some surprises. Yet, in my world “Honor is the ultimate seduction.”

Peek into my world. Plan to be surprised, to laugh, to cry, and sigh.

To read the first chapter of Warrior’s Rise, Dragon Child, and Absolution at my website http://www.ljdeleon.com/ Click Books—Warriors for Light

I love to hear from readers. Feel free to send me an email or message.

Website: http://www.ljdeleon.com/
Blog: http://warriorsforlight.com/
 
* * * * *
Thank you, LJ!

Amazon Publishing on the Kindle, Redux

Indie Publishing, Who'd Have Thunk It?
A quick blog, a few random thoughts on independent (indie) publishing, mostly centered on the Kindle...

I admit it, I never thought I'd give in to the lure of indie publishing. If nothing else, I'm a firm believer in the search for excellence and traditionally, excellence in publishing meant the whole agent/NY publishing thing.

Got a couple of agents, got a few books published, but they languished. I languished. I considered giving up, calling it quits, admitting that I was the one loser out of the group of six starry-eyed writers striving to be published who all went on to bigger and much better contracts.

But I'm stubborn, and I had all these books in my head dying to get out, and what the heck?

Then I started reading Konrath's blog. Things exploded in the indie world. Like an idiot, I realized that once again, I was behind the curve on something I should have been at least one step ahead of. I mean, I have a day job in the computer industry. I should have realized what was going on, much, much sooner.

Nonetheless, I finally took the plunge a few months ago. It has been a totally eye-opening experience in ways I really didn't expect.

Serendipity is alive and well and nesting in my Kindle.

What happened?

Well, I had a mystery (The Vital Principle) that I was talking to a publisher about, but the advance was small and I realized, well, if the book was good enough to be published, wasn't it good enough to be indie published? After more work, of course.

So I did.

A couple of months later, I'm doing...quite well. Not burning up the Internet, but nice, solid sales. In the meantime, I had another book I'd written and was almost ready to go. I got it ready and indie published that one (A Rose Before Dying). Again, nice solid sales. Enough so that I've now set into motion plans to retire early and write full time.

Then...serendipity.

My trad books? They're starting to sell. With virtually no effort on my part (except, of course, I'm working on my next book which is a LOT of effort).

It's the reverse of what I had expected. I had expected traditionally published books to drive the sales of my indie books. What is happening is that my indie books are driving the sales of my trad books.

Is this some weird thing unique to me? No clue. No clue AT ALL.

But I will say this: writing the best book you can write is worth it. And the best advertising is your next book.

Finally, let me talk about a related subject that is near to my heart. Amazon rankings. If you're an author, you may be as addicted as I am to the rankings watch.

But what do they really mean?

It's all relative, my dear.

For a full and comprehensive discussion on Amazon rankings, I encourage you to look at the following link: Amazon Ranks Explained. In a nutshell, the rank is how well your book is selling that hour against all the other books on Amazon. It's calculated hourly.

While that link does a wonderful job of explaining the ranking system, the rank data is from 2008. I took my own data from 2011 and updated the table slightly to reflect the more recent information. Here's how the ranks roughly (and I mean ROUGHLY) break down as they relate to sales.

RANK                         Weekly Sales - 2011
    1,000                            210 copies (~30/day)
    5,000                            100 copies (~16/day)
  10,000                              70 copies (~10/day)
 100,000                             20 copies (~ 3/day)
 300,000                             15 copies (~ 2/day)
 500,000                               1 copy
1,000,000                             1 or 2 copies/month

Keep in mind a few things:

1. This is relative to all the other books being sold, so if book sales are really slow across the board, the number of copies sold to earn a ranking will be less & vice versa.
2. Huge jumps in rank within an hour, e.g. going from 114,000 to 44,000, doesn't mean you're selling between 3 and 10 copies that day or even that hour. It means that you may have sold one copy that hour, which was more than those above the 44,000 rank did, but less than those with lower ranks. For that specific hour.
3. It's the average ranking for an entire week that may give you the best clue for your sales that week.

You really can't tell for sure what your sales are without getting the details, but if you're an author who has to wait for his or her publisher to release the figures, this at least gives you a swag number.

If you're an indie author, then of course you can check the daily numbers (like I do) from Amazon DTP. But it's still fun to look at rankings.

Best wishes for success!

Guest Author: Alyssa Lyons

We are extraordinarily lucky to have Alyssa Lyons with us. She's a fabulous writer and is the author of some of my favorite cozy mysteries.

Not Your Mother’s Cozy Mystery

Hi, all. I’m Alyssa Lyons and I want to introduce you to Chick Mystery. When most readers think of the amateur sleuth mystery, commonly called a “cozy,” images pop up of Miss Jane Marple or Jessica Fletcher.

Ta-ta, Miss Marple. Go back to Cabot Cove, Mrs. Fletcher. Welcome Jordan Ashley Davis, amateur sleuth extraordinaire. On the sunny side of thirty, instead of a sensible dress, she might be tooling around her hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia in a red leather catsuit on a Triumph motorcycle. Forget a nice pot of chamomile tea, Jordan is more likely to quaff a venti soy chai latte from the Boonsboro Road Starbucks. No purring cat curled up around her legs, instead, she has a miniature schnauzer with his own helmet and leather motorcycle jacket, all the better to ride behind Jordan on her bike. Her day job is the unique funeral boutique, Last Wishes, where she plans and executes custom funerals and memorials for her clients. “You envision it, I make it happen.” This means skirting around a few laws and regulations—and running into murder.

Jordan doesn’t mind bending a few rules, but the same isn’t true of Judge Grayson Trent. Another Lynchburg native who escaped to San Francisco, is a little bit of a stick in the mud, but a gorgeous one. You can’t imagine Miss Marple as anything but a confirmed spinster and Jessica Fletcher lusting after Sheriff Amos Tupper—Heaven forfend. But when Jordan and Gray get together, sparks fly. Becca Morrison is Gray’s godmother and Jordan’s client and when Jordan discovers her death wasn’t from natural causes, it sets in motion a hunt for a serial killer trying to purify the town of its more unholy elements. And he’s added Jordan to his hit list.

You’ll meet Jordan, Gray, and a host of the type of characters you really only find in small Southern cities, because the city of Lynchburg is as much a character as any of the people, in Last Wishes.

In Clubbed to Death, Jordan and Gray must discover who killed the president of the Junior League and exonerate Jordan’s half-sister. In their search for the real killer, they run into a plot that introduces you to three terrific children who will change their lives.

And coming soon, Stabbed and Slabbed, where Jordan and Gray, on a Caribbean cruise, must discover who murdered the ship’s master of ceremonies when they are two the of prime suspects.

If you want to read excerpts, as well as see photos of Lynchburg, please go to my website, http://www.alyssalyons.com/ . If you like what you read, there are links to buy the books, which are available for all ebook devices. Last Wishes will also soon be available in paperback.

A hip chick solving crime Southern style. Definitely not your mother’s cozy mystery novel.

* * * *
Thank you so much, Alyssa!

What's it worth to you?

eBook Pricing...Say What?
So there's this huge debate going on in the ether (otherwise known as the Internet) about the pricing of ebooks, and I'm like...huh? You don't have enough to worry about?

We're talking unit price, not overall earnings. That's the part that makes this ridiculous. Who cares what the unit price is? Other than the readers, of course, who are always scrounging for another dime to buy something to read and appreciate getting good books el cheapo. There's already a long, well-established tradition of used bookstores and libraries (free books! What a deal!) that some of us use to try to stretch our dimes a bit further.

Here's the argument:
If you sell your book for $.99, you devalue it.

Really? You mean that book I got last weekend from the Waccamaw Boys & Girls School Thrift Store for $.25 has less value to me as a reader than it would if I had to pay $9.99 (and frankly, couldn't afford to buy it)?

I don't think so.

First off, you can't force a reader to value you, or your work, more by forcing them to pay more for it. They just won't buy it. You can enjoy your ego-trip thinking about how to make people pay more so they will know how much work you put into your product, but the reality is: if you're a writer, you have other things to worry about, including: writing the next book; writing the next book better than the previous book; and royalties.

Your focus should be on royalties, not unit price. Historically, you've never been able to set or control the unit price if you're traditionally published, why do you worry about it in relation to some theoretical "value" placed upon your work? There is no relationship between the two. Except what your ego places there.

Royalties = the money you earn on that book (of course, with an advance if you get one). That's your revenue stream.

The unit price that generates that revenue stream is irrelevant, except in dinking around with it to generate the largest revenue stream possible.

I would rather make $20,000 selling books for $.99 than $1,000 selling books for $24.95 for my traditionally published book. Because it's not the unit price that interests me (or any businessman or businesswoman); it's the revenue stream.

Which brings me to the second flaw in this thought process that focuses on unit price: if you set the price higher, you'll make more.

Probably not.

Again, you're making assumptions with no facts to back them. There's no such thing as a gauranteed sale unless you're like...Rowlings or someone like that. But we're not talking about a mega-super-star, here. We talking about John and Jane Doe-Author. Just because you can sell 1 million books at $.99 does NOT mean you will sell 1 million books at $9.99. In fact, odds are good you will sell sufficiently less to make the $9.99 per unit revenue stream less profitable than the $.99 per unit stream.

Am I saying that all books should be priced at $.99 if you want to sell a million?
Heck, no. I'm not insane (even if I sound that way).

What I'm saying is that pricing is not an exact art. There are times when you may want to use the $.99 price as an "intro" or "sales" price to generate interest. You may want to use it for the first book in a series to entice readers. You then may want to use a strategy such as:
$.99 - first book in series/short stories
$1.99 - novellas
$2.99 - full lenth novels/2nd and subsequent books in a series

Or higher prices. It's up to you. Do what works for you and your audience. But my advice is: leave your ego at the door.
This should be a business decision. It should not be about making readers value your work.

Only your work can make readers value your work, regardless of price.

Guest Author: William S. Shepard

First, I need to apologize to William for messing up his blog date. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. No excuses--especially since he sent me the blog ages in advance and I was really looking forward to it. But enough wringing of hands. Here he is!

Research and Mystery Writing

William S. Shepard

http://www.diplomaticmysteries.com/

The advice given writers is to write about what they know, and it is sound advice. For myself, as a former career diplomat, it meant creating a new mystery genre, the diplomatic mystery. My series of four Robbie Cutler novels is set largely in American Embassies overseas, where I have served and lived for years.

That doesn’t mean, I quickly found out, that an overseas location is easy to write about or to recall. For one thing, one’s memory begins to play tricks. Was that restaurant really on the hilly Buda side of the Danube, or in downtown Pest? For another thing, history is a moving target. It doesn’t stay still at all, particularly in areas where the politics are volatile.

My novel “Murder On The Danube,” for example, is set in Budapest.

It is set in the present time, with flashbacks to the Hungarian Revolution against Russian occupation. Someone is killing people now, to stop the past from being found out.

This made for interesting research. When I was assigned to the American Embassy in Budapest it was during the communist years, when the Hungarian Revolution was officially a nonevent, so it was impossible to do solid research. After the Berlin Wall came down, and with the assistance of both the Hungarian Embassy in Washington and the American Embassy in Budapest, I returned, did research for the book, and even lectured at the official 1956 Historical Institute.
Now that would be impossible, for the Institute no longer exists. The 1956 Historical Institute was defunded, some say because its files may have contained embarrassing information about presently powerful people! History tends to wobble around still, like that Budapest park filled with old statues of the Stalinist era!
In creating a back story for the Hungarian Revolution itself I was faced with difficult choices. Put in too much, and the back story intrudes. Too little, and it would seem shallow. I even put the problem to a creative writing class that I was teaching at the time! Finally the solution came. The thirteen days of turmoil are well known, and so I wrote thirteen chapters, each with a back story that contained some highlights of that day in the fighting, with clues as to the present murderer. This format succeeded, and a high compliment came from a friend who was himself a Freedom Fighter in those days. He said that his teenage son read the book, and then said “I read ‘Murder On The Danube,’ and now I understand what you and Mother went through!”

Let me mention also my latest ebook, “ Maryland in the Civil War.” 

It arose out of my lectures on that subject at Chesapeake College and Washington College, Maryland. This is the 150th anniversary of those events, and some of the background, for example how Maryland stayed in the Union, is little known today. But I soon discovered the truth of Faulkner’s axiom, from Requiem For A Nun, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” I found for example that fifty years ago, the centennial of the Civil War was marked by state observances. There arose an issue of whether to tell the story of John Brown’s 1859 raid at Harper’s Ferry. Some feared that the entire centennial observance might unravel if publicity were given to Brown’s exploits!

I have found unexpected richness in this topic. The courage of Governor Thomas Hicks, for example, is virtually unknown today. Sort of a Maryland Harry Truman, he was a Dorchester County farmer, who was elected by the Know-Nothing anti-immigrant party. Then Maryland was overwhelmed by the grand issue of whether to secede. Faced with a largely pro-secessionist state legislature, Hicks stalled and played a major role in ensuring that the state stayed in the Union. Had she not done so, of course, Washington would have been totally surrounded by the Confederacy, and the outcome might have been very different. It is a gripping story, one that I was thrilled to discover and write about. And of course the story was not one sided. At Gettysburg on the third day of the battle, Maryland units faced each other, and at Culp’s Hill, the opposing color sergeants were two cousins from Trappe, Talbot County, Maryland!

The richness and confusion of history is worth exploring. I hope you will share the excitement of that research, in “Murder On The Danube,” and “Maryland In Thed Civil War.”

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Thanks!
One of the reasons I was so fascinated by this is that I grew up in Maryland and have visited Gettysburg, Harper's Ferry, and have had several wonderful trips to Russia, so it really resonated with me. I hope you'll enjoy these mysteries as much as I do!

Guest Author: Bernadette Pajer

Please welcome Bernadette Pajer, especially since it is her birthday. The times, they are a-changing...she's doing a fascinating look at how things have changed.
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Happy June 27th! It happens to be my birthday, so I thought it would be fun to compare life in 1901, the year Professor Bradshaw solves his first case in Seattle, to life in 1963, the year I was born. It's such a short time in the grand scheme of things, just 62 years, but the difference is astounding. I've found a few quotes to illustrate how much the world changed (and yet how we're still profoundly connected.)

Flight:
"Some Inside History and Physics of Flight, by Henry Neidig, M.E. . . .There is just as much likelihood that the granite bowlders [sic] of a dozen states will someday get up and fly back to their original strata, as there is that the Langley and Kress, or any other purely mechanical flying machines will become practical man-carrying realities."
                     The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 3, 1901

"X-15 Pilot Gains Astronaut's Wings EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., June 27. –(A.P.)— Air Force Capt. Robert A. Rushworth, warming up for an altitude-record try, guided the X-15 rocket plane more than 50 miles high today to earn his astronaut's wings."
                      The Seattle Times, June 27, 1963

Fashion:

"Some women, otherwise good and true, have a sort of moral want of taste, and wear too bright colors, too many glass beads, too much hair, and a combination of discordant materials which causes the heart of a good dresser to ache with anguish."
                       Manners and Social Usages by Mrs. John Sherwood, Revised edition of 1901.

"Inez Robb: Down With the Fancy-Pantsers NEW YORK This is the day to nail my fashion theses to the door. I am so avant garde that I believe women should look like women from the cradle to the grave and not like beatniks, freakniks or creepniks."
                    The Seattle Times, September 10, 1963
Invention:

"TELEPHONE METHODS. May Be Completely Revolutionized by This New Invention.(Chicago Times-Herald) An invention threatens to do away almost entirely with the telephone girl . . . The new invention is called the autocommutator . . . every subscriber is supplied with an instrument consisting of a battery, transmitter, receiver, call bell, and a moveable dial with decimal figures."
                  The Seattle Daily Times, April 6, 1901.

"DEAR ABBY: You mentioned that some of the wires a father should pull to get his son into a good college were TV, hi-fi and telephone. I couldn't agree more heartily. I am 18 years old and have been glued to the "nutty box" almost since its invention."
                 The Seattle Times, June 3, 1963.

Presidents:

"I have a very great interest in your state, the great state of Washington, which I helped make, . . . Seattle and Tacoma are wonderful young cities, and are destined to become very great metropolises." President William McKinley as told by Mr. Baker of the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company.
                    The Seattle Daily Times, July 18, 1901 (two months before he was assassinated.)

"We need men who can dream of things that never were."
President John F. Kennedy
June 28, 1963 (the day after I was born, and five months before he was assassinated.)

Births:

"If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse."
Walt Disney, born 1901
(attended McKinley High School in Chicago)

"I was born into a world full of rocket ships and magic kingdoms, thanks to all those who came before me, following their passions and their dreams, and inspiring me to do the same."
Bernadette Pajer, born 1963
(attended Kennedy High School in Seattle)

In A SPARK OF DEATH, The First Professor Bradshaw Mystery, Benjamin Bradshaw, Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington in 1901, discovers a colleague dead inside the Faraday Cage of the Electric Machine. The death is senseless and Bradshaw is the lone suspect. To protect his precious son and clear his name, he must find the killer.


His life and liberty threatened, Bradshaw discovers the thrill of investigation as he unveils a tangle of clues and questions. How had the Electric Machine’s Tesla Coil delivered a fatal shock? Was the murder personal—or connected to anarchism and President McKinley’s planned visit to Seattle and the new Snoqualmie Falls Power Plant? Bradshaw struggles to protect his own haunting secret as the hunt continues. Before it’s too late, will he discover the circuit path that led to a spark of death?

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Thank you so much! I love these brief glimpses into our past and how things have changed!

Sample Sunday: A Rose Before Dying

It's Sample Sunday, which means it's time to gives folks a sample of one of my books. This time it will be my latest mystery, A Rose Before Dying which was just released this month.

A Rose Before Dying

Only Sir Edward had the motive, the opportunity, and a garden full of the identical roses sent to each victim before their death.

The first victim was Sir Edward’s ex-mistress, a woman who threw him over for a younger man. After receiving a mysterious rose, she dies while alone with Sir Edward. Then a second rose is delivered and a deadly game commences, where roses are the only clues to save the next victim.

However, Charles Vance, Earl of Castlemoor, refuses to believe his uncle, Sir Edward, could commit the murders, even when the renowned head of the Second Sons Inquiry Agency warns him there may be some truth behind the rumors. The roses are Sir Edward’s attempt to cast suspicion elsewhere. Misdirection. Or so the whispers say.

Convinced he can prove his uncle’s innocence, Vance enlists the aide of notable rosarian, Ariadne Wellfleet, little realizing his actions will involve the Wellfleet household in the killer’s game.

Before the week is out, another rose is delivered.

And someone else is missing.

Excerpt
In this excerpt, Charles Vance, Earl of Castlemoor, is convinced by his desperate uncle, Sir Edward, to help him prove his innocence in the death of his mistress. Sir Edward had originally gone to his friend, Knighton Gaunt, the founder of the Second Sons Inquiry Agency, but he has now had second thoughts about involving an outsider. The only thing they have to go on is a spray of Lady Banks roses and a few taunting notes.

“Is this our only clue, then?” Charles arranged the two calling cards in front of him before gently rewrapping the spray of yellow flowers. “Did anyone see the flowers delivered?”



“No. The butler found the first bundle on the stoop when he opened the door for Lady Banks and Sir Edward to attend church services. They assumed I’d left it there as a surprise when I arrived.”


“Surely the accident didn’t occur on your way to church?” Charles asked, appalled.


“No—no. We went for a walk. Later. In the garden,” Sir Edward said. “There was a shot. She fell into my arms…”


After a moment of silence, Gaunt picked up the threads of the story to spare Sir Edward. “The second note and rose were left at the French doors leading to the garden.”


“Inside the house?”


“No. Outside,” his uncle said.


“And no one saw anyone?” How was that possible?


“No. No one but me. The servants said no one but me had visited or been in the garden. The constable did his best. He questioned several of the lads—known poachers—but they all had witnesses to verify their whereabouts at the time. Then he had to look elsewhere. By then, the whispers had started. I was alone in the garden with her. They said I did it. I was the only one there.”


Charles touched his uncle’s shoulder. “Nonsense. Obviously, someone else had been there. Had she argued with anyone?”


“No!” The single word exploded from his uncle’s white lips. “No. She argued with no one. This was—inexplicable. Inexcusable. She was an innocent victim. I—I believe it was aimed at me. The taunting flowers—what other reason could there be for those bloody roses?” He voice rasped with barely suppressed emotion. “He killed her—so they weren’t meant for her. The flowers were a message to me.”


“Why?” Charles glanced away from the pain in his uncle’s face, trying to drag the conversation into less terrible channels. “Who would hate you so much? Who do you suspect?”


Sir Edward took a deep, shuddering breath and then straightened. He shrugged. “No one. I can’t imagine who would hate me so. Or treat Lady Banks with such callous contempt. It’s beyond comprehension.”


The thought of shooting a woman for the purpose of bringing pain and suffering to another man was difficult for anyone to accept.


It took Charles a few moments convince himself it was possible for a man to be that cold, that malicious. “Have you any other information? Perhaps a list of those who bear you malice?”


His uncle shook his head, his gaze fixed on the floor.


Charles glanced at Mr. Gaunt. He wanted to question him to see what the man might have to offer in his professional capacity. Surely he had some relevant experience. Something that might bring light to the awful events.


“Please, Lord Castlemoor…Hoopes was right, after all. I should have gone to you, first.” His uncle interrupted the silence in a rush as if he could no longer bear the company of his own thoughts. “Whatever scandal is flushed out is best kept within the family. You must see that.”


Scandal? Charles’s gut clenched. What skeletons did his uncle know about, that might creep out of the family’s closet?


Certainly, none that he wanted Gaunt to chat with.

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Hope you enjoyed that brief snippet of A Rose Before Dying.
Best wishes for a successful week ahead!

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 Writer: Robert Richter

Perhaps it's because I was born in Texas, but whatever the reason, I'm enthralled by Mexico and it's rich and varied history. When Robert contacted me and said he'd be happy to write a blog about Mexico, I jumped at the opportunity. Robert writes both mystery and history set in Mexico and his most recent novel is set against the Huichol culture of northwestern Mexico, one of Mexico's most mysterious and isolated indigenous people. I find it fascinating and I hope you will to. Please welcome Robert!

Although I was a wheat farmer for twenty years and still live a reclusive life on the remnants of a family homestead in southwestern Nebraska, I also have an active relationship with Mexico (and other parts of Latin America) that dates back more than forty years. I first traveled alone in Mexico during the cultural turmoil of the Vietnam Era, and I quickly began to realize that the official American version of what Mexico is like as a nation and a people was just as distorted as the official version of that Asian war. Unfortunately, over four decades later, American conceptions of Mexico’s government, culture, and history, including the so-called Drug War at present, remain a politicized distortion in American schools, the American press, and the American psyche.



Perhaps our collective national consciousness is still in denial (and cover up mode) about the fact that we stole nearly half of Mexico’s sovereign territory in the 1840s. Did you know that what American schools gloss over as the U.S.-Mexican War is taught in Mexican history class as The U.S. Invasion of Mexico because, well, that’s just what it was? (You can find verification of this version in Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States.) A hundred a sixty-five years of Mexico bashing has been a noisy rationale of just desserts all around: the U.S. is superior; Mexico is still lawless and dangerous. This is just one example of how two different cultural realities and perspectives can occupy the same historical space.

While I could rant about such injustices, my only real suggestion is merely that a person ought to travel to Mexico to see for oneself what life is really like there. And by “Mexico,” I mean a place other than the beach resorts—rural and village Mexico, and wild nature Mexico, exotic Mexico.


I return to Mexico each year, in part, to remind myself that day-to-day humanity of my own local community and way of life is the same human nature to be found in rural and small town Mexico (and, would you believe, in most parts of the rest of the world): love of family, devotion to a higher power, communal interaction for the betterment of all. In short, decent human beings working out their lot in life exist everywhere.


I also return to Mexico each year because, well, I just like the life style there. It reminds me of earlier times when my own American culture was more free spirited, less cynical, more informal in business, and less restrictive in personal freedoms. And you can’t beat the affordability compared to the American cost of living. But mostly, I return to Mexico because the history and culture fascinate me with their blend of Spanish colonial and indigenous character. There is still magic in Mexico, different realities side by side, and places where the passage of time means nothing.

I also travel frequently to Mexico because I am a historian and a writer with a scholarly relationship to Mexico past and present. The country’s history and character imbue my work, whether I write fiction or historical narrative, and that work is always composed of personal experience and sound historical investigation, intended to inform and entertain my audience about some real and fascinating aspect of Mexico’s rich culture.


An example subject would be the Huichol and Cora Indians who live in the high sierras of northwestern Mexico where the states of Durango, Jalisco, and Nayarit meet. So isolated and independent, their ancestors were never conquered by the Spanish colonists. Their animistic religious lives, devoted to the worship of the deer, the corn plant, and the peyote cactus, have never been dominated by Christianity. Their language is unwritten, its orthographies created by modern anthropologists who have studied their culture. And Huichol art has come to be known worldwide for its uniqueness in form, style, and subject. Merely Google “Huichol Art,” to verify this point.

The art is also a good example of how their culture has come under stress from outsiders and the modern world. Early Huichol art was entirely devoted to a spiritual connection to and view of the universe and their gods. In particular, the “yarn painting” is traditionally a small rectangular board coated in bee’s wax into which colorful yarns are inlaid in tight, concentric lines, and depicts a scene in which the artist receives a vision from the gods while under the hallucinogenic influence of peyote. The yarn painting tells a story of the artist’s spiritual journey, and originally, such works were never intended to be sold to anyone.


Now, yarn painting is a cottage industry, along with other well-known Huichol art forms like “god’s eyes” and bead inlaid busts of jaguars. This industrial output has been supported by outside do-gooders, including Mexico’s own Ministry of Culture, in well-meaning efforts to help the Huichols preserve their ancient and traditional culture in their homeland sierras. In the evolving production of art goods, the spiritual messages and symbols inherent in early works that found their way into art boutiques and tourist shops have all but disappeared into secular, geometric design. It is still unique Huichol art, but art for contemporary mass capitalistic consumption.


Having moved along the fringes of Huichol culture from time to time during forty years of travel, I’ve seen a subtle evolution in the yarn painting. Once, the vision represented was purely symbolic of the spiritual, a depiction of interaction between the highest powers and the vision seeker. The corn plant, the deer, the peyote, and so many other spiritually imbued creatures—scorpions, eagles, water serpents, grandfather fire, and more—were the elements and the life of the vision and the painting. But gradually, true spiritual stories have given way to nonrepresentational geometric designs and creatures talking to and for an audience of art buyers, not for the shaman—the Huichol religious leader who helps the visionary interpret his religious experience under the effects of peyote.


In other ways, too, the Huichol culture has come under stress of onslaught by modern times. Alcoholism and capitalism work like water seeping into the cracks of a granite mountain to freeze and thaw, expand and contract, until this particular cultural mountain erodes way to boulders, then to gravel, then sand. But capitalism also helps keep the Huichol culture alive in some of its purer forms, too. Those who recognize the artistry in Huichol craft and buy their art sustain a contemporary economic base for an ancient culture, allowing a people to adhere to their cultural values at a level of their choosing. In communities in the highest sierras, some Huichols still follow the shaman in the old ways, never mixing with the outside forces. In flea markets and tourist resorts, some merely dress in native costume and sell their culture’s heritage. As the saying goes, it’s complicated. Two (and more) realities occupy the same human space.


I have tried to present this complication of different cultural realities occupying the same space in a mystery novel called, Something Like A Dream (www.plainventurespress.com ). Set in 1982, at an early stage of corruption by infiltrating contemporary culture, the story is meant to introduce readers to the Huichol people, their cultural and religious life centered on peyote visions and a spiritual relationship to their environment. While I set a contemporary mystery about a wife’s search for her lost anthropologist husband against this indigenous cultural background, the story is really about the nature of Huichol life, and I include a list of anthropological references and a glossary of many Huichol terms. The protagonist of the mystery is an outcast American expat who becomes obsessed with the beautiful wife as he helps her search for her famous husband in the sierra heart of Huichol territory. On this strange pilgrimage he will find a whole new perspective on reality and dream, on deceit and self-deception, on human spirituality, and a miraculous healing ceremony that will change his life forever or simply end it. You are invited to share the search and this look at ancient Huichol life in modern Mexico. You may find that Mexico has much more to offer than its contemporary image portrays.

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You can get more information about Robert's books at http://www.plainventurespress.com/ or at his personal website at www.chase3000.com/rdrichter . I hope you'll give him a visit.

Guest Blog: Kit Sloane

I recently asked Kit Sloane to join us for a blog since she's written about a subject that a lot of folks find very interesting these days: Reality TV. Thankfully, she answered the call and here is her blog. I hope you enjoy it!

I write a mystery series about Hollywood people, The Margot & Max series. She is a film editor. He is a director. They meet very interesting people!


This began when years ago, my then frustrated agent suggested I try writing another series. Yikes! She hadn’t sold my first series during the turbulent late 80’s when publishing houses were becoming conglomerates and editors/authors found themselves suddenly “downsized. I was dumbfounded thinking of all the work needed to create a whole new cast of characters, etc, etc. But I kept my eyes and ears open.



Fortunately, at this time, a dear friend was interning as a film editor at a prestigious production studio and I’d meet her there for lunch. I was fascinated by the shy, retiring, mostly women, film editors I met, far from the perceived “glitz” of Hollywood. What a great background for the protagonist of a mystery story, a woman who is detail-oriented and also a genuinely reticent wall flower. I teamed my Margot O’Banion with her partner, Max Skull, a talented, successful, over-the-top director. He sees to it that she faces the world, no matter how uncomfortable it may be for her.

Now, eight books later, my daughter Annie Sperling (who also does all my book covers. Even with 3-different publishers, they’ve always asked if she can continue doing them!) and her partner, Marc Greville, are production designers in...where else....Hollywood! Making movies is a fascinating BUSINESS. It takes approximately 200 people doing their specific, detailed job to make a movie; from director and actors, to electricians and plumbers. What a fascinating mix! The industry attracts a diverse group of individuals, all talented or highly skilled (or they don’t work), all jockeying for jobs in a highly competitive arena. Incredible fodder for a mystery writer!



My research is done by asking questions and, especially, by listening. When visiting in Los Angeles we often get to go on set during productions. I stand back and LISTEN. People talk. They talk about their jobs, their co-workers, their bosses... It’s like listening to any other water cooler conversations except these people tend to be a bit larger-than-life with added dramatics and the stories are fantastic!



I also have to keep up on the technical changes for making movies. I don't stress these, but Margot has moved from film to taping and digital devices. And I've kept up with the economic changes in the business. Life doesn't stand still!



Having researched everything (I use the Internet, non-fiction books, and even movies) from the House UnAmerican Activities Committees in the 1950s where so many talented writers and actors were blacklisted, to financing and “following the money” as my protagonists make their first independent film, I decided to finally take on reality TV, an especially curious mix of the real and manipulations. I began my research online for the unique terminology that is used and then asked Annie and Marc about friends who’ve worked on these “reality” projects. Wow! The stories they told. THE MAGICIANS, book number 8, came from this research.



So, are all the events I hear about truly subjective or accurate? Probably not. Most story tellers tend toward exaggeration and self-aggrandizement. I mean, we’re only human! But, generally, even in the most outlandish anecdote, there’s a shining kernel of truth. That’s what I look for. That bit of hard fact is often what I base my plot lines on, the unexpected behavior or fashion or trend and the way people act and react to these. That’s what makes a mystery! And many readers say that my stories feel so “real.” Well, they are. Mostly!



THE MAGICIANS
the eighth Margot & Max mystery

from OakTreeBooks


Reality TV can be murder...

http://www.kitsloane.net/

Thank you so much, Kit!