Romance worth killing for

New feature: Fiction First Aid

The first Tuesday of each month (well, except for this month :-)), CJ Lyons, Berkeley published author and pediatric emergency physician, will guest blog. CJ will cover topics from medicine to craft to publishing.

Next Tuesday: Holiday Homicides.

Stop by for some “killer” ideas and ask CJ your medical or writing-related questions.

Labels: Fiction First Aid, Guest Bloggers

:~: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 :~:

Guest Blogger: Charlotte Cook, Komenar Publishing

WRITER RAGE—OR FIFTEEN WAYS BY WHICH TO BECOME DEEPLY APPRECIATED INSTEAD

Yikes! I understand the frustrations of this industry. I'm a writer, editor, teacher, and publisher ... along with being the spouse of an independent book seller and friend to many others in and across this industry. And I don't know why anyone would want to rage at people who might help a writer achieve his/her ambitions and achieve them successfully.

Authors Raging at Booksellers

Story One: An author with a published book in hand stands at the cashier station in a bookstore shouting at the lone bookseller there. "Why won't you carry my book?" the author asks and repeats while a customer stands nearby, hesitant to approach to make a purchase.

Story Two: An author writes an "anonymous" letter to a bookseller criticizing the bookseller for taking a call from a customer, then putting the author on "hold" to take an order from the customer on the telephone rather than discuss taking the author's book.

Story Three: An author follows around an events coordinator at a bookstore where the author is to have an event. The author repeats, "You haven't enough books on hand. Thirty won't do it. This is a great book. Everyone who comes will want to buy the book." The bookseller says that they rarely get turnouts above thirty people. The author counters with: "You don't know that. You can't tell the future. And my book is special."

Writers Raging at Publishers

Story One: A writer emails a publisher that the publisher's guidelines are "stupid" and the publisher is "just on a power trip." Writer and publisher have had no previous contact.

Story Two: A writer calls, then emails, a publisher: "My book will make you a million dollars. Why aren't you smart enough to see that?"

Story Three: A writer is asked to do a bit of rewriting. The writer responds with: "Clearly you have never read any Faulkner," refuses to do any rewriting, and closes with "you don't know literature."

An unfortunate story all around:
A writer confronts a publisher at a trade show: "You rejected my book but I got it published anyway. HAH!" The publisher points out that the book was rejected because the publisher doesn't take books in that genre. The writer turns very red, mutters something and stomps away.

I just found out that there are websites with stories about writers behaving badly. I'd think that no one would want to find a posting about their behavior there. But a writer on another site emails: "We have every right to behave as we do. You publishers and editors and agents just don't get it."

Well, yes, we do "get it." We are the recipients of the behavior and we do understand the catalyst for the behavior. But, if your emotions can't be managed in the earliest stages of relationship building, why should it be our problem? No behavior that is anti-social, unprofessional and/or intense can be rationalized away here in this industry. And why should it be? None of these people would be allowed such behavior elsewhere, in other industries, with other professionals. No behavior of that kind makes any of us want to work with such a person long term. And that's what this business is ... long term.

From submission to second printing, especially in the mid-size and smaller houses ... and with any bookseller ... bad behavior just can't be tolerated. We have no time, no staff, no added resources, no money and often insufficient resilience to cope with behavior that demoralizes or offends. I have actually witnessed writers exploding with expletives at receptionists, editors, booksellers, designers, and others. And I know people who have changed jobs and companies as a result. Good talent going away. Everyone loses.

So, just to avoid to catalyzing any raging emails to me, let me give you some ideas about how to become deeply appreciated in this world:

1. Make friends of everyone. You never know who is within earshot or who knows whom. (The woman behind you at the airlines counter is a producer for Oprah. The quiet customer waiting to buy book had been holding one by you.)

2. Take advice. If an agent says do this or that, if an editor says do this or that, if a publisher says do this or that ... do it with great energy and attitude.

3. Or, ask for clarification. But ...

4. Don't argue. Never argue.

5. Negotiate or question but never with attitude, or ...

6. Say thanks and walk away. Work to get along or to get away.

7. Always say please, thank you, and you're welcome. (Don't say "no problem.")

8. Remember that nothing happens in this industry quickly. If you want an update on your submission, the status of production ...

9. Send polite emails, or ...

10. Call, asking first if the speaker has time to talk, then be brief and polite.

11. Consider that sales are essential to success. Publishers and booksellers have to sell books to buy more books. And stocking large quantities creates costly returns, not more sales.

12. Learn about the challenges each and everyone has in this industry.

13. Be agreeable and articulate.

14. Make friends of everyone.

15. Make friends.

I have had the best fortune in making friends in this industry. Most everyone I deal with is a friend in one manner or another. I am always grateful for their time and commitment. Many have helped us in very particular and important ways. I remind myself all the time that making a successful book is a team effort and I am always on a learning curve.

So, what more can I write? All I want you to know is that to succeed you make friends. Make friends of some really wonderful people. And I hope that's what you do.

Labels: Guest Bloggers

:~: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 :~:

Character Driven Fiction

Welcome to our guest blogger: Bonnie Hearn Hill

Author, teacher and public speaker Bonnie Hearn Hill worked as a newspaper editor for 22 years, a job that, along with her natural nosiness, increased her interest in contemporary culture. Her 2003 novel, Intern was called “a page-turner” by Publishers Weekly. Killer Body (February 2004), a thriller about our weight-obsessed culture, was a Cosmopolitan magazine “pick.” In September 2006, Bonnie’s series of newspaper thrillers from MIRA Books featuring hearing-impaired reporter Geri LaRue, debuted. She has also written nonfiction, including a co-authored book on the Scott Peterson murder trial and articles for Publishers Weekly, Writer’s Digest and The Writer magazines.

A national conference speaker, contest judge and co-founder/faculty member for the Yosemite Writers Conference, Bonnie leads a very successful writers' workshop in Fresno. She is proud to have mentored some of the San Joaquin Valley’s most successful authors, including Hazel Dixon-Cooper, now the Cosmopolitan magazine Bedside Astrologer, mystery novelist Sheree Petree, Woman’s Day magazine essayist Wendy Revell, cowboy poet Bob Brown (Story Line Press), Hackney Literary Award winner Gary Hill (no relation), humor writer (Redneck Haiku, Santa Monica Press) Mary Witte and multi-published quilting pioneer Jean Ray Laury.
If you visit her Web site, http://www.bonniehearnhill.com/, you can see a photograph of Parker (adopted in Sacramento on a 2004 book tour), one of her three wonderful cats.

We are thrilled to have her here today to discuss character-driven fiction.

***

Let the characters drive it

Almost every time a writer I mentor tells me that she has a plot problem, I discover that the problem is really not plot but character. We all know that the right character can sell your book, and that a ho-hum character can ruin the best plot.

When I speak at conferences, I’m often approached by a beginning writer who believes she has a great idea for a story.

“So this woman from Earth marries a Martian. What do you think?”

The problem is – when I start asking about this Martian-marrying woman, I realize that the author doesn’t know anything about her – how she looks, her past history, not even her birthday.

When you decide to write a book, you might try asking yourself these two questions. 1. Whose story is this? 2. What does this person want? (external plot)

Character-driven fiction can be reduced (but is not limited) to a basic formula: C+C=C. Character plus Conflict equals Change.

Take a character and put him or her into conflict, and what happens? Just like real life, the character changes, whether or not he or she realizes it.

The external conflict is the second C. The internal conflict is the hole in the character’s life. We all have a hole in our lives, a tragedy, a regret, a guilt that still gnaws at us. Your character should have one too.

Getting to know them

In addition to my Writer’s Digest and Authorlink online classes, I lead a Tuesday night workshop in Fresno, and a small critique group (The Fridays) that meets in my home. My good friend Hazel Dixon-Cooper, the Cosmopolitan magazine Bedside Astrologer, always has the same question when one of us introduces a new character. “What is her sign?” And if we don’t know, Hazel will grill us about our characters, right down to body type and hairstyle. I use her nonfiction book, Born on A Rotten Day to give me character insights from an astrological perspective.

The late Jack Bickham said that he actually interviewed his characters. He’d sit in one chair as Jack, ask the question, then move to the other chair to answer it as the character. I tell you this if only so you won’t think that what I’m going to confess next is weird.

I have my characters write letters to me. “Dear Bonnie, My name is...and I was born...” Usually by the third page, the character says something like, “My problem now is...” These letters help me hear the character’s voice. I learn back story and information that doesn’t need to go into the book verbatim but is essential to my story.

People in real life have secrets. What’s yours? What’s your character’s? I try to make sure that most of my characters have secrets, and because I write thrillers, I try to give most of the main characters a motive for whatever crime has taken place. Both secrets and motives show up in character letters.

Character traits

What traits should your protagonist have in order to engage your reader’s heart? SJ Rozan’s Bill Smith drinks, smokes, and lives above a bar. He’s a private investigator who’s lost a daughter. He broods. Somehow, he’s very sexy. Jonathan Lethem’s protagonist in Motherless Brooklyn has Tourette’s, spews obscenities and is on a quest to find the killer of the small-time hoodlum who adopted him. Totally engaging. I was in love by the end of the first paragraph. How can you create characters who will grab a reader in a similar fashion?

Although you can come up with any number of character traits, I believe your protagonist must have two important characteristics in addition to the ones you choose.

S/he should be:

Sympathetic. Flawed, vulnerable characters are more appealing than perfect ones. This is where the hole in the life comes in.

Proactive. No one roots for a victim. The protagonist must protag.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions on character-driven fiction.

Labels: Guest Bloggers

:~: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 :~:

Guest Blogger: Cynthia Lea Clark

I have taken several of Cynthia's online courses via KOD and she recently presented to our RWA group. She is a wealth of information on pychology and the criminal mind, and I'd like to welcome her to RWKF today!

Cynthia is teaching another course for KOD in January -- Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction and Homeland Security.

*****

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD SMELL SO SWEET….BUT NOT IF……..

A rose is left at your door step. Romance or something sinister?

There you are working out in a gym, buying groceries, having coffee. Enjoying life. But what happens when someone disrupts that life? A person watches you. He or she stalks your every move. Now maybe this person finds you attractive and is just to shy to say hi or maybe this person is mad because you got that promotion at work instead of them, is a former lover, or worse, this person is a serial killer or a rapist and is watching you, his/her next victim.

Many, many years ago, one might break up with a guy or gal and drive by his or her house to see if there has been a replacement. No one thought twice about this. The same rejected suitor might call the other and hang up once or a hundred times. But then we didn't have caller ID. My times have changed. Now, if you call someone they know immediately it's you. Even if you use a payphone, it would be a good bet it's you. And now it’s called stalking.

I won't give my age, but suffice to say, I drove around the block a few times to see if the lights were on in my day, to see if there was a new car parked out front. Seems harmless and as long as it never gets passed a drive-by or two. And as long as that’s all it is, it is. It's when it becomes an obsession, which now seems to be a past time that we need to worry.

This Blog is called Romance Worth Killing Worth. Ummm. Sounds like a Stalker’s mantra.

Some stalkers think you love him or her too. I will use the one pronoun, him, for sake of ease but know that stalking is an equal opportunity crime.

I could write about any criminal but given the name, I felt stalkers calling to me. There are several types of stalkers and if you yourself haven't driven by an old boy or girl friend's, you may have been stalked or know someone who has been.

Stalkers can be crazies or they can look like average Joe, the guy next store, the Judge in court. Actually, the Judge, the policeman, and the doctor are some of the scariest stalkers. These professions already demand respect and yield power. They are used to getting their way and when they want it they want it. Plus others don't expect these professions to stoop to stalking. They tend to make the victims life even harder as few if any believe that such esteem people would stalk.

Who stalks? Anyone could stalk. As I have stated, a scorned lover, or someone just dumped could be a stalker.

There are many types of stalkers. The largest group of stalkers are those who had some sort of previous relationship with the victim, i.e., a former lover, boss, employee, etc. This group along with the serial killer are the most dangerous. The stalker who had a relationship uses fear to try and win back the victim. This can frequently escalate into violence. The ex may go to the person's place of employment and shoot it up, sometimes shooting the love of his life and other times not. His intent is to show her how deep his love is in the cases where he shoots others and where he shoots her, it is “if I can't have you no one can.”

But not all victims know their stalkers. “Famous” people, those on television, in film, on the radio, etc., may develop fans who suffer from erotomania. Erotomania is where the stalker feels that the stalkee is also in love with them, and is talking directly to them. If they wave, it’s a secret wave to them. Stalkers who suffer from erotomania are mostly women and their victims tend to be older men.

But the “love” stalkers are similar to the erotomania in that they think someone in television, film, radio, Internet, is directly talking to them and shares the same feelings for them as they have. There is no prior real relationship; any relationship is in their mind. Obsessed fans fall into this category. Many have psychological disorders as well and declare themselves as someone’s wife, etc. They make up the second largest group of stalkers.

Other stalkers include the delusional one. This one has little to no contact with the victim. However, they believe that a heavy pursuit will win their suitor. They are unmarried, socially immature, and a loner. They rarely date and have few if any sexual relationships. They go after someone unattainable, an actor, a lawyer, teacher, or a therapist for example. They may have been abused as a child and have no sense of personal identity. They are tenacious and will stalk for years until stopped. Any contact, even negative, such as arrests encourages them.
The vengeful stalker tends to be a former employee or someone in a position to consider him wronged. He is probably paranoid. He stalks to plot getting even.

The False Victimization Syndrome is a rather clever stalker who accuses her victim of stalking her. Her goal is to illicit sympathy and get her target into trouble. They tend to be female.
The Terroristic Stalker is generally male. He suffers from a psychopathic personality however has no mental disorder. He tends to seek out his family members. And anonymously harasses them. And there is a trigger or a precipating stressor.

The Psychotic Personality Stalker can be male or female. They target random strangers and develop delusions and then fixate. They do attempt to contact their prey. There is no precipating stressor.

When stalkers begin their campaign of fear they use numerous techniques including, telephone calls (harassing, threatening, hang-ups, etc.), letters, emails, following, surveillance, photos, videos, ordering unwanted goods on the victim’s behalf and sending them COD, and threatening the victim, their family, and their property.

With the Internet, cyber-stalking has added a new dimension to the terror that can be delivered. Instant messages of terror, emails, chats, pretending to be someone else, hacking, sending viruses, Trojans, monitoring cell phones, posing as the victim on the Internet all cause more grief and trouble.

Males make up 90% of the stalkers and are 20% of the victims. 65% of the males stalked know their stalker and 30% of these are by a former intimate partner.

Most of the male stalking victims are most likely to be stalked by another male.

80% of female stalking victims know their stalkers and 59% of them are stalked by a former intimate partner. 81% of these women were physically assaulted. 31% were physically and sexually assaulted.

Male stalkers are more likely to have a criminal background and drug abuse than a female stalker. Males are more likely to stalk strangers.

Females are likely to stalk their therapists.

Women stalk to establish or maintain intimacy with their target.

Men stalk to restore an intimate relationship.

Non violent stalkers are more likely to have had only a casual relationship with their target.

20% of stalkers use weapons as a threat or to harm their targets.

Only 53% of those stalked report it to the police.

Those who are stalked suffer from post traumatic stress, sleep disturbances, substance abuse, suicidology, irritation, agitation, nervousness, they have relationship problems, and suffer with decreased school or work performance.

To escape a stalker a victim might move, change their name, change their job, stay inside, stop socializing, change their appearance, change their phone number, and they may start carrying a weapon.

Next time you receive an unexpected rose….think about it, a sweet smelling rose of romance or is a stalker lurking?

Dr. Cynthia Lea Clark
Forensic Psychopathologist
http://www.cynthialeaclark.com/

Labels: Guest Bloggers

:~: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 :~:

New feature: Fiction First Aid

:~: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 :~:

Guest Blogger: Charlotte Cook, Komenar Publishing

:~: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 :~:

Character Driven Fiction

:~: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 :~:

Guest Blogger: Cynthia Lea Clark