The LadyKillers

Inklings of a mystery writer

I didn’t plan to be a writer when I grew up. When I was a kid, I placed writers on pedestals—“writers” like Carolyn Keene, “author” of the Nancy Drew series. Larger than life, they seemed as fictional as their characters. Turns out some of them were—like Carolyn Keene. But not my other favorites like E.B. White, A.A. Milne, L. Frank Baum. With authors like that, I found it hard to believe that an ordinary person like me could become a writer. 

Then, when I was in sixth grade, I got mono and missed two months of school. That’s when my mother handed me a copy of my first Nancy Drew mystery—“Secret in the Old Clock.” It wasn’t long before I became obsessed with the girl sleuth. I started wearing a trench coat, made my own sleuth kit, and wrote my first mystery, “The Mystery of Mr. X.” While Nancy Drew was fiction, she inspired me to follow my passion—and that passion turned out to be writing mysteries.

I’ve had 50-plus books published over the years, including two mystery series for adults (Connor Westphal, deaf reporter, and Presley Parker, party planner), a new mystery series for middle-grade (THE CODE BUSTERS CLUB), and THE OFFICIAL NANCY DREW HANDBOOK. After all if it weren’t for Nancy Drew, I wouldn’t have had those first inklings. I thought I’d share some of Drew’s clues to writing that worked for me.

1.    Create unforgettable characters:  “You know Nancy.” All agreed she possessed an appealing quality, which people never forgot. ~ Clue in the Diary

All stories are based on interesting characters—there are no exceptions. Introduce us to your character a little at a time, using action and dialogue (showing), rather than a thumbnail sketch (telling). Create realistic characters without using stereotypical traits, and include some surprises about the character that are believable. Finally, give the characters conflict—happy characters make dull characters.

2.    Use dialogue: Suddenly the young sleuth snapped her fingers. “I know what I’ll do! I’ll set a trap for that ghost!” ~ The Hidden Staircase

Dialogue makes a story come alive. It also helps move the story along, increases pace and creates drama. Listen to real conversations for realism, then edit and tighten them to make the dialogue readable. Keep attribution simple—use action or “said,” rather than adverbs and euphemisms for “said.” Finally, read your dialogue aloud. 
3.    Set the scene: Many Colonial houses had secret passageways. “Do you know any entrances a thief could use?” ~The Hidden Staircase

A vivid setting pulls the reader into the story. It also intensifies suspense and becomes a character in itself. Show the setting through the character’s eyes and include all five senses, telling details, and occasional metaphors.

4.    Add mood and atmosphere: Nancy had heard music, thumps and creaking noises at night, and had seen eerie, shadows on walls. ~ The Hidden Staircase

Give a sense of foreboding through description. Mood and atmosphere give the story depth and stimulate the emotions of the readers. Use foreshadowing to give the reader a feeling of unease.

5.     Outline your plot: Ellen was alarmed. “We must do something to stop him!” “I have a little plan,” Nancy said. ~ Quest of the Missing Map

Before you begin writing, outline your plot so you know, generally, where the story is headed. You can keep it simple and just jot down the major plot points of the story—where the story takes a surprising turn and how it ratchets up the suspense. Or you can write a detailed chapter-by-chapter outline, with the option of veering off if the story requires an alteration.
6.    Start the clock ticking: “Hurry, girls, or we’ll miss the train to River Heights!” Nancy knew being on time was important. ~ Secret of Red Gate Farm

Begin with the inciting incident, which starts the clock ticking. Include not only the situation, but where it takes place, and who’s involved. This is where you ask the story questions: What if….? Think about your goal as start the story and where it will lead.
7.    Create conflict: Nancy struggled to get away. She twisted, kicked and clawed. “Let me go!” Nancy cried. ~ Secret of the Old Clock

There is no story without conflict. The protagonist must come up against an antagonist, which can be a person, an idea, a corporation, or some kind of evil. Conflict helps reveal the protagonist’s needs, values, and fears, and causes her to confront her demons, challenge herself, and become a hero of sorts.
8.     Pack it with action: “How do we get in?” “Over the top, commando style,” George urged. “Lucky we wore jeans.” ~ Clue in the Crumbling Wall

Today’s reader wants action, so give your protagonist opportunities to do something physical. Give her a choice between fight or flight, and when she fights—make her strong but still vulnerable.
9.     Raise the stakes: In a desperate attempt to break down the door Nancy threw her weight against it again and again. ~ Secret of the Old Clock

The story begins with a challenge for the protagonist. But that’s not enough. As the story moves along, something worse must happen. And just when you think it’s safe to go back into the water, things become even worse. Keep raising the stakes to keep those pages turning.
10.    Give the protagonist strength: “Girls don’t faint these days,” George scoffed. ~ Secret of Red Gate Farm

As the protagonist comes face to face with the antagonist, she must pull out all her reserves and use her own skills to change the situation. This heroic attempt must also create growth and change in the protagonist.
11.     Don’t give up: Nancy tried to open the door. It was locked. Not easily discouraged, she tried a window; it was unlocked. ~The Hidden Staircase

I really believe the reason I’ve had over 50 books published is simply because—like Nancy Drew—I followed my passion and never gave up!

JUST INKLINGS

- from Susan

 

I know writers who say an entire story popped into their heads at once, fully formed, clearly defined, and simply awaiting their work as scribes to get it all down. Admittedly, some of these brainstorms happened at three a.m. and didn’t stand up to the light of day, but others appear to have been the real deal, wonderful novels that got published and reviewed well and all of that.

Well, cheers to them. For me, there are inklings of stories first, and inklings of the denouement glimpsed through the underbrush long before I reach it. Sometimes the ideas for a scene or a setting or an entire book come from my professional experiences, other times from my personal life, and still others from things read or observed at a distance. Here are a few examples:

• Having worked for a scientific organization that does research in Africa, I learned a lot about the politics in developing countries that are still in awkward states of transition from tribal alliances to national bureaucracies, from sale-and-barter social arrangements to government-controlled collection and disbursement systems. Bending new and what seem like arbitrary laws, accepting bribes, arranging to have people you don’t like arrested…Hey, there might be an idea here for a crime story.

• Hearing good artists griping about being shut out of galleries while others with connections or the right kind of graduate degrees suck up the attention of the limited number of local collectors, I wondered about that nasty emotion, jealousy, and how someone barely making ends meet would feel if a former colleague hit the jackpot.

• Out for an early morning walk, I passed two young, shabbily dressed men slouching along. One had a mutt of a dog on a rope. As I went around them on the grass, I heard one of them say, “Yeah, but you did shoot him.” I immediately slowed down, but all I could hear of the response was, “But you would have too if….” Short of stopping in the middle of the path, which I wasn’t keen to do since the dog was mostly German shepherd and they were talking about guns, I was left with only the inkling of a scene and two juicy characters.

• I tore a story out of a magazine recently. A lovely old Chinese vase was sold at auction in London for $86 million. The catch? It was sold after a swirl of whispered interest stirred up in China by a smaller auction house. The seller? Don’t know, although it’s rumored the piece was looted by British or French soldiers during the Second Opium War in 1860. The buyer? Anonymous. And, of course, I have an inkling of an idea that would make a great story.

 

First Inklings By Michael A. Black

First inklings . . . Are they anything like first impressions? You remember that old saying about how you never get a second chance to make one? Is that really true? And how significant, and perhaps more importantly, how accurate are those first inklings?

Some people will tell you “trust your gut.” It’s certainly a staple of crime fiction that the protagonist is able to sense something that is not right as the plot unfolds. That little voice inside his head keeps telling him not to walk through that door, but he doesn’t listen and wham! Some bad guy clobbers him.

Where would we be without those first inklings? And where would we be without stupid heroes who always seem to disregard them?

As a cop I spent a lot of years listening to my own first inklings. Being able to size people up real fast was a matter of course. You had to listen to what they said, check out how they looked, evaluate if they were a threat or not, if they were truthful or not, and make your plan accordingly. In fiction nobody was better at this than good old Sherlock Holmes. He possessed the uncanny ability to glance at somebody and know all there was to know in an instant. He had a mind like a computer. They captured this process extremely well in the new series of movies about the character, and it’s fun to watch. But how accurate are first inklings in real, not reel, life?

My mother used to say, “Did you ever notice how different someone looks after you get to know them?”

And I agree. A person’s inner qualities are not often perceived at first sight, and sometimes those inner qualities can make a person seem much different after you are exposed to them. I began to take notice of this as a teenager specifically when it came to the opposite sex. Thus, that girl whose looks mesmerized you from across the room eventually became somehow less so after a few moments of conversation that revealed a significant lack of depth or lack of common interests. And the person for whom your first inklings were not so tantalizing suddenly became much more attractive and interesting. It’s like they say, it’s what’s inside that counts. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say, and your vision tends to improve the longer (and deeper) you look.

So could it be that first inklings are wrong? Let’s just say that they’re significant, but not infallible. You should pay attention to them, but don’t give them more weight than they deserve. We are, by nature, gatherers of information and stimuli. We process this information through the filter of experience. So those first inklings may be influenced by something we’ve experienced before.

“I know that type,” someone once said to me, pointing at another person we were both seeing for the first time.

But how did he know it? Obviously, something about this new person struck a familiar chord in the observer’s mind. Perhaps it was positive, perhaps not. In any case, this first inkling was most probably erroneous because it was based on supposition and not fact. Perhaps it’s human nature to want to classify things (and people) into certain known categories quickly, but think of all you miss by not giving something (or someone) a second look or the benefit of the doubt.

Well, having said all that, let me share a little secret with you. My first inkling was to skip this week’s subject because I’m fighting the flu and couldn’t figure out anything intelligent to say. And I’d be willing to wager that right about now there are a bunch of you reading this who wish I would have followed that first inkling.

Like they say, sometimes you just got to trust your gut.

News and First Inklings

NEWS FLASHES!!!

• Camille Minichino is teaching a set of 4 writing classes beginning Monday, Feb. 27, 10 a.m. to noon at JFK University in Pleasant Hill, California. To register: (925) 685-1230 X2689.
• Sharan Newman reports that one of her books (THE CHESSBOARD QUEEN) was an answer on Jeopardy.  "After 35 years," she notes, "I finally made the big time."
• On Friday, March 2, mystery author Jonnie Jacobs will be our honored guest. Jonnie is author of 13 books of mystery and suspense, including the Kali O'Brien and Kate Austen mystery series. Her latest book, released just this month, is a standalone, PARADISE FALLS. Please plan on dropping in with your favorite cuppa and read what Jonnie has to say about our topic of the week...

NEXT TOPIC: INKLINGS, BUT NOT JUST ANY INKLING

Okay, just what is an inkling, anyway? Merriam Webster to the rescue: A slight indication or suggestion: hint, clue. A good definition for mystery writers, no?

The origin of the word (again, according to M-W): Middle English yngkiling whisper, mention, probably from inclen to hint at; akin to Old English inca suspicion.

Verrrry interesting.

Of course, maybe first inklings = first writings. First time of setting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). We shall see!

Have a Heart

Staci here, on my every other Saturday.

Compassion is a hard concept to nail down. You always hear, “Show a little compassion,” but what exactly does that phrase mean? Does running into a burning building to rescue a tenant count as compassion? Not really, as that’s more a demonstration of heroics. Would helping a little old lady cross the street fall under compassion? I’d categorize that more as kindness. Does letting an out-of-work relative sleep on your sofa and eat all your cheese doodles count? That’s usually a sense of obligation.

After several more examples that weren’t quite correct, I broke down and looked up the definition of compassion. According to Merriam-Webster, compassion is the “sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” That clears things up a bit. It’s not so much the actions that people take that count as compassion, but the feelings that lead up to those actions. Without compassion, people might not be inclined to act when they notice a lost child at the mall or see a homeless family living on the streets. Without compassion, people would live in an “every man for himself” society with never a good deed done, unless it somehow benefitted the person doing the deed.

At times, a lack of compassion seems to permeate today’s society, with everyone focusing on themselves, cutting others off in traffic, trying to beat the other guy. But then you read the paper, and there are countless acts every day that are based on compassion: the woman who started a non-profit to help battered women find jobs, the police officer who raised money to replace the motorcross bike that someone stole from a six-year-old, the man who spends every weekend cooking and delivering meals to the homeless.

Turns out, the world isn’t a cold, heartless place after all. Lots of decent people want to help and often do, which then inspires others to do the same. What are some acts of compassion that you’ve witnessed recently?

Go Ahead, Make 'Em Suffer

By Margaret Lucke

Break the word compassion apart at its seam, and you'll get two pieces with Latin roots -- com, meaning "with," and passion, deriving from the word for "suffering."

Compassion refers to feelings of sympathy for someone who is enduring some sort of problem, difficulty, or turmoil, accompanied by a desire to see the person's situation improve. 

Isn't that pretty much what fiction is all about?

As writers our goal is to make the reader care about our heroes and heroines and root their success. But that success won't matter to the reader or anyone else if the hero doesn't have to suffer a bit to get there.

  There's a saying that goes: "No conflict, no story." Or, as an author friend of mine puts it: "The writer's job is to get the main character into trouble and then into more trouble." To create a story, we define what success means to our protagonist (in other words, what's her goal?), set her on a path in that direction, and then put plenty of obstacles in her way. The resolution comes when she succeeds in reaching a goal. Or fails to reach it, if the story is a tragedy.

We want the reader to feel compassion for our hero -- to worry, to be frightened, to share in the suffering, if only vicariously, as the two of them go off on the adventure together. Should the writer feel compassion too? Maybe not so much.

When I read manuscripts by students and aspiring writers, one of the main problems I encounter arises when the writer feels too much compassion for her hero. Too often, the writer yields to the temptation to let the main character off easy. Solutions to problems come too readily, and the character isn’t made to deal with the issues head-on. When that happens, the story fizzles. The stakes aren't high enough, the tension sags, and there's no reason to be concerned. If the writer has too much compassion, the reader's compassion has nowhere to go.

I think most writers struggle with this problem. We're nice people. We hate to inflict pain. We pull back from making someone else suffer, even a fictional character. After all, we like our protagonists. We think of them as friends, and naturally we want to protect them from pain and sorrow.

I've noticed that the tendency to be overly compassionate is especially true when the story is autobiographical and the hero is a stand-in for the writer. The more that the writer and the main character have in common, the harder it is to be ruthless with her in the way that's essential to creating a good story.

For a story to succeed, a writer must set up challenges for the hero and then force the hero to confront them, even if that process is difficult or painful. Be willing to be ruthless so that the reader will feel compassion. When that happens, you'll have the reader hooked.

Disclaimer: I'm really a compassionate person in real life. I try to be mean only to my characters. ;-)

Just a little compassion, please...

... Ann Parker here, every other Thursday blogger on the LadyKillers, begging for a little compassion as I only remembered at the eleventh hour that this post was due. It's been a little crazy lately.

I just finished a month-long bout of intense science writing on two nifty topics: a technique for measuring isotopes that requires no vacuum chambers, no sample preparation (very very cool; take my word for it) and some recent research on climate science/global warming (which is actually pretty much of a downer, when you take it all in).

And

OH YES...the other news from the past week+ is...

~ Mercury's Rise is nominated for the Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel!! ~

The full list of nominees for this award is as follows:

Best Historical Novel:

 Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
Murder Your Darlings by J.J. Murphy (Signet)
Mercury's Rise by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press)
Troubled Bones by Jeri Westerson (Minotaur)
A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear (Harper)

 

What's more, LadyKiller Penny Warner is nominated for an Agatha Best Children's/Young Adult Award (!!) for The Code Busters Club, Case #1: The Secret of the Skeleton Key. (Do your kids like secret codes and puzzles? If so, they'll love Penny's book ... guaranteed!)

You can view all the Agatha Awards and their nominees here (scroll down a bit, and you'll see them).

The winners will be announced at the Agatha Awards banquet on April 28, at the Malice Domestic convention.

I'm honored, stunned, and excited, and I feel I should be shouting all this from the rooftops (or at least announcing it in every Yahoo group I belong to and doing all the social media stuff one should do)... However, I have three (shorter, much shorter) science writeups I need to complete in the next six days or so and barely enough time to do them and meet the impending deadlines.

Before I disappear down that particular rabbit hole, I do want to thank everyone who gave a thumbs up for my protagonist Inez and helped place her on the list. Poor woman has been through a lot in the past four books.

Hmmmm, to bring this back to the topic of the week, I wonder: Should I show a little compassion towards Inez and start her down the road to a "happily ever after" type of resolution in Book #5? (And just what would that future look like?)

 

 

And the Versatile Blogger Award Goes to . . . The LadyKillers!

 

Thanks to Lois Winston for nominating The LadyKillers for a Versatile Blogger Award! We have spent a fun week getting this page together, according to the rules.  Errors, omissions, or anything that would cause a retraction of this award are purely the faulty of the "editor," Camille Minichino.

So, here are 7 things about us that you didn't already know (besides the fact that we're COMPASSIONATE, this week's scheduled topic!)

1. Rita Lakin was once a model.

2. Ann Parker was an ice climber and a rock climber.

3. Priscilla Royal was "old" soon after she was born. Her first name means "old" or "primitive." (Editor's note: it doesn't show, Priscilla!)

4. Susan Shea did a short stint as a store detective. (Didn't like the work!)

5. Hannah Schwartz honed her fiction skills working at a winery tasting room, telling her guests she was an orphan, or an heiress, or . . .

6. Margaret Lucke was registered with the State Department as an agent of a foreign government.

7.  Sharan Newman met Margot Fonteyn just after she had danced Giselle.

 

And here, in no particular order,  are 15 blogs that are among our favorites:

http://www.cakewrecks.com/     This one makes you feel like a great baker!

http://www.marinaadair.com/blog/  Life-altering jeans and other thoughts.

http://www.slushpilehell.tumblr.com  Delightful, useful publishing nonsense.

 http://www.poisonedpenpress.com/category/blog/     Blogs from PPP authors, like some LKs!

 http://typem4murder.blogspot.com/      Writing topics and tips.

 http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/     Raise your science literacy IQ.

 http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/    Sharp observations about good writing.

 http://writing4hire.blogspot.com/     Thoughts on writing—and money.

http://dyingforchocolate.blogspot.com/      For when you need a life line.

http://www.pensfatales.com/     Witty, snappy group of gorgeous writers!

http://getitwriteblog.wordpress.com/     Thoughts from Perseverance Press authors.

http://www.murderati.com/    The Writer's Life.

http://www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com/  Writing and crafts, a winning combination.

http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/  Musings from top thriller writers.

http://dollycas.blogspot.com/  Escape with a good book. 

 

 

Compassion

Compassion in books about murder? Are you kidding me?

I am deadly serious, if you’ll pardon the pun---or don’t, if you’d rather!

Mysteries are all about compassion. Unless we are psychopathic, we become distraught when murder is committed. It frightens and enrages us. Sometimes carnage numbs because the horror is too great and the pain beyond endurance. No matter what the scale of the violence, it leaves us demanding restoration and that requires some form of compassion.

No, I did not mean to say retribution. Revenge sounds satisfying, but our dead remain just as dead and the hole left is just as empty. What we really long for is a deeper and more enduring thing. Think about an entire family massacred, as many suffered during WW II. Revenge is so inadequate, it becomes insulting. What we look for is peace.

So how do mysteries achieve that, albeit in a fictional form? The gift of peace is the supreme form of compassion, just as murder is the ultimate crime. Even in the darkest noir, we find a sense of cosmic justice, a judgement that supersedes law enacted by imperfect people with odd agendas. Think about miscegenation laws, the anti-Jewish edicts of Hitler’s Germany, or how many still promote bigotry, delusional assumptions, or some narrow interpretation of morality. Mysteries bring us some peace because they remind us that true justice can exist and that there are those willing to pursue those goals, even if the price is high.

For me, Brother Cadfael in the Ellis Peters medieval mysteries came very close to cosmic justice when he not only solved crimes but tried to match the punishment to the specific transgression. But in many ways, Cadfael was born in the ashes of WW II. His creator, Ellis Peters, lived through the war in England, which may explain Cadfael’s almost Solomonic sense of justice. The sorrow always remains, but the decision is right and we begin to move on.

So, for what it’s worth, I do think mysteries are about compassion, but isn’t the idea a fun one to discuss…

News! and... Compassion

NEWS FLASH!

• Penny Warner's The Code Busters Club, Case #1: The Secret of the Skeleton Key is a nominee for the Agatha Best Children's/Young Adult Award and Ann Parker's Mercury's Rise is a nominee for the Agatha Best Historical Novel Award. See a list of all Agatha nominees here. Winners of the Agathas and will be announced at the Malice Domestic Conference in April 2012.

COMPASSION is the word of the week...

As great scientists have said and as all children know, it is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception, and compassion, and hope.—Ursula K. LeGuin