The LadyKillers

Genres and structure and bludgeons, oh my!

 

Way back in the day, I started writing screenplays because the narrow requirements of classic American film created a simple structure--the wide infinite worlds of possibility narrowed down. I didn't feel qualified to make the hard decisions that a novelist must. It was a comfort to know that some things were given, not to be messed with. Not by a junior screenwriter, anyway.

The thriller Hanna reminded me of this. It follows classic structure to a T, even revealing the true nature of the dramatic dillemma at minute 17, (you won't believe me, but it happens in many films, even Casablanca). Despite this, the writer of Hanna innovated, experimented, and expressed a fresh and entertaining voice with the able help of the performers, the director, and some very interesting shooting choices. Was that really one continuous shot in the underground below Berlin? 

Mystery in particular, but crime novels in general, are similar to movie story structure in having a number of constraints, audience expectations, traditions that must be followed, or subverted with extraordinary skill. If you don't kill somebody early, and threaten to kill others fairly often (especially the protagonist!), you'd better be giving the reader something of greater value than the reassurance of the familiar. After all, subverting the audience's expectations means making them work hard.

It was a lot of mental effort to try and assemble all those story bits in the wrong order for Memento--equally difficult to figure out who to root for after the main character of Psycho meets her famous demise. And if you've ever tried to keep track of the unruly plot of The Big Sleep without pausing it to take notes, you know just how hard it can be to really absorb a unique work that doesn't quite "follow the rules."

I think this is where a lot of people fail utterly to communicate with each other about "genre" and "literary" fiction. I've heard some of my favorite writers complain about being dismissed as "merely" genre, while all my lit-fic friends readily acknowledge:

1. 90% of everything is awful, regardless of form.
2. "Literary fiction" is a category, a genre like all the others. 

Forgetting about the occasional cranky critic who uses "genre" like a bludgeon, I think it's time we all held hands and sang a chorus of "Sunshine" or something. 

Let's all agree that no genre is the king of any other: lit-fic, romance, western, or whatever the heck those 50 Shades books are. Further, let's agree that any genre has its expert practioners, its enthusiastic beginners, and its self-deluded strugglers. We can each of us be any of these at any time, in any of our works. Finally, let's agree that writing tightly constrained genres has one set of challenges (being original prime among them), and looser genres have their challenges as well: if you can do anything, it's surely harder to choose the right things.

From this day forth, lets all simply be readers and writers and lovers of fiction. Sound good?

 

From Mary Anna--Careful...people will talk...

We're talking about dialogue this week, and I'll confess that writing dialogue once terrified me.  I wrote a lot of (sadly unpublished) short stories when I was learning my craft, and the first few were all set in the first person.  In some ways, a first person story is all dialogue, but in other ways, there's hardly any dialogue.  In first person, it's easy to write things like, "I saw Sally and she told me that Josh had been acting suspicious lately.  I asked her why, and she said that he'd stopped coming to happy hour on Thursdays and and he always comes to happy hour on Thursdays."

Maybe this would be tolerable in a short story, but I really think it would have been better to hear Sally say, "Josh has been acting so weird.  He stopped coming to happy hour and karaoke isn't the same without his growling baritone."  The problem for an apprentice writer is that it's very intimidating to learn to handle all those rules governing the punctuation of dialogue.  And just thinking of all those quotation marks gave the younger me palpitations.

In problems of writing technique, and probably in problems of life, I think it's better to face the issue head-on.  Sometime in the 1980s, I set myself a project of writing a short story entirely in dialogue.  It is, yes, sadly unpublished, but by the time I finished, I was no longer intimidated by a few measly quotation marks.

I tell this story and about 364 others in my new writing book called Your Novel, Day by Day: A Fiction Writer's Companion.  In it, I reveal everything that I wish someone had told me ten years ago...okay, these days, it's more than twenty...  It's available in ebook and print editions, and here's a picture of its very pretty cover.  If you're into fiction writing, check it out...

Your Novel, Day by Day: A Fiction Writer's Companion

Have Conference, Will Travel...And Write!

It's been a wacky few months. We jumped on the house-buying roller coaster last fall. In San Francisco, trying to purchase a home with one income is rather like trying to cure cancer with a band-aid. Everyone appreciates your effort, but they don't really think you can do it.

We did it! Our first house together--a house with clear, strong bones and twenty years of neglect:

I can't show you what the shower looked like. Not at all an appetizing sight.

After a lot of hard work by our contractor Paul Nash (Nash Construction), and by the good grace of the San Francisco Planning Commission, our lovely bathroom now looks like this:

 

The afternoon sun makes it look like a spa! And our shower is a sanctuary--here's a picture before the door was hung:

At the back of the shower, there's a bench! My husband and I plan to be carried out of this house feet-first. The stress and turmoil of recent days is easily washed away. Worth it. If anyone out there has ever lived in the Sunset District of San Francisco, you know why we went crazy here. In 1945-48, they built these tiny vestibule-style showers. After ten years of that, we wanted room. We got it, and then some!

The only thing I hadn't planned on was not quite finishing my draft of By The Numbers before the move. My beta readers have probably given up hope--but Saturday morning at 6:00 AM I'll be on a plane for Minneapolis--work is sending me to a conference. I'm going two days early to FINISH THE NOVEL!

Of course my beta readers will no doubt suggest plenty of revisions. But I've got to hit that first milestone while people still believe I'm a writer!

So, house buying, done, and I'll never have to do that again I hope! But the novel, just the first of many.

Now, what are you doing for fun this weekend?

Letters from Readers - An Unlikely Hero

Not too long ago I blogged about my sojourn to the Romantic Times Book Lover's Conference in Chicago, Il. There, I met with fans who greeted me with wide eyes and books* clutched to their chests saying things like "I just looooove Alex Grace!" (the hero in some of my novels), or "is there going to be more Vlad? He's so sexy!" (my sour-puss, 113 year old teen vamp). Even, "I just started reading about Will. Hawwwt!" I figured I might get some reader letters swooning over Alex's dark curls, Vlad's brooding charm, or Will's soccer-God sculpt, which was why I was so surprised to find the following in my inbox one morning:

"Dear Ms. Jayne,

I really love your Underworld Detection Agency books. They are terrifically funny and original, but what I'm really writing about is your portrayal of Trolls in the book. It's not very often that you find a paranormal book as pro-troll as yours. I found it refreshing. While I found Alex Grace appealing in a stereo-typical (sic) romance novel hero kind of way, I was really drawn to Steve, the lichen covered troll. Will he be featured in more books? Have you considered writing a book from his perspective, or maybe making him more of the hero? I would love to discover more books that give trolls the credit they deserve.

Sincerely,

A Fan"

Though I still get scores more letters referencing my novel's "Hot Squad" of vampires, fallen angels, and Guardians, a solid trickle has come in swooning over Steve the Troll -- snaggled teeth, bleu cheese odor, and all. Steve's fans never cease to make me grin. And that's just another reason why I write: so even the underdog can be a hero.

 

*Okay, so the "books" they were clutching to their collective bosom were generally from romantic hard-hitters like Julia Quinn and Jill Shalvis, but this isn't their blog, now is it?

Six Reasons to Write Crime Fiction

By Margaret Lucke

Why is it that, when crime is so appalling, crime fiction is so appealing? Both as a reader and a writer, I'm drawn to mysteries and tales of suspense. Here's why:

1. Crime fiction offers great storytelling

I'm not a fan of fiction where a character, lost in thought, takes 200 pages to pour a cup of coffee. I want books where something happens, preferably something of significance to the characters involved. Crime novels satisfy me because they have a plot and a purpose, a beginning, middle and end. They resonate with storytelling traditions that have captivated listeners and readers for thousands of years. What makes me happy is a good story well told. 

2. Crime fiction brings order from chaos

Mysteries comfort me with the illusion that there is order and logic in what is really a disorderly and confusing world. Real life is filled with loose ends, unresolved problems, capricious twists of fate, and wrongs that go unrighted. In crime fiction I have the satisfaction of seeing order restored and justice prevail.  

3. Crime fiction answers the question: Why?

One thing that distinguishes humans from other animals is the ability, and the compulsion, to ask why? Too often real life fails to provide the answers we crave, but as a fiction writer I must come up with explanations for what happens in my story. As I do, I sometimes gain insights that help me make better sense of the world and the people who share it with me.

4. Crime fiction imposes few boundaries

Crime fiction grabs people because it deals with life-and-death matters--the kinds of fundamental issues everyone must wrestle with. But life and death are such vast subjects that the genre offers an unlimited canvas. As a crime writer I can create intimate, personal stories or ones that are global in scope. I can examine the nature of people's relationships with themselves, with each other, and with society. I can probe the depths of goodness and evil. I can set my stories against whatever background I choose and populate them with characters from any walk of life. Crime fiction is a framework that accommodates any theme, subject, or question a writer might want to explore.   

5. Crime fiction lets me taste the lives I'd like to lead

Who doesn't sometimes long for a life that's a little more exciting or colorful or adventurous than the one we actually lead? Through our heroes and heroines, crime writers get to experience those lives. When I'm writing, I can be a younger, thinner, braver person. I can travel to new locales, fall in love with ideal companions, and take revenge--on paper, of course--on the kid who snubbed me in junior high or the boss who fired me without cause. I can explore the dark side I normally keep hidden. I can take risks I never would in real life. I can rescue other people, maybe even save the world.

6. Crime fiction is challenging and fun

Okay, not always--some days I'm blocked and frustrated, ready to tear out my hair. But I love the way writing crime fiction lets me be creative. It challenges my cleverness, wit, and problem-solving skills. Instead of solving a puzzle, I get to construct ones that will, I hope, baffle readers. I dream up characters and have the thrill of watching them come to life on the page. I can't think of anything I'd rather spend my days doing than write.

Those are my reasons. Why does reading or writing crime fiction appeal to you?

From Mary Anna--Prisons...never been to one myself...

What an interesting topic for a bunch of Lady Killers!  Since, to my knowledge, none of us is blogging from prison, then we are all walking free, despite the fact that we kill people for a living.  I just finished a draft for my next Faye Longchamp mystery, and while the actual murder method is not the most creative--locking someone in a burning house--there is murder being attempted in my most creative way yet.  I'm so excited.

Looking back over my 7-book career, I see that passing few of my perpetrators were sent to jail to rot.  Most of them died in their effort to escape justice.  There were a couple of people that I planned to let live,  just for the pleasure of seeing them hauled off to jail, but my editor said no.  Those two people really deserved to die.  In both cases, Barbara was right.  I'm queen of my world, and if I want to administer the harshest justice imaginable, then I can.  Being a peace-lover myself, this makes me a little squeamish, but these folks needed killing, so I did it.

Speaking of my outline for Book 8, I've had the pleasure of seeing Book 7 hit the streets since I last blogged.  PLUNDER is the story of a brilliant but vulnerable teenaged girl befriended by Faye and Joe after her grandmother and uncle are murdered.  There is no one left to care for young Amande, except for a few distant relatives who'd like to have her pitifully small inheritance.  The story is set against the backdrop of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, as the oill is washing ashore around them.  When my storytelling brain bashed the oil baron pirates up against Amande's pirate-like relatives...well...real pirates popped out.  So readers also get a backstory of a riproaring pirate of the Caribbean and the buccanner who loved him.  Pirates...I love pirates.  I wouldn't want to be in the same room with one, but they do make for a good story.  And when somebody needs killing, they don't pack him off to prison.  They just kill him. 

Here 'tis.  Arrr, me mateys...

To buy PLUNDER...

 

 

LadyKillers at Left Coast Crime

Another in the series of dispatches from Left Coast Crime. Next year it's in Colorado, at a small hotel, so if you want to go after reading about it this week, sign up soon! I'm hoping to have sold my novel and be at the debut author's breakfast next year. Wish me luck!!!!

Why go to a conference if you are a reader? Well, you can see your favorite author speaking at a panel, or hitting the booze or club soda. Our bartender was kind enough not to roll her eyes when 8 of the 10 of us ordered club sodas at the bar. Hey, Friday was a working day! I was lucky enough to be hanging with Diana Orgain, Sophie Littlefield, Juliet Blackwell, Rebecca Cantrell, Boyd Morrison, Susan Shea, Kelli Stanley, and Diana Chambers, and that was just one happy hour! You can also pick up free books, get your favorite author to sign a book, and my favorite thing, find new authors to read. I found Craig Johnson just before he went Hollywood last year, and this year I found Russell Hill.

Why go to a conference if you are a writer? Attending panels can remind you that while publishing is changing, people's thirst for the written word is not. You can catch up with your friends, who may have moved far away but are never far from your thoughts. And you can get some writing done in the morning (don't even try to write in the evening--you'll be wrung out from all the socializing/learning. I was asleep by 9PM last night!!!!)

One of my favorite things is still the chance to see some of the smartest, best writers in crime at their panels, like our own Rita Lakin, Priscilla Royal, Ann Parker, Staci McLaughlin, Margaret Lucke, Penny Warner, and Camille Minichino. By the way, Staci, whom I finally met in person, is a living doll. Keep an eye out for her book, it's going to be a keeper!

Tonight is the awards banquet, and I'm betting at least one of our own takes home a prize. I'll be cheering all of them on. 

So tell me, what's your favorite thing about conferences--or the thing that keeps you from attending one?

Lost in the Bog

Fumy thing about sagging middles. There are a lot of them in my life, but they tend not to be in my fiction.

You see, I'm a recovering screenwriter.

At UCLA, they beat the sagging middle out of the screenwriters. Relentless hashing and rehashing of Aristotle, Lajos Egri (the Aristotle of playwriting, if you will), long classroom sessions attacking each outline before a word is written. It was excruciating, but it taught me to put the structural underpinnings in place before writing. (NaNoWriMo undid all that hard work, but only a little bit!)

So, why aren't I as rich as Ludlum? As famous as Mamet?

I have this other weird quirk that's worse than a sagging middle. No matter what story I set out to tell, I try to cram two whole stories into it:

• It wasn't enough to tell the story of a gay cowboy in 1870s Colorado. Oh no, I had to go diving into the world of Lowell Massachusettes, and Andersonville, and the 19th century equivalent of a rent boy whom the gay cowboy tries to protect, and the spoiled rich girl who confuses love with a ticket out of her button factory world. That was way too much story. 
• The first draft of my current work in progress, my first mystery novel, was going to be all about the difference between liberty and license. It was also going to be all about the tensions in a mentor-mentee relationship between a woman haunted by her mother's death and a young woman with a loving and accepting family background. Oh, plus it was about missing casino millions, fraud at the corporate level, and the beauty of the desert. And fear of flying. After several painful drafts, it's now just about the haunted woman and the casino millions. (That's why it's taking so long, Camille! But I'm almost done!)
• A story that's been accepted by a Sisters in Crime chapter anthology started out--a short story, mind you--being about revenge of a Microserf AND her whole backstory, the backstory of her Russian cohort, the machinations of corporate malfeasance, and a few other things. Thank god my editor shook me by the ears and got me to cut out everything but the revenge thing, connected to just one fact about her past. It's a short story!

In fact, I think the only thing I've ever written that didn't start life as two stories was "Something Shiny," a literary fiction story published online by University of San Francisco. I was totally focused on an experiment in form and point of view, so kept the story simple, but not on purpose.

Here's the thing. I'm fascinated by structure. Always have been, since college when human languge syntax and calculus seemed like magical kingdoms, full of rule and order, yet not predictable, always presenting new mysteries to be unraveled. Structure is my drug of choice, truth be known. A successful career as a technical writer let me spend a lot of time in Structure Town. A failed career as as screenwriter let me do the same.

Mystery fiction provides just enough structure to keep me happy, while challenging me to grow my skills as a writer--killer description that's fully integrated into the story, settings that serve as characters, metaphors, objective correlatives (think 'the dingus' from Maltese Falcon), scenes that deepen a story as much as push it forward.

I'll never stop reading mystery, and hope I never stop writing it. It's my lucky privilege to live in an area with some of the best practitioners of the form, and I'm so happy to know some of them.

What are your habitual problems when you write? Or what quirks of your favorite author drive you mad?

Is it the book or the writer that's bogged?

There have been some great suggestions here for propping up a sagging book. I can't top them, so I'm taking the opposite tack. What if it isn't the book that's bogged down? What if it's a natural transition that authors are in denial about?

Once, when my daughter was at college, I was telling her that the new book just wouldn't come together. I had the first hundred pages and just couldn't get it together to move ahead. I moaned about being washed up and unable to ever write again. She gave me no sympathy.

"You do this every time, Mom," she told me. "You've just finished the exposition and don't want to get into the narrative."

"What?" I said. "Where did you learn words like that?"

"English Lit."

I immediately revised my opinion on the value of higher education. If my kid was picking up literary terms, there was little hope for her.

But, darn it, she was right. This happens in every book. I say don't rewrite, plow through. Transitions are hard. The other members of this blog have come up with some good mind tricks for bridging the gaps. Look at your characters closely. What is their purpose? Is your protagonist along for the ride or does she have a goal that she's working toward, even if it's not the one she'll end up with? If all else fails let the car (or carriage) break down and see what happens. Just keep writing. In my experience that's the only way to get out of the bog.

From Mary Anna - A dabbler, dilletante, call me what you will...

We're talking about hobbies this week, and I can definitely contribute to this thread.  I'm all about wasting time doing fun things that have no purpose.  (There are those who would say that writing mystery stories falls under this category, but let's not listen to them.)

I have a 7-plus-foot piano in my living room, which I play most days.  I played yesterday afternoon, in fact, and I intent to sit down and enjoy it again today.  Am I any good?  Not really.  I've been mired in the early advanced repertoire since I was 16, and I don't expect to live long enough to progress out of it.

I have a garden plot in my back yard that gets bigger every year.  Am I a master gardener?  Um...ask the crookneck squash I slaughtered last summer.  But don't ask my collection of antique roses when they were last pruned and watered, please...

I have a stack of books yet to be read beside my bed.  I have a baby quilt half-made, though I'll give myself credit for finishing a crocheted baby blanket last week.  Eventually, most of my projects come to fruition.  And it's a good thing, because as of Saturday, I have a new grandbaby, so I need to finish the current quilt-in-progress and begin a new one.

I like my hobbies.  They keep me busy.  They keep me humble.  (There are certain people who are never allowed to see my baby quilts, because they will recognize poor workmanship when they see it.)  They keep me occupied, and that's a good thing.  When one's mind is tied up with entertaining details, the demons remain at bay.

As I raised my children, I made sure they were exposed to various artistic and creative pursuits.  Everyone, I think, needs an outlet for self-expression.  I'm not sure what my sloppy but lovingly crafted baby quilts say about me, other than that I wanted to give a piece of myself to my grandchildren, but children don't care very much about the quality of my workmanship.  I hope they'll remember the astronauts and stars and cowboys on those blankets when the fabric has frayed away and I have lots of wrinkles and they have children of their own.

Mary Anna