The LadyKillers

OUTLINES ‘R US - First Friday with Rita

After I left show biz and entered the writing novels biz, I naturally picked the brains of my new novel writer friends. I mentioned outlining and got mostly, this response: “What, me outline? Never.”

I was poleaxed (whatever that means).

In writing for TV, outlines were god.

Once you got an assignment to write a show, the first thing demanded of you was the outline. How else would the producers know what you were going to do? How would you, the writer, know what you are doing? Then the outline gets revised until finally the go-ahead-to-script happened because the writer already made every intention of the drama understood. This was often followed by the smart-assed congratulatory comment: “With this outline, now go home and write the script. It will write itself.” I can’t tell you how many times I got that silly comment. If that were true, then why the hell didn’t they just shoot the outline? I thought it but didn’t say it. But the meaning was clear. If the outline had everything it needed in it, then the writer’s work was considered half done.

I couldn’t understand the novelist. How can you write a book without outlines?

Even Wikipedia uses outlines...

What, you just sat down and started writing? On page one? How is that possible? How do you remember all the bits and pieces of dialogue that you think of in the middle of the night? Or the characters and their names and every single detail you need to put in somewhere in the book? Or chapter builds or the thousand and one details that go into your book that you need to track?

 I am an outline junkie. I write and re-write my outlines with every novel. When I change anything in the book, I need to revise the outline to remember where I placed it in case I need to refer to it again. The outline is my alter ego. I cannot live without it. I could go on and on about how I desperately cling to my outline.

Maybe this confession demeans me in the eyes of my compatriots. It is my shameful secret. So, be it.

Anyone else out there who outlines?

Pep Talk after midnight - First Friday with Rita

Not quite a pep talk, but a talk...

It’s 5 am and I’m up. Can’t get back to sleep. Don’t want to read. Or watch TV. Turning. Tossing. Nothing is working. I don’t take pills. So, what’s left? Think.

I’m reminded of a talk I heard at Book Passage a while back. The speaker was a medical doctor by day and, as he explained, a poet preferably by late night.

He had a supposition about writing. Not only because of time restraints, but by his theory of how the brain works. He gave an example of a poem he wrote during one late afternoon. He then spoke of waking up in the middle of the night and deciding to write another poem on the identical subject of the same poem he’d already written.

His findings made him repeat the process a number of times. Poem by wide-awake day. Poem, foggy and hardly conscious by the dawn.

Can you guess the result? He read the poems to us and it was a revelation. The day poems were literate, structured, with clarity of form. Pleasant to the ear. The dawn poems were fragmented, emotional, taking chances never tried in the light of day. Imaginative, formless. Choppy. Even exciting. New. Free.

Ergo, I am tempted to write by late night and hope my muse produces wonderous writing that I would never have produced by day.

But is it worth it? Zombie-like all next day. Painful sleep deprivation. Nothing getting done. Naps that don’t cure the fuzziness. No going out for lunch. No movies. The potential of forgetfulness like losing keys, making mistakes. A menace behind the wheel? Waiting eagerly for bedtime.

What price greatness? I ask.

DETAILS - First Friday with Rita

The dog came down the street.

The black dog made his way down the street.

Better

The black Border collie, with two white front paws, clicked his way carefully, down the dark back alley.

Even better

The black Border collie, with two white front paws, clicked his way carefully, limping down the shadowy, dangerous, putrid back alley. The children had named him White Sox and they feared for his life.

Best.

It’s the details that make a good story. It’s the details that give it light, and life and mood and do the necessary job of getting necessary exposition told in an interesting manner. The reader must learn many things from every line, every paragraph. The beginning writer would hurry the narrative, like the reader, eager to see what comes next. But it’s the duty of the writer to tease, think, examine every element, whatever emotion it takes to make each word, each line perfected to drive the story, build each character and keep the reader totally involved begging for more.

Here are some very random examples.

“He would not be hanged if I did denounce him,” answered Wilfred with a wild but curiously happy smile. “When I went into the church this morning, I found a madman praying there - this poor Joe, who has been wrong all his life…Very likely a lunatic would pray before killing a man.” G. K. Chesterton The Innocence of Father Brown

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It is hardly possible to conceive the extremity of my terror.  The fumes of the wine lately taken had evaporated, leaving me doubly timid and irresolute. I knew that I was altogether incapable of managing the boat, and that a fierce wind and strong ebb tide were hurrying us to destruction.  Edgar Allan Poe Narrative of A. Gordon Pym.

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Much more recent examples...

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Steve lay on a rickety raft that rose and fell with the waves. In the distance, lightning illuminated a shroud of fat, silvery clouds, and a thundercloud smacked the water. Steve felt the raft pitch and roll, even as he realized he was home in bed. Painkillers will do that.

“God bless codeine.”  Paul Levine Kill All the Lawyers.

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“Your fucking arrogance blows me away,” he says grasping my collar and lifting me to my feet. “You think I’d fall for your cereal-box psychology. I’ve seen more therapists, counselors and psychiatrists…Freudians, Jungians, Adlerians, Rogerians – you name it-and I wouldn’t give any of them the steam off my piss on a cold day.” Michael Robotham Suspect.

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Wouldn’t you want to read more on all of the above?

Oops. I forgot the women writers—a group in which we are finally legion.

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I watch Evvie smash her bouquet of Baby’s Breath into The Snake’s face. She hits him. He sneezes. What else can I do, but use my cane. He can’t stop sneezing, but it doesn’t hinder him from getting his knife out. I hit at the assassin haphazardly on the head as he swings his knife at us.

I grit my teeth. No way was I going to let him ruin my wedding gown.

I hear Merrill calling, “Hit hard. As hard as you can! Sound off, one two, jab him in the shoe, three, four, knock him to the floor…Rita Lakin Getting Old is Tres Dangereux.

(Sorry, couldn’t resist it!)

News, Fave Crime Flicks, and Whatcha Watchin'

NEWS FLASHES!!

• Terry Shames will be zipping off to Costa Rica. For research? For R&R? It's a mystery! ;-)
• Mystery author Donis Casey will be our honored guest this coming Wednesday.

GET OUT THE POPCORN

The next topic on our plates is FAVE CRIME FLICKS. Movies, oh boy!! Rev up your Netflix account and get ready to add a whole lot more to your "gotta see" lists.

WHATCHA WATCHIN'?

We asked the LadyKillers to name the latest movie they saw and give us their opinion in three (or so) words...

• Terry Shames: "Walked out of Django. Can't Tarantino think of anything else to do besides spray bullets and blood?"
• Rita Lakin: "Intouchables.  Wonderful, don't miss it."
• Ann Parker: "Zero Dark Thirty... Four-word opinion:  Action = yes; Character development = ?"
• Hannah Jayne: "Last week I was knocked out with the flu and found myself watching An Amish Murder on Lifetime. In three words: Hm. Huh? Nyquil."
• Priscilla Royal: "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Two word review: Maggie Smith.
• Michael A. Black: "I had the misfortune of seeing Arnold's latest movie, The Last Stand. It was so bad it would be hard to sum up in three words, but I'll try: Shoulda been impeached. I'd give it two stars out of four. Mediocrity at its finest."
• Carole Price: "Lincoln. First half was a sleeper, at least for me. I've never been too interested in court scenes."
• Pat Morin: "Believe it or not, the last movie we saw was RIO, in 3D. Fun, fun, fun."
• Sharan Newman: "HUGO.  I loved the fantasy of the boy living on his own in the Metro station  blended with the fantasy that the early silent movie director put on the screen.  I could watch it over and over."

OUT OF THE BOX -- First Fridays with Rita

OUT OF THE BOX: But what does it mean? What box? Penny, Susan and Michael gave you great ideas. Off the top of my head, what came to mind, having worked in TV was “the box,” which was another name for TV. And what came out of the box last year. But I won’t go there.

Since it’s the end of yet another tumultuous year, and time to make those pesky New Year’s resolutions, I will talk about an imaginary box as that which holds my personal events for next year. (I wouldn’t even want to imagine what will happen in the real world.)

Today I will find a beach or park somewhere, take a long walk, and muse upon what the 12-month box might hold. Assuming I have any control of my destiny. 

So. What to keep. What to throw out. I think of the beloved people I lost last year. No, I didn’t lose them, they died, but that’s so hard to say. But they will not be lost to me. I’ll keep their memories in the box. I’ll also remind myself of those I love who are still with me, still precious and to be appreciated all during the year.

I’ll think about what I want to write. Only that which is meaningful or at least fun to me.

I’ll consider how I want to spend my time. (playing solitaire on the computer should not be a full-time occupation).

There’s forgiveness and charity to consider.

Much to ponder, way too long to list.

So, off I go on my minor pilgrimage.

And a Happy New Year to one and all.

NEWS, CHANGES, NEW BLOGGERS, and HOPE

NEWS

• Priscilla Royal's THE SANCTITY OF HATE is reviewed in this Sunday's The New York Times Book Review! Here's the link (scroll down), and if you don't feel like clicking and scrolling, here's the review itself: "Aside from the castle of your father, the king, the safest place for a woman in the Middle Ages was a well-run religious institution like the one that figures in Priscilla Royal’s enthralling medieval mysteries. Tyndal Priory has long thrived under the progressive policies of the aristocratic Eleanor, so there’s no accounting for the murder and mayhem that seem to plague this holy retreat — except for the opportunity they offer for Royal’s insights into the upheavals of the period. The vividly drawn characters in THE SANCTITY OF HATE (Poisoned Pen, cloth, $24.95; paper, $14.95) enlighten us on many details of monastic life. But it’s the harrowing scene of a Jewish woman suffering the agonies of a difficult childbirth while a howling mob threatens violence that sums up Royal’s two dark themes: the lowly status and cruel treatment of women, and the persecution of England’s Jewish population."
• Publisher's Marketplace announced Terry Shames's KILLING AT COTTON HILL and THE LAST DEATH OF JACK HARBIN, a debut mystery series featuring the only decent lawman the town of Jarrett Creek, Texas, has ever had, to Dan Mayer at Seventh Street, in a nice deal, by Gail Fortune at Talbot Fortune Agency (World).
• Rita Lakin has two Ebooks up and live this coming week on amazon: THE FOUR COINS OF THE KABBALLAH and A SUMMER WITHOUT BOYS.
• Camille Minichino (aka Ada Madison) has a launch party at Towne Center Books, Pleasanton, California, SUNDAY JANUARY 6 2 PM, for A FUNCTION OF MURDER, #3 Sophie series. -- games! prizes! food!

 

UPCOMING CHANGES

At the first of the year, we have changes a-coming at The LadyKillers...

• Camille Minichino will be moving on, but you can still find her posting at her own The Real Me and monthly at the Perseverance Press authors blog. We will miss her dearly and hope she comes back to guest-post often. Her last official LadyKillers' gig is this coming Wednesday... please stop by and leave her a bazillion comments!
• Stepping up to the open Wednesday position is author Terry Shames, whose debut book THE LAST DEATH OF JACK HARBIN, comes out in 2013. More about Terry below.
• Debut author Carole Price will also be joining our jolly group, sharing the "other Wednesday" spot with Penny Warner. More about Carole below.

Now, a little about Terry and Carole...

Terry Shames grew up in Texas, but couldn't take the heat, so now makes Northern California her home where she lives with her husband, two terriers and a long-suffering cat.  In August 2012, she received a two-book contract from Seventh Street Books/Prometheus for her series set in the fictional town of Jarrett Creek, Texas, featuring ex-Chief of Police Samuel Craddock. A KILLING AT COTTON HILL, will be released in July 2013. Terry's website is http://terryshames.com/

Carole Price is a Buckeye! Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, she attended The Ohio State University, and currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. After retiring from a national laboratory, she wrote her first mystery, went through the Citizens Police Academy, and is a police volunteer.

TWISTED VINES is the first book in her Shakespeare in the Vineyard mystery series published by Five Star. Carole's website is: http://carolepricemysteries.com/

 

HOPE

Following hard on the heels of last week's topic of Best Holiday Gifts, we have HOPE. Here is a YouTube of "surpise gifts" to give you hope and make you smile along with your favorite cuppa this morning. (Watch out for the screams of joy! ;-) )

Three Favorite Books??? First Friday with Rita

Three Favorite Books??????

You must be kidding. Only three?

 I’m remembering this really little kid being read to.

I’m this little kid going to the library every Saturday of my young life. I sopped up books like the proverbial sponge. But what sticks in my head: The Green Fairy book. The Red Fairy book And Violet, Yellow, etc., every book by Andrew Lang. Not that I knew what an author was.  How about Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm? And Wind in the Willows and Peter Pan and Madeline and Lassie, Come Home and Pippi Longstocking. I loved them all.

 Wait a minute. I’m only up to age eight.

Enough about that. I’m supposed to talk only about three books, so I’ll talk about three books. My own three books. Two going up for Kindle.  One there already. Writers are often asked where they get inspiration for stories. Well, here are three of mine.

 A Summer Without Boys.This was originally written as a screenplay and shown on TV years ago. It starred Barbara Bain and Michael Moriarty. I was commissioned to turn it into a novel soon after. It was the only piece of writing that was autobiographical that I ever had the chance to do on TV. It was a bitter-sweet coming-of-age story of a 14-year-old girl who spent a summer with her mother at a resort in the Catskill Mountains during WWII.

  The Four Coins of the Kabballah. The inspiration for Four Coins came from a paragraph I read while doing research. It was a passage that supposedly never got into the Bible. I am paraphrasing here. Adam was originally married to Lilith. However, Lilith was an unhappy bride. Since God made her from the same dust (adama) as Adam, she felt she was entitled to be equal to him. (Imagine! The first woman’s libber!) So, God promised him another bride. This time she would not be made of any other parts (For example, not from the ear or she would hear too much, not the eye for she would see too much, etc.) She was made from the useless rib. Adam’s rib. Thus was born Eve.

And thus was written an urban fantasy. A paranormal. An entire novel using the Adam/Lilith/Eve legend in modern times.

 (Title withheld) My memoir. The idea of me writing about the early days I spent writing for TV in Hollywood came about after being on a few convention panels with Rhys Bowen called Liar’s Club. In which we told very funny stories about our real life adventures and the audiences were supposed to guess whether we were lying or telling the truth. I kept telling the truth and everyone thought I lied. Rhys suggested I write these stories down. I started to do it as a lark, but then I realized to my own amazement that I had been one of the earliest women script writers in the business. I was a pioneer and a book was born.

How did your books come about?

NEWS and Most Favorite Three

NEWS FLASHES!!!

• Rita Lakin announces that she has two new e-books, which are not part of her series: A Summer Without Boys (coming soon) and The Four Coins of the Kabballah (available now on Kindle). Rita says the former is G -rated, the latter is R.
• Camille Minichino will lead a discussion on Rebecca Forster's Hostile Witness, at the Castro Valley Library, in Castro Valley, California, on Tuesday, December 4, at 6:30 PM.

 

Next Up: Our Favorites...

What are your favorite three books?? Oh, this is going to be difficult. The LadyKillers will weigh in, and we hope you will, too.

News, High School, and... Thanks!

NEWS FLASHES!!

• Camille Minichino and Ann Parker will be giving a NaNoWriMo workshop for those "stuck in the middle" on Wednesday, November 14, 7 p.m., at the Livermore Public Library, Livermore, California.

HAPPY DAYS? Maybe, Maybe Not

Aren't those high school days supposed to have been the best days of our lives?  This coming week, The LadyKillers will be present when the bell rings (no tardies here!), ready to raise their hands and offer their input on the topic of high school. Grades will be on a curve, but be sure you drop in and participate! (The teacher is very strict about participation.)

Look Around and Give Thanks

'Tis the season to be thankful. We asked The LadyKillers to look around their writing spaces and tell us what, in that particular space, they are grateful for (we're all thankful for friends, family, and pumpkin pie... but do they co-exist with writing? Hmmm...).

• Priscilla - Where to start on what I am thankful for? OK, I stabbed blindly at the long list. Two cats? this was rigged! Four-footed tyrants who play soccer in the hall at 2 AM? Who find their inner Siamese when the chow bowl falls to half full? Well, they also soothe if I don't feel well and give gratuitous purrs when I hit a road block in a book. When I look into those eyes... Yeah, I am grateful...
• Camille - I'm thankful for my 20 + -year old office chair, the most comfortable in the house, $$$ recliners notwithstanding. Come see it in its duct tape glory.
• Rita - I'm thankful for the gorgeous view out my window when I work. It is a bird sanctuary. I especially love watching the pelicans dive for food. It's better looking than Camille's chair. So there.
• Margaret - Hmm. I was going to say I'm grateful for the view outside my window, right in front of my desk. It's green and restful, and looking out makes a welcome change from staring at the computer screen (which is in front of a wall; it's an L-shaped arrangement). But my view is nothing compared to Rita's wonderful lagoon vista.
• Ann - I'm thankful for the door to my office. Because, much as I love love love my family, there are times when I must close it. 

  

Reading, an addiction - First Friday with Rita

I feel as if I’m back at school (way back) looking for an excuse not to do my homework. Why? Because being addicted to reading since I was five years old demands time to deal properly with one of the great loves of my life. I cannot imagine a day I don’t read something. Every day, at least a newspaper.  Every day, part of some book. And much more.

Like Mary Anna, I, too, read anything and everything in my path all through the years. The small print on my toothpaste as I brushed. The back of the tomato soup can as my mother prepared my daily home from school for lunch. This month’s Miss Subway, when I had my first job in the city. I could give you a litany of how many things I read in any given day as I voraciously searched for words.

But what was I reading this week? Alas. Diverted. Sports pages in print, watching the games on TV. Hey, this is Giants country. Latest, following political stuff. Then, the horrendous news of Mother Nature’s attack back east.

Also, those smarty-pants like Camille and Priscilla – they read such intelligent things. Do I want to reveal my guilty pleasure readings? Like one week when I decided to read books written by women named Lisa. (Four different ones.) Or that I had to read Marshall Karp’s new novel. I met Marshall at one of our writer conventions and he is one funny writer, his mysteries are scathing take-offs on Hollywood baddies, and I don’t mean the criminals. He just did one of those co- books with James Patterson called NYPD RED. I had to see what that was like.

But hey, in my defense I was also catching up with my sisters-in-crime books this year. You know  - like Ann and Penny and Staci and Kelli  - you know who you are, so, there.

Anyway, I rest my case. Judge me as you wish.

But I bet I had a reading experience not one of any of our writer friends had.

At age five, I was reading the newspaper (yes, I read that early) at the kitchen table by candlelight. Whilst turning a page I set the table on fire. My mother was next door visiting a neighbor.  Now, I bet you all want to know what happened next.