Character vs Real Life

Sparkle Abbey is hosting guest blogger, Shannon Baker

Today we're joined by our good friend, Shannon Baker. She's graciously offered to give away a copy of her latest novel Tattered Legacy. Just leave a comment to be entered to win. (U.S only.) Take it away Shannon!

I never start off a novel to work out my life issues. I don’t create characters as some form of self-therapy. (Although I used to have fantasies of torturing a barrel racer and leaving her unable to speak. But I’m much better now.) Writers come to their books differently, but for me, I generally find WHAT I want to write about and then populate it with the most interesting WHO I can make up.

Recently, I got to thinking about my protagonists, which to this point have all been women. I hate to reveal too much about my personality, but when I match up what people say about those characters and what was going on in my life at the time, I can’t help but see how my sneaky subconscious was working overtime.

A reviewer for my first published book, Ashes of the Red Heifer (gratefully out of print now) commented, “…unnecessarily stubborn and foul mouthed…” and an  “…overbearing, stronger willed woman than I've ever met.” (Yes, I know, most writers use pull-lines that say nice things about the book. I have those, too, but I’m trying to make a point here.) At a book club one woman, trying to be as gentle as possible, described her as, “prickly and bossy and not very nice.”

Despite my trying to soften Annie up in revisions, she always kept that hard shell. So, here’s what was happening in my life: My husband of 15 years was having an affair (remember that barrel racer I mentioned earlier?) and I had two daughters in school, in this tiny town, and I was holding every emotion so tight no one would see me crack. That probably translated to the page, making Annie tough and hard as granite.

I wrote the next book after my family life had substantially improved. My kids were on their own and I’d found the love of my life. Personally, I felt secure and happy. But professionally, I was teetering. We’d just moved to Flagstaff and it took me over a year to find a job. When I did, instead of being in charge, as I was previously, I had no clout. While I loved the people I worked with, I felt undervalued by the management.

In Tainted Mountain, the first in the Nora Abbott mystery series, Nora is all kinds of conflicted. She gives the world the face of a competent business woman and she’s smart and hard working. Inside, she’s riddled with insecurities. She waffles back and forth between “hear me roar” and squeaking in the corner.

In Broken Trust, book two, while I’d taken a risky job at a start-up, Nora is struggling to take command of her life. By book three, Tattered Legacy, written after I’d survived menopause, Nora is full of confidence and action.

I’m not Annie or Nora or any of the other protagonists that came before them. But I can see where some of my real life transfers to their characters.

There are far less subtle ways my real life infiltrates my books. For instance, how often I kill a philandering husband. And just how many of protagonists wrestle with mother relationships. Dogs, cats, and even horses find their way onto my pages. Any aspect of my real life can seep onto the page. But not the sex scenes. Those are totally made up or derived by watching movies.

When you read a novel, do you wonder how much of the story or characters come straight from the author’s life? 

Remember, Shannon is giving away a copy of Tattered Legacy. For a chance to win, just leave a comment below. Make sure you include your email address.

Shannon Baker is the author of the Nora Abbott mystery series from 
Midnight Ink. A fast-paced mix of Hopi Indian mysticism, environmental issues, and murder. Shannon is an itinerant writer, which is a nice way of saying she’s confused. She never knows what time zone she’s in, Timbuck-Three, Nebraska, or  Denver, or Tucson. Nora Abbott has picked up that location schizophrenia and travels from Flagstaff in Tainted Mountain, to Boulder in Broken Trust and then to Moab in Tattered Legacy.  Shannon is proud to have been chosen Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2014 Writer of the Year. Visit Shannon at www.Shannon-Baker.comWhile Tattered Legacy is available from your favorite online or bookstore, if you’d like to support indie bookstores, you’re welcome to contact Who Else Books at www.BroadwayBookMall.com. Ron and Nina are the best! And they might have a signed copy to send.

Past, Present, Future-and Free Download of My Austin Starr Short Story by Kay Kendall

Past, Present, Future—and Free Download of My Austin Starr Short Story
By Kay Kendall

Once upon a time I believed my dreams would all come true when I wrote a book. With that accomplished, of course I wanted to have it published. And then when I held it in my hands, I knew I would be ecstatic.

Those dreams did indeed come true. With lots of hard work, more than I ever imagined would be necessary, my debut mystery was published two years ago this spring. Now I have its sequel coming out this summer.

The goal posts keep moving, however. I am now striving to juggle more than one writing project at a time.  Today I will share with you how I’m doing in that regard.

CURRENT PROJECT – Free download! 

Download at Amazon

Last month I published a short story that bridges DESOLATION ROW with its sequel RAINY DAY WOMEN. The story is “Strangers on a Plane,” and through March 6, you can download it FREE on Amazon. You don’t need a Kindle to read it either. You can read “Strangers on a Plane” on other devices—your PC, Mac, cell phone, or other type of tablet. If you’ve been curious about my fiction, now is a great time to read, absolutely free.

FUTURE PROJECTS—Mysteries #2 and #3

Mystery #2, RAINY DAY WOMEN, is in its final stages before publication. I’ve done edits based on my editor’s suggestions and await her verdict on the changes I made. With my first mystery, DESOLATION ROW, I enjoyed the revision stage. I like the back-and-forth process with a professional who helps me make my book as strong as it can be. Meantime the cover, blurbs from other mystery authors, and promotional copy are in process. All of this is exciting. Almost every part of publishing thrills me—except for the torture of first drafts.

But here’s a surprise. I am shocked to confide that I am already planning mystery #3. I don’t have its name yet, although several song titles by Bob Dylan are in contention. The theme of the mystery is haunting me, and possible plot points pop into my mind now at the oddest times. I hesitate to say this, but I think, I hope, I believe—sort of—that I just may be a writer.

My Upcoming Author Appearances, by Marilyn Meredith

No longer do I head off to far-away places that need to be reached by air. (I may ignore that decision if something intriguing enough should arise, but that's how I'm feeling now.) Most of the in-person appearances I'll be making in the next few months are driveable.

Last Saturday was the first one of this year, a local authors' day at a lovely library several cities away. A fun time and I connected with a friend and fan who recetly moved to this city and  met many other delightful readers.

On March 14th, from 2-4, I'm participating in a peanl about how mysteries have changed sine the days of the Maltese Falcon at a wonderful used bookstore--the Book Barn in Clovis. The reason for the Matlese Falcon is that is the book for the Fresno Library's annual Read-a-thon.

Because I'm a board member of the Public Safety Writers Association, I'm headed to Ventura for their annual board meeting the following weekend. Not a book selling event, but important for the organization--with a bit of fun thrown in. Plus, I have a daughter who lives nearby and we'll squeeze in some time with her and her family.

The last weekend of the month, we're off to Santa Maria, where we're staying in the Santa Maria Hotel--this is where all the movie stars stayed on their way up the coast in the good-old days. The lobby, dining room and bar area are full of nostalgia (there's even a bank of private telephone booths), We like to stay in the older part of the hotel--the rooms are smaller, but each one is unique and they are the actual rooms the stars stayed in--some even with name plates on the doors.

On Saturday, the March 28th, I'm speaking to the Central Coast Sisters in Crime, 10 a.m. at the Nipomo Library. My topic: How to Create and Sustain a Mystery Series. I belong to this chapter but don't get to go over there often enough. I'm looking forward to sharing and seeing everyone.

On April 2nd, I'm participating in a Mystery Authors' Symposium at 6:30 p.m. in the Fig Garden Library in Fresno.

My official book launch for Violetn Departures is on April 16th at 6 p.m. in the Porterville Library--and there's going to be cupcakes!

And that's about it until July 16-19 when we'll be in Las Vegas for the Public Safety Writers Association's Annual Conference. Love this conference where mystery writers can share and learn from all sorts of law enforcement officers, firemen, and other public safety personnel. I've become friends with so many of this group who are willing to share their expertise.

As time goes by, I"m sure I'll be booking other dates for appearances--but that's it for now.

For all you readers out there, do attend author events in your local area, it means a lot to those of us who do these.

Looking forward to meeting and introducing both my series to new readers.

Marilyn Meredith aka F. M. Meredith

                                           

The Rocky Bluff P.D. Mystery Series

               

The Deputy Tempe Crabtree Mystery Series

The Idea Store by Lynn Cahoon

Last summer, before my life turned upside down, I committed to joining Toastmasters at my workplace. Since August, I've given one speech.

This month, I'll be giving two, one in a competition. Crazy, right?

The good news is I've been speaking in public since my first job where I was the radio girl who listed off the new, hot job opportunities available at your local unemployment office.  Then I spent over ten years training the regional staff at Idaho's Health and Welfare department. Want to know how to deal with computer issues, or what assets count against Medicaid? I'm your girl.

But the speeches I'm giving this month are more personal. And I'm hoping I can keep my emotions in check while I'm talking. The first speech talks about where the ideas come from for my books. My mother asked me the same question. "How do you come up with all these ideas?"

The answer I gave her was kind of broad, but I'll tell you the true writer secret. We're magpies. We take bits and pieces of everything we've ever did, seen, or heard for our stories.  We're taught to write what we know, so my first published book was The Bull Rider's Brother.

No, I'm not a bull rider expert. But I love cowboys. Especially those in tight fitting jeans and a pearl snap western shirt? Add in a hat and boots, and I'm gone. The book's first line tells you a lot about my main character Lizzie, but also, a lot about the author - me.

Cowboys aren't easy to love, but they sure are easy on the eyes.

Then I mixed three or four of my favorites sites in the Idaho mountains and imagined the new town of Shawnee Idaho. I added in two brothers, the older being way too protective of the younger, to the point it affected his own happiness, threw in a too cute kid and a main character who's been burned by love, one too many times.

All things I know about.

There's a saying that authors pass around that says use your life history to season your writing. If  the people you know wanted to be painted in a positive light, they should have been nicer to you on the way.

I love this.

So where is your idea store?

 

If you're interested in starting the Tourist Trap series before Dressed to Kill launches in June and Killer Run, in August, eKensington has Guidebook to Murder on sale for the month of March - digital $1.99. Check out the story that started it all....

 



The Bobbsey Twins and Agatha Christie by Debra H. Goldstein

The Bobbsey Twins and Agatha Christie by Debra H. Goldstein

When I was a child, I was given a copy of The Bobbsey Twins of Lakeport by Laura Lee Hope.  It’s book jacket claimed “Ghosts! Everyone agrees that the old Marden House is as haunted as a chimney on Halloween, but when there’s a mystery to be solved, the Bobbsey Twins, Bert and Nan, Freddie and Flossie, don’t intend to let a little thing like ghosts stop them.”  I became a diehard mystery reader from that moment forward.

Mysteries let me escape from school, chores, piano practice, and my pesky younger sister.  Reading the entire Bobbsey Twin series let me be part of solving a mystery at the circus, the beach, the mountains, and by the end, even Japan.  I explored more places and felt like the series’ characters became my friends as I read my way through Cherry Ames, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Trixie Belden.  Then, I found Agatha Christie!  Not only were the characters of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot addictive, but their reasoning abilities challenged me to read carefully so that I could beat them to figuring out whodunit.

To this day, I relish the plot line in Christie’s The Pale Horse because it stumped me.  When I finished the book, I realized that Agatha Christie had hid the clues in the plot’s twists and turns, but I had been so engrossed in the story that I forgot to focus on putting them together.  It was at that moment I realized the complex analysis and delicacy of writing that makes a good mystery just plain fun to read.

Throughout the years, mystery writers have entertained and challenged me. They’ve kept me from being bored on long flights, distracted me when unpleasant things are happening, and interfered with my sleep because I was too intrigued in a book to put it down.  It is the latter type of books that remind me of the technical skills of word choice, plot, and characterization necessary to write an enjoyable mystery. These type of books are, as Flossie of The Bobbsey Twins would say, “bee-yoo-ti-ful!.”

50 Shades of Feminism

by Bethany Maines

I’ve been thinking about feminism lately - what people think about women and what they think is "good" for women. Perhaps it’s because with the birth of my daughter I’m startled by how genderized every child’s toy has become. Or perhaps it’s the kerfluffle over Fifty Shades of Gray.  "She’s a poor role model! We decry the normalization of violence against women!  The women must be protected! Would you want that to be YOUR daughter??!!!! The end of the world is nigh!!" 

First of all – You are absolutely right.  That is a terrible book; Anastasia is a terrible role model and Christian Gray appears to be an abusive twerp. But... do you really think women so dumb that they can’t judge for themselves what should stay a fantasy on the screen and what should be their real relationship?  Probably not.

Second of all - No, I don’t want my daughter to be like the heroine in 50 Shades, but on the other hand, I’m also not worried about that… at all.  The storyline – a passive, naïve girl is seduced into a BDSM relationship by an older, more powerful man – only works if the girl is passive and naïve. I may be placing too much faith in my own parenting ability, but I’m fairly certain I can ensure that my daughter will be neither.

However, what no one seems to address in their critiques of the story is why readers find it romantic in the first place. Sure the sex scenes are titillating, but why does anyone find the idea of their romance viable in the first place?  Perhaps if people really wanted to protect women we would stop perpetuating the myth that the Snow White story-line of a girl waiting in sequestered purity for an “experienced” man is romantic. Or that stalking her and monitoring her phone calls and behavior are are romantic traits. But if we did that, then we would have to address the pervasive idea that all women who have sex are sluts and then we’d have to address the idea that, as a society, we police the bodies of women constantly. And who wants to think about those things?  Question our own latent misogyny? Hell no! Let’s just ban a movie – that’s so much easier.

Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, Tales from the City of Destiny and the forthcoming An UnseenCurrent.  You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Signal Boosting

by Linda Rodriguez

I have piles of books sitting on my coffee table right now. None of them are mine. Some of them are from people I know, even people I consider dear friends. Many of them are from people I’ve never met and have little connection with. Some are mysteries. Some are thrillers. Some are literary fiction. Some are poetry. They all have one thing in common, though. I’m planning to give their authors a signal boost in one way or another.

Today’s publishing environment is tough for authors in many ways, but primarily in finding ways to bring the attention of readers to their books. With the advent of easy self-publishing, everyone who finishes a NaNoWriMo book can pop it up on Amazon with little or no editing, and amid the flood of poorly prepared and written books, it can be difficult for the writer who has put in the time, effort, and money to make their book the best it can possibly be to let the potential reader know that hers/his is a good, high-quality book, worth taking a chance on. The problem is the same for everyone, whether self-published or traditionally published. It’s Gresham’s Law applied to books rather than money—“Bad books drive out good.”

One helpful thing is for another author to lend a hand in some way. Four of the books in those piles on my coffee table are books I’ve agreed to blurb, that is, books for which I’ll write a short pithy review of several sentences that will be placed on the cover of the book to entice readers to pick it up. Blurbs can be terribly important. They help in getting reviews and orders from bookstores, as well as in persuading browsing readers to try the book. When I was starting out as a mystery novelist, established writers volunteered to blurb my book, for which I will always be grateful. When reviewers read brief raves from top writers, they became eager to review my unknown debut novel. I try to pay that favor forward as much as I can within the confines of time and scheduling. I’ve seen some writers who have benefited from great blurbs by famous authors and then refuse to give blurbs to anyone themselves. I can’t understand that attitude.

I have a blog, http://lindarodriguezwrites.blogspot.com, and on it I have a long-running series called “Books of Interest by Writers of Color.” I began that series as a resource for librarians and teachers who would approach me after readings or conferences and ask for suggestions of books by diverse writers. If it’s tough for all writers to get attention while buried in the crowd, it’s nigh impossible for writers of color, who tend to be invisible in modern American literature. I’ve been showcasing writers of color on my blog for the past six years. Just a little way to pull an author or book out of the throng and hold it up, saying, “This is good. Take a look.” The rest of the books on my coffee table are books that I intend to signal-boost on my blog.

Like writing a blurb, this showcasing on my blog is time-consuming. I could write an article or a good day’s pages on my current novel or short story in the time I spend on reading, making notes, and writing a blurb or review on my blog. So why would I bother?

I see the literary world as one large community and a set of smaller communities, and I believe that building these communities and making them stronger benefits all of us in the long run—writer and reader. I see my work as all part of a spectrum, writing my books and poetry, writing my blogs, teaching workshops, connecting with other writers and readers on social media, and signal-boosting other writers who deserve attention. I believe we make the world we want to have. And so the piles of books on my coffee table continue to exist, no matter how many reviews or blurbs I write.

Do you believe in signal boosting? How do you feel when an author often blurbs or praises another writer’s book to you? 

Linda Rodriguez’s third novel in the Skeet Bannion series, Every Hidden Fear (St. Martin’s Press), was a Latina Book Club Best Book of 2014, a selection of Las Comadres National Latino Book Club, and received an ArtsKC Fund Inspiration Award. Her second novel featuring the Cherokee campus police chief, Every Broken Trust (St. Martin’s Press), was a selection of Las Comadres National Latino Book Club, took 2^nd Place in the International Latino Book Awards, and was a finalist for the Premio Aztlan Literary Award. Her first Skeet novel, Every Last Secret, won the Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition and an International Latino Book Award Honorable Mention, was featured by Las Comadres National Book Club, and was a Barnes & Noble mystery pick. Her short story, “The Good Neighbor,” published in the anthology, Kansas City Noir, has been optioned for film.

 

Find her on Twitter as @rodriguez_linda, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LindaRodriguezWrites, and on blogs with The Stiletto Gang http: http://thestilettogang.blogspot.com/, Writers Who Kill http://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/, and her own blog http://lindarodriguezwrites.blogspot.com

REPLIES TO COMMENTS (because Blogger hates me, and even though I managed to comment from another browser twice, now it won't let me comment even that way--huge sigh):

Paula, I write about a lot of different topics on my blog, but I've had a running series on Books of Interest by Writers of Color for 6 years. If you click on the tag "writers of color" on one of the latest posts, it will pull them all up to read.

Cyndi, I'm glad you agree and also signal boost. I'm always grateful for all of the writers who try to build the literary community they want to live in.

The Road To a Book

By Laura Bradford

There is nothing more exciting (and nerve racking), author wise, than knowing a book you've written is just days away from being in your readers' hands.

Exciting, because you can't wait to share your story with your fans...

Nerve racking, because you want them to like it, but won't know for sure until it's officially out in the wild.

That's where I'm at right now. SUSPENDERED SENTENCE (the 4th book in my Amish Mysteries) is just days away from its release.

Just 12 days, in fact.

So I'd like to tell you a little bit about the book and share a little behind-the-scenes with you.

First, the book: 
  

Nineteen years ago, Sadie Lehman simply up and disappeared during her Rumspringa in the Amish community of Heavenly, Pennsylvania. Led to believe her daughter had gotten caught up in the English world by the girl’s peers, Waneta clung to hope that one day Sadie would come back.

Yet while Waneta prayed for a reunion, Sadie’s friends hoped for something very different—that Sadie’s body would never be discovered.

 

This book came to me just like that (almost verbatim). And the next thing I knew, I had to know why they didn't tell and what they were hiding. It was a fun (and sometimes sad) book to write, but I feel closer than ever to my characters because of this book.

 

I like the way that happens with each new book. It's like I've laughed and cried with these folks so much that they are real. Their hopes, their fears, their joys...they're all real.

 

I suspect that's why, a few months ago, I became determined to make a map of my Heavenly--the town in which my books take place. So it could be real for my readers, too.

 

If you have a moment, visit the "Extras" page on my website for a behind the scenes look at the world that's become so real to me. You can click on various buildings for a more detailed (visual) look and a written description. I had a blast putting this together.

 

If you do, let me know what you think.

 

~Laura