True Crime to Fiction

 I'm getting a late start this morning because I had to take my dog into the vet for his physical. Alas, he weighs more now than he did our last visit. We've been taking short walks during the week and long walks on Saturday and Sunday, and he goes to daycare. But even though everyone he greets with delight finds him "adorable," he is a chubby Cavie right now. His vet just put him on prescription dog food to give his metabolism a reset -- even the few training treats he will be allowed need to be subtracted. This is goiing to be a test of discipline on my part and stubborness on his. Fergus is as stubborn as he is adorable. Right now, he demands a treat to get in and out of the car, not chase the cat, not sit down and refuse to move in the middle of a walk. . . you get the idea. Even when a treat is only one and a half calories, they can mount up doing the day. But I am determined to get hm back to his "small dog" size. 

Anyway, that's why I'm running late today. I need to get back to the gangster movies manuscript I'm working on because my editor is waiting. But I'd like to mention something that I'm thinking about. Next weekend I'll be on a panel at the New England Crime Bake. My panel is "Fiction vs Reality: Taking Real Crime and Making It Work as Fiction." I had an interesting experience with that a few days ago.

I've been doing a deep dive into sources to make sure I've found the links between movie gangsters in my nine classic films and The Sopranos and the real life crime families and mobsters that have inspired the fiction. A few days ago -- as I was reading a story about a mob soldier with a nasty temper -- I had a burst of inspiration. I've been concerned about my male protagonist's motivation in my historical thriller. He has a reason for being curious at the beginning of the book. But when a death occurs and he narrowly escapes being arrested as a suspect, he has more reason to back off. As I was reading about that real-life gangster, it suddenly occurred to me -- I need a mob guy to make my protagonist "an offer he can't refuse".  The mobster has a girl friend who was related to the victim and he has promised to find out what happened. Now, he is passing that responsibility on to my protagonist because he was the one who got the victim involved. Having my mobster walk in and make his threat will carry me through the dreaded middle section of the book and give me the twist I need towards the end.

I think it's going to work. If it does, I'll have a recent example of using real crime as inspiration for my panel. I'll also have a boost as I try to sprint through NaNoWriMo this month. 

Anyone else have a recent experience with drawing inspiration from real life?

Not Heaven, But a First Draft

 In one of his dramatic monologues Robert Browning's chararacter -- an aging artist with a faithless wife -- muses, "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,/ Or what's a heaven for?"

I went back to make sure I had the quote correct because as with many texts, something is often lost or distorted when it moves into cyberspace. And, it has been years since I last read Browning. Reading "Andrea del Sarto" again reminded me of one of the sources of my inspiration. Browning was so lodged in my literary subconscious that I used a play on his words in explaining what the acronym for my all-purpose communication device (an ORB) stood for in my near-future (now alternate history) police procedurals. When I was asked by several readers, I needed to come up with an answer that I myself didn't know. I backtracked in my "world-building" and discovered that ORB was derived from a quote by the creator of my world's cybernet. In a philosophical explanation of what he had created, he used the phrase "our reach beyond".

The reason I wanted to quote Browning is because I've signed up for NaNoWriMo. For those of you who don't recognize it, that acronym stands for National Novel Writing Month. It is a much acclaimed annual event that writers love because it gives us a chance to set goals and have the support of other writers who are doing the same thing. The goal is to write 50,000 words in one month, the month of November. Here's the link if you'd like to know more.

https://nanowrimo.org/

What has struck me about signing up for NaNoWriMo again this year -- as I have done in the past -- is that my reach always exceed my grasp. If the challenge is to write 50,000 words, I try to write an entire book. This year, I want to finally get through the first draft of my historical thriller. I know that it will be around 95,000 words when I'm done. Being sane, I won't try to write 95,000 words in a month while carrying on with my other job -- teaching. But I have set myself the ridiculous goal of writing 75,000 words. 

Why? Well, because I have realized that I write best when I have a challenge. This year -- as opposed to last and the years before -- I am not only announcing my goal to finish my first draft. I am announcing the goal to people who I know and whose opinion I value. Not to say I don't want support from readers and other writers who I have never met. But I do even better when there is someone (preferably, as this year, groups of people that I know) who will ask how I'm doing. That makes me accountable. 

Being accountable worked for me with my first published book. Belonging to a writing group kept me at my keyboard for the several years while I was producing one version of my first Lizzie Stuart novel after another. But accountability really kicked in when I told my fellow writers -- only half-serious when I said it -- that I was going to take my main characters along with me on my vacation in England and write a book set in London and Cornwall. Having said it, I did my advance research and, during the week I was there, did field research and outlined the book. And then I came home, excited and fired up, and wrote the book. When an opportunity to submit to a new imprint came up, I had a book ready to send out. 

So, once again, I am going to play a psychological game with myself. Ignoring the 50,000 words of the challenge, I'm going to try to exceed my grasp. That will get me through a rough first draft. Then I will have a manuscript to revise and send off to my incredibly patient agent. 

If you're doing NaNoWriMo be sure to look me up. Even if we don't know each other yet, we can cheer each other on. 

And, thank you again, Robert Browning.

Clickbait ADHD

I know that November is Novel Writing Month, but I can barely write a novel in a year.

Why?

I have the attention span of a six-year-old. That’s a bad thing if you’re writing an 90,000-word mystery. Worse, if you’re working on a computer and you’re logged onto the internet.

First off, I’m a news junkie. Every morning, I look at the websites of the Washington Post, the New York Times, Politico, The Hill, Huffington Post, and the Raleigh News & Observer. The current political climate doesn’t do anything to assuage my news addiction. Scary things are happening and an absurd rate of speed.

AMAZING PICS: NASA releases image showing Sun ‘exploding’

If I just read the stories that interested me, I would most likely be fine. But I go for clickbait. Those shiny, sparkly, too good to be true headlines that always promise more that they deliver—suddenly I’m down the rabbit hole. When I should be working on Chapter 23, instead I’m clicking on something that’s caught my eye.

19 Every-day items that are actually a huge waste of money

And how much time on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is too much? I justify it by saying that they’re all marketing tools to help get the word about my books. “Liking” my friends’ photos is just being neighborly. Isn’t it?

After all, they “like” and share the reviews I post of Random Road and Darkness Lane. Facebook and Twitter, well, they're just good marketing tools.

A few years ago, a Chicago psychologist, Michael Pietrus offered an interesting theory: Maybe these distractions aren’t just an internet-age annoyance but something approaching actual pathology.

It's possible the internet is giving us all the symptoms of ADHD. He cautioned, “We are not saying that internet technologies and social media are directly causing ADHD.” But he claimed that the internet “can impair functioning in a variety of ways…that can mimic and in some cases exacerbate underlying attention problems.”

According to the CDC, an estimated 4.4 percent of adults have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It can make it difficult to concentrate on one thing for any period of time. Adults with ADHD, unlike children, aren’t hyperactive in the conventional sense. But they can be compulsive, easily distracted, easily bored. They lose interest halfway through reading an article or completing a task.

When I sit down at my desk on a Saturday morning intending to have two chapters under my belt by the end of the day and I look at my watch and see that it’s already noon and I haven’t written a word—well, that’s when I slap myself in the forehead.

How do I combat my addiction? Believe it or not--YouTube. No, I don’t download kitty videos or trailers of upcoming movies (although I love those) and nor do I download outtakes from the Big Bang Theory (even though I find those laugh-out-loud hilarious).

Nope, I’ll listen to ambient music. There’s a ton of it out there. It’s like the background music in a movie. If I’ve come to a sad chapter, I put on an hour of sad music. If I’m at a place of introspection, I’ll put on an hour or so of a chill mix. Writing a scary scene? There are some ambient style Game of Thrones soundtracks that put me in the right frame of mind.

A 2007 study from Stamford University published in the journal Neuron makes the claim that music engages the areas of the brain linked with paying attention, making predictions and updating memory.

'Cursed’ Egyptian sarcophagus reveals secrets.

That’s the last one, I promise. Time to turn on some ambient music and write that novel. www.thomaskiesauthor.com

Out of the Gate

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) started yesterday. As I mentioned in my last post, I am trying again this year. Last year, I was a miserable flop. This year I have done much more preparation. Or, rather, I am further along in my research and plotting for the book I've been working on for the past few years. Until last year, it was a backburner book. Now, it is my focus.

So, yesterday I sat down and wrote. Because of my schedule, it was evening before I could get to it. I started with 2500 word in my bank account. I ended up doing some rewriting and tossing out scenes I had already written. Since I'm not interested in the official word count for the award, I wanted to give myself a head start. I also needed to have gone through my warm-up process that requires me to write and rewrite the same scenes over and over again before I feel ready to begin.

Last night, after playing around with my scenes and adding another 500 words, I felt pretty good about my first day. I felt even better when a problem with structure sorted itself out in the process. I am still playing with point of view. Right now, I'm allowing all of the major characters to have a voice. I know when I revise that will change, but for now I want to get through the first draft.

Donis, many thanks for the home remedies for avoiding the flu. That was a reminder that even if I get my flu shot, I need to eat right, get sleep, and exercise if I'm going to make it through the month. I'm going to be juggling classes, the nonfiction book I'm revising, and my daily quota of NaNoWriMo words.

To actually finish a 90,000 word first draft, I'd need to keep up my pace of 3,000 words a day. I don't think that's going to happen. What may happen is that toward the end -- over the long Thanksgiving weekend -- I'll be able to get two or three days when I can carve out more time to write.

But I have gotten out of the gate. I've joined a group of other writers, and we're already checking in and cheering each other on. This year, I may make it. Bad draft for sure, but at least thousands of words on paper and ready to be revised.

Anyone else doing NaNo?

Generation NaNoWriMo

Lately I was invited to speak, along with two other local authors--Cheryl Carpinello and Jerry Fabyanic--about our experiences as professional writers to students at the Rocky Heights Middle School. My sons are in their thirties, and so I have little recent experience with young teenagers. I was curious about our audience and before the talk I shared my thoughts with Judi Hoist, their teacher and faculty advisor. Obviously, things have changed since I was an adolescent. Demographers and sociologists like to group populations by age and tag them with attributes to differentiate them from their predecessors--BabyBoomers, Generation X, Y, Millennials, etc., Though the students at Rocky Heights fall outside the scope of Millennials (born between 1983 and 2000) but since they share many of the same cultural traits--access to the Internet, cell phones, social media--they are for the moment classified as Millennials.

My perceptions were framed by the whining I've heard from older generations about Millennials--that they're helpless without a connection to the Internet, that they're spoiled and feel eminently entitled, and they're clueless about the world. However grownups have been complaining about the younger generation since ancient times.

The children now love luxury.

They have bad manners, contempt for authority; 

they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.

Socrates

Plus I've seen how my sons and their peers have stepped up to their responsibilities and challenges as have all generations before them.

This particular group of students was from the school's NaNoWriMo club. What impressed me was that they not only knew about National Novel Writing Month, but they actively participated in the event and in writing year round. Before the talk, Hoist proudly showed me a dozen books written and published by her students. The examples were indie-published by Amazon and showed a level of craft and application that eludes many adult wannabe writers that I've met.

The session began with Hoist counting noses and briefing the group about our visit. They then filed into the library and took seats. Hoist handed out snacks the students munched on and this seemed to have calmed them down. I counted 40 students with only five boys among them, and while it might be easy to draw the conclusion that boys are not as academically oriented as girls, in fact, the robotics club was going on at the same time, and there the boy/girl ratio was reversed.

Carpinello, Fabyanic and I were allotted an hour and a half, and beforehand we worried that the session would drag along. But once the Q&A began, the students proved eager to ask detailed questions and quiz us about our takes on various aspects of writing and publishing. What we didn't do was talk down to the students since they had a surprisingly keen grasp of the subject. The Q&A further deepened my impression of what these young scribes were capable of. Their questions focused mostly on the technical aspects of writing: asking about when and why would you use 3rd POV versus 1st person POV, what should go into a prologue, when is too much exposition?

The time quickly passed and at the end we sold a few books. The girls were especially drawn to Carpinello's high fantasy stories. On the way out we passed a rehearsal for the school play, and those students were every bit as serious about their craft as were ours in the NaNoWriMo club.

My takeaway from all this? Anecdotes about slackers and losers among the next generation make for interesting but misleading news stories. The next wave of leaders and movers are diligently at work and getting ready to take control when their time comes.