LCC Lessons Learned from Readers

by Catherine Dilts

In March, I attended Left Coast Crime in Denver, where I picked up new ideas and information on the business of writing. Coincidentally, Thomas Kies just posted on Type M for Murder about small versus large conferences. I'm here to discuss what I learned at a reader oriented conference.  

The Left Coast Crime conference has an emphasis on readers and fans. Authors and readers sat on panels and discussed specific topics. There were a few one-on-one interviews. Other conferences focus on the craft and business of writing in more of a workshop setting geared toward writers. I found listening to readers at LCC as instructional as many workshops I’ve attended.

Here are four things I learned from readers:

1)  Readers like what they like. A thriller fan might dip into other genres, but the core of their To Be Read pile will consist of thrillers. Likewise with cozy, Western, romantic suspense, and detective mystery fans. The lesson for authors? Occasionally, you may persuade readers to partake in fiction outside their genre of choice, but unless you have a truly genre-bending story, you may be wasting your time in the long term. Stick to your lane. Focus your appeals to your designated audience.

2)     Readers use websites and blogs to find new reads. Popular sites listed – Jungle Red Writers, Lisa Holstine, Dru’s Book Musings, First Chapter Fun on Instagram and Facebook, The Saturday Reader by Sue Provich, The Mystery Readers Journal by Janet Rudolph, Goodreads, Book Series in Order, Mystery Writers Journal, and Fantastic Fiction (UK). The lesson for authors? Follow bloggers and websites appropriate to your genre. Seek out appearances on those sites to let readers know about your new releases.

3)   Readers can’t disguise their reactions. They are honest with their likes and dislikes. Sometimes painfully honest. The lesson for authors? Listen. During the Author Speed Dating event, I quickly learned which part of my pitch caused a smile or laugh, and when the attention of folks at a table wandered. In casual conversations with readers, I learned how strongly they feel about their chosen fictional interests.

4)    Readers find books online because of proper use of keywords. With more readers using e-readers and listening to audio books, they are obviously getting their fiction online. Less and less people browse physical library or bookstore shelves. Keywords are words and phrases that people use to search for content online. Z. S. Diamanti explained that keywords are a net-casting system. Lisa Matthews said “cozy” is a helpful tag among a list of tags. The lesson for authors? Learn about keywords, and how to use them to help readers find your work. If you don’t know how to define your story, you need to figure it out ASAP.

I discovered Goodreads several years ago, adopting it as a way to track my reading. When I became published, I started an author’s page. I enjoy using Goodreads, as a reader and as a writer. I also find Carstairs Considers a lot of fun, as Mark Baker reviews cozy novels, movies and television shows, and Disney decorations.

This brings up a point I’ve heard for many years: only focus your energy on websites, social media, and apps that you enjoy. Don’t shy away from testing out the newest thing, but if it’s not to your taste, don’t waste your time trying to force your enthusiasm.

Next month I’m going to my hometown workshop-based writers conference, Pikes Peak Writers Conference. The atmosphere will be entirely different from LCC. I’m hoping to absorb new knowledge on the business and craft of writing.

Big Conference vs. Small Conference

 

By Thomas Kies

I confess, I’m signed up to go to Bouchercon in New Orleans in September.  After attending the one in San Diego two years ago, and then again in Nashville last year, I was reluctant to commit to going to another.  It’s not that they don’t do a good job.  They work hard at making Bouchercon a good experience for everyone involved.

That’s part of the problem, however.  There are so damned many people there.  I think there were over 1,500 participants in Nashville last year.

Yes, I love seeing old friends again, and yes, I love making new friends.  But honestly, I feel lost in the shuffle. 

In March I attended the Suffolk Authors’ Festival presented by the Suffolk Virginia Tourism Bureau.  They limit the event to about 50 writers across different genres.  The one-day event was attended by about 550 readers, many of whom bought our books. 

I had a chance to interact with almost all the other authors and spend a lot of time with attendees.  Because it was so small, the folks who put it together spent a lot of time and effort to make sure we were all happy. 

That includes coffee and snacks in the morning, lunch, and then a really nice dinner, exclusively for the authors along with an open bar.  Anytime you have an open bar for authors, you’re making friends. 

That final evening, I spent drinking wine and talking with the likes of John DeDakis, John Gilstrap, K.L. Murphy, Jeffrey Higgins, and Bill Rapp.  Earlier in the day, I was on a crime panel with Maya Corrigan, Esme Addison, Jenna Harte, and Carrie Ann Knox, none of whom I’d ever met before, but were delightful.

The cool thing about the panels at the Suffolk Festival was there was only one panel at a time.  The room was filled with attendees.

 Don’t get me wrong, if I didn’t enjoy going to Bouchercon or Thrillerfest, I wouldn’t spend the money.  And those events, after the airfare, hotel, food, and bar tab, are pricey.  My publisher, Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks, has always put together a wonderful book signing at Bouchercon.  The event organizers do their best to put as many authors on panels as humanly possible. 

The dilemma with so many panels is that there are multiple panels going on all the time. Some are very well attended…and some aren’t.

There are so many attendees that if you’re not an extravert, you’re going to get lost in the crowd.  And let’s face it, an awful lot of authors are introverts.  At the bigger events, you’ll have a better chance to meet editors and agents than at the smaller venues, but sometimes, it’s at an additional cost.  

The point of this piece?  Don’t overlook the smaller events.  The big ones are good, for sure, but it’s easy to feel lost in the crowd.

Emily's Book

  By Thomas Kies

This past Sunday, I was both proud and delighted to attend the book launch for Emily Dunlop Carter.  The book, entitled A Spork in the Road, is a collection of essays that are touching, humorous, and thought provoking. Emily has her own blog called www.achicksview.com.  She was also once a member of my creative writing class and continues to be a good friend.

Another set of friends, Autumn Ware, her husband, Jack Ware, and Marjorie Peltier, founders EPIC Carteret Books, an imprint of Planck Length Publishing, are publishing the book.  Both Autumn and Marjorie are former members of my creative writing classes. 

I wrote one of the blurbs promoting her as a writer on the back cover of her book that goes, “Reading Emily’s work is like spending time with a lifelong friend who shows you life through fresh eyes on a warm summer day. Her stories are clever, moving, often laugh-out-loud funny, and always filled with love. She’s a butterfly that lands on the back of your hand—beautiful, graceful, and filled with childlike wonder.”

At her event, Emily read a series of her essays and her husband, John, also known as the Smokin’ Hot Love Biscuit, performed songs.  Combined with champagne, scones, and cupcakes, it was a delightful afternoon shared with about fifty people in Beaufort, North Carolina.

The event was actually a pre-launch celebration.  Once the book is available, I'll let you know how to order it. Or you can go to Emily's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/emily.d.carter.1.

The point of this particular blog isn’t just to promote Emily’s new book.  It’s to say how you never know how things will turn out.  Emily, Autumn, and Marjorie were all part of my creative writing class.  Most of the members of the Carteret Writers Organization were part of my creative writing class. And that group continues to grow.

At the beginning of my first class, I always tell everyone that I don’t grade.  How I measure success is if, once you’ve taken the class, you continue to write. 

I love writing.  I love when people read what I write.  But I also love being able to have an effect and be part of a community of writers. Seeing them succeed is damned gratifying and I can’t be any prouder. 

 

No Conflict, No Story

 By Thomas Kies

Syd Field, author of Screenplay: The Foundations of Screen Writing, said, “All drama is conflict. Without conflict, you have no action; without action, you have no character; without character, you have no story; and without story, you have no screenplay.”

On the other hand, Ursula Le Guin claimed that not every story needs to revolve around conflict, advocating for the importance of other human experiences like connection, growth, and understanding. 

I happen to agree with Mr. Field.  Even stories about connection, growth and understanding stem from conflict. 

What types are there?

Man (or Woman) against Self. In my mystery series, the protagonist, Geneva Chase is an alcoholic. She also suffers from body dysmorphia and depression that leads to self-defeating actions.  The very fact that she succeeds at what she sets out to do (while being a smartass and snarky at the same time) is what makes her relatable.  I believe that most of us have inner demons that create conflict.  Have any doubts?  Wouldn’t you like that piece of chocolate you’ve hidden away in your drawer right about now?

Good against Evil.  This is the straightforward Good Guy versus Bad Guy scenario.  Superman versus Lex Luthor, Sherlock Holmes versus Dr. Moriarty, Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader.  In real life, this might be more relatable if it’s you versus your boss at work…or you versus the insurance company…or you versus the cable company.  You get the picture.  It’s still good against evil. 

Man (or Woman) against Nature.  This is where your protagonist struggles against storms, earthquakes, animals, revived dinosaurs, or surviving in the Andes Mountains after a plane crash as in the movie “Society of the Snow”.  With climate change becoming more of a factor in our lives, we see this in real life with increasing intensity of hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, floods, and snowstorms.  Oh wait…they don’t want us to talk about climate change anymore, do they? That seems to be a bit of conflict with nature.

Man (or Woman) against Society.  Examples in literature are Orwell’s 1984 and Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Examples in real life…well, just watch the news.  

Man (or Woman) against Technology.  A literary example of this is Asimov’s I, Robot.  An example of a movie is M3GAN.  With technology accelerating so quickly, it’s difficult to use in your writing.  By the time you’re published, your premise might be obsolete.   I’ll have to check with AI to make sure I’m right about this. 

Man (or Woman) against the Supernatural.  Vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts…oh my. So many examples here.  Wait…what was that sound in the attic?

It really doesn’t matter what your genre is, conflict will be part of it.  Crime novel….will the cop catch the murderer before he kills again?  Romance…will the boy get the girl?  Historical fiction…will we win World War II?  

As Syd Field stated, without conflict, you really don’t have a story. I’m teaching another Creative Writing class and last week I gave a prompt to write a scene of about 500 words dealing with conflict.  I’m eager to hear how they did.  They’ll be reading their work in tonight’s class. 

Heck, just giving them the assignment, I gave them conflict to deal with. 

You Have the Time

Catherine Dilts

One hour. My co-author informed me her window of opportunity was constrained that day by being the Mom Taxi. We could skip our writing session. Or try to accomplish something in sixty minutes.

My co-author is my daughter. Last year we embarked on a writing project that was successful, despite our busy schedules. We’re working on a new project right now that we’re both wildly enthusiastic about.

If only we had the proper amount of time to work on it.

Working with my daughter required experimentation to hit the right methodology. We write using shared files, and talk over the phone, at least 90% of the time. Just as working the former day job from home trimmed off get-ready-to-face-the-world time, plus the commute to the office, co-writing via the ether saves a lot of time.

One hour. Even having trimmed off travel to meet in person, that’s still a slim quantity of time.

Becoming a multi-published author while working a fulltime job required workaholic energy. I’ve recently retired, so my expectation was that limitless time would mean even more output. Life gets in the way, in the same manner that the day job used to put hedges around my day.

Why sweat it? Unless you're working under contract, you can take all the time in the world to write your story. Writing fiction can be a strictly creative endeavor. You can write for the love of the wordplay. You can take years to craft the perfect tale. 

I came from a manufacturing environment, and my daughter from the academic world. We’re both accustomed to deadlines. For me, writing is only part creative whimsy. The other part is publication. Getting the story into the hands of readers. Hopefully including the reward of a paycheck. At some point, the product needs to be shipped, and the grades reported.

I do have a book of the heart that will not be quick to complete to my satisfaction. I sometimes spend a crazy amount of time on short stories. But other work needs to happen at a fast pace. Get it done.

Lately, my daughter and I have realized that an amazing amount of work can be accomplished in just one hour. With the clock ticking off the precious minutes, we tear into the task at hand. We get a plot roughed out and an outline half completed.

Here are two suggestions to enable you to get 'er done:

One: Do an on-line search for “write a novel in a year” and you’ll find dozens of helpful articles. Just saying “I will write a novel this year” will doom you to failure. You need to set word counts and deadlines. “I will write a page a day.” That’s approximately 250 words. 365 pages in a year. A novel.

Two: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) pushes writers to complete 50,000 words in a month. I’ve done this. It’s grueling. The end result is a terrible rough draft. But it’s the rough draft of a novel. Material that can be refined, expanded, trimmed, edited, and tamed into something terrific.

“I don’t have time to write a novel” doesn’t fly with me. If you really want to do it, you will find a way. Or not. There are plenty of other ways to spend your time on this earth. Maybe writing’s not it.

If you do have a story aching to be told, get after it. Nobody’s going to write it for you. Devise a plan. Set quantifiable goals. Hold yourself to your own interior deadlines while you strive for the exterior deadline of publishing contracts and timelines.

You can get it done. One hour at a time. One hour is enough.

(If you have a hard time ignoring life’s distractions while you attempt to write, check out Sunday’s article by Thomas Kies.)

Shutting Out the Distractions

 By Thomas Kies

I live on the coast of North Carolina.  I’ve been here for nearly twenty years and in all that time, I might have seen snow twice and then it was just a dusting. Here one moment, melted into oblivion the next.  But this past week, we got seven inches of the white stuff, and the temps have been below freezing so it hasn’t gone anywhere.

I grew up in Upstate New York, so I know snow.  I even miss it from time to time.  When it started coming down this week, it was late evening and I went for a walk along our quiet lane, watching it fall, feeling it on my face and hands.  I literally luxuriated in it.

Bu then, as I recalled from my youth, the next day it turns to ice.  Driving and even walking become treacherous.  The longer it sticks around, the grayer and dirtier it gets.

What did I write while the snow was outside my window? How much of my next novel did I complete?  Nothing.  Nada.  I was distracted. 

That coupled with the political climate and ensuing chaos….well, any attempt at fiction was a bust this week.

How do you overcome distractions?  Here are a few suggestions. 

Have a place of your own that is conducive to creativity.  It’s your space to write.  It might be your office, a corner of your kitchen, or a table at the coffee shop.  For me, I have a man cave over the garage.  My desk is here, the lighting is good, and it’s quiet.  

Do you have a writing routine?  It helps to set aside a certain time of day….or night…that you can take the time to write.  I know some writers who get up early to write before they go off to their day job.  I know some writers who stay up late and hit their laptops until the wee hours of the morning.  For me, mid-afternoon is the sweet spot.

The biggest distraction?  The internet.  Notifications that chime when they come across my phone.  Emails that can’t wait, social media posts, or headlines from the multitude of websites demanding my attention---all of it sucking time. IGNORE IT!!!  Click bait is just that.  It’s created to attract eyeballs and eat your time.  

Writing a novel is daunting.  It’s huge.  Break that sucker down into manageable pieces.  For me, I think about the book in scenes or chapters.  I try not to view it as a big project but a lot of smaller projects. 

Need to take a break?  Get some exercise.  Take a walk, lift some weights, take a cruise on your bike.  Not only is it good for you, but it pumps that blood into your brain where you need it the most. 

There are so many distractions that can take you away from your writing.  Putting your words on paper is hard.  Finishing an article or column or…a book…is really difficult.  You have to have your own strategy to put you into that mindset and push out the rest of the world.  It might be meditation.  It might be a few minutes petting the dog while you have a cup of coffee.  It might be taking a stroll around the block.  Whatever it takes, do it. Writing is like being an athlete.  The more you practice, the better you are at your sport.  The more you write, the better you are at your craft. 

The rest of the world is working hard to get your attention.  You have to work even harder to keep you focus. 

What do YOU do to shut the rest of the world out and focus on your writing?

Critique Groups

 By Thomas Kies

In my creative writing classes, I often suggest that the participants join the North Carolina Writers Network and the local organization, our Carteret Writers.  It’s good to be in the company of people with similar interests. 

In addition, I suggest that they join a critique group.  Indeed, when my last class ended last spring, everyone asked if I would stay on and lead a critique group.  They even offered to pay me.  I told them that I would do it, but not for money.  I was working on a book at the time, and I wanted them to critique chapters as I wrote them.  

I loved it.  Plus, I finished the book. Oh, plus plus, we held the group in the side room of a cozy wine bar called the Club at the Webb.  It's in a historic old building that used to be a library and now is a meeting place and a coffee shop (and serves some of the best wine in the county).  See the photo above.

Writing is a lonely activity, but humans are social animals, and we crave community. We want to be part of a supportive environment.  As we write, we need feedback.  That’s why I strongly suggest that if you’re a serious writer, you join a critique group. 

When I teach a class, I try to be as positive as possible. Maybe, overly so.  My success is when a participant continues to write even when the class ends.  But in my critique group, the participants wanted me to be more forthright, less positive.  A good critique group should be honest but should offer constructive feedback.  It’s meant to help writers improve their craft.  

Sometimes that feedback is difficult to hear, but hopefully, it’s offered in a way that’s not hurtful but helpful. 

Different people offer different insights.  There were occasions when I thought certain pieces that were read in class didn’t work.  Not everyone would agree with me.  And that was okay.  Writing is an artform that’s subjective. 

A critique group forces you to write.  I know that life can get in the way and it’s easy to let your writing slide.  But if you have a meeting scheduled on a weekly basis, it makes you make time and that’s important if you’re going to succeed as a writer. 

A critique group can help you become more critical in your reading and your listening skills.  You’re spending more time thinking about the words and the context and how they’re put together.  

Yes, critique groups can be scary.  After all, you’re sharing your baby with the world.  You are asking people in the group to tell you what they like…and what they don’t like.  That’s not easy.  But one thing I tell my class when I teach, if you want to be a writer, you’d better have a thick skin.  Not everyone is going to like what you write. 

So, the bottom line is if you’re a writer, spend time with other writers and, of course, readers.  I can’t recall ever meeting another writer that wasn’t helpful and friendly.  

Bouchercon 2024

 By Thomas Kies

While it seems like a long time ago, it's only been a couple of weeks
that I had the pleasure of attending Bouchercon 2024. The Anthony Boucher Memorial World Mystery Convention, is an annual convention of creators and devotees of mystery and detective fiction. It is named in honor of writer, reviewer, and editor Anthony Boucher, and pronounced the way he pronounced his name, rhyming with "voucher".Unarguably the world’s largest mystery writers’ conference, this year’s event was held in Nashville and was attended by over 1,700 participants. 

Every time I go to Bouchercon, I come back, review my credit card statement, and ask myself, “Was it worth it?”

Of course it was.

If only from the standpoint of seeing some old friends, making some new friends, and getting the latest “scoop” from other writers, readers, publicists, voice actors, and folks who just love mysteries.  

It was held in the world’s largest Marriott hotel--the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center is like something out of a science fiction movie.  It’s basically a small city under a glass dome, complete with a river and boat, waterfalls, fountains, restaurants, bars, swimming pools, water attractions, and live music. The hotel consists of 3.3 million square feet of space, 2,888 guest rooms, and event space for a capacity of 10,000 people.

The first few days, literally everyone got lost getting from point A to point B. The hotel has its own directional app you download on your phone.  

On Thursday, my publisher and publicists organized an afternoon long book signing session for Poisoned Pen/Sourcebooks authors.  Each one of us easily went through a couple cases of books.  I love my publicists, and it was great to have a couple of drinks with them later in the evening, along with some other writers, and learned that the same people who represent my books, also represent Freida McFadden (the hot new “it” mystery writer on all the best seller lists).  

The next day I was on a panel entitled “That’s One Body They’ll Never Find”.  The intent, I believe, was to talk about real life crimes that helped shape you as a writer or you incorporated in your books.  It took a strange and morbid turn when, instead, we started off by recounting crimes that still haunt us. Many of them are unsolved. It got so dark that one of the panelists was in tears.

I finally offered to the audience that’s the reason we enjoy reading mysteries.  They have a satisfying ending.  The bad guy gets caught and justice is served.  

Wasn’t a lot of laughs on that panel. 

But the best part was hanging out with friends like Reed Bunzel, Tim Maleeny, John DeDakis, Terry Shepherd, and K.L. Murphy.  And running into some other old friends and catching up with Jeffrey Siger, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Reavis Wortham, Laurie King, and the legendary Martin Edwards. And then was special time meeting and getting to know Clay Stafford, the founder of the Killer Nashville Mystery Conference.  He’s an amazing guy. 

And of course, on Sunday, when the conference was winding down, I took an Uber into downtown Nashville to do some exploring.  It was blocks and blocks of bars and honky tonks.  All of them with live music and some with cowboys (or cowgirls) inviting you inside. 

Oh, if I was only my liver was twenty years younger.  

There were great panels and panelists and special events, but the best part was just being with other writers to talk about writing, publishing and how to hide the bodies.  Overall, worth the time and money.  Next year….New Orleans, baby.  www.thomaskiesauthor.com

Head Hopping

 

By Thomas Kies

For the last few months, I’ve been mentoring a critique group that meets every Monday night at a local wine bar.  The perfect location for the perfect Cabernet or Malbec and pleasant discussions about writing.

Most of the members of the critique group are holdovers from my last creative writing class. Once the class was over, they surprised me by offering to pay me (real money) to run a critique group.  I declined the cash but instead said that I’d run the group on one condition—that they critique chapters of the book that I was working on at the time. 

They accepted and we’ve been working together and drinking wine ever since.

One of the more heated discussions we entered was initiated by a writer who has self-published four books (a series of mysteries) and is eagerly looking for an agent and a traditional publisher.

When she read chapters from her new work in progress, I mentioned that she “head hopped” and I couldn’t get invested in the characters. 

I had warned them that I would be honest in my critiques of their writing.

Head hopping is when a story or a chapter is being told from a character’s perspective or point of view and then abruptly, it changes, and the story is being told from a different character’s perspective. 

When I mentioned this, she couldn’t believe that she’d done it.  I took her chapter home and physically marked off all the places she changed points of view…sometimes in the same paragraph.

She asked, “Why is that bad?  How else can I tell the reader what the characters are thinking?”

Let’s start with why it’s bad.  For one, it’s distracting as hell.  One of the reasons I was having a problem relating to the characters was that I was never sure who I was supposed to be relating to. When I read a book, I want to be immersed in that world, which means I’m seeing it through the eyes of the characters in that particular scene.  

You can’t do that if you’re flip flopping from character to character, hearing the thoughts of different people from one sentence to the next.

I suggested that the writer show me what someone is thinking.  If Sally is having angry thoughts, demonstrate it.  Have Sally throw a coffee cup across the room, screaming words that would make a sailor blush.

If Charlie is embarrassed, have him blush and turn away, staring at his own shoes.

Head hopping keeps the reader from becoming emotionally invested in a character and, worse yet, is confusing.

So, can you change POVs?  Of course you can.  Especially if you’re writing in omniscient third person POV.  But when you do, you should do it in some kind of scene break or in a new chapter.  Otherwise, it’s jarring and confusing.

So, that was a discussion that lasted over more than one glass of wine. 

Same writer, different discussion was the value of plot over character.  We’ll save that for another blog.  That also was a two-glass discussion.

Something New for Me--Historical Fiction

 By Thomas Kies

I’m nearly finished reading a fascinating book called Skies of Thunder by Caroline Alexander. Non-fiction, it’s set in World War II and describes the Burma/India/China theater of war, primarily the transport of supplies and men over the jungles and the Himalayan Mountains.  The terrain is treacherous, the weather is unpredictable and often fatal, the jungles are deadly, and the missions are notoriously muddled and confusing. 

In short, it’s mesmerizing. I’d love to set a mystery there.

I’ve tried writing historical fiction only once.  And there’s a reason for that.  The title of the book was Crossbones and, obviously from the title, it was about pirates.  It was set in 1692 and culminated in the destruction of the notorious pirate haven Port Royal, Jamaica, wracked by an earthquake and tidal wave.   

Not only was the end of Port Royal a disaster, but so was my novel
Crossbones.  I swore I’d never attempt a historical novel again.

Well, fifteen years later, maybe I’ve gotten my courage back.  I’ve always been fascinated with the forties (having been born only a few years later). I grew up listening to the music, watching the movies, and, more recently, glued to documentaries on the war. 

Now, we have some authors here on Type M for Murder who excel at historical fiction.  Admittedly, I do not. Hopefully, they can offer some advice.  But in the meantime, like any novice, I asked the internet for advice. 

In an article by M.K. Tod entitled 7 Elements of Historical Fiction, he lists these items that should be top of mind: Character, Setting, Dialogue, Theme, Plot, Conflict, and World Building.  

Really, not so different than a novel set in our current time. 

Just kidding---it’s way different.  

Let’s take character.  According to M.K. Tod, characters behave within the confines of the era they inhabit.  Obviously, if the story takes place during WWII, the protagonist isn’t going to be pulling out his cellphone. 

Dialogue is tricky.  You want to use some sentence structure and words of the era, but not so many as to be completely distracting to the reader.  I guess this is easier in a story from the forties than a tale from the Middle Ages. 

Setting…well, now, that can be fun, can’t it?  It will be different from what we’re used to, but that’s the joy of a historical novel.  This is where you can bring the past to life.

World building.  Isn’t that the same as setting?  Well, not really.  This is what was happening at the time including politics, world events, occupations, food, customs, social interactions and a lot more. 

Theme, plot and conflict---this is what I’m used to dealing with.  As I teach in my creative writing class, all stories have their basis in conflict.  

So, part of the allure for me is doing research. I can go back and listen to the music again, watch old films, and read the books about that time and place.  Like I tell the folks who take my class, try it on for size and see how it feels.  Write a chapter or two and see if it fits. 

Wish me luck.  And if you have any advice, please share with me.  

Happy writing!

My Crime Noir

  By Thomas Kies

I’ve been working feverishly on a book that I’m really excited about.  The working title is Exit Signs. The first draft of the last chapter is being written today.  Later this week, I’ll go back and reread and edit the manuscript one more time.  It’s very noir, a genre that I’ve always loved.  

The characters in my new book are deliciously flawed.  Nothing is what it seems. The setting is cold and grim. 

I’m having the best damned time. 

So, what exactly is noir fiction? It’s gritty and hardboiled. In many cases it’s centered around a P.I. or cop who is seriously flawed and self-destructive. But noir doesn’t necessarily require its protagonist to be a private investigator or an officer of the law.  Just watch Body Heat or read Double Indemnity by James Cain. 

Noir fiction often revolves around crimes that ultimately contribute to the downfall of the protagonist or other sympathetic characters. Noir fiction is
the ultimate example of no good deed goes unpunished. 

Some of the commonalities of noir fiction are:

1-They’re mysteries.  That’s a given.  But aren’t all stories mysteries?  Will Holmes uncover Moriarity's evil plot in time?  Will Juliet and Romeo live happily ever after? Will they live?  Will Batman defeat the Joker…again?  Thrillers, romance novels, adventure, fantasy, horror…no matter the genre, ultimately, they’re trying to answer questions and solve mysteries. 

But noir mysteries skulk down a very dark alley.  Speaking of alleys, have you seen the movie Nightmare Alley? It’s a wonderful example of noir that doesn’t have a cop as its protagonist. 

2- They often have a femme fatale. (What’s the male version of a femme fatale?  A rogue?) Brigid O’Shaughnessy in the Maltese Falcon is the perfect example of a femme fatale.  She weaves a tale of deceit and intrigue that Sam Spade has to negotiate making it a wonderfully dark tale. 

The actual definition of a femme fatale is: A captivating and dangerous female character often found in literature, film, and art. She combines beauty, charm, and cunning to manipulate and ensnare others, typically leading them to their downfall. These characters are mysterious, alluring, and often associated with crime, betrayal, or tragic outcomes.

The perfect girlfriend. 

3- They often have a gritty, urban setting.  Think New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, or San Francisco. But the book I’m writing takes place in the cold reaches of upstate New York in the dead of winter.  I grew up there.  From November to March, it’s frigid and gray.  The perfect setting for crime noir. 

4- It has a grim view of human nature.  Like I said before, they’re hardboiled stories, often with great dialogue and a lot of action.  But characters are motivated by their basest of instincts, driven by their lust for sex, power, and money. 

Characters in crime noir are flawed, the stories filled with danger and desperation, the plots riddled with despair, and the settings are bleak. 

Ah, crime noir.  To paraphrase a line from the Maltese Falcon. It’s the stuff that dreams are made of.  

Or nightmares. 

Is Coffee a Necessity for Creative Writing?

 By Thomas Kies

I’m hard at work on a new book (almost 240 pages into it) and I’m really excited with it.  It’s dark but not terribly violent and the protagonist, while professing his decency, makes decisions that could be considered borderline illicit. 

But what I’ve discovered is that the characters are drinking a hell of a lot of coffee.  So, I’m wondering, is it because I drink a hell of a lot of coffee? Admittedly, I feel the need for a hot cup on the table next to me as I write. I like the taste of it.  I enjoy the feel of the warmth of the cup in my hands…even on a hot day.  And yes, I like the addictive kick it gives me. 

My wife recently drove to Tupelo, Mississippi, to meet with her brother.  He lives in Texas and Tupelo is dead center between where we live and where he lives.  Tupelo also happens to be the birthplace of Elvis Presley.  So, Cindy, knowing I’m a coffee geek, brought me home something I don’t have—a coffee mug emblazoned with an image of the king with a tiny guitar serving as the handle.  

I began to wonder if other writers are coffee geeks.  I’ve read that a lot of writers work on their craft in coffee shops (something I’ve never been able to master---too many distractions).  But do they actually need the caffeine to be creative?  I found a few quotes that seem to confirm, coffee has its place in literary society.

"Where do you get inspiration for your books? I tell myself I can’t have another cup of coffee till I thought of an idea." — Douglas Adams 

"It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity. I bet this kind of thing does not happen to heroin addicts." — Dave Barry 

"I could settle down into a state of equable low spirits, and resign myself to coffee." — Charles Dickens. 

 "Reading in bed can be heaven, assuming you can get just the right amount of light on the page and aren't prone to spilling your coffee or cognac on the sheets." — Stephen King. 

"Even bad coffee is better than no coffee at all." — David Lynch. 

"Don’t look at me in that tone of voice." — Dorothy Parker (on having to interact with people before she's had coffee).  

"I believe humans get a lot done, not because we’re smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee." — Flash Rosenberg. 

"Coffee is a lot more than just a drink. It’s something happening. Not as in hip, but like an event, a place to be, but not like a location, but like somewhere within yourself. It gives you time, but not actual hours or minutes, but a chance to be, like be yourself." — Gertrude Stein.

"The best maxim I know in this life is, to drink your coffee when you can, and when you cannot, to be easy without it." — Jonathan Swift. 

So, get yourself a cup of your favorite brew, sit down in front of your laptop, and continue writing. 

Writers Gotta' Write

 By Thomas Kies

In a recent blog that’s gone viral written by Elle Griffin for the website www.Elysianpress.com, she refers to the time when Penguin Random House tried to buy Simon and Schuster in 2022.  The government brought a case against the merger saying that it would create a publishing monopoly and a judge ruled that the $2.2 billion acquisition could not take place. 

During the trial, a number of publishing houses and literary agencies testified, and some interesting numbers came to light. 

Ms. Griffin, in an essay that she wrote in 2020, stated, “only 268 titles sold more than 100,000 copies, and 96 percent of books sold less than 1,000 copies.”

Madeline Mcintosh, CEO of Penguin Random House US, when asked how many authors over a four-year period sold 500,000 units…she answered 50.  

The upshot of Ms. Giffin’s blog is that publishing houses gamble by buying books and paying low advances in the hopes that one of them will be that lightning in a bottle and hit it big.  The big advances are paid to celebrities like Brittney Spears and Prince Harry who have recognizable names, and the publishers feel are a comfortable bet. 

Now, admittedly, the numbers from Penguin Random House/Simon Schuster trial were meant to be depressing.  The reality is that more books are selling now than ever before.  Numbers that were tossed around in the trail were based on calendar years and not necessarily during the lifetime of the book.  It was a trial.  Isn’t everything about a trial depressing?

Books don’t go bad like vegetables or fruit.  My first book, RANDOM ROAD, continues to sell in bookstores to this day and it’s been around for seven years. Will any of my books make me rich?  Nah…not in money.  

Don’t kid yourself, getting published the traditional way is still hard.  Finding an agent, then finding a publisher, then getting bookshelf space and a place in libraries, getting the marketing message out…it’s all a slog. And even when you do, there’s no guarantee about anything.

Bottomline, publishing is a business.  They’re not in it to lose money, although, don’t kid yourself, many books do. 

But there are many publishing platforms and I know many writers who are happy using those publishing avenues.

There’s a joy when you hold one of your own books in your hands. There’s nothing quite like the feeling you get when someone tells you how much they enjoyed what you’ve written.  There’s an indescribably elation when you see one of your books on the bookshelf of library or in a bookstore. 

Before I was published, I had dreams of flying to New York, being picked up at the airport in a limo, being treated to lunch, then hustled off to a standing room only book signing.  Well...that doesn't happen.  At least to most of us.   

I recall that early in my writing career, I did a book signing and one person showed up.  That keeps you humble.  But to keep perspective, Don Winslow (if you don't know him, read him...he's terrific) in one of his first book signings, had one person buy his first book.  That person happened to be the owner of the bookstore, Barbara Peters who owns the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Arizona (and was my first publisher). 

I advise the students who take my creative writing class that writers gotta write.  We do it because we love it.  We do it because we want to tell stories.  We do it because we’ve got something to say.

To paraphrase a friend of mine, a wonderful writer by the name of Jeffrey Siger, “Writing is a hard way to make a living.  But it’s a great way to make a life.”

Curses! When To Use Them!

 By Thomas Kies

Swearing, cursing…include it in your dialogue?  Don’t include it?  Does it make what your characters are saying any less authentic?  Will you p*** off readers if you DO include it?

Full disclosure, I have a deep well of vocabulary to draw from when it comes to blue language.  Generally, I reserve it for when I’m driving alone, and another driver does something stupid or dangerous or both.  As long as the windows are up, it’s mostly harmless.  If I forget that my window is down, well, I’ve gotten some interesting responses to my observations.

Swearing, technically referred to as "using intensifiers," can be a potent tool in a writer's arsenal. A well-placed curse can convey a character's emotion more effectively than an entire paragraph of description. However, it's a delicate balance. Get it wrong, and it can sound gratuitous, silly, or just plain stupid. Get it right and it’s a gut punch.

I think the rule of thumb should be to be true to your genre.  If you’re writing war fiction, if you don’t use slang and bad language, it’s not going to sound realistic. You may not swear as much as real soldiers in combat (they swear all the time), but you have to create some semblance of reality.  If you don’t use blue language, you’ll sound like dialogue from a movie from the 1940s.

I specialize in crime fiction.  Working for newspapers and magazines most of my life, I’ve known good guys and I’ve known bad guys and they all swear copiously.  Writing dialogue as realistic as that would be tiresome, but not including it would sound fake. I can’t have a drug dealer shout, “Gosh darn it all to heck!”  Nor can I have a police captain growl, “Golly, get those cuffs on that astronaut.”

Oh, and politicians?  Get them away from the public and they also have a colorful vocabulary.  Surprisingly so. 

Cursing in a love scene?  You’re using a whole different set of words, and we can talk about that at another time.  Use the wrong words and you just sound like a bad porn movie. 

Why can swear words be a beautiful thing?

- They have the ability to shock.

- You can equate them to linguistic violence.

- They can mark extreme emotions, moods, or turning points.

- They can be used for comic effect. 

Now, you don’t always have to use street language, depending on the context.  Shakespeare had the ability to swear without really swearing.  He wrote the mother of all literary cuss-outs (cuss is simply a variant of curse) in King Lear, but interestingly there is no profanity or obscenity as we know it, merely terrifically imaginative vulgarisms, delivered with passion. Here it is, the Earl of Kent preparing to thrash the crap out of Goneril’s loathsome lackey, Oswald:

"Knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-liver’d, action-taking, whoreson, glass-gazing, superserviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch, one whom I will beat into clamorous whining if thou deniest the least syllable of thy addition.

I don’t think I’ll use any of that the next time I’m in a bar or shooting pool, but it’s worth thinking about.

Now, can you lose readers due to foul language? Of course, but why on earth would they be reading crime fiction if they have a weak constitution?  Have a great f****** week and keep writing.

Looking at Things in New Ways

By Thomas Kies

On Valentine’s Day, my first cataract surgery took place.  Romantic, huh?

It was my left eye and before the surgery, it had gotten so that I could barely see out of it.  My vision faded so slowly, so subtly, that I didn’t notice it until it got really bad. 

Once that surgery took place, one eye was still nearsighted, as it had been since I was five years old, and the left eye was now farsighted.  My brain was flummoxed. 

Some people say it wasn’t a new scenario.

Then, last Tuesday, my right eye underwent surgery.  Now I’m not wearing glasses, for nearly the first time in my life. 

It’s weird.

However, now I need “readers” for reading, obviously, and writing and working on my laptop.  I won’t get the prescription specs that I need until sometime next week so I’m using glasses I found in Walgreens.  A stopgap measure at best.

What’s this got to do with writing?  I’m now more keenly aware than ever how much we rely upon our eyesight for everything and what it means when it comes to writing.  Not only logistically, but creatively. 

Describing a scene, we usually start with what it looks like.  As I tell my writing class, you should incorporate all the senses—sounds you hear, scents you detect, what things feel like.  You want to bring the reader into the scene. 

As an example, here is an excerpt from my first book, Random Road:

 

I poured a healthy serving of Glenlivet for Kevin and tumbler of Absolut over ice for me. Then I suggested, “How about we go out and sit on the porch?”

We sat in chairs next to each other and breathed in the night air, thick with the sweet scent of roses that my landlady, Mrs. Soldaro, had planted all around the base of the front porch. A history of the universe twinkled down at us in the form of a sky full of stars.  Crickets and cicadas hummed and chirped, giving auditory proof that the earth was a living, breathing entity.

I took a long, hard sip of vodka, the ice tinkling against my teeth, the liquid lighting a fire in my throat and igniting a familiar heat in my stomach.  Almost immediately, the warmth and a sense of well-being stole into my consciousness.   I took a deep breath.  The world was okay.

 

So, I’m getting used to the new vision and editing and tweaking what I hope will be my next Geneva Chase novel.  I’m also marveling over how fresh and new colors look.  I'm enjoying the new experience. 

It’s a unique opportunity, seeing things for the first time through fresh eyes.  I guess that’s what we try to do for our readers. Look at things in new ways.

Really? JAWS is fifty years old?

 By Thomas Kies

Fifty years…that sounds like a long time ago, and I guess it was.  But sometimes it doesn’t seem like it. 

I read in the Washington Post that it was fifty years ago that Patty Hearst was kidnapped.  For those of you who don’t recall, Patricia Hearst was the heir of the Hearst fortune, scheduled to be married, when she was targeted and kidnapped by a rag tag, disorganized group of far-left terrorists called the Symbionese Liberation Army. 

Shortly afterward, she renounced her “class privilege” and appeared to have joined the terrorist group calling herself “Tania”.  After a series of bank robberies and shootouts, many with deadly results, she was captured.  

At her trial, she claimed that she was brainwashed, raped, and suffered from “Stockholm Syndrome” where a captive begins to identify and empathize with his or her captors. Even so, she was found guilty and sentenced to 35 years in prison, reduced to seven years.  Her sentence was commuted at 22 months by President Carter and eventually pardoned by President Bill Clinton. 

While reading this account, I tried to recall what books were released fifty years ago.  These are a few of what I found:

Carrie--Stephen King (think about how many books he’s written since that one was first published)

Helter Skelter--Vincent Bugliosi

Jaws—Peter Benchley (think about how many times you’ve heard that iconic clip of music for the movie)

All the President’s Men—Carl Bernstein 

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy—John Le Carre`

Centennial—James Michener. 

The Seven Per Cent Solution—Nichola Meyer (think about how many Sherlock Holmes books have been written since then) 

Coincidentally, Marc Jaffe, an editor who worked for Bantam, recently passed away at the age of 102.  He worked on Jaws when it was originally published, as well as such blockbusters as The Exorcist, Catcher in the Rye, and 90 Minutes at Entebbe.  He was a legend in the publishing business. 

Fifty years sounds like a long time, but when it comes to stories, some of them feel much younger than that—books that stand the test of time and live in our collective consciousness. When you’re a writer, you hope that happens with your own work.  

Have a great week and happy writing.  

Read Your Work Out Loud

   By Thomas Kies

I was recently one of the judges in a short story contest called “Winter Hauntings”.  The winners were celebrated at a ticketed event with music and wine.  They were also treated to hearing professional actors read their stories aloud to the audience.  

One of them told me, “That was an adrenaline rush!”

I get it.  We’re in rehearsals for a mystery dinner theater I’ve written.  This one is called the Reading of Dr. Bell’s Will.  It’s a combination of live theater, video, and live music—I guess you could call it mixed media.  

It’s my second opportunity to be a playwright. 

The joy of doing these is not just that it raises a lot of money for the college and our local theater, but I get to hear and see my characters come to life.  

It’s an adrenaline rush. 

When I’m teaching my creative writing class, I advise my students to read their work aloud, not necessarily to any kind of audience, but to themselves to hear it.  It’s one thing to see your sentences and your words on the screen of a laptop or on a sheet of paper, but if you listen to it, you get a better feel for how flows.  

Is it clunky? Is the dialogue not believable? Does that word feel awkward? Should I delete that adjective? 

As part of my class, every week, I ask my students to write about a thousand words after I give them a writing prompt.  Then at the next class, they stand up and read what they’ve written.

That’s scary.

Even after this many years, I still get the yips when I read my own work in public.  

But in my class, after the student has read the piece they’ve written, we applaud.  Then we go around the room and talk about what we like about it.  And then, and only then, do we spend time talking about how we might make the piece stronger. 

I want it to be a positive experience. And one where the people in the class see how important it is to hear what you write. 

According to the Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this is why you read your work aloud. “As listeners, we need the order of ideas in a paper to make sense. We can’t flip back and forth from page to page to try to figure out what is going on or find information we need. When you hear your paper read out loud, you may recognize that you need to re-order the information in it or realize that there are gaps in your explanation. Listeners also need transitions to help us get from one main idea to the next. When you hear your paper, you may recognize places where you have moved from one topic to another too abruptly.

Sometimes sentences aren’t grammatically incorrect, but they are still awkward in some way—too long, too convoluted, too repetitive. Problems like these are often easily heard. Hearing your paper can also help you get a sense of whether the tone is right. Does it sound too formal? Too chatty or casual? What kind of impression will your voice in this paper make on a reader? Sometimes hearing your words helps you get a more objective sense of the impression you are creating—listening puts in you in something more like the position your reader will be in as he/she moves through your text.”

By the way, the dinner theater will take place on February 8 and 9 at the Carteret Community College Culinary Building and you can purchase tickets here:  www.carteretcommunitytheatre.com 

Have a great week and keep on writing…and reading.  

Is Your Protagonist "Different"?

 By Thomas Kies

I recently finished two books back-to-back that I enjoyed but for completely different reasons.  The Maid by Nita Prose and Holly by Stephen King.  

The Maid was described by the Washington Post as “A cozy mystery to take along on vacation . . . a lighthearted mystery that shines as Molly evolves and learns to connect.”

The book blurb for Holly reads “Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.”

These are two completely different novels with one interesting likeness.  Their protagonists are neurodivergent.  Until recently, I’d never even heard the term.  

According to Forbes Health "Everyone’s brain operated differently.  For the average individual, brain functions, behaviors and processing are expected to meet the milestones set by society for developmental growth.  For those who veer either slightly, or significantly, outside of these parameters, their brain functions could be classified as neurodivergent.”

It goes on to say,” Neurodivergent is a non-medical umbrella term that describes propel with variation in their mental functions, and can included conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other neurological or developmental conditions such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),”

The protagonist for The Maid, Molly Gray, is clearly autistic and utterly charming.

The protagonist for Holly, Holly Gibney, seems to be on the spectrum…and is utterly charming.

In spite of some of the descriptions, I’m not sure I’d describe the Maid as a “cozy”.  But it is fun to read and when you’re finished, you’ll feel good.

Holly, on the other hand, is grim, and as the book cover describes, “gruesome”. King’s writing is wonderful, of course, but I was happy to be done with the book.  

By the way, it was one of King’s more political novels.  He doesn’t pull any punches about people who refuse to get vaccinated for Covid, wear masks, and there’s no love lost for Donald Trump in the book. 

That’s not why I was happy when I got to the ending of Holly. While this was a mystery/thriller it was also classic King horror and this one got under my skin. 

In both books, the protagonist is “different”.  

Isn’t that what we want in our heroes?  We want them to be brave, of course, and driven, like a dog with a bone when it comes to solving mysteries and righting wrongs.  But we also want them to be different than regular people.  

The protagonists should be memorable and someone we care about.  A terrific example is Sue Grafton’s character Kinsey Millhone.  

And if it’s someone we don’t immediately identify with, we want to be fascinated by them, like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot. 

Then there's the protagonists who are quirky like Monk and Columbo. My own recurring protagonist, Geneva Chase, has plenty of quirks of her own--drinks too much, makes bad life decisions, has questionable morals.  But she has a good heart and readers identify with her and like her.  

So, in your own “work in progress”, what makes your protagonist different?  What makes him or her likable? 

Favorite Holiday Tales

 by Thomas Kies

My third Geneva Chase mystery, Graveyard Bay, takes place shortly before Christmas.  Now, under no circumstances would I classify it as a holiday tale.  Of all my
novels, Graveyard Bay is probably the darkest.  Whips, chains, assassinations, jailbreaks—not a lot of eggnog moments.  Toward the end, I broke down and gave Geneva a proper holiday ending, but that’s not the kind of girl she is. We know she’s really not going to enjoy it.  Pour her another Absolut.

When someone asked me what my favorite Christmas movie is, I immediately answered Die Hard.  Filled with murder, action, explosions, gun play and Bruce Willis wisecracks, there aren’t a lot of warm and fuzzy holiday moments.  But in the words of that infamous bad guy, Hans Gruber, “It’s Christmas, it’s the time of miracles, so be of good cheer and call me when you hit the last lock.”  Yippee-ki-yay.

Curious about everyone else, I reached out on my social media platforms and asked what their favorite Christmas story, book, or movie is.  The book (and many movies it spawned) named, overwhelmingly, was A Christmas Carol.

There’s no need to recount the story because we all know it, but a couple of little-known facts are: the book was published on December 17, 1843 and was sold out in three days. By the end of 1844, thirteen editions had been printed. Dickens began writing the novella in October and finished it in six weeks to have it ready before Christmas.

One last fact, Mark Twain was in the audience when Dickens did a reading (actually, more of a performance than a reading) in New York and gave him a tepid review.  “There is no heart.  No feeling.  It is nothing but glittering frostwork.”

Before his readings, Dickens would drink two tablespoons of rum with cream for breakfast. Later, he would have a pint of champagne, and just before the performance, he would drink a sherry with a raw egg beaten into it. During the reading, he would sip beef tea and would have soup just before bed. Much like Graveyard Bay and Die Hard, there’s not a lot of laughs in A Christmas Carol.  It does have a satisfying story arc.

The number one movie pick in my unofficial poll was It’s a Wonderful Life.  Here’s a little known fact about it.  Philip Van Doren Stern, an author, editor, and Civil War historian was inspired by a dream he had, based on A Christmas Carol, and wrote a 4000 word short story called The Greatest Gift.  He shopped it around, but couldn’t get it published.  So, in 1943, he printed 200 copies and sent them out as Christmas cards to his friends.  Someone showed it to a producer at RKO Pictures who gave it to Cary Grant to read.  The actor was interested in playing the lead and the studio purchased the film rights for $10,000.

Grant eventually passed on it, however, and Liberty Films bought the rights and George Capra made the film calling it It’s a Wonderful Life. Should you forget, there are some mighty dark scenes in that movie as well.

The next most popular movie choice was Miracle on 34th Street. Look hard at Kris Kringle’s Foley Square trial scenes.  If it looks vaguely familiar, it’s because in the movie The Godfather, those are the same steps where Barzini is murdered. Interestingly, the comedy Christmas Vacation came in third.  This was the last film for Mae Questal who played Aunt Bethany.  She started her career as the voice of the cartoon character Betty Boop in 1931, then voiced Olive Oyl starting in 1933 in the Popeye series of cartoons. And in the movie, look closely at the kid playing Rusty.  He’s actually Johnny Galecki, who went on to become a megastar as Leonard Hofstadter in the series Big Bang Theory.

Some honorable mentions in the poll were White Christmas, Holiday Inn, Christmas Story, Polar Express, Elf, Bells of St. Mary’s, Mixed Nuts, Home Alone, and Nightmare Before Christmas.

Other than A Christmas Carol and the Bible, the only other literary vote was cast by my daughter-in-law, Gillian.  She says, “There’s a series of children’s books by Graham Oakley about church mice.  I’ve always loved Church Mice at Christmas. The written story is entertaining, but the illustrations are what really tie everything together.  My mother and I would spend hours looking through the book, finding little nuances and clues about what will happen next.”

Gillian hits it on the head when she talks about how she and her mother bonded over that story. Perhaps that’s why we have favorite holiday stories and movies.  We have warm memories of sharing them with our families and friends.  Tearing up a little when a bell rings and an angel gets his wings or laughing our butts off when Cousin Eddie shows up unannounced and uninvited at the front door.

So, step away from your Work in Progress, close your laptop, pour yourself some eggnog and spend some time with people you love. Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas!

Weather or Not?

 By Thomas Kies

On Saturday I was the emcee at a Small Business Vendor Holiday event at our local community college where I also happen to teach Creative Writing.  There were 140 vendors that were in attendance, and I’d be introducing local dance and singing acts.  It was an all-day event and in return for my services, they kindly gave me a spot to put up a tent, set up a table, and sell and sign a few books.

I thought, what the heck?  This was a holiday event.  What makes a better gift under the tree than a mystery signed by the author?

Things never go as planned.

On Thanksgiving, just a few days prior to the event, the weather here on the coast of North Carolina was sunny and in the seventies. On Saturday, the temps had dropped to the high forties—low fifties and the winds had picked up to gusts of over twenty miles per hour. 

I started the morning by unloading the car and then attempting to put up the canopy.  In that wind, trying to do that alone, it became a hilarious wrestling match.  The struggle was not only to put it up, but to keep it from flying away and becoming a lethal missile.  

After a half-hour battle, I was sweating, breathless, and frustrated.  I looked around to see if I could find one of the other vendors to give me a hand.  They were all having the same problem.

Most had reached the logical conclusion which was not to put the canopy up at all. 

While overcast, it wasn’t supposed to rain so I put the tent back into the back of my car and parked it in the adjoining lot.  Then I set up the table and had a similar problem with the tablecloth.  It was like something out of a Buster Keaton movie.

I’d have one end of the tablecloth laid down when the other end would go flying around as if it was possessed by a demon.  Since my wares were books, they ended up being my weights. 

It was a smaller than expected crowd.  As I said, the weather was cold and very windy.  Many vendors gave up and went home early.  Cindy, my wife, joined me a little later in the morning and that helped rejuvenate my spirits. She gamely greeted shoppers as they drifted by and even managed to sell books when I was on stage introducing the next gaggle of kids choreographed to dance to Christmas Carols. 

When she started to shiver however, I asked her to go home.  I stuck it out the rest of the day and I did sell more books than I should have on that miserable afternoon.

Okay, so it wasn’t the most conducive day to sell books.  But it’s the kind of day I enjoy when I’m writing. Here it is, the day after and still cold, not as windy, but dark and it’s raining off and on.  For me, that’s perfect writing weather.  

If it’s sunny and warm, I feel like I should be outside doing something.  If it’s nasty out, I love being inside with a cup of hot coffee, listening to some soft music, and sitting in front of my laptop, knocking out another chapter or two.  

Our environment is an important part of our writing process.  Some of us can be more productive when we’re free of distractions while some other writers are happier in a bustling coffee shop.  Some of us love to listen to a little jazz while we create, and others need total silence.

When I teach my creative writing class, one of the subjects we discuss is finding a place that’s comfortable for you, a place where you can feel creative.  And to get into the rhythm of writing every single day.  

Where do you like to write and does the weather impact your writing? Do you enjoy music while you’re creating or do you need the quiet? 

www.thomaskiesauthor.com