HOLIDAYS MAKE GREAT TIMES--GREAT SETTINGS FOR MYSTERIES ...

PLUS CHECK OUT THE FUN CONTEST AT MY WEBSITE

Some years ago, M. K. Wren (Conan Flagg series) taught in a mystery writing class that good mystery stories perched on a three-legged stool. The three legs are character, setting and plot. Most of us think that plot is the essential piece. But ponder this. Plots depend upon interesting characters that you care about, otherwise you probably won't finish the book. The best plot twists in the world can't save a story if the the characters are literally paper thin.

Sometimes, as with Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, zany characters, the ones you become fond of like kooky relatives, can carry dull plots. You as the reader are more indulgent of them, and consequently of the plot, even it does run shallow.

Thinking of settings, plots and characters, I'd have to amend what I said above . . . perhaps. (Throwing stones while sitting in a glass house, don't you know.) I've posted a quick, short Christmas story at my website you might enjoy at my website www.patriciaharrington.com. "The Last Chance Gift" has an unlikely but plucky amateur sleuth. Please zip over and take a look at it and send me a note. In the story, was there one "leg" that stood out? Was the story more about setting, character or plot? Please let me know and while at it . . .

ALSO, ENTER MY FUN, FREE CONTEST:

Tell me in a sentence or two, the following--

Who is or are your favorite mystery protagonist(s)--detectives or sleuths.

And then tell me why.

The winner, randomly drawn, will receive a $10 Amazon gift certificate. Go have fun and play a bit! www.patriciaharrington.com

Yours in mystery,

Pat

MULTI-TASKING: WRITING, PROMOTING AND CHARACTERS THAT WANT TO TAKE OVER

Writing the darn novel and also doing pre-promotion or marketing is a challenge.

"Why bother? You ask.

Because the nature of fiction writing for authors in these days is not only finishing the blooming novel but also hawking it to the world at large.

For example, my work in progress, MURDER VISITS ANTIGUA will have just a teeny, tiny window before it's published and a big event happens where I might be able to make beaucoup bucks--or at least approach a captive-reading audience.

Antigua is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean and will be one of the major venues next summer for the ICC or Cricket World Cup Matches. Supposedly, some 50,000 visitors will squeeze into the tiny Bird International Airport in St. John's and then fan out in exhaustion to various resorts on the island.

I figure that besides the avid cricket fans, there should be slews of female companions and/or wives, who will only want to sun on the beach with a good whodunit--a Golden Age mystery, i.e., Murder Visits Antigua, featuring a new amateur sleuth by the name of Aunt Amelia.

Yes, Aunt Amelia is a cross between Agatha Christie and Miss Marple, and I am having a ball with her character. Sometimes she raps me smartly on the knuckles to catch my attention: "Young lady," she says. "I'm not that old that I can't have a roving eye cast in my direction."

Apparently, she doesn't want to be relegated to lace shawls and gray hair done in a bun!

"But then," I argue. "I'll have to make you younger than I intended."

"Well, I can be mature, a widow, but not feeble in body."

The look Amelia casts, shrivels. It's the kind given by old school marms who brooked no disobedience or backtalk. Amelia goes on to say, "I thought you were a 21st century kind of author. What are you doing, stereotyping me?"

"Well, I want to reach readers that like cozy mysteries, and puzzling out the 'whodunit' of the story along with a smart, intuitive sleuth."

At this point in our exchange, I let out a big sigh, one that scatters the papers by my computer. I have enough problem with my own flesh-and-blood relatives without my fictional aunt getting pushy.

Politely, I tell Aunt Amelia to take a break for now, I will attend to her. At the moment, though, I'd like to get back on track with this blog and tell about a PRE-PROMOTION stint that I did.

I went to a dinner dance conducted by the Antigua and Barbuda Association of British Columbia. The invitation came through an acquaintance made on an Antigua Tourist Forum on the Internet. Like penpals of old, we became comfortable writing back and forth, and Donna, a member of the association, said, "Come on up to Vancouver, B.C. and join us for the weekend celebration of Antigua and Barbuda's Independence Day." Antigua just celebrated 25 years of independence, moving from British colony to status as a nation state in the Commonwealth.

Well, I went and had a blast. The prime minister of Antigua was there with his wife, and I met them and other dignitaries associated with the island and the Caribbean. Talked about my book, made valuable connections about where I might do book signings, and generally had a good time dancing to reggae music and eating wonderful Antiguan food.

So, if there's a quick lesson to this long blog, it is this:

1)Make your characters behave--within reason. Be attentive to their idiosyncrasies that will make readers like or identify with them, but don't let them run away with your story; and

2) Use the Internet and contacts on forums, blogs and other websites to pre-promote your book and compile a list of marketing contacts. It's what a good publicist or PR person would do, and so should you and I as authors.

That's it for now,

Yours in mystery,

Pat
P. S. GO TO THIS GREAT BLOG LINK for interesting stuff on MARKETING PLATFORMS FOR AUTHORS
http://www.writeandpublishyourbook.com/Marketing/Internet-Marketing/Author-Jones-Builds-a-Platform/

THE ROAD TO YOU-KNOW-WHERE
IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS

The last time I posted here, my intention was to finish a novel in about two months. Not! Life, trips, a little illness and a whole lot of procrastination led me down a dark, stormy and wayward path. But I am back on track now.

Perhaps the lesson here for all writers is not to beat up yourselves for failing to meet a goal, but to get back on that horse, bike, chair and type away. I'm doing that now, though paying a bit of penance, by stopping to write this blog.

In the meantime, I have been working on pre-promotion for this mystery-in-progress, MURDER VISITS ANTIGUA. I've also done a bit of pre-promotion and a warmer-upper by writing a short speculative fiction piece about Antigua. It has been accepted by Amazon! "Antiguan Memories" is set in the 1930's and the story involves a disillusioned Anglican priest, a mute Antiguan boy and the spirit of a murdered slave girl. Amazon is publishing short stories now under the label of "Amazon Shorts." The stories can be downloaded as a PDF file or kept in a virtual library at Amazon. The cost of each story is only 49 cents! Such a deal!

To see a bit about the story go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Antiguan-Memories/dp/B000GH3K7C/ref=sr_11_1/103-8858028-9085440?ie=UTF8

That's it for now,

Yours in mystery,

Pat

Mystery Writing Tips Over Time . . . The Good Ones Still Work

Recently, I ran across a book on Mystery Fiction: Theory & Techniques by Marie F. Rodell. The "how-to" book was published 63 years ago. Some things don't change over time. In this case, it's the tips on what works when writing mysteries. The author was editor of The Bloodhound, a magazine of crime fiction, and she also was the author of three mystery novels.

Some of Rodell's advice includes "play fair with the reader." Plant clues and have a reasonable logic as to how the crime . . . make that murder . . . is solved. She stresses that the reader should close the book at the end and say, "Oh, of course, he/she did it!" All the clues were there and fair game for the reader to find. Rodell also stresses that setting and characters are more than accessories to color the story. She points out that the two are vital in driving the narrative and providing logical underpinnings to the story. In fact, Rodell likens crafting mystery novels to that of constructing a house. That was an interesting analogy for me because one of my novel writing instructors, Frank Lambirth, also described the process for building a good mystery in just the same way.

One of the closing chapters was on "The Economics of Mystery Fiction." Please keep in mind that we're talking circa 1943 here.

Rodell states, "The average mystery writer makes from the sale of his book in book form no more than five hundred dollars." She goes on to add, "The most successful mystery authors, at the very top of the heap, sell between fifteen and twenty thousand copies of each book." Rodell also points out that a good writer should be able to churn out two mystery novels a year.

How to do that? Complete a first draft in two months, the author says. Write without pausing to finesse words or parse paragraphs, and then do the cleanup, fine-tuning and checking for flow and logic. Sounds so simple, doesn't it?

But it's easier written about here than done. I know in my own case, I've been fooling around forever with my work-in-progress, Murder Visits Antigua!

Two months . . . Do you suppose? Hmmm . . . Maybe . . .

I'll give it a shot!

Yours in mystery,

Pat

THE MYSTERY GENRE . . . GETTING RESPECT

There are some wonderful lists related to the mystery genre. A few include Tony Burton's Crime and Suspense www.crimeandsuspense.com, the Short Mystery Fiction Society (SMFS) list shortmystery@yahoo.com , and of cource, the Dorothy L list at listserv@listserv.kent.edu.
There are many others, but these are a few I enjoy. The point of mentioning these lists is that frequently, there's heated discussion about mysteries and the genre not getting the respect it deserves in the hierarchy of what is considered literature.

Debate swirls around whether it's a matter of semantics, the style and/or quality of the writing, the worthiness or seriousness of the story itself, and even, on which publisher is backing the book. Some of the mystery writers I meet, feel that they are slightly second class, standing at a distance, apart from the literati.

I'm proud of being a mystery writer and I'm doing exactly what I wanted when setting out to write fiction. While I dabble in other genres, I enjoy the mystery. Perhaps that's because I write pretty much a traditional one, where in the end, "justice is served."

I read somewhere that the first mystery story, if you will, was written by Cicero. And on a taped seminar given by P.D. James, she said that a long time ago, mysteries were a kind of morality play. Not preaching, but helping a society to see where boundaries were and what lines should not be crossed or--there was a recompense (justice done).

As my teenage granddaughter might say, with a shrug, "What-ever!"

If the story resonates with one reader. If there is one nod of appreciation or smile when the reader finishes the last page and closes the book--then I'm happy.

My work's done as an author.

Yours in mystery and respect,

Pat Harrington

TAIL WAGGING TALE

I’d readily say that getting my second book in the Bridget O’Hern series rewritten was a major triumph. It was a case of dogged determination, and perspiration--not inspiration. Why on earth would anyone rewrite a 72,000-word story that had already been revised umpteen times?
The answer: To keep a small and loyal group of readers, and all of them owners of Norwegian Elkhounds, also affectionately known as “moosedogs.”

It began innocently enough . . ..

My first mystery novel was DEATH STALKS THE KHMER (DSTK) and featured Bridget O’Hern, a series sleuth. I gave her a pet, a dog named-Narvik, to add depth to her life. Narvik was patterned after our own family dog of the same name. The real Narvik was loyal and wonderful throughout her 16 years with us. I’ll always believe Narvik helped our son through a serious illness by sleeping with him and giving him comfort. So it was natural to have a fictional Narvik helping my protagonist who was recovering from a severe depression.

A few months after DSTK was released, I started on DEATH COMES TOO SOON (DCTS). In the meantime, readers as far away as the UK and South Africa who had read DSTK began to write me. They said that they were absolutely delighted to find a beginning mystery series that had “not just a Northern breed dog, but an actual Norwegian Elkhound.” I was even asked to do a book signing at the Puget Sound AKC Dog Show.

Finally, it dawned on me that I had a problem. I had completed DCTS, but had left Narvik at home in chapter one with Bridget’s sidekick! In the story, Bridget goes out of town to the Oregon coast to work with an art league, and it didn’t make sense to have her take the dog along.

However, leaving the dog would never do, not if I wanted to keep and appeal to this niche of readers.

So I rewrote the novel and had Narvik accompany Bridget, which threw off the narrative. I had to remember to feed the dog, bring it inside and outside, and clean up after her from one chapter to another. Sometimes, I had Narvik attend meetings with Bridget (well, not many). After about six chapters, I got into the swing of things and had Narvik cozy up to the Interim Police Chief who was giving Bridget a hard time. The plot took some unexpected twists (characters do get away from me). To my surprise at about chapter nineteen, Bridget and Narvik find a stray cat . . . in a burned-out building, yet!

By the end of the novel, Bridget has solved the whodunit and she and Narvik are headed home to St. Mary’s Corner, an actual historic spot in Washington State. Of course, the cat is with them, too.

It was easy to figure an appropriate name for the cat that “rose from the ashes.” If you think you can guess it, too, drop me a line or e-mail me at authorwrites@aol.com. If you’re correct, I’ll send a small prize.

Yours in mystery and writing,

Pat

Writing Short-Short Mystery Stories and the Short Mystery Fiction Society

Is it craft or desperation that makes a story short in length? It takes craft to create a story with a conflict, climax and conclusion in a hundred words or less. Often, it is desperation that drives the writer to want to be done with the dang thing, wrapping the story up prematurely . . . or chucking it into a wastebasket as the alternative.Just how short can a short, short story be?

Try 55 words. Yes, there are 55 word stories, though their longer (older) brethern and sisteren expand into the low thousands in terms of number of words. But short for most of the current short mystery markets means somewhere around 3,000 words or under. Yes, you can go longer. But if characters and plot need to have space to grow and roam, then perhaps they might function better in a novel-length treatment.

Here's a story that I published a few years back, and it runs about 110 words. It was for a flash fiction market, sometimes these short-short markets are also called micro fiction.

FRESH START
The New Year!A time for resolutions. I sit down with pen and paper.

lose 25 pounds
check out new BMW
call travel agent about Tuscany
buy nine mm
oops

I open the desk drawer, take out the loaded gun and then cross out the last item.

get rid of husband
make death look like intruder
collect insurancelive happily ever after
~~

Writers are always looking for markets, and I've included a few below. In addition, I belong to the Short Mystery Fiction Society group (shortmystery@yahoogroups.com). Take a look at it. Each year, the organization holds the Derringer Awards for the best short mystery stories. There are different categories for different word lengths. SMFS is a worthy group to join if you want to have writer camaraderie and helpful tips about writing and markets.

Browse the markets below, some favor traditional mysteries, some noir or hardboiled. All want good writing and an interesting story.

And as always,

Happy Writing and Good Reading

Mysterical-e Ezine - www.mystericale.com
Crime and Suspense Ezine - www.crimeandsuspense.com
Hardluck Stories - www.hardluckstories.com
posted by Patricia Harrington @ 8:39 AM

CATS OR DOGS . . .
WHICH MAKES THE BETTER CREATIVE MUSE?

A 16 lb. Traditional Siamese blocks my monitor as I write. Good thing that I touch type and don't have to see the screen. Okay. Ash the Man (really, the cat) has moved to the desk and onto my papers where he's settling in for a nap.

Back to the subject at hand.

I realized this morning that it is harder to get inspiration from a dog than a cat in creating a mystery story. My series sleuth Bridget O'Hern has Narvik, a Nowegian Elkhound, who serves as her companion. Narvik does not play the creative muse. She actually functions more as a rescuer, pulling Bridget out of trouble. In that role, Narvik helps to move the plot along and add story texture.

So as a muse, a dog is not--though I dearly loved the real Narvik, our family dog, who lived to be 16 years old.

On the other hand, my three cats have prompted more than one mystery story. They not only inspired some story ideas, they also figured in them. Not the real kitties, but their fictional counterparts. Sadly, cats seem to play villainous roles very well.

What is it about the cat's character that makes them more servicable in the "bad guy" role? Perhaps, it is their independence that has them tolerating human kind. Even the most loving of cats seem to observe their humans with a certain detachment. Dogs, on the other hand, are compliant, eager to please--wired to be helpers.

Cats are very good at being under foot, too. That thought alone triggers a possible method and a potential opportunity for a mystery story. Now if a motive such as jealousy is added, then we have the three legs to the stool on which our mystery sits.

Which brings me to my flash fiction mystery stories. Cats, with their speed, seem to work quite well in mini-mysteries. I just sold "Secondhand Shoe" to KR Mullin's Flash Fiction zine, in which Cassie the cat played a very prominent role.

Let's see, shoes, steps, falls . . . you get the idea.

Happy Writing and Good Reading!

Pat

TRAVELING . . . DELAYED FLIGHT . . . MAKING TIME PRODUCTIVE

Like many, I've had my share of delayed departures and long waits. Typically, the easiest way to deal with them is to curl up on a bench and catch a snooze, using my laptop for a hard pillow. The other alternative is to stick my nose in a book and ignore the airport clock with its slow-moving hands.

However, I've found a better alternative. After all, airports, bus stops and train stations are all great places to observe human nature. So I sit with my laptop open, fingers on keyboard, observe and write. I write down facial expressions, body types and snatches of interesting conversations. I file these under "Character Development." Later, when I need to find a disgruntled uncle type--and I have none in my family--I scan my file. Images flood back, and I find pieces of what I need from my own collection.

In particular, I take down notes about the clothing of travelers who obviously are of a different national origin than I am. I quickly describe the person's dress or clothing, color, apparent texture, how it fit. If a couple are talking, I try to catch a bit of their interplay, enough to write the inflection, placement of words, than might show a different orientation to spoken English. (Of course, if the conversation is intimate, personal, I don't copy.)

I feel much better about using this "delayed departure" time productively. Granted, I could work on my novel in progress, but I seem to balk at doing that in airport terminals.

Doing the note taking salves my conscience.

Good writing to you,

Pat Harrington

A GOOD PERSONALITY TEST FOR MYSTERY WRITERS

For the writers among us, there's a fun quiz to take on your "Personal Brilliance." (www.mypersonalbirlliance.com/assessement)

You're rated on four characteristics: Awareness, Curiosity, Focus and Initiatve. All seem to be necessary qualities for anyone delving into the murky waters of writing mysteries and having them published!

My one-liner score assessment came back with this:

YOU ARE A DETECTIVE!

I kid you not. Finally, I've been justified and verified. Perfect! I am, after all, a mystery writer.The mysterious "they" who score such things, gave me high marks on awareness, curiosity and initiative. But--I fell down on that "focus" thing.

Why am I not surprised.

After all, I am curiously aware of all that's going on around me. I find browsing on the Net--following threads from kitty cat blogs to Theravada Buddhism-- to be a creative infusion. Of course, my Web wanderings do take me away from the novel-in-progress.

I guess the test results show that my focus is frazzled and easily drawn in many directions. However, I can justify this lack of focus on my heightened curiosity. I argue that this poor focus factor really reflects a right-brain activity known as "researching." In actuality, I'm scanning for tidbits that can provide an "ah hah" moment.

For me, the "ah hah" nugget is one that will push a plot to have more pizazz or gives a character a shot in the arm--a kind of personality lift.

Pshew. I feel better all ready just printing this. Surely, if my justification is in print, then it is the truth, veractiy at it's best.

Now what was I doing before writing this?