Poke Me With a Fork...

I'm done.

by Shannon Baker

When introverts spend a long weekend at a writers conference, talking, listening, learning and loving being with other writers, it can mean a retreat to the cave big time. It can also mean no energy left to write a blog.

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Colorado Gold Confernce took place Sept 5-7 in Denver, which means, I'm totally played out. So instead of words, you get picutres:

Midnight Ink Aquiring Editor Terri Bischoff flanked by authors Shannon Baker and Linda Hull

This was the first day of the conference, well before late nights.

What happens when a well meaning and talented author (Mark Stevens) asks very nicely for an extension on his deadline from the Evil Editor.

Speaking of evil, the welcome speech on Friday night wasn't really meant to scare anyone. 

The same Editor being not so evil, hanging out in the Colorado sunshine and deciding on a sage margarita after a harrowing day of taking author pitches.

Send off speaker, extrodinary writer, all around great guy, William Kent Krueger. He taught several workshops, gave one on one critiques and inspired us all with his speech at the farewell luncheon.

Even though my brain is mush, it was all in a good cause. I would give you more details about the conference and urge you all to put it on your calendars for next year, but I'm toast tonight. (No, I did not mean toasted.) For more details, pop on over to RMFW.org. 

YOU ONLY HAVE ONE FIRST NOVEL

Darrell James

The Labor Day holiday was behind us. The brutal heat of summer had finally broken. Everyone seemed poised for new beginnings. On September 8th the debut novel, Nazareth Child, officially received its launch into the world.


It began with a cocktail reception and launch party on Friday evening at the Brookside Country Club (at the Rose Bowl) in Pasadena, CA. The longtime, respected Pasadena bookstore, Vroman’s, was there to sell books. Close to one hundred Southern California writers, readers, reviewers and friends showed up to send the book (and me) off into the literary world.

I was honored to see so many of my friends there to offer their support. Particularly, since a number of them have new releases this same month. They were generous with their time and with their praise. And Vroman’s saw their inventory of Nazareth Child disappearing from the book table. It was a night I will never forget; the faces of those who attended will forever be close to mind.

The book launch continued this past week in St. Louis where mystery writers and fans of the mystery genre gathered for the 2011 Bouchercon Mystery Writers Conference. Friday morning I shared the Fresh Blood author panel with debut authors David Bell, Coco Ihle, Johnny Shaw and Fred Venturini. The panel was moderated by noted author Sandra Parshall.

Later that afternoon, I participated in the Charity Bowling Tournament. Publishing staff and authors from Midnight Ink squared off against other publishing houses and authors and rolled for all the charity marbles. There was beer and pizza aplenty. A strike earned you a shot of tequila. The competition was brutal, though friendly. And, while it was obvious we were all much better writers and book publishers than bowlers, the chance to interact with compatriots from the business was priceless.

(Authors: Jessie Chandler, Darrell James, Kathleen Ernst, Jess Lourey, Lois Winston (not pictured), Midnight Aquisitions Editor Terri Bischoff, Marketing Director Steven Pomije.)

Saturday was back to work with a Meet The Author session in my publisher’s booth. Saturday evening saw us networking with peers at the Kensington Publishing cocktail reception. (If you haven’t noticed the common thread here, I’ll point out that every event seems to involve copious amounts of alcoholic beverages of some kind.)

I’m heading back west today for the Sonoma Book Festival on Saturday, September 24th. A number of events in Arizona will follow. Then I’ll do a turn-around to the midwest the first week of October, where I’ll crisscross Ohio and Kentucky to meet with book clubs, speak in libraries, sign in bookstores, and gather for a Midwest party with high school friends and family. November will find me back in Southern California for another round of events, culminating with the fabulous Men of Mystery event in Irvine on November 19th.

It should be worth pointing out that Book Two is in the hands of the publisher and will kick-off another round of madness at some point. And, of course, Book Three has a deadline for delivery of May 1st.

Over drinks in the bar last Wednesday night, Best Selling author William Kent Kruger said, “You only have one first novel, enjoy it.”

I am enjoying it! Immensely! It’s like no other thrill I’ve known!


Kent’s remarks do make me ponder, however: Will it all one day grow old? Will the publicity and the praise and recognition and the camaraderie of friends and fans become “old hat”?

I truly hope not.

And judging from the faces of the Anthony winners at the Sunday morning awards brunch, I have a feeling the thrill is here to stay for a long, long time.

Thanks to the Midnight Ink staff for making it possible. And to all my friends for “being there”. Let’s do it all over again next year.

Nazareth Child is available at online retailers and from bookstores in trade paperback and in all popular electronic reader formats.

Creating Vivid Settings in Fiction, by Jess Lourey

This past weekend, I attended the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books, a two-day (free!) event featuring authors, cooks, readers, critical thinkers, and general lovers of the arts. Besides learning how to make a great Thai curry, I also heard William Kent Krueger deliver one of the most inspiring and humbling keynote speeches I've ever heard.

I also had the great honor to teach the "After the Idea" class for MWA-U. MWA-U is a low-cost, all-day, college-level, fiction-writing seminar sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America. It consists of six classes, each taught by a different instructor and each building on the course before it. My presentation explained in seven manageable steps how to turn your idea into a full manuscript, Hallie Ephron then brilliantly outlined the secrets of suspenseful plotting within that manuscript, and so on.

John Galligan, a Wisconsin creative writing professor, was a new instructor in the line-up. He taught the "Setting and Description" class, and it's his method for crafting vivid details that I'd like to share with you now. According to John, effective detail explains time, place, character, and theme. This isn't always possible, of course, but it's what writers should aim for.

Here's an example. When describing where she grew up using as few words as possible, Hallie said, "before it was 90210." Does that evoke time? Absolutely. Place? Of course. Character? Yes--you have a sense that the speaker has a sense of ownership with the pre-zip code Beverly Hills, which tells you a lot about the person, which can lead naturally into the theme or mood of the book, depending on the context.

Contrast that neat, sweet package with the "cataloguing" that can be found in a lot of fiction nowadays (and I've been guilty of this myself):

I grew up in southern California, a hot, windswept land of palm trees, ocean, and blonde hair. You have to know somebody to be somebody here, and I remember when I first arrived, I tried to look the part. I dyed my hair platinum, wore blue contact lenses, and affected a Valley Girl accent. If you're still reading, you've got a lot more patience than I do. It was here that I made my fortune and left, well before Yankees knew where Beverly Hills was.

Not terrible, but not memorable, either.

So that's my lesson for today: when you write, use detail mindfully, and never information dump. Be concrete, and try to hit all four goals (time, place, character, mood/theme) with a single detail at least once a chapter.

Your assignment: either leave a writing tip in trade for this one, or describe where you grew up in ten words or less, using only concrete detail. Cheers!

Write of Spring

Every year since 2002, on the first Saturday of spring, Minnesota's premier mystery bookstore, Once Upon a Crime, holds its annual Write of Spring. Pat and Gary, the owners of Once Upon a Crime, bill their store as "informal, low-tech, and happy to provide the best customer service around." The Write of Spring epitomizes this attitude.

Over 60 authors were present, hanging out in one-hour shifts to talk to, meet with, and sign books for fans and aspiring writers. Many of us blur the line between fan and author when we find ourselves standing between the likes of William Kent Krueger and Laura Childs while chatting with Ruth Jordan about the future of the mystery genre. All this in a tiny store no larger than my dining room and kitchen combined, no cover charge, no pretension.

For me, this is what independent bookstores are all about. You have camaraderie, connecting, employees who can give you an exhaustive answer to the question, "If I like this book, what other books would I like?" Once Upon a Crime, whose motto is, "For a Good Crime, Call," also hosts book groups and writing groups as well as putting on weekly signings.

Pat and Gary, who incidentally got married in their store two years as Gary battled leukemia, put as much effort into supporting emerging authors as the bestsellers. I remember setting up my first signing at the store, for May Day, which came out in 2006. My ego was bruised from trying to set up events at larger stores. I expected more of the same from Once Upon a Crime, but Pat's email response to my request read something like this: "May Day was a hoot! You let us know what day and time you want to set up a signing, and we'll make it happen. In the meanwhile, I ordered 40 copies of your book, so stop by and sign stock. Looking forward to meeting you!"

Hunh? She'd not only read my book but had ordered copies of it? If you've dealt with Once Upon a Crime, I know you've had a similar experience. They're champs in the mystery field, the unsung underdogs who connect readers directly with writers, and vice versa. And I bet they're not the only ones out there. What's your favorite indie, and why?

(The photos are, starting with the top one and working down: Pat, co-owner of the store, along with a children's book author; a writer of books, Lori L. Lake, and William Kent Krueger--one of the best mystery writers out there; Ellen Hart and Michael Allen Mallory. I apologize for not knowing the names of two of the authors pictured. I'm lame that way.)