Yearly Archives: 2009

Next month, I'll be doing something I haven't done in a very long time: travel to a business conference. Specifically, the California Crime Writers Conference in Pasadena, June 13-14.

I'll be honest. It feels weird to call this a business trip. Writing is a hobby, not a business, right?

Nope. Writing is my business and almost since the beginning I've tried to treat it that way. Rather than take the "art" out of writing, this mentality keeps me on track and reminds me to take it seriously. Frankly, it's been an integral part of getting me this far.

How far is "this far?" Over the weekend I finished the first draft of the novel. Now I'm doing my first pass, which basically means I'm re-reading it and polishing it up so I can send it off to readers for a critique. That should give you an idea of how rough the first draft is–I won't let it out of my sight until I get it shaped up, at least a little.

With two weeks to go, I'm in the process of defining my goals for the conference. The main goal is to listen and learn. With this schedule of topics, there will be plenty to choose from. I'll probably be concentrating the most on the "Learning the Craft" and "Getting Published" tracks, but I might sneak into the NRA gun demonstration or "Confessions of a Mafia Insider."

My second goal is to meet people and make contacts. This will be a challenge for me since I am very shy with strangers. But challenges are good, aren't they? (Whimper whimper–not looking forward to the "I'm all by myself in the big city" aspect of this conference).

I also need to come up with a rock solid elevator pitch. My bio has an unofficial version of the pitch, but I need something snappier. Here's what I have now:

"Diary of Bedlam is a mystery based on the real-life unsolved murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey.  Set in 1678 London, it faithfully describes one of the darkest periods of political turmoil to occur during the reign of Charles II:  the popish plot."

Any ideas? One thing that's missing is a reference to my heroine, Isabel Wilde.

My final goal is to polish enough of my first draft to take advantage of a paid 5-page manuscript critique. Although now I see it's limited to the first 30 registrants, so I might not be able to do that. Oh well, I still need to be polishing!

So that's the state of writing affairs. Finished first draft? I almost can't believe it myself.

I often find it impossible to pick my favorites "of all time" in any category. And with books? Forget about it. There's too many to choose from that should be on the list.

And yet, when Donald Maass, author of Writing the Breakout Novel, asked me (in the book) to pick my top three novels, I took some time to think about it.

These are the three books I came up with:

Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk

Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor

Three Without Fear by Robert C. Du Soe

I've read all three of these books so many times I've lost count. Indeed, I have whole passages practically memorized. And Marjorie Morningstar sits at the top of the list because no matter how many times I read it, I always cry at the end.

Having picked the top three, the next question Maass asks is "What do they have in common?"

I'll start with what all three have in common: A fantastic sense of location. In Marjorie Morningstar, Wouk creates a Manhattan so compelling that as a teenager (when I first read it) I couldn't wait to visit the city. Winsor does the same for 17th century London in Forever Amber. And finally, Du Soe creates not a city, but a region–Baja California, and the adventures that lay in wait for three children travelling to San Diego on their own. Each of these books evokes a time and place that are magical, and utterly takes readers out of their own worlds and thrusts them into new and exciting places.

Marjorie Morningstar and Forever Amber are very similar in their themes, if not in their times and locations. Both novels feature beautiful young females with strong senses of themselves and no real concept of defeat or failure. It's not that they don't experience setbacks, it's that they confront every situation with a degree of confidence that makes their failures bittersweet and their triumphs all the more satisfying. I first read both of these novels when I was around 13 or 14, a time in my life when self confidence was a commodity I had little of. I wanted to be these women, it didn't matter if they made mistakes–I wanted to take life by the horns and experience it. Hard to do in the little California town I grew up in.

The final question Maass asks is (I'm paraphrasing) "What do you bring into your own novel from your top three favorites?"

One of the things I'm bringing to my own novel is obvious–it's set in 17th century London, just like my beloved Forever Amber. Mine is set about 15 years later though, which does make a major difference in some ways (think about a more modern story set in 1980 versus 2005).

The second thing I'm taking is a female lead with a strong sense of self. My heroine is the 17th century version of an amateur sleuth and she's about 12 years older, but she shares some of the same characteristics of Amber St. Clare (Forever Amber) and Marjorie Morgenstern (Marjorie Morningstar) that I found so compelling.

So I leave you with this question:
What are your top three novels of all time?

This is my first attempt at doing a “how to write” video:

I know. The first step is fairly obvious. But it’s the only way you’ll ever become a writer.

Also, please forgive the lapses in grammar and the awkward cuts. I am so busy writing these days, I didn’t have time for much in the way of fancy transitions.

Lastly, please remember that the camera adds 75 pounds.

Today's best links:

S.E. Hinton, a.k.a. Your Majesty from the L.A. Times

“When I was young, all the books were about a Mary Jane and the football player and the prom and ending up with the quiet guy and making your mom happy,” she said.  “Well, I’d been to a few proms, and it was about who got killed in the parking lot and who's got the booze inside.”

Comparing Fingerprints: What's the Point? from Lee Lofland's "The Graveyard Shift"

"It is the duty of fingerprint examiners to compare certain characteristics of a suspect’s fingerprint, known as points of identity, or minutiae, to points on fingerprints found at the scene of a crime. This comparison can prove that the suspect had, at some point in time, been at that particular scene. A fingerprint match alone does not, however, prove the suspect committed the crime."

Those Ignorant Atheists from Salon.com

"Atheists of the Ditchkins [referring to Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins] persuasion have raised valid points about the sordid social and political history of religion, with which Eagleton largely agrees. Yet their arguments are fatally undermined by their own unacknowledged dogmas and doctrines, he goes on to say, and they completely fail to understand Christian faith (or any other kind) except in its stupidest and most literal-minded form."

Getting the Call from Rachel Gardner, Literary Agent

"It's the moment every writer dreams of: the day an agent emails or calls to say, 'I'd like to discuss representation.'"

Here are a few of the best book-related links I've found today:

Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson
Lyndsay Faye's debut novel comes out today and it looks like it's just my cup of tea. Also, she's my sister's friend.

Conversation with Joe Finder from Jonathan Maberry's Big Scary Blog.

Q & A with Agent Jessica Faust from Editor Unleashed

Creating Characters that Jump Off the Page from Casting the Bones

Procrastinating on the Novel? Write a Blovel Instead from JungleG.com