BOOM!

We have a special treat today. An interview with Louise Ahern, the blogger and PR genius who founded:

BOOM! Explosive PR Solutions for Authors

Whether you are published or not, the idea to be thinking about PR is now. Louise's blog has great advice, and she was gracious enough to be interviewed here.

1. Tell us a little about your background and why you decided to specialize in author promotion on this blog. Tell us about the blog itself. I know it's new, but I'm already an addict!

Thanks! I'm glad you like it! My background is pretty varied. I spent eight years as a newspaper reporter, covering everything from congressional hearings to drive-by shootings. But I began to realize in my late 20s that I was a little too optimistic of a person to last much longer in the cut-throat world of daily journalism, so I started working in university communications. All the while, I was pursuing my dream of being apublished fiction author. It was during discussions with authors and other writers that I realized that despite being natural-born storytellers, they didn't know how to channel that creativity to promote themselves. So when the opportunity presented itself to leave the daily grind behind and start my own business, I decided to focus on authors. They need help, and I'm passionate about books!

2. What are two or three key things authors should remember when they have a new title coming out?
First, they need to plan early. Authors should begin working on a PR plan six to eight months before their book is released. If they have a year to plan, even better. One of the biggest mistakes authors make is waiting until it's too late. Some media outlets, for example, have a six-month lead time. So if you don't approach them until a month before your book is released, you're out of luck! But it can take a few months just to come up with a newsy story angle and to sell them, so do the math. Start early!Second, they need to remember that just having a book released isn't really THAT big of news, even to readers. So when putting their PR plans together, they need to "think outside the book." That is, they need to come up with a juicy hook that they can build their PR plan around; something that is relevant to their book but ties into a bigger issue that people can talk about. And finally, authors need to ask themselves how much time and money they can commit to any PR effort. I'd rather see an author do one thing really well than five things poorly. For example, if you don't have time to maintain a well-conceived blog, then don't start one. Do the things you can do well and keep up with.

3. You have a blog. What is your opinion of new PR avenues like blogs and podcasts? These new video clips promoting books? How is technology changing PR?
I'm a gadget geek at heart, so I love all the new technologies. The good news is that things like blogs and podcasts make it easier than ever to directly interact with your readers and, therefore, promote your books. The bad news is that Internet users are impatient and demanding. They won't waste time on sites that are never updated or look cheesy and unprofessional. And if you go too long without offering a new blog post or podcast, they'll stop visiting you altogether. Viral marketing has completely changed the landscape of bookpromotion. With a simple e-mail signature, you can attract visitors to yourwebsite or directly to an Amazon page to buy your book. RSS feeds and backtracks make it possible for authors who blog to reach a number of people that would have been unheard of a decade ago. I'm going to focus a lot on technology on BOOM! I want authors to see how they can get the best use of all these great new toys. And just a sidenote to answer your question about video clips. I love movie-style book trailers...when they're done well. Some of the trailers I've seen recently all have the same problem: TOO LONG. Thirty seconds max is what you should aim for.

4. I have written nonfiction and did a slew of radio related to that. But novels are a little trickier. How do you tie a novel into something newsworthy to promote it?

There are tons of ways! In fact, I call this "The Biggest PR Idea Fiction Writers Haven't Figured Out." Non-fiction writers are recognized as experts, and that's why they get quoted all the time. But fiction authors can do the same thing. Let's say you write a vampire series. You are officially an expert on our fascination with the underworld. At Halloween, pitch yourself as an expert to all the newspapers that will be searching for something new and interesting to write. Or let's say your next book features a child with cancer. Dedicate yourself to the cause. Sponsor a child through the Make a Wish Foundation and pitch stories to the media about how much we need more research money into childhood cancer. See what I mean? The key is to identify a niche!

5. What are your best tips for us shy authors who cringe at self-promotion and PR. We know we have to, but any tips?
First, try to understand your strengths, weaknesses and the source of your own fears. I call this your "PR personality." Do you enjoy public speaking but hate being online? Then build a PR plan that plays into one and downplays the other. Second, PRACTICE. Self-promotion is like anything. You'll get better at it over time. Third, BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. Romance writers in particular suffer from what I call, "Little ol' me syndrome." Either it's false modesty or built-in humbleness that goes along with the genre, I'm not sure. But the bottom line is that many authors don't believe that they are worthy of media attention or speaking engagements. So it's important for authors to stand up tall, look in the mirror and say, "I am a published author. And I have a platform." (I'm smart enough, good enough and gosh darnit, people like me!)

6. Finally, anything else you want to promote? I know you teach some online classes.
Oh, yes! Thanks for letting me plug! I recently teamed up with AuthorMBA (http://www.authormba.com/) to host a series of online classes and to blog once a week. But I'm also launching a new program this year that I'm very excited about. It's called BOOM! Explosive PR Coaching for Authors. It's six weeks of online training and phone consultations in which I help you craft a personalized PR plan while also teaching you how to do it on your own the next time. I created this program because I realized that authors are caught in a Catch 22. They can't afford to hire full-time publicists, but they don't know how to do it themselves. What my program will do is get them started. Each coaching session is limited to 15 authors, because I want to make sure I can offer a lot of personalized attention. Dates and other info is available at my website, www.theworkingwriter.com

A big thank you to Louise! Comments or questions?

And vist her blog today!

My Confession

Okay, so I can confess. I am in love with Anthony Bourdain. Not quite in a stalker way, but he's definitely my celebrity crush.

It's serendipity that I was planning on blogging about him when the Gabwagon (link at right) also was doing a post about heroes.

You see, Anthony could very well be a character in one of my books. The love interest. I don't have "hero" love interests. Mine are messy. I can go back through my books and not one is a typical swoon-in-love kind of guy.

Spanish Disco? Big reveal of a handicap at the end of the book.
Diary of a Blues Goddess? Completely penniless Irish bluesman who doesn't have a pot to piss in. Secondary love story is an African-American trannie and her closeted white boyfriend who is a foot shorter than her.
Billie Quinn series? First love interest is a convicted felon. For rape/murder. Second a Japanese detective who doesn't talk much.
Freudian Slip? Apparently angels are impotent.
Blood Son? The guy is half-vampire.

See a pattern? Yeah. Neither do I. Except that they are flawed. Like Anthony. But in a good way. An interesting way. Anthony drinks too much, smokes too much, is brilliantly clever. I would like to have his baby. Failing that, I'd like to talk about "Black Death" (from one of his shows).

Why do I like flaws in an industry that often creates "perfect" heroes and heroines? Because I never quite believed all that knight in shining armor crap. I am not waiting for someone to rescue me. I can rescue myself--and have. I don't NEED someone to "complete me" (thank you very much, Jerry Maguire). I am WHOLE. So I would prefer someone EQUALLY whole. Someone I can lift a shot of Black Death with and converse. I don't care if he drinks to much or smokes to much--is he smart? Funny?

In short, I think I have a lot of anti-social heroes. Guys on the cusp of really dropping off the map, slipping back into junkie status. Something. But they intrigue me.

My confession is over.

Celebrity crushes? And do they make it into your books somehow? Men? Are your main characters sleeping with Pamela Anderson (she frightens me)?

Confession time.

Try Something New

I have already taught my 2-year-old how to be a peace activist.

So when he is all grown up, he will have had this experience. My kids have also eaten raw eel; tried playing drums, electric guitar, violin, piano, and horn; practiced nonviolent protest; taken art lessons; prayed at different houses of worship; helped with a food drive; wrapped gifts and organized toy drives for foster children each Christmas; broken bread with AIDS victims; hugged and kissed people with HIV; had friends every color of the rainbow; visited the projects; listened to heartfelt stories from friends of mine about everything from AIDS to being gay to Vietnam. In short, they have packed a lot of experience into their short years. They have inquisitive minds.

This post isn't about politics or war or anything other than--TRY SOMETHING NEW! The worst thing any writer can do is get stuck in a rut. Hence, I have viewed autopsy tapes, asked all sorts of professional people zillions of questions, signed up for interesting classes, and more than anything, have been open to new things.

Every January, I figure out some new things I want to try that year--and then set out to do so. And I think the best education for a novelist is a life lived fully, passionately, deeply. LOVE more, TRY more, DO more, READ more.

So . . . anyone trying anything new in the name of a book? And do you feel it's part of the writer's experience to EXPERIENCE!?

Peace,

E

Truth, Justice, and the American Way

I don't know if I much believe in justice. Not that I don't believe in it as a wonderful ideal. I just think its occurrence is far rarer than we would like to believe. We want to believe crimes occur and the cops get their man. We want to believe if you go to court and are innocent--or guilty--that the jury will see that. But it doesn't happen that way all the time. Money talks. Justice walks.

I want to believe that people, if they really KNEW what happened in Tibet or Darfur, would be spurred to action. I've gotten a hate email or two (or three) enough to know when I raise the issue of the Tibetan Buddhists or the people of Darfur that there are Americans who so loathe the idea of caring about what happens outside our borders . . . "Worry about AMERICANS! Who cares? Go live there if you care so much." So, with that in mind, I want to believe that 38% of the children in the AMERICAN city where I live don't go to bed hungry--but they do. And the problem is worse in the summer when they don't get a free hot lunch at school.

So why bring up all this? Because I have come to realize that what often propels books is the search for truth. You have a cop and he wants to find the murderer. But if it's a murder we don't get to know or care about then it feels procedural. Make it a murder in which the truth was hidden, the real culprit got away, in which someone was framed, and now the reader in invested.

You have a journalist character. There is some story of corporate greed. We read about that every day. But make it about corporate greed in which a whistleblower may have been killed to hide the truth, and now we're doubly invested.

Take it international. If you read the brilliant John Le Carre novel, The Constant Gardener, it was a compelling portrait of grief. At first the book is about one man's search to discover if his wife had a lover when she died. But it becomes a much bigger web with much more dangerous characters before the book is through.

I look at my own novels . . . In The Roofer, Jack Casey is searching for the truth about a man murdered years before--thrown from the roof. It's personal for Jack--that man was his uncle. The person who threw him off, just for kicks, was Ava's father. She knows that. She's always known that. But she searches for a truth in between black and white, in a gray world where she can love her father even though he is a murderer. Ava searches for a truth, too.

So how does the search for truth impact your work? And can we ever really know truth--or just a version of it?

Peace,
E

Primal

I got a nice review in PW this week for The Poker Diaries. My publisher let me know . . . otherwise, I honestly might have missed it. I try not to read reviews--good or bad. I caught myself feeling too invested in them . . . anxiety. I've had mostly lovely ones--even by the sometimes brutal Kirkus. But I just felt like it would be better if I didn't read them. So I stopped.

So why mention this one? Well . . . it got me thinking. Why do we write? I mean, for most of us, unless we journal, there is an expectation of an audience. I love--and answer--all my fan emails. To me, it's still utterly cool each day to hear from readers who loved a character or story I created. Every day, without fail, I have email from readers . . . and that people take the time to contact me and tell me their experiences is still one of the best parts of this job.

But do I write for praise? Myself? Or something primal--to communicate with my fellow man? I mean, this blog serves as a little community. We write each other. We share. We support the ups and downs of each other's process. We communicate.

I don't know that I have an answer though, to why I do this job. I know I write because it's central to who I am. I feel like I have worlds up in my head that somehow become real when they are on paper. And then I share them. And hope I make people laugh or cry or be scared or escape for a few hours.

For once, I just don't know. I think it's a primal storytelling need. What if I had a radio show? A podcast? Would that fill my need to communicate? (I actually think it would--but would I totally stop writing?) What if I wrote things that never, ever got shared--or reviewed? I do have a TON of stories on my computer, poems, etc., that I don't know if I would ever share. I don't know. They're personal or meandering or just not a complete story--but I don't hit delete. They're there waiting for me. Am I communicating with myself? Sorting out my journey and my own humanity?

So I just honestly want to hear what it is about the process or the sharing or . . . the praise or the audience . . . or . . . something I haven't thought of yet, that is the reason you do this.

Peace,
E

The Sounds of NOT Silence

Daughter #2, all of nine, freckle-faced, blue-eyed, and a ball of fire, wants to be a rock star. More specifically . . . a drummer. More specifically, she now has a ginormous poster in her room of the $5,000 drum set she wants. In baby blue. She has the poster up so she can DREAM about the drum set. In the meantime, I dropped a few hundred last night for a snare drum, a mute, new sticks . . . and you get the idea. Because, my life wasn't noisy enough. No, today at 7:00 in the morning, my whole house reverberated with the sweet sounds of a kid banging on drums. For an hour. WITHOUT the mute.

I need a mute button for my life.

Which got me thinking, as life often does, about silence. If you had told me, at 22, when I was first crafting my short stories, that I would be able to write in anything but library-like silence, I would have thought you were crazy. Now, silence just ain't part of this writing gig.

I like music on my stereo. I almost think I need it on. I have now reached the point where I wonder if I even COULD write in a library. In silence. Child #1 plays classical violin on a beautiful instrument that is LOUD (she is a really powerful player). Child #2--electric guitar. "Smoke on the Water" and some AC-DC song are what HE'S working on. And then those drums for #3. When Child #4 takes up his passion, I'm hoping it's chess. But given my track record, I'm betting on TUBA. The music of my life.

But in an ideal world, I dream of writing in an attic like Jo in Little Women. Swear it!

So, I am curious . . . who gets to dream their little worlds in their books in quiet? Who has to rise before dawn for a little solitude? And who is doing it with drums in their ears? I'm betting some of the parents out there have ear plugs.

E.

P.S. Sara Hantz interviewed me for her blog. Pop by and say hello!

Out of Control

Yesterday's post got some great conversations going. How do you know when you're ready to start an agent or publisher hunt?

But the stories shared of people on the verge of quitting because of the rejection, well, it got me thinking.

It's too easy for outsiders in this biz to think you write a great book and the right publisher will snatch it up. We all know that's not true.

There is a long list of things you can't control: The cyclical nature of what editors buy (paranormals are hot right now; chick lit, not so much); editors leaving--I can't tell you how many authors I know who were assured a deal was going to come through . . . and within days that editor was fired, left, decided to have a baby, whatever; lines and imprints closing (Bombshell; the Judith Regan fiasco); the list goes on and on.

Not giving up is absolutely the surest way to stick in long enough to get a deal. But I think it's also almost harsh to think that's all. There is a HUGE element of luck and timing, good karma, whatever.

So accept there are things you can't control. And concentrate on what you can: network like crazy; read what's out there; watch for trends; know who's buying what; subscribe to PW; hone your actual craft--grammar, dialogue, scene setting, showing not telling (HUGE one)--and if you can't wrap your brain around one area of writing or the whole ball of wax, join a writers' group, take a college class, find a decent critique partner, hire a GOOD editor; learn what a good query looks like, sounds like; go to conferences--within reason (they cost a lot of money, pick and choose the best networking ones for your genre).

Anyone else? What can you control? What can't you?

And remember . . . don't give up.

Dive in the Deep End

I have the privilege of readng a manuscript by a dear friend of mine. He asked me to be brutally honest--I had years in this biz as an editor before I became a full-time novelist. And in my brutally honest opinion, it's brilliant. It's really, really, really good. And so now it's time for him to jump in the deep end and try to swim.

But . . . I just completed an interview with Sara Hantz (not posted yet, but visit her energetic and uplifting blog--and while you're at it, congratulate her on landing a great agent), and she asked what advice I had for aspiring writers. I said hone your craft. But that's really a double-edged sword.

I can tell you from experience reading manuscripts that a lot of writers are not "ready." They haven't honed their craft, they believe their dear old mom when she says they are the greatest writer since Shakespeare, they don't get their work critiqued . . . their manuscripts are laden with cliches and typos. I don't know what sort of thinking process the writers work under, what assumptions. I can guess that perhaps it's thinking "it's not that hard to write a novel" or "I read such-and-such a book and it sucked and so it's a snap to do better." Let me tell you, it isn't a snap.

But then, at the totally opposite end of the spectrum are a lot of writers I know. They are ready. I mean, they are READY! Their work is as good as anything out there. They are unique and edgy or funny and romantic or fantastical journeys through sci-fi worlds. But the writers won't jump in the deep end. Afraid of drowning? I don't know. But listen, it's TIME.

The fact is, a lot of brilliant writers are going to still get rejected. It doesn't mean you don't have the goods. It just means . . . timing, luck, not landing on the right desk at the right time, whatever. But you still can't be afraid to swim in the deep end. And occasionally, someone will throw you a life preserver. It'll happen.

The tricky thing is determining, by some internal barometer, which category you're in. Sometimes a good editor can steer you. Sometimes a critique partner, an agent. But it's scary standing on the top of that high dive.

Thoughts? Are you ready--but afraid to jump? Do you hone the same manuscript for years and years afraid to dip your toe in the baby end? How do you know when you're ready?!?

Peace,
E

Stealing Silverware

I was raised not to follow the rules. I mean, yes, go to school, work hard, ace your tests . . . those rules. But if you can steal all the silverware from the Hyatt's fancy dining room during dinner--and those nifty salt and pepper shakers--do it! (And yes, I did, thanks to dear ol' Dad.)

When I started writing my first novel, I just set out to tell the story of Cassie Hayes in Spanish Disco. It never dawned on me that a tequila-swilling, pill-popping bitch wasn't the kind of heroine to put in a novel. I never heard of chick lit (the genre it eventually got pegged under). Just never even heard the term until my editor used it--and this was after I signed my contract. I thought Chiclet was a gum. I am NOT being facetious. It was a relatively new genre.

When I wrote Knockout, the best friend/secondary character was a porn actress. Her claim to fame was . . . well, I'll refrain from telling you because I want to keep this site PG-13. But yeah, I wrote about her claim to fame. In my real life (no, I'm not going to reveal I once did porn), one of my best friends was a call girl. She did some interesting calls with some big names in the TV industry. But I saw her as . . . her. I didn't "see" a prostitute. I didn't see a call girl. I didn't see a dominatrix. I saw my dear beloved friend. So it never occurred to me that I would send the editorial board at my publisher reaching for their TUMS when I had a porn actress in my book (I was told to make her a topless showgirl as we compromised on the porn issue). Who knew there were "rules" when you told your story?

On another blog, and it's been a couple of months since I saw the discussion so I honestly don't recall whose blog it was, there was talk about keeping religion out of your books--lest you offend someone (I'm not talking about Christian novels, but mainstream or romance fiction). Well, I pray every day--and often several times a day--and have a Buddhist altar in my office. So it never occurred to me that having religious discussions or heroines who sincerely said their prayers was a no-no.

So . . . I guess my point is I often say f*** the rules. Tell a story. Tell YOUR story. And in the end, I honestly (perhaps naively) think that the "truth" or the soul of your book will win out over a cookie cutter story and heroine we've all see before. A "type."

Anyone? Do you all work and play well with others? Don't eat the glue at the arts and crafts table? Or all you all rule breakers? Please share. And you don't even have to raise your hand.

Call Me Mistress

I just re-read another key scene in Freudian Slip--the most gut-wrenching scene I've written since The Roofer. And when I was done reading it, I cried.

Maybe I'm just exhausted. Maybe because a friend of mine hurt me today. Maybe because I'm just feeling emotional. Maybe because I'm running a low-grade fever for the first time in months. Maybe because it's a damp, damp cold here. Or maybe . . . maybe because I am so utterly INVESTED in Julian's love for Katie.

And that is at the heart of writing a good book. I know it's really easy to think sometimes a writer just pounds out a story like a monkey on a keyboard. But when you find those stories in which you truly feel your characters' emotions, then it's a sign you're doing something right. If I know what happens but can still cry for him and his agony. When I read that the flames burned higher and his world . . . went into a pinpoint of nothingness, I wanted to reach into my computer and hold him.

And ultimately, when investing [and remember this is a comedy! so this bit of pathos is the darkest point in the book] in a book, you have to be fearless. I can't pull back just a little. It has to be that painful.

Tonight, I am going out for martinis. And when I play with my green olives, I will think of my poor Julian. And know . . . poor baby . . . it had to be this way. And then I will look forward to tomorrow when he is written out of this jam.

I love being mistress of my universe.

And you? Invested in your characters?

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

Yesterday, I fell asleep in the afternoon for an hour or so prior to football (go Colts!). But it wasn't restful. Because JUST as I was going to sleep, I had the most AMAZING idea to stick in my manuscript. I was snuggled between my flannel sheets . . . trying to decide--get up and add it? Write it down? Will I just remember because this is so cool? I REALLY need some sleep!

I opted to just sleep, convinced I would remember. And I did. I woke up, got re-dressed, came downstairs, poured myself a Pellegrino, and inserted it. And it WAS perfect. Just what I needed in a key scene. (Joan of Arc makes an appearance in Freudian Slip now.)

But why is it the mind works that way? I read once that Thomas Edison used to fall asleep in a chair, with a roll of quarters in his hand and a pie plate beneath him. (Note, this could be an apocryphal story, but . . . it's cool anyway.) Just as he would give in to his nap, to the deeper sleep, he would drop the quarters, waking himself up as they hit the metal pie plate, and often coming up with new ideas.

I also come up with ideas while showering. Driving. Occasionally while drinking a martini. When beyond exhausted. It's how my brain works.

So anyone else get inspired at the oddest times? And what do you do? Keep a notebook by your bed? Get up and write? Roll over? Speak into a recorder?

Love Without Sex

I am re-reading a crucial scene this morning in Freudian Slip, in which Katie is made love to by Julian . . . or rather, Julian's soul/ghost/disembodied voice. All she can feel is a cool feather-like touch, like a chilly breath of air, where he worships her thighs. They get creative, and they sort of make love. They DO make love, but there's no . . . well, penis.

It is so important to the story to believe that Katie could give up sex with men--flesh and blood men--for Julian. Her Jules. And yet, as I re-read it, I believe it. I totally believe it. But then again . . . I wrote it.

In Spanish Disco, there is a big reveal in the second-to-last chapter. So I don't want to say what it is regarding the love interest. BUT, he and Cassie spend five long years having phone sex and not meeting--she refuses.

So . . . it got me thinking. For a soul mate would you give up sex? For a complete and total connection, would you submit to the agony of not being able to make love? I think I've been able to have it totally believable with Julian and Katie. A perfect love--perfect forever. EXCEPT for that whole pesky issue of sex.

I know there are books, movies, that pose this question. Remember LADYHAWKE? Rutger Hauer (when he was drop-dead gorgeous), Matthew Broderick, Michele Pfeiffer? I admit I am a sucker for that movie. What can I say? The eighties. It explains a lot. But in it, the lovers were kept apart by sunrise and sunset and their animal forms. Yet they never left each other's side, never gave up on the thought of being together.

Any other movies you can think of? And could you make that choice?

Do Not Try This At Home

I will, Monday (I hope), print out my latest Red Dress Ink title, Freudian Slip. It has been the manuscript I had the most fun with in a long time, one that made me laugh out loud in spots, or get excited and smirk to myself. BUT . . . it was one of those novels with a great concept, that only when I was 150 pages into it did I realize I gave myself a narrative structure and a central conceit that would be hard to pull off. Insanely hard.

It was 150 pages in when I realized I had to have a woman fall in love with a disembodied voice who took up residence in her apartment. A voice. And she has to believe the voice is her soul mate. And the reader has to believe she would give up all for this angel in her house.

Have you ever done that? Come up with a cool concept only to realize you really f***ed yourself because it's NOT going to be easy to pull off? I hate when that happens. The end result is worth it. But I've made my life a writing hell. And I have the dark circles to prove it.

Do not try this at home.

Anyone else have a story they really screwed themselves over with? Do share! Misery loves company.

Playing Poker in my Bra

I lost my shirt playing poker last week. I wasn't playing strip poker, so no, I didn't ACTUALLY lose my shirt--sorry to anyone who was hoping for a photo of the title of this post. But I was up, with a sweet pile of chips, and then tanked. Bad. If it WAS strip poker, I would have been playing in my birthday suit.

But God, I love the game. THE POKER DIARIES just came out, and Lulu loves the game, too. So does Skye McNalley in DOUBLE DOWN. Georgia Ray Miller plays for candy with her band in DIARY OF A BLUES GODDESS. Neccos are the pinnacle of the betting scheme. Are we sensing a theme here?

Art imitates life, and there are some things so intrinsic to who I am that they tend to filter into what I write. Poker, martinis, heroines who are outsiders, betting on football, loving boxing. Buddhism. Lapsed Catholics. Praying to saints. I return to those elements because it's a fit for me. I know it.

So what about your wip? What do you return to because it's like breathing and you know you can flavor the world in your novel perfectly because of the reality of it?

How Do You Mend a Broken Heart?

Perhaps the BeeGees, those wise disco philosophers, asked it best.
How do you mend a broken heart?

See . . . I'm smiling up there. But, like everyone, I've nursed my share of broken hearts. Stomped on. Chopped to bits. Put through a blender. I think some of that even occurred during the disco era. Yes, I have danced at the Palladium in a black jumpsuit, backless to my ass, with silver-something accents. Sexy, but hideously disco. Hideously "I love the nightlife" and "I will survivish."


And I don't know that you ever MEND a broken heart. You slap a Band-aid on it and hope it heals until the next time. You smile until you start to believe it. You fake it. Me? I smile until my face hurts. I pray. I light candles. I look at my children. I volunteer with the less fortunate because it's a reminder that the human condition is always difficult at times, and I do have so much. But no matter that I might move on, I have a scar. A reminder. The walking wounded.


But there is no greater fodder for fiction than a broken heart. Than unrequited love. Than murder and grief. Sure, you can read sunny, happy tales, but for me, Dostoevesky said it best:


Happy families are all alike;
every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.


I may smile, but my characters suffer and persevere. Their families are uniquely unhappy. They overcome nearly insurmoutable obstacles.

Basically, though I'm smiling, I'm a sadist when it comes to my characters. They suffer for my art.

BUT . . . they also triumph. They figure out how to mend that broken heart. What is the greatest obstacle one of your characters has overcome? And were they rescued? Was their inner strength the key? How did they do it, to answer the BeeGees? And . . .

Did a scar remain?

Men in Tights

Batman had Robin. A sidekick. A got-your-back-though-I'm-wearing-tights guy.

Secondary characters, for a lot of writers, are the most fun aspect of a novel. The sidekicks get to be quirky. Odd. Funny. Weird. They're too strange to be center stage in their own novel, perhaps, but they're great for the main character to play off of.

Billie Quinn has Lewis. He collects brains. He is impossibly brilliant and loves discussing maggots on bodies. (The two of them work in forensic science.) Lewis could, conceivably, spin off into his own book, but then I think his oddities would overwhelm. A dash of Lewis is great--like adding some nutmeg to your oatmeal. But you don't want a whole BOWL of nutmeg.

Which brings me to secondary characters who seem to take over a book. It's a very bad thing if readers care more about the secondaries than the main character--somehow the balance the writer should be striving for has been thrown off-kilter. So, the way I look at it is this . . .

Your main character is the sun, and all these secondary characters orbit around the main character. The sun has to shine brightest. AND, every single secondary character should fill a specific role--they should demonstrate something about the main character by their very interaction. Lewis exists to show how brilliant Billie is. He is a genius--I tell you that (or rather Billie does). He cannot stand most people because they cannot keep up with his intelligence. She can. She is his best friend. By proxy, she is a genius as well.

In Double Down, Skye McNalley has George "Touchdown" Russell as her sponsor in Gamblers Anonymous, and her best friend. Right at the start of the book, Touchdown, or T.D. as she calls him, berates her for breaking the rules--she chose a MALE sponsor in her Twelve Step group, not a female. He was only supposed to be her sponsor "until you could find one with a skirt." But she never looked for a female sponsor, preferring to be with T.D. What does this show about Skye? She grew up motherless and prefers the company of bookies and gamblers--men. And she doesn't obey the rules. She was raised to break them.

What about you? What secondaries are there in your current wip? Or what secondaries in a book or series of books have been your faves? And why?

Creating the Hero

We've had a villain post--and a heroine post. So what goes into creating a hero? For me, in my darker books, the hero is usually morally ambiguous. I am not one for knights in shining armor. Because there are nearly always chinks in the armor.

Besides, knights aren't terribly interesting.

Give me a man who can kill if the need arises.

I don't mean that to sound as harsh as it looks in black and white, but in a complex world--and all novelists should be striving to create that in their works--sometimes morally ambiguous things must be done. Sometimes when the most brutal things are brought to bear on a character, the hero must make a choice that in any other light would be unheroic--but given the circumstances, there doesn't seem to be any other way out.

I usually make my heros tormented. Just to keep things evolving and complicated. Interestingly enough, I was away for a couple of days, and when I got back I had four or five emails from readers looking for the release of the third Billie Quinn book, because unfortunately, I left things in a rather dark spot for Billie (the books were a planned trilogy). In light of the Bombshell line's demise, I don't know if Trace of Malice will see the light of day. However, if you read Trace of Doubt, then you know I introduce Ben Sato, a detective from Tokyo. Ben is the intellectual soul mate of Billie--and both are in a world of grief. Ben lost his sister to a rare Japanese serial killer, and if you know a little about the Japanese legal system, then you know that murder investigations are handled totally differently there. Ben is tormented--but is very inner, so you would have to know him very, very well to even have an inkling of this.

In my comedies, the heros are always brilliant, because dumb men may be hot to look at, but what the hell do you have to talk to them about in the morning?

And on that note . . . what are YOUR thoughts on creating a hero?

Peace,
E

Creating a Heroine

Going along with creating a villain (post below), I thought I would talk about my thought processes when creating a heroine.

Unlike a lot of romance writers or women's fiction writers, I don't feel a need to make my characters perfect. I know that authors give their characters flaws, but half the time the flaws seem like the kind of response to the age-old job interview question: What is your biggest flaw? To which the response is nearly always evasive--making a positive-negative statement. Like I'm a perfectionist--because yes, it's a flaw, but then who wouldn't want a perfectionist working for them? Same with flawed heroines--a lot of times, they're not REAL flaws.

Not so when I write them. I like my heroines real. So Ava uses her brother to escape her tormenter in THE ROOFER. She uses him though she knows she is manipulating the one person who loves her completely. And is costs him his soul. And Cassie Hayes--my first heroine in Spanish Disco--drank for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She popped valium. She was rude. Not witty rude, but downright rude. She was condescending. She mooned a reporter in the middle of a restaurant. You get the idea.

I think real flaws are vital to characters . . . they give a book some teeth, some meat, some depth. When I want to tell people my flaws, I am lighthearted about it--you know, I am demanding about my martinis, my desk is messy, I am a terrible cook. But believe me I have dark, terrible flaws that I constantly work on . . . as do all of us, if we're honest.

So I would have to say that flawed complexity is what I first look at when I start to create a character. How about you? What flaws do you give your characters?

Creating a Villain

I'm knee-deep in creating a villain--perhaps the creepiest one I have ever written. He also needs to have the most depth because he is the villain of a trilogy called THE GEMINI CONSPIRACY, and if I reveal too much right away--or worse, if he seems like a stock villain--then why read books two and three? He has to be really evil, but he has to be three-dimensional.

That's the problem, I think, with some villains. Authors will, for instance, devise sicker and more twisted ways for a serial killer to commit murder. More torture, bloodshed, whatever. But to me, the scariest villains are ones I get to know. Perhaps they seem perfectly normal on the outside. Or perhaps their logic is completely twisted--and yet . . . and yet . . . there's a little bit of understanding of that psyche in all its horror.

The men in THE ROOFER commit some hard-core murders. They laugh about it. They don't ever feel regret. But Ava writes, about her murderous father:

Perhaps all this story needs is context. That is what I tell myself. For isn't it all funny? If I tell the stories just right--with the right inflections, the wittiest dialogue--they are. It wasn't until I met people whose fathers obeyed the law that I understood what I thought was funny was really something else.

I thought all I needed was to place this within a history. To help people understand that what seems like anarchy was really survival. My father was a boy bitten by rats. A young man who grew up with the aura of the Westies--New York's Irish gang--and gangland murders drifing over his life like a heavy smog hovering over the city. A man who felt it was all right to push someone in front of a bus or run over a sergeant. . . . .

Context. That is what villains need, in my opinion. It doesn't make the murder excusable. Or even understandable, but the why--at least in the context of rage or madness or survival instincts--is answered.

In my new book, the villain is a scientist who lost his way. Who moved toward eugenics while believing what he was doing was right. He is frightening for his fanaticism.

What do you think goes into the best villains. Is it context? Something more? The sickest crimes? Or the most understandable reasons? Who is your favorite villain?

Nurturing the Inner Writer

Today was a bad day. None of the details matter. Actually, 2007 has so far had its share of stresses. And I'm six days into the year. The furnace broke. Family stuff. All of it just the stresses and ups and downs of life. I have two deadlines. I've had a cold (breathing through my nose . . . oh, I remember those days and want them back). Blah, blah, f***ing blah.

I have a new release. THE POKER DIARIES for teens . . . I adore the book. But you know, sometimes it's difficult as a writer to celebrate the shiny new bound book when manuscripts beckon.

However, I sat back today and thought . . . there is not enough nurturing of the artist in me. I walk, I listen to my iPod, I see a brilliant practictioner of acupuncture. I pray. I meditate. But I am really inspired by stress-free moments of art. Seeing a play, attending an art gallery opening, going into the mountains. And it's hard to fit it the nurturing things. And very often, VERY often, as a mother of four, nurturing me gets moved, by necessity, to the bottom of my own list.

I realize I need more aimless time. Less scheduled. More cups of tea and less water bottles grabbed on the run.

So how do you nurture, not just yourself, your body, but your inner mind? What do you do to recharge--especially as we recover from the frantic holiday season?

Peace,
E

The Male Brain

My whole life, men have mostly annoyed me. And yet I love them.

As a feminist, if I even catch a whiff of chauvinism, I am usually irritated. (For example, I will have a high blood pressure episode if anyone talks of fathers "babysitting" while mothers run errands or go out with friends--as a mom, I don't BABYSIT my children, I mother them--and expect no less of men). I've made endlessly bad decisions in my lovelife--bad boyfriends, overpossessive ones, dumb ones, men old enough to be my dad--or close to it. And yet . . . my best friends are men. Usually gay--but not always.

And now I find myself in the very odd position of writing as a man. Now, don't misunderstand me, I have written many books from a male POV at least part of the time. In INVISIBLE GIRL, there were five POVS alternating throughout--Mai Malone and her daughter Maggie. And Danny Malone (Mai's son and Maggie's brother), Bobby Gonzalez (detective with the NYPD and Maggie's lover) and Jimmy Malone (Mai's husband, father to Maggie and Danny). More men than women told that book--but . . . there was a lot of action in that novel. It tells the story of a baby lost from Operation Babylift during Vietnam and a conspiracy dating back to the fall of Saigon that reverberates into the present. There wasn't a lot of time for the men to think about . . . well, sex, or life.

Not so in my work-in-progress, Freudian Slip. In it, I have a ghost--a male ghost--who still gets hard-ons. Yeah. Not only that, he intrudes on the thoughts of my heroine . . . and so I have this woman having male thoughts.

It's a weird thing. Because of the nature of the book, it's not that the man narrates some of it or details some of the action, instead it's more about his feelings, his sex drive, the way he craves tequila, his failed life, his mess of a world. It's a very intimate look at his mortality.

And here I am . . . nearing completion, and I have to say I don't know if I get men any better.

How do you feel about writing as the opposite sex? I can tell you when I read a man writing as a woman, I often find little things that irk me. As in, no we really don't think that way. But we're all individuals, so I often just shrug and think maybe it's me.

Anyway . . . how do you feel about writing as the other gender?

The Devil Made Me Do It

Cate Blanchett is in a new movie in which she plays a woman who sleeps with her 15-year-old art student. Interviewed about Notes on a Scandal, Cate said that she wasn't sure why her character ruins her life--feels compelled, inexplicably drawn, to ruin.

In the Exorcist, the priest says, "The power of Christ compels you" to drive the devil from Regan. Certainly one theory. You go down the path to ruin, it's Satan in the driver's seat. On toward grace, the power of Christ.

But then we have that tricky thing of free will.

And none of it yet explains why someone will look at two choices and choose the one of ruin. The obsession. The one thing he or she should not have. Lolita. Asylum. Anna Karenina. So many great works explore that descent. You read and it is like watching a train wreck.

In my own work, Tom in The Roofer consistently chooses to descend to hell. In my new work in progress, I have a man who casts his lot in with a woman he barely knows because of how she makes him feel--she is his drug . . . and he loses all.

Why? What makes some of us choose ruin? I am listening to Nine-Inch Nails "Closer" right now. The words include the line, "I want to f*** you like an animal." Are there some choices we're compelled almost like animals to choose? I don't know. Animals choose to RUN from danger, but some of us walk right into the fire, as if wanting to be burned.

Anyway, it is that path to ruin that consistently fascinates me. More than the character blindsided by deception when a bad choice is made . . . I look at the ones who see it all clearly but then saysgive me that needle of heroin anyway.

Ruin? Why do some of us choose it? And what is your favorite novel of ruin?

Star Wars III and How I Get This Done

Today was a disaster in terms of writing. It's a stupid, ridiculous story involving my significant other who has visions of adding a room onto this already beautiful house inviting a salesman into MY home to sit and blather on for THREE hours about constructing a room I will never add for a PRICE I will never, ever pay unless I win the lottery while simultaneously having a lobotomy or becoming addicted to crack. I can't tell you how furious I was because the line of bullshit the salesman attempted to sell in my kitchen was distracting, though I refused to even go in there and listen to the horse manure being shoveled. Three hours of my life I can NEVER get back.

Which brings me to Star Wars III (bear with me on the relationship to the story above). When I went to that movie with two of my best friends, I sighed and checked my watch through the whole thing. I just logged onto IMDB. Run time of 140 minutes I can NEVER get back. I hate George Lucas.

Which brings me to my writing. Most people look at me like I had the aforementioned lobotomy, or like I am smoking something, when I tell them I have four kids, let alone four kids, a house full of pets, and a career as a novelist. When they hear I write three books a year they think I am REALLY smoking something. Toss in all the other things I choose to do--visiting museums and taking up new hobbies--and that I do not--and never have had--a nanny, and do not--and have not--used daycare--and it REALLY sounds insane.

But there IS a method to my madness. I cut the extra bullshit. I slice and dice my life so that I don't often have those 140-minute run times of wasted brain matter. I don't invite salesmen in. I don't even answer my phone usually. I don't socialize with "acquaintances"--I have deep friendships so I don't need the cocktail party set. I don't watch TV unless it is something I deeply enjoy (my new passion is Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on the Travel Channel--and I have decided I want to run away with him, if you happen to know him). I don't read magazines--even in a waiting room--because I nearly always have something else I would rather be reading. I don't waste time, period.

I don't run errands. Hate them. I would rather order everything on the Internet. I don't clothes shop. I don't shoe shop. Fun pursuits if you like to shop--but I know my size and the Internet or catalogs is fine and I don't have to get in a car and spend time on the road. The store comes to me. Christmas shopping? Click and purchase.

PLAYING doesn't count in this scheme of mine. In other words, taking time to color with my kids or play in the leaves, or walk the puppies, or play chess with my son, or lie in my bed with my angels watching some old movie on AMC is NOT wasting time. That's the stuff I live FOR. It's the rest of it I can do without.

So it may seem like a really bizarre way to look at things, but in truth, I excise all that is not mindful and purposeful and playful. And that leaves me enough time to do it all--or at least a healthy chunk.

So what do you excise from your life to reach your goals--whatever they may be?

Nightmare of Empathy

I used to have nightmares all the time. Now it's an occurence maybe three times a year, but when I have them, they're really, really bad.

You guessed it. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. today with a nightmare. It was "so real" I thought it was happening--and it was horrific. I'll spare you the details--but there were two serial killers/rapists, and they were torturers. In my real life, I unfortunately know someone who was a victim of a serial killer, and so sometimes I think, though that was years ago, that when I have a dream like that, it's related to the woman I know.

Which brings me to writing and empathy. Yesterday, I wrote out an online interview related to one of my new releases, and the interviewer asked how I stumbled into being an editor. The short version is I set out to be a journalist but found I both liked making up stuff too much and was too private myself to ask people the hard questions. And that latter trait is directly related to empathy. I can't be an unbiased (as much as it is possible to be so) journalist. I FEEL too much for other people. I am constantly putting myself in their shoes.

Children on the St. Jude commercials? Sobbing.

Mother with missing children? Anxiety.

Victim of a hate crime? Anger.

I think, though this is not a particularly great personal trait--I tend to take on too much of family and friends' and my children's problems internally--it's a GREAT trait for a writer. I can BE my characters. I can feel what they feel. I can go through their emotional roller coaster, cry when they cry and laugh when they laugh.

We all know the subtle differences between empathy and sympathy. But is empathy the writer's trait? Thoughts?

All Paths Lead to . . .

Happy New Year, blog friends . . . .

I sit here listening to Al Green on my iPod, a little sad the bustle of the holidays is over. Mine were wonderful. And now it is the time I always turn especially inner as I contemplate a year gone and a new one starting.

I always set goals for the New Year--and write them out. Most of them are private and inner . . . a few are for book sales and career things. But ultimately, ALL goals and paths lead to one thing--or start from one thing. I have to have the energy, determination, and sometimes courage to do them. Every single one.

Whether it's finish a beloved manuscript, send out more proposals, sign up for that university course I have been longing to take, up my walking to five miles a day, make sure the children get up to Washington, D.C. to a museum once a month (BIG goal) . . . it all requires energy and determination, and sometimes a dash of courage. Take the museums. I want them to visit one major museum a month--an overnight trip . . . arrive and see monuments day one and see major museum day two, come home. It's a two-hour drive (with no traffic). It involves making sure the dogs are cared for, that my work is done enough that I can get away, that I pack for six people, including a baby . . . you get the idea. But in my most inner world, I know it is a gift I am giving my children for a lifetime. So many people are culturally bankrupt in this country. I don't want my kids to be like the masses of sheep in America. I want them to visit the National Gallery, so see the Picassos and the Goyas. To know what it means to have a creative spark. But it takes energy.

Finishing a book--despite the chaos and the kids and the pressures . . . energy. Getting over the fear sometimes that it will fall apart in the middle. Pushing through.

Walking . . . well, I go at least four times a day now, even when it's 25 degrees out. I actually like it a lot more in the dead of night when it's cold. But it takes energy, that initial push to get out the door.

You get the idea. No matter what it is I hope to accomplish, all paths lead to (or start from) . . .

So, as regular readers know, I gave up coffee this year. I'm now a vegan. I eat right, exercise . . . and hope to ride the crest of feeling good to all my goals.

Anyone else care to share their hopes for the year?