Writing Without a Net

By Vicki Delany, guest blogger

Every writer has a different approach to how to structure their novel. Some outline extensively; some do almost nothing in terms of planning. Some concentrate on plot, and the characters follow along; for some character is almost all they have.

Me, I build a story this way: setting-characters-plot. That is, I decide where to set the book, who’s going to be the main character or characters and then come up with a plot. Now that I’m working on a series, steps one and two are pretty much defined before I even begin.

My newest novel is titled Winter of Secrets, and is the third in the Constable Molly Smith series, from by Poisoned Pen Press. This book was a total departure from my usual style of writing, and I’d like to tell you about it.

For most of my adult life I was a computer programmer and then a systems analyst. I write books like I designed computer systems. I start at the end – I know who did it and why – and then I go to the beginning and create an outline that will, hopefully, chart a course to get me to that end. Like designing computer systems: you really should know what you want to achieve (i.e. is this programme going to credit the client’s account or debit it?) before you begin. I have met some computer programmes that I don’t think were ever intended to achieve anything, but that’s another matter.

I was spending Christmas 2007 in my favourite place in the world, Nelson, B.C., the inspiration for the fictional town of Trafalgar. It was snowing, quite heavily, but as is the norm in those mountains, there wasn’t any wind and the snow was falling straight down and not drifting. This, I thought, would be a mess if they had winds like we get in Ontario. And then the opening scene popped into my head.

What a great idea, thinks I. I started writing the first chapter and carried on typing frantically away from there. I knew who died, but I didn’t know who killed him, or why, or even if anyone did! It was quite a strange feeling; a pure leap of hope, that I would find some inspiration down the line.

I was nearing the climax – I knew what I wanted to happen there – but I was still unsure between two possible candidates for the role of villain. Over the course of the writing, I had several people in mind, but as it evolved only two were good prospects. I felt sort of like a real Constable Molly Smith, judging the suspects and juggling clues until, with a burst of inspiration, I solved the crime!

My second drafts are usually a lot of work, but with this book, it was even more so. Because I didn’t know that X was the guilty party, I had to go back and make X know more than they seemed to and Y know less. The personality of X didn’t change much throughout the book, but it had to be tweaked a bit to make the crime more plausible, and to drop a few clues here and there. And all the clues that pointed to Y had to be toned down.

It was a fun way to go about it. Will I do that again? No. It worked because I had a very definite idea for the opening of the book and I was prepared to work my way forward from there. But all in all, I prefer to have a good outline before beginning. When I started working on the next book in the series, Negative Image, I put that net up first.

Visit the author's web site at www.vickidelany.com.

Beverle Graves Myers: Exploring the Mysteries of Venice

Interviewed by Sandra Parshall

Beverle Graves Myers is author of a historical mystery series featuring amateur sleuth Tito Amato, a castrato who sings with the Venetian opera in the 18th century. Beverle made a mid-life career switch from psychiatry to full-time writing. A graduate of the University of Louisville with a BA in history and an MD, she worked at a public mental health clinic before her first mystery was published in 2004.

Bev also writes short stories set in a variety of times and places. Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Woman's World, and numerous anthologies. She has earned nominations for the Macavity Award, the Kentucky Literary Award, and the Derringer Award. She and husband Lawrence live in Louisville.

Q. Would you tell us a little about your new book? Who is the mischievous lady in your intriguing title?

A. In Her Deadly Mischief, Tito Amato has shaken off the grief caused by events depicted in the previous book and is once again singing lead roles at the Teatro San Marco in Venice. During an opening night performance, his crystal voice has the packed auditorium entranced. All eyes are on this prince of the stage—except for one fourth-tier box with its scarlet curtains tightly drawn. Miffed, he aims a powerful arrow of song at the box and is astounded to see a woman fall through the curtains like a limp rag doll. For a long moment, he locks eyes with her killer, robed and masked for Carnevale, before the man escapes. Since Tito is the only one to view the murderer, the chief of Venice’s rudimentary police force involves him in the case. They quickly identify the victim as Zulietta Giardino, a courtesan involved in a mischievous wager over a rival’s jewels.

Q. I'm always curious about how writers of historical fiction were drawn to certain time periods. Why did you decide to set your books in the 1740s?

A. I love the 18th century. It’s ripe with conflicts that a mystery writer can work into plots. Absolute monarchy, the culmination of the old feudal system, is sparring with the rise of democracy and individual rights. Science and religion are clashing head-on. The old European world is being challenged by the upstart colonists of the new. These changes affected the mindset of every living person, Tito included.

Q. Why did you want to write about the Venetian opera community? What opportunities for story and character did you see there that felt unique to you?

A. If I recall correctly, I first considered using a castrato protagonist after reading Anne Rice’s Cry to Heaven. That put my proposed series squarely in the 18th century and allowed me to indulge my longtime love of opera. Venice, Naples, and Rome were the three great centers of early opera. No contest—Venice won! It makes such a wonderful backdrop for intrigue—misty canals, a crumbling society, nonstop carnival revelry, a crossroads for scoundrels. And Tito right in the middle of it all, because opera and its stars were the popular entertainment of the day.

Q. I'm sure many people have asked why you made your leading man a castrato. I can see you have fun confounding expectations of such a character – Tito is happily married and passionately in love with his wife, far from being asexual. Is he a realistic character? How much detail about the personal lives of the castrati have you turned up in your research?

A. I started with the idea of Tito being a chaste eunuch, unruffled by the urges of a typical man, and thus able to view the world through dispassionate eyes. He refused to cooperate. He said (yes, I’m one of those authors whose characters talk to her), “The knife that created my voice came nowhere near my heart.” He wanted to find his love and his life’s companion as much as anyone. Surprisingly, my research agreed. Many of the historical castrati were considered great lovers by their contemporaries. The surgery destroyed their ability to father children, but not their potency, at least for some. Tales of scandals, concerning both sexes, abound. And even though the Catholic Church denied them the sacrament of marriage, some castrati moved to Protestant countries and married there. Tito’s marriage is unsanctioned. Since Liya holds to Italy’s old pagan religion, they merely “jumped the broom.”

Q. Speaking of research, I envision you writing in a room overflowing with history books, architectural drawings of Venice, illustrations of 18th century Italian clothing styles, and so on. Have you absorbed everything you need to know about the setting and era, or does each book require additional research? How much research did you do for the new book?

A. You’ve pretty much described my office, minus the dust, of course. When I begin a scene, I try to find a painting of the location, indoor or outdoor, or at least something similar. I prop the art book up by the computer, get a baroque opera CD going, and start writing. I make a binder for each book that contains helpful articles and news clippings, portraits of the main characters, maps, and photos of period-specific weapons and other implements, etc. I researched the basics—the theaters, modes of transportation, clothing, and so forth—at the beginning of the series. But each book presents at least one new avenue of research. For Her Deadly Mischief, I had to get up to speed on Murano glass as much of the action takes place at a glass maker’s fornace.

Q. Have you visited Venice? How much has it changed since Tito's time? Is the modern world becoming intrusive – do you see cell phone towers, for example, or TV satellite dishes?

A. My husband and I spent an idyllic eight days in Venice several years ago. It has probably changed less in the last 275 years than any other European city, but it is no longer Tito’s Venice. People have been living there the whole time, and they do tend to change things little by little. That’s just the way of the world. The two most glaring intrusions were the huge, totally out-of-scale cruise ships in the basin by the piazza and the awful graffiti defacing many of the old buildings. That graffiti just made me sick.


Q. Psychiatry and mystery writing may seem to be utterly different pursuits, but your work as a psychiatrist must have given you insights that are useful in writing about murder and other devious behavior. Do you take an analytical approach to your characters, tracing their behavior back to its roots, even if you don't include all the details in the story?

A. While plotting out a book, I do what psychiatrists call a detailed medical and psycho-social history on each major character. I pay especial attention to the villain—the motivation to kill has to be believable. Purposeless, random evil doesn’t work for me. I also include at least one character with what we would call a mental illness in each book. Tito’s youngest sister suffers from Tourette’s syndrome, for instance.

Q. Had you written fiction before you began writing about Tito? What led you to write mysteries?

A. Not one piece of fiction! The smart thing would have been to hone my craft with a few short stories, at least, but I’ve always been impatient. Why mysteries? Except for some non-fiction history and biography, mysteries are all that I read. To me, what is labeled as genre often rises to great literature.

Q. Would you tell us about your road to publication? Was it harder than you expected or easier?

A. I started the agent search as soon as I’d finished Interrupted Aria, the first Tito novel. I was extraordinarily fortunate to find a good agent with my first volley of queries. That set me up for unrealistic expectations. I thought connecting with a publisher would be just as easy. Boy, was I wrong. After many rejections, Tito found a publishing home at Poisoned Pen Press. Working with the folks at PPP has been a delight—it’s the perfect place for a series about a Venetian castrato singer/sleuth, not exactly mainstream material.

Q. Have you learned anything about the publishing business, or the life of a published writer, that has surprised you?

A. Like most writers, I had no idea the level of promotion required. I admit it’s not my strong suit. While I love to have one-on-one discussions with readers, most marketing techniques go against my southern upbringing. “A lady never toots her own horn” sort of thing.

Q. One thing I love about your writing is your attention to details – for example, the row of pins in the opera company costumer’s dress bodice. Are you the kind of writer who “sees” a scene fully, down to the smallest detail, before you begin writing, or the kind who does several drafts, further enriching the scene with each pass?

A. I probably “see” the scenes too fully. My challenge is to pare the details down to what the reader needs to “see” it—those small things that define time and place. So my revisions involve taking way rather than enriching.

Q. How long do you typically spend writing a novel? What is your writing routine like?

A. Each book in the Tito Amato series has consumed a year of my writing time, those golden four to five hours of the morning, five or six days a week. I’m slow and a bit of a perfectionist. I don’t like to go on if I’m not happy with the previous work, so I revise as I go. Then, when I reach the end, I just need to do one more quick run though before I send it to my editor.

Q. Who are your favorite writers and what do you most admire about their work?

A. There’s so many. Going way back, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers made me fall in love with mysteries. Over the years, Robert Barnard, Steven Saylor, Sarah Caudwell, P.D. James. All very different—the one similarity is that their books draw me into a fully realized world that I hate to leave. I literally cried when I read the last Sarah Caudwell, because I knew there would be no more. Just now I’m enjoying The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.

Q. Will we see Tito age as the series goes on? Historically, what became of the castrati as they aged? Did they continue to sing into middle age and beyond?

A. Something about the hormonal derangements graced the men with longer than average lives. I expect Tito to live to a ripe old age. When he is no longer able to thrill audiences, age fifty or so for most singers, he can always teach at one of Venice’s famous music schools, direct operas, or use his many artistic and governmental contacts to indulge his taste for sleuthing.

Q. Do you plan to write about Tito indefinitely, or do you want to explore different characters – and perhaps a different era – at some point?

A. Funny you should ask! While I haven’t abandoned Tito, I do feel the creative need to explore other times and places. An author friend (Joanne Dobson, author of the Karen Pelletier mysteries) and I are working on a suspense novel set in the 1940s.

Q. What advice do you have for aspiring writers who may feel discouraged by today’s tougher-than-ever book market?

A. Be persistent. Don’t let yourself get bogged down by rejection. It saddens me when I see a fellow writer consign a good book or short story to the drawer after a few turn-downs. Make sure your work is top notch, believe in it, and keep it circulating.

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Beverle's books, in order, are Interrupted Aria, Painted Veil, Cruel Music, The Iron Tongue of Midnight, and Her Deadly Mischief. For more information, visit her web site at www.beverlegravesmyers.com.

A Conversation with Ann Parker

Interviewed by Sandra Parshall

Ann Parker has deep family roots in Colorado, the setting of her acclaimed Silver Rush historical mystery series – her ancestors include a great-grandfather who was a blacksmith in the silver boomtown of Leadville, a grandmother who worked at the bindery of Leadville's Herald Democrat newspaper, a grandfather who was a Colorado School of Mines professor, and another grandfather who worked as a gandy dancer on the Colorado railroads. When she decided to write mystery novels, her family history made Leadville a natural choice for her setting.

Ann’s first novel, Silver Lies, won the Willa Award for Historical Fiction and the Colorado Gold Award. The second in the series, Iron Ties, won the Colorado Book Award. Both books were short-listed for other awards and appeared on various best-of-the-year lists. Leaden Skies, out this month, is already receiving rave reviews.

Ann writes fiction at night and spends her days earning a living as a science, technical, and corporate writer. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

Q. Tell us about Leaden Skies.

A. With pleasure! Leaden Skies is the third in the Silver Rush historical mystery series; it picks up just about where Iron Ties (the second book) leaves off.

It's July 22, 1880, and Ulysses S. Grant—former president and Civil War general—has just arrived in Leadville for a five-day visit. He's in town to visit the silver mines, with an eye to investment, to meet with the city's Union veterans, and be feted by Leadville's upper crust. As his visit commences, Inez Stannert, part-owner of Leadville's Silver Queen Saloon, strikes a backroom deal with upscale brothel madam Frisco Flo. The deal turns deadly when one of Flo's women turns up dead and Inez discovers that Flo has a secret third business partner. Meanwhile, some folks are "playing politics"—at the local level and much higher—and some are playing for keeps. The title refers not only to the darker atmosphere that permeates the book, but the weather as well. According to historical records, the weather during Grant's visit was truly nasty for those five days: lots of rain, some hail, and unusually cold for late July.

Q. It seems like a big leap from writing about science to writing mystery fiction. Had you tried to write fiction before? Were you an avid reader of mystery novels?

A. I've always been a reader since those synapses "clicked" in first grade. I can still remember reading the word "morning" and having some amazing switch flip in my mind. After that, there was no stopping me. I read anything and everything—including an entire set of children's encyclopedias bought one volume at a time from the grocery store. I recall I was a big and early fan of Edgar Allen Poe and Sherlock Holmes. I wrote my first novel when I was about 12 years old. It was a pseudo-Western, strangely enough, featuring a woman physician, circa 1880, set in … of all places … Maine. (I guess Maine sounded pretty exotic to a kid who'd never been further east than Colorado!) I didn't turn my hand to fiction again until I was in my forties.

Q. What prompted you to write historical mysteries? Were you already a history buff? And why did you choose Leadville, Colorado, as your setting?

A. I've read all over the map throughout my life, including historicals. (I recall with great fondness the "We Were There…" series as a youngster, particularly "We Were There on the Oregon Trail.") I wasn't a history buff per se, although I loved digging in the trunks full of old photographs, letters, clothes, hats, fans, etc., in my maternal and paternal grandparents' basements in Colorado.

I came to writing mysteries set in Leadville through my family history, actually. When I was about 45 years old, there was a family reunion in Colorado (my grandparents on both sides were Coloradans of various degrees). At the reunion, my Uncle Walt told me that my paternal grandmother—the original Inez Stannert—had been raised in Leadville. Now, Granny had NEVER talked about Leadville, although I'd heard plenty of stories about Denver. Surprised, I asked Uncle Walt, "What the heck is Leadville?" He got very excited and told me a bit about Leadville's silver-boom and mining history, then said, "Ann, I know you've been thinking about writing a book. I think you should research Leadville and set your novel there."

Well, I followed Uncle Walt's advice and that's what led to the Silver Rush series. I was simply seduced by Leadville's stories and history and, later, by the physical beauty and depth of the place itself.


Q. Did you visit Leadville before you started writing? Were any of your characters inspired by your research?

A. I wrote about half of Silver Lies before I finally visited Leadville… and boy, am I glad I finally did! Even though I had photographs and maps, it turns out I had formed an entirely erroneous mental picture of the topography. Just goes to show, all the paper research in the world can't supplant being "on the ground."

As for the characters, I certainly drew on bits and pieces of the people I read about. I very much admired Mary Hallock Foote and her writings. Many of the women who came early to Colorado had fascinating stories and amazing resilience: Dr. Susan Anderson ("Doc Susie"), Isabella Bird, and others. Malinda Jenkins (whose story is told in Gambler's Wife) was quite the tough, resourceful woman. My fictional city marshal Bart Hollis has many similarities to real-life Mart Duggan, who was Leadville's city marshal in 1879. Other characters are similarly an amalgam of real folks and my imagination. And I was inspired to add a few "real people" here and there as a result of all that research. In Silver Lies, Bat Masterson makes an appearance as does Denver madam Mattie Silks. In Iron Ties, the chief engineer of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway, J.A. McMurtrie, wanders through. Ulysses S. Grant is much in evidence throughout Leaden Skies. I take my character inspirations wherever I find them…

Q. You set a daunting task for yourself – not just writing a novel for the first time, but making it a mystery with all the demands of the genre, plus giving it a historical setting that required extensive research. Which has been most challenging for you: learning to write fiction after a career as a science writer, mastering the mystery form, or transporting yourself imaginatively to a different time? Which has been the most fun?

A. Actually, science writing uses many of the same writing tools and mindset as fiction writing, only in a different venue. As a science writer, I had to quickly come up to speed on new scientific or technical subjects to the point where I could write articles that were accurate and engaging to a general audience. I learned early in the profession to interview experts, listen closely to what they say, and look for that "hook" that will bring the topic to life. As for imagination, well, I've always been a daydreamer (check the reports from my first-grade teacher Mrs. Kildebeck…), so transporting myself mentally to a different time and place is no problem. Probably the most difficult part of the whole writing process for me is getting the clues right (not too many, not too few, not too obvious, not too obscure) and making sure the mystery—the "who done it and why"—holds up under scrutiny. It's a learning process with each book.

What's the most fun? Entering that magic state where the scenes, dialogue, and action are rolling through my brain faster than my fingers can type. I love being in "the zone." And I've come to enjoy my interactions with readers. It's fun to hear what they get out of the books. Creating a story is like creating a painting or any other work of art: the artist may have one thing in mind during the creation; the observer/reader brings his/her own interpretation to the finished piece.

Q. Your protagonist, Inez Stannert, is a saloonkeeper who’s having a secret affair with the town’s preacher. Why did you develop this type of main character instead of using, for example, the wife of a Leadville prospector or businessman (or the preacher)? What possibilities does a character like Inez open up that you wouldn’t have with a more conventional woman of that era?

A. There are always, of course, many choices when starting something like this. I knew from the start that I wanted a protagonist who was a woman in a "man's world." (In the 1880 Leadville census, three women were listed as saloonkeeper/bartenders, whereas 288 men laid claim to that occupation.) I initially considered having Inez be a member of the "fourth estate," working on or perhaps publishing a small newspaper, rather like Serena Clatchworthy in Leaden Skies. (This would have also fit my initial criteria, as there were 30 male journalists to the single female inkslinger in town, per the census.)

I finally decided I wanted a female protagonist who, while originally from a higher social strata, had easy access to the "seedier" side of town and could also be, in some ways, "invisible" to a large swatch of society while still in their midst (think of what people say as they drink and how much attention they pay to the person behind the bar…). I wanted my sleuth to be morally ambiguous, sometimes leaning toward the light, sometimes shifting toward the dark. In some ways, Inez is much like the Silver Queen Saloon itself, which stands at the intersection of Leadville's red-light and business districts. I have plenty of precedent: the heady atmosphere of a boomtown in boom times encourages folks to believe that anyone—including themselves—can become rich overnight. People take chances and gamble on long shots that they might not even consider under more sober circumstances.

Q. What does your research tell you about law enforcement in the time and place you write about? Did the real Leadville have a functioning justice system, or was it pretty much anything goes?

A. Certainly at the beginning, it was "anything goes." Fortune seekers flooded in from all parts of the world: Leadville was the place to be in the 1879, 1880 time frame. Leadville had a police force and a justice system—how well it functioned is another story … there were many instances of corruption. Police and the appointed city collector collected fines. There was an interesting relationship between the law, the justice system, and the prostitution "industry," for instance. Basically, prostitutes and the madams paid monthly "fines" and the law looked the other way (unless things got too rambunctious). Another strange thing: Gambling was, technically, illegal in Colorado, but it went on, every hour of the day, in Leadville. There was also a "Vigilantes Committee," 700 strong, who took justice into their own hands more than once, so apparently a number of locals felt that the law wasn't doing its job.

Q. Did you ever watch the HBO series Deadwood? What did you think of it? Was it historically accurate?

A. I loved Deadwood! I think it presents a different side of the "Old West" that counters what we saw on TV in the 50s and 60s. If I were to draw a spectrum, the older, squeaky-clean, morally black-and-white Westerns would be at one end, with "spaghetti Westerns" (sometimes called anti-Westerns or revisionist Westerns) of the mid-1960s and early 1970s claiming the morally ambiguous middle ground, what with their anti-heroes and more cynical view of law and the West. Deadwood is the antithesis of the early Westerns, occupying even darker regions still. Was it historically accurate? Heck if I know. The producer claims so. Some of the things I've read about and researched have me believing that the language used in the series was probably authentic (although I don't know about the frequency and ease with which it was bandied about).

Q. Poisoned Pen Press has a well-deserved reputation for publishing superior books that, for one reason or another, the big New York publishers thought were too risky to take a chance on. Was that the case with your series? Did you try the NY route first, or did you approach PPP without submitting to the bigger houses? What do you feel are the advantages of being published by PPP?

A. I did indeed try to break into New York first. I had an agent who submitted to the major houses—they all passed. (However, I do have some very encouraging, nicely worded rejections on fancy letterhead in my files!) Then, my agent went out of the agenting business! I was faced with either 1) putting Silver Lies aside and moving onto the next or 2) trying to find a home for it myself. I tried to "move on," but my heart wasn't in it. So, I researched smaller presses, asking those I knew in the mystery field what publishers they'd recommend. Poisoned Pen Press was always at the top of everyone's list. When I saw they were located in Arizona, I thought, well, maybe they'll understand this book. I went through the submittal process, and boy, was I thrilled when I got that great email from Barbara Peters, saying, "Yes, we want Silver Lies. Are you working on a sequel?"

I love the sense of camaraderie and community among the Poisoned Pen Press authors, as well as the accessibility to the folks who run the company. Some more tangible advantages: the backlist doesn't go out of print, so it's always possible for a reader to start at the beginning of a series, and PPP is always trying new things, such as offering books on Kindle and audio and so on. Plus, my editor is Barbara Peters … I count myself lucky in that regard: editors don't get any better or more insightful than Barbara!

Q. Are you still working as a science writer? How much time are you able to devote to fiction writing? Do you have a writing routine, or do you fit it in whenever you can?

A. I'm still working as a "word slinger," although I'm now a contractor/consultant with my own business. In this particular incarnation, I'll tackle anything to do with words: employee handbooks, patents, web content, science or technical writing and/or editing … you name it, I'll do it. That's what 30 years of writing and editing experience provides, and believe me, these days, I don't complain in the least. You could say that, instead of having one employer or client, I now have several that I need to juggle along with everything else. The time I can devote to fiction varies greatly. I usually end up writing late at night … right about now, actually. (It's 11 p.m. and here I am, still cranking out the words).

Q. What do you see as your greatest strengths as a writer? Are there any aspects of craft that you’re still trying to master?

A. Hmmm. I'm not certain I have the right perspective to answer this. It's rather like trying to perform surgery on oneself. I'd have to fall back on what reviewers and others say are my strengths: bringing the time and place "alive," and creating convincing characters. The thing I need to work on: writing faster!

Q. Mystery authors whose books are set in the present day have to worry about getting police procedure and forensic details right so their stories will be believable and they won’t face the wrath of sharp-eyed readers. Does setting your books in the past free you from such worries, or do you still have to deal with a certain amount of crime scene and forensic detail?

A. It's true I don't have to worry about sending DNA samples out for analysis. But the details still need to be correct. Inez may not know about "blood splatter pattern," but if we're looking at a scene through her eyes, it's nice to get that part right, just so the scene is more or less "real." I also try to keep in mind other, simple things, such as not sending a character reeling backwards when shot with a Colt 45 (or some such). Doesn't happen; the bullet doesn't have that much momentum. (Don't believe me? Check out Mythbusters Episode 25 http://mythbustersresults.com/episode25 ).

Q. What fiction writers, in any genre, have inspired you and taught you by example? Whose mysteries do you rush to read as soon as they’re published?

A. Picking favorites is difficult, given that I read so widely and voraciously. I was a big fan of the Lord of the Rings epic fantasy … loved the world that J.R.R. Tolkien created (I wasn't big on The Hobbit, though). I very much enjoyed Dianne Day's Fremont Jones historical mystery series. One current-day mystery writer I admire greatly is Martin Cruz Smith—I'll drop everything to grab a new one by him!

Q. Do you hope to continue the Leadville series indefinitely, or do you have a plan for concluding it after a certain number of books?

A. I don't have a specific number of Inez books in mind. But there are certainly "variations on the theme" that might be fun to explore, such as taking a secondary character from the series and creating a story around him/her.

Q. Are you working on a new book now? Can you give us a hint of what it’s about?

A. I'm stepping into the shallows of the fourth book … haven't started swimming yet. It's hard to provide a hint without giving away spoilers about Leaden Skies!

Q. Where can readers find information about your signings and conference appearances?

A. My website has all that at http://www.annparker.net/app.htm.

Q. In parting, do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

A. If you are aspiring to write, my first bit of advice is: Read. Read the kinds of books you want to write. Silly, I know, but I've run into plenty of folks who want to be writers but … don't read.

Second bit for writers: Write the story that you feel passionate about. And then be willing to revise and "kill your darlings."

If you are aspiring to be published and you have the writing part of the job wired, my advice is: Learn all you can about marketing, promoting, branding … all those things that published authors these days must do in addition to writing a great story. If you have a background in marketing, PR, advertising, you already have an advantage. (Many pre-published hopefuls hate to hear this, but … sorry! It's true!)

My second bit of advice to those who want to be published: Persevere. It's not easy to find an agent or publisher in the best of times, and these are definitely not the best of times. Be prepared to collect a stack of rejections, and remember: Every "no" you get brings you closer to "yes."

Ann wants to alert readers that an Author's Note which should have appeared at the end of Leaden Skies sadly went astray in the printing process. Those who are curious about the story behind the novel (and what's real and what's not) can download a copy of the mysteriously missing Author's Note at www.annparker.net/book.htm.

Interview with Carolyn Wall

Interviewed by Sandra Parshall

Carolyn Wall was happily anticipating publication of her first novel, Sweeping Up Glass, by Poisoned Pen Press when she received astonishing news: Bantam/Random House had bought the rights from PPP. The book has since been sold in a number of foreign countries for publication next year. Under the agreement, PPP retains the right to publish a 1,000-copy special edition next month.

Sweeping Up Glass isn’t crime fiction in any conventional sense, although crimes occur in the story, and Bantam will publish it as literary fiction. It’s told in the striking voice of Olivia Harker Cross, who struggles to keep a small grocery store going in rural Kentucky during the Depression, while she raises her grandson, looks after her mentally ill mother, and tries to protect the silver-faced wolves that are being killed by hunters on her land. Olivia’s poor, segregated community hides devastating secrets, and when the silence is broken the truth threatens to destroy Olivia unless she finds the strength to fight for herself and for the very people who have betrayed her.

Carolyn is a freelance writer and lives in Oklahoma. I recently talked with her about the unexpected turn in her career and how it has affected her life.


What an exciting time this must be for you! How did you find out about Bantam’s offer? What was your first reaction? How have your family and friends reacted?

I didn’t know anything about all this until the deals were well underway, some of them completed -- and thank goodness! Robert [Rosenwald, publisher of Poisoned Pen Press] called me and asked if I was sitting down. So I sat. In the days following that phone call, my feelings were divided into three categories: Well, sure (I’d put in my three million words and always believed I’d write a bestseller), Still grinding away (scrambling for freelance work, putting together writing classes, couldn’t stop struggling uphill) and What’s my name? (often accompanied by What town is this?)

My family and friends have cheered and cried and thrown parties and dinners and celebrated. My family has smiled so much, I suspect their faces hurt.

When do you expect the Bantam edition to be published? Will it be hardcover or paperback?

Bantam’s edition will first be hardcover and then paperback. I don’t know for sure, but I’d look for Glass in hardcover early next summer. The deal also involves a second novel, hardcover and then paperback.

You’ve already been through the editing process with PPP. Is the book being re-edited at Bantam? Since you submitted the book to PPP, a mystery publisher, I assume you think of it as a mystery, but Bantam will publish it as literary fiction. Will the two versions be substantially different?

Bantam will look to see if they want revisions. My editor, Kate Miciak, told one of the overseas publishers that she’d “read it with her heart, now she would read it with her head.” Truly, I don’t expect much in the way of change, but you never know, and I’m willing to try things. I’m not surprised that the book will be considered literary fiction. I’ve always thought of it as “suspense,” murder included.

What was the inspiration for the story? Were you already familiar with the setting and the time period, or did you have to do quite a bit of research?

In the book, Olivia’s life is much like mine was, at least until she is nine or ten – although at that time I hadn’t been born yet, and I’m not from Kentucky. But those and a few other fictionalizations gave me a cushion for a very painful story. From then on, we pick up more fiction, lots of symbolism. And yes, I researched the time period and the place.

Where does the title come from?

The title is the story’s theme: You think all the bad things have happened, and you’ve swept up the glass. But the hard stuff keeps coming – what do you want to do? Keep on sweeping, or take a stand?

Was this the first novel you’d written? If not, would you tell us about your previous efforts to break into print?

While this is my first novel to be sold, I wrote three “learning books”. It takes a while to figure it out. Meanwhile, I sold hundreds of articles and short stories. But when I sat down to write my first scene from Glass, I knew it was gold. I just knew.

What is your day job?

I've been a freelance writer for a long time. For fourteen years I was senior staff writer for the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum -- I still write for them -- and fiction editor for Byline magazine for writers. I teach writing to kids and adults, run a prison-writer mentoring service and an editorial service. So I write or edit or teach most of every day. When I've had enough, however, I pack lunch in my purse and go to the movies.

What do you believe are your greatest strengths as a writer? What aspects of craft are you still trying to master?

I guess my strengths lie in "falling into" my characters. I'm working on the pacing and insertion of clues -- how many revelations, when and where.

What writers have inspired you and taught you by example? Whose books do you rush to read as soon as they’re published?

I read everything by James Lee Burke, most of Dean Coontz, all of Diane Mott Davidson. I always loved Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, but my favorite is Lalita Tademy's Cane River.

What’s next for you? Are you working on a new book now? Can you give us a hint of what it’s about?

I'm currently finishing The Coffin Maker, the second book that was part of this "sold package". It's about a woman who builds coffins in her barn in south Texas. The fancy, inlaid, hammered ones are sold across the south as armoires, bridal chests, gun cabinets, coffee tables. But the plain jane models have another purpose. This story is about wrongs that were -- and still are -- perpetrated in Mexico, and how, sometimes, things have to be made right.

Will you be doing any signings and conferences where readers can meet you after the Poisoned Pen Press edition of Sweeping Up Glass comes out?

I'm signing books at The Poisoned Pen [bookstore, in Scottsdale, AZ] the third weekend in August -- check their website --and here in Oklahoma City at Full Circle Bookstore, 50 Penn Place, on Saturday, August 9 at 3 p.m.

In parting, do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Oh boy, that's winding me up and turning me on! Well -- write. Write about yourself, your family, your boss, your local supermarket opening. A new ad for your toothpaste tube. Develop an awareness of your presence in every single moment, and your own opinion. And read. Listen to every teacher within reach -- you can sort it all out later and decide what's right for you. Don't ever let anyone tell you you can't. Pretend you're Alice, and go bravely down the rabbit hole.

Late Bloomer

Sandra Parshall

I’m sure the man in the bookstore didn’t mean to hurt my feelings.

I was doing my thing, standing by a table near the door and inviting customers to stop and look at/hear about my books. I gave this particular man my spiel, including the information that The Heat of the Moon won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel of 2006. He picked up a copy, studied it, looked back at me and said, “This was your first novel?” Yes, I said with a smile. He scrutinized my face with narrowed eyes and finally remarked, “So I guess you took up writing very late in life.”

I wanted to grab the guy by his polo shirt and scream into his face, “Do you have ANY IDEA how many books I’ve written? Do you have ANY IDEA how hard it is to sell a book to a publisher? I'd like to see YOU try it. And I don’t look THAT danged old.” I could have simply hit him, of course, but striking the customers probably wouldn’t go down well with the bookstore manager. What I did was smile – by now, my smile felt fixed in concrete – and say, pleasantly, “Getting a book published is wonderful, at any time of life. I’m really enjoying it.”

And that’s true. Except...

Many writers have unsold manuscripts stacked in a closet, and although we may claim to be glad those earlier, imperfect efforts were never foisted on the public, a sense of regret is inevitable. Regret that books we labored over and loved at the time were deemed unworthy. Regret for the years of rejection that left permanent bruises on our egos. Regret that we had to wait so long to enjoy the satisfaction of sharing our work with readers.

I’ve been writing since I was a child. I started trying to get my fiction (short stories back then) published when I was in my teens. I started working as a newspaper reporter in my twenties and also began writing novels. I wrote and wrote and wrote and got absolutely nowhere. One agent after another took me on and failed to sell my work. One manuscript after another went into the closet. I never seemed to be writing whatever it was that editors were looking for at any particular time.

I didn’t even start reading mysteries and suspense until I was around 30, and it was years after that before I decided to write them. The Heat of the Moon was my first attempts at suspense. It didn’t do any better with New York publishers than my previous literary efforts had. One editor wanted to buy it, but shortly after she informed my agent she intended to make an offer, she lost her job in one of the corporate takeovers that were rampant at the time. My book deal went down with her. Another editor – my dream editor, in fact – loved the book. Wanted to publish it, but didn’t have room for it on her list. She asked my agent to resubmit it in three months if it hadn’t sold. My agent resubmitted, the editor read it again, decided she didn’t like the ending, and rejected it. All the other editors – 20, I believe – turned it down because they thought it lacked suspense and readers wouldn’t stick with it. I put it away and would never have submitted it anywhere again if a couple of friends hadn’t read the manuscript and urged me to keep trying. An editor named Barbara Peters eventually bought it, and Poisoned Pen Press published the book exactly as it was originally written. A year later, it won the Agatha Award. At last, I had bloomed – but late, very late, by comparison to my youthful hopes for a writing career.

So now I’ve arrived, right? I’m secure, no longer a wannabe. Well, one thing I’ve learned since becoming a published writer and getting to know others is that only the mega-bestselling authors are secure. In the past several years, a lot of wonderful writers with solid followings have been dropped by their publishers because they haven’t “broken out” of the midlist to major sales. I’m sure James Patterson sleeps well at night, but I imagine quite a few less prominent writers are having nightmares about being dumped in the near future.

It’s a hard world out there. Every aspiring writer should be aware of how difficult it can be to sell your work. But if you’re a true writer, the knowledge of disappointments ahead won’t stop you – it will only make you more determined. If you're a reader and you meet a middle-aged author selling his or her first novel, recognize that this probably isn’t someone who “started late.” In all likelihood, what you see before you is a survivor. Offer your congratulations, buy a copy of the book, and please keep your thoughts about the writer’s age to yourself!

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For another look at life as a middle-aged beginner, be sure to read this weekend’s guest blog by June Shaw. June is one of the most charming, vivacious people I’ve ever met, and she’s thoroughly enjoying her new career as a mystery author.

A New Voice: Ashna Graves

Interviewed by Sandra Parshall

This is the first in a series of occasional interviews with authors who have recently published their first mysteries. Ashna Graves is the pseudonym of Wendy Madar, co-author of the biography Through Another Lens: My Years with Edward Weston. Ashna's first mystery, Death Pans Out, was published last spring by Poisoned Pen Press. She lives in Oregon, where her mysteries are set.

Was your first published mystery the first novel you wrote?

I blush to admit this, but it was my sixth book-length work of fiction. It was preceded by three other mysteries that I did not try very hard to publish—their day may come yet—and a mainstream novel that I’ve been working on for years, and hope to finish before long. There was also a strange work, a sort of fictional autobiography, that is unlikely to be resurrected. All of this adds up to many thousands of words as I felt my way into a fiction style. While I am absolutely attached to the act of writing, I’m not very attached to my own words and happily set aside hundreds of pages that don’t seem to be working. Nothing feels truly wasted because every word written is another word practiced. This isn’t to say that I’d be contented not to publish. When a manuscript turns into a book that finds readers, it stops being a soliloquy and becomes a conversation—and you can finally stop rewriting the damned thing!

How long did you spend writing the book?

This is a difficult question to answer because I tend to work on several projects at once, plus I rewrite exhaustively. A reasonable estimate is probably four or five months for the first draft of Death Pans Out, followed by reworking that must have added up to another half a year. This includes time spent making some changes recommended by the publisher’s readers and the editor. Considerable stretches of time sometimes elapsed between reworkings, and the manuscript sat in the digital drawer for more than a year while I turned to other writing. This was probably good in that it provided distance and a fresh eye when I went back to it.

Tell us about your road to publication -- pitfalls, detours and all. How long did it take, from the time you finished the book to the time you sold it?

This mystery turned out to be fairly easy to sell once it reached a publisher. It languished for a while with an agent (not my current agent) who liked one of my earlier mysteries better and let this one sit. As it turned out, I did a bit of research and thinking, and decided that Poisoned Pen Press might be a good match because it’s in the west and the few eastern editors who did see the book, didn’t “get” it. They didn’t find it credible that a woman would live alone at a remote cabin for a summer, though they seemed to have no problem with women PI’s who go down dark alleys after absent-mindedly forgetting their handgun in the car.

I sent the manuscript to Poisoned Pen myself (I was between agents by then) and though I love the press, I have to say their process is grueling. The manuscript had to pass eight readers before reaching the editor. What with a few slip-ups, this took a full year. Once the book was accepted, however, things moved fast and it was out in less than a year. Everyone at the press proved delightful to work with, and the responses were always quick to any questions or problems.

When did you decide to write a mystery? What drew you to the genre, and why were you attracted to the time period and setting you used?

Oddly, I’m not a mystery reader but I love listening to mysteries on tape, especially during long drives, and Mystery! on public television is always a treat. I feel like a clone admitting it (lately I’ve read similar admissions by several other mystery writers) but the original decision to write mysteries was spurred by a divorce and the money worries that followed. This is really ridiculous; just about any job would pay better than mystery writing unless you really hit it big and become a bestseller. And as it happened, I didn’t sell a mystery until about ten years later, though I did get a nonfiction book into print meanwhile. I was already earning my living as a writer, mainly through journalism.

The main character, Jeneva Leopold, is a small town journalist, which I chose because of my own experience as a reporter and columnist. It seemed a perfect occupation for a PI in that journalists are invited to snoop into other people’s business. They don’t have as much license to ask difficult questions as a police detective does, but they have more than in most other lines of work, plus a good journalist is easy to confide in and hears truly incredible things. Though Jeneva is a columnist for the newspaper in the fictional town of Willamette, Death Pans Out is set at an idle gold mine in eastern Oregon because I spent a summer in just such a place and it had a dramatic effect on me. Like Jeneva, I went to the mine exhausted and ill following breast cancer and some other problems, and quickly gained strength walking the rocky ridges day after day under the desert sun.

I felt no inclination to turn this experience into a “serious” book—it would have felt too earnest—but it was great fun to use as a mystery setting because it allowed me to spend a lot of imagined time at a place I love.

You published a nonfiction book in the past under your real name. Why did you use a pseudonym for your mystery? How did you select the name?

It was exactly because I publish other things under Wendy Madar that a pseudonym seemed a good idea for mysteries. It can be confusing for readers and publishers alike to have too many kinds of work come out under the same name, especially mysteries or other genre writing along with mainstream fiction. This distinction is less sharp than it once was, with a number of recognized literary authors producing mysteries (John Banville and Jane Smiley, for example), but there is also another reason to take a pseudonym—just plain fun. It’s a lark to have two identities. My lovely local bookstore, Grass Roots, played with this idea by advertising my reading as “two authors for the price of one.”

The name Ashna came from the first pioneer baby born in Kings Valley, Oregon, where I lived at the time on a 500-acre park where Ashna had been the farm matriarch into the 1930s. We sometimes felt that her spirit still haunted the place. I liked the name as a name, plus having never known an Ashna I had no prior notions of what an Ashna would be like. Graves just seemed to go with Ashna (and it comes right after Grafton on the shelf!) though I did worry that reference to the grave might be too unsubtle for a mystery writer. I go by Ashna at conferences and readings, and have enjoyed the fact that some new acquaintances who meet me as Ashna and later discover that I’m actually Wendy just shake their heads. “No, you’re not a Wendy, you’re an Ashna.”

One other important benefit of this pseudonym: it Googles perfectly. There is no other Ashna Graves.

Have the two experiences -- mystery publishing vs nonfiction -- been markedly different?

Not really. The two have more in common than not, the whole process of manuscript submission and revision being very similar for fiction and nonfiction. In both cases, I was very involved in the cover design, writing jacket copy, promotion, and so on. The main differences had to do with working with a big New York publisher (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) versus the smaller mystery publisher in the west (Poisoned Pen). While both experiences were positive and even fun, the mystery process was less formal, with a lot more chatting back and forth with the editor, associate publisher, designer and so on. Nearly all my interactions with FSG were with one editor who was in charge of the book. The overall effect with the smaller publisher was to make me feel closer to the process and, as a result, the book itself when it came out. I had a greater sense of having “made” the mystery as well as written it than I did with the nonfiction.

I got a much larger advance for the nonfiction—but then got no royalties until it was paid back. At this point, I’d rather enjoy the earned royalties than gamble on a book selling well and take a big advance.

What has surprised you -- pleasantly or not -- about being a published mystery writer? Did you anticipate the sense of community that mystery authors feel?

The first surprise is how involved mystery readers become with the story and the characters. I’m very fond of the characters—most are based on real people I met at the gold mine and in the area—but I did not expect readers to care so much about them. I have also been surprised to get such good reviews and quite a bit of attention in general given that this mystery is on the quiet end of the spectrum, and relatively leisurely in getting started, that is, no body on the first page or for quite a few pages. A few readers have confessed to a bit of impatience, but many say they enjoyed having the scene well set and the characters established before the first corpse turned up.

I’m also surprised by the number of mystery conferences, organizations, websites and events, which I knew nothing about before Death Pans Out hit the bookstores. It would be easy to get swept up in the current, so establishing the right level of involvement to be helpful without taking up too much writing time is a challenge.

The sense of community among mystery writers is a definite surprise and a delight. At conferences and online, other writers have freely reached out to me with supportive comments, answers to questions, and helpful tales of their own adventures and misadventures, with never a hint of competition or one-upmanship. I have found mystery writers in general to be bright, funny, and modest. One of the best things about being a mystery writer is being included in this jolly, interested, extended “club”—even though Ashna Graves is not a clubby sort of gal in general. I suspect that this mutually supportive atmosphere has a lot to do with gender. Though the male writers I’ve met are fine fellows, it’s the many women mystery writers who treat the craft as a sort of quilting bee. I don’t spend a lot of time online or on the telephone with other writers, but I know I could if I wanted to, and whenever I do, the interactions are worthwhile and best of all entertaining.

Has promotion been harder work, or more expensive, than you anticipated? Do you think most first novelists realize what a drain promotion can be on both energy and finances?

The best thing about promotion is talking to readers. The worst is having to organize appearances and travel, especially when the publicity has not been good and not very many people show up. It is also very expensive, and for all but the really big sellers the return is not financially worth it, especially for a first book with a modest print run. But it has to be done because those contacts, especially with bookstore owners, are what get people reading your work. To make money is not a good reason to go into mystery writing, though some people do manage reasonable income after a few books. I consider that a bonus. The way things are going, I will clear a few thousand dollars on my first mystery, which would figure out to pennies per hour. Babysitting would be a sounder investment of time!

Do you feel you’ve made any mistakes the first time around that you’ve learned from?

About the only thing I might do differently is to take a stronger hand in the publicity that precedes a visit to a region. Sometimes bookstores say they have this well in hand, and it turns out they mean a weekly calendar notice in the local newspaper. Often, by contacting a reporter, it’s possible to get a feature story, pictures, the whole shebang, which really lets community members know who you are if you aren’t famous. They won’t come to your reading if they don’t know about it, or have some idea that you’ll be worth hearing. My experience, consistently, is that with good publicity I get a good turnout, and without good publicity I don’t get a good turnout. Once people are there and listening, they tend to become enthusiastic and buy the book.

Have reviews been helpful to you as a writer? Do you feel you’ve learned anything from them about your strengths and weaknesses?

Reviews seem to have more to do with self-confidence and sales than with practical book advice. For one thing, they differ in what the reviewers like and don’t like. It’s important to get reviews for publicity’s sake, and really reassuring to get good reviews, but I take far more notice of what readers say when it comes to deciding what worked in a book and what didn’t. If I get consistent responses from readers about some aspect of the story, it’s worth paying attention.

What advice can you offer other novelists who are about to be published for the first time?
Take time to enjoy the triumph. Don’t start worrying right away about the next book, or let yourself get too anxious about book signings, or fret about reviews. You’ve done the difficult job of writing a book, survived the lengthy hunt for a publisher, got through all the production issues—so kick back and feel good about it.

Inverview with author Judy Clemens

Today's interview is with author Judy Clemens. Hope you enjoy getting to know her better.

PDD: Tell us a bit about your books. And how you managed to sign with Poisoned Pen Press.

JC: My books, hmmm. They don’t really fit into any “mystery” category. They’re amateur sleuth, yes, but not really cozy or traditional. Stella Crown, my protagonist is an independent, prickly, tattooed dairy farmer and Harley-Davidson enthusiast. How’s that for weird and un-cozy? And as for traditional, one of the books doesn’t even have a fresh corpse in it, but I’m told the mystery element is strong. The books are a lot about tolerance and looking farther than skin deep to find the good in people.

As far as Poisoned Pen, I had spent almost two years looking for an agent, finding a bad one, losing that one (which was good), and beginning to look again. I knew of Poisoned Pen, and when I found out they accepted unagented submissions, I wrote to them. Their submissions guy, who has the fabulous name of Monty Montee, thought Stella sounded feisty. He loved her, and it went from there. I love being with PPP. They’re wonderful folks.

PDD: Do you write other things besides this mystery series?

JC: I’ve published a couple of plays, some non-fiction articles, some children’s stories, and have just had a mainstream novel called Lost Sons accepted for publication. It’s so recent that I’m not even sure when the expected pub date is.

PDD: What is a typical writing day like for you, assuming you ever have one?

JC: Up to this point, my “writing day” has been whenever I’ve had time. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for the past almost eight years, and this fall my daughter will be going to kindergarten. I had a couple of hours a couple of times a week the past two years while she was at pre-school, but once school starts this year it will be my first taste of having full days to write. I hope I don’t blow it.

PDD: I teach researching in my writing workshop and I often use you as an example of "hand's on" (milking cows?) so please tell us how you research your books.

JC: Ha! Definitely hands on. For the cows, I got to go to a friend’s dairy farm and do all the milking and mucking out I could, plus was able to drive the bobcat and climb to the top of a silo. Then I traveled with a vet for a day and got to participate in all sorts of things, including the C-section of a cow. (which became the first chapter of Till the Cows Come Home) For other books I’ve visited tattoo parlors, talked to outlaw bikers, had tons of conversations with police detectives, researched in archives, and done my own bit of motorcycle riding.

PDD: What do you see for your future in writing?

JC: Well, I have Lost Sons coming out, which is a combination of a real historical event and a fictional contemporary story, plus I sold a new series to Poisoned Pen, which will begin in 2009. The Stella Crown series will be finished next year with book #5. And, as most writers, I have a whole list of books I want to write! All kinds – women’s fiction, Y/A mysteries, and possibly a series of real historical/fictional contemporary novels to follow up Lost Sons.

PDD: Are you still a biker? Tell us a bit about that.

JC: I still have my license endorsement for riding, but my husband and I made the choice seven years ago (almost eight) to have children instead of bikes. Once our son was born and our Harley was just sitting in the garage, we realized that was too much money to not be used very often. My husband is getting the itch again, though…

PDD: What inspires you, sends you running to the keyboard?

JC: I never know what’s going to hit me. It could be a conference I attend, a character that comes to mind, or just an impending deadline! I often get ideas while out on walks or driving by myself, so I take a Dictaphone with me. I’ve also been known to get out of bed and write in the middle of the night when something strikes me.

PDD: Do you work with an agent or on your own in the publishing business?

JC: I got an agent for books 3, 4, and 5 of Stella, but she has retired, so I’m looking for a new one. I’m not desperate about it, though, as I’ve already sold the new series to PPP, and also the mainstream, on my own.

PDD: What of all your dreams would you like to see come true?

JC: At the risk of sounding like a goof, my main dream is that my children grow into joyful, compassionate adults. But as far as writing? It would be nice to be able to make a stable living at it.

PDD: Anything else you'd like our readers to know about you or your books?

JC: Well, I’ve been told the books are a lot of fun. I hope new readers will think so, too!

PDD: Thanks, Judy! Hope all of you will check out Judy's books and her website at: http://www.judyclemens.com/jchome.html