Top of mind musings

cj Sez: Authors’ showcase events are notorious for resulting in few book sales for the authors who participate. The main reason I like to attend these functions is to get my name out to new readers. On November 8-11, the Junior League of Mobile* sponsored a Christmas shopping market, also known as The Christmas Jubilee, held this year at the Mobile Convention Center.

In my time slot, I shared their Author’s Corner with Angela Quarles, whose novel Must Love Chainmail won the 2016 Rita Award. I really did have a good time eating chocolate kisses, and I happily sold a copy of the Christmas through a Child’s Eyes anthology to a new fan (I hope).

*The Junior League of Mobile is an “organization of women committed to promoting volunteerism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.” Was the Jubilee a success? Resoundingly so according to their Facebook page: “From start to finish . . . with over 400 volunteers, more than 110 merchants, and nearly 12,000 shoppers, together we raised over $200,000 for children in our community.”

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My personal childhood memory (Dancing with Daddy) in the Christmas through a Child’s Eyes anthology and my novels were all published by an imprint of F+W Media in 2008, 2013, and 2015. I’m not sure how that happened. I didn’t submit to F+W media. Those books were submitted either to Adams Media or to Crimson Romance. It seems I have a “voice” (i.e., write in a style) that caught the eye of the editors of both publishers. Finding your voice, your personal style, I think, is one of the keys to good writing. I found mine in San Francisco.

My first interest in creative writing was in screenwriting. In 2001, I flew from Detroit to San Francisco to take a three-day seminar called Story from internationally renowned Robert McKee.

The experience was invaluable because I learned to visualize my story. I saw that I needed to create characters that are archetypes not stereotypes and write action/dialogue scenes that show their stories. I’m a work in progress because I still learn something new every day. How characters react and what they don’t say can speak volumes to readers who enjoy trying to solve the crime or mystery as the story progresses.

I’ve talked with writers who visualize some movie star or other playing a character in their books. Is that something you do?  I can’t do that. I don’t see a specific person, I visualize the whole characterization—I’ll leave it to Stephen Spielberg or Francis Ford Coppola (ha ha) to find the best mega-star suited for the role.

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Most us, and I am very much included in that generalization, have an idea on a theme. A lot of us also know how we want the story to end, so that’s all set. It’s the middle that really gets us. It wants to sag. Like an old married couple, sometimes the excitement fades away. Unless we work at it.  

Shoring up a saggy middle always requires a lot of editing.

To help me out in this process, I read the dialogue aloud as I go along. Does it sound natural? Are the sentences too complete and so full of blah-blah information that they slow the pace of the story?  This can happen anywhere, but it very often happens in the middle part of a story when I’m trying to reach the word count I want/need. Sometimes, I have to change a character’s name, a story thread, a sentence structure, or, as was true for Deadly Star, the whole genre (which went from an action/adventure love story to a romantic suspense). I also might add another challenge or two (read that as “conflict”) for the protagonist in order to bring back the thrill.

What do you do to shore up the saggy middle of your story? And if you don’t ever suffer a saggy middle, don’t tell me. I’d feel so inept.

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I’m throwing in the towel on NaNoWriMo. I haven’t come anywhere close to achieving the 50K word target, but it was worth the effort because I started a great story idea. Hope you were more successful.

Okay, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

I believe that Christmas is best enjoyed through the eyes of a child, and the anthology, Christmas through a Child’s Eyes, is a collection of 70 true memories that capture the wonder of the season. The book is free today on Kindle Unlimited, and I have a personal stash of a few print copies available for sale at $8. If you drop me a note in the next week or so, I’ll be able to get a book to you before Christmas.

PS:  Pray for peace; pray that our leaders.

PPS: Simon & Schuster acquired the Crimson Romance imprint in November 2016.

Qrtly newsletter sign-up:  cjpetterson@gmail.com

cjpetterson/author on Facebook    

Amazon Central Author Page

Simon&Schuster Author Page

“Bad Day at Round Rock” in The Posse Western anthology of 8 short stories @99 cents

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

California Kisses—10 book publisher’s bundle @ 99 cents (includes Deadly Star)

The Great Outdoors  8 book publisher’s bundle @99 cents (includes Choosing Carter)

Bodies in Motion — 10 book publisher’s bundle @99 cents (includes Choosing Carter)

Note: On the bundles, the “look inside” invitation gives you a taste of only the first book.

Helpful grammar hints

cj Sez: Because I'm "trying" to do NaNoWriMo, today's post is a repeat of a popular one done in 2015. The English language is littered with obscure quirks and twists, and writers seem to find a way to encounter every one of them. A few of my favorites follow.

The Christmas Grinch notwithstanding, here are proper usages for Stink, Stank, Stunk . . .

… Stink is the present or future form.

… Stank is the past form, use it when you refer to some time that has already happened, such as last night, yesterday, or last week.

… Stunk is the participle form, it means you must use have, has, or had with it).

… What is that stink I smell?

… Frying that fish will stink up the whole house.

… She sure stank up the kitchen last night with that burned milk!

… I'm sorry, but the baby's diaper really stank on the way home yesterday!

… The house hasn't stunk this badly since the day we found that rat behind the dryer.

… If you hadn't stunk up the bathroom, I wouldn't have opened the window and let your orchids freeze in the snow.

Then there’s this tricky usage/spelling: Pick up, Pick-up, Pickup

… Will you pick up my dry cleaning?

… “Have we met” is such a stale pick-up line.

… My pickup truck is red.

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(Following are excerpts of a blog by a fellow Sisters-in-Crime member:)

IN DEFENSE OF THE MALIGNED “WAS”

By Lois Winston

Editors like action verbs. “Was,” along with its brothers and sisters (is, am, are, been, were) is passive and a surefire way to a rejection letter.

Wrong!

Passive voice is when an action is acted upon the subject, rather than the subject acting.

The car was driven by Anna is a passive sentence. Anna drove the car is an active sentence. However, Anna was happy to drive the car is not a passive sentence. Anna is expressing emotion. She is acting, rather than being acted upon. Of course, there are more interesting ways to write the sentence to show Anna’s emotions, but that’s a separate discussion.

One of the easiest ways to tell whether your sentence is active or passive is to analyze the position of the subject, verb, and direct object.

In active voice, the subject (the one performing the action) will come before the verb (the action), and the verb will come before the direct object (that which is being acted upon.)

There are instances, though, when passive voice is necessary to the unfolding of a story or better suited to the realism of the dialogue. When we speak, we don’t first think whether our sentences are active or passive before uttering them. We just speak them.

Manipulate a sentence to avoid passive voice in conversation, and you often transform snappy dialogue into stilted dialogue.

For example: Billy ran into the house and cried, “Mom! Come quick. Snoopy was hit by a car!” This passage accurately illustrates the way a child might respond to a car hitting his dog. Snoopy was hit by a car is a passive sentence because Snoopy is being acted upon by the car, but the child mentions Snoopy first because the dog’s welfare is uppermost in his mind. Also, by placing the last sentence in passive voice, the author is actually ratcheting up the tension. We don’t know until the very end exactly what hit Snoopy. A stray baseball? A nasty neighbor? A falling tree limb? Although “A car hit Snoopy” is active voice, using it actually lessens the impact of the sentence.

Still squeamish about the use of “was”? After you have finished your manuscript, do a search of the word. Check each sentence to see if you can rewrite it to avoid using “was.” If you can, and it doesn’t detract from the pace, dialogue, or meaning of the passage, do so. If not, leave it. Some “was” were meant to be.

Except . . . the subjunctive:

The what, you ask? Subjunctive case or mood is one of the most misunderstood rules in the English language -- and virtually unknown to most contest judges who will circle a “were” and write in a “was” because the subject is singular.

The subjunctive applies to cases of “wishfulness” or “what if” situations. In these cases, “was” becomes “were,” as in, I wish I were taller. “Were” is also used when a sentence or clause uses “if,” “as if,” or “as though,” but only in instances where the statement is contrary to fact.

Examples include: If I were taller, I could see the stage better, Her twelve year old son acts as if he were in kindergarten, or The maid behaved as though she were queen. Because I cannot grow taller, the twelve-year-old is not in kindergarten, and the maid is not a queen, all the statements are contrary to fact, and “was” becomes “were” even though the subjects are all singular.

Keep in mind, though, that the key statement here is “contrary to fact.” “If” statements that are not contrary to fact retain the singular form of the verb. “If I was at Starbucks that day, I don’t remember” is a correct sentence because the statement is not contrary to fact whether or not I can recall the event.

cj Sez: I keep a list of the quirks and twists that I run across, like the stink, stank, stunk,  and Lois’s blog above. Do you keep a list, or do you run to Google? 

Okay, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. In the meantime, I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

cj

PS:  Thank you for your prayers for my sister. The stroke slowed her down but didn’t cripple her. She is recuperating at home and moving forward with the necessary changes in her life.

PPS:  Pray for peace in this crazy world.

Qrtly newsletter sign-up:  cjpetterson@gmail.com

cjpetterson/author on Facebook    

Amazon Central Author Page

Simon&Schuster Author Page

“Bad Day at Round Rock” in The Posse Western anthology of 8 short stories @99 cents

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

California Kisses—10 book publisher’s bundle @ 99 cents (includes Deadly Star)

The Great Outdoors  8 book publisher’s bundle @99 cents (includes Choosing Carter)

Bodies in Motion — 10 book publisher’s bundle @99 cents (includes Choosing Carter)

Note: On the bundles, the “look inside” invitation gives you a taste of only the first book.