Alyse Carlson's The Azalea Assault Tour

Today I'm pleased to welcome mystery author Alyse Carlson! (AKA Watery Tart, Hart Johnson)  She's going to share some tidbits about her new novel, The Azalea Assault. I can't wait to get my copy!  


Giveaway:  You can enter to win a paperback copy by leaving a comment on this post.  Winner will be chosen by random drawing.  Deadline to enter is 8/2/12 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Please leave an email adress or url, where you may be contacted. 


In addition, all commenters will get a free copy of my ebook of vampire shorts, Annals of the Immortyls.

Vice Through A Character Filter

First I wanted to thank Denise for hosting me as part of my book release blog tour!  I really appreciate being here!  I thought, since the world Denise has created is largely immersed in decadence and pleasure, that maybe I'd explore what a few of my characters thought on the matter.

Camellia Harris (Cam):  Cam has been a rules-follower most of her life. She prefers moderation, doing what she's supposed to, and hasn't drawn outside the lines much until very recently. She has a best friend though, who drags her into some social shenanigans. And of late, there seems to be some need to bend the rules where snooping and information collection are concerned. Probably her biggest vice is a relationship with the truth that can best be described as 'spin'... it isn't that she lies... but there are certainly exaggerations, omissions and euphemisms involved. She also is quite the control freak...

Annie Schulz:  Annie would look at a person asking about vice and say 'no such thing'. She is a live-and-let-live girl who figures if nobody gets hurt, it's nobody else's business. She's been Cam's best friend for more than twenty years and looks at it as a personal challenge to get Cam to loosen up regularly. She likes rich food, strong beer, handsome men and seeing what she can get away with. Life is meant to be lived with no safety net. Because she doesn't believe in vices, it's safe to say she has none.  Sort of.

Rob Columbus: Rob is Cam's hot, athletic, sports-reporter boyfriend and looks at most of life as an athletic event... and athletic events have rules that need to be followed, but if a person can outplay somebody within the rules, that is worth a lot. The real life equivalents of stealing bases?  All good. In fact he's done a fair bit of just that—first shown in The Azalea Assault when he 'scoops' the murder story. He is on scene for other reasons and gets the story in before the crime reporter even knows there's a story.

Petunia Conroy: Cam's sister. Petunia has turned perceptions on their head with a reverse snobbery, so mostly she forgives real vice and the things she considers vice are things like being educated, attractive or wealthy. She has a very hard time forgiving people for holding these vices and doesn't keep her opinions to herself very well—drives Cam a bit crazy, considering who she works with.  As for her own vices? If a person were to look up prickly in the dictionary, they would likely find a picture of Petunia.

Samantha Hollister:  One of Cam's Employers, Current President of the Roanoke Garden Society. Samantha embodies the blue-blooded status snobbery, only with a gin twist, so she's more fun. Samantha would find vice in failure to be born to the right people, though if a person is charming enough, she will forgive them and give them a step up. She is wealthy, status-oriented and makes very strong cocktails

Nelson Harris:  Cam's Dad... and babe magnet extraordinaire... Nelson is sweet and has a self-deprecating charm that soon has earned the attention of all the women in the room over a certain age. It's not his fault. It's just how he is. Fortunately he also is one of the best dad's around, so it's easy to overlook.

I guess my point... (there was a point?) is it can be really fun to play with how different people draw the lines of right and wrong.  Do you identify with any of these guys?  Have any quirks somebody else might call vice?

The Azalea Assault

Cam Harris loves her job as public relations manager for the Roanoke Garden Society. It allows her to combine her three loves, spinning the press, showing off her favorite town, and promoting her favorite activity. She's just achieved a huge coup by enlisting Garden Delights, the country's premiere gardening magazine, to feature the exquisite garden of RGS founder, Neil Patrick. She's even managed to enlist world-famous photographer Jean-Jacques Georges. Unfortunately, Jean-Jacques is a first-rate cad—insulting the RGS members and gardening, goosing every woman in the room, and drinking like a lush. It is hardly a surprise when he turns up dead. But when Cam's brother-in-law is accused and her sister begs her to solve the crime, that is when things really get prickly.

Alyse Carlson is the pen name for the author some of you may know as Hart Johnson. She writes books from her bathtub and when she isn't writing, does research for a large, midwest University or leads the Naked World Domination Movement (your choice).

Links

Barnes & Noble Paperback or Nook

Amazon Paperback or Kindle

Confessions of a Watery Tart

Author Nikki Andrews: Idea into Story

Today, my guest blogger is Nikki Andrews.

 

Idea into Story

So I’m sitting in a bookstore with a pile of my books in front of me. This is one of the fun parts of my job: getting to meet and talk with readers and potential readers of my work. They often give me fresh insight into the novels I thought I knew inside out, and their enthusiasm provides an antidote to those awful moments when I sit at the computer and watch the cursor blink.


I give a little talk and open the floor for questions. Inevitably, someone wants to know, “Where do you get your ideas?”


By now, having done this for a few years, I have a stock answer. “Ideas are everywhere,” I tell them. “Everyone and everything has a story. Ideas can pop up out of things I notice: An abandoned shoe on the library steps became a lovely little story about a girl who gets to meet her favorite literary characters. A hole in the ice on my pond led me into the mind of an alien observer. Or they show up in dreams: I have literally laughed myself awake at some tiny scene in my sleeping mind. Once I woke up with the sentence ‘Derek Daley interviews Sir Bernie’ running around in my head, and it took me days to figure out what to do with it. Or they come directly from real life: I want to tell a story about some of the characters I’ve met as a picture framer, or take revenge on someone who done me wrong.” Then I add, “By the way, I have a t-shirt that says ‘never piss off a writer.’”


That usually gets a laugh. Someone might ask what happened with Derek and Sir Bernie, and then the conversation moves on. But every now and then I see one or two people—often a child—still chewing over the idea thing, and it makes me think harder.


Anyone can notice a hole in the ice. “Oh look, a hole in the ice.” Probably most people will go one step further and think, “I wonder how it got there.” The human brain is really good at asking questions and proposing solutions. Maybe somebody came along with an ice ax and a fishing pole. Or a meteorite fell out of the sky. Or we have a family of otters at play. Maybe there’s a hot spot under the water that melted the ice from below—which, in fact, turned out to be the case.


There could be myriad stories that come from that hole in the ice. But how did MY story about the alien observer come about? Ah, that’s the real question those people are chewing over. They don’t need to know where ideas come from, because everyone gets ideas; they’re asking how a writer turns Idea into Story. And the answer to that is different for every writer and every story.


A writer teaches herself to be observant, first of all. A turn of phrase, a striking image, a scrap of dialogue, can lead to a story. A writer asks questions: the journalistic who, what, when why and how, and most importantly—what if? A writer puts ideas together. (The human brain is also very good at combining things.)How a story germ grows and takes shape depends on the compost around it, if I may combine metaphors from two of my favorite writers. Two paragraphs above, I dropped a clue about the compost around my hole in the ice: just a few nights earlier the Geminid meteor showers had streaked through the December sky. And because I love science fiction, my mind was primed for the big question—what if, among the meteors, there was a tiny, alien space ship?


From that moment, the path was laid at my feet. Not that it was a straight path, of course. There were turns and double-backs, side trails that petered out, quests for more information. Other paths joined mine, and I had to beat the junctures smooth. I had to make straight the highway, level the mountains and raise the valleys. Finally, after all the writing, rewriting, fallowing, starting over—Idea became Story.


Ideas come because we look for them. Stories grow because we work on them. We nurture them like children, lead them and follow their lead, teach them and learn from them. Just as no two children turn out alike, no two writers, starting at the same place, will write the same story.


If I’m very lucky, a few of my audience will be amenable to an experiment. I hand out pens and paper, and distribute folded sheets with a few words. Some people are nervous, some self-conscious, even outwardly hostile. But when I look at a clock and say “Go” I can seeds growing before my eyes.


Let the excitement begin.


If you would like to read “Probe,” the story that emerged from the hole in the ice, please visit my website, http://www.nikkiandrewsbooks.com/.

 

Nikki Andrews has earned a living as a picture framer, receptionist, and stable hand, but in her real life she is an author and editor. She has published a mystery, Framed, with L&L Dreamspell, and two science fiction novels, Chicken Bones and A Windswept Star, with AuthorHouse. When she is not defenestrating her computer, she is working on two sequels to Framed as well the final novel in the Chicken Bones series. Several of her short stories have been published as well. In addition to writing, she works as an editor, both freelance and on the staff of two publishers. She is a member of Talespinners and the New Hampshire Writers Project, and lives near a waterfall with her wonderful husband, a cat, and assorted wildlife.

An artist and his model are discovered dead and coyote-gnawed in a remote snowy field. The New Hampshire State Police declare it a murder-suicide. But where did his last painting disappear to? What happened to her jewelry? Who is the true guilty party?
Brush & Bevel owner Ginny Brent has more reason than most to doubt the police. After all, she was Jerry Berger’s mentor and agent. When the lost painting reappears at her art gallery ten years later, Ginny seek answers. She knows Jerry didn’t kill himself or Abby Bingham, the model pictured among the trees in Jerry’s painting. Can she discover who did?


Ginny’s loyal staffers, Sue Bradley and Elsie Kimball, employ their own methods to find the truth. Elsie follows her exuberant young bird-dog into the forest and through frog-infested puddles to a pile of glacial erratics that might be the setting for the painting. Is that important? Sue cleans years of smoke and grease from the canvas and puzzles over the strange markings revealed under the gunk. What could they possibly mean?
In between worrying about the array of sharp cutlery at the neighboring Chowdah Bowl, fulfilling the sometimes whimsical needs of their clients, and planning to frame and unveil “The Lady in the Wood,” the three women learn that art is not the only thing that can be framed.

Guest Author Jo A. Hiestand

Today, I welcome Jo A. Hiestand to

Immortyl Revolution!  Jo is a fellow L&L Dreamspell author, who writes mysteries.

Jo has found a cool way of promoting books with character trading cards.  I'll let Jo tell you all about the interesting dilemma this presents to the author.

Face Value

I wonder if other writers have as much trouble with defining character as I’m currently having. Not the character’s personality, but his looks.

To give you a bit of background in case you don’t know my work, I write two English mystery series: Taylor & Graham features detectives from the Derbyshire Constabulary CID. The new series, the McLaren Case Mysteries, deals with ex-police detective Michael McLaren, who now investigates cold cases on his own.
When I began both series I had vague ideas of what my characters look like. And now that’s the problem: vague.



Normally this minute character definition wouldn’t be a concern, but I'm venturing into untried waters. I know how hot Trading Cards are in the romance readers market, so I'm trying them for mystery readers. Just designed my first batch for "A Well Dressed Corpse," Taylor & Graham’s eighth novel.

The design part wasn't that hard -- book cover on the card's front, then character photo and info on the back of each of the character's cards. And that was the problem. I have no idea what each character looks like. Well, that's not exactly true. I know Graham is 6'3" tall, has auburn hair that is starting to gray, and has green eyes. I know Brenna has coppery colored hair and is a bit overweight. I know Mark has dark hair and eyes, that Margo is a brunette beauty, and that Scott has green eyes, is 6' tall and has dark hair. But that's it. That's all I thought I needed in my mind's eye when I created them. Now I find myself looking at literally thousands of photos of faces, trying to choose a realistic representation of Graham, Brenna, Mark, Margo and Scott.

I had to take breaks from the task. After about 30 minutes of gazing, the faces all kind of blurred together. Sure, I wrote down things like "businessman portrait in dark suit and striped blue tie, page 84," but getting back to each page for a refresher look was difficult, as the photo site had no "go to ___" button, so I had to hit the page buttons and back up that way. Took a while.

After a bit, probably at my third photo website, I got smart and did a screen capture of the thumbnail sketch. These sit on my computer screen and I can remember who the contestants are. Don't worry, I'm not stealing them without paying. The photos have lovely white X's through the center of each, ensuring folks can't pilfer them. But they're a good visual aid in my quest for the Perfect Face.

Graham was kind of easy to find: male model/lead actor handsome. I found several guys who could be Graham, so I just chose one. After all, everyone has his/her own idea of how a character looks, so my choice might not necessarily be Susie Sudsworth's choice or Tom Brown's choice. But the essence of the personality has to show through in the face, I think.

Brenna, too, I found rather quickly. But I'm stuck on Jamie.
Jamie isn't with Graham's Team. Jamie belongs to the McLaren Case series. Obviously, those who are visitors to my author website http://www.mclarencases.com/ know I have already found a real life Michael McLaren and Dena Ellison, who pose for photos that I can use. But I don't have a real life Jamie, so I had to go online to the photo sites to find him.

Man, I am stymied. I have no idea what he looks like other than he has light brown hair and has a slight build. That's it. So perhaps you see my dilemma -- I have looked at thousands of photos, seen guys ranging from muscular to beer bellied, full head of hair to bald. I don't know who Jamie is. Is he the serious guy with close-cropped hair, leather jacket and sunglasses, or is it the casually dressed man with a full head of hair? A typical no-nonsense guy reminiscent of 1970s TV cops, or a cheerful businessman? Gaunt, long face or rounder?

I thought staring at their photos on my computer monitor would help. But I have seven contestants staring back at me, and they're all different looking. I know my dilemma comes from not having Jamie's likeness in my mind. But I don't have McLaren or Graham or Mark in my mind, either, and they weren't nearly as difficult to cull from the sea of faces. Maybe it's because I've written about Jamie only three times, whereas I've written about Graham and Mark nine times. And they appear more often than Jamie does.

It's not easy choosing him from the candidates. I have an idea what a casting director must go through: photo after photo after photo of guys vying for the same role. But it isn't a personal insult if you're not chosen. I know that now. It's just that maybe Candidate 4,309 looks slightly better for the role than you do.

There's no rush in finding Jamie. I will do the first McLaren set of trading cards in a few months. But I'm the kind of person who likes to have everything thought out and prepared. (Yes, I have food, medical supplies and a small tent in readiness for the earthquake that's going to hit the St Louis region, which is where I live.)
I hope my readers like these trading cards, to collect and to trade with other readers. I had a grand time creating the set for each book. If these are popular, I think the next set will have a riddle or contest clue on the back of each character's card. I want to offer something different with each set...provided they progress that far. But I guess it’ll depend, in part, on my character.

So, what have I learned from all this? I need to know more than my character’s personality; I need to know what he really looks like. Maybe finally putting a face with the other things I know about him will nudge me into writing a better character. We’ll see.

 You can follow Jo at these links:
Jo's Website
Facebook Fan Page
Jo's Amazon Page

Jo, thanks for being my guest today! My bad boy Cedric is clamoring for his own trading card now. See what you started, Jo?



Morgan St. James on How to Use Fate to Develop a Great Plot

I'm pleased to welcome Morgan St. James to Immortyl Revolution.  Morgan is the third L&L Dreamspell author in the feature I've been running. 

HOW TO USE FATE TO DEVELOP A GREAT PLOT

Morgan St. James

Fate is one of those “tricks of the trade” that can work in any genre and produce heart-thumping terror, boundless joy, romance, hatred or any number of emotions. Some believe in it, like me, and others say it’s just something that happened. But think about its value when writing fiction.

When I conceived the idea for my Twist of Fate series, I decided that even if every book didn’t have the same protagonist, “fate” would be one of the main “characters.”

A chance passing of apparent strangers and the world turns upside down. What would have happened if two people who shape the chilling conclusion of a book each arrived at the fateful door a few minutes later or earlier? Nothing. Would they each have gone on their way without incident? Would they meet at some other time setting off the same firestorm? Using fate, it becomes the author’s choice.

A car hurtles around a dangerous blind curve and slams into an oncoming car traveling in the opposite direction. They crash and one driver’s life changes. A few minutes or even seconds earlier or later and they would have missed each other and continued on their route. I know—it happened to me in 1983. But for that accident many events and the directions my life took would have been radically different. For one thing, I probably wouldn’t have been writing advice columns for authors, a “how-to” book and mystery novels. I would have been designing model homes—that’s what I did.

When the author is plotting, all of the forks in the road must be considered. What events follow if a certain thing happens? What events follow if it doesn’t? This is the fun part where you as the author shape fate and more or less play “God.” You alone determine the protagonist’s life pattern.

Fate is a powerful tool. It allows the author to map the plot like a chess game, always looking ahead at the options. If Event A happens, it sets off a chain of events. If it doesn’t, life goes in another direction. At each milestone there are one or more choices that shape the story in the direction the author chooses.

Take this example: The robbery is carefully planned, everything is in place and has been checked and double-checked. It should go without a hitch. Then there is momentary electrical short, it sets off an alarm and it all goes wrong. Who could have anticipated that? It’s one of those moments. A great example of this is Donald Westlake’s “What’s the Worst Thing That Could Happen?” where a chain of unanticipated mishaps resulted in a hilarious story. When asked how he plotted it, he said, "I bet...I bet if this had happened, then that wouldn't have happened; that sort of thing.” He claimed to have the same line of thought when writing “Somebody Owes Me Money.”

Fate is a very popular device in romances. How and why do the strangers meet? Take “Sleepless in Seattle.” It is filled with these moments and that’s what makes the story work.

There is a technique called bubbling where you start with a protagonist and/or event in the main bubble. Then take all of the offshoots. For each plot point draw a circle radiating off the main one and enter that action. Then for each of those draw four or five circles leading back to each event and think of an action that could be triggered. Continue as far down that path as you choose. Now take your protagonist on the fateful journey you have mapped. Happy writing!

A very big thanks to Morgan for her insight! You can find out more about Morgan and her books at her website and blogs.

http://www.morganstjames-author.com/

http://www.morgan-stjames.blogspot.com/

http://www.silversistersmysteries.com/ 

She's just launched the new Writers' Tricks of the Trade blog and monthly Newsletter, filled with tips, techniques, and experiences of myself and guest contributors in various facets of publishing. There is a Brag page for subscribers, conference listings, etc. The link for the Newsletter is in the right-hand column of http://writerstricksofthetrade.blogspot.com

Here is some information on Morgan's latest books:

Vanishing Act in Vegas

"Vanishing Act in Vegas," published by L&L Dreamspell, is the third book in the Silver Sisters Mysteries, was released this week in eBook, Kindle and paperback. The 4th book, "Diamonds in the Dumpster" is currently in work. The two previous books were "A Corpse in the Soup" (Best Mystery Audio Book 2007-USA Book News) and "Seven Deadly Samovars."

Join the zany sisters, Beverly Hills advice columnist Godiva Olivia DuBois, her twin sister--over the hill Alaska antique shop owner Goldie-- and their feisty 80 year old mother and uncle (former vaudeville magicians) as they try to solve the mystery surrounding Sin City's beautiful magician, Mara the Magnificent.

Filled with twists and turns, Vegas kitsch and a few backfires, this new Silver Sisters adventure is sure to delight.

Here is what reviewers are saying about the Silver Sister's Mysteries:

Morgan and Phyllice manage to incorporate just the right mix of tension and humor to keep it lively and interesting page after page. If you like the warm, friendly amateur detective mystery then this is one you should get. Sid Weaver, Reviewer and Wannabe Sleuth, www.mainlymysteries.com

Morgan St. James and Phyllice Bradner are as entertaining as Nick & Nora Charles or even better. If you like the late Anne George's Southern Sisters Series you'll love these two crime solving quirky characters who know how to create merry mischief and it's in their blood. Pamela James/Reviewer Mayhem & Magic website .

Writers Tricks of the Trade

"Writers Tricks of the Trade," published by Marina Publishing Group, was released over the past two weeks in eBook and Kindle-paperback will be available by the end of the month. Suitable for every fiction writer from novice to published. Here are a few of the blurbs:

"Regardless of genre, writing can be a mystery. In these 'Thirty-nine Steps' for aspiring scribes, Morgan St. James makes the conundrum far less daunting. Great, real-world, career-tested tips within these pages!" ~Megan Edwards, author of Roads from the Ashes: An Odyssey in Real Life on the Virtual Frontier

"Writers' Tricks of the Trade is one of those, rare books that you can read over and over. Read it through once, but keep it handy whenever you are blocked. You can open it to any page at random and find inspiration." ~John Brantingham, Professor of English, Mount San Antonio College, Walnut CA