Worse Before It’s Better

Wednesday afternoon, my daughter finished her math homework, started her spelling, then completely lost her focus. I decided she could take a one hour play break (she’s only eight) before picking it back up again.

Halfway through her allotted hour of play, she came downstairs. “I decided to reorganize my bookcase, instead.” I’m thinking that she must be Type A like me.

Since I’d just that afternoon done housework for an hour to clear my head, I totally understood. When her hour was up, she completed her spelling happily and then worked on memorizing her multiplication tables.

Her room? It was a disaster. Half of her bookcase was stacked neatly by size and half of it was on the floor of her room.

The same thing happens for me when I try cleaning out a closet. It always looks worse before it looks better.

First drafts? They’re like that for me, too. They’re disasters. I have Post-It notes all over the house and car with bits of ideas on them.

I have 15 or 20 different Word files in my WIPs folder. They’ll have random ideas, character names, plot sketches, and what-if scenarios on them.

I also have out of order chapters that I wrote when I couldn’t move in a linear fashion through my first draft.

It’s a mess.

Then it gets even worse.

Then, with the second draft, it’s finally better—both aesthetically and content-wise.

I put in chapter breaks. I don’t do that when I write a first draft.

I do “find” search for any asterisks. *** marks spots where I couldn’t think of the appropriate word, needed to research a particular point, or felt like I’d written something that needed a rewrite later.

I put a header on each page with my name, the project name, and the word count. It looks official then and a bit more professional. It freaks me out when I do it for a first draft, though.

I review all my random ideas from the Post-It notes and Word files. Which ones didn’t I incorporate? Why didn’t I? Are they any good? If they are, I’ll work them in. If they work better than the current text, I’ll delete the old and paste in the new.

I look at the big picture. Did I tie up loose ends? Can I sum the plot up in a couple of sentences? Does the story itself make sense?

I work on some no-brainer edits. I look at “to be” verbs (is, are, was, etc.) and slash most of them. I look for modifiers like “very” and “really” and “almost.” I look for my favorite words “just” and “sighed.” I look for “thats.” I remove many of them.

Then I’m ready for the serious revising: looking at individual scenes. Reading each page through a dozen or more times.

I can handle the serious revising because it looks better already. It’s the point when you’re still cleaning out the closet…but you’ve gone ahead and taken a load of old clothes to the Good Will. You’ve gotten some of the clutter out of the way and can move on with the project.

It's Thursday! Pop over to the Mystery Lovers' Kitchen if you'd like a piece of cranberry cake. I'm Riley there.

The Writing Brain

I think that mystery writers must have a very carefully suppressed criminal mind.

Apparently I look like a really innocuous person. Plus, maybe, a little foggy. I’ve ordinarily got my mind on other things as I’m wandering around.

I’m amazed at the number of times a stranger will get me to hold something for them or watch something for them while they hurry off to do something else. “Do you mind standing here with the car while I load it?” And their car is running while they run in the store to get whatever heavy item it is. And I think, “Wow. I could just drive right off with this car.” (I also wonder what the heck I’m supposed to do if a bad guy does come up to the car. It’s not like I’m armed or anything. I’d probably just let them take the thing.)

The number of open cash tills I’ve witnessed while clerks find managers to help them with a register problem is truly amazing. I could just reach in, grab wads of cash, and walk right out the store door.

My husband’s car hates me. His car alarm went off while I was driving. A policeman pulled me over, came to my window and then lazily said, “You certainly don’t look like a car thief to me. Do you know how to disable that alarm, ma’am? It’s distracting for other drivers. Do you have your manual with you?” I could have been driving a stolen car.

One set of denim-clad legs looks very much like another when you’re two years old. I was at Target some months ago, hurrying out the door, through the parking lot, clutching a bunch of shopping bags. I was loading up the trunk area of the mini van when I felt a set of arms go around my leg. I was horrified, as was the toddler who’d followed me out the Target, to my car. “We’ve got to find your Mommy!” I said, looking for whoever at the Target looked like she might be having a heart attack. All I needed for my Wednesday morning was to be locked away as a kidnapper.

As I swung around, there was a panicky mom just coming out of the Target. She saw me and relaxed, then hurried over. She said, “I’m so sorry! I guess she just thought you were me.”

I could have been a kidnapper. I could have been a really horrible person.

But I’m not. But I concoct really horrible people… easily. That’s because I can see the dark side of any situation and I’m always thinking ahead to the next mystery.

And now I’m thinking that I need to create a bad guy who looks and acts like me. :) She’ll completely escape detection.

I’m not sure how many other people go about their day thinking about possible criminal activities or motives for murder. I have a feeling that I’m in the minority among regular non-criminal citizens.

Do you find, as a writer, that you look at the world in a different way? How?

Gender Roles—Can You Write Outside Your Gender?

I’ve always taken gender stereotypes with a grain of salt.

I was tempted, even, to claim that gender roles were determined primarily by socialization and environment.

Keeping this in mind (and also having something of a cheap streak in me), when my daughter was small, I gave her all my old baby dolls…and I also gave her some of my son’s toys that he’d outgrown (4.5 year age difference.) “Here you are! Here are some fun cars to play with! Look how fast they go!” And I left the room.

I came back a few minutes later, and my daughter had made a little car family. There was a Daddy Car, a Mommy Car, and a little Baby Car.

My protagonists for my series are women. I get into their heads better that way, I think. But I have some very important male characters in my books and I’ll occasionally hop into their heads, too. My sidekick in the Myrtle Clover series is a man, and he makes a good foil for Myrtle.

Would I ever write a book with a male protagonist? It depends. I wouldn’t have a problem in the world writing a male detective or a cop. Could I write YA from a teenage boy’s perspective? I think so. Could I write literary fiction from a man’s perspective? I really don’t know. I think it would be challenging…or that I might end up writing a very introspective, artsy man. :)

How about you? Whom do you favor for your protagonists—male or female or both? Do you have a hard time bridging the gender gap?

You’ve Decided to Publish. Now What?

The biggest moment in my writing career came with the realization that I wanted to be published by a traditional publisher.

Once you realize that you really want to take that step…what do you do next?

It’s my day to blog on A Good Blog is Hard to Find. Hope you’ll pop over for some tips to help with your journey to publication.

And...if you don't blog-hop on weekends, you wouldn't know if you received an award yesterday. Might want to check Sunday's post, just in case.

Awards Day

Every day the online community of writers amazes me. I get so much encouragement and inspiration from the blogs that I read and from the wonderful commenters on Mystery Writing is Murder.

Among the encouragement I get are awards for my blog. To me, they represent a “Good job!”—which I really appreciate.

I decided it was time for me to throw another Awards Day since the last one I did was…oh…August or something.

And then I thought, “I don’t know who has gotten what award.” I nosed around a few blogs and thought about making a spreadsheet with who has what…

But then I decided to make my own award! Because I don’t see any awards that mention “writing” or “writers” on them. And I know that none of you has this award.

Now I know I will never be a graphic artist when I grow up. I will not share how long it took me to create this very basic award. But it was a loooonnnnng time.

Since I made up the award, I get to make the rules. The only problem is that I’m really bad at both making and following rules.

So here we are.

My rules:

You can post this image to your blog…or not.
You may share this award with others…if you like.
You may adapt or alter this image in any way.

I want you all to know that I appreciate you. If you know that I’m hanging out at your blog all the time and I have inadvertently forgotten you (and y’all, it’s past my bedtime as I’m writing this) then please let me know so I can amend my post! And if I messed up your name or link, please do let me know so I can fix it.

Sometimes I lurk. But I’m visiting your blogs (usually I do try to comment.)

Blogs I read regularly (My blogging friends. Some are new and some are old.):

Confessions of a Mystery Novelist --Margot Kinberg
Imagineering Fiction—Galen Kindley
Patricia Stoltey --Patricia Stoltey
A Million Blogging Monkeys –Alan Orloff
Jane’s Ride – Jane Sutton
Janel’s Jumble—Janel
I’m Blogging Drowning Here!—Lorel
Crystal Clear Proofing—Crystal *
Inkspot---Midnight Ink
Just Jemi --Jemi Fraser
Crazy Jane --Jan Morrison
Meanderings and Muses—Kaye Barley
Write on Target -- Debra Schubert
Karen…following the whispers—Karen Walker
Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen –6 authors..incl. me, but…
Elizabeth Bradley—Bits and Bytes –Elizabeth Bradley
In Corra’s Words – Corra McFeydon
Confessions of a Watery Tart --Hart Johnson
It’s a Mystery --Elspeth Antonelli
Cassandra Jade in the Realm –Cassandra Jade
Thoughts in Progress –Mason Canyon
The Writers Porch—Carol Murdock
Journaling Woman—Teresa
Carol’s Prints – Carolina Valdez Miller
A Writer’s Point of View—Stacy Post
The Conscious Cat – Ingrid King
Spunk on a Stick – L. Diane Wolfe
Cozy Murder Mysteries --Donna Lea Simpson
Terry’s Place –Terry Odell
Write in the Way—Kristen Torres-Toro
The Write Worship—Tamika
Sixty is Just the Beginning –Judy Harper
Author, Jody Hedlund –-Jody Hedlund
Eye Feathers—Tara McClendon
Southern City Mysteries—Michele Emrath
Coffee Rings Everywhere –Rayna Iyer
The Old Silly’s Free Spirit Blog—Marvin Wilson
DJs Krimiblog—Dorte Jakobsen
Straight from Hel—Helen Ginger
Lesa’s Book Reviews –Lesa Holstine **
Do You Write Under Your Own Name? –Martin Edwards
The Giraffability of Digressions --Cruella Collett
Breakthrough Blogs – Stephen Tremp
Under the Tiki Hut – Carol Kilgore
Silver Lining – Julie Dao
Coffeehouse Mysteries –Cleo Coyle ***
Poe’s Deadly Daughters—6 Authors
Desperately Searching for my Inner Mary Poppins—Marybeth
Constant Revisions—Simon Larter
Woolgathering—Jen Chandler

* Crystal isn’t a writer. But she’ll help you be a better one.

**Lesa Holstein isn’t a writer. But she’s one of us.

***Cleo’s website is updated so frequently that it acts as a blog.

I read a lot of blogs. I have many favorites. Today I’m recognizing some of my favorite places to hang out online, and some of the friends, new and old, I’ve made in my browsing trek.

I also want to thank everyone who takes the time to comment on Mystery Writing is Murder. I appreciate your thoughts and insights so much and only wish I could list everyone here who regularly visits me.

Book Club

I’m getting the most interesting reader perspectives from my new book club.

At first, I had no intention of joining this club. As a rule, I don’t join clubs. I’m not really sure how I ended up joining this one. This, actually, was the book club that I based the disastrous club in Pretty is as Pretty Dies on. The club disbanded around the time that I described it (I’m sure those things are not connected.) It was resurrected a couple of months ago and I (feeling a little bit guilty about my portrayal of the club, maybe?), joined up, at a friend’s invitation.

The first book we discussed was Those That Save Us. I’ll just say right off the bat that this was a dry clean only book for sure. It was set during World War II and its immediate aftermath. It’s not one of those books that I really enjoyed reading. But it engendered some interesting discussion.

The oddest thing to me was that there were two completely different interpretations of this book. I mean radically different. One group looked at it as a love story. The rest (including myself) looked at it as a tragedy. The discussion got very passionate as each group defended its position.

I really just wanted to listen in, but I did think that the author should have done one thing different in the plot. She made a particular event happen to one character when it should have happened to another character. The way she wrote it didn’t ring true—but was a plot device.

Thursday night we had our second meeting and read While I Was Gone, which was a bit more of a machine washable read.

No one liked the protagonist. Not a single person in the group.

This interested me very much because I have a crusty, crotchety protagonist. My agent recently advised me to soften her up in two scenes before we submit to Midnight Ink. I’m going to take her advice. For those two scenes. :)

I noticed that out of the probably 14 or 15 people there, only 3 of us liked the book (myself included.) I thought the ending was weak, but overall thought the book was interesting (not fantastic, but interesting.) The rest of the group did not like the book because they didn’t care about the protagonist. She could live or die as far as they were concerned.

The author, Sue Miller, also had a couple of plot devices in her book. Those parts didn’t ring true for the book club members.

What am I taking away from my book club experience so far? Be really careful about coincidences and other plot devices in my book. Be careful about unlikeable protagonists. Different interpretations of the same book make for lively discussions—it may be okay to keep your theme a little vague if you’re writing literary fiction.

And be careful when writing about book clubs. You might end up joining the club you were making fun of.