Mortal Path

Dos and Don'ts for Writers

2012-01-28T17:23:00.001-06:00

NYT Bestseller CJ Lyons

My good friend CJ Lyons had a blog post that brought my attention to the following two articles for writers by Chuck Wendig on his site Terrible Minds.

They might be just the thing to motivate you. Chuck really, really gets it. His articles are rated R for language. Without further ado, check these out:

25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing

25 Things Writers Should Start Doing

Chuck Wendig, freelance penmonkey

My guess is that you'll be returning to Chuck's site over and over. Don't miss out on CJ's, either. There's excellent writing advice there!

How to Make an Excellent Book Trailer

2012-01-28T04:39:00.000-06:00

I posted a description of how I made the book trailer for Deliverance: Mortal Path Book 3 on the Supernatural Underground Blog. It will give you some ideas about creating an exciting trailer with music and video clips in addition to still pictures and text.

Take a look, and leave a comment on Supernatural Underground (not here) to enter a drawing for my great new Swag Bag. It's a Mortal Path tote bag, signed copies of Dark Time and Sacrifice, pens, bookmarks, and magnets. The deadline for the giveaway is midnight CST on Wednesday, February 1st. The midnight between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. I always have trouble with that.

How to Make a Movie Trailer

Check out the new blog features!

2012-01-20T05:08:00.002-06:00

Woo hoo! Look at all the new tabs in my revised blog. It was great fun doing this, and I think the results look good and make the blog more functional. Let me give you the guided tour.

Home
You're on the Home tab now, where you can read and comment on the latest posts.

Mortal Path Series
A description of the paranormal thrillers I write as Dakota Banks.

Deliverance Trailer
Sparkly new and waiting for you! You can even see a full screen version by clicking on the symbol to the right of the YouTube logo on the control bar. Press ESC to return to a normal screen view. I made this trailer myself--it was very interesting.

Newsletter
Give me permission and I'll get cozy with you - in your mailbox at least.

Ask the Author - Anything
This is an online Q&A opportunity. Pretend we're sitting across the table from each other having a friendly chat. I'm friendly, aren't you? Also pretend that my feet are glued to the floor and I can't escape as I am peppered with questions. You've got the picture. I've wanted to start this feature for quite a while, and the blog revision was the perfect time.

Contact Me
Provides information on about my agent and publicist, and a place to contact me by email. You can ask questions here that you don't care to have posted on Ask the Author for everyone to see. Or just drop me a note. I love notes.

The color scheme is all new, and I hope easy on the eyes. At the top of the left sidebar, you can access my Facebook and Twitter accounts. On the right sidebar, there are links to my two websites, as Dakota Banks and Shirley Kennett. Immediately below, you'll see a blog button that you can display on your blog or website. Just copy the code below the image, and insert the code in the HTML of your blog or website where you want the button to appear. The button is linked to the Dakota Banks website. If you haven't been there in a while, you might want to take a look - the site has a fresh face.

Any questions, comments, or suggestions, you know where I am. Right here, with my feet glued to the floor.

Dark Time: Mortal Path Book 1 Ebook on SALE!

2012-01-11T00:11:00.000-06:00

Harper Voyager is providing a special opportunity to acquire the ebook version of the first book in the Mortal Path series, Dark Time. Regularly $7.99, the ebook is on sale for $.99!

Praise for Dark Time:

"To be savored for both its edge of suspense and the pure joy of its storytelling.Part immortal, all human, Maliha is a heroine who will leave readers breathless and craving more. Not to be missed!" - JAMES ROLLINS

"Storytelling at its most vivid. Curl up in your favorite chair - entertainment is guaranteed."
- GAYLE LYNDS

"Seductive, sophisticated, and imaginative. Dakota Banks is firing on all cylinders!"
- STEVE BERRY

"Storytelling at its most vivid. Curl up in your favorite chair - entertainment is guaranteed."
- GAYLE LYNDS

"Seductive, sophisticated, and imaginative. Dakota Banks is firing on all cylinders!"
- STEVE BERRY

"Seductive, sophisticated, and imaginative. Dakota Banks is firing on all cylinders!" - STEVE BERRY

"Fans of the supernatural and dark fantasy will be intrigued by Maliha Crayne and her quest to save her soul." - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

This is a great chance to introduce yourself to the Mortal Path series, or if you're already a fan, to go back and pick up the first book for your e-reader. Available NOW and for a limited time only.

Vote for Sacrifice as PRG Best Read of 2011

2012-01-06T17:08:00.001-06:00

My book Sacrifice: Mortal Path Book 2 has been nominated for the Paranormal Romance Guild's Best Read of 2011 in the Reviewers Choice category. I'd love to have your support to win this award!

It's easy to vote for Sacrifice.
1. Click on this email link.
2. Enter "Vote" in the subject.
3. Enter "Reviewers Choice: Sacrifice by
Dakota Banks" in the body of the email
and send it.

That's it! Your vote is much appreciated!

xxoo,
Dakota
p.s. Do it now! :-) Voting ends at
midnight EST January 20, 2012.

PRG Mortal Path Reviews:
On Sacrifice:
"Ms. Banks has done it again; a plot filled with suspense, terrorism, action, love and the tragic conflict between good and evil. ... Intense action as Ms. Banks takes you deeper into Maliha’s quest to free humanity and save her soul." 4.5 Stars

On Dark Time:
"The plot is intricate and takes you on an incredible journey. Ms. Banks does an amazing job of taking you from past to present, to the past and back again seamlessly. This is an excellent read for those who are looking for a non-stop plot and an explosion of action." 4.5 Stars

Forensics Advice for Writers

2011-12-27T20:41:00.002-06:00

Looking for authenticity in your crime writing? A great source is Tom Adair's Forensics4Writers blog. I'll let Tom introduce himself.

"My name is Tom Adair and I am a retired senior criminalist with 15 years of forensic experience. I don’t usually like laying out my credentials because I’m not that different from hundreds of other forensic scientists out there but I want you to know that I do have the expertise to write about these topics. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and a Master’s degree in Entomology. I have served as the president of the Association for Crime Scene Reconstruction, Rocky Mountain Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, and the Rocky Mountain Division of the International Association for Identification. While in law enforcement I was triple board certified in forensic related fields and one of only 40 board-certified bloodstain pattern analysts and 80 board-certified footwear examiners worldwide.

"In addition to writing over 60 scientific papers, I have worked as the editor of an international peer-reviewed science journal and have been interviewed by and consulted for television, text books, novels, magazines, and newspaper articles including documentaries on the Discovery Channel and National Geographic."

This wonderful man posts articles of general interest to writers, and in addition, he will answer forensics questions specific to your book! What a deal, especially for zero cost. Pass along this reference blog to your writer (and reader) friends. Tom's tag line: I have lived a life that most crime authors only write about.

Tom has taken the leap into fiction himself, with a debut book Scent of Fear coming out in 2012.

Tom Adair's Forensics4Writers Blog

Tom on Facebook

Paranormal Romance Guild Reviews Dakota Banks Books

2011-12-25T22:55:00.001-06:00

The Paranormal Romance Guild (PRG) has posted reviews of Dark Time and Sacrifice, plus an interview with me.

PRG is a growing organization for authors and readers of paranormal romance. Their motto is
"Where the pursuit of extraordinary love, romance and passion is first and foremost." Readers can join for free, and authors have two levels of membership participation: general and premium. Authors, this is an outstanding new group and a great place to get your book reviewed!

Visit the Dakota Banks page at PRG.
Learn more about PRG.

Lists, Glorious Lists

2011-12-03T15:50:00.001-06:00

Had enough of shopping lists? Here are a couple of lists that'll lift the corners of your mouth rather than flatten your wallet. With credit to Snagsta.com - Your favourite things. Sorted.

Children Writing About the Ocean

1) This is a picture of an octopus. It has eight testicles. (Kelly, age 6)

2) Oysters' balls are called pearls. (Jerry, age 6)

3) If you are surrounded by ocean, you are an island. If you don't have oceanall round you, you are incontinent. (Andy, age 7)

4) Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily Richardson .She's not my friend any more. (Kylie,age 6)

5) A dolphin breaths through an a**hole on the top of its head. (Billy, age8)

6) My uncle goes out in his boat with 2 other men and a woman and pots andcomes back with crabs. (Millie, age 6)

7) When ships had sails, they used to use the trade winds to cross the ocean.Sometimes when the wind didn't blow the sailors would whistle to make the windcome. My brother said they would have been better off eating beans. (William,age 7)

8) Mermaids live in the ocean. I like mermaids. They are beautiful and I liketheir shiny tails, but how on earth do mermaids get pregnant? Like, really? (Helen,age 6)

9) I'm not going to write about the ocean. My baby brother is always crying,my Dad keeps yelling at my Mom, and my big sister has just got pregnant, so Ican't think what to write. (Amy, age 6)

10) Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting. Electric eels can give youa shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I think they have toplug themselves in to chargers. (Christopher, age 7)

11) When you go swimming in the ocean, it is very cold, and it makes my willysmall. (Kevin, age 6)

12) Divers have to be safe when they go under the water. Divers can't go downalone, so they have to go down on each other. (Becky, age 8)

13) On vacation my Mom went water skiing. She fell off when she was goingvery fast. She says she won't do it again because water fired right up her bigfat a**. (Julie, age 7)

14) The ocean is made up of water and fish. Why the fish don't drown I don'tknow. (Bobby, age 6)

15) My dad was a sailor on the ocean. He knows all about the ocean. What hedoesn't know is why he quit being a sailor and married my mom. (James, age 7)

When Insults Had Class

Theseglorious insults are from an era when cleverness with words was still valued.

1. I have never killed a man, but I have read manyobituaries with great pleasure.
ClarenceDarrow

2. Sir, you will either die on the gallows or ofsome unspeakable disease. "That depends, Sir," said Disraeli,"on whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."
Amember of Parliament to Disraeli

3. Thank you for sending me a copy of your book;I'll waste no time reading it.

Moses Hadas

4. I feel so miserable without you; it's almost likehaving you here.
StephenBishop

5. He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.
ForrestTucker

6. I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But thiswasn't it.
GrouchoMarx

7. He is not only dull himself, he is the cause ofdullness in others.
SamuelJohnson

8. In order to avoid being called a flirt, shealways yielded easily.
Charles,Count Talleyrand

9. She said, "If you were my husband I'd giveyou poison," and he said, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."
An exchange between Lady Astor and Churchill

10. Why do you sit there looking like an envelopewithout any address on it?

Mark Twain

11. He uses statistics as a drunken man useslamp-posts... for support rather than illumination.
AndrewLang (1844-1912)

12. He has all the virtues I dislike and none of thevices I admire.
WinstonChurchill

13. He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to runup.
PaulKeating

14. I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a niceletter saying I approved of it.

Mark Twain

15. I am enclosing two tickets to the first night ofmy new play; bring a friend ... if you have one.
GeorgeBernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

16. His mother should have thrown him away and keptthe stork.
MaeWest

17. They never open their mouths without subtractingfrom the sum of human knowledge.
ThomasBrackett Reed

18. Cannot possibly attend first night, will attendsecond ... if there is one.

Winston Churchill, in response.

19. He has the attention span of a lightning bolt.
RobertRedford

20. There's nothing wrong with you thatreincarnation won't cure.
JackE. Leonard

21. Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotionscome from big words?

Ernest Hemingway... (about William Faulkner)

22. He has never been known to use a word that mightsend a reader to the dictionary.
WilliamFaulkner... (about Ernest Hemingway)

23. He is a self-made man and worships his creator.
JohnBright

24. Some cause happiness wherever they go; others,whenever they go.
OscarWilde

25. He has Van Gogh's ear for music.
BillyWilder

26. A modest little person, with much to be modestabout.
WinstonChurchill

27. He can compress the most words into the smallestidea of any man I know.

Abraham Lincoln

28. I've just learned about his illness. Let's hopeit's nothing trivial.
IrvinS. Cobb

29. "He had delusions of adequacy."
WalterKerr

30. He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked byhis friends.
OscarWilde

Favorites? My favorite among the children's sayings is #8 about the mermaids, especially from a six-year-old girl. Among the insults, Winston Churchill is right up there near the top, but my hat's off to #27 about the most words, from Abraham Lincoln. Gee, I wish I'd said that.

EBooks 101

2011-11-27T11:57:00.001-06:00

*** EBook Giveaway ***

If you're here just for the free copy of Gray Matter, book 1 of the PJ Gray series by Shirley Kennett, skip to the last paragraph of this post.

Authors who published books before eBooks took off in popularity may be able to go digital on their own with those books. It's a great way to breathe new life into a series that has gone out of print. The tools are available now for authors to do this, the same way many people are creating original eBooks. I decided to undertake this with a series of psychological suspense novels I wrote under the name of Shirley Kennett, and I'd like to share some of my experiences here.

With a few exceptions, writers creating original works would go through the same procedures, so if you have a book ready to spread its wings, sink in its fangs, or transform under the full moon, this is for you. This is just one means to an end; the paths are many, including using a paid eBook conversion service. I wanted to know the details, so I did just about everything myself. I'm going to provide specifics for my path so if you're frustrated or in a muddle, as I was at various times, you can at least see something that works.

Make Sure You Own Your Digital Rights

If you have a contract from years ago, there may be no mention of digital rights. Still, the best way to make sure you're on safe ground is to have the rights you signed away in the contract reverted to you by the publisher. If your books are out of print (as defined in your contract) a letter to your publisher's legal department should produce a notice of rights reversion. Read the fine print. If your situation is not clear cut, consult your agent, editor, or an intellectual rights attorney for advice. Don't cut corners here. If your eBook is original, this is something you don't have to worry about.

Consider the Widest Distribution

Different eBook readers use different input formats. They can be simplified into Kindle (Mobi) format and everyone else (EPub, the international standard). This means you'll want to supply these two formats for your eBook to reach the Kindle, Nook, iPad, and a host of other readers. I puzzled over this for some time and chose two online services, Smashwords (ePub and other formats such as PDF) and LiberWriter for Kindle. Smashwords is free to use, distributes your eBook to markets like Barnes and Noble and iPad, and provides a page within the Smashwords site for you to sell your book. For all of this, they extract what I consider a reasonable fee from each eBook you sell (nothing up front). LiberWriter charges a flat fee of $25 (or $50 if you want them to do more of the conversion work) upfront for each Kindle book you produce and claims no fees after that. Amazon does, though. LiberWriter provides the output that you upload directly into Amazon. After tangling with other Kindle "converters" with no joy, I was pleased to discover LiberWriter and don't plan to use anything else. (No, I'm not connected with the company in any way.) If you want to offer your book for the Kindle only, you can just use LiberWriter from the start, including writing an original book. You might also investigate Vook, which will be available early in 2012. I'm just tossing out the name because I've heard good things about it.

Obtain an ISBN for Your EBook

You can get a free ISBN from Smashwords, or if you want one that isn't associated with Smashwords, you can go to ePubBud and get one for $5. Yes, you need one. Don't give me any grief over this.

Prep Your Text

I found that when I looked for my Word files of the PJ Gray series, I had files that were submitted to the editor but had never been updated as the books went through copyediting and proofing. In other words, my files didn't have the exact same text as the final published versions. (Not a problem if you're writing an original eBook!) There are two ways to go here. The first is the brute strength method of comparing the Word file to the published version page by laborious page and bringing it up to date. I did this for my first book, Gray Matter. The second method is to have the book digitized, meaning scanned in and converted using Optical Character Reader (OCR) software to a readable file. EPubBud does this for $20 per book plus $.15 per page. Because OCR is not perfect, you'll still have to go through the file you are sent line by line to make sure it's correct. Given the time I spent bringing my Word version up to date, I'm going to try digitizing the next book in the series and see how that works! Be warned it takes 4-6 weeks, so start early.

Then I did some minor revisions in my text because technology had moved forward since the book was published and some references would be jarring to a current reader. That means I now have the 2nd edition of the book. Smashwords provides a free, detailed Style Guide to help you get your book into the correct format for conversion. The Smashwords Style Guide is helpful and should be followed closely. You'll save time if you do. If you're writing an original book, use the Smashwords Style Guide from page one.

Design a Cover

Remember that even after the rights to the book are reverted to you, you don't own the rights to the cover. Those rights belong to the original cover artist. I'm fairly handy with Photoshop, and I had a lot of fun designing the covers for the eBooks of the PJ Gray series. I bought stock photos from iStockPhoto and combined them with the book's title, my name, and a juicy quote. It's very important that you have a professional-looking cover. Be honest. If you can't do this step on your own, pay for cover design. LiberWriter offers cover design, but I didn't use it so I can't personally vouch for them. There are other cover designers available, but don't skimp on quality.

Putting It All Together

I worked with Smashwords first, because it offered the best way to clean up my text with its Style Guide. Once I was happy with the text, I submitted it for conversion. I learned that building the internal linked Table of Contents (yes, even for fiction) is very important and a touchy thing to do. The ToC produces the navigation that allows the reader to jump to various parts of the book and enhances the reading experience. In my experience, if I've built the ToC (the Style Guide directions are excellent), and then need to make corrections to it for any reason, the whole thing seems to mess up. I take a deep breath, count to 100, and delete what I have in order to start over from scratch. I've wasted hours trying to fix an existing ToC until I resigned myself to starting over. Maybe it's just me. ;-) Once Smashwords accepts the formatting of the book, it's made available for sale on their website. To get to Barnes & Noble and the iPad catalog takes longer, up to ten days, because there's a manual review by a Smashwords editor before your material is passed along. You can and should verify that your eBook looks the way you expect by downloading your free ePub copy from Smashwords to an ePub-capable reader or to your computer. An excellent ePub reader available as a free download for the PC or Mac is Adobe Digital Editions.

By the time your text is squeaky clean (or thoroughly edited if your book is original), using LiberWriter for the Kindle is a snap. Throw away your lovely ToC you built for Smashwords. Upload your text on the LiberWriter site, mark your chapter headings with their "Chapter" designation, and press the easy-squeezy "Build ToC" key that does all the work for you. Convert to Mobi format and check that your book looks the way you want the world to see it. Do this with a Kindle or with the free Kindle reading app for PCs, Macs, and other devices. When you're happy with your results, it's time to upload to Amazon. (Note: Amazon now accepts other files for uploading, including ePub, Word, HTML, and even PDFs. However, it's my impression that you'll get the best results when you submit Mobi format, and in my case I chose LiberWriter to produce that format. As I said, many paths.)

You'll need an account at Kindle Direct Publishing, so start with that. Then upload your Mobi file and book cover and set your price. Consider the pricing/royalty offerings carefully. You get a higher percentage royalty if you price your book at $2.99 or higher, but you may sell fewer books that way.

Keep Your Expectations Realistic

Sure there have been some great successes with eBook "reprints" or original works, but far more are published with little fanfare and even less profit for the author. Depending on how much you spent getting to this point, you may not earn back your investment. It's not all about the money, though. If you are a writer, you know what I mean. If you keep your expectations modest, you can always have a pleasant surprise if your eBook takes off!

Promote your eBook via your website, blog, Facebook, and Twitter. Offer some free copies. With Smashwords, you can create coupons that allow readers to purchase your book for a reduced price or for free. With Amazon, you can give away gift certificates. LiberWriter allows you to give free Kindle copies to individuals, such as reviewers, with their names embedded in the copy. Join the Amazon and Barnes & Noble Associates programs. These marketing programs give you a small rebate whenever a reader clicks on your book link on your website or blog, goes to Amazon or B&N, and then purchases that eBook. You referred the reader and a sale resulted, so they're willing to pay a small amount for that referral. And I do mean small. But even small amounts can add up.

I hope you find this guide useful. Poking my way through this blind wasn't fun, but the results were rewarding. I know that my next eBook conversion will be much smoother and more fun. I hope this post might help writers out there and readers who want to tell their own stories. If it isn't relevant to you, maybe you know someone who might be interested. Questions? I'm not a pro at this, but I'll answer what I can.

If you'd like to see how Gray Matter, book one of the PJ Gray series, turned out, I'll give away a free copy to anyone who leaves a comment here by Friday, December 9th. Let me know if you want the Kindle or Nook/iPad version (ePub). I'll be sending it to you as an email attachment, so I'll need your (disguised) email. If you prefer, you can email me at dakota @ dakota-banks dot com. Be sure to add my email to your whitelist for my response.

Enter to win a Kindle Fire by “liking” Dakota’s Facebook Fan Page!

Win a signed copy of Sacrifice!

2011-11-21T00:43:00.001-06:00

I write the Mortal Path series of supernatural thrillers featuring Maliha Crayne. Sacrifice is book two.

While burning at the stake as a witch, Maliha accepts a Sumerian demon’s offer to become immortal and serve him as an assassin. Then she’s given an assignment she can’t bear to carry out. She chooses the mortal path instead, and emerges from three centuries of service as the demon’s slave. She discovers the fine print of her contract. If she balances lives taken with lives saved, she’ll ascend to a paradise straight out of Sumerian legend. If she fails, she faces eternal torment at the demon’s hands. The ticking clock? Every time she saves lives, she ages a variable amount of time.

Now she has an opportunity to prevent the death of thousands to help balance the countless lives she has obliterated over the centuries. To do so, she must locate and destroy an evil cabal of madmen in possession of a weapon of unspeakable power–and survive the immortal assassins who are now after her blood. But it means reverting to the old ways and surrendering once more to the darkness.

"The premise for this series is exciting. With a kick-ass heroine trying to get out of an unimaginably bad situation and tons of action, this is a terrific read." – RT BOOK REVIEWS
"Maliha is a mix of Lara Croft and a human Terminator. A series with a strong, intriguing story line." – Catherine Tuckwell, BLOGCRITICS
"A great concept and a fun read; an original story with just the right blend of action, suspense, mythology, and romance." – BOOK BITCH

Win a signed copy by emailing to dakota@dakota-banks.com with a subject line of “Giveaway” by December 9, 2011. A winner will be selected by random drawing and notified by email. Visit the Dakota Banks website for more information on the Mortal Path series.

Enter to win a Kindle Fire by “liking” Dakota’s Facebook Fan Page!

Enter to Win a Kindle Fire!

2011-11-20T14:02:00.001-06:00

There's a new drawing going on my Facebook fan page. "Like" my page and enter a drawing to win a Kindle Fire! You can enter the drawing even if you've already liked my fan page (thank you!). Just click on the "Win a Kindle Fire" tab on the left side of the page.

I'd LOVE your LIKE.

Go to: Dakota Banks' Facebook Fan Page

Get Your Gray Matter Here! Only $.99!

2011-11-14T17:40:00.001-06:00

My book Gray Matter, the first of the PJ Gray series of suspense thrillers, is available now for the Kindle for $.99! The Nook and iPad versions will follow soon. I originally published this series in print form under the name of Shirley Kennett.

About Gray Matter

A celebrated pianist has been found dead,decapitated by a sharp instrument, possibly a meat cleaver. His head ismissing. The skin on his back has been carved into the bas-relief of a mongreldog. It is a savage, seemingly senseless slaying. But it is only the first.Penelope Jennifer Gray, known as PJ, is a newly divorced psychologist making afresh start with her twelve-year-old son in St. Louis. A pioneer in the fieldof computer simulation studies, she has been hired to set up a new divisionwithin the St. Louis Police Department. Through cutting-edge techniques ofvirtual reality, the Computerized Homicide Investigations Project, or CHIP,recreates real-life crimes by placing the investigator in the mind of the perpetrator.PJ teams up with Leo Schultz, a veteran cop fast approaching burnout, toinvestigate the case that has St. Louis is a death-grip.

He's a face in the crowd. A figure in the shadows. The guystanding behind you at the street corner, waiting for the light to change. Witheach fresh killing, Pauley Mac adds another victim to his "guest"list. They are the voices in his head. The coveted talents he hopes to one daypossess. The furies he can no longer control.

For PJ Gray, at the mercy of a cunning monster with none to give,it will take all of her instincts as a psychologist and as a woman to beatPauley Mac at his own game. To survive, she must enter the mind of a killer.

"Kennett is a writer of rare skill, and Gray Matter is a deftly plotted novel bristling with suspense. Itscharacters are real and contemporary, and its premise is gripping and unique.Not since Red Dragon has a more menacing serial killer roamed metropolitan St.Louis. A rip-roaring good read. Let's see more of PJ Gray!"

- John Lutz, author of SingleWhite Female and Serial

"Fans of Patricia Cornwell's work will be hooked on hisheart-stopping and harrowing thriller. The finely drawn characters in Gray Matter are both complex andterrifyingly convincing."

- Romantic Times

“Kennett’s devious creativity and bloodcurdling, realisticdescriptive passages result in a terrifying and explosive thriller.”

- Booklist

“Shirley Kennett is a polished and poised addition to the ranksof contemporary mystery writers. You’re going to enjoy her books.”

- Mystery Scene

“A sleek and cunning read, with enough plot turns to keep thepages flying by.”

- Ed Gorman, author ofBad Moon Rising and Blindside

“May leave some readers sleepless.”

- Kirkus Reviews

“Kennett’s storytelling talents win out. Solid entertainment.”

- Publishers Weekly

Scary movies--are some of them true?

2011-10-28T04:23:00.001-05:00

Hollywood's Amityville Horror house

I post once a month on the Supernatural Underground blog, along with a group of best-selling HarperCollins authors writing Speculative Fiction (Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance/Fantasy/Sci-Fi) for adults and teens. What a mouthful! Everyone's writing about Halloween this month, so I decided to take a look at three classic horror movies that have real life stories behind them. Real, that is, if you accept the paranormal basis for them. Check out my examination of the movies The Shining, The Amityville Horror, and The Exorcist. If you haven't seen these classics in a while, or haven't seen them at all, they make good viewing for your Halloween guests, plus you'll be able to amaze them with the background stories.

While you're there, you can enter a random drawing to win a $25 Amazon gift card just by leaving a comment.

Dakota on Supernatural Underground

Another great advance quote for Deliverance!

2011-10-21T09:44:00.001-05:00

Deliverance, the third book in the Mortal Path series, is earning some great advance quotes from top authors. Here's another one.

"Deliverance by Dakota Banks delivers everything I lovein suspense fiction: great characters who jump from the page; a smart, layeredplot, and pacing that screams. This is the kind of book that makes youlook forward to a rainy day."

- John Gilstrap, author of Nathan's Run and Threat Control (Damage Control June 2012)

The Big Thrill

2011-10-15T12:08:00.002-05:00

The Big Thrill is a free webzine produced by International Thriller Writers. Get news and information on the latest thrillers along with in-depth stories and interviews PLUS a chance to win first edition signed thrillers by your favorite authors. The site also features the Thriller Roundtable, during which half a dozen authors make themselves available for your questions. There's also a Neverending Giveaway, featuring contests and giveaways from members of ITW, all gathered in one spot. In other words, if you're interested in the broadly defined thriller genre, you should subscribe to this webzine. (Disclosure: I'm a former board member of ITW.)

The Big Thrill

Top Ten Reasons Your Mystery Gets Rejected

2011-10-06T23:04:00.003-05:00

10. Manuscript not tightly edited and polishedfor grammar, spelling, and punctuation

Incorrectgrammar, spelling, and punctuation show you don’t care enough to learn themechanics of writing. Working with youin the future will be a continual clean-up process, and editors want mss asclean as possible to reduce cost of copy editing.

9. Poor pacing

Thebook should rise through a series of plateaus of action or intrigue followed bybreathers. A breather happens when theprotagonist is not in danger or actively solving the case. Breathers become shorter and shorter as theplot shifts into high gear. The intervalbetween breathers gets longer as the book goes on, so that by the last 50 pagesor so, there aren’t any.

8. Telling, not showing

Manynew writers take the shortcut of explaining a situation or backstory directlyto the reader, spoon-feeding character development and plot events. Instead, show the action as it happens,letting the characters participate first hand in real time. A detective visiting a crime scene can betold to the reader in a few hundred words, but if it was shown to the reader inseveral thousand words, the reader could enter the scene and experience it withall senses on high alert.

7. Ending not satisfying

Readerslook to mysteries for the kind of justice that sometimes eludes them in thereal world. Wrap up all subplots beforethe resolution of the main plot, so that there is nothing to distract thereader in that last dash to the ending. If you use a wrap-up or epilogue at the ending, don’t drag it out toolong. If you're using a twist ending, make sure it's plausible given the rest of the buildup in your book.

6. Violating MOM

Means,Opportunity, and Motive form the basis of a crime puzzle for the reader. Make sure all your suspects satisfy MOM tosome degree, so they can seem plausible to the reader. Your killer has to have MOM pegged, something the protagonist will uncover gradually.

5. Location is overused and/or uninteresting

Somelocations (such as California, Florida, and Texas) are well-represented in themystery market already. Editors arelooking for new, highly original slants on old locations, or fresh locationsthat have some intrinsic appeal.Location should have a strong effect on the characters, the crime, and howthe crime is solved. Let the setting become a character in your book. If your book is setin Chicago but it could just as easily have been San Diego, then your settingis far too generic.

4.Clues/solution of whodunit too obvious, or conversely, indecipherable

Playfair. At the end of the book, the readershould be able to backtrack and rediscover the clues laid out. Determine all the major clues needed to solvethe crime, then go back and sprinkle them into your book out of logical orderand concealed, using misdirection and false clues to keep the readerguessing. But make sure that all theclues are there that the reader needs to solve the puzzle.

3. No “hook” at the beginning of the book

The first 500 words of your book are golden. That is the amount a browser might read in a bookstore, pulling the bookoff the shelf and examining it. In thosebrief words, you have to anchor the reader in a character, a situation, and alocation. Don’t rely on overusedbeginnings such as the dream, describing the weather, or having the characterwake up and go through routine morning activities in detail.

2. Dialogue stilted

Baddialogue is a constant irritant. Readyour dialogue aloud – better yet, have a group of friends read it while youlisten. If your characters are sayingthings that would never come out of a real human’s mouth, you’ve got work todo. On the other hand, dialogue isusually not a word-for-word representation of the way real people talk. It is condensed, more like the way we wish wecould have said the things we did.

1. Voice not engaging

Voiceis a combination of your protagonist’s personality and your own writingstyle. Style consists of your wordchoice, sentence structure and length, tone (humorous, dark, etc.), paragraphlength, chapter structure, pacing, and point of view. Editors are looking for a “fresh voice,"meaning something that is not a rehashing of other authors’ work, somethingwith genuine sizzle and a new way of looking at the human condition. But not so fresh that readers won't be able to understand it or settle into it comfortably.

Advance Quotes for Deliverance: Mortal Path 3

2011-10-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

Quotes are coming in for the third book in the Mortal Path series, Deliverance, to be released in March 2012. Woot! I love it!

"Deliverance is a gut-kick of a read, with non-stop action and as inventive a world as I've ever seen. Maliha Crayne, not a character to be trifled with, could give other Urban Fantasy heroines a pointed lesson in real ass-kicking."
- VICKI PETTERSSON, NYT Bestselling Author of The Neon Graveyard

"A breakneck ride through worlds visible and invisible - who knew the ancient Sumerians were this thrilling?" - JOSEPH FINDER, Top Ten NYT Bestselling Author of Buried Secrets

"Readers who like their paranormal romantic suspense novels to feature nonstop action, twisting plots, and deadly heroines will devour Banks' clever and compelling Mortal Path series. Assassins, demons and danger, oh my!"
- LISA GARDNER, #1 NYT Bestselling Author of Love You More

Description of Deliverance:

A demon's assassin for centuries, Maliha Crayne has gone rogue, determined to save a life for every one she's destroyed in order to free herself from an eternity of enslavement, damnation, and excruciating torment. But as the powers that sustained her in the past fade, she is wary of trusting those closest to her-especially her lover, Jake. Should Maliha listen to her heart or the alarms going off in her head? Then her closest friends begin to disappear, one by one. Amid her anger, suspicion, and sorrow, she feels her life spiraling out of control.

Worse still, a beautiful Renaissance murderess is recruiting Maliha as her new assassin. Maliha is turning into a lethal puppet with an evil Immortal pulling the strings, forced to kill innocents or see her missing friends die horribly. Suddenly trapped in a moral no-man's land, Maliha is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't…and time is rapidly running out.

Watch out for Facebook Gestures

2011-09-28T17:18:00.000-05:00

Don't be taken by surprise by one of Facebook's newest features: Gestures. From an article by Pete Cashmore, founder and CEO of Mashable: "Facebook is making sharing even easier by automatically sharing what you’re doing on Facebook-connected apps. Instead of having to “Like” something to share it, you’ll just need to click “Add to Timeline” on any website or app, and that app will have permission to share your activity with your Facebook friends.What activity, you ask? It could be the news articles you read online, the videos you watch, the photos you view, the music you listen to, or any other action within the site or app."

Once you've clicked "Add to Timeline" on any website, you need to be aware that every article you read there and every video you view (!) will be posted to your Facebook Timeline for all your friends to see. Whoa--too much information. You can avoid any potential embarrassment by not using "Add to Timeline" in the first place, or if you do, follow the directions in the Mashable article to control which friends track your online usage via this auto-sharing method. "Gestures" may be aptly named.

Dakota Banks Fan Page

2011-09-27T13:28:00.000-05:00

Help me spread the word about my new Facebook fan page by posting the badge below on your blog. Leave a comment with your blog url and I'll enter you in a special drawing for a $50 Amazon gift certificate only for bloggers who have posted the badge. Ends November 15, 2011. Is this a bribe? Well ... yes. Is it blatant? Um ... yes.

To make the switch from personal to fan page as painless as possible, I'm having a drawing on the fan page for a Nook Color (an international winner will receive an equivalent gift certificate at Barnes & Noble, since the Nook isn't shipped outside the USA). You can enter that, too!

Win a Nook Color E-Reader!

2011-09-22T22:43:00.002-05:00

WIN A NOOK COLOR E-READER!

Makes a great gift!
Open Internationally*
Ends Midnight CST
November 15, 2011I'm revving up the
Dakota Banks Fan Page
on Facebook and would LOVE you
to "LIKE" it!

To enter the random drawing:
1. Click on the link above to visit my Facebook page.
2. Click on "Win a Nook Color" in the navigation block on the left side.
3. Click on the "Like" icon at the top of the page.
4. Enter your name and email address.
5. Click submit. Good luck!

*International entrants: Barnes and Noble does not ship the Nook Color outside the U.S.
An international winner will receive a Barnes and Noble gift certificate for $249 instead.

New Sacrifice review plus giveaway of book and $25 Amazon gift card

2011-09-06T21:46:00.000-05:00

There's a giveaway running for a signed copy of Sacrifice: Mortal Path Book 2, along with a $25 Amazon gift card. The new review is on the Triple R: Read, Rate, Review blog at http://bit.ly/rbcTvC.

All you have to do to enter is visit the blog and leave a comment about some aspect of the review. The giveaway closes on September 12, 2012. International entries are welcome.

Bouchercon and see-through calculators!

2011-08-28T11:08:00.000-05:00

The World Mystery Conference (Bouchercon) is coming up Sept. 15-18 in St. Louis, my hometown. My panel is "Night Chills - Making Things Go Bump in the Night", on Thursday, September 15th, 8:30am-9:30am, room Majestic A,B,C. Yes, that's 8:30 in the morning, on the first day. Please, please, if you are going to Bouchercon, set your alarm and come to my panel!! It'll be fun and I hope to see you there--awake--in the audience. We're moderated by Monette Draper (aka Monette Michaels) and the other panelists are Angie Fox, Sarah Glenn, M.R. Sellars, and Jason Starr.

I'll also be volunteering at the Bouchercon registration table and staffing the International Thriller Writers Outreach table. If you want information on joining ITW, stop by and talk to some ITW authors. I'm currently on the board of ITW, printed out the brochures, and had a banner made for the front of the table, so I need to make sure the table looks busy. :) Stop by and talk paranormal stuff and I'll give you a Sacrifice: Mortal Path Book 2 pen.

HarperCollins is sponsoring the opening ceremonies during Bouchercon this year. The opening ceremonies will take place from 7pm-9pm on Thursday, September 15th (roughly twelve hours after my panel, so I hope I'm still functional by then). The Barry and Macavity Awards will be presented during the opening ceremonies, and immediately afterward, HarperCollins will host a book signing and reception in the lobby outside the opening ceremonies room. I'll be there, handing out FREE copies of Sacrifice: Mortal Path Book 2 to the first fifty takers, along with some see-through solar calculators.

Just in case you're not going to Bouchercon, you can win the book and calculator by going to my post on the Supernatural Underground blog and leaving a comment by Thursday, September 1st. I'm giving away two sets.

Dakota Banks Interview

2011-08-26T02:16:00.002-05:00

I had a wide-ranging interview with Darrell Pitt, author and blogger, covering everything from ghost stories to why I like Star Trek. Don't miss it! Darrell also has a good section on writing tips.

Interview

Darrell's the author of a young adult novel The Steampunk Detective.

Software Giveaways

2011-08-24T10:49:00.001-05:00

I stumbled across Giveaway of the Day, a site that gives away a different software package every day, safely and legally, directly from the manufacturers. Companies sign up to increase awareness of their products by offering a full download (not trial or demo) FREE for 24 hours. The benefit for them? You'll try a new product, hopefully like it and talk it up. The benefit for you? Obvious.

Software comes with no tech support, no backup CD, and no free upgrades to the next version of the program. Example: You download DoStuff 1.0 for free; when DoStuff 2.0 comes out, you don't get a free upgrade to it. Each offer literally lasts a day, so if you're late to the party. don't expect a piece of cake.

A wide variety of software is made available. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you won't be interested in every day's selection, but if you find something appealing/useful/fun, you can save money. There's also a daily game giveaway. Don't get too excited; these are the kind of games that sell for $10-$15.

I recommend checking this out if "free" makes you tingle. This isn't a paid ad. It's just me, passing along a good thing to my friends--exactly the way Giveaway of the Day is supposed to work.

Last Three Days for Free Burning Rose Ebook

2011-07-31T18:17:00.000-05:00

All good things must come to an end. The limited time offer for the free ebook of Burning Rose by my alter-ego Shirley Kennett will be over in three days. Last chance for a FREE great read!

Available From:
Barnes and Noble - Free
Smashwords - Free - Multiple formats
Amazon - $.99 (Okay, you got me. As close as I could get to free.)

Burning Rose is a thriller with high stakes, exotic locations, unforgettable characters and a splash of romance!

Casey Washington is a freelance eco-journalist who thinks she has the brass ring in her grasp—an interview with Robert Gunner, the reclusive head of a powerful megacorporation building a controversial hydroelectric project in an unspoiled Amazon River rainforest.

When the interview goes wrong, she’s mad enough to start turning over stones and seeing what crawls out.

Heads of megacorporations are dying in mysterious and gruesome ways, shifting loyalties rapidly on the international scene. A secret organization is plotting to change the balance of power. And Casey finds herself admiring the man she’s supposed to hate.

It all comes together in a place where butterflies float over calm water and deadly creatures lurk underneath, where the natives slip like shadows of nature through lush forests, and killers pursue their human prey. Suddenly Casey’s got more to worry about than missing a deadline!

What others are saying about Burning Rose:

“Kennett writes with pace and clarity. If you’re hungry for vivid characters ... your ship has come in!”— Kirkus

“Shirley Kennett has Hawaii-based freelance journalist Casey Washington grappling with a mysterious troupe called The Six—whose members have names like Wrongful Death and who seem to be behind a spate of CEO murders—and her own lonely heart.” — Publishers Weekly

“Lots of action keeps the characters on their toes as they travel the world. The exciting conclusion in the South American jungle leaves Casey with far more than an exclusive story. Readers who enjoy a good puzzle with pieces that never quite fit will have fun with this suspenseful thriller.” — Booklist

“[Burning Rose is] tightly woven, intricately complex and fascinating to follow the various plots that Kennett has successfully created. The finish of this book is dramatic and wonderfully satisfying. If you enjoy thrillers, Burning Rose as the back cover says, showcases ‘Shirley Kennett at the top of her game.’ Unforgettable!” — Book Reader’s Heaven

First Crime Novel Competition

2011-07-23T17:13:00.007-05:00


Mystery Writers of America

Are you working on your first mystery novel? St. Martin's Minotaur and Mystery Writers of America hold a competition each year. MWA members judge the manuscript entries and the winner is selected by Minotaur editors for publication with a $10,000 advance! This is the real deal, people. You can enter if you have published only self-published books.

St. Martin's Minotaur

To enter for 2012, you need to request an entry form by November 15th. (More details below.) In return, you'll be assigned a judge to whom you'll send your manuscript. Don't send your manuscript anywhere until you have an assigned judge! A hard copy of your manuscript must be postmarked by November 30, 2011 and received by the judge no later than December 15, 2011. These deadlines are firm. Believe it. Enter as early as you can.

This contest is strictly for debut authors only, and that means the following.

1. Aged 18 or older.
2. Never been the author of any previously published novel (in any genre), as defined by the guidelines below, (except that authors of self-published works only may enter, as long as the manuscript submitted is not the self-published work).
3. The writer is not under contract with a publisher for publication of a novel.
4. Only one manuscript entry is permitted per writer.

Guidelines:

1. Murder or another serious crime or crimes is at the heart of the story.
2. A previously published novel means a work of fiction of at least 40,000 words in length that has been published or distributed, in part or whole, in paper or electronic format or in any other medium, excluding, however, self-published works. If you have put a chapter excerpt of your submission manuscript on your website (free to readers), you can still enter if the excerpt doesn't exceed 10% of the number of words in the manuscript.
3. Must be an original work of book length (no less than 220 typewritten pages or approximately 60,000 words) written in the English language.
4. Must be written solely by the entrant, who may not be the author of any previously published novel.

Does this describe you?

If so, send an email NOW to
MB-MWAFirstCrimeNovelCompetition@StMartins.com and include the following information.

Name of Entrant:
Manuscript Title:
Address:
Phone:

You'll be assigned a judge. In the meantime, visit http://www.mysterywriters.org/?q=Contests-Writers for full details on the competition.

Polish that manuscript, and good luck!

Wouldn't You Love a Free Thriller Ebook?

2011-07-02T17:26:00.000-05:00

Of course you would. This one was previously published in hardback and trade paperback, and is now available in ebook format directly from yours truly, under my real name of Shirley Kennett.

It's a fast summer read and you can't beat the price: FREE for a limited time.

I'm planning to make additional Shirley Kennett ebooks available this summer and this is my learn-the-ropes, test-the-waters book. Go for it! Available in multiple formats. Learn more at shirleykennett.com.

Birth of a book

2011-06-28T11:33:00.000-05:00

Check out my post on the Supernatural Underground blog for an intense read on life, death, and writer's block. Leave comments and I'll make a charity donation! Be sure to grab your box of tissues first, though.

Deliverance: Mortal Path Book #3

2011-06-21T01:33:00.001-05:00

I have a title, I have a title ... Deliverance! Mortal Path #3 is listed online with a release date of March 27, 2012. It's official. My heart went pitty-pat when I saw the listing for the first time, as it did with every other book I've published. What a thrill! :)

I wish I could show you the cover but it's still under wraps, behind those curtains over there. I'll just say it was done by the same artist who did the first two covers in the Mortal Path series, and it's stunning.

Oh happy day!

xxoo,
Dakota

Bookish Haven Summer Vacation

2011-06-13T15:43:00.001-05:00

Wow! A special event from two special blogs for the month of June. LarissasLife.com and ParanormalHaven.com have joined together to put on a month-long summer-oriented program of guest blogs and giveaways. You still have plenty of time to look over all of the posts past and future to enter, because the deadline is July 15th for ALL of the giveaways!

Check out my guest post on my dream vacation and enter to win a signed copy of Sacrifice: Mortal Path Book 2 (international shipping) plus a $25 Amazon gift certificate to get you started on your summer reading. Other than my book, of course!

Win a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate

2011-05-28T11:42:00.002-05:00

I'm blogging today on Supernatural Underground about classifying books by the amount of sex, violence, and bad language they contain. Have you ever stopped reading a book because it took you out of your comfort zone? Do you even have a comfort zone??

My Mortal Path books are hard-boiled, and you can find out what that eggy description means at http://bit.ly/mrArKp. Post a comment for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift certificate to indulge your passion for books. Last chance to enter is June 2nd.

Danielle D. Smith: Look, An Alien Shrimp

2011-05-16T19:00:00.006-05:00

**** The random drawing giveaway winner is Katrina!
She's received her gift certificate for Danielle's ebook. ****

You know you're in for something different when you see the words "alien" and "shrimp" together. This guest blog is guaranteed to be just what you want/need today, whether you knew you were craving it or not.

Let me introduce the multi-talented Danielle D. Smith, who excels as a paranormal fantasy author, an artist, an illustrator, and a great person. All that creativity is hard to find in four separate people, but Danielle's the total package.

Listen to Danielle's radio interview on The Romance Radio Network!

*** Giveaway! Tweet, blog about, or post on Facebook or another social medium and leave a comment below to enter a random drawing to win In the Neon! You'll receive a gift certificate so you can obtain the ebook for free. Last day to enter the drawing is May 22!

Here's my tweet if you want to copy and retweet it:
@DaniDSmith's guest post and giveaway for In the Neon, her sizzling illustrated fairytale: http://bit.ly/ipXzGW

Now, Danielle's words:

It is so funny how one's life can change in an instant.

Let me tell you my story.

On April 8th, I met with a friend for lunch. It was quite pleasant—good raw sushi, cold Sapporo beer. My third book, In The Neon, had been released in electronic format by Solstice Publishing that morning, and the print edition would soon follow. Sitting in a nice Japanese bistro, chatting about life in general, how my new writing and work on my new graphic novel version of Black Dog and Rebel Rose was going. How my husband was doing getting ready for the state bar.

Less than an hour later, I would find myself in a bathroom stall, clutching a home pregnancy test. Two cobalt blue lines staring up at me, glaring, announcing in no uncertain terms, "I'm here, so get used to it."

Well, good thing that Sapporo had hit the spot so nicely—it would be the last beer for quite a while. Nine months, to be exact.

Funny thing is that I didn't take the pregnancy test for any specific reason—it simply "felt right," and since I had a home pregger test in my purse for "emergencies," I thought, why not? My boobs had been tender for a few days, and I just felt wonky. Within five minutes of unwrapping that test, I was sitting on a public toilet, shaking and crying, feeling this odd tumultuous blend of extreme joy and insane trepidation. I dragged my friend into the bathroom, and she confirmed what those two little blue lines so strongly evinced: I was pregnant, expecting the first child that this tattooed artsy fart had been dreaming of since she was 12 years old.

The weeks since have been a whirlwind. Family has been called, tears of joy and worry have been shed. My parents are practically jumping for joy at the prospect of this first grandchild—in his early 60s, I think my dad was starting to wonder if he'd ever be a grandpa! There have been some very worrisome times—I have been in the emergency room twice with unexplained bleeding, where I awoke in the wee hours with red blood pouring down my legs in a torrent. Every time, the sonogram has found that precious heartbeat, throbbing with a hardcore will on the murky black and grey screen, a sure sign that my unborn child is alive and well. Bed rest has been ordered from time to time, sometimes for up to 6 days at a time, leaving me sore, cranky, and bored.

The fear remains, and praying for a healthy outcome continues.

I now face that strange state that many creative women might find themselves in at some point, be it sooner or later: Artist/Mother. As I nurture a new life due to make its entrance in December, I continue to try and nurture my creativity: keeping a stack of drawing paper and my laptop by the bed, plugging away when the creative need strikes and the muse is allowed to break through the fog of morning sickness and exhaustion.

Humor has gotten us through a few of the rough spots: my husband, Aaron, and I have come up with a list of new nicknames with every sonogram. When I discerned the blip that was our offspring on the first sonogram picture, I thought, "Oh, look, an alien shrimp." As the weeks have passed and our lil' bub has grown to look a wee bit more human, a slew of nicknames have cropped up like moss on river stones: Shrimp/Shrimpie Smith, Krill Smith, Escargot Smith (a personal favorite), Pulpo/Pulpito (octopus/little squid). My husband lovingly hogs each new sonogram image, trying to come up with yet another nickname for what the baby looks like at that point. I'm beginning to picture a baby book detailing "how your mommy and daddy continually referred to you as edible."

Ultimately, I have begun to look at this little miracle sprouting in my belly as the greatest artwork that I have yet brought to life—as a fellow author told me, "the act of natural creation is worth a thousand published novels."

I couldn't agree more.

Danielle D. Smith is an artist, illustrator, and paranormal fantasy author writing angel and demon themed fiction outside the mainstream. She has three books currently on the market from two separate publishers, and several more novels in the works, including her five-book Psyche’s Gate Saga and her first anthology. Her most recent book, In The Neon*, is her first fully illustrated adult fairytale, available now in all formats from Solstice Publishing. Visit her online at www.danielledsmith.com.
*Graphic sex and horror

Other links for Danielle:

Blog: http://www.theangelsgate.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://on.fb.me/jcdNGw

Twitter: @DaniDSmith

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/dani_the_artist

Sending good vibrations in your direction and Happy Mother's Day waaaay in advance, Danielle!

A Lead That Hooks Readers (New sample lead)

2011-05-02T19:16:00.008-05:00

I've had requests to repeat the post about hooking leaders in the golden 500 words of a novel's lead. Here it is again, with a different sample lead to illustrate the points made at the end of the post.

Browsers in a bookstore scan the shelves, eyes moving rapidly from book to book. If your books are spine-out rather than face-out, you have only your title and your humble name to get the buyer to pick up your book. If your book is face-out, you have cover art and blurbs in your favor. Assuming you get past these hurdles, the browser then rapidly scans the jacket copy (if hardback) or the back cover (if paperback). Many factors here are out of your control. The editor may change the title you slaved over. You may have little or nothing to say about cover art and jacket copy. Blurbs may come from reviews (out of your control) or advance readers, whom you may have at least selected.Online, you have the cover art, description, and possibly some reviews to persuade the buyer--but online, readers can browse even faster.

If your book is still under consideration by the customer at this point (and sadly, many are not), the hook comes into play. That’s the main tool that you, the author, have under your control. It's roughly the first couple of pages of a book, say 500 words, which is about all a browser is willing to stand up and read in the aisle of the store. Online, you may have a reading sample of thirty or more pages, but if the reader can't get past the first two, forget about the rest of the pages impressing him. If your book is easy to set down or clicked away from before the reader has a chance to become involved with your wonderful characters and plot, then the book will be set down or clicked away from, and the reader will go on to something else. If you can capture a reader's interest right away, chances are they'll still be with you at the next critical point, which is around fifty pages into the book. The "fifty-page fizzle" can prevent readers from finishing your book, and if that's the case, it's not very likely they'll try your next.

You may have even less time to impress an editor or agent, since they are accustomed to rapid decisions. In some cases, only your first paragraph is read to determine whether to spend precious time on the rest. What can the agent possibly glean from so few words? Your professionalism (spelling, grammar, and punctuation), your presentation (paper choice, font type and size, and manuscript formatting), and your prose (genre and your voice, which is a combination of your writing style and the characterization of the protagonist) are all on display to discerning eyes.

So how do you make those first pages bear up under all these important tasks? You can’t do it with a lengthy description of your protagonist's bedroom when he/she wakes up (unless it's a pitch-black, stinking dungeon cell and your protagonist, who has no idea how he got there, is awakened by rats nipping at his nose) or by describing the weather (unless your protagonist is being slammed around by a tornado or carried along in a flash flood, clinging to the remnants of her front door with bloody fingers). Finally, you don’t cheat the reader by having wild happenings occur and then having the protagonist wake up—it’s all been a dream. If you are going to use one of these three overused openings (morning surroundings/routine, weather, dream), then you’ve got to have a totally original, engaging slant to compensate.

A key word in those "don'ts" above is description. Make your description minimal, which doesn't mean it can't be vivid. Focus on a few well-chosen, evocative details and let them stand in for heavy description. Be sure to draw the reader into your story with sensory description that appeals to more senses than just sight.

Try to make your description do double duty in building character as well. Make sure you are not in a headlong rush to explain everything in the first few pages. Prune back-story to an absolute minimum. Many new writers fall into the trap of telling the reader everything they need to know about a character and/or situation in the first chapter. Hold out longer—use the “layers of an onion” approach. Instead of getting bogged down in back story, toss the reader into an ongoing situation and leave the explanation for later. Make the reader wonder about what’s going to happen next by planting the seeds of intrigue right away. That’s the start of a page-turner! Intrigue can result from something as simple yet chilling as a threatening phone call late at night, so don’t reach into artificiality.

One thing your opening should convey is a strong sense of the tone of the book, so let your voice be heard. Introduce a main character (villain or protagonist) in an intriguing way, preferably in an action situation or a situation that hints strongly of action to come. Convey an immediate sense of place. Don’t have your exciting action taking place with the characters floating in a generic setting. Otherwise it's easy to drift away, and if the TV remote is at hand, you may have lost your audience.

Cut to the chase. Sometimes you may write an entire first chapter and find your actual lead somewhere in the middle of chapter one—or even in chapter two or three—because you began with too much explanation. In that case, lop off the unnecessary part to pare down to the true opening. You can always work in all that explanation later, if it was important. Then polish, polish, polish. You'll probably rewrite your lead twenty times or more. Read it aloud. If your voice is stumbling over awkward phrases or dragging, reflecting a glacial pace, you're not done.

AIM for Action, Intrigue, and Minimal

but sensory description.

ANCHOR your reader in a

character, a setting, and a situation.

Here's a sample of a lead to a book of mine, printed several years ago, that will be available as an ebook this summer. The title of the the book is Act of Betrayal. Note how it handles intrigue (what is this man doing?), character (just enough backstory to give an initial understanding of character), and sensory description.

------------------------------------
From Act of Betrayal by Shirley Kennett

Cut didn't have the connections to pull off the murder inside the prison, but now his target was on the outside. The timing couldn't be better. He always associated the summer heat with the day that his boy died.

It was hot in the apartment, but Cut was used to the heat. His lean body sweated freely and the undershirt he wore was soaked under the arms and down his back. The last week of July in St. Louis was bad enough when a person could lie in the deep shade of a tree and let the breeze take away the sweat. In his long years he'd spent many an hour enjoying such a breeze, the kind that left behind a salty taste on the skin and a hope for more than distant thunder from heavy clouds in the west. Compared to an afternoon under a shade tree, the apartment was a little slice of hell.

It would have been nice to open the window.

Though he had rented the apartment months ago, he had only furnished it with two rickety wooden chairs he'd picked up at Goodwill. That was back in February, and he hadn't noticed that the apartment didn't have air conditioning then. No wonder the rent was so cheap. Even in something as important as deciding where the target would die, Cut was a practical man. No need to part with more money than he had to.

The linings of the leather gloves he wore were soaked with sweat. He'd worn the gloves every time he was in the apartment. As the weather turned hotter, his palms, encased in winter gloves, responded like the tongues of eager puppies. Smelled like a wet puppy, too, one that had been rolling to pick up odors that were only attractive to another dog. After being sweated in and dried a few times, the gloves had lost most of their flexibility. He was planning to throw them out afterwards, which was a shame because they had cost him fifteen bucks.

Last week he had brought in all the supplies he needed. Securing the chemicals had been an interesting challenge, something he'd never had occasion to do. Cut spent some time putting the weather-stripping on the door and sealing the heat vents with plastic bags. He'd found a dead mouse in one of them, dried and stiff, and taken it as a good omen.

On the Big Day, he got to the apartment at seven in the morning, after treating himself to a biscuit breakfast and a cup of coffee at a fast food place. It was a good thing he remembered to bring the insulated picnic jug of water. He took a sip, the cool water mingling with the sweat on his lips and trickling down his throat. He tilted his head back to enjoy the water, like a bird drinking. He pictured himself carousing in a bird bath, fluffing his feathers and shaking the water down to his skin. It helped some, took his mind off the heat. He wasn't an imaginative man, but when he did get a good mental image, he held onto it.

A couple of years in Vietnam had taught him that heat was a relative thing. An enlistee at the age of thirty-four, Cut was almost rendered helpless by the heat when he stepped off the plane and into the jungle. Then he put it behind him in his practical way and got on with the business of surviving. He stayed in one country's service or another for fourteen years, moving into covert activities after the evacuation. He wasn't in the U.S. Army after Vietnam, but the action was rewarding and the paychecks were regular. His only complaint was that it seemed like every place he was sent was blazing hot or so cold he began to think that blue was the normal color of his fingertips.
He found he had a talent and a love for knife work, both close-in and with throwing knives that flitted like black wings of death, and he earned his nickname time and again. When he started to slow down, he told himself that it was a young man's work and he should get his bony carcass out of the way and let them carry on. But he kept the name because he liked it.

Terrific ThrillerFest 2011 Video

2011-04-28T18:34:00.002-05:00

Check out this exciting new video from Circle of Seven Productions to turn up the heat for ThrillerFest VI, International Thriller Writers' annual conference in NYC. The dates are July 6-9, 2011. For more info, visit thrillerfest.org. Prices go up MAY 1ST!!

Just click on the eye above to play the video on YouTube.

Mortal Path series reading samples

2011-04-26T00:16:00.002-05:00

"Not to be missed!"
- James Rollins

My publisher Harper Voyager hosts fifty page samples of the two books so far in my Mortal Path series, Dark Time and Sacrifice. It's a good way to find out if this you'll enjoy the series. What!! I meant to say, confirm that you'll enjoy this series. Both are available as paperbacks and e-books. Book three is in the works!

Click each book cover to read fifty pages.

Series background:

The Mortal Path books are dark urban fantasies/paranormal thrillers with high stakes, action, paranormal elements based on Sumerian mythology, and a splash of romance.

Susannah Layhem, a healer unjustly accused of witchcraft in the 17th century, is ripped from her husband's arms and thrown in jail. Abandoned by her husband and friends, she's tied to a stake and set afire. Her raging bitterness draws one of seven ancient Sumerian demons. The demon Rabishu pulls her from the flames, and she signs a contract to live forever—if she does his evil work.


"Chilling, thrilling, and a page turner!" -Heather Graham

Susannah becomes the Black Ghost, an Ageless assassin gifted with otherworldly skills and superbly trained in martial arts.
She obeys Rabishu's orders and remains a beautiful young woman. Then she's given an assignment she can't bear to carry out. She chooses the mortal path instead, and emerges from three centuries of reluctant service as the demon's slave. Now Maliha Crayne, she discovers the fine print of her contract. If she balances lives she's taken with lives saved, she'll ascend to a paradise straight out of Sumerian legend. If she fails, she faces eternal torment at Rabishu's hands. The ticking clock? Every time she saves lives, she ages. The deck is stacked against her. She's got her own agenda, though. Payback time—killing Rabishu and his kin before he gets his punishing claws on her.

Visit dakota-banks.com for more information.

Introducing ... Ta Da! My other books

2011-04-22T01:19:00.004-05:00

In addition to the Mortal Path series, I have written under my real name, Shirley Kennett, for thrillers without paranormal elements. Here's a review of a stand-alone thriller, Burning Rose, from Book Reader's Heaven. I also have a series of suspense novels, the PJ Gray series, featuring a woman leading a team of detectives who use immersive virtual reality simulation of homicides.

The news is that I plan to issue all of these books this summer as reasonably priced e-books. More information to come! Here's a preview with the printed book covers. (The e-books will have different covers, since I don't own this cover art.) In the meantime, see www.shirleykennett.com for information about each book.

Yes, it's me!

New (and terrific) review of Sacrifice

2011-04-17T03:17:00.005-05:00

Glenda A. Bixler

Glenda Bixler's blog Book Reader's Heaven has just posted a review of Sacrifice: Mortal Path Book 2 at http://bit.ly/hpeAeq, and it's got me blowing my own horn. That's me, on the horse down at the bottom.

Glenda has also reviewed the first book in the Mortal Path series, Dark Time. It's a great review, too--see http://bit.ly/hae8N5. If I'd get off my butt and answer her excellent questions, I'll have an interview there, too. {giggle} I think she likes my writing. Go Glenda!

The incomparable Ms. Bixler is the founder of Reviewers Roundup on Facebook. Multiple reviewers post thoughtful reviews and authors post too. Check it out!

Boogity Boo Awards

2011-04-11T01:15:00.000-05:00

I Smell Sheep is a creative and offbeat book blog that's inaugurating a suitably offbeat annual award, the Boogity Boo. This year the award will be handed out to their Funniest Interview of the year, Best Rapid Fire Response, and Favorite Book Couple. By voting, you will be eligible for a drawing for a $20 Barnes & Noble gift certificate. In addition, the site will donate a sheep (what else?) to a needy family somewhere in the world. The last day to vote is April 30th.

I'm nominated for Funniest Interview, and I have to say I'm making a pathetic showing. So far the only vote for me was submitted by me. Sigh. Here is the link to my interview: click here. If you can work up an ounce of pity for me, please vote here.

The Neverending Giveaway!

2011-04-06T23:37:00.005-05:00

If you’re a thriller fan who likes to win free books, I have a news flash for you! International Thriller Writers has started a page on their Big Thrill ezine for author members to post giveaways, all in one place! It's called The Neverending Giveaway. Be still, my little racing heart! No hopping around to different blogs--this is one-stop giveaway shopping. Sign up for as many of the contests listed as you're interested in. Just post a reply to each contest you hope to win, and you’re entered. Most contests are open for two weeks (check posts for specific time limits).

Don’t forget to scroll down the screen and click on “Older Posts” so you don’t miss any of the contests. And because this book giveaway is “neverending,” be sure to check back often to enter the latest drawings.

This site was just announced to ITW members and is brand new. Look for it to zoom in popularity as word gets around. While you're there, considered signing up for The Big Thrill, ITW's fantastic free monthly ezine with news about upcoming thrillers and a spectacular giveaway where you can win all the new releases featured that month.

Full disclosure:

What are you waiting for??

xoxo,
Dakota

Earth Day - What's in your plans?

2011-03-28T11:42:00.005-05:00

I celebrated the first Earth Day with flowers in my hair. Seriously. Don't start calculating years, because I have never been, and never shall be, over 30.

Visit Earth Day 2011: A Billion Acts of Green to get involved.

Oh, Those Stacks of Books!

2011-02-28T17:26:00.000-06:00

Are your stacks of books you've already read taking over the house? On the left is a small sample of my already read stacks, hidden behind a door. No, I didn't pose Snickers in the picture. She came over to see what was happening and then got interested in the strap hanging from my camera.

Clear out books you no longer need with these helpful suggestions from my post at Supernatural Underground: http://bit.ly/givebooks. With all that space you create, you'll have plenty of room to add to your TBR!!

There's also a giveaway of a signed copy of Sacrifice: Mortal Path Book 2 at the above post, with a deadline of March 3rd.

Time's Running Out to Name a Character

2010-11-29T18:47:00.002-06:00

The deadline's December 1st to enter the drawing to name a character in the next Mortal Path book! Don't let this chance escape you. Just click on the green and black button on the left to enter.

The character named after you will likely be killed, so if you're squeamish about dying in print, you'd have to let me know. I'll arrange a kindler, gentler death or just let you fade out of the book. What fun! You'll be in the acknowledgments section, too, to prove that having your name show up wasn't a coincidence.

I wouldn't suggest surprising a friend with his or her name as a character if you think they might freak out with blood spilled on page 250 ...

Amazing Mortal Path Series Giveaway!

2010-11-05T17:25:00.003-05:00

I'm giving away FIVE sets of Mortal Path books. Each set includes signed copies of Dark Time and Sacrifice, the first two books in the Mortal Path series.

Hurry over to the Great Giveaway on Blog with Bite.com to enter!

The giveaway closes November 8th. You can earn multiple points to win. Many people enjoy reading a series from the first book on. Now's your chance!

After you've entered the Blog with Bite giveaway, be sure to stop at my website, http://dakota-banks.com, to enter a contest to be part of Mortal Path book #3 by naming a character after yourself or a friend, plus other fabulous goodies!

"Plunged into an emotional roller coaster from the onset - Dark Time had me entertained and enthralled. ... Emotional and well-written, Banks' voice is poetic and speaks to the reader. She has a descriptive voice that purrs and flows off the page. You can't put this book down." - Parajunkee review

I Vant to Suck Your Blood - the Vampyre subculture

2010-10-28T15:00:00.001-05:00

I have a new post on the Supernatural Underground blog about real people who are vampire wannabes. They use the spelling "vampyre" to distinguish themselves from fictional vampires.

Did you know there are people who believe they have to drink blood to maintain their life energy? They're called Sanguinarians, and they want nothing to do with the current vampire craze in the media or with the Goth-like vampyre cults that they say give them a negative reputation.

The Supernatural Underground post is a mix of serious facts and fun, including a recipe for edible blood made with cocoa just in time for Halloween. Perfect for dripping from your "bloody" mouth, and you can drink the blood when you're done making yourself look gross.

An Opening Lead that Captures Readers

2010-10-11T17:17:00.010-05:00

Browsers in a bookstore scan the shelves, eyes moving rapidly from book to book. The process the same online; if anything, the scrutiny is faster. In a store, if your books are spine-out rather than face-out, you have only your title and your humble name to get the buyer to pick up your book. If your book is face-out, you have cover art and blurbs in your favor. Assuming you get past these hurdles, the browser then rapidly scans the jacket copy (if hardback) or the back cover (if paperback). Similar information is available online. Many factors here are out of your control. The editor may change the title you slaved over. You may have little or nothing to say about cover art and jacket copy. Blurbs may come from reviews (out of your control) or advance readers, whom you may have at least selected.

If your book is still in the customer's physical or online "hands" at this point (and sadly, many are not), the hook comes into play. That’s the main tool that you, the author, have under your control. It's roughly the first couple of pages of a book, say 500 words, which is about all a browser is willing to stand up and read in the aisle of the store or flip through using the "Look Inside" feature (which not all online books have, cutting their chances at this point).

If your book is easy to set down before the reader has a chance to become involved with your wonderful characters and plot, then the book will be set down and the reader will go on to something else. If you can capture a reader's interest right away, chances are they'll still be with you at the next critical point, which is around fifty pages into the book. The "fifty-page fizzle" can prevent readers from finishing your book, and if that's the case, it's not very likely they'll try your next.

You may have even less time to impress an editor or agent, since they are accustomed to rapid decisions. In some cases, only your first paragraph or page is read to determine whether to spend precious time on the rest. What can the agent possibly glean from so few words? Your professionalism (spelling, grammar, and punctuation), your presentation (paper choice, font type and size, and manuscript formatting), and your prose (genre and your voice, which is a combination of your writing style and the characterization of the protagonist) are all on display to discerning eyes.

So how do you make those first pages bear up under all these important tasks?

You can’t do it with a lengthy description of your protagonist's bedroom when he/she wakes up (unless it's a pitch-black, stinking dungeon cell and your protagonist, who has no idea how he got there, is awakened by rats nipping at his nose) or by describing the weather (unless your protagonist is being slammed around by a tornado or carried along in a flash flood, clinging to the remnants of her front door with bloody fingers). Finally, you don’t cheat the reader by having wild happenings occur and then having the protagonist wake up—it’s all been a dream. If you are going to use one of these three overused openings (morning surroundings/routine, weather, dream), then you’ve got to have a totally original, engaging slant to compensate.

A key word in those "don'ts" above is description. Make your description minimal, which doesn't mean it can't be vivid. Focus on a few well-chosen, evocative details and let them stand in for heavy description. Be sure to draw the reader into your story with sensory description that appeals to more senses than just sight.

Try to make your description do double duty in building character as well. Make sure you are not in a headlong rush to explain everything in the first few pages. Prune backstory to an absolute minimum. Many new writers fall into the trap of telling the reader everything they need to know about a character and/or situation in the first chapter—even in the first couple of paragraphs. Hold out longer—use the “layers of an onion” approach. Instead of getting bogged down in backstory, toss the reader into an ongoing situation and leave the explanation for later. Make the reader wonder about what’s going to happen next by planting the seeds of intrigue right away. That’s the start of a page-turner! Intrigue can result from something as simple yet chilling as a threatening phone call late at night, so don’t reach into artificiality.

One thing your opening should convey is a strong sense of the tone of the book, so let your voice be heard. Introduce a main character (villain or protagonist) in an intriguing way, preferably in an action situation or a situation that hints strongly of action or conflict to come. Convey an immediate sense of place. Don’t have your exciting action taking place with the characters floating in a generic setting. Otherwise it's easy to drift away, and if the TV remote is at hand, you may have lost your audience.

Cut to the chase. Sometimes you may write an entire first chapter and find your actual lead somewhere in the middle of chapter one—or even in chapter two or three—because you began with too much explanation. In that case, lop off the unnecessary part to pare down to the true opening. You can always work in all that explanation later, if it was important. Then polish, polish, polish. You'll probably rewrite your lead twenty times or more. Read it aloud. If your voice is stumbling over awkward phrases or dragging, reflecting a glacial pace, you're not done.

AIM for Action, Intrigue, and Minimal but sensory description.
ANCHOR your reader in a character, a setting, and a situation.

Here is a sample of an opening of less than 500 words, from an unpublished novel of mine. As you read through it, keep in mind the principles discussed above. They're all present in this sample.

“Damn you and every other man!” Tsehaye screamed the moment the contraction released her taunt body. “May your scrotums rot and your members drop off!”

The curse was loosely aimed at the men in the room with her, but intended for the one who’d gotten her in this condition in the first place, the one who, by custom, would not witness the birth. A woman may want a child with all her heart, and love the man who fathered it, but the process of bringing that child into the world has never endeared any man to her.

The cords of Tsehaye’s neck relaxed and she sank back into the birthing bed. Carly squeezed the woman’s hand and tried to get her to breathe shallow and fast. Her own chest rose and fell in sympathy panting, and sweat sheathed her body. She was tired, and she could only imagine how tired the woman on the bed was. The labor had gone on a long time, but the clan leader’s young wife was determined to win the woman’s battle with nothing to ease her way, as it should be.

The talk in the village had centered on the birth for the past month. It was said that Tsehaye carried Nebru Lëj, the Leopard Child, a boy of many talents and great strength who came only once in many generations.

Six Americans, including herself, were jammed into the small delivery room. They were in a medical clinic in the southeastern Ethiopian region of Ogaden. Air floating in the window of the clinic had a scorched sand smell, even though the sun had set hours ago. The lights in the room were running on a generator prodded into working. The dim, yellow glow made it seem that the room was filled with candles. It could have been romantic, but the trays of surgical kits ruined the mood.

Carly had been with her throughout, and she had attuned herself to the rhythms of Tsehaye’s labor. Their life experiences were very different, but here in this clinic room, they had bonded in the sudden, intense way that the drama of childbirth can bring. Carly tried to stretch, but her muscles were tightly wound. She felt as though she’d been squeezing the muscles of her stomach and buttocks for an eternity, and her thighs ached with tension.

A cool shower would be nice, followed by iced tea with mint and sugar. I’d even settle for a cool breeze.

“You’re doing great. A couple more pushes and it’ll be over,” Carly said, hoping with all her might that it was true.

“A man should not see this. Or hear it. You alone will catch my son,” Tsehaye said, in her heavily accented English. “Or get out of my way and let me do it myself. Get the rest of these people out of here. I do not need a doctor, I need room to breathe!”

Put Yourself in the next Mortal Path book!

2010-10-09T16:20:00.000-05:00

How would you like to name a character in the next Mortal Path book after yourself or a friend?

Great to give as a surprise gift, or keep it for yourself. Your friends won't believe it, but your name will also be listed in the acknowledgments section in the front of the book, so there can be no doubt IT'S REALLY YOU! You'll also receive a signed copy of the book. Open internationally.

PLUS
Your choice of one of the following two options:

1.) A SUBSCRIPTION to the Mortal Path series!
You'll receive a new, signed copy of each book in the series on or before the release day.

OR

2.) A FULL MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE from me!
I provide a critique that offers constructive suggestions without sugarcoating.

In addition, all entries to the giveaway will be automatically entered into a weekly drawing for a signed copy of Sacrifice!

All you need to do to enter is fill out the form at http://dakota-banks.com/contest.html. That's worth 2 points. Blogging or tweeting about this giveaway is worth another point each. Displaying the badge that says "Put YOURSELF in the next Mortal Path book" on your blog is worth 3 points, for a maximum of 7. Please total your points on the form.

It's SO easy to enter. Spread the word!

GIVEAWAY ENDS DECEMBER 1, 2010. Grab this button and put it on your blog. (Code in upper right sidebar.) Be sure to fill out the Submission Form!

I Interview Myself

2010-10-05T10:56:00.001-05:00

Visit Larissa's Bookish Life, where my real name interviews my pen name, or something like that. Just go, you'll catch on. You can win a signed copy of Sacrifice!

A Peanutty Farewell

2010-10-04T21:23:00.001-05:00

Peanutty

A sad event this past week, and it's taken me a few days to write about it. My wonderful companion Peanut died of kidney failure. She was twelve years old. A sweeter, gentler fuzzball you couldn't find anywhere.

Snickers

We normally have two cats, and all through the spring and summer I kept getting the urge to get a third cat. Yes, no, yes, no. Finally I gave in a couple of months ago and Snickers joined our family. She is a great cat whose owners allowed her to get pregnant at six months. She was turned in as an underfed "stray" when she had her kittens. Bad owners, bad! We took her home the day after her kittens were weaned, as a scrawny thing, still a kitten herself, with about a quarter of her weight being the milk she carried. She's exuberant and playful now, reclaiming her kitten hood and tussling with our next-older cat, Marble, who is about three times her size. It's been amazing to see the spirit come back into her tired little body.

What's odd about this picture of happiness with Marble and Snickers is that I essentially picked out Peanut's replacement right before she fell seriously ill. I don't know whether this makes me love and appreciate the new cat more, since she was a purring pillow for my tears. What I do know is that I brought her into the house for a reason--to help patch the hole in my heart before it was even there.

December 21, 2012 - Will the world end?

2010-09-28T21:32:00.002-05:00

I have a new post on the Supernatural Underground blog talking about the 2012 controversy. The Mortal Path series uses Sumerian mythology, which hooks into that discussion.

Read it and let me know what you think on that blog. There's a giveaway running there. You could win a copy of Sacrifice!

http://bit.ly/bOFjDR

The Sad Saga of the Sacrifice Trailer

2010-09-23T02:33:00.001-05:00

Book trailers seem to be the thing these days. I enjoy looking at them, but after a while I noticed a sameness to them. Ones without narration looked like stylish Powerpoint presentations, and ones with narration sounded too much like the noise made by heaving bosoms. I'll leave that up to the individual to interpret.

I had a fun trailer for my first book, Dark Time, made with live action martial arts shots. That was a special situation done by a friend of mine who is an independent filmmaker. When book two came around, I thought I'd do something different from the others, with pages of the story coming to life in an animated book. I got as far as getting excited about it and getting a quote, at which point my excitement dimmed. I loved the concept, but I couldn't afford it.

Plan B turned out to be making a trailer myself. I had already done the Powerpoint type (Click here to see it), so I wanted something different. I had a video camera that had sabre tooth tiger claw marks on it, it was so old, so much to my husband's delight, I sent him shopping for a new one. I wrote what I thought was a funny, clever script and waited for the video clips to make a movie. And waited. It seemed like everything but my clips got filmed, including the interior of a tunnel going through a mountain somewhere in Pennsylvania. This accounts for my trailer not being ready a couple of months in advance of the release date of Sacrifice.

Having gotten off to a late start, we then discovered that we didn't have proper professional lighting to make interior shots look good. After stewing about that for awhile, I made an executive decision to go ahead with filming anyway. Nobody would notice, I figured, and lighting equipment was big bucks. Clips were shot and assembled with some stills in Windows Movie Maker, a not-too-wonderful product to use with one big advantage: it's free. Then I spent hours trying to record the narration called for in my script and get the timing correct, matching it to what was going on in the movie. Let's just say that radical changes were made in the script. The secret, of course, would have been to read the narration aloud in advance and time each section so we'd know how long to make the video clip. Instead, we had an assembled movie with no thought given to whether I could speak the words fast enough to keep up with the action.

Script version 2 was drastically cut. Then I spent hours trying to read and record the whole thing, keeping in time with the movie. I am not cut out for this. There were numerous takes that didn't get more than ten seconds in before I mispronounced something or giggled. I finally ended up with what I thought was a usable version, and when I went to play it back, the sound was so low I could only hear it with the volume on 100% and my face smashed up against the computer's speaker. Hoping that somehow things would be different on YouTube, I uploaded it. Nope. Same problem. Yes, it is true. I spent hours recording without doing a simple sound test first.

After switching to a different microphone, changing some settings, and doing numerous "testing, testing," recordings, I found I had to hold the microphone not up to my mouth as one would think, but parallel to my cheek, which somehow eliminated most of the breathy noises. It's been an adventure, folks.

Then of course there's the shock of hearing your own recorded voice. I swear I do not sound like that.

Thr finished product (cough, cough) finally made it to YouTube and to my website's trailer page. Here it is now, for your enjoyment--and I dare you to diss this trailer to my face. You can have a good laugh, though.

Writing the Query Letter (includes an example)

2010-09-21T19:36:00.007-05:00

Many new (and established) authors have trouble with the first step in contacting an agent or editor, and that is sending a query letter. The query letter is a simple business letter that carries your hopes and dreams and is designed to make the recipient want to read your manuscript. When you've gotten a positive response to your query letter, you can send in your manuscript (or whatever portion of it that was requested) by writing "Requested Material" on the outside of your envelope. (If you've queried by email, you'll probably be given an individual's email rather than the all-purpose queries@agent.com.) The first thing visible inside your response should be a copy of the agent or editor's email or letter asking for your work. Without it, your manuscript will go into the slush pile.

A note about slush pile processing. In many cases, this is what happens on the inside.

The agent's or editor's staff will hold a meeting once a month or so. They're always behind in reading slush pile submissions, so the particular submissions under consideration this month might have arrived 4-6 months ago. Pizza will be ordered in. Slush pile manuscripts will be passed out at the table, and each person will read a paragraph or two of the manuscript before either setting it aside for more consideration or sending out a form rejection letter. There can be a lot of laughter at these meetings as particularly bad openings are shared with the group. Afterward, the few manuscripts that survived the session will be given a reading of up to fifty pages by staff who have to fit this into an already-jammed schedule. By the time an agent or editor actually looks at it, the manuscript will have gone through several points of elimination. At a small press, this process could be condensed, because there may not be much in the way of staff. This is why it's so important to get a positive response to your query letter before packing off your manuscript.

General points about query letters

•First chance to impress agent or editor

•One page single spaced business letter; email only if guidelines permit - many places have gone to email submissions, but don't assume

•Enclose SASE for response (#10 outer mailing envelope, #9 inner response envelope)

•Always send to an individual, not an agency

•Your grammar, spelling, punctuation, and word usage must be perfect - mistakes can count against you. Why tilt the odds the wrong way?

•Begin your letter with a hook that captures the agent's interest: a short, exciting mini-synopsis. Write exciting jacket copy for your book, and use it as the first paragraph of your query letter. If non-fiction, capture the flavor of the book, or use some exciting anecdote from it.

•Focus on the strongest, most dramatic points of your book’s plot and character interactions

•Don't give away the ending of your book in the query - let it tantalize the reader

•Follow the hook with a short bio of your protagonist

•Make sure the setting of the book is clear

•Tell the reader generally what type of book it is, but try not to be too specific - let the agent form own opinion

•Give the approximate word count and point of view

•If possible, mention books the agent has handled that are similar to yours

•Include brief biographical information for yourself - if you don't have any publishing credits, simply say it is a first novel and don't be apologetic about it, or omit any mention at all. If you are professionally qualified to write the book (physician writing a medical thriller), say so.

•End with a positive, direct request

•Don't be arrogant, don't say all your friends like the book or it is the next mega-bestseller

•Polish your query letter until it glows

Manuscript Format Mechanics

•Double spaced

•Wide margins, 1 inch minimum, preferably 1.25 inches all around

•12 point font

•Editors have different favorite fonts and you can’t please everyone - just choose something readable like Courier, Times, Geneva, or Helvetica - no script fonts. Courier is always a safe choice.

•Ragged right edges, not justified

•Use slug in upper right corner of each page – Name / Book Title / Page #, example Kennett / Gray Matter / Page 43

•Begin each chapter on a new page, skip down about one third of the page

•Include a title page with the book title, your name, and your contact information

•If you are supplying a manuscript to your agent for submission, put your agent's contact info on the title page instead of your own

•Clear print, dark ink

•Send in protective packaging to ensure manuscript looks good upon arrival – manuscript boxes are best, available at office stores. Use electronic submission only if invited to!

•Don’t reuse a manuscript over and over until it becomes worn-looking

•Don’t play little games like putting in a page upside-down to see if the manuscript has actually been read – it screams AMATEUR

•Include a SASE for an acceptance/rejection (acceptance usually comes by phone!). If you don’t include postage for returning the manuscript, it will be trashed or recycled, according to the office procedures of the agent

•Keep careful records of submissions and responses

•Always include a short cover letter with your manuscript reminding the agent that he or she has asked to see it. If you have received a written request for submission (in response to your query letter), send along a copy of it.

•Multiple submissions? Of course! Let the recipient know.

Exclusive readings should always have a time limit; when the time limit is expired, send a polite letter withdrawing your manuscript from consideration and indicating that you are submitting elsewhere.

Sample Query Letter

Here's a sample query letter based on an earlier series I wrote under my real name of Shirley Kennett. It's addressed to a specific individual (at a fictional agency). The first paragraph is the hook, the second is the characters' bio, the third tells about the book and author in general, and it ends with a direct request to submit more material.

September 21, 2010

Harry Harrison
The Harry Harrison Literary Agency
123 Broadway
New York, New York 10025

Dear Mr. Harrison:

A brutal killer with the well-deserved nickname of Cut is loose in St. Louis, and he's out for revenge. First PJ Gray's partner Detective Leo Schultz loses his son in a homemade gas chamber. The body count goes up as prominent members of the law enforcement and judicial community are taken out. Schultz is running for his life, and it's up to PJ to face a cunning adversary alone. She has just hours to unlock the secrets of a decade-old murder, untangle a family history of greed, incest, violence, and stone-cold evil - and prevent Schultz from suffering the same fate as his son. She throws everything she has at the task, because the prize for solving the puzzle is the life of the man she loves.

PJ Gray is forty-one, a psychologist, single mother, and pioneer in the field of forensic computer simulation. She's professional on the outside, a little vulnerable on the inside, intuitive, quick-witted, and struggling with the gap in respect that cops have for those who aren't in the Job. As the civilian head of the Computerized Homicide Investigations Project (CHIP), she works with detectives to develop virtual reality simulations of murder scenes. Insights gained from her vivid crime scene re-enactments have shown themselves useful in solving previous homicide cases, yet PJ is still proving herself on the job, as a single mother, and as a woman looking for love. Her senior investigator, Detective Schultz, has been saved from premature retirement by CHIP. He's skeptical, curmudgeonly, not above bending the law in a good cause, extremely dedicated to his work, and much more than a co-worker to PJ.

Act of Betrayal is the fourth entry in the PJ Gray series. It is a suspense novel told from multiple viewpoints, and is 98,000 words long. My extensive background as a computer consultant enables me to do the virtual reality scenes in a vivid and authentic fashion. The series (Gray Matter, Fire Cracker, and Chameleon) takes the reader into the thrilling world of forensic computer simulation, which is in its infancy in the same way that behavioral profiling was during the 1970's. Readers of Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, and Jeffery Deaver will be interested in the series, which opens a window in an exciting new area of forensics to them. Books you have recently handled that are similar to Act of Betrayal are XXXX and XXXX.

May I send you the complete manuscript, or a synopsis and sample chapters?

Best regards,
Shirley Kennett

New Interview and Giveaway on Book Reader Addicts

2010-09-19T22:19:00.000-05:00

Stop by the first Facebook interview I've done for a chance to win a signed copy of Sacrifice.

Book Reader Addicts

Vampire in Training

2010-09-16T19:13:00.000-05:00

Snickers aka VIT - Vampire in Training

Put YOURSELF in the next Mortal Path book!

2010-09-16T03:08:00.002-05:00

How would you like to name a character in the next Mortal Path book after yourself or a friend?

Great to give as a surprise gift, or keep it for yourself. Your friends won't believe it, but your name will also be listed in the acknowledgments section in the front of the book, so there can be no doubt IT'S REALLY YOU! You'll also receive a signed copy of the book.

PLUS
Your choice of one of the following two options:

1.) A SUBSCRIPTION to the Mortal Path series!
You'll receive a new, signed copy of each book in the series on or before the release day.

OR

2.) A FULL MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE from me!
I provide a critique that offers constructive suggestions without sugarcoating.

In addition, all entries to the giveaway will be automatically entered into a weekly drawing for a signed copy of Sacrifice!

All you need to do to enter is fill out the form at http://dakota-banks.com/contest.html. That's worth 2 points. Blogging or tweeting about this giveaway is worth another point each. Displaying the badge that says "Put YOURSELF in the next Mortal Path book" on your blog is worth 3 points, for a maximum of 7. Please total your points on the form.

It's SO easy to enter. Spread the word!

GIVEAWAY ENDS DECEMBER 1, 2010.

Latest Guest Post and Giveaway

2010-09-14T11:19:00.010-05:00

Check out the latest guest post (further baring of my soul) and international giveaway for Sacrifice at Yzhabella's Book Shelf!

Dakota interviews her character, Maliha Crayne

2010-09-08T19:16:00.000-05:00

I had a fun time writing an interview with Maliha Crayne, the kick-ass star of the Mortal Path series. She made me a little nervous because I'd heard about her violent reputation, but I came out of it with all parts intact. Check it out at the Harper Eos blog, http://bit.ly/cIURX1.

Harper Collins thinks globally in science fiction & fantasy!

2010-09-08T16:00:00.011-05:00

My books are published by HarperCollins' Eos imprint. There's been exciting news about Eos. It's joining with Voyager Books in the U.K., New Zealand, and Australia. As of January 2011, Eos will be known as Harper Voyager in the U.S. The Mortal Path series already has readers in those countries and now I expect to be able to reach more, more, more!

Read the press release below.

NEW YORK, NY (September 3, 2010) – Announced today at Aussiecon IV (the 68th World Science Fiction Convention), Eos Books, a U.S. imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, will be rebranded as Harper Voyager, joining together with the celebrated Voyager imprints in Australia/New Zealand and the UK. The move is anticipated to create a global genre-fiction powerhouse.

“We are already globally publishing some of the biggest names in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, and horror, including Raymond E. Feist, Robin Hobb, Kim Harrison, and Sara Douglass,” said Brian Murray, President and Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Worldwide. “Uniting our sister companies in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia/New Zealand allows readers globally unparalleled access to books and authors. This move enables us to offer authors a strong global publishing platform when signing with HarperCollins – whether the acquiring editor is in New York, Sydney, or London.”

The Voyager/Harper Voyager editorial leaders are: Executive Editor Diana Gill in the U.S., Editorial Director Emma Coode in the UK (working with Publishing Director Jane Johnson), and Associate Publisher Stephanie Smith in Australia.

Each country has a vibrant, robust list of science fiction and fantasy icons; merging the lists under one imprint will bring readers around the world access to the masters of these fiction genres.

Two authors, Karen Azinger and David Wellington (writing as David Chandler), have recently been signed and are expected to publish with Harper Voyager and Voyager for a worldwide debut.

The Eos imprint will officially change to Harper Voyager starting with the January 2011 hardcover, trade, mass market, e-book, and audio publications.

Bookaholics Book Club chooses DARK TIME

2010-09-01T13:13:00.001-05:00

Bookaholics Book Club, a non-specific genre book club for anyone, anywhere to join and talk about everything book related, has selected DARK TIME as one of its two books of the month for September.

I'm thrilled to receive this honor, and in recognition of it I've started a giveaway of a DOZEN signed copies of DARK TIME on my site. The giveaway runs through September 12th. You don't need to be a participant in the Bookaholics Book Club to enter the giveaway.

DARK TIME is the first book in the Mortal Path series, and I'm told that Bookaholics chooses the first book in a series so that their readers can get the experience that provides the most background on the characters.

Thanks, Bookaholics. I hope your readers enjoy DARK TIME.

Book Faery Guest Blog

2010-08-30T14:27:00.000-05:00

I'm doing a guest blog and giveaway at Book Faery's Blog today. The topic is sex in paranormal romances. Good stuff. Go over and enter the fray by leaving a comment!

Release Party for Sacrifice!

2010-08-26T22:12:00.010-05:00

Join the fun at Bitten by Books! A release party for Sacrifice: Mortal Path Book 2 includes a giveaway for a $100 Amazon gift card. I will be around to answer questions, any subject. Friday, August 27th, noon Central time to Sunday, August 29th at noon. Go to Whee! Party Time!

An early review: "Sacrifice was an intense read.... Rich characters, out of this world action, fast-paced and heart wrenching romance, what more can I ask from a great urban fantasy series?" - Larissa's Bookish Life, http://bit.ly/dsstmI

I hope to see you there!

The wheels on the bus go round and round

2010-08-24T20:00:00.000-05:00

School buses are lumbering around my neighborhood again, bringing joy to parents. Although my boys are kin college now, I remember summers gone by that started out fresh and shiny, full of book lists and craft projects, unstructured playtime, swimming, staying out until dark, and best of all, no homework!

What started out so great in June generally stayed that way until the first of August. Therein lay the problem. School didn't start for at least three more weeks. I don't know if my kids were lurking around waiting for me to turn the calendar page or what, but right then suddenly summer became "torment mom" time.
"I don't have anything to do!"
"[Insert name] took my [insert item]!"
"How come I can't just watch 15 hours of TV like all my other friends?"
"You said you were going to take us to a movie and we want to go right now!"
"I'm too little/big/tired/bored/mad at you for turning off the TV to do my chores."
And one of my favorites: "Mom, he's throwing cat turds at me again!"

Little of any productive value got done during the first three weeks of August. I shopped for back-to-school things and consoled myself that soon the house would be a Temple of Silence and that I would have Hot Coffee and Write. Yes, I cried when I put my boys on the bus on the first day of school, but my tears were 35% my boys are growing up and will soon be leaving the nest and 45% yay yay yay I finally have some time to myself and 20% teachers are SO underpaid.

On my elder son's first day of kindergarten, he wanted to ride the big bus to school. That wasn't a problem--there were teachers where he was headed, and I knew he'd be fine. (Bless our underpaid teachers.) It was the ride home I was worried about. The kindergarten bus stopped in front of each kid's house, not down the block where a group of older kids got off. Easy, I thought. I reminded him over and over that he shouldn't get off the bus until he sees Mom waiting outside our house.

That afternoon the bus came up the street as I was waiting outside. It went right past me. I panicked. My husband came home from work to drive around the neighborhood. I called the police and tearfully handed them a picture of my little sweetie (notice how that changed from the "wretched nuisance" of the day before school started). The police car went out to drive the bus route from school to home. I sat on the front steps feeling helpless.

Fifteen minutes after this search process got started, a car pulled up in front of our house and out popped Tom, looking as cheerful as can be, with a cookie clutched in his fist. It seems he had gotten off the bus a dozen blocks away from our home by trailing out of the bus after a new friend he'd made that day. The friend went into his house and there was Tom, roaming the sidewalk, looking scared and confused. A neighbor whose children were grown noticed him. She stuffed him with a few cookies and he recited his address, so she drove him home.

Tom broke other rules doing this: going into a stranger's house, taking food from a stranger, and getting into a stranger's car. It turned out okay, but I can't help thinking that it might not have. When I first saw him, my fear was overwhelmed with relief. Then I was angry that the excitement of school had wiped out his safety info, and finally love and relief won out. When my husband got home, he went through the same transformation; I could see it in his face.

I admit I feel a twinge of fear now on the day school starts, even though the things I have to fear now for my kids are adult concerns like driving. (Don't get me started!) I keep an eye out that day. If any young child should get lost on our block, I'll be there with cookies and concern.

Sacrifice is ready to launch!

2010-08-16T17:43:00.004-05:00

I received the first two copies of Sacrifice: Mortal Path Book 2 today, sent out in advance of the August 31st release date by my editor. She thinks they look great and I do too! I'll be getting the rest of my author's copies soon, which means that those of you who have already won signed copies will finally be getting them! I've got some blog activity lined up you might want to participate in. Here's an early look at the schedule.

August 27: Bitten by Books Release Party

August 30th: Book Faery Guest Blog

August 31: Book Lovers, Inc. Interview

September 28: JoJo's Book Corner

More to come!
Bloggers/Reviewers: I'm open to blog appearances and sending out review copies.

ThrillerFest was amazing!

2010-07-19T19:20:00.001-05:00

I attended the International Thriller Writers' (ITW) annual conference, ThrillerFest, in New York City about a week ago. I've been to every one of them since I'm closely involved with ITW. I started out volunteering as registrar, then as chair of the event, and now I'm on the ITW board as VP, Membership. If you want to make the most of any writers' organization you belong to, I highly recommend volunteering. The networking opportunities are great!

One of the many fun things I did there was attend a group signing for an ITW publication, Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads. It's a great collection of essays about each of the books ITW thinks made an important contribution to the thriller field. My essay in the book talks about the significance of Katherine Neville's The Eight. Dozens of authors who'd contributed essays were in the room, and after the rush of readers going around getting their copies signed by multiple authors, we had a good time getting our own books signed by our contributing friends. I even managed to get mine signed by Bob Gussin, the publisher of Oceanview Books and a great guy.

Read the Washington Post's review of Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads at http://www.tinyurl.100thrillers for more information.

New post and giveaway

2010-06-28T17:50:00.000-05:00

I have a new post and giveaway on Supernatural Underground, a great new blog from HarperCollins authors in the paranormal genre. Check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/2cggl9w.

While you're on the Supernatural Underground blog, look around for other great posts and giveaways!

Supernatural Underground

2010-05-14T15:09:00.001-05:00

A group of HarperCollins authors of supernatural books have started a group blog and a Facebook Page. We've been busy talking behind the scenes and getting to know each other, and it's been terrific fun. I'm proud and excited to be part of such talented group.

The official launch date is June 1st, when we'll be entering a fabulous month of book giveaways! There's plenty going on in advance of the launch date, so go ahead--explore.

Blog: http://tinyurl.com/Bsuper

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/FBsuper

Sacrifice Tidbit

2010-04-28T19:56:00.000-05:00

Ho-hum. Midweek. I thought I'd liven things up by supplying a scene from Sacrifice that fits well in context but is a little strange taken on its own. Here goes:

Maliha arrived at Athens International Airport as naked as Aphrodite.

Clothed in a one-piece jumpsuit of the type used by airport employees, Maliha was held in an interview room in the airport security section. Considered an intruder in Grecian airspace with no identification and no flight plan, she was suspected of numerous things ranging from being a terrorist to staging some kind of celebrity stunt due to her uncovered beauty.

Facial identification software showed her to be one Marsha Winters, American writer of erotica. She was mildly insulted. Her Dick Stallion books had plots.

Sacrifice - Mortal Path Book Two

2010-04-22T13:18:00.002-05:00

Here it is! I just finished going through the page proofs for SACRIFICE, for release August 31, 2010. I think the cover's exciting, although I have to admit Maliha doesn't wear this kind of outfit when she's working, as the hardware would indicate. Definitely not those shoes!

There's a story behind the story, in this case. Bear with me and let me gripe a bit. My sister was suddenly admitted to the hospital last September. Her lungs were filling with fluid for some unknown reason, and she couldn't get enough oxygen. This turned out to be a long-term problem and is still ongoing. It was a time and emotional drain on me while writing SACRIFICE, and my editor Diana Gill was wonderful, working with me and allowing an extension of my deadline. No one hospital wanted to keep my sister long enough for the problem to be resolved. She was transferred every three-four weeks to another area hospital or skilled nursing facility, every time experiencing a setback in her health. At this time, she breathes through a trach tube and has lost her voice, but she will soon be stable enough to move into a nursing home. What a story! Hospitals passing the buck, so to speak, so that none of them individually would accumulate too much of a bill.

I guess I didn't need to burden you with that, but please take from it the really important part: my editor was terrific!!

Top Ten Reasons Your Novel Gets Rejected

2010-02-28T17:13:00.003-06:00

I used to edit and critique manuscripts as a sideline to my writing. I did it for years, until it threatened the time I spent writing. So I stopped cold turkey. One day I just stopped accepting clients, and gradually my existing clients finished wringing me dry, and I was free. Here's a quickie handout I used during that time to help ease the pain for those whom I gently turned down. (Yes, Virginia, I actually turned down paying clients whom I felt couldn't yet make good use of the help I had to offer.) If a novel showed a pattern of deficiency in at least four of the items listed below, I thought the author was wasting their money coming to me. I didn't want to be a ghost writer, I wanted to help them make their own writing shine.

Here they are, in vague order of importance, with number one being the most important.

10. Manuscript not tightly edited and polished for grammar, spelling, and punctuation

Incorrect grammar, spelling, and punctuation show you don’t care enough to learn the mechanics of writing. Working with you in the future will be a continual, frustrating clean-up process, and editors want mss as clean as possible to reduce cost of copy editing.

9. Autobiographical writing

Unless your life story is really larger than life (be honest, now) and/or you are a popular celebrity, don’t bother sending it to an editor. Face it, most of us have lived mundane lives, which is one of the reasons we turn to fiction. You can use elements of your own life when creating characters, but use your imagination as well. We’ve all got something to draw upon in our own lives which would be interesting to others, but be selective! Also, don’t use your characters as talking heads for your personal views. Opinions and actions should be consistent with character development and not stuck in because you wanted to make a point. Keep the diatribes about social issues for a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.

8. Poor pacing

The book should rise through a series of plateaus of action or intrigue or growth in relationships, followed by breathers. A breather happens when the protagonist is not actively involved in the main thrust of the plot. Breathers become shorter and shorter as the plot shifts into high gear. The interval between breathers gets longer as the book goes on, so that by the last 50 pages or so, there aren’t any.

7. Telling, not showing

Many new writers take the shortcut of explaining a situation or backstory directly to the reader, spoon-feeding character development and plot events. Instead, show the action as it happens, letting the characters participate first hand in real time. A family argument can be described to the reader in a paragraph or two, but without emotional impact. If the scene is played out in real time, the reader could enter the scene and experience it with all senses on high alert. Which is more memorable?

6. Stereotyped characters

Use of stereotypical characters is a shortcut to playing into the preconceived notions of the reader. All cops eat doughnuts and are gruff on the outside with a heart of gold inside; all college professors are bumblers in dealing with everyday life. Readers pick up on these immediately and are disappointed that the writer hasn’t gone to more trouble than using cookie-cutter characters.

5. Weak Motives
Characters in the book don’t have strong motives for their actions, and are essentially pawns of the plot. That leads to overuse of coincidences because actions don’t spring from within the characters and have to be imposed on them.

4. Padded stories

Some publishers are interested in a word count range, which is particularly true in genre writing. If a story doesn’t sustain that length, don’t pad it with inconsequential events. Some writers go so far as to take a concise phrase such as “She was belligerent” and dilute it by saying “The woman seemed to be a little bit touchy, maybe even looking for a fight.” Bingo, three words turned into fifteen. Add word count to a story by increasing the complexity of the plot, adding one or more meaningful subplots, or going into more depth in character development.

3. No “hook” at the beginning of the book

The first 500 words of your book are golden. That is the amount a browser might read in a bookstore, pulling the book off the shelf and examining it. In those brief words, you have to anchor the reader in a character, a situation, and a location. You have to create enough interest for the reader to want to move deeper into the story. Don’t rely on overused beginnings such as the dream, describing the weather, or having the character wake up and go through routine morning activities in detail.

2. Dialogue stilted

Bad dialogue is a constant irritant. Read your dialogue aloud – better yet, have a group of friends read it while you listen. If your characters are saying things that would never come out of a real human’s mouth, you’ve got work to do. On the other hand, dialogue is usually not a word-for-word representation of the way real people talk. It is condensed, more like the way we wish we could have said the things we did.

1. Voice not engaging

Voice is a combination of your protagonist’s personality and your own writing style. Style consists of your word choice, sentence structure and length, tone (humorous, dark, etc.), paragraph length, chapter structure, pacing, and point of view. Editors are looking for a “fresh voice”, meaning something that is not a rehashing of other authors’ work, something with genuine sizzle and a new way of looking at the human condition.

Pitching in Person

2010-02-25T23:45:00.007-06:00

It's your turn to meet the literary agent. You sit down, your manuscript in your white-knuckled grip. The agent eyes your manuscript skeptically, which increases the pressure of your grip. You wait for the agent to introduce herself and ask what your book is about. There it is, the dreaded question, and it hangs in the air between the two of you. You're up. You're on stage. It's your big moment. You clear your throat, set the manuscript on the table, and get started.

"Well, my book is about a man who gets involved in some nasty stuff."

The agent blinks and you realize she hasn't yet taken the 600 page pile of papers, the sacrificial offering on the table.

"Um, his name is Jason Wired, and at the beginning of the book his wife gets kidnapped."

"Okay," the agent says.

"I wrote this book because my niece's best friend knew someone who got kidnapped, so everything is authentic. When Jason tries to find out who kidnapped his wife, he gets into deep trouble."

"Why didn't he go to the police?" the agent asks.

You're stunned to have a question to answer, especially one that's a slightly weak point in your story. You avoid eye contact, trying to think of a good answer. "He doesn't trust the police."

"Why is that?" the agent says, sitting forward. She must be sensing some meat on the bones of your story.

"Uh, I don't go into that in the book, but in my notes the reason is his father was a crooked cop. I …"

"I'm not really interested in this type of book," the agent says.

You feel an opportunity slipping away and make another try. "You don't understand. This is a great book. All my friends say so. It would be a mistake to pass it up."

The agent looks beyond you at the next person waiting. "Next, please."

You get up and begin to slink away, feeling the sting of personal rejection, realizing that you didn't mention the name of your book.

"Excuse me," the agent says. "You forgot your manuscript."

This is the nightmare version of pitching to an agent in person. Let's start changing that to a dream scenario instead.
Of course you're nervous. You've waiting months for this, your stomach is flip-flopping to one degree or another, and you feel like your personal worth is on the line. So the first piece of advice is this: Rejection isn't personal. When an agent says no, he's saying that your work is not right for him. Nothing more, nothing less. It's not an appraisal of your writing because—check the interaction above carefully—the agent hasn't actually read any of your writing.
Let's talk about what you need to accomplish when you pitch, and then we'll break down each of those things in detail. I like to start with this:

Sell your story + Sell your character + Sell yourself = Successful Pitch!

Sell your story

Every mystery or thriller story has heat in it, by which I mean the parts that truly excite a reader and therefore an agent or editor. What you want to talk about when you first sit down for your pitch is heat, heat, heat and nothing else about your story. The rest can come later in conversation with the agent. So what is heat? Heat is the concept of your story expressed in a few sentences, or even a few words. Think sound bytes. This is heat:

A forensics expert has just hours to unlock the secrets of a decade-old murder and untangle greed, incest, and evil to save the life of the woman he loves.

A woman flees into the Ethiopian wilderness with a baby whose birth was foretold by ancient legends, and struggles against the hostile land and pursuing enemies to save a child destined to unite warring tribes.

A CIA agent discovers that deep cover terrorist cells around the world are receiving directions via typos inserted in online and print publications to launch a dirty bomb attack in six hours—somewhere.

A man kidnaps the son he believes is a cult member and takes him to an isolated spot for deprogramming. Instead, in a psychological twist, the man succumbs to the cult propaganda and becomes enmeshed in violence and a plot to assassinate a presidential candidate.

Some of these pitches are a little long and could certainly use some polishing and tightening. I just made them up (all except the first one, which is one of my books), but you've been working with a story you're very enthusiastic about for months. You should be able to pick out the elements of your book that are hot. The samples above all include a beginning, middle, and an end (or a strong hint of an end) in 45 words or less. Typical speaking time is about 15 seconds, if you have it memorized. And you will need to memorize your pitch.

Hot: The stakes are high when a man discovers that a secret organization plans a series of disasters to set the stage for the End of Things in the year 2012, the year the Mayan calendar abruptly ends.

Not hot: A man suspects a group has a private agenda and he becomes involved in it.

Hot: A woman posts an innocent family video online but the next time she views it, it's been turned into a snuff film showing each member of her family horribly slain. Then it starts to happen in real life.

Not hot: Events in a family movie aren't the same as they were originally filmed.

Something that may get you started thinking is to do What If exercises. Think of your story in terms of "What if blah blah blah, only to discover that blah blah blah."

For example: What if a detective works on a case originating 20 years ago, only to discover that his life closely parallels that of the victim—will history repeat? Or one from a book of mine: What if a woman sold her soul to a demon only to discover that 300 years later she wants it back? These could make excellent pitches all by themselves. Your What If might be an excellent one sentence tag line for your book, meaning a line that gets repeated over and over like you are branding yourself. (You are beginning to do so right from the git-go.)

So: Short. Hot. Memorized.

Does this apply even for cozy mysteries? Sure. Cozies have heat, because it's defined as the things that most attract your reading audience to your book. Here's an example, again just made up.

Hot: When a famous chef is hired to cater a private party, a U.S. Senator dies from his severe peanut allergy. The cooking utensils were contaminated with peanut oil. To avoid a murder charge, the chef has to find the real killer, but everything she turns up points to … her.

Not Hot: When a guest dies at a private party, the chef is accused of murder and has to solve the crime.

Sell your character

Once past talking about your story idea, be prepared to talk about a few of the characters in your book, definitely the protagonist and villain. You need to convey your characters' unique slant on life that distinguishes them from 1001 other protagonists and villains—and why the characters you've chosen fit into your story so well. Mention the setting of your book, since it has such a bearing on the story. Try not to make this a dry recital. Instead, have a few practiced descriptions in mind. Here's an example that gives an agent a lot of information in a short time about your characters and is interesting rather than dry.

PJ Gray is forty-one, a psychologist, a newly-single mother, and pioneer in the field of forensic computer simulation working in St. Louis. She's professional on the outside, a little vulnerable on the inside, intuitive, quick-witted, and struggling with the gap in respect that cops have for those who aren't in the Job. Her senior investigator, Detective Schultz, has been saved from premature retirement by her program. He's skeptical, curmudgeonly, not above bending the law in a good cause, extremely dedicated to his work, and will end up much more than a co-worker to PJ.

Note that this is the opposite of your writing, where you would show all this personality using the layers of the onion approach throughout your manuscript rather than tell it in one paragraph. In a pitch, you are in tell, not show, mode. Character is extremely important. No matter how good your story idea sounds, if it is peopled by the dull dregs of the earth, an agent isn't going to like it. There has to be some intrinsic interest in the character, plus visible potential for conflict, interaction, and growth shown in your characters. The agent may ask questions about them. You're supposed to know them well, so make sure it shows.

Other points to convey: your manuscript is finished and ready for review; the word count (85,000-110,000 could be typical—if significantly longer or shorter, you'll need to discuss why); some subplots if there's time, to show the depth of the story.

Sell yourself

An agent isn't just showing interest in a story, he has to have confidence in your professionalism and has to be able to see you as a person he can work with in a long-term business relationship. Your agent does not have to be your dearest friend, but there has to be enough compatibility to make things work between you. Show yourself off as a professional. Dress like you would for a job interview. That means business casual clothing at least. That automatically puts you ahead of the poor guy who didn't get the message and finds himself the only person there in cutoff jeans with holes in strategic places and a Trekkies Forever t-shirt and flip-flops. Guys, at least pack the khakis and a collared shirt. Ladies, you know the drill.

If you’re seeking a NY agent: For those of you who are not New Yorkers, here's a clue. NYers might seem to be little abrupt at times. Get over it.

Be prepared with a brief, non-wandering bio of yourself. If you have any special reasons why you are able to write your legal thriller or spy novel or military thriller or amateur sleuth mystery with authenticity because you've been there and done that, now is the time to get that across. If you have any publishing credits, be sure to mention them. If you don't, don't raise the subject unless asked.

You might try obtaining advance quotes from authors or booksellers whose names the agent will recognize, meaning not from your self-published friend at work. But I don't know anyone, you say, and besides, doesn't the publisher do that? You're a long way from having a publisher do things for you at this point, and nobody said getting quotes was easy. If you don't have a network of authors in place and you're starting from scratch, pick some authors whose work you have read and enjoyed. Don't aim for top tier authors. There are plenty with recognizable names who aren't yet household names with zillions of books in print. Consider a person from a professional organization you belong to or an expert in your field. Look up these people on the web, write and introduce yourself, and explain that you are a published/unpublished author looking for a quote to help interest agents in your work. Be upfront about that; don't say that you already have a publishing contract. Give a one paragraph description of your book. Don't lie or be coy, just ask. Almost all will either say no (too busy, my editor prefers that I don't do that, I recently blurbed a book similar to that …) or you won't get an answer at all. It doesn't matter how many say no, all you need is one or two to say yes. If you do get a quote, splash it everywhere—on top of your synopsis, on your business card, in your pitch. If you don't get any or are too shy to try this, don't worry about it. The vast majority of aspiring writers don't have blurbs, so the fact that you don't wouldn't raise any eyebrows.

Come prepared with business cards, and make the best use of them by putting the right information on. Don't use your day job business cards (unless you have a really, really prestigious day job). On the front of the card, put a photo of yourself if you're comfortable with that. Name, contact info (no home address needed), and your one line tag line for your book. No fancy script fonts that aren't easily readable, no neon orange cards, just a businesslike approach. On the back of the card, if you want to include it, provide a longer description of your story, maybe four or five sentences without getting the print size too small to read. Some agents will take your card, some won't be interested. Don't press. The reason for the photo on the card is this. One of the great things about pitching at conferences is the personal rapport that can develop very quickly. Your business card will help an agent remember not just your name, but put a face to that name, and have a few words about your book to jog his memory. When you do make a submission after the conference, be sure to include your card as a refresher of your identity.

Also bring with you a one page synopsis, actually 3/4 of a page, because the bottom 1/4 should be a brief bio. Have this available, offer it if the agent is interested, and again don't press. Should you bring something longer? Since you're probably going to be carrying around a conference tote bag anyway, you might as well put a full synopsis (5-10 pages) and the first 50 pages of your manuscript in there. This is something that you could mention you have if an agent shows interest, but don't expect a lot of takers. The idea here is for the agent to say yes or no to your pitch and if yes, request a submission of additional material after the conference. You'll be told what type of submission and if it should be by email or hard copy. Start working on your one page and full synopses early. They are difficult to write well, and not something to be dashed off at the last minute.

Dark Time Needs Your Vote (Please)

2009-12-16T17:59:00.006-06:00

Dark Time's lovely cover has been nominated in a cover art contest! It would be so cool to win the cover art contest hosted by All Things Urban Fantasy! New for 2009, the contest offers up to five choices in each of fifteen categories. Voting is open from December 1-30. Seeing all these gorgeous covers collected in one spot is eye candy overload!

Visit http://www.tinyurl.com/darktime and scroll down until you find Dark Time under Best Debut (New Author/Series/Standalone). You can vote in any/all of the other categories too!

Can I bribe you with turkey leftovers?

Night Writer Sees the Light ...

2009-12-16T17:58:00.003-06:00

... of dawn, that is. I'm pushing hard on finishing book two of the Mortal Path series. My natural tendency to write at night is spilling over into the time when most people are hitting the snooze buttons on their alarms.

Did you know that the hour before dawn is the best for listening to bird song? That time when gray is dominant and sounds are muted, and even the wind takes a rest, seems to have special appeal to our avian friends. I love catching this early morning free concert.

The past few mornings the windows have been closed and the air conditioner humming, so at the end of my writing day I'm listening to energy use. We're in a fierce heat wave here in St. Louis, with the heat index around 110 and no relief in site this week.

All that heat puts me in the mood to write about the desert. The real stuff, not the namby-pamby deserts we have in the U.S. This is book two's epigraph:

In this desert there are a great many evil spirits
and also hot winds; those who encounter them
perish to a man. There are neither birds above
nor beasts below. Gazing on all sides as far as
the eye can reach in order to mark the track, no
guidance is to be obtained save from the
rotting bones of dead men, which point the way.

—Chinese monk Fa Xian describing the
Taklimakan Desert, 5th century

This is a great quote, because it not only describes a real desert used as a location in the book, but the writing process that produces the book. Evil spirits surely are what lead me down unproductive paths and result in tossed scenes. The birds and beasts are helpful friends who want to meddle with the story and are banished. Marking the track--trying to plan what comes ahead in the story--is surely a task best left to dead men. And as for the hot winds, that can go two ways. One would be the overblown prose to be viciously stomped out. The other would be the sex scenes, probably the hardest thing to write so they don't come out sounding corny. Throbbing members on aisle 5.

So, epitaph as metaphor. I need more sleep. No, make that more words written.

What Happens After the Contract's Signed

2009-12-16T17:57:00.005-06:00

Advice abounds on the web for aspiring writers trying to get an agent or get published. A great deal of angst and energy is expended leading up to the signing of the book contract. What then? What's beyond the curtain? Let's take a peek.

I can tell you that it isn't all putting your feet up and waiting for the accolades to roll in. You'll be plunged into the work on your next book and the ever-growing work on the business of writing. Here's an outline of a theoretical (but grounded in reality) year after the contract is signed.

You sign a book contract December 31, 2008!
Here’s what you have to look forward to in the months to come.

January 2009

Celebrate!
Send your agent a thank you card or gift.
In rare cases your acquiring editor will assign a new editor to work with you - if so, introduce yourself and establish a working relationship.
Begin work on any revisions your editor has requested.
Begin collecting a mailing list of bookstores and individuals for promotion.
Supply any needed permissions to editor for quotes used inside your manuscript.
Continue working on the proposal for your next book, which will be done under a deadline.
Contact possible sources of jacket quotes for permission to send a manuscript to them. Be bold. Ask members of writing organizations you belong to. Be sure you're selecting writers whose work is similar to yours.

February 2009

Turn in revised manuscript as negotiated with editor.
Your book is placed on production schedule
Pub Date set at January 1, 2010 - it seems so far away!
Send out manuscript copies (unbound) for advance quotes - let recipients know the deadline for getting quotes in. Make sure you let them know you are not demanding a quote, but that you'll have to earn it.
Plan your web site, if you don't already have one. Choose your poison for social networking and begin to establish yourself in your real or pen name.
Get written permission from publisher to use a book excerpt on your web site. Don't give away too much, and be sure to stop at a "tease" point.

March 2009

Receive the payment of your advance for the first book, but don't get too attached to it.
Plan on spending those dollars on promotion. Unless you have struck it big, new authors can plan on plowing
the advances for the first three books into developing a readership.
Make contact with the publicist assigned to you by your editor and determine what, if any, promotion will be done. Plan yours to complement, not duplicate. Some publicists will want to wait until the book release date is much closer before even making plans. This is okay for web promotion, but watch out for long-lead print media.
Plan giveaway items such as bookmarks, but don't order them until you get the cover art for your book.
Study proofreading marks - you'll need to understand those squiggles if you don't already
You did make sure that your contract specified review of the copyedited manuscript and not just the galleys, didn't you?
Remind your editor that you would like to review/correct the jacket text (in rare cases, you'll be asked to write the jacket text).
Think about cover art and be prepared to offer suggestions. Don't expect to have too much influence over art or jacket text - it's a marketing thing.

April 2009

Do you have a mailing list, email or snail, to whom you can send promotional information? If not, work on assembling a list of individual readers via your web site or look for lists of bookstores and libraries that you can obtain. Some writer's organizations help with this.
Turn in jacket quotes to the editor. You can send one reminder to anyone who hasn't responded yet, but don't make a pest of yourself. If you haven't heard anything, there could be a perfectly good reason for that. If a writer doesn't like your book and doesn't want to blurb it, most will not want to confront you directly about that. They'll just not send anything.
Turn in your photo and bio for the book jacket if requested.
Send the proposal for your second book to your agent to get feedback - you have been working on that, right?

May 2009

Send thank you notes to authors who have provided quotes. Later on you'll send them a copy of your signed book.
Jacket design (artwork and text) may be finalized by now. Order any promotional items that incorporate the jacket design, such as postcards or bookmarks.
Revise the proposal for your second book and send it off to your agent again.

June 2009

Yikes! Editor resigns and moves to a different publishing house. Your book is now an orphan waiting for reassignment.
Introduce yourself to the newly-assigned editor and start all over building a working relationship.
Confirm the publication schedule with your new editor.
Yikes! Release date has been postponed three months until April 1, 2010 due to new editor's workload. That promotional material you printed is now out of date. Do it again.
Begin cultivating a local bookstore with the idea of having a book launch party. Contact the manager directly. It will become your "home store".
Your book proposal finally passes the agent's scrutiny and is sent to the editor. Fingers crossed for a contract for book two. Some editors will not want to commit to a contract until your first book is released and they get an inkling of sales. You can still submit your proposal for the second book early, and you should begin writing the book.

July 2009

Your editor loves the proposal and is confident of good sales on your first book. A contract signed for second book with a deadline of February 1, 2010.
Send a thank you card to your agent.
Celebrate, then get back to work adding chapters to your second manuscript--you're writing on deadline.
Request Advance Reading Copies (ARCs) for your own use. Ask for 100. You might actually get half that many, if you're lucky. More likely, when your editor stops laughing, you'll get half a dozen. But it's worth trying.
Review the jacket text and offer suggestions - gently.
DROP EVERYTHING! The copyedited manuscript has arrived for your review. You have ten days to respond. Return the entire manuscript by a delivery service (tracking, baby, tracking) with your corrections marked. Do not get cheap here and miss the 10 day deadline. If you are paranoid about losing all your effort, make a copy of the manuscript before sending it. This is your last chance to make any substantial (a paragraph) additions or deletions. The next time you see this manuscript, it will be 99% set in stone.

August 2009

Begin thinking about a proposal for your third book!
Work on getting your web site linked to others and listed in search engines. Do social networking (Facebook, Twitter) if you are inclined to. Your editor may request that you get involved.
GET FRUSTRATED - New York City's publishing industry virtually closes down this month for vacations. No one is returning your emails or phone calls.

September 2009

Finalize your mailing list and assemble the promotional mailing or emailing. Check out newsletter services like Vertical Response.
Work on that second book manuscript (you are a writer, remember?).
Don't forget to drop in on your home book store from time to time, and actually buy a few books. It's in a good cause, namely getting their attention and getting them to like you. Talk to the manager. Besides, you can read those books in your spare (!) time.
Receive the advance for your second book - probably only half of it. The other half will come after you deliver the completed, accepted manuscript. Your editor may request changes before officially accepting it.
DROP EVERYTHING! Galley proofs have arrived for your review. Fax back only the corrected pages within seven days, or mail or email them, as the editor directs. Remember, you can't use the galleys to add large amounts of material you forgot the first time around. Changes at this time are very small. It would be surprising if you were sending back more than fifteen or so pages, each with a minor change.

October 2009

Your book appears in the publisher's catalog for the first half of 2010!
Orders begin to be placed for the book. You incessantly check your Amazon sales rank, until it grows old.
Begin scheduling convention appearances for 2010. You may or may not want to tour. In my opinion, it is not a good use of your time and money. You will go to a bookstore and sell maybe three books, unless it's in your hometown and you have packed the audience with your friends and relatives. Instead, consider buying copies of your book when it's avaiable, and sending signed copies to bookstore owners with a nice hand-written note. If you can get the bookstore owner on your side, you will sell more copies due to recommendations than if you appeared in person.
Schedule a pub party at your home store, with refreshments and local publicity. You may have to split costs with the store owner. The pub party should be your first signing in your home town.

November 2009

Corrected galleys sent to print for final printing and binding. Another milestone on your publication schedule checked off.
Author receives ARCs for own use
Author sets up signings for April/May 2010
Take a short vacation now if possible. Relax and do nothing. Have some turkey. Let out your waistband.

December 2009

Promotional mailing sent out, including the advance jacket quotes you obtained
Your uncorrected ARCs or bound galleys - ARCs have your cover art on the front, bound galleys have plain covers - may arrive now. You'll get one or the other, generally not both.
Marketing department starts to promote your book to book buyers.
Send ARCs to selected recipients. If you have only a few ARCs, save them. Later on, you'll really wish you had them, when you get personal requests. If you have 100 of them, focus on local reviewers and media before considering anyone else. Refer anyone for whom you can't (or don't want) to give one of your precious ARCs to the publicist.
Hand-deliver an ARC to your home store.
ARCs will be sent by the publicist to some review sources and bookstores - coordinate so you don't duplicate effort.

January 2010

Churn out chapters of second book - no writer's block allowed, you're on deadline.
Grow a thick skin in preparation for seeing your book reviews.
Reviews may appear in trade journals late this month or next - Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal.
Put the finishing touches on your second manuscript that is due February. You're a professional author and don't miss deadlines.

February 2009

Right about now your first print run size will be determined by adding up actual advance orders for the book and projecting from there.
Send out a second promotional mailing incorporating the glowing reviews you have received from trade journals. Or not.
Order additional copies of your book directly from the publisher at the author's discount, usually 40%-50%. You'll need them for promotion.
If you have scheduled signings, send complete press kits (photo, press release, bio, quotes, reviews) to stores where signings are scheduled.
Turn in your second manuscript and be prepared for editorial changes.
Send the synopsis of third book to your agent for review and comments. What? You weren't working on that? Tsk tsk.

March 2010

The books will be shipped to distributor this month.
Your author's copies of your first book arrive - dance in the streets!
Send signed copies of your book to all who contributed a quote.
Hand-deliver a signed copy to your home store. Buy a book or two while you're there.
Books will probably be shipped to stores by mid-March. Shipping date is generally two weeks in advance of the on-sale (or pub) date.
Reviews begin to appear in the consumer media. Remember that thick skin you grew? If you get a bad review - and you will, sometime, somewhere - feel free to rant privately, then get over it and get back to writing.It is unprofessional to make any comments about bad reviews. Yes, that means on Facebook, too. You, as the author, are above all that.
Revise the synopsis for your third book. The agent really didn't like it and asked you to consider going back to square one with it. Bah.
See your book on the shelf for the first time near the end of the month. Walk on air. Kiss clerks. Grab bystanders and point out your book to them. It's okay. You worked for it.

April 2010

Enjoy your pub party!
Send a gracious thank you note after each signing.
Greet your adoring fans, but be prepared for signings with zero turnout. Getting people to know your book is out there is hard, and getting them to part with dollars is harder.
You are suddenly inspired for a new approach for your third book and the words jump onto paper. Your agent loves it.

May 2010

Bookstore signings and other appearances continue. If you are touring (as I've said, I recommend against it), build some down time into your schedule.
Sign contract for your third book, with a deadline of December 1, 2010.
Thank your agent - go ahead, send that gift basket of fine wines! You treat your business partners well, don't you?
Begin chapters of your third book
Stash away a box of your first books in the basement as future collectibles.
Experience a very strange emotion when you see your book advertised on eBay with a starting price of 99 cents.

June 2010

Make time for conferences and conventions, to network with fans and writers. Face time very important at these large events.
You're beginning to live your dream.
Stay grounded in the realities of the writing business. Don't quit the day job too soon.
Everything in publishing takes longer than you expect! That's why this "Year in the Life of a Novel" turned out to take eighteen months.

A Day in the Life

2009-12-16T17:55:00.002-06:00

First, the random line from Dark Time:

She let her rented Taurus take her to the airport, driving on automatic as she mulled over the unusual experience of having someone within arm’s length drop dead, and she hadn’t done it.

I have strange habits as a writer. I know this because when the subject of "What's your day like?" comes up when I'm in a group of writers, I keep my mouth shut and listen to others answer. I've learned this because when I did speak up, there was usually silence followed by questions directed at the other authors.

I used to be a morning person, but writing changed all that. Now I consider myself lucky if I can answer a routine email by 1pm. So here's how it goes, from noon to noon.

At noon, I'm probably asleep. When the need to take care of natural bodily functions wake me (I implied that this wasn't pretty, and now I've confirmed it), I roll out of bed, my eyes blinking at the insult of daylight. I read the comics section of my local newspaper, squinting at the ever-smaller print and pictures. Two cups of coffee land in my stomach during this time. Caffeine molecules try to outdo each other in terms of stimulating my head to stay erect. Sounds vaguely naughty, but for the caffeine it is a serious challenge.

Finally making it down the hall to my office, I have to push a cat off my chair to sit down. The cat, indignant at having to move, drops a new supply of shed cat hair on my keyboard. At least it's better than dropping something else. Clearing away the fur, I answer email concerning the business of writing. I notice that some people have emailed me at or before 8am, the start of the usual business day, and I'm hours late in responding. This is good in one respect--sometimes the crisis has passed by then. I'm smiling while answering email but since no one sees that and I am never sure if the recipients are going to take things the right way, I sprinkle in smiley faces. :) This results in strange emails such as:

Dear AA-Able Printers:

Your bookmark shipment to me is two weeks overdue. I don't want excuses and I especially don't want my customer services rep to communicate with me since he lies between what is left of his teeth. :) I just want a delivery date you can actually stick to. Please respond immediately. :)

Warmly,
Dakota

Then on to the pleasant job of responding to readers and authors.

Time for breakfast. Then a couple hours of writing, or if necessary, more business stuff. If the weather is good I go out people-watching. I order shoes from an online site and ponder deeply whether to get white or black sneakers. There seems to be some hidden meaning there (perhaps concerning lunar cycles) that I can's quite grasp, so I blindly pick one and type in the magical 16 digits that bring products to my home.

Time for lunch. At 6pm, my creativity has fled, so I take a nap. Sometimes half an hour, sometimes a serious sleep of 2-3 hours.

Surf the web with the excuse that I'm doing research for my book. Actually do some research. Interact with my two 18-year-old sons, who mostly grunt and mumble things under their breath--I love them dearly :)--, and my husband, who wants to discuss the minute details of (fill in the blank with a consumer product) we probably can't afford. I spend time reading, sometimes for pleasure, sometimes in an analytical mode--how does this author achieve good pacing, that kind of thing.

It's 10pm, or later. Time to get serious about writing. I reread what I wrote the night before and patch it up. Sometimes I back up further than one day's session for this editing. I edit as I go along, so that when I'm finished, the book is ready to be sent off to my editor. I don't make a quick first draft all the way to the end, as many authors do, and then revise the entire draft. This is one of the biggest differences I have when comparing my writing habits to those of other authors.

About 1am, I'll take a break and eat dinner. Maybe read a magazine. Back to writing, which sometimes means staring at the screen, writing one sentence, staring some more--or racing on with no idea of the passage of time. I'm in the zone. I rarely hit the zone outside the hours of 2am-5am. I get more writing done during these three hours than the other 21 hours of the day.

At 6am, I notice it's light outside and birds are chirping. Sleep until noonish. Repeat.

This, for me, is the glamorous writer's life. Interspersed are times of great satisfaction and excitement, times that send my heart soaring and remind me that I'm driven to write and can't imagine myself doing anything else. From small moments such as finding the perfect word to large ones like seeing my book in bookstores--this is the life for me.

Getting Down the Bones of the Book

2009-12-16T17:53:00.004-06:00

Many new writers (and some experienced ones) approach the synopsis grudgingly and with a certain dread. Many times it is left as the last task to do after the manuscript is completed, and is only attempted because an editor or agent has requested one. If that's your attitude, try to cultivate a better one. A synopsis can be a great help in two respects: as a road map and as a sales tool.

If you were planning a driving trip across the US, your personality would dictate how you'd set out. If you were a meticulous planner, you'd have a large number of maps, both broad and detailed, and mark your route with orange marker. You'd have all the hotel stops and sights to see marked out, and you'd have that 30,000 mile service done on your car a couple of weeks in advance. All your hotel reservations would be lined up in a row, and you might even have a daily schedule. A more relaxed traveler might get a USA map, study it the day before the trip, and have a general idea how many miles to traverse each day. The free spirited traveler would wake up one morning, hop in the car, and decide whether to drive east or west.

Writing a novel is a lot like taking a long trip and the synopsis is your trip planner. You're aiming for the middle of the spectrum, the relaxed traveler. A synopsis should be your road map, but not constrain you so that you have no creative freedom along the way. There should be plenty of opportunities to get off the Interstates and mellow out on the country roads.

When you've got an idea that you think can be developed at novel length, start by writing a one-paragraph summary. If you can't put your idea clearly into a single paragraph, you've still got some thinking to do. Then expand it to a page, then to five or six pages. Write in the present tense. This takes some practice, but that's the way a synopsis is generally written. Think of it as sitting across from someone in a social situation and telling your story aloud, in an exciting fashion. Introduce each of your major characters as they enter the story with a paragraph or two. No dialogue. No juicy subplots. Just the bare bones of the story. Remember that if you are going to end up with a 400-page manuscript, each of your five synopsis pages has to cover 80 pages of manuscript! Don't try for a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, unless you want to do that later on as a working tool for yourself.

Polish your synopsis carefully, and let your writing style show. By this I mean use the same tone as you intend for your novel. If you are writing a dark, suspenseful, graphically violent novel, don't write your synopsis with prose that is the equivalent of smiley faces. If you are writing light or humorous material, let the synopsis reflect that. This is important because it helps you get things clear in your own mind, and it presents your book to an agent or editor accurately.

When you are working on the manuscript, use your synopsis as a guide. Develop all those characters and subplots, put in all the rich descriptions. Let your characters make decisions and take the lead, if that's your way of writing. But if you are going to deviate from the bare bones story in your synopsis, you should stop and consider where you're taking the story. Rewrite the synopsis from that point forward if necessary. It is a lot easier to rewrite five or ten pages to see how your new idea will play out all the way to the resolution than to invest the time to write a hundred pages of new material and find out you've plotted yourself into a dead end or sent your character into never-never land.

Don't consider the synopsis as a document carved in stone. By the time you complete the manuscript, your novel should be clearly recognizable as the story in your synopsis, but you've taken many liberties on the way from Point A to Point B.

Suppose you start out with an idea that is burning your fingers and characters that are leaping out of your head. Should you stop the flood of creativity and write a synopsis? No! Go right ahead and get down as much as you can, even if some of it is (well, let's be kind) less than sparkling. Sooner or later you'll come to a point when the rush of words slows down and you start to get that lost feeling. Maybe you're 20,000 words in and can't figure out what comes next. That's the time to back up and write the synopsis. Don't press on and get so discouraged that you never finish the book.

Generally a first time novelist needs a completed manuscript to make a sale. When you've got a track record, though, you may be able to get a contract based upon a synopsis and the first 50-75 pages of the manuscript. The synopsis becomes not only a practical day-to-day guide in your writing, but your sales tool as well. You'll be submitting it to publishers directly, or your agent will be shopping it around, while you are finishing the book. Don't be coy in your synopsis and stop before you get to the end of the story. This doesn't tantalize agents or editors, it irritates them and brands you as unprofessional. Agents need all the information they can get about your novel to make their decision, and that means give it your best shot and don't dribble out pieces of the story.

If you sell on the basis of a synopsis and later want to make a major change as the book develops, you should discuss it with your editor. That's the professional thing to do. I'm not talking about subplot changes or minor developments, but if your killer turns out to be a different person from the one in the synopsis, don't spring it on your editor. No editor wants a manuscript dropped on her desk six months after the contract was signed that bears no resemblance to what was purchased, even if you think the change is an improvement. You'll have to justify a change that affects the flow of the entire book, and get feedback on it from your editor. You, your agent, and your editor form a team to send your book out into stores in the best possible shape. You don't hold back with your teammates.

So what happens if you've already written your book and now have to write a synopsis because an agent or editor wants to see one? It's basically the same process as above. Start with a one paragraph description, expand to a page, then to five to ten pages. The disadvantage to you in this case is that you haven't been able to take advantage of the roadmap concept when writing your novel.

Remember that in any synopsis, written pre- or post-book, you have to hit the high points of your story. It's like skipping across the snow-covered tops of a mountain range instead of traveling up and down every valley between them. Make the synopsis an exciting read in itself rather than he did this, then she did that, and as a result he did this. The synopsis has to engage the reader and make him or her see the possibilities in all those valleys.

Dark Time ARCs are in!

2009-12-16T17:50:00.004-06:00

I received my copies of the ARCs (Advance Reading Copies) of Dark Time and they look terrific! Almost like holding the real book in my hand, except that the real book will have an embossed foil cover. I also found out that each chapter begins with a small scale design, which I thought was a nice touch. The text inside is fairly clean, thanks to the hard work of my copyeditor Ellen Leach and proof editor Will Hinton. A typical example of an error in the ARC is this, from page 206:

She pulled the car inside the barn and left with her the covert entry kit she’d assembled.

Errors like that are a reflection of changes in the author’s thought process which are tough to spot when reading the book for the 15th time and pass a spelling check.

This picking out a sentence business has gotten me interested in looking through the book for sentences that are interesting when taken out of context. Here’s an example.

The government agents would have to explain how an intruder had gotten past them so easily, and how they ended up with their hands and feet tied and their service revolvers boiling merrily away in the stockpot on the stove. – pg 15

Notable for its length of 40 words, so it might also be the longest sentence in the book.

Welcome!

2009-12-16T17:45:00.001-06:00

I'm here to share my thoughts about Maliha Crayne and the Mortal Path series, about writing and selling books, and everything else. And to listen with ears wide open to you, readers. If you ask a question here, you'll get an honest answer, which is my idea of sharing--no holding back. If I were you, I'd avoid politics. You'll get more sharing than you could possibly want. My excuse is that I'm genetically predisposed. Okay, I know that's not good science.

Without you there is no Maliha Crayne, except in my mind. I'm so captivated with her and her quest for redemption that I want to keep writing about her for a long time. I hope it works out that way. I can picture Maliha dolls in costumes from all over the world and time periods dating back to the 17th century, with little girls happily braiding her hair and little boys perhaps interested in her, uh, tattoo.

Dark Time, the first book in the series, will be released on July 28th from HarperCollins/Eos. You can check out the rest of my website to learn about the book and the concepts behind it. Links to my site are in the column on the right. You can pre-order Dark Time from many different sources. I think that's a fine idea, don't you?