Write Words / Arline Chase: July 2012

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Why can't good things happen? -- writing tip

Question: People are telling me my plots are "too mundane." Okay, I know the story is the story, but even in stories, don't people have to go to the store? What's wrong with a character shopping for a new dress? I've seen it happen in books a hundred times. Somehow I don't seem to be getting the good story happening in my head to come out on the paper where I'm trying to write it down. They all pick on the same scenes for me to take out, so something must be wrong....

Answer: Quite often when folks complain about certain scenes, it's a matter of losing plot tension. If something important to the story line is going to happen at the store, after they buy the dress, or while they are considering it, then the scene will have plenty of tension to keep the reader's interest while the shopping goes on. If nothing is at stake while they stop everything and go shopping, then readers may complain about the scene without even realizing why...

The term tension, in fiction writing, has to do with the amount of stake the reader has in your characters and their actions. The more the reader cares what happens to your protagonist, the more tension there is. Good motivation increases tension. Editors have said (to me and of my own work) that a manuscript with middle sag "lacks tension." If the first turning point is resolved and we're building toward the crisis, but nothing much is going on, tension can be increased by inserting action that magnifies the danger to the hero or heroine. Any scene that makes it look like the protagonist is in danger of losing what he wants in the story can increase tension.

My friend Carla Neggers, from whom I learned to plot at an www.iwwg.org Summer Conference, says the way to do it is to put your character in a hole and every time they try to climb out, throw more dirt down on them. If you throw enough dirt, according to Carla, the Big Gloom (don't you just love all these technical terms?) her name for the bleak moment (when the reader is certain it's going to end in disaster), will arrive without looking contrived. This can be hard to do, because most of us love our characters and don't want to throw the dirt very hard.

Carla convinced me, way back when, that dirt was necessary, though, and she did me a big favor. It was only after I learned to keep pelting the characters with bad happenings, or bad things that MIGHT happen, that the books in my head started to come out on the paper.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Chicken Kabobs -- recipe

Ray Morand’s Chicken Kebabs

(Yakitori)

2     pounds chicken
16 small onions
8     green peppers
      sansho powder (optional)
    (Alternative: add carrots)

Sauce:
½     cup soy sauce
½     cup mirin
1-2     tbsp. Sugar

Cut vegetables into bite sized pieces. Cut chicken in bite sized pieces. Place on skewers. Simmer sauce. Grill kebabs and brush sauce over them as they cook. Sprinkle with sansho powder if desired and serve.

Raye Morand is the author of THE RED KNIGHT CHRONICLES, Five books are in print and the sixth is "in progress."

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Elena Bowman's Souffle -- recipe

1 cup strong coffee
1 cup milk
¾ cup sugar
a pinch salt
1 envelope plain gelatin
2 eggs, separated
1 ts vanilla

*Scald *the milk and coffee
*Mix* sugar and gelatin
*Add* half to hot liquid.

*Beat* egg yolks; add to remaining dry ingredients.
*Add *to hot mixture.
*Cook* until mixture coats silver spoon.
*Let cool.*
*Add* vanilla.
*Fold* into stiffly beaten egg whites.
*Chill *until firm.

Souffle' results in three different color layers; the bottom one is a dark brown, the middle a lighter color and the top even lighter. At least that's the way it should turn out. Nevertheless, it is so good that it doesn't last beyond one meal. There are always those who want seconds.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

How long is too long? - writing tip

Question from my e-mail: My book is 100,000 words. Not so many when you think about GONE WITH THE WIND. But wherever it's been submitted, I get told, "It's too long." How long is too long? And why?

Answer: For books printed on paper, "too long" means it is too expensive to produce, even for the Big 6 mass market publishers. Paper costs are rising. For POD publishers, like we are, 80,000 words is about all we can comfortably fit in, without having to price the book at $25 and that's a lot to ask anyone to pay for a paperback.

Big publishers will want to cut, and cut all your best scenes. Small ones, will just say, NO, THANKS. Self-publishing is always an option with a long book. If an author self-publishes, he or she can afford to make less money on it. If a publisher is going to stay in business...

By the way, GWTW was rejected 13 times before finding a publisher, largely on account of its length. Other reasons given were, "The Civil War is dead. Nobody cares about THAT anymore."

My friend, Diana Gabaldon, often writes long and complains just as bitterly that they want to cut all her best scenes. In her first book, OUTLANDER, she put in a scene with the Loch Ness monster, just so she'd have a scene to suggest they cut instead of something she really wanted to keep. Of all the scenes the publishers suggested she pull, which one do you think they NEVER wanted to get rid of? The monster scene, of course.

CONGRATS are in order for Diana, too. She had some good news recently, when a major Cable TV producer picked up her OUTLANDER series. With the success of period cable series, like DEADWOOD and GAME OF THRONES, this looks like it would be a good move for them. I can't wait to see who they'll cast as Jamie.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Venison Stew - recipe

Rowan Cameron's Venison Stew

It's too hot for this recipe right now. But it's really good on a snowy day.

Rowan Cameron’s Venison Stew*
   *non-hunters may substitute beef

1 to 2     pounds of venison haunch or flank cubed
3    medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1     can baked beans (you’ll have to trade for this)
3     medium tomatoes (if they are out of season, the white man has them in cans, too)
3/4     cup minced green onion (tops and all)
1     Leaf of Miracle (bay)
1     tsp. Dried sage
1    tsp. Dried garlic
    Salt to taste.
       Water as needed.

Heat medium sized rocks in your camp fire until they get red hot. Trim all tallow from the meat. Deer tallow can taste rank, especially it the deer was old, or a buck. Slice and dice a good sized haunch round, or flank steak into 1 inch pieces. And place in leather pot. Add spices, water to cover plus 6 inches, and enough red hot rocks to make the pot boil hard.** When venison is good and tender and rocks have cooled to make the pot simmer, add the other ingredients.

   **     You can use a stove and a soup pot, but you have to let it boil hard until the meat falls apart at the touch of a fork. Then reduce the heat, add the vegetables, and simmer until done. This recipe works equally well with elk.

Contributor’s note: This is the stew Christy serves to her sister and ex-fiancé when they arrive from the east in Ghost Dancer.

Contributed by Arline Chase, author of Ghost Dancer, After a broken engagement, Christy goes west for “her health” and meets a medicine man.... Rowan Cameron, a Blackfoot captive scheduled for a hanging, escapes and then ignores her attempts to “civilize” him. But Rowan does his best to heal Christy’s spirit, and mend her broken heart.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Catching Up!

Catching UP!

Books that went to press, or back to press this week:

COMFORT OF THE SHEPHERD: Parable Prayer and Meditation, by Barbara Garro

Galleys that went out, or went out again this week:

A DESIRE PATH, by Jan Shapin

NIGHT SHIFT, by Lisa Marie Brennan

A CUP OF JOY, by Anna Dynowski

Work continued or began on the following:

A GHOST TO DIE FOR: Shannon Delaney Series, vol. 5, by Elizabeth Eagan-Cox

CHILDREN OF THE ENEMY, by David Sweigert

STAR-WOLF, by Warren Graffeo

TWO FACES: TWO-FACED, by Kathryn Flatt

MURDER BY BEST SELLER, by Gabriel Timar

LADY SLIPPERS FOR MY LADY, by Lynette Hall Hampton

Thursday, July 19, 2012

LIES--WRITNG TIP

The above Southern novel may not be by William Faulkner, but is a darned good story all the same.

Question: You said in a recent post that fiction writers are liars. That doesn't seem very nice. Why would you say a thing like that?

Answer: Actually, I was quoting William Faulkner, the penultimate Southern novelist, who came from an influential and deeply religious family in the South. Though they referred to the Civil War as, "The War of Northern Aggression," his relatives considered fiction writing was NO occupation for a gentleman and was in fact, nothing but "telling a pack of lies."

Nobel prizewinner Faulkner's, response to their embarrassment, was, "All fiction writers are liars, and the good ones tell the best lies. For a writer, when it comes down to a choice between the truth and a 'good story,' tell the best darned lie you can think of."

I don't think he meant any offense. Nor did I.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Cherry Season -- Recipe

Here's a summer drink Recipe shared from author Barbara Garro.

I make a lemon or lime, maple syrup, ceyenne pepper summer drink that quenches everything. Zest of two lemons or limes, the juice, water (I make a quart) and use four tablespoons of real maple syrup and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne, but some may rather use 1/8 LOL!"

Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Where do I get off--writing tip

Question: People keep telling me to write stories about more interesting people. They want, spies, private detectives, cops, or lawyers? I am not any of those things. I am a bored housewife. Last month they were all yelling , "Write What you KNOW!" Where do I get off trying to write about exciting stuff? I don't know how to do any of those things.

Answer: You are also an intelligent woman, who can find out a lot about anything if she wants to.

I'm not saying to spend years on Research. You're a writer, not a scholar. But if you want your character to be a cop, call your local cop shop and ask if they have a "public information officer?" Or if there is someone you can talk to to find out what their day is like on an average day. Take that person to lunch, record the conversation, and ask them to talk from experience. Once you know what the routine is, THEN ask yourself "What if?" and let your imagination go to work. A writer's imagination is the important part of the equation. Without that, no writer has a chance.

One of the first things I ever wrote, was a novella I called, THE DROWNED LAND. It's set in the 1890s, a time I haven't lived in, on a sailing dredger, a kind of boat I had seen on the water, but had never been aboard, and it encompassed a culture (the island, watermen's culture) of which I was somewhat familliar through being related to half this county, but had little personal day-to-day experience with. The problem was, I could not know what it was like to live aboard a dredge boat and catch oysters for weeks and months at a time. The story was to have that setting and have a hurricane, too, and I planned to juxtapose the left-at-home women and their storm-related problems, with the men aboard ship as the storm progressed.

I realized that I had to learn what it was like to live aboard a dredger day-to-day. I had a husband, a day job, and two small sons. NO way could I go and find out. But my brother-in-law had worked as crew on a dredger from the age of 13 until World War II, when he lied about his age and enlisted. I sat him down for a day or two and recorded everything he told me about that life. I knew the women's half, having been home, alone (just me, the dogs, cats, and chickens), during Hurricane Hazel.

I had great fun writing it and all my friends and relations -- knowing the culture -- liked it fine and told me lots more storm stories.

First of all, having grown up reading the 10,000 word published "short stories" in the Saturday Evening Post of the 50s, I tried to sell it as a short story and collected a record 69 rejections before someone told me to quit that as it was really a novella. Then I saw a contest asking for novellas and decided to give it one more shot. Surprise, just when I was ready to give up writing forever, it won! It was only luck that got me to send it there at all.

Luck does help. But now back to the key element. Imagination! Some never are able to imagine how another person would think and feel and that's not always a bad thing. Many writers base their characters on themselves. It is always good to write what you know. The late Dick Francis's jockeys are almost always based on his own experiences. Tom Clancey once worked for Naval intelligence. Clive Cussler was an underwater demolitions expert with NOAH, and his character, Dirk Pitt, drives Clive's antique cars. And they are all successful writers who have incorporated part of their own personal experiences in what they write.

I, too, in earlier times, wrote several novellas that revolved around courts and the law. I am not a lawyer, or a cop either. But I was a newspaper reporter and my beat was cops and courts. So I spent a lot of time there, listening and learning. I wrote factual stories about cases I covered for the paper, and fictional ones using the real situations but changing the names and often the outcomes, for other markets.

So yes, use the experiences that you have had and I'll bet you can think of many if you try. Behind ever bored housewife, lives a sassy teenager, a young lover, a woman who has faced many challenges. But don't forget that you can learn about experiences that you don't have, too. Research can make it real. Veteran watermen have complimented me on that story, saying, "You must have done a lot of sailing."

Well no. When I wrote DROWNED LAND, I had actually never set foot on a sailboat of any kind. But my brother-in-law, Robert Stoker Hill had lived it and he generously shared his days with me and with all my readers.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Tea Punch - recipe

Barbara J. Cooper’s Spicey Tea Punch

2 1/2     cups boiling water
5    tea bags or 5 teaspoons loose tea
1/4     teaspoon cinnamon
1/4     teaspoon nutmeg
3/4     cup sugar
2     cups cranberry juice cocktail
1 1/2     cup water
1/2     cup orange juice
1/3rd    cup lemon juice

Pour boiling water over tea and spices. Let steep (covered) 5 minutes. Remove tea bags and add sugar, stir till dissolved and cool. Add remaining ingredients, chill. Server over ice cubes. Makes about 7 cups of delicious spicey tea. Good summer drink.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Catching UP!

Books that went to press, or back to press this week:

THE COMFORT OF THE SHEPHERD: PARABLE PRAYER AND MEDITATION, by Barbara Garro

NO MOTIVE FOR MURDER: A Dangerous Journeys Mystery, by Virginia Winters

WHEN DEAD CATS BOUNCE: A Nick Schaevers Mystery, by Newton Love

Galleys that went out, or went out again this week:

A DESIRE PATH, by Jan Shapin

That's not very much, I know, but all the checks are in the mail!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Hot Prawn Canapes -- recipe

Nancy Madison’s Hot Prawn Canapes

12     slices of thin bread
1 lb.     shrimp, boiled, chopped fine
12     tbsp mayonnaise
1         tbsp onion, chopped fine
1/4     Tsp pepper
2         Tsp paprika
1         cup butter, clarified*
4         Tsp lemon juice, fresh
2         Tsp horseradish
½     tsp salt
1         cup Parmesan cheese

Cut crusts off of bread. Cut each bread slice into 1/4, either round, oval or toast point. Mix the shrimp and other ingredients except Parmesan. Cover bread slices with shrimp mixture. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over bread. Place on cookie sheet and bake in 500-F or 260-C degree oven 3-5 minutes until cheese melts. Serve right from oven. 12 servings.

* To clarify butter, melt in a saucepan and measure out only the clear yellow oil from the top, leaving behind the whey residue at the bottom.

Contributed by Nancy Madison, author of

Whispers.

In the wee hours of her wedding day, whispering wakes New York heiress Layne Hamilton. Investigating, Layne finds herself in the darkened hall outside her guest room. Through a closed door, she hears her fiance and maid-of-honor planning her death.

Realizing they are in bed together, Layne uses that as her excuse to cancel the wedding and flees south to Virginia. Freddy pursues his runaway bride, but when she rejects his attempts at reconciliation, Freddy loses his self-control and Max Carter, the county sheriff, comes to her rescue.

Max hopes Freddy will give up and go back to New York, but Freddy, desperate due to gambling debts, needs Layne's fortune too much.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Subtext? -- writing tip

Question: Am taking a university writing course now and the instructor keeps talking about "subtext," but I'm not understanding what he's talking about, Arline. I had you for a teacher ten years ago and you were so helpful. Can you help me now? Faye.

Answer: I remember you, Faye. You were doing a novel set in Australia, right? We had a log discussion about dialogue paragraphing back then. Glad you still remember me...and glad to comment on subtext, which is the deeper meaning the reader takes away from what is written.

In dialogue and narrative both there is always both text and subtext. First there is what is said, and second what is implied by what is left unsaid. Often, subtext, which the reader picks up on, is as important as what is actually said. Look at the following after-dinner response from a husband:

“Oh, is that slide show at the library with the nature photographer tonight?” John grimaced. “I’ll go if you want, but I’m really tired. After all, I was out to the Bible Study at church last night and you stayed home and read. This makes two nights in a row, for me. Of course, I don’t like to mess up your plans....”

The text says he's sorry and doesn't want to mess up her plans. But the subtext points out that she was uncooperative the night before.

So of course he wants to mess up her plans. If he didn’t, he’d say, “You go ahead, hon, I’m too tired tonight. What this really says is, “You couldn’t find time to go with me last night, so I’m NOT going to be nice about what you want to do tonight.”

The text is one of concern and cooperation. The subtext is, "To hell with your plans!"

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Monday, July 30, 2012

Ray Morand’s Chicken Kebabs

(Yakitori)

Friday, July 27, 2012

Books that went to press or back to press this week:

Galleys that went out or went out again this week:

Work continued or began on the following:

Best Selling FW titles for ebooksonthe.net