Catching up

Everyone is paid every last cent. With more sales than ever before this is a long and involved process. Some made a lot, some very little, but we continue to follow the practice of paying everyone, every time, however small the amount due.

This week print galleys went out to:

Andy Nunez for GHOSTS II

and

Barbara Grengs, for TOBY MARTIN: IN HOUSE DETECTIVE

Arline

Narrative - Writing tip

They always tell us in the beginning to write in scenes and "show don't tell" and narration is "telling." But you can't show everything in the space allowed. So my advice is to narrate the mundane, or the action in scenes that space doesn't allow. Basically your story scenes should be like shining jewels and the narration like the silver wire that strings them together. Most writing texts don't get into how to do narration and it was years before I figured it out. I think in this story, if you foreshadow well and narrate carefully, you can keep it down to two or three scenes, which is about all that will fit comfortably in a 2,500 word short story, unless some are very short. Beware of that solution, as too many very short scenes can make a story feel "choppy" to the reader.

Grapeful Chicken - Recipe

Beverly Jennings’s Grapeful Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed mushroom soup
1 large can French-style string beans
1 package slivered almonds
Large bunch of seedless white grapes (approx ½ pound)
Rice

Saute chicken breasts until almost done. Cover bottom of a casserole dish with half a can of mushroom soup. Add layer of white grapes. Add string beans. Add slivered almonds, layering them over the string beans. Add chicken breasts to top of mixture. Add remaining mushroom soup. Cover and bake approximately thirty minutes or until chicken is done and the sauce is bubbling.

Serve over steamed rice. Yield four servings.

Turning Point - Writing tip

A good story really only should have one crisis (or dramatic high) or climax, just before the resolution. What most have is three turning points with the last resulting in the crisis. A turning point is the place in the story where something changes forever. Good stories have a single conflict. Somebody wants something, they try different ways to get it, and their third try results in the “bleak moment” – when it looks as if they will never have it – and the crisis that leads to the conclusion, where they either do get it, or they know they never will.

Still paying authors

This time paying authors for book sales is taking longer and that's good news for some of us as there have been more sales. Shelley is helping as well as part of her "learn the whole business" training.

In case I haven't mentioned it, Shelley is learning all aspects of the business in case I become ill again, so that things should continue as before. Words cannot say how grateful I am to her for taking this on.

Baked Striper - recipe

Liz Hamlin’s Baked Striper*

1 4-5 pound striped bass (in season, of course)
3/4 cup melted butter
2 cups dried bread or stuffing cubes
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 small onion, grated
½ tsp. Sage
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1/4 cup white wine (optional)

Wash and dry fish and place in a shallow baking pan lined with aluminum foil. Mix 1/2 cup butter with remaining ingredients, to form stuffing. Fill fish cavity and lace shut. Cut three or four gashes on each side of fish and baste with remaining butter. Bake at 400-F or 204-C degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

*Works almost as well with other kinds of fish

Verbs and Tenses - Writing tip

Verbs are action words, everyone knows that. And it’s a good idea to use the active form of verbs whenever possible. One thing that will instantly make your writing read better is to avoid gerunds and verb participles, by using the active form of the verb. That helps keep you in "active" voice. Almost all "ing" words follow a "to be" verb–is, was, were, are– one that's in static, if not exactly passive voice. In fact if you look for was, were, etc. you can pick up on those passive phrases and turn them around pretty easily. Instead of "He was still chuckling as he closed the trunk...," try "He chuckled as he closed the trunk." It’s more direct, more specific. Better writing. Do you see what I mean? This is no big thing, but the writing will feel more “participatory” to the reader if you do that.

Some modern fiction is written in present tense, but that is fast going out of style. Once
it was the province of the Very Literary in writers’ programs at ivy league schools. But once the likes of Patricia Corneal adapted whole novels into present tense, it quickly
went out of fashion as a literary device. Critics now find it passe and quite a few editors hate it, because they can’t be certain at first glance whether the writer meant to do it, or if he or she doesn’t have a clue about verb tenses. Few editors are patient enough to read far enough to find out. They have a whole stack of stories to get through.

My advice is to only use present tense in narrative only when writing synopses and outlines. By it’s very nature, a story that is written down happened BEFORE it was written down. Therefore it should be in past tense. Likewise references using the word NOW can be harmful. Now is when the reader is reading the story. It gives me a “time out of place” signal every time I see it. Kind of like seeing old movies with shots of the Twin Towers.

Usually, narrative is written in past tense, dialogue in present tense (because the people are speaking in present time of the story, even if it's historical fiction), and flashbacks in past perfect tense to distinguish them from the regular past tense of the story narrative.

For instance (verbs in bold):

Present tense (used in experimental fiction):
I walk toward town. The distant buildings shimmer beneath the summer sun. "This is a hot day!" I say, though there is no one around to hear me.

Past tense, used in most fiction:
I walked toward town. The distant buildings shimmered beneath the summer sun. "This is a hot day!" I said, though there was no one around to hear me.

Past perfect tense, used in flashbacks:
I had been walking toward town. The distant buildings had shimmered beneath the summer sun. "This is a hot day!" I had said, though no one had been around to hear me.