WICKED WEDNESDAYS

Editing 101 Continued

In a blog not too long ago, Linda talked about her editing process which included retyping the manuscript. My fingers grew tired even thinking about such a challenge and I knew I’d never do that. But I realize why I must edit at least four times before I even send the words off to the ever patient and always helpful members of my writing group.

For my first book, Cut Off His Tale, I had an outline. I knew who the killer was and what rationale he use to justify the murder.

Then, because some of my critiquing group, notably Barbara Fradkin, claimed it was more fun for the writer and later for the reader if you winged it, I tried that method. For a type A Virgo it was a challenge because it forced me to wait until the synopses clicked in my brain and inspiration arrived. This frustrated me but I did find that I liked the unexpected twists and turns that happened.

At times I worried that it wouldn’t work out, that I couldn’t knit the strands together. It did eventually coalesce into finished form. Once I had that I read through to see if it hung together. It more or less did but ghosts of ideas partially explored or incorporated and then erased lingered. Because it took almost a year to write the ending turned out to be much stronger than the beginning when I’d been feeling my way and I had to go back and beef up the beginning.

Once I reached that stage I worked through unifying the text, checking time sequences, names, ages, all the things that need to be attended to if I was to persuade a reader to suspend belief.

Then I began honing the manuscript, eliminating cliches, passive voice, redundancy. For guidance when doing this I rely on Theodore Cheney’s, Getting the Words Right: How to Rewrite, Edit and Revise. In the last part of his book he deals with figurative writing and while I understand simile, metaphor, analogy and personification I have never quite understood metonymy but probably use it along with hyperbole and allusion without realizing that I am.

Three times through but it wasn’t ready for inspection. At that point I checked the beginning and ending of chapters, questioned the pace, the tension and asked whether or not I’d resolved all the issues without rushing to a conclusion. When those questions were answered to my satisfaction it went out to my critics. When it returned there was more work to do and then, finally, the manuscript was ready to go to the publisher.

Is there any easier way or is this the way all writers prepare for the end?

A member of the Ladies Killing Circle, Joan Boswell co-edited four of their short story anthologies: Fit to Die, Bone Dance, Boomers Go Bad and Going Out With a Bang. Her three mysteries, Cut Off His Tale, Cut to the Quick and, Cut and Run were published in 2005, 2007 and 2007. The latest in the series, Cut to the Bone, was published this month by Dundurn Press. In 2000 she won the $10,000 Toronto Star’s short story contest. Joan lives in Toronto and Ottawa with two flat-coated retrievers.

CRIME ON MY MIND

You're all invited!


In my pre-published writer days, I'd often hear my published friends make comments about each new launch of their latest titles. Comments like, friends being called on so often to come out to these, all that planning..., will my books be out in time?, and, it's as exciting with each new book.

Well, they're right. With the launch of Read and Buried, the second in the Ashton Corners Book Club mysteries coming up on Tues., Dec. 4th...I've caught myself thinking many of those thoughts. In duplicate because prior to the Ottawa launch, Joan Boswell and I are holding a launch in Toronto at the North York Public Library on Sun., Dec. 2, 2-4 p.m. So, double the planning but it's all fun, especially doing it with Joan. She'll also be launching her latest mystery, the fourth in the Hollis Grant series, Cut to the Bone, at both events.

Many Ottawans will know Joan because she lived her for many years while her kids were growing up. Although her primary residence these days is in Toronto, we enjoy her company in Ottawa for many months of the year. She's also a member of The Ladies' Killing Circle and we can be a dangerous bunch of gals.

Two more events are on the Dec. schedule. The first is the Merry Mystery evening at Sleuth of Baker Street, 907 Millwood Rd. in Toronto on Sat. Dec. 1, 5-7 p.m. The second is at Books on Beechwood in Ottawa, 35 Beechwood, on Thurs., Dec. 13, 6-8 p.m. for Murder, Mayhem and Mistletoe. Both will feature six mystery authors signing and schmoozing...a great way to stock up for Christmas giving.

Hectic is one way to describe it all. A blast, is another. Hope to see you at one of these. The Ottawa launch is Tues. Dec. 4, 7-9 p.m. at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington St., Room A. There will be refreshments, a donation wine bar by the Friends of Library and Archives, and books for sale by Books on Beechwood.

We'll have the murder, mayhem and mysteries...sorry, no mistletoe.

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

READ and BURIED,
Berkley Prime Crime,now available
A KILLER READ
also available
www.erikachase.com

WICKED WEDNESDAYS

On Looking Back

Recently, in preparation for writing a memoir intended for the family, I’ve sorted through the diaries I’ve kept spasmodically over many decades. Diaries reveal what you really think and feel, not the impression you try to give to the world. You write them to record what’s happening but also what you’re thinking and feeling.Reading through mine I’ve learned a thing or two about myself.

The most disconcerting thing I found was the consistency, the lack of change despite the ups and downs of my life.

To give a few examples, when I was twenty-two I read vociferously, loved the CBC (as I lived in a remote northern bush community it truly was a link to the outside world), and thought Canadians were the best and luckiest people in the world. I wrote at length and raged at all nations in the pre-World War II years for not allowing Jews into the country when it was apparent that they needed refuge. In my teens I’d been in the southern US where the Jim Crow laws prevailed and I couldn’t believe the reality and unfairness of what I saw. In our remote community we ordered the New York Sunday Times (which arrived by train on Thursday) and useless though it was I cheered for voter registration and wished I could do something to help.

At twenty-two genealogy fascinated me as it does now. And back then I tried my hand at writing, painted and did all kinds of crafts.

And so it went. I was then as I am now.

Are all of us much the same from our twenties onward? Do attitudes that we have when we’re young change? Certainly I’ve known friends who were avowed Communists in their youth and now vote NDP or Liberal but is that a difference in degree and not in basic philosophy? I also have friends who were hippy protesters and still support social movements, march and petition for change. We all know individuals who make radical changes in their lives but I wonder if the seeds were planted and unacknowledged years before.

As a writer it’s important to discover why and how characters change. Or don’t, if they’re like me.

A member of the Ladies Killing Circle, Joan Boswell co-edited four of their short story anthologies: Fit to Die, Bone Dance, Boomers Go Bad and Going Out With a Bang. Her three mysteries, Cut Off His Tale, Cut to the Quick and, Cut and Run were published in 2005, 2007 and 2007. The latest in the series, Cut to the Bone, was published this month by Dundurn Press. In 2000 she won the $10,000 Toronto Star’s short story contest. Joan lives in Toronto and Ottawa with two flat-coated retrievers.

MAYHEM ON MONDAYS

Launching in five, four....

I realized this morning that the next book launch is only a month away! How time creeps up and then does a mad rush sometimes. But I think we're on top of it.

Here's the first official announcement -- on Tues. Dec. 4th, 7 - 9 p.m. at the Library & Archives Canada, 395 Wellington St. in Ottawa, Room A... Joan Boswell and I will have a double launch for our new babies.

Joan's book, Cut to the Bone, is the fourth in her popular Hollis Grant series. Set in Toronto, Joan's main base these days, it features artist, golden retriever-loving Hollis, this time in new digs. She's the resident super of an eight-storey apartment building so you can just imagine what kind of trouble she'll be involved in over the next books in the series.

Joan is a former resident of Ottawa so a lot of friends will be delighted she's launching in town.

My new book, or rather Erika Chase's, is the second Ashton Corners Book Club mystery, Read and Buried (rhymes with 'dead'). It's available at book stores and as an e-book the week before the launch whereas Joan's is now on bookshelves everywhere!

We're planning a fun evening of schmoozing, readings, signings and food -- chocolates, of course! And the Friends of the Library & Archives will be hosting a donation wine bar, as usual. It's thanks to this wonderful group of dedicated volunteers that we're even able to use the classy facilities these days!

We're doing a double launch in Toronto at the North York Public Library on Sun. Dec. 2nd, 2-4 p.m. so we'll be finely-tuned for Ottawa. Hope you will circle the date and join us in this celebration!

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

A KILLER READ
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
READ and BURIED, coming Dec., 2012, available for pre-order
www.erikachase.com

WICKED WEDNESDAYS

Editing Yourself

On a recent two week voyage from Greenland to Ungava Bay, around the northern tip of Labrador and down the Labrador and Newfoundland coast ending up in St. John’s I considered editing.

Faced with 108 fellow passengers I had the opportunity to create myself. What would I choose to tell and what would it reveal about who I’d chosen to be?

With four books and many short stories to my name I should be an old hand at this. After all writers have to know their characters. What does she wear? How does she speak? What obsessions does she have? The list goes on and on. The importance of knowing your character and how she will behave cannot be overemphasized. Without taking the care to make sure your characters behave in ways compatible with their personalities you jeopardize the believability of your story.

Because I have created many characters and enjoy thinking about them and their lives long before I write a word I thought I’d be good at deciding who I’d be and what facts about myself I’d choose to share.

Not so easy.

In the first place, a small voice in your head goes into critical overdrive.

If you say where you’ve chosen to travel will the listener think it’s interesting or not. If you tell people your age will they write you off as a little old lady off on a trip? If you reveal that you’re a writer when Margaret Atwood, Graham Gibson and Kevin Major are on the trip will it seem presumptuous? If you mention that you’re planning to paint for three months and plan to use your photos as reference material will they think you want them to ask for jpegs when the paintings are done? If you wear fancy ear rings and bracelets will they think you aren’t really a traveller but a tourist?

And so it went. Every time I thought of something to add or introduce in a conversation my inner voice questioned why I wanted to say it and asked what impression I was trying to make.

The result. I found the first few days challenging. All that changed one evening when I looked across the dinner table at a man sitting opposite and asked him his surname. Turned out he and his wife had gone to university with me as had another man on the ship. No hiding or creating a new persona. They knew me.

It was a relief.

Editing myself had proved a daunting task, much harder than creating fictional characters. But it might have been fun to present myself as a retired juggler, bank robber or secret romantic interest of some nefarious character. I expect that people on trips do invent exciting lives for themselves knowing they are unlikely to ever see their fellow passengers again.

Next time.

A member of the Ladies Killing Circle, Joan Boswell co-edited four of their short story anthologies: Fit to Die, Bone Dance, Boomers Go Bad and Going Out With a Bang. Her three mysteries, Cut Off His Tale, Cut to the Quick and, Cut and Run were published in 2005, 2007 and 2007. The latest in the series, Cut to the Bone, will be published by Dundurn in November. In 2000 she won the $10,000 Toronto Star’s short story contest. Joan lives in Toronto with three flat-coated retrievers.

WICKED WEDNESDAYS

Creativity

Everyone could be and at one time was creative.

Children love imaginative play. They tell stories, make things, manipulate toys and draw and paint with joy. Sadly, somewhere along the line, some lose their confidence in their ability to create.

How many of us have heard people say that they couldn’t think of a story, couldn’t draw a straight line, couldn’t express themselves or suffered from writer’s block.
I’m pretty sure this lack of confidence happens around the age of eleven when children, particularly girls, begin to care what others think of their efforts. They internalize critical remarks and allow the negative guy to sit on their shoulders carping, criticizing and questioning what they do.

This new awareness immobilizes them. They want to make things but don’t think they can meet their own or other people’s standards so they don’t try. It’s sad because creating makes you happy and it’s depressing to see so many frozen by fear of failing, fear of ‘not being good enough.’

Failure is necessary.

Trying something and not having it succeed is the basis for improvement. Fear of failing is paralyzing and, until you can get by that barrier, you can’t go ahead. If this fear affects you there are those who can help you move beyond this wall. Deanne Fitzpatrick is a Nova Scotia artist whose medium is hooked rugs. An artist in hooked rugs? Sounds banal but go on her web site or examine her museum pieces and you’ll see that she is an artist.

Recently Deanne was interviewed on an American Radio blog. Here is her introduction to the interview: "Dear Diary, I often listen to Lesley Riley’s Interviews with a variety of artists on Art and Soul Radio online. She asks good questions and gets me thinking about art and creativity. I really liked her show so I wrote to thank her for it because I do that sometimes. When I did, she invited me to be a guest on her show, and I was delighted to do. If you want to hear me talk about my rugs, the studio, and art and creativity then you can listen below. I would encourage to subscribe to Lesley’s show on iTunes. It is interesting and fun to listen to while you hook your rugs."

As we all know, you make time for your art whether it be writing, painting, fibre arts or music. It is that repeated daily work that makes you a professional. But more than that you have to believe that you are a writer, a painter, a creator and move beyond fear of failure.

Download the interview and see if you don’t find food for thought. Listen to the Art and Soul Radio interview here…. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/art-and-soul-radio/2012/04/23/deanne-fitzpatrick-the-artist-behind-the-mat

A member of the Ladies Killing Circle, Joan Boswell co-edited four of their short story anthologies: Fit to Die, Bone Dance, Boomers Go Bad and Going Out With a Bang. Her three mysteries, Cut Off His Tale, Cut to the Quick and, Cut and Run were published in 2005, 2007 and 2007. The latest in the series, Cut to the Bone, will be published by Dundurn in November. In 2000 she won the $10,000 Toronto Star’s short story contest. Joan lives in Toronto with three flat-coated retrievers.

LADIES' KILLING THURSDAYS

Passion

Last Thursday, after reading Sue Pike’s blog about sentences and her review of Stanley Fish’s, How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One, a book examining and extolling the virtues of the ‘perfect’ sentence I downloaded the book. I had never realized the importance or the difficulty of fashioning the perfect sentence and as I continue to browse in Fish’s book I become ever more aware that I need to pay more attention to each and every sentence.

However what really struck me about the book was the author’s passion. He cares deeply and might even be said to be obsessed with the sentence.

At the same time as I dipped into this book I was reading The Paper Garden, Mrs. Delaney (Begins Her Life’s Work) at 72 by the poet, Molly Peacock. This is the biography of an extraordinary woman, a member of England’s aristocracy, who was born in 1700, married off at seventeen to a drunken sot of sixty-one and widowed at twenty-five. She turned down a number of suitors including John Wesley of Methodist fame and didn’t marry again for twenty years. In the meantime she lived a creative, independent life.

Her letters to her sister and her journal reveal that she approached every day with passion and enthusiasm. Mary Delaney made it her business to notice the details of everyday living, to comment on them and to try new things.

At seventy-two, widowed after a happy marriage, she invented a new art form - mixed media collage. In the next decade she created 985 botanically correct, beautiful cut-paper flowers that are now housed in the British museum.

To invent a new art form is no small achievement and to do it at seventy-two is even more remarkable. She took her life’s experiences, her life long commitment to handwork, to painting, to botany, to gardening and melded these elements to create the mixed media flower collages that are her legacy.

It seems to me that passion connects Stanley Fish and Mary Delaney. Both pursued and Fish continues to pursue their particular passion in a single minded way and achieved impressive ends.

Writers who commit themselves to their work no doubt find the same satisfaction in the process and in the end product as Fish does with his sentences and Mary Delaney did in her collages.

The question - can creative individuals succeed without this passion?




Joan Boswell is a member of the Ladies Killing Circle and co-edited four of their short story anthologies: Fit toDie, Bone Dance, Boomers Go Bad and Going Out With a Bang. Her three mysteries, Cut Off His Tale, Cut to the Quick and Cut and Run were published in 2005, 2007 and 2007. In 2000 she won the $10,000 Toronto Star’s short story contest. Joan lives in Toronto with three flat-coated retrievers.

WICKED WEDNESDAYS

With a little help from their friends...

Sleuth and sidekicks. You'll find them in cosies and PI plottings, in police procedurals and some thrillers. The cop has his partner or more often, an entire squad that returns with every new book in the series. Much like Barbara Fradkin's Inspector Green relies on his key officers to track down the perps. Same thing happens for Const. Molly Smith in Vicki Delany's police series set in B.C.

And of course, what would Insp. Morse have been without his Sgt. Lewis, Dalziel without Pascoe, Lynley without Havers? It's an extensive list and the names are instantly recognizable to most mystery readers.

In the cosy world, I've heard that Camilla McPhee's assistant, Alvin, has his own fan club! I'm betting little did Mary Jane Maffini know when she created McPhee's exasperating but endearing sidekick that he, too would be a star!

Joan Boswell's amateur sleuth Hollis Grant ends up with an unofficial 'sidekick', police detective Rhona Simpson. At least, Rhona would never like this label.

In my series, coming April 2012, Lizzie Turner solves crime with the assistance of her book club -- that's six sidekicks. Have you ever tried to get seven people to agree on something?

Sidekicks provide the sleuth with a sounding board as well as someone who can give much-needed advice. They can add some comic relief when a scene becomes explosive. They are the shoulder to cry on. The supplier of necessary facts and details. A foil with which to highlight aspects of the sleuth's personality. And above all, a friend.

How about Poirot & Hastings; Batman & Robin; Frost & Toolan; Holmes & Watson; Barnaby & Jones?

There have been so many memorable sleuth/sidekick combinations in literature, and on television over the years. Right now, one of my favourites is DI Sandra Pullman and her team of three detectives brought out of retirement to deal with cold cases in New Tricks -- that's on TVO and/or PBS, in case you've never seen it. Unfortunately, as happens in the television season, it's off the air at the moment. But it will be back.

So, who are your favourite sleuth/sidekick combos?


Linda Wiken/Erika Chase
Mystery Book Club series coming
from Berkley Prime Crime, April, 2012