Cozy Is as Cozy Does: Making Your Story Different

One of my favorite forms of fantasy is the cozy mystery. Why fantasy? Because I can't imagine any murder being so charmingly serene. Of course, the "detective" doesn't do the nitty-gritty stuff like collecting evidence. They just shift through the tangled relationships to solve the crime.

Recently read two cozies back to back: Jenn McKinlay's Due or Die and, one of local authors, Bailey Cates' Brownies and Broomsticks. The similarities of both books give some insights on how to twist a trope to come up with something different.

Most American-set cozies I've read seem to be craft oriented in some way. Due, the second book in the series, focuses on a group of friends having a weekly crochet project session at the local library. The MC, the library director, is a recent immigrant to the New England coastal community when one of the library board's husband gets murdered. McKinlay sets up a number of red herring suspects for the MC to shift through with complications coming from a powerful northeaster and love interests. Oh, and I forgot the dog who also plays his part in solving the crime. The plot threads are nicely tangled but get sorted in the end. 

Brownies and Broomsticks is the first of Cates' new series. Again, the MC is a new resident who moves to Savannah to help in her aunt and uncle's new bakery. Yes, artisan baking is a craft ... even when you don't pay a school an arm and a leg for the credentials. Complications here is the MC is introduced to her family's background as hereditary witches and love interests. In between baking scrumptious desserts, the MC tries to solve the murder of the "town bitch" when her uncle is the prime suspect. 

All of which, raises the question in my mind of where do these amateur sleuths find the time to detect. I don't do the 9-to-5, yet I have trouble keeping up with all my writing stuff -- and, I don't have any deadlines.

Neither Cates nor McKinlay need help writing scenes. Yeah, I'm sure they rewrite and rewrite, but the results hook. The books were both 2-AM-reads. If you want help writing scenes or just a check list to see if you covered the bases, C. S. Lakin recaps her blogs on writing that crucial first scene: Five Months on the First Scene. I thought it was worth printing out to underline and study. Even though my pig intro scene is liked by my preliminary readers.

Need a whole week's worth of blogs on writing?

Roni Loren's Fill Me In Friday runs them more regularly than I do. Here's the link to this week's selection.  There's some good stuff here. Came up to the computer in between fixing food sessions [farmer market strawberries] to find the computer still on Twitter. When I check my tweets, from this link and was absorbed until I had to got down and start the artichoke.

On a personal note.

The Poudre River Canyon is suffering from its fourth and largest forest fire in four weeks:

over 41,000 acres and 5% contained in spite

of five planes and a bunch of helicopters.

Where is the Northwest Coast rain when you need it?

I'm willing to give New Mexico the rains from the Mexican hurricanes.

Smile, It's Link Mish-Mash Time

Discovered an interesting blog discussing writers' fears while I researched something else. Julie Dick blogs about five of them. I resonated to the carpal tunnel one. My thumbs whined. But, I think her other listings often make writers pause as they hit their heads against their keyboard.

Since it's still the "new year" and all good people are examining their lives to make improvements ... [gag] ... I thought I'd mention some links that particularly interested me this week. Buried in each, I found a nugget of good advice. Maybe they'll be useful for you too.

So, what's your greatest fear about your writing?

If you found the first blog interesting,
you might find some of this interesting too.

I've removed one fear from my phobia list -- looking for an agent, even though I encourage writer friends to go the traditional publishing route. Yeah, I know seeking an agent is the big #1 step on the route. Why do I do this? Because I don't think print and e publishing are mutually exclusive. Anyway, if you are seeking an agent, you should read Roni Loren's blog: "What Will Make an Agent 'Gong' Your Query'. Some useful editing tips there. Yeah, ya gotta edit and revise your queries too.

Sometimes blogs make scary reading because of the subject matter. I'm one of those kooks who spend extra money to eat natural foods, preferably USA certified organic even though I realize there can be problems there. Ari La Vaux, a syndicated food columnist, wrote an interesting article on the hidden effects of GMO foods. 

For those of you having trouble finding your writing grove, horror writer, Lake Lopez has some words of advice on writing every day. Basically, she makes a good point that there is more to writing than stringing words together like beads.

While we're thinking about new-yearsie, resolutiony stuff, Michael Hyatt wrote a blog on "Creating Your Personal Life Plan". This is a plug for his book [free], but it also serves as a useful example of a publicity piece, I think.

In closing, I'll say my "life plan" is simple, maybe even 

simple-minded: enjoy myself.

Saving Energy for Your Writing

Energy levels as well as time influence how much writing we get done. 

So how do you conserve your marketing energies when the marketing fires burn low. Rusty Fischer at Zombies Don't Blog offered five tips on overcoming marketing fatigue. Check it out to see if any of them inspire you.

One way to conserve energy is to recycle ... even in the writing world. Had a duh-moment when I visited Julie Issac's blog The Writing Spirit. The gem? How to Quickly and Easily Increase Your Blog's Alexa Rating.  The duh? Her first point was: Repost old blog posts. Another idea: experiment with titles. 

Now, I don't know what an Alexa rating is, but I assume they're a competitor with Klout. I'm not even sure I care that much. Still, I gives me an opportunity to use some of the stuff I wrote. Yeah, I hate to see things go to waste ... unless it's food I don't like.

Roni Loren at Fiction Groupie wrote a companion blog to her blog on blogging. Setting up a writer's program: The Slow Writer's Reform School on speeding up your writing speed. How does that influence conserving writing energy? Maybe, getting more bang for each hour spent?

Now, all I have to do is take my own advice:

Visit my Facebook Fan Page for the Far Isle Half-Elven.

I'll thank you in advance if you like it.

I'll thank you more if you can give me instructions on how to improve the page.

Sometimes, being a computer klutz isn't adaptive.

What Are Your Goals for Your Piles of Words?

Do you have huge piles of words in your computer?. More than what you just wrote for NanoWriMo or the last novel or short story you're drafting? Completed stories/novels you are submitting don't count. Stories you sold, especially don't count in your answer.

Just put my Half-Elven novella in the closet to ferment before I go back and tear it apart. Yeah, it's got flaws, major structural flaws. So, now I have two recent things festering in there which I need to rewrite, a MG novel [Emma Kloken] and the above novella, The Somant Troubles. Now, to organize time to do it amidst the seasonal baking and presents and clearing off my desk which has piled higher and deeper again.

Went to procrastinate by reading some blogs, and N. R. Williams slapped me up the side of the head with a blog reminding me about how inadequate my description was in The Somant Troubles. Her article on The Writing Craft: Description is worth studying. Actually, if I remember right, she's doing a series on writing craft.

Perhaps my most sizable pile of words, sitting like a lump in the web-cloud, comes from blogging. [So far, I haven't figured if I can do more with them than leave them here.] I've been blogging for, maybe, three years. A good question: can anyone have anything new to say after you've blogged for a month? Six months? A year? 

Roni Loren at Fiction Groupie wrote a neat little blog on blogging stages the life cycle of a blogger. You might've missed it in the NaNo madness so I decided to link to it here. Just loved the pics, and wish I knew how to do the mechanics to dress up my blog with free artwork.

I hope I've avoided the problem of boring myself by commenting on other blogs and doing fantasy book reviews. Blogging is like self-publishing. As long as someone reads the blog each week, guess this blog will continue.

As any NaNo writer knows your words need to be polished before they are worth reading. No one will read a formless pile -- other than you first readers/writing buddies. They need purpose. Chuck Wendig, who's published by Angry Robots, weighed in with a list of reasons why readers will stop reading. I took the blog to heart because I often quit reading a book when I get bored -- after the cover blurb, and opening intrigue me.

My goal is to organize my time so I can revise/edit/polish my word piles. I plan to spend evenings revising. For the new year, I'll be writing new stuff, including a short story a month. I plan to practice taking a character, giving her/him an introduction, problem, complication, and solution in a well-described world. 

In short, I'm setting the goal to polish my craft skills. Oh, I'll be finding some new words to finish my NaNoWriMo story. Have toooooo many words piled up in 1/3 draft to ignore. 

#

Then, there's the ever-present need to promote your words after you can see your face in them. Came across a great way to promote: tattoo your book's url on your forehead.

For more ideas, check out Angela Scott's 10 Ways to Promote Your Book. The smiles are worth the time.

To Write or To Read, That's the Question ...

So, you're a writer who wants to succeed. What do you do? The simple answer is to write a book that doesn't bore you and market it until you find a buyer(s). As with all simple things, the devil's in the details. [Sorry, I couldn't avoid the puns. A friend has declared Mondays Pun Day.]

For the Indie Author who's wondering how to succeed, Emlyn Chand at Novel Publicity has an interesting blog: Indie Authors can Succeed. Chand  takes the general principles of promoting your novel and combines it with the techniques Terri Guiliano Long used to make her novel Leah's Wake a best seller. This is the link to part one. 

Unfortunately, for me, I'm so busy with NaNoWriMo ... struggling to write 1700 words a day and not succeeding ... that publicizing my e-things is getting ignored. Oh, I post on Twitter, but I can't see where it's doing much good. People are downloading the free one [dumping Gorsfeld, though, but no reviews yet.

While I puzzle not writing, Roni Loren discusses another crucial part of a writer's life -- not reading. A recent blog discusses: The Dangerous Side Effect of Becoming a Writer. Her basic position is you're shooting yourself in the foot [pun] if you don't read other writers' work. Others would add "in your genre ... and outside it".

Loren mourns the decrease in her reading since she started writing. I'm stuck in the same boat. I used to read two, three books a week -- unless I had an 800-page monstrosity in my hands like Game of Thrones [G. R. R. Martin] and Shadowfever [Karen Marie Moning]. Now, I barely get a book a week read and the to-read pile keeps building again.

Well, back to NaNoWriMo and the insurrection of new hires on the bus.

Of Writerly Things and Marketing...

Cavern Between Worlds 

is up on Smashwords
You can read the story for free.

"All life has disappeared from an ocean rookery far from shore.  Captain Hattenel, a Half-Elven ranger, joins Voron, a disreputable sea captain, to explore the mystery, only to be catapulted into a dangerous world inhabited by dog-headed magic workers." 
Cover and Formatting by Tiger Author Services.  
 

Web Stuff:

The process of correcting my mistakes on my blog title. 

Kristen Lamb rubbed my nose in my blog mistakes in a recent blog about how writing about writing is wrong ... or at least counter-productive.  Why?  Well, for one thing ... writing a blog is one way to keep your website updated.  Probably the easiest way, in fact.  So, what if you snag a reader, maybe a fan, rather than a writer friend.  ...  Hey, you got two different audiences there.  ...  I see the problem, but don't have any solutions.  Any suggestions?  Does anyone have a solution besides two blogs.  [One blog is hard enough, time-wise, to do.] ... Yeah, I'm still blaming Roni Loren for puncturing my balloon.

So far, I decided to keep the blog title since I've been blogging with it for over two years.  I put "M. K. Theodoratus", "grumbling" in the blurb. 

Readers are coming to the blog from Goggle searches.Maybe, I'll get more searches with the new title ... if Kristen Lamb's right.  Maybe, not.  Whatever, all new followers and commenters are welcome. 

Trailer Teaser:

Just learned that there are awards for book trailers:  the Moby Awards.  Galley Cat has a series of links for the 2011 winners if you care to take a look:  best and worst trailers.  

The Next Bad Haiku Chapter: 

                                     Secret Hero:

Boy roams dark forests,

Not knowing who he is. Ma’s

silent unto death.

The boy’s guard teaches

Sword skills, cunning forest lore,

Battle skills and more.

The rumors don’t die.

Villagers gossip, tell tales.

False king hunts again.

M. K. Theodoratus Learns from Her Reading

Book Review:

I should hope I learn from my reading ... about many things.  Why else do I read?  [Okay.  I like to be entertained too.]  Of more concern is what I learn about writing from my reading.  This time I review a book by Karen Marie Moning:  The Dark Highlander.  I grab the mass paperback editions of her two interrelated series --  her Keltar and Faefever worlds -- as soon as I see them.

The re-read of The Dark Highlander didn't disappoint.  The funny parts ... where Chloe finds the discarded condoms under the bed and the make-out scene on the plane still elicited chuckles.  Chloe doing something stupid to precipitate the denouement still raised my hackles.  The parts in between entertained in spite of the cliches. 

A straight romance gets boring.  They meet.  They fight.  They get back together.  [My cynic mutters:  until the next fight and he, maybe, hits her.]  Moning is good at mixing continuous action with her romance which save the book from being a total cliche.  Even her two prologues move fast.

So, what should you notice when you read?  Her mix of the Highlander series back story into the story line.   Her weaving in the motivations of her main and secondary characters into the story so it doesn't bog down.  Her villains as a continuous presence without the MCs, even with their magical abilities, being aware of them. 

Don't understand great huge hulking men going for five-foot-two women though, even if the love interest has nice curves.   As I said, cliches maintain their half-life in her writing.  [An infection from the romance genre?]  Even adding a unique magical resonance creates a cliche a la paranormal romance.  Still, she hooks and pulls the reader through the plot twists fast enough that you don't mind the cliches. --  Hey, I read it to the end -- without getting bored -- even though I knew the specific ending.

Web Stuff...

Free time is a wonderful thing for catching up on other people's blogs ... I thought.  Was glad to see Roni Loren's blog on getting the most bang out of your blog, a discussion of a Kristen Lamb workshop.  Right off I learned I'm supposed to have my name or the name I write under in the title of my blog.   Duh.  I knew that.  But, my name is Theodoratus.  How do I work that into a blog title?

Addition to to-do list:  Change the name on my blog.  I don't think M. K. Theodoratus' Reading Lessons makes it ... but it's better than Lessons from M. K. Theodoratus' Reading.    Maybe, Lessons Found in M. K. Theodoratus' Readings?    M. K. Theodoratus Reads?  This is getting funny ... or annoying.

For the record, I break the other rule of efficient blogging.  I blog about writing.  There's more to the discussion and link that you might find useful too. 

Thinking of going to e-self-publishing before submitting the traditional print route?  Writer Beware linked to Wired.com's John C. Abbell's blog "5 Reasons Why E-books Aren't There Yet".

Progress:

My position on e-publishing?  I think self-publishing is a last or marketing option.  Take a look my short story, "Cavern Between Worlds", as an example.  It should be up on Smashwords soon after the time you read this -- for free.  Here's the short blurb I wrote for it. 

"All life has disappeared from an ocean rookery far from shore.  Captain Hattenel, a Half-Elven ranger, joins Voron, a disreputable sea captain, to explore the mystery, only to be catapulted into a dangerous world inhabited by dog-headed magic workers."

Must confess this might be considered a romance.  In a novella, the story is the meeting third during an adventure to solve a mystery.  And, just now, as I'm writing this ... I realize I have another novella ... if I ever find the time to finish the other parts, ie think up some complications.

At the moment, I'm deep into writing scripts for a vowel-controlled, comic pre-primer series ... for which I think I have a publisher.  I won't say for sure until I have a signed contract ... though the publisher/editor keeps assuring me I'm her next project.  [Hey, a two-person operation can only works so fast and still produce a good product.]  I'm not even finding time to combine my separate chapters of There Be Demons into one file. 

What's your position on the many options of e-publishing?

Trivia:

A thunderstorm that stripped leaves from trees and destroyed plants interrupted my writing late last night.  Fortunately, it was far enough away that I got my slow-moving computer turned off before the thunder hit close.  --  Got some extra reading in.      

Book Review: Odd Series Losing Steam?

The Read ...

Read Dean Koontz's Odd Hours after a short break from the series.  This time around, I found Odd's simple soul a little annoying ... even though the character isn't unrealistic in his thoughts on the world.  This time Odd's living on the southern California coast and uses his "magnetism" to stop the delivery of nuclear bombs to be detonated in the USA to create a "new world order".  The book wasn't badly constructed ... even had some interesting characters, but the whole feeling felt like watching a deus ex machina at work. 

The highlight of the book, for me, was the ghost of Frank Sinatra acting out as a poltergeist.  Usually, Odd's observations cause me to chuckle out loud often.  This time.  Just lip twitchings.  As such the book was a disappointment.

Web and Other Stuff ...

Am seriously considering how I might promoted my novelette, Taking Vengeance, when it's published.  One of the things on my list: running a contest (prize undetermined as yet) to have people retweet info about the trailer or some such thing.  Then, my thoughts got punctured if not shot down, by Rowena Cherry's blog on 1st Turning Point about "How to Run a Contest".   Yeah, there are differing state laws that apply to contests and sweepstakes.  Have you heard of any of bloggers falling a foul of such laws?  Or, does the insignificant value of the prize change the rules?  Guess it's another area where lawyers stick their noses in our lives.

More on being careful of contests.  Jane Smith gives us a long blog on how important reading the rules of a writing contest are over at "How Publishing Works".  In this case, the operator of the contest seems to gobble up the rights to all the submissions to the contest.  Others have mentioned not to enter the contest.  If you haven't heard of the First One Publishing contest yet, you might take a click over there. --  Writer's Beware also did a blog.  --- And the AW Water Cooler also has a long thread on its forums discussing the contest.  ----  I'm wondering how long the tempest will last.

Roni Loren came up with another super-useful blog -- on defining how "High Concept" works.   Since publishers and agents want high concept material since it supposedly sells lots, you might want to wander over to her blog. 

Progress ...

Actually, I felt like I was stuck up the to axles in mud.  Yeah.  I did get two ten page stories rewritten and submitted.  But.  And it's a big but.  I spent more time on writing less than 100 words for a trailer script for the Half-Elven story: Taking Vengeance.  Visit my Half-Elven blog if you'd like to see what I came up with.  --  At the moment, I'm feeling building a writer's platform is more work than writing/revising the blasted book.

Now, I have more productive things to concentrate on, like maybe Maren?  Then, I really should write a new free Half-Elven story or edit the mess I wrote last month.

Trivia ...

The grey cat has come up with another cutsie habit.  He wants to be twirled in an office chair.  This is in addition in taking rides on the Cardio Glider that lives in the basement.  Never thought I'd get exercise by amusing the cat.

Ironic Little Plot Twists

The Read ...

Thought I was tired of Tamora Pierce's coming of age plots until I stumbled over her Trickster's Choice.  [ I was guilted into buying a book when son dragged us around to all the independent local bookstores.]  When it came to the top of the to-read pile, I was glad I bought it.  As you might expect from an expert craftsman, or is that person?, she pulled the rug out from under my expectations.

First, the "trickster theme" took a direction from the launching pad she built in the first pages.  The trickster didn't turn out to be what I first thought, and Pierce turned the twist into a double pronged device to inject semi-unexpected plot developments ...  by that, I mean not the most obvious possibility from the foreshadowing.

More towards the core of the story was the play on parent's telling their almost grown kids:  "Do what I say, not what I do.".  Then, when the kid does what they say, the results are totally unexpected to them and the kid who changes her priorities at the end.

All in all, an engaging tween book of intrigue.  Not exactly a thriller, but filled with plenty of action.  Now the sequel is nagging at the back of my mind.  Only, the copy I saw was a trade back ... and the to-read pile tripled over the holidays.

Web and Other Stuff ...

Roni Loren at *Fiction Groupie* has a blog on backstory and other story congealers: "How to Dish Out Backstory in Digestible Bites".  Since many of my own writing sins fall in this arena, I thought I'd point others in her direction.  If you're revising, she gives you a concise check list of things you should avoid ... plus some possible corrections.

I'm not reading so much on the web at the moment.  My back log of revision is too large, and I've made writing my priority.  [Have you heard that one before?  Bet you've made the same decision yourself.  How long did it take you before you started dawdling on the web again?] 

Progress ...

Yeah, I'm seriously trying to do two things at once:  draft a new WIP [Maren or Hidden in Plain Sight] and revising some of the leftovers from last year.  I got some good editorial input that I should put into revision.  I might actually have some saleable stuff stuck in my computer files.

I'm compiling a list of small and/or e-publishers ... only the focus is on YA/tween.  The Gotham contest where I submitted There Be Demons should be announcing their choices by the end of the month.  [No, I'm not expecting to win any of the critiques or whatever the prize was.]  Then, I'll be submitting the book directly to publishers since I seem to have better luck with them rather than agents.  Agents say, "Not for me.".  Yeah, I've had some acceptances, but I also get personal feedback from publishers.  And yeah, there are some major drawbacks in the pieces they have rejected, but I'm hoping they are repairable drawbacks.

Oh, just wanted to say compiling a list of publishers [and agents] isn't as easy as it sounds.  All aspects of publishing are in a state of flux.  Before I send something out, I always check with AW Water Cooler, Agent Query, and the entity's website.  It's surprising how many times perfectly good publishers end up on the questionable list for contract changes, late payments, or something else.  Personal case in point:  Spectra Magazine which bought my "Night for the Gargoyles" went on hiatus before they published the story.

Trivia ...

Baby it's cold outside, and I have errands I can't put off today.  I'll feel sorry for myself because I can't sit in front of the computer and revise away.  I want another story out on submission.  

Series Character Need to Change

Happy Survival Day

Must admit we are going shopping ... even out to a restaurant for lunch.  We stuffed at my daughter's and only have pies as leftovers ... since I refused take-homes on ham since we ate it on the days preceding to the big overeating day.  Why go shopping?  We need to stock the larder for the coming week.

The Read ...

While the holidays don't change much for us, I'm thankful good series characters do change over time.  It keeps you interested, in reading ... to find out what's going on in someone's shared world.

Finally got to Karen Marie Moning's Dreamfever ... after it sat on the table for over a week in the hopes it wouldn't get lost in the dreaded to-read piles.  Moning didn't disappoint.  MacKayla was left in thrall of the Unseelie Fae as a sex slave in the last book.  

In Dreamfever, she is rescued from the Fae ... then, she had to be rescued by her nemesis who disagrees on how the Fae (Seelie and Unseelie) should be fought ... then, she had to be rescued from the nemesis ... then, she had to be rescued from her enthrallment with sex, something never having been know to happen ...  All this before the first 100 pages are read.

In short, Mac is no longer the picture of gentle Georgia womanhood ... Rainbow Mac of the long nails and groomed legs has become Black Mac.  The fight to save the crumbling world from all Fae is off and running ... before another third of the world's population is killed.  

Mac continues to make the semi-right decisions... spats with Barrons ... fights to correct her mistakes ... and Moning leaves Dreamfever hanging on a cliff as steep as the previous' book's.

Frankly, I wonder why I didn't notice the book on the New York Times Bestseller list.  If I remember right, this book has more twists than the first two. 

Web Links and Other Comments ...

Have a work you're editing rather than revising?  If you want to know how it might survive a slush pile, Roni Loren over at *Fiction Groupie* is offering a five pages or query critique to old and new readers of her blog: "Win a Critique".   The deadline is Sunday, so hopefully I'll get my blog up this afternoon.  

On social networking:  Jason Pinter, author and agent at Waxman Literary Agency, writes about the "10 Commandments of Social Networking for Writers". Lots of good advice there ... now, if only I can decide what to do with my Facebook and Twitter pages.  Decisions.  Decisions.  [I made the easy one and bookmarked the page.]

As I jump around the web, I see a lot of complaints about e-publishing pricing.  Brenna Lyons, from EPIC [the Electronic Publishing Internet Coalition] has a guest blog at "The Blood Red Pencil" on the business costs of e-publishing:  "But It's Just a Reprint".  My two cents?  Time always costs something.

Progress ...

I must be making some progress on my writing journey ... after all, didn't I just make another sale?  [Night for the Gargoyles by Spectra Magazine]  ...  Thing is, the story was written in 2008.  

The same question might be asked about Taking Vengeance [WolfSinger Publications] which was written in 2004 when I had this image of Mariah standing on a cliff face looking over the eastern ocean with a gale blowing her unbraided hair.  Then, her near-death daughter mindspeaks to her from the other coast. 

Thing is -- I can't remember spending that much time revising them.  I think I just found a market that would accept them ... after normal editing.  --  Hits self up the side of the head so I remember how important knowing your markets are ... even if I want to whine about writing what I want to write.

I have a couple other flash fiction pieces written in 2008 on submissions.  The stories have always been bridesmaids: they made the first cut, but ultimately weren't bought.  Wonder what will happen with them next year.