So you want to read a holiday mystery?

There are those who enjoy reading mysteries set during whatever the current season happens to be. Coincidentally, there are several places to find titles of such books.

I'm not going to try to reinvent the wheel, so here are some links to lists of holiday mysteries.

- Cozy Mystery List - this one includes Hanukkah and New Year's mysteries:

- Mysterynet.com

- Myself.com

- Stop You're Killing Me!

Happy whatever-holiday-you-celebrate!

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A Long and Winding Road . . . Gets Me Lost

By Peg Brantley, Writer at Work, Stumbling Toward Publication


Technical difficulties.
Brain farts.
Frequent stops.
Blurred vision.

I need help.

There must be some fabulous, fool-proof (and I mean that literally) method to keep details straight. Something even those of us who are technically challenged can use.

My main characters are fine. We've been living together for so long I know their idiosyncrasies and habits well. But minor characters? Even in real life, I have trouble remembering people's names. Let alone some walk-on who insists on being referenced again ninety-seven pages later.

What about those loose threads? Those little bits of information I introduced to later feed into something bigger and um . . . where are they? what were they?

I have folders. They're pretty (I buy the printed ones at the office supply store—a different design for each manuscript). They're also closed unless it's a research item, or a character study.

I have a spiral notebook. Somewhere. And while it might have some information in it, I can't count on it to be thorough. Because I'm not even quite sure where it is. And whether or not I actually took the time to write down what I'm looking for at this moment.

Stickies? Where would I stick them? Eventually my computer screen would be covered, and then it really would be a hit and miss proposition.

And unless someone wants to come and sit down with me to teach me Excel, I'm not inclined to spend much time inside the big green "X" icon. I have enough trouble with the address list I keep in it somewhere. It frustrates me beyond belief.

There's probably something cool in Scrivener for this. If so, please tell me where it is and how to use it.

Is that what edits are for?

It could also be that I'm at that place with this manuscript where it's all suddenly become a muddle and I'm convinced it's a mess and hopeless and what in the world have I barfed up?

Seriously, smart and organized writers . . . how do you keep things straight?

Holiday Chaos

  By Gayle Carline

Everyone here at the Collective has been trying to get their latest novel finished, editing done, book released, etc. They are all nearly collapsing under the weight of their deadlines and begging for a holiday break. Personally, I'm fresh as a daisy.

The guilt is staggering.

You see, I'm working on the third book in my Peri Minneopa mystery series. I keep saying that I'm "in the middle of writing" it, but the truth is, I've only gotten 13,000 words, which is not nearly the middle. While not wanting to rush the process, I want to get it written and edited and out sooner, rather than later.

Time IS money to writers, these days.

In addition to getting this book finished, I have an idea for another mystery, either a standalone or a new series. I can only work one story at a time, so I'm just jotting notes here and there to remind myself what I want to do with the new book while I work on the current project.

So I should be carving out time each day and getting a goodly number of words on the page. It's my plan. My goal. My raison d'être.

But it's also Christmas.

I promise myself I'll write, just as soon as I:

1. Get the Christmas picture taken (see this blog post for how that went).

2. Get the Christmas letter written.

3. Print Christmas card-letter and mail (see this blog post for how that went).

4. Clean living room to prepare for tree.

5. Go get tree.

6. Decorate tree (oh, just go here for the rest of this).

7. Decorate rest of house.

8. Clean rest of house before attempting No. 7.

9. Shop.

10. Shop some more.

This isn't the whole list and you can see how my writing is going. In addition, I still have riding lessons to teach, and riding lessons to take (don't judge, this is my de-stresser), and a Corgi who pouts when bored, so I must walk him and/or play with him at intervals.

So I have one question for my fellow Collective: How the hell do you get anything done during December?

Happy holidays, anyway, from me and my familia!

Damaged Goods?

By Andrew E. Kaufman

For those of you who haven’t heard me shouting it from the rooftops, I’ve just released my second novel. A lot of things happen to me during the course of writing a book. Quite often between my fits of frustration and desperation, I also have bursts of revelation, and those moments seem golden. As I dig deep within myself to create my characters and my stories, I also discover things about myself and about the world that I never knew before. Sometimes those discoveries are immediate, but sometimes I don’t see them until after I’ve had a chance to decompress and breathe a little.

In this case, my main protagonist taught me the lesson. His name is Patrick, and to date, I think he’s the one I’ve enjoyed writing the most. Like many of my characters, he’s deeply flawed. Some would call him damaged goods, but I don’t see him that way at all; he’s human, and like all of us, he has challenges. When I created him, I wanted to raise the stakes like I’ve never done with any other character before, to push obstacles in his way that seemed insurmountable—at least to him—both on an internal and external level. Then I wanted to see him fight like hell to overcome them. Funny thing happened in that process: as I wrote the book, I found myself struggling right alongside him like I’ve never done before—I had to, in order make the story come to life.

Patrick suffered a horribly abusive childhood, has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and as if that weren’t enough, he’s a bleeder. The blood disease is a metaphor; he’s been deeply injured, and as a result, is deeply vulnerable. On a physical level, he lives with the day-to-day fear of being injured, of bleeding to death, and his emotional state is much the same—he’s scared of being exposed, of being wounded. Because of those internal and external fears, instead of living his life, he becomes imprisoned by it.

Enter the next layer. With the OCD, his particular compulsion is listing; he writes the same words over and over. To raise the stakes even more, he’s a journalist: a writer, trapped by his own words. The irony in that fascinated me, and I used it as a device to show his tension. As his situation becomes more dangerous, his disorder becomes more pervasive, so he's fighting his battles on two levels.

I grew to love Patrick just as I would my own child. It happens with many of my characters, and I’ve often tried to figure out exactly why that is. True, I create them, and in order to portray them in a realistic and meaningful way, I often need to throw myself into their minds and experience their emotions much as they would. Mentally, it can be exhausting, however, in the process, I suppose, some sort of bond occurs. But I’ve always suspected there was more to it than just that; I just couldn’t figure out what it was.

Then Patrick showed me.

I began to realize that the reason I liked him so much was because those very flaws, the ones he felt so crippled by, were the ones that made him seem so much more real, and as a result they endeared me to him.

Imperfections aren’t what separate us; they’re what connect us as humans because we all have them. And just as in real life, watching people triumph over them makes us feel like we can do the same. Think about it (I’m dating myself here): how did it make you feel watching Rocky climb to the top of those steps while that exuberant theme song played? For me, I might as well have been right there alongside him; I sure felt like I was.

Being vulnerable is like opening a door; it allows people in, helps them understand us a little better, helps us connect.

Patrick taught me that.

The Call Before the Call

by Tom Adair, author and forensic scientist
Have you ever lost your temper? Done something in that state of mind you regret? I'll bet even money you have. Now imagine that episode is caught on tape and played out on the nightly news. We've all seen those dashcam videos of police officers acting poorly, sometimes criminally. Some videos can be very disturbing and we're all left wondering "what the hell is wrong with that guy?"

There are two very broad possibilities. One, the guy is a bad cop who should look for other employment. The other is that he or she is human and may just be losing their temper. Contrary to what most people think, police officers are human and there is NO training regiment sufficient to turn a police officer into a robot. Now, training can help subdue and re-direct our instincts but emotions are primal and in stressful situations primal instinct always wins out over training.

After 15 years in law enforcement I can tell you that in my experience there is always way more to the story than what you see in the video. When I watch these episodes unfold the first question I usually ask is "what was the call he just left?" Behavior doesn't develop in a vacuum; it is shaped by a myriad of experiences. Police officers have to deal with a lot of issues that shape their behavior over the short, and long-term.

Now, I am in no way excusing bad behavior, let alone criminal acts. What I am saying is that certain behavior should be viewed in context of a broader range of experiences. As writers, this recognition can give your characters much more depth and dimension.

For example, imagine you're a police officer who gets a call to meet mall security to take a 14 year-old girl into custody for shoplifting. Not exactly an exciting call. Most officers would much rather be chasing down real bad guys but you have a job to do. Then imagine the little smart-ass spitting in your face and kicking you in the nuts. You're going to be upset but you can't react the way you might with an adult male gang member or homicide suspect. But, don't you think that experience will change your mood for the day?

Imagine taking a drunk into detox when he pukes all over the backseat of your patrol car. There's no maid service; you probably have to clean that up yourself. What if your kid gets arrested for burglary? Now stack of three or four of these events in a day or two and imagine how you might react to an otherwise minor confrontation with a citizen? I'm not suggesting we throw a pity party for police. They know what they're getting into and they choose to do that work.

As authors, we have an opportunity to use events like these to give depth and definition to our characters. Is your detective going through a messy divorce? How will the stress of infidelity or gambling addiction (financial instability) affect their concentration at a murder scene? Can clues get missed or will they say something improper to the victim's family?

The point I'm making is that peoples lives and careers are often intertwined and never one-dimensional. Consider giving your characters obstacles in their personal lives that may shape their professional ones. I think you'll get a lot of satisfaction from the depth it can add to your character and your readers will hopefully connect with them as humans.

Researching Police Work

by L.J. Sellers, author of provocative mysteries & thrillers

For the last two months, I've attended weekly sessions of the Eugene Police Academy. It was a huge time commitment and some of it was tedious, but overall, highly recommended for crime fiction authors. I got some great ideas for the story I was writing, and I connected with some detectives I hadn't met yet. One provided great details for the fraud investigation in my story, and the other loaned me an old case file (a foot thick), including tapes of the interrogation in which the suspect confessed to murder. A treasure trove I'll dig into this weekend.

There's much I could share about this class, but I'll stick to some visuals from the crime lab where the lead criminologist gave us a two-hour crash course in processing evidence. Many of the chemical references didn’t stick with me, but what I learned is that real-life evidence technicians (versus the CSI kind) spend most of their time processing latent fingerprints and watching/editing surveillance videos. Both are tedious pursuits that require attention to detail and patience, but what they produce is the critical evidence that leads to criminal convictions.

Here are the photo highlights of my visit.

This is a downdraft table where technicians use various colors of powder to process fingerprints. The downdraft sucks up the excess powder, which would otherwise go everywhere.

Technicians don't really use superglue, only one of its chemical components: cyanoacetate, which mixes with steam to form a coating all over an object. The coating reveals latent fingerprints when it hardens.

The lab refrigerator holds many things, including entomology evidence. Evidence technicians grow and kill flies at various stages to establish time of death for bodies that aren’t found in a timely manner.

The large bay where technicians process cars, ATM machines, and other big items looks a lot like a homeowner's garage, including a little blue kiddie swimming pool.

No lab is complete without a shower. Many of the chemicals technicians use are dangerous, and they must have access to an immediate way to rinse of their clothes or bodies.

The last class I'll attend is this weekend, and we'll be doing simulations scenarios, involving people with guns and others with babies in their arms. I'll be making split-second decisions, and I'm nervous. I hear it makes your adrenaline pump almost like the real thing.

Have you taken a Citizen's Police Academy? What was your favorite part?

What are you saying?

By CJ West author of Addicted To Love

Lately I’ve been thinking about perspective. Not a character’s perspective, but the author’s perspective. We all have different points of view and often an author uses his work to advocate a view on an issue. Sometimes this really bugs me, but when I think about the books I really enjoy, they are about more than an entertaining story.

When I first began writing I read about oral tradition and the idea that fiction grew out of stories told around the campfire. Campfire stories of old were used to pass down the history of the people and also to embolden young members of the tribe to act bravely in the face of challenges in war or during the hunt. When I first read this I wondered if it was my obligation to inspire readers to live better lives.

Soon after reading this, I was told someone had acted out a scene from one of my books. It wasn’t a scene I’d want anyone to imitate and from that point on I worried a bit about the types of things I portrayed in my writing and what affect my work had on my readers. I write suspense so murder and mayhem comes with the territory. On one hand I’d like to believe my readers are intelligent enough to make good choices. On the other, I don’t want to contribute to a real life catastrophe.  

So what then is our role as writers?

For me a story is richer when I learn as I read. When I wrote Sin & Vengeance, I did a great deal of research on wine and winemaking. I get lots of feedback on how evil Randy is and how people can’t sleep at night after finishing the book, but I’m always pleased when someone tells me how much they have learned about making wine.

To me the lessons in that book somehow make it more worthy than something that is pure entertainment. When I read The Lock Artist, I felt I’d learned quite a lot about locks and safes. As I think about this I also realize that in some cultures making wine is sinful, lock picking even more so. Does that make writers evil? Are we inspiring readers to do things they shouldn’t? We have to portray evil characters in our stories, don’t we?

What I’m thinking about goes beyond villains. Underneath it all, writers put a bit of ourselves on the page and we let readers view the world through our eyes. Maybe challenging readers to see things a different way is an important part of our role. Sometimes they will accept a new viewpoint and sometimes they’ll reject it.

Nothing illustrated this for me better than reading Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke. I picked up this book after reading numerous recommendations of Mr. Burke’s work, but when I finished I knew I’d never read him again.

Why?

Dave Robicheaux is a detective in one of the grittiest places in America. He deals with drug dealers, rapists, and murderers. He spends his days chasing these people and yet he stops numerous times during this book to tell us that he doesn’t blame them. It’s the fault of the rich white people who victimize them. In this book he shows us a kid who rapes and tortures women and then (Burke) let’s this kid escape punishment because the things he does aren’t his fault.

When faced with a story like this I think readers with strong opinions do one of two things. Those who agree with Mr. Burke love the book and applaud him for his courage. Those who don’t shake their fists and yell at the pages that absolving people of responsibility for their actions is very dangerous.

What do you think?

Are writers better off climbing the soapbox and galvanizing those who think like they do, surely knowing they’ll lose those who disagree? Or would you rather your favorite authors keep their political notions to themselves?

Who says authors can't autograph ebooks?

By Judith Yates Borger

Yeah, but you can't autograph a Kindle is the response I often hear after I've listed all the reasons why an ebook is a perfectly fine way -- the best, in my humble opinion -- to read crime fiction, or any other, for that matter.

The honest truth, though, is well, yes, and no. There are at least a couple of fledgeling ways to offer an autograph. They just aren't refined enough yet. Autography is one, Kindlegraph is the other. I've also run across a couple others, but it doest appear they've been used much yet. If you've had any experience with these, please let me and other readers of Crime Fiction Collective know about it by posting a comment.

I first learned about Autography from a link in the New York Times last April. I check on the website and placed a call to the phone number listed more than two weeks ago. I said I was researching Authography for a blog. As of this evening, no one has called me back, so I'm wondering if Autography is operational yet. If you have any experience with Authography please let us know.

The second, Kindlegraph, is owned by  ... wait for it ... Amazon.com.  Like everything else Amazon, Kindlegraph is fairly straightforward for authors, with one exception. It must be accessed through a Twitter account. I don't understand why, but that's how I got to it.

Then I followed the simple instructions. Instantly, almost, I was listed among the new authors. Then at about 5 p.m. central time today, November 29, 2011, I asked myself for a personalized inscription and autograph. Again, instantly Kindlegraph confirmed that I had fulfilled my own request and showed a PDF to prove it. Every hour since I have checked the beginning of both books looking for my groovy inscription and autograph on Where's Billie? and Whose Hand? in my Kindle. So far, I see nothing.

According to information released last spring, Barnes & Noble upgraded it software in a fashion that uses Autography, but I haven't seen any concrete example of that. Again, if you know anything about that, let us know.

And then there's Bookiejar beta, a 2011 ebook publishing company. According to the company's release from September,  authors can set up generic or dedicated inscription and autographs for their ebooks. "A reader is now able to have his/her copy of an ebook personally signed by the writer at a book signing event. This has never been possible before, "says the company's president, an ex-Microsoft guy. Has anyone heard of anyone doing this?

This experiment begs the question: Who pays for eBook autographs? There are really only three options, the reader, the writer or the distributor. I can see someone advertising "Get your own personalized eBook for only 10 percent more."

Can authors autograph their books? I haven't seen it work yet, but I sure would like to. No one is more important  than our readers.  I suspect readers would react warmly to a personalized dedication that shows they are always top of the mind for us.

If you know more about this topic, please comment so we can all share in the knowledge.