That Book You Have to Write

There are books you write and tuck away. Practice books. Those with no current market appeal. Then there are the books you have to write...and...rewrite...until they are published.

LAST SUMMER IN EDEN, set in the mountain resort town Bethlehem, NH, in 1929, is the story I need to tell. The main character is Dorothy Brooks, 17, a young singer and member of the invisible class serving wealthy visitors. EDEN has flappers and bootlegging and theater and music and tender first love. And lots of pretty dresses. Has a decade ever had so many gorgeous clothes? Sequins, silks, beads, and embroidery--oh my.

Through her new friendship with a New York summer girl, Dorothy enjoys her foray into the resort's naughty fun. She wins a leading role in a romantic farce, where she must perform opposite the man who broke her heart. While fending him off, she falls for a new man--someone not quite "suitable," according to society's standards. She must make a choice, one that will define the rest of her life.

Bethlehem is beautiful and quirky, even now when most of the 30 hotels are gone. Eclectic cottages line the streets and there is an art deco theater, one of the last standing.  The air is still fresh and the views magnificent.

I used to walk the quiet streets on sweet summer nights, wishing I could get into a time machine and go back to...oh, 1929, maybe...  

Imagine standing in front of the Sinclair, a
four-story hotel that once filled a city block. Inside, a jazz band is wailing away. A flapper
and her companion slip out to the wide porch for a cigarette and a swig from a flask. They stand close together by the rail, shoulders touching as they flirt and laugh.

Below them, late night walkers throng the sidewalks. A surprisingly diverse crowd. Flashy, well-dressed Cubans. Proper Episcopalians in black tie and evening dress. Clusters of young men and women cruising the street, vying to see and be seen. And, strolling quietly, careful not to attract attention, an Orthodox Jewish family.

Bethlehem's pivotal role in New England tourism was colored by two serious issues: anti-Semitism and bootlegging. It's an ugly truth that religious bigotry was rife in New England hotels and vacation areas--not just in Bethlehem. It was never overt, but ads that state "Christian clientele" and "select clientele"are code for "no Jews welcome." The '20s were the time of a great shift for tourism, as motor touring rose and the hotel vacation went out of style. The formerly unwanted visitors saved the town during the Depression and World War II, when many other resorts shuddered to a whimpering demise. Bethlehem became a Jewish resort.

The booming hotel trade and proximity to Canada also meant a whole lot of illicit drinking going on. The town librarian told me how her father brewed beer and distributed it in a truck with fabric flaps so they could ditch the load when necessary. Accounts of car chases and shootings filled the local weekly. One elderly resident told me was also illegal gambling in the hotels. But with the amount of money that flowed into town, the hotels were left alone. In one hotel nearby, the spectacular Mount Washington Hotel, you can have a drink in the former underground speakeasy, the Cave.

LAST SUMMER IN EDEN explores that fascinating pivotal moment when old and new met, just before the jarring crash of 1929 and the end of the glorious Jazz Age. 

Readers Rock - The Rest of the Writing Story

Conventional wisdom says don't read reviews. But what if they're emailed to you and are nice?

The Annie's books are discussed on The Cozy Mystery List Blog and the readers are very interactive with the writers.

I got this today and so appreciated it:

Good Afternoon Liz!

Just wanted to take a moment to post about “Deadly Garland”. I completely enjoyed every moment of your book. I’ve posted earlier that I just never got the emotional attachment to Shannon as I did with Annie and her friends. “Deadly Garland” finally got me really liking Shannon. It seemed like she was drawn in similar to how Annie was and so she didn’t come across as being nosy. Also adding a dog into the equation made her much more likeable. In retrospect, I think that the authors writing about Tartan and Boots helped to ground Annie and Ian, making them appear much more “normal”. But I’m an animal lover so finding that trait in a character in a book immediately makes me like that facet of the character and, I’m sure, helps to start forming that relationship between the reader and the character.

So, at long last I found myself liking Shannon. Loved the ending, much as I hoped things would go for quite some time now. Look forward to reading your contributions to the “Unraveled” series!

Virginia

Virginia is referring to the long-running Annie's Attic series, which I did not write for.

So a shout-out to wonderful readers! Thank you for taking the time to tell us you enjoy our work. It keeps us going when we're struggling in the middle of the WIP or waiting for answers to submissions. All the less fun parts of the writing journey, LOL.

Putting Flesh on the Bones: Structure and Meat in Your Story

Cookie photo by Anneheathen

Until recently I was a pantser. A character, a setting, a situation would come to me and I'd be off. Sometimes I knew where I wanted the story to end up--but I muddled through the middle all the way. 

I've written mysteries where I, along with my future readers, didn't know whodunnit. 

When I started writing for Annie's, my editor said an outline was a requirement. To that point, I'd only done mini-outlines as I wrote--sketching out the next few scenes. 

Ouch and ugh. Instinct wasn't going to cut it anymore.

My editor provided materials to help. At Entangled, too, authors are given tools to help ensure that their books have solid "beats" - plot points that structure the story.

I groaned my way through the outline and got the contract. When it came to writing the book, it was amazingly fast and required very little revision. Most of the sticky places had been thought through in advance. I still had to add scenes and work through some issues, of course.

Now I'm applying these tools to my YA romance and other projects I'm tossing around. I now see how a solid grasp of the plot arc will help me write a book for maximum impact. And how defining the characters' goals and motivations will enrich both the plot and the book as a whole.

Major light bulbs went off when an Entangled editor recommended Goal, Motivation, and Conflict by Debra Dixon to an author. In Dixon's approach, goals (what) and motivations (why) create characters with depth and a personal path. Along the path, they encounter--and must overcome--conflict.  Understanding a character's goals and both internal and external motivations help you increase the stakes in a story. I can't recommend this book enough.

It immediately helped me hone the goals and motivations of my couple in Last Summer in Eden. They both feel boxed in by their place in society and long for creative freedom. The fulfillment of those desires comes into conflict for my MC due to the mores of the day, although in the 1920s, much was shifting--for women and in the setting of my book.

An often recommended tool for plotting is Blake Snyder's beat sheet. Blake is now gone, unfortunately, but his screenplay methods are still being taught. I use the beat sheet to plot the major incidents and turning points of a book. The page numbers cited are for a screenplay but you can convert the beats into percentages and apply to a novel.

The concept of key events at certain points in a book or film is promoted by other writers. Screen guru Michael Hague discusses the five turning points of a story. Specifically concerning YA novels, Anne Greenwood Brown posted on Writer Unboxed about applying two plot points another screen expert Christopher Vogler calls crossing over and near-death to YA novels. A crossing over point--a significant event--occurs at 25%. Examples Brown cites include turning 18, getting a new job, leaving home, etc. At 50%, the near-death occurs, a high conflict, often game-changing, scene. I made sure that my YA romance has one of those, although it has to do with my B-story--another Snyder term. But it greatly affects my MC and directly leads to dramatic events later in the story that influence her choices.

It's interesting that many of these tools come from screenwriting, and even Dixon uses movies as her teaching tools. I had some initial reluctance toward beat plotting because the last thing I want to create is a predictable, formulaic work, whether it's one of my screenplays or a novel. Sometimes plot points are applied in a clunky way. "Here comes the XYZ scene." But I believe that if you know your characters well enough, their goals and motivations and therefore their actions and response to conflict will be organic--meaning that the story will feel logical and natural. Yet hopefully will have suspense and narrative drive...but that's a topic for another day.

A milestone: my first published novel!

Perhaps only other writers will understand...the feeling of finally achieving a milestone...a novel in print. Today I received a box of books from Annie's Publishing--my copies of Deadly Garland, the final installment in the Creative Woman Series. It's a Christmas mystery set in the small town of Apple Grove, Oregon, with a murder at the local tree farm. The pen name is in honor of my mother-in-law, Beverly Blair, who passed away in November 2013.

The desire to write was rather latent for quite a few years although I enjoyed reading and wanted to be an editor. I started my writing career in business communications and journalism. Then the creative side of my brain kicked in and I've been working on fiction ever since.

Success came easily with business writing--not quite so quickly with fiction. But it's pure pleasure (when it doesn't hurt) and I urge you all--keep going. The world needs your voice. 

The Alchemy of Setting

When choosing a book, setting is something that can definitely draw me in. We all have personal favorites but I love gorgeous natural locations, old buildings, rich cultural activity, interesting businesses or hobbies, and atmosphere. One of the pleasures of reading is entering into a fully realized world that you can see, smell, taste, and hear. Feel.

I lived in New England most of my life, in Maine and New Hampshire with frequent visits to Vermont. Now that I live in Georgia, I enjoy excursions to New England through both reading and writing. I have to say I like reading about snow much more than I did living it! New England is a setting rich in history, weather, beauty, and architecture. The resort history of the White Mountains inspired two of my historical works. Other settings are just as fascinating, though. I have a YA set in Hollywood and adult books set in Oregon and Arizona. I also plan to set something in Italy, where my ancestors came from.

Setting influences character and plot, of course, as I like to work within the constraints of the possible. I spend almost as much time researching as writing, finding that I need to be fully grounded in my location before I can write about it. Yet creating effective setting doesn't mean pages of description. Rather, choose details that best evoke your setting, then use them to flavor action and narrative and dialogue.

Here is an excerpt from Blame It on the Aliens, published in the Live Free or Sci Fi anthology.  The characters drive through a depressed mill town to go fishing.

         “Man, this place is depressing,” Matt muttered as we cruised past decaying apartment houses and boarded-up storefronts.  Here and there, yellow tape guarded the charred, collapsed carcasses of those that had burned.

            But I was almost more unsettled by what was missing: the behemoth bulk of the pulp mill with its 300-foot stacks and multi-acre sprawl. All demolished and trucked away. A lone chimney standing in a tidy patch of grass the only testament to more than one hundred years of transforming logs to pulp to paper to prosperity.

            I stepped on the gas. Hopefully the fish hadn’t left as well.

            A couple of hours of drifting on the smooth mercury surface of Success Pond had the tranquilizing effect I’d hoped for. It was dead quiet, the only sounds occasional birdsong or a duck quacking as it flew over. So late in the season, no one else was on the water. The camps lining the shore were already shuttered and tucked in for the winter.

            I cast my line into the water, watching the gold spinner spiral down into the clear shallows of the cove. We’d only caught a couple of smallmouth bass so far, all under the limit, so we tossed them back.

Which settings do you find most compelling--as reader and writer?

Note: The photograph was taken outside the mill town in the story. Those tiny islands are all that remains of boom piers - guides for logs sent down the Androscoggin River.

The Alchemy of Emotion

I have noticed something mysterious as both writer and reader: the way emotion is transmitted through words. It isn't just the words used or their arrangements. Often they are quite ordinary words.

I've read beautiful works that left me cold. And in contrast, I've read clunky fiction that engaged me and evoked feeling. I'm convinced that the writer has to feel the emotions before they will be conveyed. Certain things that I've written--alone or in partnership with my husband--provoke tears or laughter upon multiple readings. That is odd because you would think familiarity would dull any reaction. This happened recently with the poignant voice-over to our coming of age story, Up the Tracks. I choked up like a dork when reading it to my husband.

Only my readers can tell me if I succeed. But what I consciously do when writing a high-intensity scene--be it love, reconciliation, sadness, fear, or anger--is put myself in my character's head as much as possible. Sometimes I even act out the physical movements, pretending I am acting a role in a film. Sort of. In my writing room. Good thing I don't write erotica. The neighbors and the cat might object, though my husband might not.

I'm curious if others have the same experience--as readers or writers. 

Collaboration...an unexpected gift

When Dan and I fell in love, I was happy enough to find someone compatible and loving. He is intelligent, funny, compassionate and talented. I would be happy with him even if we both worked at Wal-mart (and we may unless we get some consulting or writing gigs going, ahem). 

But we had the idea for our first screenplay, Poplar Hill, and one day sat down to write. Together. I never dreamed such a thing could or would happen to me (my ex wouldn't even read my writing, sad to say).

I am the scribe--I have a lot more experience with structure. Together we brainstorm characters, plot, scenes, etc.  Dan is incredibly witty and articulate. He can come up with a comedy riff on  a topic within seconds. He often pushes me past the obvious, in plot and dialogue.

I'll never forget how we created our second screenplay, F.A.R.T.  The Enforcers. It's a zany action  comedy about--you guessed it. Somehow in the middle of the night--my daughter was having a college graduation party so we were awake--we came up with the idea of the Federal Anal Retentive Taskforce. And a rival group--PUCKER (People United Concerning Emancipating Rectums. The K is silent). Global warming and a government--pharmaceutical company conspiracy are plot elements.  Pretty "sophomoric" you might think for a couple of middle-aged adults, but we laughed our a**** off. And so does everyone who reads it, or even hears about it. 

But what was special was the sparking of ideas between us. We often do that: think along the same lines with plot development. Our latest screenplay, Up the Tracks, is based on adventures of Dan's youth. What is strange is that I sometimes come up with character insights that correspond to what did happen. And I wasn't there. 

The whole thing is a mystery to me. I feel it's rare to find a writing partner--and even rarer to be married to one. I consider it a gift and a blessing. 

Are we fools...or what

My husband, Dan, and I, Liz, decided a couple of years ago to start writing screenplays.

We both had a lot of experience--Dan as a songwriter and me as a business and fiction writer.

As happens in mid-life, we saw a lot of peers pass away--and realized that it was time to do what we want with our lives. We'd both raised kids, done the homeowner-worker-bee thing, been responsible adults for the past twenty-five years. 

One of our friends runs a funky old inn and there is quite a motley crew that lives and works there. They operate close to the edge but are some of the funniest, most accepting and upbeat people you could meet.  Every visit we'd hear a funny, tragic or heartwarming episode. Or all three. "This would make a great reality show," we said. Then we thought, what about a screenplay?

So Poplar Hill was born. 

Now we're on our fifth screenplay (page 90). We write comedy: action, zany, romantic, dramatic. We can't help it. We tried to write a thriller and ended up with a romantic comedy, albeit black. An agent told us our work was "witty and well-written." 

Naturally we were met with a lot of skepticism, mainly by family. (Of course) They consider us pipe-dreamers.  They won't even read our work. Strangers do, though, and we've had a couple of script readings that were thoroughly enjoyed by the participants. 

Recently we moved 1200 miles to a better--and warmer--place to make our dreams happen. We are working on getting an agent and plan to produce Poplar Hill as an independent feature.

We also have plans for a bio-documentary.

This blog is about our journey--the tale of two fools who love and live to write.