The Care and Feeding of Your Editor

"The Care and Feeding of Your Editor" was the panel I moderated at the 2013 California Crime Writers Conference held last June in Pasadena, California.  It also describes my conundrum over how to care for my longtime editor and Manhattanite, Dana Isaacson, during his brief L.A. visit. First, the panel.



L to R: Colleen Dunn Bates, Annette Rogers, me,
Dana Isaacson, and Kendel Flaum

The editors were: Colleen Dunn Bates, founder and publisher of Prospect Park Books based in Pasadena, California; Annette Rogers, executive editor of Poisoned Pen Press based in Scottsdale, Arizona; Dana Isaacson, senior editor with the Random House Publishing Group who's now overseeing Alibi, RH's new eBook mystery/thriller line; and Kendel Flaum, founder and managing editor of Henery Press based in Dallas, Texas.

With three independent publishers and one huge New York publisher represented, the discussion naturally went to the advantages of "small vs. big."  The independents spoke of their benefits: the personal touch, no bureaucratic decision-making process, the ability to take a chance on regional and less mainstream works, and the freedom to handcraft their lines according to personal preference without the compulsion of always chasing the next bestseller.  This is not to say that they aren't concerned with the bottom line.  Without the financial cushion of a big publishing house, missteps in publishing and promotion can be devastating to their business.

Dana said that there has been a shift in big publishing to focus on bestselling authors. Consolidation of major publishers and the eBook revolution have decimated the mid-list--authors who aren't consistent bestsellers.  The mass market paperback format is disappearing as brick-and-mortar bookstores melt away. Readers are now avidly purchasing these mostly genre titles as eBooks. This is the market that Alibi is focusing on.  Dana says that the Alibi line returns to a simpler era in publishing in that acquisition decisions aren't argued in big editorial meetings but are made by him and his boss, allowing him wide flexibility to publish books that he loves. These include my stand-alone paranormal mystery, Kiss Her for Me, which Alibi will publish in the fall of 2014, and a new book in my Nan Vining mystery series.

The panel discussion was lively and wide-ranging. Here's an overview.

"What do writers most misunderstand about the editorial process?"  The editors agreed that writers don't understand that the process never ends. It doesn't end when you finish that first book, or when you finish revising your manuscript per your editor's notes, or even when your book is published because by then, you're well into your next book, or should be.  Writers write and writers edit. Period.

"There was a golden age of book editors, perhaps epitomized by Maxwell Perkins who nurtured the careers of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and others, taking chaos and building a scaffold on which the writer could build a house.  It's said that editors today want a manuscript to be as perfect as possible before they'll consider it. True?"  The editors said the short answer is, "Yes." Smaller publishers are not flush with editorial staff.  Big publishers have consolidated and cut back.  Everyone is working harder than ever.  No one has time to sort out a messy manuscript even if it has flashes of brilliance.

"A corollary question: will an editor dump a problematic author?"  Everyone's heard stories about diva-antics on the part of certain famous authors, mostly tolerated as long as the authors' books are selling gazillions of copies. However, for the rest of us, editors don't have time for nonsense.  It's a sound career strategy for an author to meet deadlines and act professionally.  You don't want a reputation of needing to be "managed."

"Should crime writers worry about fitting a marketing niche when writing a book?"  The editors said that writers should know what subgenre they're writing. It helps the publisher market the book and also helps your agent direct the book to the right editor.

"What about rejection?  What greater purpose can it serve the writer?"  It's an old saw, but the editors emphasize learning from rejection and not letting it stop you.  Also, just because your book isn't right for one editor, it might be perfect for a different one.  They read many fine books but there's a light that goes on when they find "the one."  It's like falling in love.

Dana Enjoying a Feast at J & J

Which leads me to things I love, the San Gabriel Valley (the "626" in local speak) and Los Angeles. I took Dana off the beaten path to some of my favorite places, including locations that I used in my Detective Nan Vining series. Ironically, I met Dana in 1992 at the Bouchercon conference in Pasadena. We'd just inked a contract for the first two books in my Iris Thorne series. Dana's edited six of my nine published books and we're penning a contract for two more with Alibi.




Dana and Me at El Mercardito Mariachi Restaurant

First, lunch in the "new" Chinatown at my favorite hole-in-the-wall, J & J in the city of Alhambra. J & J's juicy pork dumplings are terrific. Then a tour of Pasadena, including the Police Department, City Hall, and a couple of (fictional) murder locations in my books.

Later, we headed to the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East L.A. to see the dueling mariachi bands at the El Mercado de Los Angeles.  We returned to the conference hotel after our only-in-L.A. experience stuffed, satiated, and slightly deaf.

Guest Blog About Pushover - Iris Thorne #5 (and Come See Me at the LA Times Festival of Books)

I'm continuing my blog series at Elizabeth White's Book Reviews about revisiting my first series, the Iris Thorne Mysteries, originally published in the 1990s and now available as e-books and trade paperbacks. This is my final post in the series as I'm discussing Pushover, the fifth and final Iris Thorne. I reflect about ending a mystery series.

I'm giving away a copy of Pushover to one of the commenters, so please stop by and opine.

This Saturday, April 20, I'll be signing books at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on the USC campus in Los Angeles.  Here's my schedule:

Prospect Park Books - Booth 63
12:00 - 1:00
Signing Literary Pasadena -- a new anthology in which I have a story
Sisters in Crime - Booth 367

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Signing the Nan Vining Thrillers and the Iris Thorne Mysteries

See you there!

The Next Big Thing

There's a viral blog event going around called the Next Big Thing where writers talk about what they're working on now or what's coming out soon. I've been tagged by Matt Coyle, author of Yesterday's Echo, Find out about Matt's Next Big Thing here.

My next book is Pushover. It's the fifth in my series featuring sexy, savvy investment counselor and amateur sleuth Iris Thorne who prowls the streets of L.A. in her vintage Triumph sports car in the "greed is good" 1990s. Pushover will be out in late February 2013.

 1. Where did the idea for the book come from? Mercy. Who knows where book ideas come from? When asked about where his songs come from, Willie Nelson said: "The air. The air is full of music."

2. What genre does your book fall under? Mystery/Suspense/Romance

3. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?  For Iris Thorne, I'd like someone smart, sexy, and witty yet down-to-earth -- a Tea Leoni type. For her boyfriend, Garland Hughes, a younger Harrison Ford. For Iris's ex-fiance, Todd Fillinger, I see Matt Damon.

4. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book? Iris's ex-fiance Todd lures her to post-Soviet Moscow on a business venture and to settle personal issues, but after Todd is gunned down in front of her, Iris returns to L.A. and learns the City of Angels can be more dangerous than Moscow when Todd's dangerous legacy threatens to destroy her.

5. Will your book be self published or represented by an agency?
I am represented by my longtime agent, Robin Rue at Writers House.

6. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
About six months. But I do many rewrites.

7. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
There are influences from movies and books. It's sort of Vertigo meets The Maltese Falcon meets Bullitt.

8. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
In the late 1990s, I read a story about an American businessman who'd traveled to Moscow to pursue business ventures in the emerging Russian market. He was machine-gunned to death on a street in front of a hotel. The incident stuck with me.

9. What else about the book might pique the reader's interest? I believe of my five Iris Thorne mysteries, Pushover has the most adrenaline-fueled plot. It's lean and mean.

I've tagged Petrea Burchard to talk about her Next Big Thing which she'll do on Wednesday, January 16, 2013. Petrea's acting career morphed into writing with Act As If, her online humor column about the acting life. Camelot & Vine is her first novel. On January 16, check out Petrea's Next Big Thing here.

Beware the Sophomore Jinx

I'm guest blogging at Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White, discussing writing my second novel, Slow Squeeze, and facing the "sophomore jinx."  You might find it interesting.

I've also updated my website.  It now features all my books, including my long out-of-print first series, the Iris Thorne Mysteries, which I'm starting to release for the first time ever as e-books and trade paperbacks. 

The new website has its own blog, which means that I now have two blogs that I very sporadically update.  I may end up abandoning this blog or letting it go fallow. I'd like to keep it active because I'm fond of many of the posts.  For now anyway, me, the occasional blogger has two.  

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Detective Kilcoyne Part 3 -- Cold Case of a Murdered L.A. Sheriff's Deputy

Here's the third installment of Detective Dennis Kilcoyne's, LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division, talk given at the California Crime Writer's Conference in June 2011. 

Kilcoyne described investigating in 1998 a then thirteen-year-old unsolved murder of L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy George Arthur. In 1985, Arthur was a sergeant assigned to the Men's Central Jail near East Los Angeles. One night, Arthur had completed his shift and was driving home in his 1979 Chevrolet van when, after a struggle, he was shot and killed by someone who had hidden in the van's back seat.  The murder was originally thought to have been a car accident until the autopsy revealed four .25 caliber slugs in Arthur's skull.  Some witnesses saw one man limping from the scene. Other witnesses saw two men leaving the scene.  Specks of DNA gathered from the van's windshield were believed to belong to the killer who was likely injured in the crash.

LAPD was in charge of the investigation as the murder occurred in the city. A joint task force was created with the L.A. Sheriff's Department.  Investigators focused on Arthur's work, believing he was targeted by gangs from his jail duties and prior years as a gang officer.  There were several suspects, but a case couldn't be made.  None of the suspects' DNA matched the samples from the windshield. The case went cold.

In 1998, Kilcoyne was assigned to lead a task force with both RHD detectives and Sheriff's investigators, all of whom were new to the case in order to look at the investigation with fresh eyes.

Kilcoyne spoke to our group about investigative tunnel vision, in this situation stemming from the fact that the victim was an off-duty cop.  "Cops throw up blinders.  It's white hat versus black hat, but we forget that cops have personal lives."  The task force began examining Arthur's private life, just like they would any other homicide victim.

At the time of his murder, Arthur was separated from his wife who was also a sheriff's deputy. The separation was amicable and they'd both been dating other people.  In 1985, Arthur's wife had expressed to investigators her suspicions about a sheriff's deputy she'd been dating named Ted Kirby.  She said that Kirby was possessive and had stalked her.  After Arthur's murder, she'd seen Kirby with a bandaged head and knee.  

Kilcoyne said that Arthur's wife was young and very attractive and the investigators had blown off her concerns.  As he put it, they told the grieving widow at the reception following the memorial service, "Very nice, sweetheart, now get me another beer."

Kilcoyne and the task force began gathering DNA samples from all the people Arthur and his wife had dated during their separation. Kirby wouldn't provide his without a warrant.  Kirby had moved to Spokane, Washington and the investigators travelled there, obtaining their warrant.  

Meanwhile, the focus on Kirby had led certain investigators to believe that Arthur's wife was somehow involved in his murder which Kilcoyne said made no sense.  But the talk had upset Arthur's wife to the point that she called Kilcoyne at home one Sunday morning to ask if he was going to arrest her. 

He asked, "Do I need to arrest you?"
"No."
"Then I won't arrest you.  Besides, it's Sunday and I don't like to arrest people on Sundays."

After Kirby's DNA was found to match the samples from the van's windshield, Kilcoyne and his team returned to Spokane to arrest him, only to learn from his wife that a week before, Kirby had put his wedding ring on the kitchen table, had walked out the door, and had disappeared.  Kirby's house backed up to a U.S. Park Service forest.  It was June, but there was still snow on the ground.  Kilcoyne wanted to walk around the forest and have a look, but the local cops said that he'd need to get a warrant to conduct a search on federal land, which would take weeks.  The LAPD detectives went home.

Over a month later, a couple of reporters from a local news station decided to enter the forest behind Kirby's house to have a look around.  They climbed over a wire fence and had walked about fifty feet when one guy said, "There he is."  His colleagues thought he was kidding.  "No, seriously.  He's right there."  Kirby's body was leaning against a boulder.  He'd shot himself in the head.

Here's a July 15, 1999 L.A. Times article about Ted Kirby's remains being found and the unanswered questions that still remain.

Solving the Arthur case gave the LAPD and the LAPD's Scientific Investigation Division a lift after the battering they'd endured resulting from the O.J. Simpson double homicide investigation. 

In the next installment, Kilcoyne reveals surprising details about the O.J. case.

Detective Kilcoyne Part 2: The Golay and Rutterschmidt Case Continued

This is a continuation ofDetective Dennis Kilcoyne's, LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division, talk given at the California Crime Writer's Conference in June 2011. Part 1 is here. 

Kilcoyne had more to say about investigating the "Black Widows": Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt. 

The women, both in their seventies, had taken out multiple life insurance policies on homeless men whom they later murdered, staging the crimes to look like hit-and-run accidents.  They collected millions.  Kilcoyne said that Golay was financially well-off, owning several properties and living in an upscale home in Santa Monica.  Rutterschmidt however lived in a small apartment in Hollywood and struggled to keep up with Golay's lifestyle.  Rutterschmidt had a goal of getting enough money to move to Canada and start a business.  When asked what Golay's motive was, Kilcoyne said he didn't know.

Because "the girls" were charged with mail fraud from mailing forged life insurance policies, federal crimes were involved and an FBI agent was assigned to work the case with Kilcoyne.  The push-pull between municipal cops and G-men treading the same turf that's a crime novel staple apparently has a basis in reality.  Kilcoyne poked fun at his FBI cohort, describing him as a guileless redhead from the Midwest whom the LAPD RHD team nicknamed "Opie."  

When the day came to apprehend the girls, Rutterschmidt's arrest went smoothly.  Kilcoyne was concerned about taking down "the mastermind" Golay and planned for every eventuality. Kilcoyne had a video crew on-scene because he wanted a record if Golay accused the cops of wrongdoing. 

Golay's home was a fortress with high walls.  On the arrest night, a team rapeled over them and onto Golay's property. Golay was home alone, reading on a couch in her living room, wearing a flimsy nightgown.  Kilcoyne remembered seeing a single book on her coffee table.  The book jacket was creepy, with eyes looking out.  He said the title was something about "the sociopath inside" and pointed at the audience and said, "Probably one of you guys wrote it."

I did some research and the book was likely The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout.  Truly, you can't make this stuff up.

After they pulled Golay, then 74, out of the house and she was standing on the sidewalk in her see-through nightie, handcuffed, Kilcoyne had a chance to razz the FBI agent whose eyes dropped when looking at Golay.  "Caught you looking, Opie.  Got it on tape."

Cop Talk - Detective Dennis Kilcoyne Part 1

I'm just getting around to posting my notes from the great California Crime Writer's Conference that was held in Pasadena in June 2011.  I pulled together most of the speakers for the "Matters of Crime" track. Luck shone upon us as we had a terrific line-up. I'm going to post a series of excerpts from the notes I took during the sessions. Here's the first.

Me and Detective Dennis Kilcoyne

We were very honored to have Detective Dennis Kilcoyne of the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division speak to us.  RHD is the elite investigative team within the LAPD which handles the most challenging cases in the city--challenging either because of their complexity or their celebrity component. 

Detective Kilcoyne is one of the RHD's top investigators.  Notable cases he's worked include: the double murder involving O.J. Simpson, the Ennis Cosby murder, the Bank of America shootout in North Hollywood, the Doris Duke death investigation, several murders of police officers both on and off duty, the killer grannies who insured and then murdered homeless men, dubbed “the Black Widows,” the case involving serial murderer Lonnie Franklin, dubbed the “Grim Sleeper,” and more recently, the savage beating of the Giants fan at Dodger Stadium.

Detective Kilcoyne has served as the president of the California Homicide Investigators Association for the past six years.


We crime writers were rapt as Detective Kilcoyne described some of his most notable cases, dropping insider details.  He talked at length about the "black widows": Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt.   Golay and Rutterschmidt were longtime friends in their seventies, glamourous party "girls" who were sort of low-rent Gabor sisters.  They took out multiple life insurance policies on homeless men, naming themselves as the beneficiaries, put the men up in cheap apartments and took care of them until two years had passed.  After two years, under California law, it's difficult for insurance companies to contest life insurance policy benefits.  So when the victim's time was up (literally), "the girls" gave him a cocktail of  booze and ground up prescription drugs, laid him in an alley, and ran over him with a 1999 Mercury Sable.  They were convicted of murdering two men and are serving consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.  Kilcoyne says they still don't know who was driving the car used to run over the men.

Kilcoyne described Golay at "the brains of the operation" and "the most evil person I've come across in thirty-five years" in law enforcement.  "The girls" became volunteers at a large church in Hollywood that feeds the homeless.  While appearing altruistic, they were in fact "shopping" for victims. 

Kilcoyne says the girls were at first at a federal prison because they were arrested for mail fraud, a federal crime, which gave the LAPD time to put together the murder case.  Kilcoyne said the federal prison was like "a country club" where the girls enjoyed playing cards and the other prisoners treated them like celebrities.  This did not sit well with Kilcoyne.  Finally, he was able to move them to an L.A. jail and he picked what he thought was the worst one: the 77th Street Jail in South Central L.A. 

He told a funny story about transporting Golay to that jail.  He was driving his RHD sedan and Golay was in the back seat with a detective.  It was a hot day in the middle of rush hour and he took the surface streets through residential neighborhoods.  He was traveling around 20 miles per hour when a football got away from some kids and flew into the street.  He couldn't dodge it, so he ran over it.  It went "ka-thump... ka-thump" beneath the wheels and shot up behind the car.  After it made the noise, he turned to look at Golay and said, "Sound familiar, Helen?"

She replied, "That's not funny, Dennis."

Research and the California Crime Writer's Conference

Wrote a piece about doing research and how the California Crime Writer's Conference can help at my friend Petrea Burchard's terrific blog Pasadena Daily Photo.

The conference is June 11 and 12 at the Hilton in Pasadena, CA.  Some of my "real world" law and order friends will be presenting as I organized most of the Forensics track. 

On Saturday, June 11, I'll be introducing these great sessions:

Money Matters - Fraud & Scams with Detective Joseph Allard, Pasadena PD

Homicide 101 - with LAPD Detective Dennis Kilcoyne, Robbery/Homicide Division.  Detective Kilcoyne has worked on many notable homicide cases including O.J. Simpson and Ennis Cosby. He headed the task force that nabbed the notorious "Grim Sleeper" serial killer.

On Sunday, June 12, I'll be "in conversation with" these accomplished women:

See You in Court - L.A. Superior Court Judge and former L.A. Deputy D.A. Karla Kerlin discusses being on both sides of the bench.

Women in Blue - What it's like to be a woman on the force. Margaret York, ret. LAPD Deputy Chief and Kathleen McChesney, PhD, first F.B.I. Executive Assistant Director.

Also on Sunday, I'm introducing this session:

Use of Force - Methodology, training, tactics and equipment with Sergeant Eduardo Calatayud, Pasadena PD

There will also be sessions on writing, marketing, and publishing your book.  The conference is only held every two years.  I think the programming this year is spectacular.  Have you signed up?

Writin' is Fightin'

If you're holding down a job, caring for family, keeping a home, you're already under a lot of pressure and your attention is pulled in a zillion directions. How are you going to fulfill your dream of writing that novel?

From the outside, writing a novel seems magical and mysterious. From the inside, it is often magical and mysterious. When the eagle soars and the words flow, it's a beautiful thing.

Then there are those other times...

I've heard Michael Connelly say that writin' is fightin'.  It is a fight--to find time to write, to focus, to turn out great work, to shut down the self doubts. I've heard hugely successful novelists talk about having the same concerns. It's comforting in a way to know that they also struggle. I do have a couple of novelist friends who have said certain of their books have "written themselves." Hmm... Not me. By the time I've put a book to bed, I feel as if I've survived the Bataan Death March.

Take heart. Writing a novel is not easy for most of us.

If you want to write that book, you must treat it like a job. No time to wait for the muse. Set aside a fixed time five days a week and write. Even if it's just an hour.  Even if you don't feel like it. Even if, even if... Just do it.

Just like any job, sometimes I have terrific days and other times, not so much. On those tough days, sometimes once I sit down and get started, the ideas and words come. Other days, the work just goes nowhere.

That's when I make a bargain with the muse.  I'll tell myself to work for two hours, then I can go do something else. Or maybe just one hour...  Walking away and doing something not related to writing, like going to the gym, digging in the yard, or cooking, often will pry loose ideas.

Then come back to the computer later that day or the next day ready for a new fight.

What's in a Name?

I'm working on a new book and I'm having a hard time naming a key character. I've tried out a bunch of names, but nothing sticks. Something will, I just don't know what or when.  I once heard Sue Grafton say, "Trust the process."  Wise advice.  When in doubt, keep at it. Something will come.  

I can't speak for other fiction writers, but naming characters is a critical step for me when crafting a story. I strive for each character's name to evoke an image of or a feeling about the character.  How perfect a name is "Hannibal Lecter" for a cannibalistic, erudite serial killer?   

While I'm struggling with getting this one important character's name just right, I thought it might be of interest to describe my process for coming up with names.  "Process" sounds so formal and orderly. In reality, my method has few rules and mostly flies on instinct.

As a place to begin, names reflect a character's era and background. I think about the character's age, social class, and where and how she or he was raised.  I imagine the character's parents and think about where their heads were when their bouncing baby came along.  In my most recent book, Love Kills, I had fun naming two sets of girlfriends from different generations and upbringings.  One set included Patsy, Catherine ("Tink"), and Vicki.  The other had Cheyenne, Fallon, and Trendi.  Any ideas about the ages of the friends and which had the more stable backgrounds?

There are some Hollywood types in Love Kills and naming them was a kick. There's an A-list celebrity couple and I wanted to give them a catchy shorthand nickname along the lines of Brangelina.  I named the husband, a vaguely creepy funnyman, Gig Towne and named his younger and troubled wife Sinclair LeFleur.  They're known in the tabloids as "LeTowne."  Gig is as snappy and phony as his name.  Sinclair is like a bruised flower. 

I chose Georgia Berryhill for the name of my motherly, nurturing guru to the stars who owns Berryhill, a Malibu Canyon healing ground for the well-heeled.  "Georgia" to me sounds homey and comforting, like peach pie. "Berryhill" conjures a wonderful image.  It was a blast to lift the kimono and reveal what really goes on at the Berryhill compound. Sometimes I choose names that deceive the reader about the character's true nature.

Sometimes, a name comes easily.  That was the case when I named the protagonist of my current series, Detective Nan Vining.  There's a town in California's eastern Sierra Nevada mountains that's called Lee Vining.  That name had always stuck in my head. I wasn't crazy about "Lee" or "Leigh" as a first name, though. Names with a lot of vowels and soft consonants sound soft to me.  I wanted my protagonist to have solid, old-fashioned first name and settled on Nan, short for Nanette, her grandmother's name.  Nan Vining's name is apt because she's like a vine--tenacious, slowly creeping, deceptively strong. Her name also inspired her nickname at the station: Poison Ivy.  

To me, names with hard consonants, like Nan Vining, sound sharp and forceful.  Nan's homicide detective partner is Jim Kissick. Sounds decisive and he is.   

I can start writing without having my characters' names finalized, but they don't feel whole until they're properly named. I feel like I don't completely know them. I often change names when I'm well into a manuscript. I'll be writing along with the great name I've picked and one day, it'll just go "clunk" in my head. Back to the drawing board. 

What comprises my drawing board?  I do have a sort of process for naming and keeping track of characters.  Of course I consult the Internet.  It's great for researching names by any parameters imaginable. I like to see words in print, so I also use books and such. 

I bought Character Naming Sourcebook years ago and use it often. I have baby name books. I have a spiral pad full of names I've jotted down over the years. I keep alumni directories and high school yearbooks.  I'll look through my local newspaper's obituaries.  I'll scan the phone book. Sometimes I'll describe a character to my husband and ask him for a name off the top of his head. I've used names I've overheard.  

I avoid names that are hard to pronounce.  When I'm reading and come across a name I don't know how to pronounce, it takes me out of the story because I stop to try to figure it out. 

I avoid names that can make for awkward reading. "Fred," for example. "Fred said" would take me right out of any story I'm reading. I don't want readers to focus on individual words.  I want them to be lulled into the canvas I'm painting with words and to forget they're reading.

While I'm immersing myself into a world of names via these myriad sources, I jot down names on blue index cards with a Sharpie pen.  I like blue cards for names and white cards for plot points.  No reason.  The white index cards I thumbtack to a big bulletin board to the left of my desk.  I'll write about how I plot in a future blog post.     

I look for memorable rather than unusual names. Sometimes the names are unusual.  Sometimes they're common.  The one thing they have in common is that they fit the character.  Once I come up with a name I like, I tape the index card with it onto one of two large white boards that sit on the floor behind my desk, within easy reach. I'll also write brief facts about the character--age, background, etc. If I have longer descriptions, those go up too. Sometimes I'll put up photos I've found of people who look like how I've imagined a character.  

Through all this, the characters begin to live and breathe and I'm slowly building the skeleton upon which I'll drape the story.  I put index cards up and take them down as names change, new characters appear or ones I thought I needed drop away  The index cards on the whiteboards also help me see if I have too many names that start with the same letter or that sound the same.  

I save the final index cards that I've created for all my books.  Part of saving them is sentimental, but they have a practical use too. I can quickly look through them to make sure I haven't already used a character's first or last name in another book in my Nan Vining series.

Here's a shot of one of my white boards as it looked when I finished the final revisions to Love Kills. After a book is finished, which for me is after I've gone through the printed page proofs and there's no further writing to do, I take everything down, leaving my white boards clean and bare, waiting for a new family of characters to move in. I again begin the process of getting to know them and their stories.

As far as the ongoing characters in my Detective Nan Vining series, I'm well beyond the blue index card phase with them. I have to keep track of their entire lives and make sure the basic facts about them stay consistent from book to book.  I've set up a Word document for each character. I type into it physical characteristics, background information, family and educational history, types and names of their pets, even descriptions of their homes and workplaces if we've been there.  I record anything about the character that has appeared in any of the Nan Vining books.  With each book, I add to each character's encyclopedia page.  I print the pages and put them into a three-ring binder that sits to the right of my computer.  Then if I forget the color of Jim Kissick's eyes (hazel) or the number of times Nan's mother has been married (four), the information is at my fingertips.      

Speaking of changing names, you might have noticed that I've changed the name of this blog. I used to call it "I Write Therefore I Am," which I meant as a fun poke at my undergraduate philosophy studies.  "Plot Points" is pithier, I think, and speaks more to my goals with this blog.  I've also used one of the new templates supplied by Blogger. What do you think?

Interview for The Big Thrill

This interview by Lori A. May appeared in the International Thriller Writers "Big Thrill" newsletter.

Dianne Emley escaped a career in business middle management and the cubicle warren and now writes the Detective Nan Vining thrillers published by Ballantine. The debut, The First Cut, was an LA Times bestseller. Publisher's Weekly called Cut to the Quick "compelling" and "edgy." The Deepest Cut, a Romantic Times TOP PICK, received a starred review from Booklist. Love Kills was released in May 2010. The series has been translated into several languages. A Los Angeles native, Dianne has a BA and an MBA from UCLA. She lives in Pasadena with her patient husband and two willful cats.

Dianne was pleased to chat about writing, life, and her latest in the series--Love Kills.

Q: Congratulations on Love Kills, the fourth book in the best-selling Detective Nan Vining series. When you started writing the debut in the series, The First Cut, did you imagine Nan would take you for such a ride?

A: Thank you! I can't wait for Nan's fans to reconnect with her in her newest adventure, Love Kills, which is jam-packed with twists and turns. When I started writing The First Cut, the series debut, I wanted to keep readers turning the pages into the wee hours of the night. I have to say that Nan has taken me to some unexpected and exciting places that neither I nor she could predict. In her obsession to trap the man who ambushed her and left her for dead, whom she and her daughter have dubbed T.B. Mann (short for The Bad Man), she's danced on the line between right and wrong, scaring even herself (and me).

Q: Perhaps more than ever, Nan has some serious personal stakes within Love Kills. What sort of struggle do you have, as Nan's creator, to keep her balanced between peril and pursuit?

A: Love Kills takes Nan disturbingly close to home when she learns that the seemingly unrelated murders of a Hollywood P.I. in a seedy East L.A. motel and the mysterious drowning of Pasadena socialite in her backyard pool do, in fact, have a connection--Nan's mother. Even though Nan faces daunting challenges investigating these new homicides, she must stay grounded and balanced as she is a single mom to her fifteen-year-old daughter, Emily. No matter the perils of her day job, Nan has to make sure that Em gets to and from school, eats well, does her homework and chores, and stays out of trouble.

Q: You have quite an impressive tour schedule this summer! Some might say the book tour is on a decline--in part due to the economy and partly since there are more online marketing opportunities than ever for writers. What do you like most about touring and why do you think there is still value in meeting readers face-to-face?

A: The writing life is solitary. Contact with fans and other writers online is a form or connection, but there's no comparison between sharing Twitter tweets versus a handshake, a face-to-face smile, and real conversation. I enjoy the discussions that arise at book signings. Plus, I love chatting with booksellers, finding out what they're reading, and poking around genuine brick-and-mortar stores.

Q: When you were eleven, you asked for a desk and a typewriter for Christmas. Do you still have these items of nostalgia? If not a Smith Corona, how do you prefer to now write out your works-in-progress?

A: That desk and typewriter were given away long ago. The desk was tiny. Don't miss it, but I do miss the Smith Corona portable for sentimental reasons. I typed many college papers on it, scads of letters, and my earliest fiction. I still have the Brother portable electric that replaced it and I also have two antiques, an Underwood and a Royal, both from the 1920s. They are impressive--big and heavy. I sometimes tap their keys just to hear that typewriter "clack." Now I mostly write on computers, about which I'm not sentimental. They get traded in regularly. For revisions, I print out the manuscript and handwrite with Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencils, sharpened with a manual sharpener that's bolted to the back of a door. I reach a point where I need to touch the words and handle the manuscript.

Q: It took several career changes and some far-reaching travel to finally settle in as a writer. What would you say to others who have realized they have done everything else they want or should--go to college, get a job, get married--and still feel that desire for writing, but perhaps wonder if it's too late to start?

A: It's never too late, as long as there is breath in your lungs, ideas in your mind that you'd like to put on paper, and a fire in your belly to write. That's the charm of the writer's life--youth and beauty aren't important! Wisdom and perspective make your work richer. On the other hand, you don't need to wait until you've attained that great college degree, job, relationship, family, etc. to begin. All you really need is to start. And don't stop, no matter what. Set a routine. Make writing an important part of your day. Carve out just one hour, five days a week, put your butt in the chair, and do it.

Q: Earlier in your writing endeavors, you signed up for a writing class and now you're a published member of International Thriller Writers. How has ITW benefited you and why is it important for writers to connect with others via classes, organizations, and writing groups?

A: ITW and Thrillerfest are terrific. I always learn something at Thrillerfest and reading The Big Thrill. At Thrillerfest, it's great to connect with old pals and make new friends. As I said earlier in this interview, the writing life is solitary. It's easy to get bogged down and in a rut. Sometimes talking with another writer is just what I need to work through a rough plot point or a rough career patch. It's nurturing to connect with folks who understand your career and craft challenges and joys. I started my first book in a writing class, where I also found my first mentor. I got that book published and my mentor became a trusted colleague through the years. I don't know if I would have finished that first book and set about finding and agent and a publisher without the support and the nudging of other writers.

Q: Finally, what's the future for Nan? Will we see a fifth book in the series?

A: I'm giving Nan a break for the time being and am working on a new book, a thriller, that I'm very excited about. There will likely be another Nan Vining. For now, I'm putting all my effort into this new book, hanging on for what is shaping up to be quite a ride. Thank you for inviting me to participate in this Q & A and for sharing your time with me.

Why Tour?

I've just concluded a seven city book tour for the release of Love Kills, the fourth in my Detective Nan Vining series, signing exclusively at independent bookstores. In this era of Facebook, Twitter, and "Contact Me" buttons on websites, through which fans can reach out and virtually connect with authors, isn't the old fashioned book tour so last millennium?

No, and here's why.

- It's a promotional boost. Independent bookstores will feature your event on their Websites and in their newsletters, reaching avid crime fiction fans around the world. If the bookseller deems your book a "must read," better yet. The stores order many more copies than they would otherwise. Signed books are displayed prominently. 

- It's a way to support indie bookstores, who need all the help they can get right now.

- Talking with indie booksellers is great. They know the genre and love it as much as I do. They often introduce me to the works of writers who are new to me. I usually leave with a stack of books I've bought.

- Local media might cover book events. Here's a nice article that appeared after my appearance with other authors at Scottsdale's Poisoned Pen.

- It's fun to have real, face-to-face, conversations with fans, to hear how a character or situation made them feel and see the enthusiasm in their eyes. I don't get that from Twitter or Facebook.  Sometimes, someone will ask a question or make a comment that really makes me think. Often, people shopping in the store who don't know my books will see my event, wander over, and buy books.

- I have friends who live in many of the cities where I sign. Some fans have become friends. It's a chance to catch up and have a drink or a meal afterward.

- I meet other crime writers. Sometimes stores schedule more than one author for an event and I like that fine. It makes for interesting conversation and the pressure is not completely on me to hold forth. I like networking with colleagues. We'll likely cross paths again at a convention or festival. They may think of me and I them when putting together an event.

- Book signings have led to invitations to speak at other events, which leads to more folks seeing me, which leads to more invitations to other events and more exposure for my books. 

I follow a few rules when doing a book event. I treat it like a business meeting. This is my career, after all. I'm always on time, polite, well-groomed, prepared, and I attempt to be engaging. I am respectful of my hosts, any authors I may be appearing with, and the audience. I try to speak with energy and focus and am mindful of my time (I don't drone on).
   
How many books do I sell at appearances? Just like any advertising or marketing campaign, it's hard to gauge success. Certainly there are authors who have become huge bestsellers without making any public appearances. I'm not there... yet. So I do what I can and I do what's fun. I don't go to every conference. I limit my bookstore signings. I need quiet time to rejuvenate, ruminate, and work on the next book. 

Here are some photos I took during my tour for LOVE KILLS.

You can find signed copies of my books here:

Book 'Em Mysteries, South Pasadena, CA
Clues Unlimited, Tucson, AZ
"M" is for Mystery, San Mateo, CA
Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA
Mystery Bookstore, Los Angeles, CA
Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, AZ
Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, CA

And here's an article about a fun dinner party a group of friends and I put together after the tour was over.

Even though the official Love Kills tour is over, I always have appearances scheduled. Check my Website.

LOVE KILLS On Sale Today, May 25!

It's finally here.  Book launch day.  How does it feel after I've now published nine books?  Pretty much as exciting and surreal as it always has.  The book will finally be in the hands of not just reviewers but readers--the folks who actually plunk down money to buy books and read them for fun. Then some of them will write me an e-mail about it, or post a note on Amazon or somewhere, or tell a friend, or come up to me at an event and talk to me about it. In a way, life is finally breathed into it and it's a beautiful thing.

I always have a party when a new book comes out. I get my hair done and I wear a new outfit.  

If you're in the Pasadena, California area, come out Tuesday, May 25 to Vroman's on Colorado Boulevard. The party starts at 6:30.  At 7:00, I'll do a presentation and a reading. 

I'm also doing a radio interview on Tuesday, May 25 at 7:35 am. It'll be on radio station AM 1290 KZSB in Santa Barbara and you can listen live on http://www.newspress.com/.

I have a bunch of other appearances scheduled. Stop by!

Happy reading, and let me know how you like Love Kills.

Will Write for $$$

I was with a group of friends, all accomplished professionals with good jobs. I was the only professional writer there. The conversation turned to books and authors. One friend asked, “Do writers write for money?” Another opined, “It’s an art. Writers don’t write for money.”

All eyes then turned on me and someone asked, “Do they?”

I felt like sarcastically responding, “Writers write purely for the love of it, just like when Mommy and Daddy love each other very much and, after a while, a stork delivers a baby to the house, or when the Tooth Fairy snatches lost teeth from beneath your pillow and…” You get the idea.

The truth, as usual, is more complicated.

The physician’s oath begins, “First, do no harm.” The writer’s should begin, “First, write for the love of writing.” Writers have to love writing because doing it well--writing something that others want to read--is hard work. Writing a book, sustaining a reader’s interest through 70,000 to 100,000 words (on average) is very hard work. That’s not counting the tens of thousands of words that will be jettisoned during the process, as rewriting that book is as important as cranking out the first draft.

Of course, one can write a book without passion for the craft of writing and storytelling. And one can write a book without any talent for writing. The problem is, all that becomes apparent in the work. Readers can not be fooled. Readers know the real thing.

So how can this sublime, creative, beautiful process be compatible with doing it for money? Well, Virginia, writers have the same basic needs as everyone else: food, shelter, safety. After the basics are taken care of, a few pats on the head for self esteem are also welcome.

The pressure to maintain a roof over the scribe and his or her family can be a tremendous motivation to keep churning out the words. At the Left Coast Crime conference in L.A. earlier this year, I heard Michael Connelly discuss having difficulty keeping his motivation going. Robert Crais quipped, “Michael, buy a bigger house.”

That night with my friends, I curbed my sarcastic impulse and instead related my favorite story about writers writing for money.

Mario Puzo had published several novels that were critically acclaimed but that hadn’t paid very well. He was married with five kids, working as a government clerk, and under financial pressure. He decided to turn out a book that would appeal to the masses and make a lot of money. During stints working in pulp journalism, he’d collected anecdotes about La Cosa Nostra. In the 1960s, the Mafia was just entering the public’s awareness and its inner workings were mysterious. Puzo’s book, The Godfather, published in 1969, was on the New York Times bestseller list for 67 weeks and was the basis of the three Godfather movies made by Francis Ford Coppola. Puzo didn’t just write a bestseller, he launched an entire goodfellas genre.

Do writers write for money? What do you think?

Permission To Keep Your Day Job

The other day, I was listening to a popular psychologist's radio show. I often agree with her, but that day, she gave a female caller what I thought was bad advice.

The caller was a single woman who was between jobs and living off savings. She was about to look for another job in sales, which she hates but it pays well. She felt stuck. She'd always done the safe thing career-wise and had never pursued her true passions: writing and photography. She was afraid of failure but more importantly, she was afraid of running out of money.

The radio host pronounced, "You're an artist. You will never be happy unless you fulfill your destiny." She advised the caller to immediately start writing and taking pictures and sending them around. "Sell your house, get a small apartment, and eventually you'll earn enough money to live." The shrink poo-pooed the caller's concerns about running out of money again imploring, "You're an artist."

I agree that the caller should follow her muse, but worrying about keeping a roof over my head never did much for my creativity. Earning a wage and pursuing your creative aspirations are not mutually exclusive.

The lifestyle of a full-time writer is very appealing. It was many years after I published my first book before I was able to make that transition. True, there are writers who rolled the dice and quit their day jobs when that first book was just a crazy glimmer in their eyes, but the vast majority started by balancing working for a living and building a writing career, book by book, reader by reader.

Some of the “roll the dice” tales have back stories. Some writers have gainfully employed spouses, or maybe cashed out of highly successful other careers, or perhaps don’t mind living like the Unabomber.

It takes months and even years to knock out that book that finally gets published.  If you earn a six figure advance for it, my hat's off.  The advance will probably be much less, tough to live on, and who knows if this new career's going to stick?

In the early years of my writing career, I was single without a spouse to fall back on. My modest investment portfolio would have been blown through in a few years if I had to live on it. When I was younger, I spent many years scraping by. I didn't like it then. I sure as hell wouldn't like it now.

Here's the great thing about writing. You can write books even if you can set aside just an hour a day as long as you write consistently.

Which is what I did. I rose at 4:30 a.m. and wrote before I went to work. At night, I took creative writing classes. I wrote on weekends. I was inspired by the book: Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow, by Marsha Sinetar.

I wrote and published three novels while working full-time. I was able to pare my job back to part-time and then published another four novels. It took me fifteen years to finally let go of the last of my day job.

Here’s a secret: I often found that day job to be a comfort when the writing wasn’t going well. Facing long stretches of time with just you and that blank page can be daunting. There’s a lot of pressure in trying to make a decent living as a writer.

So, my advice to the female caller who pines to be a writer/photographer is to find another job and carve out consistent time to follow your muse. Being able to work in your pajamas is fun, but no wine before its time. Until then, paychecks are good and compatible with creativity.

It's All About The S-T-O-R-Y

It happened again. I was at a social event, chatting with an aquaintance, a woman who knows I write crime novels, and she began, "I have a great idea for your next book."

I said, "I'm intrigued. Tell me more."

She said, "I was at my hairdresser and she has women in her shop as old as ninety and as young as her little four-year-old granddaughter. All the stories they tell and the wonderful lives they've led... I thought that would be just perfect for your next book."

I'm thinking, She's never read one of my rather gritty crime thrillers. I've discussed writing with this woman before and I know she'd like to write fiction. So, I said, "I think that's a great topic for you to write about. Think up a ticking time bomb. Something that happens to a couple of the women. Something life-altering. A story."

She gave me a blank look.  Story.  That's the rub, isn't it?

I have a rather crusty friend, a former law enforcement guy who's been around the writing biz, putting out novels and screenplays, for decades. He loves to give advice. More than once over lunch, he's turned his steely gaze on me and said, "Never forget, it's all about the S-T-O-R-Y."

I've been around this block a few times myself and have to agree. And this is especially true when it comes to writing mystery and suspense fiction. Of course characters count. Of course the quality of the writing counts. But what really keeps readers turning the pages is the story.

But, you counter, if I don't care about the characters, I don't care about finishing the book. True. But those characters have to be doing something that reveals their essence that propels the reader to care about them. They don't exist in a vacuum, or just in a beauty shop.

Think about the authors who are accused of having wooden characters and flat prose but who can tell a rip-roaring page-turner. Tom Clancy and John Grisham come to mind. Contrast them with authors who pen gorgeous character studies, as perfect as tiny jeweled boxes, such as... Hmm... I can't think of any . Can you?

Yes, we must love the characters, above all, but they must do something, act out some sort of drama to interest us, to move us, even to scare us, on the page as in life, no?

Plot Your Crime Story Like "Jeopardy"

Yes, the TV game show. No, I'm not kidding.

"Jeopardy," the classic answers-and-questions game has a three-act structure that's perfectly suited for crime fiction.

Think about it.

The show opens, revealing three players at podiums. The player on our left is the champion, having won the most money on the prior show. An off-stage announcer introduces them by name, occupation, and home city. The host, Alex Trebek, announces, "Let's start the Jeopardy round!" Then they play until the first commercial break.

What have we learned? We are presented with a set of characters about whom we know little beyond our first impressions. We see the contestants in action right away. We form opinions. That one is aggressive on the ringing-in button. This one is too timid to make it to the end. Will our first impressions be turned on their heads? All the while, we're playing along, trying to outwit the contestants.

If the chapters of your novel are the same length as mine, this will take you through about chapter five.

After the first commercial break, Alex Trebek formally introduces the contestants and chats with each about a humorous or unusual aspect of the contestant's life. Now armed with new information, we continue the game until and the next commercial break.

The drama is in full play. The first act concludes. We're up to chapters ten through fifteen.

We begin Double Jeopardy. The second act. The money riding on each response is doubled. The stakes are higher. The plot thickens. We've developed firm opinions about the players, but they continue to surprise us.

After another commercial, the contestants race to the end of Double Jeopardy, well into the third act. Fates are cast. Maybe there's room for a stunning victory or a contestant might be kicked to the curb.

Then, Final Jeopardy--the thrilling conclusion. The close games are the most exciting, when everything hinges on a final response and how wisely the contestant has wagered. You applaud some contestants for their wisdom, scorn others for their timidity or stupidity. If someone wins largely on luck, we're less inclined to root for that champion going forward. We like our champions to have brains, skill, and pluck--and like them to be a bit flawed. If they are too assured, too perfect, we admire them but are more engaged if we see their human foibles. At the end, everyone applauds.

And we're primed to do it all again tomorrow.