Guest Blogger Cathy Ace: The Chicken and the Egg...

Two Firsts = an egg and a ????

My thanks to Jill Edmondson for inviting me to write this, my first ever “guest blog”—one First. Yesterday I gained a spot on my first ever “Bestseller List”—another First.

Two Firsts in two days. It makes me think of chickens and eggs. 

The week my publisher offered me the contract for my first novel, THE CORPSE WITH THE SILVER TONGUE, I bought myself a memento: a one-foot-tall plaster egg with French windows cut into it, flung wide to reveal a chicken inside, peeking out. Quite surreal, and referencing the unanswerable question: “Which came first?” 

I know that traditional publishing, i.e. having a printed book published by a recognized publisher, is not the route every writer wants to take. Personally, I self-published two volumes (one of short stories, one of novellas) in order to help find a traditional publisher. For me, it worked: TouchWood Editions read the Cait Morgan Mysteries I’d written in my first two volumes, liked them, and asked if I could produce a full-length novel showcasing Cait’s character. THE CORPSE WITH THE SILVER TONGUE was well reviewed by The Globe and Mail, Publishers’ Weekly and Library Journal—three highly influential sources covering Canada and the USA. I was, of course, delighted. That was in the spring of 2012.

In the spring of 2013 my second novel, THE CORPSE WITH THE GOLDEN NOSE, was published. Again it’s been very well reviewed (how can being likened to “Christie or Marsh, with a bouquet of Kinsey Millhone” in the Globe and Mail, March 2013, be bad?) and, yesterday, my publisher excitedly passed on the news that it had appeared on the list of the Top Ten Bestselling Adult Books in BC. In fact, it was the only work of fiction listed! They were delighted, as was I. And, again, I returned to the age-old question about chickens and eggs.

During the past year I have learned something very important: neither the chickens nor the eggs will survive if there isn’t a farmer tending to them all the time, so I’ve become the farmer.  I’ve

Facebooked, Tweeted, reviewed on GoodReads, Liked, Shared, Commented, typed countless smiley faces, and winkey ones. I’ve found groups of people online, who, like me, enjoy traditional mysteries without strong language, sex or gratuitous violence. I’ve grown to feel a true sense of camaraderie with people I’ve never met, and probably won’t. We share photos of our dogs, other people’s cats, agree about the importance of coffee, reading, and staying positive in the face of challenges, big and small. They’ve graciously commented upon my news, and I’ve been inspired and, sometimes, saddened, by news of their lives. It’s been a revelation. I am not alone! Who knew? 

There’s also been another revelation: I’m not just the creator of the chicken, or the egg (depending on which you think comes first) I also have to be the farmer. It’s not enough to write a book. It’s not enough to find a publisher. It’s not enough to polish your original work with a team of professionals who’ll midwife it into the world with you. You have to hang in there, tend to it, guide it toward people who can enjoy it. No, I’m not complaining about this aspect of living the life of an author—I know there are many who’d kill (!) for the chance to have this work facing them every morning. I delight in it. It’s become an important part of my life. I know how very fortunate I am.

So: chicken or egg? If the egg is the author, the chicken is the character. If the egg is the character, the chicken is the manuscript…you get the idea, I’m sure. Manuscript/finished book. Finished book/ reviews. Reviews/sales. Sales/happy readers. Happy readers/the Bestseller List. And, if the egg is the Bestseller List for BC, then the chicken is…..? 

I have no idea. 

Sorry. I didn’t mean to let you down there, but it’s inevitable. As I said, it’s an unanswerable question. I know…if the original egg is the author—me—then I should refer you to my Mum. She

must be to blame for it all!

You can find out about Cathy Ace’s traditional mysteries at www.cathyace.com.

You can keep up to date with Cathy Ace at her author’s Facebook Page: Cathy Ace – Author, or you can follow her on Twitter: @AceCathy

 Cathy's books and bio on AMAZON




Update May 29th, 2015: Cathy and I finally met for the first time last night at the Bony Blithe Awards Dinner!  Here's the evidence:

New Words: Nominalizations

Language grow and morphs and changes, over both time and place.  And then of course, slang gives language a kick or a boost, depending on your point of view. New words are added to English via science and technology and as a result of globalization. And then there are words that evolve - either with a new use or a new meaning - as a result of being cute, or as part of industry jargon, or because of advertisers.

A recent piece in the New York Times talked about verbs being recast as nouns. 

Take the word "ride" for example.  It's a verb, an action word.  Over time, "ride" has morphed into a noun.  Example: "Dave has a new car.  It's a really cool ride.  His new ride cost $30K.  He took me for a ride in his new ride." 


And then there's "read" - and all you fellow writers and bookworms out there are certainly familiar with it.  Example: "Have you read the new Stephen King novel?  It's a great read.  This read was so compelling that I read it all night!"  

Just think for a minute about a website familiar to many of you:  GoodReads.   The site isn't called GoodBooks or GoodNovels, but GoodReads. 

I both love and hate nominalizations of verbs.  The more annoying examples are in cases where a perfectly suitable noun already exists.  The word "reveal" is a case in point.  

Example: "At the end of the show, the magician will reveal his secrets!  Don't miss out on the reveal!"

In the above case, why not use the word "revelation"?

As a writer, I'm happy to add new words to my toolbox, and I'm all in favour of taking artistic license.  It also goes without saying that I enjoy seeing language being used creatively.  However, in my opinion, many instances of verbs as nouns are a tad lazy or a tad sloppy.  If you reach - really reach - for the right word, it's probably out there.  But if it's not, then go ahead and use an invent!


Read the NY Times piece that inspired today's blog post:  http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/30/those-irritating-verbs-as-nouns/

Worst Book Titles Ever

This is a random sampling of bad book titles, selected from myriad sites with their own

lists of bad book titles.  Some are kids' books, some fiction, some are nonfiction, and some of the nonfiction titles should be fiction!

The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories -Ride baby, ride!


The Practical Pyromaniac - Hope this includes the phone number for a good criminal lawyer.

Foreskin's Lament - What is there to say here?

What's Your Poo Telling You? - No this has nothing to do with the cuddly bear.


Dumb Old Casey is a Fat Tree -  I have no idea what a Fat Tree is.


The Haunted Vagina - Don't even start...


I Knocked Up Satan's Daughter - For all I know, this is a hilarious book... 


The Beginner's Guide to Sex in the Afterlife - Is there an Intermediate or Advanced guide? 

I Was Tortured by the Pygmy Love Queen - Maybe the characters from this one should get together with Satan's Daughter...

Zombie Bums from Uranus - Too easy.  Facile.

How Green were the Nazis - Um...

Satan Burger - I can't even begin to imagine what the plot might be about.

Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition - Is the title slightly redundant?

Old Tractors and the Men Who Love Them  - Gawd, I really hope "tractors" is a euphemism.

What Buttosaur Is That? - There's got to be a mother-in-law joke here...

Fancy Coffins to Make Yourself -Would you get a do-over if you screwed up?

Spies and Spying with Guest Blogger K.A. Laity

While in Washington DC recently, I went to the International Spy Museum. They were having a special exhibit, "Exquisitely Evil: 50 Years of Bond Villains." It was terrific fun and just packed with people, too. Everyone loves imagine being a secret agent—or else a supervillain. Okay, maybe more people want to be a villain; there were a lot of gleeful cat-stroking evil laughs there.

There's just something really appealing about the idea of the secret agent. Like playing dress-up as kids, it's a way to inhabit different roles. Even the villains get to remake their lives and their homes. Who doesn't want a supervillain lair? And what about those minions? When they're embodied by cool people like Grace Jones and Richard Kiel, they upstage the main villain altogether.

Of course Bond has to win in the end, so we can feel safe in the world. We might like to play the bad guys for a while but we all like to win. And Bond always looks good doing it. When I describe my secret agent Chastity Flame to people I usually use the shorthand description that she's like an über-sexy female James Bond. Since the Bond reboot with the yummy Daniel Craig that's a good selling point, although when I started thinking about Chas what I had in mind was the kick-ass heroine of Peter O'Donnell's comics and novels (and yes, the rather camp, pop art movie version from the 60s with the gorgeous Monica Vitti) Modesty Blaise.

You may notice a slight similarity of the names; it stated as a joke: "Oh, I'll think of something better by the time I finish…" but I ended up liking the name and I like that it's an homage to O'Donnell's heroine.

One of the things I loved about Bond in the reboot era (apart from Daniel Craig, yum yum!) was the relationship between him and M. Not surprising that the orphan should bond with the authority figure. I made Chastity an orphan too, who bonds with her boss 'Monitor' (which is also a nod to the Fry & Laurie parody of John Le Carré's novels). But she's mostly been on her own ever since.

In the second book, Lush Situation, we see further developments in her ability, as well as in her complicated love life. Once again there will be a lot of steamy encounters (scorching hot fun!) but there's also the opportunity for Chas to begin forging friendships, something she doesn't have a lot of experience with doing. She's really conflicted—it's only natural to want to build friendships, but she also realizes that being friends with someone in her line of work can put people in danger.

One of the lovely things about this series is working with cover artist S. L. Johnson who has a terrific sense of design. She has created some incredible covers for the books that really give them the oomph they deserve.

The first Chastity Flame book has a computer hacker, so she put some 0s and 1s in the background that spell out a special message (we had a contest to reward the first person too figure out the message!). I love the way the flames form her curvy hips and echo the fire from her gun.

In LushSituation the theme is human trafficking, which gets linked to an upscale London sex club for women. The handcuff hanging from Chas's hand echoes both of these themes, so at the same time it's playful and sinister. In the background are rows of stilettos, which create an eye-catching wallpaper to the image. The two covers look great side by side. I can't wait to see what the third one will look like, so I better get busy writing it!

For more on K.A. Laity, check out her page on AMAZON
Or follow her on Twitter @katelaity

Quotes on Mysteries

 "Where there is mystery, it is generally suspected there must also be evil."  -Lord Byron

"It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit."  -Antoine Rivarol


"The crime novel is the great moral literature of our time."  -Jean-Patrick Manchette     

"Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book."  -Mickey Spillane   
                    
"Detective stories have nothing to do with works of art."  -W.H. Auden
             
"I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of."  -Dashiell Hammett
 
"[Dashiell Hammett’s] The Glass Key is better than anything Hemingway ever wrote."  -Rex Stout     
                    

"There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better."  -S.S. Van Dine       
              
"The criminal is the creative artist; the detective only the critic."   -G.K. Chesterton   
                     
“It is only through mystery and madness that the soul is revealed.” ― Thomas Moore
 
“When all the details fit in perfectly, something is probably wrong with the story.”  ― Charles Baxter 

"It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story."  -Agatha Christie
 
"A really good detective never gets married."   -Raymond Chandler

"To read of a detective's daring finesse or ingenious stratagem is a rare joy."  -Rex Stout

"A detective sees death in all the various forms at least five times a week."   -Evan Hunter

"What the detective story is about is not murder but the restoration of order."  -P. D. James
  

“They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains," he remarked with a smile. "It's a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work."  - Arthur Conan Doyle

Guest Blogger Stacy-Deanne: Characters are a Tricky Bunch!

You know how many times I’ve been interviewed about my writing rituals? So many times, I cannot count. Do you know what the most asked questions are? 

 

How do you come up with your characters?

What was the most difficult character to write?

How do you know what you want your characters to do?

What people outside of writing don’t seem to understand is that characters are a tricky bunch. Look I don’t think of myself as creating my characters. Okay, okay, technically I create them. But they create the story. I see myself as a tool for their use. I’m just going along, a witness to the events sort to speak. That is really how I see my writing.

I write crime fiction and mysteries and the thrill of not knowing is what excites me. I don’t like to plan out everything before I write it. It’s nothing wrong with planning, but it is not my style. See the thrill for me is being able to get to know these characters naturally. I feel like I’ve hopped on a bus and met a bunch of new people. I follow them around, get to know them. Stalk them. I start by putting them in a position but soon they take off on their own directions.

I truly believe that a book is more powerful when the author allows their creativity to be free. I

mean completely free. Let your characters do and say what they want to. I never try to box my characters in. Sometimes they say and do things I don’t expect from them. Sometimes they go left when I want them to go right. Sometimes they kiss when I want them to fight. I’m telling ya’ I don’t control these characters! They have minds of their own, trust me. They come alive, I mean alive.

You know? Between you and me, I even think they’re real. Oh yeah, listen. I do. I think many writers feel this way. Characters aren’t just words on a page to me. No. They have more power than that. They leap off the pages and into my head constantly. I don’t care what I’m doing, these darn characters are always there.

But you know what? I like that. I love that. I crave it. 

People refer to me as an author but I think of myself as just a tool. I swear, even though I can tell

you don’t believe me, I don’t have any control. Don’t trust any writer who says they control their characters. That’s bull-turkey crap. There’s no such thing.

The key to writing an engaging piece is for authors to be engaged themselves. Now how can I be engaged if I plan out everything in advance huh? For me, it’s the element of surprise. I love being a part of the mystery while writing it. I don’t mind not being in control 24/7. I know that seems hard to believe coming from a woman, but it’s true. That’s my muse’s job right?

Just wanted to let people know how it really is. Never trust a writer who says they control their characters. I’m telling you, it’s simply not true. It’s not possible. No, just not possible.

Coming soon!

Check out Stacy-Deanne's bio on AMAZON or on FACEBOOK and TWITTER  or her WEBSITE.