In What Universe is this Fun?

It's 11:30am as I write this. Typically, I'd be well into whatever scene I was be working on. Instead, I am sitting back in my chair in shocked silence.

80,000 words into this second book and I have finally been forced to address three rather significant plot holes that I have known about for some time but was kind of hoping would resolve themselves in some miraculous way.

However, as I approach the thrilling finale and realize that it isn't really all that clever I know I'm going to have to take a step back and fill in those holes. Only that will allow the nail-biter of an ending to make sense. And as Anne McDermid advised, one ignores a clever plot at one's peril.

I put my thinking cap on, all the while trying to remember that everything has to fit with the theme of this book - How guilt and shame can distort perception and cause unnecessary suffering.

The first plot gap was coming up with a believable motivation for the evil actions of the main antagonist. So far his reasons were kind of weak and a little scattered but this turned out to be relatively easy to fix. In fact, I think I came up with a particularly brilliant idea.

The second involved getting rid of Maitland. I needed her to be unable to come to the rescue and the only way I could do that was to come up with a reason why Grace would decide to ask Signy to work on this case with her without telling Maitland. A little harder but definitely doable.

The third giant sinkhole was the question of why Signy would call on the Tracker for assistance when Grace disappears. She is trapped in the States, harboring a woman and a child who have just become the subjects of an Amber Alert. She knows Grace has gone to see the woman's husband and now Grace has disappeared. Why in God's name would she not reach out for Maitland's formidable assistance under these dire circumstances??

Not to mention that the Tracker is being stalked by an assassin, and when he rides to the rescue, unbeknownst to him he brings along a big stinking pile of trouble of his own.

That is when I sat back and freaked. It is all getting too COMPLICATED!

This book has turned out to be much more of a Grace and Signy show that I had intended and I wonder if the inclusion of the Tracker is detracting from their dynamic? And yet, it would be so much more interesting if Signy gets to reunite with her newly discovered brother. Besides,  I like the Tracker....

Heavy sigh....gulp...unfortunately, .I think that if I want this book to really crackle I am probably going to have to do a lot of new writing, a lot more cutting and even more re-writes.

Why am I doing this? In what universe is this fun?

What inevitably spurs me on is that I know that the solution is hiding just behind a half open door in the back of my mind. I realize that if I put my shoulder back to the grindstone I will find it and I'm certain that in the long run I will be happy that I put in the effort.

crap....

A Bit About Beats: What are story beats and how to use them?

I was on my third creative writing night class before I learned the concept of literary beats.If you've done a lot of reading you already have an inherent understanding of beats but if not, allow me to share how I've come to understand them.

Think of it this way. A book starts as an overall concept, with characters, plots, setting, etc. The writer then separates the novel in three or four acts. The acts are separated into chapters and the chapters into scenes. The scenes are subdivided even further into 'beats.'

A beat can be described as bubbles of action, of thought, of mood, which each contribute something to character or plot.

I'm going to take the concept even further - Beats can be used to break up dialogue into manageable chunks at the same time as contributing to character and plot.

For example, instead of having Major Reginald Entwhistle wax poetic on the indubitable glories of the English Garden for several paragraphs, the writer interrupts his paroxysm of flowery discourse with a timely action. He might thump his silver tipped cane on the wooden floor for emphasis, he might lean forward and pour a cup of tea or decant a fine claret.

If he is overcome with nostalgia as he recounts, blossom by blossom, the gardens of his youth, he might sigh, or dab at a teary eye. If he angered at the damage caused to his precious conservatory by local hooligans he might go so far as to fling his glass of port into the fire.

If we are so lucky as to be inside Major Entwhistle's head as he expounds on the fleeting nature of the English Rose, we might find ourselves privy to his innermost thoughts. These can reveal much about the good Major. Is he contemplating having a one off with the comely scullery maid? Maybe the handsome houseman? Or has he come to some judgmental conclusion about his hapless visitor based on the threadbare nature of the man's morning coat? Have his thoughts turned to murder?

In dialogue, at least, beats keep the words flowing at a natural rate. Stops, starts, hesitations, these not only serve to create a more realistic conversation but also break up the speech visually on the page. Beats make dialogue much easier to read.

The problem that I've encountered is keeping those beats fresh. I often find myself leaning on tried and true beats. She stood and stretched. He fiddled with his napkin. She checked her watch. He frowned, sighed, coughed, grimaced, smiled, grunted....you get the point.

Coming up with imaginative beats that are fun to read AND contribute to character and plot is not easy. Inventive, rich beats are something I will be watching for as I approach the daunting task of a second draft.

Beats will be a focus...along with enhancing character, plot improvements, adverb patrol...etc, etc, etc.

 Dumpy Grace stood, stretched her back and sighed.

Donning her silk top hat and tails she slipped into her scarlet dancing shoes.

As she painted on a smile she goosed the writing gods with her silver tipped cane.

"Knees up," they cried. "Get down to the beat." 

And poor old Dumpy, hustled and boogied and bobbed until there was nothing left but faded scuff marks on the floor and a second draft bulging with beautiful beats. 

And the story? 

It's smokin'

Doppelganger

 "Would you look at that," laughed the man. "With the exception of their physical dexterity and breath-taking athleticism, the plovers that dart along the water's edge bear an uncanny resemblance to Dumpy Grace."

Heavy sigh...


It could be worse...
 
 
The way the dastardly bathing suit clings to Dumpy Grace's ample form her animal doppelganger could just as easily have been a Manatee. 


Good thing the man didn't mention that. 

It's a long walk home. 
 

Dumpy Grace goes on vacation (Or how I learned to love writing horror)

Finally, the long awaited day arrived and we were off to Florida. We invited our two daughters along for the trip. Airmile points are a wonderful thing!

We decided to fly out of Buffalo instead of Toronto and the flight left at 7am so we booked a hotel for the night. Hoping to save money we 'bunked' with the girls in a room with only two double beds. With a husband who makes a habit of chainsaw level snoring that proved a bad decision all around.

Nevertheless, it had been a long day and by 11pm the lights were out and we all tried to make the best of it. By 11:15 the minor medical issue that I had been trying to ignore for the past 2 hours started to hammer away at my last nerve. Ouch...ignore...ooowwww....ignore....YIKES....ignore....Ah Jeeeezzzz.....

After waking the ever patient snoring man, we negotiated the dark streets of Tonawanda, NY searching for the local hospital. I've secretly always wanted to see Tonawanda since growing up with Eyewitness News on Channel 7 out of Buffalo. Every night Irv Weinstein would announce the latest devastating fire, almost always in Tonawanda. I expected to see a charred wasteland. Instead, we found a perfectly nice hospital and with little fanfare were ushered almost immediately into an ER bed not by a triage nurse but a security guard wearing a sidearm.

 Alrighty then.

A half hour later and we were out of there, prescription in hand. I can't imagine how long we'd have had to wait at a big city Canadian hospital at that time of night. 4 hours? 6 hours? 8? 

I'm not complaining. The one thing we wouldn't have to do in Canada is pay out of our pocket which is what we had to do in Buffalo.  Despite the fee, I was immensely grateful and if we took another hour and a half driving 10 miles to the nearest all night Walgreens then having to endure a punch drunk pharmacist who kept calling us Wacky Canadians - then so be it! It was worth it to know that I would not be trapped on the plane in a few hours forced to endure mind numbing agony.

By 2am we made it back to the hotel and fell into bed. The snoring started almost immediately but what could I do? The patient man had driven the streets of Tonawanda with me for the past several hours, his blood-red eyes literally hanging from the sockets.

I turned on my side and tried to sleep with very little success. At 4am I gave it up and went down to the breakfast area where hysterical early morning show anchors shared the latest celebrity gossip.

Not to be outdone, the bleery-eyed front desk clerk pumped up the volume on a cartoon show she was watching behind the counter.

BRUTAL!!


With an early morning flight to catch the rest of the crew woke at 5:45 am and before long had joined me at the breakfast bar. A hurried piece of toast and we all piled into the shuttle that would take us to the Buffalo International Airport.

I had painted my toenails a particularly noxious colour of Barbie pink and as we exited the shuttle my oldest daughter caught sight of them for first time. Haha! She pointed and laughed and promptly fell flat on her face, twisting her ankle. It almost immediately began to swell. Thoughts of a return visit to the ER flashed through my head.

Luckily, after several tense minutes she felt well enough to sit propped in a wheelchair.

The good news? We were able to bypass the long security line, her wheelchair having to pass through a much shorter special needs access line.

And she boarded first along with her nurse sister, saving us a couple of seats in the fully packed plane.

Bonus.



We arrived at Orlando airport after a short and pleasant flight then picked out a nice SUV from the rental car line-up. Used to being crammed into sub-compact cars the girls were thrilled with the extra leg room

Good thing, too, because the ever patient snoring man had insisted on bringing his GPS. Although the closest airport is Fort Lauderdale we had flown into Orlando because on the way back the girls wanted to visit Harry Potter World at Universal Studios. The resultant 2.5 hour drive would be well worth it the girls declared and the patient man didn't mind if it meant he got to use his GPS.

The minute the GPS directed us north from Orlando instead of south I sensed a problem. "Trust me," said the patient man, "this baby has never let me down." Without a good old fashioned paper map on hand to double check the route I sat back and kept my mouth shut.

2.5 hours later, when we should have been rolling into our resort we started seeing signs for Orlando again.

"It's probably just another route up to Orlando," declared the nervous but still patient man.

"Oh, ya?" said the impatient and rapidly overheating me, "How come it says the next 4 exits lead to Orlando?"

"There must be four highways back up there!" cried the shocked man.

Fishing out a thumbnail map of Florida on the back of the rental car agreement I pointed out that the GPS had taken us north to Daytona Beach then back down again to Orlando. We were starting from scratch.

"Stupid GPS!" shouted the angry man.

I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. I really, really wanted to way "I told you so..." In the end, I sealed my lips and hummed a few bars of Camptown Races. For some reason that always soothes me.

Six hours after arriving in Orlando we finally made it to our lovely resort. We inherited a one week time share and enjoy the quiet setting on the beach. The efficiency apartments are older but well kept. At the last minute we sprung for a second unit so the girls didn't have to sleep on a pull out couch in our unit. It seemed fitting that the unit they were given had been recently renovated including a brand new DVD player, soaker tub and stainless appliances.  Ours retained its old world, 1960's charm.

Still, we were in Florida and the sun was shining! The temperature was nearing 30 degrees Celsius and the sound of the waves on the shore was hypnotic. A quick slather of sunscreen and off we went for a a walk on the beach.

 Turned out that slap dash of sunscreen wasn't quite enough...

















And when we got back to the room I checked my email only to find out that our dog, which my sister had graciously agreed to look after was not feeling all that well. My sister is a fastidious housekeeper and while she had expected the shedding hair she had not bargained for the rest of it.

Herein ends the tale of my first day of vacation.

I'll keep you posted if it gets any more interesting.

Feedback from my Agent on Canadian Crime and Thriller Novels

I just had a very interesting chat with my agent, Anne McDermid. She recently spent more than a month in the U.K. and spoke to many agents and publishers about crime and thriller novels coming out of Canada.

The feedback was very interesting. Apparently, Canadian authors tend to get far too literary, focussing on character development and gorgeous descriptions to the detriment of plot. The consensus is that the reader has to know within the first few chapters what the book is going to be about so they can decide whether they care enough to read on. After that, plot is paramount although personally, I think a purely plot driven book is dull. I have to care about the characters and Anne agreed. I guess the challenge is to ensure the novel achieves that fine balance between plot and character.

Given that info - I know that I have too much character development near the beginning of the book. The inciting incident occurs when Signy is invited by Grace to join the Underground Railway but that doesn't happen until several chapters into the book. I spend a lot of time at the beginning with Signy's character development and I wonder if that could be cut back?

Anne also said that too many subplots could be detrimental - that the average thriller reader wants a straight forward story that may be full of twists and turns but is easy to follow. I'm not sure where I fall in terms of that. The main character, of course is Signy but I also delve quite heavily into subplots involving the Tracker and Grace/Kim. I'm sure these could be cut back somewhat but I wouldn't want to get rid of either subplot. I like a series where peripheral characters develop slowly over time.

Finally, Anne said that there is some debate as to whether the protagonist must be 'likeable'. She says that often male protagonists can get away with being unlikeable but female protagonists much less so. She used the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as an example of one of the few unlikeable female protagonists. The problem for me with Lisbeth Salander was not that she wasn't likeable - in fact, I quite liked her. The problem for me she was she was a cardboard superhero. Like the square-jawed, good at everything, gorgeous detective with a heart of gold I find any character who is amazing at everything they do (despite a horrifically traumatic childhood) to be unbelievable and inevitably, dull.

I much prefer a character like Barbara Havers (from Elizabeth George's Inspector Thomas Lynley) series who starts off as abrasive, unattractive and socially awkward and evolves slowly over time. I find that type of character far more interesting to get to know. I used the Elizabeth George series as a guide in terms of POV, etc. Rather than stick with one POV, she allows each main character to take a POV when they are starring in any given chapter. In this way, she allows for subplots to develop. Over time, I found that while Thomas Lynley may still be the star of the show - Barbara Havers and Thomas's best friend have taken their fair share of the limelight. I wanted my series to evolve that way, as well. In the first several I would focus on Signy but over time I might give Grace or even the Tracker a starring role.

The best news is that Anne said that even without edits my novel is meeting most of the required standards which puts me way ahead of the pack. She also said that publishers are primarily interested in a series and it is much easier to sell the first two books rather than be able to offer only one. With the first draft of my second novel almost in the can I have met that milestone, as well.

Anne said that she will wait until I have my edits complete on Blown Red and a synopsis of Book Two (working title - Telltales) before continuing to put the series out there for sale. She did leave it with a couple of British reps and two more Americans and said she'd certainly call if she gets any good news from them but for now - I'm to concentrate on getting that second book finished.

Sounds positive, doesn't it??

Writing Violence: Too Much of a Good Thing?

It often takes me days of procrastination before I work myself up to tackling a violent scene. In my current book I have several scenes of torture and a couple of fight scenes during the climax. I wrote the torture early on, one scene after the other.

Writing for me is a very visual process. I sit for awhile with my eyes unfocussed until I see the scene play out in front of me. I watch my characters act out their parts and listen to the words they say and then I write it all down.

As you can imagine, if a character is suffering at the hands of another it can be quite disturbing even if there is no sexual violence involved. I have a particular fear of gruesome medical procedures so my inspiration is easy to come by. Make the bad guy a doctor and voila, instant horror.

Don't kid yourself...

Violence is shocking 

It's Red and Bloody...

Not Fifty Shades of Grey.

Pain and Suffering

is not romantic...

And it is not easy to write


That being said, when I get on a violent roll? Look out. I wrote 3000 brutal words today. The big fight scene near the end of the book. Lots of hand to hand combat, knife play and choking. The weird thing is it was easy. Flowed out of me like water from a fountain. Turned out pretty well, too. 

Is that weird?

I dunno. What I do know is that I am glad to be going to Florida in a few days. Escape the strange world of Doctor Solomon Smiles and his experimental burn treatments. Yikes! Take a few days off from Jack Heller,
the aging hitman who just doesn't know when to leave well enough alone but especially Signy, who finds herself smack dab in the middle of it all every time. 

Del Boca Vista - Here I come. A little creeped out and ready for some good, clean, sunny fun. Leave the computer at home and break out the blue wigs and the sensible shoes. Time to party!

  
 Here's hoping nothing horrible follows me there...


Out there on the wing of the plane, watching, waiting, chuckling...


Sharp little teeth dripping with gore...


Mwahahahaha.....