People You Know

 Good fiction is people. And people are people you know. —Theodore Sturgeon

A novel should give a picture of common life enlivened by humor and sweetened by pathos. To make that picture worthy of attention, the canvas should be crowded with real portraits, not of individuals known to the world or to the author, but of created personages impregnated with traits of character which are known. To my thinking, the plot is but the vehicle for all this; and when you have the vehicle without the passengers, a story of mystery in which the agents never spring to life, you have but a wooden show. There must, however, be story. You must provide a vehicle of some sort.

        —Anthony Trollope, Autobiography, chapter 7

It seems to me, everything a writer needs to know about writing good characters, life-like characters, is in these two quotes. For they are saying the same thing: Fiction is all about people.

Trollope states and Sturgeon implies, the plot of a story is merely the carrier. It is, in fact, the least important part of the book. Without living, breathing characters, the plot is merely a bunch of sticks.

People turn the plot into a story; and people make the story come alive.

Events in our own lives happen because people set them in motion. All fiction is every day, ordinary life presented at large. No matter the genre. And then, just like our own lives, something comes along and turns the world upside down.

So how do we create characters readers will love? According to Sturgeon, our characters are people we know. That is, they are drawn from real life. Or as Trollope wrote, “created personages impregnated with traits of character which are known.”

Justinia Wright is a created personage. And while a tad over the top (not unlike Sherlock Holmes or Nero Wolfe), she exhibits all the personality traits and quirks of people we all know.

Tina smokes and drinks. She is emotionally reserved, yet very much wants love. She’s secretive and manipulative, yet devoted to her brother, Harry, and his wife, Bea.

I simply took traits from people I know, and put them together to create a unique person.

Bill Arthur, the narrator and hero of The Rocheport Saga, was created the same way. He’s a regular Joe. He worked as a low-level bureaucrat before That Day  brought the world as we knew it to an end. His interests are what enable him to survive: guns and target shooting, and alternative and old technology. 

He was also a low-level prepper before the catastrophe. He knew the importance of being prepared for any sort of emergency.

His knowledge is what sets him apart, yet everything about him I drew from people I know. I just put all of the varied traits into one person.

Pierce Mostyn, the monster hunting agent of the OUP (Office of Unidentified Phenomena), exemplifies G-man gravitas. Cool, calm, distant, reserved. Yet, he loves two women. He yearns for a normal life. Enjoys a good cup of coffee. And loves his antique car. Again, all things I mined from real people. And in Mostyn’s case, even a fictional one: Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle of the TV series Foyle’s War.

To create a character, simply think about all the people you know. Pick a trait from one, a different trait from another, and so on, until you have a rough sketch of your character.

It’s best to leave your character in an unfinished state, so he or she has room to grow in your book and series — room to develop his or her own personality.

I’m constantly surprised by all the little things I learn about my characters — even the minor ones — as the series develops.

Now I know some of you have a need to know everything about the fictional world you’ve created. You want to know everything about the people you’ve put in that world. I urge you to resist that temptation.

Fill in the border of the puzzle, but leave the middle empty. As each story and book is written, your characters and their world will grow. Readers will grow right along with them. It is how things work in real life. We don’t know everything about a person when we first meet him or her. We learn as the relationship develops.

You see, my characters are real people to me. With each book and story the relationship between us deepens as trust grows and we learn more about each other.

I think writers make a mistake when they view their characters as simply elements of a story. If your characters aren’t real people to you, the writer, they will never be real people to the reader.

Yes, I know that comes across as somewhat mystical, or even a bit wacky. But, the one thing that I’ve gathered from reviews and comments about my books is that readers love the characters.

If your characters are real to you, they’ll be real to your readers.

And the process starts by assembling traits from people you know, putting them together, and then breathing life into them.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy creating!

The Christmas Season

 Advent is nearly over and the Twelve Days of Christmas are soon to begin.

Whether or not we believe in the Christ story, I believe the Christmas season speaks to everyone. We all want peace. We all want to be persons of goodwill. We all want others to be persons of goodwill. We all want the troubles of this world to go away. And Christmas expresses these desires that everyone has — whether a Christian, or not.

To my mind, Christmas is the perfect time for all of us to come together, commit to practicing the Golden Rule, and move forward together. A time to put aside our sectarian differences and to acknowledge that we are all people who want the same things out of life. We are, in fact, all one.

This Christmas season I am going to re-read Seabury Quinn’s Roads. It is a charming Christmas story that expresses our hope for a better world.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Good Fiction Is People

 Fiction is all about people. At least good fiction is. That’s why good fiction stays with us. Why it’s memorable.

Theodore Sturgeon once said, “Good fiction is people. And people are people you know.” Which is probably the point of the old writing adage: write what you know.

It’s all fine and dandy for the writer to show off his or her knowledge about cars, or cooking, or stamp collecting, or orchids — but if those things don’t touch people, so what?

A few months ago, I was watching Colombo. It was a trip down memory lane, as I watched the show when it first appeared on TV.

The lieutenant is a wonderfully drawn character, and certainly went a long way to contribute to the show’s popularity. What I find of even more interest, is that Colombo knows people. He knows what makes them tick. What is likely and unlikely behavior. He’s a shrink masquerading as a police officer in a rumpled raincoat.

Columbo is all about people: their greed, their habits. And how it is that in the end, who they are is what ultimately trips up their attempts to get away with murder.

Good fiction is about people, because without people there is no story. How can a story exist without people? Sure, we can substitute animals for people, but that’s just a camouflage. The story is still about people, and still tells us something about the human condition. 

It is as Ray Bradbury noted: create your characters (the people), let them do their thing — and there is the story.

There are writers who get hung up on plot. They have to detail each little action in the story. Too often, what gets lost along the way are the people in the story. And the reader knows it. The characters are flat, lifeless paper dolls.

Now some readers don’t care. They devour the story and move on to the next one. Those readers are kind of like junkies just looking for a reading fix.

Other writers get hung up on world building. They have to know every little detail about the world their story is set in before they can even write a word. I think what these writers are forgetting is that it isn’t the world, it’s the people in the world that make the story memorable.

And while there are readers who are not very discriminating in what they demand from the writer, I believe most readers want a quality reading experience. They want to read about people like themselves, or about people they would like to become, doing wonderful and amazing things. They want to be moved, to live vicariously.

Tarzan is memorable because he personifies the best in us and is ultimately someone who we’d like to be.

I believe Jack Reacher is popular because he beats up bullies. And who of us hasn’t been bullied? We get our vicarious revenge through Reacher’s exploits.

Rex Stout gave us the sedentary eccentric genius, Nero Wolfe, and the wisecracking man of action, Archie Goodwin. I find myself drawn to both of them, but particularly to Wolfe. Why? Because I would like to be the master of that brownstone. Good food, good books, the big globe, beautiful orchids. I’d just sub tea for the beer.

I can’t recall a single story that I remember solely because of the plot. Why? Because the plot is usually meaningless unless it’s peopled with memorable people. The plot is just a string of events, which generally have no meaning apart from the people in the story.

I do, though, remember many stories because of the characters. Bilbo Baggins. Hercule Poirot. Sherlock Holmes. Carnacki. Jules de Grandin. Rona Dean (from RH Hale’s Church Mouse). Tony Price and Chris Allard (from Richard Schwindt’s two mystery series). Tatsuya (from Crispian Thurlborn’s 01134). Roland Sand, the Quiet Assassin (from Caleb Pirtle III’s Lonely Night to Die). And more. So many more.

Fiction is all about people. Fiction is us.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

To Right A Wrong — Is Live!

 

The latest Justinia Wright mystery, To Right A Wrong, is live!

Get it on Amazon!

And here’s a snippet to whet your appetite.

Gavin, maintaining his innocence, said the only conclusion was that someone had shot his uncle.

The jury agreed. They also agreed with the prosecutor that the someone was Gavin Gamble.

I set the papers on my desk. It all seemed to be there: motive, means, and opportunity. I picked up the copy of the anonymous letter Molly Gamble received. The penmanship was elegant, but the hand that had written the note was not a steady one. The message was simple:

Your husband is innocent. One of the witnesses is lying.

The message was signed, A Friend.

A friend. Ha! If the person was truly a friend, why didn’t he or she say something at the trial? Why wait until now? Indeed, why now? Why send Molly Gamble this note at this particular point in time?

It seemed to me we had more people, a lot more people we needed to talk to before Tina could decide if the note sender was a liar or not.

And how did the note sender know Gavin Gamble was innocent in the first place? Now that was a question I’d like an answer to.

Tina walked into the office and sat at her desk.

“So did Chopin confess? He did it, with the revolver, in the study.”

My sister poured herself a glass of Sercial madeira, the cheap fifty dollar a bottle stuff. “What are you talking about?”

“Apparently he didn’t confess, because you’re still a crabby puss.”

“I am not.” She took a sip of wine. “Did you read the transcripts?”

“I did.”

“Thoughts?”

“In spite of his claim to innocence, the evidence is pretty damning.”

“As I recall from the news coverage, the case was more or less open and shut.”

“So how are you going to spring our jail bird out of the slammer?”

“I don’t know. Who else had a motive for killing James Bowen?”

“Beats me. Gavin Gamble admitted he felt hurt and betrayed because his uncle decided to give him the boot. It could be he also felt angry and decided to get even. That was the prosecution’s line of reasoning, and the jury bought it.”

“Yes, they did. The question is whether or not they bought a snow job. The question we must answer is simple: who else had motive to kill James Bowen, because if Mr Gamble is innocent then someone else not only had motive but acted on it — and then framed Mr Gamble.”

To Right A Wrong

 

The newest Justinia Wright mystery, To Right A Wrong, number 8 in the series, is formatted and waiting on Amazon’s approval, and, barring any problems, will be available to the public on Cyber Monday.

This traditional whodunit murder mystery sees Tina (Justinia) and Harry trying to gather the necessary evidence to overturn a wrongful conviction, and put the right person behind bars.

To Right A Wrong is about justice. About justice having been sacrificed to get a conviction, and about justice restored so that crime does not pay.

Tina’s lawyer, Harold Feingold, wants to reopen a case even though the evidence is very slim that indicates there was a miscarriage of justice. He comes to Tina seeking her help, and Tina accepts the challenge.

A murdered uncle. Four nephews vying for the inheritance. One fingered by the others for the murder. But what about the servants? Could it be that, in this case, the butler really did do it?

This is a murder mystery that will have you scratching your head with Harry, or arranging puzzle pieces with Tina.

Along the way, there is wise-cracking humor, sibling rivalry, good food and wine, enough action to keep things interesting, and plenty of exercise for those little gray cells.

Stay tuned, so you can experience a little goodwill towards people this holiday season.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Six Years

The Cover for Justinia Wright #8

Six years ago this month, November 2014, I self-published 4 books: The Morning Star, Festival of Death, The Moscow Affair, and Do One Thing for Me.

I set sail on the sea of the independent author-publisher, and I have not looked back.

Being an indie is tough — because I, the author, am also the publisher and have to do all the business and marketing end of things, as well as write the stories.

Nevertheless, I would rather sell my soul than become a slave to a publishing house — large or small. I love the freedom of being my own man. And IMO, freedom is what it’s all about.

During these past six years, I’ve seen indie authors come and go. I’ve seen indie authors start with nothing and become bestsellers. And those folks give me hope: if they can do it, so can I.

Over the past 6 years, I’ve published 3 series totaling  22 books; and 7 miscellaneous novels, novellas, and short stories. I’ve had 2 short stories and an article appear in anthologies, and a short story published in an zine.

In addition to the above, I publish a weekly blog and occasionally write exclusive stories for my mailing lists.

For me, writing and publishing is a full-time job, and it’s the best job I’ve had in my nearly 7 decades on this planet. I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life from this point forward.

And if all goes well, I’ll get to celebrate year 6 with the publication of To Right a Wrong; the eighth book in the Justinia Wright Private Investigator series. 

And I can’t think of a better way to celebrate, because Tina and Harry are my favorite children. I love writing the wise-cracking humor, the sibling rivalry, the thrilling chase scenes and shootouts, the commentary on life in the Minneapple, and the hunger-producing meal descriptions.

So raise a glass of your favorite libation with me in celebration of living life your way and living your dream.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!  

(You can find all of my books at Amazon!)

A New Justinia Wright

 

Coming out in time for Cyber Monday (Lord willing, and the creek don’t rise) will be a brand new Justinia Wright murder mystery. Number 8 in the series.

If you’re on my mailing list, you’ll get early access — and a cheaper price. You can sign up for my mailing list at this link.

So what’s the new Justinia Wright mystery all about? Murder, of course. But it’s also about righting a wrong.

Seeing justice done is a big driver for Tina. After all, it’s in her name. What’s fair is fair and she doesn’t like it when someone is not fair and somebody gets hurt or killed.

In a way, she wants to put an end to all the playground bullies she comes across.

So stay tuned. More on this new mystery is coming! And you can catch up with the series on my Amazon page.

Fiction Formula Roadmap

 

There are many ways to write a novel or a short story. And most of those methods don’t work for most writers. In other words, writers are unique and will find their way to write their stories.

In the end, the method doesn’t much matter as long as the writer produces a good story.

Nevertheless, some writers struggle with how to write fiction. So, for what it’s worth, here is my method.

Before I begin, I want to give credit where it’s due. My writing method has been heavily influenced by Lester Dent’s Fiction Formula and James Scott Bell’s “Look in the Mirror” Moment.

Let me explain each of these influences.

Lester Dent’s Fiction Formula

Lester Dent was a pulp-fiction writer and the creator of Doc Savage. He once wrote that he’d never failed to sell a story that followed his fiction formula, which is pretty simple. In fact, it’s so simple it’s been ripped off by the unscrupulous and sold to wannabe writers for big bucks. Which is quite sad, as the formula is all over the internet for free.

Karen Woodward has an in-depth series on it on her blog.

The formula begins with the writer making four decisions:

1. A different murder method for the villain to use
2. A different thing for the villain to be seeking
3. A different locale
4. A menace which is to hang like a cloud over the hero

Now you don’t need all 4 different things. One is sufficient — but the more, the merrier, as they say. The point being to come up with something that hasn’t been done to death.

Just remember: make it different, but not too bizarre. Fiction has to be believable. Real life doesn’t.

Now divide your story into four quarters. Dent applied his formula to 6000 word short stories. However, I’ve found it works for any length of fiction.

In Part 1,

• You introduce all the characters
• The hero accepts the case, the challenge, whatever
• Near the end of part one, the hero gets into physical conflict
• Throw a twist into the story at the end

In Part 2,

• Pile more grief onto the hero
• Have the hero struggle
• Put in another physical conflict
• And another twist to the story

The menace should be growing like a fast-moving storm front.

In Part 3,

• Pile more grief onto the hero
• But now the hero begins to make progress towards solving the problem
• Have another physical conflict
• Add a surprise twist that makes things look bad for the hero

In Part 4,

• More grief is piled onto the hero
• Things are beginning to look impossible for the hero
• However, the hero by his own brains, skill, and brawn is able to get out of the difficulties
• The hero wraps up all the problems
• Try to have one final twist to the story

As you can see, the writer is to pile all kinds of trouble onto the hero and in the end the hero solves all the problems by himself.

James Scott Bell’s “Look in the Mirror” Moment

Bell made a study of movies and novels. What he found was that in the middle of the story there was a moment that pulled together the entire tale. He calls that moment the “Look in the Mirror” moment.

It is the point in the story where the main character, our hero, looks at himself and asks what kind of a person he is (character-driven story) or can he turn the odds to his favor and overcome the seemingly overwhelming odds against him (plot-driven story)?

Of course, both aspects may be involved. The point, though, is that the character — at the midpoint — is so low he needs to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with himself in order to go on.

Putting Them Together

Dent and Bell have been influential in how I approach writing a story. They’ve taken the “mystery” out of putting a story together.

I start with Dent’s Formula. It is my working guide. Now, being a pantser, I write very little if anything down. Like H. Bedford-Jones, the King of the Pulps, I just start writing. But in the back of my mind is Dent’s Formula.

Between Acts II and III of the four act drama, I put the Look In The Mirror Moment.

I beat up the main character in Acts I and II, slowly bring him back in Act III, with the final battle and triumph taking place in Act IV.

Following Dent and Bell has made my writing life easy-peasy.

And perhaps they’ll simplify storytelling for you, too. And I didn’t charge you one red cent for this advice. :)

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading and writing!

For the Weekend 9

This weekend is Halloween and I thought it appropriate to recommend something horribly spooky for your entertainment.

Crispian Thurlborn

Crispian is one of my favorite authors. If he writes it, I’ll read it. For this weekend, I recommend:

Exit. This is a slow burn chiller. Something like the twilight zone. Mysterious, with a shocking revelation at the end. Get the book at Amazon!

01134. We’ve never been so connected, yet we’ve never been so alone. We crave companionship and when we get it we’re on top of the world. When we lose it… A superb tale of psychological horror. On Amazon!

Cinder. Jill is a college student, and like all college students she needs money. Which means she takes the occasional babysitting job. And the job of watching the Comptons’s kid seems to be like any other. That is until those things desiring to ward of the chill of the coming winter make themselves known. Get it on Amazon!

Sign up for Crispian’s mailing list and get the terrifying short story “Wednesday’s Girl”.

Richard Schwindt

Richard is another author who writes outstanding fiction. If he writes it, I buy it. For this weekend, I want to draw your attention to:

Herkimer’s Nose. This was the first book I read by Richard and it’s still my favorite. A fabulous cast of characters, with lots of humor, terror, monsters, ghosts, and spies. A delightfully spooky tale, that’s at Amazon!

Tony Price: Confidential. Tony is a social worker and an amateur occult detective. If you like mysteries and monsters, this trilogy is for you. I loved it. Get it at Amazon!

Ottawa Confidential. This story is the Tony Price prequel. And very appropriate for Halloween. It’s about dogs. Well, not really. More like wolves. Well, not really that either. Just read it. You won’t regret it. At Amazon.

A Killing in Samana. Murder mystery meets occult detective. And we discover Richard’s other amateur sleuth, Chris Allard, knows Tony. Together, they solve an eerie murder case. Pick it up at Amazon.

R.H. Hale. Hale’s Church Mouse duo is an incredible work of fiction. The writing is literary, and some of the finest I’ve read. I don’t care for a lot of description, yet Hale’s descriptions mesmerize me. They set the mood and atmosphere, and establish the eerie Gothic quality that makes these books work so well.

Rona, the main character and narrator of the story, is exceedingly well-drawn. She is truly lifelike.

Sergei, the vampire and antagonist, is also very well-drawn. His character is richly complex. We hate him and we love him.

The Church Mouse duo easily makes my top ten list of recommended horror reads. They are novels you truly do want to read before you die.

Get Church Mouse: Memoir of a vampire’s servant at Amazon, along with Church Mouse - Book 2: The Change, also at Amazon.

Lastly, a bit of shameless self-promotion. Aside from my Pierce Mostyn Paranormal Investigations series, I’ve published the following stories:

Do One Thing For Me. George is old and going senile. Beth isn’t what she appears to be, but George isn’t sure she’s even real. And then she makes him an offer he can’t refuse. Or can he? Get it at the Zon.

Ancient History. Two brothers with a history, and not a good history at that. But they’re getting older and maybe it’s time to mend things. Put things right. But the ghosts think otherwise. And as one reviewer wrote: “…the ending was a shocking twist I never saw coming!” On Amazon.

Metamorphosis. I love vampire stories. And this is my contribution, to date. Devon is sick and having a mid-life crisis. His solution? Become a vampire and leave the problems behind. But his minister, who is a vampire, convinces him otherwise. Or does he? At Amazon!

What the Next Day Brings. A tale of the Cthulhu Mythos, set in 1920s Vienna. Everyone of us makes choices. Sometimes out of desperation. And starving to death, that’s what Franz does. However, as we all know, such choices often hand us more than we bargained for. Also at Amazon.

Plenty of good reading for your Halloween weekend. Enjoy!

What to Write?

 Most writers have a story to tell and tell it. And in the opinion of Anthony Trollope, a writer should never do otherwise.

There are, however, indie authors who ask their readers what they should write. Personally, I’ve never seen much sense in that. It’s akin to a comedian asking his audience what jokes he should tell.

So how does a writer decide what to write? I think most of us have all manner of stories inside our heads just waiting to be told. That being said, how the story gets told is what differentiates one author from another.

Caleb Pirtle III is writing a superb historical novel series called The Boom Town Saga. It’s the story of con artist Doc Bannister, who falls in love with Eudora, a woman with a past as mysterious as his own. The books are part historical drama, part love story, part mystery — and all fabulous.

Caleb’s books are set in 1930s East Texas. But what if we took that same story and set it on a planet in the Delta Omicron system, a backwater in the crumbling Muratorian Inter-Planetary Republic?

Or what if we changed the oil that Doc Bannister is supposedly trying to find for Magic — something everyone wants and no one has in an alternate universe version of East Texas? Now, that historical novel becomes urban fantasy.

We could take Caleb’s con man, put him in 21st century Dallas, selling bogus bonds that suddenly are worth something, and play up the romance aspect in order to get a romance novel.

Same story + different setting = different story

Sometimes, we do find ourselves in the situation where we have to tell a story. Maybe we’ve been asked to contribute to an anthology in a genre that we normally don’t write. The problem is easily solved.

All we have to do is take an old story and recycle it. James Scott Bell, in his book Write Your Novel From The Middle, suggests that very approach when one has run out of ideas and is looking for one. And it does work.

The ideas for what to write are all around us. No writer worth his salt need ask anyone for ideas. But if he runs short, he can always take that old book from 100 years ago, that no one reads anymore, and turn it into gold. How many times, I wonder, have Shakespeare’s plays been retold?

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading (those old forgotten books)!

Anthologies

 Short story anthologies are a great way for an indie author to get additional titles on his or her author page with a minimum of effort.

I’ve participated in three anthologies, with a fourth in the works, which gives me three additional titles to promote and gives readers more books to check out when they visit my author page.

Anthologies are also a great way for readers to sample your work. And if they like what they read in the anthology, they may very well move on to read the rest of your oeuvre.

I have two short stories and an article published in three outstanding anthologies.

Once Upon A WolfPack: A #WolfPackAuthors Anthology. A collection of 15 stories and 2 poems, all with a wolf somewhere in the tale. And the stories range from science fiction to fantasy to horror to mysteries to fairy tales. Literally something for everybody. And all proceeds go to a very good cause: Lockwood Animal Rescue Center.

If you want to find out about Minneapolis’s ace private detective, Justinia Wright, take a read of my story “Mrs Solberg’s Problem”.

Once Upon A WolfPack is only $2.99 at Amazon.

Overmorrow: Stories of Our Bright Future is a collection of a dozen optimistic science fiction stories. Stories exploring a fundamentally positive vision of the world and human achievement.

I’m honored to have my story, “The Sun is but a Morning Star”, lead off the collection. I don’t write much science fiction, and was pleased to have the editors, Jon Garett and  Richard Walsh, accept my tale of an Earth colony planting mission finding a better world.

Overmorrow: Stories of Our Bright Future is available at Amazon.

The Phantom Games: Dimensions Unknown 2020, edited by John Paul Catton is a collection of 16 science fiction and fantasy stories and 17 accounts of life in a pandemic. I contributed an article, “Be Happy”, for this collection. My musings on COVID-19.

Originally intended to celebrate the Tokyo Olympics, life threw the editor a knuckle ball. But he adapted and made a super anthology even better.

Get The Phantom Games at Amazon.

I encourage you to take a look at these anthologies. You’ll find great stories to entertain you and give you food for thought.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!