Watching the Deals-6

Two major deals were reported within the past two weeks: first, A Travel Guide to Heaven author and priest Anthony DeStefano's next two spiritual/religion books were sold for "in the six figures," and second, St.Martin's will publish NYT bestselling author/former attorney Stephen Coonts' next two hardcover thrillers featuring Tommy Carmellini.

While Tommy Carmellini can claim his own series beginning with 2004's Liars and Thieves, he has appeared as a major character in several of Coonts' Jake Grafton novels: Cuba, Hong Kong, America, Liberty, as well as Coonts' latest on the shelf, Traitor. Obviously, the major deal involves an expansion of the Tommy Carmellini series.



Recent Romances Sold:

RITA award-winner Beth Pattillo's THE SWEETGUM KNIT LIT SOCIETY, in which five women find faith and healing through their knitting and their novels, to Dudley Delffs at WaterBrook Press, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2008, by Jenny Bent at Trident Media Group (NA).

Syrie James's THE LOST MEMOIRS OF JANE AUSTEN, written in a modernized Jane Austen style that weaves fact and fiction together seamlessly, and in which Jane Austen meets Mr. Ashford, falls in love, and has just the relationship her legions of fans and readers might wish for the beloved spinster, to Lucia Macro at Avon, in a good deal, at auction, by Tamar Ellman at the Laura Dail Literary Agency (NA). Good deal = $100,000 - $250,000.

Lucinda Betts's SHE BEAST, an anthology of erotic romances where each story features a woman shape shifter; HORSE PLAY, a single-author, paranormal erotic romance anthology; and MYTHOS, a multi-authored, paranormal erotic romance anthology, to Hilary Sares at Kensington Aphrodisia, in a nice deal, by Faith Hamlin at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates (world). Nice deal = $1 - $49,000.

NYT bestselling author Lynsay Sands's three untitled historical romances, to Erika Tsang at Avon, in a good deal, by Jenny Bent at Trident Media Group (World English). Good deal = $100,000 - $250,000.

Marjorie M. Liu's four untitled paranormal romance novels, to Chris Keeslar at Dorchester Leisure, in a good deal, by Lucienne Diver of Spectrum Literary Agency. Good deal = $100,000 - $250,000.

Doreen Rainey's FOOLISH PRIDE, about an unlikely couple who team up to stop their siblings from marrying, only to find themselves fighting their own attraction, to Evette Porter at Harlequin's Kimani, in a nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Pamela Harty of The Knight Agency. Nice deal = $1 - $49,000.

Maxine Billing's IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH, the sequel to The Breaking Point, in which a couple will see just how strong their marriage is when the husband is faced with a serious health condition, again to Glenda Howard at Kimani, in a nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Pamela Harty of The Knight Agency. Nice deal = $1 - $49,000.

AND ONLY TO DECEIVE author Tasha Alexander's next two novels of historical suspense featuring a Victorian aristocrat, to Jennifer Civiletto of William Morrow, by Anne Hawkins at John Hawkins & Associates.

Writing as Dawn MacTavish, Dawn Thompson's THE MARSH HAWK, for publication in July 2007, THE PRIVATEER, and PRISONER OF THE FLAMES, both for publication in 2008, to Chris Keeslar at Dorchester, in a nice deal. Nice deal = $1 - $49,000.

Recent Mysteries Sold:

Kathryn Lilley's DYING TO BE THIN: A Fat City Mystery, in which a spunky television reporter travels to Durham, NC, "Diet Capital of the World," to enter a clinic and achieve that "on-air look," but she soon finds the inside story on a murder investigation when one of the doctors ends up dead, to Kristen Weber at NAL, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, by Kim Lionetti at BookEnds(World). Nice deal = $1 -$49,000.

Claudia Bishop's holiday-themed Hemlock Falls mystery, to Natalee Rosenstein at Berkley Prime Crime, in a nice deal, by Lucienne Diver of Spectrum Literary Agency. Nice deal = $1 - $49,000.

Emmy-nominated star of The Young and The Restless Eileen Davidson and author Robert J. Randisi's THE YEARNING TIDE, set in the world of soap operas, to Kristen Weber at NAL, in a two-book deal, by Dominick Abel at Dominick Abel Associates (World English).

Ashna Graves's DEATH PANS OUT, debut featuring a recovering breast cancer victim who instead of resting and recovering from a double mastectomy, finds herself drawn into deadly, decades-old secrets of an old mining outpost, as she tries to unravel the enigma of her long-missing uncle, to Robert Rosenwald at Poisoned Pen Press, by Sorche Fairbank of Fairbank Literary Representation.

Eppie winner Penny Rudolph's LIFEBLOOD, the sequel to Thicker Than Blood, in which a recovering alcoholic discovers two young Mexican boys locked in a van in her parking garage, and stumbles onto a deadly organ harvesting ring involving illegal immigrants, again to Robert Rosenwald at Poisoned Pen Press, by Sorche Fairbank of Fairbank Literary Representation.

Rapper C-Murder's DEATH AROUND THE CORNER, the first title in the Vibe Street Lit franchise, to Laurie Parkin at Kensington, for publication in December 2006, by Rob Kenner on behalf of Vibe and Richard Joseph, on behalf of the author (NA).

Franklin prize-winning author Mary Anna Evans's EFFIGIES, the third in an archaeological mystery series, to Robert Rosenwald of Poisoned Pen Press, by Anne Hawkins at John Hawkins & Associates.

Recent Thrillers Sold:

NYT bestselling author Robert K. Tanenbaum's ESCAPE, the 20th book in his Butch Karp legal thriller series, another provocative and topical story which blisters the use of the insanity defense pushing the limits of the law and letting murderers go unpunished, to Roger Cooper at CDS Books for hardcover North American rights, and to his longtime paperback publisher Louise Burke at Pocket for paperback reprint, in a good deal, by Bob Diforio at D4EO Literary Agency, in association with Michael Hamilburg at the Mitchell J. Hamilburg Agency. Good deal = $100,000 - $250,000.

NYT bestseller Stephen Coonts' two new hardcover thrillers featuring Tommy Carmellini, to Matthew Shear at St. Martin's, in a major deal, by Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group (NA). Major deal = $500,000 and up.

Laura Caldwell's RED HOT LIES, featuring a sassy, redheaded trial lawyer who turns to sleuthing when her fiance disappears on the same day her big client is killed, to Margaret Marbury at Mira, in a good deal, in a three-book deal, by Maureen Walters at Curtis Brown. Good deal = $100,000 - $250,000.

Tom Cain's THE ACCIDENT MAN, introducing series hero, Daniel Carver - a good guy, who makes bad things happen to bad people, to Joshua Kendall at Viking, for publication in winter 2008, in a two-book deal, by Julian Alexander at Lucas Alexander Whitley (US).

BLACK FOR REMEMBRANCE author Carlene Thompsons's WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES THREE, to Jennifer Weis at St. Martin's, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Pam Ahearn of Ahearn Agency (World). Very nice deal = $50,000 - $99,000.

Mark Terry's ANGELS FALLING, in which a terrorist group infiltrates the G8 Summit and holds the world's top 20 leaders hostage threatening to kill one every hour, and THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOWS, to Barbara Moore at Llewellyn, in a nice deal, by Irene Kraas at Kraas Literary Agency. Nice deal = $1 - $49,000.


Recent Religion/Spirituality Sales:

A Travel Guide to Heaven author Anthony DeStefano's next two books, to Doubleday Religion, in a six-figure deal, by Peter Miller at PMA Literary & Film Management.

Baylor University professor Thomas Kidd's A CHRISTIAN SPARTA, a religious history of the American Revolution, to Lara Heimert at Basic, by Giles Anderson at the Anderson Literary Agency (world).


Source: PublishersMarketplace.com

Amazon Author Blogs

Amazon Connect hosts author blogs, with RSS feeds. A long and growing list of participating authors is provided.

Two examples:
Sharyn McCrumb
Robin Lee Hatcher

Amazon Connects also offers customer "plogs" which it defines as "a personalized web log that appears on your customer home page. Every person's Plog is different (hence the name) and just like a blog, your Plog is sorted in reverse chronological order. Each post also gives you the opportunity to provide feedback to the sender as to whether you liked the post or not. This feedback loop means your Plog becomes even more relevant and interesting over time. Your Plog will appear if you are logged into our web site and is visible only to you."

Bottom line, your Amazon "plog" collects posts from various author blogs for you on your customer page. Same thing can be done directly to your email via an RSS feed option, if you prefer.

From my surfing through the author blogs, these aren't kept current -- and most authors with an interest in blogging have their own blogs at this point.

Watching the Deals-5

Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity series continues with the sale of two more in the series. A cozy mystery series that is sometimes called romantic suspense as well as gothic, Aunt Dimity is a ghost providing supernatural assistance to the protagonist, Lori Sheppard. The first in the series broke all the rules, and got a rating of "5" (superb) from MysteryGuide.com.

Recent Romances Sold:

Stacey Kayne's BRIDE OF SHADOW CANYON, a second western historical romance, to Linda Fildew at Harlequin Historicals, in a nice deal, by Kim Lionetti at BookEnds. "Nice deal" means $1 - $49,000.00.

Larissa Ione's DEMON E.R: Dark Pleasure, the first in a paranormal series in which a demon doctor in an underworld hospital and the woman who hunts his kind must join forces to stop an enemy who would kill them both, to Melanie Murray for Warner Forever, by Roberta Brown of the Brown Literary Agency (world).

Tess Stimson's THE ADULTERY CLUB and THE INFIDELITY CHAIN, which have been sold to ten territories, to Caitlin Alexander at Bantam Dell, for six figures, at auction, by Carole Blake at Blake Friedmann (US).

Recent Mysteries Sold:

Nancy Atherton's AUNT DIMITY books, thirteen and fourteen in the series, to Rakia Clark at Viking Penguin, in a good deal, by Meg Ruley and Annelise Robey at the Jane Rotrosen Agency (NA). "Good deal" means $100,000 - $250,000.00.

Olen Steinhauer's VICTORY SQUARE, the fifth and concluding book in the Yalta Boulevard crime series, set in 1989 at the end of the Cold War, to Kelley Ragland at Minotaur, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Matt Williams of The Gernert Company (world English). "Very nice deal" means $50,000 - $99,000.00.

Edgar and Shamus Award nominee Parnell Hall's HITMAN: A Stanley Hastings Mystery, to Claiborne Hancock at Pegasus, in a nice deal (world).


Recent Thrillers Sold:

From Perri O'Shaughnessy (the pen-name of sisters Pamela and Mary), two more suspense thrillers, following Maggie Crawford to Pocket, for publication beginning in 2008, by Nancy Yost at Lowenstein-Yost.

John Olson's FOSSIL HUNTER, an Indiana-Jones-style thriller that explores the Intelligent Design controversy from the points of view of two field scientists working in the strife-torn countries of Iraq and Pakistan, to Karen Watson at Tyndale, in a nice deal, for publication in fall 2007, by Steve Laube at the Steve Laube Agency (world).

Write A Book Fast: In a Week, Two Weeks, a Month

Lots of people do this: put the pressure on themselves to write a book fast. After all, Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road in three weeks. (Kerouac's famous first draft in its scroll format is pictured here.)

First, there are the groups, that provide help and support.

1. NaNoWriMo stands for "National Novel Writing Month," with a website, forums, and a national following. Lots of books actually get written during this time period (in 2005, there were 59,000 participants and 9769 winners). You "win" NaNoWriMo by writing 50,000 words by midnight on November 30th. Every year, there are many winners. No awards are given; however, each winner gets an official "Winner" web icon and certificate. During the month, there are open forums, where lots of good advice is shared on writing, grammar, and other helpful topics.

2. BIW is similar to NaNoWriMo, but it is for those interested in writing a book in a week. The site is coordinated with a Yahoo Group, and on the first full week of the month, participants go for it. They are scheduled a year in advance. For 2006, the remaining three BIWs are: Oct 2 - 8; Nov 6 - 12; and Dec 4 - 10. The site is run by published authors, includes a chat room, and has a great list of helpful sites.

Second, there are online articles by writers who share their tips on fast writing.

3. Romance writer Elizabeth Rose wrote her first published novel (Eden's Garden) in two weeks, and provides the steps to do write a book in one month in two great posts: How to Write a Book in a Month, part one and part two.

4. Writer John Coyne offers How to Write A Novel in 100 Days or Less, with excellent, practical advice for each step along the way.

2011 Update: I may have found the book for me where you learn to outline and write your novel in 90 days, read about it here. 

2006 Check: The Big Deals So Far

So far this year, Publishers' Marketplace reports 84 "major deals" and 63 "significant deals". Select details are shown below.

Major deals are those starting at $500,000.00; significant deals range from $251,000 - $499,000.00. Now, this is only what PM reports - and it's only what has been reported to PM. This is not a complete list, and from what I understand, this information may not be totally accurate, either.

Major Deals:

Fiction: Thriller (10)
Fiction: Women's/Romance (9)
Fiction: Mystery/Crime (4)
Fiction: Debut (2)

The only major deal in non-fiction (religion, spirituality) went to romance writer Debbie Macomber for her book Knit Together: Discover God's Pattern for Your Life, saying that when we come to recognize our deepest longing, we can discover our potential and reach for our dreams, with her own journey of discovery weaved throughout the book.

The nine romance writers with major deals are: Carly Phillips, Kat Martin, Madeline Hunter, Karen Robards, Stephanie Laurens, Teresa Medeiros, Eloisa James, Kris Radish. All these deals are multi-book deals - mostly two books, sometimes three.

The four mystery/crime writers with major deals are: Iris Johansen (8 books, "multi-million dollar" deal); Ariana Franklin (2 books, "seven figure" deal); Joseph Wambaugh (1 book); Jacqueline Winspear (2 books).

The ten thriller writers with major deals are: Chelsea Cain (3 books); co-authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (2 books); Mitch Silver (1 book, a debut); Harlan Coben (2 books); Stephen J. Cannell (2 books, Scully series); C.J. Box (3 books, all stand alones); James Rollins (3 books, Sigma Force series); Erica Spindler (3 books); Kathleen McGowan (3 books, first being her initially self-published The Expected One); Dale Brown (2 books).

Significant Deals:

Fiction: Debut (2)
Fiction: Mystery/Crime (4)
Fiction: Thriller (4)
Fiction: Women's/Romance (2)
Non-fiction: Religion/Spirituality (2)

The two romance writers with significant deals are: Allison Brennan (three romantic suspense) and Julia London (1 romance).

The four mystery/crime writers with significant deals are: Linwood Barclay (1 book); Margaret Coel (2 more in her Wind River series); Lisa Lutz (1 book), P.J. Parrish (3 books).

Watching the Deals-4

This month, a significant deal for a romance writer was revealed, when Julia London's latest romance was sold to Pocket.

Recent Romance Sales:

NYT bestselling author Julia London's untitled romance, to Maggie Crawford at Pocket, in a significant deal, by Jenny Bent at Trident Media Group (world). Significant deal means $251,000 - $499,000.00.

Jennifer Oko's debut GLOSS, a peek at the ratings-driven, celebrity-mad world of TV news, told through the eyes of a young morning show producer who finds herself in jail after working on what she thought was just a fluffy feature, to Selina McLemore at Mira, in a two-book deal, by Stephanie Kip Rostan at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency (World).

Francis Ray's ONLY YOU, the fifth novel of the Graysons of New Mexico series, in which Sierra Grayson falls in love with a compelling stranger, which leads to unforseen and almost disastrous consequences, to Monique Patterson at St. Martin's, for publication in summer 2007, by Elaine Koster at the Elaine Koster Agency.

Annie Windsor's BLOODLINE, the first in a paranormal trilogy, the story of a warrior-witch, a NYPD detective and the terrible murder that brings them together, to Charlotte Herscher at Ballantine, in a very nice deal, in a three-book deal, by Nancy Yost of Lowenstein-Yost (World). Vice nice deal means $50,000 - $99,000.00.

Molly O'Keefe's JIGSAW HEARTS, about a tortured journalist hiding from the world and the FBI agent sent undercover to investigate him, to Wanda Ottewell for Harlequin Superromance, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, by Pam Hopkins at Hopkins Literary Associates.

Marie Bostwick's untitled, again to Audrey LaFehr at Kensington, in a nice deal, by Jill Grosjean at Jill Grosjean Literary Agency.

Maya Reynolds's YOU'VE BEEN A BAD GIRL, to Tracy Bernstein at NAL, by Jacky Sach at BookEnds.

Recent Mystery Sales:

Timothy Boyd's A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART, launching a mystery series about Bangkok, and THE MILLION-DOLLAR MINUTE, the second in the series, in which the hero finds himself stuck between North Korean counterfitters, the Secret Service, and his long-estranged father's cry for help, to Marjorie Braman at William Morrow, in a pre-empt, by Bob Mecoy at Creative Book Services (World).

Martyn Waites's BONE MACHINE: A Joe Donovan Thriller, the second in the series, in which Joe Donovan and his crack team of investigators infiltrate a gangland prostitution ring but discover their quarry's a deranged serial killer, to Claiborne Hancock at Pegasus, in a nice deal, by Jane Gregory of Gregory and Company (US). Nice deal means $1 - $49,000.00.

Recent Thriller Sales:

Chicago Tribune editor/reporter Gerry Doyle's speculative thriller, DRAGON, pitting a CIA forensic scientist with a Navy SEAL team investigating deaths aboard a North Korean submarine defecting to the US, to Jackie Swift of McBooks Press, for publication in November 2007, by Lois Bennett at Bennett & West Literary Agency (US).

-- From Publishers' Marketplace.

Natural Reader - Help in Editing

When you're alone and editing your work, hearing the words come back to you helps. There's an excellent and free online AT&T service that offers voice recognition software at NaturalReaders.Com. (Technically, this stuff is called "text to speech" software.)

The free version offers a male voice that is rather electronic, but if you don't mind 2001's HAL reading your work back to you, then you'll be fine. For those who prefer a more human feel, both male and female readers are offered (there is a selection) for a cost: the Professional option is $39.95 while the Enterprise version is $79.50. Each option has lots of bells and whistles (MP3 converter, etc.) if you're interested in that sort of thing.

Personally, I'm happy with HAL. Remember? "Hello, Dave ...."

What's Your Genre?

Who do you read? That's what you should write, so they say. Here are books/authors I've read recently - some, if not most, are favorites:

Cozy
Tamar Myers (Magdalena Yoder)
MC Beaton (Agatha Raisin)
Nancy Bell (Biggie)
Alexander McCall Smith (Mme Ramotswe)
Susan Conant (Holly Winter)
Diane Mott Davidson (Goldy Bear)

Hard-Boiled
James M. Cain
Raymond Chandler
Dashiell Hammett
John D. McDonald

Legal Thriller
Lisa Scottoline (all)
John Grisham
Earl Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason)

Private Eye/Caper
Janet Evonovich (all)
Sue Grafton (Kinsey Milhone)
Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody)

Whodunit-Classic
Elizabeth George (Inspector Linley)
Agatha Christie (Poirot, Marple)
Carolyn Hart (Henrie O)
PD James (Inspector Adam Dalgliesh)

True Crime
Diane Fanning (all)
Frank Abagnale (Catch Me If You Can)

Science Fiction
Patricia Briggs (Mercedes series)

Romantic Suspense
Daphne DuMaurier - Rebecca
Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre

Romance
Margaret Mitchell - Gone With the Wind
Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice
George Eliot - Middlemarch
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities

Here's my quick list - I know I've missed some. Already, I see that I'm driven by characterization in my reading, as well as my writing. Ethical dilemmas and the fight between good and evil also form a theme in this list. Humor and wit are there. And, I'm much more focused on mysteries than romance. All, good to know.

Watching the Deals-3

Recent Romance Sales:

Annie Windsor's BLOODLINE, the first in a paranormal trilogy, the story of a warrior-witch, a NYPD detective and the terrible murder that brings them together, to Charlotte Herscher at Ballantine, in a very nice deal, in a three-book deal, by Nancy Yost of Lowenstein-Yost (World). "Very nice deal" means $50-99,000.00.

Molly O'Keefe's JIGSAW HEARTS, about a tortured journalist hiding from the world and the FBI agent sent undercover to investigate him, to Wanda Ottewell for Harlequin Superromance, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, by Pam Hopkins at Hopkins Literary Associates. "Nice deal" means $1-49,000.00.

Marie Bostwick's untitled, again to Audrey LaFehr at Kensington, in a nice deal, by Jill Grosjean at Jill Grosjean Literary Agency.

Roxanne Rustand's INTENSIVE CARE, in which a couple who marries against all odds faces a serious accident, bringing into focus their joy, mistakes, and heartbreak, to Johanna Raisanen at Harlequin Everlasting, in a nice deal, by Roberta Brown at the Brown Literary Agency (World).

Sharlene MacLaren's LOVING MISS MERIWETHER, in which a young Bostonian woman travels to Kentucky to assume the job as schoolteacher, but finds tender love instead, and SARAH, MY BELOVED, in which a woman travels to Kentucky as a mail-order bride only to find her intended has married another, to Christine Whitaker at Whitaker House, in a nice deal, by Joyce Hart at Hartline Literary Agency (world).

Deborah Wright's THE HISTORY OF LUCY'S LOVE LIFE IN 10 1/2 CHAPTERS, in which Lucy, fired from her job as assistant to a scientist, retaliates by stealing her boss' prototype for a time travel machine, meeting history's most famous lovers, and trying to discover the true nature of love and if the love of her life has been right under her nose, to Alicia Bothwell Mancini at Plume, by Melissa Chinchillo at Fletcher & Parry, on behalf of Simon Trewin at PFD UK (NA).
UK rights to Little, Brown.

Kristin Harmel's THE ART OF FRENCH KISSING, in which a charmingly neurotic record exec in search of the perfect kiss in Paris stumbles upon much more with a headstrong journalist with a family secret while she tries in vain to save the public image of her volatile, zany rock star client, to Rebecca Isenberg at Warner Five Spot, in a nice deal, by Jenny Bent at Trident Media Group (world).

Recent Mysteries Sold:

Darlene Franklin's GUNFIGHT AT GRACE GULCH, a reenactment of a famous gunfight during Oklahoma's centennial goes terribly wrong, to Susan Downs at Barbour, in a nice deal, by Tamela Hancock Murray at Hartline Literary Agency.

Lisa Harris's BAKER'S FATAL DOZEN, in which a baker goes missing and a woman is hot on the trail of a sticky scandal that begins with murder, to Susan Downs at Barbour, in a nice deal, by Joyce Hart at Hartline Literary Agency (World).

Nancy Mehl's A BIRD IN THE HAND, in which a woman is working hard to get her late aunt's rare bookstore on its feet when she discovers an old map tucked within the pages of a book, to Susan Downs at Barbour, in a nice deal, by Janet Benrey at Hartline Literary Agency.

Sara Ann Freed Memorial Award winner Karen E. Olson's WATERLOGGED, the next Annie Seymour mystery, moving to Kristen Weber at NAL, in a two-book deal, by Jack Scovil at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency (NA).

From Publisher'sMarketplace.Com.

And, just to keep things in perspective, remember that the most expensive book ever published is hitting the shelves this Fall: Random House paid $8,000,000 for the new book from Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain. Thirteen Moons arrives in October.

How They Do It -1: Nora Roberts

In a recent article, Nora Roberts explained her work ethic as well as how she works.

First, she writes 8 to 5, Monday through Friday.
Second, she does this consistently.
Third, she limits her commitments: she relates that she may not see anyone other than her family for days, or weeks, at a time.

As for how she works, she doesn't plot nor does she outline. She works on one book at a time, and completes it in three drafts. Beginning with a key character, or setting, or event, she builds a story from there - crafting a story that she would want to read.

For example, in her latest - Angels Fall - she began with the key idea of a woman who sees a murder, but she is not close enough to stop it, and too isolated to be able to get other help in time. Later, when she reports the killing, she isn't believed.

"That's how I build," Roberts said. "What's the situation? And here is basically the setting I'm thinking of. ... What is she doing there? Why did she come there? Did she live there? Did she move there? Is she visiting, passing through ... and why doesn't anybody believe her? Oh, well, maybe nobody believes her because she's not only new in town, but she's a little bit crazy. Oh, that's good!"

At the age of 55, Nora Roberts has had 165 published works under both her name and the pen name JD Robb. What's her secret? "I think I have a really strong work ethic, plus I really love the work. I think if you love what you do, you do a lot of it. I have a lot of discipline ... and I have a fast pace."

Rules for Writing Romantic Suspense

Nora Roberts has an article entitled Crafting Romantic Suspense available online. While it doesn't have a rule list, it does have lots of info.

Deidre Savoy has a good how-to article, as well: her view being that romantic suspense is a full romance and a full murder mystery, combined.

From Becci Clayton, there are seven rules for writing romantic suspense (go here for the full article:

1. Romantic Relationship - First and foremost, these stories are romance.

2. Logical Suspense Plot - As with any suspense story, any error in logical suspense will not be forgiven by the reader.

3. Include Sexual Tension - ... a careful balance must be created between the suspense and the romantic relationship and the internal and external conflicts.

4. Insure the Correct Use of Language - ... A romantic suspense tends to be more spare and "clean" or "everyday" where straightforward romance tends to have a more emotional, intimate descriptive flavor.

5. Get the Details Right - ... If you are writing a story set in the early 1960's, DON'T put a laser sight on the murder rifle. They weren't available to the public yet....

Not as well defined as other genres, eh? Perhaps reading through books considered "Romantic Suspense" helps .... And before you think contemporary works, like that of Nora Roberts, Suzanne Brockmann, and Catherine Coulter, remember Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

Oh, and there's a sub-sub-genre here: humorous romantic suspense, with Jayne Ann Krentz leading that pack.

Author Interviews Worth Your Time

From Elizabeth George, the mystery novelist and creator of the Inspector Lynley series (currently on PBS) an interview that includes the advice to write an author a note of appreciation for their work, when you stumble across something that really moves you.

American Grand Master Lawrence Block has an interview which includes the savvy encouragement to write what you would like to read. Lots more here.

Robert B. Parker, creator of Spenser and Jesse Stone, talked about his writing process: five pages a day, no outline. Yep, that's right: no outline.

P.D. James told Salon Magazine that she loves the way that writing mysteries allows her to bring order out of disorder, and while she mentions many great mystery writers (Chandler, MacDonald, Hammett), her favorite author of all time: Jane Austen - because of this shared love of order.

Carolyn Hart, master of the cozy mystery, joins with the advice to write what you want to read - ignoring the market, as well as how she fell into cozies.

Many more writer interviews are available for free downloading at The Paris Review. The masters are here: Truman Capote, TS Eliot, Dorothy Parker, Shelby Foote, PD James, John Irving.

For more mystery writer interviews, try Houston's Murder By the Book site.

Rules for Writing Mysteries

Writing a murder mystery is different than other kinds of fiction. There are rules to follow, and there's the trick: to tell the story of a killing (or more) in an entertaining manner, when it's been done so often before, and so well.

Masters of the craft have offered their own insight. Listen to Agatha Christie give some tips during a BBC interview.

One of my personal favorites is James M. Cain, who advises (in the preface to Double Indemnity):

"I make no conscious effort to be tough, or hard-boiled, or grim, or any of the things I am usually called. I merely try to write as the character would write, and I never forget that the average man, from the fields, the streets, the bars, the offices and even the gutters of his country, has acquired a vividness of speech that goes beyond anything I could invent, and that if I stick to this heritage, this logos of the American countryside, I shall attain a maximum of effectiveness with very little effort."

Online, you can read the excellent Atlantic Monthly article written by Raymond Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder.

Elmore Leonard has 10 Writing Rules, the full context appearing on his website with an edited version below:

1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” . . .
5. Keep your exclamation points under control.
6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

American Grand Master Hillary Waugh offers the following six rules:

1. All clues discovered by the detective must be made available to the reader. (This is where Fair Play comes in.)
2. The murderer must be introduced early. (This doesn’t mean he has to make a personal appearance, but the reader must know of his existence.)
3. The crime must be significant… usually murder, though kidnapping, blackmail, theft and the like will also do.
4. There must be detection. The solution must not be stumbled on; it must be sought and found.
5. The number of suspects must be known, and the murderer must be among them.
6. Nothing extraneous may be introduced.


Finally, from the creator of Phylo Vance, S.S. Van Dine, the following, oft-quoted twenty (20) stringent rules are proscribed:

1. The reader must have equal opportunity with the detective for solving the mystery. All clues must be plainly stated and described.
2. No willful tricks or deceptions may be placed on the reader other than those played legitimately by the criminal on the detective himself.

3. There must be no love interest. The business in hand is to bring a criminal to the bar of justice, not to bring a lovelorn couple to the hymeneal altar.

4. The detective himself, or one of the official investigators, should never turn out to be the culprit. This is bald trickery, on a par with offering someone a bright penny for a five-dollar gold piece. It's false pretenses.

5. The culprit must be determined by logical deductions - not by accident or coincidence or unmotivated confession. To solve a criminal problem in this latter fashion is like sending the reader on a deliberate wild-goose chase, and then telling him, after he has failed, that you had the object of his search up your sleeve all the time. Such an author is no better than a practical joker.

6. The detective novel must have a detective in it; and a detective is not a detective unless he detects. His function is to gather clues that will eventually lead to the person who did the dirty work in the first chapter; and if the detective does not reach his conclusion through an analysis of those clues, he has no more solved the problem than the schoolboy who gets his answer out of the back of the arithmetic.

7. There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better. No lesser crime than murder will suffice. Three hundred pages is far too much pother for a crime other than murder. After all, the reader's trouble and expenditure of energy must be rewarded.

8. The problem of the crime must be solved by strictly naturalistic means. Such methods for learning the truth as slate-writing, ouija-boards, mind-reading, spiritualistic seances, crystal-gazing, and the like, are taboo. A reader has a chance when matching his wits with a rationalistic detective, but if he must compete with the world of spirits and go chasing about the fourth dimension of metaphysics, he is defeated ab initio.

9. There must be but one detective - that is, but one protagonist of deduction - one deus ex machina. To bring the minds of three or four, or sometimes a gang of detectives to bear on a problem, is not only to disperse the interest and break the direct thread of logic, but to take an unfair advantage of the reader. If there is more than one detective the reader doesn't know who his co-dedutcor is. It's like making the reader run a race with a relay team.

10. The culprit must turn out to be a person who has played a more or less prominent part in the story - that is, a person with whom the reader is familiar and in whom he takes an interest.

11. A servant must not be chosen by the author as the culprit. This is begging a noble question. It is too easy a solution. The culprit must be a decidedly worth-while person - one that wouldn't ordinarily come under suspicion.

12. There must be but one culprit, no matter how many murders are committed. The culprit may, of course, have a minor helper or co-plotter; but the entire onus must rest on one pair of shoulders; the entire indignation of the reader must be permitted to concentrate on a single black nature.

13. Secret societies, camorras, mafias, et al. have no place in a detective story. A fascinating and truly beautiful murder is irredeemably spoiled by any such wholesome culpability. To be sure, the murderer in a detective novel should be given a sporting chance; but it is going too far to grant him a secret society to fall back on. No high-class, self-respecting murderer would want such odds.

14. The method of murder, and the means of detecting it, must be rational and scientific. That is to say, pseudo-science and purely imaginative and speculative devices are not to be tolerated in the roman policier. Once an author soars into the realm of fantasy, in the Jules Verne manner, he is outside the bounds of detective fiction, cavorting in the uncharted reaches of adventure.

15. The truth of the problem must at all times be apparent - provided the reader is shrewd enough to see it. By this I mean that if the reader, after learning the explanation for the crime, should reread the book, he would see that the solution had, in a sense, been staring him in the face - that all the clues really pointed to the culprit - and that, if he had been as clever as the detective, he could have solved the mystery himself without going on to the final chapter. That the clever reader does often thus solve the problem goes without saying.

16. A detective novel should contain no long descriptive passages, no literary dallying with side-issues, no subtly worked-out character analyses, no "atmospheric" preoccupations. Such matters have no vital place in a record of crime and deduction. They hold up the action, and introduce issues irrelevant to the main purpose, which is to state a problem, analyze it, and bring it to a successful conclusion. To be sure, there must be a sufficient descriptiveness and character delineation to give the novel verisimilitude.

17. A professional criminal must never be shouldered with the guilt of a crime in a detective story. Crimes by house-breakers and bandits are the province of police departments - not of authors and brilliant amateur detectives. A really fascinating crime in one committed by a pillar of a church, or a spinster noted for her charities.

18. A crime in a detective story must never turn out to be an accident of a suicide. To end an odyssey of sleuthing with such and anti-climax is to hoodwink the trusting and kind-hearted reader.

19. The motives for all crimes in detective stories should be personal. International plottings and war politics belong in a different category of fiction - in secret-service tales, for instance. But a murder story must be kept gemuetlich, so to speak. It must reflect the reader's everyday experiences, and give him a certain outlet for his own repressed desires and emotions.

20. And (to give my Credo an even score of items) I herewith list a few of the devices which no self-respecting detective-story writer will now avail himself of. They have been employed often, and are familiar to all true lovers of literary crime. To use them is a confession of the author's ineptitude and lack of originality. (a) Determining the identity of the culprit by comparing the butt of a cigarette left at the scene of the crime with the brand smoked by the suspect. (b) The bogus spiritualistic seance to frighten the culprit into giving himself away. (c) Forged fingerprints. (d) The dummy-figure alibi. (e) The dog that does not bark and thereby reveals the fact that the intruder is familiar. (f) The final pinning of the crime on a twin, or a relative who looks exactly like the suspected, but innocent, person. (g) The hypodermic syringe and knockout drops. (h) The commission of the murder in a locked room after the police have actually broken in. (i) The word-association test for guilt. (j) the cipher, or code letter, which is eventually unraveled by the sleuth.

Source: Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Fiction
by S.S. Van Dine (pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright) - originally published in the American Magazine (1928-Sep),and included in omnibus Philo Vance Murder Cases (1936).

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