Over 40 Romances: Last Chance Harvey Gets Okay Ratings

Rotten Tomatoes gives it an okay rating (75%) so maybe it's worth your while to go and check out this year's over-50 romantic comedy, Last Chance Harvey.

To sum it up from the reviews I've read, it's Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson doing their part to keep up with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton in Something's Gotta Give ... and that's going to be very hard to do.

Add to that, Hoffman is 71 and Thompson is 49. Poor Emma. Somethings in Hollywood never change -- note to self: romance better served where hero is not so old that he can be the dad of the over-40 or over-50 heroine. Geez.

By the way, Diane Keaton was born in 1945, Jack Nicholson in 1937 ... Keaton at 57 not only made more sense coupling with Nicholson at 66, web bios report the two stars actually dated back in the 70s.

For another viewpoint, check out SmackDown! Last Chance Harvey (2008) vs. Something's Gotta Give (2003)

Bottom line: hopefully, someone out there is recognizing a market for over-40 romance stories on the shelves and on the screen ... BabyBoomers do fall in love ... and aassuming this to be true, the best one hasn't hit yet.

Not Everybody's Sales Are Going Down - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

Over at GalleyCat, there's some good news for writers:

"Overall, fantasy sales are down 18 percent compared to the first 49 weeks of 2007, but mass market paperback sales are up 14 percent—and overall romance sales are up 83 percent, with mass market paperbacks alone experiencing a 50 percent boost. And that's not even considering how many romance books might, in a different climate, have been categorized as fantasies..."

That's right: Mass market paperbacks are skyrocketing in sales ... and romance sales were up 83%.

Anything that's up 83% in this economy is big, big news.

New Penguin "eSpecials" from Penguin tying Hardback with E-Book updates

Starting with the debut of Alan Greenspan's The Age of Turbulence in paperback, Penguin is offering an e-book in tandem with the paperback release.

Penguin is marketing them as "eSpecials."

As an example, the Greenspan e-book is based upon the original work's epilouge, and it's my understanding that this e-book will be periodically updated, to address future changes in our fluctuating economy.

Check out all the details over at Penguin's blog -- New "eSpecials" from Penguin Marks a First in eBook Publishing.

With our economy being what it is, looks like there may be a lot of "e-book specials" for Mr. Greenspan ....

Over 40 Romances: An Untapped Market for Romance Novels?

Is it just me, or does it look like there's an untapped market for romance novels featuring protagonists that are 40+ or even 50+?

Consider the aging Baby Boomers and then go read the list over at All About Romance (Novels, Reviews, Books, Reading) - Special Title Listings: Older Couples.

After all, Something's Gotta Give found a nice audience ....

It's National Novel Writing Month - Again

Sure, for most people November 2008 is a big deal because we're electing our president, but for many writers out there, November means one gut-wrenching thing: it's NaNoWriMo time again.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is an annual challenge to put 50,000 words of a story down on paper in 30 days. Hopefully, in some sort of organizational format so you end up with the first draft of a publishable work when the bell rings.

Here's the website if you dare.

At 1667 words per day to meet quota, you're only 3334 words behind as of the date of this post ....

Writing Synopses

Lynn Viehl, over at Paperback Writer, has a great post on writing synopses - and it includes links to other sources of information, as well. One of those links, for example, is to Charlotte Dillon's collection of over 50 links dealing with writing synopses (includes examples, runs the gamut really).

What's a synopsis?

It's a chapter-by-chapter summary of your novel, written so your editor doesn't have to read your book in its entirety. Should end up between 2 - 15 pages, depending upon the size of your manuscript.

Lynn Viehl recommends you write your synopsis BEFORE you write the novel itself, one of her hints for NANOWRIMO ....

Lydia the Tattooed Lady

I caught part of Dick Cavett's famous interview of Groucho Marx the other day, and was thrilled to hear Groucho singing Lydia, The Tattooed Lady ... which you'll remember, was also sung by Tracey Lord's little sister in The Philidephia Story ....

I'm putting the lyrics here because it's my blog and I want to ... and for your listening pleasure, here are the links to listen to both Groucho Marx sing this little ditty as well as Virginia Weidler from the movie:

At the Circus
The Philidelphia Story

Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?
Lydia The Tattooed Lady.
She has eyes that folks adore so,and a torso even more so.
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclo-pidia.
Oh Lydia The Queen of Tattoo.
On her back is The Battle of Waterloo.
Beside it, The Wreck of the Hesperus too.
And proudly above waves the red, white, and blue.
You can learn a lot from Lydia!

La-la-la...la-la-la.La-la-la...la-la-la.

When her robe is unfurled she will show you the world,i
f you step up and tell her where.
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paree,or Washington crossing
The Delaware.

La-la-la...la-la-la.La-la-la...la-la-la.

Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?
Lydia The Tattooed Lady.
When her muscles start relaxin',up the hill comes Andrew Jackson.
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclo-pidia.
Oh Lydia The Queen of them all.
For two bits she will do a mazurka in jazz,
with a view of Niagara that nobody has.And on a clear day you can see Alcatraz.
You can learn a lot from Lydia!

La-la-la...la-la-la.La-la-la...la-la-la.

Come along and see Buffalo Bill with his lasso.
Just a little classic by Mendel Picasso.
Here is Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon.
Here's Godiva, but with her pajamas on.

La-la-la...la-la-la.La-la-la...la-la-la.

Here is Grover Whelan unveilin' The Trilon.
Over on the west coast we have Treasure Isle-on.
Here's Nijinsky a-doin' the rhumba.
Here's her social security numba.

La-la-la...la-la-la.La-la-la...la-la-la.

Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclo-pidia.
Oh Lydia The Champ of them all.

She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet.
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat.
And now the old boy's in command of the fleet,
for he went and married Lydia!
I said Lydia...
(He said Lydia...)
They said Lydia...
We said Lydia, la, la!

Who Writes the Best Dialogue?

I wanted to know which fiction writers were known for writing the best dialogue, and here's what I found - from all sorts of sources (literary agents, critics, readers, etc.) - these names were mentioned much more than once:

Elmore Leonard
Ed McBain
Robert B. Parker
Nora Roberts

Getting Stories From Real Life - 2: More From Casey Anthony

Recordings of the police interviews (interrogations?) of Casey Anthony have been released by the authorities, and audio versions are available for downloading online. (Get the audio here.)

Take these, compare them with the transcriptions contained in the 400 pages of police files previously released for download and you've got some interesting source material for consideration. (Get the 400 pages here.)

For example, listening to Casey Anthony's smooth delivery about her work at Universal, dropping off the baby with Zanny the Nanny, etc., is very educational when you've read the corresponding transcripts in the 400 pages. Consider both the questions and the answers surrounding her admission that she's been lying to the policemen....

Personally, I think this is a great help in learning how to write dialogue. I'm particularly fascinated with how she pauses, her choice of words, the ramblings and the sparceness ... absolutely.

As a lawyer, deposition transcripts have held some of this information for me. Video depos were always preferred, if they were cost-effective, because the jury would get so much more information from them. Having a lawyer take the stand to read from a transcript isn't the same at all: a tremendous amount of information is lost, even if you do get to read the question, "were you lying then or are you lying now?" and the inevitably doomed response (those are the moments that a litigator lives for) ...

Juicy depositions notwithstanding, these Anthony police interviews are much more enlightening than any deposition I've seen or heard or read. And, it's not often that the real world provides such an opportunity.

One last thing -- remember how Dean Koontz is adamant that the only word to be used when writing dialogue is the word "said"? No 'he explained', no 'she exclaimed', no 'he gasped' ... you get the idea.

Well, that Koontz rule makes so much more sense to me after this Casey Anthony lesson. Not only do I believe that anything aside from the word "said" serves only to distract, if the dialogue is authentic, it's the only thing that's needed - or that even makes sense.

IMHO.

Getting Stories From Real Life: the Casey Anthony Saga

Along with most of the country, I'm watching the Caylee Anthony saga unfold daily - almost hourly at this point - praying that the little girl miraculously will be found alive.

As an attorney appointed to represent abused and neglected children in our local Children's Court, I think I come to the case with a bit of a different perspective than others might ... and as a writer, I can't help but note a few things in my fiction-writing journal, as well. Such as:

1. The Anthony family has become so overwhelmed that they're seeking personal assistants to help them with the media, etc. - at no cost to them.
Source: the Orlando Sentinel, August 5, 2008.

From my notes: personal assistants? They're seeking free personal assistants? What happened to asking for volunteers to help search for a missing child? Even Scott Peterson wasn't this stupid.

2. Casey and the rest of her family all refer to the mysterious Zenaida Gonzalez as the "nanny."
Source: WFTV - Orlando.

From my notes: nanny? Even my wealthiest friend, in her mansion on Town Lake with a real live nanny, doesn't refer to the nanny as a nanny. Please. An unemployed 23-year-old? How about the word "babysitter"??? Talk about high falutin' ....

3. The relationship between Casey and her mother Cindy is a fountain of character information, not only in the way that Cindy first called 911 to report her granddaughter missing - and to ask that her daughter be arrested for stealing from her; but also in their discussions about Cindy being in the media, and Casey's irritation that the family seemed to be more concerned about Caylee than about Casey.
Source: Investigation Discovery.Com

From my notes: There's lots of talk about Casey Anthony's surreal demeanor - to the point that personality disorders and other forms of mental illness are being bandied about ... but Cindy Anthony seems rather bizarre in her own right, from my perspective. The tour of the home on Greta's show was fascinating - Cindy doesn't seem depressed or anxious or grieving either.

One has to wonder about the dynamics in that home prior to Caylee going missing. Looks like Caylee was the apple of everyone's eye - her room was a toy store, out back she had her playhouse, her sandbox, and more toys. Lots of photos of the tot.

I found it curious that Cindy pointed out a framed collage of photos surrounding a copy of Caylee's birth certificate to Greta during the tour. Said she had made it for the shower - which happened after Caylee was born. The certificate was surrounded by photos of the newborn. I think it's telling that it was hanging not in the mother's room, but in the tot's room. Fascinating, really.

Boundary issues? Cindy not respecting Casey as Mom? Cindy wanting to replace Casey as mom?

Was this child seen as property? They both seem to have the emotions more appropriate to a stolen or missing car than for a stolen or missing two year old girl.

What has to happen for a mother to have her daughter arrested for taking property? Some might say tough love, but I'm wondering.

I'm wondering if Caylee became the princess of the household, and Casey became an embarrassing bother (high school dropout, no job, etc.) ... did Casey fight back by taking away Caylee? I think it's in the 911 calls that Cindy threatens to take Caylee away from Casey ....

Why do I think of the mother played by Sissy Spacek in the movie "In the Bedroom"?

There's evil in this story.

Appearances seem so important - a story where the mother wants to get rid of the daughter but has to do it through socially acceptable methods (like arrest), a story where a daughter becomes so needy that she's skipping from man to man, preening for the cameras, deceiving herself as well as others, presenting herself to others as someone glamorous (telling folk she works for Universal, she has a nanny, etc. - even the "hot bodies" contest plays in here), unable to face cruel truths in her life.

There's shame in this story, too.

Dean Koontz, Dreyer's Almond Crunch Bar, and You

Over at Amazon.com, Dean Koontz has given writers a little juicy tidbit on writing angst ... not only did he spend hours in deliberation non-writers would dismiss as silly or (ahem) mad, but he did the obviously wise thing to do when faced with a dilemma.

Yes, he did eat ice cream. And, yes, he recommends it.

Personally, I've just found these cute little Ben and Jerry individual cups for a buck, they even come with a little spoon in the lid. Thanks to Dean Koontz, I now find them to be a writing necessity not merely a mindless temptation and I'll be stocking up those little jewels this weekend.

This is not the first time that I have thought: Thank God for Dean Koontz.

PS On a serious note, Dean Koontz's tidbit on the Amazon site is important to read from a writing standpoint - don't miss it - and don't let my fixation on Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream this afternoon distract you from some very good writing information from one of the masters.

Finding An Agent - 3: Read Agent Blogs

Lots of agents are blogging these days, and it's informative to surf through some of these blogs to learn more about the agents, as well as the industry. Among them:

Guide to Literary Agents' Editors Blog - Writer's Digest Books offers its annual Guide with an accompanying website. This is the blog that tag-teams with that site. Great info and it's been updated regularly for the past year. Looks like it's here to stay. Definitely bookmark this one.

BookEnds - Agency blog that's been around since 2006, providing steady, lengthy posting. Wish they'd add a Labels listing in their sidebar (it's a Blogger blog).

The Rejecter - Proven blog, written by an anonymous assistant to a literary agent. Gold mine. (Another anonymous blog with lots of good scoop was Miss Snark; alas, she quit blogging but the archives are worth a surf.)

Et in Arcaedia, ego - Jennifer Jackson's blog (she also has a website) which not only is informative in its own right, but her posts are chocked full of links to other blogs (including agent blogs) that pertain to the subject at hand. Very helpful. (I've also noticed lots of agent blogs link to this blog - it's well liked among her peer group.)

Query Shark - a service to the profession, the fabulous Shark guts query letter after query letter in post after post. Not for the faint of heart.

Folio Literary Management Blog - This is a newbie (it's less than 90 days old as of the date of this post). Posts thus far are very good, and they're coming from more than one agent. Hope it sticks around.

For the Christian market, here are two agent blogs to read: Rachelle Gardner and Chip MacGregor. Chip MacGregor's at MacGregor Literary; Rachelle Gardner is at WordServe Literary.

Great Interview with Janet Evonovich

Click on the title to jump over to a nice, and not too long, interview with Janet Evonovich -- where she discusses writing with humor and promises that "good people do not die in this series!" Whew.

Inspiration: JK Rowling's Harvard 2008 Commencement Address

JK Rowling's commencement address can be watched, or read, in its entirety at the online site for Harvard Magazine (a good read, by the way). It's worth your time to do so.

Here are some excerpts that I want to make sure I remember, so I'm quoting them here but this is far from her entire speech, and the speech is important -- it's important to read, word by word:

Personal Responsiblity

"There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you....

"... choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice...."

Personal Happiness

"...personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two.

Poverty

"... [Poverty] is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.

Failure Can Help You If You Let It

"...Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it.

"...the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.

"Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.

"The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive.

Imagination Is a Responsiblity

"Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s minds, imagine themselves into other people’s places. Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.

"And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. ...I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.

"...What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.

"...Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

Amazon Publishing Great 4 Writers?

Forbe's Sramana Mitra has some very interesting perspectives on Amazon.com's potential to help authors in the long run.

Mitra points out such things as:

Currently, book at $24.95, author receives around $1 -1.50 per book. If Amazon is acting as retailer, marketer, publisher and agent, taking 65% of the book, then author would get 35%.

Same book at $24.95: author gets $8.73 per book.

Lots of discussion of Amazon looking at vertical integration, pointing to BookSurge (see post over at Writer/Lawyer for more on that deal) ...

...best news from her article (emphasis added):

"Over the next few years, Amazon likely will use its power to build direct relationships with authors and gradually phase out publishers and agents. It will first go after the independent print-on-demand self-publishers and get the best authors from that world. Amazon will then take on the large publishers."


Makes that Amazon self-publishing company even more interesting to ponder ....

Edgar Allen Poe Awards - 2008

The Mystery Writers of America announced the 2008 winners of their Edgar awards -- here's the list of nominees with the winner appearing first, in boldface type.

Best Mystery Novel

* Down River by John Hart
• Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
• Priest by Ken Bruen
• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
• Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman

Best First Novel by an American Author

* In the Woods by Tana French
• Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell
• Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard
• Head Games by Craig McDonald
• Pyres by Derek Nikitas

Best Paperback Original

* Queenpin by Megan Abbott
• Blood of Paradise by David Corbett
• Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks
• Robbie’s Wife by Russell Hill
• Who Is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall

Best Fact Crime

* Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Vincent Bugliosi
• The Birthday Party by Stanley Alpert
• Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn't Commit by Kerry Max Cook
• Relentless Pursuit: A True Story of Family, Murder and the Prosecutor Who Wouldn't Quit by Kevin Flynn
• Sacco & Vanzetti: The Men, The Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind by Bruce Watson