Revise until you're content

“Dead Man’s Curve,” a cautionary tale of unbridled ambition, is on its way to my first readers. It’s got dead bodies, captivating women, political corruption and a dogged reporter just trying to do the right thing.

I started work on it in September with what I felt was a really good beginning and a rough outline. As I jotted down ideas and sketched out some scenes, the characters began introducing themselves. You see, I already had the first victim, the murder scene and my protagonist pretty well nailed. What I didn’t have right off was a motive. Wait, that’s not quite true. I had too many possible motives at first. But that gave me choices. (Choices are good.) I’ll get back to that later.

Meantime, I fiddled around writing scenes and dialog for a couple of characters, getting to know them better. Next thing I knew, pieces of the story began to fall into place. That gave me a good start on building the story arc. I could flesh things out later.

I made a conscious decision to let the characters and the story evolve organically. Sometimes I draft a detailed outline if it’s pretty clear where I want things to go. Other times, I write the first part of a story, and based on what’s taking shape, I start the outline somewhere in the middle of the process. Guess what? The organic thing seemed to work out pretty well.

As I often do, I revised as I went, adding a scene and going back to make earlier parts of the story conform to the new material or vice versa, as the case might be. That began to open up additional possibilities that stimulated my imagination even more. (That’s where the fun is.) Although, then I had to eliminate a section that no longer fit in. (I saved it for another project.)

Draft completed, it was time for the serious revisions, which exposed some flaws and sparked some really nice changes, including the title, originally “His Honor’s Death” which wasn’t completely satisfactory. I also added a hired assassin, another murder and made some slight adjustments to the motive I’d chosen during earlier revisions.

Those changes also allowed me to rewrite the denouement, which I think has a lot more impact than in earlier versions.

~ Dave Autry

It's been a busy few months since my last post. My editor at Sisters in Crime Chessie Chapter and I have completed final revisions on one ms, and it is now ready for pre-publication preparation. Looking forward to galleys!

After getting some very helpful feedback from my fellow scribblers in the Rockville Writers' Group, I have sent another ms for a new anthology, Trust & Treachery: Tales of Power, Intrigue, and Violence. The theme: Power struggles, politics, posturing: whether it’s parliament, the royal family, a coven, or your homeowner’s association, power breeds distrust, intrigue, and violence. Sounds just right for my tale of a super secret government agency and one agent's struggle with his latest assignment and his conscience.

Meantime, got to keep the juices--and stories--flowing. Such is a crime fiction writer's life.

~ Dave Autry

"You've Got Mail"

In my email in box the other day was the following message from the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime: “Congratulations! The Chesapeake Crimes editorial committee has selected your story to be included in the fifth volume of the Chesapeake Crimes series, expected to be called Chesapeake Crimes: This Job is Murder!”;

What can I say? I am truly honored to have one of my recent short stories, “Deadrise,” selected for publication along with more than a dozen other Chessie Chapter members, including some well-known and very talented published authors.

Here's a teaser: When an investigative reporter gets in over his head while trying to get the goods on drug smugglers in the Chesapeake Bay, he gets some welcome assistance from a very attractive game warden...I mean a very attractive  Maryland Natural Resources Police officer. (You'll just have to get the book to find out more.)

And while I’m getting all swell-headed and feeling like I just won the lottery, I must credit my comrades in the Rockville Writers’ Group for their support and their invaluable constructive criticism that helped make “Deadrise” even better than I had hoped. (I warned that I would blame them if the story got rejected. And looks like they dodged a bullet this time.)

So, here’s the scoop:

The coordinating editors and editorial committee of Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder are pleased to announce that the following authors' stories have been chosen for inclusion in this anthology, the fifth in the Chesapeake Crimes series:

Donna Andrews  –  Mean Girls
David Autry        –  Deadrise
Jill M. Breslau    –  Murder by Mediation
Karen Cantwell   –  Next Stop
Leone Ciporin     –  A Grain of Truth
E.B. Davis          –   Lucky in Death
Barb Goffman    –   The Lord Is My Shamus
Ellen Herbert      –  To Adjuncts Everywhere
Smita H. Jain      –  An Education in Murder
C. Ellett Logan   –  Alligator Is for Shoes
Shari Randall      –  The Objective Case
Harriette Sackler –  The Factory
Art Taylor           –  When Duty Calls
Cathy Wiley        –  Miked for Murder

Our publisher, Wildside Press, expects this book to be released in the spring of 2012.

Be sure to check back frequently for updates and information on how you can get your very own copy of This Job Is Murder!

- Dave Autry

A visit from Justin Kramon

On Saturday, October 23, the Rockville Writers’ Group had a special guest. Justin Kramon visited us and talked about his novel, Finny. He gave us much good advice about the craft and the writing process as he described his story. It was a delight to hear him talk about how he wrote his novel and the fact that he used humor and even exaggerated the humor to tell some of his story. He talked in particular about the undertakers which I personally found to be funny.

It was a marvel for me to listen to Justin talk about the characters in his book with ease and confidence. One special point he made was that he said he wanted to write something that speaks to people and Finny certainly does. He suggested that we should know the structure of our story; his is divided into three books. His comment encouraged me to go back and look at the structure of my novel and more importantly, realize what it is.

As he talked about his characters and the creation of them, they felt more like “real people” to me and listening to him made me want to see my characters like he does his. He suggested that you think about what your character would be doing on a specific day at a specific time outside the story as a way to know who your characters are. Justin’s secondary characters are very strong and memorable. He pointed out that since they, too are important, that they should have traits that carry them through the story. Certainly, for me, in his story there are three characters that have made a lasting impression with me.

The other members of the group were equally impressed with the visit as is evident by their comments:

Justin’s insights into the writer’s craft were both informative and inspirational. Writers know how much hard work goes into a project on the front end, but Justin noted that working with an editor and the pre-publication process make their own demands on the author. Nevertheless, he said, the end result in his case was an even better book. He said authors need to be open to suggestions and embrace those that improve the work but stick to your guns if they don’t.

-Dave Autry

Justin’s youth belies his tenacity. One imagines his generation as a group of coddled brats who believe the world should be handed to them without any work or integrity. Justin proved to me what a misconception that is. He worked hard to get his book published and continues to push in order to find more readers. I found that inspiring. The one thing I found most interesting was how he kept a card catalogue of his characters so he could remember them down to the last detail. He even went so far as to imagine what one of his characters would have to say during a recent conversation he recently had. He brought his work to life through determination, imagination, and insight.

-Rion Haley

It was great to have Justin Kramon visit our writer's group and very interesting to hear him talk about the craft of writing. According to Justin:

• The main goal of writing is to be able to bring yourself into the world.
• Try to have one major event in each chapter.
• Primary and secondary characters are handled differently but the secondary characters should be easily identifiable. Personal tics can aid with this. In Finny, Justin uses narcolepsy and hyper-cleanliness to help define two of his more memorable characters.

He recommended that writers keep a file on each character full of notes about them and I've started doing that with my own characters. Characters are the bread and butter of the story, the reason readers turn the page is to see what happens to them. Finny is full of memorable characters Plot is the background that characters act against. You set up a protagonist that wants something and then you throw obstacles in their way. One of the things you must always consider is; what is essential to get to the end? He considers finny a 'coming of age' story and it certainly is.

-Joe Radko

To summarize, Justin’s visit was unforgettable. He is very personable and his personality is depicted in his story. We thoroughly enjoyed his visit and hope that he gets an opportunity to visit other groups and share his secrets with them as well.

~Judy Kelly

A Year of Learning to Write

About ten years ago, I decided to take my writing seriously. I thought about the fact that even though I called myself a writer, a novelist, really, I did very little about writing. So, I set out to create an elaborate plan detailing what I would write, and when. Even though the form I created was more complex than the writing itself, I felt good; I was off and ready. But, as time would tell, it was one of those complicated promises that I found myself in the habit of making, and due to the complexity of the plan, the effort would fall by the wayside. So, too did this plan. However, over the years, I looked at my plan from time to time, actually finished a screenplay or two and even a novel. But, I was still unhappy about myself as a writer. I didn’t feel like a “real writer.” 

I tried to assess why writing was so hard and concluded that I didn’t have a writing time established for myself which was a huge source of frustration. I just did what I could when I could. With a full-time job as a teacher and a part-time job as a professor, it was very knotty to find the time to write because much of the paper correcting and lesson planning was done at home. I thought about the plan and how long I had been struggling with my faulty process and I knew I wanted to do something before the ten year mark ended. Doing that would make me feel like I didn’t throw away a decade of my life pretending to be a writer. I assured myself that I would participate in the next conference that was mailed to me. Two days after I made that promise, the Antioch Writers’ Conference brochure appeared in the mail.

During the 2009 Antioch Writers’ Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio, while I was sitting in the fiction session listening to Zakes Mda impart a myriad of techniques and strategies it occurred to me to take two strategies and implement them in my writing.  I knew which two, starred them, even asked questions for clarification. After I left the workshop, I did as I’d promised myself. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was making progress in writing. The two concepts made a huge difference in my stories and I saw that when I received the feedback from my writers’ group.

The next conference was in February, when I attended the Bay to Ocean Writers’ Conference by the Eastern Shore Association, a one day seminar. This conference focused more on the craft of writing. Many sessions were a review of concepts and methods that I had already learned, or should I say, with what I was familiar, but it is helpful to be reminded. Still, I decided to implement two more strategies. Thus far, I had made an effort to include four new methods that I would consciously apply to my writing. By making this a conscious effort, I found that I was eager to write and somehow, I found the time.

In June, I attended the Gettysburg Conference at the Gettysburg College. I was placed in Lee Abbott’s morning fiction session. Each morning two attendees had their work critiqued for one hour each. I found this to be extremely helpful. I loved this conference because we all seemed dedicated to the idea that we needed to help each other enhance what we had submitted rather than try to change the story to something else or give our opinions. I learned that it is easier for me to accept a critique that seems focused on what I submitted. At this conference I vowed, again to take two concepts to apply to my writing. With Lee Abbott it is very challenging to take only two things because he gave us a wealth of information and I found myself frantically writing everything he said.  So, at this point I have applied six techniques to my writing.

In July I went back to the Antioch Writers’ Workshop to round out the year and again took away two new concepts. One was a set of revision tools that Crystal Wilkinson gave to us in the morning fiction session. I always love the Antioch Writers’ Conference because it is small and because I get introduced to so many authors.

Now, that I have begun to add the last two strategies from Antioch to the repertoire of strategies, I can look back over the year and see how things have shaped up for me. Using my new method of implementing these eight strategies has caused me to look closer to my writing and I have a better feel for the direction of the story and the motivation of the characters. It has caused me to pay better attention to dialogue and setting. I believe I have much better openings and realize how I can show the direction of the story in the opening. I also understand about the promises that I have made to the reader and try to make sure that I carry out those promises throughout the story. I can say that writing more often and consciously applying the techniques and methods that I have received from these workshops has greatly improved my writing. And I feel like some part of those almost ten years had some value.

~Judy Kelly

Richard Whittle visits the Rockville Writers' Group

Landing his first book contract, says recovering newspaper reporter and now-published non-fiction author Richard Whittle, was daunting and frustrating. Virtually nothing went as he had imagined it would. But despite the exasperation, he is pleased with the way his book The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey turned out, especially the artwork on the dust jacket.

In a friendly and informative conversation with members of the Rockville Writers' Group, Whittle said that his experience left him wondering if anyone in the book publishing industry really knows what they’re doing. Conflicting advice for writing an agent query letter and book proposal; agents and project managers who don’t return phone calls; agents and editors who heap praise on his topic and his approach, only to declare later that there just wasn’t any potential in the project.

As it turned out, however, The Dream Machine was well received and critically acclaimed. Eric Schmitt, terrorism correspondent with The New York Times, said Whittle “expertly weaves telling technical details with heart-stopping human drama into a riveting, fast-paced history of one of the military's most controversial war machines, the V-22 Osprey.”

New York Times bestselling author Brad Matsen called it a “gripping story of the quest for…an ideal flying machine that transfixed the aviation world and eventually cost billions of dollars and dozens of lives.”

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist and PBS Newshour political analyst, said, “In this compelling and important book a real reporter's reporter asks all the hard questions and refuses to settle for any of the easy answers.”

So, what are some important lessons Whittle learned from his quest for the authors’ equivalent of the Holy Grail? Not surprising, lesson number one is to never give up.

A second important lesson is that not all agents are created equal. An agent gets paid (usually 15 percent of what the author receives) only if the author signs a book deal. Just how much time and effort an agent will devote to shopping your project around to publishers depends on the potential he or she sees in it, so the author must first sell the agent. It is vital that an author learn which agents are appropriate for a particular genre, then craft a compelling query letter and project proposal. Fortunately, Whittle knew someone who knew someone and found an agent who ultimately was able to sell a publishing house on the project.

Then there is the book deal itself. Typically, an author’s advance is based on how well the publisher thinks a book will sell. It is in fact a payment deducted from future royalties. An advance traditionally is intended to support the author financially during the process of writing the book. Whittle received his advance in three installments; one-third upon signing the contract; a third upon delivery of the manuscript; and the final payment upon publication. While certainly welcome income, Whittle said the advance alone was insufficient to support his family and cover his research and travel expenses. And since seven out of ten titles do not earn back their advance, Whittle says he doesn’t expect to get any more money from the publisher, even though The Dream Machine seems to be selling well since its release in April 2010.

One final lesson I’ll touch on in this entry is that Whittle’s experience has taught him that authors have to do their own marketing these days. Publishers rarely sponsor book tours or promote authors and their work anymore. Whittle admits that landing a coveted interview about his book on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show With Jon Stewart was nothing more than a stroke of luck. Stewart was just one of several talk show hosts and reviewers to whom Whittle sent copies of The Dream Machine. And since then, Whittle has been traveling around the country setting up book signings at book stores and speaking with small groups where he sells a few copies.

As for any future book publishing endeavors, Whittle has another book project in the works and hopes what he has learned will make him be more savvy and, maybe, more successful. In the meantime, he has to earn a living and has taken on some contract and freelance writing projects.

So much for riches and fame…but that’s not really why writers write, is it?

--Dave Autry

Follow the voice

Some folks have an inner voice that tells them to play sports or an instrument. For others, that voice drives people to study science or learn a language. My voice wanted out of my head and the natural place for it to go was down on paper. I began writing stories when I was 10 and have written both privately and professionally for the past 30 years.

Much of the writing is pure crap. Sometimes, in the middle of pure crap, there will be a sentence or two that are true gems, sentences that encourage me to expand into stories. However, that is quite rare. But, the voice in my head compels me to write and write I do. I started writing because I was compelled by that inner voice.

That voice has served me well, allowed me to become a documentary writer, a journalist for the AP wire, a magazine writer and more. Quelling that inner voice has helped further my career and helped put food on my table. Even though I’ve now been writing for decades, I still consider myself a bit of a fraud. It isn’t until I’m working on my fictional short stories that I find an internal peace. How can I be a fraud if I’m writing fiction? I wonder if all professional fiction writers were non-fiction frauds and until they realized fiction could legitimize them they went to bed depressed.

I digress. I write because if I don’t, my brain would explode under the weight of all the useless knowledge it holds. By putting pen to paper (yes, I am still an old-fashioned writer, using a pen and paper and not typing it out on a computer) I find that the useless information can go one of two ways: I can generate a short story that will amuse me or I can find something useful to write about for the local paper or a specialty magazine. I mean how many times have you begun writing something with purpose to find that when you’re at the end, the purpose has completely changed. For example, a few weeks ago I began writing a short story about a couple that lived in Bethesda, MD. By the end of the piece, I realized the couple did not have much to say, but a local magazine may buy the piece with some minor alterations.

Moral of this story is that write what you know and write what you don’t know, but if there is any voice in your head telling you to write, obey that voice and you may find some extra cash in your pocket. At the very least, you may find some internal peace.

- Rion Haley

What got me into writing

All my life, I have been a voracious reader. I remember staying up late, trying to finish the last few pages of the newest unputdownable novel. I always dreamed, hoped, that I would someday find within myself a bit of the talent possessed by the authors who created masterpieces, and gave me whole new worlds to dream about.

My forays into writing at the time however, were strictly limited to a few random pieces that got published in school magazines or community newspapers. Although I was frequently praised by my teachers and urged to indulge more in the art and craft of writing, I never did find the time and energy to devote to it - until a few years ago. It was about this time that a certain series geared towards children and young adults captured my imagination. I loved everything about the series - the elaborate plotlines, the true to life and diverse characters, the vibrant and fluid storytelling. Then came the heartbreaking ending.

I call it heartbreaking because it really did break my heart. I thought it denied the series a loftier, more perfect ending that it clearly deserved. The final character and plot arcs left me feeling betrayed. I felt resentment, I felt anger. After boycotting the final installments, I spent a few weeks in misery at having been denied the perfect world of my imagination. Then I realized something. I realized that while I had the right to be dismayed, the author had the right to end his story in whichever way he pleased. If I really wanted to have a world created in a way that I found perfect, I would have to create it myself, and not seek it in works of others.

The following day, during my lunch break, I wrote four paragraphs where my two central characters meet for the first time. By that night I had completed a chapter, and by the end of the week I had a detailed plotline for the whole story. I had embarked on an epic journey, a science fiction book series of five parts - it was going to be long and hard, but I vowed to endure.

- Rupa Basu

How I started writing

My fiction writing journey started in the second grade. My mother joined a book club at the local supermarket and started bringing home classics like Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson. She encouraged me to read them so I could “better” myself…whatever that might have meant to a second grader. While I loved the cover art on those books, the writing style and language were quite challenging and I soon grew tired of stopping to look up words in a dictionary. Then, one  day my father brought home an old typewriter he found in a junkyard. I was fascinated by its mechanical aspects, and all the cool noises it made, but couldn’t figure out what to do with it. There are only so many times one can type “the quick brown fox jumped over the fence.” Anyway, that machine sparked an idea that led to my first experience in fiction writing…sort of. I’d read a paragraph or two from one of those classics, and then rewrite them, changing words and story to suit myself. I’d type a page or two at a time and leave my work on the kitchen table for my mother to read. Encouraged by motherly praise, this continued for a week or two…until some more interesting activity caught my attention…but that was the start.

By the time I was in high school I was a voracious reader, and my favorite assignment was writing book reports. Writing book reports wasn’t exactly writing fiction…it was more writing about fiction… but it led to my second …sort of…fiction writing experience.

Not all of my friends shared my enthusiasm when it came to these assignments. Some would procrastinate until the day the report was due, not having even opened the book they were supposed to write about. On those occasions when we were free to select our own book, I’d sometimes write the reports for them…in the cafeteria…usually on the day they were due. I’d make up the book’s title, author, plot…everything…over the course of twenty minutes. And they actually received decent grades on them.

After high school my fiction writing and general creativity went on a four decade hiatus, but my appetite for reading fiction grew. The more I read fiction the more I wanted to write it. Ten years ago…fueled by conversations overheard…and characters observed…in a Florida bar, I decided I would write my first novel. Eight years later, with many stops and starts in between, I finished the first draft.

It took much too long to write that first draft, but I was hooked on writing…fascinated with being able to create something from nothing…to take a raw idea and play with time, space, characters and events…and build it into 300 pages that can provide a reader with a few hours of escape and
entertainment.

My second novel was drafted in less than a month…and is currently being revised and improved with the invaluable help of my critique group.

- Joe Demasco

How I started writing

Growing up, I read everything I could get my hands on. I remember when I was in the 6th grade, one afternoon I had to take my books back to the public library and asked the librarian to help me find more books. She took me to the young adults section and handed me several books that I had already read. She seemed startled and reluctantly pointed me to adult mysteries. She told me to come back when I reached high school if I wanted to read romance. When I wasn’t reading I was watching movies. I don’t think a movie came to the theater that I didn’t see. I was so inspired by the characters as I watched them express themselves through gestures and dialogue and I sometimes would think of my favorite story characters and how they move or what they would say if they were on the screen .

One day, the students in my third grade class needed to become better readers and the stories we were reading seemed to lack “substance” so they all said. They hated those stories and complained about the books so badly that one evening I sat down and wrote them a story. I thought I could write a story, since I had read so much. Without formal classes or even reading about how to write, I wrote them a story. We discussed character (they identified some things that were not in the story) plot (they also helped me with that), setting, the main idea, details and they just wanted to continue talking about the poor boy who had lost his best friend. When I tried to go back to the stories that the curriculum provided, they told me again that they didn’t want to read those. So, I had to come up with more stories. Thus began my dabbling into the career of writing.

I continued to read, this time focusing on children’s chapter books and decided to take a class at night to learn how the writers did these things. I wanted to know how they came up with ideas, how to choose vocabulary, which I discovered was extremely important, and, how many pages would make a good story. After a while, I got brave and decided to take the techniques about writing for children that I was now learning and shape them into a story. I couldn’t believe that I had written a story and to me it seemed like a good one. But, writing one story wouldn’t make me a writer so, I wrote another story for children 3rd grade and above.

I love creating characters. Sometimes I see my characters as real people having real experiences. One day I found myself referring to a character in my second novel when I was conversing with a friend. When that happened, I realized that I wanted to try my hand at writing screen plays. Again, I bought books, took classes and went to Hollywood to several Selling to Hollywood conferences and to several screenwriting conferences in New York. There, I learned how to develop a good character, which I found is extremely important in screen writing. It also changed the way I see movies. I wrote five screen plays and sent the fifth one out, hoping for an option. I had mild success with it, and because of that, decided to add novel writing to my list. To date, I have written three novels and have also written several short stories. But I must continue to improve. In writing, there is always something to improve and you improve whether you want to or not as long as you’re writing.

-Judy Kelly

What inspired me to start writing?

I was intrigued by the language in the books that I read. As a youngster, I realized that an artful arrangement of words on the page conveyed a meaning beyond the stories they were used to tell, if that makes any sense.

For example, a passage in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped seemed to resonate with me. It’s in the first chapter as the main character, Davie, who has been orphaned, leaves his hometown and is asked by Mr. Campbell, the minister of Essendean, if he were sorry to be leaving. Davie replies, “Why, sir, if I knew where I was going, or what was likely to become of me, I would tell you candidly. Essendean is a good place indeed, and I have been very happy there; but then I have never been anywhere else.”
Stevenson could have written that verbal exchange in any number of ways, but he arranged those words in that particular order to very good affect. And, a few lines later, Davie, the narrator, remarks that “My heart was beating hard at this great prospect now suddenly opening before a lad of seventeen years of age.”

To my mind, there could not be a better invitation than that for the reader to experience the adventurous tale that unfolded on the pages of Stevenson’s book.

So, as I continued to read throughout my life, I became more and more intrigued by how and why various writers arranged the words the way they did — like fitting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together just the right way to form a picture. And I wanted to be able to do that myself.

To my delight, I discovered early on that I had a certain facility with words and, along with a good imagination and encouragement from family and some of my teachers, I decided to become a writer. That eventually led me to a career in journalism and non-fiction writing. All the while I have continued to write poetry and fiction and enjoy the challenge and satisfaction that brings. It’s fun as all get-out.

-Dave Autry