“Did you get my e-mail?”

With my keyboard in my lap, I twisted uncomfortably in my seat, even as I typed the reply.  “Yeah, of course.  Um…which one?”

“The IMPORTANT one.”

My correspondent—we’ll call her Debbie—was a sweet-hearted person and had been a good on-line buddy.  Except for one tragic flaw.

Her penchant for sending Pollyanna e-mails tainted with death threats.

Now, I love inspirational stuff as much as the next person.  And to be fair, I don’t think the Dark Side of the messages even registered with her.  A happy little e-mail fairy, she was intent on spreading the good word to everyone she knew.
Unfortunately, the good word was actually “intimidation”.

I hurriedly delved into my “recently deleted” e-mails, praying something of hers was still there.  Something important.  “Oh!  You mean the one about how the walking stick-figure of Jesus is on an e-mail journey across the world, and if you disrupt the continuity it might bring on the Apocalypse?”

“No, no, not that one.”

I read the next one as fast as my effing dial-up would download it.  “Then you mean the one about how thrilled you are to know such a proud, intelligent, independent woman who’s so capable of making her own decisions, but I absolutely must send this e-mail on to prove it?”

“Nope.  The other one.”

Dammit.  “Oh, okay.  The one about how God loves us so very, very much, and if I don’t spread the word by sending the e-mail to at least fifteen other people within five minutes of receipt, I just might suffer a dark and horrible death, like John Jones of Clayton, Missouri?”

“Wasn’t that the saddest story?”

 “Yeah.  Tragic.  Exactly when did you send this e-mail?”

“Four days ago.”

Eureka!  I had it.  Clicking on “read”, I waited impatiently for the screen to come up.

“Um…Debbie?  What if I don’t think the pattern in the newborn calf’s coat looks like the number ‘666’?”

“Well, pass it on anyway!  It’s important that people know what’s going on in this crazy world.”

I’ve thought about it and thought about it, and I could only come up with one solution for people who indulge in this kind of thing.

Kill them.  Kill them all.

But first be sure you have the right ones.  We can’t afford to attack the innocents, but can’t let the guilty ones continue this campaign of terror.

The answer?
Send an e-mail out to the suspicious ones, an e-mail threatening dire consequences if they don’t pass it on—and, of course, send it back to you.

Yeah.
Got ‘em. 

I admit it. I’m lazy. I hate doing setting research. I’m just interested in getting sentences on the screen before the story thief steals my words. Digging up facts and figures? Who has time for that crap?

It hasn’t always been this way. The first book I wrote (as an
adult) took place in a real town. I was meticulous to the point of dragging DH on a field trip. I fell in love with the area. It was by the water. All the residents owned boats and it was a private community. To this day, I still bug DH about moving there.

Five books later, I’ve taken to creating whole towns. Maybe next I’ll even create a fictional state.  Hell, I might go all out and do an entire country! Still, I often wonder how writers feel about making this stuff up. Is it cheating? And what about readers? When you open a book and find a fictional town, do you connect with the story less? Does a real place add authenticity? Or do fictional cities make the suspension of disbelief that much harder to achieve?

Please join us in welcoming author Jeri Smith-Ready. Her latest novel, Wicked Game is out this month from Pocket Books. After you read her post, leave a comment and you’ll automatically be entered in Jeri’s book giveaway. One lucky poster will win a signed copy of Wicked Game.

And now here’s Jeri!
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Brainspace

Have you ever noticed, when actors go on talk shows to plug their new movies, they’ll often spend time discussing the movie they’re working on now, a movie that won’t be out for another year or two? You can sense that’s what they’re most excited about. It’s filling their ‘brainspace’—the place where their creative and problem-solving energy is flowing like crazy.

I wish I were the kind of writer who could sit down and work for just ten or fifteen minutes, swatting away distractions like meddlesome flies. But I need time to sink into the story’s brainspace. It can take half an hour or more of sitting still, drinking coffee (or tea, in the evening), and staring at the screen before any worthwhile words appear.

There are many enemies of brainspace, including:

* Television
* Family crises
* Illness
* E-mail/Web surfing
* Upcoming release of a new book (hmm, no idea why that one comes to mind right now)

Some of these we can avoid or at least minimize; some we can’t. Most of us aren’t hermits. We can’t seal ourselves into a vault to do our work. So we need to find shortcuts.

How I create brainspace:

* Music: After working on a book for a week or two, I choose music that resonates with its mood and characters and story. Then I play the same music every day when I sit down to write. Eventually I get like Pavlov’s dog: when I hear those opening chords, my brain clicks into writing mode.

* Spider Solitaire: Just one game, I swear, at the beginning of a writing session, while I listen to the music. I see this as easing my brain into the space. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

* Coffee: Usually it’s the second cup of the day, whether it’s 10 am or 4 pm. (It took years, but I have finally stopped feeling guilty for not writing first thing in the morning.) Of course, coffee enhances concentration most (and tastes best) when accompanied by something sweet.

How to tell what’s dominating your brainspace:

* What do you think about when you’re on ‘autopilot,’ i.e., driving, taking a shower, folding laundry?
* What’s the last thing you think about before going to sleep, or the first thing when you wake up?
* What do you dream about?

I’d love to know: how do you create brainspace for your writing? Do you have a ritual? Is it different for each book? Do you yell at people and pets for invading it? Tell me in the comments to enter a drawing for a signed copy of my new vampire book, Wicked Game.

Thanks so much for having me at Southern Fried Chicas, and thanks especially to Tanya for inviting me!

—

Jeri falls into the brainspace of her new vampire series every time she turns on the radio. Wicked Game (and its sequel, Bad to the Bone, coming May 2009) concerns a cadre of vampire disc jockeys and the con artist trying to save their ‘lives.’ Simply Romance Reviews called it “an urban fantasy thrill ride” and “sexy as hell.”

For more about Wicked Game, go here. To visit the DJs and listen to a sample of their shows, click this link. Jeri and her heroine Ciara can also be found on MySpace, though mysteriously never at the same time here and here.

A while back Raine (oopsy) Tanya asked about what we thought of books to movies—so of course I have been pondering that for a while. I *heart* movies, but I don’t get to go see too too many, unless it’s something the kids want to see—with a 6-y-o it can be limiting. So when something like the new Indiana Jones movie comes out… woohoo!

None of my kids had seen any Indy, none were even born when the first three movies came out, hell, for that matter neither was Shia Labeouf—how depressing is that?

Anyhoo, I digress. I bought the first three movies so we could show the boys—it beats getting question after question when we see it. Plus I really *heart* Indian Jones (and Sean Connery—yeah baby) When you see a movie like that, from your youth or a pivitol/impressionable time, it makes you remember what it’s like to think you can do anything… and if you’re lucky maybe you can get some of that exuberance back. (and maybe even write a chapter or two—double-woohoo!) What give you that little extra burst of… well… of woohoo?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day (ie no fighting children, no forgetful hubbys etc). I have two blog posts started and a headache. For that reason I’m going to point you here. Fellow author Shiloh Walker is doing an ebay auction to benefit cyclone victims in Myanmar (via Save the Children). The full list of items can be seen here.

What did you do for Mother’s Day? We saw Iron Man and looked at cats (no I didn’t get one).

I first discovered Jeri after a friend recommended her urban fantasy, Requiem For The Devil last year. The premise was so unique that I immediately ordered a copy from Amazon and waited with baited breath for it to arrive. I’m not exaggerating when I say once I got the book, I couldn’t put it down. I mean, Lucifer was the romantic hero, for God’s sakes!

And the story was in his POV.

Talk about a compelling read.

I was so taken by Requiem that I turned into a total fangirl and contacted Jeri. Not only that, but I also did a write up on my blog last year telling everybody who’d listen to pick up a copy.

Annnnyway, Jeri’s got another novel coming out from Pocket Books, and I can’t wait to read that one! She’s going to be here on Wednesday, May 14th, so be sure to stop by and say hi.



Here’s her bio:

Jeri Smith-Ready has been writing fiction since the night she had her first double espresso. She holds a master’s degree in environmental policy and lives in Maryland with her husband, cat, and the world’s goofiest greyhound.

Her hobbies include cooking and animals—though not at the same time, unless you count the cat’s culinary supervision, which looks remarkably like sitting on the floor waiting for food to drop.

Jeri fosters shelter dogs with Tails of Hope Sanctuary. As of this writing, she has hosted twenty dogs at her home, all of whom have found loving adopters.

“…The primary function of a title is to lure unsuspecting readers into having a go at your story.” ~~ Sinclair Lewis

“A good title is the title of a book that’s successful.” ~~ Somerset Maugham

While looking for something else in a stack of my books, I came across an interesting chapter in one of them about TITLES.
The book was called “Learning to Write Fiction from the Masters” by Barnaby Conrad, and I’d picked it up many years ago just for the variety of great prose between its covers.
What fascinated me about this chapter were the examples of titles chosen by famous authors for infamous books BEFORE publication:

Trimalchio in West Egg  (THE GREAT GATSBY)

Blanche’s Chair in the Moon  (A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE)

They Don’t Build Statues to Businessmen  (VALLEY OF THE DOLLS)

Four and a Half Years of Struggle Against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice  (MEIN KAMPF)

The Mute  (THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER)

Private Fleming, His Various Battles  (THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE)

Something That Happened  (OF MICE AND MEN)

The Man That Was a Thing  (UNCLE TOM’S CABIN)

Bar-B-Que  (THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE)

How important is the title of a book to you?
What are some of your favorites, old or new?

It’s finally happening! One of my favorite book series is coming to a theater near you. The best part is that today I got to take a peek at the trailer, and it looks fabulous!

(more…)

A couple of weeks ago, our transit union went on strike. They’d been in a strike position for weeks, and the contract negotiations had been going on for weeks before that.  But one thing the union promised was 48 hours notice before a strike came into effect—giving time for peeps to make other arrangements.

Little bits of news would leak out about the negotiations, but nothing that was gaining the union much sympathy amongst the general public. Eventually it came time to give that notice; one local news channel had hourly updates. The deadline came and went, then an hour later we heard an agreement was struck. *phew*. Dodged that bullet, now to have the union body vote.

Can you guess what happened next? The majority of workers rejected the agreement and…. *without further warning they went on strike.* We’re talking 12am on a Friday night. Folks were stranded where ever they were.  Can you say bone-headed publicity move? They promised us 48 hrs notice before a strike. The deadline came and went, so another 48hrs notice was needed.

Yes. I am going to tie this into writing, right now. An author needs to keep whatever inherent or implied promise made to the reader. Is this a romance? Make sure the HEA or HFN is there. That’s the promise of a romance.  Do not have the hero falling off a cliff, the main characters parting after a sharing a last kiss and an ‘it’s been a slice. Seeya!’  Sorry, an HEA in book 4 with a second hero after the first hero dies at the beginning of book 1 doesn’t work either.  Show a gun in chapter one? Someone better get shot before the end of the book.  You break the promise, you piss people off. 

Now I’m gonna look at this from a different angle.  Remember I said earlier about details leaking out after the 48hrs notice was given, that weren’t bringing anyone over to the strikers cause?  During the wildcat strike, more details came out, like concerns about job security, which did elicit empathy.  If you could get past your rage. 

If you couldn’t get past your rage, all you heard was the voice of Charlie Brown’s teacher.

If those pertinent details had come out before hand, while folks might not have been any happier about the strike, they might have been more patient/understanding.

So point number two: If you’re going to have your character do something that just might tee off your reader, you need to give good and plausible reasons for the character’s actions.  Before the ‘questionable’ action takes place.  And when I say give good reason, I don’t mean some heavy handed declarative statements.  You can ‘show’ or imply the reasons. Just make sure they’re there.

To piggy back on Amie’s post yesterday. . . I thought of another great way not to write . . . FEAR. Fear of the next book. Fear of your last book. Fear of never writing or selling again. I have been in the tangled mits of this for some time now. It’s almost a manic, panic, crippling emotion.

You start to second guess every word you put down, every plot you work out, every story you create. And if you let it, it can stifle the writing right out of your life.

If you get out of the habit of reading, researching, writing, you may lose whatever rhythm you once had, whatever impetus to conjur up other worlds and frankly lose your freaking mojo. . . and to a writer, to me, that is a fate worse than a bad review.

But everntually those characters, hell even your muse, will bitch-slap you and make you sit up and remember that you are a WRITER. In order to be that, you need to WRITE. So if need be you pick up a pen and paper and jot down some notes. Or have a brain-smash session with someone to iron out details of one of your free-floating ideas. Plot out that book you thought about writing, but maybe wanted to hold off for a while. . . as long as you WRITE!(and it doesn’t hurt to have a couple of good friends who kick you in the ass even when they are on a deadline!)