Review of Viper by John Desjarlais

Summary: (From http://www.johndesjarlais.com)
Haunted by the loss of her brother to drugs and a botched raid that ended her career with the DEA, insurance agent Selena De La Cruz hoped to start afresh in rural Illinois. But her gung-ho former boss needs her back to hunt “The Snake,” a dealer she helped arrest who is out of prison and systematically killing anyone who ever crossed him. His ‘hit list’, appended to a Catholic Church’s All Souls Day ‘Book of the Deceased,’ shows Selena’s name last. Working against time, small town prejudice and the suspicions of her own Latino community, Selena races to find The Snake before he reaches her name while a girl visionary claims a “Blue Lady” announces each killing in turn. Is it Our Lady of Guadalupe or, as others believe, the Aztec goddess of Death?



Mini Review:

Another excellent mystery by John Desjarlais. Too often anymore, you read a thriller/mystery and have to wonder if the main character is even human for all the abuse and emotional trauma they live through in the course of a book. The thing I enjoy most about John's books is that he doesn't rely on over-the-top action or heart-clutching angst to get you through a story. Rather, he begins with a strong mystery with believable characters you could expect to find living next door, and he lets the excitement and the emotion flow naturally from the story. The result is a novel that will keep you reading through the end, but not leave you feeling like the characters--and you--need a long vacation on a deserted island just to recover! The Catholic and Hispanic culture, so well researched and deeply infused in the book, add flavor and uniqueness. Definitely worth reading!

Time to Re-assess Social Marketing

As many of my friends know, I've not been happy with the results of my years of social marketing. I spent a couple of days after I finished writing Discovery to map out what was bugging me the most, and it's that I really don't like all the shouting out to the world, "Hey! Lookie at me!" and I like it even less when all that shouting doesn't get results--i.e., book sales.

Recently, the Writers' Chat Room had discussion on blogs and what attracts readers. We all agreed that they should be entertaining and/or informative and have a unique angle. Many folks take that to be a personal approach--funny stories about their lives, etc.--but I'm not comfortable with that. Frankly, it's one thing I've been getting discontented about. I normally don't like to talk about myself (ironic, I know, but really, call me on the phone and see how I calm up), and when it comes down to it, I don't want people to buy my books because they like me, but because they like the characters.

So...what to do?

Over the next couple of months, I'll be retooling my social marketing efforts to center more around my books and my characters. I'm going to share some of my mad ideas, whether they make it into a story or not. I'll be doing character studies, world notes, favorite quotes... I'll probably keep My Novel's Journey because people do seem to like that, but I'll try to cut down on the me-me-me and concentrate more on the story or the lesson. I'm also going to start posting some serial stories, which I'll be asking for donations to support them. I'm also going to experiment with video blogging, interviewing different writers at conventions and such. Not sure how that will work. I have to play with the technology.

But you tell me: What would make this blog more interesting? How about Facebook/Twitter posts? If you are a writer, what do you do to draw readers? If you are a reader, what kind of posts convince you to take the step from blog to book purchase?

Interview with John Desjarlais, Author of Viper

Yay! Tomorrow, I'm heading off to the Catholic Writers Conference Online. One of the many fantastic people I'll meet there is John Desjarlais, who writes awesome mysteries with Catholic characters. His latest, VIPER, came out July 15. I'll have a review up on the 8th, but here's an interview of him. Enjoy!



A former producer with Wisconsin Public Radio, John Desjarlais teaches journalism and English at Kishwaukee College in northern Illinois. His first novel, The Throne of Tara (Crossway 1990, re-released 2000), was a Christianity Today Readers Choice Award nominee, and his medieval thriller, Relics (Thomas Nelson 1993, re-released 2009) was a Doubleday Book Club Selection. Bleeder and Viper (Sophia Institute Press, 2009 and 2011 respectively) are the first two entries in a contemporary mystery series. A member of The Academy of American Poets and Mystery Writers of America, he is listed in Who's Who in Entertainment and Who's Who Among America's Teachers. Today, we're talking with him about his latest book, Viper, out from Sophia Institute Press.

Where did you get the idea for the murderer putting her name in the Book of the Dead?

I’m a relatively new Catholic, and so I’m very excited to observe the many customs, traditions and practices I never knew about in my many years as a devout Protestant. Soon after I finished BLEEDER, my first mystery, I was considering a sequel and on the lookout for a story idea when around All Souls’ Day I noticed an announcement in my parish’s bulletin reminding people to write the names of departed relatives in “The Book of the Dead” so they could be remembered and prayed for. To a mystery writer, a phrase like “Book of the Dead” sounds like a premise and a title! The wheels began to turn: what if there were names in the Book of people who weren’t dead yet? What if they were being killed in the order in which they were listed? Who would they be, and who would kill them, and why? And what if the last name in the list was one of my characters? It had to be Selena De La Cruz, especially since this observance has a close connection to the Mexican festival in November called “The Day of the Dead,” which became my working title along with “The Book of the Deceased.” (It ended up being “VIPER” to match the two-syllable title “BLEEDER” and to refer to the snake-themes in the story: the drug dealer named “The Snake,” the snake handling, the Aztec interest in snakes, and Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose name in the native Nuahtl language means ‘she who crushes the snake’).

Did you have fun looking up women's footwear for Selena?

I learned early on in the research that Latinas dig the zapatos. At the elaborate coming-of-age celebration for fifteen-year-old girls called a Quiceañera, one custom calls for the father to give his daughter her first pair of high heels as a symbol of her womanhood. For Selena, the stylish shoes are a sign of her Latin identity, her social class and her empowerment as a woman in a man’s world – besides handing a P226 SIG Sauer and racing a muscle car! I found all I needed in Latina magazine and zappos.com, and my Latina reader/translator had some suggestions. I have no particular attraction to women’s footwear, lest anyone wonder about that. And I’ve never actually tried wearing them to get an idea of their balance. My research only takes me so far. The aim was to make Selena both unique and authentically Latina.

What was your favorite part to write?

The climax, the final showdown, is always a gratifying part to write since it is the dramatic pay-off that you’ve been setting up for a long time. Apart from that, I enjoyed all the ‘flashbacks’ and brief remembrances of Selena’s upbringing and family life. These intimate interactions made the character come alive for me and absolutely real for readers. I didn’t include all these parts in the novel; one must be judicious with backstory. I’ve saved them and I might use them in my blog (http://jjdesjarlais.blogspot.com) when Selena writes there as a ‘guest.’


What's next for you?

I’m brewing ideas for the third mystery in the series to address a few unresolved issues left over from VIPER. Insofar as VIPER considered Selena’s relationship with her mother (an immensely important figure in Mexican families), the next story will examine her troubled past with her father. This has always affected her relationships with men, and until she deals with this she cannot move ahead in her relationship with Reed Stubblefield. So I’ll have Selena investigate the mysterious circumstances of her father’s early death, which is somehow connected to his former position as an executive with PEMEX, the Mexican national oil company, and his sudden transfer to the Mexican Consulate in Chicago.

Thanks for letting me visit with you, Karina! Your readers can stay in touch with me at jjdesjarlais(at)johndesjarlais.com. Visit my web site, www.johndesjarlais.com.

Review: Jabberwocky by Daniel Coleman

Summary:

One, two! One, two! and through and through the vorpal blade went
snicker-snack!” Blood pounded in Tjaden’s ears as he breathed in the acrid
odor, and his sword didn’t falter. Not after the convoluted road that had led
him to set out alone to find and slay the manxome Jabberwocky. But the secrets
he’d learned about the Jabberwocky’s sorrowful past made it a sour
victory.

How different would the situation be if the girl he loved wasn’t at risk?
Why didn’t anyone tell him the dark secrets surrounding the Tumtum tree?

Jabberwocky is the untold story behind Lewis Carroll’s epic poem.
Meet the characters and creatures that inhabit the world long before
Alice ever fell down the rabbit’s hole.

Mini Review: This short book does a great job retelling the Lewis Carroll story, with realistic definitions for the words that are nonsense. I got it after hearing Tjaden's encounter with the Cheshire cat, which was spot-on for Lewis' character. I'd hoped there would be more of that kind of interaction, but the story is really a standard boy-becomes-hero tale. However, just because it's a standard tale doesn't take away from the enjoyment. I read the entire thing straight in a few hours, and if you know me and my lifestyle, you know the book had to be good to get me to sit still that long. I'm looking forward to Hatter, Coleman's next book. Great book for middle school readers on up.


Read a Sample at http://www.dcolemanbooks.com/jabberwocky.html

My Novel's Journey: Short Story Time

I'm doing revisions on Discovery now that I've gotten some feedback from my critiquers. However, in the meantime, I'm writing some short stories.

Not all novelists can write short stories, but I believe all novelists should try. Short stories are a lot of fun, and they give you a chance to explore parts of your characters that really don't fit in the novel but aren't big enough to constitute a novel in and of themselves. For example, I just wrote a short story based on Deryl Stephens, my psychic in Mind Over Mind. Deryl's abilities came upon him suddenly with puberty, in a well-to-do boys' school. Deryl's mother was killed a few years earlier, and he "lives" with his aunt and uncle, which really means, he's in year-round boarding school with holidays at their house. So while they love him, there's no real relationship there, and certainly not one where he can say, "I've got telepathic powers!" and they'd actually believe him. In the novel, I'd talked a little about some of the stuff he went through, but the book takes place five years later.

However, Damnation Books has a call for entries for an anthology about the more realistic side of having superpowers, and I thought it'd be a great chance to explore some of those torturous first days of having powers-and not being able to control them. "Illusion" follows Deryl through a day of school, from the morning ritual of reminding himself who he is, to accidentally solving an algebra problem with calculus, because that's how the teacher would do it, to inadvertently using telekinesis on a bully to stop him from hurting someone else to once again, and trying (and failing) to convince the school counselor that he really is psychic. It's a sad, dark story.

There isn't enough in the story, however, to make a novel; in fact, it took two days to beef it up to the minimum word requirement. But in writing it, I learned a lot about Deryl, and (my apologies to Deryl) I enjoyed imagining this horrible day for him.

As the cool water struck his back and plastered his hair to his scalp, he began the mantra: "My name is Deryl Stephens. I'm thirteen years, four months, and seven days old. I'm in eighth grade. My favorite subject is science. I like meteorology best. My worse subject is social studies. I like raspberries and hate chocolate…" Every detail he could think of that was his, he muttered aloud, forcing himself to hear it above the wants, needs, pains and thoughts of the population of the George Weinmann School for Boys. Sometimes, it was enough.

Once showered and dressed, he reached under his bed and pulled out the bottle of Motrin hidden there and poured eight into his hand. The bottle rattled. He'd have to buy or steal more soon. He took two in anticipation of the headache to come and stuffed the rest into his pocket. He shoved the bottle back into the mattress, through the tear, securing it among the filling, then pulled out a small framed photo. He ran his fingers over his mother's hair, traced her smile. Her eyes looked wrong in the photo; they always did. No camera could capture the life that shone from them, or the hidden knowledge that darkened their depths. She would have understood what he was going through; she would have helped him. But it was too late; he couldn’t talk to her now, and he couldn't imagine what she would say. He shoved the photo back next to the painkillers, then went to wash the tears off his face.

He checked his schedule and his homework, making sure they held his name and not someone else's. He recited his mantra along with his first hour classroom number. Finally, with a deep breath, like a swimmer about to jump the high dive, he pulled open the door and forced his feet to take him to his--and not someone else's--first class.

I'll let you know if anything comes from it. In the meantime, I'm writing another superhero story based on an idea Rob came up with. "The Mover" begins like this: They say that superpowers should teach you an important life lesson, like "With great power comes great responsibility." Well, my superpowers taught me, "You really aren't cut out for great responsibility." It's a lot of fun.

Do you like to write short stories? How about read them? Do short stories make you want to buy a book about that character?

My Novel's Journey: Discovery: When a Crit Makes You Cry

You all know the struggle I've gone through with Discovery. (If not, here's the gist: five years, four false starts, two episodes of computer eating the manuscript, three weeks of obsessive effort and 108,000 finished words.)

Now, it's with my beta readers: people whose writing I admire and who know me well enough not to pull any punches when they crit my work. They know that, despite all my word count brags and phony whining about this or that writing complication, when it comes to a critique, I don't care so much about what I've done as how do I make it even better.

I feel the same about Discovery--maybe even more so. The story started out so simple--in my discouraged moments, I called it "Love Boat in Space"--but it wanted, it demanded, to be so much more. And (aside from the computer crashes), that's part of what took such effort. I did not feel up to the task--as a writer, as a thinker, or as a Catholic. Most of you have seen my stuff; "heavy" and "deep" are not the usual modifiers.

So, I have to admit, that while I was pleased with the manuscript, I was also a little worried that I'd still missed my mark. Frankly, that would have been okay, because I have some excellent writer friends critiquing it, and I trust them to show me where I fell short.

I'm writing this on July 9. (I plan my posts.) An hour ago, I got my first critique for Fred Warren, a Christian writer who writes stories in my Rescue Sisters universe. The first three words made me cry:

Wow. Just...wow.

Those three words told me, that despite the problems with the storyline--and he pointed out some good ones!--I succeeded in my primary goal: The Story Works!

The Doctors' Companions Timeline!

Research and design by the Online Dating Site

my novel's journey: Discovery: The Butterfly Effect

You know the butterfly effect, right? Some innocent butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon is responsible for a typhoon of epic proportions. Yeah, well, that happened in space--or at least in my novel, Discovery.

It's really very simple: I needed a good excuse to limit the exploration part of the novel to a few very intense days. So I decided to throw a rock at the Kuiper Belt Object that the alien ship crashed on. A big rock, like, well, another Kuiper Belt Object.


Okay, not quite a butterfly. But still.

All it had to do was narrow my timeline. Add a little urgency, but noooooo! Just because I summoned Big Rock, I had to deal with:

* Four people need brain scans three chapters earlier.
* One character discovers he has Alzheimer's early enough to be cured.
* Same said character had made a throwaway line about being worried about his mother back in chapter one--guess why he was worried?
* The Captain has a cat!
* Chris can't keep a secret two chapters. (Had to revise the whole timeline.) he also can't stop himself from kissing Andi in front of everyone.
* Sister Ann says something around Ian that makes him think she believes the alien device is an aphrodisiac.
* Chris becomes a totally different kind of hero--using his brains instead of his brawn. (Which is much more suiting to his character.)

Shall I mention that I needed to research all this, too?

Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but who knew banging two asteroids together was going to result in a dozen butterflies flapping their wings?

Catholic Writers to Convene August Conference in Valley Forge

Valley Forge, PA--The third annual Catholic Writers’ Conference LIVE will take place August 3-5, 2011, at the Scanticon Hotel Valley Forge in King of Prussia, PA. Sponsored by the Catholic Writer’s Guild (CWG) and the Catholic Marketing Network (CMN), it will be held in conjunction with CMN’s annual retailer trade show. The Catholic Writers Conference LIVE provides Catholic authors with a prime opportunity to meet and share their faith with editors, publishers, fellow writers, and bookstore owners from across the globe.

CWG President Ann Margaret Lewis said this year's conference will, “focus on marketing and selling one’s written work.” Highlights of the conference include:

• Over 30 sessions taught by professionals in writing, marketing, blogging and publishing
• Pitch Sessions where writers may meet privately with representatives from four publishers
• One-on-one coaching sessions. For $35 an author can have a 30 minute private consultation with a specialist who will review their manuscript and guide them toward publication.
• Rapid-fire readings. Published authors will each have five minutes to read a selection from one of their books. A mass book sale and signing will follow.

Lewis says the conference comes at a modest cost. “Registration for the jam packed three days is only $90 for CWG members or $100 for non-members. And we have a special price of $42 for students. Our conference allows you to connect personally with Catholic publishers and retailers, to show your work, learn the craft and network.” Priests and religious are invited free of charge, but must register at the email address: http://www.catholicwritersconference.com.

This year’s conference speakers include:

• Catholic publishing representatives Claudia Volkman of Servant Books/St.Anthony Messenger Press,
• Regina Doman, author of numerous young adult and children’s books and acquisitions editor for Sophia Institute Press,
• Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, EWTN TV host of "Everyday Blessings for Catholic Moms" and author of numerous Catholic books including “Mother Teresa and Me,”
• Michelle Buckman, author of the young adult novel “Maggie Come Lately” and the adult drama “Rachel’s Contrition,”
• Angela Breidenbach, author of “Gems of Wisdom” and
• Patti Armstrong, co-author of the best-selling Amazing Grace book series and author of “Catholic Truths for Our Children, Stories for the Homeschool Heart.”

Past attendees gave glowing accounts of their experiences at the conference:

• Carol Bannon, author of the children’s book “Handshake from Heaven,” said, “Attending this conference has been the best thing I have done for myself professionally.”
• Writer Melanie Cameron concurs, “I recommend this conference as a resource for any author (or wannabe) at any stage. You will walk away empowered!”
• Maureen Martin, a consultant and trainer said she attended to connect with other professional Catholics. “It was such a wonderful, nurturing environment where we could share our faith and our love for literature.”

The Catholic Writers Guild, a religious non-profit organization, sponsors both this live conference in August and an online conference in February to further its mission of promoting Catholic literature. “Our conferences are totally focused on encouraging faithful Catholics to share genuine Catholic culture and faith in their writing no matter what genre,” says Lewis. “These events are integral to our mission of ‘creating a rebirth of Catholic arts and letters.”

Also at this year’s conference, the CWG will be presenting its first ever Catholic Arts and Letters Awards (called the “Lilies”) for the best in Catholic fiction. This award will recognize one book in the adult market and one in the children’s market for its literary merit.

Information for the Catholic Writer’s Conference can be found on the conference web site: http://www.catholicwritersconference.com.

The CWG is a professional group of writers, artists, editors, illustrators, and allies whose mission is to build a vibrant Catholic literary culture. The organization is loyal to the teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

my novel's journey: Discovery: What brought me to this moment

As I thought back to my struggles with Discovery, I realized that part of the reason I could write this book now is because I hadn't written it yet. I think perhaps I had not developed the skills I needed.

In particular, I am struck at the huge cast of characters Discovery has--eleven important characters. When I first wrote this as a NaNo story in 2008, I had only written one-character POV stories. I didn't know how to work a large cast. In the next years, I wrote DragonEye, PI stories, which were even more singular, as everything was told first-person by Vern. Then my computer crashed just as Kim Richards was asking me to write a Neeta Lyffe story, and I got the wild idea to write a reality TV show about killing zombies. While Neeta is the main character, I couldn't do reality TV without all the fun back-stabbling, behind the scenes dirt and audience reaction. Next thing I knew I was in multiple heads, jumping from one character to the next and having the time of my life. It was play, it was practice, and it was what I needed to learn in order to write the multiple person saga of Discovery.

I'm not sure I subscribe to the idea that the first million words an author writes is practice, but I am sure that, had it not been for the words I'd written before, I would not have been able to write the words I have now.

Happy Fourth of July

my novel's journey: Discovery: Conclusions on the manuscript

On Saturday, June 18, I finished my analysis of Discovery. It was in all about a 20-30 hour project, depending on whether you count the first day of reading, and the imagining, or not. I thought I'd give you the summary, so you can see why this book has been evading me for the past three years:

Theme: The wounds we hold in our souls can be our making or our undoing.

Main idea: The crew of the Edwina Thomas discover an alien device that can show you the hidden parts of your soul; how each reacts to this knowledge will make their lives better--or destroy them all.

Subplots: 11 Total No spoilers, but there are two romantic situations, a couple of lost sheep, a murder in the making, attempted sabotage, daring rescue attempts and of course exploring the ship itself.

Main Characters: 12 (Yes, twelve)
1. Sister Ann: a genius nun with a penchant of speaking in quotes and technical manuals. She understands the device, but cannot make others understand
2. Sister Rita: she joined the Order of Our Lady of the Rescue to escape Earth and the temptation of a romance, but she's still haunted by doubts.
3. James Smith: left priesthood because he thought he was in love with Rita; returned to find her gone. Three years later, they meet again on the Edwina Thomas.
4. William Thoren: power-craving mission commander and head researcher. He sees the Rescue Sisters as a threat to his power base
5. Chris David: PhD candidate who discovered the alien ship by accident. Lives in Thoren's shadow, until he falls in love with Andi
6. "Andi" Andromeda deChavez: commander of the miners in charge of extracting the alien ship. Loves Chris, but his weakness and lack of confidence put her off.
7. Ian Hu: Derive systems specialist with a terrible guilt; had habit of washing hads.
8. Jason Larache: mechanical engineer with a horrifying secret; likes to say he can either laugh or cry. Ann thinks he should have cried more.
9. Merl Prithard: Evangelical type with a lot of fear and a drive to "save" everybody, whether they want to be saved his way or not.
10: Kelli Riggens: a pagan who battles with feelings of rejection
11: OvLandra: a zerog, a race genetically engineered to live in space with a strict racial purity policy
12: Cay Littlefield: a troubled miner with undiagnosed xenophobia

Other Important Characters: 31 named characters in all--here are the top five
1. Sister Thomas "Tommie": pilot of the Rescue Sisters' shuttle. Ex-military who found peace in her calling
2. Captain Jamal Addiman: Captain of the Edwina Thomas
3. Galen Keegan: pilor of the Rockhopper, the miners' ship; Chris's roomie
4. George Powers: a loud mouthed miner; good for saying what needs to be said
5. Zabrina Muha: xenobiologist (microbiology); freaks when sees a real alien

So, as you can see this is not my usual stuff--it's far more complex, and enters territory I've never uncovered, from Church policies on genetic manipulations to planetary astrophysics. Last night, I realized I'm not writing a story; I'm writing an epic science fiction that examines issues of space colonization, religion, and the resilience of our souls. No wonder I've felt intimidated.

But what have I said is the cure for intimidation? Write! So here I go!

my novel's journey: Discovery: Analyzing the manuscript that doesn't work

Last week, I talked about analyzing the story by mind mapping. This is also a terrific brainstorming tool if you want to plot your story out in general terms without a chronological outline. However, in my case, I had a full manuscript of words--just not all the right words--which was already ordered by time.

So in order to figure out what was wrong with the manuscript itself, I started outlining the text itself.

First thing I did was go back to my mind map and give each character a color. I did this so I could see at a relative glance whether the characters were getting enough facetime and if that time was evenly spread or clumped together. Ideally, we'd be learning a bit about the characters as we went along, according to their importance.

Then I started reading and outlining. Now the outline was very general--the chapter, the main ideas as they applied to the conflicts in the mind map. If a detail was important for later, I sometimes noted it as well. I'd run a colored line through a given statement for each character it affects. So, if Sister Ann says something important about Chris to Andi, that statement gets three colored lines.

While I did this, I was also making my list of major and minor characters and some brief notes on them. I had about a dozen half-lists of my characters. As I went along, I could see where I might start combining people and roles to simplify my cast, which is the biggest I've ever worked with. I also started taking notes on things I needed to insert, delete or change, sometimes by page number; sometimes by "before chapter 16, James must do X."

I also started figuring out where the plot holes were. Sometimes, I knew exactly how to plug them; and I'd write NEED THIS SCENE HERE. When I didn't know, I'd write: NEED SOMETHING TO DO X and jot some ideas down.

Whenever any note affected a specific character, it got a line or a star in that character's color.

In my mind-mapping, I already identified a couple of subplots I don't need, so I deleted them, but I saved the text in the comments section in case I wanted bits of it elsewhere.

I spent about seven hours doing the mind-mapping and outlining the first day, and got to page 103 of 198. I had several scenes imagined though not written down. I got through the rest on the second day--about 12 hours total.

my novel's journey: Discovery: Analyzing the story that doesn't work

Sometimes, I know intuitively where a story is failing--or I can show it to my best friend, Ann Lewis, and she can pinpoint the problem like a Great Detective she's written about. In fact, she did that once with Discovery by helping me realize that the plot was too small and--when I complained I felt like I was writing "Love Boat" in space, she made me see I had underutilized my alien ship. In 2009, that made all the difference in the world.

However, in 2011, I have a bigger plot and a great angle on the ship, but it still doesn't work. This time the mess is in the details, and, with 98,000 words written, it's not intuitively obvious. This time, I need to be the investigator.

I've never had to work this hard on a novel, and truth to tell, I've started this process and put it aside several times, trying to jump ahead to intuition. However, it's not worked, so today, I grabbed a stack of paper, colored pens and the computer.

I started just by scanning the entire manuscript. This helped me get back into the mind of the characters and get the gist of the plot. I could already see places I wanted to make changes; however, I refrained from anything but the most minor of edits. I did make some comments in the margins, though.

Now that I had the story fresh, I started mind mapping. Mind Mapping is really the new term for bubble brainstorming: put the main idea in the center bubble, put related idead in connecting bubbles around, and connect until you get the whole. It can look like this (when neatly done):


Step one is to find THE main idea. Holly Lisle says if you can't tell the theme in a single sentence (a simple one at that), then you don't understand your book. I realize now, it's taken three years for me to understand Discovery, but what a revelation now that I do!

I finally understood my main idea: An alien device enables people to see the damaged parts of their souls. Everything will relate to that. So that was my central circle. From there, it was easy--I made circles for the folks who experienced the device and what their damage was. From those circles, I drew causes, effects, others that they influence or are influenced by.

This gave me my cast of major characters and main subplots. After that, I did the same kind of mind mapping for each character and their particular weakness.

Wow, did this work! Now only was I able to clearly define my story, but I also determined who is an important character and who is secondary (which means I can kill some off), but I also discovered some of the holes in the plots I needed to fill and better yet HOW and WHY they needed filling. If I had wanted to, I could have started from scratch with those ten sheets and written the entire book.

But I had 98,000 words already written! Most of it is really good, too. So rather than start over, I now went to analyze the manuscript itself.

My Novel's Journey: Back to Discovery

Neeta Lyffe II is on hold until I can hash out some details with my subject matter expert (on oil refineries, not zombies), and since, I am tired of this monkey on my back, I am determined to finish DISCOVERY this month or early next.

For those who are not familiar, I have had a three year, tragic love affair with this book. It started as a NaNo project and after letting it rest, I found I really liked the characters and wanted to finish it. But it would not finish! I let it sit, shared it with friends, mulled and imagined. In October 2009, I knew what it needed: a bigger and more SF plot. I started again and realized one character was far more interesting than the original duo. For November, I was doing fabulous.

Then the computer died and took all my work--including backups to the external drive--with it. After that, I was writing Neeta Lyffe, and Why God Matters and doing all the marketing for them and ISIG II and... However, Discovery always stayed in my mind...taunting me.

What's worse is that the publisher I hope to sell it to has heard me talk about this book for three conventions, yet I never produce. How embarrassing!

That's it: This year, I make good on my words. I am embarking on my most extensive revision yet. Once again, I will be hacking scenes and killing characters, but this time, I am dealing with an incohesive manuscript, so there will be much to add and knit together as well. Since I plan to immerse myself and get this done quickly, I'm going to devote my blog to the process and progress. Check Thursday for my autopsy of Discovery.

Summer and best laid plans for writing goals.

Remember what I said about 3000 words a day?

Forget it. Summer has intervened. Plus, waiting on information--CHUCK, CALL ME!!--and teaching classes and a book that got moved up a month in launch date (Mind Over Mind comes out in August!)...

I'm not giving up on my goal, mind you, just being more forgiving of myself if I don't meet it. However, having had the goal has helped me in a couple of ways:

1. I know I can meet it. I have done it. I can do it again.
2. Just trying to meet the goal has increased my productivity. I think I average about 1500 words a day.
3. I know a little more about what I need to meet such a goal in terms of preparation and environment. I can better apply that when the school year starts again and I have more quiet time.
4. I am able to handle more than one project at a time when so inclined. I'd been kind of monofocused of late, but this month, I was not able to do that and achieve anywhere near my goal for reasons beyond control of the story.

So, I've not met my writing goals, but I did learn a few interesting things about my writing and myself.

And now, I'm going to get to my writing. I might not make 3000, but I can certainly try!

My Novel's Journey: Neeta Lyffe II: Cut that subplot!

Usually when I write, I tend to turn off the internal editor and go with where the characters lead. More often than not, they know the best ways to go.

However, the past couple of weeks in Neeta Lyffe II, that backfired.

I had originally anticipated two big zombie confrontations--one at a casino and one at the nearby oil refinery. The ideas came from talking with my sister and brother in law about the Richmond area. I thought the casino idea was going to be a big hit--lots of potential for fun--like a one-armed bandit now sporting an extra arm. Then Roscoe's lost love, Cameron, showed up as the cross dressing torch singer. Or is Cam the cross-dressing Master of Ceremonies? Even I didn't know. Either way, Cam is a dear and has stolen the show in a couple of scenes.

However, once I got to about 50,000 words and heading to the dual finales, the casino idea became more of an obstacle than an enhancement. There wasn't enough time in Neeta's world to handle both and still make an impact, and the whole juxtaposition of the casino and refinery was taking away from the fun of the refinery. After some deliberation, I took the casino out.

Still it's a fun subplot, so I'm thinking about making it the plot of Neeta III, and since we're going to Reno in August, I'll do research.

Clearing away the subplot--and Cameron with it--created holes, and I spent most of the week filling and revising. On the down side, I'm idling at 52,000 words as I clean this up. On the bright side, Gary Opkast and Sheila (soon to be Opkast) have come in to fill Cameron's place, as has a timid waitress who will find courage when defending her customers against the zombie hoard. It's also given me room to examine the zombie invasion of the refinery. Need a reason, right? How about radical environmentalist zombie terrorism?

Chatterday closing

I'm not getting a lot of comments on chatterday, so rather than use the time trying to come up with topics to post, I'm going to devote it to other things. It was an interesting experiment. Thanks to those who did reply.

I'm a Broad!

This week, I decided to join BroadUniverse.

Broad Universe is an international non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, encouraging, honoring, and celebrating women writers and editors in science fiction, fantasy, horror and other speculative genres. I'd seen them in some of the conventions I'd been to, and it looked like an interesting group that was also interested in book promotion. Then I met author and member Jaleta Clegg, author of Nexus Point and knitter of C'thulu toilet paper roll covers, and I knew this would be a fun group as well.

First thing I did once joining was to go to the member bennie section and sign up for some for the bennies. I still need to check out this page, and flag it to check weekly, I think, because they have stuff like venues for news announcements, etc. They also have a facebook page and Yahoo group for keeping in touch.

I've already had some fun posting on Facebook, and found a few friends from other groups. I'm hoping I can do a rapid fire reading and participate in the BroadUniverse booth at Renovation. I'd also like to set up a Broad Coffee or something. Haven't asked the folks about that yet.

Anyway, I'm kind of excited about my new group, and thought I'd share. I'll give you an update in a few weeks about how it's going for me as a member.

Information: Reuse, Recycle, but Don't Reduce!

On Sunday, the Catholic Writers' Guild meets in a chat room to talk about writing or faith or whatever. Last Sunday, we actually got to talking about what we were working on, and John Desjarlais, author of the very good mysteries Bleeder and Viper, told us that he was researching life insurance for his next mystery. However, he's found an interesting angle. Did you know that companies can buy out your policy, much like mortgage companies buy out other banks' mortgages? Their payout comes if you die within two years of their having purchased your policy. How bizarre is that?

I'm sure you can see the implications for a murder mystery, but never underestimate the power of good information.

The following Tuesday, I was thinking about Neeta Lyffe: I Left My Brains in San Francisco. I have a sporting event that takes place on an unfinished bridge, and a comment Carole Nelson Douglas made on a panel gave me an idea. One of her books has a CSI-type show, except that people can audition their own deaths. So, thinking along such macabre lines, I decided that there should be a prize for the most flamboyant death in my bridge jumping contest. Then I thought that life insurance should be part of the entry fee.

...and as long as I have life insurance, why not have someone buy out the insurance policies, betting that at least one of the contestants will die? Right now, I'm thinking the City of San Francisco will do it, hoping, perhaps, to raise money to build a bridge they can finish themselves.