Mysteries with a Southern Accent
Crazy for Words is mystery author, Heather Weidner's blog on writing, reading, and anything that catches her interest.
Pinterest is a great site for posting about books and blogs. I always build a board for each story and novel. I also have one for favorite books and another for favorite libraries. Here's my list of 17 folks I think you should follow. They're in no particular order.
Twitter is an amazing site for research and building relationships. And there are so many great Book bloggers out there. Here is my list that you need to check out. They are in no particular order. I numbered the list to keep it organized. Happy tweeting!
Writers tend to be solitary creatures. My last Myers Briggs personality test results listed me as an ESTJ. My "extrovert" score was just over the axis, so I'm really on the fence between introvert and extrovert. I love being around people, but there are times when I have "peopled" enough, and I just want some solitude.
But, relationships are key in everyone's personal and professional lives. Even if it's not in your nature to be outgoing, networking is a skill that writers need to hone. Here are eleven tips to help you with your online and in-person networking.
1. Look for opportunities to volunteer. Helping others is an incredible way to give back. And it gives you an opportunity to meet new people.
2. Join a book group to meet other readers. What a great forum to talk about books!
3. Stay involved with your alumni groups and organizations. Many of these have newsletters for member celebrations. These are great places to announce book launches.
4. I use Facebook to keep up with friends from my hometown and college days. Most of my book news goes on my author page, but I do post every once in a while on my page - especially if it's a book event in a town where I know I have friends and family.
5. I use Twitter to network with readers, book bloggers, writers, and librarians. It's a vast source of information, and if I have a research question, I can always find help.
6. I have joined several blogging network groups on Facebook. These have helped me set goals and promote my blog and social media sites. Search for blog network groups. There are lots out there.
7. Find your writing tribe. I'm a member of Sisters in Crime Central Virginia, Guppies (online), and James River Writers. Members of each are so supportive of writers, and they offer great programs on the craft of writing and book marketing. You're not alone.
8. If public speaking terrifies you, look for a Toastmasters group in your area. I joined years ago, and it helped me FINALLY get comfortable with talking in front of all kinds of groups. The public speaking experience and feedback were invaluable.
9. Talk with your local librarians about co-hosting a program - a writers' panel, a publication discussion, a book reading, or a workshop. My groups partner regularly with local libraries. They get an education event, and we have an opportunity to talk about our books.
10. If your book's main character has a hobby, talk to folks in your area with related shops (e.g. knitting, craft brewing, sewing, crafting, etc.). There might be an opportunity for you to visit and talk with their customers.
11. Create a signup sheet for your newsletter and collect email addresses at all of your events. make sure that guests can sign up on your website too. It's important to have contacts for people who are interested in you and your books.
It does take a lot to muster the courage to cold call or network in a room of strangers. But it is worth it. I've had some really great opportunities because I made a phone call, sent an email, and offered my services. Let me know what other ideas you have to add to the list.
My living room and foyer look bare without all of the holiday decorations. It doesn't help that it's gray outside, and we're expecting a bunch of snow tonight. Winter is my fourth favorite season. It seems that January is the time that I start to count down to spring. It's just blah, and I want to hibernate.
You may be stuck inside, but there are lots of things you can do to get your writing life organized and kick start your creativity. Here are some ideas...
I hope you enjoy your weekend. Here in Central Virginia, we're expecting about eight inches of snow. It sounds like a writing weekend to me.
It's the last day of 2016, and folks are getting their resolutions ready. I have a confession. I am a binge writer. I try very hard to write every day, but I don't always work on my current WIP (work in progress). I write on weekends, holidays, vacations, and during lunch. Life and my day job get in the way sometimes. I write something every day, but it's often blog posts, marketing materials, or guest blogs/interview questionnaires (or performance evaluations, executive summaries, or project proposals).
When I start a new short story or novel, I try to keep working on that project until I have a solid first draft. I start out as a plotter with an outline (that's often color-coded), then as I write, I turn into a pantser (one who writes by the seat of her pants). I tend to go where the story and characters take me.
I don't revise it until the first draft is completed. My friend Mary Burton calls this the "sloppy copy," and it is. I comb through a printed copy for plot and grammatical errors. I also look for other inconsistencies. When I'm done, I change the view in Microsoft Word to 25%, and I look at chapter lengths to make sure that none are too short or too long. Then I reread the last paragraph of each chapter to make sure it compels the reader to keep reading after her bedtime. I learned long ago that you don't want to provide the reader with a convenient stopping place. There needs to be a reason to turn the page.
After my third or fourth draft, I'm ready to submit it to my critique group. They're all mystery readers and writers. I admire the folks in this group who can submit fifty pages and continue to write the manuscript. I like to have the whole novel or story drafted before I submit it.
I then submit the manuscript to a private line editor. She also reads a lot of mysteries, so I appreciate her insight. When those revisions are done and I've checked it one last time, the work is ready for submission.
I've read a lot of "how to write" books and blogs over the years, and I know that I should write every day. I an envious of those who have a word count goal and stick to it. But I've come to the realization that I have to use the style and techniques that work for me. So for now, I write when I can. Sometimes, I take a break to network, learn new things, do marketing, or have an adventure. But even if I'm not writing, I find something interesting that I add to my idea file - bits of dialogue, character names, setting ideas, and interesting places to hide a body.
So figure out what your style is and what helps you meet your goals and deadlines. Other writers' ideas are great. Try them, but if they don't fit your style, try something else.
Are there any other binge writers out there? Happy writing and happy New Year!
Here are 67 accounts (people and organizations) you should check out. I enjoy reading their posts. They're not in any order. I just numbered the list to keep a running total. Happy tweeting!
Naming characters, even minor ones, takes some thought. There are lots of hidden meanings and information that can be transmitted by names. Here are eight things I've learned through the years about choosing monikers.
1. If you give random characters names with little or no significance, be sure that you don't over use the choices. I always end up with too many Bills, Bobs, and Mikes that I have to change during revisions.
2. I keep a character master list that's in alphabetical order. It's actually a Word table, and I add columns for each book in the series. I can track which names I used in what book. I can also easily see which characters return in later books. And it helps me locate names I've already used, so I don't have repeats.
3. It is often confusing to readers to have the same or similar names (even similar sounding ones) in the same work. My friend, Kathleen Mix, creates an alphabetical list of characters for each of her books. Her rule is that only one character gets a name that starts with a particular letter. (Example: A: Alice, B: Bob, C: Cherrie...)
4. I try to make sure that my names are age appropriate. If you Google popular baby names by year, you'll see the top names of each year. If a character is in her late 40s and American, Michelle, Jennifer, Heather, and Laurie are all good choices.
5. My friend likes to make all of her character names unusual and unique. She's had multiple editors ask her to change them. It's usually okay to have one unique name or spelling, but multiples often attract the attention of editors.
6. I name my minor characters after friends and family. Sometimes, I sneak in famous names from pop culture. My coworkers often find their names sprinkled through my books.
7. I like to pay homage to literary greats. My sleuth, Delanie Fitzgerald, is named after F. Scott Fitzgerald. Her firm is called Falcon Investigations. I named that after Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon.
8. I also Google names to see if the meaning fits the character that I'm describing. I look for connotations that the name has to make sure it fits my character.
Best wishes with your writing and your character names.
My Homage to Nancy Drew – Girl Sleuth
I have loved mysteries since Scooby Doo and Nancy Drew. I was over the moon in 1977 when the “Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys” TV show debuted. (And it didn’t hurt that Shaun Cassidy played Joe Hardy.) My friends and I raced through all the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys collections at the Kempsville Public Library in Virginia Beach. My favorite is still The Crooked Bannister (1971) with its hot pink cover. I loved the plot twists and the double meanings. I was hooked on mysteries. From there, I moved on to Alfred Hitchcock, Agatha Christie, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But Nancy Drew is still one of my favorite sleuths.
In the late 1980s, I had a double major in English and secondary education. My research project in “Adolescent Literature” was a comparative study of the original Nancy Drew mysteries from the 1930s with the updated ones in the 1980s and their influence on generations readers.
As a young reader, I adored Nancy’s freedom. She had a car. She did things that other girls didn’t, and she solved crimes that adults couldn’t. She influenced generations of women from the 1930s to the present with her spunk and enduring appeal.
The Nancy Drew mysteries were written by several ghost-writers under one pseudonym, Carolyn Keene. The series has undergone several revisions and updates over the years, but Nancy’s spirit and pluck prevail. The famous yellow spines were added to the books in 1962. That was the set that I remember reading. And her stories have been translated into over twenty different languages.
The girl detective appeared in several movies from the 1930s to the 2000s and TV shows through the years. Her face and logo have graced all kinds of merchandising from jewelry, lunch boxes, and clothing to board and video games. She has appeared in novels, coloring books, and graphic novels. Nancy has been a role-model for lots of young girls for over eighty years.
There are some similarities between the iconic Nancy Drew and my private investigator. I didn’t intentionally mean to create the parallels, but subconsciously, her character influenced my mystery writing. In the 1930s, Nancy started out as a blonde, but artists later depicted her as a redhead in the 1940s and 1950s. Nancy also drove a sporty roadster. (It was upgraded to a Mustang in the mysteries from the 1980s.) Nancy’s girlfriends (Bess and George) were important in her life and to the stories. And she was fearless, smart, and feisty. I was so impressed that she was able to solve crimes before the professionals did.
I like to think of Delanie Fitzgerald as following in the footprints and traditions of the original girl sleuth.
Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather Weidner has been a mystery fan since Scooby Doo and Nancy Drew. She currently lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers.
Heather writes the Delanie Fitzgerald mystery series for readers who like humorous mysteries with a strong, female sleuth.
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