by Lynne | Aug 1, 2016 | Writing, Writing Tips
I recently finished an excellent novel called “Help for the Haunted.” It’s about two sisters, ages around 14 and 18 and their parents who make a living by helping expunge demons from haunted individuals. Hmm. Well, never mind the plot – it actually works quite well.
When I was about halfway through I happened to notice the name of the author. Isn’t that awful? I didn’t even pay attention to the author’s name until then. Shame. Anyway, the author’s name is John Searles. A male . . . writing in the point of view of two young females. The characters were so well formed and realistic I was surprised to learn they were created by a man.
I began to wonder how many other books I’ve read had characters developed by an opposite sex author. One that came to mind immediately was “Memoirs of a Geisha.” In this book, the author, Arthur Golden, does an excellent job of portraying the opposite sex main character. (Not to mention all the cultural differences that required a great deal of research.)
The other book I recalled was “She’s Come Undone,” by Wally Lamb. Also an excellent portrayal of a female character by a male author. Here the protagonist deals with rape, the death of her mother and suicide. How much tragedy and trauma can one woman deal with and how can the male author empathize so poignantly?
In “Help for the Haunted,” clearly I assumed the author was female. I applaud John Searles for getting into the heads of two young women so artfully. But how did he do it? Does he have daughters? Does he teach high school girls? Does he vet his characters through other young women to see if they are, indeed, realistic?
In my novel, “The Triangle Murders,” I attempted the same thing. The main character is a male homicide cop. But in this case, Frank Mead had been developed in other books with the help of a female character. In this book I simply let him fly on his own. The point is that Frank “grew” around my female protagonist in other books and I felt I knew him well enough to give him the lead. But how well did I know him compared to my female lead? As a woman, how well can I know any man?
Is it enough to be married, teach, be a CASA for teen foster youth, have brothers, sons, uncles and cousins of the opposite sex, to claim to know what goes on in their heads? Is writing about characters from an opposite gender point of view different from writing about characters in a different time zone or location?
I think it is. What do you think?
by Lynne | Jul 25, 2016 | Writing, Writing Tips
Writers understand that the space in which they create stories is vitally important. While some writers, I suppose, can do their work in a closet, I, personally, need a window to the natural world.
Cityscapes and high rises evoke creativity as well: gritty crime novels, hard-boiled detective stories, or futuristic Metropolis-like science fiction. But to me, there’s something uniquely inventive and inspiring about nature.
So when I moved (back) to a small town in Vermont from a big city in California, my writing world changed. I now look out on a green landscape, okay, brown and white in the winter, with the sounds of birds as the primary auditory backdrop. An occasional deer, moose, and, to my surprise, bear will be sighted in the distance.
I’m not a stranger to this environment. I taught in Vermont after my college days. It’s been many years since I’ve lived here yet it seems like yesterday. Some things are meant to be.
Robert Frost lived in Vermont. He became the official poet laureate of the Green Mountain State and wrote much of his verse in a log cabin in central Vermont. The State of Vermont has recognized him with a Robert Frost Wayside picnic area and a Robert Frost Interpretive Trail, (along which selections of his poems are posted.) There’s also a Robert Frost Memorial Drive, and, the Bread Loaf School of English that Frost cofounded, as well as the farm where he lived. (He actually owned five farms in Vermont.)
Rudyard Kipling, the English writer, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, moved here in 1892 and wrote The Jungle Book and other short stories. In fact, he lived less than a mile from where I now live.
Mystery writer, Archer Mayor, lives here and his mysteries do, indeed, take place in Vermont.
So, you ask, will my mysteries now center on tracking scat in the Vermont woods? Nah. I will continue to write historical mysteries and solve them with modern technology. Unless I can discover a true mystery in Vermont.
And there are some. Take the man who vanished in 1949 while on a bus trip to Bennington; or five people who went missing between 1945 and 1950, in the “Bennington Triangle” (really?) an area near Glastonbury Mountain; or a human skill found on the side of the road in Danby in 2012; or the disappearance of a Bennington college student in 1971 (there’s that Triangle again.) Then, of course, there’s Champ, Lake Champlain’s own Loch Ness monster. Over 600 people have claimed to see him. Jeez Louise, why not me?
I never expected this window in my office to give me plots or characters or even backdrops for my books. The beauty of my new landscape simply gives my imagination and inventiveness free reign to go where they will. Isn’t that what fiction writing is about?
by Lynne | Jul 18, 2016 | Genre Writing, Writing
Time Exposure is a mystery that takes place during the Civil War. I wanted readers to abandon the present and immerse themselves in those brutal, tumultuous years of the mid-nineteenth century. Scene by scene, chapter by chapter. Well, I wasn’t there, so how could I paint a picture of that time period, accurately, vividly, and with painstaking detail?
Research, of course, but research using primary sources whenever possible. What does that mean? There are many books written about the Civil War. About the battles, about the people, about the politics — the operative word being “about.” These sources are written today by historians looking back in time. I wanted to go back there myself. How?
Primary sources are the ones that deliver the information firsthand. Photographs are an excellent way to learn about the past. In my case, tens of thousands of Civil War photographs are available, yes, through books and online, but also at the Library of Congress, where there are drawers upon drawers filled with folders of photos taken back then. The originals, if you can imagine!
Other primary sources of an historic period are letters or journals. Using the Civil War as an example, there are books of letters to and from soldiers and their loved ones. If you use credible authors, ie: Ken Burns, you can be sure these are the true words of the people of the time. If you are really lucky, you may be able to track down a diary written from the time period. A friend of mine’s ancestor was a soldier in the War and he passed down some interesting paraphernalia (no journal, unfortunately.)
Very important primary sources are books written by someone of the time period. An example, which helped me shape my scene at the Union Hotel Hospital, was a precious thin book called Hospital Sketches, by Louisa May Alcott. Louisa May was actually a minor character in my book. If you ever wondered what it would be like to volunteer as a nurse in a hospital during the Civil War, listen to Louisa May:
“My three days experience had begun with a death, and, owing to the defalcation (I had to look this one up!) of another nurse, a somewhat abrupt plunge into the superintendence of a ward containing forty beds, where I spent my shining hours washing faces, serving rations, giving medicine, and sitting in a very hard chair, with pneumonia on one side, diphtheria on the other, two typhoids opposite, and a dozen dilapidated patients, hopping, lying and lounging about, all staring more or less at the new ‘nuss,’ who suffered untold agonies, but concealed them under as matronly as a spinster could assume, and blundered through her trying labors with a Spartan firmness, which I hope they appreciated, but am afraid they didn’t.”
From this one simple paragraph, I learned about the hospital, the patients, the illnesses and Louisa May’s (and other nurses’?) attitude toward them all.
In addition to Louisa May Alcott’s writings, I examined photographs, I read letters, poems and the words of songs written during the time. As I kept reading, I got a feel for the rhythm of speech of the period. I learned some of the basics: what the people of the time ate, drank, smoked, what they wore, how they amused themselves when they weren’t killing each other on the field, what their sex lives were like (there are some bawdy postcards out there!) Essentially, I learned how they lived and, sadly, how they died.
Bottom line: If you write historical stories, (or even modern stories about places you’re not familiar with,) what you don’t know can hurt you. The best way to find out what things were really like, is to do your research through the eyes of those who lived it.
There are no shortcuts. Ideas welcome.
by Lynne | Jul 4, 2016 | Researching, Writing
Writing historical mysteries is a juggling act. Writers must create a fictional plot with fictional characters around a historical time period with real people . . . and somehow suspend the readers’ disbelief.
Many writers of historical fiction choose a particular time period and stay with it. I’m thinking Anne Perry, Phillipa Gregory, Charles Todd. I, on the other hand, am intrigued by so many time periods, I skip around. Each of my mysteries takes place in a different place and time, which enables me to do the thing I love most: research. The risk, of course, is that I will know only a little about each time period as opposed to Anne Perry who knows a great deal about Victorian England.
Once I settle on a time period, I read and read and read about it. I visit the places in question, interview experts, historians, and read and read and read some more. By this time, I usually have a kernel of an idea for the plot and maybe even a character sketch or two.
Building fictional characters around authentic ones is key. Unless your character is transported from modern times to the past, he/she must act, speak, dress like the time period. In using real people from the time period, they must be as genuine to history as I can make them.
As the story develops and takes twists and turns on its own, I find I am bending the truth a bit – creating an “alternate history.” This is fiction, after all. My latest book, PURE LIES is a totally new take on history. It’s about the witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 and provides a different motivation for the girls’ hysteria. The backdrop and many characters are authentic, but the storyline meanders from what we know to be historically accurate.
The questions I ask take the form of “what if” and I let my imagination run free. It’s a rare writer that can devise a plot line that hasn’t already been done. But even a clichéd plot can be made new and fresh with unique spins, powerful characters, and exceptional prose.
As I read and re-read PURE LIES, I realize I have altered history to fit the story. That’s the advantage of fiction. And its strength.
It worked – PURE LIES won the San Diego Book Award for Best Mystery!
by Lynne | May 16, 2016 | Reading, Writing
Every so often I visit my book pages on Amazon to see if any new reviews have come in. Some of the initial reviews were family and friends, of course, so I knew they’d be pretty positive. But when the new reader reviews started coming in, I was fascinated. Some were funny, some not so.
Just as in writing a book, writing a review reveals a glimpse into the writer’s true identity — on which side of the political aisle s/he stands. How s/he feels about love, hate, money, ethnicity, religion, values and much more. I learned something from all of them so I decided to share a few with you.
TIME EXPOSURE 5 stars: “Excellent Story! This was a fascinating book. I literally couldn’t put it down. I had seen movies about Booth, but none of them impressed me. This book did. I loved the twists and turns. It was well written with no errors at all. It kept me reading it until I finished.”
TIME EXPOSURE 4 stars: “Kennedy has the knack. This was another fun read…a little over-the-top plot wise but it’s an arguable sequence of events and given the constancy of greed and political corruption I found myself sympathetic to the story. The conclusion is less compelling but I do recommend this one. Lots of Civil War info.”
I’m bummed this reviewer didn’t like the conclusion. This was a real twist . . . or so I thought. Ah well.
DEADLY PROVENANCE 5 stars: “An author who can capture a period in time as well as Rockwell does on canvas. An intriguing display of mystery and perhaps many ways to look at a long held opinion of a time where nothing was sacred.”
I’d love more of these, wouldn’t you? Honest, I don’t know this person. But I’d like to.
DEADLY PROVENANCE 3 stars: “Art Crime and WW2 Easy fun read…. Detectives and art are always an interesting combination, add ww2 to the mix and it’s a hit.”
What made it three rather than 4 stars?
PURE LIES 2 stars: “Not up to Kennedy’s usual standards. This rework of the Salem Witch Trials is heavy-handed and much too long. I saw the ending coming from mid-book — too bad. I’m a fan of Deadly Provenance. This one …not so much.
I really appreciate comments like this. It’s honest and she says why she rated it low.
PURE LIES 5 stars: “There are two stories in this book – I definitely recommend it – especially for book club folks. I also think it should be made into a movie. Lynne does her research and picks her subject matter carefully. Greed, real estate values, hysterical young, bored maidens and corrupt (Puritan Clergy) men formulated this tragic, true historical period and got away with it for years. Does this sound familiar? History does repeat itself, which needs to be told.”
It’s obvious to me the reader read this book carefully and culled out some of the important motivations for the witch trials. Thank you!
THE TRIANGLE MURDERS 5 stars: “A puzzle within a puzzle. I very much enjoyed Kennedy’s historical fiction with two murders tied 100 years apart to an actual historic event: the Triangle Factory fire of 1911. I am looking forward to reading more books from this author. Her thorough research and engaging story kept me reading faster and faster. An ingenious plot pulled off extraordinarily well.
I love the “puzzle within a puzzle!” I’m also pleased that the reader felt I had done my research.
I urge you to check out your own book reviews from time to time. What did you learn? Share them with us.
by Lynne | May 9, 2016 | Writing, Writing Tips
One of the most important, but often most difficult part of writing a novel is selecting names for your characters. When you begin you might already have some in mind. But as the characters morph during the writing process, that name might no longer fit. If you’re writing a series and the same characters reappear, you still need to name new characters.
Villains’ names are particularly important to get right. Common sense tells you that “Melvin Fuddrucker” is probably not the best handle for a serial killer. Or is it? Do you want to throw the reader off and let him like or sympathize with your bad guy? Do you want the reader to think: Melvin, hmm, an accountant or a store clerk, when in reality, Melvin is a triathlete, computer genius, and serial killer? Obfuscation may be a good thing.
The good guys shouldn’t be shortchanged either. You want your characters to be memorable and to have your readers calling them by name six months after they’ve read your book. I have a hard time remembering names six hours after reading some books. But characters from other books stay with me for a lifetime. LONESOME DOVE by Larry McMurtry comes to mind. How can you forget Augustus, Call, Newt, or for heaven’s sake, Pea Eye?
So how do you choose names?
One thing to remember. Try not to have too many characters with the same first initial. So, Bob, Bill, Binky, Belinda, and Bruce would probably be confusing. A couple are okay, of course. My two main characters are Maggie and Mead. Duh. One’s a first name, one’s a last. But I’ve avoided other “M” names unless they are historically necessary.
Also, unusual names are okay but too many are dicey. Throw a few Jenovas in with the Jennifers. Don’t make them too hard to pronounce, either out loud or in the reader’s head. It’s frustrating. Of course, if many of your characters are from countries other than the States, throw that idea out the window. But, perhaps, giving them a nickname will make them easier to recall.
One problem with historical novels is that using the real names of people involved can present problems. For instance, in some books by Sharon Kay Penman, one of my all-time favorite writers of historical England, she explained that the spelling of some characters had to be changed to distinguish one Maud from another Maude. (Lots of Henrys, Johns and James as well. Yoiks!)
Timing is very important. Names fall in and out of favor over the years, so take care not to use a very modern YA name like Aisha or Brandon in a book about merry old England.
When you’re creating a character name from scratch, consider these: personality, looks, age, ethnicity, stature in the community, occupation, attitudes toward politics, etc., values, whether the character is single, married, gay. Does the character remind you of a good friend, a bad friend, a worker, colleague, television or movie character (Dexter? Miss Marple? Morse? Lynley? Zen?) Does the character have a sense of humor? Is the character always depressed, upbeat, brutally honest, or unbearably shy? What are their quirks, flaws, hobbies, passions, hates? Does he carry around a blue plastic bag instead of a briefcase like Tony Hill?
Do you want the character’s name to conjure up something in the reader’s mind? Like Charlie Parker in John Connolly’s books makes me automatically think of the jazz musician.
I had a difficult time giving my villain in TIME EXPOSURE a meaningful name. He was, by profession, a Shakespearean actor in disguise on the battlefield as a sutler (a guy who went around selling goods to the foot soldiers.) What name would this actor choose for himself? He selected the name Jack Cade for his cover. Why?
Jack Cade was actually a real person who led the peasants in the Kent rebellion of 1450. He was also a character in Shakespeare’s play Henry VI, Part 2. In the play he talks to his friend, Dick the Butcher, whose most famous line is “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” I thought my villain would get a kick out of that, and since he probably didn’t want to be called Dick the Butcher, Jack Cade he became.
Don’t underestimate the importance of your character’s names. If you want your readers to love a character, naming him Hitler or Attila would be a tough sell. Find names you like as you read books or newspapers, watch movies, or meet new folks at a party, and jot them down for the future. You might even try the phone book, but then you don’t have the advantage of seeing the name in action on a real person. Make something up, but explain in the novel what the name means to the characters involved.
While Shakespeare said “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” it would be hard to conjure up a picture of a beautiful flower if you called the rose, Skunk.
