Category Archives: #amwriting

Character Based Transitions

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Character Based Transitions
Terry Odell

dog in the snow with Happy Holidays textAs this is my last post here before TKZ takes its annual holiday break, I’d like to wish everyone my best wishes for a happy holiday season, no matter what you celebrate. And if you don’t celebrate any holidays in December, I wish you a happy month.

Travel played a big part in my 2024, with two big international trips—one to New Zealand, and another to the Faroe Islands. I’m currently working on a book set against some of the places we saw in the Faroes. I’ve mentioned it before. Writing a book set in a place you’ve been turns in into a research trip. Read tax write off.

My Danube Christmas Market book, Double Intrigue, is a stand alone, but when it came to figuring out the bones of a story focused in the Faroes, it seemed more suited to another Blackthorne, Inc. book. Keeping within that series genre, it would have to be a romantic suspense. And, like in Cruising Undercover, it wasn’t going to be a covert ops book, but rather the protagonist would be working in Blackthorne’s Security and Investigations department. I’m too burned out on war and violence to write about it. And, because “romantic suspense” would be in the subtitle, I was going to need a second protagonist in order to meet the expectations of romance readers.

Have I ever mentioned the challenges of writing a romantic suspense? It’s really three books in one. There’s the ‘suspense/mystery’ story, as well as the romance story, which requires character arcs for both the hero and heroine. (Or hero/hero or heroine/heroine, but I haven’t written one of those yet.)

hands of runners handing off a relay race batonMy normal style is to alternate chapters between my POV characters. Which brings me to transitions.

JSB recently wrote that he used a jump cut and Drop Caps to alert the reader to a new scene. I’m old school and use chapters. I used to include both POV scenes in my chapters, but my editor told me that since readers want short chapters these days, to make each POV scene its own chapter.

I recently read a book by a Big Name Author who told the story from the points of view of two protagonists. Not a romance by any stretch. The two characters were working toward a common goal, often going their separate ways. It was a great book, don’t get me wrong, but the author never made it clear (to me, anyway) at the start of each chapter, who the POV character was. It created ‘out of the story’ moments. Now, if I’d been a more astute reader, I might have realized that one protagonist was written in 1st person, and the other was written in third, but that took a lot of time to figure out.

My approach when I’m writing is to make darn sure that every chapter starts out with showing who/where/when/and a POV “flag” to ground my readers. Troubling as it may be to authors, readers might have put the book down, gone to work, come home to a family crisis, or any other interruption and they might not get back to the book for several days. Or, they’re like me, and they just plain forget.

In the current wip, not only do I have 2 POV characters, but they don’t get together on the page until Chapter 14. Until then, they’re in different countries, and their timelines aren’t the same. Not because of time zone issues. One’s several weeks ahead of the other.

I ended up writing each character’s chapters separately, and then weaving them together. Sort of like JSB’s Shadow Stories, because I needed to know what each of them was doing in their own timeline even though they hadn’t met yet, but these stories were on the page, not in my notes. That wasn’t my normal process, and created its own challenges when it came time to weave them together.

If you’re alternating POV characters, and they’re not together, the last sentence of the previous paragraph might not lead into the first one of the next.

Every chapter needs to ground the reader. Who’s the POV character? Where are they? When is it? What are they doing?

I prefer to get this information right up front. Definitely within the first few paragraphs.

The “who” I want in the first paragraph if at all possible.

Things to consider:

  • Use the character’s name.
  • Show them doing something.
  • Show a thought or something only they would know—the POV “flag”.

The vibration of Logan Bolt’s cell phone gave him a welcome excuse for a break from his run.

We have his name: Logan Bolt. He’s running. He’s glad for the interruption, and only he knows this. (flag”)

Or this:

Maddie busied herself with kitchen tasks, trying not to think that Logan might not have been completely honest.

We know the POV character is Maddie. She’s working in the kitchen. Only she will know what she’s thinking. (”flag”)

Doesn’t take much, but you’re grounding your reader.

I did a post a while back dedicated solely to different kinds of transitions, so if you want more, you can find it here.

How do you handle transitions? Tips and Peeves welcome.

And again, Happy Holidays. See you in January.

New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Double Intrigue
When your dream assignment turns into more than you bargained for
Cover of Double Intrigue, an International Romantic Suspense by Terry Odell Shalah Kennedy has dreams of becoming a senior travel advisor—one who actually gets to travel. Her big break comes when the agency’s “Golden Girl” is hospitalized and Shalah is sent on a Danube River cruise in her place. She’s the only advisor in the agency with a knowledge of photography, and she’s determined to get stunning images for the agency’s website.
Aleksy Jakes wants out. He’s been working for an unscrupulous taskmaster in Prague, and he’s had enough. When he spots one of his coworkers in a Prague hotel restaurant, he’s shocked to discover she’s not who he thought she was.
As Shalah and Aleksy cruise along the Danube, the simple excursion soon becomes an adventure neither of them imagined.

Like bang for your buck? I have a new Mapleton Bundle. Books 4, 5, and 6 for one low price.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

Zoom Accountability

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Photo credit: Deror avi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

Accountability.

Without an editor’s deadline hanging over us, our imaginations can come up with a thousand other things to do…except write.

Enlisting support from other writers works wonders. For years, critique groups kept me accountable and producing words because I had to turn in pages every week or month…

…or kick myself if I didn’t.

Another way to be accountable is by group writing. Several people designate an evening a month where they gather in a classroom or coffeeshop and write together for an hour or two. Because I’m used to writing alone without distractions like coughs and chairs scraping the floor, that practice always sounded a little difficult.

But my mantra is if it works, do it! Although I haven’t tried group writing, I’m always open to new tricks to be more productive.

Dr. Sarah Rugheimer – photo credit: Ben Gebo

Several months ago, my good friend Sarah Rugheimer (whom I’ve talked about on TKZ) proposed we do a weekly zoom meeting to write together. She’s in Toronto and I’m in Montana so we don’t get to see each other often. Zooming is the next best thing.

The format she proposed was to meet for an hour. For the first five to 10 minutes, we catch up, discuss what we’re working on, and state a goal for that session. Then we turn off the audio but leave the video on. She sets a timer for 50 minutes and we write. The last five minutes we report what we accomplished then say goodbye until next week.

Having a regular appointment means you have to show up. If you don’t, you let the other person down. We don’t want to disappoint our friends or colleagues. That’s accountability.

I mentioned we turn off audio but leave the video on. The first meeting, it felt kind of odd. It wasn’t meant to be a security camera watching to make sure we were writing. But it changed my normal concentration. When Sarah moved her laptop to a different spot or got up to make a cup of tea, I was aware of what she did.

Then I noticed her frowns and expressions of puzzlement. That was interesting because I suspect I make similar faces when I’m struggling to find the right word or frustrated if a sentence isn’t working.

I empathized because I was going through the same thing. In a weird way, 2000 miles apart, we were sharing our solitary experience.

I’m glad to report Sarah’s system works. We’ve been zooming weekly for few months. There’s a sense of satisfaction in telling a fellow writer when you accomplish a set goal. Family and non-writing friends smile and nod politely but only another writer truly gets it. 

“Hey, I edited Chapter 14.”

“Great!” she says. “I finished the grant application that’s due tomorrow.”

“Cool! That’s a load off your mind.”

At our last session, I told Sarah I planned to write a post for TKZ about our zoom meetings. She grinned then told me about how she’d used zoom accountability with another friend, Dr. Sarah Ballard. Both were working on a self-care podcast. Sarah B. talked about using the zoom sessions for “SBT,” which Sarah R. initially thought referred to “Sarah Ballard Time.”

Turns out SBT means “Shame Based Tasks.”

You know, those projects you dread, the ones that cause you the greatest anxiety, and make you feel guilty for not doing them. The ones you worry over at 2 a.m. when you can’t sleep.

Because SBTs make us uncomfortable, we tend to put them off…and off…and off…

But zoom accountability sessions are the perfect time to complete SBTs.

At the beginning of the meeting, you state the goal out loud to your partner: “Today I’m going to email that agent who’s had my manuscript for nine months.”

Now you’re committed.

Your friend encourages you and may offer ways to tackle the problem you hadn’t thought of.

They reassure you and give you confidence that you actually can do it.

Your self-doubt lessens.

You dig in.

In the next 50 minutes, by golly, you actually do it.

You report to your partner who congratulates you.

You gleefully cross that shame-based task off your list.

Whew!

But what if you don’t have a friend to zoom with?

You can join an online group like the London Writers Salon that sponsors Monday through Friday writers’ hours. They offer hour-long zoom meetings at various times of the day for different time zones around the planet.

Two women started the program during the pandemic when they couldn’t have in-person meetings. The format was so successful that it continued and grew. Currently the program helps more than 800 writers be accountable and productive.

Zoom accountability works in ways I didn’t expect, especially with SBTs.

Plus, it’s always a pleasure to “see” my friend.

Thanks for suggesting this trick, Sarah!

~~~

TKZers: Have you ever tried zoom accountability with another writer? How do you keep yourself accountable and producing words? Please share your tips.

~~~

TKZ goes on our annual two-week break soon. Warm holiday wishes to TKZ friends and see you on the other side.

~~~

Debbie Burke holds villains accountable in Fruit of the Poisonous Tree. 

Cover by Brian Hoffman

 

Please check out the latest thriller at this link. 

Print vs. eBooks

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“I guess there are never enough books.” —John Steinbeck

* * *

The decision on whether to read a book in print or on an ebook device usually comes down to personal preference. But I came across something recently that made me think there may be more benefits to reading on paper rather than ebooks, so I thought I’d share that here.

First, a little data on the marketplace. I read this on Investopedia.com

According to the Association of American Publishers, e-book sales in the U.S. were down 1.5% during the first quarter of 2024 compared to the first three months of 2023, for a total of $255.6 million in revenue. They currently make up 12% of total consumer book sales. Their share of the market has been inching up over time, but hardcover and paperback books still rule the market, with approximately $3.3 billion and $3.1 billion in sales in 2023, respectively.

So it’s a competitive marketplace with each book type finding favor with different groups. Here are a few of the reasons people may choose one format over the other.

Ebooks

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” —Stephen King

The word that comes up often when talking about ebooks is “convenience.”

  • An ebook can be bought from an online store or checked out from the library and be available immediately.
  • A single ebook reader can store thousands of books, and it’s much more portable than dragging around even a few paperbacks.
  • An ebook can be read in the dark.
  • The font size on an ebook can be changed.

In addition, Project Guttenberg provides thousands of ebooks downloadable at no cost.

Ebooks do have some disadvantages

  • They require electrical power.
  • They can cause eye strain.

Print Books

“A room without books is like a body without a soul”. – Cicero

Print books may not be as convenient as digital, but they do have advantages.

  • Print books don’t need power.
  • They’re easier on the eyes
  • They provide an enjoyable tactile experience

 

But there’s more. I ran across an article on howlifeunfolds.com about the benefits of reading print books, and I’ve listed a few of those additional benefits below:

You absorb more information.

Readers of print books absorb and remember more of the plot than readers of e-books do, according to a study that was presented in Italy in 2014. In an earlier study, print readers also scored higher in other areas, such as empathy, immersion in the book, and understanding of the narrative. Scientists believe this effect is related to the tactile sensation of holding a book in your hands.

They help children become better readers, too. 

Another study of young children between the ages of three and five revealed that kids had lower comprehension of the story when their parents read to them from an e-book as opposed to a print book.

They can help you sleep better. 

When you’re winding down for the night, reading from a screen or scrolling through a social media app on your phone are bad ideas. Study after study has shown that the blue light from your screen can toy with your melatonin levels and circadian cycles, making it harder for you to fall asleep and making you feel groggier when you wake up.

Having a library at home is linked to higher academic achievement. 

Students who have books at home are more likely to score higher on tests, according to a study of readers from 42 countries. It doesn’t matter how many books you have, but each additional book helps children perform better in school.

* * *

I like to read fiction on ebooks and nonfiction on paper. One thing I like about paper is the ability to write notes in the margins, something I’d never need to do in a novel. However, reading the article on howlifeunfolds.com, I may reconsider how to add more print books to my reading.

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” —Walt Disney

* * *

So TKZers: What’s your preference in reading: print or ebooks? Do the benefits of print books listed above influence your decision?

 

 

“A delicious murder mystery” —Readers’ Favorite Reviews

Available at  Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, or Apple Books.

What is Your Character’s Wounding Event?

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Characters need personal growth to achieve their goals. If the character seeks to improve themselves in some way — at work, in relationships, or spiritually — or defeat the villain, their fatal flaw will often sabotage early efforts.

Who they are and what they want is at odds with their fatal flaw, which makes it almost impossible to succeed. The character might not even realize they have this flaw until a situation, experience, or event triggers a tsunami of inner turmoil.

Fatal Flaw Defined

A fatal flaw refers to a character trait that leads to their downfall. The term fatal flaw implies the character is heroic and admirable in many other ways. Even the fatal flaw itself could be considered admirable in a different situation but it hinders them in the storyline.

The TKZ archive has several articles about character flaws (here, here, and here, to name a few).

But where does their fatal flaw stem from?

Often, the past is to blame. It doesn’t necessarily need to be from the character’s childhood, though it can be. Was the character abandoned as a child, emotionally, physically, or both? If so, they’d deal with abandonment and/or trust issues as an adult. Or perhaps, their fatal flaw stems from the opening scene in the novel.

What happened to the character to create the inner turmoil within them? We call this the “wounding event,” and it’s crucial to understand the character on an emotional level.

Many factors play a role in determining who we — and our characters — become in life, including environment, mentors/teachers, parents, genetics, and how they were raised. Life is filled with flawed people, all battling their own demons, some more than others. Specific events and long-term exposure to unhealthy ideals, behaviors, and relationships all play a role in shaping a human or fictional character.

The Wounding Event

The most crippling is emotional trauma. Unresolved pain — the wounding event — should impact the character’s life. This defining emotional experience from a character’s past is so debilitating they’ll do anything to avoid that pain again. It colors how they view the world and alters what they believe about themselves and others. The trauma instills a deep fear that it may happen again if the character doesn’t protect themselves.

Or perhaps, your character has a physical defect with long-lasting psychological effects, such as a crippling illness, birth defect, scarring, or disfigurement. The mistaken belief that the character must harden themselves to feel emotionally safe is what allows negative traits to emerge.

The wounding event creates a core belief or insecurity that manifests as a character flaw, causing them to act defensively or in self-sabotaging ways to avoid reliving the pain. The wounding event also refers to a traumatic experience that significantly impacts the character’s psychology and development, or a set of deeply ingrained fears that shape how they interact with the world. It’s the pivotal moment that created the underlying emotional wound that drives their behavior.

Whatever wounding event you choose when crafting a character, it should be hinted at or shown on the page. This will help the reader relate to, and empathize with, the character. It’ll also explain their actions.

At some point in the novel, the character must face their fears — an important scene in the character arc is about confronting and healing from their wounding event.

The ideal placement is about the midpoint. This confrontation within themselves gives the character the inner strength to overcome their fatal flaw and spins the story in a new direction, with a clearer perspective on how to proceed. Or they figure out how to use their fatal flaw to their advantage “through a vein of moral rightness,” as JSB said in an article about character.

Sounds a lot like the mirror moment, doesn’t it? 😉

Secondary flaws can also arise from the wounding event, which will compromise the character’s path and prevent them from reaching their full potential.

Wounds are powerful. Taking the time to probe your character’s past to unearth their wounding event will help you — and the reader — better understand what motivates them and their behavior.

For discussion, what fictional wounding event has stuck with you? To avoid spoilers, only include the title if the wounding event occurs early in the novel.

Or tell us about your character’s wounding event and the fatal flaw that followed.

Livin’ the Dream

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* * *

Grocery shopping is not my favorite pastime. I usually fly through the store, endangering the other shoppers with my risky grocery cart maneuvers. But for some reason, one day last summer I was in an easygoing mood, sauntering down an aisle, wondering where Kroger could possibly have relocated my favorite brand of English Afternoon Tea.

As I was plodding along, pondering the strange tendency of grocery store managers to confuse shoppers by reorganizing their stores, I spotted a young man at the far end of the aisle who was loading products on one of the shelves. When he finished his task, he walked toward me. He wore a Kroger apron over his clothes and had obviously been stocking the shelves with canned goods.

As he approached within a few feet, he nodded and said, “Hi. How are you?”

I responded, “I’m well, thank you. How are you?”

He gave me a wry smile and tipped his head toward the thousands of cans of fruits and vegetables on the aisle. “Livin’ the dream,” he said.

I chuckled at his cute reply. I supposed he was a high school senior or a college student who was spending his summer finding a spot for the Green Giant’s can of Niblets Corn instead of surfing the big waves in Australia or climbing Mt. Everest or joining an archeological dig in the Middle East. Or maybe just hanging out with his friends.

I wanted to tell him that maybe he was living the dream and just didn’t know it.

* * *

I suppose age has something to do with it. As I get older, I find myself identifying more and more things I have to be grateful for. Some of those are the big ticket items that we all dream about, but most are the simple everyday familiarities that are just part of our lives.

There are people who say that you should acknowledge a hundred things each day that you’re thankful for. I’m well aware of my many blessings, and a hundred isn’t nearly a big enough number. I thought I should list just a few from various aspects of my life, and I even wrote a little poem to introduce them.

A few are big. Others are small.
Some of them hardly matter at all.
But grateful for these I will always be,
For they’re some of the gifts that were given to me.

  1. The miracle of life
  2. My family
  3. A long marriage to a good man
  4. Health
  5. Friends
  6. Language
  7. Freedom
  8. Good books
  9. The time and resources to write
  10. Awareness
  11. Indoor plumbing
  12. Not having to get up at 5:30am to run three miles before work
  13. Music
  14. The end of summer in Memphis
  15. A good night’s sleep
  16. Running shoes
  17. Food (including canned goods)
  18. Peet’s French Roast Coffee
  19. Crossword puzzles
  20. Duct tape

* * *

In this season of Thanksgiving, the joy of writing ranks high on my gratitude list. The last few years of my life have been transformed by the desire to write mysteries. My days are structured around turning out a word quota, marketing existing works, writing TKZ posts 😊, maintaining my own blog, and continuing to educate myself on the craft of writing. It is both a focus and a fascination that I am continually grateful for.

I treasure the friends I’ve made in this writing space, and I’m indebted to many I’ve learned from. Thank you all.

Yeah, I’m livin’ the dream.

So TKZers: What are you grateful for?

* * *

Private pilot Cassie Deakin has a lot to be thankful for—like not being killed when she foolishly confronted a murderer while unarmed.

Available at  Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, or Apple Books.

 

 

Solving the Mystery of TOD

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By Elaine Viets

 Bowls of melting ice cream once helped solve a brutal murder. An entire family – father, mother and two small children – were shot to death at their dinner table. The neighbors heard a commotion and called the police.

When the police arrived, a death investigator determined that the family had finished their main meal, and the mother was dishing out ice cream when the family was shot.

The death investigator photographed the ice cream, and measured how far it had melted in the bowl. Then she bought the same brand of ice cream and timed how long it took for the ice cream to melt in the same type of bowl.

That gave the police a vital clue to the estimated time of death (TOD).

Estimated is the crucial word. It’s nearly impossible to determine the actual time of death, unless the person dies at a hospital or in front of witnesses.

I heard this story about the ice cream when I took the MedicoLegal Death Investigators Training Course, given by St. Louis University’s School of Medicine. I’m not a death investigator, but the course was helpful.

When you write your mystery, you don’t want your pathologist to check out a body just found in a field and announce, “The time of death was at seven-fifteen.”

The pathologist doesn’t know that.  There’s no way they can know for sure. There are too many variables, including these three:

Rigor mortis. A body stiffens, starting about two hours after death. Around 24 hours later, the rigidity starts to disappear.

Algor mortis. The dead body’s temperature decreases until it reaches room temperature.

Livor mortis. When the heart stops pumping, the blood settles and the skin turns dark. One way police can tell if a body has been moved is if it’s found face up, but there’s dark purple livor mortis on the chest.

Humidity, what the dead person is wearing, and the temperature are a few of the things that can affect the time of death.

Let’s say your victim is shot in their home. If it’s summer and the killer turns down the air conditioner, that can slow down the processes. In the winter, turning the furnace on high can speed things up.

Time of death calculators can help mystery writers estimate TOD. Here’s one: https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/time-of-death

If your novel has a person found dead in their home, here are some clues your investigator can use to determine their time of death:

Has the mail been taken in?

Are the curtains open or closed?

Are the lights on or off? In which rooms? This clue is less helpful now that some homes have door-activated lights that turn on automatically when the room door is opened.

Is anything cooking on the stove or in the oven?

What about the food in the fridge: Has the milk soured, the produce wilted, or the meat spoiled?

Are any food items on the counter? Butter? Ice cream? Is it melted? Is the bread moldy?

Can you still smell food cooking on the stove?

 

Pathologists will tell you that TOD is an art and a science. TOD is also German for “death,” but that’s another story.

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Book Lovers Special: MURDER BETWEEN THE COVERS, my Dead-End Job mystery set at Page Turners bookstore is 99 cents all month. https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Between-Covers-Dead-End-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0D2R9NZ77

Does Your Story Have a Full Circle Moment?

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A full circle moment occurs when life provides clarity about the past.

The journey begins with an often harrowing event, we endure trials and tribulations along the way, then end up right where we started.

Only now, we have the wisdom of life experience and personal growth to view the past from a new perspective.

Have you experienced a full circle moment in your life?

I’m living one right now. As I mentioned before, I grew up in Massachusetts. When I moved to New Hampshire, I said I’d never return, that no one could pay me to live there again. And that remained my mindset for decades. But now, after a series of difficult personal experiences and a new, enlightened perspective, I plan to move back to Massachusetts. Everything about my decision feels right — it feels like I’ve finally found my way home.

If I were to write my life story one day, the jangle of the key in the lock of my new home would become a powerful full circle moment in the book.

A full circle moment completes the character arc.

Story Circle

Dan Harmon is the mastermind behind the Story Circle. Currently an executive producer at Rick and Morty, he also created and ran the NBC show Community. Dan consolidated Joseph Campbell’s classic Hero’s Journey from 17+ steps into a more contemporary set of 8, each with a punchy one-word descriptor that makes them easy to remember.

Please ignore my lame attempt at drawing a straight line with a mouse. 😀

click to enlarge

YOU: A compelling main character (YOU) has a problem.

NEED: YOU have a need.

YOU want something. YOU are not satisfied with a ho-hum lifestyle. Either this desire stems from an internal NEED before the inciting incident, or something or someone comes along to awaken the desire within YOU.

GO: YOU cross the threshold into an adventure.

YOU have packed your bags to search for a brighter tomorrow. Not only are YOU ready to GO but you’re going no matter what. No one can stop YOU. The NEED is too strong to ignore.

SEARCH: YOU find the answer to your problem.

Mission accomplished. Or is it?

YOU land in a new country and don’t speak the language, nor are YOU familiar with the culture.

Let’s see what YOU are made of. Will YOU adapt? Or fall apart? Perhaps a little of both.

FIND: Things are not how they appear.

This is a major threshold the character must cross, one that spins the story in a new direction. The protagonist has come this far. There’s no turning back. YOU must do everything within your power to fight to fulfill your NEED.

TAKE: But there’s always a price to pay.

How badly do YOU want it? This is where we see how steep of a price the protagonist is willing to pay to get what they NEED.

In this part of the story, the protagonist comes face-to-face with the villain and dangerously close to death, real or internal. The climax is the culmination of everything YOU have been fighting for since the beginning.

RETURN: After YOU slay the metaphorical (or real) dragon, YOU RETURN to the ordinary world.

YOU have fulfilled your NEED, defeated the villain, learned something about yourself, and are ready to RETURN home. In a romcom, it’s here where the hero races to the airport to prevent his soulmate from boarding the plane. In a thriller, the protagonist has defeated the villain and must RETURN home, even if there’s more danger in the near future.

CHANGE: The journey has changed YOU, for better or worse.

YOU are not the same person YOU were before. Are YOU wiser? Better prepared for the unexpected? Or more cautious, even paranoid? How has the journey changed YOU?

Wizard of Oz — Story Circle Example 

YOU: Dorothy is in the black-and-white world, dreaming (in song) about traveling over the rainbow rather than stay in Kansas.

NEED: A twister dumps Dorothy’s house in a colorful town square. No longer in a black-and-white world, she enters a land of technicolor and NEEDs to adapt to a new and unfamiliar place.

GO: When Dorothy first lands in Oz, she doesn’t know where she is or how she got there. Soon, she realizes she’s “over the rainbow” and her NEED now is to get home. The only way to do that is to journey to see the great and powerful Oz. She also must stay on the yellow brick road and watch out for the Wicked Witch of the West. But she must go. The NEED to GO home is too great. Dorothy begins her adventure.

SEARCH: With advice from Glinda, the Good Witch of the North*, and her ruby red slippers, Dorothy and Toto follow the yellow brick road toward the great unknown. For the first few steps, she literally focuses on putting one foot in front of the other until she moves farther down the road.

Along the way she encounters the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion. She also endures conflict and obstacles — facing her fears, traversing through the forest, and finding a way to meet the great and powerful Oz.

*In the original novel Glinda is the Good Witch of the South, but I used “North” from the 1939 film adaptation because it’s more well-known.

FIND: The Emerald City is finally within sight. Dorothy believes the field of poppies is a beautiful and faster way to get there. But all is not how it appears. To steal the ruby red slippers, the Wicked Witch of the West has placed a field of magical sleep-inducing poppies on the outskirts of the city, and Dorothy and Toto fall into a deep slumber.

This scene is a beautiful example of the fifth stage of the Story Circle that hints at the darkness that creeps within us all, even more so when we set out to make our dreams a reality.

TAKE: The Wicked Witch of the West sends her band of flying monkeys to bring Dorothy and her friends to the castle. But the flying monkeys can’t harm Dorothy because she wears the mark of the Good Witch of the North on her forehead. Dorothy is forced to choose between her magic slippers and Toto, whom the Wicked Witch threatens to drown if Dorothy refuses to comply.

When the Wicked Witch torches the Scarecrow, his straw is set on fire. Dorothy tosses a bucket of water to help her friend but also wets the Wicked Witch, who melts into a puddle on the floor.

Dorothy’s victory shows the reader/viewer she has the inner strength to complete her quest.

RETURN: Dorothy discovers the wizard is a fraud. But luckily, there’s still a way to get home. The answer has been on Dorothy’s feet the entire time. She clicks her heels three times and repeats, “There’s no place like home.”

CHANGE: Dorothy realizes her home and family are the most valuable treasures on earth. She’s no longer the dreamy girl who wishes to leave Kansas. She’s grateful for what she has and finds happiness in the simple things.

She is transformed. And it’s a powerful full circle moment.

Have you experienced a full circle moment in your life? Tell us about it. Or share your favorite full circle moment from a book or movie.

Are you familiar with the Story Circle? Pantser or plotter, it’s an easy way to test your character arc.

Thank you to all our military men and women for your service. Happy Veterans Day!

Please note: I’m on the road today, so I may not be available to respond to comments right away.

Literacy in America

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“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
— Frederick Douglass

* * *

A week or so ago, Reavis Wortham wrote a TKZ post entitled “Reader Under Construction” where he outlined the benefits of reading to young children. The comments revealed how many of us remember our first experiences with reading and the joy of reading to others.

The photos of Reavis’s grandchildren made me think how fortunate children are who have parents and grandparents who read to them and encourage them to read for themselves. Not everyone is so lucky.

* * *

THE GOOD NEWS

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss

Those of us who frequent the pages of the Kill Zone Blog are well aware of the profound benefits of reading. We remember the excitement that came with learning to read and the many hours of our youth spent with characters like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.

Some of us were drawn to writing from the books we read. I’m going to guess that *none* of us can imagine our lives without being able to read.

But reading is more than enjoying a good story or educating oneself. It actually transforms the brain and makes the reader smarter, healthier, better organized, and more likely to make wise decisions in life.

MORE GOOD NEWS

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” – Richard Steele

According to an article at the Mather Hospital website:

Regular reading improves your brain power and memory function by giving your brain a workout . It may help to slow the process of natural memory and brain function decline that comes with age. According to neuroscientists at Emory University in Atlanta, “reading a gripping novel makes changes in the way the brain connects with different circuits.”

* * *

NOW FOR THE BAD NEWS

After reading Reavis’s post, I was inspired to look up the data on literacy in America. Here’s what I found.

Although the U.S. spends an average of a whopping $17,280 per pupil annually to fund K-12 public education, the National Literacy Institute reports 21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2024.

To expand on what this means, a Wikipedia page on Illiteracy in America states

Adults in this range have difficulty using or understanding print materials. Those on the higher end of this category can perform simple tasks based on the information they read, but adults below Level 1 may only understand very basic vocabulary or be functionally illiterate.

In addition to the large numbers of illiterate Americans, the National Literacy Institute also reports 54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level.

Furthermore, thewearyeducator.com site reports on the impacts of illiteracy:

  • 43% of adults at Level 1 literacy skills live in poverty
  • 85% of juveniles who interact with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate
  • More than 60% of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate
  • Low literacy costs $73 million per year in direct health care costs

I could go on, but you get the message.

* * *

So, how can we as authors help combat the harmful effects of illiteracy? Writing good books that people want to read is one obvious answer. I like to think mystery novels not only entertain, but also challenge the reader to figure out who committed the crime, thereby improving the reader’s problem-solving skills. Stories that emphasize themes of justice and honesty are welcome messages in our often cynical world.

But can we do more?

* * *

“Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labelled ‘This could change your life.'” —Helen Exley

So TKZers: What are your thoughts about the problem of illiteracy in our country? Any ideas on how we can help overcome it?

 

“Books and doors are the same thing. You open them, and you go through into another world.” —Jeanette Winterson

Fly with private pilot Cassie Deakin and enter a world of mystery.

Available at  Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, or Apple Books.

Every Book is Different

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Every Book is Different
Terry Odell

There are no hard and fast ‘rules’ about how to write a novel. There are plotters who spend months writing detailed outlines. There are those who have a plot in mind. There are those who have to dive into the lives of their characters before they can put fingers to keyboard. There are those who write the first draft longhand. An author friend has to have a picture of her hero before she can start. Others need a title. Some write scenes on note cards. Some write them using plotting/writing software. And some write a sentence, see where it goes, then write another, and another, and another.

When I was still regarding writing as a fun thing to do, I joined a local chapter of RWA on the advice of others who said I’d learn about more than just writing a romance. My first meeting, there was a lot of talk about how to map out a story board for the typical 20 chapter category romance.

I knew I wasn’t writing a category romance, but the idea of blocking out 20 blank boxes on a foam core board or a poster board looked interesting. I went to my local craft store, bought a package of 3 foamcore boards, and marked them into 20 sections. I managed to have a rough idea of what should happen in the first 3 chapters, and then everything fizzled. Detailed plotting wasn’t going to work for me.

Since I write in a deep point of view, I need to know my characters. But interviewing them in depth before starting to write seemed like a waste of precious writing time. I didn’t need to know what they looked like until I had to describe them. Or what their favorite song, food, color, or astrological sign was. We’re not writing on stone tablets, so we can go back and make adjustments as needed.

For “Seeing Red”, I’d always wanted to use the line “He’s dead, Jim.” So, I wrote that and kept going. It didn’t end up being the first line in the book, but it gave me a start.

In another, I had an idea for my opening “gambit” in a Blackthorne novel, but when I did a little research, I discovered something that had me abandoning the original premise for the main plot of the book. I had one book where the title came first. I’d finished my first novel, and decided I kind of liked the gig, so I wanted to try another. I created a file folder called “Starting Over” which ended up being the title of the book (since changed after I got the rights back).

I’m writing my thirty-somethingth novel. Yes, someday I should go to my website’s book page and count them, but for me it’s just “Write the next book” and don’t worry about giving it a number. I’ve used numerous approaches.

What’s my method? This one’s a total jumble. I knew it would be a Blackthorne, which gave me a rough framework. I knew it would be someone from the Security and Investigations Department, not Covert Ops. Because it was a Blackthorne, it would be a romantic suspense (or, as I prefer to call it, a “mystery with a relationship”). I also knew that it would be set in Copenhagen and the Faroe Islands. Not because I couldn’t wait to set a book there, but because—and I’ve done this a few times before—I’d gone there on a photography trip and writing a book expands that photography trip into a research trip.

I opened a Word document and stared at the blank page for a while. All I knew at this point was I had an investigator who had to get to Copenhagen. I came up with this:

The vibration of Logan Bolt’s cell phone gave him a welcome excuse for a break from his run. He debated waiting until he’d finished—only two miles to go—but the ringtone said the call was from Ryan Harper. His boss at Blackthorne, Inc. Logan slowed to a jog, then a walk, then extricated the phone from the belt at his waist.

Not much, but I had a character who was interrupted by a call from his boss. Usually not a good thing.

And then the questions, the whys and what ifs began.

Often, I’d write the questions on paper, where I could draw circles and arrows and a paragraph about each one, but this time, I opened another document and jotted things down there. It looked like this:

Hero:
Investigator, Logan Bolt
Not covert ops. Security and Investigations
Boss – Ryan Harper
Limited language experience. Born in the US
Why in Copenhagen? Connection?
Lots of bicycles
Little mermaid statue
Castles/history
R&R after injury on op? Mental fatigue?
Visiting relatives/friends?
Grandmother dying? Sister? Grandmother used in Cruising Undercover.
Where are his parents?
Blackthorne mission?
Find and bring back daughter of political bigwig? Industrialist?
Father? Mother? Alive? Dead?
Siblings?

Heroine:
Madison Bright Westfield
She holds secret? Someone wants it?
Running away?
Kidnapped?
Tracked to Copenhagen or Faroes? Schengen area; passports not needed to get from one to another member country
No desire to support her father’s/family’s business(es). Diametrically opposed to what they stand for.
Changed her name to avoid connection?
Conservationist? Puffin tie-in?
Photography tie-in?
Has to get to Faroes. Why?
Mykines – puffins
Sudoroy – southernmost island. Ferry.

I started writing, answering some of these questions. I’d written five chapters before I realized I hadn’t put the heroine on the page yet, and since I write my romantic suspense books with alternating hero/heroine POV scenes, I gave myself a quick mental head slap and wrote her first scene. Where will it go? I’m not sure, but I think it might belong as Chapter 1. And I’ll need more scenes from her POV, which means I’m—gasp—writing out of order. I don’t do that. Until I do.

What about you, TKZers? Do you have a ‘tried and true’ method for writing, or does it change from book to book?

New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

When your dream assignment turns into more than you bargained for
Cover of Double Intrigue, an International Romantic Suspense by Terry Odell Shalah Kennedy has dreams of becoming a senior travel advisor—one who actually gets to travel. Her big break comes when the agency’s “Golden Girl” is hospitalized and Shalah is sent on a Danube River cruise in her place. She’s the only advisor in the agency with a knowledge of photography, and she’s determined to get stunning images for the agency’s website.
Aleksy Jakes wants out. He’s been working for an unscrupulous taskmaster in Prague, and he’s had enough. When he spots one of his coworkers in a Prague hotel restaurant, he’s shocked to discover she’s not who he thought she was.
As Shalah and Aleksy cruise along the Danube, the simple excursion soon becomes an adventure neither of them imagined.

Like bang for your buck? I have a new Mapleton Bundle. Books 4, 5, and 6 for one low price.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

Greatest Hits from the 2024 Flathead River Writers Conference Part 1

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2024 Flathead Writers Conference
Photo credit: David Snyder

by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

The 34th Flathead River Writers Conference was October 5-6, 2024. The conference is always good, but this year was stellar with superb speakers and enthusiastic interaction among attendees.

As I drafted this post from my notes, it kept growing with more information that needed to be included. As a result, it ran way too long for a single post. So I’m dividing it into two. Today is Part 1 of the greatest hits from the event. Part 2 will follow in a couple of weeks.

~~~

Debra Magpie Earling

Debra Magpie Earling (Native-American author of The Lost Journals of Sacajawea and Perma Red) gave the moving keynote which set the tone that continued through the entire weekend.

Debra opened with a description of “wonder”, which she defined as “surprise mingled with admiration.” She went on to tell a story of wonder about the last Christmas she spent with her dying mother. On a peaceful Montana night, she described their visit as like “being inside a snow globe.”

Her mother said, “When I die, I’ll send you a sign. A hummingbird.” Debra went along with her mom but had her doubts. After all, hummingbirds are common at her home during summer so how would she ever know which one was the sign?

Nevertheless, after her mother passed, the following spring Debra set up many feeders and waited.

It was a strange summer. Other bird species came and went. Crows sat on the feeders. But not a single hummingbird appeared.

On the evening of her mother’s birthday in July, Debra and her husband were sitting outside and Debra said, “Well, I guess she didn’t send the sign.”

At that moment, the only hummingbird of the year appeared. It flew to Debra’s forehead and hovered for a few minutes then left.

Debra and her husband asked each other, “Did you see that? Is that what I think it was?”

With that anecdote, she summed up the magical wonder of storytelling, the conference theme.

While talking about where inspiration comes from, Debra said, “The muse is a lot of dead people who want their stories told.”

That sentence sent chills through me. Recently I’ve considered writing historical fiction. Did Debra send me a sign that it’s time to explore the past?

~~~

Danica Winters

Million-selling Harlequin romantic suspense novelist Danica Winters told the audience, “This is not your grandmother’s bodice ripper.” Romance sales account for an astounding $1.4 billion each year.

Today’s variations are limitless: contemporary, historical, erotica, Young Adult, thriller/suspense, LGBTQ+, dark romance, paranormal, holiday, fantasy/romantasy. Even serious social issues like human trafficking find their way into romances.

Why are they so popular? Danica believes, “They are everyone’s escape. They bring joy and make people laugh. Romance is a promise. We writers are entertainers.”

Danica sells many more paperbacks than ebooks, unlike other genres where ebooks dominate. She added an interesting market detail: When Walmart changed its shelving to hold 6″ by 9″ books, that prompted publishers to shift book production to that same size because Walmart is such a huge market.

While most romance readers are women, Danica said about 20% are men, often in law enforcement and the military. Turns out even alpha males like escape, too.

~~~

Leslie Budewitz

Three-time Agatha winner Leslie Budewitz focused on crime fiction with an excellent summation of differences within the genre.

  • Mystery is “What Happened?”
  • Suspense is “What’s Happening?”
  • Thriller is “What Might Happen?”

Leslie has her finger on the pulse of the cozy market and talked about shifts within the genre, including a new trend of millennial cozies that include some swearing and adult language.

For a cozy, the semiofficial acceptable body count is three. So far, Leslie has only had two murders in one book.

With 19 published books, Leslie must keep track of two amateur sleuth series and multiple standalone suspense novels. She developed an ingenious system to avoid repetition of plots and characters. For each book, she creates a spreadsheet with the following headings:

Victim              Killer/Method             Suspects          Motive            VGR

What is VGR? The Very Good Reason why the amateur sleuth gets involved in a crime.

~~~

Kathy Dunnehoff

Only a truly gifted writing teacher can make grammar entertaining. That describes longtime college instructor Kathy Dunnehoff, author of bestselling romantic comedies and screenplays.

Kathy offered nuts and bolts hacks to improve writing productivity.

  • Measure your success by what you control, not by factors outside your control. Success is the number of words you produce.
  • Use a writing calendar to track production either by word count or minutes…as long as that time is spent actually writing. Watching goat yoga or doomscrolling doesn’t count.
  • When you don’t write, record your excuse in the calendar. Talk about making yourself accountable!
  • Recognize procrastination in its many disguises: research, reorganizing your office, talking about writing rather that writing, etc.
  • When revising, try the “Frankenstein Method” (from Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat Writes a Novel): Start a new document for the second draft, then copy and paste sections from the first draft.
  • There is no extra credit for suffering!

~~~

On Saturday evening, our local indie shop, the BookShelf, hosted a reception for conference attendees and speakers. Gather a bunch of writers in a bookstore and we’re more excited than dogs at the dog park. Even though people mock-complained their brains were overloaded and they were exhausted, no one wanted to leave. All that creative energy kept us buoyed and eager for the following day.

Come back here in two weeks for Part 2 of the Greatest Hits from the Flathead River Writers Conference. Highlights include freelance article writing, side hustles to supplement income from book sales, anatomy of a publicity campaign, and 16 questions an agent asks when assessing a manuscript.

~~~

TKZers: Do any of the ideas mentioned resonate with you? What is your favorite productivity hack?

~~~

Conferences are also a good venue to sell books and I did!

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree, Cover by Brian Hoffman

 

 

Please check out my latest thriller Fruit of the Poisonous Tree at this link.