By: Kathleen Pickering  www.kathleenpickering.com

Do you want to know a secret? I visualize a collective leaning forward with a hand to ear, to which I’ll whisper: “If you want to find a good story, listen!”

Where co-blogger, James Scott-Bell, spoke in his last blog about listening to your characters as they unfold to bring their story to life, I’ll discuss how listening to the world around you can uncover a story.

I can guarantee you that every published author you meet will tell you how something they heard triggered a novel. If folks wonder how an author can accept a multi-book contract without even knowing what they’ll produce, it’s because authors listen as intently as they write. Stories are floating all around you: in the news, eavesdropping on a conversation in a restaurant, elevator or train, chatting with  colleagues at work, conferences, with strangers, or for me the best source—family drama.

Sometimes I’ve spoken with people who tell me something they’ve never told others before, and they’re suddenly shocked that they’ve revealed their story. That’s because I have honed listening skills that make others comfortable in talking with me. Please understand, I don’t listen to folks to elicit deep dark secrets (though that would be nice!) but, because long ago, I discovered that I find people fascinating. No joke. I love to listen to what others have to say. If I’m talking with you it’s because I am genuinely interested in you.

A few years back, we were on vacation in Montana. From a single question I asked the cook at the dude ranch I learned that she was hiding from her drug dealer husband way down in New Mexico. This woman’s story spawned one of the proposals that Harlequin bought in my three book contract. Added bonus? A family member is an undercover narcotics detective who is telling me specific details to give the story life. Am I listening? You bet!

The next listening coupe was from my niece. She is an emergency room nurse who had a bout with cancer and survived. (YAY!) Listening to her recount her determination to outwit her fears and stay courageous during her treatment became book two of my Harlequin proposal. And, the love story that grew from her ordeal is so romantic it gives me goose bumps. I can’t wait to write the book based on her story!

The third plot hit me unexpectedly. I was discussing with friends the plight of rape victims who become pregnant and learned that several US states have no laws protecting women from rapists seeking custody of children born from their attack. Not only did this make me want to use some of Steven King’s horror tactics to stop such an atrocity, but hearing this information ignited the first of the three proposed novels I’ll be writing for Harlequin.

So, if you want to tap into a world of stories waiting to be written, then listen. And listen well. There are two approaches to good listening. One for business, one for empathy. I use both. Here are the first five steps offered by business consultant, Bernard Ferrari, to hone listening skills. These work exceptionally well when interviewing someone:

1. Show Respect. If you’re seeking information, let the person to whom you are speaking know that you value their knowledge and/or opinion, so are asking for their response. That way, they understand your agenda.

2. Listen to Everyone. Developing a good rapport not only with folks in the industry, but anyone in your sphere of existence lays the groundwork for “nuggets of gold” to surface in conversations.

3. Be Quiet! Even though as an excellent story teller, you can “top this” in sharing stories when someone is speaking, refrain! Let your conversation partner speak for 80% of the time. Use your 20% for thoughtful interaction. Remember, you are the one listening here.

4. Understand Emotions. Avoid having important discussions when you are tense, angry, upset or frightened. These emotions will distract you from listening. Sometimes it’s better to know when you should postpone and reschedule an interview (or listening) opportunity.

5. Ask Questions. When you are listening well, asking questions helps bring forward new facts. Even if you disagree with the speaker, phrasing your response with a question shows you are open, flexible and interested in their point of view. A well phrased question can also help the speaker think in a new way or reach different conclusions.

Now, for the second approach to listening, I have learned that in making an emotional connection, the most important fact to remember is to listen to others how you would want them to listen to you. Here are five additional steps to creating an emotional connection with your conversation partner:

6. Body Language. Face the speaker, sit straight or lean forward to show your attentiveness. (Actually, as a good listener, this happens automatically because you ARE interested!)

7. Maintain eye contact. You don’t have to drown in those limpid pools, but while someone is speaking stay glued to the discussion. Don’t let your eyes wonder over their shoulder, or stare at the floor or passersby as they talk. We all know what that feels like. It’s an instant turn off to the person speaking.

8. Create an empty space. This is my most favorite tool for listening. I start a conversation with absolutely no expectations of what my partner will say. It’s what I’ve learned to call an empty space between speakers. The response I get from my question can host a tapestry of answers; all from which new threads of conversation can be lifted. If you have expectations of what your partner will say, it clouds the clarity of information opportunities. You end up unconsciously steering the conversation, or worse, not fully hearing what was said.

9. Minimize external distractions. If your conversation is over a meal, or while giving a workshop, put down your fork for a minute to listen, or stop flipping through your notes while a question is being asked. Again, it’s the one-on-one message you give while listening that keeps the comfort level engaged.

10. Mirror the response. To ensure the speaker that you understood his statement or question, it helps to say, “So, what you’re saying/asking is . . .” and repeat their statement in your own words. This gives the speaker an opportunity to clarify a misunderstanding, or better yet, confirm that you understood. Again, mirroring shows your conversation partner that you are interested in what he/she is saying. It not only connects them with you, but enriches your understanding of the person about whom you’ve taken time to learn more.

Every listening encounter is a learning experience. Every listening encounter is a chance to connect with your world. Can you tell us here on The Kill Zone when a listening encounter spawned a story for you?

I am listening.

Write on, my friends!

xox, Piks

By: Kathleen Pickering  http://www.kathleenpickering.com

Some folks dream in color. Other’s fly in dreams. Me? I’ve jumped off a cliff and lived to tell the story.

Yeah. It was the most exhilarating dream I’ve ever had; even better than the ones where I can fly.

Since Kathryn Lilly brought up dreams in last Tuesday’s blog, I would like to show how dreams can be instrumental in sorting emotions, planning personal goals and life direction.

But, before I continue, I must say how happy I was to meet our fellow TKZ blogger, John Gilstrap, at Sleuthfest in Orlando. John is a very cool dude who I liked on sight and look forward to seeing again. We had an excellent conversation with authors Heather Graham, Traci Hall, Michael Meeske and Jeffrey Deaver. We discovered that writers, no matter what the genre, share a healthy respect for the inexplicable.

That said, let’s apply some logic to the outlandish. Our dreams. (Please note, nightmares will be left for another time.)

My dream went like this:

I was standing on this cliff looking out over the desert. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not good with heights. I’m better since that volcano hike, but at the time of this dream, I was still downright chicken. I was, however, awed enough to appreciate the spectacular view.

(Photo: Peter Lik)

Once again, I was feeling my smallness compared to this extraordinary world before me when this voice whispered into my ear, “Jump. Trust me. You will be okay.”

I replied, “What are you nuts? I can’t jump.”

The voice said, “No. You can do this. Just jump. As you are falling, start running in mid air. Pump your arms and legs. When your big toe touches the ground, keep running. The momentum will carry you forward.”

I answered that I absolutely could not and would not not jump.

The voice said, “Trust me.”

Now, in my dream, I’m not sure who was speaking, but he seemed familiar—and wise. My guess is that since I was dreaming, I decided to take the chance.

I jumped.

My stomach jolted. I couldn’t breathe. Then I realized I wasn’t following instructions. So, I started pumping my arms and legs and don’t you know? When my toe hit the ground, my momentum pushed me forward and I ran across the desert floor like the Road Runner leaving a plume of dust in his wake. I ran and ran until I realized I’d made it, and stopped.

My adrenaline was so high I started jumping up and down. I could have been Rocky on the steps of city hall, screaming, “I did it!”

I felt this heady bliss all the way home until I told my family that I had jumped from the cliff. Everyone started yelling at me. Things like: “What? Are you insane? You jumped from a cliff?”

 Or, “What would you say if one of your children came home and announced they just jumped off a cliff? You expect us to be glad for you? What you did was crazy!”

I thought about it. Saw their logic, and had to agree. Then walked away–only momentarily deflated.

These people I love didn’t get it.

Now, I’m still dreaming here. The fact that my family didn’t get that I had just accomplished a super-human feat, which we all get to do especially in dreams, disturbed me. This was a dream! My family should have realized we were all in this dream and cheered for me, dream style! (I will go on record that my family in this dream simply represented folks I trust. I’m not pointing fingers, here. I promise.)

But, their reaction opened my eyes to the fact that in the past, I had permitted other people to impact my life’s direction with their ostrich-like fears and negativity.

Not any longer. I woke up from this dream so much more clearer. Just because others may not understand my point of view does not mean I am wrong. I can only celebrate the differences.

This dream confirmed to me that I am willing to go over the top to discover myself, my capabilities, my talents. For me, jumping from that cliff in a dream was the same as unzipping my skin and letting the real Kathleen step out.

Taking that step off the cliff not only cemented the direction and the attitude I have towards my personal goals, it symbolized to me that my goals are possible. No matter what the odds.

To this day, that dream stays with me. My leap of faith in my dream is bringing me the results I want in real life.

Proof? I received a call from my agent on Friday. Since my first sale, we’ve agreed to a new, three-book deal with Harlequin. Those three books coupled with the Nocturne anthology I’m writing with Heather Graham and Beth Ciotta for 2013 will make four books released in the next two years with my name on them.

Yeah. I’m grateful. And, I’m stoked. I’m going to be busy writing and will love every minute. 

My message to anyone who hasn’t tried it yet? Dare to dream. And, dream big. I might not be there yet, but I’m on my way. I knew it when I took that first step.

So, have you had any dreams that helped you trust yourself and remain fearless against all odds? If not, what is your greatest personal challenge in achieving your goals?

Let me know.

Write on!

xox, Piks

by Clare Langley-Hawthorne

VIDA, an American organization that supports women in literary arts, recently released ‘The Count‘ for 2011 providing a sobering (and somewhat depressing) look at the current state of rates of publication between women and men in some of the most prestigious literary review outlets (including the New York Times Book review, Times Literary Supplement and the New Yorker). The statistics on the gender split in book coverage is, though not surprising (in 2010 they were just as depressing!), an indication that we women still have a long way to go in terms of breaking the perceived literary glass ceiling.


Now, before I raise the hackles of every male reader of TKZ (and no doubt some of the female readers too!), I want to preface this blog post by stating that I do not believe there in overt bias in the literary world – what concerns me more is how we deal with what appears to be an ongoing systemic issue – one in which women continue to be underrepresented in terms of publication, review, awards and media coverage. 


My aim is to promote discussion not to whine, complain or moan (which sadly, seems to be the reaction to many women commentators when they raise the issue of gender in publishing!)


The statistics, however, speak for themselves…


For example, Vida’s ‘Count’ for 2011 reveals that at the London Review of Books last year 26% of authors reviewed were women, at the New York Review of Books that figure was 18% while at the New Yorker of the books mentioned in the ‘briefly noted’ section only 33% were authored by women.  When looking in terms of reviewers that are women the results are eerily similar – with 16%, 21% and 30% of female reviewers at the London Review of Books, New York Review of Books and Times Literary Supplement respectively.

When I started telling my husband about the figures he immediately leapt on the fact that, when considering the statistics in terms of reviews, you also need to look at the percentage of books authored by men and women. Fair enough. 


Now these statistics don’t seem all that easy to come by, though The Guardian newspaper recently contacted some of the UK’s largest publishing houses and found that for their 2011 non-fiction releases Penguin, Atlantic Books, Random House and Simon & Schuster reported 74%, 73%, 69% and 64% of their titles were (respectively) authored by males.(The article citing this can be found here) This genuinely surprised me – for I had no idea that there was such a gender imbalance in terms of publishing. 


These figures are, however, for non-fiction titles, and I wondered whether there were similar figures in terms of  fiction. An article by Ruth Franklin on the 2010 VIDA figures in The New Republic provided me with a little more insight. Franklin reviewed the Fall 2010 publisher catalogs and again, to my surprise, this revealed a similar pattern with most of the major houses hovering around 25-30% female authorship. Only Penguin’s Riverhead imprint came close to parity with 45% of its titles authored by women. When the Franklin investigated the smaller, independent presses she found their results fared just as poorly with the best performing publisher (Graywolf) having only 25% of titles by female authors.


All in all these statistics suggest we have a long way to go before we understand why women are underrepresented in publishing – especially given that the overwhelming percentage of readers are women.


So what do you think these statistics suggest (and please, no abusive comments…) and how do you think the balance can be redressed? Should it even be redressed?  In my view the first step is awareness and the second will be getting more men to read books authored by women(!) as well as more women involved in the upper eschelons of both publishing and reviewing. But will this really help? 


What are the numbers really saying about the perceived literary glass ceiling?

By: Kathleen Pickering

Here I am, a mere mortal and I’m morphing. I am undergoing a change in identity without super powers, scientific experimentation or surgery.

Within the next few months I will be assuming a new identity through Brand Marketing. My mug will be little affected. My personality will most certainly root itself in the duo identity. I will change my website easily, but it might take me, Kathleen Pickering, a while to get used to the new moniker I will assume.

Now, as a romance writer for Harlequin, I will remain as my established self: Kathleen Pickering. However, for my paranormal and urban fantasy works that I will most probably self publish, I will morph into someone new, and hopefully, wonderful. This is so exciting!

Think about it. You get a chance to pick a new mystique, a new name. Revamp your whole look, should you choose. Who would you be?

My brand specialist and I are tossing around author names for my new, self-publishing identity. Here are a few of the choices:

Erica Miles

Amanda Foster

Kate Mills

Kim Lucas

Nan Leonard

Believe me, the list goes on and on. My advisor insists I should choose a name that not only reflects my genre, but is a name I can live with for a long, long time. I don’t want to do this more than once.

How did I choose my list of names? I used a baby name book. Ran through the girls names I liked and made a list. Then ran through guy names I would use as last names. Then played with them to see what appeared. By the time I finished I had over 30 names. And, believe it or not, I could live with myself under any of those chosen names. Talk about multiple personalities!

One of the many reasons for the pen name? Liability. I have already self-pubbed under my legal name, but I’ve learned that if I plan to publish myself and be professional about it, it’s best if my real self stays at home.

Establishing a Limited Liability Corporation is a good idea, as well. Obtaining a post office box in the name of my LLC and/or my pen name is another step I shall take. These are points all self-pubbed authors should consider. Whether e-pubbing digitally or offering POD hard copies, authors should consider how exposed they want to be. Which brings me to another good reason for this new direction – Security! In this time of online hacking, credit card and banking security terrorism, working under a pen name and LLC help reduce risk to me and my family at little expense.

Now you say, but what about ME?? I like ME. I like my current name and who I am. I don’t want to change. What about my back lists? My works already on Amazon?

Well, ME is still fabulous but vanity is not worth the risk in which I can potentially place myself and my family. So, I humbly suggest that if you choose to take the self-publishing route, consult your attorney on the legalities behind the process and decide what works best for you.

As for back lists, again, it’s personal choice. I made my first self-publishing efforts last year; not that long ago. One by one, I will pull the books already out, announce the changes through my social media channels and re-release the works under my new name.

I have already begun revamping Mythological Sam-The Call. The book is currently written in first person. I’m switching to third person and I love the new personality arising with the story. We’re creating a new cover as well. So, if you own the current version of Mythological Sam-The Call, it will become a collector’s item. Congratulations!

Why make so drastic a change? We all know plenty of successful, well-branded authors using their own names. Since I’m relatively new to the publishing scene, I’m choosing to switch before the momentum increases. The industry is morphing before our eyes. I will, too. 

This takes me to an additional reason for changing my name. I plan to brand a personality around my works that defines me as an Author and a Publisher —and if done properly, this personality will appeal across genres. Appealing to multiple genres is important to me.

Think of the YA’s that adults practically tear from their kids hands to read for themselves. (Twilight or Harry Potter, anyone?) Or the mysteries that appeal to romance readers because of the finely-honed heroes/ heroines. Or best of all, consider the books by authors like Patterson, Childs, Roberts and King. Even if folks haven’t read them, they know who those authors are. Why? Because these authors and their books are well branded. Look at the fabulous Dr. Seuss! Everyone knew his name. (God Rest His Soul.) Why? Branding. I can guarantee you these authors have, and had in Dr. Seuss’s case, no trouble living with themselves.

Bottom line: with this changing industry, I’m changing, as well. I am investing in my long- term future safety and repositioning my self-publishing line of business into a position that will handle my success safely and securely.

I will continue to give my agent and editor first dibs on everything I write. I still honor and seek brick and mortar publishing houses over self-publishing because they have the experience, the marketing savvy and influence in the business. However, if they do not express interest in my manuscripts, my alter-ego will take over and funnel the stories to my self-publishing line of business.

The best part? I have yet to meet this new author I am creating. Not unlike Frankenstein, she is still under my Brand Marketer’s tarp. Bwaaaaahaaaahaaa. I will let you know who she is after the lightning strikes!

Piks with authors Linda Conrad and Traci Hall (and their alter-egos) at one of Heather Graham’s Writers for New Orleans Workshops.

So, let me ask. If you were to develop an author alter ego who would he/she be, and after creating this being, could you live with yourself?

Happy writing!

xox Piks

John Ramsey Miller