Category Archives: Writing

New Research Tool for Writers

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Pat’s excellent post last week got me thinking about a new-to-me research tool to help writers “write what you know.” Though I agree with Pat’s advice to contact a consultant, this tool can help when you’re unable to find one and/or help you understand what they tell you.

First, a quick story about how I discovered this tool.

I found myself in a quandary of needing to learn Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, like, yesterday. Google didn’t help. Neither did Siri. The differences between AP Stylebook and Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) cannot be discovered by a quick search. I needed to dig into AP Stylebook and discover the differences for myself. But how? Buy the style guide and read it with my highlighter? Maybe later, not now. As I mentioned, I needed this knowledge as soon as possible.

For those unfamiliar with AP Stylebook…

The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook was created specifically for journalists to ensure consistency, accuracy, and clarity in news writing. First published in 1953, it originated from earlier internal guides designed to help Associated Press correspondents standardize spelling, punctuation, and usage across media outlets. It is considered the Bible for reporters, editors, and photographers, focusing on concise and clean writing.

While designed for news reporting, AP Stylebook has evolved into the leading industry standard for public relations, marketing, and corporate communication. Most organizations and company blogs also use AP Stylebook now.

For me, if I didn’t learn it, I could kiss goodbye a high-paying, permanent writing position that aligns with my passion to help animals and allows me plenty of free time to write fiction. To “fake it till I make it” was not an option. Too much at stake.

At this time, a dear friend was cramming for a test to obtain another job-related license. When I saw him studying on his phone, I said, “Do you have the three-ring binder in ebook form?”

He said no. “It’s Quizlet.”

“Quiz what?”

“Quizlet. It’s a learning app.”

“For just your field?”

“No. For any field.”

The proverbial lightbulb blazed on.

I brought up Quizlet.com on my phone. Sure enough, they offered several courses in AP Stylebook. They also offer courses in CMOS, if any of you need to brush up on grammar, comma usage, abbreviations, punctuation, or how to handle things like professional titles, expertise, or rank. Even with an editor, the writer should know our industry standards.

Quizlet

Created by Andrew Sutherland in 2005 (released in 2007) to help him study for a French vocabulary test, Quizlet has grown into a widespread education company.

Quizlet is a leading global learning platform and app that offers AI-powered study tools, digital flashcards, and interactive games to help students practice and master various subjects.

See where I’m going with this as a research tool?

Used by millions, Quizlet enables users to create custom sets or utilize millions of existing, user-generated materials, including study guides, practice tests, and spaced repetition.

When you go to the site, type in whatever it is you want to learn. Scroll down the list. Often, there are several types of courses in that field. Click on the course that covers what you need.

In my case, I didn’t need hardcore reporting rules in AP Stylebook. Because I’ve had CMOS drilled into me, I really only needed to discover how AP handled punctuation, titles, and comma usage. I studied a lot more than that to be safe — no one will catch me under-prepared — but a lot is similar.

Does your main character have a unique skillset or profession? Take a Quizlet course so you can write with some authority.

Need to add fingerprint analysis to your scene? If you can’t attend Writers Police Academy or find a consultant, both of which I highly recommend, take a Quizlet course.

Or maybe, you’ve always wanted to learn a different language for an upcoming vacation.

Quizlet works because it’s global. The site is packed with information on just about every topic. What I love most is the positivity. If you answer a question incorrectly, up pops a message, “That’s okay. You’re still learning.” Then it’ll give you the same question later. When you answer correctly, the message reads, “Way to go! You got it this time!” And it will continue to give you that question until you answer correctly a few times. After which, you’ll see, “You’re really getting this!” or “You’ve got this now!”

The messages lift you up and make you want to keep studying, but Quizlet will also tell you to take a break, drink water, and stretch, if you’ve studied too long.

Key Features and Study Modes

Flashcards: Digital, interactive cards that support images and audio.

Learn: Adaptive study plans gauge how much you know about the topic. Check “Yes” you know that already or “No” you don’t. And it will build your study plan and flashcards from there.

Test: Once you feel ready, take a test to gauge how well you’re doing.

Study Games: I haven’t used this feature. Evidently, it’s an engaging, fast-paced game like “Match.”

AI Integration: AI tools generate study guides and explanations from user-uploaded notes. On something I continued to answer incorrectly, I asked for an explanation. Wasn’t impressed with it, so I looked it up myself. Quizlet’s explanation was, in fact, correct. It just didn’t give me enough information to connect the dots in my mind.

Quizlet Live: A collaborative, multiplayer classroom game. I’ve never gotten involved (not my cup of tea), but maybe you’d enjoy it.

All in all, I love Quizlet. It’s a fantastic tool for those of us who love to learn.

Reader Friday-And Did You Know?

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Today is a special day. What? you ask.

Military Spouse Appreciation Day, that’s what.

May is traditionally the month that our esteemed military is celebrated. Here is a link you can follow, or just read the excerpt I included below.

https://www.military.com/spouse/military-spouse-appreciation-day

From the website:

“You don’t need a dedicated Military Spouse Appreciation Day to make sure you acknowledge the military spouse in your life. Service members know that their spouses are the ones who keep the home fires burning. And military spouses know that those around them also walking through military life are more than just friends and neighbors: They are family.

What is Military Spouse Appreciation Day?

Military Spouse Appreciation Day is a day set aside for us to pause to recognize the military spouses around us who have the greatest impact on our lives and our military communities.

When is Military Spouse Appreciation Day?

The Friday in May before Mother’s Day, this special day was first recognized by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. The sitting president typically issues a proclamation in recognition of the holiday, while celebrations are held on and near U.S. military bases around the world.

May is also host to a series of other military holidays, including Military Appreciation Month, established in 1999; Victory in Europe (VE) Day, commemorating the end of WWII in Europe on May 8, 1945; and Armed Forces Day, designated in 1949. Memorial Day, the only official federal holiday in May, is celebrated the last Monday of the month.”

***

There you have it. We probably all have military folks in our lives, so let’s make sure they know we appreciate their service, either in the field or on the home front.

Comments welcome!

***

I’ll be MIA (do you see what I did there?) for a few weeks, rehabbing from surgery. A huge “thank you” to those from the Best Team Ever who are filling in for me. I’ll be lurking and reading, though, never fear!

🙂

 

 

 

Write What You Know

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Write what you know. We’ve all heard that line so many times that it’s become a cliché, and we usually take it to mean writing about things we personally know and understand. Except…using that definition would stop me in my tracks since I write about villains who kill others, and I have no knowledge whatsoever of murdering anyone.

My personal take on the phrase is to write the emotions I know and research the rest. Then let the research settle in my mind so I can pull it out when I need it. A good example of this is when I sat down to start my first Natchez Trace Park Ranger novel. I stared at the blinking cursor on the blank page for a good two days. It was as if everything I knew about writing had suddenly deserted me.

I paced a bit, got a cup of coffee, thumbed through a couple of craft books, and then remembered, write what you know. Okay, what did I know and what did I need to know about the story? Before I can begin any story, I have to know my characters, since they drive the plot.

That’s where I started — fleshing them out. And hit a wall. My heroine is a law enforcement park ranger, something I only know about from observing from afar. I have no personal information about the job. But I do know how to interview park rangers. I stopped at the nearest headquarters and met the top Natchez Trace Park law-enforcement ranger, and we talked a good while. I learned that all NTPRs were LEOs, and that meant a significant change in the story. She gave me her email address, and we communicated back and forth until I felt I had a handle on my heroine.

My hero is in the undercover Investigative Services Branch of the National Park Service. Since there aren’t many of them, I went about my research a little differently. Again, I went the interview route (don’t be afraid to ask for interviews — people love to talk about what they do). I interviewed a couple of retired undercover cops with the Mississippi Narcotics Bureau and read the bio of another two undercover agents.

When you know nothing about a subject, find someone who does or a book they’ve written.

Then there was the setting. I had never been to Natchez, so that meant a trip. Natchez is one beautiful small city. I stayed long enough to know the routes I needed and to photograph different places where crimes would occur. I also ate at all the local restaurants, including Jughead’s and Fat Mama’s Tamales — you know those places show up in the series.

So far I’m only writing what I’ve researched. Where does what I already know come into play?

The real meat of writing what I know comes into play with my characters’ emotions. Like I said earlier, I’ve never killed anyone or even plotted to kill someone, although I have had fantasies have plotted to get my own way about something. Haven’t you?

When I was much younger, I thought I knew what was best for almost everyone, and proceeded to plan the details. It’s only in looking back that I can see how wrong I was. But I vividly remember my single-minded focus to get my way. Creating characters with that blind ambition works for your protagonists as well as your villains.

Another thing that helps is remembering how it felt as a child or teenager to get caught doing something wrong, or the emotions I went through when I covered up my wrongdoing. How I justified what I was doing and rationalized it even to myself. These are emotions we are all familiar with, and can pour into our characters. And not just antagonists—let your protagonists wrestle with blind ambition. They’re also flawed, after all.

In writing what you know, remember your own greatest desires and fears. Maybe you’re afraid of spiders—you can infuse that fear into a character. I was locked in a closet once and didn’t like being in enclosed places as a kid. Still don’t. My heroine hates being in a place she can’t easily escape from. It was easy describing how she felt because I knew it.

I still remember as a child when we had indoor plumbing installed in our house and lying in two inches of water in the new bathtub, thinking that when I grew up, I was going to fill the bathtub to the rim. My dad’s reason for only two inches? More water costs more money, something we didn’t have much of. That desire drove me for a lot of years. Give your characters that kind of drive.

Dig deep and take your experiences, your hurts, your fears, your desires, and write them into your characters. Then, you will have believable characters that readers can identify with. Even your villains. That’s where writing what you know comes into play.

 

Cruising Along

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Cruising Along

Terry Odell

view of red paddle wheel on American West river boat

Today, if all goes as planned, I’m going to be climbing the 164 steps to the top of the Astoria Column while on a Columbia & Snake River vacation, cruising on a paddle wheeler. Oh, and I’ll have to get down, too. I wouldn’t be too concerned if not for my annoying gluteal tendinopathy, which has been creating new challenges in doing things involving walking, stair-climbing, and the like. Age ain’t for the faint of heart.

Astoria column against a blue sky and green pine trees

But (and I’m writing this well before we leave), I’m looking forward to having some FUN on this trip. To that end, I figured why not have some fun here at TKZ today. Hope you get a few smiles.

Hope you got at least one smile from these. Any of them stand out for you?

And, before I leave you, here’s a brain teaser, taken from Tom Scott’s “Lateral” podcast.
What do the following have in common?

    • Bar soap
    • Acoustic guitar
    • World War I

Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll check in when and if I can. Have a great day.

Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Deadly Ambitions
Peace in Mapleton doesn’t last. Police Chief Gordon Hepler is already juggling a bitter ex-mayoral candidate who refuses to accept election results and a new council member determined to cut police department’s funding.
Meanwhile, Angie’s long-delayed diner remodel uncovers an old journal, sparking her curiosity about the girl who wrote it. But as she digs for answers, is she uncovering more than she bargained for?
Now, Gordon must untangle political maneuvering, personal grudges, and hidden agendas before danger closes in on the people he loves most.
Deadly Ambitions delivers small-town intrigue, political tension, and page-turning suspense rooted in both history and today’s ambitions.

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

First Page Critique – Digging Up the Dirt

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by Debbie Burke

Today let’s welcome another Brave Author who submitted a first page for critique, genre described as “Comedic (Cosy – not so cosy) Crime.” Please read and enjoy then we’ll open the discussion.

Title: Digging up the dirt

‘Some secrets won’t stay buried.’ Myrtle’s mouth twitches, not quite a smile; there’s a malicious glee in her delivery.

Some secrets won’t stay buried — and I’m looking at the person most likely to make sure of it.

Her words land like a promise.

She’s itching to unearth what’s been hidden. To watch what crawls out and enjoy the look on everyone’s faces when it does.

She’s insane to believe that by betraying us she won’t expose herself.

Why couldn’t our investor, predator, blackmailer — call her what you like — have been Bob? Someone with the temperament of a Labrador, willing to please for a mere pat on his head.

Myrtle’s opportunistic and slippery as a catfish hauled from our Riviersvalleij river.

‘When did Constable Maritz take Sylvie away?’ I ask.

‘This morning.’ Her smile deepens.

I control the urge to slap her smug face; demand back the purloined shop keys and replace the locks.

She crams a fat wedge of Sylvie’s banana-bread into her mouth, then swigs back the dregs of a cappuccino. Both of which she’s helped herself to after letting herself into our shop.

I look around, spying the basket of homemade nougat wrapped in silvery cellophane, its ends twisted by Sylvie’s deft hands. The nougat has the same stretchiness as the Prestik that glues my scribbled genre labels on the shopworn bookshelves. Our combined distinctive minutiae are everywhere. How dare Myrtle think she’s welcome to claim part of our bookshop cafe.

It’s ours — mine and Sylvie’s.

Her earlier threatening suggestion that Sylvie’s doomed to spend time behind bars and I’ll be grateful for her help has lit an inferno inside me. The old me might have wilted, but she’s underestimated the power of our bond. If we’re going down, I’m bloody well dragging Myrtle with us.

Constable Maritz has carted Sylvie off to confiscate a sample of our dog food. Someone complained food isn’t fit for consumption.

This batch is to have ‘Happy belly – Healthy heart’ as a tagline. Sylvie’d conjured that up based on the resveratrol found in red wine. This time, the, shall I call it meat, lay marinating in a vat of wine for seven days. Let’s pray Sylvie didn’t claim the meat to be pork or horse, or whatever’s usually used in raw dog food. That would be a misrepresentation.

It’s the source of the meat that’s the problem.

It’ll land us in jail.

~~~

Kudos on a flash-bang first sentence! Great job beginning the scene in media res. The conflict is immediately shown without any backstory dump. Myrtle’s character is quickly established as gloating, threatening, and manipulative.

I suggest a slight rewrite:

‘Some secrets won’t stay buried.’ Myrtle’s mouth twitches, not quite a smile; there’s a with malicious glee in her delivery.

Some secrets won’t stay buried — and I’m looking at the person most likely to make sure they’re uncovered of it.

Repetition is not needed and dilutes the impact of the compelling first sentence.

The following line packs a lot into a few words:

“She’s insane to believe that by betraying us she won’t expose herself.”

This describes the situation (an apparent conspiracy), the stakes (if their secrets are exposed, they’re at risk), and a serious rift among characters. Good job! 

The voice is humorous and snarky with high tension lurking just below the surface. The author classified this story as “Comedic (Cosy – not so cosy) Crime” and that accurately nails the tone.

However, the next paragraph lost me.

“Why couldn’t our investor, predator, blackmailer — call her what you like — have been Bob? Someone with the temperament of a Labrador, willing to please for a mere pat on his head.”

Investor, predator, blackmailer is an excellent summation of Myrtle that explains her involvement.

But who the heck is Bob?

That distracted and confused me. My mind went off on a tangent wondering what role Bob plays and even thinking he might be the dog.

Then the focus shifts back to Myrtle who’s as “slippery as a catfish hauled from our Riviersvalleij river.” Wonderful description but it feels overdone, coming right on top of the comparison with the eager-to-please Lab.

At this point, the author needs to slow down a bit and let the reader catch a breath. Give them time to become grounded in this world.

Too much backstory slows pace, but too little confuses the reader.

I suggest cutting the paragraph about Bob and saving it for later. For now, keep the focus on Myrtle and the narrator.

The next paragraphs do a fine job of slipping in the setting without stopping the action, but tend to be a bit too complex in places.

“I control the urge to slap her smug face; demand back the purloined shop keys and replace the locks.”

That requires the reader to shift chronological gears mid-sentence. In the present, the narrator wants to slap her. In the past, it’s implied Myrtle has stolen the keys and let herself in. In the future, the narrator plans to change the locks.

Those details are good because they further build Myrtle’s character, as well as establish the narrator’s resentment. But I had to reread the sentence a couple of times to understand it. I suggest simplifying the chronology and getting rid of the semicolon.

Here’s another sentence that’s hard to comprehend: 

“Her earlier threatening suggestion that Sylvie’s doomed to spend time behind bars and I’ll be grateful for her help has lit an inferno inside me.”

I suggest breaking this into shorter sentences:

Myrtle’s threats light an inferno inside me. How dare she imply Sylvie could go to prison, then expect me to be grateful for her help? 

The next two sentences effectively summarize the narrator’s character, relationships, motivations, and goals:

“The old me might have wilted, but she’s underestimated the power of our bond. If we’re going down, I’m bloody well dragging Myrtle with us.”

Well done!

Then the author reveals a provocative detail: the mystery meat used to make dog food sold by the shop is illegal.

Hmm. I can’t help but think of the barbecue in Fried Green Tomatoes.

I’m curious about the setting. The use of single quotes for dialogue and the spelling of “cosy” signals British or Australian. “Prestik” is a rubber-based, reusable, adhesive putty made in South Africa. Eventually I’d like to know more about the location but the plot is intriguing enough that I’m willing to wait.

A dynamite first sentence grabs the reader’s attention. The situation unfolds quickly with blackmail, betrayal, and potential criminal charges. As a reader, I want to learn answers that may turn out to be gruesome.

Brave Author, I really enjoyed the dark, humorous tone of this page, but I suggest you slow down a bit and simplify some sentences. You pack in so much detail that, at times, it becomes overwhelming and a little confusing.

Overall, it’s well written and intriguing. 

Thanks for submitting!

~~~

TKZers: what is your impression of this first page? Do you want to dig deeper in the dirt?

~~~

 

“Authors of any genre will benefit by using this book to take a deeper dive into the antagonist of their story.” — James Scott Bell

“You will certainly find insight and inspiration to make your villains leap off the page and haunt your readers’ dreams.” – Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers

 

 

Build multi-dimensional antagonists who fascinate and frighten readers in The Villain’s Journey – How to Create Villains Readers Love to Hate. 

Buy at Bookshop.org

Also in paperback and hardcover at 

Amazon

Barnes & Noble 

Reader Friday-May Day or No Pants Day?

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From Wikipedia:

Now, be honest! Doesn’t this look like fun?

“No Pants Day is an annual event in various countries that became more widely celebrated in the 2000s. It is most often observed on the first Friday in May and involves publicly wearing only undergarments on the lower part of the body, not nudity. Except for making people laugh, the holiday typically serves no other purpose or agenda, but some organizers later used it to raise social issues.”

(No agenda…how refreshing!)

“May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on May 1…

International Workers’ Day, also called Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and working classes…and occurs every year on May 1 or the first Monday in May.”

* * *

So, TKZers, what’s your pleasure today? Would you rather celebrate May Day, International Workers’ Day, or No Pants Day?

Me? Hands down, No Pants Day, every day and twice on Sunday . . . way more fun than the other two!

 

Those Crazy State Laws

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Those Crazy State Laws will be a new feature when we have a 5th Thursday in a month.

Lately, I’ve been really interested in laws that were put on the books 50 to 100 years ago and are somehow still around today. Some of them are so ridiculous it’s hard to see why they were made in the first place, but apparently, something happened that made some lawyer official think a law was needed.

So, here we go with 15 crazy laws:

  1. In Arkansas, you can be arrested if you tie your dog to the roof of your car – even if it’s in a cage.
  2. In Montana, it’s illegal to have a sheep in the cab of your truck unless a chaperone is present.
  3. House Bill 110 in Texas was introduced on the House floor, which would require criminals to give their victims 24 hours’ notice, either orally or in writing, and to explain the nature of the crime to be committed. Not sure if it ever passed…
  4. In North Dakota, you may be jailed for wearing a hat while dancing, or even for wearing a hat to a party where dancing occurs.
  5. In one city in Oklahoma, there is an ordinance that says it shall be unlawful to put any hypnotized person in a display window.
  6. In Pennsylvania, all fire hydrants must be checked one hour before all fires. Exactly how anyone would know when a fire is going to happen is a mystery to me.
  7. At one time in Memphis, Tennessee, it was illegal for a woman to drive a car unless there was a man either running or walking in front of it, waving a red flag to warn approaching motorists and pedestrians.
  8. In Georgia, it’s against the law to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole or street lamp.
  9. Here’s another one about a giraffe—residents may not fish from a giraffe’s back in Idaho.
  10. In Indiana, citizens are not allowed to attend a movie nor ride in a public streetcar for at least four hours after eating garlic.
  11. In Arizona, donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs.
  12. If you’re in Connecticut and walking on your hands, you aren’t allowed to cross a street.
  13. In Louisiana, biting someone with your natural teeth is “simple assault”, while biting someone with your false teeth is “aggravated assault”.
  14. In Chicago, Illinois, it is illegal to take a French poodle to the opera.
  15. In Colorado, it is not legal to keep a mule on the second floor of a building not in a city, unless there are 2 exits.

So there you have fifteen really dumb laws. Have you heard iof any of these? Or others? If so, leave them in the comments.

Behind The Covers
Of The Edgar Nominees

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By PJ Parrish

Morning, crime dogs. I’m up in Manhattan today, helping out at the Edgars again. My main duties as banquet chair don’t kick in until Wednesday night. As part of this gig — been doing it for more than 20 years now — I put together the Powerpoint of all the nominated book covers that are then projected on the ballroom’s big screens.

And I gotta tell you, from the reactions I’ve noticed from the nominees, seeing your cover six feet tall can make you feel six feet tall.

I love this job because I get to see all the covers ahead of time. It’s given me, over all these years, a unique viewpoint on trends in design. And there are some really stunning covers this year. So, as usual, I’m here today to share some of the goodies with you.

Some caveats.

  • I’m no graphic design expert. Just an old art major who couldn’t get a job.
  • This is only a broad sampling.
  • And it’s only for mysteries and thrillers, so that might create some distinctions from, say, romance, fantasy, sci-fi and…ahem…literary fiction. (Go ahead. I can take your best shot).

But I can identify some trends within our genre that seem to be sustaining over the recent years. And maybe this is helpful to you if you are designing your own cover or hiring someone to do it. It’s good to know what is working in the market these days.

One is the use of really bold san-serif type faces. This has been strong for a couple years now, but it seems really cemented now. Very few books are using lighter serif fonts. Maybe it arises from the need to stand out graphically on the book shelf and the Amazon pages. Filigree is passe. It feels like books are “shouting” more than ever.

Second: graphics are tending to be simpler, more easily scan-able. Graphics and photos are more stylized or manipulated for greater eye appeal.

Third: Colors are intense and highly saturated. Even when the cover’s mood is noirish or bleak, it is countered with “hotter” type faces. Some examples from Best First:

A sidenote: For All The Other Mothers Hate Me, I like the way the designer carefully positioned each word around the graphic so you focus on the woman’s face and those red shoes.

Here are a few samples from Best Paperback Original:

Note how the colors suggest different moods. I haven’t read any of these but to me the turquoise cover suggests a lighter story tone. Broke Road screams thriller. And The Backwater suggests, to me at least, a quieter, character-driven story. I could be wrong but that is what good cover design is all about — it conveys at a glance the mood, the tone, the themes of your story.

The Best Novel covers, to a one, all adhere to the bold sans-serif look. Here’s a few:

 

Fagin The Thief is interesting in that it is obviously a historical. In recent years, historicals tended to use softer, less in-your-face type, adhering to the idea that archaic looking type faces signaled the book took place in the past. Looks like that’s now “old hat.” Of course, if you’re a mega-bestseller like Robert Crais, well, your name gets star treatment. I like the quiet yet foreboding ambiance of The Inheritance. If you look closely, something is clearly not right between that trio sitting at the window. To my eye, an effective conveyance of mood.

Another on-going trend is the use of bold fonts that mimic free-drawn type faces. This was strong in Young Adult this year:

In the Best Juvenile nominees, however, the covers are staying traditional, with the busy, joyful and decidedly candy-store styles we’ve come to expect:

With one exception:

I have to confess, this is one of my favorites. Such graphic impact. And again, that bold san-serif font. More “young adult” looking than I’ve seen in this category.

In non-fiction categories, trends seem to be more static. Often because the titles are so darn long (many with subtitles) that there’s not much room for graphic flights of fancy. Plus, the subject matter is mood-serious. A few standouts from True Crime, again all sans-serif.

And some examples from Best Critical/Biographical. Again, note the lack of serif, the boldness. And how much title/subtitle type they’ve managed to get on those covers!

BUT…again, there is always an exception. It comes out of the Best Critical/Biographical, where normally, the designers must cram a title, a subtitle, author name and some kind of graphic onto very limited space. This gets my nod for the most striking cover of any nominated book this year:

Such mood, such simplicity. Edgar Allen Poe preached what he called “unity of effect.” Every sentence, every detail has to be used to create a single, intense emotional effect. That’s a good rule for any of you out there who are designing your own covers or hiring someone to do it for you.

I think Poe himself would have liked this one.

 

Reader Friday-WordNerds Unite!

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Good morning, and welcome to all my WordNerdy friends and family!

Quick question to get the fun ball rolling:

Can you add to this list?

(Credit for this meme goes to Chip MacGregor–saw it on his FB page, and almost snorted coffee!)

I did an internet search on “WordNerd”, and boy howdy, did I get some fun stuff to read.

Your turn…and, go!

 

 

True Crime Thursday – Blurry Line Between Fact and Fiction

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by Debbie Burke

Here’s a familiar trope in crime fiction: an author protagonist details a fictional murder that the author is later accused of. The book they wrote is used as evidence to prove their guilt or innocence.

Today’s True Crime story is a real-life case that carries that trope to the extreme.

In 2000, a Polish businessman named Dariusz Janiszewski disappeared. Four weeks later, his body was pulled from the River Oder near Wroklaw in southwest Poland. He had been tortured and tied with a rope noose around his neck that fastened to his ankles, pulling him into a painful backward cradle shape. If he struggled against the bonds, the noose would tighten, strangling him.

According to a scholarly paper (public domain) by Katarzyna Struzińska entitled “The Murderer as Writer, Storyteller and Protagonist: The Case of Krystian Bala”:

“The autopsy revealed that Janiszewski most probably died because of ligature strangulation; however, owing to some indicators showing that he was still alive when someone dropped him into the river, the possibility of death by drowning was not excluded [34]. Furthermore, the traces left on the deceased’s body showed that he had been beaten and starved for several days before he died.”

The gruesome crime shocked the community but there were no leads. The case went cold for several years.

Then in 2003 an author named Krystian Bala self-published a grisly novel entitled Amok that described a murder with specific details similar to Janiszewski’s death. The protagonist was named “Chris”, a variation on “Krystian.” Chris was portrayed as an arrogant narcissistic sadist who pushed beyond the limits of social, religious, moral, and legal boundaries.

A detective named Jacek Wroblewski had been working the unsolved cold case. When he learned about Bala’s book, he pursued that line of investigation, gathered some damning circumstantial evidence, and questioned Bala.

The alleged motive was jealousy for an affair between Janiszewski and Bala’s wife. A polygraph was inconclusive.

Bala reportedly confessed to the murder but then recanted. 

Per Polish law, he was released after 48 hours because of insufficient evidence.

Bala made public accusations against the police, claiming he’d been kidnapped, a plastic bag placed over his head, and tortured during questioning. His claims were disproved but the media had already kicked into high gear. The sensational case went viral with articles in Europe as well as international publications including The Guardian and Time.com.

Without physical proof or eyewitnesses, the detective continued to collect more circumstantial evidence. Phone calls to the victim shortly before the murder were traced back to Bala. He had also done online research about hanging and strangulation. Within days of the murder, Bala had sold Janizewski’s stolen phone through an internet auction site.

Meanwhile Bala vehemently protested his innocence, claiming an “oppressive police and justice system” had “treat[ed] the book as if it was a literal autobiography rather than a piece of fiction.”

In 2008, an in-depth account by David Grann was published in the New Yorker after Bala’s trial. Grann examined Bala’s background, influences, and beliefs. It’s a long article but gives considerable context detailing why many people were convinced of Bala’s guilt.

Grann’s article quotes Bala’s friend and former classmate Lotar Rasinski:

“He would tell these tall stories about himself,” Rasinski says. “If he told one person, and that person then told someone else, who told someone else, it became true. It existed in the language.” Rasinski adds, “Krystian even had a term for it. He called it ‘mytho-creativity.’ ”

Struzińska’s paper observes:

“Bala’s case might be one of the first stories that drew global attention to such a possibility of crossing the border between facts and fiction; nevertheless, this case of a writer-murder is not one-of-a-kind. For instance, in 2018 world media extensively covered the story of Nancy Crampton-Brophy, an American romance novelist, author of the novel The Wrong Husband and the essay How to Murder Your Husband, who was accused of killing her spouse, and in 2017 there was similar coverage of the case of Liu Yongbiao, a Chinese author (e.g., of the novel The Guilty Secret), who was sentenced to death for murdering four people after a 20-year-old cold case was solved [cf. 14, 17, 23, 26].”

During Bala’s 2007 trial, the court decided his book couldn’t be treated as evidence but still found him guilty based on other circumstantial evidence. He was sentenced to 25 years. He appealed and the case was retried, again resulting in conviction. He continued to protest, ultimately presenting his case to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Poland. They decided against him, which ended his legal recourse.

The case inspired Dateline-style true crime shows in Europe. Grann’s New Yorker article was reportedly optioned for film.

Despite the publicity, Struzińska’s paper says Bala admitted his book only sold a few thousand copies. He claimed to be writing a second book while in prison but apparently it has not been published.

Grann’s article quotes Bala as saying:

“I’m truly convinced that one day my book will be appreciated,” he said. “History teaches that some works of art have to wait ages before they are recognized.”

Bala achieved notoriety but the jury’s still out on the author’s “work of art.”

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At TKZ, we often joke about police knocking on our doors based on our internet research.

As a writer, how consciously do you draw the line between fact and fiction?

~~~

 

In The Villain’s Journey-How to Create Villains Readers Love to Hate, discover fictional and real-world villains to inspire your own stories.

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