Category Archives: Writing

Five Tips to Keep Track of Characters Behind the Scenes

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by Debbie Burke

Crime fiction has multiple story lines. Readers see the story on the page, but important events also unfold behind the scenes that the reader may not see. TKZ’s own Jim Bell has a terrific term for this, “the Shadow Story.”

The shadow story follows the antagonist’s actions to thwart the hero. The hero (and the reader) may not be aware of what’s happening offstage as the villain lurks in the shadows, scheming and wreaking havoc.

That’s why the author must always keep track of antagonists and/or villains. (For this post, I’m using the terms somewhat interchangeably).

Stories require conflict. Antagonists cause conflict. Therefore, antagonists are as necessary, if not more so, than heroes.

If you lose track of your villain, you’ve lost the story’s primary cause of disruption and distress.

Here are five tips to monitor what antagonists are doing offscreen.

  1. Create two documents, parallel stories with one for the hero, one for the villain.

The hero’s story is what the reader sees on the page.

The shadow story tracks the villain offstage. This may or may not ever be visible to the reader.

In traditional whodunnit mysteries, the villain is hidden and not revealed until the end. The point of view is often limited to the hero’s, either first person or close third person. The parallel shadow story will not be shown on the page. Rather it is a working document for the author’s eyes only.

In suspense and thrillers, the reader may know or quickly learn the villain’s identity. With a known villain, the shadow story can be visible on the page in parallel with the “onscreen” story. Multiple points of view can include the villain’s. That’s how I write my thriller series, with POVs alternating among several characters.

  1. Track your shadow character with a baby cam or your phone. An imaginary baby cam keeps a constant watch on your villain. The locator dot on the phone screen blinks along the street map to follow the villain’s movements.
  2. Think of two TVs side by side. One is showing the hero’s channel. The other plays the villain’s channel. The timeframe is the same, but the locations are different. Flip back and forth between them.

    Photo credit: Annette Dawm, Pexels

4. Use a calendar or appointment book. Log the day, time, and location for each character in each scene.

Screenshot

In time-critical scenes, like a bomb ticking, you may need to detail the action minute by minute, or even second by second.

5. Use index cards or sticky notes in different colors (blue for hero, yellow for villain, green for secondary characters, etc.). Write a short summary of each scene (time, place, characters present, what happens) on the appropriate color card or sticky.

Another alternative is a white board using different color markers.

When the draft is complete, lay the cards out on a table. Kay DiBianca puts her stickies on closet doors in her office.

Study the color pattern. This visual review points out potential problems. Are there too many scenes in a row in one color? Do you need to rearrange the order to improve pacing or balance the characters?

Are there missing scenes? Or scenes that could be cut without hurting the story’s forward momentum?

 

Our creative brains all work differently. To keep track of multiple characters and story lines, some writers prefer programs like Scrivener (which Jim Bell uses), Memory Map, Wave Maker, and Fantasy Calendar.

I’m more visual and tactile-oriented so it’s easier for me to stay organized with physical appointment books, calendars, and index cards.

The method doesn’t matter as long as the author always stays aware of what the antagonist is doing in the shadow story.

Because that’s the wellspring of your story’s conflict.

~~~

TKZers: How do you monitor characters in the shadows? Do you use time-tracking programs? Low tech tools like calendars and index cards? Or another method? Comments welcome below.

~~~

Today’s post is based on The Villain’s Journey-How to Create Villains Readers Love to Hate.

“Debbie Burke has filled a critical gap in writing craft instruction. We needed a book of solid advice for creating compelling, three-dimensional villains. This is it.” – James Scott Bell

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What Are You Reading in 2026?

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“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ― Stephen King

* * *

Most writers are avid readers. An article on medium.com sums it up this way:

In a nutshell, reading and writing are inseparable. The better writers tend to be exceptional readers, and better readers can produce exceptional writing. A writer who doesn’t read is like a musician who doesn’t listen to music or a filmmaker who doesn’t watch films. It is demoralizingly hard to do good work without experiencing the good work that has been done before.

A well-read writer has better verbal skills, discerns the nuances of language, and distinguishes between poor and quality writing, so read more, read widely, and learn from other people who do what you are aiming at with the facility and the skill level you would love to cultivate.

 

I’ve been reading an eclectic variety of books in 2026. Here are some of them:

On Desperate Ground by Hampton Sides

The story of the battles around Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. I’m writing a novel with Korean War veterans and I wanted to get details of the actual battles.

 

 

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

A book club pick. It’s an interesting novel that explores aspects of the fear of death, the art of fortune telling, and the power of suggestion. Most authors will appreciate the first chapter which almost guarantees readers will turn the page.

 

 

Over the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergreen

A fascinating look at the expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan that resulted in the first circumnavigation of the Earth. It’s one of the books that fuels my fascination with the early explorers.

 

 

Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey

Time to saddle up and read about the cowboys. Although I skimmed the long, descriptive sections, I liked the story and found myself eager to get back to it each evening.

 

 

Balancing Life’s Roles by Jarrell Gibbs

This common sense guide to handling all the different roles we play in life was written by a friend of ours. Very useful advice especially for young people.

 

 

Satan’s Subway by Steve Hooley

Our very own Steve Hooley authored this middle grade fantasy. Once again, Steve tackles a serious issue through the eyes of a the Mad River Magic gang.

 

 

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

This was also a book club pick. I read just a few chapters before it had to be returned to the library. The book is wildly popular, and I’d be interested to know if any of you have read it and what you think about it.

 

 

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Just started this one. I imagine it would be interesting to many authors.

 

 

Now I’m looking for a good mystery. Any recommendations?

* * *

So TKZers: What books are you reading in 2026?

* * *

 

A missing person. A trail of secrets. Private pilot Cassie Deakin reluctantly follows a mystery that refuses to stay buried—uncovering truths that shine brighter, and more dangerously, with every step.

Click the image to go to the Amazon book detail page.

Putting Writing First For a Few Days: Rainforest Writers Retreat

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Lake Quinault

On the first Wednesday of this month I went to my annual writers retreat, held annually at Lake Quinault in Washington State’s magnificent Quinault Rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula. As usual, when I returned, I was bubbling with enthusiasm for writing (okay, even more enthusiasm than usual).

When I mentioned having gone in a comment here at TKZ, our own Debbie Burke asked if I would be sharing my experience in a post here. I’d written briefly about it three years ago in the intro to a Words of Wisdom post, but that didn’t do the experience justice.

Why attend a writing retreat? What might you get out of attending?

Writers retreats can give you the opportunity to truly put your writing first for a short period of time. I’m not talking about making your writing a priority, but rather going someplace—even if it’s with your writers group to a local coffee shop for an afternoon or a beach house for a long weekend—and immersing yourself in your writing and writing craft and letting go of day-to-day concerns.

Retreats can also be a powerful way to kickstart your writing, both for beginners starting out, or for an experienced writer looking to change up their writing, or return to it after an absence, long or short.

They can provide opportunities to learn writing craft, build community, and of course, time to focus on writing and provide a place to write, either alone or in a group setting, sometimes called parallel play and also known as body doubling where you leverage the presence of other writers engaged in the same activity. Rainforest writers has been called an “accelerant” because the retreat’s isolation, community and writing focus can accelerate your development as a writer.

***

Retreat organizer Patrick Swenson with Resort manager Ian Strait looking over his shoulder.

Rainforest Writers is run by my friend Patrick Swenson, himself an author as well as the publisher of Fairwood Press, who taught high school English classes for 39 years before retiring in 2024. Patrick has been putting on Rainforest since 2007, when it was a single five day session. Now there are four sessions, one after the other, beginning in late February and into mid-March. Each begins on a Wednesday afternoon and ends at noon on the following Sunday.

The retreat takes place at the Rainforest Resort Village, located on the south shore of Lake Quinault. Rooms are available at the Village inn, the Parkside suites, or the Fireplace cabins. There are no phones in any of the rooms, and cell service can be spotty. There is internet, which is a bit iffy in the Village inn, but quite accessible in the Salmon House restaurant and lounge, as well as the General Store.

The retreat fee is $200, which includes breakfast at the Salmon House Thursday through Sunday. Patrick provides sandwich fixings for lunch Thursday and Friday, while long-time attendees Deborah and Chuck put on a soup lunch on Saturday which nearly everyone attends. You’re “on your own” for dinner, which for me means the Salmon House, except for Thursday night when a group dinner is held in the restaurant, which is a wonderful opportunity to mingle with other writers over food.

Thirty plus writers attend each session, with many returning each year, often to the same session they attended in the past. I began going in 2019, Session 2, and did Session 2 every following year through 2025, except for the Pandemic year of 2021 when there was an online retreat instead. This year I decided to switch things up and attend Session 3, which was held from Wednesday March 4 through Sunday March 8.

Most of the attendees write science fiction, fantasy or horror, but there are a few crime dogs like myself, as well as paranormal romance writers, memoir writers and historical novelists. Writers range from novices to professional authors. Authors are a mix of traditionally published and self-published.

I’ve known writers to rent a cabin for their Rainforest session, and hole up and simply write as much as possible, which is a perfectly fine way to spend the retreat if you so choose.

However, for most of us, the writing retreat is also about community. Informal conversations about writing, the writing life and publishing, as well as writing alongside each other, at times in the Salmon House lounge, which has a lovely view of Lake Quinault and the forested hills beyond. The lake teems with water fowl—Canadian geese, loons, mergansers, ducks and more. Bald eagles also visit the lake. It’s an amazing backdrop which can provide a place to gaze between writing sprints.

***

Early bird writing in the lounge.

There are two organized group writing sessions in the lounge each day—the early bird writers from 6-9AM and the night owls from 9PM to after midnight, and then there’s informal sessions at the other times.

In previous years, like a crazy person, I burned the candle at both ends and was an early bird and a night owl. in both groups.

This year sanity prevailed  and I went with being an early bird, arriving just after the start at 6AM and writing until breakfast at 9AM each morning. The past three retreats I brought mystery novels to revise but this year I came with a new mystery novel I wanted to begin drafting, which is an entirely different energy. I also wrote some micro-fiction as a break from my frenzied novel drafting.

I also wrote in the afternoons following lunch, sometimes continuing in the lounge, other times back in my lakeview room at the Village inn, and often did a session in the early evening. Over the course of five days I wrote 19,339 words, which included 2100 words on the opening of a longer short story. The vast majority was on Last Seen Shelving, the fourth Meg Booker library cozy.

In the spirit of both fun competition and group effort, Patrick puts up a white-board each session where writers can track their session word counts, and also any editing they do. The person with the largest word count at the end of each session wins a prize, as well as first pick in the raffle, while the second and third place finishers get to pick a prize ahead of the drawing. Patrick also tallies the total words written by all writers in a session, which gives a bit of a team effort feel to the word count.

This session I ended up in third place. My normal writing pace is 1000-1500 words a day, going over 2000 words later in the novel as the story careens toward climax. At Rainforest I averaged nearly 5000 words a day, keeping in mind that I only had two plus hours on Sunday. On Thursday and Friday I wrote around 6000 words each day. However, by Saturday afternoon I ran out of gas and had to take a long break.

I’m not a binge writer by nature, I’m only one when forced by a deadline. Instead, I normally work at a steady pace. I tend to binge write at Rainforest.

The last time I drafted fiction at Rainforest was in 2022, when I wrote over 15,000 words worth of short stories. This session reminded me I can extend myself but just like working out extra hard, I end up needing to recover. Since I’ve returned from Rainforest, my writing pace has been much slower, well under a thousand words each day as I recharge, but I haven’t missed a day. I went into Rainforest not having drafted regularly for a while, and came out of it with a building streak, and yes, I am still tracking my word count.

***

Another important aspect of Rainforest is in providing opportunities to learn about various aspects of writing and the writing life.

Each session has hour-long presentations at 11AM Thursday, Friday and Saturday. When I started there were also presentations at 3PM on Thursday and Friday, but Patrick felt that broke up the day too much and wanted to give writers a more unbroken stretch of time for writing, editing etc. between lunch and dinner.

In the past I’ve attended presentations on characters, sensory detail, pacing, POV, action scenes, writing in more than one genre among others. I usually make time to attend at least a couple of the presentations.

Last year I was a presenter, for the first time, giving a mini-workshop on self-publishing. My audience was engaged and asked some terrific questions.

This year I attended all three presentations.

Thursday, author Kate Ristau gave a talk on the classic idea of “throwing rocks at your characters,” which looked at what your character is trying to achieve, and what obstacles and complications arise as she struggles to reach her goal. Kate gave us an exercise that asked about how the objects in our story and how we might externalize our characters’ wants and needs in the form of the objects.

For instance, in my fourth mystery, the library itself represents a place of fulfillment for my hero and a place where she can make a difference, which is a need she has.

Friday’s presentation was “Project Management Tools for Sustainable Writing Habits” by J.B. Kish and Remy Nakamura and proved to be insightful and informative.

J.B. and Remy provided us with worksheets, first looking at our expectations about “our ideal writer selves,” such as how many words per day does my ideal writer self produce, how often, when, how easily do I enter a state of focus, how confident is my ideal self, how long does it take them to finish a novel draft.

They discussed “compassionate productivity, looking at sustainably being able to reach “real outcomes” vs the ideal ones, the importance of mindfulness when it comes to your own process, challenges and life situation, and the idea of incremental, forward progress.

Accountability can be very helpful, especially when there are consequences for doing the work—rewards if you achieved it, or withholding a reward if you do not, such as not opening a bottle of fine Scotch you’d purchased until you finish the project.

“Touch the work everyday,” even if it’s only to jot down a few words on the draft, write a note or spend a few moments considering what comes next.

Saturday Dean Wells presented “The Ending Was There All Along,” how to breakdown the decision tree of your ending. Dean began by stating that writer’s block is noise: your creative side is stymied by your critical side. His solution is “structured problem solving.” Drill down through the noise. It’s a back-to-basics approach. He counseled using your analytical side to engage in dialogue with your creative side. Ask your creative side questions about what you want as a writer in this story.

At essence, story is character + setting + problem. The character either succeeds or fails.

Which do you want as a storyteller?

He uses a logic tree. Identify the problem. Does it result in success or failure? If success it can be simply happily ever after or come at a cost. If the latter, that can range from the personal to collateral damage. What does this look like? Personal can be self, loved one, friend etc.

This leads us to before the ending and our hero’s fear—what is your character afraid of losing?

In order to overcome this the hero must be willing to sacrifice, which Dean feels is the single most important aspect of your hero. They take a little leap of faith in order to solve the problem.

He broke down Act III into Climax, Resolution and Denouement and noted its importance, the untying of the story not. For me as a cozy mystery writer, it’s the granting of the boon of justice which restores the integrity of the community where the story takes place.

He gave examples from films such as Star Wars: A New Hope and the 1972 western The Cowboys, starring John Wayne and Bruce Dern.

Part of Dean Well’s decision tree on endings.

***

The Cabin party is held Saturday night, in Cabin 6,  Patrick’s cabin, where you can drop by anytime during the day during your session for a snack or a beverage, and often an informal conversation about writing. Cabin parties are another opportunity to meet and talk with your fellow attendees.

Every session wraps up Sunday morning, at 11 in the lounge, where the Rainforest inspiration award. Every attendee votes for the attendee who proved most inspirational during their session.

In Session 3 this year, that was J.B. Kish, the co-presenter of project management for writers (his fellow presenter Remy Nakamura won the inspiration award a previous year). The inspiration award winner will have their name engraved and put on a retreat plaque commemorating all the winners.

After this, the session word count winners were announced, with me coming in at third behind Cyrus at second, with 23,000 plus words, and Rebekah at first with a staggering 32,000 words written. It was her first Rainforest and she was stunned to have won.

A raffle for donated prizes—everything from books and music to coffee and tea mugs to fine wine followed, and then we said our goodbyes and we began our drives back to our respective homes.

Another session had flown by, giving us a chance to put writing first for a few days, concentrate on a project, learn a few things, and perhaps make new friends as well as reconnect with old ones. I always return home with increased creativity and enthusiasm.

Crow at Lake Quinault playing the part of mystery’s iconic raven.

 

Resources:

Rainforest Writers: https://rainforestwriters.com/index.html

Making retreats part of your writing life: https://writershelpingwriters.net/2026/01/writing-retreats/

***

Have you attended a writing retreat, or would you like to? What do you get out of retreat, or what would you like to, if you’ve never been on one before?

Handwriting ~ A Boost for the Brain

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When was the last time you held a pen or pencil in your hand and wrote something other than a grocery list? I rarely even do that since I have an app that creates all kinds of lists. Most of us just don’t use a pen and paper anymore. Even the school systems don’t teach cursive any longer, and don’t get me started on that! I dread the day when no one can read the Declaration of Independence!

In our digital age, where typing has largely taken over, the simple act of putting pen to paper holds remarkable benefits for our brains. Handwriting stimulates the brain in ways that typing simply cannot match, fostering creativity and cognitive function. Studies have shown that writing by hand (rather than tapping away on your keyboard) increases brain connectivity and reduces the risk of dementia. 

I didn’t know the dementia part, but I learned long ago that I retained more information when I took notes at a lecture with a pen compared to only listening or even typing them into a computer or tablet. You would think it doesn’t make any difference, but you would be wrong.

Studies show that when you write by hand, you retain the information by fostering a deeper cognitive connection with the material. The slower pace of handwriting encourages thoughtful composition, enabling you to articulate your thoughts and ideas more effectively.

Handwriting also engages multiple areas of the brain, strengthening neural pathways and enhancing fine motor skills, coordination, and memory. I, for one, am a kinesthetic learner, or a “hands-on” learner. The act of putting a pen to paper enhances my creativity and is my go-to when I’ve painted myself in a corner. Brainstorming with that pencil and paper unlocks my mind.

Think about it. When you write with a pen, your brain engages in a flurry of activity. Each stroke requires your fingers to perform distinct actions to form every letter. Meanwhile, your eyes are analyzing each character, while your brain cross-references it with all the other letters it has stored. The brain processes the memory and subsequently makes real-time adjustments to the fingers to form the letter.

That’s not true for typing. When typing, your fingers don’t have to trace out the form of the letters — they just make three relatively simple keystrokes. It takes a lot more brainpower to write than to type.

A study was conducted with thirty-six students who were given a digital pen and a touchscreen, and a keyboard with instructions to either write words with the pen or type them. The students’ brain activity was recorded via an electroencephalogram (EEG). When using the pen, the EEG showed the entire brain was active compared to a much smaller area when the student typed the word.

One last thing. Recently when I sat down to write a thank-you note, I learned the age-old adage, “Use it or lose it,” is true. Even though I’m a left-handed writer, my handwriting has always been very good. In fact, I always prided myself on my handwriting. But because I’ve sort of been on vacation, I haven’t been brainstorming or even taking notes at church.

My first attempt to write the note…well, let’s say a chicken could’ve scratched out a better letter! All because I can’t remember the last time I actually handwrote something. I’ve used either my phone or computer to make notes, write emails, and even to make lists. Since then, you better believe I’ve been practicing my handwriting.

How about you? When was the last time you actually took out a pen and paper and wrote something?

 

Will AI Eventually Replace Novelists?

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By John Gilstrap

Two posts ago, I posted some positivity about AI in general, and ChatGPT in particular. The responses were . . . energetic. I think there’s a misperception of what AI is capable of, and what it is not. Without a doubt, there’s never been a worse time in history to be a graphic artist, and entry level coder or perhaps even a paralegal. The days of paying a “professional” for boilerplate documents are over.

With the appropriate prompts, AI is capable of planning trips, managing budgets, and, apparently, guiding bombs to the precise air shaft where it can do the most damage.

But it will never be able to console a child whose heart has been broken. It will never replace that moment with your beloved, sitting by a fire with a glass of wine or staring up at the stars. It will never replace human emotions. And therein lies my disconnect with the TKZ hivemind over the negative impact of AI on what we do.

Novels are recorded humanity, not just words spelled correctly on the page. They are, in fact, emotional experiences–the equivalent of consoling that child. A computer cannot convey that which it has no frame of reference, and that’s why it cannot replace us.

But I could be wrong, so don’t take it from me. For about two months, I have been pumping everything I’ve written into ChatGPT to see if it can learn style. I actually think it can, but I haven’t wrangled all of that piece yet. I know what I think about the long-term impact of AI on the writing world, but I want to hear what the machine had to say about it. So, I asked it this question:

“Using what you have learned from my style, write a 700-word post for a writing blog. Your topic: Will AI ever evolve to the point that it can replace the human voice in writing novels? Cite sources.”

I didn’t want my thumb on the scale to produce the answer I wanted, so I kept it open-ended, and because I’m talking to a machine, I wanted to know how it analyzed the data, so I told it to cite sources. Here’s the response I got after fewer than 5 seconds of analysis:

Will AI eventually replace novelists?

The short answer is no. Not in the way people fear.

Artificial intelligence will certainly become a powerful tool for writers, but replacing the human voice in fiction is another matter entirely.

To understand why, it helps to understand what AI actually does.

Large language models—systems like those developed by companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind—are trained on enormous bodies of text. During training, the system analyzes patterns in language: word order, sentence structure, context relationships, and statistical probabilities of what word or phrase is likely to come next. The result is a machine that can produce remarkably fluent prose.

But fluent prose is not the same thing as storytelling.

According to a widely cited analysis from the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, large language models operate by predicting the next most likely token in a sequence based on training data patterns. They do not possess intention, memory in the human sense, or lived experience. They generate language by probability, not by understanding.

That distinction matters more than most people realize.

A novel is not merely a sequence of grammatically correct sentences. A novel is the product of perspective—of someone deciding which details matter, which emotions are worth exploring, and which moments deserve attention. Those decisions are rooted in experience. In memory. In the messy accumulation of living.

Machines don’t have that.

When a writer describes grief, fear, betrayal, or love, the power of the scene comes from a human mind recognizing something true. Even when the circumstances are fictional, the emotional substrate is real. The writer is drawing on life—on personal experience or on empathy for experiences observed in others.

An AI system cannot do that. It can simulate the language of grief or love, but simulation and experience are not the same thing.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have repeatedly pointed out that modern language models lack what cognitive scientists call grounded understanding. They manipulate symbols without direct connection to the physical or emotional realities those symbols describe. In other words, the machine knows the words, but it does not know what the words mean in the human sense.

That limitation shows up most clearly in narrative voice.

Voice is not vocabulary. It’s worldview. It’s the sum of a writer’s instincts about what matters in a scene, how characters behave under pressure, and which truths are worth putting on the page. Voice grows out of the author’s background, personality, profession, culture, and history. Two writers can describe the same event and produce completely different stories because their lives have taught them to see the world differently.

A statistical model can blend styles. It can approximate tone. But it cannot originate a worldview because it does not possess one.

That doesn’t mean AI has no role in writing. Quite the opposite.

Used properly, AI can be a very useful assistant. It can help brainstorm ideas, summarize research, test plot possibilities, or identify structural problems in a manuscript. Some writers already use it as a kind of tireless research intern, capable of quickly gathering background information that might otherwise require hours of searching.

In that sense, AI resembles other technologies that once stirred anxiety among writers. Word processors didn’t eliminate authors. Neither did spellcheck. Neither did online research tools. Each new technology changed how writers work, but none replaced the human imagination at the center of storytelling.

The same will almost certainly be true for artificial intelligence.

The technology will get better. The prose will become smoother. The tools will become faster and more useful. But the essential element that makes novels resonate with readers—the human voice behind the words—remains stubbornly difficult to replicate.

Because fiction isn’t built only from language. It’s built from life.

Readers can sense the difference between words that were assembled and words that were meant. The former may be competent. The latter are alive.

And that difference is exactly why novelists aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

So, there you have it, folks, straight from HAL’s mouth. Thoughts?

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And The Whimper Is…

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By PJ Parrish

It’s awards season! Sunday was the Oscars. Won’t give you any opinions on winners and losers here. Just wanted to say I loved Jessie Buckley’s (Hamnet) acceptance speech: “Mom. Dad, thank you for teaching us to dream and to never be defined by expectations.”

Well said.

I’ve been thinking about awards this week because I am gearing up for my annual gig as chairman of the Edgar Awards banquet for Mystery Writers of America. I edit the program book every year, and we always come up with a theme. This year we’re paying tribute to the Best First Novels.

Why? Well, this year is the 80th anniversary of the Edgar. The only category that first year was Best First and the prize was taken home by Julius Fast for Watchful At Night.

Watchful At Night [ Inscribed By The Author]...

Many freshman writers went on to become best-selling authors. Among the big names who hit a homer at their first at-bat are Patricia Highsmith, Ira Levin, Donald Westlake, Jonathan Kellerman, Stuart Woods, Martin Cruz Smith, Gillian Flynn, C.J. Box, Janet Evanovich, Michael Connelly, Patricia Cornwell, Walter Mosley, and Tana French. But if you go back and read all 80 winners (click here), you’ll find many more names that were never lit up in neon. Or those writers whose careers never even made it to cruising altitude.

Such is the capricious nature of winning an award. It can mean everything. It can mean nothing.

For our program book, we asked first novel winners to tell us what it meant to them. What it felt like. What it did for their careers. I wish I could share their answers here (can’t devulge pre-banquet night) because they are poignant and sometimes very funny. What each shares, however, is a humility and very human-ness. As one winner put it, getting that Edgar felt personal and communal all at the same time.

One of my favorite episodes of the TV show Frazier is the one where Frazier is nominated for the Seebee Award, given out to Seattle’s best broadcasters. Frazier tries to be above it all, but he just can’t. He wants to win, dammit! But at the banquet, he finds out he is up against the aging icon Fletcher Grey. Fletcher has been nominated 11 times in a row and always lost. Fletcher’s date is his 84-year-old mother who has flown in from Scottsdale — for the 11th straight year. Fletcher is also retiring. Frazier tells his producer Roz, “if we win, they’ll string us up.” Roz says, “I don’t care. I’d crawl over his mother to win this award!”

Frazier loses, of course. His agent Beebee deserts him. Roz gets drunk on Pink Ladies.

Sounds like a couple award banquets I’ve been to. My sister Kelly and I have been lucky to have been nominated for some awards over the decades, and we’ve won a couple. Yeah, yeah, It is always an honor to be nominated. But I can’t lie — it bites to lose. I once saw a nominee’s wife burst into tears when her husband lost.

In 2002 we were nominated for the Edgar. We went to the banquet at the Hyatt. Got our hair done and put on sparkly dresses. Kelly’s son Robert rented a tux. I stayed stone-cold sober in the bar before. As soon as they didn’t call our name, I grabbed the wine bottle out of my editor’s hand.

Fast forward five years to the International Thriller Writers banquet. I went with no expectations. I sat between my agent and Ali Karem but I was filled with dread. Kelly couldn’t make it, so I felt pretty alone, despite all the good vibes from fellow authors. We might write hardboiled, but I am not. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I bolted for the lobby.

Jim Fusilli was standing there and barred my way and put an arm around my shoulders.  Each nominee was announced by reading the first line of their book. Ours is “The Christmas lights were already up.” I remember thinking, “God, that sucks.”

I heard the title of our book announced as the winner. I started crying. I don’t remember what I said on stage. This is what SHOULD have said:

“Thank you so much for this great honor. First, I want to thank the ITW judges who put their careers on hold for months to read hundreds of books. Second, I want to thank my fellow nominees. I am honored to have my book mentioned among their fine works. Third, I want to thank my editor who….”

This is what was REALLY in my head:

“God, I can’t believe I am crying! How pathetic and needy! Where’s the friggin’ stairs? I can’t see! Who is that man at the podium? Shit, I forget his name! THE LIGHTS! I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING! Do I have lettuce on my teeth? Agent…mention her name. My bra is showing, DON’T PULL AT YOUR BRA!! He’s handing it to me. Jesus, it’s heavy…don’t drop it…don’t drop it…don’t drop it. Say something nice about the other nominees! Can’t…can’t…can’t remember their names. YOU TWIT! You just sat on a panel with TWO of them this morning! Wait, wait…is it Paul LeVEEN or Paul LeVINE??? Forget it…buy them a drink later. I should have gone to the hairdresser before I left home. My roots are showing. JESUS! THE LIGHTS! Stop talking now…you’re rambling, you ass…Okay, leaving now. TAKE THE AWARD! Good grief…I’m here in New York City wearing Nine West because I was too cheap to spring for those black Blahniks at Off Fifth. Dear God, just let me just off this stage so I can get to the john and pull up my Spanx….

I made it off the stage okay. Here is the photo to prove it:

Did it change things for me? Not really. I put the award on my shelf, next to my ribbon for winning an ax-throwing contest in Maine. My career continued on its nice glide path. I wrote more books, I made a little money. But I do remember one thing very distinctly that night. I was at a low point in my writing back then, feeling a little discouraged because the WIP was stalled and I wasn’t getting much joy from the writing process itself. I wasn’t feeling that feeling James wrote about this past Sunday. (click here). The world wasn’t burning through me.

But my peers gave me a gift that night — a nudge to keep going. So maybe that’s what this award thing is — just a kick in the Spanx of simple validation.

Keep going, crime dogs. Get that book out of you and out there. Somebody out there will like you. They will really like you.

In Conversation

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“I have this whole book in my head.” Beth (Beth’s fake name) leaned closer to make herself heard over an animated crowd in the hotel bar. “It’s like a movie I can see, all the way down to characters, plot, and even conversations.”

Authors tend to gather at the bar like wildebeests to a watering hole in the Serengeti to discuss writing and the literary world. Folks who spend months alone with their imaginary friends are always looking for conversation.

My new acquaintance at the writers conference drew a long, deep breath to maintain her hold on her our exchange. “There’s this one scene when my main character gives the story an entirely different twist, and that’s where the music in my head starts playing.”

As an author, I’d heard this one before, years ago, from myself. “Have you finished it?”

She rolled her eyes. “I haven’t started yet. That’s why I’m at this conference, to get an agent or someone interested in it.”

“They’ll be more interested in the actual book itself.”

“My husband thinks I’m crazy, especially after I told him about the character who–––.” She looked over her shoulder. “–––is really Merlin.”

“Are you looking for someone?”

“I don’t want anyone to overhear. They might steal my idea.”

“You can’t hear a chainsaw in this crowd. Don’t worry about that.”

“You won’t write this, will you?”

“I want you to do it.” I held up my little finger. “Pinky swear.”

Surprising me, she hooked her pinky with mine. “I just need time to get started.”

“You have this whole conference. Lock yourself in your room and pound out twenty or thirty pages. Go do it now while I get another drink. Talking about it won’t get the book done.”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“At the most compelling scene.”

“That’s when my characters meet on dark night in a hotel lobby while it’s raining. That’s the setup and introduces all the characters at one time.”

“I’d start somewhere else, with some kind of action. What’s your genre?”

“I don’t know. I’m not much of a reader. I prefer movies.”

Before I could respond, she waved. “Oh, look. There’s my new friend. Bill, come over here. This is Reavis. Tell him about your book.”

I caught the bartender’s eye and held up my empty glass. The nice man brought me a double.

Stepping up close, Bill crossed his arms. “Well, I haven’t started it yet, but it’ll be a memoir.”

He looked to be about twenty-two years old. Personally, I figured he needed more life experiences, and a reason for writing memoirs.

“You must have a great story to tell.” I’d hoped to hear he’d been in special forces, the entertainment industry, or law enforcement, or maybe someone who’d grown up under witness protection. You know, not a boring an entertaining story.

“It starts with my uncle. He’s a great character and his stories will become mine.”

He and I had different ideas of memoirs. I hoped his uncle was famous, maybe a singer. “Have I ever heard of him?”

“I doubt anyone has ever heard of Uncle Albert.”

“Then, I’m confused.”

“I’ll use his stories, he’s really funny, and hang some of my own experiences on them.”

“What’s your background?” Still hopeful.

“Well, I grew up with some interesting people in Crouchhop Arkansas, and graduated high school four years ago and worked for Dad roofing houses, then I left to see the country.”

“Oh.” My interest piqued. “Did you hike, or hitch?”

“No, I used Dad’s clunker Mercedes and drove to California. I’m thinking of all the coffee shops and people I met on the way.”

Returning my attention to the Beth, I gave her a grin. “I’d suggest you start writing tonight. Consider it a job and put your rear in the seat every day for a year, for at least half an hour each time, or long enough write a page per day. And Bill, good luck with your memoir. I hope you can find an agent to represent whatever it is when you’re finished, but both of you remember, these have to be killer books. A year ago, I read that around three hundred thousand books are released each month in this country.

“If you figure thousands of books hit the market each day, you’ll have to work hard to get noticed. Find your writing voice, and a subject or genre you want to shoot for, then start building your brand. Do you guys have any knowledge of social media, or a presence with followers?”

Beth nodded. “I have a Facebook account with a hundred friends.”

“Work harder. Establish a brand specifically for your and your books. Find a hook to get people interested.”

“Won’t my agent do all that for me?”

“Agents represent authors when they’re accepted, and they help with editing your manuscripts, to a point.” I could have sworn I heard someone fire up a chainsaw, probably to clear away from a similar conversation. “Their job is to connect authors with publishers. They negotiate contracts and other legal issues. They’re a buffer between authors and publishers. They aren’t PR folks, unless it comes to promoting you with interested publishers.”

Bill raised a finger to get my attention. “That’s why I’m going to self-publish.”

“Then you’ll do all that yourself…after you finish your manuscript. There are a few other steps that follow, too.”

“Can you help us, then?”

“Sure. Go write your book in your own voice, keep at it until you finish and don’t use television as a research source, and then come see me here next year.”

Faithful readers, I’m sure you’ve all found yourselves in similar situations, do you have variations on these conversations?

Reader Friday-Talk To The Animals

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I know, I know, it’s Friday the Thirteenth.

But this isn’t about that. Or is it? Read on…

 

 

 

As authors, we sometimes interview folks, or we are interviewed ourselves . . . or, we interview our characters. Let’s flip that on its head for a moment.

 

 

If you could, by some magical wave of your Yoda hand, choose one animal or insect to interview, what would it be?

He just looks like he’s got something on his mind, right?

 

 

 

 

 

I can guess which one some of you might choose, like our own Sue Coletta. Crow anyone?

 

 

 

 

 

For me, it’d have to be this fellow.  What interesting tales he might tell!

 

 

 

How about the rest of you? Any of these tickle your fancy? Do tell…

 

When You’re Happy and You Know It

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By Elaine Viets

 

What made you happy in the last 24 hours? What about the last three months?

OK, I’ll go first.

A surprise gift of orchids from a friend. And the silly antics of my cat Vanessa. Both made me happy in the last 24 hours. They’re pictured below.

In the last three months, the weekly phone calls from my cousin Lisa made me happy.

These questions are important not only for our well-being, but to understand how  writers create our characters. I read about happiness in a recent article in The Pudding, and if you don’t subscribe to this free newsletter, you’re definitely missing out on happiness.

Writer Alvin Chang’s Pudding article “mapped out 100,000 moments collected as part of a research project on what makes people happy. From sensory pleasure and serendipity to leisure and personal growth, he identified the major themes that emerge when we think about our most cherished moments.”

Here are few that may make you smile, especially the first one:

“My boss was away on business which made my workday very enjoyable and left me with a smile on my face all day.” Female, 36, married, parent

“I went to see my Grandma at the nursing home.” Male, 26, single

“My husband was ignoring me and I laid in bed thinking of funny words with the word ‘sass’ in them to describe him (like Sasquatch) – it amused me greatly.” Female, 26, parent

“I got to leave work early on Friday.” Female, 53, single, parent

“I took a day off to enjoy a nice day.” Male, 38, mot a parent

“Enjoyed a Hardboys Peach Country hard cider.” Male, 32, single, not a parent

“I made progress on some household projects.” Female, 22, married, not a parent

“I was able to stay home and work, while my brother-in-law picked up the kids from school by switching his schedule.” Female, 37, married, parent

Scientists used to believe that happiness was U-shaped. “We are happy when we’re young, less happy when we’re middle-aged and then happy again when we’re old.”

Chang mentioned a research article by Arthur Stone that surveyed people between 18 and 85. It said, “Stress and anger steeply declined from the early 20s, worry was elevated through middle age and then declined, and sadness was essentially flat.”

But hold on . . . that U-shape may no longer be true. Another story says, “Pooling Global Minds data across 44 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, over the period 2020–2025 we confirm that ill-being is no longer hump-shaped in age but now decreases in age.”

So the middle-age slump is out. The twenties are a rough time. The reason for this is sad: “the deterioration in young people’s mental health both absolutely and relative to older people.”

Once you get through your difficult 20s, your chances of happiness increase.

When Harvard researchers followed people for their entire lives, Alvin Chang wrote, “they found that good relationships were the most important thing for happy, healthy lives.” We need a “meaningful life with a sense of purpose.”

That makes sense. Except social media and smart phones have made us addicted to screens from a young age. “It’s taken a toll on how much time we spend with each other.”

Alvin Chang included a “happy map” with his article. Check it out here. https://pudding.cool/2026/02/happy-map/ he  says it’s “a mirror of the broken world we’ve built, as seen through our most cherished moments.”

What makes your characters happy?

Now in paperback: Sex and Death on the Beach, my new Florida beach mystery, is now in paperback. If you read it and like it, you’ll make me happy. https://tinyurl.com/3ut3chuu

 

 

Back from Left Coast Crime

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Back from Left Coast Crime
Terry Odell

As I mentioned in my last post, Left Coast Crime is a reader conference, where the goal for authors is to make reader connections. There’s very little how to and a lot of this is how I handle (insert panel topic) in my book.

But, before I recap the conference, I want to point out that a gentleman approached me, introduced himself as CR Foster, and said he wanted me to know how much The Kill Zone had helped his writing, and he’d just published his first novel, Dead by Monday. He thanked TKZ, and notably Sue Coletta, who critiqued his first page, in his acknowledgments. Always good to hear that we’re helping writers. image of CR Foster holding his book, Dead by Monday

(If you’re reading this, CR, my husband is enjoying the book.)

And on with my experiences.

I arrived a day early because … travel unpredictability. Actually, a evening and a day early, but I always prefer to have time to settle in before needed to have my brain fully engaged. I took time on that pre-conference day to wander around the hotel and the nearby streets around the Ferry Building. I didn’t bring my camera, just my phone, but I enjoyed taking pictures. If you’d like to take a look, you can find my gallery here.

(Note: someday I’ll learn to take pictures of the conference, but I took very few during the sessions.)

The first panel I was on got off to an interesting start. The moderator’s latest book had released the day before, and things were understandably hectic. She’d already broken one of my moderator “rules” which is not to use the program bio as an introduction to the panelists. Her “reasoning” was that since it was the first day of the conference, attendees wouldn’t have read the program yet.

However, when she got to me (the last one at the table), she was giving information about a book I’d never heard of, calling my writing humorous, at which point I interrupted saying “That’s not me.”

She apologized, and let me introduce myself, which was probably a better marketing ploy. I was now memorable, and I could talk about my two new releases, neither of which was mentioned in my program bio.

Our panel was called “Perils of Small Towns.” Since I don’t write thrillers or anything dark, my small town’s perils are all on the author’s end. Avoiding Cabot Cove/Jessica Fletcher syndrome. Being realistic about crime. (Another pet peeve is why when you say “mystery” everyone inserts “murder” in front of it.) There are other crimes, and in a small town, where everyone probably knows everyone else, they can be just as interesting. Mapleton, my made-up small town is patterned after the one I live in where the entire county has investigated a total of three homicides since 2008: one in 2013 and one in 2011. I’m sure the moderator was frustrated that my answer to many of her “peril-focused” questions was “I don’t deal with that.”

For me, the moderator I actually walked out on was bouncy, peppy, singing, and said, “We’re not going to clap in this panel. We’re going to chant the author’s names as I introduce them.” More than I could take.

My next panel, the one where I was the moderator, wasn’t until the last day, so I was more or less free to choose my panels, mingle, and, as has been pointed out by others here at TKZ, hang out at the bar. Not to meet agents and publishers, but to meet readers.

Then there’s the promotional materials table. It’s filled with swag from just about every author in attendance. I talked about good and not so good swag in another post. My offerings were gone before the last day. I brought lip balm (none left; sorry JSB), post-it notes and some copies of my short story collection, Seeing Red. All of those were gone, too, which left room in my suitcase to bring home books (they give away a lot of these) and swag.

The panels I attended included:

  • Rural Settings
  • Knives, Swords, and how to use them
  • Getting the Details Right (lots of tips on things writers get wrong by using television as a reference. Also per DP Lyle, “You can’t kill a drunk.”)
  • Importance of Setting
  • Challenges of Rural Settings (which would have been a better spot for me)
  • Law Enforcement
  • Lawyers, which served as a reminder that the Supreme Court can’t go after cases; they have to be brought to the court.
  • Labels: Cozy, Traditional, Suspense, or Thriller?
  • Liar’s Panel, where author panelists told stories about things that happened to them, and the audience had to choose which one was telling the truth.

“My” panel, Romance, Love, Sex, & Crime was the last panel of the conference. It was Sunday morning, the morning after the awards banquet, and I was pleased that there were more than a dozen people in the room. I followed my own rules, we kept things casual, and based on comments afterward, we did a good job.

Overall takeaways. I still need to work on getting out of my introverted self, but I did manage to meet and mingle at least as much as I retreated to my hotel room.

I like Left Coast Crime. It’s small enough so you don’t feel lost. I’ve already signed up for next year, which will be in Santa Fe—an added perk is that it’s driveable, so I’ll be able to bring more swag, and donate something to the silent auction where the proceeds go to a literacy charity. This year it was the Literacy and Learning Fund, administered by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Your turn. Any conference tales to share?

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.”