Category Archives: #writers

Auld Lang Syne and Taking Stock

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by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

 

Happy New Year, TKZ friends!

Tonight, all over the world, millions of people will sing “Auld Lang Syne.”

So what the heck does “Auld Lang Syne” mean?

The literal translation from Scottish is “old long since.” In 1788, Robert Burns wrote down a Scottish folk poem that he claimed came “from an old man’s singing.” The poem wasn’t published until after Bobby’s death in 1796.

The melody was from a 1782 opera but had different lyrics.

In 1799, the tune was combined with the Burns poem to celebrate Scottish Hogmanay (New Year’s celebration):

“Hogmanay celebrants traditionally sing the song while they stand in a circle holding hands.” (source: Britannica.com)

The last verses from Bobby’s original poem read as if a cat scampered across a keyboard:

“We twa hae paidl’d i’ the burn,
Frae mornin’ sun till dine;”

“we’ll tak a right guid willy waught,
For auld lang syne.”

Here’s the English version of the later verses:

We two have run about the slopes,
And picked the daisies fine;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
Since auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,
From morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared
Since auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give me a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
For auld lang syne.

The last day of 2024 seems like a good time to take stock of writing progress during the past year.

My 2024 goal list was seven items. I can check off four as completed or making substantial progress. Those are:

  1. Publish the ninth novel in the Tawny Lindholm Thriller series. Fruit of the Poisonous Tree launched October 1, 2024. Checked off.
  2. Start an editing business. For years, writer friends urged me to go pro with editing services. Last January, I hung out a shingle. Through word-of-mouth recommendations, I earned more in the first two weeks of editing than I did the entire previous year in book sales. Check that off as a big success.
  3. Do more teaching and personal appearances. I talked with book clubs, taught workshops, participated on panels, and sold books at festivals. These are fun activities because I love to meet readers and writers. Check this off as a success with plans to continue in 2025.
  4. Work on my nonfiction craft book The Villain’s Journey. This is a long-term project. In 2024, I made substantial progress with research, writing, obtaining permission to quote sources, and refining the structure. This project rolls over into 2025 with a goal to finish and publish The Villain’s Journey by summer 2025.

What items on my list were fails?

  1. Do more marketing, advertising, and promotion. For years, this goal remains my perennial failure. Will I do better next year? We’ll see.
  2. Create box sets of my Tawny Lindholm Thriller series. I didn’t get around to this project and will roll it over into 2025.
  3. Start a Substack. Another project I didn’t get around to. Rolled over into 2025.

Goals are important for writers because we’re often working toward a nebulous, uncertain future where progress is hard to quantify.

Unless you have a set deadline, it’s easy to fall back on Someday. Someday I’ll finish my novel, or learn Scrivener, or run Amazon/Facebook ads, or [fill in the blank].

At the start of each year, members of my critique group submit a list of goals we want to accomplish. At the end of the year, we review the lists to see how we did. We’re usually pleasantly surprised by how many items we checked off.

When you write down specific goals AND show them to others, that’s a small but effective step to make you more accountable for your progress.

TKZers, want to try an experiment? Write down your 2025 goals and share them in the comment section. Next year at this time, we’ll review the comments and see how we did.

While Rod Stewart sings “Auld Lang Syne,” I’m raising a toast to The Kill Zone community.

Wishing you a happy and creative 2025!

~~~

Start the New Year with new reading at a bargain price. 

Tawny Lindholm Thrillers – select titles are 50% off !!! Today is the last day of the sale. 

Sales link

Finishing Strong with Aspects of the Novel

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“Everything ends; you just have to figure out a way to push to the finish line.” —Jesse Itzler

* * *

Welcome back, TKZers! Isn’t it wonderful to be back in the Zone after the two-week break?

Now that we’re approaching the finish line for 2024, it’s time to look back at lessons learned in the past year. In addition to the great content posted here, TKZ contributors lent their voices to other platforms. One of those was The Craft of Writing Blog on my website at kaydibianca.com.

The theme of this year’s blog was Aspects of the Novel, and each month I interviewed an accomplished author on a different facet of novel writing. Five of those authors are TKZ contributors whose thoughts were so instructive, I wanted to share an excerpt from each interview in this post.

So enjoy finishing the year strong by walking with our wise friends through various Aspects of the Novel. To see the entire interview for any of the choices below, click on the link.

* * *

VOICE (James Scott Bell)

How does an author go about developing his/her own voice?

It’s really a matter of learning ways to let the voice run free. Let it come out naturally as you, the author, are concentrating on the emotion and action and internal lives of the characters. There are various exercises I give in my book on voice, such as the page-long sentence. When I come to a place of high emotion in a scene, I like to start a fresh document and write a single, run-on sentence of at least 200 words. It is free-form, wild text in the character’s voice, not thinking about grammar or structure. It’s just pouring out the emotion as fast and intensely as possible.

What happens inevitably, like panning for gold, is you get a few glistening nuggets. It may even be only one sentence, but that sentence will be choice.

There are other methods, but the great point is that doing this begins to develop a strong “voice muscle” in your writer’s brain, and you get better and better at it the more you exercise it.

 

ANTAGONISTS (Debbie Burke)

How does a good writer approach creating the antagonist character? Are there exercises a writer can use to develop their villain-creating talents?

A technique I like to use is James Scott Bell’s voice journal. Let the antagonist write out their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. What are their deepest, most secret desires? Give them the opportunity to express their frustration, anger, and hatred. Putting their emotions into words helps the author get inside their skin and understand why they feel their behavior is justified.

Interview the villain/antagonist. Ask questions. What is their background? How did their parents treat them? Were they bullied or abused? What early losses or failures scarred them?

Another Jim Bell tip: have villains argue their case before the jury that will decide their fate. What compelling arguments can they offer to save themselves from the death penalty?

 

DEEP POINT OF VIEW (Terry Odell)

Now, on to Deep POV:

Deep POV can be thought of as writing a first person book in third person. You are deep inside the POV character’s head, providing the reader with not only the character’s five senses, but also their thoughts and feelings. Because you’re deep into their heads, your readers should feel closer to the characters than if you have an outside narrator, as is the case in shallower third person POV. A test. You should be able to replace he, she, or the character’s name with “I.”

When writing in Deep POV, it’s also important to be true to the character. What would they notice? Two characters walk into a room. (No, that’s not the start of a joke.) One’s a cop; the other is an interior designer. They’ll focus on very different things.

 

ANTI-HEROES (Sue Coletta)

How do you define an anti-hero?

An anti-hero is the protagonist of the story, who straddles the law. Good people doing bad things for the right reason. Nothing is black and white. Anti-heroes thrive in shades in gray.

 

DESCRIPTION (P.J. Parrish)

How would you define descriptive writing?

Wow. That’s a toughie. Well, let’s start with a distinction. There’s explanation and then there’s description. Explanation is you, the writer, just dealing with the prosaic stuff of moving characters around in time and space. Explanation example: The man walked into the room. Simple choregraphy. Gets the job done but pushes no emotional buttons.

But description? That’s where the magic happens. When you work your descriptive powers, you engage the reader’s senses and imagination, maybe tugging on their memories and experiences. The man didn’t just walk into the room.  Rewrite:

The old man stopped just inside the door of the café. He was in his eighties, that much was clear. But as he stood there, erect and with a small smile tipping his lips, heads turned to him. It wasn’t just the panama hat or the seersucker suit. Because the hat was yellowed and his sleeves were frayed. No, we were staring at him because the air around him seemed to vibrate with an aliveness. He caught my eye and started toward me, and my throat closed. It was like looking at my father, the one I had seen only in photographs.

See the difference? The main purpose of descriptive writing is to show the reader a person, place or thing in such a way that a picture is formed in their mind. It means paying close attention to the details by using all of your five senses. Explanation vs description. When you explain something, you try to make it clearer and easier to understand. But when you describe, you’re tugging on their emotions.

 

* * *

As we come to the end of the year, I want to wish you all a Happy, Healthy, and Successful New Year!

* * *

So TKZers: How are you finishing strong in 2024? Any lessons learned you can share? What are you looking forward to in 2025?

 

“A delicious murder mystery” —Readers’ Favorite Reviews

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

The Write Stuff: Holiday gifts for writers and readers

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by Elaine Viets

Stumped what to give your favorite writer or reader for the holidays? Here are a few suggestions, gathered from the four corners of the internet.

Sherlock’s Study Candle. What better way to write your historical novel – or read the adventures of the Master, than with a Sherlock’s Study Candle, scented with cherrywood, tobacco and rain. Fortunately, this soy candle does not have those less romantic scents of horse sweat and the Thames at low tide. Etsy. $9+ etsy.me/4ioTSxP

Book Nook Reading Valet. Park your book on the wooden triangle and  hide your cell phone under it. There’s room for your specs and a wineglass or mug. $50 Uncommon Originals. bit.ly/3ZOV32m

Always Check Behind the Shower Curtain. Hang this in your guest bath and I guarantee they won’t use all the hot water. For mystery writers and true crime lovers. $58. Etsy, etsy.me/3Dc98xM

The James Bond Vesper Martini Cocktail Shaker. For your favorite Bondophile, this stainless steel shaker has Bond’s Vesper Martini recipe from Casino Royale on one side:  “A measure of Gordons, 1 of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet, shake it over ice. Then add a thin slice of lemon peel.” The 007 logo is on the other side. It’s $39 at the 007 Store. The store has other Bond-themed gifts including Turnbull & Asser silk ties and pocket squares. https://bit.ly/3ZzonbP

Books! Book lovers never have enough books. Give one of your latest mysteries. Or if the person has them all, give them an author you admire. Better yet, give them a gift card to a bookstore.

 

Blind date with a book. Here’s a Goodreads-Rated Blind Date with a Book Gift Set. The set has a book in your favorite genre, and ways to enjoy this good read, including popcorn, a magnifier, a bookmark, tea, cocoa. Etsy. $13.49+ bit.ly/41pn0ik

Subscription box  for a blind date with a book. Give a three-, six- or twelve-month subscription. Each book bundle arrives at once, stuffed with books, bookmarks, stickers and drinks – coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Just choose the genre. Etsy. Subscriptions start at $49. bit.ly/3ZLErIy

Whimsical cat with glasses handmade wrist rest. Purrfect for any cat lover. $28.95  bit.ly/3OQreYJ

Happy holidays, TKZers. I’ll see you next year.

Zoom Accountability

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

by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

Accountability.

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

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

…or kick myself if I didn’t.

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

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

Dr. Sarah Rugheimer – photo credit: Ben Gebo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hey, I edited Chapter 14.”

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

“Cool! That’s a load off your mind.”

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

Turns out SBT means “Shame Based Tasks.”

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

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

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

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

Now you’re committed.

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

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

Your self-doubt lessens.

You dig in.

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

You report to your partner who congratulates you.

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

Whew!

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for suggesting this trick, Sarah!

~~~

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

~~~

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

~~~

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

Cover by Brian Hoffman

 

Please check out the latest thriller at this link. 

Does Your Story Have a Full Circle Moment?

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

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

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

Have you experienced a full circle moment in your life?

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

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

A full circle moment completes the character arc.

Story Circle

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

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

click to enlarge

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

NEED: YOU have a need.

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

GO: YOU cross the threshold into an adventure.

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

SEARCH: YOU find the answer to your problem.

Mission accomplished. Or is it?

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

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

FIND: Things are not how they appear.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wizard of Oz — Story Circle Example 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Literacy in America

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

* * *

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

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

* * *

THE GOOD NEWS

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

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

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

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

MORE GOOD NEWS

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

According to an article at the Mather Hospital website:

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

* * *

NOW FOR THE BAD NEWS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I could go on, but you get the message.

* * *

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

But can we do more?

* * *

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

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

 

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

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

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

Tickling the Dragon’s Tail

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The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it. —Thucydides

* * *

Dr. Louis Slotin was a brilliant young physicist. Only thirty-four years old, he had been working at Los Alamos on the super-secret Manhattan Project since 1943. He was known to be a quiet, reserved man, and yet one who was attracted to dangerous assignments.

Perhaps that’s what drew him to an experiment that would ultimately kill him.

Most of us are in awe of the work done on the Manhattan Project. Names like Oppenheimer, Bohr, Fermi, and others who worked there defined much of nuclear physics research in the mid-twentieth century. Yet despite the magnificent brain power, one of the experiments that was required in order to construct an atomic bomb was surprisingly primitive.

“Critical mass” is a term that describes the condition that occurs when the amount of fissionable material brought together is enough to start a nuclear chain reaction. In an effort to determine critical mass in the Los Alamos lab, a human operator would bring two hemispheres of such material close together until the mass just started to go critical. A Geiger counter and a neutron monitor would gauge the radiation emitted by the two lumps of metal. The goal was to get the assembly to begin to go critical but stop before it became dangerously over-critical and released lethal amounts of radiation.

Louis Slotin had performed this experiment dozens of times using a simple screwdriver as a lever to control the approach of one lump of material toward the other. He referred to the procedure as “tickling the dragon’s tail.”

On a fateful day in May 1946, Dr. Slotin was in the lab. Amazingly, there were visitors in the room to observe the operation.  According to an article on the Canadian Nuclear Society website,

The experiment involved creating the beginning of a fission reaction by bringing together two metal hemispheres of highly reactive, beryllium-coated plutonium.

Seven people watched as Slotin brought one hemisphere close to the other. The Geiger counter ticked a little faster.

Then Slotin’s hand slipped, and the upper hemisphere of metal fell onto the lower one causing a hard release of radiation. The Geiger Counter went crazy, then stopped completely, and people in the room reported a strange blue glow.

Slotin lunged forward and flipped the top hemisphere of beryllium off and onto the floor. Nine days later, Dr. Louis Slotin died in a hospital from the results of radiation poisoning. Miraculously, none of the other people in the room succumbed.

* * *

I have read “The Strange Death of Louis Slotin” by Stewart Alsop and Ralph E. Lapp several times. Each time I read it, I’m surprised by the crude contraption used to determine critical mass. The scientists at Los Alamos would have known better than anyone else how dangerous a mistake could be.

I’m even more surprised by the willingness of anyone, especially someone with a clear understanding of the risk, to volunteer to run the experiment. But there are those people who not only enjoy a sense of danger, but even seek it out. Those to whom “tickling the dragon’s tail” is an essential part of their lives.

* * *

It makes me wonder. Who are these people who enjoy living on the edge? Are there many of them?

Last week, Alan mentioned a test pilot friend of his had died while flying an experimental aircraft. It reminded me of books I’ve read about test pilots, and I wonder what it takes for a man or woman to climb into a contraption that’s never been tested before, and take off. I think of the Wright brothers, Charles Lindbergh, and Chuck Yeager.

And what about those ultimate test pilots, the astronauts? Can you imagine sitting on top of a rocket with a few hundred thousand gallons of fuel underneath you, and blasting off to be the first to land on the moon? Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were willing.

Maybe those are the extreme examples. More down to earth (pun intended) are police and fire fighters whose livelihoods embrace danger.

And then there are fictional characters who refuse to back away like Atticus Finch, James Bond, or Sam Spade. How about Nancy Drew?

Writing mysteries, thrillers or suspense means we create characters who deal with danger in a variety of ways. Some are attracted to it, some run away, and others don’t seek it out, but stand and fight.

So TKZers: Do you have favorite fictional characters who love to push the envelope? How about the characters in your books? How do they handle danger?

* * *

 

Private pilot Cassie Deakin doesn’t go looking for danger, but she lands right in the middle of it when she searches for the key to a mystery—and finds a murderer.

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

New AI Survey Results from Draft2Digital

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by Debbie Burke

@burke_writer

Almost 20 years ago, a giant communications company decided to outsource their phone customer service to other countries. I learned about this from a friend who worked there. The company announced massive layoffs of employees because overseas labor costs were cheaper than using American workers.

Then, to add insult to injury, those employees whose jobs were being eliminated were required to train their replacements.

Not surprisingly, outsourcing didn’t work out too well. There was massive consumer backlash because neither the customers nor the new workers could understand each other on the phone. But the damage had been done. Thousands of American workers lost their jobs and the company’s reputation took a big hit that it never recovered from.

That kind of parallels today’s situation with writers and AI. Our work is being scraped from illegal pirate sites and used to “train” AI to replace us.

Some people joke that AI (artificial intelligence) is “artificial insemination.” Writers are being screwed without receiving any enjoyment. They didn’t even buy us dinner first.

The Authors Guild (AG) has been on the forefront to try to protect writers from unauthorized use of copyrighted works to train AI. In July, 2023, they sent an open letter to the CEOs of AI giants including Open AI, Meta, Microsoft, IBM, and others with a petition signed by 15,000 authors. AG also testified before the senate, decrying pirate sites that are used by tech companies to “train” AI models.

The genie is out of the bottle. AI is here to stay. The question now is: can the genie be forced to compensate writers for their words?

Here’s an excerpt from the Authors Guild statement on AI:

“The Authors Guild believes that the right to license a work for AI training belongs to the author of the work unless the rights are expressly granted in an agreement.”

A bill called “The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act of 2024” is under consideration by the House of Representatives. This only requires disclosure by anyone who uses copyrighted work to train AI. It does not address fair compensation for that use.

Recently Draft2Digital (D2D) did a survey among authors, publishers, and others to determine how they felt about the use of AI and what authors would consider fair compensation for use of their work. D2D CEO Kris Austin kindly gave permission to quote from the survey results (full results at this link).

Here are some highlights:

1. “Why do authors oppose AI training?” 

AI companies are unethical/untrustworthy – 25%
Harms creatives & people – 25%
Ethical Objections to AI – 19%
Other Reasons – 14%
I worked hard for my work and it’s mine – 10%
AI has no place in creative work – 8%”

2. “Do authors consider current scraping methods fair use?”

It’s not fair use – 49%

Ethically questionable – 42%

Fair use – 5%

No opinion – 3%

3. “Do authors know that AI companies might be willing to pay for training data?”

Unaware – 57%

Aware – 38%

Unsure – 5%

4. “Are authors interested in the opportunity to sell their AI training rights?”

Yes – 31%

No – 25%

Maybe – 45%

5. “Does it matter to authors how the end product LLM (large language model) will be used?”

Yes, it matters. – 76 %

Not as long as I am compensated – 22%

No opinion – 2%

The next two questions concern whether authors would consider having their work used for non-competitive markets (places that would not affect the author’s income) and competitive markets (e.g. an AI-written mystery could sell on Amazon right next to your book but at a much lower price).

6. “If the use case is non-competitive, will authors consider selling their AI training rights?”

No Amount of money will ever be enough – 49.5%
Open to non-competitive opportunities – 50.5%
Would accept less than $100 per book – 11.1%
Only if $100 or more per book – 39.3%
Only if more than $5,000 per book – 14.1%”

7. “If the use case is competitive, will authors consider selling their AI training rights?”

No amount of money will ever be enough – 62.8%
Open to competitive opportunities – 37.2%
Would accept less than $100 a book – 6.3%
Only if $100 or more per book – 30.9%
Only if more than $5,000 per book – 15.8%

Here’s a summary of D2D’s position:

D2D’S STANCE
Until we see significant reforms, especially around greater contractual protections and transparency governing use, intellectual property protections, and rights restrictions, Draft2Digital will not offer AI rights licensing opportunities.

·       It’s a positive development that AI developers are seeking to pay for licenses

·       Better protections are needed before D2D or its publishers can entertain such licenses

·       AI training rights are an exclusive, valuable subsidiary right under the sole control of the author or publisher

·       The rights-holder deserves full control over decisions related to if, when, and how their books are used or licensed for AI training purposes.

·       Authors and publishers should refuse AI rights licensing contracts that are opaque, or that provide inadequate protections for author concerns

·       AI developers must stop training upon books obtained without the rights-holder’s permission; otherwise, they will face continued reputational harm in the eyes of their customers and the creative community

·       LLMs previously trained upon unlicensed content, and the applications built upon them, should either negotiate retroactive licensing settlements with rights holders, or scrap their LLMs and rebuild them from scratch by training upon licensed content only”

“At this time, Draft2Digital will not offer AI rights licensing opportunities.”

I believe most authors agree that compensation should be paid and payment should be retroactive to include past unauthorized use.

The devil is in the details.

·       How to implement systems that detect/determine use of copyrighted material?

·       How to enforce fair use?

·       How much are authors paid?

·       What if an author doesn’t want their work used for AI training  under any circumstances?

The communications company my friend worked for treated their employees shabbily but at least they told workers in advance that they had to train their replacements.

Authors and publishers were never told in advance. Tech giants simply started using creative works without permission nor compensation to the creators. AI-written works currently flood the marketplace that was already crowded. Our incomes suffer.

We study, rewrite, and work hard to create meaningful content and deserve fair compensation.

Those devilish details will be fought out in courts for years to come.

~~~

TKZers, how do you feel about AI’s use of your creative work to train LLMs?

Please share your answers to any or all of the questions.

~~~

Cover by Brian Hoffman

 

 

Debbie Burke writes her thrillers without AI.

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree is now available for preorder at this link.

 

The Chronology of Story: Foreshadowing

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“Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne

* * *

 As we all know, stories are the recollection of events that happen through time. In January, I posted an article on flashbacks in story-telling. Today, I’d like to go in the other direction with foreshadowing.

* * *

To begin, let’s look at the difference between flash forward and foreshadowing.

A flash forward takes the reader to a point in the future. A good example is Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol where Ebenezer Scrooge is taken into the future by a ghost to show him what will happen after his death if he doesn’t change his ways.

* * *

But foreshadowing is different, and despite what Hawthorne said, a shadow may indicate events to come.

According to masterclass.com,

“Foreshadowing is a literary device used to give an indication or hint of what is to come later in the story. Foreshadowing is useful for creating suspense, a feeling of unease, a sense of curiosity, or a mark that things may not be as they seem.”

Foreshadowing may be direct or indirect.

* * *

Direct Foreshadowing overtly states an upcoming event or twist in the story.

For example, the prologue of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet specifically states that the two lovers will die in the story:

“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.”

 

Another example of this straight-forward form of foreshadowing is when the author simply makes a statement about the future.

I recently read the novel Tom Lake by Ann Patchett where the first-person narrator recounts to her three daughters the story of her love affair with a famous actor. Late in the book, the narrator explains to the reader that she has told all of her past to her children – well, almost all. “And I am done, except for this: I saw Duke one other time, and of that time I will say nothing to my girls.” So the reader knows that an event which is explained in detail to the reader will not be related to other characters in the book. (Sort of a negative foreshadowing.)

* * *

Indirect Foreshadowing is a more subtle way of hinting at future events or outcomes in the story.

 

“If you say in the first act that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third act it absolutely must go off.” –Anton Chekhov

 

 

 

 

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus talks to Jem about courage after the death of Mrs. Dubose.

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”

That conversation foreshadowed Atticus’s own courage in defending Tom Robinson.

In an early chapter of Tom Lake, the first-person narrator betrays her best friend by stealing the other girl’s boyfriend. That event foreshadows a similar betrayal later in the book when the same thing happens to the protagonist.

* * *

So TKZers: Do you think foreshadowing is a useful device in novel writing? Have you used foreshadowing in your novels? Can you think of any examples in stories you’ve read?

* * *

Private pilot Cassie Deakin declares her distrust of handsome men in the first paragraph of Lacey’s Star. That statement foreshadows her flawed decisions on trust throughout the book and almost gets her killed.

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

(Re) Reading the Classics

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“Every rereading of a classic is as much a voyage of discovery as the first reading.” —Italo Calvino

* * *

After a friend of mine shared a bunch of quotes about the classics by Italo Calvino, I went in search of a good list of classic literature. Well, it was like going in search of a glass of water and finding yourself on the shore of an ocean.

It turns out there are many different lists of classic literature, some with hundreds of books on them. It made me wonder who gets to decide what books are labeled as classics.

“We use the words “classics” for books that are treasured by those who have read and loved them; but they are treasured no less by those who have the luck to read them for the first time in the best conditions to enjoy them.” —Italo Calvino

* * *

Goodreads lists one thousand seven hundred and ninety (gulp) “must read classics.” The ranking on their list is driven by reader votes. Here are the top ten plus a few more that I thought deserve consideration.

 

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

 

 

2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

 

 

3. 1984 by George Orwell

 

 

4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

 

 

5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

 

6. Animal Farm by George Orwell

 

 

7. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

 

 

8. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

 

 

9. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

 

 

10. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

 

“The classics are books that exert a peculiar influence, both when they refuse to be eradicated from the mind and when they conceal themselves in the folds of memory, camouflaging themselves as the collective or individual unconscious.” —Italo Calvino

* * *

Here are few more books that were further down the list. I had to stop the total list at twenty-five or I would never have finished this post.

 

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

The Iliad by Homer

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

“The classics are books which, upon reading, we find even fresher, more unexpected, and more marvelous than we had thought from hearing about them.” —Italo Calvino

* * *

Some of the books listed above had an enormous impact on me. I’m afraid I may have read others when I was too young, and I need to revisit them.

 

 

So TKZers: How do you define a classic novel? Have you read any of the classics listed here? What books would you cite as classics that I haven’t included? Which books have you re-read? Which would you like to re-read?

* * *

 

It’s not a classic (yet), but Lacey’s Star is an entertaining and thought-provoking mystery.

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