murder.booklocker.com

I got this in the mail this morning from a psychic (don’t ask how he found me — he’s a PYSCHIC!)

I was surveying the sea of countless possibilities which is the internet when i came across the spirited expression which is your site.
 
My compliments on your palette of personal perspective. I enjoyed the genuineness and creativity of your site. The flower of your soul is evident throughout your pages. You have woven an authentic unique tapestry of inner light and heartfelt spirit.

I wish you great joy and prosperity in all endeavors. Thank you for sharing your creative inspirations. May you discover your dreams, embrace your gifts and awaken to your true self that you may inspire the sacred divine within.

I just wish I knew which site he was talking about!

Weird image last night. I was thinking about the expression “what goes around, comes around” with particular reference to having Guest Posts and interviews on my blog. Not that I expect the favor to be returned. Because I don’t. But a teeny, tiny part of me still holds out hope for a hyperlink to my blog. Is that sad or what?

The image that came to me just as I was falling asleep was associated with Ecclesiastes 11:1 in the Old Testament: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” I confess, I always thought that a tad stupid - the bread would sink, not float. And certainly wouldn’t come back to you, “after many days” or ever. As soon as I said that to myself, though, I had a vision (bear with me, not that kind of vision!) of geese.

There’s a lake just south of us where the Canadien Geese used to rest during migration. Only they don’t migrate any more. Too many folks have “tossed them bread,” you know, “on the water?” The nasty creatures got used to it and now they longer leave. They just hang out waiting to be fed.

So the picture formed by my mind was this: toss your bread upon the waters, some goose is sure to snap it up, and a few days later the goose will be ready for trapping and eating. Certainly a goose dinner would be a healthy return on your investment of a few crumbs!

[I suppose I should mention that here, as well as elsewhere, feeding of the geese is now strictly prohibited. One step on the slippery, green, goose-pooped walkway will tell you why.]

[no, the title of this post does not have a typo in it]

Kestrell has just posted her interview with me at the Blind Bookworm. Her questions are thoughtful:

“Could you suggest why so many people first thought a story that features a murder in a senior citizen center would be rich material for a dark comedy?”

“Your book seems to use the mystery as an opportunity to explore relationships between family members, caregivers and their clients, older people and younger, and couples. Was this an intentional writing strategy on your part? Do you feel mysteries as a genre offer opportunities for exploring relationships?”

What a treat for an author!

I found an intriguing post on writing and some innovative ideas for getting the juices flowing when as a writer you are faced with a brick wall. I think this would work particularly well with writing groups, but a clever, solitary author might be able to make it work as well.

This is the first exercise (there are four in all):

“[Julie Czerneda] didn’t necessarily call it so much a search for story as a search for potential plot points along a story. Writers grouped off into threes and viewed illustrations by A.B. Word. We basically brainstormed as many scenarios as possible from an illustration after five minute study. The importance of the exercise was not to construct a plot, but to find possible components of a plot (some of which you will discard, of course).

“We shared our points, then each group traded illustrations. Suddenly, the stakes were higher. You had to get more creative since the more obvious plot points had already been spoken for. I found that while the ideas were fewer forthcoming, a few of the remaining ideas were necessarily more intriguing.

“Czerneda’s take-home points were that if you tried too hard to write a story immediately after the viewing, you might lose energy the exploration provides. She suggested writers allow the ideas go way off target to get what they’re looking for.”

The post is entitled, “The Most Dastardly Plot of Willycon.” Willycon appears to be a subsidiary of the Wayne State College Science Fiction and Fantasy Club.

You have GOT to check this out! A while ago I submitted a bunch of CTA anecdotes to the online Chicago zine called Gaper’s Block. Yesterday, they were published - hallelujah! — but the best part is that they found incredible photos to accompany them! Here’s the link. The article is called “Strangers in Transit.”

For you other Chicagoland writers, think writers block Gaper’s Block. 

UPDATE: the photos were taken by Andrew Huff, Editor-In-Chief of Gaper’s Block.

This morning I finished up my answers to an interview (by Lynn Voedisch). One of the questions dealt with some posts that I have logged here under “creativity.” I guess I’m finally coming to terms with those surprises delivered up by my unconscious. And just maybe, talking about them triggered another occurrence.

I was typing away at the third book in the senior center murder series and had to introduce two of my characters to each other. Since the book is based on a real-life senior center, I’ve been trying to keep things recognizable. Of course the people become composites or wholly-invented — don’t want anyone to be able to sue me :-)  

On the other hand, Des Plaines lists three managers on their website: one, a program manager and advisor; two, a program manager; and three, a travel manager. The size of the staff indicates a lot about funding and the number of people served, so because I’m concerned with realism, I’ll want to have three managers. 

Like I say, I was writing the part where the intern meets the first of the program managers. On a whim I typed in the name Jamie. (I think that’s probably because we’ve been watching “Mad About You” reruns from 6:00-6:30 every morning!) I had assumed (somewhere in the back of my brain) that this person would be a woman. But then I stopped myself and asked, “What if he was not a she?” What could happen to the story if he was a he, and only slightly older than my female intern? Do you see where I’m going? Suddenly I had a brand new dimension that I had never consciously considered.

In my interview with Bruce Cook I asked him specifically if he had ever experienced this same phenomenon:

Bruce: “I am sure you have heard this before, but is amazing how the characters that you have created seem to take on a life of their own when you put them into a scene. I gratefully accept this as a gift from my creative subconscious. If the character seems to want to do something other than what I had planned in my outline, I let them have their head. Occasionally this leads to a story dead end, but more often it sparks a wonderful plot twist.”

For further encouragement, I’d like to point you to an article by Peter de Jager, entitled “Five Tick Tocks to increase Creativity.” I particularly like the one, “Put ‘Freudian’ slips to good use.”

A while ago I wrote about the happy accidents that some time occur when you’re writing (Unnerved). I could envy the people who know down to the most minute detail what they’re going to write for a particular character and how it works with the rest of story. But I don’t.

I’ve been typing away about a party — who was there, what they were wearing, etc. At the end of the party, everyone goes home but the murder victim, whose body is found the next day. That was my plan. Hadn’t thought any farther than that. I figured the words would just come and all I would need to do is give it a nudge now and then.

So, here I am typing in the description of this character (it’s a Halloween party). Then I said to myself, hmm, the wife. What’s his wife wearing? Does it match his outfit? I took a break for lunch before I answered it. And then, voila, right in the middle of a game of solitaire, it hit me. If he’s there with his wife, well, duh! She’s gonna notice that he’s not there to drive her home.

I made him a widower. How that will impact the story farther on done the line, I have no idea.

I’ve discovered that writing fiction can be an unnerving experience. Things just seem to happen when I write. For instance, I was writing along this morning and got to a passage where two of my characters meet for the first time. I had given a cursory description of the man — tall, dark and handsome, of course. A little later I was trying to describe his uneasiness and wrote “he cracked the knuckles on his long dark fingers.” With just that word ‘dark’, my character had morphed from Caucasian to African-American. I hadn’t planned on it, but I left it, thinking that it would give yet another dimension to what I was doing.

I’m not big on surprises, but most of the twists that come from a mistyped word or an unconscious thought have turned out to be good for my stories. The second jolt I got this morning involves the same character. He receives some information that in and of itself is troubling, frustrating. When I typed in his response to the news, his speech centered on the name of a man (another character) — not the situation! Aha! I said to myself. There’s a history of resentment between these two; I wonder what it is?

And that, folks, is how I write my books. I now have a relationship to explore that I never dreamed existed. I’m thankful but it is unnerving.