Staying in my lane... by Cathy Ace

Craft: Okay, we write about crime, but if you had to dip a toe into another genre, which would you add to the mix, and why?

Tough question, because I’ve only ever wanted to write crime fiction. That said, I have written nine books that are not fiction…but I dare say that textbooks for managers about marketing, brand building, and promotional planning for e-business are not top of your list of books to read!

Some of the textbooks I have written

So, because I know I really don’t want to write anything but crime fiction, allow me to give you some reasons why I don’t think it’s necessary – for me – to write something other than crime fiction, but to still have the chance to write significantly different types of books…because that’s what authors I know who genre-hop tell me they’re doing – giving themselves the chance to write different types of books, as in “a change is as good as a rest”.

First of all, I write three very different types of books, which – and, again, I can only speak from my personal experience – allow me to work in different ways, with different outcomes, and appeal to different readers…or the same readers who enjoy reading different types of books.

The books I have written most of are the Cait Morgan Mysteries: these are traditional, puzzle-plot mysteries, written in the first person, always set in a different location – with Cait Morgan and Bud Anderson being the only two characters who are in each book. They follow the “Golden Age” shape of book, with a few twists: a murder upfront; a not-so-amateur sleuth with a retired cop who works for secret service agencies allowing access to “insider” information (on occasion, though not always); lots of clues and red herrings dotted about in the “fair play” manner; a crescendo to a final denouement where the perpetrator/s are unmasked and justice (sometimes legal, sometimes natural) is allowed to restore the balance of life. There’s no gratuitous blood/gore on the page, no sex on the page, no foul language.

Because these books feature a professor of criminal psychology, and characters who tread/have trod some pretty dark paths, the WHY is critical to the solutions…and I plot, plot, plot these books ensuring that every action (past and present) by every character is deeply rooted in their unique psychological profile, so I plot in the timeline of the book, from beginning to end, and only then do I start to write the book. These are very “ordered” books, in terms of writing them, and I have the fun of traveling again to places where I have lived or worked, as I write, AND I bring in a different filmic/literary influence for themes/motifs in each book too, which is fun to do, and readers always seem to find that aspect very satisfying if/when they notice it (I always try to let that aspect be the sprinkles on the topping, rather than being either a driving force or laying it on so thickly that it becomes a “thing”). So I find writing these books to be absorbing, satisfying, and giving my mind lots of opportunities to roam.

The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries are much cozier – they are quintessentially British, stately home/village mysteries, with four female private investigators who run their business out of a converted barn on a large ducal estate in the rolling Welsh countryside. Writing these books allows me to write in a very different way: there is always more than one mystery in these books (different cases upon which the private investigators are working) so, while I plot the overall arc of the book to start with (usually the title of the book relates to the main case) I also plot the different cases as separate entities, then weave them all together, ensuring the overall time-frame works.

NEW BOOK COMING!!! amazon link

These are much more “procedural” books, too – yes, there are some puzzle plots thrown in, but private investigators work in a different way than a sleuth does, so I enjoy that difference, too. Of course, the challenge when writing books set in a recurring location, with many characters recurring, is to allow all those characters to develop somewhat with each book, but to also allow a couple of the characters to shine in their own way in each book…in the way that daily/weekly daytime/early evening dramas do on television. That’s a different discipline for a writer, but the treat is to return to people and places that are like old friends, with a constantly evolving backstory for players, as well as numerous plots driving the character development forward. It’s fun to do – and quite different to writing the Cait Morgan Mysteries. 

Then there’s the challenge of writing a standalone rather than a series – this is also fun, because the stakes for the main characters are higher: if it’s not a series, not everyone needs to survive, so there’s a chance to increase the danger level for even central characters. And writing a tale of psychological suspense is such a different process than writing mysteries and whodunnits…no need for as many clues or red herrings, though misdirection is the name of the game, and writing about an atmosphere rather than substantive occurrences is quite a challenge.

So, no, I don’t feel the need to write books that aren’t crime fiction, because I manage to meet all my needs as a writer by writing different types of crime fiction. Now, if I had more hours in the day, or months in the year, I might play with writing something else, but, as a full time author, I reckon I am using as much of my life writing as I can /is healthy, so I’ll settle with what I enjoy, thank you very much! If you'd like to catch up with any of my books, you can find out all about them at my website: http://www.cathyace.com/

 

Oh what a tangled web... by Cathy Ace

How much air time do you give to secondary characters? Have any threatened to take over a book? Choose one of yours that you particularly enjoy and share them with us, including a snippet of text that gives us their flavour.

Oh, this is a good one…and something I was asked about on a panel in which I participated at CrimeFest in Bristol, UK a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I’ve been “on the road again”, and it was a blast! Anyway, I won’t go on and on about how wonderful it was to spend time with my tribe (though there are some photos to show how fun it was!) because I could chatter on all day…so…to the question!

"Long running series" panel: Caro Ramsey, Peter Guttridge, Kate Ellis, Andrew Child, me

I always planned the Cait Morgan books as a series where each story would take place in a different setting, with only Cait Morgan and Bud Anderson being in every book, but, even though I’m writing fiction, I aim for relatable circumstances that allow readers to happily inhabit the worlds I’m creating…so there are folks who pop up more than once.

Jack and Sheila White are a case in point: Jack was something of a mentor to Bud during his early days with the Vancouver Police Department, and the two men built a friendship based upon mutual respect that lasted beyond their retirements. The Whites also have acreage where Marty, Cait and Bud’s tabby black Lab, can stay when they are off on their mystery-solving jaunts (which is handy!). Thus, Jack and Sheila have appeared briefly in several of the books, and they finally took center stage in The Corpse with the Crystal Skull, when they stayed with Cait and Bud at a private resort in Jamaica…which is where we find out a good deal more about their backgrounds.

With Barry Ryan, of  Free@LastTV, the company
producing the Cait Morgan Mysteries TV series

Another recurring character is John Silver. Yes, he’s tall…which leads to the inevitable nickname…and he’s also quite mysterious when we first meet him: he arrives in Amsterdam in The Corpse with the Garnet Face as a “facilitator” with links to international intelligence-gathering services, and his presence allows us to discover more about Bud’s links with similar organizations. But I didn’t want John Silver to end up being no more than a cypher…a cut-out character who allows the plot to move forward by mysteriously revealing key background details about suspects…so I allowed him to also be the person upon whom Bud relied when Cait completely disappeared in Budapest, in The Corpse with the Ruby Lips; this time it’s Bud taking the lead, with John in support. In The Corpse with the Crystal Skull, John joins the house party in Jamaica as a guest, bringing with him his newly-acquired girlfriend, and we discover that maybe his overall judgement isn’t quite what his secret-squirrel job might lead us to believe it should be! Then, in The Corpse with the Granite Heart, I’m sorry to say I left poor John Silver completely undone…and questioning his entire future. I do have a plan for John, but won’t say here what it is…but the fact that he and Jack White are about the only people Bud trusts 100% (as well as Cait, of course) means he’ll be back, but maybe not in the way readers might expect.

I’ve enjoyed illuminating John Silver, and allowing the light cast upon him to reflect onto Bud, allowing his character to be revealed more and more too, which I think adds dimensions to one of my leads it would otherwise be difficult to communicate: judging a person by the friends they choose works well in fiction, as it does in life.

As requested, here’s a passage where John Silver is playing a central role. The set up? Taken from The Corpse with the Crystal Skull, Cait and Bud, Jack and Sheila White, and John Silver are “enjoying breakfast”, when John’s questionably youthful plus-one, Lottie, has openly “accused” John, Bud, and Jack of visiting Jamaica to carry out some sort of secret operation…including investigating the death of the man who owned the resort where they are staying – Freddie Burkinshaw.

Sheila and I exchanged a glance as Lottie’s comments hung in the heavy air, then we looked at our respective husbands. They, in turn, were glaring at John, who’d puffed out his cheeks, snapped his napkin onto the table, and pushed away his plate.

He said, “Right-ho, this obviously needs to be addressed. Lottie dear, you don’t know anything about any operations that Bud, Jack, or I may, or may not, have been party to. Cait and Sheila are married to two wonderful men who’ve put in their years for Canadian law enforcement and have both now retired from that life. I, as you know, have a desk job. Yes, I work in Whitehall, and, yes, I have to travel within my role, on occasion. But I can guarantee you that – if I ever had been involved in that sort of undertaking – I would now be well past the age when I would be called upon to carry out any ‘secret squirrel’ work, as you so quaintly described it. I know that Rusty, Sir Roger Rustingham, is professionally involved with a particular branch of British security in a senior role, but he does have friends and acquaintances from other areas of his life too. I got to know him when we worked together on a couple of charity committees. Where I also met your father, I might add. It’s all totally innocent, and above board.”

“Well, that’s a pity,” replied Lottie with a wry smile, “because when I spoke to Daddy on the phone earlier today he said he’d known of Freddie Burkinshaw, and had always wondered if he’d been dispatched to Jamaica to ‘keep an eye on a few local chaps’. Apparently, Freddie arrived here just around the time independence was granted, and was pretty close with Ian Fleming – and we all know what sort of a war he had, and what he got up to after it, don’t we, children?” She rose, and swooshed her chiffon scarf around her firm, young throat. “I’m off for a shower now. It’s so dreadfully humid. The rain’s stopped at last, I see. Thank you for a delicious…egg thingy, Cait, Bud. See you in a bit, John. Maybe someone will be kind enough to let me know what sort of place we’re dining at tonight, when you’ve made the arrangements, so I can dress accordingly. Bye-ee.”

And she was gone. Leaving us all a bit flummoxed, and – in my case anyway – fixated on the fact that I’d just heard several potential reasons why someone might want Freddie Burkinshaw dead. It seemed he might not have been the innocent octogenarian without an enemy in the world we’d all thought him to be, after all.

BSP: find out all about John Silver - and Cait and Bud - here: http://www.cathyace.com/

Thinking about Mum... by Cathy Ace

Life: Share memories of being read to. Or stories you read to those close to you. Have you written stories for friends or family, not for publication?

Great question…and great timing. I dare say I am not alone in having memories of both my parents reading to me when I was a small child; the delight of seeing familiar pictures and hearing familiar words being read aloud will endure. The photo at the end of this blog explains why this is great timing...

My favourite book when I was small was Little John Little (photo is of the copy I was read almost sixty years ago, which is still on my bookshelf) which I recall as a jolly tale with jolly pictures, and the evidence in the photo bears out these recollections.

I am still utterly convinced that this is how squirrels really live

My other favourite was the version of Andersen’s Fairy Tales given to me by my Godmother. The stories were read to me, but – for those unfamiliar with the original Andersen tales – let’s just say they were sanitized a little when I was very young, so it wasn’t until I could read them myself that I saw all the pictures and read all the stories. The illustrations are fabulous, and certainly not all of the “chocolate box” variety!

This rather chilling picture accompanies the tale entitled The Nightingale.

 

This one illustrates The Little Mermaid.

 

Nowadays I get the chance to read to three of my six grandchildren every Wednesday morning (grandparenting day, when we do the school run). Their favourites are fairy tales too, though these are versions written for today…so much more palatable, though I’m pleased to say that the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk still bellows about “the blood of an Englishman”, which I recall used to draw hoots from the audience in Swansea’s Grand Theatre during pantomime season!

I haven’t written stories that are not for publication, though my mother is still my first reader. As you are reading this, the woman who first introduced me to the joy of reading will be awaiting my arrival at home, in Wales. The photo shows the last time I held her hand…there’ll be a lot more of this over the coming weeks.

When I'm in Wales, we'll also get the chance to celebrate the fact that my book The Corpse with the Iron Will has been shortlisted for the Crime Writers of Canada's Awards of Excellence Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel set in Canada.

I know that Mothers' Day is on the horizon in North America, but I missed being in Wales with Mum for Mothering Sunday, so we'll make up for that too. If Mum hadn't helped make me a reader, I wouldn't have become a writer...thanks, Mum xx

http://www.cathyace.com/

Here's looking at you, kid... by Cathy Ace

Craft: POV. Do you have tricks for writing multi protagonist stories? Multi POV stories? 

This is an interesting one! I write in different ways across the range of my books, so here goes…

My Cait Morgan Mysteries are all told in the first person, from Cait’s point of view (POV). Why? Well, a couple of reasons. The first novel I ever wrote was the first Cait Morgan Mystery (The Corpse with the Silver Tongue) and it felt completely natural to me to write the entire book from Cait’s POV, because Cait is quite similar to me in many ways, and I felt it was the most direct way to connect the reader to the character who is telling her story. The other reason is a bit more sneaky (contrived?); I wanted to subvert the tradition of all those hard-boiled private eye books being written from the PI’s POV, and use it in what is a series of traditional, golden-age-inspired mysteries. I did diverge from Cait’s POV for a short part of the 8th book in the series (The Corpse with the Ruby Lips), when Cait is (no spoilers) let’s say “indisposed” and therefore unable to tell her side of the story. At that point I used the third person, observational POV, allowing the story to progress for the reader, despite Cait not being capable of being the storyteller. Hopefully, using this first person POV really does make the reader feel as though they are not just beside Cait, but actually inside her head as they read…and letters I get from readers suggest that at least some do. Click here for more information about the Cait Morgan Mysteries

My WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries are written in the third person, but each chapter adopts a different character’s POV. I do my best to use the sort of vocabulary and syntax that character would use in their heads…which is always fun to do. This is a series featuring four professional private eyes, so – again – I wanted to subvert the traditional way that PI books are written by using various POVs. With this style of writing I find it’s important to tell the reader quickly, at the start of each chapter, whose POV they are reading, and – in these books – I did that within the text, rather than in the chapter heading. Click here for link to amazon

In The Wrong Boy I challenged myself to use a specific POV for each chapter. I signaled this by telling the reader in the chapter heading who it was they were “with” at that time, and allowed the story to progress across a range of characters…with only the reader knowing the full story. Why? Well, The Wrong Boy is a tale of psychological suspense, but I’d read a lot of that type of book as part of my preparation and had become rather annoyed by how many “unreliable narrators” were out there. Thus, I used a bit of a sneaky device for telling the story…everyone who tells their story is equally reliable/unreliable as they are all telling the reader their truth – but, as in real life – we all only ever know a part of what’s going on at any given time. I wanted the reader to be the one who pieces everything together right up to the end of the book, where they are the only person with a full knowledge of what’s happened, and why. Apparently, it worked well. Click here for more information about THE WRONG BOY

But back to Cait, and Bud, and their latest trip to the desert…the 12th Cait Morgan Mystery, The Corpse with the Turquoise Toes, was published last week, and it’s already doing very well (thank you to everyone who’s chosen to spend some more time with Cait and Bud!) and the first review is in! 

Crime Fiction Lover says: “In The Corpse with the Turquoise Toes, Ace has crafted another taut puzzle for Cait and Bud to solve. Alongside the murder mystery itself, the highly atmospheric story weaves together contemporary concerns, Native American mythology, international cuisine, thwarted romance and cult-based craziness, leaving the daring detective duo with plenty of avenues to follow in their quest for the truth.” WOOT! Full review here

Do Not Disturb... by Cathy Ace

Reading: Banning books - currently in the news again - is the most extreme way to influence others’ reading habits. On a more positive note: what books do you put in your guest bedroom? Buy as presents? Press into strangers’ hands in bookshops? Leave in little free libraries?

Due to the fact I've just finished redecorating one of our guest bedrooms, I'll focus on that. Why? Well, to be honest, I have absolutely no idea when a real-life "guest" will get to use it - things being what they are, these days - and I'm rather pleased with it, so you can be "my test guest" for now. LOL!

First things first, I'd better warn you that anyone who gets to sleep there had better either a) like the work of Alphonse Mucha, or b) be able to cope with seeing quite a lot of it for the time they're staying, because this is "the Mucha room" (for reasons that are obvious from the photos). 

And I'll also tell you now that painting all the walls, and the ceiling, AND the furniture in a room in a color that's called "champagne" is a bit of a job! Ceilings do NOT like metallic paints, but I had to do something to be able to incorporate that 1990s chandelier! 

But I think it was worth it, and I hope that - one day, when we're able to host again - someone will have the joy of sleeping in a golden room, surrounded by art with a light touch, and a selection of books that I hope they find interesting.

The two bedside tables have space for books, and I've tried to include a selection that might tickle a range of fancies - so to speak!

Duh...of course I've included some of my own: the two Cait Morgan Mysteries set in Canada (where they are staying) and the collections of short stories and novellas (in case they aren't staying for long). 

Other titles about Canada and our part of it are also featured.

For those who sleep on the left side of the bed

For those who sleep on the right side of the bed

I've also included books about Wales/Welsh people, a flurry of crime and non-crime fiction, and some inspiring books too. Go on, you can stretch that screen of yours to read the spines I'm sure!

On a non-bookish note, I am delighted that I finally get a chance to display linens that belonged to, and were worked by, my paternal grandmother: this tablecloth was in use at home in Wales throughout my childhood, so it's lovely to see it doing its job again.

Grandma Ace even did all the lacework around the edge of this runner - she had a great deal more patience than I do.

The room's ready - the books have been arranged...now all we need is a guest or two to make it all feel like home again.

Oh - and just to prove I have been writing, as well as painting - I have a book coming out next month: The Corpse with the Turquoise Toes is the 12th Cait Morgan Mystery, and you can find out all about it here: http://www.cathyace.com/cait-morgan-mysteries

And here's the cover, which I think is LUSH!!! 

Say hello to my little friend... by Cathy Ace

Life: Sitting around all day isn’t good for us – we all know that. Sitting around all day (writing) is what we authors are expected to do. How do you find a healthy balance so that your body is able to sustain the work your mind needs to undertake? And what are you up to in 2022 that this will help you achieve?

I’m pretty positive that I’ve not found a healthy balance at all. Why am I so sure? Well, for Christmas 2020 I was given one of those watches that connects to your phone…and takes over your life. I’ve been wearing it ever since, and I think I’ve given it a bit of a complex. It’s constantly buzzing at me, telling me to get up and stretch – or run ten miles or something…it’s all the same to me – and all I can say is I’m quite proud of myself that I haven’t thrown it out of a window yet (that still might happen).

Say hello to my little friend FYI: I can't swim or ride a bicycle, so...

I do my best to accommodate its demands – but it really, really, REALLY annoys me that it seems to think I’ve been sitting about on my backside all day when I’ve been up and down ladders painting, or cleaning windows, or tending to plants in the garden, for example, just because I wear the watch on my left wrist, but am right handed…so all my vigor doesn’t register (other than by indicating a heart rate that suggests I should lie down with a cup of tea and a biscuit).

Recently, it’s acquired the ability to tell me how “stressed” I am. If I look at the records it keeps, I can see when I was having a tough time coming up with the right words to convey a specific turn of events in my WIP because – so I now know – that’s INCREDIBY stressful. Oh – and my sleep records? Let’s not talk about them – it gets terribly confused that I work until 2am, then, it seems, rerun what I’ve written while I sleep (I have lost any confidence I might have had in whomever comes up with the required amount of “deep sleep” one needs on a nightly basis – if they were right, I’d probably be dead!).

Having shared with you my only “relationship problems”, I’ll now add that I am coming to the end of an “enforced” period of low activity – because my main exercise is working in the garden, and that’s not something that gets much attention through the winter months. However, I’ll be back out there soon pruning, planting, weeding and – eventually – mowing and watering, so that should shut up my little wrist-companion for some months.

According to my watch I'm just sitting around here

And…what have I been doing with all this time on my hands? Decorating the house, and writing. On 7^th April 2022 the 12^th Cait Morgan Mystery will be published: The Corpse with the Turquoise Toes finds Cait and Bud in Arizona, visiting a desert retreat…that turns out to be the headquarters of a cult, with some pretty odd beliefs about sudden deaths. I hope folks will enjoy a spin on the traditional “who-dunit” for what is something of a “how- and why-dunit” – and this time I’ve given Cait a particularly challenging adversary…a charismatic cult leader who’s truly enthralled her followers! It’s a head-to-head in the dangerous Sonoran Desert, folks, and I hope you enjoy it. Later in 2022 there WILL be another Cait Morgan Mystery, but I cannot say too much about it at this time, though it’s all plotted in my head (because that’s what my brain thinks is a good idea, when I am editing another book, of course).

 

If you haven’t joined Cait on all of her first eleven adventures, now’s a good time to catch up – oh, and she’ll be reacquainting herself with a chum from book #2 (The Corpse with the Golden Nose) in book #12…so you could always re-read that one to get back in the mood (that’s the one where each chapter title is what Cait drinks in the chapter – it’s a real drink-along book…LOL!).

This is the book where Cait first met the followers of the Faceting for Life movement

 

I’m off to threaten some hydrangeas with my secateurs now – which my watch will be oblivious to – but at least you know. 😊

Find out all about me (well, within reason) at: http://www.cathyace.com/

Where (or WHEN) are they now? by Cathy Ace

Q: How do you handle the passage of time and the aging of characters in your series?

Oh, this is an interesting one... 

On my wall...

When I wrote THE CORPSE WITH THE SILVER TONGUE, the first Cait Morgan Mystery and my first novel, I set it to take place “now”.

To be precise, the “now” I set it in was 2012, which is when the book was published. That meant I calculated the birth years of my main and subsidiary characters to be the ages I wanted them to be in the book. I always do this, even if a character’s specific age isn’t mentioned, because – as part of my planning process – I like to/need to work out what that character’s childhood would have been like, based upon their place of origin and birth year. As an aside, this also helps me choose the right types of names for my characters, based upon popularity/fashion where and when they were born.

My second book was published a year later, and was set about a year later – so far, so good. No problems. But time began to slip by book 5, and by book 12 (due out in April 2022) well, let’s just say that Cait Morgan and Bud Anderson are now way out of whack with reality (ultimately, they’ve aged about three years over the past ten years)…but I still write the books set “now”.

Why? Well, I had to make a decision: whilst I hoped I’d still be writing about Cait and Bud ten years later, I sort of didn’t really believe I would be, so the question of ageing did occur to me, but I reckoned I could cross that bridge when I came to it. And having come to it, and having had to cross it...I find I don’t really mind that this slippage has occurred, because I know my readers have enough intelligence to cope, and I don’t believe (oh my, I really hope not!!!) that the early books have become anachronistic…so far.

However, mindful of the fact I know people are reading books written a hundred years ago for the first time (welcome to the fold, those discovering Agatha Christie in the 2020’s), and seeing the sales of that first novel of mine are increasing year on year, I know folks can cope really well with ages, ageing, and the shifting sands of time – and all they have to do is check the copyright date to see when each book was written if they question something in “that timeline”. I’ve never wanted to write books set in the past – I have always wanted to, and always shall, write books that are contemporary for their publication date, and I truly believe readers can cope with how that impacts the "age" of the recurring characters.

Has this caused any problems for readers? The only one I’ve spotted is that some readers have referred to how Cait and Bud still act as though they’re on honeymoon “after all these years”. Now, I’m aiming to portray a solid, loving partnership, where each person values and really does adore the other (whilst recognizing each has flaws)…so I do my best to “remind” readers in each book how long they’ve been married. For example: even by book 12 they’ve only been married for a little over two years, which – for Cait, who was in her late-forties when she became a bride for the only time in her life – IS, in fact, still the honeymoon period. (FYI: I married for the only time when I was 44, and our honeymoon period is…well, we’re still in it, as far as I’m concerned, and always will be – lots of lost years to make up for!) 

We met in January 1972, 50 years ago! This is us in 1975.
He proposed in 1976. We married in 2004.
It's a LONG story!!!
 (NB: arms in the air because we're performing on stage in this photo)

If/when I write another WISE Enquiries Agency Mystery I shall jump in right after the ending of the fourth book, however many years have passed in real time by then, and the next psychological suspense book I have planned featuring retired Detective Inspector Evan Glover and his wife Betty will pick up a few months after THE WRONG BOY, even though – again – years will have passed in real time.

I’ve learned to not refer to global occurrences in the "present" of the book, only in backstories (no pandemic being mentioned, anywhere, ever, for example) to allow readers to feel less pulled out of the story and into time-sensitive issues as they are reading, and I hope that helps as the years pass. Fingers crossed, folks will be discovering Cait and Bud in another ten years’ time, when the first book will be twenty years old…and hopefully those new readers won’t mind, as current readers don’t appear to, that the passage of time is treated as a flimsy construct, with which they don’t have to overly concern themselves. I just hope they’re happy to curl up with a puzzling closed-circle whodunnit, trying to sort the clues from the red herrings alongside my protagonists!

If you think now's the time to catch up with Cait and Bud - knowing there's a new book coming very shortly - you can find out all about them at my website: http://www.cathyace.com/ 

COVER REVEAL COMING FEBRUARY 7TH AT DRU ANN'S BOOK MUSINGS https://drusbookmusing.com/

AND VIA MY NEWSLETTER! 

Should I stay...or should I go? by Cathy Ace

Q: When reading a book (or watching a movie or TV series), how long do you give it to grab you before giving up? Is your tolerance level different in the different mediums? Has it changed from where it was ten or even twenty years ago? How much of this tendency has to do with your reader/viewer self and how much is due to the writer self?  Do you wish you were different in this regard, and if so, how?

A: First of all, this is my chance to wish everyone good health and great happiness for 2022…so I send my best wishes to you and yours!

As for the question, it’s an interesting and complex one, and I’ve given it a good, long think…

As many of you who are regular readers will know, I use this blog as something of a confessional, so here’s today’s admission: I make up my mind about most things quite quickly. To be fair to myself, I’ll add that I’ve learned to TRY to be more patient than my instincts might otherwise dictate, so now give things like books, movies, and TV a little more time than I would naturally choose to do before I abandon them.

In all honesty it’s impossible to say how long I give a “thing” before I bail on it…it varies tremendously: I try to give a book long enough that I can come to terms with the rhythm of the author’s writing, and the nature of their voice – if I like those, I’ll keep going, even if the plot/characterization disappoints along the way, or at the end; a movie will keep me watching until I can tell that the plot/look/characterization is letting me down – I have, however, continued to watch an entire movie in which neither the plot nor the characterizations appeal to me simply because I enjoy the way it looks; for TV, if it’s a series I’ll give it maybe one and a half episodes, if it’s a mini-series maybe one episode, if it’s a one-off maybe a third of its running time.

Yes, this has changed since I started writing, because I get cross more quickly when the plot has gaping holes, or if the characters just aren’t up to snuff. My first book came out just a little less than ten years ago, so I can’t say if my increased impatience is to do with the passing of time or an insider’s view of constructing a story, but it’s probably a mixture of the two. I find that, for books, I use the Look Inside opportunity offered by Amazon, because I can usually tell by reading a sample if I want to spend a) my money and b) my time on the book in question…so that’s helpful. As for movies and TV, I don’t find trailers as useful, because sometimes they are so well edited that I think it’s going to make for good viewing, but it turns out that ALL the best bits were in the trailer, or that there’s a tension suggested there that isn’t conveyed by the actual movie/series, so I give it some time, then bail, or stick with it.

Look Inside THE CORPSE WITH THE GRANITE HEART

Do I wish I were different in this regard? Well, not really – I have so many other faults that I would attend to them first! But I do acknowledge that the mood I’m in when I “sample” something, or begin to read/watch impacts my level of like/dislike, so I’ve found that I return to books/movies/TV at different times and feel differently about them, which might also be a reflection of my age…I’ve always believed in second chances, and am living proof they can work out well, so – because I have benefitted so much from a second chance being given – I endeavor to do the same.

Have you tried one of my books from one of my series and it didn't appeal? Sorry about that - but let's just admit that not everything is everyone's cup of tea; it's true that you cannot please all of the people all of the time. But...if you'd like to give my work a second chance, you can find out all about it at my website: http://www.cathyace.com/

Come Into My Garden... by Cathy Ace

QUESTION: Do you have hobbies outside of your writing life? Tell about them. Do they feed your writing life? Do they get your mind off your current projects and their attendant frustrations? Do they satisfy a different part of you than is satisfied by your writing?

Hello, my name’s Cathy, and I’m a gardener. I am also alarmingly fallible...so if this post looks a tad familiar it might be because you received it yesterday, tacked onto the end of Frank's lovely piece. That would be because I scheduled it to post on the wrong date. My apologies to Frank. If you saw this post yesterday...off you go to get on with your day - you're excused. However, if you ignored/didn't see it...here it is! Not exactly my finest ta-daa! moment, but...

Ask anyone who says they’re a gardener if they're ever satisfied with their gardening efforts and their answer will probably be, “No”. There’s always something more to do, something you want to make better, or different, or there’s a plant you wish you hadn’t planted where you did…or, you know, weeds.

Part of the back garden

At this time, I’m a gardener who’s also facing a particular challenge – drought. In our normally damp, and therefore verdant, Pacific Northwest we’ve experienced a terribly dry spring, followed by a phenomenal heat bubble during our usually-wet June, and now a completely dry July. I know we’re incredibly fortunate to not be facing the absolute disaster of wildfires being so close that we’ve had to evacuate, or – much worse – face the loss of absolutely everything, but drought is my challenge right now, so my “gardening” has dwindled to watering, doing my best to rescue plants not able to take 43 degrees of heat in the shade, let alone direct sunlight which isn’t filtered by our “usual” cloud-cover.

Scorched hosta, poor thing

Of course, our well has run dry (it does every year, but usually not until July, however, it was dry early in June this year) so we’re having water trucked in to fill our water tanks aboveground which we then use to feed our well, from where the water comes to the house in the usual manner via filters which remove particulates and a UV filter which further purifies the water, ready for drinking.

The water truck arriving-  YAY!!!

So, my “hobby” this year is my everyday reality, with – to be honest – more stress than pleasure involved. We’re also deciding which shrubs to move in case this weather becomes a more frequent occurrence, as well as deciding which trees to plant to at least offer more shade in the future for shrubs which are currently scorched…all of which means that my hobby isn’t merely a restful distraction from my normal writing routine, but – at the moment – it’s not allowing me to do as much writing as I would like.

Some areas are doing not too badly at all

Normally, I enjoy plotting as I weed or mow; nowadays, I find there’s still a space in my brain for plotting as I water parched plants I’ve tended and loved for the past twenty years, but the space isn’t as large as I’d like, nor is it a particularly happy place.

The bees are grateful we're keeping the buddleia healthy

This has had a surprising impact: I was plotting a book set in Arizona for Cait Morgan’s eleventh outing (to be published in November 2021) but I’ve found that my continuously sweaty reality has made Arizona a less appealing location…so I’ve switched things up to send Cait and Bud to London, UK, next, where they can enjoy a dusting of snow on the Christmas decorations, and indulge in visits to galleries and museums – as well as tackling a particularly puzzling murder, of course!

The humming birds are grateful we're keeping the crocosmia healthy

Re-reading this post I can see I have a hobby that, ultimately, I love but which never allows me to feel total contentment with what I’ve achieved, as well as a writing career about which I feel exactly the same. That probably says a great deal about my personality…I’ll let you decide what that is!

If you'd like to be FIRST to see the cover reveal for the next Cait Morgan Mystery, sign up for my newsletter...on the Homepage of my website: http://www.cathyace.com/

Also, if you'd like to find out more about the area where I really live, you can see how it inspired my writing in THE CORPSE WITH THE IRON WILL, the 10th Cait Morgan Mystery: http://www.cathyace.com/cait-morgan-mysteries

Big Question = Big Girl Panties... by Cathy Ace

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: I recently heard a comment that the big publishers are trying to hold onto an old model of publishing that doesn’t work so well anymore. Is this true? Why doesn’t it work, and how could the model be changed?

Yikes! Pulls up Big Girl Panties to try to give a serious response…

The “old” model of publishing boils down to this: writer – agent – publisher – bookseller/library. The writer puts in the months of sweat and tears to create a manuscript; the agent punts that about amongst potential purchasers (traditional publishers); the publisher invests in editing/polishing the manuscript, cover art, printing books, warehousing books, distributing books, promoting books; the bookseller invests in a shop where readers come to buy the book.

Please choose MY books!!!

This model has been disrupted in several ways. The most obvious way would be the arrival of e-books (negating the requirement for print, physical distribution, bricks-and-mortar stores). Another disruptor was the advent of technology that allowed for books to be printed on demand (ie a few at a time, rather than by the thousand) thus allowing for individual/small order to be placed by authors, Indie publishers, individuals (readers) using an online storefront, or even traditional bookstores. Also, the rise of social media means that we’re well past the days when a publisher could simply advertise a new book via “traditional” media, because readers increasingly find out about what they want to read via media they self-select (usually online sources).

These disrupting factors have given rise to a wide range of ways for readers to get the books they want to read, and for writers to publish the books they write. Nowadays, every single stage of the write, edit, polish, cover art, e-book production, print-production, promotion, and even physical distribution of a book is available either for the writer to do it themselves – by purchasing each service individually from different suppliers, or for the writer to use one of the many companies which offer all those services for a fee, or to try to attract an agent, who will try to sell the book to a traditional publisher; the writer must choose.

The traditional publishing model has been around for a long, long time. These days the “BIG PUBLISHERS” seem to be consolidating into one amorphous mass, with a nod to various imprints along the way; to be perfectly honest, I no longer know which company owns which imprints…but that’s a moot point anyway, as far as I am concerned, as I have walked away from the only two publishers I ever had to become an Indie Author.

Actually, I’m what’s called a Hybrid Author, to be exact, since the rights to publish the print version of one series is still held by a traditional publishing company, and my other series has rights still owned by a publishing house which was itself taken over, then sold the e-rights to another publishing house. Arrrggghhh...yes, it’s complicated, which might be why so many authors these days are finding their feet as Indie Authors, like me.

My experience with publishers/agents has been “not necessarily roses all the way”, but my experiences are just that – mine, so I don’t want to generalize, because that’s not useful, or fair. One thing I feel I CAN say, however, is this: every single person I have encountered working in publishing has been a dedicated professional – the business attracts people who love books, so they’ve got that going for them to start with! No, my disenchantment with the business of publishing isn’t because of the people, but because of the way of working. Every author who’s been published by a traditional house understands what I mean when I say we all have to “hurry up, and wait”: you spend months getting to the point where a manuscript is the best you can make it by your deadline date, you send it off…then wait for months before you get feedback, which you are given nanoseconds to turn around, then you wait months for more feedback, which you are given nanoseconds to turn around…and so it goes on. A writer may or may not have input about their cover art and the back-cover blurb about the book; they certainly have no input in terms of distribution; most of the promotional effort is their own, due to tiny promotional budgets for all but traditional publishers’ biggest-selling star authors and small promotional staffing levels.

Designing & creating my own covers these days...

No, I’m not going to turn this post into a whinge-fest, but I will tell you that I became completely exasperated so decided to go it alone. I don’t use a company offering a full range of publishing services because I can’t afford them. I pay an editor with whom I have a good understanding/relationship, and do the same for copy-editing; I design and create my own cover art using Canva; I publish e-books directly through amazon for Kindle, directly through Kobo for Kobo readers, and also use them for getting e-books to libraries via Overdrive – I format them all myself; I format and publish print books directly through amazon which are printed to order when a reader wants to buy them from there; I format and publish print books via Ingram to gain access to the online ordering systems in pretty much every bookstore and library around the world…they order the books they want when they want them and they are printed on demand by Ingram and shipped directly to them (so there’s no huge print-run costs upfront for me, nor any warehousing costs). The promotional effort is all my own.

How different is this than the “old way” I was published by the two traditional publishing houses I had contracts with? Not much. The editing is done at the same level (I know this because I met the editor I use now when she worked exclusively for one of my publishers…she’s now a freelance); both of my original publishers, like me, use Ingram to provide print-on-demand around the world, in order to mitigate their own upfront print-run costs and warehousing needs; neither publisher spent great gobs of money promoting my work (one of them allocated a $75 allowance for each of my book launches, that was about it). The one thing that’s tougher now? Getting traditional media (ie newspapers and magazines) to review my work, because they tend to not review Indie authors’ books. That said, my recent launch of the tenth Cait Morgan Mystery, The Corpse with the Iron Will, has been my most successful Indie-launch to date, and the income from book sales is in my bank account already – as opposed to my receiving a much smaller percentage of the cover price in about six months’ time.

So the “old model” is, in fact, changing (print on demand, online sales) about as much as I think it will. The lists of “bestselling books” are still there, but they’ve always been out of reach for most authors in any case, even if they are published by traditional publishing houses, unless they are the recipients of the huge investment each house chooses to make in a few, select names (a huge advance means a huge promotional budget, in the hopes sales will recoup the investment by the publisher).

I don’t know what else will change, but I just hope readers keep looking for, finding, and reading books they enjoy. While I am now hands-on with every stage in the publishing process, my desire is to write books people read…and I just hope I can keep a balance between the writing and the business to be able to continue to do that.

So, no real answer…but the best response I can muster.

You can find out all about my books here: http://www.cathyace.com/