It's alive! by Cathy Ace

Life: Do you ever base characters on real people? (Famous, or people you know in your real life.) And, if so, how do you deal with that?

The short answer to this is no, so…if I know you, or even if you’re wildly famous, you won’t find yourself in one of my books.

With my chum Annie - part of Annie Parker

That said, I often use a mash-up of the physical, social, and psychological attributes of several people I know/have met to create a single character. So…if we’ve ever met, there might be a little of you in one of my characters.

When it comes to creating characters, I try to make them as real as possible. That doesn’t mean they’ll all be likeable, or pleasant, because my main aim is to make them relatable. However, they also have to be created to allow my storytelling to work, which means that – beyond being merely fictional, and relatable – they also have to work in the reader’s mind on many levels, in that they don’t just “exist” in my work as a mere character to fill out the pages; they have a role to perform, too. 

With my chum Eustelle - part of Annie Parker

Possibly the best example I can give of this is to talk about one of my characters – Annie Parker, in The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries. She’s a character made up of several parts: Annie, my friend of about 30 years; Eustelle, my friend of about 30 years; the character created by that mash-up, and the way that “person” acts within my fictional world of the Welsh village of Anwen-by-Wye. 

The real Annie gives the fictional Annie her warm-heartedness, her clumsiness, her specific professional background, and a fair bit of her attitude toward life. The real Eustelle (I used the name Eustelle for the character of Annie’s mother in the books) gives the fictional character Annie her physical being, her warm-heartedness, a fair bit of her attitude toward life, part of her family background, and part of her professional background. That mash-up then exists and acts in a certain way in my fictional world because she has “become” that fictional character. I can visualise, and know how my fictional Annie would act in any situation, just as I can visualise and understand the same about the two real people who have contributed to her existence. However, there are a great number of aspects of the real Annie and Eustelle that I have not gifted to the character of Annie, because I there’s no way a fictional character can be as fully formed as a whole, real person…the detail would drive a reader nuts – even if it’s dribbled out over multiple books – and isn’t usually necessary for a story to work. Both real people know about their fictional alter-ego, and have “approved” her! Phew!

You can meet Annie Parker in this series

I have also crafted characters from parts of many different people I know…stitching together bits from lots of folks into one whole person. So, yes, Dr. Frankenstein had a good idea, in some ways, though hopefully most of my characters fare rather better than his creation.  

If you'd like to meet more of my characters, you can find them by CLICKING HERE.

Based On a Real Person?

Life: Do you ever base characters on real people? Famous or people you know in your real life. And, if so, how do you deal with that?

From Frank

Not often, but yes. Not as often as people think, but I do.

The biggest example applies to the character of Thomas Chisolm. Chisolm isn't the main character in River City (that position belongs to Katie MacLeod, who is first among equals), but he is a main character, for sure. When I wrote my first novel, Under a Raging Moon, I based the Chisolm character very closely on a real life cop I knew and admired. Chisolm was an idealized and slightly fictionalized version of the man, but anyone who knew the real guy and read my book would immediately see it, without a doubt.

Of course, as soon as I put proverbial pen to paper, Tom Chisolm diverged from his real-life counterpart. I didn't include any real events anyway, so all that was "the same" was the character himself. He has his own journey and isn't a carbon copy. But he is definitely based on a real cop named Tom. They have a similar history, similar features, and the same sense of humor.

I actually wrote the book and had started negotiating with a small publisher before I realized that I should probably talk to Chisolm's inspiration. I mean...duh, right?

So I went and talked to the real Tom about the fictional Tom. Thankfully, the real guy was flattered, and thought it was pretty cool. He understood it wasn't a one-for-one translation, so there weren't any "I wouldn't do that" moments when he read the books. He totally got that Chisolm was his own person. But he was very gracious about being the basis for the character, and he followed the series, as well as the spin-off novella, Chisolm's Debt. For that book, he allowed me to use an actual photograph of him as part of the cover. I'd always thought that particualr photo resonated well with the Chisolm character at that stage of his life. In addition to his likeness, his wife, Pam, even wired me into a book club at a retirement community where his mother lived. I did at least three appearances there as each new book came out.

Several of the times I saw Tom after I retired, we went to dinner with our wives to celebrate book releases. I remember one instance in particular, in which he chose the restaurant because "it seems like a place Thomas Chisolm would go to eat."

A few other real people have made their way into River City, mostly as homages. Maria, the records clerk, and Janice, the dispatcher, both have their real life counterparts. As in the books, both women were highly competent at their job and very cool people.

There are other, smaller examples. For instance, I used the last name of one of my favorite college professors as one one of the teacher in my most recent installment of the series. But these are true homages, as the character is extremely minor and not based on the person. It's just a name drop.

However, I will freely admit to stealing character traits, both physical and behavioral, from real people and using them for River City characters. Doesn't every writer do that, though? It's just more noticeable if you worked at a place and write about the same place (albeit a fictional version). People make the connection more easily, if not always accurately. Sometimes folks I worked with will see something in one of the books and say, "Oh, that's so-and-so, right?" Usually, the answer is no. We all have different experiences with different people and that impacts our perception of those people. So the guesses are usually off.

But not always. Just don't ask me to confirm which are on the nose...

It's interesting, though. I can't tell you how many different women from my old agency have been guessed at for being the basis for Officer Katie MacLeod. At times, it's been officers who I do believe provided some small element in my mind for who Katie has become as the series has progressed. Maybe a trait in that real officer, or something she said. Maybe it was how she helped me understand the ways a woman might experience a career in law enforcement differently, or the ways in which it is exactly the same as her male counterparts. Other times, the guess is about an officer I barely knew, or who came on the job long after Katie's journey had significant miles to it. But the fact that so many different women have been guessed at as the inspiration for this core character is, I hope, a testament to her "real-ness."

Outside of River City, the trend is pretty similar. In the Charlie-316 series, Colin Conway and I took the same approach of using behaviors, traits, actions, etc. of some real people to create our fictional ones. So is there a real-life equivalent of Chief Robert Baumgartner? Nope. But are there pieces of what we saw in some real chiefs? Yep, a few. And then a whole lot of stuff we made up. Same with all of the other characters.

There are a couple of exceptions. In our series, there's a Liberty Lake police officer named Jerry Anderson. He's only in a couple of scenes over four books, but he's loosely based on a real Spokane officer of the same name. Helluva nice guy, and a great cop.

In Charlie-316, we paid homage to another helluva nice guy (and a great detective) named Marty Hill. He only had one scene, just like Jerry, though his scene took place over two separate chapters (so you lawyers out there, go ahead and argue that it is two scenes).

In both instances, we asked the sources if it was okay, just like I did with Tom, years ago.

At the time, Colin and I thought this was a stand alone book, so there wasn't any thought to the future of any of the characters. Then we realized we were going to follow this story a little further (three more books, to be exact). And the way the story went, the Marty Hill character ended up getting more and more page time, especially in books 3 and 4.

Of course, much like the Chisolm character, "our" Hill became his own character by this point, having diverged from his inspiration. But...I'm betting Marty will recognize himself. Or better stated, he'll recognize parts of himself in that character.

There's one key thing I haven't yet pointed out explicitly but which is very important. In each of the above-mentioned instances, the depiction of the character who is based on a real life person is completely positive. Thomas Chisolm is revered in River City. And though he has some rough edges, he is ultimately a hero. Maria, Janice, Jerry, all of the cameo/homage characters? They are all shown to be nice people and good at their jobs.

And Marty? He's depicted as a genuinely good guy with a sense of humor, a strong work ethic, who is also a talented detective. Hard to take issue with being portrayed in that fashion, isn't it?

All of these "based on a real person" instances, regardless of how prominent the role the character plays, is a case of a positive depiction.

I mean, I'd never take a real person and then portray them in a bad light. For example, there's no real life basis for the weaselly Internal Affairs Lieutenant Alan Hart. I just wouldn't do that.

Or would I?

The funny thing is, the true answer is no. But it's also yes. Do I have a picture of a particular person in my head when I write that character? Yes. Did I steal a trait or two from that person and give them to Hart? Yes. Is Hart therefore based on him/her? No. Because in creating Hart, I also stole other observed traits and behaviors from a dozen other people and then made some up, too.

Do some people correctly guess the face I see when I write Hart? Rarely, but it happens. That's when my poker face comes into play.

See, no matter how much a River City character (or a Charlie-316 character, at this point) may have has some loose basis in a real person, once I write a book with that character, s/he is his/her own person. And I've lived with some of these characters for close to twenty years, so at times it almost feels more to me like the real person was based on the character I created instead of the other way around.

Yeah, maybe it's time to call the people with the snug white coats with wraparound sleeves to come get me.

__________________________________________________

Speaking the Charlie-316 series, the second book in that series, Never the Crime, will be out in less than a week. You can still pre-order your copy before launch day.

There's no Jerry in this book, and I don't think there's any Marty either, other than a few throwaway references. But when Badge Heavy comes out in September and Code Four wraps up the arc in November, the based-on-a-real-cop Hill character will get some play.

But just remember, it's not really him.

And stop asking who Wardell Clint is based on. We're not telling.

Stealing Characters

Q: Do you ever base characters on real people? Famous or people you know in your real life. And, if so, how do you deal with that?

-from Susan

I think I’ve talked about this before. Yes, I have. In each of the Dani O’Rourke novels, there is at least one primary or secondary character who is drawn fairly from someone I know. In the first book, MURDER IN THE ABSTRACT, the villain was based on a real artist who tried to make my S.O.’s life difficult with his temper and baseless if trivial accusations. It was one day when Tim came home truly annoyed that I got the inspiration and said, “Honey, I’ll kill him. In my book.” In my fiction, the man’s transgressions were more serious and were aimed at different people, but the character hewed closely to the real guy. The man didn’t know, but an artist friend of Tim’s who knew them both guessed and begged me to tell her if she was right. I didn’t. 

In THE KING’S JAR, there were quite a few characters drawn from my work with a scientific research organization. I moved the science from one discipline to another but had a great time skewering a bunch of very unpleasant, dishonest people, and gently ribbing a couple of my friends, one of whom is famous. Who knew? Well, he did and thought it was great fun, but I am positive none of the bad folks would have deigned to read it. Some close friends and associates figured it out and were delighted, and I never got sued, so I guess that was okay!

Smaller appropriations of character in MIXED UP WITH MURDER, which was set on a college campus. But I have had to deal with many puffed up deans, so even though only one on the book was anywhere close to a real person, it was fun. And the villain was drawn from a real man who has been called “a snake” in a major newspaper profile. I knew him somewhat and I can tell you what a pleasure it was to cast him a new snakeskin.

Not all of my character-stealing is negative. The wife-husband duo in the French series, LOVE & DEATH IN BURGUNDY, and DRESSED FOR DEATH IN BURGUNDYare openly and admiringly based on a real couple, to whom the first book is dedicated. I’ve talked a lot about their adventures in a small town in France, where I visited them many times. I showed them the first draft of the first book and they were flattered and delighted, even though I had fictionalized them. David said he was so happy I gave him blonde hair again, since his had turned gray! 

I obviously get inspiration and ideas from real life and real people. The important thing is to start with something but transform it enough to serve my purposes and to avoid litigation! I don’t do what some authors do, which is to introduce a famous person like Winston Churchhill, which several writers have done, then put my words into his mouth. That for me is pushing a bit far. And a live famous person, say, Beyonce? Um, no. Living people speak for themselves, are actually living their lives. 

Why I want to talk to white people about race

By Abir

I'm going to ask for your indulgence. I want to skip this week's topic and talk about race. 

The last few weeks have been tumultuous. Since the murder of George Floyd by policemen in Minnesota, much of the world seems to finally be waking up to the endemic, systemic, and enduring, a racism, both overt and covert, macro and micro, that black and ethnic minority people face on a day to day basis.

 

The first thing I have to say is that writing this makes me extremely nervous. I’m still learning about race and privilege and nothing I write about my experience of racism should be taken as definitive or representative, because it is neither of those things. My views are based on my experience and nothing else. You may disagree with what I have to say, yet I need to speak out, because if not now, then when?

 

Racism is not a ‘one size fits all model’. It’s predicated on so many factors - gender, class, ethnicity, history, geography, to name a few – and while all ethnic minorities suffer racism in some shape or form, I think it’s important to understand that not all have their lives and life-chances blighted to the same degree.

 

My experience has been mild and I’m ashamed to say, it has on occasion coloured my thinking. In the past I was, to some degree, unaware of my own privilege which inoculated me against the very worst of racism and also blinkered me to the struggles of others. 

 

I consider myself fortunate. I am a straight male, born of middle class, educated immigrant parents, who gave me a good education and raised me in a tolerant (though far from perfect) country. They admired British society. Britain gave my parents opportunities that they would never have had in India, but they were always painfully aware of the terms on which they came, and that their lives here constituted more forbearance than acceptance by most white British people. My father would tell me stories of the signs outside boarding houses in the sixties which read: “ROOM FOR RENT: NO BLACKS, NO PAKIS”. He remembered the anti-immigrant speeches by mainstream politicians, and the marches by the fascists of the National Front, and the racist articles and cartoons in the daily newspapers.

 

And my parents were the lucky ones. They and their ilk came not with money but with qualifications and over time, that allowed them to carve out a place for themselves in British society. They passed on the advantages they’d struggled for to their kids. They gave us the tools to survive in a white dominated world and the education that would open many, but by no means all, of its doors. 

 

While I didn’t take that for granted, it blinded me both to the difficulties faced by those who hadn’t had the benefits my parents gave me, and also to much of the prejudice that is still out there. So much so, that it took a long time for me to realise just how much the deck is stacked against non-whites, and particularly against black people.

 

A tale of two industries

 

To an extent, the career choices I made (or maybe had made for me) also contributed to my attitude. I spent the first twenty years of my adult life working in finance, in the City of London. Like Wall Street, it’s a bastion of capitalism, encompassing all manner of greed and amorality, and with more than its fair share of sociopaths in positions of power. But here’s the rub. Despite all that, I never encountered much in the way of racial prejudice or felt that my career was held back by racism. On the contrary, I feel I was sometimes over-promoted. In some senses the finance sector is a meritocracy, employing people, regardless of skin colour, who can make the biggest profits for a company. In the past, because white men had a monopoly on higher education, the City was almost totally white and totally male, but from the late eighties it started to become a lot more egalitarian. It’s still by no means perfect (you still need to be able to access good higher education to get a foot in the door, and it still has myriad problems) but it is, in my experience, far more open and less racially prejudiced than the other major industry I’ve been involved with - publishing.

 

At first that seems ridiculous. In my experience, publishing is populated by good, liberal, progressive people, and I’m fairly certain it employs fewer sociopaths, but when it comes to equal opportunities and a level playing field, I’ve found it to be ten to twenty years behind what I was used to in the city. There’s a lot of handwringing of course. A lot of good people wanting things to change, but that change never quite seems to materialise in a meaningful way. 

 

So why is it that an industry which thinks of itself as forward-thinking, and which is populated by open-minded and well-meaning people, when it comes down to it, is still so mired in unthinking prejudice and practices which are far less tolerated in other industries?

 

I think it’s possibly because those in the publishing industry see themselves as liberals and ‘allies of minority groups’ that they are blinded to their own prejudices and shortcomings. It’s much easier to point the finger at the overt racism of others than it is to notice the quiet structural racism hard-wired into our societies. The ivory towers from which liberals pontificate about equality are so often inaccessible to those whom they claim as equal, and it’s only when that comfortable world is challenged, when rocks are thrown into those calm reflecting pools, that we see the truth and it makes us uncomfortable.

 

These last few weeks, there’s been an outpouring of angst on Twitter from agents and publishers and booksellers about representation and privilege. Maybe it’s a real ‘come to Jesus’ moment for the industry, but I doubt it. My first reaction was one of anger. It all felt rather patronising and self-serving. All these people now looking to ‘represent un-heard voices’ – where were you last month, or last year? 

 

I hope I’m wrong. I hope there will be real change, but you’ll forgive me for being sceptical. Publishing’s reaction to blacks and ethnic minorities is a bit like Americans’ reactions to mass shootings. When something happens, there’s a great commotion, a lot of thoughts and prayers and a desire to change, and then three weeks later, everyone just goes back to business as usual.

For the record, let me just say that some of the kindest and most wonderful people I have met have been in publishing who are trying to change things for the better. None of this is a reflection or criticism of those people. It's simply a reflection on the state of the industry as a whole.

 

I realise that none of the above is particularly helpful. So let me try and be constructive. I think we all understand overt racism, the macro stuff. It’s the covert, micro things that are harder to pin down. Prejudice is so often unthinking, especially when the individuals don’t consider themselves racist, they can fail to notice their own behaviour.

 

Polite, passive racism is hard-wired into our society, so much so, that we don’t always notice it. And when people try to improve things, level the playing field by hiring more people of colour, or providing scholarships to universities for minorities, many white people who’ve taken their privilege for granted, see it as a threat. I’ve been involved with an initiative run by Penguin Random House to help more writers from BAME backgrounds get published. When it was announced, the a pretty famous author complained it would lead to a dumbing down of standards. As though everything that is currently published is Nobel Prize winning standard. Is Fifty Shades of Grey written to the same literary standard as a Booker Prize winner? The great breadth and depth of what is published is huge and it’s disingenuous to claim otherwise. But I think arguments like that, essentially racism disguised as defending meritocracy, are accepted all too willingly by sections of white society because they feed into certain tropes about feckless minorities looking for handouts. It is the belief that things are equal when they’re not, that is so pernicious.

 

You might ask what impact such covert racism actually has, and it’s a good question, especially when compared to the casual brutality of overt racism that can lead to a Black or an Asian man being gunned down by an officer of the law on the most spurious of grounds. I can only say that I fear one feeds into and reinforces the other.

 

How has racism affected me?

 

I asked myself this question, and it’s a difficult one to answer honestly. I look at the list below and part of me thinks it’s trivial when compared to what others suffer, but at the same time, part of me is angry that I should have to suffer at all compared to my white peers. It’s not an exhaustive list and it’s not about eliciting any sort of response. I’m merely laying it out in the hope that it might help.

 

 

-       It is about being singled out for being different.

-       It is the mantra inculcated by parents that you need to work twice as hard to get half as far as a white person – and my accepting and internalising that as an unalterable fact of life.

-       It’s knowing that your experience doesn’t count – that your history is whitewashed.

-       It’s not seeing people who look like you on TV, other than as shopkeepers or terrorists.

-       It’s sitting in history class while Winston Churchill is eulogised and knowing that he was responsible for the deaths of three million of your parents’ people.

-       It’s the hushed tones and off colour jokes at work that can’t be complained about.

-       It’s the assumption that because I’m brown, that I must be muslim or have some insight into islam.

-       It’s the mispronunciation of my name on a regular basis.

-       It’s the mis-spelling of my name – not once but twice after it’s pointed out.

-       It’s mistaking me for another brown writer, not once or twice or three times, but on more occasions than I can recall.

-       It’s having to take all of that in good humour because to do otherwise would be to rock the boat.

-       It’s being the token minority speaker at a whole weekend of events.

-       It’s being on a panel with other BAME writers to talk about ‘diversity’ when there are no other non-white people on any other panels at a whole festival.

-       It’s watching other writers get angry over a list of 100 writers in a newspaper article about the fact that only a quarter were women, while completely ignoring the fact that the number of non-whites on the list (male and female) was three.

-       It’s having to question every time I see my name on a literary award shortlist or longlist as to whether it’s there on merit or as a token. 

-       It’s about the above and knowing that even if it is on merit, there will be people who will question that.

-       It’s the ‘random’ security checks at airports.

-       It’s about people asking me where I’m ‘really’ from.

-       It’s having to hear – ‘if you don’t like it, go live somewhere else’. You might as well say   ‘Go back to your own country’ – But this is my country – as much as anyone else’s. I was born here. I was raised here.

 

And yet, as I say, I’m one of the lucky ones. I was given the start and the tools to play the game with only one hand tied behind my back. For most black and ethnic minority people the deck is stacked far more heavily. 

 

I feel I’m not explaining any of this well. The truth is, it’s exhausting - the emotional strain of discussing race; of highlighting inequalities which should have been put to bed decades ago; of going over the same ground again and again and lacking the articulacy to do so properly. 

 

I don’t have an ending for this. No words to wrap it up into a neat package, and that’s probably fitting, because the problem hasn’t gone away. I’ll end by saying that no one is asking for charity or an advantage, just a level playing field and that you open your eyes to the real situation. All that's being asked is for blacks and ethnic minorities to be afforded the same chances in all fields as white people, and more importantly, the same respect as human beings. It pains me that we should even need to ask for that.

One Foot in front of the Other for Eighty-seven Days from James W. Ziskin

With thousands of new titles being published every day, what do you do to try to raise your new book above the fray and catch the eye of readers?  We may have had a similar question before but things change so fast these days that what worked yesterday may not work today. So any new thoughts on this?

This week’s question is a simple one. Simple because I’ve accepted that there’s not much more I can do to promote my books. Not without making friends and strangers sick of hearing about my books. So I carry on with a two-pronged strategy: 1. Share news of my writing periodically on social media and 2. Write the best books and stories I can.

With that answer out of the way, I’m going off script this week to talk about writing. I’m hoping that’s something people who read this blog are interested in. Specifically, I want to write about getting the words down on the page. The first draft. Let’s leave revision and craft for another day.

Stephen King said that it should take no more than three months to write a first draft. That’s one season of the year. Ninety days, give or take. While I’ve always aspired to achieve that goal, I’ve never quite managed it.

But I’ve been in lockdown at home for the past three months. More than ninety days now. I’ve gone out for walks and a few trips to the grocery store and pharmacy, but that’s about it. About twenty days into my self-quarantine, I realized I wasn’t making any progress on my new book. I won’t say it was a revelation. More of a growing awareness that finally became impossible to ignore. And I decided to get moving or risk wasting the one good thing the lockdown provided: time. There was nothing else pressing for me to do, aside from some household chores, cooking, laundry. Things like that. I didn’t even need to go out to shop. Everything was delivered to our door, so I had no excuses to avoid writing. 

My new novel, code name “The Monsoon Project,” is set in 1975 India, during the Emergency. Danny Jacobs, a young American journalist, arrives in Bombay for a new assignment and gets caught up in the chaos of the Emergency. His enigmatic expat neighbor, Willy Smets, is helpful and friendly. But Danny is smitten by Smets’s enchanting and clever Indian lover, Sushmita.

So, as I began the book in early March, I set up my usual spreadsheet to track my progress. I’ve found that the spreadsheet is the best tool to shame me into writing more, into meeting daily goals, into putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward day by day to finish a novel. And here it is.

It works like this. I monitor my progress and shame myself into doing more. In March, I got off to a good start on day one and two. But then things went south. Look at all those zeroes in the Words column. Don’t forget that I was in lockdown from March 13. No excuse for this. My lethargic effort hit rock bottom when my daily word average dropped to 172 words per day. My spreadsheet told me I had to make a change.

But change can come slowly. I managed to lift my daily average word count, but soon fell back into the bad habits as April began. By April 4th, I was one word ahead of the lowest point in my production. 

April turned out to be a very good month. Only one day without any writing. Again, the spreadsheet compelled me to write. Slowly, my daily production improved, and that improvement spurred me on to write more. Soon, I was writing more than a thousand words a day, then two thousand. My daily average rose from the low point of 172 words per day to 660. I managed 30,516 words in thirty days in April. Better, but not good enough for someone with nothing but time on his hands.

Then came May. I wanted to have the first draft done by June 1st, and a thousand or two words per day wasn’t going to get me there. Watching the numbers on my spreadsheet, I willed myself to do better.

Two thousand words per day became the norm. Then 3,000 or more. A bad day was 1,500. My daily average soared. Suddenly, thanks to my spreadsheet and the growing numbers I entered there, I was inspired to write more, even when I was tired and ready to turn in. I reached 4,145 words on May 16th. More than 3,600 the next day. The words started piling up and the end of the first draft was in sight.

I missed my self-imposed deadline of June 1st, but only by three days. In May, I wrote 73,572 words. That’s enough for a novel. Maybe not this one, but 73K is a lot of words. By the time June arrived, I’d improved my daily word count average from a low of 172 words per day to 1,300. Then in June, I added another thirty-one words per day and finished on a high.

There’s plenty of work left to do on this book. I typically revise eight to ten times before it’s ready. But you can’t revise what you haven’t written. So the first draft is a major achievement in the life of a book.

And, for me at least, writer’s block doesn’t exist. I know when I’m not writing, it’s out of laziness. It’s because the prospect of 400 plus blank pages is daunting. It’s hard work and, like Dorothy Parker, I love having written but writing itself? Not so much. Writing a book in ninety days is tough, but not impossible. I just did it. The key is to put words on the page. Day after day. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. And, I’ve found, tracking every word every day is one of the best ways to push yourself to fill the pages. When you’re done, you can bask in the glow of having written. It’s a nice glow.

Try tracking your progress. If it doesn’t work, take it up with Stephen King.

No regrets

With thousands of new titles being published every day, what do you do to try to raise your new book above the fray and catch the eye of readers?

by Dietrich

Well, aside from coming up with a catchy title, an eye-catching cover and making the best use of the marketing avenues available to authors – minus the limitations brought on by the recent lockdown that all of us have had to deal with, cancelations to reading events and seminars, conventions, and so on – the best thing I can do is to focus on my work in progress and make it the best book I can. Of course, that part comes long before I’m thinking of catching the eye of the reader.

I listen to the marketing and publicity people at my publishing house; they know their stuff. And as far as publicity for the title I’ve got coming up in the fall, we’ll be discussing that soon, and it may mean that more of the promotion will have to be done across the internet. As well as physical book tours and events, I have been doing blog tours and podcasts for the past few years, so I’m okay with that. They’re fun, easy and have been quite effective.

But back to making it the best book I can. Getting into that head space every day and moving the book forward is always key. I try to keep a level of energy going through the various stages of writing. Adding new ideas and building characters, considering what to take out and what to keep in, in general moving it forward. And having fun and being creative with it. Finding that flow. 

There are books I’ve read over the years that have inspired my own writing. And many of those just seem to deserve a spot at the top of any book lover’s list. Timeless classics like To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, Catch 22, and A Clockwork Orange, and so many more of that caliber. 

And being in this lockdown mode, I’ve been reading more lately, and finding some really good books across various genres. And I’ve found plenty of inspiration in them. Here are some I’d like to pass on and highly recommend: Waging Heavy Peace by Neil Young, The Body by Stephen King, The Comedy is Finished by Donald E. Westlake, Mortherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Letham, Split Image by Robert B. Parker, and Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes.

Of course, there are many books making the shelves at bookstores that are well written and don’t get the recognition that they seem to deserve. What would have made the difference for them? That’s a question that can leave a lot of publishing people scratching their heads. But, I think at the end of the day if I’m happy with what I’ve created, then that should be enough. Although I have nothing against knocking one right out of the park.

Terry Shames here.

We are being asked this week to talk about how we promote our books these days to catch the eye of readers during this stay-at-home time. What worked yesterday may not work today.

I assume this question means, “Anything short of standing on street corners, next to a stack of your books, beating a drum.”

I remember as a new author being timid about beating that drum, and then someone said to me, “If you’re proud of your books, you want people to read them, and the only way they are going to know your books exist is if you tell them.”

You have to let people know, what you books are about, what readers might like it about them, and how they can get their hands on them. With bookstores closed or only partially opened, that last part is more important than ever. Is your independent bookstore mailing out books? Does the reader read ebooks? Are you an independent author who will be selling your own books?

It was frustrating enough to tout our books before Covid threw everything we knew out the window. Last summer our local magazine featured me on the front cover and inside was a great article about the books I write. Many people in my community said, “I didn’t know you were a writer.” Sigh. I thought I had been obnoxiously blatant about it. I had done everything but run through the streets naked with a banner screaming the name of my latest book. I know, a vision you don’t want in your head.

The fact that I don’t have a book coming out soon has been bittersweet. On the one hand, I feel bereft. I have become used to publishing a book every year. I liked the excitement of planning events, doing interviews, traveling, being on panels at conferences. It’s part of what I had come to think of as normal ways of publicizing my books.  On the other, publicizing books is really hard these days.

I’ve watched friends whose books have debuted in the last couple of months frantically trying to figure out how to let people know their books are out. They have done the  “new thing,” of having virtual book events. So far, I haven’t heard any reports on how well that works. Virtual events are enticing in the Bay Area than they might be other places, because it means not having to travel two hours round trip. Time I could spend reading the book!

One of my friends had a non-fiction book published in April and the book hit the LA Times best-seller list. How did that happen? He had been preparing for months, doing what all of us should do—contacting review sources, writing emails to influencers in his field to ask for their endorsements, and being friendly and professional to every human being he comes in contact with. I had been slated to interview him at a local bookstore. Instead of moaning about our need to cancel because the bookstore was closed, he cheerfully said, “We’ll do it when things calm down. It may be a while, but we’ll make it work.” I pitched the book every chance I got. Of course, it helps that I think the book is wonderful.

Writers have also stepped up their hype on social media. I don’t mean hype in in a perjorative sense. Even in the best of times authors have to do everything they can to let people know they have a new book out. I don’t think it works to be coy. The hype I like best is simply “please buy my book” with a picture of the cover and a few enticing words describing it. Professional.  

There have also sprung up social media sites designed to help authors showcase their books. Again, I don’t know how well they are working to sell books. It’s an ongoing experiment.

One last personal note, off subject: For too many years the publishing industry dismissed books by writers of color, books with “different” settings, with “different” concerns from those written by white writers. That is changing, gradually, (as so many changes occur in the publishing industry.) I have been paying special attention in the last year or so to buying books that expand my reading to those traditionally under-published authors—thereby, I hope, expanding my understanding and appreciation of other lives and concerns that don’t touch my life personally. It has enriched my understanding. In this time when it’s so hard for all authors to promote their books, I’m especially mindful of seeking out those traditionally underserved writers. Try this one: 

P.S. Anthony award nominations came out today, and they are heavily-weighted with traditionally under-represented authors. I’m so pleased. What that says to me is that under-represented authors have probably been producing great books for years, but have been ignored by publishers, meaning readers were short-changed. Let’s hope the change continues to expand and flourish.

Marketing in the Time of Covid

With thousands of new titles being published every day, what do you do to try to raise your new book above the fray and catch the eye of readers?  We may have had a similar question before but things change so fast these days that what worked yesterday may not work today. So any new thoughts on this?

Brenda Chapman here.

If I had a good answer to this question, I’d bottle and sell it for millions of dollars! 

Having your book stand out from the thousands of others published every year was always difficult but it’s even more so in this time of social isolation. I’m not sure that I have anything earth-shattering to add that other authors haven't already tried. Closing Time was released at the end of March as our country shut down and everything I had lined up was cancelled or postponed. It took some major shifts in marketing to get any buzz going and I'm not convinced we were that successful. (My publicist started working from home part time and pretty much shut down her work on the book after six weeks.) 

Here are a few marketing techniques that have worked for me in the past and that I've adapted for our new reality. However, my belief is that without the aid of a creative, dedicated publicist as well as a financial investment in marketing the book from your publisher, it will be difficult to get your book into the hands of a great number of new readers.

1. Make yourself available to book clubs (can still be done virtually) and maintain relationships. I've made some wonderful friendships this way and book clubs speak to each other so news of your book can spread. I was also in a nearby city for a week about four years ago and my publicist arranged for me to attend a book club at a local independent bookstore. About forty people came out and most bought books. The store owner also contacted local media and they ran an article in the local paper. The owner asked me to return for a signing with my latest book but the pandemic meant I haven't been able to as of yet - perhaps when we're able to travel within the province again.

2.  Line up store signings for when things ease up. Store signings were good not just for finding new readers to try your books but also for making connections with staff. Staying in touch now is still helpful. Readers are still ordering books even if they can't go into the stores and they're asking for staff recommendations. I had two store signings lined up that had to be postponed but we're in touch and arranging the signings for later. One of the stores placed a post about my book on social media in the meantime.

3. Have people do some marketing/publicity for you. This works particularly well if you know somebody with a large social media following. Third party endorsements are a wonderful way to go, especially when freely offered by readers who love your book. My older daughter is an Olympic curler and she posted on Instagram the day my Closing Time launch was cancelled in May. The post got several hundred likes with some going out to buy the book that day. My younger daughter made a short Youtube video of her planned opening remarks for the cancelled launch and this received nearly 300 views.

4. Keep your own social media presence strong. Blogs, sharing reviews, tweets, whatever keeps your name and book out there is all good. Live Instagram or Facebook chats can also work if properly marketed beforehand.

5. Join other writers for online events. (I haven't done this yet but think it's a fine idea.) Cross promote as much as possible by sharing information and posts about each other's books on social media.

So in the spirit of all this marketing chat, here is a link to my website which has all of my books listed with review quotes and blurbs about the books. And here is the cover of the latest:

You can also find me on: 

Twitter: brendaAchapman and

Facebook: BrendaChapmanAuthor