VCU Cabel Award

I went to VCU's Cabel Award event last night. I'm not sure why I was disappointed in it. Maybe I missed that little glass statue they awarded to the author. Not that I even remember what the statue looked like, it just seemed to be a physical manifestation of what it means to win an award for your writing. Maybe it was that the first audience question was about the award process rather than about the novel which won it. Maybe I just got the impression that this book didn't have the nuances of literature that the other ones had. The leaders or supporters didn't have that excitement they had for last year's winner. The man sitting next to me (who was one) kept fiddling with his brochure. Last year they clustered together and you could see them nodding or wanting to ask questions of the author. Other than the one man I didn't see anyone else though they were there scattered in the audience I'm sure because their names were called out during introductions and thank-you's.

Just before the whole event began this leader stopped to speak to a bunch of girls who obviously belonged to some literature class that had read the book. "That was a lively Q&A session earlier..." I'm thinking they've already discussed the good stuff. What is to happen tonight?

"How do you become an editor?" Well that one wasn't for the author either. The answer by the way was, "I started in the office as a volunteer carpenter."

"Did you foreshadow on purpose?" Yes, she did. She said that she deliberately tried to make it so that every page had a reference to water or the main character's misshapen head. If she hadn't spent 20 minutes reading earlier this would have been a turn off to me. Every page? If she actually did that she was subtle because the reading wasn't bad, there were even some humorous moments in it, and I only caught the one obvious description of the head.

"Were the many lists in your novel intentional?" Yes, she loved lists and many of them had to be cut out. Lists do two things. One they show the effect of a mind getting hysterical. Two they slow down the passage.

"What about point of view?" Well she read somewhere that more books get purchased if they are set in New York so she switched her story from Chicago to New York. Also that more books get purchased if the protagonist is a man so she switched the main character from a woman to a man.

"Did you ever suffer from writer's block?" No, but sometimes depression would make it difficult to work so what she would do is watch tv and write down her thoughts. One time she transcribed an entire movie script. Some of that transcription ended up in her novel that won an award. Well it was changed a bit, it was rewritten.

I go to these events asking myself if I want to read this book. This is one case where I was more interested in the book before I went than after I went.

This Week in Literary Richmond

Happy Halloween.

Tomorrow NaNoWriMo begins. There is a launch party at the Capital Ale House in Midlothian from 6-9PM November 1. Jean told us about this at Writers Wednesday and said it is a lot of fun so much so that when the previous Richmond Liaison quit she took over the job (volunteer) because she wanted to keep the NaNoWriMo spirit going in the Richmond area. If it weren't so far away (1 hour drive for me) I would go and tell you all about it.

James River Writers had their Writing Show on Thursday. I won't go into details because my previous post is a long one all about it. However, I wasn't the only one blogging about the Writing Show. Shawna Christos did too.

Shann Palmer was interviewed over on Writer's Digest's Poetic Asides because she was the 2008 November PAD Chap Book Challenge Champion. It's a very nice interview and they put online her poem Patience from her Chap Book.

On another note, I met with a group of writers last night and I have to say it is fascinating to hear them chat about the business. It must be nice to be on famous author's short list of people to call when you're in a jam and need someone to fill in for you. While I wouldn't mind being on the short list, I can't say I would like to stand up in front of hundreds of people and talk. I noticed when I went to another literary event the famous author there mentioned how when he got stuck he had a list of friends he called and said, "here's the plot points, I'm stuck, can you help me?" In two seconds so-and-so will make a suggestion and he's on the run again.

The Writing Show

Last night's writing show was on the creation of traditional mysteries commonly called cozies. This means there isn't a lot of gratuitous violence, blood, gore, etc. It is straight forward here are the clues, whodunit. The speakers were Donna Andrews, Meredith Cole and Andy Straka. Emyl Jenkins moderated.

Donna Andrews brought up the idea that you try not to kill off really nice people. This is because she writes humorous mysteries and it's always a horrible thought that anyone died, period. Doesn't matter if they're a horrible person, if they were murdered, that's just wrong. However, if you're going to make the reader laugh the victim does need to be horrible because it offends readers if you make fun of death when the death is of someone beloved. Occasionally you throw in a curve ball such as the penguin sex scene. Yes, Donna did actually witness two penguins having or at least attempting to have sex, in public.

Meredith Cole was just the opposite. She said a friend of hers told her (and Meredith didn't realize this about her own writing) that her book is about solving the mystery through grief. The sleuth is grieving for the victim. She asked herself why would a perfectly ordinary person such as a photographer set out to solve a mystery. Honestly, do you think if you walked into a room and saw a dead body the first thing you would do is ask yourself, "How can I figure out who murdered this person?" No, you're going to call 911 and let the police handle it. So the sleuth needs to feel a reason to step into the line of danger and risk her own life to solve the mystery.

Andy Straka's mysteries are the PI type. This means that his man is motivated by his job though he was quick to point out that most PI's don't have anywhere near as exciting a career as writers make them out to be. The most important thing is to give all your characters secrets. This will automatically generate red herrings that are organic to the story so that nothing feels contrived for the purpose of misleading the reader. As one homicide investigator told him, the DNA is merely the proof, the solution to the crime is in the conversation.

All three of them suggested joining Sisters In Crime or going to conferences such as Sleuthfest. This is where Meredith met "The Poison Lady." This is a lady that deals in forensics and poisons and she is more than willing to talk to writers about how these things work. Why? Because experts want writers to get it right. It drives them nuts when writers make mistakes. Do you know what show cops think is the most realistic one airing today? Reno 911. This is because in order to deal with tragedy you have to develop a sense of humor.

The best quote came from Andy: "Writers are chameleons." This is because writers don't necessarily write what they know, they write what they've learned about. Maybe it's something they've long been familiar with because the story is military and they were in the military but mostly it's a lot of learning and a desire to share it in an entertaining way.

Photos

That tiny white dot is the moon.



This heron was fishing and I stayed a while hoping to see him catch something but no luck or maybe I didn't stay long enough.

Definition of a Writer

If you're feeling a bit down and need a word of encouragement. This is from Janet Reid.

Last Friday I had lunch with a conference attendee who'd just been told he wasn't a real writer because his "publisher" was one of those book printing mills.

Horseshit.

Make no mistake about this: if you have written and finished a novel you ARE a writer.