04/23/2009

Governor Sarah Palin has signed a deal with HarperCollins to pen a memoir to be released in spring 2010. Ms. Palin has declined to disclose how much she will be paid for the book. Ms. Palin tells the Associated Press, “There’s been so much written about and spoken about in the mainstream media and in the anonymous blogosphere world, that this will be a wonderful, refreshing chance for me to get to tell my story, that a lot of people have asked about, unfiltered.”

By Bethany Olson

Arthur, a recent college graduate who has just ended a strange dating relationship, starts out a lazy Pittsburgh summer with little idea of purpose or knowledge of self. He stops into the University of Pittsburgh’s Hillman Library without realizing that that decision would catapult him through an unusual and enlightening series of events.

Arthur meets Art in the library, a young man of whom he “hadn’t a doubt that he was gay,” and with whom Arthur was “keen to avoid, as they say, a misunderstanding” of sexual interest. Despite his reservations, Arthur agrees to have a beer with Art on Forbes Avenue. Shortly thereafter, Arthur meets Phlox in the library, a girl who had admired him from behind the metal bars of her small work area. “She was unquestionably beautiful, and yet there was something odd, wrong, about her looks, her clothing: something a little too, from her too blue eyes in their too direct stare to the too red stockings she wore.”

Arthur estimates his own identity by his interactions with others; throughout, he alternates between friendship with both Art and Phlox to being sexual lovers with one or the other of the two (Arthur no longer knows if he is straight or gay.) And ever-hidden is Arthur’s secret, “the nature of my father’s work,” which “I came to associate… with shame.” Arthur did not realize his father was in mob work until his thirteenth birthday: “I never afterward had the slightest desire to tell [my father’s] secret to any of my friends; indeed, I ardently concealed it.”

If only Art did not need his father’s money; if only Art did not desire his father’s never-given approval. If only a third friend, Cleveland, had not exploded into Arthur’s life; Cleveland’s interest in mob business and his knowledge of Arthur’s father threatens to join the two worlds Arthur so desperately tries to separate. Some time after realizing that Cleveland would “breach the barrier that stood between my family and my life, and scale the wall that I was,” Arthur says, “I saw that I’d been mistaken when I thought of myself as a Wall, because a wall stands between, and holds apart, two places, two worlds, whereas, if anything, I was nothing but a portal, ever widening…. And a wall says no; a portal doesn’t do anything.”

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon is a coming-of-age story with elements of self-understanding and making one’s way in the world, without the influence of others. Its quirky subthemes and genius passages are too many to list here. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh was Chabon’s premiere novel that launched his fame (first published in 1988); his The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is an unusual, inviting, thoughtful read with layers of meaning infused not only throughout the plot, but evident in every word and metaphor. It is exciting for a Pittsburgh native to read about places and streets that are so familiar (I live around the block from Arthur’s fictional home). But regardless of where a reader lives, Chabon crafts both setting and characters’ complicated emotions with startling intensity, promising a meaningful read for all adult readers.

Okay, seniors who want to publish. We've written about research,
writing what you know, learning from others, writers clubs, a comfortable work area, spending a lot of time writing, costs and a bunch of other things you should do that are very important when it comes to writing successfully. To me, the two worst things to not do or have is not spending enough time writing, and not having the most important tool: a computer.

If writing is your goal, no matter what age, then dig deep and spend a few hundred dollars for a computer. A web search will net you a very good and reasonable priced outfit. Buying equipment won't be easy, but if you are intent on writing, suffer the pain.

I can type over a hundred words a minute, but I've been typing for fifty-five years doing professional sports publicity and promotion, college, newspaper reporting, feature writing and public relations propaganda. I recall how erasing or whiting out errors or wrong phrases was such a pain and always caused my most vile Marine Corps expletives to erupt. And that wasn't too swift in a crowded editorial news room.

A computer eliminates those problems – well, not all of them.
I still have a few eruptions on the golf course. But a computer does make writing fun instead of work. (Too bad I can't say that about a five iron.) Instead of using White Out by the gallon, I now tap my computer delete key and voila - my anger management problem is solved without consulting a psychologist. The time I had to spend on the couch can now be used for writing. Sometimes you might feel like a good psychologist would come in handy. But don't let that slow you down. Every writer goes through some difficult times. You just have to tough it out.

Set your goal for the day, week or whatever, and like a sprinter, get off the block fast. While sprinting toward the tape, give serious thought to the following, some of which are pointed out in The Writer's Digest Handbook of Novel Writing.

Point of View: Be clear from the story's beginning so readers won't have to guess whose perception they are seeing through (1st person, 2nd person, etc.)

Conflict: Action proceeds from characters in conflict and pulls readers into your story - and the faster the better. By posing conflict clearly for the reader, you may surprise yourself by reaching for more active phrases and situations that create immediacy.

Exposition: Avoid long, mundane descriptions of characters and places. This often times becomes boring, unbelievable, and intrudes on illusions. A single sentence, if well imagined and worded, can do far more immediately than long drawn out passages. In other words, keep sentences short and active and well written. Go over your sentences or passages a dozen times. Don't get cute. Cut out unnecessary words. That is so important. Activate all the readers' senses - smells, sounds, feelings and tastes.

There are more, but right now absorb these and try to follow them as you write. Ask yourself questions like: Is this too mundane? Is this passage believable? Is this character believable? That sounds like a lot to grasp, but practice and it will soon become second nature. That's enough for now. We'll cover more in a future column.

Questions/Comments? Contact Jim at james@jamesfalk.net, or visit www.jamesfalk.net.

James Falk, as a teen-ager, used to dream of being a big-time racketeer. Fortunately, his dream didn't come true. A 10th grade dropout, he finished highschool after four years in the Marines and went on to earn a B.A. in Journalism and an M.A. in Communications.

Gillian Roberts (the pseudonym of Judith Greber) is the author of the Anthony-award winning Amanda Pepper mystery series that features a Philadelphia high school English teacher and her significant other, C. K. Mackenzie. She has also written two books in a second series, featuring the pair of private detectives, Emma Howe and Billie August.

Q: You are a former English teacher as is your fictional character, Amanda Pepper. Are you an example of the old adage: write what you know? How does she differ from your teaching persona? How can writers develop a character from their chosen profession without it being too close for comfort?

A: I have honestly never found a murdered woman in my living room, or in the schools where I taught, and I have never solved a crime—except on paper. So I’m not writing “what I know” except for my protagonist’s profession, and that began almost by accident. My first draft of what became Caught Dead in Philadelphia had a housewife-protagonist, but she kept winding up at the school: PTA meetings, teacher-conferences, etc., etc. Only then did it dawn on me that my story was determined to be in school, and I turned Amanda into a teacher. After a while, I happily realized that a school was a wonderful setting because it’s a microcosm of the world, with all the passions, politics—and population—to provide Amanda with lots of mysteries to solve.
One of my pet peeves in fiction is a character who supposedly has a job but never needs to work at it. What we do all day seems central to our lives, and so I think it’s terrific to use an occupation you know—or do some serious research. The writer needs to know the obligations, frustrations, joys and restrictions that job would put upon her character. Toss all of that into the mix, and you’ve got a richer, more interesting book.

Q: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle faced tough criticism when he attempted to kill off Sherlock Holmes. You have recently ended the Amanda Pepper mysteries. What is that like for you and for your fans?

A: First, it’s quite exciting to be in the same question with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! Amanda’s move to New Orleans with C. K. hasn’t caused quite the same stir as did Holmes’ going over Reisenbach Falls. But then, she’s quite alive and involved in new adventures. However, I have gotten hundreds of the most wonderful letters from readers saying they’ll miss her. None of the “tough criticism” Doyle faced. My readers are obviously nicer than his. Parting, after twenty years and fourteen books, was and still is bittersweet. I do miss her, but we’ve both moved on to new adventures before, I hope, the old ones became stale.

Q: Why did you decide to write the nonfiction, “You Can Write a Mystery”? Have you had any feedback from readers who have tried out your theories?

A: I was actually asked to write the book by Writer’s Digest Publications. I’ve been teaching writing for a few decades and had copious notes and a sense of how I like approaching the topic, so I was happy to do it. I’ve been delighted to receive many letters over the years from writers saying the book helped them.

Q: Some say that certain genres such as romance and mystery amount to “formula writing” with only the names, places and times changed. What is your response?

A: I once had a workshop instructor who pointed out that the only difference between Anna Karenina and a soap opera script is the writing. They’re both about an illicit love affair and its repercussions, so was Tolstoy writing formula?
There are good, mediocre and downright bad novel writers. There are also lazy writers who hit upon a winning pattern and repeat it book after book. But in actuality, a mystery has few requirements—it needs a crime, a resolution, and in between, an author playing fair with the reader. I don’t think that can be called a formula. I certainly tried to never repeat myself even though I had the same protagonist in those fourteen books. I consciously worked at making the situation, the ideas or issues, the structure and as many characters as possible fresh and new. Otherwise, if I were working from the same pattern year after year, I would have bored myself silly long before I bored my readers.

Q: Various authors offer mixed messages to would-be authors regarding the importance of a consistent point of view. What are your thoughts?

A: If we’re talking about point of view, and third person narrative, I’m all for staying in one point of view in any given scene or chapter, and for letting the reader know when you switch into another point of view. I have no problems with multiple points of view and in fact, I’ve written six books so far using them (four non-mysteries, two mysteries) and I’m working on a seventh. It’s fun—but I don’t like it when the point of view changes within a scene because it pulls me out of the story. I want to stay with a character—be that character and live in his head—for a scene, even if next chapter I’m going to live inside somebody else’s head.
And having said that, I have to also say I’ve read some dazzling books (Russell Banks comes to mind right away) where the author uses an omniscient voice and goes into any mind or place he likes, and makes it work brilliantly. Any “rule” is breakable if you can make it work.

Carlotta Holton is the author of Salem Pact, Touching The Dead and Vampire Resurrection, and is a member of the National Federation of Press Women and an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association.

By Amanda Linsmeier

Eating Heaven, a novel by Jennie Shortridge, is a lovely and bittersweet novel about family and truth. Eleanor Samuels is a food writer with plenty on her plate- both literally and figuratively. Besides her (un) healthy appetite for food, she is also dealing with the sudden and frightening decline of her favorite uncle’s health. Uncle Benny is not really her uncle but he’s been a part of her life since she was a child, and she’s going to discover, perhaps much earlier. Caring for Benny becomes a full-time job and Ellie is the only one willing and able to do so. While she spends her time cooking and nurturing Benny, Ellie is forced to take a hard look at herself and her family. She soon discovers that things aren’t as confusing as she thought but in many ways, they are much worse.

Eating Heaven was real. I enjoyed every last bite of it! From the first page to the last, Ellie took me on a journey of family secrets, romance, self love (and sometimes hate) as well as a heavy dose of delicious foods- from diet foods all the way to full fat pineapple upside down cake and lard-laden fried pork chops. I thought the journey Ellie had with herself was inspiring and something I could really connect to. I think readers who have dealt with the serious illness of a close family member, particularly an older member, will relate to this novel. I also believe any woman who has ever put anyone before herself will enjoy it as well. And if you have a good appetite, that probably wouldn’t hurt!