Writing

A Writer’s Life

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This weekend was a good example of what life is like for a professional writer:

  • I wrote an article about writing DIAGNOSIS MURDER: THE WAKING NIGHTMARE for MJ Rose’s excellent Backstory blog.
  • I traveled to San Francisco to speak at a writers conference.
  • I  proofed the copyedited manuscript for my fifth DIAGNOSIS MURDER novel, which has to arrive in NY no later than Feb. 23.
  • I proofed the galleys for my novel THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE, which have to arrive on my editor’s desk no later than Feb. 23.
  • I revised the manuscript for my sixth DIAGNOSIS MURDER novel, which is due March 1, but that I need to finish by Feb 22, so I can stick it in the FedEx packet with the copyedited manuscript for DM #5… because I am leaving on Wednesday to attend & speak at Left Coast Crime in El Paso.
  • I drove back to L.A. from S.F…and thought about the plot for my seventh DIAGNOSIS MURDER novel.  I made  some notes when I stopped for lunch.
  • I posted some articles on my blog.
  • I wrote some notes for a network pitch meeting that’s set for Tuesday.

And this was a light weekend… I didn’t have to write a script or write a chapter in a book.

Is a Story Really Necessary?

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Today, I spoke at the San Francisco Writers Conference about screenwriting and breaking into television. Afterwards, I was cornered by a senior citizen who showed me his scrapbook from his days in Hollywood and rambled on endlessly about all the stars he met. I don’t know why he wanted to share this with me…but we had to go through every single page, clipping and photo. Then I mingled with the attendees,  got asked some incredibly stupid questions and had some bizarre conversations. Here’s a sampling…

"I’ve written a novel and everyone tells me it’s a script," one woman said. "How do I turn it into a script?"

"Well, you write a script." I said.

She stared at me. "How do I do that?"

"You get a book or take a course, learn the principles of screenwriting, and then you write a script."

"That’s too much work," she said. "Isn’t there software that can do all of that for me?"

"Yeah," I said. "The same way Microsoft Word wrote your book for you."

* * * * * *

Another person came up to me and asked me if I wrote for television. I said yes.  She then asked, "How do you do that?"

"You mean, how do I write for television?"

"Yes," she said.

"I write screenplays," I said.

"Which is what, exactly?"

"The story, the action, the words that the characters say," I replied.

She stared at me. "Somebody writes that?"

"Yes," I said, resisting the urge to strangle her. "It’s like a writing a play, only for the camera instead of a theatre audience."

She shook her head.  "No, it’s not."

* * * * * *
"I’ve written  a book but everyone tells me it s a TV series," the man said.  "How do I make it into a TV series."

"You can’t, " I said, and gave my standard speech about how ideas are cheap and execution is everything, how networks go to people with TV experience, or who have written hit movies, or who have written bestselling novels, blah blah blah.  And when I got done, he stared at me. I got stared at a lot today.

Hee said:  "How can I get around that?"

"You can’t," I said.

"Why not?"

"Because you haven’t established yourself  as a writer in any field," I said. "Why would a network, studio or producer buy a TV series idea from you?"

"Because I’m smarter and more talented than they are," he said.

"It’s not going to happen," I said.

"Is it because I’m black?" he said. "That’s it, isn’t it. It’s because I’m black."

* * * * * *

"Did you have to sleep with a lot of people to get into TV?" a woman asked me.

"Just my wife," I said.

"You were lucky it wasn’t someone else," she said and walked away.

* * * * * *
"I have a great idea for a movie," a woman said to me. "What’s the market like for true stories about black lesbians in the 1880s?"

"I don’t think studios are looking for scripts to fill that particular niche," I said, "but there’s always a market for good stories that are told well."

"Oh," she said. "That’s going to make it a lot harder to sell."

* * * * * *
"Mysteries are hard work,"  a man said to me. "Could I write an episode of a mystery show but leave out the mystery for someone else to do?"

"No," I said.

"But my talent is character and I’m brilliant with dialogue," he said. "I really don’t know how to plot a mystery."

"Then don’t write a mystery," I said.

"But that’s what’s selling," he said.

"Don’t try to write what’s selling," I said. "Write what you enjoy. Write the story you want to tell."

"The thing is, I don’t know how to tell stories," he said. "But I write killer dialogue. Is a story really necessary?"

"Yes," I said.

"You people in Hollywood don’t make it easy, do you? That’s  the problem with the Industry. They are constantly creating obstacles so people can’t get in."

LAW AND ORDER: SPECIAL EDGAR UNIT

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The Edgar Nominations just came out… and LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT got four out of the five "Best Teleplay" nods.  It’s astonishing to me that the judges could do that when there are so many great mystery shows out there…  THE WIRE, THE SHIELD, THE SOPRANOS, LAW AND ORDER SVU, CSI, WITHOUT A TRACE, NYPD BLUE, NCIS, THE PRACTICE, 24  and COLD CASE to name just a few.  We are enjoying a bounty of crimes shows on TV today… but you wouldn’t know that looking at the narrow nominations. Instead of celebrating the wonderful diversity and quality of  crime shows on TV today, we nominate L&O:CI four times.

It’s no mystery why it happened: the committee didn’t reach out beyond what was sent to them. Rene Balcer, the executive producer of L&O:CI, inundates the committee with cassettes of every single episode. No other show, or producer, is as diligent about submitting work as he is. He makes it easy for them.

I’m not saying L&O:CI isn’t deserving of nomination ( it certainly is) or that Rene was wrong to submit as many episodes as he could (I would, too!)  but giving the show four out of the five slots? That’s just wrong. Did the committee members actually watch any television this year?

When I’ve served on the best movie committee, we didn’t wait for the films to be officially submitted…we went out and watched every mystery/crime movie that was released on our own.  We took some initiative (otherwise the only nominees would have been the two producers who sent us their movies). Clearly the committee this year didn’t take the initiative… and it’s a shame. The Edgars, at least in TV, are less relevant because of it.

By the way, here’s a list of the shows that submitted episodes/screeners to the committee…you’ll notice more than half of the 55 submissions came from L&O:CI (16) and L&O:SVU (14).

Edgar Nominations

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The Mystery Writers of America announced their nominees for the Edgar Award, the highest honor in the mystery-writing field.  I’d especially like to congratulation my friends Rhys Bowen, DP Lyle, Jerrilyn Farmer, TJ Parker, Max Allan Collins, Gerry Conway and Hy Conrad on their well-deserved nominations.

BEST NOVEL

Evan’s Gate by Rhys Bowen (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
By a
Spider’s Thread by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)
Remembering Sarah by Chris
Mooney (Atria Books)
California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker (William Morrow)

Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Little Girl Lost by
Richard Aleas (Hard Case Crime)
Relative Danger by Charles Benoit (Poisoned
Pen Press)
Cloud Atlas by Liam Callanan (Delacorte Press)
Tonight I Said
Goodbye by Michael Koryta (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
Country of Origin by Don
Lee (W.W. Norton & Company)
Bahamarama by Bob Morris (St. Martin’s
Minotaur)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

The Librarian by Larry
Beinhart (Nation Books)
Into the Web by Thomas H. Cook (Bantam)
Dead Men
Rise Up Never by Ron Faust (Dell)
Twelve-Step Fandango by Chris Haslam (Dark
Alley)
The Confession by Domenic Stansberry (Hard Case Crime)

BEST
CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete
Short Stories
edited by Leslie S. Klinger (W.W. Norton)
Latin American
Mystery Writers: An A-to-Z Guide by Daniel B. Lockhart (Greenwood Press)

Booze and the Private Eye: Alcohol in the Hard-Boiled Novel
by Rita
Elizabeth Rippetoe (McFarland & Co.)
The Life of Graham Greene, Vol. 3:
1956-1991 by Norman Sherry (Viking Books)

BEST FACT CRIME

Ready
for the People: My Most Chilling Cases as Prosecutor by Marissa N. Batt (Arcade
Publishing)
Conviction: Solving the Moxley Murder: A Reporter and a
Detective’s Twenty-Year Search for Justice by Leonard Levitt (Regan Books)

Forensics for Dummies by D.P. Lyle, MD (Wiley Publishing – For Dummies)

Are You There Alone?: The Unspeakable Crime of Andrea Yates by Suzanne
O’Malley (Simon & Schuster)
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story
of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting
Detectives, and Broken Hearts by Julian Rubinstein (Little, Brown)
Green
River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer – America’s
Deadliest Serial Murderer by Ann Rule (Free Press)

BEST SHORT STORY

"Something About a Scar" – Anything You Say Can and Will Be Used Against
You by Laurie Lynn Drummond (HarperCollins)
"The Widow of Slane" by Terence
Faherty (EQMM – March/April 2004)
"The Book Signing" – Brooklyn Noir by Pete
Hamill (Akashic Books)
"Adventure of the Missing Detective" – Sherlock
Holmes: The Hidden Years by Gary Lovisi (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
"Imitate the
Sun" by Luke Sholer (EQMM – November 2004)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Story Time by Edward Bloor (Harcourt Children’s Books)
In Darkness,
Death by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler (Philomel Books)
Jude by Kate
Morgenroth (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
The Book of Dead
Days by Marcus Sedgwick (Wendy Lamb Books)
Missing Abby by Lee Weatherly
(David Fickling Books)

BEST JUVENILE

Chasing Vermeer by Blue
Balliett (Scholastic Press)
Assassin: The Lady Grace Mysteries by Patricia
Finney (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
Abduction! by Peg Kehret (Dutton
Children’s Books)
Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater (HarperCollins
Children’s Books)
The Unseen by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (Delacorte Books for
Young Readers)

BEST PLAY

Spatter Pattern (Or, How I Got Away
With It) by Neal Bell (Playwrights Horizons)
Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life
by Max Allan Collins (The Art House)
An Evening of Murder and the Like by
Edward Musto (Barrow Group Studio Theatre)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE
TELEPLAY

Law & Order: Criminal Intent – "Want", Teleplay by
Elizabeth Benjamin. Story by René Balcer & Elizabeth Benjamin
Law &
Order: Criminal Intent – "Conscience", Teleplay by Gerry Conway. Story by René
Balcer & Gerry Conway
Law & Order: Criminal Intent – "Consumed",
Teleplay by Warren Leight. Story by René Balcer & Warren Leight
Law
& Order: Criminal Intent – "Pas De Deux", Teleplay by Warren Leight. Story
by René Balcer & Warren Leight
Monk – "Mr. Monk and the Girl Who Cried
Wolf", Teleplay by Hy Conrad

BEST TELEVISION FEATURE OR MINI-SERIES
TELEPLAY

State of Play by Paul Abbott (BBC America)
Prime Suspect 6:
The Last Witness by Peter Berry (Granada TV & WGBH Boston)
Death in Holy
Orders by Robert Jones, based on the novel by P.D. James (BBC Worldwide)

Amnesia by Chris Lang (BBC America)
"The Darkness of Light" – Wire in
the Blood by Alan Whiting (Coastal Productions)

BEST MOTION PICTURE
SCREENPLAY

A Very Long Engagement – Screenplay by Jean-Pierre Jeunet,
based on the Novel by Sebastien Japrisot (2003 Productions)
The Bourne
Supremacy – Screenplay by Tony Gilroy, based on the Novel by Robert Ludlam. (The
Kennedy/Marshall Company, Universal Pictures, Hypnotic)
Collateral by Stuart
Beattie (DreamWorks SKG)
I’m Not Scared – Screenplay by Francesca Marciano,
based on the Novel by Niccolo Ammaniti. (Miramax Films)
Maria Full of Grace
– Screenplay by Joshua Marston (HBO Films)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

Thomas Morrissey
"Can’t Catch Me" – Brooklyn Noir (Akashic Books)

GRAND MASTER

Marcia Muller

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

Carolyn Marino, Vice President/Executive Editor, HarperCollins

RAVEN AWARDS

Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theatre (founded by Steve
Oney)
DorothyL listserv (founded by Diane Kovacs and Kara Robinson

Murder by the Book, Houston, TX (Martha Farrington, Owner)

SPECIAL
EDGAR AWARDS

David Chase (writer/producer – The Sopranos, The Rockford
Files,
Kolchak: The Night Stalker and many other breakthrough TV shows)

Tom Fontana (writer/producer – Homicide: Life on the Street, Oz, and The
Jury and many other breakthrough TV shows)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER-MARY
HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

Perfect Sax by Jerrilyn Farmer (William Morrow/Avon)

The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman (Ballantine Books)
Scent of a Killer
by Christiane Heggan (MIRA Books)
Grave Endings by Rochelle Krich
(Ballantine Books)
Murder in a Mill Town by P.B. Ryan (Berkley Prime Crime)

Hardboiled vs Cozies vs Everybody

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Novelist James Reasoner is wondering when did the mystery field become so balkanized?

I read just about everything there was in the mystery field . . . and it seemed perfectly normal to me. Now you got your hardboiled readers laughing at cozies and your cozy readers sneering at the hardboiled stuff, and for all I know people who read cat mysteries can’t understand why anybody would want to read a dog mystery, and vice versa. I don’t understand it. Give me a good story and some reasonably interesting characters, and I’m fine
with it, no matter what the trappings might be.

You notice this a lot on many of the mystery lists (like DorothyL, etc.) and among the writing blogs.  What’s interesting to me is that the balkanization doesn’t just exist among mystery fans, but among mystery writers as well with, for example, the hardboiled writers all but sneering at authors who write cozies, as if they aren’t real writers because their heroes don’t fuck, or take a beating,  or go to a murder scenes and see the brain matter on the wall and the dead man who has shit himself in his last spasm of life.

Hardboiled detective books and police procedurals have no more literary
merit than any other books in the field because they are grittier.  I don’t much like cozies myself, but I certainly respect the writers who write them. It’s just as hard to write a cozy as it is to write a tough noir tale. Who knows, maybe it’s even harder.

A close cousin to balkanization are the insular attitudes of certain cliques of writers… scribes who love everything their group does, good or bad, and sneers at the work of outsiders. You aren’t "in" if you aren’t in their tight little group.  These smug back-slappers exist in all the different genres of mystery fiction and, if you go to conventions or hang out in discussions on -line,  you know exactly who they are and what writers are on their approved reading lists. 

I like to think I’m not in one of those insular groups and that I treat cozy, historical, hard-boiled, whodunit, and all other mystery writers with friendliess and respect, whether I am a fan of their particular genre or not.   

To Outline or Not To Outline

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Prolific novelist Sandra Scoppettone has hit a wall in her new book.

I think I’m in big trouble.  This novel is a mess. I’m on page 142
and not only don’t I know what’s going on, I can’t imagine writing at
least another 250 pages of this.

Nothing makes sense.  I’ve written myself into so many corners I can’t see how to ever write out of them.

If
it wasn’t so depressing, and if I didn’t have a deadline, I think I’d
junk this novel and start again.  I honestly don’t know what I’m going
to do.  I should be working right now but instead I’m doing this.

I
feel I’ve been fooling myself, thinking it would work itself out.  I
don’t see how it can.  I’ve never been in quite this position so early
in a book.

I don’t know whether she writes with an outline or not, but I’m guessing she doesn’t. Novelist Ed Gorman wishes he could outline…but can’t.

The few times I’ve managed to fix an outline on both the page and in my
mind, I was more relaxed with the writing itself. I didn’t wake up in
the middle of the night depressed because I couldn’t figure out what
next day at the machine would bring.

Novelist James Reasoner always has a vague sketch of where he is going.

Although taking off and winging it with no outline can be fun . . . if
everything works out right. These days I like a nice six to eight page
outline so that the basic structure of the book has already been
figured out before I start. I usually write these even for books where
the publisher doesn’t require an outline, just for my own benefit.

All
that said, I don’t think I’ve ever written a book that turned out
exactly like the outline. Some unexpected plot twist or character
always pops up during the writing of the book itself.

That’s the way it goes for me, too. I find the security blanket of an outline, even if I deviate from it along the way (and I do), always helps me. At least I can look at it and say, "Okay, I had an idea of where I should be going, why am I not heading in that direction? What changed? And did it change for the better?" My outlines tend to evolve as my novels do…I call them "living outlines," because I am constantly rewriting them as I write the book and usually don’t finish my outline until a week or so before I finish my book.

Sometimes it’s fun for me to go back and look at the original outline and then the one I ended up with and see at what points I went in new directions… and why. I always learn from it.

UPDATE: Sandra Scoppettone reports on her blog that she doesn’t use an outline…and here’s why:

I
couldn’t stand to have an outline.  The idea of knowing where I’m going
is hideous to me.  Anyway, I couldn’t write an outline when I never
know who did it until I’m at about page 100.  I don’t want to know who
did it when I start.  It would spoil everything for me just as if I was
reading a book and knew who did it from the beginning.  Before I start
I know who my protagonist is (in this case I know a lot about her
because it’s the second in a series) and who has been killed.  That has
always worked for me before.  And now it’s failed me.  I still won’t do
an outline.

Frankly, I can’t imagine writing a mystery, and planting clues, without knowing whodunit ahead of time.

I’m curious, fellow writers… how do you feel about outlines?

Ken Bruen Revisited

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A month or two back, I mentioned here that I was underwhelmed by Ken Bruen’s much-praised novel THE GUARDS.  I  was surprised by the shock and outrage my comments provoked here and on several other blogs.  Author Jason Starr  suggested I try Bruen’s HER LAST CALL TO LOUIS MACNIECE.   I did. And I loved it.  I devoured it in one sitting. It’s everything THE GUARDS wasn’t. Fresh. Surprising. With a narrative engine that growls like a Pontiac GTO.  It’s a darkly funny,  nasty reimagining of the pulp noir formula.  It’s equal measures  Harry Whittington, Charles Willeford Elmore Leonard and Roger Corman… set in the UK.  Now I see what all the excitement is about. I wish I read this one before THE GUARDS.  I’m  sure this won’t get as much play in the blogosphere as my critical comments did… but I’ve just got to say, WOW. I can’t wait to read the rest of his stuff… except, maybe, for his sequels to THE GUARDS.

Author, Reread Thyself

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In his enewsletter, mystery writer Michael Jecks talks about the constant juggling act that prolific writers have to perform.

Every time one book is ready to launch, I have to plan the next to be written.
And at the same time, of course, I’m receiving the next to be published so that
I can go through the copy editor’s notes. That’s why at any time of the year I
tend to be working on three different titles simultaneously, and it’s also why
authors should always reread their most recently published books before being
interviewed about them.

During a radio interview, the host asked him a specific plot question about his novel… and he couldn’t answer.

In the two years between writing the book and the interview, I had written The Merchant’s Partner, A Moorland Hanging, and
synopses for two more books. I had scarcely thought about The
Last Templar, beyond being glad that it was in print and selling well. I
couldn’t remember the names of the victims, the perpetrators, or the motives for
their crimes. It was a salutary experience, and one I won’t forget in a hurry.

I can see the same thing happening to me some day. I will be sure to follow his advice…

Are Murder Mysteries Immoral?

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There was a post today on DorothyL, the mystery digest,  that really bugged me.

My spouse and I recently had an argument about the morality of showing a
murder in every episode–the implication being that people, especially children, would take away the impression that the world is a violent and  menacing place. I countered with the argument that the show contains a  fundamental morality in the search to apprehend the evil-doers and bring them to justice. I think the same applies to writing murder mysteries.

The world is a violent and menacing place….and one murder-a-week on any TV series is a far cry from the number of murders that are actually committed in the United States each day. But beyond that, how could a murder mystery possibly be construed as immoral? It’s wrong to murder somebody… and that’s the basic assumption & message of every murder mystery ever written. 

That said, does that make Barry Eisler’s RAIN series, or Lawrence Block’s HITMAN series, or Thomas Perry’s BUTCHER BOY, or Donald Westlake’s PARKER books immoral to read and enjoy because the protagonists engage in immoral behavior?

This is the kind of neanderthal thinking that gets books banned… and leads to things like that English teacher who was castigated for asking high school students to write a murder mystery in her creative writing course.

Then again, a lot of folks on DorothyL also think MONK is offensive because it makes fun of someone with obsessive compulsive disorder.