“It’s Never Too Late … “

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Sandra Neily

Sandra Neily here

Hello Maine Crime Writers community,

I posted this in 2018! (Wow, years ago, but I think post-pandemic and then all of us getting older, I’d like to bring it back…. a bit revised.  I found it still speaks to me, so I hope it speaks to you.

If we get out of Maine given all the snow that’s FINALLY coming, we are heading to NC for a while: tiny camper, bit of a table to write on, but now with two dogs. One is a recently gathered-up, untrained rescue project of Bob’s that’s been confined in a puppy mill for 9 years. What could go wrong camping in the Smokies where herds of elk visit the campground? Hahaha.

And the current Maine Crime Wave is coming in June!

**************************

 

Mary Anne Evans once wrote “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”

And she did become what she should have been. She became the novelist George Eliot, choosing a man’s pen name to ensure her works were taken seriously. Arguably the greatest novelist of the Victorian era, George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) penned a novel that’s always on lists of the world’s best novels: “Middlemarch,” my favorite.

In the novel, her humor sneaks up on us: “And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.”

And “Middlemarch” also gives us new ways of seeing an old world. “If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heartbeat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.”

But most of all I love the persistence that shines out of Eliot’s own personal quote: “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”

Last week, the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance event, Crime Wave, treated its participants to tools we can use so we are not “too late” to write something wonderful.

Even though I was on a panel to discuss various ways authors get published (in a world where traditional publishing is almost out of reach), I took notes on how I might persist and carry on despite sometimes feeling it may be “too late.”

I said that Hope Clark’s “Funds for Writers “is an award-winning site with tips, lists of contests to enter, and grants to apply for. (Using her advice, I became a finalist in a Women Fiction Writers Association contest.)

Jane Friedman has a chart that defines the pros and cons of various publishing paths. https://www.janefriedman.com/key-book-publishing-path/  

Jane also has excellent book and book business advice; I never miss her newsletter. Sign up. https://www.janefriedman.com/

Joanna Penn’s writing and publishing assistance at https://www.thecreativepenn.com/

I asked author Kate Flora for nuggets she shared with her “Point of View” craft seminar and she generously sent this message:

“So, with my POV class, I suggested an exercise to test their point of view comfort level, which is one I use with my students. Write a paragraph introducing yourself in first person and third person and see the results of the different points of view. The book I suggested is What If by Pamela Painter and Anne Bernays, which is full of writing exercises.

Doing an exercise is often helpful if you’re stuck in your writing.” Kate Clark Flora | Mystery & Crime Author

There was just too much great stuff at Crime Wave to get it all down, but I’m glad someone reminded us of Elmore Leonard’s best writing rule, “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.” https://www.liferichpublishing.com/AuthorResources/General/Elmore-Leonards-Ten-Rules-Of-Writing.aspx

Pretty much the entire event is dedicated to persistence and to the premise that “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”

The second Mystery in Maine, Deadly Turn, was published in 2021. Her debut novel, “Deadly Trespass, A Mystery in Maine,” won a national Mystery Writers of America award, was a finalist in the Women’s Fiction Writers Association “Rising Star” contest, and was a finalist for a Maine Literary Award. Find her novels at all Shermans Books (Maine) and on Amazon. Find more info on Sandy’s website.

 

Posted in Sandra's Posts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Characters: No that’s NOT you. Thanks for reading.

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Maureen Milliken

A few days ago, colleague Kate Flora wrote a great post about “character shopping.”

It highlights a huge part of what we do — thinking about and creating characters. I often wonder if readers and aspiring writers fully understand what goes into creating characters, or further developing characters that we’ve created in earlier books.

It’s something I think about a lot, particularly since I live in a Maine town, probably small by worldwide terms, but average (population 3,200), by Maine standards. People DO know each other and each other’s business, just like in books. People DO gossip. People DO think our town is the center of the universe. That can be tough when you write about a fictional small Maine town. Emphasis on the fictional, people.

Recently, someone in town mentioned to me that another townsperson, one I’m acquainted with but don’t know well, was overheard recommending my books and saying to the person she was talking to, “I know who a lot of these characters are based on.” Or something like that. I picture her saying in a conspiratorial whisper.

First of all, THANK YOU for recommending my books. That’s the most important thing. I guess I shouldn’t give a fig what comes after that. That said, I wrote the first book in my series, Cold Hard News, while I was living in Manchester, New Hampshire. Yes, it was based on the small towns I’ve known in Maine, where I grew up and began my newspaper career, but it certainly was not based on the Maine town I live in now.

There’s a saying, “You don’t [poop] where you eat.” That certainly applies to writing murder mysteries, as far as I’m concerned.

White wooden buildings along a lakeshore

My town. Count me as one mystery writer who doesn’t [poop] where I eat as far as writing characters. (Maureen Milliken photo)

But creating characters is a funny thing. We do shop for them, as Kate pointed out in her post the other day. But she also pointed out that every writer creates different characters out of the same initial seed. It’s a rare writer, I believe, who takes a character wholesale out of life and plops them into a book.

I do have some secondary characters that are drawn from people in my life. These are characters with fewer complications and nuances than more major characters, though. Once you get into a character, it takes off on its own. I’ve had people suggest to me that I put them in a book, as a character. I always answer that they really don’t want that. It’s not that I’d make them a victim or murderer, it’s just that for the rest of their life they’d be thinking, “That’s what she thinks of me?”

People often joke, “I don’t want to make you mad, because then you’ll kill me off in one of  your books!” Ha ha ha! I always respond that, no, I won’t. I reserve the people who make me mad for those who kill people in my books, or at least are jerks in my books. Isn’t that really where the wrath of readers of murder mysteries lies? The bad guys who the good guys bring to justice or at least reveal as the bad guys that they are? I would say, at least with my second and third books — No News is Bad News and Bad News Travels Fast — almost every negative character at least has a germ of someone who’s pissed me off. Most of these germs are people I’ve worked with, so anyone reading this has nothing to worry about on that account. If you see yourself in any of these characters and haven’t been in a newsroom with me, it’s just a coincidence. But also, maybe seek some help? Because you are not a nice person and shouldn’t be doing that stuff. Just saying.

Characters have a way of becoming who they are in fiction, no matter how much real life you draw them from. The last thing you want to do is feel boxed in by creating a character in a way that won’t hurt a real person’s feelings or be taken wrong.

The only characters that I’ve totally drawn from real life are my next-door neighbors, who I put in No News is Bad News. The fictional versions of my neighbors had some information helpful to the case. I can’t remember how it came about that I used them. It could be that Dave snow-blows my driveway in the winter and I thought it would be a nice gesture, since I do absolutely nothing for them except give them cookies at Christmas and try to be as unannoying as possible. But it was tough writing them. They’re very nice people and I was super conscious of how the book could make them look, even though they’re also nice people in the book. People in town, I knew, would automatically assume every single thing I wrote about them was reality. It was exhausting and I don’t want to do it again.

I donated a few books to a local auction a few years ago, and included a bonus of using the name of the person who won the books in my next book. Since then, I’ve come to realize that people think if you give a character their name, the character is “based on” them. It’s not. It’s just a name. Names are hard to come up with, but that’s a post for a different day. Just take my word for it.

This isn’t true for the person who won the books in the auction — I don’t think — but I tried it again the next year, and that winner and I ended up agreeing not to use her name because she was uncomfortable with it.

People ask me to use their names in books. they really do. I always decline because, talking to them, it’s clear that it’s not their name they want in the book, it’s them. I don’t blame them, I want to be in Redimere, Maine, too, hanging out with Bernie and Pete and having all that fun.

Back to the first auction, though. I’m finally well into the meat of writing the book (Dying for News) and the guy who won the naming right is now, in a weird coincidence, just like out of a mystery novel, my next-door neighbor. He’s on the other side, not the same guy who snow-blows my driveway and is in my second book. My instinct was to make him an innocuous character now that I’d see him around all the time. I’d settled on fire marshal arson investigator. A minor part, but with some good lines. The other option was narcissistic and pompous college president who may have something to do with the murder (Or may not! That’s not a spoiler!). I ran into my neighbor one morning as he was cleaning snow off his car and I was coming back from getting a cinnamon bun (since life is so much like a Maine mystery novel), and asked him which part he wanted. My neighbor wants to be the college president. We’ll see how that works out.

People like to draw inferences, no matter how much you try to explain how characters are created. It’s easy to do because small Maine towns, being what they are, are going to have people like the ones in your book.

When I was writing No News is Bad News, I was involved in a minor dispute with the manager of the transfer station (dump) that pissed me off. I was in the midst of firming up the plot and decided I’d make the transfer station in my fake town a big part of it. Those of you blessed with municipal rubbish pickup may not realize it, but the transfer station is often the center of town life, because it’s where everyone has to go at some point. It was a no-brainer.

Now, the guys who worked at the transfer station in my book are not based on the guys who work at the one in my town in any way, shape or form, except for the fact that one has bright red hair, just like one of the kids who worked at the dump at the time. Somehow, though, people in town think the characters are the guys at the real dump. It doesn’t help that the transfer station manager in my book is involved in dealing illicit drugs and there had apparently been a dump manager in my town years ago, long gone by the time I moved here, with the same side gig. I didn’t know that when I wrote the book, but you can’t tell people that. To be honest, knowing it wouldn’t have kept me from writing the book the way I did.

The Bernadette “Bernie” O’Dea mystery series.

Every town has certain types of people, types we’re all familiar with. It’s hard to fully form minor characters, but I try not to make them caricatures. Since they’re not as in-depth as other characters, people read into them what they want to.

I can’t tell you how other authors do it, just how I do. My characters come to me and form into full people. How they look, how they act and talk, all seems to be there somewhere in my head waiting to be born as a character. Of course, they have elements from real people I’ve known or met, or just seen walking by. But they somehow form into themselves. People assume the protagonist in my books, Bernadette “Bernie” O’Dea is me. She is not. I even gave her curly hair and skin that doesn’t burn like mine just to make her different, but people are going to think what they’re going to think. She may have similar characteristics in some way to me, and think some of the things I do, but she is her own person.

One of my goals when I first began writing mystery novels was to have characters who were more relatable than the ones in books I’d been reading. People who weren’t necessarily gorgeous and super-human and right all the time, but more like the people we know and care about. I believe the people in my books are like that. At least I try hard to make them that way. That said, they are not real people I’ve plucked out of real life and plopped into a book.

Here’s something that may make me sound nuts (if my books ever take off to the extent that I’m even a little famous, it’ll become an amusing eccentricity that aspiring writers will try to emulate): The characters in my book actually are alive in an alternate world that’s going on twenty-four hours a day, parallel to the one I live in. I’m often privy to their conversations, meals, and things you’d probably just as soon not know about and will never read in a book. I am not making this up. When I’m in the thick of getting a book written, I’m in that world sometimes more often than the physical one around me. It’s great for writing, but also a pain in the neck when I’m trying to sleep, or have a conversation with a real person, or do any of my money-making work.

In fact, there’s something going on right now that may have something to do with solving the murder. You’ll be able to read about it later this year in Dying for News. Gotta go.

NOTE: Speaking of auctions,  a set of the first three books in the Bernadette “Bernie” O’Dea mystery series is one of more than 600 items in the Harrisville Children’s Center Auction. The online auction goes on all month, but go and check it out. There are many books, tickets to events, gift certificates and more. You can even sort by type of item if you don’t want to browse 600-plus items. The children’s center does great work, so I hope you’ll go ahead and bid on something.

Posted in Maureen's Posts | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Why Revising This One Is Such A Slog

Posted on March 18, 2024 by kaitlynkathy

That ought to be a question. Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here, today writing (complaining) about my progress (or lack thereof) in revising the historical romance originally titled Firebrand (Harper Monogram, 1993) into a better, shorter book to be reissued under a new title, probably Treacherous Visions. Dangerous Visions or A Dangerous Gift would have been better, more accurate title choices, but other books, by authors better known than I am, have already used them and I’d just as soon pick something different.

Title aside, although I’m still using the points of view of both the hero and the heroine (as most romance novels do), it has become much more a life story than a love story. It may always have been. The proposal I submitted began this way: “In the twentieth century she would be called a psychic or a channeler or perhaps a person with a gift. In the first part of the seventeenth century there were other names for such people—names like witch and heretic.”

From the back cover of the original paperback

The basic premise is that when my heroine, Ellen, steps onto a spot where powerful emotions remain from a past event, she experiences that event as if she was a participant. The trancelike state she enters, if only briefly, is treacherous.  Those who observe it fall into two categories—those who suspect she is possessed, or worse, and those who think they may be able to use her “gift” for their own advantage. Either way, she’s on dangerous ground.

map of Norumbega in 1570

After I got my rights back and had reissued Firebrand as an e-book, I plugged it in my “Backlist Tuesday” posts on Facebook with variations on this text: “Part of this novel is very loosely based on stories about an ancestor of mine and his maidservant. The whole family was banished from Plimoth Plantations because she dared smile in church. Most of the book, especially the paranormal bits, is strictly fiction. The story starts in England, then moves to colonial New England, where Ellen Allyn’s visions put her at risk. Her only hope of survival lies with dashing adventurer and treasure-hunter Jamie Mainwaring, who is searching for the legendary city of Norumbega in what is now (more or less) Maine.”

My ancestor, by the way, was also banished from three settlements in what would later become Rhode Island, including Roger Williams’s Providence, before founding a colony of his own at what is now Warwick, Rhode Island. I based my children’s book, Shalla, on another part of his story.

The first time around I had a short deadline—three months to go from a one page synopsis to a 100,000 word book. Now I have as much time as I want to take and can cut as much excess as I like, but it’s still turning out to be a slog. At least this time around I don’t have a stress headache, as I did for the entire three months. The problem now is that a lot needs fixing.

Looking back, I suspect that part of the stress was caused by having been assigned a new editor. The revision letter she sent me suggests that she didn’t read a lot of historical fiction. She wasn’t sure what “tumbled” meant (and this was a romance editor!) and she questioned the well-established fact that among English sailors in centuries past it was a badge of honor not to learn how to swim. Her biggest complaint was that the hero and heroine spent too much time apart. Since that was crucial to the story, I compensated by having them think about each other whenever they were separated. I’ve ended up cutting most of those bits. Aside from being pretty sappy, they don’t ring true in a macho adventurer living in the 1600s.

Oddly enough, this editor thought I had included too much historical detail. In historical novels, the usual complaint is that there isn’t enough. I will admit to way too much “telling” when I should have been “showing” and that’s one of the things I’ve been fixing, along with cuts for wordiness and repetition and moving around passages that were in the wrong place in the text. The result will be a much shorter book, possibly under 80,000 words.

What New England settlers probably looked like in reality

As I write this I haven’t quite made it to the end of the first revision, but I know I have at least two more passes to go. One will be for continuity and to fix the fixes, possibly adding back bits I shouldn’t have cut and/or adding new material to make it clearer why a character behaves a certain way. The final revision will be an attempt to root out all the typos that have somehow crept in.

I’d like to say Treacherous Visions will be published soon, but I suspect it’s going to be several more months before it’s ready to launch. If I follow the practice I developed after the three-month deadline debacle, I’ll be letting the manuscript “rest” for at least a few weeks between each revision.

Meanwhile, stay tuned. In my April post I’ll be writing about the challenge of finding the right cover art to fit this story.

 

Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett has had sixty-four books traditionally published and has self published others. She won the Agatha Award and was an Anthony and Macavity finalist for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category. In 2023 she won the Lea Wait Award for “excellence and achievement” from the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. She was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor in 2014. She is currently working on creating new omnibus e-book editions of her backlist titles. Her website is www.KathyLynnEmerson.com.

 

Posted in Kaitlyn's Posts | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Weekend Update: March 16-17, 2024

Posted on March 16, 2024 by kaitlynkathy

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson (Monday), Maureen Milliken (Tuesday), Sandra Neily (Thursday) and Dick Cass (Friday).

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

A table outdoors with books and bookmarks on it, with popup canopies int the background over tables of books, and people milling about.

My setup at the 2023 Maine BookFest, with fellow Maine Crime Writer Vaughn Hardacker (back to camera) doing some serious pitching in the background. This year’s will be the last weekend in August, in Waterville, with details to be announced.

Maureen Milliken here, just giving everyone a heads up to keep an eye out for details for the second annual Maine BookFest. Last year’s, in Hallowell, was a huge success, and the upcoming one promises to be even better. This year’s will be a two-day event the last weekend in August in downtown Waterville. There will be opportunities coming up for authors to sign on. Readers, too, will be thrilled with everything that’s planned. I’ll post an update once more information is available!

If you’re a short story writer, Sisters in Crime New England is offering a webinar on writing short stories with Michael Bracken tomorrow from 3-5. Here’s the registration link. Note that we share these with non-chapter members but hope you’ll consider becoming a sister or brother.

https://sistersincrime-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_V5FBAkZlTCeqRvEbsRLlzw

NEVER TO EARLY TO GET IT ON YOUR CALENDAR!  Maine Crime Wave Conference! JUNE 14-15, 2024.   In Portland Maine, on the USM Campus (at the beautiful Glickman Library that gives us a great view of the city).  Fun starts around 5 pm on Friday night and continues all day Saturday.  Fabulous authors will be talking, and mingling, networking opportunities galore, games, classes and more. Mark your calendars!

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business, along with the very popular “Making a Mystery” with audience participation, and “Casting Call: How We Staff Our Mysteries.” We also do programs on Zoom. Contact Kate Flora

Posted in Sunday Updates | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Character Shopping

Posted on March 15, 2024 by mainecrimewriters

Kate Flora: From time to time, I nudge myself away from my keyboard and go out character shopping. Sometimes I character shop on vacation. Sometimes at the mile 25 rest stop on the Maine turnpike. Last summer, Maureen Milliken and I set up our table of books at the Brunswick, Maine Art Walk, and it was a wonderful place to do some shopping. Yes, we were there to sell our books. But with the flow of people coming past, and the many who stopped to chat and sometimes buy books, we were offered a rich bounty of diverse characters to file away for use in a future book. The tattoos alone were worth the price of admission.

Being observant is part of a writer’s job. Back when I used to teach writing, I used to make my students carry notebooks or index cards, and each week they were required to come into class and share something they’d observed. One student came into class the second week empty handed and reported that she’d seen noting of note. A few follow up questions revealed that she had traveled on the subway day after day and not seen anything interesting. Further questioning revealed that she had always been plugged into a device. I told her to take out the earbuds and look around. The next week, she had something to share.

There is so much to observe if we’re willing. The way people dress. How they carry themselves. Hairstyles. Gait. Unusual accessories. What is written on a sweatshirt or tee shirt? Footwear–Sneakers, boots, flipflops or something else? If I step back and watch, I can gather many useful traits simply from observing how people share (or don’t share) the space in the Trader Joe’s produce section. There’s the man who parks his cart and himself blocking a five or six foot span of produce and then makes a phone call to someone checking on what he ought to buy. There’s the sour-faced woman who systematically picks up and examines every bag of carrots. There’s the mom and small child who consider which cheese will be the perfect snack. One of my writing prompts for students was for them to notice an unusual accessory or item of clothing and use it as the jumping off point for creating a character. Another was the girl in the pink skirt (which I will paste in below) using how different people reacted to that pink skirt.

Voice is also something to observe. Tone. Phrasing. Word choice. Accents. Subject matter.

The Maine Mulch Murder by A. Carman Clark

I always think back to my mother’s comment. She’d given the draft of The Maine Mulch Murder to readers, and one of them had gotten back to her with this: Mrs. Clark, I don’t believe everyone in your imagined small Maine town sounds like a seventh grade English teacher. I try to keep that in mind when I’m introducing new characters. Although I used to give my students a “License to be Nosy,” not everyone is comfortable with that. Our mothers were clear about minding our own business. One tip that I discovered for students interested in listening in on conversations without seeming nosy was to linger in a dressing room at Marshalls or T.J. Max. It’s a fabulous place for collecting dialogue. If you’re looking for how differing groups of men speak, Dunkin’ Donuts around 10:30 or 11 when they come in for a coffee break can be great. Just get your own coffee, sit at a table, and snoop.

One of my students years ago spoke of liking to go around her neighborhood observing lights coming on as people returned from work and settled into their homes. She called it “Life Shopping.”

Do you character shop? Life shop? How do you go about it?

Here’s the pink skirt exercise:

For the next class, you will write three separate paragraphs viewing the same event from the point of view of three very different characters, seeing the action through their eyes.  The purpose of this assignment is to make you focus on “voice” in your writing, on how to convey the attitude, vocabulary, world view, etc. of the character who is describing the scene, using your point of view work and your observational vocabulary.

Here is the event:  A woman in a pink skirt, carrying several shopping bags, walks through a mall parking lot to her car.  She puts the packages into the car, gets in, and then, although another driver is waiting for the space, she sits there, not starting the car and driving away.

Think about who else might be in the mall parking lot. In another car.  Walking behind her. Waiting for the space. Then think about how who they are stimulates and colors their reactions to this woman.

Posted in Kate's Posts, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Divertissements

Posted on March 14, 2024 by maggierobinsonwriter

Everything sounds better in French, doesn’t it? Basically, I’m goofing off from eternal editing, holding on to the hope of better days ahead and trying not to go stir-crazy indoors. While I know technically it is next week, a Maine spring really doesn’t arrive until May. Maybe even June, LOL. Here are a few things I’ve read, watched, and done to divert myself from wintry woes and work.

Book: Death at the Dolphin, by Gretta Mulrooney (not to be confused with the same title written by Ngaio Marsh, which I read it ages ago and cannot remember a thing about), the first Daisy Moore mystery. Immediately post World War II, our Cockney codebreaker heroine has burned down her house, and inadvertently killed her mother and cat. To tell you the truth, she’s more upset about the cat. If that sounds a bit harsh, just keep reading for a refreshing change of pace and well-drawn, quirky characters. I’ve just finished the second in the series, Death at Larch Bridge, and hoping for more. Daisy is delightful and a natural detective.

TV: Monsieur Spade, on Acorn. A thousand years ago, I watched The Maltese Falcon but can’t remember anything about that either. The six-part series imagines Sam Spade 20 years later, a widower retired in France and up to his eyeballs in international danger even as he swims nude at his vineyard pool. Clive Owen takes over for Humphrey Bogart in a restrained, ironic performance. The scenery (including his bum) is lovely. Lots of the dialog is in French but don’t worry, there are subtitles. It is a very stylish recreation of the early 60s and almost as good as a drive through the French countryside, although I confess to being a little confused by the plethora of bad guys and gals at the end. A second viewing may be in order.

Film: American Fiction. Where to start? This movie kind of defies description and was deservedly nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.  The fabulous Jeffrey Wright portrays a “serious” writer with a complicated family life, a teaching job he doesn’t really like, and a fierce frustration with the vagaries of race and publishing and race in publishing. The movie is hilarious and sad and surprising, and the nuanced performances are stellar. I now want to read Erasure by Percival Everett, the book on which the movie is based.

Book: Unruly by David Mitchell. Mitchell is a British actor/writer/comedian and treasure. He is entirely snarky and erudite and so quick on his feet your head will spin. (I occasionally watch Would I Lie to You? on which he appears, an improv game show unlike anything you can see on US television. I can also recommend an older 3-episode mini-series called Ambassadors on BritBox, which is blackly funny and co-stars his frequent collaborator, Robert Webb.) Unruly is a history of some of the kings and queens of England which is not at all boring or date-driven. Even if you are not a monarchist (and I am definitely not; the whole concept is ludicrous to me though I do like strong tea and garden parties and the occasional hat), you will be entertained royally.

Spring Cleaning. Yes, it has begun early. I am here to remind you your dishwasher is full of evil slime and mysterious chunks. Perhaps you will recall where all the parts are supposed to go after you’ve removed them for a thorough scrubbing. Closets are being organized, too. Can my desk be far behind?

Do you have any diversions for me? When do you know spring has sprung in your neck of the woods?

www.maggierobinson.net

Posted in Maggie's Posts | 13 Comments

ANCIENT MYSTERY/CRIME IN FLORENCE ITALY

Posted on March 11, 2024 by jselbo

by Jule Selbo

At this moment, I’m sitting in the heart of Florence, Italy –  a five minute walk from the Duomo (the Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore), a one minute walk from the Cathedral San Lorenzo (filled with dead Medicis), three minutes to the Central Market (filled with long scarves (the saying is: wrap a scarf around your neck, you will never be cold) and clothes (cotton and linen shirts and skirts) and leather, leather, leather – gloves, purses, jackets, wallets, key rings, notebook covers, hats, mementoes.  If it’s not the smell of tomato sauce, pizza, lasagna, wild boar, cheese, wine, garlic, basil, oregano, steak, amaro, negronis, coffee (espresso), salamis, all-day cooked pork, cornetos, cream puffs and gelato – the scent that wafts under the nostrils in Florence is probably leather.

My first book FIND ME IN FLORENCE (2019, a mystery romance) was written while I was teaching here – which I did for months at a time for over four years.  When I get the chance to come back and my plane lands on the tarmac in Florence, I get this strange feeling that I am “home”.

There are mysteries and crimes galore in the ancient history of Italy (it wasn’t unified until 1861, so the crimes before that would have to be attributed to the sixteen or so “states” that were basically their own countries with their own laws and governors and political structures).

There is one criminal in the 16th century, who lived mostly in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, who has always fascinated me. It is hot-tempered, violent bad-boy and amazingly talented silver/goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini.

Was he really guilty of all the crimes he was charged with? Assault, murder (more than one, more than three, more than???), embezzlement of items from the Vatican, lots of sword-fighting where he inflicted grave injuries, sex crimes, lying, kidnapping, using diamond dust to poison (oops, no, someone did that to him (but it didn’t work because the assailant had been tricked into buying a fake diamond and when he ground it to dust, it was not lethal and Cellini did not perish. He lived to get his revenge)).

I walk by Cellini’s bust almost every day on the Ponte Vecchio (the most famous bridge in Florence) and marvel how he’s beloved despite his aberrant life – and marvel at how his amazing artistic talent always got him out of jails/prisons/serious scrapes. He was once sentenced to prison at Castel d’Angelo in Rome (formerly Emperor Hadrian’s tomb, built around 138 AD, it became a fortress, then was a prison, the a vacation home for Popes). Cellini earned his spot here because of his stealing jewels from the Vatican (that big place that was in the Papal State).

                                    

Hadrian’s Tomb – model (originally the tomb was covered with white marble) and what it looked like around 16th century (I think…)

Originally, Cellini was put in a dank, well-guarded cell, but after an escape attempt, he was put into solitary confinement. He was lowered by rope through a small hole in the second or third story prison floor – lowered  thirty-forty feet into a cold, narrow thick-stone cell.

The entry the prisoner was dropped through — descending through the shaft and landing on the dirt floor of the stone cell.

The entry hole was covered, the prisoner was kept in complete darkness. The dimensions of the cell were such that he could not sit – or lay down. He had to remain standing – the only movement allowed was a very slight bend at the waist. Rotting food was tossed down from above every other day, he was left absolutely alone, standing in blackness with his feces and urine. Most prisoners who had been put into this kind of cell lasted a month – most perished from losing their minds. However, Cellini withstood it for almost a full year; he was finally released because one of the Popes wanted a new dinner-set of silver (forks, knifes and spoons) – and it had to be of the highest artistic quality, of course. So Cellini, the best and most famous silversmith in Italy at the time, was lifted out of his cell. Cellini fulfilled the dinner-set commission and then was banished to France.

Just some of the talent that kept Cellini’s head on his shoulders during his criminal years:

                              Some are delicate, some are bigger than life-size

Cellini was vain, loud and an extrovert. If other men looked at one of his mistresses or young male lovers, their lives were usually threatened (and sometimes they were killed by Cellini). His ego was very very healthy and his life was chaotic.

His autobiography (written around 1560) is a study in how a person can rewrite his own history. He minimized or revised his criminal behaviors and made himself a star of the 16th century.

Still, I wonder why this mad, criminal, amazingly talented guy gets a prime spot on the Ponte Vecchio…

Notes from Italy, March 2024

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Weekend Update: March 9-10, 2024

Posted on March 9, 2024 by kaitlynkathy

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Jule Selbo (Monday), Vaughn Hardacker (Tuesday), Maggie Robinson (Thursday) and Kate Flora (Friday).

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

We thought it would be fun to share the occasional publishing opportunity that crosses our paths. So here’s one. The Thalia Press is putting together a new story anthology with stories relating to Yellowstone. Visited? Had a dark epiphany? Maybe this one’s for you.

Open for Submissions:

 Or maybe you’re writing a crime novel, and will find this advice useful:

How to Write a Fight Scene the Delivers a Knockout Punch – Colin Conway/High Speed Creative, LLC

Matt Cost is ecstatic to announce that Velma Gone Awry is a finalist for the Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem Cozy and not so Cozy Mystery Award. Whew, that’s a mouthful. Cost was recently on the podcast Sunday Tea with V talking about Velma. Check it out HERE. Diane Donovan just gave Pirate Trap an excellent review for the Midwest Book Review. Check it out HERE. Are you wondering what you will be doing on March 27th? Pre-order Pirate Trap now and you can be reading it then. Order HERE. Cost has over thirty book talks planned for April to August, mostly in Maine, mostly at libraries. Check back here for dates, times, and places.

Maureen Milliken is thrilled to announce that her Bernadette “Bernie” O’Dea three-book mystery series is now available in its republished format, courtesy of Nevermore Mystery Press. The books feature new covers, new edits, and some updates.

Redimere, Maine, may be remote and beautiful, but there is nothing peaceful and quiet about the northern Maine town. Just ask newspaper owner and editor Bernadette “Bernie” O’Dea, who, with Police Chief Pete Novotny, try to stay afloat against a rising tide of corruption, betrayal and murder

The books – COLD HARD NEWS, NO NEWS IS BAD NEWS, and BAD NEWS TRAVELS FAST – are available on Amazon, at Sherman’s book stores, Oliver & Friends Bookshop in Belgrade Lakes, and, since they’re distributed through Ingram, available to order from your local book store if they’re not on the shelf. You can also ask your library to order them if they don’t already have them. You can also find them, and more information, on maureenmilliken.com. [NOTE: Due to a glitch because there’s a new publisher, it’s hard to find the new Cold Hard News format in paperback on Amazon. Please try this link. Hopefully, I will be able to clear up the issue soon!] DYING FOR NEWS, the fourth book in the series, is due out this summer.

Jule Selbo is working on 7 DAYS while looking at a lot of statues and gods and goddesses in Italy (you know they are gods because they can be naked, statues of mere mortals are wearing the clothes).  Her first novel, FIND ME IN FLORENCE (mystery romance) was written while she lived in Florence (teaching screenwriters that most writing chops are perfected with from hours of doing it, not talking about it). Seems as if Florence is inspiring her (me) again – I have started a series of short mystery stories that take place in Florence. MAINE CRIME WAVE is coming up June 14-15 everyone!  The line-up and speakers and award-winners is great  – put it on your calendar!

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

And a reminder: If your library, school, book club or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business, along with the very popular “Making a Mystery” with audience participation, and “Casting Call: How We Staff Our Mysteries.” We also do programs on Zoom. Contact Kate Flora

Posted in Sunday Updates | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

What Do Baseball & Crime Writing Have in Common

Posted on March 8, 2024 by joesouza

Baseball and crime writing? Trust me, I’m not coming out of left field with this blog post.

Spring training has started and as a Red Sox fan I’m pretty excited for my team’s prospects. The Sox have a new manager and some great players. The new season is like starting to write a new book. It’s a time of optimism and fresh ideas. “Batter up” I think to myself every time I sit down to write.

As a writer of crime and thriller novels, I can’t help but see the parallels between a good crime novel and a baseball game. Can the phrases “stealing a base” and ‘stealing signs” merely be coincidences? How about Curt Schilling’s bloody sock in 2004? Or Dwight Evans memorable catch in the 1975 World Series, stealing a home run off Joe Morgan and winning game six? Love it when a new pitcher “comes out of the pen.” There’s even a “three strikes” law that puts criminals away for life. And let’s not forget that the dreaded Yankees wear pinstripes.

Writing a novel is a lot like a baseball game in many respects. Both have set parameters. My novels tend to run between 80 and 120 thousand words. A baseball game is nine innings, although there’s extra innings if the game is tied in the ninth. In both, it’s crucial to get off to a good start. In both, it’s important to keep the pressure on in the middle, whether that be a compelling subplot or putting in a competent middle reliever or pinch hitter. Then you have to finish strong. In baseball that means clutch hitting and solid defense combined with a shutdown closer. The crime novelist, as well, needs to round all the bases and write a killer ending. Sometimes the ballgame goes into extra innings, just as sometimes the author needs to add more scenes to adequately close everything out for the reader’s benefit.

The goal for us writers when we start our novel is to “hit it out of the park.” Is it any wonder why baseball and literature is so tightly entwined, especially the Red Sox? Parker’s Spenser was a big Red Sox fan. Authors past and present loved the Sox including Doris Kearns Goodwin, John Updike and Steven King. In fact, King wrote a novel called The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon about a girl who got lost in the woods and survives by thinking about her favorite Red Sox pitcher.

Fenway Park is an iconic landmark and shown in many Hollywood dramas. I even used it as a setting in one of my earlier horror novels, when I was writing in that genre. My favorite scene in the movie The Town, based on Chuck Hogan’s crime novel, Prince of Thieves, takes place in Fenway Park. Ben Affleck’s character and his gang pull off the heist of a lifetime when they sneak into Fenway Park dressed as Boston cops, and manage to make their way into the cash room, stealing millions.

A new year for the Red Sox brings with it much optimism and hope for a winning season. Just as the Sox hope to have a great year, so are all of us crime writers. As the Sox open the season in April, I too will step up to the plate with my new thriller, THE ANCHORMAN’S WIFE, which was published 10/272023. Hope you can check it out and let me know if I “hit it out of the park.”

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments

The Maine Cabin Fever Add-on

Posted on March 7, 2024 by John Clark

John Clark pondering the sorta survival of another Maine winter. I say sorta because it ain’t over yet and I daren’t count the lost parts and number of chips and dings in my psychic paint job. We’re at that sketchy point where we can’t distract ourselves by watching football, The Red Sox are already written off, and there’s too little ice to venture upon should we want to fish.

There are, however some new, or remaining distractions. Black ice is in plentiful supply, and there are so many potholes, you don’t dare glower at the jerk in the other lane (or in love with your tailpipe) for fear of dropping into one as big as the one that claimed Aunt Thelma and her 1978 Buick last Sunday. It was kinda nice that the Foursquare Gospel Baptist Church in East Bumtwinkle adapted on the fly, combining the outdoor teen baptism with her funeral on less than two hours notice. And let us not forget a most enduring Maine tradition, the March town meeting. Sadly attended by only citizens looking at fifty in their rear view mirror (save for the occasional gullible soul who just moved here from Massachusetts intent upon pontificating to the cynical), it’s guaranteed to provide distraction and comic relief, not to mention sinful whoopie pies sold at the break by the church ladies, all proudly displaying their recently acquired tri-color Jesus tattoos. The more enterprising PTAs and fire departments in towns north of Augusta also put on the classic bingo version known as Bullshit. Cards have a one or two word catch phrase in each square like, ‘in my opinion’, ‘rollin’ in his grave’, Damn teachers’, and ‘we cant afford it.’ Whoever fills in a line first, jumps up and hollers ‘Bullshit!” They get half the pot.

In the spirit of helping you faithful readers here at MCW, I’ve come up with a new challenge to ease you through the month of March. I call it the DeLorme Follies in honor of that publication no real Mainer ever leaves home without. GPS is for wimps. Anyhow, below are clues to town names that change quite a bit with the addition of one or two letters at the beginning or end. I’ll add the answers later today. Early favorite at getting the most correct is Sandy Emerson.

1-Add one letter to this town and serve over pasta.

2-add one letter to this town and imagine lute players strolling while singing medieval songs.

3-Add one letter and it sounds like a hint or an aid to solving a crime.

4-Add a letter and you might do this with your stash during a bust.

5-Add a letter and get an oversexed Maine animal.

6-add a letter and this is what the patient hunter did.

7-Add a letter and get a town where everyone could shame you.

8-Add a letter and this might be what a vampire’s wife looks like.

9-Add a letter and this might be a town describing enduring beauty.

10-Add a letter and get a town where no one ever forgets

11-Add a letter and find a town where everything feels icky.

12-Add a letter and get a town full of poultry.

13-Add a letter and get a town where everyone is unsteady.

14-Add two letters and get a town where everyone looks and acts weird.

15-Add a letter and get a town where everything is secured.

16-Add a letter and get a town where everyone is a careless driver.

17-Add two letters and get a town where you might gather with family of classmates.

18-Add a letter and get a town full of nervous people who move a lot.

19-Add 2 letters and get Confederate soldiers.

20-Add a letter and get a town full of hucksters.

************************************************* The answers:

Alfred/Alfredo

Bar Harbor/Bard Harbor

Lubec/Clubec

Wallagrass/Swallagrass

Moosehorn/Moosehorny

Waite/Waited

Cornville/Scornville

Alewife/Palewife

Deep Cut/Deep Cute

Emory Corner/ Memory Corner

Limestone/Slimestone

Enfield/Henfield

Otter Creek/Totter Creek

Rangeley/Strangeley

Teap Corner/Strap Corner

Madrid/Madride

Union/Reunion

Kittery/Skittery

South Arm/South Army

Camden/Scamden

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments