The Invisible Author

I was listening to a saleswoman talking about being invisible to customers the other day and it suddenly struck me what a good point she had. Authors can be invisible while writing and it can be quite helpful.

 I tried to make myself invisible, but I ended up looking like a vampire.

Write a scene and then stop to observe for a moment. Step inside the story and take note of each point you or your character has made.

Let’s say you’ve written a scenario where your character is going to have a confrontation with someone. You’ve described where this is going to take place, but have you mentioned what might be giving your character the feeling that something is wrong before the confrontation?

While your character might be watching out the window, trying to decide what to do next, put her/him in “Freeze” mode. In your mind, you step into the scene. Look around. See what your character sees that you might not have mentioned yet. Does she see a shadow under the tree in her yard? Does she see a pile of cigarette butts outside her door? Is there a muddy footprint  on her porch?

There’s always the possibility none of this will work. Let your character, with you on her heels, take a walk in the park late at night, or through an empty warehouse. Put her/him in “freeze” mode again.

While she or he is standing quietly, you (the Invisible Author) can go anywhere you want to and you can plant some clues. On the other hand, you can decide to let your character be taken completely by surprise. You’ll probably still want to look around and see what will show up in the scene though. It won’t be just two people confronting each other. The surroundings are part of the scene.

The fact that you can put everything on Hold while you snoop around and search for things to make the scene unique can be interesting. I did it in Old Murders Never Die. There was a ghost town called Wolf Creek in the story and I had the opportunity to survey the entire place in my mind while I wrote the book. I even drew myself a map so I‘d know where every building and house sat. I was able to figuratively walk through deserted buildings and streets and see what people had left behind over a hundred years earlier. It was fun being the invisible observer, and it made writing the book more interesting, too.

Taking this a step farther, if you’re a reader you might enjoy being an invisible observer, too. You can mentally yell, “Look out!” at a character and, although you’re standing right behind them, they won’t hear you. It’s one more way to be interactive with the story you’re reading.

Another way you, as the Invisible Author, can add to your story is to watch what people are doing, often unintentionally. Maybe your character is in a restaurant asking someone prying questions and the person is nervous. Watch as they fold and unfold their napkin, or tap their fingers on the table top. They could be chewing on their lip, or their eyes could be darting nervously around the room. Maybe this person spills their iced tea when, with shaking hands, they set it on the table. Small actions can be very important.

These are simple things, but as the Invisible Author there’s a whole vista of things or mannerisms open to you. If this isn’t something you already do, then give it a try. As the Invisible Author you might even kick the bad guy in the shins, although he won’t feel a thing. Scratch that and let a dog bite him on the ankle and run away.

Have you been unconsciously snooping in your own book? Are you finding or planting clues your character may have missed? Are you boldly walking around the setting for a scene? Rub your hands together and get busy.

Until next time, enjoy the world of fiction and figure out what you can add to it to make it more memorable.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

Love a good ghost town story? Try Old Murders Never Die – A Sandi Webster Mystery. It’s an oldie but a goodie. 

The Woes of Moving

Well, we’re just putting our house up for sale and looking for another. I thought I’d be smart and repost an old blog, but… It seems I’ve already packed copies of my old posts. Guess I’ll have to come up with something new.

 

One nice thing about packing is that I’m finding things I’d forgotten I had. Nope. I can’t take the time to reminisce about the old days. I’ve got to keep on packin’.

The past couple of years have been life-changing for me and I haven’t done the marketing and promoting I should. Hopefully, once this move is over I can get back on track.

I’m sure most of you have had events that changed your initial plans. It happens. Get back on that horse? I think not. Sometimes it’s better to come up with a new plan. I sure hope that happens soon. I’m smiling because we make plans and God laughs. Maybe we’re too impatient and we need to wait for inspiration.

I’ve read a number of books about marketing and promotion, but I have to admit that I didn’t find any ideas that really put a hem in my skirt – if I still wore skirts.

I’ve talked about name recognition in other posts. Work on getting your name out there so if something changes, readers already know who you are. It’s really helped me, more than you can imagine. Fans! Love those people and they manage to make my day a good one quite often.

I started reading M.M. Gornell’s new book, Rhodes – The Movie Maker. I was really enjoying it, but now I’m packing and looking at houses instead of reading.

In fact, there are several things, in addition to reading, that are going to have to wait – like working on a new book. If I ever get back to it, and I will, it’s titled, Gin Mill Grill. How’s that for an interesting title?

My advice? Even when your life changes, don’t let go of your goals and ideas. Keep plugging along. Inspiration comes from the oddest places, so keep your eyes open and be alert, no matter where life takes you.

Life is a path with all kinds of crazy twists and turns, and left turns when you’re anticipating taking a right turn. Make the best of it. Roll with it. At the moment I’m tired and I can’t think of any other good clichés. Maybe next week.

No matter what else, get your name out there. Respond to the posts of others, leave reviews, create an Internet presence for yourself, and maybe build a website. Let people know who you are and what you do.  And most importantly, do what you do best – write.

Until next week, have a good, quiet week and enjoy yourself. Or, have an exciting week and see if your week presents some good story ideas. Ah, just have fun.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a  quick trip to Amazon.com

Here's a little promotion: Check out Entrance to Nowhere - A Sandi Webster Mystery. It involves kidnapping, hacking, cybersecurity and a few other current issues. 

Back Cover Artistry

I'm not expecting you to read this. It's just an example of a back cover. : )

What is it about a book that grabs your attention, other than the story itself? I was talking to a mystery reader (who just happens to be my daughter), and she said when she’s browsing for books she’ll pick up one with a great cover or a catchy title and proceed to the back cover to see what the book’s about. If the back cover description doesn’t grab her then she puts the book back. That sounds like a pretty simple process of elimination – and it is.

Of course, don’t we all do that? Probably not, but that back cover is so important. As a reader, I want to see what the story is about. If the author gives too much detail it can sometimes give the story away. Not enough detail bores me. There’s got to be a happy medium.

The problem is, how do you take a full-length novel and reduce it to a paragraph or two (or three)? You pick out tidbits from the story that will pique the reader’s interest.

An example comes from the back cover of Old Murders Never Die – A Sandi Webster Mystery.

“Sandi Webster, private investigator, and her partner, Pete, become stranded in an old ghost town inhabited by a mysterious cowboy and haunted by some Old West Murders. What better way to spend a well-earned vacation than running down old clues and searching vintage houses that haven’t been entered in over a hundred and twenty years? Bubba, Sandi’s half wolf/half Golden retriever, keeps the action moving in his own quirky way, along with a big black horse and the mysterious cowboy.”

I’m no expert, but I managed to include the main characters, the location of the story, a dog and the fact that there were murders committed in this old town. Oh, and it seems to be clear that the town was abandoned and no one has visited it for many years. Stranded in a ghost town with a mysterious cowboy? A little more to whet the reader’s appetite.

Tidbits.

Just like your story, the first sentence will hopefully grab the reader. How about: “What could purple cows and elderly spies possibly have to do with each other?” There’s more to the back cover description than that one sentence, but didn’t it kind of grab you? (I hope.) I mean, purple cows and spies? (From How Now Purple Cow – A Bogey Man Mystery)

Patricia Gligor grabbed my attention with the first two sentences on the back of Mixed Messages – A Malone Mystery. “It is estimated there are at least twenty to thirty active serial killers in the United States at any given time. There’s one on the loose on the west side of Cincinnati…” Many readers are fascinated with serial killers. This would definitely grab their attention.

Two more back cover examples: “A hot air balloon, lost children in the woods, and a collie litter with a supposed curse on it draw Jennet Ferguson into a deadly confrontation.” (Another Part of the Forest by Dorothy Bodoin)

“While illegally digging for Anasazi pots in an ancient cliff dwelling, Hubie Schuze unexpectedly grasps a human hand. He was hoping for an artifact, not a handshake…” (The Pot Thief Who Studied Billy the Kid by J. Michael Orenduff) Humor works, too.

These are all part of back cover blurbs that would make me take a good look at the book. Pick out the most enticing parts of the story, but be careful not to give the story away. You want the readers to be curious. You want them to long for more, to search for answers to the comments on the back of the book, to think, “Yes! I must read this, and I must do it now.” Okay, that’s what we all hope for, and we try to stir up all kinds of feelings in just a paragraph or two.

I looked at the back of a lot of books sitting in my bookcases, and some writers have brought this to an art form. I have to admit, though, that some of the books got my attention just from amazing art on the covers. We’ll talk about that another time.

What are some of your favorite one-liners on the back of books?

Until next time, browse to your heart’s content until you find a book that grabs your hand and won’t let go.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

Try the back cover of Entrance to Nowhere - A Sandi Webster Mystery.

Note to Self

A long, long time ago I wrote a post about the appearance of characters, and by that I mean their physical appearance. I get so busy with other details when I’m writing that I sometimes forget how much appearance can define a character.

Sometime back I watched a vintage movie (1932) titled Penguin Pool Murder, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So many times the acting in old movies is corny, not at all what we’re used to seeing now, but this one turned out to be quite a surprise. The heroine in this story is a prim school teacher named Miss Hildegarde Withers, and she’s quite a character.

I discovered, to my surprise, that this movie was based on a series written in the thirties about Miss Withers and written by Stuart Palmer. So I ordered a couple of the books to read because I wanted to see if they were as good as the movie. They’re even better, but that’s not where I’m headed.

 

 In reading Murder on the Blackboard (also by Stuart Palmer), I discovered that I’m going to have to rethink my descriptions of characters in my books.  Let me give you a few examples of why Mr. Palmer made me feel derelict in my writing.

In describing one of the characters, he wrote, “He was a man of medium size, with a thick head of colorless hair and a face that was seamed and wrinkled as a potato left too long in a damp, dark place.” Colorless hair or not, that was a colorful description. I think this type of writing makes the characters come to life for the reader.

Miss Withers isn’t approximately forty, but she’s in “the neighborhood of forty – the close neighborhood…” Her face has “most of the characteristics of a well-bred horse.” Excellent!

Too many times I don’t go into enough detail about the appearance of characters. That’s coming to a screeching halt (I hope). So what if one female character is short with red hair? Who cares if a man has a small scar at the corner of his mouth. And so what if Sandi has longish light brown hair? Surely the redhead has something like freckles that form a smile on her arm to distinguish her. Maybe she has skin as pale as the full moon in the midnight blue sky. Maybe the man with the scar has eyes that dance from object to object but never really look at anything, and they’re draped by eyebrows that a lawn mower couldn’t help. Does Sandi’s brown hair have highlights that leap out at you in the sunlight? She must have some distinguishing features that set

her apart from every other woman.

So from here on out, I’m going to work on my descriptions a little more. They don’t have to be lengthy, just memorable. I have one character that I really like, and I described her this way: “The door opened again and a very short gnome-like woman with a slightly hunched back pulled the door wide, inviting me in.  She had scraggly short white hair, huge dark brown eyes, a bulbous nose that was too large for her face, and she looked around eighty. Her ears, slightly protruding, were also a bit big for her face.  She hugged a housecoat around her middle.” I might have pulled this description off, although I was off the mark by not having her look like a Mrs. Potato Head.

Writers need to read the books of others because sometimes it opens our eyes. Maybe no one else would have read Murder on the Blackboard and had the epiphany I did, but in this case it just might have been the reminder I need to write more outstanding characters (at least in appearance).

Let’s see. “He had the ears of a fighter. What do they call those? Oh, yeah, cauliflower ears. He’d been punched too many times. His nose resembled a volcano after an eruption.” No, that needs more work.

Do you ever find that reading someone else’s work makes you take a second look at your own? Thank you, Mr. Palmer, for reminding me that there’s more to a story than just the storyline.

Until next time, have a great week and think about the people you see around you. How would you describe them?

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

JUST OUT! Black Butterfly – A Bogey Man Mystery will take you to the world of thugs and goons, seniors and kids, and Chris and Pamela Cross.