Changing times / Happenings In The Outhouse 27-Nov-2020

Back in college and in my early working years, I used to write until the wee hours of the morning.  Looking back only seven or eight years ago, I used to get up at 5:00am to write instead of going to bed so late.  I would write until the kids started to get up for school, then once they were off I'd go back down for another hour of writing before going to work.

Now?

Times are changing.  For the past year or so, I've written some at night after supper, but the bulk is between the kids heading off to school and me getting ready for work.  And with me working from home, I'm writing up until the time I need to clock in to work.

Don't worry if you need to rearrange your schedule if something doesn't feel right.  Time change.  What worked yesterday may not be the best for today or tomorrow.

As long as the work gets done, do what you need to do.

I currently surpassed the 30,000 word mark on my latest thriller.  It's chugging along nicely.  My goal is to complete it by the end of the year.  Fingers crossed.

Using lists wisely / Happenings In The Outhouse 20-Nov-2020

I have written about lists and their importance before.  However, I saw that need come to a head about a month ago as I was struggling to write the next thriller in the Central Division Series.

The story is about a Catholic priest who was brutally murdered and the investigation to find the killer.  And, like all thrillers, there is a lot going on and I kept losing track of some key pieces.

So I made a list.  I made a list of every possible scenario and piece of evidence, and when I addressed it I crossed it off the list.  I can tell you for a fact that this has made a tremendous difference.

But the question I asked myself was why.  Why now?  I've written thrillers before and not needed such a list.

I'm not going to sugarcoat this, so here it goes.  I have a lot going on.  I know I'm not alone in this.  With losing my wife in January 2020 to the global pandemic to working from home, there are good points to this all and some that are more difficult to manage.  So my mind hasn't been all there.

The list helps.

If you find yourself getting sidetracked, see if a list will help get you back on track.  I am currently around the 27,000 word mark on the thriller, and these past few weeks I have seen great progress as I chug forward.

How far to take creative license / Happenings In The Outhouse 13-Nov-2020

I am currently writing a thriller set around the murder of a Catholic priest.  Having grown up a Lutheran, I know little about the inner workings of the Catholic Church.  So I had to do a bit of research.

Yes, I watched the Netflix series The Keepers.  And, of course, I was revolted to wonder how the types of crimes covered in the show could exist within such an organization.  But thinking that all I needed to know about the Catholic Church could be had by watch this show would be like thinking all I needed to know about the FBI could be gleaned from watching the movie Silence of the Lambs.

Absurd, I know.

I have done enough research to be competent in how the Church works for the story itself, and I have a disclaimer stating that I know I didn't get everything right.

However, how far can one take creative license?  I just finished reading a thriller, based on a town not far from where I live.  In fact, the title of the book is also the name of the town--for reasons that will soon be clear, I am not naming it here.  Why?  Because I hated it.  I know hate is such a strong word, but I felt it was one of the worst books I had ever read.  The only reason I read it to the end was because of the town.

In the end, many of the events that occurred became clear due to an unreliable narrator.  Books like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train also had unreliable narrators, and were also books I disliked and had a difficult time reading.  But this one that I recently read was so unbelievable that there was no way things like that could happen.  Ever!

This might be a longer than usual post today, so please be patient.

I also recently read a thriller about a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco area.  The killings spanned across a few decades, with a quiet period in between.  The detective, new to the position, took on this killer's case as it became personal, for her father was the one who investigated the crimes years before.  Now, where the creative license comes into play is at the end.  The detective is immediately recruited into the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit.  Sorry, anyone who knows anything about the FBI knows that this would NEVER happen.  That is not how they get recruits for the BAU.  The author could've mentioned this, how unusual the recruitment was, but failed to do so.

And with that, it fell short.

This other one, about the town close to where I live, just had one event after the other that just would NEVER happen.  One or two things, I can overlook it.  But every single chapter had event after event that was completely unbelievable.  The narrator, an author herself, actually used her father-in-law's name as a villain in a book, portraying him as this cardboard 2-dimensional evil bad guy--sorry, if that happened, she would've been sued big time.  Also, apparently, a big name actress loved her book so much that she called the author personally to say she wants to make it into a movie.  Sorry, this doesn't happen either.

It's okay to take creative license.  And if you feel something it out of the norm, take a moment and mention that.  There is so much more I could say, but I may speak about it again on a later post, one dealing with the notion of an unreliable narrator.

Beholder's Eye is (finally) free in the Amazon Kindle store!

Yes, you heard it right!  I was finally able to get Beholder's Eye, the first novel in the Central Division thriller series free in the Amazon Kindle store.

Here is a link to the store: Beholder's Eye.

Here's the full link from my website.

Create your own genre / Happenings In The Outhouse 06-Nov-2020

I was listening to a podcast the other day with Seth Godin, and he mentioned something that made me stop in my tracks.  The discussion was about many things, but then it turned to subject of genre.  He alluded to the notion of creating your own genre (and he gave an example of Agatha Christie and Earl Stanley Gardner, although both mystery writers they are quite different).

Huh?  Create your own genre?

I know, right?

Think about your favorite YA fantasy books about a wizarding/magic school, and of course one name goes right to the top.  Think about legal thrillers and Grisham comes to mind.  Even though other books/authors play in both of these fields, one appears to be a genre all their own.  But then again, so are the others.

Let's look at the horror genre.  The stories are fairly spread out when it comes to styles and voices, but one author from Maine seems to rise to the stop--it should be noted that said author produced some of his best works in this arena in the 1970's, 80's, and into the 90's; not that he hasn't continued to do so, but I personally have steered away from him for reasons I won't care to indulge.

Down the road a bit, I'm going to delve into the cozy mystery genre.  Although mine will have a slant to them.  I'll expand more when I get to them.  Do all cozy mysteries need to have the same basic elements?  Some would argue yes.  Me?  Nope.  I've been reading a bunch of thrillers, by a variety of authors, and they're all different.  Some don't have the same elements, yet are still considered thrillers.

Write the best worlds you can.  Do them in your own way.  Create your own slice of a genre, if you will.