Empowering Women through Fiction

Women in today’s fiction are often brave, confident and self-sufficient. In this respect, they reflect modern society.

In the Kim Reynolds mystery series, for instance, Kim, a quiet, introverted librarian of moral integrity, solves murders. She teams up with tough Bert St. Croix, police detective and woman of color, as well as her fiancé, Lt. Mike Gardner.    

In BLOOD FAMILY, 5^th novel in the series, Kim is intent on finding her biological father. Unfortunately after locating him, James Shaw dies unexpectedly. It is up to Kim to connect with the family she has never known. In doing so, she discovers a half-sister who is in need of emotional support. Kim is concerned that Claire Shaw is being exploited and wants to help her. Kim also learns that Claire’s stepmother died under mysterious circumstances and her stepbrother disappeared. When Kim becomes involved, her life is placed in danger, but she refuses to stop her pursuit until the truth is uncovered.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088D4QZPP

There are many empowered women in mystery fiction, Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple for one. The P.I. novel was male-dominated until the late 1970’s and early 80’s when writers such as Sara Paretsky, Marcia Miller and Sue Grafton began creating women investigators who were as tough as men. These novels offered more in-depth characterization and, in the case of Paretsky, a social agenda.  

In romance fiction, no longer is the-too-dumb-to-live female in distress who needs rescuing particularly popular. Women want to read about females with strength of character who are the equal and can go toe to toe with an alpha male. Jayne Ann Krentz’s romantic suspense novels are good examples. Nora Roberts also gives us strong, competent female protagonists.

Today, more women than ever have an “I can do” philosophy. They often run their own businesses, serve their community, while still nurturing their children, and being supportive wives. That sense of female empowerment is increasingly reflected in literature.

Your comments welcome here. What empowered female characters can you think of? As a reader and/or writer what books reflecting female empowerment would you recommend—either your own or those of others?

How Is Coronavirus Affecting the Publishing Industry?

I believe the answer to this question is something that worries writers--and for good reason. Print books in particular are affected. In NJ where I live, the libraries are shut. It is doubtful that librarians are ordering new print books at this time. This is an important part of the publishing business. Brick and mortar bookstores are shut down as well, being deemed non-essential during the pandemic. Virtual book tours are now in demand. But how effective are they?

 Might readers be ordering more e-books? Theoretically that should be the case—but is it? Time will tell.

THE WRITER in its current newsletter observes: “A well-known fact of publishing: Sales of romances rise during tough times. When life is uncertain, most people want something to distract them, not remind them of the unpleasant things happening in their lives. The question is how long, if ever, people will yearn for distraction. Could pandemic books become a thing in the near term? Or are we a decade away from literarily grappling with the outbreak? History suggests the latter…The majority of people aren’t ready to read fiction or nonfiction focused on COVID-19.”

Anne Bogel, who hosts the book-focused podcast “What Should I Read Next?” observes that most of the readers she hears from want a pleasant distraction. People dealing with death, financial issues, and job insecurity in real life probably don’t want to read about those things in novels.

So should we be writing light, fluffy fiction with humor and whimsy? Is this all that publishers will be considering if they are, in fact, considering anything new at all?

Many publishers are currently on hiatus. Some of the small indie publishers have already been driven out of business.

Several fellow authors have written to let me know that their books which were scheduled for release have now been postponed for at least several months, others indefinitely. Fear of the virus currently dominates every aspect of our lives. Many millions of Americans have lost their jobs due to the lockdown of our country. Will these people want to sit at home and purchase e-books to read? Unfortunately, unemployment benefits last just so long.

But let me not be the author of gloom and doom mentality. Hopefully, the worldwide economy will open once again which is already starting to happen and the pandemic will eventually pass into the annals of the history books.

 Americans are nothing if not resilient and adaptable. Perhaps the publishing industry will prove to be as well.

Your thoughts and opinions welcome here.

Publication Day for BLOOD FAMILY: May 15, 2020

Published today by Encircle, Blood Family is my fifth Kim Reynolds Mystery. Each novel in this series picks up where the last one left off in Kim’s life. However, each novel presents a new murder mystery that Kim ultimately solves—with some help from Mike Gardner, her fiancé, who is a Wilson Township, New Jersey homicide detective.

Kim, an academic librarian, is intent on finding her biological father. Unfortunately after locating him, James Shaw dies unexpectedly. It is up to Kim to connect with the family she has never known. In so doing, she discovers a half-sister who is in need of her help. Kim is concerned that Claire Shaw is being exploited and wants to help her. Kim also learns that Claire’s stepmother also died under mysterious circumstances and her stepbrother disappeared. When Kim becomes involved, her life is placed in danger.

Here is a brief excerpt:

Chapter One

“Ma, we talked about this before,” Kim said. She tapped her fingers against the kitchen table in frustration.

Her mother did not meet Kim’s gaze. Instead she looked down at the parquet pattern of the floor, appearing to study it as if she found it fascinating.

“You said when I visited you here in Florida we could discuss it.”

“I guess I might have agreed, but I didn’t promise anything. I don’t understand why it’s so important for you to know.”

Kim allowed an exasperated sigh to escape her. “I need to know my paternity for obvious reasons.”

Ma looked up, a puzzled expression forming on her face. “What difference does it make?”

Was her mother being deliberately obtuse? Why the need to obfuscate? “For health reasons alone I should know. I can’t understand why you’ve refused to tell me.”

“Look, Karen…”

“It’s Kim, remember?” she interrupted.

“I remember all right. But I named you Karen. You will always be Karen Reyner to me, not some name you made up because you were ashamed of your given one.”

So they were back to that again. She sighed in frustration. Nora Reyner wasn’t going to forgive or forget. Yet she’d done so for Carl countless times. Kim shook her head in denial.

“Ma, I know there are things you don’t want to talk about, and honestly, I don’t mean to embarrass you or bring up unpleasant memories, but I think maybe we should talk and discuss the matter. It’s time, and then some. Carl told me when I was fifteen that he wasn’t my real father.”

 “He said he never would tell you. He promised me.” Ma curled her lower lip.

Kim observed the fine lines around her mother’s mouth. Her mother’s hair, salt and pepper gray, now had more salt than pepper. She honestly didn’t like upsetting her mother, dwelling on a past that brought nothing but pain to each of them. Yet it was necessary to know.

“It was better Carl came out and told me. I knew anyway from the way he’d treated me. Just tell me about my paternity.”

For a few minutes, there was a palpable silence in the small kitchen of the condo. “Your real father was decent and caring, but he couldn’t be a father to you.”

“Why not?”

*****

Reviews for previous novels in the series:

The Inferno Collection, Kim Reynolds Mystery #1

“… Interesting characters abound.” Booklist

The Drowning Pool, Kim Reynolds Mystery #2

“…Crime solver. Psychic. Librarian. Kim Reynolds is all of the above. She and police detective Mike Gardner (The Inferno Collection) are together again… Who says academic reference librarians lead boring lives?”  Booklist

The Truth Sleuth, Kim Reynolds Mystery #3

“Readers will enjoy the continuing adventures of Seewald’s conflicted psychic.” Booklist

The Bad Wife, Kim Reynolds Mystery #4:

“It is nearly impossible to put this book down until the very end and even then, the reader is likely to wish the story had never ended because the experience was so intense and satisfying. If we still told tales around a campfire at midnight, I would want to be seated at Ms. Seewald's campfire, that's for sure.” 

Cherie Jung, Over My Dead Body!

*****

Buy Links So Far:

http://encirclepub.com/product/bloodfamily/

paperback:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1645990435

ebook:

https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Family-Kim-Reynolds-Mystery-ebook/dp/B088D4QZP

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blood-family-jacqueline-seewald/1136272609?ean=9781645990437

Comments welcome!

How to Create a Strong Narrative Hook

Spring is a time for creation, of coming alive again. And so it is for authors. Every writer knows that a narrative hook is needed in any successful type of writing. In Ann Garvin’s article “10 Ways to Hook Your Reader” published in the WRITER’S DIGEST newsletter, she lists the following “10 elements to keep a story rolling:

1.                           Begin at a pivotal moment

2.                           Add an unusual situation

3.                           Add an intriguing character

4.                           Conflict

5.                           Add an antagonist

6.                           Change emotion

7.                           Irony and surprise

8.                           Make People Wonder

9.                           Dread Factor

10.                     Keep narrative voice compelling”

Each element is explained by her in detail. Garvin’s key point is that just hooking the reader won’t keep him/her reading unless you offer more. The article is well worth reading.

Here are some additional suggestions for creating initial interest:

1.  You don't want to start the story with your character doing ordinary, boring everyday things like waking up and having breakfast. Unless something important to the story or something amazing is about to happen in these instances, do not start your story with them. You'll only bore the reader. Ask yourself. What type of beginning would keep you reading on? One of my favorite romantic suspense writers, Jayne Ann Krentz, always begins with an exciting action scene. The heroine is immediately in jeopardy.

It’s been suggested we start “in medias res”. Leave out the dull stuff and start with an intriguing narrative hook which requires  provocative dialogue or action scenes. This might mean tossing out several original beginning chapters.

2. Avoid Backstory and Info Dumping at the beginning. Let readers learn about your characters at their own pace. You should treat backstory like it's a spice. Sprinkle it gradually as the story goes along. This will keep readers turning the pages to find out more about the main characters’ backgrounds. A taste of mystery fascinates readers in any genre.

3.  Establishing an interesting setting can also be gradually developed. However, too much description can be deadening. Description is needed when it moves the story or is important to a particular scene. In a fast-paced scene, description can have a negative effect if it’s irrelevant to what’s happening that moment.

4. Bad or wooden dialogue hurts any time in a story. You must have exciting, realistic dialogue throughout but it’s crucial if you want readers to get past the beginning.

5.  Don’t force introductions of your characters at the beginning of your story. Introduce characters as they are needed and when they are doing something important. Introduce your characters gradually unless the very beginning calls for all characters.

6. Telling and not showing can kill any book no matter how good the plot is. Readers want to "see" what's going on, not have the author point it out to them. Avoid long passages of narrative. Use dialogue and make readers interested at first glance.

7. Avoid using flashbacks or dreams to begin the story. Neither one works well in hooking readers. Get into the action right away.

Anything you would like to add or remove from this list is welcome for discussion.

How to Create the Right Book Cover

Every publisher and every author wants a book cover that will draw reviewers and readers. “A cover only has seconds to make an impact,” says Becky Rodriguez-Smith, Design Services Manager at BookBaby. “Our purpose is to create visuals that will grab a potential reader’s attention so that they click on the book to read more about it. To that end, the bolder the better.”

Last week, I interviewed Deirdre Wait, a well-known cover artist with a distinguished career. Having such a designer create many of my covers for publishers has been a plus. But whether you have a professional creating your cover art or are doing it yourself, there are certain important factors you should keep in mind.

It stands to reason that writers want to create an appealing cover that draws the eye. Cover art can make or break a book especially if the author isn’t well-known. What kind of front cover will grab the reader’s attention? What kind of cover art should a book display?  A lot depends on the genre of the book itself. The cover should be appropriate to the type of book. A basic question to ask: is the book going to be sold on the shelf of a bookstore or is it going to be available only online? Is the novel going to be a hardcover, trade, paperback, e-book or audio—possibly all of these?

With hardcover fiction books, as with all others, the cover needs to fit the genre, be attractive, while the title should be easy to read and intriguing. Cover art needs to play fair with readers so that they don’t feel cheated when they select a book.

Paperbacks need simplicity in covers. The artwork should also support the title and the genre. E-book covers shouldn’t be too fussy or busy either. The old saying “less is more” works best for a book cover that’s displayed online. A short title with a large, easily readable font and bright contrasting colors shows up well on the computer screen. Publishers want to avoid covers that are complicated and hard to read. Plain, simple graphics are preferable.

What are the qualities of a good cover?

We are able to read the title and author and all subheadings with ease.

The image that doesn't interfere with the written information.

The book cover is memorable: simple yet vivid and pleasing to the eye.

The theme is expressed by the image and in keeping with the genre of the book.

The bottom line for good book covers is that they make you want to read what's inside.

Here is the cover for my latest novel BLOOD FAMILY,  5^th Kim Reynolds mystery. It was designed by Deirdre Wait and the novel will be published May 15th:

http://encirclepub.com/product/bloodfamily/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1645990435

What are your feelings regarding cover art? What draws or attracts you to a novel? What do you dislike or prefer not to see?

Interview with Cover Artist Deirdre Wait

Deirdre Wait has been a graphic designer for more than 25 years, and a book cover designer for more than 18. She got her start as a newspaper advertising designer with Community Newspaper Company (CNC) in Massachusetts, eventually becoming a senior designer responsible for some of CNC’s top clients as well as promotional and marketing materials for the company. To expand her design and layout skills, she also worked in the editorial department as a paginator. That job led to a position with Wheeler Publishing—then, a small independent Large Print publisher—as a book paginator. After Wheeler was purchased by Thorndike Publishing in Maine, Thorndike hired Deirdre as a freelance book cover designer, and her main focus has been designing for and promoting books ever since. She and her husband Chris—also a graphic designer—under the business name High Pines Creative have designed covers for Five Star Publishing, Thorndike Press/Wheeler Publishing, and Encircle Publications, as well as ENC Graphic Services, and a number of independent authors.

Question: Who or what inspired you to become a cover artist?  Why did you select this particular type of work?

As the saying goes, that’s a long story, but to shorten it, I sort of stumbled into it. I graduated from Stonehill College with a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, but also one course shy of a second degree in English Literature—I didn’t find a lot that I liked in the classes offered for “Electives” so I filled those credits with English literature classes because I have always loved to read, and never had any problem writing papers. The year I graduated was considered at the time to offer a very tough job market, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life at that point, I just knew I wanted to do something creative.

After a couple of random jobs, I got my start as a graphic designer in the newspaper business, designing advertising and marketing material, and eventually working my way up to senior designer. It was there that I met Eddie Vincent. We worked together at the paper for a few years, and then he left the newspaper to take a job with Wheeler Publishing when they were still a tiny outfit in Rockland, MA. He called me at the newspaper one day and asked if I’d be interested in taking a job as a book paginator, and at that point I was ready for a change. So I got the job, really loved it… and six months later Wheeler Publishing was bought by Gale/Thorndike Publishing in Maine. But just when I thought I was losing the first job I ever enjoyed, Thorndike hired Eddie as their production manager to handle the covers for all of their Large Print books as well as their Five Star Publishing line, and Eddie hired my husband Chris and I to design their covers. That was in March of 2002. Since then, I have designed somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 book covers, and over the years I have also done work for a number of independent authors, and a few other publishers—most recently, Encircle Publications, Eddie Vincent’s publishing company.

Question:  What kind of books do you prefer working on? Do you have a preference? Why?

I actually don’t have a preference. What I appreciate the most about what I do is the variety. I am the kind of person who can get bored easily if I have to do anything too repetitive, so I enjoy working on every genre. But if I had to choose, I lean towards what I most like to read, and though I also read every genre, my favorite is historical fiction. I enjoy working with setting, designing around a landscape that lures the reader in. I want them to look at the cover and say, “I want to go there.”

Question:  What part does the author of a book play in choosing the artwork?

I love working with authors to come up with cover concepts. However, some authors know exactly what they want, and others don’t even want to be involved in that part. Not all authors are “visual” people and those authors tend to give me the facts and let me “do my thing.” But I do enjoy working with authors who can visualize what they’d like to see on their covers and can give me the kind of “key words,” if you will, to come up with a way to turn their idea into a design.

Question:   Are authors easy or difficult to work with? Do they prove helpful for the most part?

Yes, they definitely prove helpful most of the time. No one knows their stories better, so sometimes it just takes me asking them the right questions to get the information I need to come up with a good concept. The only difficulty comes when I feel an author’s idea won’t necessarily help sell the book, because that’s what we’re doing with the cover—the book cover is the book’s advertisement. Today you’re not just competing with hundreds of thousands of other books, but these days most covers are viewed as thumbnails on a device, so your cover needs to be able to capture someone’s attention when it’s about a quarter of an inch wide. When an author wants an entire scene from the book on the front, I talk them out of it. Like with many things, simple is better.

Question:   What are you working on now?

I work with my husband Chris, also a graphic designer, under the business name High Pines Creative. We still design Large Print covers for Thorndike, and we work with a handful of independent authors on a regular basis. The bulk of our time these days is spent working for Encircle Publications and ENC Graphic Services, the companies of our friend Eddie Vincent. ENC Graphic Services is Eddie’s book design and production company, offering book cover design, interior design and layout for print and ebook, and help for self-publishing authors. We’re basically a virtual production department. Encircle Publications is Eddie and his wife Cynthia’s publishing company. They publish fiction and poetry, and I design covers for them as well as marketing material, and I manage most of their Facebook posts.

Question:   What advice would you offer to those who are currently considering becoming artists in this specialized field?

READ! I think it’s very important to be a reader if you’re going to design book covers, especially anything historical. I will admit early on I made a number of mistakes on historical novels because I didn’t know enough about the particular subject at the time to get it right. In turn, I expanded the scope of my reading so that I could learn more about certain time periods or other new subjects. Those were the early days. Now, I do quite a bit of research for any book that has anything to do with actual events before I even begin to design a cover. The more I read on the subject, the easier it is to design the cover.

As far as skill acquisition, I learned everything I ever needed to know about design problem solving during my newspaper days. It’s like boot camp for graphic designers. They will put you through the wringer, and throw every conceivable crazy idea at you. It won’t always be fun, but if you can stick with it for a reasonable amount of time, you’ll learn almost everything you need to know, and what you don’t know, you’ll learn how to trouble-shoot for yourself.

*****

Deirdre has done a number of my covers for Five Star as well as now for Encircle. My fifth Kim Reynolds mystery BLOOD FAMILY, to be published by Encircle on May 15th, has a Deirdre Wait cover design. 

Deirdre is available for questions and comments.

How to Create Fiction That Readers Can’t Put Down

 Readers need both emotional and intellectual connection to fiction or they won’t continue reading. If this connection isn’t created, readers will simply say: So what? Then they’ll toss what they’re reading aside and look for something else. Since we writers put their blood, sweat and emotional existence into giving birth to our babies, it’s natural to want our work read. So how do writers create fiction that readers will care about? It’s not a secret. The answer lies with the characters.

Writers must first know their characters.

It is not enough to have a general idea of a character in your head when you start writing. You have to live and breathe the character, know him/her the way you know yourself. In essence, realistic characters are extensions or facets of yourself. My suggestion: Create a detailed written character study of each main character before you begin to write your story or novel.

Here are a few items to consider:

Names
Shakespeare asks: What’s in a name? Clearly, a whole lot. A sweet young thing might have a soft-sounding name while a villain might have a hard-sounding one. What about ethnic names? Are they appropriate or inappropriate for your work?

Another thing you need to keep in mind is not to give characters names that might confuse readers. Names that are too similar in nature--for instance, Jane and Jana--should belong in different stories.
The name of your character will likely cause an assumption of gender, unless you are trying to keep it ambiguous. When I introduced African-American detective “Bert St. Croix” early in the novel THE DROWNING POOL,  the second book in my Kim Reynolds series, it comes as something as a surprise that she is a woman. She is tall, strong and fierce. A more masculine name fits her character. Readers don’t learn her back story right away, only the contrast that she has great sympathy and compassion for those who are in need of help but is tough with criminals. Nicknames are also something to consider. Does your character have a nickname like “Bert" short for “Roberta”? What might that suggest about the character?

Age

Age at the time of the story is significant. Is your story about an adult, a teenager, a child?  Point of view and voice differ with each. Also consider how the time period the character lives in effects personality and beliefs. This is especially important in historical fiction.  In my historical romance SINFUL SEDUCTION, the novel is told in third person narrator from two distinct viewpoints—male and female. They are very different people who are in conflict both morally and politically.

 Also, when the main character is telling the story from a first person viewpoint there may be twists and turns in the plot. The unreliable first person narrator is very common to mystery fiction. Sometimes the reader knows just what the narrator knows while other times the reader deduces more. Dramatic irony can build tension and suspense.

Back Story/Personal History

Although you know your character’s back story or personal history, the reader should learn it slowly, piece-meal, bit by bit. This makes your character interesting and adds an intriguing aura of mystery which causes readers to turn the pages to find out more details about the character.  Avoid info dumping.

Making Your Character Sympathetic

Characters need to be relatable as well as real. This means they need to have good qualities that readers like but also character flaws just like an ordinary person. They also need to have goals and ambitions that they’re striving toward. I prefer to make my main characters sympathetic but complex. Jennifer Stoddard in THE INHERITANCE is a widow raising a small child and in financial distress. Her inheritance complicates her life further by putting her in danger.

Appearance

It’s important to know how your characters look. Not only should you have a picture in your mind but you need to describe in words how the characters appear: short, tall, handsome, beautiful, ugly, fat, thin, eye color, hair color.

Mannerisms are important as well. Does your heroine bite her nails, twist locks of her long hair? Does your hero flex his muscles? Does your villain speak in a soft, menacing voice?

Relationships

Start first with the family members, especially if they are an important part of the story. Who are the parents, siblings and extended family of your character? It’s not enough to just come up with names for them when developing your main subject. What are they like? Provide descriptions, personalities, etc. Are there any problems your character has with them? Kim Reynolds, the academic librarian sleuth first introduced in THE INFERNO COLLECTION, has a complex family dynamic that includes dark secrets.

What about friends? If they play a part in the story, we need to know your main character’s interactions with and feelings about them. In the Kim Reynolds mystery series, Kim comes to love police detective Mike Gardner. Their relationship is complicated in THE TRUTH SLEUTH by the return of Mike’s wife, Evelyn, who becomes THE BAD WIFE in the 4^th novel in this series. Kim and Bert St. Croix also become close friends, and in THE BAD WIFE, they work together and quite literally save Mike’s life.

Personality
 Get to know your character’s strengths and weaknesses, attitudes, fears, obsessions, special talents and hobbies. How does your character think, speak, act? What do other characters say about him/her?

Weave body language in with dialogue. This often creates subtle emotional signals. What is said may be in contrast to what the character actually thinks and feels. Val Williams, the central character in my YA novel WITCH WISH, has a sharp sense of humor, but she is also jealous of her older sister and hurt by her mother’s antipathy.

When you write a scene where there is interaction between characters, try to visualize it as you would see it in a film. There’s nothing wrong with having the image in your mind of real people. It’s also okay to eavesdrop on conversations and be an objective observer which will provide you with material for your writing.

In DEATH LEGACY, Michelle Hallam is a mysterious English woman who has been trained in intelligence work. She is wary and guarded while Daniel Reiner appears to be open and more balanced in his approach to life. They are very different people who come together as lovers and detectives to solve a murder espionage mystery as their lives are placed in jeopardy putting them increasingly in danger. In DEATH PROMISE, the two return to solve yet another murder mystery; their complex relationship remains a key factor in the novel. The bantering dialogue between them shows their differences while being entertaining and advancing the plot.

 Okay, I’ll reiterate a few points:

 1. Be selective in choosing the names that convey what you want readers to visualize about your character.

2. Appearance is important. What does your character look like? Description can convey much about character. But don’t overdo it. As the old saying goes: show don’t tell.

3. What is special about your character’s speech? Are there unique phrases used? Dickens was a master of this. Also, dialogue should seem natural, they way real people talk.

4. Get into the mind set of your character. How does your character think?  James Joyce is a good writer to read for internal monologue technique.

5. How does your character act, react and interact with others?

6. What do other characters say about him/her?

7. Does the entire presentation have verisimilitude? Do your characters seem real and believable?

8. What values and goals are unique to your character?

Your comments, observations and input are welcome here!