If you write a mystery series, or if you enjoy reading them, sooner or later the question of “when?” comes up. When is the story set? Assuming it’s not a historical setting, is it current? Like last year? Or a more vague “now”? Or the recent past? And whenever it is, does it ring true? I am finding it is trickier than it sounds.
One way to go is Sue Grafton’s. She has kept Kinsey in 1982, the year the series began. And now it is twenty-four books later! It certainly has the advantage of not dealing with time passing in the plot. The disadvantage is that even if it is a well-remembered period, we do forget details. When did those shoebox size car phones become available? If you want to mention “What’s Love Got to Do With It” playing in the background, was it out in 1982? (Answer: no) Were those Flashdance inspired sweatshirts being worn? (Answer: Not likely. The movie was released in 1983.) So there will be some research and sometimes it will be odd and sometimes you will miss something. (In Mad Men, known for its meticulous depictions of the period, someone pulled on pantyhose when women were still using garters. I remember those.)
Another way is to bring the characters forward in their lives without being too specific about dates. I don’t think Margaret Maron ever pins her Deborah Knott books to a specific news event though they are permeated with a sense of changing North Carolina. That allows for the setting to be a current, but not a defined, now.
(In the recent movie The Intern, Robert DeNiro, playing a seventy year old in current time, is asked his favorite singers, and he mentions a few of the jazz-era greats. Nope. While there is nothing to keep a first year baby boomer from developing a love of jazz—I love it myself—he’d be a lot more likely to name some of the Motown groups, Elvis, the Beach Boys or the Beatles. Or from his college years, the Stones, The Doors, Janis Joplin)
In other words, it is surprisingly easy to fall into that trap of forgetting whose perspective is the one in the story. What happens, I think, is that we start writing story in a certain time, and lose track of how time moves on. And sometimes we might forget that the character’s perspective isn’t necessarily ours!
I started my current series in 2002. I had a mid 30’s grad student heroine with a teen-age daughter. At the time, my own daughters were recently teens and I felt confident I could write that family. It was not as if I had forgotten. (No one forgets those teen years). Events interfered and I did not finish that book until years later. Now my daughters are older than my heroine! And her father is not my parents’ age, the World War II generation, but mine, an early baby boomer. It matters because all of the books have a modern crime but also a historic mystery, not necessarily a crime.
So, I frequently stop and ask myself how old someone is. I regularly cover pages with characters' names and what age I need them to be in the now of the story. If I want them to tell stories of Brooklyn in the 1930’s, when were they born, and what does that mean in terms of their present life? That came up in the new book, Brooklyn Secrets. And in Brooklyn Graves, when I wanted to have a voice from the 1890’s, well, I had to find a box of letters. Ah, I mean, Erica had to find the letters. For the WIP I need a World War 11 voice, and I’m thinking someone needs to have left a diary behind. I have no current plans for using ghosts, but who knows how desperate I might become?
And I am beginning to think Erica’s teen is more like the daughters I raised, talking on the phone to her friends, than teens of this decade who probably text. Or do something I haven't even thought of. I must find an actual parent of an actual, right now teen…
Readers, have you ever been jerked out of a story because you just know the time is all out of joint? Writers, do you have a great technique for juggling that shifty calendar?
Our guest today on the Crime Writers' Chronicle is Rayanne Culpepper, the immensely powerful eminence grise of a New York publishing house which shall remain nameless. She has promised to appear from time to time to tell us our business. Today she shares a few thoughts on book titles.
So you've finished your crime novel. Before you do anything serious with it, you have to make sure it has a good title. Preferably a title that not only bears some relation to the contents of your book, but also helps your book to best-sell.
A cursory examination of the New York Times fiction best-seller lists for the past few years will reveal certain patterns, which you can always analyze and in fact copy (the patterns, that is, not the titles, although it's true that titles cannot be copyrighted). Most best-selling novels are crime novels of one sort or another. Make a list of the recent best-sellers with a view to using them for models. Strike out those that are definitely not crime novels. Fifty Shades of Crime is not a good title, unless your book is what is called a cozy, where any silly title is acceptable but best-sellerdom is not within your reach.
A strong, punchy noun with overtones of menace makes a good best-selling title. Inferno (Dan Brown), The Forgotten (David Baldacci), The Heist (Janet Evanovich), Guilt (John Lescroart), Deadline (Sandra Brown), The Quest (Nelson DeMille), The Racketeer (John Grisham), The Drop (Michael Connelly). Bombshell (Catherine Coulter). Mistress (By James Patterson). If your name is James Patterson you can do anything you damned please, but on the other hand you're not reading this post, looking for advice, are you? So.
A good way to choose a menacing name for your book is to open your Thesaurus (of course you have one) to synonyms for a creepy noun of your choice, say, Murder. Under Killing we find such gems as Slaughter, Assassination, Carnage, Bloodbath, Deathblow, and on and on. All excellent titles for a thriller. You can have them for free. Don't send me your manuscript, I only look at submissions from agents.
If a single word seems too stark and bare, tack a modifier on your menacing noun, as in High Heat (Lee Childs) or Threat Vector (Tom Clancy). Don't say, "in Death." J.D. Robb has a corner on that.
Another winning approach is to use an imperative verb phrase, such as Don't Go (Lisa Scottoline), Fly Away (Kristin Hannah), Don't Say a Word (Barbara Freethy), or Kill Alex Cross (Patterson again). Play around with these concepts. Something appropriate is bound to occur to you.
Some years ago a team led by British statistician Dr. Atai Winkler was commissioned by Lulu.com to study best-selling titles over a fifty-year period. They analyzed some 700 titles, determining whether a title was literal or figurative, the word type of the first word, and the title’s grammar pattern. The result was the "Lulu Titlescorer," a program able to predict the chances that any given title would produce a New York Times No.1 bestseller. You can use it to predict the success of your title. Here's the link:
Dennis Palumbo ends his stunning book WRITING FROM THE INSIDE OUT with a quote by screenwriter Frederick Raphael: "Work is... having pages in the evening that weren't there in the morning."
And his own words: "You. And Your writing. That's all there is. That's all there needs to be. So go. Write!"
If I were doing a book on "Writing," I'd want to say everything Dennis says. Both a gifted writer and a well-known psychotherapist, Dennis tackles the weighty issues that confront every serious writer: Rejection, solitude, fear, isolation, struggles, envy, tumult, joy and triumph! This book is not a manual for the neophyte. Or a person who toys with the art. Rather, it is like going to your own personal guru, who is experienced both as a fellow writer and as a wise shrink.
Informed, compassionate and funny, Dennis gives you the confidence that you ARE on the right track, ARE okay and all WILL be well!
That all your agony on this journey IS worth it!
That you have a compassionate friend, a steady guide and a wise companion - that you are NOT alone!
Author of acclaimed crime novels MIRROR IMAGE, FEVER DREAMS and NIGHT TERRORS ( Poisoned Pen Press), a collection of short stories, FROM CRIME TO CRIME ( Tallfellow Press), Dennis has been a Hollywood screen writer for popular series, including "My Favorite Year" and "Welcome Back, Kotter," short fiction in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, The Strand, articles in the NYT, the LAT, The Lancet, Psychology Today and the Huffington Post. He has been named UCLA "Outstanding Teacher of the Year"!
Today, as a licensed psychotherapist, he works with established screen writers, directors and novelists, often dealing with issues of anxiety, depression and relationship difficulties.
He has stated "The most challenging aspect of crime/mystery writing is the plotting—making sure there are enough twists and turns!" ( Sound familiar, dear friends?)
He makes us feel "If you seek wisdom, sample every tent in the bazaar!"
We are never too smart, gifted, clever, famous, well-published—to think we are above seeking good advice!(From many years in the challenging world of crime writing—as reader, reviewer, writer—I'm always on the lookout for a superior teacher on how to write better or how to navigate the Slippery Slope of Writing Fiction!)
In Dennis Palumbo I've found a writer who is sage, inspired, experienced, exceptional.
I can't wait to begin his new crime novel, NIGHT TERRORS, that sits beside me as I write this page.
Please welcome Dennis Palumbo to our esteemed blog - Crime Writers Chronicle!
Thelma Jacqueline Straw
In my latest Daniel Rinaldi mystery, NIGHT TERRORS (Poisoned Pen Press), the Pittsburgh psychologist and trauma expert is asked by the FBI to treat one of their recently-retired profilers. After a twenty year career inside the minds of the most infamous serial killers, Special Agent Lyle Barnes can no longer sleep through the night. He’s tormented by a cascade of horrifying images, along with intense feelings of dread and imminent danger. Until, sweat-soaked, heart pounding, he wakes up screaming...
He’s not alone. Once considered primarily a pediatric diagnosis, more and more adults are currently being treated for night terrors. Why the upsurge in night terrors in adults? Most clinicians—including therapists like myself—are blaming the increased uncertainty of contemporary life. The economy, terrorism. Even natural disasters, like tsunamis, earthquakes, and super-storms. The daily anxiety suppressed by adults during waking life, now invading their sleep.
And since science hasn’t yet discovered what exactly causes night terrors, treating it can be quite difficult. In my novel, Rinaldi’s approach is to get the retired FBI agent to open up about his years as a profiler. His thousands of hours of contact with the most heinous and notorious serial killers. Since Barnes’ work was his life, Rinaldi believes that the best way to address his nocturnal demons is to get him to open up about the real-life demons with whom he spent most of his career.
Not an easy task, since Lyle Barnes is also the target of an unknown assassin who’s already killed three others on a seemingly-random hit-list...
***
As it happens, I got the idea for the fictional narrative of NIGHT TERRORS from reading about the real-life sleep disorder in a clinical journal. In my dual careers as both a therapist and crime writer, the worlds of psychotherapy and mystery fiction are often equally intertwined.
Take, for example, an institutionalized patient I knew called Angie. All the other patients called her Angie the Android. She was a deeply delusional teenage girl who believed she was actually a machine. Like Pinocchio, her biggest and only dream was to become a real person.
I met Angie the very first week of my internship at a private psychiatric hospital in West L.A. She was one of dozens of schizophrenic patients I worked with at this final stage of my training to be a psychotherapist. It was a thrilling, challenging, enlightening and ultimately humbling period of years. (Even though my former career as a Hollywood screenwriter, working with various film producers and network executives, had already given me valuable experience dealing with psychotics.)
Of course, my internship at the private hospital took place many, many years ago. Now I’m a licensed psychotherapist in private practice, but I’ve woven some of the situations and people I encountered during my clinical training—people like Angie—into my series of crime novels. In fact, it was the opportunity to blend aspects of both my clinical experience and personal biography that prompted me to create the series in the first place.
For starters, my protagonist, Dr. Daniel Rinaldi, is a psychologist. And, although my internship was in Los Angeles, the novel takes place in Pittsburgh, my home town. Moreover, Rinaldi shares a similar background to my own—from his Italian heritage to his love of jazz to his teenage years spent working in the Steel City’s sprawling produce yards. (However, unlike me, he’s a former amateur boxer, and, in general, a lot braver and more resourceful than I am!)
But it’s my clinical experience that most influences my writing, that (hopefully) helps ground my stories and characters in reality. For example, Rinaldi’s best friend, Noah Frye, is a paranoid schizophrenic, his delusions tempered by medication (when he stays on it). Foul-mouthed, funny, and disconcertingly intuitive, this character is based on another real patient with whom I worked.
However, it isn’t just my experience as a therapist that informs some of the material in my crime novels. It’s also the emotions, conflicts and confusions that accompanied my career transition from screenwriter to psychotherapist. To say it was a rocky journey would be an understatement. For one thing, it wasn’t a decision that came easily. Or quickly. After almost 16 years as a Hollywood writer, the idea of changing careers—involving graduate school, years of supervised internships, and the difficulties of setting up a clinical practice—seemed… well… crazy. Frankly, I was so unsure about it that I kept the fact that I’d gone back to school a secret from all but a select group of friends. (It didn’t help that most of them thought I was crazy, too.)
In a similar way, my psychologist hero, Daniel Rinaldi, goes through an emotional upheaval before finding his calling. Though what happens to him is much more painful and life-shattering than merely deciding to change careers. My decision was the result of years of ruminating, of debating the pros and cons. His was in response to a single, overwhelming event—one that leads to his becoming a trauma specialist, treating the victims of violent crime.
No question, what makes the writing of this series so engaging for me is that I’m able to weave together aspects of my clinical training at a psychiatric facility, my current experience in private practice, and the police procedural details of a mystery thriller.
Which is why I knew from the very beginning that the protagonist of my series was going to be a therapist. But not merely because I am one, too.
Let me explain: some years back, I did a Commentary for NPR’s “All Things Considered” in which I lamented the depiction of male therapists in today’s TV shows and film.
In fact, I referenced two iconic images, from two memorable films: In Now, Voyager, kindly therapist Claude Rains walks in the garden with troubled patient Bette Davis. He’s paternal, insightful, and obviously knows what’s good for her.
In The Three Faces of Eve, Lee J. Cobb helps Joanne Woodward parse out the three distinct personalities tormenting her. Like Claude Rains before him, he’s a model of the patriarchal culture, a therapist of unquestionable motives and unimpeachable authority. One of the good guys.
Which raises the question: how did we get from there to Hannibal Lecter?
Because, I testily pointed out, with rare exceptions that’s where we are. And I still think this is true. Whether in print, in film or on TV, male therapists are serving more and more as convenient villains. Instead of being caretakers, they’re portrayed as troubled, predatory, even psychotic. It seems that every other mystery best-seller or Hollywood horror film features a demented shrink. Not to mention TV shows like Law and Order: SVU and the CSI franchises, where a male psychologist or psychiatrist is as liable to be the bad guy as any garden-variety contract killer or spurned lover.
Now I know enough to be skeptical about pop culture’s notion of any profession, but I can’t help wondering what’s going on. How did the image of male therapist go from father figure to the most likely suspect?
Maybe this change simply reflects one that’s occurred in the culture at large. After all, the past forty years has seen a challenge to the whole idea of male authority. In terms of image, professors, doctors and scientists of the male persuation have suddenly gone from being saints to sinners. Same with therapists. No wonder today’s crime novelists, TV and film writers find them irresistable as villains. All that education, respectibility and power, turned to the Dark Side.
But it isn’t just society’s growing mistrust of male authority that turned Lee J. Cobb’s gray suit and pipe into Anthony Hopkins’ face muzzle and leather restraints. After all, the world’s a pretty treacherous, confusing place nowadays. Our most sturdy institutions—government, the church, education—traditionally headed by men, seem to be letting us down. It’s no different with therapy. Whether fairly or not, I believe the way in which male therapists are portrayed in popular fiction reflects a similar disenchantment with both the profession in general, and its male practitioners in particular.
The truth is, nowadays—much like priests—male therapists suffer from the failed expectations of a disillusioned public. Which is why I wanted my series hero to be a therapist. Flawed, yes. Troubled, stubborn, and with a temper. But someone trying desperately to make a difference. To help others on the path to healing, even if only as a way to come to some kind of peace himself.
I guess what I’m saying is, if Daniel Rinaldi’s mission as a therapist is to treat those crippled by trauma, my mission as a writer is to help resuscitate the image of the mental health professional. Particularly male. Particularly in today’s harsh, cynical world.
Which brings me, by an admittedly circuitous route, back to Angie the Android. Believe it or not, we’re all a bit like Angie. We all want, in both our lives and our work, to be real. Authentic. For most writers I know, myself included, it is—as it was for Angie—our biggest and only dream.
That’s why I’m grateful I got to know her, all those years ago. As I am all the patients with whom I’ve been privileged to work since then. Just as I’m grateful for my lifetime of experiences, both personal and professional. Because everything we’ve ever done informs who we are, how we think, what we write.
The Beat poet Allen Ginsberg once said that our main job in life is to track our consciousness. That’s certainly true for patients in therapy. But I believe it’s also true for those of us who feel the need not only to keep track, but to write it down…
A few weeks ago, I attended Malice Domestic, the
traditional-mystery writer/fan convention held every year in Bethesda, Maryland. After a panel, I was chatting with a woman who was working on her first mystery, and I happened to mention that I have another (full time) career. She asked
me, “How do you find time to write?” Okay, as a writer, I know what subtext is.
I knew she really meant, “How can I
find time to write?” So I asked her how much time she was able to spend now? And
for ten minutes, she laid out all the reasons she just couldn’t find time. Her job, her commute, her family and social commitments; the homework, housework, husband. Not enough hours in the day. I didn’t get to say much. I nodded. My
chin(s) got quite a workout nodding.
It’s not the first time I’ve been asked about finding time, but as I listened that morning, I realized how often I hear lists of “Why I can’t”. I began to get a little
frustrated.
It’s not that I don’t sympathize. I do. I spent a couple of
decades not finding time. And there’s an “if only” lesson there I wouldn’t wish
on anyone else.
So, let me get to the point: Novels are written by, well, writing. And then
rewriting. And rewriting. And throwing out everything you wrote the day before
and starting over. Fixing the gaping hole in your plot. Crafting a better
villain. A better story. New writers often believe there’s some magic out there. That
they will wake up one morning not only with time, but also with sudden inspiration whereby the book will
just flow from the fingertips into the computer.
There is no magic. Repeat, please. And again.
From the Shoe cartoon strip (1977-2000). Visit jeff-macnelly.com
If you’re a new writer who hasn't found time to finish (or
start) that book, here's the best advice I have: Right Now, Write Now. Don’t
wait till next month, when you’ve settled into your new job. Or next fall, when
the kids start school. Or next year when your spouse will get that promotion
and you can work part-time. Or when you win the lottery.
You need a routine. You need a commitment. Or you’ll look up
a decade from now, and that book won’t be any further along than it is today. So start today.
Create an honest chart of how you spend your time on weekdays
and weekends. Remember, it’s like the first rough draft of your novel. Nobody has to see it. There will no
judgment but yours.
Are you spending an hour in the evening online, catching up with
friends/family or checking out YouTube? Or watching TV? Are you sleeping in an extra hour on the weekends to make up for your long
work week? Find what you can change right
now. Even if you find only one hour on Saturday mornings and two on Sunday nights,
it’s three hours more than you have now.
Use it. Routine is very important. If you have no ideas ready when your new writing time comes along, hie thee to
the computer anyway. Sit down, open the file and just write. A snatch of dialog, a description of a location. Random thoughts on the page might lead to other ideas. They will at
least get the juices flowing. And don't leave till your time's up.
You’ll get into the habit of writing, and the habit of not doing something else. And then as you make progress, you'll want and find even more time to write — you won’t volunteer for yet another committee (you’ll learn to say,
“Sorry, I just can't do it this time”); you’ll invite friends over twice a month, not
every week; the FB page won't get updated for days; you'll revise chapters in hard copy during lunch; you’ll
make character notes waiting in line at the grocery store; you’ll take a
recorder with you on the treadmill, although “He said (thud, thud, pant, thud, thud, pant),
put the gun down (thud, thud, pant, pant, wheeze, gasp)” can be hard to transcribe
later. Using a recorder during my exercise walks around my neighborhood has
been invaluable in working out dialog, and in showing me how out of shape I am.
Whatever time you can find, find it. But find it now. And eventually you’ll finish the book. It might take three years. Or five. But you'll finish it.
And your new routine will serve you well when you finally sell
that first book and the publisher wants the next one in 8 months!
A writer may win all the top literary prizes and/or lug a suitcase filled with $$$$$ to the bank… but every successful writer owes that success partly to the team who have coaxed, nurtured, coached, embellished his/her work as soon as it saw the light of day.
A writer needs a village - agents, editors, artists, craftsmen, publicists, readers, fans. Like raising a child, you need a village to publish your book.
As 2013 writers research all available information on the current industry buzzword "platform", we must be like the proverbial Arab: "If you seek wisdom, explore every tent in the bazaar."
Whether we sign on with the Big Six/Five/Four or the Independents, we must know the basics of this everchanging business.This is their business: Selling your book - selling YOU!
We need to cultivate people outside our intimate circles of first readers and social media followers.
We need to create a name brand for ourselves and our product.
Fans? We gotta develop 'em! And fan the fan flames!
We have to be flexible and bend with the market trends. We need another proverb at this point, one from Africa. "You cannot turn the wind, so turn the sail."
We need to develop novel ways of communicating, of bonding with potential fans and readers. Many successful bloggers interact with their commenters.
For hints on method, pull out that wonderfully chatty volume from 1936 – Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. He wrote that book for 2013 Platforming! Especially for you and me.
Today we can't lean back and expect "the Company" is going to do our foot work.
We've poured heart and soul into our masterpiece - we've proved we can write a damngoodbook!
Now we need to create other layers and levels - blogs, websites, online chats, photos, above all, a solid core of loyal fans, who like OUR writing, like US and reallyreallyreally want US to succeed in this maelstrom of publishing!
Be sure to stop by my next blog post and meet a man who works with some of our favorite crime writers, a publicist at one of the biggest companies on the planet!
Inspired by the advice of Mary Higgins Clark (the Queen of Mystery) – "Start your story by asking, What if?" – our own Thelma Straw presents the impressive bio of interviewee Hank Phillippi Ryan by posing that very question, and riffing on the resulting fantasy. WHAT IF… that famous, often outrageous, talk show host and generous philanthropist, Don Imus, the I-Man, were to promote Hank Ryan on his show "Imus in the Morning"!
SCENE: The New York studio of WABC/Fox Business Network TV.
MUSIC: "Imus in the Morning"
TIME: 6:04 A.M.
Don Imus rushes in with a book in one hand and a giant Starbucks cup in the other. He throws the book at Bernie McGuirk, who yells, "Boss, you're late!"
The I-Man scowls. "Been up ALL NIGHT! Reading this new book! – called THE OTHER WOMAN! Girl by the name of Hank wrote it. Great lookin' girl - Hank Phillippi Ryan."
He stares at his crew. "Damned fine writing. Boys, you gotta read it. Brought a whole load of the books over in my limo - one for everybody here!"
Man in chauffeur's cap enters, pushing a cart, filled ceiling-high with books. They all have the title THE OTHER WOMAN. He hands them out to members of the cast and crew.
The I-Man continues. "Been following those Best Selling Mystery Girls all these years - Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter, Carol, Patsy Cornwell and that totally brilliant and charming D.A., Linda Fairstein. Girls all made a fortune with their mystery books. Could line the walls of Fort Knox, with all the dough the I-Man helped them get!
"But this Hank Ryan woman - she's something else! Worked for top TV up in Boston. Investigation reporter!"
"Investigative, boss," Bernie mutters.
Imus throws him a hard look. "Whatever! Won herself a whole wall full of Emmys and Murrows! Got more trophies than anybody on the planet! Girl's won just about every mystery writer prize you can name - Agatha, Anthony, Macavity - I'm betting on her for one of those little Edgar Poe statues, too!
"She's just been voted in as leader of the pack of that outfit - Sisters of Crime! And if you think that's all, you ain't heard nothing!"
Bernie whispers, " Sisters in Crime, boss!"
"That girl's on the cover of the biggest magazine in town - Mystery Scene! Plus, she's wowing all the writers of romance - got the nod on the Kiss of Death! Don't know what THAT means, but it must be pretty damned good if she got it! Just got the vote of the Best of 2012 by Suspense Magazine!"
Imus takes a swig of the coffee. "Now, that's one damnfine prize for anybody. Right, Bernie?"
Bernie nods and holds up his copy of THE OTHER WOMAN to the camera.
"There's more! She worked with the crew of our boy Senator Ted Kennedy down in Foggy Bottom (godblesshisoul – we miss him) and wearing her TV hat, knocked over some bigtime crooks down in Georgia. Bydamn, this girl's got a resume like a Nobel Prize winner! Next thing you know, she'll be on the Big Screen in Tinseltown! Hell, they might get her to play that guy Reacher's new gal-pal!
"Bernie, get on the horn and tell Miz Ryan we want her to come and be our guest on the program here. She can name her day! Any day - any time! Tell her the I-Man says she's the best durn mystery writer to come down the pike in a month of Sundays! Deirdre thinks so too… now we've got to talk about the news of the day…"
"Comin' up on twenty minutes past the hour, Eastern time. Ladies and gentlemen, Imus in the morning!" But instead of Imus, Thelma herself interviewed Ms. Ryan. Here's how it went:
Do you plan a series with Jane Ryland?
More than plan! It’s underway. The next in the Jane Ryland/Jake Brogan series is THE WRONG GIRL, which is coming from Forge this time next year. (Is an adoption agency reuniting birth parents with the wrong children?) Some of the characters in THE OTHER WOMAN will return. And some will survive to appear in the next book!
Here’s the video about THE OTHER WOMAN — we took kind of a risk with it — what do you think?
Your book titles are very enticing! How do you choose them?
I will admit to you that they choose themselves. It seems to me they spring so naturally from the story that there’s nothing else the title could be. Tell us about the Ryan Award June 13 from the Boston Bar Association.
Oh, that was such an honor. They were thanking me for all the work and stories I’ve done over the years focusing on safety in the workplace — toxics use reduction, asbestos, radon, gas leaks, air quality. You are very involved in three big groups - MWA, SinC, and ITW - in the crime world. How do you fit them all in your heavy schedule? And keep their agendas apart?
Yes, they’re all terrific organizations. I’m the new national president of Sisters in Crime, and on the board of MWA, and a happy member of ITW. How do I keep their agendas apart? I don’t. I think they are the same — at least similar. To encourage good writing, to educate and inspire authors, to create a community of writers and readers, to understand the changes in the publishing world. My publisher was so taken with my enthusiasm both the groups, they created a special video about it.
You have such a full event/tour schedule. How do you handle all those trips and still find time to write?
I’m organized. As much as anyone can be, at least! I know that writing the best possible book is the top priority, so that’s what I make room for first. When the books are complete, or at the editor, then I know I have a bit more time to travel and speak. So I keep in mind the goal of where I am in the process — when I’m in writing mode, I have a calendar that has chunks of time blocked out for that. I have a words-a-day chart, and I make sure I keep to my quota. Writing has to come first. You have lots of pictures in costumes! Were you into drama as a child?
Oh, so funny. Ah, I never thought about it that way. Yes, my siblings and I used to put on shows for our parents… We dressed up in crinolines and hats and whatever we could find. In high school and college, yes, I was in plays, most often the 2nd banana character role, or the funny one. But I’m in costume once a year, you know? At CrimeBake. This year my very patient husband and I were Sam Spade and Miss Wonderly from The Maltese Falcon. We carried around the “falcon” which was a stuffed owl we spray-painted black. How do you keep your mystery hat separate from your RWA hat?
Well, again, they’re the same hat! (Someone asked me once if I could write a mystery without romance. I said – not if the characters are behaving like real people! They said, well, could you write a romance without mystery? I said — Well, no, what would the characters DO?
You wrote somewhere you felt you'd discovered David Hosp, the Boston crime novelist. A few years ago, the MWA-NY Mentor Committee also felt that WE "discovered" David Hosp! We invited him down to be our guest speaker. What advice do you give to debut novelists?
Yes, I love David! And discovering new or new-to-me authors is such a treat. (One of the joys of my life was moderating the best-first panel at the Edgar symposium. It brings tears to my eyes.) For debut authors? Count your blessings. Things take a while. Things rarely happen overnight. A wonderful thing has happened to you. Keep working. Get better. Be grateful. You have won – ( gasp!) – 27 Emmys and 12 E.R. Murrows. Plus the Agatha, Anthony and, Macavity! What are you proudest of?
Oh, Thelma. You know that’s impossible. I adore every one of them, and could tell you the whole story for each one. I must say winning the Agatha was… astonishing, since I’d fallen in love with Agatha Christie’s work by the time I was fourteen. And then to win an award named after her — well, pretty cool. But the awards are on my shelves, right by my desk, and I see them and think about them every day. It’s an inspiration.
What in your studies in Germany may have helped you on TV or as a novelist? Or your work on Capitol Hill?
Oh, I was in Germany when I was sixteen or so — it certainly was different from my life back home in rural-ish Indiana. I wish I could think of a cool thing, but mainly we talked about the Beatles and tried to get into dance clubs. I’m still in touch with some of my pals from then, people from all over the world.
My work on Capitol Hill, though? And my years as a political campaign worker? Pivotal. Every day. In my work as a reporter, and as a novelist. I deeply understand how the political and election system works, who controls what and how, the lust for power and the ability to manipulate and portray reality. How far people will go to get what they want. Deception, and desire and revenge and rationalization. (Remember, I was in DC during Watergate and the CIA hearings.)
And writing THE OTHER WOMAN — well, think about today’s headlines. That book is the result, really, of forty years of research!
I read your childhood hero was Thomas Edison. Can you share the reason?
Because getting a “wrong” answer is just as valuable and educational as getting the right one. That perseverance and hard work can lead to success and inspiration. That you can find the answer if you just work on it. That you can discover something new. (I lobbied to get my step-kids to name our first grandson Edison. They didn’t. There’s still time.)
In the outstanding work you did as an investigative TV reporter in Georgia, were you ever in any real danger?
Ah, besides the time I was in the hot air balloon over the hills of north Georgia? Oh, and I did white-water raft the Chattooga. (Cue the banjos.) Well, sure, I guess so. But that’s not what I really think about. The thing about being a TV reporter is there’s usually a photographer with me. So I always tell them: if it looks like something bad is about to happen, make sure you’re rolling. Have you ever thought about a career in the CIA? Sure. But reality is better. You've had such a wide range in investigative reporting - do you keep involved in any of those issues?
Well, I’m still on the air, of course, as investigative reporter at the NBC affiliate in Boston. So, sure. Everything is a possible story! And look at THE OTHER WOMAN! Where does your current name come from?
I’m laughing. My birth name is Harriet Ann Sablosky. Someone in college decided I should be Hank. Add a couple of ex-husbands, and there you have it.
What is a usual writing day for you like?
Heaven. I have a huge amount of coffee and read the morning papers. I check my email and etc on a separate computer, not the one in my study. I set a time where I’m going to begin writing so I don’t lollygag around. When that time comes, I go to my work computer, and do nothing else until I get my words for the day. When I have a day where all I have to do is write, that’s the best. It’s not always FUN, but it’s the best.
Do you have writing partners or first readers?
Nope.
You are one of the most gracious writers I've encountered! What is your secret?
Oh, well, thank you!
How do you usually de-compress from your heavy schedule?
I’ll let you know when I figure that out. Seriously. I decided not to work one bit on Thanksgiving Day. That didn’t happen.
People who read this would like reassurance re their own careers. What advice do you give?
Oh, listen. My husband and I don’t celebrate the anniversary of the day we met. We celebrate the anniversary of the day BEFORE we met. And we call that “You Never Know” Day. Because you never know what wonderful thing is around the next corner. Right? So when you’re disappointed about something – it’s not worth it to worry. You don’t really know what’s good or bad – so don’t waste your energy in regret or sorrow. Someone said to me – don’t quit five minutes before the miracle. It’s a little Hallmark, I know. But still…
Thank you, Hank, for your sharing and all the advice to your fellow writers! We'll be cheering for you with your next book!
Thelma J. Straw Win a copy of THE OTHER WOMAN! Send your mailing address to kate@kategallison.com to be entered in the drawing.
***12/5/12 – We have a winner! SUSAN PATURZO of Denver.***
"Political skullduggery and murder make a high octane mix in this perfect thriller . . . " - Booklist starred review
"Ryan . . . employs her much honored investigative reporting and political background to craft a dizzyingly wild labyrinth of exciting twists, turns, and surprises. Readers who crave mystery and political intrigue will be mesmerized by this first installment of her new series." - Library Journal starred review
In other words, it is surprisingly easy to fall into that trap of forgetting whose perspective is the one in the story. What happens, I think, is that we start writing story in a certain time, and lose track of how time moves on. And sometimes we might forget that the character’s perspective isn’t necessarily ours!
