The art of conversation lies in listening. 

– Malcolm Forbes

Smoke and Mirrors and Valuable Lessons by HL Carpenter

The Write Way Café welcomes HL Carpenter, a mother/daughter writing team who shares a few tips for improving writing productivity,  skill, and inspiration.

March 29 is Smoke and Mirrors Day...we think. Someone could be deceiving us, much the way the hero in our young adult novel, Walled In, is deceived when her father is accused of fraud. But we found out about Smoke and Mirrors Day on the internet, so it must be true, right? :)

Right. Well, one fact we're sure of here in Carpenter Country is that our author friends don't deceive us. Oh, yes, they write mysteries that take us down the garden path, away from the solution to the crime, and they happily sprinkle misdirection here, there, and everywhere in their stories. But in real life, we've learned valuable lessons from other authors.

Here are three.

Good habits. When a famous author was invited to speak at a class we attended, he mentioned that when he's writing, he doesn't stop. If his thoughts wander to his errands while he's in the middle of a scene, he puts a bracket at that point in his manuscript and inserts whatever is on his mind. Then he closes the bracket and continues with his day's writing. When the manuscript is complete, he does a search for these entries and saves them to another document to serve as a journal of his writing.

You might consider this a form of conscious flow. Whatever term you want to use, once we put his technique to work, our productivity increased. As a bonus, these "side" entries provide fodder for new story ideas.

Solid craft. After we've enjoyed reading the latest bestseller by a favorite author, we return to the beginning and reread the book. This time, we take a step back from the story and study the execution. For example, we examine the setup of the first paragraph and think about the ending and how the beginning and end tie together. We also study story arc, character development, and dialogue flow. Each book is a mini course in writing artistry.

Perseverance. J.K. Rowling's trek to publication after multiple rejections is a large part of her personal backstory. And after the success of her boy wizard series, she received a rejection from a publisher when she submitted a manuscript under a pseudonym. That manuscript later went on to be another bestseller. Even if we're never as famous as J.K. Rowling, we're inspired by her story and her persistence.

What have you learned from other authors? Let us know in the comments. In the meantime, happy Smoke and Mirrors Day...and happy reading and writing!

***

When her father is accused of fraud, seventeen year old Vandy Spencer discovers her entire life has been built on a heart-shattering deception.

Seventeen year old Vandy Spencer lives like a princess. Sheltered by her wealthy family, she happily makes plans to spend a fantasy before-college gap summer with her gorgeous boyfriend.

Then her dad is accused of a huge financial fraud. Vandy is thrust into a frenzy of media attention as accusations and innuendos pile up daily. The victims of her dad’s swindle vow revenge, and her dad flees.

As her perfect life disintegrates, Vandy retreats to a hermit-like existence in her childhood tree house and struggles to separate reality from lies. Was her perfect life truly so perfect? Did she ever really know her father?

When family secrets come to light, revealing an unimaginable betrayal, Vandy learns to appreciate the simple richness of sincerity and truth.

EXCERPT

A branch cracked behind me and leaves rustled. I scrambled to my feet.

Stenny had come after me! He really did love me, enough to follow me, and…

Pete Hawthorn stepped out of the woods, holding a flashlight. The backglow lit his face, which was drawn into the frown he wore lately whenever he saw me, and his mouth turned down into a scowl. “Don’t you have any sense at all, Dandy-Vandy?”

I should have known Stenny wouldn’t traipse through the woods searching for me. Running through the dark wasn’t his style. He’d use his phone.

My own phone, tucked in the pocket of my shorts, burst into the first bars of Boyfriend. I ignored the noise and poked a finger at Pete’s chest. “Quit calling me that. Don’t you have better things to do than skulk around the woods in the dark? Like maybe going to work?”

“I took the night off.” He peered at me. “Why are you crying?”

“None of your business!” Then, as his words sank in, I asked, “Why’d you take the night off? Is Gus okay?”

“Gramps is the same as he always is.” Pete slid the button on the flashlight and the bulb dimmed. “I stayed home because we heard the news about your dad. We’re going to help, in whatever way we can.” His voice barely carried across the small space between us, the words and tone sincere.

“That means a lot. Thanks. Tell Gus thanks too.”

“Yeah.” Pete turned the flashlight on bright again and waved it in a searching arc. “Where’s the jerk-off? He leave you alone out here?”

My gratitude evaporated like dew off grass. I planted my hands on my hips as my phone played Boyfriend again. “Stenny’s not a jerk-off, and he’s probably at the tree house, where I left him.”

“How nice to know he’ll stay where you tell him to. At least you won’t need to put a leash on him when the two of you are wandering around France.” Pete narrowed his eyes. “The woods are really dark, Dandy-Vandy, in case you haven’t noticed. Do you have a flashlight? Or am I gonna have to walk you home?”

I didn’t need him to babysit me. I opened my mouth to say so, and then reconsidered as the sounds of the night surged around me. He was right. The darkness crackled with noises I hadn’t paid much attention to during my rush to get away from the hurt of Stenny’s doubt. The air seemed ominous too, full of a sickly-sweet odor, a combination of gasoline, motor oil, and damp dirt. The mix stunk the way I imagined zombies – or worse, vampires – would.

“Thanks, Pete. That’s a good idea.”

“I have them occasionally.” He gestured with the flashlight. “The path’s this way.”

We strode along single file without speaking. The dry leaves crackled beneath our feet and the occasional haunting cry of a bird shredded the air.

“Nightingale,” Pete said.

We reached the end of the path, coming out of the woods behind a row of bushes fencing Kingsway’s open lawn. A line of solar lights illuminated the back yard, glowing against the pool cabana and the house’s white walls beyond – big, ornate…and home.

I smiled despite my worries. “I love how pretty our house is at night.”

Pete shut the flashlight off. “I’ll send you pictures while you’re enjoying your European adventure with the jerk-off.”

I was turning to him when a man carrying a portable video camera dashed across the lawn. I gasped. “He’s headed for the house! I have to warn Dad.”

Walled In, a stand-alone young adult novel of approximately 70,000 words, is available as an ebook at Smashwords, and in ebook and paperback format at Amazon.

Smashwords       Amazon

Mother/daughter author duo HL Carpenter write family-friendly fiction from their studios in Carpenter Country, a magical place that, like their stories, is unreal but not untrue. When they’re not writing, they enjoy exploring the Land of What-If and practicing the fine art of Curiosity. Visit HLCarpenter.com to enjoy gift reads and excerpts and to find out what’s happening in Carpenter Country.

Stay connected on Pinterest, Linkedin, Google+, and their Amazon Author Page.

Tuesday Special: Artful Murder by Paty Jager

Paty Jager

http://www.patyjager.net/

Secrets… Scandal… Murder…

An autistic boy and his brother need potter Shandra Higheagle’s help when a teacher’s body is found after a confrontation with the older brother. Shandra knows the boy is innocent. Digging into the teacher’s life, she and Ryan turn up scandal.

Detective Ryan Greer has believed in Shandra’s dreams in the past, but she can’t always be right. When his investigation uncovers a principal on the take, females being harassed, and parents kept in the dark, he discovers more suspects than the brothers. 

Shandra’s time at the school is coming to an end, and the killer has struck again.

Book ten in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery Series

https://www.books2read.com/u/bapvjq

Paty Jager is the award-winning author of the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it. This is what Mysteries Etc has to say about her Shandra Higheagle mystery series: “Mystery, romance, small town, and Native American heritage combine to make a compelling read.”

Blog / Website /  Facebook / 
Paty's Posse / Goodreads / Twitter / 
Pinterest   / Bookbub

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. 

– Amelia Earhart

Get to Know Lynn Crandall

The Write Way Café does something a little different today by interviewing one of the blog's partners. HiDee and Lynn have featured a large variety of talented authors on the blog for a number of years. Today, Lynn Crandall answers the questions we've asked others so you can get to know her a bit better.

When did you first have the thought you'd like to write a book? Was that first thought related to writing romance?
Casually, I made up stories to tell my younger sister when we were both very young. I wrote a short one-act play when I was twelve. My best friend and I were the only characters and we performed in front of our church. It took me awhile to discover my passion for writing, and in particular romance novels. That first book will never see the light of day. I wrote it in longhand with a pencil in a notebook and it took two weeks. Yeah, not good, but it was a start.

What was your path to getting this book written and published? What type of research did you do?
My first book was published by Kensington, then it took me a few years to juggle my way through family, a day job, and writing to produce another novel. That was titled Dancing with Detective Danger, a romantic suspense. For that story, I interviewed police officers and detectives to help me write about private investigator sisters and their private investigator and police officer heroes. The heroine and the hero carried emotional scars that I needed input from a counselor and real people who had experienced those particular traumas. I do Internet research to get background and familiarity with various elements of the story, but I really enjoy first-hand interviews.

Where did the idea for your story come from? 

Dancing with Detective Danger was an exploration of family working together and creating family out of people beyond their biological family. I feel our commonly held beliefs for how family occurs and behaves is often far from the real experience of family. I wanted to explore different ways of finding groups where we get a sense of belonging. All my subsequent books, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance, carry that theme of what makes a family, within the context of the developing love relationship, of course.

Why did you pick the setting you did? 

I only write stories set in the Midwest. There is so much natural beauty everywhere, but I like the variety of the Midwest. So whether the setting is a fictitious town during a Michigan winter, a rural area of Minnesota, or a big city located on one of the Great Lakes, nature is a frame for the characters’ experience. More recently, I’ve been having fun pinning setting images, which include housing fitting the characters, natural landscapes, town scenes, and other relevant elements, in my Pinterest book boards.

Are your main characters completely imaginary or do they have some basis in real people? Do they reflect aspects of yourself? 

My main characters reflect their individual stories. They are imaginary, but sometimes they may be an amalgam of a variety of personality types. I believe people are born who they are, but are also shaped by their life experiences and behave out of patterns and beliefs, rather than their true selves. Part of their character arcs demonstrate dealing with their understanding of who they are and learning about their true selves and how they want to express their values. So, in a way, that experience for characters reflects my personal goals, abstractly.

Did you face any blocks while writing the book, and if so, how did you handle them? If not, what's your secret? 

I wish I had magical secrets that would prevent blocks. The closest thing I have to a secret is personal, and it is to write. It’s not unusual for me to get bogged down and not write, which makes things worse. Over and over, when I just sit down and dig in, my muse is there with things to say. And I always say a big thank you to my magical, invisible writing team for showing up, because the next day may begin the same way. I really admire writers whose writing is hard won and they just keep soldiering on regardless of level of support, amount of available time, or bouts of discouragement.

What have been surprises you've encountered while writing the book and after? 

With each book, I have been happily surprised at being able to write, and finding that I like what I’ve written. I get pretty attached to my characters and their trials. For instance, in Probabilities, as I was writing I realized I was going kill off a young boy’s mother. I really struggled with that. How could I take away his mother??!! I cried during writing the scenes regarding her death and the child’s life after. That was surprising.

What did you learn? For instance, what did you learn about yourself, your process, the writing world; about technique, skills, and your goals? 

I love words and streaming them together, and reaching for a way to produce the kind of immersive experience I want readers to get. I always strive to improve my skills. But beyond all that, what I’ve learned from writing is that for me it is a vehicle for personal growth, purpose, and having more and more joy becoming more and more who I really am.

Tell us about your writing space and how or why it works for you. 

I lust after the writing space Tom Selleck had in the movie Her Alibi. It was upstairs on the second or third floor in a kind of large attic room with windows and books and disorganized order all around. But…I have a desk in front of a window, two tall bookshelves to my left filled with books I turn to during writing, a shelf with little things that inspire me or tickle my imagination, and filing cabinets. I would love a writing space in a personal library, and a much bigger desk, which would still be orderly in my own disorderly way.

What are some of your favorite books and why? 

Books that have taken my breath away include Persuasion by Jane Austin because of the characters’ palpable aching for each other; Jane Eyre because of the absolute devotion the main characters have for each other; and the Dark Materials series by Philip Pulman for their tremendous depth. I credit Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series with teaching me everything I needed to know about myself. I could go on, because there are the Harry Potter books, the Greywalker series by Kat Richardson, and on and on.

What are you working on now? 

Presently I am writing a contemporary romance I’ve tentatively titled Love and Cherish. It is a runaway bride story that is challenging me.

Would you like to try your hand at writing a different genre? Which one and why? 

I have written romantic suspense, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, and a children’s book. I’ve enjoyed writing them all, but I am keenly interested in writing women’s fiction and plan to start one this summer. I also dream of writing dark fantasy.

If you were not a writer, what would your dream job be? 

I would never not be a writer. LOL But I also would like to study and be knowledgeable about art history.

What aspect of writing gives you the most trouble? 

I’ll admit, writing skillfully to show not tell keeps being a challenge.

Who is your favorite hero/heroine? 

I’m going to be selfish and pick from my own books. Even picking from those books is hard. I love them all. But because Quinn in Probabilities is not a typical romance novel hero, I have a soft spot for him.

Lynn Crandall lives in the Midwest and writes in the
company of her cat. She has been a reader and a writer all her life. Her background is in journalism, but whether writing a magazine or newspaper story or creating a romance, she loves the power stories hold to inspire, empower, and uplift.

Visit Lynn:

Website            Facebook            Twitter  

Amazon            Instagram            Pinterest

Tuesday Special: Beg for Mercy with Jami Gray

JAMI GRAY

www.jamigray.com

Choosing a side has never been so dangerous…

The world didn't end in fire and explosions, instead it collapsed slowly, like falling dominoes, an intensifying panic of disease, food shortages, wild weather and collapsing economies, until what remained of humanity battles for survival in a harsh new reality.

An assassin by trade, a loner by nature, Mercy is sent to infiltrate the Cartels and unmask the identity of their new silent partner. Instead, she discovers a darker plan threatening to crumble the entire Southwest and ends up with a hefty bounty on her head. Still, she’s determined to stop the impending attack at any costs, even if it means partnering up with a member of the notorious Fate’s Vultures.

After enduring a brutal, blood soaked lesson on the savagery of civilization’s scavengers, Havoc is well acquainted with the consequences of battling predators. But as a member of the nomadic band of arbitrators known as Fate’s Vultures, he’s determined to cement the necessary allies to oust the biggest threat looming on the horizon. When an enigmatic woman crosses his path, her secrets and troubling loyalty light the fuse on an unexpected craving and his insatiable curiosity.

In order to trap a common foe and derail an impending threat, Havoc and Mercy must turn the tables to hunt a predator. Can an assassin and a mercenary find their balance on the thin line of loyalty, or will it snap under the weight of their wary hearts?

Escape Publishing         Amazon         Barnes & Noble

iBooks         Kobo

Jami Gray is the coffee addicted, music junkie, Queen Nerd of her personal Geek Squad, Alpha Mom of the Fur Minxes, and award winning author of the Urban Fantasy series, The Kyn Kronicles, the Paranormal Romantic Suspense series, PSY-IV Teams, and her latest Romantic Suspense series, Fate’s Vultures. She writes to soothe the voices in her head.
    

You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out. 

– Steve Jobs