That’s the tagline for Dead Head, my latest suburban noir novel (Minotaur April 2010). I started asking that question two years ago when a middle class mother of two in southern California was taken away in handcuffs after authorities learned she was a fugitive from the law. Ripped from the headlines is hardly a new concept – writers as varied as William Shakespeare and Dominick Dunne have looked to news reports for inspiration, so that puts me in good company! Almost every day there’s a news item that has the fledgling writer as well as the more experienced one thinking “that would make a good story.” Most writers I know have idea files – mine is six inches thick and filled with clippings and printed articles ranging from the story of a Chicago woman who poisoned the trees in a public park because they were obstructing her view to last year’s much more serious violent chimp attack, which took place five minutes from my home in Connecticut. (Yes, I had met the chimp once.) But this woman’s story really resonated for me. I’ve lived in cities and suburbs and it’s so easy not to know the person next door. We…

Even with the dividing lines between authors and readers blurring in this age of social media, there is still a misconception that authors aren’t normal people. Granted, some of our behavior–especially when alcohol is involved–makes this assumption somewhat fair. But the truth is most authors started out a lot like you. By this I mean, before we ever put pen to page, we were avid readers. For me, it started very young. My mother managed a bookstore and my grandmother owned a used book store, so I spent a great portion of my young surrounded by thousands of glorious books. To this day, the mysterious scent of old paper makes me smile. I won’t mince words: I was a nerdy kid. I was awkward and found it difficult to make friends at school. Instead, my friends were the kids from Narnia, Nancy Drew, the girls from the Babysitters’ Club, the subjects of Shell Silverstein’s poems. Even as I grew older and the social awkwardness gave way to finding my own tribes, I continued to read for pleasure. My favorite Sunday activity was to stay in bed all day and consume books by Anne Rice, Judith McNaught, Johanna Lindsey and Jude…

One day, I got this funky, crazy idea. The timing was right, so I decided to give this romance writing thing a shot. The analytical side of me took over and I spent three months researching the industry. Terms like ‘unique voice’, ‘interesting story premise’, and ‘strong characterization’ kept popping up. Did I know what any of this meant? Uuh…didn’t have a clue. Well of course the first question that popped in my head was what would be the premise of my story. That’s when I sat down and thought back over my experience as a community public health educator for the past twenty-five years. Every day, I interact with individuals who struggle with chronic diseases and wage war to find quality treatment within a fractured healthcare system. Despite their failures and the socio-economic deterrents woven around their lives, many have fought to overcome issues we couldn’t wrap two thoughts around. Why? Someone came along and dared to love them during the most hideous time in their lives. Interesting story premise, huh? Hmmm…let’s see. What if I took a real-life issue from my experience as a health educator and put a romantic spin to it? I used domestic violence as…

This six book series began with a bang in October, 2006. UNFORGIVEN was the launch book for Silhouette Nocturne. It was exciting to create the first book for this paranormal series. As I huddled with Tara Gavin, Senior Editor of the line, I wanted to create more than one book. I wanted to create my own universe of sorts. Warriors for the Light was born! I was able to write book #2 and #3, DARK TRUTH (July, 2007) and THE QUEST (Feb. 2008). And then as I had plans for the other three books, real Life took over. My mother’s health declined and for the next year, I put writing aside. It was only in 2009 that I was able to pen the last three books of the series. A writing marathon, to say the least. Now, the good news is REUNION, April, 2010, THE ADVERSARY, May, 2010 and GUARDIAN, June 2010, will roll out, one after another. The WARRIORS FOR THE LIGHT series is about the Emerald Key necklace that was created by the Incan Emperor, Pachacuti, In the 1500’s before the Spanish invaded Peru and disassembled the vast Incan Empire, he was their last, great emperor. I’ve spent…

The Deconstruction Of Humorous Fiction In A Reactionary Postmodern World, Or From Chaos To Conformity: How To Write The Comedic Novel When I was a graduate student at the University of Gussberry-on-Hornsplat reading for my doctorate in “Humor and Humorlessness in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Proto-European Monographs,” my professors often referred to a theory they loosely called “The Banana Peel Slide.”  This meme postulated that a humorous trope—such as the man-falling-on-banana-peel— loses its ability to trigger amusement after it becomes part of the greater eco-social-spiritual consciousness, leading to a revolt by sophisticated elites against populist humor grounded in laughing at another’s misfortune, and eventually coming round to popularity again throughout the entire societal continuum when the joke takes on a wry postmodern irony encapsulating the laughing-at-the-laughter-of-those-who-laugh at such simplistic slapstick (See I.M. Gully-Bull, “They’re Laughing With Me, Not At Me, an essay on the struggles of a stand-up comic in the world of spelunking,” Psychiatric Journal of the Criminal Mind, Jan. 09, 43-57). In other words, slipping on a banana peel was HIGH-LAIR-EE-YUS when first viewed by Cro-Magnon Man until his momma rapped him on the knuckles for laughing at another Cro-Mag hurting himself, and then became funny again when Momma…

Ever since I began writing I’ve heard numerous writers and editors say that books need to be one thing … because then it’s easier to sell them. The reader needs to see one emotion emblazoned across the cover, scary, funny, mysterious, sweet, sexy — to name just a few. Books that blend these elements tend to be more difficult to cover and to market. Which has always been a problem for me, because I love nothing more than blending elements and complicating my stories. I was writing emotionally poignant contemporaries when the cartoon cover came to life and kicked all the other contemp covers out of the pool. Suddenly every single author and every single contemporary had that cartoon cover look, legs, silhouettes, and stilettos that were fun, fun, fun. I personally liked the covers very much, because they jumped out at you and practically screamed, “read me, I’m going to be a good time”. The quieter covers began to fade away and where once on the shelves there was nothing but Adirondack chairs, now it was all legs. But as we all discovered over time, not all contemps were particularly funny or fit that look. At some point I…

Character? Who’s calling me a character? Characters are unfortunately an essential part of writing a novel. I say unfortunately, because they’re the most troublesome creatures alive. Did I say alive? Well, that’s the main issue right here. It would be much easier if they stayed flat on the page, but do they? No. No sooner have I started writing them than they leap onto their own two feet and start running. Which leads to all kinds of unexpected consequences. If only for self-protection, I’ve discovered five essential rules that I have to follow if I’m ever going to get my writing done. 1. The people that populate your novel know a lot more about themselves than you do. So give them the chance to reveal themselves, and you might get a few surprises. You’re right in the middle of the novel when a sudden bit of information about them comes up, something you didn’t know until they revealed it. Take Mr Darcy, for example. We know how he behaves with Elizabeth, we know how he is from a romantic perspective. But take him out of the context of Pride and Prejudice and put him with his cousin, or see him…

As a writer, I get ideas from all sorts of things: movies, newspaper articles, stories from my friends, and yes, sometimes the calendar. The Blaze Encounters series are linked short stories that revolve around a common theme, which is sometimes a holiday. A couple of summers back, I was hanging with my editor at the RWA National Conference and chatting up what’s *hot* in the Blaze line, and we began talking about the Encounters, and at that point, we were one glass of wine away from the idea of a Blaze Encounters that revolves around April Fools Days. Yes, while others think of Valentine’s Day or Christmas, I, of course, think of April Fool’s, and because I felt the idea was so stupendous, I immediately drafted my talented critique partner, Julie Kenner, into coming along for the write. April Fool’s dates back a long, long time, easily as far back as the Middle Ages, and some experts pin its origin to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tale. Others experts point to the French calendar, which is the most respected (or suspected, as the case may be) theory. In 1564, the first of the calendar year was moved from Easter to January 1, but…

Have you ever been to a bar and ordered a “sex on the beach”? (It’s a combination of schnapps, vodka and juices, if you’re not familiar with it.) Or a “between the sheets”? (Brandy, run and some other things that escape me at the moment.) Then there’s the famous “screaming orgasm.” (I just made myself blush, in case you’re curious.) Here’s my question for you – have you ever seen anyone smack the table, wink at you and ask for two “happy every afters?” Probably not. Mainly because a happy-every-after isn’t scandalous enough to make an innocent blush or a rake chuckle. It’s not fodder for the rumor mill nor is it something that will make you wake up sweating during the night. If it was on the menu, would you order it? Thank goodness it is, right in the pages of a book. I can find a happy-ever-after winking at me from the bookshelf any day of the week. There are other choices to suit my mood, of course. When I’m feeling anxious, I might want to go for a crime novel. When I’m feeling unsettled, I might like to read a book about a mom who takes a…

Good morning! I’m very happy to be with you at Fresh Fiction today. Thank you for having me here. Just a week or so ago I was reading over some old letters from my sister and one of them ended with, “May the force be with you.” I started laughing. I had not thought about that line from Star Wars in years. But it started me thinking about great one-liners I remembered from movies and books and I said, “Oh, I must blog about them!” Are any of you old enough to remember Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry Series and his famous, “Go ahead, make my day,” line? I think he is also the one who said, “Do you feel lucky?” I have to smile about that one! Do you remember Star Trek’s “Beam me up, Scottie.” Another favorite one-liner of mine is Love Story with Ali McGraw saying, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” A more recent quote that is often mangled and misquoted to the point of being humorous is Jack Nicholson’s line from A Few Good Men,”You can’t handle the truth!” I love them all. There are some great lines from books, too. Probably two of…