Here is some reading about my friend,Darcie Friesen Hossack. Her first book, a short story collection called Mennonites Don't Dance, will be available any day. Congratulations, Darcie, and enjoy the ride.

http://whatlooksin.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/mennonites-in-the-pear-tree/
http://islandeditions.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/publicity-for-darcie-friesen-hossack/

Which matters most in a mystery novel: the mystery or the personal story?

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/850598--the-nesting-dolls-and-crime-machine

Series or Stand Alone Novel?

When is a novel a stand alone and when can it be the start of a series? According to a mystery writing advice book I read some years ago, a novel is a stand alone if it resolves the protagonist's basic problems; if it doesn't, it invites a sequel. The author further advised that series books should have an overall story arc.

When I started my mystery novel A Deadly Fall I was certain it was a one shot deal. At the same time, I sensed publishers tended to like mystery series. So, I set up the novel ending to make it look like my protagonist was heading into further mysteries, which I had no intention of pursuing.

I continued to view the book as a stand alone through draft #2. As I was approaching the end, I realized I wouldn't be able to completely resolve my protagonist's issues. I also wanted to know more about what would happen to her and a core group of characters. This might become a series after all.

I finished the third draft. While working on draft #4, I contemplated alternative titles. My original title In Remembrance of Me came from the novel's funeral scene. Paula, my protagonist, sees the message on the communion altar Do this in remembrance of me. She interprets it as a message from the victim, her childhood friend: find my killer. On another level, Paula is searching for herself, the youthful "me" who got lost in the business of growing up.

For those reasons, I liked my original title, but felt it didn't sound like the title of a mystery book. What else could I call it? The story takes place in the fall. Fall has evocative connotations. The fall of man. Fall from grace. Fall into danger and the emotional abyss. Deadly is a common mystery novel adjective. A Deadly Fall. I looked it up on the Chapters/Indigo and library websites to see how many other books had used the title. To my surprise, there were none. A Deadly Fall it is.

Fall naturally led me to think about seasons, which sparked an idea for a four book series with an overall story arc for Paula. Now, I could honestly tell publishers A Deadly Fall was the start of a series. They didn't need to know the series was limited.

I quickly decided on a title for book #2: The Secret Spring. While waiting to hear from publishers, I wrote the sequel with the title in mind. As a result, spring is more integrated into the story. In addition to the spring time frame, the victim is found dead in an isolated (secret) hot spring. All mystery novels are about secrets.

I decided Book #3 would be summer and book #4, the finale, winter.

After A Deadly Fall was accepted by a publisher, I pondered the series further. Could it and should it be more than four books? I thought through the narrative arc. Four books would rush the arc, there were many more things I could do with my characters and, given Paula's profession as an insurance adjuster, many more mysteries she could solve.

Author Sue Grafton was thinking ahead when she used the alphabet for her mystery series. It gave her 26 potential books. With only 4 seasons, I've painted myself into a corner.

I'm sure I'll figure a way out. That's what we do when we write mysteries.

My Journey Through the Editing Process, Part Two

On Tuesday, August 24th, I finished the major edits for my novel A Deadly Fall and e-mailed the revised manuscript to my editor, Frances Thorsen. She will read the novel in one swoop for overall effect and send me any further comments. Then, it’s off to the copy editor. After the copy edit is done, I’ll have a couple of weeks to proof-read the final version before the book goes to press.

Frances and I began our editing journey in June. I may be one if the few Calgarians who didn’t mind our summer of less-than-wonderful weather. I rarely longed for the outdoors as I tapped away at my desk, editing my manuscript chapter by chapter.

Frances divided the novel into chunks of ten chapters. Using the Track Changes feature of WORD, she e-mailed me her suggested changes and comments one or two chapters at a time. I replied with my agreements or counter-suggestions or further comments. She’d volley back her replies. We’d keep going with this until we more or less reached a consensus for that chapter(s), at the same time moving forward with edits to the rest of the story. When chapters 1-10 were done, we worked on 11-20. My original novel had 33 chapters. It now has 32. We cut most of Chapter 20 and combined the remnants with a new small scene and the former chapter 21 to create one long chapter that seems to work.

Overall, I’d say Frances and I were in agreement about the story’s major points. She understood all of my characters the way I did; we saw the story arc the same way. We sometimes differed on smaller points, such as word choices and punctuation. I deferred in cases where I wasn’t sure what was right or felt her change wouldn’t make a significant difference. These were relatively easy matters in terms of work load. More time consuming was writing new scenes and figuring out how to handle the effects of a deleted character and subplot.

Frances also raised questions I hadn’t considered. These led us both to research such things as cell phone call tracing, Calgary transit schedules and criminal code terms.

When we were done, my task was to re-assemble the edited chapters into a new whole. This was harder than I’d expected due to my poor organization system. I also felt a need to read the novel through once again to check for errors due to the changes we’d made: references left in that should no longer be there, details inadvertently removed with the deleted character or subplot and extra spaces, double periods and crossed out letters left behind from the Track Changes.

Between the additions and deletions, the edited manuscript is about 6,000 words less than my original. I believe it’s more focused and interesting to readers.

Now I get a brief rest before plunging into the next book. On September 9th, TouchWood publisher, Ruth Linka, has arranged a conference call with Frances and me to discuss future novels in the mystery series. I’m mulling ideas for a sequel.

I had to push myself to make the September 1st target for the edits in the midst of my summer activities: hiking, visitors and short trips. The push has paid off. The day after I sent Frances the edited manuscript, Ruth Linka contacted me. A mystery novel scheduled for spring 2011 had to be postponed. Frances told her the editing has gone well. How would I feel about moving my fall 2011 publication date forward six months to spring 2011, possibly March?

I feel excited and scared. March isn’t so far away. This book is really going to happen.

Yesterday's Post: My Journey Through the Editing Process

Evidently, I still have much to learn about blogging. I was sure I posted this yesterday. Here it is - again.

In May, I signed my first book publishing contract for my mystery novel A Deadly Fall. I immediately plunged into editing. Here is Part One of My Journey Through the Editing Process.

As soon as we signed the contract for my novel A Deadly Fall, TouchWood publisher, Ruth Linka, introduced me by e-mail to my editor, Frances Thorsen. Ruth reminded Frances and me the edited manuscript was due September 1st and left us alone to whip my novel into shape.

Frances and I began by exchanging personal details. She is the owner/operator of Chronicles in Crime, a Victoria bookstore specializing in murder mysteries. She founded the store with her personal stock of 8,000 books. An editor who is a bookseller and avid mystery reader: Cool. We discovered we shared some common ground. Frances graduated from the University of Waterloo. So did my son. She lived in downtown Toronto near Bloor Street. So does my other son. She longs to fly a glider plane. I … I admire her spirit of adventure.

Frances assigned me my first editing tasks: write a detailed character sketch of my main character and prepare two spreadsheets: (1) a timeline of events that impact the plot and (2) a character chart listing each character’s purpose to the book, relationship to the protagonist and the chapters in which the character appears. Part of the purpose of the chart is to determine if characters are lacking or if certain people aren’t needed because they are duplicating other characters’ roles.

Uh oh, I thought, she’s going to ask me to cut characters. I like them all and every one is essential to the book.

I haven’t worked with spreadsheets for years, but came up with the charts without much difficulty, thanks to outlines I’d prepared while revising the manuscript. Right away, the character chart requested by Frances pointed me to one person I might cut from the novel. I started to mull over ways someone else might take over the cut one’s contribution to the plot.

Next, Frances sent me her general comments on the manuscript, so I’d know where she was coming from during the edits. A few of her comments struck me as requiring major changes. How would we ever get through this by September 1st? This was going to take tremendous work. It looked like A Gruelling Summer would precede A Deadly Fall.

I skimmed through the novel in light of Frances’ comments and considered the ripple effects of any changes to the story. I decided I could apply most of Frances’ comments and e-mailed her questions and concerns about the rest. She replied that her comments were just suggestions. Her answers to my specifics assured me we were on the same page.

Deep breath. Exhale. Feeling better.

Frances sent me the edits for the first two chapters. We will be working with Track Changes. It took me awhile to find these on my WORD menu – they are under “Review”. I was unfamiliar with the mechanics of Track Changes and am still getting the hang of them, but find it fun clicking “accept” or “new comment” to her proposed changes. She also highlights scenes for me to cut and paste into a separate file of material that might used later in the story. We agreed I would write two new scenes for Chapter 2. These turned out to be shorter and easier to do than I’d expected. The character sketch I’d written helped with one of the scenes.

Aside from some niggling bits, we’ve finished the Chapter 1 & 2 edits. Frances says the first part of the book is always the hardest. So it isn’t only me who thinks that? She’s now working on her edits for Chapters 3-10. I wait for this next batch, feeling good to have gotten this far. This editing process will be okay, even enjoyable, I think - at the moment.

More About Editing

Yesterday's Post - My Journey Through the Editing Process - was written at the request of my Calgary mystery writing group Mystery Writers INK. It was posted on the INK blog site http://mysterywritersink.blogspot.com on July 2, 2010.I am now drafting part 2. Look for it here and on the INK site soon.

I joined Mystery Writers INK in the fall of 2003, when I started writing A Deadly Fall. INK meets monthly to network and hear speakers on topics relating to writing and mysteries. We've learned about forensics, poisons, novel structure and much more. Over the years, I've found INK a great source of information, support and contacts.

During my recent editing process some questions came up about Canadian criminal charges. I e-mailed two people who had spoken at INK: an RCMP officer and a human rights lawyer. Both replied instantly with detailed comments that will make my novel a touch more realistic.

The most recent INK blog post features the following quote by an editor on the editing process. I'd like to think I approach editing like this writer:

One of my authors says that when I point something out as weak, he either cuts it (knowing I’m right) or re-doubles his efforts to make it work. I think that’s a great response to editorial feedback.

Andy Meisenheimer

In May 2010, I signed my received my first book publishing contract for my novel A Deadly Fall. I immediately plunged into editing. Here is Part One of "My Journey Through the Editing Process."

As soon as we signed the contract for my novel A Deadly Fall, TouchWood publisher, Ruth Linka, introduced me by e-mail to my editor, Frances Thorsen. Ruth reminded Frances and me the edited manuscript was due September 1st and left us alone to whip my novel into shape.

Frances and I began by exchanging personal details. She is the owner/operator of Chronicles in Crime, a Victoria bookstore specializing in murder mysteries. She founded the store with her personal stock of 8,000 books. An editor who is a bookseller and avid mystery reader: Cool. We discovered we shared some common ground. Frances graduated from the University of Waterloo. So did my son. She lived in downtown Toronto near Bloor Street. So does my other son. She longs to fly a glider plane. I … I admire her spirit of adventure.

Frances assigned me my first editing tasks: write a detailed character sketch of my main character and prepare two spreadsheets: (1) a timeline of events that impact the plot and (2) a character chart listing each character’s purpose to the book, relationship to the protagonist and the chapters in which the character appears. Part of the purpose of the chart is to determine if characters are lacking or if certain people aren’t needed because they are duplicating other characters’ roles.

Uh oh, I thought, she’s going to ask me to cut characters. I like them all and every one is essential to the book.

I haven’t worked with spreadsheets for years, but came up with the charts without much difficulty, thanks to outlines I’d prepared while revising the manuscript. Right away, the character chart requested by Frances pointed me to one person I might cut from the novel. I started to mull over ways someone else might take over the cut one’s contribution to the plot.

Next, Frances sent me her general comments on the manuscript, so I’d know where she was coming from during the edits. A few of her comments struck me as requiring major changes. How would we ever get through this by September 1st? This was going to take tremendous work. It looked like A Gruelling Summer would precede A Deadly Fall.

I skimmed through the novel in light of Frances’ comments and considered the ripple effects of any changes to the story. I decided I could apply most of Frances’ comments and e-mailed her questions and concerns about the rest. She replied that her comments were just suggestions. Her answers to my specifics assured me we were on the same page.

Deep breath. Exhale. Feeling better.

Frances sent me the edits for the first two chapters. We will be working with Track Changes. It took me awhile to find these on my WORD menu – they are under “Review”. I was unfamiliar with the mechanics of Track Changes and am still getting the hang of them, but find it fun clicking “accept” or “new comment” to her proposed changes. She also highlights scenes for me to cut and paste into a separate file of material that might used later in the story. We agreed I would write two new scenes for Chapter 2. These turned out to be shorter and easier to do than I’d expected. The character sketch I’d written helped with one of the scenes.

Aside from some niggling bits, we’ve finished the Chapter 1 & 2 edits. Frances says the first part of the book is always the hardest. So it isn’t only me who thinks that? She’s now working on her edits for Chapters 3-10. I wait for this next batch, feeling good to have gotten this far. This editing process will be okay, even enjoyable, I think - at the moment.

The past two Saturdays I taught a two-part writing revision workshop. Here are some quotes I shared with the class.


“The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say a brain surgeon.”
Robert Cormier


"There is a difference between a book of 200 pages from the very beginning and a book of 200 pages which is the result of an original 800 pages. The 600 pages are there. Only you don’t see them."
Elie Wiesel, in “The Writer’s Chapbook”


"I looked at the stone and removed all that was not David."
Michelangelo, about his statue of David

My Long Journey to a Book Contract

Part 2:

In spring 2007, I completed my first mystery novel A Deadly Fall. After five drafts, I prepared to query publishers and agents. The story is set in Calgary and my preference was to publish in Canada.

My preparations began at a Writers Union of Canada one-day presentation on publishing. The presenters offered advice on manuscript submissions and query letters and a list of reputable Canadian agents. At home, I checked the agents’ websites and found a half dozen who were receptive to both unsolicited submissions and mystery genre books. I got my list of potential publishers from the Crime Writers of Canada website. That spring, they listed all the books submitted for the Arthur Ellis Awards, with authors’ and publishers’ names.

Large Canadian presses don’t have submission guidelines on their websites, since they don’t officially accept unsolicited submissions. They also don’t mention their editors’ names, probably so they won’t be flooded with queries from aspiring writers. The WU presenters said the big presses secretly comb the slush pile, not wanting to miss the next hot thing. They recommended sending a query letter and the novel’s first three chapters to the appropriate editor. I found those editors by going to the library and bookstores and studying the acknowledgements in the Arthur Ellis nominees’ books.

Small Canadian presses generally welcome submissions and post guidelines on their websites. Typically, they want a synopsis and the first few chapters, although some request the entire manuscript from the start.

My next step was to draft a query letter. People say this letter is vitally important. I modelled mine on the WU presenters’ sample, ran it by friends and scrutinized every word.

In June, 2007, I mailed my first batch of queries – to five large or medium-sized Canadian publishers and one agent. Three weeks later I received a request for the full manuscript from the agent. Wow. I was on my way. Four months later the agent sent an encouraging letter rejecting my novel. She liked the book, but felt new mystery writers were too hard a sell and had a few problems with my story. Her critique led me to make another, minor, revision before sending out more submissions.

I continued querying agents and publishers in batches and received form rejections and rejections with positive comments. Many publishers and agents did not reply. A second agent asked for the manuscript. She also liked the book but felt Canadian publishers weren’t buying mysteries from new authors. I entered unpublished mystery novel contests and didn’t place. I discovered more possible publishers through sources like Quill and Quire magazine. In July-Aug, 2008, I queried my 14th to 17th publishers. In November, one of them requested my manuscript – my first publisher’s request after almost a year and half of querying. In January, 2009, I got a request from Publisher Number 17, TouchWood Editions.

Statistically, publisher’s requests have about a 10 percent chance of leading to a contract. During the coming months, I queried 10 more publishers, knowing some were extreme long-shots. I sent e-mail follow-ups to the publishers who had my manuscript. An editor I’d sent it to unsolicited said he was passing it along to his publisher. I had a third faint hope.

In January 2010, I received an e-mail from Ruth Linka, the publisher of TouchWood Editions. She asked if my novel was still available and said she wanted to give the manuscript to another reader. I was too afraid to hope and knew my novel could go down to a final meeting, where it would be passed over for someone else’s.

I felt I was down to the wire with Canadian presses. I had tried all the ones I knew of that might conceivably publish my mystery novel - 26 in total. I expected to know by spring if my three hopes would fall through and came up with a Plan B: Revise the novel and try the US and British market. I was not looking forward to this.

In March, I went to Australia on holiday. Three days after I left, Ruth Linka called my home. The following week she e-mailed, asking for a convenient time to phone me. It took a week for me to get these messages and longer to find a suitable time to phone her from Australia. She made an offer to publish my novel. I was thrilled to say yes.

Back home, it all seems to be happening so quickly. I signed the contract with TouchWood this week. Next week, Ruth will put me in e-mail touch with my editor and in-house promotions person. I’ll be spending the summer editing and the year after that gearing up for the book launch.

It has been a long, hard eighteen years that don’t feel so bad now that they’re over. There were many times I felt like quitting, felt my writing didn’t measure up and felt I’d never get here. What kept me going, I think, is that I enjoy the writing process. I like sitting in my room making up stories. I like going over and over them to develop their meaning and make them come across to others. I like learning techniques to make my writing and stories better.

I also enjoy the social aspect – attending writing group sessions and gatherings and classes, meeting fellow writers and making new friends.

Now, I’ll enjoy the social part of giving readings, presenting at festivals and conferences and, I hope, connecting my stories to readers.

Great news: In April, I got a call from TouchWood Editions. They made a novel to publish my novel A Deadly Fall. I signed the contract in May. It took me years of hard work and pursuing publishers to get there. Here is Part One of that story.

My Long Journey to a Book Contract

Part 1:

Nineteen years ago, I decided to become a writer. Aside from letters and term papers, I hadn’t written anything since high school. I plunged into a semi-autobiographical novel I expected to finish in a few months. Within a few years, I knew it would hit the bestseller lists.

It didn’t work out that way.

I quickly realized I had a lot to learn about writing and enrolled in Concordia University continuing education courses in Creative Writing and Magazine Writing. For the latter, we had to write an article and query letter targeted to a magazine or newspaper. At the time, I was living in Montreal and was an avid reader of The Montreal Gazette newspaper travel section. I wrote a travel piece about the Calgary Stampede, which I had visited the previous summer, and sent my query to The Gazette travel editor.

I sweated his reply. Two months passed. Why was he taking so long? One night, while I was at a school parent committee meeting, the editor phoned. He wanted to publish my article. I couldn’t stop smiling for a week. This writing-thing had been the right choice. It was going to be easy.

I queried magazines with other travel article ideas. And received rejections. I wrote a short story and sent it to a literary magazine. Rejected. I started two murder mystery novels and abandoned them after a couple of chapters.

A short story I started morphed into a novel. A year later I had a first draft – 1,000 pages. Even I could see that was a tad long for a first book. I ruthlessly cut it in half.

My husband’s job transfer took me to Calgary, where I discovered a thriving writing community. I joined the Calgary Writers’ Association (now defunct) and the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society, where I took courses and later served as president. I became a member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta and Mystery Writers’ INK. All of these groups taught me much about the writing craft, offered tips on getting publishing and brought me into contact with fellow writers. Many have offered support and advice over the years and become valued friends.

All this time, I worked on my novel in workshops, classes and critique groups. I radically revised it, polished it up and sent it out to the publishing world.

No one was interested.

Discouraged, I turned to short stories, which I could finish in a much shorter period. My plan was to publish some for recognition and a feeling of accomplishment. The plan worked, albeit slowly. I kept sending my stories out, receiving rejections, sending them elsewhere. Gradually a number were accepted. Each acceptance gave me a mental boost. My story credits lead to an offer to teach writing courses at the Alexandra Writers’ Centre, an activity I thoroughly enjoy. They also provided a track record that became a selling point down the road when I queried publishers about my murder mystery novel.

I started the mystery novel in the fall of 2003 and finished the first draft by Christmas. The following summer I brought the first two chapters to a one week workshop with author Fred Stenson at the Alexandra Writers’ Centre. Fred and the class attacked my work. I wound up with a tighter, much improved opening. A fall novel course at the AWCS with author Eileen Coughlan gave me direction for the rest of the book. I wrote the second draft and took a few middle chapters to The Sage Hill Writing Experience Fiction Workshop with Steven Galloway, a literary writer who believes in the importance of plot. My Sage Hill critiques propelled me into draft number three. When I finished it, I considered beginning queries, but something about the book didn’t feel right. I registered for a Booming Ground online mentorship with Lawrence Hill, another author who values plot. After a gruelling year of work I had the book I wanted. I did a fifth draft based on comments by Hill and friends who had read the manuscript. I was ready to query agents and publishers.

And three months fly.

This is fun: Looking for a book to read next? Check out www.bookseer.com to find a book to suit your personal tastes.