That tricky first chapter

It’s like getting the lede right on a news story: It has to be succinct, draw in the reader, compel us to read the rest of the piece, give us a taste of what is to come without giving it all away. It’s the point from which all else unfolds. It holds the glimmer of intrigue that gets us thinking, keeps our eyes moving over the copy.

It can be the trickiest part of the story; it used to be that reporters were dunned by a pesky copy desk to ‘make it sing,’ ‘make it tighter,’ ‘make it shorter,’ and so on. It could drive a reporter/copy editor nuts.

Writing that first chapter – the one you might be sending to an agent – is just as bad. There’s a proliferation of writing/publishing courses out there and the few I’ve sampled hammer it home: The first chapter has to sell your story; it has to have a punch; it has to be well-written. One instructor mimed an agent shuffling through manuscripts, reading the first sentence or two and throwing the first chapter on the slush pile. Frightening. Is that how they do it? Five seconds with a first chapter and it’s decided?

Then you’d better get it right. And therein lies the problem. What’s right if your work has never been accepted? What will make that five seconds a winner? How can you possibly know? You can’t. You can only hope that the writing – and rewriting – gets your first chapter to a tight, manageable, alluring and exciting read. You have to hope that the point of the story is so tightly wound from the starting point that the rest of the tale unwinds quickly and beautifully – like a fast ball hit by Jays’ slugger Jose Bautista.

There is no magic solution to the first chapter: It’s a shot in the dark. I suppose ‘believe in yourself’ is as good a mantra as any. Show it to friends you trust. Take lots of advice. Don’t be wounded by criticism. Try to be subjective. Stand back and look at your work. And rewrite. Then rewrite it again.

A Wikipedia Entry for Mar Preston

It seems very presumptuous to enter myself in Wikipedia but I'm answering the challenge that was posed. Please comment on my entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:marpreston#External_Links

I'm curious to see how others answer.


Good wishes all,

Mar

The Writer as Entrepreneur by Mar Preston

If you're a very new author like me, you find promoting yourself second in dread only to a spinal tap, a baby shower, and a tax audit-all on the same day.

NO DICE, my first mystery, could sink like a stone unless I act way out of my comfort zone. That means self-promotion. I'm aleady over my allowance of shy attacks for the month.

But something has happened that changed the way I think about myself. I'm defining myself now as an entrepreneur.

I found Women's Economic Ventures-an organization here in Southern California 'dedicated to creating an equitable and just society through the economic empowerment of women.' I know they must have opportunities like this in Canada.

Twenty-seven budding entrepreneurs, and none of them authors, have met four times. the initial ripple of uneasiness and plain fear has been trasformed into a can do optimism at the end of every class. We leave on a high.

We will try to pin down our brand in the fluctuationg publishing marketplace, create a marketing plan, produce financials, and a business plan. Subjects I never could have imagined myself being interested in.

But I want to learn how to earn a modest income as an author who is in business for herself. I have other books I want to publish.

A consultant has gently guided my down the path of assembling the rudiments of self-promotion. That includes a blog (not this one) embedded in a website, and supported by business cards and bookmarks, an e-newletter, as well as a Facebook fan page. It's all there at marpreston.com.

What has helped me most in the class so far is learning techniques of time management. Last week I found myself combing the fringe on the rug to delay writing the next chapter. Have I mentioned Spider Solitaire? It has to stop.

This entrepreneurship class takes into account the emotions that go along with assuming the huge risk of indenturing yourself to the vision of being your own boss.

After all, as authors, we are in business. Publication is only the first step.

Reality Blog Challenge #2

Writers know, for research, that Wikipedia is a critical tool. Readers know this too. Whether it’s to determine the real names behind Ellery Queen, or the pseudonym for Ruth Rendell, or the order of those Sookie Stackhouse novels, Wikipedia is the easiest way to find the answer.

Marketing savvy authors have Wikipedia pages. Twist Phelan’s is a fine example. Her content is intriguing, yet not all that personal. Read her page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twist_Phelan Did you notice she does not provide where she lives or her age?

A Wiki entry can also be full of connections to other sites. The page for Robert Crais is rich with these. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Crais

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to create your own Wikipedia entry. When you’ve got it up do a short post with the link so we can all check it out!

Be sure to use a great photo. Include links to your website, reviews, your publisher…check out your favourite authors and take your favourite features from their page, for your own!

Challenge #1 The Art of Simplicity

“He was lost.”

That’s it. That’s how Kate Atkinson’s One Good Turn begins.

If that doesn’t draw you in, I don’t know what will. Sometimes the best books begin with the most straightforward statements.

Or, how about Val McDermid’s first line in Fever of the Bone: “It all comes down to blood in the end.”

‘Simple is best’ has long been the maxim for most things in life. Why argue with some of the genre’s finest??

Just Desserts

The closest my mother would get to science fiction was Star Trek. Most science fiction, in her opinion, was nihilistic and depressing. I tried to persuade her otherwise - with no success. There were no guarantees that she wouldn’t find the book too scary. Yet she surrounded herself with murder, mayhem and deceit - in a word, mysteries.

I grew up surrounded by my mother’s collection of mystery books. Some of the books by Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, and Ngaio Marsh had come with her from England before I was born. Other authors, like Ruth Rendell and Rex Stout she discovered since emigrating. I fed her addiction by introducing her to Sue Grafton and Charlotte Macleod, but I never really understood it until I had a few more years of life experience under my belt.

Unlike science fiction, you know a solution will be found in a mystery. No other genre of fiction guarantees that. Life sure as hell doesn’t!

Perhaps that is why, as much as I enjoyed reading them, I didn’t have the urge to write mysteries until after my mother died and I was dealing with the slow demise of my sister and poor health of my father.

There had always been an element of mystery in Under A Texas Star, but with my new-found enthusiasm for mystery-writing, I went over the manuscript making sure that it fulfilled the needs of a mystery. Were there enough clues? Enough red herrings? Was the investigation plausible? When the villains got their just desserts, was it satisfying?

That’s the true delight in a mystery - seeing the justice served in what often seems like an unjust world. And who doesn’t enjoy dessert?

Alison Bruce
www.alisonbruce.ca
twitter.com/alisonebruce

What is your favourite example of "just desserts"?

Time and Place

The ubiquitous “they” contend writers should stick to what they know; a place with which they are familiar, and a time period to which they can readily refer. So what about all those historical mystery writers who choose to set their work during medieval times, during wars and battles long past? Or place their work in eras where details can be tricky to find and references to politics, daily life and livelihood are crucial to the story?

Ellis Peters did it beautifully; Michael Jecks, P.C. Doherty, Charles Todd and Peter Tremayne all do it, too. Doherty and Tremayne have academic backgrounds, perhaps making their chosen time periods a natural choice.

The rest of us? I’d have to reach into the 6^th century were I to try and base a mystery on what I really know and have studied. Written documentation about life among everyday folk is pretty thin on the ground, most of it coming from monastic sources, and would probably not be truly reflective of the lives of those who had neither the means nor knowledge to record their lives. Feeling truly immersed and comfortable with the customs and way of life would surely be a daunting task for a writer.

Getting the writing done can be a challenge in itself. But worrying about niggling details, precise facts and the exact atmosphere of the place you’re writing about can make the work a real adventure.

Is historical accuracy important? I’d say so. I’ve heard academic historians say they couldn’t read certain mystery authors due to flawed details and facts. But while accuracy is key, so is atmosphere, the place where the tale is set.

Two recently read books stand out as examples that nail time and place: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows’ book, ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ evokes the place; “As the mail boat lurched into the harbor, I saw St. Peter Port rising up from the sea on terraces, with a church on the top like a cake decoration ….’ And the book doesn’t neglect time, either: “Hitler was fanatic about fortifying these islands – and England was never to get them back,” writes one of the book’s characters.

Anne Perry’s latest mystery offering, ‘Treason At Lisson Grove’ continues with the author’s excellent knowledge of the Victorian era and its societal restrictions and proprieties. She has also written a series of World War I novels that slides readers into the horror of the conflict and its trench warfare.

For anyone interested in the hows and whys of historical or other mysteries, Mystery Readers Journal, edited by Janet Rudolph, would be very helpful. Back issues include African Mysteries, Island Mysteries, Scandinavian Mysteries, History Mysteries, Mysteries Set in Italy – and many other locales. The current issue deals with London Mysteries I. It, along with some back issues of the journal can be downloaded as a PDF for a $6.50. See http://www.mysteryreaders.org/journal.html

Or, for $39, North American readers may subscribe: See http://www.mysteryreaders.org/subscribe.html