Month: October 2016

Guest Blog – Bridges Del Ponte

~ patyjag ~ 4 Comments

Diverse Voices in our Mysteries

In a changing publishing landscape, many readers are actively seeking out more diverse voices in our mysteries.  This demand may flow from our readers’ desires to more closely identify with characters in our mysteries that better reflect their own life stories.  In other instances, our audience may want to enrich their reading experiences by learning more about others’ distinct backgrounds.  The concept of writing across cultural backgrounds or “transcultural” writing may include characters and situations involving different ethnicities, races, genders, sexual orientations, religions, ages, gender identities, or geographic locations.  In creating diverse protagonists and supporting characters, here are several key points to consider when making our mysteries more inclusive.

Write What You Know.  Writers are often advised to write about what they know.  The protagonist of my new mystery series is Marguerite “Monty” Montez, a young lawyer who straddles the old world of her immigrant Portuguese family and her contemporary world as a homicide prosecutor.  My parents were the children of immigrants from the Azores and Madeira who settled in a Portuguese neighborhood in East Cambridge, MA.  As a young attorney, I later lived in this same neighborhood next door to my maternal grandmother.  Based on my background, I am able to intertwine aspects of Portuguese-American culture and generational conflicts from an intimate perspective into my mystery.  But no group is monolithic, so my take on my Portuguese-American heritage is simply my personal view, and not that of an entire group.  Think about how your own background may inform a diverse voice in your mystery.

Do Your Homework.  Whether borrowing from your own background or injecting other distinct voices into your mystery, be sure to do your research.  Nothing will throw a reader out of your story more than a diverse perspective that does not ring true.  You will need to do research on gaps in your own cultural history or your lack of first-hand knowledge about another culture.  That research may involve interacting with members of that diverse group, interviewing local or national experts, participating in cultural events, listening to relevant podcasts, attending speaker panels, and reviewing online or print sources.  The greater exposure you have to and the more information you learn about a relevant group, the better prepared you will be to channel diverse voices in your mystery.  If you have the opportunity, consider asking someone from that culture to serve as a beta reader of your work.  They may be able to provide valuable feedback by illuminating cultural nuances and helping you avoid major mistakes.

Recognize Cultural Sensitivities.  The introduction of diverse voices into your mystery can be fraught with challenges.  Some readers may raise concerns about improper cultural appropriation, superficial characterizations, and offensive stereotypes.  Yet the mystery field needs to be more inclusive by offering more diverse voices in our books.  Mystery writers are expected to imagine a broad range of characters in their fictional tales, including those from other backgrounds.  For example, the late Tony Hillerman featured Navajo protagonists and culture in his mysteries, and ultimately received an award from the Navajo nation for his culturally accurate and respectful portrayals.  As stated above, doing your homework will help to avoid potential inaccuracies or shallow representations.  But be aware that certain readers may be sensitive to your efforts to represent individuals and circumstances derived from other cultural groups.  Respect these criticisms and think about how you might address any inaccuracies in future books in your series.

frontcover_july5_2016kindle-700x1047Deadly Sacrifices – A Marguerite Montez Mystery

You always remember your first time.  Monty’s first happened in St. Stephen’s church, directly beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary, right after morning mass.  A local soccer mom is bludgeoned to death in her suburban parish chapel outside of Boston.  In her first homicide case, prosecutor Marguerite “Monty” Montez endangers her life digging up evidence that shows the police nabbed the wrong man.  Monty’s investigation uncovers disturbing memories and fresh leads in an unsolved murder of a childhood friend in her close-knit Portuguese community.  Her dauntless search for the true killer is a wild thrill ride into a dangerous world of lethal secrets.

Amazon Print: https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Sacrifices-Marguerite-Montez-Mystery/dp/1533376697/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Kindle Version:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I0VK28A

 About the Author

pontesmpic-341x450-2Bridges DelPonte has published two novels, Deadly Sacrifices and Bridles of Poseidon, three non-fiction books, several science fiction, fantasy, and mystery short stories, and numerous legal, travel, and business articles. Her mystery, Deadly Sacrifices, received a Royal Palm Literary Award (2nd place – unpublished mystery) from the Florida Writers Association (FWA) and her underwater fantasy, Bridles of Poseidon, was a finalist for a Royal Palm Literary Award (unpublished fantasy). She is a member of FWA, Sisters in Crime, Inc., and Citrus Crime Writers. When she is not tapping away on her laptop, she teaches law courses, creates educational game apps, and lives happily in sunny Central Florida. To learn more about Bridges DelPonte and her writing, please visit her author web site at http://www.bridgesdelponte.com or her Amazon Author Central page at http://www.amazon.com/Bridges-DelPonte/e/B00BW7BZYU.

 

 

 

What Scares You?

~ Amber Foxx ~ 4 Comments

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Since we’re so close to Halloween, I thought I’d explore my one venture into writing horror. The plotting workout of going outside my genre was educational, as it made me study the art of scaring people.

I’m at home writing paranormal phenomena. My mystery series features a psychic protagonist and there are ghosts and spirits in two of the books, Shaman’s Blues and Soul Loss. However, their roles are more mystical than frightening, and while the ghost in my prequel short story The Outlaw Women delivers some disturbing news, he’s actually quite benevolent. Mystery involves suspense and tension, and sometimes fear for the main character’s safety, but not the kind of fear that that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

In Stephen King’s analysis of horror, Danse Macabre, he has a chapter on monstrosity in which he examines the fine line between the strange and the monstrous. It’s the walk on that line that I find chilling. When the transition into monstrosity is too extreme, the impact is lost. To me, the scariest part of a horror story isn’t the gore. The blood and guts or weird slime or whatever is supposed to deliver peak terror is usually so over-the-top or icky that I’m not scared anymore. It’s the build-up that creeps me out, the sense that something is wrong at a deep, perhaps supernatural level, making it hard to fight or prevent.

Though I read horror stories occasionally, I never planned to write one. I ended up doing it on kind of a dare. In a discussion with several other authors, I brought up the fact that when author earnings are sorted by genre, the most money was in romance. None of us wrote romance. A horror writer said he’d have to try. I asked, “Horror-romance?” Next thing I knew, we were working on an anthology of horror-romance short stories based on the seven deadly sins. I picked sloth, since it was a challenge. How could I make laziness frightening? And romantic, in a scary way?

The Apache concept of bear sickness, a condition of unnatural lethargy, struck me as good starting place. Loss of control at the mental level, the feeling that something is invading and taking you over against your will, would have to be terrifying. I explored other Apache myths about bears and came up with a horror story without gore, an appropriate choice for the author of series of mysteries without murders. I was working on Ghost Sickness at the time, which is set, in part, on the Mescalero Apache reservation, so I used that locale—the same powwow, and even a couple of the minor characters from Ghost Sickness— in my horror story. When it turned out to be too long for the anthology, I set it aside for a while. Last year I released Bearing as a stand-alone for Halloween. Most people have liked it and found it creepy or chilling. However, the only review on Barnes and Noble says “Not at all scary.” The same things don’t frighten all of us. What gives you a good scare?

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 A tale of paranormal horror based on Native American myths.

Mikayla, young Apache woman attending a powwow with her family, becomes entranced by an outsider, a Cree man who shows up without his Apache girlfriend. As her fascination consumes her, Mikayla changes in ways both pleasurable and frightening, powerless to overcome his dark magic until it may be too late.

*****

The Calling, the first book in the Mae Martin Psychic Mystery series, is on sale for 99 cents through Oct. 28th on all e-book retail sites.

65 Years Together!

~ marilynm ~ 14 Comments

On October 24, 1951, this Los Angeles girl married the handsome young man she met on a blind date in the spring of that year. And no, I don’t remember exactly when, but I do know where–on the sidewalk between my house and a friend’s who lived about two plus miles away. She and her two sisters, and three other service men, and Hap and I caught a street car to go to Chinatown. And that’s how it all began.

A lot has happened during that time–and no, it wasn’t always easy. He spent 20 years in the Seabees, and I mainly stayed home–as we became the parents of 5 children.  He went to exotic places–I lived with him in Norfolk and Little Creek VA, Cambridge MD., but mostly in Oxnard CA.

Our family grew, I had many jobs with PTA including president 4 times, two different schools, had a Camp Fire group for 10 years, worked as a telephone operator, 10 years as a teacher in a school for child development, and  in a couple of day cares and pre-schools.Hubby retired from the Navy and worked for Sears for 15 years and retired again.

We moved to Springville CA where we are now and together opened a licensed residential facility for women with developmental disabilities and we did that for 23 years. I also taught classes on various subjects to administrators in this industry.

All the time I was writing too–finally got published, and kept on writing and as you all know, am still at it. Hubby has been supportive through it all, and when we were younger we traveled all over the country to various mystery conferences and conventions–and made many  good friends.

We experienced hard times, and wonderful times– and despite being old, it’s even better now. Our philosophy as with most things, is never give up. We learned along the way to put our trust in God.

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Two innocents who had no idea what was ahead for them.

And of course, these days, besides writing, and enjoying family, especially the grand and greatgrands, I’m still promoting my books. If you haven’t yet had a chance, I hope you’ll try the latest Deputy Tempe Crabtee mystery, Seldom Traveled, available as a print and e-book in various places including:  http://mundania .com and Amazon

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Yes, we celebrated–but it was very low key.

Marilyn Meredith

 

 

 

 

The Fun Kind of Research

~ janegorman ~ 5 Comments

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I had the great pleasure this month of conducting some serious research for one of my upcoming books.

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Each of my books takes places in a different city, town or country. I’m currently working on book 5 in the series (as yet untitled), which takes places on a cruise. But I’m also planning ahead to book 6 in the Adam Kaminski mystery series, and that takes place in Provence.

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The beauty of the small towns and villages that thrive in this part of southern France is astounding. The cracks and crevices that add character to the facades of houses built hundreds of years ago, the color of the fading limestone contrasted with the bright pinks and greens and blues of painted shutters.

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The Mediterranean-style roof tiles, red and pink and brown in the golden, late afternoon sun. The air that smells of the vines, freshly cut and burning in small piles in the small vineyards that dot the countryside.

I am grateful to be fortunate enough to be able to travel, to see parts of the world so beautiful they make me stop, take a deep breath, and think of all the things that are good and sweet in my life.

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My goal with my writing — what I strive to achieve — is to share that joy, that beauty, with my readers. To let you see this world through my eyes, so that you, too, can stop and breathe and be happy.

And, yes, of course there’s always a murder to solve, too.

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Learn more about my books at janegorman.com.

 

 

 

 

Of Concerts and Self-Publishing; Are They So Far Apart?

~ janispattersonmysteries ~ 2 Comments

by Janis Patterson

I went to a concert a couple of nights ago. That’s not unusual – I’ve been in and out of concerts on both sides of the conductor for most of my life. What makes this one different is that it was an amateur orchestra – an organization of people who got together to play magnificent music just because they love it. No remuneration other than applause for a lot of time spent practicing and rehearsing. And the program was ambitious – all challenging works by Beethoven, Bizet, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Mozart and Dvorak. As the concert was free, the members of the orchestra even paid for the audience’s intermission refreshments out of their own pockets. This is the truest and most shining example of the word amateur – one who does something for the love of it.

Was the concert flawless? No. There were unintended sharps and flats here and there, and one of the second violins definitely needed more practice on his/her fingering, but in spite of the flaws – or perhaps because of them – the evening was most definitely enjoyable. It was not the icily-perfect rendition of a professional world-class orchestra (which I also love), and perhaps was the more charming because of it. The mistakes were not egregious, and the love the performers had for the work shone through every note, even the ‘off’ ones.

Over the years the word amateur has been tarnished to a near-slur, degraded to mean a fumbler, an incompetent, any number of other derogatory terms, but that’s not right. A true amateur is one who does the best he can, one who learns and simply for the love of something

There are exceptions, though, and we can find far too many of them among the plethora of self-published books flooding the world. An amateur musician realizes that at the very least he must learn the basics of music, that he should be able to reach a certain level of knowledge and technical ability before even attempting a concert. It seems that the amateur writer does not.

No one would think of saying “I’ve always wanted to play in an orchestra” then sit down in front of an audience, grab an instrument and start banging away on it without any knowledge, instruction or practice.  That, however, is just what so many wanna-be writers do. Just because they speak English with a modicum of proficiency they think they can write a novel. They string together a fair number of words and, convinced that they are only minutes away from being rich and famous or at the very least being regarded as that magical creature ‘a published author,’ throw the book up on any sales platform they can reach. The words developmental editor, copy editor or even spell-check do not seem to exist in their vocabulary. The resulting messes degrade the entire idea of self-publishing.

Like a lot of currently/formerly traditionally published authors I self-publish. There is a growing number of authors who have never done anything but self-publish who produce wonderful books, books that are often better than the current examples of traditional releases. Despite this, ‘self-published’ is used among the ignorant and the spiteful as a code word for amateurish (in its worst connotation) rubbish, and this hurts us all. If we cannot raise the level of knowledge among the unprofessional writers, we can at least do our best to correct a wide-spread notion among the public that all self-published books are a thing inferior. Even if some of them are.