I’m nearly done with my latest book, the third in the series set on the Treasure Coast in Florida, and now I’m thinking about the title. The first two books in the series referred to one another: A REASON TO KILL and SO MANY REASONS TO DIE. I’m wondering if I should stick with that idea.

Since the book is about the disappearance of Captain Lawrence Bradley, Andi Battaglia and Greg Lamont’s boss. perhaps I should go with a title that refers to the other two books in the series, such as REASONS TO DISAPPEAR. That’s pretty accurate because the story involves Andi and Greg trying to find Bradley and learning the reasons for his disappearance. But the title seems a bit boring to me, not something that will get my readers to buy the book. I was thinking of a title like G…O…N…E, perhaps slanting off down the cover page. What do you think?

Do books sell because they’ve got good titles? GONE GIRL certainly established a trend and since its publication there have been lots of books with girl in the title: THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN; THE GIRL BEFORE; and others. But Anthony Doerr’s ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE conveys nothing about the setting or the story, i.e., a blind girl and a young German boy in World War II Germany and France, so if you picked it up thinking it was about electricity, you’d be disappointed. But apparently the title found an audience.

Many writers of series link their books by using titles that refer to one another. Connie Archer writes books set in a small New England town called “Soup Lovers Mysteries.” She uses titles like A CLUE IN THE STEW and A SPOONFUL OF MURDER. Sheila Lowe, a handwriting expert, writes mysteries using that milieu. Her books have titles such as DEAD WRITE and POISON PEN. Rochelle Staab, who writes the MIND FOR MURDER, uses such titles as WHO DO, VOODOO? and HEX ON THE EX.

Agatha Christie, the queen of mystery writers, used lots of different titles without reference to one another, even if they featured one of her classic characters like Hercule Poirot or Jane Marple. And other early female mystery writers like Ngaio March and Margery Allingham used titles that referred to murder or death without ties to previous books.

What are your thoughts about titles. Lawrence Block in his essay about titles says that TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY was the original title of Margaret Mitchell’s GONE WITH THE WIND, a change that certainly did it no harm. Did Tolstoy have a different title in mind for WAR AND PEACE? We’ll never know, but the title he chose seems to fit the book. And when Thomas Wolfe brought his manuscript O LOST to Max Perkins in the late twenties, Perkins not only helped Wolfe edit the book, he suggested the title LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL. Better? I think so.

So, titles do attract or discourage potential readers. I’m inclined to go with something like DISAPPEARING REASONS for book three of the series, thus linking them together. What do you think?

I’ve read several pieces lately–parts of ‘how-to” books and blogs–that talk about how many words the writers produce every day. These vary from a total of 500 to 1,500 or more words a day. I read these stats in awe. I guess I’m not a writer after all. I can’t begin to match those word counts.

Sometime in early December, I got stuck on my fourth novel, the third in the Burgess Beach mystery series featuring Andi Battaglia and Greg Lamont. I didn’t like what I had written, which wrapped up the story far too soon, contained no surprises, and was a disappointment to me and to whatever readers I would have. I thought about it and even considered scrapping the whole novel and starting fresh with a new idea and a new plot. The problem with that was that I’d already committed nearly a year and some 60,000 words to the plot I had.

My problem is, of course, that I don’t plot in advance but allow the story and the characters to take over and do what they want. And this time, what they wanted to do wasn’t good. It disappointed me, and it would certainly disappoint my readers. What were those characters thinking?

So did I write my 500 or 1,500 words every day in December? What do you think?   I woke up every morning and thought about what I’d written so far. I thought about what it was possible to do next, given how much I disliked what I’d already done. I knew I probably needed a new villain or at least a diversion from where the story had been going.

But did I feel guilty about not writing? No, I didn’t. I felt I was putting in profitable time thinking, planning, considering. I suppose if I had to make a living from my writing, I would feel guilty and worried. No writing, no money. I think about Dashiell Hammett and F. Scott Fitzgerald, both of whom suffered terribly from writer’s block and couldn’t write at all. Part of the writer’s block may have been due to alcoholism, but alcoholism may have been a result, not the cause.

It was fortunate that my writer’s block came during the holidays. Too much to do, too many people to see, gifts to buy, tree to decorate, gifts to wrap. Everybody was busy, including my writing group, so no one pushed me to write. That’s the pleasure of being a writer without deadlines.

What would I have done if I’d had a deadline? I’d certainly have needed to be a better plotter and a more organized writer. Eventually, early in January, I realized where I needed to go with the story: go back about 500 words, take a new tack and get going. I worked like a charm.

What do you do when you get stuck?

Dear Santa Claus,

I haven’t written to you lately, but I suppose you get enough mail at this time of year that you haven’t missed me. In fact, now that I think about it, I probably haven’t written to you since I was a kid and asked you for a Nancy Drew mystery for Christmas. I was a big mystery reader then, and I still am.

Well, I guess you’re wondering why I’m writing you now, especially since I’m not a little girl any longer. I’m a grownup (I guess), and now I write the mysteries I used to get for Christmas, but, Santa, I’m stuck. What I’m asking you for now is an idea for a story. I haven’t been able to write anything for a long time. I’ve run out of ideas.

I know you don’t usually carry packages of ideas in your sleigh. You usually bring toys and pretty dresses and books and computer games. But, Santa, before you say no, please hear me out.All I want is an idea for a story. That’s all. That should be simple for you. It’s not like a million dollars. Just an idea for a story, to get me writing again. That doesn’t seem like so much, does it?

Oh, and if you can, can you give me a really, really interesting main character–someone my readers will identify with and root for to find the answer to the puzzle. And, if it’s not too much trouble, maybe you could throw in a friend–you know, a sidekick–someone my main character can talk to and bounce ideas off. Of course I do need a villain, although I don’t suppose, being the good man that you are, that you have much experience with villains, but what’s a story without a good villain? I’m sure you can come up with someone evil and threatening, although not so obvious that the reader will guess his identity immediately.

Now, if you do this, give me an idea for a story and the characters, I’m sure I can take it from here. But, if you should be so inclined, maybe you could help by providing me with a good setting for the story. I know you’ve been all over the world, even if it’s only by sleigh on Christmas Eve,. but you know lots of places so you could give me a good place for the story to happen.

And, maybe the most important thing of all for a mystery story, I need a twist. That’s always the hardest part of the story–well, aside from the other things I asked for–but the twist in a mystery story is absolutely a necessity. No one wants to read a story that says that A met B and B hated A and then killed A and the police and everybody else knew it because they knew B didn’t like A. I need something new, something novel, a twist that will surprise my readers.

And, if you can also arrange that my story is accepted by some big name magazine, that would be terrific, too, but I can probably do that myself.

So, Santa Claus, I guess that’s it. That’s all I want for Christmas.

Lots of love,

Carole

Dear Carole,

That’s all you want for Christmas? You haven’t been in touch for years and years, and now that’s what you want for Christmas? Well, I’ve thought it over, and here’s my answer.

If I could come up with what you’ve asked for–a story idea, a protagonist, a sidekick, a villain, an interesting setting and a twist for the ending–if I could come up with all that, I’d write the story myself!

Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus

Tomorrow I’m off to Bouchercon, my second time going to that fan conference. I attended two years ago when it was held in Long Beach, but I didn’t stay at the hotel and drove back and forth. It’s such a huge gathering—Long Beach attracted 2,000 attendees:  fans and mystery writers—that I was overwhelmed.  I attended only a few panels and kept taking refuge at the Sisters in Crime/LA table where at least I had my back to the wall and knew some people.

This time it’s in New Orleans, and I vowed to be braver. I’m not on any panels, which is disappointing, but I will talk to as many people as I can. There will be a lot of Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles members there, so there will be some friendly faces.

This is the part of writing books that I find the most difficult: publicizing myself and my books. Writers generally are a shy and retiring lot, preferring to be home writing and reading than out talking to groups of people and telling them about their writing processes, the way they create, where they get their ideas—well, you get the picture.

Yet, of course, this is the way the writer—me—becomes known, by meeting people and talking to them and giving them cards and bookmarks, telling them about writing and making friends.  I don’t mean to sound as though I don’t like people. Of course I do, and I have lots of friends. It’s the self-publicizing part that I find difficult.

I often wonder——as do many people, especially publishers— what it is that creates mega best sellers, like THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN. It was a first novel, I believe, and it got good reviews, but so do lots of other books, and they don’t stay on the best seller list forever. It must drive publishers nuts trying to predict what book, of the many they publish, is going to be a huge hit. Did Paula  Hawkins know she’d written a best selling novel?

And what about GONE, GIRL? Gilliam Flynn had written and published several books before that one that sold well, but not like GONE, GIRL. If anyone can predict what will sell and what won’t, they’ve got a million dollar gift. Of course they’d have to do a lot of reading!

I know my fellow Ladies of Mystery work hard at promoting their books, going to libraries and bookstores, author fairs and all kinds of other venues They are good at what they do. I am learning, but it’s a slow and somewhat painful process.  But if I don’t work at publicity, no one besides my closest friends and family will even know about my books.

When I read this over, I realize I’m sounding very negative. Probably because I’m scared about going to Bouchercon, meeting all those writers and fans and trying to make an impression. Wish me luck, guys! I hope I look like this on Sunday.

What have I been up to since I last posted? Well, as I told you last month, my new book, PSYCHIC DAMAGE, is out. I’ve had a couple of book signings, both at great bookstores, with other writers from Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles. I also moderated a panel at a library in Santa Monica using as our topic “Murder is Where You Find It”. These were all fun, partly because I wasn’t appearing by myself but with other writers. It’s always fun when you have other people to talk to on the podium.

I have also finally (!) unstuck myself in the writing of my latest Florida mystery, as yet untitled. Because I never outline and only start with a vague idea of what’s driving the book and where it’s going, I ALWAYS get stuck somewhere around half way through. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, I’m sorry I ever started, and I wonder what I was thinking when I considered the book a good idea. I wake up thinking about the problems, mulling solutions over in my head, without coming to any brilliant—or even serviceable– solutions. And I find myself depressed, feeling that I’ll be stuck forever.  Maybe I’ll just give up this book and start fresh.

Candy, my writing teacher, tells me I always do this, but since I don’t remember feeling this way before, I think she’s just trying to make me feel better. This time my being stuck lasted longer than usual, and even she began to wonder about me. Then she suggested that, since I had several threads in the book, several ways it could go, that I try following each of them separately from the rest of the book, to see where each of them led me.

Wonder of wonders! I followed one thread to the end and found a logical and conclusive ending. Then I followed another, with a few detours along the way, but I think now I know where I’m going.  I hope I can follow it through to the end.

If you’re a writer, it’s probably a better idea to have some idea where you’re going rather than write the way I do. On the other hand, I’m constantly surprising myself with the paths my books take that I hadn’t planned out at all. And surprising myself is a lot of fun!

In the meantime, my house is still a mess with the kitchen remodeling going on. The walls and cabinets are painted, the lights are in, but the floor hasn’t been done yet and there seems to be a leak in the ceiling.  House remodeling is never fun?