Considering what readers expect in a book.

One of the most difficult aspects to reviewing books is considering what the author is trying to do, or, more importantly, what the readers will expect from this book.

I just finished Bringing Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. Before writing the review, I went back to read my review of the first book in her trilogy, Wolf Hall. In that review I stated that I like to test historical fiction by imagining the names of the historical figures being replaced with other names to see if the book works on its own. I'm not sure that's fair. When the subject is someone famous readers bring knowledge to the process and a good writer should consider that knowledge.

It's all right to make things up. Hilary Mantel's books are mostly dialogue. She can't know what was actually said, so the real test is how believable the story is. Some things can't be changed. For example, I read a book once where Napoleon flew to a battle site on the back of a dragon. I can accept that in a fantasy. But if you tell me Napoleon was a tall man without some elaborate explanations, I'm going to stop reading. It's too much a part of what I know about the historical figure.

I think I was wrong in that criticism of Wolf Hall and I think realizing it made my review of Bringing Up the Bodies better.

A hundred years from now

My daughter loves nineteenth century novels and has convinced me to be a fan as well. I like the concept that the thoughts of writers from over a hundred years ago can still be fresh to readers such as me and I wonder if the same thing will happen with any of my work. I've had some stories published in university literary magazines, including one in the same volume as a Grace Paley story, so perhaps copies will be kept in the college library archives. And my current novels are available in Kindle and Nook forms. The internet is a game changer for longevity (just ask any celebrity with pictures he or she doesn't want out there). So writing a novel today definitely has a time capsule aspect to it.

The book I just finished and reviewed is Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. I made a few comments on the sexism of the time and on other aspects of Dreiser's thoughts. Of course that makes me wonder what someone would think of White Horse Regressions 100 years after its publication date. Even today, readers have varied impressions of my novels, just as they do with any writer. But there may be additional information available years from now that impacts how people feel about my books. With a little luck I'll be someone they think of as ahead of his time, like Jules Verne, rather than someone, like Theodore Dreiser, whose ideas about women seem dated.

Amy Tan and me

A week ago, I took some time off from the audio fiction I like to listen to and review. Instead I listened to Amy Tan's Opposite of Fate, which she has subtitled A Book of Musings. I like Tan's novels, so I thought I'd enjoy this book and I was right. But instead of a review I decided to respond with a blog posting. This way I can talk a little about my own writing life. In some ways Amy Tan's background is far removed from my own. She grew up in a Chinese American family and lost her father and brother when she was fifteen, both to brain tumors. Her relationship with her mother had its ups and downs, including a time when her mother threatened her with a knife. Yet overall, Amy Tan seemed to love and respect her mother and the elder became the greatest source material for Tan's novels.

I am two years older than Tan. We grew up in the same era, but I was raised by parents born in America who were as much a part of the culture as I am. In addition to being approximately the same age, Tan and I both have stable marriages which have lasted many years. Concerning our writing lives, the greatest difference is that Amy Tan's enormous popularity enables her to write full time, while I have had to make my living as a computer programmer. I also have to spend a good portion of my free time getting the word out about my novels. Tan's books will sell themselves, because of her history of commercial success. The best example of the power of a name came when Robert Galbraith, author of The Cuckoo's Calling revealed that Galbraith is a pen name for J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. The book's sales jumped by 150,000% in one day.

But commercial success isn't all good. I'm sure there's a great deal of pressure on Amy Tan to produce and I imagine she has to be quite strong willed to keep creative control of her work. (She mentioned this relative to the production of the film The Joy Luck Club.) Authors who publish with small presses have more freedom to write what they want to write, which is why the small publishers are such great sources for fresh writing. And, although it is less of an issue for writers than it is for actresses, I'm sure celebrity status can affect their non-writing lives in negative ways. As the cliché goes – be careful what you wish for.

I liked Opposite of Fate. When I was done reading it, I felt as if Amy Tan was someone I knew and liked. Maybe somebody will feel the same about me as they read my blog posts. If so, thank you for being my friend.

Interview on Poets and Writers -- WEHC

I just had my first broadcast radio interview and, judging by the comments I've received, it went well. It's Henry McCarthy's show, Poets and Writers. Here's his picture:

Click on this link: Poets and Writers then scroll down until you see my name and click on the link there. Thanks.

I've done internet radio and a spreecast interview that included video, but this was the first time I've had an audience in the thousands and one that included station listeners who may or may not be interested in reading my book. I'm hoping they enjoyed the interview and hoping this isn't my last opportunity.

Writing a novel is only the first step. A book needs readers to be a success, so marketing is a necessity. Some writers see the process as tortuous, but I'm trying to look at it as a challenge. We'll see what happens.

Angela Lam Turpin's blog tour

Thanks go out to Angela Lam Turpin for inviting me to participate in this blog tour. I’m proud to have my novels discussed alongside Angela’s stories. She writes from her heart. I knew that as soon as I read the first story in her collection The Human Act and Other Stories (written under the name Angela Lam).  Ashes to Angels is about a young woman, Adele, who is living a life limited by poverty and by choices made by others in her family. But Adele is blessed with a talent for math, a blessing that turns her life in surprising ways. Angela lives in California with her husband, a daughter, and a son. She is an artist as well as an author and writes nonfiction as well as fiction, primarily articles on real estate and finance for SFgate.com. Like many other writers I know, Angela gets up early to do her writing at dawn. Her stories cover topics including sexual identity, poverty, romantic love, parenthood, eating disorders, infidelity, and family relationships. Turpin’s writing is emotional and uplifting, a joy to read. As well as The Human Act and Other Stories, Angela's books include of Out of Balance, Legs, and Blood Moon Rising. Here are the questions she posed to me about my own writing:

Angela: What are you working on?
Steve: I am working on my past life mystery series, of which Motherless Soul is the first, White Horse Regressions is the second, and I’m currently writing the third. The books are set in my three favorite places: Motherless Soul in a church (a place to think about the universe and God), White Horse Regressions in a community theater (a place to watch actors making characters interesting), and the third book at a lake (a place where peaceful water can sooth and inspire). Choosing those settings helps make the process pure joy and at the same time I’m adhering to the old writing axiom to “write what I know.”

Angela: How does your work differ from others in the same genre?
Steve: My books fit into at least two genres: mysteries and historical fiction. They are different from other mysteries because the detective is a hypnotist who brings out people’s past lives. Clues from different time periods are used to solve the crime committed in the present and since the various lifetimes share people with the same souls, determining who is who is a second, intriguing mystery. As works of historical fiction my books relate to time travel books, because they have a plot during the present time that leads the reader into similar situations in the past. But time travel books always have something that doesn’t quite add up. My work travels back to observe, but not to change.

Angela: Why do you write what you do?
Steve: I am interested in the continuity of life, which is why I find the concept of past lives so fascinating. It's also why I'm interested in historical fiction both as a writer and a reader. For the most part, people are alike in different places and times. So it's fun and thought provoking to put characters in different situations then see how they respond. I hope my readers enjoy these situations as much as I do when I'm reading the works of other writers. I also hope it gives them something to think about.

Angela: How does your writing process work?
Steve: I think about the characters and the situations until something interesting comes up then I write it down. That becomes the core I work with. After that I rewrite when ideas hit dead ends or just need imporving or when a something occurs that conflicts with something else. I think the hardest lesson I needed to learn after I decided to become a writer was how to identify and throw out the sections of my work that don't advance the story, even if they work on their own.

I want to thank Angela Lam Turpin again for inviting me to participate in this blog tour.

Next week, discover the writing of Jean Rodenbough.

Jean Rodenbough is a retired Presbyterian minister, active in church and community, and in writers' organizations. Her publications include:

Published by Lulu.com:
FIELD WATER is a poetry collection
GATHER WITH THE SAINTS is a series of stories narrated by the 12-year-old daughter of an enlightened Baptist preacher. She tells of the strange funerals and residents of her home town of Wheeler, NC.
SIGNS OF HOPE contains stories of loss, a description of the grief process, and a fantasy about Butterfly's journey into the Valley of Sorrow.
PREACHER'S DOZEN is a collection of sermons preached during the fall of 2008.
TREE features poems about trees through the seasons, to accompany color photos.
NOW AND THEN is a chapbook of recent poems.
ICE ON A HOT STOVE is a re-publication of an earlier collection, updated.

Published by All Things That Matter Press:
RACHEL'S CHILDREN:SURVIVING THE SECOND WORLD WAR tells the stories of those who were children during WWII, with poem commentaries, reflections, and narratives about the war.
BEBE & FRIENDS: TAILS OF RESCUE: Stories of rescued animals is a collection of heartwarming stories which also provides information about rescue organizations and statistics about rescues. Poems serve as commentary, and contact information for organizations is included.

The author lives in Greensboro, NC with husband Charles, also a writer listed on Amazon's Author Central. Their four children and families all live in the Greensboro area. They have a Beagle-Jack Russell, Katie, who gives them a hard time.

Competitions?

Most of the people who read my book reviews seem to do so on Goodreads, Librarything, and Amazon. So I'm going to switch things up a bit by posting my reviews out there and making this site more of a traditional blog. The book I just reviewed is J.A. Jance's Cruel Intent. If you want to read the review you can find it here: Cruel Intent. What you'll find on this site will be my musings.

I've been thinking about entering White Horse Regressions in a competition or two. The problem is that although googling novel competitions brings up plenty of hits, most of those seem like scams. Some have multiple categories such as mysteries, historical fiction, or new age fiction. WHR could fit into any of those. But they charge for each category. Goodreads has a site here that shows recent award winners. So I'm thinking I can find legit competitions by working my way backwards through those. I'll have to give it some more thought. I don't mind spending money on competition fees if the award is meaningful.

I picked up a couple of books at the Bookmarks festival last week. Turkmen Captives by Susan Williamson and Warning Signs by Sheila Englehart. They're both written by local authors. I'm looking forward to getting into one of those after I finish the current book I'm reading.

Bookmarks Festival this past weekend in Winston-Salem

I attended the annual book festival in Winston-Salem this weekend. The weather was a little too hot to be perfect, but I can't complain because it didn't rain. Here's a shot of the WS Writers table.

I was taking the picture, so I'm not in it. But I got a chance to sell my books there from noon to one. I sold a few and had some great conversations.

I stopped in at the outdoor stage and heard a few authors speak, including Frances Mayes, who wrote Under The Tuscan Sun.

She told a story about how her book became a film. She said it was good luck, because she ran into a producer while shopping for wine in Italy who told her to contact him. Of course, the book was already well known by that time, so it wasn't all luck.

I also attended a workshop with J.A. Jance, a very successful mystery writer with about 50 titles in print. I had never read her work, so before the workshop I checked out a few audio versions from our local library, all from her Ali Reynolds series. I loved the way she manages to mix everyday problems such as issues having to do with sexually promiscuous children or unfaithful spouses with mysteries that have to do with psycho murderers and drug cartels. In her class she spoke about incorporating events from day to day life into her stories, so my impression was right on. One of the main reasons I was there was to check my methods for getting the word out about my books against the methods used by someone who had succeeded in that area. I'm doing the things she suggested, so now it's a matter of keeping up the work. We'll see what happens.