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Member News – February

Lynn Slaughter

Check out Lynn Slaughter’s essay on the importance of backstory  on hastybooklist.com:

Also, Lynn and Ellen Birkett Morris gave a delightful talk at Jo-Beth’s bookstore. Lynn and Ellen were superb, talking about their writing process, and reading from their latest novels. Well done! Susan and Elaine drove down to show support, along with Miss Whitney Vale (Susan’s sister).

Lynda Rees

DRS Member and Author, Lynda Rees, The Murder Guru, will be teaching The Business of Publishing workshop online for the Womens’ Fiction Writer’s Association, classes from April 20-30. It’s only $20.

Lynda is also honored to have been selected to help judge as Unpublished Category Coordinator for the Kiss of Death, Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery / Suspense contest. You DO NOT have to be a KOD or RWA member to enter. This year short stories are a new category! Entry information is in the graphic below.

Mystery With a Splash of Bourbon

Mystery With a Splash of Bourbon

The Kentucky Derby Museum recently ordered 36 copies of our anthology to stock in their gift shop.  And they just told us that, instead of doing consignment, which we have been doing the past 6 months, they will now buy outright! Great news, and much easier to keep track of. We hope we get more orders from them as the Derby approaches. Fingers crossed!
Also, in January, Susan and Elaine dropped off copies of the anthology to Keeneland and the Kentucky Horse Park. Sadly, Keeneland said no. We haven’t heard back from Kentucky Horse Park. NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING GAINED!
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Musings From Munsch – Richard III

A few weeks ago, I was talking with Miki and she mentioned reading The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. This stirred up long-forgotten memories of my introduction to Tey’s seminal work. I was a freshman in college (ancient history now) and my English teacher, Sister Josepha, recommended this book. We had been reading Richard III (“Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this son of York.”) by Shakespeare.

If you have not read (and why not?) The Daughter of Time, published in 1951, it features as its protagonist Inspector Allan Grant, a bedridden patient in hospital. To cheer him up, his friends bring him a variety of books. When a friend brings him a portrait of Richard III, Grant begins his research into the hunchbacked king and his era. Long story short, he does enough research to question the long-held version of Richard, believing the ‘bad’ king could have been a ‘good’ king, had he lived.

This book sent me on my own quest to discover the real Richard. Somehow in the pre-Google age, I connected with the American branch of the Richard III Society, dedicated to clearing Richard’s name. And then, lo and behold, I joined like-minded Ricardians to form the Ohio chapter.

Most of the members lived in one of the Ohio ‘C’ cities: Cleveland, Columbus, or Cincinnati. We organized ourselves, agreeing to meet quarterly, traveling up and down I-71. We established a newsletter, all the trappings of a chapter.

I don’t remember all their names, but what an interesting group of people. Tom, a history teacher, was a culinary expert in medieval foods. He would bring ‘desserts’ to the meetings. Another was a member of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). He made his own chain mail, not as easy as knitting a sweater. At every meeting one of us would present a short paper on an aspect of medieval life or the life of Richard. Very intimidating for such a dilettante as myself, but I always made a decent showing in spite of my shaky knees.

Our chapter was asked to host the Annual General Meeting. Quite the honor. Naturally, I volunteered to organize this event with the help of another member. And that we did. Held at the Marriott in Cleveland, Tom, the culinary expert, worked with the hotel to provide a medieval feast (without throwing bones on the floor). Everyone donned their costumes and we spent the weekend back in the fifteenth century. A grand night indeed.

Many years later, my daughter and I made a trip to York, England, where we visited the Richard III museum, a very moving experience.

I cannot close without mentioning a most beautiful book about Richard. The Sunne in Splendor, written by Sharon Kay Penman, is a meticulously researched book about the ‘hunchbacked king.’ Penman insisted authors who wrote of historical events and personages should adhere to the facts or acknowledge the bending of them. As well as penning volumes close to one thousand words each, she also created the Justin de Quincy mystery series set in medieval times. My recollection is that she was a Sister in Crime, one I sadly never had the opportunity to meet. Sadly, she passed away in 2021.

The Daughter of Time sent me on a mysterious journey. I became a member of the Richard III (say who?) Society and, in a roundabout way, to the Sisters in Crime (say what?). And I’ve had a roaring good time along the way.

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Mind Your Business – Writing Book Blurbs and Tag Lines

If you are like most authors, you struggle to write blurbs and tag lines. You’ve crafted a 40-100,000 word novel and need to hone it down to a few words. It sounds impossible, but with this strategy it should be fairly simple

First, you must understand the purpose of burbs and tag lines.

Blurbs summarize what the story is about. Don’t give away the drama, only tell key parts to entice buyers to read the book.

It’s a good idea to write a short blurb and a long one. The long can be back cover copy and be used many places as you distribute the book. The short one is for distribution and ad channels that require fewer words in the blurb. Shoot for a 20-word blurb and a 40-word blurb.

 

Example blurb, from Ruth Rendell’s The Rottweiller:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tag Lines are one-to-two sentences that sell the story, usually placed on front cover. Think of this as advertising or sales copy. It tells the buyer what they’ll get from reading the book—suspense, intrigue, happy ending, magical feelings, whatever your story will provide the reader.

Formula:
1. Hero or heroine
2. Inciting incident
3. Emotional journey to growth
4. What they want/need
5. Disaster that happens if they don’t get it

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A Resolution to Write

Tucked away on my list of new year’s resolutions in 2009 was a simple commitment: start writing. It landed somewhere between lose ten pounds and stop chewing nicotine gum. It would reappear on my lists for another six years before I did anything about it.

I had intended to be a writer all along, but life doesn’t always go according to plan. I had a busy career, a failed marriage, and a son to raise by the time I made that commitment to write again. Perhaps you can relate.

Starting took some effort. It had been decades since studying literature in school, and the writing I did for my day job didn’t really count. I started with a few online classes, trying both fiction and non-fiction to see what held my interest.

When I had the opportunity to take a workshop with one of my favorite authors, I jumped at the chance. It was part of Woodstock Bookfest, an annual three-day event in upstate New York. The workshop was incredibly helpful, and so were the many panels I attended.

At one of those panels, an author spoke about her debut mystery novel and all the support she received from an organization called Sisters in Crime. I had always been a fan of mysteries; I read two or three books in that genre every week. But writing a mystery? I wasn’t sure about that. Although a mystery did seem right for a character who’d been haunting my thoughts for a while. To my surprise, a story began unveiling itself that evening.

Back home in northern Kentucky, I looked up Sisters in Crime, joined, and connected to the chapter closest to me. It’s ironic that a book festival in the Catskills led me to the Derby Rotten Scoundrels in Louisville, Kentucky, but life is like that. This year, my resolution is to finish my first draft of that story. I still haven’t lost the ten pounds or given up nicotine gum, but thanks to my Louisville Sisters in Crime, I’m damn close to writing the last chapter.

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Comma Long With Me

Few elements of punctuation are as daunting as the comma. When do I use it? Where do I put it? There are rules, and sometimes controversy (Oxford commas come to mind).

Reference this article on  8 basic uses of commas:  Commas (Eight Basic Uses)

This month, we will focus on independent clauses.

An independent clause is also called the main clause. It expresses a complete thought, and it can stand alone as a sentence. Its counterpart is a dependent clause, which cannot stand alone. Dependent and independent clauses can combine to make different types of sentences.

A clause is a phrase that contains a subject and a verb or verb phrase

Every complete sentence has an independent clause, but not every sentence contains a dependent clause.

reference: Independent Clause: What It Is Explained with Examples

 

Independent Clause plus a Dependent Clause:

Boomer, a cat who started life in the park, enjoys playing in my backyard.

The independent clause in this sentence is:

Boomer enjoys playing in my backyard.

This is a complete thought, with a subject (Boomer), a verb (enjoys), and an object phrase (in my backyard). As an independent clause, the above statement does not require a comma.

The following clause is dependent, because it cannot stand alone:

a cat who started life in the park

The dependent clause is almost a parenthetical description, used to provide a little ‘background’ info on Boomer, but not essential to the main clause. When you add the two clauses togther, you need to separate them with a comma (in this case, two commas, because the dependent clause is dropped into the middle of the independent clause:

Boomer, a cat who started life in the park, enjoys playing in my backyard.

Two Independent Clauses in one Sentence:

We can connect two independent clauses in a few different ways. The first method is to use a coordinating conjunction.

There are seven coordinating conjunctions in English: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. You can remember these with the acronym FANBOYS.

Example:

The following two clauses are independent because they can each stand alone as a complete thought:

My dog is an Australian shepherd.

I don’t have any sheep for him to herd.

When combined, they need a comma and a conjunction (but) to connect them.

My dog is an Australian shepherd, but I don’t have any sheep for him to herd.

 

You don’t have to use a coordinating conjunction to connect independent clauses. You can also use certain punctuation marks. These are semicolons, em dashes, and colons.

When you use a semicolon, you do not include a coordinating conjunction. You can use a transitional word or phrase after the semicolon, like “however” or “as a result.” These are called independent markers.

Examples:

I used to live in Montreal; however, I am not fluent in French.

We discovered the thief—it was my next-door neighbor!

You don’t usually see colons separating independent clauses. The independent clauses must be closely related to use a colon. The emphasis should also be on the second clause.

  • The results of the study surprised us: the animals responded positively to the visual stimuli.

reference: Independent Clause: What It Is Explained with Examples

I hope you have enjoyed my TED talk!