Negative Book Review

Over at The Kill Zone today, Joe Moore talked about identifying and knowing your audience. He says don't chose a group of people that you're writing for, choose one individual. Then cater everything you write to that one person. That's sound advice, in my book, and it got me thinking about who my target audience is. Then my brain did that wonderful rabbit trail thing where one thought leads to another, and pretty soon I'm nowhere near the original topic. I was thinking, "Who was this particular author thinking of when she wrote this stinker of a suspense book?"

(This foul smell brought to you by freedigitalphotos.net)

Let me backtrack a minute. I'm not naming this particular author because normally I love her books and every author is entitled to one stinker. So I don't want to malign her name or her mediocre book. Instead, I want to focus on why I didn't like the book, and maybe tie it all up with "who was this author's target audience." 

There were some good things in the book. I genuinely liked the lead characters. There were four of them. Two were on one side of the mission, and the other two had the backside of the mission. They were male/female pairs, and there was some minor hints of romance, but mostly they were working partnerships of equals who treated each other as fully competent and capable. I liked that. The characters were interesting, flawed, and sympathetic. Their mission was easy and made sense: bring in the bad guy.

Then everything started to fall apart. The bad guy was fairly incomprehensible. I had a hard time figuring out why he was doing what he was doing, what was happening to him, and what made him so dangerous. He wasn't a typical sociopath--in fact, he was just some poor schmuck that was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught up in something evil. Unfortunately, the author didn't explain that bit well enough and there were far too many unanswered story questions that kept me thinking, "huh?" It was wrapped up at the end of the book, but still not fully explained, and I finished the book thinking there should have been MORE. 

That feeling of not-quite-getting-it stuck with me for the last two-thirds of the book. One of the female leads had something funky going on, and the more the author tried to explain it, the more lost I got. There were lots of technical terms tossed around in the hopes of explaining what the problem was, but they just made the mess more muddied. I never did figure out what was going on with the female FBI agent. At the end of the book, the character explained what had happened to her (via dialogue with her partner, who was there the whole time so it was kind of cheesy), and I STILL didn't understand what it was. It was almost like watching a nuclear physicist and a philosopher debate something complex while an audience of junior high school students looked on, scratching their heads, and trying not to be rude and walk out. Frustrating. The worst part is that the author spent some serious page-time trying to explain this stuff, and it started to feel like a waste of ink. I got bored with it when I couldn't understand it, yet it kept going.

The other thing I didn't care for about the book was the LACK of suspense. I want to feel genuine anxiety for the protagonist of a suspense book. His/her/their lives must be at stake, and I must feel that heart-pounding, page-turning, will-they-make-it excitement. It wasn't there. Not even a little bit. The bad guy shot at one of the good guys and wounded him in the leg. Then later the good guy's partner gets shot in the shoulder. Throughout the entire siege, they were both mildly afraid that the bad guy would get them. But I didn't feel it. Not once did I think they were in serious danger. Maybe it's because I know that good always wins, although sometimes the good guy comes out wounded or slightly maimed... but I never got to the point in the book where I was seriously worried about their safety. It was a major let-down.

There were numerous references to characters/plot lines that happened in previous books (this is a series), and the author nicely foot-noted which previous book they happened in. Since I've read all the others, it was nice to see friendly characters from previous books. And that made me think this author has a specific audience in mind: someone who has read all her previous books, and would therefore "get" some of the metaphysical/philosophical stuff that came up in this newest book. Maybe I'm a bit dense, but I've read all the previous books and this one still didn't make a ton of sense. It makes me wonder if the author expected her readers to remember every little detail from every book. Or maybe she expected them to be ultra-familiar with her unique world, and I just didn't remember enough. Or maybe she thought she'd done a darn good job of explaining everything, but since she's too close to it, it wasn't quite enough and she wasn't in the position to realize it. Or maybe I'm unique in "not getting it" in this book. I'm not going to dwell on these issues--I'm chalking this one up to a dud, and when her next book comes out, I'll read it and hope she's back on track. Unfortunately, the book ended with the "it's not over" speech from the boss--whatever evil was working it's way through this book will definitely be in the next two (she likes to write books in threes). I'm hoping the author takes better care in the upcoming books.

Has this ever happened to you, where an author you love/admire puts out a book you didn't care for? It makes me kind of nervous: will one (or more) of my books be thought of as "a stinker?" What will my target audience think? Makes me wonder...

-Sonja

What I'm reading

I have utterly failed in my resolution this year to blog three times per week. I'm six weeks into 2014, but I've only posted 10 articles. For those who are math-challenged, I'm 8 short of my goal. The interesting part about this is that I feel no guilt. I've been sick, I've been busy, I've been bored, and to get right to the heart of it, I haven't had anything worthwhile to say.

(these excuses courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

One of the excuses reasons I haven't been blogging is that I've been too busy reading. I'm an avid reader. Last year I read something like 120 books (Goodreads keeps track for me when I rate the books). If I keep going at the rate I've been going, 2014 will definitely top that number. So I thought I'd tell you about the books I've been inhaling voraciously over the past six weeks or so. 

Before I tell you the author and all her books and why I love them and hate them and can't keep myself from reading the next one, let me preface with how I found her (that's a clue, folks. The author is female). On Amazon.com, there's a cool feature partway down the page called "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought." It's one of my favorite features of Amazon because I'm constantly on the look-out for new authors. I usually look for comp titles of my latest work-in-progress. The minute I find a book that's somewhat similar to mine, I hit Amazon to find more. That's how I found Allison Brennan. Her name came up when I typed in a book by Kay Hooper (who also has awesome books, but I've read all of hers and Allison was new to me).

Now that I've revealed Allison's name, I'll tell you about her books. They're romantic suspense, which is what I'm currently working on (there's also an urban fantasy in the works, but that's a different story for another time). When I first found Allison's name on Amazon, I found her personal site and went to the page that lists all her books. Treasure trove! She's written a bunch, so I knew I'd be kept busy for a while if I liked her style. There's nothing worse then finding an author you love, and they only have three books available. That's not a problem with Allison. She's got 33 novels and a bunch of short stories.

There are some things I absolutely love about Allison's books. First, the protagonist sticks with you. Of all her books I've read, I I still remember all the main characters, the love interest of said character (there's always a romance because, duh, it's romantic suspense), and the bad guys. They're that memorable. The bad guys are nasty but believable. The crime investigations are realistic and fun to follow. It's not always possible to identify the bad guy before the "reveal" in the story, but that's okay because I'm so interested in the characters that catching the bad guy is like a secondary thing. 

Allison's writing style is fabulous--I never get sucked out of the story because of awkward phrasing or clumsy craft or bad dialogue. I find myself invested in the characters like they're personal friends or something. So yeah, it hurts a bit when the book ends, but Allison keeps bringing old characters back in the new books! Yeah! The Kincaid family has seven adult children. They've all had a novel to themselves, and the youngest has a whole series of novels. The siblings pop up in other novels, other FBI agents, private investigators, and cops show up from time to time, old cases get mentioned... so I get to "keep in touch" with familiar characters while being introduced to new ones.

There's only one downside to Allison's books. She writes sex scenes--and usually she doesn't stop with just one per book. Because these are romantic suspense, there's always a love interest for the main character. I like it when characters meet The One and fall in love. I just don't need to see them expressing their love while naked. I'm not a prude, but I could definitely live without the sex scenes. Sometimes I skip over them, especially if they're getting really detailed and I find myself getting embarrassed (what if my husband glances over my shoulder to see what I'm reading?), but a lot of times Allison imbeds important information in the sex scenes that dig deeper into character motivations or flaws or psychological weaknesses--and those things are fun to know. So I wade through the sex scenes for the stuff I want to know and try to not focus on the body parts and whatnot.

I've read 15 of Allison's books, and every one of them was great. Some of them were fabulous. I could not recommend these book to teenage boys in good conscience, but if you can put up with sex scenes (or skip over them) and you like a good suspense, check out Allison's books. They can be read in any order (I read them out of order) but because she likes bringing in previous characters, it's probably more enjoyable to start from the beginning. That'd be The Prey  which came out in 2005.

I've mentioned it before, but I'm constantly on the look-out for new authors I can love. Have any recommendations for me? I love suspense, mystery, thrillers, and romantic suspense. I've been known to read fantasy and sci-fi, too. I can't stand romance or Amish, so please don't point me in that direction. 

-Sonja

Don't Be Racist

I was reading a blog post this morning that caught my attention and made me think. It's the January 31 post from Chicks on the Right entitled "Hey, Ya'll! Help Find This Criminal! But We're Not Going To Tell You What He Looks Like. Because Racism."

Let me quote part of it to you, then I'll comment (and yes, I'll make it applicable to writing):

"According to this, members of the African American and African Studies, Black Faculty and Staff Association, Black Graduate and Professional Student Association, Black Men's Forum, Black Student Union, and Huntley House for African American Males have jointly written a letter to the University of Minnesota's president to ask that no racial descriptions be provided in crime alerts... OMG. The reason that the race is provided in a crime alert is because it's part of a PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF A PERSON.  The purpose of an alert is to allow the public to help identify the criminal.  If the race is known, that tends to give a person something to go on."

My husband works in law enforcement (civilian) and frequently creates BOLOs (be-on-the-look-outs, or crime alerts). I've got first-hand experience seeing these things. The Chicks are correct: the main goal of a crime alert is to describe the suspected criminal well enough so that people can identify him. If there's a color photograph to go on the alert, then the racial background might not need to go on the sheet in words, but there are plenty of times when a photo isn't available. Thus, ANY descriptors, including the lightness or darkness of skin, could be helpful.

(This photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

In my books, I don't give a ton of description of my characters. I usually give something, though: hair color, eye color, height, distinguishing scars or tattoos, stuff that might be of interest to the reader. I usually try to work these things in a little at a time, in appropriate places. I've never used the "look in the mirror" scene to have a character describe herself--too hokey--but I have had a female character think about her so-called flaws when she's feeling insecure, and that might include the paleness of her skin, or the straightness of her hair, or her lack of curves (or over-abundance of said curves). 

I have only used racial descriptions a few times in my writing, although I usually have a cast of characters who are as diverse as the area I live. But I struggle with using race as a descriptor. I'm a pale Caucasian gal with a Scandinavian background, and it doesn't bother me if someone refers to me as "white" or "Caucasian." I've even heard "ghostly." That's what I am. However, I find myself (in this age of political correctness and diversity) wondering how to refer to someone who has darker skin. African-American doesn't work for me--if we live here, we're all Americans. American of African descent? Too wordy. Black? Am I racist if I describe someone as black? I had a black cop in one of my books, and I described him as African American, but I always wondered if that was a good way to describe him because it didn't sound right--the whole "we're all Americans" thing. I did it that way because another author I admire did it that way in her book. But I still don't know if it was right/okay/non-offensive.

It makes me nervous just thinking about it. Am I offensive writing racial descriptors? Does it really matter? Does the reader need to know if a character has pale skin, or dark skin, or something in between? I'm not sure, but I am certain that avoiding the issue isn't good. I've heard agents and editors say they'd like to see more books with protagonists who aren't Caucasian, which implies describing the character's racial background in some fashion or using a blatant name. But even a name can fool a reader. 

So my question to you is this: Does racial background matter when describing a character? How do you handle this in your books? If you're something other than Caucasian, does it bother you to read that a character is Asian, or black, or Inuit? Am I alone in feeling uncomfortable about this sometimes? Please share your wisdom with me.

-Sonja

Protagonist Problems

The February 2014 Writer's Digest has an excellent article called "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by Steven James. I blogged about this article a while ago, but I left out a small bit that I think is helpful. It's a sidebar called "3 Ways to Force the Issue," and it deals with giving your characters tough choices with the purpose of strengthening character and sucking readers in. (If you just throw tough things in to pad the plot, you've got a problem.) Here are the Three Ways:

1. "Make characters choose between two bad things." James offers two example. Make your character choose between letting two guilty people go free or imprison an innocent, or make your character choose between saving the mother's life or the baby's life during a delivery.

Those are rough, especially the last one. Someone's going to die no matter what choice is made. Reminds me of Lord of the Rings when Frodo's in Rivendell. He can return home and be slaughtered by Ring Wraiths or take the ring to Mt. Doom and face death at the hands of basically everyone. Tough choice. Facing death can be a fabulous device for writers. Just as in real life, fictional characters can face the end with bravery or with cowardice; face it head-on or hide from it; embrace the opportunity for one more good kick or whimper and whine. And with each choice comes the consequences, the second-guessing ("did I choose wrong?"), the guilty ("I chose wrong!") and the final victory ("I guess I chose the right path after all.") What are two bad things your protagonist could be forced to choose between, and why does he choose the one he chooses?

2. "Make them give up a good thing." Example #1: Happiness or freedom. Live in a world where every desire is fulfilled and never grow old, sick, or bored OR live in the real world where there's freedom but also suffering and death. Example #2: Comfort or truth. Live with the illusion that he's loved, or find out the truth even if it means getting hurt.

Again, think of Frodo. He gave up the peace of living in the Shire for the slim opportunity of providing that same peace to the entire world. In my novel CASSANDRA'S CURSE, Cassie gives up her sense of security and safety to save someone else's life. The nice thing about this problem is there's usually a fabulous reward at the end because sacrifice is such a noble thing. Readers love to see the protagonist sacrifice themselves for a greater good, even if it's a tragic ending where the hero dies. If the hero lives, even better. What kind of sacrifice can your protagonist make? What good thing can he give up?

3. "Make them draw the line." Your protagonist has a goal, an agenda, a purpose. "What factors determine if someone is a freedom fighter or a terrorist? A traitor or a whistle-blower? Greedy or simply ambitious?" Can you find a way to justify, in your protagonist's head, why he does what he does? Is he skirting the law, his own moral code, or a society standard? Will he be in trouble with someone (his boss, his wife, the Chief of Police) because of his actions? 

Sorry for all the Frodo examples, but we just watched all the movies in a row beginning with The Hobbit, so it's fresh on my mind. Plus, it's an awesome story that contains everything. Now look at your work-in-progress and find ways to bring your character more fully to life by giving him hardship, tough choices, and a sacrificial attitude. 

-Sonja

Thanks, but I'll Pass

Here's a sampling of some of the rejections my agent's been getting lately on my proposals from publishers:

"I do like Sonja's style... dialogue driven, good pacing. I'd be most interested in looking at more from her." 

"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review Sonja's proposal... while I didn't find this project to be quite right for our list, I'd welcome the opportunity to see another proposal from her somewhere down the road. I can see why you're excited about her potential."

The good news is my writing craft is good--they're requesting more. The bad news is I'm not "Christian" enough for the CBA. Both of these comments came from Christian publishing houses. They both said my romantic suspense novels were too "violent" for their markets and didn't contain enough "spirituality." But if I take my romantic suspense stories to the ABA, there's no sex and too much God, so they don't fit there, either. 

Thankfully, I knew this would be a major problem and realized it from the moment I first started writing 14 years ago. So it's no surprise. My colleague Kat Heckenbach has the same problem: she's a Christian woman but she doesn't write "Christian" fiction. We both write fiction that contain elements of faith but have no overt spiritual theme. No come-to-Jesus moments. No prolonged preaching, praying, or redemption moments. Those ideas might be incorporated into scenes, or the theme, or the character inner arc, but they aren't "big" enough to make the book a good fit for the CBA.

I know I've ranted on this before, but it all comes down to profit. The CBA publishers will only publish books they think they can make a profit on (or break even), and they think their audience wants an overtly religious book with minimal violence. Do you know how hard it is to write a suspense novel with "minimal violence?" Bad guys do evil, nasty things. If the FBI is hunting down my antagonist, it's not because he kicked a puppy. But I'm already off track. 

Here's the Catch-22: For the CBA to publish books that aren't overtly religious, Christian book-buyers must purchase those books. For the book-buyers to purchase those books, they must be published.

Kat did an end-run around the problem by going to a small indie press with her books (Splashdown). In fact, several author friends of mine have gone with small indie presses. I'm holding out for a more traditional press--it's been my dream for so long, I'm not ready to let go of it yet. I may someday decide to go indie or self-pub, but the comments I'm getting from editors is promising. It's those little bits of praise that help me keep pressing on. I'm entirely too stubborn to ever give up, but hearing encouraging words makes pushing forward a lot easier.

-Sonja

A Plug for Google Earth

I was sitting here trying to think of what to blog about next. As a person who never has to worry about what to SAY next, this blogging three times a week is getting frustrating. It's like I've run out of things to say. So I figured I'd skip the blog post this week (again) and do something constructive, like work on my novel. As I was digging through my pile of papers to find the one sheet I needed, I came across the maps I drew of my character's neighborhoods. That's when I came up with this blog post: a plug for Google Earth.

I've used it on my last three novels. The first and second were set in Seattle, about a 1.5 hour drive from where I live. I had a paper map of Seattle, and I had a statistical map (my husband provided it for me) of the socio-economic status in Seattle (poorest parts in one color, middle-class in another color, richest areas in... you get it). So I knew the general area where I wanted my protagonist cop to live, where my antagonist would live, where my run-away teen would live. But seeing it on a paper map just isn't enough. So I conned a friend into driving me up to Seattle and we cruised through those areas I'd marked as important to my story. I took a ton of photos, chose which houses/apartments my characters would live in, and got a general feel for the neighborhoods. Excellent stuff.

But I could only drive to Seattle once (it's stressful, believe me!), and I didn't learn absolutely everything I needed for the story. Enter Google Earth. It's fantastic! I find the area of the city I want to explore, then zoom around like a bird to see the big picture of the surrounding neighborhoods, how far it is from famous landmarks or waterways, locate nearby parks, restaurants, and coffee shops, etc. Then I can zoom in and get a street view as if I were really there. If I stand on this particular street corner, I can turn and see all that can be seen--and what CAN'T be seen--and do a full 360. It's not as excellent as being there, but it's a really close second.

My newest novel is set in my hometown, which I know well. Yet I still use Google Earth to look around neighborhoods I've never driven through before, chart distances from a house to the hospital or from a house to downtown so I can estimate drive time, and see entire neighborhoods in one big overhead shot. It's great for finding good hiding places (for bad guys), back roads for escape routes, and finding nearby conveniences likes groceries and coffee. 

The downside to Google Earth is you're never certain if the views are up-to-date, but I figure it doesn't matter all that much. Readers may complain about inconsistencies (that massive tree was cut down in 2011, or that building burned to the ground in 2013), but as artists we're allowed the old "artistic license" thing. In one of my novels, I used this exact scenario to my advantage: a house that used to sit on 6th Avenue in Lacey is no longer there, but using Google Earth, I went back in time to find out when it came down. Then I set my story six months before the house was bulldozed and put the house's destruction into the story. Did you know that you can go back in time with Google Earth? There's a little clock icon with a back arrow attached. Click that, and you get a slider that let's you go back to previous pictures taken of that same area. There are limits to this (the photos don't go back very far), but it can be useful to know what the neighborhood looked like last year, or two years ago, or five years ago (if they have photos from that far back).

If you've never tried using Google Earth, give it a shot. You might find it one of the most useful tools in your writer's tool box. If you have used it, share your experience in the comment section below. I love hearing from you.

-Sonja

One-Sentence Summary of your Book

When someone asks you what your book is about, do you have a one-sentence line to spit out, or do you ramble on for four minutes rehashing the plot before your listener bolts? If you do the four-minute-ramble, I've got a great tool for you. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I got it. It's scrawled on a chunk of paper that floats on my desk, moving from pile to pile as I shift papers looking for whatever it is I'm looking for. Shoot. So I can't give the original author the applause and recognition he/she deserves. (Note: If you know who came up with this, please share! I hate not knowing. I think it might be Kristen Lamb, but I'm not sure.)

It's a simple formula. Ready?

Protagonist must do X (goal) in order to stop Antagonist before Super Bad Thing Happens (ticking clock).

It's that easy. Watch me put it to work. Here's the one-sentence summary of my romantic suspense Cassandra's Curse:  Cassandra must discover the killer's identity and stop him before he shoots Detective Dogan. I'll admit, it's not the best one-sentence summary I could have come up with, but it does the job. 

Let me try it again with someone else's work: Frodo must destroy The One Ring in the fires of Mt. Doom in order to stop Sauron before he takes over the world with his evil hordes.

Here's another, but I had to alter the formula slightly to get it to work: Katniss Everdeen volunteers to fight in the Hunger Games to save her younger sister from dying in the games. 

Now consider your work-in-progress and fill in the blanks. Share your one-sentence summary in the comments section, please.

-Sonja