Author: Robin C. Stuart

John Le Carre was a government agent before he started writing spy novels. Hank Phillippi Ryan is an investigative reporter who writes about an investigative reporter. On the other hand, Tom Clancy was an insurance salesman before he wrote espionage novels. Lee Child was a TV producer, among other jobs, before he started the Jack Reacher series. Readers of our blog know I’m a cyber crime fighter who writes about cyber crime. How about you, my fellow Miss Demeanors? Do you write what you know, or do you write based on research or another source of inspiration? Cate: I’m a former business journalist who covered technology companies, often the cute social networking startups that ended up taking over the world. I was also a television news producer. I think the decade of journalism, working for newspapers and magazines, taught me how to research and write tight. I bring that to my fiction. My stories, however, are more close to home than anything that I covered. As a domestic suspense writer (or psychological suspense, given my upcoming book), I write about close relationships that go wrong. The macro is not as important as the micro for me. Michele: I’ve done some writing using a lawyer as a protagonist, but I’ve had the most fun writing the character of rogue lawyer turned island bar owner, Neil Perry, Sabrina Salter’s significant other. Neil is your typical irreverent, smart, bad boy lawyer. My lawyer colleagues all love him. Some of them think they are him. There is no inspiration better for understanding human depth and conflict than witnessing the agony of people who find themselves in family court. I had more than thirty years of this kind of “inspiration” as a family law attorney and mediator. There are no stakes higher than the threat of the loss of your family as you know it. Paula: I follow my own advice, outlined in my writing books: Write what you know. Write what you love. Write what you’d love to know. I started off as a reporter, and that has served me very well in terms of research as well as craft. I also was an acquisitions editor for many years and that has served me well as an agent and as a writer. But in terms of specifics, I can trace the influences in my work pretty easily, as I think most of us can: 1) Growing up in a military family informs my fascination for all things military and law-enforcement.2) My mother read mysteries and so I did, too.3) My love affair with British literature (and I include crime fiction in that) began when we were stationed in Europe when I was a kid and our British friends introduced me to Sherlock Holmes, and grew as I grew and discovered Jane Austen and Shakespeare and Agatha Christie. My mother took me to Paris and I learned to speak French and I fell in love with all things French as well, including the magnificent George Simenon. Any excuse to weave in anything about Europe or the UK or Shakespeare or Paris is one I can rarely resist.4) I grew up with dogs and cats and I have dogs and cats, so there are always dogs and cats in my stories.5) I am a woman of enthusiasms and these always show up in my books, from chaos theory to potager gardens to Greek mythology. When it comes right down to it, I use whatever I can to help make a story work. And everything I’ve ever done, everything I’m doing now, and everything I will do in the future helps me prime the pump. Tracee: Certainly my life and interests have influenced my writing and my characters. I practiced architecture and think that plays out in my enthusiasm for the nuances of locales. At the same time, I’ve lived and traveled extensively in the US and abroad, and the places I’ve been, and the people I’ve met, walk through my pages. I am also influenced by my early (early grade school) love of mysteries…. how could I not want to contribute to the genre? Ultimately I think that what plays out in my writing is that I am interested in about everything…. I may not be an expert in anything, but I love new experiences and ideas and situations and that plays a role in inspiring the next story. Writing is living vicariously. What a joy it is! Susan: I would add to Paula’s list (which I agree with 100%!) that I also try to write about things I have something to say about. I love cozies. I think Agatha Christie saw me through my childhood, and when I began writing my Maggie Dove mysteries, I was very mindful of Miss Marple, but also wanted to put a Susan Breen spin on that. So I brought in my enthusiasms for church and small villages and feral cats and the Hudson River and economics and Russian history and so on. Alexia: I’m a physician (family medicine) who’s chosen a career in public service instead of private practice. Yes, I’m one of the oft-maligned career Civil Servants. I started out in a primary care clinic at a Military Treatment Facility, changed to Veterans’ Administration outpatient clinics, then decided adventure in the primary care clinic at an Alaskan Native Hospital was the way to go. (I was wrong.) I headed back to the Lower 48 where I took a job at a Military Entrance Processing Station examining applicants for the military. (Think of George Bailey’s 4-F scene in It’s a Wonderful Life.) Then I moved up into a policy job at the HQ (the job I have now) where I work on medical policy governing medical qualification for military service. My first non-clinical job. Oddly, I don’t write about medicine. I get so wrapped up in work, writing serves as a check and balance. Writing reminds me that life exists outside of medicine. I did try to write a mystery (What else?) featuring a physician protagonist but I ended up going off on a rant about the current state of primary care. Okay for the op-ed page, perhaps, but not for a novel. I may create a physician-sleuth someday, once I get to the point where I can take a step (dozens of steps) back from the practice of medicine and approach it objectively. As Jonathan Kellerman said (Yes, Jonathan Kellerman actually spoke to me.) at Left Coast Crime, my career gives me a lot of material to work with.  

On a walk yesterday I mulled over the traits of a particular character I’m creating while enjoying a perfect San Francisco spring day. About half the folks I saw bustling alongside me on the sidewalks wore headphones. Writers should never, ever do this.  The sights, sounds, smells and energy of the city all feed my imagination. Yesterday, in particular, it was the snippets of overheard conversations. Here are examples of some bits and pieces: “It’s important to me to eat the meat I kill.” “…then we started tap dancing and I…” “But when he went to Tijuana…” “Frankly, it made me uncomfortable…” “My wife is an architect. She’s in another time zone.” One of these lines helped fling me over a hurdle that ground a work in progress to a halt. When I eavesdrop…er, happen to catch parts of other people’s conversations, I let my brain go wild. I play games with the fragments to piece together stories, the more outrageous, the better. Standing at the crosswalk, dreaming up a story of a vegetarian killer targeting meat-eaters in Tijuana while on tour with his tap dancing troupe, a completely unrelated inspiration blossomed. It unlocked the puzzle I’d been working through about the character in my novel. I don’t know why this works but it does. For me, at least. Maybe it’s because my subconscious takes over pulling at whatever thread frustrates me when I occupy my conscious brain with word games. All I know is that I take these walks often and rarely get “writer’s block.” This may be one of the reasons writing prompts are popular. I just happen to get mine from total strangers. Where do you get your writing prompts/inspiration? 

Did anyone else see Glenn Close on Stephen Colbert last week? He asked her why she’s reprising her Tony-award winning role on Broadway, knowing full well that she’ll be ineligible for another Tony. Her response stuck with me. You can watch it here (thanks CBS!):   Ms. Close’s obvious passion for her craft and enthusiasm for the connection with her audience is what resonated with me. I write for the same reasons. It’s something that I can’t *not* do. Constantly honing my craft, creating visceral experiences through the power of my words, that’s my bliss. The world around us changes and evolves and the publishing markets change and evolve with it. This means there’s always more to learn therefore always room to grow. There’s also that thrill of connecting with readers, or, more accurately, inspiring that sense of connection in someone I’ll likely never even see. Those are the magical moments that keep me going and coming back for more. So, dear reader, please tell me – why do you write? 

Speaking of my dog and drafts, I have to give credit where it’s due. Method and motive are two key ingredients to crime fiction. So are red herrings. As I wend my way through early drafts it’s not unusual to hit a snag where logic breaks down. This is where Emma comes in. When I get stuck, I take her for a walk. I’ve learned that she has little patience for me to suddenly stop and jot down ideas in a notebook so I take my phone to dictate instead. I figured that I’m not the first author with a four-legged writing partner. This brought to mind a question for my fellow Miss Demeanors. Dogs or cats?   Alexia: I prefer dogs but like dogs and cats. Saying I prefer dogs is sort of like saying I prefer chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream to moose tracks. I’m not saying no to either but given the choice… I don’t have a concrete reason for the preference. Maybe because dogs seem more social. Having a cat would be like having two extreme introverts in the house. Dogs provide me with social interaction and force me to get out of the house. Cate:I have an eight year old puggle (half pug, half beagle) who acts like a cat for half the day. Westley loves attention and affection, but also loves sitting in his favorite spot and sleeping away most of the day. He is very good company as I write. Petting him helped me distress from the more intense scenes in The Widower’s Wife and my upcoming book Lies She Told.            Paula:  We have two dogs: 1) Freddie, the inspiration for FIXING FREDDIE: The True Story of a Boy, a Mom, and a Very, Very Bad Beagle (Adams Media, 2010) and 2) Bear, our Newfoundland-retriever rescue, the inspiration for Susie Bear, the search-and-rescue dog in my mystery SPARE THESE STONES, coming in 2018 from Minotaur. We also have a tiger tabby named Ursula, the 8 1/2 pound Queen of All She Surveys, including dogs and humans. You’ll find both cats and dogs in my work, as well as in my life. They also keep me company as I noodle on my stories. Dogs are good for walking and hiking and snowshoeing and paddle boarding; cats are good for naps and reading and binge-watching British mysteries. All good for fueling my process creative process! Susan: I have two little cockapoos and they are my obsession. (They’re a mixture of cocker spaniel and poodle.) They keep me company when I’m writing and they take me for walks when I’m not. I also have two rescue cats with whom I have an amicable relationship. They don’t scratch me, and I feed them. When I was writing Maggie Dove’s Detective Agency, I knew I wanted her to have a pet. Maggie Dove seemed to me to be a rescuing sort of person, and so over the course of the novel she absorbs two cats. I’d love for her to take on a Golden Retriever, but I need to think more about that.               Michele: We have always had cats and dogs. At one point, my three children seemed to believe they were each entitled to their own individual dog and cat! The dogs were always golden retrievers, except for one little blonde cocker spaniel who crept into my heart, and the cats often tabbies. We lost our thirteen year old golden, Cheddar, in September. Three weeks later, our sixteen year old cat, Miss Dingle named after the town in Ireland, died of a broken heart. They were inseparable. Ours hearts have huge holes right now as we ponder how to continue to have pets when we have sprouted our own wings and travel.              Tracee: I have two Jack Russell terriers – Alvaro and Laika. Alvaro is the one who demands a walk, which is usually a good thing, although sometimes he wants the walk at the very worst time. Laika – named for the terrier sent up by the Russians in Sputnik – only wants lap time, sometimes I think she wants to be a cat. She certainly wants to be better friends with the neighborhood cats….our favorite is Malcolm who literally runs across the yard when my husband arrives. Ever faithful even though he’s technically the neighbors. We also have a Flemish Giant rabbit named Guinness who came with the house! She is perfectly lovely, a very very dark brown. When I need a completely understanding companion she’s the one to visit (she has her own house in the back yard). She is quiet and undemanding but always ready to cozy up in exchange for a carrot. The Jack Russells pretend they want to be friends, but based on their attitude to the squirrels I think it would end badly!  

 Writing is rewriting. We hear that at every conference and workshop. What surprises me is the accompanying chorus of groans from attendees. Apparently, I’m in the minority of writers who enjoy revising. I think of the process as similar to painting. The first draft is my pencil drawing. I’m just blurting out the arc of the story, seeing what works and what doesn’t. There are lots of eraser marks on the canvas at this point. I add color in broad strokes in version 2. This is when my primary focus is character development. In version 3, I add shading and details to evoke empathy and reaction. I keep going until my agent tells me it’s done, or an editor tells us both. To give you an idea of how much revising I’m talking about, let’s look at my journey so far. I worked on a single manuscript through 8 revisions before I felt ready to pitch agents. Landing one of them was my singular goal. So where did I pitch? At a dedicated pitch conference, Algonkian’s New York Pitch (https://newyorkpitchconference.com/). This particular conference is part workshop, part opportunity-of-a-lifetime. I can’t say enough good things about the experience. While there, I revised my pitch 4 times, based on feedback from agents and editors. What happened next? I got signed by the very rock star agent I’d set my sights on before I stepped foot in New York, Paula Munier. What am I doing now? Revising, again, based on feedback from some of the top publishing houses and conversations with Paula. I’m also working on the first pencil dra – I mean, first drafts of two new manuscripts. In between, I’ve written and revised outlines for two more projects that are waiting for my attention. I can’t wait to see how all of them turn out. See, I love the process. It’s fun and satisfying to see my characters take shape and evolve. I love it so much I intend to keep doing it, over and over again. 

 It’s been raining a lot. My dog is on my mind because she’s not like me. I’ve got a revision to work on so being trapped indoors is kind of ideal. Emma doesn’t see it that way. Emma’s needs are simple – eat, sleep, play, cuddle. These are the ingredients for her happy life. She has taken an active dislike of any electronic devices because she recognizes that these objects take my attention away from her. How do I know this? Because she throws her tennis ball against my computer, drops her Kong onto my laptop keyboard when I’m on the couch, or drops any number of heavy toys on my feet if I’m checking email on my phone. Emma, being a dog, is inherently honest about what she wants. Attention. It may sound funny coming from a web site but we all need to turn off our electronics on a regular basis. Turn off the phones, computers, music players…anything that distracts us from the real world. It’s good and healthy to remember there IS a real world filled with real live people (and pets) – people we love and care about, who love and care about us. When we immerse ourselves in the virtual world it’s all too easy to take the real world for granted. It’s completely common now to see two people out to dinner who don’t speak to each other because they’re both texting, checking email, or whatever on their smart phones. They may even be texting each other. All in the name of accessibility. There’s a price we pay for all of this access. It’s alienation. By spending more and more time favoring digital over physical we isolate ourselves. As writers, we’re a little too good at that without the electronic props. You could be surrounded by people but if your attention is focused on a screen you may as well be alone. You may have several hundred Facebook friends and still be lonely because none of them can give you a physical hug. And it’s not just you who feels the impact of your isolation, especially if you have a family. I’m just as guilty as anyone. I’m trying to build a web presence, after all, while holding down a full time job and balancing family, friends and taking care of myself. It’s not unusual for me to be on a computer and two different smart phones simultaneously. And it started to take its toll, both on me and my family. Even Emma. My family missed me, regardless of whether or not I was physically home. So we’re trying something new around my house. We’ve instituted “unplugged Sundays” – no computers, cell phones, iPads, etc. It’s only been a couple of weeks but it seems to be working. We all feel closer. We even went out to dinner last night and forgot to bring our phones.  

See what I did there in the blog title? There are lots of great pieces of advice for new writers. Two of the best pointers I heard early on went hand in hand. First, show, don’t tell. Second, active, not passive. Both feed into the heart of every story’s core: character. Characters don’t happen to a story, a story happens to a character. Telling the story of how your character reacts is passive, showing their story unfold is active, thus engaging for readers. One of my tricks to know I’m getting it right is paying attention to the use of one word: was. It’s a subtle but powerful test: She was cocking the gun. She cocked the gun. Which version grabs you? They both essentially say the same thing but the second version shows an action as it takes place. Removing “was” puts the reader in the character’s shoes and creates tension. “Was” keeps the action – thus the reader – at arm’s length. Showing your characters act/react reveals their nature. It’s like meeting someone you befriend over time. You learn who the person is through your experiences with them. They can tell you they prefer beignets to donuts but it’s more interesting to see their annoyance at the multitude of decisions when faced with donuts. Cake, raised, or old fashioned? Glazed with just sugar, just chocolate or both? This bakery vs that chain store? Hear the person complain about a donut’s the lack of density and too much sugar. Then watch their relief at finding a shop that sells traditional, New Orleans-style beignets. Listen to them order, “One please.” See the way their eyes close as they take the first bite. Did you notice how many times I used “was” in that last paragraph? Do you have any tricks to help strengthen your story telling? 

I love typewriters. My mother had one that she bought while she was in college. I found it in a closet when I was little and she let me play with it. It was a sexy, teal green Smith Corona number, complete with a tan leatherette carrying case. Tres moderne, for its time. It weighed about 10 pounds. I loved feel of the keys and the satisfying clackity-clack as the arms smacked the ribbon to stamp out letters. I even loved the smell of the ink-drenched ribbon. As a tiny girl, I mimicked what I saw my mother do when she typed out articles for the local newspaper. I climbed up in her chair and whacked random keys to fill up blank pages with combinations of letters that looked like words. When I learned to read, I graduated to the 2-3 finger hunt-and-peck method to write 1-3 page stories where ghosts haunted castles but nothing much happened. In junior high, I took a typing class and learned to unleash 100+ words a minute. My stories got a little livelier and a little longer. Computers came along and I never looked back. Over the years my keyboards have gotten smaller and sleeker while my stories got longer and “bigger” (thrillers = big stakes). But I still have a place in my heart for typewriters. On my desk is a 3-dimensional perpetual calendar. It’s a doghouse with Snoopy on top, hunched over a black typewriter. Friends give me postcards with noir-ish black & white photos of typewriters. And today, someone I hadn’t seen since early December gave me a little something he found during his holiday travels. He handed me a gift-wrapped bookmark that’s a cutout of a vintage typewriter, pictured here. I love it! How about you, have you ever used a typewriter?  

Huge shout out to our very own Alexia Gordon! Her debut, MURDER IN G MAJOR, is nominated for an Agatha and a Lefty (Left Coast Crime) award! Alexia’s wonderful novel is also under consideration for an Edgar nomination. So proud to be a Miss Demeanor!Way to go, Alexia!