Of Parking Lots and Kings

Hey, all. Suze here (no, that’s not me in the picture!). Glad you could drop by today.

Have you heard the news? Richard III, one of Britain’s most notorious kings, has been dug up under a parking lot. (Click here to read more about it) Physical evidence includes hideous wounds to the skeleton consistent with death in battle, as well as a pronounced curvature of the spine consistent with accounts of Richard being a hunchback. (That rumor was likely spread by his enemies–according to the scientists he probably wasn’t hunched, just lopsided). There’s been a facial reconstruction! And there’s a DNA match with a living descendant of Ricky’s sister. A DNA match!

I live for this stuff. Kings buried unceremoniously in unmarked graves. Hoards of ancient gold and jeweled objects found just under the surface of a nondescript field by an ordinary guy with a metal detector. Reclusive heiresses who die, leaving safety deposit boxes that haven’t been opened in decades.
I must have an Inner Indy who needs to be constantly fed new and fascinating discoveries. It belongs in a museum? Not hardly. It belongs in my head, as fodder for future stories.

There’s a wonderful book by Elizabeth Peters (one of my all-time favorite authors) called The Murders of Richard III. If you’re a mystery fan, you’ll love this one about a librarian, Jacqueline Kirby, who finds herself tangled up in a modern-day plot that has strange connections to the Richard III legend. I’d love to know what Ms. Peters thinks about the discovery of the king’s final resting place.
How about you? Any news stories that have fascinated you recently?

Are you a Holiday Movie fanatic?

PJ Sharon here on this fine and busy Tuesday. I’ll keep it brief today since I’m doing double duty. In addition to my Scribes post, I’m hanging out with my WG2E Beach Book Blast buddies who have a slew of new Christmas stories for sale today and tomorrow, all for under $5. We’re calling it a BeachBookBlast e-Book Extravaganza!

Since two of my YA romances culminate with a Christmas surprise and a heartwarmingly sweet ending, both Heaven Is For Heroes and On Thin Ice are part of this great sale. I hope you’ll stop by the site and check out the fantastic selection. Rest assured, we have plenty of uplifting Christmas stories to keep you in the holiday spirit. Speaking of uplifting stories…

One of my favorite parts of December is watching all my favorite holiday movies. Miracle on 34^th Street and It’s a Wonderful Life are two of my favorites, but I have to admit I’m glued to the Hallmark Channel’s 25 Days of Christmas. I know; the movies are sappy, unrealistic, sticky sweet, and totally romantic, and I love them. A cup of warm cocoa and a box of tissues are a must, however. So far this season, my top three Hallmark Channel movies have been, A Christmas With Molly, Come Dance With Me and A Princess for Christmas.

What about you? Are you a holiday movie freak? What’s your favorite classic? Have you seen any new ones this year that you’ve added to your favorite’s list?

You Write Romance Novels?

If you followed Jodi Picoult or Jennifer Wenier on Twitter this week you probably saw Jeffrey Eugenides name mentioned a lot. Mr. Eugenides is a Professor of creative writing at Princeton and the author of the Virgin Suicides and the The Marriage Plot.(Which I’m pretty sure is the name of a historical romance novel too.) He’s also the man who inadvertently started a lot of debates between writers by saying, “I didn’t really know why Jodi Picoult is complaining. She’s a huge best-seller and everyone reads her books, and she doesn’t seem starved for attention, in my mind — so I was surprised that she would be the one belly-aching.”

What’s he talking about? Literary vs. Commercial fiction. One is praised by critics the other is adored by fans. Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult are both NYT best-selling authors who have sold millions of books. That’s an achievement many writers would sell their mothers for a chance to receive but these two authors aren’t entirely happy. Their complaint is that they don’t get reviewed  in the New York Times or the same amount of serious coverage as some of their male counter parts.

Do they have a point? I’m sure they do. They may not get the serious street cred they deserve but what about us romance writers? We’re even lower on the literary totem pole. Snobby types would say we aren’t real writers at all because we write about love and happily ever afters.  That we aren’t artists. But we spend just as long agonizing over our books. We put just as much love and blood and sweat and tears into them as literary writers. Our writing is our life. And yet so many dismiss us because…  Why? I haven’t figured out the reason yet.

I’ve read literary books. I read classics and all the great works people say you must read before you die and the best book I’ve ever read was still a romance novel.  I’m probably not the only one who has had that experience. According to the 2011 ROMStat Report romance sales increased to $1.368 billion last year. And that’s with a struggling economy. In fact it remains the largest share of the consumer market at 14.3 percent.

I never expect to be reviewed by the Times. I don’t expect to be any one’s next book club selection but I refused to feel slighted or be embarassed because I write books that make people happy.

Romance novels sell. It’s a simple as that. And to all the haters who rather be caught dead than to be seen with one of our books in your hands… We’ll see you on the best- seller list.

Murder Comes to the Scribes — Interview with Mystery Author Lucy Burdette

Hey, all! Suze here. Today I’m thrilled to have mystery author Lucy Burdette visting us. Her new series is the Key West Food Critic Mysteries, and Book 2, Death in Four Courses, just released. I’ve read it, and I love it! Take it away, Lucy.

You write wonderful cozy mysteries, Lucy. How would you define a cozy, and why do you think people love them so much?

Thanks so much for those kind words. Cozies are traditional mysteries that avoid graphic description of violence and sex. They often take place in a small town and introduce the reader into the protagonist’s world, including a group of friends and family.

The real world is such a scary place these days! I think readers like the idea of the good guys winning and the bad guys getting what they deserve, as always happens with a cozy mystery. And they like strong women who use their smarts to solve puzzles and problems. And food–food and cooking are very big right now and I’m delighted to be part of that trend!

Your latest book is DEATH IN FOUR COURSES, book 2 in the Key West Food Critic Mysteries. Tell us a bit about it.

Food critic Hayley Snow has the biggest assignment of her short career–covering the food writers who are attending the Key West Loves Literature conference. Unfortunately her assignment gets complicated when she finds the keynote speaker floating in a dipping pool at the opening night reception. And to top that off, she’s made the mistake of inviting her mother down for the weekend, which adds another layer of pressure. This is the second book in the Key West food critic series, after AN APPETITE FOR MURDER.

How do you go about developing a new series? What kind of  research is involved? (Sign me up for some of that Key West on-location  research, will you?) Does the sleuth or the setting come first?

Usually character comes first. When thinking about Hayley, I wanted to develop a protagonist who was a little lost, a newcomer to Key West, yearning to make a mark as a foodie writer. Some reviewers find her a little naive and dizzy–I think that gives her plenty of room to grow over the course of the series… With DEATH IN FOUR COURSES, I was delighted to learn that the REAL Key West Literary Seminar was focusing on food writing just as I was planning the book. So research involved attending the sessions, eating great meals, and tooling around Key West to come up with plot tangents and setting. I must admit that I’m astonishingly lucky to be able to combine my passions for food, writing, and Key West!

Do you have any pets?

Always! Right now my faithful writing companions are Yoda the cat, and Tonka the Australian shepherd. They stick with me through every word and adventure.

When you set out to write a mystery, do you know whodunnit and why at the outset? Or does that only become clear to you once your cast of characters is complete?

I like to try to start knowing whodunnit, but also who else might have done it. It helps me write the book to give several characters important secrets that they might kill to keep from revealing. Often about halfway through the book, I’ll stop and write the ending. This gives me something to point to during the development of that murky middle.

Who are your literary inspirations, and why?

I read all kinds of books as a kid, including Nancy Drew, the Hardy boys, Cherry Ames, and the Bobbsey twins mysteries. I still love to read mysteries such as Diane Mott Davidson’s culinary series, Julia Spencer-Fleming’s wonderful series featuring an Episcopalian priest and a small town police chief. I’m also reading lots of food memoirs like Frank Bruni’s BORN ROUND and Kim Severson’s SPOON FED. And women’s fiction too, especially if there’s food in it:)

Thanks so much for inviting me to visit! DEATH IN FOUR COURSES is available wherever books are sold:
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-in-four-courses-lucy-burdette/1110865391?ean=9780451237835
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Death-Four-Courses-Critic-Mystery/dp/0451237838/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348146179&sr=8-1&keywords=death+in+four+courses
Indiebound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780451237835
You can learn more by following Lucy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lucyburdette
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lucyburdette
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/robertaisleib
Lucy’s website: www.facebook.com/lucyburdette
Lucy’s blogs:  www.jungleredwriters.com www.mysteryloverskitchen.com

Thanks for visiting today. Readers, any questions for Lucy?

It’s a Mad,Mad, Mad, Mad Lib!

Hello, loves! Suze here. So glad to see you.

Today’s post is just for fun. Did you love Mad Libs as a kid? I did, and I still do. So how about we do a romance version? No reading through to the end of this post or your Mad Lib won’t be as good! Here’s how it works:

Write down a word, romance-y or silly, for each of the following entries:

1. noun
2. body part
3. verb
4. noun
5. noun
6. past tense verb
7. verb
8. plural noun
9. plural noun
10. emotion
11. past tense verb
12. past tense verb
13. adverb (yay! you get to use adverbs, guilt free!)
14. adverb (yay! another one!)
15. body part
16. body part
17. verb
18. verb
19. plural verb
20. noun

Got your words? Great! Now take them and plug them into the following paragraph from a classic novel. Sorry, all you purists out there! I mean no disrespect to Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy–well, maybe only a little. But it’s a loving kind of disrespect.

Elizabeth, feeling all the more than common ___1___ and anxiety of his ___2___, now forced herself to speak; and immediately, though not very fluently, gave him to ___3___ that her ___4___ had undergone so material a change, since the ___5___ to which he ___6___, as to make her ___7___ with gratitude and ___8___ his present ___9___. The ___10___ which this reply produced, was such as he had probably never ___11___ before; and he ___12___ himself on the occasion as ___13___ and as ___14___ as a man violently in love can be supposed to do. Had Elizabeth been able to encounter his ___15___, she might have seen how well the expression of heartfelt delight, diffused over his ___16___, became him; but, though she could not ___17___, she could ___18___, and he told her of ___19___, which, in proving of what importance she was to him, made his ___20___ more valuable.

How’d it come out? How about sharing your “creation” in the comments section? Have a lovely day, Scribelings!

I Found a Clue at the Mark Twain House

Hello readers, Katy Lee here. Two weeks ago I broached the topic with you all about requiring my children to read a few classics over the summer. (Read Here for that post.) I want to thank all who chimed in here and on Facebook and Twitter with your ideas and opinions. I considered each comment carefully, and decided to look for outings that might spark my childrens’ interest in certain books.

I chose authors’ homes nearby first, and was thrilled to hear about an event going on at the Mark Twain House on Friday the 13^th.

 

It was called ‘Get A Clue’ Tour: A Live-Action Mystery Adventure where someone has killed “Pap” Finn! 

Was it Tom Sawyer in the Library with the Wrench?  Could it be the Connecticut Yankee in the Billiard Room with the Knife? Or was it the Pauper in the Kitchen with the Rope? 

That’s right! A real live-action CLUE game with a full-fledged murder mystery laid out for visitors to solve while exploring the old Victorian home in the dark of night.

I’ll admit I was a bit excited myself.

I challenge my kids to use their deductive reasoning and detective skills to solve the crime while meeting countless characters from all of Mark Twain’s books. Major characters and secondary ones, too, came to life in face-to-face encounters along our exploration of beautiful ornate rooms and secret passageways.

And the outcome?????

From the moment we left, my backseat was a chatter-filled cabin of who is Arkansas, and is he really that scary? Or how about Becky Thatcher? She seemed nice, but the way she swung that pipe around makes me wonder.  And I had no idea the Prince and The Pauper came from Mark Twain and not Disney and Barbie … is it any different than the cartoons?

My answer to all questions???

You’ll just have to read it to find out.

The Unlocked Secret: It really didn’t take much to spark their interest, but making it real to them was the key, for sure. The Mark Twain House did an amazing job in helping me get creative. Even if future places don’t have something as brilliant as a live-action CLUE game, there might be something like it, or I’ll just have to design my own scavenger hunt of sorts. Could you imagine hunting through The House of Seven Gables? Ooh, spooky!

Question: Where shall we go next?

Is Reading Always Supposed to be Fun?

My garden is a great place to read … and write.

Happy July! Katy Lee here with a question for you. For the summer, we have assigned some classic books for our kids to read. They are books that I read as a child and loved.

But here’s the problem … my kids are complaining that they are boring and hard to get into. And they are “no fun.”

So, being the understanding parent that I am, I picked them up to see what they were talking about. I remember these books as being wonderful. How could they not like them?

And perhaps, after a few pages, I could kind of see what they were referring to.

For one, the beginnings are all back story with a third person omniscient POV feel. Third person omniscient is a method of storytelling in which the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story, as opposed to third person limited, which adheres closely to one character’s perspective.

Being a writer and knowing how many recent released books don’t open with backstory anymore, but rather jump right into the action and reveal backstory a little at a time, I found myself skimming quite a bit. Which surprised me, because I still think they are great books!

I remember how they affected my life as a child … and are still a part of me today, and I want my kids to experience them, too, regardless of all the “telling” by the author.

Let’s face it, though. Literature has changed. We live in a fastpaced world where people expect instant gratification, and that includes quick reads. But at what expense will this be? What will be the outcome of this shift in writing? Will our love for the written word be trumped by our need for a fast read to keep up with our fastpaced lives to the point that the classics go away? If no one is reading them anymore, they just might.

So here is my question … Do I hand back the books to the kids and say read them? Or do I allow them to choose their summer reading? I’m sure many would say, “At least they are reading,” but if I give in, it could mean they never pick up the classics again. And in my opinion, they are missing out, even if the writing doesn’t follow the current trends.

So, what do you think? Is reading always supposed to be fun? Or will the work they have to put into the books give them more of an appreciation for the written word?