Music and Writing

Posted by Laurie Alice for Kathye Quick, who is having some technical difficulties

When I first thought about submitting to Avalon, I knew the emotions of the characters had to be expressed more deeply in the words because of the PG-13 rating.

But how can we as writers put on paper an emotion or reaction to a situation we have never fully experienced and still make it viable to the reader? Love, hate, fear, passion, sadness. I think I can safely say we all have gone through something in life and have felt these basic emotions to some degree. But we write about so much more – Revenge, betrayal, terror, unrequited love, abandonment, ecstasy, rapture. How can we experience these at the time we need to write about them?

Enter music.

Using music, we can experience emotion almost on an as-needed basis.
Music is a powerful medium to express and experience emotion. It recreates aspects of lives that are recognizable and can be experience to some degree just by listening. By recreating patterns associated with human emotion, it recreates the emotion. Then listening, we are able to grasp the emotional content, and react emotionally to it. As an embodiment of the emotion, we are able to perceive it directly.

For instance, a piece of music may be quick moving, expressing energy, purposefulness, or excitement. When we listen to a piece like that, more often than not, we can feel the emotion. And when we feel the emotion, we are more able to put it down on paper in a way that can be felt and experienced through our writing.

I know you all have a particular song that makes you cry, or gets you to remember certain periods in your life. Now let’s take those songs and stash them in the USB drive in your mind. When necessary, hit the play button and use them next time you get stuck in a scene that is flat and lacking the emotional response you need to get the reader to turns those pages.

I’ve listed a few of my favorite songs that help get me from blank page to emotional genius. Well, maybe not genius; maybe just not one dimensional.

Here goes –
Abandonment - ¬I Who Have Nothing by Tom Jones
Loving someone from afar – Invisible by Clay Aiken
Pain of Loss – Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton
Love – Let Me Love You –Tim McGraw
Passion – Keep Coming Back - Richard Marx
Intense Attraction – Touch of Heaven – Richard Marx
Despair – Unbreak my Heart – Toni Braxton
Lost Love - Even Now - – Barry Manilow
Questioning your Heart – Measure of a Man – Clay Aiken
Losing a Love – Somewhere Down The Road – Barry Manilow
The First Time – Somewhere in the Night – Barry Manilow
Unrequited Love - – Melody for a Memory – Hall and Oates
Hopelessness – What About Now – Daughtry (Chris Daughtry)
Regret – I Go Crazy – Paul Davis

When you have time, take one of your favorite songs and listen for the emotion. Tag it, bag it, and save it for an emergency. You’ll be glad you did!

THE ESSENCE OF WRITING

“The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure.”

That quote from the dancer, Mikhail Barshnikov, comes as close as anything I can think of to what writing means to me. It captures the exhilaration of creating a world out of words and sharing that world with others. I completely identify with the statement, but there are times when the exhilaration is hard to find, when it’s almost suffocated by doubt and frustration.


Does that mean that my writing isn’t really art? That’s not for me to say (or even know). I can only do my best and hope. What I hope most is that it gives pleasure.

Do I have pleasure in writing? Depends on when you ask me. When the words flow easily–definitely. When I’m struggling to find the right words–not so much. How about when I’m stumped for a way to extricate my characters from the dilemma I’ve created for them? The answer to that is mixed. Part of my brain says, “Give it up. Turn off the computer. Make a cup of tea and have a brownie.” Another part says, “Keep going. Your muse will speak up if you give her time.” I wish I could say the latter part always wins. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. More often than I like to admit, the call of tea and brownie is louder than my muse. When that happens, sometimes I go back refreshed and everything falls into place. Other times, problems seem to have multiplied in my absence. In the end, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that I do go back, because if I do, I know eventually I’ll work it out. And that knowledge is pleasure.



Today is the release date of By Whose Hand, my newest Avalon mystery. Today, it goes on the shelves of bookstores and libraries beside the books of all the other writers, past and present, whom I admire so much–an almost dizzying thought. I write mysteries and my last name begins with C. That means I’m rubbing shoulders (should I say covers?) with Agatha Christie. Pure pleasure.

What about you? What do you find pleasurable in writing? Or reading? Or whatever you do that both exhilarates and frustrates you?

www.sandracareycody.com

A roundabout way to reach your dreams

"Why on earth do you write in English?" That's the first question everybody asks me when they hear I'm a writer and publishing in the US. It does seem strange. After all, I'm German, have lived in Germany most of my life (with some stints abroad), and have unexciting German roots, nothing international there.

The answer is easy. We Germans have a simple approach to life. If you want to be good, make sure you study your subject at university. If you want to change track in the middle of your life, don't. If you want to become an author, keep on dreaming. If you want to have information about how to write, how to submit to a publisher, how to polish a manuscript, see point one. Or make sure you have excellent connections in the industry.

When I had come to that point in my life, I realized (thanks to the Internet) that Americans approach life in a different manner. They shrug, smile at you and say, "If you want it, you can do it." And then they show you how. You're a nurse, a gardener, a lawyer, a manager? Never mind. You can do it. Be prepared to work hard, be prepared for rejections, but go right ahead.

Next, I looked at the German book market and realized that most romances, chick lits, and mysteries were first published in English and then translated into German.

If the German market proves so difficult to crack, I thought, I'll take a roundabout way to become a published author. I'll write in English and target the US market first. Let the Germans make their own translations whenever they'll get round to it.

So I started to write my first novel in English. Then, in spite of all the help via the Internet, I was stuck. I knew I had to improve my craft but didn't know how. Everybody said I should join a writer's group, but up to today I don't know other writers anywhere near. Everybody said I should go to a writer's conference, but I couldn't afford the trip to the US. I felt as if I was a desert mouse, trying to learn to ski with all the other mice looking on and shaking their heads.

I took another big decision, googled around the Internet, and gave my manuscript to a professional book editor. I hit a jackpot. Elizabeth Lyon gave me such a detailed report, it was almost longer than my novella. She criticized every single point in detail, but she did it in such a wonderful way that it didn't hurt me. I couldn't wait to go back and make all the changes.

Then Elizabeth met the then-editor from Avalon Books at a conference and sent me their information. I submitted my manuscript, changed it again according to Avalon's suggestions, and one day received the incredible news that I had made it. Avalon Books had accepted Wings to Fly. The desert mouse had learned to ski.

There's just one drawback: I'm far away from "my market", and book signings are even more difficult to arrange if you first have to find people who understand the language! That's why I'm so happy about the invitation to blog -- it gets me in touch with the people who read my romances.

How about you? Have you ever taken a roundabout way to realize your dreams?

I’m not confused, I’m just puzzled…

When I was a teen I developed a lifelong love of jigsaw puzzles. The most challenging I ever did was an all red circular one named “Little Red Riding Hood’s hood.” Obviously, looking at the top of the box was no help at all for finding groups of pieces. My only clues were the shapes of the pieces. After a while it began to get easier, except when my little niece, who thought the puzzle belonged in the box, took it apart when I wasn’t looking. No matter, I had all summer back then, when I was home from college, and I finished it. What satisfaction!

As a writer, I still enjoy a good puzzle. For me, writing mysteries seems perfectly natural, probably since I most often find myself reading them. Mysteries are like a good puzzle, and constructing one starting from the seed of a single idea is both a challenge and a joy. I also like learning more about familiar characters, so I read and now write series books. My Wally Morris Vengeance series just got bigger, with the publication of Vengeance Runs Cold, my fifth.

People often ask me where I get the ideas for my mysteries. The answers vary with each book. The first started with a dream, the second with a very interesting day spent in the kitchen of our synagogue, the third with a truly bad haircut, and the fourth with contentious disagreement regarding local land development.

This brings us to my current book, Vengeance Runs Cold, which was inspired by water damage in my basement.

The oddly shaped imperfection in the cinder block intrigued me and I soon found myself creating a story set in a mansion on the shores of Lake Champlain. But really, I just followed the same instincts that keep other writers unable to leave their computers until their stories are told—I asked myself what could have caused that damage (excluding the obvious), who would be involved with it, where it might have been found, and what might happen.

Little by little, the pieces began to fall together. The frame was formed, the middle filled in, with leftover pieces reclassified as red herrings. Soon, the denouement came into sight, and all the loose ends were neatly tied up. The puzzle was complete.

Joani Ascher

What Makes a Writer

After twenty-five years of teaching students how to write, and teaching teachers how to teach writing, I decided it was time to begin practicing what I’d been teaching all those years. Yet, when I sat down at my computer I experienced brain freeze. All these ideas were inside my head, but nothing would come out. What was wrong with me? Doubt—I doubted that I had the talent to write a novel that would sweep people off to exotic settings, catch them up in the turmoil’s of the hero and heroine, and a write a plot that kept readers riveted to the pages until reading, “The End.”

It wasn’t until I listened to Jaclyn Collins say in an interview that, “every person has at least one good book in them.” Okay, those words resonated loud and clear, and that statement became my mantra.

I began to ask myself—what makes a writer? Why is it that one person who wants to be a writer is successful and another isn’t? One writes a book, sells it, receives an advance, and goes on to write and sell many more books while another never get published, or becomes a one-book wonder.

I’ve pondered this and think I’ve figured it out. . .perhaps. Here’s what I’ve come up with. Talent is a huge factor, of course. Some writers put words on paper in ways that make them sing in the reader’s mind while the prose of others simply plods along with nothing to add zing to the story. If I had to give you an example, it might be some novels are like eating a boiled egg without salt and pepper.

There are those who talk about writing and those who actually sit down and write. It takes energy, confidence, drive, guts and determination to stay the course. What makes a writer is the one willing to educate h/herself about the writing process, the submission process, which publisher wants what genre, keeping abreast of changing trends, and then there is the willingness to research, develop the characters, spend hours rewriting, and adding layers to their story.

Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that many a good manuscript died in a slush pile, and a talented writer had to wait a little longer to be discovered. So, luck and timing plays a crucial role in who becomes published. And those writers, not willing to stay the course, and who allow discouragement to befriend them, either never realize their dream or take a little longer getting there.

I don’t know where I read this excerpt, but I liked it so much that I wrote it on a poster and put it on my wall: “If you are writing the clearest, truest words you can find, and doing the best you can to understand and communicate with the reader, this will shine on paper like its own little beacon. Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there SHINING!”

So in my very humble opinion, it is the same with writers. The ones who are going to succeed are willing to spend hours honing their craft, and try harder to get the attention of an editor or an agent. Those who never complete their books, or don’t follow through with all the effort it takes to make a novel the best it can be will never truly shine.

Happy Monday Book Giveaway

I'll admit it. I dislike Mondays. After the blissful freedom of the weekend, it's hard to get up on Monday morning and face the weekly grind. To make your Monday a little sweeter, I'm giving away a copy of my latest Avalon novel, A Clever Disguise. From the inside cover:

For years, Michael Balcarris has loved Emily Dymoke from afar. However, because of his secret profession, he is unable to admit his feelings for her and show his true self. Instead, he must continue to present himself as a frivolous fop to both London society and the woman of his dreams. As a young girl, Emily had a private crush on Michael, who had been her brother Colin's handsome and dashing friend. Yet upon Michael's return to London after attending university, she is unable to abide his insufferable presence. To make matters worse, he insists on being everywhere she is--including her family's country home when they go on summer holiday. During their time in the countryside, however, Emily starts to see a new side of Michael. She also has to fight her growing attraction to him, leaving her to wonder how she could be falling in love with a man she can barely tolerate.

I really enjoyed writing A Clever Disguise, and the other books in my Regency Royal Series, A Brilliant Deception and the upcoming A Daring Escape. In all I've written seven novels for Avalon. For information about my other books please visit my website: www.kathleenfuller.com.

To enter to win a copy of A Clever Disguise, simply comment on this question by the end of this week: How do you feel about Mondays? I'll announce the winner next Monday.

Have a good one! Kathleen