Leave A Little Mystery

"Reality" shows, Twitter, FB posts, and Kanye West rants have taught us every thought that pops into our minds should be verbalized in public -- to as many people as possible.

What happened to keeping some things to ourselves?

Sure, I'm writing a blog entry that expresses my opinion. An opinion that some things should be kept in our own minds. That's what an internal editor is for: to stop the stupid stuff from coming out.

Same with writing. You can write all the things that pop in your head, but it doesn't go directly to the public. I don't hit the POST or SEND button until I take a breath and reread the message. Is it something to be shared? Can it benefit the reader?

Back in the 1980s, e-mail was mainframe-based, and once I pushed the keyboard's F10 button, the message was gone. I learned early to consider exactly what was written, what was shared, what my name was attached to.

Maybe that's why writing a manuscript takes me so long -- well, that and having to make a living writing other things. 

A first, I thought I would love the freedom of blasting off a thought on movies, music, politics, books, or gee, even television. But then I read what others posted and realized my opinion is really only interesting to me. 

So, like writing a book, life can use a little mystery, a bit of suspense, or some subtlety.

Wait, weren't the 50 Shades of Grey books big sellers -- those must have been coy and demure to have captured so many people's imagination.

Novel structure & pace via Kindle

I'm reading a book I wouldn't ordinarily read. This author is a NYT Best Seller. I wasn't drawn to the story, but I wondered what it was that made him soooo popular -- a bit of story analysis on my part.

Here is the Kindle progress bar:

Since I'm only 13% in, I can't say how I like the story. But the thing I noticed was the chapter lengths of the book, which can be a clue to pacing.

Kindle's progress bar shows a graphical representation of the book's length with a dot at the beginning of each chapter.

For a "big picture" person like me, this is great.

I see that the story has a fairly uniform length of chapters up to middle. [The part of the story where plot and characters are being established.]

Then things get quick. [Building to the main conflict.]

The chapter lengths vary after that until nearing the end when the chapters get shorter (and probably the pace speeds up). [The plot climax and resolution.]

This is a handy tool for writers to analyze plot construction from the masters.


My field guide to the writer's life has more on plot:

The “Next Big Thing” blog hop

This idea of linking together authors and asking the same questions about their current works-in-progress (WIP) sounded like a lot of fun.

I was asked by two authors on the same day, so I’m tagged from the first e-mail I received – Keith Pyeatt (http://keithpyeatt.blogspot.com/). But also go see Kris Neri (www.KrisNeri.com).

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These are the rules/questions:

Rule details:

• Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress)
• Tag five (or fewer) other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

It’s that simple.
 

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

What is the working title of your book?

Gee, I feel like a slacker because I don’t have one.  Me and titles – we’re complicated.  I tend to brainstorm titles at the last minute.  I’m calling the project WitchDuck as I work on it.  That’s where the kernel of the idea started…which leads me to the next question.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

There is a road in Virginia Beach called Witchduck Road; I hear it referenced in the traffic reports in the mornings.  The name intrigued me. I did some Goggling and found it refers to Grace Sherwood who was the only Virginian to be convicted of witchcraft. 

Back in 1706, Grace was tested for innocence by being dunked (or ducked as they said back then) into a pond to see if she would float.  Float = guilty of witchcraft.  Sinking below the surface of the water = innocence (but too bad because you would probably drown).  Grace floated.

The witch trials and accusers went after people who were different.  Three hundred years later, people who seem different are still persecuted in one way or another.  Even towns that refuse to accept the influx of sameness from the big box and chain stores, restaurants, hotels, and office parks lose tax money and traffic from the hordes of people who crave the numbing sense of sameness.

Each town seems to have a Wal-Mart, Lowes, and Home Depot with an Appleby’s and Olive Garden at the edge of the parking lots.  Sometimes I have no idea which town I’m in. I’m a big supporter of local independent businesses.

The idea was born to construct characters who are chastised for not fitting in. They lose things important to them because they do not comply. I’m using an ancestor in the 1700s accused of witchcraft to parallel the lives of her contemporary descendents.

What genre does your book fall under?

Good question…I would probably set it as historical or maybe a mystery since the main plot is a cross-generational mystery.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I list these like I have thought about it.  But, I’m trying to list people I like and who seem to have some of the character’s personality.  I don’t keep up with pop culture, so my answers may be a bit dated – hopefully these actors are still working.

• Anna (the witch): Michelle Pfeiffer or Julianne Moore
• Taliesin:  James Franco
• Cliodhna:  Reese Witherspoon (love her because she reminds me of my niece Whitney)
• Brigid:  Kirsten Dunst (love her because she reminds me of my niece Courtney)
• Finn:  Colin Farrell (had a drink with him in Jerome, Arizona – he doesn’t know that since we were ten feet away from each other)
• Granny:  Shirley Maclaine or Frances Fisher

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? (Really it is three sentences – I can’t comply)

Struggling musician Taliesin searches for the reasons his father vanished one night 26 years ago. The disappearance leads Taliesin and his cousins to discover parallels between themselves and their ancestors of over 300 years before. As it was then, and now, being an outsider can be murder.

Will your book be self-published, sent to an independent publisher, or represented by an agency to a large house?

I plan to have this published through Cherokee McGhee as were the last two books.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Hmmm, still haven’t finished the draft.  Once that’s done, I can have it ready for an editor in about five months. After that, it takes about a year to hit the shelves.  2014??

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

There are no other books like this one!!  It has bits of family saga, history, mystery, and mythology.  I think I aspire to be a mix of Lee Smith, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Tony Hillerman.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

People who know me and my family will see the Lillys here: my father, uncles and aunt, along with my grandparents.  I get a lot of inspiration from family history.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

If a reader knows Irish mythology, there will be multiple layers revealed in the symbolism. If you don’t then it will just be a damn good story – that may spur you to dig deeper into the tales and legends of our ancestors before us.

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The following writers will pick up "The Next Big Thing" thread and answer the 10 questions about their WIP.  Go ahead and visit them today to learn a little more about the writers and their work.
 
They will post next Wednesday, December 5, about their Next Big Thing.

Tag – you’re next week’s posts:

Narielle Living

Narielle Living is the author of the novel Signs of the South, a novella in the collection Chesapeake Bay Christmas, and the upcoming novel Past Unfinished.

Blog: NarielleLiving.blogspot.com

Website: www.NarielleLiving.com
 

Michelle Moore

Michelle Moore is a North Carolina writer inspired by quirky characters; she has written of cats and criminals with a work in progress set in the Great Dismal Swamp.

Website: www.MichelleAMoore.com

 

William Torgerson

William J. Torgerson is an assistant professor in the Institute for Writing Studies at St. John's University in New York. In addition to novels and screenplays, William writes short stories and articles on teaching and writing.

Website: http://thetorg.com/

John Bray

John Bray is a retired attorney, member of Chesapeake Bay Writers, author of THE BALLAD OF JOHNNY MADIGAN, THE CONFIDENTIAL and CODE NAME: CALEB, the sequel to Johnny Madigan, all published by BeWrite Books.

Work-in-progress working title, OPERATION REBOUND, sequel to Confidential.

Blog: www.poppa10sblog.blogspot.com

 

Pamela K. Kinney

Journey to worlds of fantasy, beyond the stars, and into the vortex of terror with the written word of Pamela K. Kinney.
Website: http://FantasticDreams.50megs.com Blog: http://PamelaKKinney.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Greg Lilly to appear at the 18th Annual Virginia Festival of the Book

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Williamsburg, VA • March 9, 2012) Greg Lilly, author of Scalping the Red Rocks – a Derek Mason Mystery, will participate in the 18th annual Virginia Festival of the Book. The Festival, which takes place March 21-25, 2012, is held in venues throughout Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia, and is now the largest educational book event in the mid-Atlantic, drawing a cumulative annual attendance of more than 20,000 attendees.

Lilly joins authors James Church, Corban Addison, Thomas Kaufman and Brad Parks for the “Murder, Murder Everywhere” panel on Crime Wave Saturday (March 24). The panel discusses how the combination of character and location create unique settings for mysteries.

Lilly’s novels are acclaimed by critics for their sense of place and settings that act as characters in the stories. Drewey Wayne Gunn from Lambda Literary magazine praises Scalping the Red Rocks for its “vivid sense of place.” Author Keith Pyeatt says the mystery “showcases Greg Lilly’s mastery of characterization, setting, and suspense.” AOL Travel listed the new novel as an Editor’s Pick in Sedona (Arizona) Culture, alongside John Wayne’s movie Angel and the Badman and the Glenn Ford western, the original 3:10 to Yuma, which were both filmed in the desert resort town. “For a good airplane read,” AOL lists, “try Greg Lilly’s Derek Mason Mystery, Scalping the Red Rocks. Lilly, a former Sedona resident, so thoroughly captures the town’s personality and culture that a favorite game among the locals is guessing who the characters are based on.”

The “Murder, Murder Everywhere” panel is a collection of mystery writers who will discuss using setting as a character and plotting device. The panel is free and open to the public – Saturday, March 24 at 10:00 a.m. at the Charlottesville Omni Hotel, Ballroom A.

The Virginia Festival of the Book runs March 21 - 25 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Authors, illustrators, storytellers, and other publishing professionals from across the United States are participating this year, including
Jeffery Deaver (Carte Blanche),
Lee Smith (Mrs. Darcy and the Blue Eyed Stranger),
Charles Shields (And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life),
Edward Ayers (America on the Eve of the Civil War),
Kwame Alexander (Acoustic Rooster and his Barnyard Band),
Kathryn Erskine (Mockingbird),
Nikki Giovanni (Bicycles: Love Poems),
Sharyn McCrumb (The Ballad of Tom Dooley),
Nikky Finney (Head Off & Split),
Jill McCorkle (Going Away Shoes­–Stories),
Barton Seaver (For Cod and Country),
Nick Galifianakis (If You Loved Me, You’d Think This Was Cute),
and many more.

The mission of the Virginia Festival of the Book is to bring together writers and readers and to promote and celebrate books, reading, literacy, and literary culture. Full details on the entire five-day festival are available at vabook.org. More information on Greg Lilly and his novels can be found at www.GregLilly.com.

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New Mystery Releases Today

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Mystery Skewers Tourist Town Personalities

(Williamsburg, VA • July 1, 2010) Cherokee McGhee Publishing announces the release of Greg Lilly’s newest Derek Mason Mystery – Scalping the Red Rocks.

The novel is set in Sedona, Arizona, one of the top tourist destinations in the United States. Sedona is known for the breathtaking natural beauty of the red rocks; its vibrant arts community; the rich Native American, pioneer, and western movie culture; a variety of hiking trails, Jeep tours, and journeys into the New Age movement; all topped with world-class resorts and restaurants. These unique elements contribute to the lively real estate market and spur the story’s beginning.

In Scalping the Red Rocks, the town’s inhabitants are divided by urban growth. Some entrepreneurs try to make a quick buck by selling out the very aspect of the town that drew them: the awe-inspiring views and natural beauty. Spirited, passionate, and a bit mettlesome, Derek Mason helps his aunt Ruby find her place in the New Age haven, but instead they discover her real estate agent scalped in an empty condo. The crafty real estate agent had intended to sell off part of the pristine landscape, to scalp the land to the highest bidder, but someone scalped him first.

Derek meets Myra and Topher, best friends with a shared secret from Devil’s Bridge; Kimbo Blue, a former child star from Hollywood with a eunuch-ness that defies his adult persona; Clarity Received, the New Age girlfriend of the victim; and Tricia, the diva ex-wife. Along with a troupe of paranoid art gallery owners, gossipy sales clerks, sexy day laborers, and a Jeep-driving Yavapai-Apache, the quirky characters of the resort town hamper Derek’s attempts to expose the killer.

Small town secrets, shady deals, and serial arsonists threaten to throw Derek off the trail. The destructive power of greed materializes in the idyllic setting, and Derek struggles to keep his sense of self-value over the immediate gratification of self-indulgence. Temptation from his past jeopardizes his future, unless he can tame his libido and focus. Or will he lose his head too?
“I lived for five years in Sedona, Arizona,” author Greg Lilly says. “The story could only happen in that setting, in that culture.” Lilly had lived for several years in Charlotte, North Carolina before moving to Arizona for a “simpler life.” In the city, he had written the first Derek Mason Mystery that dealt with a large family-owned business. His second novel, Devil’s Bridge, follows characters who tire of the city and end up in Sedona ─ just as he did. “The novel Devil’s Bridge foreshadowed my own escape from the city,” Lilly explains. “So, with this latest mystery, I had to bring those characters into the tale to show the dream versus the reality of a resort town life.”

The early reviewers praise Scalping the Red Rocks for its setting, plot, and characters. "Greg Lilly gives us some unforgettable characters and his ability to create them is amazing,” says Amos Lassen of Literary Pride book reviews. “The residents of Sedona are the kind of people you will never forget."

Author Keith Pyeatt (Struck, Regal Crest Enterprises, 2009) added, “The characters are diverse and real enough to touch, the story is set so firmly in Sedona, it couldn't take place anywhere else, and the varied agendas and motives keep you wondering whodunit to the very end."

Sedona resident and award-winning mystery writer Kris Neri (Revenge for Old Times’ Sake, Cherokee McGhee, 2010) calls the book “A winner!” Then adds, "With eco-terrorists, wildfire and a shocking scalping, Greg Lilly’s Scalping the Red Rocks rips the mask off the superficial New Age haven of Sedona, Arizona, to reveal its darker side, in a don’t-put-it-down mystery that will keep you guessing right up to its stunning climax.”

Echo Magazine’s book critic Bob Lind rates the mystery “five full stars out of five.” Lind, an Arizonan, adds, “I can tell you that Lilly has absolutely nailed the prevailing mindset of many longtime residents of that town (Sedona), making the mystery even more realistic to me... an exciting, well-written page-turner, which will keep you guessing as you slowly learn more about each of its colorful, complex characters.”

Although the book skewers some attitudes and personalities of tourist towns, Lilly says he feels the murder mystery creates a fast-paced story to entertain readers, all readers ─familiar or not with a small town dependent on tourists. “Hilton Head, Williamsburg, Taos, Asheville,” Lilly lists. “These are places with a lot of deals going on behind the scenes. That can make for some interesting characters and situations.”

Scalping the Red Rocks – A Derek Mason Mystery is available now at bookstores and on-line at Amazon.com and BN.com. More information about Greg Lilly and his novels can be found at www.GregLilly.com.

New Derek Mason Mystery releases in July

The new Derek Mason Mystery is going to the editor next week. The title is SCALPING THE RED ROCKS and it is set in my former hometown of Sedona, Arizona – hence the red rocks reference.

If you've never been to Sedona, you need to add it to your list of places to see. There is too much to cover here, and there are plenty of websites, guide books, magazines, and blogs to tell you to visit the places that advertise with them. So, if you decide to go, let me know and I'll give you some tips on places to go and places to stay away from. You see, after five years there, working and knowing people in the workforce, I know the businesses and people that are true and the ones that are out to make a fast buck.

Funny, how businesses will spend thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising an image that their employment practices destroy with the locals. The locals are the workforce, so my advice to the businesses (not just in Sedona, but everywhere) is to treat employees fair because that's a brand you can't buy your way out of.

With that bit of opinion on business operations, I want to say that it does factor into SCALPING THE RED ROCKS. Here's the backcover summary:

SCALPING THE RED ROCKS – a Derek Mason Mystery

Something's askew in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona. The town's inhabitants are divided by urban growth. Some entrepreneurs try to make a quick buck by selling out the very aspect of the town that drew them: the awe-inspiring views and natural beauty. Spirited, passionate, and a bit mettlesome, Derek Mason helps his aunt Ruby find her place in the New Age haven, but instead they discover her real estate agent scalped in an empty condo. The crafty real estate agent had intended to sell off part of the pristine landscape, to scalp the land to the highest bidder, but someone scalped him first.

Derek meets Myra and Toper, best friends with a shared secret from Devil's Bridge; Kimbo Blue, a former child star from Hollywood with a eunuch-ness that defies his adult persona; Clarity Received, the new-age girlfriend of the victim; and Tricia, the diva ex-wife. Along with a troupe of paranoid art gallery owners, gossipy sales clerks, sexy day workers, and a Jeep-driving Yavapai Apache, the quirky characters of the resort town hamper Derek's attempts to expose the killer.

Small town secrets, shady deals, and serial arsonists threaten to throw Derek off the trail. The destructive power of greed materializes in the idyllic setting, and Derek struggles to keep his sense of self-value over the immediate gratification of self-indulgence. Temptation from his past jeopardizes his future, unless he can tame his libido and focus. Or will he lose his head too?

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The landscape is spectacular, but the dynamic that makes Sedona memorable is her inhabitants. Like most resort/tourist towns, the place has some eccentric characters. One disclaimer that I'm sure I'll have to issue over and over:

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, or events is entirely coincidental.

Really.

No, REALLY.

Please look for SCALPING THE RED ROCKS this July.

My/Derek's Dream

I wrote this in 2007 and added it to the file for the next Derek Mason Mystery. And forgot about it.

Today as I re-read what I wrote yesterday, I noticed this at the end of the document and it fit perfectly in what I wanted to work on today. Odd, since I hadn't looked at this in over a year.

It may end up in the final revision or it may not, but today it fit the plot. "He" made sure I saw it when I needed to.

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I woke from a dream, oddly calm since it had been a dream of my death.

In the house I grew up in, I had waited along with two other people—I think friends from elementary school, now grown. My mother paced the front yard, checking the road for someone, then stopping to tell me I didn't need to do it.

The sway of the thin branches of an elm ushered in a breeze and with it a scent of summer rain. Nervous glances to each other, the two people waiting with me began to walk toward the road then ran as they reached the pavement.

“It will do no good,” my mother said.

I knew they were scared and running would be their way of fighting back, futile or not, it was something for them to do.

We stood in my childhood bedroom and I picked through the suits I own today. Holding out the black one I had worn to Walterene’s funeral, I said “This will do, but I doubt I'll have an open casket, so I guess it really doesn’t matter.”

“They may be able to do something with the collar,” my mother said.

“Waiting is the hardest part.”

She nodded and lowered her thin body to the bed.

The sheers underneath the heavy drapes blew in the wind and I wondered if I’d feel the blade. Only for an instant, I thought, since the mind will be separated from the body or more realistically the head will be sliced from the torso. Beheaded…

Decapitated… The thought didn't bother me. I knew he was coming, and when he arrived, I’d die.

And waking up, I felt calm. As if I had accepted my death and only waited for it without fear or regret.

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