Moving right along...

Can we just pretend July didn't happen? Let's start all over with a Q&A for August, and we'll see if we can manage to kick-start this thing into action with those. Anyone have any writing questions--techniques? Themes? Sales? Characters?

Catching up

I sort of missed Bastille Day, and come to think of it, the Fourth of July as well. In fact, I would recommend that you never allow one of your family members to get sick on the 3rd of July, since very little happens the next day. And oddly enough, just a month or so ago I read an article about hospitals in which the author, a surgeon as I remember, talked about how early July is the very worst time to be in a hospital, since that’s when the interns change over and the doctors take their holidays. Oh well.

In any case, it’s taken me a while to catch up with things, and one of the items I overlooked was a posting by my friend Cara Black for Bastille day. I didn’t remember how deliciously bloodthirsty the French national anthem was. Makes bombs bursting in air seem positively homey.

Any other national anthems you know of that are so, well, graphic?

July Q&A, 3 (finally)

As a supplement to the posting I did about royalties, Tess Gerritsen has a very helpful post about this subject in her blog for July 17th.

Q: riobonito wants to know (and others seem interested), What influences do you consider, when describing or hearing a 'California accent'. I have my own thoughts, but since you mentioned it, in The Art of Detection, I'd like to hear your take on it.

A: Um, well. I had to look this up, to see what would have made me refer to a California accent, but I think it’s merely that, from the point of view of the speaker, who is an Indian who’s lived in CA: There’s what he hears here, and there's what he occasionally hears from the South or from New York. To anyone but a speech expert, a Californian accent would be indistinguishable from the rest of the American West, but we’re not talking science here, we’re talking perception.

Q: WDI inquires, My question is, how do you, as an author, find your way to descriptions of activities (like woodworking, or painting, or martial arts) that you may not normally engage in yourself (and please forgive me if, in fact, you do engage in all of these!)? I just re-read BEEK, for example, and was dazzled anew at the descriptions of Holmes' and Russell's chess matches. Now, I don't play chess at all, yet you managed to describe their games in such a way that I was completely sucked in to the energy of the play and could understand on a pretty good gut level the metaphors you were drawing between the games, the relationship between Holmes and Russell and the strategies they would use to confront their enemy upon their return to England.

So . . . is there a particular technique you use, or is it just writerly magic?

A: I often shudder to think what experts make of my excursions into specialized activities. I do try not to base events on things I know nothing about without doing a little research, but (writerly magic here) I have found that capturing the expert’s attitude about his or her profession/craft/hobby is more important than presenting all those technical details that prove you really know what you’re talking about. Clearly, one has to know a certain amount about the technical details, but in general, I tend to skip over most of those fine points unless they’re important to the plot or the character. As Elmore Leonard famously said, you leave out the stuff readers skip over—and for every reader who wishes I’d put in more details about theology in A MONSTROUS REGIMENT OF WOMEN, there are two who wish I’d put in less. About the balance you’re aiming for, actually.

Q: Just wondering... is the name "Mary Russell" an homage to Dorothy L Sayers? Based on the character from "The Nine Tailors"?

A: Not unless it was a contribution from my subconscious mind. I’d forgotten entirely about the character until I re-read NINE TAILORS a few years later.


Thanks for your patience with this blog, although I fear the posts will occasionally suffer lapses--my husband has been unwell, and it's incredible how one person's illness can eat up every moment of time for everyone in the vicinity. As for the rewrite of TOUCHSTONE, well.....

July Q&A 2

Q: From Kathleen, What did you draw on for the descriptions of Rae's woodwork in "Folly"?

A: My father repaired furniture for a living for a while, and built furniture for various family members—we eat off a table he made, although every year at Thanksgiving when we gingerly put the leaf into it we wonder if this is the year it will snap right in half. But for the artistic side of Rae’s work, I just read a stack of woodworking magazines and books, and went to admire the work of local artists and talked to them about it.

Q: Molly A asks, As a theologian and having written about Mary Magdalen yourself, what are your views on the DaVinci Code?

A: Did Leonardo invent a code? Hadn’t heard of that, but the man invented everything from flying machines to water systems, so I suppose he did. Not sure what that has to do with the Magdalene.

Q: MarthaB says, Finished TOAD. Thank you!
I was curious about what makes a good editor. (You wrote that yours was very good.) How do they keep it a LRK book and not the editor's book?

A: Now there’s a title for a book, the DaVinci Toad. The ideal editor is one who pays you a truckload of money for a first draft and makes it sell a million copies, as is. The real editor pays you a living wage for a first draft, and helps you rewrite it so it resembles the book you had in mind in the first place. The editor’s role, when it comes to shaping a book, is that of first reader. She (most of the editors I know are women, I have no idea of the M/F ratio) sees the finished product beneath the rough exterior, and helps the write coax it out.

Often, you as writer are the last person to know if something has worked, mostly because as the book is in process, it’s too fresh in your mind for a critical analysis. But the editor comes with fresh—and experienced—eyes and says, This works, this doesn’t, I’d like to see more of that. If she doesn’t understand a plot development, chances are no other reader will either. If she is annoyed by the speech patterns of a character, you probably need to make sure that annoyance is what you’re aiming for.

You, the writer have the final say in an editorial disagreement, but getting the better of an editor in an argument doesn’t mean you’ve won. Instead, you need seriously to consider her criticisms, and where they’re coming from. If her suggestions are based in the novel’s saleability, you have to decide if you want to sell—which sounds odd, but there are some books that are meant for a limited audience, which would be ruined if they are remade to appeal to the masses. And of course, part of that decision is if the publisher will continue to publish you with a marginally profitable book. If you don’t want to sacrifice all for your art, you might want to follow your editor’s advice.

But by and large I have found that editors do what they do not because they want to create a platoon of Dan Browns (although that would be very nice for their job security) but because they just love books. Most editors, if they were given sufficient time by their publishing house, would strive to make every book a great book. Sadly, many editors are not given that time, which is why you see so many badly edited books out there.

And which is why a hands-on editor is a treasure to be cherished.

Q: Elisa wants to know, How is your son doing these days? I hope all is well.

A: As far as I know he’s off wrestling alligators in Florida, haven’t heard from him in a while. The Army is basically a big Boy’s Club with a sign on the door saying No Mothers Allowed. But thanks for asking.

Q: Antigonos asks, I am intrigued by the two mentions, in "A Monstrous Regiment of Women", of Holmes' son. I would very much like some elaboration on that.

A: I think I’ve answered this before, so I will merely say that it’s possible we’ll address that question in the next Russell, for 2008.

Hey Listen

I may be knee-deep in life’s little lessons at the moment, but I did take an hour off to talk to the ever-witty and well-read Michael Artsis, whose interview on Hey Listen radio can be found at Heylisten.com.

Use this link as a back up if you need it:
http://heylisten.com/Audio/071006_LaurieKing_whlr.mp3

September in the Old Country

There was a question on one of the comment posts (I may not be writing here, but I’m reading) about Edinburgh, so I thought I’d put up my tentative schedule for September:

3, 4--London
5-6--to Sussex for research (the next Russell book)
7th--Cambridge
8th--York
10th--Edinburgh
11th--Newcastle
12th--Newcastle
14th-19th--Venice
20-23—Matera Women’s Writing Festival
24-26—Rome
27—Chicago (Centuries and Sleuths)
28-Oct 1—Madison, WI for BoucherCon

And if you have any stops you would request/recommend, particularly between the various cities in England—a library located between Edinburgh and Newcastle, for example, that would like a daytime stop-in--please send me contact information and we’ll see what we can do.

to be continued...

Sorry I’ve let the continuation of the Q&A slide, I’ve had a family uproar this week, things should settle down soon. Thanks for your patience.

I’m going to be in a seminar with Cara Black, Jim Calder, Domenic Stansberry, and Nadia Gordon on July 16 at 826 Valencia, the San Francisco writing project. It’s from 6 to 9, and it should be well worth a hundred bucks (which in any case goes to a great cause.) The link to the seminar is
http://www.826valencia.org/workshops/adult/004566

Happy Fifth of July

I live in an uneasy border area. Not between countries—no border crossings or ridiculous metal fence cutting across the landscape—but between what one side would call a way of life and the other side would call life style. Farmworker and techie; Folgers and Peets (Starbucks is far too common); tinned or organic-farmer’s-market; Toyota or Beemer; General Foods or—well, you get the picture. And that’s without throwing ethnic differences into the mix.

But the one thing everyone agrees on is their right to blow themselves up come Fourth of July. I live on a hill overlooking the valley in which Watsonville is set, and last night, from dusk until nearly midnight the expanse was a series of exploding lights from one side of the Pajaro Valley to the other. None of them very high—this isn’t a professional demonstration of pyrotechnics, just those that look great from directly underneath. And many of them duplicates, for the same reason. But if you told me this county set off a million dollars worth of fancy gunpowder last night, I wouldn’t call you a liar.

There are, of course, the naysayers. Which is good, because without them, my neighbors would still be using their 9 millimeters and their .38s to express their patriotic fervor, followed the next afternoon by outraged articles in the newspaper about holes in roofs a foot from where little Jessica was sleeping. And without them, we wouldn’t have all those proclamations for Safe and Sane fireworks, and one in fifty kids would be missing fingers. But the last couple of years, the shooters seem at last to have been convinced that what goes up does, somewhere, come down, and only one in a thousand kids ends up in the emergency ward.

And I agree with the naysayers, fireworks are dangerous. And mixed with alcohol as they inevitably are on the Fourth, they step heavily into the Unsafe and Insane camp. So yes, letting kids run wildly through the night holding flames up around their eyes and hair is hugely irresponsible, and turning official eyes away from the kids who drive into the desert and load up their cars with illegal forms of potential carnage is something we wouldn’t do any other time of the year.

But you see, here’s the thing. It’s stupid, but it’s glorious. As Rebecca and Sarahof the Lipstick Chronicles remind us. God, it’s such fun.

And at least they’re not shooting pistols aimed at the sky.

July Q&A 1

L. Crampton reminds us all: May I ask my electronic friends to be careful of revealing plot spoilers? I've not yet read TAOD or the last of either series, yet, and so much appreciate going into them with no foreknowledge of what is to happen.

Thanks, L, for the gentle reminder, but I have to say, you folk are pretty good about this. The plot elements you refer to in your posts are generally either early on in the books or else nice and generalized. Thanks for that.

(And L., I will look into the Deviant Art problem—as you say, links degrade over time, and I depend on people telling me when they’re no longer available.)


Q: "...the girl with the strawberry curls" asks, Will you ever fill in the missing months, and sometimes years of the Russell novels? The over two years after her marriage to Holmes (Feb. 1921 to Aug. 1923) are tantalizing, along with Summer of 1919 to Dec. 1920

A: Having hunks of time available are handy for those of us who like the option of flashback sections in novels. I have my eyes on that earlier period for a portion of the next Russell (which, anticipating the next question, I will be starting to write this fall, for publication in 2008.) Both of those are transitional times in Russell’s life, aren’t they? The final period of her coming to adulthood, and the beginnings of her life as a married woman. As such, I think it’s often more interesting to leave some things unexplored, as backstory is less exciting than action.

Q: From wolfangel, Where can I find a book like 'Cults Among Us'?

A: Anne Waverley’s book seems to have gone out of print, and is nowhere to be found. Alas, the field is open for someone else to do one. I’m sure there are many.

Q: "When will we see the first Russell movie?"

A: When a company options it, writes a screenplay that makes everyone happy, hired actors and directors, films it, and puts it out. As of yet, that first step hasn’t happened, so don’t hold your breath.

Q: How do royalties on bookclub sales (i.e., mystery guild, etc.) work? Is the per-book price the same as one purchased in a store? Just wondering -- I buy yours in stores so I don't have to wait

A: The structuring of royalties is enormously complicated and, as you might imagine, a potential source of conflict between agent and editor. Most publishers have a standard structure: for example, ten percent of the book’s cover price goes to the author for each hardback sold, then maybe 12 1/2 percent from 5,000 to 10,000 copies, then 15 percent for everything over 15,000—you get the idea. Mass market paperbacks are a different percentage, as are trade paperbacks.

Then because the publisher needs to make concessions to the really big orders from WalMart and Barnes & Noble and the like, they have special calculations for them, “deep discounting” the books. The author’s royalties suffer, although the theory is that selling ten books at ten percent isn’t as good as selling a hundred books at six percent. Or something, I’d have to drag out my contracts to see, and all contracts differ. (Can you see why all writers need an agent?)

The book club royalties are structured somewhat differently, but book clubs generally also pay a flat sum to the publishers, who divide it with the author, for the rights to publish their own version of a book. Similarly large print publishers and audio books.

The really interesting part of it all is the progress of technology. I can remember when publishers weren’t really sure what to do about e-books, not only how to figure the royalties, but what it meant when it comes to reversion of rights to the author. And the current print-on-demand enters into this as well: I as an author have written into my contract the clause that I can take back the rights to the book if it has been out of print for X number of months. But what if, during that time, two people ordered it through print-on-demand?

Anyway, the answer is, thank you for buying the books in any form. I will merely end by point out that book club editions are not usually the same as the publisher’s hardback, often being smaller and of inferior paper. A factor you might want to consider if you’re saving them for your grandchildren’s library.

Q: Erika says, I'm a bit behind all the others, just got done with "Locked Rooms". I'd be interested to know if you had the plot for that book figured out since "Beekeeper's Apprentice", or did you realize at a later point that there could be a story hidden in Russell's past?

A: I knew there was a story there, but didn’t know what it would be until I started to write LOCKED ROOMS. And the fact that there was a mystery there, obvious as it might seem now, didn’t come until I was well along in the writing. Duh.

Q: From Jan, You had once mentioned that Folly/ was being considered as a TV movie... Is this going to happen, or are there any other plans for RV and any LRK books?

A: Not sure who RV is, and it wasn’t FOLLY, it was KEEPING WATCH. The project isn’t dead, just slumbering. And all the other books are still wandering the dry hills over Hollywood, gazing down at the city lights with varying degrees of envy.

Q: Rebecca’s question is, If you've mentioned this before and I missed it I'm sorry (haven't been online much lately), but I want to know what Russell was doing while Holmes was seeing the seamier side of San Francisco and investigating Raynor's death. Holmes made a reference to his empty bed, as I recall, so where the heck was she?

A: This question seems to give away plot elements, but it doesn't really, since it’s in the first line of the Holmes portion of THE ART OF DETECTION. She’s off on family business in Los Angeles. Wasn’t there something in LOCKED ROOMS about oil? And again, as mentioned earlier in this Q&A session, it’s a thing I could use in the future, Russell’s visit to Hollywood.

Q: From Sara, I was just reading "A Passage to India," and there is a character named "Mahmoud Ali"-- any relation to the names in both "Oh Jerusalem" & "Justice Hall"? Or random coincidence?

A: They’re two of the most common names in the Muslim world, certainly in the Arab world, so no meaning in them other than that.

The First of July

Here we are at the first day of a new month.

Following our long-established tradition (at least five months) this is the time, if you have any questions you'd like to throw at me, when you can do so. I'll answer them as I can, unless they've been asked five times before, in which case I'll refer you to the FAQ page of the web site.