The Secret Diary

HANK: Ooooh. Hey. C'mere.

Alex Sokoloff is letting us look into her secret diary for THE UNSEEN. Of course it's scaaaaarrrry....and of course it's hilarious.

It starts in...

December 2008

Dear Diary: You will be thrilled to know I’ve made an actual decision. No, I mean it, stop laughing. Really.I’m just not going to kill myself promoting THE UNSEEN when it comes out. No more of this stress. I love this book. I know people want to read it. Who wouldn’t want to read it?

John Lescroart says the only viable thing you can do to sell your books is to write another book. So that’s what I’m going to do – I’m going to write another book. In fact, I’m going to write two books.

And the Screenwriting Tricks for Authors book, too – I can do an hour of that every other day. It all stops now. No more traveling, no more craziness, just workshops close to home. That people pay me for. I’m going to write. That’s it. Write. And have a personal life, remember that? And then maybe Michael won’t leave me for alienation of affection? That would be good.

PS. You won’t be hearing from me for a while. I have writing to do. And affection.

------------------------Five months later------------------------

May 1, 2009.

Well, Diary, I am thrilled to report I have finished Book of Shadows and Scott loves it and SO DO I. I got that paranormal proposal in to HQ Nocturne and I will easily be finished with Ghost Ship by the end of the month and get that in to St. Martin’s ON TIME. I have an entire first draft of Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, and am psyched to launch into revisions. I am so golden.

Lescroart is so right. We need to be writing.

May 2

Woke up to panic attack. OH MY GOD, THE UNSEEN is coming out in twenty-four days. How did that happen? Who scheduled this?

I haven’t done anything. Nothing. I haven’t even thought about doing anything. I forgot about promotion. Who do I think I am, a screenwriter? I’m an author now, I have to promote.

What’s promotion again? How did I do it before? OH MY GOD.

May 3

Woke up thinking about Konrath. OH MY GOD. Konrath is doing a 100-stop blog book tour for AFRAID. I should be doing a 100-stop blog book tour. Wait. I can barely write one blog a week. I’d have to have started 100 weeks ago to do a 100-stop blog book tour. 100 weeks ago is – um, years, I think.I can do ten. No, twelve. No, eight. In two months. No, one. No, six weeks.

Is it worth it to do that? Does that even count as a blog book tour?

Note to self: check Blog Book Tour site for… specifics. Wait. Wouldn’t I rather just write more Screenwriting Tricks blogs? Won’t everyone hate me if I stop those for a month to do blogs on… whatever I would be doing blogs on? On somebody else’s blog site? Didn’t I start Screenwriting Tricks because I had nothing left to say about myself? Do blog tours really work? Konrath says it’s working.

Well, of course it’s working for Konrath, I’m talking about for REAL people, do they work for REAL people?Note to self: You are NOT under any circumstances going to try to pull a Konrath here. Just get a grip.

May 4

OH MY GOD. “The Edge of Seventeen” got nominated for a Thriller Award for Best Short Story. I can’t believe it. I mean, I love that story, maybe more than anything I’ve ever written, but… it’s supernatural. It’s got a teenage GIRL protagonist. I’m so overwhelmed it got noticed.

Lescroart is right. I need to be writing. Nothing matters but writing. And affection.

May 5

OH MY GOD. Thrillerfest is the same weekend as ALA. HOW DO THESE THINGS HAPPEN?How can I not go to ALA? How can I not go to Thrillerfest? I’m going to be just out with THE UNSEEN in hardcover, I have to go to ALA.

But I’m nominated for a Thriller award, how can I not go to Thrillerfest? How can I be in New York and Chicago at the same time?

May 6

Woke up thinking about social networking.OH MY GOD. I haven’t posted on Facebook in weeks. I haven’t Twittered in longer. And I can’t remember the last time I even signed on to MySpace. I need to update my sites. If I can remember them. Amazon blog, Red Room blog, MySpace blog, Haunt blog, Backspace, MWA something or other - Margery said we all had pages somewhere and that I haven’t done anything on mine; Pretty Scary, Authors Round the South, Indie Bound something or other, Library Thing?

Am I on that? Or was I supposed to do it and forgot? And what about that Facebook page thing? Did anyone ever figure out how to find my page as opposed to whatever the regular Facebook thing is? Is that page thing just going to open up a whole new spate of old boyfriends?

May 7

Woke up thinking about…. I can’t… think…

May 8

OH MY GOD. Romantic Times is in two days. Did I book a flight? What state is it in? Do I have bookmarks? Oh my God, I never ordered bookmarks for THE UNSEEN. I have to e mail Kelley at Iconix and order more NOW TODAY so they’ll come in time. Will they get here or do I have them delivered to – whatever state RT is in? Kelley will handle it. IF YOU REMEMBER TO TELL HER.

Where are my business cards? OH MY GOD. I have to learn all the songs for the Vampire show. Shut up. Slow down. What you need to do at RT is WRITE. Go rehearse the Vampire show and then go back to the room and write, write, write. Five pages a day, minimum.

(Pages done at RT: 7 total, done on the plane en route. Hours spent rehearsing Vampire Show: 20. Hours on the dance floor: 3 per night. Hours in hot tub after dance=2. Parties… a lot.).

May 9

Woke up thinking about website. Hmm, worrisome. Most Awesome Webmistress is not returning e mail on website update. Starting to panic. Better call.

OH MY GOD. Most Awesome Webmistress has been sending e mails on website update that have disappeared into the ether. Website needs complete overhaul.

OH MY GOD.Must send in all updates by tomorrow and decide on design.

OH MY GOD.

May 10
Have to get announcements of THE UNSEEN in to all the organizations I belong to for their newsletters. What organizations do I belong to again? Who do I send this stuff to?

Have to send updated list of all reviewers I know to new publicist so she can send reading copies.

Have to send updated list of all media contacts I have to new publicist to she can send reading copies.

Have to send updated bookseller/librarian list to new publicist.

Have to do author questionnaire for Little, Brown for UK releases.

Have to do new author questionnaire for St. Martin’s.

Have to do AT LEAST FIVE PAGES on Ghost Ship today. I have to. I have to.

(Pages written: 0)

May 11
Woke up thinking about bookstore mailings. Elaine Viets does bookstore mailings. Elaine swears by bookstore mailings, and everyone loves her. Does that mean I should do bookstore mailings? What is a bookstore mailing?

Books? Still don’t have them. Bookmarks? Bookmarks are great if you march them into the store and set them on the counter yourself, but if I were a CRM and got bookmarks in the mail I would just toss them in the trash. I don’t even open my own mail, how can I expect anyone else to?

May 12

Woke up thinking about book club mailings. Jenna Black swears by book club mailings. Do I need to do a book club mailing? What is a book club mailing?

May 13
There’s a book club coordinator at St. Martin’s. Who knew? I give her my targeted list of rabid book clubs and she will send books with my letter that I send to her. I love St. Martin’s.

Lesson learned: Ask, Ask, Ask.

May 14
Going through old promotional files and discovered Sisters in Crime has a bookclub database with specific contact info for mystery book clubs nationwide. Most want e mail contact first. I can do that. I can do that in a night and pretend to be watching whatever movie Michael wants to watch.

I love Sisters in Crime.

May 15
OH MY GOD. I haven’t worked out in two weeks. Have you somehow for gotten that you have the personality of a rabid armadillo when you don’t work out for TWO DAYS?

Has it somehow slipped your mind that a BOOK TOUR means you will be dealing with THE PUBLIC for all your waking hours? Has it not occurred to you that if you don’t get an injection of endorphins, not to mention muscle tone, then too soon to contemplate you will not be fit for viewing?

May 16, 2009
OH MY GOD. I haven’t updated my mailing list in six months. And I need to do a newsletter. How does Vertical Response work again? What’s my password? Why can’t I log in? Oh, right, I have to use Firefox to get into that one. Um, I think. But do I have any news?

Did I for sure take that guy off the list who wrote me that horrible letter about how he didn’t know me and how did I get his e mail and why am I spamming him? Does he know how many nights of sleep I lost lying awake wondering the same thing?

May 17
OH MY GOD. I have to be at BEA next week. What state is BEA in this year? I need a pass. I need books. Did I book a flight?…. Frantic e mailing ensues ....HAH! St. Martin’s has sent books and is sending me a pass.

I will do my Quail Ridge launch then drive up to NY with Natasha and stop at bookstores along the way to sign stock.

A Garmin would be good, though. Konrath swears by his Garmin. Note to self: need to get a Garmin. More to the point, need to figure out how to use it before I hit the road. Can I realistically do that? I mean, really?

May 18
OH MY GOD. Right after BEA I’m due in L.A. for the HWA Stoker weekend and So Cal MWA conference and Dark Delicacies signing and Mysterious Galaxy signing. Did I book a flight? OH MY GOD - must do bookstore drop-ins. Must do TONS of bookstore drop-ins. I can do 200 easily in two weeks before I have to be back for my Southern tour stops. Even without a Garmin. No Garmin required here at all. Konrath may be Konrath, but I know California freeways.

HAH!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wish I could say that’s as bad as it gets but it’s not even close. Multiply the chaos above by twelve thousand and you have a rough idea of my mental state at the moment. There is no order to anything.

The funny thing is, I just did an interview in which the eminently sane interviewer posed the question: “You’re a great business networker. What’s your strategy?”Which I guess is encouraging because no matter what is happening inside me I have the APPEARANCE of control and organization. So that must count for something.

But you know what? I was so fine while I was just writing. I really did get – almost - two books, a proposal, and a rough draft of another (non-fiction) book done in five months. This last month I’ve managed to do some editing, but that’s about it. And I am miserable about it. I could so easily have had my new book done by now.

So I really, really want to know. Are we really doing ourselves any favors doing this kind of insane promotion?Or is John Lescroart right, and we should just always be writing the next book, period?

What do you think, Reds? The Unseen did come out Tuesday, May 26, with or without me.

(HANK: I think we're going to post this blog EVERY YEAR on this date. I think it's an instant classic.)

As a screenwriter, Alexandra Sokoloff has sold original mystery and thriller scripts and written novel adaptations for numerous Hollywood studios. Her debut ghost story, THE HARROWING, was nominated for both a Bram Stoker award and Anthony award for Best First Novel. Her second supernatural thriller, THE PRICE, was called “some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre” by the New York Times Book Review, and her short story, “The Edge of Seventeen” is currently nominated for a Thriller award for best short story. Her third spooky thriller, THE UNSEEN, is out now, and is based on real-life ESP experiments and poltergeist investigations conducted at the parapsychology lab on the Duke University campus. She is currently working on a fourth supernatural thriller for St. Martin’s Press and a paranormal thriller for Harlequin Nocturne, and is writing a book on SCREENWRITING TRICKS FOR AUTHORS, based on her popular workshop and blog at: http://thedarksalon.blogspot.com/

On ALEX SOKOLOFF

HANK: It's all Alexandra Sokoloff's fault.

I was on assignment, walking down a perfectly ordinary corridor in a perfctly ordinary Boston hospital a week or so ago, and I was perfectly--freaked out. I had just read Alex's just-now-in-paperback THE PRICE, which takes place in a Boston hospital very very like the one I was in.

Suddenly--every door, every elevator, every window, every doctor and patient and visitor in the hallway turned creepy and sinister. That had never happened before. I was literally--unnerved. And there was no one to tell. Can you imagine? I turn to my cameraperson, and say, You know, strangest thing, I was just reading this book, and...

So I didn't do anything. Except invite the very talented Alexandra to chat here on out very un-creepy blog. And fair warning: do NOT begin THE PRICE unless you have time to read the whole thing. And unless you're in a well-lighted place. Still, no matter what, it'll haunt you.

HANK: You seem like such a lovely person on the outside. And yet, your books...are so sinister. Hauntingly creepy. Do you have to change, when you sit down in front of the computer? What goes on in your head?


ALEXANDRA SOKOLOFF: I am a lovely person, thanks very much for noticing! But honestly that's a lot because nothing really bad has ever happened to me, even though I've had some near-misses. A lot of my writing comes from a real rage at what happens to other people in this world. It just doesn't seem to take much to fall out of the light, or to be snatched out of the light against your will. I've had that ALMOST happen to me, and I have worked with abused kids, and I have friends like we all have friends who have had horrific things happen to them.

So I make that real life evil metaphorical, and give the good guys a chance of winning, and there you have it.

Do I have to change when I sit down at the computer? No, it doesn't take much to channel all that. It's not like it ever goes away, if you go through life with your eyes open at all.
I'm not sure what goes on in my head, actually. Yoga helps.

HANK: The tension, though. There's so much in your writing. I wondered where that comes from. (The opposite of yoga.)

You have good people make wrong choices, or almost make them. There's--love. And regret. And incremental steps--where you wind up some place you never planned. Are you confident, when set your characters out into the world, that the ones you care about will make the right decisions? (I promise fun questions are coming.)

ALEX: Oh, the tension. Well, part of that is just delivering on the genre. My favorite books are the ones with excruciating suspense - not action, not gore, but psychological suspense. And that's what I'm writing, myself. You wouldn't be too pleased if you went on a rafting trip and never got that adrenaline rush, would you? Same with a suspense book - that's just part of my job. It's not like I'm that tightly wound myself - certainly not all the time! But I have to get it onto the page. It's a bit like acting - I feel it while I'm writing it, but I'm also manufacturing it.Yes, I have good people making bad choices. They also often redeem themselves. I think that's life.

We all make terrible choices sometimes - and some of those choices have far more severe consequences than others, even when we really didn't mean anyone any harm. You're asking about THE PRICE, obviously - where consequences truly are horrific. But I think when you're writing about the devil, or someone who might be the devil, you're pretty much obligated to show the extremes of good and evil, and also the really tragic gray areas. I didn't want to go there, believe me! But the story mandated it.

No one would believe Salk as a character if he weren't capable of forcing the worst choices imaginable, and forcing them from good people. Otherwise he just wouldn't be the - you know.But that's probably my darkest story ever. I don't want to put my characters or myself through that every single time!

HANK: And what a fantastic name he has. The main character, too. "Will." Like: free will. Will to live. Will he or won't he. Perfect.

Do you do a lot of revision? Is the whole story in your head from moment one, or do you surprise yourself?

ALEX: Oh my God, it's ALL revision. I do tons of drafts. I think that comes from theater, which is where I started - I did a lot of acting and directing and choreography, for years, and the first thing you do with a play is block it - just get the actors up on their feet and moving through the set, so that you see the shape of the whole play. And then you can start to dig in and experiment.

So I always think of the first draft of a book or script as the "blocking draft" - it's just getting the bare bones of everything out there, seeing how the story looks and moves in a very sketchy sense. And that's after I've done a huge outline, 40 pages at the very least.

HANK: Oh, that's good to hear, actually. My synopsis for Drive Time was 70 pages. It was wonderfully educational to write it. Even though, as it turned out, an important chunk of the book was not in it. But it did give me some reassurance that I would come out the other end. Anyway.
So then?

ALEX: After an extensive rewrite of the first draft I will do subsequent drafts with specific purposes in mind - like a suspense draft, a draft just thinking about what kind of emotional effect I want to be creating in the reader, a sensory draft - like that.

I'd probably never stop if it weren't for deadlines!

But even though I outline like a fiend I do surprise myself. In THE UNSEEN, which I just finished, I almost had a heart attack when I got to the second act climax of the book and the heroine discovered what was really going on. I mean, of course I knew, I'd set it all up myself from the very beginning, but I had been writing the first draft from her POV and I'd forgotten all about that big reveal.

Writing is a little weird that way.

HANK: If we're lucky! (I didn't realize, in PRIME TIME, that I had chosen the wrong bad guy. The book had chosen another person as the villain. Surprised and thrilled, I went with what the book decided.)

ALEX: I love it when the book takes over. You realize you're not doing this alone, after all.

HANK: So, what's the scoop on THE UNSEEN?

Well, I've always been obsessed with the story of the Rhine Parapsychology Lab - that for nearly 40 years there was a dedicated parapsychology lab on the Duke University campus where Dr. J.B. Rhine tested thousands of students for ESP and telekinesis abilities, using Zener cards (you know, those cards with the five bold black symbols - circle, square, cross, star, wavy lines?) and dice-throwing machines. I love the idea that psychic abilities might be proved real with strict scientific and statistical methodology. Now, most people have heard at least vaguely of Rhine's ESP experiments. What most people don't know is that in the sixties the lab also did field studies of poltergeist infestations.

And then when I was doing some research on the Duke campus recently (which is a wonderfully Gothic school, TOTALLY spooky and atmospheric), I discovered that the parapsychology lab closed down completely in the sixties and seven hundred boxes of lab files were sealed in the basement of Duke's Perkins Library, and were only made available for public viewing a few years ago.

I mean, is that a book or what? It hits all my story pleasure centers - Gothic school, paranormal investigation, poltergeists, fact or fiction, a dual time track with one time track being the sixties... secrets, intrigue, puzzles, libraries... basements. You just live to be handed a story seed like that.

So THE UNSEEN, a couple of psychology researchers become obsessed with the files and discover a long-buried poltergeist experiment that they become convinced shut down the lab in the sixties. And they take two psychically gifted students into the same house to try to replicated the experiment - unaware that the entire original research team ended up insane... or dead.

It comes out from St. Martin's in May, and believe it or not it's a lot lighter in tone than THE PRICE, though still very creepy and suspenseful. I thought my readers might need a break. I know I did!

HANK: Yeah, sounds like a laugh a minute. But it sounds fantastic. Can't wait to read it. In the daylight.

Come back when it comes out!

And now--you cannot escape the Jungle Red Quiz:

Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot?

Miss Marple, love her.

Sex or violence?
Sex, absolutely, but in the hands of an expert the two aren't mutually exclusive.

Pizza or chocolate?
Pizza.

Daniel Craig or Pierce Brosnan?
Sean Connery.

Facebook or MySpace?
You know, I just prefer message boards. But I think Facebook might be the road to hell.

Katharine Hepburn or Audrey Hepburn?
Kate, but that's a hell of a question.

Your favorite non-mystery book?
I was going to say HAMLET, but that's a play and a mystery. I'll go with THE FOUNTAINHEAD.

Favorite book as a kid?
A WRINKLE IN TIME

Making dinner or making reservations?
Oh God, everyone knows to keep me out of the kitchen.

And finally, the Jungle Red Big Lie. Tell us four things about you that no one knows. Only three can be true. We'll guess.

I'm a licensed minister.
I spent a year in the hospital in a body cast.
I had an older brother who died when I was very young.
I'm really, really good at tying people up.

HANK: Three are true? Hmmm...what do you think, gang?

Perhaps there are clues on Alex's website..

http://www.alexandrasokoloff.com/

AND STAY TUNED: TOMORROW, a special holiday gift from us to you!