RHYS NEEDS HELP FROM REDS AND READERS

RHYS BOWEN: As you probably know, I'm going to be writer-in-residence at a workshop in Tuscany this summer (and there is still one place to be filled if you get a sudden urge for the Tuscan sun). I'm starting to prepare my pre-workshop handouts and this includes a reading list. So I thought I'd get imput from the Jungle Reds and readers who between us are the most mystery-literate group on the planet.

These are my categories for books suggestions: (and as you'll see, I need help here. I'm sure there are so many great books I'm missing. I'm brain dead having just finished a book.)

BOOKS ON WRITING, ESPECIALLY MYSTERY WRITING.
I'd choose Hallie's book on mystery writing,
Stephen King on writing.
Maybe Anne Lamott's Bird on Bird.

MYSTERIES THAT ARE CHARACTER DRIVEN, WRITERS WHO SHOW EXPERTISE IN CREATING CHARACTER.
I have: Deborah Crombie, Louise Penny as great examples of rich, full-bodied characters.
Mystic River.
In the Bleak Midwinter
On Beulah Height by Reginald Hill

MYSTERIES THAT SHOW SKILL IN PLOT
All of the above (so maybe I just need a category called GOOD MYSTERY NOVELS)
Michael Connelly's Bloodwork
Hank's books.
Hallie's There Was an Old Woman

MYSTERIES THAT HAVE GOOD, REALISTIC DIALOGUE
Hank's books.

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Well, if you need another instructor in Tuscany at the last minute, I'm your gal....
( RHYS.. I wish I could take all my Jungle Red sisters along with me)

BOOKS ON WRITING, ESPECIALLY MYSTERY WRITING.
The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron
On Writing, Stephen King
Bird by Bird, Anne LaMott
The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, Christopher Vogler

MYSTERIES THAT ARE CHARACTER DRIVEN, WRITERS WHO SHOW EXPERTISE IN CREATING CHARACTER.
Anything by Alan Bradley
Anything by Laurie R. King
Anything by Alice Hoffman (her books aren't usually shelved with mysteries, but usually contain a crime/murder/mystery anyway)

MYSTERIES THAT SHOW SKILL IN PLOT
The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson (RHYS: oh yes, good one. Perfect.)
The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters
The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown

MYSTERIES THAT HAVE GOOD, REALISTIC DIALOG
Anything by Raymond Chandler
Anything by Harlan Cobern
Anything by Louise Penny


SETTING/SENSE OF PLACE/TIME
Anything by Rhys Bowen
Anything by Jane Thynne
Anything by Kerry Greenwood
Anything by Charles Todd

HALLIE EPHRON: Oh Rhys, seriously thank you SO MUCH for the vote of confidence on my WRITING AND SELLING YOUR MYSTERY NOVEL! And seriously I’d kill to be going with you.

My recommendations:
BOOKS ON WRITING, ESPECIALLY MYSTERY WRITING.
I'd happily recommend Jane Cleland’s book coming out in April, Mastering Suspense, Structure, and Plot: How to Write Gripping Stories That Keep Readers on the Edge of Their Seats from Writer’s Digest Books
Also Paula Munier’s Plot Perfect: How to Build Unforgettable Stories Scene by Scene

MYSTERIES THAT ARE CHARACTER DRIVEN, WRITERS WHO SHOW EXPERTISE IN CREATING CHARACTER.
Lucy’s Key West Food Critic series
The End of Everything by Megan Abbott
Method 15/33 by Shannon Kirk
Rhys’s Her Royal Spyness

MYSTERIES THAT SHOW SKILL IN PLOT
The Town (aka Prince of Thieves) by Chuck Hogan
Body Double by Tess Gerritsen
Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connely
The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard

MYSTERIES THAT HAVE GOOD, REALISTIC DIALOG
Anything by Elmore Leonard of course
Anything by Robert B. Parker
Citizen Vince by Jess Walter
The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George HIggins

SETTING: SENSE OF TIME/PLACE
Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series
Any of Susan's Maggie Hope books
Any of William Tapply's books, especially Bitch Creek
Tony Hillerman's books

LUCY BURDETTE: That sounds like such fun Rhys! I won't pile on to the super suggestions that have already been made, but I thought of 3 additional writers who are amazing with both setting and character: CJ BOX'S Joe Pickett series, W KENT KRUEGER'S Cork O'Connell series, and ARNALDUR INDRIDASON for his gloomy detective and the Icelandic setting that feeds his mood.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Rhys! I am floating. Thank you. Thank you.  ( I am very proud of my plots and dialogue. Thank you.) And your students are SO lucky!

So just some additions--I agree with the writing books. I cannot live without Stephen King's On Writing.  Hallie's and Paula's and Jane's, too . Stellar.

SKILL IN PLOT: Linwood Barclay's TRUST YOUR EYES  (amazing, truly, a master class)
Peter Abrahams NERVE DAMAGE  (breaks every rule! so original)

CHARACTER: Spencer Quinn's Chet in the Chet and Bernie series...Chet is a DOG! How does he do that?
Sue Grafton's Kinsey--a classic. reliable, but always new
Maggie Hope--start with Susan's Mr Churchill's Secretary
Rachel Howzell Hall's Elouise Norton


SENSE OF TIME AND PLACE
Charles and Caroline Todd's  Inspector Rutledge books--start with TEST OF WILLS
Lady Georgie!
Dennis Lehane's Mystic River

Oh, now I'm really thinking about this. There are SO many more. And I'll remember them as soon as I hit send.

DEBORAH CROMBIE:

Thank you, Rhys, I'm very flattered!

A couple of writing books suggestions:

For creative impetus: Writing Done the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
For the best how-to: Writing: A User Manual by David Hewson
For character: The Art of Character

Skill in Character:

All the Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher (not sure if these actually count as mysteries, but one of my favorite characters in fiction, period.)
Peter Grant novels by Ben Aaronovitch
Bryant and May novels, Christopher Fowler

Skill in Plot:

Already mentioned, but one of the most cleverly plotted books I've ever read is On Beaulah Height by Reginald Hill
The Verdict by Nick Stone

Skill in Dialog:

Anything by Julia Spenser-Fleming
Anything by Hank


Setting, Sense of Time and Place:

Rhys's Molly and Georgie books
Susan's Maggie Hope books
Billy Boyle novels by James Benn
Charles Todd
Laurie R. King
Jacqueline Winspear

RHYS: Thank you all so much for these. As I read down the list I kept saying out loud, "Of course. Why didn't I think of him/her?"
So I now have a stellar list but I don't think I can expect my students to bring this many books in their carry-ons. And now it's your turn: who have we left out of this list?

Reds Writing Rules: Our Hooptedoodle

HALLIE EPHRON: A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of teaching a writing workshop at 30th annual Antioch Writers Summer Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio. I got to work with an incredibly talented group of up-and-coming writers and listen to experts offer up their wisdom on how to. (I also got to hang out with frequent Jungle Red commenter Cyndi Pauwels whose first published novel FORTY & OUT comes out in September and she'll be back then to talk about it!)

Even I don't have an MFA so I don't know the right lingo, most of what I heard was familiar. But I had a genuine Aha! moment when Tara Ison (author of "Rockaway," "The List," and "A Child Out of Alcatraz") wrote a quote on the white board. My memory of it is only approximate, and I can't even remember who said it, but here's the gist: 

Plot is about what a character needs and what he's willing to do to get it.

So simple.

Now for years I've taught that plot (aka story) is about what a character WANTS, and that conflict growing out of characters with competing goals. But somehow changing that "wants" to "needs" and combining it with: and what he's willing to do to get it, set lights flashing in my head.

So a character may WANT to win a contest, get the guy, find the treasure, destroy the broomstick on the wicked witch... but driving the want is a need. And if that character is going to risk life and limb, then the need has to be profound and personal.

After hours over glasses of wine, we talked about various 'rules' that are useful but should not be taken as gospel. Like don't start a novel with a dream or weather. Because lots of terrific novels start with nightmares and storms. (A Wrinkle in Time begins with "It was a dark and stormy night," just for instance.)

But this idea that story has to be driven by what a character needs does not seem to be to be one that can be ignored.

So have you found any rules that are sacrosanct (or at useful to follow); and are there others happily you break with impunity?

RHYS BOWEN:  It depends on the rules. There are some that are sacrosanct to me like playing fair with the reader, not switching point of view within a scene. Showing not telling. Not bombarding the reader with backstory or information. Not having two characters with similar names. Not introducing us to too many characters at once.

But there are many supposed rules for mystery novels that I break all the time. I don't mind starting a book with weather, with a dream, with conversation if I feel they are needed. I don't always have a body for a hundred pages or more.

I never manipulate character to fit the plot.

It comes down to whatever works for me.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  I'm looking out the window, staring at the sailboats on the Charles, and wondering if there's a "rule" I would never break.

Huh, okay. I would never change point of view in the midst of a scene.  I often start a scene with one line of dialogue, but rarely two, because I am always careful to make sure the reader knows where the scene is taking place. 

I would never have a stupid secret, like missing twin, or sex change operation.

I won't have a phone call where someone says: I can't tell you on the phone, but meet me later. (You KNOW what's about to happen then, right?) (Although it's fine, and pretty funny, if the meeting goes as planned.)

I guess--I always ask myself: Is this believable, original and interesting? Do I care? And if I can say yes, I pretty much do whatever works.

Oh, that's what Rhys just said.

LUCY BURDETTE: Okay, just thinking off the top of my head, without any wine...I really really try not to insert a plot twist or clue just because I love the idea. If it doesn't work with the story and even more importantly, the characters, I try to deep-six that little bit of brilliance.

Second, also hard, is try not to have the heroine trot into dangerous situations without a damn good reason. Hayley Snow is a food critic not a police officer, so I try to keep that in mind.

Oh and one more little thing--try to make sure SOMETHING  HAPPENS in each scene, that it advances the plot or shows something critical about the characters.

My hub asked me yesterday: "So what's happening with your plot?"

Me: "They're eating bad Japanese food. That's it." Sigh, back to work...

DEBORAH CROMBIE: What Rhys, Hank, and Lucy said:-)

Interesting that we are all obsessive about changing viewpoint within a scene. I HATE that!! It will make me put down a book.

And I am VERY big on Play Fair in crime novels. I don't like unreliable narrators, and I think the readers must be given all the information available to the sleuths, be they amateur or professional.

Like Rhys, I've started books with weather, and with dreams, and often there isn't a murder until a good way into the book. So who makes up these silly rules, anyway???

I guess (without a glass of wine or two) that my big unbreakable rule is Everything Must Advance the Plot. And sometimes that mean throwing out things I really like. And not putting in things (and characters) I really like.

HALLIE: And there you have it! The Reds have spoken. But really, every writer has his or her own rules that they write by and rules they ignore.  

So what "rule" might a writer break that will make you put down a book?

Pauline Rowson

JAN BROGAN:  Please welcome Pauline Rowson to Jungle Red today. She is the 

 the author of two thrillers and the contemporary series of mystery novels featuring the flawed and rugged DI Andy Horton set in the Solent area on the South Coast of England. Her crime novels have  have been hailed as the ‘Best of British Crime Fiction’. They have an international readership and have been translated into several languages. Before becoming a full time writer she ran her own successful marketing, media and training company.

 

PAULINE ROWSON: Are crime writers psychopaths?

The relationship between writers and their characters takes many forms. Some of my characters irritate me, others entertain, some make me feel cuddly and comfortable, while others I positively loath. And some I love warts and all even my alpha male Detective Superintendent Steve Uckfield, head of the Major Crime Team, with all his disgusting habits.  But whatever the relationship between the creator and characters it should never be dull.

It’s easy to become a little bit obsessed with your characters. Oh, alright very obsessed and more so when writing a series because the main cast of characters are with me all the time, they are as much part of my life as real people, they occupy my thoughts throughout the day, but strangely enough I never dream of them. Perhaps there is hope for me yet and I’m not about to be carted off to the insane asylum.

I think about my characters a great deal. Where are they? What will they do next?  How will they react to this or that situation?  What is happening in their private lives as well as in the job?  What is their relationship with their colleagues? This is all good stuff because their actions, feelings and motivations drive the plot, which can be annoying especially if I think I’ve got the plotline all nicely worked out. They have the habit of throwing me right off course even to the extent that often when I thought I knew who ‘done it’, I discover the killer is someone completely different.  Do I hear the distant siren of an ambulance approaching? 

Thinking about your characters is not the same as thinking about your ‘real’ friends or the people you know because with your characters you are in control, you create their lives. Although, as I said, they can develop a habit of doing something that surprises you. Many writers are familiar with the old adage plot is character and character is plot, which makes it almost impossible to answer the question readers often ask me, what comes first plot or character? The two are inevitably and intrinsically intertwined.

So before you call for the men in white coats I assure you I am quite sane, well as sane as any writer (and especially a crime writer can be – after all we kill people for a living). Creating characters and their lives is a fascinating game, as many children know, and perhaps that's what a lot of us writers are - kids at heart. It’s either that or we’re closet villains or psychopaths. I know which I’d prefer.

While I don’t believe I am mentally deranged others might beg to differ, because … well, OK, yes I admit it I am a little in love with my fictional detective DI Andy Horton who is fair, fit, flawed and almost forty. But if this means I’m psychotic then where does it leave the mystery novel reader? How consumed are you by the characters you read about?  How real are they to you? Let me know because I might need to book you a space on the psychiatrist’s couch alongside me!

JAN: For more info on Pauline and her books, visit her website at www.rowmark.co.uk
You can also follow Pauline Rowson on Twitter http://twitter.com/PaulineRowson
Or visit her Marine Mystery Facebook Page