Hallie's back from Tuscany

HALLIEEPHRON: I’m just back from a ten days in Tuscany, teaching a writing workshop for MINERVA EDUCATION. Rhys taught there last year.

Here's me arriving at the Florence airport and being met by... just kidding, though I am at the airport.

Seriously, it’s a rare gift to get to work with a small group of writers long enough to really understand the book they’re trying to write, help them grapple with their story, and see the revisions they’re capable of. This group completely blew me away. I look forward to hosting on Jungle Red each of them on Jungle Red when they publish their books.

Here are some of a few of my take-aways:

- Alora... this is my new favorite word. Italians use it to preface just about anything they're telling you. I think it's equivalent to "So..." which is my favorite crutch word. Saying it, they stretch out the middle syllable (alorrrrra). 

- Opening scenes are brutally difficult to write. There’s so much to establish (characters, setting, situation) for the rest of the novel to work, and yet… you have to capture the reader’s attention without bogging them down with information.

- Arcs are elusive. They're what presented these writers with the biggest challenge. It’s one thing to write a great sentence of paragraph or page. It’s the arcs that kill you—the changes that take place, the before/after. Related to this is the realization that “The king died and the queen died” is not a plot; “The king died and the queen died of grief” is. (Per E. M. Forster)

Every novel needs one major and several minor overarching arcs that stretch from beginning to end. Ever scene needs one. Every main character needs one. If you know what they are when you set out to write, then you’re lucky. For most of us it’s a voyage of (painful, laborious) discovery that involves writing and rewriting and rewriting again. I felt as if in the week we worked together, these writers found their arcs.

- Uniqueness is every writer's gift. Every writer’s story is uniquely their own, even when they’re writing fiction. In this group, if you spent 10 minutes with each of the writers and then read their pages, you’d have no trouble matching the person to the work. It’s what makes their work so special but it also makes it harder to “murder your darlings.” Every single writer in this group was up to that task.

- It’s easier to critique than it is to write. ‘Nuff said.

MINERVAEDUCATION is the 6-year-old brain child of Pier Raimondo Baldini and Cajsa Baldini. They’re both professors at Arizona State University. They are charming, amazing organizers and lovers of good writing. The workshops are based in the absolutely gorgeous Hotel Colle Etrusco Salivolpi (a so called agriturismo, a converted ancient farm house). We worked most days on this porch overlooking vineyards, an Etruscan tomb, and a valley that stretched to the horizon.

The hotel is walking distance from the delightful Castellina in Chianti, with charming restaurants, churches, shops and services. We made regular pilgrimages for gelati and leather goods. Meals most nights were at a restaurant just up the road where we all fell in love with pici al cacio e pepe—fat spaghetti-like local pasta that’s rolled by hand and perfectly coated with cheese and pepper. Simple. Delicious. It's what Italian food is all about.

Alora... next year, Cajsa and Piero have lined up Ann Cleeves to instruct. All I can say is, count your pennies and if you possibly can, sign up and sign up early. When they say small group they mean small.

Have you treated yourself to a working vacation? Where did you go and, looking back, what was your before/after arc?

2019 Summer writing workshop in Tuscany with Hallie

HALLIE EPHRON: I was so jealous (but so well behaved that I didn’t show it) when Rhys told us all about her amazing ten days as writer in residence teaching a writing workshop for Minerva Education in Tuscany. 

This summer, it’s my turn (May 29-June 27)! 

I'm calling my workshop “From Inspiration to Book." It's being held at Hotel Colle Etrusco Salivolpi (a so-called agriturismo, a converted ancient farm house, remodeled with every modern comfort.) Its grounds go back to Etruscan times. The hotel is within walking distance from the center of town with its charming restaurants, churches, shops and services. And within easy striking distance of Florence, Siena, and Arezzo.

I’m so excited for two reasons… make that three.

1. First, I have several writing friends who’ve raved about their experiences with Minerva Education and its leaders, the husband-and-wife team of Pier Raimondo Baldini (he grew up in Florence) and Cajsi Baldini, professors at Arizona State University. The hotel is reputedly fabulous, ditto the food.

2. The opportunity to work intensively for more than a few days with a small group of writers will be a rare luxury. Not just TEACHING but getting to work on the writing in the most collaborative way. Time to write. Time to REVISE! Time to share and learn what works best for that writer.

I want to use some of the time to explore something I heard Walter Mosley say: 

“Story is what happened; plot is the order in which it’s revealed to the reader.” 

I immediately wrote that down and have been thinking about it ever since. To me, this is directly related to character-driven plotting--the thing that separates workmanlike novels from memorable ones. And it speaks to the reasons why mystery novels, in particular, are so challenging to write. Can't wait to unravel it.

3. TUSCANY! A few years ago I spent a week there and have wanted to get back for an even more extended visit. I remember vividly the rolling landscapes, fields and vineyards, roads lined with tall Cypress trees. Beautiful weather. Birds (we saw hoopoes!) Sublime food... Bruschetta that started most meals, toast topped with fresh tomato and basil. Fresh made pasta like nothing I’d ever eaten (I went home and bought a pasta maker). Cinghiale, Tuscan wild boar (photo: Wikimedia: Valentin Panzirsch) which we tried not to run into while walking in the woods but relished in rich a Bolognese-y pasta sauce. Wine: Brunello di Montalcino! Be still my beating heart!

Did I mention the cheeses? The gorgeous affordable leather goods? (I’ll bring an extra suitcase.) The town squares. The churches. The art and history. The panoramas…

I’m going back! Join me! For the writing, for the WRITERs, for the food, wine, leather, and wild boar.

Do you have memories of Tuscany? Italy? Here are memories from MY memory book... we'll be making new ones to follow!

 

***

Hallie Ephron will be teaching a 2019 summer writing workshop in Tuscany.

She will be writer-in-residence offering a personalized, intensive writing workshop (“From Inspiration to Book”) 5/29-6/7/2019 near Castellini in Chianti. For writers who are just getting started as well as mid-level writers who are already experienced and accomplished. Register now and enjoy this incredible experience in Tuscany and propel your own writing to the next level. More information at www.minervaeducation.net or email Hallie at Hallie@HallieEphron.com.

My evolution as a Mystery Writer by Charlene D’Avanzo

  
LUCY BURDETTE: We love stories on this blog about finding your way, and struggles that turn into something great and unexpected, because lord knows, we've all been there. And I'm super-excited to host Charlene today, because she was one of our Seascape Escape to Write students a few years ago. And now she has a book birthday to celebrate--Hooray! Welcome Charlene! 
CHARLENE D'AVANZO: Five years ago, I’d only written science papers with lots of equations and formulas—never one word of fiction. Then I experienced a eureka moment. The upshot was that I had to transform myself and become a mystery writer.

This is the God’s truth. I walked into an auditorium to listen to a famous climate researcher and came out knowing I’d write a mystery featuring a female scientist. She’d be menaced by climate deniers, like the researcher I heard. She’d also be a marine scientist and avid sea kayaker who lived on the Maine coast. You can guess why.

Oh, and this oceanographer would suffer from terrible seasickness. Like I do.

Investigate personal transformation and you find lots of “re” words—“reinvention”, “reboot”, “renewal”.  Maybe it’s because I’m an ecologist, but I prefer “evolution”, the idea that you build on what you’ve got. Whales, for instance, didn’t just appear in the ocean fifty-plus million years ago. They evolved from land animals that messed around in shallow water with paddle-like hands and feet.

Likewise, I wasn’t a mystery author five years ago, but I understood a thing or two about writing for publication. What I knew to my core will be familiar to any author.  Writing—is extraordinarily hard work, means rewriting and rewriting, and requires persistence and discipline. Also, I knew that I absolutely needed a community of others to work with and learn from. (Sisters in Crime has been my savior).

Of course, there’s more. Alan Alda said it best, I think.

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing …Despite my scientist colleagues’ “you’re nuts” response, I did trust my eureka-moment intuition. Clearly, the endeavor was risky; I might never find a publisher or agent. (Of course, at first I didn’t know writers had agents). I had to step back from my successful career and accept that I was floundering and it was okay.

Being all right with “not quite knowing what you’re doing” requires humility and ability to welcome critique. Early on, I was extremely fortunate to find the best mystery writing workshop leaders on this good earth: Roberta and Hallie. At the SeaScape Writers Retreat both delivered right-on critique with humor and tact. I ate it up. 
Here’s an example. One of my goals is to unveil the mysterious world of scientists for my readers.  I’d overdone accessibility in an early draft and Mara, my protagonist, came off like a love-sick teenager. Roberta used those very words. Ouch, but great input!  In her reasoned and astute way, Roberta explained how I might help readers relate to and care about Mara. She jumped me to the next level of my evolution. I haven’t looked back.

Lucy/Roberta: Ouch indeed! So glad you hung in there Charlene! Questions for our new mystery writer?

Charlene D'Avanzo is a marine ecologist, emeritus professor at Hampshire College, and award winning environmental educator. In 2015 she was awarded Mystery Writers of America's McCloy award for new writers. Her short stories are published in several anthologies including the eco-fiction collection "Winds of Change". Charlene lives on Little John Island in Yarmouth, Maine. You can pre-order Cold Blood, Hot Sea right here. 

 

What We're writing: RHYS CAN:T REVEAL....

RHYS BOWEN: I was about to post a snippet from the new Royal Spyness book I have just finished, but I realized that I couldn't do it without giving away major spoilers. We left Georgie and Darcy with a cliffhanger at the end of Malice at the Palace, and I really want the next book to be a complete surprise. A punch-in-the-gut surprise. No doubt some reviewers will give away the whole story, and the major plot points will be there on the book jacket, but I'd like to keep readers in the dark for as long as possible.

But I do have a cover to share with you. It's still in progress but this is the latest version. I think it's perfect and you'll see how well it fits the story. (Am I giving you some clues?)

And as to what I'm working on next.... I can't tell you that either. It's a big secret.
So....
I'm going to share a seasonally appropriate excerpt from AWAY IN A MANGER, my new Molly Murphy book.

Macy’s windows lived up to Bridies’s expectations. She stared at each one, wide-eyed, her nose pressed against the glass until her breath steamed it over, hiding the scene inside. In have to confess if I hadn’t experienced the shop windows in Paris earlier in the year I might have been equally impressed. There were mechanical rabbits eating carrots, figures skating on a frozen pond, an old toymaker sitting at his bench making toys. They were wonderful automatons with the toymaker’s eyes moving and his toys coming to life as he finished them.

            Bridie would have stood there all day, I suspect. “Come on, my dear. We still have the toy shop to visit,” I said.

            She had just torn herself away reluctantly to join us when a strange thing happened. Daniel gave a shout. A skinny youth looked up and took off at great speed with Daniel hot on his heels.  It was a mercy that Liam had just started fussing in Daniel’s arms and he’d handed him over to me or I don’t know what he would have done. If it had been an out and out running race I suspect that the boy would have gotten away, but he was hampered by the crowd dawdling along the sidewalk as they examined the windows, then a trolley, coming to a halt made him change direction and slow enough for Daniel to grab him.

            ‘Got ya, my boy,” Daniel said, twisting his arm up behind his back.

            “Let go of me,” the boy shouted. “I ain’t done nothing.”                                                     

“If you haven’t done anything, why were you running away?” Daniel demanded as the boy squirmed and fought.

“Wouldn’t you run if a crazy lunatic started chasing you? Get your hands off me.  I’ll call the police.”

            “Oh, that’s a good one. I am the police.” Daniel almost looked as if he was enjoying himself. “Captain Sullivan. So I’m not only the police, I’m one of the most important policemen you’re likely to meet.”

            “I ain’t done nothing,” the boy insisted. “Let go of me. You’re hurting.”

            “I saw your hand going into that lady’s bag,” Daniel said.

            “Go on then, search me!” the boy said belligerently. “You won’t find nothing.”

            “Of course I won’t. I stopped you in time. One more second and you’d have slipped her wallet under your jacket and been off through the crowd with her none the wiser.”

            “You can’t prove that,” the boy said. “And you’d better be careful, going around and accusing people of things they didn’t do. There’s such a thing as wrongful arrest, you know.”

            “Constable Macarthy!” Daniel boomed and a stout man in uniform forced his way through the crowd toward them.

            “A spot of trouble, Captain Sullivan, sir?”

            “Do you recognize this young ‘un?” Daniel asked.

            “Never seen him before, sir. What’s he been doing?”

            “Helping himself to people’s wallets,” Daniel said. “No, there’s no point in searching him. I spotted him in the act of lifting a purse, but I suspect he’s smart enough to have tucked others into hiding places to be retrieved later—just in case he was ever caught. Is that right, young fellow?”

            “I said to get your hands off me,” the boy snarled. “You’re going to be sorry, you know. I got friends.”

            “Oh no, I think it’s you whose going to be sorry,” Daniel said. “I never forget a face and my men will be on the lookout for you now, all over the city. If you’re smart you’ll stay indoors until after Christmas.  Handcuff him, Constable.”

            “What do you want me to do with him, Captain?” the constable asked as the pair of them wrestled handcuffs onto the struggling and cursing youth.

            “Take him to the nearest station house and get his name, address and finger prints,” Daniel said. “If he gives you any sauce you have my permission to lock him up for the night until he can learn some manners.”

            “You can’t do that. I told ya, I ain’t done nothing,” the boy said, looking slightly more worried now.

            “If you cooperate like a good boy, then you’ve got nothing to worry about and you’ll be free as a bird in a little while,” Daniel said. “But if any of my men catches you picking pockets again, remember we’ll have your finger prints on file and you’ll be heading straight to jail. Understand me?”

            A crowd had gathered, standing not too close but watching with interest.

“What’s the boy done?” a thin clergyman in a black suit asked.

“Pick pocket,” Daniel said. “There are too many of them around this year. You should all make sure you keep a watchful eye on your cash.”

“But he’s only a boy,” the clergyman said. “Surely handcuffs aren’t necessary. If you’d let me have a word with him, I know I could make him—“

His speech was cut off by a scream from somewhere in the crowd and a woman cried out, “My money is missing. Someone’s taken my purse.”

AND TWO NEWS FLASHES TO SHARE:

THE TWELVE CLUES OF CHRISTMAS is currently on sale for $1:99 on Amazon. If you want something to get you into the holiday mood download, make some hot chocolate and enjoy.

AND if you are feeling cold and sun-deprived....

There are only two slots left on my workshop in Tuscany next summer. If you know someone who is a fledgling mystery writer or you'd like to know details, please check it out at: www.Minervaeducation.net