mystery « Dee Savoy

Archive for the 'mystery' Category

Feb

I can kill that puppet in three whacks

Categories: my work, mystery, romantic suspense and writing

Earlier today, I found myself in the unenviable position of watching a double dose of Family Feud. I hate to admit it, but I think I’ve seen every incarnation this show has offered–from pervie/creepie Richard Dawson to the suicidal guy whose name escapes me to the porcine Louie Anderson. Now we’ve got J. Peterman, I mean John O’something with the voice.

So the question comes up–what weapon could a murderer use to kill . . . drumroll please . . . Pinocchio. Pinocchio? First off, why is anyone contemplating killing fictional characters from Disney of all places? I could see if we were talking about wicked stepmothers. Who wouldn’t want to give Snow White’s step mama a thump on the head for unbridled vanity and poor wardrobe choice. But Pinocchio, whose only crime was trying too hard to fit in. Who’s next? Dumbo?

As you can imagine, this round quickly descended into the macabre. Chop him with an ax. Throw him in the wood chipper. Make him tell lies until his nose falls off. At least that last one didn’t make it onto the board. My favorite answer was the one I least expected–slow torture. Termites.

This doesn’t really have anything to do with writing except that it made me think of all the lengths mystery/suspense/thriller writers go to to have a, if not unique, interesting death occur in their stories. Murder can’t be mundane anymore, it’s got to have flair. Either the motive, the means or the murderer him/herself has got to have a bit of panache. And serial killers fuggedaboutit. I myself had my Amazon killer in Body of Lies who cut off the right breast of all his victims. oogie if you ask me, but others are far worse.

Just something to think about as I get back to my work for the day. In this one, the murder is quite ordinary, but what happens the next day when the body is found–that’s the doozy.

But nevermind that. Tell me, what’s your favorite fictional kill and why? But let’s leave the cartoons out of it this time.

Jan

Lazy Days and Fridays

By writerds 3 Comments

Categories: blogosphere, entertainment, industry, mystery, publishing, romance, romantic suspense, writing and wtf?

Okay, not exactly lazy, just busy. instead of posting I’ve culled a few interesting posts for you to ponder.

The first comes from Editorrent, dealing with story reversals, Charles Dickens and a few other useful tidbits.

Angela Jefferson’s blog pointed me toward NY Times coverage of the Cassie Edwards brouhaha. Personally, I’ve never read any of Ms. Edwards work and have been offended myself by the use of the word savage in many of her bajillion titles (which is why I didn’t read her). I don’t know what she did or didn’t do, but it is an important discussion, since few folks seem to know what the P word is or even if they do, they don’t care. I was pleased the other day, though, when my daughter had a research paper to write for her English class (high school, you know) and her teacher told her that she had to be careful how she paraphrased or incorporated research material so as not to plagiarize. Send that teacher an apple!

Getting back to Angela for a minute. She claims herself to be a font of useless information. I was a font of useless information way before she came around. But I digress.

Don’t know much about the writer’s strike in Hollywood, but Booksquare posts some interesting information on the ramifications of all these indie deals on whatever the major settlement turns out to be. My message to the studios: pay the two dollars and get your houses back in order.

And finally–the Edgars are coming, the Edgars are coming. Or the nominations for the awards have been announced. You can find commentary on who’ll win at Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, or if you just want the list of nominees, go here.

Jan

Will the real possible future president please stand up?

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Categories: mystery, true crime and writing

A small item appeared in the Daily News here in New York about presidential hopeful Barack Obama in which Dennis Haysbert, the actor who played President Palmer on 24, claimed credit for fomenting in the American mind the idea that a black man–the right man–could become president. And I thought hmmm.

Now there’s no doubt in my mind that the actor was not really serious about his assertion, but who knows if that isn’t partly the truth. I’ve heard complaints from both cops and layers that it’s more difficult to prosecute folks now unless you can CSI the jury up the wazoo. Crime writing has been accused of glorifying crime since, at least, the time Truman Capote put pen to paper for In Cold Blood.

So how much of a rap should fiction in the form of film, TV, song lyrics and books take when it comes to forging reality, and is it really a bad thing?

With the pervasiveness of information on the internet, no one needs to look to fiction of any kind for inspiration, motivation or how-to-do-it guides. Where do you think writers get it from? But is it our duty to self-monitor? What do you think?

Sep

The Evil that men do (betcha didn’t know that quote came from the bard)

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Categories: my work, mystery, the secret life of dee and weird science

I don’t know if all of you are aware of this, but in my other life, away from writing, I dabble a little in things esoteric. On one of the sites I was lead to there was the Witch’s Psalm (see my Reiki website for the whole thing). One line in particular grabbed me, which is:

Evil is only misunderstood energy

To this I say, hmmmm. I’ve never seen evil as some unified force like Satan or the devil that wreaks havoc on humans. Whatever evil there is in the world we do to each other. A Khalil Gibran quote comes to mind:

Of the good in you I can speak, but not the evil, for what is evil but good tortured by hunger and thirst. When good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, and when it thirsts, it drinks even of dead waters.

If you’re wondering where I’m going with this, I’ll tell you. When you write crime fiction, especially if your characters are three dimensional, you have to have some theory as to how they got that way. Some folks like to say he was just crazy, or inexplicable motivated but I can’t go that route. I feel a compulsion to know and thereafter impart to me readers exactly what my villain is about. And since I don’t believe folks are born evil or tormented by un-manmade demons, their backstories need to be complex and plausible. As a reader, those are the types of stories I enjoy as well. As a mother I’m glad neither of my kids is out in the back torturing bunny rabbits of something. That’s not a good sign in fiction or in life.

Jul

Blog Me

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Categories: blogosphere, entertainment, mystery and writer's resources

Still a little too bummed to do much creative writing, so I’ve been around the ‘net Martha, reading what other folks have to say.

I like what Dara Girard writes about readers at Access Romance.

Elizabeth Mahon posits that Mercury in Retrograde is kicking her ass. Hey, girl, mine, too. Like Liz, I’m a Scorpio. Sting, sting.

Dear Author has an interview with agent Jane Dystel of Dystel and Goderich.

And one final gruesome stop over at Murderati led me to find out how much my cadaver would be worth. Thanks for the quiz, Pari, but is $4,600 good or not?

$4605.00

How much $ would you get?

Apr

Another Take on the Virginia Tech shooting

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Categories: blogosphere, mystery, true crime and writing

Tess says it all here. There’s no need for me to embellish.

Apr

To all the books I’ve loved before . . .

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Categories: mystery, reading, romance and writing

Over at Murderati, Robert Gregory Brown posts about comparing the experience of reading a book with being with a lover. Now you know the romance writer in me was ready to get on board with that analogy. Most of any good romance is foreplay–will they or won’t they and if they will how will they?

Brown compares the first act of the book with seduction, the second act with foreplay and the last act with climax. Although I like this better than the usual exposition, confrontation and resolution, something is a little off with the comparison nonetheless.

While I agree that what a reader is looking for is a “relationship” with a book, I view that first glimpse of it in the bookstore as the seduction. Does it have a cover I find attractive? Is the blurb appealing? Does the first page grab me? Maybe I’ll take it home with me.

Once I start reading, that’s the foreplay. Does the writing capture my attention? Does the writing entice or make me want to pull away? Do the characters and the plot stimulate? This is the point at which I’m making the decision aas to how far I want to go with this book. Do I want to give it a full read or put it aside?

There’s a reason why the middle part of a book can be described as rising tension that leads to the climax of the story. The stakes rise, the conflict deepens, you don’t know if the story will rise to your expectations or leave you flat, but the more you read the more you want that satisfaction of a good tale.

But the story doesn’t end with the climax, no matter how good that is. There’s always the denoument when I get to sigh and reflect on the story I’ve just read. One might call that the afterglow (or aftergroan if the book in question has proved disappointing) when I speculate on whether I’ll give the author another shot. If the answer is yes, one can only hope for a short refractory period before the next book comes out.

Apr

Good Question, Tess. Now what’s the answer?

By writerds 2 Comments

Categories: mystery, reading and writing

Tess Gerritsen blogs on the age-old question–are great storytellers born or made? Here’s an interesting point she makes:

What I’ve found is that many of these boring aspiring novelists turn out not to be readers. Yep, you heard me. They want to be novelists but they don’t read novels. They think they can tell stories, but how would they know if they have no one to compare themselves to? I run into a lot of these people at my booksignings. They come up to me and want advice about where to send their manuscripts, and how to get published. When I ask them which authors they like to read, I’ll get back a puzzled look. Read? Why, they don’t have time to read! They’re too busy!

Hmmmmmmm. Note to aspiring writers having difficulty: read a book!

Apr

Elaine Viets suffers stroke

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Categories: mystery

Just learned from Todd Goldberg’s blog that Elaine Viets suffered a massive stroke. She’s doing better now than the original prognosis, thank goodness. I don’t know Elaine personally, but I appreciate her willingness to help others in the business. I sent her Reiki and good thoughts. I hope you’ll join me in wishing her well.

Apr

Spring into Writing Workshop is now accepting students!!!

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Categories: my work, mystery, paranormal, romance, romantic suspense and writer's resources

Yes, I, national bestselling, award winning author Deirdre Savoy will be facilitating this month-long workshop set to begin the week of April 30th. This workshop is designed to cover writing basics with an eye to finishing/revising that one of a kind novel. I call this a thematic workshop, one designed to see if all your story elements mesh. For a preview go here.

Course syllabus:

April 30: Theme, premise and conflict: The basics of novel structure.

May 7: Characterization and plot: cast your novel/plan your story.

May 14: Getting over the hump: how to keep tension and drama building throughout your story.

May 21: Finishing up: tying up loose ends/finding the just-right ending.

Each week, a lecture and assignment will be posted. Completion and posting of assigned work for peer review is not mandatory but advised if students want to get the most from the class.

Who should take this course:
–first time authors just getting started
–writers close to completing that first novel
–any author interested in taking their writing to new levels

How to register:

Apply for group membership here. You will receive a student questionnaire and told how to make payment. Once tuition is received, you will be added to the group.

Tuition:
$40. for members/$50 for non-members (plus processing fee of $2.00).

BONUS: FREE SYNOPSIS CRITIQUE FOR THE FIRST FIVE STUDENTS TO COMPLETE REGISTRATION!!!

Hope to see you in class!


Get into your most comfortable reading chair,
take off your shoes,
turn off the phone
and let Ms. Savoy's incredible talent take you away.


  --Debra Ross,
     Romance in Color

A skewed sense of humor has kept me sane through 10+ years of teaching and almost as many writing. I invite you to come in and look around. Leave a comment if you like. My goal is to leave you with a smile on your face and a few new thoughts to mull over. If you like the blog, please tell your friends. If not, tell your enemies.