Learning Curve

Heartsong Presents Mysteries: The Authors!

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:31:19 GMT

Back in January, my wife and I subscribed to the new cozy mystery series Heartsong Mysteries! Book Club. We're still anxiously watching our mailbox for the first volumes. In the meantime, it's exciting to get to know all the inaugural authors. Interviews we have posted so far:

Q&A: JANICE A. THOMPSON (Gone With The Groom)
Q&A: SUSAN PAGE DAVIS (Homicide at Blue Heron Lake)
Q&A: LISA HARRIS (Recipe For Murder)

Related links:
"What is a Cozy Mystery?"
Meet the authors of HPMysteries
MURDER, SHE WROTE still going strong
Heartsong Mysteries! Book Club

Q&A: Author BRANDT DODSON

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:27:10 GMT

The latest in our series of author Q&As ...

Q&A: BRANDT DODSON
Buy Brandt Dodson's books

More author Q&As:
Q&A: JANICE A. THOMPSON (Gone With The Groom)
Q&A: SUSAN PAGE DAVIS (Homicide at Blue Heron Lake)
Q&A: LISA HARRIS (Recipe For Murder)
Q&A: Mystery / Suspense / Thriller authors

Free fiction (LAST WEEK!)

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:11:57 GMT

Free mystery story (LIMITED TIME): My wife and I just launched our new husband-wife sleuth series, BOOKE CASES MUSIC CITY MYSTERIES. If you want a FREE copy of the world-premiere short story, "Don't Fall For That Trick," download the pdf here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Well_Read/. Enjoy! (Offer ends Feb. 29.)

More updates at the all-new Learning Curve:

Q&A: JANICE A. THOMPSON (The Wedding Caper)
Q&A: SUSAN PAGE DAVIS (Homicide at Blue Heron Lake)
Q&A: LISA HARRIS (Recipe For Murder)
CFBA: ADAM by Ted Dekker
Fiction Links (12 Feb 08)
Fiction Links (19 Feb 08)
What Is A "Cozy Mystery"?
Planning Ahead
Meet the authors of HPMysteries
MURDER, SHE WROTE still going strong
Ed Hoch, we'll miss you

MYSTERY TV THEMES:

For Your Consideration: [YOUR BOOK HERE]

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:22:51 GMT

Attention CBA novelists: Christian Music Planet is taking votes for the 2008 CMP FAN AWARDS. There are four book categories -- including two for Christian authors and two for Christian books.

Tell your fans and friends to vote for you and your book HERE!

Ten drafts, eleven drafts, twelve ...

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:31:30 GMT

As previously mentioned, I will soon (eventually) be giving an EXCLUSIVE WORLD PREMIERE short story to subscribers to my free newsletter WELL READ. The original plan was to initiate a holiday tradition and send it out for Christmas ... but it is looking like this first one is going to be late. (Well, "looking like" is being a little too gracious. We're already a couple weeks past the deadline.)

Here's the thing: Whereas one of my novels goes through three-four-sometimes five drafts before my time runs out ... this shorter piece has now gone through a dozen or more drafts. The difference seems to be that in a manuscript that has 80,000-100,000 words, there are all kinds of places to tuck in a clue or work in some foreshadowing. But when you're in the neighborhood of just 12-13,000 words -- especially with a murder mystery, which requires a lot of working parts -- there are not so many places where you can tuck in something and make it seem natural.

And since this is the launch of a series, I want it to be just right.

What this means to you:
1) If you are a subscriber to my newsletter, it's still going to be a few more days.
2) If you are not yet a subscriber, you still have time to sign up for this limited offer.

BONUS CONTEST!
As the number of drafts pile up, it occurs to me that we can have a drawing at the end, too. For those who have an interest, one subscriber will win a package that includes hard copies of two or three of the previous versions of the story -- with all the scribblings and notes in the margin that entails. Anyone who wants the chance to compare the various versions (including the original 15,000 word novella) with the final product, this will be your chance.

In the meantime, I just hope to finally finish this story ...

Comics: FALLEN WORLD

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:33:45 GMT

Between our own website and her ComicSpace profile, my wife Erica has now posted all three installments of our indie comic FALLEN WORLD. It's a three-part zero issue.*

FALLEN WORLD #0-A: SMALL FORTUNE
An FBI agent receives a cry for help from an unlikely source ...
STORY: CHRIS WELL
ART: ERICA WELL

FALLEN WORLD #0-B: SMALL LOAD
A family squabble turns into a hostage crisis ...
STORY: CHRIS WELL
ART: ERICA WELL

FALLEN WORLD #0-C: SMALL COMFORT
FBI Agent Jonah Chang receives an ominous message from beyond the grave ...
STORY: CHRIS WELL
ART: ERICA WELL

*(For those of you who don't read comics, a "zero" issue is sometimes used to introduce a brand-new series. Kind of like a pilot episode of a TV series.)

MORE CHRIS & ERICA COMICS AT STUDIOWELL.COM AND AT COMICSPACE.COM/ERICAWELL

Three drafts, four drafts, five ...

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 19:22:53 GMT

In a few days, subscribers to my free newsletter WELL READ get an exclusive sneak peek at my brand-new short story -- which also happens to be the WORLD PREMIERE of a brand-new series. I had hoped to have it ready to send before Christmas, but find myself still fine-tuning it. I would not be surprised if I have reached something like seven drafts. And I'm still trying to get it right.

(You think I have it bad, Dean Koontz will go through 20, 30, even 40 drafts for each page -- "whatever it takes" -- before he moves on to the next page.)

The whole process goes back several months, in fact, when this piece was originally intended to be a 20,000 word novella. But in revisions we trimmed the unnecessary words and it dropped to about 15,000. In May, I had what I thought was a "final" draft. (But even then, I had this nagging feeling it still was not quite right.)

I did not look at it for several months. (Don't worry, I had plenty to do, including a new draft of one novel, and several drafts of a pitch for another.)

Then a couple weeks ago, I finally had a chance to sit down with the novella again. Reading it with fresh eyes, I cut another 2,000 words or so, edited some sections for clarification, improved some word choices, added some bits here and there, changed some transitions ... and felt a lot better about what was now a long short story.

But Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine won't even look at a story longer than 12,000 words. So I made some more cuts, and got it down to under the magic number. (As one of my college instructors would say, "When you cut the good stuff, it leaves you with the great stuff.")

And I thought I would be done.

But this is a mystery story with a certain literary device, and also the start of a new series. I want to get the details just right. I imagine that it's not unlike working on a watch -- each piece needs to fit in its place and do its part, or the watch won't work.

Each printout I think, "At last, this is my final draft." And then I find something: This sentence is missing a word. This bit of dialogue doesn't communicate what I need. The spell checker didn't catch that this was the wrong word. This information in this paragraph is incomplete, the information in that paragraph would work better on another page. This line needs to be set up earlier.

So ... I am going through the story yet again this week. And hope to have it ready for my friends in a few days.

If you want to see the results for yourself (when they become available), sign up for WELL READ now. (It's free!)

P.S. -- This blog entry has been revised six times.