In the sixth book of the Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series, she finds a skunk in her house. Technically, her cat Jazz and Aunt Madge's dog, Mister Rogers, lead it in. The skunk is Pebbles, who belonged to the house's elderly former owner, who recently died. (Not murdered, as far as we know.)
Since the skunk has had its odor glands removed and the local animal control officer really doesn't want to take it home, Pebbles has taken up residence.
I can think of lots of trouble for the cat and dogs to get into, but would love to know stories of pet skunks. Any takers?
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Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Saturday, May 25, 2013
The Jersey Shore is Back
There's nothing like sun and warm weather at the beach on Memorial Day Weekend. Unless it's cloudy and cool at the New Jersey shore in 2013. Why is this good news? Because the Jersey shore is back! Not an October hurricane or wet long weekend can dampen spirits. There's plenty of cotton candy and salt water taffy to go around.
If some things are missing, they will turn up later. Seaside Heights, whose roller
coaster landed in the Atlantic surf, plans to have eighteen rides open later in the season.
The Jolie Gentil mysteries did not want to ignore Hurricane Sandy, whose vicious path took and altered lives in the region. However, the fifth book, Trouble on the Doorstep, chose to deal with recovery more than the storm itself.
The fictional Ocean Alley was placed near Asbury Park, which is about 80 miles north of where Sandy came ashore. Thus, it can deal with repairs to a senior living complex rather than rebuilding, and the food pantry Jolie runs can restock freezers rather than having to find ways for people to buy new freezers. That's a big difference.
While things were not as damaged in Ocean Alley as towns further south, some things are the same. Retired Dr. Welby volunteered to give vaccinations and help people get new prescriptions, and when Jolie and friends run a food pantry fundraiser half of the proceeds go to the Red Cross. In other words, the spirit of giving survived the storm. That's New Jersey. People helping people.
Now, get to the Jersey shore and have some fun, even if you do need to wear a windbreaker for Memorial Day Weekend.
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Check out Elaine's web page or sign up for her newsletter
If some things are missing, they will turn up later. Seaside Heights, whose roller
The Jolie Gentil mysteries did not want to ignore Hurricane Sandy, whose vicious path took and altered lives in the region. However, the fifth book, Trouble on the Doorstep, chose to deal with recovery more than the storm itself.
The fictional Ocean Alley was placed near Asbury Park, which is about 80 miles north of where Sandy came ashore. Thus, it can deal with repairs to a senior living complex rather than rebuilding, and the food pantry Jolie runs can restock freezers rather than having to find ways for people to buy new freezers. That's a big difference.
While things were not as damaged in Ocean Alley as towns further south, some things are the same. Retired Dr. Welby volunteered to give vaccinations and help people get new prescriptions, and when Jolie and friends run a food pantry fundraiser half of the proceeds go to the Red Cross. In other words, the spirit of giving survived the storm. That's New Jersey. People helping people.
Now, get to the Jersey shore and have some fun, even if you do need to wear a windbreaker for Memorial Day Weekend.
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Check out Elaine's web page or sign up for her newsletter
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Sisters in Crime and Social Media
I was pleased to give a presentation to my fellow authors of Sisters in Crime in Indianapolis in mid-May. Prior sessions dealt with electronic publishing, and this one dealt a bit with that but primarily discussed using social media as a marketing tool.
The Indy Sisters in Crime group (Speed City Sisters in Crime) is always well attended and always has projects in process. At the moment there is an anthology underway--the first from Indy SinC to be published as an ebook.
Our Sisters in Crime group will have a panel at Magna Cum Murder this October, and will host a reception. Come and get to know us!
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Monday, May 13, 2013
What We Read Says a Lot
Why mysteries? The sense of discovery must have been important, and it seems to have gone beyond fiction. For many years I did evaluation work, mostly looking at government programs. Some skills needed for this work are similar to those of detectives—willingness to dig into information, asking probing questions, and writing reports (a regular activity of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone).
However, unless I was riding with one particular carpool mate there were no fast cars, and certainly no fancy hotels or gin and tonics at four o’clock.
As I write more I read less, so I have recommitted to reading at least one book per week, preferably two. I will do some skimming. When I’m not particularly engaged in a book I tend to try to follow the plot threads, with less attention on inner dialogue. This can mean I miss things and have to go back, but mostly not.
Almost any mystery appeals to me, though if sadistic criminal acts are a big part of the book I put it down. Same reason I don’t watch Criminal Minds. Who needs to be reminded (for entertainment yet) that people are that sadistic?
The only other thing that truly turns me off are what I think of as “cheats.” In Mary Stewart’s The Ivy Tree, the reader is in the mind of the protagonist (Mary Grey) throughout the book. When she travels from Canada to England to visit the ancestral home, she is often taken for Annabel, a cousin who disappeared eight years ago. Annabel’s appearance would be a threat to others, as Annabel—if alive—would inherit a family fortune.
Mary Grey spends a great deal of time looking into Annabel’s background and denying that she is Annabel. And then at the end of the book, lo and behold, Mary and Annabel are one and the same. What?! No claim of amnesia, just a basic deception that renders the novel (to me) ridiculous. If told from another person’s point of view, fine. But to be in first person and hide who you are from the reader? Doesn’t work.
Only Mary Stewart could get away with it, and if was the first book of hers a person read it might be the last. I enjoyed many of the other books, particularly the environmental web she creates as you read.
I love the Dublin Murder Squad mysteries by Tana French. You stay in her world of intricate crimes and resolutions for days after you finish a book. Yet, dare I say it, there are times when the first-person narrator knows a great deal more than they let the reader know, especially in The Likeness.
Novels all in first person are a challenge. There is only so much the protagonist can know, and the reader has the intrigue and frustration of reasonable discovery. The sleuth cannot expound on clues or opinions to an admiring friend, as readers today don’t usually want to sit (or read) through a lecture.
No matter the limitations, I prefer books with only one or perhaps two points of view. When there are many—especially if one is the mind if the criminal—then a reader knows almost everything and it’s just a matter of when the good guys and bad guys will come together. And, as my father said when I was a scared eight-year old during TV shows, “You know the good guy will win. It’s his show.”
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Saturday, April 27, 2013
Quick Promotion Via Twitter
A writing friend recently said that she did not see that Twitter was at all useful in promoting a new book. She sent a tweet noting where to find the book on Amazon and BN, and she didn't see any bump in sales at all.
There is no reason that she should.
People sometimes think of Twitter as they would their email inbox, believing that the 1,000 (or even 20) people who follow them will sign onto Twitter and see something a fellow tweeter posted a few hours ago. Not realistic. In the time it takes you to push the tweet tab there will be 10 or 20 new tweets that flash through your line of vision. Did you read them? Not likely.
Think of Twitter as the chance to "speed promote" several times a day, for perhaps five minutes each time. If you send a bunch of Tweets a couple of times a day, at least, you will randomly reach a certain number of people--the number varies with how you address the tweet. Who are these people? They are likely the folks who have just signed onto Twitter as your Tweet appears.
To tweet two or three times a day, you need two things: a standard message or set of messages, and a list of tweet addresses or hash tags.
Create five or ten tweets that promote an individual book or series. Vary them a bit, which is not hard to do. You can't say all you want about a book in 140 characters. Here are three I use to promote Any Port in a Storm, the fourth book in the Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series.
#series Fun Cozy. Any Port in a Storm. Who knew Talk Like a Pirate Day could lead to murder? www.amazon.com/dp/B0098CF7RC
#cozy Mystry-humor, friends & occasional murder in a NJ beach town. "Any Port in a Storm." www.amazon.com/dp/B0098CF7RC
#nook Now available for Nook, Any Port in a Storm, humorous mystery at New Jersey shore. Friends, fun & murder. www.barnesandnoble.com/w/any-port-in-a-storm-elaine-orr/1112947692
The number sign and word that adjoins it are hashtags. That means there are people who have associated themselves with this concept. If you like cozy mysteries, you will have 'joined' the hashtag cozy. If you have a Nook, you'll want to get tweets that start with #nook.
There are hundreds, sometimes thousands of people who associate themselves with some hashtags. Popular ones to use when you do a free book via Amazon's KDP Select are #freekindle and #kindlefree.
Once you develop your list of hash tags and a number of cogent tweets you can send 10 tweets in about two minutes. Twitter does not want you to repeat the same message many times, so you will need to vary them a bit.
At the moment, I have coupons for free books at Smashwords, so I rotate through the books in the Jolie Gentil series with some standard tweets and hashtags. For example:
#bookmarketing Free--Talk Like a Pirate Day and mystery-humor in a NJ beach town. "Any Port in a Storm." Coupon TM59W www.smashwords.com/books/view/294045.
It takes awhile to create your list and tweets, but it's worth the initial effort. My next post will contain a list of hashtags I find useful, as well as individual addresses of people who say they will retweet information about books.
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There is no reason that she should.
People sometimes think of Twitter as they would their email inbox, believing that the 1,000 (or even 20) people who follow them will sign onto Twitter and see something a fellow tweeter posted a few hours ago. Not realistic. In the time it takes you to push the tweet tab there will be 10 or 20 new tweets that flash through your line of vision. Did you read them? Not likely.
Think of Twitter as the chance to "speed promote" several times a day, for perhaps five minutes each time. If you send a bunch of Tweets a couple of times a day, at least, you will randomly reach a certain number of people--the number varies with how you address the tweet. Who are these people? They are likely the folks who have just signed onto Twitter as your Tweet appears.
To tweet two or three times a day, you need two things: a standard message or set of messages, and a list of tweet addresses or hash tags.
Create five or ten tweets that promote an individual book or series. Vary them a bit, which is not hard to do. You can't say all you want about a book in 140 characters. Here are three I use to promote Any Port in a Storm, the fourth book in the Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series.
#series Fun Cozy. Any Port in a Storm. Who knew Talk Like a Pirate Day could lead to murder? www.amazon.com/dp/B0098CF7RC
#cozy Mystry-humor, friends & occasional murder in a NJ beach town. "Any Port in a Storm." www.amazon.com/dp/B0098CF7RC
#nook Now available for Nook, Any Port in a Storm, humorous mystery at New Jersey shore. Friends, fun & murder. www.barnesandnoble.com/w/any-port-in-a-storm-elaine-orr/1112947692
The number sign and word that adjoins it are hashtags. That means there are people who have associated themselves with this concept. If you like cozy mysteries, you will have 'joined' the hashtag cozy. If you have a Nook, you'll want to get tweets that start with #nook.
There are hundreds, sometimes thousands of people who associate themselves with some hashtags. Popular ones to use when you do a free book via Amazon's KDP Select are #freekindle and #kindlefree.
Once you develop your list of hash tags and a number of cogent tweets you can send 10 tweets in about two minutes. Twitter does not want you to repeat the same message many times, so you will need to vary them a bit.
At the moment, I have coupons for free books at Smashwords, so I rotate through the books in the Jolie Gentil series with some standard tweets and hashtags. For example:
#bookmarketing Free--Talk Like a Pirate Day and mystery-humor in a NJ beach town. "Any Port in a Storm." Coupon TM59W www.smashwords.com/books/view/294045.
It takes awhile to create your list and tweets, but it's worth the initial effort. My next post will contain a list of hashtags I find useful, as well as individual addresses of people who say they will retweet information about books.
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Check out Elaine's web page or sign up for her newsletter
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Book Giveaway on Goodreads
This is the first time I've done a Goodreads Giveawy. Five copies of Trouble on the Doorstep are available and will be mailed soon after the April 24 end of the giveaway. Reviews have been very positive.
Orr's characters are engaging and have never disappointed on the interesting situations they manage to get themselves into. There's something for everyone in these stories- plenty of mystery and intrigue, loyal friendships and a spark of romance--and it's fun to reacquaint with the old friends from volumes 1-4. I'd love to see more stories from this series! luv2read on Amazon
Another fun mystery from Elaine Orr. I love the way Jolie gets herself caught up in murder when she tries hard not to. Scoobie cracks me up. Colorado Pie on Amazon
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Check out Elaine's web page or sign up for her newsletter
Orr's characters are engaging and have never disappointed on the interesting situations they manage to get themselves into. There's something for everyone in these stories- plenty of mystery and intrigue, loyal friendships and a spark of romance--and it's fun to reacquaint with the old friends from volumes 1-4. I'd love to see more stories from this series! luv2read on Amazon
Another fun mystery from Elaine Orr. I love the way Jolie gets herself caught up in murder when she tries hard not to. Scoobie cracks me up. Colorado Pie on Amazon
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Check out Elaine's web page or sign up for her newsletter
Friday, April 19, 2013
The Mystery of Mysteries
There are many sources of advice for those who write or want to write a mystery. I am not about to offer any. I have published several cozy mysteries and written others that will never make it that far, but there is always more for me to learn.
Once you write, you learn as much by reading others as studying books. I recently finished China Trade by S.J. Rozan. It is one of the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series, which is set in New York City. Lydia has been hired to trace porcelain that was stolen from a museum near Chinatown. Rozan deftly creates a story of Chinese gangs, art collection, and sibling friction that takes more turns than a mountain road. Rozan's books are often a good study in how to weave a distinct culture into a plot, and there is a lot of humorous dialogue.
Tana French imbeds Irish customs in her Dublin Murder Squad mysteries. French's stories take a slower pace than Rozan's, and there is a lot more internal dialogue. I've read In The Woods and The Likeness, which are the first two in the series. Each has some of the same characters, but the first is from Rob's point of view and the second from Cassie's--each a detective, each very different from the other. If you want a thriller, these books are not for you, but they will especially appeal to someone who wants a more 'literary' mystery.
Back to learning. One book that is a useful overview for mystery writers is Writing Murder, an anthology by fifteen authors with Midwestern roots. Anthologies are meant to be a mixed bag, but not all pull the pieces together as well as this one, which was edited by S.M. Harding and published by the Writers' Center of Indiana.
I am piecing together ideas for the sixth book in the Jolie Gentil series, so I am especially conscious of learning from good writers. Fortunately, there are many from whom to choose.
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Check out Elaine's web page or sign up for her newsletter.
Once you write, you learn as much by reading others as studying books. I recently finished China Trade by S.J. Rozan. It is one of the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series, which is set in New York City. Lydia has been hired to trace porcelain that was stolen from a museum near Chinatown. Rozan deftly creates a story of Chinese gangs, art collection, and sibling friction that takes more turns than a mountain road. Rozan's books are often a good study in how to weave a distinct culture into a plot, and there is a lot of humorous dialogue.
Tana French imbeds Irish customs in her Dublin Murder Squad mysteries. French's stories take a slower pace than Rozan's, and there is a lot more internal dialogue. I've read In The Woods and The Likeness, which are the first two in the series. Each has some of the same characters, but the first is from Rob's point of view and the second from Cassie's--each a detective, each very different from the other. If you want a thriller, these books are not for you, but they will especially appeal to someone who wants a more 'literary' mystery.
Back to learning. One book that is a useful overview for mystery writers is Writing Murder, an anthology by fifteen authors with Midwestern roots. Anthologies are meant to be a mixed bag, but not all pull the pieces together as well as this one, which was edited by S.M. Harding and published by the Writers' Center of Indiana.
I am piecing together ideas for the sixth book in the Jolie Gentil series, so I am especially conscious of learning from good writers. Fortunately, there are many from whom to choose.
* * * *
Check out Elaine's web page or sign up for her newsletter.
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