Growing as a Writer: My Trek Down Memory Lane

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Author Donnell Ann Bell

By: Donnell Ann Bell

Years ago, when I left my newspaper job and turned to fiction, I was forced to become educated in a short amount of time. I also can assure you during that period, the self-assured nonfiction writer was humbled (Please note:  I’m already pretty humble!).

WHAT I LEARNED:

There is a huge difference between fiction and nonfiction.

In journalism we’re taught not to editorialize, even when we are outraged, the topic turns personal, or we are particularly moved. While in fiction, we’re encouraged to do the opposite. Develop interesting characters, express their points of view, and show emotion on the page. Whether you’re writing science fiction, historical, fantasy, mystery, romance, the list goes on, in fiction, if your reader can’t relate to your character (or to put it bluntly—couldn’t care less), you’ve lost your reader.

To stress my point, as a new fiction writer, I once entered a contest in which New York Times Bestselling Author Suzanne Brockmann was my judge. She scribbled on my entry the following words, and trust me, she got her point across. “You write well BUT HOW DO THEY FEEL?”

There’s this thing called genre

Quite soon after I switched to fiction, I was told I should join a local writing group. To become a member, however, I would need to join the parent organization Romance Writers of America®. Both organizations during my tenure were stellar, and I credit both with my early fiction education. During my time with Pikes Peak Romance Writers, I attended something known as Open Critique (an avenue provided to writers not in a person’s regular critique group to provide fresh insight.) Here, I discovered another anomaly about fiction.

Fiction is broken into genres. To complicate matters, subgenres are often attached to the genre, oftentimes subs attached to the subgenres! On one Sunday afternoon, I submitted my perfectly written chapters, waited for the accolades, only to be met by the confused faces of my peers. “Why is this person skulking about? Who is he, and why should we care?” the OC leader demanded.

“I’m writing a mystery,” I stammered. “I can’t tell you that yet.”

That’s when I learned I was surrounded by romance writers who didn’t read my favorite genre. Further, they obviously couldn’t relate to what I was writing. One by one, in a chorus of agreement, members of the critique group asked me to explain upfront what my character was up to. Hardly conducive to my mystery plot. Imagine in The Cask of Amontillado, if Montressor had to reveal his plans for Fortunato in Chapter One. Edgar Allan Poe’s distinguished career would have been short lived, indeed!

Fortunately, I found a romantic suspense chapter in RWA® and remained in that group for many years.

But then I learned . . . .

Genres and subgenres evolve.

Much like society, authors change their mores and preferences. Romantic Suspense, which I enjoyed writing (and still do), began heating up the pages. Readers obviously adored the added sizzle, and publishers and their marketing departments noticed. Management conveyed those statistics to their editors. Editors spoke to the agents, and naturally my agent listened closely.

She asked me to spice up my unpublished novel, which back then was winning awards. The unpublished title was Walk Away Joe, and as an aspiring author who wanted to sell, I did my best.  Unfortunately, I found I didn’t enjoy writing hot and steamy; I preferred suspense. Don’t get me wrong, if my book called for a sex scene, I was all in. I just didn’t enjoy writing copious amounts of it. Further I don’t do gratuitous anything—whether it be violence or sex.

Around this time, my agent and I parted ways. By then, my second unpublished novel, DEADLY RECALL Deadly Recall | Romantic Suspense Thriller | Author Donnell Ann Bell, finaled in a major contest, and I queried BelleBooks, who is my publisher to this day. Pat Van Wie bought the book and would become my first editor. Still, in my editorial letter she told me to get rid of so much sex. We’re buying you because of your suspense. Not very flattering about the added sex scenes I’d worked hard to include. But truth be told, I was vastly relieved.

Walk Away Joe became THE PAST CAME HUNTING. It still includes a couple of sex scenes, and the chapters are loaded with romance and sexual tension. In my opinion, though, I left the critical scenes that belong in the book.

Years have passed since my debut book was published, but it remains one of my most popular books. And . . .  as it turns out my publisher has put it on sale for .99, but the sale ends tomorrow, November 15! So, if you’re interested, grab yours quick!

These days I belong to Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers. My editor is Debra Dixon, one very smart woman and the touted expert on Goal, Motivation, and Conflict. I write task force suspense and single title romantic suspense and my learning trek continues every day.  https://www.donnellannbell.com

As I close out this blog, I’m curious about my fellow Stiletto Gang authors and others who may be weighing in. Was your journey anywhere close to mine? What early lesson(s) did you take away that led to what you write today? In other words, how have you grown as a writer?

Till next time!

 

NaNoWriMo 2022

Let’s All NaNoWriMo… or Not

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by Bethany “NaNoWriMo” Maines

NaNoWriMo Wha?

I don’t really believe in NaNoWriMo AKA National Novel Writing Month.  Partially just because I object strenuously to the clunky abbreviation.  But also because the goal of writing fifty thousand words in a month reduces novel writing to a very basic component—words. Writing fifty-thousand words is an accomplishment of a sort, but having the right fifty-thousand requires a bit more of a skill.  However, the NaNoWriMo community supplies great camaraderie and inspiration to a multitude of writers, and if an artificial deadline and contest get some people to put fingers to keyboard then I raise my glass in cheers.  And usually that’s it.

Soooo why am I doing this?

This year the fates have conspired to arrange my projects to have a novel that needs to be written this month.  I would really like to put out the next trilogy in my Supernatural paranormal romance world next summer.  The Rejects Pack is a fun, Indiana Jones / The Mummy inspired series featuring more wolves, warlocks, romance, and an ancient Egyptian artifact or two.  Also maybe a mummy that comes back from the dead.  (Shhh.  Don’t tell anyone.)  And with Book 1 out to my beta readers already, you would think I wouldn’t feel the need to rush book 2 and 3.  Butttt…. I keep eyeballing the amount of plot I’m intending to shove into book 3 and I’m just a little bit worried that my trilogy is going to become a tetralogy.

Tetralogy means a four book series. In case you don’t want to have to google it like I did.

And then…

And then there’s the fact the holidays are almost here (YAY!!!) and I have a new novella coming out this month!  I’m busy is what I’m saying.  So I’m trying to hedge my bets and leave myself time for a book 4 by cramming book 2 into November.  And of course it will be fun to watch the NaNoWriMo communities progress.  You can keep up with my progress and learn about Killian and Moira and their hunt for the long lost Library of Alexandria on Facebook and Instagram.

But Speaking of Christmas

If you’ve got a hankering for a Christmas mystery rom-com check out Winter Wonderland!

ORDER (all retailers):  books2read.com/Winter-Wonderland

WINTER WONDERLAND: When Marcus Winters, a photographer with a bah humbug take on the holidays, meets Larissa Frost, a set designer who loves all things Christmas, sparks are destined to fly. But when a famous diamond goes missing from the shoot they’re working on Larissa finds that Marcus may be the only one who can keep her from being framed for a crime she didn’t commit.

 

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Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay).  You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

 

The Legacy of Angela Lansbury

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by Paula Gail Benson

Angela Lansbury from Wikipedia

On October 11, 2022, just five days before what would have been her 97th birthday, Angela Lansbury passed away at her home in Los Angeles. She did not appear at the 75th annual Tony Awards ceremony on June 12 to receive a lifetime achievement recognition; but, according to Wikipedia, over her career, she won 5 Tonys for acting and, in the 1960s, the New York Times referred to her as “the First Lady of Musical Theater.” My first appreciation of her work came from listening to her voice on the cast albums for Anyone Can Whistle, Mame, Gypsy, and Sweeney Todd. I also delighted to hear her interpretation of Madame Armfeldt in the 2009 Broadway revival of A Little Night Music with Catherine Zeta-Jones as Desiree and Ramona Mallory (daughter of Victoria Mallory and Mark Lambert, who played Anne and Henrik in the 1973 production) playing the role her mother had originated.

Some will remember Lansbury’s work from Hollywood’s Golden Age, when with her mother and twin brothers, she came to America to escape the Blitz, and was signed by MGM to play the maid in Gaslight, Elizabeth Taylor’s older sister in National Velvet, and a tavern singer and early love of Dorian Gray in The Picture of Dorian Gray. In the 1960s, she played the mothers of men only a few years her junior, Elvis Pressley in Blue Hawaii and Laurence Harvey in The Manchurian Candidate. She received three Oscar nominations for supporting actress and was given an Honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement.

For American audiences, she may be most recognizable for voicing and singing the role of Mrs. Potts in the animated Beauty and the Beast and for her performance as retired teacher and mystery writer Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote. I actually learned about her passing from a retired friend who regularly watched Murder, She Wrote reruns each day. He sent me a message that the station had interrupted the program with the breaking news.

The remarkable thing about Murder, She Wrote and Lansbury’s portrayal of Jessica Fletcher was that it started about the same time as Sisters in Crime organized and began focusing attention on women mystery writers, who often had been overlooked by reviewers. Jessica Fletcher became a symbol for several causes: (1) that middle-aged and older women could be protagonists; (2) that women could thrive in second careers; and (3) that women wrote excellent mysteries.

Terrie Farley Moran and me

I contacted my friend Terrie Farley Moran, who now co-writes (with Jessica) the Murder, She Wrote novels (a task previously taken on by Donald Bain, his wife Renee Paley-Bain, and Jon Land). So far, there are 56 books in the series. Terrie began with Book 53, which takes place in Columbia, S.C., where Terrie came to participate in the Mystery in the Midlands conference.

Terrie was a wonderful choice to continue the series due to her devotion to and familiarity with the television program. I hope she will continue for many more years and I’m sure fans do, too.

When I contacted her to offer sympathy, Terrie told me that “the torch had been passed” to a new generation to enjoy mysteries from the Fletcher family. Just this month, Scholastic Press published Stephanie Kuehn’s By the Time You Read This I’ll Be Gone, the first of a new Murder, She Wrote series featuring Beatrice Fletcher, who like her great-aunt Jessica, lives in Cabot Cove and is drawn into solving mysteries. Hopefully, this young adult series will introduce a new group of readers to the Jessica Fletcher legend.

Personally, I’m grateful to Angela Lansbury for crafting such a memorable character in Jessica Fletcher, who continues to be an inspiration to mystery writers.