Monthly Archives: January 2012

Attack of the Blurb

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I wish I had an attack of the blurb. In fact, I need an attack of the blurb. Then, maybe, I could better write one for my novel. It could attack me, and I could be like, “Ahhh…hey, now that’s a blurb!” And as I run screaming, arms flailing, I could at least be assembling my own novel’s blurb in my head, even if its the last coherent thing I think about.

I’m sorry, am I using the term “blurb” as if its an actual technical term that all are familiar with? My bad. By “blurb,” I am referring to the succinct, enthralling summary that describes my novel and captures all of its awesomeness, enough to make people want to buy it, and hopefully even read it. It’ll even come in handy now, as I’m still writing, because when people ask what the book’s about, I find myself at a loss for words. “Umm, its a crime novel.” “Er, its about a female serial killer.” “Eh, its a psychological thriller.” These are my typical responses..and they suck.

So, yesterday I set out to write a blurb. Its still a rough draft on a piece of paper torn from my small notebook full of scribbles. Its marred by arrows and brackets and illegible characters, but I’ll keep at it and eventually add it to my blog’s title page…and maybe even hire a skywriter so everyone who’s ever asked me what my novel was about can finally have their question answered! ; )

The Hunger Pains

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I just started reading ‘The Hunger Games’ Trilogy, by Suzanne Collins. So far, its phenomenal. Can hardly put it down. Which brings me to the pains spoken of in this post’s title. I long for my book to be completed. To be a success. To be turned into a blockbuster movie that comes out in March. Who would play Lyla Kyle? Hmmm, Evangeline Lilly would be nice. Her hair would be perfect. Because she has perfect hair. But I digress….

So, even though ‘The Hunger Games’ is enthralling me to the point of near starvation, I painfully put it down long enough to finish editing Chapter 12 and write this blog. Maybe I’ll hide my Kindle Fire from myself long enough to write the outline for Chapter 13. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself…

Now, where did I leave off? The final moments of Chapter 2, I believe. Well, here is a little gander at Chapter 3:

Enter Officer Jason Brighthouse. He’s boyish and green, new to the force, but eager to solve every case he happens across. He and his partner, Byron Blakely, are called to the scene of a dead body, that of Alex Livanos. The Medical Examiner, LeeAnn DeCicco, is on hand to pronounce, states that there are no outward signs of foul play, but readily admits that a healthy man shouldn’t just fall over and die out of the blue. At most, it should just be a cut and dry suspicious circs case that gets pushed aside, but Brighthouse refuses to view it as such. He even collects a long, dark hair from the victim’s car. Cynical as always, his partner waits in the car.

This “Sux!”

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SUX-inylcholine, that is. My last post (a whole four days ago, what was I thinking? I’m so sorry!) included an excerpt from Chapter 2 where Lyla Kyle kills her date Alex. Her weapon of choice? A cleverly hidden syringe of succinylcholine, a powerful muscle relaxer that is fatal in high doses without a ventilator. Oh, and did I mention that it’s virtually indetectable in the body during an autopsy? Brilliantly naughty! (But please don’t kill anyone and tell the cops you got the idea from my blog. Thanks.) I’ve done quite a bit of research on the chemical, its properties, and effects (Which is where my major in Biology becomes helpful), and I thought it was just perfect.

And you know what’s almost perfect? Chapter 12! I worked on it a whole bunch, got to the “Oh $hit” moment, which I hope will be sufficiently “Oh $hit-invoking” for my readers, but in the meantime, lets take a looksie at the final moments of Chapter 2:

Before Alex expired, Lyla offered an unsettling justification for her actions: He was married. She empathized with his wife and wanted to save her from the revelation of infidelity. Alex, paralyzed and painfully suffocating, couldn’t protest. When he finally died, Lyla shut his eyes with a Kleenex, as to not leave any fingerprints on his eyelids. She wrapped him in a stretch of canvas that she keeps in the storage unit for her paintings and carted him out to her car using a dolly. Before he was fully secured, she used an empty syringe to extract some blood from Alex’s body. There were a few moments of awkward prying from the facility’s security guards, but nothing she couldn’t handle. She drove back to the parking lot where Alex’s car was located, hauled his body to the driver side door, and let him crumple to the ground, dropping his keys next to  his right hand. She lint rolled his body, especially since she had regretted not wearing her hair up, and wiped away at every surface she had touched, including his keys. At three in the morning, there wasn’t a soul around to bear witness to Lyla’s body dump and she promptly drove off.

Like Reading a Schizophrenic’s Notes

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If you recall, my last post alluded to my sleepy attempt at working on Chapter 12. All I wanted to do was get to the funner part. Yes, I know I can’t expect to be a writer using words like ‘funner,’ but I’m too playful to erase it from my casual vocabulary. Suck it (another playful phrase!). Anyway, after that post I tried to work on some handwritten notes instead of assaulting my novel with my laptop. Well, going over those notes today made for interesting reading. First of all, there was more than one entry with the heading Chapter 12. In fact, there were four spread throughout my little notebook. Each were separated by old notes from previous chapters or random areas of research. For example, besides notes about chapters four and as-yet-unwritten chapter fifteen, were entries regarding my research of VICAP and a very odd bulleted list about curare -a paralyzing poison often used by indigenous people on the ends of their darts that has absolutely NOTHING to do with my book. Alrighty then…

On that note, here’s an excerpt from Chapter 2, where Lyla kills her date Alex:

 ”Lyla’s long, slender fingers firmly grasped the eyeglass case…{which} housed several syringes. She quickly grabbed one and gripped it firmly between her index and middle fingers, planting her thumb softly on the plunger. She completed this all without looking, her right hand still concealed within the depths of her purse while Alex waited anxiously behind her…{S}he hit the lights, which flooded the room…Alex’s eyes couldn’t quite handle the adjustment. Lyla moved in. Dropping her purse and lunging toward him in one swift motion she plunged the syringe into the nape of Alex’s neck, just above his hairline. As the succinylcholine burned its way into his body and through his system, Lyla forcefully kicked his legs out from under him and he hit the cold cement floor, landing awkwardly on his back…She watched as the life drained from his body.”

*Disclaimer: Some of the detailed fleshiness has been edited to make for faster blog reading. You’re welcome.

Sleepy Writing = Staggered Writing

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This morning I was awakened by hammering. Followed by men walking on the roof outside our bedroom window. They were there to clean the gutters. At 9 o’clock in the morning. For those of us without 9-5′s, you can imagine my irritation. For those of you with 9-5′s, you probably hate me for even mentioning my irritation. Regardless, I didn’t enjoy as much sleep as I would have liked, and when I finally sat down to write today, my thoughts were very disjointed. Of course, that could also be due to the fact that I’m anxious to get to the end of Chapter 12, where a very surprising “Oh $hit!” moment occurs. Its so much easier to write the exciting stuff, ya know?  I wish I could skip ahead to writing that part, but that would lead to more staggered writing. So, once I realized I would’t be able to write in a linear fashion today, I decided to write this blog post. (And I apologize if its also all over the place)

But, in the interest of “Oh $hit!” moments, here’s what happens next in Chapter 2:

Lyla Kyle had found her next victim in Alex Livanos, whom she met at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. She meets up with him at an Old City nightclub where they briefly talk about themselves. Here, we learn that Lyla is a successful artist, but she had previously attended medical school at UPENN. She dropped out after her first year of residency, due to the passing of her mother. Eventually, they head to Lyla’s studio/self-storage unit where she keeps her artwork…and effortlessly kills her date…

All Dolled Up With Nothing to Blog…

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Today, I spent a good portion of my free time setting up an impromptu photo shoot on my living room floor so I could spice up my blog’s overall appearance. I did my hair, applied some makeup, and even wore my fancy glasses. Gotta look the part of an author, right? Next, I spread some ‘props’ out on the floor. By props, I mean my various notes written on receipts, napkins, and index cards, all of my scribbled in notebooks, my netbook, my Kindle Fire, and enough pens, highlighters, and USB flashdrives to operate a mobile Staples from the trunk of my car. I snapped away until I was pleased with a few shots. That was the easy part…Then I searched, I searched, and I searched for a Theme setting that best suited the pictures I had taken. I went from preview to preview. Finally, I settled on one that I like, I think.

And, since I tinkered and toyed with my blog background all day, I thought I would provide a little background on why I decided to write a novel (because I obviously didn’t get to work on Chapter 12 today). To be brutally honest, I was bored! I was working less than part time, broke, and couldn’t afford cable TV. I read a lot of true crime books -until I ran out of books. So, one day I decided to start writing a novel. I kinda flew by the seat of my pants at first, but then I really got into. I worked on it all the time, hence the notes I have written on receipts and napkins. I had 5 chapters before I knew it and a couple of coworkers at the time read it and couldn’t put it down. That definitely fueled my feverish writing. I quickly wrote five more chapters. My husband, who hates reading, read it and loved it (Yes, I know he’s biased, but he really doesn’t like reading so I have to interpret that to my benefit, right?). And even though that was a few years ago, he was excited that I had returned to it. He even remembered everything that had happened in the ten chapters he had previously read! And that’s what I’m aiming for: a memorable crime novel that no one can dare put down. I’m totally capable of that!

Research or get Besmirched!

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Today was very productive! I proofread Chapter 11. Twice. What can I say, I’m thorough. Speaking of thorough, I also conducted a little light research. My main character, Lyla Kyle has killed in the past and I needed some local police jurisdictions that are near Philadelphia, PA, but wouldn’t exactly communicate with each other. I found three that were sufficient and added the University of Pennsylvania as a fourth (they have their own police force) because it is Lyla’s alma mater… and, well, she had to start somewhere, right? Once I chose my jurisdictions, I needed to know if they used a Medical Examiner or a Coroner (their duties are pretty much the same, its really a to-MAY-to/to-MAH-to type of thing). Once I found that out, I looked up which County office each jurisdiction reported to. Piece of cake! Except for UPENN. Googling “UPENN Coroner” didn’t really work out for me. I tried calling the UPENN Police Department’s General Information line, but strangely they didn’t seem that eager to help me. In fact, they even sounded a little skeptical when I tried to explain that I was an aspiring novelist who just wanted to get her facts straight about which Coroner would handle a dead body found on their campus. Gee, I hope they don’t send Homeland Security to my house…

But, in the end, I simply altered my google search and learned that Philadelphia’s Medical Examiner’s Office is actually located on UPENN’s campus in the Perelman School of Medicine Complex. Score! I already have a character from the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s office! Now I can tie it in with Lyla’s first kill! Oh the excitment!

In other news, I began the bare bones process of writing Chapter 12 and will begin working on that tomorrow. Until then, here is a summary of Chapter 2 (some of which has been moved to chapter 1 as part of the fleshing process), as promised:

Lyla heads to her date with Alex Livanos. As she’s driving, she reminisces of the beautiful summer day she met him. During friendly banter and flirting, she had noticed he was married. When she asks him out and he agrees, she knew she had her next victim.

Perfection is Proofreading!

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I didn’t get to do much work on my soon-to-be-masterpiece today, as I had to work (which is motivation enough to be  a successful novelist). But, my next mission is to proofread chapter 11. My husband wants to read it tomorrow night, but I don’t think it’ll be ready by then. My writing process is as follows: I have a general storyline, a direction that I wish my novel to follow. Then I break down a few chapters at a time, followed by a bare bones outline of each chapter. Then I write each chapter, sans dialogue (because we all know how I feel about dialogue). Next, I complete the dialogue and “flesh out” (see previous post) the details. Finally, I proofread. Proofreading is always fun for me. It reminds me of just how quickly my mind works. I often forget inconsequential words such as the, and, to, she, etc.

So, my other goal this upcoming week, besides proofreading chapter 11, is to work on and complete chapter 12 and write a succinct, enthralling synapsis. You know, the little summary that would be written inside of the jacket of a hard cover book a few years ago? I want it to really grab people, without giving too much away. We’ll see what happens. In the meantime, I’ll be providing short summaries of each chapter. Today, I begin with Chapter 1 (duh):

Lyla Kyle, my main character and antagonist/protagonist (dependent upon the reader), is getting dressed for a date. She’s beautiful and she’s excited. Not for the date, but for the outcome. Chapter 1 is rather short (definitely needs some “fleshing”), but it does lead right into a flashback, aka chapter 2. Stay tuned!

Chapter 11? Check!

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(Still not talking about bankrupcy, by the way)

So, last night I finished writing Chapter 11. I’d have to check, but I feel like it was much longer than the previous chapters. If this turns out to be true, I blame the “Amazon Reviews Effect.” I recently received a Kindle Fire (thanks Hubby!) for Christmas and have been reading novels in my genre (crime/suspense/thrillers) at a fanatical pace. Anyway, I also peruse most of the reader commentary, just to see what writing styles people appreciate…or abhor. And I notice people really like authors to ”flesh out,” aka provide an abundance of details. Now, my book has plenty of details, but I found myself adding even more details. Really getting in there and fleshing out, and I think it was for the bettter…Which means, when the book is finally completed, I’ll have to re-visit the first ten chapters and be sure they are sufficiently fleshy.

Well, people, I believe I promised you the first line of my novel today. Here it is:

“It was 8pm Friday evening.”

Just kidding! I mean, that is the first sentence, but I’ll give you a little more. Here’s an excerpt from the second paragraph:

“Her make-up was flawless…She was ready. She took one final glance in the mirror and grabbed her purse. It was bigger that what most women would have chosen to pair with her delicate ensemble, but then again, she wasn’t most women; and, everything she carried was necessary if she wanted the night to run as planned.”

Keep it mind, it still needs to be “fleshed.” Until tomorrow…

A Break from Chapter 11…

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No, I’m not bankrupt silly! I’ve been working on Chapter 11 of my novel all day and even though I am this close to finishing it, I have to step away. Don’t get me wrong, I love Chapter 11, but I just need some space right now. Too much dialogue. When I write a bunch of dialogue between different characters, I tend to feel a bit schizophrenic after a while. But, you gotta do what you gotta do for character and plot development, right?

Speaking of which, I promised I would post a little about the actual book. To answer most everyone’s question, NO, its not a memoir. I’m really not that interesting (BUT, I am interesting enough to write a blog, so click that little ‘FOLLOW’ button people!). So, my book is a so-far-untitled crime novel that follows a female serial killer. That’s right, a female. We can be cunning and ruthless too, dammit. Oh, and she’s totally hot!

Tomorrow, I’ll post the first line of my book! (And maybe a little more *wink, wink)