How to Create a Captivating Murder Mystery

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

I’ve always loved mysteries, my favorite mystery author being George Simenon who, in my opinion, is the master of brevity. Simenon wrote a masterful series of seventy-five novels and twenty-eight short stories following Inspector Maigret. He inspired me to try writing my own mystery series, which I began in 1981. Here I share the top three things you must keep in mind if you want to create as captivating a murder mystery as possible.

Quotes on Love & Marriage from Warren Adler

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

On Marriage…

Those of us who marry for love, must understand that there is no logic to love. It strikes from nowhere and goes through stages. For the lucky ones it endures, deepens and morphs into deep commitment and friendship.

The cruelest joke is on those who enter the marriage bond only to discover that the love aspect was no more than a passing illusion, a false expectation, a lie fueled by imagination.

Great American Novelist, Warren Adler, Looks at the Election

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

The true test of talent for a fiction writer is the ability to imagine pain, angst, despair, discouragement, frustration as well as joy, ecstasy, elation and pleasure. This is the power that runs the machine of character creation that lies at the very heart of storytelling.

    

As we fiction practitioners understand, craft can be learned, but without the innate power of the imagination the characters that power stories become merely stick figures in a charade bereft of emotional content, a pallid portrayal of clichés that offer the reader no window into the search for truth that is the bedrock motivation of the serious fiction writer. 

Musings on the Future of Books

Edie here. I'm excited to share the news that best-selling author, Warren Adler has a new series out! Be sure to click on the book trailer at the end of the post and look for the special offer of a free audio download of the first book in the Fiona Fitzgerald series.

Musings on the Future of Books
by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

In my imaginative life as a writer of fiction, I have always strived to come up with some idea that might invest my novels with something so unique, original and insightful that it could plant the seeds of durability and ensure that my books attract readers beyond my lifetime.

Like all inventors, the works of fiction writers are measured by their uniqueness and the benefits to those who consume them. Broadly defined, those benefits can be insight, elucidation, pleasure, a new path to assess motivation, character, destiny, death, luck, love, hate, evil, greed, cruelty, empathy, sacrifice, pain, war, sexuality and, as Hamlet put it, “the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.”

The Writer’s Dilemma. How Much Physical Description is Enough?

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

One of the imponderables of the fiction writing trade is just how much physical description is enough in order to fully flesh out a character’s identity. In years past many novels contained illustrations that purported to show images of the characters as conceived by the author.

A prime example would be the work of Hablot Knight Brown “Phiz” who illustrated the works of Charles Dickens. Such illustrations were not mirror-image portrayals of Dickens’ characters but imaginary images conceived by the illustrator. Apparently Dickens, who approved the work of the artist, thought they were representative enough.

The Writer’s Most Important Tool

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

I have written numerous essays on the three repetitive questions asked to and reported by every author I know. For review they are:

• When do you write, meaning time of day or night?
• How do you write, meaning pen, pencil, typewriter or computer?
• Where do you get your ideas?

The second question in particular about the tool a writer uses to make tangible the inspiration of one’s muse has very consequential importance. A writer is essentially a craftsman who uses the raw material of words to create a product. To do this of course requires a tool.

Will TV/Film Kill the Literary Star?

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

As a longtime practitioner of the art of fiction writing and a committed reader of the works of others, I have been thinking a great deal about the impact of the proliferating film/TV industry on the future of reading.

     

Having lived through the golden age of Hollywood films shown in ubiquitous neighborhood theaters in the United States with outlets throughout the world, I hadn’t given much thought to the moving images’ actual impact on reading up until recently. Although there were voices that persisted in sounding the death knell of the novel, the popularity of novels and short stories never seemed challenged by the movies.

What Goes into Choosing a Book Title?

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

You can’t judge a book by its title.

You’ve heard the saying forever, mostly in reference to book covers. But the real issue concerns the title that cleverly describes the contents that lie within the covers.

  

To be authentic it must have the ring of truth, but the ring should be so piercing and articulate that it makes a serious reader take notice.

The Value of My First Creative Writing Course Experience

I'm so excited to share that Warren Adler has a new book coming out:  

Torture Man

The caller made it clear-$10 million or her daughter's head. The power of unintended consequences sends the privileged life of prominent anti-war activist Sarah Raab crashing down around her. Fear and terror take hold and Sarah turns to former CIA operative Carl Hellmann, a man she has only just met and who stands against everything she has been fighting for.

How could this happen? Why would a terrorist group target her family? Confusion turns to fear and anger as Sarah faces the shocking truth lying beneath the surface of her life. And though Carl's interrogation methods violate everything Sarah believes in, they may be the only way to save her daughter's life.

Faced with horrific choices, Torture Man takes the reader on a torturous weekend where Wall Street kickbacks, deceit, corruption, and jihad collide on the Upper East Side of New York City.

Be sure to visit AMAZON and preorder your copy today!

The Value of My First Creative Writing Course Experience
by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

In 1949 when I was twenty-one years old I took a creative writing course at the New School in Manhattan given by Professor Don M. Wolfe. He had been my freshman English teacher at New York University, where I graduated in 1947, just two months shy of my twentieth birthday.

I lived at home in my parents’ Crown Heights apartment in Brooklyn all through college and took the hour-long ten-cent subway ride to the NYU campus in the Bronx, which proved to be an excellent environment for study. Officially I was declared pre-med, although I had absolutely no interest in becoming a doctor, but I had to declare a goal since I was mostly uncertain what career path to follow.

In that fateful freshman year, largely due to Dr. Wolfe’s inspiration (of which he was surely unaware) I decided to be a writer of fiction, changed my major to English literature, gloried in the study of the extraordinary western canon of authors and have since then pursued a lifetime of obsessive composition of novels, short stories, essays and poems through every imaginable phase of rejection, insult, deprecation, praise, acceptance, and a moment or two of lionization.

Confronting Your Bad Reviews

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

Every serious novelist worth their salt believes in their soul that they have written a brilliant novel or multiple novels in which the reader will find compelling characters engaged in deeply imagined stories that profoundly illustrate the human condition.

What every novelist, traditionally or self-published, yearns for is for others to be moved by their work, to be praised, acclaimed, recognized and celebrated for what they truly believe is their masterful artistic performance.

Of course, they might deny such a characterization and offer the explanation that it is the only the work itself that matters to the true artist. And while such a conviction does have the ring of truth, human vanity and the power of the ego is too deeply embedded in the psyche to be denied.

With that thought in mind, how does a novelist whose work is presented to the scrutiny of allegedly influential reviewers react to those who trash their book?

Don’t Let Your Backlist Titles Evaporate into Thin Air

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

When I decided to set up my own publishing company, Stonehouse Press, I had published 27 novels with major legacy publishers. Many had been translated into numerous foreign languages and nearly half this output were sold or optioned for films. Two feature films had been made, “The War of the Roses” and “Random Hearts,” along with a three-hour trilogy on PBS, titled “The Sunset Gang.”

My plan was to digitize all the novels and set them up in both eBook and Print-on-Demand form. They were older backlist titles under contract long before eBooks and Print-On-Demand were created, but I was able to get the rights back from the original publishers. Some were out of print. My motive, then and now, was to keep my authorial name alive beyond my lifetime and attempt to take control of my writing career, never again to be beholden to agents or publishers to determine the course of my creative life.

THE SECRET, POWERFUL FANTASY
While admittedly attaining contemporary fame and fortune is a most seductive and primary lure, the possibility of longevity can be a powerful fantasy that lodges itself secretly and obsessively in the mind of the serious artist. Since no one can truly predict the future, this field of dreams will always remain an intriguing possibility whatever the tenor of contemporary judgment.

It follows that I was hopeful that my past novels and those that would be written in the future were worthy of longevity, and would remain “shelved” and available in cyberspace forever, never declared “out of print” and be always available for the possibility of discovery by readers.

Transferring my backlist to eBooks and print-on-demand was, thankfully, not economically challenging to me at the time. It has since become much less expensive for the novice self-publisher. Of course, the transfer is only the first step. By self-publishing even one novel you are essentially going into business and this entails investment in marketing alongside time and self-promotion on every avenue available, both on the net and off.

Stonehouse Press has now published 13 additional novels by yours truly. It has proved to be a major investment, staffed to carry out not only promotions to introduce new novels but funding for promoting older novels. With no middlemen to interfere with my creative production, I have found myself growing ever more prolific now that I am essentially working for myself. Self-determination really focuses the mind.

We allocate time and funds to old novels as well as to new novels, although the introduction of new novels requires additional expense. Distribution is handled by Rosetta Books, a pioneering company that has, like Stonehouse, been through all the growing pains of what is essentially a new medium for the distribution and marketing of books.

THE SELF-PUBLISHING BATTLEGROUND

There was a time when traditional publishers who believed in a particular writer might “stake” him or her and publish two or maybe three subsequent offerings, knowing there would be a revenue loss but hopeful that the writer would catch fire commercially at some time in the future. That type of publishing gamble is unlikely to happen in today’s publishing environment.

There are, of course, publishing choices made on the basis of what is considered “literary” or “critic friendly” but within the publishing houses they are largely considered loss leaders, published for supposed prestige. Occasionally there is a breakout surprise.

Today there are literally thousands of schemes being offered to allegedly help those with ambitions to self publish in cyberspace. Unfortunately, there is no magic wand and those who wish to enter the fray are cautioned to be wary of cleverly packaged promises geared to guiding the author/publisher into marketing and sales success. In the end, once the hopeful author is parted with his money, reality sets in and the disappointed victim is left to ponder his or her naiveté.

Self-publishing still carries with it the “vanity” label. There is no screening process by experienced editors and bean counters among the traditional publishers who choose their novels on the basis of what is believed to be their sales potential.

Then there is the stark fact that the cyber pipeline is choked with reading choices both from the legacy publishers and a myriad of self-publishers. Combine this with the media competition from other sources and the new paradigm that favors short content.

A significant handicap of self-publishing is that a self-published novel done in Print-on-Demand mode has no chance of being shelved in Barnes & Noble or independent bookstores and there is really no way of being reviewed in the major media outlets still in existence. Even as they decline, traditional publishers still have the clout to control the agenda of the “prestigious” novel market, that pantheon of prestige which awards the serious novelist with ecstatic reviews, literary awards and recognition – a space practically non-existent for a self-published novel.

AGAINST ALL ODDS, CONTINUE TO KEEP YOUR WORK IN THE GAME
When I started this self-publishing venture I must admit that I had not foreseen the mind-boggling effects of the digital revolution. There are many unintended consequences to deal with that have occurred and are still occurring at an astonishing pace.

Keeping up with new start-ups and applications designed to assist making an authors fictional output viable, reader-friendly and relevant in all categories is a challenge in itself. For the serious novelist it is a gargantuan task. Nevertheless beating the bushes for readers, while important, is fortunately not the sole motive for undertaking such an enterprise.

It is the work itself that gives meaning and dedication to the pursuit. Those practitioners who labor in this creative vineyard know exactly what I mean.

As for the lessons learned by this scribbler over many years, if you have a backlist or are building one from scratch keep it in the game via eBooks or print-on-demand and continue to hope that one day a spark of interest will grow into a conflagration.

TWEETABLES

Keep your backlist titles alive - tips from @WarrenAdler on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Don’t Let Your Backlist Titles Evaporate into Thin Air, Lessons from @WarrenAdler (Click to Tweet)

The Myth of the Suicidal Writer

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

Looking at the long list of writers who have committed suicide, one is tempted to associate the so-called artistic temperament, the agony of creative achievement, with the primary motivation for that final act.

The list is long and includes many well-known literary figures like Earnest Hemingway, Richard Brautigan, Louis Adamic, Romain Gary, Sylvia Plath, Arthur Koestler, Primo Levi, Ross Lockridge Jr., John Kennedy Toole, David Foster Wallace, Virginia Woolf, Jack London Stefan Zweig, Raymond Chandler and Hunter Thompson among others.

Those who tend to associate the internal struggles of the creative life with suicide often concoct reasons based on romantic, legendary assumptions that making art requires a private agony based on a God-given talent that forces its possessor to see and feel more than ordinary mortals.

The myth contends that because the artist is blessed with such extraordinary insight, he or she can see into deeper truths where there is only futility, darkness, disillusion and death. It is all part of the tortured artist stereotype.

I'm not entirely sold. Granted, the gift of talent is mysterious and for lack of better definitions, God-given or gene-driven. Its development and flowering requires grueling work, deep discipline and ferocious dedication.

Writers of fiction, of which I am a practitioner, spend a lot of time creating parallel worlds in which characters interact and pursue experiences that are activated within the mind. These worlds are based on the writer's own experiences, hearsay and an amalgamation of memories, observations and ideas scrambling around in the imagination, all willfully whipped into order in a story format that seeks to find truth out of this muddle.

It is hard to convey the difficulties required to create fiction whether in the form of a novel, play or short story. It requires long hours of deep thinking and is a time-consuming and lonely effort of physical and mental labor to write and rewrite, ponder and argue with one's muse on how best to render a story. It is, indeed, a profound exercise difficult to explain as a process except to like-minded people engaged in such a pursuit.

It's easy to attribute a breakdown or a wish to escape from such a difficult and mysterious process. There have been many false romantic notions created by those who do not share these singular human talents. Some might conclude that one motive for suicide might be that the well has run dry, and the writer has reached the end of some mythical creative journey that has taken them to the edge of an equally mythical cliff, leaving the sole option of jumping into oblivion.

This so called "well run dry" theory has a long history and offers a satisfying explanation. It can't be rejected completely. For writers and all artists, the creative impulse is the oxygen that sustains them, and the possibilities of its perceived loss is consequential and could very well spark end of life thoughts.

Then there is the theory of the failed writer, those who believe in their talent and creations, yet are repeatedly rejected and, out of frustration and failure, take their own life. John Kennedy Toole seems to be an example of that category. His literary recognition came after his suicide by his mother's efforts to get his work published.

Perceived failure has long been a motive for suicide. But doesn't that apply to anyonewho is unable to cope with unfulfilled dreams? Strangely, there is the case of Ross Lockridge, Jr. who authored the well-received novel Raintree County. Favorably compared to Gone With the Wind, it was made into a movie with the two reigning stars of the day, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. Any creative writer would consider this a home run. Not Mr. Lockridge. He shot himself on the eve of the movie's release after the novel's long run on the New York Times bestseller list.

But there are many wonderfully creative and successful writers, Shakespeare may be a pinnacle example, who seem to have decided to pack it in for other reasons. As they say, using the poker analogy, there is a time to hold and a time to fold.

The list of famous writers who chose the path of continuation of their creative efforts or simple retirement is far longer than those writers who snuffed out their lives through suicide, and many have engaged in a large spectrum of occupations and endeavors.
My own view is that the creative life offers both agony and ecstasy. Whether one is a writer, painter, composer or any other occupation where the gift of imaginary invention is required, one should accept their talent as a cause for celebration. The lucky possessor who discovers its power should accept the gift as long as it lasts. Sometimes it lasts a lifetime. Sometimes it flowers and wilts. As the poet Robert Herrick opines.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.

The underlying causes of suicide are complex and numerous. It is a human fault line and is not exclusive to artists.

What is your opinion? Does the creative life of a writer bring with it added stress and susceptibility? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

TWEETABLE

Does the writer's life bring added stress & susceptibility to suicide? @WarrenAdler on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

The Myth of the Suicidal Writer - via @WarrenAdler on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

One Writer's Salute to Librarians

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

From the moment I entered the hushed, sacred precinct of the Brownsville Children's Library in Brownsville, Brooklyn, back in the mid-1930s, I have been a passionate advocate of the public library.

My most profoundly joyous memory is walking through the crowded, noisy, aroma-filled atmosphere of Sutter Avenue, between rows of pushcarts selling anything edible and wearable, on my way to that vine-covered magic castle of books. It was like crossing a moat from the reality of a contemporary world of struggle and strife, to a paradise of storytelling, which opened infinite possibilities and aspirations in a young boy confronting a strange and scary future.

Pen or Computer: Which is Better for a Writer’s Creativity?

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler


For writers of the imagination, what we fear the most is a disruption, a blockage, a sudden dam that changes the course of the river of creativity. Back in the late sixties and early seventies when technological innovation began to creep into the public consciousness, I shunned all the so-called marvels of computers when it came to my writing process. As a novelist, I feared that switching to these new fangled machines might somehow inhibit my ever-reliable muse, but what I feared most was a disruption of my creative process, a drastic change to my internal thinking patterns that would inhibit my imagination. A strange new means of composition at the time, the computer seemed an intrusion or, at best, an unwelcome detour on a well-traveled road to storytelling.

Where is our Literary Culture Headed?

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

I have always regarded adult fiction as an indispensable endeavor that offers insight into the human condition, excites one intellectually and emotionally, and is truly worth the investment of time and concentration.

How a Novel Ends

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

Roderick Thorp was part of a small group of novelists who came together on a monthly basis in the late eighties in Los Angeles to chew the fat. Rod had made a breakthrough success at the age of twenty-seven with the novel The Detective, which became a very successful movie that starred Frank Sinatra. Rod’s novel Nothing Lasts Forever was the source material for the tremendously successful movie Die Hard and its numerous sequels.

The Book Launch and the Aftermath

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler 

The launch of a book, be it the first for an author or their most recent release, has always been the established gateway for traditional publishers to introduce a new work. The launch of a book is like the birth of a baby: crucial and necessary. There is, after all, no future for an unsuccessful birth. For the author, like anything born into a lifecycle, it is the aftermath that really matters, and for those authors seeking career continuity, and even enduring recognition, digital publishing has offered a widening arena of options for keeping a book from disappearing.

SELLING BOOKS TO THE MOVIES

by Warren Adler

“How can I turn my book into a movie? Advice from you would mean a lot.”

If I knew the golden answer to this question I would amass a fortune. In the first place, no one knows how to make a bestseller, nor do I believe that there is a surefire way to engineer a bestseller amazing enough to be made into a movie (at least not that I know of). However, what I am certain of are a few vital steps that can’t be missed on the journey to attempting to have your work made into a movie. 

           

Since writing The War of the Roses, I cannot count the amount of questions I continue to receive from amazing fans around the world that are serious about their writing. The hope is to get their works published, recognized, and made into a movie. I want to share with you some of my thoughts and insights when it comes to this one essential question: How do I get my book made into a movie?

10 Novelist-Tested Ways to Defeat Writers Block from Acclaimed Author Warren Adler

10 Novelist-Tested Ways to Defeat 

Writer’s Block 

by Warren Adler

1. Reread your favorite novels, the ones that once inspired you to be a writer.
One of my favorite books is the Red and the Black by Stendhal, not surprisingly, it makes an appearance in my new novel Treadmill.

2. Rewatch your favorite movies, the ones that made you hope your work would follow suit.
No one can deny that electric feeling of inspiration that sparks up after watching a great movie.

On Rejection and Renewal: A Note to Aspiring Novelists

by Warren Adler @WarrenAdler

Edie here, and today I'm so excited to welcome one of our newest regular contributors to The Write Conversation, Warren Adler.

On Rejection and Renewal: A Note to Aspiring Novelists