Bill Tapply

This morning I got the disturbing news that a good friend of all New England Mystery writers has passed on. William G (Bill) Tapply was a writer, teacher and friend to all of us in the New England Chapter of MWA. He will be missed.

I met Bill in 2002 at the first New England CrimeBake Writer Conference and over the past seven years have attended a number of events with him. He was a man of few words, both in speech and in writing, and spent most of his life passing on his love of the art. If you wanted to get Bill talking, all you had to do was ask about his two favorite pass times, writing or fishing.

Bill was prolific and published more than 45 books and thousands of magazines. I use his book The Elements of Mystery Fiction: Writing The Modern Whodunit as a primary resource. True to form, he has several books slated for release this fall, among them a new thriller and a new mystery.

Bill is going to be missed in both the writing and fishing worlds. I am certain that somewhere on the other side, Bill and his closest friend, Phil Craig, are casting a line as we speak.

PLOT: The Plan or Main Story (2nd in a series)

The plan or main story. That's how Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines plot. It is the force that drives the story. I cannot count the times that I have started out on a story with one intent in mind only to find that the plot is not strong enough to support a novel; yet is a good short story. One thing I find a lot in many published writers is that they take what would be a great short story and drag it out until it is novel length with multiple sub-plots and page upon page of unnecessary description. (Can anyone think of a character that Stephen King has described in detail? I can only think of one instance in which he did so. However, that's a topic for another time...) I have come to believe that as a direct result of the short story market drying up, many good short story plots have been expanded into plodding novels.

So, what is a plot? It is the things that characters do, think, or say that (and here's the key point) make a difference later. Let's take the simple daily act of taking a shower. Of itself, it usually does not make a great deal of difference in a given day (although co-workers may argue that the lack of one might); however, taking that shower in Robert Bloch's story Psycho has a major effect on all that follows. In fact, the scene is so crucial to the plot that readers (and viewers of the Hitchcock classic) overlook the fact that a great deal of money was stolen by the victim. So what makes one shower an integral part of the plot and the other merely an incident in the story? How the shower is weighed and presented in the story. It boils down to several key elements:

1. What's At Stake? If you want the reader to care about your story, something must be at stake. Something of value must be on the line and in danger of being lost--the protagonist must have something to gain; but equally as important something to lose. A good example is Harry Potter. In each book the protagonists seek new knowledge that will help Harry over come another of Voldemort's evils and what's at stake? Harry's life of course.



2. Making A Scene. How many times have you been warned "Don't make a scene..." My late wife would always forewarn me before we went to any social event (again, a topic for another blog). As a writer you want to make a scene. In fact you want to make a number of them. When creating a scene in fiction always remember that age-old axiom: SHOW; DON'T TELL. A scene is a single connected and sequential action, to include its embedded description and background materials. There is a simple test you should keep in mind when writing a scene: Does it move the story forward? I will never forget the first time I read a scene for a writer's group. I thought it was a powerhouse of a scene and it quickly became one of my darlings (by now I'm certain you can see where I'm going with this). I finished reading and sat back, waiting for the accolades I was sure were to follow. The first comment was, "It's a very good scene." My chest began to swell with pride. The critiquer (an editor by trade) said, "But it doesn't belong in this story--take it out." The loud noise that filled that room was my ego smashing against the floor. So, you might ask (then again you might not), how did you react? Like all great writers, I pouted for a day or so and then took out the scene and read the story. Taking out the scene had no impact on the story and was therefore not needed.



3. ARE YOUR ANTAGONIST AND YOUR PROTAGONIST EVENLY MATCHED? Is the playing field even? If the reader feels that either the hero or the villain has no chance they will not invest their time in your story. That's not to say your protagonist shouldn't win; just don't make it too easy. In fact, make it hard as hell for he/she to overcome the obstacles. The bottom line is this, we all want the hero to win; nevertheless, conflict, struggle, dissatisfaction and aspiration are more interesting that a walk in the park.

Effective Plotting: A way to Avoid The Saggy Middle.

Chances are that at one time or another you've had the problem that I'm dealing with now. Your novel or story started off great guns...then suddenly it came to a screeching halt. I usually know how I want to start and end my stories (I imagine many of you do too) the dilemma is how to get from start to finish and maintain interest in the story. Well, there is a simple answer. Have an effective plot.

I am a very undisciplined writer. If anyone were to ask me to describe my writing style I would say: "Prolonged periods of procrastination intermixed with periods of frenetic writing..." I get a new idea and off I go before I even know if it's going to be a short story or a novel. I currently have 4 novels (and who knows how many short paragraphs describing ideas) in process. At the risk of dating myself, I can be like the 60s cartoon character Ricochet Rabbit. I'll be working on something, get a new idea and off I go on a tangent. Ricochet Rabbit was like that. He would take off in an incredible burst of speed and bounce off things until he reached his destination. So, ol' Ricochet here has all these great novels sitting on a thumb drive; each one stalled at various places.

In this series of posts, I'd like to explore some ways a writer can beef up a plot so that it sustains itself until the end. I will try to emphasize two basic problems: plot creation and plot control. It is not enough to create a good plot; you must control the plot until you reach that terrific climactic ending you have in mind.

New Book on PTSD Available

If there is anything more gratifying than seeing your own name in print, it's seeing someone you've helped get a book published. Such is the case of Dr. Diane England.

She and I met several years ago, shortly after my wife passed away, and I was able to introduce her to Paula Munier, Director of Product Innovation at Adams Media. Diane and Paula discussed Diane's work as a family counselor for the U. S. Air Force in Aviano, Italy. Paula immediately said, "I can use someone with your experience." The outcome of that meeting is THE POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER RELATIONSHIP.

Dr. England has many years experience in dealing with dysfunctional relationships and is a recognized expert in working with narcissistic substance and spouse abusers. She has a PhD in Clinical Social Work from the University of Texas, a Masters Degree in Family Studies from Oregon State University, and a Bachelor Degree in Child Development from the University of Maine (the Alma mater of yours truly) and has practised as a psychotherapist. Her counseling style is empathetic and her writing style makes you feel as if you're sitting in an easy chair having coffee with her.

The book is very readable and is full of case studies that illustrate the issues involved when one or more members of a relationship suffers from PTSD. It is available at most bookstores as well as amazon.com . For more information about Dr. England and her practise visit her web site at PTSDRelationship.com.

Congratulations Dr. Diane!!!

Mysteryman

Tired Of Dealing With Microsoft Word?

Are you like me, in that you've had it up to your keester with Microsoft? Well there is a solution and better yet it's FREE!

Sun Microsystems has developed an office suite every bit as powerful and useful as Microsoft Office and they are giving it away! All you need do is go to Open Office's website and download it. I've been using its word processor for several months now and find it as functional as Word in fact it will open Word documents and save in Word format as well as its own format.

The product is not a new to the market come-on either. It has been around for a while (I believe it was formally known as STAROFFICE) and users can submit suggested changes to SUN. WOW! A software package that you might actually have some input into! So if you are in the market for (or have recently purchased) a new computer, rather than pay Microsoft for Office download a free copy of Open Office and give it a try--I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Not to mention I'm sure you can find a way to use that licensing fee...