The Long, Strange Road from Gonzo

Jeanne Matthews is one of my favorite authors. Her world-view, and subsequent wit, hit close enough to home to make me identify with her characters and are just enough off-center to make me see with with new awareness. I've often wondered how she does it, where that ability to perceive the commonplace with fresh clarity comes from. I asked her to write a piece for me and she graciously has provided a peek into her process. 

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While excavating my garage in an attempt to bring order to the midden I call home, I found a few disintegrating pages of a story I wrote in 1969 during a road trip from my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia to Seattle, Washington.  The yellowed, handwritten pages lay moldering at the bottom of a cardboard box that had obviously provided shelter and nutrition to generations of mice and moths.  I tried to remember how many garages in how many towns that box had been stored over the decades – too many to recall off the top of my head.  In a misty-eyed glow of nostalgia, I sat down on a crate of old Betamax tapes and other relics of the past, and started to read.  The first few lines yanked me back in time and mood.  “We gazed out at the deserted highway that stretched across a barren waste into infinity.  Time dragged, as if our little car were being pushed back by the relentless winds.  When at last we pulled into the one-pump town of Bill, Pat said, ‘God, if I lived here I’d kill myself.’” 

  Pat was my traveling companion and the catalyst behind our odyssey across the country.  Her boyfriend David, a second lieutenant in Uncle Sam’s army, had been stationed at Fort Lewis, from whence he was soon to ship out to Vietnam and he yearned for a summer of love before heading off to war.  Both Pat and I taught school and had the summer free.  I owned the most road-worthy vehicle, a ’68 VW bug.  Pat owned the maps and AAA guidebooks.  We decided to make the drive an adventure, taking in as many sights along the way as possible.  We included on our zigzag itinerary Mark Twain’s old stomping grounds in Hannibal, Missouri; Will Cather’s childhood home in Red Cloud, Nebraska; and Hunter Thompson’s home in Aspen, Colorado. At the time, Hunter was gearing up to run for Pitkin County Sheriff on the Freak Power ticket and he was also inventing a new writing style called Gonzo – exaggerated, wildly subjective, and shamelessly self-conscious.  He’s the guy, by the way, who said that the only people who know where the edge is are the ones who have gone over it.  In both his personal life and his writing, Hunter sought the dangerous edge of things and wasn’t afraid to dive off.  It was his belief that the journey to the grave should not be a safe ride.  He wanted to “skid in broadside, shouting ‘Wow!’” 

As I reread my long-ago account of that summer of ‘69, I detected an undeniable strain of Gonzo.  The landscapes smacked us in the eye with their transcendent beauty, or else pierced us to the heart with their desolate bleakness.  The characters we encountered riveted and revolutionized.  They didn’t just introduce us to some interesting new ideas.  They transformed us forever.  The action whipped along at breakneck pace from the Havasupai Indian Reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the folly of Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley, and the dialogue was dense with exclamations of imminent peril and “kill myself” moments.

   A charitable reviewer might describe the story as “fraught.”  A less charitable one, well . . . a number of less charitable assessments come to mind.  But don’t let’s go there.  I was young.  It was my first go at a novel and no writing is ever wasted.  It’s a learning experience.  Time brings perspective.  It also brings less breathless verbs and histrionic adjectives.  The days of Gonzo recede in the rear view mirror.  Still I can’t help but feel a sort of wistfulness for those girls who drove 3,000 miles across the country looking for the edge, and for the wannabe writer who was so thrilled by the adventure that she skidded into her story broadside, shouting “Wow!” 

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Jeanne Matthews is the author of the Dinah Pelerin Mystery series; Bones of Contention, Bet Your Bones, Bonereapers, and Her Boyfriend's Bones. Read them in that order (if you're one of those people) (otherwise, have at it. You'll enjoy the books regardless of the order). She lives in Renton, Washington with her husband and enjoys traveling and learning about other cultures and their mythology. Along with authors Joyce Yarrow, Lisa Stowe, Jane Isenberg and yours truly, Jeanne is part of Women Who Kill -- a group of intrepid authors who visit libraries, bookstores and other venues (that are brave enough) to entertain and impart writerly wisdom to the curious.

Ideas from the Ooze, and Adjacent Locations

Author Kaye George is a powerhouse. I've known her for almost the entire span of my writing career and am continually amazed at her ability to not only produce a quantity of excellent work, but a broad spectrum as well. Her humorous Imogene Duckworthy mystery series is set in down-and-out Saltlick, Texas and will make you laugh outloud, her Cressa Carraway musical mystery series speaks to one of her great loves -- music. The People of the Wind series is about Neanderthals. The Fat Cat cozy mystery series will be coming out in 2014. 
A Patchwork of Stories is her collection of short stories, but you'll find her in several anthologies and magazines. Not only that, she reviews for "Suspense Magazine," writes for newsletter and blogs, gives workshops on short story writing and promotion. And she has time for her friends and family. When I figure out how she does it, I'm going to bottle it and make a million. 

So, here she is. Take notes -- and be sure to ask some questions!

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Where do ideas come from?

Sometimes I know where my ideas came from and sometimes I don’t.

Well, they all come from inside my head, I know that.

I figure that everything a writer hears, sees, smells, touches, and tastes goes into what I call the primordial ooze in our brains and we’re not entirely responsible for what comes out.

I do know that my Imogene Duckworthy series arose from frustration. I was tired of getting rejection after rejection--hundreds of them--and decided to write something over the top to amuse myself.

Apparently I amused other people, too, because my readers are asked for a 4th book. I hope it gets done sometime this year or next! Since I was going for humor, I couldn’t think of a better place to set it than the one we had just moved from, a tiny town outside Wichita Falls. That city is named for a man-made water fall, since the original one (which was more of a steep rapids) washed away in a storm a long time ago.

Pretty funny to me!

My Neanderthal series, People of the Wind, arose from my life-long fascination with

Neanderthals and the fact that so many discoveries are being made about them recently. I get so excited about all this, I just had to write about it. I even had a DNA test and found that I’m 2.9 percent Neanderthal. And I have the t-shirt to prove it.

That was the hardest project I ever did, though. It involved tons of research (which, I admit, I loved) I had to decide whether they really could speak (that’s up for grabs), how their society was organized (also debated), whether the buried their dead (some think so, other don’t), and most importantly what kind of style could I use to convey that kind of world.

Tough, but fun! Can’t wait to get back to that world, 30,000 years ago, for a sequel.

This brings me to my Cressa Carraway Musical Mystery series. That was the source of much of the frustration mentioned above. I heard, over and over, to write what you know. I’m a musician so, in the first serious project I tackled, I wrote an amateur sleuth who is a musician.

Should be a cinch, right?

After those hundred of rejections, I realized this might not be so easy. Well, in the midst of them I figured that out. With the help of writing groups, writing courses, and an awesome publisher, Barking Rain Press, Eine Kleine Murder came into being. I’m so pleased it was so well received.

Still writing what I know, I used my mom’s cabin and the actual Illinois lake resort for the setting. I grew up swimming there as a child and love the place. Where all those weird characters came from is anybody’s guess, but no one like them lives there--good thing. They’re a bunch of weirdos.

As for my short stories, telling how they came into being would take a long, long time. From anywhere and everywhere. One thing I’ll never do is run out of ideas. I have folders full of them--so many ideas that I’ll never live long enough to write all of them. That good old primordial ooze.

Kaye at the site of some inspiration!

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Visit Kaye at her blog Kaye George, There's links to her books. Here's another link to Kaye's Books -- this one to Amazon, where you'll find a complete list. 

Owls and Other Muses

Lisa Stowe, my guest today, may not be a familiar name to you, but she has a long writing and editing history. I’ve known her since Death By A Dark Horse was named something else, and was in its initial, very rough, form.

At the time, she headed up a writers’ group at our local library. What impressed me was her quiet attention to each budding writer and her ability to discern just what each piece of work needed – then deliver the information in a manner that both challenged and encouraged the author rather than dispirit.

Knowing I’d found the help I needed, I handed over my rough draft of DBADH. When she was done reading it, her suggestion was to start the story a little farther into my manuscript. I swallowed hard, and pondered her advice for three days because, as all writers know, cutting out your darlings is painful. At last, because I trusted her, the first seventy-five pages were severed, and … I knew I’d done the right thing. Since then, she has taught me much and encouraged my growth as a writer, for which I am very grateful.

I think you’ll understand, when you read her contribution to my blog, why I feel she is well qualified to coax a story from a writer. She has a gentle warmth and humor that make her wise words difficult to forget.

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Someone once told me that my guardian spirit was an owl. She then said she’d never seen so many around one person, that they perched along my roof line and in the trees. I thought that was a cool image, although I didn’t know if I should be thrilled or terrified. Another friend researched owls as guardian spirits and told me they were the keepers of stories.

So where do stories come from? Those guardian spirits that hold them safe.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? I enjoy thinking I’m surrounded by owls. Kind of like being in Hogwarts. Dropping stories down as I need them, rather like owl pellets in word form.

The reality is something different though. Rather than coming from an owl, I find myself listening in on conversations. I recently heard a woman talking about remodeling. It was, to be honest, a boring story. I started thinking it would be way more fun if this happened, and then if that started up, and then this person could jump in, and then what if…

And instantly I’ve daydreamed my way into something entertaining, while smiling and nodding to a story about plumbing problems.

Sometimes it’s a question that intrigues me. The Memory Keeper started because my father thought a bordello madam was his biological mother. He died before finding out and I knew the question would haunt me forever if I couldn’t answer it. So I did, in a story. What if she was his mother? What if a young woman looked for her grandfather’s history, looked for that madam, and old buried secrets came out in the open? What would those secrets be, and who would care?

For me, when I ask that question, the answer I receive isn’t a complete book, or even a full story. Usually I see the very last scene. I always know what the last line of the story is, and the writing process is figuring out how to get to that point. The questions get me wandering down a foggy path toward a clear ending.

‘What if…’ is a magical question. I ask it when eavesdropping on life.

And of course, by waiting for an owl to poop an idea down on my head.

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To read more about Lisa and gain writing insight, visit her blog The Story River. If you need an editor, she is Outlaw Creek Editing. To spend some quality time with beautifully written, absorbing mysteries pick up The Memory Keeper and then Sparrow’s Silence at any retailer. They’re in print and e-book format. Here’s some links to make it easy for you:

Amazon: Lisa Stowe, author   The Memory Keeper    Sparrow's Silence 

Barnes & Noble:  All books in print and e-format

Smashwords: All E-Books

All other retailers -- search Lisa Stowe or the book title.

Inspiration

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I'd like to introduce all of you to a friend of mine, Diane Vallere. We've known each other for years, belong to the same organizations, served on committees together, but ... we've never met. Gotta love the internet! I'd know her in an instant if I saw her on the street, and I know enough about her to tell all of you that she is one of the most creative people I've ever met. 

Diane is a prolific author of  short stories (in 3 anthologies), full length novels that include two separate series; The Style and Error Series and the Mad for Mod Series -- so far a total of 7 titles -- and is working on a Fabric Shop Mystery Series for publisher Berkley Prime Crime. 

Phew! 

She also worked for years as a buyer for one of THE most famous luxury goods retailers, traveling the world to runway shows, shoe markets and lingerie fairs. Is she qualified to write what she writes? Darned toot'n! She's got the fashion industry nailed, and her books make you feel like you're part of it (I know this because I've read them all). Diane is also supremely qualified to hold forth on the genesis of ideas for entertaining stories, but I'll bet you've figured that out by now. So, without further ado, here's Diane!

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Diane's newest!

Most people who know me know how much I love Project Runway. And the one thing that resonates with me each week is how the designers are given their inspiration and immediately told to sketch their ideas. Thirty minutes, and then off to Mood Fabrics. The designer who can channel their inspiration and merge it with their brand quickly has a much easier time when it comes to selecting material and assembling a dress.

In a way, I approach my books like a designer. Each series is a collection; the combination of my books make up my brand. And the inspiration can come from anywhere: a line at the bank, a day at the beach, an appointment with a personal shopper, an old movie. The best way for me to keep rejuvenating the pool of ideas in my head is to keep exposing myself to new things.

This is the single most important part of my full-time writing life.While juggling writing with a full time job, I didn’t have the luxury of staring at a blank page. I had to be able to turn on my writing when I had a pocket of time. That was a great skill to develop. But that skill was born out of a different skill: the ability to find ideas in everyday life. In order to turn on the writer during my 1 hour lunch break, I needed to have a cache of ideas ready to be mined.

I keep a composition book for every project that I’m working on, and any time something strikes me that might work somewhere in a book, I jot it down in the notebook. (I am a compulsive composition book buyer for this reason). I buy them in coordinating sets of three to represent three books in a series. If I get an idea for a future book, I can tear out the page and clip it to the cover for the next book in that series.

Example: Because I knew I wanted to use a counterfeiting crime as part of the plot of THAT TOUCH OF INK, I was especially tuned into anything involving money. I watched how people acted at the bank. I paid attention to people who used cash instead of credit. When something struck me, I’d write it in the designated composition book. When I needed to shake loose an idea, I’d flip through the composition book until something felt fresh. That doesn’t mean I only had ideas about counterfeiting crimes during that time. In fact, I was so in tune with those characters that I got the idea for the third book in the series too. Since my writing schedule didn’t allow for me to write it right away, I started a new notebook with those ideas. (I started the third book in November and found a lot of ideas that just needed to be fleshed out!)

Getting ideas is easy—as long as I keep myself exposed to what is going on outside of my computer!

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Want to find out more about Diane's books? Go to her blog DIANE VALLERE (Go on, click on her name), and read excerpts from her books. All her books are available in print and e-book formats. She's got links to Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Nobel, Indiebound -- you name it. You'll find her everywhere. I can guarantee a delightful read!

Something from Nothing

When I got my monthly email about needing an article for a newsletter I contribute to, I’d just sent off my fifth Thea Campbell mystery to the final editor. I was feeling more than a bit tapped-out and was wondering if I would be able to summon any words. I cast about for inspiration and was, pretty much, finding nothing. Then it occurred to me that perhaps inspiration and how we corral it would be a good topic. After all, each of us deal with it – or the lack of it.

What a great idea! I could write about Nothing (notice the capital).

We’ve all been there, right? -- The “I got nothing” for the next book/story. I’ll bet 99% of us have even designed the T-shirt. I’ll also bet we each have a pattern we follow in order to grab inspiration by the throat and tie her to the chair.

I usually start a story with a body. Sometimes I don’t know who it is or how they died, but I know something, and I start to build the plot around that. The organic, story-growing process for me always moves next into why that person has been killed, and then  who would do such a thing.

I know a number or writers who joyfully dive into their story without a single notion of “who done it.” I’ve tried that approach, and it doesn’t work for me. I find I actually enjoy getting to know my villain. Sometimes there are several antagonists and I frankly relish poking around in their warped little minds (a bit of confession here: I freaked myself out researching the villain for this latest mystery) (seriously).

Sometimes it isn’t a character, but an event. Maybe it’s singular, like the I-5 bridge collapse in Mt. Vernon, Washington (we can hope it’s a singular event, although from what I’ve been reading about the state of our state’s bridges, we should worry). Maybe it’s an ongoing social phenomenon like insider trading, or identity theft. Maybe it’s something as old as the ages like sibling rivalry.

Okay, now that I’ve confessed to the Big Void and my usual plan for conquering it, what about you? Do you like to spend quality time with the bad-guys? Are they your inspiration? What kinds of things scream “story material” at you? What stokes the “what if” spark into the kind of fire that makes you write the story?