Why Noir?

by Roger Smith, South African bestselling author

Why does noir crime fiction resurface during times of uncertainty, when societies seem to have lost their moral compasses? Perhaps when reassuring parables with happy endings don’t ring true, tougher-minded readers reach for books that are, at heart, dystopian and dark, charting the inevitably downward course of doomed losers who are driven to their fate by their own demons.

In noir the protagonists aren’t outsiders called in to restore order, but rather people directly connected to the crime: victims and perpetrators. So noir isn't about private detectives (or their frequent surrogates, reporters) where a hero—or anti-hero—may emerge battered and bruised and even more cynical, but restores some kind of moral balance (and restores the reader’s faith in society). And no way is it police procedural, where the workings of law-enforcement—even if they are flawed—trump over lawlessness.

In noir, if there are cops (or other representatives of the establishment), which are "bent," they're serving their own outlaw agenda. And unlike traditional mysteries, capers and procedures, where the story is all about the crime, noir is all about the characters.

What I have always admired about noir fiction is the unflinching way the best of it deals with tough social issues, so  when I started writing crime novels set in South Africa--one of the most violent and corrupt countries in the world—I found noir to be the most accurate prism through which to view this society in turmoil.

Apartheid is over, but a crime epidemic, poverty and the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS on the planet present new challenges. The ex-commissioner of police was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for corruption. One in three South African women will be raped in their lifetime. Teenage girls are sold into slave marriages in the name of tradition and men believe that raping our virgins—often children—will cure them of AIDS. Noir country, for sure.

American noir, too, has always questioned its society (from James M. Cain to James Ellroy) and it’s unsurprising that this dark brand of fiction is the engine-room of radical new crime writing emerging from the U.S. Younger writers like Frank Bill (Crimes in Southern Indiana) and Keith Rawson (The Chaos We Know), have both recently published anthologies that paint a bleak picture of the heartland of post-9/11 America: stories of unemployment, disintegrating families and rural meth labs.

So, what better time than now—as protests against the established order sweep the globe—for a resurgence of this brand of existential,  deeply pessimistic crime fiction?

(Excerpted from The Mystery Writers.)

Letting Go by Bestselling Author Nancy Pickard

How is it that we can sit down to write knowing only where our scene is set and who is supposed to be in it, and then before we know it characters say things we didn't even know they thought, and they do things we didn't know they could do, and things happen that totally surprise us?

How can that be? There's no logical explanation for it that I know of, or for the sense that we get of being in a trance when that happens. There we are, sitting down at our computer or notebook, and suddenly we look up and our senses come flooding back on us, and we realize we've been writing for two hours without even thinking about it. When writers talk about things like this, other people find it eerie. It is eerie, but it's wonderful to experience.

I think it happens because we have given ourselves over completely to our writing, a phenomenon that can't happen unless we let go.

But let go of what? Of our inhibitions, our fears, our need to control every syllable that goes on the page, and of such mundane things as telephone calls, email, and all the other distractions that take us out of the zone and pull us back into the world.

By practicing a lot small acts of letting go, a writer can build up her muscles for bigger ones. Every time she lets go in her writing, to whatever degree she can do it, the rewards can range from nice to incredible I started practicing it from the very beginning of my writing career, when I did "free writing" every day for ten minutes, setting a timer and writing nonstop, without editing or censoring, about any subject that popped into my mind.

Writer Cecil Murphey tells what happens when he lets go--"I was working on a book, and I must have gone into a zone because       the ringing telephone startled me. I felt as if I had been working in another  dimension. At least an hour had elapsed and it seemed like minutes. When that happens--and it's not an everyday occurrence--the writing feels effortless, and words easily fill the screen."

Letting go comes with risk and sacrifice. It may be "just" the risk of sacrificing your fear or getting more "out there" in what you write or letting yourself write a scene of violence or sex, or sweetness, or whatever it is that scares you to do. There are endless ways of letting go.

In my opinion, writers need to develop some tolerance for free falling, because that's how letting go feels--like Tarzan or Jane letting go of one vine without knowing for sure they can reach the next one. When--if--they do, there's a rush of exhilaration and pride, along with the knowledge that they've got to keep doing it in order to get better at it, so they can fly through the jungle with confidence.

Publishing--it's a jungle out there, right? Writers who can let go and allow themselves to become the high flyers they have the talent to be are more likely to navigate it successfully.

(Excerpted from Mysterious Writers, published by Poisoned Pen Press. Available in ebook and large print editions.)

The Book That Nearly Died

Writing Advice for Fledgling Authors

by Jackie King

The best advice I can give to fledgling writers is never give up! Don’t believe anyone who tries to discourage you, no matter how important that editor or agent may be. Don’t listen to the doubting thoughts inside your own head. You can be a selling writer if you follow these three rules:

     1)    Write every day it’s humanly possible.

    2)    Finish the novel you start.

    3)    Submit what you write.

I forget to follow my own advice sometimes and get into trouble. This happened with my 2^nd Grace Cassidy mystery, THE CORPSE WHO WALKED IN THE DOOR. Because of this lapse, the book almost didn’t make it to publication.

I started off okay. Starting is much easier than finishing. You just sit at your computer and ask yourself: “What if…”

What if the entire, odious family of Wilbur Wimberly shows up for a reunion at the B&B? This bunch of folk were sure to be so hateful that one of them might kill another.

And…

What if to complicate things, Grace’s awful boss had an identical twin? Only instead of being abhorrent, this man turns out to be so charming that Grace is attracted to him?

And…

What if when things were rocking along fairly well, her cat Trouble finds a body in the bathtub?

And so on.

As usual, I started the book with a great deal of enthusiasm. Writing first chapters are usually fun. The panic hits about midway when I begin to wonder when the heck this thing will be finished. Will I be able to connect all of the dots? Do the red herrings work? And worst of all: what made me think that I could write a mystery? Self-doubt attacks every writer. Ignore it.

I set my face to slog through to the end, when life dealt a blow I didn’t expect. Suddenly my energy disappeared. I’d always been a gal who could push herself even when bone-tired. Finish the draft and then go back and polish until I was satisfied that I’d done my best, no matter how tired I became. So I tried to forge through the malaise, but my body just wouldn’t cooperate. I could write for about 20 minutes, then exhaustion seeped into my entire body. It seemed as if my bones had dissolved. I had to crawl into my bed and rest for a good-long while.

Had age finally caught up with me? Did I have some awful disease that the doctors couldn’t pinpoint? I went to my internist and demanded that he find out the problem. “It’s more than my age!” I said.

He began ordering tests. One was a sleep test. This insomniac had to spend the night with wires fastened over most of her body and a space-travel sort of mask strapped to her face. It was horrible, and it was inconclusive. I had to do the whole thing over again. I so wanted to quit. But I didn’t.

With a lot of determination or maybe just plain stubbornness, I learned to sleep in that *#!% mask.

The doctors also implanted a pacemaker for my heart problem . These two procedures gave me back my life.

These issues delayed me, but didn’t stop me from finishing and publishing my 2^nd Grace Cassidy mystery.

THE CORPSE WHO WALKED IN THE DOOR

The Story:

The family reunion from hell is bound to end in murder. At least that’s what Grace Cassidy, inn-sitter, figured when her boss’ screams announced the arrival of his identical twin. This guy was supposed to have drown 7 years earlier, and no one in the family was happy to see him. When he turned up dead in Grace’s bathtub, she is the one who had to find out who killed him.

The Corpse Who Walked in the Door

Available on Amazon

http://tinyurl.com/o5rljqo

www.jacqking.com

http://bnbmysteries.blogspot.com

Women of Mystery Reviews

by J.A. Jance

An editor from New York once told me, and not tongue in cheek: "Original paperback mysteries are where anyone who wants to get published can get published."

Not only was I being published in original paperback, I was giving this woman a ride to a writer's conference. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. I was not amused.

Once I was published, it was what is often disparagingly dubbed "genre fiction." I soon learned an additional ugly truth: getting mysteries reviewed in the main stream media was and is a tough sell, and it's even more so if you happen to be female. When Sisters in Crime was started, one of its main goals was to monitor reviewing media and try to make sure that women mystery writers get a fair shake. 

Time has passed and the situation is somewhat better than when I started writing. Even so, it's still not a done deal. I've been on the New York Times bestseller list numerous times, but I've only been reviewed by them ONCE--and that was back when I was still in original paperback. In other words, I've been writing for the better part of thirty years, but the Times doesn't exactly come calling on a regular basis. 

As for being taken by the Groves of Academe, it used to be that I would say,"'Forget it." But that's  no longer true. The University of Arizona Library has a special collection called, "Women of Mystery." The collection is devoted to the works of contemporary female writers in the U.S. They are collecting books. They are collecting papers. Some day when some scholar wants to devote some time to study the works of female mystery writers of the 20th and early 21st centuries, they'll have a place to go--my alma mater.

If you qualify and think you should be on the list, contact Carla Stouffle at the University of Arizona Library at stofflec@u.library.arizona.edu. Carla is a lifelong mystery fan and champion of women mystery writers.

(Excerpted from The Mystery Writers, Medallion Books)