Tag Archive for: Evelyn David

For a Sweet New Year

/in /by

This weekend was Rosh Hashonah, the start of the Jewish New Year, 5770. While Dick Clark doesn’t host a “Rockin’ Rosh Hashonah” Show on ABC, and there aren’t thousands of people blowing horns, wearing funny hats, and watching the crystal ball descend into Times Square, like December 31, the Jewish New Year is a time of reflection and a celebration of renewal.

Surrounded by family and friends, I spent this holiday once again reminded of all my blessings. I didn’t make a list of New Year’s resolutions, but did make a personal promise to improve where I could, try harder when necessary, and accept graciously when acceptance is the best option.

Traditions are the always in life, those things we count on and by which we define ourselves and our family. So my holiday table was full of the traditional foods like apples and honey, to represent a sweet new year, and round challahs, instead of the Sabbath braided ones, to symbolize the circle of life. It wouldn’t be a holiday in this household without homemade chocolate chip cookies. Perhaps not found in the Bible, but a required food group for my family.

One of the nicest traditions of the holiday is Tashlikh, the ritual of symbolically casting off your sins by tossing pieces of bread into a body of flowing water. The ancient practice is based on the the Biblical passage in Micah, “You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” Our congregation strolls about a mile down to the park that edges Long Island Sound. We sing some traditional prayers and then walk out onto the rocks and toss bread into the waters. The gulls come swooping in, happy to ingest our “sins.” Inevitably we joke that we each need to bring at least a couple of loaves of bread to atone for all our sins. The Rabbi reminds us that it’s symbolic, not a one-for-one ratio of bread to sin.

The beauty of the setting, the warmth of being surrounded by family and friends, the comfort of the traditional melodies, and the sense of renewal, of starting the new year afresh, gives me a wonderful feeling of contentment and rejuvenation.

Best wishes for a Healthy, Happy, Sweet New Year.

Evelyn David
Murder Takes the Cake by Evelyn David
Murder Off the Books by Evelyn David
http://www.evelyndavid.com

Hooya!

/in /by

My writing process? Strangely enough, it’s not based on the written word.

I see and hear the scenes in my head. Then I type them into the computer.

Although I’ve been a voracious reader since grade school, I didn’t try to write fiction until about six or seven years ago. My first short story was written on a computer in my living room while I listened to CNN. I wrote it while drinking Pepsi One and eating Strawberry Twizzlers.

So my writing process?

Want to guess? In order to write I have to be sitting at my computer in my living room with CNN on the tv, a can of Pepsi One next to me, and okay, well – the Twizzlers are optional. I’m not completely nuts!

Seriously, I can’t write fiction using paper and pen. I’ve tried. A sentence or two is all I can squeeze out the old fashioned way.

I’m a fast typist and using a keyboard helps me get my thoughts down before they slither off. I’m composing this blog at my computer. I’ve changed the first line of this paragraph four times – trying to decide if “slither off” is the right phrase. (My co-author, Marian, wouldn’t care for me ending a sentence with the word “off,” but I’ll worry about that later.) As you can see, “slither off” won out over “escaped.”

Okay, so computer, Pepsi One, CNN, and Marian are needed in order for me to write – not necessarily in that order. I mentioned Marian before, right? She gets the credit, uh … blame for getting me into this fiction writing business. Not that I’ve actually met her in person – we are internet friends and writing partners. One day she typed, “We should write a book together.” I typed back, “We should think about it.”

I hesitated because I was afraid of failing. It’s easy to have the dream of writing a book – I’d guess most people have that dream at some point in their life. Having the dream is nice. It’s comfortable. It’s something to think about when your day job is less than fulfilling. But actually doing something about achieving that dream is scary. If you try and fail, then what? That dream is isn’t so golden any more.

But I’d been tempted, so after a few weeks of consideration, we started. We expanded a short story we’d written about a private detective and his Irish wolfhound partner. “Evelyn David” was born.

In order for me to write, I have to be in the “right” frame of mind (pun not intended but there it is), with the right tools handy (maybe the word “right” in this phrase is too much?), in order for me to find that fictional world in my head. And for me it’s all about characters.

I usually put two characters in a room, close my eyes and listen for a conversation to start. Two of my favorite characters from the Sullivan Investigations Mystery series are the twenty-something computer wiz JJ and the seventy-something, scooter riding Edgar. The only thing they have in common is their fondness for Mac Sullivan and a desire to become full-fledged detectives.

“How did you like my great nephew?”

“Is the no hair thing hereditary?”

“He’s a Marine.”

“Hooya!”

“He’s single.”

“Thanks for the warning. Mac is getting me a Taser for my birthday.”

The conversation stops. And I consider how I might use the dialogue. Or not. My writing always starts with dialogue, even if it’s inner dialogue. Then I go back and layer in background details and physical action. After I polish up the scene, I e-mail it to Marian.

I’ve tried to outline. I know how to draft an outline. Under great duress I can create an outline and I can write by it. But the process takes all the fun out of writing for me. The voices are muffled. The typing slows. Soon I’m thinking that mopping the kitchen might be a preferable activity.

If you’ve read Marian’s Monday blog, you’re probably wondering how in world we write anything together. She likes to know where we’re going before we get there. Preferably before we start. And I can’t tell her – at least not until we are about 20 pages into the first draft. Then all at once some real plot starts creeping into the scenes. Something clicks. There are choices to be made. Questions to be answered. Why does JJ dislike Edgar’s great nephew? And what’s his name anyway? [Note: find name that is different from any other characters – and for goodness sakes no more Irish names! Ask Marian.] Is the great nephew really a Marine? Is Edgar’s disappearance related to his relative’s visit? Do we want Edgar to have a major plot line in this book? Where did Carrie and Ray go? This was supposed to be their time to shine and they’re awol!

At that point in the process Marian and I start to figure out what the A and maybe B plot lines will be. We sift through the ideas – decide which ones make the most sense. We decide which characters we’re going to use in this particular book. A very loose outline is developed. We keep writing, alternating scenes, editing as we go. We watch for the C plot line to appear – a minor storyline that develops from an unexpected event or line of dialogue. Once it shows up, we deliberately expand on it and weave it throughout the book.

Sometimes after that initial twenty pages we have to start over – sometimes we just have to rewrite a few scenes. The opening scene always gets rewritten multiple times. But the main thing for me is to start. Not talk about starting, but start.

That’s my writing process.

Rhonda
aka The Southern Half of Evelyn David
http://www.evelyndavid.com/

Look Who’s Talking

/in /by

This week at The Stiletto Gang, we’re exploring the writing process. Four authors, four different approaches to producing mysteries.

I’m Marian, the Northern half of Evelyn David. In the five years that we’ve been collaborating together, Rhonda and I have often had this same conversation.

Me: So then what happens?

Rhonda: I don’t know until I hear the characters talk.

It’s taken me years to realize (and I confess that I’m slow in gaining these insights) that my writing is plot driven; for the Southern half, and she’ll speak for herself on Thursday, it’s character driven. I have to start out with a general idea of the whole storyline; whereas Rhonda insists that the characters will tell her what happens next once she gets them down on paper. Actually, that’s not a bad combination. It’s probably why, despite repeating the exact same conversation at least a dozen times in every book or story, our collaboration works so well (that and the fact that the Southern half has a wicked sense of humor).

I suspect my approach is the result of 20+ years of writing nonfiction books. Publishers insist on seeing a detailed Table of Contents, as well as a sample chapter, before forking over any money. There should be no big surprises when you write a nonfiction book. Of course, you’ll learn new things as you delve deeper into the topic; the emphasis may shift a little from what you proposed. But basically you know the ending before you start.

As with any successful partnership, both halves of Evelyn David have learned to compromise (early and often). Before we start writing, we talk through the A, B, and C plots of the book, know who our villain will be and what is his/her motivation. But it’s a loose outline subject to change – which is exactly what happened in both Murder Off the Books and Murder Takes the Cake. Rhonda was right. As the characters talked to us, we learned that the murderer we thought had done all those dastardly deeds couldn’t have killed a fly. About halfway through each mystery, the characters told us who was the “real” killer. I had to put aside my careful outline and listen to these chatty characters. They knew what had really happened.

As for my daily writing process. It involves a least a couple loads of laundry, maybe an online game of Spider Solitaire, two or three tournaments of online (no money involved) Texas Hold ‘Em – and then yes, procrastination finished, I write a couple of scenes that I’ve plotted out in my head and discussed with the Southern half. But I’ve learned to listen to what the characters are telling me to do. Sometimes they say, chuck the outline, here’s the real skinny…and then I hit the delete button and start over.

Rhonda would be so proud.

Evelyn David

Murder Takes the Cake by Evelyn David
Murder Off the Books by Evelyn David
http://www.evelyndavid.com/

My Book

/in /by

Long before I wrote my first short story or novel, there was “My Book.”

About 15 years ago I started using a day planner regularly. Known to one and all as “My Book,” I keep my calendar, addresses (snail and e-mail), and important facts (size of vacuum cleaner bags, type of printer cartridges, etc) in there.

I like the Day Runner brand – Week-In-View – style with replaceable pages and a 7-ringed, leather zipped cover. It has to have a zipped cover so I can keep all the loose notes and folded bits of paper I add to the front or back of the book. For about a year I carried a copy of my Echelon contract around with me in “My Book.” Not sure I really needed daily access to it, but I did need to reference it a couple of times when I was travelling and my worn, much folded copy came in handy.

As much as I love computers and my Blackberry, one would think I would have made the leap from my pen and paper day planner to an electronic life monitor some time ago. I tried. Really I did. My father loves his Palm and gave me a basic model for Christmas some years back. I entered dates into the Palm but couldn’t give up my day planner. Where would I put all those bits of paper that people hand me? Where would I keep the copies of my hotel reservations, my coupons, meeting notes, and all those business cards that I need immediate access to?

“My Book” goes with me everywhere. If I forget and leave it in the car, I usually have to run out in the middle of the night and get it – there will be something in it that I need in order to finish a project, write a response to an email, or schedule a meeting. I have about two years worth of information in it at any one time. If I’m ever a person of interest in a crime and a detective wants to know what I was doing on any particular date, I’m ready! I can not only tell him where I was but what size air filters I was buying and whether or not that was “trash” day at my house. And yes, I do live in fear of someone stealing “My Book.” My only consolation is that it’s rather large and wouldn’t fit in someone’s pocket or purse.

Speaking of being ready, I need to order my 2010 inserts this month. I already have appointments and events to enter for next year.

How about you? How do you keep track of your life?

Evelyn David

Whose Story Is It Anyway?

/in /by

One of the first rules taught to new authors is to write about what you know. Now clearly, I don’t personally know any murderers (or at least I don’t think I do). But in our books, the lives led by Mac Sullivan and Rachel Brenner are within the realm of my comprehension. I may not have an Irish wolfhound for a pet, but I do have a dog and understand the mutual devotion that develops between animal and owner. My characters, even the villains, have traits, habits, and motivations that I’ve encountered in real life. Maybe not to the degree that would push someone to kill, but my fiction writing is grounded in reality.

But that’s different than writing a book on a real-life event where the people involved are still alive. Laura Lippman, in her critically acclaimed novel, What the Dead Know, encountered that criticism when she based the storyline on a true-life mystery that had occurred 30 years earlier in a nearby town. She answered those critics when she explained, “Still, I hope that readers understand the difference between writing stories based on true incidents, and writing ones that are inspired by asking, “What if . . . .” With that question, real life is left behind and fiction begins.”

I accept that rationale and Lippman certainly made significant changes in her characters to distinguish them from the family in the real-life tragedy.

But this week, I read a New York Times article on Julie Myerson, a British novelist, who has written a memoir about her teenage son’s drug addiction. The boy, thrown out of the family home when he was 17, “denounced his mother as insane…for exploiting and exaggerating” his drug troubles. Myerson, who encountered a firestorm of criticism when the book was published in England, now claims that had she known the criticism she would receive, “I wouldn’t have done it.”

To me, though I haven’t read her book, Myerson violated a couple of sacred rules. First, you don’t make money off your children’s troubles. Even though she is writing from the perspective of the parent, the bottom line is that her child was going through Hell and that’s not a money-making venture. Her son gave an interview to The Daily Mail where he said: “What she has done has taken the very worst years of my life and cleverly blended it into a work of art, and that to me is obscene.”

She argues that it’s important that the public understand the nightmare of teenage drug use. But since it was clear that her son objected – this is not a guide that Myerson should have written. Is there a need for a book to help parents going through a similar experience? Probably. But since it was predicated on events in her son’s life, it was not her decision to make unilaterally.

And there is always the concept, certainly promoted by my own mother, the original Evelyn, that you don’t air your dirty laundry in public. Why would you want to expose your child to public examination and possible ridicule?

Some argue that Myerson was the victim of sexism. That mothers are held to a higher standard. Not by me. I would have the same objections had the father written this tome.

I understand that as an author, sometimes when you are in the midst of a crisis, it’s the only topic you feel you can write about. And perhaps it would have been cathartic for Myerson to write about her anguish. The difference is that this story was appropriate for her personal journal – not for publication. The cost of this book for her family may well be incalculable – regardless of any royalties she may accrue.

Evelyn David
Murder Takes the Cake by Evelyn David
Murder off the Books by Evelyn David
http://www.evelyndavid.com

September 3rd Thoughts

/in /by

I’m writing this on August 31 since I’ll be traveling on September 3, attending a defensive driving class. So these are really the thoughts I had on August 31 about September 3. I think it’s important to think about what you might be thinking about on a future date. (Yes, I’m smiling). Think about it – thinking ahead saves time. And keeps you from dwelling on the past which would be now if I’m thinking about Thursday.

So on September 3 my thoughts would be …

1. Staying in hotels when you’re working isn’t that much fun. Noises from the ice machine kept waking me up last night.

2. I love using my Blackberry as an alarm clock – no worries about wake-up calls or tinkering with the unfamiliar clock radios provided by the hotel. I have sixty-eight emails to individually delete from my smart phone. Wish it was smart enough to have a “delete all” button.

3. The free breakfast was well priced for the value. I’m sure that biscuit came with a long history!

4. The defensive driving class I’m taking today isn’t what I expected. I was hoping for hints about driving on ice. Instead they want me to give up talking on my cell phone while driving. Can you imagine?

5. I need more coffee if I’m going to stay awake all day.

6. The people behind me are talking too loudly. Serve them right if I use their conversation in my next novel.

7. Is it almost over yet? I swear I’ll never talk on my cell phone and drive at the same time. No, really! I’m really going to try not to.

8. The drive from Oklahoma City to Muskogee hasn’t gotten any shorter in the last 25 years. No, I’m not talking on my cell phone during the drive.

9. Weather guys didn’t predict rain for today! I don’t know why I bother to watch their forecasts. Wait, I’m getting a weather alert on my cell phone – not that I’m looking at it.

10. Speaking of “looking,” home always looks great as I’m pulling in the driveway – or at least much better than it did when I left.

11. Except … Sigh… It was trash pick-up day today; which means I have to pick up the trash that blew out of the bins when the trash trucks made their pick up. Have you noticed that like most things, automated trash pick-up is not as good as when live people did the job?

12. Nothing good on television tonight. When do the new fall shows start airing? I need to make a decision about buying a new television soon. Typically, I want a model that I can’t afford.

13. Time to write a best seller – or at least one that will pay for a new television.

Evelyn David

Ace High

/in /by

I have a sordid little confession to make.

I think I’m a closet gambler.

Can you be a gambler if you don’t spend money?

I’ve discovered online, free Texas Hold ‘Em poker games. Playing with somebody else’s fake money is incredibly liberating. I’ve gotten bold, fearless, willing to push the envelope, up the ante, even when I’ve got bupkus in my hand. Because some folks will just plain fold their hands because I’m daring them to take big risk with their cash.

On the other hand, I’ve also lost a couple of fortunes when the computer calls my bluff and discovers that I got nothing.

Maybe there’s some metaphor for my writing — even my life — in all this risk-free gambling.

Maybe the lessons I’m learning are:

* Fake it till you make it. Or as Anna in The King and I reminded us:

Make believe you’re brave
And the trick will take you far.
You may be as brave
As you make believe you are.

* Put on your game face, that may be good enough.

* Most people don’t know more than you do, they’re just better at selling cow manure as perfume.

Of course, the other lesson might be: a fool and his money are soon parted.

But I assume that it’s okay to be a fool and part with my money if there is no actual moola involved.

In the meantime, cut the cards and deal.

Evelyn David

Murder Takes the Cake by Evelyn David
Murder Off the Books by Evelyn David
http://www.evelyndavid.com

Deal or No Deal?

/in /by

Deal or No Deal! I don’t know why I watch that television game show. I surf past it, intent on moving on, but invariably it sucks me in and spits me out with a nasty thump.

I’ve never managed to watch one of the episodes where there was a big winner and I always manage to feel bad for the contestant who “loses” even when they win decent money. When a million is on the table and you only walk away with $20,000, that $20,000 feels like a loss to them and to the audience. And that’s just crazy.

If you’ve been lucky enough to avoid the show and have no idea what I’m talking about – let me share the basics.

Howie Mandel hosts the show. Remember him from St. Elsewhere? Wonderful actor.

Contestants play for a top prize of $1 million dollars on the hour long version of the show, or $500,000 on the half-hour long version.

It’s a game of odds and chance. There are 26 “models” or sometimes “regular” people from the audience who stand on an elevated stage similar to bleachers. Each person is in charge of a numbered briefcase. The briefcase contains a sign with a certain about of money on it. The range is a penny to one million dollars. Once a suitcase is opened, the money amount in it is out of play.

The contestant is given a locked suitcase at the beginning of the game. He or she can choose to keep their case or exchange it for one of the others. Once that decision is made, the game begins.
The contestant must pick a pre-determined number of cases – trying to avoid the ones with the larger amounts of money in them. After each set of cases is opened (or taken out of play), the contestant is offered by a mysterious banker an amount of money to end the game. The amount is based on the number of remaining cases and the amount of money still in play. “The Banker’s” offer is usually about 1/3 of the amount that’s possible at that particular time. Howie Mandel asks, “Deal or No Deal?” The contestant takes the deal or continues playing; hoping the next offer is higher. Of course if in the next round, the contestant opens a case with the top amount in it, then the next offer will drop like a stone. The contestant keeps playing until he accepts a “deal” or there is only his case and one other left. Without a “deal,” the contestant will walk away with the contents of his case – the one given to him at the beginning of the game.

The interesting part of the game is always the contestants. They come from all walks of life, young, old, male, female, bold, timid, smart, not so smart – you name it they’ve all been on the show. You never really know who the risk takers are going to be until about mid-way through the show. And you never know who is going to win big or go home with a penny. The problem I have with the game is that those who deal out early, will probably regret what might have been if they’d held on for one more round. And they don’t have to guess what would have happened. Howie asks the contestant to play it out for fun, asking which would have been their next case, they open it, the banker makes an offer, etc. I’ve seen a few people win millions under the “what-if” scenario. Now those people really feel bad. They paste on fake smiles and say they are happy with the amount they cut a deal for, but it’s easy to see they are going to be kicking themselves or their spouses for months.

But then again, those who refuse a large offer (maybe twice their yearly salary) in the hunt for that million dollar payday can walk away with nothing. And that hurts too.

I think one of the reasons I don’t like this show’s premise is that there is no skill involved. The contestant randomly picks cases. The game really falls flat when the first case that’s opened holds the million dollars. And often increasing the odds doesn’t help anyone. I’ve seen shows where as a special event, they have five cases with a million dollars. I never saw anyone walk away with a million.

Last night a school teacher was offered $41,000. There were only a few cases left in play, one of them had $500,000 in it. The teacher turned the offer down, instead going for more money. The next case he opened had the $500,000 in it – meaning that amount was out of play. The next offer from the banker? $9,000.

The teacher took it. I felt terrible for him. I’m sure when he gets home and thinks about it, that $41,000 is going to look much bigger than it did while staring at a possible half million. He turned down a year’s salary. I don’t think it was greed. I think he wanted to act boldly, to take a risk. Our society admire risk takers. But …

Sometimes taking a risk, is just… risky. It’s not admirable or bold or ambitious. Maybe it’s just me, but I scream at the television, “Don’t listen to the audience! Think what you could do with $41,000!. That amount could pay down your mortgage. Or buy you a new car. Or send you on a trip round the world. Take the deal!”

They never listen to me.

And the $9,000 the teacher did win? He probably feels bad about it.

$9,000! Wouldn’t you be thrilled to win that?

Or would you only remember what you lost?

Evelyn David
http://www.evelyndavid.com/

Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine

/in /by

For the last six weeks, I’ve been on an unexpected medical journey, but with the help of phenomenal doctors, a fantastic family including my saintly husband, John, and the support of incredible friends, especially the remarkable women of the Stiletto Gang, I am on the road to recovery (poo, poo).

I’d like to include in that pantheon of appreciation, a toast to Anne George. I fell in love with her Southern Sisters mysteries back in the 1990s. They feature Mary Alice Tate Sullivan Nachman Crane, “Aunt Sister,” six feet tall and admitting to 250 pounds, the wealthy three-time widowed older sister (although she decided to start counting her birthdays backward when she hit 66), and Patricia Anne Hollowell, “Mouse,” retired school teacher, five-feet one, 105 pounds, and still perfectly happy with her first husband, her real age of 61, and her naturally gray hair. If their parents hadn’t sworn that both girls had been born at home, Patricia Anne was convinced that one of them had been switched at birth.

There are eight books in the series, which ended prematurely with the author’s death in 2001. The warmth, humor (sometimes gentle, sometimes laugh-out-loud), and clever plots have been a soothing balm in choppy waters. Ms. George, who was also a Pulitzer-prize nominated poet, creates complex main characters that drive the action, but also a finely-honed supporting cast that has the reader anxious to learn more about them as well.

These wonderful stories allowed me to escape to a sweet, soft, albeit deadly community, with cornsticks and egg custard pie, and expressions like “common like pig tracks,” which, I’ve decided,is the perfect description of some of what I see on reality TV.

In an interview with mysterynet.com, Ms. George was asked:
Do you see humor as a means of coping with these sorts of problems?

She answered: I have been blessed with a family who uses humor as a means of dealing with problems. It’s a “might as well laugh” attitude and it works.

She’s right. Humor, even in the darkest of moments, can sometimes be the perfect medicine.

I also loved her description of her mysteries. “Let’s face it, these are definitely not hardcore mysteries. My son explains them as “nobody gets autopsied.”

And that’s okay too. All the CSI-gadgets in the world are no substitute for well-drawn characters, smart plotting, snappy dialogue, and a healthy sprinkle of humor.

If you’re looking for a delightful series, I recommend Anne George. She does the body good.

Evelyn David
Murder Takes the Cake by Evelyn David
Murder Off the Books by Evelyn David
http://www.evelyndavid.com

Reason on Life-Support

/in /by

I’ve been listening to the health care bill “shake and shouts” this month and I’ve come away concerned about the status of “education” in the United States. Yes, I said education. Apparently the ability to think, to reason, and then to debate differences of opinion in a civil manner has been lost.

I would blame it on the past eight years of teaching to the “test,” but the individuals I see parroting conflicting statements in a loud and uncompromising manner at these town hall meetings can in no way be considered a product of the last ten years of the public education system. They are too old. Some of them are our elected representatives. Some are special interest group shills. Many are retired seniors who have been frightened into spouting gibberish.

No matter what your political leanings, reason shouldn’t be the first victim when times get tough. I think we can all agree that times are tough.

Death Panels? Nazis? How did end of life counseling done at the patient’s request become akin to forced euthanasia? Come on people! Think!

I don’t know if the “public option” insurance is a good thing or a bad thing. At this rate I never will. I get very suspicious when people don’t want me to hear what others have to say. I begin wonder if the people shouting down the others have a financial interest in things remaining the same.

I know that we already have government run health care – it’s called Medicare and Medicaid.

I know that we already pay for those who don’t have health insurance – it’s called Emergency Room treatment (much more expensive than any other kind of medical treatment) paid for with our tax dollars.

I know many people, through no fault of their own, can’t afford any health care insurance or are severely under-insured.

I know many businesses can’t afford to offer health care insurance to their employees. Even state governments, the provider of my health insurance benefits, find each year that they can afford less and less coverage for the funds available. When the costs of health benefits increases between 20% & 30% in a twelve-month period, we all have a problem. It’s easy to say, “Leave me alone, I’m happy with my insurance.” But if things continue as they have, you won’t be happy for much longer.

I know we have a problem that needs fixing. Regardless of your politics, you know we have one too. We just disagree on how to solve the problem.

A lot of people are involved in the “noise,” but I don’t know if there are any smart, well-informed people being heard.

I haven’t “heard” any. How about you?

Evelyn David
http://www.evelyndavid.com