My Cinematic Life

James O. Born

I love to write, but I like to make movies too.  Just like Spielberg.  At least like the ones he made as a kid on a Super 8 camera.  Yes, my little videos are silly, but that's the point.  At least now I have better production values.

Check out the two short videos I made about training with a K-9 and then see some of my earlier work with such great actors as Micheal Connelly.

The last one is the first I ever made.  Literature and Lead said it all.  With bullets!

I'm in New York this week but will start up the writing blogs next week.

Have a tremendous Thursday.

Scent of Murder Teaser

Scent of Murder full vieo

Books and Bows

Literature and Lead

Scent of Murder

James O. Born

Next week my newest novel, Scent of Murder will be released by Forge/MacMillan.  It's been a long time since I really promoted a release.  I was spoiled by working with Lou Dobbs on my last book because he did all the promotional work from his TV show.  It was great.

I like talking to people and doing book signings, but sometimes all of the other stuff can become overwhelming.  (Ask Jackie and her current tour for the fabulous A Dangerous Place: A Maisie Dobbs Novel )
In the end it's all worthwhile.  I'm proud of the book and happy it's coming out.  That's really the bottom line.  And I'm lucky to have this blog and all my friends who write for it and read it for support.

If you get a chance to share any of these photos or the cover, I would appreciate it.  That's how the word gets out.  I've heard several authors say you win over readers one at a time.  In order for readers to become aware of you they need to see something about your books that interests them.  Maybe it's the subject matter, maybe the author bio or maybe something odd like the research you put into it.

I said before on this blog that I've talked to a lot of dog handlers to understand exactly what goes into a police K-9 unit.  I've gathered enough information for a dozen books if everything works out right.  I've also changed the tone from my earlier novels to focus more on the dogs themselves rather than just the police work.  I'm hoping the book appeals to both dog people and people interested in the intricacies of law enforcement investigations.

The next month promises to be filled with a lot of interesting events.  Aside from the book signings I will be at the University of Central Florida book Festival on April 17 and 18 And the South Carolina book Festival in mid-May.  Both of those stops include teaching a work shop on how to write a novel.  And I will referred to my blogs over the past year quite a bit during the class.

The Palm Beach Historical Society is hosting me on April 15 in the historical old courthouse where my father sat as a circuit judge for many years.  I'm speaking at the popular Writers Live program hosted by the Palm Beach County library system on April 22 at the West Boynton branch.

I will be traveling to New York and several other stops around the country, but the bulk of my energy will be in my home state of Florida.

Just using the blog as a chance to talk about my new novel and show off a few photographs from my research.  My thanks to the Jupiter Police Department for informing me with K-9 "Jimi" and my friends Tony Martindale and Frank Finelli for filming it.

Your First Agent and Sale

James O. Born

Let's spend a couple of posts talking about what it felt like to land your first agent or book sale. I sent out a request to a few friends, and of course the beautiful Patty Smiley trumped us all by not only having a great story, but a photograph from the exact moment she found out she had sold her first book. Since her detail and visual aid would make the rest of us look bad, I'm saving her story for later.

Like most unpublished authors, I waded through a pile of literary agent rejections before I finally landed one. My very first agent, not the one who sold Walking Money, but one who is interested in an earlier novel, was Clyde Taylor at the Curtis Brown literary agency. He was a great guy who I only met in person once. But it was still quite a thrill to have someone interested after so many had shot me down. He was very patient and worked with me for almost a year to get the novel where he wanted it.

I was with some friends in New York City attending one of the many New York Yankees World Series games in the 90s. I hadn't told anyone that I was writing and had no excuse for seeing a literary agent while we were all in Manhattan. After a typical late-night of heavy drinking and a restless night of sleep, I got up hours before any of my friends and traveled to the Curtis Brown offices at the obscenely early hour of nine o'clock. Clyde explained to me the process and the risk of failure over the course of the next hour. It was not deflating in the least. In my mind, at least I had finally made it to a literary agent's office.

Unfortunately, Clyde passed away in 2001.  He was a great guy and a good way to get introduced to the publishing business.

A few years after that an agent called me and was interested in representing Walking Money. From the time of his call to the news that he had sold the novel as part of a two book deal to Neil Nyren at Putnam only about a week had passed. The agent called me at my office, which at the time was in Fort Lauderdale. I can still remember the tremor of excitement in his voice and the wave of relief and joy that I had not wasted the past decade. I couldn't believe it. It took several days to really sink in.

Being ever practical and cautious, I waited to make sure it was a done deal before I told anyone. Even my wife. Her reaction was even better than mine. In a blink of an eye I felt validated and satisfied I had achieved one of my most elusive goals.

Now, twelve years after I got the initial news that my first book had been sold, I will confess that I still get excited with every new contract and opportunity. I'm not saying it's that way for every writer. Some people approach it as purely a business and don't appreciate the opportunity to express themselves creatively. I recognize how much luck played into my circumstances and how it continues to keep me employed. Yes, I work hard, study writing, and try to do right by my publishers, but I'd be an idiot to ignore the role chance played in my opportunity to make a living as a novelist.

This is just my little story to show you the value of not giving up. If I have one regret it's that Clyde Taylor didn't live long enough to see Walking Money placed at Putnam, a company he had worked at early in his career.

Keep writing and understand how lucky you are to have something that interests you so much. I write something every day. Not because I have to, but because I want to.

Research Help: The Canine Factor

James O. Born

Writing a novel is not always the solitary, lonely existence we make it out to be.  After the manuscript is finished it takes a dedicated team to make the book a success.  I'm not talking about just the publisher either.  For my next novel, Scent of Murder, I had to do some serious research about police dog handlers and their canine partners.  As with all my novels, realism was paramount.  What I learned was not only are police K-9s the closest thing to superheroes we have in real life, but the people who really care about dogs are some of the most pleasant and helpful people in the world.

I read article after article about police K-9s and found several organizations that not only helped that research but are vitally important to the K-9 world.  Let's take a few minutes to get to know three of these agencies a little better.

Through Facebook I discovered the German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County .  Their president, Maria Dales, leads a cadre of dedicated volunteers who have a very simple goal: help German Shepherds in distress.  There is no mixed message or hidden plan to make a profit.

In their website's own words:

German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County (GSROC) is a non-profit 501(c)3 charity organization dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating and re-homing purebred German Shepherd Dogs that have no where else to turn.

GSROC is a volunteer-driven organization. We are funded entirely by private donations and receive no government support. Dogs for adoption are housed in foster home situations and in private boarding facilities. Currently, we do not own our own kennel facility, but our dream is to have one some day so that we can eliminate the tremendous expense associated with boarding the dogs while they wait for their forever families.

The GSROC also lays claim to the cutest photo on the internet posted to the right.

I also ran across K9s4cops.org, a Houston-based organization that helps with the tremendous cost of police K-9s.  The Chief Operating Officer, Melanie Boyd, has been very helpful to me.  The organization recognizes that not all towns are as big as Los Angeles or Miami, but they still have a need for the best possible law enforcement tools available.  K9s4cops.org recognized this issue and has stepped forward to help.  Again they have a direct goal and no hidden agenda.

Their website says:

Our foundation was formed to address the need for funding the purchase of K9s for Law Enforcement Agencies.

K9s cost between 10,000-15,000 dollars and most agencies are not budgeted for that kind of expenditure. However most departments can budget for the required care, training and transportation of a K9.

Most recently I spoke with Russ Hess, the director of the United States Police Canine Association.  This is a professional organization who ultimately provide the standard by which all police K-9s should be trained and provides information on how to reach those standards.  It is a lofty and difficult goal that the organization handles well.

Their website says:

The United States Police Canine Association became the largest and oldest active organization of its kind-"Ever Striving for the Betterment of all Police K-9" - in August, 1971 when two existing Associations, the Police K-9 Association and the United States K-9 Association, merged.

• To unite in a common cause all law enforcement agencies utilizing the services of the canine as an aid in the prevention and detection of crime.
• To promote friendship and brotherhood between all those interested in the training and utilization of the canine in police work.
• To endeavor to establish a minimum working standard, and improve the abilities of the canine in police work, thereby rendering better service to the community.
• To establish and maintain a legal assistance fund for acts resulting in civil suits from the use of police trained canines.
• To coordinate the exchange of any advanced techniques of training of the utilization of police dogs.
• To improve the image of the working police dog to the populace in general through improved public service in the prevention and detection of crime.
• To aid and assist those law enforcement agencies making application for information concerning the establishment of canine sections within their respective departments.

The United States Police Canine Association has a foundation which anyone can contribute to dedicated to helping police K-9s. 

The official description is:

To expand and support the goals of The United States Police Canine Association, Inc and to serve public safety by securing and providing necessary financial and programmatic resources needed to conduct educational and training programs and perform research and;  To assist, where additive to existing programs, and otherwise support public safety agencies to effectively and efficiently carry out their missions.

 

On a side note, one of the board members of USPCA is Marilyn Walton.  She has already written two non fiction books about police K-9s called Badge on My Collar and and the sequel, Badge on my Collar II.  Check them out.  

  

The focus of my posts for the past year have been on writing.  It's easy to lose sight of the world outside publishing.  It is my personal belief that these three organizations epitomize the ideal of helping others in getting involved.  I'm proud to be associated with them in any way an intend to promote them during my book tour.  If you get a chance, check out the websites and see if you don't agree with me.

Feel free to leave a comment or contact me through my e-mail at contactjimborn@Comcast.net

Have the best possible Thursday imaginable.

Is Your Novel Dated?

James O. Born

I was going to title this "Dating your story," but I was worried Paul Levine would take it in a different context.  I've had several incidences of this in my own writing career and recently was reminded of how you view something when you're younger and then change your opinion when you're older.

While writing my very first novel, which is still unpublished, I made reference to a TV filming site and pointed out that they were filming the TV show BJ Striker, with Burt Reynolds.  The only person I really showed it to, my friend, Greg Sutter, pointed out that I didn't want to date the story by pointing out a TV show that probably wouldn't last very long.  He was right on the point with the advice, including how long the series lasted.

( I never thought I'd ever use a BJ Stryker image in a post.  Twenty five years ago I liked the show set in my home town.  Now I'm one of only eight people who remember it.)

I tend to learn from my mistakes and generally avoid them a second time.  Now anytime I mention something like that, it is always a vague, "TV show."  I would like my novels to be like a Donald Westlake novel that is funny decades later and not that easy to place in time.  I never use timestamps with the dates on any of my chapters, like some thriller writers.  I avoid specific dates in the narrative, although sometimes it's unavoidable.  And in the case of my first series featuring state cop Bill Tasker, I was always careful to have one case flow into the next case without a specific period of time being mentioned.

 

The king of this sort of vague, rift in time is Ed McBain and his eighty-seventh precinct novels.  They start just after the Korean War and somehow the detectives are still reasonably young well into the Reagan administration.  But he makes it all work.

You can also see this in TV shows and movies.  Not just in the costumes or the cars being driven, but in the details mentioned by the characters.  If you wrote a book in 1989 and mentioned President Bush and instead of just "the president," it would not only date novel, it might confuse some of the younger readers who didn't realize there was a period of time when George W. Bush's father ran the country.

Just keep it in mind when your character is driving a "brand-new 2003 Cadillac," instead of a, "brand-new Cadillac."  You have to be optimistic and look ahead and truly believe someone might be reading your novel ten or fifteen years in the future.  I recently experienced this when I got the rights back to my early novels and they have found a new audience on Kindle as e-books.  I had to take a run through some of the earlier ones, which were written more than a dozen years ago.  References to Miami needed to be updated.

One way I'm trying to avoid this on the project I'm currently working on is to set a quick prologue in which I mention the date is 1988.  This would explain why the federal agents in my story don't have easy access to cell phones and have almost no idea what GPS is.

In TV shows some times it's the writing and sometimes it's the producer or director which keep a show from being dated.  I've noticed a common thread among shows like Justified, Elementary and the cancelled show, A Gifted Man.  The producer in all of them was Carl Beverly.  Maybe his thing is keeping material fresh.  Just a thought.

I experienced the reverse of this issue when I wrote my two science fiction novels under the pen name of James O'Neal.  In both of those I simply said, "About twenty years from now," on the very first page.  That way it won't matter when you pick up the book, you can always picture a bleak future which you will probably take part in a mere two decades away.

There is a second aspect to dating your novel which I will bring up in our next blog.  Until then, think about the details that could bog your story down and link it to a year that will seem ridiculous in a decade.

Far out, man.

How to Communicate With Your Editor

James O. Born

Communication is the key to virtually any occupation.  Advertisers must communicate why their product is so important to consumers.  Police officers must communicate with each other to stop serial criminals from committing crimes over and over.  Doctors must communicate to patients all sorts of information from the most complex scientific theories to simple practices they must employ to stay healthy.  And a writer must not only communicate with the reader effectively, but also communicate with an editor.

The writer-editor relationship is unique.  Everyone has a different view of it.  It can be a partnership, it can be a chore, it can be a joy, but ultimately it needs to be a relationship which makes a novel better.  There are a number of other elements the relationship can affect.  The writer has to clearly express his or her expectations for promotion and other elements not related to actually writing a novel.  For the purposes of this blog, let's focus on the relationship that affects the novel itself.

I have dealt with a number of editors in my career.  All of them have their own unique view of how things should be done and how novels should sound.  I always thought of it as writing a novel specifically for that editor.  It's sort of like doing a public speech but focusing on one person in the audience.  But in this case there is a chance to do something special.  Don't waste this opportunity to hear someone else's opinion of your writing.  Listen to what your editor has to say.  Don't be ready with a quick excuse or response.  If the editor thinks the book is missing a character to tie it all together, I would recommend that you consider creating a character to tie it all together.  It's a lesson I learned in other areas that I can apply to writing.

I can use two examples from two different editors.  And please forgive me if I've mentioned any of these stories before.  I find that they are the best examples I can present and I use them in the classes that I teach.

The first relates to my third novel, Escape Clause.  I had finished it and felt pretty good that the story of a Florida cop sent to a prison to investigate a mysterious death had all the elements I wanted and the tone I was trying to set.  I was not overly confident, as any writer who is overly confident about their writing is probably a shitty writer.  But I felt pretty good about the book.  That is, until my editor at Putnam, Neil Nyren, talked to me about what was missing.  There is no way I would've ever seen it on my own.  He suggested that I identified the bad guy at the very beginning of the book, instead of about eighty pages in.  Even though I thought it was a great surprise to realize exactly who the bad guy was, Neil pointed out that the reader needed someone to root against right from the start.  I still recall when I was done, the letter he wrote me that said I had really, “juiced up" the novel.

I can state unequivocally that Neil's way was far superior to my original idea.  Dammit!  The book went on to earn very good reviews and the inaugural Florida book award for best novel.  Thank you very much, Neil.

A more recent example is in my upcoming novel, Scent of Murder.  Once again I handed in a book I was happy with.  This time to my editor at Forge books, Bob Gleason.  Bob liked the overall story, but felt it needed one additional viewpoint.  He thought that several scenes set in the viewpoint of one of the canine heroes of the book would make it more interesting.  I resisted at first.  Then set aside my ego and considered Bob's tremendous experience in publishing.  He didn't just leave me out in the cold, he suggested I read Call of the Wild by Jack London as well as several articles.  Bob is big on sending me articles on different subjects.  To make a relatively long story not much shorter, he was right.  The final version of Scent of Murder, is better than the version I wrote.  Again, dammit!

This was all possible by communication.  And by communication, I mean it is probably more important for the author to listen to the editor than the other way around.  In effect, the editor is your boss.  If you keep that in mind, generally things work out all right.

On a different subject, but relevant for today and tomorrow only, the e-book version of my second novel, Shock Wave, is available for free on Amazon if you click here.  I'm not selling anything, just giving it away.  That sounds worse when I say it out loud.

Have a great Thursday.

Scent of Murder

James O. Born

I do occasionally write something other than this blog.  Since I didn't have a particular topic for "How to Write a Novel," I thought I'd give you a glimpse of my upcoming novel, Scent of Murder, which will be released by Forge Books on April 7.

First, I would like to extend my thanks to the great people at Tor/Forge for their tremendous input.  Starting with my editor, Bob Gleason, who made me take a look at the narrative and consider things I had never thought of.  Add to this input from Associate Publisher Linda Quinton, who has a deep understanding and love of dogs and a broad knowledge of marketing and I truly feel like this  a much better novel.  That is what being part of a team really means.  The fantastic cover speaks for itself, conveying an excellent image of the opening scenes and overall tone of the book.

In a way, this is another lesson in how to write a novel.  A book from a publisher is in no way a solitary effort.  I may have started working on the novel by myself in my office, but ultimately it was in my best interest to open my mind to other opinions.  It's easy to say I work in real life as a law enforcement officer and have seen first hand what K-9s can do.  The real issue is how to convey that in a compelling and interesting way.  Both Bob and Linda helped me in ways I never would have imagined.

Finding a way to integrate the K-9 heroes of the book into the actual investigation in the novel was a challenge from the beginning.  Bob convinced me to create a point of view for one of the dogs.  He told me to read White Fang by Jack London.  That is the kind of instruction that helps you as a writer.  I read the book and studied the technique.  I didn't copy it or try to imitate Jack London.  And in the end it made the novel more interesting.

My new business/book cards

Linda read the manuscript and had suggestions about making some of the police work more subtle so that it might appeal to an audience in addition to the police procedural fans.  She had me bring out elements of the dogs and gave me suggestions that never would have occurred to me.  The fact that an associate publisher was interested in my manuscript was fantastic in itself.

Now I'm working with my publicist, Emily Mullen, who did a great job on Border War, to work out dates and appearances for bookstores and create a marketing plan which will give the book the best possible chance to succeed.  That is no small task in this era of shrinking sales and a crowded market.

Elayne Becker has been right on top of everything since the moment she took on the new job.  Not bad for a girl from Georgia stuck in New York.

Normally this could be a stressful time for a writer, but the fact that everyone on this team knows what they are doing and the book is something new for me, makes me not only confident, but excited about the novel's release.

The lesson here is, "no one can be a success in publishing on their own."

Obviously I will have more to share about the novel as the release draws near.  I have some new friends in the dog community as well as the law enforcement arena who have shown a lot of interest in the novel.  It is a realistic view of what police K-9s are involved in every day, as well as the relationship they have with their handlers.  It's hard to tell who's actually in charge sometimes.  Take a look at the Amazon description and feel free to e-mail me any questions at contactjimborn@comcast.net or in the comments.  If you haven't already, join my Facebook author page.


Here are a few dog photos to give you an idea of the world of police dogs.

Me and K-9 Hutch

My choice for a cover

F***ing Critics

James O. Born

Sometimes I have a hard time with critics. Not literary critics. Not even for critics on Amazon. I'm talking about the sort of critics that want to stunt our growth as humans and nitpick our efforts to better ourselves. In fact, it would be my guess that everyone feels exactly the same way, except the assholes who do it. How many subjects can you say people would agree on? No one is in favor of child abuse. No one thinks it's okay to kill a manatee. And no one likes someone who sits back and critiques your effort. I'm not talking about the results. I am not saying people shouldn't be able to talk about how bad a movie or book is. What I object to is someone criticizing the effort we make in creating a book or movie.

We've all heard it. “Why do you waste your time at that keyboard?" Or, "Do you think you're the next Hemingway?" It's hard to explain why you're writing before you're making any money at it. All you can do is look at them and say, "I like to do it." Or you can spit in their food later. The choice is really yours.

Let's turn the tables on these bullies. Come back with, "Why do you feel the need to criticize my effort?" Unless the time I spend writing is taking away from time I should be doing something for you, it's none of your business. Perhaps, early in my writing career, my wife could have been a critic because. arguably it took time away from her and some of the things I could've done around the house. But she never said anything. And that's not just because we don't talk to each other. I made great effort not to allow my writing to interfere with things and she's not the type of person that would criticize effort.

Why would someone criticize effort? My guess is that they are jealous. They find themselves with free time and no interests. Or, they resent the fact that you are embarking on one of your dreams, which in this case were talking about writing a book, and they are not. You cannot let those kind of critics get their way. Ever. No matter what the results of your publishing life, if you love to write, you should continue to do so. And the more someone complains about it or criticizes it, the more you should do it.  (I will point out that I made that same suggestion to Israel about their problems with Gaza and perhaps it hasn't worked out as well as I thought it would.)

We need to rise above the doubters and not become one. If you are destined to write then get ready for the ride.

I got the idea for this post while I was in a class. It is the first time that the quote actually inspired me to write the blog.

These are two of the quotes we should follow at all times, not just in writing:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ----Theodore Roosevelt

“To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.”  ―Winston Churchill

Building Suspense

JamesO. Born

We've already talked about this a little bit and you can call it by different names. Building suspense is a good title, but it could just as easily be called pacing. It's what happens in the novel. It would be an awfully short book if you just had a bomber try to kill a professor who somehow turns the table on him. Maybe eight pages.  That's why it's important to consider all the other things we've discussed.

We need to set the circumstances of the story. Is it set in a big city where there is a modern police force ready to respond? Or in a small town in Alabama where no one would suspect a package sitting on a porch contained a bomb ready to shred anyone who touches it? Let's say it's the Alabama town. It's a beautiful two-story house with the wraparound porch and oak trees shading the front yard. It's a beautiful sunny day that casts dancing shadows across the front lawn through the thick limbs of the sprawling trees. We know what's in the package. That's really what's important. It doesn't matter if the character suspects something is wrong. The reader has to suspect it. That's where the suspense comes in.

Next we might develop the characters. And see that a man sitting at a desk inside the house is a political science professor at local private university. His views have sparked a madman to put a bomb in the package. The professor also has a beautiful wife who is a doctor at the local hospital and three young children all playing in different areas of the neighborhood. The package sits unopened on the front porch. Who will get to it first? Lily, his nine-year-old daughter who's coming home from a friend’s house? His wife, Andrea, taking a break from a frantic day at the hospital? Or will the professor walk out onto the porch and noticed the package. Now we’re talking about a story.

We haven't even got into the motivation of the bomber yet, who’s sitting several blocks away and stewing over some article the professor has written. He's got other information about the professor sitting on the front seat of his Chevy Silverado. How the professor had moved from one university to another as he became more prominent. And how, three years before, an article he had written about religion had pushed the bomber's mother to suicide. Or at least that's what he believes.

I learned this lesson after I became published. My editor at Putnam, Neil Nyren, would often take the time to teach me and others valuable lessons in writing. In this case, he used the example of Alfred Hitchcock and his ability to build suspense. I can remember the conversation clearly. Neil talked about a bomb planted in a desk and how quickly the excitement is over if all that happens is an explosion. Whereas, if the reader knew the bomb was in the desk, you could get pages and pages of excitement out of it. This was all in response to my first draft of the novel EscapeClause. As with most of my novels, I try to mix up who the good guys and bad guys are. About halfway through the book I had the reader suddenly discover someone they thought was a good guy was actually a bad guy. Neil told me that was great for one or two pages but what the book really needed was someone who was bad from the beginning so everyone could root against him. What a good lesson. I would say I owe Neil lunch for it, but his tastes are too extravagant for me so I just leech off him whenever I get a chance to see him.

Once again there is no rhyme or reason in the sequence of these blog posts. It's pretty much what comes to me while I'm thinking about writing. I'm open to suggestions if you guys want me to change it up just shoot me a quick e-mail at contactjimborn@comcast.net.

Until then, write on!

Luck is everything... My good luck in life was to be a really frightened person. I'm fortunate to be a coward, to have a low threshold of fear, because a hero couldn't make a good suspense film.

Alfred Hitchcock

I'm big on having a blistering pace. That's one of the hallmarks of what I do, and that's not easy. I never blow up cars and things like that, so it's something else that keeps the suspense flowing. I try not to write a chapter that isn't going to turn on the movie projector in your head.

James Patterson

Writing Characters Not Like Yourself

James O. Born

Writing characters unlike yourself, with experiences much different than your own, is exactly what writers are supposed to do. It's not easy, it's not necessarily fun (although sometimes it can be), but it's vital to virtually every novel ever written.

Personally, it turns me off when I hear fake sounding dialogue, out of the norm for a character of a certain age or education level. I try not to picture the author in my head and wonder why a sixty-year-old white man is trying to speak like a thirteen-year-old black girl. I'm not saying it can't be done, it's just terribly difficult to do well.

I try to avoid certain characters. It's difficult for me to write as a teenager or sound like a convincing child. I keep the dialogue short and let the circumstances explain what's going on in the scene. But that's a simple, shallow answer. Sort of what I'm best at.

Writing female characters does not feel is difficult to me. Especially female cops. I'm around them all the time and they understand that the clichés you read over and over again about the beautiful cop that was tough as nails can be accurate. These are women who don't take any shit and can make you laugh at the drop of a dime. I don't simply take my experiences as a male and insert a female into them. Just the fact that a female is involved in certain situations changes the dynamic. I certainly don't mean that in any negative connotation, it is just a fact of life. Just as inserting a male and a certain situations that females have dealt with would change the situation itself. As in most things we’ve talked about, it's important to get out and experience the world and see what people do first-hand. Don't try and filter it through some cheesy TV sitcom or hackneyed police drama. As a male writer you're going to have to write female characters unless all you write about is the Civil War and you somehow managed to leave out any civilians.

One thing that I've seen trip up authors is trying to use slang and phrases they think young people are using today. This sort of thing changes so quickly that it's tough to keep up with and can date your work instantly. In addition, consider your audience. Are they really up to date with what fifteen-year-olds are using is a term for an idiot? I'll admit that I write for my audience. Hopefully my audience is younger than me, perhaps a bit thinner and little more tolerant of these sort of mistakes than I am. But I don't think it's vital for you to force your dialogue to sound contrived by a middle-aged author.

Even weapons in police dramas can show your age. If I see someone writing about a detective using a thirty-eight revolver, I realize it's an old dude writing the book. Maybe someone that retired from NYPD about seventeen years ago. Even the stylized handling of a gun and holding it sideways has fallen by the wayside. It only took two or three thugs getting shot by more accurate marksman holding the gun properly to make that bad habit a thing of the past.

If you don't wanna get out and experience the world, at least watch an MTV reality show. Their painful to get through sometimes, but you do hear things and see activities that could give you an idea of what young people are up to today. Since my kids moved out of the house I lost virtually all interest in the subject.

Another option, if you need to get out of the house, is a stop at Starbucks or McDonald's. You can hear some amazing things at the next table.

Once again, I go back to gender as being a difficult hurdle for writers, either a man writing as a women or women writing as a man. It's easy to come off as clueless. Not that hard to talk to a spouse or friends.  Run dialogue and action pass them. Believe it or not, sometimes we have to get off are asses to write a novel.

Whatever you do, just try to get it right. It's not rocket science and no one's going to shoot you if you screw it up. It's just nice to do it the right way. The first thing you might want to remember is to avoid stereotypes. Not all women are victims and not all men are master villains. Although I've learned from a number of letters and comments from other writers it never hurts to have good-looking people, either male or female populate your book.

“Action is the pulse of any good story, but the character is the heart. If the action has no consequence to the character, the story loses heart.”
―Linda Yezak

As with everything in writing a novel we need to put some thought into it.  It's not that easy. 

“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.”
―Ernest Hemingway

E-books !!!!

James O. Born

Walking Money

Like many published authors, I have a backlist.  Tying several of my posts together, I can say that two of my mentors (Paul Levine and James W. Hall) talked to me almost two years ago about regaining the rights to my early books and posting them on Amazon in e-book form.  I do not ignore advice from anyone, especially two men who tend to be right on the money when it comes to all things publishing.  And in Jim Hall's case, I never considered him a “tech guy” and he gave me confidence to think that he was able to get his books up on Amazon with little trouble.  In Paul's case, I knew that he was so successful with his e-books he's become a wild playboy, notorious throughout the Miami area.  (I'm just going by what one of my friend’s mothers told me.)

Shock Wave

So I started the long and surprisingly difficult process of regaining the publishing rights to my early books, which were out of print.  My first book, Walking Money, was published in June of 2004.  The paperback came out about a year later.  Each year after that I published a hardback novel with Putnam that was followed by a paperback reprint from Berkeley.  As I've stated many times, I enjoyed working for the company and never had the first problem.  Until I tried to get my rights back.  Even that process wasn't too bad.  It was just slow.  Finally, last May, I received a letter through e-mail and the U.S. Postal Service saying that I now owned all the publishing rights to my first five novels.

Escape Clause

Then the work really began.  I shouldn’t make it sound like I worked my fingers to the bone, when, in fact, I wrote checks.  But for a cheapskate like me that hurt worse than working my fingers to the bone.  Creating the covers for the new editions was one of the most difficult tasks for me.  I have never been particularly strong at determining a good cover and I leaned heavily on my friends, including those at this blog, to get their opinions.  As result, here are the five covers of my new e-books.

Field of Fire

I am new to e-book promotion, but I did sign up to have Walking Money in a countdown sales promotion with Amazon starting today for $.99.  That is an incredible $3 off.  (I'd do the percentage for you but it's my son who is the accountant.)  

I'm open to any other ideas people might have to jump-start my new e-book career. 

I still have books coming out from publishers, including, Scent of Murder, in April of 2015, from Forge/Macmillan.

Here are easy links to each e-book on Amazon:

Walking Money

Burn Zone

Shock Wave
Escape Clause
Field of Fire
Burn Zone

What do you think of the covers? As always, you can also email me at contactjimborn@comcast.net.

My Author's Facebook page is: here 

My Amazon page is : here

Today's quote is:

“Judging books by their covers is seriously underrated, and any book nerd who claims never to have done it is probably lying.”  ― Amy Smith, All Roads Lead to Austen: A Yearlong Journey with Jane