Tis The Season

I'm enjoying this holiday season so far, and it promises to go on for several more weeks thanks to upcoming family visits in January. 

Last weekend was particularly fun, since I attended three writing-related events close together.  I usually go to the chapter meetings for both the Orange County and Los Angeles chapters of Romance Writers of America, but they're generally on different weekends. OCC meets on the second Saturday of the month, and LARA on the third Sunday.  But this month they were on the same weekend thanks to the holidays.  And on top of that, I also attended the Mystery Writers of America L.A. Chapter's holiday party on Sunday evening. 

I'm also attending a number of online holiday parties, mostly on Facebook.  They sometimes involve giveaways. 

So, by the way, does Killer Characters all this month.  My blog post, or rather my character's, is on the 18th as always.  And I'm doing a drawing for a copy of KNOCK ON WOOD.  The winner will be one of the people who comments on my--er, my protagonist Rory's--post.  And check there other days, too, for more Killer Characters giveaways.

 

It's cold enough in L.A. now, especially at night, that it's reminiscent of this time of year during my childhood in Pittsburgh, although there's been no snow.  But wind.  Lots of wind.  And a whole lot of wind-chill.  It doesn't seem to bother my dogs, though.  They want to go outside as often as usual. 

In fact, Lexie is barking at me as I write this.  Guess it's time to go brave the chill again...

 

 

 

Mystery Writers of America Workshop: A Pictorial Review

Check out my monthly post at Inkspot, the blog for authors of Midnight Ink.  I published a photo review of a recent workshop I attended called "The Art of Character Development." I really did take the class, I swear!  But was it before or after the Zombie slot machine ate my brains?  You'll have to read it to find out.  Check it out, and please share!

http://midnightwriters.blogspot.com/2015/09/attending-mystery-writers-of-america.html

Organizations Galore

I belong to a whole bunch of writing organizations. I’m also considering the possibility of joining at least one other.

Yikes!

Am I an addict? Not to joining things, but I’ll admit addiction to the camaraderie, networking and information I glean from each of them.

Which am I talking about? Well, I currently belong to the Romance Writers of America, and to two local chapters: Los Angeles Romance Authors and the Orange County Chapter. I belong to the Mystery Writers of America and its Southern California Chapter. I belong to Sisters in Crime, and to its Southern California Chapter. And, I belong to the Thriller Writers of America.

I’m definitely not addicted to paying dues, but I do so anyway for most of the organizations--and additionally for most of their chapters to which I belong.

I’m also a lawyer and pay bar dues. That’s different from my writing but is a necessity for my other career.

I attend meetings, too. Time consuming? Yes, especially since, as I mentioned, I belong to four local chapters of various organizations. But I don’t go to every meeting, only those where I think I’ll get helpful information from the speaker. Although I do sometimes attend just because I want to meet with fellow writers, compare experiences, get out and about with friends.

Is it all worth it? It is to me. For one thing, I owe my first book sale, indirectly, to Romance Writers of America and my attendance at one of its national conventions. I still go to many RWA National annual conferences and always find them great for networking and more.

I spend a lot of time in front of my computer, so seeing flesh-and-blood people now and then, besides family, is a good thing.

There are plenty of other writing organizations that intrigue me, too. But some restraint is necessary here. Maybe.

What about you--do you belong to any professional organizations, writing or otherwise? What do you like about them most? Any dislikes?

"Anonymous" No More, Thanks to Forensic Linguistics

We're all familiar with the murder plot that revolves around the handwritten suicide note and the question of its authenticity. But when was the last time you sat down and handwrote a message to anyone? Instead, you probably sent an email or text message right? So how can an investigator discern authorship of such a message, especially if it's critical to an investigation?

That's a great question. Especially for those of us who write (or read) mysteries!

In situations where authorship is in doubt, law enforcement and legal officials turn to a forensic linguist. Such specialists rely, in turn, on one of two methodologies 1.) intuitive, where the linguist reads and assesses the message using non-rational methods and 2.) computational, where the available data is subjected to software that counts patterns. In 2000, the Daubert trilogy established that trial judges are the gatekeepers for assuring that expert testimony is based on scientific knowledge. With that ruling, the intuitive analysis approach has been limited to showing differences or commonality, but it can't state conclusions.
Fortunately, the computational method has a champion in Carole E. Chaski, PhD, a forensic linguist and a scientist who spoke last week to our local chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Dr. Chaski's philosophy is that the truth comes first, and that nothing should be allowed to obstruct truth in the service of justice. She's a former academic who recognized a new calling when the Raleigh NC police force asked her to help solve a perplexing case involving a suicide note written on a computer and printed onto a disk.

The suicide note was supposedly written by Michael Hunter, a North Carolina student, who died from an injection of lidocaine, Benadryl and Vistaril. Michael was rooming with two other men, and the police suspected his suicide was actually a homicide. So Dr. Chaski examined the pattern and placement of words in sentences in the message. She counted the nouns, verbs, adverbs and prepositions and studied the syntax, which she explains is as individual as a signature. According to Dr. Chaski, writing is an intuitive process, "but it is the minor, tiny things that are different because we understand each other."

These differences are unique. Once you become an adult, you are consistent in how you writing. As a result, Dr. Chaski was able to tell the police she was "99.9%" sure that Hunter had not written the suicide note. When confronted with her testimony, one of Michael Hunter's roommates confessed to the killing.

Dr. Chaski's method requires about 200 words, but more is better. Since that seminal court case, she has developed computer programs designed to break documents down by doing an analysis of sentence structure and examining parts of speech and their relationships. Using statistical analyis, she has an accuracy rating in the high 90 percentiles.

Her research has also proven that spelling is an unreliable indicator of authorship. "There are people who spell poorly in one document, but who spell (words) right in another," she explains. Furthermore, everyone who spells words correctly looks alike!

Dr. Chaski is often called upon to examine threatening letters, and to determine the likelihood of a threat being carried out. She mentioned four of the 13 characteristics she uses to make an informed assessment: conditionality ("if you don't do so-and-so, I will do such-and-such,"), profanity (true threats include a lot of profane language), modal verbs ("you should"), and specificity (both Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the Columbine killers, detailed their violent plans and turned them in as "creative writing" assignments).

So...if you are ever tempted to write a letter, and sign it "Anonymous," you better hope that no one shares your work with Dr. Chaski. You won't be anonymous for long!

You can read more about Dr. Chaski's computer programs at her website.

I found her work to be fascinating. What do you think?

Short Stories

In addition to finishing a novel under deadline and working on several proposals, including one nonfiction one, I’m now working on an idea for a short story. I’d love to submit an entry to the Mystery Writers of America for an upcoming anthology, as a blind submission which may or may not be chosen for inclusion. I had a blind submission included in an anthology hosted by the Sisters in Crime, Los Angeles Chapter, a few years ago, and that was a lot of fun.

I started my fiction career with short stories. My first short story “Different Drummers” was published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine many years ago, and it won the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for best first mystery short story of the year. I’ll never forget when the legendary Ed Hoch called to ask if he could include “Different Drummers” in his annual anthology, The Year’s Best Mystery and Suspense Stories, and how flattered I was. He said, “You don’t know, do you?” That was how I learned I’d won the Fish Award!

These days I don’t write as many short stories as I used to, although I certainly enjoy them. But in some ways, it’s harder to write short stories, since you have to get points across faster then in full length books.

My blog sisters and I have been working on a progressive short story starring our mystery protagonists, and hopefully we’ll be able to post it soon.

For my MWA entry, I know some general stuff about where I want to go with it, but I haven’t come up with enough details to feel comfortable that I’ll be able to submit it in time. The deadline is March 15--and my deadline for my first Pet Rescue mystery is March 1. Plus, I have some interim travel plans.

But I’ve put my subconscious to work on plotting it out. Wish me luck in getting it done in time to submit it! After that, I’ll worry about whether it’s selected. I’m sure there will be a lot of excellent competition. Since it’s a blind selection, where the identities of the submitters are kept secret until the selection is made, I’ve no idea whether my story will be accepted even if I write one!

Do you have any stories or plots you’re puzzling out at the moment? How’s it going?

What's in a Name

I went to Border’s to sign stock of By Hook or By Crook. I can never leave a bookstore empty handed and besides I had a nice 25 percent off coupon. I picked up a dictionary of names and another book that promises more than 30,000 names from around the world. And there was the Edward doll from Twilight. What can I say, I collect odd dolls and I really liked the book and movie. What else can you call a collection that includes Barbie the detective, Star Trek characters and a Ron Howard doll from Happy Days among others?

I already had a couple of books of names, but they are light weight compared to these new ones. Naming characters is a big deal. What you choose says a lot about their age, background, nationality and what soap operas were popular. When I was writing a picture book for a workshop I took at University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival, I wanted to find a name for my dog main character. He was a dog with an attitude who I was sure would roll his eyes at me if I tried to give him any sort of cutsy name. When I saw Monty in a book of names, I knew it belonged to him.

I was reading the Sisters in Crime Newsletter and Charlaine Harris talked about the care she takes in picking out names for her protagonists. She said she might get other character’s names by thumbing through the phone book, but not her main character. She picks their names to be reflective of their lives. As an example, she mentioned choosing Lily for a character needed a tender name despite her tough, practical exterior.

I wish I could say I had some complicated reason for giving Molly Pink her name. Actually it just popped in my head one day and I knew that was her name. It was only later that I realized I had some kind of unconscious thing for names with color. I honestly didn’t notice Molly Pink, Barry Greenberg or Blue Schwartz all had colors in their names. At first anyway. With Blue as I was writing I realized both her names were colors. Schwartz is German for black. I ended up incorporating the bruise aspect of her black and blue name in the book.

The cool thing about the books I got today is that they have international names, so if I have say a Korean character, I can find an authentic name. It’s also fun to read what the names mean. The name dictionary seems pretty authentic in the derivation’s it offer. Better than another book I have that tries to determine meaning by what celebrities have a particular name. I just have to be careful not to get so enamored in reading through all the lists that I use up all my time.

A yarn update. I started knitting with the yarn that was such a nightmare going from hank to ball. So far, it seems to be very nice to work with. It survived the test of unraveling and didn’t get tangled and I was able to start over with no problem other than being annoyed that I had to start over. I’ll post a picture when it’s done.

The Printers Row Book Fair was lots of fun despite the cold and rain. I am sure glad I brought a sweater, a jacket and an umbrella. A lot of nice people stopped by the table and bought books. Julie Hyzy did another great job of organizing the Mystery Writers of America Booth. Margery Flax from MWA supplied us with brownies and the warmth of her personality. And I discovered an amazing yarn store down the street from the fair.

It should be warmer and dryer this Sunday at noon when I sign as part of the Los Angeles Romance Authors book fair at the Encino Barnes & Noble.