Come on in, Victoria Thompson's in the house!

Wahoo! Here's the kind of update I love. MUDER IN CHELSEA has been nominated for a coveted AGATHA AWARD for Best Historical Mystery. In honor, I'm reposting my blog from last May~~


She's brought midwife Sarah Brandt 

& Detective Frank Malloy with her. 

A year ago I blogged about her contest in conjunction with the launch of Gaslight Mystery #14:

MURDER ON FIFTH AVENUE.

Today she brings us up to date on all things Brandt & Malloy & Gaslight Mystery #15:

MURDER IN CHELSEA.

Sip your tea, settle back & join the fun. Take it away, Vicki:

So what does an author do when she’s written herself into a corner and can’t for the life of her figure out how to get out of it—all while thousands of fans are clamoring for her blood?  That’s the situation in which I found myself last year at this time. 

If you are a fan of the Gaslight Mystery Series (Berkley Prime Crime), you know that Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy of the New York City Police and Midwife Sarah Brandt have been solving mysteries and gradually falling in love over the first 14 books in the series.  Unfortunately, I had started the series by creating insurmountable barriers to their ever getting together, never realizing that the series would become so successful or that readers would become so invested in Frank and Sarah’s lives.

Now let’s face it, how many mystery writers are lucky enough to have a series that runs for 14 books? I count my blessings every day. But in the spring of 2012, I realized that if I didn’t take care of Frank and Sarah’s relationship, readers probably would not keep reading. But how to do it without ruining the dynamics of the series? I was getting desperate, so I vented to my classmates. 

Classmates?  Yes, I was just finishing up my master’s degree in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University.  One of my classmates, David Wilbanks, who writes Science Fiction and had at that time never read anything I’d ever written, took my challenge and sent me a list of about 20 things that could happen.  Unlike me and my fans, Dave was unencumbered by knowledge of the characters involved, so his solutions didn’t have to be feasible or even sensible.  His ideas were outside the box.  Some of them were even outside the Universe. 

But one of them was the perfect solution to Frank and Sarah’s problems!

If you’re expecting me to tell you what that solution is right here, I’m sorry.  I write mysteries, so I’m not giving away anything that might  spoil the book for you.  I will say that in MURDER IN CHELSEA you will finally get to see Frank Malloy propose to Sarah Brandt. 

Of course they also solve a couple murders and locate the birth parents of Sarah’s foster daughter into the bargain.  This is a mystery series after all! And to thank Dave for his help, I named a major character after him in MURDER IN CHELSEA. 

So this is how a fellow writer rescued me, saving me from the wrath of frustrated readers!  

You can see how he did it by reading MURDER IN CHELSEA, a May 2013 hardcover release from Berkley Prime Crime.  It’s also available in all electronic formats. Please let me know if you like the solution by contacting me though my website, www.victoriathompson.com or liking me on Facebook at Victoria Thompson Author or following me on Twitter @gaslightvt. 

AScattergood: Sharing the Wealth

AScattergood: Sharing the Wealth

I'm sharing this one. Thanks for posting!

The Clock is Ticking

                                                        or

                      Props as Prompts & Chekhov, Part 2

 If Act One has a gun on the mantel, it had better be fired by Act Three.

                                           

 Or some such.

~ ~ ~ 

    Anton Chekhov's comment is one of the tenets of the dramatic & literary arts. Google it & you'll get examples & interpretations from here to The Cherry Orchard. What he means is that a well-chosen, deliberately placed prop is one of the writer's best tools & is not to be wasted. 

    It serves as a sudden tap on the shoulder, a snap of the finger to the reader. It can foreshadow, develop characterization, build tension, deflect (or enhance) suspicion. It's your job as creative manipulator, to use them judiciously so a properly placed item-of-interest signals the reader without setting off sirens. (Using them as red herrings is another blog altogether.)

Think ~~

✲ Winnie the Pooh's elusive honey 

✽   Miss Havisham's wedding cake

✶   Scarlett O'Hara's draperies

❄   James Bond's Aston Martin

☀  In Part 1 I referred to Augusta Scattergood's use of Junk Poker in GLORY BE.  For Gusty's middle grade readers, that shoe box and the childhood treasures Glory & her sister Jesslyn collected & used for the game come to represent growing pains & the bittersweet angst in coming of age.

                                                                          

♞ I've just finished NO WAY TO KILL A LADY, Nancy Martin's latest cozy in her Blackbird Sisters mystery series. A neighbor trottings into a scene in her four-in-hand & exchanging  pleasantries with Nora Blackbird raises only a ping, but for good or for evil, we know we're going to see that carriage & its driver again. 

✍  As for my shenanigans as author~~

     In the opening chapter of THE CHICK PALACE, my protagonist Johanna, stewing about her role as materfamilias, winds the family mantel clock tended by three generations of women. There's a wing key and discussion of winding against the pressure of the tightening spring. 

So of course there's convoluted family issues & a daughter. 

Yes indeed, that clock gets wound in Act One 

& it's deliberately wound & ticking in Act Three.  

Props as Prompts, Plus Chekhov. Part 1

In which I revisit some favorite artistic types 

to illustrate my points

✻   ✾   Picture books   ❇   ❅  

I loved them then.

I love them now.

I'm still capable of wonder. 

And still capable of being manipulated 

by the illustrator leading the way, guiding the reader. 

MORE by I. C. Springman               illustrated by Brian Lies

For example, Brian Lies created this ☝

from his collection of these. 

☟                      ☟

I'll bet there's a connection behind every Lego, 
token, button, jacknife, fork, pacifier, measuring tape, 
bolt, washer, lock, can opener

and key~~



     ~~connections personal enough to inspire Brian's interpretation of the author's words via his award winning art, yet universal enough to trigger the individual imaginations of young readers.

But then, for every young reader there comes that bittersweet 

elementary school lightbulb moment: 

The higher the reading level, 

the fewer the illustrations to lead the way 

until~~

ALL PRINT! NO PICTURES!

and the reader's imagination is manipulated, not by art, but 

by the author's description of those oh so carefully placed objects.

✳     ✴     ✷     ✼

In GLORY BE Augusta Scattergood plunks her middle grade readers right down in Hanging Moss, Mississippi, during the "Freedom Summer" of 1964.

 

Her carefully chosen props: 

Love Me Tender, Elvis, Nancy Drew, Dr. Pepper

enhance the 60s setting as she steers a new generation &

prompts them to envision, perhaps question, certainly imagine 

what develops into serious themes & complicated issues.

    Augusta's most memorable prop, like Brian's stash of found objects, springs from her imagination.  JUNK POKER a game she and her sister invented, is only a term in the book. There're no lively illustrations, no photographs of the real Buster Brown shoebox or the blue satin ribbon. 

    Nevertheless, she's masterfully woven the game, the box and the contents into her story. 

These props move the plot, enhance her characters & even build tension.   

    Those lucky enough to see Augusta at a book signing or classroom visit get to glimpse the real thing. That Elvis statue, those pecans! The skate key and wax lips! 

✼ From the setting to the characters moving the plot,

❄Whether it's a literal, visual depiction or a figurative, written description,

props are meant to trigger the imagination.

When the writer or illustrator has done it correctly, 

the story belongs to the reader. 

✻   ✴   ✶   ❊

Anton Chekhov addressed this issue through metaphor. 

Part 2 takes a look at the gun on the mantel, 

or in my case, 

the clock and the ironstone platter. 

Hurry up!

It's Newbery & Caldecott Day and I'm anxiously awaiting the announcements. 

Kirby Larson's 2007 Newbery Honor Book HATTIE BIG SKY 

is one of my recent favorites.

But the best news? 

Mid-February marks the launch 

of more Kirby, ☜ great blog 

more Hattie.

☟

☀ ☀ 

More lively historical fiction 

for young readers 

and those of us who used to be

☀ ☀ 

A chaise by any other name...

✍✎ It's Freewheelin' Friday! ☄✒

Dedicated to Artistic Endeavors of all Sorts

       I write. I read. 
I critique manuscripts. 

 * my own work 

 * my freelance clients' 

 * my students' 

I whine. I complain. 

I roam around the house, 

from hard back chair to ergonomic home office model,

to kitchen counter stool.

And on occasion I solve my own problems.

My "shaze"

⬇   ⬇   ⬇

I grew up calling these a chaise lounge. "Shaze lowwnge"

However, that seems to be an Americanization (ok, bastardization) of 

zee French: chaise longue. Long chair. 

A few years back author Penny Dawn & I ran this around. 

     I was her mentor, supervising her masters thesis, the wonderfully sexy Measuring Up whose wonderfully sexy hero owned one. I can't remember which spelling she used but I questioned it. She asked her decorator mother for a third opinion. (Mine being the second)

     More recently I've heard a news anchor and some HGTV house hunters pronounce it chase long. Chase long?  <clutches draperies>

Whatever the pronunciation, I own one. 

     It was bought second hand, supported my snowboarding youngest following collarbone surgery, then put in a stint at my daughter's. By the time I got it back the cushion covers were gone. It's neither my style nor my colors. But it's incredibly comfortable & had potential as a perfect solution. 

Per usual I was long on creativity & short on funds.

$21.00 plus tax got me a room-size painter's drop cloth. 

A week's worth of long hours, 
more hand sewing than I'd anticipated, 
& BAND-AIDs (to keep blood from my pricked fingers from staining) 

produced my slipcovered chaise longue.

C'est la perfect respite from hard backed chairs & stiff kitchen stools.
C'est also perfect for zee lounging.


VOILA! 

That's French for comfy solution.

Betsy Bird on Brian's Bird

          The Newbery & Caldecott Awards announcements are upon us (January 28th @ 8 a.m. PT) & if you don't know Betsy Bird's renowned blog  Fuse #8 Production, ☚ now's a good time to give it a look. 

           As she says, her blog "features everything from librarian previews of upcoming children's books to news, reviews, and videos. If it has something to do with children's literature, it will rate a mention here." She's the Youth Materials Collection Specialist for the New York Public Library, a Newbery judge, contributor to Horn Book Magazine and all-around kid lit guru.

        

 ✔ And now for the TAH DAH!  

Betsy's predicting a spot on the Caldecott honors list for MORE. Yup, the medal for the artist who has created the most distinguished picture book of the year. (from the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association) 

 ☀ If you know Brian Lies' work, you'll know why.

HERE'S WHAT I WROTE A WHILE BACK: 

It's launch week for writer/artist/illustrator

BRIAN LIES☚cool website

Have I mentioned that he has wheeled around in these...  

☚ ➷ 

because Brian's the New York Times

bestselling author of these.

☚  

☟☛

And now there's...

a LOT more~~

Brian takes I.C. Springman's spare 

perfectly chosen words:

NOTHING  * FEW  * SEVERAL  * LOTS

  illustrates a magpie on a mission,

 {the twigs, a marble, that comb, those blocks...}

 and mice sounding the alarm,

 as 

  the 

collecting 

escalates! 

He'll have you counting, poking & studying,

{the pocket watch, a tarnished rattle, 

that harmonica,

those stamps & that ace of spades...}

with ~& without~a toddler at your knee. 

There's even, ummm, more! 

Brian illustrated this tale of the hoarding magpie on handmade papers. He chose half a dozen sheets, from pale & nearly clear, to dark & fibrous "...to echo the crescendo of the bird's collection, with papers which crescendoed in deepening color and organic inclusions~banana and mango leaf pieces, hay, etc." 

❆  Savor every page   ❆

brianlies.com 

❆  MORE  ❆

a joyful read & cautionary tale for all 

~little guys to grownups~ 

brought to life by a master at his craft.

"Dramatic paintings add depth and foreboding to a lesson about excessive materialism."--Kirkus

"The fable offers a finely drawn, restrained 'less is more' lesson about attachment to things."--Publishers Weekly

"This is a timely, clearly needed fable for contemporary society as it tries to unravel itself from excessive materialism. Ideal for discussions about reducing consumption."--School Library Journal, starred review

Head to your nearest indie bookstore. 

Pick up MORE for the child in your life 

                        &

MORE for your permanent collection.