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Category Archives: Credible Fiction Characters

Your life in fiction?

14 Aug
amazon.comlink to Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

amazon.comlink to Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

If you have other things in your life—family, friends, good productive day work—these can interact with your writing and the sum will be all the richer.

  • David Brin

 

How much of your life do you put into your fiction? What do your favourite fiction authors do? It is supposed to be fiction after all.

But life creeps in – sometimes a barely-concealed fact turned into fiction – usually because the story is too painful to the author or she is afraid to put herself into a real-life story with all the people who did her wrong or are, well, scoundrels. Then there is the fear of retribution or the desire to tell her story but keep herself out of it. My personal opinion here is to write it as a memoir and use pseudonyms (and state you are doing so). That’s what I’m doing – but that’s another story.

So that leaves us with what can you put from your life into fiction and how can you do it?

Disclaimer here: this is my opinion from my experience. It is not the only way to go about it and some of you may think I cross some lines between fact and fiction.

Here are a few instances from my short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point and my soon-to-be-published first mystery novel Beyond Blood.

In “No Breaks” (BTTP) two female friends are driving to one woman’s family cottage and on the way the car’s main brakes fail. In my life I once did ride with a friend up to her mother’s cottage and on the way her brakes failed. Except for the way my friend managed to get us up to the cottage (she had a few driving tricks up her sleeve), the two friends, Millie and Jessie, in “No Breaks” are completely different from my friend and me. The storyline in “No Breaks” also gets somewhat sinister and crimes are committed (it is mystery fiction). And the title is not spelled incorrectly as the main character in the story feels life has treated her very badly and so she has had “no breaks” in life – and that includes the trip to the cottage. Even when she tries to give herself some breaks it doesn’t exactly work out as she planned. As many of us do, sometimes I feel as if I am getting a lot of bad breaks in life – but there are good things happening too. Millie doesn’t feel that way about her life.

So how did I go from some facts to fiction? I took this scenario in my life and pulled out relevant parts that I thought could be the root for a story. Then I used my imagination to develop my plot and characters.

In Beyond Blood I take so many things from life – not just mine – and fictionalize them into the mystery. One of the threads running through the story is something many mothers can relate to – the working mother and how she balances raising her child(ren) and doing her job. Dana Bowman, one of the fraternal twins is a private investigator and she is always concerned that she doesn’t give enough of her time to her son, David, yet she has to work and she chooses to work with her twin brother in something she is interested in. It doesn’t help that Great Aunt Doris disapproves of Dana working and chastises her constantly for it – another thing working mom’s have to deal with, although it might be a mother-in-law. So when something happens to David, Dana is really in conflict – should she be “working on the case” (Note: I don’t want to give away some of the plot) or just spend her time being mom. Also the twins are in their late 30’s, David is six years old, and Dana is divorced – more fodder to connect to today’s working moms who are having children into their 30s and even 40s. I don’t think Dana would resonate with readers as much if she was in her 20s. (And I have been told by several readers that they like Dana and Bast, too)

So how did I get from fact to fiction here? David did come from the fact that I have a son and am divorced (although he was much younger than his 36 years and my ex and I were separated, not divorced, when Beyond Blood was first conceived in my head and I started writing it.) Yes, it has been a long haul of on and off writing because I had to make my living as a single mother of one son. Not as a PI but as a freelance writer, book editor and writing instructor. The direction I take with all of those have changed and I do less editing and more teaching, but it is doing something I enjoy.

Which Dana was doing with her twin Bast when they opened their investigative agency on the attic floor of their house. Then thing started happening and…

But that would be a spoiler. You’ll have to read Beyond Blood when it comes out. Stay tuned here and my other social media – I will be posting as soon as I get more details about the book launch.

 

 

Sharon A. Crawford

 

You can read about my characters and their stories in my short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to Sharon A. Crawford’s profile – including book reviews – at http://www.amazon.com.
More info on Sharon A.’s upcoming gigs, workshops, guest blog posts, etc. at http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html And keep checking http://samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondBlood.html for the latest news on the release of my first mystery novel Beyond Blood, also published by Blue Denim Press http://www.bluedenimpress.com More info on the Beyond Blood page as we get closer to the date. And remember that clicking on the book icon at the top gets you to my Amazon profile.

 

Cover of Dead Wrong by Klaus Jakelski, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Dead Wrong by Klaus Jakelski, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

 
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Posted by on August 14, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Credible Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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Short Story and Novel Writing with Series Characters – Part 4

22 May
Amazon.com link to Sharon A.'s short story collection

Amazon.com link to Sharon A.’s short story collection

It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.

– William Faulkner
When writing series fiction, particularly novels, how do you keep the continuity going with your main characters from novel to novel? As mentioned in last week’s post, you need to put some reference to previous novel(s) plot and characters or the reader is left confused.

For example, in novel No. 1, let’s say your main character, a police officer, is shot during the story’s climax. It is touch and go, but he wakes up in a hospital bed and is able to talk to his partner, his girlfriend, etc. However, he has been shot in the chest and it just missed his heart, but he still has a long recuperation period.

Unless you are skipping a period of time until he is up and around, you need to include this recuperation period in your next novel. Perhaps your detective is put temporarily on a desk job or he is still on sick leave. His (or her) colleagues get a case or two that he wants to be involved in and they need his help. But he is supposed to stay put. You can work around that by having him act as a consultant – his colleagues can drop into the hospital or recuperation facility (if he is not home yet) or his home to talk it over with him. He could be on the phone constantly to his colleagues or at least his partner. They can be doing all this behind the back of their supervisor and you know how that can pan out. You can hype it up with his shooter still out there (that would have to be clear at the end of the previous novel) and trying to get him. He has to get through the recuperation period but you don’t want a novel all about that if you are writing a mystery novel. You need to blend in what is happening with the characters, how they are developing based on what goes on in their lives. An injured detective recuperating and somewhat immobilized would have much to face, especially if he is used to being active.

The late Robert Parker in his Spencer series did this very well. His private detective, Spencer, was shot in the chest in one novel and the next novel incorporated his recuperation with how it affected his relationship with his girlfriend, Susan, a psychologist, plus the novel’s mystery. Parker was good at writing complicated.

Most of the TV series now follow the main characters’ development and well, private life, and incorporate these into the story. The hit series Rookie Blue (now back on for the summer, 22 episodes this year), does that very well, even if you don’t agree with what they do. The five original rookies are still there and each season they add one or more new rookies. One of the original rookies has been promoted to detective. But all have personal lives and with all these characters who work closely together, their personal lives become entwined and changes occur. It is complicated, but well done. I suggest you watch it. The Good Wife is another TV series that has work and personal lives intermingle with a lot of complications. This time the characters are lawyers, instead of police officers. They even killed off one of the series main characters this season. Rookie Blue did that a couple of seasons ago as well. Killing off a main character is not always a good idea, but if you do, you need to incorporate the repercussions from that and how it affects the other characters in future books or TV episodes.

All these things will affect your plot. It’s the chicken and egg situation. Which comes first – the plot or the characters? It is a combination of both – either can lead – but both are connected and drive each other.

Meantime, read any of the mystery series novels by Peter Robinson and see how he handles continuity and consistency in character and plot.
Also, you can read more about the characters and their stories in Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to Sharon A. Crawford’s profile – including book reviews – at http://www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book go to http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-the-tripping-point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy. Spread the word.
More info on Sharon A.’s upcoming gigs, workshops, guest blog posts, etc. at http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html

Sharon A. Crawford’s prequel novel Beyond Blood, featuring the fraternal twins will be published fall 2014 by Blue Denim Press. Stay tuned.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 

 
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Posted by on May 22, 2014 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Credible Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Series Characters novels and short stories, Writing

 

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Short Story and Novel Writing with Series Characters – Part 3

15 May
Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

I have so many different projects, I hear voices in my head – the characters talking all at once – and I have to write to make them stop.
– Eli Roth
–
When transitioning series characters between novels and short stories, you need to keep the timeline and events straight. We touched on this issue two blog posts back. Remember that your mind will carry all the information to date about your characters, including their actions, including relationships. Your readers’ minds don’t.

Especially if your reader is not reading your short stories and novels in chronological order. As readers we (and I count myself in here) don’t always read series books in order. So, in the first novel in the series you read Alice is having a baby with Jack. Later you get to the first novel where Alice meets Jack. I’m doing this with the Deborah Crombie mystery series. I still haven’t read the book where the main character and her boss change their relationship from just business to personal but I’ve read books where they are living together and ironing out the kinks with a blended family, plus dealing with their respective outlaws, I mean in-laws, although sometimes they may act like the former.

Take this a step further with your series characters hopping in and out of short stories and novels. Which came first? And if you write a novel, then some short stories, then another novel, etc. with the same series characters, be careful. A character in a short story set in 2000 would not know what will happen in the following years, unless you want him or her to be psychic.

A character in a story set in an earlier time would not be as fully developed as in a later story. This can get a little confusing if you are back and forth in time with your story. Sometimes taking your character’s traits outline (remember that suggestion from last week’s post?) a little deeper by listing how they were then and later can help. Also listing the trigger (another character’s actions, something they experienced, etc.) that changed them after the first story, can help.

Again, you may not use all of this in your stories, but after writing out all the information, it is embedded in your mind – somewhere. The trick is to pull out the right characteristic for the right story.

This brings up another question. How much do you reveal about your main characters (and plot for that matter) in novels and short stories that has occurred in a previous novel or short story? You don’t want to give away character and plot from the previous. Yet you don’t want your reader kept wondering if your characters seem to appear out of the blue. Or family and friends and situations are mentioned briefly and in a way that leaves your readers scratching their heads and muttering, “Huh?”

With two of the linked stories in Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012) I am right upfront about what happened to David, Dana’s son in the prequel novel Beyond Blood (to be published by Blue Denim Press in the fall of 2014). I have to be, because in those short stories David is psychologically mute. Otherwise the reader will wonder why and if he has always been like that. So I state it but blend it into the main plot of the short story. Here’s an example from the beginning of “Gone Missing.”
The police can’t find her, Ms Bowman,” Robin Morgrave says.
Rosemary Morgrave has gone missing and I’m putting on a brave smile for her twin brother. Robin sits on the other side of the desk in The Attic Agency’s third floor office. Only my twin brother, Bast, nodding, stops me from losing it. Ever since David, my seven-year-old son, was abducted last August, I’ve been living in Panicville. Sure, we got David back, but how much of him returned? He follows Bast around like an investigator-in-training. His brown eyes stare right through my soul. I wish he’d just say how he feels. But since his return, David hasn’t opened his mouth except to swallow liquids and food. He doesn’t even cry. (Excerpted from Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, 2012, copyright Sharon A. Crawford).

Next week we will talk more about plot consistency and how much to reveal without giving it all away.

Meantime, read any of the mystery series novels by Peter Robinson and see how he handles continuity and consistency in character and plot.
Also, you can read more about the characters and their stories in Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to Sharon A. Crawford’s profile – including book reviews – at http://www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book go to http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-the-tripping-point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy. Spread the word.
More info on Sharon A.’s upcoming gigs, workshops, guest blog posts, etc. at http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html

Sharon A. Crawford’s prequel novel Beyond Blood, featuring the fraternal twins will be published fall 2014 by Blue Denim Press. Stay tuned.
Cheers.
Sharon A. Crawford

 

 
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Posted by on May 15, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Credible Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Series Characters novels and short stories

 

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Short Story and Novel Writing with Series Characters – Part 2

08 May
Amazon.com link to Sharon A.'s short story collection

Amazon.com link to Sharon A.’s short story collection

You learn by writing short stories. Keep writing short stories. The money’s in novels, but writing short stories keeps your writing lean and pointed.

– Larry Niven

 

After all my time-line tips last week I goofed. I put the wrong year for the four linked short stories in Beyond the Tripping Point. Ditto for the related series novel. It should be 1999 for the short stories and 1998 for the novel. At least I had it correct which came first. The years are now corrected on last week’s blog post.

Mea culpa, mea culpa.

This post will deal with length of short stories versus novels and start the discussion about series characters for both. The latter is complicated and we won’t cover everything today.

First length.

Short story length can be anywhere from the flash story of 50 words to longer stories of 8,000, even 10,000 words. Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine stories tend to run in the upper word count limit. However, some authors take the short story up to 18,000 words. In this case, many are self-publishing – either e-copy or online or in print or all of those. To me, this is a variation of the traditional poetry chap book publications. This is all good. The only caveats I offer here are: if submitting to publications or short story contests, follow the submission guidelines; and watch you don’t make the stories too long or you will be writing a novella.
Novel lengths vary from 65,000 words to 120,000 words (think Elizabeth George for the longer novels). Most novels are somewhere in between and it depends on the publisher or the author if self-publishing. My publisher, Blue Denim Pressm tends to go for the lower page count. Personally I like any length as long as the story flows and doesn’t read as if it is padded with plot lines, character development and points of view that are way too much and detract from the story. Shorter novel requirements sure make the author learns how not to be overly wordy, as I’m finding out. But as a former journalist, I always wrote long and then rewrote to fit the editorial requirements. Writing too short here would create the dilemma of insufficient information and it is harder to add than to subtract – believe it or not.

Characters in novels versus short stories

This is a loaded one. Novels and short stories written in the literary vein are more about the characters than the plot. However, the trend today in commercial fiction (including genres such as mystery and romance, particularly in novels, is to develop characters more). While I like Agatha Christie mystery novels – they were what I grew up on, what got me interested in mysteries (along with the old Perry Mason TV series), her characters, although intriguing and original, were not fully developed. The exceptions are her two main series characters – Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple.

So, how many characters do you put in a novel and in a short story? Obviously because of length, you wouldn’t cram many characters into a short story. War and Peace crunched down to a short story it is not. Take two or three main characters and a few minor characters and go from there, i.e., you will develop the three main characters fully but not the few minor ones. By “develop fully” I mean it wouldn’t hurt to do an extensive character sketch of your main characters before you start writing – with the caveat that they are not sealed in cement, granite or avalanche. When writing stories, characters sometimes take over and you as a writer have to respect that. Key question to ask here: is what this character is doing characteristic of him or her? That’s when you may have to return to your character sketch.

And you won’t use everything in your character sketch in your short story – or even in your novel, but you will use more in your novels. With a short story, every character element and development has to tie in with your basic story plot. With a novel you can add in the extras, although they have to tie in with the plot, but you have more leeway.

For example, in my prequel novel Beyond Blood, Dana Bowman has more space to show how she feels about a certain situation with her son as well as the conflict she has with being a mother of a six year old and a private investigator, especially when the two collide. If I didn’t do this, Dana would come across as shallow, one-dimensional and unbelievable. In the four linked stories in Beyond the Tripping Point (remember these are the year after the novel occurs), Dana is still reacting over what happened to David, but in the interest of space and plot, the whole story can’t be about her reaction. So I weave it in with the case she is investigating. In “Saving Grace,” while she is following a lead on a country road outside Goderich, Ontario, she stops the car and has a mini-break-down. But it doesn’t last long; she has to pull herself together and get on with it.

In the novel Beyond Blood, after the actual event that triggers all this has happened, Dana has many instances of having difficulty dealing with the situation. In one scene (without giving it away), she wakes up and is somewhat disoriented and depressed so she acts a bit strangely. She also has nightmares that act as a sort of premonition of what will happen. The time she spends with her son and her feelings about him there, as well as developing a possible relationship with Detective Sergeant Donald Fielding, all tie in with the plot. Without this character development, some of the future plot lines would have the reader saying, “This doesn’t make sense. How would she know how to do that? This action is not credible.”

These pointers are more for commercial fiction than literary fiction.

Next week we will delve more into the makings of series characters appearing in novels and short stories.

Meantime, you can read more about the characters and their stories in Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to Sharon A. Crawford’s profile – including book reviews – at http://www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book go to http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-the-tripping-point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy. Spread the word.
More info on Sharon A.’s upcoming gigs, workshops, guest blog posts, etc. at http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html

Sharon A. Crawford’s prequel novel Beyond Blood, featuring the fraternal twins will be published fall 2014 by Blue Denim Press. Stay tuned.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 

 
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Posted by on May 8, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Credible Fiction Characters, Series Characters novels and short stories, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

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Short Story and Novel Writing with Same Characters

01 May
Amazon.com link to Sharon A.'s short story collection

Amazon.com link to Sharon A.’s short story collection

You can’t write a novel all at once, any more than you can swallow a whale in one gulp. You do have to break it up into smaller chunks. But those smaller chunks aren’t good old familiar short stories. Novels aren’t built out of short stories. They are built out of scenes.

—Orson Scott Card, September 1980

Transitioning series characters from short story to novel or vice-versa presents challenges for fiction writers. It requires the combination of imagination and keeping facts straight.

Unless you are time-travelling with your stories or are deliberating putting them at an earlier or later age, time-lines can be tricky. Where in your characters’ story timeline do you want the short stories to appear? Or if the short stories came first, then your novel needs to be kept in the time-line. That can affect your characters development. For example, you don’t want one character to be divorced in the short story and newly married to the same person in a novel obviously set at a later date. You need to be consistent and realistic. If you mess up, your readers will find it.

My story situation has the timeline and consistency problem in spades (and I don’t mean the spade that digs the graves for bodies dead from murder). My short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point was published first. In it are four linked stories featuring fraternal twin PIs Dana Bowman and Bast Overture, Dana’s son David and a few other series’ characters. It is David I have to be concerned with because these four stories happened after the novel Beyond Blood, which I call the pre-quel novel. The four stories occurred in 1999 and the novel in the summer of 1998.

David is psychologically mute in Beyond the Tripping Point. In Beyond Blood, the reader finds out why. So, obviously he is talking at least for the first part of Beyond Blood.

Then there are the other characters, such as the ones I kill off in Beyond Blood. Obviously they didn’t appear in Beyond the Tripping Point.

Characters are supposed to grow and develop, so in a prequel novel, the characters have to be a few steps behind in that area. For example, in Beyond Blood, Dana could not be at the point where she is dealing with a mute David – that comes in BTTP. Things happen to characters and that’s what changes them one way or the other. But the event must happen before the change – something to keep in mind when transitioning from novel to short story or vice-versa.

To make the situation more complicated with me, I had actually written an earlier version of the pre-quel novel before those four linked short stories. So, when writing the stories, I had to keep the novel’s content in mind. When I returned to rewriting the novel for the publisher (after BTTP was published) I then had to make sure I was consistent – even though I was expanding the plot, making it more complicated. One of my base lines was why David became psychologically mute and when he is mute.

There is also the obvious difference in short stories and novels – length. The short story has to be more succinct because you do not have novel-length. You can’t have multiple plots in a short story or multiple points of view. How much about characters do you include?

Next week’s blog post will deal with some of those issues.

Meantime, you can read more about the characters and their stories in Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to Sharon A. Crawford’s profile – including book reviews – at http://www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book go to http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-the-tripping-point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy. Spread the word.
More info on Sharon A.’s upcoming gigs, workshops, guest blog posts, etc. at http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html

Sharon A. Crawford’s prequel novel Beyond Blood, featuring the fraternal twins will be published fall 2014 by Blue Denim Press. Stay tuned.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on May 1, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Credible Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Writing

 

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Interview with Fiction Characters by Fiction Characters – Part 40

20 Mar

Amazon.com link to Sharon A.'s short story collection

Amazon.com link to Sharon A.’s short story collection

I always have a basic plot outline, but I like to leave some things to be decided while I write.

–          J.K. Rowling

Susan Stuart’s spirit has finally manifested and Dana and PC Oliver learn that she is not to be trusted. There is also another spirit involved and the missing Bast has just phoned his fraternal twin, Dana. Dana and Oliver remain in the Thurston Public Library boardroom. All characters, except Cory Swan, are from Beyond the Tripping Point by Sharon A. Crawford (Blue Denim Press, 2012).

Dana (on her cell phone with Bast): Bast, where are you?

Bast: Can’t tell you right now. It’s not safe for you to know.

Dana: But Oliver and I could come and get you.

Bast: It’s better that you don’t know where I am right now.

Dana: Okay, but I’m worried.

Bast: I know you are, but it is also a safety measure for you and David.

Dana: David? Where does he fit into all this? He wasn’t even born when…

Bast: I know, but CS is very cunning and determined and will go after family members if he has to.

Dana: All this just to keep a blackmailing scheme quiet? Bast, the police know and have a document showing that Roger Stuart was illegally married to his secretary while still married to Susan and Robbie’s mom before he and the secretary disappeared.

Bast: I know. But it’s more than this.

Oliver interrupting: Dana, let me speak to Bast.

Dana (covering her cell with her hand). Just a minute Oliver.  (Dana holds her cell out a bit so Oliver can hear the conversation).Yes, Bast you were saying.

Bast: Is Oliver with you?

Dana: Yes.

Bast: Okay, I’ll talk to him in a minute but as I was saying, it’s more than just Roger Stuart’s bigamy.

Dana: I gather that. And Susan Stuart – or rather her spirit is not what she seems. Do you know what she’s up to?

Bast: Partly. That’s what I’m working on and to do so I must remain “undercover.” What I have found out is Susan’s spirit is conspiring with her Dad’s spirit to get revenge on Cory Swan for the blackmail scheme.

Dana: What are they doing?

Bast: That I don’t know. But they must be meeting somewhere but I don’t know where.

Dana: I can answer that. Susan said her Dad’s spirit is tied to their house. So it’s there. And Bast, Roger is living there I think. Is he in danger?

Bast: He might be. That might be the other part of the puzzle. But I don’t know what if anything he had to do with all this. He always seemed to disappear himself.

Dana: Right…

Oliver, interrupting: Bast, Cooks Regional and Toronto Police Services have  some info on where Roger has been living when not in Toronto and you are correct Dana, Roger is living in the house now.

Dana: Can he see his sister’s and father’s spirits?

Bast: I don’t know. Oliver, do you know what Roger’s been up to when away?

Oliver:  Like I said, we have some idea but need more information.

Bast: Then I need to talk to him.

Dana: No, let me. You have to stay safe.

Bast: I also need to get some answers.

Oliver: So do the police. Bast, I need you to tell us where you are.

Bast: Can’t do that – it’s a safety issue.

Oliver: Bast, for your own good and your sister’s, you need to come in. We can give you protection.

Bast: No. It’s better I stay underground for now.

Dana: What did you actually write about Susan Stuart and her painting and where was it published?

Bast: In the Toronto Herald. There’s a print copy in the office where I keep all my published story clips.

A loud noise, like a siren comes over Dana’s cell phone.

Dana: What’s that?

Oliver: Bast, where are you?

Bast (his voice getting weaker). Gotta go. Talk to you lat…

Dana: Bast, are you there?

Silence on the other end.

Oliver pulls out his cell and starts punching in numbers: Fielding, you and Hutchinson better meet with us. Bast has called and…what? Okay…

Dana: Where? I’m coming too.

Oliver into his cell: Did you hear that? Dana’s coming too. She has info. I’ll bring her.

Dana: Where?

Oliver: The Stuart residence. Something’s going on there with Robbie Stuart.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

You can read more about the characters and their stories in from Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to Sharon A. Crawford’s profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-the-tripping-point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy. Spread the word.

Sharon A. Crawford will be returning to Aurora where she lived for 23 years. If you are in the Toronto area (GTA) and in particular just northof Toronto in York Region, join Sharon and four other Crime Writers of Canada authors reading from and talking about their crime books in A Shot in the Dark at the Aurora Public Library, Monday, March 24, 2014 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

More info on this and Sharon A.’s other upcoming gigs, workshops, guest blog posts, etc. at http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html

 
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Posted by on March 20, 2014 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Credible Fiction Characters, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

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Interview with Fiction Characters by Fiction Characters – Part 39

13 Mar

Amazon.com link to Sharon A.'s short story collection

Amazon.com link to Sharon A.’s short story collection

An artist is his own fault.

            – John O’Hara

The lights went out and the painting started vibrating in the Thurston Library board room just as PC Joseph Oliver was showing some information to Dana Bowman. Now, one minute later, the lights go back on and the painting is still. But there is a different character sitting at the board room table. All characters except Cory Swan are from short stories in Beyond the Tripping Point  by Sharon A. Crawford (Blue Denim Press, 2012)

Dana, looking around and almost jumping up at the woman sitting in the chair beside her. Susan Stuart? No, it can’t be. You’re dead. I mean…

Susan’s ghost: True, but I did mention that I do get around in spirit. Sometimes I can manifest myself to a few people.

Dana: And that’s why the lights went out – while you were er, manifesting?

PC Oliver: It’s gone.

Dana, turning to Oliver on her left: What’s gone? The paper you were showing me?

Oliver: Yes. I had it right in front of me.

Dana, glaring at Susan’s ghost: You took it. What did you do with it?

Susan: No, I didn’t.

Dana: Well, no one else was here.

Susan: Are you sure. The lights went out.

Dana: But that was you.

Susan: No. I don’t need lights turning out to manifest myself. Just people to believe I am real.

Oliver: Then who took the paper? Who was in here? I didn’t see anyone. Dana, did you?

Dana: No, but it was dark.

Susan: I might be able to answer that. I’m not the only spirit involved.

Dana: Right. So now we have multitudes of spirits running around and interfering.

Susan: No, just one other besides me.

Oliver: Who?

Susan: Can’t you guess? Who is also dead?

Dana: Roger Stuart?

Susan: Bingo.

Oliver: Okay, I’ll bite. What interest would Roger Stuart have in all this?

Susan: If you will remember, when Dad was still alive, just before he disappeared, he was involved in a sort of blackmail scheme with Cory Swan.

Dana: And I suppose you know what that all involves?

Oliver (interrupting): I think I do. The paper I was just going to show you was a document. It was a marriage certificate between Roger Stuart and his secretary.

Dana: But he was still married to Susan and Robbie’s mother.

Oliver: Yes, but the marriage certificate was issued in Mexico.

Dana: But it wouldn’t be valid in Canada? I mean with Roger still married to your mother. (Dana nods at Susan).

Oliver: No, not valid in Canada or the US for that matter.

Dana: How did they get it in Mexico?

Susan: By not giving any info about prior marriages.

Oliver: You could get away with that there.

Dana: So, Roger Stuart was a bigamist and he didn’t want his second marriage known.

Oliver: Or the fact that he had two so-called marriages with no divorce for the first one.

Susan: Exactly, to both. And Cory Swan wheedled this out of Dad and I believe threatened to tell all if Dad didn’t pay him. Which he did, for awhile, until he decided to disappear with the wicked secretary of the well, south.

Dana: And you know this how?

Susan: I just do.

Dana: You’ve connected with your father’s spirit.

Susan: Oh, all right. I’ve been talking to Dad.

Oliver: If this is so, then it has to be his spirit that took the document.

Susan: Actually not. Dad can’t get around like me. He’s stuck in our old house. I have to go to him.

Dana and Oliver: Then it was you. You lied.

Susan: Yup. A girl has to protect herself.

Susan then disappears.

Dana: What was that all about? She’s obviously got her own hidden agenda? Now we don’t have that document.

Oliver: Yes we do. There’s an electronic copy on the police computer and a photocopy at police headquarters. But I better call Fielding to let him know that Susan is not to be trusted.

Dana’s cell phone rings. She picks it up.

Dana: Yes.

Voice on the phone: Dana, it’s Bast. I’m okay. But we need to talk. You and a few others are in danger.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

You can read more about the characters and their stories in from Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to Sharon A. Crawford’s profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-the-tripping-point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy. Spread the word.

Also see more of See Sharon A.’s Upcoming Gigs, workshops, guest blog posts, etc. at http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html

 
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Posted by on March 13, 2014 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Credible Fiction Characters, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot anc Character Development, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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Interview with Fiction Characters by Fiction Characters – Part 38

06 Mar

Amazon.com link to Sharon A.'s short story collection

Amazon.com link to Sharon A.’s short story collection

I never plot out my novels in terms of the tone of the book .Hopefull,y once a story is begun it reveals itself.

–          Alice Hoffman

In last week’s post, the woman in the abstract painting was finally revealed as the spirit of the artist, Susan Stuart. Susan says she didn’t kidnap Bast Overture but pulled him into her realm to protect him from Cory Swan the photographer. Bast, however, managed to return to earth and was then kidnapped by Swan. Now he is missing again and Detective Sergeant Fielding and Detective Larry Hutchinson (along with Susan’s spirit) are off to Thurston to find Bast. Dana stays behind with a police constable awaiting Susan’s return with news. Except for Cory Swan, all characters are from stories in Beyond the Tripping Point by Sharon A. Crawford (Blue Denim Press, 2012)

Dana, staring at Constable Joseph Oliver: How did you, head of Records Bureau, wangle coming here? I was expecting a newbie.

Oliver: I convinced Fielding I would be the best choice as I am shall we say close to you and Bast professionally.

Dana: You mean you are our police source.

Oliver chuckles: Glad you can keep your sense of humour.

Dana nods: Yes, well in that vein I would like some more information about my brother’s kidnapping and in particular, why Cory Swan is so upset about that photo of Bast, Susan and Robbie Stuart.

Oliver: You know as much as I do.

Dana: Come on, Oliver.

Oliver shrugs his shoulders: Very well. Swan has a checkered background.

Dana: In what way?

Oliver: He was well connected to the Stuart family.

Dana: What do you mean? Beyond photographing Robbie and Susan for Bast’s story.

Oliver: No, before then…with their father.

Dana: Roger Stuart? The one who disappeared with his secretary years ago?

Oliver: Yes. I shouldn’t be telling you this. But Swan took some photos of Roger and his secretary…

Dana: Yes, but Roger is dead and the secretary is…

Oliver: I know. But for some reason Roger was taken with Swan – it wasn’t only his photography that connected him to people. He was also able to get people to talk about themselves and listen as if it was the most important thing in the world. We think that Swan found out about Roger Stuart ’s impending disappearance with his secretary and Roger paid him some money before he vanished.

Dana: You mean blackmail money?

Oliver shrugs his shoulders. Perhaps.

Dana: All right, say it was blackmail. How does my brother fit in with this? Roger Stuart disappeared before Bast became a crime reporter.

Oliver: We think that Bast uncovered this part of the story and confronted Swan with it – probably outside the interview with Robbie and Susan.

Dana: So, did he include it in his story? Where is that story anyway? Fielding, Hutchinson and I only found the photograph. We don’t know where it was published so can’t check the newspaper morgues.

Oliver shrugs his shoulders.

Dana: Oh, I get it. You did find the story. Come on Oliver, give it up. What did the story say?

Oliver: There was no mention of the connection between Roger Stuart and Cory Swan in the story.

Dana: So, what got Swan riled? Bast isn’t a reporter anymore.

Oliver: This. (Oliver hauls out a piece of paper from his folder.)

Dana leans over to look. The abstract painting starts vibrating and there is loud pounding on the door. The lights go out.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on March 6, 2014 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Credible Fiction Characters, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot anc Character Development, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

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Interview with Fiction Character by Fiction Characters – Part 37

27 Feb

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

In order to have a plot, you have to have a conflict, something bad has to happen.

–          Mike Judge

In last week’s post, Dana, Fielding, and Hutchinson were interviewing Robin Stuart, brother of the murdered Susan Stuart. Stuart, the artist who painted the abstract in the Thurston Public Library boardroom was murdered in the story “Missing in Action” in Beyond the Tripping Point by Sharon A. Crawford (Blue Denim Press, Oct. 2012).  Detective Hutchinson arrested her murderer in that story. But now, Susan seems to be “popping up.” Last week Stuart’s picture started vibrating again. This week… read on.

The abstract stops vibrating and a woman’s head appears in the painting. She continues wailing.

Dana covering her ears: Shut up.

Hutchinson, wide-eyed and pale: Susan Stuart? You are dead.

The waiting stops and the woman’s lips switch to a soft feminine voice.

Woman in the picture: My body is dead, but not my soul.

Dana: What have you done with my brother?

Fielding, glaring at Dana: Dana. Let Hutchinson and I ask the questions.

Woman: It’s okay. She has a perfect right to ask. I did not kidnap her brother but shall we say, I extracted him temporarily from this life to protect him. But I wasn’t strong enough and he returned to Thurston and was then kidnapped.

Fielding: Who kidnapped him?

Woman: I thought you had already figured that out.

Hutchinson: Cory Swan?

Woman: Yes. While Sebastian was with me I told him that his story about me and my art was coming back to haunt him (She chuckles a bit) and I was trying to protect him from Cory Swan…

Dana: How did you know all this?

Woman: You mean how would a dead person know this? Well, our spirits can travel freely throughout the universe. And I’ve been keeping tabs on my paintings, where they are exhibited. While doing this I saw Cory Swan had an unusual interest in this painting here. He has made several trips to this room to look at it.

Fielding: We checked with the library’s listing of who used this room and he wasn’t listed.

Woman: He probably snuck in with a group meeting here.

Dana: She’s probably right. Various community groups meet here. Perhaps one was a photographer’s group.

Fielding, pulling out a printed list: Hmm. No photography list here, but the historical society, a ratepayers’ group, a quilting group, and Ms Dana Bowman.

Dana: Well, he certainly didn’t come in when I was here.

Fielding: You haven’t specifically answered why you took an interest in Bast and how did you know he was in danger?

Woman: It was that photo Cory Swan took of my brother, your brother Dana, and me that tipped me off. Like I said, we spirits get around, and I saw Swan packing up his Thurston office. He pulled out a photo – the one I just mentioned – and kept staring at it. He was muttering under his breath something about “that crime reporter, he knows something about her and he’s going to tell me.” At first I was just curious but when I saw him try to break into the Attic Agency and follow Bast around, I knew something bad was up. So because of what happened to me and how Robbie felt afterwards, I decided to try to save Bast. And the only way I knew how was to bring him temporarily into my world. And try to get a message to all of you. But all I could do was play around with my painting. Your son, Dana, caught on that I was here. Children are more receptive and with his situation, he was more so.

Dana: Did it never occur to you that dragging David into this could hurt him?

Woman: I was only trying to help.

Fielding: If what you say is true, why didn’t you try to communicate with us outside this room?

Woman: My spirit powers are limited. While I can move around anywhere, I can’t connect to any of the living except through something of me that remains behind – my painting.

Dana: So where is my brother now?

Woman: I don’t know. He managed to get himself out of my realm and back to earth. Like you, I only found the remains of his presence in Swan’s old Thurston office. But I did see Swan dump an envelope in your Aunt Doris’s mailbox.

Fielding: And the anonymous threatening phone call to Doris Bowman?

Woman: I knew nothing about that until you interviewed her here in this room.

Dana: What about Doris’s next door neighbour.

Woman: Just a nosey neighbour. I checked him out. Look, I’ve told you all I know.

Fielding: Well, I suggest you think harder about why Swan wanted Bast and took that photograph of the three of you while we check out Swan’s new office and residence in Barrie.

Woman: I’m coming with you…in spirit.

Dana: But you can’t communicate with us anywhere but here.

Fielding: That’s why you, Dana will remain here, along with a constable I will assign here.

Dana: But, I need to go to Barrie – it’s my brother; it’s…

Hutchinson: Better listen to Fielding. He and I will go. Keep your cell on and I hate to say this, your eyes on the painting. If…(he points to the face in the painting) she discovers something we don’t see, she can tell you and you can relay it back to us. Let’s go Fielding.

The two police detectives get up and leave. Dana is left staring at the face in the abstract.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

You can read more about the characters and their stories in from Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to Sharon A. Crawford’s profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-the-tripping-point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy. Spread the word.

Also see more of See Sharon A.’s Upcoming Gigs, workshops, guest blog posts, etc. at http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html

 
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Posted by on February 27, 2014 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Credible Fiction Characters, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot anc Character Development, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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Interview with Fiction Character by Fiction Characters – Part 36

20 Feb

Amazon.com link to Sharon A.'s short story collection

Amazon.com link to Sharon A.’s short story collection

A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise. Because that is how life is – full of surprises.

–          Isaac Bashevis Singer

As Susan Stuart, the abstract painting’s artist is dead (murdered), Detective Sergeant Fielding and Detective Larry Hutchinson have hauled in her brother Robbie Stuart. Dana Bowman, as usual has wangled her way into this interview held in the boardroom of the Thurston Public Library. The three are sitting around the back of the boardroom table right in front of the abstract painting.

All characters  (excluding Mr. Swan) are from the short story collection Beyond The Tripping Point by Sharon A. Crawford (Blue Denim Press, Oct. 2012)

Stuart (looking down at the trio): What’s this? I thought I was coming to see Detective Hutchinson about some wrap-up stuff to my sister’s death.

Hutchinson (pointing to each): Come this way and sit down Mr. Stuart. This is Dana Bowman, one of the PIs who runs The Attic Investigative Agency. And this is Detective Sergeant Donald Fielding who is in charge of the kidnapping of Sebastian Overture, who is Dana’s business partner and also her fraternal twin.

Stuart: So what’s it to do with me?

Hutchinson: First, sit down here.

Stuart shrugs his shoulders, walks to the other end of the room and sits down.

Fielding: Well, first off, this painting behind me was done by your sister Susan…

Stuart: I know that. She did it a couple of years before her death.

Fielding: …and there is this photo. (He shows the photo of Susan, Bast, and Robbie).

Stuart: Yeah, that reporter. He interviewed Susan and I just before she had her art exhibit here. What of it? Oh, I get it. You think I have something to do with his kidnapping.

Fielding: Right now we just want to find out the circumstances surrounding this photo. What exactly did Mr. Overture interview you about?

Stuart: I told you – my sister’s upcoming art show and her artistic talents.

Dana: Oh come on, Mr. Stuart, my brother used to write crime stories, not art stories. So what was he there for?

Stuart: You’re not police. I don’t have to talk to you.

Fielding: Answer the question, Stuart.

Stuart: He asked me about my father.

Dana: You mean Roger Stuart who also disappeared …

Fielding: Dana. I’ll ask the questions.

Dana: Well, ask the right ones. It’s my brother who’s missing. Surely Mr. Stuart can relate to that with his father’s disappearance.

Stuart: Yeah right. My father disappeared many years ago when I was a teenager. He ran off with his secretary and left my mom, sister and myself. It eventually killed my mom.

Hutchinson: Your mother died of cancer.

Stuart (standing): Damn right. And she wouldn’t have gotten it if Dad had stayed with her. And Suzie would still be alive.

Hutchinson: All right. We’ve already covered all this when your sister was murdered. Just answer Detective Fielding’s questions…and Dana Bowman’s too. We just need to know what happened in that interview you and your sister had with Bast Overture.

Stuart: He just asked about Dad disappearing and how it affected us, particularly if that had anything to do with what Suzie drew?

Fielding: And did it?

Stuart: Well, yeah. She painted abstracts because she said she found life, her life, anything but concrete in what happened, so she chose abstracts to show her feelings.

Dana (pointing to the abstract behind her): So, what feelings did Susan show in this painting?

Stuart: I dunno.

Fielding: Come on, come on, you were there when Mr. Overture interviewed your sister. What did he ask you?

Stuart: Just to tell him about Dad’s disappearance.

Fielding: I see. And what did you say about that?

Stuart shrugs his shoulders.

Dana: What can you tell us about the photographer who took this picture?

Stuart: I dunno. He was a photographer – from the newspaper, I guess. He came in midway and took various photos.

Fielding: Anything unusual about him?

Stuart (shrugging his shoulder): I dunno. He’s a photographer. Oh wait a minute. He seemed very interested in Suzie’s painting – that one now up on the wall.

Fielding: In what way?

Stuart: Just what it meant to her – why she painted it?

Fielding: Okay, can you tell us that now?

Stuart: She said it represented a maze – something she felt she lived in because of Dad’s disappearance. Life to her was a maze where people always had to be on high alert for someone coming in and snatching their lives, destroying their lives. If you could figure how to get out of the maze you were home free.

Fielding: And did she say if she knew how to get home free.

Stuart: She said she was working on it.

Fielding: And was that photographer Cory Swan.

Stuart: Yes, that’s him.

Fielding: Was Mr. Swan present when your sister talked about that abstract and mazes.

Stuart: Yes, he was and he seemed very interested. He even stopped shooting photos to listen.

Dana: And yet the photo here doesn’t even show that abstract painting – doesn’t even show any of your sister’s paintings. And why would he take a photo with my brother, who was doing the story interview. Reporters don’t usually put themselves into the story.

Stuart: I don’t know. I’ve never seen that photo before. All I know is the photographer stopped taking photos when Suzie spoke and…wait a minute, he aimed his camera at us, and I guess that’s when he did take that shot.

Dana: Do you know if that photo was the one included in the newspaper story?

Stuart: I don’t think so. The photo was one of Suzie holding up one of her paintings. I still have a copy of the story.

Fielding: Where was it published?

Stuart: The Toronto Herald.

Fielding: Back to the photo. Do you remember which photo your sister was holding up?

Stuart: No, some abstract obviously?

Dana (pointing): Was it this abstract.

Stuart shrugs his shoulders.

The abstract painting starts to vibrate and a loud wailing is heard. It seems to be coming from the abstract painting.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

You can read more about the characters and their stories in from Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to Sharon A. Crawford’s profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-the-tripping-point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy. Spread the word.

Sharon A. is teaching Getting Your Memoir off the Ground Workshop, Saturday, February 22, 2014 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Details at http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/SpeakersBureau.html

Also see more of See Sharon A.’s Upcoming Gigs, workshops, guest blog posts, etc. at http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html

 
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Posted by on February 20, 2014 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Credible Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

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