RIP Dorothy Gilman

I discovered Dorothy Gilman and Mrs. Polifax in a stack of Reader's Digest Condensed Books that I inherited when we moved into our house. Amongst the twenty or so volumes there were three Mrs. Polifax stories, the first three of the series, I believe. After that I checked out the few other books Mrs. Gilman had written from our local library.

Mrs. Polifax was the first "old" character I'd come across that didn't spend her time sitting in a chair knitting. She was out in the world and active. Her simple missions for the CIA always took a turn for the worse and she wound up having to fight her way out with her wits and those lovely Judo chops she learned.

This summer I picked up several of the Polifax books that I hadn't read and was soon immersed in that wonderful world that Dorothy Gilman created. And Mrs. Polifax hadn't missed a beat. She was still at the top of her game.

Thank you, Mrs. Gilman, for all the hours of pleasure you've blessed me with.

http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2012/02/dorothy-gilman-rip.html

Musing on a Saturday

Okay, I've been watching the Bravo channel which is filled with commercials for the "Real Housewives" from everywhere. Now I ask you, do you actually believe that those are real housewives? Can you imagine any one of those ladies changing a diaper, cleaning up puke, or dealing with a dishwasher that's just flooded the kitchen? No, because just looking at them you know they've got a houseful of servants to take care of those things for them.

Realizing that, I got to thinking about characters in our stories. We're always told to make them real, make them believable. How do you do that? Take a good hard look at your story. Is your female lead a supermodel or a housewife? If she's a housewife, the woman is not going to have six inch fingernails, Gucci shoes, or diamonds dripping from her neck and ears. Her hair is probably pulled back in a ponytail, she's barefoot or wearing slippers or sneakers, and she's wearing a T-shirt and jeans or sweatpants. What ever she's wearing can come into play during the course of the story. A man grabs her ponytail to stop her. Barefoot, broken glass on the floor. And have you ever tried to run in slippers? Not pretty. Sweatpants, surely she couldn't be dangerous but that gun in her hand gives the lie to that.

Real people go grocery shopping, yes even the men, they do dishes, they scrub the grout in their bathroom. No, you don't have to include that in your story but it helps you the writer to remember just who your character is and not just what they're doing. Knowing that helps keep the character grounded. Most characters are just like you and me, ordinary people with ordinary problems until that moment when everything goes sideways. Use their ordinary to make them real.

The News Story Cupboard

http://news.yahoo.com/30-floating-marijuana-bales-found-off-calif-beach-142727140.html

That link sent all kinds of story ideas whisking through my head. And yes, stories have been told about people finding drugs and money, and done well. But hey, this is the ocean. And California. There are boats and beaches and surfers. Do you wonder if all the marijuana was turned in? And how do you haul thirty bales? And where would you hide it? So many questions equals a whole lot of stories.

Reading Choices

Since discovering Richard Parks' blog, I've become a regular reader. He writes about short stories and the problems that plague the writers who love and work in the form. Yesterday's post was about name recognition and touched on the subject of writing standalone shorts vs serial shorts. Much food for thought. http://richard-parks.com/2012/02/01/zen-and-the-art-of-beating-your-head-against-a-wall/

Early in my writing I wrote stories that featured a character named Buck Tuff. He was a PI and his ex-wife, Irma, was his partner. They were a broad slap-stick version of a traditional PI. I began writing these characters in a flash group that I belonged to, but I found that whenever I strayed from these B&I stories the readers would suggest ways to make the new story about them. While I loved the characters and a few of the stories were published, I didn't want to get caught in the trap of only being able to keep readers happy by writing about Buck and Irma's adventures.

Another problem with the setup of the stories was in poking fun at the PI genre, the stories weren't being accepted in the mystery markets even though they usually had a mystery at the heart of them. They were both too humorous and had too much sexual innuendo to make them acceptable.

So I stepped away from the characters and began writing for the online noir market, with the stories getting darker and darker. I still have a few series stories, like the ones set on Mulberry Street, but I try to only write one or two of them a year for fear of getting caught in that trap of only being able to write those stories.

How about you? Do you prefer a short story writer who builds a world of characters for you? And are you disappointed when one of their stories isn't set in that world? Or do you just read an author to enjoy the ride no matter where they take you?

And if you'd like to check out B&I here are links to a couple of stories that are still online.

Harpooned http://www.mystericale.com/072/harpooned.htm
Jingle All the Way http://powderburnflash.blogspot.com/2007/12/powder-flash-burn-57-sandra-seamans.html

Spinetingler Best Novella Award Winner

The winner of Spinetingler's 2012 Best Novella Award is "The Point" by Gerard Brennan.

Congrats to Gerard!! We're Snoopy dancing here at the Corner today. http://www.spinetinglermag.com/2012/02/01/2012-spinetingler-award-best-novella-winner/

Market Notes

DL Snell has a pair of interviews with the editors of the "Fungi" anthology and the "Extreme Planets" anthology. Both are still open for subs. http://www.dlsnell.com

And be sure to drop over to http://darkmarkets.com where they have a call posted for the alternate history anthology "Zombie Jesus and Other True Stories". And a call for submissions for a new horror zine "Abomination".

Trestle Press - A Head's Up

For those of you considering Trestle Press for a possible publisher, you should read this:

http://doodle777.deviantart.com/journal/Art-theft-It-s-good-news-it-really-is-282415361

Hat tip to Paul Brazill who has pulled his work from this publisher's lineup. It really bites when you trust a publishing house and they betray you.

Update: A few more links

http://malcolmholtabitontheside.blogspot.com/2012/01/crime-tyne-shots-have-been-shot.html

http://psychonoir.blogspot.com/2012/02/announcement-regarding-tp.html

http://juliamadeleineauthor.blogspot.com/2012/02/trestlegate.html

http://litreactor.com/news/digital-publisher-trestle-press-dinged-for-stealing-cover-art

http://rthomasbrown.blogspot.com/2012/02/trestle-titles.html

http://www.lucaveste.com/2012/02/why-it-matters.html

Update: 2/3/12 And a change of heart:
http://noirtaketurner-frank.blogspot.com/

Another Update - From Trestle Press:
http://www.trestlepresspublishing.com/2012/02/questions-raised-and-facts.html
Trestle Press has taken down this page as of 2/3/12

In Defense of Trestle Press:
http://noirtaketurner-frank.blogspot.com/2012/02/of-late-publisher-i-work-with-trestle.html