Launch Day!

by Jamie Freveletti

 

I am pleased to announce that the book I wrote for the Estate of Robert Ludlum is on sale today! Several people have asked me what it was like writing a continuation of a series begun by a legendary writer such as Robert Ludlum and I can say this: Scary, fun, difficult and engrossing, but the things that I thought would be difficult weren't and the scary aspect just had to be ignored or nothing would get done.

I was and remain a huge fan of Robert Ludlum, of course. His The Bourne Identity is just about a perfect premise for a novel; you've been shot, have lost your memory, and are learning bit by bit about who you are and the signs are pointing in an ugly direction.

I had to think long and hard about what Ludlum would like as I wrote. His books contained international plot lines, non stop action and nasty players in the world arena. They often dealt with government gone awry. The Covert One series is about a group of covert operators accountable only to the President of the United States and deployed by him when matters get deep and ugly.

The main character, Jon Smith, is a military man, microbiologist and a member of the United States Medical Research Institute on Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick. (USAMRIID actually exists and a strain of anthrax there was suspected to have been used in the mailings from 2001). He's the perfect Ludlum character because he's upstanding, competent and willing to do what it takes. While he's not as dark as Bourne, he's just as deadly.

I learned that I was chosen to write the next in the series while I attended a mystery conference called Bouchercon. My own debut novel, Running From The Devil had just won a Barry award for best first novel and after the ceremony I met with the representatives of the Estate in the hotel bar. I remember sitting in the Hyatt and thinking what a wonderful, and slightly surreal, day I was having. Later that evening I was charged up and started writing. I realized that I wanted Jon Smith in trouble from the moment that he opened his eyes and I wanted the trouble to just keep coming. He's in a hotel that's under attack by terrorists. The first line is this:

Lieutenant Colonel Jon Smith opened his eyes to see a shadowy figure standing at the foot of his hotel room bed pointing a gun at him.
 

The terrorists are swarming through the hotel, where leading scientists and doctors from around the world are attending a meeting of the World Health Organization. The attackers have a hidden agenda. While the hotel is under attack, Oman Dattar, a strongman who is held in a prison nearby while being tried by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, escapes.

Dattar hates the United States and holds it responsible for his arrest and extradition and he also hates Britain, because that country has agreed to imprison him. He acquires a deadly weapon that kills silently, quickly, and once deployed cannot be contained, and he begins to carry out his plan of revenge. Smith and the other members of Covert One will have to use all of their skills to stop him.

I had a blast writing this novel, and I hope you enjoy it!

 

 

 

 







Writing a Thriller: Recent Plagiarism scandal shows just how difficult it is

by Jamie Freveletti

By now many have read about the most recent plagiarism scandal involving Assassin of Secrets, a spy novel that received high praise and launched a couple of weeks ago. Since the launch, it's been discovered that the author lifted entire passages from over thirteen spy novels, including those written by such famous authors as Robert Ludlum and Bond author Raymond Benson, (a lovely and multi-talented man who lives here in the Chicago area). When asked why he did it, the author mentions (I'm paraphrasing here) that after he sold the book to Little Brown he received extensive edits from his publisher that amounted to a nearly entire rewrite of the manuscript. Upon receiving the edits he realized that: 1. that he had to create these edits in record time and 2. began to have serious doubts about whether he could create something compelling enough to satisfy the house. 

 Welcome to the world of thriller writing. 

In fact, welcome to the world of writing in general. If you're a writer and reading this then you know just how difficult it is to create a scene that holds together and drives the story forward. In thriller writing that scene may also include action sequences, which I love to write but have their own rhythm and can fall flat if not done just right. 

If you're a reader then you know, too, because a thriller requires a certain type of pacing and detail that is the mark of an interesting read. Readers know what a thriller feels like and they aren't confused about the work that goes into creating such a novel. I know this, because before I became a writer I was-and am- an avid reader. I'd read a book by one of my favorites and think about how tough it must have been to write over three hundred pages that kept me so enthralled. I never took books or authors for granted. 

Writing is a struggle enough when not under deadline, but when under deadline or when asked to rewrite passages a writer can freeze. I remember the joy of writing my first before I sold it. It was just me and the story late at night when the city was quiet and I allowed my imagination to fly. After Running from the Devil was sold I, too, like every other author, received a list of suggested edits from my editor and a few short weeks to create them. Panic, especially if you are doing it for the first time, as I was, can set in. You think, "I just wrote this and now I have to write it again?" Some authors have confided to me their anger at having their scenes gutted or questioned by the editor. They spent months writing them only to find them marked out and left on the cutting room floor. 

From the first time it happened to me I remember looking at the list of edits and taking a deep breath. I knew intellectually that they would probably make the book better, but I was frightened that I would not be able to produce on a regular basis. Yet, once the book is sold that's what you are asked to do. So I created a mantra for myself and it goes like this: 

You're a writer. That's what you do. You should be able to rewrite this scene a hundred times and make it interesting. So let's go. 

If you're writing your first and haven't sold yet you are in that wonderful place where it's just you and your imagination. Enjoy it! When you do sell it will still be magical, but the reality of other expectations will crowd into the room and stand at your back as you write. Don't worry, it's not all pressure; they'll applaud, too.

And when I looked at the list of thriller writers that were plagiarized it makes me want to go out and read their novels. They're all good, but because Raymond Benson is a Chicago based author and this is a Chicago blog I suggest that you start with his latest, The Black Stiletto.

Writing as a Profession

by Jamie Freveletti

At a recent dinner party my friends and I started discussing our previous jobs, from the earliest to present. Once we began going around the table asking the best and worst jobs we've had it became really funny. I've continued the discussion by asking those I meet to tell me their experiences. At least two had worked in some sort of meat processing facility and both quit after three days. Apparently you don't want to see how sausage is made, nor do you want to work on a poultry farm.

Others discussed the grind of physical labor. Lifting cords of wood and shoving steel wore out two friends, even though they were young when they attempted it. Watching children in a summer day camp climbed the list for one as the most stressful job she's ever had. She said it takes a special person to handle thirty children at once. She's says now when her three seem to be running in all different directions she calms herself by remembering the thirty. Most seemed to like being a waiter or waitressing (I did as well) and one loved working summers at a summer camp.

It never occurred to me how different it is to be a writer until I happened to pick up some email the other day while on the fly. It was work related-- I have a separate email address only for my agent, publicist, editors and publishing houses-- and it was about the upcoming launch of The Ninth Day. Because the launch is less than two months out (September 27) I'm in the prelaunch period where there are a lot of decisions to be made. Tour schedule, signings and marketing. I picked it up on my phone on a late Friday and it was an easily handled request.

Now, as a lawyer, any given day would have included an email or call from a panicked attorney in the firm with a crisis that needed to be addressed that minute. By that I mean drop everything else and head to the office immediately. I once got a call on a friday at noon from the mail room. A sixty page injunction was coming through by fax with an emergency hearing in a far north suburb. It was the Friday before the Fourth of July. Yep, some lawyer had arranged the hearing for what he thought would be the worst possible time for the opposing counsel to appear. Of course everyone was already gone or at the golf course. I, however, was there and the document ended up on my desk. Within minutes I was on the road for the hour and a half drive to make the hearing.

This kind of gamesmenship doesn't seem to be the norm in the publishing world. Yes, I heard about the time that Amazon uncloaked their emails by mistake and it was discovered that some industry professionals were busy posting bad reviews on the books of their competitors. Whenever you allow anonymous reviews you'll get some bad behavior and the anonymity of the internet makes this easy to do. And I'm not saying that emergencies don't happen, but for the most part a well planned launch will address as many variables as possible well before publication date.

Probably the toughest aspect of writing as a profession is the discipline needed to write on a schedule when no one is hovering over you demanding it. It's easy to let other things take your attention away. Before you know it, you're cleaning the kitchen or fielding phone calls when you should be writing. You need to self motivate. Luckily, writing is so enthralling, that getting it done seems to be fun rather than work. And that is a great thing to be able to say!

Teenage mobs and Violence: Chicago Style

by Jamie Freveletti

By now probably half the world has heard about the recent attacks carried out by a group of teenagers against three different people, one a 68 year old. Crime in a big city is not so unusual as to create headlines, but mobs of teenagers heading out of their neighborhood to hit another and doing it in the early evening is news.

Earlier in the year I posted about my concerns involving Chicago's red line subway stop at Chicago/State. You can see the post here. Not surprisingly, the mobs used the red line and exited at this station to get to their victims. Also not surprisingly, the McDonalds there was the scene of an earlier disturbance, where it is alleged over 70 teens converged and the restaurant had to be shut down for several hours.

Two weeks ago I emerged at this corner on my way to the Magnificent Mile and found barrage of police. At least a dozen officers stood in front of the McDonalds. I knew that something must have happened, but this was several months after the McDonalds incident, so now we're talking new. While the show of force was good, it was another thing Chicago is, to my mind, becoming famous for: big talk and little action. And couple of weeks later the attacks happen only two blocks over on Chicago Avenue.

I'm not suggesting that the police can contain all crime, but I am suggesting that Chicago's residents are a pretty jaded group. We have several ex- governor felons, one in jail, one being tried and whole members of the infrastructure being indicted, but still the voters stay home. Our budget is in a shambles, our schools deteriorating and still the voters stay home. Now the one area that may be actually generating the tax base that Chicago needs to continue as a going concern is being attacked by roving gangs of teenagers and journalists wring their hands over whether they should identify the attackers' race (black, and they didn't) and another writes a piece on how the south side is different from the downtown area and crime there isn't reported or acted on enough, as if two wrongs somehow should make a right. And the mother of one of the attackers is quoted in the paper echoing this sentiment by complaining that the bail was too high and if her child had attacked someone on the South Side he would have gotten a lighter bond.

Notice how neither addresses the core problem: crime.

Enough. There is lot of handwringing, but basically a big shrug in the end. Chicagoans need to be outraged. They need to demand better and they need to get their butts to the voting booth and make a change in the best way that they can. And this new Mayor needs to crack down, and by that I mean inside his own City Hall. We've had enough crime start there as the round of indictments show and it spreads outward. As the saying goes: the fish rots at the head.

Let's hope this new fish can get it done. In the meantime, I'm headed to the dojo and then to the track to run. Looks like I'd better keep both skills honed.

Research for Crime Writers: Get it right.

by Jamie Freveletti


With the advent of television shows like CSI and others, those writing detective novels and crime scene investigators are under increased pressure to write details about crime detection. Which is not to say that CSI depicts in any way the actual steps that go into an investigation. I've been to many seminars put forth by forensic scientists and all roll their eyes at some of the more incredible plot lines in the television show. Likewise, many thrillers stretch the truth and the abilities of the tools out there for crime detection. In fact, there are some tools that simply don't exist, but have become embedded into the collective unconsciousness to such an extent that audiences believe they do.


I ran into this latter problem when writing my first, Running from the Devil. In that novel, my protagonist, Emma Caldridge, is on an airplane that's downed in the Colombian jungle. The paramilitary group that downed the plane arrange to take away the airplane's flight recorder and then bomb the remains, making it difficult for investigators to find the wreckage. Early manuscript readers, though, didn't believe that a plane's wreckage would be difficult to find. All seemed to think that a simple google earth search would reveal its exact location quickly.


Not so. In fact, there are hundreds of airplanes that crash and are never recovered or found. Most are in the Pacific Northwest in America, where the wooded areas and mountainous regions do not lend themselves to easy access, and others in countries with areas like the jungle, where dense foliage block any chance of finding it. In order to deal with the readers' lack of credulity about a fact that was actually true, I wrote in an official of the US organization in charge of finding downed planes and had him recite the actual statistics to an (equally incredulous) main character. Problem solved.


Luckily for most authors, there are now classes and workshops arranged by trusted sources that will teach you all you need to know about crime scene detection and give it to you straight. Not only are these classes informative, but they're a lot of fun. The trick to finding them is to scan the events pages of associations like the International Thriller Writers (ITW) or the museums in your area. I recently received a link from the Natural History Museum in London that is putting on a terrific forensic investigation evening on June 24th. In this evening, one can view a crime scene and learn how to determine date and time of death by insect collection (complete with maggots! Love these creatures and used them in Running from the Devil) as well as tips on how to identify sex and height of skeletal remains. I wish I lived in London. If I did, I'd attend this one for sure.


But wherever you live, if you're writing crime you'll eventually have to learn the basics of crime scene detection. Gruesome as it sounds, it's actually quite interesting.


Whatever you do, try your best to get it right or you will receive emails setting you straight. Just about every writer has had a mistake or two surface in their manuscripts and there are whole websites devoted to the continuity mistakes in movies. I guess that's reassuring. Even Hollywood gets it wrong sometimes.

How Far Can An Artist Stretch Before The Fans Reject?

By Jamie Freveletti

I just came home from seeing Robert Plant and his Band Of Joy at Chicago's Auditorium theatre. Up until two days ago I had no idea I'd be there, but on Friday morning I heard Mr. Plant interviewed on the local radio. He sounded intelligent, thoughtful and interesting. A far cry from the man in the band known for its excess and I was surprised by the interview. And since I've lately been on this "why aren't you grabbing at life more?" kick I thought, Well, here I am, living not three miles from the Auditorium Theater and I'm letting this concert roll by. How foolish is that? I got home, hit the web and found last minute tickets.

Less than twenty four hours later I was sitting twenty feet from this artist and watching him sing songs that bore little resemblence to his Led Zeppelin days. No problem for me, because the band broke up before I began to buy records with my own money. I've never bought a Led Zeppelin album. In contrast, I do have his latest Gone Gone Gone with Alison Krauss and Angel Dance on my ipod.

Like Steven Tyler on the recent country music awards, Plant hits his notes and is a consumate professional. These rock and roll guys can make it happen, can't they? Indeed, the man's voice was astonishing. In this age of auto tune and backing vocal tracks it's always obvious when an artist who didn't work with such crutches appears on stage.

After opening with an unusual arrangement of Black Dog and making the crowd crazy, it became clear as he sang his new music that the audience, though respectful, was itching to hear another Zeppelin song. And as I sat there I thought about artists and how they become brands. How some of the readers I know tell me, "I love John Sandford, but only read his Davenport novels, never his Flowers stuff." But at least those two protagonists belong to the same mystery genre. What Plant was doing was blues infused alternative, far from the hard rock and roll of his Zeppelin days. I wonder if the Sandford fans would tolerate it if he wrote a romance along the lines of Nicholas Sparks? Would they reject him? Force him back into the mystery world?

I was discussing this with a few other writers I know and some pointed out the obvious successes, Nora Roberts/JD Robb, Grisham's crime and family novels. And yet, one author friend stated it pretty succinctly: "I don't think authors that are brands can branch out too far. Imagine if Beyonce decided to sing country. It could be the best country album ever, but the fans would probably reject it because it would be too much of a stretch."

But as an artist, part of the creative process requires stretching, learning, imagining and attempting. While the corporations that manage an artist's career may shudder at creative need to try new genres--they know all too well that there are fans who will reject the attempt no matter how well done-I think the artist needs to take that risk. Having done it allows him or her to return to the familiar with a renewed sense of imagination and possibility.

Plant eventually launched into (just two more) Zeppelin songs (Ramble On and Tangerine) and wow, did the audience go wild. As a man who gave me the impression that he rarely laughs out loud, I was heartened to see his face break into a large smile as the crowd roared and rose to its feet. Whatever he must think about being locked into the past, it was clear that he understood that for these fans that part of his history will never go away and his rendition of these old favorites had a fresh new sound. No Jimmy Page shredding and heavy bass, but a cool bluesy vibe that worked.

I also was heartened by the fans. It was clear that they loved him and while they wanted the past, they paid money and listened to his present, which is what I thinks readers do, too. Watching both Plant and his fans embrace the new and honor the past to create a vibrant, still relevant career made me happy that I'd taken the plunge and got off the couch. And I guess it's obvious now that I'm going to have to keep getting up and getting out. Because life-- and art-- should be lived and enjoyed. Don't you agree?

Let's Talk Non-Fiction

by Jamie Freveletti

I don't usually read fiction while I write, and definitely avoid thrillers and mysteries. I just don't think I'm free of influence enough yet, (though I'm told by other thriller writers that this will come with time). So, I end up reading a lot of non-fiction. Some relates to crime non-fiction and the rest to subject areas that I find interesting. Here's the latest batch:

1. Magnificent Mind: Natural Ways to Unleash Your Brain's Maximum Potential. Daniel G. Amen, M.D.

This book I picked up because I'm pretty much in for anything that will unleash my mind's "maximum" potential. The author, a clinical neuroscientist, runs the Amen Clinics, where he scans brains and helps ADD kids, anxiety patients, and treats depression and memory problems. A quick search on google revealed many critics of the brain scan aspect of his methods, but I like his "let's try a natural product before we bring out the big guns" approach. He has chapters such as: Ignite Your Passion, Light Up the Brain Circuits that Drive Success. You've just got to love that title!

He suggests things we've all heard: fish oil, gingko biloba, but also suggests other natural remedies like Phosphatidylserine, Vinpocetine and Huperzine A. Heard of them? Me neither, but that's what I liked about this book.


2. Life, Keith Richards

This book captured my interest, and while one critic complained that it was a MEmoir, I must say that I really enjoyed Mr. Richards' memories about how the blues influenced him. Especially his memories about the iconic Checkerboard Lounge here in Chicago and the blues musicians that cycled through that bar during the '60's and '70's. (As I mentioned in an earlier post, my mother was a jazz singer in Chicago during that time and knew many of the musicians mentioned).

While Mr. Richards keeps his drug fueled exploits to a minimum, and I'm sure there are many that never made it into this book, his description of America and England during the rise of rock and roll in the 60's is of interest to anyone who wants to learn about that era.

3. Tapping the Source: Using the Master Key System for Abundance and Happiness. By Gladstone, Greninger, and Selby.

I picked this book up on a whim. It's what I'd call the typical New Age book, but this one had an interesting twist. The authors are expounding on an older method recommended by a man named Charles Haanel. Mr. Haanel lived from 1866 to 1949, and in 1912 wrote a book that attempted to explain and teach a method to explain the Law Of Attraction.

I'm a non believer in certain new age claims, but I am seeing the sense in some of what this book is saying. For example, try not to think negative thoughts, because while you may be right and all is lost, it doesn't really add to your life to think in such a way. (I couldn't agree more).

I'm only a third of the way through, but I'm enjoying it. I think it's worth a read, and apparently the author of The Secret referred to this man and his master key system and we all know how many books that author sold!

I'm headed out tomorrow to get some more non-fiction, because between writing my own number four (number three is written, called The Ninth Day and launches in late October) and working on the Ludlum Covert One series, I'm pretty much writing all the time. I see no fiction in my immediate future.

If you have any suggestions for me do tell!

Holidays In the Family That's Left of Center

by Jamie Freveletti

Well, we're well into the holiday season now and if you're like me you're starting to wonder just how you ended up a member of the family that you are. I always think, do other families have these issues? Or is it just mine?

It starts with the Christmas tree. My family is spread out over the country, and I used to grab my husband and kids and drag them to Miami Beach over Christmas. It was a logical idea, because from there we'd continue south to the Caribbean for a week. One year, after landing, I went to my mother's house for a quick reconnaissance to determine what holiday decorations we needed. She had what I fully expected: a fake white Christmas tree.

My mother always had a fake white Christmas tree. I grew up in a middle class suburb of Chicago, where the men were steel workers and bus drivers and the women stayed home and raised a minimum of four children. These families had green trees and you'd best believe those trees were real. They had colored lights and the usual popcorn strands, tinsel, etc. Could we have that? Oh no. My mother was a jazz singer, the only divorced woman on the block, and she was raising her four children with a white Christmas tree with...pink lights and pink ornaments.

I'm not kidding. Our tree was a fake white beast with pink lights and matching ornaments. To this day I can't figure out where she got those rose colored italian lights. We kids just rolled our eyes, because the tree was not our main focus, the gifts were, and we were so used to being different that a white tree with pink bulbs was the least of our worries.

But this latest tree in Miami Beach was so lame that even I couldn't see how I was going to convince my kids that this was actually meant to be a Christmas tree. It didn't even attempt to look real. It was kind of a modern, spindly thing, about four feet high, cut in a perfect cone shape, with a rope around it that glowed white. I suppose the rope was to imitate actual Christmas lights, but who knows who knows what the designers were thinking?

It was as though they'd smoked pot and thought, "whoa, stringing real lights might be a lot of work! Let's just use a glow rope and call it a day."

I called in my husband for a consultation. He's been married for a while now, and so knows enough not to say, "What the hell is wrong with your family?" but instead he just took one look at the tree and said, "Guess we'd better go shopping."

I dare anyone to try to find a Christmas tree in Miami Beach on the day before Christmas Eve. There we were, driving from department store lot to department store lot, coming up empty every time. The kids were in the back playing on their handhelds and every so often glancing up to determine if we were in a Home Depot lot or a Toys R Us, which was what they were pushing for. During this time it occurred to me that my kids might be the same as I was at that age, and the actual shape, configuration, and color of the tree would be unimportant as long as gifts were to be placed under it. I turned to my husband and said, "Let's just buy a fake tree--a green one with the lights attached, and my Mom can use it year after year."

The howls that emitted from the back seat were deafening. Both were so upset, I had to double check that these were the same children who'd been completely uninterested the minute before. I turned to my husband for support.

"Isn't that a good idea? We don't cut a living tree down?"

Surprisingly, he nixed the entire idea.

"I'm not buying a fake Christmas tree. I refuse," he said, sounding a lot like our offspring in the back seat. I sighed and spotted a Kmart in the distance.

"Fine. But I'm losing my faith that we'll ever find a tree."

We pulled up to the Kmart lot, and looked around. There, far in the corner, was a pickup truck with a green tree on the ground next it. We walked up and the Spanish speaking owner indicated with signs--neither my husband nor I could speak Spanish,--that he was down to the last one and he was willing to give it to us for half price. The tree was tightly wrapped with rope (real, not a fake lighted one) and looked pretty sad, lying on the ground. We bought it and the seller threw in a stand, probably in a moment of holiday spirit and because he felt sorry for us and our sad little tree, and off we went.

Once it was unwrapped, watered and the branches fell, the tree was pretty good looking. The kids decorated it and we added some colored lights and tinsel. Christmas was saved. To this day, though, every year, when we go to buy our tree for our own home-we no longer fly down to Miami until after--the kids tell their father, "Remember when you saved us from Mom's idea of buying a fake tree?"

Like mother like daughter.

Happy Holidays!

Writers and Conferences.

by Jamie Freveletti

I just returned from Bouchercon 2010 the annual mystery convention. My first writers conference was Bouchercon when it was here in Chicago. I remember finding the web page online, seeing the list of authors--many that I admired and read voraciously, and scanning the panels page.

That conference sticks in my memory, mostly because it was my first, the weather in Chicago was beautiful (I rode my bike down the lake to get there) and many friends that I made there have stayed friends. Some were other, aspiring writers at the time that are now published and working on their second or third novels, and others were readers that loved the same authors that I did.

What is fun about these conferences now is the fact that they take me away from my computer and writer mode and back into fan mode. I learn about new authors, new stories, and get to be a fan again. For the first couple of days I'm thrilled to be out and about.

What's tough about the conferences is the flip side: that I usually don't have time to write. By the last day I'm usually holed up in my room pounding out a few pages. Writing keeps me balanced, happy, and gives me a chance to go wherever my imagination takes me. I love it. Can't wait to do more of it, and am thankful to be able to do it as a living. For that last bit I thank the readers.

Differences between Lawyers and Writers

by Jamie Freveletti

A while ago I blogged on my web page about the differences between lawyers and writers. I feel I have some perspective on this, having been both now for a while, as are my fellow bloggers here at the Outfit: David Ellis and Laura Caldwell.

My first conference ever was Bouchercon Chicago. I dutifully paid my fee and had a wonderful time attending panels and wandering the halls, watching the famous writers casually stroll by. In between panels I did what most lawyers do during the day--I went to the nearby Starbucks to get a shot of the caffeine that propelled me through my day. When the evening rolled around I also did what most lawyers do: I headed home to catch a quick bite in order to see the kids, put them to bed, and then begin working again. For the lawyer, billable hours are what you strive for, and those hours must get recorded no matter what else you did that day. No rest for the weary.

Little did I know that the writers were in the hotel bar, having a great time. It would have never occurred to me to go to the bar--if I did, how would I stay sharp enough to bill those late night hours?

The other thing I've noticed is planning. Now, many writers I know are great planners, but they don't engage in it the way lawyers do. Many lawyers plan like extreme athletes: they organize weeks, even months in advance. Writers? Not so much. Arranging lunch during a business trip can be a last minute affair, but it's safe to say if the meal gets arranged the writer will be calm and far less stressed out than their legal counterpart. I've been known to get texts from writers suggesting a quick drink one hour in the future! If that had been a lawyer he would have arranged the drink a week in advance and sent me a link to not only the bar, but reviews and a google map.

But there is one thing that is absolutely the same between the professions--networking. Whether done in the hotel bar or a law firm conference room, meeting others in your profession is still the best way to further your career, make friends in the profession, and learn the ropes. This is an important fact that many people forget--writers and lawyers alike. There is no substitute for that face to face meeting.

And, one other thing--both lawyers and writers can be fascinating company. They're intellectual, smart, curious, and often quite funny. I love hanging out with both. They have a curiosity about what make people tick and most have insightful views into human nature. Perhaps this is why so many lawyers write, and why so many writers are able to make characters in their books leap from the page, but whatever it is, let me just say there is no better way to spend an evening!

Cult Books-Favorites-and Not So Much

by Jamie Freveletti

Ask a reader what are their favorite books and you will get a slew of answers with few overlaps. The joy of reading is that there is a genre out there for everyone. Change the question to “what is your favorite cult book?” and the list narrows. Cult books hold a unique position in the public consciousness, because they survive often in spite of their narrow appeal.

It’s tough to label a book a “cult” classic, because we all have different interpretations of what that might mean. For me, it’s a book that you stumble upon, and when you describe it to your friends they all seem to know it, and agree that is was odd, outside their normal reading material, and that they loved it, or hated it. The love or the hate runs deep with cult books.

The Telegraph came very close to creating the perfect cult book list in this amusing article: Fifty Best Cult Books. I urge you to read the authors' hilarious short explanations of the books, which are dead on. Here's their list (without the funny asides):

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)

The Alexandria Quartet A Rebours by JK Huysman (1884)

Baby and Child Care by Dr. Spock (1946)

The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf (1991)

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (1963)

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1964)

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951)

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield (1993)

The Dice Man by Luke Rheinhart (1971)

The Chariot of the Gods: Was God an Astronaut? by Erich von Daniken (1968)

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980)

Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1782)

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg (1824)

Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health by L. Ron Hubbard (1950)

The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley (1954)

Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979)

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe (1968)

Fear of Flying by Erica Jong (1973)

The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer (1970)

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (1943)

Godel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter (1979)

Gravity's Rainbow by Douglas Pynchon (1973)

The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln (1982)

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (1948)

If On a Winter's Night by Italo Calvino (1979)

Iron John: A book about men by Robert Bly (1990)

Jonathon Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach and Robert Munson (1970)

The Magus by John Fowles (1966)

Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borgas (1962)

The Leopard by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa (1968)

The Master and the Margarita by Mikail Bulgakov (1967)

No Logo by Naomi Klein (2000)

On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1967)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson (1971)

The Outsider by Colin Wilson (1956)

The Prophet by Khalil Gibran (1923)

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell (1914)

The Rubbiayat of Omar Khayyam by Edward Fitzgerald (1854)

The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron (1937)

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (1922)

The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1774)

The Story of O by Pauline Reage (1954)

The Stranger by Albert Camus (1942)

The Teachings of Don Juan: The Yaquit Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda (1968)

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain (1933)

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Wilhelm Von Nietzsche (1883-85)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig (1974

There were a few on this list that surprised me. I’d read many, and disliked some and hated one in particular (“The Fountainhead.” I shudder at the thought of it).

In reading the list, I realized that many of the books came to define an era or make a profound, or not so profound, statement on women, men, sex, and the ever interesting subject of the “meaning of life.” Several created new descriptors for old behaviors. “Catch 22, “(Vonegut), “Zipless F.*#%,” (Jong), and “New Operating Thetan” (Hubbard). Okay, that last one is only known to followers of Scientology or the antics of those in Hollywood, but you get my drift. To be a cult novel it must operate on the reader in a way that makes her step back and rethink an old closely held idea.

What’s most interesting is the way our culture has changed since these books were written. Jong’s groundbreaking view into housewives and sex without strings seems like a yawn today, where casual sex is much more prevalent and even accepted in some circles, and Hubbard’s “Dianetics” has received its share of derision and hostility even as followers of Scientology continue to remain at the top of the “A” list in Hollywood. “The Story of O,” described in the Telegraph article as a treatise decrying the objectification of women may have been seen that way in 1954 when it was published, but by the time I read it in the late ‘80’s appeared to be nothing more than an erotic novel describing an unusual sexual subculture and really depressing.

Some of these on the list look interesting, mostly because I was unaware of them until I read the article. I’m going to pick up a couple and see if I agree with the authors. In the meantime, if you have any “cult” books that you think have been missed, let me know!

My First Year

by Jamie Freveletti

Yesterday my second novel, Running Dark, launched. It was a banner day. I am officially no longer a “debut” author. Here’s what I learned in my first year of as a published author:

1. Debut authors have a special place for a short while

When you’re debut, reviewers take an additional look at you. They, like everyone else, want to know about you, your book, and what you write. This is especially beneficial and, I think, appropriate. You’re a new quantity. With any luck, some of the now dwindling review space will go to you.

2. The story is king

People want to hear about the story. Yes, those who are unpublished and writing their own manuscripts want to learn a bit about how your particular story got to market, but the majority of readers want to hear the story.

3. Marketing—it’s a strange and unusual pastime.

Every author out there feels the pressure to market their novel and I’m no different. Running from the Devil launched in the worst economic downturn in forty years. People who used to buy hard cover books without a second thought were thinking twice. Established authors saw fifty percent declines in their sales. Asking readers to take a risk on a debut author was asking a lot.

While this may have created an argument for more intensive marketing, I’m not sure that marketing sells a book. I did the usual things authors do: blog, tour, and attend conferences, and the book sold, but I did none of these things in Germany and there the book hit the bestseller list and continues to sell at a rapid clip. Same story, no additional input from me. I find that interesting.

I’ll continue to focus on the writing, do what I can when it’s launch time and let the marketing team in New York run with it. Between us, we’ll get it done.

4. Keep your head about you and your ego in check.

It’s a heady day the day your first novel appears on the book shelves of your local bookseller. If it sells well, you feel great. Don’t, however, fall prey to your own press clippings. You’re an author, you didn’t cure cancer. Do your best not to act as though you did.

Like most things in life, a career is a marathon, not a sprint. Know what you want and ask for it, but keep your expectations in line with reality. Try to be nice, it will pay off. Watch out for the users and fakers and liars. Find someone in the industry you can trust and listen to their advice.

5. Enjoy every minute.

I’ve worked a lot harder jobs than this. Being a lawyer is intellectually stimulating and lucrative but also grueling, being a waitress can be stressful and exhausting, and making candles--my first job--was hot, dangerous, and cemented my desire to go to college. Only the toughest survived that job, and I wasn’t one of them

Being a writer is a strange alchemy of imagination and work, but it’s fun and magical. My publisher just picked up books three and four and so I’m employed for a while. I intend to enjoy every minute of it.

My heartfelt thanks to all the readers out there who made it possible.

Writing Hero Protagonists in a World of Damaged Souls

by Jamie Freveletti

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about writing the damaged protagonist, and promised to discuss writing a hero. Writing heroes, especially in the current climate where damaged protagonists are the norm, can be tough. Currently, even protagonists that were initially written as heroes have been altered in later incarnations to be damaged.

For example, in Ludlum’s novel, The Bourne Identity, Jason Bourne was actually a good guy working for an undercover CIA operation and charged with finding “Carlos” the international assassin. He spent most of the novel concerned that he may be an assassin, and is relieved to finally learn that he was not.

Fast forward twenty years to the movies starring Matt Damon and the Jason Bourne character is altered to be the assassin, not the hero, and he spends his time learning the horrific truth. The movie goes through quite a few twists to show that Bourne was brainwashed into being the bad player.

Why are damaged protagonists in vogue? As I blogged earlier, I think it’s because the damaged individual gives the writer a built in conflict between the character and the demons he or she faces. In a novel, conflict is king. Without it, you got nothin.’ Additionally, damaged characters can engage in a lot of edgy behavior and the reader will buy it a whole lot quicker than if the character was presented without emotional baggage.

So what does this mean for writing heroes? A lot. It means that you need to present someone as inherently decent who does the right thing in the face of bad actors, and you need to make that courage ring true. People love to root for heroes, but they need to be portrayed as believable as well. This presents a challenge for the writer, because a lot of behavior that might be interesting to write about with regard to the damaged character is off limits to the hero. The hero can't step off the line of good, needs to treat others with respect, and yet still be multi-dimensional enough to keep the readers turning pages.

I write a female hero, and it feels right for me. She doesn't cringe from danger, doesn't wait for the men to save her-she saves the men- and she deals with them on an equal basis. This last bit of information is key when writing a female hero, because she needs to make the final decisions and propel the action forward. If she defers to the men she's not the hero, she's a supporting character.

The better known writers have FBI agents, detectives, cops, ex-Secret Service agents and former military written by Rollins, Baldacci, Grafton and Child. All of these writers get it when it comes to writing heroes. Their protagonists are the kind of people you’d want in your corner or shoulder to shoulder with you in that bar when the guy with the pool cue is aiming at your head. There’s something reassuring about a man or woman character that you can depend on to outwit evil, and who has never felt the need to wallow in it. Perhaps they’re coming back into fashion, or maybe never went out of fashion, but they’re fun to write and even better to read.

I'd love to hear about your favorite hero protagonist-book or movie!

Writing Damaged Protagonists

By Jamie Freveletti

It’s no surprise to anyone reading crime fiction these days that the damaged protagonist is quite in vogue. We all write ‘em. The former alcoholic, drug addict, sexual abuse survivor, incest survivor, sex addict, and even former hit man turned medical doctor. We have serial killers as protagonists on television (Dexter) and paid assassins who attend their high school reunion in the movies (the very well done Grosse Pointe Blank).

What makes these protagonists fun to write is that the conflict is obvious from the beginning. The vice detective battling his own sex addiction (Stephen Jay Schwartz’s Boulevard) and the assassin who attends his high school reunion and wants to hook up with his high school love (John Cusack in a great performance as Martin Blank) make for some excellent stories.

They can be humorous, too. My favorite crazy protagonist searching outside of his milieu is the drug dealer turned physics aficionado in the cult book “Cosmic Banditos” by A.C. Weisbecker. This book makes drug cartels seem funny, but underneath the humor you get a real glimpse of the sheer insanity of the players. The description of one of the more nihilistic characters, a guy who was drafted by the NFL but ended up dealing drugs in South America, gives insight into just how nuts the players are, and that the protagonist swims with this crowd without going under is a testament to his ingenuity.

Notice I say “his” ingenuity. This is a deliberate choice, because I haven’t found a female protagonist who can be matched up with the others- at least in the humorous vein. In the male driven stories the damaged protagonist often ends up going “straight.” In the female, it’s not so clear. You have The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo wreaking her revenge, but that is one dark story. You also have Hello Kitty Must Die by Angela Choi, but there she ends up turning even darker. I haven’t found a humorous story where the damaged female protagonist turns good and marches off with the man into the sunset. If you know of one, do tell, and I’ll add it to my “to be read” list.

The joy of damaged characters is that, as the writer, you can have them do some seriously sick things and point to the past as motivation. Writing an average guy (or woman) in an average job during an average day is a lot tougher to make interesting. Writers in the cozy genre have this problem in front of them, and I am always impressed with how they deftly manage to create an interesting world out of daily life. As a thriller writer I love the idea of average person in unusual circumstances, but the “average” person in a thriller usually has some specific strength that is a bit above the rest, and the trouble they get into can’t be resolved by the protagonist’s power of deduction in between drinks of tea. Cozys are puzzlers. Thrillers can be, but the protagonist is often in grave danger while solving it.

I don’t write damaged protagonists currently. I write heroes. Female heroes, to be exact. And writing a hero presents a unique challenge. One I’ll blog about later. In the meantime, keep those damaged protagonists coming. I’m always fascinated by the trouble they get into and the vices they overcome.

“How To” Books for New Writers—Have a Favorite?

by Jamie Freveletti

I’m preparing a presentation to a group of new writers and writing a list of “How to” books for them.

Like most debut authors, I spent a few years writing, rewriting and reading about how to write. I’d get stuck in the process and race to the Harold Washington library here in Chicago to a group of shelves that held books written by writers on writing. I’d yank one out, read it on the subway ride home, and plunge back into the novel. Some were quite helpful, some not so.

There are a few “standbys” that we all know, Anne Lamott’s “Bird by Bird,” and Elmore Leonard’s wonderful, fun read: “10 Rules of Writing” (Rule #3: Avoid Prologues).

I’d add the following:

1. The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (and how to avoid them), by Jack Bickham.

Bickham’s short, numbered mistake list, with a bit of explanation for each, is bound to hit on one that every writer will recognize as one they have made or are still making. At the time I grabbed this book I was deep into the first manuscript and nothing was going well. Mr. Bickham clued me in: I was protecting my protagonist and having a sidekick interact with the main second character. Why? My protagonist was married, and unless she was going to have an affair, there was no way she could run around with the male character in the story. I rewrote her as single, lost the sidekick, and continued forward.

2. Give ‘Em What They Want: the right way to pitch your novel to editors and agents by Blythe Camenson.

This is a must read for any author in the query stages of writing. I used this book religiously when creating my query (along with the advice of a good friend) and it really helped me see what agents needed in order to evaluate the novel. What’s great about this book is that many of the agents interviewed are still in the game and they are generous with advice about what they want to see in the queries they receive.

3. Making a Literary Life: advice for writers and other dreamers, by Carolyn See.

See’s book is one of the few that really helps published authors as well as the unpublished. Her “So what?” approach to reviews and her advice to use a form of “literary aikido” to take a negative event and spin it positively is a quite helpful (and as a black belt in aikido, I loved the analogy). See addresses whether to have launch parties in New York (better to wait and be sure you’ve got enough friends to back you) and gives a lighthearted account of her attempts to get an editor to accept some of her freelance work (pictures of goats were involved).

These are my current favorites, but if any of you have a book to recommend do tell!

The (Sometimes) Thin Line Between Advice and the Slammer

By Jamie Freveletti

While working as a lawyer I handled some white collar criminal cases. My law firm specialized in food, drug, and medical device issues, and many of the cases involved pharmaceuticals. For my part, most of the so called “criminals” were just regular people involved in regular jobs that during a particularly stressful time stepped over the line from good judgment to bad.

Sometimes really bad.

Remember that scene in “The Firm” where an attorney dies in a boating “accident” and Tom Cruise as Mitch goes to the house of an older associate to express his condolences? The man is sitting in his garden, unmoving, while the lawn sprinkler is systematically spraying his pant leg on each pass. I loved that scene, because it’s the first time that Mitch gets a sense that something is not quite right in his new firm. It’s understated; quiet, but you see the other lawyer’s numb despair and it leaves you worried for Mitch and wondering what’s actually going on in this firm.

There’s a whole lot that Grisham did right in that story. The other young lawyer characters were friendly, filled with camaraderie, and yet also trapped. You liked them, but knew they weren’t going to help Mitch out of his troubles. Grisham could have made them all unrelentingly evil, but in my opinion that wouldn’t have worked as well. It matched the world of white collar crime, where the criminals are essentially con men and women in suits and they can move among society a lot easier than a gang member in droopy pants. (An FBI agent once told me that in general white collar criminals cave under pressure from his office remarkably fast, but that's a blog post for another day).

I also liked that some of the older partners were evil but showed glimpses of grim determination tinged with regret. Several of the actors, especially Hal Holbrook as the white haired managing partner, were pitch perfect. They expressed that “I regret to inform you that I’m going to kill you” attitude that is the hallmark of a wonderful, menacing performance.

I’m fascinated by the group mentality that convinces smart, moral people to do stupid, immoral things. The lawyer who writes the memo suggesting ways to avoid revealing the defect in a car (Toyota), or the one who gives a legal opinion that allows for multiple layers of corporations be used to shuttle money around within an entity to give the appearance of productivity (Enron). Were you able to pull these people out of their suits, sit them down at their kitchen table and ask them to do the same, many would squirm and hedge, and some would flatly refuse. Yet, take them off to the job and have a fee paying client demand the same thing, and these “smart” people apply their not insignificant intelligence to do just that. Often it involves a blind adherence to the corporation that baffles me, but that I saw over and over in my years as a litigator. Grisham must have too, because he wrote it beautifully.

I use the blind adherence principle in my own writing. It requires painstaking set-up, because the reader needs to see the trajectory of the white collar criminal as he takes each step down the path toward that line between legal and illegal, but the payoff for a crime writer is great. It’s a bit of reality that lends a feeling of truth and makes for a great read.

Crime Writers and Homegrown Terrorism

by Jamie Freveletti

I just read about the failed “Midwestern Militia” attempt to take out government officials and I was fascinated by the story. ) Reading about such groups gives a writer insight about the twisted minds of humans that can only improve our stories.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/03/defendants-in-fbi-raids-on-midwest-militia-groups-set-to-appear-in-court-today/1

Here’s a group calling themselves the “Hutaree” that hates organized institutions so much that they wanted to kill those who represent it. According to the FBI, they trained in the rain in combat gear, discussed luring a police officer with a fake 911 call, killing the officer, and then attacking the funeral with weapons of mass destruction. All of this to be sure that the “testimony of Jesus Christ stays alive.”

Huh? Jesus Christ? The guy who ate dinner with the tax collectors and was reviled by the common man for his tolerance of those that did the government’s bidding? The one who protected the prostitute by saying “he who is without sin, cast the first stone?” I can’t imagine a sicker perversion of the actual teachings. Did these guys not get the “we’re going to tolerate others” memo inherent in Jesus’ acts and words?

Guess not.

But for a writer that perversion leads to some excellent stories. Several writers have dealt with the “homegrown militia as terrorist” theme in their crime novels. I loved the majority of them, because the concept of someone in a country as peacefully democratic as this one who decides to attempt a terrorist act leads to all sorts of interesting conflict for a writer. And when that story includes the evil done by our neighbors on our own soil, it gets an additional boost of the fear factor we all love to add to our books. Reading about these individuals also gives us insight into the mind of fanatics for whom life is not sacred and for whom a story of tolerance, caring, and love is twisted in a sick attempt to justify their need to destroy.

I have a list of books I've read with the homegrown militia as a theme, but if you have any favorites, I’d love to hear them –including those written by Outfit members!