Is there a CSI effect? Can you use it to sell novels?

Forensic scientists think there is a “CSI effect.” They observe jurors and reporters are disappointed when real forensic scientists aren’t as good or as fast as Catherine Willows (CSI), Tempe Brennan (Bones), and Abby Sciuto (NCIS). For example, jurors became skeptical about an expert witness’s competence because he didn’t retrieve fingerprints from a rock at the murder scene. And at least one biology professor reports several of her students indicated TV shows influenced their choice of biology as a major.

Does that mean readers are becoming more interested in realistic science in their fiction? First off, I should define realistic. Most active research and clinical labs are much more crowded, and waiting times for analyses are much longer than those shown on TV. And surprise, the most of the men and women don’t have perfect hair.

In 2013, at least fifteen successful TV shows featured science, medicine or technology. That's unprecedented and suggests a large segment of Americans are receptive to realistic science adding “color” to their fiction.

Does this interest in “scientific color” on TV show relate to scientific literacy?

Scientific literacy is not just the memorization of facts, but also the conceptual understanding of how answers can be found by an organized approach to gathering data, formulating hypotheses, and testing them.

Surveys indicate American students don’t understand science as well as students in Finland, China, Australia, and Canada. We’re ranked around 30^th in several surveys, but many question the validity of the surveys.

I don’t think anyone has proven that the popularity of TV shows with “scientific color” reflects increased scientific literacy among Americans, but I don’t have access to demographic data on TV audiences.

Does scientific literacy matter?

Federal agencies, such as the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), and various organizations (National Academy of Sciences and AAAS) think scientific literacy matters. Why? They believe that if the American electorate understands the basics of science, discussions on vaccines, climate change, and genetically modified crops will be elevated from an emotional level to a thoughtful level. Wiser decisions will be made. They also know that advanced knowledge of science and technology is a key to many high-paying jobs in medicine, drug development, computer technology, engineering, etc.

Could adding realistic science in your next novel attract readers?

I don’t know, but a growing number of writers are now calling their novels “science in fiction” rather than science fiction. I’m one of them. My three medical thriller/mysteries are Coming Flu, Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight, and Ignore the Pain. My fourth novel Malignancy should be out this fall.

P.S. Why do I think this blog will be less popular than my last guest blog on adding romance to your novels?

Make your Sell Sheets Sell

Templates for sell sheets on the Web make it appear that there are defined rules for sell sheets. I think there is only one rule: Sell sheets should appeal to buyers and make them want to buy your book.

WHAT MAKES A SELL SHEET APPEALING TO BUYERS?

Most book buyers don’t read anything that looks dense or difficult.

• ·      Use size 12 or 14 print.
• ·      Leave plenty of white space.
• ·      Keep paragraphs short.
• ·      Try using a two-column format.
• ·      Limit the sell sheet to one-page.

Use color. The choice of color depends on the genre of the book and the cover, which is the main artwork on most sell sheets. For example, pastels and purple are often used to sell romances.

Design features are important but shouldn’t overpower. For example, a narrow (one-half inch) border of black and white zebra stripes around the edge of a sell sheet for a children’s book might be effective, but a wider border would detract from the cover and the blurb. Generally I like design features (such as a colored box) that draw attention to the book’s blurb.

Consider making two versions of your sell sheet. Book retailers and distributors often cringe when they see the word Amazon. Information on how to obtain the books from Amazon is essential when you’re talking to most readers at book fairs and talks

WHAT SHOULD YOU INCLUDE ON A SELL SHEET?

• ·      Title of the book, boldly at top of page
• ·      Author’s info: name, website, blog, and other ways to contact. Some think a photo of the author and a short (one or two    sentences) bio are appealing.
• ·      Blurb, only three to four sentences.
• ·      Cover of the book, large enough that you can read the print
• ·      Reviewers’ comments or awards
• ·      Publisher’s info: name, date of publication, ways to contact
• ·      Book info: genre, ISBN number, format, number of pages

What do you think makes a sell sheet effective? Let me know.

Thanks

 JL Greger, author of medical thrillers and mysteries - Ignore the Pain, Coming Flu, Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight

Murder in the Worst Degree

I like Murder in the Worst Degree because the author F.M. Meredith of the mystery deals realistically with true life crises or opportunities (depending on your perspective) of her three-dimensional, lifelike characters. These include special needs children, Alzheimer’s Disease, end-of-life decisions, and balancing careers and marriage. F.M. (Marilyn) Meredith is also a joy to talk to, so please welcome her.

From novelist F.M. Meredith 

Janet asked me about how I came about the title for Murder in the Worst Degree. In yesterday’s post on my blog tour I explained how I came about all my titles, including this one. I’ll go into a little more detail about it came about.

This was the first time I had a title before I even had an inkling what I was going to write about. A friend from Nipomo, one I only see once a year when I go to the Nipomo Library to participate in a craft fair, told me on Facebook, “Why don’t you write a book with the title, Murder in the Worst Degree?”

So I thought, why not? I began the book and the more I got into it the more I knew the title didn’t fit the plot that was coming together. That is until nearly the end, then it came to me. When you read the book, you’ll see how the title fits the story.

Blurb for the latest RBPD mystery, Murder in the Worst Degree: The body that washes up on the beach leads Detectives Milligan and Zachary on a murder investigation that includes the victim’s family members, his housekeeper, three long-time friends, and a mystery woman.

Bio: 

F. M. Meredith aka Marilyn Meredith is the author of over 35 published books. She enjoys writing about police officers and their families and how what happens on the job affects the family and vice versa. Having several members of her own family involved in law enforcement, as well as many friends, she’s witnessed some of this first-hand.

Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com/

Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.meredith/

Contest:

Once again I am offering the opportunity to have your name used for a character in a book if you comment on the most blogs during this tour for Murder in the Worst Degree.

Available at: http://tinyurl.com/n94hmju/


Tomorrow Marilyn will be visiting Cora Ramos at http://coraramos-cora.blogspot.com/ 

JL Greger, author of Coming Flu, Murder: A New way to Lose Weight, and Ignore the Pain

New Blog Game in Town – A Spider Web of Authors

Did you like to play tag when you were a child? Maybe you’ll enjoy participating in this adult version and decide it’s a good way to tell other authors about your work. Everyone who participates in this spider web answers the same four questions.

WHAT AM I WORKING ON NOW?

I’m sending Sara Almquist, my epidemiologist heroine in my medical thriller series, to Cuba. I’ve included sites (e.g. the La Floridita Bar that Hemingway made famous and the beautiful Springer Spaniels that were security dogs at José Martí International Airport in Havana) from my visit to Cuba last November. Sara took this public health assignment to get away from problems at home in New Mexico and to look for Xave, the “spook” who saved her in Bolivia in Ignore the Pain. Officially, she’s working for the State Department as they arrange scientific exchanges between the US and Cuba.

I’ve got a problem. Even though the first draft of the book is almost done I don’t have a title. Do you have suggestions? Leave a comment please.

WHY DO I WRITE WHAT I DO?

I am a scientist, and I strive to create colorful scenes in my books by including factual scientific details and realistic, not stereotyped medical experts. I guess, I’m trying to do a bit of science education while I use my imagination to spin fictional thrillers.

HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS OF THE SAME GENRE?

My lead character epidemiologist Sara Almquist could be compared to the pathologist Kay Scarpetta

in Patricia’s Cornwell’s novels or the medical anthropologist Tempe Brennan in Kathy Reich’s medical thrillers. However, Sara is more irreverent to authority, takes herself less seriously, and is based in New Mexico. She also has great side-kicks – Bug, a Japanese Chin, and Linda, her sister.

HOW DOES YOUR WRITING PROCESS WORK?

I file interesting ideas from scientific journals, newspapers, and on-line search services as I find them. When I start thinking about a new novel, I sort through my files and pull articles that fit a common theme. Then I create a three to five-page outline of the novel. After that I let the characters take over.

I guess that means I’m an organized pantser or a disorganized plotter.

The spider, who caught me in this web, was Ilene Schneider. See her at http://rabbiauthor.com/2014/04/new-blog-game-in-town. She was caught into the web Sandy Fairfax. See her at  http://sandyfairfaxauthor.com/blog-bop-my-writing-process . I snared Sharon Moore into the web. See his blog at http://samwriteaway.blogspot.com.

If you want to be included, I’ll alter this blog to include you in this web. Just let me know at janet.greger@comcast.net

WHY TURN A BOOK INTO A SERIES?

Why turn a book into a series?

a. The first book was a great seller.

b. You fell in love with the characters you created and want to see what happens next to them.

c. You’re lazy and don’t want to create new characters.

For most writers, B is the correct answer. Although A is the one we all wish were true.

Advice for writing a series.

Let characters grow. I loved the first six books in Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, but I got tired of Plum’s car blowing up and her inability to decide between two suitors. Evanovich’s books sales prove there are exceptions to this rule.

I had my title character epidemiologist Sara Almquist move from an early, probably premature, retirement (in which she tries to forget her years as a professor) into being an active consultant on public health issues. As she tries to track the spread of a deadly flu epidemic in her community in Coming Flu, she inadvertently identifies a drug lord. She helps her sister Linda identify the killer of a diet doctor in a medical school in Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight. (Her sister generally doubts the values of Sara’s help.) Based on her recent successes, Sara is asked to be a public health consultant in Bolivia in Ignore the Pain, but individuals from her past follow her.

Establish a brand. A good example of successful branding is Sue Grafton’s alphabet mysteries, beginning with A is for Alibi. James Patterson usually manages to mention Alex Cross on the covers of his books and in ads. I’ve not done a good job here, but I try to have a woman’s face on each cover and medically related topics are featured in each book and in the title – flu, lose weight, pain. Accordingly, the back-story provides scientific information on flu viruses in Coming Flu, on weight loss in Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight, and on pain management in Ignore the Pain.

Keep a few conflicts unresolved in each novel. In thrillers and mysteries that means don’t kill your villains too soon. Besides I’ve come to like my villains  - the genius psychopath Dr Abel Raines and the chameleon-like drug lord Jim Mazzone.

Don’t be confined by your original setting. Many of us loved the TV show Murder, She Wrote, but it was hard to believe the rate of murders in Cabot Cove. The writers solved the problem by having Jessica travel a lot after the first couple of seasons. I had an advantage there - my setting is near Albuquerque. According to our local newspapers, the lack of crimes isn’t a problem in Albuquerque. However, I have Sara travel to Bolivia in Ignore the Pain and to Cuba in my next novel (due out in 2014 but still untitled).

Recognize readers have a short attentions span. This is the biggest reason for not trying to do a series. It means there are no long breaks from writing. Readers expect at least one new book a year. The exceptions are many, namely George Martin who writes the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire.

What advice would you give on writing a series?

Making Characters in Novels Realistic but Not Real

 All novelists have the urge occasionally to be bad and base a character in one of their books closely (very closely) on a friend, relative, or acquaintance. The threat of lawsuits and the potential loss of friends make most us regain our senses. However, quirks of some individuals could sell a novel.

How can novelists create dynamic, realistic characters without getting too real? Hopefully my observations will make you think. I suspect most of you would give an answer similar to mine but with different examples.

First off, I should note no character, except Bug, Sara Almquist’s Japanese Chin dog, in my novels is real. Bug (the character) is based on my own Japanese Chin Bug. He is a pet therapy dog and a black and white ball of fuzz who outsmarts me daily.    

Realistic title characters aren’t all good or all bad. Physicians in early medical mysteries and thrillers were either saintly, like Dr. Kildare, or evil, such as Dr. Moreau. Modern writers want to show a few warts in their lead characters.

However, I didn’t want to trivialize my lead character into being a dizzy snoop who clumsily forces her way into police investigations as occurs in some cozies. Come on, I can’t be the only reader who is flabbergasted at the stupidity (with moments of brilliance or luck) of some lead characters in cozy mysteries. I also didn’t want to produce another neurotic genius like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot. Let’s face it most physicians and detectives aren’t geniuses; they’re normal people, albeit sometimes smarter or more observant than most.

Sara Almquist, the lead character in my medical thrillers Coming Flu and Ignore the Pain, is an epidemiologist. That profession gives her legitimate reasons to pry into everyone else’s business. She’s normal, but maybe a bit cranky and perhaps dotty about her dog Bug.

Most of the characters are amalgams of real people and fantasy. For example, the dean of the medical school in my medical mystery Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight is a polished, aloof gentleman, but he feels no remorse when he assigns his associate dean Linda tasks that all but turn her into cannon fodder. When I was an associate dean first the graduate school and then the medical school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I often compared notes with other associate deans. My dean in Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight in is a chimera of dozens of deans with a few flourishes thrown in.

Fantasy characters can participate in real scenes. Although I don’t base my characters on real people, some of my scenes are real. For example, I did climb over the roof of Iglesia de San Francisco in La Paz, Bolivia as Sara does in Ignore the Pain. Of course, my trek was leisurely; hers wasn’t.

When I consulted on science and public health issues in the Philippines, United Arab Emirates, and Beirut, I found that my attitudes about their challenges changed as I learned about their problems. In Ignore the Pain, I tried to capture the sights, sounds, and smells of poverty in Bolivia. I hoped my descriptions would be more effective than citing statistics, i.e. six percent of the children born in Bolivia die before their fifth birthday. I also tried to show the evolution of Sara’s and the other consultants’ attitudes and beliefs as they advised locals on complex, nuanced problems. For example, obviously cocaine is dangerous, but the chewing of coca leaves by miners in decrepit mines at thirteen thousand feet is understandable.

Now it’s your turn. How do you create realistic fictional characters?

End your winter doldrums – travel to Bolivia by reading Ignore the Pain

I think February is a good time to plan vacations and forget winter. How about a trip to Bolivia? If you’re unsure, why not read Ignore the Pain? Besides being exciting this book gives you a chance to do some armchair traveling to Bolivia.

Why would Bolivia interest me?

What do you like to do when you travel? See historical sites, shop for unusual items, learn about a different culture, hike a bit, and be surprised.

Bolivia fits the bill and Ignore the Pain gives you a realistic, but safe view of Bolivia.

In Ignore the Pain, you get a guided tour of attractions in Bolivia, like the Witches’ Market of La Paz. You’ll not only see native women in black bowler hats and layers of brightly covers skirts sell llama fetuses for offerings to the gods, but also smell the aromas of the city. (Note: Not all are pleasant.) You’ll also travel across the austere, almost Mars-like landscape of the Altiplano to see the exotic stone columns in the Valley of the Moon and the shores of Lake Poopó, long a summer nesting spot for flamingos and now polluted by mining runoff.

Sara is your guide. Of course, her view of Iglesia de San Francisco in La Paz might be a little different that that of the average tourist. Someone determined to kill her is chasing her across the church’s roof. The description of the roof is realistic – I’ve been there.

Why read Ignore the Pain before you plan a trip to Bolivia?

There’s a reason Ignore the Pain is a thriller. Bolivia is a poor country with severe problems. Sara gets into the midst of these problems because of her past history and her current assignment as a consultant on public health issues.

Bolivia is the third largest producer of coca, the raw material for cocaine, and coca is everywhere in Bolivia. If you don’t believe me, look at tea bag cover I saved from my trip to Bolivia. Coca tea is available in most restaurants.

But don’t jump to conclusions. the use of coca in Bolivia is often logical. Thus in Ignore the Pain, Sara learns laborers in the silver mines of Potosí carry little food or water into the mines. In order to endure the pain caused by thirst, hunger, and heavy exertion at a high altitude (13,000 feet), they chew coca leaves. The active ingredients in coca leaves are stimulants, which help users ignore pain. Those facts are also basis for the title of the novel.

Bolivia suffers from grinding poverty. Over 6% of the children born in Bolivia die before five years of age. Instead of reciting statistics, I had Sara relate a story to her colleague Lew in Ignore the Pain. Sara’s story is based on the explanation an artist in the La Paz area gave me for a picture seen everywhere in Bolivia in 2006.

She (Sara) pointed to a drawing of three Bolivian women in bowler hats with pigtails down their backs…. “This picture was emblazoned on all sorts of items in the markets of La Paz during my previous trip to Bolivia. When I visited a studio by the Valley of the Moon, an artist claimed he knew the story behind this drawing.”

Lew stopped shuffling papers and cocked his head. Sara continued. “He said when poor women in rural areas have twins, they give the smaller infant to the mountain gods. Supposedly this picture depicts the sad scene of a mother and her female relatives walking up the mountain to make their sacrifice.”

“Wouldn’t happen. Bolivia is a Catholic country.”

“That’s what I said. The artist laughed at me and claimed the women in the rural villages knew from experience they couldn’t produce enough milk for two children. And one healthy child was better than two dead ones.” Sara paused, “Don’t know if the story is true, but it would be interesting to collect data on perinatal mortality and the incidence of multiple births. We might be surprised by the results.”

I hope you’ve decided to blast out of your winter doldrums by reading Ignore the Pain. Then you can decide if you want to visit Bolivia.