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The Freaking Process – Picking a Hero

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Question: Why do I use so many Marines?
Answer: I could come up with several extremely rude and crude comments about this question, but I won’t.

The simple answer is that I’m lazy.  When I say “Marine” most people have an immediate image that comes to their mind – that recruiting poster of the incredibly attractive Marine in his dress blues with his sword and the slogan, “The Few.  The Proud.  The Marines.”.  Based solely on the great advertising by the Marines, you know who my character is and what he stands for.  All I have to do is give you his name, rank, and physical description and you alter the poster to suit.

One of my beta readers told me that I look at Marines through rose-colored glasses.  He works around Marines all the time and feels that most of them really aren’t all that cool.  I get that.  All Marines are not honorable people who always do the right thing.  All members of the military are not responsible men with common sense.  All Air Force guys aren’t smarter than the men in the Army.  (Having spent a lot of years in the Air Force, I can tell you that many of them aren’t any smarter than the damn boots they’re trying to put on.)  But the same is true of any group of people.  All cops and fireman aren’t nice guys and heroes.  All teachers aren’t selfless. And all cowboys don’t have cute butts.

One of my jobs as an author is to create a hero/heroine who has the potential to overcome the conflicts in my story.  I have to pick someone who provides credibility to the story.  If I want to send a small force of well-trained men in to a dangerous situation where they need to have tactical and weapons skills, then I can’t send a bunch of dweebs from accounting and finance to do the job.  I can send one person, who gets caught up in the middle of a mess, but without the trained fighters, he’s going to get greased pretty quick.

I’m not opposed to using the other services.  I have a particular fondness for Rangers and military police from all branches, but I have a tendency to avoid the Green Berets and SEALS as primaries.  As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t know enough of them to ask for help in getting the details right.  And I don’t use the Navy much because even they don’t understand their own organizational charts.

I use the military police because I have a fair-sized group of military cops who I can call upon for tactical help and guidance.  How do you clear a room?  How does a small tactical team approach a building?  What the hell do you actually call that thinga-ma-bob hanging from his gear in the center of his chest in this picture?  Once they’re done screwing with me, they always step up and help.  And when I get it wrong, they don’t hesitate to throw the bullshit flag on a regular basis.  That’s what they’re there for.

Why not the Air Force?  Well… short of a few career fields that go do really interesting and exciting things, most Air Force personnel are not generally in a position to get in the kind of trouble my folks seem to get into.  And, with the exception of those few career fields, airmen also aren’t trained for trouble.  All Air Force personnel have weapons qualification training once a year, and for many of them, that’s the only time they ever handle a weapon.  Most of them barely remember year to year to keep the muzzle pointed away from other people.  While many of these folks are cool and interesting people, just how is my avionics technician supposed to get caught up in something dangerous and, once in it, why would anyone believe that he has the necessary combat skills to get out of it.  Not that a detail like that stopped Tom Clancy for credibly using an Air Force weather nerd in Red Storm Rising.  But, realistically, the average Air Force back shop technician would be nothing more than “in the way” to those who would have to protect him in the field.

Marines are just easier. And, I mean that in the nicest possible way.

The Freaking Process – The opening line

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Question: How do you know where to start? What makes a great opening line?

Answer: Damned if I know. I just sit down and hope for the best. If it doesn’t work out, I dump it and try again. Eventually, I either find the opening, or I pass out from holding my breath.

There’s a cute little poster floating around on the Internet that sums it up nicely: “Alcohol! Because no great novel begins with someone eating a salad.” I agree. That’s why The Civilian – Blood Link IV doesn’t begin that way… although, the opening was inspired by that saying.

     Dr. Carolyn Brinn stared at the plate holding a lump of tuna salad on a sad, limp, pale leaf of lettuce and decided it was time for a change. She’d picked up the plate only a moment before, but she realized she wasn’t interested in moving the plate from the refrigerated cabinet to her tray.
Enough with the healthy crap. I need cake.

Finding the opening for your novel is considered to be the hardest thing writers do. I try not to think too hard about it. If I do, then I also begin to think about how nice it would be to have a nice shot of Jack Daniels.

Some writers agonize for days over the opening, but I go back to the old adage of just tell the damn story. My process is to pick a point and go from there. Remember, it’s a draft. If you find a better spot later, you can adjust. I usually try to come into people’s lives when something is happening or about to happen. You shouldn’t be afraid to open with dialogue and it’s perfectly okay if the person speaking isn’t your lead character. Ideally, you want to try to give the reader a taste of who your lead character is without overloading them.

From Protecting Parker:

     “I’m sorry, Parker. Alex dropped off the keys three days ago, along with the divorce papers.” Colonel Adam Henderson looked at her with pity as he handed her the large brown envelope. “You were already headed back and there was no way to contact you. Katy and I went to the storage unit and… well… it’s a damn mess. He pretty much pitched everything in. Nothing’s boxed or bagged.”
With a dazed expression, Air Force First Sergeant Parker Cotton took the envelope from her commander, unable to believe Alex had dumped her stuff in a storage unit and filed for divorce while she was deployed.

The hardest thing you will do as a writer is take the first step of placing words on the paper. The opening lines are a commitment to the rest of the story.

I was hanging out in an online chat in which aspiring authors could ask a senior editor for a major publisher questions. One of the questions asked was “What do you hate to see in the opening of a story?”. The editor promptly responded that she hated the contrived meetings of people spilling drinks on each other or sitting next to each other on a plane. She says that those two meetings so bother her that she often has trouble getting past them even if everything else about the story and the author excite her.

I had already published A Shared Fear in which Evie and Joe meet on an airplane. Of course, my airplane is about to crash, but it’s still the dreaded airplane meeting. Interestingly enough, the inflight emergency is one of the first things that people bring up when we discuss the book. My readers loved the idea that the mundane became the terrifying. It sets the tone for the entire book.

Don’t listen to anyone else when you start. Just write what works for you!

Who can you ask for help?

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My new standalone novel The Embassy Guards recently went to Marcia for edits. The draft has been making its way through the beta readers, and I feel like we’re finally there on this book.

Notice the “we’re” rather just an I. Sure I do the writing, but there are a lot of people involved by this point. I usually have boatloads of questions as I write. Some I know to ask while I’m working, but many are asked by my beta readers once they have the draft in their hands.

I thought it might be fun to tell you a little about this part of the process, even though it’s a bit out of order here. It never ceases to amaze me how willing my friends are to help.

The key to success is a wide variety of friends with different skill sets, all of whom are willing to help just because… Well, I don’t know why some of them haven’t told me where to take myself off to yet. I try to keep track of who helps on each book and put them in the acknowledgements. I also offer to buy them a beer or a cup of coffee the next time I see them. Fortunately, most of them live out of state so I don’t have to pay up.

Some people answer multiple questions. Dave Dingley (former Marine) is my resident weapons guy. He makes sure that I used the right weapon, that I called it by the proper name, and never, ever, “Oh my God, Top, are you just a f***ing hooplehead?” ever call a magazine a clip! He also helps by providing many inappropriate comments throughout the beta process. Finding the common ground between the Marine nomenclature or descriptions and translating those into language all of my readers can understand often falls to Dave. He first has to explain whatever “it” is to me so I can understand what “it” is, and then I can write about “it.” Talk about reducing something to the lowest level! Dave is incredibly articulate. And patient… very, very patient.

Some people answer a single question. But sometimes those little questions just stop me in my tracks and annoy the hell out of me. I hate not getting something I should know right. George Zaniewski was kind enough to look at a short paragraph that I had screwed up. I mistakenly used the word enlistment when referring to a term of service for an officer. He provided the appropriate terminology for me. I’m sure Ski thinks what he did was nothing, but help from a friend when you need it is priceless. That particular item was actually caught by one of my military beta readers, Jim Lewis. While I was asking Ski, Jim had also followed up by asking one of his friends who is also a retired commissioned officer. Interestingly enough, they refer to their term of service as a “commitment.” That word, while correct, makes it feel like they have been sent to the asylum to work off their education sentence. Oh, wait… they have.

Scott Underwood helped me out when I asked him a dumb question about radio call signs and identification. He answered the question, and I wrote the section and moved on. Sadly, I have many more questions now. I’m fine with the squad leader being One, but why the hell is the lieutenant or the captain Six? And just who the hell are Two, Three, Four, and Five? None of those questions matter to my story, but this is what happens when I ask a question. Twenty more occur to me. I fortunately didn’t bother Scott with all those unnecessary questions – I can’t afford to run him off.

So, while the actual writing is solitary, my novels are truly a team effort.

The Embassy Guards will be out later this month.

The Freaking Process – Floating the Idea

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Question: How do you know if it’s a good idea? Should you ever talk to people about your idea for a book?

Answer: Every idea I have is great, but not all of them should be books. As for talking to people about your ideas… yes! I suggest you avoid doing it in bars, at parties, or in the grocery store though, because most of those people won’t understand.

When I think I have a decent idea, I run it past a few trusted friends. Jennifer Sasnett and Arwen Newman usually hear them first. Both are excellent listeners, and they aren’t afraid to ask questions and point out flaws. They also aren’t afraid to tell me when they don’t like something. Arwen, as a teacher, is generally very polite when she doesn’t like something. There’s a long pause before she says “That’s interesting” in this really non-committal tone which makes it clear that it is not at all interesting, but she’s trying not to crush my dream. Jennifer though has never shied away from giving me that look that parents usually reserve for their teenager who has just announced they’re doing the stupidest thing a human has ever done. She is not afraid of using phrases like: complete idiot, that’s dumb, or go home and take your meds. If it can’t pass the A&J tests, it goes no further. But when I get it right – they are both huge cheerleaders for me.

These conversations help me to walk through my premise and figure out if the idea really might work.

Often the conversations trigger something, and I wander down a separate path. It’s a path I wouldn’t have seen or taken without these conversations. Recently, I discussed the idea for a book with Arwen and her sister Allyn. I gave them a basic premise I had developed after asking the three questions and making notes. I know who my heroine and hero are, but I didn’t see where she lived. Her uncle is the county sheriff and she’s been hired as a deputy. She arrives and will have to settle in to the routine. The questions with suggestions came quickly. Often as soon as they ask a question, I see or know something about my person I did not know until they asked. Things in some cases I hadn’t even thought about before.

A represents Arwen or Allyn.

A: Does she live with her uncle and aunt?
Me: Not in their house. My gal lives in a small guest house on their property. A one bedroom sort of place. And there are horses. Not that she rides. She’s more of a motorcycle type.
A: Maybe her aunt is sick and your gal needs to help out.
Me: She’s not sick. Her aunt runs the beauty shop and hears all the gossip. She occasionally shares this with her husband. They make a good team. He knows Billy Ray was murdered but doesn’t know why. She knows Joe Bob’s wife Betty Sue was sneaking around with Billy Ray.
A: Do the aunt and uncle have children?
Me: Yes, two sons who they’ve sent off to college and now they live in the city. They all get along well. There’s no family drama.
A: They sound nice. You aren’t going to kill them off are you?
Me: Why would you even ask that?
A: You have a tendency to kill a lot of people in your books. Will you be blowing something up?
Me: I hadn’t thought about it. I know there’s going to be shooting

This particular book is still a little ways off. I have more questions than answers at this point, but I’m loving the idea so far.

Seek out the people who will ask the good questions and who aren’t afraid to point out that with your lack of brains on any given day, even the zombies wouldn’t bother with you.

The Freaking Process – Nurturing the Idea

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Question: “I think I have a great idea for a book. What do I do next?”

Answer: Drink heavily and try to forget the whole dream of writing a book. Do it now before you get in any deeper and it becomes a damn nightmare!

An idea needs to be nurtured, turned over, pounded into the dirt, and generally chewed on for a while to see if it has merit. When I had the idea of the genealogist saving the ATF agent with her laser pointer (A Shared Fear), it made me giggle. But these two lead characters didn’t go away. I kept seeing this couple doing things together: riding in a car, having dinner, walking on a beach, and cleaning guns at the dining room table. I didn’t know quite what I wanted to do with them, but I was hooked on the idea of these two people sharing something.

One of my first checks to see if an idea will hold water is to ask three basic questions and just see what pops into my head.

1. How do these people meet or know each other?
2. What’s the catalyst for their connection?
3. What’s the threat?

Believe it or not, those three questions are often the make or break points for an idea. If I can answer them in a reasonable and coherent manner, I begin to take notes. My original notes for A Shared Fear read:

“An ATF agent and a genealogist meet on their way from Tucson to Portland.
They are on an airplane together and it almost crashes.
The ATF agent doesn’t know at the time that someone has taken a contract out on him and the hit man is waiting in Portland.
She’s being stalked by someone.
Maybe the same guy.
Things I need to know:
Is the connection between them the real deal or is it the OMG we’re in trouble and I’m needy kind of sex? (think Speed – find & quote about relationships)
If I set this in Oregon, where do I put them down so they have to drive to Portland together?
How do I get them from speaking in Portland to a cabin on the coast – plausibility? I want the coast. I want the tide pools. Use as the pause in the action. Use as final scene w/storm.
These can’t be kids. I think she’s retired AF and he’s a retired Marine. I keep thinking he’s a sniper, but what the hell was she? How do they connect? Damn it – who are you two?”

A Shared Fear was my second standalone novel, and I still had no clue what I was doing. Not that I really do now, it’s just that I’m much less worried about the process these days.

If you don’t know everything about your characters at this point, don’t worry. Characters evolve with the writing of the book.

So, unless you plan on drinking heavily or walking away, I suggest you start asking yourself and your characters a lot of questions. And just for the record – these are only the first of a million questions you will ask as you write your book. Not the least of which is “What the hell was I thinking?”

Women in Combat – An Opinion

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I keep getting asked how I feel about the change in the Department Of Defense (DOD) policy which lifts the ban on women in combat. I’ve done a lot of reading and listening over the last couple of weeks and tried to sort out exactly what the hell the DOD policy was and is so I could properly answer the question.

The new DOD policy does little more than formally recognize what is already the status quo in our military. Women have been serving and functioning in those positions for at least the last ten years. Females perform duties in almost all the roles that you might think of as traditionally male. And they do their jobs well.

When I entered the military, we still had separate dormitories and some of the older guys still referred to the females in the Air Force as WAFs. (Women’s Air Force for you youngsters.) The AF was working hard to come up to some sort of equal opportunity standard in most of the career fields and they were under a great deal of pressure to do so. As a result, the standards were sometimes lowered so they could get women into the jobs. For every four of us who met the standard and physically qualified for the work, there were at least two who didn’t. The result was less than satisfactory, and as you might imagine, it pissed off the men who felt like they were having to pick up the slack. Trust me, it pissed off the women who were qualified just as badly.

The thing to remember is this is currently an all-volunteer service. We aren’t drafting women and tossing them into roles they neither want nor are suited for. There are thousands of positions that are not combat related, but the reality is that if you’re joining a branch of the military service, you are expected to serve where and when you are needed. The Marines have always had the creed of “Every Marine is a rifleman.” If you don’t want to go to war, don’t join the damn Marines.

The military may not be for you if you aren’t prepared to put on your gear and roll outside the safety of the fence with the men you serve with. If you’re only in it to get your college money, you should remember that nothing is free. You’ll be asked to pay for that education with your best efforts and possibly your blood or your life. If you are not prepared to do so – don’t sign the damn paper!

Many of my non-military female friends have questions about bodily functions and a woman’s “personal security” in the field. There are ways to handle the bodily functions, and they are the least of your worries if you are outside the wire. No one is interested in watching you take care of your business. As for your daughter’s “personal security” – I’d be more afraid of letting my twenty-one year old daughter loose on a college campus these days than I would be of having her in the Army or Marines and out in the field. Is it dangerous? Hell, yes. But so is being a police officer or even a prison guard in an all-male facility, yet as a nation we have become accustomed to women filling these roles.

My attitude about equality in the military hasn’t changed since the day I entered the service. When you need someone to fill a job, that job should be offered to anyone and everyone qualified to do that job, regardless of gender, color, or religion.

The key word to me remains QUALIFIED.

No service should lower the standards required for any job just to accommodate a particular group. If the standard is to be capable of lifting 40 pounds, then you have to lift the 40 pounds or you can’t have the job. If the standard is to run a mile in full battle rattle in a set amount of time, then you have to run in the same gear as everyone else and complete the task in the given amount of time. If the job is to tote the twenty-five plus pound baseplate of the mortar along with your regular pack up the mountain, then quit your bitchin’ and get your ass to packing. Everyone in the job must be required to meet the same standard.

I’ve always believed that no person should demand equality unless they are prepared to accept the responsibilities and burdens that comes with that equality. Ladies, just like the gentlemen have to do, if you want to put on the uniform and accept all the benefits, then you must now accept ALL the demands and hardships also. Just remember, no one is making you sign on that dotted line – this is a job that you are VOLUNTEERing for.