| LIT A Slightly Addictive Newsletter for Thriller/Suspense Writers and Readers Volume 1: 02.17.06 WARNING: LIT has not been approved by the FDA. Please read all warnings and cautions before proceeding. Do not get LIT if you are currently receiving medical treatment for certain conditions, which may include boryborygmus, tachylogia, and nyctophobia. It gets fairly dark in here… Get Lit! Welcome to the inaugural issue of LIT, a free bi-monthly publication for writers and readers who love thrills, chills, and suspense—and the occasional buzz. I’m S. W. Vaughn, your LIT tour guide. Please forgive me if I weave about a bit as we travel through the trenches of thriller and suspense fiction. After all, there are bound to be a few bumps on the path. In This Issue: The Buzz from Lit Central: Contests, book signings and special announcements Lit Tip—Writing Hits: Thriller versus Suspense Gritty Lit—Must-Read Novels: Dark of the Moon, P.J. Parrish Lit Logs—Killer Books on the Craft of Writing: The Writer’s Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters, Marc McCutcheon Rep Lit—Featured Literary Agency: The Jennifer DeChiara Agency Pub Lit—Featured Book Publisher: Harbinger Press * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Buzz from Lit Central S. W. Vaughn is loaded! The countdown for the release of my debut novel, Fallen Angel, is underway. This is the first in a series of six thrillers about a multi-million dollar streetfighting organization in New York City. Here’s a brief description of the book (aw, come on, it’s my first newsletter! I have to get one little plug in here): Fallen Angel follows Gabriel Morgan, a 22-year-old high school dropout who comes to the city searching for his missing sister—and gets more than he bargained for when he finds her an unwilling prostitute. Gabriel is held captive and forced to become a streetfighter. He must earn ten million dollars in exchange for his sister’s freedom—and his own. As he participates in a series of grueling and bloody freestyle battles where the only rule is don’t lose, he discovers a secret that will shatter his world and change his life forever. The novel hits stores in May 2006. However…here’s your chance to win it before you can buy it! LIT is pleased to announce the Free Thrills Contest. One winner per month will receive an autographed copy of Fallen Angel. Pre-publication winners will receive their prizes in May*; all others following will be rewarded immediately. How do I enter the Free Thrills Contest, you may ask? The good news is: if you subscribe to this newsletter, you’re automatically entered. Your entry will remain active as long as your subscription does, so there’s no need to keep entering the contest. If you have decided not to get LIT, you can still enter by sending an e-mail to author@swvaughn.com with the subject: Thrill Me. Please include your name and e-mail address (yes, even though you’re sending an e-mail) so your mailing address can be collected in the event you win. Sorry, but non-subscribers are not automatically re-entered in the contest. LIT-wear giveaway: This newsletter is distributed bi-monthly; free books are given away with every other issue. For those issues that don’t include free books, you the subscriber are eligible to win a custom star pin (the symbol of the organization in the series; please visit www.swvaughn.com to see the graphic on the home page). This is also a continuous contest with automatic re-entry for subscribers. Non-subscribers may enter to win a custom pin by sending an e-mail to author@swvaughn.com with the subject: Pin Me. *BONUS: Pre-publication winners of signed novels will also receive a pin to make up for the wait. Free-For-All Fiction Giveaway: Ever wondered what a streetfight looks like on paper? E-mail me at author@swvaughn.com with the subject: Show Me the Action, and I’ll send you an exclusive excerpt from Fallen Angel featuring one of the fastest-paced, bloodiest fight scenes in the novel. This bonus excerpt is available only to LIT subscribers. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Lit Tip: Thriller versus Suspense Writers: what’s your genre? If you said “I don’t know,” you’ve probably already entered The Great Genre Wars. This is an ongoing battle between authors who just want to tell a damned good story and publishers whose business is to fit those stories into neat little slots on bookstore shelves. Some of the toughest genres to call fall under the categories of mystery, thriller and suspense. Distinguishing between mystery and thriller/suspense is comparatively simple once you know the lingo: mysteries are “whodunits,” whereas thrillers and suspense are “howdunits.” Of course, any mystery writer will tell you that there are half a dozen sub-genres you must further classify your work into, so “easy” is not exactly accurate. On the most basic of levels, though, a mystery begins with a crime and the novel leads up to naming the perpetrator; while a thriller/suspense names the antagonist out front and concerns itself with how the protagonist is going to stay alive against seemingly insurmountable odds. Mystery author Jeffery Deaver (of the Lincoln Rhyme series) puts it quite succinctly: “A suspense/thriller novel asks the question, ‘What’s going to happen?’ A traditional mystery novel asks, ‘What happened?’” So: what’s the difference between a thriller and a suspense novel? Believe it or not, there is one—though it’s an ultra-thin line that’s blurred more often than not. Put your novel to the test to determine whether you should classify it as “thriller” or “suspense”. You know you’ve written a thriller when: Huge stakes hang in the balance for your protagonists or group of protagonists, who must stop some ghastly plot by your antagonist that threatens a great number of people, or even the very existence of humanity. Thrillers are often divided into sub-genres like medical thrillers (Robin Cook), military or technical thrillers (Tom Clancy) or legal thrillers (John Grisham). You know you’ve written a suspense novel when: Your protagonist is in terrible personal danger and fighting for his or her life against disproportionately high odds. Suspense novels are breathless page-turners that focus more on a pivotal character, but often include high-stakes elements of thrillers. Now you know whether you should call yourself a thriller author or a suspense author. If you’re still having trouble distinguishing between the two, take heart: most agents and publishers who work with your genre are amenable to something called a “suspense thriller” anyway. LitWords of Wisdom: Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators. --Olin Miller * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Gritty Lit: Dark of the Moon, by P.J. Parrish Want thrills? Add this novel to your reading list. Dark of the Moon by P.J. Parrish Pinnacle Books/Kensington Publishing Corp., 1999 ISBN 0-7860-1054-1 Paperback, 429 pages “Thirty years ago, a young black man vanished from rural Black Pool, Mississippi—and his violent death remained shrouded in mystery. Now his skeletal remains have been discovered in a murky swamp, along with a length of rope entwined in its bones…a rope that is unmistakably a noose.” P.J. Parrish has gone on to write several suspense novels, but the debut Dark of the Moon remains one of the best. Louis Kincaid, a police officer estranged from his black mother and abandoned by his white father, must return to his hometown and deal with the hatred and suspicion from the locals as he struggles to solve the decades-old mystery of the skeleton found in a Mississippi swamp—and stop a very real killer who is still on a path for blood. Dark of the Moon is rich in atmosphere and character. Louis’ struggles with the small-town mentality of the Black Pool police force and his attempts to reconcile with his mother, and in the process himself, create a compelling framework for the book’s non-stop action. Beg, borrow or steal a copy of Dark of the Moon as soon as possible. I might even lend you mine—but if I don’t get it back, I’ll have to hunt you down. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Lit Logs: The Writer’s Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters, by Marc McCutcheon Helping you improve your writing craft, one great resource at a time. The Writer’s Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters by Marc McCutcheon Writer’s Digest Books, 1996 ISBN 0-89879-683-0 Hardcover and trade paperback, 282 pages This reference can be described in just one word: indispensable. I have a vast collection of writing reference books. Of them all, only my thesaurus is more worn and well-thumbed than my copy of Building Believable Characters. Actually, the book itself is a thesaurus of sorts: it is a catalogue of every type of character trait you will ever need. The majority of sections in the book are thesaurus-style entries with subjects like Complexions and Skin Types, Eye Colors, Noses, Personality Traits Inventory, Facial Expressions (with seventeen subdivisions including Anger, Pain, Guilt, Arrogance, Smiles and Grins, and Common Gestures), and Dress. There is a section devoted to dialects and foreign speech, including French vocabulary, British expressions, and a Southern Accent Pronunciation Guide for us “ferners” (foreigners) who wouldn’t know a “payun” (pen) from a “faince” (fence). There’s also a section called Given Names and Surnames from Around the World, which help you to avoid mistakes like naming your female Russian character Hildegarde. One of the most useful tools in Building Believable Characters is the comprehensive Character Questionnaire found in the beginning of the book—over 20 pages of fill-in-the-blank questions designed to help you really know your main characters (and your secondary characters too, if you’re feeling particularly ambitious). Questions range from Physical Condition to Favorite Physical Attributes in Opposite Sex (or same sex, if your character goes for that sort of thing). Amazon or eBay are probably your best bets for scrounging a copy of this valuable writer’s resource. Once you have it, you’ll wonder how you ever got anything written without it. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Rep Lit: The Jennifer DeChiara Agency Represents: Specializes in children’s literature, also highly interested in adult non-fiction and fiction including literary and commercial, mysteries, thrillers, and humor Submission guidelines: Query via snail mail with SASE Response time: 3 to 6 months Guidelines available on the website About this agency: Okay, so you write thrillers, or suspense, or suspense thrillers. Why should you query an agency that specializes in children’s literature? Because Jennifer DeChiara has a soft spot for new and struggling writers—or as she puts it, “the downtrodden, the discouraged, and the downright disgusted.” This agency consists of two agents: Jennifer DeChiara, formerly with the Peter Rubie Agency; and Stephen Fraser, former executive editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books. Both agents also represent adult fiction, and both are open to being approached by new authors. Visit The Jennifer DeChiara Agency’s website at http://www.jdlit.com Read the Fiction Factor interview with Jennifer DeChiara here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/interviews/jdechiara.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Pub Lit: Harbinger Books Publishes: Horror, Mystery/Suspense, Dark Fantasy, Science Fiction Submission guidelines: Query letter and 1-2 page synopsis (e-mail or snail mail) Response time: 6 to 8 weeks Guidelines: http://www.harbingerbooks.net/submissions.htm Don’t let the imprint fool you: though Harbinger Books is an imprint of the Christian book publisher Revelation Press, their titles are anything but religious. Harbinger produces four to six titles a year, but their production is high quality and focuses on collectible hardcover editions. Harbinger is not interested in excessive gore for the sake of gore. However, they do want dark—the darker, the better. If your work falls under the elusive shadow of “speculative fiction,” drop Harbinger a line; they accept both e-mail and snail mail queries. Visit Harbinger Books at http://www.harbingerbooks.net * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * LitSpeak: Snippets for Fans Gabriel Morgan says: “Stay in school, kids. Trust me on this one.” * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Stay tuned for next issue of Lit, loaded with new features on writing tips, market listings and recommended reads. Thanks for getting Lit with us. If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions, drop a line to author@swvaughn.com any time. TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send an e-mail to service@swvaughn.com with the subject: Entering Rehab (or you can just say “Unsubscribe” if you prefer). We will promptly leave you to your own devices. The author of this newsletter grants you permission to freely distribute this issue of LIT to anyone who may be interested. Go ahead and annoy your friends; we won’t tell them it was you. However, you may not change a few words of this publication and claim it as your own. Plagiarism is severely frowned upon and will be punished by flooding your e-mail inbox with hot new leads for barely legal girls (if you’re a woman) or embarrassing and demeaning offers for the latest erectile dysfunction treatment (if you’re a man). You have been warned. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * LIT Archives Return to S. W. Vaughn's home page Visit The Hall: Resources for writers Read a preview of Fallen Angel Check out this page...it's really something |