As a fiction writer, I find it difficult to crack open a book
without an agenda. Stepping into a story, especially a series, becomes a study
of the author’s voyage through creation, craft, and character development.
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| Photo: Scottoline.com |
I recently plowed through a legal mystery series by Lisa
Scottoline. The premise’s combination of an all-women law firm, sparkly humor,
and a tangle of moral dilemmas rang all my chimes—in spades.
Each of the three main characters comes to the firm of Rosato
& Associates with their own set of unique baggage. Every book of the series
solves a case in a “chickalicious” way. I cared about these three women, with
all their character flaws and passion for the law. They’re chased, get shot at,
and break their heels in their willingness to put their lives on the line for
truth. A hook of the highest order.
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| Photo: Scottoline.com |
While I burned to speed through the series, I took my time to
study their construction—first lines and last lines of chapters, pacing, and
how the plots unfold—to understand how Lisa Scottoline tethered me to a journey. The
first book in the series, Everywhere That
Mary Went, was a bit rough in the craft department. Those colorful dialogue
tags and adverbs were a “no-no” distraction, along with shifting points of
view. Can’t get away with that these days. But I kept going. Lisa Scottoline
made me laugh out loud with her clever turns of phrase. I’m glad she didn’t go back at fix the crafty bumps,
because they showed that she is human, like the rest of us writers.
The magic of character development unfolded. Lisa Scottoline
learned more about her characters, as we readers did with her. By Rough Justice I was all in. This is why
readers love a series. One book can’t show us what multiple books can with the
same cast. It takes time, more than a mere three-hundred pages, to get deep
inside a character’s head. Authors and their fans want to linger in there and
hangout. Today’s required pacing of a standalone book doesn’t allow for such luxury.
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| Photo: Scottoline.com |
By the tenth book, Lady
Killer, I’d learned plenty about the law, but I also enjoyed the author’s
growth in her craft. That was fun. Lisa Scottoline took her real-life experience
as a former trial attorney to express herself through prose, to say what she
couldn’t in a courtroom. The law isn’t so black and white. As far as I’m
concerned, Ms. Scottoline had found her ultimate calling.
Authors go through pangs of self-doubt. I certainly do. Am I doing it “write”? Am I a legend only in my own mind? Writing
a book is harder than most readers think. As I moved through the series, I
could easily identify where Ms. Scottoline fretted over artistic choices, and
also where she sat back like a Cheshire cat and flung the littered poo. Those
moments were golden for me.
Lisa Scottoline became my soul sister over the two months that I read her books—and she doesn’t even know me. I procrastinated to read the last one so the series wouldn't end. That’s what being a reader who writes
is all about. Or is it the other way around? Depends on the day.
Here is Lisa Scottoline’s website if you want to learn more about
her work: scottoline.com
The Rosato & Associates series: Everywhere That Mary Went, Legal
Tender, Rough Justice, Mistaken Identity, Moment of Truth, The Vendetta
Defense, Courting Trouble, Dead Ringer, Killer Smile, Lady Killer,
and Think Twice.
Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Oregon
with her husband of thirty-seven years and bossy cat. She writes for baby
boomers. Her novels are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. Courtney has
studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the
Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing
community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers
Association and is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers
Association, She Writes, and Sisters in Crime. The Executrix received
the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.
Check out all of Courtney's books at:
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| New Release! |
Colorful characters come alive in Courtney's
latest trilogy about the Dushane sisters. Beginning with The
Executrix, three middle-age sisters find a manuscript for a
murder mystery in their mother's safe after her death. Mom’s book gives
them a whole new view of their mother and their future. Is it fiction . . . or
truth?
Get out the popcorn as the Dushane Sisters Trilogy comes to scrumptious conclusion with Indigo Legacy. Due out in early 2017. Stay tuned!
Well said, Courtney. Every book I read is like taking a class. I'm not as organized as you are but I do stop and analyze what's going on as I read. And, if there is a particular aspect of the craft I'm working to improve in my own writing, I pay particular attention to how the authors I'm currently reading handle that. I haven't read Lisa Scottoline for ages. Your post has me adding at least one of her books onto my TBB list.
ReplyDeleteJust this week, I went back in time to re-read Daphne du Maurier's REBECCA. Oh has writing craft changed from 1938. Not one line of dialogue until Chapter Three. All exposition and endless metaphors. If submitted to an agent today, would it be considered a classic? The story--yes--but Daphne would be forced to rewrite it in order to get into a scene in the first five pages. But in the end, I did bask in her prose like a bubble bath. I like to rotate between modern books and classics, like Dickens, to remind myself that it's not always about action and speed.
ReplyDeleteI love how you looked at Lisa's first book in the series and then saw her craft grow as she wrote. That is a sign of a great reader AND a good writer. Lisa Scottoline has become a regular bestseller and she deserves it because she's improved her craft. It also gives all the rest of us hope that readers will forgive some of our early mistakes and grow with us.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look back on the first books I wrote in series--though they are good stories and hold together well, I see the improvement in my writing between then and now. Every once in a while I think: "I should go back and redo that, bring it up to my current standards." But then I'm reminded by a good friend, who has produced more than 100 novels and twice that many in short stories. He always asks: "Which new book will you give up to go back and redo an old book?" That's his way of saying, never go back. If you do that you will not only stop your forward progress but also put yourself in an untenable situation.
The reason I can never go back and just "fix" a previous book is that the craft I employ now is not this little bit and that little bit that I can stick in here and there. It is the WHOLE of the process, including how I have changed as a person, how my worldview has become more nuanced. To really "fix" an earlier book means I should really start the whole story over--not looking at those previous words--because my approach to writing is different, my pacing is different, my approach to themes and story arcs and character arcs and description are all different. They are based on what I've learned in the past, but they come as a whole process in forming story. If I try to surgically "fix" a book, I will only be disappointed.
He is sooooo right about not going back. It's kind of like trying to go back to a childhood home with all the expectations of those same relationships, feelings, experiences. It can never be the same because I am not the same. Consequently, I harbor those "fix it" thoughts for those books written 6 to 8 years ago only for a few minutes. Then I realize they have to stand as they were, representative of who I was at that time--both as a person and as a writer.