Thrillers and Romance-Oil and Water or Does Danger Add that Certain Something?

by Jamie Freveletti

The Romantic Times Convention is in Chicago this weekend and The Outfit members will be there enjoying every minute. I've never been to an RT Convention, and having it in Chicago is a wonderful opportunity to attend. Of course, I got to thinking, does a Thriller writer belong there? It seems as though thriller writers don't write romance and often, if they do, it just gets panned, or worse yet, nominated by The Literary Review for the "Bad Sex in Fiction" Award.

I'm not kidding, the award exists. Here are the 2011 nominees.

And can I tell you how I do NOT want to make this list?

Writing romance in a thriller comes with a certain set of logistical problems that are built into the genre. By definition, a thriller sets a protagonist against an antagonist that wants to kill or maim. When you're writing one you'd hate to have your protagonist do something silly rather than try their damndest to get to safety. That's a quick way to lose a reader. So, you try to imagine what a real person would do in the same circumstances. If someone was running toward me with murderous intent romance would be the last thing on my mind. I'd be running--as fast as I could run. Likewise, if cornered I'd be working out in my mind which aikido move I would use to disarm the assailant before--you guessed it-- running away.  I teach aikido and I always emphasize to my students the running away option as optimal in all circumstances. I tell them the best aikido move is the one that allows you to avoid doing any techniques.

But there is something interesting that occurs when one writes a thriller with a female and male character. There's always a question in the reader's mind whether they're going to stop running away or solving the mystery and take some time out to get it on. The best thrillers have sex scenes, both in the movies and in books. In one of my favorite books, The Bourne Identity, Jason Bourne and Marie are in chased all over and hole up in a hotel alone, worried, and wired. They find the perfect way to address their surfeit of adrenaline. 

And in the movie North By Northwest the character played by Cary Grant gets chased, a lot, but somehow ends up romancing the woman who may or may not be a villain.

The romance in North By Northwest is handled well, though, and his concerns about her add to the suspense. I also liked the approach taken by the X-files throughout all the episodes until the very end. They were colleagues first, began to care about each other, and then became lovers.

Because I write a female protagonist who is action oriented, I don't have her worry too much about what the men are thinking or not thinking with regard to romance. The men hit on her a bit, but most need her unique knowledge and sharp brain to help them get out of dangerous circumstances and they focus on getting out of trouble first.

However, I do think that she'll have a free moment soon. Maybe on a train ride like the one above.

And when she does, let's just hope that the resulting scene doesn't get nominated for the bad sex in fiction award by the Literary Review!

I look forward to seeing everyone at the RT Convention!

Poetry with an Edge: It's not only hearts and flowers

by Jamie Freveletti

I'm headed to a poetry slam this week and was thinking about the poetry I love; the nice and not-so-nice. I must admit, most of my favorite poetry is of the not-so-nice category and that which has hidden meanings.

I'll never forget reading Keats' Ode to a Grecian Urn and being a tad...bored. The lovers chasing each other into infinity is an interesting image, I admit, but the rest didn't really catch me until the last famous line about beauty and truth. I was in an English Literature class in college when a substitute teacher showed up. His name was Lucien Stryk and he was teaching Ode and called on me to give my thoughts.

"Boring," I said. "But I like that last line." He didn't seem insulted, but began teaching a poem by Sylvia Path. He started to talk about her life and I recall raising my hand and asking, "Do all poets have to be tragic figures? Or can you be balanced as a person and still write it?"

I'll never forget him laughing. Then he pulled out the poem that I love to this day: My Last Duchess, by Robert Browning. It's a poem written by a nasty, evil man and I gasped at the end when I realized what he had done.

I read all of Browning and bought his collection of poems, which managed to survive all of my moves throughout the world and is on my bookshelf today. I read it when I need to create a subtle, but nasty villain.

When Mr. Stryk left the class he pointed at me and said, "I expect you'll be writing one day." I remember wondering why he thought such a thing. Guess experience shows, because he was right.

The other creepy poem that I love is Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti. This poem talks about evil, demon-like trolls that suck the life out of their victims and leave them gray and withering. Great stuff and the lesbian imagery struck me as pretty blatant for a poem from an earlier century, but when I asked my teacher, who had returned for this class, if anyone else had commented on this aspect he frowned and shut down the question. I remember thinking that Mr. Stryk would have answered me, and I went off to research it myself. (Seems that feelings are mixed; some say the imagery is deliberate, but others think that Rossetti didn't mean to imply this, but had begun working at a home for wayward women and was warning of the ruin that comes to women who are used by men and flung aside. These critics think that she was trying to write about sisterhood.).

From there we went to WB Yeats, The Second Coming, and I was hooked. The idea of a demon slouching toward Bethlehem is exactly what a thriller writer would love: impending doom heading our way.

For a grim view of World War I, read Wilfred Owen's Dolce Et Decorum Est. This poem, written by a soldier who fought and died in the war, describes mustard gas poisoning in a heartbreaking series of lines that will stick with you.

I'm looking forward to the slam for a dose of edgy, concise and affecting imagery. Should be a great event!

E-Reader Owners Watch Your Wallets: Plagiarism Abounds

by Jamie Freveletti



If you haven't read the recent Fast Company article about rampant plagiarism on Amazon, check it out. Turns out that some entrepreneurial souls are uploading plagiarised material and swiping the cash from under the noses of the legitimate authors. While the article focuses on erotica books, I presume it is occuring elsewhere as well. I was surprised by the number of plagiarised works one "author" uploaded--51, with more going up every few days.

It takes me about nine months to write a book and two months to rewrite. At my rate it will take me over thirty years to match her (or his) output. Honestly, I couldn't type, format, create a cover and upload a book that fast. They must be buying them, scanning them, and then uploading it again with a new title and author name. In this case, copy and paste is a beautiful tool.

While this fraud hurts the writer, clearly, it also hurts the readers as well. 

A friend recounted to me that one of her relatives, an avid reader, downloaded a kindle book, read it and then downloaded another. Guess what, the second book was exactly the first, but with a new title and author. Naturally, she was upset. While the outlay wasn't great-the book was either .99 or 2.99, she was still hoodwinked. She wasn't sure who had repackaged the book--the author trying to make a second sale out of the same manuscript or a con man looking to make some fast cash. I'd like to think it was a con man but there is really no way to tell.

And there's little that can be done unless the platform software--in the story it's Amazon, makes an effort to run the book through a program to catch copying.

So just another way for thieves to part you from your cash.

As if we didn't already have enough to worry about!

Writers' Conferences --Tips and Tricks

by Jamie Freveletti

I’ve been asked to comment on writers’ conferences. I’ll be attending a few conferences and I always enjoy them. I began attending as an unpublished writer and now attend as part of the industry, but I still enjoy just listening to the panels and talking books. Writing conferences are the something I didn’t attend as a reader. I would attend signings periodically, but had no idea that entire conferences existed until one year after I had completed a manuscript and was surfing the web for industry information.

Once I began attending I realized that I had been missing out. Conferences immerse you in fiction, provide a great weekend of interesting things to do, and let you rub shoulders with authors that you would have never met otherwise. Bouchercon  was in Chicago that year and Love Is Murder (also Chicago) popped up. It was a week before Bouchercon and I plunked down my Visa card and signed up. I arranged for childcare--the conferences generally run over a weekend so no depending on school to keep them busy-- and rode my bicycle down Lake Shore Drive to the hotel and….

Entered a wonderful world.

I remember reading the bulletin and circling the different panels that I wanted to attend. I listened to authors I had read tell about their books and writing process and what they love. I was enchanted. (The next is set for Cleveland in October and I’m registered to attend, but just haven’t added it to the website just yet).

By the time Love Is Murder rolled around I was on a serious mission to get some input on a new manuscript. I paid for a manuscript review and was assigned to the now New York Times bestselling author Julie Hyzy. She was just starting her career then and she was wonderful to me. Love Is Murder is a smaller, but very congenial conference that I adored and I have tried to attend every one since that first. It’s an excellent way to meet authors and industry professionals because it’s so intimate. I’d hit this one now or in the next few years because I suspect attendance will grow. (And this year Julie is a guest of honor!).

Sleuthfest  was the fourth conference that I ever attended. Generally set in Florida, this year it’s in Orlando! I’m really excited to go, because not only will the weather be superb but this industry-minded and fan conference usually provides something for everyone. I listened to my first forensic pathologist give a particularly fascinating lecture there and still use some of what I learned in my writing. This year Jeffrey Deaver and Charlaine Harris will be among the attendees and I look forward to hearing them speak. You really can’t beat the location and many people will tie it into a trip to Disney, I’m sure.

Thrillerfest  is the newcomer on the block. It started a few years ago and has grown steadily since then. I was present for the first and what a blast that was! It was located in Arizona and has since moved to New York City. This conference has really moved forward as an industry conference by virtue of its NYC connection. Heavy hitters in the thriller writer world are here: Tess Gerritsen, Ken Follett, Lee Child, John Sandford, Lisa Gardner and Jeffrey Deaver have all attended, to name just a few and this year Catherine Coulter and Karin Slaughter will be there as well.

There are definite tips to attending a conference. Here are some of mine:

1.       Book the hotel early. The conference rate is the best and goes quickly. BUT, if you miss out (as I have) sometimes you can score a room a couple of days before. Inevitably things pop up and some attendees will cancel and you can scoop up their slot.

2.       Check out the panel list and plan accordingly. There is a lot to do and you don’t want to miss out on something or someone you’ve always wanted to hear speak.

3.       Hit the hotel bar afterhours: You’ll see a lot of authors wander in and out there. In the early years I was too intimidated to speak to them, but it was really cool just to author watch. It still is.

4.       Buy the books you want with abandon and ship them home. I still look at my bookshelves and see the books that I bought at the conferences and they always make me smile. They’re all signed and they bring back great memories.  

Enjoy!

Halfway Through A Book Tour

By Jamie Freveletti

I'm halfway through a book tour for THE NINTH DAY and enjoying every minute. Even those minutes where I am the last in the restaurant when they're making the switch from breakfast to lunch and the coffee is burned from sitting for the past hour. While all my tours are fun, this one was made more so by the addition of Wendy Corsi Staub, a New York Times bestselling author. Harpercollins teamed us up and the trip became that much more enjoyable.

We started out in Buffalo on the local morning show (WKBW- Linda Pellegrino http://.http://www.wkbw.com/programming/am-buffalo/video/Authors-Wendy-Corsi-Staub-and-Jamie-Freveletti---September-30th-130867263.html ) and headed to Dunkirk, where Wendy grew up. After Dunkirk we flew to Chicago for a few signings here.

We capped the entire section of the tour off with a livestream event from the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Arizona put together by Wendy's imprint, Avon and I got to go along for the ride. (You can watch it here: http://livestre.am/14puh ).

We've laughed--a lot. As I was shooting down the freeway in upstate New York watching the beautiful countryside fly by I thought that the one lesson I'm trying to learn is to enjoy the moment. Live in the present and stop worrying about the next goal I've set for myself. This is particularly tough for me--I always feel as though I could be doing more-but on this tour with the laughter and wonderful time spent talking books I came very, very close. Thanks to the readers that came out to share in our book launch.

I'm headed down the East coast of Florida and will update again when that is completed. In the meantime, I'll do my best to update on Facebook and Twitter and will cap it off with another post here.

Enjoy your week!

Five Days to Launch!

by Jamie Freveletti

I'm launching my third book in five days! I'm also emerging from the flu --just in time to tour. The advance reviews for the book have been wonderful, but I knew that would happen because I had the inside track: an editor that told me "I stayed up late because I had to finish this book." She's been in the business for a long time and reads constantly, so this praise let me know that it would review well.

In The Ninth Day, Emma is in the Arizona desert looking for night blooming plants and working on the side for Darkview, a contract security agency. She's asked to watch for human trafficking activity over the border, and since much of it occurs in the desert she's in a perfect position to find it. She's eventually captured by a coyote and dragged across the border to Ciudad Juarez and the compound of a cartel leader with a big problem: his marijuana fields are rotting with a strange disease. Worse, the disease transfers to humans and his girlfriend has contracted it. He believes the American herbicide dusting planes have killed his fields and he prepares to transport the diseased plants throughout the US. He also gives Emma an ultimatum, cure the disease in nine days or die.

I've heard the recent Mexican cartel activity described as "the war next door" and the comment couldn't be more accurate. Much of what I write about in my books involve actual diseases, cures and events and this book is the same. What is shocking is the level of crime in Mexico and the rate at which it is accelerating.

As for the disease, (which I won't reveal as it would be a spoiler) I was researching something and developed a hypothesis from clinical reports. There I was, eating breakfast and reading the Chicago Tribune in June and lo and behold an article about a recent clinical study that confirmed my idea was published. One of those moments when you think that reading really does pay off--at least reading clinical studies-we all know that reading in general is one of the best things to do!

I'm heading out on tour and really excited as well. I'm touring with the fantastic Wendy Corsi Staub! She's an New York Times bestselling author and funny, charming person. I hope to blog here during the tour and hope to upload some photos. Generally I'm not a photo taker, but I vow that this time I will. (I hope).

I posted our tour locations on the web page, but it will include: Buffalo, Dunkirk (New York) Chicago and suburbs, Milwaukee, Houston, Katy, Phoenix, Tempe, and the eastern coast of Florida starting in Lady Lake through Vero Beach, Cocoa Beach, Mt Dora, Stuart, Deerfield Beach and ending in Boca Raton.

I hope you enjoy the book, and if you have a chance to stop by at a signing I'd love to see you!

Best Regards, Jamie