Marshfield Is on a Marsh

Marshfield also has an excellent medical facility and quirky characters, most of whom were apparently at the festival about ten miles up the road, as only eight twelve people came into the Bookworld when I was there for yesterday's signing. Stephanie, Wendy, and Amy, the bookstore employees, were incredibly helpful, having my poster plastered all over the windows, having stuffed flyers promoting my signing into bags all week, and having drawn a chalk outline of a body, with signing information and a big arrow, directly outside the door. Alas, it wasn't in the stars. Marshfield was a ghost town yesterday, and I only sold four copies of May Day, two to employees of Bookworld. :)

The other copy was to a librarian, and the final copy was to an interesting man who told me how he broke out of jail in Nebraska when he was 16. He had three daughters and was sure at least one of them would like May Day, but wasn't sure which one, so had me write, "To a wonderful daughter" on the inside cover. Hee hee. Anyhow, I can see why publishers don't want to spring for book tours for the authors. Phew. What a bust. On a good note, Amy, the manager of the Marshfield Bookworld, had me sign the 20 copies of May Day she had on hand before I left.

I would like to add to the Wisconsin Rapids post on what I know, the hard way, about booksignings. If you're an author set on booksignings, and you're not famous and/or in your hometown, create a group, like the Minnesota Crime Wave. You'll widen your potential audience, particularly if the other writers have different styles, and you'll promise more entertainment potential to your audience.

I've been reading Deadly Housewives, in preparation for the short story I'm going to write. I'd like to preface what I'm about to writing by making clear that I don't normally enjoy short stories--as my mom says, "If it's good, you don't want it to end, and if it's not good, why read it?"--and that I do normally enjoy the writing of many of the contributing authors to the Deadly Housewives anthology. That said, the short stories in the anthology are terrible. I've paged through the first five and been unable to finish any but one, and I only finished that one because it was extra short.

The others have zero character development. An effective short story author has to be able to paint a memorable character with only a few keystrokes. That can be done by focusing on a couple physical characteristics and a telling line of dialogue or two. For example:

Lisa shuffled to the nearest table and slid quickly into a fold-out chair. She was careful to smooth her lily-covered sundress under her first. The dress was new and expensive, and she didn't want any telltale wrinkles when she returned it on Monday.

That's the best I can do on short notice, but the point is that you know Lisa is lacking in self-confidence, and she's thrifty. She's a type, and you have enough to create a mental image of her so you can feel more confident in following the plot. Now, being a mystery writer, I've got to give Lisa some dark twist later in the story, something you didn't see coming but can swallow given the compulsive repressedness I've hinted at above. Maybe she runs a cockfighting ring in the basement of her home daycare. I'll just have to see.

Anyhow, the point is that a short story needs to be a study in character, unless you've got some incredibly clever plot to throw out in a couple pages or less. Otherwise, as a reader, I want to really be able to dig in and understand the people I'm reading about.

Off to the Duck Boats. It's cold and a little rainy in the Dells, but the kids are happy!