Book Review: Trials of Passion

Trials of Passion: Crimes Committed in the Name of Love and Madness by Lisa Appignanesi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Victorian-era spinster Christiana Edmonds was extremely unhappy that her letters weren’t returned by her doctor, Charles Beard. Of course he loved her and would leave his wife, but Beard never did. He simply told Christiana to stop writing. Things stalemated until a rash of poisonings—which resulted in the death of a four-year-old boy—exposed Christiana’s plans to hide her attempted murder of Mrs. Beard by broadcasting handmade poisoned chocolate creams throughout the community. Alas, her handwriting on repeated requests for strychnine and cyanide from the local chemist’s gave her away. She pleaded not guilty and stated Dr. Beard had besmirched her honor, but the “Borgia of Brighton” was sentenced to life in an asylum—not to death by hanging. Her lawyer and the “alienists”—what we’d call today psychologists—had argued that Christiana’s unrequited love had induced a madness that had driven her to this desperate act.

Trials of Passion takes a tantalizing look into landmark cases in the U.K., France and the U.S. during the later-half of the 19th and into the early years of the 20th century that set the standards we recognize today for the legal defense of temporary insanity. Appignanesi shows how these crimes and their trials demonstrate changing gender roles in Western society. The belle époque’s attitude was that women (and some men) were “hysterics” or mentally feeble and suggestible to commit these crimes, but in actuality, these criminals were simply crying out for justice that their culture didn’t address. The poor and downtrodden committed crimes of passion to right wrongs perpetrated on them by the powerful and wealthy who had left them without honor. However, even millionaires such as American Harry Thaw used this psychological defense to justify his shooting of architect Stanford White because White had raped the beautiful model Evelyn Nesbit, who later became Thaw’s wife, when she was but a teenager. Murder had become a “cure for insanity”.

Trials of Passion is a fascinating read for those interested in history, psychology, and the legal profession and how these disciplines came together to create the feminist movement and modern ethics.


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Crafting Great Story Openings (Story Hooks)

Overwhelming.

If most people could sum up their typical day in one word, overwhelming might be at the top of the list.

Think about your typical day. You have places to go, people to see, bills to pay, children to feed, spouses to listen to, bosses to deal with, appointments to make, and other unexpected diversions (some pleasant and some not-so-pleasant) coming at you from all sides. You really could use a break to relax and unwind, but it’s got to be a quick one because you don’t have much time. You have things to do!

What does the mad pace and constant rush of our current culture got to do with writing fiction? To put it succinctly—everything. A writer doesn’t have much time to get the twenty-first century reader hooked into a story before the reader realizes he/she has a million other things to do and puts the book (or Kindle) down to go tackle the to-do list. If you want to entice readers to pick up your book and keep turning pages—even when the kids are yelling for supper—then you’ve got to create a strong interest in your story and characters quickly using a bare minimum of words.

“But wait,” I hear some of you saying. “I have to tell the reader all about this wonderful world I’ve created first. I have to tell them about the planet’s terrain and the weather conditions, and the fantastic hairstyles they all have, and how the price of coffee affects who they vote for to become their supreme dictator…” 

I have just one word of advice about this sort of thing: Don’t.

The opening lines and pages of a story have one purpose only—to grab readers by the heartstrings and make them care about a character and the circumstances this character finds himself or herself in. If you’re using the opening pages to describe the weather, how are readers supposed to come to care for your character and his/her story? The reader wants to connect immediately with a character and experience his/her pain, joy, fear, or anxiety. The details of the setting can wait. Get us cheering for a character first.

One of the best ways to hook a reader is by starting in the middle of a scene that illustrates the character’s “journey”—a physical and/or emotional journey. In other words, the character from the very first line is about to take an action or make a decision that will change the course of his/her life. It can be as big as saving an entire star system or it can be more intimate like deciding whether or not to go on a blind date (the premise of one of my novels). Whatever the action, don’t start at the “absolute beginning” and list all the minute details, but rather start somewhere in the middle of the scene closer to the point when the character makes the decision that will propels him or her on a journey. 

 

What's missing from this pretty picture? Maybe it's a "who"? 
You need a character in your opening scene, not just scenery.

Let’s say your heroine has already decided to go on the blind date. The first scene could show her getting ready for the hero to arrive at her front door, and he’s more than an hour late. Think emotions. What is going through her head right now? Fear? Boredom? Frustration? Did he back out at the last minute? Was he killed in a car accident? There are many emotions your heroine could be feeling, so choose one and start with it. Here’s the first line I’d go with:

“Some blind date he is—how dare he keep me waiting!” 

There’s a hint of frustration there, isn’t there? And possibly a little fear or worry. But as you can tell, I didn’t describe what my heroine is wearing or how she fixed her hair or even give her name. All those things can wait. The first line doesn’t need details—it needs to help your reader identify with a character and feel his/her emotions as if they were the reader’s own. If you’ve ever felt stood up while waiting for your date to arrive, I bet you can relate.

My next paragraph might be:

Rachel stomped her foot and growled at the back of her front door. It had been at least six weeks since her co-worker caught her in the break room crying over Billy dumping her. Why had she allowed Maddie to set her up on this stupid blind date with her bumpkin cousin who didn’t seem to own a watch? Did she really seem all that desperate?  On Monday morning, Rachel vowed to give Maddie a piece of her mind!

You’ll notice that a first scene doesn’t need to tell the reader tons of background information. By showing the reader what is happening in the hearts and minds of your characters, the back story will come through. Keep in mind that fiction writers aren’t “storytellers”. In reality, writers are “story show-ers”.  If you show your characters living their lives through their words and actions, you will never need to tell how they feel or bore readers with dry details. Your readers will experience your story through the character’s emotions and reactions to the situation. Your readers will live the scene through your characters…

And then you’ll have hooked them into your fictional world and the fascinating characters who inhabit it and the relationships they experience. The soup may boil over and the boss may keep texting, but your readers won’t want to put your book down because they have been caught up in a whirlwind of emotions and feel as if they’ve truly come alive inside your story. Now, that’s a great hook.

For more easy-to-follow tips on how to impress an editor and get your manuscript published,  read Defeating the Slushpile Monster.
 

Available for the Kindle at http://tinyurl.com/kindleSlushpile and in print at http://tinyurl.com/slushpile

If you're looking for a freelance editor, send me an email with the subject line of "Editorial Services" at cynthianna@hotmail.com  

P.S. If you get a chance to review any of my books, thank you. I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to leave me your opinion, good or bad. If you do a review, send me your email address and the link to the review so you can be entered into a special drawing. I promise the giveaway will be an exclusive for readers like you.

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Book Review: Catastrophe 1914

Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War by Max Hastings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was never a well-liked person, but his assassination (one of many in that day) became a convenient excuse for Kaiser Wilhelm’s war machine to flex its muscle. Hastings details the deliberate machinations of how the Austro-Hungarians are convinced by the Germans that now is the time to regain land they both had lost in previous conflicts. The auspicious start of the war sees outdated tactics such as cavalry charges and drum corps against machine guns, virtually non-existent coordination of forces on both sides, and the Germans’ official sanctioning of killing civilians and burning villages in their wake. This is not the slow trench warfare usually associated with the first world war, but its exceedingly deadly and destructive precursor. Catastrophe 1914 demonstrates how the self-delusional reasoning behind a war for economic gain can change the world forever.


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Book Review: Scatter, Adapt, and Remember

Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction by Annalee Newitz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Our primitive ancestors’ survival extincts served them well, Newitz theorizes, as they dispersed from Africa and wandered across the continents, possibly intermingling and intermarrying with our fellow hominids the Neanderthals and Denisovans. Love and cooperation may very well have saved Homo sapiens from extinction—and not our ability to use symbolic logic alone, although it played a crucial role. By scattering far and wide, adapting to the local climate changes and environments, and remembering to share their stories and adaptive technology with their offspring, our ancient human ancestors insured we’d still be here today.

But what happens if another mass extinction event occurs? Remember the dinosaurs? What if we’re hit by a burst of gamma radiation from a hypernova or a megavolcano erupts spewing particulates high into the atmosphere, blocking out our sunlight? How will we survive as a species then? Newitz interviews top scientists about the cities of tomorrow and where they’ll be located (probably underground), and how we could change genetically in order to survive on Mars or Titan. More good news—research into these far reaching fields will yield discoveries we’ll be able to use now, such as the space elevator and fuels derived from blue-green algae. All in all, our odds of surviving the apocalypse have never been better.

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Book Review: You Are Now Less Dumb

You Are Now Less Dumb: How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself by David McRaney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I do indeed feel "less dumb" after reading David McRaney's You Are Now Less Dumb. As a psych major, I've always enjoyed learning about behavioral studies and other observations of the human mind. The great thing is that You Are Now Less Dumb is written on a level everyone can enjoy while exploring the fascinating world of psychology.

Probably the most fascinating part for me was actually becoming part of a "mob mentality" moment this past week after I finished reading the book. It is amazing how people on the Internet will use the anonymity it gives to act out in mean-spirited ways against others without fear of reprisal, believing that everyone in the group feels the same way and thus justifying their not-so-nice actions. If people really knew how others were thinking, would they join in the crowds that gather around suicidal people on bridges and start shouting, "Jump! Jump, why don't you?" Perhaps not.

And I've learned my lesson--never try to convince an online friend to switch his/her political viewpoint. Even if you post photos of bare, unadorned facts you are only making your friends' beliefs that much stronger because of the inborn need humans have to defend whatever it is we spend lots of time on. (You don't waste your time on "dumb things", right?) So, I'll no longer try to convince certain folks that allowing the elderly, disabled, and children to starve or go without health care isn't in our country's best interest, because to those who disagree with me on this topic it always will be. (One wonders what would happen to their attitude if their loved ones ever became part of the starving crowd.)

Yes, the world would definitely become a happier place if more read You Are Now Less Dumb and became... well, less dumb!

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