Who is THE OTHER WOMAN?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: SO exciting! THE OTHER WOMAN launches today! It’s the first in my new series, in hardcover from Forge—and I am thrilled with the response. Oline Cogdill called it a“... highly entertaining hardcover debut.  Ryan combines both a timely tale and a multi-layered plot with gripping suspense.  Ryan uses her trademark effortlessly wry touch...a well-designed, brisk plot that is high on restraint and without gratuitous violence."

 And it has a starred review from Library Journal “Readers who crave mystery and political intrigue will be mesmerized by this…” and a starred review from Booklist! (See below for the rave.)

One of the marvelous things about having so many pals in writing world is that everyone is interested in how everyone else works—how we think and how we make decisions and yes, even where ideas come from. I’ve answered a lot of new and insightful questions over the past week—and they’ve really made me think! And at the end of today’s post—THE OTHER WOMAN video. And a very very easy contest!

Girlfriend LUCY BURDETTE also has a book coming out this week--I interviewed her for yesterday's post--now she's got the microphone!

LUCY BURDETTE: Tell us about THE OTHER WOMAN!

HANK: Happy to!  I love that Julia Spencer-Fleming called it The Candidate meets Basic Instinct. I’ve called it The Good Wife meets Law & Order. A Booklist starred review (!) calls it “The perfect thriller for the election season.” It’s a fast-paced page-turner about a reporter on the trail of a candidate’s secret mistress. Who is the other woman? And if a candidate is having an affair—should the reporter make that public?  And its the first in a new series, so readers are starting at the beginning. Fans of Lisa Scottoline and Harlan Coben will love it, I hope!

LUCY:  It's so different from your first series--may I say it seems--bigger.

HANK:  Yes, THE OTHER WOMAN is very different! When I got the idea for the story, I realized it was too big and juicy and complicated to be in first person present tense. My thought was—there are too many elements that need to be going on at the same time. And the main characters, Jane Ryland and Jake Brogan, each needed their own point of view. That allowed me to reveal, separately, what each person knows and what they believe to be true—and also allows me to let the reader know thing that the character doesn’t. It seemed so ripe for dramatic irony—and it was an amazing and rewarding challenge to write it. Incredibly fun.

And the TIME books are funny, THE OTHER WOMAN really isn’t. But Oline Cogdill’s rave review, commented on my “effortlessly wry humor”–so I guess it’s not all drama and suspense!

LUCY:  It's so ripped from the headlines--a big-name politician who may be having an illicit affair? Imagine! Is there an issue that you're addressing with THE OTHER WOMAN? If so, what is it?

HANK: Well. That’s interesting. You know, there is an “issue”—but it’s not what you might expect. It’s consequences. How everything we do, even if we think we’re doing a good thing or the right thing or an important thing—has consequences. And some of those turn out to be consequences we never could have predicted.  People talk about “doing he right thing for the wrong reason”—or the concept of “unintended consequences.” I wanted to let people think about that-- how one decision we make reverberates and resonates—and topples dominoes in people’s lives.

To examine secrets and desire and the need for power—how those things can change you. And how far people will go to get what they want.

One character says: You can choose your sin, but you cannot choose your consequences.” And that’s what’s on the cover.

I also say:  “Seduction, betrayal and murder—it’ll take more than votes to win this election.”

LUCY: Everyone in New England knows you from your TV career as investigative reporter in Boston--for what, more than 30 years now? You writer about a reporter...hmmmm.

  

HANK: Yeah... When people ask me about research—I have to smile. I have been researching these books every day since I started on the air in 1975! I just didn’t realize it.  I’ve wired myself with hidden cameras, confronted corrupt politicians, chased down criminals—I know how someone looks when they’re lying, I’ve watched politicians close-up on the campaign trail, I know what bad guys think they can get away with—and how they try to fool the public. Is it power, is it entitlement, is it denial? Why do they think they can get away with anything? Why does the public believe so much of what they’re told?  Or—do they?

I wanted to show how the tension with politicians and reporters and police plays out..and how fragile reputations can be. 

LUCY: You have such a terrific video! It's not what anyone would have predicted..

HANK: Oh, thank you! Yeah, we took kind of a risk with it—see what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdH02wV_O3M

(And don't forget to look for Lucy's DEATH IN FOUR COURSES!  It's a deliciously suspenseful mystery about the gorgeous but sinister Key West--and all the fabulous food that goes along with it! PW gave it a RAVE!)

Thanks Girlfriends! You know how crazy launch day is! SO happy to be sharing the journey with you...

Just leave a comment saying hi—and you’ll be entered for a free copy of THE OTHER WOMAN--your choice of a hardcover book, an ebook, or an audio book!

"Trunk Novel"? Nope. Not me.

by Hank Phillippi Ryan

 

Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  I don't have one. No "trunk novel." Unless, um, you count one that never got past six chapters and an incredibly elaborate outline.

 You do count it?

 Okay, then, the story. And it's a tale of innocence and experience, of great expectations, of hilarity and naiveté and big-time reality checks. And, finally, of education and knowledge and lessons learned for a lifetime.

 All from 6 chapters and an outline?

 Yup.

 I've always wanted to write mysteries, ever since I was a little girl, but I just never had a good idea. Which, as you know. is a big problem.

 One day, in 19....94? or even before that....I got one. A good idea. I would write a mystery about GOLF, featuring the first female golf pro at an exclusive local golf course, and she would solve a sort of eco-murder-mystery on the golf course having to do with herbicides and miscarriages. (As a TV reporter, I had covered the trial that turned out to be "A Civil Action" so I was full of research knowledge and lots of cool jargon.)

 We will not discuss the fact that I do not know how to play golf, don't know how a golf course works, and actually, don't even like golf because my depth perception is so bad I can never figure out where the ball is.  But I thought GREENSKEEPER  (good title, huh?)  would be commercial, and I'm a reporter, had been for almost 20 years back then, so I thought--I write true stories every day. How hard can it be to make stuff up?

 So I started. And whoa, I decided I was a natural. It as fun, the story was flowing, it all made sense. To me.

 What I didn't know:   I had clearly never heard the phrase "point of view." I mean, I'd heard it, but had no concept that in a good book, the POV has to be consistent. So when I tell you I head-hopped paragraph to paragraph, that is only in retrospect, because back then I didn't know that's what I was doing.

 I finished six pretty great (if I did say so myself) chapters. and decided it was time to submit this baby to some agents and get this new career underway. I was TV reporter. Who wouldn't want me?

 But no--wait. I read somewhere you were supposed to have an outline. NO problem, I thought. I can do that. So I wrote an incredibly specific chapter by chapter description of what was going to happen, and that only served to make me  even more certain that I would soon be a wildly successful author. I thought--who wouldn't love this?

 I sent the chapters and the outline to two agents. And waited for the good news. This was--1994, remember. Maybe--before that. Actually, come to think of it, it might have been 1989. Hmm. I wrote it on a typewriter, I remember.

 Meanwhile, I sent the manuscript to my father, who is retired from the foreign service now, but used to be the music critic for the Chicago Daily News, and has written two well-published non-fiction books on American music.

 He's the nicest person in the world, and infinitely loving.  He called, and said--"Honey? I read your stuff. And, uh--" And I am quoting precisely now: "There's this thing called 'voice,'" he said. "And you don't have it." 

 Which was--a bummer. But I figured, what does he know? He doesn't read this kind of book. 

 A few weeks later, I got my replies from the agents.

 One's letter said, paraphrasing: Wow, this is a great plot, and we love the idea of the female golf pro. But we are sorry to say your writing is just not up to par. (Oh, they didn’t actually say "up to par," I'm sure. But how could I resist? And that's what they meant.) And they rejected it.

 The other agent said: "Wow, you are a terrific writer! But this plot just doesn't cut it."

 I was so flummoxed and disappointed, I just--stopped.

 Years later, more than ten years later, when I started writing again, I knew enough to know that I didn't know anything. I was still a complete novice, writing PRIME TIME, but I worked and learned and got advice and read books about writing, took  classes  and went to conferences and joined Sisters in Crime and MWA. And revised, revised, revised.

 And it all worked beautifully. And now my fifth Novel, THE OTHER WOMAN is the lead hardcover title for Forge's fall catalog, and is getting amazing amazing blurbs--Lee Child, Karin Slaughter, Lisa Gardner, Lisa Scottoline, Joe Finder, Louise Penny, Carolyn Hart, Lisa Unger. (And I am on the national board of MWA, and about to be president of national Sisters in Crime.)

 I pulled out GREENSKEEPER, recently, wondering if there was anything I could steal for my next book. Or anything I could learn.  And there was.  I learned exactly what NOT to do!

 And what could be more valuable than that?
 What did you learn from your mistakes?

 ***Breaking news: You can win a Kindle, a Nook or $100 gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice! Click here for details!

http://hankphillippiryan.com/newsletter-7-12.html

Get Outta Town!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I brought a friend for coffee! Or tea.. Or, wine, depending on when you're reading this. Rosemary Harris--one of my very first friends in writing world--is gorgeous, talented, hilarious, successful,  has a darling husband (with whom she founded a library in Tanzania ),a darling golden retriever, and knows all the words to every Broadway muscial.. Her fourth book, the sophisticated and clever SLUGFEST is out right now in paperback,and it's not about boxing. 

Rosemary is also a master gardener. And a world traveler. And she says: 

Sometimes a girl's just gotta get away!

by Rosemary Harris

It's true. And if the girl is my heroine Paula Holliday - unattached, small businesswoman without a lot of disposable income - she'll take that trip anyway she can get it.

The majority of traditional mysteries featuring an amateur sleuth are set in quaint and quirky small towns where the quaint and quirky residents occasionally stumble over a dead body. (At a recent writing workshop I joked that the victim was  frequently someone it was easy to dislike - like a white, male real estate developer. Apparently it was okay to kill them off. I thought it was a pretty good line until I noticed one man's face darken. Yup. White, male real estate developer. Will not use that line again.)

Even in a hotbed of criminal activity like the fictional town of Springfield, Connecticut where most of my books are set, things do slow down. And Paula was itching for a road trip. Conventional wisdom said - stay home, kill the real estate guy, or an evil local politician. Publishers think readers will be confused.

But who want to be conventional? Paula was adamant. She wanted to wear something other than painter's pants and grubby jeans. The hussy was even thinking about blowdrying her hair for a change. So I decided to send her to the big city.

Slugfest, the fourth book in my Dirty business mystery series was originally set in Philadelphia where the legendary flower Show served as the inspiration for the one in my book. I'd been a volunteer there for close to ten years, had lectured there and had prowled the floor in the early morning hours when the building's only other occupants were neurotic exhibitors taking cuticle scissors to their displays to  eliminate any brown or curled leaf. I'd also decided that some of the action would take place in one of my favorite hotels which - covering all bases - has a terrific restaurant, a spa and a chocolate factory on the premises. (It's the Rittenhouse. Tell them I sent you.)

Then it hit me. If I killed off characters who bore even a passing resemblance to flower show habitués, they'd never invite me back. And what kind of welcome would I get at the Rittenhouse if I had someone drown in the hot tub - or die from poisoned chocolates? Much as I loved my research, it had to go. But Paula still insisted on a vacation. And I wanted her to rub shoulders with a better class of bad guy. That's how Paula Holliday wound up in New York at the fictional Big Apple Flower Show where more than just the plants are dying. and not only does she blow dry her hair, she borrows a red dress that gets everybody talking.

Who knows, she may never go back to the 'burbs...

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: If you write a series, do you change the setting? If a standalone--how and when do you decide where it takes place?

Rosemary Harris is a native Brooklynite like some of the characters in her upcoming book, The B-tches of Brooklyn and is the author of the Dirty Business mystery series featuring amateur sleuth Paula Holliday. Rosemary's debut novel, the Agatha and Anthony-nominated, Pushing Up Daisies (Minotaur), was followed by The Big Dirt Nap, Dead Head and Slugfest newly released in paperback ( http://tinyurl.com/6mdovca .) She is past president of Mystery Writers of America's NY Chapter and Sisters in Crime's New England Chapter and  blogs with seven other mystery writers at www.jungleredwriters.com.  Visit Rosemary at www.rosemaryharris.com  and Like her on facebook at www.facebook.com/RosemaryHarriswriter

The Author to Her Book by Hank Phillippi Ryan

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: The time is almost here. My new book is coming out, in a few months, and there's nothing more I can do. I love it, in fact  I'm thrilled with  it. But it is what it is. Sometimes, I pick up the (very gorgeous) advance reading copy--here's a confession for you--and open to a random page, and just start to read. Simply to see if, say, some reader chose it in a library or bookstore, and just flipped to a page and started reading, would they like it? Would they want to buy it or check it out?

This is, of course, absurd.  (Ah, Isn't it? Trying to pretend I'm "not-me" to test how a random stranger might react?) 

Now, soon, people will be getting copies of it. And reading it . And I love the book, I do, but there's always the moment when you send the baby out into the world and say--fly! fly! fly! Okay, I'm madly mixing metaphors, but you know what I mean. It's terrifying--and so exciting.

The other thing about being a writer is that we alwyas feel--it's only me. Just me. I'm here by myself, loving this but worrying, and no one else can understand. And then, a dear pal sent me this poem.

Written in 1650 or so! To me, it comes from love and pride and the bond a writer feels to her work--and a sweet affection for her "offspring." Anne Bradstreet was born in 1612. And emigrated to Massachsetts in 1630.  We certainly share the frustrations of editing...don't you love when she  rubs off a spot--only to find another flaw? It's fascinating to think about her--almost 400 years ago!--having some of the same feelings we all do now.

 

Apparently some of her acquaintances took her poems, and had them published against her wishes. And tht proably wouldn't happen today!And I don't agree with all of her emotions, of course...do you? But I do love the sisterhood and the common ground. And the idea that though many things change--can you imagine Anne Bradstreet seeing her poetry in an e-book?--so many things for writers are universal and constant, transcending time. 

She might even have become a "Girlfriend," right?

The Author to Her Book

     

by Anne Bradstreet

     

Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,

Who after birth didst by my side remain,

Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,

Who thee abroad, exposed to public view,

Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,

Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).

At thy return my blushing was not small,

My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,

I cast thee by as one unfit for light,

The visage was so irksome in my sight;

Yet being mine own, at length affection would

Thy blemishes amend, if so I could.

I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,

And rubbing off a spot still made a flaw.

I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet,

Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet;

In better dress to trim thee was my mind,

But nought save homespun cloth i' th' house I find.

In this array 'mongst vulgars may'st thou roam.

In critic's hands beware thou dost not come,

And take thy way where yet thou art not known;

If for thy father asked, say thou hadst none;

And for thy mother, she alas is poor,

Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.  

HANK: How do you feel at those turning point moments for your book? How do you handle the nerves? I say to myself--this is what I dreamed of! So now--enjoy it. 

(THE OTHER WOMAN is the lead title for Forge Books' fall catalogue...Lisa Scottoline says "Riveting!"
find out more at http://www.HankPhillippiRyan.com )