I’ve been listening to podcasts almost everyday since the beginning of the pandemic, and now I’m a guest on a podcast. What a thrill!
Thank you to hospice doctor and End of Life University founder Karen Wyatt for hosting this engaging conversation about addressing end-of-life challenges through fiction. She read my novel, When I Killed My Father: An Assisted Suicide Family Thriller,enjoyed and appreciated it, and asked me questions no one asked before, like why my protagonist did what he did when he didn’t want to. As well as some of the more common questions, like do I support assisted suicide/euthanasia? (You’ll have to watch to learn the answer to that.)
If you enjoy this conversation half as much as I did, that’s still a lot of enjoyment. I shared this with friends and through Twitter and Facebook, and one friend remarked on what a warm and terrific interviewer Karen Wyatt is. I couldn’t agree more.
We talked for a long time and could have kept on going. If your time is short, and you want to take a peek, jump to 3:23 or 35:07.
For the billions of you who have not read the book, here it is in a paragraph: What if your ailing father asks you to kill him? And what if, at your father’s memorial, from the pulpit at the front of the church, your sister accuses you of murder? When I Killed My Father: An Assisted Suicide Family Thriller is a “page-turner with a conscience” about a man caught between what is compassionate and what is legal.
Thank you again to Karen Wyatt for her generosity and curiosity as well as the courage to tackle what is still a taboo subject for many. If you appreciate this kind of conversation, check out Karen’s other interviews on the End of Life University podcast. She posts a new one every Monday and she’s on episode 365 now — that’s the equivalent of a full year of interviews. This week’s “interview” is a solo episode about How to Live a Death-Aware Life.
In June, I hiked and hung out with my brother-in-law at his family’s off-the-grid cabin at Echo Lake, and one evening, impatient with the library book I was reading on my tablet, I scrolled through what other books I had downloaded and there was my first novel, which I finished writing nine years ago — Bones in the Wash: Politics is Tough. Family is Tougher.
I started reading it and could not stop.
It was a thrilling experience, to enjoy my own book, enjoy it immensely, as if I were a reader, and not the writer.
I like to say that I write the kinds of books I enjoy reading, so I have to acknowledge that I am the target audience of my book. Which means there are plenty of readers for whom it may not sing. But that’s true of all books.
(Reminds me of what I wrote long ago in an online dating profile — ”I’m not for everyone, but if you’re looking for someone like me, I’m perfect.”)
I remembered a lot of Bones in the Wash, but there were many complications and details and snippets of dialog that I did not remember, and I found myself rooting for both of the main characters, who were working against each other.
For the billions of you who have not read it, here’s a brief synopsis: Bones in the Wash is one-half political thriller, one-half family soap, and one-half murder mystery — that’s right, a book and a half. It’s a “page-turner with a conscience” set during the 2008 presidential campaign in New Mexico. Ambitious Albuquerque Mayor Tomas Zamara is charged with doing “whatever it takes” to deliver the state’s five electoral votes for John McCain, which includes shutting down voter registration drives and accusing the Democrats of stealing the election, charges he knows are not true. Challenging him every step of the way is fierce, young Sierra León of the Democracy Project, who calls on him to listen to his better self and reject his party’s dirty tricks. Both protagonists, knee-deep in politics, face as many or more crises with their families and relationships.
What I was especially pleased with as I read the book was the way it weaved together Tomas’ and Sierra’s stories. How their plots collided. For example, in one chapter, we see Tomas shut down a voter registration drive in Bernalillo, creating a new obstacle for Sierra, even though, at that point in the story, he doesn’t even know who she is.
The context in which I was reading Bones is important — I’m rewriting my fourth novel, a mystery/comedy tentatively titled Showdown in Sausalito: The Houseboat Wars Murder Mystery True Story, which sounds like a Borat movie and maybe that’s the point. I am happy with the first ten chapters or so and with the overall story, but I’m struggling through the muddy middle. I’m on Chapter 21 and I wish I could just tighten and polish my first draft, but instead I have to rethink it.
There were two threads going on in my head as I raced through Bones. One was that it was damn entertaining. It was tight and well-written. So many chapters ended with a cliffhanger that made me want to keep reading, even when it was time to sleep or eat. I cared about the characters as they faced one obstacle after another and I wanted to find out how they overcame them. Or didn’t.
The second thread was that the book I’m writing now is not as strong. Aren’t we supposed to get better with experience?
But then I reminded myself that Bones had, at many points during the writing and editing process, been flabby and unfocused, and I kept making it better and most important of all, cutting what wasn’t necessary.
Another interesting, albeit depressing part of reading the book was seeing how, in 2008, the Republicans used allegations of “voter fraud” to shut down voter registration drives and challenge legitimate voters. In light of Trump’s big lie about the 2022 election being stolen and the January 6 attack on the Capitol, what happened in Bones in the Wash was on a small scale and seemed comparatively innocent. But the seeds were there.
I remember talking with one reader, from Canada, who said he loved the book, but that the voter suppression tactics and dirty tricks didn’t seem realistic. I assured him that, though they were fictionalized, all the tactics and tricks in the novel were based on real and recent events, though not necessarily in New Mexico. If he read the book today, he would not consider it unrealistic.
While writing Bones in the Wash, I had this delusion that as allegations of voter fraud were exposed as frauds themselves, as empty excuses to push new voter suppression measures, that this false narrative would die away. Instead it has grown. Even when politicians say the silent part out loud.
I underestimated the power of the big lie. (But I’m not going down that rabbit hole now.)
One more thing I was impressed by was how all the main characters, and even many minor ones, had their own journeys. They were not static one-dimensional stock characters serving only as foils. While writing, I often remind myself of Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the Tom Stoppard play about two minor characters in Hamlet, who are, in this play, the protagonists in their own life stories, as they should be. And as are the secondary characters in Bones in the Wash.
If all goes according to plan, early next year I will finish Showdown in Sausalito and then, five or ten years from now, I’ll pick it up and reread it and be as impressed and entertained as I was with Bones in the Wash. Hopefully, other readers will enjoy it as much as I do.
In May, I was invited to be a guest on the Let’s Talk Death podcast, which is also a video now, to discuss my assisted-suicide family thriller, When I Killed My Father. I talked about how the book was inspired by my family coming together to deal with our mother’s dementia, and how somewhere along the way, I imagined a fictional situation characterized by conflict instead of communication.
I wrote the book because I believe it’s important to talk about death. But it’s not easy to talk about death and it certainly wasn’t easy to write the book. Now that it’s been several years since our mother’s death and several years since the novel’s publication, however, I find that it’s not as hard for me to talk about these issues as it used to be. And if you watch or listen, you’ll see it’s not a heavy conversation. It was fun, enough so that part of me feels like there’s something wrong with that. But no, there isn’t.
While I was making slides last month for my “How to Write a Killer Book Blurb” workshop, I realized that a book blurb is a lot like a dating profile. Years ago, I sweated over writing dating profiles and one line I particularly liked, and used, was “If you’re looking for someone like me, I’m perfect.”
When you’re writing book blurbs, you’re looking for readers who are looking for books like yours.
Of course, if you’re scrolling for dates, you’re happy to find one, if he or she or they is the right one. If you’re selling books, you probably want more than one reader.
But the analogy still holds. You want your book to be just what your reader is looking for. Your blurb is your best opportunity to do that. You want to make your book sound enticing, and you want to accurately describe your book.
If you’ve written a romantic comedy, your readers are going to be disappointed if they’re expecting Harry Potter. You want to attract the audience your book is written for.
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The blurb, or book description, on the back cover of your book and on your online sales page, is arguably more important in attracting readers than anything except your cover and title.
And a compelling blurb can be equally important before you’ve written your book, because it can guide you as you write.
Blurbs can be several paragraphs, but no one will read your second paragraph if your first one doesn’t grab them.
Often you need shorter blurbs for social media or Amazon ad copy, which must be under 149 characters. (That’s how many characters this paragraph is.)
But how do you distill your several-hundred page book into one or more memorable paragraphs?
First off, a blurb is not a synopsis, but a promise that persuades potential readers they must read your book. You reveal enough to entice your readers, but hide enough so they’ll pay to find out more. You may also want to share setting, genre and tone. Is it light and funny or dark and tense?
But no spoilers. Blurbs are like movie trailers, which never give away the endings.
Let’s look at two well-known examples.
An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.
Until something goes wrong. . . .
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle.
Then, on Harry’s eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!
Your book may not feature a dangerous predator or a bespectacled wizard, but you can use a similar formula, which has three parts — setup, hook, and punchline.
1. Setup.
When X does Y, Z happens.
Your first paragraph should give readers a clear idea of what the story is about, where and when it’s set, and what kind of book it is, like a thriller or a romance, though you don’t need to use those words.
You introduce your hero at the start of his or her journey.
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive.
2. Hook.
Now, with A, X must do B to accomplish C.
Your hero must do something brave in order to achieve a goal that changes his or her life, and, if possible, the broader world.
You want to distill the plot, more of a teaser than a summary.
3. Punchline.
With Jurassic Park, the punchline is, “Until something goes wrong.” For most books, you want to be more specific, but if your premise is as brilliant as Jurassic Park, let readers use their imagination.
Either way, you let readers know that something does go wrong, and to find out how the hero solves the problem, you have to read the book. You don’t give the “how” away in the blurb.
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Non-fiction is often easier because you’re solving a problem, but you still want to stand out from other books offering similar benefits.
Here’s a good example.
Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?
Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy” (and which don’t), this international bestseller will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home — and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.
The formula for nonfiction starts with the problem that potential readers may be suffering from, like too much clutter. This helps readers determine if this book is relevant for them.
1. State the problem.
“Papers accumulating like snowdrifts and clothes piling up like a tangled mess of noodles.”
That’s both memorable and something millions of people can relate to. Like me, who is writing this at a desk cluttered with papers.
2. Show what your solution will accomplish
Like fiction, you want to entice, but also hide, so generally you want to share the “what,” but not the “how.”
The Marie Kondo book does include a teaser about “how” — does it “spark joy?” But no more than that.
3. State how readers’ lives will improve as a result of reading the book, and, if possible, why this book instead of others.
This is the toughest part. Marie Kondo’s blurb touts her book as an international best-seller, but it didn’t start that way. Still, “enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home” is a decent selling point.
Even with these formulas, it’s daunting to write a blurb that sells books. But it’s one of your most important marketing tasks. And it should take less time than writing your book.
One last thing. If possible, demonstrate your writing style in the blurb. If your book is funny, don’t say it’s funny. Show your humor in the blurb.
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P.S. I am available to present “How to Write a Killer Book Blurb” workshops, online or in person. Contact me at johnbyrnebarry@gmail.com
Thank you for joining me yesterday for “Setting That Works: How Memorable Setting Can Advance Plot, Reveal Character, Echo Theme, and More.” I hope you learned something that will help you. It was a pleasure to meet you and learn about where you are in your writing journey. I was also impressed by the punch of the setting excerpts that you shared with the group.
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