A Slice of Orange

Monica Stoner, Member at Large
Through a series of fortunate events, Susan Elizabeth Phillips visited the LERA chapter of RWA to chat about the life and business of writing. She got to know her audience by asking the usual question about how many in the audience were published (a lot) how many were nearly published, how many were writing on a regular basis and how many were telling lies to themselves. She nodded to the sheepish hands raised at this last question, and moved on into the meat of her talk.

She spoke frankly about how she produces best selling award winning books, from “monkey writing” on yellow pads to final edits. SEP is a pantster of the first degree, pulling stories from a phenomenally creative mind and the world around her. It’s an arduous process, she writes slowly and the rewrites are a bear. But it’s the way she writes.

For those who admitted to not producing the pages needed to finish a book, she offered suggestions on how she gets past the blocks, and how to pull pages out of our heads. “You can fix a bad page, as long a you have a page to fix,” was one of the aphorisms offered. Yes, we’ve heard it all before, but to hear such from someone who has long since arrived and still suffers from the angst and insecurities so many of us deal with brought it all home.

As the hour wound down, she reminded the published among us to bring copies of our books to the signing that night so she could introduce us. When someone commented on her generosity, she said when she made a similar remark to Sandra Brown, also known for her generosity to other authors, she was told “High tide floats all boats.” The goal is to keep writers writing and readers reading.

That evening, as many members of LERA as could make it showed up for the talk and signing at a library, to ensure she would have an audience. As if she truly needed help filling the chairs. Before she started to talk about her own books, she held up the books brought by LERA members, one at a time, while we introduced ourselves and our writing, so the readers in the audience could jot down the information about authors new to them.

High tide indeed. I want to be her when I grow up.

One of those books I held up was Teach Me To Forget, a story of hidden pasts and possible futures.  My writer self is Mona Karel, who is much more fun to be around.

Today a reader e-mailed to tell me she loved my book, Hostile Witness*, because I hadn’t killed Max. I’ve been traveling a lot in the last three weeks and it took me a minute to figure out who Max was and why it was so important to her that he was alive.

Max is Josie Bates’ dog; Josie is the heroine of the witness series. I was touched by the reader’s concern for the fictional canine, Max, and that made me wonder: Why is a book that includes animals richer, more entertaining, and more engaging than one without? The answer was simple: Animals bring out the best and the worst in a human character. This makes for great drama and provides an emotional touch point that is critical for a memorable read.
 Max-the-Dog (his legal name) was originally created as a reflection of Josie, his mistress. Both had been abandoned, both had to fight for their lives, both were protective of others. But Max became so much more than Josie’s mirror as the series unfolded.



Here are four ways Max made a difference in the witness series:



MAX ENHANCED HUMAN CHARACTERIZATION: Those who attack him were inherently more evil than a bad guy who ignored him. Those who love Max were more admirable because they cared for and protect him.

MAX WAS AN ANIMATED SOUNDING BOARD: Internal dialogue can be tedious. Allow a character to speculate to an animal and the rhetorical questions or monologues sound natural.

 MAX’S PRESENCE SET A TONE: A scene tone can be set by the way a human character speaks to, or interacts with, an animal counterpart. A whispered warning creates a much different tone then a screaming command; a languid pet conjures up different visions than a playful puppy or kitten.


MAX HELPED MOVE THE PLOT FORWARD: An animal’s needs can put a human in a place they might not have been in. For instance, in Privileged Witness, Josie took Max out for his evening constitutional and ran into her fugitive client who was hiding outside. Without Max, Josie would have no reason to go outside and never would have discovered her client.

An animal’s heightened senses can also assist a human to warn of danger or alert a human to a change in their surroundings.
 From The Hound of the Baskervilles to Lassie and Blue Dog, My Friend Flicka and The Black Stallion, The Cheshire Cat and Puss-in-Boots, animals have frolicked as humans, served to reflect human frailties and strengths, and just plain worked their way into reader’s hearts because of who they are.

ʉ۬So to the kind lady who was concerned about Max, have no fear. He will never come to a violent end. No matter what happens to him his presence, or lack thereof, will be a decision motivated by story and plot and, of course, love, because Max is as real to me as if he sat at my feet while I wrote my stories.


 *Hostile Witness is free for all e-readers and is also available in print and audio formats.

 Pictured is my grand dog Tucker.