Captive Audience

On Thursday I had the opportunity to speak to more than two dozen inmates in the prison library at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee, which is an all-women facility (and the only state prison for women in Minnesota). Eagled-eyed readers will remember that Serena visits an inmate at the Shakopee facility in STALKED, before her terrifying drive back to Duluth.

It’s a prison that doesn’t look like a prison at all. There is no fence. No barbed wire. From the outside, it looks more like a series of college dormitories. It’s not until you go inside that you find the guards, the metal detectors, the bullet-proof glass, and the locked doors. Even so, the facility feels more like a community than it does a traditional prison, and that’s deliberate. There’s even a parenting building in the complex in which children sometimes spend the night with their mothers under certain conditions.

Are there violent offenders at Shakopee? I’m sure. Was I talking to any of them? I don’t have a clue. I will say that listening to the women, I was reminded of the philosophy behind my psychological suspense novels – that the heroes are not all good and the villains are not all bad. I want the reader to understand the backgrounds of the characters so they can recognize the influences that led them across difficult lines and into some bad choices. I think that message resonated at the prison. I hope so.

These were ordinary women of various ages and ethnicity. I confess I found myself looking at many of them wondering: What are you doing here? How did you get here? But that again is the writer looking for the story. They asked great questions – in many cases, better than many reporters and book clubs with whom I’ve chatted in the past. As the librarian noted to me, these are women looking for the emotional makeup of the characters, and so their questions got to the heart of how you put a character together on the page.

The lightest moment was during the introduction. The librarian mentioned that one of the inmates at the facility had introduced her to my books and was a huge fan. She’d been released a month before the event. The librarian said it was almost a shame, because she knew this woman would have loved to meet me.

“I suspect she’s still happier anyway,” I said. They all laughed.

Getting to Know You

Readers will sometimes ask me:  What's the most difficult part of writing a book?  Is it coming up with the plot and character ideas?  Writing the manuscript itself?  Editing?  Marketing?

Well, all of those phases of the writing process have their own challenges, but I think there's one phase that is harder than the others.  As I get started on book six, I'm in the midst of that phase right now.  It's the early chapters of the book.

I know where I'm going in book six.  I have a plot outline that I can't wait to explore in the draft itself.  I'm excited about the characters.  But now I have to start putting it all into words.  Once you're about a third of the way into the manuscript, the book begins to develop a momentum of its own.  The characters become fully formed in your head, and in an odd way, they help you with the writing itself, because their actions and dialogue start to seem natural.

Right now?  Not so much.  In the early chapters, you're still getting to know the characters.  They're still strangers.  I know some of their life stories, but I really don't know yet how they think, talk, act, and behave (or misbehave).  So it's a slow process, with lots of re-writes, as I start to put the first few brush strokes on the canvas.

It's been this way with every book, and I always say I'll remember it next year.  But I don't.  I still find myself in the early pages saying:  Why is this so hard?  Has it always been this hard?  Yes, it has, and I imagine it always will.  Soon enough, in the next couple of months, the people in this book will feel like old friends.  Now, I'm just finding out who they are.

New Book Club Opportunity: Video Chat

I've mentioned in the past that I regularly join discussions with book clubs that read one or more of my books.  For those of you in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota (where I'm located), I'm happy to visit your club in person.  In fact, I've got a couple more club meetings coming up later this month.

I also do book club visits by phone across the U.S. and around the world.  It's fun to answer questions for readers located everywhere from New Jersey to Florida to Australia, even when the time zone changes mean I can be chatting with people in the middle of the night.  If you're not a member of a book club now, you might stop in at your local bookstore or library and see if they have a club you can join.  And of course, feel free to suggest my books!

Meanwhile, I can now offer a new service to book clubs -- video chats.  I'm equipped with a web cam and a Skype account, so if one of your book club members is similarly equipped, I can actually chat with your group by video (and it's free for both of us).  If you'd like to talk to me about a club meeting (in-person, by phone, or by video), just send me an e-mail at brian@bfreemanbooks.com.

I'm in the process of working with my web team on the launch of the next generation of www.bfreemanbooks.com in September.  The site will focus on the community of Brian Freeman readers and will give me an opportunity to expand bonus content and other resources for fans.  I'll keep you posted as we get closer to releasing the new site.

THE BURYING PLACE

I'm back at work now and digging in on book six.  In the meantime, though, I know everyone is curious about the fifth Jonathan Stride novel, THE BURYING PLACE.

Book five will arrive in U.S. bookstores in April 2010.  Readers in the UK will get a head-start, as the hardback edition is due out there in September 2009.  Both publishers have developed tremendous -- and very different covers -- for this book. The U.S. cover, shown here, has a stark 1950s IN COLD BLOOD feel to it.  It captures the late fall loneliness of a novel in which much of the action takes place in the farmlands north of Duluth.

What is it about?  Well, I'll tell you that the action follows closely on the heels of the fourth novel, IN THE DARK, and for those of you who have read that book, you can imagine that the events will shape Stride's life as he tackles his next case.  It's shocking and intense, with deep characters and twists and turns.  I'll give you more hints in the months to come.

My sixth book, which I'm starting now, won't arrive in stores until early 2011 in the U.S.  This is my first stand-alone (unless you count THE AGENCY by Ally O'Brien), a novel in my classic psychological suspense style, but with all-new characters.  If you love the Stride books, I feel confident in saying you'll love this one, too.  Don't worry, though...Stride will return in book seven.

Looking Ahead

I will be offline for much of June as Marcia and I head off to celebrate our 25th anniversary.  When we return, I'll be digging in on my sixth suspense novel.

I'll also be giving you a look ahead at the fifth Jonathan Stride novel THE BURYING PLACE, which may be the most shocking and intense novel I've written to date.  THE BURYING PLACE arrives in the UK and much of the world this fall and will be released in the U.S. in the spring of 2010.  I'll have more details to share soon.

In the meantime, thanks to all of you who have given me such wonderful feedback on IN THE DARK (a.k.a. THE WATCHER).  I know that the more books I write, the more readers will have their personal favorites, because certain characters and plots will resonate with their own experiences.  Even so, my goal is to raise the bar with each book -- and so I'm delighted by the number of readers who have told me that the latest book is the best one yet.

That is, until you read THE BURYING PLACE...

Finality

In IN THE DARK, Tish Verdure asks Stride if there's anything of which he's afraid.  With some hesitation, Stride admits that he's afraid of loss.  "I hate endings, goodbye, funerals, everything like that," he says.  "The end of books.  The end of movies.  The end of vacations.  I like it when things keep going, but they never do."

This comes to mind because Marcia and I are at the end of an agonizing week in which we had to say goodbye to our friend and companion of more than 19 years, our cat Disney.  His health has been going downhill for several months, and he had a particularly bad day on Monday.  We're leaving town for nearly three weeks soon for our 25th anniversary trip, and we knew he was in no condition to survive without us, and we hated the idea of him dying of a broken heart, feeling alone and abandoned.  We struggled with the decision all week, but when we saw him at peace yesterday, we knew we had done the right thing.

As I said to Marcia, it's hard to imagine a better way to spend your last hours than to rest in a sunbeam on your mom's lap, with a belly full of tuna fish, and then to go to sleep with your friends whispering how much they love you.

So we know we did the right thing by him.  The suffering now is ours.  For almost two decades, it's been just the three of us, and the house feels empty and lonely.  We know there are many other cats out there that need a good home, and soon several of them will move in and take over, as cats do.  But for now, we simply miss our little guy.

Dear Reader

The online book club at www.dearreader.com is featuring STALKED this week in its Audio Book Club.  Readers have a chance to preview the audio edition of the book and post comments.  I'll be checking in and joining the Forum to chat with readers, too.  If you haven't heard Joe Barrett reading any of the audio editions of my books, this is a good chance to get a flavor for his narration.  I hear wonderful things about him from "listeners."

Dear Reader has over 367,000 members and works with libraries all over the country that support its online book club program.  For avid readers, it's a great program. 

Around the World

It's a busy season for international editions.  In addition to the US and UK, my fourth novel has now been released in Germany (under the title Tödliches Blond or "Deadly Blonde.") and the Netherlands (until the title De Voyeur...I think you can translate that one for yourself).  You can link to more information about those editions by clicking on the country.

The Italian edition will be released on July 14 under the title Polvere e Sangue, or Dust and Blood.  I've got a wonderful community of supportive Italian fans.  You can find a big special on me and my books right now at the Italian blog and crime web site Corpi Freddi.  Other editions will be released around the world over the next few months.

Ally O'Brien and THE AGENCY will be appearing in other languages soon, too, including the Netherlands (under the title Ploeteren op Pumps) and Germany.  More on that very soon.

Reader Power

One of my readers posted the following note on my wall on Facebook:  "After my suggestion, the manager of Houston Borders read your new book "In the Dark" and loved it so much that she ordered several extra copies for the store."

There couldn't be a better example of the power of reader referrals.  Booksellers and librarians help readers find new authors every day -- but they struggle with the sheer volume of books and have to prioritize what they read themselves.  That's why they pay attention when a customer or patron makes a recommendation.  When an avid reader tells them, "You HAVE to read this author!", they listen.

I always suggest to readers who write to me that they spread the word to local bookstores and libraries.  That's why.  Be sure to let me know, too, if you recommend my books and one of your local managers or librarians becomes a fan.  I'll drop them a personal note to say thanks.

Thunder Bay

We drove north last weekend along the Minnesota shore of Lake Superior and into Canada, where we had events on Saturday in Thunder Bay.  I spoke to a writer's workshop in town and then stopped in at the local Chapters bookstore.

I was surprised at how much Thunder Bay resembled Duluth.  When you're up on the hillside overlooking the city and the lake, the look and feel of the region is very similar.  Of course, it also has its own distinctive character, with steep rock formations dwarfing the town like desert mesas.  Then there are the signs warning you to beware of moose on the highways at night.

One of my long-time readers, Lyle, arranged the visit.  He and his wife also took me and Marcia to lunch at the Hoito, a wonderful Finnish landmark in Thunder Bay.  Since we just sold THE AGENCY in Finnish, that seemed an appropriate place to go.  I didn't want to tell them that I was unable to tell the difference between Finnish pancakes and Swedish pancakes....maybe they should just call them Scandinavian pancakes.

Speaking of THE AGENCY, I'm in Ally O'Brien mode this week, busily working on the plot for the next book.  Then it's back to the sixth suspense novel.