Why I like short stories by Maria Savva

I like reading short stories as well as writing them.

I’ve always liked getting into a well written novel with characters that you can follow and watch as they develop, but the short story has a different type of appeal for me.

I find that when I’m busy it’s hard to fit reading around that; I might start a novel and then have to stop reading it half way through and by the time I’m able to get back to it I’ve forgotten what was happening and it’s frustrating having to go back and try to work out who is who. You never have that problem with a short story, because with most short stories you can read the whole thing in one sitting.

When I’m very busy, I find that short stories help to fill the gap and feed my reading addiction.

A good short story, one that is well written, will transport you to another place and time just as effectively as a novel. It will entertain just as much as a novel. A short story uses less words, but tells a story, a whole story, within those few pages. It’s a completely separate art form and should be respected as such.

In a short story, you may only get a peek through a window at someone, and it may only be recounting a moment in time. There isn’t time for character development, there aren’t enough words for description and background. With a well written short story, however, you will get the essence of all of these things. And you will feel satisfied at the end and feel as though you’ve been on a journey with the author in the same way as you would with a novel.

One of my readers who never read short stories, but had previously enjoyed reading my novels, offered to beta read for me. I sent her Delusion and Dreams, and she has told me that since reading the collection she now loves short stories, and the last time I heard from her she was reading another short story collection. It makes me happy to think that I had something to do with changing her opinion about short stories.

I think in this increasingly hectic world that we live in, the short story has a part to play. It gives us the essential escape from reality in a nutshell.

I’ll always love novels, but I think I love short stories just as much.

As a writer, I am always being inspired by things, and I find that short stories are a great way to keep my creativity alive when I’m too busy to find time to really concentrate on writing a full blown novel.

Many more writers are writing short stories these days, and there are plenty of great collections out there. Next time you’re shopping for books, why not browse a few of the short story collections on offer? You might be pleasantly surprised.

Blurb:

Twelve stories of betrayal, greed, revenge, deception, dreams, and courage.

We all struggle to find our way. What you see isn’t necessarily all there is. This collection takes you into the grey area, because the world is never just black and white.

Life is all about perspective. One person’s delusion is another person’s dream.

Includes five bonus stories.

Author Bio:

Maria Savva lives and works in London. She studied Law at Middlesex University and The College of Law. She is a lawyer, although not currently practising law. She writes novels and short stories in different genres, including drama, psychological thriller, and family saga. Many of her books and stories are inspired by her years working as a lawyer, although she has not written a courtroom drama to date. Her most recent novel is Haunted, a crime fiction/psychological thriller.

Author links:

Website:  HYPERLINK “http://www.mariasavva.com” http://www.mariasavva.com

blog:  HYPERLINK “http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1418272.Maria_Savva/blog” http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1418272.Maria_Savva/blog

Facebook Page:  HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Maria-Savva/171466979781” https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Maria-Savva/171466979781

Twitter:  HYPERLINK “http://Twitter.com/Maria_Savva” http://Twitter.com/Maria_Savva

Buy links for Delusion and Dreams:

Amazon.com:  HYPERLINK “http://www.amazon.com/Delusion-and-Dreams-ebook/dp/B00D0EHJHA/” http://www.amazon.com/Delusion-and-Dreams-ebook/dp/B00D0EHJHA/

Amazon UK:  HYPERLINK “http://www.amazon.co.uk/Delusion-and-Dreams-ebook/dp/B00D0EHJHA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1369585340&sr=8-6&keywords=delusion+and+dreams” http://www.amazon.co.uk/Delusion-and-Dreams-ebook/dp/B00D0EHJHA/

 http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/8e3a003/ 

When you’re looking for a good book to read, you might go by recommendation (my preference) or by the overall ranking of a book. For the higher ranked books (those in the top 100), the star rating might not matter or even factor into your buying decision (it rarely factors into mine). After all, each rating is only one person’s opinion. Lots of excellent books have a slew of low star ratings, which kind of skews the whole system if a star rating is designed to give readers an insight into a book’s popularity.

The system is open to and ripe with abuse. We all know that “trolls” and “haters” exist who slate good books and drag ratings down with their bogus 1 and 2 star ratings. And the bogus 5 star ratings exist as well. We can also vote down or vote up star ratings by agreeing or disagreeing with what another “reviewer” says about a book. This also leaves the system open to abuse from those gaming the system. Nuff said on vitriolic ways in which the system can be used.

Properly crafted and genuine reviews often take a long time to write, which may be the reason so many readers don’t write them. A genuine star rating is fast, takes only a second, and gives a snapshot of the popularity of the book. But it seems a pretty pointless exercise without a review to back it up and tell others what the reader did or did not like about the book. Doesn’t it? How useful is a star rating without an explanation of why it got that rating (especially when rated 1 or 2 stars)?

Reviews are helpful to readers and authors. Would you (as readers) prefer to leave reviews and no star rating? And do stars aid at all in your buying decisions? Should Amazon reduce or remove the 20 word minimum for reviews, leaving readers free to write shorter critiques? If you could leave a star rating without a review, would you do so?

What about authors? Which would you prefer to see for your books? Do we need both?

For those opposed to the star rating, what would you have in its place?

“. . . a wonderful and suspenseful debut novel.”

The Caretaker is a fascinating thriller and the story of Ranjit Singh, a dishonored former Captain of the Indian Army forced to flee his own country.

Plagued by hallucinations and nightmare flashbacks from his past, Ranjit Singh arrives in America with his family and takes a job as a landscaper/caretaker for wealthy residents on Martha’s Vineyard. One of his clients is Anna Neals, the wife of African American Senator Clayton Neals. Attracted to Anna, Ranjit agrees to accept a job as caretaker for her husband’s property.

Meanwhile on the island two hustlers are breaking into expensive vacant homes and robbing the owners. Ranjit encounters the two likely suspects outside a convenience store and makes a narrow escape when Anna Neals arrives on the scene.

In the dead of winter, the furnace breaks in the house Ranjit rents. He secretly moves his family into one of the senator’s vacant homes. While his wife and daughter are happy there, Ranjit struggles to forget his brief affair with the senator’s wife.

One night, two armed men enter the house. Ranjit escapes with his family, and soon learns the men want an old doll his daughter took from the house. Sought by powerful forces prepared to use deadly means to retrieve the doll, Ranjit and his family are caught in the middle of a political scandal.

Unaware of the significance of the doll, Ranjit has limited resources and only a short time to solve the mystery and save his family.

As he learns more about the Senator’s corrupt world, he must discover who is hunting him and decide carefully whom he can trust—the lives of his family depend on it. To gain trust in return, Ranjit must also confront the most painful parts of his past.

The Caretaker is a clever, well-plotted action thriller. Poignant, nearly paranormal elements come in the form of Ranjit’s hallucinations about what happened on a secret mission during a carefully concealed war.

Haunting flashbacks tie in effectively with the present dangers he faces, and create a moving reaction in both the main character and the reader. The author’s compelling prose raises questions in the mind of the reader, adding to the uncertainty, drama, and suspense. The author successfully addresses these questions on a need-to-know basis. The reader is left satisfied.

The cast includes deep and complex characters, most of them commendable yet realistically flawed. They earn the reader’s compassion. Throughout the novel, the reader is engaged and cares about the plight and vulnerability of a migrant family caught up in a rich man’s world and at the mercy of corrupt politics. The social and racial issues of the novel are real and deeply humbling.

For the past eight months, I’ve been reading and reviewing pre-publication novels for the New York Journal of Books. Every month, NYJB reviewers get a lengthy list of books to peruse. Anything containing great suspense and great storytelling grabs my attention, but with only a few lines of back cover blurb to go on, making a decision is still a bit of a gamble. I don’t have time to waste and once I’ve selected a book I’m committed to reading the whole thing, whether I like it or not.

Usually, I’m not disappointed with my choice. Only one book I’ve read for NYJB has received an unfavorable review (I’m not going to name it, but the review will post on the NYJB site upon the books release in September). This is the book that prompted my little outburst in my last CFC blog post. Quite frankly, the book sucked, but I credit the author for the incredible back cover blurb that pulled me in. If the blurb had been written in the vein of the book, I’d have skipped right past it on the list.

Of course, back cover blurb isn’t enough on its own. The cover is the mannequin in the window, the thing that gets readers to stop. Once they have stopped and picked the book up, the blurb is what keeps it in their hand and propels them to look inside. Authors can give a great pitch at book festivals, but the blurb is usually what sells (or doesn’t) the book. It hurts when a reader decides to pass and sets it back on the shelf, or the table. Yes, that’s happened to me in the past, and I questioned if it was my pitch or my blurb that failed me.

At book events, I love and loathe the question: “What’s your book about?” Mostly, I love it, but I get that panicky feeling inside: how do I condense the whole 300+ pages into a succinct ten second pitch? It’s the same thing authors face when writing the blurb. It’s tough.

I’ve been asked by other authors about writing a back cover blurb, and I hesitate to give advice, usually because I don’t know their story. All I can say is, the blurb that pulled me in on the aforementioned sucky book included emotion, intrigue and suspense. The plot seemed simple and told me a little about the victim. It hooked me and roused my curiosity.

When I write my own blurbs, I find the best hook in my story and use it on the back cover. I think a good blurb includes conflict and identifies the main character. It must speak to the intended audience. A reader looking for romance won’t be happy with a romantic blurb that disguises a thriller. If the book includes both, make it clear.

Back cover blurb is as much of an art as the novel itself. A tight, crisp blurb makes it easier to pitch at a book festival. It makes it easier to love it when a reader asks that question: What’s your book about?

When I invest money in a bank, I want a great return.

When I invest time in a book, I want an even greater return. I can’t pull my time back out and invest it somewhere else if I’m not happy. That time has gone forever.

I’m insulted when an author cheats me of my time and persuades me to invest in an unworthy product. I’m not talking about taste; there are plenty of books I don’t like, and it’s not because they’re bad. It’s because the author is lazy, or maybe they’re just pressed for time. So am I.

Lazy writing is easy to spot. It comes in the form of filler to pad the page count, repeated use of words, recycling a sentence, repetitive cogitations, rehashing an old plot, stereotypical characters. The list goes on. If you haven’t got enough content for a novel, make it a short story and don’t waste your readers’ time. Or your own.

Don’t insult your readers’ intelligence. Don’t use big words and pull me out of the story when I have to set the book down to get a thesaurus and look it up. Because I will. And that big word had better be used in the right context.

Build my confidence in your writing. If you use a big word and then include a sentence to explain what that word means, I’ll assume you didn’t know it either. And it will undermine my confidence in your writing, not to mention insult my intelligence as a reader.

If you have discursive tendencies in real life, don’t bring them into your novel. Time is valuable, and short. Don’t describe your book as an immersive provocative novel when the only sense it stimulates is irritation. Don’t be a sloth between the sheets. Unless you want a scathing review. I wrote one last week for a lazy writer who undermined my confidence and insulted my intelligence, not to mention the poor return on my investment.

First, if you’ve not yet attended the LA Times Festival Of Books, it’s an exciting annual event and probably the largest congregation of authors and readers in the western US. The event attracts somewhere around 150,000 visitors each year. Live music, food, all kinds of books and all kinds of people can be found here. Famous authors and celebrity speakers meet and entertain their fans every year.

This year, TV crews were wandering the campus, interviewing authors on their booths. Perhaps that’s happened before, but I hadn’t noticed. Murder We Wrote attracted the attention of an interviewer from KPCC radio, Pasadena, who questioned Gayle Carline and me about our books, about the event, and asked about our concerns regarding safety in light of the tragedy in Boston. The presence of additional campus security helped put our minds at rest, so we could place our focus on enjoying the event and meeting our readers.

Murder We Wrote is a team of about ten mystery/thriller authors who gather several times a year at different book festivals and events in Southern California. Now in our 3rd year at the LA Times Festival Of Books – our biggest event – we’ve become great friends and we are becoming more well-known on the campus. We have our own growing fan base of readers who seek us out, compliment us on the books they purchased from us the previous year, and ask us about our new releases. It’s a wonderful feeling, and a real pleasure to chat with these people who come back each year to see and support us.

Our team name attracts a lot of attention, and an interesting moment on our booth this year came when we met Tom B Sawyer. He’d noticed our banner and strode over to introduce himself. Turns out Tom is a novelist, screenwriter, and playright. As the Head Writer/Showrunner, he wrote 24 episodes for the TV mystery series Murder, She Wrote. He enjoyed the twist on the name and it was our pleasure to meet him.

We also had the pleasure of meeting Kate Yackley, Vice President of Advertising for the Los Angeles Times. As a fellow Brit, she and I enjoyed reminiscing a little about our homeland, before she purchased a copy of my latest release, STONE COLD; a Brit thriller she said she was looking forward to reading. My thanks again to Linda Boulanger, owner ofTreasureLine Publishing, for such a great cover. Stone Cold was my biggest seller at the festival and the cover drew many compliments.

Murder We Wrote offers a varied selection of mysteries and thrillers, including humor from Gayle Carline, Terry Ambrose, and Jim Stevens; my own psychological and suspense; legal by Teresa Burrell; romantic suspense by Anne Carter (aka Pam Ripling), noir by Paul D Marks, and paranormal romance by Susan Griscom. We had a lot to offer and we encouraged readers to browse.

For 2 days, we talked about books with thousands of readers who wanted to hear all about them…or so we thought. One of the funnier things we heard came from one or two visitors to our booth who, when prompted: “what kind of mysteries do you like to read?” responded with: “Oh, I don’t read books.” Yes, it left us without a response and wondering why they were at the book festival.

Another cute visitor was a gorgeous little 11 year-old girl who tried her hardest to convince us she was “quite mature” and ready to read our dark and gritty thrillers. We gave her a lollipop instead and she went away contented.

Not everyone at the festival is a reader. Our booth attracts its fair share of authors looking for advice on how to get started, how to find an agent, a cover designer, editor and so on. We especially loved it when young people told us they write. We attracted other sorts, too…and certain types of behavior we don’t encourage at a book festival (which Gayle Carline will cover in a later post).

We all worked hard in the heat, sold lots of books, and still found the time for a good laugh. Here’s Gayle Carline to prove it. I have no idea what she’s laughing at, but this was the mood on our booth for the whole weekend.

As 5 o’clock rolled around on Sunday, we sat back for a few minutes to reflect, made plans for other events, then packed up our booth, said our goodbyes, and headed out in 8 or 9 opposite directions.

I know we’d all like to send our huge thanks to the thousands and thousands of readers who attended the festival. Once again, you made this such a fun event for all of us authors, and we look forward to seeing you again next year.

In this case it’s the Thames Valley Police station in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. I recently spent a couple of hours inside the nick here, with a bit of it inside a cell. To date, it’s the longest amount of time I’ve ever beeninside.

While writing STONE COLD, my first thriller set in the UK, I wanted to know what it’s like inside. Apart from accuracy with the procedural stuff, I wanted to get a feel for the sights, sounds, and smells. I also wanted to understand it from a prisoner perspective and know how they might feel after arrest and while they await their fate, so on a sunny Thursday in March, Sgt. Antony Maddison met me at the police station and escorted me in to find out.

First, we did the civvy bit where I went through the smart reception area to sign in at the front desk as a visitor. With a focus on murder suspects, he took through to the communal rest area and explained the booking procedure, the circumstances and requirements surrounding custody without charge, and the process for extending a detention. We discussed legal representation, the court process, bail and the numerous conditions upon which it might be granted. Regarding a murder suspect, I learned only the judge has the power to grant bail after the prisoner has appeared in court.

Sgt. Maddison and his colleague, Nick, explained in detail the system for booking a suspect. They showed me the process and equipment for fingerprinting, photographing the suspect and taking DNA, and ran through the police national computer database used to store arrest records. There was so much valuable information, I couldn’t make my notes fast enough.

Sgt. Maddison then led me round the back of the station and gave me the treatment reserved for prisoners. A stark difference.

As I re-entered the station, this time via the custody entrance used for suspects, the day suddenly felt a lot colder. I was not in handcuffs and I knew I would not be searched, yet I could imagine the sense of panic for a prisoner who would face this in a real situation.

As we went “into custody”the outer door clanged shut behind me and sealed off my “freedom.” I found myself first in a holding area, where a SmartWater security search was discussed, then I was led into a search room. In a real situation, depending on the offense, a prisoner might be asked to undress in here, given a custody suit to wear while their clothes are seized for analysis. It started to feel a bit more real.

Prisoners are booked into the system and go through a documentation process, whereby prints, DNA and name are entered into the computer and sent off for a match. Results take minutes. In the custody block, the circumstances of the arrest are noted and a risk assessment for each prisoner is conducted. Prisoners are made aware of their rights and entitlements. If necessary, drug testing may be carried out.

After the booking, the prisoner is taken to the cells. What a grim place. I stepped inside one of them and Sgt. Maddison clanged the door shut behind me. The sound reverberated and the immediate sense of isolation set in. I pictured images from Escape From Alcatraz, except there was no way of tunneling out of this cell. With a window I couldn’t reach or see out of even if I could reach it, I had nothing but four blank walls, a stone “bed”, and a flat plastic mattress for company. I was locked inside the cell for less than a minute. It was enough.

After Sgt. Maddison let me out, he showed me the dry cells, which are cells without a toilet or a sink, used for murder suspects, giving them no chance to wash away any evidence. Once the samples are taken, these prisoners would then be moved to a proper cell…it’s not much of an improvement.

Prisoners charged of a crime are remanded in custody by the Sgt. until they can appear in court, after which, unless granted bail, they are transfered to a prison cell to await trial. I couldn’t help wondering how much worse that might be and decided I’ll have to visit a prison next to find out.

As my 2 hour tour of the police station and cell block concluded, we covered the complete process from receiving an emergency call to dispatching officers to the scene of the crime, and how prisoners communicate with legal representation while in custody. I sat inside an interview room, and got to see inside the CCTV room, which covers far more than the average person would think. If you knew how much of a town and the surrounding area the police can see…it should deter you from committing a crime.

I got more out of this visit than I ever expected. As much of the research for my books is conducted online, it was a real treat to get out in the field and talk to those who deal with crime and criminals every day, get a feel for what they deal with and see what the prisoner endures. My huge thanks to Sgt. Antony Maddison for giving up your time and arranging such a valuable tour.

**********

Bestselling author, Nora Sutherlin, wants to work with British editor, Zachary Easton, on her latest manuscript. He is reluctant to work with a writer of erotica, especially one as infamous as Sutherlin. Pushed by his boss from acclaimed Royal House Publishing, he reluctantly agrees to spend 6 weeks with her on her project before flying to LA on his next assignment. Nora must agree to a complete re-write of her novel under his conditions and with no guarantee he will sign her contract.

Unknown to Zach, Nora lives the life she writes about. Not only is she an author of erotica, she is a dominatrix, owned by one man, the dangerous former lover with whom she remains obsessed. To further complicate her life, Nora believes she is also a little in love with her young assistant, Wes, yet withholds herself for fear of emotionally harming him.

As Nora adjusts to working with Zach, a man hurt by his failed marriage and still in love with his wife, she draws him deeper into the dangerous world in which she lives and opens his eyes to pleasures and pains he’d never imagined.

I’m not a fan of erotica or romance and picked up The Siren by chance, pleased to find it is not a romantic love story or meaningless smutty erotica. While the novel does involve graphic detail and scenes/themes some readers might find violent and disturbing, the story delves deep into the complexities of the characters and their personal inner turmoils. Throughout, there is an underlying tone of pain and sadness, with humble yet complicated emotions. The author writes with a graceful style that draws empathy from the reader for her characters, even the less likable ones.

Reisz accurately depicts human frailties in the failings and heartbreaks her characters try so hard to disguise. She leaves the reader with a strong sense of loneliness and tragedy, skillfully wrapped inside the romances, which gives the explicit sex scenes far more meaning. As each character deals with his/her own demons, and temporarily pass through each other’s lives, the sense of emotional isolation is prevalent.

The Siren delivers a brutal message in that life does not stop for anybody’s pain. Indulging in sin and violence to hide it is a temporary way out, but, for characters as flawed as those in The Siren, it might be the only way out.