A.C.E. Writers

Accomplished Competent Enthusiastic Writers for Profit

Patricia Harrington

1. Tell us something about yourself, please?

 

I live in the rainy Pacific Northwest, which makes ideal weather for staying inside and pecking away at a computer.  I’m mother of four and proud grandmother to seven and adopted mom to four cats and a dog.  All of the latter had sad stories when they hung out on my doorstep, asking for a handout and a roof over their heads.  Having said that, I’m a sucker for both a good and a sad story.  In my other writing life, I write grants to help non-profits secure funding for their worthy causes.  That is very rewarding work, and very specific as to style of writing.  I’ve written now, some fifty million dollars worth of grants in my career.  I find that the grant writing helps me to be a better mystery writer, which is my love.

 
2. In the genre, mystery writing, what gives you the edge to keep the story moving along?

 

I write mysteries to entertain and enlighten.  I believe mystery readers love to find out about a place or people or time they might not have the change to see or meet in real life.  I teach a workshop on mystery writing and its basics of plot, setting and character.  For me, the setting, the back story of the land and environment both physical and of people, often become character.  What pulls me along in writing a mystery is wanting to discover why the culprit felt compelled to take another life.  That pulls the story along.

3. I noticed you write more than one story at a time. Is there a secret motive that keeps up your momentum when writing?

Writing grants has taught me to be able to have several writing tracks with different “story lines” going at one time.  It’s actually nice to take a break from one piece, where maybe I’ve stalled or grown weary and uncreative, and switch over to a piece or grant where I can build momentum.  I choose not to think that I do this just because I’m “scatter-brained.”

4. People often have trouble creating characters with such diverse story lines. What key items do you recommend for determining a character’s style and personality?

 

I certainly believe in writing out character sketches–their bios.  I include when the persons were born, their parents and their backgrounds, briefly.  I list two or three significant events in their lives while growing up that probably shaped their views and reactions when they meet confronting situations or critical choices.  I teach workshops and one thing I do is to ask girls what they wanted to be at the age of nine, and for the boys (who mature later, don’t you know), what they wanted to be when they were 12 years old.  There will be some element of that “dream” or goal in how they react to opportunities and roadblocks later in life.  Authors can ask their primary characters the same question, and the answers will add dimension to the characters. 

5. Do you ever find yourself mixing up story lines when you’re writing separate stories in different time periods? (I think I’d confuse transportation modes, or something…)
That’s easy to do, and that has happened to me.  Calling an automobile a car versus motorcar and the car trunk, a boot, are examples.  I usually do a read through just for that kind of miscue or miss-step, once the manuscript is done.  That’s just one of many copy/text edits, I have to do.
6. I also write in a factual genre and fiction. My difficulty comes about when I introduce people and quotes, although I write down any quotes, I often find myself questioning if I wrote it down right. What issues do you struggle with when writing grants, as opposed to writing fiction?
I usually use excerpts that I’m sure are accurate to put inside quotation marks.  And I use phrases such as, “Martha states ‘the need is always great’ and that is why . . . “  In writing grants, there are technical requirements by the funders, particularly governmental funding agencies.  These include the number of lines permitted to a page, double or single spacing, using or not using charts, etc.  I probably reread guidelines at least 20 times to ensure I’m meeting the minimal guidelines.  If they are not met, then the funder typically throws out the grant application without even reading it for the project’s merit.  I just heard that two grants I wrote for an Indian tribe in my area were funded by the federal government.  That is very gratifying, and far more, than for the contract fee.  Pre-schoolers and high school students will be assisted and elders helped.  That’s the real payoff.

7. Tell us about the specific dynamic in your life that allows you to rotate from one genre to another?
Practically speaking, money (being paid) drives the grant writing, which in turn, gives me the luxury of doing the mystery writing and the traveling to research novels such as Murder Visits Antigua.  I just returned from that Caribbean island.  Obviously had a wonderful time, but what really thrilled me was that I went out into a village to a Saturday reading club.  I took my children’s stories along, read to a group of kids, ages 6 to 14.  And had my picture taken with them.  They were reading out loud from a Rudyard Kipling story as part of their program.  Then I taught a mystery writing workshop at the local bookstore in St. John’s, did a radio interview and had a wonderful write-up in the local newspaper.  And I visited the first plantation house lived in by Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson when he was stationed on Antigua.  That island was his last landfall before he was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar.  Wonderful stuff, and I felt privileged to do all of it. (I’ve attached a pre-promotion brochure I’ve done, FYI.)

8. What one bit of information do you wish you’d had when you started writing?

There’s is writing and there is publishing.  The latter is an arduous and sometimes, heartbreaking, process.  And “hip-to-jowl” with knowing about the publishing industry is the need to understand the importance of marketing.  So, writers who want to be published should be prepared for the work and competition.  However, my love is writing, and I say, write your heart, be willing to take and assess criticism, and enjoy your passion.

9. How would that information have changed your writing career? 

I suspect it wouldn’t have changed it much.  I published my first book, Death Stalks the Khmer, in order to get it out to the public in time for the then planned Khmer Rouge war crime trials.  Their infamous leader, Pol Pot, was to be indicted and tried.  The trials never came about (political/diplomatic maneuverings there), and so I didn’t have the “name recognition” for Khmer that might have been the case with the trials on the daily news.  So, the book did only modestly well, for a first time mystery novel.  But to answer specifically, I suspect not much change in my writing career.  Digressing a bit, I realized somewhere in the last six years or so that I am a rather quiet advent-urer.  In my denomination, we celebrate the church seasons and at the beginning of  Advent several years ago, when writing about it in our church newsletter, I gave the dictionary definitions of the word “advent” with its various extensions.  In researching and reflecting on the word, I realized that I had many adventures about to happen or coming to me.  I had only to be on the lookout and welcoming when they occurred.  That has turned out to be the case, and that includes in the publishing/marketing arena.

10. What bit of advice would you give to new writers today?


Follow your heart and write, write, write.  Set aside manuscripts and let them cool in a drawer for days or weeks, sometimes, then re-look at them with a dispassionate eye.  You’ll find ways to improve, change them.  Be gentle on yourself about the fact that you didn’t see the obvious goofs or flaws first time out.  I encourage people to write because I think it’s a creative extension of self and a way to reach out and share with others.  So don’t give up.  The publishing industry is difficult but not impossible.  But writing is a part of creativity that should be nurtured and cultivated.
Go for it!
Patricia Harrington’s links:
Stories on the Web by Pat:
“Lonely Trail to Perdition,”  using Ross Macdonald and Lew Archer with Kasey Hanrahan can be
“Good Deed” featuring amateur sleuth Clarabelle Gilly, http://mysteryinternational.com/mnscrpts/short/gooddeed.asp
“A Man’s Gotta Do” at Hardluck Stories http://hardluckstories.com/winter2005/Gotta-Harrington.htm
 
Patricia Harrington, Mystery Author/Grant Writer
Erin Go Bragh!  Check out Bridget O’Hern, Amateur Detective
at www.patriciaharrington.com, www.mysteryauthors.com
Find a Great Guinness Cheese Fondue Recipe


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