The Page to Audio Chronicles

By Shelly Frome

Reviews of Twilight of the Drifter, my Southern crime-and-blues novel, plus response to my narration of the first chapter on Take Five led me to believe a recorded  version just might be doable. Especially since many readers told me they could picture my colorful characters in their mind’s eye and imagine listening to the tale while on a long drive, or relaxing at home with a nice cup of tea while it was raining or snowing outside.

At the same time, I realized there was no way I could come up with a professional sounding product, let alone sustain a whole narration. And so I registered for ACX (Amazon’s audio program) and hoped for the best.

And this is where it gets tricky. Like the proverbial shot in the dark, though you play it safe and opt for a royalty share and indicate the type of voice and presentation you’re hoping for, you have no idea what kind of response you’re going to get. You also don’t really know who you’re dealing with despite the fact they’ve posted a photo and a bio. In short, based on firsthand experience, this is what you may be in for.

One “producer” who sends in an audition of a sample chapter is obviously working from a marvelous sound studio. Unfortunately, this reader is simply in love with his or her own voice, affects one tone or accent all the way through, and has no idea how to keep listeners engaged.

A second producer is all fired up over the project, you agree on a contract and date for completion and then nothing happens. Two or three weeks go by till you’re informed that due to pressing personal matters, they’ll have to bow out.

Starting all over, finally hitting on a match, everything seems to be going smoothly. This narrator turns out to have actually been an actor, musician and singer from Nashville, loves your work, lends it marvelous dynamics, is open to constructive criticism and direction in response to every set of chapters submitted. Then, alas, this perfect partner comes down with an illness, won’t be available for three months or longer and you’re back to the drawing board.  

Perhaps the most interesting example involves foray number five. Not only did the producer have all the tools, he was a professional storyteller from the nearby Smoky Mountains. A trial rendition of the first chapter was offered requiring very few suggestions on my part. Then another and another. One day, he decided to finally read the entire manuscript I’d sent weeks before. And here is the upshot. He simply couldn’t go on unless some epiphany took place at the conclusion in keeping with his own religious convictions—a quest I simply couldn’t fathom after all the forces I’d set in motion inevitably played themselves out with no thought of living up to another person’s expectations.

Of course, I’d been told long ago that one of the strongest urges humans possess is the need to rewrite someone else’s story.

But not to worry. There is still the law of averages. Besides, you may find someone out there in the blue who will answer the call at the first go-round and all will be well from start to finish.  

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Shelly Frome is a member of Mystery Writers of America, a professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University  of Connecticut, a former professional actor, a writer of mysteries, books on theater and film, and articles on the performing arts appearing in a number of periodicals in the U.S. and the U.K.. His fiction includes Tinseltown Riff, Lilac Moon, Sun Dance for Andy Horn and the trans-Atlantic cozy The Twinning Murders. Among his works of non-fiction are the acclaimed TheActors Studio and texts on the art and craft of screenwriting and writing for the stage. His latest novel is Twilight of the Drifter. He lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina. His works can be found on Amazon, through his publishers or via independent bookstores. He can be found at www.shellyfrome.com and has a profile on Facebook where he can be reached or on twitter @shellyFrome.

The Inner and the Outer of Writing

By Shelly Frome

Not long ago I received two reviews simultaneously. One was from an e-publisher who was disappointed in my crime-and-blues odyssey because it didn’t follow the standard formula of a mystery. The second was from a noted Hollywood novelist and screenwriter who was disappointed because he didn’t want the story to end. He wanted it to go on and on.

Recently, after polishing a new manuscript, I attended a Mystery Writers of America conference in Orlando to try and come to terms with my way of working. Did it jibe with what was currently going on in the field?  

A chat with keynote speaker Laura Lippman before and after she signed a copy of her new crime novel for me plus another chat with her and a few others around the pool gave me an inkling of her method. It entailed numerous flashbacks and back-stories of family life as well as following a retired detective on the trail of a cold case. In this instance, the flashback chapters take you to family dynamics 50, 40 and 26 years ago and deal with the social, individual and economic effect of a missing man’s ploys on his wife and three daughters. The cold case centers on the death of the man’s mistress and possible foul play.

At the same time, I had a few meetings with a senior editor who insisted I follow her three-part submission format to the letter. Moreover, every page, paragraph and sentence of my tale had to move the story forward in order to comply with strict mystery rules and expectations.

Moving on to a panel featuring “new departures,” I discovered what these women writers thought was unique was pretending they were the heroines of a pursuit using their own interests in flying small planes, backpacking and trekking and what-have-you. In other words, their readers want to imagine they too were off on these ventures, encountering provocative men, etc. with no real worries about dire consequences.

Which left me where? My way of working is organic and character/driven. I find myself involved with flawed characters unwittingly caught up in some kind of conundrum—a pursuit that eventually puts them on a collision course.

And so, how do you reconcile your integrity with all the externals, including small presses that may or not be legitimate, about to fold their tents or are no longer accepting submissions? Or up against the effort and expertise it would take to successfully self-publish? Or should you return once again to your old publisher who doesn’t quite know how to categorize your fiction?  

I was once at a small gathering where a prize-winning writer revealed he was a marginal artist. He wrote for the few people who could relate to whatever happened to be haunting him at the time. Well there then now. Maybe that could lead to an answer.

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Shelly Frome is a member of Mystery Writers of America, a professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University  of Connecticut, a former professional actor, a writer of mysteries, books on theater and film, and articles on the performing arts appearing in a number of periodicals in the U.S. and the U.K.. His fiction includes Tinseltown Riff, Lilac Moon, Sun Dance for Andy Horn and the trans-Atlantic cozy The Twinning Murders. Among his works of non-fiction are the acclaimed TheActors Studio and texts on the art and craft of screenwriting and writing for the stage. His latest novel is Twilight of the Drifter. He lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina. His works can be found on Amazon, through his publishers or via independent bookstores. He can be found at www.shellyfrome.com and has a profile on Facebook where he can be reached or on twitter @shellyFrome.