If you write haiku regularly, you observe nature and beauty. And you also learn the economical use of words. You can write a haiku when you’re out walking your pet, or communing with nature. Haiku is a great exercise to be more aware and become a better writer. Here are some of my haiku.

mountain brook gurgles
under a ceiling of pines
Yosemite high

rainy afternoon
chasing clouds and sand hill cranes
old friends who’ve just met

Another bit of wisdom I take from Hemingway’s advice is to write about places you know. I live on the west coast of Florida. The books I write are set in the Sarasota area. My first book, The Myakka Murders was set in Myakka River State Park, a place I’ve visited hundreds of times. My second book, Sarasota Sour Grapes takes place in Fruitville, which is on the outskirts of Sarasota. The opening scene for Overexposed on Bird Key takes place on Bird Key. The stories wind their way through downtown Sarasota and nearby locales. Yale Larsson and his half-brother Jayson live in a beach house on Longboat Key.

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The West Coast of Florida is a wonderful place to live and write about. Here are some pictures from the area.

Sarasota Bay

Sarasota curing a thunder storm.

Myakka State Park

James W. Hall creates compelling stories about a loner named Thorn. For Thorn trouble seems to crop up at any moment. But he always finds a way out of the fix.

Robert Crais writes compelling stories about a private investigator named Elvis Cole. Cole had a sidekick named Joe Pike. Talk about your yin/yang characters. Crais writes stories that grab you by the throat in the first chapter and have enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages.

Lee Child writes about another larger than like character, Reacher. Reacher’s ex-military and a drifter. Reacher sees something wrong when he arrives in a new place and does his best to make it right.

Elmore Leonard was at a book signing. A man walked up to him with one of Elmore’s books. Elmore said, “Who to I make it out to?” The man said, “Chili Palmer.” Elmore asked him if he could use the name. The man told him he could. It became a character in Elmore’s “Get Shorty.”

In addition to being a good listener, you need to retain the information. I always carry a small notebook with me. of course you could dictate the information into your phone. But hey, I’m an analog guy in a digital world.

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The best way to get dialog, is to listen. Elmore Leonard was a keen listener. He was known as the “Dickens of Detroit”. I always carry a notebook with me. When I hear something interesting, I write it down. During a trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I had breakfast in a place called “Louies Cafe”, which is close to LSU. The chef, a guy know as “Frenchy” rambles on in a Jack Kerouac stream of consciousness. His dialog is colorful and witty. While cooking eggs, he said, “Pavlovian primates waiting for maturation of the egg.”

Frenchy the Chef

Authors in my writing group, tell me I write good dialog. My protagonist is a PI named Yale Larsson. He talks in short, staccato sentences. Just the facts, ma’am. His cohort in crime, half-brother and gourmet cook has different speaking characteristics. When you write a scene with many characters speaking, it’s important to identify a character by his speech. The eliminates the need for “he said”, or “she said” after every sentence. You can also differentiate between character, by having on do something before the dialog such as:
She furrowed her forehead. “I can’t condone that, young man.”

Here a snippet of dialog from my upcoming novel, “A Pocketful of Euros.”

********

Blind Melon strummed the last chords of the song and placed Sweet Melissa in her case. A couple of people dropped coins in his singing bowl.
“Song was great, but Sweet Melissa sounded out of sorts,” I said.
Handed him the box that was delivered yesterday. He broke it open and smiled.
“Strings.”
“As promised. Six sets. Should last you a while. ”
Blind Melon tipped his Pork-Pie Hat. “Thank you, my friend.”
“Blind Melon, got a list of local kids from an Internet Social Media website. Wonder if you can identify them for me.”
“Okay.”
I read the list to Blind Melon. He knew five of the families.

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