Eric Beetner | Bertram's Blog

Introducing Rubicon Ranch: A Collaborative Novel

November 15, 2010 — Pat Bertram

I am involved in a wonderful project with eight other Second Wind authors. Rubicon Ranch is an ongoing collaborative novel that we are writing online. It is the story of people whose lives have been changed when a little girl’s body was found in the wilderness near the desert community of Rubicon Ranch. Was it an accident? Or . . . murder! But who would want to kill a child? Everyone in this upscale housing development is hiding something. Everyone has an agenda. Everyone’s life will be different after they have encountered the Rubicon. Rubicon Ranch, that is.

Each of us writers is responsible for the development of our own characters. My character is Melanie Gray. She has traveled the world with her husband, a world-renowned photographer. Together they authored many coffee-table books (she did the writing, he the photographs). One of the books told about mountains of the world, one about rivers, one about oceans, one about forests, and now they have a contract to do deserts. After they rented a house in Rubicon Ranch to begin their in-depth study of the southwestern deserts, he died in a car accident.

Now, not only does she have to deal with the pain of losing her husband and figuring out what she’s going to do for the rest of her life, she needs to fulfill the publishing contract or she’ll have to reimburse the publishers, which she cannot do because the advance is all but spent. Since she is not a photographer, she roams the desert bordering on Rubicon Ranch, taking hundreds of photos, hoping that a few of them will accidentally end up being as brilliant as her husband’s photos always were. She finds the child’s body and takes photos of the scene after calling 911. At first she is a suspect but once the Sheriff has ruled her out, he requests her help in reading the desert and desert-related clues. Still, the sheriff does not trust her completely, thinking she is hiding something.

These chapters have already been posted:

An additional chapter will be posted every Monday. Please join in the adventure — it should be fun! We don’t even know whodunit and won’t know until the end.

Posted in blogging, fiction, internet, writing. Tags: collaboration, collaborative novel, Eric Beetner, JB Kohl, Lazarus Barnhill, mystery, Nancy A. Niles, Pat Bertram, Rubicon Ranch, Second Wind Publishing, thriller. 3 Comments »

A Meme By Any Other Name Would Be As Confusing

February 25, 2010 — Pat Bertram

There is a meme going around, and I was tagged for it by Eric Beetner, co-author of One Too Many Blows to the Head. Meme? Are you as confused by that term as I am? A meme is a postulated unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another. Whatever that means. It certainly doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the meme I was tagged for, which directs one to tell six outrageous lies and one outrageous truth about oneself (or six truths and one lie if one prefers). An internet meme, however, is defined as a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet. Still don’t see what that has to do with lies, but in the end, that’s not the point. The point is, do I follow through since Eric asked so nicely, or do I ignore the whole situation as I normally do?

Two things work against my following through:

1) I’m not good at telling outrageous lies. If I were, I’d probably be a bestselling writer. As it is, my books are filled with truths, outrageous or not, thinly disguised as fiction.

2) I’m not sure that posting outrageous lies on the eternal internet is such a good idea. Forever after, people will stumble across those lies and if they didn’t know the origin, they might consider them the truth.

So, I am going to compromise (cheat) and tell you two outrageous (okay, semi-outrageous) things. Both might be true, both might be lies, or one might be a lie and one might be a truth. You figure it out.

1) I don’t eat chocolate.

2) I was Cleopatra in a previous time.

I’ll let you know the answer in a couple of days. Until then . . .

Tag! You’re it!

Rules:

• Tell up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth – or – switch it around and tell six outrageous truths and one outrageous lie.
• Nominate some more “Creative Writers” who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies of their own.
• Post links to the blogs you nominate.
• Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know that you have nominated them.

Posted in blogging, culture, internet, writing. Tags: definition of meme, Eric Beetner, meme, outrageous lies. 1 Comment »

First Lines and Free Time

November 16, 2009 — Pat Bertram

Can you believe it? This is the thirtieth day of my Daughter Am I blog tour! Only five days left. Oh, dear . . . what am I going to do with all that free time? As if I don’t know.

For one thing, I’m going to get back to writing. I figure if I tell myself this enough, it will sink in and I will actually do it. I keep hoping I’ll stumble on a new idea to give me a renewed enthusiasm for the story, but perhaps that idea will come during the writing. I’ve been rereading what I’ve already written so I know what the story is, and it’s different, but then what’s the point of writing the same?

For another thing, I’ve decided to follow the story of A Spark of Heavenly Fire in real time on my blog. I just checked the book. The story begins on December 2. Whatever happened to December 1? That’s when the original story started. Apparently, when I condensed the first fifty pages, I decided to leave the rest of the timeline intact. The book originally began with Rachel Abram’s death on December 1, then the jogger’s death on December 2. Somehow in the rewrite, the order got reversed.

My original first line was: “There’s something terribly wrong with me,” Rachel Abrams said. “I feel great.” I always liked the idea of starting with that line, but sometimes we need to do what’s best for the story.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I have to focus on this tour — there are still articles about Daughter Am I to write, comments to respond to, and the end-of-the-tour party to plan. As if that’s not enough, my party will run concurrently with the Second Wind Publishing new release party. Daughter Am I will be in good company. JJ Dare’s new book False World has just been released, and so has One Too Many Blows to the Head by Eric Beetner and JB Kohl.

Today’s tour stops are all wonderful, and that’s due in no small part to my hosts.

I’m in South Africa with horror writer Joan De La Haye talking about: Creating Interesting Characters.

I’m talking Over Coffee with Sia McKye about: Running with a Gang of Rogues.

And I’m on Bobby Ozuna’s blog talking about: The Story Behind the Story–an Author Interviewed.

Click here to find the Daughter Am I Blog Tour Schedule