Speaking at Mystery Book Club!

On Wednesday, Mama and I visited the Mystery Book Club at the Barnes and Noble store at the Firewheel Mall in Garland, Texas. The club meets on the second Wednesday of every month around 7 PM to discuss the book they've chosen for that session and to talk about mysteries in general.

We got there early and had our choice of seating. Soon the group sponsor/leader, Theresa, joined us, and I showed her the books I had brought (a couple of copies of each of the mysteries and one copy of each of the others, including the Shalanna Collins oeuvre) and nattered on about my writing. In a few minutes the member who had so kindly invited me, Cassie Wilson, came along, and I spoke a bit more about writing and the current state of publishing. By 7 PM the rest of the membership had come along to fill in the circle, and the meeting officially started.

I do NOT know why I can't remember to get everyone to stand up for a group shot! Again I forgot about this. Aaarghh! But I like the candid sneak shots I did get.

Going around the circle, we had each person introduce herself. (It was a hen party this time, as I'd expect with mysteries, if not SF/Fantasy. But that's the fun of it.) One was a special ed teacher who works somewhat near us, then the coordinator who works at B&N, then a retired librarian/English teacher, then a psychologist, then the president of the Dallas Rose Society and other garden clubs, then another retired librarian . . . all devoted readers. I got the chance to pass around each of my books and to give everyone my promo postcards. I also gave out some of my business cards that show my blogsite and Web page. I'm hoping some of the attendees will investigate me further and perhaps visit my Amazon author pages.

One of the topics we touched upon was the increasing grittiness of most mystery/suspense titles that are coming out today. It seems that just about half of the titles I pick up or look at on the Kindle Storefront deal with serial killers.

"I don't WANT to be in the head of a twisted person," said my mother. "I want to be entertained, amused, comforted, and learning something interesting when I read. I already know those people exist, and I wish they didn't. What's interesting about someone who just wants to kill you?"

"Yes," said Cassie firmly. "It's far more interesting when there's a group of suspects instead who were pushed into a corner or felt they had to murder in order to save their careers or marriages. The motivations and desperation of the people are lots better than a serial killer deal."

We agreed that often, a real PAGE-TURNER is too plotty, with events happening just so that something "exciting" can be going on, and weak motivation from characters. When a character is lauded as "sooo smart" but then goes on to make poor choices and prove that he's Too Stupid to Live, it's really disappointing for the reader. What do you remember from a book--the plot? Or the characters? I'll bet that you can remember the plot sort of sketchily, but when you think of the characters you've loved, they come back in living color.

The discussion of the book assigned for the meeting began. It was Lisa Scottoline's first book, Everywhere That Mary Went. Everyone agreed that the writing was good and the style interesting, and a couple of people confirmed that the behavior of workers in a big law firm is indeed as she portrays it. But just about everyone said that the ending happened too fast, that it seemed the author simply "picked one" from the short list and made that person the perp. I thought the ending was one of the book's major weaknesses myself (I went back and read the book last night on the Kindle), because the perp just suddenly APPEARS and has flipped out with no warning at all. It's kind of contrived and forced, to me. I also thought that everyone in the book was pretty unethical, but maybe that's just me. However, the ENTIRE group gave the book thumbs-up, so who am I to argue? They said they'd be looking for other books by the author.

Next month's book is by Bill Crider, The Wild Hog Murders, and they're really looking forward to it. I'd better find a copy so I can keep up! Bill Crider is one of our cohorts over on the DOROTHY-L mailing list, and I always enjoy his novels with a Texas flavor.

Mama started getting asthma about ten minutes before the club broke up for the evening, but she enjoyed herself and got to talk about her favorite books. (To Kill a Mockingbird and the "Murder, She Wrote" tie-ins.) Talk about Atticus Finch and the anniversary of TKaM ensued. I think the group enjoyed her.

I don't know whether my books made an impression or not. It's so common nowadays for someone to have written and published books that it's just not remarkable any more, and everyone assumes that your book is a "Chiclet"--one of the hastily cranked-out works that is not meant to last, but is intended merely as a quick read for $.99 or so. I get discouraged when I walk into gigantic bookstores and see all those glossy, beautiful titles stacked on the tables and lined up on the shelves. It's the competition! Who but a fool would keep doing this when it's basically hopeless and SO MUCH WORK? But oh well. I never said I had to make sense.

If you're in the area, come on down and join the fun! You don't have to have read the book-of-the-month, although it helps. You can just come to hear people who love books talk about books and about their thoughts. It's something worth doing.

We're going to try to make this club a regular stop. If I can bribe the hubby to watch the Pomeranian again and keep him OUT OF THE FLOWERPOTS, I mean.

Our goals as writers or readers

Reading Mary Montague Sikes' latest blog entry, "What Are Our Goals as Writers?" made me think about what my goals actually are, versus what most people think they are or should be. (LOL)

First, I want to talk about our goals as writers.

She mentions winning writing contests. Well, I've done that. I can do that. I won the Golden Rose award a couple of years ago with APRIL, MAYBE JUNE. (Their award is an actual gold-plated rose. My mother went crazy over it, and I put it on one of her bookshelves to be admired. It didn't come with a publishing contract or make anyone interested in the book, though.) I won prizes in the Robert Benchley essay contest a couple of times. (This year, they haven't yet announced the contest. ???) The way I got into Oak Tree Press was via winning the Dark Oak Mystery contest and getting NICE WORK published in 2011.

But I've noticed that contest winners aren't much appreciated. The St. Martin's Press contest would seem to be a major big deal, and you'd think winning one of their contests and publication would be a coup. However, I don't really see sales going big for those who win the contest, not since Donna Andrews was discovered (her books are that perfect blend of over-the-top funny and believable.) One recent winner has gone off to publish newer books with small presses, saying that she has more freedom there. I don't know whether winning an award of any kind does anything for your career. Getting your book made into a film or TV show, on the other hand . . . yes.

She also mentions financial success. That has always eluded me. I haven't made it a major goal, though. As I see it, those who attain financial success are usually the people who can schmooze and sell. If you are a born salesman, you can sell yourself, and the people will want your product. This sort of thing has never been my strength. I haven't had to rely on my writing to make a living so far, which is definitely a good thing.

What about readers? What are our goals as readers?

For many readers nowadays, it's ALL ABOUT PLOT. They don't mind wading through clunky prose (they have no ear for it, or don't care one way or the other? Don't know which) and aren't bothered by stereotypical flat characters. They're reading for WHAT HAPPENS, and if things aren't happening fast enough for them, the book hits the wall and they grab another (so many free downloads out there, why bother to push through all that thinking or feeling?) They were weaned on action movies, and they want to see things blow up and see people make snap decisions, whether or not the decisions are wrong.

But that's not STORY. Teresa Nielsen Hayden once said, "Plot is what happens, but story is a force of nature." I believe people need/use story to make sense of life, to understand what life wants from them and what they want from life. A story is a promise to the reader that they're going to learn something or have some sort of insight as a result of reading it. Otherwise, they close the book and say, "So what? What was all of that FOR?" They "got nothing out of it." It was "a waste of time that they can't get back." This is not what we're aiming for, I'm sure.

Story has always been a means of transmitting the culture down to the next generation(s). The Bible, Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens--the Great Books, if you will--have passed along the great ideas of Western culture over the centuries. A great story should give you some new insight into the human condition. It shouldn't feel hollow when you finish, as though you were waiting for the author to make his or her point but never got anything. You can write solely for entertainment and still have a point . . . I'm not saying that everything has to be Ponderous and Meaningful. But most people want to feel they've learned something from your book, if only that the Kelvin temperature scale goes down to absolute zero or that 73 is the perfect number (because it means "Best regards" to hams!)

It seems that the popular kids have decided they're going to write books. They never wanted to do this before, but now that it's a matter of typing into a word processor rather than feeding endless pages into a typewriter, they want to. EVERYONE is writing a book and putting it on the Kindle or going with a self-publishing deal. Writing books was always uncool before. It's kind of nice for it to be The Latest Thing, but I suspect that these same people tried to be rock stars and found they couldn't sing even WITH AutoTune, and turned to writing because they wrote in journals all through school and figured, "How hard could it be?" Some newcomers to writing are natural writers, of course, but I suspect that some just fell into it and have had lots of luck (and lots of friends who like them and therefore read their books). There are more books being published every minute these days than there were every YEAR in past decades. Lots of choices--good. Lots of slush--check. (LOL) Many books that leave you feeling hollow, as though "is that all there is?" were the question.

So why DO we bother to write books, when there is so much else out there that our stuff probably will come and go without being noticed?

My purpose in writing stories has always been to be heard--to reach those I would never otherwise reach with my voice or during my lifetime. I have always hoped that my book would be sitting on a shelf (or waiting for a download, wink) when someone who needs its message/philosophy/theme right then comes along and picks it up or downloads it to read. This person may be younger or older, in the future or in the present, but whoever the person is, he or she needs to hear what I have to say with this book, needs to be entertained with witty banter, needs to commiserate with the dilemmas and celebrate the happinesses of my characters. This person can experience vicariously a hot-air balloon ride, hear about someone's fairy godfather, work on perfecting the Schubert Moments Musical, and do whatever my characters do . . . it's a tour of my mind in my voice that no one else can give them, and I like to think it can enrich their lives and make them happy for a moment and then for several moments as they think on these issues and ideas I have brought to them.

That has always been my goal, and that is why I often resist making my books into action movie screenplays. I like to leave in the parts that made the books I have loved throughout my life into "keepers." I haven't thought much about temporal success, although my family and friends are quite fixated on the dollar; I do know that money is the way most people keep score, and the way they judge your work's quality, at least initially, so I guess I should at least TRY to do a popular book so my other books can have a chance at being checked out.

What if no one were keeping score? (Grin) If I serve art (Art) (whatever), that should be enough (but it probably isn't.)

So what are your goals? What is your purpose in writing stories?

The Signing!

Welcome to Lucky Dog Books!
Goodies to be raffled off and won!

AUTHORS PANEL BELOW!



Judy Serrano, the author and reporter who is going to review our books--and she donated four of hers to the raffle basket!










I wish I'd been able to take photos of Wendy and the other Books-A-Million lady employee who came along to bring Jenny's books and who ended up blowing up balloons with my mother (the newly-83-yr-old in the red sweater) to share with everyone's children . . . or photos of said children bouncing the balloons off their hands, their heads, and various authors . . . or photos of people standing up to find more books . . . or the general raucousness that was the signing/speaking time. But I was either doing the author bit or running about like the proverbial headless chicken trying to accomplish various tasks related to running the event. I never realized just how complicated and labor-intensive it would all be--especially hauling the books, food, and etc. up the front stoop and back to the extra-cool signing room! Most of the photos were snapped by my mother, in fact, and she really did quite well for someone who hadn't handled a digital camera very much. The pictures really do NOT give you the flavor of the event. You should see that place in person! If you can get over there to Lucky Dog Books, please do! Stop by and tell 'em I sent ya! (Jenny left about 10 signed books there and about 10 at the Grapevine Mills location of Books-A-Million, and we need you to go buy them NOW. You'll have to get my masterpieces from Amazon, though (Denise's page for MYSTERIES and ROMANTIC SUSPENSE and LITERARY CHICK LIT and Shalanna's page for YA FANTASY/ADVENTURE and URBAN FANTASY), because I didn't think to make an agreement with the store . . . I just hauled all those boxes back to the van. Duh!

After the three and a half hours of fun and hilarity, the authors took themselves to lunch at El Fenix (Tex-Mex) in Preston Hollow. Janis Susan May Patterson and unidentified husband (LOL); Jenny and Kevin Tipple discussing what to do with a book that you don't want (not really--there is no such thing!)



AND the bluebonnets were in bloom. What more could one ask than good friends, good books, and good weather?!

DALLAS BOOK SIGNING: A Charity Event! With me!

SUNDAY, APRIL 28 from 1-4 PM in Dallas, Texas: Charity Book Signing!

Ever doubted my supernatural powers? Well, doubt no more. I've enticed several best-selling authors to Dallas and we're all doing a signing--for charity!

Jenny Milchman, author of the suspense novel COVER OF SNOW (recently released by Ballantine Books in hardcover), will be in Dallas on Sunday, April 28, and will hold a book signing from 1 to 3 PM with me (Denise Weeks AND Shalanna Collins--you know, like Athena is also Minerva), Janis Susan May Patterson, Kevin Tipple, and Earl Staggs at the Garland Road location of LUCKY DOG BOOKS.

JENNY! SHALANNA (DENISE)! EARL! JANIS! KEVIN! What's not to like?!

Here's how it's going down.

Jenny will speak briefly at 1 PM and take questions from the audience. We'll be collecting books from each author present during that time and putting them into a raffle basket. Then we'll have the signing! Everyone who buys one or more of our books gets a raffle ticket. We'll draw a name out of the hat (watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!) and award the basket of books! We'll then draw ten more names, and those lucky people will get to stay after for a "Getting Published/ Craft of Writing" session with the authors.

Now, about the charity part. Where will the profits go? Ms. Milchman intends to donate all profits she makes from the event to a Plano family, Kevin and Sandi Tipple and their two sons, who are saddled with medical bills and overdue rent. (Ms. Patterson and I wlll be donating a large share of our profits; we had to buy our books from those mean old publishers at almost full retail, alas.) Pretty cool, huh? Anyone who wants to help out will be welcomed with open arms. In fact, pretty much anyone who shows up will at least get a handshake and a cookie!

Here's the official flyer for the event. We'd love to see you!



Map/Directions to Lucky Dog Books, Lochwood location on Garland Road in Dallas (Casa Linda area, next to Casa Linda Bakery, in fact)


Lucky Dog Books is about a mile or so from White Rock Lake near the Lochwood Shopping Center, located on Garland Road just past Jupiter (if you're coming from the east). The store is next to a church (in fact, I think it's located in an old church building itself) on the right-hand side of the street a few long blocks past Jupiter Road, just beyond the Casa Linda Bakery. You can reach it from the north and/or west by coming east and southeast on 635 (LBJ) and taking a right turn on Jupiter Road and then another right on Garland. If you aren't that far north, just take Northwest Highway to Jupiter and then turn south on Garland Road. It only SOUNDS complicated. Better directions on their website.

GUEST POST: Marilyn Meredith's DANGEROUS IMPULSES blog tour!

Today I have a special guest! Marilyn Meredith, aliass F. M. Meredith, is here to promote her new mystery for Oak Tree Press, DANGEROUS IMPULSES. As a fellow Oak Tree Press author, I have her books on the "buy now" list. She's going to talk about the rocky road to publication. (I myself have had flat tires on that road, and it's currently under construction!)

I'll step aside and ler her talk.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Rocky Road to Publication for the RBPD series

Perseverance has been my mantra since the beginning of my career as a writer. I could easily have given up long ago and never had the great time I’ve had all these years. None of it has been easy--and getting and keeping my Rocky Bluff P.D. series going is a good example.

I started writing the series when my son-in-law was a police officer in the town we both lived in. He’d come home with tales of what he did on his graveyard shift. Several things happened during this time period to men on the department and my mind began perking. The first novel in this series was Final Respects. I took bits and pieces of what I’d learned along with other things I knew about, sprinkled them with lots of imagination and this first book was born.

I landed an agent and I kept on writing. I had three more books done and submitted them. The only encouragement I received was that I came up with great titles. I finally gave up on the agent.

While studying the big Writer’s Digest Market book, I found a publisher who was looking for police procedurals. I submitted Final Respects and it was accepted. The only catch was this publisher was an e-publisher. Who knew what that meant? Not me, or anyone else. I couldn’t even figure out how to buy my own book once it was published. And the only place to read it was the computer. That was not a successful venture.

Time moved on, and the Rocket eReader became available, along with many new e-publishers. I found one that looked good, queried, and sent Final Respectsoff. The book was published as an e-book and trade paperback. It looked great. I purchased some and sold them. I sent the second in the series, Bad Tidings, to this publisher and it was published. The only problem was, though I could see people were buying the books because of reviews that appeared in various place, I never received a single royalty payment. When I asked about it, I was sent a small check and a rude reply. I parted company with that publisher.

It took a while, but I finally found another publisher who did e-books and trade paperbacks and she accepted the next two in the series, Fringe Benefits and Smell of Death. She did a great job with editing, the covers, everything. Then the bomb dropped—she decided not to continue with the publishing business.

I figured the next one I’d written, No Sanctuary, would never see the light of day. I met Billie Johnson, the publisher of Oak Tree Press at a Public Safety Writers Association’s conference. We became friends and saw each other at the next conference too. We began emailing one another and I queried her about No Sanctuary. In the meantime, she asked me to come to Illinois and present at a writer’s conference she was holding. I did, and she came to the motel where hubby and I were staying and brought me a contract. Yes, I signed it.

This has turned out to be a wonderful partnership. Not only did Oak Tree Press publish that book, they’ve printed all the rest I’ve written and she republished the earlier books too both as e-books and trade paperback.

When anyone asks what my best advice for authors is, I can honestly say, “Never give up.”

Thank you for hosting me today; I’ve enjoyed being with you. Tomorrow you can find me here:
http://thoughtsinprogress.com/

Now a bit about Dangerous Impulses:
(You can click here to visit it and buy on Amazon!)

An attractive new-hire captivates Officer Gordon Butler, Officer Felix Zachary’s wife Wendy is befuddled by her new baby, Ryan and Barbara Strickland receive unsettling news about her pregnancy, while the bloody murder of a mother and her son and an unidentified drug that sickens teenaged partiers jolts the Rocky Bluff P.D.

Contest:
The person who comments on the most blog posts on this tour may have a character named after him or her in the next Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel or choose a book from the previous titles in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series in either paper or for Kindle.

Rocky Bluff P.D. Series:
Though each book in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series is written as a stand-alone, I know there are people who like to read a series in order. From the beginning to the end:

Final Respects
Bad Tidings
Fringe Benefits
Smell of Death
No Sanctuary
An Axe to Grind
Angel Lost
No Bells
Dangerous Impulses

F. M. Meredith’s Bio:

F.M. is also known as Marilyn Meredith, the author of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. She first became interested in writing about law enforcement when she lived in a neighborhood filled with police officers and their families. The interest was fanned when her daughter married a police officer and the tradition has continued with a grandson and grandson-in-law who are deputies. She’s also serves on the board of the Public Safety Writers Association, and has many friends in different law enforcement fields. For twenty plus years, she and her husband lived in a small beach community located in Southern California much like the fictional Rocky Bluff. She is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Epic, and Mystery Writers of America.

Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com/
Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/
And I’m on Facebook and Twitter as MarilynMeredith

Thanks, Marilyn! We wish you luck on your online excursions.

Go read my guest post!

I'm up on Judy Hogan's blog this morning. As usual, it's an awfully LONG interview, but then when you ask me twenty questions, you're in for it. LOL!

http://postmenopausalzest.blogspot.com/

The word on the street (although it ain't Easy Street) is that authors can get more attention for their books by guest blogging anywhere they're allowed to. I don't know whether this is true for those of us who aren't exactly Stephen King or Stephenie [SIC] Meyer, but it could make a couple of people interested, so it's worth a try. I'm sure some of my answers are wacky, but that should interest the sort of people who might like my work. At least I am not putting on a false face, I mean. LOL!!

Dialect--how do storytellers put that on paper?

Writers! Do you know what I mean by "dialect"? I'm talking about the parts of Huck Finn that are so tough to read because they're phonetically spelled, or the entire oeuvre of the "Br'er Rabbit" writer (Joel Chandler Harris, who was still on the Western Canon lists when I was in elementary school) that is absolutely unreadable now because it's in so-called "eye dialect."

Recently, a poster on a mystery readers/writers mailing list I'm on mentioned how much she liked dialect. It was said that a couple of writers who use dialect in dialogue "have taken a lot of criticism for it from readers." (To me, there's your first bash from the cluestick: if readers object to something, then you certainly need to re-examine it, why you do it, and how you might get the same effect across differently. But I digress.) She mentioned Faulkner, saying, "If it works for Pulitzer Prize winners, then it certainly can work for them!"

Well . . . let's consider this for a moment. (I'm not sure exactly what kind of dialect the original poster intended, but let's assume the worst, for purposes of argument. Argument being in the nature of a debate, not the finger-pointing and hair-pulling kind, mind you.)

Laying aside the issue that the Pulitzer Prize winners who did this (perhaps we must include Alice Walker, but she doesn't do strict eye dialect all the time) won the prize many years ago, as far as I know, and might not win today because tastes have changed so much, let's look at how a reader experiences a text.

Dialect is very difficult to read and slows a reader down quite a bit. There's a reason that standardized spelling stuff caught on, y'know. (LOL) Mark Twain uses eye dialect (that's what this is called) in Huck Finn, but it's one of the difficult things about the novel. That's because he does phoneticized spellings.

I don't think dialect done that way works well at all today (if it truly ever did).

There are alternatives. Rather than phonetically spelling a misprounounced or differently pronounced word, such as "gulls" for "girls" or "wimmin" for "women," writers can repeat the way they mispronounce the word in the next sentence (instead of respelling it inside the sentence).

"I can't stand that place. All them barren women." Cain't. Wiiimmin.

In this technique, the narrator is "hearing" those words for the reader. A little of this goes a long way; dialect done like this tends to wear on the reader's inner ear very soon, unless done very lightly and skillfully. Best to use this for a minor character and only do it the first couple of times he speaks--and perhaps the final speech of his, as well.

The way to do dialect nowadays, it's pretty much agreed, is to suggest it by diction/word choice and word order. One of my Russian-born characters in MIRANDA'S RIGHTS says things like "Give to me this box." She is also puzzled by some idioms and cliches in English. "He is thinking he pulls the blanket over our eyes. Hah! Him I understand all too well."

A lot of this can make readers roll their eyes. Keep the cast limited to one or two people who have these unusual ways of speaking, unless you want readers to go nuts. Also, don't load up the cast with faux-Aussies and Scots (as in a book I just read) for no reason other than to have them talk funny. It's not funny; we've all seen CROCODILE DUNDEE.

Whatever you do, DON'T try to reproduce dialect syllable by syllable, or even word by word. Don't try to reproduce pronunciation, unless there is some key element that ties into it. What happens is this: your reader (henceforth known as "he") sees the first clues to the way your character ("she") speaks, and thereafter will imagine that accent. So if you have constant strange spellings and "reminders" of the accent, the reader will hear a more and more exaggerated accent, and the whole thing will become ridiculous, no matter how accurately you portray the dialect. If you indicate just enough to suggest to the reader that the character is, say, Southern, he will hear a normal Southern accent when you write, "That boy ain't right. Run over yonder and close that winder, will yew?" This comes across loud and clear, particularly if the character's grammar or word order or slang reminds you of someone.

BETTER. The same question three different ways: "Do you want me to do it?" "Would you prefer that I do it?" "You want I should do it, God forbid you should ask?"

You just "saw" three different people, right?

The main character in one of my novels has a Hispanic mother, and I occasionally have the mother speak a few words in Spanish. The rest of the time she speaks English, with a few un-idiomatic phrases here or there that might show she isn't native-born. As such a character speaks, she will use phrases or words or syntax in a way that reminds the reader. If you have a long bit of dialogue, she can speak standard English, but still keep your character's voice in the ear of the reader. You can use many foreign phrases that are pretty much understood in America without translation--"faux pas," "loco," "dreck." If you're concerned, you can give a translation the way I showed above. "That man is loco." Crazy.

In fantasy/SF or experimental prose, you might have your own phrases in your invented language that you can use this way. "He hated the veroon. It stank."

You don't necessarily need many French words to suggest a French accent. The way a character answers questions can be telling. The French start many answers with "mais oui" or "mais non"; in English, the idiom to use is "but x." (Grey Poupon's ad: "But of course!") "That is not the French way, ma cherie (mon cher)!" Don't go too Maurice Chevalier, though. I had an Arabian character once, and I suggested his broken and accented English by having his grammar slightly fractured, like the cartoon 7-11 clerk: he'd say, "They are pretty much completing." "You do the car washing in your dressed-up pants?" (I guess you had to be there. It sure sounds racist when I retype it like that. My friend Aziz read it for me and laughed, but maybe he was fuming on the inside, right?)

Careful--don't let it drop into parody.

Also, a steady stream of poor grammar out of characters' mouths grates on the reader like sandpaper. A little goes a long way to suggest what you mean. It doesn't take much irregular diction to get the idea of illiteracy across. Believable dialect comes, for the most part, out of using a collection of key phrases and eccentricities. (I wish I remembered who I was quoting there.)

Many moons ago, an acting teacher told me that if a character has a certain trait--a stutter, a limp, whatever--an actor should display it to good effect during the first few lines of her first entrance. After that, just hint at it, without exaggeration or emphasis. Subtlety is the watchword. I think the same method works well in fiction. After all, you embody all the actors as well as the playwright and director here.

You can also have a character drop into his/her "down-home" way of conversing while under stress, in response to certain situations, and when talking to certain people. It is a subtle way of indicating the character's comfort level. Similarly, you can have her subconsciously or deliberately segue into the dialect of another when talking to him.

Have fun with it as you write--but then, when you go back to the draft to revise and polish, check to see that you're doing it one of these ways, rather than the "Br'er Rabbit t'ain't a-goin" way. If you trust me on nothing else--trust me on this.