By Sally Carpenter

Many writers swear by Elmore Leonard’s list of “10 rules for good writing” as definitive guidelines that must be followed at all times. Rule one is “Never open a book with weather.”

Ooops, I broke that rule in my WIP.

I don’t begin with a weather report per se, but the climate does have an impact on the story. Chapter one opens with an actress, the protagonist, performing in an outdoor theater in the rain. The guests watching can’t enjoy the show because they’re cold and wet. The actors on stage must overcome their own personal discomfort to do their best, as “the show must go on.”

The reader feels empathy for the protag working in such miserable conditions while admiring her professionalism and dedication in putting on a good play despite the obstacles.

 Throughout the book we have rain and drizzle off and on as well as a few dry days. Chapter one ends in a thunderstorm in which a dying stranger shows up at the heroine’s front door. OK, using a storm during a scene of high conflict is a bit of a cliché, but in this case it seems to works.

 One of the classic conflicts in literature is “humans vs. nature.” Starting a story with bad weather can be a good thing. A tornado triggers the action in one of the most beloved stories and movies of all times, “The Wizard of Oz.” Having lived most of my life in the Midwest, just the threat of a tornado was enough to get me quaking.

 My guess is what Leonard was really trying to say was not to start a story with lengthy descriptions of the environment, or waxing lyrical with passages that fail to engage the reader’s interest, such as “With rays of brilliant light, the sun was heating the soft ground, recently moisted with a light rain, while fluffy clouds skipped along through the azure blue sky.”

 Of course there’s the favorite opening gambit of “It was a dark and stormy night.”

 Good weather, though, can be used as a way to surprise the reader. “As the lovers were merrily strolling through the field, with a gentle wind kissing their cheeks and the sunshine warming their bare arms, they stumbled over a rotting corpse.”

 Using weather in a story helps to make it authentic. Many TV shows and movies seem to take place in a biosphere where the weather is always 72 degrees, rain and snow never fall and natural disasters never occur. Can anyone remember the Brady Bunch dressing for inclement weather?

 However, an episode of “WKRP in Cincinnati” did have a tornado blow out a window in the studio and injure one of the characters (those tornadoes are everywhere!).

 Likewise, many cozies are set in a “perfect” world with fantastic mild weather year round. Even Southern California gets rain and chilly temperatures! Granted, the entire grounding of a cozy is a fantasy—an amateur sleuth solving a crime that the police cannot break—yet the lack of any deviation in the weather makes the suspension of disbelief even harder.

 Some cozies set in Minnesota do have snow, although I wonder how many include the unpleasant aftermath of slush: partially melted snow that’s dirty and sticky. And how many of these characters try to drive cars sliding around on icy roads or put out their backs while shoveling out their driveways?

 Some New England cozies are set in the cooler days of autumn with the colorful foliage, but do the protagonists take time away from their sleuthing to rake leaves or clean debris out the gutters?

 Writing a cozy doesn’t require the services of a meteorologist, but the author can add some flavor and realism to the story with a touch of weather.

 Please share if you know of any mysteries in which bad weather plays a role in the story.

By Sally Carpenter

Some people have accused cozy mysteries, and other genre fiction, of “formulaic.”

What’s wrong with that?

Humans are creatures of habits. We have our rituals and traditions that help us enjoy life and make sense of it. And nearly all writing follows a “formula” of some kind.

Routines give structure to the day and free us from having to plan every moment so we can engage our energies in other pursuits. Many people eat the same breakfast or lunch foods every day. We drive the same route to work and have a pattern to our work days.

Some always shop on the same day of the week, use the gym the same time each day, watch a movie every Saturday night, visit their parents every Friday or attend certain festivals or concerts every year. And that glass of wine in the evening or snack at bedtime provides a means to relax after a busy day.

Thanksgiving Day isn’t complete without the same foods each year. Other holidays, such as Valentine’s Day, Christmas and Fourth of July, have their own traditions. Even if we gave a loved one a card or we lit a sparkler last year, we have to do it again this year.

Kids love habits. They may have a bedtime ritual of tucking in and story time before falling asleep. They have a favorite toy (before they become addicted to technology). They have songs and stories they like to hear repeatedly. Adults too have their guilty pleasure movies and books.

Sports have their rituals: playing the national anthem, the starting tip-off or punt, halftime entertainment, cheerleaders, wearing the “lucky” shirt or hat, seventh-inning stretch, Dodger dogs and the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies.

When life is confusing or threatening, people of faith find comfort in rituals that have stood the test of time.

Some authors build their schedules around the same writers’ conferences each year. Some authors can’t start writing until they do certain tasks or have special snacks on hand or play specific music.

If humans are so dependent on habits, our writing likewise needs structure. Some types of literary prose may ramble and simply express a feeling or word picture, but commercial fiction needs a solid blueprint.

Mainstream movies adhere to a three-act structure in which each act begins on a certain page of the script. The film’s climax—the point of no return or when the hero is at rock bottom with no means of escape—is generally 20 minutes before the end. Once a writer learns this structure, it’s easy to spot the “act breaks” in a film.

Most stories, particularly epics, follow the “hero’s journey” or “hero’s quest” formula: the hero is called to the quest, faces tests, meets helpers, reaches a “moment of death” (the climax), overcomes this final obstacle to “new life” and receives rewards. Even Nancy Drew mysteries follow this format.

Formula is what makes genres unique. Romances must have two persons attracted to each other. Mysteries require a puzzle or crime to solve. Science fiction must have alternative worlds or a “what if” speculation. Thrillers must have fast paced action and a powerful villain. A reader picking up a genre book expects certain elements and feels cheated if those requirements are not met.

Great variety is possible within the genre conventions. Cozies are no longer limited to a divorced woman leaving a big city to inherit a small town shop and fall in love with the police chief. Cozies now include male protagonists, large city settings and heroines who don’t work in a mom-and-pop store. Some cozies have a slightly harder edge and deal with social, environmental or animal abuse issues.

The only real “formula” to cozies is an amateur sleuth, interesting and likeable principal characters (usually family members of the protagonist), justice is served and no graphic sex, violence, profanity or violence to children or animals.

And in reading a cozy, the best formula of all is to curl up in a comfy chair with a blanket, a cup of hot tea or cocoa, a blazing fireplace and rain outside.

What are some of your habits or traditions?

By Sally Carpenter

 Happy New Year and welcome to 2018! I hope this will be a happy and fulfilling year for everyone. May readers find many new authors to enjoy. May writers publish a bounty of good stories.

Many use this time of year for fresh starts. As for me, a near disaster led to a good change.

A couple of months ago, the hosting service of my blog (which I will refer to by its initials GD) send an email that they were moving my website to a new server. I hadn’t checked on my blog in a long time, so I went there to add a new post. To my horror, all I saw was a blank page with an error message!! GD had apparently lost my site.

GD doesn’t offer a toll-free number for tech support, so the first time I called I would have to pay for a minimum 60-minute wait; I hung up. After two live chat sessions, GD still hadn’t fixed the problem and seemed clueless that my site was even gone.

I contacted the web designer who had built the site. She came through and not only recovered the site but updated the code, made a backup, and added new security. She discovered my site had been hacked years ago; GD should have alerted me about that.

Since my designer was already working on the site, I took the opportunity for a revamp. Much had transpired since I opened the site and what I had no longer suited my needs.

The site was established as a Sandy Fairfax fan page in hopes that it would become a place for readers to interact with the character. However, that never materialized. And people were confused and thinking that Sandy Fairfax was my name.

In the beginning I only had one book, so I ran the book covers in a sidebar. But as I published more works, the sidebar became cumbersome and the page looked cluttered.

I failed to keep up with the blog, so opening the home page with months-old posts was not a good idea.

My bio was outdated as well. I had a new series ready to start; how would that fit in with the Sandy Fairfax theme?

In the site remodeling, I moved the focus off Sandy and onto me. I took his name off the header and put in mine. My headshot was moved off the sidebar and onto the header.

The sidebar was eliminated and the book covers were arranged in neat rows by series and anthologies. Readers can easily see all my works.

The blog was moved to a back page. I freshened my bio. A new page was added to introduce my upcoming series. The “email contact” page was removed, since nobody was using it. I just put an email address on the home page for people to use.

The basic retro-look of the old site remained with the same fonts and header styles. That aspect didn’t need an overhaul. I like the bright, vivid colors; many mystery writers’ websites are dark and gritty. The hearts-and-notes background stayed because that design was already on my business cards and bookmarks.

Even though the site is now about me and not my original character, I kept the domain name http://sandyfairfaxauthor.com because that addy is on my cards, bookmarks, numerous blog posts and other places. Besides, I’m still Sandy’s author; I’m just adding other characters along the way.

I like the new look. I’m amazed at how I started with one book and now have eight covers on my site.

If you have a website or blog, has your site changed as you’ve grown as an author?

BTW, in a month or two my contract runs out with GD and my designer and I will move the site to a new hosting service.