What makes a reader fall in love with a character? I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as I write my sixth book, hoping that this will be my breakout novel. You know, the one that people can’t quit talking about.

I thought about Louise Penny’s early books. I read the first one and wasn’t that impressed. Yes, the characters were quirky, but the story was simple and didn’t hold my interest. Later, someone suggested I listen to her books on audible and I fell in love with Inspector Gamache and the rest of the cast. The narrator’s voice brought the story to life for me. But other readers loved the early books and continued to read and beg for more, making Louise Penny a household name for those of us who love mysteries. Do we all need a duck who spits profanity, a quarrelsome old lady who is a renowned poet? What is it about these books that readers love so much? Is it that the characters are larger than life?

I also love JA Jance’s Sheriff Joanna Brady books. I love the interaction between Joanna and her husband, Butch, and their children. I love that she can be a tough cop at work and a warm wife and mother at home.

Lisa Regan writes the Detective Josie Quinn series. Josie is such a great character. Even though she’s had to overcome so much—being abducted as an infant and raised by a cruel, vindictive woman— she never gives up.

There are so many books with so many great characters. I’m sure we could go for days naming our favorites and why they are our favorites.

In my first book, a standalone titled, The Truth Will Set You Free, a young woman is looking for her birthmother and travels to the small town of Cascade Locks, Oregon, where her mother grew up. It’s a dual timeline, told from the young woman’s perspective, and thirty years earlier from her mother’s perspective. Even though, Natalie, the young woman searching for her birthmother is broken because she had been lied to by the woman who raised her, the real star of the book is her mother, Colleen. Colleen makes all the wrong decisions, but you fall in love with her because her heart is so big. Even though she’s made so many mistakes in her life, when she loves someone, her boyfriend, her mother, she loves with all her heart.

I recently binge-watched Roseli and Isles. I know, I’m way behind in my TV viewing. But I fell in love with the characters on the show. I enjoyed each episode, but mostly what I loved was the relationships between the characters, and I really loved the friendship between Roseli and Isles.

I’ve watched a lot of cop shows over the years. Blue Bloods was probably my all-time favorite. I loved the family and how they interacted. I’ve been thinking a lot about acting and how actors take a character and bring them to life. Maybe an acting class would be a good way to learn how to write outstanding characters.

What makes a great character? Maybe it’s just people doing people-y things. Being scared and courageous and mean and kind and smart and doing stupid stuff, all the things that really make someone human. Or maybe it’s making each character bigger than life. Creating something inside them that makes readers sit up and take notice.

Now I’m going back to work on my characters and see if I can make them even more real. What character traits can I give them to make them stand out? I’ve heard that mysteries are more about plot than characters, but I believe characters are what bring the plot to life.

For the longest time and in increasing numbers, people I meet at fairs and book shows have been asking if my books are available on Audible. I’m a paper book aficionado; I don’t enjoy reading on my iPad and would never dream of reading on a phone. Oh, I do listen to podcasts which are short and usually newsy regularly, but the only book I’ve ever listened to was “1776” read by its author, David McCullough. I found it mesmerizing, and even after a seven-hour drive home, I stayed in my car until almost midnight to hear the last few pages.

In the past year the pressure to make an audiobook has been increasing, but I still successfully avoided doing it. My neighbor Karan was the pushiest. “I listen to audiobooks every day,” she said. “Please, please, please do audiobooks.”

I’m a master at finding excuses for things that scare me. I’d say “I’m in the middle of writing another book and can’t think about audiobooks until it’s finished.” When a book was finished, I’d move on to, “I can’t do anything about an audiobook right now because I’m trying to promote my new book.” If I had free time I’d say “I’m a technophobe; I could never deal with audiobook production.” And, then there was always my personal favorite: “Hey, I’m just a poor writer who could never afford to pay Meryl Streep to read a book of mine.” (Not that she would anyway.)

On January 1st, I came dangerously close to running out of excuses.  At a New Year’s Day brunch my daughter-in-law’s brother mentioned he had been setting up podcasts and book readings and said he would be happy to produce an audiobook of “The Glass House,” the first book in my PIP Inc. Mysteries series.  Panic time. But then I remembered the getting a professional to record issue. Whew.

That final excuse soon fell, too. No, Meryl Streep didn’t agree to record a book for me, but I discovered listeners are often willing to let an author read their book to them. I learned a number of other things about audiobooks, too, things like what’s happening to their market share of books consumed each year. Statistics from 2024 stated there were 270 million audiobooks sold that year and 7.93 billion dollars in revenue was generated by eager listeners. The most shocking statistic was that listeners were increasing 15% per year. I’m not great at math, but even I understood the implications of numbers like that.

So, Karan, I don’t pretend to be an actress and the results of trying to do a male voice might be questionable, but per your demands, the book came out on March 13^th. Audible gave me a bunch of free codes and told me to give them to family, friends, fans, and anyone who would agree to listen to the book and promise to leave a review. The goal is to get fifty reviews; that’s evidently a magic number in Audible land.

If you are willing, please email me at nancylynnjarvis@gmail.com and I’ll send you one. At the very least, you can do more than read my posts. You can find out what I sound like.

The Glass House: A PIP Inc. Mystery (PIP Inc. Mysteries Book 1)

By Nancy Lynn Jarvis

There are a lot of things that go into being a successful author, that is, being read by readers. Unless you’re writing for yourself and hiding your work in a closet, then just ignore me. But I would say, don’t do that. The written word is meant to be read. But for some writers, if they’re the only ones reading their work, it’s fine with them. That’s what a diary is all about. BUT if you’re not writing a diary, for heaven’s sake, get that work out there.

Easier said than done, I know. You can be the best writer in the world and the most talented. But if nobody knows your work exists you’re screwed, pardon my French. And thus, we enter the world of the writing business.

I have always been a writer for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I wrote lyrics to songs and short stories. Really short stories. Pluto lost his collar. Pluto found his collar. Pluto was happy. Pluto went home. I was 8. My first paying job was at 17 years old for the Miami Beach Sun. I wrote a weekly column on the comings and goings of the tenants in a large condo complex. I got $25 a week and was beside myself. I was a paid writer!

After college, I moved to Manhattan. During the day my writing consisted of plays, ad copy, and acts for performers. At night I would work Broadway behind the scenes in the Wardrobe Department. It was a settled world for me as a writer, and one I loved. But it wasn’t quite enough. Something was missing and I didn’t know what. Then I met Norman who was a jingle singer/performer. We got married and went on with our New York City lives. But what was exciting when you’re 20 can become tedious when you’re 40.

We were tired of wondering where our next job was coming from, which goes with the territory of being in the theater. We moved to California for some stability. Norman became an English teacher, and I ran the Faculty Recruiting Department at Stanford’s GSB. We have never regretted the move, but his singing and my writing never completely left the scene. Wherever you go, there you are.

Once in the Bay Area and without the backing of the New York Theater district, I was temporarily lost. But eventually, the entire world opened up to me. I decided to try writing a novel, something I would never have considered before. I finished my first novel by getting up early and writing from 4 in the morning until I went to work and then when I came home in the evenings. Ah, youth! But that was twenty years ago.

Ready to publish, I realized publishing was going through a transitional period. To put it mildly. Ah, the ramifications of the internet! Publishing houses began eliminating genres in order to stay alive. Or going out of business entirely. Agents were forsaking their clients and opening their own online publishing houses. Everything became different. But all the time I was learning. I was learning the good, the bad, the preposition, and the proposition.

I went with two online publishers, great people, but they didn’t give my books the care I thought they deserved. I waited until publishing rights were given back to me, then I struck out on my own. This was when there was a stigma attached to self-publishing. If you self-published, it meant you weren’t a good enough writer to have a traditional publisher. I avoided the looks of sympathy and derision from my peers. Because somewhere inside me, I knew that if I pushed at it long enough, I could have the career in writing I wanted. And on my own terms.

When you self-publish, the various aspects of getting a book out there falls to you. From the first draft, to the cover, to the editing, to the final product, it lands at your feet. Not to mention advertising and publicity. I took it all on. I wanted my books to be read. So, I persevered with learning the steps needed. All the time, I said to myself: Heather, you’re competing with Big Boy Publishers. You need to do exactly what the Big Boys do. So I did.

I hired the best editor I could afford. Eventually, two of them. One for content, one for grammar and punctuation. I had beta readers. Not my friends who would soft-pedal things, but experts in the field who would give me the feedback I needed. I hired a publicist. In short, I was as professional as I could be.

My fellow mystery writers helped me. Mystery writers are the kindest, most giving people I know. If any of you are members of Sisters in Crime, you know what I’m talking about. When I was doubtful or got into trouble, they would give me all the support they could. And often great words of wisdom.

So here I am twenty years later, one of the old guard. I still learn. I hope I still grow. Newbie writers look up to me. Well, at least one or two of them. And if they ask for help I am there, as all the wonderful writers in the past were there for me.

It’s a heritage we pass down to one another, this business of writing.

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