A Fresh Start

October 19, 2015October 18, 2015 ~ janegorman ~ 8 Comments

I’m in the early stages of drafting the fourth book in the Adam Kaminski mystery series, mysteries that take you places. Right now, I’m developing characters – one of my favorite parts of writing.

My main characters I already know, of course: Philadelphia detective Adam Kaminski, his partner, members of his family. These recurring characters grow and develop in each book in the series, a different kind of challenge for an author. Today, I’m working on new characters. Thanks to the theme of my books – each book embroils Adam Kaminski in a murder investigation in a different city – I also get to develop new characters for each story.

The first new character I create is the victim. For me, the victim defines the story. I have to ask myself, who has to die? How? Most importantly: why? What’s the motive? Which of course leads me to the killer. And thus the plot.

So I create the characters, the victim, the killer, the other people involved in the story. I figure out their backgrounds, their likes and dislikes, what their childhoods were like, their favorite ways to enjoy themselves, their fondest memories, their feelings about their parents, the way they dress, the way they imagine themselves. Once I know these things, the physical description follows naturally – it comes from the character. A person who is insecure might be nervous, jumpy, twitchy. Another character is tall, upright, unbending, sure of himself.

I write using the program Scrivener. I know that for writers Scrivener tends to be a love it or hate it kind of tool. I love it. Scrivener provides templates for character sketches, which makes it easy to keep all this information organized.

Another of Scrivener’s many features is that it lets you include an image on the screen as you write. So as I’m developing characters, I search the web looking for photos of people who have the attributes I’m looking for in my characters. I never use a photo of someone I know – the physical appearance might be correct, but I would risk writing up that person’s personality instead of the character I’m trying to create.

The character I have not yet been able to find a perfect image for is Adam Kaminski. I have such a strong feeling for who he is and what he looks like, I’ve rejected every photo I’ve found. For him, I write without an image – a problem I had to overcome to create a facebook ad. I know that in ads, photos of people work much better than photos of things. So a picture of a man who might be Adam Kaminski is more likely to be successful than a photo of the book cover. All well and good, but the challenge I faced trying to find a picture I could live with! (Do you know how hard it is these days to find an image of a young man without a beard?).

I ended up with an image I like, at least in part because the young man is looking down, so you can’t see his face straight on. It still leaves a little mystery, a little bit of his appearance left to the imagination. For that’s where my characters really come to life: in the imagination of my readers.

To meet my characters for yourself, visit my website at janegorman.com or stop by my amazon page.

Series- Keeping it Interesting by Paty Jager

October 12, 2015October 7, 2015 ~ patyjag ~ 8 Comments

I don’t know how you feel about reading mystery series but I love reading and writing them. Following a character on their journey through life, murders, and mayhem is fun. They have personal triumphs and failures, that the reader who has become a part of that character’s world can cheer and cry over.

Some of my favorite characters and series to read over the years have been Mrs. Polifax by Dorothy Gilman, Tony Hillerman’s Navajo Mysteries with Joe Leaphorn, Leighann Dobbs, Blackmore Sisters, Marilyn Meredith’s Tempe Crabtree and J.L. Simpsons’s Daisy Dunlop. I enjoy meeting back up with them in each book and seeing what mayhem they get into.

I like writing series because I can continue relationships, make new relationship, and have a cast of characters I know and can take on adventures. Whether they are the main characters, Shandra Higheagle and Ryan Greer of if they are the quirky, endearing, and annoying secondary characters, like Crazy Lil, Sheba the dog, Ryan’s nosy family, or the cast of characters who live in Huckleberry.

The murdered person and the murder suspects are usually new characters, which means I have to discover all I can about them before I start writing the books. But that is one of the best parts about a mystery, discovering how to make characters connect and have motives for the murder that happened.

I’ve never thought of myself as analytical or a puzzle solver but I love piecing the story together to have my sleuths think it’s one person only to discover it could be someone else. Keeping my sleuths guessing, I hope also keeps the readers guessing.

I just released the fourth book on my Shandra Higheagle mystery series- Murderous Secrets. This book has Shandra delving into her father’s death. She’d always been told it was a rodeo accident, but as her grandmother continues to come to her in dreams, she begins to feel it wasn’t an accident and searches for the truth.

A bonus about this book, the timing couldn’t have been better, because it happens in December and ends on Christmas Eve.

Murderous Secrets

Jealousy…Deception…Murder

The accident that took her father’s life has always haunted Shandra Higheagle. When her dreams become too real, she knows it’s time to discover the truth. It doesn’t take long to suspect her father had been murdered and that someone is unhappy with her probing.

Detective Ryan Greer knows Shandra well enough to insist he be kept informed of her investigation into the decades old death of her father. When signs implicate her mother, he can’t withhold the information, even though he realizes it could complicate their relationship.

Buy Links:

Amazon – Nook – Kobo – Windtree Press

Award-winning author Paty Jager and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. On her road to publication she wrote freelance articles for two local newspapers and enjoyed her job with the County Extension service as a 4-H Program Assistant. Raising hay and cattle, riding horses, and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her penchant for research takes her on side trips that eventually turn into yet another story.

You can learn more about Paty at

her blog; Writing into the Sunset

her website; http://www.patyjager.net

Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paty-Jager/132536633482029

Newsletter: Paty’s Prattle: http://eepurl.com/1CFgX

Paty’s Posse: https://www.facebook.com/groups/402519373168442/?ref=bookmarks

Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1005334.Paty_Jager

twitter @patyjag.

Introducing my Next Deputy Tempe Crabtree Mystery

August 24, 2015August 17, 2015 ~ marilynm ~ 4 Comments

Since this is also my wedding anniversary, it’s a good time to announce that I have a new Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery–Not as it Seems.

Tempe and her husband, Hutch, travel to Morro Bay to attend their son’s wedding. This is also the first time they’ve been able to meet Blair’s fiancee, Amaresh.

I did some new things in this mystery. Usually, the setting in my Tempe mysteries are fictional though based on real places. This time I used one of my favoirte places on the California’s Central Coast. Doing so, my fictional characters also visited some great and very real restaurants as well as other attractions including the San Luis Obispo Mission, Montana de Oro, and Pismo Beach.

What isn’t new is Tempe is thrust into the supernatural world of the local Indians, in this case, the Chumash and Salinans.

My husband I have visited all these places many times and it seemed natural to have Tempe and her husband visit them too. Friends who live in the area I’ve written about helped me too.

The main plot of the story is centered around the missing maid of honor.

Like with most of my mysteries, some of the ideas came from my experiences, others came from new things I’ve learned. Being an author is so much fun. Memories from the past pop up and give me ideas for plot twists. Sometimes I read something that immediately says, “Use me!”

I hope that others will chime in and tell where some of their ideas for their mysteries come from.

Marilyn Meredith

Are you a Pantser or a Plotter? by Marilyn Meredith

July 27, 2015July 24, 2015 ~ marilynm ~ 15 Comments

Recently I attended the Public Safety Writers Association’s annual conference and one of the panels was, “Are You a Pantser or a Plotter”. The attendees were a mixture of many law enforcement types, fire and emergency medical personnel, and of course, mystery writers.

Everyone who comes is a writer, or wants to be one. Some of the public safety authors are writing non-fiction, though many are writing mysteries.

When this panel was introduced, many in the audience had no idea what a “pantser” was. For anyone reading this post who also might not know, a pantser is someone who writers from the seat of their pants. In other words, they don’t do an outline of the plot before they start writing.

However, as the panel discussed the topic and who did what, it turned out that even the pantser did some planning ahead of time.

I’ve been writing novels, and mostly mysteries, for many years. When I wrote historical fiction, I did a lot of research and the research helped me with the plot of the book, though I didn’t actually do a chapter by chapter outline.

Now, with my mysteries, this is how I go about starting a new book.

First, because I write series, I know who my main characters are. I also know where I left off with their lives. What I need to plan is the crime(s) or mystery part which entails new characters:

Who will die? At least most of the time this is necessary. (In my last Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery, Violent Departures, the main mystery was about a missing young woman, the only murder happened years before.)

Who would like to see this person dead and why? Of course there must be more than one person who had the motive and opportunity.

With new characters, they must be named and described.

How is the person going to die? I try to come up with new ways to kill off my victims.

When and where will the first scene take place?

Once I’ve made these decisions—and I’ve written them down, I usually begin writing. I try to come up with a first sentence that will immediately intrigue a reader.

As I write, new ideas flood in. So I don’t forget something that may happen later one, I have a notebook beside my computer where I keep notes about everything pertaining to the book I’m writing.

So, though I don’t outline the complete plot before I begin writing, I do some initial planning, which I think means I’m a combination Pantser/Plotter.

For you other writers reading this, which are you?

Marilyn Meredith aka F. M. Meredith

http://fictionforyou.com

Guest Blogger- Joanne Guidoccio

June 29, 2015June 29, 2015 ~ patyjag ~ 13 Comments

On the Road to Reinvention by Joanne

Move over chick. It’s time for this hen to strut her stuff. (LuAnn Schindler)

Seven years ago, a hen strut wasn’t even on my radar. I had just retired from a 31-year teaching career and was still experimenting with a new and (sometimes unsettling) stage of life. Sleeping in each morning. Leisurely breakfasts. New hobbies. Volunteering.

Three months into retirement, I realized that I needed more than this patchwork quilt of activities. Everything came to a head at a luncheon. After a pleasant meal with stimulating conversation, I watched as over two hundred retired professional women swooned over the entertainment: an Elvis impersonator. They stood and hollered, waving dinner napkins and program. They coveted the flimsy polyester scarves he was draping around the necks of selected women. I took that luncheon as a sign from the universe. It was time to go down another road.

After some reflection, I decided to resurrect a writing dream from my high school years. Within days of making this decision, I received a call from an editor who offered to publish one of my travel articles. Excited, I started my wordsmith business and ordered my first set of business cards.

That first article was only beginner’s luck.

It took twenty-one months to get another one published. In the meantime, I attended creative writing workshops, took online courses, and continued to send out queries. Slowly, a writing practice emerged and articles, book reviews and short stories started appearing in newspapers, magazines and online. This was gratifying, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy my creative bent. I wanted more.

“More” translated into a novel. In my case, two novels: A Season for Killing Blondes and Between Land and Sea. The murder mystery failed to launch. Agents and editors were amused by the premise—A brunette lottery winner never has an alibi when dead blondes turn up in dumpsters near her favorite haunts—but they passed on the novel. Between Land and Sea, a fantasy about a middle-aged mermaid, didn’t fare much better.

Frustrated, I sought the advice of a visiting author. He met with me after reading the first 25 pages of my novel. He got right down to business.

“You’ve got an interesting premise here. Excellent plot development. And I like what you’ve done with the female characters, but—”

“Go on, I can take it.”

He sighed and shook his head. “The “b” word. It’s all over these pages.”

I couldn’t remember using any inappropriate language, let alone the “b” word. What on earth was he talking about?

“Boomers,” he whispered. “All the characters are over 50. You need youngins.”

“What do you mean by youngins?”

“Characters in their twenties and early thirties. That’s what selling now.”

I thanked him for his time but decided not to follow his advice. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the anti-boomer talk. At every creative writing workshop and seminar during that spring, I encountered more of the “youth” talk, most of it spoken in hushed tones.

“It’s okay to have an older woman as a sleuth but make sure you surround her with younger characters.”

“Don’t mention anything about boomers in your query letter.”

“Don’t even think about using retirement homes or nursing homes in your novel.”

I persisted, determined more than ever to feature boomer women and their older sisters as protagonists in my novels. I would love to say that the universe saw fit to reward my efforts, but that was not the case. Instead, more rejection letters followed.

In 2012, the winds of change started blowing.

The term “boomer lit” was bandied about on social media, and groups formed on Twitter and Facebook. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Intouchables and Quartet attracted record crowds and Downton Abbey became a worldwide sensation.

People were taking a closer look at heavyweights like Maggie Smith, Dame Judy Dench, Bill Nighy and Francois Cluzet. The younger supporting casts added color, but for the most part were forgettable and expendable. I don’t think anyone can imagine Downton Abbey without the Dowager Countess.

Those favorable boomer winds also blew in my direction. On January 31, 2013, senior editor Debby Gilbert of Soul Mate Publishing offered me a contract for Between Land and Sea. The novel was released in mid September 2013.

Feeling validated, I revisited A Season for Killing Blondes and reworked several plot issues and characters. After one round of editors, the cozy mystery found a home. On August 16, 2014, editor Johanna Melaragno of The Wild Rose Press offered me a contract.

Blurb- A Season for Killing Blondes

Three ASeasonforKillingBlondes_w9101_750 (2) thousand euros worth of pastries. Can you believe it?

When I agreed to import the pastries, I had no idea I would be subsidizing the failing Italian economy and helping Silvio Berlusconi stay in power for a few weeks longer. Left to my own devices, I would have gone down the street to Regency Bakery, picked up some pastries and just walked them over. But my mother and Aunt Amelia were adamant. The open house for my new career counseling office needed a proper launch, one that could only be achieved with pastries from a Sicilian bakery.

To be fair, both of them were horrified when they saw that final four-figure amount on the invoice and swore me to secrecy. While conspicuous consumption is valued in the Italian community, being taken for a ride is not, and we would never hear the end of it from Uncle Paolo who is still complaining about the ten cents he has to pay for a shopping bag at No Frills.

I watched my mother rearrange the amaretto cookies, stuffed figs, biscotti, and other delicacies that had arrived yesterday. She and Aunt Amelia had brought in their best silver trays and carts and spent hours—according to Uncle Paolo—creating a colorful Italian corner.

“Everything is perfect. Maybe too perfect.” My mother made the sign of the cross and mumbled a Hail Mary.

“Relax, Ma. I’ve got everything under control. Nothing bad will happen.”

“Things have been going too well, Gilda. The lottery win. Your new career. This beautiful office. I’ve had one of my dreams, and you know what that means.”

Buy Links

Amazon (Canada) – http://is.gd/t0g1KZ

Amazon (United States) – http://is.gd/jADjPp

Amazon (United Kingdom) – http://is.gd/8mknFJ

Amazon (Australia) – http://is.gd/r843iX

Kobo – http://is.gd/BpO9gY

Bio

In high school, Joanne dabbled in poetry, but it would be over three decades before she entertained the idea of writing as a career. She listened to her practical Italian side and earned degrees in mathematics and education. She experienced many fulfilling moments as she watched her students develop an appreciation (and sometimes, love) of mathematics. Later, she obtained a post-graduate diploma as a career development practitioner and put that skill set to use in the co-operative education classroom. She welcomed this opportunity to help her students experience personal growth and acquire career direction through their placements.

In 2008, she took advantage of early retirement and decided to launch a second career that would tap into her creative side and utilize her well-honed organizational skills. Slowly, a writing practice emerged. Her articles and book reviews were published in newspapers, magazines, and online. When she tried her hand at fiction, she made reinvention a recurring theme in her novels and short stories. A member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Canada, and Romance Writers of America, Joanne writes paranormal romance, cozy mysteries, and inspirational literature from her home base of Guelph, Ontario.

Where to find Joanne…

Website: http://joanneguidoccio.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/joanneguidoccio

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjoanneguidoccio

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanneguidoccio

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/jguidoccio/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7277706.Joanne_Guidoccio