Category: Paty Jager

Titles: How does an author choose them?

~ patyjag ~ 8 Comments

In case you couldn’t guess by the title of this post, I’m having trouble figuring out a title. Not for the book I’m writing but the next one in the series. Yes, when I know what the book is going to be about, I start trying different titles to see what fits the story and how to make it fit with the series.

I didn’t have any trouble with titles for my Shadra Higheagle series, they came from the story I was telling: Double Duplicity, Tarnished Remains, Deadly Aim, Murderous Secrets, Killer Descent, Reservation Revenge, Yuletide Slaying, Fatal Fall, Haunting Corpse, Artful Murder, Dangerous Dance, Homicide Hideaway, Toxic Trigger-point, Abstract Casualty, Capricious Demise, Vanishing Dream, Christmas Chaos.

As you can see, they were all two-word titles with some reference to murder or mystery.

Then I have the Gabriel Hawke novels. I wanted these to have animals in the title because he is a Fish and Wildlife State Trooper, and I wanted them to sound like the title of an Indigenous story. Murder of Ravens, Mouse Trail Ends, Rattlesnake Brother, Chattering Blue Jay, Fox Goes Hunting, Turkey’s Fiery Demise, Stolen Butterfly, Churlish Badger, Owl’s Silent Strike, Bear Stalker, Damning Firefly, Cougar’s Cache, Wolverine Instincts, Wolf Moon, Captured Hummingbird.

Sometimes it is hard to decide which animal to use in the title. Some stories have the animal in it, and some, I allude to the animal. Then, coming up with other words for the title can take a bit of time. As Heather said in her last post, finding the perfect word is sometimes a struggle.

When I began plotting the Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries, I decided to use gambling terms as the titles. Poker Face, House Edge, Double Down, The Squeeze, The Pinch, Down and Dirty, Crapshoot, Full House.

I have the list of gambling terms and when I decide the plot of the story, I go down the list and figure out which term best fits. Which makes coming up with a title much easier.

But now, I have the Cuddle Farm Mysteries, which I am trying to keep on the lighter side, more cozy than the Shandra Higheagle series. The first book’s title, Merry Merry Merry Murder, came from a Christmas song. As you can guess, the story was set during the Christmas holiday. This second book is set in a century-old opera house during the rehearsal of a local play. I’ve come up with the title, Monologued to Death. It shows there is a murder and with the cover of the old opera house I have been frequenting and Monologued, the reader should figure out the death happens in the opera house. It doesn’t have the same wording as the first book, but with the Cuddle Farm logo across the top, the same font in the titles, and a similar look, I’m hoping it will work to make them look like a series.

My problem? Book three is a bit darker than the first two. It has to be the third book to make the secondary plot work right. I’m struggling with the title of that book, because I don’t want it to be too dark, and all the titles I come up with have been overused as titles.

It has to do with an evil that has been lurking within a character for decades. And the body that is dug up and upsets the world of my main character. Here are what I have so far:

Fiendish Folly – feels like a cozy, but it also feels too cutesy for the storyline.

Wicked Ways – has about 8 other books with that title, and it sounds morel like a witch is involved.

Evil Never Sleeps – This one has been used many times.

The Water Knows – again it has been used multiple times.

Haunting Memory – Used a lot.

Hints of Evil – This one I like, but not sure it fits with the series feel.

Here is the gist of the book if you want to help me with some titles: A child’s body is found when the river that runs through Auburn is diverted to work on drainage culverts. The body turns out to be a boy. The brother of Viola. He had been missing for decades, last seen with his sister, Andi (my main character), and Nina( her sister). The older girls said he was taken by a man in a blue car. Andi doesn’t remember very much about the day because she was only 4 and Nina was 9, Viola 10, and her brother was 6.

Having Too Much Fun!

~ patyjag ~ 8 Comments

I just spent a week on the Oregon Coast with a granddaughter. She is the one most like me. Whenever we’re together we have lots of laughs and fun conversations.

Nearly every day as we were out walking, either on the beach, around town, or through an old growth cedar walk, we would have different versions of things.

On the beach, she saw a man digging with shovel at the base of the grass embankment. She said, “Look he’s digging for gold.” I said, “He could be preparing a hole to bury someone. But in the daylight that’s kind of risky.” My granddaughter looked at me and said, “Why would it be risky?” “Because it’s daylight and someone could mention they saw him digging.” She shook her head and said, “It’s gold.”

As we were walking through four foot high skunk cabbage, old growth cedar trees, bushes, and water on a wood walkway, we noticed there were some houses not too far away and then a trail leading off through the marsh toward the houses. My granddaughter said, “Looks like some people like to go exploring off the walkway.” “I said, “No that’s the trail of the serial killer who lives in one of those houses and comes here to find a victim.” She stopped stared at me, then the trails and said, “Thanks. Now I’m not going to be able to enjoy it.” When we reached the end where this hundred year old, deformed and huge tree was, there was a picnic table and a bench. A man in his thirties sat on the bench wearing a hoodie and sunglasses. We walked by him and my granddaughter whispered, “There’s the serial killer.” I nodded and said, “He’s waiting for an unsuspecting woman who is alone.”

Walking around the small beach town, we were admiring the kept up yard and looking at the cute little houses. We passed a house that had a couple of boards on the windows and looked uninhabited. My granddaughter remarked how it was out of place among the other well kept houses. I said, “There’s probably a body in there and whoever put the body in there didn’t want it to become known, so they don’t live there and won’t sell it. Just let it decay like the corpse inside.”

My granddaughter stopped, put her hands on her hips and said, “Grams, you are always thinking about murder.” I replied, “That is what I write. I’m always working out ways a body can be killed or how someone might try to cover it up for my books.”

“Doesn’t that depress you?” she asked.

“Nope. I find it fascinating and exhilarating to come up with something that readers may not have read before.”

And that is how my brain is working 75% of the time. Even on vacation.

This month I’m celebrating my 20th year as a published author. Come by my Author Paty Jager Facebook page and leave a comment to win prizes.

Too Much Imagination?

~ patyjag ~ 4 Comments

Writing has always been therapy for me. A way to put my vivid imagination to good use instead of making me fearful and worried.

Early in my married years, when my hubby was a truck driver, my imagination would play scenarios in my head about things that happened to him while he was driving. Or if my parents were coming to visit and they were late, my mind would jump to all the tragic things that could have happened.

Once I started writing, sitting down nearly every day and putting my imagination to work writing stories, I rarely envision harm coming to people I know anymore.

What does happen is that my mind is constantly finding ways to bump off people in my mystery books. Ways that are unusual or that are everyday things that can become deadly. I haven’t asked other murder mystery writers if they do the same thing. I need to do that the next time I’m at a conference.

My latest was an innocent trip to the local theater group to watch the play “Oklahoma!” I had been toying with going, and then a friend said the Elgin Opera House put on the best plays, that most of the actors were actually people wanting to get into the field, and used the Opera House as a way to pad their résumés.

So I called my daughter, who lives halfway between the Opera House and me, to ask if she wanted to go with me. She said yes and I purchased the tickets online.

I have driven by the Opera House a hundred or more times, but I’ve never been inside the historical building built in 1912. We parked and entered the building, purchasing water and popcorn before finding our seats in the balcony section. I was impressed by the tin ceiling, the sloped seating, and the excellent sound. Very historical looking. The chairs were a bit hard, even though they were padded. I’m pretty sure it was the old wood shaving stuffing that had been packed down over decades of use!

We were a little bit early and entered the balcony from the top, found our seats, and took in the surroundings. After visiting and talking about the stage and my daughter having been in the building before, when her daughter was in a play, we decided to use the restroom before the play started. I stayed seated as my daughter went to use the facilities. The balcony didn’t have any lights on. The light came from down below on the stage. My daughter doesn’t like heights,. She came back from the restroom and said she didn’t like walking along the edge of the balcony to go to the door leading down to the restrooms.

I laughed at her and said, at least it wasn’t as high as the Church tower we’d climbed up to in Holland. Then I went down to walk along the balcony railing. It came to my knees, and the walking area between the railing and the front row seats was maybe 24 inches. I stopped to look down at the seating below and felt a little dizzy from the darkness above, the light below, and the sense that I was tipping toward the railing.

I continued on and then as I came back, the idea hit me that having a character be at the opera house for a play and seeing a person fall from the balcony would make a good start to a murder mystery. And as I sat in the balcony watching the play, more and more scenes flashed through my mind.

At the end of the play, when the spectators in the balcony had left, I sat in the front row and envisioned how someone could orchestrate an accidental fall.

So stay tuned for book three in the Cuddle Farm Mysteries. The death at the beginning of the book may or may not have been an accident! 😉

I’m having a 20th-anniversary bash to mark 20 years of being a published author. Follow my Facebook page or sign up for my newsletter to be part of the celebration and win prizes the whole month of May. I’m giving away a prize every day on my Facebook Page and giving my newsletter subscribers a Bingo game to play for a chance to win prizes.

Link to Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorPatyJager

Link to subscribe to my newsletter: https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm

Moving + Writing = Behind

~ patyjag ~ 4 Comments

I am just about moved into our new-to-us home. One more week and I’ll have everything moved and will be settled into the smaller house. Downsizing is not easy! After 47 years, 4 kids, 12 grandkids, 2 great grandkids, I have boxes of photos that I’ve been going through. getting rid of duplicates and bad images from the days when you took the film in to be printed.

I have more furniture than this house can hold, but at the same time, I need to purchase furniture to fit in smaller spaces.

And don’t get me started downsizing from a walk-in closet to a 7 ft long closet in a 1952 older house. I see some remodeling going on in the bedroom down the road. Right now we are concentrating on making the kitchen and dining area larger.

  • Many of the things I’m doing to move relate to my writing.
  • Watching for duplicate words or words that aren’t strong enough.
  • making better word choices that fit the scene or the character even if the word had worked well before.
  • Shortening sentences to be more concise and not take up so much space in the story.
  • And expanding on the mystery and subplots to show the development of my characters and explore more reasons for the murder.

While I’m making the 4-hour drive back and forth from the old place to the new, I’ve summoned up several scenes and reasons for the actions of my characters in the work in progress.

But the words aren’t popping up on the computer screen because when I do finally have time to sit down at the computer, I have emails and promotions to tend to before my brain gives out.

In the last couple of days, I’ve thought about moving my deadline for this book out, but then it feels like I’m copping out. Instead, I’ll spend the rest of the month pushing to finish the book and know it will be published a bit later than I’d planned, but I managed to write it within my deadline.

That is the hardest part of writing for me. Not lambasting myself when I miss a deadline. When I put it out to the universe that something will happen or be finished, I don’t make excuses. I push and make it happen. It is my greatest strength as a writer. Self-discipline.

I can’t remember if I mentioned that Book 8 in the Spotted Pony Casino is now available in print and ebook.

When the past knocks on their door, the future they planned begins to unravel.

On the brink of their wedding, Dela Alvaro and Heath Seaver’s plans shatter when a ten-year-old boy appears, claiming to be Heath’s son. The truth is even darker: the boy’s mother—the woman Heath thought died years ago at Pine Ridge—was an FBI informant hidden under a new identity, left to raise his child alone before dying of addiction.

As Heath wrestles with awe for the son he never knew and fury at the FBI’s deception, the past turns deadly. When the agent who lied to him is found murdered in Pendleton, the FBI shows up on Dela’s doorstep, bringing danger straight to their home.

With their future on the line, Dela and Heath must confront a web of secrets before it destroys the family they’re just beginning to build.

Universal book link: https://books2read.com/u/3LzAxJ

Buy direct from the author: ebook – https://www.patyjager.net/product/full-house-ebook/

Autographed print book – https://www.patyjager.net/product/full-house/

You can also now purchase Merry Merry Merry Murder in audiobook format.

Where comfort and cheer meet scandalous secrets—A holiday mystery set in a small town.

Audiobook website – https://www.patyjager.net/product/merry-merry-merry-murder-audiobook/

In my next post, I’ll be talking about my 20th anniversary as a published author.

Transitioning

~ patyjag ~ 12 Comments

Life has chapters, just like books.

Right now I’m transitioning from rural life to town life. We purchased the house in town the fall of 2024 because we were putting our farm up for sale and wanted to know where we would be going when it sold. That chapter was exciting and full of wistfulness of finding the right home.

We did. I love the view from all of my windows. We are isolated enough that we aren’t looking into any neighbors’ windows and we have a gorgeous view of the Eagle Cap Mountains that I write about in my Gabriel Hawke books and the Elkhorns which will be referred to in my Cuddle Farm Mystery series. Out the dining room window we see a couple of rooftops and a hill my hubby knows elk are going to come over when there is a bad winter. 😉

Eagle Caps from my living room window.

It’s an older house so there has been painting, fixing, and soon a remodel because the kitchen and dining room are too small. But first I will be moved into the house by April 1st. That’s when we are to be off of our farm. Hubby will stay on helping the dairy that he’s been managing hay fields for the last twelve years. Just for this summer to help the person taking over. He’ll stay there in a mobile home on the hay ranch and come help make out new place the way we want on long weekends.

I’m excited about a smaller house to clean, I can run to the store whenever I want, not make a list when I run out of things and have to wait until someone goes to town. I’m excited for the things I can attend without having an hour drive to and from the event. I’m also close to all the areas I write about in my mystery series. That is a real plus. I hope to get to more Native American events and culture a few more connections.

Hiking a wash in Hurricane, UT.

This is not the last chapter in my life but it is certainly one of the most looked forward to. I’ll continue to write, but we also hope to do a bit more traveling around the U.S.

We spent a week last month in southern Utah, hiking in parks and enjoying the weather and scenery. We plan to do that for a couple weeks every winter to get out of the longer, colder (usually) winters than we are used to.

I’m excited to see how the changes, might enhance my stories by living so much closer and being able to do even more trips to locations. I’m only an hour and a half away from the Umatilla Indian Reservation the location of my Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series.

Right now, I’m trying to get all the rooms ready to put the furniture that will fit in and try to keep up with writing on my current book, Captured Hummingbird, book 15 in the Gabriel Hawke novels.

As a reader can you tell when a writer knows the area they are writing about?

Writers, do you like to see places first hand if you write about real places?