Category: Paty Jager

Getting to Know My Character

~ patyjag ~ 6 Comments

As the days and nights are starting to cool, I’m looking forward to dressing in cozy sweatshirts, wrapping up in fuzzy blankets and settling into a routine of writing and quilting.

During the summer, there isn’t time to quilt. I spend a lot of time on the road either to attend events to sell my books, to attend family events, or do research for my writing. When I’m home I’m writing, pulling weeds, doing gardening, or helping hubby.

But come fall and winter, there are my walks and housework, but then I write until 3 or 4 pm and then I work on whatever quilt I have going until it’s dinner time. If I’m cutting fabric for a quilt, I’ll continue doing that after dinner.

It’s funny, I don’t like putting puzzles together, but I enjoy moving pieces of fabric around to find the right pattern in the colors and adjusting them. I can have fabric pieces laying on the guest bed for several days, or even weeks, as I wander in and out rearranging and deciding if I like the way they look. Once I’m satisfied I start sewing them together.

That’s kind of how I write. I start with the idea of a story in my mind and rearrange the characters and the setting as I formulate where the story will start and who will be murdered. It’s a process that I recently realized is crucial to my being able to write an enjoyable story.

My book Merry Merry Merry Murder that is releasing October 15th is the first book of what I hope will be a new series for me. I had the idea for it last fall. And then in January, I wrote the book in one month and felt I was on to something I could do to give my readers something extra to read in between my Gabriel Hawke Novels and Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries releasing.

I sent the book to my beta readers and they all said that they didn’t like the main character and the story fell flat. That is not what a writer wants to hear. I didn’t have time right then to work on it, because I was busy getting the next Hawke book written.

The Christmas book sat and I thought about it when I wasn’t deep in the Hawke book. And then I needed to get the next Spotted Pony book written. I talked to my beta readers some more about the Christmas book as I wrote the Spotted Pony book.

I swirled the main character Andi around in my mind a lot when I wasn’t actively writing or thinking about the books I was writing. After a couple of chat sessions with a beta reader and having a break between my other books, I sat down and went through Merry Merry Merry Murder. ( I know too many Merrys, but sing it like the Carol of the Bells song and you’ll get it)

After letting the character “ferment” in my brain for nearly a year, I dug back into the story. In that year, I’d learned more about my main character, so I “knew” her better. I rewrote the beginning of the story and gave her a new interesting friend and sent the new version to my beta readers.

It was a hit!

Every time I’ve started a new series, I’ve lived with the main character in my head for a year or more. So I knew them inside and out before I started writing their first book. I didn’t do that with Andi and now that I have had her in my head for longer, she is a complete character.

I’ll be sharing her book with you next month, but it was the idea I came up with for this month’s post.

I do have the next Hawke book, Wolf Moon, available in ebook, exclusively at my website right now or you can preorder it from your favorite ebook vendor and get it on September 19th.

In the remote, snowbound wilderness of Oregon’s Eagle Cap Mountains, a sled dog race turns deadly.
State Trooper Gabriel Hawke is teaching winter survival to Search and Rescue recruits when he’s called in to find a missing musher. Arriving at the race camp, he discovers the musher isn’t just a name on a list—she’s someone his friend Justine cares about deeply.

As Hawke searches rugged trails and icy backcountry, the case quickly shifts from a rescue to a murder investigation. Then a second body turns up, and it’s clear the killer is hiding among the racers, handlers, or volunteers. The deeper Hawke digs, the more he uncovers buried secrets and dangerous rivalries.

Now, with a killer on the loose and Justine possibly in the crosshairs, Hawke must navigate blizzards, betrayal, and bloodshed—before the race ends in even more tragedy.

Buy Direct for $1 off and read now! https://www.patyjager.net/product/wolf-moon-ebook/

Universal Buy link or pre-order https://books2read.com/u/bWO1dD

Stories – Imagination at its best

~ patyjag ~ 5 Comments

I’m in the middle of judging at county fairs with one today, and next week, judging at the Oregon State Fair. What could judging at county and state fairs have to do with writing? Let me tell you.

There is a plethora of people I work with when judging. From extension agents, volunteers, other judges, parents, and the kids. All of these give me fodder for characters in my books. I never truly learn all about the people, but I get descriptions, sometimes names, and characteristics that help me flesh out main or minor characters.

There are the items I judge. Why did that person use that color, make a dog coat, raise such exotic plants, or wish they could have brought in a poisonous plant? What people make or bring (there are some fairs that have collections as exhibits) to the fair to express who they are. So many times, I look at what a person has brought in and wonder what do they do when they aren’t crafting, sewing, or cooking.

I must say, my favorite thing to judge is the writing. Whether at the county or state level. 4-H members can now enter creative writing to be judged. When I read a good story and feel excited for the child who put this effort into telling a good story. I love seeing children expressing themselves in words and ideas on paper.

There have been stories that make me laugh, ones that make me sad, and ones that tear at my heart. One year, there were a lot of stories about death. That was hard to keep reading so many stories like that. But other years I’ve read about pirates, talking animals, fairies, ghosts, and even read a few mysteries.

I love that kids are learning to express themselves with words and sharing their imaginations with others. As a child, I wrote plays that my younger brother and I acted out with our stuffed animals. In junior high, two friends and I wrote an ongoing story that we passed around, adding to it. The story was an adventure set in the mountains where we lived.

Story has been a part of my life for as long as I started learning to read over my older brother’s shoulder. Words put together in a way to make someone want to read what I write is thrilling.

I will continue to write until my brain or my hands fail me. Because it is the best way I know to convey information to people in an entertaining way.

It’s early in the month but I have a Chirp Deal coming out on August 13th. If you want to listen to the first box set of my Gabriel Hawke Novels, it will be available for $2.99 from there from 8/13 – 9/10. You can find it here: https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/gabriel-hawke-box-set-1-3-by-paty-jager

    Join Oregon State Trooper Gabriel Hawke as he performs his duties with the Fish and Wildlife Division while finding a body with a wolf collar, tracking a lost child, and hunting down a poacher in the wilderness of Wallowa County.

    Books 1-3 in the Gabriel Hawke Novels

    Oregon State Trooper Gabriel Hawke is part of the Fish and Wildlife Division in Wallowa County. He not only upholds the law but also protects the land of his ancestors.

    Murder of Ravens

    Book 1

    State Trooper Gabriel Hawke is after poachers in the Wallowa Whitman National Forest. When he comes across a body wearing a wolf tracking collar, he follows the trail of clues.

    Mouse Trail Ends

    Book 2

    Dead bodies in the wilderness. A child is missing. Oregon State Trooper Hawke is an expert tracker, but he isn’t the only one looking for the child.

    Rattlesnake Brother

    Book 3

    State Trooper Gabriel Hawke encounters a hunter with an illegal tag. The name on the tag belongs to the Wallowa County District Attorney and the man holding the tag isn’t the public defender. 

    Finding Time to Write is Hard

    ~ patyjag ~ 7 Comments

    The rest of this month, I am home 13 days! That means every one of those days I need to put my fanny in the chair and get the next Gabriel Hawke book written. Because August is going to be hit and miss to get writing done.

    I swear, each summer gets busier and busier! I was able to get more writing done when I sat all day in a swather or tractor raking hay during hay season than I do now.

    As our family grows so do the family commitments as well as I’m trying to get my books seen more by actual people. I’ve found that if someone meets a writer and sees their enthusiasm for their books, the reader is more likely to purchase the book. Then if the like that first purchase they come back for more.

    I started this month with an in-person event that I’ve not attended before. It was a Renaissance Faire (loosely). I sold 26 books over two days. All but one of the sales were to new to me readers. I’m hoping they will enjoy what they purchased and come back for more next year, as my following has done for the Sumpter Flea Market each year.

    The rest of this month I will be attending Miner’s Jubilee in Baker City, OR, to see if it will be something to do next summer, and I’m attending the Tamkaliks Powwow in Wallowa, OR. I’ve been attending this for several years to help me better see my characters and because I find it healing. The last two Mondays of the month, I’ll be judging at county fairs. That’s what makes the summer get busy for me. But I love talking to the 4-Hers and discovering their love for their projects.

    When I am home, I make myself write. I have to. My readers let me know they are impatiently waiting for the next book. I can’t let them down. I’m a people pleaser. My greatest flaw. It gets me more work than I can sometimes do, but there it is. It is who I am.

    I’m also mentoring two mystery writers and a friend who has been writing the same book for too long. I’m her weekly reminder to sit down in the chair and move the story forward, don’t keep making it perfect. That comes after the story is all out and waiting to be prettied.

    It is these mentorships that keep me from opening the internet first thing in the morning and getting words written before I look at an email or see who liked a meme on Facebook. While I coach other writers on finding time to write, finding ways to streamline their days and writing, I follow my own guidance by making sure I’m writing and moving my story forward.

    My greatest strength is that when I set my mind to something, I do it. And right now my mind is set on getting this book written this month so I can “pretty it up” next month when I’m attending a family reunion, a grandson’s wedding, judging at another county fair and state fair, and then selling my books for two days at the State Fair. Because most of those trips are on the opposite side of the state from where I live, it requires a day’s travel to and a day’s travel back. Which eats up a lot of the days in August! Half of August I’ll be away from home- 15 days to travel and attend the events.

    That is why my fanny is in my chair and I’m writing! I’m halfway through the book and should get it done in the next 13 days. Yipee!

    Authors, are you on a deadline this month, or do you give yourself slack in the summertime? If you’re a reader, how impatient do you get for the next book in a series?

    There is more to a title than the words.

    ~ patyjag ~ 2 Comments

    My line editor, who is in her thirties, said the title of my recently published book makes her laugh. I shrugged and told her the title is a gambling term. She said that makes sense because it is a book in the Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries, but it still makes her laugh.

    Crapshoot: something(as a business venture) that has an unpredictable outcome. Webster’s dictionary.

    When I came up with the storyline for book 7 in my Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series, of all the gambling terms I jotted down for titles, this term was the one that fit the best.

    I’m a writer who comes up with an idea for a murder or an idea for a situation that puts my main character into a situation that will test them. This story didn’t start out with a murder. It was to be about a missing woman from the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The woman was a friend of my main character, a disabled veteran who lost her best friend in high school.

    This story was meant to show how losing someone and not knowing why the cruelty happened could remain a constant enemy of the living. I wanted my main character to throw her whole being into finding the missing woman. And she does. But in the middle of this emotional trip, her nightmares come back and she becomes engaged. Talk about lows and highs! That is this story. A rollercoaster of ups and downs, and how the Indigenous community comes together to find their lost ones and to make themselves stronger.

    While Crapshoot may make some people snicker or laugh, it is the epitome of this story. Each time my main character thinks she knows something, other information comes up. When she tries to rely on the right people or do the right thing, something gets in her way. It’s a crapshoot whether or not they will find the missing woman. The story takes a dark turn when the missing woman’s husband is killed. Then they discover an undercover female FBI agent is missing. And “SPLAT!” another body turns up. This is a story that I enjoyed writing to bring my character both happiness and grief. It shows more of the main character and sets her up for the next book that will knock her off her axis and make her wonder if a person can truly ever really know anyone.

    So if this title makes you smile or laugh, that’s okay. Once you begin reading the book, you’ll understand the title and see the reason behind it, besides, it is a gambling term.

    CRAPSHOOT

    Book 7 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series

     A Fentanyl death.

    A missing woman.

    Dela Alvaro, head of the Spotted Pony Casino security, and Heath Seaver, a Umatilla Tribal Detective, join forces with the FBI to find Dela’s missing basket-weaving instructor and put a stop to a lethal drug flowing onto the reservation.

    The investigation turns deadly when an undercover FBI agent goes missing and the drug cartel’s girlfriend is out for Dela’s blood.

    https://books2read.com/u/3njQ7e

    In case you were wondering what gambling terms are left on my list for titles:

    The Gimmick

    Full House

    Jackpot

    Penny Ante

    Luck of the Draw

    Blue Chip

    Pesky little thing called research.

    ~ patyjag ~ 8 Comments

    When I learned about an event that is held every year in the area where I set my Gabriel Hawke novels, I decided I would write a book around that event. How hard could it be to have my character, who is a Fish and Wildlife State Trooper, become involved with finding a person or a killer during a sled dog race competition?

    Well… Let me tell you, now that I’ve been digging into the logistics, the multitude of volunteers, the less than 60 hours for the total of the 200 mile race, and that doesn’t even count the weather conditions, I’m starting to wonder if this was a good idea.

    Map of the race

    I’ve had my first interview with a person who has volunteered for this event for 20 years. She gave me some good insight into logistics and more people I will need to interview. This book won’t be ready to write for at least two more weeks as I talk to the head of technology, mushers, the race marshal, and judge.

    What had started out as a “fun idea” has now blossomed into much more of a project. I can’t even start my suspect chart or decide how someone would be murdered or missing without doing all the research. There are so many uncertainties that I can’t even begin to fathom what the motive would be.

    This is so out of the norm for what I normally do when writing a book in this series. By the time I’m ready to start writing the book, I have mulled over every aspect of the death, did the bit of research I needed and am ready to roll.

    Now I sit, watching one more video, reading one more blog, and waiting to interview people so I can start this book. The next book my fans are waiting for me to publish. But as I dabble in the research, waiting to do the interviews, I may have to start working on the next Cuddle Farm Mystery book or even the next Spotted Pony Casino Mystery book, because my hands and imagination can’t sit idle for that long.

    Depositphoto

    I’ve already learned a lot that I didn’t know. Especially, about the dogs. A good mushing dog isn’t big and thick. It’s long and lean, like a marathon runner. They have high energy and stamina. The Alaskan Husky is nothing like the Siberian Husky. The Alaskan has been bred through the centuries to be fast and tough. They have a multitude of breeds in them that make them the marathoners that they are.

    Now I need to learn more about the tracking of the participants during the race, the area where they sleep, and why someone, in a sport where you are dependent on one another to survive, would kill.