#amateursleuth – Ladies of Mystery

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

Every writer has their mantra, motto, or theme for their writing. I have a list of items I try to hit with each book I write.

The list is:

Character endures longer than plot.
Action intrigues the reader more than passive language.
Scenes excite the reader more than narration.
Dialogue interests the reader more than exposition.
Nouns & Verbs trump adjectives and adverbs.

I’m not sure where I found this years ago, but the saying has hung either from my monitor or as now, on my whiteboard plotting calendar by my desk. These five things are what I strive for in each book or short story I write.

I want the readers to love my characters whether they are the main characters or the secondary characters. Because if I don’t care or like them why would a reader want to read about them? From the reactions of my readers when I ended the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series, I believe they fell in love with my characters. Which makes me happy and I try to do the same with all my other series characters.

As for action, I like stories that aren’t bogged down with descriptions. I want to know what the characters are doing and have their actions and reactions move the story forward. I like books that carry me along on the ride without distracting me with mundane things.

Sometimes I wonder if I put too many breaks in some chapters, but they are usually ones where the characters are jumping from scene to scene as they move forward to question someone or look for a clue. All the scenes whether they are long or short keep the story moving.

I prefer to write dialogue that informs the reader either about the past, present, or to show the character’s character. I try not to use too much narrative to inform the reader. It can end up feeling like an info dump. As much as I can, I try to keep information in the dialog and not do any dumps.

There have been times after I’ve written and published a book, I think, “Man, I should have described this or that better.” Then I get a review with how well I showed or revealed an area or place and I think, “I guess I did okay.” I am not a wordy person in real life. I don’t care for small talk and I like to get to the point of things. I’ve found I’m the same way with my writing. I use words sparingly and make sure the words I do use inform without having to add three words for the one. I do use some adjectives but only if they are necessary to show what I want to show, not to flower up the pages. When I read a book with lots of description, I’ll jump over those paragraphs to get to the action.

The books I like to read are ones with strong likeable characters and action that moves the story forward. That shouldn’t come as a surprise after reading this post. If a character grabs me in the first chapter, I will finish the book unless the story is slogging. I came across a book recently that the premise intrigued me but I couldn’t finish the book because I didn’t like the main character and some of the things the character did seemed dumb. I put a book like this down and start another one. I have lots of books on my TBR pile and limited time to read.

So when I read for pleasure, I want the book to make me think about it even when I’m not reading. That is a good book.

What is a good book you’ve read lately?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you about my newest release.

Down and Dirty

Book 6 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries

The Spotted Pony Casino’s head of security, Dela Alvaro, receives a late-night call that takes her to a deserted walkway along the river. After confronting a woman babbling about love and bodies being buried, Dela stumbles over a corpse and discovers her knife covered in the victim’s blood.

Dela and Tribal Detective Heath Seaver find themselves working with FBI Special Agent Quinn Pierce when the murder seems to be connected to a drug cartel. Dela nearly becomes the victim of a hit-and-run while someone is trying to frame her for the murder.

Proving her innocence has Dela interviewing past acquaintances and members of a drug cartel, all while trying to decide if the woman she met the night of the murder is truly crazy … or the killer.

Universal buy link: https://books2read.com/u/bagQ66