Gabriel Hawke Mystery – Page 4

Do you pick a book by the title? Do you want the title to tell you the genre of the story or what the story will be about? How about a mystery? Do you want the title to be a clue to the mystery?

These are all questions I’ve asked myself as I picked the title for the first book of my new mystery series coming out in 2019. I thought I had the perfect title… I loved it! Thought it was the essence of the story, more or less. Until I finished the book and read through it again. I felt like the title was lacking.

I loved the title. I used it as part of my trajectory in the story, or so I thought.

I sent the book to a beta reader. When he finished reading and sent me back his thoughts on the story, I told him the new title that popped into my head after I’d sent the manuscript off to him. What did he think? He said the new title fit the story better without me even explaining why I picked it.

BooYah! I now have a new title- Murder of Ravens: A Gabriel Hawke Novel.

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Because my character is a game warden I want to have animals in all the titles. I have four more story ideas penciled out and went through my list of animal names I compiled from Native American Myths and Legends books and hope my titles will fit the books I write. If they don’t, I’ll be changing them as I did with the first book.

Another clever, I think, item to this new series, is whatever animal is in the title will be somewhere on the book cover. In some cases the size of the animal may make it a good contest to have readers find the animal. 😉

So as I asked in the beginning- Do you pick a book by the title? Do you want the title to tell you the genre of the story or what the story will be about? How about a mystery? Do you want the title to be a clue to the mystery?

Funny kids I feel like the little kid who has a secret and can barely keep from blurting it out. And I don’t really have a secret, but I do have three new Shandra Higheagle books that have me bouncing in my desk chair as I think about all the possibilities in the stories. And I will start writing the new mystery series this year. By mid-year I’ll start revealing bits and pieces about Gabriel Hawke, my new sleuth.

While I started out 2018 with a head cold given to me by my adorable grandchildren, I am beginning to pick up steam and getting more and more things accomplished in a day. That is what makes me happy and excited. The more I can accomplish, the more I can show my readers what I’ve been working on.

I know readers get excited about the next book in a series that they love, but writers, do you also get excited about revealing a new book to readers? I’m giddy thinking about the book I’m working on, Artful Murder, and the other Shandra books that will come out this year, and I’m giddy knowing I get to start a journey with a new character.

Starting a new series and getting to know the main character(s) is like dating or getting to know someone who will ultimately become your friend. First you see their physical qualities. Do they have flaws? Does that make you nervous or curious? Then you get to learn their personality. Is it flat, humorous, dark? Are they someone you think you could get along with? Do you want to spend time with them or do you want to learn more about them but keep them at a distance? How do they treat others? Animals? Do you like their voice or does it grate on you? What do they think of the subjects you are concerned about?

These are all the questions I’ll be asking my new character as I slowly build him in my mind and get ready to start his first book. But the fun part will be introducing him in book twelve of the Shandra Higheagle Mysteries. It will be interesting to see what Shandra thinks of Hawk and how they work together to solve the death of a hiker.

An FYI, you can now purchase Murderous Secrets, book 4 in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery Series in audio book at these audiobook outlets.

Audible – Amazon – Apple – Nook

And these:

audio book vendors

If you listen to audio books and put up reviews, leave your email in the comments section, and I’ll send you a code to download Murderous Secrets from Audible US or UK.

SH Mug Art (2)