How Do You Find Your Story?

By Michael Geczi 

Authors regularly get asked the same question: “Where/how do you come up with the story?” I like responding; it helps me fine-tune the process and, hopefully, improve.

I’m a pantser. Have some planning genes, but I get bored quickly and shortchange intricate plotting. Which is not to say there isn’t some structure involved.

Anyway, not sure if I fall into the minority, majority, or some small extreme, but I spend time with my potential main character first. Each of the MCs in my “Serial Killer Anthology” approached me and said “we need to talk.” We did, often at length. I maneuvered them. They maneuvered me, which is interesting and valuable. I tried to get a sense of whether they might be playing me and whether that might bring us to a confrontation in Act Three.

Someone – maybe even multiple someones – will get killed at some point. It’s highly likely. I’m interested if we – me as the writer and my MCs – share any common thinking on that potential development and how it might play out.

The wonderful Elmore Leonard said he “loved to make up characters and gradually build a story around them,” as they essentially “auditioned in the early scenes” and sometimes ended up with a larger role. (It’s great to have a collaborator, yes?) My “Santa Monica Homicide” collection is exactly that.

Given my focus is psychological thrillers, this first meeting is enlightening and an adventure.

Do they have a fault line that I can use? Is it obvious and already there? Or do I have to manufacture it or draw it in and, even there, will it be credible?

Do I find this person interesting? Will I fall in love with them be able to “disappear” them or turn them into a hero at some point (because I haven’t the slightest idea at this early stage).

And then there’s always the unknown: is this character capable of surprising me later, as in “two-thirds in will he or she still be the right fit for the scene I have planned for that day?”

These early characters tend to be female, at least at the beginning. That may not continue, however. Why? More interesting, more flexible, more resourceful.

Good enough for me if it’s also good enough for Richard Ford, who calls characters “unfixed, changeable and provisional … I can change them at will, and do.”

They tend to be a familiar face from a previous book. I know them, but not everything. Seems like an opportunity to explore, and what could be better than that?

I wonder what they have been up to – whether it’s interesting or just the passage of time – and would it be credible or logical for them to play a major role in a new adventure.

Admission: this is the point where I start to get concerned about “putting the same people through a similar adventure as last time” and start to create plot scenarios in my head.

·       The victim becoming the offender.

·       The unlikeable protagonist and the likeable antagonist.

·       The extraneous character who inserts herself into the mystery.

·       The faulty memory that shapes an entire life.

·       The role of revenge and how it can play out differently.

·       Endings that catch the bad guy, or endings that surface the motivation.

·       Experiment with structure and try something new. (Check my latest, “Damaged.”)

And then I consider locations, and how they could function in different locales. Los Angeles is not New York, and neither are Cape Cod. Location significantly impact what they encounter, how they act, how they perceive others, and how they achieve or fail in their personal arc.

Dennis Lehane says, “Location is crucial to good writing. A strong sense of place fixes the action in the reader's mind ... without that ... it doesn't matter how strong your characters are.”

Which brings me to that other regular query authors encounter: “How many draft/rewrites/edits do you do?” My answer is always “as many as it takes to know – really know – that I’ve created the best story I can.”

It’s done when it’s done. I know when it is. I know when it isn’t.

Psychological thrillers offer endless opportunities to tell complex stories and enjoy myself in the process. I can break rules, twist tropes, create wonderful and hateful characters who interest me (and I feel I know), and generally skirt around violence without ever describing it in detail.

I invite you to check out my work.

***

Michael Geczi is the author of ten books, including the five-book “The Serial Killer Anthology,” the two-book “Revenge, Unhinged Series,” and the stand-alone novels, “Equinox,” and “Damaged.” He also wrote an investment-advice book earlier in his career. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Nothing bad can happen in your hometown…right?

 By Sarah P. Blanchard

My second novel, Grabtown, was published October 15, 2025. It’s a multi-generational small-town thriller, structured as a book-within-a-book that follows an old cold-case murder set within a contemporary timeline.

 The story opens in the present with a vignette portraying three young girls confined in a cargo container, traveling to an unknown destination. The focus then shifts to a seemingly unrelated story, following two adult twins, Cassie and Ana, after the death of their mother.

 As Cassie and Ana begin clearing their mother’s house after her death, they find an unpublished novel from 1985, written by their mom’s best friend, that tells of sexual trauma, abuse, arson, and a 40-year-old unsolved murder—and their mother is a key character in the story.

 The twins aren’t sure whether to burn it or read it. Is it fiction, or confession?

 They must navigate their own troubled relationship as they try to figure out why their mother left this story for them—and also why Cassie’s husband is now desperate to keep them from digging further into the past.  

 The story-within-a-story weaves together two timelines and tackles difficult topics with a “tactful approach [that] exposes a sad reality with understanding and compassion.” (Reviewer Lorraine Cobcroft, Reedsy).

 Grabtown has an interesting background. I first wrote the 1985 part of the story about 35 years ago, and came close to having it traditionally published back then as a stand-alone mystery. That didn’t happen, the manuscript went into a box, and I mostly forgot about it. Two years ago, I found it, read it, concluded it was rubbish, and nearly tossed it. Then I reconsidered and gave it a second chance because, although it was badly out of date and not very well-written, the core of the story about abuse and betrayal is, sadly, still very relevant today.

 So, about 25 percent of that old novel became the basis for the 1985 timeline in Grabtown.

 Full disclosure: There is no abandoned village in Connecticut called Grabtown.  I borrowed the name and origin story from the place where the actor Ava Gardner grew up, a poverty-stricken town close to where I lived for ten years in North Carolina. I liked the double meaning of the word, with its sinister overtones.

 When readers ask, “Do you follow the classic advice to ‘write what you know’?” I usually say, “sort of.” Because no, I’ve never killed anyone, or committed arson, or had to escape a dangerous spouse. (Though I do know people who have done those things.) Both of the storylines, old and new, are fiction, but with elements of fact woven in. What I’m always aiming for is truth, carried by a fictional plot that will bring the truth home in a wrapped-up way that real life usually doesn’t do. 

In my novel, Grabtown is an abandoned village just outside a fictional, colonial-era mill town I’ve called Winslow, which looks remarkably like the very real town of Putnam, Connecticut, where I live. I’ve included several Easter eggs—personal-history references and place names—especially in the old timeline. Yes, I worked in the 1970s as a news reporter at the local radio station, and I was a volunteer firefighter for a couple of years. I once owned a four-ten shotgun like the one in the story, and I’m very familiar with the farming community here. The state police barracks in Danielson is real. There’s a footbridge over the river—though not right over the falls—and a very nice café across the street from the old theater.

 In my writing, I’m drawn to flawed, compassionate characters who believe they must battle their demons alone, and desperately conflicted antagonists who feel they have nothing to lose. Then I create a challenging situation, require my characters to make difficult choices based on imperfect information, and see what happens. Just like life, right? Except life doesn’t always bring a satisfying conclusion. And I’ve found that readers want their stories to first keep them on their toes, and then bring some form of justice at the end. And that’s what all good mysteries and thrillers should deliver, right?  Justice.

 A BookLife reviewer commented on the importance of creating this tension that leads to a final sense of justice. “The novel’s greatest strength lies in Blanchard’s deft control of mood and tone. Gothic motifs and haunting imagery lend the book an atmosphere of constant unease, right up to the final page. Yet it never overshadows the emotional force of Cassie’s discoveries, nor the sharper social commentary on the silences small towns demand. In the end, Grabtown is a story about refusing the inheritance of secrets and cycles of harm—and mustering the courage it takes to rise above them.”

Follow Sarah at:

www.Sarahpblanchard.com

Facebook  sarah.p.blanchard.author

insta @sarahpblanchard

tiktok @sarah_p_b_author

Bluesky  sarahpblanchard.bsky.social

 

Random Thoughts by Nancy L. Eady

1) The best anti-rain talisman known to man is the umbrella you remember to take to your office.  The best rain talisman known to man is the umbrella you forget in your car. 

2) If your browser history would make you the top suspect if your spouse died suspiciously, you probably write mysteries.  If you don’t write mysteries, your spouse should worry.

3) Free tip: 95% of computer problems can be solved by unplugging the computer and rebooting it. Caveat: Call in the professionals for the remaining 5%.  Fact of Life:  If the computer displays the black screen of death, it’s dead, Jim. 

4) Do you realize that modern civilization is almost totally dependent on the health of a handful of orbiting satellites? If you don’t, think back to the last time your cell phone service or internet went out.

5) If your first thought on passing a nook or a cranny is what a great place it would be to stash a body, weapon or assailant, you are either a mystery writer or a contract killer. 

6) Never let the office copier know you are working on a deadline. 

7) The worst typographical error that you don’t catch will be on the first page of the document in a prominent position. 

8) Important tip in planning a murder: Do not list the name of the person you intend to kill in the contacts on your phone under “sacrifice” or “victim.”  (True story.)

9) Home is not a place. Home is people. 

10) It is impossible to proofread your own work with 100% accuracy. 

11) Age is just a number. I know this because my joints have counted every single year. 

12) God has a sense of humor. Ask the young elementary teacher who prayed for patience. The next day? A new student enrolled in her class. Her name was Patience. (True story). 

13) You always find the thing that you lost in the last place that you look.

14) Writing is hard work. It requires time and dedication. While writing, I am not free to discuss homework, our plans for next weekend, what to watch on TV or whose turn it is to walk the dog or take out the trash. I may not even hear the non-writer the first three times he or she speaks.

15) To be fair, if I’m reading a good book, I won’t hear the non-reader the first three times he or she speaks, either. 

What random thoughts are running through your head today? 

Plotting Murder is Easy; Naming Characters is Hard by Connie Berry

  

DO YOUR MANUSCRIPTS EVER LOOK LIKE THIS?

It was late on Tuesday night when she walked into the police station at Dempsey and High. Her white hair was in rollers, and she wore a pink chenille robe and flip-flops. “I just killed a man.”

                        The sergeant on duty stared at her in disbelief. “Who are you?”

                        “My name is [insert later—haven’t decided yet].”

BRINGING INK TO LIFE IS ONE OF THE JOYS OF WRITING

I love this quote from The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield:

Do you know the feeling when you start reading a new book before the membrane of the last one has had time to close behind you? You leave the previous book with…the characters caught in the fibres of your clothes, and when you open the new book, they are still with you.       

Isn’t this what we want to create? We want our characters to be so memorable, so compelling that they get caught in the minds and hearts of our readers. That’s why names are powerful.

GIVING A CHARACTER A NAME HELPS READERS REMEMBER THEM

Truthfully, not every character deserves a name. Some characters are peripheral—waitresses, neighbors, doctors, librarians, the mail carrier, the secretary. They exist in the world of the novel but only for a moment. They walk onstage, deliver their lines if they have them, and walk off, never to be seen again. But your important characters not only deserve a name; they deserve a name that tells the reader something about them.

FIVE TIPS FOR NAMING FICTIONAL CHARACTERS

1. Choose names that reflect who the character is.

·       Ebeneezer Scrooge (harsh, grating)

·       Scarlett O’Hara (fiery, melodramatic)

·       Huckleberry Finn (folksy)

·       Hannibal Lecter (like cannibal)

·       Forrest Gump (simple, natural)

·       Arthur Gedge (like “hedge,” a gardener)

·       Prue Goody (silly, liable to become a victim)

·       The Reverend Gideon Wainwright (a bit pompous)

2. Choose names appropriate to the character’s status and time period.

·       A scullery maid in Regency England might be Polly but not Keighley

·       A powerful executive could be Charles but not Corky

·       An academic might be Catherine but not Kandy

·       A dock worker in Victorian England could be Jack but not Egbert

·       A farmer in postwar Kansas might be Anders but not Adolf

An exception might be if you purposely want to mislead your readers or if a character’s inappropriate name is somehow important to the plot.

3. Don’t overuse trendy names.

I remember reading one time that the nursing homes of the future will be populated by Madisons and Brittanys, Jaydens and Noahs. Don’t date your novel by choosing names just because they are currently popular.

4. Do Google your names.

While names can’t be copyrighted, authors have been sued for libel and invasion of privacy. Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, was sued by her brother’s real-life maid, who claimed Stockett had stolen her name, likeness, and life details. In another case, Haywood Smith, author of The Red Hat Club, was sued by a former friend who claimed that a character in that book shared more than thirty similarities to her and was portrayed as a promiscuous alcoholic. Yikes.

5. Use the whole alphabet.

Don’t confuse your readers by giving characters similar names like Caroline and Christine or Edward and Edwin. We have the entire alphabet to choose from.  Some years ago, I developed a simple Character Name Template. I’m delighted to share it with you below.

        Authors, what is your best tip for naming characters?

        Do you have an all-time favorite character name? 

An Interview with Krista Davis by E. B. Davis

  

Old Town Virginia’s entertaining guru and occasional sleuth Sophie Winston – a young Martha Stewart in the making – juggles Fourth of July fireworks, a houseful of guests, and homicide in the latest Domestic Diva culinary mystery from New York Times bestselling author Krista Davis.

With a big crowd descending on her Northern Virginia home, it’s a good thing event planner Sophie Winston is an expert at entertaining. Whipping up patriotic pastries is as easy as pie for her, though meeting the man her widowed Aunt Melly just impulsively married in Las Vegas is a little more awkward. Especially when Melly’s longtime, now-heartbroken secret admirer is there too, which could lead to some fireworks.

But the house party really gets explosive when Sophie’s favorite tour guide falls victim to a killer—and evidence points to Sophie’s own father. Will DNA really incriminate her dad? And what’s the real story with her new uncle-by-marriage and the mysterious pal he’s brought along with him? Some of the secrets Sophie’s discovering are raising flags—and while the police department casts suspicion on her father, she has to declare her independence as a detective to find the real culprit, and serve justice along with her red, white, and blue cupcakes . . .

Amazon.com

 

Krista Davis’s Domestic Diva mystery series never gets old for me. It’s more like coming home to friends and family. The Diva Hosts a Murderer is the nineteenth book in the series and was released yesterday. The story takes place over the Fourth of July in Old Town Alexandria. I was glad for the heat given off in the book since it’s been a cold spring, and it made me long for the warmer days of summer, soon to come, but not soon enough!

 

Second-chance romances versus the single life seem to be a topic that Krista explores for the middle and older characters in this book. It’s an interesting topic with no one answer as the characters find. And there are a lot of characters because Sophie is hosting her family: mother, father, sister, plus an aunt with her newly-wed husband and his friend, along with two men from Sophie’s hometown of Berryville, VA, where her family still lives. With that crowd, even a domestic diva can find being the perfect hostess problematic.

 

Please welcome Krista Davis back to WWK!                      E. B. Davis

When I started to read, I thought this was the first book in which you showed Sophie’s family. But over the years/books, you must have brought them into the story. Did you?

They were in the first two books and then occasionally showed up in holiday books.

 

Does Hannah, Sophie’s sister, still live with her parents in Berryville?

 

Hannah has been living in Berryville but not with her parents. She’s been in transition, spending a lot of time in Old Town, but not with Sophie!

 

Is Sophie being nosy by wanting Hannah to account for her whereabouts in the wee hours of the morning or is she just being an older sister?

 

Sophie lets her sister be an adult and do her own thing. But when someone comes home closer to the crack of dawn, and the bars closed at 2AM, it’s natural to wonder where she has been.

 

Sophie and Hannah don’t seem to have much in common. Is Sophie the extrovert and Hanna the introvert?

 

They just have different interests. Sophie loves entertaining, after all, she’s a professional event planner. But Hannah is a computer whiz.

 

Nina’s pathologist husband is usually off testifying somewhere. Although he doesn’t stay for long, he does make an appearance. Has he been in other books before?

 

He makes his sole appearance in this book! After all, it’s a holiday so he’s finally home for a few days.

 

Why does Officer Wong dismiss Sophie’s older neighbor Dollie’s account of seeing a dead man in her house?

 

Dollie has a record of calling the police to report sounds like creaking floors and footsteps in the night. But there’s never anyone there and no sign of a break-in, so the police think she has an active imagination. Her family has owned that house for generations, so there’s always the possibility of ghosts or just a creaky old house.

 

Are the Masonic Temple and the Apothecary Museum real and open to the public?

 

Yes, they are! Old Town Alexandria is often on lists of great places to visit. Good food, lovely old architecture, and loads of history. One of the popular restaurants was a hospital during the Civil War. And for history buffs, Alexandria found itself between the South and the North, so it was packed with spies!

 

Why did Natasha throw a 1820s costume party?

 

The 250^th celebration of the Declaration of Independence was coming up. Natasha was all in with a huge party. She asked guests to dress in the type of clothes people would have been wearing at the time. Even the menus were based on a typical dinner in the 1820s. Natasha always has a scheme in mind and this is another one of them.

 

What was the story about burying politicians in unmarked graves so their enemies wouldn’t find them and then the locations of the unmarked graves were lost?

 

The most notable story (true or false, it’s a fun legend) was about John C. Calhoun from Charleston, who was the Vice President of the United States twice. The story goes that he died in Washington DC and was buried there. But due to the Civil War, they feared his foes would disturb his grave, so in the dark of night they dug him up and moved him to an unmarked grave. His wife then asked that he be moved to Charleston, but apparently there was some confusion about which grave he was actually occupying at that point. Eventually, they dug him up again and moved him to Charleston. But he had been born upstate, not in Charleston, so he was buried across the street from the church, in the Stranger’s Graveyard for visitors and non-locals, not in the proper cemetery. Eventually, he was dug up again and finally moved to the St. Philip’s Episcopal Church cemetery.

 

It's a story that a lot of tour guides enjoy embellishing.

 

After her father is arrested for murder due to his DNA found on the victim, Sophie researches DNA evidence and finds that it may not be conclusive evidence since DNA could be spread by mere contact and not necessarily during the time of death. Since the victim was Sophie’s family’s tour guide, they were on his bus and in his proximity for several days. Would the police arrest him on just that evidence?

 

They did, based on the DNA. There is a difference between DNA from skin cells and DNA from blood, which yields a higher quantity and quality.

 

What is a Dunlap Broadside? Why do they call them that?

 

Remember that we’re talking about 1776 when there were no computers or copy machines that could copy papers in a minute. So a Philadelphia printer named John Dunlap churned out 200 copies overnight. They were the very first broadly distributed copies of the United States Declaration of Independence, now referred to as Dunlap Broadsides. Today, there are only 26 known copies still in existence. But every once in a while, one turns up in a basement or box of old papers. The last auction of one brought in $8.14 million.

 

What’s the difference among a buckle, crisp, cobbler, crumble, and a betty?

 

That’s a tough question. They are all baked desserts with fruit. According to the Farmer’s Almanac and St. Louis Magazine, these are the distinctions. https://bit.ly/42Iwc0H and https://bit.ly/4ulsGFG

 

A buckle has a streusel topping. The berries are folded into the batter.

A crisp usually has oats in it. Often confused with a crumble. It has a crumb topping and sometimes nuts.

 

A cobbler has a biscuit topping, sweetened fruit, and spices.

 

A crumble never contains oats, unless it does. Major confusion on this issue!

 

A Betty is like a crisp but has no oats. There are crumbs inside as well as on top in a buttery crumb topping.

 

Whew! Still confused? Me, too. LOL! They’re all delicious!

 

What’s next for Sophie?

 

Hmm. I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, but a lot happens in the next book! Stay tuned!

Polish to Perfection by Martha Reed

“Trim the words but keep the story.” – Martha Reed

This month I enjoyed a challenging writing craft exercise. Answering an open call for a new crime fiction anthology, I decided to take a break from my current novel-length WIP (work-in-progress) and try my hand at quickly drafting something shorter.

The anthology’s stated eligibility guidelines included a maximum threshold of five thousand words. Usually, my short fiction drafts run short, and then I flesh out the story as needed from there. Imagine my surprise when I sat back and discovered that my new draft manuscript clocked in at six thousand words.

Yikes! And this was my short story in its roughest form. Somehow I needed to delete almost twenty percent.

I found the idea of deleting one thousand words daunting. How did I ‘kill my darlings’ and do it?

1.     The setting and the reason the characters were gathering was to attend a family wedding. The introductory paragraphs included a description of the protagonist’s trip to get to the wedding and what she saw as she approached the venue. First, I deleted all of that travel description. As the writer, I needed to know the wedding details, but it was unnecessary information for the reader. With this ruthless edit, I dropped the reader straight into the action. Then, in a final desperate act, I deleted the bride. (Never fear, I sent Callie to Aruba to enjoy her honeymoon.)

2.     Next, I deleted other unnecessary characters (apologies to Benton Overbeck and the Big House staff members). I needed to shut my eyes to make this edit because I adored reading about these funny and oddball people. I had spent hours having fun imagining them and the trouble they were getting into, especially the hired bagpiper who got caught stealing Junior Senior’s Cuban cigars. In the end, calling the wedding venue ‘a madhouse’ was all the description that the story really needed.

3.     I ruthlessly deleted descriptive adjectives. In the original manuscript I created a ‘cozy reading nook’ which included a tasseled silk-upholstered chaise longue plush with needlepointed pillows, a marble fireplace filled with sweet pine logs ready for a rare but chilly Florida winter night, and a Tiffany stained-glass floor lamp. I kept the chaise longue because my protagonist needed something to sit on, but bye-bye Italian marble fireplace and the Tiffany dragonfly lamp.

In the end, after too many delicious pots of coffee and three intensely satisfying days of joyful editing, I hit the mark at 4,998 words.

How about you? Share your editing tricks for trimming those pesky and unnecessary words.

And, in case you’re interested, the Mary Roberts Rinehart Pittsburgh Sisters in Crime is hosting an open call for short crime fiction for “Gold Bridges, Dark Rivers,” our new anthology. Visit our website www.pghsinc.com for the eligibility guidelines, sharpen your pencils, and good luck!

Updates by Nancy L. Eady

One of the exciting things about a holiday weekend is snatching a couple of hours all to myself to write. Alas, this morning, as I be-bopped into my temporary office (otherwise known as the den sofa), my plans came to a screeching halt when I received the dreaded “update” message. My iPad recently updated itself, and Microsoft, not to be outdone, pushed one out at me as well. 

How software companies update my devices has changed over the years. Way back at the beginning, when computers ran off of DOS and we stored data on 5.25 - inch floppy disks, updates didn’t happen automatically. The internet did not exist. If you wanted the newest version of a program, you had to go to a store and buy it. The wisdom of the day was that you never wanted to buy a program when it was just released. You needed to wait at least six months to give the programmer a chance to discover, and fix, all the bugs in the program. Over time, the programs got bigger, which meant that the medium storing them had to hold more data. At first, the programs were on large floppy discs; then the vendors moved to smaller, plastic, solid “floppy” discs; then CDs. 

As the internet continued to grow, programs were sold online. The first Windows version sold online was Windows 8. We could still avoid updates by refusing to buy the newest program but the writing was on the wall. Even once updates and security patches started being sent over the internet, we could choose whether we wanted to update immediately or be reminded later. I guess too many of us asked to be reminded later and never got around to updating, because we no longer get to choose. 

Now, updates begin automatically when you start or turn off your computer. If it happens when I turn off my computer, and I am trying to close out a laptop to head home, I receive dire warnings inferring that I will destroy the laptop and most of the Eastern Seaboard if I dare to turn it off without letting those updates get installed. One day, though, I was trying to head home, and I did the unthinkable—turned the computer off in the middle of the update. The Eastern Seaboard and my laptop survived. Windows got a little snippy about forcing the update on me the next time I opened the laptop.

Given my personal history, I understand why software manufacturers have had to ramp up their methods of getting consumers to upgrade. Without their coercion, I would still use Windows 98 and save data on floppy discs. But I wish they’d avoid such updates on holiday weekends. 

What’s the longest amount of time you’ve ever been help up by a Windows or other update? Am I the only person who disabled the “new” Adobe Acrobat look to go back to “classic” as soon as that update finished? Mac users, does Apple manage your updates the way they do the iPads? 

 

Staycation Writing Retreat by Annette Dashofy

As I’m writing this, my husband has just left for a four-day fishing trip with his buddy. That leaves me at home with Kensi Kitty, who some of you know was very sick a few weeks back but is doing great now. 

This means I have four days with no meals to prep, no questions to answer, and no “Can you give me a hand for a minute” requests. Yes, I do have to eat, but I have a curbside grocery pickup this afternoon, consisting of microwave meals. 

My to-do list, beyond the grocery run, is simple: WRITE. 

I’m currently at 59,000 words of what I unaffectionately call my Frankenbook. It’s basically a hot mess. I’ve written, rewritten, copied and pasted scenes from one chapter to another, and slashed large chunks completely. Okay, not completely. I have a separate “clip file” where I stash those cut pages, just in case. I have high hopes of adding several thousand more words before my husband rolls back into the driveway. 

I’m not giving a solid wordcount goal because lately the Universe has been looking at my plans, only to laugh hysterically and say, “Hold my beer.” I will be happy with what I get. 

Some writers (myself included) go on writing retreats away from home. I’ve attended group retreats with my Sisters in Crime chapter at various rental houses. 

Pgh SinC Retreat House

I’ve also driven nearly nine hours to join writing friends, including the late Ramona Long, at a spiritual retreat center run by nuns, who didn’t seem to mind that crime writers were doing fictional dastardly deeds while holed up on their property. 

Spiritual Retreat Center near Philadelphia

Dinner at Ramona's retreat 
with Martha Reed & Edith Maxwell

My writing nook at Ramona's retreat

One big benefit of a staycation writing retreat is no travel time and no sticker shock from filling up the gas tank to get there. Another benefit is having my personal library of research books within easy reach. 

I do miss the camaraderie of sipping wine with fellow mystery authors after a long day of torturing our characters. The only living being I can discuss plot holes with is Kensi Kitty, who frankly doesn’t care about anything but getting pets and snacks. 

By the time you read this, my husband will be home, and I’ll be doing mountains of his laundry. And hopefully, I’ll be considerably closer to the end of the Frankenbook. 

Dear readers, have you ever taken a staycation? Did you enjoy it? And fellow Writers Who Kill, have you ever attended a writing retreat, either alone, with other authors, or simply holed up in your house? Did you find it productive?   

How Fast Do You Write?

By Kait Carson

“The mind travels faster than the pen; consequently, writing becomes a question of learning to make occasional wing shots, bringing down the bird of thought as it flashes by.” — E. B. White

“There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it’s like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.” Ernest Hemingway

“Writing is easy: All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.” — Gene Fowler

I always knew I wanted to be a writer. My parents were great readers and my dad taught me to read at age 2. In his defense, teaching me to read was his best offense. He hated the Prince Valiant comics in the Sunday paper and, being possessed of curly hair, I loved the Prince’s stick-straight do. Toddlers pitch epic fits, and he turned mine into a teaching moment. Once I discovered that all those marks on the page made words, I was hooked. And I wanted to make my own marks.

By the time I turned nine, I had read Little Women and set my goal higher. I proclaimed I would be just like Jo March and write for a living. Every day after school, I would hurry home, put on the remains of my mother’s wedding dress (she had cut the train for chair covers years before, but kept the gown), pull out my fountain pens and ink, and write. I don’t remember any of the stories, but I remember lots of gigantic exclamation points.

Writing, I decided, was easy. I mean, look at all the books out there. How hard could it be? A monster stroke of luck confirmed my assessment. I wrote a letter to the editor, and the publication resulted in an offer of representation. I accepted. The poor guy never knew I was twelve when I signed the contract. What followed were sales to various teen fashion and lifestyle magazines. All that changed when I went to college. My agent passed away, and I put writing aside in the name of fun and experience.

The writing bug remained dormant until I hit middle age when it returned with a vengeance. In my memory, the only requirement for churning out stories was sitting at a typewriter. No plotting, planning, or even a topic required to unleash the flow of words. I can’t say if maturity, or computers and keyboards changed my style, but suddenly, the Gene Fowler quote made perfect sense.

Writing, I discovered, is not only hard, it’s glacial. At least my writing. I have writing friends who write ten to sixteen books every year. Good books, well-written and edited books, and since I’m writing this in 2026, I need to emphasize the books are NOT the product of AI. How can I know that? Easy. They’ve been keeping up the pace since before AI was a gleam in Silicon Valley’s eye. These authors are simply fast writers. And I envy them.

As for me, my writing speed stalls at a book every two years. At first, I blamed the day job, but that hasn’t been an issue since 2020. And I’ve taken steps to speed up the process: classes, how-to books, bullet-point outlines, detailed outlines, no outlines but shooting from the cuff. Nothing works. I putter along at the same snaillike pace.

If you’re looking for a big reveal here about how I solved my problem, you’ve come to the wrong place. I finally accepted that every writer has their own style and pace, and wishing does not change that. All of this introspection and speaking with another writer friend offered a clue to my less than snappy pace, and it’s one I’m fine with. Against all writing advice, I edit as I write and refuse to leave any chapter until it’s as polished as I can make it. Slow in the execution, but fast in the editing.

Have I gotten faster? Yes. Part of that is learning the craft, but most of it is consistency, and it’s possible that my secret sauce is working on more than one project at a time. Right now, I have two books in the works, and I get up every day looking forward to reconnecting with the characters and stories of each book. Variety is the spice of my creativity.

I will never write sixteen books in a year. Heck, I can’t type that fast!

Writers, do you stress over your production? Readers, how do you feel about slow writers?

 Kait Carson writes the Hayden Kent Mysteries, set in the Fabulous Florida Keys, and is at work on a new mystery series set in her adopted state of Maine. Her short fiction has been nationally published in the True Confessions magazines and in Woman’s World. Kait’s short story, “Gutted, Filleted, and Fried”, appeared in the Silver Falchion Award-nominated Guppy Anthology Hook, Line, and Sinker. Her nonfiction essay was included in the Agatha Award-winning book Writing the Cozy Mystery. She is a former President of the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and a current member of Sisters in Crime and Guppies.

Living Vicariously by Nancy L. Eady

Marilyn Levinson’s post yesterday about how she decides on the victims in her novels got me thinking about how I choose my characters in toto. My sleuths and their supporting cast tend to be individuals I create, although sometimes they may inherit individual traits from the people I admire, and a collection of my own and other’s insecurities, to humanize them. Some insecurities are universal—who hasn’t wished they were prettier, more handsome, had different hair, had a differently shaped body, or had a pony as a child? (Okay, I made the last one up. Neither my parents nor my husband’s parents bought either of us a pony, and we turned out okay. At least we think so.) 

I have a hit list in the back of my mind I am working through. People who harmed people I love are on it. The physician who was rude to one of my dearest friends at a particularly vulnerable time is on it, too. Anyone who I’ve seen take joy in tearing someone else down is on it. I try to obey the stricture to “turn the other cheek,” but does it count when I take vengeance on someone on paper in a fictional setting? What fun to make them villains or victims! 

Redemption can be a theme as well. I combined several high school nemeses into one character, put her through painful life experiences, and forced her to apologize to my sleuth for systematically bullying her in high school. Then I made them best friends. 

I also live vicariously through the books I read. When I’m stressed financially, as happens to all of us from time to time, it’s a relief to read novels where the main characters never have to worry about money. When I’m scared by the madness in the real world, I sink into a good book and enter a different world. When my favorite college football team is sinking into a losing season, I pick up a “Win One for the Gipper” book—Whoops!  I got carried away.  I can’t erase a bad football season with a book. I have to tough it out and hope next year is better. A character flaw on my part, I’m sure. 

The magic of being a writer comes in the ability to channel our pains, irritations, joys, rewards, and sorrows into fictional characters and send them on journeys that make our readers feel better. And if we knock off a few bad guys vicariously along the way, that’s a bonus. 

Who Will Live and Who Will Die? by Marilyn Levinson

 Until recently, I've never given much thought to how I select the murder victims in my mysteries. I don't usually go along with the popular cozy trope of killing off the character everyone loves to hate because part of maintaining suspense is keeping readers wondering who will be the first victim. But I will confess I couldn't wait to do away with my most recent murder victim because he has harmed so many innocent people.

There are many reasons why characters become homicide victims. In some of my books, the murder has occurred before page one. The first victim in Death Overdue, the first book in my Haunted Library series, died fifteen years ago, and the second victim is murdered to prevent him from announcing the killer's identity. In Giving Up the Ghost, my ghost Cameron Leeds wants Gabbie Meyerson to find out who murdered him in the previous year.

Very often a murder victim has no idea why she's been targeted. In Death on Dickens Island,  Missy Faraday's killer hears Missy asking questions about her family background and feels threatened enough to murder her. 

Jealousy is often a reason why a killer offs his or her victim. In A Murderer Among Us, Claire Weill has no idea that her killer's in love with her husband. 

Blackmailers sometimes fall prey to their victims. That's what happens to Ilana Reingold in Checked Out for Murder, the fourth Haunted Library book, when she sees the murderer kill someone and tries to blackmail her.

Lastly, some victims are simply unlucky and are murdered by accident. Which is what happens in Murder a la Christie when poor Sylvia Morris drinks the poisoned refreshment meant for someone else.

A final word: I have killed off a few characters I'd grown to love, but I never murder my sleuth or anyone close to her. 

How do you decide who will be murdered in your mysteries?