Some Thoughts About Murderers by Marilyn Levinson

As a mystery author, I get to decide which of my characters will be murdered. I also get to decide who will do the murdering. The big payoff for mystery readers is discovering the killer's identity at the end of the novel. Equally intriguing is learning why he or she committed the crime.

Murderers in traditional and cozy mysteries are not always the most obvious characters. While some are inherently malevolent and carefully plot their misdeeds, others are ordinary except for the reason why they see killing someone as the necessary solution to their problem. 

Why does a character murder? A simple list might be reduced to revenge, jealousy, money, and the fear of being exposed. But unless the murderer's a serial killer or a hired assassin, his or her reason for killing is personal and driven by strong emotions, misguided information, or despair. Or possibly madness. Then there are characters who become murderers through so-called accidents and explain: "I didn't mean to hit him so hard," or "I only meant to teach him a lesson."

Sometimes a character murders for reasons that have roots in the past. The impact of an earlier murder affects the present and another victim is murdered. This occurs in Death Overdue and Checked Out for Murder in my Haunted Library series as well as in Death on Dickens Island.

I make sure that my murderers play an active role in my mysteries. I once stopped reading a well-known author because in one of her books the murderer rarely appeared. Not fair. Readers should have the opportunity to get to know the murderer as well as he reveals himself to the other characters. And he'd better have a darn good reason for killing.

How do you decide who your murderers will be?  

Some Thoughts on Naming My Fictional Characters by Marilyn Levinson

While deciding on the best names for your characters is not as critical as naming your children and your pets, it does require a considerable amount of thought. After all, you will be living with these characters for quite some time, especially if you write series. I spend the most time choosing my protagonist's name for obvious reasons. My sleuths are always female. I like to give them names I consider appealing and not very common, along with a nickname. In Giving Up the Ghost, my sleuth Gabriela Meyerson is called Gabbie. In Murder a la Christie, Lexie's official name is Alexa. My sleuth in Death on Dickens Island is Cordelia Dickens, though everyone calls her Delia.

However, not all my characters are happy with their given names. Carrie Singleton, in the Haunted Library series, officially changed her name to Carrie because she always hated Carolinda, which she was given at birth.

The names of my other characters usually come to mind as they're about to become  active members of the cast. I do my best to vary them, with regard to the starting letter and number of syllables. Masculine names tend to be shorter, and so I choose names with different vowel sounds. Readers are less likely to confuse two characters named Mike and Brett, while having characters named Fred and Ted in the same book might be a problem for some. But names can get mixed up even in an author's mind. I am grateful to the editor who noticed that I'd changed the murderer's name in the middle of the novel.

Recently, I've been having fun with names in a different way entirely. In the book I'm currently writing, Delia and her son Connor adopt two kittens that are littermates. I decided to call them Romeo and Juliet after my own kitties. And when Connor and his friend Trevor acquire girlfriends, I named them after my granddaughter and her "sister." Boy, was Livvie excited when I told her about that!

We authors have total control when it comes to naming our characters. What do you take into consideration when you name yours?

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?

Not Everyone's Gonna Love Your Book by Marilyn Levinson

Releasing the first book in a new series gives one a new perspective on things. While I confess I don't get to read all my reviews, I did so as soon as the ARCS of Death on Dickens Island were released. I breathed a sigh of relief upon receiving some wonderful reviews from names I recognized. These were reviewers and readers who loved my previous books. They "got" me. I was happy that they liked the setting of Dickens Island and its residents as they ventured out on adventures amid murder and mayhem.

However, a few reviews included a different type of comment. "There's too much involving interpersonal relationships." Well, yeah, I thought. One of my main writerly themes is exploring my characters' relationships with one another. Someone else wrote "Every character has a problem." Sure, every character has an issue he or she needs to resolve. Other comments reflected that since Death on Dickens Island was the first book in the series, it was understandable that the author took the time to present the  characters in their setting. After all, starting a new series means creating a new fictional world for both writer and reader.

Why should everyone love our books? is a question I think a first-time published author needs to keep in mind. After all, we, the reading public have varied tastes. What I find hilarious, someone might find silly. I've read some popular books and wondered how they ever made The New York Times Best Sellers list. But obviously enough readers had enjoyed them and joined the word of mouth band wagon that put them there. 

I don't expect to become a household name, but I'm more than content that a number of readers love my books. They write to tell me so and post wonderful reviews. This spurs me on to continue writing, despite sometimes thinking I can never write another book. But that's a discussion for another day.

Edits and Errors by Marilyn Levinson

The other day I received an email from a reader. I was pleased to learn that she'd started reading my Haunted Library series and was enjoying it. However, she also informed me that in one of the books she noticed three instances of a name change. Not good! I wrote back and said I was happy she was enjoying the series, and I apologized for the errors in the text.

How did these errors slip by and appear on the printed page? My books are carefully edited. I go over a manuscript three times before sending it to my editor. She goes over it, makes her comments and observations. I review the manuscript and make the necessary edits and additions. Then a copy editor combs through the manuscript, now in book format, editing and questioning. Once again, I go over the manuscript--sometimes twice--addressing these issues. These are put into the text,  and the manuscript is once again sent to me to read and make any final changes.

 Yes, my books are carefully edited. That said, the occasional error still may appear on the printed page despite the many eyes and read-throughs. There are a few reasons why this may occur. For one thing, our brains have a way of filling in a word that might have been omitted. Also, it is the unusual author or editor who can read through a manuscript of over 80,000 words in one sitting. Which is why he or she might not notice when a detail mentioned early on in the story is somewhat different when it's mentioned later on.

 Having just finished going through my copy editor's edits of Death on Dickens Island, I am grateful that she's caught some  name changes and has pointed out contradicting statements. But I also know that despite our very best efforts, there will be a few errors that will slip by. For these, I apologize in advance, and I promise to be even more vigilant as I write and eventually edit the next book in my new series.

 

Getting Edited, An Inside View by Marilyn Levinson

Sending a completed manuscript to my editor is always a joyful occasion. Finally, my novel is finished and after going over it three times, I know it's in pretty good shape. After writing twenty-three books, I'm attuned to the pacing, my characters' development, the complexities of the mystery, and other aspects of the plot. Still, I'm handing over the novel I've been working on for nearly a year. This action renders me completely vulnerable as, with open arms, I tell my editor "Have at it. Edit me, criticize and correct me so this book will appear before readers in its best possible form.

A month ago, I sent my editor Death On Dickens Island, the first book in my new series. Creating all new characters in a setting I'd invented required a good deal of work, much more than writing a second or any follow up novel in a series where everything is already established. I was used to being edited "lightly"-- asked to add a line or two to explain a character's action or to delete lines where I repeated myself -- but this book, which my editor and both wanted to get just right, required more.

She asked me to elaborate a bit regarding the impact my sleuth's short marriage had on her and why she'd left her son in her parents' care for twelve years. I was going to bring in my sleuth's best friend from high school in the next book, but my editor thought it best to bring her in earlier, and so I did. There was an issue regarding a legal matter I agreed it best to change, and to make a character a suspect, at least for a short time.

The problem that took the most time to correct was fixing the sequence of days. For some reason, while writing I lose track of the days of the week and I'd managed to skip a few. To resolve this problem, I ended up extending the time frame another week. But that was fine, and it gave me the opportunity to include my sleuth's outing with her old friend. I'm ashamed to admit that this is the second book I've written where I lost track of the days and had to rework them. My editor assured me that I'm not the only author to do this. At least I didn't change any character's name midbook as I've done once or twice in the past.

I addressed all the points my editor had questioned and felt needed attention, and they passed with flying colors. Now I await the Copy Editor's corrections, which center around comma usage and words I'm never certain if they're a compound word, two words, or hyphenated words. But that's some weeks off. Getting edited is a vital step in the process. It helps to assure that readers will receive my novel in its best possible form.

Starting a New Series by Marilyn Levinson

Recently, Booked on Murder, the eighth book in my Haunted Library series was released. I knew this would be the final book in the series because now my sleuth's story arc was complete. Carrie Singleton had evolved from a lost, unsettled young woman to become a responsible, involved and established member of her community surrounded by people who loved her. Many readers were sad that I'd ended the series, and I felt a few pangs myself. I would miss writing about Carrie and Dylan and their friends in Clover Ridge, but it was time to move on. I looked forward to embarking on my new adventure.

Ever since I visited San Juan Island in Washington State a few years ago, I've been planning to set my next mystery series on an island. But my island would be smaller and closer to home, peopled with dissenting family members who loved one another but had different plans for the future of the island. And so I created Dickens Island and plonked it down in the middle of the  Long Island Sound between Long Island and Connecticut. Dickens Island is its own small world, yet a ferry connects it to Long Island, and Manhattan is but an hour's drive away.

Starting a new series requires a good deal of preparation. Details must be carefully thought out because setting and characters play important roles throughout the series. I spent a good deal of time creating the island itself--its topography, the layout of streets and important sites, houses and the village. Of most importance is my cast of characters, especially my sleuth and those closest to her. I am lucky that my characters appear to me fully formed. I love exploring their relationships, their secrets and their growth throughout the series.

My sleuth, Delia Dickens, is a divorced woman approaching forty. For the past twelve years she was living and working in Manhattan while her parents raised Connor, her fifteen-year-old son, on the island. Now Delia is back on the island again, living with Connor in the Victorian home her grandmother has left her. Her father has asked Delia to revitalize the Dickens General Store the family owns as he tries to stall every update she proposes. 

Delia's Uncle Brad, her father's brother, also has difficulty making changes to the island. As president of the town council, he has balked at establishing a ferry line to Connecticut and creating new housing. This infuriates his wife Reenie, the island's manager. She is tired of Brad shooting down all her suggestions to bring in more residents and attractions to the island. What's more, Reenie is convinced that Brad's having an affair with Missy, a new addition to the council. And when Missy's found murdered, Delia finds herself obliged to prove that neither her aunt nor her uncle is the killer.

Aside from the murders, there are many elements that go into creating a cozy series. When Delia comes home from the general store, the pile of rags she sees on the porch turns out to be a snoozing bearded collie that followed her son home. Where did the dog come from? The mystery is easily solved, and the dog, renamed Riley, remains with Delia and Connor.

 A secret room, the ghost of Delia's grandmother, a hidden journal, a pirate's treasure, a date with the man who broke Delia's heart twenty years earlier are a few more components of Death on Dickens Island, the first book in the series. Many more will appear in future books as the series continues.

How do you go about planning a new mystery series? What is the first element you create?

Writing More than One Series At a Time by Marilyn Levinson

For years I marveled at how so many authors I know managed to write more than one series at a time. I have friends who write three cozy series. How? I wondered. Don't you get your plots mixed up? Call your characters by the wrong name? A few told me they finished one book, then wrote another. But some, because of their contracts, ended up writing at least two books simultaneously. How did they do it?

Eventually, I found out when I was in a similar situation. My agent, now deceased, got me a four-book deal for a middle-grade series. The first book had been published; the second book was written and about to be released when the publisher went kaput. I'd even written two-thirds of the third book, Rufus and the Dark Side of Magic, so I hadn't much farther to go.

Meanwhile, I'd been writing an 80,000 plus word cozy mystery every year. This year I was writing the first book in a brand-new series that required a good deal of planning. I had to finish Rufus and the Dark Side of Magic. Now I had two books due within a few months of each other. I felt a surge of panic. What to do? What to do?

First off, I went over my Rufus book, made sure it was in good shape, and plotted out the final third which includes a lot of conflict. Then I concentrated on Death on Dickens Island, my first Dickens Island mystery, and its complications. I told myself I'd try to write a little more than I had been each day. But as the due date for my Rufus book was fast approaching, I now had to write pages for both books. I wasn't sure if I could manage this.

I reminded myself that I read and listened to several books at the same time. I'd been doing this for years and never got the stories mixed up. Hopefully, this ability would work when I wrote my books as well. I discovered that going over the pages I'd written the day before helped get me into my work In progress. When I was writing my cozy, I was in the head of a thirty-eight year old divorcée who often didn't know how to deal with her teenaged son because she'd left him in the care of her parents for twelve years. Next, I was writing about ten-year-old Rufus who'd been lured to the dark side of magic by his evil uncle. Because the books are so different, I had no trouble going from one manuscript to the other.

I am managing to write two series simultaneously, though there are days I only write pages for one of my WIPs. The truth is I prefer writing one book at a time because other writerly "homework" always crops up in the form of edits for a previously-written book, blogs, newsletters, and answering interview questions. 

If you are a writer, are you comfortable writing more than one book at a time?