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?  

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.

A Plotting Predicament by Marilyn Levinson

Plotting has always been an uneven experience for me. While the basic theme/idea of each book usually comes easily to mind, there are many times in my writing when I have to stop and figure out how to move on. After all, a mystery writer's cast of characters includes suspects, murder victims, and a murderer all of whom have secrets, tell lies, and present red herrings. Rather a complicated situation. Still, I believe those of us who write mysteries have somehow trained our minds to create and resolve solutions that might first seem unsolvable. I've learned to trust the process will reveal to me how my sleuth will identify the murderer, hopefully in a new and unique manner.

New and unique are the key words here, because after having written sixteen mystery and suspense novels, I don't want to repeat myself. Sure, certain themes like friendship, romance, and  family relationships appear in my work, but I want every story to be fresh and different. When I began writing Death on Dickens Island, the first book in my Books on the Beach series that I write as Allison Brook, I knew exactly what the main issue would be and how it causes conflict that lead to deadly secrets and murder. However, the second book presented a problem. I often develop two storylines that conjoin near the end of the book, but this wasn't happening. My characters simply weren't cooperating. I knew I wanted the murder to be connected to both a white collar crime and a romance gone wrong some years ago, and it all starts at a book club meeting in the Dickens General Store's Book Nook. But what crime would fit my plot?

While I don't have Beta Readers or critique partners, I am part of a group of mystery writers. For the past twenty years or so, we've been helping one another with suggestions--from handy murder items found in everyone's home to catchy book titles. A friend sent me a list of white collar crimes; others threw in possible ideas, and voilà! I chose the non-violent deceitful crime that suits my future novel and fits right in with my series. Somehow knowing that, has allowed me to plot most of the novel.

For me, it's the crimes and time-lines that require deep thinking and the occasional suggestion from my writing pals. The problem is never my characters.  Since I write series, my characters are well-developed and new ones quickly take on a life of their own. I especially love to see how they interact and mature, how they cope with secrets from their past.

Plotting a mystery is a challenge. The more books you write, the greater the challenge to do something fresh and unique. To explore a new setting, a unique situation, an intriguing reason why one character murders another. What do you do to keep each book and story that you write distinctive?

When Is Enough Enough? by Marilyn Levinson

Phew! I am exhausted. Booked on Murder was released earlier this week. It's the eighth and final book in my Haunted Library series. I've written several guest blogs and interviews; I have a virtual book tour going. And I'll be speaking at my local Barnes & Noble. I've been posting some really wonderful reviews on Facebook; I've sent out a newsletter with all the sales info for my new book; I talk about my book when I do Author Takeovers. Still I wonder--am I doing enough to encourage readers to buy my new book?

One big problem is we authors never know exactly what part of marketing is drawing readers to our books. Facebook? Ads? Visiting bookstores?  When I see an author featured on a new webinar or a new platform, I shoot off an email to see if I can be a guest, too. Often the answer is yes, so I add that to my marketing regime.

Of course my previous books can't be ignored. They need to be nurtured and attended to, especially when they receive wonderful reviews. Or an older book is going on sale. This has to be spread far and wide on social media and via my newsletter. Many of my older books are being re-released and having cover reveals.

I must say, this recent bout of promotion has stressed me out. I tell myself next time I won't write as many guest blogs or do as many interviews. But my next book is the first in a brand new series. It will require all the attention I can muster.  And so the promotion bout will begin all over again. I wish some marketing guru could tell me when enough is enough.

My fellow writers, how do you feel about all the marketing we do? Readers, what encourages you to buy a book?

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?

Some Observations on Publishing My First Novel Many Years Later by Marilyn Levinson

 I was thrilled when a new boutique publisher recently asked to publish the very first novel I'd ever written. Come Home to Death is a suspense novel. The opening scene came to me in a dream while my family was vacationing out at Montauk on Long Island, and I can still envision my heroine being chased by a thug who is about to tell her that her husband owes his boss a huge gambling debt he'd better pay up. Though I transformed the scene from a beach to a coffee shop in upstate New York, the terror and shock still remain.

When I wrote this book many years ago, I had no idea how to categorize it. I sent it out to editors. It received rejections, though one wrote back to tell me she liked it and would have taken it if that was the kind of book she bought. I revised Come Home to Death a few times over the years, and an editor friend even edited it. Eventually, I stopped sending it out and let it lie peacefully amid the many documents on my computer.

I thought the manuscript was in pretty good shape when Kelly Moran of Rowan Prose Press offered to publish it. The last four or five books that I've written have required little editing, and so I wasn't prepared for the many issues she and the editor raised, issues that needed to be addressed in order to make this a really good story for readers to enjoy. However, I agreed with every one of them.

It took time to go through the manuscript to make the many subtle changes required, such as making my protagonist less headstrong about walking into danger so that she doesn't come across as brainless. I also had to make a character change early on in the novel. But at this point I'm quite adept at adding and changing text. Most of what I originally wrote has remained. I only clarified some things and made others more plausible.

I was glad I had the opportunity to edit and revise Come Home to Death, and to finally put it into readers' hands on April 30th. It showed me how much I've learned about writing fiction over the years. It validated my belief that learning to write fiction is a process, and the more we write the better we become.

Starting a New Series by Marilyn Levinson

Recently, I started writing the first book in a new cozy series. However, there was much I had to work out before I could write the first word of the first chapter. For one thing, my new series takes place on an island that you will never find on any map. Dickens Island is my creation. It's situated smack in the middle of the Long Island Sound and belongs to New York. Creating an island requires all sorts of planning—its size; its shape; how many people live on the island year round; how many come during the summer months; what ferries link the island to the mainland; what the school system is like; its local government; its history.

I researched the islands off Long Island to learn how they deal with many of these issues, and came up with many methods of my own. Setting, as any cozy author will tell you, is a very important element. It is the world where our characters live, work, interrelate, and commit murders. 

My main characters came to me early on. I knew I wanted my sleuth to be a savvy woman around forty—divorced for many years and the mother of a fifteen-year-old son. And so Delia, short for Cordelia, was born. Twelve years earlier, she divorced her abusive husband and left three-year-old Connor on Dickens Island to be raised by her parents, while she lived and worked in Manhattan. When she moves back to Dickens Island to resume her maternal duties, is it any wonder that Connor resents her? That he's distant and difficult, and bound to get into more-than-typical teenage trouble?

Graham Dickens, Delia's father, is the patriarch of the family, and feels it's his responsibility to keep the island running smoothly. Not that he holds any position in the island's government. Those positions are held by his brother, Brad, the president of the town council, and Reenie, Brad's wife, who is the island's manager. Unfortunately, Brad and Reenie are fiercely at odds over most issues. Their open discord has begun to affect their marriage and to divide the island into two hostile camps. 

 What fun it is to create new characters that will live on in future books. Helena, Delia's grandmother, has left Delia a large Victorian house when she died the previous year. When Delia discovers her grandmother's hidden room filled with sailors' logs and journals, Helena appears in ghostly form. She fills Delia in on events that occurred many years ago that shed light on the  recent homicide.

 A shaggy dog starts to follow Connor about, often spending the night at the house with Delia and her son. Delia has no success in finding his owner. She's surprised when she sees the spitting image of the dog in an early photo with her grandmother.

 And so I've begun writing the first book in my new series. I've had to stop a few times to understand my characters' relationship with one another. I'm glad I did because that enriched the texture of the story. Now all I have to do it write about the murder, why it came about, and how it gets resolved. And a few other things, of course. That should keep me busy for the next several months. 

So You Call Yourself a Fiction Writer by Marilyn Levinson

I write mystery novels and novels for kids. However, in the service of writing my books I find I write more non-fiction than fiction. I will enumerate the ways and share some of my thoughts.

1. My group blog: I write a short essay once a month, usually something that has to do with writing. Or it might be a thought piece. I never fail to come up with a topic, probably because I'm in the midst of friendly, like-minded authors.

2. Guest blogs. These are most difficult for me to write. Though their purpose is to draw attention to my latest book, I need to write about a subject that appears in my book like art forgery or weddings.

3. Interviews: I like interviews because once I have to answer a question, I'm off and running. However, there are always one or two questions I have trouble responding to. Such as, I don't know which author, dead or alive, I'd like to have dinner with.

4. Articles for mystery magazines: These are even longer and more researched essays that deal with subjects or situations that I've written about in my most recent mystery. Or they deal with some aspect of writing mysteries.

5. Newsletters: I must admit I enjoy writing my monthly newsletter, which includes aspects of my personal life and a good deal about my writing life.

6 . Blurbs I've been requested to write:  I do my best to come up with a one-liner that captivates the essence of the book I've just read in a fresh and complimentary way. I sometimes feel I've stepped into the advertising world and wonder how I would have done working there.

7. Blurbs for my own books: I need to incorporate the most appealing aspects of my novel without giving away too much of the plot. I admit to often copying what's on my Amazon page.

8. Book Reviews: I often post reviews of books that I've enjoyed reading on Goodreads, BookBub and Amazon. These always take more time than I expect. Most of the time they aren't mysteries.

9. Query letters: Thankfully, I haven't needed to write any official query letters in some time. But I do query podcasters and other hosts to ask if they'd be interested in having me as their guest.

10. Author Takeovers (When a cozy author "takes over" a cozy Facebook group and chats with cozy readers for an hour or two ): I love them because I get to interact with readers. I try to ask thoughtful questions and I receive many responses, all of which I do my best to answer.

11. Emails: I write many daily exchanges with my small group of writers. These concern writerly topics as well as other subjects. We are a garrulous group.

12. Emails again: I exchange daily reports with two writer friends— about our writing output, how else we've spent the day, and what's on our minds. Food features largely, for some reason.

13. Outlines and synopses: As everyone knows, these require great organizational skill. I manage to write a partial outline at the start of a novel, knowing there will be many additions and changes.

14. Bios: Authors need bios of various lengths. They all need to be constantly updated.

15. A visual promoting a sale or an new book: Great images and design are a must, but there's still the need to use the right words to grab readers' attention. Again I'm feeling like an ad person, this time a foot in the art department.

 If you are an author, in what additional situations do you find yourself writing about your fictional projects?

 

A Novelist Writes a Short Story by Marilyn Levinson

I just finished writing my short story! You might think this isn't exciting news coming from someone who has written over twenty novels, but believe me, it is. Writing a short story is quite different from writing a novel, and not just because of the difference in length. The plot is singular and more focused and should, I believe, end on a surprising note.

Like many fiction writers, I started out writing short stories. To be honest, they were never very short, which is probably why I ended up becoming a novelist. But I'd never written a mystery short story before! The idea of writing one first came to mind some years ago when I was sitting around the hotel lobby at a Malice conference. Barb Goffman was there, and the subject came around to writing short stories. "Write one," she said. "One day," I said.

The idea must have taken hold a year or two ago because I found myself reading short stories as well as listening to panels and webinars about the craft of writing them. And then, lo and behold, friends who were editing an anthology asked me to write a story. I said I would because I loved the theme. 

Once I got started, I found I couldn't stop writing. This isn't something I experience when I'm writing my novels. My usual routine is I write a sentence, stop to research something that has come up in the plot, and write a few more sentences. Then, before I can move on, I need to check to see what I've written about the character earlier in the manuscript or in a previous book. But writing my short story, I was compelled to continue writing, though I did stop a few times to do research along the way. Even though I hadn't decided how I was going to handle the ending, it all simply came together in a satisfactory way.

Why was this happening?

One major reason I think this may have occurred is when I'm writing a mystery novel, I'm working from the perspective of my sleuth. Of course I know who the murderer(s) is/are, but my sleuth certainly doesn't, and I need to have her account for every clue and piece of information she gathers that lead her to revealing the killer. 

But many short stories, mine included, are written from the murderer's point of view. Perhaps the protagonist doesn't mean to become a murderer, but he or she was wronged or tricked or deceived and the story is about his or her payback. What fun it was to set the scene of my unsuspecting protagonist, then have her take her revenge on those who wronged her! It was freeing to write such a story, which might account for how quickly it was finished.

Since short story writing is a new form for me, I asked my good friend and short story guru, Kaye George, to read it and tell me if it passed muster. She gave it her blessing. Now all I have to do is shorten it and come up with a title.

Have any of you ventured into writing other forms of fiction?

 

Ending a Series by Marilyn Levinson

I did it! I finished writing the final book in my Haunted Library series. Tears welled up as Carrie, my sleuth, said good-bye to friends and family members before leaving on her honeymoon. Because I, too, was saying good-bye to characters I'd created and had grown to love .

But it was time to end the series. Over the course of eight books, my sleuth had made huge changes in her life. I could, of course, continue it in another vein, one reminiscent of Mr. and Mrs. North because Carrie's new husband is an investigator. They'll be living in their new home with a couple of children solving mysteries together, something Carrie and Dylan do in books seven and eight of this series. But that isn't the series I want to write.

The Haunted Library series almost never came to be. I'd sent the series proposal and first three chapters of the first book to a well-known cozy agent. She seriously considered taking it, but decided not to. Since she was the cozy agent, as far as I was concerned, I figured that hers was the final word on the subject. I had no intention of sending out my proposal to other agents. Yes, I know. You're not supposed to give up so easily. And I should have known better since I'd published many books before and had it drummed in my head that you didn't give up so easily. You kept on sending out your proposal again. And again.

Instead, I tucked away my series idea of a young woman coordinating library programs and events and solving murders with the sometimes help of the ghost of a woman who used to work in the library and focused on other projects. Then someone I knew told me she'd met an agent who was interested in a mystery she was writing, an agent I was "friends" with on Facebook.  

"Do you think I should send her my series idea?" I asked.                                                             "Sure. Why not?"                                                                                                                             And so, I sent it to my current agent. She took it, liked it, and found me a publisher.

When Death Overdue, the first book in my Haunted Library series, came out October 10, 2017, the book received a slew of wonderful reviews, including a starred Library Journal review and named their Pick of the Month. It was a nominee for the 2017 Best Contemporary Novel at Malice. I found myself chuckling as I shook my head in disbelief. Thrilled as I was, I wondered what was it about this book that brought it so much acclaim? Was it really so much better than the books I'd written previously?

I still don't know the answer to that question, though it's my belief that the writing life is a process, and hopefully the more we write the better we hone our craft. Perhaps I'm too close to my work to see the difference in my books. All I can say is I'm so very happy that readers are enjoying this series and that some have been inspired to read my earlier books.

 I'm taking a breather before I start editing the last book in the Haunted Library series. Editing is serious work. I'll be checking consistency and pacing, grammar and typos as I read through the manuscript three times then send it to my editor who's sure to find places in the manuscript that require my attention. Then I'll begin my new series. I know many of the characters who will people my new setting. They are very different from the ones that populate Clover Ridge. My sleuth is forty-four and divorced with a prickly teen-aged son. She's a bit cynical as well as feisty, astute and forever curious. What fun it will be to have my characters interact and argue over issues that somehow always lead to murder. 

Now on View by Mary Dutta

I love museums. They are everywhere, endlessly fascinating, and full of cool things, including writing ideas.

Take Morris Hirshfield Rediscovered, an exhibit currently on view at the American Folk Art Museum in New York. Hirshfield was a self-taught artist who only started painting after retiring at 65 from a career in the garment industry. He won acclaim from the influential gallerist Peggy Guggenheim and her Surrealist artist husband and friends. The founding director of the Museum of Modern Art even gave him a solo show.

Critical reception was harsh, however, one reviewer dismissing Hirshfield as “the master of two left feet,” a slam against what he saw as an amateurish inability to correctly represent the human form. The museum director was fired, and Hirshfield lapsed back into obscurity. 

I found the whole story fascinating and, in many ways, analogous to the mystery-writing world. Some authors get their start later in life after leaving other careers. Some writers are championed while others are ignored. Some have all-too-brief moments of fame. And despite the best efforts at promotion, some works just never catch on.

Hirshfield’s tale also opens up a world of crime story ideas. What happens to the artist who fails to achieve the heights she thinks she’s been promised? What about the artist who isn’t plucked from obscurity, what might that resentment drive her to do? What revenge will the museum director take for the loss of his job? My latest published story, The Grift of the Magi, in Hook, Line, and Sinker: The Seventh Guppy Anthology, is about a divorcing couple’s battle over a valuable painting. Now I’m thinking I may have more art stories to tell.

Not all museums focus on art, of course. On the same trip, I learned more about Jewish delicatessens at the New York Historical Society. The exhibition explored immigration, culture, and (of course) food. Food plays an outsize role in many cozy mysteries, and some actually use delis as a setting. Maybe I’ll be the next author to slip in a killing between the pastrami and the rye, with a side of cole slaw and revenge. There could be a stolen recipe, a food service inspector on the take, or a long-time waitress with a brand-new secret. There is a full menu of plotlines to choose from.

Mystery came to mind again at a Poster House exhibit on World War II anti-spying propaganda. Agatha Christie’s 1941 novel N or M deals with the exact fears of British fifth columnists and Nazi infiltrators that the posters warned against, underscoring yet again how mystery novels reflect the world around them. The lines between fiction and reality blurred even further in that case when the British security service, MI-5, investigated Christie because she named one of the novel’s characters Major Bletchley. The spies were worried that she had knowledge of their then-secret code-breaking facility at Bletchley Park (another great museum to visit, by the way).

Speaking of Christie, my next trip is to Egypt. I’m looking forward to mystery ideas ancient and new. How about you? Has a museum ever inspired you?

A Few Thoughts About Plotting by Marilyn Levinson

For me, plotting is the hardest part of writing a novel. Writing mysteries require extra special diligence when it comes to plotting because situations and scenes that occur at the beginning of the book must be followed up and addressed in what follows. I have no trouble coming up with an inciting event to start my story. It carries me several chapters. And then I run out of steam.

This never used to happen when I was a plotter and I'd figure out my entire plot while allowing for changes as I wrote. But I have turned into a quasi-pantser. Now, often after writing a third of my WIP with more than two hundred pages to go, I'm not sure how to move on. I know that my two storylines will converge; I even know my killer. But how to fill the next two hundred plus pages with logical, exciting, well-paced prose that ends on a satisfactory note requires serious thinking.

It's a good thing I have a few techniques that have served me well over the years and set me on the right track so I can finish my book.

1. I reread what I've written. After all, the first third of my mystery introduces the situation, the setting, my characters as well as the first murder. I'm lucky that whenever I go back to page one, I find I'm happy with what I've written. Also, I discover places where I can further my plot. Unbeknownst to me, my subconscious has been setting down important hints and clues that I'm quick to follow up in upcoming chapters. Think of Anton Chekov's famous quote “One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it." (Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.) Then of course, there are the red herrings to be added that serve to misdirect the mystery reader. Knowing that my WIP is in good shape so far gives me the inspiration and confidence to move on.

2. Plotting requires both logic and creativity—the ability to consider various possibilities and to choose the one that best suits your story. I am grateful that I belong to a group of mystery authors I can count on to help when I get stuck. Often one of their ideas will be the perfect solution. Other times the simple act of explaining the problem and asking for help stimulates my own creativity and I come up with the plotting solution all on my own.

3. I'm not good at sitting down to focus on a plot problem. My mind starts to wander. I check my email, my Amazon standings. Facebook. Instagram. I find that solutions to my plot problems come when I'm walking by myself. In the shower. Even in a doctor's waiting room. It's always when I'm doing something that doesn't require much thinking. I imagine it's different for everyone, the time when one's mind is receptive to finding new solutions.

4. Finally, I have faith that the necessary solution(s) will come to me and I'll finish the book in a satisfactory way. Why? Because I've done it before. Plotting a novel is a series of solving problems. I've come to trust my writing instinct because I've set up my What If? situation carefully and with much thought. Some of that thought process has developed over the years and now works on an unconscious level. Writing a novel is never easy, but somehow the procedure becomes part of the mind's inner workings. The mind cooperates and helps us along. I've yet to give up on a work in progress because I couldn't work out the plot. Far be it from me to know how this miracle works, but somehow it always comes through in the end.

Starting a Novel by Marilyn Levinson

Last week I started writing a new novel. Something to celebrate but not to get all bent out of shape about, having written more than twenty books before. But that's exactly what happened when I started to plot the eighth book in my Haunted Library series. I got stymied. And nervous. And wondering if I could write a rough draft. I knew the two story lines I wanted to use, had known it for months. But seeing them through and making the necessary connections somehow seemed impossible this time.

Why? I wondered. Was it because it was the last book in the series? The one that had to deliver a rousing conclusion that brought out the best in my characters and ended the series in a memorable way? Recently, the sixth book had been published and some readers had told me it was the best one yet. There's nothing like having to match or even top yourself.

I love the two story lines I planned to follow as guides for this new novel. They're quite different from each other and full of possibilities. I'm not someone who can sit down quietly and plot out my next book. Ideas comes to me at various times—when I'm in the shower, taking a walk, drifting off to sleep. I decided to be practical this time, and so I asked my two writing friends with whom I check in each evening to become my sounding boards via Zoom. "Write out what you have so far and send it to us before," Peg said. And that's what I did.

To my surprise, I managed to write out a rough draft of an outline and sent it off to Peg and Kaye. To my amazement, they found it perfectly fine. They raised a few issues; we discussed a few points and I came up with a brilliant ending. Well, brilliant in my eyes because it works and it's different.

Once I had my friends' blessing, I began Chapter One. The opening scene came to me right away, probably because starting a novel is something I've done many times. Somehow the mechanics of doing this gets into your brain the way your body remembers an aerobic workout routine.

Do any of you ever have trouble plotting your next novel? If so, what steps do you take to get the job done? 

Seasons of Writing

Seasons of Writing by Debra H. Goldstein

My heart goes out to those who lost family, friends, homes, and other possessions to Hurricane Ian. Where I am, in Birmingham, Alabama, there was no rain, wind, or other havoc. Instead, 90–100-degree weather dropped to comfortable 70+ degree days, with slightly cooler nights. The sun shone. The sky was blue. A few leaves showed signs of changing colors. Summer melted into Fall.

 

The change was subtle. The evolution of writers is much the same. There are days we write with the intensity of a hurricane or the summer heat of passion, while other days our production and abilities become more mellow (and occasionally freeze like Winter). Often, authors are not even aware as a passing season creeps into their writing.

 

Perhaps the writer is distracted by personal life events. Perhaps it is a matter of burn-out. Perhaps the factor is aging. Or perhaps a wonderful idea or a passion so overwhelms the author that doing anything but write is impossible. It’s unpredictable, but that is the beauty of the writing life. What author would want things to stay stagnant?

 

 

 

Decisions! What a Process!

Decisions! What a Process! by Debra H. Goldstein

I hate making decisions. You might think that’s funny considering all the years I sat on the bench as a judge. The reality is that weighing the law and the facts of a case to issue a ruling was often easier than it is to decide what restaurant to eat at and what to order when I get there. The lack of importance or relevance of where and what I eat is what probably makes that kind of decision harder than those that involved people’s lives.

 

Making decisions in writing come with a different kind of difficulty. There aren’t cut and dried rules to apply because the tropes of any genre can be bent. Authors, unlike judges, aren’t reacting to an existing fact pattern. Instead, they create the narrative. This is accomplished through characterization, pacing, setting, voice, point of view, and plotting. When all of these things come together perfectly, everything flows allowing any determinations to almost seem predestined. The key is when they don’t merge well.

 

That’s when the decision-making process comes into play. Which element must be changed? What words should be cut? What needs to be added? What will make the piece work best for readers? These questions are perplexing. Finding answers to them is gut-wrenching.

 

For example, in my present work in progress, I spent several chapters in the beginning of the book slowly introducing the characters. Minor twists led to a big bang on page 200. That seemed too late, so I cut my favorite funny chapter, merged two chapters, and moved the big twist to page 100. The pace and tension have improved, but something seems to be lacking because of not having the opportunity to know the characters better. I’ve asked the characters for guidance, but unlike most times, their voices are silent. It is frustrating to have the sense that something is off but be unable to pinpoint what the defect is and how to cure it.

 

Yet, as a writer, I know I need to gather the facts as I did while I was on the bench and, in this case, apply my internal compass to make my own law that will dictate the outcome of the book. I only hope that my decision is not to put it into a drawer.

 

Authors, have you ever had this conflict? Readers, have you ever wished an author made a different decision about their work? 

An Authorly Experience by Marilyn Levinson

We write our books and send them out into the world. Sometimes we hear from people who are reading them because they tell us so on Facebook. Or they're kind enough to review them or send us an email. But what about the people we never know about?

Yesterday I called my service provider because my WiFi had died three times in the previous twenty-four hours. I got someone rather quickly and I explained my problem. I won't go into the details but it wasn't the warmest of exchanges. I said I was happy to speak to a supervisor whenever he or she could call me and explained that my WiFi was very important to me because I was a writer.

"You're a writer? What do you write?"                                          

"Mysteries," I told her. 

"I love mysteries," she told me. A minute later she said, "I think I read some of your books." I wondered about that but then she mentioned Murder the Tey Way, a book I'd written several years ago. 

Then came a bigger surprise. She told me that when she went to help at an Egyptian orphanage (she is Egyptian and living in the U. S.) she brought my children's book Rufus and Magic Run Amok and used it to help teach the children English. 

Wow! I was thrilled to learn that one of my books had traveled so far, and she was delighted to be speaking to a real live author! We went on to have the warmest of conversations. This is one phone call I'll remember for a long, long time.

 

Ending a Series by Marilyn Levinson

I have loved writing the Haunted Library series. I love my  characters: Carrie Singleton, her friends,  relatives, and co-workers at the Clover Ridge Library. Evelyn the Ghost. Smoky Joe the library cat. I enjoyed helping Carrie develop from Goth Girl to becoming an effective head of programs and events; acting as a responsible member of the town council; able to sustain a deepening romantic relationship with Dylan Avery. The mysteries and adventures were always fun to write. But soon after I began the seventh book in the series I knew that the next book would complete my series' arc. Carrie's arc, actually, since her growth was always as important to me as the mysteries she helped solve. And once she was capable of leading a fully developed adult life, it was time for me to move on.

An idea for another series came to me a few years ago, one that I've been longing to start. Lately I've been thinking about its unique setting and how it impacts the characters who live there. My sleuth is a woman in her forties, a divorcée with a teenaged son. She's tougher than Carrie, but that's about all I plan to say about her for now. The tone of this series will be different from that of the Haunted Library series. What will remain the same are my concern for my characters and their relationships with one another as well as the mystery and mayhem that enter their lives.

A few readers have already told me they're sorry I am ending the Haunted Library series. I hope they will come to care for this new series as well. And perhaps some day in the future I'll return to the series when Carrie and Dylan are married and solving mysteries together like Tommy and Tuppence Beresford or Mr. and Mrs. North. I never know where my muse will take me.

Reporting by Marilyn Levinson

Reporting is what I do every evening when I finish writing my WIP for the day. I jot down the number of words I've written plus the page I'm up to and the total number of words in the manuscript I've written so far and email it to two friends who are fellow mystery authors. I receive a similar email from them as well.

We're not in competition with one another, trying to write the most words each day. We're all at various stages of very different projects: a short story, outlining a suspense novel, and writing a book in a cozy series. In fact, we have no problem announcing that we didn't write one word that day because life took over and demanded that we babysit or see a doctor or run several chores instead.

Though the three of us are part of a small group of mystery writers that's constantly communicating about every conceivable topic, writerly and otherwise, reporting is something else. We find that checking in every evening is a valuable writing tool. It helps take away some of the loneliness of writing we all experience. We share minor victories that only our fellow mystery writers can truly appreciate. Like figuring out a complicated plot problem, and coming up with a new way of offing a victim. The best part is that we cheer each other on. And for some reason,  this often encourages us to write a little more each day than perhaps we thought we could.

A Few Writerly Observations by Marilyn Levinson

Becoming a proficient fiction author develops through hard work and constant writing. Over the course of my writing career, I've written twenty-four novels. I'd like to share with you a few observations I've made regarding changes in my writing process and some writerly issues that puzzle me.

Plotting: When I first started out, I found plotting to be the hardest part of novel writing. I moved ahead like gangbusters the first five chapters, then stopped not certain how to proceed. I needed a good deal of help from my mentor. Eventually, I managed to write out synopses and followed my outline. These past few years I've been writing the Haunted Library series as Allison Brook. I think in many ways it's easier to write a series than a standalone because many of the characters as well as the setting and the tone are set in the first book.

Since I worked from a detailed outline, I considered myself a plotter. I knew who would be murdered, the major plot points, the array of clues and red herrings. But I discovered my process changed when writing the last four books in the series. As always, I knew the book's major theme and the two seemingly unrelated elements that come together at the end. But I was no longer working from an outline. I had the option to veer off in various directions into the great unknown. 

To my amazement, this didn't frighten me. I'd changed into a pantser—sort of. Somehow writing so many books had given me the confidence to have faith in my plotting. To know I would move ahead and write the right scenes to bring each book to its logical conclusion. This didn't mean I no longer needed the assistance of my dear fellow Plothatchers occasionally, but sometimes simply by being on the verge of asking for their input I found the answer to what I was seeking. Which leads me to believe that we authors know more about the book we're writing than we think.

Changing the murderer:  While I've never changed my murder victims, I have changed the identity of a few murderers from those I originally had in mind. I think this can only be possible if a writer isn't following an outline set in stone. I like to supply my readers with many possible murder suspects because part of the fun of reading a mystery is figuring out who dun it. Also, as I write each book, I get to know my characters better—their personalities, their value systems and their secrets. Sometimes this results in my casting a different character as the killer. In fact, I recently changed the murderer in my Work In Progress for a variety of reasons. 

Grammar and words: Grammar rules evolve just as language evolves, and we'd better keep up with the times. For example, I once thought I was pretty good when it came to using commas. These days I defer to others. I used to put in a comma to separate compound sentences. Now I find my editors often remove them. They also remove commas before such adverbs as "too" and "finally," words I always comma'd. Now I question whether an adverbial phrase requires a comma when once I was certain that it did. 

Compound word, hyphenated words or two words: Here we have three possibilities and I often choose the wrong one. I thought "homecooked" was a word, but my editor changed it to "home-cooked." "Semi-circular" seemed right to me, but no, "semicircular" won out. There are more of these word/words than one would imagine. I'm grateful that at this point in my career, I have an editor and a copy editor to sort them out.

Has your writing method evolved? Do you have any word usage or grammar issue that puzzles you? Please share if you do.

Author Takeovers by Marilyn Levinson

We authors know the importance of getting the word out about our latest book. About all our books, in fact. We've become savvy at writing blogs, having a presence in social media, participating in Zoom panels. We create newsletters, appear at book fairs and conferences, bookstores and any venue that will host us. We create visuals, set up contests, give away swag. Promotion can be exhausting. Despite all the promoting we do, it often leaves us wondering if we've promoted enough.

More than one publicity maven advises us to promote via a method that we enjoy. Following that recommendation, I'm happy to share one of my favorite means of promotion: Author Takeovers. I don't know if I'll ever try TikTok, or really master Instagram. But I do like Facebook, and, as a cozy author, I appreciate and often visit cozy Facebook groups. In these groups, people chat about cozy mysteries. Authors have an opportunity to post announcements about their latest book, book sales and events. Most cozy groups offer Author Takeovers, when an author actually takes over the group for an hour or two . . . or more. 

I love Author Takeovers because it gives me the opportunity to be in immediate communication with readers and my fellow cozy authors who stop by. After telling them a bit about myself and my books, I have the opportunity to ask whatever questions I'd like participants to comment on. The topics vary. Opinions about cozy mysteries, pets, vacations and food are just a few of the subjects we discuss. 

I'm always amazed to find myself in touch with people from all over the U. S. and Canada at the same time! I hear from readers who love my books and from people who never read anything I've written as we exchange thoughts and ideas, preferences and dislikes. 

I always offer a book or two as giveaways, and keep in touch with many readers who have received one of my books. This is a fun and easy way to relate to readers. And it's free! One of my favorites!