Being Believable by Abby L. Vandiver

As a writing instructor and coach, people come to me for help when they want to pen their story. And they often find that writing it isn’t as easy as one might have thought. That it is not as simple as just sitting down to do it. Because, yes, there are secrets to writing a good book, and rules. Surprised? So was I when I first started writing. I often said, “who knew there were rules to writing. 

I’ve heard, a time or two, that everyone has a novel in them. And whether that’s true or not, it is imperative for those who plan on writing one to make sure they uncover the secrets of storytelling. Luckily, they aren’t hidden in some obscure place or only available to certain people or even at an impossible cost. All it takes is putting in the time to learn the craft.

In my opinion, a good place to start the learning process when you’re contemplating writing that book you want to pen is to write what you know. An old adage, to be sure, attributed usually to Mark Twain. But certainly, writing what you know is not where you want to end up.

Whatever you write—fiction, non-fiction, or self-help, you want your work to be authentic. Believable. It makes you, the writer, accountable and that is critical in satisfying your reader. When you write what you know, you show first-hand experiences by drawing on your own prior knowledge of things like places, subjects, and cultures. But writing only what you know will limit your reach in what you can write and stifle your imagination. It boxes you in. What is important is to turn that saying around, switch the places of the words “write” and “know.” I think the best advice is to “Know what you write.” And how do you do that?

To reach outside those firsthand knowledge boundaries, writers have to learn more. Experience more. Be more aware. Research is the key. There was a time when publishers would send authors on fact finding trips. And maybe some still do, but with such wonderful inventions like the internet, you now find it possible to write beyond your familiarity and understanding. Take the time to research your work before you even sit down to write. And along the way. Don’t do information dumps or be pedantic or boring, but know enough to be believable.

WALL STREET JOURNAL, USA TODAY, and internationally best selling author, Abby L. Vandiver, is a hybrid author, being both self and traditionally published. She writes as Abby L. Vandiver/Abby Collette and Cade Bentley. Abby has always enjoyed writing, combining that with her gift for telling stories and love of mystery, she became an author.                                                                                                                                                                Amazon.com

What’s in a Pen Name? By Abby L. Vandiver

A rose by any other name . . .

The full quote from William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet is “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” 

 

What I interpret it to mean is that it doesn’t matter what something is called, it matters what something is. I am writer, that is what I do. But I do it under three different pen names. “Why?” You may ask. Sometimes I wonder that same thing, too. 

 

Yes, writing under pen names can get hard to keep straight. I am known to some people (an ever-growing number of people) as Abby. But I can’t enter contracts or cash a royalty check under that name. And when I show my family what I’ve accomplished as Abby, they say, “But that’s not really you!” So, the question to authors is, why not just use your legal name? Well, that’s a good question, and certainly one that I have been asked occasionally. 

 

I don’t think it makes a difference to the reader that authors use a pen name, that’s how they were introduced to the author and who they’ve come to know. And per an interpretation of Shakespeare’s line, it doesn’t make the person any less of a writer. But let’s look at just a few of the many reasons authors use a pen name.

 

Sometimes readers have pre-conceived ideas of what a particular writer will publish. For instance, at one time in our history women weren’t allowed (or given credence) to be able to do much more than needlepoint and swoon (and bear children). As such, women writers, to mask their out-of-character actions, sometimes adopted nom de plumes. Think nineteenth century author Mary Ann Evans who wrote as George Eliot or Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, born in 1804 and known to us as George Sand. 

 

Or, perhaps an author’s given name is linked to what they do in real life and they don’t want to link or mix their writing pursuits to their careers. This is a common practice, so I hear, with authors who pen erotica or who write as whistleblowers. But it isn’t only done for books that may contain things that over the top or done for anonymity. Think Stacey Abrams, a well-known politician, who writes romance as Selena Montgomery. And while I’m not writing erotica (is murder just as bad?) or am well-known that is how I started using a pen name. 

 

It’s not the only reason I use a pen name, but in real life, at the time I started writing, I had been a lawyer and my genre of choice was murder mysteries. Not such a good association. I could imagine how people would ask if those were real life cases or people I represented when reading my stories. I felt it better to adopt a pen name. I didn’t go too far from the real me, though. Vandiver is my maiden name, and while I haven’t used it legally for forty years, it’s still part of me.

 

A pen name can act as a shield of sorts. It allows an author to conceal their identity and shed pre-conceived notions about who they are or what they write. And that’s important if a reader is to get the full enjoyment of a story that is intended by the author. I wouldn’t want my readers, as they turn the page, speculating if my cozy mysteries are true. 

 

“Okay,” you say, “that’s understandable, Abby, but you said you had three pen names. C’mon, what gives?” Okay. I’ll tell you. Don’t be surprised, though, because it’s not complicated or that exciting. Lol.

 

I wrote as a self-published author and penned more than twenty novels and short stories as Abby L. Vandiver. But when I got a deal with a Big Five publisher, they were concerned that any other books coming out under Abby L. Vandiver would compete with all their efforts for sales. I know. I know. I am still the same person. But they were looking at it from a business perspective and I had to respect that. So, I came up with Abby Collette. A different name, but easy for my readers. I was still Abby and I was still writing cozy mysteries. And unknown to everyone, I was still me. You see, my real middle name is Collette.  

 

There are a lot of times authors adopt a pen name at the publisher’s request as happened with me when I signed the contract to write the An Ice Cream Parlor Mystery series. But as I noted earlier, sometimes it’s because of a link with an author’s name and what they write. This time, in picking my third pen name, I did it based on my writing reputation. 

 

Perceived scrutiny of your old work can stifle the imagination you need in your new work. As an established author, you worry about what your readers will think of you if you write something different, something new. And with that fear, you may not write your best work. Think J. K. Rowling changing her name and writing as Robert Galbraith after penning her Harry Potter series. She explained you can be a certain kind of writer by changing your author name and can publish “without hype or expectation.”

 

Recently, I signed a contract with Lake Union, an imprint of Amazon, to write a women’s fiction novel, Where Wild Peaches Grow. It is a completely different kind of book and as we all know, readers don’t enjoy all genres. I didn’t want my readers to see my name, pick up the book without a second thought and be surprised. Surprise! It’s not a cozy! So, for that reason I will be writing as Cade Bentley. And no, neither Cade nor Bentley are my legal names. I don’t know how I came up with that name. I just felt it was better to start fresh, build a new following and platform as someone different since I was writing in a new genre.

 

But don’t worry, I’m still me . . . whoever that is!

 

 

 

Abby Collette (Abby L. Vandiver) Interview by E. B. Davis

                       

She was wearing a black wool overcoat, mid-calf-high boots. Her hair was brown,

parted on the side and cut even with her mouth, her face pale from the cold.

She looked as if she could have been the Prada version of the Grim Reaper,

but I wasn’t sold on her facts of the case.

Abby Collette, A Deadly Inside Scoop, Kindle Loc. 1152

Recent MBA grad Bronwyn Crewse has just taken over her family's ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and she's going back to basics. Win is renovating Crewse Creamery to restore its former glory, and filling the menu with delicious, homemade ice cream flavors—many from her grandmother’s original recipes. But unexpected construction delays mean she misses the summer season, and the shop has a literal cold opening: the day she opens her doors an early first snow descends on the village and keeps the customers away.

To make matters worse, that evening, Win finds a body in the snow, and it turns out the dead man was a grifter with an old feud with the Crewse family. Soon, Win’s father is implicated in his death. It's not easy to juggle a new-to-her business while solving a crime, but Win is determined to do it. With the help of her quirky best friends and her tight-knit family, she'll catch the ice cold killer before she has a meltdown...

Amazon.com

Abby L. Vandiver, writing as Abby Collette, has done it again. She’s created a new series that is as compelling to read as her Romaine Wilder or Logan Dickerson cozy series. The action is set in the newly remodeled family ice cream store, which her main character, Bronwyn (Win) Crewse, is managing while creating its product. 

Win is a young, talented, and capable young woman born into a family of ice cream makers and medical men. And it is all about family to Win whether making the family ice cream store a success or defending her family members against unfair and unjust charges.

Here’s a sample of the ice cream flavors Win creates:

Chocolate-Espresso, Lemon Luscious Ice Box Pie, Pralines and Cream, Almond Rocky Road, Candycopia, Ghoulish Blueberry, Strawberry Shortcake, Pumpkin Spice, Banana Nut, Caramel Popcorn, Chocolate Decadence, Cherry Almond and Raspberry Java. It’s a book you can dig into!

Please welcome Abby back to WWK.                                                                                        E. B. Davis

Is Chagrin Falls, OH based on a real town? Is it a suburb of Cleveland? Yes! I don’t do real cities often in my books, it’s only the second time I’ve done it in a series. Chagrin Falls, Ohio is an actual suburb of Cleveland where I live. It actually has a falls and there is a store over it, just like in my book. It’s a quaint village and a great place to go when visiting the area.

What is a Pumpkin Roll? A race? Many of the streets of Chagrin Falls are on an incline and N. Main Street’s is pretty steep. So in real life at Halloween, people stand at the top of the hill and roll pumpkins down it. Of course, they break on the way down making a mess in the street. The fictional grandfather in A Deadly Inside Scoop isn’t too keen on it, and from what I understand it’s mostly young people who participated.

You were a lawyer by profession, and yet, many of your characters are in the medical field. Do you have relatives who are doctors, dentists, or nurses? Actually, I wanted to be a doctor for much of my life. I have a minor in Biology as I’d almost finished my undergraduate in that area before I switched over to Economics.

Win’s mother’s name is Ailbhe. How is it pronounced? Ailbhe is an Irish Gaelic name and in Irish legend is the name of a female warrior. In my book it is pronounced “Al-be,” although the Gaelic pronunciation may be different.

After getting an MBA and working in NYC in PR/Marketing, Win came home. Why? Win came home because she was homesick. She’d also had gotten a little sick and she wanted her father, who is a doctor, to be close. In fact, everything was going good in NYC—no boyfriend or job problems—and ***spoiler alert*** in the next book, A Game of Cones, her job even tries to recruit her to come back. But as you can read in A Deadly Inside Scoop, the Crewse family are a tight-knit group and Win just couldn’t stand being so far from home.

Win thinks her dad is much like his dad, her PopPop. But Win’s dad thinks his father is grumpy. Would he be surprised at Win’s assessment? No! PopPop knows he’s grumpy. Win perhaps thinks he’s that way on purpose, that’s why she tries to get him to be more cooperative. Of course that doesn’t work.

Why does Win decide to investigate? Win decides to investigate because the police are zooming in on her father as a prime suspect in the murder of Stephen Bayard. Win feels that if she doesn’t help to clear her father, he might just end up exchanging his green scrubs for an orange prison uniform.

I agree with Ailbhe. Win is thoughtful, systematic, and careful. But her investigation is less than systematic. Is this lack due to Maisie? Lol. I’ve heard that Maisie is over the top in some early reviews. Maisie’s personality is based on a good friend of mine, Molly, and I’ve think I must’ve captured it well. So, I’d say yes, some of it is due to Maisie. But Win is not so systematic because she’s a reluctant sleuth and doesn’t know what she’s doing. It’s all new to her. But stick around, Win will get the hang of it.

Maisie jumps to conclusions. She’s impetuous, but she also has good instincts. Why doesn’t she stay in a job for long? Is she hyperactive? Yes, Maisie is certainly hyperactive. She has trouble finding something she can stick with. The reason why will come out in later books. Maisie is also excited to do what she’s seen done so many times in many of her favorite television shows, and it’s hard to keep her enthusiasm contained.

Win and Maisie have an interesting debate about whether the MO indicates a male or a female perpetrator. What’s the debate about? What is succinylcholine? A quote from A Deadly Inside Scoop: “Women, when they commit murder like to use poisons and heavy objects. Men like guns and knives.” That was from Maisie, and she derived that assumption after watching her television shows. Win doesn’t think anyone can find a murderer from watching TV. Succiylcholine, as explained in the book is a muscle relaxer that is used as part of a lethal injection, but in controlled environments, is used in surgery.

I was surprised that Win didn’t ask O for more direction in the case. Why is she resistant to O? Win is independent. Plus, she’s running a business and has no time for dating. She’s reminded often by Maisie that O wants more from her than she wants to give, so she steers clear of him.

How can PopPop love ice cream, but doesn’t like cream in his coffee? Many people don’t like all the derivatives of cow milk. I, like PopPop, drink my coffee black, but am a lover of ice cream.

What is it about sitting in a parking lot that attracts Ailbhe when she’s feeling low or depressed? Like mentioned in the story, sometime you have to just “be still.” But, Ailbhe’s sitting in parking lots was fashioned after me. I do that often when I’m worried or depressed. I can’t tell you why, it just calms me.

Rivkah lives on the second floor of the ice cream shop. Her cat, Felice, seems to live mostly in the shop. Does Rivkah let her out every day to roam? How did Felice pick out the window seat fabric? Felice does what she wants, sometimes without Rivkah’s knowledge. She is referenced as Her Royal Highness! Felice picked out the fabric with a point of her paw.

How often does ice cream need to be replaced for selling? Win’s ice cream doesn’t last long because it sells well. But normally, the shelf life of ice cream in a freezer is 2-3 months.

Riya Amacarelli has weird and violent personality flips making her physically dangerous. But, she is also a doctor. What is her practice? And could this put her patients in danger? Riya’s anger is not totally out of control, and she’s working to keep it better under control. It does not put her patients in danger, in fact, I don’t think, and neither do the people in the book think, she’s dangerous. In their words, she has a bad temper, which many people do. Riya is a general practitioner and works in the emergency department.

How can Win and Maisie possibly eat Cheetos and drink Cotton Club Cherry Strawberry soda for breakfast? Because it’s good! Junk food, in this instance, is good for brainstorming.

How does the frozen cart work? Is it electric? There are many ways to keep a cart frozen and all of them are too technical to talk about in a cozy mystery. But, the gist of it is that some carts can be plugged in to get them cold, then can be unplugged and put on the move like you see at carnivals and amusement parks. You can also use cold packs or a refrigeration system. In A Deadly Inside Scoop, Win is inside where plugs are easily accessible so her cart could work just like a kitchen freezer.

What is a ten-piece slicer? A ten-piece slicer is a round kitchen utensil with ten blades. Placed over a cake or pie, it slices it into ten equal pieces.

What’s next for Win Crewse? You’ll have to read A Game of Cones, the next book in the series to find out!

 

An Interview with Author Abby L. Vandiver by E. B. Davis

Now I was starting to feel bad. Giving my auntie such a hard time. I probably

could have been more supportive of her breaking the law and snooping around.

Wait…that didn’t sound right.

Abby L. Vandiver, Secrets, Lies & Crawfish Pies, Kindle Loc. 1830

Romaine Wilder, big-city medical examiner with a small-town past, has been downsized and evicted. With few other options, she’s forced to return to her hometown of Roble in East Texas, leaving behind the man she’s dating and the life she’s worked hard to build.

Suzanne Babet Derbinay, Romaine’s Auntie Zanne and proprietor of the Ball Funeral Home, has long since traded her French Creole upbringing for Big Texas attitude. She’s a member in a number of ladies’ auxiliaries and clubs, including being in charge of the Tri-County Annual Crawfish Boil and Music Festival.

Hanging on to the magic of her Louisiana roots, she’s cooked up a love potion or two—if she could only get Romaine to drink it. But her plans are derailed when the Ball Funeral Home, bursting at the seams with dead bodies, has a squatter stiff.

Dead Guy is a problem.

Auntie Zanne can’t abide by a murderer using her funeral home as the dumping grounds for their crimes, and Romaine doesn’t want her newly elected cousin, Sheriff Pogue Folsom, to fail on his first murder case. Together, Romaine and Auntie Zanne set off to solve it.

With a dash of humor, a dollop of Southern charm, and a peek at current social issues in the mix, it’s a fun romp around East Texas to solve a murder mystery of the cozy kind.

Amazon.com

Henery Press released Abby L. Vandiver’s first book in the Romaine Wilder Mystery series, Secrets, Lies, & Crawfish Pies on June 12. But this release isn’t Abby’s debut. She has self-published three other series, one of which is written with a friend and is paranormal. (It’s on Kindle Unlimited—I just downloaded it!)

The characters are what make Secrets, Lies, & Crawfish Pies special. Raised by her powerhouse of an aunt, Romaine Wilder is caught in her small hometown until she can find another Medical Examiner job in Chicago, where she’d rather be. Aunt Zanne keeps Romaine busy delegating tasks that entail everything from making Crawfish pie to solving the murder. She gets things done all the while denying reality or adding one plus one and getting five, driving Romaine crazy.

Please welcome Abby L. Vandiver to WWK.                                                                      E. B. Davis

______________________________________________________________________________  

Roble, Texas is a real town, but you’ve changed it some, haven’t you? My little town in Secrets, Lies & Crawfish Pies is called “Roble.” It is made up and means “oak” in Spanish.

Auntie Zanne’s real name is Suzanne Arelia Sophie Babet St. Romain. Does everyone in that region have long names? lol. I don’t know. I did that because my characters were christened in the Holy Roman Church. I hope that won’t get me in trouble, but I thought it would be apropos.

Although your story is light-hearted, part of the family’s story is based on racism. Due to the horrible story of Naomi Drake, the New Orleans City Registrar for the Bureau of Vital Statistics, who wasn’t alone in her race categorization as the State of Virginia had its own eugenics-based racists, was there a mass exodus from Louisiana to Texas in the late 40s? Yes, there was. Mixed-race French Creoles, as I explain in my book, didn’t like being categorized according to other people’s mandates. Many moved to the Golden Triangle – Orange, Port Arthur, and Beaumont Texas, and some even as far as Houston. They were able to resume their community and way of life there.

Auntie Zanne runs a funeral home, serves as president of the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), is a member of the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce, heading up the 25^th Annual Sabine County Crawfish Boil and Music Festival, and a Red Hat Society lady, among her other activities. How does an eighty-year-old have the energy? I think it’s because of her brews! She’s a Voodoo herbalist, don’t forget. I was inspired to write about it when I read about a 95-year-old park ranger and discovered many of our older citizens are still vibrant and active members of our society. I did, however, make the character of Aunt Julep, who is close to Auntie Zanne’s age, a little slower.

Rhett Remmiere seems a bit mysterious. Auntie Zanne says she grooming him to take over the funeral home along with her friend, Josephine Gail Cox. Doesn’t he have to be licensed? Who is he really, an FBI agent? Rhett Remmiere really is an FBI agent. We’ll learn his story in Book III, Potions, Tells and Deadly Spells. Right now, however, Rhett isn’t taking on any actual mortician duties, he’s just an employee. But that is a good idea. She does need another mortician in training!

Did Romaine become a Medical Examiner due to her family’s owning a funeral home? Was she used to dead bodies already? Romaine admits that her legacy is death. She’d been around the funeral home most of her life. So, yes, I think that her upbringing, once she decided to be a doctor, was very instrumental in choosing her specialty.

What’s the difference between a coroner and a ME? Many people use the terms interchangeably. However, by definition, a medical examiner is a licensed medical doctor who is trained as a forensic pathologist. A coroner does not have to be a doctor.

Romaine’s cousin Sheriff Pogue Folsom is inexperienced. Why does he give up the investigation to Romaine when she doesn’t have any experience either? He didn’t give up the investigation.  While he did ask Romaine for any help she could offer due to her experience working as a medical examiner, he specifically tells her not to interfere in the investigation, and she promises she won’t. But like any other amateur sleuth, she can’t help but ask questions.

With all the potions Auntie Zanne makes, her being a voodoo herbalist, can’t she concoct something to help her friend Josephine Gail Cox’s depression? There are many medical and holistic means of treating depression; however, there is no cure. Auntie Zanne does give Josephine Gail some of her brew. But in the end, being accused of murder, as Josephine Gail had been, can make anyone get into a rut.

Do they still administer electro shock therapy? Yes, they do. My mother had it in the sixties. I wasn’t sure because it seems so barbaric, but I spoke to a psychologist and she assured me that it is still a mode of therapy used for certain mental illnesses.

Auntie Zanne forms a negative opinion of Pogue based on his awkward adolescent years. Is her opinion based on her rivalry with Romaine’s other aunt, Aunt Julep? No, Auntie Zanne loves Romaine’s Aunt Julep. They’ve been friends for decades. Auntie Zanne’s impression stems from her desire to protect Josephine Gail.

What do they now use to embalm bodies? Not formaldehyde? They use embalming fluid, as they always have. Now however, there is a formaldehyde free option. It is safer for the environment.

Why does Romaine feel that in Roble she loses her identity? Does she associate it with being young or is Auntie Zanne too overpowering? Romaine doesn’t want to be a small town girl. She likes things that small, rural towns, such as Roble, can’t offer. Because of that, she forged out a life that included culture and a life conducive to a place like Chicago.

Catfish, who is sweet on Romaine, brings her three tubs of crawfish (filled ¾ with water) because, much to Romaine’s surprise, Auntie Zanne has promised that Romaine will make Crawfish Pies for the festival. Does that mean Romaine will have to cook and shell all those crawfish? How long will the crawfish stay fresh?  Romaine will use mostly the tail meat for her dishes, so she will have to shell them all. In the book, however, Rhett and Auntie Zanne give her a hand. Crawfish are freshwater crustaceans and can live in a tub filed with water for about five days. Romaine didn’t wait more than two days to use them.

What is the Code of Ethical Conduct for the Care of the Decedent? It is the code of ethics (standards) for funeral home owners. It sets out the standard for the care of the decedent as well as for grieving families.

Why is Death Romaine’s legacy? She was raised in a funeral home. And as she states in the book, her name, Romaine Gabriela Sadie Heloise Wilder, were the names of her dead relatives. She quips that translated her name is: “Dead Family Name – Dead Aunt – Dead Grandma – Dead Grandma – Wilder.”

When Romaine fixes her childhood room to suit her adult tastes—does that mean she’s staying in Roble? No! Far from it. She only updates her room so she can stay there until she can find a job back in Chicago. She definitely has no plans to stay. Her Auntie Zanne on the other hand . . .

What’s next for Romaine and Auntie Zanne? A wedding and the 100^th Boule of the Distinguished Ladies’ Society of Voodoo Herbalist. And, of course, murder!