It’s hard to feel grateful when awful things happen, right? My
ScotShop Mysteries end with this third book in the series, A Wee Homicide In The Hotel. If a contract with a major publisher
isn’t renewed, the author is left with no choice but to go on to something
else. Sounds like a minor tragedy, eh? But I’ve had three friends die recently,
so ending a book series fades in comparison in terms of awfulness. I decided I
needed to pay attention to my own preaching, so I pulled out the following
essay from my nonfiction book, From The
Tip Of My Pen: A Workbook For Writers. I spiffed it up a bit, and hereby
give it to you:
A dear friend recently challenged me about my
mission statement. Healing the world
through teaching the power of gratitude. “So,” she said, “just how do you
expect to do that?”
I explained that gratitude lifts people, that
my own attitude of gratitude gives me a more compassionate viewpoint of life
and hopefully lets other people know how much they are valued. “I appreciate
you,” I added. I admit it was an afterthought.
“Nonsense,” she retorted. “It’s not enough to
say I love you or I appreciate you without giving a reason
why. It’s too easy to say three little words and not mean them. How do I know
you’re not just trying to butter me up to get another dinner invitation?” Have
I mentioned that she makes the most delicious lasagna you can imagine?
Now what does this have to do with writing?
We want our characters to thrum with life energy – even if one of them might be
a 14th-century ghost. We want them to stand up in three dimensions and be
accepted as real by our readers. We want our creations to be recognizable,
don’t we? I certainly do. So, why not create a gratitude list for our
protagonist—and ones for the bad guys, too, just to be fair. Not just I like you, but I like you, and I’m willing to spend all this time writing you because…
This is the kind of gratitude that helps us
focus on why we feel connected to our characters. When we do that, we’re more
likely to write them in a way that will entrance our readers.
1.
I like you because you act honorably.
2. I like
you because you tell the truth.
Aw, put some gumption into it, Frannie.
1. Okay. I
like you because when you lie, you do it with great gusto, and I end up
laughing or crying.
2. I like
you because you act out the brat I’d like to be. (Substitute a different b-word if you’d like.)
3. I like
you because I can depend on you to get into trouble whenever I need an
interesting plot twist.
4. I like
you because you let me explore a new world I didn’t know existed before I
started this writing.
5. I like
you because you’re ready to play with me at three in the morning when I get up
to write because I can’t sleep.
This is the kind of gratitude that works with
spouses (real, imaginary, current, or former):
1. I love
you because you taught me to change a flat tire.
2. I love
you because you brush my hair without my asking.
And this kind of gratitude works for editors,
too:
1. I
appreciate you because you hold me to the highest standards.
2. I
appreciate you because you see my vision for these books of mine.
So, why am I grateful about the end of the
ScotShop series?
1. It opens
up tremendous possibilities.
2. It saves
me from the ever-present danger with very long series of rehashing the same
basic plots.
3.
And the best news of all – I found out that the series would have to end before
I submitted the third manuscript to my editor, so I was able to tie up all the
loose ends from the first two books.
Try some gratitude today. Be specific. You
may surprise yourself when you find out how many reasons there are to be
grateful. Real thankfulness just might heal the world. And it might make your
writing shine.
=========================
Fran lives her life with enthusiasm and
expectancy. Author of fourteen books, including the Biscuit McKee mystery
series and the ScotShop mysteries, as well as A SLAYING SONG TONIGHT and FROM
THE TIP OF MY PEN: a workbook for writers, Fran lives and writes quietly beside
a creek on the other side of Hog Mountain, Georgia, after having moved
repeatedly from her birth through her fourth decade. The small fictional towns
she writes about embody the hometown she always wanted—except for the murders.
=========================
Book Blurb from Back Cover:
The annual Highland Festival in
Hamelin, Vermont, means caber tossing, sword dancing, and just a spot of
murder...
Hamelin is overflowing with
tourists enjoying the Scottish-themed games—and most of them are donning
tartans from Peggy Winn’s ScotShop. And her fourteenth-century ghostly
companion, Dirk, has been indispensable, keeping an eye out for shoplifters and
matching customer’s family names to their clan plaid.
Adding to the chaos is Big
Willie, a longtime champion of the games, but not everyone is happy to have him
in town. So when he misses the first event of the weekend, Peggy senses
something is awry. After Willie is discovered dead in his hotel room, the
victim of a bagpipe-related crime, Peggy decides it’s up to her and Dirk to
suss out a murderer—because another death would really blow...
=========================
buy links :
Contact Fran:
