The Seeds You Sow by Judy L Murray

As we see the first real signs of spring – Hallelujah! – I’m struck again how helpful loyal readers can be such an asset. One of our Writers Who Kill authors Lisa Malice posted a blog about clubs a few weeks ago. I’m going to piggyback on it with my latest example.

My fourth book in the Chesapeake Bay Mystery Series, Villain in the Vineyard, promises to have a special kind of celebration. One I certainly didn’t plan all on my own.

In mid-January, Girls Under Cover, a book club in my area, contacted me. This is a club of over thirty participants just a few miles outside my Chesapeake Bay village of North East, Maryland. Since the release of my first book in the series, Murder in the Master, they’ve supported my efforts with amazing enthusiasm. Each year, they invite me to attend one of their meetings as their book pick of the month. We always have a delightful evening in one of their homes.

This year, when they heard that my book was entitled Villain in the Vineyard, they suggested a launch party at a local vineyard here on the Elk River. The Elk River feeds into the Chesapeake at the very top of the bay. The Chesapeake is mammoth, a remarkable natural wonder and the largest estuary in the United States. Located in the Mid-Atlantic region, it begins where I live at the very top of Maryland and its eastern shore, extending south to Virginia. More than a hundred fifty rivers flow into the bay’s over sixty-four thousand miles and it covers parts of six states. Two hundred miles long, our bay eventually spills into the Atlantic Ocean. The word Chesapeake is derived from an Algonquian word referring to a village ‘at a big river’. Explorers in 1585 applied the name.

Longtime sailors, my husband and I moved to North East in 2007. I fell in love with its history and its native beauties. American Bald Eagles perch on the trees in front of our views of the water. Blue Heron and Tundra Swans arrive in the spring. To watch an eagle dip into the water and pluck fish for dinner fascinates me. It’s also one reason why I decided the Chesapeake was a perfect setting for a hometown sleuth-Realtor to tell her stories.

I digress. Girls Under Cover and I met at Blue Elk Vineyard in early March to plan my book talk. As we chatted with the owner of this gorgeous and historic location (I’ll post a link below if you are curious) they decided they would cover the room rental charge by selling tickets to club members and anyone else who wanted to attend. We liked the idea of using any ticket sales net proceeds towards a local charity. That’s when I suggested we support the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program in our county. Dolly’s program coordinates the administration, the data base of children, and a Blue Ribbon Committee choosing the appropriate books and arranging whole-sale pricing. Communities cover the books and shipping. Any child between ages one and five who chooses to enroll receives high-quality, age-appropriate books mailed each month to their home free of charge. As an author it’s been a favorite charity of mine. For those children not fortunate enough to own their own books, this program has proven to be a huge influence in their development as lovers of reading. Tying in book fundraising to my book signing seemed a perfect alliance. The club loved the idea.

Our event is the evening of May 8th and so far we are approaching sixty tickets sold. Between appetizers provided by the club and flowers and dessert from me, we hope to clear about $10 per ticket toward our county Imagination Library Program.

Now a little message about my latest book, Villain in the Vineyard. Below I’ve included a phenomenal review from our very own Connie Berry. Thank you Connie for fitting this in around your already too busy schedule.

If you also have a story of how readers affected your life as an author, I’d love to here them in your comments. Judy L Murray

Here is Connie’s review: “When two of her clients are murdered, another lies in a coma, and properties she’s listed for sale are vandalized, real estate agent-turned-amateur sleuth Helen Morrisey faces the loss of the business she’s worked so hard to establish. This is personal, and to make matters worse, Tammi, Helen’s long-time Assistant Extraordinaire is moving out of town and Emma, the gorgeous FBI agent and ex-fiancée of Helen’s love, Detective Joe McAllister, shows up, looking to reignite the flame. Can Helen and her fictional detectives—Nancy Drew, Jessica Fletcher, Jane Marple, Agatha Raisin and Nora Charles—stop the perpetrators before her agency collapses or worse yet, another client is injured or killed? I’ve loved all Judy L. Murray’s Chesapeake Bay Mysteries, but I think this one may be my favorite. With a richly layered plot, a brilliant cast of characters, and an authentic feel for both policing and sleuthing, Villain in the Vineyard is a gem.” Connie Berry, USA Bestselling Author – The Kate Hamilton Mysteries

https://amzn.to/42yejBo

https://imaginationlibrary.com/about-us/

https://blueelkvineyard.com/

Holiday Binge Reading By E. B. Davis

Because I primarily read the mystery genre, during down times I read anything and everything. It’s like eating citrus sorbet between courses or clearing your sense of smell by taking in a whiff of coffee beans. When you read one genre in depth, breaking from the genre refreshes the mystery-clue-finding mindset by turning it off for a bit. Perhaps that’s why I often read romance (especially during the holidays—the more dogs the better). There isn’t any big mystery. From the start you know what will happen. Romance trains you to enjoy how the plot unfolds, not to compete with the author or sleuth to solve the case. Of course, they are predictable.

 

Blog detour: My book group chose to read a book due to its setting in a nearby town (on Hatteras Island). They didn’t realize it was a romance. There was not one good thing said about the book during our meeting. The poor gal who proposed reading the book apologized for her poor selection. Their complaints had some merit (yes, there were some setting mistakes and a few too many coincidences), but all in all, they were not romance readers. I get that, but I was also amazed by their level of disgust. Perhaps because I write, I have sympathy for other writers. I tried to tell them they just weren’t the audience for this book—but I don’t think I got through to them. It’s sad to think that intelligent and educated women couldn’t get past their own tastes and snobbishness to realize that the book had its appeals, but it wasn’t a good read for them. For heaven’s sake—it was cute! Perhaps at a convention of chocoholics, listing the merits of marshmallow topping or caramel syrup is not realistic. But still—I was amazed and a bit humored by their vehemence. End blog detour.

 

Here are a few of the series/books I read: Anne Chase’s Heartsprings Valley Winter Tales, Ana Bisset’s Libby Foster Cozy Mysteries, J. A. Holder’s Michelle Bishop Paranormal Mysteries, JB Lassalle’s Murky Midlife Waters, Emily Oberton’s Hadley Home Design’s Cozy Mysteries, M. J. Caan’s Singing Falls Witches, Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians, Janet Evanovich’s The Recovery Agent, Janet Evanovich’s Dirty Thirty, Sandra Kring’s A Life of Bright Ideas, Julie Mulhern’s Only the Good Die Young, Spencer Quinn’s Up on the Woof Top, Ali Rosen’s Recipe for Second Chances, Jen Lancaster’s Housemoms, and Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House.

 

Yes, my list does include more than a few mysteries. But it also excludes those I picked up and put down before I got through twenty percent of the book—there were a few. But here’s one that I wish others would read just so I can get everyone’s take on this book: Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister. I’m thinking of recommending it to my book club, but I’m not sure they would appreciate it. Why? Not only because of their response to romance, but this book combines fantasy/speculative science with mystery. A woman witnesses her eighteen-year-old son commit a murder. She’s frantic to understand why he’d do such a thing and if she was the cause of it by not being a better mother. She finds herself waking up each day in the past searching for clues as to why it happened and how she can prevent it from happening. At eighty percent, I thought I’d figured it out only to be thrown a curveball by eighty-five percent. It’s an interesting read and the solution is worthy of the best mystery readers. Read it, please, then let me know!

 

What did you read over Christmas break?  

ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING: EMBRACING THE MESS AT ANY AGE

By Korina Moss

I am very late to the party, but I’ve finally started watching Only Murders in the Building, a murder mystery series on Hulu starring Steve Martin (Charles), Martin Short (Oliver), and Selena Gomez (Mabel). I binged season 1 in two days and have started season 2. I adore the show. It’s exactly my vibe—quirky characters with a dash of humor who solve a murder mystery in a close-knit setting. It’s as close to a cozy mystery (with cursing) as you can get outside of the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel.

I especially appreciate watching the intergenerational friendships formed between Mabel, who is in her late twenties, and the two older men, Charles and Oliver, who are in their seventies. The difference in age provides plenty of humor—whether it be the slang they use or signing their name to a text—but they also learn some deeper things from each other. Developing these types of friendships onscreen provides a way to highlight how similar people of disparate ages can be.

In my Cheese Shop Mystery series, there are age gaps among my 33-year-old cheesemonger protagonist, Willa, and the supporting characters who work in her cheese shop and also help her solve the mysteries. There’s Archie, who started the series as a nineteen-year-old still living with his mom, and Mrs. Schultz, who is “smack dab” in her sixties, as she likes to say. Although each character is at a different stage in their lives, they’re all starting anew in some way and have things to teach each other. 

Archie’s new chapter is typical of young adults who graduate high school without a sense of what they want to do with the rest of their lives. It’s not until he starts working at Willa’s cheese shop, Curds & Whey, that he begins to consider becoming a cheesemonger like Willa. As she shares her passion for cheese with him, he inadvertently teaches her about trust.

Hoping to avoid the heartaches of her past, Willa hadn’t set down roots before moving to Yarrow Glen to open Curds & Whey. When a murder occurs right outside her shop and she’s the number one suspect, she’s forced to trust the people who offer to help her—two of them being Archie and Mrs. Schultz. Willa realizes she’s been denying herself close friendships for too long. Through solving the mysteries and running her shop, she learns not only to trust others, but to trust herself, gaining a new level of confidence. 

Confidence was never something Mrs. Schultz lacked until she unexpectedly became widowed shortly after retiring from her job as a high school drama teacher. Without her husband of almost forty years by her side, retirement looked very different than she’d envisioned it. She found herself approaching life timidly for the first time. Working at Curds & Whey was a way to test herself. The new job and becoming a part of their mystery-solving team brought back her bright personality and gave her the confidence to try other things… like possibly dating? (You’ll have to read book 3, Curds of Prey, to find out.)

Through my cozy mystery series, I have the opportunity to show that it’s not just the people Archie’s age or even Willa’s age who find themselves navigating uncharted waters. I began middle age newly single with my first novel published—certainly a new chapter for me. I think Steve Martin’s character, Charles, described it best when he said he was ready to “embrace the mess.” Yes, life can be confounding—and beautiful—at any age. No matter how old we are, we still have new things to do and to learn, even from younger folks. It’s high time we see that represented more often in our books and on our screens. 

Would you like to see more intergenerational friendships portrayed in books and tv shows/movies? Which books or shows have these types of characters?

I will be zooming in LIVE in the Cozy Mystery Crew Book Club Zoom Room today, July 9th, at 4PM eastern time. Join the Cozy Mystery Crew private FB group to access the zoom link under “Featured.” I’ll be there LIVE to talk about Cheddar Off Dead and my series, and take your questions. And those attending will be entered to win one of my Cheese Shop Mystery books of their choice. Hope to see you! 

Let's Play Stump the Author!

By AnnetteDashofy

I’m currently working on two books at the same time. This happens at least once a year. I gleefully turned in book #9 in June, took some time to rest my brain and allow my characters some privacy, and then started book #10.

For me, the first 50 pages are the hardest part. Except sometimes the muddle in the middle is harder. And then there are the final chapters when I have to pull everything together.

But I digress. I struggle mightily with those first pages, introducing new characters, reintroducing returning characters, figuring out where this new story is going. Just about the time I get on a roll, my edits come back from the previous book.

Which is where I am right now. I draft one book in the morning and revising another in the afternoon. If I have a good day, I remember which one is which.

Last week, I received a private message from a reader asking me about a specific moment in No Way Home. That was book #5 which came out two years ago. Meaning I wrote it three years and five books ago.

I had no clue what I’d written or why. I could’ve dropped what I was doing and gone back to re-read the book, but I have these things called deadlines as well as a full plate of other obligations. I wrote back, apologizing for not being clearer in the story and for causing her concerns about the legal details that puzzled her. Basically, I gave her a non-answer, but it was the best I could do at the moment.

She thanked me for responding.

I still don’t know what was going on back in that scene.

This week, I’m heading to Gettysburg to meet with a book club. My fellow Writer Who Kills, KM Rockwood, invited me. I love book clubs, so it took very little arm twisting. I assume the club will be talking about Circle of Influence, the first of the series. (KM, which book is your club reading? I really should prepare.) No matter what, it won’t be book #9 or #10, which means the plot won’t be entirely fresh in my mind.

Yes, book clubbers, let’s play Stump the Author!

Most of the time, I can fudge my way through a book club. They’ve just read it (or haven’t and aren’t going to), so I let them talk while I just smile and nod a lot. A couple years ago, though, I attended a meeting with an especially engaged group of readers who devoured the book and questioned me about every detail. One very nice woman asked me about something that had tripped her up. It’s entirely possible I’d mistakenly left something out. (Not exactly a case of the same character in two different places at the same time, but along those lines.) No one had ever asked me about it before. All I could do was sit there with my mouth open and admit I had no idea.

Yep. I lost that round of Stump the Author. But then again, I really suck at the game.

To all my fellow multi-published author friends, do you ever get completely befuddled about what happened in which book? Have readers confronted you with a question that stumps you? Please say yes. I’d hate to think I’m the only one!

Why I Love Book Clubs by Gloria Alden

I belong to two book clubs. The first one I joined was in the fall of 2006. It was a new book club started by Carol Baker, the local librarian, and we met in a café with lunches and antiques and crafts for sale. It was called The Brew Basket. I think the first book picked was To Kill a Mockingbird, but I didn’t keep a record then.

Eventually, Carol couldn’t be with us because government funding for the library was cut back. She still had another book club at the library. We met there every third Thursday for several years until the Brew Basket went out of business. Then we went to several other restaurants for a while and finally ended up at Roby Lee’s, a larger restaurant where we had more room and where we still meet at 11:00 a.m. on the third Thursday of each month, except when one of our members has us meeting up at her cottage on Lake Erie in July.

Then in December, we meet at my house and each of our members comes with two or three books for us to pick from for the following year for January to November. The extra books are added to a list for anyone to read after they’ve read that month’s book. We have a potluck meal at my house, too.

When we meet at Roby Lee’s, we discuss the book-of-the-month and then some of us stay for lunch, some order take-out, or some, like me, order the meal for takeout, but stay there to eat from the salad bar, which is really good and includes soup, dessert, and delicious small slices of white pizza. Carol Baker is retired now and has joined us again. The waitresses who takes care of us always bring coffee or tea and fresh baked bread with butter to nibble on while we’re discussing the book or talking about what has gone on in our lives since the last time we met.

The other book club I joined was the Red Read Robin. It was started in February 2008 and meets on the last Thursday of the month at 6:00 p.m. It’s a larger book club with over half of the members related to each other and at least half of them go to the same Mass I go to. We sit together. This book club is held in a member’s home where she prepares the meal, or if the member for some reason can’t or doesn’t want to have it in their home, they pick a restaurant for us to meet in and usually bring some little gift to give us. One of my best friends has a small house and a husband with a disability so she always chooses a restaurant. The hostess of the month always serves wine with the meal, too. We just celebrated our tenth year this past month. This book club always has wine with the meal, too. The first book that was chosen for that book club was also To Kill a Mockingbird. Only three members have dropped out, not because they didn’t like us, but because they were too busy like Erin, who is a teacher and just had her second child, an adorable baby girl, and an older son, who is now in kindergarten. Her husband is also a teacher and both of them have lots of papers to grade. Another member moved back to her hometown in PA, and only comes once in a while because of the distance to drive at night. Two of our members live at fifty miles away so don’t come quite as often, and when it’s their turn to have the book club, they have it on a Saturday afternoon so no one has to drive the distance after dark

My love of belonging to book clubs, which have so many positive aspects. First, it’s interesting to hear everyone’s opinions of a book you’ve just read. Some really liked it. Some had a few complaints and then there’s one member who often hated the book, which is kind of upsetting for the hostess of the book club that night who picked the book.

Second, it’s fun to be with fellow book lovers, who have become my friends over the years I’ve belonged to both book clubs.

Third, I’m introduced to books I might never have heard of or particularly wanted to read. I’m a big mystery fan and read more mysteries than anything else, but it’s good for everyone to read other books, too. There have only been a few over the years that I didn’t like, but that is because the person who picked the book didn’t bother to read it first. I often pick a good mystery, or a book I’d read in the other book club and enjoyed.

Do you belong to a book club?

If not would you like to belong to one?

WHY I LOVE BOOK CLUBS by Gloria Alden

Some of the members of Red Read Robin book club.

I belong to two book clubs. The first one I joined in the fall of 2006, a new and started by Carol Baker, the local librarian. We met in a café which sold lunches and antiques and crafts. I think the first book picked was To Kill a Mockingbird, but I didn’t keep a record then.

Eventually, Carol couldn’t lead us because government funding for the library was cut back. She still had another book club at the library. We met there every third Thursday for several years until The Brew Basket went out of business. Then we went to several other restaurants for a while and finally ended up at Roby Lee’s a larger restaurant where we had more room and where we still meet at 11:00 a.m. the Third Thursday of each month except when one of our members has us meeting at her cottage on Lake Erie in July.

In December we meet at my house and each of our members brings two or three books for us to pick from for the following year for January to November. The extra books are added to a list for anyone to read after they’ve read that month’s book. We have a pot luck meal at my house, too.

When we meet at Roby Lee’s we discuss the book of the month and then some of us stay for lunch, some order take-out, or some like me order the meal for takeout, but stay there to eat from the salad bar which is really good and includes soup, dessert, and delicious small slices of white pizza. Carol Baker is retired now and has joined us again. The waitresses who take care of us always bring coffee or tea and fresh baked bread with butter to nibble on while we’re discussing the book or talking about what has gone on in our lives since the last time we met.

The other book club I joined was the Red Read Robin. It started in February 2008.. It’s a larger book club with over half of the members related to each other and at least half of them go to the same Mass I go to, and we sit together. With that one it is held in a member’s home where she prepares the meal, or if the member for some reason can’t or doesn’t want to have it in their home, they pick a restaurant for us to meet in and usually bring some little gift to give us. One of my best friends has a small house and a husband with a disability so she always chooses a restaurant. The hostess of the month always serves wine with the meal, too. We just celebrated our tenth year this past month.  

The first book that was chosen for that book club was also To Kill a Mockingbird. Only three members have dropped out not because they didn’t like us, but because they were too busy like Erin, who is a teacher and just had her second child an adorable baby girl and a son who is now in kindergarten. Her husband is also a teacher and both of them have lots of papers to grade. Another member moved back to her hometown in PA, and only comes once in a while because of the distance to drive at night. Two of our members live fifty miles away so don’t come quite as often, and when it’s their turn to have the book club they have it on a Saturday afternoon so no one has to drive the distance after dark

My love of belonging to book clubs has so many positive aspects. First, it’s interesting to hear everyone’s opinions of a book you’ve just read. Some really liked it. Some had a few complaints and then there’s one member who often hates the book which is kind of upsetting for the hostess of the book club that night who picked the book.

Second, it’s fun to be with fellow book lovers, who have become my friends over the years I’ve belonged.

Third, I’m introduced to books I might never have heard of or particularly wanted to read. I’m a big mystery fan and read more mysteries than anything else, but it’s good for everyone to read other books, too. There have only been a few over the years that I didn’t like, but that is because the person who picked the book didn’t bother to read it first. I often pick a good mystery, or a book I’d read in the other book club and enjoyed.

 

The two books I’ve read this month are The House Without a Key a Charlie Chan Mystery by Earl Derr Biggers.

He was born in Warren, Ohio, the capital of the county I live in. All the libraries in the county are featuring this book this month. He was born in 1884, and died in 1933 of a heart attack at the age of 48. He was a playwright and novelist, His greatest success was with his series of Charlie Chan detective novels. The popularity of Charlie Chan extended even to China, where audiences in Shanghai appreciated the Hollywood films made by his Charlie Chan mysteries. This is the first one of the series I read and enjoyed it enough to want to read more. He was posthumously inducted into the Warren City Schools Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. This book was chosen by one of the members of my Red Read Robin book club.

Earl Derr Bigger

The other one is When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi . It’s a memoir he started writing when he was diagnosed with a life threatening cancer. He writes about his childhood, about going to college to become a doctor and changing his mind on what kind of doctor he wanted to become. It covers his years as a student and an intern.

He eventually became a neurosurgeon at Stanford and operated on brains. He was married to Lucy and he is facing his own death shortly after becoming a father, but still he continues with his job as long as possible. He died in March of 2015 while still working on this book surrounded by his large loving family, including his wife and their daughter.  His wife wrote the epilogue to the book. He was a beautiful, caring man who gave his all to his patients.

Paul with his wife Lucy

Paul with his daughter shortly before he died.

Two comments on the book “Rattling, heartbreaking, and ultimately beautiful, the too young Dr. Kalanithi’s memoir is proof that the dying are the ones who have the most to teach us about life.” Atul Gawande

“Thanks to When Breath Becomes Air, those of us who never met Paul Kalanithi will both mourn his death and benefit from his life. This is one of a handful of books I consider to be a universal donor – I would recommend it to anyone, everyone.”  Ann Patchett

I agree with these two comments.

Do you belong to a book club?

If not would you like to belong to one?

Are you interested in reading either one of these two books?

More on Creating Characters

Three members of the Red Read Robin Book Club

Last week one of my book clubs, The Red Read Robins, met at my house for dinner, wine and a book discussion. Since I was the hostess, I chose the book, The Silence of Murder, an Edgar Award winner by Dandi Daley Mackall. After dinner, we gathered in my living room and I started the discussion by choosing one character at a time to discuss. The book revolved around Jeremy, Hope’s eighteen year old brother on trial for murder. Jeremy doesn’t talk so he couldn’t defend himself. I saved him for last. First we discussed the protagonist, a sixteen year old girl named Hope. Since it was written in first person, she and her feelings and thoughts made her more knowable to us, and we got to know Jeremy from her thoughts about him. We all liked Hope and thought she was a strong character.

Next we discussed Hope’s mother, Rita. No one liked her and some totally hated her. A good mother, she was not. I asked them to think about why she was the way she was. I pointed out she’d gotten pregnant when she was fifteen or sixteen and left town as soon as she realized she was with child. I pointed out how hard it would have been to support herself and her baby that young without a high school diploma or family. Yes, she had a series of boyfriends including one who was Hope’s father. Jeremy was the one she’d been pregnant with when she left town. Rita brought her children back to Grain, the town she grew up in. Her parents were dead and she had no siblings. She worked off and on as a waitress for a guy who’d had a high school crush on her. Rita had developed a serious alcohol problem trying to cope with life. In fact, Hope was the only responsible member of this small family since Jeremy was a dreamer and Rita often drunk. I don’t think I elicited much if any sympathy for Rita although I tried.

We discussed each of the two boys in Hope’s life; TJ, a nerdy kid who’d been her friend since she’d moved to Grain, and Chase, a handsome, popular boy who spent his summers in Grain with his father, the local sheriff. Everyone was sympathetic with the two boys even over some of their behaviors. No one liked Sheriff Wells, the nasty guy in the piece, but I tried to show what might have made him the way he was. Chase’s mother had run off with another man and ended up with several more including a very wealthy one. Apparently Sheriff Wells never dated another woman. Also, his son looked more like his mother than the sheriff which might have had something to do with his being hard on his son.

Jeremy was the beautiful and unusual character in the book. The evidence for him being the murderer of a popular coach was strong and being a selective mute, (an early trauma had him stop talking), he did nothing to defend himself. Only Hope believed in his innocence and she worked hard to prove it. Much of the book revolved around the trial and how the prosecutor tripped up even those who had good things to say about Jeremy. Everyone in my book club loved Jeremy, a kind and gentle person. The book’s climax couldn’t be beat in my opinion, and the others agreed and was glad I’d chosen it.

That night I got to thinking of our discussion after I went to bed, and how everyone enjoyed the book, but had no sympathy for several characters; Rita and Sheriff Wells, and although they weren’t exactly likeable characters, I thought about how Mackall  made them characters who weren’t flat stereotypical characters. (I actually read the book three times since I’d chosen it for my other book club, too. They also loved it.) It might have been from reading it three times, or because I’m a writer and as a writer, I want to know my characters more, even the ones who turn out to be murderers. I don’t care about the postmistress who makes walk on appearances, or Belle from Belle’s Diner, and a few other background scenery type characters, although down the road I may develop them more. Who knows? My victims are never developed enough for me to care about murdering them and probably no one else does either, but I want to know why my murderer does what s/he did? What drove them to murder? Actually, I develop my murderer enough that I always feel a little sad making them the murderer. In fact, in my latest book I switched murderers because I couldn’t bear to use the original one as a murderer anymore.

I’m not a Pollyanna seeing only good in people. Over the years there’ve been plenty of people I didn’t care for, but that doesn’t mean they were evil or bad. It was more a personality difference. I’m flawed and everyone I know is flawed even if I never see it or overlook it because it’s not that important to me. Since everyone has their flaws that should be part of the characters we create. Except for some psychopath or sociopath or a few other truly evil people, there is usually something good about everyone and should show up in our characters, too. Okay, I’ll admit there was absolutely no redeeming attribute about my latest victim, but I hope my readers think better of my murderer, at least.

Who are some of your favorite characters?

What about them drew you to them?

Were they a character you created or one in a book you read?