Author Archives: Carolyn

Starting My New Mystery

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When I turned in Show Me the Gold, the third book in my series, last January, I planned to send Phoenix, Annalynn, and Connie out of town in the next book rather than plague Vandiver County with a new murder. Busy preparing for the February release of Show Me the Murder and going over the editor’s queries for Show Me the Deadly Deer, I stewed about the time and expense of researching that new setting and its subculture.

I woke up one morning with the seed of a new idea: Let Phoenix work on a cold case, one that would put her in conflict with Annalynn. Over two or three weeks I built on this until I was ready to start the prewriting work on my next manuscript, Show Me the Ashes.

Before I write Chapter 1, I do a lot of conceptualizing and research. That doesn’t stop when I put the first scene on the screen. Here’s my basic process.

Step 1: Develop a nebulous idea enough to figure out the major things I’ll need to know and, the big question, what I’ll need to learn to make sure my idea is feasible. I usually end up with about 10 pages of notes on plot, themes, victims, villains, kill methods, and settings.

Step 2: Find key sources, human or written, to give me an overview and, if necessary, direct me to other sources. Often a manuscript requires repeating this step several times.

Usually I begin by searching for information on the Web or in reference books, including those in my own library. As in doing research for articles or other nonfiction material, I prefer to grasp the basics before I question experts. Doing my homework allows me to ask better questions and elicits better answers. That saves time for everyone.

If I know people with vital expertise, I contact them and ask to chat. Maybe I invite them for lunch or a coffee. (Friends tend to tense up if I use the word interview.) I end a chat/interview by asking if I can come back if I have other questions.

Step 3: Determine priorities and set up a rough research schedule. Decide what has to be learned before I start writing (facts affecting the plot) and what can wait (observations of a setting or activity that comes late in the book).

Step 4: Research small, unanticipated questions as I write. Something pops up in almost every chapter. If I can find the information quickly, I may interrupt the writing to do it. If finding the information requires times, I’ll boldface some x’s or a best-guess draft and come back to it later. (After the second draft of the full manuscript, I ask knowledgeable people to check anything questionable.)

 

From the middle of April until the middle of May, attending conferences and preparing workshops and speeches took all my attention. In late May I wrote rough drafts of the first two chapters.

I usually rewrite the early chapters several times before I’m confident I have the right tone and pace. At this stage I’m figuring out any changes in my four regulars’ lives, meeting new characters who are hiding their personalities and motives, and puzzling over how Phoenix will find evidence and evade the inevitable attacks.

Love it.

—Carolyn Mulford

Part 3: Three Writers’ Conferences: Marshall Writers’ Guild

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The Marshall (M0) Writers’ Guild holds an unusual form of annual meeting, one that features a guest writer. Other small local groups may want to consider MWG’s model.

I learned this by serving as the guest writer at the 2013 meeting. I presented a two-hour morning workshop on turning an idea into a book, fiction or nonfiction. Before beginning, I surveyed the twenty or so writers to find out what they’re working on. A surprising number are writing memoirs or history, so I drew most of my examples from my nonfiction work. Participants commented and asked questions as we went along.

Such informal workshops work well at meetings where offering sessions on multiple topics simply isn’t feasible.

After a booksigning and a potluck lunch, this guest writer met individually with several writers to discuss their works in progress. That’s an unusual item on the schedule, but a major reason to meet is to have the opportunity to talk about your lonely occupation with objective peers.

Meanwhile the other writers listened as the brave ones read aloud portions of their manuscripts.

We vacated the hall by 2 p.m., but we’d had a full day. I enjoyed it.

—Carolyn Mulford

 

Part 2: Three Writers’ Conferences: Malice Domestic

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The one conference I go to every year is Malice Domestic, a national celebration of the traditional mystery that meets in the DC area in late April or early May. A spinoff of Sisters in Crime, Malice is heavily skewed toward women crime writers and their predominantly female audience (http://malicedomestic.org).

Although a fan conference, I estimate a third of the attendees are published writers and another third want to be. The readers, many of whom return each year, include librarians, reviewers, teachers, and a mix of other people devoted to mysteries. Malice introduces numerous debut and established writers’ mysteries to this influential readership.

I attended my first Malice some 20 years ago as a mystery reader. I loved listening to authors talk about their books on panels and rubbing shoulders with them between panels. They were much wittier than the nonfiction writers on how-to panels that were my usual conference fare. I didn’t learn a lot about writing mysteries, but I had a great time going to sessions and chatting with people. That enjoyment kept me coming back and encouraged me to begin writing mysteries.

This year I went to Malice as the author of a debut mystery, Show Me the Murder. That meant business trumped pleasure. I went armed with bookmarks and a resolve to promote my new series in sessions and informally.

I’d won one of 42 slots in the lottery to give a two-minute pitch in Friday’s opening event, the Malice-Go-Round. The catch was that I had to give the pitch 20 times at 20 different eight- to ten-person tables in a noisy room. I teamed up with Susan Froetschel, author of Fear of Beauty, a mystery about an illiterate Afghani woman who secretly learns to read in hopes of discovering who killed her son. Our pairing worked out well because our books and pitches were so different that no one confused our books.

The Round tested our voices and challenged us to beat the clock without giving a boring rote pitch. I was surprised how attentive readers were and how many took notes. In that hour and a half, I introduced my book to more people than in all the rest of the conference.

Later I realized that by pitching rather than listening, I had missed Malice’s best opportunity to learn who’s writing and who’s publishing what. Oh, well. You have to sacrifice something.

The rest of the day featured interviews and panels with big-name authors, including Peter Robinson, Laurie King, Laura Lippman, Aaron Elkins, Carolyn Hart, and the Agatha nominees for best novel. Entertaining and thought-provoking.

That afternoon my panel—Kate Carlisle, Peril in Paperback; Judy Hogan, Killer Frost; Maddy Hunter, Bonnie of Evidence—met with super-prepared moderator Patti Ruocco to get acquained before our Sunday session and discuss any uncertainly about our topic, Loveable Sidekicks. Our books and sidekicks vary greatly, so we offered different perspectives. Judy and I are seniors in life experience and juniors in mystery credits, but we functioned as equals on the panel. No one tried to dominate or hog time.

Malice applauds cooperation rather than competition. Most authors don’t need reminders of that, but program czar Barb Goffman reminds moderators to enforce it.

Five panels run concurrently most of Saturday and Sunday morning, often forcing participants to agonize over what to attend. Whatever the topics, the most popular writers draw the biggest crowds.

Malice’s major common events are the new authors’ breakfast (a must), interviews with the stars (always good), the Saturday-night banquet (most exciting for Agatha nominees), and the Sunday afternoon tea (a treat).

Good as the panels and special events are, people come back to Malice year after year to catch up with old friends, meet online friends (notably the Guppies) face to face, and chat with strangers/friends who love mysteries.

No matter how much business you do, attending Malice is a pleasure.

—Carolyn Mulford

 

 

Part 1: Three Writers’ Conferences Serve Different Audiences

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At local meetings and on national listservs, writers often ask for advice about which conferences to attend. Having attended many, I can only say that the best conference depends as much on what the writer seeks as what the conference offers.

This spring, with promoting Show Me the Murder my top priority, I chose three annual conferences serving different audiences:

  • Missouri Writers’ Guild conference for writers with varied interests,
  • Malice Domestic 25 national convention for mystery fans,
  • Marshall (MO) Writers’ Guild workshop for their members.

 

Here, in Part 1, is what the state conference offered.

This estimable annual three-day conference (http://www.missouriwritersguild.org) features solid how-to presentations on topics appealing to beginners and professionals but focusing on writers hovering between those levels. Attendees are serious writers eager to establish careers.

From my conversations and observations, more than half have finished at least one unpublished manuscript (usually a novel) but don’t know much about the route to publication. The self-publishing and social media sessions here (like everywhere else apparently) drew a big crowd.

Many come to the conference hoping to hook an agent or a publisher. Quite a few skipped the how-to seminars to concentrate on pitching to the half dozen East and West Coach agents and regional publishers in scheduled five-minute sessions and in informal conversations. One of the advantages of a relatively small (around 200) conference is that you can sit next to an agent at a meal or corner her (usually not him) in the bar or hall. The toilets are off limits.

Agents who fly from either coast to the heartland usually agree to look at anything that might possibly interest them. And almost every year at least one writer signs with an agent or sells a manuscript to a publisher. Even those who don’t sell get valuable feedback.

This friendly conference also gives writers a chance to socialize, exchange information, and feel part of a community. Writing may be a solitary activity, but networking never hurts.

As for carrying out my special agenda, I handed out bookmarks and a fast pitch for my new mystery series to dozens of writers/readers from around the state.

—Carolyn Mulford

What’s Right About Second Graders’ Writing

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In the 1950s, television threatened to divert children from reading. In the 1990s, the Web tempted tender minds to abandon linear reading and writing. In the last decade, portable multimedia, omnipresent (and often mindless) communication, and misspelled texting further endangered literacy.

Thinking of this descent into darkness, I dreaded opening my assigned selection of second graders’ stories, essays, and poems. I had agreed to comment on their award-winning work during Young Authors’ Day at the University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg. What if their writing was, well, dreadful?

I needn’t have worried. These kids show a surprising grasp of the art of storytelling and the craft of writing. They already perceive these five key factors.

1. Stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

2. You have to grab readers’ attention fast. Otherwise you lose them.

3. The sound and rhythm of the words matter.

4. Readers like to see themselves in the writer’s story, even if the story is about a fox, a wizard, or a mermaid.

5. The right words support the story or theme.

You can bet these second graders like to read. Writers begin, and end, as readers.

—Carolyn Mulford

 

Back to My Roots in Kirksville

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Can you go home again?

I’m going back to my hometown Saturday, April 13, to talk about the origins of my new mystery, Show Me the Murder, and visit from 2-4 p.m. with old and new friends at the Hastings, 1800 North Baltimore, 2-4 p.m.

More to the point: Can a writer ever really leave home?

Wherever I go, I carry my past with me. An unreliable memory may alter and even delete parts of it, but the essence of life experiences remains. No period affects us as much as our early years when we see things for the first time. That’s one reason the protagonist in my mystery series comes back to her hometown after living most of her adult life in Vienna.

Laycock and Vandiver County don’t appear on any Missouri map, but many people who live in Kirksville will find the setting, and the people, familiar.

—Carolyn Mulford

Book Launch at Columbia Books 2 p.m., March 17

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“Made it.”

Those words open Show Me the Murder. The protagonist, a former CIA covert operative, expresses her relief at reaching the sanctuary of her hometown in northern Missouri after surviving a shooting in the Istanbul spice bazaar.

Those words also express my relief that the book, my first published mystery novel, finally is coming to library and store shelves. People will read it for entertainment rather than evaluation.

I invite anyone interested to come celebrate with me at my book launch party at 2 p.m., Sunday, March 17, Columbia Books, 1907 Gordon Street, Columbia, Missouri (off Old 63 North just behind the Westlake’s).

Here’s a little reminder of what some reviewers have said.

Kirkus: “amusing and touching”

Library Journal: “a tightly woven tale”

Gumshoe Review: “appealing characters” and “compelling story”

Myshelf.com: “One of the best books I have read in a long time.”

—Carolyn Mulford

Schedule of Events: March-June 2013

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

Book Launch Party: 2 p.m., Sunday, March 17
Columbia Books, 1907 Gordon Street, Columbia, Missouri
Reading and discussion
Open to all

Young Authors’ Day: 9:30 a.m., Saturday, April 20
University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg
Comments on second graders’ prize-winning work and a writing exercise
The writers and their families

Missouri Writers’ Guild Conference: Friday-Saturday, April 26-27
Sheraton Westport Hotel Lakeside Chalet, St. Louis
Book signing, 4 p.m. Friday, 11:45 a.m., Saturday
Annual regional writers’ conference

Malice Domestic: Friday-Sunday, May 3-5
Bethesda, Maryland
Malice-Go-Round, 10 a.m., Friday
Panel discussion on loveable sidekicks, 9:45 a.m., Sunday
Signing, 10:45 a.m., Sunday
National conference of mystery fans and writers

Marshall Writers’ Guild Annual Meeting: 9:30 a.m., Saturday, May 11
Marshall, Missouri
Guest Writer’s Workshop: Turning Your Idea into a Book

Summer Reading Kickoff, 2:30 p.m., Saturday, May 11
Marshall (MO) Public Library
Talk and signing: Reading for Life
Open to all

Talk and signing: Developing Your Novel Idea, Thursday, June 27
Missouri River Regional Library, Jefferson City, Missouri

 

Reviewer Calls Characters Appealing, Story Compelling

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Dozens of editors and publishers have rejected my nonfiction and (especially) fiction manuscripts over the years, so forgive me if I report some reassuring praise.

In the February issue of Gumshoe Review Magazine of Mystery Literature, reviewer Verna Suit ended her review of Show Me the Murder with, “Phoenix is a can-do heroine and all three of the women are appealing characters. The reader cheers when Annalynn steps up to take control of her life. Plot and setting are convincing and the compelling story keeps one reading. I look forward to finding out what the future has in store for all three of them.”

The 15 other books reviewed in the issue included Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King, Calculated by Death by J.D. Robb, and Buried in a Bog by Sheila Connolly.

To read the full review of Show Me the Murder, go to http://www.gumshoereview.com/php/Review-id.php?id=3558.

—Carolyn Mulford

My Next Big Thing Blog Hop

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Week 32 is my stop on a blog hop set up to help readers discover authors new to them. On each stop, you’ll find an author’s answers to 10 questions about a book or a work in progress and links to three to five other authors. We include behind-the-screen tidbits about why we write and how we choose titles, characters, plots, themes, etc.

My thanks to fellow author Thomas Kaufman for inviting me to participate in this event. To learn more about him and his work, click on this link:  http://thomaskaufman.com.

Here are my answers to the questions of the Next Big Thing.

1: What is the title of your latest book? 

Show Me the Murder, the first in a series, comes out February 15, 2013. The title fits the plot and indicates the Missouri setting, but I arrived at that title only after numerous drafts. I started with a working title of Second Adolescence, an indication of my main characters’ age (mid fifties) and their crises and opportunities. Upheavals in their lives compel the three women to begin again much as they had as teenagers. My critique group hated that title. Several drafts carried the title Phoenix Rises, both an illusion to the protagonist’s first name and to the mythological story of the phoenix rising from the ashes. A lot of other writers liked a similar title. I kept looking.

Show Me is part of the title of each book in the series. The next one is Show Me the Deadly Deer (December 2013).

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

I got the idea from newspaper stories about outed CIA covert operative Valerie Plame during the Bush Administration. Having worked in Vienna during the Cold War, I could imagine the suspicion anyone she knew even casually would face and her anguished desire to protect both CIA contacts and friends. My protagonist, wounded on a post-retirement mission in Istanbul, loses both her day and night careers—and her home in Vienna. I lived in the Washington, D.C., area, but I was preparing to move back to Missouri. That led me to send Phoenix there and to research local problems when I visited there. I was surprised to learn that Missouri ranks at the top in meth use. This easily made, terribly addictive drug ruins many lives and strains the resources of rural law enforcement.

3: What genre does your book come under?

It’s a mystery with a lot of suspense. It cuts across subgenres, with an armed amateur sleuth, a bit of police procedure, and a rural setting often associated with cozies.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Ex-spy Phoenix is brilliant, athletic, and immodest with a well-developed sense of irony and a passion for fairness. She’s a little above average height and wears her black hair short for easy care and quick covering when putting on disguises. One possibility would be Jamie Lee Curtis. Civic leader Annalynn is reserved, aristocratic, and both intimidating and charismatic. She’s tall, wears her long brown hair in a French roll, and remains impeccable at all times. She has the kind of presence that Marcia Cross had on Desperate Housewives but with more warmth. Never-been singer Connie is short, blond, and trim with great warmth and considerable insight. Phoenix complains that Connie is irredeemably perky. Kristin Chenoweth could capture Connie.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? A former covert operative returns to her hometown to relax but instead must use her skills to solve a murder—and to survive.

6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

The publisher, Five Star, is a fiction imprint of Gale, Cengage Learning, a giant in library and education publishing. Five Star distributes through bookstores (including online ones) but emphasizes library sales.

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

The first draft, roughly 123,000 words, took me about a year. The next dozen or so drafts took several years, including breaks for other projects. I cut the manuscript down to 89,000 words and, after several drafts, changed the point of view from third to first person.

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Like every book and every writer, Show Me the Murder is unique. In the decade or so since I became serious about writing mysteries, I have enjoyed reading many mystery writers, among them Barbara D’Amato, Nevada Barr, Robert Crais, Earlene Fowler, Tess Gerritsen, Carolyn Hart, Joan Hess, Tony Hillerman, P. D. James, J. A. Jance, Laura Lippman, Margaret Maron, Grace Miriam Monfredo, Sara Peretsky, Anne Perry, Elizabeth Peters, Nancy Pickard, S. J. Rozen, and Julia Spencer-Fleming.

9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I’ve wanted to write stories since I learned to read. After decades of earning a living writing and editing articles, a wide variety of documents, and a few nonfiction books, I longed to write a novel, to create and populate a world.

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I hope readers will enjoy watching the interactions of three old friends who’ve led very different lives for decades but come together as each faces a crisis. I suspect readers will love the dog, a Belgian Malinois who flunked out of K-9 training. Conceived as a walk-on character, he forced his way into the characters’ lives and my pages. In fiction as in real life, once you name an animal, you belong to it.

On Week 33 of the Next Big Thing, the following four writers will answers these questions on their websites/blogs.

Elaine Douts (writing as E. B. Davis): http://writerswhokill.blogspot.com

Maria Hudgins: http://mariahudgins.com

Karen McCullough: www.kmccullough.com/kblog

Erica Obey: http://ericaobey.net

Please feel free to share your thoughts and questions.

—Carolyn Mulford

Kirkus Reviews Show Me the Murder

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The first review of Show Me the Murder came from Kirkus Reviews, the venerable magazine that carries pre-publication reviews.

The reviewer sums up by writing, “The first in Mulford’s planned series explores the unsettling rise of crime in rural areas and provides an amusing and touching look at the reunited gal pals.”

The magazine reviewed 17 mysteries and 258 other books in the issue. You can read the entire review of Show Me the Murder on the website ((http://www.kirkusreviews.com/search/?q=Show+Me+the+Murder) or on page 33 of the January 1, 2013, issue (Vol. LXXXI, No.1).

The book will be released February 15, 2013.

Book review: Writing Teachers Will Relate to Mystery’s Setting

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Anyone who has taught a basic English or creative writing course will recognize some of the characters and situations in Killer Frost, a debut mystery by Judy Hogan.

Most of the book takes place at a financially and academically distressed historically black college in North Carolina. An idealistic untenured professor wars against the  administration to bring ill-prepared but determined students up to standard and to give gifted ones a chance to soar. He brings in Penny Weaver, a dedicated white writer/teacher, to take over both the remedial and the creative writing classes.

Hogan obviously knows both groups of students well, and some of her best scenes involve teaching rather than detecting. Finding the killer takes second place to rescuing the students from poor teaching, bad conditions, and the burnt-out and corrupt staff.  The victims’ behavior had given faculty and students reasons to want to murder them.

The major subplot revolves around Penny’s disconcerting attraction to the professor who hired her (both are happily married). A more effective subplot involves her difficult relationship with her single-mother daughter.

Some of the numerous characters in Killer Frost live on the page. Unfortunately some students get lost in the classroom, and neighbors overpopulate Penny’s diverse community. Most talk too much and act too little—until the fast-paced climactic scene, which ends with a satisfying twist.

Killer Frost, by Judy Hogan, Mainly Murder Press, 2012, 244 pp., $15.95 in paperback and $2.99 in e-book; ISBN: 978-0-9836823-8-7. For more information about the writer, her work, and where to buy the book, go to http://judyhogan.home.mindspring.com.