Category Archives: Writing

Writing

Why Readers and Writers Love Mysteries

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

I didn’t become a major mystery fan until near middle age—the time when such writers as Sara Paretsky, Marcia Muller, Sue Grafton, and Margaret Maron were breaking through the male-dominated genre with tough but relatable women detectives.

By the time I decided to switch from writing nonfiction to fiction, the field offered many great models of writers with both professional and amateur sleuths. I chose to join them. You don’t have to write about what you already know, but you better write about what you read.

As the books in my Show Me series have come out, some interviewers have danced around the question of why I write mysteries. The unasked question is why I don’t write literary novels instead. That ignores the fact that the art and craft of the best mystery writers equal that of any other writers.

But the question has forced me to consider why so many people read mysteries—many more than read literary novels—and why I write them. I came up with three reasons.

 

  1. Mysteries challenge readers’ intellect, calling on them to solve a puzzle, analyze information, detect deception. That challenge appeals to every age, every educational level, and both sexes.

As a reader and a writer, I enjoy weaving together apparently unrelated strands to develop a complete picture and come to a conclusion.

2. Mysteries reveal the human psyche—what drives someone to kill, how individuals react in a crisis, and even how good and evil battle within the individual and the society. That sounds pretty grim, but writers often use humor to lighten the situation. On the page and on the street, people really are funny.

The standard form for mysteries is the series. Readers follow these primarily because of the appeal of the ongoing characters. I like writing a series because it allows me to develop characters, to show how crises and relationships change them over time.

  1. Mysteries satisfy the desire for justice, which we often don’t get in life. One way or another, the baddies lose in a mystery.

 

Whatever I’m reading or writing, I want an entertaining story. Mysteries offer that and, quite often, incorporate insightful observations and thoughtful questions. Don’t tell anyone, but they can be downright literary.

—Carolyn Mulford

Fighting the Second-Draft Blues

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

Writing the last word in a first draft brings joy to me and probably every other writer.

Dismay—call it the second-draft blues—follows the celebration. Much work remains to be done. How much? That’s almost impossible to say. Evaluating your own writing is difficult, particularly when you’ve just finished the draft.

That’s why I came up with a way to look at a manuscript objectively and judge how much revision it needs. I developed this visual assessment system years ago and have taught it in numerous nonfiction workshops.

I’ve adapted it for fiction. This week I shared the highlights on former judge and current mystery writer Debra H. Goldstein’s blog: https://debrahgoldstein.wordpress.com/2016/03/28/guest-blogger-carolyn-mulford-lookng-at-your-ms.

—Carolyn Mulford

Interview on OmniMysteryNews.com

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

How have your characters developed over time? What’s your writing process? How true are you to the settings in your books?

I answered these and other questions in an online interview conducted by Lance Wright, editor of OmniMysteryNews.com.

Here’s part of my answer about the setting of the Show Me series: “I created a county in northern Missouri that resembles the one where I grew up. In a fictional place, no one can complain that a business was portrayed as a crime scene or a street runs the wrong direction. In made-up Vandiver County, real regional expressions and attitudes reveal the subculture. The setting functions as a character.”

By the way, I named the county after Congressman Willard D. Vandiver, the man responsible for Missouri becoming known as the Show-Me state. In 1899, he said, “I come from a country that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I’m from Missouri. You have got to show me.”

To read the entire interview, go to http://www.omnimysterynews.com/2016/01/a-conversation-with-mystery-author-carolyn-mulford-5F6F5130.html.

—Carolyn Mulford

Deciding What to Write Next

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

After working on a manuscript almost a year, I’m waiting for my two chapter-by-chapter readers’ to offer comments on a one-gulp read before doing the final polish. This gives me time to start catching up on repairs (e.g., hinges on cabinet doors), life-business tasks (e.g., comparing rates for car insurance), and cleaning (e.g., the whole house).

More important to me, the short break gives me an opportunity to decide what to write next.

For three years I’ve concentrated on the Show Me mystery series. The latest manuscript completes a five-book arc. In the six months covered in the books, my major characters’ lives have changed significantly. Before I build a new three-book arc (three more years of work), I need a break.

Short stories?

A short project appeals to me. Short stories? Not my favorite medium, but I’ve used them before to explore the desirability of characters and situations for novels. One idea I really like could become a series of hefty short stories rather than a novel.

If I opt to go that route, I won’t seek a publisher, a time-consuming, frustrating, and likely fruitless process. Instead I’ll publish each short story online and, if readers like them, eventually turn the collection into a volume.

One idea that intrigues me is writing a short story from the point of view of Achilles, the Belgian Malinois popular with readers of the Show Me mysteries. Maybe I’ll try one short and, if it works, test it on my website as a free read. Or perhaps turn it into a children’s book.

Historicals for young readers?

Another possibility is to write more MG/YA historical novels. These run a third to a half as many words as the adult books and take less time to write and revise. For several years, I’ve been thinking about an MG/YA set during World War II. Or I could do a sequel to The Feedsack Dress, which many readers have loved, or to Thunder Beneath My Feet, which will be released in January.

Historical novels require considerable historical research. The libraries here provide excellent resources, and I enjoy digging into the past. On the other hand, research adds one to three months of work time to a manuscript.

Revise an earlier manuscript?

During another break several years ago, I pulled out the manuscript of The Feedsack Dress and revised it with the help of my critique group. Then I sold it.

I’ve learned a lot as I’ve written the Show Me series. Enough to turn an earlier manuscript into a viable series opener? Even a major revision would take much less time than writing a book-length manuscript from scratch. If, upon rereading the old manuscript, I still like my characters and plot, I’ll give the manuscript another chance at life.

Stay tuned. I’m determined to plunge into a new project by Labor Day.

—Carolyn Mulford

The Lull Before the Final Draft

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

Years of editing others’ work taught me that even good writers can’t see their own mistakes, particularly the big ones. Years of editing my own work proved I’m as fallible as other writers.

I also learned to guard against one particular problem in my own writing: failing to go far enough in fixing a problem. If I write a scene wrong the first time around, for example, my first or second revision may not get it right. So after I’ve completed a draft with advice from my chapter-by-chapter critiquers and revised accordingly, I ask two to four people to read the manuscript as though it were a book they checked out of the library.

I don’t ask these readers about specific things that may be wrong. That draws their attention to a single aspect rather than the whole. Instead I ask a few general questions, including the following.

Did you become bored anywhere?

Did anything confuse you?

When did you know who done it?

Could you keep the characters straight?

If you’d checked this out of the library, would you have finished it? If not, where would you have stopped reading.

Most people ignore these questions until after they’ve read the manuscript. And sometimes forever. That’s fine with me. Whatever feedback I receive is helpful.

While they’re reading, I take a mental vacation from the book. In the last stages of the first draft and in the immediate follow-up revision, I think about the manuscript day and night. I need to distance myself from it so that I can come back with a fresh, more objective view.

Doing something completely different helps. A change of environment, as in a short trip, works well. During this lull before the tackling the final draft, I’ve been updating my website, working on my neglected lawn, and preparing a book talk.

One reader’s report has come in. The manuscript reads fast, the complicated plot doesn’t confuse, the characters are distinctive. As usual, however, I still have one important problem to fix in the final draft.

—Carolyn Mulford

Draft 1 Done; Now for Draft 2

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

Today I finished the first draft of the fifth book in my Show Me series. It runs 89,003 words.

My two invaluable critique partners have been commenting on each chapter as I wrote draft 1. They notice every questionable word and comma, illogical behavior or plot twist, information dump or lack of clarity.

I’ll probably cut about 2,000 words from draft 1 by weeding out paragraphs with unnecessary information, interactions with little point, jokes that don’t work, descriptions readers don’t need, and other distractions.

A big concern on draft 2 is checking for consistency, particularly in descriptions of setting and characters and in the way each character speaks. I also will make sure of consistency of spelling in such terms as dog walker/dogwalker.

The manuscript won’t get a lot shorter because I’ll look for places where I need to add or alter descriptions and dialogue to give depth to characters. Now that I’ve reached the end of the book, I know the new characters much better and can reveal them to readers in subtle ways I couldn’t when I first met them.

When I finish draft 2, I’ll give the manuscript to trusted readers who haven’t seen it before. They give me mostly big-picture feedback on plot and characters and comments on places they find hard to follow, slow, or even particularly entertaining.

Then I’m ready to do the final draft, the one in which I polish every chapter, page, paragraph, sentence, and word. I’ll read portions aloud as I go, and finally I’ll read the whole thing aloud. I always hear places where the cadence is off, a word has been overused, too many sentences have the same structure, a word has been left out or inserted or misspelled. I even find missing periods.

Draft 1 is done. On to draft 2.

—Carolyn Mulford

Another Five-Book Day

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

The most common questions readers (and many writers) ask me are:

When and where do you write?

How many words do you write a day?

How long does it take you to finish a book?

Those simple questions have complicated answers, and today is a good example of why.

As usual, my writing day began in early morning. I’m finishing the first draft of Show Me the Door, and I wake up thinking about what’s going to happen.

My priority for the day, however, was writing a disguised bibliography for Thunder Beneath My Feet. I need to deliver it, a bio, and a couple other little things to the publisher by Friday. I started on the bibliography about 8 a.m., sorting my long-neglected files in the living room so I wouldn’t have to spread them out in my office.

Nuggets I’d saved came to light, giving me a possible start on planning a sequel and ideas on promotion. The research done and content choices made, I spent most of the morning in writing the two-page piece.

After a lunch/news break, I edited that and the three other shorts and emailed them to my critiquers for comment.

Around 2:30 I made a quick trip to the pharmacy to renew a prescription. With the traffic light, I thought about when to write and post a blog about the June release of the paperback edition of Show Me the Murder. My copies arrived yesterday.

Back at home, I relaxed in my recliner with pad and pencil to make notes for a crucial interrogation in Chapter 26 of Show Me the Door.

 Back to the office to read comments on my Thunder notes, followed by a supper/news break in front of the TV, an errand, and back to the office to read critiquers’ comments and revise the bibliography.

About 9:30 p.m. I did a quick email check. The prize: the Five Star designer’s image of the cover of Show Me the Ashes. Huge relief. I like it. I really like it. I sent the editor an email saying so.

By golly, I thought. That makes five books I’ve worked on today, each one at a different stage in the writing-publishing-marketing continuum. I should blog about that.

I don’t know how many words I wrote or how many total hours I spent or what percentage of my work time I spent in bed, in the living room, in the office, or moving around. I do know I had a productive day.

It’s 10:30 p.m., and I’m tired.

—Carolyn Mulford

My Personal Research Library

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

Most writers build up a personal library for their major projects. Three other mystery writers—Laura Bradford/Elizabeth Lynn Casey, Laura Lebow, and

Sujata Massey—and I will share what we keep at hand during a panel on research at Malice Domestic, a national annual conference for mystery readers and writers.

Here are some titles on my shelves.

Crime and Investigation

Two books I’ve used for years are Forensics and Fiction: Clever, Intriguing, and Downright Odd Questions From Crime Writers and Murder and Mayhem by D. P. Lyle, M.D. The cardiologist and author answers mystery writers’ medical and post-death questions, providing essential details and ideas for ways to kill characters. He also takes questions at http://www.dplylemd.com.

One of my favorite books on police work is Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide for Writers, by Lee Lofland, a former police officer. He shows and tells the basics writers need to know even if writing about amateur sleuths. See http://www.leelofland.com.

Other books I open from time to time are Complete Idiot’s Guide to Criminal Investigation, by Alan Axelrod and Guy Antinozzi; Crime Scene, by Cyril H. Wecht, M.D.: Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science, by Richard Saferstein;

Scene of the Crime: A Writer’s Guide to Crime-Scene Investigations, by Anne Wingate; and The Writer’s Complete Crime Reference Book, by Martin Roth.

While writing Show Me the Ashes (coming December 2015), I relied heavily on Practical Fire and Arson Investigation, by John J. O’Connor.

Useful References

I have numerous books that don’t concern crime but help me in creating setting. With almost every mystery I study the illustrations in American Shelter, by Lester Walker, to create the layout and exterior of homes.

Two other books that receive frequent use are Know Your Antiques, by Ralph and Terry Kovel, and Reader’s Digest’s Nature in America: Your A-to-Z Guide to Our Country’s Animals, Plants, Landforms and Other Natural Features. 

Among the other books I dip into occasionally are those on cooking, history, art, and foreign languages.

Tip: Buy references books at library book sales and from used book stores.

The CIA

In developing the character of former CIA covert operative Phoenix Smith, I read a number of books on the CIA, including these autobiographies: Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy, by Lindsay Moran; Denial and Deception: An Insiders View of the CIA from Iran-Contra to 9/11, by Melissa Boyle Mahle; and Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, by Valerie Plame Wilson.

Other Resources

I own a large collection of books on writing and editing in general and a small collection of how-to books on writing mysteries. For a short list that I posted a couple of years ago, go to Show Me the Mysteries, Writing Tips and Resources.

You can’t find everything on the Net, and some books you want to reach out and pick up whenever a question arises.

—Carolyn Mulford

The Fun Starts Before the Writing Begins

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

This is part of the September 2014 Sisters in Crime (SinC) Blog Hop. Authors answer one of several questions. I chose to write about what part of the writing process I enjoy most.

The writing process breaks into three parts: coming up with the idea, writing the first draft, and revising until ready for readers.

Each part of the process delights and frustrates me because each one stimulates a different part of my intellect and emotions. For plain old fun and excitement, though, nothing beats that first step of choosing a story’s building blocks—usually who, what, and where.

Any of the three may spark an idea, but most sparks soon go out. Writing an 85,000-word mystery takes real commitment. My enduring ideas integrate characters, plot, and setting into a story I can’t resist telling either because I can’t imagine how it will end or, more often with mysteries, because I can imagine the ending but not how the characters will get there. Whichever it is, if I don’t think the journey will entertain and satisfy me, I won’t put words on paper.

Here’s how the three building blocks came together for my Show Me series. The idea for the protagonist sprang from a news story about an outed CIA covert operative, drew on my personal experiences in living abroad, and crystallized as I planned to move back to my home state, Missouri, after being away for decades. I had my major ongoing characters and the setting in a struggling rural county.

What took more time was working out a plot that fit the major characters and the setting. I don’t know either the people or where they live thoroughly until I’ve written many pages, of course, and they change somewhat from book to book, but I had to acquaint myself with their goals, flaws, and major personality traits before I wrote the first words of Show Me the Murder.

Some writers know their characters instantly because they and their friends are the characters. I don’t find myself interesting enough to appear in my fiction. While some of my friends and family members would qualify, I wouldn’t expose what makes them so interesting to the world. I create my characters from scratch, blending pieces of hundreds of people I’ve known to create complicated beings who intrigue and amuse me. I revel in exploring the motivations, reactions, and attitudes  of those who come to life on the page.

I approach setting in much the same way. I don’t stage a crime in a real place, but I try hard to reflect the region’s cultural and economic environment, including speech patterns and attitudes.

Ideas for plots often come from conversations with people around me and the local news. That includes not just crimes (e.g., meth cooking and importation in Show Me the Murder and rustling in Show Me the Deadly Deer) but economic and social problems (e.g., elder abuse in Show Me the Gold and racism in Show Me the Ashes, the upcoming books in the series).

Another factor to consider is whether the characters and setting will foster plots that will interest me, and readers, over several books. A part of the challenge is to find an idea you can expand on with pleasure and for profit for years.

—Carolyn Mulford

For other SinC Blog Hops, go to Judy Hogan’s  http://postmenopausalzest.blogspot.com (posted September 21, 2014), and Maya Corrigan’s “Writing While I Sleep” at  http://mayacorrigan.com/smorgasblog (postied September 21, 2014).

Judy Hogan Interviews Me on When, Why, How

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

To mark the publication of Show Me the Deadly Deer, novelist/poet/memoirist Judy Hogan interviewed me for her blog, Postmenopausal Zest.

She asked such questions as when I started writing mysteries, why my series features a former spy going after murderers in rural Missouri, and how being a published mystery writer changed my work life.

Like many readers, Judy took special interest in the duality in my protagonist’s character.

Question 13: I’m interested in the psychic mixture in Phoenix Smith, your sleuth.  At times she’s extremely tough to go with an image of a sharp shooter, which she is, but other times she’s so compassionate.  It puzzles me, and I wonder how you think about it?

Phoenix struggles to balance the idealism of her childhood in a small town and the darkness of her adulthood in Cold War Vienna. She grew up with a loving family believing in service and hard work. Her drive, diligence, and intelligence led her to succeed in a harsh world, one in which she lived the double life of an economist dealing with money-obsessed entrepreneurs and bankers in her day job and traitors in her covert work for the CIA. When the cynical adult returns to her hometown, her love for and loyalty to her childhood friend conflict with her cynicism and distrust, and she finds evil as common in Laycock, Missouri, as she has in Eastern Europe. She also sees goodness and generosity of spirit, sometimes where she least expects to find it.

Her duality is a theme in the series. In Show Me the Murder, Phoenix must learn to trust in order to identify the killer. In Show Me the Deadly Deer, she initially regards the investigation as a game, a contest with the killer. (I’ve observed that some police officers work that way.) Then she meets suspects and witnesses affected by the death and becomes, in some instances, a protector. Which was part of her motivation in becoming a covert operative. In the third book, Connie, who isn’t Phoenix’s biggest fan, comments that she has a black walnut shell with a marshmallow interior. Phoenix certainly values justice more than the law.

To read the rest of the interview, go to http://postmenopausalzest.blogspot.com.

—Carolyn Mulford

Ten Common Mistakes New Mystery Writers Make

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

All writers differ, but those writing their first (and maybe second or third) mystery usually make at least two or three of ten common mistakes. I base this list on what I’ve observed in reading other writers’ works in progress and what they’ve said about my manuscripts.

The mistakes vary in the manuscript’s different sections: two to three opening chapters, twenty to thirty middle chapters, and three to five final chapters.

The opening chapters

The hardest and most important section to perfect is the opening. Most agents and editors tell us they won’t read beyond the third page (some not beyond the first paragraph) if the story doesn’t grab them. From what I’ve heard, a majority of readers will give the writer until the end of the first chapter. If you can’t move the professional or the casual reader past the opening chapters, your exciting middle chapters and dynamic ending won’t matter. Watch out for these problems in your opening chapters.

1.   A lengthy backstory

Start your story with a crucial event or action, not your biographical notes on the protagonist. Find the corpse or foreshadow the murder in the first chapter.

Give the necessary backstory in phrases or sentences, not paragraphs or pages. Let actions reveal character and aptitudes. Show your protagonist through others’ eyes.

Set the tone and voice of the entire book in your first chapter.

2.   Long descriptions of the setting or the characters

Find the telling details that put the reader in the time and place.

Give thumbnails of the main characters or settings and add information as needed.

3.   A prologue revealing a dramatic point late in the book

If an event is critical, make it part of chapter one.

If your beginning lacks action or suspense, write a new one.

4.   Multiple characters

Introduce your protagonist immediately so readers identify with that person.

Limit characters to those whom you would remember at a networking event.

The middle chapters

We tend to spend so much time rewriting the opening that we neglect the much longer middle, the heart of the investigation and of character development. By this stage, readers tend to put the book down at the end of a chapter. Each chapter must motivate them to pick up the book again. Writers’ most common mistakes involve pacing.

5.   A lack of action

Something must happen in every chapter. Check that by writing a headline for each chapter.

Continue conflict—in solving the crime, in reaching the protagonist’s goals, in personal and professional interactions.

6.   Clues or characterizations that reveal too much

Present three or four viable suspects and speculate on at least two motives.

Use gray rather than black and white in portraying suspects.

7.   Indistinguishable characters

Give each named character a memorable characteristic—appearance, mannerism, speech pattern, etc.

Make each person’s speech distinctive—vocabulary, grammar, syntax, rhythm.

The final chapters

Those last chapters must evoke emotion and stimulate the intellect. If readers feel cheated because previous chapters haven’t prepared them for the conclusion, confused because the solution lacks clarity, or dissatisfied because characters act out of character, they won’t recommend your book to others or read your next book. Readers’ frustration often comes from the following mistakes.

8.   The first indication of the villain and the motive

Give the reader the facts to solve the crime, but don’t make those obvious.

Plant clues and red herrings throughout the book. Don’t bunch them at the end.

9.   Illogical, coincidental, or incredible solutions

Surprise but satisfy with your solution. You want readers to say, “Oh, yes. Now I get it.”

In fiction, readers expect to receive all the answers. They also expect justice.

10. Villain reveals all

If the bad guy has to explain why and how, rework your plot.

Wrap up all the loose ends, starting with the subplots. (If you’re writing a series, a loose end or two may help propel the reader into your next book).

Avoiding all ten of these mistakes doesn’t mean the author has produced a good manuscript. Making several of them guarantees the manuscript requires a lot of rewriting.

 

 

 

Working with Beta Readers

Carolyn Mulford Posted on by

While writing a book and rewriting trouble spots, I rely on critique partners. When I finish the penultimate draft, I recruit people who read but don’t write mysteries. I give them the manuscript with ten questions and suggest they look at the questions before and after they read. Some answer all questions; some write comments on the manuscript; some write a book report. If possible, I take my beta readers to dinner to discuss the book.

 

The questions serve two purposes:

They cover the general and a few specific things I need to know;

They guide insecure readers and assure them they can give helpful comments.

 

The questions below, written for Show Me the Murder, follow my typical pattern, touching on such key questions as when the reader identified the killer and such specific ones as whether romantic encounters ring true. The questions never give away the plot. 

  1. Was what happened clear? Did you need more explanation of who did it or what Boom had done? Did the plot seem credible as you read it? 
  1. Were any of the characters unbelievable or inconsistent?
  1. When did you know who did it? Whom did you suspect as you were reading?
  1. Did any part of the book seem slow?  Would you have put it down if you’d taken it from the library? Did the book seem long?
  1. Did Phoenix’s scenes with Neil and Stuart ring true?
  1. Could you visualize the settings of the major scenes?
  1. Did you expect to find out who shot Phoenix in Istanbul?
  1. Were the three main characters appealing and believable throughout? How did you like their relationship?
  1. Were there any characters you couldn’t keep straight?
  1. What did you like the most? The least?
—Carolyn Mulford