Personal Experience Prompted My Historical Novel

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For many years I made my living as a nonfiction writer, striving to gather the essential facts and present material objectively. Then, after traveling around the world, I came home and marveled at how life in rural Missouri had changed. My generation was the last to grow up in a nation made up of small, diversified, family farms, the ones growing most of their own food (vegetables, fruit, and meat) and a variety of crops to feed their animals and to sell for what they couldn’t produce. I wanted to preserve the record of what life had been like in … Continue reading →

Workshop: Writing Your Past Into Fiction

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Our lives are part of the long continuum of human history, but how do you use your tiny fragment in a novel? At 10:30 a.m., Saturday, December 7, I’ll answer that question during a workshop in the Columbia (MO) Public Library. I’ll talk about how I drew on memory, others’ memories, library research, and imagination in writing The Feedsack Dress, an MG/YA novel set in northeast Missouri in 1949. Using short readings, I’ll illustrate such points as incorporating real life into your plot and c haracterizations. We draw on our experience no matter what we write. I’ll touch on how … Continue reading →

Interview Posted on Writers Who Kill

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The upcoming release of Show Me the Deadly Deer prompted E. B. Davis to interview me for a mystery writers’ group blog, Writers Who Kill.   Among the questions E. B. posed were the following. The law enforcement underestimates and undervalues two of your three main characters, which they use to their advantage. If this typical behavior? When it comes to the political arena, your characters show their acumen. Is politics different than law enforcement? Your use of internal dialogue reveals the duplicity and complexity of Phoenix’s life. How do you reveal without over justifying her actions? Do you think … Continue reading →

How JFK’s Assassination Affected Dessie, Ethiopia

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Friday night, November 22, 1963, Dessie, Ethiopia A group of us were chatting at the guys’ house after a tough week of teaching when my housemate, Peace Corps Volunteer Arwilda Bryant, ran in. Everyone shut up as she gasped for breath. Arwilda wouldn’t have come out alone late at night and risked attacks by hyenas or feral dogs without good reason. “Kennedy’s been shot,” she choked out. “I just heard it on the radio.” She told us all she knew: The President had been shot while riding in an open car in Dallas and taken to a hospital. We called … Continue reading →

Ten Common Mistakes New Mystery Writers Make

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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 … Continue reading →

Kindle Edition of Show Me the Murder Released

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In February, Five Star released Show Me the Murder in hardback ($25.95). In September, the publisher released the Kindle edition ($3.19). Buyers save $22.76 on the electronic version! Plus part of a tree. The difference in price amazes me.  I’m tempted to buy the e-book myself. I prefer to read newspapers, magazines, and (especially) books on paper. When I went to China, I took a Kindle with a small library on it. The Kindle provided entertainment (and language training) on the endless airplane flights. At home I reach for paper first. I hope I’m never desperate enough for reading material … Continue reading →

Working with Beta Readers

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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 … Continue reading →

Tips for Assessing Your Own Manuscript

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Every writer turns into an editor at some point, but finding the weaknesses in your own manuscript challenges any writer. Years ago I developed a visual assessment system to help freelance writers evaluate short nonfiction work quickly and objectively. This week I’m serving on a panel at Killer Nashville called Be Your Own Editor. I’ve expanded my assessment system into the handout below to help novelists spot problems and begin solving them. 1. Riffle or scroll through your entire manuscript.      If pages look gray, expect poor paragraphing, long descriptions, info dumps. Watch for long sections with lots of dialogue or … Continue reading →

Schedule of Events: August-September 2013

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Putting Our Past into Fiction: Memory Is Not Enough 10 a.m., Friday, August 2 Columbia Senior Activity Center, 1121 Business Loop 70, Columbia Open to all Be Your Own Editor: Make Your Book the Best It Can Be panel; 2:10 p.m., Friday, August 23 Killer Nashville, Hutton House Hotel, Nashville Open to conference registrants Using Sidekicks and a Supporting Cast to Drive Plot and Reveal Character panel; 11:20 a.m., Sunday, August 25 Killer Nashville, Hutton House Hotel, Nashville Open to conference registrants Discussion of Show Me the Murder 3 p.m., Saturday, September 7 AAUW Book Group, West Broadway Hy-Vee, Columbia … Continue reading →

Moving Book 4 to Phase 2

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The writing of Show Me the Ashes, the fourth book in my mystery series, has been going slowly. Opening chapters always take me roughly a third longer than the middle ones and twice as long as the last ones. In the beginning, I’m creating new characters and settings, struggling to drop in essential backstory for new readers without boring old ones or slowing the narrative, and revealing just enough about the crime that will be solved in the next-to-last chapter. Rewriting Chapter 6 a week ago, I realized I had to shift gears. I had been working from a one-page … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →