By Chester Campbell
I've always been a big fan of Robbie Burns (his family was a sept of the Campbell Clan) and often quote snippets from his poems. One I particularly like and even put in a book (don't ask which one) is the famous line from "To a Mouse":
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley
You probably don't need Bill Kirton to translate that into "the best-laid plans of mice and men often go astray."
Which is by way of introduction to the fact that I had planned to write something quite scintillating today, but it's simply too danged hot to scintillate. I don't want to be guilty of throwing off sparks and starting a forest conflagration. So I'll confine myself to something more subdued, like a little history lesson. Maybe not as fascinating as Leighton Gage's explanation of why Brazilians speak Portuguese, but historical nonetheless.
Early in the summer of 2008, I thought it would be neat to join this blogging business that had begun to ramp up among mystery writers. I approached my colleague Ben Small, and he agreed it would be a cool thing to do. We needed a lineup of writers to cover the week days. Ben recruited a fellow former Durban House author, Mark Danielson, and I brought in fellow writers group member Beth (now Jaden) Terrell. Scouting around, we found Jean Henry Mead was also interested.
On July 15, 2008, Murderous Musings kicked off with Ben's lighthearted look at why we are so fascinated with murder. He has contributed many humorous pieces over the years. The following month, we added Pat Browning for a Saturday blog, and the six of us (with an occasional guest) kept contributing weekly articles for the next couple of years.
About the time last year's summer began to cool, some of us decided it would be nice to expand our roster to the point we would only need to blog twice a month instead of weekly. So we scouted about and began to pick up an interesting lineup of writers. You can see the shining faces of those we added in the photo montage above and at right. In the process, we became international with Bill Kirton in Scotland and Leighton Gage in Brazil. Carola Dunn is from England but now lives in Oregon. For awhile we also had Yrsa Sigurdartter from Iceland, but she found it too burdensome with everything else on her plate. We also lost Pat Browning along the way.
Our readership has grown steadily over time. So far this month, we have averaged 121 unique visitors a day. Several days brought more than 200. As you can see from the Statcounter figure on the blog, more than 105,775 people have visited Murderous Musings over the past three years. Thanks for coming, and please join us again.
Incidentally, if you're wondering about the title of this piece, it's from the old Harry Trumanism,"if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." And it's getting warmer in my office, so I'm outta here.
Also visit me at Mystery Mania
Showing posts with label Robert Burns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robert Burns. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Plot Ideas: Where They Lead
Authors are fond of saying, in answer to the inevitable question, that ideas for stories can be found anywhere. In an interview here the other day, Michelle Gagnon said she got the inspiration for her book Boneyard while doing research on Ted Bundy. I came up with the idea for my first published mystery on a trip to the Holy Land.
True, the world is a cornfield of plot kernels, but what happens after we pick a few? As Bobby Burns put it so aptly many years ago, the best laid plans "gang aft agley." Or often go askew. My colleague here, Ben Small, started working on his latest mystery by setting it in southern Arizona near the Mexican border. But before he got too far along, he took a trip to the Dalmation Coast and changed gears.
What makes us choose one subject over another? For me, part of it is probably laziness. I normally do research as the story unfolds in the computer. When I got into Secret of the Scroll, I found myself doing a prodigious amount of research in libraries and bookstores, online and elsewhere. The second book in the series involved a high-rise condo, which required delving into construction techniques, as well as pursuing information relating to the murder.
By the third book, I looked for more familiar themes that wouldn't require so much digging. I chose to stay close to Nashville, where I had grown up, worked as a newspaper reporter, and spent most of my life. I chose a plot that blended a lot of my experiences, such as an involvement in rental properties and a military background. I used the Opryland Hotel for the murder scene since I had been there many times and my son had worked there and knew a lot of inside stuff.
A modest amount of research was still required, of course. I had to bone up on the Federal Reserve chairman (who I killed off in the book), and a brief interview with a restaurant manager provided all I needed to know about waiters handling dinner checks. A ride-along with a homicide detective filled in some blanks for a key character in the book.
For the fourth book, I chose a subject that was easily covered by a couple of visits to the restored Marathon Motor Works buildings just beyond downtown Nashville. Most of the other details came from my long experience in working around the city. One fun part was researching Trousdale County, a small county to the northeast, and visiting the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation headquarters in preparation for including a TBI agent in the story.
By the fifth book, I had pretty well honed my plot choice style and picked up a ready-made story from a PI friend who told me about a case she had worked. It worked for me. Except for a couple of visits to a small town nearby, where a key element of the plot (a massive toxic chemical dump) was set, I did most of my research on the Internet. I practically Googled the book.
With number six, I'm pulling most of it out of my head. I've used the Internet a lot and pursued only one interview. Since the other books had occured in spring, summer, and fall, I wanted this one set around Christmas. I wasn't sure how to work that in, but it came along when I needed it.
To me, the fun part of writing is watching the story pour out with hardly any idea of where it's coming from. I guess I'll keep doing it as long as it remains fun to do.
True, the world is a cornfield of plot kernels, but what happens after we pick a few? As Bobby Burns put it so aptly many years ago, the best laid plans "gang aft agley." Or often go askew. My colleague here, Ben Small, started working on his latest mystery by setting it in southern Arizona near the Mexican border. But before he got too far along, he took a trip to the Dalmation Coast and changed gears.
What makes us choose one subject over another? For me, part of it is probably laziness. I normally do research as the story unfolds in the computer. When I got into Secret of the Scroll, I found myself doing a prodigious amount of research in libraries and bookstores, online and elsewhere. The second book in the series involved a high-rise condo, which required delving into construction techniques, as well as pursuing information relating to the murder.
By the third book, I looked for more familiar themes that wouldn't require so much digging. I chose to stay close to Nashville, where I had grown up, worked as a newspaper reporter, and spent most of my life. I chose a plot that blended a lot of my experiences, such as an involvement in rental properties and a military background. I used the Opryland Hotel for the murder scene since I had been there many times and my son had worked there and knew a lot of inside stuff.
A modest amount of research was still required, of course. I had to bone up on the Federal Reserve chairman (who I killed off in the book), and a brief interview with a restaurant manager provided all I needed to know about waiters handling dinner checks. A ride-along with a homicide detective filled in some blanks for a key character in the book.
For the fourth book, I chose a subject that was easily covered by a couple of visits to the restored Marathon Motor Works buildings just beyond downtown Nashville. Most of the other details came from my long experience in working around the city. One fun part was researching Trousdale County, a small county to the northeast, and visiting the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation headquarters in preparation for including a TBI agent in the story.
By the fifth book, I had pretty well honed my plot choice style and picked up a ready-made story from a PI friend who told me about a case she had worked. It worked for me. Except for a couple of visits to a small town nearby, where a key element of the plot (a massive toxic chemical dump) was set, I did most of my research on the Internet. I practically Googled the book.
With number six, I'm pulling most of it out of my head. I've used the Internet a lot and pursued only one interview. Since the other books had occured in spring, summer, and fall, I wanted this one set around Christmas. I wasn't sure how to work that in, but it came along when I needed it.
To me, the fun part of writing is watching the story pour out with hardly any idea of where it's coming from. I guess I'll keep doing it as long as it remains fun to do.
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