A Weird Kind of Storyboarding

by Jackie King

The amount of time it took me to write my second Grace Cassidy mystery, THE CORPSE WHO WALKED IN THE DOOR, was downright embarrassing. To avoid this with my third in the series, I researched storyboarding and plotting. Then I told anyone who would listen that I would block out each and every scene before I typed one word in my third Grace Cassidy mystery.

Well, I lied!

Sorry about that.

My intentions, as always, were pristine. (And, yes. I do know the name of the road that’s lined with good intentions. My mother explained all of that to me when I was 13.)

But in my own defense, is it my fault that the headlights of my brain only show me a tiny stretch of the road ahead? (You can blame God, if you like, since he created me. But first you should know that He and I have already agreed that He’s always going to be right, no matter how good of an argument I manage to offer.)

I began my storyboard for my 3^rd Grace Cassidy mystery in good faith. I bought a bulletin board at Walmart for ten bucks, came home with my purchase and marked it into four sections with masking tape. Feeling very self-righteous and completely sure of my success in this project, I started making plot points on index cards, as I’d always done.

This grew old in a hurry. My fingers started to cramp. (I'm an old girl, after all.) Then it occurred to me that I could type much faster than I could write in longhand. So I finished my notes on Word. Then I changed the margins so I could cut each note into an index-card size. These I pinned to the board.

The first section was filled, when suddenly the characters sprang to life and started talking inside my head. The problem was, they said what they wanted to say, not what I had planned. And since I’m sort of a wishy-washy person, I didn’t argue with them, but just followed blindly. (For some weird reason there seems to be a sort of magic connection between my fingers and the story. I’d be a real bust at dictating).

I’m still convinced that storyboarding is the right way to go and might save me a year of rewrites. Therefore my storyboard for my 3rd Grace Cassidy mystery is still in progress. However, my method evolved. (Some writers work with files and some work with piles. I’m a pile person.) I now pin the plot progress on my board as I go. I’m a gal who must write as she goes. I start with a premise, knowing only who has murder in their hearts, and why and who they're ticked off with. The rest I learn as I write.

2nd Grace Cassidy Mystery

1st Grace Cassidy Mystery

I wish I could be a strict plotter, but it seems I can't. I have to write "by the seat of my pants."

Oh well, it worked for the pilots in the 1920's maybe it will work for me too.

The Evolution of a Series Character

by Jackie King

Long before I wrote my latest mystery, THE CORPSE WHO WALKED IN THE DOOR, I had one scene pop into my head. The vividness of this scene, along with a number of what if questions, started my inn-keeper series and birthed my character, Grace Cassidy.

 

$3.99 at Amazon.com

I was vacationing at a Bed and Breakfast in Northern California, and the mansion had been built by a sea captain in 1870. My hostess was a professional inn-sitter who said that she loved her job, loved traveling from place to place, and loved working when she wanted. This woman, a Mrs. Smith, was booked for two years in advance.

These were a few of the questions:

 What if I were stranded in a strange town with no friends, no money, and no job skills? Oh, and let’s throw in a corpse—a naked one—in my bed. Could I survive using my own determination, brains, and moxie? These are the problems that started me writing my first Grace Cassidy story, THE INCONVENIENT CORPSE, published in 2009. I felt impelled to write this novel to find the answers. Then, just for fun, I added an older teenager and a cat. I always have to have a pet and a kid in any story.

 

First Grace Cassidy Mystery

Grace learns that she is made of a tougher fiber than she had thought. With the help of her zany new friends, she successfully earns her living as an inn sitter. Previously she chaired committees in social circles, now she bakes, cleans, and entertains paying guests.

 

me at work, wearing my writing uniform

THE CORPSE WHO WALKED IN THE DOOR begins with Grace thinking that her life is almost back in order. She’s worried that her 19-year-old son, Brand, is getting too involved with the ditzy housemaid, Sandy Walker. Scary thoughts of becoming a grandma too soon, plague her. But still, life is good.

Grace is rebuilding her life and learning about the woman she really is, not the cardboard caricature of her former self. No wonder she bored her husband Charlie. She always did everything he expected. But that was in the past. Now she’s surprising and delighting herself with this new persona. Being a woman is a lot more interesting than being a perfect-lady, she decides.

Then life interferes with her well-laid plans.

The identical twin brother of her boss-from-hell, Wilbur Wimberly shows up at the family reunion. This black sheep, thought to be long dead, stirs up memories of deeply buried family secrets. Dangerous secrets. The Wimberly clan are snapping at each other’s throats, and then Grace’s cat Trouble finds a dead body in a bathroom. To make things worse her son is first accused of attempted murder and then of rape.

Once again, life unravels. Grace has a murder to solve and her son to defend.

I'd love to hear from readers!

Hugs,

Jackie

Dog Days and Trusting Your Reader

by Jackie King

The dog-days of summer arrived early this year, and along with the heat came lethargy and indolence. I’m calling this the lazy-day-syndrome, and I fear that I’m infected. Coining a disease sounds less harsh than calling myself a slug, don’t you think? (I have a habit of excusing all of my bad habits…my favorite is describing my tendency toward untidiness as artistic clutter.)

I needed to spend today editing an almost-finished book, but the word-smithing isn’t going at all well. My dialogue sounds as if it needs heavy starch and a hot iron. (I repeat, I'm suffering from lazy-day syndrome.)

I spent considerable time scanning through my dialogue, knowing that what I was reading wasn’t quite up to snuff, but not sure how to fix the problem. I wanted to put the work aside, telling myself that it was too hot to work, but that’s not going to bring in royalties and pay the bills. So I decided to let off some steam by lambasting my pet peeve, as a reader. Complaining always makes a person feel better, don’t you think?

I abhor the current odious trend of using both a punctuation mark and a question mark at the end of a sentence. Why? It’s insulting to me as a reader. It’s as if the author is saying, “I can’t trust you to get this, so I’m red-lighting the words to help you out.”

News flash: If the sentence is written correctly, I’ll get it. Also, when I see double punctuation at the end of one sentence, my first emotion is to throw the book across the room.

Why? Because it’s insulting to my intelligence. If the sentence is exciting, trust me, I’ll know that. If it isn’t, an exclamation mark won’t convince me.

Okay, I’ve had my little verbal temper-tantrum and now I feel all better. Guess I’ll go back to editing.

Hugs to all,

Jackie

By Jackie King

A writer never retires and that’s a good thing for me since I was old enough to die when I started. Re-started would be more accurate. After beginning to write early in my life I got sidetracked by distracting circumstances. I went away to college at 16, was married at 18 (my brain hadn’t even stopped growing) and then raised three children. In other words, stuff happened.

But the time is now and I’m learning to live in the present moment. That happens as you age and begin to feel your own mortality. So on this post, I’m talking about today.

Finally I’m Living My Dream

A writer never retires, which is a good thing for me since I was old enough to die when I (re)started at age 49. Because I had neither husband nor trust fund, I counted beans for a living and wrote at night and on weekends. That’s what most writers do. I loved those days made rich by writing, reading and hanging around with other scribes when time allowed.

The wonderful thing is that one eventually retires from their day job, and that’s when I became a full-time writer. I had listened to a lot of talk about getting prepared for retirement so I didn’t go into some kind of a funk (aka depression). No need for me or any writer to worry about that particular problem. My job had served me well, but I’d long been counting the years, months and days until I could finally say:

THANK GOD IT’S MONDAY!

It’s hard to believe that my favorite day is now Monday. (I usually keep quiet about this fact. No need to upset those who are still paying their dues.)

A few years ago, my new (dream) schedule started like this:

Rise at 7:00 a.m. and put on makeup. Reason for bothering with makeup? To signal my auto-pilot self that I had NOT retired, I’d just gone into business for myself. Then I took a walk through the neighborhood and worked at my computer until noon. (Coffee and breakfast fitted in somewhere, depending on the day. You’ve seen my picture so you know that I don’t skip meals. And coffee is essential, not only for my sanity but for the (mental) health of anyone near me.)

About five years into my dream life I gave up putting on makeup except for special occasions. That Pavlov’s dog thing had kicked in and I automatically walked to my computer each morning. I had learned that there just wasn’t enough time for small stuff. I had (finally) come to understand the importance of living in the present. I’d learned that not all good things are expedient. (That’s a King James’ Bible sort of word.) So now, with the limited energy of an old gal, my ‘primetime’ has become shorter. I write in the morning and then again after meals. These are the times when my energy level is highest. In between writing and short rest periods, I do such things as load my dish washer, pick up messy stuff around my house, and call a few friends. I usually read in the evenings.

I love my writer’s life! Back when I came home to write after working a 10-hour day, I loved that, too. When I had the energy to spend long hours at my computer as a younger full-time writer, I loved that even more. But writing today is best of all. Even my rest periods are spent writing; I mull over plot problems and character motivation. Then after I get my second (or third) wind, I hit the keyboard again.

Life is never perfect. Everyone gets their share of tragedy, illness, and cranky grocery clerks. But for this writer, LIFE ROCKS!

Post Script: This was written on a sunshine filled day. I may post my thoughts on a ‘downer’ day at another time. J

Hugs to everyone who loves books.

Jackie King

A couple of my mysteries:

THE INCONVENIENT CORPSE in a nutshell:

…No credit cards, no cash, no resources, no job skills. Fleeced and abandoned by her husband, Grace Cassidy learns she is the prime suspect in a bizarre murder.

STATEHOOD FOXY HENS AND MURDER MOST FOWL: Historical Mystery (Anthology) Set in 1889 Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory: “The Spinster, the Pig, and the Orphan,” a novella by Jackie King:

A most proper spinster, Harriet Lauren, decides to buy herself a husband, the handsome Zachariah Garrett. What she didn’t bargain for was murder in her brand new hotel that threatens her investment and then her life.

Website: www.jacqking.com

If you’re on Facebook, please ‘friend’ me. I’m listed as Jacqueline King

CONVERSATIONS WITH CHARACTERS, or, What Happens Inside My Head

My name is Jackie King and it's a great honor to be a member of MURDEROUS MUSINGS.  I thank Chester Campbell for inviting me. I also wish all my friends and readers in cyberland a warm welcome.


http://amzn.to/gMv7CH

THEODORA WESTMACOTT, Grace Cassidy's friend and side-kick, thinks she's in charge of this Mystery Series. She insisted on interviewing me. I had intended to ask Grace Cassidy, lead character in my mystery THE INCONVENIENT CORPSE, to do the honors. However, before that (usually) calm and collected woman could so much as form a question, her quirky pal, Theodora Westmacott, just took over. Short, plump and sassy, this 60-something woman, who taught seventh graders for years and years, loves sticking her nose into other folks business. Especially Grace's.

 “Grace is too busy just now, Jackie, but I’ll be happy to fill in for her. I’m well acquainted with your life in general, and will do my best to make you sound interesting. After all, who wants to hear about a woman who spends most of her time hunched over her keyboard in her pajamas? Let me be in charge, I often help out Grace in that way.”

 

“And it makes her madder than h...” I paused a minute to get control of myself. “Heck,” I finished.

 “Oh well, she always gets over it, doesn’t she?” Theodora fluttered her heavily ringed fingers as she always does. (I think it’s to draw attention to the flamboyant nail polish she wears, which today is Passionate Pink.) The woman is so charming it's impossible to stay mad at her, but today I needed to show her who was boss of this series. So I kept arguing.

“You make me sound just awful, Theodora, and I'm not. Just yesterday I went to the ballet.”

“My point exactly, but I can see that I've made you angry. You always seem so sweet, and yet your temper often gets away from you. I’m afraid it’s that red hair, titian haired women are often neurotic, you know.”

 

By this time I was gritting my teeth and rolling my eyes. “Are there any more of my faults you’d like to voice abroad?” I made sure that my voice showed heavy sarcasm.

“Yes, you take all of the credit for the humor in your series and most of it comes straight out of my mouth. Your readers should be told that actually, you're a very dull WASP and that I'm responsible for my own smart-aleck remarks.”

“Theodora, this is a ridiculous conversation. You’re not even real. I conjured you up out of my imagination. I’ll admit that you’re a lovable character, but I’m the one who puts words into your mouth and walks you across the page!”

“Well we both know that’s not true,” Theodora snickered in a most lady-like way. “I’m always saying something that both surprises and shocks you. Be honest and admit that I’m the one in charge, and sometimes Grace. But right now, Grace is busy baking cookies for afternoon tea here at Wimberly Place, the loveliest bed and breakfast anyone has ever visited. And I don’t care if people do keep getting murdered on the premises.”

“God help me! Somewhere along the line my characters have all gotten out of my control.”

“Tch, tch, darling girl, no need for such drama, just relax and let me guide the conversation. I’ll make you look both sweet and interesting. We do want our readers to keep downloading your books, after all, the royalties paid for your dental implants this last summer.”

“That's enough, Theodora, it's tacky to talk about money. This conversation is already way too long and the only thing you’ve told our readers about me is that I had dental work.”

 “Well, you whined enough about it last summer. Next post, if you’ll stop arguing with me, I’ll tell them how you came to write THE INCONVENIENT CORPSE.”

Urgh! Don't listen to Theodora. I promise that on my next post, Thursday March 8, I will hogtie Ms. T and be conversing with Grace Cassidy.

Hugs,

Jackie

 

WHY DO WE LIKE MYSTERIES?

June Shaw

Did you ever stop to wonder why you enjoy reading mysteries?

I've heard many mystery authors explain it this way: We read mysteries because we know that the offender will be punished, and good will overcome.

Yes, that's true. But isn't it also true of most romances? Or women's fiction? How about Westerns? I haven't read one in years, but I imagine the cowboys still shoot the bad guys.

Lots of men, especially, seem to enjoy hard-boiled mysteries for their blood and gore.

Many of us, however, like cozies just as well. We like some humor and romance and--oh, yes, there's a dead body or three or four, and we do want to know who the bad guy or gal is and how they're put away.

I think maybe we grab on to characters we like to spend time with, and those characters often people mystery series. We know they'll do the right thing (more than not), and we will continue to cheer them on. They might be fun (like readers describe mine--excuse the BSP, but it's true:) Our heroes might be deadly and carrying lots of flaws. That makes some people like them even more.

Why do YOU read mysteries?

Review: The Queen of Patpong

Review by Beth Terrell

A few years ago, I passed a rack of discounted hardback books. One captured my attention. The title, A Nail Through the Heart, was evocative; the cover was attractive; and I had just read a post by the author, Timothy Hallinan, on DorothyL, a newslist for mystery lovers. Wanting to support a fellow DL-er, I picked it up and read a few lines. They were good. Very good. So, I bought it, beginning a long-term love affair with Hallinan's series of beautifully written thrillers set in Bangkok and featuring "rough travel writer" Poke Rafferty. Poke writes travel books for people who want to experience the parts of the world not included on the usual lists of tourist destinations. Some of those parts are a little seedy, a little gritty, and a little dangerous. When he arrives in Bangkok to research a new book, he falls in love with Thailand, the Thai people--and with Rose, a beautiful bar dancer in the red-light district of Patpong. Together, they rescue and adopt Miaow, a street child who struggles to reconcile her love for her adoptive parents with her shame about her roots and about Rose's former profession.

In the fourth book in the series, The Queen of Patpong, as Poke, Rose, and Miaow are dining at a favorite restaurant when Rose "drops her fork with a clatter on top of her cup, which tips over and spreads coffee across the tablecloth." A man approaches the table, someone who knew Rose when she was a dancer. After threatening her and her family, he swaggers away, and Rose tells Poke that the man is someone she thought--and had hoped--she'd killed.

With the help of a menacing partner, the stranger begins a cat-and-mouse game clearly intended to end with Rose's death--and the deaths of her loved ones. Hallinan plays out the plot masterfully, juxtaposing the elements of a tense, modern-day thriller with a sensitive exploration of Rose's past and her transformation from an awkward village girl nicknamed "Stork" to the strong, confident woman she has become.

Much of the book takes place in the past, beginning with Rose's discovery that, although her father has accepted money from her teacher to keep her at home and in school, he has also sold her to someone in the sex trade. She escapes this all-too-common situation with the help of Nana, a former village girl turned bar dancer. Nana also "sells" her, but into a more benevolent system.

Hallinan balances the various elements of this book perfectly. The tension is high throughout. The moral message is both powerful and subtle. Poke's determination to save both the lives and the emotional fabric of his family engages the reader from beginning to end, and the portrayal of Rose is pitch-perfect--thoughtful, insightful, and always authentic.

If you've already fallen in love with Timothy Hallinan's Poke Rafferty series, The Queen of Patpong will cement your loyalty. If you haven't...it's probably because you haven't read him.

Review: Revenge Served Cold

By Beth Terrell

Revenge Served Cold is a cozy mystery with a touch of the paranormal. Written by Ohio businesswoman and attorney Jackie Fullerton, the novel features court reporter and part-time law student Anne Marshall solving the hit-and-run murder of one of her professors, Elliott Spence. Spence's wife, Kathy, is the prime--and only--suspect in the crime, but Anne becomes convinced of her innocence. This is largely through the influence of Anne's father's ghost. Her father, James, died several years before, but occasionally returns to involve his daughter in a bit of amateur sleuthing. Though a bit cavalier with his daughter's safety (understandable perhaps, for a man who knows from experience that life does not end with death), James is a likable character, and the interplay between Anne and her father provides some touching moments.

The book is a fast, light read by an author who clearly cares about her characters. Though it was clear from almost the beginning who had committed the crime and why, this did really not bother me because of book's focus on the relationships between characters rather than the mystery itself.

One challenge for writers of PI or amateur sleuth mysteries is how to give the protagonist the bulk of the work without depicting law enforcement officials as either corrupt, power-hungry bullies or incompetent fools. To her credit, Fullerton's police detectives are decent and sympathetic human beings. However, they seemed ill equipped for criminal investigation, and I wished they had been more competent. I also wondered why Anne was so averse to sharing pivotal information with Kathy's defense attorney, but since this book is the second in a series, the groundwork for some of Anne's more questionable decisions may have been laid in the first installment, Piercing the Veil.

Here's an excerpt:

Anne drove in silence, enjoying the company of her father. She took in the tobacco aroma and felt the assurance of him by her side. Memories of baseball games floated through her mind. When she was thirteen she had been part of the girls' traveling team and was wild about anything to do with baseball. That summer, her dad took her to every game he could. She particularly enjoyed the night games. It was magical to her when the lights came on and the stadium lit up like a stage. She remembered sitting there on those warm summer nights with her dad, a stadium hot dog covered with mustard and onions in one hand and a soda in the other. And that was just the start.

You can learn more about Jackie and her books at http://www.jackiefullerton.com.

Note: A copy of this book was provided by the author's publicist in return for an impartial review.

Slicing It Thin

By Pat Browning

Has anyone else noticed that mysteries seem to get longer and longer? It’s as if editors and publishers have decided that longer is better, which ain’t necessarily so.

Unless you’re writing historical mysteries which are dense with detail, you should keep your book as lean as possible, especially if you’re a beginner. Readers recognize rambling and padding when they see it. The book may get good reviews but readers may desert you. Or not. As one of my sisters tells me when I get nervous about what I’m writing, “People will read anything.”

In the years since I wrote my first mystery, I’ve learned to cut and cut, and cut some more. In simple terms, a plot comes down to what the main character wants, and what stands in his/her way. But when I began, I kept going off in other directions. Nearly all of what I wrote was back story. I assumed because I knew the complete details of a character’s life I had to explain it to everyone else.

That’s not true, of course. Aside from leaving a little something to the reader’s imagination, it simply isn’t necessary to tell everything. A line here, a paragraph there, maybe even a page or short chapter, is usually enough.

That’s the modern way, and it’s hard for people my age to make the adjustment. We grew up reading the English classics, Charles Dickens, for example. Dickens was paid by the word for his novels published in installments. Of course he put in everything he knew.

Among more modern writers, even Daphne duMaurier in REBECCA described every leaf, bush, flower and cloud in the sky, furniture, silverware, and clothing. But she was skillful at spinning a web to draw the reader in and she got by with it.

Learning as I wrote FULL CIRCLE, I cut out some very good scenes and chapters because they moved the story backward and sideways instead of forward. They were mostly explanations of what happened years earlier.

For instance, I threw in my travel experiences by putting my two main characters in Paris as college students. I actually took them through some of the cities I visited on my first trip to Europe. Well, heck, I thought, those were interesting experiences, and I had copious notes, so why not? Why not? Because I was trying to write a cozy mystery, and not a travelogue or memoir.

While I was cutting, I cut my entire Chapter 2, which had some good dialogue and interplay among characters but dragged out the beginning. I hung an imaginary banner above my computer: FICTION IS NOT REAL LIFE.

The hardest cut I had to make was priceless, in its way, because it was written from life. I devoted an entire chapter to my protagonist’s mother writing about her childhood for a senior citizens writing class. I had written it 30 years earlier, intending to turn it into the Great American Novel. Didn’t happen, so I filed it away.

Why not slip it into my mystery? I thought I was clever in the way I presented it, and it survived numerous critiques by other writers. At the eleventh hour, one puzzled comment by a professional publicist was all it took to nudge that chapter out. Once again, I filed it away.

In the meantime, I learned to cut extraneous material almost as second nature. I give my years as a newspaper reporter credit for that. When Krill Press came along with an idea for reprinting FULL CIRCLE as ABSINTHE OF MALICE, I cut and rewrote and revised with gusto.

This has been an extraordinary year. Not only do I have a shiny new – or at least different – book, but that piece of writing I saved for 40 years has found a home. Two years ago I revised it as a short memoir and submitted it to a magazine. Rejected. Last year I revised it again and entered it in a contest. Won second place and $50.

This year I rewrote it again, and submitted it for publication in the Red Dirt Book Festival Anthology. It made the cut. The anthology was supposed to be out in time for Christmas, but after 40 years – hey, what’s my hurry?