Ask the Author: Shari T. Mitchell
Answered Questions (11)
Shari T. Mitchell
Ooo! I've been asked numerous times if my main character, Marnie Reilly, is in fact me. The answer to that questions is yes and no. There are aspects of myself in Marnie - but she is a culmination of every strong woman I have met throughout my life. Marnie Reilly has a lot of layers.
Detective Tom Keller, her best friend, sums are Marnie well in this passage from Fatal Vow, Marnie Reilly #3 (Coming in 2022): "The thing about Marnie is this - she's strong, she's funny, she's empathetic to a fault, and to be honest, I'm not sure that you know her as well as you think you do. I can tell you this, if one of us were in danger, she'd burn down the whole fucking town to save us."
Detective Tom Keller, her best friend, sums are Marnie well in this passage from Fatal Vow, Marnie Reilly #3 (Coming in 2022): "The thing about Marnie is this - she's strong, she's funny, she's empathetic to a fault, and to be honest, I'm not sure that you know her as well as you think you do. I can tell you this, if one of us were in danger, she'd burn down the whole fucking town to save us."
Shari T. Mitchell
Three Pines from Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache series. It's a little village in Quebec.
Shari T. Mitchell
My reading list was mainly reference books. I have been busy writing.
Shari T. Mitchell
Three Pines in Quebec.
Shari T. Mitchell
She went to the kitchen to make herself a pot of tea in her favorite China teapot. When she opened the pantry, there was no tea!
Shari T. Mitchell
Divine Guidance danced around in my head for so many years. Life experience was the driver. Bits and pieces of the places I've been, the people I have met, the experiences I have had... these are all a basis for the general idea. My vivid imagination filled in the rest.
Shari T. Mitchell
Gosh... that's easy. Everything inspires me to write. Whether it's a butterfly I watched perch on a branch, the smell of cookies baking, the bark of my dogs or a quiet moment in the morning watching the sunrise. There's inspiration all around me. There are never enough hours in the day to write about everything that inspires me.
Shari T. Mitchell
The sequel to Divine Guidance. Torn Veil is still in the early stages...writing, rewriting and mapping the timeline. There are few new characters coming into the fold too. Their personalities are developing every day. Working through the interaction between the main characters and the newbies. Marnie says this, so Patrick says that. Danny Gregg believes this about Patrick and Tom believes that... I'm working through the belief systems and values of each and relating them back to one another. It's a cool way of mapping out the interactions.
Shari T. Mitchell
Just write. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad, long or short. Just write. One hour a day is all you need to get the juices flowing. Free write. Don't sit down every day to create a masterpiece. Sit down some days just to dump your thoughts. A blank canvas can turn into a masterpiece if you allow your imagination to roam free.
Shari T. Mitchell
Weaving a story where the characters take on a life of their own... the characters become real to the reader. It's the characters for me. I love the characters in my books - the good guys and the bad guys. They all have something about them that resonates with me. I miss them when I write the final chapter.
Shari T. Mitchell
Typically, I get frustrated for a few hours and then I stop writing and go for a walk. Being outside jumpstarts my creativity and allows me a chance to write in my head. It always works.
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