Ask the Author: Lisa Fernow
Answered Questions (7)
Lisa Fernow
Golden age mystery writers are huge influences, like Ngaio Marsh and Agatha Christie, for their craft. I loved reading them growing up, for the way they showed me worlds I could never enter except through my imagination. Marsh loved the theater and did justice to that community, and I am trying to do the same thing for tango. Both were masters of their craft and I studied how they constructed their clues and red herrings - hopefully this shows in my writing as very few people have been able to guess my murderer yet! I also really admired Elizabeth Peters for the way she incorporated humor and the battle of the sexes relationship between Emerson and Peabody. I am bummed that Peters (Mertz) is no longer with us.
Lisa Fernow
Put my butt in the chair and start doing something. Give yourself permission to write badly and fix it later.
Lisa Fernow
Typing THE END? Ha. It's true.
Lisa Fernow
Nothing you haven't heard before, probably. Start writing, and get feedback from people you trust will allow you to develop your own voice. Take writing classes - community colleges, universities, writing conferences. Read a lot and deconstruct what works or doesn't work for you. I re-read a lot of Agatha Christie to reverse engineer how she fools her readers. She was a master.
Lisa Fernow
My second tango mystery. This one will be set in Seattle and will delve more into the world of tango DJ's. I'm trying to figure out exactly how to kill off my intended victim. This involves talking to some experts on the particular method ... don't want to say more because it would spoil things.
Lisa Fernow
I put my butt in the chair and start. Then usually something catches my imagination and I keep going. When that doesn't work I research something I know I'll need for the book - those telling details almost always spark something.
Lisa Fernow
Honestly? I was dancing tango in Atlanta and a woman "stole" my favorite partner right out from under me. Having an evil mind, I immediately fantasized about killing her off. Fortunately I channeled my murderous impulse into my writing ;)
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