Linda Barnes's Blog
March 5, 2013
Something Different
I adore the mystery series: for the reader, it's an opportunity to get to know a character or characters in a variety of situations and settings; for the writer it's a chance to grow those characters, to create people whose arcs extend over a period of years rather than days. I hate it when my favorite writers decide to go "out of series." And yet. . .
I believe in writing what you need to write when you need to write it, in trying new techniques, in listening to new voices. In starting over.
Em's voice first sounded in my head one summer when I was visiting friends on Cape Cod. At the beginning I thought she would be a new detective, the heroine of a new series. Whenever I start to write, I can count on one thing: things rarely turn out the way I think they will.
I believe in writing what you need to write when you need to write it, in trying new techniques, in listening to new voices. In starting over.
Em's voice first sounded in my head one summer when I was visiting friends on Cape Cod. At the beginning I thought she would be a new detective, the heroine of a new series. Whenever I start to write, I can count on one thing: things rarely turn out the way I think they will.
February 7, 2013
musings
Two more terrific reviews, including one that calls The Perfect Ghost "a captivating story of love, rivalry, and revenge."
But I keep thinking about Richard III, or rather about his remains, recently dug up in a car park in Leicester. There are (at least) two Richard III's, the personification of evil in Shakespeare's play and the misunderstood, tragic figure of Josephine Tey's "Daughter of Time." Both writers write with conviction; both, I imagine, thought they were telling the truth.
When I worked on The Perfect Ghost I wanted to tell a story about the vagaries of "truth," even more than I wanted to write about love or rivalry or revenge. The protagonist, a writer of biographies, learns about her own power as a biographer during the course of the book. Facts are facts, but they can be adjusted, manipulated, and interpreted to fit a variety of agendas.
But I keep thinking about Richard III, or rather about his remains, recently dug up in a car park in Leicester. There are (at least) two Richard III's, the personification of evil in Shakespeare's play and the misunderstood, tragic figure of Josephine Tey's "Daughter of Time." Both writers write with conviction; both, I imagine, thought they were telling the truth.
When I worked on The Perfect Ghost I wanted to tell a story about the vagaries of "truth," even more than I wanted to write about love or rivalry or revenge. The protagonist, a writer of biographies, learns about her own power as a biographer during the course of the book. Facts are facts, but they can be adjusted, manipulated, and interpreted to fit a variety of agendas.
January 28, 2013
pre-pub reviews and news
Much as I war against the concept of starred reviews, it's certainly a pleasure to get one. (I can't help but feel that readers use the stars as a short-cut, and don't actually read and ponder the review as a whole.) Still, a starred Booklist review is nothing to sneeze at, and I'm over the moon about this one, plus great blurbs from fellow authors B.A. Shapiro (The Art Forger) and Lisa Lutz (The Spellmans series). The cat's out of the bag; it's too late to revise, but what a joy to know that people are reading and enjoying the Advance Reading Copies of The Perfect Ghost.
January 17, 2013
Hello, Goodreads
It says in my profile that I joined in November, 2012. It's January, 2013, and I'm just starting this blog; I'm a novelist because I'm slow. There's a delay between the idea and the execution, the thought and the page.
Eagle-eyed readers will note that I've made a change in the brief bio above. There was a sentence stating that the Carlotta Carlyle novels were in the tradition of Grafton and Paretsky. I know it's a small point, but there was no such tradition at the time I began writing. Sue and Sara and I are contemporaries, and we each started our series thinking we were doing what hadn't been done before. Of course we were wrong; Marcia Muller, for one, was already doing it.
I'm stepping out of my usual niche for "The Perfect Ghost." My publisher is calling it a literary mystery, but I think it's a novel of psychological suspense. The advance reading copies are just starting to circulate. The cover design, by St. Martins' Olga Grlic, is among the best I've ever had.
Eagle-eyed readers will note that I've made a change in the brief bio above. There was a sentence stating that the Carlotta Carlyle novels were in the tradition of Grafton and Paretsky. I know it's a small point, but there was no such tradition at the time I began writing. Sue and Sara and I are contemporaries, and we each started our series thinking we were doing what hadn't been done before. Of course we were wrong; Marcia Muller, for one, was already doing it.
I'm stepping out of my usual niche for "The Perfect Ghost." My publisher is calling it a literary mystery, but I think it's a novel of psychological suspense. The advance reading copies are just starting to circulate. The cover design, by St. Martins' Olga Grlic, is among the best I've ever had.
