Judith Arnold's Blog - Posts Tagged "cozy-mystery"

This is my first foray into blogging on Goodreads. I post to a shared group blog, Girlfriends Book Club (http://girlfriendbooks.blogspot.com/) but I'm looking forward to blogging here, too, to stay connected with fellow bibliophiles. And also to keep a journal of sorts about my new venture, the launch of a cozy mystery series. After having written a gazillion (give or take) romances and women's fiction novels, I'm trying something new. I had a lot of fun writing Dead Ball , book one in the Lainie Lovett Still Kicking mystery series, and I hope readers have a lot of fun reading it.

So...here we go!

Okay--I thought I was putting up new blog posts, but instead I was putting up comments to my initial blog post. So...I'll try again. Tech-morons R Us!:

Blog post #2:

One big difference between writing romances and writing mysteries is that with romances, you know what your basic plot will be, right from the start: a hero, a heroine, conflict, resolution, true love, happy ending. With a mystery, there isn't just a hero and a heroine. There's a hero OR a heroine (your detective; in my case, it's a heroine) and a whole lot of other characters who may be good or evil or a mix of both. Writing a romance is like juggling two balls. Writing a mystery is like juggling twenty.

My mother is reading DEAD BALL now. She called me up and said, "I didn't know you could write mysteries!"

I said, "I didn't know I could write them, either--until I wrote one."

"It's fabulous," she said. (Well, she's my mother.) "How did you know you could kill a person with a nail gun?"

"I did research, Mom."

"I was wondering. Because really, why would you know anything about nail guns? You've never built a house."

This is true. But thanks to the internet, I did not have to build a house to learn everything I needed to know about nail guns for DEAD BALL.

That title is kind of a joke. The book I'm reading right now is my own book, DEAD BALL. For the final three months before its release, I read the manuscript so many times--proofreading, tweaking, proofreading again, tweaking again--that I was pretty sure I'd never want to look at it again.

Then I got my author copies. I kept one copy by my bedside for a while, simply admiring the cover (which I have tried repeatedly to upload here to Goodreads, so far without success) and experiencing relief that it was finally out in the world.

And then I started to read it. I have always read my books when I've gotten actual, physical copies of them. For some reason, they read differently when they're in book form than when they're a manuscript, or a proof, or words on my computer monitor. Something about seeing those same words on a page, words I wrote, words I often know by heart... It's a unique experience. I can read a passage that tortured me when I was writing it, and think, "It turned out okay, after all." Sometimes (rare times) I can read a phrase or a plot twist and think, "Damn! How did I come up with something that good?" Because I'm really pretty insecure about my writing.

So, I'm reading this book. DEAD BALL. And it's not half bad.

Sunday is probably the only day of the week that I don't read a book. That's because I'm so busy reading newspapers. I subscribe to two--and the Sunday editions are massive. I also get a third Sunday paper that I don't subscribe to; it comes as a freebie to people who subscribe to my small town's local weekly newspaper. So I've got tons of non-book reading to get through.

I don't read every word. I don't read every section. But I love reading the book review sections (no surprise there!), the arts sections, the front pages, the week-in-review sections, and the Sunday magazines. This is partly because I like to stay informed, but also because newspapers are packed with story ideas. I'm always on the look out for something that might work in my next book.

(Oh, and I read the comics, too. I'm still a kid at heart!)

When I was young, I envied girls who were thinner than me, or more popular, or more athletic. I envied girls who seemed more comfortable in their skin than I was in mine. I envied girls who weren't oddballs and who had the confidence I lacked.

Now, I envy people who can read faster than I do, who can tear through a book in a day.

I used to be a faster reader. But as a writer, I read more critically. I can't just lose myself in a book. While reading, I'm thinking about how the author accomplished this or that, how the author made me gasp with surprise or joy, or how the author blew it.

Also, by the time I can quit for the day and curl up with a book, it's usually around nine-thirty or ten at night. I'm exhausted. One chapter, and I'm drifting off to sleep--even if it's a good book!

So, to all of you who read quickly--oh, how I envy you!

Yesterday I presented a workshop on using conflict to shape a plot for the New Hampshire chapter of RWA. I love preparing workshops because they make me analyze what I do instinctively, and this helps me to understand my craft.

When I'm writing, I'm not thinking, "Hmm--time to add a conflict so I can shape my plot." The writing happens on a subconscious level. It's all intuitive.

But when I'm invited to present a workshop to a writers' group, I have to take a step back and think deliberately about what I do and why I do it. I bet I learn more than my audience does about the craft of writing.

The thing about reading the Sunday paper is that you can stumble upon really useful stuff. Not that the news itself isn't useful--it IS. But this evening, while thumbing through the NY Times Sunday Magazine, I came upon an article about changes in the world of high-tech start-ups. Wouldn't you know, the hero of the novel I'm currently writing is a tech millionaire, and this magazine article is chock full of information that will help make my hero more credible.

This is why writers have to read, read, read. You never know where you're going to find an essential nugget of information you didn't even know you were looking for.

I'm currently polishing a speech for a workshop I'll be presenting at a writers' retreat in Maine next weekend. It's all about how to create characters who have depth, who are more than a collection of character traits. I've written a gazillion romances, a few women's fiction novels, a New Adult novel, and a couple of mysteries, the first of which is now available, and I've discovered that when it comes to characterization, the genre doesn't matter. Characters need to be more than the sum of their eye color, favorite food, greatest hope and greatest fear. They need souls.

So...next weekend, I'll climb onto my soapbox and (I hope!) convince the other writers in the room that they need to give their characters souls.

What a perfect way to recover from this verrry long winter--a long weekend at a hotel with a group of writers. Although called a writers' retreat, it's also a mini-conference, since there will be workshops (I'll be presenting two, on conflicts and on heroes and heroines), and an editor will be present to discuss her publisher and listen to pitches.

But the retreat aspect really appeals to me. We'll be a small group, informal, and we'll be talking, breathing, eating, drinking, and living writing.

Whenever I return home from a gathering of writers, I'm inspired and energized, ready to make serious progress on my current manuscript. By the end of this weekend escape will, I expect to be hoarse (from talking too much), weary (from not sleeping enough), and pumped full of creative adrenaline.