The newest book — Foul Play on Words — is so new it's not even out until April 2019! (But it's available for pre-order, hint, hint.) It's the second one inthe Mystery Writers Mystery series. The first being Fiction Can Be Murder, out in 2018. Before that, I wrote two humorous mysteries with a friend of mine, Ted Hardwick. One character is Cassidy Dunne, the other is Dan Diehl so we called them the Dunne Diehl novels, which made me laugh. Banana Bamboozle is the first and came out in 2014. Marshmallow Mayhem came out in 2015. In between the mysteries I wrote some low-calorie cookbooks, compiled into The Lazy Low Cal Lifestyle Complete Cookbook.
(Foul Play on Words will be released on April 8 by Midnight Ink.)
How did you develop your character and choose your location?
When I have a rough idea of what the story is about, I make a list of all the characters I need who will be playing a role. I almost always have a celebrity or friend in mind for them right away, at least as far as how they look. I print out the photo and start writing the character traits on it. Then those photos go in the 3-ring binder I keep for each book. If it's been a while since I wrote scenes with them, I go back and refresh my memory with their photo page. I don't want to change an ankle butterfly tattoo into a forearm anchor, or switch a left leg limp to the right side. Of course, after they go through the character grinder they don't necessarily resemble the person in the photo. Using celebrities and people I know helps me keep everyone straight in the drafting stage. It's easy to get confused when you don't have a firm handle on who everyone will turn out to be.
My settings tend to be places I'm familiar with. Foul Play on Words is set at a writer's conference in
Portland, Oregon, where my daughter lives and where I've attended conferences. Fiction Can Be Murder is set in the Denver, Colorado, area, where I live. Bamboozle is set in a fictional town near where I lived in California way back when. And Mayhem starts out in California, but they end up taking a winter road trip in an RV to the Colorado mountains.
How did you develop your character and choose your location?
When I have a rough idea of what the story is about, I make a list of all the characters I need who will be playing a role. I almost always have a celebrity or friend in mind for them right away, at least as far as how they look. I print out the photo and start writing the character traits on it. Then those photos go in the 3-ring binder I keep for each book. If it's been a while since I wrote scenes with them, I go back and refresh my memory with their photo page. I don't want to change an ankle butterfly tattoo into a forearm anchor, or switch a left leg limp to the right side. Of course, after they go through the character grinder they don't necessarily resemble the person in the photo. Using celebrities and people I know helps me keep everyone straight in the drafting stage. It's easy to get confused when you don't have a firm handle on who everyone will turn out to be.
My settings tend to be places I'm familiar with. Foul Play on Words is set at a writer's conference in
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| Pre-order purchase link |
(Click here for a review of Foul Play on Words)
I worry too much about getting details wrong if I try to write about a place I'm unfamiliar with. Like, for me to write a book set at the beach, I'd have to live in a seaside villa for several months to feel like I wouldn't screw it up. Note to self: set a book at the beach some time soon. Very soon.
What is a day in the life of an author like? Do you write a certain number of words, do you write in the morning or evening?
I like schedules. I write for at least three hours Monday, Thursday, and most Friday mornings, especially when I'm in the middle of a draft. And I set aside all day Tuesday for writing. I set a timer for every hour and keep track of how many words I write. I like to know how long each book takes me. I'm an outliner so the writing itself goes pretty fast for me. I never stare at a blank screen; I always know what scene I need to write. And I write in a linear fashion, no jumping around in the story for me.
Afternoons are spent with emails, writing blogs, organizing publicity and marketing campaigns, creating and practicing workshops to teach ... at writer's conferences, like Charlee.
Do you model your character after yourself or any one you know?
In Bamboozle and Mayhem, the two main characters were pretty closely us as the authors and friends for 30+ years, so that was fun and easy. In the Mystery Writers Mysteries, I knew she was going to be a mystery writer in her 30s, so I just had to roll back my personal clock a couple of decades and try to figure out what it would be like to find Charlee's kind of publishing success at a young age. I tend to write stories where a perfectly normal person is going about their perfectly normal business when — BLAMMO — something weird happens to them. Then I try to figure out what I'd do. After I was done cowering under the covers, of course.
If your books were made into a movie, who would you want to play the lead character?
Anybody who would be besties with me and let me hang out on the set.
Who is your favorite author?
No fair! You might as well ask me who my favorite kid is or which is my favorite internal organ! (Both of which I have, but I'm not telling you. Plus, they tend to change from day to day.)
If you could invite five people – living or dead – to a dinner party, who would they be?
First, I'd want them all to be living, because gross. If it was a weeknight party, I'd invite Joe R. Lansdale because he is a storyteller extraordinaire. If you haven't read him, remedy that situation immediately. Carl Hiaasen would get an invitation because I find him absolutely hilarious and he makes his books look perfectly effortless. I'd ask for advice, tons of advice. I'd invite Amy Poehler and Tina Fey because they inspire me with everything they've accomplished but they also seem completely bemused and untouched by their fame. I'm sure they'd come because I'd promise them fancy cheese. And then I'd invite Ina Garten because someone needs to cook.
But on the weekend, it would be grand to have my three kids and my husband all around the table with me at the same time again. I mostly like my empty nest, but it would be fab to corral them from their far-off lands and busy lives for a while. It would have to be on the weekend because I'd make them spend the night. Could Ina Garten come too? Again, we'd need food.
If you could not be an author, what would like to do as a career?
The more I write and attend gruesome and fascinating Sisters in Crime meetings with forensic experts, I'd love to be able to do that. I think I'd be good at it, too, because I have great attention to detail and I'm very methodical. I would trip up those bad guys with their own strand of hair or fabric fiber or obscure mountain flora found only in one place in the world. I'd put them squarely at the scene of the crime and they would not be able to wiggle out of the noose I'd tightened around them with my beautiful, beautiful science.
I also love maps, but I'm not sure cartographer is an actual job any more.
I worry too much about getting details wrong if I try to write about a place I'm unfamiliar with. Like, for me to write a book set at the beach, I'd have to live in a seaside villa for several months to feel like I wouldn't screw it up. Note to self: set a book at the beach some time soon. Very soon.
What is a day in the life of an author like? Do you write a certain number of words, do you write in the morning or evening?
I like schedules. I write for at least three hours Monday, Thursday, and most Friday mornings, especially when I'm in the middle of a draft. And I set aside all day Tuesday for writing. I set a timer for every hour and keep track of how many words I write. I like to know how long each book takes me. I'm an outliner so the writing itself goes pretty fast for me. I never stare at a blank screen; I always know what scene I need to write. And I write in a linear fashion, no jumping around in the story for me.
Afternoons are spent with emails, writing blogs, organizing publicity and marketing campaigns, creating and practicing workshops to teach ... at writer's conferences, like Charlee.
Do you model your character after yourself or any one you know?
In Bamboozle and Mayhem, the two main characters were pretty closely us as the authors and friends for 30+ years, so that was fun and easy. In the Mystery Writers Mysteries, I knew she was going to be a mystery writer in her 30s, so I just had to roll back my personal clock a couple of decades and try to figure out what it would be like to find Charlee's kind of publishing success at a young age. I tend to write stories where a perfectly normal person is going about their perfectly normal business when — BLAMMO — something weird happens to them. Then I try to figure out what I'd do. After I was done cowering under the covers, of course.
If your books were made into a movie, who would you want to play the lead character?
Anybody who would be besties with me and let me hang out on the set.
Who is your favorite author?
No fair! You might as well ask me who my favorite kid is or which is my favorite internal organ! (Both of which I have, but I'm not telling you. Plus, they tend to change from day to day.)
If you could invite five people – living or dead – to a dinner party, who would they be?
First, I'd want them all to be living, because gross. If it was a weeknight party, I'd invite Joe R. Lansdale because he is a storyteller extraordinaire. If you haven't read him, remedy that situation immediately. Carl Hiaasen would get an invitation because I find him absolutely hilarious and he makes his books look perfectly effortless. I'd ask for advice, tons of advice. I'd invite Amy Poehler and Tina Fey because they inspire me with everything they've accomplished but they also seem completely bemused and untouched by their fame. I'm sure they'd come because I'd promise them fancy cheese. And then I'd invite Ina Garten because someone needs to cook.
But on the weekend, it would be grand to have my three kids and my husband all around the table with me at the same time again. I mostly like my empty nest, but it would be fab to corral them from their far-off lands and busy lives for a while. It would have to be on the weekend because I'd make them spend the night. Could Ina Garten come too? Again, we'd need food.
If you could not be an author, what would like to do as a career?
The more I write and attend gruesome and fascinating Sisters in Crime meetings with forensic experts, I'd love to be able to do that. I think I'd be good at it, too, because I have great attention to detail and I'm very methodical. I would trip up those bad guys with their own strand of hair or fabric fiber or obscure mountain flora found only in one place in the world. I'd put them squarely at the scene of the crime and they would not be able to wiggle out of the noose I'd tightened around them with my beautiful, beautiful science.
I also love maps, but I'm not sure cartographer is an actual job any more.
1 comment:
Great interview!
Denise
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