Today's Mystery Author Guest: Barbara Graham

As promised yesterday, fellow mystery author Barbara Graham is visiting my blog today. To read her bio and see her photo, please page down to yesterday's post. Above is the cover photo for Murder By Music: The Wedding Quilt, the third book in her quilting mystery series.

In the book, autumn brings cooler temperatures to the Smoky Mountains. While the weather may be cooling down in tiny Park County, Tennessee, crime is heating up. Weevil Beasley, the county's loan shark, is found dead and the body count begins. Sheriff Tony Abernathy is soon up to the top of his bald head in murder and mayhem.

Tony's quiltmaker wife Theo is in the thick of it. When she leads her quilting group on a retreat, a killer follows. While dealing with cranky quilters, distraught hotel owners and unfinished projects, Theo has to keep track of gossip for her husband and barely has time to hand out the pattern for her new mystery quilt.

Below are Barbara's answers to my interview questions. Please leave a comment for Barbara, and if you have a question of your own for her, ask it!

1. Who or what inspired you to start writing and when did you start?

I didn’t write anything down but I remember making up stories in the third grade and at the same time, I stopped learning math. My early stories usually involved my getting a horse or saving the world or my horse and I saving the world. I also told lies if they would keep me out of trouble.

2. What tools and process do you use to “get to know” your characters before and while you’re writing the books?

I like to visualize the whole person. My characters are very real to me no matter if they are irritating, lovable, stupid, bright, or killers. Because most of them are series people, it is a bit like sitting down with old friends and catching up—what’s new? Have you lost weight? Don’t tell me you’re talking to so-and-so again. Have you met the new teacher? What do you think about him?

3. How do you construct your plots? Do you outline or do you write “by the seat of your pants”?

I would love to outline—but—it’s not possible for me without a brain transplant. My writing style is more like the weather map view of a hurricane. I start with the victim and everything swirls around it. The characters totally control the story—an intricate plot without people is less interesting to me. A linear search for the solution is unlikely to hold me and real people have multiple facets to their lives.

4. In the age-old question of character versus plot, which one do you think is most important in a murder mystery and which one do you emphasize in your writing?

Absolutely character.

Why?

Because I believe in a mystery the victim is the most important character in the book. Without a fully conceived victim, I cannot imagine creating the plot. Why does this person die, on this day, in this manner? From there I can find the killer.

5. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a writer and what inspires you and keeps you motivated?

The challenge of finding an agent—so far I’m still failing at that one.
Followed by finding a traditional publisher without an agent—achieved. This was very important to me. I am waaaaay too stubborn to self-publish and my books definitely are better after being edited.

6. What is a typical workday for you and how many hours a day (or week) do you devote to writing?

My workdays are different according to the season. In the winter, when I get the most work done, I hang out on the couch with pen, notebook and a dog. I think. I play with ideas. I take the time to listen to the voices. Then I spend hours at the keyboard, stopping about four o’clock. In the summer, I walk the dogs before it gets too hot, work in the garden and hope I can still remember the ideas that come to me there when I get back inside.

7. What advice do you have to offer to an aspiring author?

Write. Write more and more. Nothing is more valuable for any art form than practice. Musicians play scales. Artists have sketchbooks. Dancers take technique classes. Genius is rare, the rest of us require conferences, classes and critiques. Don’t rely on spell check. Don’t give up. Almost all of us have three to twenty unpublished books behind us.

8. Now here’s a zinger. Tell us something about yourself that you have not revealed in another interview yet. Something as simple as your favorite TV show or food will do.

I love Big Bang Theory!

9. What are you working on now and what are your future writing plans?

I’m doing publicity for Murder by Music: The Wedding Quilt which has on-sale date of 11/11/11 (how cool is that?). I’m doing rewrites for next year’s release Murder by Vegetable: The Baby Quilt and am plotting another in the series.

I am still searching for an agent, especially to represent a non-cozy suspense I have written.

10. Is there anything else you would like to tell my blog readers?

Visit my website please! I rarely blog, so thank you Beth for letting me chat on yours. I love to talk to readers, writers and quilters—although I realize I am geographically challenged by living where I do (think Yellowstone National Park)—I do enjoy traveling.

Thanks, Barbara! Now, who has a comment or question for her?

Tomorrow's Guest: Barbara Graham

Tomorrow, fellow mystery author Barbara Graham will be a guest on my blog. Barbara publishes with Five Star Books, who started my gift basket designer series, and that's how we got to know each other and become friends.

Barbara Graham began making up stories in the third grade. Learning to multiply and divide paled in comparison. Born and mostly raised in the Texas Panhandle, she later lived in Denver, New Orleans and East Tennessee. Inspiration for Silersville comes from her Tennessee period. An unrepentant quilting addict, she has been a travel agent, ballet teacher and stay-at-home mom. She lives in Wyoming with her long suffering husband and two dogs. She is a long distance member of various writing groups including—Mystery Writers of America, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers.

In her guest post tomorrow, Barbara answers my interview questions, and I'm sure you'll be intrigued by what she has to say. Then, feel free to ask her some questions of your own in the comments.

Today's Mystery Author Guest: Karen McCullough

As promised yesterday, fellow mystery author Karen McCullough is visiting my blog today to answer my interview questions and ones asked by my blog readers. To read her bio and see her photo, please page down to yesterday's post. Above is the cover photo for her February 9th release from Five Star, A Gift For Murder.

Misplaced shipments, feuding exhibitors, and malfunctioning popcorn machines are all in a day’s work for Heather McNeil, assistant to the director of the Washington DC Market Center. She’s on a career path that should someday make her director of the center. She’s smart, competent, and trying hard not to be frazzled by the Gift and Home trade show, the biggest event of the year. Finding the body of a murdered executive on the first day of the show tips Heather into personal and professional havoc. The police suspect the victim’s wife killed him, but Heather doesn’t believe it. She’s gotten glimmers of an entirely different scenario and possible motive. Her attraction to the Market Center’s new security officer, Scott Brandon, adds to the chaos. Despite opposition from some of the exhibitors, her employers, and the police, Heather seeks to expose a murderer before the show ends and all hope of finding the killer disappears.

You know, that Gift and Home trade show is precisely the kind of show that my gift basket designer sleuth, Claire Hanover, would go to. This should be a very interesting read! See what Karen McCullough has to say in response to my questions below, and feel free to ask her additional questions in comments.

1. Who or what inspired you to start writing and when did you start?

I wrote my first mystery story when I was about ten, inspired by Nancy Drew, but I didn’t start writing seriously until many years later. My husband had read a couple of short things I’d written and thought they were pretty good. He suggested I try writing a short story or two. So I did, but I found I had a hard time containing the plots I wanted to do in the short format, which led to my writing my first novel.

2. What tools and process do you use to “get to know” your characters before and while you’re writing the books?

Actually the only tool I use for my characters is my brain. My initial idea for a story generally involves a character with a problem they have to deal with. I may not know much about that character at the outset, but I do know why the situation is a challenge for them, and as I go through the process of writing the book, I learn more and more about them, discover what makes them tick, what they fear, what they love, etc.

3. How do you construct your plots? Do you outline or do you write “by the seat of your pants”?

I’m a seat of the pantser, but I have learned how to do brief, general outlines for my publishers. I usually start writing a story with a basic idea of who the main characters are, how it starts and how it should end. I frequently write the first few chapters with very little idea of how the rest of the plot will go, but once I’m a few chapters into it, I have to get some direction, so I’ll sit down and make a fairly long list of possible events, encounters, and other things that might or should happen in the course of the story. With that I do a basic timeline situating those things on it and use that as a guide for writing the rest. Of course, I also frequently find the story taking unanticipated twists and turns.

4. In the age-old question of character versus plot, which one do you think is most important in a murder mystery and which one do you emphasize in your writing? Why?

In the words of an almost as age-old song: “You can’t have one without the other.” To me, the very definition of a good story is an interesting character trying to solve an interesting and compelling problem. The fact that your character is who he or she is needs to be integral to the story, but the story has to have interesting development. I try not to emphasize one or the other unduly.

In my February Five Star Mystery, A Gift For Murder, my heroine, Heather, is able to identify the culprit mostly because she knows her job, because she’s intelligent and persistent as well as observant, and because she’s a good listener in an environment that encourages talking rather than listening.

On the other hand, plot is equally important in a mystery. I’ve read—and I’m sure you have too—so-called mysteries where the solution to the crime simply falls into the detective’s lap. That doesn’t work for me. I want my detective character to get the payoff through his or her own efforts. I want them to face challenges in the course of solving the mystery and have to work through those. And ultimately I want them to win because they’re smart, persistent, and effective, not just because they’re lucky.

5. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a writer and what inspires you and keeps you motivated?

Finding the time to write is the biggest challenge. I have a family who want to see me occasionally and a day job that pays for the electricity to run my computer. Add to that, I’m not the type of writer who can pick it up and write a paragraph here or there. I have to be able to sink into the world I’m creating in order to get it out.

On the other hand, if I go too long without writing, it feels like my head is going to explode. There are characters and stories swirling around out there and they all want to see daylight. There’s no real question of motivation. I just HAVE to write.

6. What is a typical workday for you and how many hours a day (or week) do you devote to writing?

To support my writing habit, I have a day job that involves running my own web design/development business. Because that work pays the mortgage and puts food on the table, it gets the biggest chunk of my time.

And because I need blocks of time to get into my world, I tend to be a binge writer, sometimes writing all weekend long or using days off or even long evenings. If business is slow, I’ll sometimes give myself a day off to do nothing but write.

7. What advice do you have to offer to an aspiring author?

Persistence, persistence, persistence. You’ll need to grow a thick skin and learn how to deal with rejection and then keep going if you’re serious about getting published.

8. Now here’s a zinger. Tell us something about yourself that you have not revealed in another interview yet. Something as simple as your favorite TV show or food will do.

Hmmm… Well, here’s a shocking truth about me: I’m not a food person. On the “Eat to Live – Live to Eat” scale, I’m way over on the Eat to Live side. In fact, I may have fallen off it. I’ve been known to forget to eat when I get involved in a project, and when the rumbles from my stomach finally get loud enough to remind me I need fuel, I’m most likely to grab a few crackers and a hunk of cheese or a carton of yogurt. Whatever’s handy. One obvious side effect is I’m a terrible cook.

9. What are you working on now and what are your future writing plans?

I’m currently working on the sequel to A Gift For Murder. My title is Wired For Murder, but I have no idea whether that title will stick. I also have a novella in the same world in progress, but no title for it as yet. I hope to write a few more books in the “Market Center Mysteries” series. I also have a couple of urban fantasy mysteries making the rounds at the moment.

10. Is there anything else you would like to tell my blog readers?

Please visit me my website for more information about my books. More information on A Gift For Murder and the coming additional Market Center Mysteries can be found at my Market Center Mysteries website. Of course, I’m available to talk to book clubs or other writing groups, either in person if they’re in the NC, SC, VA area, or by phone elsewhere.

Thanks, Karen! Fire away, folks, and remember that you're entering a contest for an ARC when you leave a comment.

Tomorrow's Guest: Karen McCullough!

Tomorrow fellow mystery author Karen McCullough will be a guest on my blog. Karen is the author of ten published novels in the mystery, romantic suspense, and fantasy genres and has won numerous awards, including an Eppie Award for fantasy. She’s also been a four-time Eppie finalist, and a finalist in the Prism, Dream Realm, Rising Star, Lories, Scarlett Letter, and Vixen Awards contests. Her short fiction has appeared in several anthologies and numerous small press publications in the fantasy, science fiction, and romance genres. Her upcoming release is A Gift For Murder, published in hardcover by Five Star/Gale Group Mysteries.

Karen answered my interview questions, and I'm sure you'll be intrigued by what she has to say. Then, feel free to ask her some questions of your own. Also, anyone who leaves a comment on tomorrow's post will be entered into a contest to win an Advanced Review Copy (ARC) of A Gift For Murder, which is a collector's item!

Three New Book Contracts!!!

I am so excited I could burst! I just signed three new book contracts with Midnight Ink which will result in moving my Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series from Five Star Publishing over to Midnight Ink. I FINALLY have an answer for the readers of that series who have been asking me for paperback, electronic, and audio formats of the books. Paperback and electronic are coming, and I'll set my literary agent to work on selling the audio rights next!

The first two contracts are for the first two books in the series, which Five Star has already published in hardcover, and in the case of A Real Basket Case, in large-print. Midnight Ink will bring A Real Basket Case out in trade paperback and electronic formats in Fall, 2011, and To Hell in a Handbasket in Fall, 2012. The third contract is for a brand-new third book in the series, to be published in Fall, 2013.

Both I and Terri Bischoff, the acquisition editor at Midnight Ink, hope the whole schedule can be moved up if I can finish the third book in a timely manner. The ultimate plan is for me to write one Rocky Mountain adventure mystery per year for MI and a gift basket designer mystery every other year for MI, putting me on a book every eight months schedule. I have never written a book in less than a year before, so this is a scary proposition for me, which is why I didn't commit yet to a more ambitious schedule.

I plan to finish the second Rocky Mountain adventure mystery, due in November, at least five months early, so I can start on the third gift basket designer book this summer. I'm really looking forward to visiting with Claire Hanover again after a long absence. If I can finish the rough draft, at least, before I need to start writing the third Rocky Mountain adventure mystery, then I'll agree to a faster release schedule. Wish me luck, because I'll need it!

I owe profuse thanks to my literary agent, Sandra Bond, for her diligent work in reviewing these three contracts and requesting modifications. Midnight Ink changed their contract boilerplate right before we started this process, and Sandra had to renegotiate many clauses that had already been decided in the previous contract for my Rocky Mountain adventure series. Her hard work and sharp eye underscored for me how important it is for an author to be represented by a knowledgeable literary agent in the publishing arena.

I also owe profuse thanks to Terri Bischoff for being willing to take a risk on me and and break new ground for Midnight Ink by acquiring a mystery series that had already been started with another publisher. Terri, I will work like a DOG to promote the series and prove you right in this decision!

Lastly, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to all of the staff at Tekno Books and Five Star Publishing, especially my Tekno editor, Denise Dietz, and the acquistions editor at Five Star, Tiffany Schofield, for giving a brand-new mystery author a chance and educating me about this wonderful, yet screwy, business.

I started this wild ride wondering if I could write a mystery, then if I could publish it, and now I have contracts for five books in two series in various formats. I couldn't be happier, and I'm looking forward to what future adventures lie in wait for me. Who knows? Maybe river ranger Mandy Tanner will have to rescue klutzy Claire Hanover when she falls into the Arkansas River on her first whitewater rafting trip. ;-)