MAYHEM ON MONDAY

Maybe there should be a forty-eight hour day!

There’s a lot of responsibility to writing a book. For one thing, you have to take care of all those characters. That’s right. You think it’s easy? Never mind, keeping them from being killed, you also have to make sure they eat and, trust me, most amateur sleuths are light on kitchen skills and never seem to keep to a schedule. They can miss meals for days.

You may even have wake them up in the middle of the night to go skulking after clues and you should encourage them to upgrade their skills (firing range, computer hacking, and running, always with the running). Their dogs have to be fed and walked. Who do you think remembers that? And if the dogs don’t get out often enough, you will get mail. Believe me.

It’s like being a mom to a gang of kids who will never become adults. You’re always going to be getting notes from their teachers.

Worse, you have to meddle in their love lives. Can’t have a mystery character be too happy. Or too lonely. Too anything really.

But one of the most time-consuming tasks is making sure they’re dressed properly. Remember Kinsey Milhone’s all-purpose black dress? Most people do. Readers notice these things.

My point is that, aside from the time it takes to keep your own wardrobe and closet in order and make sure you don’t show up at a business meeting in cargo shorts, now you have all these other people to worry about. I have to make sure Alvin Ferguson’s nine visible earrings are shiny enough to twinkle in the light. Mrs. Parnell still hangs on to her CWAC uniform. It’s hanging in her closet. That’s my responsibility too. As for Camilla MacPhee, she’s impossible. Couldn’t care less about clothes. I leave managing her outfits to her three perfectly groomed sisters.

But I do have to replace Fiona Silk’s one good outfit when it gets ruined by some villain in each book. I still mourn the loss of that periwinkle suede skirt and matching blouse. Then there’s Charlotte Adams, that little fashion plate. If it wasn’t for InStyle magazine (now a tax-deduction), I wouldn’t have a hope of having her look her spiffy best (with just the right shoes) as she gets chased on the I-90 or tossed into a dumpster. A lot of those outfits have to be discarded after a book! They’re ruined.

Her friend Jack Reilly is easier, except for bike racing gear from time to time, he’s always with the Hawaiian shirts and the unsuitable cargo shorts no matter what the weather. Even so, the patterns on the Hawaiian shirts have to vary. Jack may be in a rut, but he does change his clothes. Can’t have potential love interest being too grubby you know.

All to say, when I started out in this business, I had no idea there’d be all this work keeping other people dressed. Maybe that’s why I’m behind on my own laundry. There’s not enough time in the day.

What about you? How do you like a sleuth to be dressed? Do you care about that sort of detail as a reader or as a writer?



Mary Jane Maffini rides herd on three (soon to be three and a half) mystery series and a couple of dozen short stories. Her thirteenth mystery novel, The Busy Woman’s Guide to Murder (April 5, 2011), is brimming with names, no two the same.

LADIES' KILLING THURSDAYS

Critiquing Part 2

Recently the four women in my writing group sent me detailed critiques of the manuscript of my fourth book, Cut to the Bone. I set to work reading each one, evaluating the comments and, when a significant change had been suggested, thinking about the ramifications of the change.

Surprisingly the changes I made led me to reconsider the characters, to eliminate two and to concentrate on deepened the feelings and reactions of those who remained. As I did this I visualized each one scene by scene and this in turn suggested other changes. It was a fascinating experience and it would not have been possible without the initial critiques.

Why did this happen? I think it was because I was forced to rethink the role each character played and doing this made me reconsider each one’s part in the book. Being a visual artist as well as a writer I saw them in their settings and this made them even more real than they had been before.

All this was done on the computer. The next step was to print the new version and read it. Hard copy brings its own pleasures and again I found a multitude of contradictions, omissions and repetitions that I hadn’t picked up on the computer.

The final step was to read the entire ms aloud. The ears recognized problems that the eyes missed so there were more changes to be made.

Perhaps I’m not enough of a self critic but without the initial input from my four patient readers none of this would have happened. As it is I’m sure the editor will find more things to change but not nearly as many as there were in the beginning.

For me the critiquing process is unbelievably helpful. I know that many writers have internalized all the questions they should ask and don’t need to have others read their work. I’m not there and although I’d like to think I will someday have confidence that I don’t need critiques I don’t really believe it.

Are other writers as reliant on critiquing as I am? It would be interesting to know.



Joan Boswell is a member of the Ladies Killing Circle and co-edited four of their short story anthologies: Fit toDie, Bone Dance, Boomers Go Bad and Going Out With a Bang. Her three mysteries, Cut Off His Tale, Cut to the Quick and Cut and Run were published in 2005, 2007 and 2007. In 2000 she won the $10,000 Toronto Star’s short story contest. Joan lives in Toronto with three flat-coated retrievers.

WICKED WEDNESDAYS

Practice makes perfect....

I don't know how many times I heard that phrase growing up. Practice makes perfect. Half-an-hour of music each day, practice your cursive writing, arithmetic tables, reading skills, table manners, ice skating...it's what we're told to do in order to get ahead.

Some of it paid off. And for that, I thank my parents. Although I still grumble that I didn't get to take ballet at an earlier age. Or piano. Or join the basketball team. Grumble, grumble.

These days, the same tenet still holds. Practice makes perfect (a state still being sought and slightly out of reach in most, okay, all instances.) But I try to get a half hour of practicing my choir music in every day; I practice tidying the house as I go along rather than leaving it all to one day; ditto for doing the filing.

It's also important with writing. For some reason, book number two in my mystery book club series, is harder to write. I just am having a more difficult time getting into it...or my character's head. I'm not really sure what that's all about. But I do know that if I practice writing each day -- at least 15 minutes -- it helps.

I know the end product will be more disjointed than I'd like. But that's what second drafts are for. I enjoy the process of reading through and adding the details, fleshing out the southern Alabama town and the lives of the book club members. Of being 30-something Lizzie Turner and seeing the world through her eyes. There is hope. I know I'll get back into the groove. She's waiting there for me in that second draft.

I'd heard about the 15-minute rule before but it had to be a thousand words or nothing for me. And that demand one makes on oneself can be debilitating. My advice to self is, back off, visit with Lizzie and friends for at least 15 minutes a day (it can be done even with a busy schedule), make time for friends.

Practice can lead to a day like Tuesday when I glanced at the clock mid-afternoon, not quite sure what day it was, and noticed my 15 minutes had morphed into 10 pages.

What advice do you give yourself when writing?


Linda Wiken/Erika Chase