The Difference Between Cranes and Egrets by Lynn Chandler Willis

I pride myself in writing setting well. In each of my books, there's been at least one review where the reviewer praised me for making them feel the heat of Wink, Texas or bask in the autumn colors of the North Carolina mountains. To me, setting is a secondary character. It should be treated to the same amount of development as the rest of the supporting characters. 

I don't spend a lot of time, though, on stuff like motivation and family history and childhood traumas. Not when I'm talking setting. The physical being of the landscape––the smell, the touch, the way it looks. These are the elements I dive into and, quite frankly, forget to come up for air. Some authors call it research. I call it broadening my horizons.

When I was writing Wink of an Eye, I joined the Wink, Texas Facebook group. They welcomed me and were eager to offer help. I even made friends with the mayor's wife and we sent messages and texts a couple times a week. On one such occasion, I had sent her a message along with a picture I'd borrowed from Google Images.

The photo was of a beautiful desert plant, tinged in red and found all over west Texas. Bingo! In the scene, P.I. Gypsy Moran is driving along the highway running from Wink to Kermit and is ruminating about this part of his home state. A jackrabbit ran alongside the van, kicking up dust and dirt. Prickly Pear cacti dotted the barren landscape and added a touch of green. Back to the red-tinged plant.

After hours, and I mean hours of researching this plant I knew the scientific name (Echinocereus coccineus). I knew how tall they grew (not much as they're low to the ground), I knew when they bloomed (late May, early June) and I knew wildfires were hard on them. I knew some of more common names like Scarlet hedgehog cactus, claret cup cactus, scarlet beehive cactus. I was learning so much about this plant, I fancied myself an expert. Except I wanted to know what west Texans called them. I wanted the name that a native Texan would use, driving along the lonely stretch of highway with only a jackrabbit and this red-flowering cactus to keep him company. 

I sent Stormy (her real name) a message with a picture and said, "What do y'all call this?" 

"A cactus."

"No, I mean what do y'all call it?" I gave her a few examples to help her along. "You know, something like dragon fire? Maybe devils blood?"

She must have been thinking about it because there was silence. So, I helped her again. "If you were driving down highway 171 right now and saw this on the side of the road, what would you call it? In your terms. As a native west Texan." 

"A cactus."

Several hours of research, in my case overthinking, equated to exactly one line of a paragraph in the book. But by gosh, the reader could see that dang cactus right along with Gypsy.

Flash forward a few years to my new P.I., Raynor Beck. The series is set in the southern Outer Banks of North Carolina (or OBX for those in the know). Primarily in the Beaufort, Morehead City, and Atlantic Beach area. If you're familiar with my books, you'll know what a break this setting is from my beloved Appalachian mountains. The beach. Eeek! 

In my part of North Carolina, the beach, or coast, is about an hour east further than the mountains west. It's the best of both worlds. But for me, it also meant new research. Like knowing the difference between the bow and the stern. Starboard (right side), port (left side), gunwale and the hull. I researched the trees that are native to the coast. The average temperature of a given day. The differences between the fish caught off the Oceana Pier at Atlantic Beach and a couple miles out in the Gulf Stream. And the birds! I snapped this photo during a recent stay. I was watching the boats come in to the Morehead City Yacht Basin and could not take my eyes off of this guy. He would be in the book. First chapter, even, to really set the scene. 

I popped the photo into Goggle Lens and it immediately brought up crane.  Again, I dive in to research and learn everything there is to know about the crane. Oh my gosh––the symbolism!  Crane symbolism focuses on the need for balance and living in harmony with others. I could just see the cover of the book. There would be a glorious crane on it, perhaps gliding over the ocean.  

Yep, with my hours of research, or broadening my horizons, I had come up with a cover idea, a possible title, and even the broad theme. 

There was just one more thing I needed to clarify so I googled "where do cranes live."

I can now tell you where they don't live. North Carolina. They're also commonly confused with the egret and/or the heron. 

Heartbroken, and cussing myself for overthinking again to the tune of wasted writing time, I refused to spend any more time "researching" that dang bird and simply wrote: 

An egret stood watch on the dock, seeing the boats off. 

Period. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. I hate that stupid bird.

What about you? Are you guilty of overthinking?

Make Setting Work for Your Story

 

by Donnell Ann Bell 

Have you ever been reading a novel, only to find yourself skimming over a passage of long, drawn out setting or description? My guess is you did that because you already had a clear visual and were ready to get on with the story. Setting and description belong in a writer’s tool kit and used right are part of an invaluable arsenal.

One of my favorite quotes is by Russian Writer Anton Chekhov who wrote, “I don’t need to know everything that’s in the room, I only need to know what I need to know is in the room.” That made so much sense to me, and why I’ve tried to remember it in my own writing.

What would you write to describe this room?

When I write, I choose locations familiar to me or spend long hours checking out a town’s Chamber of Commerce page, Google maps, and then I contact people who live in the area to beta read and verify I have it correct. I try to sprinkle in popular landmarks, although be careful here; you don’t want it to read like a travelogue.  The best way to mention a landmark is to make it imperative to a scene.

Additionally, because I write mystery, suspense and romantic suspense, if I’m ever going to say something negative about a place, e.g. place a dead body or a murder there, I change the name or make up a fictitious place that blends in seamlessly with an actual area.

Writing around the theme, Suspense too Close to Home, I’ve written about Denver, Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, El Paso, Texas and in my most recent novel, Black Pearl, which takes place between Denver and Montrose, Colorado. But the book that I think I did setting particularly well is in my adopted hometown of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the best-selling The Past Came Hunting. Because I’d lived in that city for thirty-plus years, I had a good grasp of the community and its surroundings.

As I mentioned earlier, the best way to mention a landmark is to make it imperative to a scene. (In the following scenes my cop protagonist is on his way to a hearing and my female protagonist is at her job after a brutal end to their relationship.) I could have described the places first then written about their turbulent emotions. Instead, I combined both setting and the emotions they were going through into the narrative. Hopefully, by doing this I upped the pacing . . . .

Joe walked into the building, flashing his badge to the security guards and bypassing the metal detectors. He had the record, the credentials, votes of confidence from peers and subordinates and the support of the district attorney. Combined, these factors all but guaranteed him the promotion to commander.

            He was one lucky cop.

Images of Melanie flashed through his brain as he entered the Division Room Four of a proceeding already in progress. So, with so much going for him, why wasn’t he smiling?

Transition to Female Protagonist

On the West side of town, things weren’t going much better for Mel. With Aaron visiting family in New York, she cleared the glass shelves of Christmas, Hanukah and seasonal items and prepared to mark them down. The best way to overcome heartbreak, she reasoned, was to throw herself into the things going right, namely her son and her job at Pinnacle Creations.

According to Aaron, they had thirty days to reduce inventory, then gear up for Valentine’s Day, Thanks to holidays and special occasions, the floral industry never ended. Unlike relationships.

Ideally, I didn’t have to describe a courthouse or a floral shop because these things are so well known to us. Setting and description are vital to a book. But like dialogue, external and internal narrative, emotion, and above all, an author’s voice, they are tools. Too much of anything is overwriting.

How about you? Any tips on setting you'd like to share? 

Donnell Ann Bell is an award-winning author, including finalist in the 2020 Colorado Book Award, she is the author of Black Pearl, book one of a series, and is currently editing book two. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, or Bookbub. Sign up for her newsletter at www.donnellannbell.com

 

 

 

WANTED: 3 BR, 2 BATHS, LOTS OF STORY INSPIRATION

By Shari Randall 

 

When she beta-read my last book, a friend told me that I seemed more interested in describing houses and settings than I was in describing people. At first I was taken aback, but after reflection, I saw her point.

 

I adore all those tv shows about houses – buying houses, selling houses, decorating houses, rehabbing houses, even haunted houses. With my husband’s military career, we’ve bought and sold plenty of houses. I love a good house tour or decorator showcase. Even dollhouses fascinate me. When I was a little girl, my favorite toy was my Barbie Dream House. Although my kids flew the nest years ago, I still have custody of their dollhouses and, sorry kids, I don’t think you’re getting them back.

 

Why do houses intrigue me so? Perhaps a psychologist could explain. Maybe the dollhouse my dad built for me and my sisters, a replica of our own red Cape Cod home, set me on this path.

 

Perhaps homes reflect the people in them and the writer in me has stumbled upon a different form of characterization? What can I say, houses inspire me.

 

With COVID, I haven’t been able to travel to scout potential story locations and buildings as much as I’d like. Lucky for me that my corner of Connecticut is full of intriguing places, places that fire my imagination and will make great settings for my books.

 

One of my characters likes to “collect castles” and so do I. Gillette’s Castle, set on a hill called the Seventh Sister overlooking the Connecticut River, is one of my favorite places to visit. Designed by William Gillette, an actor famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, the castle’s décor, construction, and grounds reflect the eccentric brilliance of its owner. This place inspired another pocket-sized castle in the second, as-yet-untitled book in my Ice Cream Shop Mystery series.

 

Here’s a charmer that is slated to be the childhood home of the main character in Ice Cream Shop Mystery #1, The Rocky Road to Ruin. 

 

This mini-castle is tucked into a neighborhood a block from the ocean. Not your typical beach house, is it? I can only imagine the character who built this place. I feel a story coming on!

 

Writers: People or places – which do you find easier to describe? Readers: Are you as crazy about real estate as I am?

Shari Randall is the author of the Lobster Shack Mystery series from St. Martin's Press. The first in series, CURSES, BOILED AGAIN, won an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. The first in her new Ice Cream Shop Mystery series (written as Meri Allen), THE ROCKY ROAD TO RUIN, will be published on July 27, 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Mystic Bay!

by Shari Randall

If you're like me, you had a lot of travel plans canceled this summer. My consolation? Armchair travel with my TBR (to be read) pile. One of the great things about books is that they let us travel without leaving home.

So I thought I'd take you to the setting of my cozy mystery series, Mystic Bay. "Mystic Bay" is modeled on real life Mystic, Connecticut, a village on Long Island Sound that is always on those lists of best places to vacation. History? Check. Great scenery? Check. Charm? Check. Great restaurants, especially that New England specialty, the lobster shack? Triple check!

I'm including pictures of the real life Mystic that inspired scenes in my Lobster Shack Mystery series - a real slice of New England. Get out your cameras - the tour's about to start!

Here's the lobster shack that inspired The Lazy Mermaid. Ford's was used as a location shot in the movie Mystic Pizza, so it may look familiar. Their lobster bomb is the best!

This is one of the beautiful old sea captain's homes you'll find in Mystic. Note the enclosed widow's walk on the roof. The house overlooks the harbor where whaling ships returned after voyages that could last several years, and the captain's wife kept watch from the walk. Yes, many of those wives did indeed become widows - whaling was a dangerous profession.

Mystic Seaport is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the country. Nothing is more relaxing than watching ships - especially historic ships like the Charles Morgan - on the Mystic River.

Ah - fall color in New England! I set my third book, DRAWN AND BUTTERED, at Halloween so I could bring in the sights and sounds of autumn - fall festivals, glowing jack o'lanterns, and pumpkin spice everything!

I can't let you leave without a delicious, buttery lobster roll. If you'd like a further taste of Mystic Bay, you can check out the Lobster Shack Mystery series, which includes recipes for some New England favorites. Enjoy!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B077JS8VPX

Shari Randall writes the Lobster Shack Mystery series about Allegra "Allie" Larkin, a ballerina who is injured in a mysterious accident. While she heals, Allie returns to her hometown of Mystic Bay where she works in her quirky Aunt Gully's Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack. When Aunt Gully falls under suspicion of murder, Allie discovers that she has a talent for detection. 

Where is the last place a book took you?

Getting the Setting Right

by Shari Randall

Shari here, taking a bit of a break from writing Book Three in my Lobster Shack Mystery series. I just mailed in copy edits on Book Two, Against the Claw, which will be published on July 31. My kids love the fact that it comes out on Harry Potter’s birthday!

When I started writing the first book in my series, I thought about the ingredients I wanted to add to the story. What do I like in a mystery? I definitely wanted a play-fair puzzle with lots of possible culprits. I like a fast pace, in the snappy style of Murder, She Wrote. I love a fish out of water story, so I landed Allegra Larkin, my ballerina protagonist, in a lobster shack. Most especially, I wanted the setting to make the reader feel like they were taking a New England vacation.

Actually, of all the ingredients, the setting worried me the most. Even though I live in the area where my series is set – the Connecticut shoreline and I am just minutes from some great lobster shacks – I was concerned about doing justice to the feel, details, and history that make this such a great place to visit.

My fictional Lazy Mermaid lobster shack is a combination of several shacks that I visited when I did my Lobster Shack Tour last summer. From Connecticut to the Cape to Maine there are lots of lobster shacks. What do they have in common?  The sunburned diners at splintery picnic tables, the dive-bombing gulls, blue sky and blue water, the briny sweet taste of lobster, the long lines and jammed parking lots.

What does my fictional Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack have that they don’t? For a start: 

A cook who serenades the lobster with Broadway show tunes.

Walls decorated with not just the typical fishing nets and wooden lobster traps, but also shelf after shelf of a mermaid collection called “mermaidabilia.”

A shack set in a little village where the buildings are unchanged from the time they were built in the mid 1800s.

A couple of weeks ago, I received a note from a reader who told me that my book made her feel like she was a little girl again, right back in the seaside cottage her family rented on the Connecticut shore not far from New Haven. It was her family’s tradition to visit a lobster shack and get lobster rolls once every summer. She was sure that the shack in my book was the one that her family had visited all those years ago. She even sent me a picture of her family at the shack.

Well, I was thrilled that I’d captured the feeling of this reader’s childhood New England vacations, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that my lobster shack was fictional.

But the lovely fan letter has given me some hope that I’m getting the setting right. I hope if you’re in the mood for a New England vacation, you’ll visit the Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack in my fictional Mystic Bay, Connecticut. Let me know if you have a good time, okay?

Shari Randall is the author of Curses, Boiled Again, Book One of the new Lobster Shack Mystery series from St. Martin's Press. Book Two, Against the Claw, will be published July 31, 2018. You can see what's new with her at https://us.macmillan.com/author/sharirandall/.

 

The Newbie and the Mud Flood

Hi – Newbie to the Stiletto Gang here!

Joining a busy, successful blog is a bit like stepping into a cocktail party that’s going full blast. Bubbling conversations, inside jokes, and shared history. What do you do? You paste a smile on your face and dive right in!

I’d planned to carry that analogy through this post, but I took a left turn at abnormal this morning and waded through a ton of mud and downed trees to make sure the beaver dam hadn’t ruptured.

Hmm, that’s a different story.

Perhaps I should back up a bit. I live in the Cascade Mountains, up above Seattle. Before we moved to the mountains, we transferred to Washington (well, actually we transferred to a small town in eastern Washington) from South Carolina.

When people heard about our planned move, everyone said, “I love Seattle.”

Because clearly Seattle is the only thing in Washington, right?

Bookwalter Winery ~ http://innovatewashington.org/

We love Seattle too. But there’s the whole rest of the state.  Eastern Washington is the complete opposite to Seattle. It’s conservative, sunny and dry, and home to fabulous vineyards and wineries.  There’s access to tons of outdoor recreation…and a dearth of restaurants.

As an author, I often see conversations, characters (oops, I mean interesting people I encounter), and settings in terms of story potential. And I knew there was potential here.

Once we settled into eastern Washington, I had to write a story set here. A story about a woman who came home, not as a failure with nowhere else to go, but as a woman who loved her nutty parents and put her ambitions on hold to bail out the family and their business. 

Then because I write mysteries, there had to be a dead body and a puzzle for my amatuer sleuth to solve!

Besides, I could have fun with the wineries, Native American casinos…and assorted farm animals.

So – ever been to Washington? Ever had a flood tear up your property?

My latest book released last week. So About the Money romps through eastern Washington. Or as Patty Smiley, author of the Cool Cache series said, “CPA Holly Price juggles dodgy clients, flakey parents, ex-lovers and a murdered friend before she gets to the bottom line in this fast and fun read.”

When Holly Price trips over a friend’s dead body, her life takes a nosedive into a world of intrigue and danger. With an infinitely sexy cop—Holly’s pissed-off, jilted ex-fiancé—threatening to arrest her for the murder, the intrepid accountant must protect her future, her business...and her heart...by using her investigative skills to follow the money, before the killer decides "CPA" stands for Certified Pain in the Ass...and the next dead body is Holly’s.

Visit with Cathy at her website http://cperkinswrites.com

A Sense of Place

by Sparkle Abbey

One of the comments we see frequently in reference to the beautifully written and award-winning Louise Penny series is: “I want to live in Three Pines!” Or words to that effect.

And isn’t that exactly what we authors hope for when we create a fictional world? We hope readers love our worlds so much they want to take up residence! It’s true with all books but seems especially true with a series where the community created is revisited with each book.

Also this sense of place is a big part of who the characters are. Just like where we’re all from tells so much about us. How they feel about where they're from is important. And whether they've always lived there and continue to do so; or perhaps they couldn’t get away from their roots fast enough.

Some strong examples of series with a sense of place are:

• Stephanie Plum and her irreverent Jersey burb surroundings,
• Jessica Fletcher and her cozy Cabot Cove community,
• Tess Monaghan’s rough and tumble Baltimore,
• And, of course, the aforementioned, Three Pines with Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and the cast of complicated characters who invite us into their village.

We chose Laguna Beach, California for the setting of our Pampered Pets mystery series for several reasons.

Our two amateur sleuths aren’t originally from California, they’re from Texas. Those Lone Star roots are a big part of Caro and Mel even though they both have pretty distinct reasons for leaving the great state of Texas. 

Laguna Beach is not only the perfect place for a pet-themed mystery with its pet-friendly merchants and off-the-chart number of pet owners (more registered dogs than there are kids), it’s also the perfect place for Caro and Mel.

The community is a seaside resort in southern Orange County located midway between Los Angeles and San Diego. It has spectacular cliffs, glistening beaches, and breathtaking views of the Pacific, but it also has a uniquely artsy and almost European feel. The quaint boutiques, coffee bars, and sidewalk cafes provide a sense of place that brings together people who care about their community and each other. A community interested the greater good and setting things right when they go wrong.

In our fictional Laguna Beach there are some great restaurants and stores, just like in the real village. However, though we’ve used a real place we’ve populated the tree-lined village area, the Hills and the fabulous beachfront homes with characters from our imagination.

In our make-believe world you'll find: 

• Judd Malone, no nonsense, stay-out-of-police-business homicide detective, 
• Diana Knight, former screen star who still brings to mind the magic and glamour of a bygone era in Hollywood, 
• Darby Beckett, wholesome and sometimes naive owner of Paw Prints pet photography, 
• Ollie Hembry, former rocker turned pet rescuer, 
• Kendall Reese, flamboyant dresser and pet groomer extraordinaire, 
• Fan favorite, Betty Foxx, silk pajama-wearing senior with a strange sense of fashion and an eye for the gentleman, 
• And, of course, assorted adorable cats and pups.

They all, like us love the unique and close-knit community. We think it's the perfect place for Caro and Mel. And for a bit of fictional murder... 

What specific things do you love about the settings in your favorite mysteries? Do you enjoy returning to those favorite places? 

Our most recent book, Fifty Shades of Greyhound, has been called "A real tail-wagger!" (That's from Buttercup aka Trixie the smart puppy who stars in the Paws & Claws series by NYTimes bestselling author Krista Davis). It follows Desperate Housedogs, Get Fluffy, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, and Yip/Tuck. Next up is, The Girl with the Dachshund Tattoo. 

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