Tag, I'm it! Members of our fabulous Mystery Writers of America Midwest group started a blog hop and author, J. Michael Major (One Man's Castle), tagged me. So here I go answering his questions.
What are you working on?
I'm working on the fourth novel in the Circle City Mystery Series, which I hope to release in late October. The working title is Purged, so go ahead and let your imaginations go wild trying to guess what this one is all about. The featured detective in this story will be Homicide Detective Chennelle Kendall.
I've also started writing a book for teens and young adults which is a mystery, but has a supernatural element to it. I haven't quite decided whether this will be a series or if I will make it a stand alone, but it is a bit different and fun.
How does your work differ from others in its genre?
As in the previous question when I mentioned the featured detective, those of you who have read the Circle City Mystery Series know it takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana and centers around the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. Instead of choosing one police officer to be the main protagonist of all the books in the series, I have chosen to use a different main character in each. Of course, you see the same characters throughout the series and can watch how their relationships grow, but you'll get to know them more intimately when you read the book in which they are featured.
Why do you write what you do?
I have always enjoyed a good puzzle, whether a crossword puzzle or a jigsaw puzzle. What better puzzle is there than a good mystery? I love the challenge of creating the twists and turns, the clues and discoveries, which will guide my readers to the solution.
How does your writing process work?
Every which way it can. This question has always been a difficult one for me as each book has taken on a life of its own and seems to have come out of me in a different manner. Perfidy was a much longer process because I had a lot to learn while creating it. I wrote the beginning and the climax first, then filled in the rest. Of course, I changed the beginning and the end several times and it took me about two years to come up with the final draft, but the time and effort was well worth it in when I saw the end product.
Inconspicuous just flowed out of me from beginning to end in about nine months. That's not to say I didn't go back and add characters or plot twists I thought would work better. It was just quicker and easier.
Then there was book three, Ensconced. I was riding the Metra train into Chicago, pulled out my notebook and created an outline for it. Not something I generally do, but I didn't want to lose the concept or how I thought it should progress. This one is loosley based on a cold case from 1997 where a woman in Indianapolis went missing and neither she nor her vehicle have ever been located. I basically dreamed up a story of what could have happened.
Now I'm writing the fourth book and the process for this one seems to be a mutation between Perfidy and Inconspicuous. I started out flowing from beginning to end, but then came up with ideas about the antagonist's plight which made me stop and write chapters that included the plot twists I felt were necessary. Now I'm back to jumping all around again.
I suppose to summarize, I come up with an idea and I let it take me where I need to go.
Thank you J. Michael Major for tagging me.
What are you working on?
I'm working on the fourth novel in the Circle City Mystery Series, which I hope to release in late October. The working title is Purged, so go ahead and let your imaginations go wild trying to guess what this one is all about. The featured detective in this story will be Homicide Detective Chennelle Kendall.
I've also started writing a book for teens and young adults which is a mystery, but has a supernatural element to it. I haven't quite decided whether this will be a series or if I will make it a stand alone, but it is a bit different and fun.
How does your work differ from others in its genre?
As in the previous question when I mentioned the featured detective, those of you who have read the Circle City Mystery Series know it takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana and centers around the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. Instead of choosing one police officer to be the main protagonist of all the books in the series, I have chosen to use a different main character in each. Of course, you see the same characters throughout the series and can watch how their relationships grow, but you'll get to know them more intimately when you read the book in which they are featured.
Why do you write what you do?
I have always enjoyed a good puzzle, whether a crossword puzzle or a jigsaw puzzle. What better puzzle is there than a good mystery? I love the challenge of creating the twists and turns, the clues and discoveries, which will guide my readers to the solution.
How does your writing process work?
Every which way it can. This question has always been a difficult one for me as each book has taken on a life of its own and seems to have come out of me in a different manner. Perfidy was a much longer process because I had a lot to learn while creating it. I wrote the beginning and the climax first, then filled in the rest. Of course, I changed the beginning and the end several times and it took me about two years to come up with the final draft, but the time and effort was well worth it in when I saw the end product.
Inconspicuous just flowed out of me from beginning to end in about nine months. That's not to say I didn't go back and add characters or plot twists I thought would work better. It was just quicker and easier.
Then there was book three, Ensconced. I was riding the Metra train into Chicago, pulled out my notebook and created an outline for it. Not something I generally do, but I didn't want to lose the concept or how I thought it should progress. This one is loosley based on a cold case from 1997 where a woman in Indianapolis went missing and neither she nor her vehicle have ever been located. I basically dreamed up a story of what could have happened.
Now I'm writing the fourth book and the process for this one seems to be a mutation between Perfidy and Inconspicuous. I started out flowing from beginning to end, but then came up with ideas about the antagonist's plight which made me stop and write chapters that included the plot twists I felt were necessary. Now I'm back to jumping all around again.
I suppose to summarize, I come up with an idea and I let it take me where I need to go.
Thank you J. Michael Major for tagging me.
