Writing a Mystery Series
By Mike Martin
In some ways it’s easy to write a series. You already have a
frame in which to sketch your story. Usually, that means you have a general
location or part of the country and you have a cadre of characters that
accompany the main character on his or her journey. There’s a familiarity, a
comfort in that. It makes both the writer, and hopefully the readers, want to
come right in, sit in that nice, comfy chair and slide into the story.
I always have that feeling when I start a new Sgt.
Windflower Mystery. Like I’m home. Then I start writing and all the characters
come streaming into my head at once. It’s exhilarating and frightening at the
same time as my brain tries to process both the story that is starting to
unfold, and all of the voices of the characters who are asking for my
attention. Sometimes it feels like the old woman in the shoe. So many
characters, I really don’t know what to do. And mostly I just feel stressed and
crazy.
That’s when I usually go for a walk. I need the exercise,
but more importantly it clears my head so that I can see where all the pieces,
and not just the dead bodies fit. The most important thing about a mystery, or
any fiction writing, is the story, the plot. The walk helps quiet down the
chorus in my head so I can at least keep the story straight. Once that is
clear, at least to me, I can allow the character development to continue. But I’m
still not running the show. The characters ‘speak’ to me and I try and fit them
into the story at the appropriate time and place. It doesn’t always work, but
that’s rule number one. The story comes first and the characters have to shut
up long enough so that I can set the scene for them to work their magic.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the characters in the Sgt.
Windflower Mystery series. They allow me to not just write a crime solving
mystery story, but to have depth of emotion and feeling that makes it human,
and I hope more interesting. I know that my readers feel the same way because they
tell me that they get worried about Shelia and Windflower when I let him stray
too far from his kind and open heart. Just to be clear again, I don’t steer
Windflower, I just help point him in the right direction.
Mike Martin was born in Newfoundland
on the East Coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa,
Ontario. He is a longtime freelance writer
and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online
across Canada
as well as in the United States
and New Zealand.
He is the author of Change the Things You Can: Dealing with Difficult People
and has written a number of short stories that have published in various
publications including Canadian Stories and Downhome magazine.
The Walker on the Cape was his first full fiction book and the
premiere of the Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series. Other books in the series
include The Body on the T, Beneath the Surface, A Twist of Fortune and A
Long Ways from Home.
A Long Ways from Home was shortlisted for the 2017 Bony Blithe Light
Mystery Award as the best light mystery of the year. A
Tangled Web is the newest book in the series.
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK
About the Book:
A TANGLED WEB is available at Amazon.
No comments:
Post a Comment