This month THE ROUND ROBIN BLOGGERS are discussing how we create our characters, keeping them real and consistent.

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Back when I began to write, I had zero idea of this aspect of peopling my stories. I picked names I liked and went from there. My first effort at a novel was inspired by Georgette Heyer so it was set in the Regency period in England. I had fun writing that book, when I wasn’t chasing down three kids under six, but I didn’t do much of any research and even less time considering if my characters were real, compelling or believable. That book, written before personal computers were a thing lives in a file buried at the back of my filing drawer, written in pencil on yellow lined paper. It will likely still be there when I am gone as I have no desire to see just how awful it is.

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When those rambunctious kids grew up, I began to be more serious about my writing. I joined writer’s groups, attended meetings and went to conferences. I listened to and participated in a number of workshops on character creation and came home with handouts – aides to make them real. I have all of those handouts somewhere and notebooks with notes taken during the lectures. But over the years, I’ve boiled them down into two that I use regularly.

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When I began writing my first published novel, The Candidate, I had a handful of notes on my main character, but soon discovered there were things about him I didn’t know that I realized I did need to know. So, I paused and just started typing his story from somewhere around when he was in kindergarten. It was like I was telling a friend about someone I knew, and before long, I did know this guy and what made him tick.

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I still type up detailed dossiers on my main characters most of the time, but I’ve also come to rely on that combination of character aides that I’ve created. It’s a three page form that I print out and start filling in. The first part is the “Keep it consistent” part: height/weight, hair and eye color, features, mannerisms, religion, politics etc. This is followed by education and if applicable military service and a family outline: mom, dad, siblings etc. This section also includes friends, what kind of vehicle he or she drives, their job/career, hobbies and where they like to hang out, how they dress, pets if they have any. Next couple sections address their philosophy and attitude toward life, family, friends and co-workers. And their personality: strengths/weaknesses, phobias, vices, regrets and darkest secrets. I also include favorite expressions, movies, books, actors etc. But now the real work starts with questions like:

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1-Event(s) up to now that had more impact on this character’s life than anything else. How and why.

2-What is it about this character that will make the reader sympathetic to him/her? (compelled, intrigued, tantalized, in love with, repelled by (as in character you love to hate)

3-What will make this character special, unique and/or different?

4-And if I’m writing a romance, or there is a romantic interest: Why is this character attracted to or intrigued by hero / heroine?

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By now I know this guy or gal about as well as I know myself. Since I’m normally a write by the seat of my pants type, knowing my character this well, means I can then just toss him or her into the action and I don’t have to guess how they will react or what their actions will be next. The only thing remaining that I need is to complete the GMC chart.

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For those of you who are not familiar with GMC this stands for Goal, Motivation and Conflict. It includes both the inner and outer goals. Outer would be the overt actions all their fellow characters see and interact on, like putting out a fire, or solving a mystery or averting a world crisis. Inner is what goes on inside the character. This could include having been abused as a child and determined to protect others from being abused, having been abandoned and seeking love they can trust etc.

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With all these questions answered, I am off and running with my story. I have a briefer outline for secondary characters but those also include things like he drives a Ford 150, or his mother has Alzheimers, her hair is red and she’s a graduate of an Ivy school etc. If the guy is always tossing things into the bed of his beat up truck for the first half of the book and then he shows up in a cherry red convertible the readers want to know where the new car came from and wouldn’t do to have your heroine’s best friend looking through blue eyes if she had chocolate brown ones on page two. I don’t need to know all these secondary characters as well as I did my hero or heroine, but I do need to be consistent and know them at least as well as I know my neighbors.

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The rest of the cast of characters don’t need to be so well defined. The dentist might have a name or not, but he might have a lisp that leaves the hero wondering if he became a dentist because of his own overbite. The waitress doesn’t need a name unless she’s a regular at your heroine’s favorite diner and you might not even need to know if she’s efficient or lazy. I only include details or names for all the supporting characters if they are going to appear again and they need a little more fleshing out.

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So, maybe you’d like to check out that first book and see if I did right by Matt Steele in The Candidate. Or perhaps my new Bailey Island series to check out Kenzie Ross and Sam Philips. If you like police procedurals or mysteries, I recommend the Jesse Quinn Mysteries. Jesse, is a woman, by the way who was Christened Jessalyn but followed her father into law enforcement and didn’t want people judging her performance by such a “girly” name so chose to call herself Jesse, deliberately spelled that way to deter judgements based on gender. She is the only female on the Major Crimes Squad in the St John’s County Sheriff’s department. (St Augustine, Florida) For that character creation I actually sat down to a lengthy lunch (almost 3 hours) with the only woman on the Major Crimes Squad in my hometown, to get a feel for what it would be like for my character operating in a mostly male department.

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You might also like to hop on over and check out how my fellow Round Robin Blog Hoppers go about creating characters you want to cheer for.

Bob Rich 

Sally Odgers 

Connie Vines 

Anne Stenhouse 

Helena Fairfax 

Diane Bator 

This month we are blogging on: What Do You Enjoy Most About Being A Writer? (Or if you prefer, what do you like the least. or both.) 

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AKA The glamorous life of an author…..

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     There are moments when being a published author brings intense joy or a sense of achievement. Like the day a new book is released. Or when a total stranger realizes I am an author and immediately wants to know what I’ve written, where they can buy the books etc. Or the day when an idea that has been incubating at the back of my brain and suddenly all the vague thoughts come together and I know it’s a story I want to write.

     Then there is the daily satisfaction of seeing the story come to life. Watching the characters I’ve created grow and learn and find a way to make things happen. And when all the loose ends find solutions to make a happy resolution.

     And of course, there’s the row of books on my shelf attesting to my accomplishment. It’s even nicer when I see that row of books on someone else’s shelves.

     I also enjoy the research. Although there are authors who either hate it or skip it and write things that have minimal research requirements. I take my research seriously. If there is history involved, I study the time period – the clothing, the language, the habits, the expectations, the world around them and so forth. While they say write what you know, eventually what you know has been used and you need fresh stuff. New careers, new experiences, new places. Here I either join groups like the Citizens Law Enforcement Academy like I did when writing my first Police procedural mystery, or I interview someone who has the career I’m giving my character. It’s been a long time since I was a young woman and had growing kids about, so I talk to my kids or my grandkids to get current jargon down for the dialog, or to find out what TV shows they watch and who their favorite characters are.

     I also enjoy the field trips that come into my research. If you are writing about an Emergency Room, or a school, or any place you personally have not worked, it pays to visit one and just observe what it’s like to be there. I love visiting historic sites as well as current day places that come into my stories. I get a whole new feel for a place just standing there. I could google Boston, or San Antonio, or wherever, but actually walking across Boston Common and through the city’s streets or touring the Alamo or walking along the river by eateries and shops in San Antonio gives a very different “feel” for the place. I get to experience the sounds, the smells and the feeling – the whole ambiance of the place that googling will never give me. It’s all well and good to check MapQuest for where streets intersect and how the layout works, but getting a feel for the place is very much enhanced by just being there physically. Thankfully for me, I love this part of creating my stories and their settings.

     That’s the better side of being an author, but like any job, there is always the other side of the coin. Top for me on this is the marketing. I am NOT and never will be a salesman and the whole thing is like a slog through a marsh for me. And even after someone has purchased the book, there is the begging for reviews. Amazon is the elephant in the room and without reviews, your book sinks like a rock to the bottom of the list. 

     Next up, but not nearly as bothersome as marketing is the editing. While I was once a traditional published author, although even then the book needs polishing before it goes to your editor, but now that my publisher closed their doors, I am an Indie author. So, I have a whole lot more editing to see to. There are both content editors and copy editors for hire. I have my critique/brainstorming group to help me with the whole content part, but I still need a copy editor. By the time you get to this point in your book, you have seen every sentence so many times your eyes tend to glide right over the typos and other issued and never see them. A fresh set of eyes is a must.

     For me, the plusses of being an author outweigh the promotion and editing. I guess, if it didn’t I’d decide I was done and become a totally retired senior citizen. But I have so many story ideas, I’m sure that the day I pass several of them will still remain to be told.

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Now you should hop on over and find out about the glamorous life of my fellow Round Robin Blog Hoppers…..

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Diane Bator  

Connie Vines  

Anne Stenhouse  

Sally Odgers  

Dr. Bob  

   Today the Round Robin Blog Hop is focusing on promotion and marketing of our books. It's a love it or hate it for most of us. 

   Once upon a time, if you got a contract with a publishing company, they did all the promoting: arranging book signings and tours, advertising etc. Today’s world for authors is very different. I’m sure James Patterson does not pay for the TV ads I sometimes see, but all he does is the pitch while his publishing house does the rest. Indie authors have to do it all and most of us, whether traditionally published or totally indie fall somewhere between.

   And that “in between” is closer to doing it all than ever before for most of us. Some authors excel at the marketing thing and are savvy enough to follow clicks to see what works and what doesn’t. The rest of us muddle through hating the fact that we have to do promoting when we’d far rather be writing.

Personally, I am horrible at the whole marketing thing. I don’t survive on my income from writing, but I continue to write because I enjoy telling stories. I have so many ideas in my head, I feel like I’ll likely pass on with a book half written rather than ever stop writing.

   One fairly inexpensive and totally painless option I’ve chosen is ALL AUTHOR. I have an annual membership which gives me an author page where all my books are displayed and I can for a very reasonable fee, I can feature any of my books for 6 months or more. And there’s no limit to the number of books I can feature. I get a weekly email with graphics of all my featured books which I can download and post on any social media or my website. Or I can log in an personalize the graphics with text. Once a week, All Author also posts each of my books on X as well, and they also provide me with a list of tweets to use myself.

   When I have a new book out, I do send out an email announcing the new release. I also submit releases to all the author publications of Writer groups I belong to. But that’s about the extent of my efforts.

   I used to be entirely traditionally published but in recent years began releasing books independently. For one thing, I realized that after my small regional publisher lost their go-getting marketing guru, and her replacement was not nearly as effective, I was more or less in charge of all my promotion so why share a large chunk of the proceeds when I was doing all the work?

   Since both of my previous publishers have closed their doors, I've become a completely indie author and as such, I recently submitted the first of my newest series to the Annual Indie Author Project Contest and am pleased and proud to report that the book was chosen for their Indie Author Project support which includes presentation to local libraries and independent bookstores. I have a new logo I can add to my covers and website to announce that fact. Click on my book cover to purchase - I'm doing my bit to get you to purchase the first book in this new series.....

   But my bottom line is I AM NOT A SALESMAN and I never have been. It’s not my area of expertise or one I have any talent for. So, you might want to hop on over to see what a few of my Round Robin Blog Hoppers do to promote their work. I bet they have far better ideas and a stronger grasp on the promotion than me.

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Anne Stenhouse 

Connie Vines 

Diane Bator 

Dr. Bob Rich  

Helena Fairfax 

Sally Odgers 

The First Chapter – hook your reader and setting the tone for the story

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    In a world of instant gratification via the internet, text, the phones we carry in our pockets and more, sticking with a story depends more and more on the “Hook.” Starting with a cover that attracts attention followed by a title that triggers interest and a jacket blurb that makes a potential reader click the buy button or carry the print book to the register.

    But next comes that incredibly important first chapter. With millions of books out there and the ease of downloading, even dedicated readers will be tempted to set the book aside if they wade through that first chapter and don’t feel compelled to keep reading. Once upon a time, if I spent money on a book I would doggedly read on just because I’d paid for it. But today even the outlay of cash won’t keep me reading if it’s a slog and I’m bored, or worse, turned off by a character I just can’t like, and a plot I can’t get a feel for. I don’t think I’m alone in this, either. I try to take new authors out of the library just so I don’t feel like I’m tossing good money down the drain if I can’t get into book and end up sliding it into the return chute unfinished.

    So, the question is: How do we compel our readers to fall into our stories and keep on reading when that first chapter ends?

    First is the hook – a question that burns to be answered, like an unexpected ten dollar bill in a six-year-old's pocket at the candy store burns to be spent. The best place for that question is in the very first paragraph, but then there’s still that whole first chapter to keep the intensity going.

    My best practice for that first chapter is first to create a character that the reader can really like and cheer for. Or a villain so heinous the reader just has to stay to make sure they get the justice they deserve.

    But creating that compelling character is just a piece of the puzzle. You can create mister or miss awesome, the gent or lassie everyone would love, but then what? Again, this is today’s world where there are so many distractions, never mind hundreds of other books to lure a reader away. Pick up a copy of Gone with the Wind or East of Eden or any of the literary classics and you find a far more leisurely opening to a book. But when they were written if folks could afford a book at all, it was usually just the one with months in between and not that many new books each year to choose from. In today’s world, not many readers would spend an entire chapter on a veranda with Scarlett and the boys chatting of this and that, or a whole first chapter describing the scene.

    So now you have to put your characters into a situation that grabs the reader’s interest and carries them onward to see how that situation is going to unfold. One might also include a burning emotional component. In the case of that despicable villain, you can give him a motive that drives him to his intended misdeeds but leave an equally compelling opposing feeling in the reader. For Miss or Mister wonderful, you might tear away their perfect world and leave them floundering. And if the reader really likes them, they are going to be carried onward praying for that happy ever after, or at least a sense of resolution that the character has done the best they could and feels some sort of satisfaction with the results.

    The other thing this first chapter needs to do is put the reader into the world they are expecting. If your reader is fan of romance, then the events need to encourage them to feel like this is going to be a romance and not an eerie psychological thriller. Likewise, if your reader is expecting action and suspense, then they need to feel that suspense even if nothing big has yet happened. A fan of history isn’t going to feel happy with a scene that feels like today’s world, unless, of course, it’s a time travel, but even then, that pitch into the past or the future or at least a hint of it needs to happen in that first chapter if that’s why they picked this book up in the first place. Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander (written long before the series on TV) does not dump Claire immediately into the past, but instead rambles through a reunion with her husband following the end of WWII. BUT – and this is a big but . . . The very first sentence in that first chapter is: “It wasn’t a likely place for disappearances, at least not at first glance.” Then later in that first chapter her husband tells Claire he saw a rough looking man in full highland rig standing in the wind and rain staring up at the window where Claire could be seen brushing her hair. This plants the question in the reader’s mind: “Who is the rough looking guy in an old fashioned kilt?” and “Why was he looking up at Claire?” It’s a subtle hint, but it’s there to tease the mind.

    So that’s what our first chapters need to do. Set the tone of the story, create compelling characters, and then plant a bomb in the scene that compels the reader to keep on going.

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    Click here to read the first chapter in the first book of my new series. What do you think? Does it do all of the above?

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Now it’s time to check out what my fellow Blog Hoppers have to say about opening chapters.

Connie Vines 

Bob Rich  

Diane Bator 

Sally Odgers 

Helena Fairfax 

Anne Stenhouse  

     Some folks might like whatever genre they read or write unsullied by the intrusion of any other genre, but I like the variety and nuances of blending genres. When I consider the current television shows I like best, I find I like blended stories there as well. Having banished the hundreds of channels offered up by most satellite or cable companies to get my monthly bill to fit my budget, I’ve been watching a lot of really REALLY old re-runs and I’ve been struck by the difference between 20 years ago and now.

     Perry Mason had a regular cast, but what went on in Mason’s personal life, his secretary Della Street, or his PI Paul Drake’s lives when they weren’t busy getting someone off the hook for murder is never seen. The same was true for Lt Columbo as he went about tagging the murderer in that series. We sometimes saw his basset hound in the car, and he frequently mentioned his wife, but other than that, we knew nothing of his personal life.

     But consider Blue Bloods, for instance. An Irish family heavily involved in law enforcement in  New York City: one daughter an assistant DA, the patriarch a past commissioner and Frank Reagan the current one with two sons and now a grandson, police officers. The show is very much a blend of police work, lawyers, trials, but we see the family gathered around the dining table every week. We get a peek into their personal lives and meet their kids. We see their interaction as a family.

     Similarly, in the current FBI series, each of the main cast of characters has a personal life and we get to see parts of those lives and how they impact the job they do as well as how the job impacts their life off the job. We see Omar struggling with being Muslim in a world that often sees Muslims as the enemy, but we also see him struggle with what he is expected to do on the job as an FBI agent verses what his religion teaches him.

     Blended genre fiction can offer up this same diverse and inclusive look at the lives of our characters. Instead of just being a lawyer or a police officer, or a staff member in a hospital, we get to see the whole character wearing all their caps from time to time. I think it adds to the richness of the story and the characters themselves to blend genres. Clearly there are genres you would not care to blend, like racy sex novels and teen coming of age, but all our characters have a life. They aren’t just soldiers. Or doctors, or lawyers. They have families. Maybe a love interest. Kids? Aging parents. Arguments with the local “Karen” in their HOA etc.

     In my police procedural mysteries, Bullseye and Crossfire, set here in my hometown of St Augustine, FL, my main character. Jesse Quinn is the only woman on the major crimes squad so her life at work involves both police work and stereotyping in her profession. But she’s also a divorced mom of two teenagers with all that brings to the table. She has a new love interest as well, just to complicate her life. I think adding a bit of romance and family life makes her more endearing to my readers. Someone they can care about and cheer for. So that series is a blending of women’s fiction, romance and police procedural.

     My newest series is a different sort of blend. In Unspoken Promises, my main character, Kenzie Ross has just had her entire life upended and she travels to a different state to check out the “cottage” she inherited from her old college mentor and friend, only to find a wedding dress in the attic that was never worn. In this series there are two stories to each book: one told in the present day and one in the past, tied to each other by an echoing theme: In the first book it is one of rebuilding your life when everything you planned on falls apart. Unexpected Promises follows that pattern with a bit of history and the fall out that challenges a woman when she becomes pregnant and is abandoned by the guy who got her in that situation, but then a very different man steps up with an unexpected promise. 

     Maybe it’s because I’m the sort of person who’s always danced to a different piper, but all my books have pushed the boundaries. My Tide’s Way series is contemporary romance, but I have to admit that the first editor I pitched the first book (Falling for Zoe) to wanted me to jettison some of what she considered too many side issues. My hero in that book was slogging through life as a single dad, dealing with a teenage daughter and troubled 5-year-old twins as well as his mother-in-law with dementia who had also been abandoned by her daughter along with Jake and the kids. That first editor saw this as too much distraction from the narrow confines of contemporary romance. Fortunately, I later met a different acquiring editor who thought the way I did, and she not only contracted that book, but wanted a whole series.

     Bottom line – I’m all about blending genres in both the books I write and those I read. I think it makes for more interesting reading if the soldier I’m being asked to care about has a family, perhaps a wife and small kids back home, praying they come home, and we see that connection. I like watching reruns of the second iteration of Magnum PI and enjoy the whole dynamic of characters from Kumu, a native Hawaiian, who shows us the Hawaiian culture, to the gang of men who were once soldiers and had each other’s backs then and still do now. They are all different: a helicopter pilot who runs tourist flights, and pulls Magnum out of trouble now and then, his buddy who owns a bar, and another is in a wheelchair. And each of them has “family” that enrich who they are as characters and we get to see those relationships. Juliet Higgins is a Britisher, once with MI6 who went rogue after her partner was killed. Now she’s in Hawaii with a very sketchy past and provides a romantic interest for Magnum. Detective Gordon Katsumoto the with the Honolulu Police had a sister who died of a drug overdose, has a college age son and an ex-wife. His relationship with Magnum is an interesting one that tries his patience at times and makes him a character you really can care about.

     So, now it's time to see what some of my fellow Round Robin BLog Hoppers have to say about blending genres. 

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Sally Odgers 

Bob Rich

Helena Fairfax 

Anne Stenhouse 

Connie Vines 

This month The Round Robin blog hoppers are discussing critique groups or partners and their value and place in a writer’s craft. I thought I’d start my post with a few comments from top selling authors. Not everyone agrees with me, you’ll see.

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Stephen King generally advises caution with critique groups, emphasizing that writing should be done with the "door closed" to maintain an authentic voice. While he recognizes the value of trusted feedback, he warns against letting too many outside voices dilute a story, suggesting only to trust feedback if 7 or 8 people in a group identify the same issue. 

David Baldacci is open to feedback but cautious about incorporating outside ideas. Rather than a traditional, large critique group, Baldacci emphasizes that writing is a solitary endeavor that requires getting into the right "mental encampment" to develop the story without outside influence.

Lee Child sees effective critique groups as generally valuable for gaining diverse perspectives. Critique groups can be invaluable for finding, fixing, and strengthening a manuscript, providing support for the solitary writing journey.

Vince Flynn described his process for breaking down stories as sitting in a room with writers and creators, bouncing ideas off each other in a session that was "very creative, competitive, honest, funny and brutal."

Nora Roberts and Diana Gabaldon don’t see much value in critique groups. Roberts believes a writer’s first draft is a private act. She has famously said, "I don’t believe in critique groups. I think they can be very damaging to a writer, especially a new writer." Gabaldon, similarly, has stated that she has never used a writing critique group, nor would she, noting that she "doesn't work that way."

Sarah Maas, on the other hand, has a single trusted critique partner. They exchange work to keep each other on track with character arcs and to maintain excitement for the story during the drafting process.

Nicholas Sparks also suggests the immense value of a critique partner and trusted editorial feedback in his writing process, often attributing the success of his early career and the polish of his novels to this collaboration. He has noted that while he writes the draft, he relies on a "critique partner.”

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So, it would seem that whatever works best for you personally is the choice you need to make for yourself. Some writers I know are members of large groups that meet in person on a monthly basis. Personally, I can’t imagine a vast circle of people having the time to make concrete comments without the meeting lasting for hours. Other writers I know have no critique of their work, either from one or two individuals or a group until the manuscript lands on their editor’s desk.

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Then there are people like me – halfway in between. Early in my writing I had a single critique partner – a woman already published with best sellers to her name. If I had not had her thoughtful input during those early efforts, I might never have produced anything worthy to be published, nor had the confidence to try. I have since had other single critique partners who have offered feedback on my work while it’s in progress, especially one lady, a mystery writer herself, who kept me focused on the mystery when I was writing my first mystery.  

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But at the moment, I’m part of a small group of 4 writers. We call ourselves the Sandy Scribblers. Early on we met in person on a monthly basis in a lovely old bookstore. When the bookstore closed, we were invited to meet in a library and one of the men who worked there became part of the group for a while. Then Covid happened and the libraries all closed. Before long we were having Zoom meetings that worked so well and were so comfy – who doesn’t like kicking back in your recliner in your jammies with whatever beverage you choose? – that when the libraries reopened, we continued with the Zoom option.

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We have no rules past being respectful and caring. Sometimes an idea or scene in a work in progress is just so unworkable that it gets gently torn apart, but usually, it’s like a four-way “what-if” brainstorming to figure out the best way to get from point A to point B. Sometimes one of us has really hit a roadblock or has an entirely new idea to float and we’ll send out an attached file ahead of the meeting. This gives the rest of us time to read and think about either the problem being considered or the new idea. Then when the meeting gets underway, we share our thoughts and any notes we might have jotted down.

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Since we rarely actually SEE each other in person now, our meetings always begin with catching up socially, but once that business is done, each of us has a chance to present their current work, what they are doing, how they feel about it, what issues might have come up etc. Then we all discuss together. One member of our group I call my personal “Mayhem” like the guy for Allstate Insurance. She comes up with some of the most awful possibilities for my characters. Which is actually a big plus since I tend to be too easy on them. I want all my characters, except the villain, of course, to have wonderful lives and I hate to throw bad stuff their way. But tension and crisis is where the heart of the book comes out. I need my Mayhem to keep my characters guessing.

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Sometimes one of us will be at a crossroads with either a character or the plot wondering which way to go. If one way: then how to fix this earlier bit? If another way: how to get there? Brainstorming in a small group like this is an awesome way to come up with ideas and trigger alternate solutions to where you are in your plot. Any one of us might hear half a dozen or more possibilities. We might end up all agreeing and that’s the way the author ends up going. But more often, all the various insights into the current scene/problem/conflict just get your own juices flowing so the next time you sit looking at the manuscript you have ideas on where to go next.

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But the single most important part of the group is the energy it creates. I might have come to the meeting wondering if I should even pursue an idea for a scene or a new book or series, but I leave excited, a fire lit that might not have been so bright before and eager to sit my butt down and get writing again - or toast a marshmellow or two.

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So, now it’s time to check out what my fellow Blog Hoppers have to say on the subject:

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Anne Stenhouse 

Connie Vines 

Diane Bator 

Marci Baun 

Victoria Chatham 

Bob Rich   

                       Sally Odgers

  Is research really needed to write a fictional story? Some authors don't think so and usually that lack of effort shows in their finished work. Sometimes an author gets an idea for a story and just wants to sit right down and start writing. Other times, there's a plan for a series, or a new place or type of book, but long before the writing gets started, there's research to do. And then there are the times a writer is right in the middle of a story when they realize there’s something important they need to look into before they can go on.

   Some authors love the research. Others hate it. For most of us, it’s a mixed bag. Especially when you spend far more time than you had planned in the research part of plotting things out but know that only a fraction of what you learn will actually become part of the story. (And then there are authors so in love with all their research that they include far more of the details than the story needs and end up boring the hell out of even their most ardent readers.)

   For me, I enjoy the research. But then, I like history and can happily spend hours reading about the back-story of a place, an invention, a people or an event. And I’ve learned from both editors who are savvy about what sells and what doesn’t and other authors who’ve learned the hard way to keep the details to a minimum. As one fellow author put it; include only what drives the plot or the characters, what the reader needs to know to understand that plot or a character's motivation, and what helps the reader ‘see’ the unfolding events.  

   My very first effort to write a novel is hidden away somewhere in a file and hopefully will never see the light of day, never mind publication. I had no idea I needed to research anything since I'd read all of Georgette Heyer's books and thought I knew everything about that era and place in history. I have a feeling I’d be horrified if I ever re-read those faded words written in pencil on yellow lined to see if it was worth resurrecting.

   Why, you ask, is research so important? To keep it real for those who know more than you do. And readers will happily point out any errors they find, whether it's the correct wrench an auto mechanic would use to tighten a spark plug, to the sound of a busy city street, or what life is like living with a teenager or a toddler. If you've spent your entire life on a farm and never been to  city, you could get this wrong. Likewise, a city dweller would have no idea just how "Quiet" a field in the middle of nowhere can be at night. But that's just the obvious. If you want to write a story set in a hospital ER but have never worked in one, spend a day or two shadowing someone who does. If you've never taught third graders but that's what your heroine does, sit in on a week's worth of classes before you start. 

    I set my first series in a fictional town on the coast of North Carolina. I’d visited the area once and been charmed so that's were I set my totally fictious town. But no town, even made up ones, are untouched by places people do know. I was already halfway through writing my book, but since I was driving through the general area on my way north for the summer, I decided to make a detour and check the surrounding towns.

   I learned a ton of neat stuff and got a chance to talk to folk who lived in the area. While I was driving into the closest city to this “fictional” town, one already mentioned in my story, I saw the sign for the airport and decided to check it out. Turns out to have been a serendipitous decision. The Wilmington NC airport is all one level. And . . . you guessed it . . . I had already written a scene with my hero waiting for his wife to appear at the foot of an escalator, which that airport did not have.

   So, it doesn’t matter much what the place, or time or era, or culture is, the author just has to know the background. If you’ve never worked in an office, it might be hard to get the ‘’feel’ of an office based on programs you see on TV. Same goes for a hospital, a factory, a farm, or a ship. You need to research the setting, even if everything in your story is fictional. (Sc-fi and fantasy are the exception to this rule. Writing about a world that doesn’t exist means you can make it anything you want.)

   After writing several books in a contemporary romance series, I decided to branch out into a new genre and considered cozy mystery, until my son posed the question: “How many people do you know that aren’t in law enforcement who keep tripping over dead bodies?” (I believe he was talking about Jessica Fletcher of Murder She Wrote – which was a popular TV series, but he could have meant Nancy Drew or any of the popular cozy mystery series.) So, I chose police procedural. But I have zero experience in law enforcement. I don’t have any relatives or friends in law enforcement to interview, as I did with my brother, a Vietnam veteran, when I wrote my story mainstream, The Candidate, about a Vietnam vet many years after he returned home who suddenly had to come to terms with that past.

   My quest for information more realistic than seen on TV led me to sign up for the Citizens Law Enforcement Academy here in my hometown. I learned far more than will ever appear in any of my books, but none of it was wasted. Some of what I learned helps me as a taxpayer to understand where the money goes and how the budget gets put together. As a citizen, I gained a whole new appreciation for what the life of a law enforcement office is like, both on the job and off. I went on two ride-alongs, with two different deputies in two very different areas of our county where I got to witness the every-day stuff of their shifts which is not even close to the hustle and exxcitement of what you see on TV. I very fortunate for the chance to sit down to a 2 ½ hour lunch with the only female office on the major crimes squad where I learned about the challenges that still face women in a traditionally male world.

   The Academy included a night where we met all the special teams: the pilots that fly both helicopters and small planes, the SWAT team, the Dive team, the Negotiating team, and the fellows that operate the aquatic vessels. We got to see, touch, go into and ask about all their vehicles and equipment and ask questions about what their jobs included and what it was like doing what they did. The folks who put these classes together saved the K-9s for their own night and that was especially fun. We got to meet the various K-9s that serve our county: dogs who find lost people and bodies or track down suspects, dogs trained to find drugs or explosives, and the patrol dogs who ride in cruisers and aid their human partners in chasing down and apprehending suspects. Every one of those animals is amazing. We spent an evening in Dispatch and watched the men and women who man the 911 phones in action, their professionalism and calm in the face of panic and distress. And despite the hype on TV or the unhappy reports in the news of officers who abuse their positions, most law enforcement men and women deserve our undying gratitude for putting their lives on the line every time they report for work. They are paid far less than they deserve and for far less appreciation than the often get. That thirteen weeks was the best investment I could have made to make my Jesse Quinn series come to life and feel real. 

   In the course of my research, I’ve visited cities, historical sites, museums, parks, beaches and even other countries. I’ve enjoyed all those trips and found that speaking with the locals, museum docents, park rangers, re-enactors (for history research) and the people who live and work in places I’ve never been is the some of the best spent time in my plotting and planning for my books. Often, people will tell me things I’d never have thought to ask, but those comments turn out to trigger ideas for my stories, or plot points for my intrigue. Most people love to talk about their lives and work, or places and things they love doing. So, ASK! And learn to LISTEN.

   By the way – two of the less informative events, but certainly the most fun in my time at the Citizen’s Law Enforcement Academy was getting to drive a cruiser through a training course, then racing it at speeds I’ve never driven down the home stretch and doing one of my ride-alongs with a K-9 officer and her dog Ryker. Ryker was a gentleman of the first order when given the command to "say hello" but all business when it came to work. I also learned another interesting tidbit the night I got to ride with Ryker. When the deputy I was riding with took a break for dinner, she left Ryker in the cruiser with the AC on. I asked the deputy what happens if the cruiser stalls. Turns out that these vehicles are designed so if the engine or AC stops for any reason, all the windows go down and the dog is never trapped in a hot car.  

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So, now it's time to hop on over and see what some of my fellow Blog-hoppers have experienced while researching their books. 

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Anne Stenhouse 

Connie Vines 

Diane Bator 

Helena Fairfax 

Victoria Chatham 

Sally Odgers

                        Bob Rich 

    I’m Mutt. At least that’s what most people call me, when they speak to me at all, so I guess that’s my name. I’m keeping watch over my dumpster. There’s a stranger poking about, peeking inside. I don’t growl at him, like I do most poachers because he took the time to give my ears a scratch before taking a look inside.

     I can’t blame him for not knowing it’s my dumpster. How is he to know I’ve found a way to get inside to look for snacks and then get back out again? There’s a stack of pallets that the trash guys never haul away when they empty the bin, and that’s my way in. About six months ago the driver of the trash truck got distracted when he was backing in and caught the corner of the dumpster leaving a nice big dent. Inside the bin, that dent is just what I needed to get myself back out once I finish foraging. That’s why it’s my dumpster. I’m the only one smart enough to figure that out.

     I watch with interest as the man reaches in with a stick that has something pointy on the end. Too bad I don’t have hands instead of paws. I could get me something handy like that. He lifts the stick back out and dangling from the end is a to-go box. I hadn’t seen that getting tossed into the bin or I’d have eaten it right up. My loss. I was watching a fetching little poodle winking at me as her mistress waited for a taxi at the corner.

     Then the man did something totally unexpected. He tossed part of the contents my way. I snagged it out of the air and gulped it down in one swallow. It sure smelled good as it flew through the air. I bet it tasted good, too. I stood and wagged my tail in thanks. This was one of the good guys.

     He gave my ears another scratch as he headed out of the alley. “Maybe I’ll see you again, Buddy.” Then he was gone.

     Buddy? Really? I just met the man and he thinks I’m his buddy? Well, I did let him forage for something to eat in my dumpster. And Buddy sounds a whole lot nicer than Mutt.

     I wonder if there’s more in the bin my new friend didn’t discover. Time to find out.

~~~

     Rain! I hate rain. I hate leaving my dumpster, too, but I hate rain more and there’s really nowhere to find shelter here. With one backward glance at the bin, I head toward the end of the alley and the street. There’s always the chance I’ll find something to munch on between here and the tunnel under the bridge at the park.

     Just to be sure, I check the area around the pizza place on the corner, but there’s nothing in sight. Jingling bells greet me as I trot down the sidewalk and a very fat man in a fuzzy red suit is standing next to a red, round kettle hanging from a tripod thing in a sheltered doorway. I slide in next to him because it’s dry under the doorway overhang. I shake hard to get rid of as much rain as I can.

     The fat man smacks me in the rear and shouts, “Get away from me, Mutt.”

     So, I move on. I’m already wet anyway.

     A woman with an umbrella tosses something into a little round bin at the side of the walkway so I hurry over to check it out. Lucky me. It’s a half a package of crackers and cheese. I like cheese crackers. I snatch them quick before anyone else can beat me to it, and hurry on. The rain is getting heavier.

     The park is deserted. Not exactly the place to be on a rainy day. I quicken my pace to the tunnel.

     A heap of something is piled on one of the benches so I detour to check it out. Smells like a dirty human. But as I sniff closer to be sure, the pile stirs.

     It’s the nice man. The one who scratched my ears. He might have a pile of things over him but in this rain all of it will get wet before much longer. I take a mouthful of the thing he’s got draped over him and pull.

     He tips his head and looks at me. “Sorry, but I don’t have anything to give you today.” Then he shrugs and pulls the cover back over his head.

     I try again. If I can get him on his feet, I can lead him to the tunnel. We can both stay as dry as possible and maybe cuddle together and get warm. At least a little bit warm.

     “What is it, Buddy?” He peeks out at me again.

     I tug at the cover a third time. Then I let go and trot a short way in the direction of the tunnel. I stop and look back. This time I woof softly.

    “You need help with something?” The man sits up.

     I trot back and tug once more, this time at his pants leg.

    “Okay. Okay. I’m coming.” He stands up and looks at me with a question in his eyes.

     I don’t often wish I could talk, but if I could do so now, I’d tell him he once shared his snack with me and I wanted to share my shelter with him. I woof again and take a few more steps in the right direction.

     He hurries over to me and I move a little quicker. Eventually we are both running, me with my usual grace and him lumbering along in my wake with his pile of coverings clutched around his shoulders.

     Finally! The tunnel is just around the corner and a moment later we are dashing inside.

     We aren’t alone. Some of my other canine pals are here before me. And quite a few two-legged fellows I’ve not seen before. Someone has piled some old boxes and junk at the far end to keep rain from running down the length of the tunnel and it is miraculously dry. I pick a nice spot and sit.

     My new friend plops down next to me and sweeps me into his arms. He pulls the pile of old garments and what’s left of an old blanket around both of us. This man is definitely one of the good guys. He appears to have no home to go to and is probably as hungry as I am, yet he trusted me to come to this place and now he’s sharing the only thing he has with me.

     I sigh and lean into the warmth.

~~~

     We huddled together all that first night and a lovely new friendship was born.

     In the morning he told me his name was Joey. At least that was my understanding. He pointed to me and said “Buddy.” Then he would tap his own chest and said “Joey.” Two friends. Joey and Buddy.

     In the days that followed we revisited my dumpster in the alley and I demonstrated my expertise in getting into and out of the dumpster. We shared whatever I found in my bin each day and most days Joey would find things in places I couldn’t get to. We shared those bits as well.

     About two weeks into our partnership, a lady appeared at the corner of the park in a shiny white van and handed us a fluffy new blanket and a bag of goodies. Some of the things that were in the bag puzzled me, but my new friend was delighted.

     He headed for the little pond in the park and next thing I know, he scraped at his face with something shiny and sharp while admiring his reflection in the water. He had a nice face under all that stinky hair. Guess that’s why he was so pleased. Then he started scratching away at his teeth with another treasure from the bag and lastly he smoothed his hair with another gadget he found.

     After Joey was satisfied with all that grooming, he called me to follow and we returned to the bench I’d found him on before. This time I did recognize the prize he pulled from the bag the lady had given him. Treats. My kind of treats.

     “Can’t have them all at once,” he said as he tore open the bag and pulled a piece out. “Gotta make them last.”

     I did my very best to be gracious and take my treat gently from his fingers.

     He found another bag inside and proceeded to unwrap something that smelled like food but not the kind I crave. Next was a package of those lovely cheese and crackers. We shared that.

     That bag was like something magic. Every day Joey found something new inside for us to eat. The magic lasted almost a week.

     Miracle of miracles, the nice lady in the shiny white van appeared just as our horde of munchies ran out. This time she handed over a thin packet of papers and a fat bag of something that smelled very much like dog food. I had no idea what the papers were but Joey was even more excited than I was.

     We returned to the pond where he went through his grooming ritual. Then he strode off with a whole new set to his shoulders and I trotted proudly beside him, to show him I was just as pleased with whatever had come our way as he was.

     I’d been to this side of the park a few times, but not recently. Joey stopped at a shiny long building with a flashing pink sign on top. We went to the door and he held it while I walked inside. The place smelled like I imagine Heaven to smell. All kinds of yummy scents in the air.

     Joey spoke politely to the lady who looked at me with suspicion. But then she relaxed and led us to a booth nearest to the door from which all the lovely scents were wafting our way. Joey pointed under the table. Clearly, that was where I was supposed to be, so I obediently curled up at his feet.

     Soon the lady was back, sliding a plate piled high with food onto the table in front of Joey. Then, to my surprise, she bent and slid a bowl of food under the table for me. I ate every crumb, and licked the bowl so clean they wouldn’t have to wash it. Today was the very best day ever. Even better than the day Joey first stopped to scratch behind my ears.

~~~

     Then Joey disappeared.

     We were rarely apart since that first day sheltering from the rain in the park tunnel, but the next time the lady in the white van came, Joey told me to wait and he’d be back. Then he climbed into the van and they drove off.

     And he didn’t come back.

     I waited. I waited for days. Even when I had to go back to my alley to forage for food, I came back to the last place I saw him. I slept curled up under a nearby park bench and kept watch. Something bad must have happened to Joey. I just knew he wouldn’t abandon me like this. But every day that he failed to return, my hopes grew dimmer.

     I’d gotten used to sleeping curled up under his arm, sharing his warmth. I’d become confident in our joined ability to find food. And I’d become very fond of his fingers scratching behind my ears and hearing his voice speaking to me with such kindness.

     The fat man in red and his useless kettle were gone from the shop where I’d seen him every day. The sound of the tinkling bells was gone from the street.

     All the cozy coverings Joey had managed to amass and hide in our tunnel had been carried off. I sometimes saw one wrapped around someone else with only the faintest scent of Joey still clinging to the folds. I wondered why I bothered to go on. Spring was a pleasant time of year, but it was a long way off, and now there was snow everywhere. I’d taken to sleeping in my dumpster because I could dig down under all the rubbish and find a little bit of warmth.

     Life was pretty grim.

~~~

     “Buddy?”

     The voice came from outside my dumpster.

     I scrambled out of all the boxes and old newspaper, hardly daring to believe my ears.

     “Did you think I was never coming back?”

     It was Joey.

     But not the Joey I remembered. He sounded the same, but he didn’t smell like Joey. And he was wearing entirely different clothes. But it sounded like Joey.

     I whirled around and flung myself at the dent in the side of the dumpster, scrabbling over the icy surface. I just barely managed to clear the edge.

     This version of Joey squatted down and opened his arms. It was my Joey and it didn’t matter that he looked and smelled different. As soon as his fingers found my ears I knew.

     I couldn’t stop wagging my tail as I licked every inch of his face that I could reach.

     Joey laughed as he toppled backward with me on top.

     “We’ve landed on our feet,” Joey said.

     Whatever that meant.

     “Come. You need to get cleaned up so we can have a proper reunion.”

     He got to his feet and whistled. I’d know that whistle anywhere. I followed him out of the alley in the opposite direction of the park. But I didn’t care where he was going. As long as I was going with him, anywhere was just fine with me.

     About two blocks later, Joey stopped and pointed up at a sign swinging over the doorway to a bookshop. I only knew it was a bookshop because I’d seen books before and there were dozens of them in the window and one on the sign Joey was pointing to.

     “This is home, now, Buddy. I’ve got a job in this shop and we get to live upstairs.”

     What Joey did next almost had me wondering if all was really right in my world after all.

     He shucked off his jacket and took me around behind the store to a small patch of grass, mostly covered with melting snow. A giant bucket sat there steaming in chilly air.

     “In you go,” Joey instructed pointing to the bucket.

     I hung my head. Was I being punished for something?

     “C’mon. A bath isn’t the end of the world. I take them all the time now.” He grabbed a handful of fur at the back of my neck and dragged me to the bucket.

     Joey wouldn’t hurt me. Not on purpose. I let him ease me into the bucket. My surprise at the lovely warmth of the water inside battled with my instinct to shake. Finally, I just laid down and let the warmth seep into my very chilled bones.

     After he’d lathered me up with something that smelled like flowers, and then rinsed me off, he produced a thick, fluffy towel and dried me off. At least as well as he could. Then he led me to the door and showed me all around.

     Upstairs he filled a shiny new bowl with kibbles and some chicken, and once I’d eaten my fill, he revealed a big fluffy bed he told me was mine. I tried it out to please him but I knew, come nighttime, I’d be jumping up onto Joey’s big high bed right beside mine and curling up with him.

The End

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Blessings from my desk to yours: Merry Christmas or a faithful Hanukah and Happy New Year to one and all. Hop on over to see what my fellow blog hoppers have to offer as their gift to you this year.

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Anne Stenhouse 

Connie Vines 

Diane Bator 

Helena Fairfax 

Victoria Chatham 

Sally Odgers 

This month, In THANKSGIVING to all our readers, we are introducing you to a writer you may not have met or read yet and hope you will find a whole new stack of books to add to your To-Be-Read pile. And I have the honor of welcoming C. Hope Clark who writes some of my favorite mysteries.

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C. Hope Clark thrives on mystery and writes from Lake Murray and Edisto Beach in her beloved South Carolina, alongside her federal agent husband she met on a bribery investigation. Bourbon in hand, water on the horizon, she spins tales of serious, hard-nosed female sleuths.  Hope also motivates writers to step up to their careers and is founder of FundsforWriters.com, awarded 101 Best Websites for Writers by Writer's Digest Magazine each year for over two decades. Her weekly publications reach 28,000+ readers.

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Skye: What or who inspired you to become an author?

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        C. Hope Clark: There never was one person who motivated me. I loved the power of words since I could write. I learned early on that people were more impressed and respected you more the better you wrote. I am not one to have idols. I just loved every author I read who thrilled me with the power of their words and storytelling.

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Skye: Do you have any animals or pets and have any of them become models for four-legged characters in your writing?  Do you have any working or service animals in any of your stories?

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        C. Hope Clark: Funny. I love animals. I own two dachshunds who run my household, and I manage 24 chickens for eggs (I never eat my chickens). I occasionally put an animal in a story but never in the forefront. To be honest, I do not read books where I know an animal is forefront, because I’m sensitive to how animals are treated by humans. To show you how stirring that is for me, I also refuse to see any movie with animals, and my only charities I donate to are rescues. Recently, I introduced Horse, a Harlequin Great Dane in my Edisto series, but he will never get hurt, trust me. He will likewise never be the hero, so he isn’t endangered.

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Skye: I know you have three popular mystery series: The Carolina Slade, the Edisto Island, and the Craven County series. Any hints on what you’re next writing project might be? Have you ever considered starting a new series? Or perhaps a stand-alone story that’s been sitting there in the back of your mind just waiting to be told?

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        C. Hope Clark: I never want to write a stand alone because I adore the worlds I’ve built. I prefer reading series, so that’s where I live and write. And three series are enough to keep me occupied, trust me, so there’s no need for a fourth. The fans of the three series would not be very happy at my pushing one of their next reads into another year or two.

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        Currently, I’m working on book 14 of The Edisto Island Mysteries. The Craven County Series has three books that tie up well. I could consider another book there, but my main readership is on Edisto Island. Carolina Slade has six books, also tied up nicely with room to add if I wanted. But again, as long as the Edisto stories flow in my head, they will be my priority.

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Skye: Of All the characters you’ve created, who is your favorite and why?

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        C. Hope Clark: I still like Carolina Slade. She’s more daring while being sensitive. She makes mistakes while still saving the day. She loves her family, and she is loyal. Written in first person, she flies by the seat of her pants while trying to always do the best and right thing. A lot of character.

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Skye: All of your series are set in your home state and in places I’m sure you are very familiar with, but have you ever considered writing a novel set somewhere else?

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        C. Hope Clark: I never want to write about another place other than South Carolina. It’s what I know. To write elsewhere would dilute my stories and my brand, plus, I know these places well. In my prior life I worked all over the state and know more than the average person about South Carolina. There is so much there that I’ll never be able to absorb it all in my stories, so I have enough fodder to keep me busy. It’s who I am, so why pretend to be something I’m not?

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Skye: Some of my readers have asked to be in my stories and I’ve obliged when creating my supporting cast. Sometimes I only use their names and sometimes I model the character in part or completely after the reader who has asked (and given me permission.) Has this ever happened in any of your stories?

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        C. Hope Clark: Many times. A few of these characters are close to real people I know. Many of them are composites. Many are just pieces of one character, just enough for me to “see” them in my head while the public has no idea. Some characters are people I’ve just encountered and I loved the way they talked or looked or behaved, and they made it into a future book. Life is too full of “character” not to capitalize on it. I have never used real names, though. Maybe pieces of names.

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Skye: What are two things you know now that you wish you knew when you started writing?

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         C. Hope Clark: First, every character, chapter, scene, paragraph and line of dialogue has to have energy and move the story forward. Now, I used that from my very first book, but I wished I’d known it when I started writing. I was one not to publish until I felt I had things right. From the beginning I never wanted my first books to sound novice compared to my subsequent books, and I had it in my head to write 40-50 novels in my lifetime. I’m up to 23, writing 24.

       Secondly, editing is what puts life in a story, not the writing. And one stage of my editing includes a full oral edit. I didn’t learn until 3-4 books in that oral editing is remarkably important.

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       Skye: What are you reading now? What’s in your “To Be Read” (TBR) pile right now? And how many TBR piles do you have? Who is your favorite author and why? What are your keeper books? How often might you reread them?

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       C. Hope Clark: I have about 30 books in my TBR list. I am currently reading William Kent Krueger’s Apostle’s Cove in his Cork O’Connor mystery series. I adore Karin Slaughter, Lisa Gardner, Anthony Horowitz, and lately Richard Osman. I’ve read everything by Slaughter and Sue Grafton. When I want to study craft, I read Raymond Chandler and Howard Browne for my love of noir mystery. I try to stick to mystery and suspense. Keeper books are those that pull me in story-wise yet give me great craft that I admire and want to go back and study. I keep copies of Slaughter, Chandler, and Browne. I have a few autographed copies of books by Pat Conroy and Sue Grafton because they used to be some of my favorites. I go back and study books for craft but never to reread them. There are just too many good books out there and so little time.

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       Skye: What’s the number one item on your bucket list and why? (Whether you plan to retire from writing or just take more time off for personal fun.)

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      C. Hope Clark: What writer wants to retire? It’s who I am and what I love. My entire life consists of scouting for new ideas and new ways to tell them. I take a month off between books, but I am never not writing. I still manage FundsforWriters which fills the in-between. I’m always writing an essay or a feature for someone like Writer’s Digest. Words are my jam, so I have zero need to escape them. I would like to see my work on the screen, any size screen. We had a contract for cable last year which put a little money in my pocket until the production company closed five of its studios, to include the one starting my series. So I would like that to happen again. It’s still being shopped around.

      But I have told people that if I get to the point that I cannot write, or find myself wandering into thoughts I can’t come back from, I hope I wind up lost in the worlds of the stories I created. That would be a great way to go out.

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Hidden on Edisto is her most recent release.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Goodreads

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Hidden on Edisto - With burglaries at one end of the town and a CBD store on the other, Police Chief Callie Jean Morgan is stretched thin juggling small time crime on Edisto Beach. But someone stops the burglaries ahead of her, someone whose methods remind her of someone all too familiar. Vigilante justice only adds more issues to her plate as lines blur between criminal and hero. The problem is that the vigilante has an attraction for the chief. And she's not too eager to put the cuffs on him.

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The Edisto Island Mysteries – Callie Jean Morgan left her home state of South Carolina to spite her parents. Fifteen years later she left Boston after her husband was murdered. Vowing to leave law enforcement, she finds herself sucked back into it on a tiny tourist beach town called Edisto, in the South Carolina Lowcountry. She sees crime nobody else does and does her best to keep the town publicly crime-free while solving some serious crime behind the scenes. A wide cast of secondary characters turn these stories into colorful tales of mystery.

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The Carolina Slade Mysteries – Carolina Slade is a loan officer for the US Department of Agriculture, until a farmer offers her a bribe to help him illegally nab a piece of land. She reports him and an agent arrives. Through this series Slade quickly learns she loves crime-solving, and Agent Wayne Largo learns he loves her. The two solve assorted rural crime throughout the state of South Carolina with Slade doing so by the seat of her pants and Agent Largo attempting to keep her between the lines of the law.

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The Craven County Mysteries – Quinn Sterling is the last heir of the oldest family in the oldest county in the state of South Carolina. Her father runs Sterling Banks, a 3000-acre pecan operation, and her uncle, who lost his inheritance in a nasty divorce, is the Craven County Sheriff. Quinn’s father allows her to study law enforcement and leave the family farm, to sow her oats, so to speak. But when he is murdered, and the uncle bumbles the investigation, Quinn is forced to leave the FBI and return home to run Sterling Banks. Grabbing a private investigator’s license lets her keep one toe in crime, and soon she becomes the resource to manage Craven County crime since her uncle, who isn’t fond of her abilities, cannot.

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If you would like to learn more about Ms Clark and her books, you can visit her at the following sites:

www.chopeclark.com

www.facebook.com/chopeclark

www.instagram.com/chopeclark

www.bookbub.com/authors/c-hope-clark  

www.goodreads.com/hopeclark

www.fundsforwriters.com

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Now lets meet a few more great authors:

Meet   Sophie Claire with Anne Stenhouse

            Debra Clewer with Sally Odgers

          Sharon Booth with Helena Fairfax

and    Jay Levy with Bob Rich

With Halloween just around the corner, we thought it might be fun to talk about spooky things and perhaps share a fun story or anecdote that fit in with the season.

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I could talk about my grandmother. A very grandmotherly type. You know, the sweet old lady who bakes cookies for the kids and putters about in her garden, or spends hours making jelly or putting up preserves? Can you imagine how shocked I was when I heard the story about her younger years? And I’m not talking about her teen years, but when she was a young mother, who put her kids to bed after they went trick or treating, then donned a clown costume and went out to shoot out streetlights with her 22 and generally cutting up with other young parents. I don’t even think they’d been drinking. Gave me a whole new appreciation for that wonderful lady who graced my life for so many years, taught me how to make bread and jam, and got down on the floor with my own little kids to build towers made of old tin cans that made very satisfying crashing sounds when the tower came down to the delight of her great grandchildren.

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I could talk about true horror stories, like that of the Borden House in Fall River Massachusetts and the never solved mystery of the deaths of Andrew and Abby Borden. Or I could suggest you visit Edgar Allen Poe’s story about a man walled up alive in the catacombs. Maybe Washington Irving’s the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman, or Turn of the Screw by Henry James. And I’m sure your local library has a whole display of appropriately scary reads.

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But I thought I’d share a story I wrote. It’s based on real events in my life but the names were changed to protect the innocent – and not so innocent. 

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Revenge Is Sweet

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    It was a mixed bag, our gang of kids. We hung out together mostly because our parents were friends and we all went to the same church. Some girls, some boys, aged three to fourteen. Bruce was the only teenager, and the youngest, two girls were just three. Bruce always had stories to tell, the kind that made the girls cling to each other and the boys square their shoulders to prove they could be just as big, and bold, and manly as Bruce was. Read On>>

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Booo!!! Enjoy. And don’t eat too much candy – at least not all at once. It’s okay to hoard and make it last.

Now it's time to check out my fellow bloggers and see what kind of mischief they have gotten up to....

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Sally Odgers  

Helena Fairfax  

Connie Vines  

Bob Rich