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A Lighter Side of Murder: Basics of Writing a Cozy Mystery

4/20/2020

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A guest post by Jessica Baker

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​​To start, what is a cozy mystery?

Cozy mysteries are lighter than traditional detective fiction. The genre was popularized by Agatha Christie, who created classics like And Then There Were None, the Miss Marple series, and of course, Poirot. Malice Domestic, an annual mystery convention, even named an award after her.

Cozy mysteries, often called “cozies,” lack the graphic violence and excessive gore that darker detective fiction have. There’s no explicit sex scenes. Cursing, if there is any, is kept to an absolute minimum. Children and animals shouldn’t be harmed. Some cozies are suspenseful, but they aren’t usually the kind of stories that give you nightmares after reading them. Romantic elements may be present and many are geared towards women. A lot of cozy authors also write romance because there are similarities between the genres. Some are historical, some have magic, and some are just set in the modern-day.

Cozies should be an escape from reality. They aren’t as heavy as other fiction and aren’t usually geared around current events. As a result, they are generally lighter to read when life gets too overwhelming. They provide puzzles for the reader to work through and end on a positive note where the killer is always caught.​

Some questions I asked when I was initially plotting out Murder on the Flying Scotsman were:
Who is the main character? Who is with them? Who is the killer? Who is the victim?
What is the murder weapon?
When does this take place? The murder weapons available vary in different time periods.
Where does this take place? Is it a locked room mystery or does it take place in a small town?
Why was the victim killed? Why does the main character investigate?
How was the victim killed?

Protagonist

The main character, usually female, is an amateur sleuth after something forces them to look for the real killer. They are always curious about the murder that takes place and the smarter they are, the more engaged the reader will be in the story.
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Sometimes he or she might become a professional detective in later books or may date a police officer, but the main character usually has some other career that translates into their investigations. The job is usually something like baker, librarian, or seamstress. In my book, Lady Thea is a socialite and it affects how she behaves and what she knows about murders.
 
Cozies are more often character-driven and the series usually has the same main character, even if the books aren’t directly related in an overall arc. This means that many cozies don’t necessarily have to be read in order. 

Suspects and Red Herrings

Generally, the first person accused of the murder in a new cozy series is a close friend or relative of the to-be detective. Sometimes the sleuth themselves might be accused. They might be the only suspect that the police have and the sleuth makes it their mission to prove otherwise. The evidence gathered and the motive might lead to that accused person, and the protagonist may think that they’re guilty. Those are usually the red herrings since they fit so perfectly that they couldn’t possibly have done it.​

Cozies often take place in small towns or have a closed pool of suspects. If you think about Murder on the Orient Express, the list of people who had the opportunity to commit the murder was limited to who was on the train. In And Then There Were None, only someone on the island could have committed the murder.

When should the murder take place in the story?

Since a cozy mystery is not a suspense, it’s not necessary to wait until the end to have the first murder. It might be the first thing that happens in the story, especially if that is the catalyst for the entire plot of the book. Most people prefer that the murder takes place in the first few chapters. After all, that’s what they came for.

When planning the murder and the killer, it should be something that can be traced back to the beginning. The murderer shouldn’t come out of the blue. They should always have an actual motive, even though the motive isn’t always apparent at the beginning. They don’t have to be someone who is front and center in the protagonist’s life, but they should appear early in the book and usually, the reader shouldn’t have too much cause to suspect them.​

Clues that point to the identity of the real murderer should be scattered throughout the whole mystery. Half the fun of cozies is solving the murders with the amateur detective.

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Jessica Baker is the author of Murder on the Flying Scotsman: A Lady Thea Mystery. Named for the famous fictional mystery writer Jessica Fletcher, Jessica picked up a pen when she was in elementary school and never set it down. Jessica lives in sunny Central Florida where she recently finished her MFA in Creative Writing. She is a member of the National Sisters in Crime. When she’s not writing or editing others’ work, she freelances as a camera assistant in film which provides plenty of inspiration for her stories. Visit her website at jessicabakerauthor.com.
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In Love with Love: Writing Poetry about Non-Romantic Love

2/27/2020

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A guest post by Selys Rivera

What would most people say is the most popular topic for poetry? From my experience, it’s love. Specifically, romantic love.
 
When I think about poetry, the poets who come to mind are known for their romantic poems. I’m not even talking about the Romantics studied in high school who lived centuries ago. I’m thinking before, during, and after.
 
My mind recalls the entire book of Song of Solomon in the Bible. I’m thinking Shakespearean sonnets, too. There’s also John Keats, Emily Dickenson, William Blake, Lord Byron, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman, Julia Alvarez, Maya Angelou, Tyler Knott Gregson, Sandra Cisneros, Rupi Kaur, and Amanda Lovelace…
 
…to name a few!
 
While many of these poets wrote about other topics, their romantic poems stand out the most to me. I don’t know about other people, but I can recall poems about romantic love much faster than anything else. Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116.” Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty.” Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee?” Sometimes I’m even remembering poetry collections that had an impact on me and shaped my view of romance, like Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Gregson’s Chasers of the Light: Poems from the Typewriter Series, and Kaur’s Milk and Honey.
 
The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realized that there’s so much more to life than just romantic love. Perhaps one of the biggest lessons is how important it is to recognize and express gratitude towards other areas of love in our lives.
 
Many of these same poets wrote about other kinds of love that are just as good as their romantic poetry. Blake explored love for God and humanity. Keats reflected on loving life. Hughes and Angelou shared about their love for family members. Whitman, Kaur, and Lovelace dove into self-love. Alvarez and Cisneros analyzed the complicated love/hate relationship between English and Spanish or their Latin culture and Americanization.
 
Now, not all of these poets or poems are about love in a positive light. Some are negative too, which is expected in a yin and yang world. Nevertheless, something inside me clicked when I started to see poems about love and heartbreak in a non-romantic way.
 
I’ve been writing poetry since, at the very least, my early high school years. Surprisingly enough, I’ve never considered myself a poet as I used to write poems infrequently. When I started my current romantic relationship, though, I found myself writing poem after poem, some even coming out as a final draft almost immediately.
 
Once I started connecting the dots between poems I read, versus those I wrote, inspiration hit hard. During difficult times, like the death of my grandmother, I wrote poetry. When I passed life milestones, like a meaningful full-time job in a career I’m passionate about, I wrote poetry. While I went through spiritual existential crises, I wrote poetry. And as I learned more and more about myself, I wrote poetry.
 
At some point, I took a step back and realized I was on to something. A poetry collection started to form in my mind. One about love, but not in the traditional sense alone. One that would show readers about healthy romantic love and how much more there is to love than romance.
 
Toni Morrison’s famous quote came to mind: “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” (Morrison, n.d.)
 
That’s exactly what I aimed to do in the hopes of joining the conversation and dialogue with other poets across lifetimes, centuries, and generations. I, too, have had something to say about love and how important it is to celebrate all other areas within it too, like family, friends, pets, culture, hobbies, life, spirituality, ourselves, and more.
 
With each poem, my heart seemed to fill with more and more love, affection, compassion, and tenderness. Eventually, it overflowed with healing tears dropping on my notebook or keyboard as I wrote and wrote. Finally, the emotional wave crashed and receded on the shores of my soul, awaking me from my writing reverie and revealing my very first poetry collection in its wake.

*Morrison, T. (n.d.) If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it. Quote Catalog. Retrieved February 27, 2020, from https://quotecatalog.com/quote/toni-morrison-if-there’s-a-bo-O1M69R7/

Originally from Puerto Rico, Selys Rivera considers herself a God-loving and social justice obsessed chica. With an undergraduate degree in English Writing and a graduate degree in Social Work, she marries her two passions by writing to inspire others and voice issues she's passionate about. She is also the author of Rise in Love: A Poetry Chapbook and Social Justice Advocacy 101: How to Become a Social Justice Advocate from A to Z. To read more of her work, please visit her website at www.worthareadtoo.com. You can also follow her on Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter @SelysRivera to stay connected.
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Picture Book Word Count: How many words for a picture book manuscript?

11/11/2018

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Arielle Haughee
Reading time with my boys
Getting the word count correct is a very important skill for anyone looking to publish picture books. Agents and publishers won’t accept manuscripts with high words counts. Distributors won’t select them for sales representation either.

Why? Long picture books don’t sell very well anymore.

Why Long Picture Book Manuscripts Don’t Work

Small Press United, an indie book distributor, has this in their Reasons for Declining information: “a children's picture book with pages that have large amounts of text no longer works as a picture book.”

Recent market surveys show that children age out of picture books at six, earlier than previous generations. Kids are moving up to early readers and chapter books younger than before. This in and of itself is a great thing. We have better readers! But it does raise a problem for picture book authors and publishers. We need to adjust our standards to match what children need and ultimately, what sells.

Authors also need to keep in mind the dual audience of picture books: the children hearing the story and the parent who reads it. Parents are the ones purchasing the books and reading them aloud until the child is old enough to read on their own. If there is one thing that drives me crazy during story time at night, it is a picture book that goes on and on and on. Those books often mysteriously disappear under the bed or at the very bottom of the book bin. As a parent, I won’t buy a picture book with a lot of text.

Picture Book Word Count: Here’s the Magic Number

For fiction or creative nonfiction picture books (not informational), the current word count goal is 500 words. Yup, that’s it.

If you are planning to traditionally publish, it is significantly more likely you will be successful if you stick to this word count. Yes, you can go to Barnes and Noble and likely find a longer picture book on the shelf. This book is probably either a classic or written by an established author. Stick to 500 words to increase your chances of acceptance.

If you are self-publishing, you do have some leeway but remember that you want to be competitive in the market with all the other picture books. You also don’t want your adorable-but-wiggly audience getting bored. Keep it under 1,000 but try to get closer to 500.

A Quick Way to Practice

If you write adult fiction, one of the best activities you can do to get comfortable with the 500 word format is to practice flash fiction. It teaches you to squeeze your entire story in a low word count and helps you focus on every single word, cutting anything extra.

If you are new to writing or are only interested in writing picture books, look for my next blog post: Five Tricks for Trimming Word Count in Picture Book Manuscripts.

Happy writing!

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Thinking About Writing a Book?

7/18/2018

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Let’s start with the truth. Are you ready? It’s going to take time, dedication, and a lot of hard work. A LOT of hard work.

Still reading?

Great. If you are willing to put in the effort then let’s dive in! Learning how to write fiction professionally is like learning an instrument or a sport. You don't just pick up a basketball and are instantly Kobe Bryant. Everyone starts out as a beginner and works to get better. (So don't put too much pressure on your work when you are at the beginning of your journey.)

And like learning how to play the piano or flute, the more practice you do, the better you get. So writing often, as much as you can, will get some real momentum for your journey. That being said, writing professionally takes dedication and time, as well as some money to learn the craft. If you treat it like a light hobby, it will stay a light hobby. If you want to be a serious author, you have to take it seriously.

So what does that mean?

(1) Write regularly. Every day if you can. Set a manageable word count goal for writing sessions. Start with something you can achieve like 300 words. Don't wait for an idea to hit you. Creativity is a flow, like getting hot water out of a faucet. The ideas will come after you've sat down and started writing. You need to turn the water on first.

Also, silence your inner editor when you write. (You know, that voice that tells you your sentences are all wrong.) It won't be perfect when you write but just get it on the page. Focus on progress. You can fix your writing later but you can't fix a blank page.


(2) READ! Read lots of books in your genre, particularly recently published books as well as the classics. Read outside of your genre to keep yourself fresh and think of new ideas to bring into your writing. But read, read, read. This is essential for learning how to write. Take note of what works and what doesn’t.


(3) Learn craft. This is key. You can write forever but if you don't take the time to learn the skills, your writing won't get better. Watch webinars, read blogs, listen to podcasts...just immerse yourself in learning craft.

Read craft books; there are a TON of them. For picture books, I recommend Ann Whitford Paul's Writing Picture Books. A fun, energizing one for beginning authors interested in novels is Nathan Bransford’s How to Write a Novel. There are books on specific topics like dialogue, plotting, character...try and always have one that you are reading.

Join professional organizations, specifically SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) if you are interesting in children’s writing. You can find local organizations such as FWA (Florida Writers Association) as well as national ones like IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association). Find your local chapter and go to their events. Which leads me to...


(4) Connect with other writers/authors. This was the best thing I did. I joined several local groups and started going to events even though I didn't know anyone. I made friends with authors, editors, publishers...it’s a whole community out there. A fun one. They answer all my questions and we support each other. You can also do this online. There are lots of groups on Facebook for writers. Just make sure the group is nice. Some people make themselves feel better by cutting others down and this is unfortunately true in the writing world, too.

(5) Get feedback. Join a critique group, in person is best but online works, too. Make sure the members know what they are talking about and are experienced writers. Enter contests and submit short stories. Sometimes you get critiques through those but the best feedback is when something gets published, then you know you're on the right track.

(6) Monitor your zen. Writing is a very emotional business and rejection hurts. Having a support system is key. Don't be too hard on yourself or your writing. Remember you shouldn't say anything to yourself that you wouldn't say to a fellow writer. So things like "this sucks/you suck" shouldn't be floating around in your head. Negativity can have a big impact on your writing so mind who you have around you and what you are telling yourself. Remember this is a continual journey so have patience with yourself and with the process.

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” -Richard Bach

Lastly, one of the first decisions you will need to make is how you want to be published: traditionally or indie/self-published. There are benefits and drawbacks to both. Do some research and see which is right for you. This will guide your track forward.

Happy writing!

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    Arielle Haughee is the owner and founder of Orange Blossom Publishing. 

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