Taste of Kiwi

I have a special guest today–author Amanda Lee who writes cozy mysteries. Amanda is the lady next to you in the grocery line or car pool. She has twins: one boy and one girl, she’s a baseball fan, she likes to decorate cakes, she rocks at Guitar Hero…oh, and she likes to think about murder. But it’s OK! She only writes about murder—a lot.

So what exactly is a cozy mystery? That’s what I asked Amanda…

Cozy mysteries take place in a small town or confined setting where all the characters know each other. Think Desperate Housewives meets CSI.

Characters are integral to cozy mysteries. Cozy writers use hobbies, professions and even obsessions to make their characters unique. I have an interest in cake decorating, so I infuse my hobby into a profession for my character. Even though I’m a novice cake decorator, I have the knowledge to make my character an expert.

Judith Skillings and her husband own and operate a Rolls-Royce and Bentley restoration shop. Not surprisingly, her cozy mystery heroine works in a classic automobile restoration shop. Ellen Crosby introduces readers to Virginia’s wine country in her mysteries. Camille Minichino has a Ph.D. in Physics. She writes the periodic table mysteries. Sheila Lowe, a graphology expert, pens cozy mysteries wherein the heroine is an expert handwriting analyst.

Some cozy writers add a paranormal bent to their books. Alice Kimberly, author of the Haunted Bookstore Mystery series, employs the ghost of a murdered P.I. to help the heroine solve crimes. Madelyn Alt writes the Bewitching Mysteries, and Victoria Laurie writes the Ghost Hunter Mysteries.

Since many cozy mysteries are series books, the reader has time to develop “relationships” with the books’ main characters. The reader watches the characters grow and interact from book to book. While these might be the most unlucky people on the planet—murder victims are turning up around practically every corner—they’re still falling in love, making new friends, caring for pets and pretty much happily going about their lives. Diane Mott Davidson’s character Goldy has gone through quite a lot of changes since her first book, Catering to Nobody. There we met a divorcee with a young son. Now Goldy has remarried and little Arch is all grown up. In that way, cozy mysteries are rather like a soap opera; only you have to wait a long time between installments. Which reminds me of Lost . . . although my series doesn’t have a dark cloud monster or a plane crash. At least, not yet. :-)

One reviewer said of Murder Takes the Cake, “I could identify with Daphne’s relationship with her family. I think this was the part I liked best. Daphne has a cautious and teeth gritting relationship with her mother, a loving warm one with her father and her sister.” I was surprised that this is what she “liked best” about the book. I’d intended to give the characters depth through their relationships, and I’d tried to make those relationships realistic. In fact, the publisher even asked me to tie up the heroine’s relationship with the stray cat at the end of the book. I couldn’t do that and remain realistic. The cat in book is based on a real cat, and it took me months to establish a relationship with her. The fictional relationship will progress in the next book, as will all of Daphne’s other relationships.

It is really cool how readers of cozy mysteries become attached to characters and loyal to authors. In fact, every year cozy readers gather in Arlington, Virginia for the Malice Domestic “Fun Fan” convention to celebrate cozy mysteries and their authors. It’s quite a coup for an author to win an “Agatha,” the teapot awards given by Malice Domestic. And the convention is a terrific experience. As a fan as well as an author, I was thrilled to meet Dorothy Cannell and Harley Jane Kozak at the Malice Domestic convention a few years back. Both are delightful ladies with great senses of humor. Naturally, I told them I love Ellie Haskell and Wollie Shelley, respectively. And I do. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next.

The Quick and the Thread by Amanda Lee

Marcy Singer has big plans: a move to the breathtaking Oregon coast, opening an embroidery shop called The Seven Year Itch, a fun grand opening. What she doesn’t plan on is the shop’s old owner showing up—DEAD—in her shop. Some people think Marcy killed him. Some people think she’s the next victim. All Marcy knows is someone has to uncover the murderer before she’s forced to flip the sign on her shop door to CLOSED permanently. And it looks like that someone might be Marcy.

Purchase The Quick and the Thread: An Embroidery Mystery today!

Just Thought You Should Know:
Amanda Lee is also Gayle Trent, author of the Daphne Martin Cake Decorating Series that includes Dead Pan and Murder Takes the Cake. To learn more about Amanda you can visit her website or blog.

CONTEST: Win a copy of The Quick and the Thread – comment on this post, ask Amanda about cozy mysteries or a question about her book and you’ll go into the draw to win a copy of Amanda’s book. Note – contest is only available to those who live in USA or Canada.

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This post is inspired by Heather at The Galaxy Express and her post, Attention, please! This is your heroine speaking.

Dear Author,

I salute you. You sit for long hours in front of the computer as you labor over our stories. Without you none of us would be here. Mostly, you do us proud but I’d like you to consider the following:

1. Please, please don’t make me go down to the basement when there is a killer on the loose. Credit me with a little common sense and help me do something intelligent.
I don’t want readers to snigger at me and call me Too Stupid To Live. I deserve more than that, don’t you think?

2. I know popular opinion says heroines are slender and pretty, but how about making me stand out from the crowd? Make me sexy–sure, I like sexy as much as the next girl, but I can be sexy and an average size. Give me a few curves. Don’t you know I enjoy food? Oh, and if you give me curves, don’t go on and on about my size. I’m happy, really I am.

3. Please don’t take a stereotype and foist it on me. I’m not a hooker with a big heart. I’m not an ice princess. I’m not a geeky librarian. Give me individuality.

4. I like alpha men–really, I do, but at least give me a spine so I can stand up to them. No wimps should apply here.

5. I’m not perfect. I know that, but do you know it too? Give me some flaws and balance them with some of the good stuff. Make me human because readers will like me better that way.

6. Give me a snarky voice. I’m cool with that, but don’t make me snark all the way through the book. Readers won’t like me if I do that. They might call me a bitch, you know, and wonder what the hero sees in me.

7. Likewise, if my hero is going to be a bastard, let him fall off his high horse at some stage. Make him see the error of his ways or at least let me use my knee in his private parts. It might hurt him, but it would make me feel better after all the verbal abuse.

8. And finally, if you’re gonna make me have anal sex, please, please, please give me some lube.

Yours faithfully,
A Heroine.

What would your heroine write in a letter? Readers, what do you think the heroine should write?

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A book is a sum of things—characters, setting and description, dialogue, pace and plot. It’s the combination of all of these elements, done in the right way that makes a book exciting and sought after by readers.

It takes a lot of work to get a book to a standard that’s saleable. My first drafts are like white boxes. People inhabit the white box—my characters that is, but they’re quiet and in shock from the lack of scenery. It’s all white in there, after all.

During the first stages, my characters are a bit superficial and half the time they have no idea what they’re doing, what their purpose is in the box. It’s almost like the first run through of a play where the cast are strangers and feeling their way into their parts.

It’s during the second and third run through that I add the color and turn my white box into a real world, complete with real people. Adding setting and description is a skill I’ve fought to learn—it certainly doesn’t come naturally.

Not so long ago, it was normal to read very flowery descriptions in books. These days descriptions in fiction are briefer and spare at times.

Here’s a paragraph from Powder and Patch by Georgette Heyer.

The Apparition wore a coat of the palest apricot cloth, with a flowered vest of fine brocade, and startling white small-clothes. Red-heeled shoes were on his feet, and his stockings were adorned by sprawling golden clocks. He carried an amber-clouded can and a jeweled snuff-box, while ever and anon he raised a cobwebby handkerchief to his aristocratic nose. He minced down the street towards the market-place, followed by the awestricken glances of an amazed population.

That’s a lot of description for one person, although I have to say I’d love to see him in person. You probably won’t find this amount of description in a modern romance, not focused on one person. We’re more likely to add it in more sparingly in bits and pieces.

This snippet is taken from Dark Lover by JR Ward.

When she was finished with the Twinkie, she flipped open her phone, hit speed dial, and put in an order for beef with broccoli. As she walked along, she looked at the familiar, grim landmarks. Along this stretch of Trade Street, there were only bars, strip clubs, and the occasional tattoo parlor. The Chinese food place and the Tex-Mex buffet were the only two restaurants. The rest of the buildings, which had been used as offices in the twenties, when downtown had been thriving, were vacant. She knew every crack in the sidewalk; she could time the traffic lights. And the patois of sounds drifting out of open doors and windows offered no surprises either.

With this paragraph, we get a little characterization along with a feel for the neighborhood. We learn that although the district is run down, the place is home for our heroine.

In another book, that shall remain nameless, the description of a room sounded like a shopping list. It mentioned an antique rug, hardwood floors, a Victorian sofa and the color of the brocade, a coffee table and the type of wood, the silver tea service on top, two Victorian chairs, a gas fireplace, silver-framed photo frames, the photos inside them, the mantelpiece, a cherry and glass counter and quite a few other things.

The actual story wasn’t too bad, but this description, done list style, made me roll my eyes. I’ve edited the list quite a bit. The descriptions took up over half a page.

What I try to do is show the character experiencing the setting, give sensory details. I show them walking across a thick carpet and wondering if their shoes are going to get lost in the pile or holding out their hands to catch snowflakes, feeling the cold and dampness or tasting it melt on their tongue. They might notice the cars buried in snow or hear the chains on the tires as they fight for purchase. I try to involve the character’s senses of sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing to make the description come alive.

Here’s a paragraph taken from Tea For Two by Shelley Munro

“I see a line of dots.” Hayley Williams peered solemnly into her customer’s white china teacup. Outside her colorful curtain-partitioned area of the tea tent, children shrieked with excitement as they lined up for the Ferris wheel and merry-go-round. Her assistant chatted to one of the ladies in charge of the tea, extolling the high points of a reading by Madam Deveraux. Somewhere in the distance, a toddler howled and a brass band played “Rock Around the Clock”. Closer, touts shouted spasmodically about the exciting things available at their stalls. The clatter of china and the muted gossip of the ladies in the makeshift café added to the cacophony of fairground sounds.

For me this is actually quite a long description, but I hope it plops you right in the middle of a fairground.

When it comes to describing characters, I’m typically very brief because as a reader, I like to imagine myself as the heroine. If there’s too much description I think it gets in the way of my imagination. Just a brief hair color, eyes, build etc is all I need. You might think differently.

How much description do you like to read in your books? Do you like lots of description or a bare minimum? Do you like detailed description of characters? And writers: what approach do you use when it comes to description? Do you have a white box like me or is your world colorful from the start?

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The theme for this week is characters. I thought I’d introduce you to Rohan Patel, one of the heroes in my upcoming release CatNap. Rohan is a tiger shifter. He’s a caring person with an innate strength. Level-headed and mature, he has a sense of fun. He loves his sister enough to start up a new business with her. They tease each other, keep each other in line and are friends as well as siblings.

I think both of the following short excerpts help give a sense of Rohan and his character.

CatNap is due out from Ellora’s Cave on 2 September 2009.

CatNap by Shelley Munro

EXCERPT ONE:

At six they closed the shop. It was earlier than usual, but since they had two days before the new owners took over, he and Ambar had decided to close early to organize the last of their packing before the move to Middlemarch.

Ambar started doing the cash up while Rohan went to check on their guest. He found him sound asleep, his clothes tossed over the end of the bed. He lay on his back, the covers draped low on his waist, his easily discernable ribs highlighting his need of a few good meals. At least they could fix that. The man stirred, rolling to his side, and Rohan saw several old scars on his back. Rohan frowned, not liking where his mind went on seeing those scars. Had someone beat him? The man shifted onto his back again. His breathing sounded normal and even, so Rohan ripped his gaze off the enticing sight and forced himself to leave the room and their guest sleeping.

Back downstairs, he restocked the laundry powder and cleaning material aisles, his mind on their guest and Middlemarch. What the hell were they going to do?

Ambar grabbed the money to take to the safe, pausing at his side. “What are we going to do, Rohan?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. The obvious solution would be to take him with us to Middlemarch.”

“But what if someone follows us? Or we take him to Middlemarch and he turns into a problem. We don’t know him, but we’d be responsible.”

Rohan pictured the male asleep in his bed and knew Ambar was right to preach caution despite his gut instinct and his yearning to keep the man with them. There was something about him that called to Rohan. He wanted to know him better. He wanted to care for him. A snort escaped. If that didn’t beat all. A big strong tiger shifter like him turning soft. Nah, wouldn’t happen. It was frustration, that’s all.

EXCERPT TWO:

Since their parents’ death they’d started a new tradition—a drink before dinner where they discussed anything and everything. Their parents hadn’t approved of alcohol either, and the ritual made them feel like rebellious teens.

Rohan joined Ambar in the small lounge. The room appeared stark and plain with only a single three-seater couch left. A stack of boxes piled against one wall, ready for collection by the removal company.

“He’s still asleep. I’ve been thinking about Saber Mitchell. Maybe we shouldn’t do anything and just take him with us.”

“Because you have the hots for him.” Ambar took a sip of her wine. “Are you gay?”

Rohan almost choked on his beer. Ambar didn’t believe in tiptoeing around anything. He bit back a smile, knowing he was lucky she didn’t sound judgmental. Her voice held curiosity but none of the distaste he’d feared. “Why would you think that?”

“You didn’t run away in horror when the stranger said he wanted to f**k you. And I’m not blind. I know an erection when I see one.”

“Ambar! Hell.” There were limits to their closeness. They’d never talked about sex in such detail before. Fiery heat seeped into his cheeks, and he couldn’t look his sister in the eye.

“I know you dated women but I never saw you kiss any of your dates,” Ambar said.

“Were you spying on me?” He didn’t have to pretend exasperation. A man should have some privacy.

“At least you were allowed to date,” his sister reminded him, and just like that his irritation dispersed. He’d had way more freedom than Ambar and he knew it.

To read other excerpts on the Snippet Saturday trail follow the links below:

Michelle Pillow
Eliza Gayle
Jody Wallace
McKenna Jeffries
Moira Rogers
Shelley Munro
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
Lauren Dane
Leah Braemel
Victoria Janssen
Mark Henry

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I’ve read two great posts about characters/heroes over the last two days. At Romancing the Blog Heather Massey talks about a hero’s appearance versus his personality.

Over at The Novelty Girls Jennifer Leeland talks about celebrities and how she uses their pictures for character inspiration.

When it comes to characters I do the less is more thing. My character descriptions are very sparse, and often I need to go back and “color them in” a bit more. I never use pictures. My characters pop fully formed from inside my head. Heck, they’re probably pleased to leave because it’s so crowded in there! 99% of my heroes come from the tall, dark and sexy group. I think I’ve written one blond hero in ten years.

When I’m reading a book, I never like to know too much. The hero is tall, dark and sexy inside my head, no matter what the author writes. And the heroine – well, heck – funnily enough, she looks just like me.

Do you like the author to write lots of detail so the hero is easy to visualize? Or do you belong to the less is more category? Does the character’s personality count more than his appearance to you, the reader? Do you like to have a picture or photo – a visual – when you’re writing?

Final note: Tea For Two is out at Samhain Publishing today. Woohoo!!

I’m blogging at the Samhain blog today about Tasseomancy (tea leaf reading) and I’m at Jennifer’s Random Musings again.

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