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Winter, 2004 Volume 9, No. 2 Is it easier or harder to write a book about characters you've already created in a previous book? Can you keep things fresh and new, comfortable and familiar, at the same time? Can you deal with the consequences of previously recorded acts your characters have committed in ways that seem true to these fictional beings? It's all part of the tricky tango we call:
Lee Harris When Christine Bennett is introduced in The Good Friday Murder, she is thirty, single, newly released from her vows as a Franciscan nun. In The Bar Mitzvah Murder, she is in her mid-thirties, married to NYPD Lieutenant Jack Brooks, the mother of a kindergartner, a teacher, and an accomplished solver of homicides. Half the fun of writing this series has been developing the life of my sleuth, the relationships she enters into, the family she creates, and I know my readers look forward to what is new in Chris's life. I worry over whether she will have a child or a second child (she won't), how far her husband will progress in his police career—or should he leave it and practice law? Developing Jane Bauer is quite a different story. Jane is determinedly single and equally firm in keeping her relationship with Hackett. An important question in this series is whether Hackett will remain married or whether he will persuade Jane to take the big step. Keep tuned! Jane's two partners are also an integral part of the series. I have to decide whether they will remain as her partners or be replaced by new detectives. Developing characters' lives is a tough but rewarding task, certainly easier than guiding my own children—and no one in my books comes back at me with a challenge. That's what I have readers for! Lee's next book, Murder in Alphabet City, will be published at the end of January. Look for a page-turning story and a surprise ending. E-mail Lee at MysMurder@aol.com.
Valerie Wolzien Who knows, in the beginning of a story, where it will end? Things happen. People change. Both clichés and both true—for fictional characters as well as this thing we call real life. At least that's the way it works in my two mystery series. As a writer, I create characters and set up situations that develop from book to book—sometimes in unplanned ways. When I introduced Susan Henshaw in Murder at The PTA Luncheon in 1988, I didn't know I would be writing about her over a decade later. Of course, she's solved many murders, but she's also married off her daughter, sent her son to college, and stayed married to the same man. And she's grown. Insecurities apparent in the first few books have diminished. Other characters have evolved as well: both police officers, single when the series began, have married and settled in the community. And new characters appear in each book, providing fresh interests as well as a murder victim or two. The Josie Pigeon series began just as Josie had inherited a contracting company and was discovering that management is different from carpentry. She hadn't even met her future significant other, Sam Richardson. The relationship Josie forges with Sam in the first book has deepened in the last five—they're now engaged. The couple is discussing their wedding on the first page of the next Josie Pigeon mystery, but their friends shouldn't start shopping for wedding presents—a lot can happen in 200 pages! Death in Duplicate, the sixteenth Susan Henshaw mystery, will be published in March 2005. E-mail Valerie at valerie@wolzien.com.
Jonnie Jacobs Time stops for no one, except, of course, fictional characters. My youngest son was the same age as Kate Austen's daughter when I started that series. Anna is now only six, while my son is twenty-one. Although my characters don't age in real time, I try to give them real lives—I want them to grow and change. Kali O'Brien, my legal sleuth, was a driven, somewhat aloof lawyer in a hard-edged firm when the series started. She's now got her own criminal defense practice and a heart that's been broken several times. She's both softer and stronger, and I know she's got some interesting challenges ahead! As an author, I want variety, not just for my characters but for myself. The first books in both series are told in the first person. With Murder Among Strangers, I gave Kate's significant other, Michael, his own story and his own point of view. In the Kali O'Brien series, I switched completely to third person and have added multiple points of view. I've also tried for different focuses. Shadow of Doubt and Evidence of Guilt are straight mysteries; Witness for the Defense and Motion to Dismiss follow the courtroom drama tradition; Cold Justice and Intent to Harm lean heavily on suspense. Keeping a series consistent while allowing it to grow is a juggling act. But it's what keeps both readers and authors interested. Jonnie's next book, a stand-alone suspense novel, will be out in fall 2005. She is currently working on the seventh Kali O'Brien book. Email Jonnie at jonnie@jonniejacobs.com.
Lora Roberts Writing a series of books featuring the same characters is an organic process with its own life cycle, from creation to compost. Some characters can go forever, changing with each book, still fresh and complex. Some, as I discovered in writing about Liz Sullivan, achieve their fictional arc sooner rather than later. Or perhaps I have a short attention span. As Liz grew and came to terms with her past, I began to feel superfluous. She was strong, capable, and happier than she'd been in a long time. I've gotten a lot of email asking for another Liz book, but so far I haven't felt the urge to write one. My current book, The Affair of the Incognito Tenant, is set in 1903 and features Sherlock Holmes as seen through the eyes of Charlotte Dodson, a young widowed housekeeper at a small manor house in Sussex. I spent a long time writing it, in between other projects, and enjoyed it immensely. That fictional world is calling me back, and is just as absorbing as it was before. Is this a series? I don't think so at this point. I may write a Dodson trilogy, but after that I expect I'll be distracted by something else. Like Amy, Liz's niece, for instance. Amy's at Stanford now, and there are so many places on the Stanford campus where the bodies are, or can be, buried. Lora, a slow writer, won't say when her next Dodson book (working title: The Contentious Jewel) might be out. Meanwhile, The Affair of the Incognito Tenant is available from Perseverance Press/Daniel and Daniel. Write to Lora at myslora@pacbell.net.
Lee Harris ~ Jonnie Jacobs ~ Lora Roberts ~ Valerie Wolzien ©2005-06 by Lee Harris, Jonnie Jacobs, Lora Roberts and Valerie Wolzien. |
