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Valentine's, 1997
Volume 2, No. 1 In spring an author's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of kindlier, gentler mysteries. Oddly enough, all four of us write about amateur sleuths—even Kali O'Brien, the attorney in Jonnie's second series, approaches her fact-finding differently than a private investigator would. Though we don't have police detective or PI narrators in any of our books, we don't consider our books all that "cozy," either. So how to pigeonhole our particular brand of Malice Domestic? We call it:
Lee Harris I write because I love to, because there's nothing else in the world I'd rather do, (swimming and vacations excluded). Everything in me goes into my work. Sometimes, after lunch, I say, "Time to get back to the real world." Upstairs, where my typewriter and computer wait, is my real world. If I can create a character who really lives, I am happy. If I can create a story that grabs the reader, I get a sense of satisfaction that little else gives me. I love language. I love being able to use it to express myself, to describe and explain what I want the reader to see and understand and, if possible, to feel. People ask me where I get the discipline to write for hours at a time. My answer is always that the discipline is pushing myself away from the typewriter to make dinner. Christine Bennett's latest case, The Valentine's Day Murder, is now available from Fawcett.
Jonnie Jacobs As a reader, you know the joy of losing yourself in a book. It's just as wonderful—even better when things are going well—to create that fictional world yourself. Since I don't do a detailed outline before starting a book, writing is a process of discovery. The characters, their quirks and motivations, the ensuing relationships and tensions, come alive for me on the page. I write the way actors create a role—I get into the skin of the character. That's one of the pleasures of writing; I can be so many different people, with different backgrounds and experiences. But writing is also observing—both the broad brushstrokes of life's stories and the details that give the telling of those stories texture. And this, too, is something I've always found fascinating. The second Kali O'Brien book, Evidence of Guilt, will be out in hardcover in March, along with the paperback release of Shadow of Doubt.
Valerie Wolzien I write books because I love books. I go out to buy a new dress and return home with six new novels. I visit libraries just to feel comfortable in strange places. I build bookshelves in a house before I figure out where to put the couch. I've always been happiest reading. When I was young, I thought I would either work in a library or a bookstore. But then I got a job in the library at the University of Alaska and discovered that I was expected to place the books on the shelves rather than plop them comfortably in my lap for a nice long read. I assumed the same would be true of bookstores. I wanted to be surrounded by books, I wanted to spend my life reading. Writing was the obvious solution to my dilemma. Now I'm lucky enough to create what I love—and I can read and read and read while claiming to be "keeping up with the market." Josie Pigeon returns in Valerie's next book, Permit for Murder, out in May.
Lora Roberts This all boils down to one thing. Do you want to be the goddess of your personal universe, or don't you? Those of us who carry the genetic marker for writing have no choice. The real world, unedited, is not satisfactory. We start out redoing it for our own entertainment, and fall in love with the act of creation. To do what we love, we figure out a way to be paid. We write books chronicling the actions of our personal universes. We observe our characters with a tender, goddess-like concern, marveling at their ability to move and speak and involve us. People read our books, and pay us the ultimate compliment of believing in the world we've made. We really love that! So we write more books, wresting the time it takes away from that imperfect real universe and all its niggly necessities. Being a goddess means being able to get away from all that—in fact, to get away with murder. And it looks good on the resume. The latest Liz Sullivan mystery, Murder Bone by Bone, is available in March.
Lee Harris ~ Jonnie Jacobs ~ Lora Roberts ~ Valerie Wolzien ©2005-06 by Lee Harris, Jonnie Jacobs, Lora Roberts and Valerie Wolzien. |
