Here’s what’s going on:
1) I’m working on a line editing job for a client.
2) I’m beta reading for a friend who also beta reads for me.
3) I’m trying to figure out which suggestions from beta readers to incorporate in Fire Wizard. (Probably most of them, LOL)
4) I’m working on my mystery, although not as much as I would like.
And here’s the decisions part:
I think most of you know by now I’m thinking of writing my mysteries under a different name. I have personal reasons for this, and I hope I don’t have problems building another following. I know mystery readers are often much different from paranormal romance readers.
Here’s the other dilemma. I don’t usually do series. I did a trilogy, based on the fact that readers were often asking me if there was a sequel to a book of mine they read, so I figured I should try one. They just don’t sell as well as my stand-alones. And I prefer to write stand-alones since I get bored even when reading series. BUT…series in mysteries are very common. So I’m wondering if I ought to do at least a trilogy to test the waters.
And here are some of the problems:
1) In mysteries, the main character is drawn into some mystery, usually a murder, in every book. In real life, most people don’t even get involved in ONE murder. So why is it so believable in fiction? Would I be able to make MINE believable?
2) Mysteries are hard because you have to find a way that the main character can figure out the mystery. The mystery itself isn’t nearly as hard as figuring out how it gets solved. (Hopefully, my husband can help with this since he is so good at this kind of thing.)
3) How do I keep the romantic thread (yes, I have to have one!) interesting through a series? I often lose interest in a series when the romance is resolved in the first book. So…either I have to keep dragging it out with reasons they can’t be together (which worked well in the Vampires’ Curse novellas, but doesn’t seem possible in this first mystery because of the circumstances), or I can maybe have them together at the end of book one but find something to pull them apart again in book two.
I’m reading a mystery series, right now, by Patrice Greenwood and also watching LOTS of episodes of Murder, She Wrote…for research. 🙂
Any thoughts? I would really appreciate feedback.
lauralynnelliott.com 
1. When a series follows a single character who keeps finding murders/mysteries, it’s often believable because that’s the character’s business. Private investigators, medical investigators, police detectives, etc. Your trilogy could also be about three different characters who are looking into mysteries that are related, parts of a whole that becomes clear in the third story. How does the character’s life relat
2. I can’t really help you there–I don’t know how to solve mysteries! (It seemed obvious that Nancy/Ned was never going anywhere, so I just lost interest.)
3. Romance in a trilogy…again, you can have three different couples. There are some Nora Roberts mysterious suspensy things that do that well. The first book introduces them all but follows the relationship of one, the last book wraps up the story that connects the three mysteries.
Or you could spend the first story getting the characters interested in each other and getting together at the end. Break them up in the second and get them back together by the end (or just hint that they might get together by the end of the first and work on getting them into a real relationship during the second). Then, when we’re all attached, have the rising danger of the third story really threaten the relationship we’re invested in.
I don’t know, that’s all I’ve got.
Oops, I don’t know why I can’t edit that. Briar is pestering me while I’m trying to do stuff and I didn’t realize I left in the middle of a sentence. How does your character’s life relate to the mysteries that are going to happen? What’s the connection?
Since this is a continuation, I’ll reply to the second comment. LOL.
My character isn’t in any way connected to law enforcement, etc. She owns a coffee shop. Diane Mott Davidson does a good job making it believable that a caterer gets involved in murder. I’ve thought of both angles as far as characters verses place. Like, do I want it always to be about the same character, or do I want to focus on a different set of characters in the same town, and they’re all connected. The way they handle things on Murder, She Wrote is that Jessica travels to different places for different reasons and it’s not all in her town. It’s still a stretch that a mystery writer constantly gets involved in murder cases, but it works on that show. Because people WANT it to work, I think.
The connection in the first murder is that she finds the body in the alley behind her coffee shop. She finds something later that connects the murder to someone, so I have a general idea on this one how she figures out who the murderer is, but I just wonder if I can do that at least three times.
1) I think you could make it believable. In the TV show Psych, the main character pretends to be a psychic detective (he doesn’t have any training in this area), but he manages to pull it off because he notices little details no one else does. He makes it a point to follow the detectives and looks for murders so he can appear on the scene because of some “vibe” that led him there. The show has run for several seasons and is hilarious (it’s on Netflix if you want to see some episodes). But people buy into the idea of a guy solving murders without any formal training. You could do something like that where she works on commission to help pay bills. Maybe the first book, she runs into murder by accident but after that really enjoys solving the mysteries so she goes around looking for them. Another thing to think about is Nancy Drew. She was a teenager who solved different mysteries, and people were okay with that. So I think it could work.
2) That one I can’t help with. I’m horrible at those. I couldn’t even figure it out with the Nancy Drew books.
3) I do have an idea for the romance thread. What if in book 1, they meet. Maybe he’s a detective. And she develops feelings for him or something, but at the end of the book, she finds out he has a fiancé. In book 2, they have to work together again. Maybe she’s trying to “get over him” by going out with someone else, but it doesn’t click. But maybe at the end of book 2, the main guy realizes he has feelings for her but overhears guy #2 saying he’s going to propose to her so he backs off because he wants her to be happy. This could end with the reader not knowing her answer. Book 3 could have her struggling with whether to accept the proposal or not. You could force the main guy with her and maybe trying to fight their feelings only to end up together. If you do a book 4, I would leave Book 3 on a note where they almost kiss or admit their feelings but something prevents them. Book 4 could be where he almost marries the fiancé but realizes he can’t and tries to stop her from marrying guy #2 or something.
The romance angle could go in many directions. I see lots of possibilities for it, and I agree. Dragging it out makes the series more interesting, so I wouldn’t have them be together until the very end. Moonlighting was a great show until the main characters finally admitted their feelings.
Oh, another thought for #1. What if there’s a common killer behind the killer theme that can run through the whole series arc? Then they would all be connected. Maybe the ultimate bad guy is manipulating the other killers in books 1 and 2 to do his dirty work but isn’t caught until the end. This would be similar to the Lois and Clark series with Lex Luther being involved. If you really wanted to go into a twist, have the heroine interested or dating the villain (while thinking he’s the good guy) and the hero being suspicious but unable to prove he’s doing anything wrong. That way you could tie the real bad guy in the whole series.
I just had another idea. What if the guy’s fiancé is behind all the murders, and the heroine suspects it but doesn’t say anything because she doesn’t have proof yet, his wedding is still a ways off, and she’s afraid if she tells him her suspicions, he’ll think she’s only jealous.
Ruth, you’re cracking me up. You sound more into the book than I am right now. LOL. I actually already know who did the murder and why. I don’t want to say too much until you read it. 😉 And the guy actually DOES have a fiancee. I’ll tell you this much. The guy used to be her best friend, but she’s always had feelings for him. She hasn’t seen him in ten years. When she comes back to her home town, he’s actually engaged to their high school nemesis. So she’s pretty upset about the whole thing.
But even if I already know that stuff for this book, maybe I can incorporate some of your ideas into the next one. Thanks for the input! I feel an outline coming on. LOL
That definitely works. 🙂 I really like the idea that she doesn’t like who he’s engaged to. This way, there’s an even bigger reason why she won’t speak up.
Mysteries not easy to write. I took a college class called English Detective Fiction. We read something like 12 mysteries novels, including an anthology of Sherlock Holmes. The big paper was to write a mystery story. As an English major, I thrive on the difficult, but I give any writer of mysteries credit. It’s hard! You are writing the story backwards.
Anyone, I am rambling. I love reading mysteries. So, I’d say go for it. You got this, Lady!! 🙂
Thanks, Cindy! 🙂
I read a few books of a mystery series that involved an old nun who kept getting wrapped up in murder mysteries, and it was pretty tongue-in-cheek about how she didn’t know how this kept happening. I liked that sort of meta nudge-nudge-wink-wink acknowledgement about the genre.
I also think that building relationships through series is seriously underrated, and I’m on the final book of the Sharing Knife series by Lois McMaster Bujold and she expertly works with a couple who got together in the first book and stays in love and everything without it being boring. It’s something I think would be nice to see more in fiction, so I’m in total support of that. And, at the same time, there are all sort of things that could test a relationship in the second or third book of a mystery trilogy that doesn’t necessarily require something big like a break-up. If the second murder winds up taking all of the heroine’s time, or whatever, putting a strain on their relationship. Something else unrelated occurs between them that seems to be driving them apart, so the heroine has to not only deal with having stumbled on ANOTHER MURDER, but now her boyfriend is dealing with a family issue or a work issue or, what the hell, his ex is clamouring around trying to mess things up. There are a lot of things that could occur to cause some friction or uncertainty about a relationship that can be resolved through the course of a book. “Happily ever afters” are rarely just that.
Over all, I say, write the book. See how it feels. If it feels like a nice stand-alone, so be it. If you get towards the end and find you’d really like to keep going, do it. Leave the ending slightly open-ended, maybe, and if people seem interested, bring in the next book. If not, hey, we’ll leave it there. There are a lot of options, but the best one probably won’t present itself until after the draft.
Heck, I just thought I might try to cobble together a fourth Slayer Saga book despite having firm convictions it will just be a trilogy (the forth book, of course, will have to be called Endless).
You have some good thoughts there, L.S. I like the idea of the ex clamoring around. Romances always have to have a happily ever after or a happy soon (if there’s another book). But there also needs to be conflict. I could write this as a straight mystery, but I have to have some romance, even if it’s not the main focus. You’re right, I need to see how this first book goes before deciding if there will be more.
Yep, it has to be Endless. 🙂
This blog post works, but I can’t get your most recent one to work. When I click on the title, I just get the same error message as when I try to comment from your main page. Delete and post again?
Hmm. The email link that didn’t work for me before is now working on all browsers. Maybe it fixed itself.
And now to actually answer your post. 🙂
Most mystery series that I’ve read revolve around a character or two whose careers have something to do with crime (forensic experts, medical examiners, detectives). I guess there are cozy mysteries where the main character solves mysteries as a hobby, but I’ve never read any of those. The romance threads in the mystery series that I’ve read tend to involve very complex problems, which is why the characters can’t get together. Or when they do, the devotion of the crime career person to his / her job causes more relationship conflict, making us wonder if these people will be able to stay together, despite all the crap they’re dealing with.
Good luck!
This is not a mystery revolving around a character who does this for a living. It IS a cozy mystery. Like Murder, She Wrote kind of stuff. I just read a series where the main character owns a tearoom, which is interesting, since mine owns a coffee shop. After the third book, the characters are ALMOST together, but not quite. I expect they will be by the fourth one. In my case, the romance will involve old friends, so they already know each other.
The easiest answer is that the reader will go along with you as long as it’s a quality, well-written piece. Think about soap operas or any kind of series on TV. It’s the same people falling in and out of love and being involved in some crime (think the CSI shows). And I do know a lot of authors have pen names for different genres, but I can’t imagine creating an author platform for each name. Wishing you all the best no matter what you decide!
You have some valid points. Then I must make sure my work is well-written! 🙂
As far as the pen name goes, I want to be able to share my mystery books with some friends I CAN’T share my paranormals with. Really can’t. 😦