Monday, January 13, 2014

My Writing Process Blog Tour and a Happy New Year!

A very Happy New Year to all. Sorry I've not been around much, but Christmas, panto...lots on! However, last week I was asked by a friend, Jane Jackson,  to take part in a Writing Process Blog Tour, so here it is.

What am I working on?

Currently the thirteenth in the Libby Sarjeant series of mystery novels.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

It fits very firmly into what the US dubbed "cosy" mystery series, which loosely follow in the footsteps of the Golden Age Amateur Detective novels. There is a proliferation of series in the US - Cat Mysteries, Quilting Mysteries, Coffee Shop Mysteries, Shopping Mall Mysteries - the list is endless. My Libby series is just about a nosy middle aged woman and her friends who somehow get involved in the odd murder - suspend disbelief here!

Why do I write what I do?

I started reading my parents' library of detective novels when I was nine, at the same time my mother bought me a copy of Jane Eyre which I read in three days. I was an only child of working parents - I didn't have much else to do! Detective fiction remained my favourite, apart from an excursion into writing romance, which was not my forte.

How does my writing process work?

Lordy, lordy - I have no idea! These days it's more finding another murder in a vaguely probable setting, then trying to fit my regular characters round it. I often don't know murderer or murderee when I start, which paints me into corners sometimes, but I manage to wriggle out of it - or Libby does. I write slowly at first, speeding up as the deadline approaches - which is right now! This is the book which will be out in spring: Murder In A Different Place

This is the link to Jane's blog last week:

 http://www.janejackson.net/2014/01/my-writing-process-blog-tour/