Kaye George is a short story writer and novelist who has been nominated twice for Agatha awards. She's the author of three mystery series: the Imogene Duckworthy humorous Texas series, the Cressa Carraway musical mystery series, and the Fat Cat cozy series with Berkley Prime Crime. Her last two novels will debut in 2013. Kaye's short stories can be found in her collection, A Patchwork of Stories, as well as in Fish Tales: The Guppy Anthology, All Things Dark and Dastardly, Grimm Tales and in various online and print magazines. She reviews for Suspense Magazine, writes for several newsletters and blogs, and gives workshops on short story writing and promotion. Kaye is agented by Kim Lionetti at BookEnds Literary and lives in Texas, near Waco.
Kaye, how do you manage to write three mystery series?
With a great deal of
difficulty right now! I fell into all three at once, but parts of them have been
written over the last four years or so.
Please describe each
one.
The Imogene
Duckworthy series, of which I have three out, is a humorous mystery series set
in west Texas. Immy lives with her retired librarian mother, Hortense, and her
small daughter, Nancy Drew (nicknamed Drew), in a single-wide in Saltlick where
as the series starts, she's waiting tables for Uncle Huey. She wants, more than
anything, to be a PI, but that's the last thing her mother wants for her, since
Louis Duckworthy, Immy's father, was shot and killed as a police detective a few
years ago. I'm self-publishing these after the first was published by a small
press with which I've parted company. (These three books are complete and
published.)
My agent, Kim
Lionetti at BookEnds Literary, got me the contract for a three-book cozy series
with Berkley Prime Crime, called the Fat Cat mysteries. (BTW, I snagged the
agent by submitting my novel, CHOKE, the first Imogene Duckworthy book to her
agency, but that's not the usual method.) Chase Oliver, co-owner of a dessert
bar shop in the Dinkeytown area of Minneapolis, has a cat named Quincy who is
pudgy. He dislikes his diet cat food and, being a clever feline, escapes to lead
Chase to dead bodies and clues. The first of these, as yet untitled, will be out
next fall, tentatively. The publication
dates are not yet definitely set, nor is the name I'll write them under, since
these will require an author name specific to the series. (The first in this
series is being written.)
I'll add that I may
have another coming out, a Neanderthal mystery.
It's being considered by a publisher now and I should know soon. (This
book is finished, unless some editing is desired by the
publisher.)
As a Suspense Magazine reviewer, what turns
you off about current books in
general?
About the only
mysteries that I can say turn me off are a few that have run on too long. I'm
sure the authors are only producing books in old, tired series at the behest of
publishers, but some of them need to be
retired.
And what
makes you want to review another book by the same
author?
If I get a good
feeling, some sort of satisfaction, I'll want to read more by an author. Usually
this is because I've connected with the characters and want to spend more time
with them. Sometimes, as happened with Hillerman's books, it's also because I
love the setting and want to be there.
How
important are organizations such as Sisters in Crime to both fledgling and
journeymen authors? And how long have you been a member of
SinC?
For much of the last
10 years, the length of time I've been writing full-time, I haven't had access
to other mystery writers in person, so the online groups, Sisters in Crime and
Guppies, have been my lifelines. It's so important for humans to connect with
each other, and also with others who think the same. Only other writers
completely understand each other, I think. Online contact is the next best thing
to getting together with a group of other mystery writers for a good
chat.
What’s the
most important way for a mystery writer to promote a novel? And the
worst?
I sure wish I knew
that! I'd be selling tons of books if I knew better how to do that. I just try
things that I see others doing, things I see suggested, and do as much of it as
I can. I have no idea what matters and what doesn't, but, on the chance that one
of the things I do is the deciding factor--facebook, twitter, blogging,
conferences, book club and library talks--I'm compelled to continue all the
promotion I can fit in.
Which do you
enjoy writing most? Short stories or
novels?
Definitely short
stories. Novels are work for me and short stories are play. I relax between
heavy novel-writing sessions with shorts. I think writers tend toward one or the
other. What I like about a short story, being a simple-minded person, is that I
can hold the whole story line in my head while I'm setting it down. With a
novel, I have to keep track of things. Like where was this character yesterday,
and what kind of car does that character drive, and is the sleuth wearing the
same thing every day?
Who
influenced your own work?
O. Henry and Mark
Twain, for stories. Dame Agatha, Nero Wolfe, and Dick Francis were early
influences for mysteries. I discovered Dorothy Hughes fairly recently and love
her noir writing.
Advice for
novice authors?
Read a whole heck of
a lot, and write all you can. It doesn't hurt to get advice, take classes, and
get critiques. But be careful of rewriting to suit someone else. You need to
write your own voice, and it won't be like any one
else's.
Your social
media links.
Since you asked
(told you I'm trying to do a lot):
Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004CFRJ76
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kgeorgemystery
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kaye.george
Facebook author page: https://www.fa
1 comment:
Great interview, Jean and Kaye. I'm always amazed at the number of beginning writers I meet who don't read much, and have read very little in the genre they're writing. I agree with Kaye's advice to read a lot. The more the better.
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