I decided to use my day on Make Mine Mystery as one of my blog stops
on my tour for my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Spirit Shapes. Coming up
with new topics to write about has been a challenge. For this one, I thought
I’d go against the usual advice of writing what you know.
Truthfully, don’t most of write about what we don’t know as well as what we do know? J.K. Rowling didn’t know about
wizards, magic and a school of wizardry, she made most of it up. Same thing
with the Twilight series, did the author have first-hand knowledge about
vampires and werewolves? What these authors did know is how people act during all
sorts of disasters and calamities, and how much a person will do to reach a
goal. As an author we use what we do know and our personal experience and build
on that with our imaginations and any necessary research.
We take what we do know and use it to write
what we don’t know. With today’s technology we are able to research anything
and find out at least enough to make us sound like we know what we are writing
about.
In my own case, I’ve never been a resident deputy sheriff like my
heroine Tempe Crabtree. But I have known several, interviewed one, and talked
to others. I have relatives and friends in law enforcement and for the most
part, I know they are like all the rest of us.
I’m also not an Indian like Tempe, but again I have friends and
relatives who are. I can research Indian legends and lore to use in my
mysteries.
When it comes to haunted houses and ghosts, I have had some personal
experience, but that was the topic of another blog.
Of course it’s much easier if you do know what you’re writing about,
but when you have a good story idea, let your imagination go wild. Do the research you need later. And remember,
less is more. I’ve read too many stories where the author was so knowledgeable
about what he or she was writing, the story suffered because of too many facts.
Marilyn Meredith
Blurb for Spirit Shapes: Ghost hunters stumble upon a murdered teen in a
haunted house. Deputy Tempe Crabtree's investigation pulls her into a whirlwind
of restless spirits, good and evil, intertwined with the past and the present,
and demons and angels at war.
To buy direction from the publisher in all formats:
http://mundania.com/book.php?title=Spirit+Shapes
And of course, Amazon.
I've been putting up different photos of me on each blog, so here's today's:
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| Middle daughter Lisa and me |
Bio: Marilyn Meredith is the author of
over thirty published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree
mystery series. She borrows a lot from where she lives in the Southern Sierra
for the town of Bear Creek and the surrounding area, including the nearby Tule
River Indian Reservation. She does like to remind everyone that she is writing
fiction. Marilyn is a member of EPIC, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery
Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America.
Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com
and follow her blog at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/
Contest:
The person who comments on the most blogs on this blog tour will have
the opportunity to have a character named after him or her in the next Deputy
Tempe Crabtree mystery.
