So a couple of you asked some really great questions yesterday, and a couple MORE people asked me some questions on Facebook and I'm no expert, but I can sure give it a wack...
Mysteries come in a variety of flavors—you have your forensic crime novels, your hard boiled detective tales (I am reading The Big Sleep right now), your thrillers that happen to have a mystery in 'em (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo for instance), and your mainstream mysteries... COZY mysteries are for people who don't want all the GORY stuff... they don't want the mind-numbing chemistry of body decomposition, or food digestion. I believe they more often read to solve the crime along WITH the amateur sleuth, so it needs to be solved in a way a very clever amateur could DO IT. Agatha Christie seemed to have been the leader of the genre with Miss Marple... little old lady murder sleuth...
The pace is a little slower—more time spent on set up and character, rather than a murder on page one (or at least chapter one) which is the rule with most mysteries--mine happens at the END of chapter 2 (off screen, of course). The 'who will die' is more obvious (partially because it is usually on the back of the book, “... until XYZ turns up dead!”
Takes away one piece of mystery, yes, but I think cozy mystery readers don't really want LIKABLE characters to die (a little danger, sure, but not... DEAD!)
MANY (most?) have a sort of side theme... there are pets and hobbies and vocations... were I to do my own idea for the base at some future date I might have a sleuth that is a Parks Ranger, or something... seems to me campers, rafters, etc. end up in situations for a nice 'almost closed room' mystery that could be a real kick, and then I could take rafting trips with my uncle and deduct them [anyone wants to raft the Salmon River in Idaho, let me know, I'll hook you up--I'm serious--my uncle runs a company and it's FUN].
But it doesn't Rhyme with Tart....
Why do I need a pen name at all, then? It's a reasonable question... I mean... I'm WRITING it... BUT... These audition deals are for a SPECIFIC series... they have put out some parameters that the EDITOR at Berkeley Prime Crime came up with, so it isn't the same level of proprietary thing as if I... sent a whole book that I came up with ALL the stuff myself--there is a trade off. THEIR series, they are willing to chance on me after a certain number of chapters, because THEY have elements they believe in--If I just send... they need to see the whole thing first... or so I understand it. Yes, the parameters are somewhat negotiable, and there aren't a debilitating number of them, but... for instance they told me who the dead guy is and a little about the main protagonist, her colleagues and family... So in the end it is a collaboration. It is NOT as structured as say... the cast of thousands writing James Patterson novels... He gives a whole OUTLINE—I got NOTHING like that... some names and relationships... a Gardening theme, a location: what could I do with it? They've done their market research... they know what niches are promising... and then they pick the voice they think can pull it off that seems to have a PLAN.... (and boy do I ever! *cackles*)
These are the Olsons, Curtis and Ina (3rd generation Americans, I think—Curtis's dad was Sam, as my son is, though that is only a happy coincidence.)
So the Olson and Carlson thing... I don't know how many of you descend from Scandinavian immigrants... the mid 19th century saw A LOT of them... and they immigrated to very odd places... in the case of the Norwegians, Iowa/Minnesota and the Swedes (at least my Swedish family) the Dakotas (The Carlsons have an old county map from their South Dakota county and they were in the same one as Charles Ingalls (THE Charles Ingalls--Laura Ingalls Wilder's dad--this would have been the Little House on the Prairie!)—same time even, as the family names are on the properties, but THAT family (the Carlson's not the Ingalls) moved west, where the Norwegians stayed in Iowa until my grandma decided she needed a little breathing room and went out west to live with an aunt and uncle and date several soldiers at once... not that it is really dating if most of the interaction is by pen... *snickers* (this would be Alyse) But back to names... at the times these immigrations were happening, if you were from Norway and came to the United States, you got to PICK your name... you could be Olson, Larson, or Iverson. If you were Swedish, you could be Hanson, Carlson or Nelson. None of this 'farm you came from' naming they used in the old country! Lets keep this simple! I suspect different generations of immigrants were given different choices... I know Halversons, Jacobsons, Johansons, Ha! I AM a Johnson... sort of... But anyway, THAT is why it looks like we are all related...
Tart Down Under?
I 'google image' Australian men and get this. Who am I to argue with fate... And I'm assured Australian rules football (Go Adelaide crows!) is MUCH more manly than the silly American sport where players are covered in all that pesky padding... Tart under THIS... yeah, I'm not going to argue... he can tackle me and I will take one for the team...
*fans self* Right. Australia. Or the UK, or India? I have an unusual network... I began my foray into writing in a place where the International phenomenon of Harry Potter had drawn people from ALL OVER the world. (look at my flag counter—I've had visitors HERE from 83 countries) My WRITER'S GROUP represents seven countries. And I have gotten a resounding 'never seen such a thing' regarding cozy mystery from those three English-speaking countries—until yesterday... My sister in mischief, the ORIGINAL dungeon master, BrioNI CALLED me yesterday from down under... SQUEEEEEE! And she has a new addiction... a mystery writer (who apparently dons a dominatrix costume from time to time) and her description of the books is decidedly COZY. She says in Adelaide bookstores there is a 'mystery and crime' section... so maybe not the sub-genres like the US does for how they are filed, but if someone were to LOOK, cozies are to be found!
That said, I doubt Berkeley Prime Crime is there, so I will have to work out a system to ship books. It's not that I think my network is WEAK in the US, I just think for a US unknown writer, I have an unusual amount of international support, and it kills me to have the first thing I publish be something that I can't use that to help me hit a home run...
And don't forget to come in tomorrow for the PAH-TAY!!!!!