 |
| Go ahead, enlarge the heck out of it. |
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: For everyone who read AT MIDNIGHT COMES THE CRY, noticed there wasn't some life-changing cliffhanger ending, and sent me an email wondering if This Was It for my mystery series, relax. I'm working on a proposal for Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne #11!
If you did NOT notice, and you DON'T care, please don't tell me, I'm sensitive.
So a proposal is basically an outline of the book; here are the characters, here's what's going to happen, and this is how it all turns out. Some authors are whizzes at this; me - not so much. Part of my problem is I've never had to do this before!
I have had to submit "proposals" before inking a new contract over the years, but to be honest, they've been more like breathless cover flap copy. I'm pretty sure I ended one with, "Can they find the killer before he strikes again?" I know, I know. I'm wincing, too.
Of course, every other proposal happened when I was still under contract to St. Martin's. Now, I don't blame my editor or publisher for not re-signing my while I was working on the last book. I mean, AT MIDNIGHT COMES THE CRY was overdue. By eleven years. If I were them, I'd want some evidence indicating I know what I'm going to write, and that hopefully, the book will be in by ( or before!) the end of the decade.
 |
| Starting with story structure helps. |
So, what's my process? I started with two facts, both handed to me by readers during my book tour in November/December. One was about the annual New Year's Day Polar Plunge at Lake George, NY. The other came from a couple who witnessed that polar plunge end in, if not disaster, total chaos, as spectators ignored the warning cones on the lake ice and fell in!
Now, dear readers, doesn't that sound like the perfect set-up to find a body floating in the dark and ice-clotted water?
For every book, I need to figure out what Clare and Russ (and Kevin and Hadley) are doing; what's driving them, what problems besides the murder are they going to confront and hopefully overcome. But this time, I'm adding two more major characters. NYDEC Ranger Paul Terrance and newbie lawyer Yixin "Joy" Zhao appeared in the last book, because each had a specific role I needed them to fulfill in order to tell that story. As I wrote forward, their parts got larger and larger, and I have to admit, I fell a little bit in love with them. So, apparently, did readers, because I've gotten countless emails and comments asking to see them again.
Sadly, I didn't plan ahead, because Paul works in the Adirondack High Peaks and Yixin was dead-set on finishing up her job in Albany and moving up the ladder in DC. So now I have a real puzzler - how do I get these two back to Millers Kill?
 |
| Walker will probably need some $$ too... |
No, I'm not going to tell you, I want you to buy the book once it's out. (Now Youngest has her MSc, she's talking about law school, so I'm going to need every penny I can scratch up.)
Have you read other authors who introduced new characters you fell for? And for those of you in Massachusetts or Vermont, I'm appearing with Paula Munier at Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley in March 3 and at Norwich Bookstore in Norwich on March 5. I'd love to see you there!
I loved Paul and Yixin in "At Midnight Comes the Cry; it would be great to have them return, but, no matter what, I am already anxiously awaiting book eleven . . . .
ReplyDeleteThank you, Joan! I'm sure there will be plenty of excerpts during WWW Week over the next year!
DeleteUm, I wouldn't say AT MIDNIGHT COMES THE CRY doesn't end with a cliffhanger. I finished it and wondered where the heck you were going from there!
ReplyDeleteIf anybody can get Paul and Yixin back to Millers Kill, you can. Good luck with the proposal.
I always want the reader to shut the book and wonder what happens next, Liz, so I guess I succeeded!
DeleteI agree with Joan. New characters brings in a lot of new perspective, not that we necessarily needed it, but it adds more richness to an already very rich tale. I know you'll figure it out, Julia, splendidly. I can't wait.
ReplyDeleteIt's also good for me to stretch myself, Judi. No one grows as an author if they just keep doing the same old thing.
DeleteI’m so happy to hear that the series isn’t ending. I thought you had eased us into a quiet period in the lives of Claire and Russ, and they would just sail on. When other authors have done this, I find myself making up new scenarios for my favorite characters. I liked the new characters and thought they could have some adventures. From Mignonne in Arkansas
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mignonne! New characters, new adventures, that's the idea.
DeleteWell, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that Joy and/or Paul will have some connection to that body that's floating under the ice/ICE, just sayin'. And, unlike the Ten Commandments, a proposal's not etched in stone! You got this, Julia!! Can't wait!!
ReplyDeleteFortunately, it's not, Flora! I once wrote one of the blurb style proposals about bank fraud (I think?) and I never even went back to look at that idea.
DeleteI'm very happy the series will continue! I fell for Paul and Yixin too, I can't wait to see what happens next. If you write it, I will buy it.
ReplyDeleteMy $15,000 cat and I thank you, Gillian!
DeleteThank you for sharing your story. Look forward to reading the new Clare and Russ mystery.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Diana!
DeleteI fell for Jack Lee in S.J. Rozan's Ghost Hero, and he fell for Lydia. I thought at the time that he was a better match for Lydia than Bill. But sadly he has never returned, and Lydia's relationship with Bill has gotten deeper. I do still like both Lydia and Bill.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great example, Maureen!
DeleteDC attorneys are frequently sent hither and yon to “help” locals and to go on vacation from whence they came, especially during the summer or ski season. Just saying as a Washingtonian. Bonnie
ReplyDeleteExcellent point, Bonnie - and I like your use of quotes when writing 'help'! :-)
DeleteLawyer Joy may stay in Albany to avoid DOJ politics. Very believeable. For the lake, I'm fond of flooded farms and villages or even a truck on the bottom loaded with guns or explosives
ReplyDeleteIn Chatham on Cape Cod, every New Year's Eve, the populace gathers on the lawn in front of the lighthouse for a group photo. I picture Millers Kill doing the same in front of Clare's church, with all the characters from your books standing together, minus the ones in prison.
Oh, that Chatham photo has all sorts of possible plot points, doesn't it?
DeleteAnd I do love me some flooded farms and explosives...
I'm delighted at the sound of this proposed story, Julia, and selfishly glad the series will continue. Go for it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Edith!
DeleteHave you read other authors who introduced new characters you fell for?
ReplyDeleteThat's a tough one. I love when new characters are introduced, but it's hard to think of them. Maybe Martin Walker's (Bruno, Chief of Police) new love interest, Lucy's new, but often real local Key West "conchs" who have delightful personalities, ...
Lucy does secondary characters like no one else - she's a master!
DeleteOff Topic: I'm too nervous to think about any other characters right now because I'm off to a book signing at Books on Third in Naples, Florida in an hour. Not sure why my stomach feels like it's been through a paper shredder. Maybe it's because I worry no one will show up. Good luck on March 3. Wish I could be there and love the tips on proposals. I look forward to your next book and I do love Paula's books. I like how she keeps introducing new people that Mercy and Troy have to kind of take care of or at least nurture along!
ReplyDeleteGerri, by the time I am reading your comment, your book signing will be over. I hope it went well and that dozens, if not more, of people showed up to see you and buy your book(s)!
DeleteOops, didn’t mean to be Anonymous. — Pat S
DeleteGerri, I hope everything went swimmingly! Remember - EVERY author, no matter how well-reviewed and successful, has a book signing horror story, so never worry about them as a metric of success.
DeleteGerri, I hope you had a terrific signing and made some new reader friends!
DeleteI was definitely in mourning when I finished AT MIDNIGHT because I thought you'd wrapped up the storylines to say goodbye. I'm overjoyed to learn I was wrong! I hope Clare and Russ & Co. are alive for evermore. :) Of course I want more Kevin and Hadley, but I also can't wait to revisit the supporting characters: Lyle (does he ever find love after Linda or is hunting season enough for him?), Lois, Harlene, and Russ's mother. How is Eric's marriage? I want to know if Hudson has become a moody teen or if he has a passion that has protected him? I know this longing doesn't introduce new people so I will just trust you will orchestrate everyone with your usual skill.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you've already figured out how to get Paul from Lake Placid down to Millers Kill, but just in case you need ideas, we drive down for the airport, the train in Rensselaer, medical appointments, and conferences. Also, there is a great Ford dealership in Greenwich, where a number of locals go for trucks (less snow/salt). One weather event you have not yet done is a tropical storm like Irene. Up here that was devastating to many small towns, ripping out roads and closing down all access via Rt. 73 for days, but that was July and here in the mountains. I don't know how it hit downstate.
So VERY HAPPY to know the crew will be back! YAY! (Selden)
Selden, you've hit on one plot line I'm saving for a future book. I want to do a Hurricane Irene story for sure! And I'm laughing because I've driven past Greenwich Ford a hundred times coming and going from my home town, Argyle!
DeleteJulia, imagine my surprise when my car guy told me he always bought his used vehicles there! Who here has ever gone to Greenwich?! However years ago he saw something online so drove down to check it out. For decades he has been the town mechanic for our local fleet of school buses and town trucks, so really knows his stuff. Apparently the manager there quickly realized this and in his first deal Pat was able to drive a very good but fair bargain. Since then he has repaid the favor by sending them lots of business, including mine. I bought our used Subaru there. (Selden)
DeleteFrom Celia; or you could do A 180 and take things in a completely different direction.
ReplyDeleteAs I cast back, I think I met you after the pub of your second book so your have had a wide collection of very interesting characters over the past ten books and how could you possibly invite/include them all?
I think you need to get your facts down and submit. Hopefully agent and publisher knowing your work will trust you to bring home the bacon once you have the contract safely signed and then give you space to write in your inimitable style.
Consider sending Joy to DC or the UN or even The EU! I think the ranger and Russ might be doing something together, and while you may not have ended with a cliff hanger you did end with new neighbors and what's their role?
Personally I think R&C need a working vacation somewhere warm.
Bearing in mind something Rhys wrote a couple of weeks ago when she realized she'd left the dogs out of her current Spyness tale. Once you're writing who knows where the cast will want to go or what they want to do. Haha!
Or, Lord, Celia, I forgot about the dog, too! I suppose Oscar can't have passed peacefully from old age in the intervening five years between stories. Maybe Hadley's daughter Genny can start a dog walking business...
DeleteIntroducing such compelling new characters is a great way to keep a series "fresh."
ReplyDeleteI fell hard for Brian Macalvie in Martha Grimes' Jury mysteries.
Absolutely, Anon, and that's a great example!
DeleteI loved Macalvie.
DeleteJulia, I loved AMCTC! I am also very excited that you are working on Book #11. Thank you! — Pat S
ReplyDeleteThank YOU, Pat!
DeleteI'm just so happy that there is a possibility for a new Clare & Russ book ..Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Andrea!
DeleteHow I'd love to see you at the bookstores in MA and VT! And how delighted I am that you are planning #11. It's interesting to hear you talking about how to put Paul and Yixin in the next book. In each of my mysteries, I've introduced at least one character I really wanted to use again, even incidentally, in another book, because I liked them! I should have made more of an effort to figure out a way to do it. Bern is a small city with an even smaller central downtown, so it's quite realistic that one or the other of my detectives might run into the photographer Markus Gurtner from Sons and Brothers, say, or Nisha Pragasam from A Fondness for Truth. But I've been too lazy to make it happen. When I get around to doing #5, I should consider bringing someone from the past into the story!
ReplyDeleteYou absolutely should, Kim! You've developed some fascinating characters; bring them back onstage and see what they do...
DeleteJulia, I have no doubt you'll find a way to work in Paul and Xixin. I'm so excited about this book and the proposal--although I don't envy you having to write it. I'm just glad there will be more Clare and Russ and Miller's Kill!
ReplyDeleteWell, it's good motivation to get the next book in ON TIME; chances are good they'll let me get away with a couple of paragraphs in that case!
DeleteJulia, as I’ve commented before: I DID notice the ending of At Midnight Comes The Cry. I LOVED the ending…it seemed a promise that life in Miller’s Kill would go on, would be interesting, and that these wonderful people you have created would go on living. This ending made clear to me (although from other’s comments, I’m an outlier) that “Midnight” was not the last book. Thank you for your best ending of all the stories, so far. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much, Elisabeth!
DeleteExcellent news, Julia! Glad you are plotting to put Miller's Kill through even more horrendous crimes! Yay, us!
ReplyDeleteAdding characters into and out of your MCs' lives makes them more real, especially for long-running series like yours that span many years. Sometimes I read series and I wonder, did the MC spring from the cabbage patch? Where are family members? Old friends? Were they beamed down from another galaxy?
Karen, I'm a big Star Trek fan, and one of the things I loved about the later series was the way we would see friends and foes and family members come in and out of the story, just as happens in real life.
DeleteWe are all waiting with bated bread for the next Clare and Russ and family book. I was intrigued with the 2 new characters and am looking forward to seeing how they end up in Miller’s Kill and the story. And Go Hadley! Say hi to Joan Grenier at Odyssey Bookshop and Emma Nichols at Norwich for me. Two more great independent bookstores!
ReplyDelete