Miranda James on Finding the Right Title

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Miranda James is here today to talk about how writers come up with titles for their books, but first I have to say I was absolutely captivated by the cover of the new Cat in the Stacks novel, REQUIEM FOR A MOUSE, featuring librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel. So captivated, in fact, that when I saw it I immediated emailed Miranda (which is, as you may know, the pen name of my longtime friend Dean James) and said, "Come do a blog for us!

I'm not sure which I love more, Diesel, or that strawberry cheese cake, but the title is wonderful, too. Here's Dean to tell us how it came about!

Finding a Title That Works

By Miranda James

All writers have their own particular, not to say peculiar, quirks. One of mine is that I don’t start writing a book until I know what the title is. Sometimes the publisher likes the titles I come up with, sometimes my editor comes up with a good title, or my agent does. For my latest book, I came up with the title, Requiem for a Mouse. The phrase popped into my head, and fortunately everyone loved it.

I had the title, but then I had to figure out the story. I usually want the plot of the book to have some connection to the title. I had no plans to have murdered, four-legged mice in this book. I’m not sure that Diesel or Ramses actually cares for the taste of mice. They’re more interested in bacon and chicken and roast beef, frankly.

Thus I had to figure out the character of a “human” mouse for this story. Everyone is probably familiar with the mousy person character. In this book, Tara Martin is the mouse. She’s a part-time student at Athena College, and she has a work-study job with Charlie in the archive and rare book room. He finds no fault with her work, but she has no social skills whatsoever. She blurts out things and insults people without realizing what she’s done. She also has a part-time job working at the bistro, where she mostly works behind the scenes and doesn’t deal directly with the customers.

Her appearance is non-descript. Shabby clothes, no sense of style, and so on. When something happens to Tara, Charlie begins to wonder whether Tara was deliberately trying to keep anyone from getting to know her. What was she protecting herself from?

That was the idea behind the title. As usual, I had to let the characters tell me the story as I wrote. I don’t do much advance plotting, but somehow it seems to work for me. I can’t outline. I can sometimes see scenes that will happen at some point in the book, but mostly it’s just me sitting at the keyboard and staring at the screen waiting for the characters to tell me what’s going on.

I know that must sound crazy to people who don’t write fiction. I used to think it was crazy, too, when I would hear writers at conferences say that their characters talked to them. Mine don’t actually talk to me, but somehow they let me know what’s going on. I’m no longer a skeptic. I know it’s my subconscious working things out, and that’s fine with me.

DEBS: It's so interesting how we all have different processes. I like to have a title while I'm writing, too, but while in some way they make sense to me, a connection may not be obvious to the reader. 

Readers, I'm curious--do you try to figure out how books' titles fit with the story?

Miranda James is the pen name of retired medical librarian Dean James, who lives in the Jackson, MS, area with four cats and thousands of books. He grew up on a farm in Mississippi, and, after degrees in history, he moved to Houston, TX, to pursue a Ph.D. He also eventually earned a master's degree in library science. Along the way, he worked for thirty years at Murder by the Book, one of the oldest and largest independent mystery bookstores in the country. His first novel was published in 2000, and since then he has published thirty-one more. Requiem for a Mouse is the latest.

And here's more about Requiem for a Mouse!

At last, Charlie and Helen Louise’s wedding is only a month away. They’re busy preparing for the big day, and the last thing Charlie needs is a new mystery to solve. Enter Tara Martin, a shy, peculiar woman who has recently started working part-time at Helen Louise’s bistro and helping Charlie in the archive. Tara isn’t exactly friendly, and she has an angry outburst at the library that leaves Charlie baffled. And then she abruptly leaves a catered housewarming party Charlie’s son Sean is throwing to celebrate his new home in the middle of her work shift. Before ducking out of the party, Tara looked terrified and Charlie wonders if she’s deliberately trying to escape notice. Is she hiding from someone?

When Tara is viciously attacked and lands in the hospital, Charlie knows his instincts were correct: Tara was in trouble, and someone was after her. With the help of his much beloved cat, Diesel, Charlie digs deeper, and discovers shocking glimpses into Tara’s past that they could never have predicted. Will they catch the villain before Charlie’s own happily ever after with Helen Louise is ruined?

An Interview with Miranda (Dean) James

           Jenn McKinlay: One of my most favorite mystery series is the Cat in the Stacks mysteries, penned by my friend Dean James (aka Miranda James). In case you don't know, one of the lead characters is a Maine Coon cat named Diesel. Seriously, what's not to love? 

          With his new book CARELESS WHISKERS, the 12th book in the hugely popular series, hitting the shelves on January 21st, I thought it was a good time to have Dean pop in for a visit. We did a little Q & A about his series and his writing life, and I love it so much because he really hits some elemental truths about the writing process. Enjoy!

Available for pre-order NOW!

Jenn: How did you come up with Charlie Harris and Diesel and the Cat in the Stacks mysteries?

Dean: After my Trailer Park Mysteries series was canceled, I was trying to come up with an idea for something new. My editor at Berkley, Michelle Vega, and her boss, Natalee Rosenstein (my editor before Michelle), suggested a series with a librarian and a cat, thanks to the popularity of the book Dewey the Library Cat. I sent them three chapters and a synopsis for the book, they liked it, and a three-book contract got me started.

Jenn: When did you decide to become a writer?

Dean: When I was old enough to figure out that people actually wrote books (and they didn't just magically appear on the shelves out of nowhere), I thought that would be a cool thing to do. Inspired at the age of eleven or twelve by my two favorite sleuths, Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden, I wrote a novella (at the time I thought it was a book) featuring a girl sleuth who was half Nancy/half Trixie. My aunt typed it up for me, and I sent to the Whitman, who was publishing the Trixie Belden books at the time. I got a form rejection letter, and that rather daunted my enthusiasm. All the other volumes in the series I planned never got written. Skip ahead to grad school days, and I started writing murder mysteries (you should not assume a direct connection between my being in a Ph.D. program and wanting to kill fictional people).

Jenn:  How long does it take you to write the first draft of a mystery?

Dean: I never really have a "first draft" in the most technical sense. I have a "living draft" because I adjust and change as the story develops. I'm not one of those people who can come up with a minutely detailed outline; that would drive me nuts and I'd never write the book. I like to see what happens while I write. I always get good ideas this way for twists and for character bits. As for how long it takes, it varies. The actual time of fingers on computer keys is many hours, but the writing process also consists of letting the subconscious pull 

things together, and that usually takes a few months.

Jenn: What is your work schedule like when you're writing?

Dean: Schedule? Um, no. I have a full-time day job as an electronic resources librarian in a university medical center, and I spend five days a week at a computer. Mostly I write on the weekends, but as a deadline looms I will 

write before and after work as well.

Jenn: Late night writing when the house is quiet is still my favorite.

Jenn: What do you like to do when you're not writing?

Dean: Sleep. Read. Travel. Watch TV and movies. Sleep some more and read some more.

Jenn: What’s the biggest challenge to writing a long running mystery series? 

Dean: Not repeating yourself. I try to keep the stories fresh with what's happening with Charlie and his family and friends, but also with the characters involved in the murder plots. There are only so many tropes you can use in a conventional cozy mystery, after all. I've read several thousand mysteries, 

many from them the Golden Age of detective fiction, and I think I've absorbed most of the variations you'll find in a traditional mystery. I like to play with the conventions. I had a lot of fun with this, in particular, with my

Simon Kirby-Jones mysteries. He is a gay American vampire who resides in an 

English village and comments acerbically on everything and everyone.

Jenn:  As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

Dean: I went through various stages of career enthusiasms. I babysat younger cousins frequently, so I thought being a pediatrician might be the thing. Then I became fascinated by foreign languages in the fifth grade and decided I wanted to be a translator at the UN. I even wrote to the UN for information. 

So my plan was to go to college and study several languages. Then I ended up getting a degree in history, with minors in English and Spanish. I thought being a college professor seemed like fun, so I went on to grad school and got a Ph.D. in history (specialty, medieval England), and eventually got my master's in 

library science. It was far easier to find a job in a library than a teaching position in history when I finished grad school, lo these many years ago.

Reading over this, I realize that what I wanted to do all along was concerned with languages, speaking them and writing them, and the writing of them came to predominate, I suppose. Where the urge to kill serially came from, I'm not quite sure...

Jenn: LOL, Dean. Thanks so much for joining us today!

What about you, Reds and Readers, any questions for Dean? Also, since I asked Dean I'll ask you, too. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Miranda James is the New York Times bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries, including Twelve Angry Librarians, No Cats Allowed, and Arsenic and Old Books, as well as the Southern Ladies Mysteries, including Fixing to Die, Digging Up the Dirt, and Dead with the Wind. James lives in Mississippi. Visit the author at catinthestacks.com and facebook.com/mirandajamesauthor.

  

All I Ever Wanted Was a Turret by Miranda James

JENN McKINLAY: I was fortunate enough to meet Dean (Miranda) James at my first book signing at Houston's renown Murder By The Book mystery bookstore back in 2010. We had an instant bond as we're both librarians and it's been a real joy to watch both of Dean's fabulous series, the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries and the Southern Ladies Mysteries, do so well in the world of traditional mysteries. It's my pleasure to invite him here today. Take it, Dean!

MIRANDA (DEAN) JAMES: Ever since I discovered Nancy Drew and immersed myself in her adventures, I have been fascinated by hidden rooms and secret passages. Ditto with old houses, especially multi-storied ones. When I was eighteen months old, my parents and I moved into a newly-constructed house, built by father’s cousin. Our house had only the one floor, alas, so I had to get my old-house fix through reading. I think this probably helps explain why I got hooked on romantic suspense novels when I was thirteen. Victoria Holt, Phyllis Whitney, and Barbara Michaels often had mysterious mansions full of secrets in their books, and I read blissfully through them all.

Later on I became fascinated with English history – all those kings and queens and castles. Those castles had towers and turrets and all manner of secret spaces with them. I also remember a Judy Bolton book with a turret, probably the first time I ever encountered the word. After that I desperately wanted a turret of my own. I’m not sure why the notion appealed to me so much, but I was never a terribly practical child.

Then of course there are the classic English mystery novels set in villages and mansions in the countryside. I discovered those around the time I went to college, and though there weren’t as many turrets or hidden rooms, there was enough aura of mystery to keep me intrigued.

I suppose it’s no wonder, then, that I have included old houses in a number of my books – particularly in the Southern Ladies series. The heroines, Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce Ducote, live in the ancestral antebellum home, Riverhill. They and their home first appeared in Out of Circulation, the fourth Cat in the Stacks book. When I put them into their own series, I set the book almost entirely at Riverhill. Subsequent books have also featured antebellum homes, and in the latest, Fixing to Die, the house is in Natchez, Mississippi. Natchez is a town with a fascinating history, and some say it is one of the most haunted towns in America (the other being Savannah, Georgia).

Old houses and spirits – an irresistible combination, at least to me – and that was the beginning of the story. Now, the spirits in this book are not the murderous kind you’ll find in other types of books. This is a cozy, after all, but not all spirits are malicious. I had great fun with this story, and I believe readers will be able to detect the influences of my early loves, like Nancy Drew and Barbara Michaels. I couldn’t put in a turret, though, because antebellum homes in the South don’t have them. The architectural style doesn’t permit.

So I’ll have to find my turret somewhere else.

Fixing to Die: Available Oct 3rd!!!

The New York Times bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries and Digging Up the Dirt returns with the latest Southern Ladies Mystery...

It’s autumn down south, and An'gel and Dickce Ducote are in Natchez, Mississippi, at the request of Mary Turner Catlin, the granddaughter of an old friend. Mary and her husband, Henry Howard, live in Cliffwood, one of the beautiful antebellum homes for which Natchez is famous.

Odd things have been happening in the house for years, and the French Room in particular has become the focal point for spooky sensations. The Ducotes suspect the ghostly goings-on are caused by the living, but when a relative of the Catlins is found dead in the room, An'gel and Dickce must sift through a haunted family history to catch a killer.

What about you, Readers? What's fascinating feature do you most long for in a house? 

Those Conventional Librarians--Miranda James

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm going to start with a quote, on this day when I feel particularly in need of a bit of comfort--from Marilyn Stasio's review in the Crime Column of the New York Times, on the new Cat in the Stacks mystery by Miranda James (aka my friend Dean.)

"Let us now praise the cozy mystery, so comforting on dark days, so warming on chilly nights--the literary equivalent of a cat. 12 ANGRY LIBRARIANS...checks a lot of essential boxes."

What better introduction to this series, if you haven't been fortunate enough to read it!
 
The books feature widowed librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel, and are set in a small collegiate town in Mississippi. Here's a peek at Twelve Angry Librarians:
 

Charlie is stressed out. The Southern Academic Libraries Association is holding this year’s annual meeting at Athena College. Since Charlie is the interim library director, he must deliver the welcome speech to all the visiting librarians. And as if that weren’t bad enough, the keynote address will be delivered by Charlie’s old nemesis from library school.

It’s been thirty years since Charlie has seen Gavin Fong, and he’s still an insufferable know-it-all capable of getting under everyone’s skin. In his keynote, Gavin puts forth a most unpopular opinion: that degreed librarians will be obsolete in the academic libraries of the future. So when Gavin drops dead, no one seems too upset…

But Charlie, who was seen having a heated argument with Gavin the day before, has jumped to the top of the suspect list. Now Charlie and Diesel must check out every clue to refine their search for the real killer among them before the next book Charlie reads comes from a prison library…

And here's Dean--er, Miranda--to set us straight on libraries.

 

Libraries come in assorted “flavors” – there are public libraries, government libraries, corporate libraries, law libraries, music libraries, art libraries, medical libraries, as well as various other kinds of libraries. Each type of library has its particular needs that make it distinctive from the other kinds of library. Their collections can be vastly different. For example, a medical library collection and a public library collection don’t have much in common, because they serve different communities.

In my “Cat in the Stacks” series I write about two kinds of library, the public library in Athena, Mississippi, and the library at Athena College. The latter is considered an academic library. An academic library serves the needs of its parent institution, and there are thousands of academic libraries and academic libraries in the United States. There are also professional associations for the different types of libraries, and these association meet, usually on an annual basis.

For the latest book, I thought it would be fun to write a mystery set at an academic library conference, so I made up an association – the Southern Academic Libraries Association, or SALA. Athena College is the host library, and since Charlie is serving as interim director of the library, he will have to play a role in the meeting. Whether he really wants to is another matter.

At these meetings librarians do presentations, and there are usually a couple, if not more, keynote addresses. What if, I thought, someone is murdered during one of these keynotes? What if it’s the person speaking who is murdered? And what if the speaker just happens to be someone that Charlie dislikes?

Those were the seeds of the plot of Twelve Angry Librarians. I decided that some of the important characters would be fellow students from Charlie’s days in graduate school in Texas twenty-five years ago. Readers get a glimpse into Charlie’s history in this book, and they also see a side of his personality that doesn’t surface often. That’s part of the fun of writing a series, actually. Exploring a character’s history and aspects of his personality that slowly emerge as the series progresses.

Now, before anyone gets worried, I’ve been to numerous professional library association meetings, and thus far no one has been murdered. But you never know . . . .

DEBS: And here's more about Dean, who will be checking in to chat with us today!

 
Miranda James is the pseudonym of Dean James, a seventh-generation Mississippian recently returned home after over thirty years in Texas. A mystery fan since the age of ten, he wrote his first novel at the ripe old age of twelve. The only copy of The Mystery of the Willow Key vanished years ago, but since it was highly derivative of the Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden mystery series, that’s probably a good thing.

DEBS: Now, who's contemplated murder at a professional conference? Come on, readers, 'fess up!!