Sherry Harris on Real Life in Fiction #bookgiveaway

LUCY BURDETTE: Today Jungle Reds welcomes back a talented writer and an old friend. She's fun and funny and thoughtful and has a new book to share. Welcome Sherry Harris--and her sidekick!

SHERRY HARRIS: Thank you, Jungle Reds for having me back to celebrate the release of my fourth book in the Sarah Winston Garage Sale series, A Good Day To Buy! Every time a book releases I think about what led to this moment. Authors are often asked if they use anything from their real lives in their books. My answer is no, not a thing, it’s all made up.

Conscience: Sherry tell the nice people reading this the truth.

Me: Uh, that is the truth?

Conscience: Sherry!

Okay, gather round. I might have borrowed from a couple of aspects of my life. For example, the whole garage sale thing. I went to my first garage sale when I was in second grade. My best friend’s family was having one and I had no clue what happened at a garage sale. I was first delighted to see my friend wasn’t selling her actual garage and then amazed to see people were buying my friend’s old stuff. I ran home, grabbed some comic books and marbles, ran back and sold them. Cash for stuff sitting in the basement? A lifelong love was born.

Conscience: Sherry?

Okay, I confess! I always regretted selling the marbles. It taught me a valuable lesson: don’t sell things that you will really, really miss. But I love buying other people’s castoffs and it’s an excellent form of recycling. There’s nothing like holding an old postcard or staring into an old mirror while wondering who else did exactly the same thing. Were they happy or sad? Did they like their reflection? Ah, the mystery of it all! 

Since my husband was in the Air Force I’ve been able to explore garage sales, flea markets, and antique stores all over the country. More than once I’ve brought something home and my husband said we didn’t have room for it. (We’ve lived in a lot of small places on various bases.) He learned a determined woman can make room for almost anything. And for the most part he’s come to appreciate my purchases.

My protagonist Sarah is an Air Force wife and we both loved being Air Force spouses.
Fortunately, things ended up better for me than they did her. In Tagged for Death Sarah’s husband is kicked off base for conduct unbecoming an officer (yes, that really is a thing). We don’t have too much else in common although Sarah’s ex does drive the same model of car as my husband. I’m getting that in here before my conscience comes back. And they share one other trait, but if I mentioned it here it might give away something that happens in Tagged.

When I was thinking about where to set the series, it didn’t take long to realize I had to set it in Massachusetts. PSA -- I did not want to move to Massachusetts, but you go where the Air Force sends you. I’d always heard stories about the cold people, the colder winters, and the crazy drivers – who would want to move there? But it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the charming towns with their town commons (or greens depending on which state you are in), their big white churches, the quirky accents, and funny way people pronounced things.

Conscience: Excuse me.

Okay, okay. The drivers are crazy. A friend told me not to make eye contact with other drivers which made me wonder if they were people or wild animals. I found out that making eye contact was a sign of weakness. And yes the winters are cold but the people are lovely (once you can understand what the heck they are saying – carriages, bubblahs, jimmies – no clue). We lived in Bedford, Massachusetts for five years and by the end I could pronounce Peabody, Quincy, and Reading properly (Pee-biddy – say it fast, Quinzee, Red-ing). I even knew how to use “wicked” like a native (although I still feel a bit self-conscious when I do).

And finally I do use people from my real life in my books. I hear a story and I can’t resist using it. Well, I wouldn’t use it if you told me in confidence and prefaced said story with, don’t ever tell anyone. I am really good at keeping secrets. (Note: my conscience is silent.) The opening of Tagged For Death and part of the plot comes from a conversation I overheard in an airport.

One of my favorite characters in the series is Angelo DiNapoli. He’s based on Lou, a former neighbor in Bedford. I wrote the whole book with Lou in mind. When I finished the novel I called him and made sure it was okay (thank heavens he said yes or it would have been a massive rewrite—don’t try this at home). I gave him a different profession – restaurant owner – and amped him up a bit or so I thought. My former neighbors thought I might have toned him down.

So there you have it. Now I can go forth with a clear conscience.

Conscience: Sherry?

Oh, stuff it. A writer has to have a few secrets.

Readers: Do you notice when authors use their experiences in books? Writers: Do bits of your real life end up in your books? Leave a comment with your email included to be entered in a drawing for Sherry's new book!

Sherry Harris, a former director of marketing for a financial planning company, decided writing fiction couldn’t be that different than writing ads. She couldn’t have been more wrong. But eventually because of a series of fortunate events and a great many people helping her along the way, Kensington published Tagged For Death the first in the Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries. Sherry blogs with the Wicked Cozy Authors. 

Sherry Harris--The Making of Officer Awesome

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Ever wonder how writers come up with their characters? I love our Jungle Red friend Sherry Harris's account of the making of Officer Awesome! (And of course now I'm dying to read the book...)

SHERRY HARRIS: Debs and Reds thanks so much for having me back! It's always a blast to be a Red for the day and hang out with some of my favorite authors. 

The Making of Officer Awesome

Sometimes a character is born through a long painful labor of writing full character sketches, thinking about how the character affects the story, and how the character helps/hinders the protagonist’s journey. Other times a character comes in a flash from a comment or experience. Officer Awesome, who shows up in my third book, All Murders Final, is the latter.

I’ve been lucky enough to go on two different police ride-alongs in two very different situations with two very different officers.

My first ride-along was with Sergeant Patrick J. Towle of the Bedford, Massachusetts, Police Department. He is also a member of the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council’s SWAT team. Patrick is a great contact for me because my fictional town of Ellington is based on Bedford, and Patrick gave me an insider’s view of policing there. (Patrick is the cousin-in-law of my friend and fellow Wicked Cozy Authors blogger Julie Hennrikus. Thanks, Julie, for introducing us and joining us on the ride-along!)

There’s not a lot of crime in Bedford but Patrick showed us where past crimes had occurred, took us to an old Nike missile site, pointed out where a body had been dumped, and told us about the one unsolved murder in Bedford. He also shared tales (some fact, some lore) about Bedford that I’d never heard. Our biggest call during the ride-along was for a python in the road. Another officer picked it up and somehow wrangled it into a pillowcase. We met the officer at the station and peeked at the injured animal. It was taken to an animal rescue.

Patrick is a season professional with a laid back manner. He’s knowledgeable, confident, and just the kind of guy you want on your side out there fighting bad guys. Interestingly enough, the night before I met Patrick, I was writing about Officer Pellner for my first book Tagged for Death. I gave Pellner dark hair and then I added some dimples at the last minute. I was stunned to meet Patrick and find that he had dark hair and dimples.

My second ride-along was with the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia. The county has over a million people. The department is the 33rd largest in the country. And while Fairfax County isn’t the crime capital of the world, there is plenty going on.

The officer I rode with was just completing his first year on the job, but at 40 he had already started and sold a tech company. He’d wanted to be a police officer since he was a teenager and now was fulfilling that dream. We started the ride-along with him showing me the panic button on the computer monitor and how to work the radio to call for help just in case something went wrong. That got my adrenaline going. Then we went to court, a traffic accident, sat waiting for people to run a stop sign, and we also answered house alarms going off. We caught teenagers with pot (the pot was in a glass container that said “this isn’t weed” on the lid) and pulled people over for traffic violations. At one point we roared down streets, lights blaring, looking for guys who had stolen a pizza delivery guy’s car. The police helicopter was flying above us as we joined other officers in the search. It was so exciting but we didn’t catch the bad guys. We also patrolled closed parks and parking lots—yes there were a lot of fogged-up windows.

In the parking lot of a closed, dark park, surrounded by woods, we came across a woman sitting alone in her car, crying. It was a scary place—nowhere for someone to be alone. My officer talked so kindly to her, explained that she couldn’t stay there, that it wasn’t safe, asked if she needed any help, or if there was anything he could do for her. I was impressed more in than moment than at any other time.

It was quite a night! At the end of the evening I asked him if I could name a character after him in All Murders Final. He smiled and said, “yeah, Officer Awesome.” Figuring out how to name a character Officer Awesome was a bit of a challenge but ended up being a lot of fun. I gave him the years of experience that Patrick has and a bit of swagger from my own Officer Awesome. I hope you’ll like him as much as I do.

Readers: What draws you to a character? Writers: Have you had a similar experience writing characters? And do you have any fun ride-along stories to share?

DEBS: Sherry, this is so much fun. I love Officer Awesome. I've never done a ride-along--I definitely think I should. Wonder if they do them in the UK...

 When Sarah Winston started the virtual garage sale, it seemed like a keystroke of genius and the next logical step in her business. No more collapsing card tables and rainy-day washouts. But what began as a fun way to run garage sales during the long New England winter has become a nightmare of managing people and putting out fires. Online, she can avoid the crowds–but not the crazies.
She certainly never bargained on dealing with frightening threats. And when a client is murdered, it’s time for Sarah to swallow her pride and seek the help of her ex–C.J. Hooker, chief of police. Forging a tense alliance, they search–online and off–for the killer. But solving this crime before someone else gets tagged seems virtually impossible…