Keep On Ticking by Julianne Holmes

JENN: Last year at Left Coast Crime in Phoenix, I was lucky enough to have the delightful Julianne Holmes aka J.A. Hennrikus on a panel I was moderating. The clock shop premise of her mystery series hooked me in immediately and I have been a huge fan of her series ever since.

JULIANNE: This week my third Clock Shop Mystery, Chime and Punishment was published. Being a published author was a long held dream, and I am still thrilled every time I hold one of my books in my hands. My journey as a published novelist is only two years long, but it has made a lot easier by the friends who have been lifting me up along the way, including some of the folks on this blog.

I spent so many years dreaming about being published that I was surprised by how much I had to learn once my series was released. First of all, I’ve learned that the long, languid pace of polishing your first novel is never to be savored again. When you are writing a series, you are writing the new book while doing copy edits of the last book while going out to sell the first book. Deadlines are deadlines, and shifting gears is a necessary skill.

I’ve always loved research, but writing the Clock Shop series has given me a great opportunity to dive into a world I knew nothing about. Happily, the universe provided me a great resource when a friend let me know her husband was a clock maker. David Roberts runs the Clockfolk of NewEngland, and he has been happy to answer questions. Granted, when I started a conversation with “how would you kill someone with a clock part” it took him aback. But when I reached out about research for this book, which centers around rebuilding the clock tower in the town hall, he was happy to have me come with him on one of his weekly winding appointments.

Going on that research trip changed the book. I had visions of huge cogs and wheels, but the clock mechanism is a machine that has been running for one hundred years. Seeing the arms that run the hands, the size of the clock faces, the mechanisms that rang the bell, the winding of the clock, the weights that keep it running for a week? All of that was fodder for my imagination. More than that, climbing up to the tower with David and Susan, feeling the heat (and thinking about how cold it must be in the winter), learning that the clock required 350 revolutions to keep it running for a week, watching David carefully oil, polish and tweak the clock, that helped my understand Ruth Clagan, my protagonist’s passion. I never, ever take a clock tower that is running for granted anymore. And I wonder if someone still winds it, or did they decide to make it electric? I always hope that it is still mechanical.

The skills of being a clock maker are not unlike the skills of being a writer. Both take a long time to master, if they are ever mastered. For both, making a living takes some maneuvering. The clock makers I’ve met, and the writers I know, also love the work. Passion fuels us all.

I love this Clock Shop series, and am glad that Ruth Clagan’s third adventure in Orchard, Massachusetts is available for you all to read. As I’ve been writing this series, folks have come up to talk to me about a clock or watch.  

How about you, readers? Do you have a clock or a watch with sentimental value? Are any of you clock makers?

Julianne Holmes writes the Agatha nominated Clock Shop Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime. As  J.A. Hennrikus writes the Theater Cop series for Midnight Ink. The debut of the series, A Christmas Peril, will be released on September 8. She has short stories in three Level Best anthologies, Thin Ice, Dead Calm, and Blood Moon. She is on the board of Sisters in Crime, and is a member of MWA and Sisters in Crime New England. 
She blogs with the Wicked Cozy Authors and Killer Characters. JHAuthors.com T:@JHAuthors I: @jahenn

What makes a perfect opening line? Jenn McKinlay

Opening lines -- I collect opening lines like a kid collects sea shells on the beach. Or, in the case of my nephew, a smelly dead crawfish that managed to stink up our vacation home until we tracked it to the pocket of his bathing suit where the stench almost knocked us out, but I digress.

Novel openings. What makes a good one? What magical combination of ingredients spellbinds the reader into continuing with a story? I have no idea. When it comes to opening lines, I am a fraud, a cheat, and a swindler. Why? Because my opening lines are almost always dialogue.

Truthfully, I never set out to start my books this way, but I am a horrible eavesdropper and I find it virtually impossible not to listen to other peoples' conversations, especially if they are being dramatic, funny, or tearful. Because, of course, I have to know why they are crying, maybe I can help! A friend of mine from college called this “dipping”. When we’d go to Conn Hall for dinner, I’d lean back to better hear the conversation behind me and she’d say, “Jenn, are you dipping again?” 

I’d shush her, giving her the double raised eyebrows look, and report back on the break up, argument, declaration of love, or what have you that was happening. Pro tip: If you don’t want people to overhear you, save the personal convos for when you're alone and not in a dining hall that seats three hundred people or at an intimate restaurant where the next table is mere inches away.

When I began writing, it was just natural to begin the story in the midst of a conversation, hopefully luring the reader into “dipping” just like I do. Yes, I still do it when a particularly interesting conversation unfolds around me. Bad manners, I know. Still I can't help it. For me, I find dialogue between characters to be the best way to set the tone of the book and it keeps me from info dumping a lot of background on the reader by weaving it into the conversation and hopefully scoring a few laughs along the way.

So, how about you, Reds? What are your tips and tricks for writing your opening lines? And what are some of your favorites?