Alicia Rasley's Blog: Alicia Rasley's writing corner

Back to the Regency

I'm trying to keep focused. Really! It's difficult for me right now because I'm revising my old Regencies to put them up for sale in the Kindle store. I sure used to write long books. I mean, here are these "little" Regencies and they're 400 pages long. But boy, do I like them. I mean, I don't mean to brag, but I still love them and the characters.

But I'm working a bit on the Regency mystery series. I got seduced into working on the second book in the series. But I realized, yes, finally, that the first book should come first! So I'm going back to that. I have to do some research on Regency-era medicine (the hero is a physician), which is good, because I agreed to write an article about that!

But right now, I'm skating over all the details (like whether they understood about blood circulation and no bleeding after death back then) and figuring I can fill that in later. What I want to do is go back and make room in the first chapter for some suspects. The hero thinks the heroine probably did the murder (she has the motive), but of course she didn't. So I have to insert some other possible murderers. This is a country inn, but on the road to Brighton, so some likelies can be there. Oh, I made a storm happen too, so they're sort of trapped there. But it's really, really hard for the hero to notice anyone else because he's so focused on the heroine (who has suddenly kissed him). I'm not really sure how I can get the other suspects in there.

What I might do is have two or three in the first chapter (the night before the murder), and introduce a few more in the morning when they discover the body. I think I need to make this inn a lot bigger! And I have invented a reason they're all in the vicinity-- they're all headed to a ball being given in Brighton by the Prince Regent.

I find the most problematic task in a mystery is just that-- getting several plausible suspects nearby. I know the ending (where the murder is explained somehow, preferably gracefully) can be difficult too.

I just read a mystery where the ending is just a series of people explaining the mystery, and I don't want to do that. I want, by the time we get to the end, most of the "how" is clear-- how the murderer did the killing-- and all that's really left is the "why"-- the motivation.

Another book started-- series, really

Second book I'm starting:

2) A Regency mystery series. I've already started this. The hero and heroine were married to twins (that is, hero was married to Amy, the twin of Charles, who was married to the heroine). Both the spouses died in an influenza epidemic years ago, and Matt and Katerina are still in touch because their children are cousins. They end up together romantically (though they probably won't marry till the end of the series). And they meet in out of the way places, and like Miss Jane Marple, they're always encountering murders. (We must suspend our disbelief at the unlikelihood of this, but really, Miss Marple sure had a nose for trouble, and so do my characters.)

I'm having some fun with the Regency aspects. I made them connected by their marriages to siblings because in the Regency, it was illegal to marry an in-law. (You couldn't marry your brother's widow. But you know, I remember you could marry if they'd divorced, as that meant the marriage hadn't happened or something. Anyway, this is NOT TRULY AN ISSUE with my couple as they aren't strictly bro-and-sis-in-law.)

I'm making Matthew a physician because I want that odd class thing where he's a working professional and so the layabout aristos think he's below them. (Well, some of them do.) However, I love titles, so I'm having him knighted (for saving one of the Prince Regent's brothers, see). So when he encounters a dead body, he's got the expertise to do some forensics work. CSI Regency! Of course, medical science was pretty minimal then, so I'll have to research what was possible. The heroine is Russian and speaks several languages and has a wider perspective of human nature, so that will be her "detective skill."
And all through the stories there will be the romance developing. The big conflict is that Matthew wants to marry and Kat's not ready for that. But I don't know how long I can drag that out. We'll see. The emphasis is going to be on the mysteries and the way they encounter them. I've already started two stories. (Yeah, I know. I should FINISH one first!)

Today I wrote half a scene where Matthew "diagnoses" how the murder happened. But I thought I'd have some fun with it by having him not interested much-- dead bodies are bodies he can't help-- and being more intrigued by a woman the vicar (the one who got murdered) asked him to check in on, who seems to be being poisoned slowly. No one else believes this, but he's thinking maybe the vicar suspected something and was killed for it. I always think the sort of exposition ("He was drowned, not shot, and here's how...") is more interesting when it's set within a scene where something else is happening (Matt showing concern about something else). Also the heroine is worried about him but can't express it because no one is supposed to know they're lovers.

Onward and upward. I really feel like I'm writing backwards. I have no idea who did the killing. I'll probably figure it out a minute before he characters do, and have to go back and put in clues!
Alicia

Deciding what to write... why is this so hard for me?

You know, I married the first man who asked me -- at 18. Still married to him. I mean, really, I'm pretty tenacious.

So why do I keep veering from one book to another??? I have gotten into a bad pattern of starting stories and losing interest about page 20. So I have about five books going right now, none very well. I generally don't "catch fire" with a book until I've got a lot written, but these days, I'm not getting that far and so nothing is getting finished.

However, I've decided to "write short"-- not assume that I'm only going to write full-length novels, or that every idea has to be developed into 300 pages. That's been liberating! In fact, I think with web-based publishing, we're going to see more linked short stories, like a series of short episodes featuring one character or a group of characters.


So here are two I'm kind of working on, and there's not much connecting them, except short-linked aspect and I guess the mystery angle (I'll do the other in a later post, once I figure out what the heck is wrong with the RSS feed contraption over there):

1) Silver Savories. (I'm sure I'll come up with a better series title. I hope,anyway. I'm just using that so I can stop referring to my "Meals on Wheels books" because no doubt that term is trademarked.)

I deliver Meals on Wheels, and it's always been an interesting volunteer job because I interact with older people who sometimes tell me about their lives. And it's frequently surprising what they reveal-- that sweet old white-haired lady was a Rockette, and that gentlemanly fellow played guitar in an early rock band.

Anyway, everyone I pitch this idea to thinks it's going to be really boring! But I am starting a series of shorter stories, maybe novella length (say, 70 pages) where the heroine delivers meals and gets involved in mysteries. I'm thinking of keeping this sort of cozy, not violent, not even mostly murder. Right now I'm trying to figure out HER-- why does she have time for this volunteer work? How old is she?

I want a bit of romance, so I think I'll make her divorced (no, the romance is not with the 90-year-old guys, but maybe one of their nephews :). (But you know, she could also sort of matchmake the old rocker with the old Rockette!)

And I think I'll make her retire young and have no money worries. What the heck. Wish fulfillment Like she was involved in some internet startup and got a lot of stock and cashed in and is set for life.

Jenny Brown (a friend, and here on Goodreads) has told me I should write some small-town stories, with a kind of idealized setting. Well, I grew up in a lovely college town (Blacksburg, VA), and maybe I'll go with that, and have her ex-husband a prominent politician in the town, like a judge or mayor, and her son a police officer in the little police department.

Hey, it's not too boring, is it? Well, I guess it's my job to make it interesting.

I thought maybe the first one would have the Russian mafia in it. Hmm. Maybe not. But that's a good idea for a later story. She's delivering a meal to this nice old Russian gentleman, and it turns out he's ex-KGB!

Okay, okay. Back to the rocker-Rockette romance. :)
Anyone know why the RSS button gets me a notice that the XML is wrong? And why Google Reader won't pick it up?
Alicia

First post-- what I'm doing

Well,let me first say thanks for this opportunity. I like to explore writing issues as I write, but I have a terrible memory for such things (not to mention for where I left my keys or what I'm doing here in the laundry room :). So maybe writing down what happened today in crafting the book will help me remember and understand and learn from the experience!

Right now I'm mostly editing my older Regencies and my writing book for Kindle. I'm enjoying the process, updating the stories a bit, powering up the prose where I can. I don't want to change TOO MUCH, but I have to admit, I've been itching to compress the opening of a couple of these books (I used to be a far more leisurely writer, LOL), so I've done that. I was pleasantly surprised to realize they have held up well, though the omniscient perspective of The Reluctant Lady might not go over well today. It's right for the Regency genre, though, I think, as it echoes Austen's ironic narrative distance.

Anyway, if you're interested, the books are:
The Wilder Heart, a Regency novella.
The Reluctant Lady, a Regency novel.
Royal Renegade, a Regency novel.
Poetic Justice, a Regency novel.

Rasley's Kindle Page: http://www.amazon.com/Alicia-Rasley/e...

An interesting experience, editing them again! And now I feel like writing more Regencies. More to come about this in future blog posts.