What the Experts Say: Interview, Marja McGraw

[image error] Q-1: How do you get started writing your mysteries?

A: I start writing before my fingers ever touch the keyboard. An idea will present itself and I start making notes to myself. Sometimes I'll even think of a line of dialogue that I don't want to forget and sometimes that simple line can cause the story to change directions. However, in all honestly, I never know what's going to inspire a story. In the case of Old Murders Never Die, I was looking at some pictures I snapped of old buildings during a trip my husband and I took across Nevada. It suddenly struck me that a story about being stranded in a ghost town could be a lot of fun. It was, too.

I try to think of things that readers have enjoyed for generations, like a spooky old house, and start from there. Mystery readers, for the most part, enjoy dark and stormy nights and the readers are my inspiration. I try to give them what they want, as long as it's something I can enjoy, too. Believe it or not, I always have the reader in mind when I look for a story idea, but since I'm doing the writing it needs to be a storyline I can become involved in.

Occasionally I know exactly who the guilty party is before I start a book. However, there are times when the story takes a path I hadn't planned on and I end up changing culprits. The clues, or red herrings, fall into place as I write. I can't recall ever going back and adding a clue, although I have changed them slightly.

Writing mysteries, at least for me, isn't an exact science. Every author has their own process, and while mine may look a little haphazard, I think the end results speak for themselves.

Marja McGraw is originally from Southern California, where she worked in both criminal and civil law enforcement for several years.
Relocating to Northern Nevada, she worked for the State highway department. Marja also did a stint in Oregon where she worked for the County Sheriff's Office and where she owned her own business, a Tea Room/Antique store. After a brief stop in Wasilla, Alaska, she returned to Nevada.
Marja wrote a weekly column for a small newspaper in No. Nevada and she was the editor for the Sisters in Crime Internet Newsletter for a year and a half. She's appeared on television in Nevada, and she's also been a guest on various radio and Internet radio shows.
She writes the Sandi Webster Mysteries and the Bogey Man Mysteries, and says that each of her mysteries contain a little humor, a little romance and A Little Murder!
For additional information: http://www.marjamcgraw.com