What the Experts Say: Interview, Marja McGraw--Mysteries with a Little Humor

[image error] Joyce: Welcome back, Marja. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your expertise with my readers. Also I want to let everyone know that BOGEY'S ACE IN THE HOLE (A BOGEY MAN MYSTERY) is now available.

Marja: Thanks. I'm glad to be back. However, I need to repeat that writing mysteries, at least for me, isn't an exact science.

Joyce: All the more reason to listen to how you produce your mysteries. As a fan of mysteries, I like your books a lot – both the Sandi Webster and the Bogey Man Mysteries. Your characters fill your stories and make me want to read more to understand what happens to them. What do you do to make them engaging? 

Marja: I try to write my characters as though they're someone I know in real life. They aren't, and I want to clarify that so my friends and relatives don't think I'm writing about them. I'd like the reader to be able to relate to the characters. They all have little idiosyncrasies, just like you and me, but I generally exaggerate them to a degree. If you find them engaging, then you can probably relate to them on some level, which means I've done my job.

Joyce: I personally really enjoy their names, and can more quickly envision the people based on them.  Where do you get the names?

Along those same lines, in most cases I've tried to use common names that people can relate to. Personally, I can relate to a Sandi easier than I can relate to a Marja. Interesting, because I receive compliments on my name and yet I'd never use it in a book. Well, who'd want to use their own name anyway?

On the other hand, in The Bogey Man I included a character named Purity Patton. She was relatively famous and I wanted a memorable name. Susan or Linda just didn't seem to be appropriate for this character. I also included a man named Jolly, although he wasn't a particularly happy person. His parents tried to give their children some traits by giving them names associated with the way they hoped the kids would turn out. I know someone who actually did this.

In an upcoming book I have a peripheral character named Chloene. I posted a contest on my website asking for name suggestions. Someone entered the name of someone they'd known who had a very sad life. She wanted to give her a happy ending instead of the way things really turned out. It's a good name and the reason for entering it in the contest touched my heart. Chloene needed a better life than the one she was handed.

Joyce: That's awesome. As authors, we don't often get to rewrite the ending of real-life characters. If only we could.

How do you write dialogue? Do you ascribe certain character traits and then write dialogue to match them?

Marja: I try to keep dialogue as real as possible. Every person I know has an individual "voice", and I try to do the same with my characters. Frequently people don't speak proper English, but use language that suits their lives. A convicted felon with many years in prison probably isn't going to say, "Pass the tea, please." He's more likely to say, "Gimme a beer and make it quick."

Even little old ladies might surprise you. My grandmother frequently came up with comments that stopped me cold and gave me a good laugh. Seniors are a lot more savvy than we sometimes give them credit for, and I want the dialogue to be as real as possible.

Chris Cross's dialogue is pretty easy because he frequently uses 1940s slang. A lot of people aren't familiar with that slang, so consequently there are times when his wife, Pamela, will have to respond with something that defines what he was talking about. He's not crazy and doesn't think he's really Bogey, so under normal circumstances he speaks just like Joe Blow from down the block.

Now that I think about it, apparently I do define a character and then write dialogue to match the person's traits. Let me remind you about the convicted felon I referenced above. In the context that I wrote him being sweet, kind and gentle wouldn't portray the type of man he was. I created a character such as this in Prudy's Back! and he was rough, to put it mildly. His dialogue wasn't polite or friendly, and he wasn't someone you'd probably want to meet on a dark street at night. However, let me add that I use very little profanity in my books. Even with a character like this one, it isn't always necessary.

As a reader I want the dialogue to ring true. As a writer, if I'm not sure I like the sound of what a character is saying, I'll read it aloud. Sometimes I have to laugh, and I think, "What were you thinking?" And I rewrite.

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