When plotting a mystery, I ask myself one essential question. What if?
The idea for my second Evan Dunstan mystery (to be released one week from today), A TOXIC CRAFT, was born from that question and a very specific setting.
One of my favorite pre-Christmas activities is to sell my books at local craft fairs. I’ve attended several high school fundraisers, many of which have knitters selling their goods and trust me, they take their business seriously.
One year, my table was placed between a pair of knitters, who seemed well aware of each other, yet didn’t strike up any conversation. Furtive glances at one another’s tables suggested that there might have been a bit of competition between them.
By late afternoon, the fair’s attendance had slowed down, which gave me plenty of time to ponder craft fairs, big and small, and think about crime. For this mystery author, it was a natural progression to ask, what if a vendor took her rivalry a bit too far? What if she was a little bit crazy? A little bit violent?
I have to say that in real life everyone’s been friendly and generally have a good time selling their crafts. But in my line of work, I don’t deal in real life. Evan’s situation is much crazier, especially when his feisty grandmother’s involved. As this book shows, Gran has a real knack for annoying people. Find out just how much trouble she gets into in A TOXIC CRAFT, on December 6th!
To pre-order, go to:
Kobo: http://tinyurl.com/ycsvuaj5
Writers get ideas from everywhere! A fine example of collecting ideas everywhere you go and creating a story out of them. Good luck with your launch, Debra.
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Thank you very much, Darlene. Yes, the ideas come at the strangest times and places 🙂
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Can just see your imagination ticking over. Sounds as if there’ll be a few laughs as well as mystery like Evan’s last adventure.
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Yep. There is! 🙂
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