Tripping on air, and other talents

When I went on my writer’s retreat, one of the questions I continued to struggle with was what purpose do the MMs have in the current book? Do they have a purpose? Or am I forcing them where they don’t fit?

Without giving too much away, my editor asked about something in THE JANE DOE GHOST that wasn't neatly tied up. She suggested maybe it would be addressed in the next book in the series. This is one of those moments where I thought (at least in my mind - would have been nice if I shared that with readers) it was self-explanatory. So I've gone into this next in series with an eye toward explaining what was left dangling (what I'm coyly referring to as the MMs). I could easily have explained them away in Chapter 1, saying "well, that mystery is over, and the MMs went with it." But what fun is that? However, without a reason for them to appear in THIS book, I wasn't inclined to give them a storyline. 

Until I was.

I am NOT A FAN of books that don't finish a story line in one book. Where dangling threads remain, this reader's attention is lost. Don't play with me that way! Is that what I'm doing? No. Jane Doe's story is well and truly finished, but there are other things afoot in the universe that remain. Sort of like when a character is injured (no spoilers!) and the end of the book is the beginning of their recovery journey. You have to assume that will be continued in the next book, but it isn't a dangling thread, per se. Likewise, the MMs are more of something that wasn't front and center in the last book but are jumping into the spotlight in THIS book. Well, maybe not the spotlight, but definitely interwoven into the plot, whereas in the last book they were mysterious "what is that?" background characters. 

Now. Allow me to take a detour for a moment. Has anyone ever read a Jennifer Cruisie book? This woman is funny. I first read one of her books when my buddy Jennifer (no relation) sent me a box of books for market research. I rolled my eyes and said, "this isn't what I want to write, though." Until I read it. That market still isn't one I'd write for, or CAN write for, but some authors transcend genre. Fast forward about 20+ years. Jennifer Crusie is still writing books, and now she's collaborating with Bob Mayer. Has been for several years. In fact (completely irrelevant to this post, but I'm detouring, after all), I met them both at my first writers conference when they'd first started collab-ing. She's been posting regular updates on the progress of the series they're currently working on, and I'm in awe of the way she is so meticulous about plotting and planning the series. She leaves room for surprises, as one must, but I tend to fly by the seat of my pants and am always amazed when I find threads to pull through my series books. Almost as if I'd planned it that way! So why are we on this detour? Because I'm having one of those moments now with my MMs. An afterthought becomes a thread that moves this series forward. Flashes of unexpected brilliance.

But you're wondering about the subject line of this post, aren't you? I'm going to avoid another detour, but I'll ask a simple question. Do you ever have moments where you "trip on air?" Stumble for no apparent reason? What if there was a reason all this time and you just never realized it? Me? I'd like to blame my lack of grace on something other than myself from time to time, and my MMs have provided me that opportunity. "It isn't my fault, the MM tripped me!" But even mischief makers have a helpful side. And that's where I'm taking the question of "but what about..." from my editor. 

Stay tuned.

What's in the works? Aside from the new Elspeth Barclay novel, audio for The Sculptor is currently in production. Audiobooks for The Selkie and The Jane Doe Ghost are done and finding their way to the various distributors. Hopefully, you'll find them at your favorite audiobook outlet!