The Mystery Starts Here

I’ve already talked about where to get ideas for your mysteries, but don’t forget the most obvious - your own memories. For my first book, I took a group of my best friends from grade/junior/high school, fictionalized them and killed them off, “One by One.” That was fun! I lived in Chicago for a few years in a crappy apartment with four other young women. I fictionalized them and killed them all at once in, “The Worst Evil.” Hmmm, I seem to see a pattern here. For that book I got use not only my Chicago experiences (describing an El stop at 7:00 AM in February for instance - THE coldest place on earth!) but also the time I lived in New England.

I spent a week on Amelia Island off the coast of northern Florida a few years ago. While my hubby attended a seminar I walked around town, looking at all those gorgeous old Victorian homes, and came up with the idea for “Stormy Love.” No friends killed in that one! In “The Colors of Death” I fell back on my expericence working with my husband in our printing business and I only killed one friend. I must be mellowing with old age! Low and behold, with “Call Sign:Love” I didn’t kill anyone! But I did draw on my experiences of being a volunteer at the Sheriff’s Department.

I’m not done mining my memories, not by a long shot. I spent an entire summer on Cape Cod and learned I’d been riding to work everyday with a man who was on parole for killing his wife! It still gives me chills. And I’m sure to get a book out of the three winters and one summer I spent in Miami, too.

So sit down and start remembering. You don’t have to know any serial killers or murderers to come up with great plot ideas! Do be sure and come back to check my blog on Sunday. I’m finishing up a Mystery Writing E-book that I’ll be giving away FREE!

Tags: fiction, killing, memories, mysteries, mystery book

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