Welcome to another week on the blog, gang! Today, I’m joined by Lesley Cookman as part of her Murder by the Barrel tour, and here, she tells us the highs and lows of writing a series, something I was really interested to find out about…
Series: Libby Sarjeant series number 18 (can be read as a standalone)
Genre: Cosy crime
Release Date: 5th October
Publisher: Accent Press
When I was a child, my favourite books were series. Monica Edwards’ Romney Marsh books, with Tamsin and Rissa, were perhaps my real favourites, and to which my own Libby and Fran books have been compared. Malcolm Saville’s Lone Pine series, and rather far down the list, EB’s Famous Five, and although not categorised as a series, the Blue Door books by Pamela Brown, about a thoroughly stage struck group of children.
When I moved on to adult books, it was to my parents’ detective stories, all of which were, of course, series. Ngaio Marsh’s Roderick Alleyn, Carter Dickson’s Sir Henry Merrivale, Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe among others. So when Hazel Cushion of Accent Press offered to buy the unfinished novel which became Murder in Steeple Martin and asked: “Could it be a series?” it seemed like an obvious move to both of us.
The nicest compliments I ever receive from readers are those which say reading the books is like visiting old friends. People like to get to know the characters and the places, and frequently correct me if I make a mistake in a talk or a blog post or, heaven forfend, an actual book.
And that brings me to one of the lows. Keeping track of a whole world – not just a single community, but everything that affects that community. Where they go on holiday, who they know in the wider world, where they went to school – everything about them. If I’d been sensible, I would have kept proper notes as I went through, but to be honest, nobody really expected Libby and Co to be still going 18 (and a half – a novella) books later. So take my advice, one of the only pieces I give you, keep notes! Record everyone you mention, even in passing. In the second Libby, I mentioned one character buying an ice cream for another from a little ice cream stall on Harbour Street. The ice cream stall and its owner has appeared in at least half the books since then, and I still have to look up the name! Luckily, I’ve kept all the manuscripts on the computer, so I just have to remember which ones she was in. Sometimes it’s more difficult. If I’ve used a character – say a plumber – once in a book, if an opportunity arises again for a plumber, I have to find him. Or her. And that can take hours!
Another low – at least as some writers would have it – is the restrictive nature of the series. The writer’s imagination can’t take flight and go off in a new direction. Can you imagine if I involved Libby and Fran in a psychological suspense thriller? Or a dystopian universe? Well, no, neither can I. But then if I wanted to do that, I’d write a different book. As it happens, I don’t find the series restrictive at all. It provides a framework for me to explore some of the nastier aspects of life, such as homophobia, incest, human and drugs trafficking, honour killings and much more. Yes, in a “cosy” (and most people know by now that I loathe that term) violence is rarely centre stage, but it does not preclude the use of the most vile acts of the human race.
I suppose the most difficult part of writing the series is the “coming up with new ideas” – although this, of course, is not confined to series books. A lot of mine are suggested by my elder son. “How about sending Libby on holiday?” he’ll say. Or “How about having a beer festival in the village?” Or my eldest daughter: “Murder on May Day, Mum – with the Green Man.” All of them have been used. Sometimes it’s simply the title. And then I have to fit a story round the title.
But on the whole, writing a series is a delight. I love my Libby world, and at least I don’t have to find out too much about it when I set off on a new story. Go Libby!
ABOUT THE BOOK
When the village of Steeple Martin announces its first beer festival, the locals are excited. Beer, sun and music, what could possibly go wrong? But when an unexpected death shakes the village, it’s up to Libby Sarjeant and friends to solve the puzzle. Was it just another rock star death or is there something more sinister afoot?
BUY LINKS
AMAZON UK
AMAZON US
GIVEAWAY
Win an ecopy of Murder by The Barrel by clicking here!
ABOUT LESLEY
Lesley Cookman writes the Libby Sarjeant Mysteries and the Edwardian mystery series, The Alexandrians. She has a varied background as a model, an air stewardess (when it was posh), a nightclub DJ (in a silver sparkly catsuit), editor of a Music Hall magazine, The Call Boy, a magazine called The Poulty Farmer, and pantomime writer and director. She lives on the Kent coast and has four grown up children who are variously musicians and writers, two grandchildren and two cats, not necessarily in that order.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LibbySarjeantMysteries/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LesleyCookman
Blog: http://lesleycookman.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/news
Website: www.lesleycookman.co.uk
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