What inspired you to start writing fiction?
It all started with my family history. I teach people how to write their ancestors’ stories or their autobiography. I travel throughout the U.S., teaching “A Family Legacy Workshop” at libraries. I have been to 17 states and taught over 450 workshops. I believe it’s very important to teach our children their heritage. After writing my ancestors’ stories, I couldn’t stop writing. So I turned to fiction. I have written historical sweet romances, mystery/adventure stories, cozy mysteries, and a children’s book.
What is it like to switch from historical romance to mystery?
The writing process between romance and mystery is quite a change with a completely different mind set. With romance, you plan out the plot around the meeting of a couple. As you write, you develop some sort of charisma between the characters, making the reader feel excited that one day they're going to fall in love. You, as the reader, know the outcome. But with a mystery, the reader is in the dark. The author has to come up with a plot that no one can figure out. In a mystery, you may or may not allow your reader to know who the bad guys are, according to whether it’s a cozy mystery or mystery suspense. In a cozy mystery, the reader doesn’t know who the bad guys are until the end of the book. With mystery suspense, the reader knows who they are and it makes for a more suspenseful outcome.
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