Saturday, April 11, 2015

New Release: Violent Departures




I'm thrilled to have author Marilyn Meredith as my guest today as part of her blog tour for her new release. I'm in awe of Marilyn, who writes two mystery series and is active in her church and in numerous writing groups. Somehow, she manages to juggle all of that and still spend quality time with her family. I've asked her to write about how she keeps track of all of her characters and what's gone on with them in previous books. Here's what she had to say.
 
Keeping Track of Characters and What’s Happened

I know the ongoing characters in my Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery series quite well, including what they look like and what’s happening with them. I know how they will act in certain situations. Actually, I know more about them then I do my own family members—because I know how my characters think.

I must admit, I’m not so good at remembering what kind of cars they drive. Sometimes I have to make a search in other manuscripts to find out.
I’ll make a confession here, after I’ve written the first draft of a manuscript, I always find inconsistencies and ideas that I didn’t complete. (Sometimes I don’t find them at all, and hopefully the editor does. Unfortunately, a few times it’s been a reader who pointed something out to me.)

My ways of doing things have changed through the years. When I’m starting a new book now, I begin by jotting things down in a notebook, including new characters’ names and descriptions. I write down the main plot—at least as much as I know at the time and situations I plan to put my ongoing characters into.

While I’m actually working on the book, I keep a timeline of what’s happening each day. This helps a lot. I started doing this when in one book I wrote, I skipped a whole day—a person doing a pre-pub review caught it—thank goodness.

I know there are all kinds of computer programs to keep track of all this, but at this stage in my life, I don’t feel like learning how to use another program.
So that’s the answer to the question—it may not be the best way, but this is what works for me.

F. M. aka Marilyn Meredith


Marilyn and her husband, Hap, in church


F.M. Meredith, also known as Marilyn Meredith, is the author of over thirty published novels. Marilyn is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Besides having family members in law enforcement, she lived in a town much like Rocky Bluff with many police families as neighbors. 



Violent Departures:
College student, Veronica Randall, disappears from her car in her own driveway, everyone in the Rocky Bluff P.D. is looking for her. Detective Milligan and family move into a house that may be haunted. Officer Butler is assigned to train a new hire and faces several major challenges.

Buy link: http://tinyurl.com/jvmubw5

Contest:
Because it has been popular on my other blog tours, once again I’m offering the chance for the person who comments on the most blog posts during this tour to have a character named for him or her in the next Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery.

Or if that doesn’t appeal, the person may choose one of the earlier books in the series—either a print book or Kindle copy.

Links:
Tomorrow I’m answering the question, After So Many Books, How Do You Get Fresh Ideas? At  http://lesleyadiehl.com/

16 comments:

  1. Ah, I am so delighted to be visitng my online friend, Patricia, who I know would be a best friend if we could ever see one another. Thank you so much for your hospitality!

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    1. I'm always honored to have you as a guest on my blog and I hope someday we do meet in person, Marilyn.

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  2. Violent Departures sounds intriguing. I love the Tempe Crabtree series.

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    1. The Rocky Bluff P.D. series is quite different from the Crabtree series--different setting and in the RBPD series, there are many Points of View. Try it, you might enjoy it.

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  3. Great picture of you and your hubby. Both of you look so young and happy. I think your way of keeping track of what's going on in your MS is perfect. Like you, computer programs are not my cup of tea at this point. Great interview.

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  4. Hi, Jackie, we were in church when this photo was taken by my granddaughter. I like to put as many different photos as I can when I'm doing a blog tour, just to make it a bit more interesting.

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  5. Really love the photo of you and Hap! Thanks for sharing your process of keeping track!

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    1. I like it too, and it wasn't taken all that long ago. Thanks for stopping by, Monti.

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  6. Wonderful post, Marilyn. Your process works for you, and that's what matters. Being lazy, I type notes at the bottom of the manuscript I'm working on so they're easy to access, but like you, there are detail I have to research in earlier books.

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    1. Marja, maybe lazy is what motivates me too--but I think maybe it's because time has shrunk so much, I have to do what is the easiest and quickest.

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  7. Good going on another good-looking publication already. I don't know how you do it. As far as keeping track of characters, I have to use a calendar or I have them flying through incorrect time zones (past and present). I'm also bad about remembering cars. But I'm working on two books and you have so many. I'm amazed how you keep putting them out.

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    1. I only work on one book at a time, where my confusion comes in is because i'm writing two different series--writing one while promoting the other.

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  8. Great blog post, Marilyn. I've always wondered how you kept all your characters straight. I agree about writing things down. Writing is hard enough without having to learn a new computer program to keep track of everything.

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    1. I hear you, Evelyn. I'm just too old to learn another complicated computer program. Thanks for commenting.

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