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:
Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/marilynmeredith
Tomorrow
I’m answering the question, After So Many Books, How Do You
Get Fresh Ideas? At http://lesleyadiehl.com/
