#paradiserating

Welcome to Cozy Wednesday!  I am happy to share my thoughts today about Honey Drop Dead by the wonderful Laura Childs!

Honey Drop Dead (A Tea Shop Mystery) by Laura Childs

Welcome to Cozy Wednesday! I am thrilled to welcome Kim Davis to Escape With Dollycas today as part of her Great Escapes Book Tour!

Muddled Matrimonial Murder (Cupcake Catering Mystery Series) by Kim Davis

Hi Kim, Thanks so much for having me on your blog, Lori! It’s an honor to share a bit about my writing process and talk about my new release, Muddled Matrimonial Murder. There are, in a nutshell, two kinds of writers: the plotters and the pantsers… that is, those who write by the seat of their pants with little idea where the story is going and often, no idea who the killer will be or even the motivation. I fall firmly into the pantser camp.

From the time I started writing novels, my engineer husband was practically appalled that I didn’t outline first. And meeting other authors who plot and outline made me decide perhaps I should research how to do it and give it a try. Well, after buying several books on how to plot and outline plus reading a multitude of blog posts on how to do it… I’m still writing by the seat of my pants. You see, I didn’t write at all when faced with having to come up with an outline. It overwhelmed me. But, with a blank page on my laptop and giving my characters free rein to take me for a ride, the words come (mostly) easy, albeit slowly. The downside is it takes several re-writes to make sure the threads of the story all make sense. And I have to fill in a few extra clues while making sure everything is addressed by the end of the story.

That method has worked well for me until I got about four chapters written on Muddled Matrimonial Murder. It was about at that point I realized I had NO suspects (aside from my core characters). Zero, nada, zilch, none whatsoever. 🤦‍♀️I was already invested in the storyline and didn’t want to scratch the entire thing and start over. So what did I do? For starters, every time I got stuck, I’d take my dog, Missy, for a short walk to clear my head. (And yes, Missy is one of the dogs on the cover. The other dog is my granddaughters’ rescue, Piper.) And then I let my characters—imaginary friends if you will—talk to me… I evidently have a very active imagination. Bit by bit, the solution unfolded. Still, it wasn’t easy since no one but Brad, Emory’s best friend, even knew the victim. It’s much simpler to eventually settle on a killer (from a writer’s perspective) when there are lots of suspects to choose from.

You might ask if I plan to change my writing methods and try to outline again… and my answer would be, naw… I’m hopeful that my characters will continue to talk me through all my plot holes and help me build a coherent mystery in future books. I hope you enjoy the new book and how Emory and her friends helped me find the killer! Thank you, Kim, for visiting today! Keep reading for information about Kim's new book and my thoughts about it. 

The Ghost Goes to the Dogs (Haunted Bookshop Mystery) by Cleo Coyle