Guest Post

Stranger than Fiction
Janet Finsilver

Sometimes real life can be stranger than fiction. People often ask me where I get my ideas for my books. I’m always on the lookout for interesting articles in the news. However, sometimes I run across stories that are difficult to believe even though they’re true. They are tempting to put in my books, but I choose not to. With this in mind, I’d like to give you an example.

Our local paper had a front page story about plant poaching. This was something I’d never heard of, and it caught my attention. It sounded like a topic that might be good for one of my books. A major investigation was started by the California Department of Fish and Game after an anonymous phone call was received by one of their wardens.

The caller was a woman who had been standing in a long line at a post office. The man in front of her had a large stack of packages he was shipping to China. She asked what he was shipping. He put his fingers to his lips and whispered it was something very valuable. Then she asked where he got them. He responded by pointing toward the ocean. She became suspicious and called the California Department of Fish and Game about what she’d experienced but didn’t leave her name.

The warden who received the anonymous call alerted US Customs and Border Protection. The package was x-rayed, and they discovered Dudleya farinosa, a small succulent found along the coast. The part I put in the “stranger than fiction” category is the fact that this man let a stranger know something about what he was doing that was illegal. I think in a mystery story, many people would feel like that was a very convenient way for information to be revealed—too convenient. But, there you have it. It’s a true story.

With a higher awareness after this discovery, authorities found more and more poachers. The plants were being uprooted by the thousands. They have become popular in a number of countries. Officials have said they sell for approximately fifty dollars each or more depending on the age and size of the plant in countries like South Korea, China, and Japan.

The plant is a small pale green succulent, often with edges or tips in bright colors. Its leaves form a rosette pattern. When they bloom, they have a tall stem with a cluster of bright yellow flowers. The plant is native to the coasts of Oregon and California and are found on the bluffs in these areas. It is sometimes called bluff lettuce or powdery liveforever.

Volunteers from the poached areas have organized to help replant the recovered smuggled plants. They sort them into piles of ones that can be go back in the ground right away and others that will need more tender care for a while. Meanwhile, officials will continue to be vigilant about identifying and arresting poachers, and reclaiming the plants.

Plant poaching is part of the plot in Murder in the Wine Country. I thought it was an interesting piece to include as it was so unusual. While my research says plant poaching has been going on in a number of places and with different plants for a while, nothing indicated there had been anything the magnitude of what was found in California until this was exposed.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this piece about plant poaching. It was all news to me!

Learn more about Janet Finsilver at janetfinsilver.com

Staging Wars

Grace Topping is a recovering technical writer and IT project manager, accustomed to writing lean, boring documents. Let loose to write fiction, she is now creating murder mysteries and killing off characters who remind her of some of the people she dealt with during her career. She’s discovering the delightful sweetness of revenge—writer’s style.

Learn more about Grace Topping at gracetopping.com.

You’ve Gotta Have a Gimmick

by Grace Topping

When I decided to write a cozy mystery, a mystery without violence, bad language, or sex, other writers told me I needed a hook. Okay, I said, a good opening line that will hook readers. No, they said, a hook. A hook? I’d always enjoyed reading cozy mysteries, but for someone new to writing them, I didn’t have a clue what a hook was.

If it wasn’t the opening, what was it? It sounded like the scene from the Broadway play and movie, Gypsy, where three experienced burlesque performers advised Gypsy Rose Lee that, “You’ve gotta have a gimmick.” And it had to be different from everyone else’s gimmick.

So I had to come up with a hook, whatever that was, and it had to be somewhat different from everyone else’s hook. Okay, I decided that I would have the victim fall from a laundry chute and land at my main character’s feet. That should certainly hook readers. They told me that was a great entrance for a body, but I still a needed a hook—you know, like have your main character own a bakery shop, walk dogs, make chocolate, run a knitting shop, be a librarian—things like that.

Oh, she should have a business or interest? Okay, I was finally getting the picture. I wouldn’t have called that a hook, but okay, I would come up with a hook—and one that hadn’t already been done hundreds of times. Was that even possible?

I went around for several days humming, “You’ve gotta have a gimmick,” but nothing was coming to mind. Since I hoped to write a series, I decided my hook/business/interest needed to be something I was interested in and enjoyed, something I had some knowledge of, or something I could research and sound like I knew what I was talking about. Easier said than done.

My experience at work was with computer systems related to banking. That certainly would attract a lot of readers. Not. I didn’t have any interest in arts and crafts, writing about food didn’t appeal to me, nor did any of the other things some cozy writers wrote about. What could I use as a hook that would interest me enough to write about it book after book. I really loved to read, but I couldn’t have my main character just sit around and read or quote from favorite books.

When I took a hard look at my life and interests on which to base a hook, nothing struck me as interesting enough to write about. What did I do besides going to work, caring for my family, cooking dinner, doing laundry, and other chores?

By the time I came home from work and finished with all of that, all I wanted to do was sit in a chair and turn on HGTV and mindlessly watch home stagers turn ugly duckling homes into swans that would sell fast and for more money. I loved those programs and eventually started helping friends stage their homes. I actually had a knack for it. Either that or I had watched so many staging shows that I was able to do what I saw the designers do.

That was it—my gimmick, ah…hook. I would have my main character be a home stager, start her own business, and have a body fall from a laundry chute and land at her feet. Perfect. I had my hook. Now all I had to do was write 70,000 words and I would have a cozy mystery.

Staging Wars Book Tour Itinerary

April 5 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST 
April 5 – Readeropolis – SPOTLIGHT
April 6 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE 
April 7 – eBook Addicts – SPOTLIGHT 
April 7 – The Book Decoder – REVIEW 
April 8 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW 
April 8 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW 
April 9 – Mysteries with Character – GUEST POST
April 10 – The Book Decoder – AUTHOR INTERVIEW 
April 11 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST 
April 20 – Baroness’ Book Trove – REVIEW 
April 20 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT 
April 21 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW 
April 21 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
April 22 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST 
April 23 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE 
April 24 – Teresa Trent Author Blog – REVIEW 
April 25 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

My writing journey

I get the question all the time, “Why did you decide to write your mystery?”

After a moment of pure panic, ’cause I’m a writer with anxiety, my answer is usually the same. “Because I wanted to write a book that I would want to read.” I’m an avid reader and have loved cozy mysteries forever. While I love reading about librarians, hotel owners, contractors, crafters, and others, I never found a character that I could completely relate to.

Here in New England, we are ride or die for our sports. The Red Sox have been an institution for so long that it seems odd there wasn’t any books written about the sports fans. Murder and sports! What could be better?
So, I decided to take on the challenge. I was initially going to murder someone at Fenway Park (fictionally!) but didn’t’ think the Red Sox would’ve been too jazzed about that.

So, in the great literary tradition, I made something up. A fictional team in the very real town that I currently live in. A main character who loves sports, loves her family, and loves the Red Sox. All things I can identify with, well, except the family owning a baseball team part. That is pure wish fulfillment.

I hope this starts a new trend with even more amateur sleuths in different jobs. I know a lot of cozy mysteries are branching out with organic sleuths, beer sleuths, and now my baseball sleuth. I may even start another series about another sport, who knows! Even if I don’t write another sports series, I do have another dance teacher series in mind (something else I’m passionate about).

I have always heard write what you know. But I take that in a different direction. Write about what you like! If it’s a particular hobby you’re in to, write about it! You’d be surprised about how many other people like the same things you do. I’ve met a whole new group of baseball fans as a result of this book getting published.
And just for fun (and because I hope he doesn’t leave us in the offseason…)…a little Brock Holt for your day! #Brocktober

Since we are approaching the World Series starting (probably already started by the time this post goes up), I would also like to give a shout out to one of my other teams. I lived in Washington DC for six years, and the Nationals ballpark was opened around the same time. I’m happy for all my friends who are season ticket holders down there, and hope they get the trophy!

Find Nicole Asselin at https://nicoleasselinwriter.com/.

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The Friends Tour

I recently returned from my Friends Tour of Ireland, Paris, and Israel. I’d been planning this trip for quite a while. I have three friends who live outside the US: one in each of the countries I planned to visit. What got me started on this idea was the 2019 World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin. Once I’d bought a membership, the idea of spending more time over there seemed logical. After all, the biggest expense was getting there. I contacted all three friends to see if they were up for a visit from me. They were all amenable, so we started planning.

I arrived in Dublin super tired the first day of the con. My friend met me at the airport, and we grabbed a cab to the Spencer Hotel where we dropped our luggage and headed over to the Convention Center. The convention itself was a bit of a surprise. I’m used to US-centric cons. This one centered on Irish literature specifically and the rest of the world more broadly. I chatted with Irish and Arab publishers and bought two of Irish writer Dorothy Macardle’s books from an Irish bookstore that displayed a selection of its wares in the dealers’ room. I’ll pause here to recommend her novel The Uninvited, a ghost story, as well as the black and white movie of the same name with Ray Milland, Gail Russell, and Ruth Hussey. Macardle was imprisoned for her political beliefs and once said, “I am a propagandist, unrepentant and unashamed.” This quote reminded me of the power of words and the strength of ideas.

Learn more about Rena Leith at renaleith.com.

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