Cozy Mystery Writer Support
- Thread starter Fictional Cowboy
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A good portion I knew already because my gran was born in 1907 and my granddad in 1904. I grew up reading family diary entries for the time (sadly I no longer have the diaries). Also my degree including quite a bit of gender/family archaeology and this is such an important time for women's rights in the UK.
However, I have found it the most difficult year to set a story. Pens, telephones, cars, the way police arrested people etc all changed in 1912 -- and some things changed again in 1913. YouTube is fantastic but shows about the Edwardian era. Oh and zips weren't invented until 1919 and bed pans were going through changes
I was tied to the year by events. I need it close to World War 1 because one of the stories but suffragettes had a bit of a ceasefire in 1910/1911 and 1909 was too early for the later story.
I called the town Morteford, fully expecting beta readers to slate it and need to change it, but not one has mentioned the town name. I've kept the place and most of the people fictional but I've begun it with a suffragette demonstration complete with fire bombs. My MC has a father with an unconventional background and a female bodyguard/chauffeur.
My MCs best friend is murdered during the demonstration and her obnoxious brother is the prime suspect. She knows he has an eye for the boys and is the only one who believes him.
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JamieB
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My first cozy and blurbs for a series just went out to editors this week. My agent has never pitched a cozy before, so we're treading in together with fingers crossed. I read in the editor's section of the most recent Henery newsletter that a common issue is too many characters. I have A LOT of characters in my small town. Doesn't the genre kind of call for this, though, if you're going to have a few suspects and a small town feel and often a group, like a book club or sewing circle?
Something she mentioned specifically as a problem is having a MC's with like four best friends with the same personality - that I totally get. My characters are all whacky in their own way, so here's hoping it's okay to have a bunch of them. Basically, I'm on sub and in panic mode looking for reasons editors will reject - LOL.
Something she mentioned specifically as a problem is having a MC's with like four best friends with the same personality - that I totally get. My characters are all whacky in their own way, so here's hoping it's okay to have a bunch of them. Basically, I'm on sub and in panic mode looking for reasons editors will reject - LOL.
Hi everyone! I see this thread hasn't had any love for a while, but maybe we can reactivate it?
You can probably tell I am a complete newbie, this is my first post on Absolute Write after much, much lurking.
This has been a fascinating thread with lots of good advice and insights.
I recently finished a more traditional thriller, which my agent now has out on sub, and I am now trying to focus on (distract myself with) another WIP.
I have started a cozy and I am very excited about it. I'm feeling *cozy* these days and not at all dark.
You can probably tell I am a complete newbie, this is my first post on Absolute Write after much, much lurking.
This has been a fascinating thread with lots of good advice and insights.
I recently finished a more traditional thriller, which my agent now has out on sub, and I am now trying to focus on (distract myself with) another WIP.
I have started a cozy and I am very excited about it. I'm feeling *cozy* these days and not at all dark.
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barefootgirl! Good to have you here. We don't get many cozy writers, but there are a few and hopefully they'll be along to keep you company soon. Good luck with your sub!
Thanks for the welcome!
I hope we hear from some soon. I have loads of teeny questions.
Great, thanks! Here's the one that's bugging me now:
The cozies I read seem to be all over the place on when the bodies needs to be discovered. I have read them at the end of chapter one, two, and even later.
But the current book I am reading has the body on the first page, ad it has me wondering if this is this a new trend. This is what you see in traditional thrillers all the time, some of theme have serous body counts by the second page. I know the answer is going to be something along the lines of "there's room for all approaches," but I'd love to hear thoughts.
TIA!
The cozies I read seem to be all over the place on when the bodies needs to be discovered. I have read them at the end of chapter one, two, and even later.
But the current book I am reading has the body on the first page, ad it has me wondering if this is this a new trend. This is what you see in traditional thrillers all the time, some of theme have serous body counts by the second page. I know the answer is going to be something along the lines of "there's room for all approaches," but I'd love to hear thoughts.
TIA!
Very helpful, thanks!
I'll check out Louise Penny too. My friend loves her and keeps recommending her.
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I peg my mystery as more cozy than western, even though it's set in a rural Montana town. The amateur sleuths are a couple, complete with a sidekick who's a law-enforcement connection. In 2001, it's semi-historical with dial-up computers and mobile phones slowed by ten-key texting.
Ha! Yeah, historical now can be "something before smartphones."
Writing mysteries seemed so much easier when the characters couldn't just whip out the mobile phone to call for help, when locked in the attic by the bad guy. I used to think of historical novels as being set several decades or a century or more earlier. Now, has the window has been squashed to BMT (before modern technology) and AMT (after)?
And that mark would change every few years, as "modern technology" changes its meaning.
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Try writing near-future stuff. Literally every draft I have to up the tech level because real life has advanced past fiction...
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Revivals Happen
Nice to see this thread. I do take months or years away from my writing so I missed the begining. It has something about being afraid of what I write.
That aside. My first novel started out as a cozy. The introduction describes a body riding on a D.C. train, said to be a heart attack victim. Later the protagonist realizes it was a murder. Although a cozy is a small community location, D.C. can be a lot of small towns all melded to form a region. Everything was fine until I realized that my protagonist, a reluctant participant in the search for the murderer, was involved in left over Cold War issues. And there is murder and some violence. So much for the cozy envelope.
I love reading cozies though. Nothing like a night curled up with a cozy and a glass of wine. When I read one or two books I start getting the urge to write again and crank out a few thousand words. So reading cozies has a good outcome.
Nice to see this thread. I do take months or years away from my writing so I missed the begining. It has something about being afraid of what I write.
That aside. My first novel started out as a cozy. The introduction describes a body riding on a D.C. train, said to be a heart attack victim. Later the protagonist realizes it was a murder. Although a cozy is a small community location, D.C. can be a lot of small towns all melded to form a region. Everything was fine until I realized that my protagonist, a reluctant participant in the search for the murderer, was involved in left over Cold War issues. And there is murder and some violence. So much for the cozy envelope.
I love reading cozies though. Nothing like a night curled up with a cozy and a glass of wine. When I read one or two books I start getting the urge to write again and crank out a few thousand words. So reading cozies has a good outcome.
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I think I am in the same boat. Started off cozier than it is now. Still no overt violence or sex. I think because it is historical it is feeling less cozy to me and more like a traditional mystery.
Still, I am having such a blast researching this and it is such a nice change from my last thriller, which was dark and cynical.
Juniper -- I agree that mysteries are easier, and in some ways funner, to write BMT, and before the discovery of DNA. The mystery is more about the people and their motives and less about forensic evidence.
I also like the premise. And American mystery readers adore a lot of European mystery writers, notably Christie, Simenon, P.D. James, many others. If you need to feel cozy, I'll send you a blankie.
caw
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Hey all! Just introducing myself. I've been researching cozy mysteries for a while now and was excited to see this thread!
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I also started out to write a cozy, but it morphed into some weird hybrid.
However, my agent assures me that the parameters for considering something a cozy have stretched quite a bit recently and you can range pretty far afield of traditional while still fitting into the cozy marketplace. I am hoping she is right.
However, my agent assures me that the parameters for considering something a cozy have stretched quite a bit recently and you can range pretty far afield of traditional while still fitting into the cozy marketplace. I am hoping she is right.
Hello all,
New poster here. I'm 65,000 words into my first attempt at a 1950s-set cozy / cosy / golden age style murder mystery. It will be good to hopefully have a few people to talk to about the process! Picking up on what someone said about when the body is discovered... mine is quite late. It does seem to vary quite a lot, particularly in the older, classic mysteries. Mine takes place at around the 35,000 word mark of what I anticipate to be a 100,000 word book. Obviously, I'm worried this may seem quite late, but it takes place after a number of other incidents leading up the murder taking place - an attempt on the victim's life, poison pen letters, various arguments and disagreements where all the suspects come into their own and potential motives are hinted at. I felt the need for a decent amount of exposition (not, I hope, of the boring kind) for this reason but also as the story involves my main character moving to a new town to start a restaurant.
On the subject of beta readers which I've read a lot about: where do you find them? Are there people on this site who share their work with others or do you usually ask people within your own circle of friends (not exactly ideal as they aren't my ideal readers for the most part!)?
New poster here. I'm 65,000 words into my first attempt at a 1950s-set cozy / cosy / golden age style murder mystery. It will be good to hopefully have a few people to talk to about the process! Picking up on what someone said about when the body is discovered... mine is quite late. It does seem to vary quite a lot, particularly in the older, classic mysteries. Mine takes place at around the 35,000 word mark of what I anticipate to be a 100,000 word book. Obviously, I'm worried this may seem quite late, but it takes place after a number of other incidents leading up the murder taking place - an attempt on the victim's life, poison pen letters, various arguments and disagreements where all the suspects come into their own and potential motives are hinted at. I felt the need for a decent amount of exposition (not, I hope, of the boring kind) for this reason but also as the story involves my main character moving to a new town to start a restaurant.
On the subject of beta readers which I've read a lot about: where do you find them? Are there people on this site who share their work with others or do you usually ask people within your own circle of friends (not exactly ideal as they aren't my ideal readers for the most part!)?