Tag Archive for: Spirit Shapes

Titles and Covers Too Similar? by Marilyn Meredith

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Frankly, I always thought it was a good thing that the covers in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mysteries are similar. And though my titles are all short, I hadn’t thought about any being too similar.

However, with my latest two books, it seems that both the titles and the cover are similar enough that I’ve  had one person tell me she already had a copy of one book when I knew she was referring to the one that came before ti.

The stories themselves are not similar at all.

The latest book is River Spirits.

The blurb for this book is:


While filming a movie on the Bear Creek Indian
Reservation, the film crew trespasses on sacred ground, threats are made
against the female stars, a missing woman is found by the Hairy Man, an actor
is murdered and Deputy Tempe Crabtree has no idea who is guilty. Once again,
the elusive and legendary Hairy Man plays an important role in this newest
Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery.


The book right before this one is:

The blurb for this one is:




Ghost hunters stumble upon
a murdered teen in a haunted house. Deputy Tempe Crabtree’s investigation pulls
her into a whirlwind of restless spirits, good and evil, intertwined with the past
and the present, and demons and angels at war.


The mysteries are very different despite both titles having a similar word in them: Spirits and Spirit.


I’ve been fortunate to have the same artist design most of the covers so they all have a similar style, but I really think if there is a problem, it might be with the titles. 


When both books are on display side-by-side, no one seems to even mention the resemblance.


Readers, what do you think?


Writers, have you ever had a problem like this?


Marilyn

Cozy Police Procedurals?

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Is there such a thing?

That seems to be the category given to both my series by reviewers. And in some ways I suppose they are right. The following is what fits and what doesn’t:

Both series are set in small towns. Deputy Tempe Crabtree solves crimes in the mountain community of Bear Creek, and on the Indian reservation as well.

Tempe is a female sleuth–though she is in law enforcement. She is also Native American.

Her sidekick is her preacher husband.

She doesn’t have any animals.

In the Rocky Bluff P.D. series, there are many characters–and the spotlight shifts from one to another. Two of the main characters are Detective Doug Milligan and his wife, Officer Stacey Milligan. One of the readers’ favorites is Officer Gordon Butler who has bumbled his way through several books and his love life has been dismal up until the latest books

Rocky Bluff is a small Southern California community. The police department doesn’t have much in the way of modern equipment. Most crimes are solved the old fashioned way, asking lots of questions and putting the clues together.

Pets do not play an important part in the series.

Neither series has any “bad language” and though there is romance, I always close the bedroom door.

Next Wednesday evening, September 10th at 7 p.m., I’m appearing on a panel with some cozy writers at the Buena Vista Branch of the library in Burbank, CA. I certainly hope I’m not a disappointment to any readers who come who are fans of the cozy genre.

The latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery is Spirit Shapes. Coming in October is River Spirits.




The latest Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery is Murder in the Worst Degree.

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith

Why Do I Keep on Writing?

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That’s a good question, one I must ask myself periodically.

I spend a good percentage of each day in front of my computer either working on a new book, editing, or promoting whichever book is out now.  And guess what? I don’t make much money. And what I do make is spent on promotion.

No, my publishers do not send me out on book tours, though they both do some promotion, the greater share is up to me. I’m the one who arranges my in-person events and does the majority of the on-line promotion.

So what do I get out of all this work?

1. I love to write. I enjoy visiting my characters and finding out what is going to happen to them next. The only way to do that is to write the next book. My writing is not confined to my novels, believe it or not, I get a kick out writing blog posts, like this one, and others where I guest.

2. I love meeting people and making new friends. Of course this happens at book events and at conferences and conventions. (Going to a mystery con is very much like attending a huge family reunion.) The Internet has given me the ability to make many new friends, many I’ve known now for a long time.

3. And of course my books have fans–fans that enjoy my books, have favorite characters, email me, read my newsletter and comment, fans that encourage me to write the next book.

4. Because of the conventions, conferences and places I’ve been invited to teach and speak, I’ve traveled many places I’d never have visited otherwise from the West Coast to the East Coast, many cities in-between, and Hawaii and Alaska.

5. I’ve learned how to do many things I might never have tried if it hadn’t been for my writing career from many computer skills to giving presentations and classes about books, writing and publishing. For ten years I taught writing for Writers Digest Schools, and I just recently retired from many years of being the program chair for the Public Safety Writers Association’s annual conference.

6. And most of all, I’ve met many challenges, grown as a writer and a person, and had a great time doing what I wanted to do.

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith

What I’ve Been Up to in the Writing World

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I’m a great believe in not putting all of your eggs in one basket. This belief comes from experience. I’ve had two publishers die, three close their doors, dealt with three crooked publishers, had agents who did nothing and I truly mean nothing (when I asked to see rejection letters was given one after 4 years of my thinking the agent was busily working for me).

Because of that past history, at the moment I have three publishers.

My Rocky Bluff P.D. series is published by Oak Tree Press, a small independent publisher. The latest book in that series is Dangerous Impulses. I’ve already written the next one and my critique group is hearing it (and critiquing it) chapter by chapter. Next I’ll have it edited before I send it off.

My Deputy Tempe Crabtree series is published by Mundana Press, also an independent publisher, but much larger than OTP. The next book is called Spirit Shapes and should be available in early fall. I don’t have a cover yet–but I am busily working on a blog tour for October.

The previous book was called Raging Water. I’ll soon be planning the next one.

In the meantime, I’ve been rewriting and editing some older books for Kindle. No, I’m not doing them myself, just don’t have time right now. I’ve gone with a brand new ebook company for these. They approached me and I thought, heck why not.

The first one out, and only .99 is Deadly Feast. It had another life another a different title. That publisher is no longer in business and rights reverted back to me. None of that publisher’s books were on Kindle.
Deadly Feast is a mystery and began as a Deputy Tempe Crabtree tale–however when I was through, I knew it wasn’t Tempe so I changed the main character and the setting, but Tempe fans will recognize some similarities.

And then, I sent them what I call a YA Christian horror–Deeds of Darkness, and it now available for Kindle too. It is a very scarey tale and the young heroine is a Christian. This was written a long time ago, so I had some updating to do, but It was fun. Though the book does have witches in it who cause all kinds of havoc in the small town of Yokut Springs, the cover is more sensational than the content of the story.

It is a great story for Halloween.

And last, I am editing and updating yet another horror novel–this one for adults–with Christian overtones and really scary. It’s called Cup of Demons.

And that’s what I’ve been doing lately.

Marilyn

Figuring Out What to Write Next in a Series

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I’m going to refer to my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series and how I come up with the next book to write.

For those of you who are not familiar with Tempe, she’s a resident deputy in the large area surrounding Bear Creek, a small village in the Southern Sierra. (Sierra means mountain.) It’s in the central part California.

Tempe is part Indian, one of the Bear Creek Indian tribes. (There is no such thing, but the Bear Creek Indian Reservation that appears in the story is much like the Tule River Indian Reservation. The Indians who live there call themselves Tule Indians but most of them are Yokuts.)

 Because of Tempe’s experience using an Indian ritual to call back the dead, she is sometimes visited by the ghosts of those who have passed on. Not a comfortable experience. 

Tempe is married to Hutch Hutchinson, the local preacher. He doesn’t approve of some of native ceremonies she’s participated in, though he’s become more tolerant through the years.

Tempe has an Indian friend named Nick Two John who she often consults when she can’t figure something out. At times, Hutch, has experienced a bit of jealousy over his wife’s friendship–but now he and Two John are friends.

I’ve written about murders in and around Bear Creek and even on the reservation. I’ve taken Tempe away from the area to investigate crimes.

While thinking about what I was going to write next I thought it might be fun to write about a haunted house.
When I began writing more ideas popped up concerning devil worship, evil spirits, old crimes, and of course, murder.

The book, Spirit Shapes, is done and at the publishers awaiting the editing process.

While waiting, I’m working on the next in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series.

Readers, what do you expect in an ongoing series?

Writers of series, where do you get your ideas for the next book?

Marilyn

Available now as a print book and ebook.