In my blog “Silly George,” I pondered the question: “What made me think I could write a mystery?”
The answer is convoluted. My First book, Members of the Cast, is a coming-of-age story set in 1959.
Writers and Writer Pundits say, “Build your platform,” which may translate into “Write more coming-of-age books like the first book.”
So, I wrote about a young boy in 1891 who learns to fly his deceased uncle’s airship. About halfway through the book, our son said, “Dad, this is steampunk.” I looked up steampunk and realized I’ve always loved the genre, even before it was called steampunk.
As a child, I was enchanted by Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Nemo’s ornate ship almost magically traveling under the ocean. I dreamed of a flying riverboat when bringing in wood and starting the fires after school. I imagined the house could lift off and fly over the canyon.
So, I wrote the Wolfskill Trilogy, opening in that same canyon where I stoked the fireplace.
My next venture started with a young girl whose self-image was the opposite of Margo’s from the first book. Margo was like me, skinny and shapeless, and she hated it, but what if a young girl was too attractive with a Barbie Doll figure? Because humans usually want what they don’t have, Whitney would be hung up on her figure and the comments from too many boys. And thus, Whitney & Freddy, a Boyfriend Dilemma was born. If it counts, I used the same high school as in the first book, a ploy to avoid creating a new setting.
Several weeks after Whitney & Freddy was published, I realized Whitney’s father was murdered. But is Whitney Tate, a Murder Mystery, a mystery by definition, or a series of con jobs to thwart the evil plot? Maybe Whitney is a detective? Here are some chapter titles:
