Author: Elizabeth Spann Craig

I know I’ve been bopping around from blog to blog lately. And…guess what? I’m doing it again today. :) I’m on A Good Blog is Hard to Find today with a post on the importance of developing a personal writing process, and sharing mine. I think that once we have a routine for approaching a new project, we don’t really have those ‘freak out’ moments with the blank paper (which I definitely used to have a lot more of.)

I also wanted to thank writer and librarian Stacy Post of A Writer’s Point of View for a really generous review and writer and news producer Michele Emrath of Southern City Mysteries for listing me with her ‘Friday Finds.’ I really do appreciate it!

Once again I’m the guest blogger at Poe’s Deadly Daughters, a blog for mystery lovers. I’m covering my “Writing Obsessions.” Is writing taking over your life? If you’re a mystery writer, do you casually bring up murder when talking to non-writers? Find yourself picking your manuscript to death during the revision process? Then pop over to Poe’s Deadly Daughters and tell me I’m not alone!

I’m the guest blogger at Poe’s Deadly Daughters, a blog for mystery lovers. I’m covering my “Writing Obsessions.” Is writing taking over your life? If you’re a mystery writer, do you casually bring up murder when talking to non-writers? Find yourself picking your manuscript to death during the revision process? Then pop over to Poe’s Deadly Daughters and tell me I’m not alone!

For all its emphasis on the religious, the South is a very superstitious place. When I was pregnant with my son (living in Alabama at the time) I had people dangling strings over my stomach to tell the gender of my child, and received dire warnings that I should give my cats away because, “They’ll suck the life right outta that baby!”

I didn’t dare laugh at them.

But some superstitious have gotten ingrained in me. You should see my behavior when salt is spilled. Don’t make me walk under a ladder. I shuddered recently when my son broke his hand mirror he uses to put his contacts in. I make the sign of a cross when a black cat crosses my path (and I’m Presbyterian.) I’ll back into a car and get sopping wet to keep from having an umbrella open indoors.

This makes no sense. It’s completely irrational. But it’s become second nature to me. I won’t mess around with getting hexed!

So, in a small way, the superstitions are controlling my behavior in rather ridiculous ways (throwing salt over my left shoulder, crossing myself, avoiding construction areas.)

I’ve been playing around for a while with having a superstitious person in my books. They’re vulnerable to manipulation, I think. And they behave in unpredictable ways, which can be interesting.

I started thinking about all the irrational things that people do. When I write, I think I focus only on the believable. In fact, sometimes I’ll hear stories on the news and think, “Well, there’s no way I can write that as part of my book. My editor would say it’s completely unrealistic. Truth is stranger than fiction.”

But what about the odd things that people do? The phobias they have that prevent them from flying or from having a pet, or from being around people?

What about even eccentric habits that have gotten ingrained in people and which they’re loath to stray from? The person who always eats his supper while watching Wheel of Fortune. Comfortable habit? Or something more?

What about their past experiences that make them behave in an irrational, but understandable way—their reluctance to become intimate with anyone—taken to the extreme.

Or… their superstitions.

I think it would be interesting to play around with pushing characters in directions they don’t want to travel in. Make them take that plane ride. Tip them over the edge into pyromania from their little candle-burning habit. Turn their clutter into hoarding. Make their superstitions affect their daily behavior…or make them completely wrapped up in their daily horoscope. What kind of conflict could this cause, both internal and external?

I shop like a woman on a mission. I walk in, usually clutching the postcard or coupon that has been mailed to me. Must get navy slacks! I find the navy slacks. I sometimes don’t even try them on, just hold them up. Looks like they’ll fit! I buy them, race out the door, and I’m free! Free with navy slacks!

Except—they’re dry clean only.

I don’t even think about dry clean only. Not in my world. Not with muddy children and a husband who works for a dot-com corporation. They don’t need dry clean only clothes.

I don’t need dry clean only clothes.

The sad process is always the same. Since I never change it, the outcome never changes. I decide that the clothing manufacturer is in cahoots with a dry cleaning syndicate. I put the clothes in the washer on the gentle cycle.

And they die a horrible death.

I can’t handle “complicated” for books, either right now. It’s terrible to admit this— but I just don’t have the time, no matter how much I’d like to.

Right now I’m reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo—take II. The first time it had to be returned to the library before I was able to finish it. I decided to buy the book for my second attempt.

It’s a complicated book. There are many family members listed. I felt like I needed a family tree. The plot has different lines and elements. It’s a rich book, though—complex and unique.

I wish I had more time to devote to it!

I write machine-washable, dryer-friendly books. Go ahead and give them a try—you can pick them up, put them down, pause for a week then pick it up again…you shouldn’t be too confused.

• I don’t write similar-sounding character names.
• I don’t have more than six suspects. I don’t have more than two victims.
• I frequently tag a character that’s been off-stage for a while when they come back on: Jim, Karen’s husband, sauntered up to the group…
• There is no forensic stuff that you feel you need to go to med school to grasp.

The reason I’ve adopted the way I write is because I’m reading in spurts. I’ll start reading, then a household emergency comes up. I’ve read several mysteries that have unveiled a killer and I had to flip to the beginning to figure out who they were. Not cool. I’m writing books for busy people like me.

We need both kinds of books…the dry clean only and the machine washable. Life goes through cycles. I’ve had Bleak House periods and beach book periods. I’m having a great time with Larsson’s book, even though it’s taking me a huge amount of time to digest it.

How much time are you spending reading? Do you gravitate toward quicker reads? A little of both? Which do you tend to write and why?

And now—it’s Thursday morning! You know what that means… food!

This morning I’m serving up garlic cheese grits at the Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen. For those of you curious as to what the heck grits are, all will be explained at the Kitchen. :)