The Craft of Writing by Marja McGraw

Welcome to Mead Mountain, Marja McGraw. It's great to have you visit here now that the snow's finally melted. Please tell us how you feel about the craft of writing.

A craft is a skill, which would mean the skill of writing a story. However, being crafty means you’re adept in the use of subtlety and cunning or marked by subtlety and guile. What wonderful words for a mystery writer; cunning, subtly, and with guile.

As a mystery writer I think being crafty is more appropriate than having a craft. After all, my skill requires that I dazzle the reader with twists and turns, and supply clues and red herrings. The craft part of this equation is making it all come together while making sense. Including some humor in my stories adds an extra degree of skill.

Writers, in general, put a lot more of themselves in their books than people realize. While a character may not be based on me, I still have to know what I’m talking about. Whether it’s personality traits, appearance of an individual, or purpose and reason, you can’t just pick stuff out of the air and hope it works. I’ve had to study people and their reactions to all kinds of situations. In a way, a good author is part psychologist. I need to be able to “read” people and situations. If I hadn’t learned to do this, then my characters would come across flat and unrealistic.

I had to learn all kinds of things. Writing an action scene can make or break a part of the story. The action needs to be quick and generally intense in one way or another. It can’t drag on with long sentences or you lose all sense of action.

 Even writing a romance scene can be tricky. Writers have to decide if they want the romance to be graphic and heavy duty or subtle and intimate. Do you want the romance to overwhelm the mystery? Or do you want the mystery to be the main focus of the story?

 The craft of writing a mystery involves so many facets, and as an author I want the reader to feel they’re right there, watching what’s happening. The protagonist has to be someone readers can relate to on some level, whether they like the individual or not. Actually, the reader should be able to relate to the antagonist as well, even if they’re reaction to the bad guy is, “Ick” or “Eewww”.

What about sub-characters? They’re important, too. Whether it’s a one-time client or a repeat friend, foe or relative, they need to be as real as the main character(s).

 So, in the end, the craft of writing involves so much more than the readers realize. It takes study, research, planning and crafting a story. No matter how outrageous the storyline is, there has to be some kind of reality to keep the reader grounded and reading.

From learning how to format a page to writing the story, I had a lot to learn, including how to turn out a good story. Don’t sell your favorite authors short, because they’ve had a lot to learn before writing the story that still lingers in your memory.

 Thank you for having me in today, Jean. I’ve really enjoyed talking about writing, but then it’s one of my favorite subjects.

 My pleasure, Marja. Come back anytime, espeially when you don't need snowshoes.

Just released: Bogey’s Ace in the Hole (See my book trailer)

You can visit Marja at her website, and her blog site.

Her books are available at Amazon.com

At the end of this tour two names will be randomly selected from those who've left comments and they'll each receive a copy of Bogey's Ace in the Hole. Be sure to leave your email address. with your comments.

A Little Humor, A Little Romance, A Little Murder

A guest blog by Marja McGraw

I write two mystery series: The Sandi Webster Mysteries and The Bogey Man Mysteries. My logo is “a little humor, a little romance, A Little Murder!” It suits my books. They’re lighter with a little humor, and while there is some romance, there are no sex scenes. They aren’t necessary to my stories, and I’m old school – I’ve always felt like anticipation and imagination are much sexier that reading about it with the details all laid out for me.

Some books have sex thrown in just for shock value. It doesn’t progress the story at all. I’ve also read stories where this element was pertinent to the story.  In addition, there are books that don’t have any sex and they’re as entertaining as any story can be. I believe that the anticipation of what’s to come can be very titillating, especially when you fill in the blanks yourself.  Think about it. John Doe whispered something in Jane Smith’s ear, and smiling, followed her through a door, pulling it closed behind him. Do you want someone to tell you what happened behind that door? Or would you rather dream up your own scenario? Hmm. All kinds of possibilities there.

I have a friend, Shirley Kennedy, who wanted to write contemporary romances. Well, she wrote a good book and submitted it to a publisher. The publisher was interested, but only if she’d add sexual content. So Shirley sat down in front of her computer and started adding sex scenes.  It turned out there was a problem. She suddenly realized that as she wrote this graphic, sensual scene, she couldn’t bring herself to look at the computer screen. She looked up, to the right, to the left, and out the window – anywhere except at the screen. She’d been asked to write something that she wasn’t comfortable with. When she told me this story, I laughed. I could picture the whole thing in my mind. Still wanting to write romances, she changed from Contemporary to Regency romances, where she didn’t have to include sex scenes. By the way, Shirley is a terrific writer and now writes other types of romance stories, too.

The thing is, when I laughed at this story and pictured it in my mind, the woman sitting in front of the computer unexpectedly turned into me. Talk about surprising yourself! I write mysteries, and the stories I write don’t involve graphic sexual encounters. They’re about mysteries and solving crimes. They center around the characters and their growth, and they include some humor.

I won’t knock any author who writes graphic material, because there is a market for it – and some of it is extremely well-written. I simply prefer something entertaining and mysterious. I won’t even try to change any minds here. However, I will add that a young woman approached me after reading my first book and told me two things. First, she said that she never, ever reads anything that doesn’t contain graphic sex. Secondly, she said that it was two weeks after she read the book before she realized there wasn’t any sex in it. Draw your own conclusions.

Take a chance and try reading Bogey Nights – A Bogey Man Mystery, which was released in March of 2011. It will entertain you, even without sexual content.

Jean, thank you for inviting me today. I’ve enjoyed my visitWebsite:  http://www.marjamcgraw.com/
Blog:  http://blog.marjamcgraw.com/
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Oak Tree Press http://oaktreebooks.com/Shop%20OTP.htm
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