I do indeed have a lot of lunches out – I am at that stage of my life where I can do that and since many of the friends that I lunch with also read my books, it makes for interesting exchanges. Earlier this week, we were talking about Deadly Doubloons and  of how it had more “lead-in” chapters than some of my other books. Since the main character, Chris Green, is a spin-off from Shades of Truth and Shades of Gold, it was important to lay the foundation of the new phase of her life. That led to a general discussion about different styles. One analogy of my books that I use is carnival rides. Most of my mysteries tend to be like the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Scrambler (do those still exist?) where you start off a bit easy, then pick up speed, get into the intense part, then I bring you back down. That is not the same as the large roller coasters that blast you off and keep you speeding up, down, around, and maybe over. If the big thrill is what a reader is looking for – the white knuckle kind of experience –  that isn’t me.

I also don’t do graphic sex and violence, and when you put all of these elements together, this is the primary reason that I couldn’t get traction in mainstream publishing. I don’t “fit” a proper category – not quirky like some authors, not graphic like some, not “edgy” like some. But we all have to make decisions about style and focusing on the characters with realistic dialogue and believable scenarios is mine. As one reviewer commented years ago when I was still chasing after mainstream publishing – “These are characters that I really feel like I could know – people that I have met and talked to.”

And happy endings are big for me – doesn’t have to be “mega happy”, and it can have an element of bittersweet, but I don’t generally kill off the main character. I do kill likeable characters at times, and I feel badly when I do so, but as I have explained in previous posts, there are story lines where you just have to do that to get where you want to go.