Members of Ayr Writers had been promised an evening of surprises when guest speaker, Wendy H. Jones visited the Club last Wednesday, and were certainly not disappointed. Not only is Wendy, a successful novel writer, but is also the owner of Scott & Lawson Publishing in Dundee, and so had a wealth of knowledge to share with members.
Wendy’s talk on “Writing a Cozy Crime – The Publisher’s Prospective,” pointed out the key elements of writing a cozy crime.
1. Create an amateur sleuth who is not part of the Police Force. They should have skills and connections and be both competent and have flaws. The sleuth can also have a motive for carrying out the crime.
2. Set your plot in a small community setting. The Community are part of the cast, and their gossip can be useful for dropping in clues etc.
3. Any violence happens “off piste” – So, no graphic violence is described.
4. The audience wants “cozy crime”, with all the ends neatly tied up. The solution should be a surprise, but logical and the community will benefit from the solution.
5. If you introduce an animal or a child in your plot, they must be there for a reason.
6. Red Herrings can redirect the audience’s attention, but don’t deceive your reader. Reveal clues regularly. Use complications to increase the pressure.
7. No sex or swearing.
The author must set up a puzzle the reader has the opportunity to solve from the embedded clues. There must be a final, satisfying resolution, and the murderer cannot get away with the crime. What the Publisher is looking for:
A fresh take on a topic.
A protagonist that the reader wants to succeed.
A setting with its own personality.
A quick start to the mystery.
Author should understand their readership. Will their novel encourage “whale readers” – i.e. readers who will want to read further novels from the same author.
And then came the surprise: Wendy announced that her publishing Company were running a competition just for members of Ayr Writers, to write a cozy crime short story with a theme of “A Right Cozy Literary Crime”. The winning entry will be published by Scott & Lawson in one of their Cozy Crime Anthologies. Information to be uploaded soon to the AWC webpage under competitions.
What a great way to end a thoroughly informative and enjoyable evening.
By Helena Sheridan