This month the theme is “out with the old”. What do your characters do to spice things up? When they need a fresh start? How do they usher in the new?
Sherry: In both the Garage Sale mysteries and the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon mysteries my characters start new lives in new places with new jobs — talk about a fresh start. Chloe is always up for trying something new — especially when it comes to water sports. Sarah would more likely tackle a project and organize something for someone else to shake things up.
Edith/Maddie: Mac Almeida in the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries starts reading a new cozy with the book group every week, so that’s a kind of starting fresh. And Robbie and her crew in the Country Store series have to think up new breakfast and lunch specials all the time. And of course a new murder comes up in each book in both series, too!
Barb: Readers of the Maine Clambake Mysteries will know that my main character, Julia Snowden, made a very fresh start at the end of my most recent novel, Shucked Apart. I’m still getting emails about it!
Julie: Barb, I love that your readers are so invested! Sherry and Edith, I love the way your characters keep it fresh. The Garden Squad is a group effort towards keeping it fresh. Tamara, Warwick and Ernie move. Lilly’s journey to shake things up is part of the series–she’s falling back in love with life. But rethinking Alden Park is keeping it fresh across the board.
Liz: Violet Mooney’s fresh start is finding out she’s a witch and learning how to move in that world. For Maddie James, moving home to the island and starting her cafe cafe was definitely her fresh start – what was old becomes new again!
Writer friends, how do you keep it fresh? Readers, do you like fresh starts in series?