From Sherry where we seem to be swinging between early fall and late fall weather wise and I’m okay with that!
As a writer we have to make a lot of decisions—from the big ones like who’s the killer to the little ones like what is my protagonist going to wear or have for breakfast. I had an interesting conversation with a reader recently via email. She’d just finished reading the Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries and she had questions! It was a fun conversation and I always love to hear readers thoughts.
This reader was impressed with the information about being a military spouse. She had a good friend who was a military spouse and thought Sarah’s experiences in the book were very similar to what her friend had lived. I think many of you know that my husband was in the military for almost 22 years. Most of the stories in my books are things I experienced (sans the murders), things friends experienced, or came from questioning spouses I knew.
The pink ruby ring! Spoiler alerts. If you haven’t read beyond book eight, Sell Low, Sweet Harriet and intend to, you might not want to read this paragraph. My reader asked about the pink ruby ring Sarah admires near the end of book eight Sell, Low Sweet Harriet. Wow! Did it cause a lot more stir than I intended it to! I hadn’t even thought of it as an engagement ring until lots of people wrote me after they’d finished reading book eight and said that’s what they hoped it was. The series is set over two years. In Tagged for Death Sarah is freshly divorced after a twenty-year marriage. I didn’t feel like she’d been on her own long enough to be engaged and thought she needed to stand on her own two feet for a bit longer. Sarah needed to know and trust herself first.
My reader loved Mike “the Big Cheese” Titone and wondered about how I came up with his character. I stuck him in there as kind of a joke to good friends of ours — Mike and Mary Titone. People at work started calling him “the Big Cheese” once they found out about the books. Mike evolved in the series. He doesn’t even speak until the third book, but then bam, he became quite the character and I love how he helped Sarah when she was in trouble.
She also asked me why I never mentioned who replaced CJ as police chief. The only reason I never mentioned CJ’s replacement was because he or she was never important to the story.
The love triangle. Oof! When I started writing Tagged for Death, I never meant there to be a love triangle with CJ, Seth, and Sarah. I heard from many readers who believed Sarah should be with one or the other and, whew, deciding which way to go meant disappointing readers. When I finished writing All Murders Final, I didn’t have a contract for more books. If I’d known there would be more, I probably would have ended it differently.
What I did want to do was look at complicated relationships. In Tagged For Death, Sarah is put in a position that she has to help her ex-husband clear his name when he’s accused of murder. She thinks he’s a schmuck, but she knows him well enough to know he wouldn’t kill someone. After Sarah had a one-night stand, I wondered how to further complicate her life. That happened by having the one-night stand be the DA who would be prosecuting her ex. It all just took off from there and a triangle was born. And then I found out how many readers HATE love triangles.
And lastly, there’s the cliffhanger at the end of book four, A Good Day to Buy. The mystery is wrapped up, but something else is unresolved. I wrote a post about them in 2017. You can read about it here. Another thing I found out–lots of readers hate cliffhangers!
Readers: Have you ever written an author with a question? Do you hate or love cliffhangers and love triangles?
The Wickeds 
Yes, I have written authors with questions and to talk about their plot. And I do not like cliffhangers unless it starts in the beginning of the book and ends at the end of the same book. I do not like love triangles. I’ve stop reading a few series because of it.
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I’m not surprised you’ve written authors, Dru Ann! And I think I remembered that you didn’t like love triangles.
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Sherry,
I have written to authors in the past. It could be simply a thank you for a great read message or a question about a particular book I’ve finished reading.
I think one of the reasons why readers might not like cliffhangers is the uncertainty if a series has a next installment coming. For me, I might be able to take a cliffhanger about a subplot but the main mystery storyline can never be a cliffhanger or it feels like I spent my money for a tease. Kind of how it felt watching the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean movie which was a 2-hour money grab so absurdly running in place that I didn’t even bother with the third movie feeling the filmmakers had already stolen enough of my money.
Love triangles can be fine…on a limited basis. AT MOST, they can last two books. The first introduces it, the 2nd wraps it up. But if you go on forever with it, I’m done. I call it the Evanovich Evasion Tactic.
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I agree about the cliffhangers if another book wasn’t coming out. And I read an Amazon (I think first reads) book that ended with no resolution about anything. At first, I thought somehow I didn’t get the whole book. Then I went to the Goodreads reviews which were terrible because everyone was angry! Laughing about the Evanovich Evasion Tactic — EET!
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I love the attentive reader! It’s fun to look back on a whole series and see how it evolves. Thanks for sharing some of your process.
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I loved “chatting” with her.
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I don’t think I’ve written to writers directly, but I’ve definitely asked questions of them when they were guests on Facebook parties. No, I don’t care for cliffhangers, I prefer stories to be all wrapped up at the end. Love triangles is a Huge No – that was a part of the Hannah Swensen series I really tried to not focus on, so annoying!
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I know a LOT of people were upset with the love triangle in that series!
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To me, both are ok IF written right. By that I mean, for cliff hangers, it means for the present story to be complete. There can be aspects of secondary events that aren’t tied up in a little bow that have you anxious to see the next book to see what happens. I have read books where it wasn’t clear going in that instead of book ? of a series that it was actually on part ? of a story. Big difference! I don’t like to read two or three hundred pages wondering how they are going to tie it up in the few pages left only to find out they didn’t. That to me is a big no no. Love triangles, too, are ok if it’s not sexual between one with two at the same time and that they eventually figure out who is the right couple because the true love lets them know. Cases where one is thinks they are a couple with one only to find that the pull of connection is stronger with someone else – maybe friendship turns to more. In my opinion, when that happens, they must break it off with one before having a meaningful relationship with the other. Guess I’m old school in my thinking. 🙂
2clowns at arkansas dot ent
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Excellent points, Kay!
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I’ve never written a writer and I’ve received very few letters. Cliffhangers…I don’t know. Depends on how quickly it’s resolved. If it’s the very end of a book and is taken care of quickly in the next, that’s okay. Or if the books are a trilogy or something. But mostly I like things wrapped up to at least a satisfactory point, even if every question isn’t answered. And the main mystery definitely has to wrap up. Don’t leave me hanging on that.
Not a fan of love triangles that go on and on and on…and on.
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I was thinking back about whether I’d written a author or not about a book. I’d met the amazing author Barbara Parker at a small writers conference long before I was published. I wrote her about her protagonist and was so thrilled when she wrote me back.
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I hate cliffhangers in books. I love cozies that continue parts of a story into the next book, but I really prefer a solid ending to each book. Not really a fan of a love triangle unless it’s resolved fairly quickly in one book. aprilbluetx at yahoo dot com
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I believe you are in the majority of readers!
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This is such exciting information, Sherry! Asking questions to authors about their books is such fun,as it allowes one to understad the story or the characters better. I am not bashful at all, and since I am the researcher in my book club, I dig deeper, and try to find out interestuing facts related to the cozy we are reading. I am also in charge of author communications, so I do try to stay in touch. My wife and I are so blessed to have enjoyed an afternoon of lunch, laughter and conversation with our new, dear friend author Marjorie McCown, whom I met via the blog you invited her to participate in earler this year to feature her first book FINAL CUT. This hollywood behind the scenes cozy mystery has become one of our top 5 cozies of the year, and her next book, STAR STRUCK will no doubt be out next favorite for 2024. We already have the ARC version thanks to Net Galley and Croked Lane. As soon as we finish the ARCs we need to read and review, we will start reading STAR STRUCK. I already read the first intriguing paragraph…JOY! We still have to many questions to ask, and look forwrd to visiting again with Marjorie in the new year. I posted a few photos in my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/luis.nunezbernucci/posts/pfbid0321iiULGa1duogTfXoFFPofiSG3uBWFTUyPytfwmUK4QUAhuJcpvrG9ZwpdQuPvvl?comment_id=379472567850347¬if_id=1701922692213671¬if_t=feed_comment&ref=notif
As I have said before, if any of you are coming to San Diego county, you are most cordially invited to visit us at our avocado ranch. You will be welcomed with open arms!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS Y’ALL!!! Luis at ole dot travel
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I love that you met Marjorie because of our blog! And I loved the Facebook photos. I will definitely be in touch if I ever get out your way — what a generous offer. And an avocado ranch? That sounds amazing!
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Yes, I once wrote to Jonathan Kellerman with a question about something in one of his Alex Delaware novels. He sent a very thoughtful letter in response that fully answered my questions.
Funny that you ask about cliffhangers & love triangles right now, I just finished the latest Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich, Dirty Thirty, with one of the longest running love triangles ever, and it ended on a cliffhanger for the first time. Now I’m anxious to read #31 & see if the resolution to the cliffhanger will also end the series!
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That’s so cool he wrote back! And wow, to the Janet Evanovich book!
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I love getting emails from fans–even the rare critical ones. I agree that the mystery must be resolved within the book, but a question in the character ARC can go from book to book.
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I agree!
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I’m in hate love triangles camp, especially when they go on and on. I also hate cliffhangers because I never remember what I’ve read after about a week. They just leave me frustrated. Having said that, I love this series!!
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I’m laughing about never remembering what you read because I’m the same way. I think it’s because we read so many books. And I’m so glad you loved the series!
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I generally don’t love love triangles, but with some of them I look at the “book time” of the series, and it may only be three years, even though the series is twenty years old. I love this post. For writers, a separate conversation would be “how many books were on that contract?” since that can affect some of the narrative choices. I do love this series, and love how Sarah ended up.
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I read once that Janet Evanovich’s books took place over a three year period. That was a while ago so it would have to be long now. And thanks. I love how she ended up too.
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Personally, I think that triangles make for an interesting story. Triangles are part of life. We hate experiencing them, but we do!
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I like them too, but avoid writing them now since so many people hate them.
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Love triangles are okay for a book or two, but not more than that. They definitely feel a bit cliche in the genre, however.
I’ll say it depends on the cliffhangers. Sometimes, I don’t mind. Sometimes, they drive me crazy. But if it is the main mystery that isn’t resolved/leads to the cliffhanger, I’m definitely not going to be happy.
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I agree with you on the cliffhangers. It works for a subplot but not the main mystery.
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Yes, I do write authors with questions or praise about their books. I have a love/hate relationship with cliffhangers. If I am catching up on a series and the next book has been released, I grab the next book and start reading. If I have to wait for a year or more, it can been unnerving. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
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That is an excellent point, Debbie!
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