From One Book To a Series

Working Stiffs welcomes guest blogger Susan Wittig Albert, author of the China Bayles mysteries!

by Susan Wittig Albert

Thanks to Working Stiffs and to Joyce Tremel for hosting me today. I’m out and about on a blog tour celebrating the launch of the sixteenth China Bayles mystery, Nightshade. For those of you who haven’t met her, China is a former Houston criminal defense attorney who jumped ship and moved to Pecan Springs TX, a small town located halfway between Austin and San Antonio, where she opened an herb shop. When this amateur sleuth isn’t working in her shop or tending her gardens, she’s solving mysteries.

Which poses a problem, doesn’t it? For mysteries (for better or worse) are written in series. When you decide to write a mystery, you’d better have a series premise in mind—something strong enough to carry you and your protagonist from Book One to Book Ten and beyond. This isn’t such a tough prospect if your main character is a private investigator whose clients show up regularly, or at least often enough to keep the wolf from the door. Or a homicide detective, a criminologist, a medical examiner, a bounty hunter, or a forensic anthropologist—all of whom have a gazillion murder cases to choose from.

It is an infinitely tougher prospect if your protagonist is an amateur detective. Of course, this didn’t faze Agatha Christie, whose Miss Marple is the Queen of Amateur Sleuths. But when Christie was writing, Miss Marple was one-of-a-kind (well, almost). Today, the competition for readers is fierce, and there are enough amateur sleuths to fill a football stadium. So how to make your amateur sleuth distinctive and popular enough to cross the bridge from that first two- or three-book contract to ten books and beyond? I can’t pretend to have all the answers, but here are some of my thoughts, based on fifteen-plus years in the business.

Think niche. When China Bayles began her career as a garden sleuth, there was only one other similar series and very few “niche” mysteries. Now, there are dozens, designed for readers who are already passionate about something: cooking, needlework, fishing, rare books, gun collecting, golfing, dogs, cats, birds, you name it. There’s a reason for this multitude. Niches offer the writer an already-out-there fan base, plus ways to target that base (hobby magazines, conferences, online discussion groups). But beware. Choose a niche that’s too small or exclusive (feather collecting, seventeenth-century porcelain snuff boxes) and your series may be off to a slow start. On the other hand, there’s Nero Wolfe—the orchid niche isn’t very large, but Wolfe’s companion and legman, Archie, helps to broaden the appeal, as does the setting (New York).

So think beyond the niche. There’s got to be enough appeal to carry it into the broader market—and unless the niche is huge, the writer needs that broader market. The bottom line: niche just isn’t enough. So . . .

Think setting. Setting has always been important. (Remember Sherlock’s “Hound of the Baskervilles” or the Los Angeles of Raymond Chandler.) But in contemporary mysteries, setting is even more important. It has become the place-frame that gives the series depth, dimension, and plot possibilities. From the deep South to the frozen north, from D.C. to L.A., a unique setting makes the story unique--or maybe it a variety of settings, like Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon, a park ranger on the move. Choose a setting that invites reader interest (“I’ve been there” or “I’d like to go there”) and play it for all it’s worth. I chose Texas because it is distinctively multi-cultural, has a fascinating history, its own cuisine, its own music. China’s series is set in a small town, but it’s small-town Texas, and that makes it different.

Think character and character ensemble. In her former life, China Bayles was a criminal defense attorney, which gives her an ironic take on the justice system and gives me more plot possibilities to play with. China is married to an ex-cop turned private investigator. One of her best friends is a police chief, another is a county sheriff. This law-enforcement ensemble opens up more plot possibilities, so that China can get involved (more or less believably) in crime-solving. And since every friend has his/her own personal history, issues, challenges, and problems, there’s a very rich matrix for story material. Don’t just think of a single central character when you’re developing your mystery. Think ensemble, and develop characters who can grow, change, and give you plenty to work with.

Oh, yes, grow. Used to be, mystery characters stayed the same from book to book. Take Nancy Drew, for instance. From 1928 to the present, she’s never grown a day older. But the series form presents writers and readers with intriguing new possibilities for characters’ growth and change. You might want to read my post, “China Who?” to see what I’m talking about here.

Think marketing. Sorry about this, but it’s a hard truth in the book business that writers who don’t market don’t last very long. The publisher can’t or won’t do it for you—you have to do it yourself. Which means library, bookstore, book club, and mystery conference appearances; print materials for handouts or mailings; and online promotion. If you have a platform, use it. (A platform is you-as-expert on the subject of your mystery. For the China series, my platform is herbs/gardening.) If you don’t have a platform, build one. Join organizations related to your niche. Identify yourself with your setting (as Sharyn McCrumb has done with her Appalachian series). Write articles, blog, create a newsletter, make presentations, do whatever it takes to let people know how much you know about the subject.

Thanks again to Working Stiffs for hosting me today. And thanks to all the readers who are following this blog tour through cyberspace. If you have questions or thoughts to share, post a comment. I’ll be around all day, and tomorrow and the next, to reply to your comments.



If you’d like to enter the drawing for a copy of Nightshade go here to register. But you’d better hurry. The drawing for Working Stiffs closes at noon on April 6, 2008.

Want to read the other posts in Susan’s blog tour? You’ll find a calendar and links here.