RESEARCH FOR YOUR STORIES

Locations and scenes have always inspired me for my mystery books.  My first book, “Blood Ties:  The Souvenir Killer” was inspired by a trip across Alligator Alley to Sannibel Island.  That desolate stretch of the Everglades made me think it was the perfect place to commit a murder and get rid of the body.  I then researched actual murders in Florida that happened in or near the Everglades.  My mind exploded with ideas.

My second book, “Murder in the Caribbean,” was inspired both by my love of cruising the Caribbean and a newspaper article of a disappearance of a bridegroom on his honeymoon cruise.  Then I had to research the gulf stream for the flow of a body in the Caribbean.

“Murder in Miami” was inspired by a newspaper article of an investigation into our soldiers wearing inferior bullet-proof clothing in the war.  My research then was into the clothing itself.  The internet is very useful for this research.

The fourth book in the series, “Murder at the Zoo” required research on animal kills around the world.  It was inspired by a television show.

My next books, “Murder at the Rectory,” was inspired by a member of our congregation.  I lived the research for that one.

“Murder at the Museum,” was always in the back of my mind since I saw real mummies at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. as a child  My up-to-date research was enhanced by the tour of Egyptian mummies and artifacts in West Palm Beach this year.

Television is always an inspiration to me.  My favorite shows include “Criminal Minds,” “Law and Order,” “CSI,”  and the True Crime series I get to watch when at my daughter’s in Pennsylvania.

So this past week I had an opportunity to investigate other attractions while in Orlando for a Church Conference.  I jumped at the chance to visit “CSI:  The Experience.”  I had read about it previously from some information I picked up at one of my conferences for the Mystery Writers of America.

What a value for the money and what fun!  We got to solve a crime by viewing the crime scene and the body with all the evidence intact, a toxicology investigation, fingerprint identification, tire track matching, a virtual autopsy, and others.  While it only took a couple of hours, I recommend it to everyone, writer or not.  My special needs son attended with me and he had fun too.  I’m including our picture.  Notice we had props of guns and bullet-proof vests.  This was the best kind of research.

Let me know what kind of research you do for your stories, whether mystery stories or others.

You can always contact me at the following:  kathy@kathymckenzierunk.com

Good luck with your writing!

Kathy  www.kathymckenzierunk.com  www.facebook.com/kathymckenzierunk

CHANGING GENRES: FROM PICTURE BOOKS TO CHAPTER BOOKS

I always felt I did not have a creative side to my brain.  I am an analytical person and my career shows that.

I loved computers from day one, purchasing my first in the late 1970’s with a Radio Shack TS 80, I think it was called.  No hard drive, only an attached tape drive to save things on.  I sat down with it for three days solid, I don’t know if I ever slept, and wrote my first BASIC program.  Then I started analyzing Radio Shack’s programs (which were accessible) and found many errors.  I wrote to Tandy, the owner of Radio Shack at the time, and pointed out their errors.  They offered me a job, but I was ‘just’ a housewife with nine children at the time to care for so it was impossible.

I went to college to become a Psychologist due to my interest in children who had no families, but later changed my major to Computer Information Systems because I thought the job possibilities were better.  I did have a minor in Journalism.

I wrote my first children’s book, not published to this day, titled “So You’re Gonna Be Adopted.”  I researched adoption after our first few foster children, and only found one written for adults.  Since we were planning to adopt two of our foster children, I decided to write a book telling them how they came to be part of our family.  This book was to show them how ‘special’ they were and how much they were wanted and loved.  Today there are many books on adoption.

Attending a few conferences after moving to Florida, I joined the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and then the Mystery Writers of America.

At a writers conference put on by the Florida Chapter of MWA, I met Chris Grabenstein, writer of the hilarious books that I purchased, “I Funny” series.  I asked him if he thought I could transition from writing picture books to write for older children like he does.  He was very encouraging and said there was no reason I could not.

I still love writing for children and currently am reading my books to preschoolers as a costumed storyteller.  I’ve attached some recent pictures.  I am still writing my adult mysteries, working on my latest picture books, but have future plans to write for the elementary age.  My book, “Flight to Freedom” is certainly written for the older child and adults, and it won awards.  I have grandchildren coming to that age and I think I am ready.  My grandson, Ben, and granddaughters, Ashley and Angelina, will be the stars in my book “My Grandma is in the Computer.”  This is a picture book, but will lead me into my animal chapter book for elementary children.  My fall project this year.

By the way, if James Patterson can co-author the “I Funny” books with Chris, surely I have hope I can follow his lead.

Good luck with your writing!  Let me know how your writing is going.  I am always glad to help other writers

Kathy

www.kathymckenzierunk.com

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email:  kathy@kathymckenzierunk.com

MY FIRST DRAFT IS COMPLETE, AM I FINISHED?

Beginning writers often think they are ready to submit to a publisher or agent after they completed their first draft.  Usually a form letter rejection is received and the writer continues to send their first draft out to other publishers or gives up completely.

When is a manuscript ready?  That’s a question many writers struggle with.  Personally, my first novel, “Blood Ties:  The Souvenir Killer,” went through one year of critiques with my writer’s group, then at least 15 revisions of the total manuscript.  To be sure it was ‘readable’ I sent the document to my Kindle (you can use your phone, table or PC) and turned on the Text-to-speech option and listened to my completed book.  What a revelation!  I heard mistakes that were missed during all the reviewing.

Making notes on each page as I listened, I then modified the original once more.  Now I was sure it was ready.  I found three ‘first readers’ who enjoy books and asked them to make any notes of things that didn’t seem to fit, or errors in grammar.  Again, things I missed.  As an author, our brain knows what we meant and sometimes skips over errors.  For example; the daughter of my Sheriff aged too much in the short time period of the book.  Another round of changes.

At this point, you may want to hire a professional editor.  I did so for my second and subsequent books.  There could be many more suggestions to make your work even better and raise your chance of being accepted.

Now I was ready to submit to agents and publishers, as my manuscript was the best that I could do.  I selected them from the available who were accepting submissions in my genre.  I had a subscription to Writer’s Market but there are other sources.  Check your local library for access or do a search on the internet.

Read the submission guidelines carefully.  If they say to double-space a manuscript, DO NOT use any other format.  If they tell you what font to use, be sure to do so.  Otherwise your hard work will end up in the ‘SLUSH’ pile and no one will ever see it.  Most accept only electronic format and if they say DO NOT attach to an email query, be sure to paste it into your email.  If they ask for a synopsis and the first pages, be exact.  If you don’t know how to write a synopsis, research it on the internet.

Be sure your query conveys exactly what they ask for and NEVER put in personal opinions of loving it by your family or friends.  It is okay to compare your work to a similar popular works, but don’t suggest yours is as good as it.  That’s for them to decide.

Finally, don’t give up.  I submitted “Blood Ties” to 27 agents and publishers before deciding on independent publishing.  If this is your route, review my early blogs on steps to follow.

I am on the third draft of my current book, “Murder at the Rectory,” and hope to complete editing this summer to have ready for release before Christmas. I still use a writer’s critique group, still have first readers, and will hire a professional to look over my manuscript.  Good luck on your writing.

Email me any questions at kathy@kathymckenzierunk.com

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WHERE DO MY IDEAS AND CHARACTER NAMES FOR MY NOVELS COME FROM?

Whenever I meet new people and tell them I am an author, many ask where my ideas come from and how do I decide on their names?  Recently my son and I were on a cruise to the islands and met some wonderful dinner companions.  If I get permission, I’ll tell you about them.  After all, this is the internet.

One name is so unique that I had to name a character after her.  This is a common way I get character names.  I use some physical character traits, but fictionalize the rest.  For example, a few years ago I was watching the Olympics and there was a beautiful woman from Brazil named Fabiana.  I was captivated by her name and country.  Since I already had the plot of a bride  murdered on her honeymoon cruise, she became my main character.  It was then easy to give her an important father in Miami, who would stop at nothing to protect his daughter.  Thus arose the General from Brazil and “Murder in the Caribbean.”

This new character for my next book, “Murder at the Museum” will be a young, unmarried female with a button nose and dimples.  Her winning smile immediately shows her warmth and friendliness and I only hope I can make her character on paper be the same.

The plot is already set for this new book, and it’s something I wanted to do ever since Carter and Carnarvon discovered King Tut’s tomb.  The exhibit was in Ft. Lauderdale many years ago and I attended and was fascinated by it all, especially the ‘curse.’  This rattled around in my head for years until this past year it had time to pursue it.  Then, luckily, the current museum tours of mummies, tombs, and other artifacts started the national tour in West Palm Beach and I could refresh my memory and gain new insight for the book.  I took lots of pictures, especially the one accompanying this blog.  As I edit the final copy of “Murder at the Rectory,” I am also working on the new one.

If you would like to see what I am doing in the meantime, please see my website where I present more costumed storytelling venues with photos of the preschoolers and after- schoolers.  The last one was my “Puppy Gets a Family” children’s picture book with almost 50 children attending.  My favorite comment was from a little boy about 5 years old who said, “This was better than watching TV.”  In between my storytelling, I also have presentations on “Writing YOUR Story.”

Thanks for hanging in there and checking my blog.

Kathy

www.kathymckenzierunk.com

www.kathymckenzierunk.wordpress.com

kathy@kathymckenzierunk.com