Hearing Voices

 

Surprisingly, one question that’s been posed to me numerous times is, “Do you hear your characters’ voices in your head?” The answer is, of course. Although not audible voices, every character I write about speaks to me at one time or another.

Each character has his or her own personality, and his or her own habits. Fictional characters are just as individual as real people.

Yes, the characters talk to me. Sandi Webster tells me that she wants to be good at her job, and she’s not always happy when I write that she’s bumbled her way through a situation, or she overlooked something. She wants to be taken seriously. I can’t blame her. I feel the same way. She also tells me how frustrated she is sometimes. Sorry, Sandi, but that’s life.

Livvie Brewster, Sandi’s mother, is menopausal and when she talks, I listen, no questions asked. I always hope she’s remembered to take her hormone pills. Martha Workman, Sandi’s aunt, can be gruff and bossy, but as a retired school teacher she tries to be tactful. Okay, she’s not tactful, and she’s outspoken. These sisters are often pushy and take off in their own direction. Their voices can be loud and demanding.

It’s a bit different when male characters try to talk to me. They don’t always understand the women in their lives. Peter Goldberg is an ex-cop and Sandi’s husband and partner, and he was used to being in charge. He wants to protect Sandi, and he can’t understand why she’s so adamant about being in control of her own destiny.

Stanley Hawks is a meek and mild little man who works for Sandi and Pete and who hasn’t experienced much in his life – that is, until he met and married Felicity, and they had a son. All bets are off as he grows and learns. He talks to me about wishing he could be more like “one of the guys.” I try to help him with his wish.

The animals in my books can be especially fun to listen to, but they can be boring, too. They mostly talk about eating, playing, pooping and sleeping. No surprise there, but every once in a while they tell me they want to play a real part in the stories. Bubba and Clementine can be pushy when the want to be, but they do enjoy watching out for their people. 

There’s a new character on the scene, too (The Accidental Gumshoe – A Sandi Webster Mystery). Sioux Simms is Sandi’s great-great-great-aunt. She was a teenager back in 1920. Listening to her voice was a whole new experience since things were so different in that era. The situations she gets into and the slang in her speech made me sit up and pay attention.

The Bogey Man Mysteries is another series and a whole different set of voices, including that of a young boy. He has to speak a bit louder when talking to me because I’ve never had a son and I don’t always understand what he wants to say or do. The dogs in this series are different, too. They have issues they show me more than they tell me.

Writing about a bad guy or a victim is one of the hardest things to do. They speak to me and say things I’d rather not hear – ugly things and sometimes sad things. I’d rather watch the world through rose-colored glasses, and they won’t allow that. It’s simply not a rose-colored world and they frequently remind me of the realities of life.

Do you ever hear voices in your head? Sometimes they’re just memories or wishes. Or maybe you should be writing a book. Think about it.

Until next time, I wish you a week of rose-colored experiences and peaceful voices – one can always hope for the best.

CLICK HERE to buy mysteries by Marja McGraw.

Just released: The Accidental Gumshoe – A Sandi Webster Mystery (Aunt Sioux can be quite entertaining.)

 

Dialogue Style

When you write dialogue, are you mimicking anyone? Like yourself? The curious want to know. Someone asked me about this today.

 I honestly don’t think my characters’ dialogue is the way I talk. I generally try to think of the character’s personality and fit the dialogue to that. Do I know anyone with that type of personality that I can borrow from? Sometimes, but not always. There are times I have to think about the average reaction.

There are times that the protagonist in my books might use a word that I use, and that’s to be expected. We generally create dialogue that’s familiar to us; that we use or someone we spend time around uses. Do you spend time around teenagers? Their dialogue might be quite entertaining.

Hmm. That’s not always the case. For instance, a bad guy probably isn’t going to say, “shucky darn” when he’s caught. Well, I wouldn’t either. It’s up to the individual author to decide whether he might cuss, yell, moan or whatever. On the other hand, I suppose someone might say “shucky darn,” but I don’t know that person.

I have some senior characters in my books and I’ve spent a lot of my life around seniors. Well, I am one now (I like to say barely), but I’m talking about people in their eighties and nineties. They can be quite colorful sometimes. My grandmother used to say, “I can pretty much say whatever I want now and get away with it. People just attribute it to my age.” She was ninety at the time. I have that same attitude about what I eat, not what I say. Think chocolate. Give me time and I’ll probably come around to her way of thinking.

Keep the dialogue real.

“I am going to the store to buy several items. Would you care to accompany me?”

“I’m going to the store to pick up some stuff. Wanna come along?”

Which one sounds right? Either one. It simply depends on your character’s personality.

What about a character who stutters? Let them stutter, but don’t overdo it. The grandmother I just mentioned stuttered. We were very comfortable together and sometimes I’d finish her sentence for her. If it turned out she was going in a different direction than I anticipated, she’d just laugh and start over.

What about a mean or demented character? Can you create dialogue for that type of personality? Sometimes it takes research. I know someone who lives in an apartment building with some very mean-spirited women. She wouldn’t need to research meanness. It’s right there in front of her.

Maybe that’s what it all comes down to. Study the people around you, no matter where you are. Some of the things you might hear in the grocery store are mind boggling. Yesterday I was at the store and I heard a mother and her adult son in the next aisle. I couldn’t see them, but the son just about broke my heart. He was mentally challenged and he was sobbing, crying his little heart out, asking her not to leave him. She was reassuring him that she wasn’t leaving him behind and he should walk with her. She was patient, kind and gentle with him. That was the gist of it, and it was eye-opening. You don’t hear an adult male react to something like a small child every day. How did I know he was mentally challenged? You could hear it in the dialogue and tone of voice. I never saw them, and the male could have been a teenager, but he definitely had an adult voice.

Remember the things you hear. Write notes to yourself if you need to. Sometimes you don’t have to take notes because some dialogue will stick in your mind forever.

Anyway, keep your dialogue in line with your character’s personality, age and gender. And, again, keep it real.

Until next time, don’t purposely be nosy, but sometimes you can’t help overhearing conversations, especially when someone is on their cell phone. They tend to talk louder for some reason. Children often speak loudly, too, and I’ve heard a few give away secrets just because of the volume.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

Are you looking for something new to read? Try People Lookin’ Half Dead – A Bogey Man Mystery. Think major heat wave and people disappearing, and you’ve got an interesting and entertaining story.

Making Characters Memorable

Think about your friends and relatives, and even the people you don’t care for – maybe even someone you saw on the evening news. Now picture them sitting on chairs in a circle, as a group. Is one of them tapping a foot? Maybe one is looking off into space, bored to tears. Is there a woman sitting up straight, knees held primly together, appearing expectant? Is one of them a killer? (Of course one of them is a killer because I write mysteries.)

Everyone has traits that make them memorable, whether the memories are good or bad. The same goes for fictional characters. Writing them so they’ll be remembered is half the battle. A good storyline is made even better by the individuals who carry the story.

I write two series. In the Sandi Webster Mysteries, Sandi sighs frequently, almost taking it to competitive levels. Her partner, Pete, is overly protective sometimes, and he shrugs things off (literally) a lot, but other than that I haven’t figured out his “tells” yet.

Who can forget Stanley Hawks and Felicity DuBois-Hawks, a couple whose clumsiness endears them to the other characters, and readers. Sandi’s mother, Livvie Brewster is menopausal and has all kinds of quirks.

Are these memorable traits? Readers asked for more of Livvie because they enjoy her menopausal antics and some say they can relate to what she’s going through. Felicity’s little “accidents” are humorous and readers asked to see more. I obliged the requests.

In The Bogey Man Mysteries, Pamela Cross rolls her eyes even though her mother once told her they might get stuck that way. Well, to be honest, Sandi rolls her eyes a lot, too. Chris Cross, The Bogey Man, bears a strong resemblance to Humphrey Bogart. He rolls his upper lip under, tugs on his ear and rolls back on his heels.

What about other peripheral characters? How do people react under stressful circumstances? Their traits will tell you whether they’re nervous or not. Someone picking at a napkin in a restaurant, a twitching eye, or even that tapping foot can tell you how a character is handling a given situation. A woman rapidly tapper her fingernails on a table can be annoying, and yet telling.

Remember the people you had sitting in a circle? Let’s take a look at them. Watch Aunt Ivy. She’s looking everywhere except at the other people. She’s drumming her fingernails on her knee. She puffs air into her cheeks until she looks like a chipmunk, and then releases it slowly. Her right knee begins to bounce. She keeps glancing at the exit. Does she have something better to do than sit with this group of people? Is she annoyed? Or is she avoiding looking at the others because she has a secret? Or maybe she knows a secret. Maybe she wants to leave so there’s no chance she’ll spill the beans.

Fred, the man who lives down the street, keeps swallowing like his mouth is too dry. Is he nervous? He’s pulling on his shirt collar, too. Maybe he just doesn’t interact well in a group. He could be self-conscious. Then he says, “Hey! When are we gonna get this show on the road? I’ve got a football game to watch.” Oh, football. I get it.

Frieda keeps rubbing her arms, like she’s cold. When she’s not rubbing her arms, her fingertips pat a rhythm on her chest. Her eyes dart from fact to face. What’s her story?

Sam is staring at his hands. He’ll look up when someone speaks, but then his attention goes back to his hands. He keeps sniffling, and his eye twitches. Or is he winking at Frieda?

So when writing characters, give them habits and mannerisms. What they do is as important as what they say and where they are. It makes them come to life for the reader. Let them be clumsy or nervous or snooty or funny, or even a little eccentric. Any trait or mannerism you give them can make them memorable.

Uh oh, look out! Fred just made a break for it. He’s out the door and gone. He’s got a football game to watch and nobody’d better get in his way. I sure hope he wasn’t the killer.

Until next time, watch the people around you, but not to the point where they think you’re a little weird. Study their mannerisms. Even if you don’t write books, it can be very entertaining.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website (recently updated)

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

COMING SOON: One Adventure Too Many – A Sandi Webster Mystery (More on this soon)

A Poke on the Arm

I post about the Sandi Webster series fairly often, but there is a second series. It’s The Bogey Man Mysteries. After five books I let the characters retire, but something is telling me I need to add at least one more book to the series. I’ve had a number of people ask me how I came up with the idea for these stories, and here’s the answer.

 

In 2006 a made-for-television movie titled, “Love Can Be Murder,” with Jaclyn Smith and Corbin Bernsen was released. In a nutshell, a female attorney wanted changes in her life and gave up her law career to become a P.I. She rented an office in an old building and discovered that back in the 1940s another P.I. had used the office. He’d been murdered while working on a high profile case. His ghost came back and wanted the woman to discover who killed him and to solve the other, more famous case, in the process.

The movie stuck with me. It was a fun story and, of course, a mystery. Smith and Bernsen were perfect in the roles they played. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the idea of the story out of my mind. I read some mysteries I enjoyed, and along the same lines, the ghost of a P.I. returned and worked on solving mysteries. The whole idea wouldn’t let go. It was like having a sibling who won’t stop poking you in the arm until he or she gets your attention, or more to his or her liking, they get you in trouble for shouting at them.

The thing was, I didn’t want to use a ghost in a story. I wanted the 1940s P.I., but no ghost. An idea began to take shape. It wouldn’t let me go any more than memories of the movie and the books. Poke, poke, poke.

Sandi, from the Sandi Webster Mysteries, has always loved the idea of the old gumshoes and their use of the 1940s slang. She grew up on old movies, thanks to her mother, and it finally struck me. She needed to meet someone who could fill a role in her life – someone who would remind her of old movies and old detectives.

The Bogey Man - A Sandi Webster Mystery was born. Someone was following Sandi and he bore a striking resemblance to Humphrey Bogart. As it turns out, he was taken with the same 1940s themes because of his resemblance to a  famous actor and he wanted to become a private eye.

Sandi made it her business to show him what the realities were, like going on a stakeout and drinking too much coffee or soda, and like being too visible because you dress like a 1940s P.I. In the process there’s a murder to be solved. Whether she liked it or not, the Bogey Man became involved.

People who read The Bogey Man liked this character so much that I knew he had to have his own series. However, I still wanted to do things differently, so in The Bogey Man I let the private eye fall for a widow with a young son.

Aha! A family mystery. What a great idea, and what fun it could be. The Bogey Man Mysteries ended up similar to The Thin Man with a Bogart-like character, a wife who has just as much fun as he does, and a son he calls Ace who manages to become involved whether his parents want him to or not.

Of course, a lot of younger people wouldn’t have any idea about private eyes from the forties and the slang they used, but it can be fun figuring it out.

Believe it or not, that’s the short answer about where the Bogey Man came from, and you can find a lot of forties themes in a current setting in these books.

That’s all I have to say. Short question, short answer. Readers like to know where ideas come from and I hope this answer is satisfying.

Believe it or not, I bought a couple of things to go with the Bogey theme – an old Derringer cigarette lighter, a gray fedora and a yellow trench coat. Let’s just call those purchases an eccentricity. Somehow these things just called to me.

Until next time, ask some of your favorite authors what got them started on a  particular theme. You might be surprised at their answers.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website

CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

Try the Bogey Man Mysteries. You might find something you like in this family mystery series, and I just might come up with a new Bogey story in the future.