Mystery is my favourite genre of literature. Which is why the novel I am working on is a murder mystery. (I write what I like!) I got my hands on my mom's copy of The Hidden Staircase - the second Nancy Drew mystery - when I was 5 or 6. I was hooked! My wish lists for birthdays and holidays consisted of Nancy Drew books. I bought as many as I could afford from the book sales at school. I'm talking about the yellow-spined hardcover books - not these new fangled paperbacks! One Christmas I hit the jackpot! I received a parcel that included about 6 new Nancy Drews. I was in heaven! I read Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, Dana Girls - all the young adult mysteries I could get my hands on. I read other stuff - mostly science fiction and fantasy - but, mysteries were still my favourite. Then, one day, I picked up my mom's copy of A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton. I might have read some 'grown-up' mysteries before that one, but I really remember my first Kinsey Millhone story. She was a strong woman - flawed in all kinds of ways - yet smart, independent, tough, funny, and just enough like me for me to want to be her.
I have since read dozens of mysteries - some of them great, some of them good, some that made me wonder how they got published. Still, I love them. I'm reading stuff from the 1920s and 1930s to get a feel for the era - the language, the culture, what was acceptable in literature. I found Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man a little hard to follow actually. A little too much dialogue and not enough description for my liking. However, it is a good study in 1930s mystery. I am interested to read Red Harvest and The Dain Curse - two novels whose main character is the Continental Op, a character with no other name. I will move on to Raymond Chandler and others soon. Though on some level I think I have the hardboiled style well engrained in my mind as it is my favourite.
I'm looking forward to my summer as I plan to do as much mystery reading and writing as possible!
Cheers,
Laura
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 02, 2011
I Blame My Parents
I started reading when I was about three. I'm not bragging. I blame my parents. They were hippies with backgrounds in early childhood and elementary education. They did weird hippie things like read to me, sing to me, take me to the library, put books in front of me to look at. The usual weird hippie nonsense. So, how could I not learn to read at a young age. And, now I can't not read! Everywhere I go there are words to be read! Words out in public telling me what's on at the movies, how inexpensive bananas are this week (bananas are ridiculously inexpensive every week!), and the name of the restaurant I ought to go to. Words in books taking me to fantastic new worlds, giving me new insights, making me think about things I'd never thought of before. I can't escape words - they are everywhere!
I am so enthralled with words that I love to write them, too. I blame my parents for this as well - crazy hippies! My parents encouraged me to follow my dreams and do whatever I wanted to do! One of my grade six assignments was to write about what vocation I would pursue as an adult. I remember writing the assignment in two parts. In the first part I wrote about how I intended to be a veterinarian or a surgeon. In the second part I wrote that my mom was convinced I would be a writer of some sort. (What do moms know anyway!) Then, in grade eight, I began my first novel. It has yet to be finished, and, honestly, it's better that way. It was a crazy rambling story about how my friends and I formed a rock band and went to Montreal to meet Cory Hart and Duran Duran. (really, don't ask!) I do remember reading it to my friends at recesses as it progressed. It grew into this odd 'choose-your-own-adventure' story - my friends would request something (like meeting someone famous or playing a certain instrument in the band) and I'd write that into the story. I was definitely putting myself 'out there' when I wrote that story. I think I'm going to steal a little of my 13 year old self's confidence and start putting myself 'out there' a bit more.
I've become a member of a virtual community called CrimeSpace - where readers and writers of crime fiction mingle and chat and share. By the end of the month I should also be a member of the Saskatoon Writers' Coop and the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild. It's all very exciting to me, actually!
So, I'm now following another dream and doing whatever I want to do! Maybe something will come of it, maybe it won't. Either way, I still blame my parents! (crazy hippies!)
Cheers!
I am so enthralled with words that I love to write them, too. I blame my parents for this as well - crazy hippies! My parents encouraged me to follow my dreams and do whatever I wanted to do! One of my grade six assignments was to write about what vocation I would pursue as an adult. I remember writing the assignment in two parts. In the first part I wrote about how I intended to be a veterinarian or a surgeon. In the second part I wrote that my mom was convinced I would be a writer of some sort. (What do moms know anyway!) Then, in grade eight, I began my first novel. It has yet to be finished, and, honestly, it's better that way. It was a crazy rambling story about how my friends and I formed a rock band and went to Montreal to meet Cory Hart and Duran Duran. (really, don't ask!) I do remember reading it to my friends at recesses as it progressed. It grew into this odd 'choose-your-own-adventure' story - my friends would request something (like meeting someone famous or playing a certain instrument in the band) and I'd write that into the story. I was definitely putting myself 'out there' when I wrote that story. I think I'm going to steal a little of my 13 year old self's confidence and start putting myself 'out there' a bit more.
I've become a member of a virtual community called CrimeSpace - where readers and writers of crime fiction mingle and chat and share. By the end of the month I should also be a member of the Saskatoon Writers' Coop and the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild. It's all very exciting to me, actually!
So, I'm now following another dream and doing whatever I want to do! Maybe something will come of it, maybe it won't. Either way, I still blame my parents! (crazy hippies!)
Cheers!
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