What started as a writing exercise during the COVID lockdown culminates in the release of my new mystery Six Degrees of Death on Monday, November 25.
COVID Creativity Challenge
The uncertainty and isolation that beset us in 2020 made writing difficult for me. Sure, I had time on my hands, but somehow I couldn’t settle in front of my computer except to engage in doom-scrolling. Occasional Zoom check-ins with my writing community told me I wasn’t alone in my creativity drought. I kept myself busy submitting my (finally!) completed historical fiction, Daughters of Riga, to literary agents and publishers, and stoically entering the rejections on a spreadsheet.
To overcome the writing block, I decided to set myself a challenge. I would create a bunch of unrelated characters and see if I could work them believably into a plot. My inspiration was the six degrees of separation theory: everyone knows someone who knows someone (…to the sixth degree) …who knows Kevin Bacon. And of course I returned to my comfort zone: mystery! I didn’t prepare an outline—I just let the characters suggest the story to me. I had fun playing with these assorted strangers in a familiar Pacific Northwest setting. As always, my critique group gave me valuable chapter-by-chapter feedback, and by the time I received my second COVID booster shot, I had a finished manuscript.
Finding a Publisher
I was thrilled when the Wild Rose Press accepted Daughters of Riga for publication in 2023; the book was released last February. My TWRP editor asked if I had any other work to show her, so I sent her Six Degrees of Death. Surprisingly quickly, the novel was accepted and scheduled for release. After years of disappointment, to have two books published within a year seems almost too good to be true.
The new challenge is shifting gears between promoting Daughters of Riga, a complex “literary” novel spanning generations and multiple points of view, to doing marketing and publicity for Six Degrees of Death, a cosy-ish mystery that takes place during the darkest days of one rain-soaked winter.
A Challenge for YOU
And now I have a challenge for you. I have been encouraged to make Six Degrees of Death the first of a series. Which of these characters should be the main protagonist in Book 2?
- Melinda Deniro, rookie detective, dutiful daughter?
- Diana LaTour, independently wealthy, sophisticated Anglophile?
- Marco Johansen, recovering addict, student, and social worker?
- Cindy, landscaper, rock climber, volunteer with the homeless?
- Aubrey Peterson, occasional student/gift shop salesperson with poor eating habits?
- Barry Fish, jaded detective, divorced father?
Of course, I could take a new direction with Betsy Pinero, women’s studies professor, or Iannos Karapoulas, retired accountant, or Joan and Bill, elderly Catholic missionaries. This is why I love fiction: creating characters and letting them loose in my imagination—there’s no better fun!
I hope you enjoy Six Degrees of Death. And don’t forget to leave a review—it’s the nicest thing you can do for a writer. (Word of mouth works too!)
