Tag Archive for: Louise Penny

Clicking Our Heels: Authors Whose Craft Abilities We Admire

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Clicking Our Heels: Authors Whose Craft Abilities
We Admire



Although classes and books are ways writers
improve their skills, another way is to analyze the skills of writers we
admire. Here are some writers we each turn to when looking for great examples
of particular aspects of craft, such as dialogue, transitions, description and
action.

Judy Penz Sheluk: John Sanford is the
master of pacing. I love how Tana French takes a minor character in one book and
makes them the protagonist in another. Fiona Barton for cleverly twisted plots
with a simple premise. Agatha Christie because (most of) her books still hold up
today.

Shari Randall: What would Agatha do? Is
a question I ask myself when I run into plotting roadblocks. Her ingenious and
byzantine plotting sets a high bar that I know I’ll never reach, but it does
inspire. For dialogue I’ll turn to the films of the thirties. As far as most
elements of writing, I worship Kate Atkinson in general. For action, I turn to
Dan Brown. He has his detractors, but his stories move.

Juliana Aragon Fatula: Linda Rodriguez
has helped me so much with her Plotting the Character Driven Novel. Stephen King
because he writes the characters I love: Annie Wilkes, and Dolores Clairborne
and many other strong women.

T.K. Thorne: Sue Monk Kidd. I just
think her writing is amazing.

Kay Kendall: For emotional depth I look
to Louise Penny. No one fleshes out personality and motivation as well as she
does. For violent action balanced with understanding of the human psyche, all
written in fantastic prose, I think Tim Hallinan and Reed Farrel Coleman can’t
be beat.

Bethany Maines: I actually look quite
often to movies. A well-crafted script (and there are many that aren’t) is
incredibly informative about getting a story and characters from point A to
point B.

A.B. Plum: Elmore Leonard is my
go-to-dialogue guru. His characters make me laugh out loud, and I admire his
zany plotting – proving nothing is too crazy if you entertain the reader.


Dru Ann Love: I will answer this as the
only book that I reread is J.D. Robb as it has everything, great narrative,
good dialogue, good transition, great visuals, nice suspense and plenty of
action.

J.M. Phillippe: I think it depends on
which genre I am writing in. I was taught a mimicking exercise in college,
where you start to copy, word for word, something an author has written to get
a sense of their literary voice, and then continue the passage using your own
words but mimicking their style. Depending on what genre I am writing, I will
pick up well known and respected authors in genre and do a mimicking exercise.
I am also always expanding my favorite author list that way.

Linda Rodriguez: Toni Morrison and John
Steinbeck are two writers I turn to for improving my dialogue. For description,
I turn to Alice Walker and Stephen King. For action scenes, I like Elizabeth
George and Tony Hillerman. For transitions, I study Ursula K. LeGuin and
Virginia Woolf. For bringing characters onstage and to life, Agatha Christie and
Charles Dickens are hard to beat.

Sparkle Abbey:

Mary Lee Woods: There are so many! I
recently did a program for a local writers’ group on taking your writing to the
next level where I discussed the difference between technically correct and “good”
writing , and really using all the creative tools you have at your disposal to
tell the story. As far as examples, I used: Characters – Nora Robers; Dialogue –
Jennifer Crusie; Description – William Ken Kruger; Action – Janet Evanovich;
and Humor – Laura Levine.

Anita Carter: For plot, Lisa Gardner…always.
For a great fast paced comedy, Laura Levine. For dialogue, Julia Quinn. For
emoton, Virginia Kantra. I also reference Hallie Ephon and Harlan Coben.

A Sense of Place

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One of the comments we
see frequently in reference to the beautifully written and award-winning Louise
Penny series is: “I want to live in Three Pines!” Or words to that effect.
And isn’t that exactly
what we authors hope for when we create a fictional world? We hope readers love
our worlds so much they want to take up residence! It’s true with all books
but seems especially true with a series where the community created is revisited with each book.
Also this sense of
place is a big part of who the characters are. Just like where we’re all from tells
so much about us. How they feel about where they’re from is important. And whether they’ve always lived there and continue to do so; or
perhaps they couldn’t get away from their roots fast enough.
Some strong examples
of series with a sense of place are:

  • Stephanie Plum and her
    irreverent Jersey burb surroundings,
  • Jessica Fletcher and
    her cozy Cabot Cove community,
  • Tess Monaghan’s rough
    and tumble Baltimore,
  • And, of course, the aforementioned,
    Three Pines with     Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du
    Québec and the cast of complicated characters who invite us into their village.
We chose Laguna Beach, California for the
setting of our Pampered Pets mystery series for several reasons.
Our two amateur sleuths aren’t originally from
California, they’re from Texas. Those Lone Star roots are a big part of Caro
and Mel even though they both have pretty distinct reasons for leaving the
great state of Texas. 

Laguna Beach is not only the perfect place for
a pet-themed mystery with its pet-friendly merchants and off-the-chart number
of pet owners (more registered dogs than there are kids), it’s also the perfect
place for Caro and Mel.
The community is a seaside resort in southern
Orange County located midway between Los Angeles and San Diego. It has
spectacular cliffs, glistening beaches, and breathtaking views of the Pacific,
but it also has a uniquely artsy and almost European feel. The quaint
boutiques, coffee bars, and sidewalk cafes provide a sense of place that
brings together people who care about their community and each other. A
community interested the greater good and setting things right when they go
wrong.
In our fictional Laguna Beach there are some
great restaurants and stores, just like in the real village. However, though we’ve used a real place we’ve populated the tree-lined village area, the Hills
and the fabulous beachfront homes with characters from our imagination.

In our make-believe world you’ll find: 

  • Judd Malone, no nonsense, stay-out-of-police-business homicide detective, 
  • Diana Knight, former screen star who still brings to mind the magic and glamour of a bygone era in Hollywood, 
  • Darby Beckett, wholesome and sometimes naive owner of Paw Prints pet photography, 
  • Ollie Hembry, former rocker turned pet rescuer, 
  • Kendall Reese, flamboyant dresser and pet groomer extraordinaire, 
  • Fan favorite, Betty Foxx, silk pajama-wearing senior with a strange sense of fashion and an eye for the gentleman, 
  • And, of course, assorted adorable cats and pups.

They all, like us love the unique and close-knit community. We think it’s the perfect place for Caro and Mel. And for a bit of fictional murder… 


What specific things do you love about the settings in your favorite mysteries? Do you enjoy returning to those favorite places? 



Our most recent book, Fifty Shades of Greyhound, has been called “A real tail-wagger!” (That’s from Buttercup aka Trixie the smart puppy who stars in the Paws & Claws series by NYTimes bestselling author Krista Davis). It follows Desperate Housedogs, Get Fluffy, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, and Yip/Tuck. Next up is, The Girl with the Dachshund Tattoo. 


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