by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
It’s been a long time since I developed a new cozy mystery series. Long enough so that I tried to remember exactly how I’d gone about it the last couple of times. I ended up not being able to reconstruct my process from the other times, so I started out with a blank slate. For posterity’s sake, in case I need to reference this in the future, myself, I thought I’d share what I’ve done (so far) this time. Today I’m covering the series hook (also known as a theme) and then on next Friday (after a short blog break) I’ll talk about my considerations setting up sleuth, sidekick, and other basics.
For the cozy mystery, the hook is pretty important. It’s actually important enough for me to have considered it the very first thing. Did I want animal themed books? Craft themed? Occupation themed? The first thing I did was to visit a fantastic cozy mystery resource: https://www.cozy-mystery.com . There is a page on the site that lists cozies by theme. There I reviewed all of the different options that others had used. It may be different for you, but I felt very little need to be ultra-different from everyone else. I wasn’t looking for a really unusual hook, mostly because I wanted something that I could feel very comfortable writing.
If you are interested in something fun and different, there are a slew of different examples on the page to get your brain thinking. There are cruise ship mysteries, sleuths as dancers, golfing cozies, and candle-making cozies. By far, the most popular hook categories (to the extent that they have their own BISAC categories at retailers) are craft and hobby cozies, culinary-themed cozies, and cozies featuring cats and dogs.
First, I made a list of all the possibilities that I found the most appealing to me. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from writing cozy series is that they can continue on for years and years. Readers are incredibly loyal to cozy characters. It’s important to choose a hook that appeals not just to the reader but to you, too. You’re going to be spending a lot of time in that story world.
Next, I jotted down pros and cons of all of the potential hooks. For instance, I thought a bed and breakfast series would be fun from the aspect of having different characters coming through and from the aspect that the setting could be very appealing. The cons though? Wouldn’t the police be shutting down the B&B if it ended up being a hotspot for murder? And shouldn’t the owner be spending most of her time at the location? How would I make it work?
The next considerations were tied together. How much research would this concept take and how much time did I have? This may be part of the appeal of writing culinary or pet-themed cozies…it really doesn’t take much research. I knew if I picked something like genealogy or flower shops that I would be doing more research than if I’d picked something I knew more about. I’ve put in likely 100 hours or more of research on quilting for the Southern Quilting Mysteries since I’m not crafty: those are hours going to quilt shows and shops, talking with quilters, reading websites, learning more about quilt guild activities, and watching quilters work on YouTube. The time I spent was very rewarding to me and it was important that I got it right. But I know that writing three series simultaneously means that I don’t really have the time to spend in a lot of research.
Keeping all of this in mind, I chose to go with a library theme and have my sleuth work as a librarian. I grew up in a library and my family was always either on the board or involved with Friends of the Library, or both. I still did a lot of set-up research, but not nearly as much as was needed for my quilting series (or, actually, for my Memphis Barbeque series, either). And…readers like books and libraries. :)
This post is intended mainly for cozy writers because of the special emphasis the genre puts on hook, but many of these considerations are important for writers of other genres, as well.
For further reading, see writer Janice Hardy’s post “5 Things to Consider When Choosing a Character’s Career.”
If you’re a cozy writer, how have you picked your hook? For other genres, how important is your protagonist’s occupation or hobby?
And quick note that I’m taking a long weekend this weekend and another short blog break since I’ll have limited access to Wifi. Twitterific will run this Sunday (but no posts this Friday or Monday). I’ll be back with a post on cozy series development on Friday, December 7th. Thanks!
Developing a Cozy Series: The Series Hook: Share on XPhoto credit: Onasill ~ Bill Badzo on VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA
For my cozy mystery series, I have a boating hook with my main character being a reluctant sailboat owner. It doesn’t require too much research since my hubby and I currently live on a boat. There’s only one other cozy mystery series that I know of set at a marina (the Hetty Coffey books), so it’s a bit different than many of the hooks that I see out there.
I think that’s a fantastic hook. You’re reeling in the armchair travelers and I like the twist that the sleuth is a reluctant owner. Sounds like a fun life!
Thanks, Elizabeth, for sharing how you chose your hook. I think that sort of pre-planning is important no matter what genre you write. In crime fiction, an author has to decide: is it going to be a police procedural? A PI series? A historical series? And that involves a similar set of questions to the ones you’re asking here. It’s good planning, and I think it makes the writing easier.
That’s definitely the very *first* thing a mystery writer should do…be familiar with and pick the subgenre of mystery (and know it inside out). Makes life much easier!
Hope you have a great week!
Hi Elizabeth – I can quite see why one needs to chose something that you’re relatively passionate about – or that you’re prepared to put in the hours learning about a subject as you obviously did for your quilting series.
The obvious one for today would be the Alexander McCall Smith and his Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency … but plenty of others … Poirot, et al … or Kathy Reichs coming at it from the professional point of view …
It’ll be interesting learning more – cheers and enjoy the break/s – Hilary
You’ve mentioned some of my favorite series!
And yes, the writer ends up living with the hook…definitely helps for it to be something they can feel passionate about
Sometimes I hook myself into a series, and I don’t even fish … except for readers! An idea occurred to me to do a collection of short story horror tales for Halloween. I thought of the difference between psychopath and sociopath and how many readers believe they are the same.
I always have been fascinated with Hollywood of the1940’s. I did one story about a sociopathic Prop Master and a psychopathic Actress and a murder committed one evening on a deserted movie set.
I enjoyed their world so much I took them to New Orleans to film a movie under Alfred Hitchcock in New Orleans, using some of the darker truths about that director.
It caught my fancy so much that I crafted a Christmas Ghost Story with the same pair, using famous ghosts of New Orleans. I may not have hooked any readers, but I certainly hooked myself!
You’ve written a fascinating, helpful post as always. Thanks. Happy Holidays!
You come up with the most creative ideas! Yes, I enjoy the sociopath, too. :) Just finished reading “A Ladder to the Sky” which reminded me quite a bit of “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”
That’s cool how one thing led to another with your writing! And how you’re led by your own interests. If we’re excited about what we’re writing, that definitely translates to the reader.
Happy Holidays to you, too, Roland!
Great post! I have one more…um…unusual cozy series that’ll start coming out in June of 2019 (I was so thrilled you endorsed it! It’s up on Amazon for preorder now–Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass) ) For that one, I definitely wanted a hook that was outside the box as far as professions go. We’ll see how that goes over with readers next year. In the meantime, I’m brainstorming a series with a more standard sleuth trope (only it has a slightly different slant on it), as well as one that’s been done before by a popular author, but this one will be in a new locale. I think that, like you say, it’s so important to pick a hook that interests you as an author. For me, that means it has to be different in some significant way from other cozies. I’m betting your librarian series will do great and that’s interesting that you’re not heavy into quilting but you’ve just done all that research! That’s probably a LOT of research! Thanks for the post and I’m enjoying all your cozy mystery info!
I’m excited about your unusual cozy series and was very happy to endorse it!
I think unusual *is* definitely a big draw for readers…for one thing, you get your own category on the cozy mystery indexing site. Wish I had the time for it, but I’m just too crunched. You’re doing a great job!
I could *theoretically* make a quilt after all this research, ha. But my talents don’t lie in that direction and I’m clumsy, to boot!