Dear Christian Indies,
When I was a young reader, I always thought of mysteries as a “Sherlock Holmes book.” I expected all mysteries to feature brooding and/or arrogant detectives, interrogating flocks of disparate characters until eventually gathering them all in one place to finger the “real criminal in the room.”
It was not until I was much older that I realized there was a different sort of mystery available out there in written form-something a bit less “dry” and a lot more fun—the “cozy mystery.”
You should be able to tell by the name of this genre alone that there is not much “uptight” about such books. I mean, what could possibly be clenched or straight laced about being “cozy?” Cozies are approachable and friendly in voice and tone, and feature a cast of characters meant to warm your heart and keep you connected from beginning to end.
If you are planning to attempt writing your first cozy mystery novel during this year’s National Writing Month, you may have some questions about writing cozy mysteries. For instance, what are the tropes of cozy mysteries? Meaning, what will readers of a cozy mystery expect in terms of plot, pacing, and characters? Are there any concerns about how much gore is “too much” for a cozy mystery reader? And What about those ever controversial “steamy” scenes; again, how much is “too much”? The last thing you want to do is disappoint a rabid cozy fan—especially if you fall in love with your characters and want to find readership for a series-worth of adventures!
Tune in this week as we tackle writing cozy mysteries. You will want to stick around until the end and find out “who done it!”
Just kidding!
But you for sure won’t want to miss a minute of this episode!
See you there,
Jamie
