Nancy Martin

Nancy, when and how did your mystery writing career begin?

 

I started writing 27 years ago when my first daughter was born.  It has been my job, my career, since then. I had been writing romance for about 15 years when my children finally got curious enough to want to read Mummy's books. Since my romances were very, very sexy, it was a motherly wakeup call! I knew I had to make a career change because I didn't want my teenage daughters to start thinking a man was going to come along and make their lives perfect. And I'd really learned as much as I could from writing so extensively in the romance genre.  In 1992 I met Margaret Maron at a book signing, and she was very supportive.  She kinda de-mystified mysteries for me, and I worked up the courage to try one of my own.  It helped that I wrote a special Harlequin romance (also in 1992) that ended up selling over 5 million copies in North America.  I still get royalty checks for that one! That book helped me finance the switch into mysteries, which really don't pay as well as romance novels did at that time.  It takes a while to build an audience in mysteries.  I sold and finished HOW TO MURDER A MILLIONAIRE just after 9/11 and quickly wrote the 2nd and 3rd books in the series so the three could be published within 18 months of each other.  I really think having a number of books launching in a short period of time helped me gain reader attention and gave the Blackbird books a healthy start.

 

What type of writing schedule do you have how long does it take you to pen your books?  

 

For about 9 months of the year, I write every day.  (The other 3 months I'm usually reading like mad or noodling around with ideas for books not connected to the Blackbirds.) I am a true believer in the outline.  I spend a lot of time--more than a month---coming up with the concepts (like LAW AND ORDER, I keep tabs on the headlines) and the plot structure of each of my books.  Then I spend several months drafting the story.  All told, it takes me slightly less than a year to write one of the Blackbird books.  As the series grew, the plots have become much more complex, and I like the challenge of layering a lot of women's fiction issues into the books as well.  So it's time consuming.  Also, I'm a habitual polisher.  I want every word to count.  As a former English teacher, I'm picky about my prose.  So re-writing is a big part of my process. 

 

Okay, tell us about the 'Blackbird Sisters' and their creation because these ladies are wonderful.

 

My aunt, who's a psychoanalyst, says the 3 sisters are my id, my ego and my superego. That makes me laugh, but she's probably right! From the start, I knew I wanted to write about sisters, because sisters are such a univeral experience.  Almost everyone has a sister and/or can relate to the highs and lows of such a relationship.  When I was trying to come up with that initial concept for a mystery series, I also wanted to choose a really great setting because I believe the "world" of a mystery series has a huge affect on its success.  I live in Pittsburgh (shhhh!  That's the big secret of my career!) but it's hard to make Pittsburgh sound interesting to people who don't live here.  There's just an unfortunate national opinion that Pittsburgh is still a smoky city of steel mills.  (It's nothing like that now, but it's nearly impossible for one writer to change such a huge bias.)  So my husband and I spent some time traveling to check out possible locales.  (Tax deductible vacationing, see?)  And one Sunday afteroon we were horseback riding along the tow path in New Hope, PA when the proverbial lightning bolt hit me.--Bucks County! Horse country!  Perfect location!  At that time, Pennsylvania was also just starting a state-wide lottery, and I couldn't help noticing that everyone (including my own mother!) enjoyed fantasizing about what it would be like to become really, really rich.  So the "world" of Old Money seemed like the perfect fit with that location and my own background.  I come from an old family (okay, my grandfather lost the family fortune, but that heritage was a big part of my growing up) so all the story elements came together serendipitously.  The Blackbird Sisters were born.

 

What a sense of humor you have and we hope the sisters are here to stay. 

 

It's strange, because when I write the first draft of my books, they're not funny at all.  Okay, the dialogue might be amusing, but the plots are very, very serious.  (Somebody's dead!  Usually somebody Nora Blackbird cares about!)  It's only later, with the primary story in place, that I can go back and sprinkle in the humor---usually just by way of my writerly voice and word choice.  (I love modern linguistics!)  Also, the issues that affect women today are so complicated and difficult that we all need a healthy sense of humor to stay sane, right?  Carpool, dinner on the table, elderly parents, needy teenagers, pesky neighbors---we're all dealing with those daily pressures, not to mention even more complex issues of politics, society, religion and much more.  If you can't laugh about it all, you'd be weeping into your pillow every night, right?  So the Blackbird sisters are always coping with issues that---I hope----readers can identify with and laugh about. 

 

What advice do you have for the novice writer who wants to write a mystery series?  

 

I think we've just experienced a second Golden Age of mysteries, but the marketplace has become very crowded and sales are starting to slip.  So the trick for a new writer may be to read extensively in the genre and recognize what's popular and what's overdone or on the wane.  It's important to write something that will appeal to a great many readers. (Remember, you're writing to entertain not yourself, but a reader.  And that first reader is probably a young, female New Yorker with very specific attitudes---first and foremost being whether or not she thinks she can sell tens of thousands of copies of your work!) The cozy market, for example, may be now becoming glutted with books that sell in modest numbers. Publishers are simply reluctant to buy books that aren't going to enjoy larger print runs.  Hey, they're in the business of making money.  I am, too!  A writer who can do something slightly different--with fresh ideas and an accomplished writing style--that's the one who will sell today.

 

Tell us about the books you like to read, how you spend your free time away from the computer, and of course what are some of your favorite foods.  

I read very widely.  Not too many mysteries, as a matter of fact, but lots of literary novels and whatever is fresh on the market.  Right now, I'm reading THE GLASS CASTLE, a memoir, and Roberta Isleib's first book in her new mystery series, DEADLY ADVICE and Bob Dylan's autobiography, and there's a thriller on my coffee table that's up next, and after that it's probably going to be THE SPELLMAN FILES, which is getting lots of buzz. Free time away from the computer?  To tell the truth, I don't stray far from reading or writing. I like going to the theater, and believe that my own theater experience has had an impact on my writing--if nothing else, helping me hone a dramatic moment. But with my children grown and my own health good, I'm in my writing prime right now, and I need to make the most of it, so I don't have many hobbies. Except gardening.  I love perennial flowers!  I wish we could travel more.  Big excitement: My husband is taking me to Venice and Greece in November, to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.  (I still can't believe it!)  Favorite foods?  Now that our nest is empty, we eat takeout a lot.  It's embarrassing how little I cook anymore.  But I make great reservations! 

 

Is there something you would like to say to your readers? 

 

I think about my readers every hour of every day.  I'm always trying to imagine about how my reader would be best entertained.  I think readers are smarter than most publishers give credit for.  So although I am asked by my publisher to write a "light" book, I firmly believe my reader enjoys more than just laughs. She hates an idiot plot, and she wants more than a simple puzzle or a run-of-the-mill romance between an amateur sleuth and the local cop boyfriend. One of the big car manufacturers has created a profile of their average customer.  Her name is Janet and they have used surveys and statistics to know as much about her as possible.  For me, I think my reader might be named Janet, too.  She's probably a school teacher (or she has a similar education) with a family and lots on her mind.  I want to make her happy, but keep her awake at night turning my pages.  She is so incredibly important to me that I feel as if she's a real person.  And I talk/write to her every day.  It's a weird, yet very satisfying relationship. I feel a powerful kinship with her.

 

Tell us about your creative process....I mean do you ever suffer writer's block or run into a problem with characters, plot or pacing? 

 

If I have writer's block it's because I haven't thought my story through well enough. I go back to the outline again and again.  It's in a constant state of revision.  But I know if I've lost interest in my book or don't know what to write next, I need to go back to the outline.  That said, I enjoy taking the side trips that spring from my imagination as the book progresses.  But I have to be careful about those seemingly brilliant ideas.---Upon reflection, I find they're often the most obvious story choices. And if I'm in the business of surprising and intriguing readers, I need to be more . . . devious.  As for characters, I'll sometimes finish a book and realize one of my suspects is a bore.  I've been known to go back and excise an entire character and insert somebody totally new.  If you read HAVE YOUR CAKE AND KILL HIM TOO, I started out with a Martha Stewart-like homebody character who owned a bakery.  But when the book was "finished," I realized she wasn't very entertaining.  So I went back and she became a former rock star with a shady past.  A much more readable character! 

 

Tell us about Nancy Martin the woman, the writer and then tell us something we don't know about Nancy Martin such as....does she love chocolate or like to go barefoot, live for a pedicure? 

 

Hmm....... Okay, I grew up next to a dairy farm, so I can drive a tractor, ride a horse bareback, bale hay. I was a competitive swimmer as a teenager, and qualified for the Nationals, although the Olympics were beyond me. I studied English and theater in college, and some of the most fulfilling "work" I've ever done is directing plays for a community theater and coaching teenagers in a Shakespeare competition.  My husband and I love snorkeling and reading on beaches.  My two daughters are the joy of my life.  I'm lucky that they both live within a few miles of me at the moment---although now that they've graduated from college and have started their own careers, I suspect they'll eventually leave this city and strike out on their own.  So I'm thoroughly enjoying having them close by now. I do love chocolate (who doesn't?) but I really fight my weight all the time. (As a writer, the best thing you can do for your career is to keep your butt in the chair---which means your butt keeps growing!) What else? I like the house to be absolutely silent.  So I don't listen to music or the radio unless I'm in the car.  And speaking of cars, I do enjoy my beloved Silver Bullet.  It's a sin to have a high performance car, I think, but I'm weak.  

 

Nancy, leave us with some mysterious words of wisdom and how your readers might contact you.

 

Mysterious Words?  "Live like you're dying," makes a lot of sense to me these days. Enjoy every minute, because you just don't know what's going to happen next. As for contacting me, I'm totally accessible. You can reach me through my website.  The email comes directly into my In-Box. But I sometimes let those reader emails pile up and answer them in a whoosh once a month. I read DorothyL religiously, but I'm mostly a lurker. And I write a personal essay every week for our blog, The Lipstick Chronicles.  That's usually how you can gauge how I'm feeling on a weekly basis! 

 

One last question....we love your titles and covers so maybe you could tell us how you come up with such great titles and what is going to be next for you in 2007/08? 

 

Oh, those titles are very difficult!  And usually the result of a month-long squabble with my editor.  The covers have also been a bone of contention.  Successfully publishing a mystery series is definitely a team effort.  My agent, my editor, the whole team at Penguin---they're a huge part of the Blackbird success. I'm just now finishing the 7th book in the series, which will be out in March 08.  It's called MURDER MELTS IN YOUR MOUTH, and is the last book in the series.  But of course, SOME LIKE IT LETHAL was also the last book!  (I thought the publisher had decided to cancel the series, and was pleasantly surprised when they asked for 2 more.)  And HAVE YOUR CAKE was also the last book--but again, the publisher surprised me.   MURDER MELTS has some major changes in the dynamics of all the characters, so as the series moves forward, there's going to be a lot that's new with the Blackbirds.  I think readers get frustrated with the status quo, and I've worked hard to make sure Nora Blackbird's life has an interesting arc.  I look forward to hearing what readers have to say about it.

 

Last but never least...

Nancy you've won the hearts of readers and it's a wonderful moment for me in my career to have interviewed you.

Pamela James

 Please visit Nancy at her homepage!