Pamela Sue James

 

 

Pamela, why do you write mysteries?

I like a sense of justice and I love to read a good mystery. Mystery reading started at a young age and writing mysteries seemed like the perfect job for me. I write mysteries because human nature and life can also be a mystery so while I basically think most people are good I also know bad things happen to good people. From there we should have closer and a sense of justice.We also must love what we do and I love to write mysteries.

Tell us about your writing schedule.

In the summer my schedule can vary a little but I try to write Sunday through Thursday nights from midnight until four or five in the morning. I will take a small break but this has been my schedule for a while and when I am almost to the end I can write off and on all day and well into six or seven in the morning hours.

For you, what is the best part about creating your mysteries? What is the worst?

The best part is writing a series and creating unique characters. The worst part used to be the middle of the book blues but I have mastered that so for me I would have to say maybe the pacing of the book. Making all part equal or as close to equal  so all the action doesn't happen in just one part of the book.

Pamela, tell us about your book The Crossed Stitcher.

I love the fall season and decided to begin my series in the fall, then one day I was sitting here thinking about Kansas Weather, I decided to have a freak snowstorm in the fall and then from there came the ending of the plot. Basically there is a not so nice cross stitcher who is murdered in the park at midnight. Not many clues but a whole host of suspects and in my protag's own life Page is finding that her own family secrets can be very damning. Page owns the STITCHER'S TREAT cross stitch shop and she has a group of stitchers who meet there. They join in to help solve the murder and before they can solve the murder another murder  happened. Page, her best friend Lyza and her Aunt Maddie are snowed in at Maddie's Victorian Home this is when snowstorming to turns to brainstorming and Page realizes she must think like the murderer in order to track her killer.

Do you always want to write series or do you have any stand alone books aching to be written? 

I have a stand alone or two that one day I hope to write. Right now I am content with series writing. 

What are some of your future writing goals? 

I will continue with my cross stitch series, but after I finish writing the second book in my series (which is almost finished), I will be writing a book set in the forties. This is about three women who run their own detective agency but have an imaginary boss who is male.  After that I have some other ideas but will probably slip in a third stitching book in between other projects. 

Getting into the mechanics of getting your book to print, how many sets of eyes saw your book before it was published?

That's hard to answer but I'll try. Terri Parsons helped edit the book, my daughter Melissa helped edit the book, I know an editor or two at Publish America was supposed to have read and edited the book. Then of course there is my own set of eyes. At least four to five people read and edited the book.

Will you share with us now some of the things you've learned from this experience of getting your book published?

I have learned that the work is not in creating a rough draft and writing a book, it's in the rewriting, the editing, the consistent challenge of rolling up your sleeves and doing the work. I find that it's very rewarding to hold your book in your hands and look at only your name on the cover. With that comes the responsibility of giving your readers a good story and if you cut corners, or drop the ball it's not a good thing. I also learned that covers make a huge selling difference, but ultimately I learned that publicity is something you must do and you had better be prepared for reader feed back and trust your instincts.

Do you have any regrets about this experience?

Only about the editing I still stand by my plot, my characters and I think that this was an editing lesson learned.

Let's shift gears and get a little more personal. Now that you have an empty nest, is it easier to write a book than it was when you were raising a family?

Well I admit I was busy raising my family when Merry Stahel and I coauthored the other three books. Now Merry writes romances and other books. I have to admit I could never stay up all night writing when I was raising my family. Because I have all the time in the world to write (it looks like it to others) I find I take more time off like a week here and there that I NEVER did with the first three books. So if I stick to my writing it IS easier, however in some ways it never gets any easier no matter how much time you do and don't have, if you would rather do something else then by all means do it but for me writing is like breathing I have to do it no matter how long it takes me.

When you look to the masters of mystery, what authors do you want to learn from (referring to present day and classic)?

Carolyn Hart; I like the ease with which you can read her books. Elaine Viets; I like the characters they are unique yet believable. I can always learn from Mary Daheim because of the humor and her books made me realize early on that setting makes all the difference. The classic master is Agatha Christie because the getting there with clues and red herrings are just as important as an agreeable ending. Nancy Drew is as fun now as she was in the beginning to read and with her books you think anything is plausible and possible.

Do your friends and family read your books and support the career you've chosen?

Well Terri helped edit it and you, Glenda, have read it, but I have a husband who has never read one of my books because he doesn't want me to write mysteries. He thinks I should write Westerns, although I hear he support my writing as an author to his friends and family.  LOL. Some of my children have read them and both my mothers adored THE CROSSED STITCHER, for that I was shocked and they both said I needed to keep writing that series until they died so they didn't miss anything. LOL. I am interested to hear what others think of my book because so far there have been a mix of views.

What was the first book length story you ever wrote?(published or unpublished) What did you learn from it?

Unpublished was the UNUSED HOUSEWIFE,  penned back in 1987 and it's never been published. It's about a wife whose husband was a workaholic and she decides to take an adventure by herself to New Orleans and she gets one because there is a murder. It was humorous and I haven't thought of this book in years. Published the first book was 'A MATCH MADE FOR MURDER' in that one we decided to do away with the groom.

How long have you "known" your protagonist? Tell us about her.

I have known about Page Hollow since 1993, for I have tried to fit her in many mysteries over the years. Aunt Maddie came right along at the same time, Page did and in the beginning I admit they were more humorous. Page is every woman who looks after another family member. Aunt Maddie is slipping some with her memory and the older she gets the bolder she becomes and she doesn't care about boundaries. She for the most part has always been a romance author and always been eccentric. I have calmed Page down a bit and made her more of a worrier and thinker to offset Maddie's antics. However Page over the course of the series will change and grow as in having more of a sense of humor and Page will be learning to cook in future books plus she will be taking some strange classes and we will soon see her fun side.

What would you like your readers to know about Pamela, the woman?

I am more quiet and shy now than I have ever been. I value my friendships, my children and I will probably always look for more friends and a better way to be a better person. I have to say I like me more now than I did when I was thirty, and I am amazed at how I overcame some obstacles in my life journey. I am stronger, more supportive and feel very much as though my sense of humor is one of my best assets.

Finally, as Pamela the author, what would you like your readers to come away with after reading The Crossed Stitcher?

That while the writing may have room for growth, the characters and plot were satisfying so that they will want to continue to read the series. I based Maddie on my eccentric grandmother.

 

Visit Pamela on her web site !