The past–everyone has one. The past is why we are what we are. In cozy mysteries, the past is what brings the heroine to where she is today. It is the story behind the story; the back story.
In Moonlight Can Be Murder, to be released this fall by Pennell Publishing, it is Nettie’s past that brings her back to Ednalee, Oklahoma after an absence of forty years. Her past and Uncle Javin’s past.
However, you, the reader, don’t know all about those forty years. Right away, you want to know what is the mystery. So, the opening sentence, the opening paragraph catches the reader’s attention. Something is happening. Tension fills the air. But, it’s important that you know why Nettie is driving alone in her car through a snowstorm at night to reach her uncle’s mansion.
I like to write the back story in snatches, mixed in with what’s going on in the present. I like to use conversation between characters to fill in the gaps. When Nettie’s two childhood friends arrive at Granger’s mansion, the three women talk about their school years but–funny thing–they can’t quite stay away from the recent tragedy that happened at Granger’s mansion and they wonder if something in the past is responsible.
Back stories are fun to write. They help me get to know my heroine as well as I know my best friend. But, the cozy mystery I’m writing doesn’t include the back story in one lump. It is the past helping make sense of the present and it comes in drips and tantalizing drizzles.
The same is true of Darcy and Flora. Both women have a past (of course) that has gotten them to the point where the story begins. Back stories are fun to write and they are essential for a well-plotted story.
http://pen-l.com/Mystery.html
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