By the Fright of the Silvery Moon is a cozy mystery that almost didn’t happen. I wanted to write a second Ned McNeil Moonlight mystery, following Moonlight Can Be Murder. The title came easily and I knew I wanted to write it, so that’s where I started. I wrote the opening scene. Somehow, it didn’t sound right, didn’t have that punch that I wanted. I read it to my critique group.
“Sounds good,” someone said.
“Yes, I like it,” somebody added.
“You usually open with something exciting happening,” said another.
I detected a note of near-enthusiasm, of encouragement, of hope. Deadly reactions. I deleted the whole thing and started again. No. Still too blah.
Maybe I wasn’t really cut out to be a writer. Maybe having five cozy mysteries on Amazon and other online sites was to be enough. I had reached my zenith and bottomed out. I was finished. Fizzled. Ka-put. I hung my head in defeat.
I wrote three more openings. I didn’t like any of them.
But, I decided to try one more time.
One of the Cozy Critters has the most interesting dreams. Some are nightmares, some are not, but they are not boring, not like the opening of my struggling book. Then, I had it. The opening scene would be Ned McNeil waking from a terrifying nightmare. A very real, clutching at your throat kind of nightmare. So, that’s the way I began By the Fright of the Silvery Moon. A frightful beginning.
I read the opening scene to my critique group. They sat on the edge of their chairs. They listened. When I finished, they asked with shaky voices and tremolos of fear, “Is there more?” Success!
Of course, that opening scene was not the only hair-raising happening. In each chapter, tension builds and leads into the next. That’s the way I like to write. When my story scares my critique group, then I know I’ve found success.
Moonlight Mysteries
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