~Framing the Picture ~

Before I became a fiction writer, I created and taught art. So I am pleased today to share with you a new cozy mystery set at an art show written by fellow Wild Rose Nikki Andrews. In her interview Nikki shares some of the many ways she discovers ideas to write about and what she is working on next.

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Welcome Nikki,

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m old enough to know better about a few things, but old enough not to care about much of the rest. Supposedly I’m retired, but writing and editing for others occupy a lot of my time. I hike, bike, read, garden, cross stitch and knit, read, volunteer as a river monitor and land steward, read, do some community service. My life has never followed a straight path. How could it, with so many tempting side trails to explore?

What interesting jobs have you had? How have those jobs affected your writing?

I’ve dabbled in lots of fields, but my favorite job of all time, other than writing/editing, was working as a custom picture framer in an art gallery. I loved the creativity and the precision, the interaction with clients and artists, the variety, and the mental and physical challenges. Picture glass is heavy! And how the heck does one frame a chunk of rock from The Auld Sod, a ceremonial military sword, or a set of silver-plated, flashy horseshoes?

Most of all, I loved my boss and co-workers. We were a tightly knit group, and they became the basis for the lead characters in my Brush & Bevel series of cozy mysteries. On the whole, I loved the customers, too, though some of them were just quirky enough to make an appearance in my books.

Do your travels influence your writing?

Sure. While I’m perfectly happy mining the rich history, culture, and landscapes to be found in my home region of southern New Hampshire, sometimes I transport my characters to exotic places like Ogunquit, Maine, the seaside resort that is the setting for Oil & Water, or the Finger Lakes of New York, where I’m basing a romantic thriller. I consider setting to be as important as characterization in the way it influences and guides a story, and travel is the best way to discover new settings. Even if I’m not actively seeking new places to write about, travelling is good for the mind and the soul.
How did you choose the genre you write in?

Oh, a writer gets to choose? Stories seem to present themselves to me complete with genres. Cozy mysteries like Oil & Water happened because I read a lot of it, and because I used to joke with my co-workers at the art gallery about killing off some of our…er…fussier clients. I mean, there I was in the frame shop, surrounded by multiple implements of destruction: knives and blades galore, shards of glass, power drills. Compressed air machinery, vacuum mounts. Ceremonial military swords, horseshoes, chunks of The Auld Sod…

Cozies won out over pure mystery or police procedurals because they put more emphasis on “social intelligence,” the innate ability to understand people, than on training and education. They also highlight the fact that most people have specialized knowledge that comes in handy in unexpected ways. I think readers enjoy the fantasy that their particular expertise, whether it be picture framing, dressage, automotive repair, skiing, or whitewater rafting, might someday make them a hero. Isn’t that fun to think about?

Where do you get your ideas?

Oh my goodness, ideas are easy. They’re all around. Sometimes they come out of casual conversations, sometimes out of intense conflicts, as I’ve mentioned. Strangers can give me ideas, like the commander in the New York State Naval Militia, whom I met in a parking lot at an Interstate rest stop. I was so intrigued by the idea of a “naval militia” that I incorporated it into the thriller I’m writing. Which also includes my—okay, I’ll say it—my crush on a handsome young man, my fondness for Watkins Glen, and my out-of-the-blue desire to fly a helicopter. Current events and memories, local politics and strange science, even dreams or overheard conversations are all rich in ideas. Incongruities and oddities are good sources, too, especially for short stories. I’ve written shorts about a single shoe on the library stairs; an unexplained hole in the ice on my pond; and unusual rocks in a river.

The main problem with ideas is sieving through them to find the ones I really want to spend a few months to a year working on. As Stephen Jay Gould, one of my favorite essayists, put it, “So many pretty pebbles on the beach.”

How did you come up with the title?

I love double entendres, and I wanted to tie the crime to the art world somehow, as I did with the first book in the series, Framed. Oils and watercolors are common classes of art at shows and festivals like the one featured in the book; oil and water also represent concepts that don’t mix, giving me plenty of conflict. Besides, at the time I was writing Oil & Water, the local news was full of stories about fuel oil pricing and contaminated water wells.

What project are you working on now or what book will be next?

I have two WIPs: A Thousand Words, another Brush & Bevel story, about the murder of a newspaper reporter (and coincidently, the chance to vent some spleen about the boss-from-hell at a temp job). The other is Competing Interests, the aforementioned romantic thriller in the Finger Lakes. But as I write this, emotions are running high about a controversy at Town Meeting, and who knows where that will lead?

Thanks so much, Zara, for this opportunity to reach out to readers!
Nikki

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Oil & Water by Nikki Andrews

When gallery owner Ginny Brent accepts a post as judge for the prestigious Oil & Water Arts Festival in Ogunquit, Maine, she is looking forward to a weekend of pampering, good food, and camaraderie with creative people. Family feuds, business spats, a barroom brawl, and lobster pot thefts are definitely not on the menu.

Then the body of a missing artist turns up on the rocky shore—just in time for Ginny to find it. Despite her determination not to get involved, she finds herself tracing the threads between deadly rivals, non-kissing cousins, and an artist’s sketchpad.

Finally, she finds herself on a park ranger’s tiny boat, up the proverbial creek, on the track of a killer.

Ginny expected pampering, not barroom brawls. And definitely not murder!

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Buy Links

AMAZON  |  WILD ROSE PRESS

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Learn More About Nikki Andrews

Blog: www.scrivenersriver.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikkiandrewsauthor/

Twitter: @NAedits

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So glad you stopped by to meet Nikki.

Post a comment or question and she will respond to you.