When I began my teen mystery series, Rae Riley Mysteries, I knew family would be important. I mean, in the short story that kicked off the series, Rae is trying to figure out who her father is. I gave Rae half brothers, aunts, an uncle, two first cousins, and a grandmother as well as a father. As I developed these close member of her family, I also developed her family tree and found myself having a lot of fun writing about extended family ties.
Branch Out on the Family Tree
Although Rae’s relationship with her father Sheriff Walter “Mal” Malinowski IV is the heart of my series, exploring distant branches of her family tree has been enjoyable. One of the best things I’ve done in my series is to create an outlaw side to Rae’s family. This side so far has produced a scheming first cousin once removed, a grifter great uncle, and another first cousin once removed with a violent temper.
These less than honest relatives add a lot of tension to my storytelling as their sneaky or criminal ways come in direct conflict with Mal and his sister Carrie, who’s a former U. S. deputy marshal and current private investigator. Whenever a storyline needs some extra ingredients, I know have these criminal relatives handy. The fact that the local sheriff has a family relationship with possible suspects adds a deeper dimension to my stories than if this family of law-breakers were ordinary citizens of the county.
The head of the Malinowski clan is Rae’s great-grandfather, eighty-one-year-old Walter Malinowski Jr. He’s been a huge joy to get to know. A seventh-grade drop out, Walter had a reputation for breaking heads, working hard at any unskilled job, and marrying five times. But he has more depth than he wants anyone to know, and as I develop stories to include him, Rae begins to uncover that fact as their relationship grows.
So when writing about families, see if you can add an extended family ties to add fun or another plot line to your stories.
What novels or stories have you read that used family relations well?
My last prompt for this month’s theme of romance and friendship. I love to include kid characters in my mysteries. They can say and do things that adults can’t get away with. How would you start a story with these friends. Below is my inspiration.
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My twins brothers and me hung on the fence, watching Mom’s new boyfriend kayak back to the dock.
“Hey, he can actually do something,” said Ollie. “I didn’t think he was good at anything you have to do outside.”
I licked melting popsicle. “Matt is really an inside kind of guy.”
Matt let out a yelp and tipped into the water.
“Oh, he’s bad at kayaking too.” Owen hung from the top board of the wood fence and looked through the gap.
Matt kept yelling, slapping the water as he tried to grab the kayak.
“You think he’s in trouble?” Ollie bit into his popsicle.
The yelling got louder.
I sighed. “Probably. We’d better go rescue him.”
Ollie looked worried. “Can I finish my popsicle?”
“Oh, sure.” Still licking mine, I climbed through the fence and headed down the hill, my little brothers beside me.
If you haven’t read it here already, I don’t like reading romance. I just can’t suspend my disbelief and enjoy the tropes and rules for the genre. So that’s why my book review of Marriage Can Be Mischiefby Amanda Flower is tied to the friendship part of this month’s theme of romance and friendship. This cozy mystery is part of Amish Matchmaker Mysteries series, and the main attraction for me is the unusual sleuthing duo.
Amish matchmaker Millie Fischer and her Englischer friend Lois have been friends since childhood and that bond hasn’t diminished now that they’re in their sixties. Lois, who’s been married four times, helps her granddaughter run a restaurant while Millie, a widow with no children, is a quilter with matchmaking on the side. Readers learn lots of character quirks like Millie’s love of blueberries and her pet goats, Peter and Philip, along with Lois’s pursuit of unusual hairdos. It’s so refreshing to read a mystery series which isn’t about a thirty-something professional woman coming back to her hometown and stumbling over bodies while discovering a new boyfriend.
In this mystery, Millie and Lois delve into the forty-year-old murder of an Amish man and the disappearance of his wife. Everyone assumes that Galilee murdered her husband Samuel forty years ago because she disappeared the same wintry night Samuel died. Her brother Uriah never believed that and has always wondered what happened to her. When a body is found in the ravine where Samuel’s body was found, the question of where Galilee disappeared to may be answered. But that only leads to a new mystery that Millie is determine to solve in order to help Uriah.
Stepping into the fantasy genre, write a scene with these two friends. I like the expression on the smaller dog’s face.
*****
“Skip,” I said, showing my teeth to the Rottweiler that approached our car, “be friendly. We have to show him that we know he’s top dog.”
Skip stared at the huge dog that was growling deep in his throat. His busy eyebrows lowered. “I don’t think being friendly means anything to this guy, Luna.”
“Well,” I began to tremble and hated that I was, “we can’t just sit here like rabbits.”
“Of course not.”
To my horror, Skip leaped out of the car and onto the head of the Rottweiler.
It’s been awhile but historical fiction author Tamera Lynn Kraft is back with a guest blog, “Let’s Be Friends: Writing about Friendship.” Tamera isn’t only an author. She owns and manages Mt Zion Ridge Press and has designed all the fabulous covers for my Rae Riley novels. So glad you to have you back, Tamera, with your latest novel!
I’ve written many novels that include friendships. In my latest novel, THE AFTERMATH, Betsy and Lavena’s friendship is a major part of the story. It’s easy to show friendship in a novel if you add these elements.
5 Keys to Friendship
Friendships in novels, as well as real life, need to include shared experience. The friends need to have a past together. You can incorporate these shared experiences within the novel if the friendship is just starting to develop, but if you want to show a deep friendship, there needs to be a backstory of what these friends have been through together. In THE AFTERMATH, Betsy and Lavena were friends long before the story began. They were roommates at Oberlin College, and they had an apartment together when Betsy’s husband was fighting the Civil War.
Friendships in novels should always include shared values. Friends can be completely different when it comes to temperament and personality, but friendships that remain through the years must have shared values. For instance, in THE AFTERMATH, Betsy and Lavena are both strong Christians who believe in helping those who are forgotten by society. Lavena wants to have a career and “save” the world, and Betsy is more concerned with being a homemaker and mother and saving her marriage, but they both will do whatever it takes to share the love of God with others. That is their shared value.
Vulnerability is important in friendships. Even if you have a strong character who is independent, that character needs to have a friend she can go to when she is going through difficulty, someone she can be vulnerable with. And her friend needs to be willing to listen and help when needed. Sometimes a friend will see the need even before the main character shares it and will coax the friend to share. In THE AFTERMATH, Lavena tells Betsy she knows something is wrong, before Betsy opens up and shares that her husband is a drunk. This is a great device to use so the main character doesn’t coming across as whining about her problems. Instead, her friend is encouraging her to open up. It’s also a great device to show your main character’s perspective and how she feels about what she is going through.
In life, and in novels, friends have an easy and relaxed communication style. They understand each other and talk about shared experiences easily. Avoid having stilted conversation between friends because it won’t be believable. The formal, stilted conversations should be reserved for conversations with people your characters don’t know well or don’t trust.
Finally, forgiveness is an important part of friendship. If there is conflict between friends in your story, the relationship needs to be restored at some point even if the friendship has changed in some way if you are to have a satisfying ending.
Close friendships enrich our lives. This is true with fiction as well, even if the friendship is not the main plot of the story. It can enrich the development of your characters. Deep friendships portrayed in a novel can make the reader feel like she’s a part of that friendship and that the main character is her friend as well.
Betsy loves her husband, Nate, but losing his leg in the Civil War has changed him. He never touched alcohol before the war, but now he’s turning into a drunk. She doesn’t know how to help him, but to save their marriage she’s going to do everything she can. If only she can figure out how.
Tormented by the loss of his leg, Nate feels worthless. His drinking only makes things worse, but he can’t stop. It’s only a matter of time before he drives Betsy away. Why did God allow this to happen? What does he owe God now, after this betrayal?
Nate’s anger and bitterness are building a wall that neither he nor Betsy can break down or climb over. Only God can help them, but Nate is no longer on speaking terms with the Lord. Is there any hope for them?
Meet the Ladies of Oberlin, the causes they’re willing to fight for, and the men who capture their hearts.
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In her spare time, Tamera Lynn Kraft loves to watch classic movies, drink quality teas, and ride on roller coasters, but not while drinking tea. She does drink tea while writing and working as managing editor for Mt Zion Ridge Press, a traditional Christian publishing company. She has always loved adventures and loves to write historical fiction set in the United States because
Tamera has been married for a very long time to the love of her life, Rick, and has two married adult children and the most adorable and smartest grandchildren in the world. She was a children’s pastor for over 20 years. She is now the leader of a ministry called Revival Fire for Kids where she mentors and coaches children’s leaders, teaches workshops, and is a children’s ministry consultant and children’s evangelist. She has written children’s church curriculum including Building Foundations and is a recipient of the 2007 National Children’s Leaders Association Shepherd’s Cup for lifetime achievement in children’s ministry.
