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?
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