{"id":3086,"date":"2012-06-29T14:28:24","date_gmt":"2012-06-29T14:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=3086"},"modified":"2012-06-29T14:36:27","modified_gmt":"2012-06-29T14:36:27","slug":"engaging-novels-about-a-detective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/engaging-novels-about-a-detective\/","title":{"rendered":"Engaging Novels About a Detective"},"content":{"rendered":"

The oth\u00ader day, after pub\u00adlish\u00ading the sec\u00adond nov\u00adel in the Dako\u00adta Stevens Mys\u00adtery Series<\/a>\u2014The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>\u2014I pulled a giant plas\u00adtic crate labeled \u201cDako\u00adta Stevens Stuff\u201d out of the clos\u00adet. This crate con\u00adtains note\u00adbooks, ear\u00adly drafts, and reams of research for the first book in the series, A Real Piece of Work<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As I start\u00aded to file away the mate\u00adri\u00adals from The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>, I found the orig\u00adi\u00adnal Black-n-Red note\u00adbook in which I sketched out my ideas for the char\u00adac\u00adters of Dako\u00adta and Svet\u00adlana, as well as the out\u00adlines for sev\u00ader\u00adal adven\u00adtures.<\/p>\n

For an hour or more, I flipped through that note\u00adbook, rev\u00adel\u00ading in the devel\u00adop\u00adment of my detec\u00adtive series. The note\u00adbook is full of lists, and the longest lists are ded\u00adi\u00adcat\u00aded to names\u2014names I had for Dako\u00adta & Svet\u00adlana before they became Dako\u00adta & Svet\u00adlana. I won\u2019t bore you with what might have been, but I do want to share with you one entry, dat\u00ading back to the spring of 2004:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure exact\u00adly what tack I want to take with this series\u2014whether it will be tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal or more modern\u2014but I know this: I don\u2019t want to write a series of \u2018detec\u00adtive nov\u00adels\u2019; I want to write a series of engag\u00ading nov\u00adels about a detec\u00adtive.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The dif\u00adfer\u00adence may sound like mere seman\u00adtics, but it\u2019s not. From the out\u00adset, it was impor\u00adtant to me that I not write yet anoth\u00ader \u201cdetec\u00adtive novel\u201d\u2014something with a for\u00admu\u00adla detective\/mystery at the for\u00admu\u00adla length. There were already plen\u00adty of those. I want\u00aded to write nov\u00adels <\/em>about a detec\u00adtive, and I want\u00aded to include ele\u00adments of his life beyond the mys\u00adtery at hand. I want\u00aded to pop\u00adu\u00adlate these nov\u00adels with vivid loca\u00adtions and round\u00aded, mem\u00ado\u00adrable char\u00adac\u00adters, and I want\u00aded to ren\u00adder it all in prose that was aes\u00adthet\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly pleas\u00ading in itself, so you, the read\u00ader, could enjoy these nov\u00adels on sev\u00ader\u00adal lev\u00adels: for the plot or sto\u00adry, the char\u00adac\u00adters and loca\u00adtions, the humor, and the lan\u00adguage.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why reviews like this one of The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em> are so mean\u00ading\u00adful to me\u2014because the read\u00ader clear\u00adly took away from the book what I intend\u00aded to give:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rich are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent is a full-bod\u00adied nov\u00adel, with rich char\u00adac\u00adters, liv\u00ading back\u00adgrounds and loca\u00adtions, and a tough nut of a mys\u00adtery to crack.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m pleased because what\u00adev\u00ader their oth\u00ader strengths or weak\u00adness\u00ades, I believe the two nov\u00adels in the series live up to my orig\u00adi\u00adnal aim: \u201cto write a series of engag\u00ading nov\u00adels about a detec\u00adtive,\u201d rather than just mere detec\u00adtive nov\u00adels.<\/p>\n

I invite you to decide for your\u00adself. Start with A Real Piece of Work<\/a><\/em> (book #1), because The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/a> <\/em>(book #2) is a true sequel, pick\u00ading up a few months after the first case ends. I hope you enjoy them, and if you do, please post your pos\u00adi\u00adtive review on Ama\u00adzon. Your pos\u00adi\u00adtive reviews increase the books\u2019 vis\u00adi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty and rank\u00adings, ensur\u00ading future install\u00adments in the series.<\/p>\n

As always, thank you for your sup\u00adport. Enjoy your sum\u00admer and your sum\u00admer read\u00ading.<\/p>\n

\u2014Chris Orcutt<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The oth\u00ader day, after pub\u00adlish\u00ading the sec\u00adond nov\u00adel in the Dako\u00adta Stevens Mys\u00adtery Series\u2014The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent\u2014I pulled a giant plas\u00adtic crate labeled \u201cDako\u00adta Stevens\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,30,3,21,8,11,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-real-piece-of-work","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-craft","category-kindlestuff","category-publishingandthemarket","category-dakota-stevens-mysteries-series","category-the-rich-are-different"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3086"}],"version-history":[{"count":79,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3167,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3086\/revisions\/3167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}