Keeping a series mystery fresh by Maggie Toussaint
Keeping a series mystery fresh
By Maggie Toussaint

This is how things were tracking for my amateur sleuth,
Baxley Powell. This reluctant psychic realized she must embrace her extra talents
and become the dreamwalker, a job that was killing her dad as he was not a good
fit for the job. In addition to her ability to carry messages between the
living and the dead, she can tell when someone is lying.
In addition to the psychic elements, there are two series
arcs I continue to explore. The mystery of Baxley’s missing-in-action soldier
husband and the mystery of her watcher in the woods. I reveal just enough about
each of these elements in a book to keep the reader reaching for the next book
in the series.
It is most often reported that psychics have one strong
gift. However in a fictional series, and especially one where the readers are
pre-disposed to suspend disbelief, my goal was to explore a new psychic talent
with each book of the series. In the second book of the series, Baxley is able
to do readings off objects that someone in the grip of strong emotion has
touched.
With each book, many of the cast of characters reveal more
strengths and weaknesses. Also, as a newbie psychic, Baxley makes mistakes in
both worlds, which up the stakes and tension. Then comes book three. The
pressure is on to make the next book even better.
This time instead of adding a new psychic gift, I added a
character who is a medium and doubled the homicides in a town where a film
company is creating scenes n location from a movie mostly filmed elsewhere. As
a bonus, my sleuth gets to pal around with film stars.
Which brings us up to another series entry. In the span of a
few books, a regular homicide wave landed on a sleepy southern town. I didn’t
want my fictional town to become like Jessica Fletcher’s Cabot Cove, where a
new person is murdered every week of the TV show, so I took my sleuth on
vacation. Several wonderful things converged, and I used Cherokee mythology,
personal experience, as well as folklore, to add depth to the plot of book four,
Dadgummit.
Books five and six are written and in the queue, and with
each book I continue to develop my cast of characters, and I continue to
develop the talents of my amateur sleuth in the Dreamwalker Mystery Series.
In summary, these tips help keep a series fresh:
1) Start with a premise that excites you.
2) Find a way to make each book seem new and also to stand
on their own.
3) Vary setting, supporting characters, types of homicides,
and more.
4) Trust your inner editor to know when the book is written
to your satisfaction.
5) Resolve the homicide or mystery within each book.
6) Leave a few series threads unresolved to keep the reader
coming back.
~*~
AUTHOR BIO: Southern author Maggie Toussaint writes mystery,
suspense, and dystopian fiction. Her work won the Silver Falchion Award for
best mystery, the Readers’ Choice Award, and the EPIC Award. Under her name and
her pen name of Rigel Carson, she’s published sixteen novels as well as several
short stories and novellas. The latest book in her paranormal mystery series, Dadgummit, released August 1, 2017.
Maggie serves as Chapter President for Southeast Mystery Writers of America and
as Vice-President for Low Country Sisters In Crime. Visit her at www.maggietoussaint.com.
Thank you for featuring my Dreamwalker series here at To Read or Not to Read, Marcie. I'm delighted to be able to showcase this paranormal series on your blog. Maggie Toussaint
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