I was born and raised in southwest Indiana, but now I live in Southern California, leaving the land of rain and snow for wildfires and earthquakes.
Over the years I’ve worked as an actress, college writing instructor, jail chaplain, library associate, a tour guide/page for Paramount Pictures, and a typesetter and faith columnist for a community newspaper.
I have a master’s degree in theater from Indiana State University. While in school my plays “Star Collector” and “Common Ground” were finalists in the American College Theater Festival One-Act Playwrighting Competition. “Common Ground” also earned a college creative writing award, and “Star Collector” was produced in New York City. The characters introduced in “Star Collector” became the basis of the Sandy Fairfax books.
I also have a Master of Divinity and a black belt in tae kwon do.
Visit her online at SallyCarpenter.com.
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Can you walk us through your typical writing day?
Thank you for hosting me today! I don’t have a typical writing day. When I wrote Flower Power Fatality, I was working full-time. I wrote in the evenings and on weekends because that’s when I had free time. The first draft is written in longhand, because staring at a blank computer screen feels too much like a day job and doesn’t excite me creatively. I work up an outline first, although I might write out a few early scenes to get a feel for the story. For my new book, I’ve jotted ideas onto index cards so I can shift scenes around and avoid a lot of revision later. I type up my handwritten work on the computer, editing as I go. Then it’s just a matter of polish, editing, and fleshing out the characters many drafts.
Do you outline meticulously or let the characters hijack the story once you start writing?
I outline, and the characters don’t change much. In my first book, one scene got way out of control with a character and went in a wrong way. I revised it. The author is always in control of the story. An outline saves a lot of headaches later when the plot must be changed. One time I tried writing without an outline, and by page 50 I was stuck. I threw out most of what I had so far and changed the story.
How do you approach plotting a mystery? Do you start with the crime, the solution, or something else?
I start with the crime and the solution. If I know whodunnit, then I can plant red herrings and clues in the first draft instead of having to go back and revise extensively.
Which mystery authors have influenced your writing style the most?
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes stories. William Levinson and Richard Link, who created Columbo and wrote other free-standing mystery movies for TV. Lately I’ve discovered Jason Fforde and his Detective Inspector Jack Spratt of the Nursery Crimes Division, funny books for adults that involve storybook characters.
What’s one trope in mysteries that you love, and one you refuse to touch?
I write cozy mysteries with an amateur sleuth. That gives me flexibility with my main character, someone from outside law enforcement who can see things in a new way. For me, a police procedural is too rigid and ends up reading like a police report. However, cozies still need good forensics. I dislike the cozy trope of the police being dimmer than Barney Fife and arresting the first person they see right after the crime, with no evidence or interrogation. The police work is often sloppy, with bystanders stomping all over the crime scene. I also dislike the trope of the main character falling in love with the detective. I doubt that happens in real life, as police officers don’t share the details of their work with their loved ones.
The Cold War gets cozy in this retro-cozy spy caper set in 1967, a year of music, miniskirts—and murder!
Actress Noelle McNabb works at the Country Christmas Family Fun Park in Yuletide, Indiana, but she longs for the bright lights of Hollywood. Real-life drama comes her way when a stranger with a fatal gunshot wound stumbles across her doorstep. When she attempts to finds the man’s murderer, Noelle encounters a super-secret spy agency, SIAMESE (Special Intelligence Apparatus for Midwest Enemy Surveillance and Espionage). SIAMESE recruits Noelle on a quest to find missing microdots under the guidance of a street-wise agent, Destiny King. As Noelle goes undercover in a cheesy nightclub and faces the enemy in late-night chases, she uncovers family secrets and finds her moral values put to the test. Along with her pet cat, Ceebee, and the kooky residents of Yuletide, Noelle discovers it takes a village to catch a killer.
