Barbara Early is…On the Writing Block!

Sherry Ickes

6 days ago

4 min read

I can hear the TV Show’s theme song playing in my head with this next author…who also happens to have a famous co-writer named Jessica Fletcher! Let’s give a warm welcome to Barbara Early…

Barbara Early earned an engineering degree, but after four years of doing nothing but math, developed a sudden allergy to the subject and decided to choose another occupation. Before she settled on murdering fictional people, she was a secretary, a schoolteacher, a pastor’s wife, and an amateur puppeteer.

She and her husband live in Western New York State, where she enjoys cooking, crafts, classic movies, campy vintage television, board games, and spending time with her two granddaughters. Before teaming up with Jessica Fletcher, she wrote the Vintage Toyshop Mystery series and the Bridal Bouquet Shop Mysteries (as Beverly Allen).

What is your ultimate goal as an author?

It took me a while into my writing endeavors to realize that I did have an ultimate goal. Unlike many authors who knew they wanted to be a writer from the moment they learned to hold a pencil, my journey began as more of a hobby. My daughter had just gone off to college, leaving me with an empty nest. At first, writing was a distraction, something to fill the time (ironically similar to Jessica Fletcher who began writing after the death of her husband).

But then I became fascinated with the process and began collecting books on writing. I attended writing groups and workshops and conferences. I was unsure of how far my writing would take me, but I did enjoy the journey.

My ultimate goal came into focus, though, around the time my mother was dying of ALS. I took care of what I needed to, but when I was exhausted and overwhelmed, I’d curl up in bed with a good book. I was reading through Lilian Jackson Braun’s Cat Who series at the time. And it was much-needed therapy for me, just for a little while, to be transported to a cozy place with interesting people—and a cat or two.

So whether a reader just needs a pleasant diversion for a few hours—or a temporary reprieve from the grimmer circumstances of life, my ultimate goal became to provide that respite to others.

Do you have a writing schedule, or do you write whenever you can squeeze it in?

I’ve come to learn that if one only writes when one has time to write, that one will likely never finish a novel. I do my best to keep a schedule, beginning mid-morning, after I’ve had a chance to get my brain in gear (and after rewatching a couple of episodes of Murder, She Wrote to keep the voices in my head), until sometime mid- to late-afternoon, when either my brain or my eyes refuse to focus.

How much research do you conduct for your storylines?

Much depends on who is in the book and where it takes place. Writing in the Murder, She Wrote world means that it’s imperative that I know and understand the characters. I’m happy to say that I was a fan long before I started writing for the series. I’m constantly rewatching the television series and yes, I’ve read all 63 books in the series, some more than once. For Murder, She Wrote: Murder Most Trivial, set in LA, I used a few locations that I had visited in past trips to the area, but others I had researched online. I’m often visiting restaurant websites and Facebook pages, “walking” for miles through the street views of Google Maps, and watching You-tube videos of other people’s vacations.

As for researching murder plots? I’m afraid those are original. My family is even more afraid. (Just teasing! They’re very supportive.)

Do you always know who the killer is, or do your characters surprise you in the end?

I’m a plotter, so I usually have an idea of who the killer is. The oddest phenomenon happens at times, when I’m writing the climax of the book, when I’m so into the story that the words are flying from my fingers. Just when my sleuth is about to reveal whodunnit, sometimes a different killer steps forward. The first time this happened, I just stared at the words on the page, then tried to change it back. But the characters kept insisting, and eventually I went along with it, and I think it made for a more provocative and twisty ending.

Now I love it when that happens! Although I have tried to figure out why. The best theory that I’ve come up with is that, when outlining, I only have thumbnail sketches of who the characters are. Once I’m far into the book, I know them better, their motives and backstories and secrets, and for the revelation to grow organically from that knowledge often makes for a better story. So I’ve gone from a strict plotter to a mixed plotter/pantser.

Image of a Jessica Fletcher doll with Murder Most Trivial

What is Murder Most Trivial about?

The newest delightful entry in the USA Today bestselling Murder, She Wrote series, featuring mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher.

Jessica Fletcher and friends Seth Hazlitt and Maureen and Mort Metzger team up for pub trivia and crush the competition, then are stunned to learn that the prize is a chance to appear in a five-day trivia tournament filming in LA.

No one expects life-or-death stakes! But on day one of the tournament, a crew member is murdered. Who would benefit from derailing the show? Jessica has to come up with the ultimate answer.

In a metafictional twist, the investigation takes Jessica and the gang to the filming locations of their favorite mystery shows, where they discuss how Columbo, Monk, or Jim Rockford might go about solving the case.