Category: Speculative Fiction

I’m so excited to have my favorite Cozy Mystery author

and now dear friend

V. M. Burns visit me here on my blog.

She talks about how she came to write such wonderful mysteries

and gives fellow aspiring authors the wisdom of her experience.

Why cozy mysteries?

I’ve loved cozy mysteries for as long as I can remember.

From Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew to Agatha Christie, I love reading and figuring out whodunit.

How did you come to write cozies?

The transition from reading cozies to wanting to write them was subtle.

I don’t recall saying, “one day, I’m going to write cozy mysteries.”

However, there were two glaringly obvious clues which pointed to career as a writer.

First, I mentally altered book/movie endings.

For as long as I can remember, I indulged in what I called, “my imaginings.”

If I finished a book and didn’t like the ending, I changed it.

If I watched a movie and thought the characters should have behaved differently, I “imagined” an alternative.

Or, if I read a book and wanted to know what happened next, I imagined the sequel.

At the time, I had no idea this would lead to a life as a writer.

I thought everyone came up with ideas for books/movies or thought out alternative endings and sequels.

Didn’t everyone standing in a crowded elevator imagine how someone could be murdered?

In addition to an active imagination, I also kept a mental “I wish there was a book” list.

I wish there was a book about a woman who owned a mystery bookstore who solved mysteries.

I wish there was a book about a policeman and his godmother who solved murders.

I wish…well, you get the idea.

One day, I told a screenwriter friend, one time too many, that she should write a screenplay about…

That’s when she suggested I should write it myself.

Once the seed was planted, I couldn’t dig it out.

I got every book I could find about writing.

Initially, I wrote screenplays and children’s books. I attended conferences and workshops and I wrote.

I completed four screenplays and two children’s books.

Unfortunately, no one was interested in producing my screenplays or publishing my children’s books. I got a lot of rejections.

I still read cozies and decided to write my first cozy screenplay, “Agatha and the Mysterious Museum Murder.”

Yep, no one was interested in that one either.

Hollywood is hard to break into, especially from Indiana.

A series of events led me to the Maui Writer’s Conference where I met book authors and publishers.

At the conference, I pitched an idea for a book to a big five publisher and guess what?

She liked it.

The only problem, I hadn’t finished the book. So, I went home and wrote my first cozy mystery.

Thankfully, I write quickly. So, I finished the book and thought, my road to publication was secure.

Uh…no. The publisher only accepted manuscripts submitted by an agent.

I sent queries to agents and got rejection after rejection.

Eventually, I got an agent who sent my manuscript to the big five publisher, who rejected my manuscript.

How did you keep going in the face of rejection upon rejection?

At this point, I knew what I wanted to do with my life.

I wanted to be a mystery writer.

So, I continued to send queries.

What was your road to publication like?

“I revised my manuscript and I wrote the next book in the series.

Years passed and I racked up a lot of rejections.

Obviously, I needed to do something different.

One day, while glancing at the bio of one of my favorite cozy mystery writers, Victoria Thompson, I noted she was an adjunct professor at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA.

Ever heard of it? Me neither.

A little research showed that Seton Hill had a low residency MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction.

I applied and was accepted. That’s where I found my Tribe.

I learned how to write and I rewrote my book.

Since I write quickly, I even started a new mystery series (Mystery Bookshop Mystery).

MFA degree in hand, I sent queries to agents, editors and publishers and guess what?

I got more rejections.

Nevertheless, I kept writing.

Eventually, I got an agent who sold the second manuscript to a publisher who asked if I’d write a proposal for another mystery series.

Heck, yeah.

I also sold my first book to a different publisher.

When all was said and done, I was under contract to write fourteen books!

Yes, you read that correctly, 14!

What advice would you give other aspiring writers?

So, what’s the key to my publication success?

I kept writing. I didn’t give up because of a rejection or two or three hundred.

My road to publication was long and rocky with lots of bends, but persistence pays off.

My advice to aspiring authors, don’t give up and no matter what happens, just keep writing.

V. M. Burns author page  — check out V. M. Burns’ author page to see all her books!

And check out her own blog here V. M. web site