Cozy Library: Is the fictional Scumble River modeled after a specific Midwestern/Illinois town?

Denise Swanson: I originally set the books in Coal City, my home town. When I first felt confident I would be published, my husband said, “Can you say ‘lawsuit’?”  So, I thought I’d fictionalize the name and looked in a dictionary for a word. I liked the word “scumble” and the way  it sounded.  (Scumble is a real word -- it’s an art term that means, “to obscure.)
 

As I write the ninth book in the series, I’m finding that more and more small towns have worked their way into my subconscious and made their way on the page. I do a lot of library talks in small towns, and I really love talking to the people. Many of them end up in the books eventually, too.

CL: On your website, you say, “Skye Denison is a school psychologist, and the kind of person I'd like to be.”  What characteristics does she have that you’d like to cultivate in yourself?

DS: I guess part of what I admire about her and what I admire about young psychologists today is that they now have a vision that they can solve the problems of the world and make things better for their students. By the end of my career, I didn’t feel that way anymore. I think that’s part of it – Skye has something I had at one time and lost. The other characteristic is something I never had: Skye’s ability to stand up to people and stand up for her beliefs, not being afraid of being fired or of saying the wrong thing. Those are the two characteristics I love about her as character.

BTW: Sky has not aged at the same rate I have … I’m still aging as usual and she’s aging about one month per book, so she’s still in her early30s.

CL: You write funny … is it a natural talent or one you’ve had to cultivate? Do you think someone can learn to write funny?

DS: When I wrote the first book, I didn’t realize I was writing a humorous mystery. I guess that’s how I look at life … how I got through 20 years of being a school psychologist without punching someone out.  I would be on the Titanic saying, “let’s take a dive.” That’s how I cope with life in general …

I had written a proposal for a very serious book and sent it to my agent, who sent it out. The editors wrote back saying “this is too funny.” I thought I was writing a gritty, serious book and the editors didn’t agree, so I put that one aside. The book was about

a hostage situation in a high school – I had a bit of experience not with hostage situation, but with debriefing other psychologists who had.

I think most good writers write in their own voices. I don’t think you can take a serious person and say “write me something funny.” I think that’s what drives me crazy with so many of the writer’s associations, they think humor is fluff and writing about a serial killer is the hard thing to do. I think writing something others think is funny is hard. You’re always walking that fine line of offending people if it isn’t done right. 

 CL: Have your education and experience as a psychologist helped you in creating characters and/or motivation?

DS: Almost every one of my books has been loosely based on some situation or person that I have had experience with in the past 20 years, so the answer is “yes.” An example is The Murder of Barbie and Ken.  I was invited to one too many product demonstrations – Magic Chef, Tupperware, etc. One was a lingerie party (I would advise everyone to “just say no” to them!) I was friendly with the hostess, but we weren’t friends. When I got to the party, I learned it was one of those situations where we were expected to strip down and try on this stuff in a room with 50 of our closest friends. That hostess became Barbie and died in my next book.

My first book was based on an experience. I was working in small town on the Indiana-Illinois border.  After work, I started toward parking lot and saw what I thought were dancing bears … and we don’t have bears in Illinois. Turned out it was the principal of my school and mayor of the town having a fistfight. They weren’t landing many blows – they both had beer bellies and short arms. I learned they were fighting over the town festival. The principal wanted them to change time from the beginning of the school year -- and the mayor refused. I later learned the town was divided about the fest ival between those who made money on it and those who felt it disrupted their lives. Almost all my books have something like that as a kernel.

CL: Have you ever owned a 1957 Chevy Bel Air convertible as Skye does? Or is it your dream car?

DS: No, I wish. I’ve looked at them several time. My husband and I were in Reno in Summer 2004 and they were having “Hot Summer Nights” with classic cars. I just had to go find one and have my picture taken standing by it.

CL: I’ve heard of a lot of romance authors moving into writing mysteries, but only rarely the reverse … as you have. What did you have to change about your approach? Do you read both mysteries and romances? I’ve not known many readers who enjoy both.

DS: I have just finished revisions to a romance and sent it back to my agent to start submitting it. I started reading romances as a teenager, 13 or years old. At that time (the early 1970s), the Harlequin Romances were pretty pure – the characters barely kissed. I was frustrated with the Harlequins, knowing that people were doing a lot more than kissing. So, I attempted to write my first fiction book, a spicier romance, in 7^th or 8^th grade. Unfortunately,  was writing it in my English class and the teacher caught me. She was not amused.

She said, “If you’re going write it in class, you’re going to read it to the whole class.” She didn’t realize I was happy to read it in front of the class. I started reading a scene about French kissing and the teacher nearly hard a heart attack. She yanked me out of the class and took me to the principal, who was an ex-nun. I was almost kicked out.  I hate to think of what that teacher would say if she knew I am writing a romance.

I didn’t start reading mysteries until after I got married, mostly because Carolyn Hart and Joan Hess started writing. They were writing mysteries with strong women; their books were fun, with a bit of romance in them.

While writing the romance, I did change my approach, although I didn’t really think about it at the time. The two genres are completely different. With mysteries, the pace is really important -- along with keeping the dialogue snappy and the story moving forward. In romance, that needs to be slowed down a little. I discovered I was writing too fast … and I needed to get into the heads of the characters a lot more.  Romances need more feelings and emotions into the story. And to me, at first, slowing down the pace felt horrible. But once I found that rhythm, it was better; it’s a cha cha for mysteries, more of a waltz with romances. Plus the sex … they’re no sex in my mysteries but they’re not publishing too many romances without sex anymore.

 CL: I read somewhere that the targeted age range for “cozy” mysteries is 40-70.  Can you, as a psychologist and author, speculate why younger readers don’t (in general) go for cozies? Or is that conventional wisdom wrong?

DS: I think the problem is the term “cozy.” It takes in so many types of mysteries, everything from The Cat Who mysteries by Lillian Braun to Janet Evanovich’s books. There’s a big range of writing between those books.

I think maybe the older demographic is reading more of the really cozy books like those of Lillian Braun and Nancy Atherton (AuntDimity). But the books of authors like Charlaine Harris, Carolyn Haines, Nancy Cohen and Maddy Hunter – they’re getting as many young (20-something) readers as they’re getting older readers.

If my e-mails are anything to judge by the age range of my readers is 13 to 93. One thing I really love is seeing a grandmother, daughter and granddaughter … all reading the Scumble River mysteries. It’s happened quite often at events I do. They like having the books in common … passing them around and creating their own little book club.

CL: Who are your favorite authors?

DS: My favorites are almost all women authors … Dean James is one mail author I like. I like amateur sleuths versus police procedurals. I like humor but I don’t like books that are over-the-top humor and I especially don’t like books where women are made to look stupid in order to be funny. Other than that, my favorites cover a pretty wide range: Charlaine Harris is one of my very favorites; I love both of her series, even the vampire series.  I’m a big fan of Earlene Fowler. Someone who does humor really well without making her protagonist looking stupid is Nancy Cohen; she writes the Bad Hair Day murders – her protagonist is hair stylist down in Florida. I also like Sara Hoskinson Frommer but she doesn’t write many books, about every three years. Her characters heads an amateur orchestra in Indiana. Of course, I like books Carolyn Hart and Joan Hess and another really neat series is written by Jane Isenberg, who writes about a menopausal sleuth.

CL: Which writers most influenced your work?

DS: Depends on my age. When I was younger, I was extremely influenced by Trixie Belden. (I liked her better than Nancy Drew. Trixie was more realistic – she lived in small town, babysat and had chores to do.)

As I got older, probably in my teens, I had read everything in the children’s part of the library, so the librarian steered by to books by Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart and Daphne du Maurier -- a little romance, a little mystery together. They all influenced me.

When I became a young adult, I became more interested in mysteries. Carolyn Hart was for some time the only book of that kind I could find. I was definitely influenced by her books.

I would say that when I first started writing my own books – I was thinking Carolyn Hart, Joan Hess, Earlene Fowler, that group of writers.

CL: What are you reading now?