Melrose McFadden is actually the pen name of two collaborating authors – Beth Thomas and Leslie Thwaits and they’re both joining us for their turn in The Cozy 52!
Who or What is The Cozy 52? Each week I will be sharing an interview with someone involved with Cozy Mysteries – an author, blogger, Facebook Group host, podcaster, cover designer – so that we can showcase this amazing community! I hope you’ll discover some new authors, plus learn more about what goes on behind the scenes with the people who write, publish and promote cozy mysteries!
I’m excited to introduce Beth and Leslie – our first ‘team’ author here on The Cozy 52. Read on to find out more about each author, plus how they collaborate to write their stories together – talk about teamwork!
Intro
NAME: Melrose McFadden – which is a pen name! Authors are Beth Thomas (BT) and Leslie Thwaits (LT)
LIST ALL YOUR COZY MYSTERY SERIES:
- Wicked Wick Mysteries
- Major Bummer Murders
HOW ARE YOUR COZY MYSTERIES PUBLISHED? Self-published
The Q&A
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF
BT: We both are from and currently live in New Mexico. Leslie and I met in college way back in 19*cough*, when we both worked at the university’s PR department writing news releases. I have been a writer/editor in the aerospace & defense industry for 25 years. It’s getting really boring, so it’s time to move on to something creative! I have a master’s degree in creative writing and have been writing fiction off and on for 20+ years.
LT: Beth covered most of it (we’re just going to gloss over how long ago our college years were). I’ve spent most of my time dreaming of being a fiction writer but have paid the bills through technical writing and PR jobs. I feel like I’ve stepped into a dream now that self-publishing is a thing and we can skip the whole query letter step.
LIST THREE FUN FACTS ABOUT YOURSELF THAT WE WOULDN’T READ IN YOUR ‘OFFICIAL’ BIO.
BT:
- I have an ebay store with 1300+ items in it.
- I lived in Las Vegas, Nevada for 5 years and loved the 117-degree (F) days the most (47 deg C)! Now I’m in the planning stages for a whole cozy series set in Las Vegas.
- And I have a daughter who is really into cars (and she’s turning 16 in early 2022).
LT:
- I’m moving across the country from New Mexico to North Carolina in the spring. Any tips on how to deal with humidity and actual weather (we don’t get much here in New Mexico) would be greatly appreciated!
- I decorate my car for numerous holidays including bunny ears and a nose for Easter and an inflatable Grinch that sits in the passenger seat for Christmas.
- According to the numerous plaques and gifts given to me by my niece and nephews, I am indeed the world’s best aunt.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO WRITE COZY MYSTERIES?
LT: My love of mysteries started with Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden. Since I’ve become an adult, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries has been playing nonstop at my house. While I enjoy all kinds of mysteries, sometimes the dark details of hardcore mysteries would scare me. For me, cozy mysteries offer the perfect mix of mystery, fun, and community.
WHAT SUBGENRE(S) OR THEMES OF COZY MYSTERIES DO YOU WRITE?
BT: I would categorize them as Hobby cozies. The Wicked Wick series involves candlemaking and scent memory, and leans toward Culinary with a lot of food/baking references. We might start including recipes, too. The Major Bummer Murders series involves a ton of 1980s beach culture, music, fashion, arcade games, and surfing.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR COZY MYSTERY SERIES. WHAT INSPIRES YOUR SERIES?
BT: We have two series going right now and throughout 2022. The Major Bummer Murders series is set in 1986 in the fictional small town of Wahoo Beach, somewhere in the southeastern United States along a sunny, warm coast. Our hero, Tiffany Sloan, runs the huge Putts & Stuff arcade & mini-golf while trying to develop a social life and solve some murders and mysteries along the boardwalk. The inspiration for this series was specifically that scene in the original 1984 movie Karate Kid, where Daniel Larusso and Alli with an I are at the beach at night. She looks at him. He looks at her. They radiate teenage perfection and the epitome of hope, with their long lives stretched out in front of them there in the sand in the dark. For me, growing up in the desert southwest, that scene was the source from which all my hopes and dreams for adulthood grew. Luckily, I did end up living in southern California for a while – beach bonfires and all! This series stemmed from wanting to re-create these tiny hopeful moments, but in the context of a cozy mystery.
LT: The Wicked Wick Mysteries series is set in modern day in the fictional small town of Fall Haven, located in the New England area of the United States. The two protagonists, Paloma Finch and Leigh Hill, have left the corporate world and returned to their hometown to run a candle shop called Wicked Wick. The ameatur sleuths balance solving crimes within their tight knit community with running their business and embracing their creativity. The inspiration for the series is really about reinvention. That idea of being in your 40s and reevaluating your life goals and what truly matters to you versus what the world tells you should be of importance. The other main inspiration for the series is my friendship with Beth. She and I have different personalities but balance each other out and support each other through life’s good and bad moments. Plus, we didn’t see many buddy-protagonist books out there, and wanted to offer something new to readers.
WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE LOVE TO READ COZY MYSTERIES?
LT: Sometimes the world can be a dark and confusing place. Cozy mysteries allow a reader to escape to a new and usually idealized place and interact with resourceful, fun characters who have an innate sense of community. While there’s danger, there is always a happy ending where justice is served and all the answers are provided. I like to think of cozy mysteries as a salve for a wounded heart.
ASIDE FROM BEING AN AUTHOR, ARE YOU INVOLVED IN THE COZY COMMUNITY IN ANY OTHER WAY?
BT: At the moment, we are both just participating in existing communities, trying to learn as much as possible, since we are so new to the space and to self-publishing. We are planning to grow our own blog, newsletter, Facebook page, and Goodreads space over the next year or so, and develop relationships with other similar authors and publishers.
LT: Like Beth said, we are brand new to the cozy community world. We’re excited to meet new readers and authors who share our writing passion, and to learn and grow.
WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE WRITERS?
LT: Ellery Adams, Vivien Chen, Joanne Fluke, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Cormac McCarthy
MOST WRITERS WORK IN SOLITARY, SO IT’S ALWAYS INTERESTING TO MEET A WRITING ‘TEAM’. CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR PROCESS AND HOW YOU WORK ON A STORY TOGETHER?
LT: I feel like we’re blessed with different areas of writing strengths that blend well together. I tend to be more of a “panster”, aka writing by the seat of my pants, while Beth is more of a “plotter”, meticulously spending time on outlines, words and descriptions. It’s a great combination, although I’m sure we drive each other crazy at times with our different approaches.
We use Google Drive for our collaboration so that if necessary we can work together in real-time. We start by creating our book outline with plots and subplots. From there, we create a breakdown of scenes, with the broad strokes. We usually divide up the sections that play to our strengths. I tend to write a great deal of dialogue and action to move the story along and focus less on description. Beth adds all the delicious details that really make the story “pop” and ensure everything makes sense and flows. Hopefully the outcome is a great story with plenty of action and description that sounds as if it’s written in one voice.
BT: What Leslie said about each having different strengths is 100% accurate to a point it’s almost funny. Leslie is great at plotting and dialogue and moving the story forward, and writing fast. I’m great at scene setting, exposition, and introspection. I’m definitely a plotter most of the time, and Leslie is a pantser, and likewise in the Vonnegutian sense, I am a basher and she is a swooper.
And from the logistics side, how we work together is this (feel free to cut any or all of this if it’s way too much): We have 2 series going at all times. Each series schedule goes: write a month, revise a month, publish. So each series takes 2 months from start to publication. But the series are in alternating cycles. So while we are currently revising book 2 in the Wicked Wick series (code word Maple) with plans to publish around February 1, we are writing the first draft of book 2 of the Major Bummer Murders series (code name Wipeout), which we will be publishing in early March. Goals for writing days are 2,000 words total per day. The revision months include fixing plot problems, revising scenes that are a little off, and going through beta readers and a final proofing round. We typically take turns of about 3 days, then switch. So, like today, Leslie is taking over writing 2,000 words per day on Wipeout, and I’m taking over revisions on Maple. In about 3 days, we’ll swap. The series have nothing to do with each other, and one series is third person past tense and the other is first person present tense, so it’s fun to switch back and forth. Keeps us on our toes.
HOW DID YOU CHOOSE THE NAME MELROSE MCFADDEN?
BT: We first tried combining our first and last names to get something interesting, but the best we could come up with was AnnaBeth Leslie. 😀 Thomas and Thwaits only combine into Thwomts. It just wasn’t working. So we decided to just make up a fictional character to be our author. She’s feisty but trustworthy, hardworking and creative.We wanted her name to be memorable/recognizable, and we wanted it to have some report with the word “cozy” but not be too cutesy (e.g., Rosie + Cozy would be too cutesy.) So Melrose was born. MelroseCozies.com just has a ring to it. McFadden is just one of those unexplainable writer things where you throw something out there and it just sticks.
IF YOU WERE MAROONED ON A DESERTED ISLAND, WHAT 3 BOOKS WOULD YOU WANT WITH YOU?
BT: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, whichever the longest Outlander book is, and probably something practical about surviving on coconuts.
LT: The Bible, How to Survive Anything, The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW OR UPCOMING WRITING PROJECTS THAT YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH US?
BT: In 2022, we have committed to the daunting task of publishing 1 book every month.
On January 4, we published book 1 of the Major Bummer Murder series, which is now available on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09P5LB1JQ). We will publish the next books in this series in March, May, July, September, and November.
We published book 1 of the Wicked Wick series back in December 2021, so that’s now available on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09MQZV816/), and will follow up with further WW books in February, April, June, August, October, and December.
We also have a middle grade paranormal series (Middle School Medium) in progress, with book 1 almost ready to roll out.
And plans are coming together for 2023. We have two more series in outline stages, with a plan to write & publish 6 of each in 2023.
And… Leslie has a clean romance series in progress.
And… Beth has a collection of flash fiction and short stories in progress.
I think that’s it? 🙂 We are both working toward retirement from the aerospace & defense industry, and these books are our exit strategy. So we’re leaning in.
ADD ON
The Quickie 5
BT:
- FAVOURITE FOOD: Mozzarella Sticks with Ranch
- BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: Dr. Pepper
- MOST PRIZED POSSESSION: My turquoise Hydroflask water bottle with a stickers and dents all over it.
- SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer 100% no question. Heat, sunburns, sweat.
- FAVOURITE VACATION SPOT? Hawaii – Maui or Kauai.
LT:
- FAVOURITE FOOD: Sushi
- BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: Dr. Pepper
- MOST PRIZED POSSESSION: A Claddagh ring from Galway, Ireland. My mother, sister and niece took a trip there in 2019 and got rings to commemorate the trip.
- SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter. Boots, sweaters, and roaring fires in the fireplace
- FAVOURITE VACATION SPOT? Galway, Ireland
To keep up to date with Melrose McFadden online:
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS | AMAZON | BINGEBOOKS
