Felony & Mayhem Press

Editrix: In what ways is writing a sequel different than writing an original? What particular challenges are there in telling a new story with familiar characters?

LC Tyler: Writing a series sometimes feels like traveling with an ever increasing number of suitcases.  You start the first book completely unburdened.  As you go on, each character brings a little more personal baggage from the earlier books.  Stretching this little analogy to (or a little beyond) breaking point, the reader becomes some sort of customs official with the right to open all of those suitcases, and to point out to you any discrepancy between what you claimed your characters were like in book 1 and what you were saying about them in book 3 or 4.  So, each new book in the series sends you scurrying back to re-read the earlier ones and check your facts.  And you are stuck with whatever dumb decisions you made before.  Of course, by that stage the characters are old friends, so you don’t mind too much carrying their stuff around.  (Elsie’s case is massive though – what does she keep in it?  Chocolate?)

Ed: The most distinctive style decision you made is setting off the opening sentences of several chapters as stand-alone paragraphs. How did you settle on that choice? What did you hope to accomplish with it?

LC: I’ve given this a lot of thought and the best I can say is: “As affectations go, it seems harmless enough”.

Ed: The first book is written mainly from Ethelred’s perspective. At least, he’s the opening narrator of The Herring Seller’s Apprentice. In Ten Little Herrings, it feels like the opposite is happening. What motivated that switch?

LC: I hadn’t originally planned to have Elsie as a narrator at all.  It just happened roughly a third of the way through the book.  Elsie sort of demanded to be allowed to speak.  In the second book, I wanted to start with an opening chapter that was, in a way, the mirror image of the opening chapter of Herring Seller – this time Elsie is in the flat and receives a mysterious phone call.  After that she hogs the narrative for a while until Ethelred can get a word in edgeways.  In the later books, I’d say the division was more or less 50:50.  I try to be fair.

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