Today I welcome award-winning mystery and children’s book author, Saralyn Richard, a writer who teaches on the side. Before fulfilling her lifelong dream as an author, Saralyn worked in urban high schools as a teacher, administrator, and school improvement consultant.
Saralyn’s humor- and romance-tinged mysteries and children’s book pull back the curtain on people in settings as diverse as elite country manor houses and disadvantaged urban high schools.
Her books, Naughty Nana, Murder in the One Percent, A Palette for Love and Murder, have delighted children and adults, alike. She won the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Readers’ Choice Award in 2019 and in 2021, as well as the 2020 Silver Medal from the Readers’ Favorite and International Book Award Contests. Her books have been short-listed for numerous other awards.
Saralyn’s most recent release is A Murder of Principal. Look for her mystery/thriller, Bad Blood Sisters, in March 2022.
A member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, Saralyn teaches creative writing and literature at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and continues to write mysteries. Her favorite thing about being an author is interacting with readers like you.
SS: Welcome, Saralyn. It’s nice to have you here again. Did anything in your past push you to write about your book and the conflict(s) in it?
SR: I always wanted to write, but, at my parents’ suggestion, I detoured into a career in education. I was a teacher, administrator, and school improvement consultant, working primarily in urban high schools. I have no regrets, as my years in schools provided me with rich and varied experiences and vast numbers of relationships with diverse people. I brought a lot of these experiences to the table when I wrote A MURDER OF PRINCIPAL. Lincoln High School, like any urban high school, is fraught with challenges that come from outside, like gangs and racial/economic issues, and inside, like rivalry and grievances. I wanted to bring an insider’s knowledge to a fun mystery, set in a place that every reader can relate to—a high school.
SS: What literary pilgrimages have you made?
SR: I’m so glad to answer this question! When I was in college, I wrote an honors thesis on John Milton’s stylistic devices. I was a big fan of all things related to Milton and sixteenth-century English literature. Shortly after graduation, I travelled in England. I found Milton’s mulberry tree at Cambridge University. I saw the bust of Milton in Westminster Abbey. But I could not find where Milton was buried. I undertook a wild goose chase to find Milton’s grave, and, while Londoners readily offered opinions of where it might be, none were correct. My father-in-law, another Anglophile, helped me research this, and with his help I was able to learn that Milton was buried at his father’s church, St. Giles Without the Cripplegate. It took a second trip to England for me to visit Milton’s grave!
SS: Regardless of genre, what are the elements that you think make a great novel? Do you consciously ensure all of these are in place?
SR: As an avid reader, a writer, and a teacher of literature and creative writing, I have definite opinions about what makes a great novel. The novels that have touched me the most have the following: a.)some truth that underlies the story, that educates, elevates, or fascinates me as a reader; b.)at least one character who resonates so strongly and remains in my heart and mind long after the story has ended; c.)a facility with language, both literal and figurative, so that the prose delights with its freshness and meaning. As a writer, I work to serve these elements to my readers as I craft each story, but the more I practice writing, the more authentic my story-telling becomes, and the less I have to think about them.
SS: What are you working on at the moment?
SR: I have another standalone book, a mystery/thriller, due to be released in March, 2022. Entitled Bad Blood Sisters, this is my first novel told from a single point of view. I’m also working on the next book in the Detective Parrott Mystery Series, which takes place in Brandywine Valley, Pennsylvania.
SS: Which non-literary piece of culture could you not imagine your life without?
SR: Ihave to say that visual arts, music, and theatre are tied for first place. The creative arts run deep in my heart, and I’ve dabbled in all of them, both as a participant and observer.
SS: How has Covid-19 affected your writing? Your future writing? Your life? Your family?
SR: Covid has had a pervasive effect on my life in general and my life as a writer. I’ve had two novels released since the pandemic started, and I’ve had to do a lot of pivoting to get the word out about these books. It’s been a struggle, but the silver lining has been the many creative ways to meet with readers virtually. Being socially isolated has also provided me with more time and more focus for writing.
SS: Do the parts of your story that move your readers most move you as well? Or does your special position as Creator give you a different ear for the highs and lows of the tale?
SR: I am absolutely moved by my stories and my characters. I laugh and cry with them, I am surprised by them, I am crushed by their struggles, and I celebrate with their victories. I would not be able to portray these things authentically unless I experienced them, myself.
SS: What would a fly on the wall see if he watched you while you are writing?
SR: I actually do a lot of my writing before I sit down to write, and I find the ideas flow best when I’m exercising. On a writing day, the fly on the wall would see me walking laps, indoors or outside, and working out my next scene. Once I feel confident where I am going with the scene, I sit at my desktop computer, with my sheepdog, Nana, at my feet, and I transport myself to the “zone” of the story. I won’t stop typing until I’ve captured what I need to say.
SS: Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
SR: I call these Easter eggs, and, yes, I hope readers will delight in finding them. Sometimes they are names of characters, such as Melody Singer in A Murder of Principal. Sometimes they are bits of local color that only the people who live in a particular setting will understand. There’s a particular statue inside Lincoln High School that only certain readers will remember. The more of my books that a reader has read, the more Easter eggs she will find. I love it when a reader “calls me out” over a detail that is in one of my books.
SS: Which scene did you find the most challenging to write and why?
SR: This might sound strange, but, although I’m a mystery writer, I abhor violence. The hardest scenes for me to write are those where characters are harmed in any way or killed. I can’t stand the sight of blood, and I struggle to depict anything that might make me cringe or cover my eyes or faint. I can do it, if I have to, but it’s really hard.
SS: What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?
SR: Erik Larssen taught me to stop writing in the middle. He meant in the middle of a sentence, a paragraph, a scene. It makes picking up the writing the next session much easier. But the best writing advice I give to my creative writing students is to have fun while they are writing. If you experience joy as you write, that joy will be transferred to your readers as they read.
LIGHTNING ROUND:
SS: Describe your books in 3 words: Eye-opening, entertaining, and fun.
SS: Favorite thing about your genre? The intellectual and emotional puzzle
SS: Another genre that you would love to write: Historical fiction
SS: When writing, are you a night owl or morning person? Both—burning the candle at both ends
SS: Pantser or Plotter? planter
SS: Book you’re currently reading: Striking Range by Margaret Mizushima
SS: Your favorite guilty pleasure: Old movies
SS: Your favorite villain or serial killer is: Hannibal Lecter
SS: Your favorite detective or spy protagonist is: Harry Bosch
SS: What is your favorite thriller or mystery movie? Rear Window
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A Murder of Principal is available through:
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An excerpt from A Murder of Principal:
Head football coach, Roy Donovan, former quarterback at Lincoln in the days when the school was mostly white, lay face-down on the 50-yard line, pounding the grass and shouting. Real tears dotted his cheeks, and his voice sounded like a bleating goat. “I’m crying, sweating, bleeding on this field. I’m giving you guys all I’ve got to give. Why? Because you have potential. You have smarts. You have energy. Most of all, you have the purple and gold winning tradition inside your hearts.”
Tyrone elbowed his buddy DeWayne. He couldn’t believe the coach was doing all this. The first game was in two days, but it was no sweat. In fact, Lincoln was predicted to win it all this season. So why all the drama? Everyone loved Coach D., but this was too much.
Donovan continued, rolling over and propping himself up on his elbows. He ignored the blade of grass stuck in his mustache. “Every last one of you has got what it takes to be a winner, to get a free ride to college, to leave this neighborhood for a better life. I don’t want to see you waste it.”
A murmur went through the line of players like a brisk wind brushing tall reeds. Tyrone extended an arm to the Coach. “C’mon Coach. Get up off that ground. We ain’t gonna waste it. We ain’t gonna let you down either. We’ll be the best team you ever coached in your life.” He looked at his teammates. A chorus of affirmative shouts peppered the air.
Now standing, Donovan brushed off his pants and made eye contact. “That’s what I want to hear, team. But there’s something else you need to know.”
A worry line formed between Tyrone’s eyebrows.
“You all know we have a new principal, Mr. Stoker, right?”
“Yeah, what about him?”
“Well, he wants to see all of you be successful, too.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“In the classroom, as well as on the field. He’s going to be a stickler for making sure you stay eligible. No grades, no play. No exceptions.”
A collective groan rose from the field as this news sank in. It was always difficult to balance athletics and academics. There wasn’t a player on the team that hadn’t had grade problems in the past, Tyrone included.
Donovan went on. “So I need you to push even harder this season. Give it your all, on the field and in the classroom. We can’t afford to have any of you taken off this team for ineligibility.”
Tyrone thought of his calculus class, the formulas on the board that could have been written in Mandarin Chinese, for all he understood them. First day of school, and he already had fifty problems for homework. The security of being sought after by seventeen colleges began to fade with the reality of the challenges ahead. At this rate, he would have to put thoughts of Shayla into the deep freeze till after football season.
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