WHICH COMES FIRST THE TITLE OR THE STORY? by Paty Jager
I have to say, the title for my current release, Artful Murder , came before I started writing or had the story completely figured out. The only thing I knew about book 10 in the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series was where Shandra would be and what she would be doing. In the previous book, Haunting Corpse , Shandra had visited Warner High School snooping on a teacher and potential suspect for that book. Her reason for being at the school was to see about volunteering in their art department. I took that little tidbit that at the time of writing book 9 I didn’t realize would be the catalyst for book 10. However, when I finished and needed a story for book 10, I thought, Shandra needs to go volunteer. 1) It would get her out of Huckleberry where there had been quite a few murders for a small community. 2) It gave me a new pool of characters to focus on. 3) She wou...