Dear Reader,
I knew the moment I added Billy from Uncle Billy’s Budget Autos to A Plain Death, the first Appleseed Creek Mystery, he would have a larger role in a future book in the series. I didn’t know he would have a dark past and be a murder suspect. Characters doing the unexpected is one the great delights of writing, and the characters in A Plain Disappearance are no exception. All the characters have astonished me in some way, even my protagonist, Chloe Humphrey. When they surprise me, that’s when I learn the most about them as characters and when I learn the most about myself as a writer.
However, even though I typically write without an outline, I know where some key characters will end up. One example is Curt Fanning. I hope he surprised readers in this novel, but I knew the position he would be in by the end of this book before I finished writing A Plain Death. I hope you agree with me that it’s the place he needs to be.
In interviews, I am consistently asked what the theme is in my writing. I answer this question with “I don’t write to themes. I don’t have a theme in mind.” This is true. My goal as a writer is to tell a story. That is all. There is no big message I am trying to express to the reader. However, when I finished A Plain Disappearance, I surprised myself yet again because I realized I wrote a theme into this series even if it was unintentional. The series’ theme is forgiveness. The forgiveness is between the English and Amish in Appleseed Creek, between the Troyers and their children who left the Amish way, between Timothy Troyer and his past, between Becky Troyer and her ambitions, between criminals and their victims, and we hope between Chloe and her father. Only future novels will tell how the story ends for Chloe and her father.
May the characters make you smile, the mystery raise your suspicions, and the romance touch your heart.
Blessings and Happy Reading!
Amanda Flower