LYNN SLAUGHTER – The Joy of Trying New Things in Our Work (Even When They’re Not New!)

Jan 30, 2025 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller | 6 comments

Lynn is addicted to the arts, chocolate, and her husband’s cooking. After a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, Lynn earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She is the award-winning author of five young adult romantic mysteries: MISSING MOM, DEADLY SETUP, LEISHA’S SONG, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU, and WHILE I DANCED, as well as an adult mystery, MISSED CUE. Lynn lives in Kentucky, where she is working on her next novel.

MISSING MOM: Never mind the circumstantial evidence. Noelle doesn’t believe her missing mother would ever have committed suicide and undertakes her investigation. Threaded throughout the novel is the story of a young woman nearly twenty years earlier whose escape from an abusive marriage turns out to be related to Noelle’s investigation.

During my dancing days, I choreographed a romantic duet, “Beginnings,” for my husband and me with a Chopin Nocturne as accompaniment. I apologetically told one of my mentors and ballet teachers, “I guess it’s not very original to make a duet with music by Chopin.”

“But Lynn,” she said, “it’s new to you.”

She was right, and her comment made me feel better immediately. Most of my previous choreography was for my students, mostly group pieces and occasional solos. This was the first time I’d tackled a romantic duet. My husband and I were newlyweds, and that dance came from my heart. We went on to perform it for many years.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the joy of trying new things in my writing. There’s something satisfying about pushing myself out of my comfort zone, which can loosely be described as telling a story from a single point of view linearly: “This happened, and then that happened, etc.” Gradually, I tipped my toe into small variations. I began both IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU and DEADLY SETUP with scenes told from the point of view of the murderer in the act of committing the crime before launching into the meat of the novel, the aftermath of the crime as experienced by the protagonist. In LEISHA’S SONG, I began with a scene that came much later in the story and then backtracked to the inciting incident. In MISSED CUE, while most of the novel was told from the point of view of the investigating detective, I also included a handful of scenes told from the point of view of other characters.

However, my latest novel, MISSING MOM, was my most significant departure. I not only told the story of a daughter’s search for her missing mother, but I threaded another story throughout the book of a young woman nearly twenty years earlier who was caught up in an abusive relationship. Her escape from a violent marriage turned out to be related to the daughter’s investigation of her missing mom.

I didn’t even know what this was called until I read an excellent article by Jane McBride in Children’s Book Insider about “time slip novels” and realized that I’d just written one. When I described what I’d done to another writer, she said somewhat dismissively, “Oh yeah, that’s really popular right now.”

I immediately thought about my ballet teacher’s comment all those years ago. Writing a time slip novel may be a popular, often-used approach, but it was new for me! It was exciting to push myself to try something new. It helped me grow as a writer and made my work richer and more layered.

Ultimately, one of the things I love about being a writer is the same thing I love about being a dancer: There are always new ways to grow. And that’s something to savor and celebrate.

Groups I Belong to:
Sisters in Crime, including the Guppies and my Ohio River Valley chapter, Derby Rotten Scoundrels;
Mystery Writers of America;
Romance Writers of America;
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators;
Contemporary Romance Writers.

My website: https://lynnslaughter.com (includes my blog and information about all of my books, as well as buy links for them)
Universal Buy Link for MISSING MOM: https://books2read.com/u/mqOKB9