When Tammy Kaehler discovered the racing world, she was
hooked by the contrast between its top-dollar, high-drama competition, and
friendly, family atmosphere. Mystery fans and racing insiders alike have
praised her award-winning Kate Reilly Mystery Series (Dead Man’s Switch,
Braking Points, Avoidable Contact, and Red Flags), and
Tammy takes readers back behind the wheel in her fifth entry, Kiss The
Bricks. She works as a freelance writer in Southern California, where she
lives with her husband and many cars. Find out more: www.tammykaehler.com.
Don’t Judge a Book by Its
Hook
I turned the television on last weekend to watch the
Kentucky Derby. It’s not totally out of character: I grew up riding horses and
went to plenty of races, since I lived a mile from a horse racetrack. But as
another auto racing fan said on Twitter, “I’m watching the Kentucky Derby,
because I like all racing.”
But these days, my racing of choice typically has
hundreds of horsepower, not just one (sorry, that’s the easy joke). And the races
I watch or attend usually last longer than a couple minutes. But still, I turned
on the Derby—while simultaneously searching for the article I’d seen earlier in
the day: Derby storylines.
See, it’s easy to say “Tammy likes racing” or “I write
about racing.” That’s the quickest and most memorable hook about my mystery
series, and I do a lot to promote my racing approach (you may have seen me in
racing team gear at a mystery convention). But of course the simplified message
never tells the whole tale.
Because as much as it’s about racing for me, it’s more about
the stories. Last weekend, I wanted
to know the details behind the Derby runners and teams. When I’m at an auto
race, I wander the paddock looking for the buzz around the drivers and teams. I
like setting everyday characters, problems, challenges, wins, and losses against
the backdrop of a gritty but glamorous pursuit. Racing is a microcosm of the
real world, with every type of person from crook to hero to celebrity—and the
added drama of a lot of money and life-or-death stakes.
I write about auto racing like Dick Francis wrote about
steeplechasing. Like Cara Black writes about Paris. Like Patricia Cornwell
writes about a medical examiner. Like Michael Connelly writes police
procedurals. That’s not all our books
are, but those are the settings for (hopefully) universal stories.
What I choose to write about is a woman who’s trying to
be successful in an uber-competitive, male-dominated arena. She’s got to deal
with sexism, the struggle to represent herself well to the rest of the world
(especially to sponsors that will fund her racing), and the pressure to be
outstanding at her job. Don’t tell me that’s not a universal story! Of course,
where Kate Reilly differs from the rest of us (I assume) is that she ends up
needing to investigate murders and other crimes.
But all of that took a paragraph to describe, and when
you have ten seconds to tell someone what you write, you go with the hook—and
don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful to have one that stands out. And I’m guilty,
too! I’ve caught myself thinking, “I don’t want to read about beermaking, I
don’t like beer” and “I don’t want to read about Cleveland, that doesn’t sound
exciting.”
But I’m getting better at the snap judgments. The
decisions made based only on the surface information. I’m trying to dig deeper,
too. I’m trying to see beyond the hook (or the cover) and find out more about
the story. Because I know there are a lot of great stories out there, and I
want to read them all…
So tell me, do you find yourself making the same kind of
judgments about a hook or a cover? What influences you to check out a book?
