Love, or rather the complications that may arise from it, is one theme in the books from today’s featured author, Lydia Lane. Lydia’s debut cozy, Mai Tais & Murder, stars recently jilted Tessa Tidwell who, despite a failed wedding, decides to embark on her honeymoon anyways. The solo trip brings her to the Golden Hibiscus Resort, where she finds herself ensnared in murder. In the below interview, Lydia chats her books, social media, the publishing process, and more.
Connect with Lydia on Instagram and Facebook, and her website (don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter, The Tip-Off!). Buy Mai Tais & Murder today, and preorder Dying for Daiquiris, which comes June 2022.
Hi, Lydia, thanks for joining! Huge congratulations on last month’s launch of Mai Tais & Murder, the first installment in your Beach Cocktail Cozy Mystery series. This series opener follows recently brokenhearted sleuth Tessa Tidwell and wealthy, four-times-married Sibyl Vine as they solve a murder at a beach resort. Where did you find inspiration for these strong female characters? What do you think makes a great, strong protagonist?
Sibyl actually came to me first—she kind of appeared, fully formed, in my imagination as a combination of Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development and Mrs. White from the 1970s movie Clue. I was also inspired by something Cher said once. Her mom told her she should find a rich man, and Cher replied, “Mom, I am a rich man.” I wanted the character of Sibyl to embody that energy.
And Tessa has been kicking around in my mind for a while. I’ve always loved the word “jilted,” and it’s fallen out of use! It calls up Charles Dickens’ Miss Havisham, who is such a fascinating character. I kind of thought, “What would Miss Havisham do in 2021 if she wasn’t, in fact, anything at all like Miss Havisham?” So instead of sitting around in her wedding gown for the rest of her life, Tessa went on her honeymoon.
As far as great protagonists, I love a protagonist who thinks. My favorite characters are always very smart, very sharp people (usually women), and I hope my characters read that way, too.
Also, it should go without saying, but a strong protagonist actually, well, does things. I am very conscious of making sure that my protagonist is the one driving the action forward; she’s assisted (sometimes very significantly) by other characters, but ultimately, she is making the choices and dealing with the consequences that drive the narrative forward.
I love how you infuse humor into your writing, whether it be in your book(s) or on your website/social media. (I especially love Sibyl’s advice essays, what a fun read!) Do you have tips for writers looking to inject humor into their work? Do you think it’s important to have humor in a cozy mystery?
Oh, gosh, humor is a tough one! Here’s how I see it—I am the funniest person I know, and that is a gift I give myself. Does anyone else think I’m funny? Possibly not. (Probably not?)
But I make myself laugh all the time, and it’s such a joy to be able to do so. It’s fun to be with myself, and I highly recommend everyone experiment with being their own personal comedian.
Now, to the writing, because the above is general life advice—I didn’t set out to write a humorous mystery, honestly, because we’ve all heard how difficult it is to be funny. For me, it started with Sibyl, and I just wrote the things she said. And when I’d go back and read what I’d written, I’d laugh out loud because it wasn’t me who said it, it was Sibyl, and I just thought some of the things she said were hilarious.
And then I relaxed a little bit. Because, frankly, I had been afraid to try to write funny stuff. But I found Sibyl funny, and I thought, “What if I just write what comes to mind, and if it falls flat, no big deal, it’ll be cut. At the very least, I can try to amuse myself.”
So that’s what I do—I try to amuse myself. I try to make myself laugh. Sometimes it translates for other people, sometimes it doesn’t, but I think I’m hilarious. And in the first draft, that’s all that matters.
The topic of humor in cozies is interesting because humor doesn’t seem to be a core element of the genre as most people understand it. It’s important in what I want to read because I like to laugh, but I don’t know that most readers would agree that humor is key to a cozy. It’s just down to preference, right? There isn’t a right or wrong answer about what people enjoy. One of my dear friends likes to say, “Just let people enjoy things,” and that’s the view I take. If I pick up a cozy that is sweet and straightforward without much humor, it just isn’t for me. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong or bad; it just isn’t for me.
And to take it even further, people like different kinds of humor! I really enjoy smart, snappy dialogue, while other people might like more physical, slapstick comedy. There’s room for all of it.
Between your social media, book covers, and writing style, you’ve cultivated a strong personal brand. How do you plan your social media? Do you have any tips for marketing, finding a personal voice/style, et cetera?
The way we spend our time is the way we spend our lives, so I’m very, very intentional about how I spend my time and how many things get my focus.
My approach to social media (and to life in general), is to pick something and focus. Cut out all the rest of the noise. Be relentless in reducing the demands on your attention.
I am a big believer in scheduling my time—that includes my social media planning and execution, as well as my writing schedule and any other goals I’m pursuing at the time. In practice, I plan my social media about a month in advance, and I block approximately 2-3 hours over the course of a few days to draft, design, and schedule the posts. (And when something goes onto my calendar, it is a commitment to showing up. I don’t take this lightly!)
I am typically not on social media very often (I go through waves of activity), so if I relied on off-the-cuff posting, my readers would only hear from me once or twice a month for months at a time, and then three times a day for a week. So, scheduling is key.
I’m only active on Instagram. I have a TikTok with two videos, and then I just decided against putting my time there. Could I grow faster if I was on BookTok and Twitter and Facebook and all the things? Yeah, probably. But that’s not the way I want to live my life. I don’t want to be constantly thinking of content production and posting schedules. That’s mental energy I want to be putting into my books.
Focus is the key to momentum. It’s the key to getting the energy of your life going in a particular direction. So for my social media, that means one platform and a once-monthly commitment to showing up and doing the work.
Since this is your debut mystery, is there anything you have learned about the writing and/or publishing process?
I’ve learned so much about writing and publishing over the course of this book, but I think what’s more important is what we learn about ourselves through the process of creation. That’s probably a question for another time though!
What I learned in the process:
- Get help. Hiring a developmental editor took the book from mediocre to something I am very, very proud of. I highly recommend this, especially for newbies like I was.
- Feeling the emotional pain of humiliation and embarrassment will not kill you. Getting difficult feedback from my editor and negative reviews haven’t killed me yet. One-star reviews are something you’ll have to make peace with experiencing if you want to be an author. Just be willing to experience those negative emotions, and you’ll become unstoppable.
- Put your writing schedule on your calendar and commit to it. The key to this is not to put anything on your calendar that you aren’t 100% committed to showing up for. Commit to producing a specific result – for me, it’s 1000 words a day – instead of vaguely saying “work on book.” You’ll be amazed at what you produce.
- Just trust the process. I know everyone says that, but it really is magical when you let go and move on to something else while asking your brain to work on the problem. That’s what I do when I encounter a plot issue. Instead of freaking out (which used to be my default setting), I instruct my brain to figure it out. I literally say, “OK, I want you to figure out Plot Hole A, and we’ll reconvene tomorrow morning.” Magically, I have an answer the next day. I now have faith in my subconscious to work out the things my conscious brain is struggling with.
And better than any advice I can offer, just follow Andy Warhol’s: “Don’t think about making art. Just get it done. Let other people decide whether it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make more art.”
Just for fun—if you were to put together a playlist for your Beach Cocktail series, what songs would you pair with the book to set the mood?
Oh, this is such a fun question! I drafted this book almost entirely to a Spotify playlist called Tropical House Instrumental. Happy, beachy vibes!
Lastly, let’s talk book two, Dying for Daiquiris. What can we expect from Tessa and Sibyl in this next installment? Can you give us any sneak peaks (plot, drama, murder)?
The Beach Cocktail series will have at least three books; the second two will both be out in 2022.
Dying for Daiquiris sees all the main characters back at the Golden Hibiscus Resort, with things kicking off with a non-murder crime. But don’t worry, a dead body does materialize in Act 1. We also dig more into some of Sibyl’s backstory, with an appearance by a new character who was briefly mentioned near the end of Mai Tais & Murder.
I also have an idea for a new series that I’m itching to write but am sitting on until the Beach Cocktail books are out. There are tarot cards and a runaway wife in this new series. . . . More to come on that!
Thanks so much to Lydia for the interview. Sleuths, I hope you enjoyed it! If you aren’t already subscribed, please be sure to sign up for the Cluesletter and get author features like this alongside other mystery goodies, delivered to your inbox every other Tuesday.