Book Tour {Guest Post & Giveaway} Fatal Brushstroke by Sybil Johnson

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Fatal Brushstroke (An Aurora Anderson Mystery Book 1)

Cozy Mystery

Publisher: Henery Press (November 18, 2014)

Paperback: 276 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1940976495

E-Book File Size: 485 KB

ASIN: B00N265TVY

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Synopsis

A dead body in her garden and a homicide detective on her doorstep…

Computer programmer and tole-painting enthusiast Aurora (Rory) Anderson doesn’t envision finding either when she steps outside to investigate the frenzied yipping coming from her own backyard. After all, she lives in Vista Beach, a quiet California beach community where violent crime is rare and murder even rarer.

Suspicion falls on Rory when the body buried in her flowerbed turns out to be someone she knows—her tole painting teacher, Hester Bouquet. Just two weekends before, Rory attended one of Hester’s weekend painting seminars, an unpleasant experience she vowed never to repeat. As evidence piles up against Rory, she embarks on a quest to identify the killer and clear her name. Can Rory unearth the truth before she encounters her own brush with death?

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Creating a Fictional Town

by Sybil Johnson

Even though I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve spent most of my adult life in Southern California and most of that near the ocean. So, when I was deciding where to set Fatal Brushstroke, the first book in the Aurora Anderson Mystery Series, a Southern California beach city was a natural choice. I considered setting it in a real city, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to create my own.

Some writers plan out everything about their fictional town before writing a word. I’ve created mine in bits and pieces, keeping real beach cities in mind. Of course, I write everything down so I don’t forget the streets I named or where businesses are located.

To create the fictional town of Vista Beach I used the cities in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County as a model. My fictional town has a pier, a weekly newspaper, businesses and restaurants. And, of course, I had to have a gathering spot for the local tole painting community. In the real world, all of the tole painting stores near me have closed their doors, but some stores that specialize in scrapbooking supplies have survived so I chose to have Arika’s store sell both painting and scrapbooking products. I figured, in today’s economy, it would have a better chance of staying afloat.

When it came to naming streets, I looked at naming schemes of some of the cities in my area. A section of one has streets named after gems, another has streets named after famous business people. For my city, I decided names of famous surfers would do the trick. So I researched names online and checked out the local Surfer’s Walk of Fame located on a nearby pier. (The names are all available online as well, but sometimes it’s just fun to take a field trip.)

When I needed an alarm policy, I researched the policy of the city I live in and created one similar to it that would suit my story. For the name of the town’s newspaper, I looked online for names of newspapers and discovered one that included the word view. Vista Beach View had such a nice ring, I went with it.

I use the history and current events in real Los Angeles county cities as a springboard for stories. To get plot ideas all I have to do is read the local papers. I have a folder filled with articles on interesting news and events stashed away: a swarm of bees that closed a local pier, shark attacks, beach volleyball tournaments creating chaos. And the list goes on. Whenever I see something interesting in the paper, I cut it out and put it in the folder. Any time I need a bit of local color or a plot point, I consult this folder for ideas. One advantage of setting the series in a place similar to where I live: doing research often means just taking a walk.

I’ve had fun creating the town of Vista Beach. As the series progresses, I look forward to adding more people and places to my fictional town. You never know who or what will show up in it next.

About This Author

Sybil Johnson’s love affair with reading began in kindergarten with “The Three Little Pigs.” Visits to the library introduced her to Encyclopedia Brown, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and a host of other characters. Fast forward to college where she continued reading while studying Computer Science. After a rewarding career in the computer industry, Sybil decided to try her hand at writing mysteries. Her short fiction has appeared in Mysterical-E and Spinetingler Magazine, among others. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in Southern California where she enjoys tole painting, studying ancient languages and spending time with friends and family.

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