Carol Potenza

New Mexico Mysteries

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New Year’s Resolution: Write a Mystery Challenge from Me to You

We’ll follow Demystifying the Beats and write a mystery What made someone who’d only written scientific papers and grants want to write fiction? (That would be me) An eReader for Christmas. This gift from my sisters-in-law was amazing. It allowed me to take dozens in not hundreds of books anywhere and read anytime. Then I started to notice that the ebooks I read had major events at certain percentages in the books: 25%, 50% was usually a big one, 75%, etc. And as someone who analyzed data, this was like an epiphany. Just like in a scientific paper submitted to …

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You are invited to Book Club to Discuss “Spirit Daughters”

I’m going to copy paste the write-up up from the wonderful Charlotte Zimmerman who coordinates the Mesilla Valley Readers of Southern New Mexico Book Club BUT this is actually an international book club with members from all over the world because they use Zoom for their presentations, as well as in-person. Just a quick FYI: Charlotte (a retired librarian) and Las Cruces have been so supportive of my writing career. I’ve been invited to this book club to present all three of the Nicky Matthews mysteries, as well as to discuss topics that have an effect on authors and publishing. …

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Have you ever seen a ghost?

I have, one time. That’s all.  Even though most of my books contain supernatural or paranormal elements, and I’ve actively looked (ask me about Ghost Tours that I’ve been on and the cemeteries I’ve explored), I think my mind is too scientifically ordered. That might sound intellectually snooty, that I’m just more logic driven, but it’s not. I know people who do see and hear and experience the supernatural, and I believe them. Why are you getting this story now? We’re past October and Halloween when the internet is flooded with creepy tales and directions to creepy places. It came …

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Mystery versus Suspense. Do You REALLY Know the Difference?

Well, the modified quote from Alfred Hitchcock is a good place to start, MORE or LESS. (Heh. Basically, he had movie instead of book and audience instead of reader). MYSTERY is when the reader knows LESS than the characters in the book. A mystery plays to the intellectual, to the “little gray cells”. In a mystery, facts are unknown and it’s a puzzle to be solved a little bit at a time. You could use the blossoming of a flower as a metaphor for clues revealed or peeling layers of an onion, but I prefer layers of a parfait, like …

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Titanium, Skittles, and the Periodic Table of Death

Let’s start with titanium (Ti). This periodic table element was discovered in the late 1700s and its name is derived from Titans, pretty much because it’s as strong as steel (not an element, BTW, but an alloy of iron & carbon) but less dense (1). Ti is shiny and silvery and hard and is the ninth most abundant element on earth. It’s used to make metal alloys that are stronger and lighter for aircraft, spacecraft, and the expensive golf club your significant other is hiding from you in the trunk of their car. The global production of Ti is huge …

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