Question: Do authors write to please themselves or their audience? For me, it's both.

My sleuth Bridget O'Hern started out in DEATH STALKS THE KHMER (DSTK) with Narvik, a Norwegian elkhound, as her companion. In writing my protagonist's backstory, I described how Narvik, a natural therapy dog, helped Bridget to overcome a deep depression. Bridget fell into that dense gray hole after her husband left her, remarried and then keeled over with a fatal heart attack. When "Bridg" crawled out of that hole, she began to "seek her bliss." But on the road to bliss, Bridg stumbles across bodies and being resourceful and helpful, she solves the mystery of how and why they came to be in such a spot.

Now to the rest of the answer about "pleasing self, or pleasing the audience." The answer is pleasing the audience or readership.

Bridget after all is a series character, and following her debut in DSTK, I found that she had a small but avid readership of Norwegian elkhound owners. As one reader said, "Thank goodness. Finally, there's a mystery series that has a Norwegian elkhound in it and not just a Northern breed! We don't have to make do, any more."

Unfortunately, I found all that out after I'd written book two DEATH COMES TOO SOON (DCTS). In the opening chapter, I have Bridget leaving Narvik at home with her friend and sidekick C.J. That would never do! I'd lose my small fan club. So I rewrote DCTS and have Narvik happily accompanying Bridget to Seaview, a fictitious small town on the Oregon coast. Now, Narvik is an integral part of Bridget's life. However, she won't be a "talking" dog who solves crimes. She'll leave that to her mistress.

So far, so good, the dog is now a regular in the series, but then a thought worms its way to the surface of my mind. A dog is nice, but wouldn't having a cat be even better? The suggestion was probably mental telepathy sent by my very large Applehead (Traditional) Siamese, named "Ash," who sits by my elbow as I type. Ash thinks it's obvious that a cat should be added to Bridget's single household. So in DCTS, a cat is found in a burned-out building. The cat will be nursed back to health by none other than Narvik in book three DEATH TOURS IN IRELAND. . . of course. There's some kind of feline logic to that.

And, yes, in DCTS as Bridg strides toward bliss, she helps solve a couple of murders and meets a very intriguing interim police chief. Oh dear me . . . is Narvik going to have to nurse him back to health? Oh the quandaries of the mystery writer.

I do wish my characters would settle down and behave.

Having fun from the Pacific Northwest,

Pat

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