Beth Farrar Interview Published on: 22, Nov 2024

I used to read four or five books at a time when I was young. I remember thinking that one day, someone would read a book I wrote. A lofty goal, but I wanted others to escape into stories like I did.

Having a library card at a very young age was like opening a whole new world to me. I read above my age and would dive into The Famous Five, Nancy Drew and whatever else caught my eye on the library shelves. English composition was my favorite class and my English teachers always encouraged me to continue.

Writing TV scripts and movies was to see if I could write in a different medium and purely for educational reasons. It helped me keep things tight and work on dialogue. But my real love was novels, spinning stories and creating a world where characters became familiar and you wanted to sit with them in real life and have a good chin wag over a cup of coffee.

My characters evolve as I’m writing. For example, I may need an older cranky woman for a certain book, and as I’m writing, I can actually see her in my head. I give her quirks and reasons for her being cranky, and a whole backstory that readers never see. But I know who she is!

I love showing how anyone can research and find out about their own family history. How exciting it can be to be your own detective as you gather documents and evidence to prove who you are related to. And I love the friendship that the seniors group has, always willing to help each other. I’ve found that to be true in the genealogy community as a whole.

I’ve been researching my own family since before the internet, when my grandfather handed me a gold signet ring that belonged to his grandmother and a box of family photographs. I was seventeen and curious. Just as Ellie is putting together a Percyville Historical Society for the town, I wanted to put together a history of my own family.

I don’t have a routine per se. The only constant is that I write at least 1,000 words a day. That doesn’t include character research, or numerous other things relating to the book I’m working on. I’ll often pop up and grab my notebook to jot down ideas or scenes that suddenly appear. If I don’t jot them down, they’re lost!

Living Country was a monthly column in our English newspaper north of Montreal that I wrote while my children were young. It sharpened my skills of deadlines, research, and letting my imagination flow. I wrote about a number of topics, mainly bringing up children in a country like setting.

Technology and marketing!!! Being an indie author means you do everything yourself. And since my fist book was published when I was 62, learning all the ins and outs of publishing has been an interesting journey. Things change so fast, that sometimes it’s hard to keep up. My biggest promise to myself was to K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple Stupid!

The ability to sit at my laptop and look out over the lake, or bring my work to the screened in balcony in the dead of summer and not be eaten alive by mosquitoes, but still be amongst the trees, is imperative to my ability to write. There is no outside disturbance except birds and the wind. And since my books are set in a similar location, it feeds into the stories.

I’m a voracious reader, but not one specific writer has influenced me. I’d say that any writer who is able to create a series, and keep that series interesting is doing something right!

I would say to read a lot in the genre you want to write in. If you don’t have a specific genre that you feel you can write in, explore that first. Then read, read, read. And then write, write, write. The biggest thing I did was write my first three books before publishing the first. That way, if people like your book, when you publish the second one a month later, they won’t have long to wait for it! And then the third one a month after that. Momentum at the beginning. Oh, of course, learn the craft of writing!!!

When my boys were younger, I would write whenever I had a moment. Usually during the day was when I would outline, jot ideas down and do research. When they slept, I would flesh out my notes of the day. Now that they’ve moved out, I write whenever I feel like it.

Family Vows is the next book in the Ellie McLellan Genealogy Mystery series, which should be out in the new year, and as the title states, vows will be taken. I am also working on a cozy mystery series set at the Tiny House Haven community behind the Cozy Corner Café. It will include some regulars but will center on Sara, the owner of the Tiny House Haven community and the murders that she becomes involved with.

I remember seeing something on Facebook, but I don’t remember when it was. A few other authors were using your services and I was impressed by the quality of the advertising material you offered. And I’m very glad to have found you!