Home » Never Say “Never!” Our Passions as Writers May Take Us to Unexpected Places by Lynn Slaughter

Never Say “Never!” Our Passions as Writers May Take Us to Unexpected Places by Lynn Slaughter

May 18, 2026 | By Women Writers Women Books | Reply More

My fiction writing journey began with writing for young adults. Members of my Sisters in Crime chapter routinely referred to me as the “young adult writer” of their group. I was fine with that. I love writing YA fiction. Adolescence is such an intense, dramatic, perfectly awful and wonderful period in our lives in which we’re trying to sort out fundamental issues of identity. Who are we? Who do we want to become? And who do we want to love? Besides, teenagers have always been my favorite age group to work with.

I’m also a longtime mystery and romance fan, so not surprisingly, my first four novels were all stand alone, coming-of-age romantic mysteries. I didn’t expect to move into writing for any other age groups.

But then…a writer friend, who knew about my background as a professional dancer, encouraged me to write a short story for Malice Domestic’s anthology, Murder Most Theatrical. I got this idea for a story about a ballerina who died suspiciously onstage.

The autopsy revealed no clear cause of death for the otherwise healthy dancer. Caitlin O’Connor, the homicide detective in charge of the case, not only had to figure out who killed the ballerina, but how they did it. Having written exactly one other short story in my life, “Woman in the Dugout” in seventh grade, I was thrilled when “Missed Cue” was included in the anthology.

However, I didn’t feel as though I were finished with fleshing out the story. The confines of short fiction didn’t allow me to go deeply into character development, and I especially wanted to explore the character of the flawed though dedicated homicide detective. So, I expanded the story into a novel. By the time I finished the project, MISSED CUE, my first adult novel, Caitlin had developed into a much more fully developed character, and the identity of the murderer had actually changed.

After writing MISSED CUE, I returned to my roots and wrote another young adult novel, MISSING MOM. I later learned it was called a “time slip” novel, in that it involved characters from two different time periods whose stories intersected. This novel was especially close to my heart, as it involved a young woman grieving the loss of her mother, as well as issues I feel passionately about, including domestic violence and parental sexual abuse.

I also continued working on a recently released identity-swapping tale called THE BIG SWITCH: VARNEY AND CEDRIC. Varney and Cedric’s story is very far from the land of contemporary realistic romantic mystery I’ve inhabited. Varney is a kid vampire who hates the taste of blood and Cedric is a miserable human bully who thinks vampires are cool. When a friendly witch gives the boys a chance to swap identities on a trial basis, the two eagerly agree. I never planned on venturing into writing a middle grade fantasy novel. But I fell in love with these characters and empathized with their longing to find a place to belong.

Meantime, though, I didn’t want to let go of Caitlin O’Connor. I’d always written stand alone books, but I wanted to write another story about Caitlin in which I could explore her continued growth and development on and off the job. And so, I wrote DEATH IN THE END ZONE, my first romantic mystery which has nothing to do with the performing arts and lots to do with my interest not only in Caitlin but in issues such as the sexual abuse of minors by adults, alcoholism, and homophobia.

We writers are often advised to stick to our “brand” to build a dedicated readership of folks who know what to expect from our work. From a marketing perspective, that may well be good advice. But, like other cross-genre writers, my passions and interests have taken me to different places and led me to grow and develop as a writer in unexpected ways.

And for that, I am deeply grateful.

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Lynn Slaughter is addicted to chocolate, the arts, and her husband’s cooking. Her family tree is peppered with musicians, and like Caitlin, she’s a huge jazz fan. Music has always made her want to move, and she ended up becoming a professional dancer and dance educator. When injury meant it was time to find a new dream, she earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She is a Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards silver and bronze medalist, a Chanticleer International Awards finalist, an Imadjinn Award winner, and a Silver Falchion Award winner. The ridiculously proud mother of two sons and grandmother of five, she lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where she is at work on her next novel and is an active member and former president of Derby Rotten Scoundrels, her local Sisters in Crime chapter. She loves hearing from readers and hopes you’ll visit her website.

DEATH IN THE END ZONE

Homicide detective Caitlin O’Connor is once again faced with a puzzling case: the murder of two star football players whose bodies are discovered in a compromising position in the end zone of their high school’s football field. While Caitlin identifies several suspects who might have had reasons to want to harm the boys, no clearcut evidence points to the culprit. She’s worried that she may get pulled off the case if she can’t figure out who killed the boys.