Author Francelia Belton joins me today to promote Festive Mayhem 3. True, the parameters provided to participate in this year’s anthology were a tad . . unusual. Still, a writer’s muse can be obstinate even when faced with the simplest idea. Good thing my friend was up to the task. 🙂 Please welcome Francelia Belton as she explains what led her to write “Black Easter.” ~ Donnell
Unexpected Ideas From Dependable Places
By Francelia Belton
Author Francelia Belton
It was that time of year again. Time to write another holiday story for Festive Mayhem. It’s the third year that several members of the Crime Writers of Color group got together to publish a holiday-themed anthology of short stories. I decided to participate again because I hadn’t written a new story for over a year and was afraid of letting my dream of writing 1000 stories in my lifetime slip away. So the announcement of Festive Mayhem 3 was the nudge I needed to begin again.
The interesting element about this year’s anthology was the holidays were not limited to the last quarter of the year. That meant any holiday was fair game. I ended up picking Easter, which if you had asked me six months ago, I’m not sure I would have thought Easter was the perfect backdrop for a holiday crime. There’s the pastel hats and dresses, the colorful Easter eggs, and of course, cute bunny rabbits. Nothing about those things scream this is a crime scene waiting to happen!
No, Easter, would not have been my first choice. But what holiday was I going to do?
I didn’t know, and that was the problem.
My mind was blank, then I started panicking. I had nothing. Maybe I had lost my writing mojo. Maybe I was one of those writers who only had a few good ideas in them and that was it. Maybe it was time to admit what I subconsciously feared: I was just a wannabe writer.
In my desperate fretting, wondering if I would be able to pull this off, all I kept playing over and over in my mind was that I didn’t want to resort to the typical fall or winter holidays. You know, drop back into one of the old standbys. I absolutely knew I wanted to be different in that way. So, out came the ideas for other holidays throughout the year.
Valentine’s Day? Love gone wrong. Predictable and cliché.
Fourth of July? Eh, maybe, but fireworks and parades, so what?
And I had already done Halloween for last year’s anthology, so that was off the table.
That’s when I decided I needed my lifeline, my heroine of wordsmithing, my writing BFF. She would point me in the right direction!
I learned in a lecture about writing a holiday crime story that the holiday has to be essential to the crime. The crime could have only happened because of the holiday.
When I approached my friend, I gave her that guideline and said, “What’s up? What would be the perfect holiday and crime that would fit that scenario?”
She came back with, “You see in-laws during holidays you wouldn’t typically see any other time of the year. Perhaps you’re obligated to go to a sibling’s home for Thanksgiving.”
And yep, she’s right about that. However, I didn’t want to do Thanksgiving because A) that is the absolute first thing people think of when it comes to family conflicts and holidays, and B) we’re back into the fourth quarter holidays again.
So I had to think, what other traditional holiday is there where relatives get together other than Thanksgiving or Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or…?
That’s when Easter popped into my head.
But remember what I said about cute bunny rabbits? Why would anyone be murdered over cute bunny rabbits bringing decorative eggs and candy to sugar-addicted kiddies?
Well, the mind started percolating, and a character knocked on my mental door. And yep, there are all kinds of reasons to want to kill someone and it doesn’t matter what time of the year it is.
Fun fact: While researching to make sure ordinary families broke out the Easter Bunny costume in the year I set my story, I came upon this page: 57 Vintage Easter Bunny Pics That Will Give You Nightmares
If all Easter Bunny costumes were really this awful, then I’m surprised there weren’t more Easter Bunny killings through the decades. LOL.
About the author: Francelia Belton’s love of short stories came from watching old Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents television shows in her youth. Last year she published a collection titled, Crime & Passion: Three Short Stories, and her fiction has appeared in various publications, including “Dreaming of Ella” in the Denver Noir and “Red Riding in the Hood” in Bizarre Bazaar.
Her short story, “Knife Girl” was a finalist in the 2021 ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition and a semi-finalist in the 2021 Outstanding Screenplays Shorts Competition. “The Brotherhood of Tricks and Treats” was published in Festive Mayhem 2: Seven Holiday Culinary Cozy Mysteries and was a quarterfinalist in the 2022 ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition.
She is an active member of Sisters in Crime and has served as President (2019-2021) and Vice President (2015-2018) for the Colorado chapter. She is also an active member of Mystery Writers of America and Crime Writers of Color.
You can read more of her stories at https://Francel.Be/Writing-Stories.
Or connect with her on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/Francelia.Belton/
https://www.facebook.com/Francelia.Stories
https://www.goodreads.com/Francelia
“Black Easter” is Francelia Belton’s latest short story appearing in Festive Mayhem 3.
About the book:
Festive Mayhem 3
Seven crime writers of color have teamed up for the third year running to offer you the gift of escape this holiday season. This limited-edition collection includes brand-new stories set throughout the year, as well as some reissued seasonal favorites. Whether you enjoy humorous cozy mysteries with plucky amateur sleuths, or hard-boiled noir starring gritty private investigators, this anthology is for you.
What you’ll find inside:
- “Black Easter” by Francelia Belton. In 1967, a militant husband and father tries to push his political views onto his wife’s conservative family at the annual Easter social—and things don’t end well.
- “A Deadly First” by Delia C. Pitts. Thanksgiving takes a fatal turn when New York private eye SJ Rook finds himself thrust into his first murder case in this darkly atmospheric tale of noir. (Originally published with the first Festive Mayhem.)
- “Whiteout Wipeout” by Paige Sleuth. A lost cat leads Cherry Hills, Washington, animal rescue maven and amateur sleuth Imogene Little to the body of a murdered man at the start of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend.
- “The Troublesome Rich Girl” by Stella Oni. When Elizabeth agreed to look out for the rebellious teenager Tayo Adelaja and her cousin Angelica, she enlisted the help of the Mews hotel’s social media obsessed apprentice, Rosie O’Toole—only for the three to disappear!
- “Trace of Lace” by Barbara Howard. On the eve of his wedding day, Milo has to save his bride when news of a serial killer near Birston College puts the campus on lockdown.
- “A Christmas Tip” by Elizabeth Wilkerson. A surprise Christmas bonus becomes too tempting for Philadelphia nursing assistant Brianna Byers to resist—even if accepting requires some skillful skirting of the law. (Originally published with the first Festive Mayhem.)
- “Serenade for Suicide” by Carolyn Marie Wilkins. The melody turns deadly when music teacher Bertie Bigelow invites her Grammy-winning ex to give a songwriting workshop at an inner-city community college.
This short story bundle is only available for a short time, so grab it now before it’s gone. It would be criminal to miss it!
Available wherever ebooks are sold: https://www.crimewritersofcolor.com/bookdetails?book=147
Thank you for hosting me today, Donnell! It was a fun post to write. It’s interesting how ideas come to a writer from all kinds of places and different ways. 🙂
Francelia, did you come up with your title? It’s compelling and while the blurb intrigues me, the title does even more! Thank you for joining me today, and best wishes on your story and anthology!
Yes, I did come up with the title. Thanks you! 😊
Great post, Francelia. It is such an honor to be part of this amazing anthology!
Carolyn, thank you for joining us today! Can’t wait to read this anthology!
Thanks for stopping by, Carolyn! Glad we got to work together again. 😁
Francelia, thank you for this insight into the crafting of your terrific story!
Thanks for stopping by and reading, Delia! I appreciate it. 😊
What a great post and you are such a fantastic writer, Francelia! I love the vintage scary Easter bunny outfits too! LOL! My black lab, “Gracie,” is pretty brave when she works in schools at Halloween. She’s seen vampires, zombies, witches, etc. and nothing has ever bothered her. Until the Halloween where a kid dressed up as the Easter Bunny. She hid behind me and was terrified. So Gracie would agree that not all Easter bunnies are cute. 🙂 And keep writing! I love that you have a goal of 1,000 stories!
That’s priceless. I will never look at the Easter bunny the same. Thanks A LOT, Francelia! xo Thanks for stopping by, Kathleen. xo
You’re welcome! 😂
Thank you, Kathleen!! That’s so interesting about Gracie. I guess the Easter Bunny is not that innocent after all. Lol. 😂
Great article, Francelia! You are so right – some of the vintage stuff looks like it came straight out of Stephen King’s imagination.
I know. I couldn’t believe it. LOL
Thanks for stopping by, Marie! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing how your Festive Mayhem 3 story came to be, Francelia! And who knew Easter Bunny costumes could look so disturbing? So glad you’re a part of this anthology for another year!
Thank you, Marla! I’m so happy you decided to coordinate getting another one out this year. 😊
Great, Francelia. Thanks for the peek into your creative process to bring your story to life. The vintage Easter bunny pictures were killer!