The Romantic Side of Suspense

Under Susie May Warren’s Sunrise Publishing, Sami worked with Lynette Eason in the Elite Guardians story world developed by Lynette in a previous series. “Lynette is my mentor for this book,” Sami said. “We collaborate as far as brainstorming, but she does help me if I run into a problem. … And she’s also the one editing it, so it’s a Lynette-style book.” The post How Sami Abrams Writes Well With...

“You can’t really hand over your brain to any electronic,” Dana said. “I say that as somebody who’s lost all the time—I’m perpetually lost everywhere.” “You don’t want people to have to have a roadmap to get through your book,” Terri said. “That’s the beauty of series, though. You can introduce a seemingly throwaway character in the first book that’s going to be very, very important later.” The po...

“I have been writing for a really long time,” Shannon said. “When I was a kid, I used to write poems and songs. I would [also] write breakup letters for my friends’ boyfriends. They would ask me … how to say this without hurting his feelings. [My writing] grew from that.” The post Shannon Redmon’s Segue From Breakup Letters to Romantic Suspense (Episode 68) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker .

“I write edgy Christian fiction, and The Wise Man is about a Supreme Court justice who is hearing a case … between two women who are fighting over custody of a baby born live out of a failed abortion,” said Michele C. “That’s a dance with the readers about predictable endings,” Michele O. said. “I didn’t do a predictable ending with Being Alice.” The post How Michele Chynoweth and Michele Olson Mi...

“I think I’m kind of incapable of writing anything that’s not connected to everything else in some way,” Lisa said. “But I think it’s fun as a reader to get a glimpse of somebody who’s a side character who makes a phone call or sees somebody on the street and it’s somebody you know [from a previous book] … It’s so fun to see snippets of these characters you love years later.” The post How Lisa Phi...

“You want the name to match the personality a little bit,” Laurie said. The first name she selected for a character was “too soft. I wanted it to be a little bit more … punchy than that. So I renamed her with a stronger name.” “I’m a character first writer,” Jodie said. “Sometimes, the characters will start talking before I know what the story’s going to be, so I have to figure out where to put th...

“I see the setting almost like another character,” Lisa said. “The setting depends on what your book is about. I know a lot of readers love small towns. In a big city, it’s harder to write suspense because [the character can just] go to the police station. So to make it more remote, it’s almost a given for romantic suspense.” “I did a lot of research of Texas and the setting and sometimes, that he...

“The story was originally contemporary romantic suspense but it was missing something,” Danielle says. A few years ago, “Wisconsin started having a milk shortage with farmers having to dump their milk [because there wasn’t a market for it]. … I learned that’s not the first time that’s happened. There was actually a huge milk strike in 1933. … So I took my contemporary romantic suspense and set it...

“Most of my plots come to me, but I’m sure it’s based on the news and life experience,” Sharon said. “Also from things I hear from other people, reading other books, and it comes of just evolves.” “I’m a full-time RVer,” Tanya said. “We travel the country and see a lot of places. … I get to park in the place, and get to know it, and get to feel things. … There will be something unique about the ar...

“My books are based in Florida and Florida’s a great place to base your books,” Mary says. “It seems like weird and crazy crimes are committed in Florida. There are also a lot of things in Florida that can kill you—sinkholes, gators, hurricanes. There are a lot of hazards in Florida.” The post Why Mary Dodge Allen Sets Her Books in Florida (Episode 61) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker .

“Some things can be fiction,” Patricia said. “In my very first series, I moved the Tennessee River down close to Memphis.” “With the Secret Service, I have done as much research as I can, but it’s the Secret Service—they’re not going to tell me everything,” Lynn said. “I’m going to have to use my imagination.” The post Taking Liberties With the Facts With Patricia Bradley and Lynn Blackburn (Episo...

“It’s because we live in a dangerous and unpredictable world, and there’s a lot of people out there who are afraid,” DiAnn says. “And they often turn to fiction for an adventure. … The goal is to show the reader that yes, we live in this dangerous and unpredictable world, but there are trained people who will do whatever it takes to keep us safe and to prevent crimes from happening.” The post How...

“I used to do collections, where I based the books around the same town,” Susan said. “But then I thought … I should think more like a TV show like Dr. Who. There’s a thread that goes through Dr. Who that pushes us the story, so even though every episode has its own story arc, there’s also a series arc.” The post The Serialization of Lynette Eason and Susan May Warren (Episode 58) first appeared o...

“This is the hardest book that I have ever written,” Carrie says about Behind Love’s Wall. “I do normally plot my novels, and with this one I did also, especially the back-and-forth part. … My husband and son are good brainstorming partners too.” The post How Carrie Fancett Pagels Brainstorms Her Stories (Episode 57) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker .

“My first book, Fatal Flashback, was inspired by the setting,” Kellie says. “For example, my husband and I were living in Texas, and we went on a camping trip out to Big Bend National Park and I fell in love with the setting. I had never written anything book-length before and I thought this would be an amazing place for a romance between a park ranger and somebody else, and there’s going to be ac...

“It’s definitely a discipline to write,” Kimberly says. “I do teach a lot about writing … and people ask [how do I write when I get writer’s block] all the time. My answer is writer’s block is not an option. You have these big dreams [about the creative process], … but writing is hard work. It is a discipline—you have to make yourself sit down and write. You can’t wait for the muse to hit and you...

“Our lives revolved around electronic devices, Zoom and FaceTime, during the pandemic in 2020, but I think that was one of the pluses to staying connected with people,” Natalie says. “Being able to remain on social media and be able to communicate through FaceTime and video chats to keep people updated. … That was one of the best ways for me as an author to remain connected with readers.” The post...

“I tend to write a lot of Navy SEALs, CIA type books, so basing them in DC, Virginia Beach, Virginia is often a favorite for me, but the characters being in the military or CIA are from everywhere,” Traci said. “So living in Virginia for so many years but being from the West is great. For example, if you’re talking about Virginia, one of the most common freeways is I-95, but if you’re in Utah, it’...

“What I wanted to do as a career as a child was archeology,” Sally Jo says. “Writing also has got that concept of digging, you have to dig into your subject and your topic and your characters and what’s going happen. Archeology fascinated me, finding the tombs and treasures… and writing fits that whole concept of discovery because as a writer I do that daily.” The post The Archeology of Writing Wi...

“I was inspired by author Deborah White Smith, who did some updated versions or modern-day tellings of some Jane Austen books,” Melanie says. “I loved her books and I love Jane Austen, and thought, ‘I could do this’ with one of my favorite classics, Jane Eyre. … I love the whole gothic suspense thing that goes on in Jane Eyre and that could easily be reset to today.” The post The Gothic World Mela...

“I don’t write in crayon anymore but I do have a closet door with a map going up on the wall that some artist family members are building a mural of Miller’s Creek, which is where most of my books’ settings are just so I can keep track of the roads and who lives in what house,” Mindy says. “So they’re allowed to draw on the walls of my office for that.” The post Why Mindy Allows Crayons on Her Wal...

“As a younger man, I was really interested in filmmaking,” Andy says. “When I’m writing a scene, I may [visualize it as a movie]. In my Shepherd suspense series, there are scenes in each of the books that play out as if I were watching a movie in advance of me writing it. … I take that and start diving into how do I turn this into a written scene.” The post How Andrew Huff Visualizes Writing (Epis...

“When I started blogging over 10 years ago, I decided that divine detour sums up my writing and life in general,” Kathy says. “Sometimes God takes us on a crooked path to the right thing. … We can’t always assume how God plans to get us to our calling and [divine detour] kind of sums that up for all of us.” The post Take a Divine Detour With Kathy Harris (Episode 48) first appeared on Author Sarah...

“It seems in these days, many people feel so hopeless and so helpless,” Liz says. “That's why I do what I do very intentionally to show that even in the most terrifying circumstances, … we're never truly alone in that. God has promised that he's going to walk through the fire with us. So no matter what happens, he's always going to be there. Then he promises that he works everything out to our goo...

“Sometimes our writing kind of tells us what to write,” says Jerusha Agen. “Writing suspense fits tendencies of my personality because I do tend to be a fearful person. … I have a hyperactive imagination. So I'm really always imagining worst-case scenarios and danger. In a way, I think writing romantic suspense gives me a healthy channel for the tendencies instead of just freaking myself out in my...