Lea Wait's Blog, page 280

Weekend Update: September 26-27, 2015

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Lea Wait (Monday) Maureen Milliken (Tuesday), a mystery guest (Wednesday), Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson (Thursday) and Barb Ross (Friday).

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

From Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett: Today, September 26, I’ll be doing a “chat with the author” and book signing at Liberty Public Library, Liberty, New York. That’s my old home town and I’m there for my high school reunion. Later in the week, I’ll be blogging about why else I’ve made this trip. Hint: it has something to do with finding the perfect small town setting for a cozy series.

Kate Flora: We are eager to hear about the adventure, and the reunion, and will be surprised if you don’t come home with a few story ideas.

And since last week I promised someone who commented would get a copy of Beat, Slay, Love, I must be a writer who keeps her word. Are you listening, Myrna Bouchard? And now I guess I’ll need your mailing address. And then, since giving gifts is so much fun…I’m going to give another copy away next week. So keep those comments coming, MCW fans!

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries (and secrets) of the business. Contact Kate Flora: mailto: kateflora@gmail.com

Confessions of a Literary Coward

John Clark being completely honest about my fear of publishing today. I’ve been writing for at least twenty years, covering numerous categories and styles. I’ve written for professional publications in the library and social sciences field, contributed to a book on mental health libraries, written human interest stories about interesting people for newspapers, done several weekly columns for other newspapers, one running for five years. I’ve been in several of the Level Best anthologies and have had a couple mystery stories published in online magazines. I was a regular contributor to Wolf Moon Journal. In addition, I’ve written seven books and have four more in varying stages of completion, but only one has ever been published and that was in ebook format. There’s also an anthology of YA stories with a novella as a possible centerpiece called Hardscrabble Kids, that’s close to prime time.

Taking that next step can be scary.

So what’s stopping me from getting the rest of them out there? Well, that’s why I’m writing this today and if it sounds whiny at times, so be it. In partial defense, I will tell you that most small town librarians work about 15 hours more that they’re paid for and that’s what I’ve done for most of my writing life. Even so, I know that plenty of published/successful authors work full time and/or are parents of kids who need a lot of time if they’re going to grow up healthy and happy.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my five book series that took sixteen years to write and then I pretty much walked away from it. Who is crazy enough to do something like that? I hope that by blogging about it, I can get a better perspective and go back to doing something about getting the other four books out there.

Not exactly Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.

First a bit of history about the series and a quick bit about each book. The impetus to write fantasy came as much from my early years as anything. I read everything Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote when I was between ages nine and thirteen. Most think of Tarzan when his name comes up, but there were plenty of others. His John Carter and Carson of Venus series, the Moon books and ones like The Mad King, The Mucker and The Bandit of Hell’s Bend were my friends at a time when the real world was neither real or very friendly. Add in A.E. Van Vogt, Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague DeCamp, Harry Harrison (The Stainless Steel Rat series) and my love of fantasy and Sci-Fi continued until college demanded that most of what I read be course related.

Shortly after Beth and I got married in 1977, a new series of fantasy debuted by an author named Stephen Donaldson. By the time he finished the second trilogy in the series, he had written some 2700 pages, created one of the most amazing worlds I’ve ever encountered and hooked me. However, Donaldson was so unsparing of his protagonist, Thomas Covenant, that I gave up reading the six books, not once, but twice. It took twenty years more or less, for me to finally read the last book (Donaldson has since written four more books in the series, but they weren’t published until 2004-13). I remain in awe of his ability to maintain consistency in such a complex world with many locations, races and myths. It is a series I will read at least one more time before I die.

When you’re not sure where your story is going, it’s good to trust that you’ll stay on track.

The day I finally finished White Gold Wielder I was sitting in the woods, ostensibly hunting deer. I found myself crying unashamedly as I closed the book and it was that moment which really got me started on the writing path.

The writing part began in a very odd way. At the time, I was actively involved in the Association of Mental Health Librarians (AMHL) as well as section chair of the mental health library group in the Medical Library Association (MLA). The two groups were involved in programs to be presented at their respective annual conferences and that, along with frequent postings on the Maine Library listserv-MELIBS, meant that I was sending out a lot of emails. By that point, one of my claims to fame was my email signatures. Sometime, not long after finishing book six, I began creating bits of dialogue that were attributed to a book called The Berek Chronicles. No such book existed, but it was fun and fairly harmless. Then some librarians, mostly in Maine, tried to get their hands on a copy of the book, but couldn’t find it. I was confronted at a meeting of librarians here in Maine and when I mumbled something to the effect that I was thinking about writing it, some of them politely said get my thumb out of my butt and do so.

In my series, Sennebec Lake was the model for Simonton Pond.

I probably broke every rule of writing along the way, from posting every chapter online (they’re long gone now), to printing out a copy of the manuscript and circulating it at the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library (It was helpful in terms of getting feedback) and shopping it to agents when it was nowhere near ready for that level of evaluation. It was also way too long, close to 360,000 words at one point. Even so, I can still remember the amazing feeling that came over me when I completed the story. However, it wasn’t the ending, just part one because my protagonist, Berek Metcalf, a shy sixteen year old with an extra finger on one hand, woke up back in his bedroom on the farm, watching the love of his life’s sad face dissolve in a crystal pyramid that was the only thing he had to prove he’d really been on another world instead of having run away because other kids at school beat the snot out of him.

The first book

I jumped right into book two, Hither We Go, in which Berek ends up in a mental hospital because his mind not only can’t accept the emotional pain of what happened, but he feels used and betrayed as well as devastated because the way to Ballicore, the place halfway across the universe where he landed, has been destroyed. After getting discharged, he and his younger sister Kylin, have to figure out a way to save the family farm and once that’s done, Berek has a conversation with a field spider while raking blueberries. The spider (spiders in the series are able to communicate across vast distances) tells him that Elspeth, who he fell in love with in book one, has been kidnapped and in order to get back to Ballicore, he will need the assistance of two seemingly flawed companions. In hindsight, I think this might be the best book in the series.

Book three, Married With Familiars, finds Berek and Elspeth having to leave Ballicore very quickly because of the reason Berek was expelled at the end of book one. They are faced with finding a new place and decide to see if they can find a way to get to Senbec, a remote planet where Berek’s Uncle Leland found himself after being killed in the Maine wilderness by a falling tree. Berek has been able to communicate with him telepathically at intervals in the first two books. In Leland’s last message, he indicates that terrible things are happening on Senbec and he needs his nephew’s help. Easier said than done because Berek and Elspeth have to figure out where the planet is and how to get there. To do so, they must travel on the funkiest locomotive ever created through intergalactic space to COTU (The Center Of The Universe), an artificial planet that functions as the transport hub of intergalactic travel and is a cross between the city in Blade Runner and Diagon Alley. It also is where the Library of the Universe is, a way cool place run by the holographic image of a long dead and extremely sarcastic female librarian who takes an interest in the couple and goes the extra mile to help them The book ends on a really sad note.

When I started book four, Like A Thief in the Night: the Further Adventures of Kallista Wolfblood, I needed a break from Berek, so I focused this one on a delightful, but completely amoral thief and magic user who had been part of Berek’s cadre in book one. Her greed lands her in a most unusual situation that not only vexes the heck out of her, but forces her to examine everything she believes in. Most of the players in the first two books are reunited in this one which involves pirates and seriously evil folks from across the galaxy who are after something unique to Ballicore.

There was a gap of several years between the finish of book four and my beginning the last book in the series. That was in large part to how deeply my mother’s death hit me. I had no gas left in either the emotion or creativity tanks. Still, I knew I needed to wrap up the series if only to satisfy myself. That book, In My Father’s Footsteps, starts sixteen years later in a New Zealand rainforest, moves to the small town of Simonton, Maine and then jumps to Ballicore, but to a continent that Berek never explored. The protagonist rescues Gilraen, an Elven girl, and falls for her hard. However, even though she looks like a typical teen, albeit with pointed ears, she’s 110 (adolescent for her species), something that Josiah, the protagonist in this book, has a really difficult time wrapping his head around. Many of the earlier characters appear in this one, including the holographic librarian and Kallista. I haven’t gone back to editing it and know it’s clunky and needs a few characters deleted, but it does wrap things up nicely.

Wrapping up another day.

In the early days of writing this series, I created a website about the series that includes things like the history and geography of Ballicore. That link is below.

http://personalpages.tds.net/~berek/geography.html

What’s next? I have no clue. I’ve given some thought, based on subsequent writing efforts as well as reading a ton of YA fiction, that Berek might be better served if I made him brasher and more hip as well as moving it ahead a decade or so, but to do so would book five into the future as well as require rewriting close to a million words and I’m not that crazy or ambitious. Since book one is out there in ebook format, another dilemma is whether to release all of them (once I’m satisfied they’re as good as I can make them) as ebooks or try for getting them in print. Frankly, between my innate laziness (It’s a hell of a lot easier to sit on the back deck and get lost in one of the 100+ books from my TBR pile, than to put BIC) and my analysis paralysis, making decisions some days drives me crazy. Anyhow, this is an honest attempt to get stuff out of my head so maybe, just maybe, I’ll do something constructive with the series. In a perfect world, I’d lock myself in this room with a giant IV in the attic and simply edit all winter. I suspect a more moderate plan will emerge.

No Regrets

Jessie: In neighboring New Hampshire searching for wool socks.

Two mornings ago my son had to scrape frost off his car before driving to school. Last Friday a friend brought me a ripe pumpkin she grew in her back field. Yesterday, my husband broke down and fired up the pellet stove in the kitchen to take off the chill. All signs indicate autumn is crouched and ready to pounce.

Truthfully, I don’t mind. I love summer and long, lazy days lolling at the beach. Grilled food is always on my list of favorites and I never tire of daylight lasting until nine p.m. But let’s face it, summer involves a lot of pressure, especially in New England.

In summer, everywhere you look something, or someone, is urging you to make the most of the season. If you happen to have been raised by parents from New England every sunny day reminds you of their exhortation to “Go out and play. You never know when it will be nice out again!”. Even when your adult obligations dictate you sit at a desk the guilt of squandering such a meteorological gift is crushing.

But autumn is more of a gentle soul. It kindly offers the pleasure of fall foliage, the first scented curls of woodsmoke, the comfort of slow-cooked stews and hot rolls fresh from the oven. It never clamors or demands you acknowledge its worth. It simply goes about its business until it fades away with a final rustle of leaves and a blanket of snow.

So, it’s with a light heart I plan to swap my sundresses for sweaters. I’ll replace lemonade with mulled cider and ice cream bars with pumpkin squares. Instead of tiki torches on the patio I’ll light candles in the dining room. I couldn’t be more pleased.

Readers, do you love fall? Or is another season your favorite? What is the best thing about fall in Maine or in your part of the world?

Makes Me Want to Kick the Cat

Kate Flora: It’s a darn good thing I don’t write cozy mysteries, starting out with a title

Kate Flora and Gerry Boyle during the panel titled “Sex Change” about writing a protagonist of the opposite gender

like that, right? Well, as another presenter at Murder by the Book this weekend put it, I write medium boiled mysteries in my Thea Kozak series, and pretty darned hard boiled in the Joe Burgess series. The audience on Friday night at the Jesup Library discovered that when I read part of the opening chapter of the next Burgess, And Led Them Thus Astray. No doubt about it, when he’s mad, Joe Burgess uses language I would never use. But there I was, swearing in front of a room full of strangers.

But that, of course, is not what this blog post is about. What it is about is something like (if you inclined to take it that way), an extended whine.

Yes! I have now revealed a deep, dark secret of crime writers: sometimes we whine. Sometimes we whine and dine. Mostly to (or with) each other. Occasionally to a close friend. Far more rarely—to you. Because after all, we want you to believe we are always even tempered, which is mostly true because we can get a whole lot out of our systems by writing crime. And we want you to believe that we are always successful, heaped with praise from our loving readers, and showered with cash from our devoted publishers.

Maybe I should stop right here, and leave you cherishing that notion.

Actually, this blog might not be so much a whine as a question: What am I doing wrong? If I give up a glorious weekend, drive six+ hours, give “good value” on my panels and am cheerful, thrifty, clean, loyal, brave, and reverent, and at the end of the day, I’ve managed to sell two $8.00 paperbacks, this is not a viable economic model. What should I be doing instead?

Stop saying yes, even though I love to talk about writing, love spending time with other writers, and so appreciate the hard work Jesup’s amazing librarians did to put on a great event and draw a crowd? Can I believe that all those lovely people will later log on and buy the e-book? Allow myself a temporary moment of discouragement and frustration?

So yes, as I sit here puzzling my way through how to organize the next book (having given up a couple hours today dealing with the SPOD, or spiraling pinwheel of death that wouldn’t open Microsoft Word), part of me wants to kick the cat. Fear not. I do not HAVE a cat. In one book, I gave Thea a stuffed cat to kick, and if I had one, that would suffice. I do have a stuffed moose…but who has ever heard of “kicking the moose?”

And then, having gotten it out of my system (and writing things out of our systems is why

Bacon, squid ink pasta, and hot peppers!

we crime writers usually are pretty cheerful) I shall go back to trying to find out who is killing those poor women and why he is using a sword?

And you—because you don’t want me to kick that moose—and because you are also cheerful and kindly and well-disposed toward helping writers stay published—will follow this link and order up a copy of a really fun, if slightly outrageous, book I wrote with Katy Munger, Lise McClendon, Gary Phillips, and Taffy Cannon: Beat, Slay, Love. Amazon: http://smarturl.it/BeatSlay

 

Burying the Lede

A groggy, bleary-eyed Chris Holm here. As I write this, my wife and I are recovering from a whirlwind road trip to Bar Harbor for the Jesup library’s inaugural Murder by the Book.

Despite some hiccups getting there (an actual, honest-to-god manhunt halted traffic on Route 3 and added nearly two hours to the drive), the event was a blast. The Jesup’s staff is as ambitious as they are enthusiastic, and they put together two days of fantastic programming, most of it free (which is darn near unheard of). And the setting, both town and library, was stunning. To cap it off, I got to spend time in the company of dear friends and talented writers (many of whom are featured in the sidebar of this blog), and meet loads of passionate readers. I hear tell the Jesup’s planning another Murder by the Book for next fall. Be sure to check it out.

Hmm. What else was I gonna tell you guys? I feel like there was something. Eh. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be that big a deal.

Oh, wait. I remember. THE KILLING KIND came out last Tuesday!

I can’t tell you how pleased I am it’s finally out in the world. There was a time I worried this book would never see the light of day. My prior agent was so unenthusiastic about it, she sat on the manuscript for nine months without reading it. Parting ways with her was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make. It’s also proven one of the best, because thus far, the response to THE KILLING KIND has been astonishing. It’s garnered raves from NPR, Huffington Post, and the Maine Sunday Telegram. It’s been highlighted as a top read for September by Strand Magazine, Barnes & Noble, and MysteryPeople. For five crazy minutes, it was even a trending topic on Twitter.

Maybe the hype will continue to build. Maybe it’ll fade. But either way, I’m very grateful to everyone who’s helped me get to where I am today. Here are but a few who deserve my thanks. Most of all, I’m grateful to the readers, librarians, and booksellers who make it possible for me to live my dream. Without them, I’m just some nutball making up stories in my pajamas.

Cover Story’s Back Story

By Brenda Buchanan

In the beginning, Joe Gale was Marty Gleason.

This was eight or so years ago, when I sat down in my cramped study on Peaks Island, determined to write the book I’d been thinking about for many years. We’d decided to move to the mainland, and my intuition told me that enormous transition would be eased if I were already engaged in something that would feel as powerful and central to me as had my life as an islander.

I don’t think I wrote more than a chapter before we moved off Peaks. I looked out the window a lot, and did that ‘round and ‘round in circles thing, having no clue how to start writing a book. No bolt of insight arrived after we’d ferried all of our possessions across the water. But I remained committed to writing the mystery I’d been ruminating about since I’d left journalism for law school.

That long-ago conceived book—now called Cover Story—will be released a week from today, on September 28.

As it turns out, it’s not my first published novel, and there are good reasons for that.

My early drafts were amateurish. The manuscript improved in tiny increments as I navigated my way through numerous workshops, notably at New England Crime Bake. I also was fortunate to have the feedback of a good writer’s group.

The writing group that helped me during early stages of COVER STORY – Richard Bilodeau, James Hayman and Jane Sloven

But after several years of steady work, there was no way around it—the manuscript, then called Relative Defense, had problems.

Several of the agents to whom I sent query letters or met at conferences offered constructive feedback. You know how to write, they said. But you’re making all the rookie mistakes.

Their eventual advice that I hated to hear? Set your manuscript aside and write another book.

Though painful, it was the right answer.

If I couldn’t accept that the book wasn’t what it needed to be, and if I couldn’t bring myself to set it aside and start a fresh book, then I’d be a person who fantasized about being a published author, but I’d never be one.

So I wrote another book. The result was Quick Pivot, the first book in the Joe Gale Mystery Series, which was released in April.

Early in the process of writing Quick Pivot I realized why those in the know had nudged me in the write-another-book direction.  Though I hadn’t cracked my first manuscript’s particular code, I was starting from a different place. This was a critical revelation.

What had seemed so, well, mysterious the first time around was now less so. I’d figured out point of view. I’d gotten the hang of writing dialogue. I knew I could sustain a narrative arc for 350 pages.

I also learned that my characters were disgruntled about a few things.

It turned out my reporter protagonist was a one-syllable first name, one-syllable last name kind of guy. That’s when Marty Gleason became Joe Gale.

His diner-owning best friend Christie was Greek, not WASP, so her last name became Pappas instead of Perkins and she grew a stronger personality to match. Unfortunately, I had to kill off her live-in grandfather. He was a nice guy, but he made for one too many characters, so he had to go.  And most importantly, Joe’s mentor Paulie Finnegan came out of the shadows, which is when Joe himself began to make sense.  Why did a thirty-something newspaper reporter go at every story with old-school verve? Paulie Finnegan, that’s why.

When my agent offered me representation on the strength of Quick Pivot, I was thrilled. Then she asked if I had any other manuscripts in the drawer. My stomach did a couple of flips. It had been a long time since I’d touched that first book, and the chorus of “not readys” that had greeted it when I sent it out into the publishing world still rang in my ears.

But I heard myself saying, sure, I have another Joe Gale book, one where he goes to Machias to cover the trial of a man accused of killing a politically well-connected DHHS caseworker. It happens in the middle of a brutal Maine winter. When Joe reports that the evidence doesn’t match up with the pre-trial hype, he learns the hard way about Downeast-style intimidation.

That was the gist of the story I’d written, and it was enough to construct the pitch and plot summary she needed to sell my publisher on a three-book deal.

Before that happened I’d taken that first manuscript off the shelf and gone into overhaul mode. Nixed the sloooow beginning. Cleaned up wordy sentences. Added and subtracted characters. Juiced up flat chapter endings. More times than I can count I thought I was done. But every time I did a start-to-finish read with my newly critical eye, it was clear I needed to revise some more.

Last year, with additional insight from my brilliant editor, I finally got there. Next Monday, the first novel I conceived will come into the world.

The moral of this tale? For all but the most gifted among us, getting published takes years of steady work. To those who are laboring on your own first (or fifth) manuscript, I hope this post encourages you to stay with it.

And to everyone who helped me bring Cover Story into the world, this one’s for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hot Off The Press! Photos from Murder by the Book

Brenda Buchanan, here, with some on-the-scene photos from Jesup Library in beautiful Bar Harbor, where many of us who kill on the page converged this weekend to participate in the inaugural Murder by the Book conference.

Kate Flora and Gerry Boyle during the panel titled “Sex Change,” about writing a protagonist of the opposite gender

Julia Spencer-Fleming, reading work in progress

 

Chris Holm. whose novel The Killing Kind was released to rave reviews last week

 

Maureen Milliken during the Real World vs. The Page panel discussion.

The Real World vs. The Page panel: Maine Superior Court Justice William Stokes, journalists Maureen Milliken and Earl Brechlin, Hancock County District Attorney Matthew Foster and retired Portland (and crime writer) Det. Sgt. Bruce Coffin

The eye-catching entrance to the Jesup Library. In addition to the crime scene tape, there were chalked outlines of bodies on the sidewalk out front.

 

Many thanks to all of those who attended and to Ruth Eveland, Melinda Rice, Kayla Chagnon and the rest of the wonderful staff at the Jesup Library for a memorable weekend.  A lot of local businesses were behind this event as well, a model of community engagement.

Weekend Update: September 19-20, 2015

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Brenda Buchanan (Monday) Chris Holm (Tuesday), Kate Flora (Wednesday), Jessie Crockett (Thursday) and John Clark (Friday).

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

From Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett: Next Saturday, September 26, I’ll be doing a “chat with the author” and book signing at Liberty Public Library, Liberty, New York. That’s my old home town and I’m going back for my 50th (gulp!) high school reunion.

Also, I’ve finally taken the plunge. I’m on Facebook (although I don’t really know what I’m doing yet) and you can see (and hopefully like) my page by using this link: Kaitlyn on Facebook

Meanwhile, this weekend, as in today, lots of MCW authors are at Murder by the Book

Lea Wait: Have fun at your reunion, Kathy! In addition to being at Murder by the Book, Kate Flora, Dorothy Cannell and I will be speaking  at the Rangeley Library,  7 Lake Street, in Rangeley, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, September 22.  And on Thursday, September 24, I’ll be speaking at The Mustard Seed bookshop in Bath at 7 p.m. Busy week!

Kate Flora: Wow, Kathy. I hear the 50th is really fun. And now, with apologies for “marketing” but it’s part of our job. The group of five who’ve written a novel about a serial killer are trying out something new and fun for the book launch:

We’re Launching Beat, Slay, Love with Thunderclap:

What is Thunderclap? It’s a new crowd-promoting site where your friends donate a tweet or a Facebook or Tumblr status to help get the message out. With Katy Munger, Kate Flora, Gary Phillips, and Taffy Cannon (the creators of the great and powerful Thalia Filbert) we’re launching our new book in just 14 days! Charlaine Harris calls it “An incredibly sly mystery… everything you’d want when you bite into a dish: suspense, spice, and a new take on an old classic.”

Can you help us with a tweet or status? We’re looking for 100 supporters. It’s simple and powerful, plus you get ‘Thalia Filbert’s Killer Cocktail Party’ book full of deliciously sinful drinks and appetizers, some featured in the novel when you do. Check out the details at the site. (Click below) It’s safe, friends, you can connect your account and let it post just once for you on October 1. Thank you!

Thunderclap campaign: http://bit.ly/BSL-thunder

 

 

 

 

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business. Contact Kate Flora: mailto: kateflora@gmail.com

WHENCE IDEAS, THAT’S THE QUESTION

Susan Vaughan: “Where do you get your ideas?” That’s the question writers most often hear from readers—and even from friends who aren’t readers. Every writer answers it a different way, but here’s a general overview. Ideas pop up everywhere. For example, a news story, an overheard (read: eavesdropped) conversation, a suspicious character on the street, or a couple seen arguing in a restaurant. I’ve begun books based on only a location or a particular character, an object, or a plot thread. Not all ideas can be massaged into a plot and characters in a viable story. I’ve dumped a ton of what at the time I thought were terrific ideas but that led me nowhere. But some ideas do lead to completed books.

A few years ago my husband and I vacationed in the Yucatan area of Mexico on what is called the Mayan Riviera. After some beach time, we toured two of the ancient cities. Chichen-Itza offers the most famous Mayan pyramid and is mostly restored. Fascinating but not inspiring. Another tour led by a Mayan guide to Cobá, an un-restored ruin deep in the jungle, flooded me with ideas and questions. I pictured archeologists working alongside nearby Mayan villagers. When the guide said some of the buildings’ destruction was from earthquakes, I thought: what if the people believed an artifact with a curse caused quakes. These musings eventually led to my romantic thriller On Deadly Ground, set in a fictional Central American country with a pending earthquake.

 

The picture here I took at Cobá is of the temple dedicated to the god of commerce, shaped like a beehive because one of their big trding commodities was honey. A similar temple appears in the book.

For the second book in the series, another romantic thriller, Ring of Truth, an idea I had years ago about a puzzle ring and a news article about lost crown jewels set my plot in motion. My puzzle ring isn’t exactly like the one pictured, but you get the general idea.

Also, I wanted a story for Mara Marton, the researcher introduced in On Deadly Ground. Puzzling over these seemingly unconnected ideas led me to the unlikely hero of the story and the threads of the overall plot of Ring of Truth. What if Mara’s deceased father had been the insurance investigator tasked with solving the theft of the crown jewels of Gramornia, and what if the heist’s mastermind had been ex-con Cortez Jones’s father? What if they had to work together to find the jewels?

Another news article contributed to the plot of the third book in the same series, Cleopatra’s Necklace. In 2009, Egypt’s top archeologist, Zahi Hawass, claimed to have found the tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony at a site near the Mediterranean Sea. Hawass displayed artifacts found inside the tomb, exciting everyone about the possibilities. No one has reported any further discoveries since. Upheaval and continued unrest in Egypt may have stopped the search, or that particular tomb turned out not to be the Queen of the Nile’s resting place. A disappointment, but that didn’t stop me from imagining what might be in Cleopatra’s tomb. What if the tomb contained jewels and scepters and other treasures similar to those from the tomb of King Tut? And what if while these were on tour protected by Devlin Security Force, they were stolen?

The necklace seen here is as elaborate as the one in my book, but doesn’t contain the precious gems of Cleopatra’s. The typical necklace pictured on images of Cleopatra became the dingus, the Maltese Falcon, if you will, that Thomas Devlin himself must find, and his heroine, an old flame, had to be named Cleo.

You may have noticed that my plot musings seem to begin with “What if” questions. I don’t think I’m alone among writers in asking that question.

And here’s a final example. When I began writing for publication, rejections from editors often mentioned weak conflict. I saw that as a challenge. What would be the strongest conflict that would prevent my heroine from becoming involved with anyone? What if she believed that she was cursed, that everyone she became close to would die? Starting with that premise, I was able to create the characters and plot of what became my first published novel, Dangerous Attraction. I now have the publishing rights back to that book and have revised and updated it for re-publication soon as Always a Suspect.

***

Find more about my books and sign up for my newsletter at www.susanvaughan.com.

Some Maine Pretty to Brighten Your Day

Hi. Barb here. Or rather, Barb in the hospital recuperating from knee replacement surgery.

So, to give myself a bit of a break and celebrate the end of the summer season, I thought I would share some pretty.

Back in February, I posted about how my husband, Bill Carito, had taken an iphone photography course and was taking a photo a day while we were in Key West. You can see those photos here.

Not only has he kept it up since, then, but he’s taken several additional online iphone courses.

Here are some photos from this summer. Honestly, there are too many to choose from. If you want to follow his project, you can friend him on Facebook here.