J.L. Wilson's Blog: Why I'm not here often, page 9

The one that started it all

My first book published!!!

Oh, those were the days of heady excitement, endless attempts at promotion, waiting for bated breath for reviews ...

I think it's stood the test of time (it's 11 years old now. Really? How did that happen?) This is the one where there's a potluck at work and someone dies after eating the heroine's brownies.

As always, I got the idea for this at a, you guessed it, company potluck. How easy would it be to poison something and just wait for it take effect?

Well, it's not as easy as you think; I mean, the police are pretty good at detecting this kind of stuff. But I still had a lot of fun with the idea.

This is the book that kicked it off -- and here I am, still plotting and still thinking, "I wonder how I could kill someone here and get away with it ..."


http://bit.ly/brownies_book

A hero like no other ...

This book kicked off the Fatal Writers' Conference series -- I confess, I was at an RWA National Conference (Romance Writers of America), and I was at their ginormous book-signing.

People were standing in line (a very long line) for a Big Name Author, waiting to get their books autographed. I walked around and thought, "I wonder if I could kill off an author here and nobody would figure out how?"

And lo, a book was born.

Oh, I had fun with this hero and this heroine. I could hear their voices in my head. I could imagine their actions. I loved the secondary characters (on all sides) and loved how they all got into the act, trying to make sure this hero and heroine stayed together.

And I especially loved the book she wrote (the heroine is an author and I lived out my daydreams in her). I could imagine the book she wrote at the end and how hard it would be to write.

Sigh.

I really enjoyed writing this book. I hope you enjoy reading it as much ...

http://bit.ly/WilsonAutographs

Who will she live with, happily ever after? Him or ... him?

This is the final book in the Deadly Landscaping Series. I needed to resolve the central conflicts:

Will the heroine inherit her fortune?

Will she choose her ex-husband or her new love?

What will be her happily ever after?

I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to resolve those questions when I started writing this book. I had no idea how it would turn out for her.

Luckily, the answer presented themselves without much angst.

This wrapped up the DLS. That year I had 8 books release. These 3 were just part of that crazy year. I had the series release in April, May, and June. I was one busy cookie, that's for sure!

http://bit.ly/DaisiesBook

The book that started the Remembered Classics

Return with me to Oz, as you've never seen it before ...

This book was the first of the Remembered Classics books. Once I figured out the characters, the book sort of wrote itself. Then I had a terrible thought:

What about copyrights?

You see, Frank Baum wrote 13 Oz books and most of those were out of copyright. But there are other Oz books (yes, there are, like 30 more Oz books), and there's the movie. I was worried I might be stepping on a toe or two.

So I consulted a literary attorney and had her read the manuscript, and also have her approve the other books I wanted to write (Flyer, based on Peter Pan; King Arthur; Robin Hood, and so on). We came up with a game plan -- the book that's here today. For all of my Classics books, I follow the book, not the movies (Peter Pan, for example).

If you check my Character lists, I think you'll see what I mean. http://jayellwilson.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

So return with me to an Oz you think you know -- then check my character list and see if you guessed correctly! The Wickeds motorcycle gang, Dorothy, Leo Burt, Drew Strawn and the rest of the people you know and love ...

First love lost and found

This book just about gave me the fits.

I wrote and rewrote this book. At first, it was two books: one from the past and one from the present.

Then I wrote it from his POV. Then I wrote it from her POV. Then I tried merging past/present and his/her.

I finally settled on his POV and shortened up the 'past' bits and made those 3rd person.

I cut and rewrote and cut and it still came out a bigger book than most of mine. But my editor couldn't find anything else to cut, so there we are.

This (as all my books are) is based on events from my life. I and my siblings worked at resorts in the summertime when we were in college (oh, the stories we could tell. Dirty Dancing is right on the mark). I had a lot of fun writing this one because, well, summer and young love and ... you know.

Have a fun summertime read at a Resort -- and enjoy this tale of first love rediscovered.

Talking dogs and time travelers

I confess.

This is one of my favorites.

It's written in 1st person POV (as is my wont), from Nico's point of view. Yep, he's a guy.

Nico is trapped in time. He's a time traveler who got stuck.

It's also a reincarnation story, and one of the main characters is a dog (Cerberus), who is sent to help Nico. Cerberus and Nico are telepathic, and some of their conversations are truly hilarious if I do say so myself.

I love the heroine, too. Lucinda is more than a match for Nico, but she's not slim, svelte, and sexy like he's tall, dark, and handsome. No, she's down to earth, pragmatic, and not overwhelmed by him.

It's a match made in ...  you know.

Location, location, location

This is another finale book -- the last book in the Fatal Writers' Conference series.

This was an unusual book, because I married off the hero and heroine before the book opens. So what was the romance conflict?

Ah, well, these are two mature characters, trying to create a new life for themselves, merging his life with hers and vice versa. Throw in a dead body on the doorstep at Halloween, and life got really interesting.

I had fun creating another fictional writer's retreat for this one at one of my favorite places on Earth: Lake Vermillion, in northern Minnesota, and the Ludlow Island Resort there. I have many fond memories of that place and I loved setting my book there.

Oddly enough, the first book in this series released tomorrow -- a different year, but almost the same day. I won't blame you if you wait to read this one until you read that first one -- it's a doozy! Come back tomorrow and read all about it.

http://bit.ly/Wilson_mayhem

A cook with a hook

This is the 2nd book in the Deadly Landscaping series. The genesis for this plot came to me when I was watching one of those cooking shows. I think it was an Iron Chef or something like that.

I thought about a friend of mine who learned chef-ing while he was in the service. When he got out, he had a terrible drug problem because of an injury. A character in the first book ("Lilacs") had an alcohol problem, so I thought I'd pair the chef with her.

I had to put the chef in danger and get my primary heroine involved (Cassie, from the first book). I thought, "What better place to murder someone than a restaurant?"

And I was off and running ...

Here's Book 2 of the Deadly Landscape series, where Cassie *almost* gets her inheritance and the romance between her and Sam hits a bumpy spot in the road.

Pig Latin and romance ... what a combination!

The genesis of this book came about because I was attending a concert at the Minnesota State Fair.

Those who have been there know that the grandstand can be a dark spot at night. We were waiting for the show to start and I was watching the crowd down on the track. I thought, "Man, you could kill somebody there and nobody would be the wiser."

Bingo.

I wanted a quirky heroine, so I came up with Jane, who accepted a dare from a friend to write an erotic novel. Jane is a college professor, and I know a lot of college professors, and one thing led to another, and

Bingo.

I wanted Marcus to be the hero because he was a main character in another book ("Homicide and Hot Rods", previously discussed). He didn't get the girl in that book, but he does in this one.

Oh, and Pig Latin figures very heavily in this book. An-cay o-yay eek-spay IgPay Atin-Lay?

The deep, dark waters of the lake ...

This is one of my more current books, based on the Arthurian legends. It's one of the Remembered Classics, in which I take some familiar characters and re-imagine them.
I always wondered about Vivian, the Lady of the Lake. The babe who tossed out a sword and decided who would be king. I started thinking about her and wondered, what if a woman had a lake home but she was terrified of deep water?
I started working backwards: why is she terrified of water? Has she always had a lake home? How would she meet the owner of the sword? What kind of business does she have that puts her in the way of a sword?
And then there was him: how did he lose the sword? What's his blind spot? What does he do for a living? How does he find?
Somehow, a book came together, in which Vivian comes into possession of a sword that Able (Arthur Baer LeRoy) is seeking. But is Arthur who he says he is? What does Vivian's ex-husband have to do with it?
Plus, there's that lake and her cabin ... and a cold October day when things get really terrifying.