A Little Inspiration

On my evening constitutional with Dude -- my hubby -- this old Evanescence song came up on my iPod playlist. It's always been one of my faves, and it seems to fit what my character, Detective Kendra Dean, is going through in this scene from my Work in Progress, COPPER LAKE, the third book in the Stutter Creek suspense series from 5 Prince Books.

This scene is where Kendra and her younger partner, Woodrow, find themselves in a small bar far from home while wrapping up a prisoner transport job. Kendra is a career detective who always tried to keep her job related horror stories away from her home life. She'd thought she was doing the right thing until recently when her husband, Bill, told her he was leaving, he was tired of being in their marriage alone.

Bring Me to Life is the name of the song ...



https://youtu.be/i3MKTm-49uI

Scene:

           After ordering their drinks—beer for him, White Russian for her—Woody excused himself to the men’s room.

            When he returned, his path led directly behind her chair. He must have noticed her rubbing at her neck and shoulders because he stopped and gave her a thirty-second massage.

            “Ahh,” she said. “Everything’s in knots.”

            “I hear ya." He rolled his own head around slowly. “Not used to riding fourteen hours with a perp sitting behind me. Even if he was behind wire and asleep most of the time.” He took his seat across from her again.

            Kendra shrugged and met his grin with a tired one of her own. “The things we do for the job.” She took another sip of her drink and inspected the nearly deserted bar. “Thank God there’s not much going on.”

            Woody nodded. “I’ll be ready to hit the sack after this.” He glanced around. “It’d be our luck for a fight to break out. Guess we’re taking quite a chance having a drink when we’re technically still on-the-job.”

            Kendra raised her short glass. “Here’s to taking chances.”

            “Amen.” Woody clinked his beer bottle against her glass.

            When a slow song came on the jukebox, he stood and held out his hand. “Take another chance?”

            She took one more sip of her drink and then placed her hand in his. It’s only one song, she remembered telling herself. But a flame of longing grew in her belly as she allowed him to pull her in close. He didn’t press her body to his; he simply curled his large hand around hers and held it against his chest while the music led them around the tiny dance floor. When she chanced a glance at his face, she was surprised to find his eyes were closed.

            She relaxed and rested her temple against the shelf of his chin. Even now, chained to the floor in this nightmarish bunker, she could still recall the way she felt in his arms, as if she’d just arrived home from a long, arduous, journey. Kendra also remembered wondering how long it had been since she and Bill had gone dancing. How long it had been since they had held each other so tenderly and carefully.

            When the music stopped, they both opened their eyes. What the hell am I doing? She stepped back, head down, not looking at him until they paid their bill and left.

A Bit of Lilac Lane

Lilac Lane is the follow up book to Stutter Creek, my bestselling Suspense novel from 5 Prince Publishing. In Lilac Lane, Ella and her ten year old son, Nick, flee their hometown of Albuquerque, NM to start a new life in a small town. Her ex-husband is in jail for abuse, and they just want to start a new life without him.

Within days they meet local wildlife biologist, Chet Boone. This is what happens after the three of them share pizza and a song together:

*

         “You’re humming that Brown Eyed Girl song aren’t you?” Nick asked.

         “Hmm. So I was. It’s an old song from way back. I’ve always liked it.” She pulled into the carport and engaged the Jeep’s parking brake. The pine trees were fragrant. Several branches touched the metal roof of the carport. They made a shushing sound when the wind blew. It also sent their tangy green fragrance into the Jeep’s open windows. “We may regret not having a garage when it snows this winter,” she said.

         “I think he likes you,” Nick replied.

         Ella stopped with her finger on the automatic window button. The windows stopped halfway up. “Chet Boone?”

         Nick rolled his eyes. “No. The Incredible Hulk.”

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Top Ten Fave Movie Characters Blog Hop

I was tagged by author Tim Hemlin at http://www.Tim Hemlin.com to participate in this fun little blog hop so here goes:


1. The Terminator played by Arnold Swarzenegger
Still one of my all time favorite movies. Had some of the best one-liners of all time. "I'll be back."

2. Sarah Conner - Terminator 2 - played by Linda Hamilton
I loved the movie because of the way she transformed herself from gullible waitress to kick-ass heroine (and the mother of John Conner, of course).

3. Captain Augustus McCrae - Lonesome Dove - played by Robert Duvall
Such a memorable character, flawed but loyal. "Anybody who wouldn't cheat for a poke don't want one bad enough."

4. Han Solo - Star Wars - played by Harrison Ford
Unlikely hero forced to save well, everyone. With help from Chewbacca, of course.

5. Evelyn Couch - Fried Green Tomatoes - played by Kathy Bates
"TAWANDA!" enough said

6. Rooster Cogburn - True Grit - John Wayne
When Rooster takes the reins in his teeth -- that's iconic "baby sister!"

7. Idgie Threadgood - Fried Green Tomatoes - played by Mary Stuart Masterson
She was all about women's rights and doing what's right even if it meant serving it up with a special bar-b-que sauce. And again with the loyalty thing.

8. Kyle Reese - Terminator - played by Michael Biehn
Sacrificed himself to meet "the legend."
"I came across time for you, Sara Conner." Swoon.

9. Martin Riggs - Lethal Weapon - played by Mel Gibson
He was disturbed and disturbing in his nuttiness. But once again, you wanted him on your side when the going got tough. Loyalty. "We're gonna get bloody on this one, Roger." Yep, they did.

10. Doc Holliday - Tombstone - played by Val Kilmer
"I'll be your huckleberry." When he raises that shotgun and shrugs off that long, black, duster outside the OK Corral, well, that's an image fairly ingrained in my DNA.

And then there's also Inigo Montoya "You keeled my father!" And Andre the Giant and Westly, dahling. Hmmm. So many, I may have to revisit this topic another day! Can we say Danny Glover? I still use one of his lines all the time: "I'm too old for this sh*t!"

Now, to see more blogs on this hop, return to http://www.Tim Hemlin.com 

The Genesis of Stutter Creek - Romantic Suspense

My beautifully covered little suspense novel, STUTTER CREEK, hit Amazon’s bestseller lists back in November of 2014. It went right up to #1 on both the Romantic Suspense list and the regular Suspense list. It was very exciting for me to be on the same list with the big boys—even if it was only for the week of the promotion. Dang.

Since then I’ve had a few folks contact me and tell me their thoughts on the story. I LOVE when this happens. Writing is such a solitary game—okay, the Internet has changed that, a lot—but still, to really get anything done, one has to cut off contact with the outside world for a certain number of hours each and every day. Where was I going with this? Oh yes, I love it when readers contact me and tell me their thoughts about the books and stories I toiled over in my little cave. I especially like it when they want to know more, such as . . .

What gave you the idea for this book?

That’s an easy one. STUTTER CREEK came about because of two things; the first was a news story about an incident that occurred near our small West Texas city. A man threw his four-year-old son out of the car beside the Interstate in the dead of night. The little boy was found wandering along the shoulder of the highway early the next morning covered in cactus spines, four hundred cactus spines to be exact. When his father was located, he was determined to be suffering from schizophrenia. That story haunted me from the day I read it until the day I wrote about a similar—fictionalized—character in STUTTER CREEK.

The second incident that inspired this story was very simple. Each year our family reunion was held in a mountain town in New Mexico where we always stayed at the same set of rustic little cabins. Those were some wonderful reunions. I also included a fictionalized version of that cabin in the story. I did not include the bit about my uncle having to dive into a Dumpster in search of his wife’s dentures. She’d taken them out and wrapped them in a napkin at a restaurant. The napkin was accidentally thrown away—but retrieved by her own Dumpster-diving knight in shining—stinky—armor and we never let another reunion go by without asking her if she had her teeth. (He also carried her big purse for her from time to time, but he said it was all right because it matched his cowboy boots.)

So there you have it, the genesis of STUTTER CREEK. Of course I added lots and lots of different things to make the novel suspenseful because, well, I love tingly suspenseful stories and a writing instructor once told me to “write what you know,” but I took that to mean write what you know you would love to read...

Please, if you have any comments or questions about my books or stories, feel free to email me or leave a comment. I’d love to base the next blog topic on your question.

How to Write a Blurb for your Book

Writing a blurb for your own book can be agony. As authors we know every strength and flaw of our characters, we know their motivations, and their actions. We even know their innermost thoughts and feelings.  I think this is one reason some of us find it so difficult to boil our work down into a one or two paragraph blurb. We simply know too much.

But blurb-writing is a skill that can--and must--be learned.  My first editor had to write my first blurb, how embarrassing.

Now, I think I've got it figured out.

I start with a synopsis of the entire book--usually one or two pages. I've usually done this part already, epecially if the book has been submitted to a publisher or agent. But if you haven't done the synopsis yet, don't despair, simply use the 5 Ws to describe the book: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Write it quickly, without worrying about sentence structure or punctuation (you can rewrite it later if you want to keep it). And yes, this step looks a lot like free-writing.

When you are finished, put it aside for a day or more. Then come back, pull it out, and see what rings true. You may be surprised to find how much of what you wrote now seems superfluous.

Now edit, edit, edit. Narrow it down to the three most important ideas: who is doing what and why.  That's all. Once you have answered those three questions in your own lovely prose, you've got your blurb.

I use this fill-in-the blank sentence: My novel is about ________ who must ________ in order to ________.

Now, simply expand on that sentence. Make every word count. For example. I used that sentence to write the blurb for my book ALL FOR LOVE. It looked like this: My novel is about Liz who must learn to let go of the past in order to survive. 

Here's the blurb I wound up with: Liz falls in love with Quinn the moment they meet in college.  He professes to love her, too.  She begins to think about the future, but his past rips them apart.  What Liz does next impacts the rest of their lives, but she feels it is the only way… she does it all for love.

Remember, this is the paragraph that will sell—or not sell—your book. If it’s dull, the reader probably won’t take the bait. You’ve got to make certain you hook the reader.  Many times they are simply trolling for entertainment. First, they will see your gorgeous, eye-catching cover and short, snappy title, then they will check out the blurb. If you’ve done your job and the blurb hooks them, along with the tagline, a topic for another blogpost, then they will either go to the reviews or proceed directly to the sample pages.

I don't know about you, but I seldom buy a book without reading a few sample pages first. But first, I have to fall in love with the blurb!