One thing I love to read in suspense is myths brought up to date. Like Matthew Reilly’s “Six Sacred Stones” which combines the mysteries of Stonehenge and the pyramids and Chinese tombs to one really awesome story. Even my newest release (”Legend Hunter” coming out next Monday night at Liquid Silver Books) features the Big Foot legend which is right in my back yard.
I live about an hour away from Willow Creek, California the nearest town to Big Foot country. For me, the legend is…more than a legend. I know people who have seen Big Foot. I’ve heard the stories and seen the sincerity. It’s hard to remain objective in the face of such conviction. “Legend Hunter” is a tribute to all the people who continue to believe in Big Foot despite the ridicule, despite the lack of evidence.
What about you? Is there a myth, a story, a legend that fascinates you?

Well, Jenn mentioned “Snapped” which got me thinking about the one crime show that inspires me. I love NCIS. Two characters from that show have influenced characters in my books. Abby, the Goth Forensic Scientist who listens to hard core goth music in her lab, inspired my character Dr Elise Fleming in the book “Regaining Command”.
Ziva David, the Israeli Moussad soldier turned NCIS laison, inspired my character Magda Karlson in “Eye of the Storm” (out August 3, 2009 with Whiskey Creek Press/Torrid). I do love my kick ass female characters.
Just for your enjoyment….

Or her funny side which I love. GO HERE.

We are all about books here, but I fondly admit that television is a huge passion for me too. It’s quick and entertaining.

Not too long ago I discovered the channel Oxygen. They seem to do marathons of various shows. America’s Next Top Model, Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood, Roseanne and Snapped.

My daughter actually turned me onto it because she likes a show called Snapped. Can you believe it? A mini me! Because this program is one of those forensic type shows where there’s a crime and then they spend the hour investigating and uncovering. The twist to this show, as opposed to Forensic Files, is that the culprit is always a woman. You can’t beat that.

Other than the fact that I keep tuning in for the same episodes again and again, it’s not only entertaining but great research material too. And let me tell you, there are some whacked out women in this world. Let’s go and kill someone because of money or because he jilted you. Yeah, I have some exes that didn’t deserve to “move on” but I have a huge fear of Bubbette…and orange. Never gonna happen!

I feel like talking about point of view today. Multiple points of view, in fact. I am a HUGE fan of Suzanne Brockmann who routinely has 7 or more POV characters in her books. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? People might be thinking that being in so many characters heads, each one of them having a huge stake in the bigger picture, would be overwhelming and confusing. But, the thing is, Suzanne Brockmann does it so well by giving each one of her POV characters a unique voice–I don’t even have to read the character’s name to know whose head we’re going to be in.

In my last book I ended up having 4 POV characters (the hero, the heroine, the villain, and a major secondary character). In the current book I’m writing, I know I’m going to have at least that many, and possibly one or two more because I have more than one villain and I’m thinking it might be fun to get into their heads and show the strain that each villain’s ideaology has on a group that is supposed to be united in a singular purpose.

So, I guess the point of my post today is this: The key to writing a successful story is to KNOW how many POV’s you can successfully juggle–whether that’s one or ten–and then giving each one of the point of view characters their own unique voice.

Go forth and juggle heads!

I’ve been lucky enough that the economy hasn’t affected me much financially (we live far away from Wealthy Ave.), so a lot of my habits have not changed either, but I began wondering about the rest of the world. And not just in monetary ways as in, “do you still buy books?”, but on an emotional level.

Many people read for escapism. While I love light, funny mysteries, I also love to be scared…the scarier the better. What about you though?

With the state of the economy and how it’s affected people on an emotional level, have you altered what you read? And specifically, has it changed the type of suspense you read?

Do you lean toward the dark and gritty or the lighter stuff, and have your reading habits changed with the state of the world?

I’ll admit up front that I don’t really have a point to this post! I’m diving back into my WIP after doing some fairly extensive revisions on my last romantic suspense, and I realized that I’m really enjoying the freedom of setting this current book outside of the U.S.

Right now my characters have been thrust into the Cambodian jungle and they’re having to fight their way out. I love being able to bring in the lush jungle plants, the freaky poisonous insects and reptiles, and even some of the ancient ruins and legends. The research has been very cool, too.

Both my other romantic suspenses were set in Arizona–a place that I am very familiar with, since I call it home. I enjoyed the familiarity of that setting, but found myself bogged down sometimes by keeping my scenes true to the actual locations. My other books have been set in Texas, Illinois, and Wyoming. Places that I have visited and seen first hand.

While it’s a challenge setting this current book somewhere I’ve never visited, it’s also somewhat liberating. I don’t have to worry about the little details because the Cambodian jungle is such a vast place that I can inject some ”fantasy” into that reality.

So, my question to you is, what’s the most exotic location you’ve used as a setting?

Well, Cynthia did a great job talking about how we foreshadow the villain in our suspense. I’d like to continue the trend.
We talk about our favorite heroes and favorite heroines, but we don’t really address the villain in our suspense. It’s important not to have cartoon characters as the villain since their presence makes the hero and heroine’s conflict more three dimensional…or not.
Stella Cameron discusses the different types of villains HERE and I have to admit I usually write a combination of villains.
In Heart of the Storm, the villain is a smarmy Observer who has no conscience, no motivation except money. And he’s completely under the thumb of the woman who is the “mastermind” behind the smuggling ring and the consequent murders. The woman is the heroine’s mother who shows the only thing closest to emotion about her. But she’s only part of the story. In the sequel “Edge of the Storm”, a Homeland Security agent, turned by a shadowy figure never seen, systematically tries to destroy the career and eventually the life of the hero, Matt. The agent is single minded, again, with no conscience. In my next release “Eye of the Storm” (coming in August 2009), the shadowy figure is revealed and the motivation behind the murder and mayhem that’s haunted the characters in The Storm Series is uncovered. Money? Certainly. Revenge? Yes. Power? Yes. In the villain featured in “Eye of the Storm” all the different characteristics are combined.
Most of my villains are masterminds, but they almost always have a major figure in front of them, shielding them from being seen. It’s what I would do if I wanted to gain power. Stick a disposable person in the forefront, in the light, as a target, a patsy. Never let that idiot see they’re expendable, and stay hidden from prying eyes. That’s how my villains operate.
What’s your favorite type and how do they operate?

So I was watching some TV movie the other day–I can’t even remember what it was; shows you how much of an impression it made on me!–and it suddenly struck me how movies always foreshadow the villian with creepy music. You know the one, the theme song that just screams, “I’m the villain! Here I am!”, and I started thinking how writers do the same thing with books.

There’s the finger of unease here, the tiny clue there, little snippets that foreshadow the villain long before he or she is ever completely revealed to the reader. It’s something that I’ve been able to pick up on a lot more easily since I started writing my own suspense books. And although it doesn’t ruin the suspense for me, I can usually pick up those villain vibes fairly quickly.

So, my question for the day is, how do you “cue” the villain without making him blatantly obvious?

….the “ripped from the headlines” type mysteries? Does it seem that we are influenced by popular culture in our reading?
Think of this. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in his time complete with the aristocracy, the English poor and much of his society’s ills revealed in his Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Then, Patricia Wentworth and Agatha Christie both wrote mysteries in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. Wentworth often addressed mysteries in the midst of “the war” and so on. Christie covers several of society’s changes especially with “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” and the contrasting death of Poirot in “The Curtain” which is also at Styles Manor.
Earl Stanley Gardiner feeds the courtroom appetite that seemed voracious in the 50’s and 60’s and Dashiel Hammet wrote about the hard core Pinkerton men who prowled the city streets of America amid the mobsters in the 40’s.
Much of our American culture is revealed by our mystery literature. What does today’s mysteries say about us?
Take a look at the NY Times Bestseller list. What I see is a proponderance of terrorists, conspiracy theories, and action. A product of the times? Most definitely.
So what do you think? Are the mysteries you read a comment on our current culture? Or do you go for the older stuff (as I do when I read Ngaio Marsh) avoiding the more contemporary mysteries?

It’s one of those days where I have nothing to say–nothing involving suspense however. But now that I’m blogging pretty regularly on my personal blog, I feel like I need to find something to write about.

Should I mention how Sci-Fi never has any good movie on their channel anymore?

Or how the Oxygen channel (recently discovered) airs these shows called Snapped. They’re crime documentaries always involving female criminals. They’re pretty good too. Hey, that’s suspense.

CBS is airing their next new episode of Harper’s Island tonight. And is it pretty obvious I watch a lot of television?

Oh, this is suspense.

I’ve been thinking about mysteries, and how soon does a dead body have to appear in a novel? Do you have a preference? If it’s not in the first chapter or two, does the book not appeal? Even if it’ equally about the protagonists?

What if there’s a dead body but the main characters don’t know about it for chapters to come? The reader knows and the assumption is a bad dude is on the loose. No? Maybe? Or the main characters know of a death but it appears accidental. Then another death doesn’t occur until mid-way. Too long?

Well that’s all I have today. I’ll try to blog about something more worthy next week.