A Suspenseful Christmas: Author Interview with Maggie K. Black

How did you come up with the idea of your Christmas themed book?
I write romantic suspense and I really liked the idea of a Christmas-themed stalker who used things like ribbons, presents and wrapping to scare the heroine. It was a fun and creepy idea.

Could you give me a short synopsis of the story for my readers?

Our heroine, journalist, Samantha Colt, is suddenly abducted right before Christmas. She wakes up to find herself tied up with Christmas ribbon and an explosive device on her boss’s front porch, with no memory how she got there. She’s saved by a soldier, Joshua Rhodes. They feel an immediate romantic attraction, which they both fight against. But their connection only grows stronger when Joshua agrees to be Samantha’s bodyguard, and she continues to be tormented by her deadly, Christmas-themed stalker.

What made you decide to do a Christmas themed book?
I always knew that this would be a winter book, with heavy snow, storms and the freezing cold. I’m not quite sure when I decided to set it over Christmas, but once I did, I think it really made the story come to life.

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?
That’s a tricky question because recently I’ve been focusing on making Christmas smaller and simpler. Right now, my daughters are twelve and eight. When they were younger, I found we had so many traditions the holiday was getting crowded, so we started scaling back.

We always decorate a tree together, and put up lights outside and hang our stockings. My daughters are always in the Christmas pageant at church, and last year, we started putting the Christmas village out again too.

My favorite tradition is that we always take a family trip between Christmas and New Years. Usually, we go to Niagara Falls to see the lights, but one year we went to Florida. The family trip really helps stretch out the Christmas holiday to a whole week of togetherness and fun. Christmas is more than just a one-day celebration for us. We try to make it last until school starts again. Sometimes I save certain presents until later in December or give them one or two early, so they have things to open on different days.

What’s next?
Kidnapped at Christmas is my first book in the True North Bodyguards series. Joshua’s best friend Alex, who’s a fellow bodyguard, is the hero of Rescue at Cedar Lake which comes out this Spring. I’m currently writing the third and final book in the series right now. It’s called Protective Measures and focuses on Zoe.

What’s the best writing tip you’ve learned or been given that you’d like to share?
I think there are a lot of different "right ways" to write a book, and no two writers approach a book the same manner. I think it’s important to just go for it, do your best and write the best book you can. Then when you’re done, get help from critique partners and editors. It’s very important to get help and advice from editors because they can make a book a lot stronger. My favorite quote is from Jodi Picoult who said, “You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page.”

What do you know now about writing and publishing you wish you had learned sooner?
I wish I’d known that I would succeed in getting published because I wasted so much time agonizing over whether or not I should be a writer! But I also wished I learned sooner that there is a whole world of help available for new writers. There are writing groups, helpful agents, amazing editors, writing coaches, freelance editors and associations like the Romance Writers of America. There are even writers who support each other on Twitter with the hashtag #amwriting. I felt very alone when I started out. I wish I’d found help and support earlier, and spent less time feeling too afraid to start.

Any last words or tips?

I do think it’s important to get up and try to pursue your dreams instead of agonizing over whether or not you’ll fail if you do. The biggest problem a lot of writers face is self-doubt. Whatever dream or goal we’re pursuing in life, we need to find encouragement and support to believe we can do it. Especially at Christmas!

That's it for today's interview. To learn more about Maggie's writing, here are some links to get you started. 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaggieKBlack
Harlequin page: http://books.harlequin.com/search#w=maggie%20k%20black
My blog: http://www.maggiekblack.com

The Desire and Drive to Write: Author Interview with Jodie Bailey

My interview today is with an author who has written newspaper articles, wrote plays, taught in middle school and wrote devotionals before she started her first novel.  Now she can't imagine doing anything else. Read on to hear her story from draft to publication.

What made you decide to write a suspense novel?
 I actually started out writing contemporary romance. One day, out of the blue, I was talking to my agent, and she said, "You're an Army wife. Have you ever thought about writing military suspense?" I was thinking, "Hon, you don't know me at all." Nope. Never. But then... I got a flash of a scene. And another. And another. So I decided to give it a try and Freefall was born. And I hated it. :-) Said I'd never do another. But then, I got another idea and wrote Crossfire. And now I'm hooked.

How long did it take you to write the book?
I'm a fan of James Scott Bell's "write hot, edit cold." I do a first draft in just under thirty days, then spend a month or two in revision. That's very different from the first suspense, though. Very different.

How many rewrites did you do on it? Who helped you with the editing?
I'm a fast first drafter and a rewriting queen. I do one substantial rewrite and several smaller ones. I was blessed early on with an amazing critique group and we still read one anothers' work. I have a variety of beta readers that range from straight up readers to grammar ninjas to one who ought to be an editor. My books never get turned in until my crit partners and my beta readers have been through them.

Did you ever want to give up on writing the book and getting it published?
My first published book? Yes. The first suspense, Freefall, felt like it took FOREVER. The first draft probably took nearly a year off and on. I was cooking along and then my husband deployed and I hit a wall like you wouldn't believe. It was like writing about a soldier became impossible. I wrestled for every word. Threatened to quit and feed rabid alligators. Laid in the floor and cried. Multiple times. God made it very clear that I HAD to write it, or else I would have quit. But thanks to lots of prayer, some God appointments and some very wise advice, I did finish. Finally. That season in my life was proof to me that I can't do this without God and the people He has placed in my life.

How many publishers or agents did you pitch before getting your manuscript published?
I pitched to five agents total, four before I found Chip's blog and went, "I want someone like him. He'll tell me the truth." After that, I didn't want anybody else, and I'm blessed MacGregor Literary took me in. I have no idea how many editors saw my first book, though I personally pitched it to two. Freefall was targeted at Love Inspired Suspense so they were the only ones to see it. Thankfully, they took it!

What was that process like? How did you get involved with Harlequin?
Like I said, my agent suggested I try suspense, so I did. She sent a one-paragraph idea to Harlequin's Love Inspired Suspense line and they liked it, so off we went. That was in late 2009. In September 2010, I took Freefall to the ACFW Conference and met Emily Rodmell and pitched to her in person. She asked for a full and we sent it off. Several months later, I got a revision letter and made the changes. And on August 31, 2011, I got "the call" that they wanted to publish it. It was a long process, but it was definitely worth it. I love working with Emily and the team at LIS! Here's the important part... I didn't sit and wait to hear back. Keep writing while you're waiting. I wrote another book and started a third while I waited. Never sit still. Always keep moving.

What are some of the more difficult aspects of writing a romantic suspense novel?
Sometimes, it's tough to come up with unique ways to put people in danger. I feel like that Train song, "Help me, help me, I'm all out of... ways to say you died." And there is a balance. Not enough danger and it's boring. Too much and it's over the top. It's a tightrope.

What makes a suspense story work or not work?
I think it's that balance. You want it to be realistic and not cartoonish. Even though we KNOW it's going to end well, there has to be that feeling that it might not, that there's really no way out of this mess. If it's too easy, there's no point in sticking around for the ride. If it's too hard, it seems implausible.

Have other novels been started and stopped along the way?
I try to make sure an idea has legs before I start, because I am not the kind of person who can stop in the middle and scrap a book. Only once did I start one and stop. I was going to write a parallel contemporary and historical, but I got bogged down in the research for the historical and had more fun researching than writing. I wrote two pages in a month. I decided historical was definitely not for me and left it. However, the contemporary side wound up becoming Quilted by Christmas, a Quilts of Love novel for Abingdon.

How do you write? Outline first? Character development before doing the full plot?
I'm a character first girl. I spend a week or so with my characters. I let them talk, ask them questions, and let them write a little. Then I write the first three chapters cold, with no outline. That gives me a sense of the voice and the mood. After that, I decide what ten things absolutely must happen and write to those ten things. I am not a full on plotter. I need some mystery, but I also need to know where I'm going.

Prior to writing your first novel what writing credits did you have?
I'd been writing my whole life. I'd written articles for our local paper when I was in high school. In college, I dual majored in literature and writing, was co-editor of our newspaper, won a playwright award for a one-act, and wrote plays for our traveling theater group. After college, I did a lot of writing for pleasure, simply because I enjoyed it, never dreaming it would be a career. 

Who encouraged you along the way?
So many people. If I list them all, I'll forget someone.

Are you active with any writing groups?
American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), and I just joined Romance Writers of America (RWA) and their Faith, Hope, and Love Chapter (FHL). I've been a part of smaller local groups, and I have a critique group I've been with since 2008. I love my "critter sisters."

What do you know now about writing/publishing now that you wished you had known sooner?
Uhm... everything. I knew nothing in the beginning. Nothing. And I think I'm good with the pace I've learned. If I had known then what I know now, I think I would have been too overwhelmed to even start. It was good to start totally ignorant. But it's never good to stay there.

What type of publicity do you do to promote your book? What has worked best for you in generating sales?
Marketing is my weak spot. I'm concentrating on studying that now and learning all I can. I do a lot of guest blogs, interviews, and I've done a few radio interviews. As far as what works best in generating sales, that's what I'm learning. It's where I need to really beef up my knowledge.

What is the best advice you’ve been given about writing or that you’ve learned that you would like to pass along?
The first writers conference I attended, back in 2009, Cec Murphy was the keynote speaker. I have never forgotten him saying, "If you can quit, quit." If that desire and drive is not in you, if writing is not something you need to do, then this is not your calling. I thought of that a lot when I was crying on the floor. I WANTED to quit, but I COULDN'T, and that's how I knew this was what God wanted me to do. So when it gets hard, I ask myself if I could ever feel whole if I quit. And the answer is always "no."

That's all for today's writing. I hope you're inspired to continued writing. If you'd like to learn more of Jodie's current or upcoming books, here's some links to get you started...

The book on the left is her August release.
Website: www.jodiebailey.com.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/writerjodiebailey
Twitter: twitter.com/jodiebailey

Writing Love Inspired Suspense: Author Interview with Sanda Orchard

In your bio, it says that you decided to write a novel at your husband’s suggestion. However, it took six years and several revisions before you received your first contract. What kept you motivated to keep trying?
Right from the beginning, I’d read enough books on writing craft and breaking into publishing to know that it would likely take many years and several manuscripts before I got the call. By the time I did get the call, I’d written 6 manuscripts and rewritten many of them many times over. Some garnered requests for the full manuscript from editors, some won contests, one even went as far as a pub board.

Ironically, the first novel Love Inspired Suspense (LIS) picked up was one that I could have sent to them two years earlier, except I’d received several requests from trade book publishers to see it. Since LIS doesn’t accept simultaneous submissions, I had to hold off sending it to them. In the interim, a different story won the Daphne DuMaurier, a story LIS had previously rejected and the new editor agreed to read it. That turned out to be fabulous, because although she still rejected that story she explained all the reasons why, so I was able to fix those things in Deep Cover and it ended up being accepted as submitted with only a request to start with an obvious sense of danger from the first page.

All in all, there is no short answer to you question, that particular book went through multiple major rewrites over the course of several years due to critiquers feedback. However, once contracted, it went to print a year later with very little change

One of the biggest problems for new authors is trying to understand the contracts and what their royalties are really based on. Are you currently represented by an agent?
Yes, I have an agent who fights very hard to retain author’s rights and to win the author the best possible contract. The right agent is also invaluable in many other ways from advising on future proposals, to acting as the go between when marketing or editing departments are giving an author fits. 

What have you learned from your contracts that others should be wary of in the verbiage of a contract if they are not represented by an agent?
With the rush to self-publish or hybrid publish, authors need to pay attention to first rights of refusal clauses and permission to publish clauses. Some publishers will try to prohibit you from publishing anything else until you’ve fulfilled your contract. It’s reasonable, since they don’t want you to ignore what you’ve committed to delivering in favor of another project, however, if you’re planning to self-pub on the side or write for a second publisher, as I do, the wording needs to be adjusted.

One of your publishers is the “Love Inspired Suspense” line for Harlequin. Can you explain for my readers, what that genre actually entails? Do they have to be pure as a virgin with no sexual thoughts, alcohol consumption or swearing. Or can they be of this world and then be redeemed?
Absolutely, the hero or heroine may have a horrible past, or start out in the book in deep trouble, but by the end of the book, both need to be believers and in a healthy relationship. That said, readers of this line don’t want explicit details, or graphic details when it comes to violence, and while you might say so and so cursed, you wouldn’t include the actual words. A believer should not be cursing, although my detectives often bite them back.

How long did it take you to write your second novel that was published?
It’s difficult to say how long it takes to write something, because there is usually a month or more spent in playing around with the ideas and preparing a proposal, then a month or two or three or more spent writing the first draft and then sometimes months spent revising. Then the revision process starts again once the editors see it. I probably spent about four months on the second book before it went to my editor the first time.

How do you write? Do you do an outline first? Do you do individual character development before doing the full plot? How many drafts do you write?
I do an outline first and do a lot of character development before I start writing. However, part way through, I usually need to pull back and reevaluate, because a lot changes as I write and get to know my characters even better. The number of drafts varies wildly for different books. I often edit as I go along, which makes it seem as if there are only a couple of drafts. Although my current book is giving me tons of headaches. I’m not even halfway through yet, and I have six drastically different drafts with rewrites of individual chapters numbering much higher.

Do you use writing programs such as Scrivener? If so, what do you like or dislike about it?
I have tried Scrivener. I really love the concept, but I was losing edits by continually needing to export from it to a doc that I could send my critiquers or when I wanted to work on my laptop, which doesn’t have the program, so…I now stick to a straight word processing program and multiple files for drafts and research and outlines.

Your writing includes different genres. Do you prefer one genre to write in more than another? I love them both. With the bigger books, I can spend more time in character development and include more secondary characters and subplot. But I do love the focus and fast pace and economy of words required to pull all the threads together in the shorter Love Inspired Suspense novels.

Will each of the series continue?
Perilous Waters, which released in April from LIS, will be followed by Identity Withheld in November, the firefighter hero in this novel is the brother of Sam Steele in PW. A third book will follow in 2015, featuring their paramedic cousin, Sherri Steele, as the heroine. However, each book is a stand alone romantic suspense. They merely bring back characters introduced in previous books.

My Port Aster Secrets romantic mystery/suspense series from Revell Publishing is much different. There are 3 books in the series. Deadly Devotion, Blind Trust, which just released, and the yet-to-be-titled third book, which will release next year. Each book is a standalone mystery, featuring herbal researcher, Kate Adams as the sleuth and Tom Parker as the detective trying to keep her out of trouble and win her heart. However, there is an underlying suspense plot that arcs the three books, along with the romance that gives the series a heroine-in-jeopardy, fast-paced romantic suspense feel.

In your Undercover Cops series you had a male protagonist. How do you put yourself into a male mindset?
I actually find it much easier to write from a male POV than a female. I don’t do anything special, except to remind myself that they usually speak in fewer words. The best compliment I received after Deep Cover came out was from my son who admitted that the hero thinks like him.

In your Port Aster series you have an amateur sleuth as your lead who is a herbal medicine researcher.
What made you choose that line of work for her? It fit the story and provided lots of fodder for potential poisoning scenarios. I was also able to base it on a somewhat similar facility near where I live.

What suggestions do you have for enhancing a writer’s social media platform?
I am not the person to ask. Social media, blogging etc can quickly rob your writing time when the best thing you can do to generate sales is write a good book and another and another. I made a commitment from the beginning that I would respond to every reader’s email/letter and I have faithfully done that (although to my discouragement, I’ve learned that those emails don’t always get seen, thanks to spam filters or inadvertent deletes). I love corresponding with readers through emails, my newsletter, on FB and my blog. That is where I focus my available time, although I don’t really think of it as promotion, but as building relationships.

When I have a new book releasing, I send out a newsletter, do a blog tour and sometimes a book signing and press releases. I occasionally speak at events. I’ve been blessed with publishers with good distribution so really happy readers are my best promoters.

What is some of the best writing advice that you’ve received or could give?
Persevere and don’t be in a hurry to publish. Enjoy the journey. God has so much to teach you along the way and will use you and your writing in unexpected ways long before you’re published.

That's all for today's interview. If you'd like to learn more about Sandra's writing here's her
website: http://www.SandraOrchard.com It offers good info for both the reader and writer such as deleted scenes and editor’s cuts  to ideas on plotting and help in the editorial process.