GET THEM IN TROUBLE, OR HAVE THEM EAT SOMETHING

by E.E. Kennedy

“Get them in trouble, or have ‘em eat something.” That was the sage advice given to me by a writing teacher some years ago. It was what you were to do when your plot became stuck.

Plotting is the vital job of the fiction writer and there are many ways to go about it. Some folks like to be very systematic. I read somewhere that the famous humorous novelist P.G. Wodehouse would write synopses of individual scenes on 3x5” cards, tape them in a line along the wall running around the room. Then he would move the scenes around, delete one or two, or add some. Other authors like to write detailed outlines of their plots. It provides a handy skeleton on which to hang characterizations, dialogue and description.

All that is much too orderly for yours truly. I like to start with the germ of an idea, a vague overview of a story, then plunge in writing. I know where I’m heading, but not exactly what road I’ll be taking. As I write, I find new ideas and aspects popping up.

 Nonetheless, one day, there was a moment when I became mired. The story was getting boring. What could my character do? Amelia was walking home from church. It was around noon, so I had her step into a local diner and eat something. A few pages later, Amelia is sitting in her house, trying to figure out the meaning of the elusive initials, UDJ. All well and good, but something needed to happen. Again using the above advice, I got somebody in trouble. It was Vern, Gil Dickensen’s young nephew; he had witnessed a shooting and Amelia was the first person he thought to call.

I’m a fairly straightforward person, so it takes some effort for me to work up a circuitous plot. Nonetheless, readers expect complexity, especially if your book has been billed as a mystery. Nobody can just walk across a room, they must trip over something, or encounter a cat, or find a clue. Theoretically, everything, absolutely everything, in your story should move the plot forward. The eating thing can sometimes be a bit problematic for me because as everybody knows, Amelia is a terrible cook!

Another important rule of thumb is that your characters should want or need something important. Perhaps there's something they need to find out, or locate. Maybe they just want to know why. But whatever it is, it should be important enough to make the reader care whether the character achieves his goal. There are levels to this, and sub-plots. You can have two or three characters all wanting something different. Just make sure you don’t confuse the reader. In Gone With The Wind, Scarlett O’Hara wants to have enough money to “never go hungry again.” And Rhett Butler wants Scarlett’s love. By the end, Scarlett has her wish fulfilled, but we’re in some doubt about Rhett’s.

By the end of your story, something or someone--especially your protagonist--should have been changed in some way. At the end of my first mystery, IRREGARDLESS OF MURDER, Amelia’s life is radically different. She is living a new life in another house. And she is happier. Now, I favor resolution in my stories, but having a clear, definite and positive resolution in a book doesn’t necessarily mean a totally happy ending for everybody. By the end of IRREGARDLESS, Marie LeBow has experienced both a tragedy and a miraculous, bittersweet reunion.

In the sequel to IRREGARDLESS,  DEATH DANGLES A PARTICIPLE, I got to use the "eating" device in the school lunchroom. It was fun describing how appealing--or unappealing--the food was. Plus, there's a mini-mystery about why Amelia suddenly finds coffee so obnoxious! As for getting someone in trouble, I think being accused of a brutal murder fills the bill there!

Book three of the Miss Prentice series, MURDER IN THE PAST TENSE, begins with eating. In a flashback, Amelia and her friend Lily are at the local teenage hangout, enjoying ice cream floats and contemplating being in summer theater that summer. She gets in lots and lots of trouble, too, involving the mafia, a missing person and an Adirondack hermit!

In book four, INCOMPLETE SENTENCE, I decided to do something a little different. Toward the end of the book, Amelia has gotten good and sick of running into bodies, and who can blame her? As she puts it, she has had her life threatened at least four times and has testified in two murder trials. She's just plain tired! Don't worry, though, I still got her in trouble and getting out

of it definitely involves food! 

So here I am, working on book number five (THE VILLAGE IDIOM), and I must admit, it's a challenge finding something new and fresh to befuddle the reader. I am working with the ghost of an idea, a plot twist "stolen" from Agatha Christie. It involves Amelia going back to teaching, a new and extremely obnoxious school principal and a "bad seed." And that's all I'll be saying about that!

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The Miss Prentice books are available in Ebook or paperback at Christianbook.com, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

If you'd like a chance to win a Kindle Ebook copy of the mystery of your choice, just leave a comment below WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. I'd love to hear from you and/or answer any questions.

INTERVIEW: Romantic Suspense Author Mary Alford

 SS (Interviewer E.E. Kennedy) : When did you realize you wanted to be an author?

MA: I’d say I realized I wanted to be a writer when I was a pre-teen. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved to read just about anything I could get my hands on. As a child, I discovered Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys and was hooked on suspense. As a preteen, I found Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt and knew in my heart of hearts that romantic suspense was what I wanted to write.

I wrote my first book as a pre-teen, but didn’t really pursue writing seriously until about fourteen years ago. During that time period though, I fine-tuned my writing and found myself drawn to inspirational romantic suspense. Then, in 2012, I entered the Speed Dating contest hosted by Love Inspired Suspense and later received “the call” that I’d sold Forgotten Past, my first LIS book. I truly felt like a writer for the first time and it was a dream come true. It’s still hard to believe at times.    

SS: Your books seem to have a good sense of place. Are you familiar with the Rockies or with Maine? What made you choose these locations?

MA: I am very familiar with the Rockies. My husband and I took a trip there about fifteen years ago and fell in love with the mountains. We bought a small cabin at the foothills of the Southern Rockies. I love that the mountains have a way of creating their own weather. The day can go from sunny a warm to dark and foreboding in a matter of no time. A great backdrop for a suspense book. In Forgotten Past well, I’ve never been to Maine before but have read about it and it is on my must see list. The rugged coastline of Maine made the perfect setting for a killer stalking his prey.   

SS: Fear and danger are integral parts of your books. Imagination or experience?

MA: Imagination and probably too much time reading suspense books and watching ID TV. The fear and danger my characters face is the same challenges we as human’s deal with on a much lesser scale. We may not be facing a killer bent on ending our lives, but we each have things we’re afraid of and keep us awake at night. Our own set of monsters so to speak.   

SS: Another either/or question: Outliner or pantser?

MA: Pantser. I’ve tried being the outliner type, but I just don’t operate that way.

SS: Do you have any favorite author(s) who have inspired you?
MA: Along with Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt, I love inspirational romantic suspense authors such as Susan Sleeman and Shirlee McCoy. These women are great at weaving suspense, inspiration and an amazing love story into each of their books.

SS: Everyone always asks, so we will, too: Are your characters based on people you know? Which ones?
MA: Certain characteristics of people I know find their way into my books. For instance, most of my characters drink coffee. That’s all me. I love coffee, what can I say? But for the most part, my characters are totally made up.   

SS: Here’s another question that everyone asks: Where do you get your ideas?

MA: Most of my ideas start from something I’ve seen or read about. From there, the story begins to take fruition in my head. I let it simmer for a while until I’ve got a good outline worked out in my mind and then I grab my laptop and start writing. The idea for Rocky Mountain Pursuit came from my love of spy stories. I can’t get enough of espionage stories. I think it’s the danger, the drama, the intrigue attached to espionage that makes it so appealing to me. These people risk their lives daily to keep our country safe.  

SS: You write in Christian genres. What is the spiritual takeaway for your books? Is there a recurring theme?
MA: I think in all my books the spiritual takeaway is that no matter what we’re facing in life, no matter how dark the world around us may seem, we are never alone. God is right there with us through it all.  

SS: How do you mold your villains? They are very frightening!

MA: I think we all have “worst fear” villains hidden deep down in our inner psyche. Some of us fear the unknown. Someone stalking us. A killer on the loose. I like to take those fears and create villains who hide in plain sight. Like the people we know and trust. In Forgotten Past, the villain was the cousin she loved and trusted to protect her. Faith never saw the monster lurking inside her cousin until it was too late. In Rocky Mountain Pursuit, the villain is a former teammate as well as the woman our hero Jase Bradford had once been in love with.            

SS: Would you characterize your books as romantic suspense? Are there any other genres that you’d like to tackle?

MA: Yes, I guess I would consider my books to be romantic suspense because they contain equal parts of each. In addition, I also write inspirational contemporary romance, another one of my favorite genres to read.

SS: What are you working on now?

MA: I currently have a stand-alone inspirational suspense with my agent. It’s about two FBI agents searching for a serial killer. It is 85,000 words and delves into some interesting aspects of human nature. I am currently working on a second book featuring an FBI agent.  

SS: Do you enjoy research? Is there any research subject that you’ve found especially fascinating?

MA: I typically don’t go overboard on research, but it is something that is necessary to make the book believable. In Rocky Mountain Pursuit, well, loved researching the CIA and the spy angle of the book. It was fascinating for me.

SS: Okay, just for fun. Tell us three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.

MA: Hum, well, I’d say that my hubby and I used to raise Emus and Ostriches. I still can’t believe we did that. That I’m trying to teach myself the guitar, (It’s going very slowly…), and I’d love to do some gold panning on my next trip to Colorado. Oh, and I’d also love to write a children’s book one day. 

SS: What are your other interests besides writing?

MA: Music. I love playing the piano and as I’ve said, I’m learning the guitar very slowly. I also love gardening. I want to learn to make quilts as well. I also love doing crafts with my three granddaughters. They are very inspiring.  

SS: Tell us about your current release. When is it available, and where?

MA: Rocky Mountain Pursuit is available now at:

http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=62853

http://www.amazon.com/Rocky-Mountain-Pursuit-Inspired-Suspense-ebook/dp/B015MO40KO/ref=zg_bsnr_7259440011_8

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rocky-mountain-pursuit-mary-alford/1122293234?ean=9780373447237

And at most online booksellers. 

Rocky Mountain Pursuit is about former CIA Agent Jase Bradford who is forced to fake his own death and live under an alias because of something Jase and the rest of his Scorpion team witnessed while on a mission in Afghanistan. As one of the last members of the Scorpion team still alive, Jase lives a life of seclusion at his isolated mountaintop retreat. Then, Reyna Peterson shows up at his doorstep looking for him and his cover is blown. Things quickly escalate from there. Jase and Reyna are being tracked down because of some computer files Reyna’s deceased husband smuggled out of a war zone. With the enemy mere steps behind them, Jase and Reyna must stay alive long enough to figure out what is so important in the files that someone is willing to risk coming after them with great force to keep the contents secret.     

SS: What inspired the idea for this book?

MA: My love for spies. I think if I could have chosen a different career path it would have been a spy. I admire them greatly and appreciate their work.  

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Leave a comment for Mary along with your email address and you will be entered in a drawing for ane-book version of her latest release, Rocky Mountain Pursuit!

Interview with Lynette Eason

By Marji Laine
I'm so delighted to chat with best-selling Christian suspense author, Lynette Eason. Her latest, Always Watching, is brand new and already sparking a huge buzz. And for good reason. Make sure you check out my review coming out next Monday! And enter for a chance to win a free copy. Keep reading!

Lynette, thanks so much for visiting at Suspense Sisters! I have to tell you, I opened it to just get a little taste before turning out the light and had trouble putting it down!
Obviously, that makes me glad to hear! LOL. It means I’ve done my job. :)

Where does your story seed start? Characters? Setting? Or some twist on a news story?
Usually, I get the idea for the story first. Just a glimmer of something. Like “what if there were a team of female bodyguards who went into business together, and they all had some time of law enforcement background?” Then I think, “Who would these women be?” And then I start putting together their backgrounds. Before too long, the story starts coming together for the first one, then the second and so on.

Your stories are so vivid.
Thank you!

The action, characters, setting all take on life. Do the words flow that way on first draft or do you use a lens for that when you revise?
For the most part, they do come on the first draft. I can write anywhere from three to six books in a year, so I don’t have a whole lot of time to edit. I get the story down as best I can and then send it off to my beta readers. Fortunately, they’re both in law enforcement, and they both have an interest in writing. That helps tremendously as they catch some line/copy edit things as well as correcting my police procedural stuff when it needs it. Of course, as I’m working through the story, I’m editing, or I’ll go back and add details as they occur to me, especially red herrings, etc. but when I’m done with the story, I’m pretty much done. At least until my copy editor gets ahold of it.

Lol! What would you say was the strangest thing you came across while you wrote this story? (Detail from research, scene that you dreamed up, maybe something you experienced that inspired an event?) 
I don’t know that I really came across a strange thing. Does it count that I think it’s strange that my brain even comes up with what it does? LOL. I think when I was writing Always Watching, I had a few friends who were going through the adoption process. I worked adoption into the story, and I think it came out great. It’s not a big part of the story, but it does affect my heroine to a large degree.

I know Always Watching is the first of a series. What characters are involved who will return, and who is the star of book #2? Is there a backstory in one of your characters that you’re tempted to flesh out?
All of the major characters in book #1 will return. Book #2 is Katie Singleton’s story. I introduce a new hero, Daniel Matthews, who I think readers will fall in love with. I also go a little deeper into the backstories of the characters who will show in books #3 and #4. Book #3 deals with Maddy McKay, who is fully healed from her harrowing ordeal, and Quinn Holcombe, the surly detective that I hope readers have come to love in spite of his grouchiness. I just turned their story in and think readers will love it. I’m now working on Haley Callaghan and trying to get to know her a little bit before dropping her into the middle of trouble.

I can't wait! Here's a little more about Always Watching from the Amazon summary of the book:

The bodyguards of Elite Guardians Agency have more than just skill and prowess in common--they're also all women. When it becomes clear that popular psychiatrist and radio personality Wade Savage has a stalker, his father secretly hires Elite Guardians in order to protect his son.

But when Wade's bodyguard is attacked and nearly killed, agency owner Olivia Edwards must step in and fill the gap. Olivia's skills are about to be tested to the limit as Wade's stalker moves from leaving innocent gifts at his door to threatening those closest to him. Olivia has the feeling that she's next on the list. And to complicate things even further, she realizes that her heart may be in as much danger as her client.

Bestselling author and fan favorite Lynette Eason drops readers right into the action in this fast-paced new series with a unique twist. Readers will love these strong female characters who put it all on the line to save lives.

Want a copy of Always Watching for yourself? You know you do! Leave a comment (make sure you include you EMAIL) and share your vision of a bodyguard. Have you had experience with one? Or maybe simply your impression of what they should be like!