It All Begins with the Place!

Marji Laine here. And I have to confess that I'm a sucker for a good setting. 

I can't tell you how many times my girls and I would be shopping or out and about, and I would point to something and say, "Wouldn't that be a great place to hide a body?!" 

Our conversations did scare their fair share of grocery clerks and waitstaff. But good mysteries, to me, start with creative settings. 

That brings me to my favorite fictional town of Heath’s Point, Texas. It has become so very real to me, housing two of my novels with at least one more on its way. So let me bring you to its roots. Well, in a way.

I went to college at East Texas A&M. At the time it was East Texas State University in lovely Commerce, Texas. The school had a bigger population than the town when I was there. That ratio has only grown with the support of the A&M system behind it.

But that place was this city gal’s first experience with a small town. I’ll never forget running to my big brother’s apartment (two doors down from the one I shared with his fiancé) on my first day of class.

Me: Some dirty old man just waved at me!
Bubba (yes, I call my brother Bubba, and my kids call him Uncle Bubba): What do you mean, he waved at you?
Me: Well, he was driving by in a rickety, old, white pickup. I’ve never seen him before.
Bubba (bursting into laughter): He was just waving. People are friendly like that here.

And they were. Total strangers would strike up conversations with me at church, at the local donut shop, even as I took out the trash. It was down right refreshing after living under strict rules in my big-city growing up years.

And it was contagious. I remember walking to classes and watching for people on the other side of the walkway to just look up at me, so I could smile and say, “Hi.” They probably thought I was a weirdo, since most of them were displaced from the big city, too. I heard all the complaints about the little town boredom when I moved into the dorms that fall, but it didn’t change my opinion.

I do not remember being bored at all. My brother's fiancé and I had a blast taking jaunts into the countryside. We’d grab a Sonic drink and get lost on the back roads. That was before the days of GPS, but we knew we’d come out on a highway at some point. One of my great thrills was to find a herd of goats near the road and baaah at them. They’d give the dirtiest looks; like I’d said something reprehensible. We organized our own version of laser tag (with water pistols and rubber bands) in places where we had unexpected access, part of the freedom in a small town. And I fell in love with my sweet hubby (a farm-boy) over fishing excursions and back road star watching.

Heath’s Point came straight out of my experiences in college. I think of the town itself as about twice the size of Commerce, maybe with a population nearing 25k. Still small enough that folks know one another and recognize newcomers, but big enough to need some full-time fire-fighters.

I could get into the nitty gritty of the place, what the buildings look like and details of the types of businesses there, but I won't flaunt my geeky side. Piecing together settings are so my thing. It’s like setting up a framework for the foundation of the story. Peopling it with unique characters – both good and bad – who have quirks and personalities that create memories. With the framework and the population, it’s easy to formulate the story. Most of the time, they just jump out at me.

Like the time I passed a clothing donation box next to the Piggly Wiggly. There was a pair of cowboy boots sticking out from the opening, and I could only see the soles. It didn’t take much imagination to wonder if there could be a body wearing those boots and hidden away in that donation box. Yes, I checked, and of course (thankfully) the boots were empty, but wouldn’t that be a great place for a murder mystery to begin?

I have two suspense stories set in Heath’s Point. Both of these have main characters who are shocked to learn they have targets on their backs. COUNTER POINT is book 1, and award-winning BREAKING POINT is book 2. They share characters, but the stories themselves are stand-alone.

My third is in the works, enduring its second edit at the moment. BOILING POINT’s main character is hair stylist and business owner, Donna Culver. She and her daughter Molly are returning side characters from COUNTER POINT. But there’s a new guy in town. It’s hard to say if he’s the nice kind or the not so nice kind, but suddenly Donna begins having “accidents” that don’t seem so very accidental. She’s lived in Heath’s Point all her life. Why would someone want to hurt her now?

I’d love to give you a copy of BOILING POINT, but it's still stewing. However, I do have an e-copy of COUNTER POINT for one commenter. Tell me the last little town you visited (or the first) and what made it special to you. Make sure you leave your email address. One of you will win my book.

Good luck, and I hope you LOVE it! ~Marji Laine

What Catches Your Eye

 I've recently started working through a course about advertising. I know I took a class like this in high school or college, but not only is my memory extremely short, trends change. Sometimes monthly! 

And this course is designed particularly for authors and publishers, defining ways to get books noticed. A couple of weeks ago, we had a class on covers. The book that I'm using for training has a great cover - or so I thought. Here are the original (left and brighter) and the re-design (right and foggier) that I had done last year. 

I really liked both covers, though I felt the new cover was closer to the trend last year. The first cover was the original created in 2016. 

When I shared my cover within the class, however, I learned a few things:

I think the biggest takeaway is what I already said, "Trends change." 

While putting the male main character on the cover - usually with his shirt hanging open - is a definitely plus nowadays, having the girl on the cover is not. I was urged to remove the girl. But I'm not one to jump into things just because they are trends. After all, my story is about the girl - Cat. 

The other comment was to lose the crosshairs. Again, I had a little angst. The crosshairs make this book a suspense instead of a romance. There's romance in it, but the suspense and mystery are the story. And the overview of all of the Heath's Point Suspense books is that there is a target on the main character - as in this case. But I wanted to have an open mind about all the suggestions. 

After looking through the most popular books of my Christian suspense genre, I realized that I needed to make a change. And so was born this new cover. I downplayed the crosshairs, but kept them. My focus is on the woman because she's the central character of the story. I did allow the environment, which is what I noticed on so many of the book covers in my genre to take more of a center stage. Particularly the season. The season is important in all four of the books of this series. 

It looks cold which was my hope, but it is pretty devoid of color. Most of the books in my genre have darker covers, but flashes of bright colors, mostly red and blue, throughout. When I shared this cover, the lack of color was the biggest comment, though several in the group who happen to read Christian suspense, really liked this cover. 

So I had another adjustment made, bringing more color into the cover. I have to tell you, I really like the newer version of this cover. It isn't quite as cold as the first, but the hair is more true to the character in the book. 

One of the Christian suspense readers mentioned that she liked the cover with less color because the character look small town, comfortable, and innocent. The crosshairs jarred her, in a good way, because she realized that "a sweet, small-town girl was in trouble." 

She nailed it! That is exactly how I see it, and the new cover delights me. In fact, I liked it so much that I went ahead and had it changed from the upgrade that I did last year. 

And this is what brings me to you today. I have readers who prefer last year's cover. And I have readers that like both the darker one and the more colorful version of my new cover. 

Then I have a kink that was thrown into the works. One of the experts - she really knows her stuff and leads the classes that I'm in from time to time - advised me to remove the model completely. Apparently, the new and coming trend is to have people-less covers. Or if there are people, they're in action at a distance. 

I think this new trend has been influenced by the mainstream blockbuster Where the Crawdads Sing. The cover is a dimly lit marsh with pink water and sky and a little kayak in the center of the marsh that is barely noticed behind the large letters of the title. 

So I had yet another new cover made with this idea in mind. It still has the elements of a mystery suspense, but the main character has been removed. The crosshairs that a few people didn't like has also been removed along with the season. The main setting is superimposed on the cover along with one of the weapons used, but those two details are the only thing unique to the book itself. 

While I think this cover aligns with the current trend, I wonder if I've gone too far, removing the elements of the story and making the cover less unique. 

Here's where you come in: 

1. As a Christian suspense reader, which of the five books would you be more apt to pick up? Why? 

2. Which cover or covers wouldn't capture your interest if you happened to see it while browsing on Amazon? 

Let me know your thoughts in the comments! 

3 Things a Reader Can Do ... Okay, 4!

So, you've finished an amazing book and your heart just glows with justice served, redemption completed, problems resolved, and the hero enthusiastic about the future ... ahhh! What a wonderful feeling when all becomes right in the world of fiction.

And how grateful you are to the author for sending you no this 8-hour vacation from reality. How can you thank the wonderful person who brought you such blissful satisfaction?

Okay, maybe I'm laying it on a little thick, but seriously, there are some special things you can do to thank the authors of the books you love!

1. Tell them! Most have contact pages or information on their Facebook page or website. Google their name and book title to make sure you have the right person, then drop them a line! (And if your favorite happens to be one of the Suspense Sisters or our Mister, you can find links to their pages in the right column.)
2. Leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. These don't have to be articles. Give your favorite authors twenty-five of your best words and 5 stars! It's the nicest thing you can do for an author!
3. Share! Spread the word about this book. Share the buy link from Amazon on your Facebook profile. You don't have to say much more than, "I LOVED this book!"

That's it; 3 things that can mean so much to any author. I'm telling you, they notice, and they recognize those readers who encourage and support them. 

Oh, wait! There's one more thing: READ! (Like anyone has to urge you to do that, right?) 

And if you need a good suspense all decked out with romance and mystery, leave a comment and you might win a copy of my newest, COUNTER POINT. Here's the short version: 

Someone is determined to finish a murdered hit man's final assignment.

Her father's gone. Her diner's closing. Her car's in the lake. Cat McPherson has nothing left to lose. Except her life. And a madman's bent on taking that away. 

Her former boyfriend, Ray Alexander, returns as a hero from his foreign mission, bringing back souvenirs in the form of death-threats. When several attempts are made on Cat’s life, she must find a way to trust Ray, the man who broke her heart. 

Keeping Cat safe from a fallen cartel leader might prove impossible for Ray, but after seeing his mission destroyed and several godly people killed, he knows better than to ignore the man’s threats. Cat’s resistance to his protection and the stirring of his long-denied feelings for her complicate his intentions, placing them both in a fight for their lives.

Can she survive when ultimate power wants her dead?

When you comment, leave your email and also tell me what you most like to read - suspense or mystery. Random drawing will be held on Tuesday, February 28, 2017.