Believable Characters and Fearless Creating

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By Donnell Ann Bell

Happy Monday, Stiletto Gang and readers! I was notified that my third published novel is going on sale June 16 through June 30, 2023, which of course  I find exciting. It also made me think about the story and all that went into it. Research, check. . .Mysterious characters, check . . .Conflict, check . . . Romantic tension, check . . . Interesting settings, check. . . Plot problems . . . .AHEM. Unfortunately, that part of the book received a big red X before I could check off Believable Plot.

The novel I’m talking about is called Betrayed. To date, my publisher has changed most of my working titles. Truthfully, I worried about this title because if you do a search for “Betrayed” you will find a long list. Back when I submitted the book for editing, I thought about changing it altogether or adding an adjective so it might stand out more from the myriad novels bearing the same name. But as one reviewer wrote in her headline:

“Wow! BETRAYED Sums up this One Nicely.”

I couldn’t agree more, which is when I left the working title “as is” and sent it off to my editor. I do admit to crossing my fingers they would keep it. BelleBooks/Bell Bridge Books agreed and Betrayed has been one of my bestselling novels.

It’s the story of Irene Turner, a trap shooting champion from Oklahoma City who discovers the stillborn she delivered twenty-eight years earlier is still alive. Irene is damaged so I did my best to slip into the mindset of a woman who’d recently lost her fifteen-year-old son, then receives the shock of her life—the daughter she thought dead is alive and and residing in Denver.

When creating characters, I do my utmost not to intrude on their story. For instance, Irene may be a gun expert and has no fear of them, but her daughter Kinsey despises them and is a proponent of gun control. I wanted to include both points of view, rather than take a stance on a highly volatile issue.

I often enlist beta readers after critique and before I submit to my editor. I was pretty confident when I asked  my 2010 Golden Heart sister and fellow Sisters in Crime member Author Rochelle Staab to give me her thoughts. I expected accolades. What she came back with was, “You know better than this. This would never happen.”

Did Rochelle glitch on the gun issue?  No. Did she glitch on another plot point? You know it.

SPOILER ALERT:  In the story Kinsey is kidnapped by drug dealers. I have a healthy respect for what drugs (particularly illegal ones and what side effects can occur even after a single dose.) Knowing this, I disregarded what would likely happen in reality and intruded BIG TIME on the story. From the beginning of my writing career, I have heard the phrase and abided with MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS SUFFER. 

But @#$# I didn’t want to give her a drug that could potentially kill her!  My intentions were good, honest!!! So I cheated. Instead of a deadly drug the gang members had ready access to, I had them give her a sleeping drought. Yeah, that’s believable. NOT.  Was Rochelle right and did I take her advice and fix this plot problem? What do you think 😉

If you like, you can find out for yourself. Betrayed is available wherever books are sold in trade paperback and digital format.  Also, don’t forget, the sale is ongoing through June 16-30, 2023.  Links on my website:  https://www.donnellannbell.com/books/romantic-suspense-thrillers/betrayed/

In closing, I wonder several things.

  • Do my fellow authors reading this blog enlist beta readers?
  • Have you ever had a plot hole in your novels, you knew intrinsically would be a problem, but you thought maybe you could get away with it?
  • Do you work to avoid author intrusion in your novels?
  • Do you consider yourself a fearless creator?

By the way, here’s Rochelle’s final thoughts followed by the blurb:

“Absorbing and fast-paced from the chilling opening chapters to the shocking denouement, Donnell Ann Bell proves once again to be a master of suspense with Betrayed, a tale of consequences from a woman’s long-ago indiscretion that dominoes into a nightmare of deception, bitterness, greed, and murder. A compelling must-read!” ~ Rochelle Staab, bestselling author of the Mind for Murder Mysteries

About Betrayed:

A mother told her baby’s dead was a lie.

A daughter rocked by her true identity.

A detective risking his life to protect them both.

When Irene Turner learns the incomprehensible—that the stillborn she delivered 28-years earlier is alive, she takes the evidence to Major Crimes Detective Nate Paxton in Denver Colorado. Nate can’t believe that the daughter stolen at birth is Kinsey Masters, a world-class athlete, raised by a prominent Denver family, and the unattainable woman he’s loved for years.

Irene, Nate, and Kinsey discover a sordid conspiracy, one that may get them all killed as they face past betrayals and destructive revenge.

https://www.donnellannbell.com/books/romantic-suspense-thrillers/betrayed/

About the Author:

Multi-award winning Donnell Ann Bell knows statistically that crime and accidents happen within a two-mile radius of the average residence. For that reason, she leaves the international capers to world travelers, and concentrates on stories that might happen in her neck of the woods.

Over the last few years, Donnell has fallen in love with writing multi-jurisdictional task force plots, keeping close tabs on her theme SUSPENSE TOO CLOSE TO HOME. Her single-title romantic suspense novels, The Past Came Hunting, Deadly Recall, Betrayed, and Buried Agendas, are Amazon bestsellers.

Traditionally published with Belle Books/Bell Bridge Books, Black Pearl, a Cold Case Suspense is her first straight suspense and book one of a series. Her second book in the series, Until Dead is also available wherever books are sold. To learn more, sign up for her newsletter and follow her via www.donnellannbell.com Facebook https://www.facebook.com/donnellannbell and Twitter  @donnellannbell

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Hate Packing

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I Hate Packing by Debra H. Goldstein

Although I love traveling and have been cherishing the times that I once again have been able to get-together with family and friends, I hate packing. For me, it is a tortuous process.

First, I make sure everything I might possibly want to take is back from the dry cleaners, has been washed, or, if necessary, purchased. Then, I sit with pen and pad and contemplate the trip, so I can decide what outfits I need – from how many pairs of underpants to will there be any formal attire events. Once I address my clothing – indicating what should be worn on any given day – I add miscellaneous items to my list ranging from medications to computer cords. I stare at the list and decide to pack tomorrow when I’m not as tired or busy (this depends upon if I make the list at night or during the day).

The time to do the deed arrives but first I need the right sized suitcase. Am I carrying on? Do I have a dress I don’t want to crush? Am I going to a conference where I need to take extra books, bookmarks, or other swag? I choose a suitcase, but I’m so worn out from the process, so I take another break.

Finally, there is no way to put off packing. I pull everything out of my closet, drawers, or wherever. That done, I stare at the stack on my bed or the couch and decide to watch a TV show or allow myself thirty minutes of reading time before I tackle putting things into the suitcase.

An hour later, especially if the clothing is on my bed, I pack. It takes five to ten minutes.

Relieved, I soak in a long bath. I am exhausted. How about you? Do you have a packing ritual?

Clicking Our Heels – Summer Plans!!!!

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Summer time! What do you think about in June? For Stiletto Gang members, it’s all about our summer plans.

Barbara Eikmeier – We just got a teardrop camper trailer and I’m making plans for a road trip from KS to CA to camp on the beach in Oceanside, CA. We tent camped there with our kids when they were little and now we’ll do it with our granddaughter!

Mary Lee Ashford – We have no big plans this summer. Well mostly be staying around home and working on house projects. Some major decluttering going on here. Perhaps a short trip with the family or a weekend away but nothing big. However, in September we are planning a trip to Scotland and we are pretty excited about that. Look for plenty of photos!

Linda Rodriguez – We’ll be moving once again. I’m not looking forward to that nightmare, but I am looking forward to what comes after it. Just as our youngest son moved back in with us after his PhD while he was looking for a job, we will be moving in with him while we are looking for a house, since we will be moving to the town where he lives. It’s actually his idea, and he swears he’s looking forward to it. So am I. He’s a lot of fun.

Shari Randall/Meri Allen – Travel and beach time! A nephew is getting married, too, so it’s a full summer.

Debra H. Goldstein – A number of writing conferences, a lot of writing, and plenty of family fun!

Lynn McPherson – Lakeside cottage with the family and lots of good books.

T.K. Thorne – My garden. I can’t wait to see things blooming, especially around my little pond and to see the frogs come take a swim! And maybe work out how I can focus more on writing without feeling compelled to get other things done first. Wish me luck on that!

Bethany Maines – Probably a trip to Arizona to visit friends, and then our annual visit to Fairy Fest, and camping.

Donnell Ann Bell – I have a couple of conferences I’d like to attend, visits with family, my husband I are talking about a trip to Banff, Quebec, and I have monthlong jury duty in August!!

Dru Ann Love – I will be visiting Charleston, South Carolina and San Diego, California.

Saralyn Richard – Summertime is family time around here. I’m looking forward to having lots of company and fun times at the beach, barbecuing, and visiting all the tourist attractions.

Gay Yellen – Promote the new book, attend a writing conference or two, and still have time to take a non-writing couples vacation.

Lois Winston – I used to love cruising, but ever since the pandemic, I’m hesitant to travel to any place where I could wind up stuck for weeks or longer. So other than attending Killer Nashville in August, my only plan for now is to visit friends in the NY metro area and take in a few Broadway shows. Maybe in another year or two I’ll feel brave enough to consider Europe again.

Anita Carter – We’re planning for a trip to Scotland in September!

Robin Hillyer-Miles – This summer we’re enjoying our home in the SC Lowcountry, going to the beach, on local hikes, and lounging in our small backyard pool.

Kathryn Lane – To spend the summer in my beloved mountains in northern New Mexico. I’ve lost a lot of writing time this year to unexpected issues so I’m looking forward to uninterrupted writing. Bob and I will travel around New Mexico to research areas for the novel I’ve just started.

When a Character Writes the Book

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When I write fiction, my approach is to “fly by the seat of my pants”, a style often called pantser, as opposed to a plotter who outlines and plans every minute detail of a story. I’ve said that if I had to plot every trifling item in planning a novel, I’d slit my wrists. Plotting and outlining would kill the fun for me! I like it when I can hear my characters voices in my mind and they guide me through the adventure, thrilling me with surprises and the twists and turns that happen organically.

By being a pantser, new characters can pop into the story, especially if there is a plot twist requiring another person, like a street woman in Danger in the Coyote Zone. Writing about Juana brought me great joy.

Floyd, owner of Security Source where Nikki now works, made his debut in Waking Up in Medellin when it was obvious that Nikki needed a cohort to save her from the life-threatening trouble where she found herself. Floyd became one of the three main characters of the Nikki Garcia Mystery Series.

I could continue describing serendipitous incidents, such as the characters telling me where and how to end a plot, yet my latest novel, Stolen Diary, a coming-of-age story of a young math genius, is the best example of a protagonist guiding me through

her adventure. When I started Stolen Diary, I thought it would be a ghost story. Instead, Jasmin, the protagonist, led me away from the spirit world to her family’s tightly guarded secrets. Secrets are usually entangled with mystery and in this book, Jasmin must investigate them and overcome many hurdles in the process.

After I completed the manuscript, I researched the salient points of a coming-of-age novel to make sure I’d covered the important ones. My research turned up the following life-changing events in a child’s (or teen’s) life that make for a good coming-of-age saga:

  • Child discovers a parent’s secret from the past.
  • Child’s parents get divorced.
  • A family member gets sick or in some sort of trouble that changes the child’s life.
  • The family relocates to another city.
  • The young protagonist must attain a goal.
  • The young protagonist should mature into a responsible person.

Jasmin steered my pantser style to cover all the above points. She’s also told me that plotters write great stories and since they always know where they are going in the manuscript, they write much faster than pantsers! Of course, there is the plantser style, a combination of the other two.

What is your writing style?

***

­­­Kathryn Lane

Kathryn Lane writes mystery and suspense novels set in foreign countries. In her award-winning Nikki Garcia Mystery Series, her protagonist is a private investigator based in Miami. Her latest publication is a coming-of-age novel, Stolen Diary, about a socially awkward math genius.

Kathryn’s early work life started out as a painter in oils. To earn a living, she became a certified public accountant and embarked on a career in international finance with Johnson & Johnson.

Two decades later, she left the corporate world to create mystery and suspense thrillers, drawing inspiration from her Mexican background as well as her travels in over ninety countries.

Photographs

All photographs are used for educational or editorial purposes.

 

A Wolf in Strange Clothing

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What makes a hero?

I just read about a marine who disobeyed orders and moved into the line of fire to rescue his fellows. He saved several lives and received a Medal of Honor.

That’s a hero, for sure.

Just the fact that he endangered himself for others is heroic. But strangely, the “disobeyed orders” part feels like icing on the cake. We admire him even more.

Which is interesting, because if we tweak the story so that he disobeyed orders, but failed to rescue anyone or even endangered or brought harm to others, we might call him a fool. He might be court-martialed instead of honored.

Conclusion: Social approval is situational. If George Washington had failed to win the day, we would all be British colonists and calling him a traitor.

But why does disobeying orders in a “winning” scenario stir our admiration?

Because our culture preaches independence. We worship the John Wayne/Clint Eastwood cowboy, alone on the range, needing no one, the thinker/doer who doesn’t give a rat’s hinny what others think of them, the rebel who fights against the system.

Speaking generally, we in the West are prouder of our successes, more focused on personal growth, and less connected to the people around us than other cultures. (The older I get, however, the more important those connections are.)

Other cultures especially in the Middle and Far East—don’t worship individualism the way we do. They value their entwinement and interconnections, the group over individualism.

One way is not superior to the other. Different cultures emphasize different values, but—

I wonder if Western “individualism” might be more of a thin cultural overlay. Group-think sways us more than we like to believe. In fact, we are daily witnessing group-think in the wolves’ clothing of individualism.

Many define freedom as individualism, choosing our own path, having control of our own destiny. It’s a founding reason for America’s existence.

But history has revealed it is far more complex than that. One person’s freedom is another’s prison. Since the penning of the Amendments to the Constitution, debate over the scope and meaning of “freedom” has continued.

For all our focus on behaving independently, we forget we are hard-wired to care about what others think.

Why? Because we evolved in small groups where being ostracized meant death. A person exiled from the group could not survive in the harsh world of lions, tigers, and bears.

I have to wonder if the tsunami of group-think-in-the-name-of-individualism sweeping our world got switched on because social media presented the reality (or illusion) that a large group of people think the same way. Thus, making it “safe” to move toward or to voice views that would have been anathema a decade ago.

We need our heroes because they are, in essence, stories about who we want to be and who we want our children to be.

But we might need to look closely at how we define them.

 

T.K. Thorne writes about what moves her, following a flight path of curiosity, reflection, and imagination.

What I learned from my son’s meth addiction and death.

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Dear Reader,

It’s been a chaotic and life changing year. I have accomplished to survive the pandemic, the loss of my only child, and to celebrate 30 years of marriage to my best friend. I learned a great deal about myself in the last four months.

1. I’m a true survivor and I will come back stronger for the future. More determined to make something of myself and my life and my son, Danny’s, life.

2. I come from a long line of survivors. My ancestors fought manifest destiny and being genizaros in Northern New Mexico during the Indian wars. If they had not survived their struggles, I would not be here today fighting my own struggles in this country divided by a wall.

3. My son taught me that love is  unconditional and that means no matter what your child says or does, you love them the best you can and cherish the moments together. Even the bad days, the hard days, the happy days, the drugs, the illness, the addiction, the heart attacks, the strokes, the clinging to life but wanting to let go. Your love does not end when their life ends. It changes and becomes grief. The grief tries to kill you. You survive and make yourself get up every day and do the work. You use your anger and grief to make yourself stronger. You learn and teach how to survive the loss.

4. You are nothing alone. You need friends, family, therapists, doctors and support groups to tell your story and to share your grief and anger. You do not face these challenges alone.

5. The world is a beautiful, wonderous, magical place full of miracles and tears, laughter, heartache and bliss. You have to dig deep to find the path to the light and follow it all the way to the end never giving up hope for a better tomorrow.

6. Life is fleeting. One day you’re here. One day you disappear. But your spirit lives forever. And as long as someone says you name, you never die. You live on in the memories of loved ones and in books and in songs and poems and movies and dances.

7. Never give up hope. Never. Because just around the corner there waits your destiny. I’ve been around the world and seen many things but I haven’t seen everything. I’ve seen heart ache and joy and misery and success. I am blessed.

8. Your childhood is not over. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.

9. Love.

10. One world. One prayer.

The 5-Letter Word that Sends a Shudder of Anxiety Through Most Authors

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By Lois Winston

By nature, many authors are loners. We spend a good deal of our lives sitting in our writing caves, pecking at our keyboards. Survey any group of authors, and most will tell you the worst part of being an author is having to do promo. That’s the infamous 5-letter word of the title in this post.

It doesn’t matter if you’re an indie author, published by a small press, or with a major publishing house. Unless you’re one of the very elite (think Janet Evanovich, Nora Roberts, or James Patterson), you have to do most or all of your own promotion. Even the big names need to promote their books, but they do it through book tours with PR reps managing all the details and doing the heavy lifting.

I’m someone who has vowed to be the last person on the planet not sucked in by most social media. You’ll never find me on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. I do have a Twitter account, only because my former publisher insisted, but I rarely remember to tweet anything. When I do remember, it’s never anything controversial, political, or personal, so chances of one of my tweets going viral and resulting in new fans and increased books sales is as unlikely as a rose bush growing at the North Pole.

However, back when I was traditionally published, I used to enjoy giving talks to library groups, book clubs, and other organizations. Covid put an end to that but ushered in the age of Zoom talks.

I’ve participated in several of these Zoom events, and I’m participating in another at the end of the month. On Tuesday, May 30th at 7:30-9:30pm EDT, grab your favorite beverage, settle into your comfiest chair, and hop online for a fun evening of laughs, Q&A, games, prizes, and more with some of your favorite mystery and suspense authors. All are welcome. And best of all? It’s FREE! All you have to do is register.

During this fun event, you’ll be able to Zoom around the various “rooms” where you’ll find dozens of authors happy to chat with you. I’m pairing up in one room with my fellow Booklover’s Bench blogger Maggie Toussaint (appearing under her new Valona Jones pen name for this event.) You can find a list of other attending authors here. Scroll down the page for the registration form. Hope to see you there!

Post a comment for a chance to win one of several promo codes I’m giving away for a free download of the audiobook version of Decoupage Can Be Deadly, the fourth book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series.

A Crafty Collage of Crime, the 12th book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, will release on June 16th. Learn about Anastasia’s new adventure, read the first chapter, and find pre-order links here.

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

Welcome Melodie Campbell!

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Lynn McPherson is delighted to welcome Melodie Campbell as a guest to talk about life, writing, and her new release: The Merry Widow Murders. 

When Life Gives You Lemons…(get out the gin and start writing a new series)

By Melodie Campbell

Ah, the timeless question.  Where do you get your ideas?

I think it was Stephen King who talked about a little mail-order store in small town America…I’ve never been able to find that store myself.  Stephen keeps it a close secret (I hope you’re smiling.)

But I had reason to experience that dilemma about two years ago, a year into the pandemic, and a year after my husband David died.

Damn that covid, and what it’s done to publishing.  When Orca Books told me that they were capping the line that carried my Goddaughter series (translation: still selling the books in the line, but closing it to future books, at least for now)  I was in a tight spot.

I’d had 10 contracts in a row from Orca!  That series garnered three major awards!  How could I leave it behind?

Put another way:  what the poop was I going to write next?

The Goddaughter series featured a present day mob goddaughter who didn’t want to be one.  Gina Gallo had a beloved fiancé who thought she had gone straight.  But of course, in each book she would get blackmailed into helping the family pull off heists or capers that would inevitably go wrong.  It allowed for a lot of madcap comedy.

Some would say I was a natural to write a series about a mob goddaughter (we’ll just leave it at that.)  And I liked the serious theme behind the comedy:  You’re supposed to love and support your family. But what if your family is this one?

Issues of grey have always interested me.  We want things to be black and white in life, but quite often, they are more complex than that.  I like exploring justice outside of the law in my novels.  But I digress…

The Goddaughter books brought me to the attention of Don Graves, a well-known newspaper book reviewer up here.  He commiserated with the end of the Goddaughter series, and immediately suggested the following:

“Why don’t you write about her grandmother?  Prohibition days, when the mob was becoming big in Hamilton.”

The idea burned in me.  Except it wouldn’t be her grandmother.  (Don is older than me.)  It would be her great-grandmother!  Coming to age in the time of Rocco Perri and Bessie Starkman…

I settled on 1928, because that was the year women finally got the vote in England.  The status of women features very much in this novel.  The time frame also allowed me to use the aftermath of WW1, including men like my own grandfather, wounded by gas, and shell-shocked.  I would make the protagonist a young widow, because I knew grief – oh man, did I know grief.  My own husband had died way before his time, the year before.  I could write convincingly about that.

But I would also use bathos to lighten the tale. (I seem incapable of writing anything straight.)  The humour of the Goddaughter books finds its way into The Merry Widow Murders, and so far, has generated smiles for prepub reviewers.

The book took me over a year to write, working full time on it.  It helped me to channel my grief.  It forced me to step out of my comfort zone and write something with considerable depth.

And it taught me that – even widowed – I wasn’t entirely alone.  That ideas are beautiful things that can come from friendship, and the good hearts of readers and reviewers you are fortunate to meet along your publishing journey.

1928, At Sea
When an inconvenient dead body shows up in her stateroom, Lady Lucy Revelstoke and her pickpocket-turned-maid Elf know how to make it disappear–and find the killer. But can they do it before the authorities look into her own dodgy past?

“Miss Fisher meets Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry. The perfect escapist read!”  Anne R. Allen

Called the “Queen of Comedy” by the Toronto Sun, Melodie Campbell was also named the “Canadian literary heir to Donald Westlake” by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.  Winner of 10 awards, including The Derringer (US) and the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence, she has multiple bestsellers, and was featured in USA Today. Her publications include over 100 comedy credits, 16 novels and 60 short stories, but she’s best known for The Goddaughter mob caper series.

Anthony Nominations for Best Short Story and Best Anthology

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by Paula Gail Benson

Bouchercon Poster

This year’s Bouchercon, the world mystery convention, will be held in San Diego, California, from August 30 through September 3. The Anthony awards, named for Anthony Boucher, a founder of the Mystery Writers of America, will be announced during the convention.

Categories for Best Short Story and Best Anthology are included among the nominations.

Earlier this year, Barb Goffman’s story, “Beauty and the Beyotch” was nominated for and won the Agatha award at Malice Domestic. In addition, Barb’s stories appear in two of the nominated anthologies: Low Down Dirty Vote Volume 3: The Color of My Vote and Land of 10,000 Thrills: Bouchercon Anthology 2022.

Greg Herren is multiply nominated for Anthony’s with his A Streetcar Named Murder (credited to T. G. Herren) for Best Humorous Novel, his #shedeservedit for Best Children’s/YA Novel (previously nominated for an Agatha), and his editing of Land of 10,000 Thrills: Bouchercon Anthology 2022 in the Best Anthology category.

All the authors nominated in these categories have had distinguished writing careers. Their work is definitely to be included on your “to be read” lists.

Here are this year’s Best Short Story and Best Anthology Anthony Nominees:

 

Anthony Nominees for Best Short Story

“Still Crazy After All These Years” by E.A. Aymar in Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon

“The Impediment” by Bruce Robert Coffin in Deadly Nightshade: Best New England Crime Stories 2022

“Beauty and the Beyotch” by Barb Goffman in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Feb. 2022

“The Estate Sale” by Curtis Ippolito in Vautrin Magazine, Summer 2022

“C.O.D.” by Gabriel Valjan in Low Down Dirty Vote Volume 3: The Color of My Vote

 

Anthony Nominees for Best Anthology

Low Down Dirty Vote Volume 3: The Color of My Vote edited by Mysti Berry

Lawyers, Guns, and Money: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Warren Zevon edited by Libby Cudmore and Art Taylor

Land of 10,000 Thrills: Bouchercon Anthology 2022 edited by Greg Herren

Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon edited by Josh Pachter

Crime Hits Home: A Collection of Stories from Crime Fiction’s Top Authors edited by S.J. Rozan

The Joy of Audio.

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By Joyce Woollcott.

A debut author dreams of many things. A breakout novel, lots of sales, terrific reviews, guest panels at big conferences –– free drinks and tasty little finger foods. In reality, writers don’t usually achieve all these goals. Some of them certainly, but instant, glittering success is only for the few. Like many others, I’m just thrilled to have my book out there, and another on the way, (gosh, sounds like I’m pregnant, doesn’t it?) but then, that’s what a book is to many of us, our baby.

I’ve been fortunate with reviews, and the book has been well received, but the worry and stress of putting yourself and your words out into the world is something every writer shares. Now that the book is out there, the reviews are coming in, you might think, that’s it, and I did, until I got the call from my publisher and their agent telling me that the audio book was a go. I wasn’t thinking of audio. I’d dreamed of hearing my words narrated but never thought it would happen to me, well, you can imagine my joy. This baby was about to talk!

Then of course the worry starts.

I had a couple of concerns. As a writer, you usually have an idea in your head of how your hero or heroine looks and sounds, I do certainly. I wondered if my protagonist, Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride, would sound the way I had envisaged him? And another issue, my book is set in Northern Ireland. Would the audio company, Tantor, choose a narrator with the correct accent? Most of the time the author has no say in the choice of narrator and so you wait and hope.

My first news was from Tantor, who in a communication to me were happy to share the name of my narrator and a link to other books he had read.

My reader was an LA based Irish actor, Alan Smyth. He has narrated books by, among others, Stuart Neville, Flann O’Brian and oh yes, James Joyce. So, well, thank you very much. Needless to say, I’m thrilled and a little overwhelmed.

The next exciting development was hearing the little audio clip that Tantor Audio released. You can listen to it here… just hit Play Sample.

https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/9798350822069

I’m happy because I realise there are challenging words all narrators have to face, and there are some really difficult ones in A NICE PLACE TO DIE. Getting those right creates a certain credibility for the book. I’ve had this conversation with Alan. Only in Northern Ireland do you have to grapple with – Shaneoguestown Road, craic, and Doagh. I don’t even know how to pronounce the first one. But Alan was more than up to the task and I hope you will give the audio book a try, and see how he did. I’m sure you’ll be able to clearly picture my hero, D.S. McBride, and his team, as they unravel this dark and twisty plot in the lovely countryside in and around Belfast.

Available on-line and at Tantor Audiobooks.

Twitter: @AlanGSmyth

https://tantor.com