"Failing Out Loud"

With guest blogger.... suspense author Lisa Phillips!

Bestselling Failure

Here’s something no one ever told you about being an author: it won’t be perfect.

Sure, we all have visions of NYT Bestseller status dancing in our heads, and that call. You know the one, the one known as “The Call”. Where a New York number flashes on your caller ID, and you gasp. Choke. Almost drop the phone. Yes, yes I was working out (obviously) that’s why I sound breathless. Yes, I would be very happy to sign whatever you send me so that you can then send me a check and I can do line edits for the rest of my life. (Not really.)

I still don’t like edits. Surely by now I should just be able to spawn a fully formed book that’s technically and spiritually perfect. That should be a thing, right?

Sigh. (In case you’re wondering, it’s not a thing.)

Or you self publish. I do that, too. Clearly you’re going to rush up the ranks and sparkling five star reviews will commence. Maybe you’ll get one or two bad reviews, plus that lady on Goodreads who thinks I might not be saved, but that’s not so bad right? RIGHT?

How about starting out with fifteen bad reviews, like this book:

Or this book:

Yes, both of them.

Sometimes it looks like Amazon’s fault, and sometimes there’s a technical issue that makes you look like the most inept, wanna-be, blatantly “self-published author, did you know she does that?” and you want to throw up. Good thing I’m not a crier, because boy would there ever have been some days I’d have used a whole box of tissues. Costco sized.

But we plough through.

I’m British, so I have that stiff upper lip thing happening.

I lead worship at my church, and wouldn’t you know it’s not always perfect?

I would have thought God would want His people to represent Him in the best light. I would have told you that He was going to make it sound amazing so that people could worship without the worship leader’s mess-ups distracting them. There is this neat Holy Spirit filter that kicks in, people forget you’re on stage and just worship. Never mind the mess ups, they’re all in, praising Him regardless. Those beautiful people who do that.

It’s like a good review: “I don’t know what all those other people were talking about it, I thought that book was great!”

God lets us be human, in all our humanness, in all our tarnished glory (not very glorious I’ll tell you) because it grows us. But that’s a whole other post about character, and stretching and fun stuff like that. (Ouch.)

So it’s inevitable. You’ll mess up. And the nature of writing books people are going to read is that you’ll do it where everyone can see—where they can read it for themselves. Especially if you’re self-published, taking all that work on your shoulders and trying to convince yourself you wanted to do it in the first place.

Or you could give up.

But who wants to do that?

If other people’s opinion is greater than your will to write then you will spend your whole writing life sinking, until you finally drown.

Feel like you’re drowning? Find that will to write in the hard moments when the kids are yelling and there are dishes in the sink, when dinner needs making and the hubs will be home in fifteen minutes but you just need a few more words.

Find the will to write when you bow your head and give up the fear. When you think about that one person, that “ideal reader” who gets what you were trying to say, who takes on board the message and finds new ground in her own battles. That reader who takes your book to her Bible study and tells all her friends about it, before she emails you to ask when the next one is coming out.

Pleasing the crowd doesn’t work. Write to that reader. The one. YOUR reader.

Because they can’t wait for your next book.

Lisa Phillips is a British ex-pat who grew up an hour outside of London. Lisa attended Calvary Chapel Bible College where she met her husband. He's from California, but nobody's perfect. It wasn't until her Bible College graduation that she figured out she was a writer (someone told her). Since then she's discovered a penchant for high-stakes stories of mayhem and disaster where you can find made-for-each-other love that always ends in happily ever after. 
Lisa can be found in Idaho wearing either flip-flops or cowgirl boots, depending on the season. She leads worship with her husband at their local church. Together they have two children--a sparkly Little Princess and a Mini Daddy--and an all-black Airedale known as The Dark Lord Elevator.

Lisa’s latest release is an August Love Inspired Suspense titled DEAD END.

Nina Holmes won't rest until she finds her mother's killer—and proves that her father was wrongly

convicted. And now that she's left the CIA, she finally has time to pursue the case that shattered her childhood. But someone realizes that Nina's digging into the past, and soon it's her own life that's in jeopardy. Deputy US marshal Wyatt Ames is just as determined to keep Nina safe as he is to keep investigating. But as he helps her with the case, they discover that this killer may be even more dangerous than anyone expected. And to capture him, Wyatt and Nina must be willing to do whatever it takes—even use themselves as bait.

Lisa is giving away FIVE signed copies of Dead End today!! Tell her your best author-failure story, and get entered to win!

ATTRIBUTES OF CHARACTERIZATION

Characterization is key to any novel, whether that novel be character-driven or plot-driven.

We all know to make our characters interesting, sympathetic, memorable.  We know to draw them with verve and vitality. We know to give a physical description. We know not to make them perfect (perfect is boring and allows no room for growth). 

But do we delve deeper into other attributes?

           

Moral compass.  What is your protagonist’s moral compass?  How does he react to a situation where he has a choice between right and wrong?

  

Image provided by Classroom Clipart

If he is honest to a fault, why is he that way?  If his honesty vacillates, why is he that way?  If, upon finding a wallet, does he look for identification to return it or does he rifle through it to take whatever money is in it?  If he chooses the latter, does he later feel remorse?  Or does he feel justified in taking the money, believing that if someone were foolish enough to lose his wallet, he deserves to lose his money as well?  

What is your character’s attitude about racism?  Will he stand up for the underdog or is he more likely to go along with the crowd when it comes to making fun of someone who is different?

Family background.  What is your character’s family background?  What is her place in the family?  Books have been written upon birth order in influencing one’s behavior.  The oldest child is frequently a leader, success oriented, determined to forge his own path in life.  The middle child is often a peace-maker, the baby of the family somewhat spoiled, even a show-off.  With five children in our family, I can clearly see the effects of birth order.   

Image provided by Classroom Clipart

Of course, these are generalizations.  Use them as a jumping-off point. Aside from birth order, there is the familial role. Have you noticed that returning to your parents’ home can trigger a reversion to the role you played as a child? My sister and I laugh (and sometimes cry) over the fact that we assumed the roles we had as children when we visited our parents.  Twenty, thirty years later, we still return to the roles we played, or those that were foist upon us, when we return home.

Social background.  Who are your main character’s friends?  With whom does she feel comfortable hanging out?  Conversely, with whom does she feel uncomfortable?  

Consider the example of a fifteen year old girl who has gone to live with her grandparents after her parents’ untimely death in a car accident.  She is plunged into a new town, a new school, a new life.  At school, does she choose to hang out with the nerds because those were her friends in her previous life?  Or does she go the other direction and find friends with the kids who cut class, experiment with drugs, shop-lift?  Does grief prompt her to choose such a vastly different social group?  Or does her grief send her into a shell where she refuses to involve herself with anyone, even her grandparents who love her?   

Image provided by Classroom Clipart

Another part of social background is that of socio-economic status.  Does your character come from a well-to-do home with all the advantages?  Or does she come from a home where the parents are barely scraping by to make a living? Are books abundant in her life or are they a scarcity?   Do you see how this connects with the attribute of family background?

Cultural influences.  Everyone has cultural influences, whatever they ethnicity.  I grew up in Washington, DC, but I count the south as part of my culture because my mother came from Tennessee and brought many of those customs with her.  The language, the cooking, the attitudes of the south colored our family and continue to pop up every now and then and make themselves felt in my writing. 

Image provided by Classroom Clipart

What are the cultural influences on your character?  Did he grow up in a family that emigrated from Germany as did my brother-in-law?  Do his father’s parents, who hail from Russia, live with his family?  These factors can have a profound effect upon a child and his thinking, from the way dinner is served to how holidays are celebrated.  

 Characters do not develop in a vacuum. Are you beginning to see how all of these attributes—and others—are connected?  A character’s moral compass is directly related to her family background. Cultural influences make themselves known in the social backdrop of her life.

*  *  *

Join Jane in celebrating her sale to Love Inspired Suspense!
  Keeping Watch is an October 2014 release,
 and someone in Seekerville will become the proud owner of a copy by just leaving a comment. Check back on Saturday and see if it's YOU!

Jane McBride Choate has been making up stories for as long as she can remember.  When she was in grade school, her friends asked her to tell them stories about themselves.  She complied gladly and told outlandish tales, complete with damsels in distress and the heroic princes who saved them. Now her stories are likely to include a kick-butt woman saving a prince ... and saving the day as well. Writing--and getting paid to do  it--is a dream come true.

Deputy D.A. Danielle Barclay has been threatened, but she is not impressed when her dad hires former Delta Force soldier Jake Rabb as her bodyguard. The stalker's threats continue, and it becomes apparent that there is a personal connection. Danielle is determined to survive and cannot imagine who hates her this much. Could it be related to her mother's disappearance four years ago? Just when they think they may have things figured out, they realize they may be wrong. Will it be too late? Choate makes a convincing Love Inspired Suspense debut. The strong-willed, independent heroine demonstrates that prayer is the ultimate protection.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE RABID READER

with guest Pamela Tracy.

It was a dark and stormy night as the rabid reader climbs the trellis outside the inspirational romance novelist’s home. Looking right and left, Rabid Reader assures herself that she hasn’t been seen. Good. She’s trained for this day: hours of lifting heavy books, crunching numbers to be able to buy all the books she wanted, and bending page corners to keep her place in such wonderful books.

Dressed in black, she feels a bit like a cat burglar. Only it isn’t jewels she wants; it’s information.

After she climbs through the conveniently unlocked window and lands quietly on soft carpet, she tiptoes across the bedroom and looks down the hallway. There, two doors down, comes a soft light. That's the room! The office where Pamela Tracy works, writes stories, stories that have driven Rabid Reader to tonight’s deed.

Pamela: Ouch. Hey, what’s with the rope?

Rabid Reader: I’ve tied you up. Now you won’t be able to type another work until you tell me all your secrets.

Pamela: Secrets? Me? I’m on deadline? I’m too tired to have secrets.

Rabid Reader (waving the cover of Pamela’s last Harlequin Heartwarming titled What Janie Saw) : It’s all your fault. I start these stories, and I have to read them in one setting because I have to know whodunit.

Pamela: And you’re telling me this why?

Rabid Reader: So I can finally wake up in the morning with more than five hours sleep, so I won’t be looking at my clock all day and thinking when can I get back to the book, so I won’t be at work and wondering if I’m – just like the heroines in your book - just one step from the extraordinary, so…

Pamela: I get it. You’re wondering how a romance writer, one who pens suspense, works? Specifically how I, a wife, teacher, mother, friend, come up with these plots that keep you guessing until the end?

Rabid Reader: Yeah.

Pamela: Untie me and I’ll tell you.

Rabid Reader (picking up a bookmark and aiming it at Pamela): No, I don’t trust you.

Pamela: Good, never trust a inspirational romance novelist. We just might put you in a book.

Rabid Reader: That would be grand. I love all this characterization stuff you guys do. Just what do you do?

Pamela: My heroines are always 1/3 me, 1/3 someone I know, and 1/3 spunk. My heroes depend on the book I’m writing.

Rabid Reader: What are you working on now?

Pamela: Well, right now I'm writing a 70,000 word Harlequin Heartwarming.  It doesn’t have a title yet.  I’m calling it Yolanda’s Legacy.  I’m sure the name will be changed to the Secret Cowboy’s Pregnant Bride or something like that.  (Just kidding.  It’s not about a cowboy.)  I’m waiting for revisions for a Love Inspired contemporary. It will be out in April and is called Finally a Hero. Not very suspensy.

Rabid Reader: No, not very suspensy.



Pamela: You want me to talk about my next book?


Rabid Reader: Yes.

Pamela: Well, it’s called  Holiday Homecoming.  My hero is Jimmy Murphy, a journalist/maker of documentaries about animals and their plight. He doesn’t believe animals should be penned... ever.  He’s a Matt Damon type.  (Yes, yes, I watched the movie a hundred time and soon couldn’t get the man out of my book.  Me, I wanted Johnny Depp.  Matt said, Nope, my turn.) My heroine Meredith Stone works at an animal habitat and has felt the sting of his prose.  She’s also the girl he left behind ten years earlier.  Now, he’s in Scorpion Ridge, Arizona, because his little girl needs a place to call home.  Soon, he realizes home is with Meredith.  And, yes, there is a mystery.

Rabid Reader: Oh, I wish I could meet him.

Pamela: Buy the book online.

Rabid Reader: I will. Hey, you have a television in your office. Way cool. What are you watching?

Pamela: Bones.

Rabid Reader: Is that your favorite show?

Pamela: No, I do like it, but I watch it for mood only. You can’t trust it for fact. See, the investigators on the show have way too much freedom with crime scenes. When I write, I have to pay attention to what my readers will believe. Personally, I don’t believe all I see on Bones. I actually am really into The Gilmore Girls right now. On DVD, of course, during their heyday I was much too busy meeting deadlines to get to watch.

Rabid Reader: Judging by your books, I’d not take you as a Gilmore Girls fan.

Pamela: My critique group actually made me stop watching the Gilmore Girls. They said I was starting to put cutesy stuff in my suspense novels.

Rabid Reader: Where’s your critique group now? If they were loyal writer buds, they’d be here rescuing you.

Pamela: They’re too busy to rescue me. We all have a three pages a day goal. Then, we meet once every two weeks for critique. They’re brutal, which a suspense writer really needs.

Rabid Reader (Finding the pre-order for Holiday Homecoming on her Kindle and waving it around): You mean, you wrote this book at just three pages a day.

Pamela: Well, I wish I’d written it in three pages a day increments. But really, I have a full-time job (college professor), a husband, a son (in elementary school) and so many other things to do (clean house, attend church, judge contests) that I’d start with my three pages a book goal (Did you know that at three pages a day, you can write three books a year?) and eventually I’d be behind and start trying for five pages a day until I’d be really behind and writing ten pages a day for ten days. It works. By the time I get to the last 100 pages, I’m flying.

Rabid Reader (frowning at book): Wow, a college professor. Do most writers have day jobs?

Pamela: Yeah, I’m pretty sure.

Rabid Reader: Do you get your ideas during your day job?

Pamela: No, my all-time favorite book, Pursuit of Justice, came to me when I kept noticing the same homeless woman in my old neighborhood.  She was about my age and size.  I got this “What if” idea.  A whole book idea came from that moment.

Rabid Reader: A whole book idea!  The idea came complete, all you had to do is write it?

Pamela: No, I had to write the synopsis, which is never easy for me. I always know my beginning and my end, but the middle is pretty much a mystery. I have four papers with two columns on them. I label the first column with the heroine’s name and the next column with the hero’s. Then, I starting coming up with at least three harrowing events per chapter that will happen to both. In one of my books, a Love Inspired Suspense, Fugitive Family, there’s warnings posted on doors, flattened tires, tornados, corpses. Oops, I’m telling you too much. I need you to buy the book and then read it. Oh, and I also research. I found a bank manager and investigated what his life was like because I made the hero a bank manager. The heroine is a lawyer. Then, I also researched things like fallout shelters and go-go boots and stalkers and-

Rabid Reader: Stop, all of those things are in here! In one little book. See, that’s why I broke in tonight. You put all these great plot points in a book, and then I buy it, and pretty soon I’m losing sleep because I try to read it in one setting.

Pamela: I think you lose sleep because you’re reading and training to be a cat burglar when you should be sleeping.

Rabid Reader: Do you have a cat?

Pamela: Yes, his name is Tyre.

Rabid Reader (suddenly studying the walls and pictures in Pamela’s office): Do you have any jewels?

Pamela: Hey, I thought you were here to find out how I wrote books?

Rabid Reader: Yeah, but you just told me that most writers have other jobs. I’ll be a cat burglar by night and a writer by day. Thanks for helping me out.

Pamela Tracy is an award-winning author who lives with her husband (He claims to be the inspiration for most of her heroes) and son (He claims to be the interference for most of her writing time.) She was raised in Omaha, Nebraska, and started writing at a very young age (a series of romances, all with David Cassidy as the hero. Sometimes Bobby Sherman would interfere). Then, while earning a BA in Journalism at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, she picked up the pen again only this time, it was an electric typewriter on which she wrote a very bad science fiction novel.)  First published in 1999 by Barbour Publishing, She has written more than twenty-five books/novellas/devotions and has sold more than a million copies.  She's written contemporary, historical and suspense - all in the romance genre.  Her 2007 suspense Pursuit of Justice was a Rita finalist.  Her 2009 suspense Broken Lullaby won the American Christian Fiction Writers' Carol award.   

Sandra again to thank Pamela for such a fun and informative post.

So to summarize, you:
1. Design a third of your character's traits after someone you know  (Beware friends of Pamela)
2. Watch suspense shows to get in the mood.
3. Use a critique group to keep you in line.
4. Have reasonable goals like 3 pages a day, but don't freak out if you don't meet them. You just find time somewhere to make it up.
5.You make a chart for hero and heroine and list three harrowing events per chapter.

These all sound like great tips for a busy working mom.  And folks, on top of this, Pamela keeps her marvelous sense of humor.  I'm sure that plays a big part in her success in juggling all of her commitments.

Do you have any questions for suspense author, Pamela Tracy?  For those who comment we will put you in the doggy dish for a drawing of a kindle copy of Pamela's Rita finalist novel, Pursuit of Justice and another winner will receive a copy of Carol Award winner, Broken Lullaby.

Pamela loves Irish shepherd pie  (we shared some at Desert Dreams conference )  so I have put out a huge casserole dish of Irish Shepherd pie for all to enjoy.  You don't have to cook tonight so watch out for that cat burglar.

Welcome Guest Katy Lee!

Missy, here. I'm so pleased to introduce you to my friend and fellow Board member from the Faith, Hope and Love Chapter of RWA, Katy Lee! Katy's first book from Love Inspired Suspense will be out October 1 and is available at Harlequin NOW! It's also available for pre-order at other book sellers (see links at end of post).

And now, here's Katy...

Meanwhile, Back at the Distribution Center...

Katy Lee

Hello Seekerville! My name is Katy Lee and I am a new author of Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense line. Before I was ever a writer, however, I was an avid reader…and still am.

At the beginning of each month, I make a stop at my local Walmart to peruse the book shelves of the latest releases. I don’t know about you, but for me, I love to see all those crisp, shiny covers sitting up there in their rows waiting for their new owners to pick them up and take them home. I might even do a little book maneuvering…er, I mean straightening of my favorite titles. You know, just to make sure they are neat and are looking their best for all passersby to see.

Now, with my first LIS, Warning Signs, releasing October 1st, I am counting down the days to when I will make my monthly trip to the store and get to see my own book up there for all to see. I might even pitch a tent and camp out all month. Just kidding, sort of. But anyway, as giddy as I am to see my books on the shelf, I was even more excited this past August to have the opportunity to see my books right off the press.

On August 9^th, I dragged my family up to Buffalo, New York to the Harlequin Distribution Center. There I met a group of wonderful people who were so excited to meet a real-life author. I thought this was interesting, especially when I walked into the gigantic warehouse that housed over 50 million books all lined up neatly in their rows of pallets waiting to be shipped. Here were people who worked among books all day long. You’d think it would be no big deal seeing an author, but I suppose for them to meet an author behind one of the books they handle is like meeting a rock star behind the music you hear on the radio. They made me feel so special and even thanked me for writing. I was thrilled by their warm welcome…but by the end of tour, I was the one amazed by all they do. It turned out to be more than just moving books from the press to the shelves. By the end of the tour, they were the rock stars.

We started in the printing room, where shiny book covers flew off the press at a blinding rate. I watched how the employees inspected each of them and moved them down the line for the next stage in binding. Most printing is not done at this particular center, although they can handle small print runs of like 5,000 books if an order is put in after the initial print run. What this Distribution Center is mostly responsible for is what it does best. Distribute.

I was taken into the warehouse and watched boxes moving all around me and above me on a nifty conveyor belt that swooped down and up like a roller-coaster. Each box heading to a different shipping bin that would take them to the correct bookseller. When I came to the people packing these boxes, I watched them touch a computer screen to request a book(s) from a bookseller’s order. Then way back in the rafters a robot arm of some kind moved up and down the aisles and found the container with the correct book(s). It then sent them down on the belt for the packer to box up and send along on the roller-coaster. And this was no slow process. These people were cranking from one order to the next. With efficiency like that, I can see why.

But these employees don’t stop at efficiency. I was taken to the area where all the newest books sat on their pallets fresh off the press. Here was where the book club members have their boxes packed for their individual orders. (They get them before the stores do.) Each box is different because each buyer’s taste are different. Little specialty gifts are included to match those tastes. A newsletter with health and beauty tips are given. Something to show Harlequin is not just fulfilling an order, but that they also value their club members like family. This gigantic warehouse instantly became very personal.

Next I was led to an area where all my books had been brought down from their shelf and placed on the floor for me to see. Now, I was really smiling…and wondering how I am ever going to sell all these! So please, help a girl out! Get your copy today!

Thank you, Seekerville for having me in your virtual home. Readers, I love comments and questions, so ask away. And please look me up on Facebook and Twitter. You can find all links on my website www.KatyLeeBooks.com.

And at my website, be sure to check out my Lighthouse Photo Contest. I would love to fill my gallery with lighthouses from around the world.  Anyone else here love lighthouses like I do? Leave a comment today to be entered in a drawing for a $10 Starbucks gift card! (Please let us know you'd like to be entered.)

Oh, and by the way, on my travels through the warehouse, I spotted this pallet. Anyone know who these belong to?

Warning Signs

GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT

When a drug-smuggling ring rocks a small coastal town, the DEA sends Agent Owen Matthews to shut it down. A single father with a deaf son, Owen senses that the town's number one suspect—the high school's new principal—doesn't fit the profile. Miriam Hunter hoped to shrug off the stigma of her hearing impairment when she returned to Stepping Stones, Maine. But her recurring nightmares dredge up old memories that could prove her innocence—and uncover the truth behind a decades-old murder. Yet Owen's help may not be enough when someone decides to keep Miriam silenced—permanently.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Harlequin

ChristianBook.com

As an Inspirational Romantic Suspense author, Katy Lee writes higher-purpose stories in high-speed worlds. Through her writing, ministries, and teaching, she dedicates her life to sharing tales of love, from the “greatest love story ever told” to those sweet romantic stories of falling in love. Katy and her husband are born New Englanders and love to travel with their three adventuresome children.  You can connect with Katy anytime at her website, www.KatyLeeBooks.com.

Seekerville Welcomes Love Inspired Associate Editor Elizabeth Mazer!

Love Inspired Associate Editor
Elizabeth Mazer

Debby Giusti here! I'm thrilled to welcome Love Inspired Associate Editor Elizabeth Mazer to Seekerville today.  Her post focuses on the Love Inspired Suspense line, but Elizabeth promises to answer any questions you might have about all three of the Love Inspired imprints: Love Inspired, Love Inspired Historical and Love Inspired Suspense.  Plus, she's hosting a First Page Contest (see contest tab for rules and information) and giving away the four LIS releases for October and November, a total of eight books in all. That spells G-E-N-E-R-O-U-S!!! Thank you, Elizabeth.

Now, please help me welcome Five-Year Veteran, Love Inspired Associate Editor Elizabeth Mazer to Seekerville! 

Thanks for being with us, Elizabeth. Seekervillagers would love to learn more about you.  Will you tell us a bit about your background and what you did before coming to Love Inspired? Did you always want to work in publishing? 

I didn’t actually pick publishing as my career path until I was halfway through college, but let’s just say that when I made up my mind, no one was surprised! I spent most of my childhood (and adulthood, for that matter) with my nose in a book. My first post-college job was in publishing, though not actually with a publishing house. I worked for the company that was then known as Bookspan that ran direct mail book clubs such as Crossings, Book of the Month Club, etc. I made the move over to Love Inspired in 2007, and have been happily settled here ever since. 

What’s a normal day like at the office? 

Normal? What’s that? J Truly, one of the things I love most about my job is that no two days are the same. There’s always a never-ending pile of papers to go through—acceptance reads, edits, new submissions, copyedits to review, typesets to approve—but it rarely gets monotonous because each book is so different. I work with authors on all three Love Inspired lines which means I get to tackle stories that range from sweet romances to edge-of-your-seat suspense, to historicals that take me all over the map, and all the way through recorded history. 

What about when you’re away from the job? Do you have any hobbies? Favorite types of foods or restaurants you frequent? What do you do for fun over the weekend? 

I’m a movie nut (everything from classics to contemporary—but no horror; I’m too much of a wuss), so heading to the cinema is always a treat. For special occasions, I love going to see live theater. A ticket to a Broadway show is my usual birthday present to myself. This year, Shana Smith (now Love Inspired’s new associate editor!) and I took advantage of a two-for-one special to go see Newsies. Great show! 

The beautiful Woolworth Building is Love Inspired's
New York City home.

What do you enjoy most about New York City? 

Opportunity! In New York, whatever interests you (theater, music, art, food, fashion), you can find an outlet to explore it and learn new things. Of course, that can be the downside to New York, also—there are so many options and so many venues to suit every interest and taste that it can get overwhelming. Sometimes I feel guilty for not getting out more, seeing more, doing more…but I know I’d drive myself crazy if I tried to do it all. 

Thanks for that sneak peak into your life, Elizabeth. Now let’s talk about Love Inspired Suspense.
 Which types of stories work best for Love Inspired Suspense? Woman on the run? Medical? Gothic? Legal thriller? Amateur sleuth? Do you have a personal preference? Any feedback from readers about what they like to read?

I feel like our readers really respond to characters—particularly heroines—who they can relate to. Personally, I’m always fascinated by the change that comes over a character when she goes from a law-abiding woman who always plays it safe, just like me, to someone willing to buck any authority to do what needs to be done. What brought her to that point? A threat against her children? The murder of a beloved sibling? The desperate need to clear her name when she’s falsely accused of a crime? What would I do in her shoes? That can be the most interesting way to build a character—think of something that she would never, ever do…and then come up with a set of circumstances that would make her do it. 

As we all know, the opening of a book needs to hook the reader. What specific elements should be included in the beginning of a Love Inspired Suspense?

Danger! J It seems like a given, right? But here’s the twist—it can’t just be random, force-of-nature danger. We need to know, right from the start, that there are malicious, targeted forces at play, and that they’re gunning for the hero or heroine. Running out of gas when you’re driving in the desert? That can be dangerous, but it’s not actually suspenseful—no one’s out to get you, you just made a mistake in not refilling the tank. Waking up to discover you were knocked unconscious and dumped in the desert by someone who wanted your death to look like an accident (as in Shirlee McCoy’s excellent September 2011 book Lone Defender)? That’s suspenseful danger…because even if you make it out of the desert alive, you still aren’t safe. Someone is still after you. 

The LI editorial team as of the 2011 holiday party (from left to right—Emily Rodmell, Tina James, Melissa Endlich, Joan Marlow Golan, Elizabeth Mazer, Rachel Burkot). New additions (Kathy Davis, Acquisitions Editor of Heartsong Presents; Shana Smith, Associate Editor of Love Inspired; Emily Brown, Editorial Assistant of Love Inspired Suspense and Love Inspired Historical)
will be joining LI for the 2012 holiday party picture!

We’ve been told Love Inspired readers like small town settings. Does that hold true for LIS? Can authors use a city environment, and if so, how can they give the story a small town feel? What about foreign settings?

Yes, small towns definitely work well in LIS, but it’s possible to create a sense of community in a city or a foreign setting. It can be based around work (such as a private investigation agency), around faith (a close-knit church society), around family background (an immigrant group). A strong sense of community can be a great counterbalance in a suspense story—a network of people to help and support the hero and heroine as they battle against the villains who want to hurt them. They can also help raise the stakes. When an Amish teenager turns up dead in Kit Wilkinson’s story Plain Secrets (July 2012), the police investigator hero is the only man for the job because of his own Amish background—but taking the case means returning to the community that he left behind, including the woman who rejected him and the father who hasn’t spoken to him since he left. Building a strong community in your story can also give you some very interesting questions to ask—like who’s allowed in? Who is excluded? Who knows the secrets? Who can be trusted? Who’s looking for a way out—and how far would they go? 

In LIS stories, secondary characters are sometimes killed. Heroines are captured. Heroes are wounded. Are there any guidelines for murder and mayhem? Anything you frown on or don’t want included in the stories?

Don’t kill the pets! You can set the heroine’s house on fire if you want, but you’d better make sure the heroine’s trusty mutt has a dog door to slip out the back, or a window he can jump through. Nothing gets angry letters sent our way like an animal-killing villain! 

What’s the ratio between romance and suspense for LIS? How early in the story should the hero and heroine get together, and how quickly should the romance develop?  Any tips on how to keep the romance alive when the characters are on the run?

Always, always 50-50. We need the love story and the suspense story to kick off right at the beginning and not getting fully resolved until the end. That means that feelings need to take time to develop. As far as keeping the romance alive…we actually tend to face the opposite problem. As the hero and heroine deal with life-or-death situations, we get a lot of stories where they start depending on each other and trusting each other too fast. That’s why it’s so crucial for an author to nail in place good, solid conflicts—both internal and external—that make the characters convinced that a relationship between them could never work. I’m always telling my authors, be meaner to your characters! Give them angst, give them insecurity, give them “rules” they feel they have to follow that they struggle with right up until the end. In Liz Johnson’s terrific upcoming book A Promise to Protect (December 2012), the heroine has a villain with a deeply sinister agenda driving her into the protective arms of the Navy SEAL hero…but on the emotional side of the coin, she’s also got some beautifully-realized, deep-seeded personal conflicts that make her afraid to trust a man with her safety. The romantic conflict actually deepens the suspenseful conflict because the heroine has so much at stake—not just her life, but also her heart. 

Love Inspired Associate Editor Elizabeth Mazer (L)
with Love Inspired Editor Emily Rodmell (R)

Cops? FBI agents? Private investigators? Any hero/heroine professions in short supply that you’d like to see in future submissions?

Surprise me! (I mean it—really surprise me.) Give me something I haven’t seen before.

Give me characters with no special training who have to learn as they go and scramble to stay a step ahead of the bad guys on their trail. Give me characters with unusual training who figure out a way to make the most of their specialized knowledge or abilities to find a hidden truth, or defeat a villain who arrogantly believed everything was going according to plan. Challenge yourself to think outside the box and think of ways even the most danger-free professions could become a matter of life or death. What could an accountant know that someone might kill for? How about the postman? Suddenly I’m picturing a story where a shoe salesman, while fitting a customer, catches sight of a tell-tale scar that identifies a wanted man. Or maybe take a dangerous job—deep-sea diving instructor, test pilot, search-and-rescue volunteer—and think about how the dangers of their job might go from general and random to targeted and personal. What does a wilderness survival expert do when he realizes the training exercise he’s on is being manipulated to end in someone’s seemingly-accidental death? 

Internal conflict can be a stumbling block, especially for beginning writers. What advice can you offer to help writers develop effective internal conflicts for their heroes and heroines?

For starters, dig deep. And as I said before, be mean to your characters! Mess with their heads. Give them pasts where their hearts were broken, their trust betrayed. Make them afraid—really, deeply afraid—of something that they’d do anything to avoid. And it doesn’t always have to be love that they fear. In the lovely and talented Debby Giusti’s August 2012 book The Colonel’s Daughter, what the hero fears most is failure—the idea that he could let down the people who rely on him. That fear nearly cripples him when he begins to doubt himself and his abilities. Internal conflict works best when we can see a character truly struggle with it, torn between what their head tells them is the “smart” or “safe” option, and the choice their heart wants to make. 

Elizabeth meets with LI authors
at ACFW 2011.

Writing for LIS means juggling three story arcs: faith, romance and suspense. Any tips on how to weave the three threads into a seamless plot?

My advice would be to “tie” those threads together as much as you can. In Susan Sleeman’s upcoming story No Way Out (May 2013), the heroine isn’t just dealing with danger, she’s dealing with betrayal, from someone she’d really trusted. So even as she’s adjusting to the physical danger of her new situation, she’s also struggling to deal with the emotional turmoil of wondering who she can count on, and whether she’ll ever be able to trust enough to let a man into her life again. The hero helps with both problems. J And of course, there’s nothing like danger—physical or emotional—to make a character search for an anchor to hold on to. That’s where faith usually comes into our stories. 

How do you feel about prologues and epilogues? Any pet peeves or favorite scenarios?

Because our stories are so deliciously fast-paced, it’s possible for the entire story to take place over the span of just a handful of days. And while we definitely want resolution to the romantic plot thread, with the characters finally willing to admit their feelings for each other and embrace the opportunity take a chance on a committed relationship, it seems a little weird to have a guy propose marriage when he’s only known the heroine for 36 hours. So yeah, I’m a fan of epilogues where we can see the characters a few months down the road with a solid relationship in place that the characters are finally ready to take to the next level. On the other hand, a prologue has to work pretty hard to prove its worth to me. If it’s just about set-up, then I usually ask the author to reconsider. It’s so powerful to dive right into a story that starts when the action kicks off—we can get the background later. 

Are you accepting submissions for all three lines:  Love Inspired, Love Inspired Historical and Love Inspired Suspense? How long should writers expect to wait before they hear back on their submission?

We are eagerly accepting submissions for all three lines! As for turnaround time, we’ve actually got a fun event coming up specifically targeted for LIS submissions, and that’s our Fast Track. Between October 15 and October 26, authors can email their synopsis (no more than 2 pages, single spaced) and first chapter to LISfasttrack@harlequin.ca and we will guarantee a reply by November 26. We’re hoping to get people as excited about LIS as we are at the prospect of bringing in new authors, so please spread the word! 

What do you wish every writer knew before she or he submitted to LIS?

Make sure you have strong suspense and romance threads that begin at the start of the book and don’t conclude until the ending! 

Elizabeth (L) with Love Inspired’s new 
Associate Editor Shana Smith (R)

What are your top FIVE tips for submitting to LIS?

5. Do your homework! There’s no better preparation for writing LIS than reading LIS books—and we’ve got so many excellent authors writing for us that “homework” has never been so much fun.

4. Know your characters. I answered a lot of questions in this interview, but you may notice I asked a lot of them, too. These are questions you need to be asking yourself—what does my character want? What is essential to them? What would drive them to break the rules? What do they love? What do they fear? Check out the book GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict by Debra Dixon. It’s a great craft lesson in how to solidify your characters.

3. You’ll always learn from research—but start with what you know. There’s nothing like a book that feels truly grounded in its world. When Lenora Worth writes Southern-set stories, they feel so vividly real that you could swear you smell the magnolias in the air. If you entrench your story in something very familiar—a medical drama you can easily envision after twenty years working as a nurse; a deadly chase in the dense forests near where you grew up; an eerie mystery that bears a striking resemblance to an old family legend—it’ll feel that much more real to your readers. But no matter how well you think you know a subject, still do some research on it—hit the library, go online, set up a time to interview/brainstorm with a friend who has a background in the subject or setting. You never know what new ideas might spark!

2. Figure out your villain’s game plan, and make him stick to it. Heroes and heroines don’t always know what they’re doing—sometimes they’re thrown into danger with no warning, and have to scramble to figure out what to do. That’s not the case with villains. They always have a plan—there’s always something they want to get, or something they want to do, or something they want to hide. And they always think they’ve planned everything so well that they’re going to get away with it. Make sure you know that plan. Make sure that everything the villain does ties into that plan. If the bad guy wants the safe combination that no one but the heroine knows then he’s not going to try to scare her by running her car off the road—she’s no good to him if she’s dead or in a coma. On the other hand, there’s nothing stopping him from threatening the people around her. He needs her alive, but he could easily kill her best friend, or her baby sister…or the guy she’s started to fall for.

1. Sit down and write! It’s okay to begin a book and not be certain how it’s going to end. It’s okay to begin a book and change your mind about how it’s going to end! Characters and plotlines will take turns you never expected, and go in directions you never planned—don’t stress over it. You can fix it or polish it or even ditch it and rewrite it after it’s done. For now, just put the words on the page, and see where they take you. 

Can you give us a brief overview of the process a submission goes through before it is either rejected or selected for publication?

When someone sends in a submission, it gets logged in by the person who received it. And since I know some people have misconceptions, let me say that there is no “designated” person who reads the submissions our group receives. If you address it to me (on the envelope, please—not just on the cover letter), I’m the one who’s going to read it. (The only exception to this rule is Tina James, the senior editor for Love Inspired Suspense—she has an assistant, Emily Brown, who gets her mail.) We do our best to get to submissions quickly, but a major chunk of our time is devoted to handling our books currently under contract, so it generally takes 60-90 days to evaluate submissions.

Let’s say you send me your proposal—synopsis and first three chapters. I’ll read it to see if I think it could work for our line. If it’s not right for us, I’ll write back to let you know. If it has potential, I’ll request the full manuscript. I don’t have the authority to buy a book on just my say-so—it has to be approved by Tina, so as I’m reading the complete, I’ll be keeping notes on the strengths, weaknesses, possible issues and potential solutions to put into a memo. If the story needs substantial revisions, I’ll send it back along with a letter laying out my concerns. If I think we should go ahead and buy, I’ll give Tina the memo and the manuscript. She’ll read them both, and decide whether she agrees with me. If she does, it goes to Joan Marlow Golan, our executive editor. She makes the decision about whether we can go forward with a contract offer—she’ll give the go-head to Tina, who will give the go-ahead to me. Then I get to make the call. 

Editors say they enjoy making “The Call” to debut authors. What’s the funniest response you’ve received from a writer who just learned LI was offering a contract?

I don’t want to embarrass her so I won’t name names, but one author I could barely even reach! She hadn’t included her phone number on her cover letter, so I tried looking it up online with just the address. When that didn’t work, I emailed her to ask if she could give me a call—she replied, full of apologies, and said she actually couldn’t call me because she was home taking care of a sick child and her house phone didn’t have long distance service. She gave me her number, so I tried calling her, but I got no answer. Ten minutes later, she emailed me again to apologize—she’d been vacuuming and hadn’t heard the phone ring! On the next try, I was actually able to speak with her. By then, I think she was pretty sure I was offering her a book contract because otherwise I’d have given up! 

Melissa Endlich, Betsy St. Amant and
Elizabeth at the ACFW 2011 Carol Awards

Where do you hope to be in FIVE years, Elizabeth? Any predictions about Love Inspired’s future?

In the five and a half years I’ve been with Love Inspired, I’ve been amazed at our growth. When I began in 2007, we published 8 books a month—4 Love Inspired and 4 Love Inspired Suspense. Love Inspired Historical hadn’t even launched yet! Now, we have 14 titles a month in our retail calendar (6 LI, 4 LIS, 4 LIH) plus 4 books each month from our direct-only line, Love Inspired Heartsong Presents. In that time, I’ve also risen from Editorial Assistant to Associate Editor. So clearly, if we stay on track with our growth patterns, and if our fantastic authors keep bringing in dedicated, enthusiastic readers hungry for more great stories, then another five years will see all our lines expanding and flourishing, with me well on my way to my clearly merited position as Benevolent Overlady of All I Survey. J

Thanks, Elizabeth, for providing such valuable information today.  We’ve learned so much about the LIS line and what makes a great story shine.  In honor of your visit, we’re serving a typical Southern buffet breakfast: scrambled eggs, country fried ham, buttermilk biscuits, sliced fruit and grits.  Enjoy!

Leave a comment to be entered in today's drawings.  Thanks to Elizabeth and the Seekers we have the following books to give away...  

Four lucky winners will each receive two Love Inspired Suspense stories from Elizabeth.  

The LIS October releases: Critical Condition by Sandra Orchard, Survive the Night by Vicki Hinze, Danger on the Mountain by Lynette Eason, and The Doctor’s Defender by Terri Reed. 

The LIS November releases: Christmas Stalking by Margaret Daley, Dangerous Melody by Dana Mentink, Dead Wrong by Susan Sleeman, and Freefall by Jodie Bailey.

Seeker Giveaways:

A House Full of Hope by Missy Tippens.

Wanted: A Family by Janet Dean, and the novella Last Minute Bride, by Janet Dean, featured in Brides of the West.

Yuletide Hearts by Ruth Logan Herne and A Family to Cherish

by Ruth Logan Herne.

Dreaming of Home by Glynna Kaye, Second Chance Courtship by Glynna Kaye, At Home in His Heart by Glynna Kaye, and High Country Hearts by Glynna Kaye.

The Officer’s Secret by Debby Giusti, The Captain’s Mission by Debby Giusti, and The Colonel’s Daughter by Debby Giusti.

A surprise package from Tina Radcliffe.

Four Heartsong Presents giveaways from Mary Connealy.

Grab a cup of coffee and let's talk to Elizabeth about the books we love to read from Love Inspired!

Happy Birthday Seekerville