Writing

Question: What do you do when you get stuck in a story?

Answer: I run in circles screaming like my hair is on fire and then I drink heavily. My friend Jack Daniels comes over and after a few minutes, it doesn’t matter if I’m stuck. Jack comes up with some wild and crazy ideas, we laugh, and then I take a little nap. It doesn’t usually fix anything, but it passes the time until I can approach the problem rationally.

While most of the things I discuss with my friends don’t make it directly into the books, some things do. When working through the idea of The Embassy Guards, I was struggling with exactly what it was the terrorists wanted from my arms manufacturer. I had a conversation with my friend Dave Dingley who offered the suggestion of a tactical thermobaric weapon utilizing nano fuel. It was perfect. I had no idea what it was, but it sounded impressive as hell. That was a case where an answer raised a lot of questions and I had to go do some research.

In the same conversation via email, Dave then told me exactly why a terrorist organization would love to have that type of weapon. His explanation was anything but politically correct. With his permission, I let my character Boomer share some of Dave’s words. Boomer and Dave have the same attitude.

Talking the problems through often brings me not only good ideas but great insights into my characters. By the time I’d hit the fourth book in the Blood Link series, my friend and beta reader Jennifer Sasnett knew my characters as well as I did. She didn’t hesitate to tell me when I got off course with Essie in a scene. Jennifer reminded me that Essie was a lady from a different generation and was unlikely to curse unless furious or frightened and that the men would respect that and curse less in her presence. She also reminded me that Essie would carry a purse. My characters are rarely dressed in anything other than utilities, battle dress, or blue jeans. When would they carry a purse? As Jennifer pointed out, though, Essie isn’t one of my usual characters. It might seem small, but this discussion stays with me and reminds me to keep my character’s words and behavior true to the character.

In my current work in progress, I’ve been struggling with the bad guy who’s a member of a drug cartel. The story brushes on border security issues and the presence of cartels in the U.S., things that I’m only slightly familiar with. I live in southern Arizona; you’d think I’d know more about those things. But I’ve preferred not to. They’re ugly and frightening to me. Which makes them perfect for writing about. I like writing about the things that evoke a strong feeling. But, writing about them means I have to educate myself on the problem. I started with a great series of article by journalist Brady McCombs and then moved on to more in-depth information. I was amazed at some of the things I learned and at the deep divisions between the organizations who are responsible for border security and the people who live on the border.

Then I spent time talking to my friends. People who were born and raised here and came to the conclusion that no one can agree on exactly how the problems of border security and immigration should be fixed. I eventually found a way to address the issue in the book, but as you can see, my freaking process is not really solitary. Without input, I’m flying blind.

My niche in the world appears to be kick-ass women. But that doesn’t mean they’re all like Janice Bracken in Saving Emily. Janice is a giant leap in my evolution of heroines and is the extreme of my characters. She’s doing what she does by choice, while my previous two heroines were forced into their fights by circumstances. I realize that may sound odd because both Parker and Evie Davis were in the military, but neither held jobs that would necessarily put them in a combat situation.

In Protecting Parker, Parker Cotton found herself in a combat environment, but while she carried a weapon, she didn’t shoot. She placed herself in the role of medic and stretcher-bearer. She did all she could to take care of her people while the men who’d been trained to do the job, did it. She did the same thing when she came home. She was prepared to defend herself and the people she loved, but she recognized her limitations and accepted the help at hand from those more experienced. Evie Davis in A Shared Fear was a little more proactive, but she also wasn’t planning on going out to hunt down the bad guy. She deferred to the people with experience.

As I was writing these two books, I was also writing the Blood Link series about military vampires. Samantha Elliott, the lead character in the first book, appears to be anything but kick-ass. She’s a lousy shot, can’t throw a knife, and perceives herself to be a non-combatant. But kick-ass is more than the physical. Sam has all the courage of a great warrior and the smarts to recognize what she can and can’t do. I saved all of the physical skills for her teammate Becky Taylor. Becky’s a military cop who trains and competes with her male teammates. She’s the first real kick-ass woman I wrote. It was okay in the vampire books, but I wasn’t sure how it would play in the stand alone novels.

The first standalone book in which my heroine made the choice to take an active fighter’s role was Stuck in Korea Time. Brenda Livingstone never thought of herself as anything other than the first sergeant. It’s only when bad things happen that she understands the costs of doing the right things. Her active role in the search and rescue of Alan Jamison plays well to her skill set, but she spends a fair amount of time praying that she won’t make a mistake that will hurt her friends.

Then came Janice… I wrote Saving Emily during National Novel Writing Month in 2011. It was blunt and direct, nothing fancy, just a story about a kick-ass woman who behaved a lot like one of the guys. I figured if Rene Russo could beat up on five men in Lethal Weapon 3, then Janice could too. Janice is everything that my other women aren’t. She’s single-minded when it comes to responsibility, she black-and-white when it comes to violence, and she’s not afraid to kill if the need arises. She’ll do exactly what every male hero would do – whatever it takes to get the job done.

However, there has to be some realism involved. Whether it’s physical or emotional, an author needs to give the reader something human to connect to. If you don’t find that connection, the reader will dump the book and equate the character to something out of a comic book.

I knew Janice Bracken was going to be the most physically aggressive woman that I’ve ever written. So I opened the story with Janice worrying about her future in a career where forty might be too old. I let her wonder if she could walk away and live the quiet life of an ordinary woman. I led with her fear of aging because I believe we all fear getting older and not being able to do the things we love.

I didn’t soften the edges by much with C.J. McLean in The Embassy Guards. She’s sort of a compilation of the female Marines and cops that I’ve met. Tough, no-nonsense, smart, and funny when the opportunity presents. The term: adapt, improvise, and overcome really means something to her. And like most of the Marines I’ve ever met, she’s not going to run from trouble. No matter how ugly the situation she finds herself in, she’s going to move forward and do what needs to be done. Marines are trained to be team players so I led with isolating C.J. from the unit she’s assigned to. Who hasn’t felt like the odd-man-out when starting a new job? It was just a little more extreme in this case.

My next character is no less take charge. You’ll get to meet Sergeant Jackie Johnson of the Phoenix Police Department in my next novel, No Safe Haven, coming soon. Jackie has been tasked with protecting an eye witness that a violent drug cartel wants to kill.

Yes, I know my niche. Yes, I’m comfortable with it. Yes, I like the women that I write about. I hope you do too.

That is the damn question.

It’s always a tough decision when writing—to write hot sex or simply to fade to black. Or… postpone the decision by writing this blog about the damn decision. There was a time when I couldn’t wait for an opportunity to toss my hero and heroine into the sack. As long as it was part of the story, why not?

Do I need sex?

Let me rephrase that. Does the story need sex? Like the kind of steamy stuff I’ve written in the past? Or is the story just as well served by the scene fading to black? After all, ya’ll have great imaginations.

I’m not talking about the vampire books—those puppies will remain full of sex. That’s just a given.

This is about the stand alone books. They’ve always been a little more serious in nature. They’re a mix of romantic suspense and action, and I’ve always kind of liked the way my people come together in these books. The idea that they’re both looking for something more, but willing to accept whatever it is that draws them together seems to work. I’ve always made it a natural part of the flow of the story. It’s not that my characters wouldn’t hop in the sack; it’s a case of how much do I need to show… or tell.

So here I sit with a great story about protecting a witness from the drug cartel while chasing down killers and I once again have to decide—

Does the sex scene help or detract from the story?

*sigh* I think I’ll go write something involving automatic weapons and explosions while thinking it over.

While waiting for my beta readers to finish, I like to occupy my mind with something other than the current project. So in the last month, I helped a fledgling author with some editing on his first novel and was thrilled to be asked to be a beta reader for one of my favorite mystery and suspense authors. Both required my focus and kept me out of trouble for several days.

However, I also use the down time to review story ideas for the next books. Book 7 and probably 8 of the vampires is a given, and I’ve been screwing around with a really terrific story idea for a standalone. It’s been on my desk for a while, but I have actually set it aside twice now. I’d like to blame it on the timing of the novel since some of the subjects are topical. It’s tough to write something about one of the cartel leaders who’s been on the run for years and make that part of your plot, only to have the damn authorities in Mexico actually capture the bastard. Pissed me right off. Two of my male characters figured they’d never be allowed to marry in Arizona, but wonder of freaking wonders, that changed too. More freaking re-writing now. But those are pretty minor problems – this is really about me not committing to what should be a great freaking book.

Sometimes, my failure to trust my instincts about a story simply astonishes me. And when I fail to trust my instincts… stupidity usually ensues. Then I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to fix things and stewing about them. Let me give you the short version what happened.

It began when I had lunch with some friends from high school that I hadn’t seen in more years than we should mention. Kit plays viola for Symphoria in Syracuse, New York, and Becky is an orchestra teacher in the Liverpool School District. We reconnected through Facebook and while they were in Phoenix visiting family, they took the afternoon to drive down and visit with Mr. Scott and me.

It’s always interesting to reconcile the perception of an individual with a living breathing person and find out just how far off you can be. I’m not sure what I thought a symphony musician would actually be like. A man who wears a tuxedo and bow tie, protects his hands, intellectual, focused, and a dozen other things flitted through my mind. And an orchestra teacher – what on earth would I ever find to talk to Becky about? I know nothing about the things that provide them their livelihood and feeds their passions. What do I have in common with either of them but a shared history of high school?

It turns out that I have a lot in common with them. They’re still the same great folks that I went to school with. Fun loving, brilliant, wickedly funny (although Kit tells me all the raunchy jokes came from the brass section), and passionate about their family and lives. We had a great lunch at a local brewery and a wonderful time catching up, and then, we came back to the house. My very old dog Nina came to sit by Kit and in lifting her paw to shake, she managed to scratch his hand and drew blood. I freaked out – my dog wounded a professional viola player. I’m grabbing the peroxide and gauze and Kit’s just smiling and unconcerned. It wasn’t deep, but I was worried about it getting infected. We cleaned up the small scratch, and he informed me that he’s not one of those guys that wears gloves or refuses to do things. He does a lot of home repair projects and is willing to do pretty much anything that doesn’t involve sharpening a running chain saw.

And there it was… the first glimmer of an idea. A fish out of water story. Kit and Becky were barely out the door before I was making notes with questions and the plan came together. What happens when a guy who spends his life in the world of the symphony winds up on a ranch in southern Arizona? What would bring him there? Death, murder, witness protection? What would keep him there? Being hunted by the murderer? Maybe love? How do the ranchers react to him? He should be a down to earth guy like Kit. Willing to participate and earn his keep, but wanting his life back. How do they change their preconceived notions of each other? Humor and food. My musician will have to cook. How do they manage their differences – both politically and emotionally? They’ll think he’s a bleeding heart liberal and he’ll think they’re all gun-toting right wingers. Border issues from the ranchers side, caring about the arts from the musician’s side.

I had the idea and I wrote the first part of the book in less than a week, but then I stopped when I ran into some issues. I needed to ask a lot of questions.

My premise – my musician is in Phoenix when he witnesses a murder. He can ID the shooter and the shooter knows it. He’s in protective custody when the shooter plus a few come for him, killing two of the men guarding him. The surviving detective opts to have him disappear until he can arrest the murderer. But this goes much deeper with cartel hitmen and dirty cops who knew where they had my musician stashed to begin with. The detective takes him to the family ranch near Tucson to keep him safe. Musician meets detective’s sister at ranch.

Problems: I know diddly about ranches/horses, musicians, or actual murder/drug/cartel investigations. I’m happy to know what weapons the ranchers and cartel people carry. The musicians… not so much.
Solutions: Watch Castle (he and Beckett know everything), ask my rancher, musician, and cop friends questions, and drink Jack Daniels.
End result: Shelved book when I realize that my clue meter may not equal my desire to write a quality book meter.

How do I write a book about something that I know nothing about? Not that anything so trivial as having a clue has ever slowed me down before. All I ever really needed was a Holiday Inn Express and a little more whiskey.

Solution – Rewrite: Change all the names and make the sister the detective who brings him to her brother’s ranch and stays there to protect him. Add in the kingpin of the drug cartel coming for musician. Less about the murder investigation, more about the ranch stuff.

Problems: Blech – I don’t want to write a romance. It’s not as good as the first damn story. With the exception of the evil cartel guy (who scares me to death) the story is weaker and lacks the punch and drama of the first story.
Solution: Go back to the first story, but bring in the drug kingpin and rework the issues.

MAJOR PROBLEM: I think I “wrote over” the original without first saving a copy.

What the hell is up with that? NEVER, EVER, EVER DELETE or WRITE OVER. Save a copy and call it No Go or Failed Plan One and stuff it in a folder. I spent an entire day digging through folders and searching, but to no avail. It was gone.

Or was it?