Story Ideas by Kat Martin
November 4, 2019 by A Slice of Orange in category Guest Posts tagged as Kat Martin, Maximum Security Series, romantic suspense
Bestselling author Kat Martin, a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, currently resides in Missoula, Montana with Western-author husband, L. J. Martin. More than seventeen million copies of Kat’s books are in print, and she has been published in twenty foreign countries. Fifteen of her recent novels have taken top-ten spots on the New York Times Bestseller List, and her novel, BEYOND REASON, was recently optioned for a feature film. Kat’s hardcover, THE DECEPTION, a Romantic Thriller, was released on September 10th.
Story Ideas
I’ve always loved a good plot. People ask me how I come up with ideas for my novels, but the truth is, I really don’t know.
Sometimes the kernel of an idea grows out of a newspaper article or something I see on Facebook or just some old movie. Most of the time, it’s so long ago I don’t actually remember, but my mind does.
The novella, SHADOWS AT DAWN, blossomed the way most of my stories do, basically out of nowhere. Jaxon Ryker first appeared in THE CONSPIRACY, a former Navy SEAL, now a detective working for Chase Garrett, the wealthy owner of Maximum Security, an extremely successful private security firm in Dallas.
I liked Jax right away. He was definitely hero material, but at the same time, Jax was different, kind of soft-spoken, not arrogant, just a really nice guy. Unless you pissed him off.
Turns out Jax had a protective streak a mile wide and the sweet little receptionist at The Max was his weakness.
When Jax happens upon three men attacking her in the parking lot after work, his hero instincts kick in—big time.
Jax is convinced the attack isn’t random and that even after the fight that saved Mindy and drove the men away, she might not be safe. And no way is Jax letting anything happen to her.
I liked the two of them together from the start. These days, readers want kick-ass women, but there are other ways a woman can be strong. What Jax sees is a sweet girl he believes would never be able to handle a tough guy like him. But Mindy proves him wrong.
As the danger unfolds, Mindy and Jax are forced to work together to find the men who want her dead and figure out why.
I hope you’ll give this fun read a try and that you like Jax and Mindy as much as I did. If you do, you can also find them in THE DECEPTION, book #2 of my Maximum Security Series after THE CONSPIRACY.
Till next time, happy reading and all best, Kat
SHADOWS AT DAWN
EXCERPT
Kat Martin
Finally satisfied with her progress for the day, Mindy shoved her round tortoiseshell glasses up on her nose, slung the strap of her purse over her shoulder, and headed for the door to the parking lot behind the office. She managed not to glance at Jax, but it wasn’t easy.
The early April weather was humid, warm but not hot, the last of a pinky gold sky fading to darkness. She spotted her little red Volkswagen Beetle, one of the few vehicles left in the lot, and started in that direction.
If she hadn’t been working for a security firm, listening to crime stories on a daily basis, she might not have noticed the white Chevy van whose motor sparked to life and began idling in the shadows not far from her car.
When her steps unconsciously slowed, she told herself she was being ridiculous, a paranoid response to the guys’ sometimes gruesome, often frightening tales.
Pausing to dig her car keys out of her purse, she took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart. When the effort failed, she forced her feet to move, closing the distance between her and her vehicle. She had almost reached her destination when the van doors slid open and three men dressed head-to-foot in black wearing black ski masks jumped out and started running toward her.
Terror struck. Mindy let out a high-pitched scream, dropped her purse, whirled, and started running.
Jax’s long day wasn’t over yet. Before he picked up a pizza and headed home for a couple of beers, he had a meeting with a client on the other side of Dallas, a cold case he had been working where the mother of a murder victim had discovered new evidence she believed would help find her daughter’s killer. The police weren’t convinced, but Mrs. Donahue had hired Jax to prove it. Or at least find out the truth.
He checked his heavy black wristwatch. If he wanted to make his appointment on time, he needed to get on the road. Grabbing his laptop off the desk, he headed for his dark blue Dodge Ram pickup, parked in the lot behind the office, his mind on the case he figured would earn him a nice fat fee—and maybe help bring a killer to justice.
He had just stepped out the backdoor when a blood-curling scream cut through the sticky night air. A petite young woman with long dark hair and glasses struggled with three masked men.
Adrenaline shot into his blood. Mindy! Even as he bolted into a run, Jax registered their appearance: one tall and lean, one average height and weight, one big and beefy, thick-shouldered and muscular. He was flat out running by the time Mindy spotted him and started screaming his name.
“Jax, help me! Jax!” Kicking and biting, she fought like a wild thing, but she was no match for the men. As they hauled her toward the open van doors, Jax grabbed the tall man and pulled him off her, pounded a fist into his face and slammed another into his stomach, doubling him over. A hard right sent the guy careening backward, hitting the ground on his back and sliding across the asphalt.
The second man, Mr. Average, stepped in and swung a punch Jax ducked. He shot out a kick, knocking the assailant into the side of the van, then heard the sound of a switchblade snapping open behind him.
“Jax, watch out!”
Whirling toward the threat, he dodged the flashing blade and shoved Mindy toward safety, then went back in for the kill. Rage burned through his usual calm. She worked with him, as far as he was concerned, was under his protection. More than that, she was kind and sweet and he cared about her far more than he should. Jax wanted to end the bastards who were trying to hurt her.
“Run!” he shouted. “Go back to the office and lock the door! Call 9-1-1!” The knife flashed. Jax dodged the sweep of gleaming silver wielded by a big, thick-fingered, extremely capable hand, jumped back from out of the way of another slashing attack as he and the big man crouched and circled each other. From the corner of his eye, he saw the tall, thin man back on his feet and rushing toward him.
Jax looked up to see Mindy swinging her purse like a ball and chain, smashing the bag into the side of the tall man’s head, sending him staggering, grunting as he landed on his hands and knees.
“Bitch! he screamed, shaking his head to clear it, providing the distraction Jax needed. He kicked the knife out of the beefy man’s hand and threw a punch that sent him reeling. Mr. Average had already climbed into the van and shoved the vehicle into gear.
“Come on!” the man shouted through the open passenger window. “Let’s go!”
The tall man turned and ran, leaping through the open van doors, and the big, muscular man shot in behind him. Tires burned and smoke rolled up from the wheels as the vehicle screeched away.
Shadows at Dawn
Reviews
“It’s a quick, easy to read, entertaining, action packed read and is just as amazing as the other books in the series!”
“Mystery, suspense, thrills and chills with a whole lot of action!”
“This story is a cute, sweet and steamy romance full of suspense, excitement and unexpected twists that keep readers hanging on to the edge of their seat.”
SOCIAL MEDIA
More Books by Kat Martin
Plagiarizing One’s Self by Janet Elizabeth Lynn
November 3, 2019 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as hardboiled mysteries, Janet Elizabeth Lynn, Skylar Drake Mysteries, Will Zeilinger, writing
(Hey it can happen!)
My husband Will Zeilinger and I co-write the Skylar Drake Murder Mysteries, a hardboiled detective series that takes the reader to 1950s Los Angeles and other areas of the west. GAME TOWN is the fifth and final book of the series.
Nothing strikes fear in an author’s heart more than plagiarizing one’s self. Especially when writing a series. This fear turns into terror when there are two people writing multiple books or a series. Plagiarizing might include duplicating a name, scene, dialogue or even a character. This is a big no-no.
What’s more frustrating is remembering who is related to whom, who’s married to who, who’s kids or pet belongs to which family, and most of all who’s in a relationship with who. When writing multiple books or series, this can become mind boggling.
Will and I made the mistake of plagiarizing a name we used three books earlier and nothing can be more embarrassing than when a reader or fan brings it to your attention on Goodreads! We had to figure out a way to keep this from happening … again.
We decided to use a family/genealogy chart to plot out who is who, locations, plots and subplots and 2-3-word descriptions.
During our research, we found various styles of family charts. We tried several styles, the third style worked beautifully for us. This is especially useful when one of us is working on a different section of the book and needs to find a particular location or relationship without interrupting the other.
Its like a road map, it can get you where you want to go when you get lost.
You can download this particular chart or print it out at https://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/family-tree-template.html.
Here is a sample of the Game Town book chart.
The results, The Skylar Drake Murder Mystery series, SLIVERS OF GLASS, STRANGE MARKINGS, DESERT ICE, SLICK DEAL and GAME TOWN. And yes…we are still married!
~Janet
Website: www.janetlynnauthor.com
Blog: themarriedauthors.blogspot.com
The Skylar Drake Mystery Series
Lisa Preston – A Mystery Writer of Many Talents
November 2, 2019 by Jann Ryan in category Jann says . . . tagged as Author Interview, horses, Lisa Preston, Mystery Writers
Lisa Preston debuted in fiction with the bestselling psychological thriller/book club pick, Orchids and Stone, followed by the acclaimed psychological suspense The Measure of the Moon. She now writes the horseshoer mystery series and teaches the writing craft, including an intensive on revision. Connect with her at www.lisapreston.com.
Jann: We’re chatting with the amazing Lisa Preston today. I’m so intrigued to hear about her Horseshoer Mystery series. Let’s get started!!
Jann: Which came first in your Horseshoer Mystery series—plot or character?
Lisa: Character! Having a solid grasp of the social, psychological and, of course, the physical make-up of your character makes for a fully imagined participant in the story.
Jann: The Clincher, the first book in the Horseshoer Mystery series debuted with great reviews in 2018. It introduced your leading lady, Rainy Dale. Tell us about Rainy Dale and why you chose horseshoer as her profession.
Lisa: So many interesting jobs are shown in amateur sleuth series, but there are also quite a few repeats, and I wanted a protagonist whose job was different from every other series. We want our ammy sleuths to have an odd skill set that contributes to solving the mystery and catching the killer, and I can pull that off with this young woman who knows unusual things such as how to weld, or what horse would have made that track, and quite a few other . . . spoilers.
Jann: On November 5th, Dead Blow, the second book in the series will be available. How exciting. What is the incorrigible Rainy Dale up to in this book?
Lisa: The germ of Dead Blow’s mystery—an “accidental” death that occurred on a ranch— was planted in The Clincher, and I repeat that tease towards the end of Dead Blow with hints about how book 3 will begin. Some mystery readers are really sharp and will start looking for the next mystery in the current one, plus they get to enjoy chapter one of the next book with every new release.
Jann: How many books do you plan for this series?
Lisa: It was sold as a three-book deal, but the editor has already said the publisher wants to continue the series. It was released in audio form as well hardcover and ebook (with soft cover following a year after the hardback release), and the actress Megan Tusing doing a wonderful job as the reader for the audio edition. Jumping on the audio sales, they’ve already had me supply the gist of book 4.
Jann: Your bio is amazing. What an interesting and amazing life you have led. Do you have ideas for other books or series incorporating any of your other careers or experiences?
Lisa: Aw, thanks for that. Life has taken me to some interesting places and I’ve always been willing to dive in head-first. I do have several other series in the planning, all very distinct.
Jann: Do you find yourself returning to certain themes in your stories? What? Why?
Lisa: What a great question. I think the long view explorations of different authors’ work is a fascinating area of study. Character change, hopefully (but not always) in the form of genuine growth is an area I consider with great care when establishing the individuals under the entire story arc.
I remember working with Caroline Leavitt on an early novel when she asked how a particular character was changed by the story’s end. At the time, I gave the honest reply that I wasn’t sure he did change; her response was: well, he should!
Maybe we’re like plants, either growing or dying, and inertia doesn’t exist in living things. It’s certainly worth understanding a story well enough to apply this question.
Jann: What are you currently working on and when can we read it?
Lisa: The third book in the horseshoer mystery series, FORGING FIRE, will be out in 2020. And of course, I have early work going on in other series that is still hush-hush!
Jann: What’s on your To-Be-Read pile?
Lisa: The venerable Western Writers of America asked me to serve as a judge for this year’s Spur award in the contemporary novel category. Mystery Writers of America had asked before, and International Thriller Writers came calling, but this year I committed to WWA, which means my TBR pile is staggering and growing fast. All sorts of ARCs and new releases from literary to mystery to mainstream to coming-of-age are beckoning for my reading time, and it’s what I do with every spare chunk.
Jann: What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Lisa: The great outdoors is my go-to place for spiritual replenishment. In addition to the endless wilderness trails with vistas of snowy peaks, forests and farms at the end of my road, my corner of the world lets me access lakes, rivers, and the Salish Sea. Most days, I get a few hours under the sky. Plot points resolve, characters come forward, and the creative well refills.
Jann: Thank you Lisa for your time, it was a real pleasure getting to know you. You have a great start on your Horseshoer Mystery series. Can’t wait to read Dead Blow available November 5th.
Books by Lisa Preston
Featuring Linda O Johnston Author of the Month
November 1, 2019 by A Slice of Orange in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Barkery & Biscuits Mystery, Berkley Prime Crime, Harlequin Nocturne, Linda O Johnston, Pet Rescue Mysteries, Pet-Sitter Mysteries, Superstition Mysteries
Linda O. Johnston, a former lawyer who is now a full-time writer, has published 52 books so far, including mysteries and romantic novels. More than twenty-five of them are romances for Harlequin, including Harlequin Romantic Suspense and Harlequin Nocturne. Her latest release is Colton 911: Caught in the Crossfire, for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. She has also written several mystery series including the Barkery & Biscuits Mysteries and Superstition Mysteries for Midnight Ink, and the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries and Pet Rescue Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime. Nearly all Linda’s current stories involve dogs.!
Books by Linda O. Johnston
Is the F-word a bomb?
October 31, 2019 by The Extra Squeeze in category The Extra Squeeze by The Extra Squeeze Team, Writing tagged as HO Charles, Jenny Jensen, Rebecca Forster., The Extra Squeeze, The F bomb, writing
From The Extra Squeeze Archives
Is the F word a bomb?
We’ve read books with it all over the place and yet notice that readers object to it.
Does anyone really like using it?
Would another word do?
When is it necessary?
Rebecca Forster
USA Today Bestselling author of 35 books, including the Witness series and the new Finn O’Brien series.
Is the F word a bomb?
What kind of fucking question is that?
What kind of friggin’ question is that?
What kind of question is that?
Actually, this is a great question and one I am happy to weigh in on because the use of the F-word had an impact it had on my career.
I began my career as a romance writer (I was fired from this gig because I kept killing characters before they fell in love. My editor suggested a genre change.) I never used the F-word when I wrote romance. When I moved to contemporary women’s fiction I used it sparingly in these longer, more intricately plotted books (the word was only uttered by bad guys).
When I upped the ante and moved into a male dominated genre – legal thrillers – everything changed. Writing became tighter, characters multi-faceted, plots ‘torn from the headlines’ were much grittier. In my writing the F-bomb was spoken by hard charging attorneys and socially marginalized criminals alike to underscore their tenacity for fighting for justice in the former instance or illustrate disdain for the system in the latter.
Hostile Witness* was the first book where I really let loose. Lots of male thriller writers used the word, why not me? My editor at Penguin/Putnam had no problem with it and approved the book. When the Hostile Witness was traditionally published, I received no letters of complaint.
Then came the Internet. I republished the first three books of the Witness Series* and readers started posting reviews as easily as they clicked their Kindle. I remember the first bad review I received because of my use of the F word. It said, “The language in this book is vile. I will never read this author again.”
That stopped me cold, so I went back to the files and searched how many times I had used the F-word. I was shocked and embarrassed by what I found. In my quest to establish myself as a hard-edged thriller writer, I had gone overboard. Using profanity to the degree I had took the reader out of the story at best and offended them at worst. I asked myself, was there a better way to write a scene? A better way to inform a character? Had I been a lazy author and fallen back on a word rather than my skill to get a point across?
The answer to all these questions was yes. Now I use the word friggin’ or cut the word off at Fu — and let the reader’s mind fill in the blank. Bottom line, I took the review to heart, objectively looked at my work and made an informed decision before I re-edited the book. Did I lose anything by banning the F-word?
(F-word deleted) no.
*Hostile Witness is Free to readers.
**Sign up for my mailing list and get Hostile Witness and the Spotlight Novella, Hannah’s Diary, Free.
Jenny Jensen
Developmental editor who has worked for twenty plus years with new and established authors of both fiction and non-fiction, traditional and indie.
The Urban Dictionary defines ‘F-bomb’ as “the strongest weapon in one’s verbal arsenal” (a bit extreme, but it makes the point). Is it necessary to use in fiction? No, not necessary, but sometimes appropriate. The plot, the scene, the character, the action, the tone can all come together to make the F-word the only adjective or expletive that works. In that case, it should be a shocker – a strong, realistic part of the narrative rhythm. The word should be chosen with consideration and, by all the writing gods, don’t overuse it. Repetition strips the word of any value; it just becomes distasteful, silly and embarrassingly adolescent.
It wasn’t long ago a writer would never consider using the word, nor would a publisher let them, although the F word was understood to have the strength of a bomb.
from The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett, 1930)
The boy spoke two words, the first a short guttural verb, the second ”you”.
“People lose teeth talking like that.” Spade’s voice was still amiable though his face had become wooden.
Great, right!? There are so many options for word smithing around the F-word but that requires thought and skill. Too many authors take the easy way out and use it as verb, adjective and noun. That’s just lazy or the mark of a poor writer.
I recently ran across this Amazon review:
I gave it 5 stars, because the writing, the sense of humor the detective has, and the story! All great! In fact, you are such a good writer, you don’t need to use the “F” word as much as you do! Your characters are great without it!
Such a good writer…you don’t need to use… the reviewer said. That’s exactly what I mean.
Well, a bomb is something designed to explode on impact, so I guess if you want to f-bomb effectively, it needs to be unexpected! In that case, it’ll only detonate properly in the most delicate, sweetest and appeasing of godly novels! But, of course, readers don’t always like to be shocked so hard that they fall off their chairs, and using language that is not in-keeping with the story will only make it jar, in my opinion. As writers, we aim to torture and make our readers emotional from time to time, but there’s intent and then there’s intent.
I don’t mind using swear words – their offensiveness changes over time, and the F-bomb (being polite for you all here), is hardly the most offensive word or phrase out there at the moment. In some novels it’s absolutely appropriate to include swearing, and the target readership will reflect that. I do think over-reliance on a single swear word is a negative thing though. There are so many varied ways of swearing, and it’s up to the author to come up with setting- or character-appropriate vocabulary. In my fantasy novels, I frequently use ‘follocks!‘ (an obvious portmanteau of f**k and boll**ks), because it conveys the emotion I want, but also carries humour and sets the imaginary world apart from this one.
What do you think of using the F-word in fiction? Let us know in the comments.
Ever wonder what industry professionals think about the issues that can really impact our careers? Each month The Extra Squeeze features a fresh topic related to books and publishing.
Amazon mover and shaker Rebecca Forster and her handpicked team of book professionals offer frank responses from the POV of each of their specialties — Writing, Editing, PR/Biz Development, and Cover Design.
Do you have a question for The Extra Squeeze? Contact us here.
Featured Books
DANGER MUSIC
Her quirky assignment: solve a famous cold-case mystery for a magazine article. Then the killer reawakens.
More info →
THE SECRET POISON GARDEN
Rita Calabrese finds her newfound journalistic zeal on a collision course with her fierce maternal instinct.
More info → MISS MATCH
What happens when the matchmaker inadvertently gets matched while matching someone else?
More info → 
QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE
Can a charismatic TV writer convince her brooding handyman to star in her show in time to save her career?
More info →
