It all began
when a dying man with an arrow in his chest grabs her ankle…

By Avery Daniels

 

Author Interview

Thank you for having me join you today!  I appreciate it.

 

• At what point did you decide to be an author and what was your path to publication?

As a teenager, I loved reading and had the notion of writing.  I wrote a short story about a teenage girl on a farm finding an injured fawn and nursing it back to health.  But it wasn’t until I was an adult that I seriously thought I could write novels like the stories I was reading.  I started with a bunch of how to write fiction books.  I began plotting a thriller as I went through the writing craft books.  I went to several writer’s conferences, took several online writing classes.  I decided to write cozy mysteries to really get the structure and plotting down.  I was still plugging away on the thriller.  I finally finished my first two cozy mysteries before I finished the thriller (under a pen name.)

 

• What do you do when a new idea jumps out at you while you’re still working on a book? Do you chase the squirrel (aka “UP syndrome”) or do you finish your current project first?

I have many book ideas on hold presently.  When the idea for another book/series hits, I write notes in an online note program so I don’t lose it.  I may even add to the notes as more thoughts develop, but I stay focused on the book I’m writing.  The result is that I am beginning a new paranormal cozy series that I had thought of and put aside.  This one I am moving forward with sooner than other ideas that are still waiting.  I have to be practical and add it to my writing schedule.  I am trying to write one Resort to Murder book per year and one of my Elizabeth Grant thriller series per year.  Now I’m adding the new series and fitting in one more book per year to write!

 

• Describe your writing process. Do you outline, plot and plan, or is your writing more organic?

I am a hybrid: part plotter, part “write by the seat of your pants.”  The hybrid Plantser is rare like a phoenix, but we exist.  I develop the victim, the killer and motive, the suspects, and eight major plot points for pacing the novel.  I have recently begun plotting what lie/truth/”points finger at” the suspects will reveal when the sleuth talks with them.  Then I just write and let the rest develop or take a different direction.

 

 

• Describe the [book/series] in 10 words or less for people who are just learning about it.

Resort to Murder series: Contemporary cozy, strong intelligent sleuth, lavish settings, and tantalizing mysteries!

 

• Is there anything you would like people to take away from your book?

Primarily, I just want to entertain.

 

 

• What is your favorite line from your book?

Let me set the scene: a fancy restaurant where the sleuth is trying to covertly question a suspect, but he has a reputation of being a Don Juan.  He gets fresh under the table and she uses the sharp point of a jewelry stick pin.  The man jumps up and the whole restaurant stares at them:

I held up the stickpin, “Some men have to learn the hard way to keep their hands to themselves.”  I smiled sweetly.

 

 

• To date, what is your favorite (or most difficult) chapter you have ever written?

The most difficult chapter was for the first thriller I wrote.  I had to write a violent scene showing the villain’s nasty side.  It was important to understanding just how serious the situation was, but I had a very difficult time writing violence to another person.  I like the cozies because none of the scenes are that hard.

 

• What is your take on book boyfriends? Do they actually exist? Or do they set the bar for “real life men” impossibly high?

Do book boyfriends exist in real life or are they unrealistic?  Book boyfriends, no matter how well developed the character is, don’t have the layers of baggage that walking, talking people have.  That is necessary for the story.  As a writer, I streamline the personal issues and history of characters to within the story’s scope.  Thus, they present a simpler concept within the confines of the story’s conflicts; a sliver of what a living person would deal with.  As long as the reader remembers this isn’t a real person, I think they help us determine what qualities we value in a potential mate and how that looks.  It may not look exactly like in the books, so we put those qualities in the context of a confusing and complicated world and adapt.

 

• Have you ever experienced writer’s block? How did you deal with it?

I do something else creative like paint, or make some handmade cards.  Just doing something else creative can get my writing mojo going again.  Sometimes I use mind mapping or clustering.  I am a visual person, so doing these visual exercises to think of the story situation or next steps with a different approach helps.

 

• What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I am an amateur photographer and like to visit a local park with 1,300 acres of red sandstone formations with hiking trails to practice my photography skills.   I enjoy acrylic and watercolor painting.  I am a card maker and scrapbooker, it’s addicting!  Locally, we have a repurposed movie theater for live music performances on the weekends with inexpensive prices that I enjoy often.  There is the wine bar downtown that has live music on the weekends as well.  I like live music!  I am a cat mom to two brother black cats. I have my own book blog, so I read a lot (of course!)

 

 

After several songs had passed with us oblivious to any other living being, just wrapped up in each other, we stepped outside to stroll in the golden glow of a nearly full moon before heading to our room.  We walked hand-in-hand until we were surrounded by the landscaping around us and the shimmering moonlight through the trees.  Mason stopped and wrapped his muscular arms around me.

     “I am so grateful for you in my life.  I hope I never take you for granted or forget to tell you how important you are to me.”  He kissed me, sweet and slow.  He drew me closer, and the kiss deepened.  I slid my hands up his chest and around his neck.  My head and heart were spinning.  

     Then I felt something brush my foot.  Don’t spoil the moment LaMere, focus on the kiss.  I succumbed to the kiss again.  It had probably been a rabbit startled out of its hiding spot, right?  

     After another moment of blissful necking, my foot was brushed again before a hand – yes, a hand – grasped my left ankle.  I let out a yelp and jumped.  Mason pulled back and looked into my eyes.

     “A hand just latched onto my ankle!”  I don’t know why I was whispering, whoever owned the hand knew they had me in their grasp.

     We shifted and looked down to see an arm in a soiled white blazer reaching out from the bushes along the pathway.  The hand at the end of the arm was attached to my ankle.  I shook my foot, and the hand slipped away.  Mason released me, took a hold of the arm, and dragged Merritt, face up, out from the foliage.  He had an ancient looking arrow of wood protruding from his chest and blood drenched his shirt.   Mason bent down and placed two fingers to his throat.

p>     Merritt’s head twitched, and he breathed out a few words, “It’s the curse.  I didn’t believe it.  The curse got me.”  And he seemed to deflate like a balloon leaking air until he went flat, like the animating force had left him.  What curse is he talking about?  Oh my, I may never kiss again.

 

NAILED

ICED

SPIKED

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