Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

We have interviewed 4 fabulous authors from the Mystery, Thriller & Suspense genre in June 2014. Check out their answers, post your comments and share the interview around!

July 29, 2014

June Author Interview Answer #7: What is the goal in your writing career?

We are now coming to the last question of the June Author Interview series. If  you have not read the previous posts, do it so now to learn more about them. So, it’s time to check out the answers for the 7th question from the Murder Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Horror genre participating in the group interview. “What’s the goal(s) in your writing career? How do you define success in writing a mystery/horror/suspense/thriller book?”

Just in case if you are wondering who we are interviewing this month, you can check out this link and get all your author friends from The Memoirs/Biography genre to participate in the next group interview.
1) Author #1: J. J. DiBenedetto
Just writing seven novels that are (I hope) pretty good is a success in itself.  But I would love to be able to turn this into a full-time career that I can support myself with.  It’s not quite there yet, but hopefully that will come in time.
2) Author #2: Fran Veal
Isn’t every author’s goal to become a best-selling author – to write that book that simply everyone has to read? Okay, all obvious answers aside, I define success in writing any book when I can evoke emotion in the reader. I have one friend who purchased my first book, FINDING MY ESCAPE, in paperback. She told me when she finished reading it, she threw the book against the wall – then she turned around and bought 4 more copies for friends. THAT, I consider a huge success!
3) Author #3: Jim Strait
Success is defined by the individual and, for me, it’s completing an honest story. By honest I mean a work that doesn’t borrow a format or expand upon a genre that has been written into the ground. Hence, the endless torrent of Zombie stories. I’m really hoping they find a way to kill off the zombies so that people will stop writing about them…werewolves and vampires too! My goal is to ultimately write a story that moves more people than I can count. Love me, hate me, just don’t be unmoved.
4) Author #4: Kelli Sue Landon
My goal is basically to become a best seller. I’d love to have my name known, like Stephen King or Mary Higgins Clark. That’s a big dream of mine! Successful is having a great imagination and putting it into a book! My mother (who’s very hard to please) was impressed with my imagination when she read Stranded in Time, which made my year!
What are your goals as an author? I look forward to reading your comments below.
Stay tuned for the next author interview series! Thank you! 🙂
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July 29, 2014

June Author Interview Answer #6: Where do you get your inspiration from?

 We are now coming to the 6th question of the June Author Interview series. We had posted the answer for the first five questions recently. If  you have not read the posts, do it so now to learn more about them. So, it’s time to check out the answers for the 6th question from the Murder Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Horror genre participating in the group interview. “Where do you get your inspiration to write your stories?”

Just in case if you are wondering who we are interviewing this month, you can check out this link and get all your author friends from The Memoirs/Biography genre to participate in the next group interview.
1) Author #1: J. J. DiBenedetto
The first book, “Dream Student,” came straight from my imagination.  The subsequent books all followed from me thinking about: how can I change things up, and give the characters a different challenge to face?  I haven’t taken much from movies or real-life incidents (although I’m sure there is unconscious influence there)
2) Author #2: Fran Veal
I guess I’d have to say my inspiration comes from a little of all of those, plus dreams, nightmares, and my own crazy, twisted imagination.
3) Author #3: Jim Strait
I draw on my personal background and real life characters that I know personally, or learn about through a variety of sources. Of course, modern life provides limitless directions and topics to write about…it’s not too difficult to take any of today’s headlines and morph that story into a tale of daring do.
4) Author #4: Kelli Sue Landon
Real life incidents mostly (gossip or certain things mentioned in the news). I base some characters on real people, but I change their names. I also love getting ideas from taking on new projects. I started tracing my family tree last year, which led me to my latest novel, Stranded in Time.
What are your inspirations to write as an author? I look forward to reading your comments below.
Next, we will be revealing the answers for question #7 which is “What’s the goal(s) in your writing career?”
Stay tuned for the next post! Thank you! 🙂
July 29, 2014

June Author Interview Answer #5: “What makes you feel good writing a thriller/mystery novel? ”

We are now coming to the second question of the June Author Interview series. We had posted the answer for the first question recently. If  you have not read the post, do it so now to learn more about them. So, it’s time to check out the answers for the 5th question from the Murder Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Horror genre participating in the group interview. “What makes you feel good writing a thriller/mystery novel? “
Just in case if you are wondering who we are interviewing this month, you can check out this link and get all your author friends from The Memoirs/Biography genre to participate in the next group interview.
1) Author #1: J. J. DiBenedetto
Getting the plot to come together in a way that’s satisfying and that makes sense.  I’m much more of a “pantser” than a plotter, so it’s always a pleasant surprise when I get to the end and things actually work out the way they need to!
2) Author #2: Fran Veal
I think that would be knowing I’m going to keep someone up at night reading it, hopefully freaking them out, and finally, giving them an opportunity to experience something that, hopefully, they would never have to face in real life.
3) Author #3: Jim Strait
 I like coming up with unlikely and extreme circumstances. Also, my military background allows me to write about men and women who have learned the importance of laboring for something larger than them and I like building characters that the readers can admire. I also like developing unique technologies that solve difficult problems. I guess on the whole I pretty content with the outcome of my works. I’m an author in progress…each work is a bit better than the previous and that is one realistic way of measuring success and happiness.  Probably, if we could magically know all of the worlds history we’d learn that none of us are actually writing anything totally new…but so far as it relates to my novels stories, I seem to be creating unique tales and that feels pretty satisfying.
4) Author #4: Kelli Sue Landon
It gets my blood pumping. When conflict arises, so does my excitement!
What do you think is so exciting about mystery novels? I look forward to reading your comments below.
Next, we will be revealing the answers for question #6 which is “Where do you get your inspiration to write your stories?”
Stay tuned for the next post! Thank you! 🙂
July 29, 2014

June Author Interview Answer #4: “Do short stories make better mystery books?”

We are now coming to the 4th question of the June Author Interview series. We had posted the answer for the first three question recently. If  you have not read the post, do it so now to learn more about them. So, it’s time to check out the answers for the 4th question from the Murder Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Horror genre participating in the group interview. “Shorter stories (below 350 pages) are better for mystery/thriller or suspense books. Do you agree with this statement? Do you think the suspense elements in a book are difficult to retain when the story is longer?”
Just in case if you are wondering who we are interviewing this month, you can check out this link and get all your author friends from The Memoirs/Biography genre to participate in the next group interview.
1) Author #1: J. J. DiBenedetto
In general, I think that makes sense.  With mysteries, you also run into the problem that either the reader figures things out before the characters do, which is frustrating; or things are drawn out unreasonably.
But there are exceptions to everything – if the story warrants it, and it’s done well, a longer suspense story can work just fine.
2) Author #2: Fran Veal
Well, since my books are around 225 to 250 pages each, I’d have to give that question a resounding YES! I think much longer than 350 pages would be exhausting – especially for someone like me who wants to sit down and read a mystery from beginning to end with no breaks.
3) Author #3: Jim Strait
It depends on the story, but I do believe that books that go beyond the page count mentioned will often contain too much character development for my tastes. Keeping the story taught is more difficult the longer the story…there is an optimum length for each story, but I’d not limit my page count if my story races beyond 350 pages. Basically, the story is told when the story is told. To this point I’ve been able to sense when the story is complete and have wound up with novel page counts of 303, 345, and 394. I guess your number represents the standard deviation.
4) Author #4: Kelli Sue Landon
 No, I do not agree. I actually think novels are better for mysteries, because more of the story unravels as the reader gets more and more involved with the characters’ lives. I’d say it’s more difficult for a short story, because you don’t have much room for a full mystery to start, unfold, and be explained.
Do you think shorter stories make better mystery novels? I look forward to reading your comments below.
Next, we will be revealing the answers for question #5 which is “What makes you feel good writing a thriller/mystery novel? ”
Stay tuned for the next post! Thank you! 🙂
July 29, 2014

June Author Interview Answer #3: “What makes a thriller/mystery/suspense book a real page-turner?”

We are now coming to the third question of the June Author Interview series. We had posted the answer for the first two question recently. If  you have not read the post, do it so now to learn more about them. So, it’s time to check out the answers for the 3rd question from the Murder Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Horror genre participating in the group interview. “What makes a thriller/mystery/suspense book a real page-turner?”
Just in case if you are wondering who we are interviewing this month, you can check out this link and get all your author friends from The Memoirs/Biography genre to participate in the next group interview.
1) Author #1: J. J. DiBenedetto
A good sense of pacing is really important – to keep the story moving, but also to give the reader time to breathe now and then, and to include enough moments that we can get to know the characters better to care about/root for them.
2) Author #2: Fran Veal
Twists and turns and more twists and turns. I think unpredictability is what keeps me reading – chapters that end with a cliff hanger only to switch to another POV, forcing me to read on and on until the cliff hanger is resolved, only to find myself facing another dangling chapter end. Oh, and goose bumps. It has to give me goose bumps at some point.
3) Author #3: Jim Strait
For me as a reader it requires believable action with as little background information as possible about the characters. The main players need to be fleshed out only enough for me to relate to them as a human being…I don’t need to know the minutiae. Also, the story needs to be unique. I actually stopped reading “thrillers, mysteries” more than a decade ago because they all began to feel the same…stories phoned-in that were just regurgitated versions of another similar novel. My goal is to provide the reader a unique experience, something they’d never considered before and then make that story…even if fantastic in nature…feel real.
4) Author #4: Kelli Sue Landon
 Keeping the suspense going. I normally throw in more than one mystery as the story unfolds, even if it means killing off another character. I like to surprise the reader.
What do you think makes a book a real page-turner? I look forward to reading your comments below.
Next, we will be revealing the answers for question #4 which is “Shorter stories (below 350 pages) are better for mystery/thriller or suspense books. Do you agree with this statement? Do you think the suspense elements in a book are difficult to retain when the story is longer? ”
Stay tuned for the next post! Thank you! 🙂
July 29, 2014

June Author Interview Answer #2: “Who’s Your favorite mystery/suspense/thriller writer?”

We are now coming to the second question of the June Author Interview series. We had posted the answer for the first question recently. If  you have not read the post, do it so now to learn more about them. So, it’s time to check out the answers for the second question from the Murder Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Horror genre participating in the group interview. “Who is your favorite mystery/suspense/thriller writer of all time?”
Just in case if you are wondering who we are interviewing this month, you can check out this link and get all your author friends from The Memoirs/Biography genre to participate in the next group interview.
1) Author #1: J. J. DiBenedetto
This goes back a ways, but I always really enjoyed the Margaret Truman mysteries set in Washington, DC (“Murder at the Supreme Court”, “Murder at the White House”, etc.)
2) Author #2: Fran Veal
Oh my gosh, there are so many good ones. I’d have to say Ted Dekker is my fave, fave, fave. He wrote a series of books that were so twisted up, you could start with any of the books, read it as a stand-alone, think you had the entire story figured out, then go to one of the others and go “where the heck did that come from?” The story was so beautifully crafted and woven together, it was like following a maze, only to find the path you thought would lead you out left you at a dead end.
3) Author #3: Jim Strait
John D. MacDonald
4) Author #4: Kelli Sue Landon
Mary Higgins Clark, an all time favorite of mine! She was my very first inspiration.
Who is your favourite mystery writer? I look forward to reading your comments below.
Next, we will be revealing the answers for question #3 which is “What makes a thriller/mystery/suspense book a real page-turner?”
Stay tuned for the next post! Thank you! 🙂
July 26, 2014

June Author Interview Answer #1: Do You Usually Write Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Novels

Hello everyone! We apologize for the delay in posting the answers for the June Author Interview. So, we had four awesome writers from the Murder Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Horror genre participating in the group interview. It’s time to reveal the answers from them for all 7 questions we had asked them before.
Just in case if you are wondering who we are interviewing this month, you can check out this link and get all your author friends from The Memoirs/Biography genre to participate in the next group interview.
The very first question we asked to all 4 authors is “Do you usually write this genre or do you also write anything else other than mystery and thriller?” and let’s see what else inspired all of them to write.
1) Author #1: J. J. DiBenedetto
Right now, this is the story that’s in my head, so it’s what I’m writing.  I didn’t set out to write this genre – it’s just what came to me.  Before I started the Dream Series books, I thought of myself first as a science fiction writer (or at least that’s what I hoped I could do!).
2) Author #2: Fran Veal
I really love mystery and thriller, but I also write in other genres, such as YA – primarily coming of age. In fact, sometimes (okay, usually) my stories are YA Mystery/Thriller/Coming of Age. How’s that for a genre?
3) Author #3: Jim Strait
I began writing professionally by spending eight weeks in the state of Missouri where I drove 8,500 miles, visited over 300 venues, spoke to many hundreds of Missourians, took 2,700 pictures, and then sat down for three months to write “Weird Missouri”. It’s a travel guide to Missouri’s local legends and best kept secrets. It was a very nice way to enter the field of professional writing, being one of the family of a very successful line of “Weird” titles. That experience provided some momentum for me to write my first novel, “Deja vu All Over Again”…an action adventure novel taking place during the final 57 hours before the calendar turned 12-21-2012. I’ve since written two additional action adventure stories, “WORLD WAR III, Not How You Imagined” released in May 2014, and “Thomas Jefferson is Missing” to be released during the 2106 US presidential campaign. I’m currently working on another action title, “Vector”.
4) Author #4: Kelli Sue Landon
Only the mystery/thriller genre mixed with light comedy or horror.
So, what do you think of mystery/thriller/suspense writers? Do you think they write good stories from other genre? Share your thoughts below. I look forward to reading your comments below.
Next, we will be revealing the answers for question #2 which is “Who is your favorite mystery/suspense/thriller writer of all time?”
Stay tuned for the next post! Thank you! 🙂
July 22, 2014

June Author Interview: Author #4 Kelli Sue Landon

Nightmare at Camp Forrestwood

Kelli Sue Landon is a mystery novelist and short story author. Her novels include Sudden Moves, Nightmare At Camp Forrestwood, Summer Shack: A Killer Vacation, and Stranded in Time. She is from Peoria, IL and works for the United States Postal Service.

http://www.amazon.com/Nightmare-At-Camp-Forrestwood-Whodunit/dp/1499163681/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-3&qid=1402615141

http://www.kellisuelandon.com/

July 22, 2014

June Author Interview: Author #2 Fran Veal

Finding My Escape

Fran Veal fell in love with stories as a child and has been making them up ever since. An avid reader, she loves stories with a twist, and her own books are no exception. She published her debut novel, Finding My Escape, in 2011 and the sequel Finding My Way Back in August 2013 with the third to be released (hopefully) later this year. She has most recently had a story accepted by Chicken Soup For the Soul which will be published in August 2014.
Book cover and link
July 22, 2014

June Author Interview: Author #3 Jim Strait

World War III: Not How You Imagined

James Strait’s professional career began as a Special Forces soldier, where he demonstrated youthful tenacity and versatility by becoming the youngest recruit to graduate Special Forces Training Group.

After the military he enjoyed a thirty-year career as a professional pilot flying over one hundred different makes, models, types and categories of airplanes. In parallel, Mr. Strait operated a small business providing a variety of services to civilian companies and the military.

After retirement from professional aviation, Mr. Strait transitioned into broadcast radio where he has hosted “Strait Talks” radio since 2006. He began his professional writing career with the release of “Weird Missouri”, in 2008. He quickly followed with a novel about the infamous Mayan date of 12-21-2012, “Déjà vu All Over Again”. His most recent book, “World War III, Not How You imagined” is an action adventure novel taking place in the near future.

His future projects involve a work in progress, “Vector”, and the release of “Thomas Jefferson is Missing” during the presidential race of 2016.