EXPENDABLE was my first traditionally published
novel. I had published four nonfiction books with NY and London, and many SF short
stories with magazines and anthologies over two decades. But this was my first published
novel.
All my
stories whether short or novel length, are written from my heart. That means it
reflects my joys, concerns, and questions at that time in my life. When I wrote
EXPENDABLE, two things were keeping me up at
night. The first was my eldest son was in the Marine Corps and serving in Iraq
on convoy duty. I was concerned if he would come home at all. If he did make it
home alive, I was concerned about PTSD. Fortunately, he came home alive and
well. The second thing keeping me up at night was all the protests and
discussion around using fetal cells for research. I worked at Oregon Health
& Science University then, and they were one of few research universities
that had a research grant. (Now most medical universities have them).
I’ve
always loved reading thrillers. I love the complex puzzle of the plot, the
character backgrounds, including the villain’s character (if he isn’t all bad).
Of course, the excitement of turning pages to get to the next scene and the
emotional investment in staying up all night to see if the hero and heroine
survive have always made me think that was a great read. In spite of loving to
read them, I had never written a thriller in my short stories (hard to get it
into a short story format) and certainly not in a novel. I’d written action scenes in an SF novel, and
a villain or a nemesis in short stories. The thought of writing a thriller AND
a romance was both exciting and very scary. In the end, it is my most
challenging and rewarding writing experience.
On the
surface, writing a thriller appears to be easier to write than my Women’s
Fiction or Contemporary Romance novels. In a thriller the external plot keeps
the pages turning. Once I had the inciting incident and the problem to be
solved, I never had a problem with wondering what high stakes conflict I had to
develop. The entire situation is a high stakes conflict where both the hero and
heroine are in constant jeopardy, and in this series other people need saving
too. However, the challenging part is to add in the romance and the emotional
journey of the characters.
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| SHADOW FINDERS SERIES |
A romance
requires equal time to exposing the inner journey, the romantic relationship,
all while the hero and heroine are involved in this high stakes where they can
barely take a breath. In my story, a twist that is different from the usual
thriller relationship of violence begets violence mentality, is that the
heroine is someone who hates guns and has never used one, nor does she want to
even touch a gun. The hero is a former Marine who has used them expertly both
in training and in war. He has guns in his home and he won’t think twice about
killing to save a life. The heroine isn’t weak. She is strong and will fight to
save a life, but killing someone in the process is not acceptable. These two
different worldviews—non-violence vs. violence—was as interesting to explore as
the action and getting the bad guy. The acceptance of those differences and
being able to live with them is critical to these two people having a
relationship and finding their HEA.
Romantic
thrillers/suspense, as a genre, is still hot. I quickly learned that when readers
love your story, you better have a series planned. When this book was initially
released with a traditional publisher, I had a plan for three books. But I left
the publisher, went indie, and then had to wait for my rights to be returned. The
good news is during that time I conceived an ongoing series (more than three
books originally planned). When I released the second edition of EXPENDABLE, I included the set up of the Shadow Finders
ongoing series in the ending of the book. The three heroes and their wives will
work together to find and save those who have been forgotten or abandoned—people
doomed to the shadows. I hope to continue to write books in this ongoing series
for as long as readers will buy them.
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| MAGGIE LYNCH |
BIO:
Maggie Lynch
is the author of 20+ published books, as well as numerous short stories and
non-fiction articles. Her fiction tells stories of men and women
making heroic choices one messy moment at a time. Maggie is also the founder of
Windtree Press, an independent publishing cooperative with over 200 titles
among 20 authors.
Maggie and
her musician husband live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, and are the
slaves of two demanding cats. In 2013, after careers in counseling, the
software industry, academia, and consulting worldwide, Maggie started writing
full time. Her adult fiction spans romance, suspense, and SF titles under the
name Maggie Jaimeson. She writes YA under the name Maggie Faire. Her
non-fiction titles are found under Maggie Lynch.
9 comments:
Maggie, I really enjoyed your post. The covers for your series are stunning. It was interesting hearing about your journey and how you write thrillers. Good luck with sales!
Great set of books! Love hearing your take on the genre.
Thank you Dianna and Paty! The covers are a combination of two amazing designers, both named Christy. Christy Caughie (Carlyle) designed the first two covers for me before she stopped doing design work and became a full time author with Avon. Christy Keerins is my current cover designer. https://coveredbyclkeerins.com/ She designed the third cover in this series (as well as a number of author covers for me since the first Christy closed her design business). I was very concerned about keeping the same look and feel throughout the series and she had no problem making that happen for me. Though I love all the covers, the one for SILENCED is my favorite because it features a woman in the save-the-world role.
Those are nice covers, Maggie. Since romantic suspense is my genre of choice, I was very interested in your take on the subject. And you are so right about having a series if you write in this genre. Good luck!
Great post, Maggie! I love how you explored the issue of violence vs. non-violence through your characters. Whoever thinks genre fiction is always lightweight and escapist should read Expendable. Genre fiction writers have an opportunity to make people think about important issues in their lives.
Thanks Barbara! Yes, this is one of those "if I only knew then what I know now" moments. :)
Sarah, thank you for the comment about genre fiction. All of my books do have deeper issues, only because I find it really hard to write straight, fun entertainment. I admire people who can do that because there is a definite need to just escape and I read those books too. But, it seems my personal calling is to continue to torture my characters and hope that the issues they face resonate with others.
In terms of violence vs non-violence, this is a challenge in many households. I have a son who is former Marine and another who is a federal police officer. Both were brought up understanding and using guns (my husband also grew up that way), and with their chosen professions it is a requirement and there is no question in any of their minds--including my husband--they could shoot to kill if it someone was hurting a family member or someone else.
I, on the other hand, have been a pacifist all my life. In many ways, the female character in Expendable is a reflection of me coming to grips with these three men in my life, who I love dearly and are truly wonderful, amazing, caring and kind men, who have a very different worldview from me. Each one of them also has a deep belief that there are justifications for killing.
Maggie, your post reveals this series is written from the heart and explores issues that will make readers think. Kudos to you for examining the guns - no guns issue in a balanced way - so timely.
Your covers are indeed exceptional!
Madelle
I loved learning the background of what was happening in your life when you wrote the first romantic thriller. When situations hit home for an author, the resulting books are always compelling. Good luck with this series. Will look forward to reading it!
What I like about your story (personal and thriller) is the outcome that people who are at different places on a spectrum (in this case violence/non-violence) can find a place to co-exist. Obviously in the case of a "romantic" thriller/suspense/life, they create a bit/a lot more than co-existence. In this day and age, any place we, as authors, can show the world that it can be done is a good thing.
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