What fires my Mojo?

As part of the launch of our Romantic Suspense Down Under website (www.romanticsuspensedownunder.com), Helene Young, Bronwyn Parry, Shannon Curtis, DB Tait and I are blogging each day for a week and doing giveaways. Here is my blog from Tuesday:

 

When we launched this website we asked readers what they wanted to know about us.

The replies were interesting: from, ‘Always enjoy hearing what inspires you all as authors. What fires your Mojo? What gets the creative juices flowing? What moves you enough to want to express it in your writing, and share it with the world?’ to ‘I like hearing how you come up with murders and keep everyone smiling throughout the stories:)’

Helene, Bron and DB might have different answers, but I thought I’d share what gets my creative juices flowing. Often it’s a spark, a thought, the “What if?” that occurs when I read an article or look at a certain location or overhear a conversation.

Some years ago I was eating lunch in the food court of the five-storey-high atrium of the Anzac Square Building in Brisbane. Light shone through the glass roof. Five balconies hung from the five stories. In the middle of the floor stood a tall metal tree, rectangular in shape, leaves sharp and coppery in the light.

For the other diners there it was a place to eat. For me, it was the perfect place to kill someone. Not literally. And not then. But the idea wouldn’t leave me, and when I was writing Until Death, I knew how I could use that idea.

So for me, it’s the challenge that gets my creative juices flowing. The challenge of conveying the story that’s inside my head that needs to be told. I love plotting, love weaving clues and red herrings into the story, love creating characters that will make my readers cry, laugh and fall in love with them.

The challenge of bringing all the plot threads together in the end; the challenge of making my readers care about my characters; the challenge of writing and re-writing and making every word count so the suspense is enthralling and the romance heart-wrenching and ultimately satisfying.

The challenge of experiencing the primeval pull of Carnarvon Gorge and conveying that convincingly in Dangerous Deception; of creating a villain in Fatal Flaw whose story was incredible but still making it credible to the reader; of having the very sensitive issue of paedophilia at the core of Grievous Harm and getting a review saying “it was handled well”.

And the answer to how do I “come up with the murders and keep everyone smiling throughout the stories” is by, hopefully, making the reader care so much for my characters that, no matter what terrible events they are forced to confront, she knows the love that is growing between them will see them triumph. Because no matter how complex the plot, how dastardly the villain, how suspenseful the story, the passion and the love and the caring between my hero and heroine must be the glue that binds all those other elements into an un-put-downable story.

So thank you, Janet and Helen, for reading romantic suspense and asking the questions that made me discover, once again, the joy I find in writing this wonderful sub-genre.

Please go here to post a comment and be in the draw to win an ebook (and a drinks cooler if you live in Oz).

This is the entrance to the Amphitheatre at Carnarvon Gorge in Central Queensland. When you walk through that split in the cliff you walk through the mountain until you come to where part of the mountain has fallen in to form a huge amphitheatre with a small opening at the top where sunlight filters down. It’s like being in an ancient cathedral. Awe-inspiring.)

Carnarvon - ladder to Amphitheatre tunnel entrance (2)

Meet My Character

I was tagged by rural romance author Heather Garside to participate in the Meet My Character blog hop. Thanks, Heather, for inviting me.

Heather grew up on a cattle property in Central Queensland and now lives with her husband on a beef and grain farm in the same area. She has two adult children.

She has previously published three historical romances and has helped to write and produce several compilations of short stories and local histories. The Cornstalk was a finalist in the 2008 Booksellers’ Best Award, Long Historical category, for romance books published in the USA. Breakaway Creek was a finalist in the QWC/Hachette Manuscript Development Program and was released by Clan Destine Press in 2013. It is a rural romance with a dual timeline. Her recent release is Tracks of the Heart, a collection of three short stories.

Heather works part time at the local library, at home on the farm and helps produce a local monthly newsletter, amongst other voluntary activities.

BC Ebook Cover

Heather’s book Breakaway Creek is available through Clan Destine Press.

Now I’d like to introduce you to my main male character from my latest thriller, Grievous Harm, John Corey, through these blog hop questions.

  • What is the name of your character?

John Corey

  •  Is he fictional or a historic person?

Fictional.

  • When and where is the story set?

It’s a contemporary story that starts in Brisbane, then goes to Sydney before moving to country New South Wales, back to Brisbane, then Outback Queensland. I love Australia and like to show the variety in our great country. And the plot takes the characters where they need to go.

  • What should we know about him?

Although he works for a covert agency that answers only to the Prime Minister and has to undertake assignments that force him to act in ways that he doesn’t always like, John has kept his sense of decency and moral compass. When he decides to help Kate find her missing niece, it is in defiance of his orders but he knows he can’t brush aside the fact that children are being violated and he is the only one in a position to find them.

  • What is the main conflict? What messes up his life?

Something happened in John’s past that has made him determined not to become emotionally involved with another woman, and it’s only when he’s faced with an impossible situation that he realises he loves Kate. The decision he has to make, while saving her from a horrific fate, also destroys the future he thought he could have with her.

  • What is the personal goal of the character?

To save the children who have been taken into an invidious cult.

  • Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

This book is Grievous Harm and there’s an excerpt on my Books page.

  • When can we expect the book to be published or when was it published?

It was published in October this year by Clan Destine Press and is available as both print and eBook.

 

I have tagged two authors who write in different genres, Nicole Hurley-Moore and Christine Gardner.

Nicole has always been a lover of fairy tales, history and romance. She grew up in Melbourne and Central Victoria and has travelled extensively. Her first passion in life has always been her family, but after studying and achieving her BA in History and Honours in Medieval Literature, she devoted her time to writing historical, fantasy and contemporary romance. She is a full time writer who lives in the Central Highlands of Victoria with her family, where they live in the peaceful surrounds of a semi-rural town.

Black is the Colour Cover

Ciana has loved Oran all her life and nothing, not even her father will prevent them from being together. But the Mayor of Stonemark has higher aspirations for his daughter than the village blacksmith. He engages the help of a witch and dark magic to bend Ciana to his will. Oran knows that he doesn’t deserve Ciana. But their love is stronger than the metal he forges and welds. She has his heart and he will never turn from her no matter the cost. They plan to run away and start a new life far beyond her father’s reach. But their escape comes too late. Separated, Ciana will need all her strength to journey through the deep forest and save Oran from the witch’s curse. Alone and with only a trail of black feathers to follow, Ciana will fight against the odds and attempt to bring her lover home.  Amazon link – http://goo.gl/f3juDg

www.nicolehurley-moore.com

 

Christine lives in regional Victoria, Australia, with her husband and a Siberian husky, Esky, the proud owner of the back yard. After a life-long love of reading and of history, she spent several years at both TAFE and university, studying everything from editing and professional writing to history and philosophy, eventually emerging with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons). Her studies led to the writing of a non-fiction book, ‘Not Guilty’ and the fiction version of the same story, ‘Her Flesh and Blood’. She has also written several novels for children and young adults and is now focused on fiction for adults. Her last novel was ‘Stony Creek’, a rural romance, and all her books are available on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Christine-Gardner/e/B00AY80A08

ecoverkarinyasmall

Prue King is nineteen and lives on Karinya Station, one of seven girls. She and her friend Sally decide to go on the adventure of a live time—a road trip, right around Australia. Neither Prue nor Sally is in any hurry to settle down, unlike some girls their age. They want to see the country and be independent. When they meet brothers Dan and Steve on the Sunshine Coast Prue is stunned by her feelings for him, but her plans remain the same. She and Sally are determined to get to Perth where they will live for at least a few months and decide what their futures hold. When the girls leave the brothers behind though, they experience something that will change their plans and their lives, perhaps forever.

 

Thanks, Nicole and Christine, for agreeing to be part of this blog hop.

 

Australia Day

Australia Day 2013 should have been full of barbecues, picnics, thong-throwing competitions, and happy families celebrating their pride in their country while newer residents proudly took their citizenship oath. But Cyclone Oswald lashed Queensland’s coast, creating six tornadoes and the biggest flood in Bundaberg’s recorded history. Thousands of homes were inundated, thirteen washed away, never to be found, others teetering on holes created by the torrent. Businesses suffered devastating losses, caught by Nature’s intensity and the Burnett River breaking its banks. Boats were washed away, some completely disappearing, some found days later as broken hulks on the rocky shore, debris scattered like broken dreams.

The town was in shock. But as the water receded and help flowed in, Bundabergians created their own Mud Army and went to work helping those whose lives had been traumatised.

One year later, the town has mostly recovered. Some businesses never re-opened, some houses never re-built, some folks still fighting insurance companies and unable to return to their homes, but the ghost-town atmosphere that pervaded North Bundaberg in the months following the flood has been replaced by a thriving community spirit.

So this Australia Day I reflected on that wonderful Aussie spirit, that pride in a country of extremes, from tropical rainforests, snow-covered mountain ranges, vast Outback plains that seem to be either in drought or flood. We started as a penal colony of convicts and guards and evolved into explorers and farmers and graziers and nation-builders. But it wasn’t easy. This is a harsh and often unforgiving land, and it took guts to try to conquer it.

It’s those aspects of the Australian landscape and psyche that I’ve tried to capture in my books. I love this unique land of ours and want to share it with my readers. In Dance with the Devil the rugged Great Dividing Range became as huge an obstacle for Emma and Drew to conquer as the killer who held an innocent life in his hands. In Black Ice a hit-and-run on the Sunshine Coast and a mud slide in the Blue Mountains nearly meant the end for Kirri and Daniel. Deadly Tide was a favourite to write, set as it was on a trawler off Bundaberg’s coast. Putting Sam and Chayse in such a confined space gave lots of opportunities for sparks to fly, and some unusual dangerous situations, and researching beautiful Lady Musgrave Island was no hardship for this dedicated writer J

Until Death was more citified, encompassing Brisbane, Sydney and the Hunter Valley region where Libby and Connor had to cope with a natural disaster as deadly as the killers hunting them.

Dangerous Deception allowed me to indulge in more exotic locations such as Central Queensland’s Carnarvon Gorge before bringing Breeanna and Rogan back to Melbourne. But I couldn’t resist having them go via the Gold Coast hinterland in a daring escape that has them jumping off a mountain.

Ladder to Amphitheatre tunnel entrance at Carnarvon Gorge

The plot of Fatal Flaw only allowed me to take a slight deviation from Brisbane’s suburbs, Chinatown, and nearby Mount Glorious, but it’s Mark’s trip to the sapphire diggings outside Emerald that gives him a clue to who wants to kill Julie’s father.

Grievous Harm (to be released later this year), traverses a lot of New South Wales and Queensland, and depicts the harshness and grandeur of the Outback. This is the darkest of all my novels, and I hope readers can forgive me for what I put Kate and John through. They really deserve their HEA.

What I also strived to do was give my heroes and heroines the kind of courage our early settlers had to have in order to survive. They have to battle not only the highs and lows of falling in love, but danger in various guises and a land that can be as deadly as any determined killer.

We didn’t have prawns (shrimp) on the barbie this Australia Day, but lamb chops (after all, Australia was supposed to ride on the sheep’s back at one stage in our history), and I counted my blessings that I live in this wonderful country that gives me such fabulous settings in which to tell my stories, and planned my next research trips to those states and territories I haven’t yet written about.

Congratulations to a friend

It was one day after Valentine’s Day, but my friend Louise Cusack‘s life was full of rose-tinged thoughts when her fantasy romance trilogy was epublished by Momentum Books on 15 February. Although the books had been previously print published in Australia, epublishing meant they were now available internationally.

Epublishing is a wonderful avenue for Australian authors to get their books out into the world. My books have Australian settings, which can make them difficult to sell overseas, and particularly into the USA, but with the growing trend towards readers purchasing ebooks it means my stories can now reach a greater audience and show readers from other countries aspects of Australia, and particularly Queensland, they won’t find in most travel brochures. For example, the amazing Amphitheatre at Carnarvon Gorge in Central Queensland is a wonderful example of nature’s force and I knew I had to use it when writing Dangerous Deception. The opening to the Amphitheatre is high up on a cliff face and can only be reached by climbing a series of ladders.

 

When you get to the entrance of the tunnel (which is formed by an enormous slab of rock splitting apart and creating an opening), you then have to traverse about 40 metres of uneven rock as well as concrete steps made by the Park Rangers. This photo was taken from almost inside the Amphitheatre looking back to the entrance in the cliff face.

When you step inside the Amphitheatre, it’s like walking into a massive cathedral. You gaze up the vaulting slabs of rock to the tiny opening at the top where sunlight enters. The floor is grey dirt, and amazingly ferns grow in abundance, perhaps watered by rain seeping through fissures in the rock. They certainly wouldn’t get much rain through the small top opening.

When we were there a young couple joined us, and the woman took out a flute and began playing. Magic. It was the only word to describe it. Pure notes lingering then rising to the tiny patch of sky above. The acoustics are so good they have had choirs perform there for the fabulous resonance.

There’s something spiritual about Carnarvon Gorge, and even more so about the Amphitheatre. It was something I felt just driving from the highway to the Gorge and became stronger the moment I walked into the Amphitheatre.

Aboriginal rock paintings adorn the cliff walls further into the gorge, and it’s easy to visualise them living here and enjoying the abundant wildlife. With a creek traversing the length of the gorge, there is ample water and lush grasses to attract wallabies, goannas and birds.

Unfortunately, feral pigs have also made the gorge their home, and their habit of rooting up plants for food has led to some destruction of the creek banks. The Park Rangers try to keep their numbers under control, but eliminating them entirely would be almost impossible.