If You Love Janet Evanovich's Books, You'll Love Mine (I hope) by Alison Henderson

I want to say up front, I'm a HUGE fan of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books--her explosion-prone every-girl heroine, hunky heroes, wacky array of supporting characters, and endlessly inventive villains. But most of all, I love her humor. I almost fell out of my chair when I read Grandma Mazur's account of shooting the roast chicken in its gumpy at the dinner table. 

I would never try to claim I am as brilliantly funny as Janet, but her unique brand of humorous romantic suspense has been a major influence on my Phoenix, Ltd. female bodyguard series. I don't do scary well. I'll never write hide-under-the-covers-with-a-flashlight, serial-killer suspense. I want readers to worry how my characters are going to thwart the unknown antagonist, but I want them to laugh while they're doing it. 

Taking a page from Janet, one of my favorite ways to add humor is with colorful supporting characters. Because my books are stand-alone stories instead of a series featuring the same central character, there's no opportunity for a single, fabulous sidekick like Lula. Instead, my bodyguard heroines are beset by a meddling Chinese grandma, a malfunctioning cooking robot, and a light-fingered Capuchin monkey with a bad attitude. These secondary characters are perfect for lightening the mood whenever the situation gets too tense.

I also love snappy dialogue--classic, old movie-style bantering. I have a dry sense of humor and a smart mouth, and so do most of my heroines. Even the men are no slouches in the wit department. I like dialogue so much, large swaths of my first drafts read more like screenplays than novels. Sometimes, my characters are so chatty I can barely type fast enough to keep up with them. I have to go back later and add all the physical and emotional elements to round out the story.

Here are a couple of my favorite lines:

"It's not too late," Carter said in a stage whisper. "You can still change your mind and travel as my masseuse."

She sent him a quelling glance. "You do know I'm carrying a gun, right?" from UNWRITTEN RULES





As he carried her up the grand staircase, visions of Tara flashed through her mind. Although he didn't take the stairs two at a time like Rhett Butler, all she needed was a lush, red velvet dressing gown to transform into Scarlett O'Hara. Oh, and a night beyond her wildest dreams. 


That was so not happening. from BOILING POINT

When it comes to writing humor, I bow at the feet of Mistress Evanovich, but if you love her books as much as I do, I invite you to check out UNWRITTEN RULES and BOILING POINT. And the third book in the series is due out early this summer.

Cheers!

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com  

Wait a Minute. You Want Me To Give a Talk? by Betsy Ashton

My last couple of posts have been about writing and publishing. I want to take up one more topic, one which can scare a writer more than anything else. Standing up in front of a group and giving a talk about your book. If you aren't in Toast Masters, or you haven't spent a career giving presentations to clients and management, here are a couple of rules to follow.

1. Thank folks for coming. That's right. That your host, your audience, and anyone else who matters. It makes people feel you are honored they are spending precious time with you.
2. Know what your book is about. By that I mean, tell me in 15 words or less what it is about. I'd suggest you think about writing it in a Tweet, but tweeting has taken on a different life lately. Still, if you can't tell me in a couple of sentences what the book is about, you can't expect your audience to wave a magic wand and divine why they want to read it. Most people call this the elevator pitch: how much can you say about your book in a ride between three floors. That should be your opening.
3. Give the audience a slightly longer summary of the story. Keep it simple. Use as few names as possible. If you have two main characters and a host of secondary characters, focus on the interaction, the conflict, the romance, etc. between these characters. Secondary characters are, well, secondary for a reason. They matter in the book but not in a book talk.
4. Be sure you know what your genre is. Mushy genre bending can confuse a reader. I have never know what a stand-alone romance in a series is. It's either a book in a series or a stand-alone. All books in a series should be able to be read out of order. 
5. Prepare a couple of selections you want to read. These should be no more than 5 minutes long. One should be the hook at the beginning. One could be a teaser to draw the listeners in so they want to buy and read the book.
6. If you are giving a talk at a library or a facility that has a collection of books for residents, offer to give away a copy. You are looking for readers, and libraries provide access to readers. Fear not, libraries will either buy more copies if they have a lengthy waiting list or readers will listen to their friends and not wait. They'll go to Amazon or their local bookstore and order the book.
7. Ask if anyone has any questions. If no one volunteers, lead the discussion with your own questions. Pick some activity that is central to the book and ask if anyone has done it. A friend has a book where backpacking is important. She asks if people backpack. If she gets some comments, she continues. If not, she has other questions in her arsenal.
8. Thank people for coming. Again.
9. Tell people you have books for sale at the front or back of the room. Seat yourself at the table with pens at the ready. Have someone else handle the money. Assure your readers you take checks, cash, and credit cards. Get the Square or the PayPal app so you can rack up sales on your phone or tablet.
10. Hand out book marks or business cards with your contact information.
11. Be sure to thank each person who stands in line for coming and buying your book.
12. Enjoy the hell out of the process.

There. That wasn't so bad. It's fun. You get to brag on yourself. After all, you have done something that many in the room haven't: you've written and published a book. And now you are an author.

My Amazon Ad Experiment, Part Deux by Alison Henderson

If you read my post last month, you'll recall I shared the results of an experiment in which I ran a Facebook ad and an Amazon sponsored product ad during the last week of February and compared the results. As far as I could tell, all my sales came from the FB ad. Although it cost me very little, my Amazon numbers were dismal: 2,772 impressions, 10 clicks, and 0 sales. I decided I must be doing something wrong, so I decided to try again during the last week of March.

The important difference was adding more keywords. The first time, I used every category and combination of words I thought anyone might use to find books like Unwritten Rules and Boiling Point, my female bodyguard books. I also threw in the names of a couple of very well-known writers whose books are somewhat similar. I only ended up with about twenty keywords, even though every article I'd read said to aim for two hundred, and Amazon allows up to one thousand! I simply couldn't think of any more.

In the interim, I'd read another article with sound advice on how to find appropriate keywords. The author recommended checking your own books' pages, as well as those of similar books, and diving deep into the "Customers who bought this product also bought" listings. When I did this, I found a significant number of authors I'd never heard of who write some combination of romance, mystery, and suspense that includes humor. l added their names to my keyword list. I then dug even deeper, checking the "Customers who bought" lists for those authors, looking for more authors and books that might attract similar readers. You can do this almost indefinitely, but I stopped after I had doubled the number of my keywords.

Here are the results for the first week, so you can compare the numbers with my original experiment:

Boiling Point:
109,975 impressions;  54 clicks @ $.16 = $8.49 cost; 4 sales @ $2.74 profit = $10.96 
Plus 2,371 KENP pages read @ $.005 per page = $11.86
Net Profit = $14.33

Unwritten Rules:
125,161 impressions;  57 clicks @ $.17 = $9.69 cost; 5 sales @ $2.74 profit = $13.60
Plus 1 sale of Small Town Christmas Tales, which I have to attribute to increased visibility @ $2.06 profit
Plus 4,254 KENP pages read = $21.27
Net Profit = $40.80

Total Profit for the week: $52.66

I was pretty darned thrilled with that, so I decided to keep the ads going. However, the impressions and clicks slowed considerably and sales dropped from 4 a day to 0 on March 31st, as if I'd discontinued the ads. I waited a full week with very little activity, except for a large number of KENP pages read (presumably by KU subscribers who had picked the books up the previous week.) 

On April 7th, I decided to try adding a few more keywords. The impressions, clicks, and sales picked up again. 

Here are the totals for the first three weeks:
Boiling Point:
129,558 impressions; 72 clicks @ $.16 = $11.26 cost; 6 sales @ $2.74 profit = $16.44
Plus 5,309 KENP pages read = $26.55
Net Profit = $31.73

Unwritten Rules:
129,683 impressions; 86 clicks @ $.19 = $16.34 cost; 10 sales @ $2.74 profit = $27.40
Plus 1 sale of Small Town Christmas Tales @ $2.06 profit
Plus 7,803 KENP pages read = $39.02
Net Profit = $52.30

From all this, I have drawn the following conclusions:
1. Keywords make all the difference.
2. Amazon metrics show me which keywords are producing the most clicks and the most sales so I can adjust accordingly. 
3. I will probably have to make constant additions and adjustments to keep sales coming.
4. Amazon ads are much more effective for an unknown author like me if the books are part of the Kindle Unlimited program. Readers are more likely to take a chance if they don't feel like they're paying for the book--even if they are.
5. Unwritten Rules sells better than Boiling Point. This may be because it's the first book in the series, or it may be due to a more attractive cover or blurb. I'll have to give this some thought. One of the benefits of being an indie is being able to tinker with any aspect of the book whenever I decide to.

So. there you have it. Whew!
Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com

The Best Book Signing Ever! by Alison Henderson

Like most authors, I've done a few book signings over the years. When my first book--a Western historical romance--was released in 2010, I gave a talk and signed books at the historic home I'd used as a model for the heroine's house, I did a Valentine's Day signing in a gift shop in the small Missouri River town where the story was set, and I spoke to my college roommate's book club and signed books. All events were fun and I sold quite a few books, but I never did a signing in an actual bookstore until last month.

I'm sure you're all familiar with SMALL TOWN CHRISTMAS TALES, my collection of holiday short stories released in the fall of 2015. In early November of that year, I screwed up my courage and took a copy into a cute local bookstore, as well as the perennial Christmas shop on the main street of our little town. I chatted with the owners, left my contact information, and went home to wait, certain they would want to carry my book in their stores. Days and weeks passed without a word. 

Christmas came and went, so I shrugged my shoulders and moved on. Imagine my surprise when I received an email out of the blue, a YEAR later, from the owner of the bookshop saying they'd like to carry my book for the holidays and schedule a signing for the weekend before Christmas! I rushed right in to The Pilgrim's Way with a few copies of SMALL TOWN CHRISTMAS TALES for their shelves and set things up for the signing. Imagine my further surprise ten days later when I received another email asking for more books because they'd already sold several. This was getting exciting!

I fired off a press release to three local newspapers, bought peppermint and milk chocolate truffles to hand out to patrons, and tried to keep the butterflies at bay. The morning of the signing, I loaded my bag with candy and ten more copies of the Christmas book, as well as three copies each of my two female bodyguard books. Wonder of wonders, the owner had lent the copy of UNWRITTEN RULES I'd left with her to a customer who is an avid reader. The woman loved the book and told her they should stock it in the store!

I was nervous at first, but as soon as things got rolling, that melted away. We live in a tourist town, so Saturday afternoons usually bring quite a bit of walk-in traffic. Talking to strangers does not come naturally to me, but I found offering candy to everyone who entered the store a perfect way to break the ice and start a conversation. A couple of local writer friends stopped by to offer moral support, and this adorable couple came all the way from Salinas to buy my book after reading about the signing in the paper!

The signing only lasted two hours, but in that time I sold eight copies of SMALL TOWN CHRISTMAS TALES, two copies of UNWRITTEN RULES, and one copy of BOILING POINT. I consider that a rousing success. The owner seemed pleased and asked me to bring more copies of the bodyguard books because she plans to keep them in stock. 

I never expected to see my books on the shelf in a real bookstore, but now I'm thrilled to be able to tell anyone I meet that they can find my books at The Pilgrim's Way in downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea. What a rush!

Alison 
www.alisonhenderson.com 

What I Like About Kindle Unlimited by Alison Henderson

If you self-publish, or even if you don't, you've probably heard the moaning and wailing that Amazon's subscription service Kindle Unlimited is killing book sales. Readers pay $9.99 a month and can "borrow" up to 10 books at a time. Books are only eligible for KU if they are Amazon-exclusive through the KDP program--indie published or through one of Amazon's own imprints. At the moment, that constitutes around one million titles. 

Obviously, this program is directed at regular readers. It wouldn't make much sense to pay the fee unless you read at least two books every month. The more you read, the better the deal. And you have to be prepared for the fact that none of the traditionally published bestsellers will be available.

I have one book in the program, my romantic suspense Unwritten Rules. Because this book has been out for two years, it would be unfair--and undoubtedly inaccurate--to attribute slow sales to the introduction of Kindle Unlimited. The program has, however, injected a new element of fun into the experience of being an indie author. I can now connect with my readers in a direct, real-time way.

I've never been much of a techie, but with Kindle Unlimited I've gleefully surrendered to the seduction of real-time data. In July, Amazon started calculating KU borrows in a different way. They assign a number of pages to each book based on adjusted length--the Kindle Edition Normalized Pages. Unwritten Rules has 501 KENP. The sales dashboard shows the number of KENP read each day, so I can see if someone is actually reading my book, right then and there, and it adjusts periodically during the day. I feel like I'm reading along with them!

For example, today, someone(s) has read 145 pages. That may change by tonight. Yesterday, the total was 351 pages. I can see when a reader begins the book, when they really get caught up in the story or have more time to read, and when they finish. If I had bigger numbers, this wouldn't be possible, but for now, it's a lot of fun. Last month, I had a 448-page day, then a couple of quiet days, then a 498-page day. This likely represented two readers who finished the book around the same time. I checked my book page on Amazon a couple of days later and found a new five star review. Now that's instant feedback!

For Labor Day weekend and in honor of Unwritten Rules' second book birthday, I'm running my first sale. The book will be priced at $.99 from now through Monday night. If you haven't read it, here's your chance to pick it up at a bargain price! And I'd be thrilled if you'd help me spread the word. I don't expect this sale to have any effect on my KU numbers, but I'm looking forward to watching them on Small Town Christmas Tales when it releases October first.

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com

Every Rebel Needs a Cause by Alison Henderson

In the movie Rebel Without a Cause, James Dean played the quintessential, disaffected, bad boy anti-hero. This worked for a lot of women, but it didn’t work for me. To me, a rebel without a cause seems small and sad. He’s angry, but without focus or a plan. Every hero needs a cause. He needs something beyond himself that he believes in strongly enough to fight for, whether it’s saving the galaxy, catching the bad guys, or protecting his family.

I understand scarred characters and heroes in need of redemption. But even though they may lick their wounds in private, they should strive to overcome them in order to carry on the fight—whatever it may be. In fiction, as in real life, I don’t have much patience with whiners. I’ve read romances with heroes so dark they bordered on psychopathic. That does not turn me on. I like heroes who are essentially positive. They may be wounded and discouraged, but they never give up. They have a cause.

The heroes in my books tend to be protectors, because that’s a trait I like in a man. Jared Tanner in Harvest of Dreams is a security agent for a stagecoach line – a classic Western lawman. Morgan Bingham in A Man Like That is just the opposite, but he’s still a protector. A former member of Quantrill’s Raiders, he’s an outlaw on the run, yet he’s still willing to sacrifice everything, including the life he wants with the heroine, to take care of his family. In Unwritten Rules, Carter Devlin is a retired CIA agent who will face any enemy when his mother and grandmother are threatened.

Protectors can be found on both sides of the law. They don’t have to follow external societal rules, but they must follow their own internal rules. Rogues and rebels make wonderful heroes, but like all heroes, they need a cause.

What’s your favorite type of hero?

Alison

www.alisonhenderson.com

http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com

Into the Cuckoo’s Nest – Writing Families in Fiction By Alison Henderson

What’s your family like? Do you ever feel like you live in a cuckoo’s nest, or that you’ve escaped from one? If you’re honest, the answer is yes. We all do. At least some days.

And what about your characters? Do they spring forth into the universe fully formed, like Athena from the brow of Zeus? Of course not. They have families that form them, shape them, and drive them crazy. It’s part of a writer’s job to poke and prod our characters until we understand the complex dynamics of their families, even if we never use that information directly in their stories. Families make our characters who they are.

Before I begin a new story, I write up a sheet for each character; the more important the character, the more detailed the sheet. For the main characters, I always include information about parents and siblings—possibly even grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Whoever is important to that character. I need to feel how my character felt growing up in his or her family. As I write the story, I add whatever details I need to the character sheets and keep them front and center on my desk.

Although I’ve written several historical romances in the past, I am currently writing romantic suspense. Many successful romantic suspense authors choose to focus on the hero, the heroine and the villain to intensify the suspense. Not me. I throw in the whole crazy cuckoo’s nest.

In UNWRITTEN RULES, the hero’s mother takes out one of the villains with a well-thrown fastball borrowed from her son’s childhood bedroom, and his grandmother is engaged in an ongoing battle of wits with the next-door neighbor, who keeps leaving pennies in her freezer. However, despite their eccentricities, these women have been the most important people in the hero’s life, and his deep love for them helps convince the heroine he’s capable of the kind of steadfast, enduring love she’s looking for.

Cuckoo or not, family members can be a rich source of wonderful secondary characters. I love writing them, whether they provide behind-the-scenes conflict or front-and-center comedy. How about you?

Alison

www.alisonhenderson.com

http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com

Dare to Let Your Characters Fail by Alison Henderson

I know writers who rub their hands together in glee cooking up new and increasingly diabolical ways to challenge (i.e. torture) their characters. They delight in leading their literary babies to the brink then pushing them over. They plunge their heroes and heroines into the depths of despair in order to make their ultimate triumph that much sweeter. 

Sadly, I'm not one of those writers. I'm too tender-hearted. I love my characters, and it's hard work for me to create sufficient conflict between them, much less subject them to failure. But I know I have to do it for their own good. It's like letting your child fall off her bike so she learns to get back on and try again. Failure really does sweeten success.

In my latest romantic suspense, UNWRITTEN RULES, my heroine (Madelyn) is a bodyguard who lives and breathes professionalism. She's competent, sharp-witted, and savvy. So what did I do to her? To test her mettle, I thrust her into an unfamiliar environment and allowed her to fail. A would-be assassin evades her security and attacks her client, ex-CIA agent-turned bestselling author Carter Devlin. Here's an excerpt from that scene:

Madelyn bounced along on Foxy, her bottom slapping the saddle with every step. There had to be a trick to this. Cowboys never bounced in the movies. She could see figures ahead next to a copse of trees. Carter and Sam must have stopped to wait for the rest of the party.

As she rode closer, she was able to make out two horses, one man standing, and one sitting on the ground. A few yards closer and she recognized Sam Barnett’s helmet of blond hair. The man on the ground must be Carter, but he didn’t appear to be resting. Something about his posture was wrong.

Her heart stopped in her chest, then lurched back into rhythm. She kicked Foxy’s sides and slapped the reins. The mare launched into a full gallop, and Madelyn hung on for dear life. When they neared the men, she yanked the reins with all her strength, and the horse jerked to a halt. She snapped forward in the saddle, but grabbed the horn and managed to keep her seat. She clambered down and raced over to kneel beside Carter.

The broken end of an arrow protruded from the back of his left shoulder. She stared at it blankly. An arrow. He couldn’t have an arrow in his flesh. Who gets shot with an arrow? It had to be fake. There was almost no blood on his shirt. She touched it, and Carter swore violently. The arrow was real, all right.

She glared at Sam. “How did this happen?”

The senator ran a hand through his perfect hair, leaving it still perfect. “I’ll be damned if I know. I didn’t see or hear anyone. Lucy was behind me. I turned around, and he was on the ground. I’m guessing it was poachers. We’ve had some around here for the past few months.”

“I heard an engine,” Carter ground out between clenched teeth. “From over there somewhere.” He jerked his chin toward the small grove of oaks. “Right after I was hit.”

“An engine?” Sam scanned the trees. “I don’t see anything now. I’ll have my security staff search the area with the sheriff when he arrives.”

“You called the sheriff?”

“You bet I did. I’ve got to report a thing like this. I can’t have it get out in the press that I’m hiding anything. Everything’s got to be completely above board.”

Even if Sam’s first thought had been to avoid a scandal, Madelyn was glad he’d called the authorities. Maybe they would find some useful evidence. She refused to believe this was the work of poachers.

“Did you call an ambulance?”

“Lucy wouldn’t let me, but I’ve got a doctor coming to the house.”

A black Suburban roared across the pasture and pulled up beside them. Frank the foreman and Mr. Secret Service climbed out.

She slid her arm around Carter’s back, careful to avoid his injured shoulder and the arrow. A wave of nausea rolled over her. “Do you think you can stand?”

“We’ll take care of him, Ms. Li,” Mr. Secret Service said.

He and Frank got Carter to his feet and supported him on the short walk to the car. Carter’s face was pale, but he didn’t make a sound. Madelyn climbed in beside him and slid her arm behind his back to keep him from leaning against the broken arrow. As soon as the door clicked shut, he closed his eyes and let his head fall back.

She clutched his hand, never taking her eyes from his face as they bounced across the open field. Her muscles tensed with every bump. She wished she could absorb the jolts and spare him further pain. Only an occasional squeeze from his hand betrayed any discomfort.

Someone must have alerted Herman and helped him dismount, because he met them at the back door. She had never actually seen anyone wring their hands before, but Herman twisted his like a wet dishrag.

“How could this happen? I can’t believe it. Is he going to be all right? What are we going to do?”

“I’m fine.” Carter approached, supported by Frank and the security chief.

“He’s not fine,” Madelyn snapped. “Is the doctor here yet?”

Laura stepped forward. “He should be here any minute.” She glanced at Sam. “And the sheriff’s waiting in your office.”

“Boys, help Lucy over to the kitchen table. If the doctor wants him lying down, we can take care of that when he gets here. I’m going to talk to the sheriff.”

They eased Carter onto a chair, and Madelyn sat beside him. Herman fluttered around, unable to settle. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang, the front door opened and closed, and voices came down the hall toward the kitchen. Laura stepped into the room with a well-dressed, middle-aged man with a five hundred dollar haircut and an umpteen thousand dollar watch. He looked more like a cardiac surgeon from a prestigious big city clinic than a country doctor who made house calls. Perhaps it depended on whose house it was.

“This is Dr. Kitteridge.”

The doctor smiled. “This must be the patient.” He set his bag on the table and leaned down to examine Carter’s shoulder. “Hmm. Hunting accident?”

Carter grunted. “Sort of.”

“Well, let’s see what we’ve got here.” The doctor took a pair of surgical scissors from his bag and began cutting Carter’s shirt off. He stopped abruptly and frowned. “You must have been expecting trouble.”

He had exposed the shoulder strap of the bulletproof vest. Sam’s retainer must have been enough to guarantee discretion because he asked no further questions as he continued snipping until the remnants of the shirt had been removed. Next he cut through the strap of the vest, and Madelyn helped remove it as gently as possible. Carter sat perfectly still until the heavy vest lay on the table, then he took a slow, deep breath.

The doctor examined the arrow from several angles then straightened. “You’re a lucky man. The arrow appears to have gone straight into the fleshy part of the muscle below the joint just to the left of the scapula. If it had hit bone, it might have shattered it, and you wouldn’t be sitting here so quietly.”

“How deep is it?”

“Hard to tell. I don’t know how long the arrow was to begin with. Can you make a fist?”

Carter stretched his fingers then clenched them.

The doctor removed a small pointed instrument from his bag. “Tell me if you feel this.” He worked his way down Carter’s arm poking the skin. Seemingly satisfied with the responses, he put the instrument away. “There doesn’t appear to be any nerve damage.”

“Can you get it out?” Carter asked.

“It shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but we’ll need to go to the Emergency Room.”

“Can’t you just do it here?”

“This isn’t a sterile environment, and I don’t have everything I need.”

“The doctor’s right.” Madelyn stepped forward. “We need to get you to the hospital.”

“No hospitals.”

“Be reasonable. You can’t just leave that thing in there.”

“I’m not going to a hospital.”

“Carter, don’t be—“

       Without a word, he reached over his left shoulder with his right hand and ripped the arrow from his flesh. She stared in horror as the room began to spin, and everything went black.

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com
http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com

I Hate Conflict by Alison Henderson

This month we’re talking about love and hate at The Roses of Prose. Love is easy, but I’ve always shied away from writing about hate. It’s a powerful emotion, but poisonous to the soul. I have never afflicted even my antagonists with true, deep hatred. Perhaps if I wrote dark, serious literary fiction, I might plumb those depths. But I don’t. I write romance, and I write it for a reason—I am at heart unquenchingly optimistic about life and about people.

Perhaps that’s why negative story elements give me such fits. I know all good stories require conflict—the more, the merrier. A few years ago, I attended Donald Maas’s wonderful Writing the Breakout Novel seminar. In it and the accompanying workbook, he urges writers to amp up every element to create more compelling characters and stories. Take every situation and make it worse, then make it worse again until there’s no way the characters and their relationship can survive. That’s the path to high drama, high stakes, and big sales. He’s right. I know it. But I have trouble putting his advice into action.

That’s one reason I enjoyed writing Unwritten Rules so much. Because it’s a romantic suspense, the main characters’ relationship did not have to shoulder the entire burden of conflict for the story. Although the hero and heroine struggled with relationship issues, outside forces were also at work, continuously increasing the threat level and raising the stakes. It was almost as though the villains did the heavy lifting for me. I may have finally found the answer to my conflict dilemmas.

Unwritten Rules was my first venture into suspense, and it certainly won’t be my last. Based on the comments of Amazon reviewers, I may have blundered into a “formula” that works for both me and the readers. Yippee!

Alison

www.alisonhenderson.com
http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com 

When Looking Forward Means Being Flexible by Alison Henderson

A few months ago, I thought I knew what I would write in 2014. I planned to write the Christmas novella I didn’t quite get to last year, and I intended to finish the first book in a new contemporary trilogy I’d begun. I’m still determined to do the Christmas novella, but the new series will have to simmer on the back burner for a while. For the first time in my writing career, readers have spoken.

I feel a bit wistful about setting aside the new series about three artist sisters living in Big Sur because I’m passionate about the concept and characters and love the five chapters I’ve already written. However, reader response to UNWRITTEN RULES has rearranged my priorities.

My first three books received very few reviews from ordinary readers. Since I was changing genres with UNWRITTEN RULES and wanted as much reader feedback as possible, I was determined to do what I could to increase the number of reviews. I took the advice of several how-to books and included a polite request, along with a live link, on the last page of the book. It worked. Instead of five reviews, the book has received more than fifty so far—enough to see common threads and draw a few conclusions.

A significant number of readers said they would love to read more books like this. Some asked for more adventures featuring the same characters, others just wanted similar stories. Many of the readers who picked up this book during its free days appear to be primarily suspense fans, including a number of men. Since I’ve always been a romance writer, I had never considered writing an extended series featuring the same characters. Madelyn and Carter had their complete romantic arc in the first book. I’m not sure I’d be satisfied following them on a variety of cases like Eve Dallas and Roarke in the J.D. Robb “Death” series (although I’d be thrilled to achieve that level of success!).

Fortunately, I had already done some basic plotting for two additional books which would focus on different agents of the Phoenix, Ltd. all-female bodyguard agency. The next book in the series SAUTÉED, NOT STIRRED will follow operative Zoë Hargrove from UNWRITTEN RULES as she goes undercover as a personal chef to protect the pregnant wife of an eccentric inventor from violent thieves who may not be what they seem. Throw Detective Dominic “Nick” Rosetti into the mix, and you have a recipe for mayhem.

Now all I have to do is get busy and write it. Of course, me being me, I’ve already done a mock up cover for inspiration. Fun, don’t you think?

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com
http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com

Facing Fears in Fiction by Alison Henderson

This month we're talking about what scares us most. What about our characters? What scares them most, and how do we deal with it in our stories?

Fear is a basic component of the human experience and one we need to consider when developing and challenging our characters. A few years ago I attended a workshop by best-selling author and story consultant Michael Hauge. One of the questions he insisted we ask about our characters was what do they fear most. If you know the answer to that question you can use it as an integral element of the conflict of your story. Does your heroine fear abandonment? Is your hero claustrophobic? Why? How can you use their fears to help them grow?

In my latest book, Unwritten Rules, my heroine Madelyn Li left the FBI in part because of a terrifying near-drowning incident. Her fear caused her to lose confidence in herself, as well as question her colleagues' confidence in her. In a major turning point in the story, one of the villains pushes Madelyn off a ship into San Francisco Bay, bringing her face-to-face with her fear of before she's fully ready to confront and deal with it. Later, in the climax scene, she is forced to choose whether or not to dive into Lake Michigan to try to save the same villain. This time she's ready. 

Here's the first scene:

Shoes in hand, she picked her way down the steps. A waiter balancing a tray loaded with empty glasses approached, heading toward the galley, so she turned sideways and pressed up against the outside rail to let him pass. She’d only taken a couple of steps when glassware clattered behind her. She started, dropping her shoes and purse. Before she could turn to investigate, a heavy blow struck her from behind, launching her into the deck railing. The metal bit into her stomach as she frantically tried to grasp it, but momentum propelled her over the side.

She barely had time to breathe, much less scream, before she hit the water and plunged beneath the inky surface. Needles of pain shot through her limbs as the cold sucked the heat from her body. Her eyes were open, but she couldn’t see. She hung suspended in impenetrable blackness, dazed and disoriented. Her lungs burned from an urgent need for oxygen.

Fear, ugly and familiar, pushed its way through the fog surrounding her brain. She’d been in this situation before and barely survived. This time she wouldn’t be so lucky. Patrick was in Chicago. No team of agents raced to her rescue. No one even knew she was gone. She was on her own.

Panic gripped her. There was no air. Tendrils of deepening cold squeezed her chest like a giant octopus as she drifted downward.

Then instinct took over. With one powerful kick, she exploded upward. Her head broke the surface, and she gasped.

As she sucked in more oxygen, the fog cleared. She registered the searing cold, the glowing lights of the ship above her, and the salt of the sea on her lips. Her arms and legs stroked in rhythm to keep her head above water, bobbing with the waves.

The yacht was steadily pulling away from her. She waved one frantic arm and called out, but the drone of the engines drowned out her puny shouts.

How soon would Carter notice her absence? Ten minutes? Twenty?

Lights twinkled on the distant shore. She’d never make it to land. A wave slapped her in the face, forcing water into her nose and mouth. She choked and sputtered.

And here's an excerpt from the second scene:

Madelyn hesitated at the edge of the pier, staring at the spot where Laura had gone in, watching for a telltale stream of bubbles. At the Academy, Laura had been a strong swimmer, but what if she’d hit her head? She knew she should dive in and pull the woman out, but could she make herself do it? Could she force herself back into the same cold, black water that had nearly taken her life?

She closed her eyes and clenched her fists. No, no, no! She refused to be a victim again. Ever. She’d had no choice when Laura pushed her overboard, but she had a choice now.

       Before fear could stop her, Madelyn dove into the lake. 

Madelyn is no longer the same person she was at the beginning of the story. She's grown and changed, and that's what we want. 

The Importance of Grandmothers by Alison Henderson

I'm not a grandmother yet, but I can hardly wait. I love seeing my friends' photos of their beautiful grandchildren. Someday, God willing, when the time is right I'll have a grandchild of my own. I have wonderful memories of growing up with my maternal grandmother living just a few blocks away. Gram was one of the most important influences in my life, and I can only hope to do as well for my own grandchild(ren) someday.

Gram was tiny and feisty. She claimed to have once been 5'1", but never approached 5' in all the years I knew her. She was born in a small town in Wisconsin in 1900 to German immigrants, lost her first true love to influenza during World War I, went off to teacher's college in Kentucky, and married my grandfather in her mid-twenties. Their wedding photo is priceless with him in a Clark Gable-style pencil-thin mustache and her wearing a flapper dress and beaded headband.

My new book Unwritten Rules is a salute to the importance of grandmothers with both the hero's and the heroine's grandmothers playing significant roles. I based the character of Grandma Li (Madelyn's grandmother) on my own Gram. She's tiny, bossy, opinionated, and irrepressible. I just loved writing her dialogue! Carter's Gran is much the same. She might have a few problems with her memory, but nothing can dampen her vibrant personality or her fierce devotion to her family. 

The overall tone of the book is lighthearted--it's a humorous, contemporary romantic suspense (how's that for a mash-up genre?). Watching Carter and Madelyn interact with their grandmothers humanizes them and allows readers to see a facet of their characters that might not be as apparent in a more traditional romantic suspense. I hope everyone enjoys reading about these two ladies as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com
http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com

It's Back-to-School for Me by Alison Henderson

It's been many years since September meant back-to-school at our house, but this year was different. I'm the one who's been immersed in the challenge of learning new things. So many new things.

This week marked a major milestone in my writing career--I published my first indie book, Unwritten Rules. Those of you who are old hands at self-publishing, try to remember your first time. It's a lot like going back to school--scary, exhilarating, and brimming with possibilities. I'm glad I published my first three books with a wonderful small press. I learned so many things that made it possible for me to take on the challenge of publishing on my own. Chiefly, I learned that you can't do it on your own.

What, you say. Isn't doing everything yourself what self-publishing is all about? It is, and it isn't. It's about taking ultimate responsibility for the final product and learning to do as many of the tasks as you can, but it's also about understanding your limits and getting help when you need it.

I designed the cover myself, which was a large part of the impetus to try self-publishing. I love the design process and enjoyed learning the necessary tech skills to produce an eye-catching cover. I also did the formatting myself, but that was such a frustrating process I'm not sure I would do it again. The only reason the book is available on Amazon now is that Amazon is incredibly easy to work with. When my KDP Select exclusive period expires, I doubt I have the patience and skills required to format it for other outlets. Who knows? I might surprise myself and be full of the confidence and energy required to tackle it again, but I doubt it. Only time will tell.

Where I got the most help was with the heart of the book--the manuscript itself. I initially wrote the book with a critique partner, but she writes in a different sub-genre and is a lovely, gentle person--probably too gentle for the kick-in-the-pants I needed on this one. When I thought I was finished, I gave the manuscript to my two sisters for non-writer's suggestions. They had several excellent suggestions, which I then incorporated, but the real work was still ahead. 

Several months ago, I traded services with one of my fellow Roses, Jannine Gallant. I designed the covers for her Secrets of Ravenswood series in return for editing help with Unwritten Rules. I definitely got the better end of that bargain. Jannine put in countless hours reading, critiquing, and editing the book. She was just the kind of editor I needed--relentless and tough. I am so proud of the final version. I think Unwritten Rules is my best book to date, and I couldn't have done it without her. Hats off to Jannine!

Here's the blurb:

Things aren’t going Madelyn Li’s way. Her bodyguard agency is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, her grandmother keeps hatching plots to marry her off, and someone is trying to kill her latest client. All she wants is to safely escort thriller writer and former CIA agent Carter Devlin on his cross country book tour and collect her check, but two obstacles stand in her way: a shadowy assailant and her own growing attraction to her dashing client.

Carter Devlin has agreed to accept the beautiful and determined Ms. Li as a bodyguard primarily to appease his publisher. After all, who would want to kill a beat-up, retired ex-spy on a book tour? But when the attacks turn deadly, he soon learns there’s more to Madelyn than a pretty face and tempting body. Will the spark become a flame before a killer snuffs it out?

For you other self-publishers out there: what is your favorite part of the process? What's your biggest headache? What's the biggest reward? Would you do it again? I'd love to hear from you.

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com
http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com