It Started With A Dare by Betsy Ashton

No, I didn't dare someone to act. A dear friend of mine dared me to act. Her challenge: bet you can't write a dark, psychological suspense story. That sounded logical enough, since I have been writing the Mad Max mystery series for a while now. Mad Max is anything but dark, although dark things happen to and around her. Still, me? Write a dark, psychological suspense? Especially when I was playing around with a romance that wasn't going anywhere fast.

I declined the dare. Until she made it a double-dog dare. Well, I'd show her.

I paced the house with my head flooded with ideas. What could I do that was dark? I understood digging into the psyche. After all, Max tells her stories and, to be truthful, she has to go into the dark places in her soul sometimes. No, a Max-like character wouldn't satisfy the dare. I thought about assassins. Nah. I hate kill shots from long distance. No pink mist for me. I thought about delving into the life of a drug dealer. Not interesting enough. Been done too many times.

When I thought about a serial killer, I had the same reaction as I did about drug dealers. Been done too many times. But what if I could find a twist, a different way of presenting a warped human being, a psychopath with a unique moral code, a personal rule book, if you will. But what would that uniqueness be?

I puzzled on this for weeks until I had an epiphany of sorts. First person singular from the point of view of the killer. Other than some television shows where the killer is the focus (think Dexter, which I have never seen), I hadn't read any books with the killer telling the story. Probably hundreds out there, but I hadn't read them. Think looking at the world through the lens of a hunter. Think moving in for a kill with calmness and total concentration.

Think: A woman! A female serial killer is as rare as a, well, female serial killer.

Would she be an Avenging Angel? A Vigilante? A Black Widow? Or would she be herself.

Once I knew I wanted to see if I could write from the point of view of a broken psyche, I was off to the races. Words fairly flew onto the page. I found so many different ways to kill people merely by reading my local newspaper. I tested different methods, just as my killer did. I gave her the ability to laugh at the world, especially the world of law enforcement. I gave her a chameleon's talent for blending into the crowd, for hiding in plain sight. I balanced the dark with light, so that the book wouldn't be a tutorial on killing. I gave her a few redeeming social characteristics. I gave her a cat.

And now that the unnamed, totally unreliable narrator is about to see print, I'm ready to kick the b*tch out of my head. Maybe I'll return to the romance. Maybe I'll go to something sunny. I know what when Eyes Without A Face debuts, I'm not going to write her sequel.

Have you ever taken a dare like this one?

Screenplays. Have you written one for one of your novels? by Rolynn Anderson

Happy New Year, everyone!  I'm lucky to be the blog-writer for the first of the month; to be able to holler Happy New Year is extra special.

In the spirit of looking ahead to new and exciting adventures in 2016, I want to draw on your experiences and your writing journey.  

I live close to Hollywood, so I get to rub shoulders with people who know/knew people.  Just the other day, I chatted with one of these people, and his interest in my books was both flattering and energizing.  His suggestion: If I wrote a screenplay based on one of my novels (especially one from my series), I could catch the attention of Hollywood.  In fact, he suggested I read this book by Viki King: How To Write a Movie in 21 Days...http://amzn.com/0062730665. 

His enthusiasm was contagious, but I'm already diverting my novel-writing time with short-story writing, blog writing and social media tasks  Do I make yet another detour and try to write a screenplay?  Has anyone out there written a movie script?  Was it a HUGE change from writing a novel or was it a fairly straightforward process? Did it give you an entrée into pitching movie-making folk?

I'm just as conflicted over this issue as I am over paying someone to narrate my novels for the audio market.  

Point is, I've learned that many of you have already vetted these questions and you have experience to bring to the table.  Tell me what you've learned about writing screenplays and latching on to the audio market.  Thanks!  Rolynn   

Meanwhile, I'm still 'in release' of FAINT, my third novel in the funeral planner suspense series.  If you haven't had a chance to read the details, here goes!

Their dead clients refuse to rest in peace.

How did small-town boutique funeral planning morph into crime-solving?  Ask freelance embalmer Trudy Solomon, or Pete McDonald, a blind, forensic investigator.  They’re unearthing mysteries of the deceased for their pregnant boss, Jan Keller, while her journalist husband, Roman, is benched by a ten million dollar defamation suit.

A dead client goes missing, and investigating his disappearance forces Trudy and Pete to confront their fiercely independent styles.  When danger stalks them, will they blend brains, brawn and belief in one another to solve crimes and save themselves?

Buy Sites:

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B0180LJBRI

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/592110

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/rolynnanderson

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/faint-funeral-planner-suspense/id1058955286?mt=11

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/faint-the-funeral-planner-suspense-series-book-3

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/faint-rolynn-anderson/1122952875?ean=2940152465822

Website: http://www.rolynnanderson.com