Tag Archives: Redemption’s Edge

Novel Research: the fun and the strange

“What’s the strangest tidbit you discovered in researching your novel?”

That’s a question I like to ask other writers in interviews. Or, “what’s the most interesting thing you learned,” or “what was the most fun to research?”

Today I’m asking myself those questions. Writing suspense novels means most of what I research is unpleasant. Sometimes I even wonder if someone in a uniform will show up at my door to take away my laptop. I try to get the difficult topics out of the way first, so I can reward myself with the lighter things.

So… here’s what I’d call the most fun… and the strangest:

Heaven’s Prey: most fun: definitely the racing. In the name of research, I attended the movie Kart Racer, about a boy learning to race competive go-karts. Much later in the process, I discovered a slew of online videos on driving tips and engine sounds.

Secrets and Lies: most fun: spending a day with my husband, visiting the Centre Island Park where Carol and Joey picnicked in the novel.

Paddleboard and sailboat as seen from Toronto's Island park.

Carol and Joey may have seen views like this.

Without Proof: strangest: causes of small plane crashes. In all seriousness, plane crashes are not funny. People get hurt or killed, costly damage happens. But setting the tragedy aside momentarily, some of the circumstances of these accidents are highly amusing. My favourite, I think, is the crocodile incident as described below:

A passenger brought aboard a crocodile hidden in a sports bag. The crocodile escaped, causing a panic among passengers who all rushed to one end of the plane. This caused an imbalance in the aircraft which led to loss of control and a crash.
[source: http://www.planecrashinfo.com/unusual.htm]

The article at the PlaneCrashInfo.com site is lengthy, but it’s an interesting history of unusual accidents from 1933 to 2010. Some are sabotage, others are stupidity. If you’re so inclined, there’s a lot more things to check out on the site.

What about my new series? The crime and health resources would give spoilers for the books, and they’ve been neither fun nor strange so far. One thing I’ve been looking at is dory photos, to find out what the boat looks like in front of the Green Dory Inn. (The boat’s not seaworthy, and the owner has turned it into a flower garden.)

Oh — and what I think may be the most fun research? I’d like to know what the best chocolate dessert is in the Town of Lunenburg, and where it’s available. Who says research can’t be hands-on?

Prelude to Danger Free on NoiseTrade

Here’s a new option for acquiring your free download of my Redemption’s Edge bonus features ebook. This will be especially helpful for my non-US Kindle-reading friends, since outside the US Amazon lists the price at the equivalent of $0.99.

I’m excited about offering a book through NoiseTrade (which has expanded from music to include ebooks and audiobooks too). Take a few minutes and browse the other options for reading and listening. The way the site works, material is offered for free, with the option of leaving a tip for the author/artist. You might think of it as “pay what you can.” In the case of this book, Prelude to Danger, please don’t leave a tip. It’s really short, and that’s why I want it to be free. But by all means, leave a tip for the other artists if you’re downloading a full-length item.

New Bonus eBook

Prelude to Danger, Redemption's Edge Series ExtrasBecause it’s short, and because it collects all the bonus features you could read here on the site if you took time to find them, my intent is to make this ebook free. At present it’s free for Kobo, Nook, but only free for Kindle in the US. Elsewhere for Kindle it’s 99 cents USD, which is the lowest they’ll let me set it. Kindle readers outside the US, I’ve tried my best to convince Amazon to match the free price, with no success. 🙁 You can find the bonus features listed on each novel’s book page here on my site. You might also have more luck than I’ve had with asking Amazon to match the price if you can find it free at one of their online competitors in your country. Readers who prefer iBooks, I’m sorry, but Apple only wants full stories, so they won’t take a book of bonus features.

Cocoa White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Each novel in my Redemption’s Edge series has a recipe that’s significant to one of the characters. In Secrets and Lies, Carol does a lot of baking, at the café where she works, at home, and even a private catering stint. Baking is one of her coping mechanisms, and if she can give away the results, it’s less for her to eat. These are similar to the cookies she dropped off at Joey’s radio station for him and his co-workers. Recipe: Cocoa White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies (from Secrets and Lies, Redemption's Edge Book 2)

New Title for Redemption’s Edge 3

Thank you to everyone who gave input on the title choices and summary blurb for Redemption’s Edge #3. I’ve closed the poll, and the final results in the title vote are as follows:

Voting summary for the five title choices

Thank you to Polldaddy, my poll host.

And the title I’ve chosen is (insert drumroll here)

Without Proof

Confession time: I did not see this coming. I actually prepared this post to announce Dangerous Questions as the one I thought best fit the novel. Until I did a little chart that I can’t show you, listing five plot threads and ticking how many each title matched. Without Proof matched all five. My only hesitation with this title is that it sounds vaguely like legal fiction.

The back cover summary isn’t yet finalized, but it’ll be something like this:

“Asking questions could cost your life.”

Two years after the plane crash that killed her fiancé, Amy Silver has fallen for his best friend, artist Michael Stratton. When a local reporter claims the small aircraft may have been sabotaged, it reopens Amy’s grief.

Anonymous warnings and threats are her only proof that the tragedy was deliberate. Amy has nowhere to turn. The authorities don’t believe her, God is not an option, and Michael’s protection is starting to feel like a cage.

I’m considering adding a closing question to tie into the title, but perhaps it’s implied in the final sentences.

Help Me Choose a Title?

My working title for Redemption’s Edge #3 was No Safe Place, but early feedback said it sounded like a chase novel or a witness protection story. Since it’s neither, I’ve done a Marvin the Martian and gone “back to the old drawing board.”

I’ve considered over 50 titles so far, some downright horrible, lots in the middle, and some I really liked that were already over-used.

Below are my top 5 for your input, but first, here’s my latest draft of the back cover blurb to give some context. I’ve struggled with this blurb all week, and I’m sure the wording will change again before it’s final. As well as the suspense, it needs to convey “Christian romantic suspense.”

“Asking questions could get you killed.”

Amy Silver survived the plane crash that killed her fiancé, and found refuge with his best friend, artist Michael Stratton. Falling for Michael was unexpected, and his faith is out of her reach.

Was the small aircraft sabotaged? Anonymous warnings and threats are Amy’s only proof. The authorities don’t believe her, and Michael’s protection is starting to feel like a cage. Pushing his boundaries is not the way to win his heart, but Amy wants answers.

EDITED JULY 11: revised blurb:

“Asking questions could cost your life.”

Two years after the plane crash that killed her fiancé, Amy Silver has fallen for his best friend, artist Michael Stratton. When a local reporter claims the small aircraft may have been sabotaged, it reopens Amy’s grief.

Anonymous warnings and threats are her only proof that the tragedy was no accident. Amy has nowhere to turn. The authorities don’t believe her, God is not an option, and Michael’s protection is starting to feel like a cage.

If you have any comments (especially if something about the blurb confuses you!) please leave them below. Thanks!

After Heaven’s Prey

Did you ever have a question for a fictional character? I do, sometimes, and I enjoy reading character interviews. Paula Vince, of The Vince Review, sent me a question for Tony Warner of Heaven’s Prey. (Thank you, Paula!)

HeavensPrey_Prev webThis is an “after the novel’s ending” question, so if you haven’t read Heaven’s Prey and you’re thinking about it, you might want to skip this post. Spoilers…

Paula’s question:

Tony, I can hardly imagine what it must have been like, when a sporting hero of yours committed such a heinous crime against your family. I can understand how you must have felt when your wife, Ruth, began praying for Harry Silver. But since Ruth’s return from her own ordeal, have you been able to forgive Harry from your heart too?

Tony’s answer:

It’s been over a year and a half now, but there are days I have to forgive him all over again. Every time something reminds me of our niece, Susan, or see how much her parents — and Ruth and I — have aged. The worst times are when it comes back on Ruth in a nightmare.

The damage can’t be undone. I know God worked it all out for good, bringing Harry and me both into a saving relationship with Him. <Tony laughs> I can tell you it didn’t do anything good for my pride when I realized I was as distant from God as a serial rapist-murderer.

God kept Ruth safe from the horrible things Harry would have done to her, and the experience strengthened her faith. But she carries the emotional scars, and I hate that. The counselor she sees, and her pastor, help her keep holding onto Jesus, and He is enough.

Did you know Ruth’s started sharing her story in some local churches? The investigations have wrapped up now, so the circumstances of Harry’s return to custody don’t have to remain secret. Ruth doesn’t talk much about his conversion — she says that’s his story, not hers — but she speaks to women’s groups about how God kept her safe and sane. And about the importance of prayer.

Sometimes I go with her, especially if it’s a mixed event. People seem to want to hear my side, too. We’re trying to encourage Harry to write his story, not the crimes so much, but his journey. What made a successful, healthy man turn into a dangerous offender? And how did the God of the Universe break his heart to heal it?

Thanks for asking, Paula. All the best!

Janet says:

Did you know there are links to other character interviews and bonus features on my book pages? Just scroll down past the buy links: Heaven’s Prey and Secrets and Lies.

Secrets and Lies Photo Album

Most of the settings in Secrets and Lies are fictional: Carol’s café, the Linden House art gallery, the apartments, Paul’s school. Two sites are real: the Roy Thomson Hall where Carol and Patrick attend the symphony, and the Toronto Island parks.

I wrote the island scenes with some help from Google Maps, but in 2013 my husband and I were in Toronto and visited the island parks. Like Carol and Joey, we took a water taxi to the islands and rode back on the regular ferry. I took hundreds of pictures, to capture the feel, and although we visited in mid-August and Carol and Joey went in September, they may have seen things like this:

Toronto Island gardens

Some of the Toronto Island gardens [photo credit: Janet Sketchley]

This is the path they walked along before the guy stole Carol's bag. If you walk far enough, it becomes a boardwalk. This is the concrete wall they'd have leaned on to watch the paddleboarder.

This is the path they walked along before the guy stole Carol’s bag. If you walk far enough, it becomes a boardwalk. This is the concrete wall they’d have leaned on to watch the paddleboarder.

Plenty of activity on the water -- the paddleboarder they watched may have looked like this.

Plenty of activity on the water — the paddleboarder they watched may have looked like this. [photo credit: Janet Sketchley]

This is the regular passenger ferry to/from the Island parks, with the CN Tower in the background.

This is the regular passenger ferry to/from the Island parks, with the CN Tower in the background. [photo credit: Janet Sketchley]

Roy Thomson Hall... sadly, we didn't get inside to enjoy a performance.

Roy Thomson Hall. What an interesting shape! Sadly, we didn’t get inside to enjoy a performance. [photo credit: Janet Sketchley]

New Release and Giveaways

Secrets and Lies released Nov. 5, and a huge thank you to everyone who bought a copy or spread the word. Because of you, the novel hit a few of Amazon’s “hot new release” lists, which helped more people find it.

Two giveaways are happening now:

Print copies are available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble (for Halifax-area readers: Miracles Christian Store will also be carrying them). Canadians, Amazon.ca says the book “usually ships in 1-3 months” — when ordered, a copy will be printed in the US, shipped to the Canadian distribution site, and then sent to the customer. I don’t suspect it’ll really take even one month. They just want you to know it’s not sitting in their warehouse ready to go.

Tomorrow (Nov. 8) is my local book launch, thanks to UPS’s super-fast delivery of my books. (I’d originally set the launch for the end of the month, to allow time for shipping and for delays at customs.) If you’re in the Halifax area, stop and say hello, and maybe grab a cookie or two. We’ll have a brief reading, some door prizes, snacks, and oh yes, books for sale!

Secrets & Lies Book Launch 2pm, Nov. 3, 2014 at Regal Road Baptist Church, Dartmouth, NS, Canada

tags: giveaway, Secrets and Lies, Redemption’s Edge, romantic suspense, Christian fiction, book reviews, giveaway, book launch, Janet Sketchley,

Secrets and Lies: preorder special

Secrets and Lies ebook preorder sale price 99 cents until Nov. 5, 2014

 

I’m very excited to announce that Secrets and Lies is available to pre-order in ebook format. Print copies are in the works, too. Click the image or click the following link to visit the Secrets and Lies book page, complete with more information (including a sample chapter) and purchase links. If you’re planning to read it as an ebook, grab it now for 99 cents (slightly higher outside the US).