Made-Up Mayhem

• Author: Pauline Baird Jones
• Publisher: L&L Dreamspell
• Year: 2008

Book Description

Made-up Mayhem: Secrets to Writing the Suspense/Romantic Suspense Novel

While I feel a bit guilty about it, made-up mayhem can be a lot of fun. It’s very cathartic to put your characters through trials and tribulations. And if someone annoys you, well, your villains will always need expendable characters to knock off. Fictional killing doesn’t involve you in strip searches or prison time.

Like many writers, I was a reader first and I became an avid reader of suspense novels when I discovered that The Moonspinners wasn’t just a Haley Mills movie.

Suspense novels come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from the big, multi-plot blockbusters to romantic suspense to small chillers. They came disguised as paranormals and science fiction, but there are certain elements that mark them as a suspense or thriller. And if you bring the question up on writers’ lists, you’ll spark a major discussion, but what most writers will agree about a suspense novel must have:

Coming in June 2008 from L&L Dreamspell.