Six Rivers County

My latest dilemma comes from trying to be realistic about a shooting scene and not gross my readers out. It was hard. I finally did it, though. I told it from the point of view of Sam, who had been wounded on the side of his face. He was in shock and therefore he did his best to deny and block out all that was going on around him.         Now, Sam will have a great scar on his right cheekbone and a hardly noticeable nick in his hairline above his ear. What do you think? Will he be sexier that way?

In my last post, I reviewed a great book. It is number 5 in a series, and I have read all of them. Each one stands on its own, but as a series, they sing. What makes a good series so compelling? A couple of things. First, you get to know the characters in much more depth than you would in just one book. Second, you have that over-arching mystery or conflict that continues to develop through all the books. In each book, then, the author reveals a little more, sometimes coming very close to solving the main character's conflict—that conflict that put them on the path that brought them to the mysteries they solve in each book. My mission in writing Smoked is to give it a prolonged story arc that will follow the main characters throughout a series. The continuing conflict involves a writing professor at Six Rivers University, who must match wits with a syndicate king-pin. The mob boss masquerades as an upright citizen, pretending to be against drugs of any kind, supporting th...