Awesome Romance Author Linda Style

Looking for a great romance author to read? This week my guest author is best-selling, award-winning author Linda Style. Today, Linda answers questions about how she has written so many successful novels.

Hi Zara and friends. Thank you so much for inviting me to your blog today. One of my favorite things to do is talk about writing and the writing process. So…on to your wonderful questions.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’d be happy to do that. In a nutshell, I’m the author of nineteen novels, travel junkie, (Official Travelocity Gnational Gnomad) photographer, tennis rat, blues lover, and foodie.

My first fourteen books were published with Harlequin Superromance and my six most recent suspense and romantic suspense novels are with Amazon. My seventh book THE MISSING, a romantic suspense, should be released literally as we speak. My books have sold over a million copies worldwide and have won several awards, including the Daphne du Maurier Award, The Orange Rose Award (Best Book of the Year) and the Holt Medallion Award of Merit. My last romance novel was on the “USA Today” Best Romance of the Year list. Sounds great, doesn’t it. But, like most writers, it took years and a circuitous route to get here. And that leads to the next question, doesn’t it. J

When did you first start writing and when did you finish your first book?

As a kid, I wrote a lot, stories, poetry, whatever, and I always dreamed of being a writer, but good intentioned people convinced me to get an education in a field that paid enough to feed myself. Hence, I pursued a career in behavioral health and for worked in a number of jobs in social services including as the director of a mental health program for the State of Arizona. But my dream persisted, so back to school it was for a degree in journalism and, eventually, after a stint as the editor of a national magazine, I began writing novels for real. After five years, after writing five books, and receiving four Golden Heart finalists’ awards from the Romance Writers of America, I published my first book in June, 2000. In addition to writing I co-founded Bootcamp for Novelists Online, a full program of writing classes, and I taught the advanced classes. Since then, I’ve published all of my classes in a handbook for writers titled “Bootcamp for Novelists: Writing Techniques of the Pros. And as part of my belief in paying it forward, I’ve included some of my writing tips on my website.

What do you do when you are not writing?

When not writing, I love to travel and have been all over the world. My passion for travel fits perfectly with another passion…photography, both of which mesh seamlessly with my love of researching my books. Because I believe writing with authenticity is critical, I like to live the life my characters do…spend time in the worlds they inhabit and the haunts where they hang out…within reason. I like to include photos on my website blog of the settings for my books and even the places my characters frequent. Right now, I have photos that show where Charlie Street, the main character in DETROIT RULES, spends most of her time. But I also believe writers need balance and when not doing writing related things and traveling, I like to read, play tennis, hang out with family and friends, play Texas Hold ‘Em, drink wine, eat good food (and dark chocolate) and hike in the awesome Arizona mountains, the best place in the world to make up new stories.

Do you work with an outline, or just write?

For me, it’s not an either/or thing. When I first began writing, I simply sat down and began. I think most writers start that way. As I learned more about writing techniques and the form all fiction follows to a certain degree, I began doing a brief outline where the main parts of a story were defined. The beginning, middle and end, with a few turning points. From there, I was flying free. I graduated to other types of outlines and charts such as The Hero’s Journey, and Blake Synder’s Beat Sheet. But because my publisher required such extensive synopses for my stories, I ended up writing an extensive synopsis that helped me write a more specific outline. But since writing for Amazon, I’ve found that writing an extensive synopsis (30 pages at least) tells the story without all the embellishment, internal thoughts and description. So now I pretty much work from a long synopsis for each book. I also do a lot of pre-writing and planning with character charts and getting down all the plot basics beforehand…meaning the GMC, internal and external conflicts and the character arcs. But from there, I let the story fly.

Will you have a new book coming out soon?

Yes, thank you for asking. THE MISSING, a romantic suspense is the fourth book in my LAPD Special Investigations series. It’s to be released today, July 27. This series features a group of LAPD detectives, with each book highlighting one detective’s story. THE MISSING focuses on Detective Luke Coltrane, who after battling his internal demons over the loss of his son, believes he’s on the path to healing…until his ex-wife comes back into his life and he’s duty-bound to protect her from a stalker. In addition to this book, I’m also working on two other books to be out soon. DETROIT HUSTLE, the second book in my new Street Law romantic thriller series will be next.

Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?

Yes…I love my readers! Because of you, my stories have a voice, my words have a place to resonate, my heart can speak to you and on your behalf. Readers are the most influential people in the world and you have a profound effect when you read, review, and talk about our books. I’m humbled when that happens and it gives me the courage to write another novel…and another. I love hearing from readers and invite you to find and friend me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, and be sure to stop by my website blog to see what’s going on, or simply to chat about books and writing and just about anything. You can also join my newsletter to find out about new books, sales and giveaways. Did I say I love my readers!!

THE MISSING

4th book in the LAPD Special Investigations series by Linda Style

 Giving up is not an option

THEY WILL NEVER FORGET…

The cop…

Clean and sober and back on the job, LAPD Detective Luke Coltrane has come to Santa Fe to make amends with his father, only to find his ex-wife at the family ranch. The pain of losing their son roars back with a vengeance, and worse, he can’t forget all that was good between them. Julianna is even more beautiful than he remembers. But getting involved again could be a huge mistake. If he doesn’t leave now, there’s no turning back.

The investigative journalist…

Julianna Chevalair learned early on to stand her ground, and she sure isn’t going to cave to a stalker’s threat to stop writing a series of magazine articles about missing children. She’s on to something that could help uncover a serial killer, possibly their son’s murderer. While hiding out to finish writing the piece, Julianna’s stunned to see Luke again but not surprised when old emotions arise. Guilt and grief. Passion and temptation. It’s impossible to be near him. But when a new threat proves her stalker knows where she is…she has nowhere else to run.

The threat…

As the killer closes in on Julianna, Luke vows to protect her. But he can’t protect her from the past or a pain that could destroy them both.

EXCERPT

    “YOU CROSSED THE LINE. You’re going to regret it.”

Julianna Chevalair listened to the distorted digitalized voice, heard a click and then… nothing.  She swallowed around the tightness in her throat, closed her eyes and waited for the next message. The message icon indicated there were three.

“If you don’t stop, I will stop you.” A different, higher voice, but obviously disguised.

She’d ignored the earlier e-mails warning her to stop writing the story, one in a series of articles on missing children and the second installment on the Willis case was about to run in the magazine’s next issue.

After a pause, the next message started. “You think you’re safe, don’t you.” A deep laugh emanated from the phone. “Well, you’re not,” the voice hissed “and when you least expect it, I’m going to slit―”

She gasped, jabbed wildly at the buttons and clicked off, hands shaking, heart racing. No. No. Don’t buy into it, she whispered to herself. That’s what he wants. She drew in a deep breath.

As long as she’d worked at The Achilles’ Heel, the magazine had always received crank calls, letters and e-mail messages from readers who didn’t like some of its stories, but this call went far beyond any of the earlier responses to her articles.

The two e-mails the magazine received prior to her leaving San Francisco had threatening undertones, but they’d been mild compared to this.

Even though the magazine received a lot of responses, she rarely received personal email messages at work, and many were from obvious crackpots. She was used to a certain amount of criticism and took it in stride. But the most recent messages had bothered her so much it had been hard to concentrate on her work. Maybe it was the subject of the articles, or her nerves were on edge because of the deadline. She didn’t know, but when her ex-father-in-law invited her to stay at his ranch outside Santa Fe, she’d jumped at the opportunity.

Abe’s ranch was the last place anyone would expect her to go. The caller couldn’t possibly know where she was. No one knew. Not even her editor.

She heaved a sigh and dropped into Abe’s recliner, its dark leather soft and cracked with age, took her laptop from the table next to her and switched it on. The article was almost complete and when she finished, she’d be done with her third story in the series, this one about a little girl’s abduction and murder in Los Angeles.

Not all the children she wrote about had been murdered, but all had been abducted. Many were still missing. If she could reach anyone who knew something, it would be worth any nastygrams or threats she might get. How could anyone not be sympathetic and want to catch the monsters who could do such things. Who the hell were these people? Serial killer sympathizers?

Well, she had news for the wackos. Their creepy messages made her even more determined to finish the series. She’d never give in to a coward who made anonymous threats. She’d finish the story even if she had to go into deep hiding to do it. But she would finish.