Thrilling Romantic Suspense by C. Becker
Please welcome, Wild Rose author, C. Becker. In today’s interview, she shares her new series, her writing life, and a great writing tip.
Do you have a writing tip or advice for other authors?
LOL! I have plenty of writing tips for other authors. The main one is never give up. If one publisher rejects your book, keep trying, because there are so many different publishers and interests out there in the publishing world. I also recommend joining a writer’s group and also collect at group of beta readers. The writer’s group will help find the plot holes and note storyline discrepancies. Plus you’ll get feedback on POV errors and grammar. You also gain practice editing other’s works and reviewing a wide range of stories, which will ultimately help your own story.
If you don’t have a local writer’s group, call your local library and ask for groups in your area. Since COVID, my writer’s group switched from meeting in-person to meeting online. We kept the members who had moved away, and no one has to drive late at night. Then use the beta readers after the story is completed. Be open-minded to their suggestions. They are invaluable and represent others who may have the same questions about aspects of the story.
How much research do you do for each book you write?
I researched hours each day for a year while I wrote each Euphoria novel. Although as a med technologist, I was familiar with testing drugs of abuse, I still researched drugs in the first book Finding Euphoria. One, you want to give accurate information, but also be realistic even though the story was fiction. I wrote about Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in the first book, so I needed all the information I could find about neurotransmitters and how dopamine worked on the brain. Then I omitted 90% of that information and just wrote a portion for the reader that fit into the dialogue and story.
In the second book Saving Euphoria one of the characters was burned badly in a fire. I did a massive amount of research on burns and PTSD. I also researched mail-order pharmaceuticals and Colombia in South America. In the third book Embracing Euphoria, I looked on the Internet at houses in Colombia to see details of building materials, room designs, and furniture. I studied EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing as a potential treatment for PTSD. I even went back to my college books and reviewed distillation procedures I used in organic chemistry. Luckily my daughter was going to college for occupational therapy so I asked her a lot of questions as I wrote. I was also fortunate that one of my best friends from high school is a Spanish teacher. She helped with the Spanish spelling, grammar, and masculine and feminine noun endings.
Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?
Finding a publisher was the most difficult challenge. I had just written my first book and thought I was set to query. Friends had read the book and had given me feedback (Lesson learned, all friends say your story is great). Luckily two publishers who rejected the story suggested joining a writer’s group to help correct show vs. tell issues. I remember thinking, Show vs. Tell? What is that? When I got the second email recommending a writer’s group, I joined one. After all, I didn’t spend two years writing a story to have it trashed in the recycle bin. The writer’s group is the reason my book finally got published; I learned a lot with their feedback. Each meeting when I saw red ink scribbled over my words, it was like opening a Christmas present that made my story better.
After twelve years, I can’t begin to explain how much I’ve learned from the group, but there’s still so much more to learn. After I had resubmitted queries to publishers, The Wild Rose Press contacted me in two weeks and asked for the entire manuscript. Oh what a happy day! The biggest hurdle was over. I can’t say I had any more major challenges with my first book. My editor ELF was wonderful to work with, and she was with me through the entire trilogy. The entire process ran smoothly. The owner of TWRP has always been very friendly and professional, and the entire staff has been easy to work with. Overall, it’s been a great experience.
Will you have a new book coming out soon? Do you know the release date?
Embracing Euphoria, the final book in the Euphoria trilogy, was released recently on March 19. It’s so satisfying to know that the trilogy is complete. When I began to write adult stories, I had created a fictious shrub in the Amazon Rainforest and hoped for one published novel. Now I have three published romantic suspense books centered on drugs from that fictious shrub and a couple’s perilous fight to take down a drug lord!
Have you written non-fiction or children’s books? How has that influenced your fiction writing?
I have published fourteen children’s books. Some published with a traditional publisher and some self-published. I also have a middle-grade novel that is complete and a movie script; I’ll spend the upcoming months finding a home for them. Knowledge gained working on my children’s books, especially my middle-grade chapter book, has carried over into my fiction writing and vice versa. Though there are subtle differences like POV, degree of conflict, use of dialogue and action tags, and the amount of descriptions in settings.
Hailey Langley tries to wrap her mind around the news her husband survived a fire she thought had killed him. Before she can search for him, Hailey has a promise to keep that takes her to Colombia where she must face the drug lord behind her husband’s attack.
Mark Langley is suffering from his own plight and insecurities, including burns and PTSD. Beneath Mark’s scarred exterior is a man seeking acceptance from a wife he refuses to see. Uncertain if he will ever reunite with his family, Mark struggles through his therapies, hopeful an experimental drug from the Euphoria plant will heal his scars.
When another villain from Colombia seeks revenge, Hailey and Mark must learn to trust and love again as they battle their newest threat and find their way back to each other.
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C. Beckeris a romance suspense writer, musician, and lover of crafts. She has a bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology and worked in the clinical hospital setting until she began raising a family. As her children grew older, she never outgrew the attraction of using science in everyday life.
She turned to teaching, music, and eventually to writing stories. She considers herself a “jack of all trades,” and readily admits she is a “master of none.” Yes, she even does home improvement projects!
Becker has published three romance suspense novels in the Euphoria trilogy, several poems, and over a dozen children’s books (under Colleen Driscoll). Becker enjoys hanging out with her family and Jack Russell, playing the piano, reading, traveling, and gardening.
Learn more about C. Becker
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Thanks for sharing a good interview for a dynamite book!
Thank you, Sandra!
Thank you for hosting me today, Zara!