Interview With Suzanne D. Williams

Interview and Giveaway with Suzanne D. Williams

Please welcome Suzanne to Sleuths and Suspects.

Suzanne, how do you develop your characters?

Different ways. I am also a graphic designer, so sometimes, the characters are faces on the book cover first. Other times, they are names without a face. I glean ideas from everywhere – books, TV, internet. I may hear a name that I particularly like, so I write it down to use later, or I may know exactly who that person is the moment it comes to me. As an author, I live with characters in my head, old ones I love and new ones who have yet to make the page.

It's fun living in a fantasy world where we can make up people. I love diverse characters and it sounds like you have a great way to come up with them. What about settings? Where do you find your inspiration for those?

Again, from so many places. I’ve learned to think way outside the box. The stranger the storyline, the more it inspires me to write it. That said, I love writing romantic suspense and, therefore, use a lot of law enforcement subjects in my writing. I think this comes from watching way too much TV involving similar subjects. I like to be kept guessing, love a well-staged shootout, and always want the bad guys caught.

It sounds like you and I have a lot in common! How does your environment color your writing?

It is key. I am a Floridian, born-and-raised. I haven’t traveled too widely, and so Florida is usually present in some form or another. I wasn’t aware, at first, of how much my lifestyle here and being a Southerner colored my thinking until having my work edited by people from other areas of the country. It caused me to really embrace who I am, how I write, and what types of environment I like in my stories.

As a native Texan, I understand what you mean about where you live and even phrases you use becoming a part of you. I love books that have a regional flare. Too often I read books that could be set anywhere because they don't have that regional color. When you aren't writing, what hobbies do you pursue?

Really, writing is my hobby. I write every day, all day, though most often in the mornings. I do enjoy baking desserts, though that can become a bad thing sometimes. I also like gardening. I grow flowers and vegetables in my front garden.

I am a photographer. I write a column on photography for a popular webpage.

It's interesting that you are a graphic artist and photographer. I imagine those impact your writing greatly, but do you ever have writer's block?

Absolutely. It’s the major reason I have so many stories started at once. I tend to work on one, get blocked, and work on another. That said, I’m trying to concentrate more this year, let the stories build in me, and not jump around so much.

Sometimes bouncing ideas off a writer friend helps. When I lose perspective, it’s great to know there are others who understand the way I think and will guide me in the right direction.

That's interesting. I'm curious to see if focusing more has an impact or if you go back to the multiple stories at once. Have you ever written anything you hated?

No. Not hated and released to the public. I edit as I go, so when I reach the end of a story, it’s what I wanted it to be. My editor will tell you there’s very little to change or correct, but she’s great about helping me with content if she feels I got off track.

I do have stories I’d change now if I were to rewrite them. But I believe in letting things stand. Barring serious mistakes in grammar or spelling, what a story is when it goes public is what it will be years from now. Readers often don’t understand that. They’ll make the same complaint I’ve heard a dozen times, and I respect their judgment. But in my mind, that story as it is represents a part of my life. I can’t go back and fix the past in real life, so changing the story to something different is just as impossible for me.

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“James Bond on the fast track.”

“Wonderful Christian Suspense”

“We’ll find her. If she’s as smart as you say she is, then she’s a survivor.”

But would they get there before whoever stole the paintings found out she was on their tail? Because he’d never forgive himself if they didn’t. Never. This had gone way beyond cops and robbers.

He half-smiled, then it faded. The light changed, and he hit the gas, surging ahead.

This was a man who needed a woman simply to breathe.

-----

Justin Cahill’s first case as a homicide detective walked into the middle of his promotion celebration wearing a very short, polka-dotted skirt and an amazing set of red heels.

Olivia Dircks. She said she’d found a body and wanted the police to know.

But when the body goes missing and she turns out to be the Commissioner’s niece as well as a professional art thief, everything changes. This case is deeper and more far-reaching than anything he expected.

Deep enough to alter the most valuable thing of all – his heart.

A fun romantic suspense by best-selling author, SUZANNE D. WILLIAMS.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Best-selling author, Suzanne D. Williams, is a native Floridian, wife, mother, and photographer. She is the author of both nonfiction and fiction books. She writes a monthly column for Steves-Digicams.com on the subject of digital photography, as well as devotionals and instructional articles for various blogs. She also does graphic design for self-publishing authors. She is co-founder of THE EDGE.

To learn more about what she’s doing and check out her extensive catalog of stories, visit http://suzanne-williams-photography.blogspot.com/ or link with her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/suzannedwilliamsauthor.

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