How many people can say they kill people for a living and get
away with it? Well, if you’re a suspense writer, you can. The ability to make
up dangerous situations and then throw your main characters headfirst into the
action, is both fun and a little scary.
I tell my husband all the time that I hope no one ever takes
a serious look at my computer history. They’d see such things as what is the
name of a fast acting poison? What’s the best long range weapon for a sniper?
What type explosives can bring down a building? Research for writing suspense
can take you to some strange places.
And yes, all those things are scary to think about, but
there are other parts of writing that are equally frightening. Like sitting
down to a blank screen and writing…something. There’s nothing more exciting or daunting
than typing those first few words of a book, or trudging through the middle of
a story when you’re really not sure where things are going, then finally
limping battered and bruised across the finish line to be able to write, “the
end”.
Then, just when you think your heart couldn’t possibly take any
more excitement, it’s time for the edits. That in itself can be scary because most
times your editor is asking you to stretch yourself as a writer in order to make
your story the best it can possibly be.
With the edits finished, you ca relax, right? Wrong. The
book is ready to be released, but what if no one likes it? Just because you
wrote it, agonized over every single word in it, doesn’t mean the reader will
have the same reaction you did.
All the best…
Mary Alford
