Please help me give a warm fuzzy welcome to Romantic Suspense author Avery Flynn. Avery has dropped by to visit with the Pink Fuzzies this fine Saturday morning. When I asked Avery to blog for the fuzzies, she said she'd love to and just look at the inside view she has given us of one particular writing challenge and how she over came it. Take it away Avery....
Just Kill Him
By Avery Flynn
A psycho with a gun. A heroine with a temper. A hero with the need to lay the goon out flat. That’s where I was stuck while writing my debut romantic suspense novel, Up a Dry Creek. I had written and deleted the scene about a million times when I finally threw my hands up, pushed away from the keyboard and stomped over to my friend’s house.
Tim (not her real name) lives next door to me. She’s five-feet, three-inches of muscle and attitude. Also, she’s an FBI agent. We have a lot of discussions while I’m standing on my air conditioning unit peeking over the six-foot privacy fence between our yards, hence why I call her Tim and she calls me Wilson. Tim is a night owl like me, so I knew when I poked my head over the fence that she’d be up even though it was 11 p.m.
“I’m stuck.” I whined.
“What’s wrong?” She asked taking a drag from her ever-present cigarette.
I laid out the facts of my scene. “So what would you do in that situation?”
Tim pondered for a moment. “Just kill him.”
“I can’t do that,” I wailed. “It’s still the first third of the book!”
The rising sun was turning the sky pink when we finally stopped yapping. I wondered back to my house, grabbing the newspaper from the front stoop, and collapsed into bed. I was completely exhausted but had a solution for heroes Claire and Jake that didn’t involve bumping off the villain. At least not yet.
I had a lot of help and encouragement while writing Up a Dry Creek, but that late-night conversation with Tim really solidified the book for me. Also, it made me realize that even though I hadn’t finished yet and even though the book hadn’t sold yet, that I was a real writer. The gift Tim gave me wasn’t technical law enforcement advice. No. It was that she took me seriously as a writer and thought of my story as a legitimate pursuit worthy of five hours of discussion. She helped me do the same myself.
So that’s how the FBI helped me write a gunfight and, more importantly, believe in myself as a writer.
By Avery Flynn
A psycho with a gun. A heroine with a temper. A hero with the need to lay the goon out flat. That’s where I was stuck while writing my debut romantic suspense novel, Up a Dry Creek. I had written and deleted the scene about a million times when I finally threw my hands up, pushed away from the keyboard and stomped over to my friend’s house.
Tim (not her real name) lives next door to me. She’s five-feet, three-inches of muscle and attitude. Also, she’s an FBI agent. We have a lot of discussions while I’m standing on my air conditioning unit peeking over the six-foot privacy fence between our yards, hence why I call her Tim and she calls me Wilson. Tim is a night owl like me, so I knew when I poked my head over the fence that she’d be up even though it was 11 p.m.
“I’m stuck.” I whined.
“What’s wrong?” She asked taking a drag from her ever-present cigarette.
I laid out the facts of my scene. “So what would you do in that situation?”
Tim pondered for a moment. “Just kill him.”
“I can’t do that,” I wailed. “It’s still the first third of the book!”
The rising sun was turning the sky pink when we finally stopped yapping. I wondered back to my house, grabbing the newspaper from the front stoop, and collapsed into bed. I was completely exhausted but had a solution for heroes Claire and Jake that didn’t involve bumping off the villain. At least not yet.
I had a lot of help and encouragement while writing Up a Dry Creek, but that late-night conversation with Tim really solidified the book for me. Also, it made me realize that even though I hadn’t finished yet and even though the book hadn’t sold yet, that I was a real writer. The gift Tim gave me wasn’t technical law enforcement advice. No. It was that she took me seriously as a writer and thought of my story as a legitimate pursuit worthy of five hours of discussion. She helped me do the same myself.
So that’s how the FBI helped me write a gunfight and, more importantly, believe in myself as a writer.
Miss Flynn has provided a blurb to whet our appetites for her current release, Up a Dry Creek
.
.Up a Dry Creek Blurb
Claire Layton is a successful, though somewhat debt-ridden, restaurateur who minds her own business—literally. She has enough on her plate between an irascible chef, an abandoned sous-chef, and the pressure of running her highly praised eatery, Harvest. But when she discovers one of her customers dead in her dumpster, her world begins to unravel.
Even as her county sheriff brother Hank and his team continue to swarm the property looking for evidence, she receives a threatening call. It seems there’s a slight problem involving the dead young woman in the dumpster. She doesn’t have her phone and her flash drive with her. The killer makes it clear that Claire better find them by noon the next day or he’ll go after her and her entire family.
With the clock ticking, Claire searches for the missing items to no avail. Complicating matters is the arrival of Jake Warrick, a hotshot security expert hired by the dead woman’s father to find her killer. Claire’s trying her best to get Jake out of her restaurant when her jeep goes up in flames. The noon deadline has passed.
Determined to find the killer and to keep her family safe, Claire refuses to back down, even as the murderer continues to terrorize her. Jake isn’t backing down either, and the tension between the two—sexual and otherwise—continues to mount. Jake has no intention of leaving Claire in danger—or before he gets to know her much, much better.
Clues, most leading nowhere, pile up, and the threads of the mystery are becoming still more complicated, even as the killer comes closer and closer to claiming his prize—and his prey.
In Up a Dry Creek, Avery Flynn brings readers a strong and sexy romantic suspense novel, with plenty of action, engaging characters and a shocking ending.
http://www.averyflynn.com/
http://www.evernightpublishing.com/
Also available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, 1 Place for Romance, All Romance Cafe and many other online book sellers.
Claire Layton is a successful, though somewhat debt-ridden, restaurateur who minds her own business—literally. She has enough on her plate between an irascible chef, an abandoned sous-chef, and the pressure of running her highly praised eatery, Harvest. But when she discovers one of her customers dead in her dumpster, her world begins to unravel.
Even as her county sheriff brother Hank and his team continue to swarm the property looking for evidence, she receives a threatening call. It seems there’s a slight problem involving the dead young woman in the dumpster. She doesn’t have her phone and her flash drive with her. The killer makes it clear that Claire better find them by noon the next day or he’ll go after her and her entire family.
With the clock ticking, Claire searches for the missing items to no avail. Complicating matters is the arrival of Jake Warrick, a hotshot security expert hired by the dead woman’s father to find her killer. Claire’s trying her best to get Jake out of her restaurant when her jeep goes up in flames. The noon deadline has passed.
Determined to find the killer and to keep her family safe, Claire refuses to back down, even as the murderer continues to terrorize her. Jake isn’t backing down either, and the tension between the two—sexual and otherwise—continues to mount. Jake has no intention of leaving Claire in danger—or before he gets to know her much, much better.
Clues, most leading nowhere, pile up, and the threads of the mystery are becoming still more complicated, even as the killer comes closer and closer to claiming his prize—and his prey.
In Up a Dry Creek, Avery Flynn brings readers a strong and sexy romantic suspense novel, with plenty of action, engaging characters and a shocking ending.
http://www.averyflynn.com/
http://www.evernightpublishing.com/
Also available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, 1 Place for Romance, All Romance Cafe and many other online book sellers.
Good morning, Avery and welcome!
Thanks so much for having me!
Avery, welcome to the fuzzies. I loved your post and the excerpt of your book, which sounds like a major winner!! Good luck with everything...love being a writer as often as you can! LOL
Up a Dry Creek sounds intriguing. As for getting stuck in a scene, been there, done that, there in fact today. Enjoyed your post, Avery, and thanks for joining us on the Fuzzies.
You guys are so nice! Stuck scene syndrome. Maybe we should start a support group. :) first we should pick out a fictional hero for our mascot. Jason Bourne?
Avery, thanks so much for dropping by, I am so glad that my friend Cassie introduced you to me! I can't wait to read Up a Dry Creek, and tell me, is there a second book?
I love Jason Bourne! He definitely would be a great mascot. I vote yes for Jason.
Avery, I love your cover, did you have any input on its production or were you just pleased by the outcome?
Lots of Qs Miss P. :)
There is a second book, A Dry Creek Bed, featuring Claire's best friend and one of Claire's three brothers - no I'm not telling which. As to the cover I filled out a little questionnaire from the publisher about the book's tone and the characters and the amazing Dara England designed the beautiful cover. I am still amazed every time I see it.
Great excerpt Avery! Welcome to the blog.
Sign me up for the Stuck in a Scene support group!
"She took me seriously as a writer and thought of my story as a legitimate pursuit worthy of five hours of discussion." Every writer should have such a neighbor.
I agree with Judy. "Up a Dry Creek" does sound like a major winner. Congratulations, Avery, and much success with it.
Avery, good job! I agree with the others. Your books sound like they would belong on my TBR list.
Avery, I wish I had a Tim living next door to me.
I love your premise for Up a Dry Creek. I received a Nook for my birthday and am heading over to Barnes and Noble to download your story. I'll be sure to go back and leave a review after I finish reading it.
Sorry to be late to the party, Avery. Very glad to have you with us at the Fuzzies. Wonderful post. We've all been stuck, many times. I'm struggling in the mire right now with my WIP.
Avery,
Thanks for blogging for the Pink Fuzzies. I LOVE the title of your book.
And, I can't remember a time when I wasn't stuck in a scene!