<img width="1080" height="1080" data-tf-not-load src="https://sarahhamakerfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Melissa-Koslin-meme.png" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://sarahhamakerfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Melissa-Koslin-meme.png 1080w, https://sarahhamakerfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Melissa-Koslin-meme-300x300.png 300w, https://sarahhamakerfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Melissa-Koslin-meme-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://sarahhamakerfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Melissa-Koslin-meme-150x150.png 150w, https://sarahhamakerfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Melissa-Koslin-meme-768x768.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px" />

“I have written other genres, but romantic suspense is the one that I keep going back to,” Melissa says. “I think it really comes down to my two favorite things in writing—intrigue/mystery and any kind of really super-intense emotions. And so this is a genre that really covers all of that and marries it beautifully.”

The post A Marriage Made for Melissa Koslin (Episode 44) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker.

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“The Bible has everything in it because we're all human beings,” Michele says. “There's stories about human beings and all of the trials and tribulations we go through. There is a lot of suspense in there. There is a lot of heartache and challenges and triumphs. The Bible is a conglomeration of stories about us and all that we face. … I’ll never run out of material.”

The post The Biblical Inspiration of Michele Chynoweth (Episode 43) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker.

<img width="1080" height="1080" data-tf-not-load src="https://sarahhamakerfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Lori-Altebaumer-meme.png" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://sarahhamakerfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Lori-Altebaumer-meme.png 1080w, https://sarahhamakerfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Lori-Altebaumer-meme-300x300.png 300w, https://sarahhamakerfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Lori-Altebaumer-meme-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://sarahhamakerfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Lori-Altebaumer-meme-150x150.png 150w, https://sarahhamakerfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Lori-Altebaumer-meme-768x768.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px" />

“I think that there's a spiritual aspect to nature because I see God's creativity,” Lori says. “Nature is one of the things that really speaks to my heart. I love to observe trees, plants, the sunrise or sunset, to feel the sunshine, the wind. … We spend 90% of our lives indoors, and that's not how we were recreated. … There’s something intentional about seeking those moments to be just outside and experiencing the world. All the senses come alive when you go outside into the natural world.”

The post How Lori Altebaumer Experiences the World (Episode 42) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker.

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“I’ve got so many demands currently that’s it’s hard to find time to write,” James says. “What I finally realized was that my wife is so much better at organization and schedules than I am that I needed to give her control over my schedule. Before I was trying to be the soldier and the general at the same time. I've had the most productive last couple of months in my entire writing career by just letting go of control and letting her take over.”

The post The General James R. Hannibal Follows (Episode 41) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker.

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“I find inspiration everywhere I can,” Terri says. “When I'm watching TV, I think, ‘Oh, that's kind of an interesting thing that they did, but what if I did this instead?’ I’m always looking at newsfeeds and headlines, then taking the idea of whatever that headline is and flipping it around into something feasible, that could happen in real life. But it is fiction and we get to have some license.”

The post Terri Reed Flips Reality on its Head (Episode 40) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker.

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“When you write romantic suspense, there are three story threads that you've got to weave together,” Lisa says. “There’s the romantic tension between your characters in which they've got to overcome certain obstacles that threaten their relationship. Then you've also got the thread of suspense where the characters are trying to either find a killer or escape, a killer or someone will die. And because I write from a Christian worldview, there's also the spiritual thread that is running through my novels, where the characters are coming to grips with God's invitation for a relationship. I'm weaving together these three story tension threads between the spiritual and the romantic and the suspense and it's kind of a little dance to get them all, to come out together in the end.”

The post Lisa Carter’s Writing Dance (Episode 39) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker.

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“I actually worked in corporate America in my twenties, and I traveled all over the country,” Elizabeth, adding that she quit to stay home with her first child. “During that time, I decided that I wanted to focus on my dream of writing. … Now it’s my full-time job, where I have word counts and marketing/promotion I have to hit every day.”

The post Elizabeth Goddard’s Writing Dream (Episode 38) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker.

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“For as long as I can remember, I’ve always liked to read,” Mary said. “I started reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I loved the mystery and suspense of those. From there, I graduated to Victoria Holt, Phyliss Whitney, Mary Stuart. I was a preteen when I first decided to try my hand at writing what I loved to read. It looked so easy! I wrote my first book, which was terrible and full of cliches and sappy romance. Those stories lit a fire in me. Many years fell in-between before I started writing again.”

The post How Mary Alford’s Preteen Writing Fuels Her Today (Episode 37) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker.

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“I’m a full-time author and I write all the time,” Joanna said. “My goal for 2020 was to write a million words just with my novels that hit at least 50,000 words. I had a lot of books or series that I wanted to start or complete or work on. … January 1, 2020, I started the challenge, and by July 23, I had completed the challenge. I’ve written 15 books and since then, I’ve written two more.”

The post How Joanna White Writes So Much (Episode 36) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker.

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“I don’t know if I could write a book if I couldn’t kill somebody,” Debby said. “There’s a lot of elements to a suspense story that need to be woven together. I’m a plotter, so beforehand, I want to get a fairly good idea of how the story’s going to progress. We have our red herrings, and there’s a lot of foreshadowing that has to go in there. And of course our villain has to be a somewhat complex person. He has to have goals and motivations and conflict, and he has to change through the story as well.”

The post Debby Giusti’s Care & Treatment of Villains (Episode 35) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker.