Hi, Unique!
I am usually near a PC at some point during the day, and I keep a Word document open to the current chapter. I might pop in and type up parts of sentences or ideas, contained within square brackets so I know it's not actual writing. Then as I write the chapter, I refer to those notes to make sure I've covered everything. I don't use a tape recorder; there are too many voices in my head, to add to them! And when I see something, like the house at dawn described above, it leaves an imprint on my mind so I don't forget the object or the atmosphere surrounding it.
In fact, one night this winter I was driving back from Roanoke late at night, past Appomattax, Virginia... which is so desolate not even my cell phone works. I was the only vehicle on a road for more than an hour and a half. And suddenly, my headlights caught something moving, and the image was surrounded with fog. It scared me to death! Turned out to be a deer, which almost crashed through my windshield, but it left an imprint of a scene that will find its way into a future book... only it won't be a deer, but a person running through the darkness, looking for help...

Just reading your description gave me chills.

Good! Wait until you read it in my next book!

This is already becoming another great discussion. I've been sick (still am), so I'm comforting myself with the boards, and voila! here's our Trish talking about writing mystery and suspense!

My question: Do you visit every place that you write about - How do you get the scene details just so...

How much of your personality is in the main characters?

Hi, everyone!

JJ, sorry I missed your post yesterday. Can't understand how I did that! Good to hear from you.

You asked where I get my ideas. I'm a news junkie. My books are all suspense/ thrillers, and I watch reports of crimes that could be committed with the use of computers. Or my imagination sometimes takes off, and I realize what could be done with a computer. (I'm a computer programmer by trade.)

During the 2000 Presidential Election, I was sitting in a restaurant with some clients watching the election officials in Florida holding up cards and debating whether a chad was pregnant, dimpled, hanging, etc. And we got into a discussion about technology and how antiquated our election system is, and how it needed to be automated. But as I sat there, I realized that I was writing a complicated program for these clients to detect Medicare fraud and abuse, and they really had no idea how I did what I did. They only knew if it alerted them of someone "suspicious"... And I realized how easy it would be for me to build in a few lines of code that would rig the election. That's where the idea for "The China Conspiracy" was born. Later, as the book was hitting the bookshelves, an independent study was done of the new election touch-screen technology, headed by Johns Hopkins University. And their findings were that the election software was so security flawed, even a foreign government could infiltrate it and rig our elections. Despite the security risks, a number of states still used this software in the 2004 election. By the way, there are no recounts with this software. The recommendation was to provide a printed "receipt" that would be submitted like we submit the punch cards now, but it was determined to be "too expensive" to implement...

Yes, I do occasionally write elsewhere; not too often, as I'm so busy with my books (and running a few companies) ... but on March 21, several of my poems will be published online at www.sistersinthelord.org/magazine. I hope you'll check them out!

Hi, Dian!

Thanks for tuning in. I hope you're feeling better soon!

Yes, I do visit each place I write about. In "The China Conspiracy", there's a scene of an attempted kidnapping at Iron Bridge Park in Chesterfield, VA at midnight. I actually went to the park, scouted out the best place for the kidnapping to take place, took pictures, and recorded every aspect so it was depicted exactly as it truly exists. But I had several scenes at a ski resort near Staunton and Waynesboro, VA, where the resort didn't come off looking too well (a dead body found and a successful kidnapping) so that location was a composite of several ski resorts.

In a real twist, I asked Marc Woolverton of the Manassas City Police Dept to help me locate an area in Northern Virginia where a dead body would throw the government into beaurocratic wrangling over jurisdictions... And he found the perfect place for a body to wash up from the Potomac, and even sent me aerial photographs! When I wrote that scene, I even used street addresses so the reader could find their way to that exact location. It is in Fairfax County, but on federal property, so it would possibly fall into Park Police territory, but the FBI has jurisdiction over homicides on federal property, and the body had a laptop strapped to her that the CIA wanted desperately to get their hands on... So it was the perfect spot! I gave special thanks to Sgt. Woolverton for that information. I depend a lot on police officers, FBI, and CIA employees (past and present) to lend a lot of realism to my books.

You also asked how much of my personality is in the main characters. Very little. In "Kickback", the main character has a lot more guts than I do, and doesn't mind living life on the edge. In "The China Conspiracy", I don't know if I would have had the guts to do what Kit does in getting her son back... and then turning the tables on the bad guys.

In fact, because "Kickback" started with something that really happened to me, I originally wrote the story with a male main character. But when early reviewers read the book, they said it reminded them so much of John Grisham's "The Firm" that I should change the main character to a female. I have mixed feelings about doing that; I don't know why that was necessary, simply because it reminded people of Grisham's early works... But so many people love Sheila that I am writing a sequel about her now. In one scene, Sheila actually drives through David's Bridge and meets Bailey, Pamela June Kimmell's main character in "The Mystery of David's Bridge". We are in the process of collaberating on that scene; many thanks to Pam for allowing me to introduce her fantastic character Bailey, into one of my books!

Well you all can't imagine (or maybe you could!!) how thrilled I am that Trish's "Sheila" and my "Bailey" will be meeting in one of Trish's books........I'll be returning the favor - you can count on it!

Trish what amazes me is not only the depth of your characters and their "situations", but how you are able to juggle your business AND your writing time. On top of that you participate in so many other things like organizing Book 'Em and Crime Solvers, etc.......where do you find the energy?

Hi, Pam!
Great to hear from you!
I'm sure every one of us finds ourselves in situations where we have to rise "above and beyond" what we thought we were capable of handling, and somehow we just find the strength to do everything.
Right now, I am actively running three corporations, and serving on the board of directors for four more. And writing a book. And I'm in the process of moving. There are some nights I'm convinced I'm going to have a heart attack, but I don't, and each day dawns and I just simply have to get back on the treadmill. "A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do."
... Can't wait for Sheila and Bailey to get together. They are so much alike!

Trish
Really enjoying all the insight here. I think as a "reader", I can appreciate all the research you pour into your work. Every reader should take some time once in awhile to read about "how" the author wrote the book - where did the idea come from? what kind of research, etc? I know now that I have a greater appreciation for the author when I read a well written novel.

A couple of questions:

1) Does the plot always turn out the way you conceive it at the beginning, or do your characters begin to take you down twists and turns you hadn't originally planned? ie are you ever surprised yourself at the outcome?


and

2) How does one get an autopgraphed copy of your book? (or do I have to wait for Miss Pinkie to pick me up one at Book 'Em?)

oh, and a third question - what kind of drugs are you on? If you can spare any energy, I'll take it!

Trish, I've read the book and am lovin' reliving it with you in the forums. I can recall every little tid bit you've mentioned. That proves you're an excellent writer. Sometimes I read books and can't recall whole sections!