Hi, Evie and Dotsie!
Thanks so much for tuning in. Dotsie, thanks for the compliment. I'm so glad you enjoyed the book and can still recall it!
Evie, I always plan the crime first. In fact, I rely so much on law enforcement officials that they know when I start asking questions about crimes and murders and how to commit them, that I'm researching another plot!
I haven't been surprised at how they've turned out, because I decide how the crime will unfold and how it will end up... With The China Conspiracy and Ricochet (the book I'm finishing now) I have a specific timeline. The China Conspiracy's climactic scene had to occur on the day the new governor is being sworn into office. With Ricochet, the climactic scene is the day after Thanksgiving ("Black Friday").
Thanks for asking about an autographed copy. You have two options if you'd like to order it via Internet: if you go to my web site at www.pmterrell.com, you can specify how you'd like it autographed, and it will ship out within 24 hours (I keep some on hand just for this purpose). If you'd like to do a good deed at the same time, go to www.bookemfoundation.org, and order it from their online store, and 40% of the proceeds will go toward increasing literacy. The book will still be autographed.
What kind of drugs am I on? None... I'm high on Life! )

Thank you for being with us Trish, I'm enjoying reading your posts and learning so much.
I was going to ask about the autographed copy but Evie beat me to it.

How long does it take you to finish a novel? And do you do any other types of writing? (i.e. poetry or short stories)

Robin

Thank you, Robin!
So far, it has taken me two years to complete each novel. The first draft has taken 6-8 months, and then another 4-6 months for the rewrite. Once the editors get their hands on it, I rewrite it yet again, but I think I'm getting better... there were a lot fewer rewrites involved in my second book than my first.

I do write short stories, and earned an honorable mention for one of them ("The Storm") which I'd submitted to the Writer's Digest Short Stories Contest. And I also write poetry, and songs. Some of my poetry will be published at www.sistersinthelord.org/magazine the week of March 21. I hope you'll check them out and let me know what you think - good or bad.

Trish I am such a mystery buff I read everything and have been writing them as well. I have several finished short stories that are being held hostage by floppy disks I don't know how to retrieve the manuscripts from...I adored Pams character Bailey and am anxiously awaiting a sequel. Now I can look forward to her meeting your character Sheila. I wish I had half your energy and talent...

Wow! I'm learning so much here, Pam. As I told Dotsie today when we had lunch together, I'm thrilled that you're the author this month because I'm beginning to write some fiction of my own. Your specific comments about how you budget your time, how you research your storylines, and how you flesh out your descriptions of settings and characters are very helpful to me, not to mention inspiring.

I know I'll have questions for you as the month goes on.

Hi, Chatty Lady and Prill!
Thanks for dropping in.
Chatty Lady, I agree with you about Pam Kimmell's character, Bailey. I adore her, too. I've been after Pam to hurry and get the sequel out - I can't wait for Bailey's next adventure. I'm very fortunate that Pam is allowing Bailey to make a cameo appearance in Sheila's next adventure. I have a feeling Sheila and Bailey are going to become fast friends.
Prill, ask me anything you want. I've taught writing classes that cover everything from developing characters to setting up scenes to writing a real page-turner. If I don't know the answer, I'll find someone who does!

I'd like to know the secrets to writing a real page turner. I'm fairly new to writing and could use all the help I can get!
I have mostly been writing personal essays but would like to get more involved with fiction. Before my family kills me for giving away all their secrets

Hi, Robin!
Great question!
There are so many tricks of the trade when writing page turners.
Briefly: thoughts slow things down. Never have a character thinking by himself/ herself when you're writing a page turner. Thoughts are for giving the reader a breather when the action has been going non-stop.
The best thing is action. The old adage "show me, don't tell me." Action propels the reader forward.
I also don't like flashbacks. Stephen King said once that every time he read a flashback he thought of the old movies where the character got a funny look on his/her face and things went fuzzy... Flashbacks bring a reader back in time. You want to keep propelling them forward.
Never write more than three paragraphs of narrative (at a time) if you want a page-turner.
Dialogue propels a story forward; the reader can flip through dialogue very quickly, but it isn't as good as something physically happening.
Stay away from talking heads.
Change locales.
And leave each chapter with something hanging, so the reader has to go to the next chapter. They can't manage to put the book down!
A really good book to see how each chapter leaves you hanging is "What Dreams May Come". Regardless of what you think of the storyline, the author ends each chapter in such a way that you can't stop reading. (The book is very different from the movie, as they all are...)
What propels a story forward is conflict, conflict, conflict. Nobody wants to read about someone where everything is going right. Every single thing they try to do has to be like climbing a mountain. Especially with suspense. The noose has to keep tightening until you, the reader, feel so much suspense you can barely breathe.
A great movie to watch for how they work with suspense is "Out of Time" with Denzel Washington. I buy movies (only DVD) and study them. The reason I buy only DVD's (as opposed to tapes) is the DVDs come with the Director's comments and background info, which I've found incredible for a writer, especially if you would someday like for your book to be made into a movie.
Hope this helps!

Yes, that helped immensely...Thank you so much!

Another question...When you start out writing, do you always know where your story will end up or do you surprise yourself?
I guess what I'm really asking is, do you make an outline and stick to it or do you go with the flow? I have trouble making outlines.

Hi, Robin!
Thanks for dropping by. I'm glad to be of help.
I personally do not write an outline, but I do have an idea of where I need to be at various points in my manuscript.

For example, with The China Conspiracy, I started with the plotline. I was shooting for approximately 40 chapters (there are 43). I knew one problem with longer books is the middle seems to drag. So I set a goal of having what could in itself be a climactic scene in the middle of the book; then the book veers into a different, unexpected course of events. Because it dealt with a new Virginia governor, I knew the final, climactic scene had to occur as the governor was being sworn in - January 20. That set the stage for when the events happened. So I developed a timeline.

So, my anwer is, I don't actually do a complete outline, because that takes the spontaneity out of the characters (for me). But I did have a good idea of where I wanted to be at different parts of the book.

By the way, speaking of timelines, if you want a real page turner, have the events happen in as short a time as possible. Did you ever see the movie "Three Days of the Condor" (starring Robert Redford, at the height of his box office fame). It was actually based on a book called "Six Days of the Condor". The director thought it would turn things up a notch if the action occurred in half the time - and he was right.