Writing a series of
full-length suspense fiction is somewhat different from writing a standalone
book. There are two storylines and two sets of characters that one needs to
develop.
First you have the
story of your particular book, which I shall call “the episode storyline.” In The Reckless Engineer this is Jack
Connor’s story and the story about the murder. The main characters of this
episode story are Jack Connor and the four beautiful but very different women
that are in his life––his wife Caitlin McAllen, his ex-wife Marianne Connor,
his ex-girlfriend Sally Trotter, and his latest but newly murdered squeeze,
Michelle Williams. Jack’s powerful father-in-law Douglas McAllen, his
brother-in-law Ronnie McAllen, his two sons, his step-daughter, and his
manager, Allan Walters, are all characters that belong to the Episode
Storyline.
One needs to start
the book at a point of significant tension in the Episode Storyline and develop
the tension steadily and rapidly, weaving in the background information at
strategic points. One also develops the Episode characters rapidly and
forcefully in the foreground, with bold introductory paragraphs, such that the
conflicts between them add to the mounting tension and suspense.
While this is going
on, there is a series storyline that one cannot ignore. This storyline has a
series lead who, in the case of a mystery, is one’s amateur sleuth, and he has
some recurring characters in his life. Generally there is a sidekick or a
partner. In The Reckless Engineer
series our lead Jeremy Stone has a sidekick, Otter, who will be developed
further in this role in the next book. In this episode, his partner is the
criminal defence attorney, Harry Stavers, who duals expertly with the police,
the prosecution, and the media hounding his clients and leads the defence of
the case in Crown Court while Jeremy blends in with the Episode characters and
gets down to the business of solving the mystery to “who dunnit.” There
is also a second partner, Stephen Barratt, who is introduced at the very end of
the story ready to be brought forth in the books to follow in the series.
We introduce and
develop the Series characters gently in the background through the story.
Their characters are revealed in discussion with the Episode characters
gradually. Jeremy, the Series lead, also has a personal life with
characters Maggie Harris and Annie Wren in it. Their story develops on the slow
boil on the back burner, ready to come to the foreground and play out in the
next books in the series.
The Episode storyline
starts at a high point
The two storylines,
Episode and Series stories, merge where characters from the Episode storyline,
if any, join the Series storyline as recurring characters in future books. How
this happens the reader would need to read The
Reckless Engineer and find out.
The
Reckless Engineer
Can you forgive betrayal?
The aftershocks of an affair reverberate
out to those in the lives of the lovers, who will NOT take it lying down.
Jack Connor lives an idyllic life by the Portsmouth
Jeremy Stone brings in a top London
Who is the bald man with the tattoo of a
skull seen entering the victim's house? Who is the "KC" that Caitlin
makes secret calls to from a disposable mobile? Has the powerful Douglas
McAllen already killed his daughter's first partner, and is he capable of
killing again? Is Caitlin's brother's power struggle with Jack for the control
of McAllen Industries so intense that he is prepared to kill and frame him? Is
the divorce from his first wife as amicable on her part as they believe it to
be? Are his sons prepared to kill for their vast inheritance? Who are the
ghosts from Caitlin's past haunting the marriage? What is the involvement of
Jack's manager at Marine Electronics?
While Jack is charged and his murder trial
proceeds in the Crown Court under barrister Harry Stavers' expert care, Jeremy
runs a race against time to find the real killer and save his friend's life, if
he is in fact innocent, in a tense tale of love, friendship, power, and
ambition.
Excerpt: Saturday, October 16 – One Day Later
Despite the comfort and luxury all around him Jeremy was woken from a
night of disturbed sleep by the sound of the dogs barking. It was 8:20 Saturday morning. There were voices downstairs in
anxious chatter. His room (huh, he thought of this as his room now, did he?)
was a first-floor en-suite with a bath. Actually it had a shared bathroom
separating two twin rooms, but the second one had never been occupied whenever
he had been here.
Jeremy washed his face quickly and hurried to the cupboard. Caitlin had
laid out some clean clothes. He set his oversized laptop case, in which he
carried a sleek laptop he had enhanced to pack in massive processing and memory
power, so compact it hardly took any space, on the bed. Into the remaining
space he generally packed various gadgets and electronics equipment he needed
at client sites, including some “emergency” underwear and socks.
He pulled on a pair of black slacks and a blue Polo T-shirt from the
cupboard. They must be Ronnie’s. Being slightly over 6 feet tall and having a
wider frame, he did not fit so well into Jack’s clothes. He stepped out of his
room and followed the voices downstairs.
One of the boys who worked in the stables and on the land, a brown lad
in muddy Wellington
‘There is police
again at the front gate, sénora,’ he said with a heavy Spanish accent. ‘I put
Molly and Max in the stables, ha?’
Caitlin and Jeremy hurried to the front reception with little Bubbles
the puppy Lab running circles around them. There were two police cars at the
gates.
‘If you could open the gates, Caitlin, I shall handle this,’ he said,
thinking how lovely and vulnerable she looked with no makeup on and with
tousled dark brown hair some length between short and medium. Something about a
damsel-in-distress in silks stirred a man’s loins.
Jeremy went back to his room, splashed his face with icy cold water, and
put on his shoes. He stepped out as the police cars pulled up outside the front
door.
About the Author
Jac Wright is a poet published in literary
magazines, a published author, and an electronics engineer educated at
Stanford, University College London, and Cambridge England
These passions - for poetry, drama,
literary fiction, and electronic engineering - have all been lovingly combined
to create the first book in the literary suspense series, The Reckless Engineer. There are millions of professionals in high
tech corporate environments who work in thousands of cities in the US UK
Jac also writes the literary short fiction
series, Summerset Tales, in which he explores characters struggling against
their passions and social circumstances in the semi-fictional region of
contemporary England Wessex
Links
The Reckless Engineer buy links on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
The blog Tour Giveaway Form: http://jacwrightbooks.wix.com/jacwright#!tour/c239
Website: jacwrightbooks.wix.com/jacwright
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jacwrightbooks
Author Q&A Group: www.shelfari.com/groups/104787/about
Twitter:
@JacWrightBooks
Giveaway Information:
The author, Jac
Wright, is giving away two $25 Amazon gift cards to two random commenters on
the blog posts on this tour on the 30th of January
2013 . He will add two extra entries to anyone who shares this post on
his or her Facebook page. Please enter your comment below and your email
with the comment or on the Giveaway Web Form.
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