Romantic Suspense

Flashback is now in Kindle format and soon in other formats. This is the 2nd of a string of romantic suspense.

Some reviewers list my suspense stories as thrillers. I don't think so. Story weight usually falls heavily upon the characters, romance included. My stories are lighter romantic suspense, which means I keep the blood/gore/cursing down to a minimum, while seeking who did what, i.e. murder.

It's a reader-preference thingie. My stories usually do have a cast of characters, which not all readers prefer. Some do like the spread of family, backgrounds, etc. involved, which I think makes the best setup for character-driven stories.

Character-driver as opposed to plot driven, which would be more mystery. I like the lighter suspense and character emotions, the relationships, the backgrounds.

Backgrounds are so important; motivations and need arise in the character from the backgrounds.

Some time ago, a writer-friend and I were talking about "flat" writing styles. That is, the characters were not fleshed out, at least enough for the reader to grip and dig into them. That gripping comes from a familiar experience or something human to latch onto, drawn from similar experiences.

Background accomplishes the, well, background, upon which to set the foreground, and the story stream, what drives the characters, what matters to them....


For instance: if a character runs his thumb over a scar on furniture, it may remind him of how he built that cabinet, with his father, just before his father was murdered. What did his father say in that scene, anything for the writer to "latch onto" and create a clue to the murder?

Some things matter big-time.

Addressing the romantic side now: It's about the Bed. I've written about this before, but watch for next time.... :)