Serendipity, A Friend to My Suspense Novels by Rolynn Anderson

Why do fiction authors strain to be authentic?  Seems paradoxical, doesn’t it…but true.  Made up stories laced with accuracy?  You bet.  My brother writes non-fiction books, built brick by brick with carefully researched facts, but I’ll bet I do as much research to authenticate my fiction novels as he does.  We both yearn to have our readers believe that what we say is the truth.

Archives are our bread and butter, but serendipity makes our research exciting, especially to this writer, who composes from the seat of her pants.  Heck, I never know what I’m going to write until I sit down at my computer!

Here’s an example.  I’m surprised to be writing about people caught in a forest fire, an experience I’ve gladly never suffered.  I learn from Google sources that caught in a forest fire, my characters must stay low and head downhill to water.  The thing is, I’d sent my characters to a specific local area that may or may not be a place where a forest fire might happen.   Have I written myself into a corner?  Will I have to change the setting of the whole book, requiring hours of rewriting?

So I check the local fire department records for past fires.  Two years ago, a brushfire swept the exact area I’d chosen for my nail-biting scene to take place-two years ago.  The conflagration burnt more than a thousand acres, with hundreds of firefighters, fire trucks, a helicopter and a fixed wing plane helping to put it out.  Camping grounds had to be evacuated and roads closed as the forest service controlled the fire.

Can you believe my luck? I’d already inserted a helicopter in my scene, but newspaper articles about the event gave me names of roads (I didn’t have to make up), numbers of acres burned, and other details I could use verbatim!

How I love being an author when serendipity sits with me in my desk chair.  Have you got a lucky story to tell about when your made-up facts and reality aligned in such a magical way?

Speaking of magic, my third book in the boutique funeral planner series, will come out early in 2015.  Catch up on the suspense by reading FADEOUT, the first book in the series:

FADEOUT http://amzn.com/1612173616

More on my website: http://www.rolynnanderson.com

GOODBYE OLD KNEES, HELLO NEW

I’m scared about the bilateral knee replacement surgery I’m slated to have in one month.  The pain (I don’t do pain well), the physical therapy, tottering around with a walker for a month, being dependent on my husband for who knows what needs…none of it pleases me.  I’ve been a healthy, energetic, independent woman all my life and I hate the idea of being weak, in pain and needing support from others.

What’s more, I’m told that the artificial parts they’ll place in my knees won’t “feel” like me/mine/real.  That gives me pause.  Daily, hourly, minute-by-minute, will my knees remind me that I have fake elements as essential mechanisms?  Will I have to think too much about what has been an involuntary act for more than half a century? 

What will it feel like to walk, climb, exercise?  Will I still have a good golf swing?  Can I handle leaps from my boat to the dock and wrenching lines from the boat to cleats?  How easily will I be able to hop in and out of the car, carry groceries, pull/carry luggage, work in the garden, climb a ladder so I can prune my fruit trees?  Could it be that my scuba gear is still too heavy for my knees to bear…on a beach dive?

Will I be too tentative, knowing the limbs are part fake and maybe vulnerable?  How afraid of falling will I be?

Anyone out there who’s had a bilateral knee replacement with some experience to share?  I need to prepare mentally for what’s going to happen to my knees…and march through the stages of grief BEFORE I have the operation!

SUSPENSE SPIKED WITH ROMANCE 

LAST RESORT, FADEOUT, SWOON

FADEOUT won a RONE award!

Web: http://www.rolynnanderson.com

SHOUT OUT TO IND’TALE MAGAZINE by Rolynn Anderson

“Everything stays in Las Vegas,” except for this important ‘tale.’ Before I leave glittery LV, I have vital information to share with the world of Indie writers.  InD’Tale Magazine, a sponsor of the 1^st Annual Romance Novel Convention in Las Vegas (August 7-11), is changing the world for those of us self-pubbing or contracted with small presses!

TJ Mackay, dynamic founder of the magazine, realized more than a year ago that Indie writers needed a voice, a review site and a source for information.  In one year, working out of her home in Santa Barbara, California, she has completed the herculean task of delivering a fabulous magazine, leading her staff to write thousands of professional reviews, and co-sponsoring the RomNovCon.  On August 9^th, she announced the winners of the very first RONÉ awards for authors of novels and novellas, books that earned four or five stars as well the interest of the public, then were judged further by people in the writing profession.  Winners of Best Covers for 2012 also earned recognition from InD’Tale.

The energy and optimism of TJ Mackay and her staff is something to behold, giving us all hope that our efforts as Indie writers will earn the respect of readers all over the country.  Take a look at the site: http://www.indtale.com  Consider sending your book to be reviewed by their able crew. 

Viva Las Vegas and InD’Tale!

Here's FADEOUT, which was runner-up in the thriller/suspense category for  the RONÉ.  Yahoo!  Check out other details on http://www.rolynnanderson.com

Jan Solvang has spent her life avoiding conflict and commitment. Six months ago, she left a marriage proposal and a job in Seattle to care for her dying mother. Now she's stuck with her mother's California house and her mother's dog, filling her mother's shoes as a memorial planner with her estranged father.

Roman Keller thrives on conflict, writing documentaries that reveal the flaws of the famous. Jan’s challenge is to help him write a positive eulogy for a grandfather he disliked, but Roman is more interested in her other client: a powerful attorney with a dark past his family wants buried with him. If Jan stands behind the family and Roman goes for the exposé, who’s in danger and who wins?

The tension between them pulls tighter as each discovers the other is keeping secrets.  But if they tell the truth, will they destroy any chance for love?