The Birth of a Book Baby

Many readers ask, where do writers come up with their storylines?

That question is not as easy to answer as one might think.

As we go through life we’re exposed to different elements that shape the way we look at the world. For some, this can include travel, sports, job choices, family, friends, even health. Everything affects the stories we write.

Recently, DH (darling hubby) and I moved over twelve hundred miles to the west coast of Canada to be closer to our daughter and grandson while she attends university. I sold the restaurant I’d owned and operated for thirteen years and my husband searched for a new job closer to home so he wouldn’t have that long drive every two weeks. Thankfully, he found one fast and we settled into our new life. With some sudden time on my hands I decided to give a try at another long-held dream of mine; to become a writer.

I joined RWA-Romance Writers of America and found myself among a group of the most supportive people you could hope to meet. I took online classes, brushed up on my language skills, started learning the art of social media, and made my own website. Oh, yeah, and I wrote a book.

There are no words to properly describe finishing that first novel. It’s no wonder they call it the birth of a book baby, it’s true. With all the months of indigestion (not knowing if you’ll ever get those chapters wrote), to the long labor of editing, formatting, cover choices, uploading, and promoting (screaming your success from the rooftops), it’s easy to get overwhelmed. That’s where the writing community comes in. There’s always someone willing to help you, no matter what problem you have. I’ll always be grateful I joined the group.

For me, the germ of a story idea usually originates from something I’ve heard on the news. For The Beast Within, my latest release, I based it on a couple of different stories. One was the mysterious case of fifteen feet wearing sneakers found up and down the west coast over the past few years. The police aren’t sure, but think most are from suicides. I have to wonder; I mean, they’re all left feet, all in sneakers, and no bodies have been found. Sounds suspicious to me.

The other is a story I read in The Guardian about Indigenous women that have gone missing in Canada over the last decade, some say over four thousand of them. Again, many have never been found.

I used these elements in my book about a serial killer stalking young women and then torturing them before ending their lives.

Here’s the blurb for The Beast Within:

She didn’t expect to land in the crosshairs of a serial killer. 

Can two displaced angels save a woman from the clutches of a vicious psychopath?

When Julie Crenshaw is offered a news reporter’s job on beautiful Vancouver Island she didn’t expect to land in the crosshairs of a serial killer.

Connor O’Rourke has seen his share of human depravities during his fourteen years as a homicide detective, but is still sickened by the murderer terrorizing his island shores.

And threatening his key witness.

As the stakes rise, can two people get a second chance at love?

Or will a killer be the winner?

And if you’re interested, here are the links to those news stories. Maybe they’ll inspire you to solve the mysteries.

CBC News

The Guardian

JACQUIE BIGGAR is a USA Today bestselling author of Romantic Suspense who loves to write about tough, alpha males who know what they want, that is until they’re gob-smacked by heroines who are strong, contemporary women willing to show them what they really need is love. She is the author of the popular Wounded Hearts series and has just started a new series in paranormal suspense, Mended Souls.

She has been blessed with a long, happy marriage and enjoys writing romance novels that end with happily-ever-afters.

Jacquie lives in paradise along the west coast of Canada with her family and loves reading, writing, and flower gardening. She swears she can’t function without coffee, preferably at the beach with her sweetheart. 🙂

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