Ask the Author: Linda Berry
Answered Questions (9)
Linda Berry
I read. Reading the work of other good writers stimulates the creative process and ideas start flodding in.
Linda Berry
I just finished my fourth book, Quiet Scream, and it will be on Amazon by the end of February. I'm formulating my 5th book, called Dead Chill, which should be out by the end of the year.
Linda Berry
Hi Angela,
Thanks for the question. Pretty Corpse is my second novel out this year. Hidden Part One came out in January and is also a mystery with suspense but is not as intense as Pretty Corpse, a police thriller. My readers told me PC was pretty scary, and yet they could not put it down. Hidden Part Two comes out in September. Quiet Scream comes out at the end of the year, and I believe it will also be very suspenseful, like PC. Please let me know what you think if you read any of my books.
Thanks for the question. Pretty Corpse is my second novel out this year. Hidden Part One came out in January and is also a mystery with suspense but is not as intense as Pretty Corpse, a police thriller. My readers told me PC was pretty scary, and yet they could not put it down. Hidden Part Two comes out in September. Quiet Scream comes out at the end of the year, and I believe it will also be very suspenseful, like PC. Please let me know what you think if you read any of my books.
Linda Berry
A beautiful canal runs behind my back yard, populated by geese and ducks and an array of nocturnal animals who leave tracks as their calling cards. I was frightened and puzzled to find very large, unidentified human footprints in my yard one morning, perfectly preserved in the snow. The tracks came out if the water right to the edge of my yard, and retreated back to the water. This happened twice more over two weeks. Someone was watching my house. Watching me.
Linda Berry
Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
This juicy story has everything: the masterfully played game of cat and mouse between Darcy and Bennent, the electric sexual tension between two highly attractive, highly intelligent people who are severely restricted in action and word by the social mores of the time, and their ability to skillfully maneuver within that framework. The book deals with a wide ark of social issues — manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of the British Regency. The eccentric variety and interaction of the secondary characters provide constant tension, conflict, and humor.
This juicy story has everything: the masterfully played game of cat and mouse between Darcy and Bennent, the electric sexual tension between two highly attractive, highly intelligent people who are severely restricted in action and word by the social mores of the time, and their ability to skillfully maneuver within that framework. The book deals with a wide ark of social issues — manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of the British Regency. The eccentric variety and interaction of the secondary characters provide constant tension, conflict, and humor.
Linda Berry
Now that I’m retired, I have the luxury of writing every day. I wake up eager to get to work. I take my coffee up to my sunny office that overlooks a peaceful wooded area, and dig in. I immediately go into the “fiction” zone, a realm of true contentment and total absorption. The best thing about being a writer is spending time in a world that I create, with characters I love (whether good or bad) and where I'm in control. I love the challenge of constructing a novel in such a way that it drives the reader forward and never gets boring. On a small scale, I love the mental challenge of using just the right word to describe something, then write the perfect sentence, the perfect paragraph, the perfect scene, and build it into the perfect story. When my writing is good, it moves like a melody with a perfect rhthym.
Linda Berry
Learn how to steel yourself for criticism and rejection. Try not to turn it into something personal. What will please an agent or editor is subjective. Write about something you love, and then your passion will come out in your words. Write often, everyday, if possible. Read, read, read. Mostly your own genre. I read one or two books a week, and I also watch movies and TV productions that tell good stories. I take notes. I have volumes of notes, and refer to them daily.
Linda Berry
Everything inspires me. It’s almost more like a compulsion at this point. I live and breathe writing. No matter where I am, or what I’m doing, part of my brain is analyzing data to see if any of it is useful to my writing projects. I constantly take notes, and routinely draw from them in my writing. My true challenge is pulling myself away from the computer and balancing my life with other activities, and family time.
Linda Berry
After 9/11, like many Americans, I witnessed our rush to invade Iraq and Afghanistan without a cohesive plan, long-term goal, or proper protection for our troops. My heart went out to the brave men and women in uniform who were being subjected to a new kind of warfare—suicide bombers and IEDs—that could take off limbs in the blink of an eye. When they came home, there were no resources for them. Twenty veterans commit suicide everyday. It’s egregious. By making my main character a vet, I could comment on the struggle vets face here on the home front.
I also wanted to pay tribute to what I see as a disappearing culture—that of the cowboy, and small ranches that are being swallowed up by the increasing need to expand suburbs into rural areas. Our American heritage grew out of these tough-minded families who settled the west. I wanted to put in a time capsule the culture of folks who are their own bosses, live off the land, are raised on horseback, and are routinely taught to compete in rodeo as a coming of age. The courage and skill it takes to ride a bucking bronc or bull is extraordinary, and these athletes have fewer safeguards and economic rewards than in other professional sports.
I also wanted to pay tribute to what I see as a disappearing culture—that of the cowboy, and small ranches that are being swallowed up by the increasing need to expand suburbs into rural areas. Our American heritage grew out of these tough-minded families who settled the west. I wanted to put in a time capsule the culture of folks who are their own bosses, live off the land, are raised on horseback, and are routinely taught to compete in rodeo as a coming of age. The courage and skill it takes to ride a bucking bronc or bull is extraordinary, and these athletes have fewer safeguards and economic rewards than in other professional sports.
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