Ask the Author: Sue Hinkin
Answered Questions (9)
Sue Hinkin
I'm enjoying Rachel Howzell Hall's mystery/thrillers & will pick up a few more this summer.
Sue Hinkin
Oz, definitely the land of Oz where I'd hangout with Dorothy, Toto and Ozma.
Sue Hinkin
A nice girl like me couldn't possible be responsible for all this carnage. My bloody hands told a different story.
Sue Hinkin
Take a walk, go to yoga, get up in the middle of the night to watch a BBC drama, continue to sleep badly, whine to my critique group and read books. Usually somewhere in there a decent thought shakes loose. I refuse to allow myself to have writer's block for very long. Butt in the chair ultimately solves it.
Sue Hinkin
Everything. It's exhausting, exhilarating, sometimes lonely, stressful and discouraging--but I've been waiting my whole life to be able to do this. I feel very grateful and blessed.
Sue Hinkin
Passion, Practice & Persistence are my mantra.
• A writer should love telling stories, write the stories, and keep writing the stories.
• Find an awesome writers group where you feel support even in the midst of difficult feedback.
• Embrace risk-taking and failure. (rejection by agents does not mean failure)
• Trust the process.
• It’s never too late.
• A writer should love telling stories, write the stories, and keep writing the stories.
• Find an awesome writers group where you feel support even in the midst of difficult feedback.
• Embrace risk-taking and failure. (rejection by agents does not mean failure)
• Trust the process.
• It’s never too late.
Sue Hinkin
• I’ve finished #2 in the Vega & Middleton Novel series entitled Low Country Blood. It features Bea Middleton as she returns home to evocative Savannah, Georgia to deal with an aging mother, family intrigue, and a murdered fifteen-year-old nephew.
• Book # 3, The Burn Patient is also completed, Bea and Lucy are together again in Los Angeles facing a war for control of the black tar heroin trade and the return of Lucy’s nemesis, Gary Mercer, is back from the presumed dead. Burned beyond recognition, he’s hellbent on Lucy’s fiery destruction.
• Book # 4, In Dark Web, Shiny Fishes, Bea’s son Dexter’s former science teacher, now a UCLA Marine Biology doctoral student, has disappeared on her way to purchase a rare koi she discovered on the Dark Web. Lucy and Bea must find her before she falls victim to a disgraced ocean scientist’s sado-sexual mermaid snuff fantasies and throws her to the sharks, literally. I've just started this one.
This entire series has a diverse, multi-cultural cast which has been both fun and intimidating to write.
• Book # 3, The Burn Patient is also completed, Bea and Lucy are together again in Los Angeles facing a war for control of the black tar heroin trade and the return of Lucy’s nemesis, Gary Mercer, is back from the presumed dead. Burned beyond recognition, he’s hellbent on Lucy’s fiery destruction.
• Book # 4, In Dark Web, Shiny Fishes, Bea’s son Dexter’s former science teacher, now a UCLA Marine Biology doctoral student, has disappeared on her way to purchase a rare koi she discovered on the Dark Web. Lucy and Bea must find her before she falls victim to a disgraced ocean scientist’s sado-sexual mermaid snuff fantasies and throws her to the sharks, literally. I've just started this one.
This entire series has a diverse, multi-cultural cast which has been both fun and intimidating to write.
Sue Hinkin
I watch, listen, and read.
Plot ideas come from everywhere—life experience, media, friends & relations, overheard conversations and sheer imagination. Once you have the essence of a plot that you can initially express in a logline (which will probably change and evolve if it’s any good), and are clear on what’s at stake for the main characters, then the story begins.
I’m not a writer who outlines very much—I’m a “pantser.” I may, however, outline a particular chapter or scene if I need focus. Beyond that, once I have the general plot and characters, I step onto the mystery bus, strap in and take the ride.
Once a plot is in mind, I figure out how the characters would deal with the challenges of the story and grow as people along the way. I don’t have all this information locked up before I begin to write--much of the character’s personality comes out during the process of writing and editing. Each crisis demands a decision by the characters and dealing with the consequences of that decision should make for great tension.
Here are the things I consider when a character is coming to life:
• Appearance & style
• Personality strengths, weaknesses & vulnerabilities
• Family background & overall backstory
• Passions
• Driving motivation
• Profession & Interests
• Traumatic experiences/hardships to overcome
• Habits/quirks
• Geographic ties
As I move into a series with a growing host of players, I’ve created a “character bible” with thumbnail pictures of all my folks with a couple sentence summarizing their role.
Plot ideas come from everywhere—life experience, media, friends & relations, overheard conversations and sheer imagination. Once you have the essence of a plot that you can initially express in a logline (which will probably change and evolve if it’s any good), and are clear on what’s at stake for the main characters, then the story begins.
I’m not a writer who outlines very much—I’m a “pantser.” I may, however, outline a particular chapter or scene if I need focus. Beyond that, once I have the general plot and characters, I step onto the mystery bus, strap in and take the ride.
Once a plot is in mind, I figure out how the characters would deal with the challenges of the story and grow as people along the way. I don’t have all this information locked up before I begin to write--much of the character’s personality comes out during the process of writing and editing. Each crisis demands a decision by the characters and dealing with the consequences of that decision should make for great tension.
Here are the things I consider when a character is coming to life:
• Appearance & style
• Personality strengths, weaknesses & vulnerabilities
• Family background & overall backstory
• Passions
• Driving motivation
• Profession & Interests
• Traumatic experiences/hardships to overcome
• Habits/quirks
• Geographic ties
As I move into a series with a growing host of players, I’ve created a “character bible” with thumbnail pictures of all my folks with a couple sentence summarizing their role.
Sue Hinkin
When I was working as a TV news photographer in Michigan, I stumbled upon a similar story. Since then I've completely fictionalized it, but the seed was from a real event.
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