Lisa Jackson's Blog - Posts Tagged "readlisajackson"

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Most of the time I come up with the ideas for my books by myself. I hear or see something that intrigues me and I think “What if?” 

In the case of Without Mercy I actually heard a radio ad about a school for troubled teens while I was in the car at a red light. The ad captured my attention and immediately got me thinking about the plot for the book. What if a school meant to turn troubled teens around, was actually something far more sinister? I was so into my thoughts about the book, that, I didn’t notice when the light turned green. The guy behind me did. He laid on the horn. I hit the gas and I turned around at the first place I could, then drove home, my errand forgotten as I raced home to call my editor and run my new idea by him. 

In the case of Cold Blooded, the idea had simmered for years. I’d always been fascinated with saints and how they died, so I created a book with a serial killer who found victims to mimic the saints’ bizarre deaths. 

However the idea for the first Montana “To Die” book wasn’t mine. At least the characters weren’t originally my own. The idea was floated to me by my editor. 

“I’d like to see a book with two female cops,” he told me.

I thought, Oh no! My first mental image was of the TV cop show, Cagney and Lacey from the eighties. It seemed so out of date, but, the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Two strong, opposite characters emerged. Twice married and now divorced Detective Regan Pescoli was a hot-head who broke or bent the rules. The life with teenagers and an ex-husband who was a pain, was kind of a wreck. I teamed Pescoli with Detective Selena Alvarez, cool-and clear-headed a scientist who never married and held a deep, life-changing secret. So the characters came to life, at least in my head. 

I also came up for an idea for a serial killer story that would run through two stories, Left To Die and Chosen To Die, but didn’t think beyond that story-line. I wasn’t thinking “series” at that point. 

What I found during the writing of those two books was that I couldn’t let the characters go and I loved the little Montana town and sheriff’s department. So, fast forward a few years and now, seven books later, I still have at least one more book to write in the series. Maybe more.

Time will tell.

The books in the Montana “To Die” series by Lisa Jackson are, in order: [bookLLeft To Die], Chosen To Die, Born To Die, Afraid To Die, Ready To Die, Deserves To Die, and Expecting To Die. You can read more about each title at www.lisajackson.com.

Hi Everyone,

I'm starting a new occasional Friday featured called Fan Fiction Friday. I will try to answer commonly asked questions I receive from readers that I think other people might be interested in!

So, here is this week's question:



I loved Expecting To Die. Will there be a Book 8 in the Montana "To Die" series?

The answer is...

Yes! Willing To Die which is book # 8 in the series and not yet written is scheduled for the end of 2018! Look for it that December. Thanks for asking!

To see all books in the series please go to:
http://lisajackson.com/series.cfm

More information on Expecting To Die can be found here:
http://lisajackson.com/book.cfm?bookI...

Here is this week's question!

From a reader:
Wicked Ways
Something Wicked
Wicked Lies

I have read Wicked Game; Wicked Lies; Something Wicked; Wicked Ways are there any more books out in this series I have enjoyed every one of these but it doesn't feel like the story is over. Thank You for enjoyable reading.

The anwer:
Thanks for writing. Though there are no more books featuring Siren Song in the Wicked series of books currently scheduled, Nancy and I
are hatching up a new idea. As soon as we have the book approved and written, we’ll let everyone know.

I’ve been asked what was the inspiration for You Will Pay. That’s a good question because in some cases the idea for a new book hits me hard and I immediately write down the plot while the characters take a little more time to develop. Other times I have a character with no plot—this shady assistant DA with an interesting tattoo has been chasing me around for years, for example, but she doesn’t yet have a story—I’m not sure she ever will. But I just can’t forget her.

In the case of Without Mercy, I had an idea for a character immediately and a scenario: A school for troubled teens. That idea came out of an advertisement I heard on the radio and it was a full blown synopsis within days. (Most of the time the story development isn’t that easy.)

As for You Will Pay, the idea sort of percolated for years. My editor wanted a “camp” story. He was envisioning an all girls camp where the campers are stranded with a murderous psycho on the prowl. Good idea. I worked with that, but infused my own memories of camp as a kid (no, there was NO killer running through the woods and lurking at the campfire at the camp I attended.)

But I didn’t just want the story to revolve entirely upon the trauma and hysteria of the camp and campers. I wanted to deal with the counselors and definitely make it coed. Also, I thought it would be cool to find out what happened to the survivors over the intervening years, so I let the mystery remain unsolved.

This is why the book is set in the present as well as the past. I thought it would be fun to write about the characters as teens and then as adults, a group of people bound by their own secrets about what really happened at Camp Horseshoe that fateful summer. That part, the juxtaposition of Then and Now, was a little tricky was a little tricky to pull off, but it was and interesting experience.


And so, after years of thinking about it and a few missteps along the way, You Will Pay was born, or more succinctly, evolved.

Thanks to all of you who have made Backlash: Tender Trap / Aftermath a best-seller! 🙏Whoo-hoo! 🎉 It’s been on the lists for several weeks and it’s all because of you.

Thanks a million!!!!

learn more about Backlash:
http://lisajackson.com/book.cfm?booki...