Emotional Connections
The Daughter Between Them follows a successful reporter who aspires to be the editor of the newspaper where she works. Her daughters are the target of a hit-and-run leading her to believe an enemy from her past has returned. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Last year, I fell in love with the idea of writing a novel from alternating points of view in the past and present, wherein the narrators are mysteriously connected. I used this structure for my novel, The Girl in the Blue Blazer and it was well received. With that in mind, I decided to use the same structure for The Daughter Between Them. While thinking about the characters and the storyline, the idea of two mothers came to me. There would be a mother in the past and a mother in the present and the two women would be mysteriously connected. The connection would eventually be revealed.
Your characters are well-developed and draw readers in building an emotional connection. What character did you enjoy writing for? Was there one that was more challenging to write for?
I enjoyed writing the Barbara Morris character more than any other character because of her mental challenges. I also liked the challenge of making her multi-dimensional. I didn’t want her to be one-note. I wanted the readers to see that Barbara had some redeeming qualities and I believe in spite of Barbara’s antics, readers will empathize with her. While I enjoyed writing Barbara, she was also the most challenging because as previously stated, I wanted to make sure she was multidimensional. I had to make the readers understand how Barbara justified her actions and why. I believe writing in first-person present tense helped me build the emotional connections that are in the book. Writing in first-person present tense, really helps me get in the mind, heart, and soul of a character. As a result, when writing, I am that character. I am feeling and thinking as that character and thus the words on the page are based in truth.
What was the hardest part about writing a mystery story; where you constantly have to give just enough to keep the mystery alive until the big reveal?
The biggest challenge was making sure I did not have any plotholes. There are so many twists and turns in the book, I had to make sure I kept up with events and occurrences from previous chapters when writing new chapters.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I will begin working on another then-and-now structured suspense novel at the end of 2024. It will most likely debut toward the end of 2025.
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Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2024/06/20/emotional-connections/
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