Author Jo Robertson: What Keeps You Awake At Night?

Please join me in welcoming award-winning author Jo Robertson as the special guest blogger today as she tours with her debut release, THE WATCHER.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the book: Forensic psychiatrist Kate Myers believes the killer of two teenage girls in Bigler County, California, is the same man who savagely murdered her twin sister over fifteen years ago. Working with a single-minded tenacity, she sets out to prove it.

Deputy Sheriff Ben Slater hides his personal pain behind the job, but Kate's arrival in his county knocks his world on its axis. He wants to believe her wild theory, but the idea of a serial killer with the kind of pathology she proposes is too bizarre.

Together they work to find a killer whose roots began in a small town in Bigler County, but whose violence spread across the nation. A Janus-like killer, more monster than man, he fixates on Kate. The killer wants nothing more than to kill the "purple-eyed girl again."

Jo joins us to talk about something that as mystery lovers we all understand …. ‘What Keeps You Awake at Night?’ and a ‘Funky Five’ challenge I think you‘ll find fun. See what you come up with.

Because my debut release THE WATCHER is a romantic thriller, I started thinking about its "scare" level. When I wrote the book, I wanted it to be chilling, a little frightening, and heart-stopping at the denouement (the point of greatest excitement). But I also wanted it to have moments of wry humor and lightheartedness, so my readers could take a break from the thrill factor.

That led me to think about the kinds of things that scare me enough to keep me up at night.  Some movies and books, for sure. I still think George Romano's 1968 version of "Night of the Living Dead" is freak-scariness at its zenith!

Most of us have known the stress of a restless night.

When I was a young mother of two small boys, six months and eighteen months, my husband had an overnight conference and I stayed up late reading. I never liked going to bed alone, and reading was a luxury for a mom of two babies. However, I made a horrible choice for my late-night reading.

The book wasn't a badly written one, but it was so terrifying that I nearly packed the babies up and went to a neighbor's house. The story involves a poltergeist-type ghost that haunts the house of the heroine. The spirit is so viciously evil that he seemed alive to me. I recall vividly turning on all the lights and checking the front door for intruders. The villain-ghost is wickedly draw and fantastically real. Although I was paralyzed with fear, I couldn't stop reading!

When I finished the book, I was furious with myself because I was so agitated, my adrenaline so revved up that I couldn't go to sleep. I stayed awake all night, listening to every creak and shudder inside and outside our small apartment. When daylight finally came, the kids and I spent the day in the park.

THE WATCHER is not quite that frightening, but the villain is chilling. When I created him, I wanted a multi-dimensional character, horrifying to ordinary people, but still able to wring a bit of reluctant sympathy.

But the best part of the book? Because it's a ROMANCE, we know the hero and heroine will defeat the antagonist and have a happy ending.

Here's an excerpt in the killer's point of view:

The girl was pretty in a fresh, outdoorsy way. 

The bounce and tangle of her yellow hair fascinated the boy-man. When she bent to ruffle the dog’s fur and attach the leash, the frisky animal danced away from her. Finally looping one end around her hand, she set off, long legs stretched before her as she matched her stride to the dog’s pace. 

With her free hand, she clutched the coat front that covered a dress the color of buttercups, and she wore black strappy shoes made for church, not a brisk walk. Early winter wind whipped her dress up and blew hair across her eyes. 

But he knew their color well. Her eyes were as vivid as the violet blood of an eggplant’s skin. The deep purple of the pansies his grandmother grew in boxes beneath the kitchen window. The flowers woven in his mother’s hair in a faded picture he’d once seen. 

The brilliance of that color made him notice the girl several months ago as she stood outside the Cavalier Store on Ramsey Avenue. Juggling a carton of milk in one arm and her school books in the other, she nearly bumped into him. When he reached to steady her, those flashing eyes narrowed in the challenging way of teenage girls. 

Under the force of her scowl, he touched the sparse hair above his lips, the sprinkling of zits across his chin. She didn’t say a word to him, but her eyes darkened with irritation. 

Why the hell was she mad at him? He’d only tried to help. 

A familiar wash of shame flooded over him, his face burned, and he ducked his head to slink away. After a block he risked a backward glance to find the girl balancing her load, oblivious to his existence. She’d forgotten him already. He clenched his fists at his side and hurried away. 

She wore her soccer uniform that day, and he figured out she’d be at practice on the high school soccer field after school. Every day until the season was over. 

During daily practice, the grassy edges of the field were deserted, so he’d found a good hiding place some distance from the field where he watched the players through his binoculars. The rocky outcropping banked up to several scrub pines, and his dusty green outfit camouflaged him from the coach. 

His body tingled with a secret thrill as he spied on her. He never gotten tired of watching her race down the soccer field, her toes teasing the ball in front of her, the sudden right turn she made before she slammed the ball into the goal. Her slender legs were surprisingly strong, the muscled sinews tightening beneath the skin.

Panicked that he’d lose track of her when the season was over, he followed her home after one soccer practice. He discovered the isolated farm where she lived with her parents and a giant chocolate retriever named Shamus. He hunkered beside an outbuilding that night and watched her as she completed household chores. She worked energetically and sometimes seemed to be everywhere at once. Her quick, lively movements stimulated him in a way he didn’t understand. 

When the lights went out in the farmhouse, he hunted for a place to camp out in the woods, his bedroll and backpack hidden in the dense forest. He ate his food cold from tin cans and drank from the creek, this outdoor lifestyle familiar to him by now. 

He waited nearly a week to make his move. On a late Sunday afternoon, he saw the parents drive away in a battered pickup without the girl. Silence descended on the farm in the near darkness. She’d been left alone. 

This was his opportunity. 

The dog now pulled the girl along after him, straining at the leash. The animal must weigh at least a hundred pounds, almost as much as the girl. That could be a problem. 

The boy-man trailed the girl and dog as they made their way down to the creek bed. She let the dog tug her forward along the water’s edge. Her voice reached the boy-man where he watched from a grove of aspen trees, their bendy white limbs dipping down to cover him. 

He glanced through the gloom toward the farm house. How long before her parents returned? How long after that before they missed her? He kept downwind of the dog and hurried after the girl, his heart drumming a staccato beat in his chest. He’d never found a purple-eyed girl before. 

It was a sign.

In today's 21st century world, there are many things other than scary stories that give us a restless night's sleep.

I thought it'd be fun today to play "Funky Five" with this topic: Five things that keep you awake at night. I'll go first.
1. Clearly a very scary book, movie or TV show, especially if I'm alone in the house. When I was a frequent drive-in movie-goer, a horror movie at an outdoor theatre was the height of spook fright!
2. Heartburn – stupid, I know, but I've often been dumb enough to eat something spicy at night, knowing that it will give me heartburn. Thank goodness for antacids.
3. Noisy neighbors or a barking dog. Our neighbors are actually pretty good, but the ones to our right have a nice hot tub and redwood deck and they enjoy inviting friends over. Friends that love wine. Lots and lots of wine.
4. Fussy babies or restless husbands. No babies for me any longer, but sometimes my husband keeps me from getting a good night's sleep with his tossing and turning.
5. Money worries. Hardly anyone escapes life without thinking about bills and payments. No matter how much money you have, you still think you don't have enough and worry about finances.

What about you, readers?  What keeps you awake at night?  If it's a really scary book or TV show, be sure to share. We all want to enjoy the fright!

If you're a writer, have you ever stayed up all night working on your latest project? How'd that go?

Jo, thanks so much for blogging here today. Your book sounds most intriguing. Wishing you much success with your writing.

I especially like your take on what keeps us awake. Here’s goes with my Funky Five: #1. Health and financial status of family. #2. A good scary book or movie. #3. Severe weather (blame it on my grandmother). #4. The quiet. #5. A new noise in the house - leaky faucet, change in the air conditioner sound, etc.

Here’s a bit of background on Jo. A former high school English teacher, Jo lives in northern California, near the beautiful Sierra Nevada foothills. She enjoys reading, scrapbooking, and discussing the latest in books, movies, and television shows. When her Advanced Placement English students challenged her to quit talking about writing and "just do it," she wrote her first completed manuscript, THE WATCHER, which won the 2006 Golden Heart Award for romantic suspense. For more on Jo and her writing, visit her website at www.jorobertson.com and she blogs at Romance Bandits. 

Thanks everyone for stopping by. Looking forward to finding out what your Funky Five are.