Author Cynthia Eden Visits

It’s my pleasure to welcome award-winning author Cynthia Eden back to Thoughts in Progress as the special guest blogger during her virtual blog tour.

Cynthia is touring to highlight her two new books, DEADLY HEAT, which was released yesterday, Feb. 1; and DEADLY LIES, which will be released March 1. Thanks to Cynthia, Anna and the good folks at Hachette Book Group I have three sets of these two books to give away. Please see the end of the post for the giveaway guidelines.

Here’s a brief synopsis of each of the books:
DEADLY HEAT (ISBN:9780446559263) - Six months after her lover died in an arsonist's blaze, firefighter Lora Spade calls in the FBI's elite Serial Services Division to track the elusive killer. When Special Agent Kenton Lake is lured into a violent inferno, Lora pulls him to safety and is stunned - not by the fire, but by her own searing attraction to Kent. For the first time in months, she longs for something other than vengeance.

Kenton's interest in Lora should be purely professional. But one fleeting kiss and he can't get her out of his mind. Her combination of strength and vulnerability makes him want to protect her, and that means solving this case - and fast. For even the passion igniting between them can't hide a terrifying truth: Lora is the next target in a murderer's sadistic, fiery game.
  

DEADLY LIES (ISBN:9780446559256) - FBI Special Agent Samantha Kennedy is haunted by memories of the serial killer who abducted her. To keep the darkness at bay, she pretends to be a different, more confident woman. This Samantha doesn't fear every unknown face. So she throws caution to the wind and shares a night of unbridled passion with a handsome stranger.

One night isn't enough for successful entrepreneur Max Ridgeway. He wants more of the sexy, smart, mysterious woman who slipped away before dawn. When they meet again, their attraction is undeniable-until his stepbrother goes missing, and Max realizes that Samantha isn't who she seems. But they must trust each other to trap a ring of bloodthirsty kidnappers before the nightmares that terrorize Sam become irrevocably real.

Cynthia stopped by today to answer a question for me. With 2 books coming out within a month of each other, did you finish one before starting the other or did you go back and forth between the plots with some type of writing log to keep everything straight?

Writing a series can be a challenge, and when the books are slated to come out in a back-to-back fashion, well, to me, it makes the series actually easier to write.

When I wrote my three Deadly books (DEADLY FEAR, DEADLY HEAT, and DEADLY LIES), I wrote all three books in order. I didn’t want to bounce back and forth between the books as I created the stories because I wanted to establish a character development timeline with the books.

So, I started writing DEADLY FEAR, and the book led me down some unexpected paths with the characters. As I wrote, I began to keep a log so that I could follow all of the major plot shifts.

As soon as I finished DEADLY FEAR (okay, to be honest, I took a week off between books to recharge my brain!), then I immediately began to write DEADLY HEAT, my story of an FBI Special Agent who must team up with a fire fighter in order to stop a serial arsonist. It was very easy for me to get into the hero’s point of view because Special Agent Kenton Lake had appeared in DEADLY FEAR. I already knew a great deal about him and his character’s motivation, so I was able to dive right into his tale. It took a little longer to get a firm grasp on my heroine, Lora Spade, because she was a new character. But as I wrote, the story developed nicely for me.

Then, as soon as I was finished with DEADLY HEAT—yes, I took another week break, but then I jumped into writing DEADLY LIES.

Because I wrote the stories in such a close time fashion, I could maintain a link to the connecting characters. I was already “in” their minds, so assuming their various points of view was a smooth transition. To keep plot facts straight, I double-checked my log. My log was a Word file I’d created that included profiles of all my FBI Agents (their training, education, weaknesses, etc.). I kept the file open as I wrote so that I could double check my facts quickly.

This was the first time I’ve ever written three books in a series back-to-back this way. I’ve got to say—it was a great way to hold tight to the characters. 

I hope readers enjoy my Deadly world and all the characters that inhabit the pages of my books. I’d also like to know—Readers, what do you like most about reading a series? 

Thanks for checking out my post!

Cynthia, thanks for blogging here today and giving us a look at what it’s like to write three books back-to-back.

A little background on Cynthia. She writes paranormal romances and romantic suspense novels. She is currently very busy writing her stories for Grand Central Publishing and Kensington Brava. Cynthia has always wanted to write (don’t most authors say that?), and particularly enjoys creating stories about monsters–vampires, werewolves, and even the real-life monsters that populate her romantic suspense stories.

(Back in the day…) Cynthia graduated summa cum laude from the University of South Alabama where she studied Sociology (because people interest her) and Communication (because she likes to write about said people). She has worked as a college admissions counselor, a teacher, and as an editor. But now, Cynthia is thrilled to be spending her days making up stories. For more on Cynthia and her writing, check out her website at CynthiaEden.com

Now the giveaway guidelines. To enter this giveaway, send me an e-mail (mcbookshelf@gmail.com). Your subject line should read, “Win DEADLY BOOKS.” Your message should include your name and mailing address. The contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only and no post office box addresses can be accepted. In addition, Hachette is advising winners that they will be subject to the one copy per household rule, which means that if they win the same title in two or more contests, they will receive only one copy of the title (or one set in the case of grouped giveaways) in the mail. (Winners here have always be great about letting me know if they have already won the book somewhere else so another winner can be selected. However, this announcement is something that has to be passed along from Hachette). And, just so you know, I don’t share the mailing information or use it for any other purpose. The deadline to enter this giveaway for a chance at one of the 3 sets of the DEADLY series (416-page DEADLY HEAT and 400-page DEADLY LIES) will be 8 p.m. (EST) on Saturday, Feb. 12.

Guest Blogger, Cynthia Eden

Please join me in welcoming author Cynthia Eden who will be the special guest blogger here at Thoughts in Progress today as part of her virtual book tour.

Cynthia’s latest release is DEADLY FEAR (ISBN: 9780446559249) and thanks to Anna and the folks at the Hachette Book Group I have 5 copies of this book to giveaway. To enter the contest, send me an e-mail (mcbookshelf@gmail.com). Your subject line should read, “Win DEADLY FEAR.” Your message should include your name and mailing address. The contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only and no post office box addresses can be accepted. Just so you know, I don’t share the mailing information or use it for any other purpose. The deadline to enter for giveaway is 8 p.m. (EST) on Tuesday, Aug. 10.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the 416 page book: FBI Special Agent Monica Davenport has made a career out of profiling serial killers. But getting inside the twisted minds of the cruel and the sadistic has taken its toll: She's walled herself off from the world. Yet Monica can't ignore fellow agent Luke Dante, the only man who ever broke through her defenses.

Luke has the unique ability to put victims at ease . . . professionally, he and Monica made a perfect team. Now they're reunited to catch a murderer who uses his victims' deepest, darkest fears for sport - but their investigative skills aren't enough. Luke and Monica will have to face the secrets from their past, the ones that terrify them the most, if they are to have a future together.
But can they catch a killer whose weapon is . . .DEADLY FEAR

Cynthia joins us to talk about writing and the research she did for this book.

My first romantic suspense novel, DEADLY FEAR, required some pretty extensive research. Lucky for me, l love research. 

When it comes to researching my books, I tend to divide my research into several areas. First up, career research for my characters. Since both my hero and heroine are FBI agents in DEADLY FEAR, it was pretty easy to focus my research. I learned about FBI training, about the tough standards for the agents, and the behind-the-scenes stressors that an agent faces. It’s not all glamour and glory—and I tried to portray that in my Deadly books.

Then, it was time for some crime scene investigation. Thanks to CSI, readers are pretty crime scene savvy these days.  So I wanted to make sure all of my crime scene details were accurate—and that meant hitting the books. My research shelves are full of crime scene and evidence handbooks. I joke to my husband that I could get rid of a body and all blood evidence in twenty minutes (well, he thinks I’m joking—I’m not).

Next, it was time for one of the most challenging aspects of my research…getting into the mind of a serial killer. Monica Davenport, the heroine of DEADLY FEAR, is a profiler. So it’s her job to think like a killer. And since I was writing her character—yes, you guessed it, I had a crash course on profiling.  One of the psychology professors at my local university happens to be a very good friend of mine, and when I needed psych advice, she was my go-to-girl.  (I do pity the poor people who were seated next to us during some of our killer conversations at restaurants.) Aided with her input and the massive amount of information that is available on the Internet, I began to construct my killer.

Sure, he changed a bit along the way, but characters do that. They always evolve during the story.  The best-laid plans with characters can often go awry—or, go down a more interesting path than the one originally planned.

Research is one of the most interesting aspects of my job.  I know dozens of ways to dispose of a body, I know how to lead an arson investigation, and I know how to conduct a ghost hunt—all courtesy of research I’ve conducted for my books.  And I’m already looking forward to my next research adventure!

Is there any area that you’d like to research? Do you think you’d like hand’s on research (like going on a real ghost hunt…I did that a few weeks ago!) or would you prefer getting your information from books and the Internet? Thanks!

Cynthia, thanks for joining us today and sharing this. It’s always interesting to see how authors go about doing the various types of research needed to write a novel.

Cynthia’s website is www.cynthiaeden.com and she can also be found on twitter at www.twitter.com/cynthiaeden