FINALLY! My blog is up and running . . . not this wonderful forum, but my personal space . . . I won’t be a daily blogger at home, but plan to post one writing or reading related article every week, hopefully on Mondays, but as you know, the best laid plans of mice and mothers . . .

Anyway, I posted my reading secrets over there. Stop by and visit me sometime!

On behalf of my fellow suspense authors, I want to thank everyone who entered our first contest and once again congratulate Amanda Lawrence for her win! (Yeah! Cheers! Applause!) We’ll be announcing our next contest in January, so stay tuned.

In case you didn’t follow the contest, the rules were simple. Email us your answer to this question: Who’s the scariest villain and why?

I loved Amanda’s answer:

The one in the current murder mystery I am reading. . . . Because at the time, ‘they’ are the one making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and giving me cold chills!

This is so true! There are so many “great” villains out there, but the mark of the best villain–and a truly gifted writer–is to make you feel that the villain in their book at that time is the scariest you can possibly imagine. When you put the book down, you can’t imagine another villain as evil . . . until you pick up the next book and the author transports you to their world.

Several people said Hannibal Lechter was the scariest villain. I agree that he is definitely one of the best developed villain’s of all time. Liz Wolfe says it’s because he never showed remorse and was smart. This brings up a very good point about villains.

Villains naturally scare readers. But smart villains are particularly fearsome because they have the intelligence to thwart law enforcement, and will continue their murderous acts forever unless they are stopped. It takes a strong, smart and driven protagonist to defeat a smart villain.

That’s Hannibal. He would have kept on killing without remorse, taking pleasure in his evilness, until Will Graham stopped him. And even after he was in prison, he was frightening because we could see his brain working, plotting a way to get out of prison, playing mind games with Clarice, still without remorse for his past actions and still taking deep pleasure in the psychological torture of others.

More from our contest this weekend if I have time to wrap-up everyones comments . . . they were very good! . . . and apologies for posting late today. I took the three littlest Brennan’s to the mall to visit Santa. Talk about scary . . . three kids under five at the mall with one mom!

Tess Gerritsen is one of my all-time favorite writers. I “discovered” her with THE SURGEON, then read her single-title backlist. GRAVITY has to be one of the best books written in the last twenty years.

Anyway, she blogged the other day about a subject I’ve been thinking alot about lately . . . whether men read suspense novels written by women. I’ll pontificate on this subject down the road, because I’m still mulling things over in my mind (which can be a crowded place at times!)

One thing she said really hit home:

How many of us women readers are willing to read countless mysteries starring male detectives who drink to excess, watch TV sports, describe their cars in loving detail, and do “guy” things? How often does a reviewer write, “his books are too man-ish to interest women?” Women readers, it’s automatically assumed, are willing to cross gender boundaries and read about Dirk Pitt and Jack Ryan and Jack Reacher. And we do, with gusto.

But if a woman sleuth dares to act like a woman, then they’re radioactive to Patrick Anderson. Who said, in his review of VANISH, that only women would care about the struggles of a “lactating detective.” Because men sure don’t give a damn.

VANISH is a fabulous book that should resonate with ALL readers, male or female, regardless if one of the characters is a “lactating detective.” I mean, don’t these men have wives? Don’t they care about the struggles of working women? Or are they simply giving us lip-service that they are marginally sensitive to our lives?

I love thrillers. Probably 80% of the books on my shelves are suspense novels of some sort. The rest are romances and a few science fiction. I think it’s grossly unfair that suspense novels by women aren’t taken as seriously by male reviewers as suspense novels by men. I love both. I don’t discriminate based on the gender of the person who wrote the book.

So check out Tess Gerritsen’s blog on the subject, then stay around there awhile. She has incredible insights about the publishing and writing business, and I’ve re-read several of her posts because they always hit home with me.

When I first started seriously writing, I gave up most television. I still watched CSI, but that was my “one exception.” If I didn’t give up tv, I’d never have written a book. Or seven.

But I love television. So as a treat to myself when I complete a major task, I purchase a complete season of a show I’d missed because of writing.

After The Hunt, I bought the first season of Deadwood. It’s rough and crude, much like the real Deadwood, South Dakota during the gold rush. But I was hooked. Why? Because of the characters. The writers and actors brought to life legends in history, and made up a few along the way. The villianous Al Swearingen is not all bad; the heroic Seth Bullock is not all good. Just like real people. Just like the characters writers try to create and readers most enjoy.

After finishing The Kill, I bought the first season of LOST. Now no spoilers! I’m 25% done, knocking out two episodes a night. I’m really bummed because I have to put it aside for a week to read the page proofs for the aforementioned book. But with eighteen more episodes to go, I plan to finish it before Christmas.

I picked LOST for two reasons. First, everyone said I’d love it and I thought the premise of the show was totally cool.

Second, Kerrelyn Sparks over at the 2BRead blog had a fantastic article called “Ten Things I’ve Learned From Lost”. I knew then I just had to buy it, and after six episodes I don’t regret it. The best things . . . no commercials and I don’t have to wait a week to find out what happens next!

The key to LOST is the key to Deadwood — characters. You can have the most kick-ass premise, or the most colorful time in history, but without real, three-dimensional characters with internal villains and failures and successes and dreams and nightmares, you can’t possibly have a great show.

LOST trumps Deadwood (not by much) when it comes to characters. Each person is unique, with a past that–while wiped away by the crash–is still part of what makes them who they are, the choices they make and those they don’t. Each character is on their own Hero’s Journey two-fold: the journey of their life that they are still continuing and the journey they began when they crashed.

LOST could have been cheesy, but it isn’t. It could have been simplistic, but it’s not. Instead, we have complex and interesting characters filled with depth that I’ve found sadly lacking in most television shows today.

Readers might not remember why they love a book, but they’ll remember the characters and how they felt when the hero was in jeopardy or when the heroine reached her goal. They want to know what happens because they care about the people in the book, individuals they have grown close to.

If you’re a writer and you’re struggling with a plot, forget it. The plot, I mean. Focus on the characters, they are the fuel for your engine. You’ll be amazed at the results.

And if that fails, watch television. You’ll never know when the big idea will hit.

My books came yesterday! Read about it over at the 2BRead blog . . .