Guest blogs

Today, I’m happy to welcome urban fantasy and young adult author Stacey Jay to the blog. A few months ago, I was asked to give a cover blurb for Stacey’s new urban fantasy, Dead on the Delta, which is out today (yes, that is my quote on the cover).

I thought it was a cool book with some really interesting world building (just thinking about those killer mutant fairies still gives me the creeps). You can check out my review here.

And, without further ado, here is Stacey’s blog:

First of all, I’d like to say thank you to Jennifer for having me over to her blog. I love blogging (this is a lie, blogging makes me strangely anxious), and Jennifer is super cool (not a lie, obviously, you’ve read her books)!

So I’d love to tell you more about how I came up with “Dead on the Delta’s” world of poisonous killer fairies (but it’s a secret) (not really, that’s a lie. But I’m already blogging about that somewhere else). I’d also love to talk more about what it’s like to be caught between three or more men—the way Annabelle, “Dead on the Delta’s” heroine — is. But that would be pure speculation, as I have never dated more than one or two men at a time (this is a lie, but don’t tell my husband — just kidding, we have no secrets).

Anyway! You get my point. Secrets and lies. I think they play a big part in any work of fiction, but in writing a mystery the secrets and lies are especially vital. “Dead on the Delta” is the first book I ever outlined extensively before I started writing. I knew I wanted a traditional mystery as my base, and I wanted one big series mystery with several interlinking mini-mysteries to use as the core of each book. And I knew I’d never be able to pull that off unless I knew ahead of time every clue that would be discovered, every red herring that would lead my heroine down the wrong path, and what the Big Twist would be at the end.

At first I tried a mechanical approach — deciding what events would happen when and how Annabelle would respond — but after three early drafts of chapters one-three and a mess of post-it notes littering my wall that I couldn’t make sense of, I knew I was going about the process in the wrong way. That’s when I started my secrets and lies journal. Every morning for a week, I picked one or two of my characters and wrote a journal entry from their point of view about all the things they were keeping from the other characters.

And man, oh man, did I ever get some great dirt! These people all have dark, scary secrets, and tell a lot of lies — both to other people in the story, and themselves.

I found these secrets and lies were the best places to start building my mystery. The lie one character believes provides the perfect false clue for my heroine. The secret she’s keeping leads to a lot of misunderstandings and conflict that add another layer to the story and force my main characters to confront demons from their past (especially in book two, which I’m drafting now).

Just a few days worth of journaling, and I’ve got enough drama to keep the town of Donaldsonville, Louisiana humming for two 100,000-word novels (and hopefully beyond if sales are strong. Please buy books, thankyouverymuch). It’s also given me a strong sense of who every character in this world is when they turn off the light, and that’s made this series my favorite ever to write.

I love all the people in this town (not a lie), but I’ll tell you a secret: Loving a character won’t keep me from killing them off. A few of them are going to have to die!

And I know exactly who.

(This is a lie. I have no idea who to kill at the end of book two. I have a few contenders — all with secrets — but I can’t decide who the body will be. Decisions, decisions … so hard to make — also a lie. These kind of decisions are what writers live for. So much fun!)

Thanks for having me over, Jennifer! Happy reading to all!

DEAD ON THE DELTA GIVEAWAY

Thanks for being here, Stacey! To celebrate her release day, Stacey is giving away two copies of Dead on the Delta (open to US/Canada residents only). To enter, just leave a comment on this post and answer this question: Do you like a little mystery with your urban fantasy? Why or why not?

The contest will be open through Friday, June 3, and I’ll announce the winners on June 6 here on the blog.

MORE ABOUT STACEY

If you like Dead on the Delta, the second book in the series is tentatively titled Blood on the Bayou and is tentatively set for an April 2012 release. Also, Stacey has a young adult book coming out called Juliet Immortal that will hit shelves on Aug. 9. Here’s more about it:

“These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume.”
—Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

The most tragic love story in history …

Juliet Capulet didn’t take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, a sacrifice made to ensure his own immortality. But Romeo didn’t anticipate that Juliet would be granted eternal life, as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light.

For 700 years, Juliet has struggled to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent, while Romeo has fought for the dark side, seeking to destroy the human heart. Until now.

Now Juliet has found her own forbidden love, and Romeo, oh Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy their happiness.

Sounds pretty cool, huh? And that cover is absolutely gorgeous. For more information on Stacey and her books, visit her website.