Starting with the characters – #ParanormalRomance #HighlandRomance #Giveaway @SloanMcBride1

By Sloan McBride (Guest Blogger)

I’ve been a reader and a writer as far back as I can remember, and I mean way, way back. I’ve had stories in my head since I was little. I think I even had an imaginary friend who carried on quite the lively conversations with me.

People ask me how I come up with ideas about my stories. I don’t work the way probably most writers work. I come up with the hero/heroine first. I pick their names and then I think of what kind of interesting situation I could throw them together. That spurs me using things that I am interested in for their vocations such as Kara, the heroine in Highland Stone was a volcanologist. Volcanoes have always interested me, so I did research. The one place I knew there is still active volcanoes is Hawaii, so I wrote to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (Yes it was an actual letter) and told them I was writing a book and the heroine is a volcanologist. I asked them for information about the observatory and the volcanoes on the big Hawaiian Island. They sent me tons of material. It was awesome.

In my thriller Together in Darkness, I obviously knew the hero would be an FBI agent because he was trailing a serial killer. The heroine is a window designer for the local department store, but she has a secret. I had this one scene where Jake (the Fed) is sitting on the bed in his hotel room talking to the killer on the phone and he’s setting and releasing the safety on his gun. I know it might seem like a small thing, but I needed to know what type of guns the FBI agents carry and how the safety would work to know if that was possible in this scene. I contacted the FBI. Yes, they have an email for a PR guy and I told him who I was and what I was doing. I even sent him my website link so he could confirm. I explained the scene and he gave me the information. It’s really amazing what you can do with a little research and the people you meet along the way.

My most favorite research goes with that same book. I went to the library, and I searched books with maps of different states in the country. I was looking for a certain setting but not quite sure what. One day I was looking at a book about Massachusetts and a map that showed this little inlet. BAM! Right then I knew that was where the killer was going. That would be where the heroine lived. It was Gloucester, MA. I did all the research I could in libraries and online then I took my family there for vacation so I could see the town. I learned some really cool things while I was there. For instance, it is where the Gorton’s Fisherman statue sits, in the same inlet I found.

I wanted to speak with the police while there to get more deeper research on how the local police department would deal with the feds coming into town and chasing a killer. I went into the police station and told them what I was doing there. A Sargent came out and we talked for a bit. He told me that they had a guy there for months doing research for a book. The book was “A Perfect Storm.” I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Not too long after I got there, the Lieutenant came in. The Sargent told him who I was and what I was doing so he invited me into his office. I spent about 2 hours there speaking with him. He answered all my questions, gave me first-hand knowledge of various police procedures and dealing with a federal investigation. He and I stayed in touch for years. When I had a scene I wasn’t sure about I would send it to him and he would give me pointers. When I needed a place for the killer to hide out, he sent me maps and information about Dogtown Commons where an actual killer had hidden out years before. He sent me newspapers and maps and was a wealth of information. He was also very generous with his time. That book would not be what it is without him.

Being a writer is a solitary thing in many ways, but if you allow it, you can meet some incredible people who help bring your writing and characters to life.

My latest release is Book 2 in The Talisman Trilogy – Highland Soul

Blurb

Ghost is the most familiar stranger Leelah MacLeod has ever met. Though he’s just arrived at Dunvegan, he’s been haunting her visions for years. She loves him, so she must save him from a dangerous liaison…and his own destructive nature.

Ramsey MacLaren, the Ghost, is fighting powerful inner demons that he believes he must fight alone. A desire for vengeance drives him, and a pact with a witch might mean betrayal to one of the few men he trusts. He has no time for distractions, especially one as young and beautiful as Leelah MacLeod.

She claims she is destined to help him, but Ghost knows he’ll destroy her if he lets her into his world...and his heart.

BUY LINK: (It’s a Universal link with all the retailers)

https://books2read.com/u/md72oO

You could win a copy of this book, or of Highland Stone. Just leave me a comment with your email address. I’ll pick two winners next Wednesday.

About the Author

Sloan McBride is a multi-published author whose books have been reviewed and featured in RT Book Reviews. She is a romance author who leans toward the paranormal, adding suspense, and mixing in mythology with her Time Walker Series. She dances through the Highlands, making merry with the clans in The Talisman Trilogy, and turns up the heat in the crazy world of smokejumpers in the Men of Fire Trilogy.

Sloan lives in Illinois with her husband of 40 years and two children who have grown into adulthood. By day she is executive assistant to the majority owner of a dynamic law firm. By night, she puts on her writing persona and creates kick-ass heroines and the tortured men who love them.

If you’d like more information about Sloan, please visit her websitewhere you can sign up for her newsletter to receive notice of new books, giveaways, and more or follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Bookbub and Twitter.