Lyn Cote here—This is a question that authors get often. And it’s hard for us to reply because I think it’s different and the same for all authors. Something catches our attention and then it starts our imagination spinning. Sometimes it’s a person we glimpse while we’re idly people watching as we wait for a doctor’s appointment. Or while sitting in a restaurant waiting to be seated, we hear a heated, low conversation and it sparks us to think of a couple of characters as we try to work out why this couple is at odds
Now for me, I am triggered by places. When I visit a place, I ask myself who lives here? What do they do for a living? What do they think is the way life, love should be? How does the setting affect their lives? And soon I have people talking in my head. Yes, that’s what happens. Fortunately I’m an author and I don’t panic. I just listen to them and start jotting down ideas from what they are saying.
I often use the northwoods where I live for a starting place because I love it and because it very much shapes the people who live here. Every kind of person lives here but we all have to adjust to a long winter, short perfect summer and an intermittent spring.
This year I’m releasing a new romance-mystery series set on the shore of Lake Superior, a popular tourist destination. If you’d like a peak at this setting, here’s a link.
Precarious Summer is the first book in my new “Northern Shore Intrigue” series.
Beautiful shore, dangerous season~
Audra Blair, a young single mom, has opened “Audra’s Place,” a coffee shop-bakery counting on the summer trade. Tourists flock to the shore of Lake Superior for summer fun~not for booby traps that explode into flame. New Sheriff Carter Harding, still trying to live down his wild youth, faces this challenge and worse the bitter hostility from Audra’s uncle. Can Audra and Carter break free of the past and have a future together? And will Carter crack the case before someone is severely injured or dies? For more info, click here. Pre-order for 99 cents till March 25th.
Thanks for sharing, Lyn! Love hearing how some things spark your books and series!