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Story Behind the Story

Story Behind the Story
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Web of Shadows

susanofficialnew-199x300Story Behind the Story

by Susan Sleeman

I love computers and electronics—like stand in line for the next iPhone love them. And since they are becoming more and more a part of our lives I wanted to use my knowledge to share stories of how cyber crimes can impact our everyday lives. That’s how the Agents Under Fire series was born. This series features three female FBI agents who work on an elite FBI Cyber Action Team, so of course, the stories in the series need to revolve around cyber crimes.

As I was thinking of plot ideas for Web of Shadows, book two in the series, I was preparing for an upcoming trip where I would be flying. As a writer my mind works in odd ways so as I was thinking about the trip, I asked myself what would happen if someone hacked into the TSA’s No Fly List and was able to add and delete people who could fly freely in our country.

After I got over the fact that I was indeed flying soon and I hoped this really didn’t actually happen J, I came up with the idea of a teen hacking into the list and making it vulnerable to unscrupulous people. I loved the idea, but then decided that the stakes weren’t quite high enough for my characters.

So I decided to have the computer that was used for the hack placed into a geo cache where anyone could find it and thus have access to the No Fly List. High enough stakes, you say? No, I wanted to make the crime personal to Nina Brandt, the FBI agent featured in this book so I decided the hacker would be the younger brother of Quinn Stone, the man she was in love with but estranged from.

Enough you say? No I wanted Nina to struggle even more, so I made the man who finds the computer be a former criminal who she arrested and is now free and has a giant grudge against her. Naturally, he wants to frame her for the hack, which he tries to do using everyday technology like cell phones and laptop computers.

From early reviews, I can see that readers think Web of Shadows is a thrill ride that provides a satisfying romance, and at the same time, the readers see the dangers in technology and also see how hard it is to protect our national security in the cyber world. I hope that you’ll check out the book and find the same thing true after reading it.

Web of Shadows has officially been released! Pick it up today!

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HOW TO DRIVE AN EDITOR CRAZY

HOW TO DRIVE AN EDITOR CRAZY
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A Regular Colum by Bell Bridge Books Senior Editor Pat Van Wie

 

 Techniques Of  The Selling Writer by Dwight Swain

One of the things I do in my creative writing classes is bring in and recommend great books on writing. The first of these is TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER by Dwight Swain.

Pat As most writing teachers will tell you, this is the bible for writing commercial fiction. It’s a valuable resource you’ll use throughout your writing career.

However, a word of warning. It’s very dense, and you might not get it all the first time through. Don’t worry about it. You’ll get the parts you’re ready for as a writer. Then I promise you’ll pull it out again and again during your writing career – maybe just to read sections — and then you’ll say, “Oh, I get it.”

After over twenty years of writing, I still use it today and am still finding new information that I didn’t ‘see’ before.

Introduction: HOW TO DRIVE AN EDITOR CRAZY

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Hi, I’m Pat Van Wie, the newest adordi2dition to BBB’s editorial staff. My main focus for Bell Bridge is mystery and suspense (and yes, I’d love to find the next Dennis LeHane or Lisa Gardner), but I read all the genres BBB publishes.  In particular, I enjoy all forms of fantasy, from urban to sword and sorcery, and the great YA books surfacing in the market.

Although I’m new to editorial, I’ve been immersed in writing and publishing for over twenty years as both an author and writing teacher. I sold my first book in the mid-90’s and subsequently published eleven novels for three different publishers, including Ballantine, Bantam and Harlequin. About the same time I published my first book, I started teaching Creative Writing. I’ve given workshops and taught classes at writer functions all over the country and online. Then, about three years ago, I started teaching at the local community college. Plus, over the years, I’ve also judged numerous – as in hundreds of – writer’s contests.

What all that background means is that writing, and publishing, has been a huge part of my life for a long time. Oh, and I admit to certain left brain tendencies – that you don’t find in a lot of authors – which make editing particularly appealing to me. IOW, I love the details of constructing a really good sentence.

So, where am I’m headed with this blog?

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Well, I got the idea from one of my classes. (Thank you, Thorwald, Belinda, Mario, Suzanne, Steve, Shannon and Tibold.) When I started working for Bell Bridge, I added a fifteen minute segment to the beginning of my class, where I talked about things that editors see – the good, the bad and the ugly. Minolta DSC

 

The class loved it. In fact, they wanted me to develop and teach a new course on how to avoid driving editors crazy. Well, instead of the class, I decided to write brief blog entries about how to improve your writing. Thus — “How To Drive An Editor Crazy. Or not.” — was born.

Enjoy!