My guest is suspense/thriller writer, Colby Marshall. Her debut novel is a captivating story of an assassin with an agenda, a government in crisis, a dangerous web of lies and corruption, and as with all good stories—a touch of romance. Being the curious sort, I had some questions for Colby.How has your own romance colored how you write romance in your stories? Or does it?
I laughed out loud at this
question, because my first thought was, “Does your blog have a rating?” Let’s just say between us girls that some of
the love scenes…hmm. I’d better plead
the fifth. My mom might read this
post!
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All joking aside, my
husband is actually a brilliant sounding board for my romances, simply because
I do write from both female and male
points of view. When it comes to the
violence in the story, I've heard many times that I write like a guy. What
five-foot-one girl who owns more glitter than your average craft store doesn't have a thing for car chases and knife fights, right? But when it comes to writing romance from a man’s point of view,
I’m sometimes a bit too…tasteful. My
husband reads my work as I write, and he always reminds me to keep my voice in
the right place when writing a male POV.
Well, I don’t
have the glitter but I’ll admit I love fights, car chases, and action flicks
and books
- You’re a dancer and choreographer. Do you design the dance composition of a piece, like the dance patterns and movements? I’m thinking of the routines they do with Dancing With The Stars?
Yep, that’s exactly what I do. In fact, not too long ago I was one of the
professional dancers for the Dancing Stars of Central Georgia, a charity event
modeled after Dancing with the Stars
that raised over $200k for the Central Georgia Alzheimer’s Association. I was paired with a local celebrity, and I
created a routine for us. I trained him
for eight weeks prior to the event, where we performed the samba to Lady Gaga’s
“Telephone.” I love flashy concepts and
do a lot of choreography for theatres, so of course we dressed the parts as
well, complete with glittery lightning bolts on our faces and crazily-teased
hair. What can I say? The theatricality came out!
Wow! Sounds like a lot of work
but fun, too!
I love to read a good thriller
although writing one would be tough I think because all of the parts that have
to come together to make the story flow and build tension.
- What excites you about this genre?
Those things that have to
come together are both the most challenging thing about writing thrillers as
well as the thing that excites me most about them. When I’m reading a thriller, I try to solve the puzzles as I go,
and if a read keeps me guessing until the end and delivers a resolution that I believe, that author has made a
fan for life in me. That’s why when I’m
writing a thriller, I will give myself headaches to make it more layered and
complex: I hope to give readers that experience of not knowing what’s coming,
but also the ability to read back and totally
see how it was coming the whole
time.
- How much do current events play into your writing?
Current events (and past
events) do often give me initial sparks of ideas. CHAIN OF COMMAND first took root in my head when a few years ago,
more women began to appear in campaigns for the White House. The idea for the new thriller I’m currently
working on started when I read about a recent high profile murder case. My stories are never “based on a true” story
type things, as they are entirely fictional, but I do tend to hear news items
and think, “But what if that sort of a situation happened with a different
twist?”
- What do you like about McKenzie McClendon, the heroine of Chain of Command? What about Noah?
McKenzie is fearless. She might not know she’s fearless, but she is.
When she gets an idea in her head, she will chase it down, wrestle it to
the ground, and beat it into submission no matter what. I think her tenacity makes her a fun character
to write. As for Noah, I just love that
he is a complete badass. There’s no way
around that phrase to describe him for me.
He’s the type who, in movies, sets off the explosion and walks away
without flinching. They’re both
independent, but that mutual boldness is exactly why they bring each other to
their knees where no one else can.
What’s not
to love about a badass like Noah?
- Noah is a SEAL and proud of his training (and McKenzie has a rather negative view of SEALS)—what’s their common ground that allows them to work together?
They definitely don’t have
much common ground at all in the beginning.
They end up working together because each has an ulterior motive: Noah
plans to use McKenzie to get out of a sticky situation, and McKenzie thinks she
can use Noah for a career-making story.
Unfortunately for both of those well laid plans, as they hunt for the
truth, the two of them find out the other is a real person and not just a tool
to be utilized.
- Now that you’re a new mother how has this impacted on your writing time?
Balancing
a new baby and writing time is a feat.
Sometimes I do it quite literally: I balance the baby on my lap to feed
her with one arm and pluck out keystrokes with the other. The biggest impact on my writing time is that
now it is not guaranteed. When I get
settled in to write, I know at any moment I could be interrupted. A chunk of writing here and there as I can
grab it has to work, where before I would make sure my writing environment was
more controlled. Basically, I have had
to become one with the chaos. Luckily,
I’m good at multitasking. (Birthday
cake ice cream helps, too.)
- How has being published changed your life? In what ways?
It’s an interesting change,
for sure. Mostly, I've noticed how
things that would before have seemed so “out there” now feel like just part of
a running machine. Recently, I missed a
phone call that a few months ago I’d have scheduled my entire day around. I wasn't able to return the call that day
because I was in between TV spots to promote the book, which felt crazy! I've had people I've been friends with for
years ask if they could possibly “get me to autograph” a book for a friend of
theirs. I always want to say, “Are you
kidding? I love signing books!” I always tell them of course but laugh and
say, “But I do hear if you can find a copy that isn't signed, it’s worth an absolute fortune.”
- What’s coming next from Colby Marshall?
I’m currently editing the
next book in the McKenzie McClendon series, which is about a surgeon providing
infants for the black market baby trade.
McKenzie needs an angle on this story to keep her job—and her
home. When her high school sweet heart tips her off that his wife may
have been one of the victims, she launches a frantic search to find the killer
and her ex’s son.
I’m also working on a new series about a forensic psychiatrist
with graphemeàcolor
synesthesia—a form of synesthesia in which an individual's perception of
numbers and letters is associated with the experience of colors. One half of a
vicious team of killers is caught, and she uses her unique gift to hunt down
the mastermind still at large.
Hmm, how soon did you say I can read these? I'm looking forward to getting my hands on these!
Colby, thank you for taking time, out of a very busy life, to answer
my questions and sharing a bit about your other loves.
- A publisher's ARC copy is up for grabs for a lucky commenter today.
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The road to the Oval Office is paved in blood…
The simultaneous assassinations
of the President and Vice President catapults the Speaker of the House into the
White House as the first female President of the United States. Evidence points
to a former Navy SEAL as one of the assassins.
Relegated to writing sidebar
stories instead of headlines, journalist McKenzie McClendon composes a scathing
story about the Navy training killers, igniting the fury of the alleged
assassin’s former partner.
Former Navy SEAL Noah Hutchins
doesn’t believe his partner could have committed the heinous crime. They’d
endured the horrors of Afghanistan together. His buddy was a hero, not a
murderer.
No one who knows the truth is safe…
Thrown together in a search for the truth—and a
career-making story—McKenzie and Noah must unravel a dangerous web of lies that
includes a radical foreign faction, a violent ultra-feminist group, and corrupt
politicians willing to kill to keep their secrets. And an assassin who is still
on the loose.
