Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Flashback by Jared Sandman Guest Post

Mystery

Date Published: March 2014
    

LIGHTS! 
In the annals of Hollywood cinema, the name Gregory Kincaid is as synonymous with Jack the Ripper as Bela Lugosi to Dracula. He portrayed the infamous serial murderer in half a dozen films, spanning a five-decade career filled with monster movies and sci-fi schlock. Twenty years ago, weary of celebrity's harsh spotlight, he withdrew from public life, never to be seen again -- until now.

CAMERA!

After a wartime accident seriously injures journalist Jenny Pearce, she turns her attention to reporting entertainment news. More comfortable on the frontlines than the red carpet, she jumps at the opportunity to track down the notoriously reclusive Kincaid.

ACTION!

The damaged pair forges an unlikely friendship, working together to write the actor's memoir. Except someone doesn't want Kincaid's tell-all all told, somebody who aims to protect secrets best left buried. Fighting for their lives, Kincaid and Pearce are forced to unravel a murder mystery gone unsolved for over seventy years.



VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR - May 12 - May 24

Jared Sandman


Guest Post:
IDEA TOY BOX
JARED SANDMAN

The number one question any writer fields is "Where do you get your ideas?" At book signings, during workshops and after public readings strangers will pepper you with this query. Some authors have a glib reply at the ready: "I have a subscription service that sends me three novel ideas every month" or "Stephen King is my gardener." The truth is much more nebulous. Anything can be a potential story idea, such as an overheard scrap of dialog, or a footnote in a book you're reading, or a movie that sparks an idea in your imagination. And all those half-formed ideas rattle around in the attic of your mind until they've percolated long enough to be given life.
Personally, I picture a wooden toy chest in my head. This is where I store all my ideas -- the ones I love, the ones I may love one day, and those cursed to go forever unloved. Whenever I'm searching for that next novel or screenplay to write, I venture back to that toy box to root around for inspiration.
Sometimes I luck out and find an idea that's fully formed and perfect, like a toy still boxed up and sealed in factory condition. So thunderstruck by the idea, I'm compelled to sit down and start writing immediately. Every writer knows how rare those moments are.
More often than not, however, I find pieces of toys: ideas that aren't quite serviceable. A G.I. Joe missing an arm, for example. Or a Barbie without a head. If I dig around the bottom of the toy chest, I can probably track down those missing limbs.
And some ideas are just the junk that accumulates at the bottom of the box. Spare parts here and there that might be able to be stitched together into a patchwork Frankenstein. While these aren't usually the best ideas, they can prove useful. Strangely, two unrelated, so-so ideas can come together and make something amazing. Mix and match these random parts to create a new toy entirely: a Ken doll with Kung-Fu grip, or a Rubik's Cube that summons Cenobites.
My third novel, The Wild Hunt, went the quickest from concept to execution, a mere three months to incubate in the toy box. More stubborn ideas take longer. My latest book,Flashback, took the longest. My earliest notes for Flashback date back to 2005; I wrote it in 2013. That's eight years sitting in the toy box, waiting until my subconscious fleshed it out enough to be written. The tradeoff, amazingly, was that Flashback took the least time to actually write, forty days from first page to last.
When I tell people I have a toy box in my brain where I get my ideas, they don't take me seriously. It's the truth, though. The ideas may come from all over, but they're carefully collated and cultivated in that imaginary toy chest.




Jared Sandman lives on Florida's Gulf Coast, where he's working on his next book.  Visit his website at JAREDSANDMAN.COM for free stories, updates and discounts, or follow him on Twitter (@JaredSandman).


Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaredSandman (@JaredSandman)







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