WHAT THE YEARS REMEMBER: My Latest Release

It’s not uncommon for people to ask me how I go about writing a book. Where do I begin? Do I have a thousand ideas? How long does it take? How many drafts do I do? How do I choose what to write? Is it hard?

Those questions, which I’m guessing many writer friends have heard (and many more), aren’t always the same. For me, every book is a different experience, and while I give my all to everything I write, each book has its unique challenges. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I keep raising the bar for myself. Let me explain.

When I wrote Hotel Obscure: A Collection of Short Stories, it was my first book of short stories, but they weren’t disparate. They all took place in the same location—with characters often appearing in multiple stories.


Because I finished that, I decided to write The Waiting House: A Novel in Stories, a book in which separate stories all become part of an overall story arc. Never thought I’d get through that one, but I did it.


In Twice a Broken Breath, my suspense thriller set in New York City, I wrote the entire novel in a male voice. For whatever reason, that book was kind to me, and while every book has its major road blocks, I always knew I’d see the finish line.

My new book, What the Years Remember, is a suspense/psychological drama novel that’s also set in New York City. In fact, some of the characters from Twice a Broken Breath play a supporting role in this story. But this book, as I not so affectionately called it as I wrote, was “the brain breaker.” How did I raise the bar for myself here? First, this novel has multiple narrators—something also almost new to me. And I didn’t expect to weave such a dense fabric. So many threads!

In fact, What the Years Remember took a long time to initially take shape. I had several vague, but related ideas, and while they sounded good in a few sentences, I knew they weren’t ideas that I could effectively or passionately write. I didn’t think the ideas that plagued me for months would ever take shape. Until one did. And I wrote, and wrote, and wrote. This book had a lot of threads to tie together, but I kept finding more.

I’ve lost count of the number of drafts I did. At least twelve. This book underwent major surgery multiple times. But finally, the “patient” was as well as this doctor of words could make it. I got to know the characters in ways I hadn’t imagined. Their secrets, which might have stayed hidden had I not persevered, revealed themselves.


Here’s the blurb:

Growing up in New York’s Hudson Valley, fraternal twins Amber and Jade were always different. Amber, somewhat shy and affable, is a happy, well-liked child. Jade, often angry, laments from an early age that others have what she covets. As the girls grow up, Jade’s jealousy escalates. Dangerously so.

At sixteen, enraged by their classmate Michael’s affection for Amber, Jade lures her sister to an abandoned lot, shoves her onto concrete, and leaves her for dead. Knowing Jade would try again, her parents agree to fake her death. Amber moves to New York City with her father, and Jade moves with her mother to Los Angeles.

Twenty-three years have passed. Amber is alive, happily married to Michael, with a son, and living in New York City under her new name. Jade, still living in California, has been cavalierly committing crimes. After a robbery attempt on a woman in Beverly Hills ends in her death, Jade flees to New York. Amber, quickly learning that her sister is nearby and a bigger threat than ever, goes on the offensive to stop Jade before she can decimate the lives of everyone Amber holds dear. But uncertainty, altered paths, and unexpected revelations can change everything.

You can buy What the Years Remember here:

All fourteen of my book are available in Kindle and paperback editions on Amazon.

Additionally, all are free to read in Kindle Unlimited.

 

 

 

 

THE WAITING HOUSE: A Novel in Stories

 

 

Hello, Friends,

My eleventh book, The Waiting House:  A Novel in Stories, is here. The title is quite appropriate, as I’ve waited a long time to get it out.

Cover art and design by Shykia Bell

Every time I publish a new book, I like to write a blog explaining how it came to be. As a multi-genre author (with leanings toward literary and contemporary fiction), I put a lot of thought (agonizing contemplation) over what to write next.

I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from my themed short-story collection, Hotel Obscure, where the same characters appear in different stories; many readers telling me that the book read to them like a novel. While it’s not a novel, it was my intention to give it that feel. So, when I decided to do a follow-up book, I thought I’d torture myself by raising the bar and this time, write a novel-in-stories / A Novel in Stories.”

In Writer’s Digest (2008), Scott Francis, a former editor and writer at WD Books, explains what a novel-in-stories is:

“A novel-in-stories is a book-length collection of short stories that are interconnected. (One of the very first examples of this genre is The Canterbury Tales; a more recent example is The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing, by Melissa Bank.) A novel-in-stories overcomes two key challenges for writers: the challenge of writing a novel-length work, and the challenge of publishing a book-length work of unrelated short stories. (Few publishers are willing to publish a short-story collection from an unknown writer.) So, the novel-in-stories helps you sell a story collection like you would a novel—as long as the interconnected nature of the stories is strong and acts as a compelling hook. Another advantage to novels-in-stories is that they afford you the opportunity to publish pieces of your novel in a variety of literary magazines, which might attract the attention of an editor or agent. (Editors and agents often troll literary publications looking for new talent to publish or represent.)”

When I began writing this, I asked myself at regular intervals if I was crazy. Would I be able to do this? It was tough to come up with unique stories and tie them to an overall story arc. I’ll admit it … I thought about quitting, but not being a quitter, I kept pushing myself, and then … finally … it all began to come together.

I’d written two novels after Hotel Obscure, so I had a lot of time to think about where to set this next collection. As it turns out, I really needed the time because I wanted a setting that I could see and that I felt passionate about. As I began to write, while I didn’t plan on it, The Waiting House took on a different tone than Hotel Obscure, with a decidedly Twilight Zone theme to it … something I never planned on doing, even though one story in HO fits that bill.

Graphic by Kathleen Harryman

Here’s the blurb:

Once an opulent hotel for lovers of the Hollywood lifestyle, today the imposing building survives, somewhere, as an apartment house for those who wait. Not all know what they’re waiting for, but the residents live in flawed concert with those of undetermined existence, among relics of the past, as they wait for answers, for lost loved ones, and for purpose.

While the stories feature different characters, many of whom are recurring, each tale couples with its own unique reality … and is narrated by Conrad, the “grand master.” There is an overall story arc: part literary fiction, part Twilight Zone … both with a healthy dose of dark humor.

If you step inside, you’ll meet Ava Elisabeth, now in her 80s. After 40 years in Paris, she has returned. But why? Darah, the owner, is tormented by the sudden reappearance of her estranged mother, Millicent.

Kenny finds a way to overcome the despair of his missing wife. Fiona lives in the shadow of her once-famous, movie-star mother. Former Santa, Alejandro, punishes himself with solitude and sadness. A disturbed woman, Carolyn, waits for her TV prince to come. And Lee is tortured by random people who slide down walls near his fourth-floor apartment. Under the same roof, each soul has a different story … but all live in The Waiting House.

I’ll leave you with that as I go off to imagine a possible third collection … one that will also take much thought to develop. In the meantime, I’ll be starting a new novel.

As are all of my books, The Waiting House: A Novel in Stories is available in paperback, Kindle, and is free to read on Kindle Unlimited.

Best wishes,

 

Lisette

The Kindle and paperback editions are available here:  (universal link)

 

 

 

 

 

HOTEL OBSCURE: A LONG ROAD TO THE BOOK I NEVER THOUGHT I’D WRITE

 

Short stories were never my thing. In my youth, with no direction but always a burning passion to write, I wrote one incomplete story after another. One story, however, many decades later, turned into my seventh novel, Barrie Hill Reunion. That anomaly aside, the writing of incomplete stories seemed like little more than a writing exercise for a young, searching mind.

Like many writers, I have folders filled with examples of my youthful angst and confusion: long-winded stream-of-consciousness musings, depressing poetry, and once in a while, a random ray of sunshine. Here’s one such wonder from my teenaged mind:

Wisdom entails years of sleep,

And waking to find the river is deep,

Falling closely, avoiding the rocks,

Knowing the world in a time without clocks.

 

Waves rush fiercely to salvage the drift,

Creations dancing on a whitened cliff.

Spring of water and honey pie,

Miraculous wonder which never can die.

 

But most of my poetry read more like this:

 

Trapped in a cage of gloom,

I wander all over the room.

At every bar, I chance for escape,

Forgetting it’s me in the long black cape.

 

And sometimes, my poetry was on the artistic side:


At the age of nineteen, I wrote 150 pages of an unfinished novel. As time went on, still without direction, I wrote four screenplays and two plays.

Years later, after a decade-long writer’s block and much introspection, figuring out that I had a simultaneous fear of both rejection and success, I started writing again. By now, I’ve learned that in order to complete something, I need to know what I want to complete. There’s nothing wrong with getting into a car and going for a ride without a destination, but after so long, I need to arrive somewhere.

The realization of what had been holding me back spurred me to write my first novel, Squalor, New Mexico, a 1970s coming-of-age story that takes place in East Coast suburbia.

I went on to become a multi-genre author of seven novels. People had often asked me if I’d ever written short stories. “No,” I had always replied. “My mind doesn’t work that way. My mind only works in long form. I need to write novels.”

And for the most part, maybe that’s true. But in 2015, when I was asked to write two short stories for an anthology called Triptychs: Mind’s Eye Series Book 3, I responded in the affirmative. After completing two short stories, inspired by two photos I was given, I realized the writing of short stories was not beyond my ken. (Insert smart-ass remark here from my brother, Kenneth; I know one is coming.)

While writing for the anthology showed me I could write short stories, it wasn’t enough of an impetus to write more. It was during the writing of my YA paranormal trilogy, The Desert Series, that I became increasingly frustrated by the limitations on language. So, after I finished the first book, while waiting for my edits to be returned, I unleashed my frustration by writing a short story in the literary fiction genre. Ah, what a joy it was to use any words that meandered through my mind. Before too long, I wrote another story.

Writing these stories not only made me feel good, but I found a way to keep on writing during the waiting period. While some authors can easily delve into a new novel, I only like to work on one at a time so I can completely immerse myself in the nuances of my story.

It was around that time that I decided I would slowly start building a themed collection. After three years, Hotel Obscure was finished. My goal had been to have at least fourteen stories, but to my delight, I ended up with seventeen.

Here’s the synopsis for Hotel Obscure:

In a run-down neighborhood in an unnamed city, people live and die in “the Obscure.”

Whether anyone remembers the real name of the derelict establishment is a mystery. In this six-story building, most who occupy the rooms are long-term residents, though some stay for as little as an hour.

The patronage is an eclectic group: musicians, writers, addicts, hookers, lonely people, poor people, rich people, once-well-off people, and those who have reason to hide from their former lives or to escape the demands of a disapproving and punishing society.

As shabby as the Obscure is, as long as its walls keep out the wind and the rain, it remains a shelter, a hideaway, and a home for the many bewildered souls.

Hotel Obscure is a collection of seventeen short stories that all take place in or around the “the Obscure.” While the stories stand alone, they are to be read in order. Some characters appear in multiple stories, and sometimes, a story will continue in an unexpected way.

The Obscure is life. It is death. In the blink of an eye, it may appear supernatural. It is a place we all visit … whether metaphorically or physically, at least once in our time on Earth.

And yes, my ninth book will be a novel. However, I have no doubt that I’ll slowly begin to build another short story collection. Not only do I enjoy literary fiction and having something to do between books, I also find the process of exploring themes and stories without turning them into novels extremely satisfying. But wow, what a trip it’s been to get here.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

LINKS TO BUY HOTEL OBSCURE

Kindle Edition

(FREE to read on Kindle Unlimited)

Paperback Edition