Interview with Romantic Suspense Author Therese Heckenkamp

Frozen Footprints, a Christian suspense thriller, includes some rather dark moments with a seriously-disturbed villain. The story, however, is never without hope. How do you balance the darkness and the light so that you allow the reader to contend with the horror your characters experience yet leave them with a satisfying, positive ending?

Frozen FootprintsWhile writing, I strive to find some positive moments amidst the hardships, even if they’re brief. Most readers will understandably give up on a story that goes too long without some kind of goodness or possibility of goodness occurring. Even if it appears to vanish for a time, there has to be some type of hope if I don’t want to end up with a novel of despair. (And I don’t! There are plenty of those out there.) How to bring in that lightness? It may be with another character, a positive perspective, a note of humor, an unexpected kindness, or a glimmer of faith. Similarly, a change in situation, or some form of comfort found in an unlikely place, may bring relief or an inspirational moment. Continue reading

Tuesday Talks: Halloween Reads

Tuesday Talks

Making videos is a little bit like exposure therapy for me. Maybe if I create videos more frequently, I’ll not only learn what I’m doing (note to self: record in HD), but get more comfortable watching myself on video. So, since one of my unwritten writing-related goals for the years was to put more videos on my YouTube Channel, and it’s nearly the end of October, what better time to link up with Tuesday Talks (over on Goodreads) than now? Continue reading