How a Book Emerges
by
Paty Jager
It was a mixture of things that prompted me to write Secrets of a Mayan Moon. First I’d read
a book that was dubbed “action adventure” and I was less than impressed.
Second, I mentioned this to a writer friend on the way to a writer’s
retreat. She then asked, “How would you
write an action adventure?”
And we spent the rest of the drive over and back brainstorming the
characters, the setting, and the tone. But I have to admit the tone ended up
darker than I’d first imagined. Once the characters started to develop and show
their inner demons and wants to me, I could no longer write the heroine in the
comedic way I’d first portrayed her in my brainstorming.
This is the beginning of the conversation between my friend and I
when this book started forming in my head.
Julie: Why don’t you write
one?
Me: I can’t write action
adventure and I’ve worked hard at branding myself. I write western or Native
American.
Julie: So make the heroine
have something to do with Native American studies.
Me: I guess that would work.
(here my brain started kicking into overdrive)
Julie: Where would you set
this story?
Me: South or Central America.
Julie: Why?
Me: I could use the heroine’s
studies of Native American Indians as her reason for traveling to countries
with drug problems.
Julie: Why?
Me: Because the hero would be
with the DEA.
Julie: What kind of heroine
will she be?
Me: Scholarly…genius level
having graduated with her doctorate at 20 or22.(a light bulb clicked in my
head as a slender girl with glasses wearing a long broomstick skirt, tank top,
and sandals formed in my mind) Her name
is Isabella Mumphrey.
Julie: (laughing) That’s a
great name! Tell me more about her.
I went on to describe Isabella and as soon as I returned home, I
began gathering the information and doing the research to write her book.
Have you ever read a book and wondered how the writer came up with
the idea?
Blurb
for Secrets of a Mayan Moon
Child prodigy
and now Doctor of Anthropology, Isabella Mumphrey, is about to lose her job at
the university. In the world of publish or perish, her mentor’s request for her
assistance on a dig is just the opportunity she’s been seeking. If she can
decipher an ancient stone table—and she can—she’ll keep her department. She
heads to Guatemala, but drug trafficking bad guys, artifact thieves, and her
infatuation for her handsome guide wreak havoc on her scholarly intentions.
DEA agent Tino
Kosta, is out to avenge the deaths of his family. He’s deep undercover as a
jaguar tracker and sometimes jungle guide, but the appearance of a beautiful,
brainy anthropologist heats his Latin blood taking him on a dangerous detour
that could leave them both casualties of the jungle.
Excerpt
Isabella climbed out of the boat, keeping as much distance between
her and Tino as possible. He’d humiliated her, and she couldn’t get away from
him. They were stuck together tonight and all of tomorrow until he delivered
her to the dig. His taunting her with a kiss and then drawing away as if she
were some vile creature hurt as deeply as the things Darrell Rutley had said to
her face in grad school.
She walked into the forest, hunting for a place to have a few
moments to herself.
“Do not go far,” Tino called in his seductive Latin accent.
She cursed her reaction to his voice, raised a hand acknowledging
his order, and tromped deeper into the trees. The murmur of the river faded
away in the steady drone of mosquitoes. She slapped at the leaves on the plants
and wandered deeper. Rustling in the underbrush shot her heart into her throat.
Jaguars were nocturnal weren’t they?
A small, furry, pig-like animal trotted across her path, followed by five
smaller versions.
She giggled at her jumpy nerves and the animals’ comical parade as
she watched the last one disappear through the greenery. The waning light
enlarged the shadows. Reluctance played war with her logical self. She should
return to the boat before darkness descended and she couldn’t find her way
back. But her pride, something she usually didn’t consider, wouldn’t let her
face Tino.
Not yet.
It was stupid to believe he wanted to kiss her. Tino was handsome,
virile, and so unlike any of the men she’d met during her college days or
professionally. Exactly the type who toy
with women like me. His chivalry and her attraction to him made her feel
attractive, something she rarely experienced. But the way he brushed her off
after he’d initiated the kiss... He’d only proved he could kiss her and not
that he wanted her. She mentally slapped herself at her stupidity and virginal
cravings.
The walk hadn’t settled her anger. Reliving the event only
escalated her rage.
How could one be a genius yet stupid about life lessons?
She pulled out what she now considered her knife and hacked at the
plants along the way. With each swing she lopped off something of Tino’s. Blue
penetrating eyes. Devastating smile. A hand, so good at soothing her. The other
hand. Her smile grew, and her frustration turned to the healthy exhaustion of
an extensive taekwondo class.
Isabella wiped a sleeve across her sweaty brow and heaved a sigh of
contentment. The vigorous exercise worked wonders on her disposition.
A fierce roar vibrated through the trees.
Secrets
of a Mayan Moon is available at Windtree Press Kindle,
and Nook,
Also
starting this month I’m giving away gift cards to restaurants and book outlets.
Stop in and see how you could win!
Award winning
author Paty Jager is a member of national and local writing organizations. She
not only writes the western lifestyle she lives it. With sixteen novels and
several short stories published, she continues to have characters cavorting in
her head.
You can learn
more about Paty at her blog; www.patyjager.blogspot.com her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager
, Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1005334.Paty_Jager and twitter;
@patyjag.
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