Winners @ The Book Bag!

I have 2 winners to announce!

They each win a paperback copy of

Reckless Abandon

by Jenn Flynn-Shon

And the winners are ~~

Rita and Shelly!!

Congrats to both of you!

An email will be sent soon.

Thank you, Jenn for the fabulous book!

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

On Tour: Jenn Flynn-Shon, Voices and a Giveaway!

Yesterday I posted my thoughts about Reckless Abandon by Jenn Flynn-Shon. You can read them here. Today I have Jenn here answering the 'voices' question I like to ask authors.

Jenn ~ I have heard other authors say that they 'hear voices in their head' and that is how they write their books: the characters are telling their stories. Not being a writer myself, that concept has always intrigued me.

When some people hear voices, we get them medical attention, others end up becoming writers. Does this happen to you? How do you come up with your stories?

Hearing Voices: The Author is Only the

Vehicle to Write a Character’s Story

Whenever someone asks me if I hear the character’s voice in my head while writing I don't really know how to respond. There are times I want to say ‘oh of course’ but then I'm afraid of being committed because the other person won't really understand that what I really mean is I’m just a vehicle for the character to come through so they can live out of my head and on the page.

Writers of fiction don't write their own life for the most part. There will be obvious similarities to who they are but a character will be much larger than them. For example, in Reckless Abandon I have a few things in common with my main character, Shaw. We are both writers, we're both Irish, both married to guys in the mortgage industry, and we both suffer from issues with low blood sugar. But that’s about where the similarities end. When I started writing her, Shaw pretty much took over and wrote her own story.

Yes I realize this may make me sound crazy but don't call the guys with the white coats just yet, let me explain.

While writing this novella I knew I wanted to tell the story of the average married couple who come to discover that their lives are in fact anything but typical. I wondered what I'd do if thrust into a similar situation as Shaw – coming home one day to find her husband has vanished very suspiciously. I too would call the cops. I too would pour myself a glass of wine mid-afternoon. But there was no way a teary eyed me would sustain an entire novella so with Shaw I heard a little voice saying ‘there has to be more.’

So I gave her more. A lot more. I let a cop get killed in her house, I let her flee the scene by the skin of her teeth and I had her freak out right before she turned to the one person she felt she could trust to help her. Shaw’s life was simple, easy and uncomplicated but all of a sudden her only option was to raise the stakes of complication. I wasn't sure at first I wanted her to contact her ex-fiancé but she kept saying ‘you really have no choice.’ And she was right. So she tracked down JJ.

With shady police involved in her husband’s disappearance she needed a solid person, someone she knew was clean and trustworthy. But I never expected the fireworks that these two were about to encounter. She was hesitant but desperate. He was bitter but easily convinced. They had loved each other once and she was in trouble. He had to soften to her and she had to see how great a guy she once let slip away. ‘But I'm still married’ she reminded me and I had to figure out how to make that part work.

As I wrote their dialogue it was as if Shaw and JJ were living people, a couple talking at the next booth over in a diner and I was documenting every word they said to each other. I could feel how much he despised her for having left him two decades prior. And I could feel her true sorrow for the way she'd ended it when she was still just a stupid kid with stars in her eyes and dreams of a big career in NYC. It was as if I was placed in charge of telling the story of two people I knew inside and out.

Because of this, the voices of the characters aren't telling me what to write or shouting at me per se, they just show up and I get their words out. Through my fingers I form them into complete people with quirks and missteps, fortune and stupidity and everything in between. They show me who they can be and I shape them into the most relatable versions of themselves that the world can identify with.

I use the glimmer of their voice to channel through my own in the retelling and they come out with the clear honesty of the real people they are. In my head.

Visit the other stops on the tour

Connect with Jenn

Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon | Twitter

Writesy | Ripple the Twine | Reckless Abandon






a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

On Tour: Reckless Abandon by Jenn Flynn-Shon and a Giveaway!

How far would you go for love? Young Adult fiction Author, Shaw McLeary, returns from Whole Foods to discover her husband, Danny, is gone. So is their stash of cash, his clothes, passport, and her wedding rings. He took off in a hurry and left her behind. While trying to piece it all together Shaw witnesses a cop’s murder in her home. Determined not to become the next victim, she flees. She fears dirty cops are involved in Danny’s disappearance. There's only one person she can trust to help her - JJ Anderson, Private Investigator. Also, her ex-fiancé.

A retired Phoenix cop turned PI, Shaw hopes JJ will be inclined to take her case. Despite his resentment for how their relationship ended, he agrees to help her track down leads on Danny. They chase the clues from Phoenix to Manhattan to upstate New York. In such close quarters Shaw finds it difficult to maintain a professional distance from her first real love. Then what happens if she finds Danny? Can she still love a man who abandoned her or is she too drawn to fixing her past mistake to let go of JJ again? ~~ synopsis from Goodreads

My thoughts about Reckless Abandon ~~

Reckless Abandon is a very enjoyable read, a novella of about 150 pages, with a great story within those pages. Shaw comes home from the grocery store one day and finds her home ransacked and her husband gone. Right from the start she is afraid something has happened to him, surely he wouldn't just up and leave her, would he?

'I longed to be wrapped in the comfort of my tee-shirt sheets and breeze from the ceiling fan. If I knew two nights ago might be the last time I'd have the chance to sleep next to him I might have been nicer. I might had tried to bridge the distance between us instead of saying 'whatever' when he prompted an argument.'

And then, a cop gets killed at her front door. Yikes! She takes off and seeks out the only person she trusts, an ex-boyfriend from way back. But seriously, why would he want to help her, after she left him all those years ago?

'He smelled just like nostalgia.'

I love that line ~ memory smells really are so powerful!

I enjoyed everything about Reckless Abandon. It was fast paced and action packed (think car chases and bullets) and held my interest all the way though. I could have very easily devoured this book in one sitting, if my real life wouldn't have interfered. I love it when a book captures my attention so much that I don't want to stop reading. Sometimes I wish I could quit my day job and devote my life to reading all these amazing books out there!

Oh, did I mention that Shaw is a writer? I loved this exchange in the book. Sorry, all you romance writers out there ~ I love you, but this line was funny.

"Besides, there have to be better places than this dingy old office for you to set up shop. What about Starbuck? I hear a lot of writers like to work there."

"I don't write romance."

Ah, snap!

Reckless Abandon is a great book you won't want to miss. And I am looking forward to reading more of Jenn's stories.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow
when Jenn will tell us if she hears voices.

About the author

Hi, my name is Jenn Flynn-Shon and I'm the Author of two books (Ripple the Twine, Reckless Abandon), a Chapbook (Trying for the Moon), multiple Zines, and Randomness and Lunacy (a digital-journal blog).

I've been writing since age eleven and began penning fiction by age thirteen. My first publication was a poem published under a pen name in Bop Magazine in 1989. Since then I've had articles and interviews published online and in print.

I'm a two-time winning participant in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) (2009, 2010), an active member of the Scottsdale Society of Women Writers and Arizona Authors Association.

When I make time to relax I love to hang out with my husband at our home in Phoenix, AZ, explore the country on road trips, watch my Boston sports teams, share laughs with friends and family, and read everything from blogs to novels. I make a point to write daily, and I'm a shameless self-promoter.

Connect with Jenn

Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon | Twitter

Writesy | Ripple the Twine | Reckless Abandon

Visit the other stops on the tour

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!