Please Welcome our Guest Author today — Rena Koontz
I’m thrilled to be a guest on Leanne’s blog today. I’d like to give you a peek behind the scenes of my newest romantic suspense, “Thief Of The Heart.”
I read an article in the RWA magazine, recently, advising authors not to write what they know but, instead, write what they don’t want other people to know.
The article advised us to tap into the deep, dark recesses of our lives where bad things are buried, and let our characters explore and capitalize on those emotions. That’s the path I followed with “Thief Of The Heart.”
The romantic suspense tells the story of a young woman who discovers that someone has broken into her apartment – her safe haven from life – and stolen her jewelry. Gone are the good gems, the ones hidden in her lingerie drawer. Most of us hide our precious trinkets in a spot we think is safe – the freezer; our underwear drawer; an empty shoebox tucked between real shoe holders. So did Jennifer Roberts, who realizes someone has rifled through her panties and bras and taken the red velvet box protecting her valuables. So did I.
A tidal wave of emotions overcomes Jennifer. First there is the fear that the intruder is still in the room, crouching in a corner, ready to spring. As useless as it is, a burglary victim immediately searches the house, looking for the culprit, even though the timing of the invasion is unknown. I even looked in the tiny closet that housed the hot water heater – a space barely big enough to squeeze in a broom, let alone a man.
Yes, the immediate assumption is that the thief is a man.
And then, anger replaces the fear. How dare he? Come into my home? Touch my intimate apparel? Roam through my apartment? Where else had he looked, pawed, encroached? Jennifer asks all of those questions. So did I.
And she wrestles with other feelings. The sense of loss over the pieces her late mother left her. Self-doubt that she had been careless, perhaps leaving the door unlocked or flaunting that ruby and diamond ring she’d saved and saved for, and finally owned. And yes, resentment. Why her? Why did this have to happen to her?
All of those emotions released as I wrote “Thief Of The Heart,” and Jennifer and I worked through them together. Jennifer also struggles with another emotion – love. When she calls the police, blond-haired, blue-eyed Max Domer knocks on her door, wearing a tailored police uniform that stops her heart and a smile that eventually captures it.
“Write what you don’t want people to know,” the RWA article advised. Well, I’m not ready to tell it all. You’ll have to read the book to decide if that part is true too!
To learn more about “Thief Of The Heart,” or my other romantic suspense novels, please check out my website, www.renakoontz.com. Thanks, Leanne.
Leanne Tyler 