I have a really interesting guest blogger today – she’s Genie Davis, who writes romantic suspense and is also a screen and TV writer. Genie’s books have won a number of awards, and her screen work spans a variety of genres from supernatural thriller to romantic drama, family, teen, and comedy. Cool, eh? You can check out her full bio here.
I’m going to turn the blog over to Genie so she can tell us what’s going on in her world.
The Theme I Never Knew I Had
I never set out to write something with a particular theme. The theme is just something organic, something intrinsic to the story that appears in the course of writing the narrative for me. Imagine my surprise, a few years back, when I was interviewing for a TV staff writing job – a position I unfortunately didn’t get – when the executive producer said “What would you call the theme of your writing? I see redemption.”
Well, come to think of it – that was true of the screenplays he was reading. And still is, with my books. In fact, now I have an as-yet-unpublished novel actually titled Redemption. That particular book is a supernatural thriller with a solid romance stuck in between the Stephen King-ish chills, with the redemption of faith over evil, life over death, and love over loss the big three themes in this story.
But redemption is my own creative “key word” as it were, and it crops up in almost everything I write. I’m aware of it now, although I still don’t plan it, but I have to thank that exec for pointing out to me what I do.
Of my published books, my current title, the romantic suspense Executive Impulse, features redemption as a theme in several ways – there is, of course, the redemption of love – detective Kate has given up on men and love in general, following a lousy marriage, and even though she initially rejects Andy, she knows the real thing when she sees it. Andy finds redemption for his own self-worth – through Kate, his journalism, and his ability to work at whatever piece of business he’s thrust into.
A mystery I have coming out soon, Marathon, includes the redemption of a mother-daughter relationship; of a rocky, on-again, off-again romance finding purpose; and the redemption of a psychic gift, once discounted.
Previous works, the romantic suspense titles The Model Man and Five O’Clock Shadow, both include the redemption of purpose and creativity as themes, along with that all important love-redeeming quality of the main protagonists’ relationships. My first novel, literary fiction with a strong noir spine, Dreamtown, is pure redemption – a man without purpose or direction finds a true calling, and love; while a woman, bereft of hope, finds salvation.
Yes, I’m a fanatic about redemption, and I hope you’ll find some redeeming fun and suspense in all my titles.
If you’d like a free digital copy of Executive Impulse, or a hard copy of Five O’Clock Shadow, like my Facebook fan page and post which book you’d like to own on my wall – I’ll pick three posters at random to win the book of choice. 🙂
Vanessa, here. You heard the lady! Hop on over to her facebook page for a chance to win one of her great books!