Hi Suki! Thanks for joining me on my blog today to talk about your new novella Skeleton which is released on the 1st of October. Blurb Jan has given up on love, at least the romantic kind. He loves his five-year-old son Henry more than anything. But when Henry starts school, Jan is introduced to Matthew, a very sweet but shy young man who helps out in Henry’s class. Although he tries desperately to ignore his attraction, Jan finds himself falling for Matthew—he's everything Jan needs. But amid creepy silent phone calls and possible break-ins, things start to fall slowly apart for Jan. Matthew wants to trust Jan, but the skeleton Jan has been trying to keep buried in his closet and the guilt he feels threatens to destroy everything good in his life. |
About two weeks. I didn’t plan the suspense aspect—that just happened. Though I admit it does just happen quite a lot in my writing :P
I like writing suspense mainly because I like reading it. I like not knowing what’s going to happen in a story. It keeps me turning the pages.
Do you plan your stories, chapter by chapter? Or just write as they come?
Skeleton just came in one. I had no real idea where it was going when I started writing only that Jan was going to fall in love with someone who helped out at his son’s school. The rest just fell into place. Normally it doesn’t fall into place quite so easily, so Skeleton is quite unusual for me in that respect.
This is Not a Love Story was not planned either but I knew where it was going from the start (I had the ending and those boys just had to reach it somehow).
I have planned stories in the past but I take care not to plan too much as it tends to kill my inspiration. At the moment I am writing Julian’s story (from This is Not a Love Story) and he is pretty down with this planning lark, so we’ll see how that goes.
How do you pick names for your characters? Ah, now for the long explanation about what inspired me to write this story in the first place ;P Jan’s name is the Dutch form of John and pronounced “Yan.” We camp in the south of France some summers on a tiny campsite that is mostly populated by Dutch or French campers. Jan was the name of one of our neighbours (a young man of about 20). As soon as I heard him telling a bunch of French kids (in English as it’s the common language) about his name and I knew I was going to write a story. (I do find it strange he’ll never know he inspired this story.) Mostly I’m either struck over the head with character names like that or I struggle with them. Romeo/Remee, Julian, Crash and Pasha from This is Not a Love Story all kind of hit me over the head with their names too. |
Thanks dude :)
I like dark and angsty, and deep and mysterious, but actually Skeleton isn’t particularly any those apart from mysterious. Perhaps the title is misleading? :P There is quite a lot of sweetness in this one but Jan does have a skeleton he’s trying to forget and bury his guilt about. There is definitely a suspenseful theme going on in there, but mostly it’s pretty angst free (though this of course my angst scale which might be slightly skewed :P).
Do you have another book coming?
Wild Summer is my next release on the 23rd October 2014 from Harmony Ink/Dreamspinner. It’s a stand alone spin off about Crash one of the characters from This is Not a Love Story. You don’t have to have read This is Not a Love Story for it to make sense and it, again, is not quite so dark and angsty, mainly because Crash is not a particularly angsty character. Also, Wild Summer has one of my favourite covers so far J
Pick a favourite paragraph or quote from Skeleton to tease us with.
Beyond the distant trees, the sun is sinking, leaving fire-shot ribbons of blue, clouds like the tail ends of meteors.
Jan opens the gate and stops in front of the front door, pulling Matthew with him under the shelter of the overhanging roof.
“I want to know everything about you,” Jan admits, bringing his hand up to gently brush away the raindrops from Matthew’s cheek, while trying desperately to hold his gaze.
There is a fire in his veins, burning through the tips of his fingers, and he wonders if Matthew can feel it. He wonders if that’s why Matthew’s breathing changes, if he needs his inhaler.
Reluctantly breaking the contact, Jan pulls out his keys to open the front door.
It occurs to him that this is the first time he has ever brought home anyone he wants to sleep with this badly. For Henry’s sake, he always told himself he needed to keep this part of his life separate. But now, looking at Matthew half-drowned, shivering, and otherworldly in the most beautiful way, Jan thinks maybe he just hadn’t found the right person to bring home before.
Thanks for joining us today, Suki. Before we go, where can we buy your book, and where can we send our deluge of fan mail to?
Buy Links:
Dreamspinner Press
Amazon.com
All Romance eBooks
Suki Fleet Wordpress: http://sukifleet.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suki.fleet.3
Email: [email protected]