Jacqui Morrison is our guest blogger today. Jacqui has written two suspense thrillers for Lachesis Publishing – Kaitlyn Wolf Crown Attorney and The Vigilante. Her books delve into the gritty underpinnings of society.

Today Jacqui shares what inspires her writing . . .

I am a visual person and a people watcher. The best writers I know have an extra spectator quality: the ability to be at an event and to be able to observe and participate. Once I heard that term for the first time I had an ‘ah ha’ moment, I was not alone; there were other people like me. I embraced my quirkiness as a gift.

As a child I was a dreamer and imagined entire mansions full of secret staircases and hidden rooms. Doesn’t every child dream in colour? If not they should, it’s fun. Those early dreams morphed into daydreams, which turned into detentions for not paying attention at school. I’d love to go back in time and let those teachers know that daydreams inspire my novel writing.

I saw a woman (a stranger) walking across the road in my town in northern Ontario, Canada. The stranger was of Aboriginal descent, proud, beautiful and serene. Her features, high cheekbones combined with piercing brown eyes, enchanted me. I knew one day she’d become a character. The chance encounter with the stranger, who I never saw again, percolated in my sub-conscious and she became the protagonist in my novelKaitlyn Wolf Crown Attorney. The story of an Anishnaabe woman who experienced multiple tragedies as a youth, rose above her circumstances and became a Crown Attorney only to be foiled by defense lawyer Maxine Swayman known as ‘The Barracuda”.

Maxine Swayman, my reoccurring antagonist, is a red-haired, spitfire of a woman with beauty, poise and intellectual brilliance. She’s manifested from my Irish heritage and the plethora of strong females I have known throughout my life. Maxine’s personality comes from watching lawyers on Court T.V. on television, in court in real life and from my imagination. Maxine Swayman is the antagonist in both my novels Kaitlyn Wolf Crown Attorney and The Vigilante

I’m inspired by well-known authors including: Peter Robinson the author of the Inspector Banks mysteries, Agatha Christie, Linwood Barclay, and Margaret Mitchell, to name a few.

Mysteries, my genre of writing, are like a puzzle. If you lose one or two puzzle pieces you’ll never fully complete the picture. It’ll haunt you.

Mysteries, like those enigmatic mansions I created in my mind as a child, are my puzzles. I’ll spend hours and days planting clues, and writing plot twists and when I’m stuck, I’ll spend time in nature. Nature’s beauty never stops inspiring me and after a needed break, I’ll return to my laptop ready to continue unraveling the puzzle.

Connect with Jacqui Morrison on her web site, and on facebook and twitter.

Follow Lachesis Publishing on twitter and like our facebook page.

Jacqui Morrison is our guest author today. Jacqui has written two suspense thrillers for Lachesis Publishing – Kaitlyn Wolf Crown Attorney and The Vigilante. Her books delve into the gritty underpinnings of society.

When did you first realize you wanted to become a writer and why?

When my husband and I had our little girl we could only get two TV stations. While on maturity leave I wrote a newspaper column and some fictional short stories. When I read my fictional storySelf-Imposed Isolation out loud people cried. It was then that I knew.

Describe your favourite place to write?

In the winter my favourite place to write is in a recliner in my bedroom. In the summer, I have a little cabin in our yard named WRITER’S BLOCK.  I can hear the birds as I sit in my cabin and write.

What would I find on your desk at this very moment?

I have a book on mediation for work and two or three files of projects I’m working on. It’s a real mish-mash.

What is your tea/coffee beverage of choice when you’re writing?

Coffee, coffee and more coffee.

What do you love to read?

I took some advice from another writer. He suggested I read books out of my genre. I love mystery and suspense, which are my genre. I choose a non-fiction topic each winter and read everything I can on the subject. The non-fiction helps to inspire my fiction.

What is some good advice you can give to an emerging writer?

Don’t ever give up. Follow your writing with passion. Hone your craft by attending workshops and meeting other writers.

What do you do after you finish a book? Do you celebrate or take a nap?

I put the manuscript away for at least three weeks. I’ll work on other pieces and clean my house. If you come by and my house is immaculate then feel free to ask me about the manuscript I just completed.

You have written two suspense/thrillers for Lachesis – tell us about both books and what inspired them?

I love law and justice – which do not always co-exist. I was inspired to write stories about strong women who had tremendous issues to overcome.
 
You work in the legal/law enforcement world – how has your work influenced your writing?

It was the opposite for me. Like my interest in writing, I fell into my career. I saw an advertisement to work at a crisis shelter for women and their children and although I did not have a social work background, I took a risk and applied. In time, I became the court worker for the shelter.

What are you working on next?

I am working on the follow-up to The Vigilante (Murder in the City series). Detective Lynette Wilton and defense lawyer Maxine Swayman will be back in the next book.

Connect with Jacqui Morrison on her web site, and on facebook and twitter.

Follow Lachesis Publishing on twitter and like our facebook page.