In a Universe Far, Far Away

Since I'm waiting for little mini-me to make his appearance any day now, I've asked one of my good friends and fellow authors to come blog in my place today. (Trust me, at this point all I have to say is, "Get him out, get him out, get him out!" I'm so not fun.) Melissa Blue writes super cool, super snarky contemporary romance for The Wild Rose Press. And, if you haven't yet, totally check out her website - it's one of the cutest I've ever seen. Love the colors! Okay, take it away, Melissa...




I was once a Romantic Suspense author. I researched serial killers. I logged in hours, I mean hours of CSI and Cold Case to create not only a smart killer, but one that would inevitably get caught. The only problem... I couldn't solve the murder even knowing who the killer was.

Since this novel will ever see the light of day, I feel safe in telling you the ending. Though I should give you examples of what would make a good ending to a romantic suspense novel:

1.The killer is defeated by his/her own weakness. Let's say the killer loves animals. While a dead body is in the back of the trunk he/she pulls over to rescue an animal. A cop pulls up, smells something funny and voila, the killer is caught.

2.The killer is defeated by a innocuous mistake, because they are desperate to feed their need for killing. Let's say a special anniversary is coming up for the killer. Their first kill. The first time their mother beat them with a brush? What? You didn't know? All serial killers were abused by their mother? They have to kill to silence the voices. In a rage or eager to fulfill the urge, they kill someone and forget to be careful. The hero and heroine pick up on this mistake and catch the killer.

3.The all-time favorite of romantic suspense novels-- No one catches the killer. The killer seeks out the hero and/or heroine and they defeat him/her by getting the cops there to catch him/her or killing them in self-defense.

Since I know the make-up of a romantic suspense, how did I end my own?

The killer knows the hero, a cop, is hot on his tail; the killer decides to confront the heroine. He will make her pay. He enters her house. She puts up a brave front, while thinking of how much she loves the hero. How she wishes she would have told him how much she loved him while death is staring her in the face. And then she gets an idea that will defeat the serial killer. A man who has murdered six women and gotten away with it. A man who is now pointing a gun at her heart to get rid of his pesky problem.

The heroine throws a coffee mug at him and knocks him out cold.

Yes, you read that right. My heroine defeats a master-mind serial killer with a coffee mug to the head. Thus the beginning and the end of my romantic-suspense novelist career. I could quote the Thomas Edison quote here, something about finding 2,000 ways a light bulb didn't work to find the one right way. Or I could just say my short-lived career writing heart-thumping, a killer is on the loose-fiction was not for me.

I think I'll settle on this quote. It makes as much since to this post as defeating a serial killer with a coffee cup: "It's a sad day when you find out that it's not accident or fortune but just yourself that kept things from you." ~ Lillian Hellman

p.s. I discovered contemporary romance and succeeded.

What have you failed horribly at? Today is the day for confessions. Do so in the comments.


~Melissa Blue and I'm out~
http://melissablue.net