The Romantic Side of Suspense Author Sarah Hamaker

“Sometimes our writing kind of tells us what to write,” says Jerusha Agen. “Writing suspense fits tendencies of my personality because I do tend to be a fearful person. … I have a hyperactive imagination. So I’m really always imagining worst-case scenarios and danger. In a way, I think writing romantic suspense gives me a healthy channel for the tendencies instead of just freaking myself out in my daily life. I can actually put it in a book, and have more control over it and have a positive lesson come out of it as well.”

“You’re always sort of riding that fine line of believable, but pushing the edge of it,” Jennifer says. “You want to put people in really strange and difficult situations, and you want the stakes to escalate. You want things to get more challenging. … People have to get lost in the story world and feel like it can happen. … One of the questions we ask ourselves as writers is what’s the worst thing that could happen right now?”

“I have written other genres, but romantic suspense is the one that I keep going back to,” Melissa says. “I think it really comes down to my two favorite things in writing—intrigue/mystery and any kind of really super-intense emotions. And so this is a genre that really covers all of that and marries it beautifully.”

“The Bible has everything in it because we’re all human beings,” Michele says. “There’s stories about human beings and all of the trials and tribulations we go through. There is a lot of suspense in there. There is a lot of heartache and challenges and triumphs. The Bible is a conglomeration of stories about us and all that we face. … I’ll never run out of material.”