I strive to write exciting books with deep plots and intricate subplots interwoven to create a compelling story. Readers want to bond with characters and relate to their problems. With fifteen novels now published, I have learned it’s not always the main character readers relate to in a story, and more often than not, it’s the secondary characters who win their hearts—characters who may lack confidence or courage and have strange quirks or dark pasts.

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When building a world, it’s essential to research and know what you’re writing about, so I rely on history and my own life experiences to make my stories believable. Building solid, multi-faceted characters is just as important as world craft. A hero and/or heroine is only effective if the antagonist is a real threat, and every villain is a hero in their own mind. Therefore, I want my readers to understand why the antagonist feels animosity toward the protagonist or the world at large and possibly sympathize with them and their situation. 

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While working in my family law practice, I learned there is more than one side to any story. You have to listen to both individuals in a legal matter in order to fully understand the case, and in fiction, it’s the same thing. The author’s job is capture the reader’s interest and to solicit strong emotions about the characters and the situations they are placed in. Just like real life, it’s a matter of perspective on who a reader empathizes with and roots for in a story. People are complicated, after all. A reader deserves to know the full story and why characters are motivated to act or react  as they do and feel satisfied with the final outcome by the time they read 'The End.'

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- Susanne L. Lambdin, Author