Please help me welcome C. Hope Clark, a colleague whose newsletters and website help writers on their journey to publication with practical tips and ideas for smaller markets. Her novel, Lowcountry Bribe, is the first in her Carolina Slade Mystery Series, published by Bell Bridge Books. I asked Hope to tell us about her fiction and her writing process.

I adore working on my novels. Having earned my stripes as a nonfiction writer, however, fiction proved more challenging, the effort like running through mud. However, once I delved into it, and spent years developing a voice, fiction became my preferred “fun” writing.

My biggest dislike of writing fiction is the first draft, without a doubt. Some writers adore this part, putting the pieces together, figuring out what the characters are saying, what they plan to do. That slow, methodical laying of groundwork is sluggish, and it takes me about an hour per hundred words unless a scene happens to click. Two steps forward and one step back.The next day, rereading the previous night’s work, rewriting, then trying to find some momentum to continue on . . . again, sluggish.

My most fun, however, is editing. I adore adding layer after layer of style, personality, and depth to the chapters. A swagger. A mention of the lamp in the room. Clothing. A hand movement. A coy remark. An original metaphor that nails the moment. A luscious red herring in the right spot that fits just right. And it’s not the first edit, because that second run through the book never finds all the flaws or adds enough pizzazz, either. The third, fourth, then up to the twelfth or fifteenth edit. Each one polished the story. Love, love, love this aspect of writing. Many dislike this part, and most stop too soon, but it’s these maneuvers that hone voice and make a story more professional.

Regardless of what aspect of fiction you love or hate, you have to own both ends of the spectrum and all steps in between, giving both the good and the bad its due attention, because it takes meshing what you adore and despise to make a story worthy of a reader’s dollar . . . and hours of enjoyment.

About the Book:
Threats, a missing boss, a very dead co-worker, a federal investigation and a sinister hog farmer: Carolina Slade is a bean-counting civil servant in hot water.  All hell breaks loose when she notifies authorities of a bribe, and now she could lose her job and her kids unless she breaks all the rules to solve a crime that’s nobody believes exists.

My Review:
C. Hope Clark has an engaging voice and her protagonist , Carolina Slade, has spunk, wit and a dilemma on her hands.I’m not much of a murder mystery reader, but I connected immediately with the character and the brisk yet colorful pacing kept me reading. Good work from a good writer, although it contains some references to violence and sex, for the faint of heart. I highly recommend this book. Good going, Hope! Here’s an Amazon link: Lowcountry Bribe

About the Author:
C. Hope Clark is author of The Carolina Slade Mystery Series, with Lowcountry Bribe being the first release of the series. Her publisher is Bell Bridge Books, and her agent is Dreisbach Literary Management. Lowcountry Bribe is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and most indie bookstores. Also, Kindle, Nook, Sony and Kobo for e-readers. Hope is also founder of FundsforWriters.com , a website chosen by Writer’s Digest Magazine for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for the past 12 years. The FundsforWriters newsletters reach 44,000 readers each week. Hope speaks to several conferences across the United States each year Contact her at: www.chopeclark.com / www.fundsforwriters.com