Ann Eichenmuller's Blog

Want to know more about Sandi Beck? Read her journal! I've met with quite a few fans who ask about Sandi Beck and tell me she's "such a real person." With that in mind, my character will be starting her own blog at www.sandibeckinvestigations.com . You can read about unpublished past cases and her current adventures aboard Andromeda.

Enjoyed the Q&A at a recent workshop I gave in Kilmarnock. It got me thinking about characterization. One of the attendees said she just didn't feel she "knew" one of the main characters in the sci fi book she was writing, and she wanted to know if she should just forge ahead or if she should try some exercise to figure it out. Here's the thing--for a character to be a living, breathing presence on the page, you have to know him or her intimately, perhaps better than you know yourself. So how do we learn about ourselves? By analyzing how we react in a myriad of situations. You see a stray dog--do you call the animal shelter? Do you feed it half of your sandwich? Do you walk by, pretending you don't see? Do you move to the other side of the street because you are afraid? What if it were a homeless man instead--or a mother trying to control three small children? Your reactions to these everyday, common situations say something about who you are and can help pr...

The Lies Beneath , the third book in the Lies series, will be out this July. As I did with The Lies We Are , I tried to incorporate contemporary issues while still crafting a fast-paced "whodunit"--this time looking into the use of biological weapons and potential threats to our country's food supply. I also listened to readers on this one--especially those who told me Sandi needed to "stop looking out for everyone else and do something for herself." The novel begins (of course) with a murder, but this time Sandi is on the move, sailing from her small town marina to Norfolk and points south, in search of a new life. So yes, expect a "side of romance" this time!