My Ghost Story

In just a few short weeks, the third book in the Cemetery Tours series, After Death, will be available on Amazon and Kindle (and Nook shortly thereafter).  I can’t wait.  This is a book I’ve been working on for over a year.  I knew what I wanted for it, but for some reason, it took TWO rewrites to get it to where I wanted it to be.  It would have been easy to simple finish the first version and publish it, but I would not have been happy with it.  There was no real plot.  My characters and especially my readers deserve better than that.  So I started over from scratch.

Two days after the release, I will also be speaking to a small group about me and about my books.  I’ve got to tell y’all, I’m not that great at talking about my books, but I’m even worse at talking about myself.  I’m just really not that interesting.  I have interesting stories.  But me as a person?  Kind of boring.

I’ve been trying my best to come up with ideas for my presentation.  I will certainly include a synopsis of the first book as well as a little bit about the next two.  But you know, the question I get asked most often is, “So what inspired you to write a ghost story?”

I know I’ve answered this question multiple times on my blog, but those posts are lost in the binary infinity that is the internet.

My love for ghost stories began at a young age.  I grew up in a house that celebrated Halloween the way most people celebrate Christmas.  My whole family just loves it.  Ghosts, witches, vampires, zombies, I could never get enough.  My mother and I were (and still are) particularly fond of all the ghost-hunting and unexplained mystery documentaries that aired around All Hallows Eve.  I remember learning about notorious haunting grounds, such as the Del Coronado Hotel.  I knew then that I wanted to have a ghost experience of my own.

It never occurred to me to actually write a ghost story until 2010, when I suffered a very sudden and unexpected loss in my family.  Long story short, I was devastated.  I’d never hurt like that before.  I actually felt my heart breaking.  I turned to my faith in God to help see me through.  But I also turned to the paranormal.

I became obsessed in proving to myself that life did continue on after death.  I visited libraries and bookstores seeking rock solid testimonies of psychics, mediums, religious figures, and those who’ve endured Near Death Experiences.  I scoured Scripture for passages that referred to death and life eternal.  Perhaps most importantly, I began tuning into ghost hunting shows, particularly one called Ghost Adventures.

It was during that time that I began writing a story about a guy who could see ghosts and a girl who was haunted by a spirit of a loved one.  It was a mess.  Of course, I never really intended to publish it.  It was just a story that I began writing to make myself feel better.

It didn’t really become something more until I was over at my friends’ apartment one night watching Criminal Minds.  Now, I’m a huge fangirl.  You all know this about me.  That night, I was introduced to Dr. Spencer Reid portrayed by Matthew Gray Gubler and let me tell you, it was love at first sight.  Crazy?  Perhaps.  But I knew then and there that I’d found the inspiration for my main character.  He just looks like the kind of guy who would see ghosts and who would be an adorable mess trying to figure it all out.

Shortly thereafter, I realized my story was missing one key element: An enthusiastic ghost hunter.  Cue Ghost Adventures and the creation of Luke Rainer.

After that, the story naturally fell into place.  I knew going in that there would be at least two books in the series.  That soon turned to three.  Now the plan is five.  Both books are already planned out and I can’t wait to write them.  I can’t tell you a lot, but I can tell you that the fourth book is going to be set in Scotland.  It’s going to be so much fun to write I can’t even tell you.  Hopefully it will be just as much fun to read, if not more so!

Until then, I hope you enjoy After Death. And if you haven’t read the first two, I hope you’ll enjoy them as well!  Preferably before you read the third.  But you know, there’s no law that says you have to read a book series in order.  Just do me a favor and don’t tell me if you do.

Love you all!  Talk to you soon!

Character Interview: Michael Sinclair

Back when I first started writing, to get to know my characters, I would interview them.  I’d make up questions, kind of like a survey, and I’d write out responses as those characters.  This is kind of the same idea, except I thought I’d give my characters a chance to interview me for a change.  Up first, the serie’s underdog hero and reluctant medium, Michael Sinclair.

Note: This shouldn’t contain too many spoilers, but if it does, I apologize.

Michael Sinclair (MS):  This is kind of weird.

Jackie Smith (JS):  Yeah, I know. Just go with it.

MS:  Okay. Well, I guess I’d have to start this interview off by asking… Why me?

JS:  What do you mean?

MS:  Why won’t you let me catch a break?  Why do you like to torture me?

JS:  I don’t torture you.  You’ve actually got it pretty good compared to a lot of fictional guys out there.

MS:  I see ghosts, I can’t find a job, I get kidnapped, I get tortured, my girlfriend is always ending up in the hospital…  Why can’t you write a book about me where I win the lottery or I take a romantic, ghost-free getaway with Kate to a tropical island?

JS:  Because you don’t play the lottery and neither of you could afford that. Neither could I, for that mat ter.

MS:  Am I ever going to find another job?  Let’s face it, I’m not going to be able to pay rent much longer.

JS:  I have an idea for you.  I think Luke is really going to like it.

MS:  Oh, great. Of course Luke is going to like it.  You like him so much better than me.

JS:  Not true.  If I did, then he would have ended up with Kate.

MS:  Okay then, here’s a real question.  How come I can see ghosts?

JS:  It was a story I always wanted to write, especially after I experienced a loss myself.  I didn’t really know how to characterize you, however, until I started watching Criminal Minds and discovered Matthew Gray Gubler as Spencer Reid.  You know that’s who you’re based off of, right?

MS:  Yeah, you remind me all the time.  I think you like him better than me, too.

JS:  Wait a minute, I thought you were supposed to be this super sweet, nerd of my dreams kind of guy. Where is all this sass coming from?

MS:  Don’t ask me.  You wrote me like this.  Speaking of which, did you mean to make me so two-dimensional or is that just part of the protagonist’s curse?

JS:  Why do you think you’re two-dimensional?  You’re not two-dimensional.

MS:  All anyone knows about me is that I see ghosts and I feel sorry for myself.  A lot.  Why didn’t you give me more depth?

JS:  I totally gave you depth.  Your problem is that once you discovered you were the only one seeing these spirits, your entire life began to revolve around making sure no one else figured it out.  It didn’t give you a whole lot of room to branch out, and for that, I’m sorry.

MS:  So, while you were thinking up ways to ruin my life, you never thought to maybe make my power a little more, oh, I don’t know, cool?

JS:  What does that mean?

MS:  I mean, you read all these books and watch these TV shows about mediums who can not only see dead people, but predict the future, time travel, read minds, all that stuff.  How come I can’t do that?  How come I only get the ghosts?

JS:  Because all of that would make these books a lot more complicated.

MS:  Oh, okay.  As long as it makes everything easier for you.

JS:  Seriously, are you always this snarky when I write you?  I thought I gave you a pretty good life.  Cool ghost best friend, cute girlfriend, and at least you’re not like Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense.  You don’t see hanging people or kids with their brains blown out.

MS:  I guess I should be thanking you for that.

JS:  You’re welcome.

MS:  I’m still not particularly thrilled with you, though.

JS:  Yeah, I’m sensing that.

MS:  So tell me, are good things ever going to happen to me?

JS:  You are far too melodramatic, you know that?  And I’m not going to tell you if good things will happen or not.  You know I can’t make you any promises.  But if it all works out the way I think it will…  You’ll just have to wait and see.