BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR KIM CRESSWELL

Trained as a legal assistant, Kim Cresswell has been a story-teller all her life but took many detours, including working for a private investigator, running a graphic design business, and teaching computer classes at a local business school. After becoming disabled with Fibromyalgia and Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome, she returned to her first love, writing. Kim has a busy year ahead of her with three releases coming in 2013. Learn more about her and her books at her website. – AP 

CONFESSIONS OF A GAMER CHICK:   Love for a Good Story

I'm not much of a crafty type person, and I really don't enjoy cooking anymore. I wish I did. My children are grown and married, but over the years, one thing hasn't changed...

I am a gaming junkie. I have been since the '80s—the decade of big hair, leg-warmers, snap-crotch bodysuits (remember those?), acid washed jeans and authors Danielle Steel and Jackie Collins.

It was also a time when gaming evolved from arcade style games (Pacman and Space Invaders) to plot based games.

One of the first games I played was Kings Quest, an adventure game, the first of the series, which followed the fictional royal family of the Kingdom of Daventry. To show my age even more <grin> I played the game on a Commodore Amiga 500, a 16-bit computer which cost me $400.00. Ouch, what was I thinking?

photo: obsoletecomputemuseum.org/amiga500

Much like a great suspense or mystery novel, Kings Quest involved a quest, solving riddles, and completing tasks using logic and lateral thinking.

The main character, a brave knight, was motivated by the desire to protect his family and shield the innocent from evil. If he succeeded, he would become king and eventually throughout the game series, find his queen (yes, romance.) The villains created hardship for the inhabitants, threatened the security of Daventry, and battled to defeat other kingdoms.

photo: stockfreeimages.com

Fast forward to 2013.  I'm still a die-hard PC gamer and known to play first-person shooters (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3) but I'm still drawn to adventure, fantasy and  RPG's (Role Playing Games.) 

Why?

Mystery. Suspense. I want the hero to triumph over the bad guys!  I want a Happily Ever After ending! It must be the writer and the reader in me.

As an author, what have I learned from years of gaming? A lot, in particular, the importance of story structure, GMC (Goal, Motivation and Conflict), pacing and plotting. If I get frustrated or stuck with the direction my plot is going, The Big List of RPG Plots by S John Ross (download it here) is an excellent resource and idea generator.    

Do you play games? What type of games do you play?

Let the games begin!

REFLECTION

Florida investigative reporter, Whitney Steel, has lived in the shadow of her legendary father long enough. To prove herself she needs to find the “Big” story.

She found it.

Now it may kill her.

After receiving a lead pointing to the world's first cloned human, now a small child, Whitney vows to unravel the truth. However, sifting through the facts proves to have dangerous results, including death threats and murder.

When she's nearly killed, but is saved by undercover FBI Special Agent, Blake Neely, he refuses to let her get in the way of his own objective—at least not right away.

Caught in a lethal game between a billionaire obsessed with genetic perfection, his hit man’s thirst for retribution, and a Colombian drug lord fresh out of prison determined to make Blake pay for his twin brother’s death over a decade ago…

Can they save an innocent child before it’s too late?

Faced with tough choices, with deadly consequences for many—Whitney soon realizes that sometimes a story becomes more than just a story.

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