RPLA SHOWCASE: Maris Soule

Published Thriller

A teenager is missing in Skagway, Alaska, and Officer Katherine Ward is assigned the case, never expecting it to parallel her own kidnapping experience seventeen years before.

At the 2017 Royal Palm Literary Award Banquet, author Maris Soule won First Place for her published novel, Echoes of Terror. Each year at the RPLA Banquet, authors experience the joy of earning accolades for all the hard work that is often done in the privacy of the home with little to no recognition. We’re showcasing the best of the best with our First Place winners spotlight. Not only does RPLA recognize extraordinary talent, but we’re giving readers an opportunity to sample excerpts from the winning stories.

Maris Soule

Published in both romance and mystery, Maris Soule grew up In California, moved to Michigan with her husband, and now spends the winters in Florida. Besides writing, she’s taught art.

Click here to read an excerpt of Echoes of Terror.

An interview with Maris

Q. Where do you get your story ideas?

My ideas for stories come from everywhere: people talking, newspapers, TV news, etc. The idea for Echoes of Terrorwas born the day Elizabeth Smart gave a TV interview. (She was in her 20s then, looked poised and sophisticated.) Watching her, I wondered what the long-term effects were from her kidnapping, if she’d really put the experience behind her. That was when Katherine Ward came into being. Katherine is a police officer with the Skagway, Alaska police force, is in her early thirties, and living a seemingly normal life…until she’s assigned a kidnapping case that echoes her own kidnapping back when she was fourteen. Now she must face her terrors again and find two teenagers before they are killed.

Q. Anything in particular about your award winning RPLA entry that you’d like to share?

I wanted to set the story somewhere where Katherine wouldn’t be able to turn the case over to someone else and the kidnapper couldn’t easily take his victims far away. When I started, it just so happen I had friends who spent their summers in Skagway. The location was perfect (somewhat isolated area and small police department), and it gave me a chance to visit Alaska. Once there, those friends drove me all around the area, and I was able to set up interviews with both a National Park ranger and a Skagway police officer. That was wonderful. What was sad was during the years it took me to write and polish this book, several more kidnappings and rescues of women (and boys) were reported, cases were the victims were held for years. Since writing Echoes of Terror, I find myself wondering how those victims are coping, and how many others are being held captive that we may never know about.

Q. Who do you credit with inspiring your writing?

I credit my parents and my husband for inspiring me. My parents encouraged me to read—everything and anything—and I learned from those books. They took me and my brother on trips, and we learned about other places and people. As for my husband, I’m sure he had no idea where his words would lead when I said, “I’d like to write a book,” and he said, “Then do it.” Since that day, he’s held my hand when I’ve received a rejection, celebrated with me when I have success, helped me with research, promoted me and my books, and come up with some great ideas for stories.

Q. Any tips for new writers?

If you want to write, do it. But don’t think your first efforts will be perfect. Be willing to have others edit your work: join critique groups; hire an editor to go through your manuscript and tell you what isn’t clear; read how-to books on writing; and read published books in the genre or style you write. Learn from others how to put together a compelling story. Never stop learning and never give up. It’s said that talent is 5% of success. The other 95% is persistence and luck. PERSIST.

Maris writes a blog on writing every Wednesday at: www.marissoule