Please Welcome Suspense Novelist J.J. Hensley

with J.J. Hensley

We are delighted to welcome suspense novelist J.J. Hensley to Omnimystery News.

J.J.'s debut novel Resolve (Permanent Press; March 2013 hardcover, audiobook and ebook formats) was a finalist for the 2014 International Thriller Writers Award and named one of the Best Books of 2013 by Suspense Magazine.

We asked J.J. to tell us a little more about how the book came to be written, and he titles his guest post for us today, "Writing What You Know and Finding a Voice".

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Photo provided courtesy of
J.J. Hensley

Have you ever read a book where the protagonist was employed in a line of work, or lived in a city that was completely unfamiliar to you? Did you get to a point in the book where you realized the author had no more idea about the job or the location than you did? For fiction writers, it can be incredibly tempting to write beyond one's knowledge base, but it happens frequently. It's an understandable occurrence and generally readers will be very forgiving and suspend disbelief as much as humanly possible. However it can become frustrating for a reader when it becomes evident an author has not acquired the experience necessary, or has not conducted enough research, to accurately describe a job, a city, or an event.

If an author can afford to spend months, or even years, conducting research, the accumulation of life-experience may not be necessary. For many authors who have "day jobs", reliance on real-life experiences is important. In fact, I think many new authors automatically create portions of stories from personal experiences, regardless if the end result will be a tough sell to publishers and agents.

When I penned my first novel — Resolve — I knew the book was not typical of the mystery/thriller genre. Rather than a more traditional literary setting of New York, Los Angeles, London, or Paris, I chose Pittsburgh. The topics in the book involve the unusual combination of criminal investigation and distance running. The structure of the novel is uncommon, as it is broken into 26.2 chapters to mirror the mileage of a marathon. I did not construct the book in a unique manner simply in order to be different. I did so because I decided to go by the old saying: write what you know.

For many authors, this approach can create some positive results. When an author writes what they know, the writing can come across as more genuine. Nobody likes to read a book and get the sense that the author was somehow faking it. When that happens, we throw out words like "contrived" and set the book aside feeling we were somehow robbed of authenticity. Also, when the author writes what they know, the author's passion for the subject matter radiates off the pages and somehow inspires the reader to care about the story. The reader does not have to open a book wanting to conduct a covert military operation, climb a mountain, or even run a marathon, but somehow the realness of the story makes the reader think … "Well … Why not?" And finally, this approach can lead an author to find what is often referred to as a "unique author voice".

Many writers find this unique author voice when they draw from experiences they seldom think about otherwise. Maybe the experience was a moment of great celebration, a tragedy that scarred deeply, or a story that one cannot tell without laughing. How many of us have little memories like that inside us that shape the way we write that story, look at a city, or conjure up a character? Maybe finding a unique author voice is nothing more than combing through the culmination of experiences in one's life and learning to use those experiences in a way that works for that individual. There are many books, templates, and guides out there that are supposed to help authors find their unique author voice. But, we know there is no template for our lives. There is no standard format for our existence. Perhaps a major part of the creative process is drowning out the voices that call on us to run like someone told us we should and instead develop our own stride.

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J.J. Hensley is a former police officer and Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service who has drawn upon his experiences in law enforcement to write stories full of suspense and insight. Hensley graduated from Penn State University with a B.S. in Administration of Justice and has a M.S. degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Columbia Southern University. The author is currently a training supervisor with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and lives with his beautiful wife, daughter, and two dogs outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

For more information about the author, please visit his website at Hensley-Books.com or find him on Facebook.

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Resolve
J.J. Hensley

In the Pittsburgh Marathon, 18,000 people from all over the world will participate. Over 9,500 will run the half marathon, 4,000 will run in relays while others plan to run brief stretches. 4,500 people will attempt to cover the full 26.2 miles. Over 200 of the participants will quit, realizing it just wasn't their day. More than 100 will get injured and require medical treatment … and one man is going to be murdered.

When Dr. Cyprus Keller lines up to start the race, he knows who is going to die for one simple reason. He's going to kill them.

As a professor of Criminology at Three Rivers University, and a former police officer, Dr. Cyprus Keller is an expert in criminal behavior and victimology. However, when one of his female students is murdered and his graduate assistant attempts to kill him, Keller finds himself frantically swinging back and forth between being a suspect and a victim. When the police assign a motive to the crimes that Keller knows cannot be true, he begins to ask questions that somebody out there does not want answered.

In the course of 26.2 miles, Keller recounts how he found himself encircled by a series of killings that have shocked the city, while literally pursuing his prey — the man who was behind it all.