Tennessee Wishes by Melissa Roos
TPP EP 14

TPP Episode 14 Melissa Roos

Mark: Hello and welcome to the Thriller Pitch Podcast, where thriller readers discover new bestselling and award-winning authors. Writers pick up insights, hearing how others build their stories, and authors get to pitch their next release and share the making of it. If you love finding your next read or hearing how your favorite books came together, follow the show and stick around.

I am your host, Mark P.J. Nadon, and this is episode number 14. Today’s guest is Melissa Roos, author of the Romance Thriller, Tennessee Wishes.

Mark: Hello, Melissa. Thank you so much for being here today.

Melissa: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Mark: I am excited to talk about Tennessee wishes. I have the book here with me. Thank you so much for providing a copy. Let’s start with the book pitch.

Melissa: Okay, so my title is Tennessee [00:01:00] Wishes, and it’s a romantic suspense and like a sub genre of mystery romance. And I’ll just go right into the pitch then. Ava Morgan is, she’s a young woman from the Midwest. She has this dream that she wants to be a country singer. And so she decides that she’s just gonna move to Nashville on a whim and she’s determined to make it.

But at the same time, there’s the shadow settling over Nashville. There’s been a crime wave and they’re in the national news. There’s a serial killer on the loose, and she goes anyway. Despite her, the objections of her. And she gets an apartment, she gets a job waiting tables and she’s hoped to have a first chance to perform on their stage.

But she ends up meeting Owen Lane. He’s another rising country star. And despite battling his own demons and being haunted by a tragic past, Owen and Ava make a connection instantaneously. And there’s just this spark that they can’t ignore. So it’s, is it [00:02:00] love at first sight or is it something more dangerous?

But Ava suddenly stops communicating with Owen and he’s left kind of reeling when wondering and doubt comes in and he just doesn’t sure what’s going on. So was there connection fleeting? Was it one sided or is there something more at play there? And so the serial killer has already claimed multiple victims.

And Owen wonders if Ava’s disappearance is more of a coincidence or if she becomes the killer’s next target. And then this is, I would say this book is for readers who love a sweet romance rept in suspense with a mystery that’s woven through it. Tennessee Wishes is perfect for fans who crave that intense page turning tension that will keep you guessing until the end.

Mark: Thank you. And it did I called it a romance thriller for the sake of the podcast, but there are a lot of little subgenres kind of tucked in, and I really liked the short chapters, the quick pace, the changing characters, the serial killer in the [00:03:00] background. That was all a lot of fun to read, especially in then in the back half especially.

It got very fast and very, like I had to, I think I finished the second half of the book in one sitting, because I was just, what’s

Melissa: Oh wow.

Mark: What’s gonna happen next? Until I got to the very end and I was like, okay, now I know. So that was good. What sparked the idea for this?

Melissa: So I have a couple things. There’s a smaller spark there. I have the dandelion theme that runs through there, and I don’t know if you ever did this as a kid, but you know, we’d picked dandelions when they were big and bloom and just make wishes on ’em. And so that was kind of a small spark that I had.

But then the, the bigger spark for the overall story, about two and a half years ago I moved my daughter from college directly to Nashville and we were setting up her apartment, going to Target, getting all the things, and then walking around downtown Nashville, and I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Nashville in the summer, but the streets are full of people, just tourists everywhere. And I just started thinking, [00:04:00] what if something happens to her here? Like she doesn’t know anybody. And then in this amount of people who would even notice. And so it just kind of, the story just kinda grew and bloomed from there.

Mark: And in your acknowledgements, you mentioned your daughter inspired the story, so I imagine that’s what it is. I was curious to know if your daughter was also like a country music singer or if any of the other

Melissa: She’s, no, she’s not a country music singer. She just loves Nashville. She loves the scene, you know, with the, going to listen to the free music and different things like that. But she’s not actually a country singer, so.

Mark: Okay, so when you started writing this book, what was the intention of the theme for the book or the genre because you have, like you mentioned, sweet Romance, you mentioned suspense, mystery. We’re putting thriller in there. What came first, and then how did you weave in the rest?

Melissa: I would say probably the romance I wanted there definitely to be that sweet [00:05:00] romance in the back ’cause I just feel like it ties it all together and then that desperation of there’s a serial killer on the loose and yet, even though it’s just somebody Owen just met, he’s invested enough to wanna see it through even though he has his own tragedies. And I don’t know if that makes sense or, but that’s kind of how, how it went about.

Mark: And when you were in Nashville, were you like already thinking this is a place I wanna set it so I better do some research while I’m here? Or did that all come later?

Melissa: It kind of came later. So I definitely my daughter was a big help with that because like I have different scenes as they walked down Broadway and I had just kind of randomly put in the honky tonks and the bars and stuff and she’s like, oh no, when you walk down the street, this is what you see first. And so she helped me like, you know, this is what you would see, this is where you would go, that kind of thing. So she was a big help with the research for that kind of thing.[00:06:00]

Mark: What other kind of research did you have to do for this?

Melissa: I looked into just kind of how country music singers go and what they do as far as trying to get their time on stage. Also like I have a concrete plant in the book and I just wanted to see if there was one there. There isn’t an abandoned one there, but there is like a concrete silo and so I just thought, well, that was enough to try to kind of pick that ’cause it is fiction. But, I still want that feel, overall feel that this could actually happen in this place. And I want you to see the icons that would be there, like old reds and things like that. So when you think of Nashville, you think of these specific places. And so I wanted that to be ingrained in the story.

Mark: And what about the policing? Because you have the detective as one of the characters in the book. Did you have to do research for the policing side of things? And it had like a feel of, obviously he was the investigating detective for the serial killer, but it had a feel of [00:07:00] almost a small city. Is that what I mean? I’ve never been to Nashville, so I don’t know what like the policing is like or how it feels there.

Melissa: Yes, so they do have different smaller precincts I guess you would call it. But I also did want my, the southern charm to come through. So that’s why I made the smaller, make it feel a little smaller, even though it is a big city. I just wanted the personal feel for the police.

Mark: Okay. And was there a point where you almost gave up writing the book?

Melissa: Yeah, I would say so. There’s the way I started it in the beginning, I rewrote the beginning like four or five times ’cause it just wasn’t quite working out. ’cause I wanted to focus on the dandelion and I started when she was little and then as in the college. So it just, it just didn’t quite flow. So I felt it was better the way I ended up. But yes, there was several times I just thought this, between these two ideas, they do not connect and it’s not gonna work. But [00:08:00] I think I made it work so.

Mark: Yeah. What kept you going? Why? Why didn’t you just put it down? Like so many writers will write those first few chapters, just like you did find that spot where they almost go blank and then just let it go, and they never come back to it. What made you keep going?

Melissa: I would contribute that to my daughter. She’s like, it’s a good story, and I think the setting is great. So she, I mean, she loved it from the beginning just ’cause she loves Nashville and stuff. And I did think maybe it was kind of a unique story and so I just thought, I, I’m just gonna keep going and get it done and see how it turns out. So yeah, she was a big contributing factor to finishing it.

Mark: And when you’re writing, do you find that you’re like a plotter? And you had, I think you had the outline ahead of time, or you like a call a pantser writing by the seat of your pants.

Melissa: Yeah, no, I’m definitely a pantser. I am not plotter. I’ve tried that once and then I just feel restricted. So no, I usually get the title, and I write the title down, and then I usually [00:09:00] without, maybe not this story I didn’t have the beginning as well as I thought I did but I usually have the beginning and the end, and then the middle is just kind of where the characters lead me.

Mark: And did the characters ever do something, or in this book, did the characters do anything that threw you for a loop and had to make a change, something that you did?

Melissa: Yes ’cause I wasn’t exactly sure who was gonna be the bad guy, so to say. And so, yes, I actually one character filled in that extra little space that I needed. So yes, they do change their mind or lead me in a direction that I wouldn’t normally go.

Mark: And how many drafts do you find you do because you had to go back in this book and redo, or if you had to like set up… once you know the ending, you know who the killer is. If you didn’t know it in the beginning, then you have to try and set it up so that this person now feels like has a vibe for the direction that they need to go. And how was that?

Melissa: I think it depends on my books, [00:10:00] but I would say this one particularly, I, I would say it was five times that I went back through and changed to make it all work. Yep. Other than of little edits here and there too, but five major times.

Mark: And what’s the process like from beginning to end for you, like as a pantser? So the first draft, do you then give it to a beta reader or do you, are you doing it yourself again and then going to an editor and like, what’s that process like?

Melissa: So it’s a hot mess, but, but no, so I write the first draft and then I reread it to see if it makes sense and then I fix whatever I, I feel can be fixed. And I have a couple author friends that I rely on heavily that will give me, you know, a straight answer that this doesn’t work. And so then once that’s done and I rewrite what I need to rewrite, then I do try some beta readers and get some feedback that way.

Mark: Okay. How many beta readers do you have? Have you found, like with this book you’ve had beta readers come back and say conflicting things? And if so, how do you decide what [00:11:00] you’re gonna do?

Melissa: I feel like when somebody comes back, it’s usually the same issue that they’re all talking about. I don’t feel like it’s all over the board. So that’s, which is nice that it’s always the same issue, so it makes it easier to fix. If they were all like, oh, this doesn’t work, and then somebody else said, that doesn’t work, then it would be probably a whole rewrite. But when it’s just an issue here or there, then it, it works out pretty well.

Mark: Okay.

Melissa: when you get the same feedback continuously, then it’s, then you’re like, oh yeah, okay, I need to fix that.

Mark: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. That’s lucky. In my books, I often get a lot of beta readers that point out different things, and then I have to decide which one I’m gonna, which one I’m gonna go with, because they’re, they all say different things. So I try looking for what’s similar between them all. I guess just how you happen to have people that agree on it. That’s kind of what I end up looking at is what do everybody agree on? When you were writing Gunner, did he, who was the dog? For those who have not read it yet, Gunner is their the canine German [00:12:00] Shepherd is in the book, was he part of the book from the very beginning and as a character, or was he added later.

Melissa: No, he was there from the very beginning. I had, I wanted him to be there. And he, so I felt like he would be a good thread to keep the story going and just another link to make the whole thing more interesting. So, and I wanted him to be part of the hero in the end. I feel like dogs can be just as human as an actual human and do just as good as a person can or a character can in the story.

Mark: Yeah. Yeah. He was his own, his own character in the story.

Melissa: Yeah.

Mark: Do they allow dogs in the bars or is it because he was a retired police dog that he was allowed to be in the in there with them?

Melissa: Yeah, I would say most, they wouldn’t just allow any dog in there. It’d have to be like what do you wanna say? A service animal? But you know, it was [00:13:00] fiction, so

Mark: Yeah, yeah. No, that’s

Melissa: I could get him in the door. So

Mark: I haven’t been to Nashville, but if I could bring my dog into a bar, I might go down there and bring my dog so that

Melissa: I do feel like people try to get their dogs in anywhere they can, if, you know, if they’re allowed.

Mark: Well for sure. ’cause it’s nice to have a socialization for the dog and, and to have them with you rather than stuck at home. Yeah. Who is your favorite character to write in this book?

Melissa: I would say Detective Wyatt Lockhart, just because he’s, he’s grumpy and he’s tired and he needs coffee to survive and he has pressure from underneath trying to get his job and yet he has, he’s trying to solve these cases, but yet he still does it with a quiet kind of southern boy charm, you know?

Mark: Yeah, yeah. I liked his grumpy side, especially with his partner that was entertaining. So was Kelly inspired… were you essentially Kelly when you went down to Nashville? ’cause that story is so similar and I [00:14:00] liked her character a lot because she was, I mean, just protective mom trying to do the right thing. Not protective, but a mom trying to do the right thing and and worry about her daughter. Just as you had said you were when you went there.

Melissa: Definitely. I definitely. I mean, I lived that. So yeah, I mean I tried to portray that and I did get a little feedback on that that they thought she was kind of wishy-washy. And I’m like, yeah, but have, I mean, if you have kids, you know, there’s that fine line of you wanna help, you wanna be protective, but yet, I mean this is a 20 something year old, so you don’t wanna step on their toes.

You want them to live their life and have their experiences. So it is that fine line of back and forth, and I hope I portrayed that without her seeming overly, you know, wishy-washy. But that’s the kind of like me personally, that’s the kind of conflict that I go through when you have older adult children how much do you help them, but yet let them live their lives? So I’m hoping that came through.

Mark: Yeah, it did to me. ’cause I know [00:15:00] exactly what you mean in that sense that although she was wishy-washy, that’s pretty much exactly what I think she would’ve done or I would have done also as a parent in that situation, because like you said, you’re trying to do what’s right and then you’re not sure if you are, and then it’s like, oh, maybe I’ll do this. I’m like, oh, I shouldn’t have done that. The back and forth. As a parent, in your own mind. Was there a scene in the book that was hardest to write either creatively or emotionally?

Melissa: I would say creatively with Dorothea just to, ’cause she’s a homeless person and I wanted to portray her as a real person with real emotions. And yet I’ve never been homeless, so I don’t know all of her feelings, but yet I just wanted to make her as human as possible and show that they are, they’re not just people that you pass by on the street. There’s real feelings and emotions and a story there. So that was, she was the hardest probably for me to do.

Mark: [00:16:00] When you’re building characters, do you have an… well, you’re a pantser, so I’m guessing not, but I’ll ask the question anyway. Do you have an outline or maybe as you’re pantsing you create it where you have the character and this is what they look like for points. And some writers usually outliners, have like interviews they do with their characters and other backstory and things.

How do you approach each individual character and how did you approach them in this book in order to make them all feel authentic and different?

Melissa: Well, so I don’t do an outline, but I will think of a character and I will just put down as much information about them, how they look, their feelings, maybe their job description, age, that kind of thing. Just put it all out there as much as I possibly can. Get it down. And now, not to say that doesn’t change a little bit as I go through the story. But again, I’m a pantser, so it does change. It’s not set in stone.

Mark: Okay. A few wrap up questions. One new thing we’re doing is [00:17:00] having an author from our last episode ask a question for the next guest. So my last guest was Joanna, and she as the author of Spy Girl, she wants to know if you met your hero or heroine so I guess we could say Owen or Ava in a coffee shop, what would they say to you?

Melissa: Well, if I met Ava, she would probably say, what’s your dream and are you gonna pursue it?

Mark: Okay. Very nice. And what advice would you give to someone who just published their first or second novel?

Melissa: Well, couple things. Marketing. You just can’t get your presence out there, social media, that kind of thing. The more that people know about you, the better off you are. But as far as writing don’t just stop at that one book. Just keep writing, write the next one. , You’re always growing, always changing so you just wanna keep put the pen to the paper or your fingers to the keyboards, whatever you wanna say, but you just want to keep writing and keep improving and keep going no matter what.

Mark: Yeah. And what marketing [00:18:00] tactics have you found worked well for you so far? You have sweet romance in all the sub genres, which was interesting, and you can almost market it in all the different ways with every piece of marketing you put out there.

Melissa: I would say probably with social media, like Instagram is better for me than others. Just because I like the prettier pictures, like with my book and that kind of same thing, so I do a little bit better on there than I would on TikTok. But just in general, I would say my newsletter, getting people to sign up for my newsletter and having that come out once a month, keeps them interested in knowing what I’m going to do or what I have been doing. And then just, going to author events. Those are my major things.

Mark: What kind of author events have you been to?

Melissa: Recently I just went to the book Fair in Ballet or Maryland, so that was a lot of fun. And then I have a book club in Osburg, Pennsylvania coming up here on next Monday. So that’s fun. So getting to the book clubs and the [00:19:00] author events, it’s a lot of fun. ’cause then you get to meet people and, and I was down at Bethany Beach books and actually a lady there was on vacation and she was from Virginia and she actually came to Maryland to see me too, even though she’s from Virginia. So it was nice to see her in Delaware and Maryland. So, and I’m from Pennsylvania, so it was just kind of nice to see a familiar face in different states.

Mark: Oh, that’s great. A super fan.

Melissa: yeah.

Mark: Where can people find your books and more about you?

Melissa: So I am in a few local shops in Pennsylvania, but mostly online. I would be on Amazon or Barnes and Noble online or Walmart, Shopify, that kind of thing.

Mark: Okay. Great. Well, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate having you on the show, talking about your book. This is great. If you don’t mind sticking around for a few minutes for the after show with our rapid fire session we will get to that.

Melissa: Okay. Sounds great. Thanks for having me.

Mark: Thank you.

Mark: Thank you for listening to episode [00:20:00] 14. If you enjoyed this conversation, make sure to follow the show so you don’t miss episode 15 with Thomas Stewart, author of the Horror Thriller, Allison’s Tears. And if you’d like to go deeper with early access bonus content, the after show with rapid fire questions and the chance to ask future guests your own questions, join me on Patreon where I offer plenty in the free tier category. The link is in the show notes.