Why do you write suspense?

Authors write what they like to read. When I was a kid, I devoured Hardy Boys books—yes, even my sister’s collection of Nancy Drew. I devoured Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Terry Brooks, Stephen R. Lawhead, Ray Bradbury, Louis L’Amour, and Madeleine L’Engle.

Eventually I gravitated to suspense fiction by authors like Frank Peretti, Gilbert Morris, Terri Blackstock, and Mary Higgins Clark. I grew weary of whodunits and preferred suspense novels. I like novels that grab me around the throat, keep the pages turning, and never let go until the final period. Suspense novels filled with plenty of action and conflict captivate me like no other books I read, though I also have a fondness for good literature as well as for fantasy, history, biography, true crime, and science fiction.

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